^NTHROPOK- GY LIBRAS^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BEQUEST OF MISS HORTENSE POWDERMAKER Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/earlycivilizatioOOgoldrich EARLY CIVILIZATION AN INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY EARLY CIVILIZATION AN INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY By ALEXANDER A. GOLDENWEISER Ltcturer on Anthropology and Sociology at Th* Nrm School for Sociai Research, New York; sometime Lecturer on Anthropology in Columbia University, GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO., LTD., LONDON CALCUTTA SYDNEY PBIKTBD IN THB VKITED STATES OF AICBBIOA G6 Amthro TO MY FATHER 04.11M PREFACE THOSE whose common preoccupation is with ideas are wont to cherish the illusion of originality. But if the his- tory of mental contents were disclosed we should find that most of what we know and think is derived from others. My more clearly discernible obligations are due to many. It is hard to express the extent of my indebtedness to Pro- fessor Franz Boas, of Columbia, whose glowing enthusiasm and colossal knowledge have for many years served as guidance and inspiration. Of the many intellectual com- panions of my academic years I want to single out four whose ideas and criticisms have aided in the formation and shaping of my own thoughts: Professors Robert H. Lx)wie and A. L. Kroeber, of Berkeley, Doctor Edward Sapir, of the Victoria Museum, Ottawa, and Paul Radin, of every- where and nowhere. My gratitude is due to my friend and colleague, James Harvey Robinson and to Mrs. Etta Stuart Sohier, of Los Angeles, for reading and criticising the first version of this book. Their suggestions proved so valuable that the origi- nal plan of revising the first draft was abandoned and a new book written. I want to thank my old chum and com- panion, Samuel Joseph, for reading the page proof. I also want to express my obligation to my classes in anthropology at Columbia and The New School for Social Research, for without the experience gained in the prepara- tion and delivery of these lectures, the book could not have been written. My final obligation is due to my secretary, Miss Anne V. Cooper, who has fulfilled the enormous task of typing and retyping the manuscript, has read the proofs and made innumerable suggestions as to the form and con- tent of the pages that follow. Alexander A. Goldenweiser New York, December i6, 1921. CONTENTS PAGB PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION MAN AND CIVILIZATION The Unity of Man 3 The Nature of Civilization 15 The Evolutionary Theory: An Exposition and a Criticism 20 PART I EARLY CIVILIZATIONS ILLUSTRATED INTRODUCTION 3" Chapter I. The Eskimo: A Case of Environmental Adjustment 34 Chapter II. The Tlincit and Haida of Northwest America 53 Chapter III. The Iroquois Matriarch ate 70 Chapter IV. Uganda, An African Statb 83 Chapter V. Central Australia, A Magic Ridden Com- munity 100 Chapter VI. Reflections on Part I 115 PART II INDUSTRY AND ART, RELIGION AND SOCIETY OF EARLY MAN INTRODUCTION 131 Chapter VII. Economic Conditions and Industry 132 The Economic Adjustment 132 Applied Knowledge 138 Kwakiutl Industry 138 CONTENTS PAGE Chapter VIII. Economic Conditions and Industry (Continued) 150 Applied Knowledge (Continued) 1 50 Hopi Pigments 150 Tewa Ethnobotany 152 Invention 157 Chapter IX. Art 165 Chapter X. Religion and Magic 184 The Basic Factors of Religion 184 The Guardian Spirit in American Indian Religion 184 Modern Magic 193 Mana or Impersonal Supernatural Power 197 Chapter XI. Religion and Magic (Continued) 202 Anthropomorphism and the Higher Gods 202 Chukchee Supernaturalism 202 Bella Coola Gods 207 The All Father 2ii The Individual in Religion 214 Medicine-men Among the Chukchee and Others 214 The Ghost-Dance Religions of the North American Indians 224 Supernaturalism as a World View 231 Chapter XII. Society 235 The Foundations of Society 235 The Disabilities of Women 259 Chapter XIII. Society (Continued) 265 The Foundations of Society (Continued) 265 Political Organization 270 The Geographical Distribution of Social Forms 279 Totemism 282 Chapter XIV. Reflections on Part II 292 Culture and Environment 292 Diffusion versus Independent Development in Early Civi- lization 301 CONTENTS xi PART III THE IDEAS OF EARLY MAN page INTRODUCTION 327 Chapter XV. Theories of Early Mentality 330 Spencer's Theories 330 Frazer's Theories 337 Wundt's Theories 348 Chapter XVI. Theories of Earj.y Mentality (Con- tinued) 360 Durkheim's Theories 360 Levy-Bruhl's Theories 380 Freud's Theories 389 Chapter XVII. Early Life and Thought 399 Bibliographic Guide 416 Index 425 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 1. Plan of Eskimo Singing-House 37 2. Eskimo Snow House 40 3. Ground Plan of Eskimo Snow House 40 4. Cross Section of Eskimo Snow House 41 5. Framework of Eskimo Kayak 42 6. Eskimo Kayak 42 7. Eskimo HarjKKjn 43 8. 9, 10, II. Parts of Eskimo Harpoon 43 12. Eskimo Harpoon in Action 44 13. Eskimo Bird Spear 45 14. Throwing Board 45 15. Eskimo Seal-Skin Floats and Hoop 46 16. Eskimo Sledge 47 17. Elskimo Dog in Harness 48 18. Eskimo Wooden Bow 49 19. 20. Eskimo Antler Bows 50 21. Eskimo Bow Drill 51 22. Kwakiutl Copper 60 23. Diagram of Iroquois Maternal Family 74 24. 25. Diagrams of Australian Marriage and Descent iii, 112 26. Kwakiutl Wood-Bending 140 27. Kwakiutl Pole-Raising 143 28. Raising of Kwakiutl Roof Beam 144 29» 30» 31. 32. Kwakiutl Black Horn Spoon 145, 146 33» 34* Kwakiutl Eel Grass Bundles 148, 149 xiB xiv ILLUSTRATIONS 35. Beaded Bagobo Bag Plate I ^^^If^ 178 36. Bagobo Embroidered Shirt Plate I 37. Chilkat Blanket Plate II 38. 39. Haida Memorial Columns Plate II 40. Haida Horn Spoon Plate II 41. Bushongo Wooden Cup Plate III 42. Benin Bronze Casting Plate III 43. New Ireland Ceremonial Head-Dress Plate IV 44. Maori Door Lintel Plate V 45. Hawaiian Feather Cloak Plate V 46. Chiriquian Chalice Plate VI 47. California Basket Plate VII 48. California Basket Plate VII 49. California Basket Plate VII 50. 51. Australian Ground Drawings Plate VIII PAGE 52. Diagram of Australian Marriages 255 53. Diagram of Totemic Complex 288 54. Map of Distribution of Clothing in America 302 55. Map of Distribution of Garments in Africa 303 56. Map of Distribution of Huts in Africa 304 57. Map of Distribution of Pottery in America 305 58. Map of Distribution of Totemism in Africa 308 INTRODUCTION: MAN AND CIVILIZATION The Unity of Man Truth comes hard. The recognition of man's animal de- scent has been a slow growth. When Darwin wrote, over half a century ago, the evidence in favor of our animal an- cestry began to be irresistible. This did not prevent a storm of protest from breaking over the head of the great biologist when in his "Origin of Species" he began to prepare the ground for the new doctrine. In "The Descent of Man" his position became categorical. But it remained for the more uncompromising and temperamental Haeckel to sweep man's pedigree clean of all traces of supernaturalism and to popularize the idea of man's natural evolution among wide circles of the educated and semi-educated laity. Though similar to the animal in many ways, man differs markedly from even the highest animals, including his closest known relatives, the anthropoid apes. Erect gait, shape of the cranium, size of the brain, position of the head, develop- ment of the hand; and with these, the use of tools, articulate l anguage , and the gift of abstract thought — such are some of the traits that set off man as an unique achievement of biological evolution, as a super-animal, inmieasurably re- moved from all his precursors. In this connection, the claim is sometimes made that some races are closer to the animal than others. The prognathic jaws of the Negro, the prominent supra-orbital ridges of the Australian, the dark skin color of most primitive men, are a few of the features pointed to as suggestive of animal traits. A somewhat more careful glance at the facts, how- ever, at once introduces distracting complications. The ape-like character of the Negro's jaws cannot be denied, but his very jaws are fitted out with a pair of lips that remove him as far from the animal as the jaws bring him near it. For developed external lips are a specifically human trait, and in this particular the Negro represents "man physical" s 4 EARLY CIVILIZATION more distinctly than any other race. Again, the prominent supra-orbital ridges of the Australian carry an unmistakable animalistic suggestion, and one might be inclined to add to this another trait, namely, the great hairiness of the Aus- tralian, if not for the disturbing thought that in the latter respect the white man is his worthy rival, while the other races are much less hairy. And the same applies to other features. Is it not clear, then, that the races, with their complexes of more or less characteristic traits, cannot be arranged in an ascending series from the animal upward? In particular instances, one race may prove to be an offshoot of another, the American Indians, for example, of the Mongolians; but if all structural peculiarities of each racial stock are taken into consideration, the races, all animal and all human though they are, must be regarded as anatomical varieties specialized in different directions. Prompted by motives partly scientific in their nature and partly otherwise, the advocates of white man's supremacy have utilized another set of facts. In this case the evidence adduced referred to the size and weight of the brain and to the macroscopic as well as microscopic structure of this organ. White man's claim to psycho-physical superiority receives but little support from a consideration of brain size and weight. It must, of course, be admitted that the physical evolution of the vertebrates was accompanied by a progres- sive development in the relative size and weight of the nerv- ous system and, in particular, of the central organ of nerv- ous control, the brain. In the case of man, the brain has indeed reached unprecedented dimensions. In proportion to the bulk of his body, man's brain is much larger and heavier than is that of any other animal, including our closest known precursor, the anthropoid ape. And with the increased bulk of the brain, there went an unmistakable rise in intelligence. It is, however, by no means easy to apply the insight thus reached to the human level itself. First of all, bulk of body INTRODUCTION S again comes in as a factor. All in all, large people have large brains. But bulk of body is not discernibly related to intelligence. Hence, doubt arises whether among mod- ern white men any connection obtains between brain size and weight and intelligence. The evidence gleaned from post mortem examinations of brains is equally inconclusive. In one series of brains of great men, for example, it was found that Turgenev's brain was extraordinarily large and heavy, while that of Gambetta, also a man of no mean mental capacity, scarcely reached the average. As the case stands to date, it seems not improbable that the brains of a selected group of eminent men when compared with those of a non-selected group of men, would not show any signifi- cant differences in size and weight. It follows from this that any inferences in regard to in- telligence based on comparisons of brain size and weight must be drawn with great caution. But are there such dif- ferences between the white race and other races and, if so, what is their nature? Students of the subject tell us that if a sufficiently large set of white man's brains were com- pared with a similar one representing another race, the vast majority of the brains of the two sets would be strictly com- parable in point of size and weight. The only difference would be this : a small number of white man's brains would be heavier and larger than any brains in the other set, while a small number of brains in that set would be smaller and lighter than any brains of white man. Would it not be hazardous, then, to base any conclu- sions as to racial capacity on differences that are so tenuous, particularly in view of the highly dubious relation between brain size and weight and intelligence? With the brain structure the case stands somewhat dif- ferently. In addition to the data on white man's brains, we have the results of Professor Bean's painstaking in- vestigations of a large set of Negro brains. These investi- gations have disclosed the presence of distinctive structural peculiarities which must be recognized as racial. There is, 6 EARLY CIVILIZATION however, no indication that the revealed differences between white and Negro brains stand for potential intellectual in- feriority on the part of the Negro. Those who desire to see such inferiority demonstrated will naturally tend to in- terpret Professor Bean's results in this sense; the sober student, on the other hand, will reserve judgment,^ pending further research, which, he may well expect, will disclose peculiarities of racial psychology correlated with the ob- served differences in brain structure. In what direction these peculiarities will lie cannot at this time be foreseen. The foregoing examination of the biological and neuro- logical evidence leaves us very near where we were at the beginning of our inquiry. No proof has been forthcom- ing of the Inferiority of the other racial stocks to the white. But what is the tenor of the direct evidence of psy- chology? Here we are confronted by the time honored allegation that the senses of the "savage," his vision, hear- ing, smell, are more acute than are those of white man, and that this very superiority bespeaks his closeness to the animal. In the power of abstract thought, on the other hand, in the capacity for sustained labor, the ability to en- dure pain, he is supposed to lag far behind the standards established by white man. Old travelers' accounts abound in references to the amaz- ing sense acuity of the "savage." Scarcely audible sounds, we are told, are perceived by him and interpreted as a warn- ing of danger. He observes the tracks of animals and of man under conditions that seem impossible to his white companions. From the appearance of a bush in the thicket or the grass under foot, he infers what kind of animals have 'That apart from interpretation, Professor Bean's concrete results are not above criticism may be gathered from the constructive and critical essay by F. P. Mall ("On Several Anatomical Characters of the Human Brain, etc.," American Journal of Anatomy, Vol. IX, pp. 1-32). See particularly p. xi, •where Mall compares his results with those of Bean, derived from the measurement of the same set of brains. INTRODUCTION ^ been there and may even roughly guess their number. He \ possesses a complete inventory of the sounds produced by the beasts and birds of his habitat and is able, moreover, to reproduce many of them with striking fidelity. Accounts such as these were eagerly sought by the ad- vocates of white man's superiority. The "savage," it was held, is like the animal in the sharpness of his senses. White man, with his higher intelligence, has passed beyond that stage. He is no longer in need of such extraordinary keen- ness of the lower faculties, for nose, eye or ear could never serve his vital needs as effectively as does his mind, with its superior acumen and resourcefulness. Whatever may be said of these interpretations, the facts themselves, when examined with an open mind, do not imply any inborn superiority of the "savage" in sense perception. It must be remembered that aboriginal man lives in close and constant contact with nature, its forces and its dangers. His natural economy requires a very delicate adjustment to the peculiarities of his environment. If he is to live, he must learn to use his senses as well or nearly as well as do the animals and birds of his wild habitat. All this, however, is merely a matter of habituation. If transferred to an un- accustomed environment, the master of the woods and the prairie would promptly lose his superior sense capacity. A Bushman or Australian, suddenly removed to Broadway, would succumb to the natural dangers of his new milieu even before he had realized the inadequacy of his equip- ment for dealing with the changed situation. White man, on the other hand, has more than once shown his ability to develop the very qualities of the senses which are so neces- sary In a primitive setting. The frontiersman and the settler, the trapper and the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, excelled In the very characteristics that were thought to constitute an Innate peculiarity of the American Indian, and any of these. Including the Indian, would un- doubtedly meet their peer if not their master in psychic 8 EARLY CIVILIZATION equipment in a member of the mounted police of the Cana- dian Northwest. The very high degree to which the sharpness of the senses can be developed by constant application is attested by the experiences of modern civilization. Our experts on cloth and tapestry, on tea, tobacco and wine, achieve after some years of practise, a power of delicate sense discrimination which to the uninitiated seems wellnigh incredible. Equally remarkable is the high sensitiveness of touch acquired by the professional typist, and the even greater delicacy of that sense as well as of the sense of hearing possessed by the accomplished violinist and cellist. The recent development of experimental psychology has provided a tool by means of which the psychological equip- ment of the "savage" could be tested with greater exacti- tude. In a number of instances opportunity presented itself to apply the procedure of the experimental laboratory to the native populations. Doctor W. H. R. Rivers, as a member of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, subjected the natives of these islands to an extended series of psychological tests; Mr. Richard Thurn- wald applied somewhat similar methods in the course of his expedition to the Solomon Islands; while Professor R. S. Woodworth, of Columbia University, was fortunate enough to find himself in a position to experiment with representa- tives of a variety of primitive tribes gathered for purposes of exhibition at the St. Louis Fair. The verdict of the above investigations is unanimous and unmistakable: the senses and the elementary mental reactions of aboriginal man are strictly comparable to those of his white brethren. No disparity whatsoever has appeared that would suggest congenital racial differences of superiority or inferiority of sense equipment, altliough some interesting facts that could not have been foreseen have come to light, such as the pre- vailing yellow-blue color blindness of some Melanesian natives, which contrasts with the red-green color blind- INTRODUCTION 9 ness of white man, and may prove to be a sub-racial characteristic. It is easy to show that the alleged inferiority of early man in the higher mental functions is also based on deficient knowledge and an erroneous point of view. Followers of Herbert Spencer are wont to say that the "savage" is lacking in capacity for sustained labor. But are the reports from which such generalizations are derived based on a fair view of the primitive laborer? Certainly not. The evi- dence gleaned from plantation conditions, for example, cannot be expected to throw much light on the natural capabilities of the native worker. Recent studies, such as those of J. A. Hobson, Carleton Parker and Miss Marot, have done much to popularize the information we now possess about the effects of the worker's psychic state on his efficiency. The striking results of the reputed "Saturday- ings" and "Sundayings" of Soviet Russia bring, perhaps, the most recent evidence of what labor can do under stimu- lating psychological conditions. And the reverse is, of course, equally patent. If the experiences of housewives with their domestic help were available as comparative data, would not the standing of white men and women as exemplars of efficiency in sustained labor receive a decided setback ? Those who have had the opportunity of studying native man in his normal setting were often impressed by the apparently limitless care and assiduity with which he de- voted himself to those tasks of industry or art which to him were of prime concern and emotional value. Primitive in- dustries, in particular, often call for intense and persistent application extending over days and weeks, and these re- quirements are faithfully fulfilled by the natives without visible signs of distress or any necessity for social compulsion. Similarly ill-founded is the alleged inability of primitive man to endure pain. The statements responsible for this judgment were, of course, based on those many instances lo EARLY CIVILIZATION • where, as slave, forced laborer, or hired soldier, primitive man had displayed but slight disposition to withstand pain or suffering. Here again, familiarity with native life cannot but dispel the illusion that any congenital disability is in- volved. The tortures of the Sun Dance are stoically en- dured by the Indian youths of the American Plains. The native boys of the Australian bush show equal stolidity dur- ing the protracted initiation ceremonies, in the course of which the old men subject them to trying and often painful manipulations. Maori tatooing provides another example. In the case of a chief this process occupies weeks and months, and in the course of the daily seances, the subject must endure almost continuous pain. The arduous task of the artist presents equally striking evidence of native capacity for sustained labor. A rite of initiation wide- spread in Africa and Australia involves the knocking out of teeth or the filing of teeth into triangular shape. The common requirement thereby is that the excruciating pain must be borne without whimpering. If records of such per- formances were collected and compared with others that might be supplied by our dentists, would the results be likely to support the belief that aboriginal man is our inferior in his capacity for withstanding pain? Among the higher functions of the mind with which early man was thought to be but inadequately endowed, mathe- matics and language have figured most prominently. It is quite true, as alleged, that many tribes — those of central Australia, for example — are unable to count further than four or five. But are they really unable to do so be- cause of psychic incapacity? Nothing could be further from the truth than this inference, and ethnologists have repeat- ^cdly made the experience that the learning of our numerical system with its corollaries presents but little difficulty to the average native. Whenever such deficient numerical systems occur, they merely represent a peculiarity of the civiliza- tional setting, and not at all a psychical disability. Among tribes where no medium of exchange has developed, where INTRODUCTION ii exact measurement is unknown and ideas of property re- main relatively undefined, there is little need for numerical expression and computation, and progress in this domain is likely to be slow. The case of language is equally instructive. That primitive languages consist of a scant collection of words, that the very phonetic elements of these languages tend to fluctuate, that they are practically devoid of grammatical structure — all such generalizations have long since been relegated to the rubbish heap of discarded dogmas. In the course of the last fifteen or twenty years, the languages of the American Indians have been studied in great detail, while only less systematic work has been accomplished in other regions, especially in Africa. As a result of these re- searches, our ideas of early languages have been thoroughly revolutionized. It is now known that the vocabularies of more than one Indian to ngue comprise several thousands of words and possess phonetic characteristics comparable in fixity and complexity to those of the ancient and modeni langu ages. But most important of all are the grammars of these native tongues, the reconstruction of which we owe to the ingenuity and untiring labors of the ethnological linguists. For these grammars are always definite and often elaborate, and while displaying certain characteristics com- mon to all grammars, also possess many individualized peculiarities.^ It is, of course, true that the linguistic processes under- lying grammatical structure are wholly unconscious. They are, nevertheless, psychological; and the evidence of classi- fication, generalization and abstraction involved in the cate- gories of these native grammars may not be disregarded in any attempt to understand the workings of primitive men- tality. When the Kwakiutl distinguishes by an instrumental suffix all verbs designating an action performed by a sharp 'For a highly interesting as well as original presentation of linguistic facts, in which full justice is done to primitive languages, see Edward Sapir't recent book, "Language" (Harcourt, Brace and Company). 12 EARLY CIVILIZATION object, the category Involved Implies generalization and abstraction, and this particular language has a whole series of such instrumental suffixes. When the Algonquin lan- guages classify all nouns into animate and inanimate, a generalization is once more implied. The very existence of categories in grammar — and what is grammar but a set of categories? — is evidence of classification, generalization and abstraction. That the conditions of aboriginal life do not foster a per- sistent occupation with ideas is true enough, but we shall have more than one occasion to show that our own wonted predilection for abstract thought has been greatly over- estimated. Enough has been said to indicate that the evidence of biology, neurology and psychology fails to supply any data on the basis of which could be inferred either a primitive superiority in sense development or an inferiority of early man in his capacity for abstract thought and in other achievements supposedly peculiar to white man. To all this the objection may well be urged that we do not judge of civilization indirectly, through the biological or psychological traits of the individuals who represent it. We judge of civilization directly, on its own merits. Now, if primitive, ancient and modern societies are juxtaposed, is it not patent that the achievements of the modern civili- zation of white man, surpass beyond comparison all that has been attained before in history or pre-history? How can this superlative excellence be explained except through some advantage in congenital capacity? Unanswerable though it may seem at first glance, this criticism greatly overstates the case. For is the superiority of our own civilization really so obvious and demonstrable all along the line? That this is not so is readily revealed by a more careful survey. It is undeniable that in the mass of accumulated knowledge we loom far above all our pred- ecessors. The same is true of the application of knowledge to abstract thought: the domain of thought based on con- INTRODUCTION 13 Crete and verifiable data is vaster today than ever before, and in many instances this experientially-controlled thought process is both highly elaborate and equally exact. This applies to the abstract domains of science, philosophy and social and political ideology in some of its aspects. The high degree to which knowledge is utilized in practical activity is equally peculiar to present day civilization. It may well be, in fact, that this aspect is more character- istically modern than any of the others. The application of biology to medicine and bacteriology, of chemistry to industry, agriculture and sanitation, of psychology to educa- tion, criminology and business, of the theory of probability and other branches of mathematics to life insurance and statistics, are distinctively modem phenomena incalculable in their bearings on civilization. So far, then, white man's cultural achievement stands supreme, lending at least a prima facie justification to his claim of innate superiority. It must, however, be remem- bered, that in his command of knowledge with its theoretical and practical adjuncts, modern white man is superior not only to the Australian bushman, to the Indian of America, to the African Negro or to the Mongol of Eastern Asia; but in all of these respects he also towers above the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, nay even over our most immediate precursors in the history of Europe. Go back five hundred years and nothing is left of modern civilization; go back two hundred years and some of its most distinctive traits are still absent; go back one hundred years and you find a civilization lacking in most of the things we feel to be of the essence of our own cultural life. The aeroplane and the wireless, the telephone and the telegraph, and the very use of electricity; railroads and steamships and automobiles; scientific agriculture and in- dustrial chemistry; the doctrine of evolution and the very natural sciences with their highly precise measurements and methods; trusts and trade unions and the very essentials of machine production and of capitalism; all of this, his- 14 EARLY CIVILIZATION torically speaking, dates of yesterday. And further: do these represent typical developments that have taken place again and again in civilizations born of white man? Far from it. This complex of achievements must rather be re- garded as an unique excrescence of the historic process, as a singular historic twist that has favored our civilization. Who can tell whether a similar precipitation in cultural growth might not have occurred in the case of another people and race, or may not occur in the future ; or whether, if the historic process were to begin anew, white man would prove equally successful? But the case does not stand as favorably for white man as would appear from this presentation. Knowledge, theoretical and applied, is not the whole of civilization. Now, in art, religion and ethics, or in social and political organization, our superiority over the peoples of antiquity, or even over those of pre-history, is not by any means as definite nor as indisputable. While a detailed consideration of the comparative aspect of the problem falls outside the scope of this book, it will be well to keep in mind that our superiority in any of these respects can only be established in the light of special and highly subjective standards. The problem, in other words, passes from the domain of measurement to that of value from that of ob- jectivity to that of taste and opinion. Enough has been said to show that the view still gener- ally held of the relation between race and civilization may well be reversed. According to the prevailing view, man is many and civilization one, meaning by this that the races differ significantly in potential ability and that only one, the white race, could have and actually has achieved civiliza- tion. The reverse view, forced upon the ethnologist and the historian by a more critical and open-minded survey of the facts, reads thus : man is one, civilizations are many, meaning by this that the races do not differ significantly in psychological endowment, that the variety of possible civili- zations Is great and of actual ones, considerable, and that INTRODUCTION 15 many civilizations other than ours have achieved things of genuine and unique worth. With this as a background, we may proceed to examine somewhat more closely what it is that is called civilization. To this problem the next section is devoted. The Nature of Civilization What, then, is civilization? Our attitudes, beliefs and ideas, our judgments and values; our institutions, political and legal, religious and economic; our ethical code and our code of etiquette; our books and machines, our sciences, philosophies and philoso> phers — all of these and many other things and beings, both in themselves and in their multiform inter-relations, con- stitute our civilization. In many of these things it differs from the civilizations of antiquity and from those other remoter ones of pre-history. It is characteristic of civilization that it persists; a large part of it, most of it, in fact, is passed on from generation to generation. But also, it changes: at no two points in time is it quite the same, and the differences in the civiliza- tion of two succeeding generations are often perceptible and at times striking. It takes but little thought to realize that the changes in civilization are each and all due to the emergence of new things, inventions, ideas, which, in the last analysis, are always emanations of the minds of individuals. Whether the change is in a mechanical device, or a detail of social organization; in a new scientific idea or ethical value; in a method of simplifying or improving economic production or distribution; in a new play, or a novel form of stage art; in an article of use, comfort or luxury, a new word, a witticism, a proverb — all of these things originate in in- dividual minds and there is no other place where they can originate. Nor is this generalization in the least affected i6 EARLY CIVILIZATION by whatever view one may hold as to the relative impor- tance of the individual and society in the production of civilization. Even though the individual were wholly de- termined by the social setting, all of the civilizational changes just referred to, including those in material things, would remain psychological in their derivation and, as such, they could only originate in individual minds, for there are no other minds but those of individuals. Thus the whole of civilization, if followed backward step by step, would ultimately be found resolvable, without residue, into bits of ideas in the minds of individuals. But civilization also persists and accumulates. Some ele- ments carry over from generation to generation through the sheer objective continuity of material existence. Most of the paraphernalia of our complicated mechanical equip- ment, the roads, vehicles and houses, the books in our libraries, the specimens in the museums, persist in as crass and material a way as does man's physical environment. The institutions, those crystallized depositories of attitudes, ideas and actions, persist in a less objectified form, for they are only in part represented by material or mechanical ar- rangements, such as fixed organizations, recorded codes and archives, in whose prolonged existence the change of gener- ations appears as but an incident. But there is still another and more important mechanism through which civilization is passed on from fathers to sons. This mechanism, more dynamic and plastic than the others, is education. Through education, in the home, at school, in society, the past molds the present and sets a pattern for the future. Here it is important to remember that civilization, psy- chological and individual though it may be when resolved into a chronological series, is not at all the outgrowth of the minds of individuals of any particular generation. On the contrary. It comes to them from without, it molds them, it forces itself upon them through the material per- sistence of its objective elements, through its codes and institutions, and through the deep cutting tools of education. INTRODUCTION 17 A large part of the educational process strikes the mind of the individual during the years of highest receptivity and plasticity. Without accepting the extreme verdict of psy- choanalysis on this matter, it suffices to realize that what is deposited in the mind during the early years of child- hood, persists throughout later life with often but slight modification. Not only is man at the mercy of civilization, but he gen- erally remains either partly or wholly unaware of what he is thus forced to accept. While we regard the language in which we think and express our ideas as very particularly our own, the gram- matical structure of that language rests in the unconscious. The complicated system of classifications, categories and nuances, which make up grammar, are used by the individual without the least realization of their presence. In primitive communities, where writing is unknown, individuals arc totally unaware of the very existence of a granmiar under- lying the language they daily use. The situation is not so very different today, for the fact that grammar is taught does not prevent us from absorbing the structure of our mother tongue without the least reference to whatever con- scious knowledge we may acquire of its grammatical prin- ciples. Only at the cost of a deliberate and persistent effort can the mind be brought to deal analytically with the elements of the grammar it constantly employs in thinking. The same is almost equally true of art, particularly of music. The theoretical structure of our musical system is known to but few. Many of those who appreciate music or even produce it by singing or playing an instrument, may remain almost wholly unconscious of the basic prin- ciples with which they operate. And, again, in primitive society or among the peasant populations of Europe or among the singing and banjo-playing masses of our cities, the theoretical foundations of the music they enjoy, use and abuse, remain altogether unknown. What applies so dras- tically to language and art is only to a slighter degree true 1 8 EARLY CIVILIZATION of other elements of civilization. Rules of etiquette, re- ligious dogma, political convictions, and to a great extent the specialized outlook of a social or professional class, become fixed in the mind of the individual before he is quite aware of what is taking place. Then, when self-consciousness comes — and to many of us it never comes — we discover ourselves fitted out with all the paraphernalia of a world view, with a code of morality, behavior and belief. Then we may indulge in a deliberate effort to change these ideas and attitudes or, more com- monly, to provide for them an exculpating background of explanations and justifications. Many of our theories of edu- cation, of criminology or of etiquette, for example, consist of nothing but such accumulated afterthoughts, invented with greater or less ingenuity to render our unconsciously acquired habits, attitudes and convictions, more congenial to ourselves and better prepared to hold their own in the face of criticism or attack. It appears from the above that the individual and the group have their share both in the persistence and the originality of civilization. The individual is responsible for the creation of the new, society provides it with a back- ground and the occasion. For the new is never more than a slight ripple on the deep foundation of the old and estab- lished. The conservative dead-weight of society opposes the new, but should it appear, molds it to its pattern by prescribing the direction it is to take as well as by limiting the range of its departure from the old. This is most clearly seen in inventions and artistic creations. The talent of an Edison is a congenital gift. Even though born in early pre-history, he would have been Edison, but could not have invented the incandescent lamp. Instead, he might have originated one of the early methods of making fire. Raphael, if brought to life in a Bushman family, would have drawn curiously realistic cattle on the walls of caves as well as steatopygous Bushman women. Had Beethoven been a Chinaman, he would have composed some of those delight- INTRODUCTION 19 fully cacophonous melodies which the seeker for the quaint and unusual pretends to enjoy in Chinatown. Stability and persistence, on the other hand, are mainly brought about by social factors. Apart from the historic persistence of the material substratum of the group, the institutional norms and the directing pressure of public opinion, custom and law, are functions of the social setting. But these factors alone would be powerless to achieve stability in the absence of the inertia of the individual mind, with its readiness to adhere to once established conceptions and its predilection for the beaten path. A civilization in its unique individuality is fascinating to behold and to study. This charm of specific cultural values eluded the eye of the evolutionist of a generation ago, whose interest centered in the task of reconstructing the ante- cedents of modern society. To him the civilizations of antiquity and to an ever greater degree those of pre-history, were but stepping-stones on the road to modern civilization, but stages in an ascending series of development. The modern student, whether historian, sociologist or anthrop- ologist, having freed himself from the dogmatic preconcep- tions of the evolutionary approach, is seized with renewed zeal toward a better understanding and deeper penetration of the total range of human civilization. But the data for his study are limited. Beneath manifold differences, a level of great uniformity underlies all modern civilizations. A comparison of the latter with those of antiquity contributes a wider range of contrasting colors, but the number of such ancient civilizations is small, and on analysis, they also dis- play many common elements with our own. Pre-history, as it stands revealed by the researches of the ethnographer, belongs to a totally different plane. Each one of its civili- zations is individual and unique, is carried by relatively few individuals and covers but slight territory. Of such highly individualized civilizations, pre-history reveals a great variety, even though the list be made to include only those tribes whose cultural possessions have been studied with 20 EARLY CIVILIZATION care and in detail. Primitive North America alone com- prises a greater number of well authenticated civilizations than can be found in the whole range of modern and ancient history. The early world, then, presents an ideal field for the study of the achievements of man, for the extension of our understanding of cultural problems and our appreciation of the great range of civilization. The Evolutionary Theory : An Exposition and a Criticism. Evolution is an old idea. If one comes to think of the past at all — and most men do — there is a limited number of ways in which one can think of it. Persistence is one way in which the past can be visualized : things always were as they are today, history is a self-reproducing continuum. The Eskimo affect this attitude toward their cultural past: on the evidence of their mythology, their customs, beliefs and ideas always were what they are today. Another way to interpret the past is through creation : things have come to be as they are through the will of a supernatural being. Before that, if they existed at all, they were ideas in the mind of their creator. Origins by creation are not peculiar to the recent historic past; they are common in primitive society. The supernatural culture heroes of North America are the creators or the introducers of the arts and crafts. The All Father of Australian mythology is held responsible for the creation of the world, with the sole exception of man, who is supposed to have existed from the beginning in the form of half-finished creatures. These creatures were completed and transformed into men by two supernatural beings who traveled about the earth. The idea of creation is also known to the authors of Polynesian mythologies. Another way of accounting for the past is through trans- formation, some sort of evolution of things from one state INTRODUCTION 21 into another. This idea is deeply rooted in the mythologies of Polynesia, and in more recent times it was congenial to the Greeks and the Romans {vide H. F. Osborne's book "From the Greeks to Darwin" ) . The philosopher Kant has been shown by Professor Lovejoy to have been an evolu- tionist in some of his conceptions; and Hegel's dialectic trilogy contains an evolutionary theory in nuce. The potential evolutionism of Hegel's philosophy did not come into its own, however, until one of his disciples, Karl Marx, translated Hegel's spiritualistic ideology in terms of matter, thus laying the foundation for an economic interpretation of history with its definitely fixed stages of economic development. Strictly modern evolutionism dates from Herbert Spencer. His ideas took shape under the stimulating influence of Malthus' law of population, the evolutionary geology of Charles Lyell, the embryological generalizations of von Baer, who first drew the parallel between ontogenetic and phylogenetic development, and the biological evolutionism of Charles Darwin. The relatively scant data marshalled by Spencer in his "Biology" and "Psychology" were suf- ficient to provide him with the groundwork of his evolu- tionary system. When approaching the social field, he was confronted with more serious difficulties. His ideas were, of course, fashioned beforehand, as may be seen from the early publication of a skeletal outline of his philosophy. In its bearing on social phenomena, the theory of evolu- tion was to comprise the three following principles of de- velopment: evolution is uniform, gradual and progressive, meaning by this that social forms and institutions pass everywhere and always through the same stages of develop- ment; that the transformations which they undergo ire gradual, not sudden or cataclysmic; and that the changes implied in these transformations point in the direction of improvement from less perfect to more perfect adjustments, from lower to higher forms. Spencer was aware of the necessity of an extensive coUa- 22 EARLY CIVILIZATION tion of data to demonstrate his theory. He also realized that he could not himself cover any fraction of the necessary reading. He was, moreover, a very poor reader. Hence, he engaged the services of a number of assistants who did his reading for him. His evolutionary stages were all worked out in considerable detail before this reading process had be- gun, and what his assistants were expected to do was to find illustrations for the stages of development comprised in the philosopher's scheme. This they did by covering a tremen- dous literature of unequal worth and without attempting to study in a systematic way the ideas and customs of any par- ticular tribe. The method thus ushered in by Herbert Spencer into the study of society presently became known as the com- parative method of anthropology, and for a generation it remained in undisputed possession of the field. It has since been shown, however, that this method, if used uncritically, could be made to yield proof of any theory of social devel- opment whatsoever.