M' 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE 
 MARRIAGE 
 
 BY 
 
 ERNEST CRAWLEY, M.A. 
 
 rb /j.vffrrjpioi' tovto fuya iariv 
 Sacramentum hoc magnum est 
 
 fLonfcoti 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1902 
 
 All rig Jits reserved 
 

 
 IFFITT 
 
TO 
 
 J. G. FRAZER 
 
 IN- 
 GRATITUDE AND ADMIRATION 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The present theory was outlined about seven years 
 ago, and a preliminary portion was published in the 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute for 1895 
 (vol. xxiv.). In that paper the main lines of the 
 vargument were laid down, and it was suggested that 
 the explanation of marriage ceremonies and systems 
 was to be developed thereon. The subsequent loss of 
 a good deal of my materials, not yet all recovered, has 
 been balanced by the publication of Messrs. Spencer 
 and Gillen's valuable researches amongst the Central 
 Australian natives, which confirm my conclusions in 
 many ways. 
 
 These conclusions were originally completed without 
 reference to the prevalent doctrines, originated by 
 Bachofen and McLennan, and developed by Morgan, 
 Bastian, Lubbock, G. A. Wilken, Robertson Smith, 
 Giraud-Teulon, Fison, Howitt, Tylor, Post, Lippert, 
 and others, concerning the origin and development 
 of marriage, such as the Matriarchate (Bachofen), 
 Marriage by Capture (McLennan), Primitive Promis- 
 cuity and Communal Marriage, comprising the 
 
 a 2 
 
vin THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 hypotheses that some marriage ceremonies are intended 
 to make the husband and wife of the same tribal or 
 blood - kinship, and that others are "expiation for 
 marriage " (Sir J. Lubbock) ; that is to say, these 
 ceremonies are a compensation to the tribe or kin, 
 individual marriage being an infringement of communal 
 rights. These theories had to be taken into considera- 
 tion. Previous study of the psychology of the lower 
 races, starting from Professor Tylor's Primitive Culture, 
 and Dr. Frazer's Golden Bough, to both of which I owe 
 a great intellectual debt, made it evident that these 
 prevalent theories of marriage origins were based on an 
 imperfect understanding of primitive custom and 
 , thought. It also appeared a mistake, in view of the 
 undifferentiated character of early thought, to separate 
 the study of marriage systems and marriage ceremonies. 
 I have here attempted to supply a more adequate basis' 
 for the enquiry by an analysis of the simplest and most 
 elemental aspects in which the individual appears in 
 relation to society. The ultimate appeal in these 
 questions is to universal facts of human physiology 
 and psychology. In illustration, it is perhaps worth 
 mentioning that I was led from a general study of 
 primitive culture to the study of marriage, by an 
 investigation into the curious custom of exchange of 
 dress between men and women, which occurs in the 
 most dissimilar connections and the strangest places. I 
 found that all cases of the custom yielded on analysis 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IX 
 
 the same psychological components as do the relations 
 of the sexes generally, and marriage in particular. 
 
 In 1889 Professor E. B. Tylor first applied statistics 
 to the study of these questions (Journ. Anthrop. Inst. 
 vol. xviii.). This was an important departure. It is^ 
 first necessary, however, thoroughly to analyse every 
 custom and its adhesions in the light not only of the 
 whole culture of the given peoples, but of all primitive 
 and elemental psychology ; otherwise, tabulation leads 
 to the pruning of facts, and a resulting neglect of 
 essential characteristics which are apparently accidents./ 
 As MM. Langlois and Seignobos, our highest authorities 
 on the methods of history, observe, the defect of 
 statistical methods is that " they do not rest on a 
 knowledge of the whole of the conditions under which 
 the facts occur " {Introduction to the Study of History, 
 p. 291, Eng. Trans.). So far as the data are correctly 
 assigned and analysed, Professor Tylor's main results 
 are, that there is a causal connection between ( 1 ) the 
 mother-in-law avoidance custom and residence of the 
 husband with the wife's family, (2) these and the 
 custom of teknonymy (naming the parents after the 
 child), (3) the couvade (the custom by which the 
 husband pretends to lie-in) and temporary residence of 
 the husband with the wife's family, (4) this temporary 
 residence and marriage by capture. The cause, however, 
 which he provisionally assumes is still the old Maternal 
 system, arising out of communism, with marriage by 
 
x THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 capture intervening to produce individual marriage. 
 As will be seen, the cause which I suggest also serves 
 to explain all these connections, and these statistical 
 results, so far as they correctly represent the facts, 
 supply a corroboration of the present theory. Many of 
 the tables, however, when the customs are analysed, 
 present a very different appearance. 
 
 The valuable series of fresh data, collected from the 
 Dutch East Indies, did not lead the distinguished Dutch 
 ethnologist, the late Professor G. A. Wilken, to any 
 new line of enquiry. 
 
 The late Professor Robertson Smith in 1885 first 
 put one part of the problem, the question of the origin 
 of bars to marriage, in a new light, by suggesting that 
 whatever their origin, they are very early associated 
 with the idea that it is not decent for housemates to 
 intermarry {Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia). 
 
 In 1 8 90 Dr. J. G. Frazer, in his monumental work 
 The Golden Bough (second edition, 1900), which, like 
 Professor Tylor's Primitive Culture, marks an epoch in 
 the study of man, referred to the existence of a mass of 
 facts showing that the origin of the marriage system 
 was to be found in some primitive conception of danger 
 attaching to the sexual act. This statement is the most 
 important contribution yet made to the study of these 
 questions. As will be seen, however, I do not confine 
 the issue so narrowly. 
 /In 1 89 1 appeared Dr. E. Westermarck's History of 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 Human Marriage (third edition, 1901), which revolu- 
 tionised the study of the origins and development of 
 marriage. His most valuable contributions are that he 
 weakened or destroyed several positions of the old 
 theory of primitive communism and the matriarchate, 
 and gave an excellent account of human marriage in it 
 biological aspects. He, however, carries the biologica 
 method too far when he "applies biological analogie 
 (selection, struggle for existence, inherited habits, an 
 so on) to the explanation of social evolution, which is 
 not produced by the operation of the same causes as 
 animal evolution " (Langlois and Seignobos, op. cit 
 p. 321), and not only takes no account of primitive 
 psychology but neglects the importance of marriage 
 ceremonies, of which he treats in one short chapter,] 
 without connecting them with other data. The general 
 study not only of marriage ceremonies as a whole, 
 which hitherto has not been systematically attempted, 
 but of the whole question of marriage origins, is to be 
 developed, as I have suggested, from that primitive 
 religious mental habit, the characteristics of which have 
 been so well analysed by Professor Tylor and in further 
 issues by Dr. Frazer. 
 
 I am much indebted to my friend Mr. A. L. 
 Bowley, one of our highest authorities on the methods 
 of statistics, for working out for me some ^statistical 
 problems. E. C. 
 
C0NTENT5 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Method of enquiry — Typical problems — Primitive thought and 
 culture — Religion in the relations of the sexes, both in ordinary 
 life, marriage ceremonial, and sexual crises — Taboo pp. I — 14 
 
 THE TABOO IMPOSED, CHAPTERS II.— IX. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 TABOO 
 
 Taboo — Social and sexual taboo — Evil influences — The unknown 
 and abnormal — The strange and new — The supernatural 
 character of death and sickness, of functions, of pain, of 
 emotions, and of irregular bodily and mental states — Super- 
 natural danger in human relations . . pp. 15 — 32 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 SEXUAL TABOO 
 
 Man and woman — Sexual taboo — Solidarity of sex — Antagonism 
 of sex — Sex in religion — Influence of sex upon language — 
 Sexual taboos on names — Sex and occupations — Sexual taboo 
 in social life and at sexual crises — Preliminary analysis of 
 sexual taboo ..... pp. 33 — 58 
 
xiv THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 HUMAN RELA TIONS 
 
 Evil spirits and material evil influences not distinguished — Anthro- 
 pomorphism — Possession — Personification — The real and the 
 ideal not distinguished — The memory-image — Human and 
 spiritual influence not distinguished — Human influence under- 
 lies spiritual, in social and sexual relations . pp. 59 — 75 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HUMAN RELA TIONS 
 
 Contact the test of human relations, both social and sexual — Sub- 
 stance and accidents — Material transmission of states and 
 properties — Basis of social and sexual taboo — Contagion of 
 various human qualities and states — Sin' and death are 
 contagious — Destruction of property — Death and evil 
 conducted by the soil — Human properties transmitted — 
 Cannibalism — Transmission of qualities by means of flesh and 
 blood, various parts of the body, functional emanations, 
 garments, food, milk, and by various forms of contact, stepping 
 over or walking round a person, by the touch, shadow, sight, 
 and mere proximity — The intention — Transmission of ill-will 
 and of love — Oaths — Magic use of anything that has been in 
 connection with a person . . . pp. 76 — 132 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HUMAN RELATIONS 
 
 Care of functions and organs — The mutilation of organs — Disgust, 
 uncleanness, and shame in connection with social and 
 sexual taboo — Summary of the conceptions which underlie 
 human relations — Their result in primitive morality and 
 etiquette ..... pp. 133 — 147 
 
CONTENTS xv 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 COMMENSAL RELATIONS 
 
 Contact by means of food — Importance of nutrition — The custom 
 of eating in solitude — Contagion by food and drink — Fasting — 
 Forbidden food — Transmission of properties by food — Magic 
 by means of food — Taboos against eating with others — Taboos 
 against eating with the opposite sex, both at critical times and 
 in ordinary life .... pp. 148 — 178 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SEXUAL RELATIONS 
 
 Contact by sexual intercourse — Intercourse in secret — Magic and 
 the sexual organs — Love-charms — Contagion of effeminacy and 
 weakness — Sexual intercourse regarded as enervating — Loss of 
 strength — Rules of continence — The seed is the strength — 
 The rupture of the hymen — Beliefs as to the origin of men- 
 struation — The serpent — Seduction by evil spirits in human 
 form — Sun - taboos and their origin — Sexual taboo and 
 purification ..... pp. 179 — 201 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 SEXUAL RELATIONS 
 
 Transmission of male and female properties — Woman regarded as 
 weak and timid — Priests dressing as women — Transmission of 
 female weakness by contact — Customs of dressing weak, 
 effeminate, and impotent men in women's clothes — Trans- 
 mission by blood cannot account for all the phenomena — 
 Summary of sexual taboo — Its results in separating the young, 
 both within and without the house — Incest and pro- 
 miscuity ..... pp. 202 — 223 
 
xvi THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 THE TABOO REMOVED, CHAPTERS X— XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE BREAKING OF TABOO 
 
 The breaking of taboo — Avoidance of the dangers of taboo — 
 The use of barriers, veils, dummies, and substitutes — The 
 sacrifice of a part to preserve the whole — Fasting — Purifica- 
 tion from taboo — Methods of removing taboo — Inocu- 
 lation ..... pp. 224. — 235 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THEORY OF UNION 
 
 Mutual inoculation and union — The relation of ngia ngiampe — Its 
 use in love, hospitality, and friendship, for making peace and 
 settling disputes — Exchange of wives — Guilds — Its results in 
 mutual respect and assistance — The basis of the ngia ngiampe 
 relation — The taboo resulting from it — Summary of the 
 ngia ngiampe relation — The categories of union and 
 identity — The primitive conception of relationship — Bars to 
 marriage ..... pp. 236 — 266 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THEORY OF CHANGE AND EXCHANGE 
 
 Disguise — Wearing the dress of the opposite sex — Change of name 
 and of identity — The idea of new life, after sickness, at puberty, 
 at periodic festivals — Newfood— Representatives — Newdress — 
 Disguise and change pass into exchange — Exchange of identity 
 — Saturnalia — Exchange of wives — The breaking of taboo — 
 Union — Duplicates and proxies — Promiscuity — Funeral 
 festivals — Scapegoats — War-dances — The principle of make- 
 believe in custom, etiquette, and punishment pp. 267 — 293 
 
CONTENTS xvii 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CONFIRMATION AND ENGAGEMENT 
 
 § I. Puberty and initiation — The dangers of puberty — Taboos 
 against the opposite sex — Change of identity — Initiation — The 
 gift of strength — Food-taboos and ; fasting — Woman's food — 
 Tutelar deities — The use of the bullroarer — Physical pre- 
 paration for marriage — Inoculation and introduction to the 
 other sex — Sympathetic practices — Connection of initiation 
 and marriage. 
 
 §2. Taboos between engaged couples — Betrothal by proxy 
 
 pp. 294—317 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 MARRIAGE AND ITS CEREMONIES 
 
 Marriage ceremonies, their meaning and origin — Marriage an in- 
 dividualistic not a tribal or communistic act — Neutralisation ot 
 danger — Purification — Weddings at night — Customs of hiding 
 and seclusion — The bride and bridegroom may not see each 
 other — The bridal veil — Seclusion of bride and bridegroom — 
 Sympathy between those of the same sex — Disguise and 
 change of identity — The False Bride — Doubles — Groomsmen 
 and bridesmaids — Marriage by proxy — Marriage to trees — 
 Various forms of abstinence — Deferring of consummation — 
 Ceremonial defloration — The carrying of bride and bridegroom 
 — Sexual antagonism — Sexual resistance and complementary 
 violence the basis of connubial and formal capture — The 
 Flight and the Return — Destruction of property — Criticism of 
 the theory of " marriage by capture " — Marriage customs 
 of assimilation — Mutual inoculation and union — Criticism 
 of the blood - kinship theory — Eating and drinking to- 
 gether — Bridal gifts — Criticism of "marriage by pur- 
 chase " . . . pp. 318 — 390 
 
xviii THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 SECONDARY TABOO, CHAPTERS XV.— XVII. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 HUSBAND, WIFE, AND MOTHER-IN-LAW 
 
 Marriage as a state of ngia ngiampe — Analysis of its duties and their 
 sanctions — The custom of avoidance between a man and his 
 mother-in-law — Criticism of theories — Meaning and origin of 
 the custom . . . . .pp. 391 — 414 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PARENTS AND CHILD 
 
 Sexual taboo at child-birth — Saturnalia — Twins — The Couvade — 
 True and false Couvade — Criticism of theories — The meaning 
 and origin of the custom — Connected customs — Teknonymy — 
 Criticism of explanations — Meaning and origin of the custom 
 — Renewal of marriage — Customs allied t'o Teknonymy — 
 The giving of the name — Taboos between the father 
 and mother and child — Godparents — Other people's 
 children . . . . pp. 414 — 441 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM 
 
 The Marriage System — Exogamy — Marriage of near kin — Criticism 
 of theories — Prohibition of incest the origin of exogamy — 
 Terms of relationship — Relationships — The Matriarchal theory 
 — Temporary residence with the wife's family — Reasons 
 for it — Classificatory systems — Criticism of the theory of 
 " group- marriage " — Individual Marriage — Deities of Mar- 
 riage . . . . pp. 442—485 
 
 Index ...... pp. 487 — 492 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 All study of the origins of social institutions must be*** 
 based on what Jgthnolog y can tea j:hji^ftjie j)sy chology 
 of the lower races and on the primitive conceptions of 
 human relations which are thus established. It is only 
 in early modes of thought that we can find the explana- 
 tion of ceremonies and systems which originated in 
 primitive society ; and, if ceremony and system are the 
 concrete forms in which human relations are expressed, 
 an examination, ethnological and psychological, of 
 human relations, is indispensable for enquiry intO/^ 
 human institutions. It is necessary to lay stress upon 
 this principle, for students of the history of marriage 
 have hitherto ignored it, or rather, while using the facts 
 of ethnology, have shown no sympathy with primitive 
 thought. They have interpreted primitive custom by 
 ideas which are far from primitive, which, in fact, are 
 relatively late and belong to the legal stage of human 
 culture. The attribution of legal conceptions to primi- 
 tive thought has had the usual effect of a priori theory, 
 and has checked enquiry. 
 
 In his History of Human Marriage 1 Dr. Wester- 
 marck made a much-needed protest, and refuted several 
 of these pseudo-syntheses. In the constructive portion 
 of his work he uses the biological argument. This was 
 
 1 E. Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (1891). 
 
 B 
 
2 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 also necessary ; the facts of biology must supply the 
 preliminaries of investigation. But he goes too far 
 with biology in one direction, and in another not far 
 enough. The latter line of enquiry is sex. One of 
 the most remarkable defects of the legal school of 
 anthropology is its neglect to take sexual relations into 
 account when discussing a sexual relation like that of 
 marriage. 
 
 s\\\ the following pages I have followed the principle 
 that marriage, both in ceremony and in system, is 
 grounded in primitive conceptions of sexual relations. 
 iVIany collateral phenomena will be discussed, which 
 illustrate and are themselves explained by these concep- 
 tions ; and though the lines of the argument lead from 
 human relations through sexual relations to meet in 
 marriage, yet by the way they will touch upon the 
 connection of morality and religion with the social life 
 of mankind. 
 
 At the outset it may be well to bring forward a few 
 striking facts of custom, as types of the problems to be 
 solved, and as a help towards clearness. Such are the 
 following, which may be put, after the fashion of 
 Plutarch, as questions : — 
 
 (i) Why, according to a very general custom, are 
 husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, respectively, 
 required to avoid each other in one or more ways, and, 
 in particular, may not eat together ? 
 
 (2) Why do engaged couples also, as is frequently 
 the case, avoid each other with religious caution ? 
 
 (3) Why, again, do men and women generally, 
 practise the same religious avoidance of each other ? 
 
 (4) Why, according to a common custom, is it 
 necessary for the bridegroom to take his bride by 
 violence ? (" Marriage by capture.") 
 
i QUESTIONS 3 
 
 (5) Why are the bride and bridegroom in Bengal 
 first married to two trees ? 
 
 (6) Why did the bride in ancient Argos wear a 
 beard in the bridal chamber, and why in Kos was the 
 bridegroom arrayed in women's clothes when he received 
 his bride ? 
 
 (7) Why, according to a widely spread custom, 
 which, like the next, has excited the laughter of man- 
 kind, should a man and his mother-in-law religiously 
 avoid each other, to the extent of hiding the face and of 
 being " ashamed " ? 
 
 (8) Why, as is the practice in several parts of the 
 world, and as was reported of the Tibarenoi by Greek 
 writers and of the King of Torelore by the jogleor who 
 wrote Cest Daucassin et Nicolete, does the husband lie- 
 in and pretend to be a mother when his wife is confined ? 
 (Couvade.) 
 
 The primitive mental habit in its general features is 
 best described negatively by the term unscientific, and 
 positively by religious, in the ordinary connotation of 
 that term. Superstitious would be preferable, were it 
 not too narrow ; as to magic, I do not here distinguish 
 — magic being simply the superstitious or religious 
 method as opposed to the scientific. This primitive 
 thinking does not distinguish between the natural and 
 the supernatural, between subjective and objective 
 reality. Primitive man regards the creations of his 
 own imagination as being no less real than the exist- 
 ences for which he has the evidence of sense-perception, 
 in a sense more real, precisely because they elude sense- 
 perception, though dealt with in the same way as 
 objective reality ; and, while the latter is always chang- 
 ing, these ideal existences, like the ideas of Plato, never 
 pass away. ObjeiKive reality also takes on some 
 
4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 properties of ideal reality, so that for primitive man the 
 supernatural an I the natural interchange, or rather, are 
 not distinguished. This philosophy is truly monistic, 
 and is neither materialist nor idealist, but undiffer- 
 entiated. "Matter" is spiritual, and "spirit'" is 
 material, though sometimes invisible. Primitive logic 
 corresponds to this metaphysic ; it is likewise undiffer- 
 entiated, and is chiefly guided by " material fallacies " 
 and a Realism more pronounced than that of the School- 
 men. Such inference necessarily includes true results, 
 inductive and deductive, but no less necessarily these 
 results were not distinguished from the false ; inex- 
 tricably confused with fallacy, which often owed its 
 continuance to the association, truth was held but was 
 not recognised as a distinct species. As to " survivals " 
 /of primitive speculation and custom into civilised 
 periods, the term is misused when it is implied that 
 these are dead forms, surviving like fossil remains or 
 rudimentary organs ; the fact is that human nature 
 remains potentially primitive, and it is not easy even 
 for those most favoured by descent to rise above these 
 -) J primitive ideas, precisely because these ideas " spring 
 x eternally " from permanent functional causes. Every 
 one would still be primitive were it not for education, 
 and the importance of education in the evolutiolPofThe 
 soul can hardly be over-estimated. 
 
 The undifferentiated character of primitive culture, 
 its reference of all departments of thought and practice 
 to one psychological habit, the superstitious or religious, 
 may be illustrated from higher stages. " The political 
 and religious Governments of the Kaffir tribes are so 
 intimately connected that the one cannot be overturned 
 without the other ; they must stand or fall together." l 
 
 1 Maclean, Compendium of Kaffir Lazvs and Customs, 107. 
 
 r 
 
i PRIMITIVE CL f RE 5 
 
 The great pagan civilisations sho vactly the same 
 homogeneity. The ideal society .>f early Christians and 
 Puritans alike, was one where thei bhou^J. be no separa- 
 tion between Church and State, where puolic and private 
 life and thought, politics and domestic affairs, individual 
 and social morality, speculation and science, should all 
 be subsumed under religion, and directed by the 
 religious method. Such an ideal differs in degree only 
 from the actual condition of primitive society ; whatever 
 term be used to describe this, it is homogeneous and 
 monistic in practice and theory ; one method is applied 
 to its philosophy of nature and of man, its politics and 
 public life, its sociology and human relations, domestic 
 and social, its medical science and practice, its ethics 
 and morality, its ordinary thought and action in every- 
 day life, its behaviour and etiquette. Thus, as will also 
 be shown by the way, there is a religious meaning 
 inherent in the primitive conception and practice of all 
 human relations, which is always ready to become 
 actualised ; and the same is true of all individual pro- 
 cesses of sense and emotion and intellection and, in 
 especial, of those functional processes that are most 
 easily seen in their working and results. Not only 
 " the Master knot of Human Fate," but all human 
 actions and relations, all individual and social pheno- 
 mena, have for primitive man, always potentially and 
 often actually, a full religious content. So it is with 
 that sub-division of human nature and human life 
 caused by sex ; all actions and relations, all individual 
 and social phenomena conditioned by sex, are likewise 
 filled with a religious meaning. Sexual relations and 
 sexual processes, as all human relations and human 
 processes, are religious to the primitive mind. The 
 conception of danger, neither material nor spiritual, but 
 
6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 both, which is the chief haracteristic of early religious 
 thought and practice, ivd is due to the unscientific 
 character of early speculation, is here intensified by the 
 importance, psychical and physiological, of the sexual 
 life. As we proceed, this characteristic of sexual re- 
 lations and sexual life will be made clear ; it is seen in 
 the phenomena of the individual life and of social 
 relations, both in ordinary circumstances and, naturally 
 intensified, in sexual crises. Thus, birth and baptism, 
 confirmation and marriage, are attended by religious 
 ceremonies. There is indeed a tendency amongst 
 enquirers, due to the legal method of investigation, to 
 ignore the religious character of the marriage ceremony ; 
 but it is only in later culture that marriage is a " civil 
 act," and though in early Catholic times marriage was 
 not necessarily performed by the Church, it was still in 
 essence a religious rite, and had been so before Chris- 
 tianity, as it was so in the earliest ages. One of the 
 crudest modes of marriage known, that of the Arunta 
 and other Central Australian tribes, is proved by a note 
 of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen to be a religious act, 1 
 though to all appearance this would seem impossible. 
 As we shall see, even the ordinary intercourse of man 
 with woman has for primitive man this religious 
 meaning. 
 
 The primitive conception of danger, which leads to 
 those precautions, religious or superstitious, so char- 
 acteristic of early ritual, appears in two main forms, the 
 predication of evil influences and the imposition of 
 taboos. Let us take a few instances, from ordinary life 
 and sexual crises. 
 
 In the Marquesas Islands, the use of canoes is pro- 
 hibited to the female sex by tabu ; the breaking of the 
 
 '. 1 B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 93. 
 
i SEX AND RELIGION 7 
 
 rule is punished with death. Tapa-making belongs 
 exclusively to women ; and it is tabu for men to touch 
 it. 1 The Kaffirs will not from superstitious motives 
 allow women to touch their cattle. 2 Amongst the 
 Dacotas custom and superstition ordain that the wife 
 must carefully keep away from all that belongs to her 
 husband's sphere. 3 In New Zealand, a man who has 
 any important business on hand, either in peace or war, 
 is tapu, and must keep away from the female sex. 4 
 
 The fear of evil spirits shows itself from time to 
 time during the long and wearisome marriage cere- 
 monies of South Celebes, and methods are used to 
 frustrate their evil intentions against the happiness of 
 the young pair. There is also a fear that the soul of 
 the bridegroom may fly away for sheer happiness. 5 
 In China, a new bride is apt to be attacked by evil 
 spirits causing her to be ill ; hence the figure of " a 
 great magician " (a Taoist priest), brandishing a sword, 
 is painted on the sedan-chair she uses on the wedding- 
 day. The sedan-chair in which a Manchu bride goes 
 to the house of the bridegroom is " disinfected " with 
 incense, to drive away evil spirits, and in it is placed a 
 calendar containing the names of idols who control the 
 spirits of evil. 7 The Druses " have a superstition that 
 leads them to suppose that Gins or evil spirits are more 
 than usually busy on the occasion of marriage " and 
 may interfere with the happiness of the pair. 8 In 
 English folklore " the malevolence of witchcraft seems 
 to have taken the greatest pleasure in subtle assaults 
 
 1 H. Melville, The Marquesas Islands, 13, 245. 
 
 2 "Journal of the Anthropological Institute, x. 1 1 ; xvi. 119. 
 
 3 Waitz-Gerland, Anthropologic der Natmrvolier, iii. 100. 4 Id. vi. 349. 
 
 5 B. F. Matthes, Bijdragen tot de Ethnologic -van Zuid-Celebes, 30, 39, 33 ; van 
 Eck, in De Indische Gids for 1 88 1, 1038. 
 
 6 Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, i. 95. * Lockhart, in Folklore, i. 487. 
 8 G. W. Chasseaud, The Druses of the Lebanon, 168. 
 
8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 upon those just entering the married state." * In 
 Russia, all doors, windows, and even the chimney, are 
 closed at a wedding, to prevent malicious witches fly- 
 ing in and hurting the bride and bridegroom. 2 The 
 Chuvashes honour their wizards (iemzyas) and always 
 invite them to weddings, for fear that an offended 
 iemzya might destroy the bride and bridegroom. 3 
 
 Savages and barbarians, and, we may add, mankind 
 in general, are very secretive concerning their functional 
 life. This attitude is naturally emphasised when the 
 sexual act is in question. Thus amongst the natives of 
 the Ceramlaut Archipelago, between Celebes and Papua, 
 where there is a veneer of Islam, it is the custom for 
 both man and wife to say the well-known formula of 
 good Moslems before the sexual act. 4 This is a general 
 rule in Islam, especially on the first night of marriage. 5 
 The old Romans similarly invoked Dea Virginensis, 
 while ceremonially loosing the zone. 6 The natives of 
 Amboina believe in a witch, Pontianak, who steals away 
 not only infants, but the genital organs of men. 7 In 
 South Celebes, the evil spirit most feared by the male 
 sex is one that makes a man incapable of performing 
 his marital duties. s A similar belief is very common in 
 European folklore. 
 
 Again, as soon as a Nicobarese woman shows signs 
 of pregnancy, dancing and singing are interdicted in 
 the village. 9 Pregnant women in the island Kisar, or 
 Makiser, take a knife with them, when they leave the 
 
 1 Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. 305. 
 
 2 W. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, 381. 
 
 3 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxiv. 156. 
 
 4 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 173. 
 
 5 A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, iii. 293. 
 
 6 Augustine, De Ciiiitate Dei, iv. 11. 7 Riedel, op. cit. 58. 
 
 8 Matthes, op. cit. 97. 
 
 9 A. Featherman, Social History of the Races of Mankind, ii. 246. 
 

 i SEX AND RELIGION J 9 
 
 house, in order to frighten away evil spirits. 1 The 
 same practice is found in Amboina, and the Watubella 
 Islands. 2 In the Ceramlaut Islands, pregnant women 
 use charms to protect themselves against evil influences, 
 and in Ceram (Nusaina) they dread the evil spirit 
 Putiana or Pontianak. 3 Among the Basutos pregnant 
 women are subject to witchcraft, and they wear skin- 
 aprons to protect them. 4 In New Zealand and New 
 Caledonia, for instance, they are tabu ,• 5 amongst the 
 latter people also, and in Siam, the Marianne, Gilbert 
 and Marshall Islands, amongst the Pshawes and some 
 Transcaucasian tribes they are "unclean," i.e. taboo. 
 Turning to the other side of the taboo state, we find 
 that amongst the natives of Costa Rica, a woman who 
 is for the first time pregnant, " infects the whole neigh- 
 bourhood " ; all deaths are laid to her charge, and the 
 husband pays the damages. This remarkable influence 
 " seems to be an evil spirit, or rather a property 
 acquired " by women in that state. 7 
 
 At child-birth, more than at any other functional 
 crisis, woman is taboo, and in that state where religion 
 develops evil spirits. Amongst the Alfoers, before a 
 birth, the husband sets a naked sword in front of the 
 house, to keep off evil spirits who might bring ill-luck 
 to the delivery. 8 In the Philippine Islands, there is an 
 evil spirit, which causes painful labour. It is to be 
 recognised by its voice, and when the husband hears it, 
 he locks up the house, closing every chink, and goes 
 round with a sword thrusting and parrying all night. 
 In the morning he takes a well-earned rest, because "he 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 417. - Id. 72, 207. 3 Id. I73"74i '34- 
 
 4 E. Casalis, The Basutos, 251. 5 H. Ploss, Das Kind, i. 20. 
 
 6 H. Ploss u. M. Bartels, Das Weib, ii. 603. 
 
 7 W. M. Gabb, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society for 1875, 505. 
 
 8 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie for 1871, 403. 
 
io THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 has saved his wife." l Amongst the Ovaherero the 
 woman at child-birth, and the special hut which she 
 occupies, are both zera, holy. 2 More often, women in 
 child-bed and for some time after, are called " unclean," 
 frequently tabu, but " holy," tabu and unclean are 
 so far not differentiated. Amongst peoples who use 
 special terms like tapu, as the Polynesians, she is tafu ; 
 elsewhere, as a rule, " unclean." 
 
 Especially is this the case after child-birth. The 
 infant also is taboo, and comes under the same category. 3 
 In the islands Amboina and Uliasser the new-born babe 
 is subject to the attacks of evil spirits, and is put by 
 the fire to protect him. 4 In East Central Africa, when 
 the child is seven days old, the parents believe that it is 
 past its greatest dangers, and in order to prevent evil 
 spirits from doing it further mischief, they strew the 
 place with dressed victuals by way of appeasing them. 3 
 
 At puberty also, religious ideas are found. Amongst 
 the Kurnai of Gippsland " the initiatory ceremony, 
 which introduced the young of both sexes to member- 
 ship in the community, is a commemoration — even a 
 species of rude worship — by the tribe, of the eponymous 
 ancestors, Yeerung and Djeetgun. It forms the great 
 central idea of Kurnai society." 6 Amongst the Narrin- 
 veri boys at initiation are narumbe y sacred in a special 
 sense, of which more hereafter. 7 Amongst the Chiri- 
 guanos the girl at puberty fasts, and is secluded, while 
 women beat the floor and walls with sticks, by way of 
 
 1 Bowring, The Philippines, 120 ; A. Bastian, Die Volkern des Ostlichen Asien, v. 
 270. 
 
 2 South African Folklore Journal, ii. 63. 
 
 3 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 51. 
 
 4 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 73. 
 