^ *The essential principle of the comparative method can be illustrated by the following diagram: II III IV V VI 2 - In 3 — — 4 — — 5 - — 6 >i Suppose I, II, . . . represent tribes in different parts of the world, and i, 2, . . . , stages in the development of an institution or form of society or religion; vertical lines stand for the presence, horizontal ones for the ab- sence, of a stage in a particular tribe. Now suppose stage i is illustrated by an example from tribe I, stage 2 by one from tribe II, etc. What the classical evolutionist did was to connect stages i, 2, . . .6, each exemplified in one of the six tribes, into a chronologically successive series of stages. Thus, he claimed, the evolutionary theory stood vindicated. As a matter of fact, however, each one of the stages belongs to a different historic series, that, namely, of the tribe in which it was found. What then would be the only possible justification for the evolutionist's procedure? It would con- INTRODUCTION 23 Although Spencer speaks in unmistakable terms of civili- zation at large as evolving uniformly, gradually and pro- gressively, his better insight, without being deliberately ex- pressed, is revealed in the formal subdivisions of his •ociology. He does not there attempt to trace a scheme of social development in its entirety, but subdivides his treatise into distinct studies of the development of industrial, political, military, professional and other institutions. Nor does he even supplement this separatistic treatment of the different phases of civilization by any attempt to correlate the diverse strands of development.* A brilliant galaxy of works followed in the wake of Spencer's comparative studies. In the field of religion one may note the writings of Grant Allen, Frazer, Lang, Hart- land and Jevons; in that of art, the books by Haddon and Balfour; in social organization, the researches of Bachofen, McLennan and Morgan, who became the epigoni of an era of social investigation and hypothetical reconstruction, and lilt in the aiiumption that the itagei of development in the six tribe* are identical. If to much is taken for granted then the particular stages of development in the six tribes are interchangeable and it becomes possible to construct a chronologically successive series out of the bits of evidence un- earthed by the evolutionist. But is not the assumption of the identity of developmental stages in different tribes one of the fundamental principles of social evolution? Thus the theory of evolution must be accepted as a postulate before the comparative method can be used. It follows that the results of this method cannot be regarded as proof but merely as a series of illustrations of a postulated evolutionary theory. 'While this is so with reference to Spencer and while most other evolu- tionists followed a similar procedure, it must, nevertheless, be remembered, as a matter of historic interest, that the classical formulation of the evolu- tionary theory referred to civilization as a whole, over and above ita separate aspects. "A common misconception of the principle involved in the evolutionary method may be noticed," writes Marett in his book on "Psychology and Folk Lore." "According to this version, or rather perversion, of its meaning, it would run as follows: while the evolution of culture has taken place inde- pendently in a number of different areas, the process as a whole has re- peated itself more or less exactly; so that we either may treat any one development as typical of all, or, if no one complete history be available, may patch together a representative account out of fragments taken indif- ferently from any of the particular areas concerned." pp. 80-81. What Marett here calls a common misconception of the evolutionary method must, nevertheless, be reaffirmed to be the classical form of it. The services of the early evolutionists to the science of human civilization are undeniable and conspicuous, nor does it seem necessary to whitewash the record of their achievement by befogging the historic perspective. 24 EARLY CIVILIZATION the somewhat later studies of Westermarck which are per- vaded by a more critical spirit; in the domain of material culture, finally, there is once more the work of Morgan, that of Buecher, as well as the superficial writings of Letourneau, who combined the convictions of a dogmatic evolutionist with the literary form of a careless popularizer, thus repre- senting classical evolutionism at its worst. A few illustrations will make clear the contrast between the reconstructions of classical evolutionism and those of the modern ethnologists. In the development of social organi- zation the series of stages posited by the evolutionist was as follows: promiscuity, that is, a chaotic state of society without any structure whatsoever and characterized by un- regulated sex intercourse; followed by group marriage, in which groups of women, related or not, were regarded as the wives of groups of men, related or not; followed by the clan, a much more clearly defined form of social organi- zation, in which a tribe was divided into hereditary social units, clans, which comprised blood relatives as well as un- related persons and were based on the maternal principle, children belonging to the clans of their mothers; followed by the gens, which was like the clan except that the children belonged to the gentes of their fathers ; followed by a state of society in which the individual family and the local group or village became the basic forms of organization. This scheme was regarded as an universally applicable outline of social development, through which all tribes inevitably passed. Now, what is the verdict of modern ethnology on this generalization? The conclusions derivable from more critical investiga- tions are, in brief, as follows : There seems to be no evi- dence that a stage of promiscuity ever existed; again, the condition of group marriage, far from being an universal antecedent of individual marriage, seems to constitute, in the rare instances where it occurs, an outgrowth of a pre- existing state of individual marriage. The family and local INTRODUCTION 25 group are universal forms of social organization, extending to the very beginning. In some tribes the clan organization never develops. In others the clan follows the family- village organization. In still others, the gens follows directly upon this early organization. The development of the gens out of the clan has apparently occurred only in a few instances. It must, moreover, be remembered that the family-village grouping persists through all the other forms of organization. In the domain of art the evolutionist claimed that realistic designs were uniformly the earliest. From these, geometric designs developed through a series of transformations which represented ever higher degrees of conventionalization. This scheme also was regarded as universally applicable. In the light of further study the priority of realistic art can no longer be sustained. Geometric and realistic designs and carvings are equally basic and primitive. The process of conventionalization which figured so prominently in the evolutionist's reconstruction, does represent a frequently occurring phenomenon, but this process is neither necessary nor universal, nor is it by any means always gradual. More- over, the reverse process of the development of realistic designs from geometric ones also occurs. In material culture, the evolutionist, basing his conclu- sions upon the archeological reconstruction of European pre- history, posited the three stages: stone, bronze and iron. But in the only other culture area where the use of iron was known, namely, that of Negro Africa, the stage of iron followed directly upon that of stone, omitting the bronze stage. In the domain of economic pursuits the evolutionist is responsible for the famous triad: hunting, pastoral life, agriculture. But we know today that while hunting belongs without question to one of the earliest economic pursuits, it persists through all subsequent stages; that agriculture was practiced by many tribes that had never passed through a pastoral stage, nor kept domesticated animals, excepting 26 EARLY CIVILIZATION the dog, a condition exemplified by many tribes of North America. Again, in Negro Africa, agriculture and pastoral life are pursued on an equally wide scale. Historic agricul- ture, moreover, which involves the domestication of animals as well as the cultivation of plants, insofar as animals are used for agricultural purposes, represents a much later cultural phenomenon, to be clearly distinguished from earlier agriculture in which the domestic animal and the plow were unknown and the hoe was the only agricultural implement. In the light of better historic insight, another error of the evolutionary approach must fall to the ground. Follow- ing biological precedent, the evolutionist conceived of his- toric transformations as gradual, as consisting of slight, slowly accumulating changes. While it is true that slow changes in attitudes, knowledge or mechanical accomplish- ments are actual processes with which history makes us familiar, this should not obscute the equally conspicuous presence of relatively sudden, cataclysmic changes ushered in by social or political revolutions, great wars, important inventions. The history of modern art, science, philosophy and literature, abounds in examples of periods of precipi- tated change due to the emergence of great ideas or of dominant personahties, followed by protracted periods of relative stability, mere imitativeness, stagnation, or even regression. The third principle of evolution is equally at fault. Progress is no more constant a characteristic of cultural change than is uniformity or gradual development. Progress must be regarded as but one among several types of change characteristic of the historic process. The idea of progress, moreover, cannot be applied with equal success to all phases of civilization. Another vital defect of the evolutionary approach con- sisted in the evolutionist's failure to appraise at their true worth the processes of cultural diffusion in the course of historic contact between tribes. Whether Professor Thorn- dike is right or not in his assertion that the relation of INTRODUCTION 27 indigenous to borrowed traits in any civilization is as one to ten, the fact is undeniable that the borrowing, adoption and assimilation of imported commodities and ideas is an ever present and culturally significant phenomenon, equally con- spicuous in modern as well as in primitive society. The evolutionist was, of course, aware of the presence of this aspect of the historic process, but he tried to justify his disregard of it by affecting a cynical attitude toward dif- fusion: the phenomena of inner growth were organic, reg- ular, explanatory; those of diffusion or borrowing, were irregular, accidental, disturbing. How artificial and unreal does this approach appear to any one who views history with a clear eye and an open mind ! For is it not patent that historic borrowing is as constant and basic a process as growth from within? The civilizational role of borrowing is fundamental. The importation of foreign products and ideas enables a group, whether modern or primitive, to profit by the cultural opportunities of its neighbors. The juxtaposition, moreover, of varying and contrasting at- titudes, ideas and customs ever tends to break down tradi- tional rut and to stimulate change. Culture contact thus appears as the veritable yeast of history, and to disregard it is to develop a blind-spot in one*s historic vision, which cannot but prove fatal to any theory of historic development. PART I EARLY CIVILIZATIONS ILLUSTRATED INTRODUCTION In this part of the book our primary concern is with civil- ization. Civilization is a continuum and cannot be under- stood unless justice is done to all its aspects. This is true even though some of these or perhaps only one may rise to extraordinary importance in particular instances. No adequate idea could be given of Tsarist Russia by describing its agricultural activities alone, nor of ante-war Germany by sketching only its political structure, nor of France by pre- senting a picture of its artistic attainments. The different aspects of civilization interlock and intertwine, presenting — in a word — a continuum, which must be studied as an organic unit. This applies to modem society and even more emphatically to primitive society. That is why the realities of early life remain wholly for- eign to a reader, well versed though he may be in history and sociology, as long as his only sources of information are books like E. B. Tylor's "Primitive Culture" or N. W. Thomas' "The Native Tribes of Australia." Tylor's is a very great book, but early civilization appears in it in the form of disjointed fragments of custom, thought and belief, and the task of rearranging these fragments into a picture of primitive culture is wholly beyond the powers of a non- professional reader. Thomas' book is of a very different order: he deals with only one continent and attempts to cover all aspects of civilization. But Australia is the home of many tribes, and their cultures comprise many differences. Thus, the meshes of Thomas' descriptive network must be spread so wide that concrete reality, once more, slips through them. The only way, then, to know early civilization is to study it in the wholeness of its local manifestations. This task will be attempted in the following five chapters. But first two possible queries must be answered : to what extent do the 31 32 EARLY CIVILIZATION brief sketches here presented deserve to pass as descriptions of early civilizations? and, what determined the selection of the tribes to be described? A detailed description of one of the better known tribes or tribal groups readily assumes considerable bulk. Before one has adequately dealt with the mythology, the minutiae of ceremonial life, the wellnigh interminable odds and ends of material culture, several volumes barely suffice to cover the accumulated mass of data. The individual sketches presented here, on the other hand, do not exceed some twenty or twenty-five pages. To achieve this, the data had to be selected, and the selection had to be based on one's judgment of the indispensable, the typical, the significant. Such judgments are bound to be subjective, to a degree, and the responsibility rests with the one who selects. Over and above this general sifting of data, one aspect of civilization has been chosen in each case for somewhat more careful treatment, the choice having been determined by the suggestiveness or theoretical importance of that aspect. Thus, decorative art is given prominence in dealing with the Tlingit and Haida of Northwest America; eco- nomic and industrial adjustments to environmental condi- tions are emphasized in the Eskimo sketch ; among Iroquois traits, their socio-political system is treated somewhat more minutely, with especial emphasis on the great prominence of women in this group ; similarly, in the description of the Australian tribes their magical beliefs and practices are stressed, while the African Baganda are represented as a type of Negro state organization. It must not be imagined, however, that the cultural traits thus given prominence in our discussion would loom as high in the estimation of the natives themselves. To assume this, in fact, would be introducing a distinct bias into one's cul- tural vision of these people. The Australian, for example, might well express surprise that his magic had been made so much of rather than his hunting, his loving or his playing; while the Eskimo might object, with equal justice, that his INTRODUCTION 33 domestic habits, his visiting and story telling constituted as essential a part of his life as the kayak, sledge, drill and harpoon. Why, finally, the particular selection? Why just the Tlin« git, Haida, Eskimo, Baganda and Arunta? The answer is simple and I hope sufficient. In view of the treatment here adopted, a thorough knowledge of the tribes described was an indispensable prerequisite. Therefore, I selected the tribes I knew best, restricting the number and the length of the sketches in accordance with the space available. It seemed desirable to use the American tribes as the backbone of the descriptive section ; therefore three of the groups be- long to this continent. The comparison with one African and one Australian civilization serves to bring into relief the similarities and differences of the American groups as well as to emphasize the continental contrasts. It must be remembered, then, that the Zuni, Omaha or Thompson would have served just as well for America, the Bushongo, Yoruba, Massai or Zulu for Africa, and for Australia the Dierl or Wotjabuluk. Thus, whatever general conclusions may be reached on the basis of the descriptive sketches In this section, will have to be regarded as correlated with the particular five tribes selected only in an incidental, not in a specific way. CHAPTER I THE ESKIMO: A CASE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTMENT T\\t Eskimo, like the American Indians, represent an off- shoot of the great Mongolian stock, but the physical char- acteristics as well as the cultural peculiarities of the Eskimo are so distinct that it is customary to speak of this curious people as separate from the Indian. The Eskimo tribes in- habit in America the entire Arctic littoral from Greenland to Alaska. Their habitations, consisting of small clusters of snow houses, prefer the neighborhood of the coast and but seldom extend far into the interior. In this remote and detached environment, almost out of reach of foreign civilizations, and under the stress of ex- ceedingly hard climatic and topographical conditions, the Eskimo have worked out their salvation with a very remark- able degree of ingenuity and success. I In their stories and myths the Eskimo display a peculiar lack of imaginativeness. They are not given to speculation nor do they show much concern for the origins of things and the development of the present order. In nature as in the affairs of man things always were much as they are now. The pictures of Eskimo life represented in the myths faith- fully reflect their life of today. Attempts at explaining the peculiarities of animals or the origin of the animals them- selves, a common feature of early mythologies, occur but seldom among the Eskimo, and when that is the case, the themes are treated lightly and without much detail or embel- lishment. Their stories, however, do tell of encounters with giants and dwarfs. The giants, very large but stupid, fall an easy prey to Eskimo skill and wits, while the dwarfs, diminutive in size but exceedingly strong, are in the end also overcome by the Eskimo. A wide-spread theme is the story of an orphan boy who lives among strangers, being ill- 34 • THE ESKIMO 35 treated in all sorts of ways. He endures everything in si- lence, until one day he encounters a wolf or some semi-super- natural creature, from whom, in a variety of ways (accord- ing to the version of the myth), he acquires superhuman powers. On his way home he performs miraculous feats of strength, such as picking up rocks and tossing them about. At home he hides the fact of his great strength from his as- sociates and pretends to be meek and submissive as before. After a while, some untoward accident happens, such as an attack by a polar bear. Then the orphan rises to the occa- sion, seizes the bear by the hind legs, and whirling him through the air, smashes his head against a rock. The peo- ple are overcome with gratitude and prepared to do him homage for his valor, but he will have none of it; and usu- ally the story ends by his humiliating them or even putting them all to death. The myth which is most current among the different Es- kimo tribes and plays a conspicuous part in their mythology and religion is the story of Sedna, the goddess of the winds and the sea mammals. Sedna was living with her husband, the dog, until one day, in the absence of the dog, she was kidnapped by a hostile petrel. When the dog returned and found her gone, he started out in pursuit in his kayak ac- companied by Sedna's father. They reached the home of the abductor and, in his absence, recaptured Sedna and started back across the sea. After a while the wind rose, waves began to shake the kayak, threatening to upset it. Then Sedna's father, realizing the approach of the petrel, seizes his daughter and throws her into the sea. She clings to the gunwale with the first joints of her fingers. The father chops them off. The joints fall into the sea and are transformed into killer whales. She clings on with her sec- ond joints. They also are chopped off and are transformed into ground seals. She clings to the boat with her third joints, which, when chopped ofif, become transformed into seals. She still clings on with the stumps of her wrists. Then her father hits her on the head with a club. She lets 36 EARLY CIVILIZATION go of the boat, sinks and drowns. The father and the dog reach the shore safely, and the old man falls asleep on the beach in front of his tent. Then the sea rises and over- whelms him. Since then, Sedna lives at the bottom of the sea, with her father. Sedna, the great goddess, Is believed to be in control of the sea-mammals as well as of the weather; and when angered she shows her ire by sending storms and famine. Many versions of the Sedna myth occur among the dif- ferent Eskimo tribes. Next to Sedna the most important beings of Eskimo cos- mology are the inua, supernatural creatures who may be- come the helpers and protectors of man. Then they are known as tornaq. While most men can thus acquire tornaq, the ones that are most favored by the supernatural helpers are the angakiit or magicians. The three most powerful tornaq are conceived as a person, a bear and a stone. The human tornaq is a woman with one eye In the middle of her forehead. Another human tornaq that Is deemed very powerful is the so-called "Master of the Dancing House"; this creature Is shaped like a bandy-legged man with his knees bent outward and forward. The bear tornaq is a huge creature without hair, except on the points of the ears and of the tail and about the mouth. The stone tornaq Is shaped somewhat like an irregular boulder, has no legs, but goes about wobbling on the ground. The tornaq are In the habit of bestowing presents upon their favorites In the form of amulefS, which bring to their owners various forms of good fortune. Some of these amu- lets may also be Inherited from Individual to Individual. Among the most common amulets are a feather of an owl, a bear's tooth, a chip of some rare mineral, or a bit of a child's first garment. Great snow structures, the so-called singing or dancing houses, are built to some of the more important tornaq; in these houses ceremonies are per- formed. The arrangement of the ceremonial participants in one of the singing houses can be seen from the drawing. THE ESKIMO 37 Fia I (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 600) It has been seen that the sea mammals are conceived as having originated from Sedna's fingers. Therefore, atone- ment must be made for every animal killed. When a seal is brought in, all work must be stopped until it is cut open. When the animal killed is a ground seal, a walrus or a whale, there is an enforced rest lasting three days. There are some exceptions to this. Thus, seal skin articles may be made over during this period, but nothing new can be made. No deer skin obtained in the summer may be touched until the first seal is caught with the harpoon. Later, when the first walrus is caught, the work on deer must stop once more. The last few regulations represent aspects of a general cycle of taboos which separate the activities centering around the deer, on the one hand, and the sea mammals, on the other; the two sets of functions must be kept strictly apart, and in some localities even dogs are not allowed to gnaw deer bones during the seal season and vice versa. Again, deer bones must not be broken while walrus are hunted; and so on. Special sets of taboos are imposed upon women during certain periods. They are not permitted to eat raw meat, must cook in separate pots, must not join in festivals. In the nature of the case, some of these taboos are occasion- ally transgressed. In this connection certain peculiar cus- toms have developed. 38 EARLY CIVILIZATION According to Eskimo ideas, the transgression of a taboo takes the form of a black object which attaches itself to the culprit, an object invisible to humans, but which can be seen by the animals as well as by the angakut or medicine-men. When a hunter transgresses a taboo, the animals frightened by the black object will avoid him, and he will not be able to kill them. Thus, a famine may be threatened. To fore- stall so great a calamity, the culprit is expected to make a public confession, whereupon his guilt is regarded as wiped out and normal conditions are restored. Should confession be withheld, however, famine or disease will ensue. Here the angakok steps in. One of his principal functions is to save the situation in grave predicaments such as this. When the crisis has become acute and no confession is made by any one, the angakok summons a public gathering and by magical means detects the culprit, who, when thus identified, stands in serious danger of his or her life. When the trans- gression has been confessed or brought to light by the an- gakok, the danger of famine or sickness is regarded as passed and normal conditions are restored. In their artistic activities the Eskimo display singular skill. Their women, who cut and sew the fur garments, also em- bellish them with very simple geometrical designs in em- broidery or applique, while the men decorate the bone ob- jects with etched designs and carve the characteristic Eskimo bone figurines, diminutive in size, like the etchings, but skill- fully fashioned in the shape of sea mammals, reindeer, hu- man beings, or objects of Eskimo material culture. In the etched designs the forms are always indicated in out- line only, and with very few lines, but by a clever manipu- lation of the position of arms, legs and body, the Eskimo contrive to convey a suggestion of motion, and even of emotional expression. The skill with which the Eskimo portray action in a medium which lends itself but poorly for that function brings to mind a similar tendency in the much more elaborate art of China and Japan. The social organization of the Eskimo is simple. They THE ESKIMO 39 live in families, and a small number of families occupying several snow houses constitute a village. There are no chiefs, the only permanently influential individuals being the angakut who, as described before, have considerable pres- tige with the people. Outside of these, the leaders are men who have distinguished themselves by their skill in any of the important economic pursuits and are, therefore, selected as leaders of hunting and fishing expeditions, and the like. The status of these leaders is, however, a purely individual matter, their position is never inherited, nor is their reputa- tion such as to command obedience, except in those situations where, through their special competence, they find them- selves in temporary control. Sex morality among the Eskimo has often been designated as loose, on account of the apparent laxity in the relations of the sexes both before and after marriage. The alleged "looseness" of these relations is, however, a misnomer, for here as everywhere else, there exist definite standards and regulations of sex behavior. These standards, which, of course, differ from our own, are adhered to by the Eskimo. Whatever sex contact may take place between a married woman and a man other than her husband, is sub- ject to the husband's control; should a wife indulge in any sexual irregularities without his knowledge, she suffers for it severely if detected. There is, in particular, one Eskimo custom, which has quite unjustly been criticized as reveal- ing their immorality. This is the so-called prostitution of hospitality, in accordance with which it is customary for a husband to offer his wife for the night to a visiting stranger. A rejection of this offer is resented and regarded as an insult both to the woman and the host. The Eskimo are a peace-loving people. Barring the blood- curdling combats of their mythologic tales, they fight but seldom. Outside of the sway of the custom of blood re- venge, which is found here as well as practically everywhere in the primitive world, they are also remarkably mild in the matter of punishment. A not uncommon way of dealing 40 EARLY CIVILIZATION with offenses is for the aggrieved party to challenge the of- fender to a satirical song contest. Challenger and chal- lenged compose satirical songs about each other, which in due time they deliver, surrounded and supported by their friends. The man whose song receives the greater acclaim on the part of the audience, wins and temporarily gains in social prestige, while the position of his rival is correspond- ingly debased. The element of Eskimo civilization in which their environ- mental adjustment is most conspicuous is their material cul- ture : their tools, weapons, conveyances and habitations. Many of these represent remarkable examples of ingenuity and skill. During the larger part of the year these people live in snow houses, semi-spherical structures made of slabs of snow, which are cut by means of the so-called snow knives from the snow drifts always to be found in an Eskimo neigh- borhood. In the drawing. Fig 3 is the ground plan of a house, while Fig. 2 represents an outside view with a cross sec- tion of passageway (c). The section a in front of the entrance is pro-a\'' tected by a semi-circu- V\ lar turn in the wall which \ prevents the wind and snow Fig. 2 Fig. 3 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," pp. S4X-S43} THE ESKIMO 4] from blowing directly into the house, b is formed by a small dome about six feet in height, while the two doors arc about two and one-half feet in height. Equally high is the passage c formed by an elliptical vault. The door to the main room is about three feet high, while the floor of the lat- ter is about nine inches above the floor of the passage, so that any moisture accumulated on the floor of the main room will flow off into the passage, but the opposite will not occur. The small compartments d are formed by vaults and may be entered either through small doors from the main room or the passage, or by the removal of one of the snow slabs from the outside. The compartments are used for storing clothing, harness, meat and blubber. Over the entrance to the main room a window is cut through the wall, which Is cither square or more often arched. This window is cov- ered with the intestines of ground seals, neatly sewed to- gether, the seams extending vertically. In the center of the window is a hole for looking out, into which a piece of fresh water ice is sometimes inserted. In the main room, on both sides (A) of the door and in the back of the room (^) a bank of snow two and one-half feet high is raised, leaving a passage five feet wide and six feet long (e). The rear part is the bed (^) while on the two sides (h) the lamps (/) are placed and meat and refuse are heaped. Before the bed is arranged and the house furnished, the vault is lined with skins, often the cover of the summer hut. The skin lining is fastened to the roof by small ropes which are kept in pgsition by toggles outside of the wall (Fig. 4) : Fig. 4 (Boat, "The Central Eskimo," p. 543) 42 EARLY CIVILIZATION The flat roof in the upper part of the lining extends two or three feet below the top of the vault; this prevents the warm air in the house from melting the snow roof, as there is al- ways some colder air between the skins and the roof. Near the top of the building a small hole is cut in the roof for ventilation; this also provides the draught necessary for the lamps: the cold air enters through the door, fills the pass- age, is warmed, rises to the lamps and escapes through the skin lining and the hole. Space does not permit to dwell on any further details of the snow house. We must now turn to the equally interesting contrivances used by the Eskimo as means of transportation: the kayak and the sledge. Fig. 5 "^•^^imr" Fig. 6 Kayak and framework (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," pp. 486-7) A variety of kayaks occur, one of which is represented here. When the framework is ready, the whole frame is covered with skins tightly sewed together and almost water- proof. When put upon the frame, the skin covering is wetted thoroughly and then stretched until it fits tightly; it is tied by thongs to the rim of the hole. The thongs sewed to the skin in several places (as visible in the sketch) are used to keep in position the kayak implements, which con- sist of a large harpoon and its line, with the seal skin float THE ESKIMO 43 attached, a receptacle for the line, a bird spear with throw- ing board, and two lances. The harpoon is one of the most remarkable contrivances of the Eskimo. It consists of four parts, as indicated in the drawing: Fic. 7 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo/' pp. 488-489) The shaft {a) consists of a stout pole, from one-half to five feet long; to its lower end an ivory knob (^) is fastened. At the center of gravity of the shaft a small piece of ivory {e) is attached which supports the hand when the weapon is thrown; at right angles to knob e another small ivory knob (/) is inserted in the shaft, which holds the harpoon 44 EARLY CIVILIZATION line. The ivory head (b) is fitted upon the shaft so snugly that no other devices are used to insure its remaining in place. The walrus tusk {c) articulates with b by means of a ball and socket joint. The point of c, finally, fits into the lower end of the harpoon point (d), as may be seen in Fig. 7. The walrus tusk is attached by thongs to the shaft, which transforms the latter, the ivory knob and the tuck into a firm unit (Fig. 10). As seen in Fig. 12, the har- poon line is attached to the point (d) and then another little contrivance (h) which is attached to the line is pulled over the ivory knob (/) . The line between the point and h is just long enough for h to reach to /, and so long as the tusk (e) remains in position, the shaft and point are thus firmly held together. When the harpoon is thrown and the animal is struck, the tusk moves laterally in the ball and socket joint; this diminishes the distance between the point d and the knob f {zs in b) , h slips off, thus disengaging the line and harpoon point from the shaft (as in c). Thus the precious point, which is often made with great care, is saved to the hunter. In connection with the bird spear (Fig. 13) a throwing board is used, as shown in the drawing (Fig. 14). THE ESKIMO 45 Fig. 13 Fia 14 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 496) The ivory knob (c) at the end of the spear shaft has i small hole, into which the spike (d) at the end of the groove in the throwing board is inserted when the spear is in posi- tion for throwing. When in use, the board is held firmly in the right hand, the first finger passing through hole e, and the thumb clasping the notch /, while the points of the other fingers hold on to the notches on the opposite side of the board (^). The spear is violently thrust forward by the spike and attains considerable velocity. When the harpoon is used on powerful animals such as whales, a contrivance is sometimes inserted some distance from the seal-skin float. It consists of a wooden hoop with a seal or deer skin stretched over it. Three or four thongs of equal length are fastened to the hoop at equal distances and bound together. At the point of union they are at- 46 EARLY CIVILIZATION tachcd to the line. In the drawing (Fig 15) this contriv- ance is represented in action in conjunction with five seal-skin floats. Fig. 15 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 500) As soon as the animal is struck, it begins to swim away. Then the hoop assumes a position at right angles to the line. Thus a strong resistance comes into play, the speed of the animal is reduced, and its strength soon exhausted. The buoyancy of the float prevents the animal's escape; moreover, it is unable to dive and is thus forced to remain within sight of the hunter. While the kayak is used for hunting, it is evidently too slight a conveyance for the transportation by water of either men or things. For that purpose another kind of boat is used, much larger, heavier and clumsier than the kayak. It is also a skin boat over a wooden frame, with the difference that the top of the boat remains uncovered. It is propelled by means of two single-bladed oars — three or four women generally working at each oar — while a double- bladed paddle is always used with the kayak. What the kayak and the "woman's boat" are for naviga- tion, the sledge (Fig. 16) is for transportation and travel on land. Among the tribes where driftwood is plentiful (Hudson Straits and Davis Straits) the best sledges are made with long wooden runners. The sledges have two run- ners from five to fifteen feet long and twenty inches to two and one-half feet apart. They are connected by cross bars of wood or bone (a) and the back is formed by deer's antlers THE ESKIMO 47 (b) with the skull attached. This back is used for steering, for attaching the lashing when a load is carried and for hanging the snow knife and the harpoon line upon it. The bottom of the runners is shod with whalebone, ivory or the jaw bones of a whale (c). In long sledges the shoeing is made broadest at the head. When traveling over soft snow, this proves of value, as the snow is pressed down by the broad surfaces of the runners at the head, and the sledge glides over it without sinking in very deeply. The shoe is either tied or riveted to the runner. In the former case, the lashing passes through sunken drill holes, a V /'/ rill 1^1 I " I ^ I -1 \ -^^^ yy 'd Fia 1 6 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 529) to prevent friction when moving over the snow. The right and left sides of a whale's jaw are often used for shoes, as they are of the right size, thus providing excellent one-piece shoes. The exposed points of the runners are frequently protected with bone also on the upper side. The cross bars {a) are lashed to the runners by thongs which pass through two pairs of holes in each bar and cor- responding ones in the runners. The bars extend beyond the runners on each side, a sort of neck being formed in the projecting parts by notches on the two sides of the bar (see drawing). When a load is lashed onto the sledge, the thongs are fastened to these necks. Under the foremost cross bar there is a hole in each run- ner through which a very stout thong passes, which is pre- 48 EARLY CIVILIZATION vented by a button from slipping through. One thong ends in a loop (e), to the other a clasp (^) is tied, which, when in use, passes through the loop at the end of the other thong. Upon this line the dogs' traces are strung by means of a small implement with a large and small eyelet: to one the trace is tied, the other Is used for stringing the implement upon the stout thong.