 5 D. Macdonald, Africana, i. 224. 
 
 6 L. Fison and A. W. Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 199. 
 
 7 Native Tribes of South Australia, 18. 
 
i SEX AND RELIGION n 
 
 finding and driving away " the snake that has wounded 
 the girl." 1 The Siamese, who imagine that evil spirits 
 swarm in the air, believe that these enjoy the first fruits 
 of their girls, and that they cause the " wound " which 
 renews itself every month. 2 On the religious state of 
 girls at puberty Dr. Frazer gives many details. 3 
 
 The same religious fears are connected with men- 
 struation generally. Amongst the Vedahs of Travan- 
 core the wife at her monthly periods is secluded for 
 five days in a hut, a quarter of a mile away, which is 
 also used by her at child-birth. The next five days are 
 passed in a second hut, half-way between the first and 
 the house. On the ninth day the husband holds a 
 feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and invites his 
 friends. Until this evening he has not dared to eat 
 anything but roots, for fear of being killed by " the 
 devil." 4 Here, as in the next case, the dangerous side 
 of taboo is prominent. Amongst the Maoris, if a man 
 touched a menstruous woman, he would be tapu ; if he 
 had connection with her, or ate food cooked by her, he 
 would be "tapu an inch thick." 5 
 
 In all these relations and functional crises connected 
 with sex, a religious state is, as it were, entered upon. 
 There is not needed, to prove this, the major premiss, 
 that all primitive practice and belief are essentially 
 religious ; the particular instances themselves point 
 clearly to a connection with religion. Though further 
 evidence of this is to be found in most races from 
 China to Peru, and even in higher civilisations, while 
 European folklore is full of such evidence, yet a few 
 typical examples may suffice. 
 
 1 Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, viii. 333 j J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough 2 , iii. 
 214. - Loubere, Siam, i. 203. 3 Frazer, op. c;t. iii. 204 ff. 
 
 4 F. Jagor, in Zeitsckrift fi'r Ethnologic, xi. 164. 
 
 5 E. Tregear, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xix. 101. 
 
12 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 It may be objected that the presence of evil spirits 
 in some of the above cases proves nothing. But all I 
 wish to point out just now is the actual presence of evil 
 or danger. I am far from wishing to imply that the 
 evil spirits or dangerous influences present on all these 
 occasions are those against which the ceremonies of 
 marriage, baptism, and the like were instituted as safe- 
 guards. In some of these cases the evil influence stated 
 is that which has caused the rite or the taboo ; in others 
 it is not so ; other cases again are selected as examples 
 of a belief in the process of crystallisation into cere- 
 mony, superimposed upon an already crystallised cere- 
 mony of similar origin, such as the cases of marriage 
 taken from South Celebes, Manchuria, and Russia ; 
 whilst others show an original ceremony in the process 
 of development from belief, as in the case of the Indian 
 girl at puberty and the Vedahs at menstruation, and in 
 those of the Muhammadan and Roman bridegrooms, 
 where the Roman ceremony is obviously the crystallisa- 
 tion of an idea similar to the Muhammadan. In the 
 higher stages of culture it is hardly necessary to quote 
 instances to prove that marriage, baptism, confirmation, 
 and " the churching of women ' : are religious cere- 
 monies, but it is important to mark the continuity of 
 these with the ritual of early man. A long array of 
 facts might be given to show that the main line of 
 development in ritual is from the propitiation or insula- 
 tion of evil influences to the conciliation of beneficent 
 powers. The change is effected in this way : the 
 dangers feared are originally insulated before and 
 during the progress of the function, as is the natural 
 course, then at the end of the function, the expulsion of 
 the dangers is performed for the last time, and often 
 shows a twofold character, purification and propitiation, 
 
i ANIMISM AND TABOO 13 
 
 such as, to take the case of child-birth, the purification 
 of the woman with water, and the propitiation of the 
 spirits by food. The practice of performing the chief 
 ceremony at the end of a functional crisis was more sure 
 of continuance, precisely because the danger is then 
 usually over, and the ceremony therefore cannot be 
 discredited. Further, keeping the same instance, puri- 
 fication after child-birth, the deliverance from danger is 
 naturally ascribed to some beneficent spirit, and the 
 water with which the woman is purified of that danger 
 takes on the character of " holy " accordingly. The 
 examples drawn from the Vedahs, and from an East 
 Central African tribe, are here instructive, as showing 
 the necessary components of a ceremony and illustrating 
 its origin. 
 
 We must next point out the fact that the rules and 
 restrictions (taboos) imposed in these sexual relations or 
 sexual crises, some of which are expressly called tabu, 
 are identical with those imposed in other tabu states, 
 such as hunting, war and the preparation therefor, 
 mourning, also in the case of those sacred persons, 
 priest-kings, incarnate gods, at once more and less than 
 man, of whom Dr. Frazer treats in his great work. 
 But the plurality of causes, which makes it unsafe to 
 infer similarity of cause from similar effects, necessitates 
 an analysis of particular results. 
 
 The ideas underlying the above-cited examples of 
 taboo are in some cases connected with " spiritual ' 
 dangers, and, to that extent, are religious. In the 
 further analysis of these and other cases, the religious 
 character of practice and belief will be made more clear, 
 and the precise nature of the danger will be investigated. 
 For the present, let us take one or two of the above 
 cases, which might be multiplied indefinitely, to show 
 
i 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, i 
 
 the identity of the ideas underlying Polynesian tabu and 
 similar religious states elsewhere. A Maori woman at 
 menstruation is tapu, and any one touching her is tapu. 
 Now, according to the Siamese belief about this function, 
 the danger is due to evil spirits which cause a wound, 
 of which the menstrual blood is the result and proof, 
 and it is contact with this blood of which the Maori 
 male is so afraid. Add to this the fact that the Maoris 
 themselves not only identify menstrual blood with an 
 evil spirit, Kahukahu, but also hold that the tapu state 
 generally is due to the influence of ancestral spirits, 1 and 
 identification of taboo and " spiritual " influence is so 
 far complete. 
 
 S Now, if behind any sexual relation or sexual func- 
 / tional crisis and the relations between the sexes resulting 
 in connection with it, there are found ideas identical 
 with those underlying any taboo or religious condition, 
 we may infer for all such ideas in primitive thought, not 
 only correlation but identity of origin. 
 \ As we proceed we shall find evidence not only for 
 identifying this religious state of " spiritual " danger 
 with the dangers underlying taboo, and with those pro- 
 ceeding from evil agencies, material, spiritual, or both, 
 but also for ascribing this state to the functional crises 
 of sex and the ensuing sexual attitude, and even to the 
 ordinary relations of the sexes. 
 
 1 E. Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 67, 68. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 We have seen reason to suppose that men and women at 
 marriage, women during menstruation, pregnancy, and 
 child-birth, infants, boys and girls at puberty, not to 
 mention other critical conditions, are regarded by early 
 man as being in that mysterious religious state which 
 necessitates the imposition of restrictions and safe- 
 guards, or taboos, and to which mourners and kings, 
 warriors and priests alike are called. In the last case 
 cited from the Maoris we see very clearly the twofold 
 nature of the state in which these sacr<e person* find 
 themselves. They are dangerous and are themselves in 
 danger. Dr. Frazer has here applied most happily 
 the language of electricity. The person charged with 
 this electric force, which is both dangerous and bene- 
 ficent, must be insulated by various taboos. 
 
 The Polynesian tabu, especially in Hawaii and 
 New Zealand, was the basis of society ; it was the 
 support of all religious, moral, and social institutions, 
 for all of which it supplied a supernatural sanction. 
 The system was indeed a good example of the religious 
 character of early society. Used by priests and nobles 
 for their own ends and no less for the good of the 
 community, it early divided into religious, political, and 
 social tabu. Every priest and every gentleman was 
 tabu, "sacred." The opposite state was noa, "com- 
 mon." This was the system after a long development. 
 
1 6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Here I wish to deal rather with the : iderlying 
 
 taboo, in its human aspect. Thes universal 
 
 v^ human ideas, arising directly from the st human 
 
 relations and physical functions, and It! )r e propose, 
 
 after having shown cause why the identity should be 
 recognised, to apply the term taboo to all similar 
 phenomena throughout mankind, and not only to the 
 restrictions but to the whole series of persons, beliefs, 
 and practices. All these are potentially what the Poly- 
 nesian tabu was actually. Also, as will be seen, taboo 
 as thus extended is identical with a considerable part of 
 religion in the sense already described as characteristic 
 of primitive culture. I am, of course, far from wish- 
 ing to imply that these ideas underlying taboo have 
 developed the whole of religion ; and, as in this enquiry 
 we have to discuss . the relations of man with man and 
 of man with woman, that is, Taboo in its social aspect, 
 the terms Social Taboo and Sexual Taboo may well be 
 used. They will serve both to avoid misconceptions 
 as to religion in general, and to mark the fact that here 
 we meet with some fundamental religious ideas which 
 lie beneath the relations of man with man and the 
 system of morality derived from those relations. In 
 \y /these ideas may be seen the basis of Evolutionary 
 Ljy vEthics. 
 
 Primitive Taboo exists now in all its pristine 
 strength, though it has split into religious, moral, and 
 social habits, each distinguished by a more or less 
 different terminology. To illustrate the continuity_of 
 culture and the identity of the elementary human ideas 
 in all ages, it is sufficient to point to the ease with 
 which the Polynesian word tabu has passed into modern 
 languages. There is no more interesting or more im- 
 portant study than to trace the continuity of culture, 
 
ii TABOO 17 
 
 and when we take any taboo custom of early man and 
 follow it up to modern times, we generally find at this 
 end not a mere survival but a living duplicate, often 
 identical in form and content with its prototype. 
 Many cases of this will appear in the following pages. 
 As an example I may quote a common feature of 
 primitive tabu in its social aspect, the placing of a cloth 
 or stick or other mark on a piece of property to show 
 that it belongs to some one and is therefore sacred. 
 This widely spread custom shows the religious basis of 
 the rights of property. Well, at our end of the chain, 
 we find the same thing in the familiar piece of un- 
 written law which respects the seat thus tabooed in a 
 railway carriage. The only difference is that in the 
 Polynesian case there was a deep religious meaning 
 behind the form and a terrible supernatural sanction to 
 support it, while behind the modern custom there is 
 human courtesy only ; behind both, there is the uni- 
 versal sense of human nature. Indeed, as we shall 
 see later, such an example points to the fact that 
 ordinary universal human ideas, chiefly connected with 
 functional needs, produce the same results in all ages ; 
 and many so-called survivals, which have on the face of 
 them too much vitality to be mere fossil remains, at 
 once receive a scientific explanation which is more than 
 antiquarian. 
 
 Having found that the persons with whom we have 
 to deal are, so far, taboo, in danger and dangerous, 
 and concern us in their human relations, social taboo, we 
 now proceed to investigate the nature of this danger 
 other than the vague but ubiquitous evil spirits. The 
 omnipresence of evil spirits according to early thought 
 has been illustrated by Dr. Frazer, but to point the 
 case, I may give some evidence of this here. 
 
 c 
 
1 8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 An excellent observer says of the Indian of British 
 Guiana that his "whole world swarms with beings. 
 He is surrounded by a host of them, possibly hurtful. 
 It is therefore not wonderful that the Indian fears to 
 be without his fellow, fears even to move beyond the 
 light from his camp-fire, and when obliged to do so 
 carries a firebrand with him, that he may have a chance 
 of seeing the beings among whom he moves. Nor is it 
 wonderful that occasionally the neighbourhood of their 
 settlement seems to the Indians to become so oppres- 
 sively full of gathering beings, that the feaiman who 
 has the power of frightening those beings, even when 
 they are invisible, is employed to effect a general clear- 
 ance of the air." x Amongst the Sonthals evil spirits 
 are ubiquitous, and offerings of grain are placed on the 
 paths to appease them. 2 In Egypt the Ginn pervade 
 everything ; they inhabit rivers, ruined houses, wells, 
 baths, ovens, and latrines. When pouring water or 
 anything on the ground, it is the custom to exclaim, 
 " Permission," by way of craving pardon of any Ginnee 
 that may be there. 3 The Karalits believe that the air 
 is peopled with invisible " spectres," which the angekoks 
 only can discern and catch while they are hovering 
 about. 4 The New Caledonians imagine that demon- 
 agencies pervade the universe, and that they haunt 
 their huts to trouble their sleep and are the original 
 cause of sickness and death. 5 In Siam evil spirits are 
 thought to swarm in the air. The people believe that 
 they enjoy the first fruits of their girls. 6 " In one 
 respect the life of the Kurnai was a life of dread. He 
 
 1 E. F. im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, 372. 
 
 2 V. Ball, Jungle Life in India, 235. 
 
 3 E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, i. 284. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 444. 
 
 5 Id. ii. 91. " Loubere, op. cit. i. 203. 
 
ii EVIL INFLUENCES 19 
 
 lived in fear of the visible and invisible. He never 
 knew the moment when the lurking Brajerak might 
 not spear him from behind, and never knew the 
 moment when some secret foe among the Kurnai might 
 not succeed in passing over him some spell, against 
 which he could not struggle, or from which the most 
 potent counter -charms given him by his ancestors 
 could not free him." l The natives of Hatam in New 
 Guinea had a great dread of poison infused in the 
 atmosphere. 2 The last two cases form a link between 
 the natural and the supernatural. 
 
 We thus see that in the thought of some peoples, 
 man's whole environment is more or less full of the 
 agencies or influences of evil, and as we may presuppose 
 the same psychological material for all mankind, we 
 infer a similarity of psychological result, potential if not 
 actual, for all peoples at a certain stage of culture. 
 The term "evil spirit' is often misused; many evil 
 influences, which are not anthropomorphic at all, are 
 too readily called " spirits." Supernaturnal personifi- 
 cations will not cover all the cases of primitive spirit- 
 ualism. These dangers are still undifferentiated and 
 combined in one genus in which there is no distinc- 
 tion between natural and supernatural, real and ideal, 
 nor between persons and other existences or entire ; 
 these "spirits" are really material, though unseen, and 
 many are simply "influences," states of matter, imper- 
 sonal forces. The atmosphere is thus charged with 
 " spiritual " electricity, with bacteria of invisible mischief. 
 Man needs to walk warily ; at any time he may be 
 subjected to dangers coming from this hylo-idealistic 
 force. The conduction or induction, contagion or 
 infection, may result in death or sickness, spiritual or 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, of. cit. 259. 2 L. M. D'Albertis, New Guinea, i. 122. 
 
20 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 material danger, real or but vaguely apprehended, the 
 subjective notion being often stronger than objective 
 presentation from its very elusiveness. 
 
 These influences are of the kind which produce the 
 state of religious peril, or Taboo. When we take our 
 attention from the mysterious force of taboo and 
 analyse its subject, we find first that it is the " spiritual ' : 
 danger which makes him taboo and dangerous to others, 
 as soon as it descends upon him and fills him with virus 
 or electric force. It is no inconsistency that a man is 
 often taboo before the danger attacks him, for he is 
 expecting it, or that people like Dr. Frazer's incarnate 
 gods, or even the ordinary Maori gentleman, are always 
 taboo. These sacra •persona have the religious con- 
 dition imposed upon them every day, they are cottidie 
 feriata. It is a natural extension with persons on 
 whom the safety of the world depends, as in the case of 
 the incarnate gods, and no less with persons like the 
 Maori, who has been led by the development of a 
 system which combined the characteristics of Roman 
 Catholicism with those of Feudalism, to believe, like 
 many a modern aristocrat, that he is somewhat more 
 than the salt of the earth. 
 
 The next commonest form in which the danger, 
 resulting in taboo, is presented, is that of contagion of 
 a sickness neither real nor imaginary, neither natural or 
 supernatural, but both. This predication of " spiritual " 
 sickness, though almost universal, and, as will be seen 
 later, of very great importance in the history of human 
 relations, does not cover all the facts, and we want to 
 know the origin of this idea also. We have found the 
 danger to come from the environment of the individual, 
 and then to settle upon him. We may then look for 
 its original character in the actual environment, not as 
 
II 
 
 THE UNKNOWN 21 
 
 it may really be, but as it is conceived to be, that is, 
 conditioned by the individual's conception thereof; and 
 secondly, where the environment is humanity, in the 
 characteristics attributed to such persons by the indi- 
 vidual. Now we find, after examining the facts, that 
 there is one characteristic which inheres in all these 
 manifold dangers. Things and persons are potentially 
 dangerous, acts and functions are potentially liable to 
 danger, which are strange, unfamiliar, unusual, abnormal, 
 in a word, more or less unknown. Man's ignorance is 
 the occasion of his fears, and he fears anything or 
 everything which he does not understand. Of the 
 savage it may most truly be said, omnia exeunt in 
 mysterium. Man's superstitious fears are found to be 
 in the exact ratio of man's ignorance. To all these 
 potential dangers he naturally ascribes the results which 
 he knows to ensue from real physical danger, and of 
 course this wide generalisation includes cases of real 
 injury inextricably confused with a thousand empty 
 terrors. As man's earliest thinking is anthropomorphic 
 and in terms of himself, he attributes to agencies which 
 he does not understand, not only the conscious power 
 and methods of human beings, but the involuntary 
 influence or deleterious properties of dangerous men, 
 such as enemies or diseased persons ; and these imagin- 
 ary results coming from things and persons feared 
 because they are not understood, are actually accentu- 
 ated by the very fact that the persons or things do not 
 harmonise with man's knowledge of himself. Wonder 
 becomes uneasiness, and eventually produces an attitude 
 of religious caution. Again, man's fears are for himself, 
 and especially for those parts and functions of his 
 organism which are most important for life and health 
 and are actually most liable to injury. Here there 
 
22 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 falls to be considered what may be called physiological 
 thought, subconsciously arising from and concentrating 
 upon physiological functions. Especially important in 
 human psychology is the physiological thought arising 
 from the two chief physical functions of nutrition and 
 sex. For these and other complex and delicate func- 
 tions, man's ignorance creates many potential dangers, 
 and this leads to various attitudes of religious caution 
 in their performance. 
 
 Let us take some cases which illustrate this poten- 
 tiality of danger, inhering, through man's subjective 
 conceptions, in things and acts and states which are 
 different from what is usual and ordinary, which more 
 or less break the comfortable routine of life, or which 
 he cannot explain. From this point of view, the 
 original idea behind the Maori term noa, for instance, 
 which means common as opposed to tapu, is what we 
 should call normal or regular. In South Celebes the 
 Buginese word pemdli (i.q. Polynesian tabu) denotes all 
 things unusual, and such are supposed to bring evil 
 consequences in their train. 1 In the Marquesas any- 
 thing different from ordinary custom is called taboo. 2 
 The Dyaks perform mystic ceremonies " for the most 
 frivolous causes ; when they have a bad dream, if a 
 tree falls, or a basket of rice be upset." Pamali (tabii) 
 is imposed on practically any occasion when something 
 unusual or important is about to or has taken place. 3 
 Strangeness, potential danger, and spiritual power go 
 together in the savage mind. " The Masai conception 
 of deity (ngai) is vague," as Joseph Thomson pointed 
 out. " I was ngai ; my lamp was ngai ; whatever struck 
 them as strange or incomprehensible they supposed to 
 
 1 Matthes, op. clt. 108. 2 Melville, The Marquesas Islands, 248. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. 278, 282. 
 
ii THE ABNORMAL 
 
 2 3 
 
 have some connection with ngai." l The Cadiacks 
 believed that every act was under the influence of some 
 object, stone, or the like, especially if the said object 
 was curious in appearance. 2 Of the Guiana Indian, 
 Mr. im Thurn states that, " he always sees a spirit in 
 any instrument which does him harm. When he falls 
 on a rock, he attributes the injury to it. If he sees any- 
 thing in any way curious or abnormal, and if soon after 
 an evil befall him, he regards the thing and the evil as 
 cause and effect. Just as some rocks, viz. the more 
 peculiar, are more malignant than others, so it is not 
 every river, but every bend and portion of a river that 
 has a spirit ; spirits of falls and rapids are still more 
 dreaded, therefore people are more frequently drowned 
 there. Spirits consist of harmless and harmful. The 
 former are quite inactive. The good that befalls an 
 Indian he takes as a matter of course, as the result of 
 his own exertions, and all the evil as the work of evil- 
 wishing spirits. He performs no acts to attract the 
 goodwill of spirits, but he constantly does act or avoid 
 action to arrest the ill-will of other spirits." 3 When 
 animals act contrary to their ordinary habits, the Kaffirs 
 regard them as omens. 4 So in Chinese and European 
 folklore, the crowing of a hen is ominous of something 
 unusual about to happen. 5 Amongst the Patagonians 
 any unfamiliar object was supposed to possess an evil 
 spirit; and any boy or girl who was odd or peculiar, "0 
 was marked out for the profession of wizard. 6 So the J 
 Kaffirs of Natal honoured persons who were subject to 
 fits, but they refused to eat out of such a person's 
 
 1 J. Thomson, Through Masai Land, 260. 
 
 2 U. Lisiansky, A Voyage Round the World, 243. 
 
 3 im Thurn, of. ch. 370, 377, 379. * J. Shooter, The Kaffirs of Natal, 165. 
 
 5 Doolittle, op. cit. ii. 328. 
 
 6 G. C. Musters, At Home -with the Patagonians, 181, 182. 
 
24 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 vessels. 1 Kaffirs begin the career of diviner or doctor 
 by being ill, and especially the appearance of epileptic 
 symptoms in a Kaffir show that he is becoming a seer. 2 
 Neuropaths are much honoured in the islands of Leti, 
 Moa, and Lakor. 3 The Bakgalagali, a weak and 
 timorous race, are protected by the notion that it is 
 uncanny to meddle with them. 4 Amongst the com- 
 monest cases are those where potentiality of danger is 
 ascribed to strangers. The Guaranis suspected every 
 stranger of hostility. 5 D' Albertis was requested by the 
 Alfoers opposite Ramoi to leave their village because 
 his presence brought bad luck. " The people began to 
 die," they complained, " as soon as you looked at us. 
 Five have died in three days." 6 The Samoans fear 
 evil influence from strangers. 7 On entering a strange 
 country the Maoris perform a ceremony to make it noa> 
 as it may have been tapu, that is, potentially dangerous. 8 
 When an Australian tribe approaches another that is 
 unknown, they carry burning sticks " to purify the 
 air." 9 Strange meats, such as are for instance non- 
 indigenous, are feared by the Indians of Guiana, and they 
 are rendered eatable by the peaiman, or even occasion- 
 ally an old woman blowing on them certain times, so 
 as to expel the "spirit." 10 In German folklore there 
 is the custom of blowing thrice into a strange spoon, 
 before eating with it. 11 The Indians of Guiana are 
 afraid of the food of strangers, or of anything belonging 
 
 1 Shooter, op. at, 218. 
 
 2 Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu, 299 ; Shooter, 191. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 378. 4 South African Folklore Journal, ii. 32. 
 5 Dobrizhoffer, The Abipones, 163. 6 D'Albertis, op. cit. i. 53. 
 
 7 G. Turner, Samoa a Hundred Tears Ago, 291. 
 
 8 Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders, 103. 
 
 9 R. Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, i. 134. 
 
 10 im Thurn, op. cit. 36S. 
 
 11 F. Panzer, Beitrag z-ur Deutschen Mythologie, 257. 
 
 
II 
 
 THE NEW 25 
 
 to such. 1 The Zulus taboo all foods that are strange 
 or unknown. 2 A similar idea underlies the common 
 diffidence about beginning an act or doing something 
 for the first time, or handselling a new object. Before 
 shooting a cataract for the first time, on the first sight 
 of any new place, striking rocks, etc., the Guiana Indian 
 arrests the ill-will of the spirits. The dreaded objects 
 are not mentioned, are not looked at more than is 
 necessary, and artificial means of blinding the eyes with 
 pepper juice are used to avoid the dreaded sight. 3 The 
 Sandwich Islanders prayed before they ate, before tilling 
 the ground, before building houses, launching boats, or 
 casting nets. 4 Before starting on a hunting expedition, 
 the Hurons consulted their tutelar spirits to ascertain 
 whether the time was propitious. 5 This kind of thing 
 is world-wide. In the Luang Sermata Islands enquiries 
 are made as to whether the new house will be unlucky. 
 In the Babar Islands, before entering a new house, 
 offerings are thrown inside, that the spirit, Orlou, may 
 not make the inmates ill. 6 In the Sandwich Islands, 
 before the owner entered a new house, the priest 
 performed ceremonies and slept in it, to prevent evil 
 spirits resorting thereto, and to secure the inmates from 
 the effects of incantation. 7 A similar practice is found 
 in Persia and China. s Amongst the Nicobarese sorcerers 
 are employed to drive away evil spirits from the site 
 selected for the building of a house. When a new 
 boat is launched, a fire is lighted round it to expel the 
 evil spirits. 9 Similarly, when an interval has elapsed, 
 
 1 W. H. Brett, The Indian Tribes cf Guiana, 363. 
 
 2 D. Leslie, Among the Zulus and Amatongas, 197. 
 
 3 im Thurn, op. cit. 380. 4 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 350. 
 5 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 54. 6 Riedel, op. cit. 318, 343. 
 
 7 W. Ellis, A Tour in Hawaii, 293 ; Polynesian Researches, iv. 322. 
 s Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, ix. 260; Doolittle, op. cit. ii. 325. 
 9 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 250. 
 
26 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 dwelling-houses become dangerous. Thus the Bashkirs, 
 on returning from their nomadic life of the summer to 
 their winter -quarters, approach these dwellings with 
 reluctance, believing that Sheitan has taken up his abode 
 there. The women therefore are sent forward first, 
 armed with sticks, with which they strike the doors, 
 uttering curses ; when they have made their round, the 
 men ride forward at full speed, with terrific shouts, to 
 banish the dreaded demon from his hiding-place. 1 We 
 may also compare the common belief that danger 
 attaches to the first of any fruits or meats, as in the 
 ceremony of first-fruits amongst the Kaffirs 2 and many 
 other peoples, such " holiness " as attaches thereto being 
 undistinguished from any kind of potential danger. 
 Again, there is an almost universal belief that sickness 
 and death are unnatural and abnormal. Being strange 
 conditions of which the savage cannot solve the 
 mystery, he often attributes them to the influence of 
 evil spirits. Amongst the Zulus no one is believed to 
 die a natural death except in battle or a row. 3 Among 
 most Congo tribes death is seldom regarded in the light 
 of a natural event. 4 Amongst the Dieri and neigh- 
 bouring tribes of South Australia, " no native contracts 
 a disease or complaint from natural causes ; the disease 
 is supposed to be caused by some enemy." In any 
 serious case, the Koonkies or doctors are called in, to 
 beat " the devil " out of the camp. " This is done by 
 the stuffed tail of a kangaroo, by beating the ground in 
 and out of the camp, chasing him away for some 
 distance." 5 The Kurnai could not conceive of death 
 by disease. It was regarded as due to the magical 
 
 1 A. Erman, Reise urn die Erde, i. 103. 2 Shooter, op. cit. 25, 27. 
 
 3 Leslie, op. cit. 48. 4 H. Ward, in Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 287. 
 
 5 S. Gason, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xsiv. 170. 
 
ii DEATH SUPERNATURAL 27 
 
 influence of enemies or evil spirits. Death, according 
 to their ideas, could only occur through accident, open 
 violence, or secret magic. 1 Amongst the tribes of 
 Central Australia " no such thing as natural death is 
 realised by the native ; a man who dies has of necessity 
 been killed by some other man, or perhaps even by a 
 woman, and sooner or later that man or woman will be 
 attacked. However old or decrepit a man or woman 
 may be when death takes place, it is at once supposed 
 that it has been brought about by the magic influence 
 of some enemy." 2 All deaths, sicknesses, and calamities 
 are attributed by the Andamanese to evil spirits. 3 The 
 Navajos ascribe death to Chinde, " the devil," who 
 remains in the vicinity of the dead. Those who per- 
 form the burial protect themselves from the evil in- 
 fluence by smearing their naked bodies with tar. 4 Death 
 has always been a mystery, and it is no wonder that 
 savage and barbarous peoples should have regarded it as 
 an abnormal event. This conception is illustrated by 
 the numerous myths invented to explain the abnormality 
 of death. An interesting case, repeating the idea of 
 "death and his brother sleep," is the myth of the Yaos 
 and Wayisa of East Central Africa. They say that 
 death is largely caused by wizards ; it was originally 
 brought into the world by a woman, who taught two 
 men to go to sleep. One day, while they slumbered, 
 she held the nostrils of one of them, till his breath 
 ceased and he died. 5 Sickness, in a lesser degree, is 
 also mysterious. With such unusual states, as is gener- 
 ally the case, we find connected evil spirits or taboo or 
 both, and may trace these predications back to man's 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 251, 258. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 48, 476. 
 
 3 E. H. Man, in Jown. Anthrop. Inst. xi. 288, 289. 
 
 4 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washington), 123. 
 
 5 J. Macdonald, in Jown. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. ill, 112. 
 
28 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 conceptions of what is unusual and not understood, in 
 combination with his instinctive desire for life, health, 
 and strength. All illness and bodily evil in British 
 Guiana is the work of spirits, occasionally supposed 
 to act in human form, but generally not, "therefore 
 disease is more common than assault by bodily foes." 1 
 Amongst the Basutos sickness is attributed to ill- 
 wishers who bewitch one. 2 In the last examples, we see 
 how human and supernatural agencies may meet. 
 
 Again, in the case of normal functions, which are 
 unusual in so far as they are periodic, it is natural that 
 danger from spiritual agencies should be thought of 
 chiefly when the crisis is worse than usual. Thus in 
 the Aru Islands it is at difficult labour that means are 
 taken against evil spirits, for instance, the banging of 
 drums ; so in the island Wetar and the Ceramlaut 
 Archipelago. 3 If labour is difficult, the Chinese suppose 
 it is due to an evil spirit that prevents the child's 
 appearance ; 4 and in the Philippines, when the birth is 
 delayed, witches are supposed to be responsible, and are 
 driven away by exploding gunpowder from a mortar 
 improvised out of a bamboo. 5 If the new-born child 
 howls, the Babar natives attribute it to the influence of 
 an evil spirit, and food is spread for it outside the 
 house. 6 This case is somewhat surprising, but perhaps 
 it is excessive squalling that is referred to. More 
 naturally, if a Chinese child will not suck nor cry and 
 appears lifeless, the belief is that it is exposed to evil 
 influences. 7 
 
 The Andamanese and Maoris ascribe internal pains 
 to evil spirits ; and amongst the latter people, when a 
 
 1 im Thurn, op. cit. 366. 2 Casalis, op. cit. 277. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 265, 449, 175. 4 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 118. 
 
 5 Bowring, op. cit. 144. 6 Riedel, op. cit. 354. 7 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 120. 
 
ii EMOTIONS SUPERNATURAL . 29 
 
 chief is in pain, he is thereby accounted tapu. 1 Also 
 when a Maori warrior was afraid, the tohunga invoked 
 a friendly spirit to repulse the evil spirit causing the 
 fear. 2 It will be remembered that the Maori tapu 
 implies that one is under the influence of the ancestral 
 spirits ; and the apparent inconsistency, that a Maori 
 gentleman, who is always tapu, can become tapu at 
 various crises, and, as will be seen later, can contract 
 such tapu as to injure his inherent tapu, is quite natural 
 and needs no explanation. Further, the Battas attri- 
 bute not only diseases, but such phenomena as anger, 
 to evil spirits, which also force men to do murder and 
 commit crimes. 3 Such states as idiocy, hysteria, and 
 various forms of neurosis are, as is well known, ex- 
 plained by savages in the same way. We still have the 
 phrase " an inspired idiot." Intoxication is similarly 
 explained, also such apparently irregular conditions as 
 ecstasy and enthusiasm. In the same way, popular 
 thought and language prove this to be so with love, no 
 less than with other periodic emotional crises. Both 
 the Yoruba and the Ewe -speaking peoples attribute 
 sexual desire to possession by the god of love {Legba)} 
 It is very natural that savage ignorance should ascribe 
 to possession by supernatural influences those strong 
 impulses which carry a man away and render him for 
 the moment a blind automaton. The very word 
 " passion " preserves the primitive idea that such states 
 are due to external agency ; yet these facts limit still 
 further primitive man's knowledge of himself. 
 
 Again, if we survey the whole of human life and 
 human relations, we find that all states in which there 
 
 1 Man, op. cit. xi. 84 ; Shortland, op. cit. 82 ; W. Yate, New Zealand, 104. 
 
 2 Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 67, 68. 
 