^ ^ Professor Boas' remarks on the treatment of Eskimo dogs and on their behavior are so interesting that they deserve to be quoted verbatim (pp. 533-4) : "The strongest and most spirited dog has the longest trace and is allowed to run a few feet in advance of the rest as a leader ; its sex is indifferent, the choice being made chiefly with regard to strength. Next to the leader follow two or three strong dogs with traces of equal length, and the weaker and less manageable the dogs the nearer they run to the sledge. A team is almost unmanageable if the dogs are not accustomed to one another. They must know their leader, who brings them to terms whenever there is a quarrel. In a good team the leader must be the acknowledged chief, else the rest will fall into disorder and refuse to follow him. His authority is almost unlimited. When the dogs are fed, he takes the choice morsels; when two of them quarrel, he bites both and thus brings them to terms. "Generally there is a second dog which is inferior only to the leader, but Fig. 17. Dog in Harness (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 432) THE ESKIMO 49 The list of Eskimo weapons is incomplete if no mention is made of the bow. Two general types occur, one of wood, the other of reindeer antlers; several varieties of Wooden bow The three parts of the bow Lower surface of bow, showing the sinew lashing Fig. 1 8 (Stefansson, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. XIV, Part I, p. 86) each occur in different localities. The wooden bow consists of one piece of wood, or of several pieces joined together (see drawing). In either case the bow is is feared b^ all the others. Though the authority of the leader is not dis- puted by his own team, dogs of another team will not submit to him. But when two teams are accustomed to travel in company the dogs in each will have some regard for the leader of the other, though continuous rivalry and quarrels go on between the two leaders. Almost any dog which is harnessed into a strange team will at first be unwilling to draw, and it is only when he is thoroughly accustomed to all his neighbors and has found out his friends and his enemies that he will do bis work satisfactorily. Some dogs when put into a strange team will throw themselves down and struggle and howl. They will endure the severest lashing and allow them- selves to be dragged along over rough ice without being induced to rise and run along with the others. Particularly if their own team is in sight will they turn back and try to get to it. Others, again, are quite willing to work with strange dogs. "Partly on this account and partly from attachment to their masters, dogs sold out of one team frequently return to their old homes, and I know of instances in which they even ran from thirty to sixty miles to reach it. Sometimes they do so when a sledge is travehng for a few days from one settlement to another, the dogs not having left home for a long time before. In such cases when the Eskimo go to harness their team in the morning they find that some of them have run away, particularly those which were lent from another team for the journey. In order to prevent this the left fore leg is sometimes tied up by a loop which passes over the neck. When one is on a journey it is well to do so every night, as some of the dogs are rather unwilling to be harnessed in the morning, thus causing a great loss of time before they are caught. In fact such animals are customarily tied up at night, while the others are allowed to run loose. so EARLY CIVILIZATION reinforced by numerous lines of sinew, the result being a very powerful weapon. Of antler bows two kinds are rep- resented here. Fig. 20 (Boas, "The Central Eskimo," p. 503) In both cases the bow consists of three pieces of antler. In Fig. 19 there is a stout central piece («) slanted at both ends, to which the other two pieces (b) are riveted. The bow is reinforced by sinews, like the wooden variety, and the joints are secured by strong strings (c) wound around them. In Fig 20 the central piece (d) is not slanted but cut off straight. The joint on either side is secured by two addi- tional pieces of bone, a short stout one outside (^), which prevents the sections from breaking apart, and a long thin one inside (/) , which provides the needed resiliency. Before the introduction of fire arms, the bow and arrow "Sometimes "the harnesses are not taken off at night. As some dogs are in the habit of stripping off their harness, it is fastened by tying the trace around the body. Though all these peculiarities of the dogs give a great deal of trouble to the driver, he must take care not to punish them too severely, as they will then become frightened and for fear of the whip will not work at all." (P- 537) "If two persons are on the sledge — and usually two join for a long drive — they must not speak to each other, for as soon as the dogs hear them they will stop, turn around, sit down, and listen to the conversation." "If any dog of the team is lazy the driver calls out his name and he is lashed, but it is necessary to hit the dog called, for if another is struck he feels wronged and will turn upon the dog whose name has been called; the leader enters into the quarrel, and soon the whole pack is huddled up in one howling and biting mass, and no amount of lashing and beating will separate the fighting team. The only thing one can do is to wait until their wrath has abated and to clear the traces." These paragraphs from dog pedagogy seem to be as instructive as they are entertaining. THE ESKIMO SI were indispensable in hunting the reindeer, musk ox and polar bear, and they are still used by many tribes. An important tool for ivory and bone work next deserves attention : the drill ( Fig. 21). This implement is of especial interest, as it is also used for making fire. The drill consists of three parts: the shaft made of iron (since the introduction of this metal by the whites), the mouthpiece (Z?), made of wood or bone, and the bow (c), made of bone. When the drill is in use the mouthpiece (b) is taken between the teeth and held firmly, then the point of the drill is set against the place to be perforated, and the bow is moved to and fro by both hands; as one string winds, the other automatically unwinds. Thus a continuous revolution of the point is secured, and the hole is quickly made. When the drill is used for making fire, hard wood (ground willow) is substituted for the iron shaft (a), which is made to revolve against a piece of driftwood <---- -"-^ ~ Fig. 21 (Boat, "The Central Eskimo," p. 526) 52 EARLY CIVILIZATION (d). Presently the driftwood begins to glow. Against the glowing wood a little moss is next applied, which after some gentle blowing begins to burn. Such, then, are the economic conditions of the Eskimo and some of their industrial achievements. It will be admitted that the Eskimo have solved their environmental problem in masterly fashion. When the first Eskimo tribes struck the forbidding conditions of the arctic the struggle must have been intense. For a long time sur- vival itself must have wavered in the balance. Why these original tribes should have remained, why they did not move on until milder surroundings were found, we cannot say. The fact is, they did remain. Menace after menace was met in turn : the cold, the snow and storm, the darkness, the paucity of materials. When the victory of mind over na- ture was achieved, a civilization had been brought into be- ing which had few rivals as an adjustment. Having solved its problem so successfully, it remained duly conservative, strangely immune to foreign influences, and remarkably uniform throughout the enormous range of Eskimo tribes. They have moved along the frozen shores, penetrating but little into the interior, apparently preferring to remain in an environment where their hard won successes continued to serve them well and no basic readjustments were required. CHAPTER II THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA OF NORTHWEST AMERICA The Indian tribes inhabiting the shores of British Co- lumbia, Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, the Prince of Wales Islands and southern Alaska, have devel- oped a distinctive set of civilizational features. This entire region is classed by American ethnologists as a separate culture area designated as the Northwest Coast. This cul- ture is most clearly represented by the Tlingit and Haida. They share ahnost all of their cultural traits with their Tsimshian speaking neighbors, while the Kwakiutl, further south, having developed from a common cultural stratum, display a number of individualized traits. The Tlingit and Haida speaking tribes are hunters and fishermen. While the men are devoted to these pursuits, the women gather a variety of wild berries. The men hunt the land animals as well as the mammals of the sea, such as the whale, killer-whale, and seal, and they catch the fish along the shores of the ocean and in the rivers. The fishing meth- ods employed are many and varied. The bow and arrow are commonly used for striking the fish while they shoot through the water. A great variety of nets, wicker baskets and hedges are employed for catching fish in the streams, and when the salmon go up the rivers in huge shoals, their quantity is so great that they can be caught with baskets. There is no pottery made in this region nor is there any agriculture, except in the form of garden culture among the Kwakiutl, whose women cultivate patches of clover, with- out, however, using the seed of the plant for sowing. Bar- ring the dog, domestic animals are unknown. The Haida and the tribes further south are not proficient at basketry, 5S 54 EARLY CIVILIZATION and little of it is made. The Tlingit, on the other hand, make excellent twine baskets. Work in shell and mountain- goat horn occurs in abundance, the Haida spoons made out of the latter material having reached a high degree of per- fection in technique and elaboration. Clothing of skin is worn as well as a large basket hat. The feet are usually bare, although leggings and moccasins of skin are also known. One of the Tlingit tribes, the Chilkat, weave a blanket of soft cedar bark and mountain-goat wool. When at work on these blankets, the women use no loom, but do the weaving with their fingers. Small sections of a blanket are finished separately and are then sewed together. The principal industry of the entire Northwest is wood work, and the trees used more than any others are the red and yellow cedar. These are used for the walls of their large gable-roofed houses, the walls consisting of perpendi- cular planks. In view of the great difficulty involved in fell- ing large trees with the stone axes employed, these planks, at least in olden times, were spht from the standing tree by means of a somewhat complicated method requiring the use of wedges. Whole trunks of cedar are used for the great hunting and war canoes, the inside of the trunk being partly hollowed out with axes and partly burnt. In place of pots, cedar boxes are used, the four walls of a box being fashioned out of one piece of wood bent into the shape re- quired, while the solitary juncture is sewn together with bark string, the so-called disappearing stitch being often em- ployed. Dishes, large and small, settees, masks, ladles and cradles are also made of wood, as well as great carved totem poles and memorial columns. The soft inner bark of the cedar is worked into mats which are sometimes used for clothing; ceremonial paraphernalia and forehead bands are also made of this material. It has been said, with justice, that a great part of the economic life and industry of these people centers around the cedar and the salmon : wood is as important in Northwest industry as salmon is in their diet. The population of the Northwest Coast is divided into THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 55 three classes, the nobles, commoners and slaves. The com- moners constitute the main body of the people. Through personal distinction in war or by giving one or more great feasts, a commoner may gain access to the nobility. The class of nobles furnishes the chiefs, whose office is usually hereditary for at least several generations. The slaves, most of whom are prisoners of war, do not form part of the social organization proper. While the master has absolute right of life and death over his slave, the economic position and daily life of the latter does not greatly differ from that of his owner. The slaves live in the houses with the other people, they eat with them, work, hunt and make war on a par with the others. It is only on occasions where social prestige and ceremonial prerogatives are involved that the disabilities of the slave become conspicuous. In ancient days there was a custom of sacrificing a slave at the erection of a house. The slave was buried alive under one of the sup- porting poles of the new structure, and to commemorate this event, an inverted figure of a man was represented as be- ing devoured by one of the animals carved on the pole. The social organization proper is identical in principle among the Tlingit and the Haida, and the former may be used as an example. There are two main social divisions or phratries, the Raven and the Wolf, whose main function is to control intermarriage — no marriage being permitted within a phratry. There is also a third social division, a much smaller one, represented in only one locality, with which both of the phratries may intermarry. Descent Is maternal, the children belonging to the phratry of the mother. The phratries are further subdivided into clans, of which the Raven phratry contains twenty-eight and the Wolf phratry, twenty-six. These clans have local names, and there can be no doubt that originally the clans con- stituted local divisions or villages. Even today the local character of these social units is pronounced; thus, of the Wolf clans, one is prominently represented in four local divi- sions or villages, two clans in three villages, and one in two. S6 EARLY CIVILIZATION The remaining twenty-one clans are largely restricted to one village. Of the Raven clans, one is prominent in four vil- lages, one in three and one in two, while the remaining twenty-five clans are in the main restricted to one village. In addition to controlling intermarriage, the major divi- sions or phratries have certain functions which may be de- signated as reciprocal; thus, the members of the two phra- tries assist each other at burials of their members and at the building of houses, while among the Tlingit the principal feast, or potlatch, of the year is given by individuals or groups of one phratry to those of the other.^ As a consequence of the exogamic functions of the phra- try, the clans, which are Its subdivisions, are also exoga- mous, that is, no two members of a clan may intermarry. Strictly speaking, however, these matrimonial concerns are the business not of the clan, but of the phratry. The clan, on the other hand, Is in the main a ceremonial unit, distin- guished by a variety of partly hereditary prerogatives. Every clan owns its special ceremonial features, Including dances and cries and ritualistic paraphernalia. But the most cherished prerogative of a clan Is the right to use as its crest a particular animal, bird or supernatural creature; most of the Haida clans use several of these. The crest or crests may then be carved on the totem poles and me- morial columns owned by the families or Individuals com- prised In the clan. Crests, In whole or in part, are also carved on boxes and ladles, or painted on the sides of canoes, the front walls of houses, as well as on the faces of individual clan members. Members of each clan tell a story of how a human ancestor of the clan came into Inti- *It is interesting to note the diflFerentiation in custom between these two neighboring tribes so intimately related in culture. Among the Haida a potlatch may be given to a member or group of the opposite phratry, but the main potlatch of the year is always given to members of the same phratry. Among the Tlingit, on the other hand, a potlatch is an inter- phratry affair. The Tlingit, in fact, feel very keenly on this subject. To have a potlatch given to one is to be placed under very serious obligation, argue the Tlingit; it is, therefore, distinctly in bad taste to inflict such a feast upon members of one's own phratry, most of whom are close relatives of the giver of the feast. THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 57 mate association with the animal, bird or supernatural creature which thenceforth became the crest of the clan. Thus, the people of a Tlingit clan with the frog as its crest, tell of an ancestral individual who kicked a frog over on its back. Presently he fell into a swoon and his body was carried into the house. Meanwhile, his soul was taken by the frogs to Frog-town (arranged after the manner of hu- man towns). There the man's soul was brought into the presence of Chief Frightful-Face. The chief said to the man : "We belong to your clan and it is a shame that you should treat your own people as you have done. You bet- ter go to your own village. You have disgraced yourself as well as us, for this woman belongs to your own clan." After this the man left Frog-town and at the same time his body at home came to. He told the people of his adventure. All the people of his clan were listening to what this man said, and It is because the frog himself said that he was a member of that clan that they claim the frog. Another Tlingit clan that owns the grizzly bear crest tells the story of a hunter who was caught in a bear's den. He found favor with the bear's wife, whereupon the male bear left and the man married the she-bear and had children by her. Finally, he is discovered by his younger brother to whose entreaties that he return home, he replies: "Stand right there 1 Don't do any harm. I am here. Although I am with this wild animal, I am living well. Don't worry about me any more." When he was first taken to the den, it looked like a den and nothing more; but that night he thought he was in a fine house with people all about eating supper, and his wife looked to him like a human being. Later he returns to the village, but abstains from all contact with his human wife, spending his time hunting, at which he is very successful. During one of the hunts he meets his bear children to whom he gives the seals he has caught. Hence- forth he feeds them regularly. His human wife detects this and protests against his feeding the bear cubs rather than her little ones. He submits and begins to feed her children. 58 EARLY CIVILIZATION But presently he goes hunting again and once more takes some seals to his cubs. As he approaches them in his boat, he notes that they do not act as usual. Instead, they lie flat on the ground with their ears erect. Then he lands, but when he comes near them they kill him. It is on this ac- count that the people of his clan claim the grizzly bear as their crest. Although the clans are maternal as well as the phratries, the position of women in these communities is not high. They are deprived of most ceremonial prerogatives and fig- ure but inconspicuously in the important series of customs clustering about the belief in guardian spirits.^ Passing to the economic ideas of the Northwest, we find them as well developed as are the principles underlying their social organization. Property, both of material and spiritual kind, abounds. Individuals, families and clans own tools, garments, ceremonial paraphernalia, songs, sto- ries, cries and crests. Many of these may be, and often are passed down by inheritance, either as a clan or family pre- rogative or as a possession of an individual, willed to his or her heirs. Interesting are the developments of communal property rights. Strips of shore along the ocean front as well as along the course of rivers are owned by families and clans as fishing properties. The same is true of localities in the hills and valleys in which mountain-goats are hunted. The ^Further details about these interesting customs will be found in the section on "The Guardian Spirit in American Indian Religion," pp. 184-193. It is of interest to note in this connection that the relatively inferior posi- tion of woman is here associated with the maternal organization of descent and of the inheritance of property. This fact contrasts strikingly with the conditions obtaining among the Iroquoian speaking tribes of the East, among whom the female tracing of descent and the equitable position of woman in connection with the ownership and inheritance of property is associated with a very high degree of social and political prominence of woman. When in very recent times the custom of blood revenge among the Indian tribes was checked and a fine substituted, this diflference of valuation of woman on the part of the two groups of tribes did not fail to express itself, for among the tribes of the Northwest, the penalty for the killing of a woman was only one-half in amount of that imposed for the killing of a man, whereas among the Iroquoian tribes, the reverse was the case — the penalty for killing a woman was double of that exacted for the killing of a man. THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 59 Kwaklutl employ the following method to define a fishing ter- ritory. From two prominent points along the shore, imag- inary lines are drawn to an island some distance from the mainland. Within the space thus enclosed by the two lines and the shore, a clan claims fishing privileges. It must not be imagined, however, that this development of proprietory ideas stands for distinction of economic status among individuals. There is but the dimmest fore- shadowing of a possible division into rich and poor. All live in about the same way. The noble and the commoner, the slave and his master, share in the same work and enjoy approximately the same comforts and pleasures. As will presently be seen, huge amounts of property do often ac- cumulate in the hands of an individual or in a family or clan. This property, however, is not valuable in itself as riches, nor does it buy comforts, luxuries, or the services of other men. Its value is in the social prestige that goes with it. The clearest expression of this form of socio-economic valuation may be seen in the institution of the potlach. The potlatch is a feast given by an individual to another individual, or by one family or clan to another. On the occasion of these feasts, which are often attended by an impressive gathering of people, the feast giver presents his guests with blankets, canoes, oil and other valuables. Also, a great deal of property is destroyed outright on these oc- casions. Huge quantities of the precious seal oil, for ex- ample, are burned. The more sumptuous the presents given away, the more lavish the destruction of property, the greater is the feast and the higher the esteem that accrues to the feast giver, while the rival to whom the feast is given is correspondingly debased in social status. To regain popular favor, the latter must give a feast in return, in which case he may or may not be supported by his friends and relatives. The presents given away on the occasion of the first feast must now be returned with interest, which, if the return feast has been delayed for a long time, may amount to one hundred per cent, or even more. The amount of property 6o EARLY CIVILIZATION destroyed must be correspondingly large. After this is achieved, the giver of the return feast not only regains his social prestige, but greatly enhances it at the expense of his rival. In connection with the potlatch, the so-called "coppers" have come into use. A copper is hammered out of native copper, or a sheet of the metal left by an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company may be used for the purpose. It looks like this: The intrinsic value of a copper is nil, its symbolic value may rise very high. These coppers are given away at feasts and the value of the copper is rated in proportion to the munificence of the feast at which it figures. When, in the course of time, it is re- turned to the original owner at an- other feast, its value rises in propor- tion. Thus it comes about that some of the coppers are worth hundreds or even thousands of blankets (a blanket passes as the unit of value amounting to about fifty cents) . The coppers are distinguished by names corresponding to their high ceremonial significance, such as "AU-Other-Coppers-Are- Ashamed-to-Look-At-It" (this specimen was worth seventy- five hundred blankets), "Steel-head-Salmon" (six thousand blankets), "Making-the-House-Empty-of-Blankets" (five thousand blankets), and so on. A broken copper is more valuable than a whole one. Thus, as a copper passes from hand to hand, certain parts of it are broken off and given away with the rest of the copper, until only the T-shaped section is left, which is its most valuable part, amounting to about two-thirds of its value. A chief may break a copper and present it to his rival at a feast. Then the challenged chief may take his own copper, break it, and return both Fig. 22 (Boas, "The Social Or- ganization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians," Report, U. S. National Museum, 1895.) THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 6i broken coppers to the original owner at the ensuing feast, thereby regaining his prestige. Instead, he may throw the pieces of both broken coppers into the ocean. Then he is esteemed a truly great man, for no possible returns can be expected from this process, whereas the original chief might well have counted on the return of the broken coppers.^ The essence of social position among these people rests on these feasts. "Rivals fight with property alone," says the Kwakiutl, and the best way to humiliate a rival is to "flatten him out" by means of a sumptuous feast.* It must be remembered that even a prominent chief can but seldom afford to give a potlatch alone, on account of the vast quantities of property involved, but he is assisted by his family or clan or friends. It may thus occur that the greater amount of the property of a clan may change hands on occasion of a great feast. Property here is in a constant flux. It is given away and destroyed in astounding quan- tities, and as property goes, the social prestige of the giver rises, and so on ad infinitum. The value of property is es- timated in terms of social prestige which comes to the owner when he gives away his property.* 'This illustration as well as the examples of copper name* are taken from the Kwakiutl. 'Strange as these ideas may appear to the modern mind, they are not by any meant foreign to our socio-economic life. While the economic distinc- tions current in our society are unknown among these Indian tribes, the "conspicuous waste" (to speak with Mr. Veblen) attendant upon expenditure of property among our rich, presents a close parallel to the potlach psychol- ogy of the Haida and Tlingit. *The marriage institution among the Kwakiutl well illustrates the in- fluence that one aspect of civilization may exercise upon another. When a man wants to marry a girl, he gives his father-in-law a considerable amount of property, in return for which he expects to receive not only his wife, but many privileges of her clan, including the crest itself. The wife is thus regarded as the first instalment of the return payment on the part of the father-in-law. Then, as children are born to the couple, further payments are made by the father-in-law and the more children, the higher the interest on these payments; for one child, two hundred per cent interest is paid, for two or more children, three hundred per cent. After this, the wife's father has redeemed his daughter and the marriage is regarded as annulled. Thenceforth, she may return to her parents. If, however, she continues to stay with her husband, she does so of her own free will ; she is "staying in the house for nothing," say the Kwakiutl. The husband is usually unwilling to stake the continuance of his matrimonial relationship on the disposition of his wife, and makes another payment to his father- 62 EARLY CIVILIZATION The religious and cosmologlcal ideas of the Coast people are elaborate but can only be touched upon briefly here.^ The Haida believe that the earth is flat and has a circular outline. Above it, like an inverted bowl, hangs the solid firmament, on the top of which is the sky country in which some of the supernatural beings reside. There are five such sky countries, one above the other, but they play but a slight part in Haida religious beliefs, in contrast to what Is true among the Salish speaking Bella Coola of the coast, for among the latter the several sky countries are clearly de- fined and greatly elaborated In their mythology.^ On the lower side of the firmament, the sun, moon, stars and clouds are fastened. Beneath the firmament stretches the sea and upon it lie two islands, the Inland-Country or Halda-Land, and the Seaward-Country or Mainland. The Haida country, although floating upon the sea, is also supported by a great supernatural being, The-Sacred-One-Standlng-and-Moving. This supernatural being rests upon a copper box, which Is it- self supported In some undefined way. The highest of all deities is Power-of-the-Shlning-Heav- ens. Just as human beings receive "power" from lower supernatural beings, and these receive theirs from higher ones, so the latter obtain their power from Power-of-the- Shlning-Heavens.^ Suspended in the air, hang several abodes of supernatural beings. In one of these, called Shaman's House, live the Above-People. They are thought by some to be no taller than a man's hand and wrist. Although kindly and help- in-law to have a further claim upon her. This peculiar mode of treating marriage, while incomprehensible if taken alone, becomes clarified in the light of potlatch psychology. ^The statements in the following section on religion refer more specifically to the Haida, unless the contrary is stated. ^See p. 207 sq. 'Swanton, who has spent considerable time among the Haida, expresses his surprise at the lofty conception underlying this deity. Although those of the Indians who have heard of the Christian God are wont to compare the supreme divinity of white man with Power-of-the-Shining-Heaven9, Swanton holds the opinion that the latter conception is not due to missionary influence. One thinks in this connection of the All Father of Australian mythology, and of other similar notions (compare p. 211). THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 63 ful, they are not very powerful on account of their small size, and often fail in their attempts to help man. The Above-People have no chief of their own, but Wigit (prob- ably identical with the Raven), who occupies an abode of his own, has authority over them. Wigit keeps an account of all the people in the islands. In his house he has a col- lection of sticks and when a child is bom, he turns around and pulls one from a bundle behind him. If the stick is short, so will be the life of the child, and vice versa. The cry of every new born child is heard in the corner of Wigit's house. Among the most important supernatural creatures with whom the Haida were in constant rapport were the Ocean- People. Every animal was or might be the embodiment of a supernatural being who could assume human form. Thus animals and birds were, on the one hand, hunted and used as food by man; on the other, they were embodiments of supernatural beings who went by the name of those animals, assumed human form at will, lived in towns of their own, and could inter-marry with humans, help or harm them. Among the supernatural Ocean-People were the Devil-Fish- People, the Porpoise-People, the Salmon-People; but the most important of all were the Killer-Whales. They lived in villages, scattered along the shore, beneath it. The Kil- ler-Whales had chiefs of their own and they gathered to give sumptuous potlatches. Like all supernatural beings they were divided into two phratries: the Raven and the Eagle. Thus, Raven Killer-Whales were black all over, while the Eagles had a white patch around the base of the dorsal fin. As the Ocean-People were in control of a great part of the food supply of the Indians, they were held in high esteem and were appealed to for help. The rarer kinds of grease, tobacco, and flicker feathers were offered to them, water and fire being the most common media of transmission. Among the most important Land beings were the so- called Creek-Women, also called Women-at-the-Head, or 64 EARLY CIVILIZATION Daughters-of-the-River. One of these lived at the head of each creek and owned all the fish in it. Like the Ocean peo- ple, the Land animals have a double aspect. On the one hand, they appear as animals, on the other, as supernatural creatures with animal names, who may appear in human form. Thus there were the Grizzly-Bear-People, the Black- Bear-People, the Weasel-People, and so on. Among the supernatural animals, the Land Otters, who hurt man in many ways, were greatly feared. One of their favorite pur- suits was to transform men into monster-like creatures with bony faces, full of fish and sea-egg spines, with wide nostrils turned so high up as to point almost straight forward, and naked bodies covered with Land Otter hair. Other deities were connected with human interests and industries. Uppermost among these was the bird Skill (usual word for "property"), which was never seen, but he who heard its bell-like voice became wealthy. Then there was Property-Woman, who brought wealth in various ways. Almost as prominent as Property-Woman were the Master- Carpenter and Master-Canoe-Builder, guardian deities of these crafts. Then there were other divinities. Pestilence, Death-by- Violence, whose groans were heard by those about to be killed, and The-Slave-Power, whose presence was felt by those whose doom it was to become enslaved. There were also The-Spirit-of-Theft, The-Strength-Spirit, The- Fishing-Spirit, and The-Medicine-Spirit. No sketch of Northwest civilization is complete with- 'out reference to their art, a cultural element that has be- come associated with almost all other aspects of the life of these people. Although slate, bone and mountain-goat horn appear as industrial materials in addition to wood, the main elements of Northwest Coast art have developed in conjunc- tion with their wood industry. As will presently be shown, even the woven technique of the Chilkat blanket has failed to produce an art of its own, but follows patterns provided by the wood technique. The principal processes employed in the art of wood, THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 65 bone, slate and horn, are those of painting and carving, both in low and high relief. Carving is applied to totem poles and memorial columns, to dishes, boxes, and spoons, to ceremonial batons and dancing masks; while painting, in addition to being used on most of the carved objects, also appears on flat surfaces, such as the front walls of houses, the sides of the gigantic war canoes and the rims of cere- monial hats. Animals and birds are most frequently represented in this art, plants appear only sporadically, while the sun and moon, in conventionalized form, also occur. Of the ani- mals and fish, the beaver, bear, killer-whale and shark arc constantly seen, while of the birds, the raven, eagle, hawk and flicker are equally common. It is a general characteristic of Northwest art, especially in its application to totem poles, that a large part or even the whole of the decorated object is covered by the carving. At the same time, an attempt is made to represent as much of the particular creature used for decoration as is tech- nically possible. It must be noted that the identity of the animal or bird used must never be lost sight of, as these carvings or crests are of great religious significance to the people In this con- nection a system of symbolism has developed by means of which each animal or bird can be easily identified. Thus the eagle has a beak with a point directed straight down- ward, the beak of the hawk is curved inward, often reaching back to the mouth, while the beak of the raven is straight and very long. The beaver is symbolized by one or all of the following three features : a cross-hatched tail, two or four large incisors and a stick held in the front paws. The shark has a tall pointed forehead with three crescent-like shapes carved or painted on it and a double row of large triangular teeth. The claws of the bear are long, curved at the ends and pointed. The killer-whale has the typical bifurcated tail of this species and a large dorsal 66 EARLY CIVILIZATION fin, which appears on the back in a slanting position, some- times crossed by one or more painted bands. In addition to all these representations, faces of varying sizes, apparently human, appear on totem poles and me- morial columns in all sorts of positions: between two ani- mals, or on the back or tail of one. These faces seem to have no place in the general symbolism of the poles and columns ; they are there merely to fill in spaces which would otherwise have remained undecorated. The carving on the totem poles and memorial columns is done in high or in bas relief, the different animals and birds being represented one on top of the other or interlocking in a variety of ways. A common method of combining two creatures is to represent one as hugging the other or as swallowing it, part of one creature protruding from the other's mouth. Small animals, such as frogs, are used either to fill in undecorated spaces or as a purely decorative motif repeated several times in a certain portion of the design. The faces of animals and birds which appear on the totem poles and memorial columns are all very uniform and apparently human in type; in many instances a face could not be identified as belonging to a particular animal, nor could an animal face be distinguished from a human one were it not for the presence of the symbols. Another characteristic of animal faces refers to the position of the cars, which are always placed on top of the head, while in human faces they appear at the two sides. While many of the figures on the totem poles and me- morial columns as well as the diminutive carvings on the Haida spoons and the somewhat larger ones on the masks and ladles are often fairly realistic, with only traces of con- ventional transformation, some figures appear on all of these objects which are distinctly conventionalized. This conventionalization is carried much further In the carvings and paintings on the sides of boxes and in the paintings on the fronts of houses and the sides of canoes. Here the THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 67 geometrical elements of the design often become so pro- nounced that the recognition of the animal represented would be impossible if not for the symbol. When finally the symbol itself becomes conventionalized, as is the case with the Chilkat blankets and with some of the boxes, the interpretation of the design becomes impossible unless one happens to know that a design in the particular instance is meant to represent a certain animal or bird. Two elements are characteristic of this aspect of Northwest art: the way the animal body is treated with reference to conventionalization and the way the rep- resentations of the separate animals on totem poles and memorial columns are combined into a unified carving. The conventionalization of the animal form is conceived in such a way that the entire animal is not regarded as one pattern to be treated as a whole, but rather as a set of separate parts, head, legs, body, wings, and so on, each one of which becomes transformed independently, the unity of the ani- mal being preserved in the spacial relation to each other of the different conventionalized parts. This treatment of the animal form makes the designs especially well adapted to the decoration of surfaces of different shapes. Thus, one usually finds one conventionalized animal represented on such an apparently unwieldy object as a ceremonial baton, or again, on the four sides of a box. Of the many minuter features which might be analyzed in a more detailed treatise, one deserves mention here : it is an eye-like figure commonly used when the eye is to be represented. But even a cursory glance at one of these conventional designs suffices to reveal the fact that this figure frequently occurs when no representation of an eye is intended. On inspection it appears that the eye-like design is used wherever a joint is to be represented. As these "eyes" are often fairly large, leaving an undecorated space inside, the imagination of the Northwest artist is further stimulated to decorate the inside of the "eye" with a rough 68 EARLY CIVILIZATION indication of two eyes, a nose and a mouth, or in some cases, with a more fully developed representation of a face. All these paintings and carvings constitute the accomplish- ments of men. All men were able to paint and carve to a degree, but experts were not unknown, and some individuals who were renowned for their skill also accepted work for others. It was mentioned before that the weaving of the Chilkat blankets was woman's work, but that the designs represented on these blankets were faithful copies of the men-made patterns of the wood technique. Part of a pat- tern was painted by a man on a board, which the woman used as her guide in weaving a blanket. The fact that the weaving was done in small sections which were afterwards sewn together, enabled her to follow the painted design with great accuracy, and the change of technique in this case has exercised no visible effect on the character of the design. Apart from its distinctive features as a decorative tech- nique, the art of the Northwest Coast appears as an in- herent element of many other phases of Northwest civiliza- tion. It is intimately connected with the leading industry, the wood technique, and reaches over to the work on bone, slate and horn, as well as to the woven blankets. As the carving and painting of certain animals, birds and super- natural creatures constitutes a prerogative of particular in- dividuals, families and clans, the art is ushered into the innermost recesses of the social organization of these people. And insofar as carved objects and coppers with representa- tions of crests figure prominently at potlatches, the art is also drawn into this most characteristic aspect of the life of the Coast. The creatures represented in the art are in themselves merely of economic significance, for the natives do not show any regard or religious concern for these animals and birds; but their representations in the art having assumed the form of crests, become symbols of great sanctity, emblems of rank, of social status and of super- natural powers. The representation of crests on cere- THE TLINGIT AND HAIDA 69 monlal objects, finally, introduces these artistic creations into the elaborate and emotionally significant rituals of the Indians. In the course of the long winter months, the na- tives spend many hours and days surrounded by the artfully transformed objects and breathing the throbbing atmo- sphere of sanctity created by them. When envisaged from this standpoint, the art of this region appears not as art alone but as a many-sided cultural symbol, most intimately associated with almost every aspect of the life of the people. It might almost be said that the civilization of the Northwest could be reconstructed on the basis of the direct and indirect suggestions carried by its art. CHAPTER III THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE The Iroquois speaking tribes of northwestern New York and southeastern Canada, whose original provenience re- mains somewhat doubtful, occupied at the time of the dis- covery of America the area of the Great Lakes and some adjoining regions. The tribes particularly under discussion were five In number, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cay- uga and Seneca. To these must be added the Tuscarora, who joined the League of the Iroquois in the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. As In all Indian tribes, Iroquois men were mighty hun- ters, while the women engaged in the gathering of wild fruit, berries and barks. First and foremost, however, the Iroquois were agriculturists. Toward the middle of the Sixteenth Century, at the time of the occupation of their territory by Jesuit missionaries, the Iroquois were already found in the possession of considerable skill in agri- cultural methods. These tribes lived In villages consisting of a limited number of Long Houses built of bark over wooden frames. These houses were of imposing propor- tions, often harboring as many as one hundred or more individuals. Bark was used by the Iroquois for many other purposes. Their canoes were made of this material as well as dishes, cradles, spoons and articles of ceremonial apparel. Later, wood partly replaced the bark In industry. The Iroquois made good pots and wove mats and other articles out of cornhusk. Bone work was also on a high level. In the line of art, there was a sharp division between men and women. While men were responsible for all the carv- ing in wood which usually consisted of rather crude, some- 70 THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 71 what realistic representations of animals and birds, the women engaged in embroidery of porcupine quill, later of wampum beads, which they applied to shirts and moccasins. This technique, in which Iroquois women reached a very high degree of proficiency, was characterized by the pre- valence of motifs from the vegetable kingdom, branches, leaves and flowers in different stages of development being the dominant patterns. Similar curvilinear designs were made and similar patterns followed in their embroidery by many neighboring Algonquin speaking tribes. The ceremonial life of the Iroquois centered in a number of great tribal feasts, which divided the year into regularly recurring periods of ceremonial performance. These cere- monies were closely associated with the economic pursuits of the people. Thus, in early spring came the Strawberry Festival, more or less adjusted to the period when these berries were ripe. This was followed somewhat later by the Bean and the Raspberry Festivals. In the fall came a more prolonged period of festivities, the Com Festival, falling at the time of the ripening of the maize. And to- ward the end of January, or the beginning of February, the great Mid-Winter Festival took place, at which a white dog was sacrificed by strangulation. The general character of these festivals was very uniform. They started out with a prayer to the Great Spirit and a giving of thanks for their past favors to the Corn, Bean and Squash, the "Three Sisters" of Iroquoian mythology, "Our Mothers." Then came prayers for the continuation of similar favors in the future. Followed performances by the religious societies. The festivals were closed by a less formal period, lasting one or two days, when the young men and women indulged in semi-ceremonial games and dances. The religious societies just referred to played an impor- tant part in the social and ceremonial life of the Iroquois. A number of them are recorded, such as the False Face Society, the Bear, Buffalo, Eagle, and Dark Dance or Pigmy Societies, the last one consisting solely of women, excepting 72 EARLY CIVILIZATION only the two singers, who were always men. In addition to these, each one of the five tribes of the League had a Medicine Society. The principal function of all these or- ganizations was medicinal and among the requirements for joining them were sickness and dreaming. A man afflicted with some disease might dream of an animal associated with one of the societies. Thereupon he consulted a "prophet" or "prophetess," and the interpretation of the dream thus secured Invariably resulted In the admonition to join one or another of the societies, the members of which were presently called upon to visit the patient. He was successfully cured by their magical rites, and hence- forth became one of their number. Undisputed preeminence among the societies was held by the False Faces. The principal ceremonial regalia of the False Faces consisted of grotesque wooden masks, elabor- ately carved and painted, which symbolized the bodyless, headless Faces, spirits which, according to Iroquois belief, haunted their forests. These Faces were originally hostile to human beings, but were subsequently appeased by the rites of the False Faces, the society having been organized, according to tradition, for the particular purpose of dealing with the Faces. The economic life of the Iroquois centered around their agricultural activities in which women played a leading part. The ancient Iroquois, original occupants of this wooded country, had to prepare clearings before agricul- ture could be attempted. With nothing but crude stone axes as tools, this was by no means an easy undertaking. The following process was commonly employed. A deep ring was cut into the bark, encircling the trunk. By the follow- ing season the tree was dead and partly dried up. Then fire was used to reduce the surface to charcoal, and thus facili- tate the felling of the tree by means of axes. This part of the work was done largely by men, the women merely assisting by bringing pails of water which A\'as thrown at the upper section of the tree to prevent it THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 73 from catching fire. With the work in the fields woman's undisputed domain was ushered in. The superficial turn- ing of the soil by means of a crude hoe, planting, harvesting and storing of the different produce, as well as the prepara- tion of the food for later consumption, was the work of women. In the fields the women worked in so-called "bees," under the supervision of overseers who were also women. The fields connected with a village were thus cultivated one by one, most of the women of the village participating in the work on all of the fields. There were also certain fields not associated with the individual households but claimed by the village as a whole. Communism, to a degree, was practised in these early Iroquoian communities, the excess supplies of more favored families being frequently divided among the needy members of the village. The produce of the com- munal village fields was also utilized for this purpose, as well as for the preparation of the foods required at the periodic tribal festivals, at which huge quantities of edibles were wont to be consumed. While the economic activities of the women were of car- dinal importance among these people and largely responsible for their exalted social status, it is woman's social and poli- tical functions that are of particular interest. In order to facilitate the understanding of woman's share in the social functions of the clans, the phratries and the League, a brief sketch will now be given of the various social units comprised in the Iroquois Confederacy. In the Iroquois Confederacy, includmg the Tuscarora, each tribe was divided into two phratries; each phratry com- prised four or more clans, and the clans were again sub-di- vided into a number of maternal families. The maternal family, the smallest unit in Iroquois society, consisted of a head woman or matron, her immediate male and female descendants, the male and female descendants of her female descendants, and so on. Some maternal families, consisting of individuals of three or four generations living at one 74 EARLY CIVILIZATION time, numbered fifty or less members, while others had as many as one hundred and fifty or even two hundred.^ The maternal family in early times had certain ceremonial functions as well as hereditary prerogatives, such as the pos- session of the ganoda, a magical medicine of extraordinary potency associated with the rites of the Little Water or Medicine Societies. But the principal function of the ma- ternal family was in connection with the election and suc- cession of chiefs. Two or usually more maternal families constituted a clan. The clans were named after animals and birds. For in- stance, those of the Seneca were named and arranged as follows : PHRATRY I PHRATRY II Turtle — Bear — ^Wolf — Bali Deer — Hawk — Great Snipe — Little Snipe ^The structure of a maternal family may be illustrated by the following diagram. l-O #=A ifA 1=0 ifA A^O 1^ fO ao n Fig. 23 All individuals represented as # or A belong to this maternal family. O women ^ lateral relationship (such as brothers and sisters) ▲ A men = married descended from THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 75 The clans were not co-extensive with villages — although it is not improbable that such was the earliest condition — members of one clan living in more than one village. Each clan was more or less closely associated with one or more Long Houses, and the majority of individuals in such Long Houses probably belonged to that clan. Unlike many "totemic" peoples, the Iroquois showed no regard whatsoever for the animals and birds from which the clans took their names. These animals and birds were not looked upon as the ancestors of the clan mates, nor were they worshipped. In fact, no special relations whatso- ever obtained between the individuals of a clan and their eponymous animal. While it is not quite certain that the clans exercised proprietary rights over one or more fields, positive evidence exists to the effect that each clan had its own cemetery where the members of the clan were buried. Each clan possessed the right to use for its members cer- tain individual names, which were the property of the parti- cular clan; no other clan was supposed to use these names, nor could two living individuals of one clan bear the same name at one time. These names were semi-ceremonial in character and were but seldom used for purposes of appella- tion or reference, relationship terms being employed for that purpose. A prominent feature of a clan was its exogamous function: no member of a clan was permitted to marry a woman of the same clan. This prohibition extended to all clans of the same name, no matter to what tribe they be- longed, so that a Seneca Wolf man, for example, was not merely prohibited from marrying a Seneca Wolf woman, but the same prohibition debarred him from marrying Onondaga or Cayuga Wolf women, and so on. The two phratries into which each tribe was divided were mainly ceremonial units, most of the ceremonies of the Iroquois being so arranged that one phratry was conceived as giving it to the other, individuals belonging to the two phratries occupying opposite ends of the ceremonial Long House. 76 EARLY CIVILIZATION The phratries also had the curious obligation of burying each other's members, while the mourners belonged to the phratry of the deceased member. As will presently appear, the phratry also had an important political function. The next higher units, the tribes, lost much of their for- mer independence after the formation of the League. The tribes were organized with reference to the League some- what after the nature of the arrangement of phratries in each tribe. When the chiefs of the League met for cere- monial purposes, they were arranged in groups represent- ing the separate tribes and divided into two tribal phratries, like this : Onondaga Chiefs Cayuga Chiefs Mohawk Chiefs Oneida Chiefs Seneca Chiefs On administrative occasions, on the other hand, when war or peace were to be decreed, and in some other instances, the tribal chiefs were arranged in three groups, like this : Onondaga Chiefs Mohawk Chiefs Cayuga Chiefs Seneca Chiefs Oneida Chiefs There were, in all, fifty chiefs, nine each from the Mohawk and Oneida, fourteen from the Onondaga, ten from the Cayuga and eight from the Seneca. It is important to re- member that, although each chieftainship was connected with a clan and a maternal family, these chiefs were neither clan nor family chiefs, and that some clans and many ma- ternal families had no chiefs representing them in the League. The fifty chiefs were federal officials and whatever authority they possessed they wielded equally over all indi- viduals of the League, without distinction as to tribe or clan. The Tuscarora also had a number of chiefs who were per- THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 77 mitted to sit at the Councils of the League. They partici- pated in the discussions but had no voice in the decisions.^ The official functions of the chiefs were not numerous. They decided, as mentioned above, upon peace and war, intertribal agreements and alliances, passed judgment on rare occasions on the behavior of particularly recalcitrant individuals and, in more recent times, sat as a body of judges in disputes over the ownership of land. But the principal functions of chiefs were individual. A chief was supposed to be wise, serious ("not a joker"), and im- perturbable. A chief, taught the Iroquois elders, never loses his temper, for "his skin is seven thumbs thick." Each of the fifty chieftainships was known by an hereditary name, which was assumed by a chief when entering office and, upon his decease or removal, was passed on to his successor. When a chief died a messenger was sent out, who ran through the villages, screaming, "Gwa — a I . . . gwa — &\ ..." Then the people knew that a chief was dead. At once, the matron of the maternal family to which the chief ^ had belonged, determined upon his successor, usually a ma- ternal nephew or younger brother of the deceased chief, but in all cases a member of the same maternal family. Having thus made up her mind, the matron would call a meeting of the members of her maternal family for the ratification of her decision. To this meeting other members of the same clan were admitted, but the members of the particular ma- ternal family were "in control." In ancient conditions, the matron of the maternal family almost invariably had her own way at these meetings. Later records present occa- sional evidence of differences between related women that would arise on such occasions. However that may be, a candidate was proposed and approved at the gathering. . The matron of the maternal family was then constituted ^ *The Iroquois are wont to refer to the traditional reason for this dis- crinaination against the Tuscarora. The naythological symbol for the League is a Long House, and the Iroquois claim that instead of entering the Long House through the door, as was proper, the Tuscarora entered by breaking through the bark wall. Hence their partial disenfranchisement. 78 EARLY CIVILIZATION a delegate In order to communicate the name of the candi- date to the chiefs of the Brother clans, the ones, that is, of the same phratry to which the dead chief belonged. They could either veto the nomination or approve of it. The latter was usually che case ; whereupon the matron dele- gate proceeded to call upon the chiefs of the Cousin clans, belonging to the opposite phratry. After ratification by these chiefs the name of the candidate was presented to the Council of the Chiefs of the League, who again were at liberty either to accept or reject the proposed candidate. In the latter eventuality the candidate's name was once more presented to the maternal family. This, however, occurred but seldom. In the overwhelming majority of cases the League Council sanctioned the choice of the candidate's own people. Whereupon the League chiefs proceeded to set a date for the ceremonial "raising" of the new chief. This was a great intertribal festival which was attended by all the chiefs of the League who were able to be present, and to which all the people were invited. Prayers were recited, the names of the chiefs enumerated; the duties of chief- tainship were once more called to the minds of the people, and a new chief entered the League. It must, however, not be assumed that the chief was hence- forth free from any further supervision on the part of his electors. The matron of his maternal family continued to keep careful watch over his activities. Should the new chief prove neglectful of his duties, should he reveal an evil temper, or a tendency towards prevarication or intemper- ance, or, worst of all, should his behavior with reference to the enemies of the people, such as the Sioux or Algonquin, fall short of what was to be expected of a patriotic Iroquois, the matron would not long delay in calling such facts to his attention. She would visit the chief and in a semi-cere- monial address recall to his mind his objectionable activities. She would then solemnly warn him that unless he desisted from his evil practises, his very chieftainship would be en- THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 79 dangered. The chief thus addressed was not expected to reply to her remarks. If the chief persisted in his evil ways, the matron called on him for the second time and the same procedure was re- peated. She warned him, however, that in case of further offenses she would call on him once more, accompanied by a warrior chiefs and proceed to divest him of his office. Unless the chief reformed, the matron called upon him for the third time, accompanied by the warrior chief. The latter then delivered the following speech: **I will now ad- monish you for the last time and if you continue to resist to accede to and obey this request, then your duties as chief of our family and clan will cease, and I shall take the deer's horns from off your head, and with a broad-edged stone axe I shall cut the tree down," (meaning that he shall be de- posed from his position as chief of the Confederacy) . Then the warrior chief "handed back the deer's horns" to the matron. Thus the chief was deposed. The matron then notified the chiefs of the League of what had occurred. In such cases the regular procedure followed in the election of chiefs was not gone through. Instead, the chiefs them- selves met in Council and elected a successor. It will thus be seen of what transcendent importance the women were in the Iroquois body politic. Although the ^The warrior chiefs are to be distinguished from the fifty hereditary civil chiefs or "sachems," as Morgan called them. The warrior chiefs were not hereditary but elective. Originally, these chiefs owed their office to the recognition of their military prowess, but, as a group, they enjoyed but little prestige or power among the people; in the course of time, however, they grew in number and influence. During the Revolutionary War they had risen to a position of great prominence and often rivalled the sachems themselves. Morgan and others have noted the interesting fact that of the Iroquois who have achieved historic fame practically all belonged to the class of warrior chiefs, not to that of sachems. While this was primarily due to the fact that fame came with military achievement, a prerogative of the war- rior chiefs, it was due secondarily to the elective character of these chiefs. The standard of availability for chieftainship may have been a narrow one, but within these limits merit alone counted; whereas the inheritance of sachemships in maternal families frequently reduced the choice to but a few individuals not necessarily of great ability. 8o EARLY CIVILIZATION office of hereditary chief was denied them, this office was largely In their control. Once In a while it would occur that a woman who had gained the grateful recognition of her people by acts of unusual heroism or patriotism, was made a chief, but In such a case it was an honorary chief- tainship, a so-called Pine Tree chieftainship (the recipient of the honor being conceived straight as a pine) . This was a purely individual office not transmissible by Inheritance. Women constituted the public opinion of the Iroquois. To them the chief was responsible for his actions. More- over, the matron of a maternal family in whose hands It was to make and unmake chiefs, often knew beforehand who the new chief was likely to be, this fact again being known to the prospective candidate. Such knowledge, of course, could not but affect the behavior of the young man. He felt himself under the watchful eye of a censor and a judge, on whom depended the future of his career. To this must be added that women also played a promi- nent part In ceremonial matters, for of the six ceremonial officials which each clan was wont to elect for the purposes of arranging and supervising ceremonial procedure, three were men and three women. ^ It was the duty of these ceremonial officials to determine upon the period when the great tribal festivals were to be held and to make all necessary prepara- tions, such as the setting aside of the not inconsiderable quantities of food required, the selection of a number of men and women who were expected to officiate at the festival and the appropriate rehauling of the ceremonial Long House. When the important economic functions and prerogatives of women are kept In mind. It appears that their economic, social and political position among the Iroquois was fully equal to that of men, and in some respects was superior to theirs.^ ^The number of ceremonial officials elected by each clan varied somewhat in the course of Iroquois history. The extent to which the prestige of Iroquois women survives to this day, THE IROQUOIS MATRIARCHATE 8i To this interpretation of Iroquois society it might pos- sibly be objected that whatever the prominence of women in the League economy and politics, they are after all not eligible to chieftainship, that the main executive power is lodged in the persons of men and that it is therefore incor- rect to designate the social system of the Iroquois as a matriarchate. This stricture is in part justifiable insofar as chieftainship does represent the principal executive au- thority, and the chiefs among the Iroquois are men. On the other hand, the women are the ones who make and un- make chiefs. The fitness or unfitness of an individual for chieftainship is, then, a condition dependent on their judg- ment. They arc thus truly the power behind the throne. This becomes particularly apparent when the situation among the Iroquois is compared with that of Africa, where women become queens, a station formally more exalted than that occupied by any Iroquois woman, but where this high status of certain individual women does in no way maj be brought home by two recent instances of which I wa* a personal witness. On one occasion I was about to photograph some of the ceremonial rites of the Iroquois, due permission from a number of chiefs having pre- viously been secured. Just as the ceremony was about to begin and after I had already entered the ceremonial Long House, a chief appeared and in somewhat officious tones notified me that I was wanted outside. I ioU lowed him at once and found myself facing a small gathering, with one of the leading women of the tribe as the center. As she did not speak English, the chief explained to me rather curtly that the woman had ob- jected to my photographing the proceedings. There was nothing to be done but to submit. Should I have persisted, my prospects as an ethnolo- gist among this tribe of Iroquois would have been permanently handicapped. On another occasion a woman who belonged to the Wolf clan of the Cayuga was pointed out to me as a great expert on Cayuga names. She was the Keeper of such names, whose duty it was to keep track of all names of her clan in use at a given time, and also of the names available for use. Mothers in need of names for their new-born babes were woot to consult her, and had implicit faith in her knowledge. In a highly hopeful mood I proceeded to call upon the woman, whose three husky sons shared my eagerness to see the names recorded and preserved — the idea of having the individual names of their clan thus saved for posterity rather flattered the vanity of these sophisticated Indians. But we had counted without the master. The woman received me with a quizzical smile, dictated to me a few of the names which the least informed Iroquois could have recalled, then pleaded failure of memory due to old age. No amount of persuasion, not even the prospect of a handsome remuneration, had the least effect. Thus, this large set of individual names would have remained unrecorded if not for the happy chance that Chief John Gibson, my main informant and a great student of all matters Iroquoian, was familiar with most of the names, and dictated them to me without hesitation. 82 EARLY CIVILIZATION represent the general position of women in the community, which is decidedly inferior.^ ^Another parallel may be seen in modern society, where governments, whether imperial or democratic, are controlled by those who own or man- ipulate the material resources of the country, although these individuals themselves do not figure in the highest executive positions. CHAPTER IV UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE The Baganda people inhabiting the Uganda country are situated west of Lake Victoria Nyanza. The economic life of this tribe, like that of their Bantu speaking neigh* bors, is complex and diversified. They are cattle breeders and herders on a large scale, and also keep flocks of goats and sheep. The care of the herds is in the hands of men who form a somewhat distinct group in Baganda society. The cultivation of plants has progressed equally far. Maize is perhaps the principal staple food, but plantain trees are also cultivated on a large scale and, to a lesser ex- tent, coffee trees. The multifarious cares involved in the processes of agriculture and tree culture are in the hands of women, barring only the assistance offered by men in the initial clearing of the ground of grass and trees in prep- aration for cultivation. The prevalence of these occupations does not impair the importance of hunting, which is carried on by individuals as well as groups, communal buffalo and elephant hunting being especially highly developed. Baganda industries do not reach the high technical per- fection found among some other African tribes, but they are many and specialized. There are potters and bark cloth makers, basket makers and leather workers, there are ironsmiths and experts in ivory carving, while the art of building canoes is also in the hands of experienced craftsmen. Before passing to the social and political organization of the Baganda, one further feature of their economic life must be noted which is characteristic for large areas in Africa, but perhaps unknown in all other primitive com- 84 EARLY CIVILIZATION munities. This feature Is the large scale on which certain kinds of work are carried on. The building of houses in the capital and of the many principal and subsidiary en- closures surrounding the capital and groups of houses with- in, involved the co-operation of hundreds of workers, who were expected to furnish the building materials and whose task required continuous application for weeks and months at a time. The making of roads which connected the differ- ent districts of Uganda with the capital and other principal towns, was an even more laborious undertaking, involving still larger numbers of workingmen, who were furnished by the local communities. Barring the architectural accom- plishments of Mexico and Peru, the primitive world of America, Australia, the South Seas or Siberia, knows of no industrial enterprises of equally vast scale. The Baganda are divided into thirty-six gentes or kika. Each gens has two totems, while one or two gentes seem to have even three, all of which are sacred to the members of the gens and are not eaten or killed. All the members of a gens are supposed to have descended from one human an- cestor. The gentes are exogamous, there being no inter- marriage within the gens, with the exception of the Lung- Fish gens, which comprises two branches differentiated by their second totems. These two branches are permitted to intermarry. When a Baganda woman marries, she pre- serves her own totem — a perfectly regular procedure for a gentile people — but in addition she adopts her husband's totem. Mothers will at times attempt to impart a respect for their totem to the children, but in this they usually fail.^ Each gens is sub-divided into a number of local divisions or siffa, which are situated in different districts, in often 'The fact noted in the text that the wife adopted her husband's totem must, no doubt, be ascribed to the weakened condition of the gentile prin- ciple among the Baganda. No orthodox totemic, or for that matter, non- totemic but gentile community would ever sanction such an overlapping of totems in the family. Facts such as this offer clear evidence that the totemic gentes among the Baganda, as in many another Bantu tribe, are in a state of transformation into a new order of society, under the cumulative stress of an increasingly dense population, and of the requirements of a /:entralized political system. UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 85 widely separated parts of Uganda. Each siga, again, is di- vided into a number of further minor units or enda. Each gens owns a number of such estates or si^a, which are often situated on hills covered by gardens, extending down into the valley. These estates are in charge of chiefs responsible to the gentile chief for the conduct of the mem- bers of their si^a. The gentes have their own gods, but many gentes also take charge of one of the national gods, in which case the temple is situated on the estate where the chief of the gens resides, who then officiates in the temple as priest. In addition to these lands, the gentes also have certain free lands, sections of territory in which three or four gen- erations of a branch of a gens have buried their members; after this the land is regarded as belonging to the gens. Advantage is often taken of this custom in order to appro- priate desirable garden land; therefore chiefs are on the lookout against such localized burials, for if the members of a gens once succeed in securing the right to a plot of land, even the king would hesitate to intervene, fearing the wrath of the gentile ghosts. Each gens has a set of individual names, which no other gens is permitted to use. While these names are bestowed on each member of the gens, they are seldom actually employed, other names being used instead. There is, in fact, a general reluctance on the part of in- dividuals to admit their gentile allegiance unless there is definite necessity to do so. The local subdivisions of the si^a, called enda, also have their petty chiefs, who are responsible for the behavior of the members of their local group. All of these chiefs, those of the gens, the siga and the enda, bear fixed hereditary titles, which they assume in taking office. The titles are all traced back to the traditional original holders of these offices, and the various chiefs are in the habit of identifying themselves with those original holders to the extent of re- ferring to their travels and other exploits as having been undertaken by themselves. 86 EARLY CIVILIZATION There are, in all, thirty-six gentes, each with at least two totems. Thus the Leopard gens also has the Genet as its totem, the Lion has the Eagle, the Otter also has the Genet, the Grasshopper has the Locust, the Elephant the Hip- popotamus, and so on. Some illustrations will now be given of the political func- tions of the gentes and of other customs associated with each gens. The Leopard gens is not permitted to eat the meat of animals that have been scratched or torn by wild beasts. The members of this gens have no service duties to perform in connection with the royal household. The gens takes care of a temple situated on Magonga Hill, where the mythological king Kintu first lived. No member of this gens can become an heir to the throne. The daughters of a Leopard man are permitted to marry the king, but their sons must be strangled. This gens has four estates in one of the districts of Uganda, nine in another, two in still an- other and one each in three further districts. The gens supplies the king with his chief butler, also with the man in charge of the king's drinking water, who is put to death when the king dies. The members of the Otter gens make bark cloth for the king. They also supply one of the king's wives, whose duty it is to make his bed. This duty is hereditary in the gens. After the king's death this wife is expected to go to his temple and stay there for the rest of her life. On Nsoke Hill there stands a temple dedicated to the deified ghost of the Father, the mythological ancestor of this gens, and the priest associated with this temple must belong to the gens. The Elephant gens people have fifty-one estates. They are the chief herdsmen to the king and also supply the royal household with a favorite variety of fish as well as a parti- cular kind of bark cloth, manufactured by members of the gens. The butter used in the embalming ceremony, after the king's death, is also prepared and supplied by this gens. The Lung Fish gens, which was subdivided into two UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 87 branches, which claimed to be descended from one Father but could intermarry, has as many as seventy estates in dif- ferent sections of Uganda. The Mushroom gens has the Snail as its second totem and a small ivory disc as a third. This gens is overburdened with duties referring to the royal household. In charge of the gens is the temple of Nende, the second god of war. The gens also takes care of the royal drum, it being the duty of a member of the gens to carry the drum daily to the royal enclosure and back again. The royal stool is also taken care of by this gens. The members of the gens sup- ply the gate makers for the king, as well as the keepers of the gates. The chief gate keeper, a highly important per- sonage, belongs to this gens. This individual has free access to all parts of the royal enclosure, which enables him to keep watch on the gate keepers. When, on the accession of a new king, the Elephant gens people drive twenty cows into the royal enclosure, the gate keeper captures ten of these. He also appropriates one third of the first lot of tribute delivered to the king. When the first chiefs come to pay their respects to the new king, he captures one of these and redeems him only after exacting from him a payment of ten women to the king. The king's gourd, or drinking cup, is taken care of by this gens. It supplies the gate keepers to the queen, to the king's mother and to two of the highest chiefs. From this gens is also taken one of the king's wives, whose duty it is to dig the first sod for the royal garden, whereupon the other wives are free to take up the cultivation. Other gentes have similar totems, restrictions, temples and duties with reference to the royal household. The supreme power in Uganda is centered in the king, who is permitted to marry only a Muganda. No woman is permitted to ascend the royal throne, nor any person not of royal blood. Thus the sons and grandsons of a king are his successors. On the other hand, the king's sons, or princes, take their mother's totem while the royal totems, 88 EARLY CIVILIZATION Lion, Leopard and Eagle, are seldom mentioned. Next to the king, the most exalted personages in the kingdom are his sister and his mother. Princesses are not permitted to marry or to have children; princes, on the other hand, are encouraged to marry in order that the supply of heirs may not become exhausted. When sons are born to the king, the king's brothers surrender to his sons their principal es- tates situated in different parts of the country, and are given other smaller estates in their stead. The brothers of the king who have surrendered their estates are still eligible to the throne, but their sons are debarred. The king and all the chiefs own individual drums which are distinguished by their beats. The eldest son of the king may not reign but must take care of his brothers. Princes were feared and many of them were put to death as soon as a successor to the throne was assured. The princes are rep- resented by their own chiefs in the districts where their es- tates are situated. Although the king expresses his wishes with reference to the succession of the throne, the chiefs are the ones to decide. When a king dies the prospective heirs are brought to the capital by certain chiefs. As rivalries among the royal aspirants are not uncommon, the chiefs and their adherents come prepared to fight. One of the chiefs faces the princes who stand in a row, and pointing at the one who is expected to reign, he says: "So and so is king," and then adds, "those who wish to fight, let them do so now." If, after this, any other aspirants come to the fore, spears are passed around and a fight ensues between the rival princes and their sup- porters. It continues until one of the princes is either wounded or killed. The victor becomes king. One of the king's sisters is chosen queen on this occasion. After the ceremony the king and his queen undertake a pilgrimage to the hills of Budo, the fetich, guarded by three chiefs, who live in houses without fences, for these might be used as a hiding place by one of the rival princes. Before the king is admitted to the temple, a sham battle is enacted. UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 89 While the dead king's body is being embalmed — a procedure attended by much ceremony — the new king goes into mourn- ing. This usually takes some six months, during which time a temporary residence near Budo is erected for the King; and there he lives, surrounded by the residences of thou- sands of chiefs, many of whom are soon to be deposed and replaced. At some time during this period, the queen and the king's mother take possession of their hereditary estates, which up to that time were occupied by the late king's sister and mother, who now receive other somewhat smaller estates. When the period of mourning comes to an end, the king beats his drum to make this fact known. Presently a gazelle is brought to the king's enclosure by the chief of the Grass- hopper gens. The king chases and kills the animal. Then two men captured on the public roads wearing their bark cloth tied in a roll and slung over the left shoulder, are brought to the royal enclosure. One of these men is spared, while the other is strangled and his body thrown in the river under papyrus roots so it can never be found. After this the king selects his permanent residence. To quote from Roscoe's picturesque description of a royal enclosure in the making: "The workmen were soon busy erecting houses on the site chosen by the king; each District Chief had the duty of providing for his royal master some special house which had its particular place inside the enclosure. Each District Chief had also to build some portion of the high fence which enclosed the royal residence. There was one plan followed, which had been used by the kings for years without varia- tion. The enclosure was oval shaped, a mile in length and half a mile wide, and the capital extended five or six miles in front, and two miles on either side. The part which was called the back was reserved for the king's wives, who had large estates there for the cultivation of plantain trees. The king also had his private road to the lake through these estates through which he might escape in case of danger 90 EARLY CIVILIZATION from sudden rebellion or in case of war; several canoes were also kept in readiness, in case of emergency, for flight to the islands of the lake, where he could form his plans and restore order. The top of the Hill was reserved for the king's own residence; the chiefs built dwellings around the royal enclosure, according to their rank and the part of the coun- try to which they belonged. There was one principal en- trance, with a wide gateway and a house to guard it, and eight other small gateways, on various sides of the enclo- sure, which latter were private for the use of either the king or his wives. Each gate had its guard houses, both inside and outside; the gates were kept fastened, and were only opened to those who had the right to pass them. The in- terior of the enclosure was divided up into large blocks of houses, with wide roads between them, with gates and gate keepers to guard each block, so that even within the enclo- sure it was impossible for the women to pay visits to one another without permission, or for other visitors to pass in or out without special leave. . . . On the road from the main entrance to the council chamber were the best houses and there the strongest guards were stationed. The roads were lined with retainers, who guarded the king and were ready for any emergency. These retainers lived in tents made from cow hide, as less inflammable than grass, in order to diminsh the risks of fire in the royal houses, which were entirely constructed of reeds and grass, so that when once a fire broke out, it was a serious question whether any of the buildings could be saved. The chiefs who were acting as guards to the king had to provide their own tents during the months that they were in office. The sovereign's retainers wore a special dress of antelope skins, slung over the right shoulder, passed under the left arm, and tied round the waist with a plaintain fibre girdle ; their wants were supplied from the king's own lands . . . ; they were on duty in relays for months at a time. As there were no lamps or candles for night work, torches were made from dry reeds; the manu- facture of these reed torches became quite an industry and UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 91 enabled the king to have the forts lighted up every night. Bark cloth trees were planted near the main entrance by the priests of each principal deity, at the time when the king's houses were built, and offerings were placed under each of them for each particular god; the trees were carefully guarded and tended, because it was believed that as they grew and flourished so the king's life and powers would increase." The enclosures of the queen and the king's mother were situated at some distance from the royal residence, sepa- rated from it by a stream of running water, for it was said that *'two kings could not live on the same hill." The royal residence was connected with these enclosures of the queen and the queen's mother, by straight roads lined on both sides with homes of important chiefs, so that communica- tion could always be maintained without fear of attack by wild animals. "The King sent presents to each of the important deities; female slaves, animals, cowry-shells and bark cloth. He returned the royal spear to Budo and sent with it an offering of nine women, nine cows, nine goats, nine loads of cowry- shells and nine loads of bark cloth, together with one of the widows who was to be the wife of the god Budo ; this woman was given the title Nakato, the name of Budo's first wife, who when she gave birth to a child caused the sacred well Nansove to spring forth on Budo Hill." A vast army of cooks was always busy at the royal en- closure. They were mostly women servants and slaves, who worked under one of the king's wives. Baskets of food for the entire retinue were placed before the King for inspec- tion twice a day. He himself ate alone, served by one of his wives, who, however, was not permitted to see him while he was engaged in eating. "The Lion eats alone," said the people. If any one happened to come in and overtake the King in the process of eating, he was promptly speared to death by the latter, and the people said: "The Lion when eating killed so and so." What the king left could not be 92 EARLY CIVILIZATION touched by any one but was given to his favorite dogs. In the course of this early period of the king's reign, a number of other ceremonies were performed, in connection with one of which some unsuspecting passersby were seized on the high road and put to death — to invigorate the king. When the rightful heir was a minor or was for some other reason unacceptable to the chiefs, the prime minister appointed a regent, a post always filled by a man, as a woman would not be tolerated on the throne, even tem- porarily. If the king had no son, the king's brother ruled, but if, in the meantime, the king had a son born to him, he became the heir, not one of the king's brothers' sons. The Uganda country was divided into ten districts pre- sided over by ten chiefs. Among these two of the biggest chiefs were not included, namely, Katikiro, who was prime minister and chief justice, and Kimbugwe, who had charge of the king's umbilical cord. These two chiefs had no dis- tricts of their own, but like the king himself, they owned estates in the different districts. These administrative sub- divisions of Uganda were so arranged as to have the boun- daries marked by some natural feature ; a stream of water, a small wood, and the like. In addition to the divisions of Uganda proper, certain tributary countries must be men- tioned which were in part subject to the Baganda. In the north lived the Bosoga, from whom a regular tribute of goats, cows and slaves was expected. The country to the southwest of Budu belonged to the people of Koki, who paid tribute in iron hoes and cowry-shells. These people had a king of their own, but they could not withstand the raids of the Baganda. To the west were the Ankole, who kept peace with the Baganda at the cost of periodic contribu- tions of herds of cattle. The Kiziba, finally, who occupied the district south of Budu, sent tribute of cowry-shells and trade goods which they themselves obtained from tribes liv- ing further south. The Katikiro, in his capacity of chief justice, settled the cases which were beyond the competence of the other chiefs. UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 93 His decisions were not regarded as final, however, until con- firmed by the King. The enclosure, in which Katikiro held his residence, resembled the royal enclosure, with its courts and gate keepers, so that only friends, important chiefs and specially privileged individuals could reach him freely. The chiefs spent a large part of their time at the capital, nor were they at liberty to leave for their own districts without the king's permission. In their absence, their ad- ministrative duties were performed by temporary officials. All the land belonged to the King, excepting only the free- hold estates of the gentes, over which the King had no direct control. Contributions to the state in taxes and labor were, however, expected from these estates. The king had the right to depose a chief at will. When a chief was turned out of his estate, but no offense could be shown against him, he was permitted to take his wives and cattle along with him; if, on the other hand, he was guilty of some misdeed, the cattle as well as the wives were taken by the king, pro- vided he was able to find them. In the minor estates the sub-chiefs were masters and within the range of the local affairs their control was absolute; in all matters appertain- ing to state work, however, they were expected to consult the district chiefs. Each district chief had to maintain a road about four yards wide, leading from the capital to his district, and the sub-chiefs had to do the same with the roads connecting their sections with the residence of the district chief. In cases where these roads led over swamps the builder's task re- quired a tremendous amount of labor. Not infrequently bridges were erected over streams. If the stream was too wide for a bridge, and the detour to a bridgeable place was too great, papyrus stems were broken over their roots, and in this way a precarious crossing was secured. If, in crossing such a bridge any one slipped, he was doomed. No attempt was made to rescue him as it was believed that he had been claimed by the spirits of the river, whose vengeance was feared in case a rescue was attempted. 94 EARLY CIVILIZATION In the capital itself roads about twenty yards wide were maintained. The labor required for the erection of resi- dences, enclosures, fences, roads, had to be supplied by the entire country, and it was the duty of the prime minister to see to it that this was done expeditiously. Every house- hold called upon for workers was also expected to furnish twenty-five cowry-shells. Of the large quantity of shells thus amassed, the king took two-thirds and the Katikiro one-third, which he divided as follows : one-third was given to the chiefs who supplied the laborers, one-third to the overseers, and one-third the prime minister kept for him- self. When work was being done on a road, any passerby could be stopped and forced to help for a while, before being permitted to proceed. To defray the cost of various state enterprises, taxes were imposed by the king, a process described by Roscoe in the following words : "When the time to collect the taxes was drawing near, the King, the Katikiro and the Kimbugwe fixed the exact date, and it was then announced in the council that the taxes would be collected on such and such a date. The king appointed the special tax collector for each district; to these district collectors, the Katikiro, the Kimbugwe, the Queen and the King's mother, each added their own representa- tives, and the district chief also added a representative. These six men who were appointed to a district went to each part of it; the principal sub-chiefs were first visited by them in person, but they chose and sent other messengers to each of the less important chiefs. The King's tax col- lector and his associates returned to the district chief's en- closure, where they were entertained while the work was being carried out by their men. The first thing to be done was to count the houses in each sub-district, and to ascertain the number of the inhabitants; the tax collector would then settle with each chief what amount he was expected to send to the King. One cowry-shell was brought by the collector's assistants to represent each cow, and after these had b'een UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 95 counted, the assistants went back to collect the tax. The amount usually demanded was a fixed number of cattle from each sub-chief, and a fixed number of bark cloth and one hundred cowry-shells from each peasant; of the smaller chiefs each paid a number of goats and also a few hoes. It frequently took two months, or more, to collect the taxes, because the bark cloth and hoes had to be made, and the cattle had to be collected. When this was accomplished, each servant took his amount on the appointed day to the district chief; the cowry-shells and bark cloth were counted and tied up in bundles, while the cattle were sent on ahead to travel slowly to the capitol. The King's tax collector took the whole amount to the Katikiro, who had to examine It, and to hear the details as to the number of houses and people in each sub-district, and as to how many bark cloths and cowry-shells had been collected from them. If the amount was correct, the Katikiro took the whole to the King; if it was wrong, the tax collector was required to re- turn to the district and to gather what was missing, accord- ing to instructions which he received from the Katikiro. The chief of a district received a portion of the taxes for himself and for his sub-chiefs; the King took half for him- self, while the Katikiro, the Kimbugwe, the Queen and the King's mother also had their portions. Each sub-chief was given a small portion of the amount which came from his own district; the King, the Queen, the King's mother, the Katikiro and the Kimbugwe, kept the whole of what came from their own estates, in addition to the portion which they received from the taxes of the entire country. The tributary states paid their tribute through the chiefs under whom they were placed, making their payments with cattle, slaves, ivory, cowry-shells, salt, hoes, etc." For minor services the king was wont to secure young boys and girls from people in different parts of the country. The relevant statistics were obtained by a representative of the king, who would induce people to supply information about their neighbors and acquaintances. Then an arrange- 96 EARLY CIVILIZATION ment was made with the district chief, and the children were furnished. The king would keep for himself the boys and girls he liked best, turning the others over to his mother, the Queen, the Katikiro and the Kimbugwe. A great many individuals throughout the land lived on the private estates of chiefs, working, and on occasion fight- ing for them in compensation for the tenure. A considerable variety of crimes were recognized before the courts held by the sub-chiefs, the chiefs, the prime minister and the king. Distinction was made between murder and homicide, murder involving malicious intent. For homicide the fine was twenty cows, twenty goats, twenty bark cloths and twenty women. The whole fine was never paid, but only a part, while the rest remained unpaid for years, until a debt was incurred by the creditor gens — for these were gentile matters — whereupon the two debts were cancelled. The Baganda believe in spirit and ghosts, fetiches and amulets. There is also a pantheon of higher deities. The main national deities are in the king's charge. Their temples are situated upon the chiefs' estates in the different dis- tricts of Uganda, the owner of an estate usually officiating as the priest in the local temple. With him, one or more mediums are associated, who have the power of communicat- ing directly with the god. The spot occupied by a temple is sacred, so is the person of the priest; sacred are also his robes, all ceremonial paraphernalia, and the like. Persons become mediums accidentally. If a man or a woman acts as if possessed by a spirit, this is interpreted as a call from the god, and the person is sent to the temple. Before entering into communication with the deity, the medium takes a smoke of tobacco and drinks a cup of beer, after which a frenzied condition sets in, during which com- munication with the god is established. After the perform- ance, all memory of the incidents of the trance disappears from the medium's mind. A medium is usually a man, but UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 97 women mediums are not unknown, in which case the woman is called the wife of the god. When a woman asks a god for girls and the request is granted, the girls are dedicated to the god, and when weaned, they are taken to the temple. These girls take care of the sacred fire as well as of the grass floor covering, and guard the sacred pipes and tobacco. This continues until maturity is reached, when they are permitted to leave the temple and marry. Priests and mediums are not the only religious officials, for medicine-men are also known who, in some respects, are regarded as more powerful than the priests. They make amulets and fetiches, an accomplishment they share with no one else, cure sickness and act as surgeons, particularly when the need arises to stop the flow of blood after a wound has been inflicted in battle, or a limb has been amputated in punishment for an offense. If not for the medicine-man's assistance, such individuals would be likely to bleed to death. Medicine-men also exorcise ghosts. One