 3 F. Junghuhn, Die Battaldnder cuf Sumatra, ii, 156. 
 
 4 A. B. Ellis, The Eive-speaking Peoples of West Africa, 41. 
 
 t 
 
3° 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 is danger to be apprehended or something unusual or 
 unusally important to be done or suffered are taboo. 
 Every one is taboo in time of war, at the arrival of 
 strangers, at the planting of the new seed, and at other 
 periodic performances. Dr. Frazer has given examples 
 of these. We shall also find later that occasions, where 
 the performance of bodily functions is in question, 
 are frequently taboo, and practically always when the 
 functions are sexual or nutritive. We have also seen 
 that even emotional states, such as pain, anger, fear, 
 and love, which are apparently so abnormal, are ascribed 
 to supernatural agencies and are taboo states ; and at 
 last the remarkable fact becomes clear, that in primitive 
 thought, most of what a man or woman does is actually, 
 and all is potentially taboo. It is not merely the in- 
 carnate god, the king and the priest, the sick and the 
 mourner, the warrior and hunter, the boy and girl at 
 puberty, the infant, the mother in child-bed, and the 
 like, that are in this religious condition, but all human 
 beings, as such, are potentially taboo, dangerous and in 
 danger, all alike are, as it were, kings and priests. This 
 tendency arising from subjective conceptions as to the 
 danger of acts and things unfamiliar, out of the routine, 
 or not understood, grows out of man's egoistic sensi- 
 bility, that animal form of the instinct of self-preserva- 
 tion and the will to live, which causes the individual to 
 insulate himself from potential danger. Such danger 
 centres in particular upon the organs of sense and 
 function, the mysterious and complex working of which 
 produces in the thinking organism a subconscious 
 impulse, in the ratio of their importance and com- 
 plexity, towards their preservation, and thereby the 
 - preservation of the individual himself. This sub- 
 conscious impulse develops into ideas, which are 
 
ii BASIS OF TABOO 31 
 
 religious in their character, and in their turn suggest the 
 various methods of taboo. These ideas are religious 
 in their content of " spiritual," as not distinguished 
 from material danger, and these dangers are conceived 
 of materially and dealt with as such. In all these facts, 
 also, the identity of the taboo state and the dangerous 
 condition caused by evil spirits can be seen between the 
 lines. Turning now to the other side of these states, 
 in which the person concerned is dangerous as well as 
 in danger, we are told by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen 
 that they " were constantly impressed with the idea 
 that one black fellow will often tell you that he can 
 and does do something magical, whilst all the time he 
 is perfectly well aware that he cannot, and yet firmly 
 believes that some other man can really do it. In 
 order that his fellows may not be considered in this 
 respect as superior to himself, he is obliged to resort to 
 what is really a fraud ; but in course of time he may 
 even come to lose sight of the fact that it is a fraud 
 which he is practising upon himself and his fellows." ' 
 In fact amongst savages it is not only professional 
 sorcerers who possess magic power and influence, every 
 man has this more or less. For instance, most of the 
 old men amongst Australian natives are sorcerers, and a 
 sorcerer " is able both to cause and cure, disease, rain, 
 wind, thunder, and hail." 2 
 
 Thus, all persons are potentially dangerous to others, " 
 as well as potentially in danger, in virtue simply of 
 the distinction between a man and his fellows. The 
 individual qua individual is potentially in danger from 
 other individuals and dangerous to them. This egoistic 
 sensibility and caution is intensified when things or 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 130. 
 2 E. J. Eyre, Journals of Expeditions of Disco-very into Central Australia, ii. 359, 384. 
 
32 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, ii 
 
 persons present some unexplained strangeness, and we 
 may conclude that the mere fact of sexual differentia- 
 [ tion is enough to form the basis of a similar religious 
 caution between men and women. In the second place, 
 functional crises are accentuated forms of this sexual 
 j differentiation, and their apparent abnormality causes 
 i„uneasiness to the individual and to the other sex also. 
 The following case sums up the argument ; the Indians 
 of Costa Rica believe that the ceremonial " unclean- 
 ness " called bu-ku-ru is very virulent. It is most 
 dangerous from a woman in her first pregnancy. " She 
 infects the whole neighbourhood, and all deaths are 
 laid at her door." Also, " a place which has not been 
 visited for a long time, or one approached for the first 
 time, is infected with bu-ku-ru." 1 Here then we have 
 an ultimate origin for the religious precautions used 
 not only at birth, puberty, and pregnancy, but at the 
 entering upon a new relation, and that a sexual rela- 
 tion, such as marriage. 
 
 The whole series of phenomena, as may especially 
 be seen in the ideas and practices concerned with things 
 new and unusual, with the handselling of such, and 
 with the entering upon strange or important acts and 
 functions, illustrates well a characteristic of early man 
 / 1/ in the anirmstic_sta^e, which may be described as 
 'v ' diffidence, lack of initiative and incapacity for responsi- 
 
 bility, and is the general result of ignorance and inex- 
 perience. This mental and moral habit has, as the 
 material on which it works, the very ignorance with 
 which it is associated in origin. Later, this interesting 
 \f' stage of human development will be shown to have 
 J developed moral ideas which have profoundly influenced 
 - f the progress j)fjnan. 
 
 1 W. M. Gabb. op. cit. 504. 
 
 "/ 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 " In the beginning, when Twashtri came to the creation 
 of woman, he found that he had exhausted his materials 
 in the making of man, and that no solid elements were 
 left. In this dilemma, after profound meditation, he 
 did as follows. He took the rotundity of the moon, 
 and the curves of creepers, and the clinging of tendrils, 
 and the trembling of grass, and the slenderness of the 
 reed, and the bloom of flowers, and the lightness of 
 leaves, and the tapering of the elephant's trunk, and the 
 glances of deer, and the clustering of rows of bees, and 
 the joyous gaiety of sunbeams, and the weeping of 
 clouds, and the fickleness of the winds, and the timidity 
 of the hare, and the vanity of the peacock, and the 
 softness of the parrot's bosom, and the hardness of 
 adamant, and the sweetness of honey, and the cruelty 
 of the tiger, and the warm glow of fire, and the cold- 
 ness of snow, and the chattering of jays, and the cooing 
 of the koki/a, and the hypocrisy of the crane, and the 
 fidelity of the chakrazvdka, and compounding all these 
 together, he made woman and gave her to man. But 
 after one week, man came to him and said : Lord, this 
 creature that you have given me makes my life miser- 
 able. She chatters incessantly and teases me beyond 
 endurance, never leaving me alone ; and she requires 
 incessant attention, and takes all my time up, and cries 
 about nothing, and is always idle ; and so I have come 
 
 D 
 
h' 
 
 34 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 to give her back again, as I cannot live with her. So 
 Twashtri said : Very well ; and he took her back. 
 Then after another week, man came again to him and 
 said : Lord, I find that my life is very lonely, since I 
 gave you back that creature. I remember how she 
 used to dance and sing to me, and look at me out of 
 the corner of her eye, and play with me, and cling to 
 me ; and her laughter was music, and she was beautiful 
 to look at, and soft to touch ; so give her back to me 
 again. So Twashtri said : Very well ; and gave her back 
 again. Then after only three days, man came back to 
 him again and said : Lord, I know not how it is ; but 
 after all I have come to the conclusion that she is more 
 of a trouble than a pleasure to me ; so please take her 
 back again. But Twashtri said : Out on you ! Be off! 
 I will have no more of this. You must manage how 
 you can. Then man said : But I cannot live with her. 
 And Twashtri replied : Neither could you live without 
 her. And he turned his back on man, and went on 
 1 1 with his work. Then man said : What is to be done ? 
 I for I cannot live either with her or without her." * 
 
 This extract from a beautiful Sanscrit story illustrates 
 a conception of the relations of man and woman, which 
 often recurs in literature. The same conception, due 
 /ultimately to that difference of sex and of sexual 
 (characters which renders mutual sympathy and under- 
 standing more or less difficult, is characteristic of 
 i^nankind in all periods and stages of culture. Woman 
 is one of the last things to be understood by man ; 
 though the complement of man and his partner in 
 health and sickness, poverty and wealth, woman is 
 different from man, and this difference has had the same 
 religious results as have attended other things which 
 
 1 A Digit of the Moon, trans, by F. W. Bain, 13-15. 
 
Ill 
 
 SEXUAL TABOO 35 
 
 man does not understand. The same is true of 
 woman's attitude to man. In the history of the sexes 
 there have been always at work the two complementary 
 physical forces of attraction and repulsion ; man and 
 woman may be regarded, and not fancifully, as the 
 highest sphere in which this law of physics operates ; in 
 love the two sexes are drawn to each other by an 
 irresistible sympathy, while in other circumstances there 
 is more or less of segregation, due to and enforced by 
 human ideas of human relations. -J 
 
 ""The remarkable facts which follow show the primitive 
 theory and practice of this separation of the sexes. Both 
 in origin and results the phenomena are those of Taboo, 
 and hence I have applied to these facts the specific term 
 of Sexual Taboo. At first sight this early stage of the 
 relations of men and women may cause surprise, but 
 when one realises the continuity of human ideas, and 
 analyses one's own consciousness, one may find there in 
 potentiality, if not actualised by prejudice, the same con- 
 ception, though perhaps emptied of its religious content. 
 In Nukahiva if a woman happens to sit upon or even 
 pass near an object which has become tabu by contact 
 with a man, it can never be used again, and she is put 
 to death. 1 In Tahiti a woman had to respect those 
 places frequented by men, their weapons and fishing 
 implements ; the head of a husband or father was sacred 
 from the touch of woman, nor might a wife or daughter 
 touch any object that had been in contact with these 
 \ tabued heads, or step over them when their owners were 
 asleep. 2 In the Solomon Islands a man will never pass 
 under a tree fallen across the path, because a woman 
 may have stepped over it before him. 3 In Siam it is 
 
 1 D'Urville, Voyage pittoresque autcur du Monde, i. 505. 
 2 C. Letourneau, Sociologie, 173. 3 H. B. Guppy, T/ic Salomon Islands, i. 4. 
 
36 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 considered unlucky to pass under women's clothes hung 
 out to dry. 1 It is degrading to a Melanesian chief to 
 go where women may be above his head ; boys also are 
 forbidden to go underneath the women's bed-place. 2 
 Amongst the Karens of Burmah going under a house 
 when there are females within is avoided ; and in 
 Burmah generally it is thought an indignity to have a 
 woman above the head ; to prevent which the houses 
 are never built with more than one storey. 3 This 
 explanation of an architectural peculiarity is doubtless 
 ex post facto. Amongst the people of Rajmahal, if a 
 man be detected by a woman sitting on her cot and she 
 complains of the impropriety, he pays her a fowl as 
 fine, which she returns ; on the other hand, if a man 
 detects a woman sitting on his cot, he kills the fowl 
 which she produces in answer to his complaint, and 
 sprinkles the blood on the cot to purify it, after which 
 she is pardoned. 4 In Cambodia a wife may never use 
 the pillow or mattress of her husband, because " she 
 would hurt his happiness thereby." 5 In Siam the wife 
 has a lower pillow " to remind her of her inferiority." 6 
 This reason is possibly late. Amongst the Barea man 
 and wife seldom share the same bed, the reason they 
 give is, that if they sleep together the breath of the 
 *%ife will render her husband weak. 7 Amongst the 
 Lapps no grown woman may touch the hinder part of 
 the house, which is sacred to the sun. 8 No woman 
 
 1 Bastian, op. cit. Hi. 230. 
 
 2 R. H. Codrington, The Melanesia™, 233. 
 
 3 Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv. 312 ; Bastian, op. cit. ii. 150. 
 
 4 Colebrooke in Asiatick Researches, iv. 88. 
 
 5 E. Aymonier, Les coutumes et croyances super stitieuses des Cambodgiens, 162. The 
 Cambodians also say that a used pillow should be washed at once, or taken care of, 
 for sorcery is easily performed by its means against one who has used it. 
 
 6 Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 585. 
 
 7 W. Munzinger, Ostafrikanische Studien, 526. 8 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 435. 
 
in SEXUAL TABOO 
 
 may enter the house of a Maori chief. 1 Amongst the 
 Kaffas of East Africa husband and wife see each other 
 only at night, never meeting during the day. She is 
 secluded in the interior portion of the house, while he 
 occupies the remainder. " A public resort is also set 
 apart for the husband, where no woman is permitted to 
 appear. A penalty of three years' imprisonment 
 attaches to an infringement of this rule." 2 Observers 
 have noted " the haughty contempt " shown by Zulus 
 for their wives. Men and women rarely are seen 
 together ; if a man and his wife are going to the same 
 place, they do not walk together. 3 In some Redskin 
 tribes and amongst the Indians of California a man 
 never enters his wife's wigwam except under cover of 
 the darkness ; and the men's club-house may never be 
 entered by women. 4 The Bedouin tent is divided into 
 two compartments for the men and women respectively. 
 No man of good reputation will enter the women's part 
 of the tent or even be seen in its shadow. 5 In Nukahiva 
 the houses of important men are not accessible to their 
 own wives, who live in separate huts. 6 Amongst the 
 Samoyeds and Ostyaks a wife may not tread in any part 
 of the tent except her own corner ; after pitching the 
 tent she must fumigate it before the men enter. 7 In 
 Fiji husbands are as frequently away from their wives 
 as with them ; it is not, in Fijian society, thought well 
 for a man to sleep regularly at home. 8 Another account 
 
 1 R. Taylor, Tc ika a Maul, 165 ; Tregear, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 1 18 ; 
 id. Maori Comparative Dictionary, s.v. Kahukahu ; Shortlanci, Maori Religion, 101 } id. 
 Southern Districts of New Zealand, 295. 
 
 2 J. L. Krapf, Eighteen Tears in Eastern Africa, 58. 
 
 3 Shooter, of. cit. 81, 82. 
 
 4 Lafitau, Mceurs des sawvages Ame'riquains, i. 576 ; S. Powers, The Tribes of 
 California, 24.. 6 Featherman, op. cit. v. 357. 
 
 6 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 504. 7 J. Georgi, Les nations Samoyedes, 15, 137. 
 
 8 T. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 137. 
 
38 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 states that " it is quite against Fijian ideas of delicacy 
 that a man ever remains under the same roof with his 
 wife or wives at night." He may not take his night's 
 repose anywhere except at one of the public bures of his 
 town or village. The women and girls sleep at home. 
 " Rendezvous between husband and wife are arranged 
 in the depths of the forest, unknown to any but the 
 two." All the male population, married and unmarried, 
 sleep at the bures, or club-houses, of which there are 
 generally two in each village. Boys till of age have a 
 special one. 1 From another account we learn that 
 women are not allowed to enter a bure, which is also 
 used as a lounge by the chiefs. 2 In New Caledonia a 
 peculiarity of conjugal life is that men and women do 
 not sleep under the same roof. The wife lives and 
 sleeps by herself in a shed near the house. " You 
 rarely see the men and women talking or sitting 
 together. The women seem perfectly content with the 
 companionship of their own sex. The men, who loiter 
 about with spears in a most lazy fashion, are seldom 
 seen in the society of the opposite sex. 3 No Hindu 
 female may enter the men's apartments. 4 In New 
 Guinea the women sleep in houses apart, near those of 
 their male relatives. The men assemble for conversa- 
 tion and meals in the marea, a large reception-house, 
 which women may not enter. 5 Amongst the Nubians 
 each family has two dwelling-houses, one for the males, 
 the other for the females. 6 In the Sandwich Islands 
 there were six houses connected with every great estab- 
 lishment ; one for worship, one for the men to eat in, 
 
 1 B. Seeman, Viti, no, 191. 
 
 2 Wilkes, U.S. Exploring Expedition, iii. 97, 352. 
 
 3 J. Gamier, Oce'anie, 186 ; J. W. Anderson, Fiji and New Caledonia, 232. 
 
 4 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 441. 5 D'Albertis, op. cit. i. 282, 320, 390, 391. 
 6 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 485. 
 
Ill 
 
 SEXUAL TABOO 39 
 
 another for the women, a dormitory, a house for kapa- 
 beating, and one where at certain intervals the women 
 might live in seclusion. 1 In the Caroline Islands a 
 chief's establishment has one house for the women, a 
 second for eating, and a third for sleeping. 2 In the 
 Admiralty Islands there is a house reserved in each 
 village for the use of women, both married and single, 
 while the single men live together in a separate 
 building. 3 The Shastika Indians of California have a 
 town-lodge for men and another for women. Other 
 Californian tribes possess the first institution ; the 
 women may not enter the men's lodges. 4 The centre 
 of Bororo life is the Baito, the men's house, where all 
 the men really live ; the family huts are nothing more 
 than a residence for the women and children. Amongst 
 the Bakairi and the Schingu tribes generally, women 
 may never enter the men's club-house, where the men 
 spend most of their time. 5 In the Solomon Islands 
 women may not enter the men's tambu house, nor even 
 cross the beach in front of it. In Ceram women are 
 forbidden to enter the men's club-house. 7 In New 
 Britain there are two large houses in each village, one 
 for men, the other for women : neither sex may enter 
 the house of the other. 8 In the Marquesas Islands the 
 ti where the men congregate and spend most of their 
 time is taboo to women, and protected by the penalty 
 of death from the imaginary pollution of a woman's 
 presence ; the chiefs never trouble about any domestic 
 affairs. 9 In the Pelew Islands there is " a remarkable 
 
 1 J - J - J arves * TAe Hawaiian or Sandzuick Island:, 208. 
 
 2 C. E. Meinicke, Die Inseln des Stillen Oceans, ii. 370. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vi. 4 1 3. 4 Powers, op. cit. 244, 24. 
 
 5 K. von den Steinen, Unter den Natur-Volkern Zentral-Brasiliens, 480. 
 
 6 Guppy, op. cit. i. 67. 7 Riedel, op. cit. no. 
 
 8 W. Powell, Wanderings in a Wild Country, 84. 
 
 9 Melville, op. cit. 10 1, 210. 
 
4 o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 separation of the sexes." Men and women hardly live 
 together, and family life is impossible. The segrega- 
 tion is political as well as social. 1 In the Society 
 and Sandwich Islands the female sex was isolated and 
 humiliated by tabu, and in their domestic life the women 
 lived almost entirely by themselves. 2 In Uripiv (New 
 Hebrides) there is a curious segregation of the sexes, 
 beginning, at least in one respect, soon after a boy is 
 born. 3 In Rapa (Tubuai Islands) all men are tabu to 
 women. 4 In Seoul, the capital of Corea, " they have 
 a curious curfew law called ■pem-ya. A large bell is 
 tolled at about 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. daily, and between 
 these hours only are women supposed to appear in 
 the streets. In the old days men found in the streets 
 during the hours allotted to women were severely 
 punished, but the rule has been greatly relaxed of late 
 years." " Family life, as we have it, is utterly un- 
 known in Corea." 5 The Ojebway, Peter Jones, thus 
 writes of his own people : "I have scarcely ever seen 
 anything like social intercourse between husband and 
 wife, and it is remarkable that the women say little in 
 the presence of the men." 6 In Senegambia the negro 
 women live by themselves, rarely with their husbands, 
 and their sex is virtually a clique. 7 In Bali to speak 
 tete-a-tete with a woman is absolutely forbidden. s In 
 Egypt a man never converses with his wife, and in the 
 tomb they are separated by a wall, though males and 
 females are not usually buried in the same vault. 9 
 
 1 J. S. Kubary, Journal des Museum Godeffroy, iv. 43, 53 ; id. Die socialen Einrich- 
 tungen der Pelauer, 33, 148 ; Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 380 ; K. Semper, Die Palau Inseln, 
 318, 319, 366. 2 W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 129 ; id. Tour Through Hawaii, 369. 
 
 3 B. T. Somerville, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 4. 4 Letourneau, op. cit. 174. 
 
 6 H. S. Saunderson, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 305, 306. 
 
 6 P. Jones, History of the Ojebivay Indians, 60. 
 
 7 L. J. B. Berenger-Ferautl, Les peuplades de la Se'ne'gambie, 373. 
 
 8 Junghuhn, op. cit. ii. 340. 9 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 455. 
 
in SEXUAL SOLIDARITY 41 
 
 Some cases of this complementary result, solidarity 
 of sex, have been noticed, and others will occur in 
 various connections. It is practically universal in all 
 stages of culture, even the highest. Amongst the 
 Bedouins of Libya women associate for the most part 
 with their own sex only. 1 In Morocco women are by 
 no means reserved when by themselves, nor do they 
 seek to cover their faces. 2 Amongst the Gauchos of 
 Uruguay women show a marked tendency to huddle 
 together. 3 Sexual solidarity is well brought out in 
 the following. Amongst the extinct Tasmanians, if 
 a wife was struck by her husband, the whole female 
 population would come out and bring the " rattle of 
 their tongues to bear upon the brute." 4 When ill- 
 treated, the Kaffir wife can claim an asylum with her 
 father, till her husband has made atonement. " Nor 
 would many European husbands like to be subjected to 
 the usual discipline on such occasions. The offending 
 husband must go in person to ask for his wife. He is 
 instantly surrounded by the women of the place, who 
 cover him at once with reproaches and blows. Their 
 nails and fists may be used with impunity, for it is the 
 day of female vengeance, and the belaboured delinquent 
 is not allowed to resist. He is not permitted to see his 
 wife, but is sent home, with an intimation of what 
 cattle are expected from him, which he must send before 
 he can demand his wife again." 5 Amongst the Kunama 
 the wife has an agent who protects her against her 
 husband, and fines him for ill-treatment. She possesses 
 considerable authority in the house, and is on equal 
 
 1 Featherman, cp. cit. v. 645. 
 
 2 A. Leared, Morocco and the Moors, 119. 
 
 3 D. Christison, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xi. 43. 
 
 4 J. Bonwiclc, Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians, 73. 
 
 5 Maclean, op. cit. 53. 
 
42 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 terms with her husband. 1 Amongst the Beni-Amer 
 women enjoy considerable independence. To obtain 
 marital privileges, the husband has to make his wife a 
 present of value. He must do the same for every 
 harsh word he uses, and is often kept a whole night out 
 of doors in the rain, until he pays. The women have a 
 strong esprit de corps ; when a wife is ill-treated the 
 other women come in to help her ; it goes without 
 saying that the husband is always in the wrong. The 
 women express much contempt for the men, and it is 
 considered disgraceful in a woman to show love for her 
 husband. 2 
 
 The first of these examples shows the length to 
 which' religious ideas may carry this segregation, the 
 last is one of many cases in which the solidarity of sex 
 is seen. This is well brought out in examples of club- 
 life, and there is here a close parallel to be found, not 
 merely humorous, in the institution and etiquette of the 
 modern club. The same biological tendency is behind 
 both the modern and the primitive institution, though 
 the later one is no longer supported by religious ideas. 
 Again, sexual differentiation often develops into real 
 antagonism. The attempts of the Indians of California 
 to keep their women in check show how the latter 
 were struggling up to equality. 3 An account of the 
 Hottentots represents that the women, though ill- 
 treated and forced to do harder work, can defend them- 
 selves and avenge their wrongs. 4 A Poul (Fulah) 
 governs his wives by force, but they recoup themselves 
 when they get the chance. 5 The Indian of Brazil has 
 a wholesome dread of his wives, and " follows the 
 
 1 Munzinger, op. tit. 387. 2 Id. 324, 325. 
 
 3 Powers, op. cit. 406. 4 Waitz-Gerland, cp. cit. ii. 341. 
 
 5 Histoire un'rverscile de: -voyages, xxviii. 439. 
 
in SEXUAL ANTAGONISM 43 
 
 maxim of laissez faire with regard to their intrigues." 1 
 Amongst the Wataveita fire-making is not revealed to 
 women, " because," say the men, " they would then 
 become our masters." 2 The Miris will not allow their 
 women to eat tiger's flesh, lest it should make them too 
 strong-minded. 3 The Fuegians celebrate a festival, 
 Kina, in commemoration of their revolt against the 
 women, " who formerly had the authority, and possessed 
 the secrets of sorcery." 4 In the Dieri tribe of South 
 Australia men threaten their wives, should they do any- 
 thing wrong, with the " bone," the instrument of 
 sorcery, which, when pointed at the victim, causes 
 death ; " this produces such dread among the women, 
 that mostly instead of having a salutary effect, it causes 
 them to hate their husbands." 5 The Porno Indians of 
 California "find it very difficult to maintain authority 
 over their women." A husband often terrifies his wife 
 into submission by personating an ogre ; after this she 
 is usually tractable for some days. 6 Amongst the Tatu 
 Indians of California, the men have a secret society, 
 which gives periodic dramatic performances, with the 
 object of keeping the women in order. The chief 
 actor, disguised as a devil, charges about among the 
 assembled squaws. 7 The Gualala and Patwin Indians 
 have similar dances, performed by the assembled men, 
 to show the women the necessity of obedience. 8 In I 
 Africa the anxious attempts of the men to keep the 
 women down have been noted. 9 The adult males in 
 South Guinea have a secret association, Nda, whose 
 object is to keep the women, children, and slaves in 
 
 1 Ploss u. Battels, Das Weib, ii. 42+. 2 Journ. Anthrof. Inst. xv. 10. 
 
 3 E. T. Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, 33. 
 
 4 Giraud-Teulon, Les origines du mariage et de la famille, 448. 
 
 5 Native Tribes of South Australia, 276. 6 Powers, op. cit. 154, 161. 
 7 Id. 141. 8 Id. 193, 224. 9 Bastian, San Salvador, 182. 
 
 r 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
44 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 order. 1 The Mumbo-Jumbo of the Mandingos is well 
 known. The same performer, who represents Mumbo- 
 Jumbo, has also the duty of keeping the sexes apart for 
 the forty days after circumcision. 2 Other instances of 
 associations to keep the women in subjection are the 
 Egbo in Calabar, Oro in Yoruba, the Purro, Semo, and 
 varieties of Egbo on the west coast, the Bundu amongst 
 the Bullamers. 3 Women in their turn form similar 
 associations amongst themselves, in which they discuss 
 their wrongs and form plans of revenge. Mpongwe 
 women have an institution of this kind, which is really 
 feared by the men. 4 Similarly amongst the Bakalais 
 and other African tribes. 5 
 
 The way in which each sex is self-centred is also 
 illustrated by the natural practice that women worship 
 female, and men male deities. This needs no illustra- 
 tion, but a very instructive. case may be quoted, which 
 comes from ancient Roman life. When husband and 
 wife quarrelled, they visited the shrine of the goddess 
 Viriplaca on the Palatine. After opening their hearts 
 in confession, they would return in harmony. This 
 " appeaser of the male sex " was regarded as domestic <e 
 ■pads custos. 6 Similarly, Bakalai women have a tutelar 
 spirit, which protects them against their male enemies 
 and avenges their wrongs. 7 According to the Green- 
 landers, the moon is a male and the sun a female spirit ; 
 the former rejoices in the death of women, while the 
 latter has her revenge in the death of men. All males, 
 therefore, keep within doors during an eclipse of the 
 
 1 J. L. Wilson, Western Africa, 396." 2 Waitz-Gerland, op. cir. ii. 118. 
 
 3 Bastian, op. cit. 179 ; Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 1 18 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vi. 121. 
 
 4 Bastian, op. cit. 180 ; id. Der Mensch in der Geschickte, iii. 294 ; id. Loango Kiiste, 
 ii. 24 ; J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 397. 
 
 5 P. B. Du Chaillu, Equatorial Africa, 296. 
 
 6 Valerius Maximus, ii. 16. 7 Du Chaillu, op. cit. loc. cit. 
 
in SEX IN RELIGION 45 
 
 sun, and all females during an eclipse of the moon. 1 
 In the Pelew Islands the kalids of men are quiet and 
 gentlemanly ; it is those of women that make disturb- 
 ances, and inflict disease and death on members of the 
 family. 2 The same hostility makes use of the system 
 of sex-totems. In the Port Lincoln tribe a small kind 
 of lizard, the male of which is called Ibirri, and the 
 female JVaka, is said to have divided the sexes in the 
 human species, " an event which would appear not to 
 be much approved of by the natives, since either sex 
 has a mortal hatred against the opposite sex of these 
 little animals, the men always destroying the IVaka and 
 the women the Ibirri." 3 In the Wotjobaluk tribe it is 
 believed that the " life of Ngunungunut (the bat) is the 
 life of a man, and the life of Yartatgurk (the nightjar) 
 is the life of a woman " ; when either is killed, a man 
 or woman dies. Should one of these animals be killed, 
 every man or every woman fears that he or she may be 
 the victim ; and this gives rise to numerous fights. 
 " In these fights, men on one side, and women on the 
 other, it was not at all certain who would be victorious, 
 for at times the women gave the men a severe drubbing 
 with their yam-sticks, while often the women were 
 injured or killed by spears." 4 In some Victorian 
 tribes the bat is the man's animal, and they " protect 
 it against injury, even to the half-killing of their wives 
 for its sake." The goatsucker belongs to the women, 
 who protect it jealously. " If a man kills one, they are 
 as much enraged as if it was one of their children, and 
 will strike him with their long poles." The mantis 
 also belongs to the men and no woman dares kill it. 5 
 
 1 Cranz, Greenland, i. 213. 
 
 2 J. S. Kubary in Bastian's Allerlei aus Volks- und Menschenkunde, i. 22. 
 
 3 Native Tribes of South Australia, 241. 4 Jcurr.. Ar.throp. Inst, xviii. 58. 
 5 Dawson, Australian Aborigines, 53. 
 
46 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 / Such segregation of the sexes has influenced language. 
 In Madagascar there are terms proper for a woman to 
 use to her own sex, others for women to men, and for 
 men to women. 1 Amongst the Guaycurus the women 
 have many words and phrases peculiar to themselves, 
 and never employed by men ; the reason being that the 
 women are " barred " by the men. 2 So in Surinam. 3 
 The proper Fijian term for a newly circumcised boy is 
 teve y which may not be uttered when women are pre- 
 sent, in which case the word kula is used ; and there are 
 many words in the language which it is tambu to utter 
 in female society. 4 In Micronesia many words are 
 tabooed for men when conversing with women. 5 In 
 japan female writing has quite a different syntax and 
 many peculiar idioms ; the Japanese alphabet possesses 
 two sets of characters, katakana for the use of men, and 
 hiragana for women. 6 In Fiji, again, women make their 
 salutations in different words from those of the men. 7 
 In the language of the Abipones some words vary 
 according to sex. 8 The island Caribs have two distinct 
 vocabularies, one used by men and by women when 
 speaking to men, the other used by women when speak- 
 ing to each other, and by men when repeating in oratio 
 obliqua some saying of the women. Their councils of 
 war are held in a secret dialect or jargon, in which the 
 women are never initiated. 9 It has been suggested that 
 this inconvenient custom, according to which a Carib 
 needs to know, like Ennius, three languages, is due to 
 
 1 J. Sibree in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 48. 
 
 2 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 472. 3 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. i. no. 
 
 4 Williams, op. cit. i. 167 ; Anderson, op. cit. 89. 
 
 5 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. v. 147. 
 
 6 I. Bird, Unbeaten Tracks in jfapan, i. 1335 Siebold, Manners and Customs of the 
 jfapanese, i. 299. 
 
 7 Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 326. 8 Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 197. 
 9 im Thurn, op. cit. 1S6 ; Brett, op. cit. 131. 
 
in SEX IN LANGUAGE 47 
 
 exogamy, husband and wife retaining the languages of 
 their original tribes respectively. This explanation, 
 however, does not account for the martial dialect, and 
 has been refuted by Mr. im Thurn on other grounds. 1 
 Even in cases where this explanation may hold, this 
 cause is not the ultimate origin of the custom, but 
 merely carries on an existing practice. Thus in some 
 tribes of Victoria, the marriage -system is organised 
 exogamy, but the inconvenience of sexual taboos has led 
 to the use of an artificial language or " turn-tongue." 2 
 Similar phenomena occur in all stages of culture, and 
 in modern Europe sexual separation to some extent still 
 influences popular language, women and men respectively 
 using certain terms peculiar to each sex. 
 
 In connection with names, sexual taboo has developed 
 a prohibition which has had a particular influence upon 
 many languages. A Hindu wife is never allowed to 
 mention the name of her husband. She generally 
 speaks of him, therefore, as "the master" or "man of 
 the house." 3 Amongst the Barea the wife may not 
 utter her husband's name. 4 Amongst the Kirgiz the 
 women may not utter the names of the male members 
 of the household, to do so being "indecent." 8 A 
 Zulu woman may not call her husband by his name, 
 either when addressing him or when speaking of him 
 to others ; she must use the phrase " father of so-and- 
 so." This particularly applies to the i-gama (real 
 name). Further, the women may not use the inter- 
 dicted words in their ordinary sense. Consequently 
 they are obliged to alter words and phrases which con- 
 tain the prohibited sounds. This has had considerable 
 influence upon the language, and the women have a 
 
 1 hoc. cit. 2 Dawson, op. cit. 40. 3 Ward, The Hindoos, ii. 337. 
 