of the principal gods was Mukasa, the god of plenty, who sent food, cattle and children. A much less important deity was Nulwanga, Mukasa's chief wife, who assisted childless women to become mothers. When war was waged by the Baganda, Kibuka, the god of war, was served by as many as forty mediums, but at other times only one of these was in attendance. Then there was Kaumpuli, the god of the plague, and Katonda, the creator, called the "Father of the Gods," who was believed to have created all things; outside of that, little was known about him and but slight respect was shown him. Finally, there was Walumbe, the god of death. The belief in ghosts was general and they were greatly feared. In their habits and wants, ghosts were like men. They were, moreover, shaped like their former owners, so that, when a limb was amputated in punishment for an of- fense, the ghost of the culprit was similarly afflicted : hence the general dread of such amputations. Ghosts were wont 98 EARLY CIVILIZATION to play about the graves as well as among the trees in the glowing sunshine of midday, and children were warned against them at these times. Ghosts clung with a special tenacity to the lower jawbone, and if this was removed, the ghosts would follow it anywhere, hence the jawbones of kings were preserved for many generations and their power was great. The king was expected to visit the temple of his predeces- sor, which was in charge of the dowager queen. When about to leave, the king would suddenly give an order that all persons who had not passed a certain spot arbitrarily named by him, should be seized. This order was at once carried out by his bodyguard, and the persons seized were bound and gagged. Then they were sacrificed to the ghost of the dead king, so that their ghosts might administer to his. Lions, leopards, crocodiles, buffaloes and other animals had ghosts of their own. A special fear was aroused by the ghosts of light colored persons, of persons born feet first, of those who were strangled at birth, and of suicides. The bodies of such persons were buried at cross-roads, and grass was thrown on their graves by passersby to appease the ghosts. If a suicide was committed in a house, the house was destroyed, or if a man hanged himself on a tree, the tree was uprooted and burned with the body. There were also water and forest spirits, some of whom had priests as well as temples. Great powers were ascribed to certain artificial objects, usually of portable size, made from definite substances com- bined in a fixed way. These were the fetiches, the prepara- tion of which was a secret art, usually known to no one but the medicine-men. One of these was Mbajwe, the king's main fetich, to which were attached a temple, a priest and a female medium. This fetich was made of rope in the likeness of a serpent, with a head formed of clay and fash- ioned like that of a serpent. A number of individuals, each belonging to a particular gens, had duties associated with UGANDA, AN AFRICAN STATE 99 this fetich. In addition to all of these deities and sacred spots, there were thirteen sacrificial places, at which hu- man sacrifices were made. These were controlled by cer- tain gods, who, it was thought, informed the king how many victims were required. Each sacrificial spot was in charge of a custodian, while the more important ones had their own temples with attendant priests. A large number of human victims was demanded for some of these sacrificial cere- monies. CHAPTER V CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, A MAGIC RIDDEN COMMUNITY The material civilization of Central Australia and of Australia as a whole is very crude. The negatives pre- dominate. There is no pottery, only very crude basketry. Agriculture does not occur, not even in the early form of garden culture, which is characteristic of wide areas in Melanesia and Polynesia. Domestication appears only in the case of the dingo, an Australian variety of wolf, which, caught young and brought up under the care of a boy or a woman, develops into a fairly manageable dog. Some ani- mals, such as the cassawary, are kept as pets, but these are not infrequently permitted to starve from neglect. Thus the life preserving activities are few and simple. The women gather yams, roots and berries; the men hunt; while fishing is once more in the hands of women, who use crudely woven baskets with which they catch the fish. In cases where a creek is narrow and shallow, a hedge is built nearly across it, and the congestion of fish thus brought about often makes it possible to catch it with the bare hands. The yams are dug by means of a pointed stick with a charred end; in case of necessity, the same contrivance is also used as a weapon. It is reported that in the fights be- tween groups of men and groups of women which occur in some sections of Australia, the latter, armed with digging sticks are able to hold their own against the men who wield their clubs. Animals in the open are often hunted by means of a sur- round. The whole tribe participates, including the old men, women and children. A wide circle is formed, the participants making as much noise as possible. As the circle gradually narrows, the animals inside the circle be- CENTRAL AUSTRALIA loi come aroused, and as they jump from the grass and run to and fro, they are slaughtered without great difficulty. The kangaroo is hunted in more individual fashion. In chasing one, a man may want the assistance of a woman and one or more children, or he may follow it all alone. When a kangaroo is sighted the hunter follows it, trying hard not to arouse its attention. If the kangaroo becomes suspicious, the hunter stops short and remains motionless. After a while the animal regains its calm and the chase IS resumed. If the man succeeds in coming near enough to throw a club or a large boomerang or spear, he does sa Usually, however, the hunter fails to bring the animal down without a prolonged chase. Often he follows it for hours, a feat requiring great endurance. During the last stage of the chase, the kangaroo is wont to rise on its haunches, and with its back against a large tree, await the approaching hunter. The latter must be careful to avoid the dangerous hind legs of the animal; outside of this, no difficulty is ex- perienced in clubbing it to death. To bring down a kangaroo thus single-handed is no small feat, and a man who succeeds in doing so is greatly esteemed by the natives. The habitations of these natives are of the crudest kind: there are no huts of any sort, the only protection against inclement weather consisting of a windshield made of longi- tudinal pieces of bark supported in a slanting position by a number of poles. When in use, the shield is turned about so as to offer protection against the wind. Navigation is very little developed. Australia is a land of few rivers. A large number of these are so-called creeks which have the distracting habit of losing their way to the ocean. Soon after the beginning of the dry season they be- come transformed into elongated pools and finally dry out altogether. The only canoes reported from Australia are two bark varieties, both crudely made. One is cut whole from the bark of a large tree, the ends then being tied together with bark strings. The other is made of several pieces of bark I02 EARLY CIVILIZATION sewed together as a canoe. Even these canoes may repre- sent but a local adaptation derived from the neighboring Melanesians. The list of weapons is fairly extensive but reveals one interesting gap : the bow and arrow, which are almost uni- versal in early communities, do not occur in Australia. A stone knife, on the other hand, is ubiquitous here. Then there are two varieties of spears, a long one and a shorter variety, the so-called javelin; two varieties of shields, an assortment of clubs, and the boomerang. The spears are either thrown directly by the hand or a spear-thrower is used, an ingenious contrivance which occurs also in New Guinea, as well as in a region far removed from the South Seas, namely, as was shown before, among the Eskimo of arctic America. Of the two varieties of shields the wider is used for protection against spears, while the narrower shields are employed against clubs. The latter variety of shields represents but a slightly transformed club with a handle in the middle, and there can be little doubt that this shield has actually evolved from a club. As to the boomerang, several varieties of this curious weapon are in use. The larger ones, with or without a thickening at one end, are often used as clubs in fighting men or large animals; while the smaller ones are flat elon- gated boards, straight or curved in the shape of a banana. When used by the natives for hunting small animals they are thrown with remarkable accuracy and power. A very small straight boomerang is employed for killing birds. The so-called returning boomerang, a variety responsible for the world-wide repute of this device, consists of a curved board with a double twist, one end having a twist in one direction, the other in the opposite one. When this contrivance is thrown in a certain prescribed way, it encounters compli- cated aerial resistances in its flight, due to the twists. As a result, it performs curious manoeuvres in the air before fall- ing to the ground, and may, on occasion, return to the very spot from which it was thrown. This type of boomerang, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 103 however, is not used for fighting or hunting, but only for target practise and like tests of skill. It appears from all this that the Australian has not ad- vanced very far in material accomplishments. There arc, nevertheless, certain features in his economic life which be- speak lengthy historic development, and therefore deserve special notice. It has been reported, especially by the older writers, that in various districts of aboriginal Australia oc- casional markets arc held, to which different conmiodities are brought for barter. There is, however, no medium of exchange — no "money" of any sort — so that the transac- tions of necessity take the form of an exchange of one com- modity for another. It appears, on such occasions, that in- habitants of particular localities are known for their skill in preparing this or that tool or weapon, and that their prod- ucts are sought in return for others, in which another local group specializes to a similar extent. The period for hold- ing a market having been agreed upon by the old men of a local group, the decision is announced td neighboring tribes by messengers, who carry with them little sticks in which sets of notches are used as mnemonic devices for memoriz- ing the message.^ Another curious feature is the following: the tribes living south of the central area and east of Lake Eyre, have a great fondness for a certain root, pituri, which they chew. This root does not grow in the area where it is in such demand. It is secured by an expedition of young and mature men, heavily armed, who fight their way through hostile territory until a certain locality in central Queens- land is reached, where the root is found in large quantity. Huge amounts of it are usually gathered, notwithstanding the opposition of the local residents, and then the expedition re- turns, trading off part of their booty on the way and fur- nishing the remainder to their own group, where part of the supply is consumed, while quantities are passed on to tribes further south. Similar expeditions are undertaken to the 'For further particulars about trading and messengers see pp. 377 sq. 104 EARLY CIVILIZATION southern coast in search of red and yellow ochre, a mineral substance, which is used by the natives for coloring pur- poses at their ceremonies. The decorative art is also quite simple. It consists, in the main, of rectilinear or curvilinear figures, etched or painted on flat wooden boards, the so-called churinga. The principal decorative patterns consist of concentric circles, spirals, parallel lines and dots; here and there a footprint of an emu appears as the only representative of realism. In addition to these decorations, designs are made on the ground on ceremonial occasions by means of the application of ochre and bird down, the patterns in these designs being almost without exception purely geometrical. Realistic rep- resentations are apparently foreign to Australia, unless one accepts as indigenous certain figures of men and animals which were discovered in caves in certain districts. It is, however, almost certain that these figures are of foreign origin. As if to compensate for the unimpressive development of decorative art, the natives have reached wellnigh artistic perfection in mimicking the voices and motions of birds and animals. These dramatizations occur as one phase of the totemic ceremonies as well as during hunting expeditions, when the kangaroo, emu or some other creature misled by the clever mimicry of the hunter, permits him to approach within striking distance. Australian children can often be seen absorbed in games in which these dramatizations of the grown-ups are early acquired and perfected. The religious and magical beliefs and practices are multi- form and play a most conspicuous part in the lives of the people. A general animism prevails, which here takes the form of a belief in mostly evil spirits who frighten the na- tives, especially the women, by their occasional appearance, or merely by the sounds they are supposed to produce. There is also a belief In a superior deity of seml-anlmal semi-hu- man shape and large size, who is supposed to have created all things in nature with the exception of man, but whose CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 105 activities have ceased at an early period, after which his contact with humans also came to a close. He is not prayed or sacrificed to, and is thought to be indifferent toward hu- man affairs ; nevertheless, he continues to be regarded as the supreme divinity. Whether this peculiar superior being is altogether the product of the native imagination or rep- resents but a transformation of the God of the missionaries, must for the present remain undecided.* Magic is practiced constantly and by every one. Most diseases and almost all cases of death are ascribed to hostile magic. Every Australian can use magical means for such purposes, while curative magic seems to be restricted, at least in some localities, to the medicine-men. A particularly common method of exorcising a spell consists in the so-called "pointing." A short stick or bone is sharpened at one end; then, while an Incantation is sung over it, it is buried in the ground often in view of the victim, who is seen sitting in camp quite ignorant of the procedure. As a result of this magic act the victim is expected to fall ill, or, in some cases, even to die. The practice of bone "pointing" is restricted to men ; women have magical facilities of their own. Just as the prospective victim leaves the camp, a woman will blow on her fingers and then claw in the air, moving her hand up and down with little jerks. The victim, who may be a man or perhaps a younger wife of her husband, is seriously afflicted after this and may die. Or a woman may take her yam stick into the bush, sing over it and go through a series of motions, as if she were pulling something toward her. The effect of this procedure is fatal. The woman's head- ring is an excellent cure for headache if worn on the head by the husband. In case of abdominal pain it may be worn as a belt with a similarly salutary effect. Numerous ills are produced by quartz crystals being projected into a person's body. The magician stands at some distance from his 'A detailed discussion of this "All Father" idea, the presence of which has also been reported from districts other than Australia, will be found in Father W. Schmidt's book, "L'origine de I'idie de Dieu." See also p. axx. io6 EARLY CIVILIZATION enemy, holding a number of crystals In one or both hands ; these he pretends to throw in the direction of the victim. The crystals disappear and are supposed to have entered the body of the unfortunate individual, who may become seri- ously ill or die, unless a medicine-man intervenes in time and removes the crystals. A somewhat elaborate perform- ance is undertaken to deprive a man of his kidney fat by means of a special strangling cord, so the natives believe. The cord is thrown over the head of the man overtaken while asleep; thus temporarily reduced to unconsciousness, he is carried to the bush and cut open; then his kidney fat is removed. On awakening he believes he has had a bad dream. Before long, however, he falls sick and is bound to die unless a powerful medicine-man comes to his rescue.^ A medicine-man, whose power is usually believed to reside in huge quantities of quartz crystals or other sacred stones which fill his body, is himself subjected to various restricting rules of behavior. He must, for example, not eat too much fat, nor allow a big ant to bite him, for should he do so, the stones would leave his body. Also, he must not drink anything hot. It is recorded that a medicine-man who drank a cup of hot tea given to him by some white man, lost his power. Medicine-men among the Arunta in Central Australia are made in two ways, by spirits and by other medicine-men, the former method being regarded as the more powerful. Initiation by spirits is believed by the natives to take place in the following way. A man is first taken away into the bush or to a cave where a spirit resides. The latter then throws a spear at the man, which pierces his neck and tongue and passes out through the mouth, leaving a hole in the tongue. Then another spear is thrown which pierces his head from ear to ear. After this the man re- mains unconscious. His body is opened by the spirit, all the 'Instances such as this are especially instructive insofar as light ii thrown on the relation of magical beliefs to experience, for in cases like the above DO experience whatsoever can be held responsible for the formation of the belief. CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 107 insides are removed and others put in their place together with a large quantity of sacred stones. When the man re- turns to camp he is for a while demented. When he finally comes to, it is understood that a new medicine-man has been made, provided the hole in his tongue remains open ; should it disappear, the initiation is not recognized as valid. When the initiation is in the hands of other medicine- men, the principal processes involved consist in the rubbing of the arms and legs as well as of the abdomen of the can- didate with stones. Considerable pressure is applied so that blood is drawn. Then stones are pressed against the scalp of the initiate, with similar effect. Then some hair string is tied around the middle joint of the first finger of the right hand and a pointed stick is pressed under the nail and into the flesh forming a hole, whereupon the pretense is made of pressing stones into this hole. Quartz crystals arc also thrown ai the candidate from a distance. When this process is completed, the medicine-man is made. One of the important functions of a medicine-man consists in discovering who is responsible for the sickness or death of an individual. The belief in the efficacy of these magical devices is absolute, and the natives who really have a most remarkable resistance against wounds, have been known to die from relatively slight injuries when they be- lieved the weapons that had caused the wound to have been charmed or sung over. An universally practiced method of curing a variety of diseases consists in the sucking of the afflicted spot by a medicine-man. Then one or more quartz crystals are produced, which are believed to be extracted from the patient's body; whereupon a cure ensues. Should there be failure, it is attributed without hesitation to the hostile workings of a more powerful magician, or to the fact that a vital organ has been affected. It must be noted in this connection that the medicine-man who must, of course, be aware of the sleight-of-hand involved in all such cases, will, when himself afflicted, not hesitate to ap- io8 EARLY CIVILIZATION peal to another medicine-man for assistance, not infre- quently with satisfactory results.^ The social and ceremonial organization of these people stands in strange contrast to the crudeness of their material arts. Each tribe is divided into a large number of clans or gentes, uniformly named after animals or birds. The in- dividuals of a clan are not segregated in one locality, but are often distributed over a number of widely separated local groups. The members of each clan regard themselves as spiritually associated with a number of ancestors, half-hu- man half-animal creatures, who lived in the mythological period, the alcheringa. These ancestors travelled about the country performing magical ceremonies; or, in other ver- sions of the myth, they were persecuted by hunters. At certain places they stopped, exhausted, and disappeared into the ground; whereupon there arose on the spot a sacred tree, rock, or water hole. These sacred spots, or oknantkilla, are ever since haunted by the spiritual descendants of the distant semi-human semi-animal ancestors. Among the cen- tral Australians there is a belief that women passing by these charmed localities will be entered into by the spirit children or ratapa, and that the child subsequently born will be a spiritual descendant of a mythological creature who had entered the ground at that particular spot. Another belief current in this area is In the magic power of the churinga, sacred wooden or stone slabs, two of which are owned by each Individual, one large and one smaller one. Women as well as men have such churinga, but a woman may never see hers. The churinga are strictly guarded in particular localities; and the old men see to it *This mixture of sleight-of-hand with a bona fide belief in the powers of magic, must be noted as an interesting feature characteristic of such pheno- mena in their primitive as well as in their modern setting. Thus, Eusapia Palladino, the renowned Italian medium, always admitted that she practiced sleight-of-hand whenever possible, by way of improving her business, tak- ing especial delight therein when the victims of her deceit were erudite professors ; at the same time, she had a firm belief in the genuineness of her supernatural powers. CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 109 that no woman ever approaches these secret places. The sacred objects are produced only at totemic rites and some other ceremonial occasions, and are always handled with great circumspection. A churinga is supposed to represent the second body, or as some believe, one of the souls of ao individual. The members of a clan treat the animal after which the clan is named with consideration and respect. They are forbidden to kill or eat it. Their attitude, however, cannot be designated as one of veneration. Instead, there is an emphatic recognition that the animal or bird is a relative, an intimate of the clanmates. Each clan has the power of increasing the supply of its sacred animal, the totem, by means of a magical ceremony, the intichiuma. In the course of an intichiuma, the male members of a clan — for women arc never admitted — properly decorated with bird down and ochre, dramatize the actions and cries of a particular animal or bird. There is some blood letting; the blood drawn from the arms of the participants by means of sharp stones, is permitted to flow over the ceremonial ground and is then spilled over the surrounding rocks. All this is sup- posed to precipitate the multiplication of the particular to- temic animal. On this occasion, one representative of the species is killed and, having been first tasted by the head man of the clan, the alatunja, is then partaken of sparingly by the other members. This, however, is the only occasion on which clanmates may eat of their totemic animal. The churinga are produced in the course of the ceremony. Protracted series of such ceremonies are performed by the natives at the end of the long period of desiccation and im- mediately preceding the season of torrential rains, as a con- sequence of which, as has often been described, the faunal and floral aspects of a Central Australian landscape become transfigured as if by magic. In this case, then, the natives have good experiential grounds for preserving their faith in the potency of magical rites. The totem of each clan stands in a certain relation to no EARLY CIVILIZATION a number of other animals and birds, the so-called "asso- ciated totems," which, while not as important as the main totem, have a sacredness of their own. In the mythological tales current among the people, these animals always figure together with the totem as participants in the plot. It will be seen that the clans of this region have come to function as magic working associations. As to the control of marriage, it is here connected with social units of an en- tirely different order, the so-called phratries, classes and sub- classes. The matrimonial systems of Central, Eastern and South- ern Australia fall into three main types. Type one is repre- sented by such tribes as the Dieri and other tribes further south, and is characterized by the presence of two phra- tries subdivided into clans or gentes. Here the phratries control intermarriage. Type two is represented by such tribes as the Kamilaroi and other eastern tribes, where the two phratries with their clans are further subdivided into two classes each. Here the classes control intermarriage. Type three, finally, is represented by tribes such as the War- ramunga and other tribes of the Center and North, among whom the classes are once more subdivided into two sub- classes each. The latter units here control intermarriage.^ 'The conditions obtaining in the three types of cases may be visualized as follows, assuming for simplicity that the phratry throughout consists of three clans. The actual number of clans or gentes in a phratry is always much greater. Type I (Dieri, etc.) Phratriea I II Clans a d (Gentes) b » f I marries II and vice versa Here the children follow the phratry and clan of the mother (or the geoi of the father). Type II (Kamilaroi, etc.) Phratries I II Classes A B CD Clan a = fli + a» z 3 2Q c I I Q S J 2 Z .» o C PLATE V. Fitr. 44 Maori Door Lintel (British Museum, "Handbook, etc.", p. 176). Fig. 45 Hawaiian Cloak of Red and Yellow Feathers (British Museum, "Handbook, etc." p. 151). PLATE VI Fig. 46 Interior of Shallow Chalice G. G. MacCurdy, "A Study of Chiriquian Antiquities," (Memoirs Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Plate I). '%■ .,y,r-a*faf';: PLATE VIII. Fig. SO Ground-drawing Spencer and Gillcn, "The Northern Tribes of Ccntnl Australia," p. 741 Fig. 51 Ground-drawing Spencer and Gillen, "The Northern Tribes of Central Australia," p. 740 ART 179 of this feature on the back of the huge bronze throne on which he has seated his famous statue of Beethoven. In the carved wooden cup of the African Bushongo (plate III, fig. 41) there are several points of interest. The cup is divided into three sections, the stem, the central body and the neck, which in this case forms a unit with the top. These parts are again subdivided horizontally, the leg into three parts, the top into three parts, and the central section into two parts, the deep inward directed curvature of the body taking the place of the missing third section. Again, on the lowest section of the leg, there appear three oblong bulg- ing verticals. The surface of the main part of the central body is decorated by three super-imposed designs consisting of a stripe which forms interlocking diamonds. This stripe is itself subdivided into three parallel longitudinal stripes. On the upper border of the central body appears a carved decoration consisting of three stripes, an upper and a lower one, which are identical in technique, and a third one be- tween, which is itself subdivided into three stripes. The middle section of the neck or top, on both sides of a central piece, is again subdivided into three horizontal stripes of the same technique as the two stripes of the upper border of the central body of the cup, separated by two sections, each one of which is divided into three horizontal stripes. There are other features of interest in the cup. The whole object is conceived as a spacious, heavily-set article and this characteristic is carried out in each one of the three parts by means of gradual, gently curved outlines, the curves being neither too deep, which would impart a character of lightness, nor too flat, which would make the cup appear clumsy. There are also a number of minor decorations, several of which appear on the side of the cup shown in the illustration : the two carvings on the neck, the animal rep- resentation in the middle of the central body, the two quad- rilaterals on the central section of the leg, and the three bulging verticals referred to before, on the lowest part of the leg. The imaginary lines connecting these decorations i8o EARLY CIVILIZATION emphasize by compensation the above mentioned features of the outline of the cup. The workmanship of this cup is, of course, not perfect. It could not, for example, be com- pared to the best work of the Haida or of the Maori. This, however, does not apply to the leg, which is exquisite. The splendid modelling of the leg can be best seen if the cup is turned upside down. The bronze casting (plate III, fig. 42) is, first of all, re- markable as representing a type of art in which the African Negro stands unique among primitive peoples. The face is admirable both as a face and as a Negro face. There is, moreover, an element of conventionalization in a not over- conspicuous emphasis of the outlines of the lips, the wings of the nose and the eye-lids. The head gear is notable for the general harmonization of its outlines with the contour of the face. This feature is best seen if the head is re- versed. The wicker suggestion of the head gear speaks for itself and technically it is admirable. But perhaps most valu- able stylistically is the rectilinear cut in the front of the head gear with which the straight edge extending towards the ear harmonizes. The stylistic effect thus achieved is greatly emphasized by the vertical pendants extending down- ward on both sides of the ear, which is itself assimilated to the character of the head gear and of the pendants by means of a most admirable bit of stylization. The vertical and rectilinear effect of these stylistic and decorative features is emphasized by the cicatrices on the forehead of the figure.^ It will have been observed that in all of these remarks we were not concerned with those features of the carvings or designs which are distinctive of the art of the particular tribes. On the contrary, the traits were noted which are of interest from the standpoint of general aesthetics. The results indicate what might have been concluded a priori, namely, that individual peculiarities of tribal designs are a ^Observations of a similar nature could be made on the Chiriqui pot design and on the bark carving of the decorative head dress from New Ireland. The relevant points are fairly obvious and their analysis may be left to the student. ART i8i matter of civilization and history and must be analyzed In that light, but that primitive art craft, when at its best, re- veals the control of intuitively sensed aesthetic principles, thus bridging the gap separating the modem from the primi- tive in art, by bringing these artistic products of pre-history to a common level with the art of historic civilization. It remains to refer, however briefly, to the subject of symbolism. Symbolism in primitive art is so ubiquitous and its ramifications in early civilization are so varied, that an at all adequate discussion of this topic would require a treatise all by itself. A thing is a symbol insofar as it suggests something which it is not. In this sense language and, indeed, psychic life in general abound in symbolic connections, things and ideas constantly taking the place of one another and tending to evoke one another. Concrete objective things, even when non-artistic, lend themselves well for the function of sym- bols; if their emotional value and aesthetic appeal is, in addi- tion, enhanced by esthetic transformations, objective things become admirably suitable for symbolic service. We have referred to the widespread realistic significa- tion of geometrical characters. Some geometrical figures, such as the swastika, are distributed over immense geo- graphical areas and have in different places become symbolic- ally associated with a great variety of meanings. The real- istic and other symbolism of the geometrical figures of Plains embroidery also varies greatly from tribe to tribe. On the Northwest Coast, again, the symptomatic features of different animals and birds have become symbols of the entire creature, an4, may therefore readily take its place. Among the Iroquois, geometrical and realistic figures on the wampum belts function as symbols of various treaty articles concluded between the Iroquois and other tribes. Among such tribes as the Plains Arapaho or the Hopi of the Puebloes, colors have become the carriers of symbolic significance. In Australia, the sacred wooden or stone slabs, the so-called churinga, are decorated by crude rectilinear 1 82 EARLY CIVILIZATION or curvilinear patterns. These simple etched or painted designs have complicated symbolic connotations. The sym- bolism, moreover, varies not merely from tribe to tribe but even from clan to clan, each clan interpreting the designs, which are throughout similar and identical, on the basis of its own totemic mythology. Similar drawings are made on the ground on ceremonial occasions, yellow and red ochre and bird down beine used for the purpose. Thus, the ground drawing on plate VIII (fig. 50) represents six mythological women, the concentric cir- cles being the women sitting with their legs drawn up, the legs being represented by the double bands connecting the concentric circles. The other ground drawing (plate VIII, ^S' 5^) ^s associated with the totemic ceremony of the famous WoUunqua (the great magical snake) totem. This drawing is of a very considerable size, measuring eighteen feet in length. The long curved band represents the snake, the head being indicated by the wider part near the two bands adjoining the concentric circles. The latter them- selves represent the place at which the snake is sup- posed to have dived into the ground, after the fashion of Australian totemic ancestors. Of the separate sets of concentric circles, the larger ones indicate "paper bark" trees, while the two smaller ones are bushes. In all of these, spirit children are supposed to have been left behind. A rare feature in this design are the tracks of a man who is represented as following the snake, being anxious for him to return; at the spot represented by the concentric circles in touch with the two semi-circular bands, the man is supposed to have caught up with the snake and here he struck him with great force in an attempt to make him dive down. The two footprints side by side, near the head of the snake, represent the man standing there, while the two semi-circular bands connected with the concentric circles are his arms lifted up to strike the snake. Primitive religious ceremonialism abounds in decorations and other artistic objects which acquire symbolic significance. ART 183 The religious connotations serve to promote the preserva- tion of such designs, as any deviation from the accepted pat- terns then becomes sacrilegious. Again, the religious con- ceptions associated with the symbols themselves become more definitely fixed and perpetualized. This ceremonial function of artistic objects as symbols of religio-mythological and social values represents perhaps the most significant cultural aspect of primitive art. The attractiveness and suggestiveness of these symbols, their simultaneous presentation to a large number of devotees, the ease with which multifarious associations are absorbed by these objects, only to be reawakened and refreshed in the minds of the beholder, transform the symbolic art object into a veritable perpetuator of a large part of the culture of a tribe, that part of the culture, moreover, which is emo- tionally most valuable as well as most clearly representative of the collective ideas of the group.* 'Cf. p. 415. ^ CHAPTER X RELIGION AND MAGIC E. B. Tylor's classical discussion of animism^ and J. G. Frazer's detailed description of magical belief and practice^ have familiarized the general reader with these interesting aspects of early civilization. Rather than tread once more a path so often trodden, I propose to discuss the problems of early magic and religion according to a somewhat differ- ent plan. In the following section on the basic factors of religion, the guardian spirit beliefs of the American Indian will be analyzed and this will be followed by a section on modern magic and another on mana, or impersonal super- natural power. The succeeding section on anthropo- morphization and the higher gods will deal with the super- naturalism of the Chukchee, the gods of the Bella Coola and the beliefs in the so-called All Father. The last sec- tion, finally, entitled "The Individual in Religion," will treat of medicine-men among the Chukchee and others, and of the Ghost Dance Religions of the American Indian. In the final pages of this discussion of religion I shall then attempt to present a general picture of early supernaturalism as a world view. The Basic Factors of Religion The Guardian Spirit in American Indian Religion. Of all religious phenomena in primitive North America, the most general as well as the most variegated are the beliefs and practices connected with the cult of the guardian spirit. In their essence these cults, which are common to practically all Indian tribes, are based on a faith in super- natural power, often of an impersonal sort. *In his "Primitive Culture." *"The Golden Bough," Vols. I and II, "The Magic Art." 184 RELIGION AND MAGIC 185 When a boy approaches maturity, when his voice begins to change — as some Indians put it — he repairs to the woods, where he builds for himself a crude hut or tent. Hence- forth he lives in isolation, takes frequent purgatives and eats very sparingly. His mind is bent on the supernatural experience he is about to face. When he has reached a high state of purity, both physically and spiritually ("so that the spirits can look through him," says the Indian), the desire of his soul is realized: the guardian spirit appears to him in a dream or vision. This supernatural personage may be a spirit animal, bird or human, or it may be one of those monster creatures so conmion in Indian mytholo- gies. The guardian spirit bestows upon the novitiate one or more supernatural gifts and, having given him guidance as to the sort of life he should lead, disappears. Hence- forth the young man stands in an intimate personal rela- tion to that spirit, appeals to it for protection and expects it to warn him of impending dangers. If the protector is an animal or bird, the youth may have to abstain from eating or killing representatives of that species; this taboo, however, is not characteristic of all Indian tribes.' This generalized representation of the guardian spirit cult does but slight justice to the importance of this com- plex of beliefs and practices among North American In- dians. It may be of interest, therefore, to dwell in greater detail on the particular forms assumed by the guardian spirit cult among several representative tribal groups. The Southern Kwakiutl of the Northwest Coast are di- vided into a large number of clans, each of which traces its origin to a mythical ancestor, on whose adventures the 'A most suggestive account of the acquisition of a guardian spirit will be found in Paul Radin's "An Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian," Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1913. In tliis case the supernatural protector is the Earth Spirit, with whom the somewhat sophisticated Indian repeatedly fails to enter into rapport. The entire account, while particularly representative of the transition between blind faith and mild scepticism characteristic of many modern Indians, bristles with touches of genuine Indian thought and emotional reaction. 1 86 EARLY CIVILIZATION crests and privileges of the clan depend. In the course of such adventures the ancestor meets the sacred creature of the clan and obtains from it supernatural powers and magical objects, such as the magic harpoon, which insures success in sea-water hunting, the water of life, which re- suscitates the dead, and the like. He also secures a dance, a song, a distinctive cry— each spirit having a cry of Its own — and the right to use certain carvings. The dance al- ways consists of a dramatic presentation of the myth in which the ancestor acquires gifts from the spirit. Some of these spirits are animals, the bear, wolf, sea lion, killer- whale; others are fabulous monsters. To the latter class belongs Sisiutl, a mythic double-headed snake, which often assumes the shape of a fish. To eat it or see it means certain death: all joints of the culprit become dislocated and his head is turned backwards. Another monster is the cannibal woman, Dzonoqwa. Both Sisiutl and Dzonoqwa are highly dangerous when hostile, but when their good will is assured, they are most useful, and the powers they bestow are greatly sought after. All of these spirits and the gifts they bestow are heredi- tary among the Kwakiutl. In some instances an individual may transmit these valuable privileges to his descendants; but more often, a set of guardian spirits with their gifts become a hereditary prerogative of a clan. Henceforth all individuals of that clan may obtain supernatural powers from such spirits. Some spirits figure only in the ancestral traditions, others can still be obtained by the Kwakiutl youths. Prominent among spirits of the latter class is Mak- Ing-War-all-over-the-Earth. With the assistance of this spirit a youth may obtain three different powers: mastery over the Sisiutl, the capacity to catch the Invisible Dream Spirit, and insensibility to pain and wounds. With the as- sistance of The-First-One-to-Eat-Man-at-the-Mouth-of-the- Rlver, another spirit, nine powers may be obtained. The spirit Maden Is a bird and gives the faculty of flying. Vari- RELIGION AND MAGIC 187 ous ghost spirits bestow the power to return to life after having been killed. The spirits appear only in the winter, the season of the "secrets." During the winter ceremonial, which is per- formed during this season, the people are divided into two main bodies, the initiated ("Seals") and the uninitiated ("Sparrows"). The latter are divided into groups consist- ing of individuals who will be initiated at approximately the same time. There are ten such groups or societies — seven male and three female — and most of them bear animal names. Throughout the ceremonies, the two groups are hostile to each other. The "Seals" attack and torment the "Spar- rows," who try to reciprocate to the best of their ability. The object of part of the ceremonies performed by each society is to secure the return of the youth who has been taken away by a supernatural being, the spirit protector of the society. When the novice finally returns he is in a state of ecstasy; and ceremonies are performed to restore him to his senses. Among the Haida the guardian spirit idea finds its clear- est expression in the beliefs about shamans. When a super- natural being took possession of a man and spoke and acted through him, the man became a shaman. While the spirit was operating, the shaman lost his personal identity and became one with the spirit. He dressed as directed by the spirit and used its language. Thus, if a supernatural be- ing from the Tlingit country took possession of a shaman, he spoke Tlingit, although otherwise ignorant of that tongue. The personal name also was discarded and the spirit's name substituted, and as the spirit changed the name was also changed. The Tlingit shamans were even more powerful than those of the Haida. Whereas the Haida shaman usually owned but one spirit and no masks, his Tlingit colleague could boast of several spirits and masks. The representations of subsidiary spirits on masks were all designed to 1 88 EARLY CIVILIZATION strengthen certain faculties of the shaman. The shaman, as well as an ordinary individual, could increase their powers by obtaining the tongues of a variety of spirit animals, especially those of land otters, which were mixed with eagle claws and other articles and carefully stored away. Shamans often performed merely for display or, when desirous of demonstrating their superior powers, they engaged in imaginary battles with other shamans many miles away. It will thus be seen how deeply the belief in guardian spirits has entered into the lives and thought of the people of British Columbia and of Southern Alaska; and the par- ticular forms and applications of this belief are as varied as they are numerous. Reared on the fertile ground of a general animism, guardian spirits manifest themselves through the medium of many things and beings. By the means of art, the realm of magical potentialities becomes further extended: for when the representation of a spirit protector is carved on an implement, weapon, or ceremonial object, the thing itself becomes a carrier of supernatural power. Among the Kwakiutl, the guardian spirit idea stands in the center of a complex system of secret societies and initiation ceremonies. With the approach of winter, the guardian spirit, like a ghost of the past, emerges from its summer retirement and through the medium of names transforms the social organization of the people. Among the Haida and Tllngit, the belief in the magical powers of supernatural helpers has engendered a prolific growth of shamanistic practices. The type of clan and family legends prevalent on the entire coast, particularly among the Tsimshian, Haida and Tlingit, consists of an account of how the ancestor of the clan or family met his guardian spirit and obtained from it supernatural powers, a mytho- logical motif which receives its dramatic embodiment in the dances of the secret societies. The guardian spirit idea also figures as one of the standards of rank found among these people. The vaster the powers of a supernatural RELIGION AND MAGIC 189 guardian, the greater respect does its owner command; while secret societies rank according to the powers of their members. In the Plateau area, the guardian spirit phenomena have been studied with particular care among the Thompson River Indians, the Shuswap and the Lillooet. Among the Thompson River Indians, every person had a guardian spirit, which he acquired at puberty. Here the spirits were not inherited, excepting only the cases of a few exceptionally powerful shamans. All animals and objects possessed of magic qualities could become guardian spirits; the powers of such spirits had become differentiated so that certain groups of supernatural helpers were associated with definite social or professional classes. The shamans had their favorite spirits, among which were natural phenomena (night, fog, east, west), man or parts of the human body (woman, young girl, hands or feet of men, etc.), animals (bat), objects referring to death (land of souls, ghosts, dead man's hair, bones and teeth, etc.). Warriors had their set of spirits, so did hunters, fishermen, gamblers, run- ners, women. Each person partook of the qualities of his or her guardian spirit. Among the spirits peculiar to sha- mans, parts of animals or objects were not uncommon, such as the tail of a snake, the nipple of a gun, the left or right side of anything, and the like. Although the range of animals, natural phenomena, inanimate objects, which could become guardian spirits, embraced a large part of nature, certain animals that lacked magic power never fig- ured as guardian spirits. Such were the mouse, chipmunk, squirrel, rat, butterfly, and some others. But few birds and scarcely any trees or herbs ever functioned as spirit protectors. When the Shuswap lad began to dream of women, ar- rows and canoes, or when his voice began to change, his time had arrived for craving and obtaining a guardian spirit, similarly, the young men of the Lillooet acquired guar- dian spirits and, at the instigation of their elders, performed I90 EARLY CIVILIZATION a guardian spirit dance during which they imitated their su- pernatural protectors in motion, gesture and cry. In some of their clan dances, masks were used which sometimes referred to an incident in the clan myth. The dancer personified the ancestor himself, or his guardian spirit. Powerful guardian spirits enabled the shamans to perform wonderful feats. The weapons, implements, and other objects of the Lillooet were often decorated with designs representing guardian spirits. Similar figures were painted or tatooed on face and body. Among these tribes the common people were divided into societies, membership in most of which was not strictly hereditary, while in others, such as the Black Bear, the hereditary character was more pronounced. Among the twenty-nine protectors of the societies, twenty were animals, while the rest included plants, natural phenomena, inani- mate objects, as well as hunger and famine. Some of these societies were regarded as closely related, and the members of such societies were permitted to use each others dances and songs; but as a rule, each society claimed its own dis- tinctive garments, ornaments, dances and songs. Some of the ceremonies could be performed at any time, but the winter was the favorite ceremonial season. During the dances, the moose, caribou, elk, deer, and other pro- tective spirits were impersonated. The actors dressed in the skins of these animals, with the scalp part hanging over their heads and faces. Some had antlers attached to the head and neck. The dancers went through all the actions of the animal impersonated, imitating the incidents in the finding and fishing, hunting and snaring, chasing over lakes in canoes, and final capture or death of the animal. In the Plains area, the form assumed by the guardian spirit incident is that of a transfer of a possession, material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, from one owner to another. The transfer may be from one man to another or from a guardian spirit to a novitiate. The medium of transfer is usually a dream. The pattern of the entire pro- RELIGION AND MAGIC 191 cedure has been developed to such a nicety that students find it difficult to distinguish between an original guardian spirit acquisition and an account of a transfer of a spirit from in- dividual to individual. The materialization of the pro- cedure has also been carried very far. Having secured a vision or dream, the initiate prepares a medicine bundle, which is nothing but a bag, often made of otter skin, filled with various small articles, such as pieces of skin, small pebbles, quartz, animal or vegetable matter, and the like. None of these objects possesses any intrinsic value, but in this context they acquire the significance of charms, of car- riers of supernatural power. The medicine bundle may thus be likened to an electric battery charged with potential cur- rent, from which great quantities of dynamic force can be produced at will. Contrary to the customs of the Plateau area, but in line with those of the Northwest, medicine bundles and even guardian spirits tend to become hereditary among some Plains tribes. It must be noted, however, that this process of hereditary transfer when unaccompanied by a personal guardian spirit experience, may not be continued indefinitely without a consequent loss of power. It may go on for two generations, but at the third transfer the power gives out — the dynamo must be recharged by personal con- tact with a supernatural source, if it is to continue doing work along magical lines. It is characteristic of the guardian spirit cult in the Plains that the supernatural vision is sought not at puberty, but by adults. But in details the cults difier greatly from tribe to tribe.^ 'In an unpublished note kindly placed at mj disposal by Mrs. Ruth Benedict, the following interesting summary of some of these tribal dif- ferentiations is presented. The Arapaho use self-torture to induce the vision. All adult males seek it, and it depends wholly on the power given him at that time whether the suppliant becomes a shaman or a warrior. The Dakota, however, mark off the laity: shamans fast once to obtain a guardian spirit, a prescribed vision with a very complicated formula; the laity fast on every occasion, with extreme self-torture, not for a guardian spirit, but for help from the sun in some particular and immediate undertaking. The Crow, on the contrary, require a guardian spirit as a part of the equipment of every ambitious 192 EARLY CIVILIZATION Among the Winnebago, who, in their guardian spirit customs, resemble the typical Plains tribes, there is the peculiarity that the guardian spirits are believed to be localized. These spirits, which may be designated as guar- dian prototypes or originals (not unlike the "Ideas" of Plato), reside in definite places, in a valley or mountain fastness, or behind a certain rock. The guardian spirits which appear to the searchers for power are but reflections or spiritual representatives of these permanent reservoirs of magical potency. There is striking resemblance between this conception and the ideas of the Chukchee and Koryak of Northeastern Siberia, where a similar relationship ob- tains between the so-called supernatural "Masters" and their animal representatives on earth. Among the Iroquois, guardian spirits, whether of animals, birds or objects, almost always appear in human form. This is in keeping with the highly anthropomorphised character of Iroquois religion, mythology and cosmology. A number of societies also occur here which are more or less clearly associated with supernatural protectors. Thus, the guardian spirit beliefs of the North Ameri- can Indians present an interesting illustration of a cultural feature, indigenous in an immense area and evidently of great antiquity, which in a multitude of forms and cultural associations appears in all of the major areas and probably man; and the suppliant becomes a "child" of his vision-adopted "father." The formula is rigid and very distinctive for this tribe. The Blackfoot use no torture except hunger and thirst to induce the vision. One idea in connection with these experiences has saturated their culture: these visions can be bought and sold. They make absolutely no distinction between the visions they have bought and the ones they have themselves fasted for. To invest in other men's visions is a necessary qualification for social prestige; and the "medicine bundles" which are the visible insignia of possession are the basis of their economic system. The Hidatsa elaborated a different idea, the idea of inheritance. They respected the Blackfoot scheme of purchase sufficiently to require that pay- ment be made for all such things inherited. And they agreed with general Plains theory sufficiently to insist that before one inherited, one must see the vision. Hence it became necessary for the head of the family to exercise supervision over the faster that the proper family spirit might appear to him. In spite of all difficulties, however, the tribal pattern required that the medicine bundle descend from father to son. RELIGION AND MAGIC 193 in every tribe 6f the vast continent. A possible exception are the Eskimo, but "ven here the spirit helpers of the angakut almost certa.ily belong to the same category of phenomena, on a par with the spirit assistants, messengers, and the like, of the shamans of Northeastern Siberia. Guardian spirits are not unknown in Australia and cog- nate beliefs have been described in some of the island groups of Melanesia, as well as in the Malay Archipelago. In a somewhat wider sense, beliefs in guardian spirits or spirit protectors are common throughout Africa and among primitive tribes in general, but in North America these be- liefs and their associated practices have entered into an extraordinary set of cultural associations, thus affecting the personal religion as well as the religious institutionalism, mythology, totemism and even some aspects of the social organization of the Indians. It seems, indeed, justifiable to designate the guardian spirit as one of the basic roots of North American religion. Modern Magic In the course of our survey, it has been shown more than once to what extent the world view of the "savage" is con- trolled by magical idiosyncrasy. It remains to inquire whether this phenomenon is peculiar to early mentality, or whether we are not facing in magic, as more than once be- fore, a sample of the common-human. That the latter al- ternative corresponds to the facts becomes evident upon most superficial analysis. The works of Frazer and Mannhardt abound in illus- trations of so-called "superstitions" current among the peasantry of Europe. In the traditional beliefs of these people, spirits and demons, spooks, ghosts and apparitions, omens, dreams and visions, continue to hold undisputed sway, and the century-old teachings of Christianity seem quite powerless to dislodge these even more ancient and deep rooted beliefs. Even in the cities, amidst schools and 194 EARLY CIVILIZATION universities, the faith in charms persists unabated, no less than the belief in lucky and unlucky stones, and the evil eye. In the fold of institutionalized Christianity itself the attitude toward the objectified representations of divinity and holy persons is heavily wrought with magical connota- tions. So are the beliefs in other than natural healing, which are still so common, centering at the present time about certain holy places in Russia, France, Canada, and elsewhere.* Examples of similar attitudes are not lacking in the wholly secular experiences of our daily life. Thus the status of the physician in modern society is not by any means devoid of a certain magical flavor. To a degree, the standing of a physician depends on his professional com- petence, his knowledge and experience. But this is only one element, and perhaps not the determining one. For what counts with the public is success, and a few conspicuous cures, however accidental and oinforeseeable, contribute more to the reputation of a practitioner than a prolonged period of efficient but drab medical practice. The success- ful physician walks in a halo which is not entirely natural in Its substance. His appeal is, at least in part, that of a man whose powers are extraordinary, not reducible to mere knowledge and experience and beyond the reach of other individuals. Including most other physicians. To believe In dreams is no longer good form in our midst, but how many of us are quite free from the tendency to ascribe to dreams at least a measure of prognostlcatory or telepathic significance ? A woman dreams of her mother and on awakening finds the news of the mother's sickness *Note in this connection the following news items from the New York Times for August 25th, 1920: "Templemore, Ireland. An incessant stream of pilgrims from all parts of Ireland continues to pour into Templemore to visit the home of Thomas Divan, where it was recently asserted miracu- lous cures were being effected through the medium of sacred statues said to have shed blood mysteriously last week. "The neighboring towns and villages are overflowing with people unable to get into Templemore. . . . "Further remarkable cures were claimed today." RELIGION AND MAGIC 195 or death in her morning mail. She "had not thought of mother for days," had "no idea that she could be sick," and "why just the night before the letter came?" and "can it be only a coincidence?" And so it goes! Let only the "coin- cidences" multiply and the staunchest doubter begins to waver in his scepticism. Among the examples of latter day supernaturalism, few are more striking than the persistent belief that the psychic experiences of a pregnant woman may exercise a specific effect on the child. We hear of children born during the French Revolution with the revolutionary emblem on their chests; or again, a mother frightened by a frog, gives birth to a child with a birthmark resembling a frog; another child, whose mother broke her wrist while in pregnancy, is born with a wrist broken or at least weakened in the same place; and so on indefinitely. In a book published not so long ago ("Sex Antagonism" by W. Heape), a considerable collection of such instances is brought before the reader as worthy of belief. The author of the book happens to be an animal breeder, member of a professional group whose daily experiences bring them in touch with facts which suggest interpretations through what Kroeber called "inheritance by magic." No more than Jacob could resist the tempta- tion of interpreting by a mechanism such as the above the peculiar and varied coloration of his sheep, can the modern fencier overcome the suggestive influence of the many in- stances in his experience where an interpretation through pre-natal influence may be made, and he makes it forthwith. Many persons who would reject all such suggestions with a shrug of the shoulder, prove equally positive in their claim that should the expectant mother engage in voluminous read- ing, this might enhance the literary proclivities of her off- spring, and should she frequent concerts, the musical gifts of the baby may be similarly stimulated. In principle, of course, there is no difference between these cases and those cited before. Add to this lucky and unlucky days, magic numbers, black cats, nuns, umbrellas opened indoors, or just 196 EARLY CIVILIZATION any untoward happening at a ceremony or other emotionally significant occasion, and the impression becomes irresistible that modern society is, after all, not so far removed from a belief in other than natural causation. Not infrequently one may hear the remark : "I am super- stitious." In this form sincere persons give expression to the fact that while rational in intention, they are unable to resist the temptation to react in some special way to those situations where superstition is traditionally sanctioned. We think of open penknives, three candles, knocking on wood, and what not. It would almost seem as if the proclivity of people to be superstitious in this sense were proportionate to the degree to which their profession or occupation is in the control of unforeseeable factors. Here the gambler ranks first. From day to day, from moment to moment, his future is uncertain. If expert in mathematics, he may be perfectly aware of the unreasonableness of such concepts as luck; yet, no sooner does he fall under the spell of the green table or the green lawn or the tape, than his psychology inevitably glides into the channel of complete subjection to luck magic. Today luck smiles on him, and there is no end to his daring; tomorrow cards turn against him, and he refuses to take any further chances, although experience and probability would dictate the oppo- site course. Next to the gambler comes the hunter. He may be an expert, but legion is the number of unforseeable factors which at least co-determine his success. Hence, his acute sensitiveness toward omens, dreams, prognostications, well wishing and other like premonitions. Here also be- longs the actor. Actors and actresses enjoy a deserved reputation for superstitious inclinations far above the aver- age. Once more this tendency may be brought into relation with the indefiniteness of their careers. Apart from talent, training, and even former favors on the part of the public, the fate of the actor, of his contract, and ultimately of his dinner, depends from night to night on the appeal of a par- ticular performance to the audience. Now, all actors and RELIGION AND MAGIC 197 actresses, no matter how successful, know the elusiveness of the taste or mood of audiences. They cannot bank on it, hence the constant suspense. Such being the case, the host of omens, of good and bad signs and with them the entire galaxy of magical odds and ends, have their free play. Magic is no part of our institutionalized religion. It is indignantly rejected from a rational world view by all men and women who "think," but it is with us nevertheless, and who may tell for how long? Mana or Impersonal Supernatural Power Our analysis of religion and magic makes it clear that the idea of supernatural power is common to both and repre- sents, in fact, the basic concept underlying the religio-magical world view. On the emotional side, an equally fundamental factor is the religious thrill. The idea of supernatural power assumed the central posi- tion in the discussion of primitive religion with the intro- duction of the concept of mana. The emergence of this concept in the study of primitive religion and its subsequent career are so instructive as to invite a slight historical digres- sion. Mana was formally introduced to ethnologists by Cod- rington in his book on the Melanesians ( 1896). He there made clear that among the various tribes of the South Seas the idea designated by the term mana occupies an alto- gether distinctive position among other religious conceptions. It indicates power which is supernatural and impersonal. Mana itself is not an animal or human being, nor a ghost or spirit, it is just power, magical potency. Although im- personal per se, it manifests itself with equal facility through natural objects or beings, through man, spirits, or ghosts.^ Quite independent of Codrington's researches, ideas simi- 'It may be noted in passing that in this area the ideas of ghost and spirit are sharply distinguished. A ghost is always the spirit of a deceased indi- vidual, while a spirit is a spiritual entity which either exists in detached form or dwells in a thing or being. 198 EARLY CIVILIZATION lar to mana were discovered in North America. Two con- tributions stand out pre-eminent in this connection, William Jones' article on "The Algonquin Manitou"^ and J. N. B. Hewitt's "Orenda, or a Definition of Religion."* It is worth noting that both of these students are of Indian descent, William Jones belonging to the Algonquin speak- ing Sawk and Fox Indians, while Hewitt is a Tuscarora Iro- quois. At the hand of ethnological and linguistic evidence, Jones shows with great clearness that the idea of manitou implies supernatural power in itself impersonal, which may or may not manifest itself through objects, beings and na- tural phenomena. The Algonquin term may appear either with or without the personal article, in accordance with the meaning intended. Hewitt's argument is based wholly on a linguistic reconstruction. He traces the root vowel of the term orenda in a multiplicity of terms referring to things, beings or actions connected with supernatural power. Taking this as a starting point, Hewitt constructs an ancient Iroquoian religion built upon the idea of orenda, impersonal supernatural power. While Hewitt's procedure is not wholly unobjectionable from a theoretical standpoint, eth- nologists have come to recognize that the fundamental idea in such conceptions as the Algonquin manitou, the Iroquoian orenda and the Siouan wakan, is the same, and that there is an unmistakable similarity between this idea and the mana of the South Seas. Presently, still another field was drawn into the discus- sion. The meritorious volume of Pechuel-Loesche,' dealing with certain natives of the west coast of Africa, between the deltas of the Congo and the Niger, brings further evidence of a similar sort. This region is the home of fetichism, which ever since the classic discussion by Schurtz*was defined as the religion of the fetich, a small, usually artificial object, through which an indwelling spirit is operating. Pechuel- ^Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1905. ^American Anthropologist, 1892. *"Die Loango Expedition," Vol. Ill, 2907. *Cf. his "Der Fetichismus," 1877. RELIGION AND MAGIC 199 Loesche's painstaking researches, which included linguistic analysis, led him to depart radically from Schurtz's gener- alization. The author asserts that the conception underly- ing the fetichism of this area is not that of an indwelling spirit. To him a fetich is an artifical object made in a certain way or prepared in accordance with a certain recipe, which possesses certain definite powers, or perhaps only one power. If the shape of the object is changed or the recipe which determines its composition is not followed, the power or powers are lost or modified. The basic conception is that of power, in itself impersonal, definite qualities and quan- tities of which can be secured under certain highly specific conditions. Once again, then, the idea involved is similar to mana. It is not unlikely that Pechuel-Loesche's position is some- what one-sided. The idea of an indwelling spirit is so com- mon in Africa and elsewhere, that there can scarcely be any doubt of its occurrence in these western regions of the con- tinent.^ There is, however, no ground to doubt the cor- rectness of the author's generalization insofar as it refers to West African fetiches. The generality of the mana idea was thus established on a fairly wide geographical basis. Theoretically inclined ethnologists and students of religion were prompt in utiliz- ing this valuable addition to the basic concepts of early re- ligion, as may be seen from the breezy critical discussions of the ideas of Tylor and Frazer by Andrew Lang in his "The Making of Religion" and "Magic and Religion." But this aspect of the problem derived its main stimulus from the work of Marett, who, in his essay on "Pre-animistic Reli- gion,"' utilized the idea of mana as a foundation on which to build a world view earlier even than that of animism, Marett's argument being that the idea of impersonal super- natural power is in its very nature more simple and hence 'For a careful summary of beliefs in souls and spirits in Africa, see Ankermann in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, vol. 50, 1918, pp. 89-153. *Folk-Lort, 1900. 200 EARLY CIVILIZATION more primitive than that of a power-wielding personal spirit. Marett's contribution came at a psychological mo- ment and his little essay presently became the crystallization point for a new philosophy of primitive religion. At the Third International Congress of Religions, held at Oxford, in 1908, the subjects of mana and animatism — Marett's term for the pre-animistic religion — were the principal topics of discussion in the section devoted to primitive religion. Presently, mana was identified with magic, and in this form its use became still further extended. Hubert and Mauss, two faithful students of Durkheim, made a sweep- ing application of the mana concept in their treatise on magic,^ Preuss skillfully wove the mana idea into his ana- lysis of the beginnings of religion and art,^ while Durkheim in his great book on religion^ identified mana with the reli- gious core of totemism. Thus the dogma of animism, of a spirit infested world, was supplemented, in fact came near being replaced, by another dogma, a world swept by mana, impersonal magic power. After a calm retrospect, the mana idea must be welcomed as a genuine addition to our understanding of early religion, nay of all religion. While there is no particular meaning in having mana and spirit pitted against each other with reference to their chronological priority, it is clear that the idea of spirit is only one part of the fundamental ideology of religion, the other being mana, power. The latter sup- plies the dynamic principle, whereas spirit in itself is but a concept of form or being. When Professor Shotwell de- fines religion as "a reaction of mankind to something which is apprehended but not comprehended,"^ he omits to state — a fatal omission indeed — that the something to which there is a reaction is in the religious situation not merely a form or "'Exquise d'une theorie generale de la Magie," Annie Sociologique, VII, 19akan, but a psychologically more basic mana, freed from all historic accretions — becomes the fundamental idea of religion, the pure idea of supernatural power, an idea which, in the very nature of the case, is more sensed than thought CHAPTER XI RELIGION AND MAGIC (Continued) Anthropomorphism and the Higher Gods Chukchee Supernaturalism In the world view of the Chukchee all nature is animated. Every material object can act, speak and walk. Every- thing that exists has its own "voice" or "master." Rein- deer skins have a "master" of their own. In the night-time they turn into reindeer and walk to and fro. The trees in the woods talk to one another. The very shadows on the wall live in tribes in their own country where they have huts and subsist by hunting. Special beliefs are entertained about mushrooms and mushroom-men. Mushrooms, when they grow up, are so powerful that they split whole trees. These mushrooms ap- pear to intoxicated men in the shape of human beings, re- sembling, however, their real shapes in some particular. Thus, one may have but one leg, another a very large head, and so on. The number of mushrooms that appear to a man varies in accordance with the number of mushrooms he has eaten. The mushroom-men lead the dreamer through the world and show him real and imaginary things. They take him to the places where the dead live, through which they travel along many intricate paths. Wooden amulets in a bag become herdsmen and go out at night to protect the herd from wolves. Black and polar bears, eagles, small birds, sea mammals, all have countries of their own and live like humans. They can turn into human beings while preserving some of their own qualities. Mice people live in underground houses, using a certain root as their reindeer. They have sledges made of grass. Off and on they become transformed into real hunters with regular sledges and hunt polar bears. RELIGION AND MAGIC 203 According to one story, a dried skin of an ermine trans- formed itself into a real ermine, which later turned into a large polar bear. Boulders are regarded as petrified creatures. They rep- resent the first attempt of the Creator to make man. As they were very clumsy, he transformed them into stones. After this, animals and man were created. Forests, rivers and lakes have their own "masters" ; also, various classes of animals and of trees, which therefore cannot be handled without special precautions. The only ex- ception among trees is the birch which men handle as their "equal." Sledges, shafts of spears, and the like are made of birch wood. Native sketches of spirits collected by Bogoras show that these resemble to a degree the animals to which they belong. Thus, the master of fish and of moun- tain brooks has a long thin body and a face covered with hair. The master of the forest has a body of wood with- out arms or legs, his eyes are on the crown of his head and he rolls along like a log of wood. Picvucin^ is an especially important owner or master of wild reindeer and of all land game. He lives in deep ravines or stays near the forest border. He sends reindeer herds to the hunters; but when he is angry he withholds the sup- ply. He demands strict performance of all ancient customs and sacrifices connected with the hunt. Any neglect of these angers him. In size he is represented not larger than a man's finger, while his footprints on the snow are like those of a mouse. According to the beliefs of the Maritime Chukchee, Picvucin has power over sea-game also. Some times one may see him passing the door of a house in the shape of a small black pup, but an inspection of his foot- prints, which look like those of a mouse, will reveal his identity. As soon as this is discovered, the people offer him a sacrifice, believing that next year a large whale will be drifted to that part of the house. Picvucin's sledge is very small and is made of grass. Instead of a reindeer, he ^C pronounced tch. 204 EARLY CIVILIZATION drives a mouse, or a certain small root. In fact, he him- self is sometimes represented as that root, driving a mouse. The lemming is his polar bear. He kills it and loads it on his sledge. On the other hand, he is believed to be very strong, can wrestle with giants and, on occasion, he can load a real polar bear on his sledge. He takes no solid food, living on odors. Three classes of spirits, called kelet, are especially prom- inent in Chukchee belief: i, evil spirits that walk invisibly, bringing disease and death; they prey on human bodies and souls; 2, blood-thirsty cannibals who live on distant shores and fight Chukchee warriors; and 3, spirits that are at the call of shamans and help them In their magic. Among the spirits of the first variety are the ground spirits. They have the forms of different creatures, such as fish, dog, bird, fox, insect, but are very small. In propor- tion to their size, they always have a very large mouth, set with many strong teeth. The kelet do not like to stay In their own villages. They prefer to visit human habitations, and are believed to be constantly wandering about In search of human prey. On the other hand, they live like human beings and are considered a tribe by themselves. They have villages and camps and travel about the country with rein- deer and dogs. They marry and have children. Their young boys and girls go hunting and fishing while the old men sit at home and try to read the future by the aid of divining stones. They always hunt man, whom they call "a little seal." Their divining stone Is a human skull, while men often use animal skulls for that purpose. If the kelet can catch a human soul, they chop It to pieces, cook it in a kettle and feed It to their children. The kelet and the shamans are hostile to each other. In their en- counters, victory does not always rest with the kelet. Ani- mals of peculiar form are sacrificed to the kelet, such as reindeer with unusual antlers, white reindeer with black ear points, or new born fawns with misshapen mouths. RELIGION AND MAGIC 205 The Chukchee do not know of death by natural means. When a man dies, he is supposed to be killed either by spirits or by an evil shaman by means of charms. The second variety of supernatural creatures are the giants, who live on earth but always far removed from hu- man habitations. They are always represented as very poor. They can be fought with ordinary means. The third variety of spirits are those that appear to shamans. At shamanistic performances they usually figure as the "spirit voices" of the shaman, which the latter pro- duces by means of ventriloquism. As shamanistic spirits may appear wolves, reindeer, walrus, whales, birds, plants, icebergs, utensils, pots, needles and needle-cases. The shamanistic spirits are very mean to the shaman. They punish him for irregularities. On the other hand, if his behavior is unobjectionable, they are always at his call. Also: the shamanistic spirits constantly quarrel with each other and he has to reconcile them. The Chukchee personify the "directions" of the com- pass, of which they recognize twenty-two, including the Zenith and Nadir. Of these, the Mid-day and the Dawn are the most important, and to them most of the sacrifices are made. The sun, moon and stars are also conceived as men of different kinds. The Chukchee believe in a number of indefinite beings whose character and shape are but vaguely defined. Among these are the Creator, the Upper Being, the World, the Merciful Being, the Life-giving Being and the Luck-giving Being.^ The Zenith, the Mid-day, the Dawn, are also often considered identical with the creator of the world. Among the baptized Chukchee, the Christian God has a 'Bogoras believes that these vague deities represent an indefinite trans- formation of the creative principle of the world and may be compared to the manitou or tvakan of the American Indians. On the basis of Bogoras' own statements about these beings, this analogy seems doubtful. Thus the talented author's opinion is adduced here for what it is worth. It may be noted, in passing, that while Bogoras has but few peers as an observer, his interpretations, most of which are omitted here, are often arbitrary. 2o6 EARLY CIVILIZATION place assigned to him side by side with these vague supe- rior beings. A special group of spirits are the house spirits. They are regarded as permanently associated with the house, their very names being derived from a stem meaning "ab- sence of motion." The house spirits live like the Chukchee themselves. They stay in pairs and have children. Their children get sick and die. When a spirit child dies, the spirit may make friends with another spirit and allow him to have relations with his wife, a custom current among the Chukchee. Among the many charms of the Chukchee, those of the household are of especial interest, and among these, par- ticularly the hearth itself. Bogoras' statement on this sub- ject deserves to be quoted verbatim : "The chief place among the sacred things of the house- hold belongs to the hearth itself, to the fire of which a spark is added from each of the hereditary fire-tools at every cere- monial. Each family has a fire of its own, and interchange of fire is strictly prohibited. Families whose fires are de- rived from different lines of ancestors, even though living for years in the same camp, will carefully guard against any contact of their fires. To borrow a neighbor's fire is held to be one of the greatest sins. If a camp is pitched on the spot formerly occupied by another family, the Chukchee woman, in order to start a new fire, will not avail herself of the coal or wood that was left. Even when camped on the treeless tundra, she will break up the sledges for fire-wood rather than take a single splinter bearing marks of an alien fire. Interchange of household utensils connected with the hearth — like kettles, dishes, lamps, receptacles for meat, etc. — is also strictly forbidden. It is even considered sinful to warm at one hearth a piece of cold meat which has been boiled at another. All these restrictions, however, refer only to the "genuine fire," obtained for a native hearth by means of a wooden drill and the sacred fire-board." RELIGION AND MAGIC 207 Bella Coola Gods The Bella Coola' believe that the cosmos consists of five worlds, situated one above the other. The central world is our own, above it is the first heaven and above that the second heaven. Below the earth lies the first under- world, and below this, the second underworld. In the second or uppermost heaven resides the supreme deity of the Bella Coola, called "Our Woman" or "Afraid of Nothing." Although superior to all the other deities, she has relatively little to do with the fates of mankind. The heaven in which she resides is described as a prairie without any trees. In order to reach it, one must go up u river which is situated in the House of the Gods in the heaven below it. According to another tradition, the upper- most heaven is reached through a rent in the sky of the upper heaven. The house of "Our Woman" stands in the far east and a gale is continually blowing from the open country in front of it, driving everything towards the en- trance of the house. But near the house itself there is a great calm. A post in the shape of a large winged monster stands in front of the house, which is entered through the monster's mouth. Outside the door there is gravel of three colors, blue, black and white. Behind the house stretches a salt water pond in which the goddess bathes. This is the dwelling place of Sisiutl, a magical snake which sometimes descends to the earth. Wherever it moves, the rocks burst asunder and slide down the sides of the mountain. In the mythological period, "Our Woman," the great goddess, fought the mountains, which are conceived by the Bella Coola as having been people, giants of enormous size. "Our Woman" fought them successfully and reduced them to real mountains and their present proportions. In the center of the first heaven stands the House of the 'The Bella Coola speak a Salish language and it can be shown that they have migrated to the coast from the interior in relatively recent times. While their language has remained practically unaffected by their Kwakiutl neigh- bors, their culture ha» been deeply transformed by the incursions of North'* west Coast customs and ideas. 208 EARLY CIVILIZATION Gods. It is also known as "The House of Myths" or "Where Man Was Created." In front of it is a post painted with representations of various birds. In this house lives the Sun, the supreme deity below "Our Woman." The Sun is referred to as "Our Father" or "The Sacred One." He is the only deity to whom the Bella Coola pray. They say "Take care of us, father !" or "Wipe your face, father 1 that it may be fair weather," or "Make me happy, father I you have given me too much misfortune." Offerings of food and other articles are brought to the Sun. With the Sun is associated another deity of equal rank, and together they rule mankind. Although they are among the creators, they are represented as hostile to man and ever seeking to destroy him. Under these supreme deities there are a number of as- sistant deities, some of whose functions are associated with the kusiut, the great ceremonial of the Bella Coola. One of the deities ordains the death of man and animals, an- other is charged with killing the transgressors of kusiut rules. Then there is a supernatural boy forever perform- ing kusiut dances. Off and on he is sent down to earth with new dances. Two of the goddesses always try to inter- vene when the superior gods attempt to punish man. Then there are other deities who are more directly con- cerned with the daily life and activities of man and of nature. Although the Sun is the creator of human beings, another deity gives a child its individual features. Before the chil- dren are born, a goddess places them in a crude cradle and rocks them. Then she sends them down to earth to be born. She performs a similar function with reference to animals, as well as ordains that their skins and flesh shall serve as food and clothing for man. Another female deity is called "Mother of Flowers" or "Going to the Right," the latter name having reference to the movement of the Sun. Every spring she gives birth to all the plants in the order of their appearance, being as- RELIGION AND MAGIC 209 sisted by two old women and by a shaman who is called in by them. While the Sun and his supernatural companion are con- cerned with the fates of man, they do not themselves inter- fere with his activities. This is done by four brothers who live in an elevated room near the House of Myths. One of these is called "The One Who Finishes His Work by Chopping Once," the second is called "The One Who Fin- ishes His Work by Rubbing Once," and the third one's name Is "The One Who Finishes His Work by Cutting Once." The brothers are experts at carving and painting. They gave man the arts. They taught*him to build canoes, boxes and houses, to carve wood and to paint. Also, they intro- duced the methods used in hunting, and some claim that they made the fish. A goddess, daughter of the Sun, taught man the art of working cedar bark. Besides these there are nine brothers and a sister who are in special charge of the kusiut ceremonial. Curious ideas are entertained about the Sun and his rela- tion to the sky. At sunset there stands an enormous post supporting the sky, which prevents the sun from falling into the lower world. The trail of the sun is conceived as a bridge which is as broad as the distance between the winter and the summer solstices. The Sun walks with his face towards the west. In the summer he walks on the right side of the bridge, in the winter, on the left side, the varying heights of the Sun thus being accounted for. The extreme right and left sides of the bridge are called "the place where he sits down." Each of these points is guarded by a super- natural being whose duty it is to see to it that the Sun does not remain too long at the solstice. If the Sun tarries too long at the winter solstice, the people say, "Salmon will be dried late this year." If he leaves without delay, they say, "Soon we shall dry salmon." Three guardians accompany the Sun, who dance around him all the time. The Sun's halo is called "The Cape of Our Father." A 2IO EARLY CIVILIZATION sun-dog that appears west from the Sun is called "The Painted Face of Our Father." When he drops down to earth epidemics occur. Eclipses result from the Sun losing his torch. There are twenty-four guardians whose duty it is to take care of the sky. The sky must be continually fed with fire wood. Once the guardians put too much fire wood into the sky and it burst. All the pieces except one fell down to the earth. The fragments hit the faces of the twenty- four guardians and distorted them. They tried to mend the sky but did not succeed; then they went down the river and came to the four brothers whose assistance they asked. These proved equal to the task. They gathered up the pieces and glued them together. The Sun, which up to that time had remained in the east, now began to move on his daily course. At that time also the four brothers built the bridge over which the Sun travels. They placed a wedge in the opening of the sky into which the twenty-four assistants have to put the fire wood. This opening is called "Mouth Kept Open by Means of a Wedge." "The sky shall not burst again," said the four brothers, "this wedge shall keep its mouth open." The earth itself is conceived as an island floating upon the ocean. Below it is the first underworld, which is the country of the ghosts. This is a topsy turvy world. Ghostland stretches along the banks of a great river. Be- hind the village where the ghosts dwell there is a hill, the base of which is covered with sharp stones. When we have summer, it is winter in ghostland; when we have night, it is day there. The ghosts walk on their heads and their language is different from that spoken on earth. When the souls reach the lower world they receive new names. In their village, which is surrounded by a fence, there is a dancing house In which the ghosts perform the kusiut. The dancing house Is very large and long and has four fires. The women sit on the floor of the house, while the men sit on an elevated platform. Although the houses RELIGION AND MAGIC 211 have doors, the ghosts who first reach the underworld enter through the smoke-hole by means of a ladder, at the foot of which two men stand. Those who have once entered the dancing house may not return to earth. Other souls are sent back to earth by the deities, to be born again as children in the same families from which they came. The souls who enjoy the life in ghostland die a second death, whereupon they sink to the second underworld, from which there is no return. Th€ All Father During recent years certain primitive ideas have been re- ported from different fields of investigation which seem to differ not only from the generalized animistic beliefs, but also from the more or less highly anthropomorphised beings of early mythologies. These ideas have usually been dis- cussed under the heading of the All Father belief. Thus, ac- cording to Strehlow, the Aranda of Central Australia believe in a great moral being, Aljira. He is eternal and is con- ceived as a very large, strong man with a red skin and light hair, which falls on his shoulders. His legs are like those of an emu. He is decorated with a white fore- head band, a neck band and a bracelet. He also wears a hair loin-girdle. He has many wives, called "the beautiful ones," who have dogs' legs and are also red in color. He has many sons and daughters, the former having emu legs, the latter, dogs' legs. Handsome men and beautiful women frequent his neighborhood. He lives in heaven, which has existed from the beginning. The Milky Way is a Great River with inexhaustible reser- voirs of sweet water; tall trees, tasteful berries and fruits, abound here. Great flocks of birds enliven Aljira's domain and many animals such as kangaroos, wild cats, and the like, seek his enormous hunting grounds. While Aljira follows the game, his wives gather edible herbs and other 212 EARLY CIVILIZATION fruit which grow in abundance at all times of the year. The stars are the camp fires of Aljira. Aljira is the great god of the Aranda. Women as well as men know him, but his reign is restricted to heaven. He has not created man nor is he concerned about him. No churinga are consecrated to him. The Aranda do not fear him nor do they love him, but they do fear that some day the heavens will collappe and kill them off. The believe that the sky rests upon piles or stone legs.