 4 Munzinger, op. cit. 526. 5 Ploss u. Bartels, cp. cit. i. m. 
 
48 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 large vocabulary of their own. Any woman transgress- 
 ing the rule is accused of witchcraft by the " doctor," 
 and punished with death. This prohibition on names 
 belongs to the hlonipa system, and the altered vocabu- 
 lary of the women, which is unintelligible to the men, 
 is called ukuteta kwabapzi, "women's language." 1 In 
 the Solomon Islands men show considerable reluctance 
 to give the names of women, and when prevailed upon 
 to do so, pronounce them in a low tone, as if it were 
 not proper to speak of them to others. 2 In the Pelew 
 Islands men are not allowed to speak openly of married 
 women, nor to mention their names. 3 Amongst the 
 Todas there is some delicacy in mentioning the names 
 of women at all ; they prefer to use the phrase " wife 
 of so-and-so." 4 A Seryian never speaks of his wife 
 or daughter before men. 5 Amongst the Nishinams of 
 California a husband never calls his wife by name on 
 any account ; should he do so she has the right to get a 
 divorce. In this tribe no one can be induced to divulge 
 his own name. 6 Dr. Frazer has explained this wide- 
 spread reluctance 7 ; the name is a vital part of a man, 
 and often regarded as a sort of soul. Sexual taboo has 
 used this idea to form a special duty as between men 
 and women, especially husbands and wives. In one or 
 two cases feelings of proprietary jealousy have doubt- 
 less had some influence, but as a rule the religious fears 
 as to sexual relations have played the chief part in the 
 prohibition. 
 
 1 Callaway, op. cit. 316 $ Shooter, op. cit. 221, 222 ; Waitz-Gerland,"o/>. clt. ii. 388. 
 
 2 Guppy, op. cit. i. 47. 
 
 3 J. S. Kubary in Bastian's Allerlei aus Volks- und Menschenkunde, i. 20 ; id. Die 
 sociahn Einrichtungen der Pelauer, 90. 
 
 4 Marshall, A Phrenologist amongst the Todas, 73. 
 
 5 Maxwell in Folklore, ii. 71. 8 Powers, op. cit. 315. 
 7 J. Jr. Frazer, The Golden Bough' 1 , i. 403 sq. 
 
in SEX IN OCCUPATIONS 49 
 
 Evidence drawn from the respective occupations of 
 the two sexes throws further light upon sexual taboo. 
 Sexual differentiation in primary and secondary sexual " 
 characters necessitates 'some difference' of occupation, and 
 the religious ideas of primitive man have emphasised * 
 the biological separation. 
 
 Amongst the Dacotas custom and superstition ordain 
 that the wife must carefully keep away from all that 
 belongs to her husband's sphere of action. 1 The 
 Bechuanas never allow women to touch their cattle, 
 accordinglv the men have to plough themselves. 2 So 
 amongst the Kaffirs, " because of some superstition." 3 
 Amongst the Todas women may not approach the 
 tirieri, where the sacred cattle are kept, nor the sacred 
 paldls. 4 In Guiana no women may go near the hut 
 where ourali is made. 5 In the Marquesas Islands the 
 use of canoes is prohibited to the female sex by tabu ; 
 the breaking of the rule is punished with death. Con- 
 versely, amongst the same people, tapa-mzk'mg belongs 
 exclusively to women ; when they are making it for 
 their own head-dresses it is tabu for men to touch it. 6 
 In Nicaragua all the marketing was done by women. 
 A man might not enter the market or even see the 
 proceedings, at the risk of a beating. 7 In New Cale- 
 donia it is considered infra dig. for the men to perform 
 manual labour, at any rate in the neighbourhood of the 
 settlement ; such work is done by women only. 3 In 
 Samoa, where the manufacture of cloth is allotted solely 
 to the women, it is a degradation for a man to engage 
 in any detail of the process. 9 In the Andaman Islands 
 
 1 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. ioo. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. x. II. 
 
 3 Id. xvi. 119. 4 Marshall, op. cit. 137. 
 
 5 im Thurn, op cit. 311. 6 Melville, op. cit. 13, 245. 
 
 7 H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, iii. 145. 
 
 8 Anderson, op. cit. 231. 9 W. T. Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences, 13:. 
 
 E 
 
50 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the performance by men of duties supposed to belong 
 to women only, is regarded as infra dig} An Eskimo 
 thinks it an indignity to row in an umiak, the large 
 boat used by women. The different offices of husband 
 and wife are also very clearly distinguished ; for ex- 
 ample, when he has brought his booty to land, it would 
 be a stigma on his character if he so much as drew_a_ 
 seal ashore, and, generally, it is regarded as scandalous 
 for a man to interfere with what is the work of women. 2 
 In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women ; 
 on one occasion when the men were perforce compelled 
 to bake, they were only persuaded to do so with the 
 utmost difficulty, and were ever after pointed at as old 
 women. 3 Exactly the same feelings subsist in the 
 highest civilisations. 
 fmm Y The chief occupations of the male sex in those 
 }/stages_pf culture with which we have principally to deal 
 i.Na^re hunting and war. The supreme importance of 
 these occasions has been referred to above, and is 
 expressed by such terms as the Polynesian tabu. These 
 terms generally imply rules and precautions intended to 
 secure the safety and success of the warrior or hunter, 
 which form sometimes a sort of system of "training." 
 Among these regulations the most constant is that 
 which prohibits every kind of intercourse with the 
 female sex. Thus in New Zealand a man who has any 
 important business on hand, either in peace or war, is 
 tapu and must keep from women. On a war party 
 men are tapu to women, and may not go near their 
 wives until the fighting is over. 4 In South Africa 
 before and during an expedition men may have no 
 
 1 Man, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 286. 
 
 2 F. Nansen, The First Crossing of Greenland, 192 ; Cranz, op. cit. i. 138, 154.. 
 
 3 im Thurn, op. cit. 256. 
 
 4 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 349 ; Tregear, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 111. 
 
Ill 
 
 SEXUAL TABOO 51 
 
 connection with women. 1 Nootka Indians before war 
 abstain from women. 2 In South-East New Guinea for 
 some days before fighting the men are " sacred," helega, 
 and are not allowed to see or approach any woman. 3 A 
 Samoyed woman is credited with the power of spoiling 
 the success of a hunt. 4 Amongst the Ostyaks harm 
 befalls the hunter either from the ill-wishes of an enemy 
 or the vicinity of a woman. 5 Amongst the Ahts whale- 
 fishers must abstain from women. 6 A Motu man 
 before hunting or fishing is helega ; he may not see his 
 wives, else he will have no success. 7 North American 
 Indians both before and after war refrain "on religious 
 grounds" from women. " Contact with females makes 
 a warrior laughable, and injures, as they believe, his 
 bravery for the future." Accordingly the chiefs of the 
 Iroquois, for instance, remain as a rule unmarried until 
 they have retired from active warfare. s The Damaras 
 may not look upon a lying-in woman, else they will 
 become weak and consequently be killed in battle. 9 
 In the Booandik tribe if men see women's blood they 
 will not be able to fight. 10 In some South American 
 tribes the presence of a woman lately confined makes 
 the weapons of the men weak, 11 and the same belief 
 extends amongst the Tschutsches to hunting and fish- 
 ing implements. 12 Amongst the Zulus women may 
 not go near the army when about to set out. Old 
 women, however, who are past child-bearing may do 
 so ; for such " have become men ' : and " no longer 
 
 1 Macdonald, in J cum. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 2S4. 
 
 2 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 189. 
 
 3 Chalmers, Pioneering in New Guinea, 65. 
 
 4 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 433. B Erman, op. cit. ii. 55. 
 
 6 G. M. Sproat, Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, zzj. 
 
 7 Chalmers, op. cit. 186. 8 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 158, 159. 
 9 South African Folklore Journal, ii. 63. 10 J. Smith, The Booandik Tribe, 5. 
 
 1 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 26. 12 Id., op. cit. loc. cit. 
 
I 
 
 52 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 observe the customs of hlonipa in relation to the 
 
 " 1 
 men. 
 
 : 
 
 Woman has generally been debarred more or less 
 from the public life and civil rights of men. This is an 
 extension of the biological difference of occupation, 
 sometimes exaggerated into seclusion amongst poly- 
 gamous races, and into somewhat of inferiority in 
 martial and feudal societies. We may instance, to go 
 no further, the Australian natives, the Fijians, who have 
 religious grounds for the exclusion, the Sumatrans, the 
 Hindus and Muhammadans, and most civilised nations. 2 
 
 Again, women are more often than not, excluded 
 from the religious worship of the community. The 
 Arabs of Mecca will not allow women religious instruc- 
 tion, because " it would bring them too near their 
 masters." According to some theologians of Islam, 
 they have no place in Paradise. 3 The Ansayrees con- 
 sider woman to be an inferior being without a soul, and 
 " therefore compel her to do all the drudgery and 
 exclude her from religious services." 4 In the Sandwich 
 Islands women were not allowed to share in worship or 
 festivals, and their touch " polluted " offerings to the 
 gods. 5 If a Hindu woman touches an image, its 
 divinity is thereby destroyed and it must be thrown 
 away. 6 The Australians are very jealous lest women or 
 strangers should intrude upon their sacred mysteries : 
 it is death for a woman to look into a bora. 1 In Fiji 
 women are kept away from all worship ; dogs are 
 excluded from some temples, women from all. 8 In the 
 
 1 Callaway, of. cit. 441-43. 
 
 2 Waitz-Gerland, of. cit. vi. 775, 627 ; Junghuhn, of. cit. ii. 97. 
 
 3 Letourneau, of. cit. 180. 4 Featherman, of. cit. v. 495. 
 
 5 W. Ellis, of. cit. i. 129 ; Meinicke, of. cit. ii. 300. 
 
 6 Ward, of. cit. ii. 13. 7 Ridley, in 'Journ. Anthrof. Inst. ii. 271. 
 8 Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 232, 238 ; Waitz-Gerland, of. cit. vi. 627. 
 

 in SEXUAL TABOO $3 
 
 Gilbert and Marshall Islands and in Tonga, women are 
 excluded from worship. 1 The women of the hill tribes 
 near Rajmahal may not sacrifice nor appear at shrines, 
 nor take part in religious festivals. 2 Amongst the 
 Tschuwashes women dare not assist at sacrifices. 3 
 Bayeye women may not enter the place of sacrifice, 
 which is the centre of tribal life. 4 Amongst the Gallas 
 women may not go near the sacred tvoda-tree. where 
 worship is celebrated. 5 On the east of the Gulf of 
 Papua women are not allowed to approach the temple. 6 
 In New Ireland women may not enter the temples. 7 In 
 the Marquesas Islands the hoolah-hoolah ground, where 
 festivals are held, is tabu to women, who are killed if 
 they enter or even touch with their feet the shadow of 
 the trees. 8 
 
 Festivals and feasts, dances and entertainments of 
 various character, are similarly often prohibited to 
 women. In the Schingu tribes of Brazil women may 
 not be present at the dances and feasts. 9 In New 
 Britain women are not allowed to be present at the 
 festivals, and when men are talking of things which 
 women may not hear, the latter must leave the hut. 10 
 Amongst the Ahts women are never invited to the 
 great feasts. 11 Amongst the Aleuts the women 
 have dances from which the men are excluded ; the 
 men have their dances and exclude women. It is 
 regarded as a fatal mischance to see on these occasions 
 
 1 Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 338 ; Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 348. 
 
 2 Asiatick Researches, iv. 51, 101. 3 M. P. S. Pallas, Voyages, i. 135. 
 * South African Folklore Journal, ii. 36. 
 5 W. C. Harris, The Highlands of Ethiopia, iii. 56. 
 8 Chalmers and Gill, Nezv Guinea, 140, 150. 
 
 7 H. H. Romilly, The Western Pacific and New Guinea, 44. 
 
 8 Melville, op. cit. 100. 9 Von den Steinen, op. cit. 214. 
 
 10 R. Parkinson, Im Bismarck Archipelago, 300 j Romilly, op. cit. 29. 
 
 11 G. M. Sproat, op. cit. 60. 
 
54 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 one of the opposite sex. 1 Similar exclusion of women 
 from what is regarded as not being their sphere is 
 indeed very widely spread, and is of course found in the 
 highest civilisations. 
 
 Where the prohibition is not needed to be carried 
 out, the ideas which underlie these customs are satisfied 
 by separating the sexes, as is the case still in many 
 Catholic churches. Much in the same way the sexes 
 never mingle together at the dances in the Hervey 
 Islands. 2 Amongst the Nufoers of New Guinea men 
 and women are separated on the same occasions ; 3 and 
 at entertainments of every kind amongst the Green- 
 landers men and women sit apart. 4 
 
 r In the next place we have to consider the very 
 widely spread rule which insists upon the separation of 
 the sexes, so far as is possible, at those functional crises 
 with which sex is concerned. It is a special result of 
 the ideas of sexual taboo applied to the most obvious 
 sexual differences, primary sexual characters. 
 
 During pregnancy there is sometimes avoidance 
 between the wife and the husband, as in the Caroline 
 Islands, where men may not eat with their wives during 
 pregnancy, 5 and in Fiji where a pregnant woman may 
 not wait upon her husband. 6 Lenape women as soon 
 as they were pregnant separated from their husbands. 7 
 So also amongst the Coroados, Puris, and Coropos. 8 
 
 At birth, though there are a few cases where the 
 husband attends or assists his wife, the general rule 
 throughout the peoples of the world is that only the 
 
 1 W. H. Dall, Alaska and its Resources, 389 ; Bancroft, op. cit. iii. 145. 
 
 2 W. W. Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 65. 
 
 3 Van Hasselt, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, viii. 186. 
 
 4 Cranz, op. cit. i. 158. 5 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vii. 106. 
 6 Williams, op. cit. i. 137. " Featherman, op. cit. iii. 107. 
 
 8 Spix and Martius, Travels in Brazil, 247. 
 
V ) 
 
 in SEXUAL CRISES SS 
 
 female sex may be present. Thus in Buru only old 
 women may be in the room. 1 In South Africa the 
 husband may not see his wife while she is lying-in. 2 
 Amongst the Basutos the father is separated from 
 mother and child for four days, and may not. see^them 
 until the medicine man has performed the religious 
 ceremony of " absolution of the man and wife." If this 
 were neglected, it is believed that he would die when he 
 saw his wife. 3 
 
 At puberty it is a widespread rule that neither sex 
 may see the other. Amongst the Narrinyeri boys 
 during initiation are called narumbe, i.e. sacred from 
 the touch of women, and everything that they possess 
 or obtain becomes narumbe also. 4 Amongst the Basutos 
 no woman may come near the boys during initiation. 5 
 In New Ireland girls may not be seen by any males 
 except relatives from puberty to marriage, during which 
 time they are kept in cages. 6 No man may come near 
 the girls of Ceram while they are being subjected to the 
 ceremonies necessary at puberty. 7 
 
 During menstruation generally, the separation of the 
 sexes is most prominent, and is most widely spread. 
 As examples, there are the Pueblo Indians, amongst 
 whom women must separate from the men at menstrua- 
 tion, and before delivery, because if a man touch a 
 woman at those times he will fall ill. 8 An Australian, 
 finding that his wife had lain on his blanket during 
 menstruation, killed her, and died of terror in a 
 fortnight. 9 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 24. 
 
 2 Macdonald, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 267. 
 
 3 Griitzner, in Zcitschrift fur Ethnologic for 1 877, 78. 
 
 4 Native Tribes of South Australia, 69. 
 
 B K. Endemann, in Zcitschrift fur Ethnologie for 1874, 37. 
 
 6 B. Danlcs, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 284. 7 Riedel, op. cit. 138. 
 
 8 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 549. 9 W. Ridley, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ii. 268. 
 
56 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Even at marriage there is a good deal of separation 
 of the sexes, and actually of the bride and bridegroom 
 for as long as possible. Thus in Amboina none but 
 women may enter the room where the bride sits in 
 state. 1 In the Watubella Islands the men stand on one 
 side with the groom and the women on the other with 
 the bride. The feast is in two parts ; the groom and 
 the men eat their " breakfast " separately, and then the 
 bride and the women fall to. 2 At marriage - feasts 
 amongst the Jews of Jerusalem the men sit on one side 
 with the bridegroom, while the bride and the women 
 occupy the opposite side of the room. 3 And generally, 
 at marriage, the bride is escorted by women, and the 
 bridegroom by men. 
 
 In these cases there is avoidance between the sexes at 
 sexual crises, as a rule more emphasised than that 
 during ordinary life. The question may be asked — is 
 the latter prohibition merely an extension of the former ? 
 When we penetrate to the ideas lying behind both, we 
 shall find these to be identical, and of such a specific 
 character and universal extension that we must suppose 
 \1 the sex-taboos imposed at sexual crises to be simply 
 emphasised results of these ideas, though, as always, 
 such results become through the very continuance of 
 the phenomena to which they apply, further causes for 
 the support of these ideas. Not to anticipate what will 
 be treated of later, it may be pointed out first that 
 perhaps the most widely spread and the most stringent 
 of all sex-taboos has nothing to do with sexual functions 
 — this is the prohibition against eating together. In the 
 second place, in order rightly to estimate the whole of 
 the evidence, it must be borne in mind that these sexual 
 
 1 A. S. Bickmore, East Indian Archipelago, 276. 
 2 Riedel, op. cit. 205. 3 Featherman, op. cit. v. 140. 
 
■ 
 
 in ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL TABOO 57 
 
 functions are parallel to the various occupations of the- 
 respective sexes : in biology and in primitive thought 
 child-bearing is as much a feminine occupation as is the 
 preparation of meals, and the confirmation of a boy as 
 much of a male occupation as is warfare or the chase. 
 Also, it is clear from a survey of the various cases of 
 sexual taboo, first, that the avoidance is of the religious 
 and taboo character ; secondly, that men and women 
 are afraid of dangerous results from each other — the^- 
 fact that we see more of the man's side of the question 
 is an instance of the way in which the male sex has 
 practically monopolised the expression of thought ; and 
 thirdly, that where one sex or the other is particularly 
 liable to danger, as men at war, or women at child-birth, 
 : more care is naturally taken to prevent injury from the 
 other sex. 
 
 In the taboos against eating together, we shall see an 
 expression of that almost universal preference for 
 solitude, while important physiological functions are 
 proceeding, due ultimately to the instinct of self- 
 preservation in the form of subconscious physiological 
 thought arising from those functions ; and in the 
 taboos against one or the other sex in sexual crises the 
 same preference is seen, commuted by sexual solidarity 
 to a preference for the presence of the same sex ; and 
 in all forms of the taboo it is evident that to a religious 
 regard for personal security, there has been applied a 
 religious diffidence concerning persons who are more or 
 less unknown, different from what is normal, different 
 from one's self. 
 
 So far, then, we may take it that the complementary 
 difference of sex, producing by physiological laws a 
 certain difference of life no less than of function, came^ 
 in an early stage of mental development to be accentu- 
 
58 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, hi 
 
 ated by religious ideas, which thus enforced more 
 strongly such separation as is due to nature. The 
 separation thus accentuated by religious conceptions as 
 to sexual difference, is assisted by the natural solidarity 
 of each sex, until there is, as we find so very generally, 
 a prohibition or sex-taboo more or less regularly imposed 
 j-throughout life. Man and woman, as such, are ignorant 
 of each other, as if they were different species ; they are 
 constantly tending to become, what they never can 
 become, two divided castes ; every woman and every 
 man are, as men and women, potentially taboo to each 
 1 other. 
 
 All living religious conceptions spring from more or 
 less constant functional origins, physiological and psycho- 
 logical. Now when we look at mankind in general, 
 and in particular at civilised societies, we find that men 
 as a rule prefer to associate with men, and women with 
 women, except on those occasions when the functional 
 \ needs of love, for instance, call for union and sympathy 
 between the sexes. We may thus realise that the same 
 biological causes, working through human ideas of 
 primary and secondary sexual difference, produce this 
 subconscious preference which we find in the civilised 
 man, and with more primitive expression in the modern 
 boy, no less than the religious segregation we find 
 amongst early peoples. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Before passing on to the discussion of primitive ideas 
 of human relations, there is the problem of the connec- 
 tion of human persons with the spiritual agencies of 
 taboo in its social aspect to be considered. 
 
 Primitive science is materialistic, and the fact is 
 evident in every case cited, that evil or harm — even 
 when due to evil spirits — is of a material nature. Evil 
 spirits in the first place are warded off by material 
 methods. Thus the Khonds prevent the approach of 
 Joogah Pennu, the goddess of small-pox, by barricading 
 the paths with thorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons 
 of stinking oil. 1 Amongst the Bechuanas, to arrest 
 disease or prevent it from entering a village, a pointed 
 stone is planted at the middle of the entrance, or a 
 cross-bar smeared with " medicine." 2 
 
 In the next place, there is a vagueness as to the 
 distinction between spirits and material evil influence. 
 Amongst the natives of Central Australia Arungquiltha 
 is the term applied to persons or things possessed of 
 magical power. For instance, " a pointing stick used 
 by a medicine man is Arungquiltha ; it is applied indis- 
 criminately to the magical influence itself, and to the 
 object in which it is resident. It is a vague term, and 
 sometimes can be best expressed by saying that a thing 
 
 1 Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India, 370. 
 2 South yJfrican Folklore Journal, i. 34. 
 
60 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 is possessed by an evil spirit." l In the Luang Sermata 
 Islands sickness is caused by bad food, " bad wind," the 
 influence of evil persons or evil spirits. 2 Amongst the 
 Indians of Costa Rica there are two kinds of ceremonial 
 uncleanness, nya and bu-ku-ru. The former is con- 
 nected with death, the latter, which is the more 
 virulent, is most dangerous from a woman in her first 
 pregnancy. She infects the whole neighbourhood, and 
 all deaths are laid at her door. People going from her 
 house carry the contagion with them. Arms and 
 utensils transmit it, and therefore the people beat 
 things with a stick before using, or sweep the house. 
 A place which has not been visited for a long time, or 
 one approached for the first time, is infected with 
 bu-ku-ru. " It is an evil spirit, or rather a property 
 acquired." 3 The personification of various evils and of 
 diseases and plagues is so well known as to need no 
 illustration. In the following cases there is a confusion 
 between evil spirits and contagious matter, real or 
 imaginary. Amongst the Dieri and neighbouring 
 tribes of South Australia, no one is believed to contract 
 a disease or complaint, or even to die, from natural 
 causes. The disease or death is caused by some enemy, 
 of their own or neighbouring tribe, and in any serious 
 case the Koonkies or doctors are called in, to beat out 
 the devil, Cootchie. " This is done by beating the 
 ground in and out of the camp, chasing him away for 
 some distance." Also, "many an innocent man has 
 been condemned to death through this superstition, 
 being believed to have in his possession the small bone 
 of a human leg." 4 Amongst the Vedahs of Travancore, 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 548. 
 - Riedel, op. cit. 327. 3 W. M. Gabb, op. cit. 504. 
 
 4 Gason, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 170. 
 
iv SPIRITS MATERIAL AND CONTAGIOUS 61 
 
 the wife at menstruation lives in a separate hut for five 
 days, at a good distance from the home. The next five 
 days she spends in another, half-way distant. During 
 these ten days, the husband dares not eat in his house 
 anything but roots, for fear of being killed by " the 
 devil." 1 The Maoris believed that the spirits of dead 
 ancestors could send a kahukahu to a man ; this would 
 enter his body and feed on vital parts. In a Maori 
 poem the statement occurs, " should the kahukahu 
 gnaw spitefully, it will be certain death." The kahukahu 
 is the personification of the germs of a human being, 
 supposed to be contained in the menses, and the Maoris 
 avoid contact with menstrual blood as if it were a 
 poison. 2 Again, in Manchuria the sedan-chair in which 
 the bride goes to the home of the groom is " disin- 
 fected ' with incense, to drive away "evil spirits." 3 
 They seem therefore to be regarded as material influ- 
 ences resembling germs of a disease. The properties of 
 the taboo state are in fact always material and trans- 
 missible, and are removed by material methods as if 
 they were a physical secretion or emanation. Thus in 
 Fiji, when tabu is removed, the tabooed persons wash 
 in a stream ; they then take an animal, a pig or turtle, 
 on which they wipe their hands, and this animal becomes 
 sacred to the chief. The tabu is now off, and they are 
 free to work, to feed themselves, and to live with their 
 wives. 4 In Borneo and South Celebes evil spirits, after 
 a funeral for instance, cling to one's body " like a 
 burr." 5 The Friar Roman Pane described a native 
 sorcerer in the West Indies "pulling the disease off the 
 
 1 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 435. 
 
 " Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 294-95. 
 3 Lockhart, in Folklore, i. 4S-. 4 Wilkes, op. cit. ii. 99. 
 
 6 M. J. F. Perelaer, Ethnographische Beschrij-vir.g der Dajais, 44, ,4, 252 j 
 Matthes, op. cit. 49. 
 
I 
 
 62 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 patient's legs as one pulls off a pair of trousers." 1 
 In the New Hebrides, ceremonial " uncleanness," for 
 instance from death or child-birth, is taken off by 
 sweeping a branch over the body. 2 To cure a sick 
 person, the Navajo priest pressed bundles of stuff to 
 different parts of the body from head to foot. Each 
 time after pressing them on the body, he "held them 
 up to the smoke-hole, and blew on them in that direc- 
 tion a quick puff, as if blowing away some evil influence 
 which the bundles were supposed to draw from the 
 body." They were then buried. 3 
 
 We see then that evil spirits are not always clearly 
 distinguished from the transmissible properties of matter. 
 The latter are no doubt often regarded logically enough 
 as the emanations of the " evil spirit," the trail or 
 slime of the serpent ; but the points to be stressed are, 
 first, that where evil spirits are predicated of tabooed 
 persons the evil can be transmitted by contagion and 
 infection ; secondly, that many so-called " evil spirits " 
 are not supernatural persons at all, but evil material 
 properties of natural things or of human persons. 
 Further, this latter notion is a factor in the process of 
 anthropomorphic personification, of which more is to be 
 said ; and the whole set of phenomena illustrates the 
 importance of material contact as leading to transmission 
 of material evil. 
 
 In fact, the inherent materialism of human thought, 
 which so hardly allows of progress to idealism, is even 
 more in evidence among primitive men than it is now. 
 Primitive man believes in the supernatural, but super- 
 natural beings and existences are to him really material 
 — the supernatural is a part of and obeys the laws of 
 
 1 E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture 5 , ii. 129. 2 D. Macdonald, Oceania, 184. 
 
 3 Washington Mathews, in Fifth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 420. 
 
iv ANTHROPOMORPHISM 63 
 
 nature. How difficult it is to conceive of immaterial 
 existence, except by a negation of thought, is well 
 seen in popular conceptions of the nature of the 
 soul, especially those of modern spiritualism. In the 
 last analysis of these conceptions, the soul is gener- 
 ally found to be simply attenuated or etherealised 
 matter. Similar are the conceptions of early man, 
 not only of the soul, but of all supernatural beings, 
 existences, and influences ; and they are well illus- 
 trated by the methods used in dealing with such, 
 being generally those that would be used in dealing 
 with matter. 
 
 In the next place, there are the familiar facts of * 
 anthropomorphism. " Man never knows how anthropo- . i 
 morphic he is." Goethe's epigram applies most com- 
 pletely to early man, for he is more anthropomorphic 
 in his ideas, and is less aware of the fact. He thinks of 
 everything in terms of himself, and his ideal creations 
 of supernatural beings are generally in his own image, - 
 or in the image of animals which for him are man-like 
 as possessing such close similarities of structure and 
 function. The modern theory of descent would have 
 been easily understood in its general outline by early 
 man, who has, by the way, several conceptions which 
 foreshadow it. The Digger Indians of California say-* 1 
 that their ancestors derived their existence from coyotes ; 
 these became Indians, but as one died the body was 
 changed into a number of little creatures which were 
 gradually developed into deer, elks, and antelopes ; 
 others took wings and flew about in the air. Men 
 originally went on all fours, and gradually progressed 
 to a higher organisation. While in a state of transition, 
 they were in the habit of sitting upright, and from this 
 cause, having worn off their tails, they now appear 
 
64 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 without this appendage. 1 The Central Australians have 
 the theory of man's descent from animals. 2 
 
 There is often a natural confusion between the person 
 who is possessed or obsessed by spirits and the spirits 
 themselves, as in the case of him whose name was 
 Legion. Thus, according to the Cambodians, the Arak 
 are spirits, dwelling in trees or houses. Grou are 
 sorcerers, men or women, who invoke the Arak, and 
 are possessed by them. During the period of posses- 
 sion they are themselves called Arak, the latter being 
 incarnate in them. 3 The Nickol Bay natives believe in 
 an evil spirit, Juno, who kills men ; when a man of the 
 tribe prowls about seeking to kill other blacks, he is 
 said to be a Juno for the time. 4 
 
 A priori it would be expected that in cases where a 
 dangerous condition or taboo state arises in close con- 
 nection with a man's fellow-men, he should have 
 inferred from his experience of all human relations that 
 the danger was due to one or more of his fellows, and 
 psychology bears this out. 
 
 In the psychology of personification there are two 
 processes to be observed. First, there are the pheno- 
 mena of ideation, especially when visualised. The fact 
 that the memory-image is formed below the threshold 
 of consciousness, and suddenly emerges complete in 
 outline, is one of great importance for the origin and 
 development of animistic thought. As a simple illus- 
 tration, let us take the case of a man who is in fear of 
 another. For this, by the way, we often use the instruc- 
 tive phrase " bodily fear." Such a man will chiefly 
 avoid personal contact, as likely to result in personal 
 injury, and all ill that happens to him he will ascribe to 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 215. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 392. 
 
 3 Aymonier, op. cit. 176. 4 E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, i. 298. 
 
iv IDEATION 65 
 
 the influence of his enemy ; while in the secret depths of 
 his soul, the image of his foe, impressed upon his brain, 
 is lying dormant, ready at any moment to rise above the 
 threshold. Whenever he closes his eves to shut out 
 the thought of his enemy, the image of him appears. 
 His brain is, in a word, " obsessed " bv the image of his 
 foe. This memory-image, presented to complete con-, 
 sciousness, I believe to be a factor in the origin of 
 anthropomorphic animism, of no less importance than 
 its subconscious appearance in sleep. The man's own * 
 soul has thus acquired an image of his foe, a tiny but 
 evil spirit, which appears within him, he knows not how 
 nor whence. Its presence helps to explain " possession," 
 and certain conceptions of personal influence and of the 
 supernatural powers of man. The actual result to the 
 subject, apart from actual violence at his enemy's hands, 
 mi^ht be illness from fear. There are manv cases on 
 record where similar fear has killed a man. If the man 
 did fall ill in this way, he would be perfectlv justified in 
 inferring his enemy to have caused the illness ; there 
 are besides numerous cases where illness is attributed to 
 potential, in default of knowledge of actual human foes. 
 Early man knows little of bacteriology, but he has the 
 great principle of contagion very stronglv outlined and 
 extended all round the circle of human relations. If a 
 man who is sick is conscious of having made an enemv, 
 he generally attributes his sickness to him ; for to his 
 mind man can do everything, and everything he does 
 is potentially transmissible. In cases such as drowning, 
 injury from lightning, and from various natural forces 
 or objects other than man, of course other agencies are 
 inferred, though many such are anthropomorphic ; but 
 where a man, as in social relations is generally the case, 
 can ascribe his troubles to human agency, he does so. 
 
 F 
 
 ] 
 
66 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Again, our supposed subject does not distinguish the 
 , real and the ideal, and from this would arise a crowd 
 of ideas and precautionary measures against the ubiqui- 
 tous evil image of his foe, as well as against his actual 
 self. And there will be thus a constant interchange 
 between his natural and supernatural dangers. Now, 
 fear is the main cause of the precautions of taboo, and 
 though I do not insist that ideas concerning contact 
 obtained a religious connotation before the creation of 
 evil spirits, yet there is no doubt that the two sets of 
 ideas are, in reference to human relations, correlative, 
 and work together. Just as in artistic criticism one 
 comes back in the end to the personality behind a work, 
 
 tso in human relations the beginning and the ending is 
 personality and personal contact. In these relations the 
 danger, which is both real and ideal, proceeds from man 
 and to man returns — the link between, say, the first 
 meeting with an enemy, and the second, being that 
 veritable Erinys, the visualised image of him in the 
 other's brain. 
 