^ What Strehlow says about Aljira agrees fairly closely with the accounts about the All Father collected by Howitt among the different tribes of Southeastern Australia. Thus, the Narrinyeri believe in a supreme being who is said to have made all things on earth and to have given man his weapons and taught him his ceremonies. When they are asked about the origin of any custom, they reply that the supreme being has instituted it. The Wotjobaluk as well as the Kulin speak of Bunjil, who is represented as an old man. He is the heavenly headman of the tribe and has two wives and a son, the rainbow, whose wife is the second rainbow, which is sometimes faintly visible. He is believed to have given the Kulin the arts and, according to at least one legend, he instituted the phratries and originated the law of exogamy. Howitt is careful to point out that the All Father among these tribes is endowed with distinctly huma nrather than animal traits. Among the Kumai the knowledge of the supreme being is almost entirely restricted to the initiated men, although the old women know at least of the existence of this being. The novices are told all about the All Father at the last and most sacred session of the initiation ceremonies. At this time they learn that he lived on earth long ago and taught the Kurnai how to make implements, nets, canoes and weapons. Individual names which the people have 'This presentation of the Aljira belief is based on C. Strehlow's "Die Aranda- Und Loritjastamme in Zentral-Australien," Part I (Frankfurt am Main. 1907). RELIGION AND MAGIC 213 from their ancestors, were first given by the supreme being. He also instituted the secret ceremonies. When some one revealed the secret of these ceremonies to the women, the wrath of the supreme being was aroused and in revenge he sent down his fire, the Aurora Australis, which filled the whole space between the earth and the sky. Men went mad with fear and speared each other, brothers killing brothers, fathers their children and husbands their wives. Then the sea rushed over the land and nearly all mankind was drowned. Some of those who survived became the ances- tors of the Kurnai, while some turned into animals, birds, reptiles and fish. Tundun, the son of the supreme being, and his wife became porpoises. Then the supreme being left the earth and ascended the sky, where he still resides. All the tribes which attend the kuringal ceremonies of the Yuin people believe in the great being, Dara-Mulun, who once lived on earth with his mother. At first, the earth was bare, and "like the sky, as hard as a stone." The land extended over where the sea is now. There were as yet no men or women, but only animals, birds and reptiles. Dara-Mulun made the trees. Then he caused a great flood which covered the entire coast country, so that no people were left except some who crawled out of the water on to Mount Dromedary. Then Dara-Mulun went up to the sky where he still lives, watching the actions of men. He made the bull-roarer, the sound of which is still believed to be his voice. He also gave the Yuin their laws, which ever since have been handed down by the old men. When the spirits of dead men leave them, Dara-Mulun meets them and takes care of them. Upon a rough inspection of these beliefs, it will occur to any one that missionary Influence had something to do with their origination. Some features In connection with the flood, the moral character of the supreme being and other traits, strongly suggest the influence of white teachers. The problem, however, cannot be settled so easily, for be- liefs In supreme beings such as here described occur also 214 EARLY CIVILIZATION among other tribes, for instance, among some of the Negro peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa. The idea also seems to be present in Northwestern America and North- eastern Siberia. It is especially notable that the supreme being is often conceived as remote and detached from the affairs of men, although in some instances he is believed to have created them. Of all ideas about the All Father, the following two seem to be the most consistent, the fact that he or she is supreme, superior to other deities, and yet does not now actually participate in the affairs of man. The contact of primitive tribes with civilization has everywhere been sufficiently frequent or probable to render the interpre- tation of the All Father idea through borrowing a feasible one. But the very wide geographical distribution of these beliefs makes one pause before accepting such an interpre- tation. It is, after all, not psychologically impossible that a more or less vague idea of a superior being should have .developed among primitive tribes fairly early on a par with animism, magic and other forms of early belief. The entire problem awaits further investigation.^ The Individual in Religion Medicine-men Among the Chukchee and Others^ Some family rituals of the Chukchee are in some respects like shamanism. Most Chukchee will from time to time *The problem of the All Father should not be confounded with that of early monotheism. It will have been noted that in all of the instances cited — and the same is true in many other cases — the All Father was not by any means the only supernatural being in the belief of the people. Thus the generalization of Father Schmidt with reference to the original monotheism of the Pygmy peoples {Cf. his work "Die Pygmaenvolker") must be placed on a distinct level from the discussions of the All Father. A systematic review of all relevant data, which is now slightly out of date, will be found in Schmidt's book "Die Enstehung der Gottesidee" (originally in French in the form of a series of articles on "L'origine de I'idee de dieu" in Anthropos, 1908-10). A critical discussion of the entire problem will also be found in Andrew Lang's "The Making of Religion." ''This account of Chukchee shamanism is based on Bogoras' "The Chuk- chee Religion," Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. VIL RELIGION AND MAGIC 215 sit down in the outer room with the family drum and, while drumming energetically, sing songs and perhaps even try to commune with spirits. In this sense it can be said that many people act as shamans. The real shamanistic perfor- mances, however, always take place in the sleeping room at night and in the darkness. Shamans among the Chukchee are essentially "those with spirits." Both men and women may be shamans. It is, in fact, probable that true shamanism is more common among women than among men, but the higher grades of shamanis- tic powers and performances are restricted to men. The bearing of children is believed to be bad for shamanistic power. Indeed, anything connected with birth has an evil effect on shamanism, and may thus affect also the powers of men. However, there is only one feature, ventriloquism, which is entirely beyond the reach of women shamans. True shamans among the Chukchee, as in Northeastern Siberia generally, are people of a distinct psychic caste. "The shamans among the Chukchee with whom I con- versed," writes Bogoras, "were as a rule extremely excit- able, almost hysterical, and not a few of them were half crazy. Their cunning resembled the cunning of a lunatic."* The future shaman may be discerned at an early age. His gaze is directed into space, and his eyes are unusually bright. This is why, it is claimed, the shamans can sec spirits in the dark. During the shamanistic performances, the shaman is extremely sensitive ("bashful"). He is afraid of strange people and things, shrinks from ridicule and criti- cism. The spirits themselves are also believed to be "bash- ful," unless the audience is such as to favor their appear- ance. Bogoras states, in agreement with many of his prede- cessors in Siberian ethnology, that this hyper-sensitiveness is characteristic of the entire area. Even the Russian Cre- oles are not immune from it. Men of the latter class have been known to die when threatened or when their death was *Ibid., p. 415. 2i6 EARLY CIVILIZATION foretold in a dream. While disharmony with the kelet may readily result in the death of a shaman, he is normally regarded as very tough. Thus the shaman under certain conditions is "soft to die," although he is otherwise "hard to kill." When the call to shamanism comes to a young boy, spirits appear to him, strange objects lie across his path, of which he makes amulets, and the like. For a considerable time he may manifest great resistance, for persons do not usually want to become shamans.^ When the youth has finally be- come a shaman and has practiced for a number of years, he may then discard his art without fear of angering the spirits. The "gathering of shamanistic powers" is a prolonged and laborious task: "For men, the preparatory stage of shamanistic inspira- tion is in most cases very painful, and extends over a long time. The call comes in an abrupt and obscure manner, leaving the young novice in much uncertainty regarding it. He feels 'bashful' and frightened; he doubts his own dis- position and strength, as has been the case with all seers, from Moses down. Half unconsciously and half against his own will, his whole soul undergoes a strange and painful transformation. This period may last months, and some- times even years. The young novice, the 'newly inspired' loses all interest in the ordinary affairs of life. He ceases to work, eats but little and without relishing the food, ceases to talk to people, and does not even answer their questions. The greater part of his time he spends in sleep. "Some keep to the inner room and go out but rarely. Oth- ers wander about in the wilderness, under the pretext of hunting or of keeping watch over the herd, but often without taking along any arms or the lasso of the herdsman. A wanderer like this, however, must be closely watched, other- wise he might lie down on the open tundra and sleep for *This attitude contrasts strikingly with the frantic zeal displayed by the searchers for visions and guardian spirits in North America. RELIGION AND MAGIC 217 three or four days, incurring the danger, in winter, of being buried in drifting snow."^ Hard as is the shamanistic initiation, it must at least in part be gone over again before each performance. Nor may the shaman resist the call; when the inspiration is upon him, he must practice. Should he resist, his suffering be- comes acute. He may sweat blood, and his state becomes that of a madman, reminding one of epilepsy. As shamanistic perfomances require considerable physical exertions, shamanism is on the whole a young man's pro- fession, and when a man reaches the age of forty, he will usually lay down his art, sometimes by passing it on to another. This is achieved by blowing into the eyes or mouth of the novitiate or by stabbing oneself and then the latter with a knife. Whatever the novitiate wins in power is lost by the shaman, and this loss is irretrievable. Even the beating of the drum, a constant accompaniment of every shamanistic performance, requires skill and physical endurance. The same applies to the capacity of passing rapidly from a state of frantic excitation to one of normal quiescence. All this can only be acquired through prolonged and persistent practice. While the typical Chukchee shaman is a neurotic, sha- mans occur whose psychic mould is very different. Thus Bogoras refers to a shaman who was *'a good-looking, well- proportioned man of rather quiet manners, though an ill- advised word might throw him into intense excitement. He excelled in shamanistic devices which apparently required great physical strength and dexterity. At the same time, however, he declared that he did not consider himself a shaman of a high order, and that his relations with the 'spirits' must not be taken very seriously. To explain this he said that when he was young he suffered severely from syphilis. To heal himself, he had recourse to spirits, and after two years, when he had become skillful in shamanistic practices, he was completely restored by their help. After ^Ibid., p. 420. 2i8 EARLY CIVILIZATION that he maintained intercourse with the kelet for several years, and was on the point of becoming a really great shaman. Then suddenly his luck was gone. One of his dogs bore two black pups ; and when he saw them both sit- ting side by side on their haunches, looking into his face, he took it as a sign that the time had come for him to with- draw from shamanistic practices. He suffered a relapse of his illness, and his herd was visited by hoof-disease. Fearing that worse things might happen, he dropped all seri- ous pursuits of shamanism, and practised only the tricks, which were completely harmless. As far as I could learn, he had been a magician employing especially the powers of evil, or practising the black art; and after the return of his disease, he abandoned those practices, considering them detrimental to his health and well-being."^ That the shamans practice deceit in the course of their performances is obvious enough. Not infrequently, in fact, it is observed even by the native audience, but the general disposition to countenance and endorse shamanism, sup- ported as it is by a traditional background, overcomes those occasional moments of scepticism. The shamans are al- ways compensated for their services by presents of meat, thongs, skins, garments, living reindeer or "alien food." "Shamanistic advice or treatment," says the native prac- titioner, "when given gratuitously, amounts to nothing."* The most common aims pursued at a shamanistic per- formance is the cure of a patient through the invocation of advice from spirits or the bringing back of a patient's soul abducted by hostile spirits, or the foretelling of future events after consultation with the same source. The following is a description of a typical shamanistic performance : "After the evening meal is finished and the kettles and ^Ibid., pp. 428-429. "This reminds one of the attitude of modern psychoanalysts who insist on the therapeutic value of the financial sacrifice made by the patient. (N. B. This statement should not be misinterpreted, for there is a real psychological element involved.) RELIGION AND MAGIC 219 trays are removed to the outer tent, all the people who wish to be present at the seance enter the inner room, which is carefully closed for the night. Among the Reindeer Chuk- chee, the inner room is especially small, and its narrow space causes much inconvenience to the audience, which is packed together in a tight and most uncomfortable manner. The Maritime Chukchee have more room, and may listen to the voices of the spirits with more ease and freedom. The shaman sits on the 'master's place' near the back wall ; and even in the most limited sleeping-room, some free space must be left around him. The drum is carefuly looked over, its head tightened, and, if it is much shrunken, it is moistened with urine and hung up for a short time over the lamp to dry. The shaman sometimes occupies more than an hour in this process, before he is satisfied with the drum. To have more freedom in his movements, the shaman usually takes off his fur shirt, and remains quite naked down to the waist. He often removes also his shoes and stockings, which of course gives free play to his feet and toes. "In olden times, shamans used no stimulants; but at pres- ent they often smoke a pipeful of strong tobacco without admixture of wood, which certainly works like a strong nar- cotic. This habit is copied from the Tungus shamans, who make great use of unmixed tobacco as a powerful stimu- lant. "At last the light is put out and the shaman begins to operate. He beats the drum and sings his introductory tunes, at first in a low voice; then gradually his voice in- creases in volume, and soon it fills the small closed-up room with its violent clamor. The narrow walls resound in all directions. "Moreover, the shaman uses his drum for modifying his voice, now placing it directly before his mouth, now turn- ing it at an oblique angle, and all the time beating it violently. After a few minutes, all this noise begins to work strangely on the listeners, who are crouching down, squeezed together in a most uncomfortable position. They begin to lose the 220 EARLY CIVILIZATION power to locate the source of the sounds ; and, almost with- out any effort of imagination, the song and the drum seem to shift from corner to corner, or even to move about with- out having any definite place at all. "The shaman's songs have no words. Their music is mostly simple, and consists of one short phrase repeated again and again. After repeating it many times, the shaman breaks off, and utters a series of long-drawn, hysterical sighs, which sound something like 'Ah, ya, ka, ya, ka, ya, ka I' After that, he comes back to his songs. For this he draws his breath as deep as possible in order to have more air in his lungs, and to make the first note the longest. "Some of the tunes, however, are more varied, and are not devoid of a certain grace. Not a few are improvised by the shaman on the spot ; others are repeated from seance to seance. Each shaman has several songs of his own, which are well known to the people; so that if anybody uses one of them, for instance at a ceremonial, the listeners recognize it immediately, and say that such and such a man Is using the particular song of such and such a shaman. "There is no definite order for the succession of the songs, and the shaman changes them at will, sometimes even re- turning to the first one after a considerable interval has elapsed. This introductory singing lasts from a quarter of an hour to half an hour or more, after which the kelet jnzkc their first appearance." While the shaman does all the singing, he expects some one from the audience to support him by means of a series of interjections. Without such "answering calls", "a Chuk- chee shaman considers himself unable to perform his calling In a proper way; therefore novices, while trying to learn the shamanistic practices, usually Induce a brother or a sister to respond, thus encouraging the zeal of the per- former. Some shamans also require those people who claim their advice or treatment to give them answering calls dur- ing the particular part of the performance which refers to their affairs. The story-tellers of the Chukchee also usually RELIGION AND MAGIC 221 claim the assistance of their listeners, who must call out the same exclamations. "Among the Asiatic Eskimo, the wife and other members of the family form a kind of chorus, which from time to time catches up the tune and sings with the shaman. Among the Russianized Yukaghir of the lower Kolyma the wife is also the assistant of her shaman husband, and during the performance she gives him encouraging answers, and he ad- dresses her as his 'supporting staff.' "In most cases the kelet begin by entering the body of the shaman. This is marked with some change in his manner of beating the drum, which becomes faster and more vio- lent; but the chief mark is a series of new sounds, supposed to be peculiar to the kelet. The shaman shakes his head violently, producing with his lips a peculiar chattering noise, not unlike a man who is shivering with cold. He shouts hysterically, and in a changed voice utters strange, pro- longed shrieks, such as *0 to, to, to, to,* or 'I pi, pi, pi, pi* all of which are supposed to characterize the voice of the kelet. He often imitates the cries of various animals and birds which are supposed to be his particular assistants. If the shaman is only a 'single-bodied' one — that is, has no ventriloquistic power — the kelet will proceed to sing and beat the drum by means of his body. The only difference will be in the timbre of the voice, which will sound harsh and unnatural, as becomes supernatural beings."^ The traits characteristic of Chukchee shamans arc shared by them, often to a striking degree, with the Koryak, Kamchadal and Yukaghir. More remotely the Chukchee shaman is related culturally to the angakut of the Eskimo and the shamans of the Northwest Coast. Medicine-men are, of course, ubiquitous in the primitive world, but in other localities their traits are only in part like those of the magic working practitioner of the peoples of Northeastern Siberia and of northwestern and northern North America. According to Koch-Griinberg, men and ^Ibid., pp. 433-43S. 222 EARLY CIVILIZATION women practictioners occur among the Guana, Tuppi-Ymba and Yekuana. Among the Chiriguama and many other tribes studied by Nordenskiold, both men and women prac- titioners have a "comrade" in the other world who helps them in their profession. The "comrades" of men are women, those of women, men. Both Dobrizhoffer and Hyades-Deniker state that old women are often held re- sponsible for deaths. According to the same authors, defi- nite separation does not always exist between the offices of chief and medicine-man, at least to the extent that some of the prominent chiefs were also known as medicine-men. In his work on the Arawak-speaking peoples, Max Schmidt refers to some traits on the basis of which boys were se- lected for the profession of medicine-men. Among others, he mentions epilepsy, various physical peculiarities, such as hemorrhages of the breast, and general nervousness. Payments for the services of medicine-men are referred to constantly. This trait thus seems to be as common as it is in Northeastern Siberia. In some instances, medicine-men belonging to a different tribe or even to a different village occupied by the same tribe are regarded as evil, whereas the practitioners of one tribe and village are thought help- ful and benevolent.^ In some South American tribes the profession of a med- icine-man requires long preparation, sometimes extending over months or even years. Enforced fasting and various forms of self castigation are common characteristics of the period of apprenticeship. Some of the things the apprentice is expected to learn from his expert preceptors are monot- onous singing, ventriloquism, imitation of animal voices, sucking out of poison, the habit of drinking narcotics and poisons, the swallowing of small animals, the swallowing and expectorating of small pebbles and pieces of wood. This "This psychologically plausible attitude occurs frequently in diflFerent parts of the world: magicians of other tribes are either regarded as evil or as more powerful. A number of such instances have been recorded in Australia, and in North America the Haida, at least, show an extraordinary respect for the shamans of the Tlingit. RELIGION AND MAGIC 123 list reminds one forcibly of the professional accomplish- ments of the shamans of Northeastern Siberia. It is, of course, clear that here also a modicum of deceit is an essen- tial ingredient of the medicine-man's equipment. Thus, Von den Steinen states about the Bororo healers that when they have foretold the death of a sick child, they do not hesitate to help matters along by strangling it with a thread. In Australia the medicinal functions of magicians are so characteristic that Howitt, in speaking of the southeastern district of the continent, defines the medicine-man as "one whcr causes or cures deaths by projecting into bodies or ex- tracting from them, quartz crystals, bone, wood or other things." And he continues : "The belief in magic in its vari- ous forms — in dreams, omens and warnings — is so universal and mingles so intimately with the daily life of the aborig- ines that no one, not even those who practice deceit them- selves, doubt the power of other medicine-men, or that if they failed to effect their magical purpose the failure is due to an error in the practice or to the superior skill or power of some adverse practitioner."* The kunki or magicians of the Dieri, hold intercourse with supernatural beings, and with their assistance interpret dreams and reveal to people the individuals who are re- sponsible for deaths caused by magic. The author relates the case of a magician who revived a man who was near death. The magician went outside, caught the spirit of the man just as it was going toward karalk (other world), then, laying down on the half-dead man, put the spirit into him, and thus brought him back to life. In other instances, knowledge rather than magic is opera- tive, but the spirit in which such cures arc taken by the natives is very much the same. Thus a woman who was bitten by a snake was cured by her husband, who was not even a regular magician, in the following way : he secured a cord, tied it above the knee of the bitten leg, twisting it tighter with a stick, then he picked up a quartz pebble, 'Howitt, "Natire Tribes of Southeast Australia," p. ]s6. 224 EARLY CIVILIZATION cracked it In two and with the sharp edge cut a circle right around the leg, severing the skin, the blood oozed out, and though the woman became drowsy and ill, she gradually recovered. Among the Kurnai there is a separate variety of harmless magicians, who go up to the spirit world to learn songs and dances, then come back and teach them to the people. While elements of somewhat marked similarity must have been noted between the magical practitioners of North- eastern Siberia, those of South America and those of Aus- tralia, it must be remembered that the general character of the individuals who engage in magical cures in these areas is not by any means the same. The shamans of Northeastern Siberia, as well as those of Arctic North America, are high- strung and often neurotic individuals. In South America this also seems to be the case, although by no means as regu- larly or as markedly. The magicians of Australia, on the other hand, are perfectly normal individuals, amply pro- vided with commonsense and shrewdness. Their qualities are more like those of the chiefs and leaders in industrial pursuits. Together with the latter and the old men at large, they guide the younger generation by their example and their teaching. The Ghost-Dance Religions of the North American Indians While the psychological origin of religion can be made clear at least theoretically, we know next to nothing of the origins of religions as part of primitive history. The only mode of approach to the problem, therefore, is to study certain phenomena of relatively recent occurrence and pro- ject the insight thus gained into the night of the remote past. In view of this situation, the data available on the so-called Ghost-Dance Religions of the Indians are wel- come indeed. A common cause of these religious revivals is without RELIGION AND MAGIC 225 doubt to be sought In the abnormal conditions arising out of the contact of white man's civilization with the religious and ethical traditions of the American Indians. The mode of origin of the spirit revivals In the different tribes is strik- ingly similar, while the Irresistible spread of the revivalist activities from tribe to tribe presents an astounding picture of religious receptiveness. One or two examples will make dear just what took place In these revivals. The great revivalist prophet, Smohalla, was a member of a small tribe related to the Nez Perce Indians. The date of his birth falls between 18 15 and 1820. After having fre- quented a Catholic mission among the Yakima, the youth achieved considerable renown as a warrior and later as a medicine-man. As his professional fame grew, he became involved in an acrimonious dispute with Moses, a rival med- icine-man and chief of a neighboring tribe. The affair came to an open fight In which Smohalla was worsted and nearly killed. However, he managed to drag himself to a boat and was carried down the current of the Columbia River until he was picked up by some white men. His recovery was slow. When well once more, he was unwilling to return to his people among whom he knew he was regarded as dead, so he started on a prolonged period of wanderings. He made his way along the coast to Mexico, and from there he traveled back north through Arizona and Nevada. While on his trip he began to preach a new doctrine. He averred that he had been dead and had vis- ited the spirit world and that now he was preaching by divine command. When he came among the tribes that had heard of him before his unlucky fight, he was believed, for he had been thought dead and it was known that his body had disappeared. His doctrine consisted In a prophecy that the early conditions of Indian life would return, that the buffalo would come back and white man withdraw from the land. There was much Catholic ritual in the accom- panying ceremonies as well as a rigid ethical code which 226 EARLY CIVILIZATION had a remarkable effect on the tribes that fell under its sweep. Smohalla knew well how to enhance his prestige by such little tricks as the foretelling of eclipses. He was enabled to do this with the help of an almanac and some accompany- ing explanations gleaned from a party of surveyors. This particular trick almost cost him his reputation, however, as he was not able to secure another almanac, and after the expiration of the year his astronomical predictions came to an abrupt conclusion. It is clear that Smohalla was subject to cataleptic trances and his alleged supernatural revelations came to him while he was lying prostrate in this unconscious condition. The slightly naive remarks quoted by Mooney from MacMurray are of sufficient interest to be reproduced here : "He falls into trances and lies rigid for considerable periods. Unbelievers have experimented by sticking needles through his flesh, cutting him with knives, and otherwise testing his sensibility to pain, without provoking any respon- sive action. It was asserted that he was surely dead, be- cause blood did not flow from his wounds. These trances always excite great interest and often alarm, as he threatens to abandon his earthly body altogether because of the dis- obedience of his people, and on each occasion they are in a state of suspense as to whether the Saghalee Tyee will send his soul back to earth to reoccupy his body, or will, on the contrary, abandon and leave them without his guidance. It is this going into long trances, out of which he comes as from heavy sleep and almost immediately relates his expe- riences in the spirit land, that gave rise to the title of 'Dreamers,' or believers in dreams, commonly given to his followers by the neighboring whites. His actions are simi- lar to those of a trance medium, and if self-hypnotlzatlon be practicable that would seem to explain It. I questioned him as to his trances and hoped to have him explain them to me, but he avoided the subject and was angered when I pressed him. He manifestly believes all he says of what RELIGION AND MAGIC 227 occurs to him in this trance state. As we have hundreds of thousands of educated white people who believe in similar fallacies, this is not more unlikely in an Indian subjected to such influences."^ Further on, the same author continues to describe one of the ceremonial occasions on which Smohalla preached the new religion and made converts: "Smohalla invited me," writes MacMurray, "to parti- cipate in what he considered a grand ceremonial service within the larger house. This house was built with a frame- work of stout logs placed upright in the ground and roofed over with brush, or with canvas in rainy weather. The sides consisted of bark and rush matting. It was about 75 feet long by 25 feet wide. Singing and drumming had been going on for some time when I arrived. The air resounded with the voices of hundreds of Indians, male and female, and the banging of drums. Within, the room was dimly lighted. Smoke curled from a fire on the floor at the farther end and pervaded the atmosphere. The ceiling was hung with hun- dreds of salmon, split and drying in the smoke. "The scene was a strange one. On either side of the room was a row of twelve women standing erect with arms crossed and hands extended, with finger tips at the shoulders. They kept time to the drums and their voices by balancing on the balls of their feet and tapping with their heels on the floor, while they chanted with varying pitch and time. The excitement and persistent repetition wore them out, and I heard that others than Smohalla had seen visions in their trances, but I saw none who would admit it or explain anything of it. I fancied they feared their own action, and that real death might come to them in this simulated death. "Those on the right hand were dressed in garments of a red color with an attempt at uniformity. Those on the left wore costumes of white buckskin, said to be very ancient ceremonial costumes, with red and blue trimmings. All wore large round silver plates or such other glittering orna- 'Bureau of Ethnology, 14th Annual Report, pp. 719-720. 228 EARLY CIVILIZATION merits as they possessed. A canvas covered the floor and on it knelt the men and boys in lines of seven. Each seven, as a rule, had shirts of the same color. The tallest were in front, the size diminishing regularly to the rear. Chil- dren and ancient hags filled in any spare space. In front on a mattress knelt Smohalla, his left hand covering his heart. On his right was the boy bell ringer in similar pos- ture."^ Another great prophet or messiah was Wovoka, probably a Paiute Indian, born about 1856. It seems that his father had been a minor prophet, so that Wovoka grew up in an atmosphere that suggested his future calling. He received his great revelation at the early age of fourteen. "On this occasion 'the sun died'^ .... and he fell asleep in the daytime and was taken up to the other world. Here he saw God, with all the people who had died long ago engaged in their oldtime sports and occupations, all happy and for- ever young. It was a pleasant land and full of game. After showing him all, God told him he must go back and tell his people they must be good and love one another, have no quarreling, and live in peace with the whites ; that they must work, and not lie or steal ; that they must put away all the old practices that savored of war; that if they faithfully obeyed his instruction they would at last be reunited with their friends in this other world, where there would be no more death or sickness or old age. He was then given the dance which he was commanded to bring back to his people. By performing this dance at intervals, for five consecutive days each time, they would secure this happiness to them- selves and hasten the event. Finally God gave him control over the elements so that he could make it rain or snow or be dry at will, and appointed him his deputy to take charge of affairs in the west, while 'Governor Harrison' would ^Ibid, p. 726. The reference is to an eclipse, an event which always arouses great commotion in an Indian community. It seems that on this occasion the sickly youth experienced some Mrt of a fit, accompanied by a somewhat elaborate faallucinatioD. RELIGION AND MAGIC 229 attend to matters in the east, and he, God, would look after the world above. He then returned to earth and began to preach as he was directed, convincing the people by exer- cising the wonderful powers that had been given him.'" Wovoka was a powerful magician. He had five songs by means of which he could control rain and snow. The first song brought mists or clouds; the second, a snowfall; the third, a shower; the fourth, hard rain or storm; while the fifth brought clear weather. The ceremonial aspect of the dances introduced by Wovoka were of the usual kind, cm- bracing frenzy, fits and visions. The mythology of the doctrine can be briefly stated in the words of Mooney: "The dead are all arisen and the spirit hosts are advancing and have already arrived at the boundaries of this earth, led forward by the regenerator In shape of cloud-like indistinctness. The spirit captain of the dead is always represented under this shadowy sem- blance. The great change will be ushered In by a trembling of the earth, at which the faithful are exhorted to feel no alarm. The hope held out is the same that has Inspired the Christian for nineteen centuries — a happy Immortality In perpetual youth. As to fixing a date, the messiah is as cau- tious as his predecessor in prophecy, who declares that 'no man knoweth the time, not even the angels of God.' "' The ethical code embraced such maxims as "do no harm to any one, do right always," "do not tell lies," "when your friends die you must not cry" — a reference to the elaborate, expensive and often cruel rites that used to accompany burials among these tribes. But the most prominent maxim was "you must not fight." The effect of this ethical code in the setting of a revivalist doctrine seems to have been remarkable, insofar as it fostered friendliness among tribes that had previously been almost perpetually at war. A religious upheaval, similar to the Ghost-Dance Reli- gions of the west, swept over the Iroquois tribes of the east *IbiJ, pp. 771-772. *Ibid, p. 78a. 230 EARLY CIVILIZATION in the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Here the prophet was Handsome-Lake, the brother of a great war chief. So far as recorded, his life up to the age of sixty was not an unusual one and if he achieved any distinction it was by his rather wild and disorderly habits. Then he fell sick and his ailment was pronounced hopeless. While on his death-bed he had an elaborate dream accompanied by a vision, usually designated as the vision of the four angels. In this dream and vision he claims to have received the outline of the new doctrine. Here the traces of Chris- tian teaching are conspicuous: the doctrine was proclaimed by four angels and implied a belief in one supreme god, which was foreign to Indian religion. Handsome-Lake's teaching rejected many of the ancient beliefs and ceremonies of the Iroquois as heathen and evil. At the same time, it in- corporated in its precepts an even larger number of the pre- existing beliefs and practices. Here also the religious doc- trine had an ethical flavor; it prescribed peace, truthfulness and sobriety, and comprised certain educational maxims. The doctrine of Handsome-Lake received wide acceptance among the Iroquois tribes, and to this day, in many of the Iroquoian reservations, some Indians belong to one or an- other Christian denomination, while others, not always the minority, are followers of Handsome-Lake or "deists," as they like to call themselves. There are still a number of men living who know the entire doctrine and preach it on the different reservations. This process, when accompanied by explanations, implies three hours preaching a day for five days. It is very remarkable and has often been noted that many of the older beliefs of the Iroquois have been almost wholly supplanted by this new religion. The Ghost-Dance Religions of the western Indians and the doctrine of Handsome-Lake remind one of parallel and recent phenomena in civilization. The numerous Russian sects, which in the course of two or three centuries have split off from the Greek Catholic Church, present many features of striking resemblance to those reviewed above* RELIGION AND MAGIC 231 The conflicting interests and customs of the whites and the Indians, which provide the socio-psychological background for American Indian revivalism, have their analogue in the ruthless pressure exerted by the Orthodox Church of Greece upon the religious ideas of the ethnic conglomerate of the Russian plains. Here also recur the prophets, won- der-workers and messiahs, or earthly representatives of messiah. The new religions are ushered in by ceremonial- ism, often of a secret nature. There arc visions and fits, and there is an ethical code with the usual drastic demands on the stolidity and altruism of the devotees. The religious transformations of early society are veiled in darkness. It is doubtful whether we shall ever possess authentic material for this chapter of human history, but one might at least conjecture that religious revivals, when they have occurred, have come at periods of emotional stress and strain, perhaps precipitated by intertribal contact or conflict, and that in their nature, mechanism and progress they were not unlike the Ghost-Dance Religions of the American Indian and the heretical creeds of the Russian sectarians. SUPERNATURALISM As A WoRLD ViEW The first tenet of early supematuralism is its animistic faith. To the world of matter is opposed the world of spirit. Great is the variety of the forms of individual spir- its and equally varied are their functions. In their form the spirits must be regarded as derived either from the things of nature, animate and inanimate, or from trans- formed or distorted versions or combinations of these. Spirits in the form of inanimate things and plants are not unknown although not common, animal-shaped spirits ev- erywhere predominate, while spirits in the shape of man early take the lead, and in numerous primitive civilizations just above the lowest, constitute the principal inhabitants of the supernatural realm. Various grotesque spirits must 232 EARLY CIVILIZATION be regarded as derived either from dreams or visions or to be the outgrowth of the free play of the imagination. Not infrequently, artificial objects or artistic conventions must have had an influence on the formal character of spirits. Thus, it is highly probable that the False Face spirits of the Iroquois are the projections into the spiritual world of the grotesque wooden masks worn by the members of the False Face Society, while the diminutive spirits of the Chukchee and Koryak may be nothing but spiritualizations of the fairly crude etchings of these people, always limited in size, owing to the nature of the objects to which they are applied. As soon as higher deities appear, large, at times enormous, proportions are usually attributed to these spiritual beings. The qualities and functions of spirit beings are either de- scriptive of the functions of earthly creatures or of natural forces represented by these supernatural beings, or they are projections of the fears and desires of man. The second tenet of early supernaturalism Is its magical faith. Some so-called magical practices can scarcely be dis- tinguished from matter-of-fact procedure and should really be classed with these. Thus, In the curative practices of the primitive medicine-man there is often no breach of continuity between the "magical" methods and those based on know- ledge and common sense; but the typical magical act rests on the faith that certain desired results can be achieved or feared ones obviated by means of an established series of manipulations, rituals or incantations. While such acts performed by individuals or groups are characteristic of magical procedure, the magical faith extends to the opera- tion of similar wills or powers throughout the domain of nature. A particularly conspicuous aspect of these magical operations Is the power of transformation which is a con- stant ingredient of primitive supernaturalism. Inanimate things can turn Into animate ones, plants Into animals and vice versa, and all of these into man ; man, again, may be- come transformed Into a being or object of any description, RELIGION AND MAGIC 233 and spirits and gods may also assume the form of any of these or of man. Again, what is achieved by magical acts are the objects of human desires and fears. Whether for good or evil, the magician achieves what matter-of-fact procedure can- not attain or what, at least at the time and place, is beyond the reach of natural processes. Thus, some things that magic brings, such as food, children or the destruction of an enemy, can at times be attained by other more secular pro- cesses; some achievements of magic, on the other hand, such as the power to resist wounds or to awake from the dead, or to see or hear things at a distance, remain prerogatives of magic alone. Underlying both animism and magic is the faith in power. This is the third and most important tenet of supernatur- alism. Spirits count only insofar as they can and do exercise powers for good or evil. And magic is but a system of powers, positive or negative, actual or potential. In many of their activities and manifestations, spirits, gods and ma- gical powers merely duplicate what can be and is being done by other means in the workaday world, but it is character- istic of all spirits, magic powers and supernatural beings that they can do some things which are beyond the reach of the matter-of-fact. The concrete living participation of the individual in this world of supematuralism is through the experience of the religious thrill, which is characteristic of all live re- ligions and magical situations, and through the exercise of his will in the performance of magical acts, which is com- parable to the self-assertion of the individual who attains things by natural means, but is here transferred into the realm of that which lies beyond the natural. Supematuralism is ever fed and reinforced by two im- portant institutional adjuncts: mythology and ceremoni- alism. In one of its important aspects, mythology fulfills the function of a primitive theology, it develops and syste- matizes the ideas and conceptual constructs which spring 234 EARLY CIVILIZATION from supernaturalism. In lighter moments it plays with supernatural elements, and always it mingles them with hu- man episodes and adventures, thus adding to the magic of supernaturalism the charms of the plot and the drama. The functions fulfilled by mythology with reference to the intel- lectual or ideational aspects of supernaturalism are fulfilled by ceremonialism in the domain of emotion. Through the constant drive of ceremonialism, the reactions toward the supernatural assume fixed, crystallized forms. They be- come subject to the control and pressure of social sanction, they become diffused and magnified through the influence of the crowd psychological situation. The never-ceasing rhythm of ceremonialism ever feeds the sacred fire of super- naturalism. It does not permit the incandescent phantas- magoria of magic and spirit to cool, for there, in the grey- ness of a sober mind and placid emotion, supernaturalism may fall prey to the inroads of experience and reason. Sooner or later it will fall prey to these, but not before man has learned, through measurement and Inquiry and criticism and the detachment of the individual, to evade the pitfalls of myth and ritual, the shrewdness of the priest and the magician, and his own craving for the impossible. CHAPTER XII SOCIETY The Foundations of Society Man is a political animal. No matter how far down we go in civilization some form of social organization is always there. In one sense, indeed, society antedates the individual; for some of the most distinctive attributes of man, such as speech and perhaps religion, could not have originated in the absence of a social setting. It goes without saying that the individual as a discrete unit, as a self-conscious individ- uality juxtaposed to society, is a later product of social evolution. If there is a social organization, there must be a basis on which it rests. Some writers are wont to ascribe the institution of the fundamental forms of society to the de- liberate thought and decision of wise and powerful men. There can be no doubt that the intervention of premeditated control by groups and individuals has played a conspicuous part in the history of social and political organization, but it is equally certain that the basic forms of society have arisen out of certain factors given in man's relation to his physical and social environment, and that the process was as spontaneous as it was unconscious. Whatever later trans- formations have occurred in society and politics, they were always rooted in these basic forms, some of which arc as old as man and older than the self-conscious individual. What, then, are the factors in early life that were utilized for purposes of social organization? The first is locality. Man has always lived somewhere. Perpetual vagrancy is not a primitive phenomenon. The unceasing migrations of modern gypsies seem to be correlated with the permanently fixed habitats of a higher civilization. The gypsy and the Wandering Jew do not belong to the beginning of history. 