 1 now proceed to give actual cases from the relations 
 
 of man with man, in which ideas of physical and spiritual 
 
 danger combine in persons. There is a large mass of 
 
 such facts, and we find that the attribution of human 
 
 /ills and sicknesses to human agency is more pronounced 
 
 ' in the lower and less in the higher stages of culture, 
 
 while modern science brings us back to the view of the 
 
 i^ylower races. 
 
 In Ceram-laut sickness is caused through the 
 influence of evil spirits or "poisoning" by evil persons, 
 suwanggi. The two methods are practically inter- 
 changeable, and appear throughout the islands between 
 Celebes and New Guinea. 1 In the Aru Islands such 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 178, 265, 304, 305, 341. 
 
iv HUMAN INFLUENCE 67 
 
 persons are able to extract men's souls. They can 
 make themselves invisible, or take the shape of bats, 
 pigs, dogs, crocodiles, or birds. 1 Amongst the Dieri, 
 Auminie, Yandrawontha, Yarawuarka, and Pilladapa 
 tribes of Australia, " no person dies a natural death, 
 death is supposed to be caused by some evil-disposed 
 person of their own or neighbouring tribe ; they 
 religiously believe this superstition, it is called ' Mookoo- 
 elieduckunaj (translation: Mookoo, 'bone'; duckuna, 
 ' to strike,' i.e. struck by a bone). Many an innocent 
 man has been condemned to death through this super- 
 stitious custom, believing that he had in his possession 
 the small bone of a human leg." 2 Amongst the tribes 
 of North- West Australia, no man can die unless he has 
 been bewitched. " Some one is supposed to come at 
 night and take away the fat out of the man's belly ; 
 and his friends must find out who did it, to kill him." 3 
 The natives in the district of Powell's Creek, in the 
 northern territory of South Australia, ascribe " death or 
 illness to some strange biack - fellow, belonging to 
 another tribe, who has doomed a certain man or woman 
 to die or suffer from ill-health. It is not unusual, such 
 is their superstitious belief, that a man, apparently in 
 good health, will in a very short time lose condition 
 and die, under the impression that he has been doomed 
 by a member of some other tribe ; " 4 the people of the 
 Belyando tribe believe that no strong man dies except 
 as the consequence of witchcraft. " That should A 
 and B, two strong blacks of the same tribe who were 
 quite friendly, go out hunting together, and A, on 
 returning to the camp, be suddenly taken ill and die, 
 
 1 Riedel, 253, 327. 2 Gason, op. cit. xxiv. 170. 
 
 3 Bassctt Smith, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 327. 
 
 4 journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 178. 
 
68 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the tribe would believe that B had killed him by 
 means of witchcraft, and demand his life accordingly." * 
 Amongst the Murray River natives, at the funeral of a 
 dead person, some relative generally attempted to spear 
 some one, till it was explained that the deceased did not 
 die by sorcery. 2 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen remark of 
 the Central Australians, " the undercurrent of anxious 
 feeling, which, though it may be stilled, and indeed 
 forgotten for a time, is yet always present. In his 
 natural state the native is often thinking that some 
 enemy is attempting to harm him by means of evil 
 magic, and, on the other hand, he never knows when a 
 medicine-man in some distant group may not point him 
 out as guilty of killing some one else by magic. It is, 
 however," they add, " easy to lay too much stress upon 
 this. ... It is not right to say that the Australian 
 native lives in constant dread of the evil magic of an 
 enemy. The feeling is always, as it were, lying dor- 
 mant7 and ready to be called up by any strange or 
 suspicious sound." 3 " All ailments of every kind, from 
 the simplest to the most serious, are without exception 
 attributed to the malign influence of an enemy in either 
 human or spirit shape." 4 " Amongst most Congo 
 tribes death is seldom regarded in the light of a natural 
 event. In most cases the charm doctor accuses an old 
 person, or a slave, of having been the cause. The 
 accused is forthwith secured, and at an appointed time 
 is submitted to a poison ordeal." 5 In Tongareva 
 death is ascribed to witchcraft. 6 The Kurnai believed 
 that death only occurred from accident, open violence, 
 or secret magic. The magical influence of enemies was 
 
 1 Curr, op. cit. iii. 27, 28. 2 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 349, 353. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 53, 54. 4 Id. 53°- 
 
 5 H. Ward, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 287. 
 
 6 W. W. Gill, Jottings from the Pacific, 225. 
 
iv HUMAN INFLUENCE 69 
 
 the ordinary cause of natural death, though sometimes 
 attributed to evil spirits. 1 The Abipones thought that 
 no one would die if the jugglers and Spaniards were 
 banished. They attributed every death to these. Man 
 could only die by magic, and a sick man often suspected 
 some person of making him ill, and accordingly would 
 go for him. 2 Amongst the Bongos old women are 
 especially suspected of alliance with wicked spirits, and 
 are accused if sudden death occurs. 3 Amongst the 
 Gonds the fear of witchcraft and the evil eye is so great, 
 that " there is nothing they will not do to guard them- 
 selves against these influences." 4 " So deeply rooted in 
 the Indian's bosom is the belief concerning the origin of 
 diseases" (from sorcery) "that they have little idea 
 of sickness arising from other causes." The Indians 
 of Guiana attribute all disease to sorcery. The sorcerer 
 is credited with the power of causing as well as curing 
 illness. 5 Amongst the Yorubas witchcraft is the chief 
 cause of sickness and death. 6 Amongst the tribes 
 of East Central Africa disease and sudden death are 
 attributed to witchcraft. The notorious " smelling 
 out' of the guilty person follows, and if found 
 he is put to death. 7 In Hawaii disease could be 
 caused by the prayers of an enemy. 8 The Chiquitos 
 often attributed disease to the female "jugglers" or 
 lady -doctors. 9 The Guarani magicians could inflict 
 or ward off disease and death. 10 In Siam disease is 
 attributed to sorcery. 11 When a death occurs among 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. c'tt. 251, 258. 2 Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 84, 223, 227. 
 
 3 G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa, 307. 
 
 4 H. B. Rowney, Wild Tribes of India, 15. 
 
 5 W. H. Brett, The Indian Tribes of Guiana, 365. 
 
 6 A. B. Ellis, The Toruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, 1 18. 
 
 7 Macdonald, in J own. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 104. 
 
 8 Ellis, Tour in Hawaii, 258. 9 Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 264. 
 10 Id. i. 71. u Loubere, op. cit. i. 206. 
 
7 o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the Dacotas that cannot be reasonably accounted for, it 
 is supposed to have been caused by the mischievous 
 action of a neighbouring clan by sorcery. Constant 
 feuds are thus caused. 1 When a sudden death occurs, 
 the people of the New Hebrides ascribe it to sorcerers. 2 
 Amongst the Bannars every misfortune is attributed to 
 the malice of persons who have the power of influencing 
 their fate. 3 Among the Maoris a belief in witchcraft 
 almost universally prevailed. If a chief, or his wife or 
 child fell ill, it was attributed to witchcraft. Those 
 possessing the art were often hired to bewitch people. 4 
 In the Babar Islands evil persons make others ill by 
 magic. When such are found out they are put to 
 death. 5 Reality and imagination sometimes coincide, 
 as in East Central Africa, where " the doctor " who can 
 kill by magic will administer real poison for a fee. 6 
 There are also interesting cases showing how zoo- 
 morphism and reality correlate. In Tenimber and 
 Timor-laut various illnesses are due to evilly disposed 
 persons or evil spirits, taking the form of birds. 7 
 
 In the following cases, we may see the actual meeting- 
 place and reconciliation of two theories as to the origin 
 of the moral law, from supernatural and human sanctions. 
 For these are cases where, behind the spiritual, there is 
 a human agent at work. Amongst the Yorubas the 
 god Egungun becomes incarnate from time to time, in 
 this way : a man dressed up like the god goes about, 
 and carries off people who are troublesome to their 
 neighbours. " He is thus a kind of supernatural 
 inquisitor, who appears from time to time to inquire 
 into the conduct of people, particularly of women, and 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 290. a Id. ii. 77. 
 
 3 H. Mouhot, Travels in Indo-C/iina, ii. 28. 
 
 4 Yate, op. cit. 95. 5 Riedel, op. cit. 358. 
 6 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 105. 7 Riedel, op. cit. 305. 
 
 
IV 
 
 INCARNATION 71 
 
 to punish misdeeds. Although it is well known that 
 Egungun is only a disguised man, yet it is popularly 
 believed that to touch him, even by accident, causes 
 death." 1 In British Guiana blood-revenge is closely 
 connected with the system of sorcery. If a man dies, 
 and it is supposed that an enemy has killed him by 
 means of an evil spirit, they employ a sorcerer to find 
 him. A near relative is then charged with the duty of 
 vengeance ; he becomes a Kanaima, i.e. he is possessed 
 by the destroying spirit so called, and has to live apart, 
 according to strict rules, and to submit to many priva- 
 tions, till the deed of blood is done. When the man is 
 killed, the murderer must pass a stick through his body, 
 to taste the victim's blood. Not until this is done does 
 he become an ordinary man once more, but wanders 
 about, and madness comes upon him through the 
 agency of the disappointed spirit. The family of the 
 victim, to prevent the Kanaima getting at the body, 
 sometimes manage to bury it in a secret place, or take 
 out the liver and put a red-hot axe in its place. Then, 
 if the Kanaima visit the corpse, the heat of the axe-head 
 will pass into his body and consume him. Sometimes 
 they put ourali poison on the body, for the purpose of 
 destroying the Kanaima. In cases of secret enmity 
 poison is used, and, in consequence of all this, the 
 Indians seldom consider themselves safe. He against 
 whom or whose near relative wrong has been done, 
 becomes a Kanaima, and all injury which befalls an 
 Indian is the work of such. The Kanaima may assume 
 any shape, often that of the jaguar (which by the way 
 is the most dangerous animal the Indian knows), often 
 an inanimate shape ; for instance, the peaiman will 
 extract from his patient a stick or stone, which is the 
 
 1 Ellis, op. cit. 107. 
 
72 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 bodily form of the Kanaima causing illness. 1 Very- 
 similar is the practice of Kurdaitcha amongst the Central 
 Australians. 2 
 
 Is there any similar correlation of " spirits " and 
 human beings, or spiritual and human influence, in the 
 relations of the one sex with the other ? We may well 
 expect that there should be, and there are facts which 
 show it. 
 
 The Porno Indians find it difficult to maintain authority 
 over their women. A husband often terrifies his wife into 
 submission by personating an ogre. 3 Amongst the Tatu 
 Indians of California the men have a secret society which 
 gives periodic dramatic entertainments with the object of 
 keeping the women in order. The chief actor, disguised 
 as a devil, charges about among the assembled squaws. 4 
 The Mumbo Jumbo of the Mandingoes is a well-known 
 case. The periodic impersonation is intended to frighten 
 the women. The same performer who represents Mumbo 
 Jumbo has also the duty of keeping the sexes apart for 
 the forty days after circumcision. 5 Amongst the Krumen, 
 when a wife dies, the husband is believed to have caused 
 her death by witchcraft. 6 In Congo widows and widowers 
 are charged with the same. 7 In Loango, when a man is 
 ill, his wife is accused of causing the illness by witchcraft, 
 and must undergo the cassa ordeal. 8 The Chiquitos 
 used to kill the wife of a sick man, believing her to be 
 the cause of his illness. 9 In Luzon wives are sometimes 
 bewitched by their husbands. 10 In China a man's illness 
 is often attributed to the spirit of a former wife. 11 In 
 
 1 Brett, op. cit. 357-60 ; im Thurn, op. cit. 368. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 47. 3 Powers, op. cit. 154, 161. 
 
 4 Id. 14 t. 5 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 118. 
 6 J. L. Wilson, Western Africa, 115. " Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 120. 
 8 Bastian, Lcango-Kuste, i. 46. 9 Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 264, 
 
 10 De Tavera, in Globus, xlvii. 314. n Doolittle, op. cit. i. 146. 
 
iv SEXUAL INFLUENCE 73 
 
 Halmahera women who die in child-bed are supposed to 
 become evil spirits, oputiana y who emasculate men, and 
 cause injury to pregnant women. 1 This belief is found 
 among the Malays.' 2 Among the Kei islanders if a 
 woman dies in child-bed they kill the unborn babe, to 
 prevent the woman becoming a Pontianak, in which case 
 she would haunt her husband and emasculate him. 3 It 
 is easy to see how this sort of belief correlates with, if it 
 does not arise from, a common phase of sexual fear. 
 
 In the next examples there is no hint of spiritual 
 influence at all, human influence alone has the deleterious 
 result. The Cambodians have the following belief in 
 the case of a young married pair, neither of whom have 
 been married before. When the wife is enceinte for the 
 first time, the husband is able to take from her the fruit 
 of her womb, by magic influence over her. Accordingly, 
 the parents of the bride never trust their son-in-law, and 
 will not let the young couple go out of their sight. In 
 Cambodia the married pair live with or near the bride's 
 parents. 4 When a Halmahera woman is three months 
 pregnant, she uses protective charms to prevent evil men 
 destroying the babe. She may not eat the remains of 
 her husband's food, " because that would cause difficult 
 labour." 5 In Amboina and the Aru Islands men are 
 not allowed to see a woman confined, because " their 
 presence would hinder the birth." G Conversely, at the 
 feast to celebrate the birth in the Luang Sermata Islands, 
 only women may be present. If men partook of even 
 the slightest morsel they would be unlucky in all their 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. S5. 
 
 2 W. W. Slceat, Malay Magic, 434. 
 
 3 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 239. 
 
 4 Aymonier, op. cit. 187. 
 
 6 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 79. 
 
 6 Id. De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 73, 263. 
 
74 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 undertakings. 1 Next there is an extension of the idea, 
 which has had much influence upon morality in the 
 theory that sickness is due to sin. The people of Luang 
 Sermata believe that prolonged pains in child-birth are 
 due to the woman having had forbidden intercourse. 2 
 In Cambodia, if a child is born with two locks of hair, 
 husband and wife suspect each other of infidelity. 3 In 
 Wetar sickness may be caused to the injured person, 
 wife, husband, or lover, by infidelity. 4 If birth is 
 difficult, the Samoyeds suspect the woman of adultery. 5 
 Lastly, this kind of magical deleterious human in- 
 fluence is clearly seen in all the various phenomena of 
 sexual taboo, such as those already reviewed, and others 
 to be dealt with later. 
 
 rThus in the phenomena of social taboo, human and 
 spiritual agencies meet in persons. With the special 
 cases described, we may compare the facts of incarnation, 
 the evidence of ghost phenomena (in which the ghost 
 possesses the form and characteristics of the person it 
 once tenanted, in more or less exact resemblance), the 
 ideas which led to the preservation of the dead body, as 
 by the Egyptians, in order to save the soul, and the 
 evidence of the psychology of ideation. We have 
 
 r reached the conclusion, then, that in social taboo the 
 "spiritual" dangers feared come from a man's fellow- 
 men, and thus of the evil "spirits" or influences which 
 surround him some are simply spiritualised persons or 
 their qualities; and in sexual taboo the "spiritual" 
 dangers feared come from the other sex, and the evil 
 "spirits" or influences connected with sexual acts and 
 functions are spiritualised persons of their own sex or 
 
 l their sexual characters materialised. The connection, of 
 
 1 Riedel, 326. 2 Id. 325. 3 Aymonier, op. cit. 169. 
 
 4 Riedel, op. cit. 451. 5 Georgi, op. cit. 14.. 
 
iv SPIRITUALISED PERSONS 75 
 
 course, is mostly subconscious, but the importance of 
 subconscious thought can hardly be over-estimated, 
 though man cannot trace back the origin of his own 
 ideas into their various associations. With the great 
 mass of mankind in any age, this direct connection of 
 sexual danger with actual living influence of the other 
 sex, has perhaps never risen into consciousness ; with 
 the majority of human beings such danger is and has 
 been attributed to external vague "spiritual" agencies ; 
 but the patent evidence of biology upon the comple- 
 mentary nature of sex, and that of psychology as to the 
 development of emotional attitudes from functional 
 phenomena, especially in connection with sex, prove 
 conclusively that we are to find the ultimate origin of 1 
 idea and practice relating to sex in actual sexual difference j 
 embodied in persons. And conversely, there is the 
 romantic fact that human persons who are mysterious ^. 
 or not understood, as is the case with woman and man 
 in their mutual aspect, i.e. potentially dangerous, can be 
 regarded as spiritual persons, supernatural existences : 
 indeed with primitive man there is often no clear distinc- 
 tion drawn between those who are made lower than the 
 angels and the angelic hosts themselves. These con- 
 siderations assist us to see not only the correlation of 
 taboo and " spiritual," or rather hylo-idealistic, danger, 
 but also the religious character, whether magical or 
 superstitious, of human relations in primitive thought. 
 
 ! ) 
 
 r 
 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 General ideas concerning human relations are the 
 medium through which sexual taboo works, and these 
 must now be examined. If we compare the facts of 
 social taboo generally or of its subdivision, sexual taboo, 
 we find that the ultimate test of human relations, in 
 both genus and species, is contact. An investigation of 
 primitive ideas concerning the relations of man with 
 man, when guided by this clue, will lay bare the prin- 
 ciples which underlie the theory and practice of sexual 
 taboo. Arising, as we have seen, from sexual differen- 
 tiation, and forced into permanence by difference of 
 occupation and sexual solidarity, this segregation re- 
 ceives the continuous support of religious conceptions 
 as to human relations. These conceptions centre upon 
 contact, and ideas of contact are at the root of all 
 conceptions of human relations at any stage of culture ; 
 contact is the one universal test, as it is the most 
 elementary form, of mutual relations. Psychology 
 bears this out, and the point is psychological rather 
 than ethnological. 
 
 As I have pointed out before and shall have occasion 
 to do so again, a comparative examination, assisted by 
 psychology, of the emotions and ideas of average 
 modern humanity, is a most valuable aid to ethno- 
 
 r logical enquiry. In this connection, we find that desire 
 or willingness for physical contact is an animal emotion, 
 
ch. v CONTACT IN HUMAN RELATIONS 77 
 
 more or less subconscious, which is characteristic of 
 similarity, harmony, friendship, or love. Throughout •* 
 the world, the greeting of a friend is expressed by con- 
 tact, whether it be nose -rubbing, or the kiss, the 
 embrace, or the clasp of hands ; so the ordinary expres- 
 sion of friendship by a boy, that eternal savage, is 
 contact of arm and shoulder. More interesting still, 
 for our purpose, is the universal expression by contact, 
 of the emotion of love. To touch his mistress is the 
 ever-present desire of the lover, and in this impulse, 
 even if we do not trace it back, as we may without 
 being fanciful, to polar or sexual attraction inherent in 
 the atoms, the fytXia of Empedocles, yet we may place 
 the beginning and ending of love. When analysed, 
 the emotion always comes back to contact. As Clough 
 puts it : — 
 
 "Well, I know, after all, it is only juxtaposition. 
 Juxtaposition, in short, and what is juxtaposition ? ' 
 Further, mere willingness for contact is found univer--*" 
 sally when the person to be touched is healthy, if not 
 clean, or where he is of the same age or class or caste, 
 and we may add, for ordinary humanity, the same sex. 
 
 On the other hand, the avoidance of contact, whether 
 consciously or subconsciously presented, is no less the 
 universal characteristic of human relations, where simi- 
 larity, harmony, friendship, or love is absent. This -» 
 appears in the attitude of men to the sick, to strangers, 
 distant acquaintances, enemies, and in cases of difference 
 of age, position, sympathies or aims, and even of sex. 
 Popular language is full of phrases which illustrate this 
 feeling. 
 
 Again, the pathology of the emotions supplies many 
 curious cases, where the whole being seems concentrated 
 upon the sense of touch, with abnormal desire or dis- 
 
78 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 aust for contact ; and in the evolution of the emotions 
 , from physiological pleasure and pain, contact plays an 
 important part in connection with functional satisfaction 
 or dissatisfaction with the environment. 
 
 In the next place there are the facts, first, that an 
 element of thought inheres in all sensation, while sensa- 
 l tion conditions thought ; and secondly, that there is a 
 close connection of all the senses, both in origin, each 
 of them being a modification of the one primary sense 
 of touch, and in subsequent development, where the 
 specialised organs are still co-ordinated through tactile 
 sensation, in the sensitive surface of organism. Again, 
 and here we can see the genesis of ideas of contact, it is 
 by means of the tactile sensibility of the skin and 
 membranes of sense-organs, forming a sensitised as well 
 as a protecting surface, that the nervous system conveys 
 to the brain information about the external world, and 
 this information is in its original aspect the response to 
 ['impact. Primitive physics, no less than modern, recog- 
 [ nises that contact is a modified form of a blow. These 
 considerations show that contact not only plays an 
 important part in the life of the soul, but must have 
 had a profound influence on the development of ideas, 
 and it may now be assumed that ideas of contact have 
 been a universal and original constant factor in human 
 relations, and that they are so still. The latter assump- 
 tion is to be stressed, because we find that the ideas 
 which lie beneath primitive taboo are still a vital part 
 of human nature, though mostly emptied of their re- 
 ligious content ; and also because, as I hold, ceremonies 
 and etiquette such as still obtain, could not possess such 
 /[vitality as they do, unless there were a living psycho- 
 logical force behind them, such as we find in elementary 
 ideas which come straight from functional processes. 
 
v CONTACT IN HUMAN RELATIONS 79 
 
 These ideas of contact art primitive in each sense of 
 the word, at whatever stage of culture they appear/ 
 They seem to go back in origin and in character to 
 that highly developed sensibility of all animal and even 
 organised life, which forms at once a biological monitor 
 and a safeguard for the whole organism in relation to, 
 its environment. From this sensibility there arise sub- 
 jective ideas concerning the safety or danger of the 
 environment, and in man we may suppose these sub- 
 jective ideas as to his environment, and especially as to 
 his fellow-men, to be the origin of his various expressions 
 of avoidance or desire for contact. 
 
 Lastly, it is to be observed that avoidance of contact 
 is the most conspicuous phenomenon attaching to cases 
 of taboo when its dangerous character is prominent. 
 In taboo the connotation of " not to be touched " is 
 the salient point all over the world, even in cases of 
 permanent taboo such as belongs to Samoan and Maori 
 chiefs, with whom no one dared come in contact ; and 
 so we may infer the same aversion to be potential in all 
 such relations. 
 
 In connection with the phenomena of ideation and 
 with the next question, there comes in the familiar piece 
 of elementary metaphysics which has played so great 
 a part in religion from the days of primitive man, the 
 idea of substance and accidents. The distinction is 
 quite familiar to savages ; they can tell you how the 
 god eats only the essence of a sacrifice, leaving behind 
 the properties of colour, shape, taste, and the like for 
 the priest or worshippers. In East Central Africa the 
 people give an offering of flour to the ancestral spirits, 
 when a person is ill. The spirits regale themselves 
 with the " essence " of the flour. 1 The Galelas and 
 
 1 Macdonald, in J'-urr., Antkrcf. Inst. xxii. 104. 
 
80 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Tobelorese of Halmahera hold that spirits eat the 
 " essence " of food. 1 The Hill Dyaks place choice 
 morsels before their gods, who extract the " essence " 
 of the food. 2 Amongst the Yorubas evil spirits are 
 supposed to cause illness in young children. They 
 enter them and eat their food, so that they pine away. 
 The spirit is supposed to eat the " spiritual " part of 
 the food. 3 
 
 So with regard to man's ideas of his fellow-men. 
 The visual image and similar appearances, such as a 
 man's shadow, are his essence, soul or second-self, and 
 the ideas a man forms of another's characteristics are 
 the properties. On the other hand, the reference of 
 all the characteristics of a man to him, as so many 
 predicates to one subject, forms a correlative method 
 by which the soul or essence of a man is thought of. 
 For instance, in the New Hebrides the word for soul 
 connotes the essence of a man ; 4 the Wetarese poeti- 
 cally liken the soul to the smell of a flower. 6 Here 
 again we see the materialism of early thought ; even 
 " essence " is material, and is sometimes visible. There 
 is no distinction between the substantial nature of 
 "soul," a man's properties, physical and spiritual, 
 magical influence whether of man or spirit, the con- 
 tagious properties of disease, the mystical character of 
 " taboo," the wholesome or deleterious influence of men 
 and evil spirits — they are all alike material and trans- 
 missible. 
 
 Now it is this material transmissibility that makes 
 contact of such importance, and it is transmission of 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 67. 
 
 2 H. Low, Sarawak, 251. 
 
 3 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 111, 113. 
 
 4 D. Macdonald, Oceania, 180. 
 
 5 J. G. F. Riedel, Dc duik-en b-oesharige rassen tusschert Seleles en Papua, 453. 
 
 
v TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 81 
 
 properties, whether of nature, man, or spirits, that lies 
 behind the avoidance or desire for contact. 
 
 Potentially always and actually often, it is true of all 
 men and conditions of men and natural objects, that 
 their properties can be transmitted by all possible 
 material methods, and even by actio in distans. For 
 practical purposes we may speak of contagion, and in so 
 far as the properties transmitted are evil, all contact is 
 contagion. The wide generalisation of early man, ol 
 course, covered real cases of infection of disease, or 
 transmission of strength, and the affirmative instances, 
 as usual, helped to perpetuate the negative, though 
 what Messrs. Spencer and Gillen state of the Central 
 Australians, applies to all early peoples. In connection 
 with the disease Erkincha and its contagion, the natives 
 do not reason " from a strictly medical point of view ; 
 their idea in a case of this kind is, that a man suffering 
 from Erkincha conveys a magic evil influence, which 
 they call Arungquiltha, to the women, and by this 
 means it is conveyed as a punishment to other men." 
 This Arungquiltha is a typical example of the primitive 
 ideas of contact, and may preface a set of cases which 
 show the meaning and application of these ideas. The 
 same people say when the sun is eclipsed, that "Arung- 
 quiltha has got into it," this being an "evil or malignant 
 influence, sometimes regarded as personal and at other 
 times as impersonal." Here the idea is applied to a 
 strange, unusual phenomenon. They have also a tradi- 
 tion of a thin, emaciated man ; " where he died arose a 
 stone, the rubbing of which may cause emaciation in 
 other people. This stone is charged with Arungquiltha, 
 or evil influence." Again, there is a myth of an old 
 man who plucked boils from his body, each of which 
 turned into a stone. This group of stones is still to be 
 
 G 
 
82 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 seen, and they are called stone-sores. Men who desire 
 to harm others, hit these stones with spears ; which are 
 then thrown in the direction of the victim. The spears 
 carry away with them Arungquiltha from the stones, 
 and this produces an eruption of painful boils in the 
 victim. And similarly, any stones marking the spot 
 where men died from magical influence, are themselves 
 credited with magical powers. 1 This principle may be 
 illustrated from Maori and Red Indian science. The 
 latter say that " Nature has the property to transfuse 
 the qualities of food, or of objects presented to the 
 senses, into men." 2 The former hold that anything 
 placed in contact with a sacred object acquires the 
 sacred nature of that object, and anything thus made 
 sacred cannot be eaten or used for cooking. 3 " Unclean- 
 ness " attaches to mourners, enchanters, and murderers, 
 amongst the Kaffirs. The murderer washes to remove 
 the contagion of his guilt, the mourner to remove the 
 contagion of death, and the enchanter washes when he 
 renounces his art. 4 This " uncleanness " is the con- 
 tagious property of taboo and is not distinguished from 
 " sacredness," whether in the case of kings, priests, 
 Maori gentlemen, infants, women during pregnancy, 
 child-birth, and menstruation, boys and girls at puberty, 
 or other especially taboo characters. The Polynesian 
 word parapara means, " first, a sacred place ; secondly, 
 the first fruits of fish ; thirdly, a tree ; fourthly, defiled 
 or unclean, from having touched sacred food ; cf. para, 
 dross, sediments ; parapara, dirt, soilure, stain ; parare, 
 food." 5 It is noticeable that Kaffir words for " un- 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 412, 566, 441, 550, 552. 
 
 2 J. Adair, History of the American Indian:, 133. 
 
 3 Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 292-94. 
 
 4 H. Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, i. 257. 
 6 E. Tregear, Maori Dictionary, s.v. 
 
v TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 83 
 
 cleanness" connote "rubbing" and that which is 
 "rubbed off." 1 Lucian, speaking of the sacred pigs 
 of Hierapolis, the touch of which rendered one " un- 
 clean," says that some thought they were " unclean," 
 others " sacred." 2 In other words, they were taboo. 
 When lightning strikes a Ka ^raal or individual 
 or object, the persons co therewith are " un- 
 
 clean." Animals struck - n i n g are never eaten. 3 
 
 Amongst the Malays "not only is the king's person 
 considered sacred, but the sanctity of his body is 
 believed to commu: ;>elf to his regalia, and to 
 
 slay those who breA the royal taboos." Again, "the 
 theory of the king ?s the divine man, is held perhaps 
 as strongly in * .ay region as in any other part 
 
 of the world, a fact which is strikingly emphasised 
 by the allegv i right of Malay monarchs to slay at 
 pleasure wi f :>ut being guilty of a crime." 4 So with 
 the materict' se 'gnity of chiefs and the like persons. 
 No one i). 10a dared come in contact with a chief, 5 
 and in New Zealand such contact caused transmission 
 of tapu.^ .1, in Melanesia, where we see ideas of 
 
 taboo at- to men generally, a fact which shows 
 
 its deri n from subjective conceptions of a man's 
 
 own im e and power, and in more primitive form, 
 
 his eo-. ;aution, mana, which combines personal 
 
 ability, .-nee, strength, and luck, is the regular 
 
 term ny result of such, and is of a supernatural 
 
 character. Mana comes from communication with 
 I spiriis and from eating human flesh. All men of any 
 imp rr:mce have large supplies of mana. To give a 
 
 .u-Kaffir Dictionary. - Lucian, De dca Syria, 54. 
 
 3 W, f. cit. 86, 121. 4 W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, 23. 
 
 5 V\ ; Ic 9 -p. cit. ii. 103. 
 
 6 R. Taylor, Te ika a Maui, 165 ; Shortland, Scuthcrn Districts cf New Zealand, 
 292-94. 
 
 1 
 
84 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 boy a start in the world, a kind man will put his hand 
 .^on the boy's head to impart the mysterious force. 1 The 
 transmission of "virtue" ends in the laying -on of 
 hands, as it began in an's ideas connected with con- 
 tact. The civilised m: n still subconsciously gains 
 solace, comfort, arid strength, from the contact ot a 
 friend, and at the other end of the chain, the same is 
 true of animals. 
 
 In the Solomon Islands again, inland people are 
 thought to have more mana I in coast people. When 
 they go down to the coast ; thej avoid spreading out 
 their fingers, for to point the s at a man is to 
 
 shoot him with a charm. 2 In example, we may 
 
 note the extension of the idea that a man's qualities are 
 transmitted by touch ; the outstretched hand and spread- 
 ing of the fingers signify " intentic ' and the hand is 
 the organ of touch, -par excellence. The last religious 
 phase of this idea is seen in the Ca gesture of 
 
 benediction. 
 
 " Badi is the name given to the evil prir le which, 
 according to the view of Malay medicii 1, attends 
 
 (like an evil angel) everything that has fe, ir-d inert 
 objects also, for these are regarded as ai innate.' It is 
 also described as " the enchanting or destroying influence 
 which issues from anything, e.g. from a tiger which one 
 sees, from a poison-tree which one passes under^from 
 the saliva of a mad dog, from an action vs ich one has 
 performed ; the contagious principle of morbid matter." 
 It is applied to " all kinds of evil influences or principles 
 such as may have entered into a man wi un- 
 
 guardedly touched a dead animal or bird, . eh 
 
 the badi has not yet been expelled, or who 1 is me he 
 
 R. H. Codrington, in Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst. 279, 285, 3 
 2 Id. op. cit. 301. 
 
v TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 85 
 
 Wild Huntsman in the forest." There are one 
 hundred and ninety of these " mischiefs." Mr. Skeat 
 compares the English word " mischief" in the phrase 
 " it has the mischief in it." Illness is ascribed by the 
 Malays to accidental contact with badi. A man also 
 contracts badi when another practises magic on him by 
 means of a wax image. 1 In Malay medicine neutralis- 
 ing ceremonies are used to destroy the evil principle, 
 and also expulsory ceremonies to cast it out. The 
 Malays also use counter-charms to neutralise the active 
 principle of poison, and this is " extended to cover all 
 cases where any evil principle (even for instance a 
 familiar spirit) is believed to have entered the sick 
 person's system." 2 Amongst the Arunta, when a 
 man is ill, " he will sometimes have a stone churinga 
 belonging to his totem brought from the storehouse. 
 With the flint flake of his spear-thrower, he will scrape 
 off some of the edge of the churinga, mix the dust with 
 water and drink it, the mixture being supposed to be 
 very strengthening. The idea evidently is, that in some 
 way he absorbs part of the essence of the stone, there- 
 by gai'iing strength, as it is endowed with the attributes 
 of the individual whom it represents." 3 The Iroquois 
 believed that sorcerers used an impalpable, invisible 
 poison that carried infection through the air and pro- 
 duced death. 4 The Kurnai were afraid of white men, 
 and believed that their eyes possessed a supernatural 
 power. One would say to another, " Don't look, or 
 he will kill you ! " A white man could " flash death " 
 upon a man. Death could only occur from accident, 
 o :n violence, or secret magic. The last was met by 
 c inter-charms. " Every individual, though doubtful 
 
 1 Skeat, op. cit. 427-29, 430. 2 Id. 410, 425. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 135. 4 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 43. 
 
86 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 of his own magic powers, has no doubt about the 
 possible powers of any other person. If the individual 
 himself fails, he supposes that he is not strong enough. 
 Nearly every one carries a round black pebble of magic 
 power. For instance, if it is buried with a man's 
 excreta, that person receives the magic bulk in his 
 intestines and dies. The touch of it is supposed to be 
 highly injurious to any but its owner. It is believed 
 that a bulk has the power of motion ; for instance a 
 man once saw a bulk, in the shape of a bright spark of 
 fire, cross over a house. From all this we may infer 
 that some secret influence passes from the magic sub- 
 stance to the victim." Further, the magic influence, 
 " may, they suppose, be communicated from this to 
 some other substance, as a throwing-stick, spear, or 
 club. Death also occurred through a combination of 
 sorcery and violence : this combination was called 
 barn.''' It is clear from the above that subjective hate 
 and malice, the influence or will of a person, is regarded 
 as materalised and visible. 1 
 
 The material character of these properties is evident 
 in all cases, and the last quotation gives a remarkable 
 instance of magical property or human " intention " 
 being visible. The common method of curing illness 
 by cupping, or sucking out the " bad " blood, as used 
 by the people of the Kei Islands, 2 is scientific in a way, 
 but not to be distinguished from other early methods. 
 Some curious developments of the materialistic concep- 
 tion are these. The Laplanders attributed disease to 
 spiritual birds. They flew to the shaman (noid) and 
 shook out of their feathers a multitude of poisonous 
 insects, like lice, called magic flies, Ian. If these flies 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 248-49, 251-52. 
 2 Riedel, op. cit. 419. 
 
v VARIETIES OF CONTAGION 87 
 
 fell on men or beasts, they brought sickness and other 
 misfortunes. The noids carefully gathered up these 
 insects, but never touched them with bare hands ; they 
 kept them in boxes, using them to do injury. 1 This 
 is a curious coincidence with the fact that germs of 
 disease are known to be carried about by flies. They 
 also used a magic axe, with which they touched people, 
 and a disease thus caused could only be cured by the 
 noid who caused it. 2 In the same way, the Encounter 
 Bay tribes believed that if a person was lightly tapped 
 upon the breast with the magic knobbed-stick, he would 
 sicken and die. A similar magic weapon was a hatchet 
 of black stone, of which the sharp end was used to 
 bewitch men, and the obtuse end was only efficacious 
 when women were the victims. 3 Again, Australian 
 sorcerers extract from their own bodies by passes and 
 manipulations a magical essence called boylya, which 
 they can make to enter the patient's body. 4 The East 
 Central Africans practice counter-irritation by making 
 incisions in which ashes and roots are rubbed. This is 
 called "killing the disease." 5 These ideas have pro- 
 duced the " sucking cure," with which the " cupping " 
 of the Kei Islanders may be compared, and the concep- 
 tion, such as is found in Australia, that pain in any 
 part of the body is due to the presence of some foreign 
 substance. The Central Australians not only project 
 into a sick man crystals to counteract the evil influence, 
 but extract things from his body by sleight-of-hand. 
 Avengers carry churinga like those kept as sacred 
 objects, filled with souls of ancestors ; " they are supposed, 
 as usual, to impart to them strength, courage, accuracy 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 149. 2 Id. l.c. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 179. 4 E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture 3 , ii. 146. 
 
 5 "Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 104. 
 
88 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 of aim, and also to render them invisible to their 
 enemies, and in addition they act as charms to prevent 
 their wearers being wounded." A man injured by an 
 avenger, was cured by a doctor extracting from his 
 body a number of pieces of a ckuringa, which is used 
 as the magical weapon, actually thrown. The stick has 
 been " sung over " and is charged with magic and evil 
 influence {Arungquiltha). 1 
 
 Again, amongst the Maoris, a slave entering a sacred 
 place, wahi tapu, had to take off his clothes first, else 
 they would be rendered useless. 2 In this case we see 
 that the sanctity of taboo is contagious, but does not 
 agree with one of low rank. In Efate (one of the New 
 Hebrides) the word namim means ceremonial " unclean- 
 ness." One sort is of death, another of child-birth. If 
 a " sacred man ' comes in contact with namim, it 
 destroys his own " sacredness." 3 Again, amongst the 
 modern Egyptians, if any one in a state of religious 
 " uncleanness " enters a room where there is a person 
 afflicted with ophthalmia, the incident aggravates the 
 disease. 4 Many other cases of this cross- contagion 
 could be mentioned. All the various sorts are the taboo 
 force, while the fact that there are different varieties 
 and that these sometimes cross, gives an opportunity of 
 inferring their special origin. The Indians of Costa 
 Rica, as we have noted before, know two kinds of 
 ceremonial " uncleanness," nya and bu-ku-ru. Death 
 and its concomitants are nya. Bu-ku-ru is the more 
 dangerous and can kill. The worst kind of bu-ku-ru 
 is that of a woman in her first pregnancy. She infects 
 the whole neighbourhood. People think of it as an 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 531, 480, 486-88, 489. 
 
 2 Shortland, op. cit. 293. 3 Macdonald, Oceania, 1S1. 
 
 4 Lane, op. cit. i. 333. 
 
 c 
 
v VARIETIES OF CONTAGION 89 
 
 evil spirit, or a property acquired. Any one going 
 from her house carries the infection, and all deaths are 
 laid to her charge ; her husband pays the damages. 
 Bu-ku-ru is also found in new houses and places visited 
 after an interval, or for the first time. 1 The Zulu word 
 unesisila means " you have dirt "' or " are dirty," that 
 is to say, you have done or said something, or some 
 one has said or done something to you, which has 
 bespattered you with metaphorical filth. Mr. Leslie 
 compares the Scriptural " defile," and our expression 
 " his hands are not clean." If a woman has been called 
 the worst possible thing, viz. omka ninazala, i.e. 
 " you will bear children to your father-in-law," she 
 makes a great to-do ; she goes to the hut of the 
 person who used the phrase, and kills an animal, 
 which is eaten by old women or little children, but by 
 none of marriageable age. It takes over the insila 
 which has now left the woman who was abused. 2 The 
 Zulus, again, use two kinds of " medicine," black and 
 white. Black wipes off" " the black," which causes a 
 man to be disliked, white causes him to be " bright," 
 and therefore liked. The black is drunk and the body 
 washed with it. It is emetic, and is vomited into a 
 fire, and thus the " badness " is burnt and consumed. 
 Or the contents of the stomach may be ejected on 
 pathways, that others may walk over it, and take away 
 the " filth " that is the cause of the offence. The 
 " white " is thus used : if a man has been rejected by a 
 girl, he adds to it something which she has worn next 
 her skin, especially beads. Then he drinks it after 
 sprinkling it on his head and over his body. Homce- 
 pathy is the principle of this method. 3 We can clearly 
 
 1 Gabb ot>. cit. I.e. - Leslie, op. cit. 169, 174-75. 
 
 3 Callaway, op. cit. 142-43 
 
 r }• 
 
 ( 
 
9 o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 see from this case how personal properties are regarded 
 as transmissible. 
 
 In these miscellaneous examples there are combined 
 many features of contact which will be developed here- 
 after, and it will be noticed that these various " influ- 
 ences" are essentially of the kind which underlies the 
 phenomena of taboo; whether they are ceremonial 
 " uncleanness," evil influence of man or spirit, or 
 " sacredness," each may be the property of the taboo 
 character, either in its specialised form or as belonging 
 to the ordinary individual. All are simply results of 
 human characteristics, properties, and states. 
 
 Personal properties are what others suppose them to 
 be, according to their estimate of the person in question ; 
 or, on the other hand, they are what their possessor 
 supposes them or himself to be. He believes that he 
 can transmit himself or his properties to others, with 
 results according to the estimate he holds of his character 
 at the time, and either with or without "intention" ; 
 and his fellowmen also believe that he can transmit 
 himself to them, with results according to their estimate 
 of him. Thus, in love-charms we find that the lover 
 believes he can transmit his feelings or rather himself, 
 full of love as he is, to his mistress, an idea arising 
 straight from animal contact and ideas about it ; and 
 in sorcery, we find that men transmit their feelings 
 of envy, hatred, and malice to the person concerned. 
 These ideas are justified to their holders by such 
 phenomena of contact as are scientifically true. Accord- 
 ingly, a man can transmit his strength, his ability, and 
 his personal influence, his crimes and his degradation, 
 his splendour or his shame, voluntarily or involun- 
 tarily. 
 
 As illustrating the continuity of culture we may point 
 
v PERSONAL CONTAGION 91 
 
 out that similar ideas exist now, though considerably- 
 lightened of their crude religious materialism, which, 
 however, is preserved in language. When we say that A 
 and B cannot abide each other, we are at the bottom of 
 such institutions as Caste, Club, Clique, and such 
 emotional attitudes as prejudice and insularity. We 
 avoid the company of " publicans and sinners " ; we say, 
 we do not wish to be contaminated by their presence ; 
 we speak of moral influence in terms which are still 
 materialistic ; we talk of being poisoned by a man or by 
 a book. Such constant human ideas need only to be 
 accentuated by religion to produce exactly the same 
 results of subjective feeling which gave rise to the 
 phenomena of social taboo. 
 
 Using the language of contagion, as more convenient, 
 for primitive man does not distinguish between trans- 
 mission of disease and transmission of all other states 
 t and properties, we find that practically every human 
 quality or condition can be transferred to others. 
 Where evil influence or dangerous properties are not 
 f differentiated, we have seen many cases of their con- 
 tagion and infection. Very often the force of taboo, 
 1 when thus vaguely conceived, has correspondingly vague 
 results in transmission, such as sudden death, sickness, 
 tor other supernatural visitations. Similar vague results 
 ; follow the ill-wishes of an enemy, unless he specifies the 
 1 effect he desires, but this will, of course, be sickness or 
 ! death as a rule. This vagueness of result is naturally 
 1 found most in the conception of the persons who receive 
 the contagion, as they do not know the " intention," to 
 use the term in its liturgical sense, of the dangerous 
 • person. 
 
 Degradation, as is well seen in Caste countries, is 
 I :ontagious. Thus, in ancient India, a Brahmin became 
 
92 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 an outcast by using the same carriage or seat or by eat- 
 ing with an outcast. 1 The touch of an inferior still 
 contaminates a high-caste Hindoo. 2 In Burma a man 
 may be denied by sitting or eating with a low-caste 
 Sandala. 3 The black Jews of Loango are so despised 
 that no one will eat with them. 4 In Travancore 
 courtiers must cover the mouth with the right hand, 
 lest their breath should pollute the king or other 
 superior. Also at the temples, a low-caste man must 
 wear a broad bandage over his nose and mouth, that 
 his breath may not pollute the idols. 5 In Egypt the 
 Jews are regarded as so unclean by the Moslems that 
 their blood would defile a sword, and therefore they are 
 never beheaded. 6 The name of the Rodiya caste in 
 Ceylon means " filth." No recognised caste could deal 
 or hold intercourse with a Rodiya. Their contact was 
 shunned as " pollution," and they themselves acquiesced. 
 On the approach of a traveller they would shout, to 
 warn him to stop till they could get ofF the road, and 
 allow him to pass without the risk of too close proximity 
 to their persons. " The most dreadful of all punish^ 
 ments under the Kandyan dynasty was to hand over the 
 offender, if a lady of high rank, to the Rodiyas. She 
 was ' adopted ' by the latter thus : a Rodiya took betel 
 from his own mouth, placed it in hers, and after this 
 till death her degradation was indelible. As if to 
 demonstrate that within the lowest depths of degrada- 
 tion there may exist a lower still, there are two races of 
 outcasts in Ceylon who are abhorred and avoided, even 
 by the Rodiyas." The latter would tie up their dogs, 
 to prevent them prowling in search of food to the 
 
 1 Laws ofManu (ed. Biihler), xi. 181. 
 
 2 Ward, op. cit. ii. 149 ; Colebrooke, in Asiatick Researches, vii. 277. 
 
 3 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 173. 4 Bastian, Loango- Ku'ste, i. 278. 
 5 S. Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, 129. 6 Lane, op. cit. ii. 346. 
 
 
v CONTAGIOUS PROPERTIES 93 
 
 dwellings of these wretches. 1 Dulness can be trans- 
 mitted ; thus the Red Indians will not eat animals of a 
 gross quality, because such food conveys " dulness " to 
 the system. 2 The Indians of Equador believe that eat- 
 ing " heavy " meats produces unwieldiness. 3 Timidity 
 can be transferred, as amongst the Dyaks, where young 
 men are forbidden to eat venison, because it would make 
 them timid as deer. 4 The Hottentots will not eat the 
 flesh of hares, because it would make them faint-hearted. 5 
 Stupidity, according to the people of Morocco, is the 
 chief characteristic of the hyaena. A dull man is said 
 to have eaten the brains of an hyaena. A woman can 
 make her husband stupid by giving him hyaena meat. 6 
 Weakness is transmissible ; amongst the Barea man and 
 wife seldom share the same bed. The reason they give 
 ; is, " that the breath of the wife weakens her husband." 7 
 Effeminacy is transmissible ; amongst the Omahas if a 
 boy plays with girls he is dubbed "hermaphrodite" ; 8 
 iri the Wiraijuri tribe boys are reproved for playing 
 [with girls — the culprit is taken aside by an old man, 
 [who solemnly extracts from his legs some " strands of 
 the woman's apron " which have got in. 9 Pain, also, 
 I can be transmitted or transferred. Thus the Australians 
 [ apply a heated spear-thrower to the cheek of one who is 
 L suffering from toothache, and then throw it away, be- 
 [ lieving that the toothache is transferred to it. 10 In old 
 1 Greek folklore, if one who had been stung by a scorpion 
 |i sat on an ass, the pain was supposed to be transferred 
 
 1 J. E. Tennent, Ceylon, 188-91. 2 Adair, op. cit. 133. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vii. 503. 
 
 4 Spenser St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East, i. 186. 
 
 5 T. Hahn, Tsuni-Goam, 106. 6 Leared, op. cit. 304. 
 
 7 Munzinger, op. cit. 526. 
 
 8 J. O. Dorsey, Third Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 266. 
 
 9 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiii. 448. 10 Dawson, op. cit. 59. 
 
94 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 from him to the ass. 1 The taboo state resulting from 
 sin and crime has material properties. At the purifica- 
 tion ceremony of the Cherokees, they threw their old 
 clothes into the river, supposing thus their impurities to 
 be removed. 2 Similarly the Incas shook their clothes 
 for the same purpose, and passed the hands over head 
 and face, arms and legs, as if washing. It was« done to 
 drive evil and maladies away. 3 At the installation of a 
 king in the Sandwich Islands, the priest struck him on 
 the back with a sacred branch, by way of purifying him 
 from all defilement and guilt he may have contracted. 4 
 Consequently, it is transmissible by contagion. Thus 
 in East Central Africa, when a wife has been guilty of 
 unchastity, her husband will die if he taste any food she 
 has salted ; when preparing his food, she asks a little 
 girl to put the salt in it. A guilty wife may be forgiven 
 by her husband, but in this case he cannot live with the 
 faithless one till a third party has been with her. 5 
 Amongst the Falashas a visit to an unbeliever's dwelling 
 is considered a sin, and subjects the transgressor to the 
 penance of submitting to a thorough ablution before he 
 is permitted to enter his home. 6 A Brahman embraced 
 the Rajah of Travancore, undertaking to bear his sins 
 and diseases. 7 The idea is well brought out in the 
 familiar practice of " sin-eating." It is well known 
 that the highest religions have found it difficult, and in 
 view of the materialism of human thought not altogether 
 desirable, to rise beyond a material conception of " sin." 
 The savage conceives of the results of sin, such as break- 
 ing of taboo, as material, and clinging to his person, and 
 
 1 Geoponica, xiii. 9 ; xv. 1. 2 Frazer, op. cit. 2 , iii. 74. 
 
 3 Id. I.e. i Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iii. no. 
 
 s Macdonald, Africana, i. 173 ; j'ourn. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. no. 
 
 6 Featherman, op. cit. v. 635. 7 Mateer, op. cit. 136. 
 
v SIN AND DEATH CONTAGIOUS 95 
 
 at both ends of the chain of culture sin is washed away 
 by water, and can be transmitted by " contagion " in 
 early culture, by " influence " in later. 
 
 Early man is only too well aware of the contagion 
 and infection of certain sicknesses and diseases. Of 
 sickness we need no instances, but of the interesting 
 fact that death not only causes sickness but is in itself 
 contagious, we may cite illustrations. 
 
 Beginning with the correlation of evil spirits and 
 
 dangerous human properties, we find that where spirits 
 
 are thought of, the fear is that others may be attacked 
 
 by them in the same way as the dead man. They are 
 
 naturally supposed to hang about their quarry, and 
 
 often the dead man is identified with the angel of death 
 
 who killed him. In Halmahera after a death, fire is set 
 
 [round the house to keep the evil spirits from the body. 1 
 
 In Cambodia a dead body is carried away feet foremost 
 
 that it may not see the house, in which event other 
 
 sicknesses and other deaths would result. 2 On Teressa 
 
 Island, one of the Nicobars, the mourners shave their 
 
 heads, and drown their grief by drinking hard. On the 
 
 day of death they are not allowed to go to the jungle, lest 
 
 they might be killed by the demons, and they abstain 
 
 from the food which was most relished by the deceased 
 
 in his lifetime. 3 Amongst the Yorubas death is generally 
 
 attributed to witchcraft. Enquiry is made whether any 
 
 other member of the family is threatened with the like 
 
 I fate, and also whether the soul of the dead is likely to 
 
 [be further molested by the evil spirits. 4 The Navajos 
 
 {ascribe death to the devil, Chinde, who remains about 
 
 :he dead man. Those who bury him, protect their 
 
 uodies from the evil influence by smearing themselves 
 
 1 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, xvii. 84. " Aymonier, op. cit. 202. 
 
 3 Featherman, of. cit. ii. 247. * A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 155. 
 
9 6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 with tar. 1 The Kamchadales abandoned the cabin in 
 which a man died, because the judge of the under- 
 world had been there and might cause the death of 
 others. Those who buried a corpse feared being pursued 
 by death, and to avoid him they took certain precautions. 2 
 At Batta funerals men march behind the coffin brandish- 
 ing swords to drive away the begus or demons. 3 Amongst 
 the Clallams and Twanas there is a superstitious fear 
 about going near the dead body, for fear the evil spirit 
 who killed the man may kill them also. 4 Here we see 
 how the idea of the contagion of death is connected 
 with evil spirits. Men fear that they may meet with 
 the same fate as the dead man. Amongst the Koosa 
 Kaffirs there is a general fear that illness or misfortune- 
 may fall upon others if a dying person is not removed 
 from the kraal. From the same motive if they see a 
 person drowning, or in danger of his life in any way, 
 particularly if he should utter a scream of terror, they 
 always run away from him. 5 The latter idea is world- 
 wide and obtains amongst ourselves. 
 
 Passing to transmission of the state or influence of 
 death, we find that immediately after a death has occurred 
 the Karalits carry out every movable article, " that it 
 may not be contaminated and rendered unclean." 6 There 
 is a Swiss superstition that the dress of a child that dies 
 will kill any child it is given to. 7 Amongst the Talmud 
 Jews "whenever a death occurs in a house, all the water 
 is poured out ; for it is supposed that the Angel of 
 Death defiles the water by washing off the poison drops 
 that adhere to his sword." The corpse is carefully 
 
 1 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 123. 2 Georgi, op. cit. 91, 92. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 330. 
 
 4 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 176. 
 
 5 Lichtenstein, op. cit. i. 258. 6 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 437. 
 7 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 240. 
 
v DEATH CONTAGIOUS 97 
 
 washed ; and after the funeral the mourners wash their 
 
 hands. 1 At a death all members of a Zulu kraal eat 
 
 " medicine " to protect them from evil influences. When 
 
 the king's mother died he was begirt with charms " to 
 
 keep the evil from him." 2 " To prevent death from 
 
 entering " the food and drink iron used to be put in 
 
 them by the Northern Scots. Whisky has been spoiled 
 
 by neglect of this. 3 In the Babar Islands after a burial 
 
 no one may go back to his house until he has washed 
 
 his hands and eaten some food. 4 The Northern Indians 
 
 were " unclean " after murder ; all concerned in it could 
 
 not cook any kind of victuals for themselves or others. 
 
 They could not drink out of any other dish, or smoke out 
 
 of any other pipe than their own, and none other would 
 
 drink or smoke out of theirs. For a long time they would 
 
 not kiss their wives or children. 5 In Samoa those who 
 
 attended upon a dead person were careful not to handle 
 
 any food, and for days were fed by others, as if they were 
 
 helpless infants ; while the dead body was in the house, 
 
 no food was eaten inside, the family took their meals out 
 
 of doors. 6 Amongst the Central Eskimo, " when a child 
 
 dies, women who carried it in their hands must throw 
 
 their jackets away if the child has urinated on them." 7 
 
 "Among the Navajos of New Mexico and Arizona the 
 
 person who touches or carries the dead body takes off 
 
 his clothes afterwards, and washes his body before 
 
 mingling with the living. s The Ilavars of Travancore 
 
 ascribe "pollution" to the house after a death. 9 The 
 
 Greenlanders believe that if a man when whale-fishing 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 156. 9 Leslie, op. cit. 197, 252. 
 
 3 W. Gregor, Folklore of the North-East of Scotland, 206. 
 
 4 T. G. F. Riedel, De siuik-en iroesharige rassen tusschen Seiches en Papua, 360. 
 
 5 S. Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, 204-5. 6 Turner, op. cit. 145. 
 
 7 F. Boas, The Central Eskimo, 612. 
 
 8 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 123. 9 Mateer, op. cit. 90. 
 
 H 
 
9 8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 wears a dirty dress, especially one that is contaminated 
 by touching a corpse, the whales will retire. 1 Amongst 
 the Bechuanas death is believed liable to come upon all 
 the cattle when a widow is mourning her husband. 2 In 
 the Aru Islands the humours of a decaying corpse are 
 used sometimes to make a man ill, by the help of the 
 soul of the dead man. During the first night after 
 getting rid of the dead body, no one will sleep in the 
 house for fear of being made sick by meeting the soul 
 of the dead man in their dreams. 3 The ceremonial " un- 
 cleanness," then, so generally ascribed to the dead, is the 
 property of taboo, and is based on the ideas of contact 
 which underlie social taboo. 
 
 Hence the custom of destroying the personal property 
 of the dead. The Zulus burn this " because they are 
 afraid to wear anything belonging to a dead man." 4 The 
 Nicobarese never use any object belonging to one who 
 has been murdered, unless it has been previously purified 
 by the sorcerer. 5 The Greenlanders throw out of the 
 house everything belonging to the dead man, else they 
 would be polluted and their lives unfortunate ; the 
 danger remains until the smell of the corpse has passed 
 away. 6 Here, as in other examples, there is seen the 
 obvious connection of the idea of contagion with smell. 
 The practice of cremation originated in the same way. 
 
 Another reason for this destruction of property, 
 namely, to provide the dead man with utensils and 
 furniture in the next world, is well known, and often 
 combines with the present explanation, though probably 
 it is later in origin. 
 
 Another result is the common practice of deserting 
 
 1 Cranz op. cit. i. 120. 2 South African Folklore "Journal, i. 34. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 267. 4 Callaway, of. cit. 13. 
 
 5 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 250. 6 Cranz, op. cit. i. 217. 
 
y THE SOIL A CONDUCTOR 99 
 
 the house, or destroying it, after sickness or death. A 
 common reason for this practice in sickness is to mislead 
 the evil spirits by removing the sick man to another 
 house. With this may be compared the custom of 
 pretending that the sick man is dead, by performing 
 funeral rites over a dummy corpse. Burial places are 
 notoriously of evil omen, because they are infected by 
 death and by the dead. The Gorngai and Tungu are 
 afraid to visit the places where the dead are buried, for 
 fear the spirits may make them ill. 1 The ground is 
 often regarded as a good conductor of evil and disease. 
 In Tenimber and Timorlaut strangers are not buried, for 
 fear that sickness may thus spread over the country. 2 
 From this idea comes the common objection to burial 
 among early peoples, no less than in modern times 
 when cremation is becoming fashionable. The Masai 
 do not bury people, because, as they say, the body 
 would poison the soil. 3 Exactly the same practice and 
 belief is found in East Central Africa. 4 This idea, com- 
 bined with fear of ghosts, has helped to form the relatively 
 late phenomena of ancestral and Chthonian hierology. It 
 is also one factor in the formation of the common idea 
 that the ground is dangerous. We shall not, perhaps, 
 be wrong in adding the multifarious dangers in the 
 shape of snakes, scorpions, and other things that creep 
 upon the ground. On this hypothesis we may explain 
 the rule that people in certain taboo states may not 
 touch the ground, because there is the abode of evil, 
 material and spiritual. Combined with this is the 
 other side of the idea, namely, that " virtue '" is apt to 
 be conducted into the soil by contact, as has been worked 
 out by Dr. Frazer. 5 As to spirits there residing, in 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 271. - Id. 306. 3 Thomson, op. cit. 21 1, 259. 
 
 4 jfourn. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 113. c Op. cit. iii. 202 sqq. 
 
ioo THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Ethiopia you should never throw fluid on the ground, 
 lest you hurt the dignity of some unseen elf. 1 The 
 natives of Kola and Kobroor fear the spirit who lives in 
 the ground. 2 The Bedouins never throw an object to 
 the ground without saying Tesdur, "Permission." 3 In 
 the Punjab spirits are thought to be in the habit of 
 upsetting bedsteads ; accordingly, bride and groom may 
 not sleep on bedsteads for several days before and after 
 marriage. 4 In spiritualistic seances held by Guiana 
 sorcerers, the rule is that one must not put one's feet to 
 the ground, for the spirits are swarming there. 5 
 
 From the belief in the contagion and infection of 
 death, combined with the belief in and fear of the 
 ghosts of the dead, the origin of which I would explain 
 on the lines used above in the account of personal 
 agents, arises the taboo upon mourners, who are, from 
 their proximity, in danger from the dead and also 
 dangerous to others. I would also attribute to this 
 contagion of death the rule of the ancient Romans, that 
 patrimi and matrimi only, boys and girls whose parents 
 respectively both live, may be acolytes in ceremonies. 
 
 Turning to the beneficent side of the taboo state, 
 where the individual is benevolent : he can transmit his 
 beneficence or good qualities, and others believe that 
 they can receive them from him, with the same limita- 
 tions connected with " intention." Rajah Brooke was 
 regarded by the Dyaks, because of what he had done 
 for them, as a supernatural being. He was believed 
 " to shed influence over them." Whenever he visited 
 a village, the people used to bring some of the padi 
 seed they were going to sow, for him to make it produc- 
 
 1 Harris, op. cit. ii. 296. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 271. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. v. 424. * Par.jab Notes and Queries, i. 214. 
 
 3 im Thurn, op. cit. 335. 
 
v TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 101 
 
 tive ; and women bathed his feet, preserving the water 
 to put on the fields and make them fertile. 1 Here is 
 the vague sort of beneficent influence materially trans- 
 mitted. In Melanesia, mana, which is a man's character, 
 ability, influence, and power combined, in other words, 
 himself and his attributes materialised, can be transferred 
 to young men or others by the laying- on of hands. 2 
 Amongst love-charms, the transmission by the lover 
 of his loving qualities, of himself impregnated with 
 love, to his mistress, to inspire her with affection, is 
 world-wide. Thus in European folk-custom, a lover 
 applies a piece of his hair, drops of his blood or sweat, 
 or water in which he has washed his hands, to the 
 garments of the girl whose affection he desires. 3 In 
 this kind of thing we reach down to the origin of ideas 
 of contact in physiological thought. Similarly, friend- 
 ship and friendly feelings are transmissible, as will be 
 seen in the ceremonies common at making peace or 
 consolidating friendship. 
 
 Again, world-wide customs attest the belief that 
 properties such as strength, courage, swiftness, and the 
 like, can be transmitted by contact with those possessing 
 them, or by assimilating separable parts of such persons. 
 Hence, as is at last becoming well known, the origin 
 and chief meaning of cannibalism. The flesh and blood, 
 of a man are, by a natural fallacy, regarded as the best 
 means for transmission of his properties. The flesh ot 
 a slain enemy is eaten and his blood drunk by the 
 savage in order to acquire his strength and courage. 
 The Bechuanas have a solemn ceremony of eating the 
 flesh of an enemy killed, " following the ancient super- 
 stition that eating human flesh inspires courage, and by 
 
 1 Low, op. c'lt. 247, 259. ! 2 Codrington, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst., I.e. 
 
 3 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 442 ff. 
 
102 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 degrees renders the warrior invincible. So far from 
 liking it, they feel abhorrence, and yield to it only from 
 superstition." l The flesh of a slain enemy is eaten in 
 Timorlaut to cure impotence.' 2 The New Caledonians 
 eat slain enemies to acquire courage and strength. 3 
 Before battle the Zulus " ceremoniously eat cattle to 
 get their qualities, that they may be brave." 4 The 
 Amaxosa drink the gall of an ox to make themselves 
 fierce. 5 The notorious Matuana drank the gall of 
 thirty chiefs, believing it would render him strong. 6 
 The Pinya, or armed band of the Dieri, by whom 
 offences are punished, after putting a man to death, 
 wash their weapons, " and, getting all the gore and 
 flesh adhering to them off, mix it with some water ; a 
 little of this is given to each to swallow, and they 
 believe that thereby they will be inspired with courage 
 and strength. The fat of the murdered man is cut off 
 and wrapped round the weapons of all the old men." 7 
 The people of Halmahera drink the blood of slain 
 enemies, in order to become brave. s In Amboina 
 warriors drink the blood of enemies they have killed, to 
 acquire their courage. 9 The Muskogees ate the hearts 
 of enemies to get courage, and their brains to get 
 intellect. 10 The Battas greedily drink the blood and 
 eat the flesh of prisoners of war and condemned 
 criminals. 11 The people of Celebes drink the blood of 
 enemies to make themselves strong. 12 
 
 The idea is further generalised amongst the natives 
 
 1 Lichtenstein, op. cit. ii. 290. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 279. 
 
 3 Gamier, Nowvelle Cal/donie, 347. ' Callaway, op. cit. 438. 
 
 5 Shooter, op. cit. 216. 6 Id. I.e. ' Curr, op. cit. ii. 53. 
 
 8 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 86. 
 
 9 Id. Dt sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 52. 
 
 10 J. Adair, op. cit. 135. u Featherman, op. cit. ii. 335. 
 12 Riedel, in Bijdragen tot de Taal Land en Volkenkunde <van Nederlandsch Indie, 
 
 xxxv. 5, 1. 90. 
 
v TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 103 
 
 of Central Australia. " When starting on an avenging 
 expedition or Atninga, every man of the party drinks 
 some blood, and also has some spurted over his body, 
 so as to make him what is called uckuilima, that is, lithe 
 and active. The elder men indicate from whom the 
 blood is to be drawn, and the men so selected must not 
 decline, though the amount drawn from a single 
 individual is often very great ; indeed, we have known 
 of a case in which blood was taken from a young and 
 strong man until he dropped down from sheer exhaus- 
 tion." * In the Luritcha tribe of Central Australia 
 " young children are sometimes killed and eaten, and 
 it is not an infrequent custom, when a child is in weak 
 health, to kill a younger and healthy one, and then to 
 feed the weakling on its flesh, the idea being that this 
 will give to the weak child the strength of the stronger 
 one." 2 The natives of the Dieri and neighbouring 
 tribes will eat a man and drink his blood in order to 
 acquire his strength ; the fat is rubbed on sick people. 3 
 In Tasmania a man's blood was often administered as a 
 healing draught. 4 South Australian women will rub 
 their gums till they bleed, and give the blood to be 
 swallowed by their husbands, to cure sickness. 5 Many 
 peoples, for instance the Yorubas, believe that the 
 " blood is the life." 6 The Shoshones believed that they 
 became animated by the spirit of a fallen foe if they 
 partook of his flesh. 7 From this comes the idea that 
 inspiration can be effected by drinking blood. 
 