235 236 EARLY CIVILIZATION Whether In the snow-built villages of the Eskimo or the woody recesses of the Bushmen, In the cave dwellings of pre-hlstoric Europe or the camp of the Australian with its crudely fashioned fireplace and windshield, man, however primitive, has always lived somewhere. There was some locality or a number of locaHties that he regarded as his home. He did not wander from place to place indefinitely, but returned periodically to a number of places, if there were more than one, within a more or less limited district. A home Is not merely a physical fact. It is also a psycho- logical one.- To have a home is to know one's physical en- vironment, to forsee the habitual climatic changes, cold and heat, drought and storm. It is to know the animals and plants available in the neighborhood, to be familiar with their habits; to learn to avoid them as dangerous, to seek them as food, as friends. A home, moreover, comprises a human group, It Implies common habitation, common ad- justment, common knowledge, as well as familiarity with each other. People who live together know each other's be- havior. They learn to understand each other's gestures and physiognomy; and In some cases, as In Central Australia, they can tell each other's footprints. There is a spirit of neighborhood. No matter what other forms of political or social organization may exist, there Is always co-opera- tion, some mutual helpfulness on the part of the members of a local group. And there is a readiness, If not an or- ganization, for protection against climatic dangers as well as against the dangers from beasts and hostile men. And human nature being always the same, to know about people Is to want to know too much about them. Gossip is one of the universal Institutions of mankind, and It is specifically associated with the local group; a circumstance from which many an ethnologist has greatly profited. For in conditions where the written word is absent and the spirit of systematic investigation as yet unborn, gossip is an im- portant source of dissemination of knowledge, especially of SOCIETY 237 personal and intimate knowledge, and the professional gos- sip is the ethnologist's great friend. One of the domains in primitive society in which both prescriptive and proscriptive regulations abound is mar- riage. As will presently be seen, the control of marriage is a function of more than one type of social grouping. Not infrequently the local group controls marriage, insofar as local exogamy prevails: no marriage within one's own vil- lage. This holds, for instance, for the American Blackfoot, a number of coastal tribes of Australia and numerous groups on the islands of Torres Straits and of Melanesia, where localized clans are the rule. From the standpoint of civili- zation, another point deserves emphasis here to which ref- erence was made before: the local group is the smallest unit of cultural specialization. In slight details of custom and daily habits, of ceremony and perhaps of dialect, a local group is always to some extent different from every other local group. Moreover, civilizational changes are al- ways rooted in local variants.* Another basis of social organization is blood relationship. The importance of blood ties in early life has long been understood. More than one kind of grouping based on blood must be distinguished. The most universal and uni- form among these is the family. Contrary to a widespread notion for which anthropologists are in part responsible, the family, consisting of husband, wife and children, is found everywhere. There may be more than one wife, and here and there, more than one husband; the average duration of matrimonial ties may fall short of modern stand- ards; the household, moreover, may embrace other related 'It is scarcely necessary to add that the basic character of locality as a social classifier has never been transcended. Among the fixed groupings of modern society, local determinants loom large. State, city, village, quar- ter, street, block, are teritorial units of physical as well as of psychological and sociological significance. And as ever, there liveth the spirit of the neighborhood with its grotesque twin, the spirit of gossip. It is interesting to note in this connection that in the most recent socio-political experiment on a gigantic scale, in Soviet Russia, the territorial group shares with the industrial one its place as the minor electoral unit 238 EARLY CIVILIZATION individuals in addition to the immediate family ; the fact re- mains: the family Is there as a distinct unit. It is there, whatever other social units may co-exist with It; moreover, It antedates them: where no other social forms are found, the family can always be discerned. It has also been noted that among the most primitive tribes, monogamy is more generally the rule than Is the case at somewhat later stages of social development. The family controls the individual In a variety of ways. Its influence is especially pronounced during the earliest years of education and the somewhat later period of Industrial ap- prenticeship. Even marriage. In Its many varied forms — that ubiquitous and all-important social usage — Is more often than not controlled by a member or members of the im- mediate family. The family often functions as a ceremonial unit, especially on occasions connected with birth, death, burial and mar- riage. An interesting and rare form of family organization has recently been described by Professor Speck among some Eastern Algonquin tribes. The tribe here is subdivided into a number of families, each including certain relatives In addition to the primal nucleus of parents and children. The preeminence of the father is marked. Associated with each family is a hunting territory of varying size in which Its members claim exclusive hunting privileges, the latter being extended to strangers only by special ar- rangement. The boundaries of such hunting territories are marked at varying intervals by natural or artificial signposts. The Indians have a very clear idea of the extent and limits of their respective territories.' But the most significant and omnipresent function of the family is in that it serves as the principal point of transfer of 'Professor Speck was able to secure from his informants a series of maps, drawn under his direction, on which the boundaries of the family terri- tories are indicated {cf. for example, his "Family Hunting Territories and Social Life of Various Algonkian Bands of the Ottawa Valley," Geological Survey, Ottawa, Canada, Memoir 70). SOCIETY 239 civilization from one generation to another. It must be re- membered that civilization consists in part of material things and in part of ideas, attitudes, customs, and so on. The lat- ter set of phenomena make up by far the larger part of civilization. Now, even material things, as part of culture, are not passed along automatically: their uses must be ex- plained, the implied techniques learned. As to spiritual cul- ture, including language itself, there is no other way for it to be passed on, in a society without writing, except through verbal explanation and teaching and the direct observation by the learner of what is being said and done. It is evident that a large part of what the individual receives in this way, especially during the highly important formative years of early childhood, is brought to him through the medium of the family. There are other agencies through which he learns, but in the earliest years the influence of the family is overwhelmingly preponderant. The significance of the family as a transfer point of civilization cannot be over- estimated. ^ In the socio-psychological domain it serves as a bridge between the generations, between fathers and sons. Truly organic, biological in its foundation, but with im- portant psychological and sociological correlates, the family is thus seen to be an universal possession of mankind. On the other hand, the patriarchal family, centering about its male master, as among the Hebrews; the highly legalized family, becoming a minor cell in the elaborate economico- legal organism of the state, as in modern society; the sancti- fied family, serving as a point of application of institutional conservatism and a devout ancestor worship, as in China and Japan; these forms of the family are later products of the historic process, of which but germinal elements may be discerned in early life. Another form of blood relationship bond is discovered in the amorphous group of blood relations, consisting of in- dividuals, male and female, who are designated by different terms expressing kinship: mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, and so on. Such groups of blood kindred. 240 EARLY CIVILIZATION with corresponding kinship terms, exist among all peoples, primitive and modern. In all discussions of this subject the group of blood rela- tives proper cannot be separated from another group, that of relatives by marriage, as the two kinds of kinship con- stantly intertwine, both sociologically and terminologically. Of this the primary family unit itself is an admirable il- lustration, as the children are related by blood both to the mother and to the father, whereas the parents may be re- lated merely by marriage. Primitive relationship terms are often designated by the somewhat misleading term "classificatory". By this is meant that a term is used to designate not merely individuals related in a certain definite way but also other individuals related in a different way. Thus the term "mother" will be used to designate one's own mother, but also the mother's sister and her first cousin and perhaps other women stand- ing to the speaker in different degrees of relationship. The term for "father" may be used in a similar fashion to desig- nate one's own father, the father's brother, his first cousin, and so on. Or, again, the mother's brother and the father's sister's husband will be covered by one term, or the father's sister and the mother's brother's wife. Or, one term may be used for father's sister, her daughter, her daughter's daughter. A great many such extensions in the uses of relationship terms are found throughout primitive termin- ologies of relationship. In contrasting these kinship systems with our own, for example the English, the term "class- ificatory" is justified for the former only insofar as the terms for the immediate family — father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter — are always used by us to designate a relative standing to the speaker In one particular degree of relationship, whereas just these terms are in primitive systems most frequently extended to cover different classes of relatives. On the other hand, such terms as "uncle" and "aunt" are used in a classificatory way by ourselves, to designate respectively father's and mother's brother, SOCIETY 141 father's and mother's sister, whereas in primitive termin- ologies "aunt" is often used to designate only father's sister, not mother's sister, while "uncle" is only used for mother's brother, not father's brother. At the same time it is important to remember, as bearing upon the status of the family, that the terms used for the immediate members of the family are either distinguished from the same terms in their extended uses by the addition of some particle, or terms corresponding to "own" are used, or a distinction is implied in the context of the conver- sation. The family is the family, whatever the system of relationship and whatever the uses of terms. ^ It must not be imagined that these extensions in the uses of kinship terms and the kinship systems themselves repre- sent but terminological issues. To assume this would be to seriously misconstrue primitive society. First of all, rc- lationhip terms are often employed in place of our personal names, the latter being reserved for special, generally cere- monial occasions. Then again, special rules of behavior, proscriptive and prescriptive, often apply to certain rela- tives. Apart from the multifarious functions of parents toward children and only less numerous ones of children toward parents, the mother's brother is a relative who oc- cupies, particularly in maternally organized societies, a place of special prominence, often above that of the father, with reference to the inheritance and control of property, education and ceremonial duties. Again, the relations of son-in-law and mother-in-law are among many tribes strictly circumscribed, all familiarity and even conversation being forbidden between the two. Less common and less stringent regulations control not infrequently the relations of daugh- ter-in-law and father-in-law. According to recent informa- tion from Melanesia, a connection between social behavior 'An interesting illustration of this occurs among the Iroquois, where the nephew (sister's son) and the younger brother are the most common suc- cessors to a chief's office. Now, both these terms are used by the Iroquoi* in a classifkatory sense. Still, in the vast majority of cases, it is the own sister's son or younger brother who succeeds a chief. 242 EARLY CIVILIZATION and particular relatives is there especially frequent and im- portant. In Australia, again, the right, in fact almost the duty to marry, belongs to certain groups of related indivi- duals within the phratry, class or sub-class limits, who are from birth on designated as "husbands" and "wives." While in Australia the matrimonial correlates of relation- ship are exceptionally conspicuous, in view mainly of their prescriptive character, relatives of varying degrees are pro- hibited from intermarriage or sex contact among all peoples and at all times. Among these prohibitions, some stand out as particularly general and drastic: mother and son, father and daughter, brother and sister, in the order named, stand at the head of the list. Not one of these sex taboos, cate- gorical though they are, has remained wholly free from in- fractions — outside the law and even, in certain wholly ex- ceptional instances, within the law — ^but barring these ex- ceptions, it must be said that these particular taboos are everywhere reinforced by the so-called "horror of incest'*, an emotional reaction of somewhat mysterious origin, which is by no means restricted in its range to the three primary sex taboos, but readily extends at least to the major sex pro- hibitions prevalent in a given community.' The two kinds of relationship groups so far discussed, different though they are, have certain elements in common: both are biological and bilateral. The individuals of a re- lationship group are united by actual ties of blood, and these ties branch out in both lateral directions, through the mother as well as the father of an individual. This represents in an extended form the basic fact that the family itself is bilateral, insofar as the parents are related to the children 'It seems hardly fair to doubt that psychoanalysis will ultimately furnish a satisfactory psychological interpretation of this "horror of incest." It has been shown by Freud, all but conclusively, that incestuous tendencies repre- sent one of the most deeply rooted impulses of the individual. If, then, civi- lization should develop a set of negative attitudes toward incestuous unions — and here further psychological and perhaps sociological sounding is re- quired — it is to be expected that these attitudes would become reinforced by most formidable barriers imparted to the individual in the process of education, thus becoming crystallized la the form of a violent emotional reaction. SOCIETY 243 through actual bonds of blood and the children are related to each other through both parents/ On the other hand, the parents need not be related to one another except by marriage, although among those tribes where cross cousin marriage is general, or even obligatory (as typical in Australia), parents are also closely related by blood. In general it may be remarked that in small com- munities — if only the custom of exogamy does not force the man or woman or both to find their mates among individuals of distant local groups — all individuals of a local group soon become inter-related. Then, of course, all the mar- riages constitute a sort of inbreeding, married couples be- ing, if only in a remote way, related by blood. The blood groups now to be considered are of a different order. They are neither purely biological (with one ex- ception) nor bilateral. These groups are: the clan, the gens, the dual division (or moiety), the maternal family and the class. From a biological standpoint it is justifiable to class all of these groups in the category of blood relation- ship, insofar as all of them contain nuclei of blood relatives, while the maternal family, as shown in our discussion of the Iroquois, comprises only actual blood relatives. There is, moreover, an additional reason for classing these social units in the relationship category. Psychologically, in the minds of the people themselves, the individuals in each one of them are relatives. This fact does not depend on the presence or absence of actual blood ties, but is a psycho- sociological fact: a legal fiction. These groups, with the exception of the maternal family, may thus be designated as 'This is so in the natural family. In the case of step-fathers and step- mothers, the blood bond will, of coune, apply to one side only. Situations will occur, moreover, where even this is not true. For example: a woman with a child born to her first husband by another woman may become united in marriage to a man with a child of bis first wife by another man. In this case neither of the two children will be related by blood to either of the parents. Considering the shiftiness of marriages in early communities and the tendency on the part of both men and women to take over the care of children, whatever their source, cases like those described are probably more common than might be imagined. They are, nevertheless, exceptional, and in a general analysis of the family as a bilat- eral blood relationship group, must be treated as such. 244 EARLY CIVILIZATION pseudo-biological, insofar as they not only comprise nuclear bodies of actual blood relatives, but are conceived by the members themselves of the group as consisting solely of blood relatives. Of the series of groups here enumerated the clan and the ffens are by far the most important. A clan can be defined as follows : it comprises individuals partly related by blood and partly conceived as so related; it is hereditary (a person Is born into a clan) ; it is unilateral (the children belonging to the clan of the mother) ; it has a name. The definition of a gens is the same as that of a clan with the difference that the children follow the gens of the father. , Clans and gentes have a tremendous distribution in the primitive world, and as one surveys these units in different geographical areas, scores of differences appear from the standpoints of size, number and functions. In North America, for example, the Iroquoian Mohawk and Oneida have only three clans each, while the other tribes of the League have at least eight each. The adjoining Algonquin Delaware have three clans, among the southern Siouan tribes the Omaha have ten gentes, while the other similarly organ- ized tribes, like the Iowa, Kansas, Osage, and others, have more than ten but less than twenty-five. The Winnebago have twelve clans. As contrasted with this, the Tlingit and Haida have fifty or more clans each, while the southern Kwakiutl seem to have had considerably more than that. In the Southwest, the Hopi, the Zufii, and other tribes have at least as many clans as the Tlingit and Haida and some have more, and the same applies to some tribes in the South- east. In Africa, with the thirty odd Baganda gentes, some tribes have less than that while others more, without, how- ever, reaching very high figures. In Australia, on the other hand, some tribes of the Center and East have many more than one hundred clans or gentes. Granted similar popu- lational conditions, the multiplicity of these social units Is of course correlated with a relative paucity of individuals in each. In Africa, where populational conditions are far • SOCIETY 245 different from those obtaining in North America or in Australia, individual gentes may comprise thousands of members. The variability in functions is equally conspicuous. In the first place, there is great difference in the part played by a clan or gentile system in the civilization of a group. There are all possible variations; among the Tlingit and Haida the clan system is inextricably interwoven with a large part of the civilization of the group; among the Iro- quois the clans are the carriers of the all important socio- political functions of the League; the Zuiii clans, as Kroeber has recently emphasized, represent little more than a method of counting descent; in Africa, barring occasional industrial specialization of gentes, these units often represent but very wide and loose groups with a common name and a com- mon taboo ; the very numerous clans and gentes of Australia, finally, especially those of the central area, have become al- most purely ceremonial in character; they are magic work- ing associations, having never possessed other functions or having shed them. When one compares clans of relatively proximate areas, the functional contrasts stand out even more strikingly. Thus, among the Iroquois, the members of a clan in ad- dition to having a bird or animal name, control exogamy,* own cemeteries,' elect ceremonial officials, play a definite part in the election of federal chiefs; whereas the clans of the Tlingit and Haida have local names and individual clan chiefs, own hunting and fishing territories, and are dis- tinguished from each other by a series of ceremonial and mythological prerogatives : a clan myth, a clan carving or a set of carvings, clan ceremonial dances with accessories, a clan song or songs. The clans here are also exogamous, but merely as parts of the major units, the moieties, which con- trol the matrimonial functions. But perhaps the greatest contrast between the Northwest Coast and the Iroquois 'It is probable, although not certain, that cultivated fields among the Iroquois were also owned by clan units. 246 EARLY CIVILIZATION clan lies in the fact that in the former area the clans have different rank in accordance with the privileges and super- natural powers claimed by the component individuals ; where- as among the Iroquois, a clan is a clan, no less and no more, notwithstanding the fact that only some of the clans com- prise maternal families in which chieftainships are heredi- tary, while other clans do not. Different as the clans of the Haida and Tlingit may be from those of the Iroquois, the clans of both groups appear as relatively similar when contrasted with, say, the gentes of the Baganda, with their double totems and their caste-like specialization in industrial functions and services to the king, one gens comprising pot makers, another — basket weavers, still another — ironsmiths, while other individual gentes furnish the drum to the king, provide him with certain delicacies for his table or supply the wife that makes the king's bed. Correlated with some of the differences in the functions of clans is the relation of a clan system to a family system in the same tribe ; thus, among the Tlingit and Haida, once more, the family is divided against itself by the intrusion of the clan principle. The inheritance of property and priv- ileges glides along the edge of the family, as it were, the main line of transfer being from maternal uncle to nephew or from father-in-law to son-in-law. Moreover, in the old days of clan feuds, clan allegiance here counted for more than family allegiance: fathers and sons met in deadly com- bat, prompted by bonds stronger than those of the family hearth. Among the Zuni, on the other hand, the family is but little impressed by the clan division within its midst — for here also clan members do not intermarry — and attends to its many economic, educational and domestic functions almost wholly undisturbed by the presence of another social grouping. ^•A comparison of clans and gentes in different geographi- cal areas thus discloses striking dissimilarities and even con- trasts in the number of clan or gentile units in a tribe, in the number of individuals in each unit, in clan and gentile func- SOCIETY 247 tions, In their relative importance as carriers of the civili- zation of a group, in their relation, finally, to the family. ^ The impression might thus be conveyed that the clan (or gens) represents a wholly fictitious category corresponding to no consistent reality whatsoever: that it is but a term, a useless survival from the alcheringa of anthropology with its dogmatic, imaginative and ill-informed inhabitants. This, however, would be pushing one's scepticism decid- edly too far. Clans and gentes the world over have cer- tain traits in common. First of all, the traits indicated in our definition : the fiction of blood relationship, the heredi- tary character, the unilateral aspect, and the name. The characteristic of having a name might be found artificial and trivial: who or what in this world does not carry a name? And yet, there is significance in this char- acteristic. It will be noted that of the social groupings here enumerated only two almost always have a name : the local group and the clan (or gens).* Families are scarcely ever known by name (in early society), the maternal families of the Iroquois have no names, relationship groups are always nameless, so are, as a rule, age, generation and sex groups. Even dual divisions and phratries, while named at times, are often nameless. But the local group and the clan or gens have names. In the case of the two latter units, more- over, the name carries with It certain sociological conse- quences which are absent In the case of the local name. An individual from a named local group wanders off and mar- ries elsewhere. His children may mention or at least know of his local provenience; but barring exceptional instances, his grandchildren and their children will have forgotten it: the imported local name disappears from the new locality. It is different with an Individual member of a clan or gens. In the case of a clan. If a woman marries into another local- ity, the new clan will persist in that locality as long as wo- men are born from descendants of the immigrant. It being ^0 this must be added those strictly Australian social units, the clau and tub-class, which also have names. 248 EARLY CIVILIZATION taken for granted that the conditions of group descent are the same in the new locality, which is often so. In the case of a gens, the same applies to a man. J In addition, four cultural features deserve attention as linked in their geographical distribution with clans and vgentes: blood revenge, adoption, exogamy and totemism. To discourage criticism from over-sensitive methodologists it may be noted at once that not one of these traits is in- variably linked with clans and gentes. There are clans and gentes that lack some or all of the traits, and each one of the latter occurs in association with other social units than clans and gentes. Nevertheless, an examination of the data would show that in all major areas these two customs — blood revenge as a function of the kin unit and the ceremo- nial adoption of strangers into the kin — are so frequently as- sociated with clans and gentes that these social units and the two customs must be regarded as historically linked and as socio-psychologically related. The association of clans and gentes with exogamy and totemism is much more striking. Exogamy is an all but universal associate, while totemism is an extraordinarily common one. Leaving the relation of totemism to clans and gentes for later consideration, some remarks must now be made about clan and gentile exogamy. Clan and gentile exogamy — the rule to marry outside one's own kin unit — is so general a feature that it may here be assumed to be practically universal. But there is one difficulty. In the case of the thirteen Crow clans or that of the three Delaware ones, or that of the three or eight or more clans of an Iroquois League tribe, or in the many instances of Indian gotras or African gentes, the exogamous issue is clear. A clan or gentile member is prohibited from marrying in his or her own kin unit, but must look for a mate outside, in one of the other clans or gentes. The situation becomes more complex when other tribes are considered. Among the Tlingit and Haida, for example, there is no marriage within the clan, but, on further inspec- SOCIETY 249 tion it appears that the exogamous rule really applies to the moiety: marry outside of your own moiety and into the other one. Each moiety, as was explained before, is sub- divided into numerous clans; it follows that in observing moiety exogamy, individuals also follow clan exogamy. The situation is identical in tribes organized like the Australian Dieri.^ In all such instances the moiety is the real exogamous unit, while the exogamy of the clans may be designated as derivative. This becomes clear when one considers that the same rule that prevents an individual from marrying in his or her own clan also prohibits marriage into a series of other clans, namely those belonging to the same moiety : Moiety II ^ ) gentei An a man may not marry an a woman, nor may he marry a b OT c or d woman ; he marries any woman of moiety II. It is as if one were to say that in a football game a Harvard freshman is pitted against a Yale junior. Even though objectively correct, the statement would still be misleading, insofor as the groups pitted against each other are the college teams, whereas the classes do not figure as units, but merely indirectly as subdivisions of the colleges. Further complications arise upon an analysis of tribes organized like the Australian Kamilaroi or Warramunga.' For here both the negative and the positive marriage regu- lations are drastically determined, and the clans or gentes do not appear as units in either connection: each clan (or gens) is subdivided into two (or four) groups, and the in- dividuals to be avoided or sought in marriage are different in the case of each one of these groups. From an examination of all such tribes — and their num- ber is large — one might derive the impression that the al- *See p. no. 'See pp. iio-ixa. 250 EARLY CIVILIZATION leged universality of clan or gentile exogamy represents but another superannuated dogma, that clans and gentes, while exogamous in many instances, have in others no connection whatsoever with matrimony/ This conclusion would be erroneous. Of the functional characteristics of clans and gentes exogamy must still be re- garded as the most persistent. But how, it will be asked, can this proposition be reconciled with the complications out- lined in the foregoing? A glance at the world picture of clan and gentile exogamy furnishes the answer. First there are the tribes where clans or gentes appear as exogamous units. Then come the other tribes where the presence of exogamous moieties or phratries prompts one to describe the exogamy of the minor units as derivative. Finally, there are still other tribes — ^primarily those of Australia — where each hereditary kin comprises a number of groups each with its own positive and negative matrimonial regulations. But one fact holds true throughout: nowhere is intermarriage in the clan or gens permitted. One is forced to conclude that In the absence of moieties, phratries and classes, the clan or gentile exogamy would still obtain, just as It does when these social units stand alone. In other words, it Is in the nature of clans and gentes to function exogamously — in the negative sense of a taboo on intermarriage within the unit — and in all but a very few instances they do so.^ 'An attitude such as this could easily be derived from a perusal of the section on exogamy of my "Totemism, An Analytical Study" {Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1910). While characterized by an enthusiasm born of a successful destructive analysis, my attitude at the time suffered from the neglect of a broader historico-geographical standpoint. 'It must be noted here as of great interest that whereas the family and local group are as basic in modern as in primitive society, that while rela- tionship groups and even age and sex groups persist in an attenuated form in modern civilization, clans, gentes, maternal families, moieties, phratries and classes are characteristic of early society alone. In other words, the unilateral hereditary principle, in the drastic form in which it operates in these groupings, is foreign to the spirit of our social life. The principle itself is, of course, present in connection with the inheritance of property and of the family name, but it does not figure as a basis for the formation of fixed hereditary groups into which an individual is born and to which he belongs until death and, in fact, beyond, in defiance of marriage ties and local resi- dence; unless, indeed, a specific legal fiction is applied, in the form of cere- / SOCIETY 251 Dual divisions or moieties, such as those of the Tlingit and Haida, Iroquois, Winnebago, Omaha, and numerous tribes of Australia, are like clans and gentes in many ways. They are hereditary and unilateral, either maternal or pa- ternal. Usually but not always, they have names. They also comprise blood relatives as well as assumed blood rela- tives, although the sense of relationship is here weaker than in the minor kin unit. The moiety is a much more populous group; the very fact, moreover, that it is subdivided into minor units with strong relationship bonds, is apt to weaken this element in the moiety.^ Functionally, moieties are no more uniform than are clans. It was seen that the Iroquois phratries — which in this case are also moieties — attend primarily to ceremonies, that on all festive occasions the people at the ceremonial Long House are divided into two locally separated phratric groups. Games, such as ball and lacrosse, are also played between the phratries. Then, the phraties have the obli- gation of burying each other's members. Also, the phratric groups of clan chiefs function as the two bodies to which the name of the candidate for chieftainship is submitted by the matron of a maternal family, before the name is passed on to the council of the League for final ratification. Among the Tlingit and Haida the moiety plays a dis- tinctly different role. There is a moiety chief — an official monial adoption, as a result of which he is detached from the group of his birth and absorbed in another similarly constituted group. Of these groups the clan and the gens are the ones having the widest geographical distribution. It is, therefore, not surprising that these social divisions should have been regarded as not only characteristic of early society but as universal, at least at certain of its stages. This, of course, is not the case. 'From moieties such as this two other types of social divisions must be distinguished. Dual divisions have been described among the Yuchi Indians, but here these groups are purely ceremonial and instead of comprising clans, crossect them, so that each clan contains members of both divisions. Dual divisions of this type have no connection with blood relationship. Then there are phratries like the six phratries of the Crow or those of some of the Southwest tribes. These groups also comprise clans as sub- divisions, but have once more no connection with blood relationship. Many such phratries, no doubt, represent secondary associations of clans, on a ceremonial, mythological, or some other basis. 252 EARLY CIVILIZATION unknown among the Iroquois; insofar as the moieties are named after birds and animals — Eagle and Raven among the Haida, Raven and Wolf among the Tlingit — the myth- ologies and traditions of the two halves of the people are very different. Among the Tlingit the moieties have one important ceremonial function, as the potlatches are here always given between the moieties, never in the same moiety. There is also, as among the Iroquois, reciprocal burial. But the principal function of the Northwest moieties is the control of marriage : they are rigorously exogamous. In central Australia the moieties are connected with in- termarriage, insofar as no unions are permitted within a phratry. They also figure as a basis of local grouping in camping. In preparaiton for the intichiuma ceremonies members of the opposite phratry announce the time at which a ceremonial series is to be performed; and, as part of the ceremonial routine itself, members of the opposite phratry are charged with the laborious task of painting the dancers and adorning them with bird down. Not only are reciprocal functions common in moieties, but the dual division of the tribe seems to stimulate among the natives a tendency to emphasize contrasts with reference to the two moieties. One moiety Is believed to be of local origin, the other to have come from elsewhere : or they are supposed to represent different physical types ; or the names are contrasting, as, for example, in the case of the wide- spread Australian moiety names, Eaglehawk (white) and Crow (black). The infection occasionally spreads to the investigating ethnologist, who tends to take the local theo- ries seriously or invents some similar ones of his own. In some instances, of course, the ethnologist and even the na- tives may be right.^ *It is curious how well a dual division lends itself to all occasions where games, conflicts, political issues are involved. It has often been remarked that in democracies there either are two parties or the rest tend to group themselves about the two leading ones, in connection with parliamentary debates, voting on important issues, elections. And the contending parties rarely fail to play the ancient black and white game of Eaglehawk and Crow, while to a disinterested beholder both may well appear as sparrows SOCIETY 253 Two further types of divisions belonging to the blood relationship group are the maternal family and the Austra- lian classes. The former was analyzed in the chapter on the Iroquois, the latter in that on Australia. Some few additional remarks must be made here about these two kinds of social units. It must have been observed that the maternal family occu- pies an intermediate position between the individual family and the clan. The maternal family is like the individual family in that it comprises only actual blood relatives. Also, it has no name. Therefore, there attaches to it that vague- ness of outline as a social unit which is characteristic of all groups of blood based on remembered relationships. A name settles such difficulties with one stroke. Now the in- dividual's status is fixed at birth, in fact in advance of birth, by the hereditary transmission of the group name, and with It as a tag, his membership in the group is both guaranteed and enforced. The maternal family is like a clan insofar as it is uni- lateral. Thus among the League Iroquois — and up to the present, maternal families have been identified only among these people* — this social unit represents the working prin- — and grey (for a candid expression of this aocio-psychological fact tee Heine's Dtstertation) . The closest approach to the maternal family among a non-Iroquois tribe seems to occur among the Hopi of the Southwest. According to Dr. Lowie's unpublished notes, a number of Hopi clans, as now constituted, can be shown on geneological analysis to represent maternal families in the sense that all of the individuals of such a clan are ultimately traceable to one line of female descent. In other clans, Dr. Lowie found two or three such groups of female descent. He suggests, therefore, that the Hopi clans may have developed out of maternal families. Of course, there is a difference between a clan which is also a maternal family insofar as all of its members are related through a common line of blood descent, as objectively demonstrable, and a maternal family like that of the Iroquois, which, comprising four or at most five generations of indi- viduals living contemporaneously, functions as a self-conscious and highly dynamic unit of a social system. Nevertheless, the case of the Hopi clans, if confirmed by further investigation, would provide an interesting extension to the sweep of the maternal family as a social unit. Dr. Lowie's speculations as to the origin of the Hopi clans out of maternal families is supported as a possibility by at least one instance in my Iroquois experience where a social unit, for all intents and purposes a clan, has developed within the ^ last two generations out of a maternal family, originally a part of a clan. 254 EARLY CIVILIZATION ciple of a clan. For this reason it has often been identi- fied and confused with it by investigators. After what was said it will be clear that the two units are distinct. It has been definitely established, moreover, that an Iroquois clan contained two, three or more maternal families, although here and there it would occur that a depleted clan was rep- resented by only one surviving maternal family. With reference to the Australian classes, we need not stop to consider the theories that have sprung up by the score about the origins of this curious kind of social unit.' But before leaving this topic, it is necessary to refer to a serious misconception that has crept into the discussion of this topic by Wundt (see his "Elements of Folk Psychology," pp. 140 sq.) . Wundt correctly notes that the clans among the League Iroquois have no cult significance, whereas the animal and bird named groups of Australia are primarily cult associa- tions. From this he proceeds to argue that the Australian classes are really clans (and he designates them as such forthwith) ; that the Iroquois clans once comprised cult as- sociations like the Australian ones, which subsequently dis- appeared, leaving nothing but animal and bird named clans behind; and that the "principle of dual division" applies not to the Australian classes alone but also to the Iroquois who, Wundt argues, first had two phratries, which later broke up into two clans each, and the clans broke up once more into two, thus resulting in the standard Iroquoian eight clans. Wundt extends this into a general theory of clan multiplication based on the working of the "dual principle." All this is quite wrong. The Australian classes and sub- classes are not clans, as generally understood, but groups comprising certain categories of blood relatives and having no functions but to control intermarriage. While some in- *It may be noted, however, that the most feasible hypothesis is probably the one advanced some twenty-five years ago by Heinrich Cunow, the Ger- man sociologist. A brief statement of this theory will be found in a footnote of Boas' "Mind of Primitive Man," p. 231. SOCIETY 255 stances occur where classes comprise whole clans, in the majority of cases classes and clans crossect each other/ The Australian clans with animal and bird names are like the clans in other areas — as here defined — although func- tionally they are, of course, largely religio-ceremonial units, especially among the Central Australians where owing to the lapse of gentile heredity the gentes become, for all practical purposes, pure cult associations. The Iroquois clans never contained cult groups, nor — so far as our evidence goes — ever functioned as cult units. Moreover, Wundt's derivation of the eight clans by a double bifurcation of the phratrles is purely imaginary. It is not unlikely, in fact, that the clans here were the original units, the phratries representing a later arrangement of the clans into two ceremonial groups. This theory is supported by the fact that whereas the Iroquois tribes comprise clans of the same names (the Mohawk and Oneida only having 'The working of this arraagemeot may once more be illustrated by a diagram: PhrAtrie5: I . ^ excesses: A B a&ns: a, + c,