 Similarly the flesh and blood of animals are taken to 
 acquire their characteristics. Hottentots will not eat 
 the flesh of hares, for fear it might make them timid, 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 461. 2 Id. 475. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. lnit. xxiv. 172, 178, 179, 182. 4 Bonwick, op. cit. 89. 
 
 5 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 178. 6 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 6S. 
 
 7 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 206, 
 
io 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 but they will eat a lion's flesh and drink its blood, in 
 order to get its courage and strength. 1 Among the 
 Motu boys eat pigs and other animals to acquire their 
 strength. 2 The men of Buru and the Aru Islands eat 
 dogs to become bold and nimble. 3 In Morocco it is 
 believed that eating lion's flesh makes cowards brave. 
 On the same principle ants are given to lethargic people, 
 an excellent practical application of the proverb. If a 
 woman meets an hyaena she becomes stupid, for the 
 hyaena is the most stupid of animals ; of a dull man 
 one says, " he has eaten the brains of an hyaena." A 
 woman will sometimes administer such brain-sauce to 
 her husband, who thus becomes stupid, and her ascen- 
 dancy over him is rendered complete. 4 
 
 Every part of a man's body is regarded by primitive 
 science as impregnated with his properties ; but such 
 parts are especially so considered which themselves are 
 held to have a special connection with the life and soul ; 
 and these are chiefly important organs and centres. 
 From each and any of these parts of the organism, 
 transmission of properties can be effected, with beneficent 
 or maleficent results according to circumstances or the 
 subjective estimate held at the time. Instructive 
 examples are found in folk-medicine. 5 
 
 Various modes of transmission have appeared already. 
 Others will be seen in the following examples. The 
 most certain method of acquiring properties is by eatinp - 
 and drinking, but any mode of contact will suffice, 
 and in such modes primitive thought includes sight, 
 proximity, and similar connections ; " intention " even 
 can form the link by actio in distans. We have also 
 
 1 Hahn, op. at. 106. 2 Chalmers, Pioneering in New Guinea, 1 66. 
 
 3 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, io, 262. 
 
 4 Leared, op. cit. 281, 304. 5 W. Black, Folk Medicine, passim. 
 
v MEANS OF TRANSMISSION 105 
 
 seen cases of transmission by the most obvious vehicle, 
 flesh and blood, and we now proceed to pass others in 
 review. The people of Wetar make especial use of the 
 blood and the head of slain enemies to acquire their 
 properties. 1 The head is naturally supposed sacred by 
 most peoples, the Siamese and the Maoris, for instance ; 
 if a Maori touched his head he had to put his fingers 
 to his nose " and snuff up the sanctity which they had 
 acquired by the touch, and thus restore it to the part 
 from which it was taken." Also he could not blow the 
 fire, for his breath being sacred communicated sanctity 
 to the fire, and any one using it for cooking might die. 2 
 The Malays still regard the head as "sacred." 3 A 
 New Zealand chief would eat the eyes of a dead enemy 
 to improve himself. 4 In the island Wetar the men 
 during war eat the tongue, heart, and liver of slain 
 enemies, believing that in these parts the soul resides. 
 They also drink their blood mixed with kalapa water. 5 
 In Buru they eat the hearts of dogs in order to become 
 brave and swift. After the Italones of Luzon have 
 killed an enemy, they drink his blood and eat raw the 
 lungs, brain, etc., supposing that this gives them spirit 
 and courage. 7 The Kamilaroi ate the heart and liver 
 of a brave man in order to obtain his courage. 8 In 
 Uganda the liver is regarded as the seat of the soul, 
 and by eating liver one may improve one's powers. 9 
 The Shire Highlanders eat the heart of a brave man to 
 . acquire his courage. 10 
 
 Another mode of transmission is rubbing the stuff 
 into the skin or anointing. Australians rub themselves 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at, 445. a Loubere, op. cit. i. 175; R. Taylor, Te ika a Maui, 165. 
 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 43. 4 Taylor, op. cit. 352. 5 Riedel, op. cit. I.e. 
 
 6 Id. 10. ' Featherman, op. cit. ii. 501. 8 Fison and Howitt, cp. cit. 160. 
 
 9 Felkin, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, xiii. 218. 
 
 10 J. Buchanan, The Shire' Highland, 13S. 
 
io6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 with the fat of a slain enemy, believing that his qualities 
 are thus transferred to themselves ; they rub sick persons 
 also with it. Human fat is used to grease weapons, 
 which thus gain additional power. 1 The fat of a pig 
 is melted and poured over and rubbed into the body of 
 the Andamanese boy at puberty ; this " makes him 
 strong." 2 We may compare such cases as that in the 
 Homeric hymn, where Demeter anointed Demophoon 
 with ambrosia, "breathed sweetness over him, and held 
 him in her arms " and " he waxed like a god." 3 
 Another method of the Andamanese is mere pressure 
 of the animal on to the person's body. 4 Or again, a 
 powder may be made of the substance. The Yorubas 
 sacrifice a slave to ensure success in war. The heart is 
 made into a powder, which mingled with rum is sold 
 to those who " wish to be endowed with courage." 
 They drink this, believing that the " heart is the seat 
 of courage, and the qualities with which it is inspired 
 
 r can be taken into the system." 5 Amongst the Northern 
 Indians the genital organs of any beast killed are eaten 
 
 i- by men and boys ; they must not be cut with an edge 
 tool, but are torn to pieces with the teeth. They 
 believe that if a dog should eat any part of them, it 
 would have the same effect on their success in hunting 
 that a woman crossing their hunting track at an im- 
 proper period would have. The same ill-success is 
 supposed to attend them if a woman eat any of those 
 parts. 6 Primitive thought by a natural fallacy attri- 
 butes strength to these parts and their secretions, just 
 
 - as it attributes life to blood. The Central Australians 
 
 1 Brough Smyth, op. cit. ii. 3135 Jcurn. Anthvop. Inst, xxiv. 178 ; Eyre, op. cit. 
 ii. 315. 2 E. H. Man, The Aborigines of the Andaman Islands, 66. 
 
 3 Hymn to Demeter, 236. 4 Man, in yourn. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 134. 
 
 5 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 69. 6 Hearne, op. cit. 319. 
 
VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION 107 
 
 administer blood from the genital organs in cases of 
 severe sickness. 1 The people of Mowat believe that 
 the penis of great warriors slain in battle possesses 
 " virtue," and it is therefore worn by the victor to 
 increase his strength.' 2 In South Africa during a pro- 
 tracted war, the soldiers are frequently " doctored " in 
 order to stimulate their courage. The heart, liver, and 
 testicles of the slain enemies are made into a broth, 
 which is taken internally, and also used as a war-paint. 3 
 The Woloffs carry the prepuce, removed at circum- 
 cision, as an amulet, believing that it will make them 
 strong in procreation. 4 
 
 Here may be mentioned a common case of primitive 
 argument from analogy, the idea, namely, that any 
 object resembling a part of the body, may possess the 
 virtues of such part. In this is probably to be found 
 the origin of the beliefs concerning beans and vegetables 
 of similar shape. Their obvious resemblance to the 
 testes is perhaps the ultimate explanation of the well- 
 known taboo, as enforced by the Pythagoreans. The 
 frequent prohibition against the eating of snakes, eels, 
 and similarly shaped animals has a similar origin. 
 
 In Devon and Scotland, to cure whooping-cough, a 
 hair from the child's head is put between slices of bread 
 ^and butter and given to a dog. If the dog cough 
 while eating it, the whooping-cough is transferred to 
 the animal and the child is cured. 5 In Devonshire 
 'you can give a neighbour ague by burying a dead 
 man's hair under his threshold. 6 Pliny mentions the 
 (use of hair to cure various sicknesses. 7 The Kaffir 
 charm, isiko lobulunga, consists in tying the long hair 
 
 ■I 
 
 1 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 464. 
 
 3 Id. xix. 416. 
 
 5 Black, op. cit. 35. 6 Id. 27. 
 
 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 462. 
 
 4 Re-vue d' Anthropologic for 188 1, 292. 
 
 7 Pliny, Historia Naturalis, xxviii. 20. 
 
108 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 drawn from the tail of a cow round one's neck, to 
 prevent any kind of evil. " Each family has certain 
 cattle set apart for this purpose, and which are to a 
 certain extent considered sacred." When a woman is 
 married, she takes with her the ox which has been 
 consecrated for her protection, and from the tail of 
 which the lobulunga or long hair was taken which is 
 tied round her neck. 1 After circumcision a Dieri boy j 
 has wrapped round his waist a rope of hair taken from 
 the heads of the men, women, and children. 2 Amongst ; 
 the Central Australians the use of the hair of others is I 
 a developed system ; every one is entitled to acquire I 
 hair from some one else, and the claim is arranged I 
 according to relationship. The intention of this use 1 ( 
 of hair is shown clearly by the following practice. The I 
 natives, when "avenging blood," "wear round the j 
 waist the kirra-urkna or girdle made from the hair 
 which has been cut from a warrior after his death, and 
 which is supposed to add to the wearer all the warlike 
 virtues of the dead man." 3 
 
 Amongst many peoples bones are used for healing 
 diseases and preventing danger, and for causing such. 
 The idea is that human virtue permanently resides in 
 them. Amongst the extinct Tasmanians the ashes of 
 a burnt body, human bones attached to the parts 
 affected, a child's skull hung round the neck, were 
 all efficacious means to stop the progress of disease. 4 
 In order to be invulnerable in war, the men of Timor- 
 laut wash in holy water, and use amulets. By way of 
 protection in battle, they use the epistropheus of a slain 
 enemy. The water in which it is placed is drunk and 
 
 1 Maclean, op. cit. 92, 93. 2 Curr, op. cit. ii. 56. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 480, 539. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 106 ; J. G. Bourke, Scatalogic Rites of all Nations, 
 
 378-79- 
 
v VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION 109 
 
 the body washed with it. 1 Pliny mentions the custom 
 according to which the first tooth shed by a child was 
 worn as an amulet, and protected him from pain ; some- 
 times this cured toothache. 2 
 
 Finger-nail clippings are used in folk-medicine to 
 transmit strength. Human skin, flesh, and " mummy ,: 
 are used for the same purpose. 3 The Manicheans 
 sprinkled their eucharistic bread with human semen, a 
 custom followed by the Albigenses. 4 Human semen, 
 as medicine, is used by many peoples, as by the 
 Australians, who believe it an infallible remedy for 
 severe illness. 5 It is so used in European folk-custom, 
 where we also find it used as a love-charm, on the 
 principle of transmission of qualities. 7 Menstrual blood 
 is also used in medicine and as a love-charm. 8 Pliny 
 states that if door-posts are touched with menstrual 
 fluid, all spells of witchraft are dissolved. 9 The men- 
 strual fluid is used in Angola to cure bites of centipedes. 10 
 The Ovaherero believe that to add one's urine, even 
 unintentionally, to the food of another, bewitches that 
 person and does him grievous harm. 11 Urine is very 
 commonly used in folk-medicine. 12 Amongst the ex- 
 tinct Tasmanians the urine of women was thought to 
 possess specific virtues. 13 Amongst most Australians 
 aspersion of female urine was held to be a panacea for 
 nearly all ailments. 14 
 
 The Kaffirs hold it a capital crime to ease nature in 
 la cattle-fold, or in a river, as it pollutes the water. 15 In 
 
 1 Riedel, of. ch. 298. 2 Pliny, of. cit. xxviii. 7, 12. 
 
 8 Bourke, of. cit. 256, 346-47 ; Pliny, of. cit. xxviii. 10. 
 
 4 Picart, Coutumes et ceremonies religieuses, viii. 79. 
 
 5 Beveridge, The Aborigines of Victoria and Ri-verina, 55 ; Bourke, op. cit. I.e. 
 
 6 Id. 343, 355. 7 Id. 219. 8 Id. 354. 
 
 9 Pliny, xxviii. 24. ° Bourke, of. cit. 351-52. u Id. 376. 
 12 Id. 300, 338 ; Eyre, joo. 13 Featherman, of. cit. ii. 106. 
 14 Id. ii. 177. 15 Lichtenstein, of. cit. i. 289. 
 
 r 
 
 / 
 
 
/ 
 
 no THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 this case we see the deleterious aspect of a taboo sub- 
 stance, and the action of disgust. 
 
 Again, the smell of a man contains his properties. 
 Thus when a Central Australian black-fellow is eating, 
 he must take care that certain relatives by marriage do 
 not see what he is eating, lest they should spoil it by 
 what is called Equilla timma, which means " projecting 
 their smell into it." Should a man eat meat which 
 has been killed or seen by any of these persons, the 
 food would disagree with him, and he would sicken 
 and suffer severely. 1 
 
 Human qualities are transmitted by the breath. 
 Chiquito doctors fill themselves with dainties, chickens, 
 hens, and partridges, etc., to render their health whole- 
 somer and stronger, for blowing the body of patients. 2 
 Healing by the breath is a common idea in the East. 3 
 Blowing on a person is a common method of " bewitch- 
 ing- " him. A Maori could not blow the fire, for his 
 breath being sacred, communicated his sanctity to it, 
 and some one might use the fire for cooking and be 
 thus injured. 4 Health is transmitted by breathing 
 amongst the Columbians. 5 The common people of 
 Timor place the hand before the mouth when they 
 address the Rajah, that their profane breath may not 
 pollute him. 6 
 
 Pliny notes that the Greeks used the scrapings of 
 the bodies of athletes to cure rheumatism, sprains, and 
 uterine troubles. 7 
 
 Folk-medicine has examples of the transference of 
 disease by putting one's sweat on a dog. s The Nubians 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 469. 2 Dobrizhoffer, op. ch. ii. 263. 
 
 3 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 200 ; Skeat, op. cit. 430 ; R. F. Burton, The Arabian 
 Nights, v. 30. 4 Taylor, op. cit. 165. 
 
 5 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 286. 6 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 465. 
 
 7 Pliny, op. cit. xxviii. 18. s Bourke, op. cit. 349. 
 
v VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION in 
 
 " suppose it will give them strength to apply the sweat 
 of their horses to their own bodies. After a ride they 
 scrape off the sweat from their horses' backs with the 
 hand, and rub it about their persons as if it were one of 
 their ordinary greasy ointments. A horse is not an 
 unclean animal, and cannot defile." These people have 
 a practice which shows well the ideas of transmission 
 of properties. Before the tongue of any animal is 
 eaten, the tip is cut off; on human analogy they believe 
 that " here is the seat of curses and ill-wishes." 1 
 
 Some Queensland tribes used to flay a slain enemy 
 and preserve the skin as powerful " medicine." They 
 would cover their patients with it as with a blanket. 2 
 This case forms a link with those in which a man's 
 garments contain his properties, and accordingly can 
 transmit them through the bodily exhalations remaining 
 therein. In early thought a man's dress is a real part 
 of him, and can be used as a substitute for him. Thus 
 in Tonga, when the office of high priest was vacant, his 
 dress was put on his chair, and yams were offered to it. 
 It was supposed to be an exact equivalent. 3 The Zulus 
 call in " the lightning-doctor " to avert hail-storms. If 
 he is not at home, they take his blanket, and spread it 
 out before the storm. It is regarded as an equivalent. 4 
 On the principle of transmission, the Mikado's clothes, 
 if worn by any one else, would cause the wearer pain 
 land produce swellings. His taboo "sanctity" was such 
 that his eating and drinking vessels were destroyed after 
 being used once ; any one eating from them would be 
 seriously injured. 5 
 
 Transmission of properties for good or evil, and 
 
 1 Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 326, 327. 2 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 223. 
 
 3 S. S. Farmer, Tonga and the Friendly Islands, 130. 
 
 4 Callaway, cp. cit. 278. 5 Frazer, op. cit.- iii. 233. 
 
ii2 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 assimilation of various kinds, are effected by eating food 
 which a person has touched with his hands or any part 
 of his body, or by eating with him or in his presence, 
 or even by using the same kind of food and drink. 
 This is a large subject, and will be separately discussed 
 later. The connection of saliva with eating leads up to 
 the next vehicle of transmission. The Masai asked 
 Joseph Thomson to spit on them, believing his saliva to 
 " have sovereign virtues." With these people spitting 
 is a regular "expression of goodwill," and is customary 
 at meetings and partings. 1 A curious instance, showing 
 how this method of transmission can be extended, is 
 found amongst the Zulus. The Amatongo (ancestral 
 spirits) cause men to be sick ; if a man dreams of one, 
 the "doctor" tells him to spit out the spittle which is 
 in his mouth when he dreams, and throw it behind his 
 back ; should he look behind him, the dream will 
 recur." 2 The practice of using saliva for healing purposes 
 and for love-charms is very common. 3 The trans- 
 mission or projection of hatred, contempt, and other 
 feelings by spitting is world-wide, and leads back to an 
 animal practice. To spit in a man's face is the grossest 
 form of insult throughout mankind, 4 and, like similar 
 acts of animals, it is physically the modification of a 
 blow, as is all contact itself. 
 
 Woman's milk is often used in folk-medicine to 
 transmit health and strength. Conversely, a Bondei 
 infant may not drink any milk but that of relatives, for 
 fear of usawi witchcraft ; 5 and the Garos abhor milk as 
 " diseased matter." A similar fear of human contagion 
 is seen in the Kaffir custom. Milk is the chief article 
 
 1 Thomson, op. cit. 165, 1 66. 2 Callaway, op. cit. 161. 
 
 3 Bourke, op. cit. 348. 4 Riedel, op. cit. 259, 295, 406. 
 
 5 G. Dale, in J own. Anthrop. Inst, xxv. 183. 
 
 6 H. B. Rowney, Wild Tribes of India, 193. 
 
v VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION 113 
 
 of food for all classes among the Kaffirs. One man 
 only is allowed to touch the milk-bag. 1 
 
 Again, remoter forms of connection can effect trans- 
 mission. The natives of the Mary River and Bunya- 
 Bunya country had a great fear of persons stepping over 
 their bodies while lying down. " When camping out 
 with a black boy I have unthinkingly stepped over him, 
 and have known him involuntarily to cry out with fear 
 and to denounce the ignorance and stupidity of white 
 people." They also "had a strange dread of passing 
 under a leaning tree or even under the rails of a fence. 
 Their reason for this was that a female might have been 
 upon the tree or fence, and that some blood from her 
 might have fallen upon it, and might fall from it on 
 them." 2 Amongst other Australian tribes, a woman 
 stepping over a man whilst asleep on the ground raises 
 serious apprehensions. 3 The Bedouins believe that a 
 person stepping over another who lies prostrate on the 
 ground transfers to him all the maladies to which he is 
 subject, or from which he may be suffering at the time. 4 
 jWhen the son of Babar was lying at the point of death, 
 and the doctors could do nothing, " it was suggested 
 that nothing could save him but some supreme sacrifice 
 to God. Babar eagerly caught at the hope, and resolved 
 at once to lay down his life for his son. He entered 
 his son's chamber, and, going to the head of the bed, 
 walked gravely three times round the sick man, saying 
 the while : ' On me be all that thou art suffering.' 
 ' I have prevailed,' at last he was heard to cry, ' I have 
 taken it.' " 5 In Tenimber it is a great insult to step 
 over a man who is lying on the ground. As an insult 
 
 1 Maclean, op. cit. 152. 2 Curr, op. cit. iii. 179. 
 
 3 Li. i. 50. 4 Featherman, op. cit. v. 424. 
 
 5 Lane Poole, Babar : the Founder of the Mughal Dynasty. 
 
 I 
 
 
ii 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 it is coupled with spitting in a man's face. 1 In Ceram 
 when passing by a person who is sitting down, one must 
 bow. 2 Mere touch or proximity even is quite enough. 
 The sensitive part of a Kaffir " doctor" is his shoulders. 
 No one may touch him there. If a man merely stands 
 behind a doctor, he sends him off" with the cry, " Get 
 away ! you are hurting me ; it is as if you sat upon 
 
 : 
 
 me. d 
 
 Further, in Ethiopia disease can be caused by the 
 shadow of an enemy falling upon one. 4 Amongst the 
 Hawaiians people may not let their shadows fall upon 
 the chief. 5 The Malays and West Africans regard a 
 man's shadow as a soul. 6 
 
 The mere act of sight can also transmit qualities. 
 Thus Kolosh women during menstruation and child- 
 birth live in a special hut. They are avoided by the 
 men, and wear at menstruation a peculiar hat, that they 
 " may not defile heaven with a look." 7 Similarly 
 amongst the Aleuts. s When Kaffirs have killed the J 
 "sacred" lion, to avert "danger" they rub their eyes 
 with his skin, before they look at his dead body. 9 The 
 natives of Borneo are afraid lest Europeans, by looking 
 at them, should make them ill. 10 Some Papuans com- 
 plained to an explorer that they began to die " as 
 soon as you looked at us." n Guiana Indians, before 
 approaching a dangerous place, rub their eyes with 
 pepper to make them fill with water, by way of not 
 seeing the dreaded object. 1 
 
 12 
 
 I Riedel, op. cit. 295. 2 Id. 129. 
 
 3 Callaway, op. cit. 159. 4 Harris, op. cit. ii. 158. 
 
 5 C. de Varigny, £>uatorze Am aux lies Sandiuich, 13. 
 
 6 Slceat, op. cit. 575 ; W. Reade, Savage Africa, 539. 
 
 7 Erman, op. cit. ii. 318. 8 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 434. 
 
 9 Arbousset and Daumas, Tour to the North-East Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 214. 10 Schwaner, Borneo, ii. 167. 
 
 II DAlbertis, op. cit. 53. 12 im Thurn, op. cit. 369. 
 
v VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION 115 
 
 Similar phenomena are connected with the sense of 
 sight throughout the world. As are all the senses, so 
 sight is a form of contact, both in modern physics, 
 primitive belief, and still to some extent in ordinary 
 civilised ideas. The " power of the human eye " is a 
 case of this, and we still fear " influence " by being 
 looked at or by seeing persons and things. We prevent 
 a child from seeing a dead person for sentimental 
 reasons — early man did so for the more practical 
 purpose of avoiding contagion. 1 So I would explain 
 the common rule which forbids one to look back after 
 performing a dangerous thing or visiting a dangerous 
 place. An interesting feature of these beliefs appears 
 in the above-cited cases ; to the savage, the same result 
 ensues from seeing a dangerous thing and from being 
 seen by it. The sense of sight is both active and 
 passive, and contact through it can be effected from 
 either end. The myth of the ostrich, which is supposed 
 to bury its head in the sand in the idea that it thus 
 becomes invisible, is repeated in human thought, both 
 when the savage shuts his eyes to avoid seeing a dreaded 
 thing, as an equivalent to not being seen by it, and 
 'when we shut our eyes to escape from a sight we are 
 afraid of, or a thought that we would expel. The 
 jworld-wide belief in the " evil eye," and the fact that 
 sychical influence is most easily exerted by the look, 
 llustrate these ideas. It is especially envy that is here 
 ransmitted. Lane mentions the case of an Egyptian 
 efusing to buy meat from a well-patronised butcher's 
 hop, because it would be poisonous to eat meat which 
 bad hung in the street before the eyes of the public, so 
 mat every beggar who passed envied it. 2 
 
 Lastly, a man's words — heard, reported, or read — can 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 361. 2 Lane, op. cit. i. 326. 
 
 
n6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 transmit his " influence," both in our sense and in the 
 primitive material sense of the word ; and here we 
 have another curious illustration of the really scientific 
 materialism of earlv men. A man's kind words trans- 
 mit his kind feelings ; the civilised man and the 
 uncivilised alike recognise the result in their own 
 consciousness when they hear such words, but in the 
 latter case material transmission has been effected. In 
 the same way, a man's hatred is projected by a curse, 
 and a man's general character can be transmitted, as 
 will be seen hereafter, by taking his name. The name 
 in savage thought is a real part of a man, or rather it 
 is his " essence," 'the "real" sum of his characteristics. 
 But so it is to us, if we consider the matter ; the only 
 difference is that to the savage the idea is " real " in the 
 scholastic sense, to us it is " nominal." 
 
 Modern Egyptians cure sickness by writing a pas- 
 sage from the Koran on the inside of an earthern bowl ; 
 water is poured in and stirred till the writing is worked 
 off ; the patient drinks the water with the sacred words 
 thus infused. 1 The Malays write charms on paper or 
 cloth and wear them on the person ; sometimes they 
 are written on the body itself, especially on the part to 
 be affected ; occasionally they are written on a cup, 
 which is then used for drinking purposes. 2 These 
 cases serve to show what is a natural extension, trans- 
 mission of properties effected from objects such as 
 fetishes and charms, which are endowed by man's ideas 
 with virtue and power, a conception well illustrated by 
 the people of Surinam who wear iron, the " strong sub- 
 stance," in order to acquire strength, 3 or from things 
 
 1 Lane, of. cit. i. 328. " Skeat, of. cit. 567. 
 
 3 Martin, in Bijcragen tot de Taa! Lander. Vclkenkur.de -van Nederlar.dxh b:die, 
 xxxv. 5, 1. 24 
 
 A 
 
v VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION 117 
 
 which have a connection with gods or sacred objects, 
 such as holy water and consecrated substances. The 
 Andamanese, before leaving home, get a medicine man 
 to give them charms to keep off harm at the hands of 
 those they are going to visit. He applies an ointment 
 to their bodies and weapons. Hence they bear a 
 charmed life, and their weapons are sure to kill. 1 
 When going to war, the Tenimberese are sprinkled 
 with holy water ; they also eat snakes in order to be 
 brave. As charms against danger in war, they wear 
 the vertebra of a slain foe, as a necklace ; also they steep 
 this in water, then drink, and wash their bodies with it. 2 
 Transmission of properties can thus be effected by 
 any portion of the organism, or by anything that, in 
 the wide view taken by the savage, belongs to the 
 personality ; but, conversely, as each and all of these are 
 instinct with the life and character of the possessor, it 
 ^follows that any result produced upon any of them, is 
 regarded as done to the whole man. In primitive 
 thought, the individualistic conception of personality is 
 so sensitive, and so materialistic, that anything which 
 has once formed part of the man, or anything that has 
 been in but momentary contact with him, is held to 
 retain its connection, and, when acted upon, to affect 
 the original owner, whose substance it still preserves. 
 From this derive two widely spread ideas, which are, 
 like so many early thoughts, complementary to each 
 other. The first is that of the external soul, as to" 
 which I need but refer to Dr. Frazer's account ; s the 
 second is the common belief that a part of one's self 
 may be used as a substitute for the whole, or sacrificed 
 to preserve the rest of the personality. The Fijians 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 275. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 298. 
 
 3 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough", iii. 353 fF. 
 
n8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 performed acts of devotion at mourning. They cut 
 their hair short, burned the skin, and lopped off the 
 end joints of the little toe and little finger. 1 To secure 
 success in an undertaking the Mandans lop off one of 
 the phalanges of their fingers, and preserve it in a 
 bundle of absinthium. 2 
 
 The idea that detachable portions of the organism 
 retain the substance and life of the possessor, and, as 
 such, bring upon him any injury they may receive, 
 explains a common set of beliefs and practices con- 
 cerned with the placenta, umbilical cord, and the " caul." 
 In Amboina the placenta is hidden away in a tree. 3 In 
 the Babar Islands women hang it in a tree ; on their 
 way they carry weapons, " because evil spirits might, if 
 they got hold of the placenta, make the child ill." 4 
 The remains of the umbilical cord are sacred in New 
 Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, and many parts of the world. 5 
 In Iceland the caul is supposed to contain a part of the 
 child's soul. It is kept safe, therefore, and sometimes 
 buried under the threshold. "Whoever destroys it, 
 "robs the child of its soul." 6 The sacred character 
 of the caul is well known in European folklore. 7 A 
 particular point in connection with these appurtenances 
 of the new-born child is, that as they preserve the sub- 
 stance of the possessor, they can give him health and 
 strength in after-life. If a child is born with a caul, 
 Amboinese women preserve this, and when the child is 
 ill, dip it in water and give this water to the child to 
 drink. s In Ceram the remains of the umbilical cord 
 are kept, and hung round the child's neck to keep- off 
 sickness, or are otherwise used when the child is ill. 9 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 205. 2 Id. op. cit. iii. 303. 3 Riedel, op. cit. 23. 
 
 4 Id. 355. 5 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 15. a Id. i. 13. 
 
 7 Id. i. 14. 8 Riedel, ot>. cit. 74. 9 Id. 135. 
 
v THE BROTHER AND SISTER 119 
 
 In the Watubela Islands the placenta is buried under a 
 tree. The remains of the umbilical cord are preserved, 
 to be used as medicine for the child. 1 In the islands 
 Leti, Moa, and Lakor the child's navel-string is kept, 
 and used by him later as an amulet in war or when 
 travelling. 2 It is used as an amulet by the Somalis, 
 Kalmucks, Chinese, Soongars, and Alfoers of Celebes. 3 
 In Greenland it cures the child's sicknesses. In ancient 
 Peru and modern Europe it cures the child to whom it 
 is given to suck. 4 Similarly with the " caul " with 
 which an infant is sometimes born. 5 The Central 
 Australians work the navel-string into a necklace 
 which the child wears round its neck. " This makes it 
 grow, keeps it quiet, and averts illness." The connec- 
 tion, already noticed, between these appurtenances and 
 the idea of the external soul, is also seen in the follow- 
 ing cases : the Fijians buried the umbilical cord with a 
 cocoa-nut, the last being intended to grow up by the 
 time the child reached maturity. 7 It is interesting to 
 compare the modern custom of planting a tree as a 
 record of the birth of a child. The navel-string and 
 the placenta are in South Celebes called the " brother " 
 and " sister " of the child. 8 
 
 We have seen the transmission, chiefly involuntary, 
 of a man's properties through contact with him or with 
 any part of him, or object that has had connection with 
 him, and we now come to what is a development of 
 these ideas of contact, in cases where the individual 
 transmits his own properties or his feelings by means of 
 contact with himself or by putting detachable parts of 
 himself in contact with others, by an act of will or 
 
 1 Id. 208. - Id. 391. 3 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 16, 17. 
 
 4 Id. 17, 18. 5 Id. 392. 6 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 461. 
 
 7 Williams, op. cit. i. 175. 8 Matthes, op. cit. 57. 
 
120 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 " intention." To impart " virtue " or ability, the 
 Melanesian who is full of it {rnand) lays his hands on 
 the recipient. 1 The latter, of course, consciously or 
 subconsciously would here perform an act of faith. So 
 the lover imparts his love to his mistress by all kinds 
 of methods — he sends a lock of hair, or food he has 
 touched, in the hope that his personality contained 
 therein will soften her heart, that is, that she may be 
 assimilated to him by contact with him. 
 
 Enemies, on the other hand, can do the same by all 
 these methods, but it is not surprising that they seldom 
 use them. The reason is that they would thus put 
 themselves in the power of the very man they wish to 
 hurt, by giving to him a part of themselves, for he may 
 injure them by magic treatment of it, which his own 
 virus contained in the part might not be strong enough 
 to overcome. The best course is then naturally found 
 to be, either to use the mere act of will, or to get hold 
 of some detachable part of the man, or anything that 
 has been in contact with him, and by working the 
 " intention" on that, to do him hurt. The idea is, as 
 stated above, a man is not distinguished from his 
 separate parts, and injury done to them is done to him. 
 The easy analogy which leads the savage to " make- 
 believe," assists him here. It will be convenient to 
 give to this widely spread method and theory the name 
 it has in Australia, where its development is very 
 complete, that of ngadhungi. Both the act of will, 
 assisted sometimes by a make-believe process, and also 
 the method of ngadhungi are, as will be obvious, 
 developments of the ideas of contact ; and both, 
 it is hardly necessary to premise, are often used for 
 benevolent purposes. The following cases show how 
 
 1 Supra, 83, 84. 
 
v THE INTENTION 121 
 
 the " intention ".or subjective attitude may produce the 
 various results connected with taboo. In order to 
 ward off" a danger from themselves, or to send evil 
 to another person, the Zulus squirt water containing 
 medicine from the mouth. 1 To cause a person to 
 become thin and weak, the Arunta puts spittle on the 
 tips of his fingers, which are then bunched together 
 and jerked in the direction of the victim. This is 
 called Puliliwuma or spittle-throwing. 2 A string-whip 
 associated with magic is carried by Central Australian 
 men. " The sight of one is alone enough to cause 
 the greatest fright to a woman who has offended her 
 husband, while the stroke is supposed to result in 
 death, or at least in maiming for life. In addition to 
 this use, the ililika is sometimes unwound and cracked 
 like a whip in the direction of any individual whom it 
 is desired to injure, when the evil influence is supposed 
 to travel through the air, and so to reach the victim." 3 
 In many Amboina villages there are persons who anoint 
 their eyes daily with certain ingredients, in order to 
 increase their keenness of sight, and to acquire "a warm 
 eye." Such are greatly feared, for they can by con- 
 centration of a look make any one ill and poison 
 food. 4 Amongst the Nicobarese there are sorcerers, 
 who possess the power not only of curing diseases 
 but of afflicting people with various ailments, and can 
 j even cause death by a mere act of power. 5 Sorcerers 
 . are very dangerous in Cambodia, in that they can en- 
 ; chant people by a mere act of will. 6 Hidatsa sorcerers 
 i can injure persons at a distance. 7 In Tenimber and 
 Timor-laut a common method of causing a man to be 
 
 1 Callaway, op. cit. 435. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 552. 
 
 3 Id. 540. * Riedel, op. cit. 61. 5 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 248. 
 
 6 Aymonier, op. cit. 182. 7 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 322. 
 
122 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 ill is to place objects, such as thorns and sharp stones, 
 on the ground where he is likely to pass. Over these 
 curses have been muttered. The person walking over 
 these objects will fall ill. Another method is to use 
 curses, and blow in a special way under a man's house. 1 
 This illustrates a principle of savage " make-believe," 
 viz. a fear of direct action. Amongst the Orang 
 Benuas are sorcerers who have the art of tuju, which is 
 the power of killing an enemy at a distance ; this is 
 done by pointing a dagger or a sumpitan in his direc- 
 tion. 2 The Australians have a well-known method of 
 injuring persons at a distance, by pointing a bone at 
 them. 3 Being the bone of a dead man, it has in it 
 both human qualities and the contagion of death, but 
 apart from these accidents, the essence of the practice 
 is this ; the man first sings curses and evil wishes over 
 it, e.g. " may your heart be rent asunder," and his will 
 or " intention " of hatred and malice enters materially 
 into the bone, and veritably " informs " it. As the 
 natives explain, " any bone, stick, spear, etc., which has 
 been ' sung,' is endowed with Arungquiltha, magical 
 poisonous properties," but these are the man's tempor- 
 ary characteristics of hate materially conceived. 4 There 
 are actual cases where a man who has been hit by a 
 " sung " spear, or knows that a man has pointed " the 
 bone " at him, has pined away and died of fear. 5 For 
 a very different object, that of inspiring love, the same 
 method is used. Women " sing " over necklets of fur, 
 which they place round the man's neck, or "sing" 
 over some food which they then give him to eat. 6 
 They transfuse, in fact, their "intention" of love 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 304. 2 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 441. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 188. 4 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 534, 537. 
 
 5 Id. I.e. 6 Id. 548. 
 
v TAKING THE OATH 123 
 
 into the substance, and thus it passes to the person 
 intended. 
 
 The same conception is the essential feature of a 
 common class of oaths and ordeals, which in primitive 
 practice are identical. The formula of the oath passes 
 materially into the thing sworn by, which, as Greek 
 reminds us, was the original oath, and as the following 
 cases show, is of such a character as to do that injury 
 to the perjurer which he invokes upon himself. The 
 " oath " is held, or eaten or drunk, so as to ensure 
 assimilation, and if perjury or treachery results, the 
 wish has its effect and renders the substance of the 
 " oath " deleterious. Thus in Madagascar parties 
 taking an oath pray that the liquor drunk, which is 
 the material " oath," may turn into poison for him 
 who breaks it. 1 In Ceram an oath is taken by eating 
 food in which a sword has been placed. 2 In Tenimber 
 the oath-taker invokes death, and drinks his own blood 
 in which a sword has been dipped. 3 The Tunguses 
 drink the blood of a dog, which is then burned, and 
 the wish made is " may I burn as this dog if I break 
 my oath." 4 When the Timorese take an oath they 
 drink water mixed with gunpowder and earth, saying, 
 " May I die of sickness, by powder or the sword, if I 
 swear falsely." 5 Amongst the Malays, when swearing 
 fidelity, alliance, etc., water in which daggers, spears, or 
 bullets have been dipped, is drunk, the drinker saying, 
 " If I turn traitor, may I be eaten up by this dagger or 
 spear." 6 A Balinese when giving evidence takes in 
 his hand a basin of water, and pronounces these words, 
 " May I perish with my whole generation if what I say 
 is not true," and in confirmation of this sacramental 
 
 1 D'Urville, op. cit. 181. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 129. 3 Id. 284. 
 
 4 Georgi, op. cit. 48. 5 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 466. 6 Skeat, op. cit. 528. 
 
i2 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 declaration he drinks the water. 1 The terms of a 
 Sumatran oath are, " If what I now declare is truly and 
 really so, may I be freed and cleared from my oath ; 
 if what I assert is wittingly false, may my oath be the 
 cause of my destruction." 2 The same material trans- 
 mission of " intention " is the motive power behind the 
 practice of setting tabu-marks on property. The in- 
 dignation of the injured party informs the notice, just 
 as the power of the law is behind the name on a 
 modern warning to trespassers. For the security of 
 property in the Luang -Sermata Islands, they place 
 marks thereon to warn people from trespassing. Any 
 person found trespassing, becomes ill or dies. They 
 are of various kinds : a notice made of hen-feathers 
 causes pains in the thief's back ; one sort causes him 
 to be struck by lightning, another to be eaten by 
 sharks. 3 Similarly, sickness follows trespassers on 
 property thus protected in the island Makiser. 4 
 
 The method of ngadhungi is well known. On the 
 principle stated above, a man can work injury or any 
 result according to his " intention '' on another, by 
 treating parts of him in various ways. It will be 
 remembered that a man's food is especially connected 
 with him, from the mere fact of the important results 
 of food to the organism, and it will be noticed that 
 such detachable portions of personality as food, hair, 
 nail-parings, clothes, and the like, are peculiarly easy to 
 get hold of. Amongst the aborigines of Queensland 
 any food left over from the meal is always burnt, to 
 prevent the possibility of sorcerers getting hold of it 
 and injuring them by means of the food. 5 The western 
 tribes of Victoria " believe that if an enemy gets 
 
 1 Featherman, op. clt. ii. 408. 2 W. Marsden, Sumatra, 238. 
 
 s Riedel, op. c'lt. 317. 4 Id, 414. 5 C. Lumholtz, Among Cannibals, 298. 
 
v NGADHUNGI 125 
 
 possession of anything that has belonged to them, even 
 such things as bones of animals which they have eaten, 
 broken weapons, feathers, portions of dress, pieces of 
 skin, or refuse of any kind, he can employ it as a charm 
 to produce illness in the person to whom they belonged. 
 They are, therefore, very careful to burn up all rubbish 
 or uncleanness before leaving a camping-place. Should 
 anything belonging to an unfriendly tribe be found at 
 any time, it is given to the chief, who preserves it as a 
 means of injuring the enemy. This wuulon is lent to 
 any one of the tribe who wishes to vent his spite against 
 any one belonging to the unfriendly tribe. When used 
 as a charm, the wuulon is rubbed over with emu fat 
 mixed with red clay, and tied to the point of a spear- 
 thrower, which is stuck upright in the ground before 
 the camp-fire. The company sit round watching it, 
 but at such a distance that their shadows cannot fall 
 on it. They keep chanting imprecations on the enemy 
 till the spear-thrower turns round and falls in his 
 direction." 1 "The whole community of the Narrinyeri 
 is influenced by disease -makers. Their method is 
 called ngadhungi, and is practised in the following 
 manner. Every adult black-fellow is constantly on the 
 look-out for bones of ducks, swans, or other birds, or 
 fish, the flesh of which has been eaten by anybody. 
 When a man has obtained a bone, he supposes that he 
 possesses the power of life and death over the man, 
 woman, or child who ate its flesh. Should circumstances 
 arise calculated to excite the resentment of the disease- 
 maker towards the person who ate the flesh of the 
 animal from which the bone was taken, he immediately 
 sticks the bone in the ground near the fire, firmly 
 believing that it will produce disease in the person for 
 
 1 Dawson, cf>. clt. 54. 
 
126 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 whom it was designed, however distant he may be. 
 Death also may result. All the natives, therefore, are 
 careful to burn the bones of the animals which they eat, 
 so as to prevent their enemies from getting hold of 
 them. When a person is ill, he generally regards his 
 sickness as a result of ngadhungi, and tries to discover 
 who is the disease-maker. When he thinks that he has 
 discovered him, he puts down a ngadhungi to the fire, 
 for the purpose of retaliating, that is, if he possesses 
 one made of an animal from which his enemy has eaten. 
 I And if he has not, he tries to borrow one. Frequently, 
 when a man has got the ngadhungi of another, he will 
 go to him and say, ' I have your ngadhungi, what will 
 you give me for it ? ' Perhaps the other man will say 
 that he has one belonging to the person who asks him, 
 and in that case they will make an exchange, and each 
 destroy the ngadhungi. The constant seeking for 
 revenge caused by this belief produces an atmosphere 
 of suspicion among the natives. It is often the case 
 that they will trust none but relatives ; all others are 
 regarded as possible enemies." l In the Encounter Bay 
 tribe the same superstition is rampant. If a man has 
 not been able to get a bone of an animal eaten by his 
 foe, he takes an animal, and cooks and offers the meat 
 in a friendly manner to his intended victim, having 
 previously taken from it a piece of bone. 2 In Tanna 
 the disease-makers injure a man by burning his nahak, 
 that is, the refuse of his food, or any article that has 
 been in close contact with his body. When a person is 
 taken ill, he believes that it is occasioned by some one 
 who is burning his nahak ; and if he dies, his friends ascribe 
 it to the disease-maker as having burnt the refuse to the 
 end. All the Tannese carry small baskets about with 
 
 1 Native Tribes of South Australia, 24, 25, 26, 136. 2 Id. 196. 
 
v NGADHUNGI 127 
 
 them, into which they put banana skins, cocoanut husk, 
 or any refuse from that which they may have been 
 eating, in order to avoid its discovery by an enemy, 
 until reaching and crossing a stream of running water, 
 which alone has the power of annulling such con- 
 tingency. "It is surprising how these men are dreaded, 
 and how strong the belief is that they have in their 
 hands the power of life and death." The belief " has 
 so strong a hold in Tanna that all the continual fights 
 and feuds are attributable to it." 1 The practice of 
 burning a man's food in order to injure him flourishes 
 in New Britain ; the islanders are therefore careful to 
 hide or burn their leavings. 2 In the Banks Islands one 
 man can injure another by charming some bit of food, 
 hair, or nail-parings, anything in fact that has been in 
 close connection with his body ; they are consequently 
 at pains to hide all such. 3 In Pululaa (Solomon Islands) 
 guests bring their own food to feasts, as they may not 
 eat the food set out. The belief is that if a visitor 
 should purposely or accidentally retain a morsel of food 
 of his host, he can thereby exercise a mysterious influence 
 over the giver of the feast. In such a contingency the 
 host will redeem the lost fragment at as high a figure as 
 he can afford. 4 In the Solomon Islands, again, an enemy 
 will throw scraps of his victim's food into a sacred pool, 
 of which he knows the spirit or Tindalo. If the food 
 is eaten by a fish or snake the man will die. 5 Through- 
 out Melanesia it is believed that one man may harm 
 another by taking bits of his food into a sacred place, 
 upon which the victim's lips will swell and his body 
 break out with ulcers. 6 In the New Hebrides, when 
 
 1 G. Turner, Nineteen Years in Polynesia, 89 ; B. T. Somerville, in Journ. Anthrop. 
 hist, xxiii. 19, 20. 2 W. Powell, Wanderings in a Wild Country, 171. 
 
 3 'Journ. Anthrop. Inst. x. 283. 4 Coote, Wanderings South and East, 177. 
 
 5 Journ, Anthrop. Inst. x. 309. 6 R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, 188. 
 
128 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the mae snake carries away a fragment of food into the 
 place sacred to a spirit, a man who has eaten of that 
 will sicken as the fragment decays. 1 The Malays take 
 great care in disposing of the clippings of hair, as they 
 believe that "the sympathetic connection which exists 
 between himself and every part of his body continues to 
 exist, even after the physical connection has been severed, 
 and that he will suffer from any harm that may befall 
 the severed parts of his body, such as the clippings of 
 his hair or the parings of his nails. Accordingly he 
 takes care that these severed portions of himself shall 
 not be left in places where they might either be exposed 
 to accidental injury or fall into the hands of malicious 
 persons who might work magic on them to his detriment 
 or death." Charms are used by the Malays for an 
 infinity of purposes. They are worked by "direct 
 contact, sometimes by indirect, sometimes without." 
 To charm a person, take soil from the centre of the 
 foot-print of the person you wish to charm, and " treat 
 it ceremonially" for about three days. Another Malay 
 method of charming a person is to scrape off some of 
 the wood of the floor from the place where your 
 intended victim has been sitting ; then mould it with 
 wax into a figure resembling him ; the figure is scorched 
 over a lamp, while the following words are repeated, 
 " It is not wax that I am scorching, it is the liver, 
 heart, and spleen of so-and-so that I scorch." The 
 Malays use clippings of the victim's hair, his saliva, and 
 parings of his nails, etc., in making the well-known wax 
 image, into which pins are stuck, and " which is still 
 believed by all Malays to be a most effective method of 
 causing the illness or death of an enemy." To work 
 dissension between a husband and wife, a Malay makes 
 
 1 R. H. Codrington, The Me/anesians, 203. 
 
v NGADHUNGI 129 
 
 two wax figures resembling them ; he breathes upon 
 them, and puts them back to back, so that they look 
 away from one another. 1 The Mandans believe that 
 a person at a distance may be injured or killed by 
 sticking a needle in the heart of a figure made of clay 
 or wood representing him. 2 In Luang-Sermata one can 
 cause swellings of the head or hands of an enemy by 
 burning his hair. 3 In Buru, as a love-charm, one 
 " speaks over " oil the woman uses for her hair, or 
 over a hair of her one finds. Or one buries a piece 
 of ginger where she will pass. 4 The natives of the 
 Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country believe that if 
 you can procure some hair or excrement of an enemy, 
 his life will decay while they are in your possession. 5 
 In the Babar Islands the method is used to make people 
 ill, of burning their hair or sirih they have used. This 
 is also done by rejected lovers. 6 Witchcraft prevailed 
 amongst the Tasmanians. They procured some object 
 belonging to the person, and, having enveloped it in 
 I fat, they laid it before the fire, and they supposed that 
 as the fat was gradually melting, the health of their 
 enemy would by degrees decline and that he would 
 thus be doomed to perish. 7 The Cambodians say that 
 a traveller must not throw away fragments of his 
 garments when in a foreign country. If he does not 
 ' wish to be unlucky, he must keep them. 8 The Gipps- 
 • land tribes " practised sorcery, with a view to taking 
 the lives of their enemies. The mode of proceeding 
 was to obtain possession of something which had 
 
 1 Slceat, op. cit. 44, also quoting Frazer's Go! Jen BougA 1 , i. 193 ; Skeat, 569, 570, 45, 
 573. The words of the Malay charm are identical with those used by the sorceress 
 I in Theocritus ii. 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 303. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 328. 4 Id. op. cit. 10, II. 
 
 5 Curr, op. cit. iii. 179. 6 Riedel, op. cit. 377. 
 
 7 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 109. 8 Aymonier, op. cit. 166. 
 
 K 
 
130 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 belonged to the person whose death was desired, such 
 as some of his hair, excrement, or food ; or to touch 
 him with an egg-shaped piece of stone which was called 
 bulk, and was thought to be possessed of magic powers. 
 At other times they would charm by means of the 
 makthar (real name of the person) ; or several of them, 
 retiring to some lonely spot, and drawing on the ground 
 a rude likeness of the victim, would sit around it and 
 devote him to destruction with cabalistic ceremonies. 
 Such was their dread of proceedings of this sort that, 
 not unfrequently, men and women who learnt that they 
 had been made the subjects of incantation, quickly pined 
 away and died of fright." 1 The Central Australians 
 use the method of drawing a portrait of the intended 
 victim, and stabbing it. 2 In Wetar one can make a 
 man ill by getting hold of some of his saliva, hair, betel 
 he has chewed, a piece of his clothes, or anything 
 belonging to him. These objects are put in a place 
 haunted by evil spirits, who are then called upon to 
 kill the man or make him ill. 3 Sorcerers amongst the 
 Karalits injure or slay persons by magic use of any 
 part of the victim's body, or part of an animal killed 
 by such. 4 Before a battle, a Zulu chief sits on a circlet 
 of " medicines," containing some object belonging to 
 the hostile chief, and he says, " I am overcoming him ; 
 I am now treading him down ; he is now under me. I 
 do not know by what way he will escape." 5 The 
 Zulus also use a vessel of medicines which one churns 
 like a Chinese praying-machine. A young man will 
 use it as a love-charm ; if it froths, he knows he has 
 prevailed over the girl. Something belonging to her is 
 
 1 Curr, op. at. iii. 547. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 550. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 451. 4 Featherman, cp. cit. iii. 437. 
 
 5 Callaway, op. cit. 342. 
 
v NGADHUNGI 131 
 
 put in it. The churn is used before war, with some- 
 thing in it belonging to the hostile chief, so as to kill 
 or weaken him. Any disease may be caused by walk- 
 ing over " medicines " placed, to that end, in the path. 1 
 Another account of the Zulus says that before the army 
 sets out, the king makes " medicine " in which is some 
 personal article belonging to his enemy. " The belief 
 in this is so strong, that when a chief is forced to retreat, 
 the floor of his hut is scraped, and for this reason 
 Dingan, when he fled from the Boers, burnt his hut." 2 
 The method is used with saliva, as well as other vehicles, 
 in Ceylon and Nukahiva ; 3 and throughout the islands 
 between Celebes and New Guinea the method flourishes 
 in many forms, both for injury and for producing love. 4 
 A very common form is the injuring of a person by 
 means of his name. To injure a person, the Amboinese 
 juse some of his sirih he has thrown away, a piece of his 
 hair, or clothing ; also one writes his name on a piece 
 :of paper, which is put in a gun and fired off, or else 
 one puts it in the highest branch of a tree. 5 The 
 Gippsland blacks objected strongly to let any one 
 outside the tribe know their names, lest their enemies, 
 learning them, should make them vehicles of incantation, 
 and so charm their lives away. As children were not 
 thought to have enemies, they used to speak of a man 
 as "the father, uncle, or cousin of so-and-so," naming 
 B child, but on all occasions abstained from mentioning 
 the name of a grown-up person. 6 In many Australian* 
 tribes " the belief obtains that the life of an enemy may 
 'be taken by the use of his name in incantations. The 
 :onsequence of this idea is, that in the tribes in which 
 
 1 Callaway op. cit. 343, 346, 35. 2 Shooter, op. cit. 343. 
 
 3 Tennent, op. cit. ii. 544 j D'Urville, op. cit. i. 502. 4 Riedel, op. cit. passim. 
 5 Id. op. cit. 61, 79. 6 Curr, op. cit. iii. 545. 
 
132 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, v 
 
 it obtains, the name of the male is given up for ever at 
 the time when he undergoes the first of a series of 
 ceremonies which end in conferring the rights of man- 
 hood. In such tribes a man has no name, and, instead 
 of calling a man by name, one addresses him as brother, 
 nephew, or cousin, as the case may be, or by the name 
 I of the class to which he belongs." 1 Sorcery is one of 
 the most heinous crimes in Bali. A man is guilty of it 
 if he writes the name of any one on the winding-sheet 
 of a corpse, or on a dead man's bier, or if he makes an 
 image of paste of the person he intends to bewitch, or if 
 he hangs from a tree a slip of paper on which his name 
 is written, or if he buries such a paper in the ground, or 
 in a haunted place. 2 In Abyssinia it is believed that 
 the sorcerer can cause no injury to a person unless he 
 knows his true name, and it is the custom for mothers 
 to conceal the baptismal name of their children, and to 
 substitute for it, Son of St. George, Slave of the Virgin, 
 Daughter of Moses, and the like. 3 In modern Europe 
 there is still to be found, especially amongst children, 
 some diffidence about revealing the Christian name. 
 
 1 Curr, op. cit. i. 46. 2 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 408. 3 Id. v. 6, 8. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 With this sensibility to contact there is always closely-, 
 connected the instinctive care of functions and organs, 
 which are, of course, but specialised channels of contact, 
 both in use and origin, and this care is common to 
 all highly organised life. It is a good instance of,- 
 physiological thought. Throughout the world it is the 
 general rule for the performance of human functions to 
 take place in secret, and this secrecy is closer in primi- 
 tive than in civilised custom. 1 As will be shown later, 
 one important function, that of eating and drinking, 
 though no longer secret in civilised periods, was so in 
 early society. Prayer before such functions testifies to 
 this caution, and the custom of the Babar islanders, who 
 pray to the ancestral spirits before eating, drinking, and 
 sleeping, or of the people of Timorlaut, who pray to 
 Dudilaa before such functions as sexual intercourse, 
 eating, and drinking, is typical of the generality of 
 mankind. 2 Hence also the general ascription of the 
 taboo character to the various functions, especially the 
 nutritive and sexual. When called "unclean," th 
 term originally is equivalent to taboo, still undiffer- 
 entiated, though later it becomes specialised by other 
 associations. The Hindu and Muhammadan rules of 
 " uncleanness " in connection with physical functions, 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rasscn tusschen Sehbe: en Papua, 96, 406. 
 
 2 Id. 338, 281. 
 
 i 
 
i 3 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 are examples of a general human practice. 1 The 
 /universal desire for solitude during the performance of 
 certain physical functions, shared by man with the 
 higher animals, is an extension of the organic instinct 
 Jbr safety and self-preservation. These functions, 
 especially the nutritive, sexual, and excretory, are not 
 only of supreme importance in organic life, but their 
 performance exposes the individual to danger, by ren- 
 dering him defenceless for the time being. Ideas 
 formed straight from this instinct invest such functions 
 at once with a potential sacredness, and assist towards a 
 religious concealment of them. Again, this impulse for 
 solitude is emphasised, as psychology proves, in illness 
 and in critical states, a fact which shows the origin of 
 many taboos on their subjective side. 
 
 In the development of these ideas, each principle of 
 contact has its share, and the biological caution is 
 intensified by religious conceptions. The very com- 
 plexity and importance of functions intensifies both the 
 biological and the religious care of them. The indi- 
 vidual avoids, in the first place, the dangers resulting to 
 himself from contact with others ; and secondarily, from 
 knowledge of these dangers, he concludes that the 
 material secretions and emanations are in every case 
 dangerous, even apart from personal properties, and 
 accordingly avoids his own, for his own sake and, 
 altruistically, for the sake of his fellows. This altru- 
 istic feeling is later, and is connected with disgust. 
 
 While it is the functions and external organs con- 
 nected with nutrition and sex that are most guarded, 
 and the senses of taste and touch that are here most 
 r sensitive, yet the instinct to preserve and insulate from 
 • danger all the channels of sense is seen in savage custom. 
 
 1 Vambery, Sketches of Central Asia, 190. 
 
vi CARE OF FUNCTIONS 
 
 *3S 
 
 This insulation is effected sometimes by wearing amulets 
 upon the external organs, sometimes by means of the 
 painful processes of tattooing, boring, and scarification. 
 It is erroneous to attribute these practices to the 
 desire for ornament. There is ample evidence that 
 " savage mutilation " is never due to this desire ; the 
 savage does not hold with the maxim — il faut souffrir 
 pour etre belle ; on the contrary, he is extremely averse 
 to pain, except for the purpose of preserving his life, 
 health, and strength. Accordingly, when we find that 
 the mouth and lips, the teeth, nose, eyes, ears, and 
 genital organs are subjected to such processes, we may 
 infer that the object is to secure the safety of these 
 sense-organs, by what is practically a permanent amulet 
 or charm. 
 
 The idea behind the mutilation of organs is complex. 
 Let us take the common practices of piercing an organ, 
 filing the teeth, knocking out a tooth, circumcision, 
 and perforation of the hymen. The first part of the 
 idea is to obviate possible difficulty in function, sug 
 gested by an apparent closure of the organ ; this possi 
 bility of difficulty is to the savage a potentiality of evil, 
 and is connected with the fear of doing a thing for the 
 first time, a fear which, as we have seen, creates a 
 material dangerous substance attaching to the thing in 
 question, and needing removal before contact can safely 
 take place. The Pepos state that the object of knock- 
 ing out one or more teeth at puberty is to assist breath- 
 ing. 1 Shortly after a birth the Malays administer to 
 the child " the mouth-opener " ; " first you take a green 
 cocoa-nut, split it in halves, put a grain of salt inside 
 one half of the shell, and give it to the child to drink, 
 counting up to seven, and putting it up to the child's 
 
 1 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 424. 
 
 " 
 
136 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 mouth at the word seven." l This account is important 
 as suggesting that the first taking of food, the first 
 employment of the mouth, is a dangerous crisis. When 
 we take into account the importance of food in savage 
 life, and the care of the mouth and teeth resulting, also 
 the fact that this knocking out of teeth, like the similar 
 process of teeth-filing, is regularly performed at puberty, 
 when as a rule there are certain food taboos removed,- 
 and a boy is initiated to " man's food," it is a fair 
 conjecture that its object is to secure in some way the 
 safety of that important function. When a Dieri boy 
 has had the teeth knocked out, he may not look at the 
 men who performed the operation, or " his mouth would 
 close up and he would be unable to eat." 2 Mr. Skeat 
 was invariably told that the Malay practice of teeth- 
 filing not only beautified but preserved the teeth from 
 decay. 3 The idea of ornament is later. With the 
 particular imaginary danger already mentioned all 
 danger of material contact of course combines, includ- 
 ing that of disease in the wide range of reality and 
 imagination with which early man regards disease. 
 Amongst the Cadiacks a hole is bored through the 
 septum of the child's nose, when it is washed after birth. 
 These people have also the practice of piercing the 
 septum in cases where venereal disease attacks the nose. 4 
 The connection is obvious. The Yorubas call circum- 
 cision " the cutting that saves." 5 Amongst the Central 
 Australians there is a causal connection between the 
 practice of sub -incision and the common disease 
 Erkincha. It is not, as has been proved, intended to 
 prevent impregnation, nor does it have this result. 
 
 1 Skeat, op. cit. 337. 2 Howitt, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 80. 
 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 359.5 * U. Lisiansky, op. cit. 200, 201. 
 
 5 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 66. 6 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 405, 264. 
 
 6 
 
VI 
 
 MUTILATION 137 
 
 The ceremony of head-biting performed on Central 
 Australian boys at puberty is supposed to make the 
 hair grow strong. 1 Now it is prevention of future 
 harm, illness and weakness, and transmission of strength 
 and life that are one special object of ceremonies at 
 puberty. Again, it has been conclusively proved that 
 circumcision does not prevent disease, and it is probable 
 that there was no sanitary intention in its origin, except 
 such as forms part of the explanation here given. 2 The 
 ceremony amongst the Semites was originally "religious" 
 in the primitive sense, but here, as elsewhere, when the 
 religious habit becomes rational, the fallacy of sanitary 
 intention in circumcision became prominent, and may 
 often have been the reason for the continuance of the 
 practice. The last factor in the principle behind these 
 mutilations is one very closely connected with ideas of 
 contact, and applies especially to such practices as circum- 
 cision. The deleterious emanation from strange or new 
 things is identical in theory with human emanations, not 
 only from strange or unhandselled beings, but from 
 characteristic parts of such, and in later thought, from 
 such parts of one's own personality. This dangerous 
 emanation is any physical secretion religiously regarded, 
 and its retention is prevented by cutting away separable 
 parts which would easily harbour it, as the teeth retain 
 morsels of food. This primitive notion is the same 
 with those of personal cleanliness and of the removal of 
 separable parts of a tabooed person. Dr. Frazer points 
 out the idea of destroying separable parts of tabooed 
 persons ; thus, in Roti the first hair of a child " is not 
 his own, and unless cut off will make him ill." When 
 the part is cut off, there result the ideas, first of securing 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 251. 
 2 Joseph Jacobs, in Journ. Ant hrop. Intt. xv. 32. 
 
138 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the safety of the rest by sacrificing a part, a practice 
 well illustrated by the custom of cutting off the little 
 finger ; and secondly, of sacrificing such part to a deity 
 so as to consecrate the rest, by making it less " impure " 
 or '"'■taboo.''' Thus, Sir A. B. Ellis infers that circum- 
 cision amongst the Yorubas and Ewe peoples is a sacri- 
 fice of a portion of the organ, which the god inspires, 
 to ensure the well-being of the rest. The rite is there 
 connected with the worship of Elegbra} And for the 
 earlier notion, the Jews and Egyptians regarded it as a 
 " cleansing." 2 
 
 Circumcision and artificial hymen-perforation thus 
 originated in the intention both to obviate hylo-idealistic 
 danger resulting from apparent closure, and to remove 
 a separable part of a taboo organ, on the above-stated 
 principles. This removal also explains the practice of 
 excision. The other ideas follow later, and the safety 
 both of the individual and of those who will have con- 
 tact is the more necessary because that contact is with 
 the other, the dangerous sex. 
 
 As to the insertion of plugs and sticks and the like, 
 in the nose, lips, and ears, it is probable that the original 
 object was to keep off evil from the organs by a mark, 
 an idea connected with the widely spread belief that the 
 attention of the evil influence is thus diverted from the 
 organ as lightning is diverted from an object by the 
 lightning-rod. 
 
 Here is to be considered the psychology of disgust. 
 The emotion in its origin is caused by the presence or 
 contact of what is dangerous or useless to the individual 
 organism, chiefly in connection with the nutritive and 
 sexual functions. It is part of the natural law of 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 66. 
 2 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 345 ; Trusen, Die Sitten u. Gebrduche der alten Hebraer, 115. 
 
vi DISGUST— IMPURITY 139 
 
 economy, ultimately chemical, which produces an im- 
 pulse for what one needs and an avoidance of what one 
 does not need, or has cast away. Food that is needed 
 is the object of man's fiercest desire, and, on the other 
 hand, food after satiety or the excreta from food pro- 
 duce the strongest loathing ; in each case the feeling is 
 part of the primary nutritive impulse. The same desire 
 and loathing belong to the sexual functions and emotions, 
 the development and complement of the nutritive. The 
 sensitive instinct of self-preservation and of self-realisa- 
 tion which insulates a man from other organisms, ac- 
 centuates the emotion of disgust when the cast-off sub- 
 stances are from others, and makes those from himself 
 more tolerable. Further, where there is no desire, there 
 is potential disgust, especially at the sight of another's 
 function. Disgust correlates with satiety and is the 
 opposite pole to desire and satisfaction, and ultimately 
 its connection is with the alimentary functions alone, 
 from which the sexual and other are developed. Desire 
 and disgust are the final expression of chemical laws of 
 combination and rejection. Desire and disgust are 
 curiously blended when with one's own desire unsatis- 
 fied one sees the satisfaction of another ; and here we 
 may see the altruistic stage beginning ; this has two 
 sides, the fear of causing desire in others, and the fear of 
 causing disgust, in each case personal isolation is the 
 psychological result. 
 
 The ideas of impurity and ceremonial " uncleanness " 
 are closely connected with these phenomena, and in 
 primitive thought are concerned with the nutritive no 
 less than with other functions. Theoretically, if we 
 carry primitive ideas to their logical conclusion, the 
 perfectly " pure " person is one who should not only 
 avoid contact with the functional effluvia of others, but 
 
140 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 all contact with persons also ; and moreover, to obviate 
 pollution from his own functions, should abstain not 
 only -from sexual but from nutritive processes as well. 
 It is the ascetic ideal of the perfect Buddhist. This 
 ■practice (ao-Ktiais) has probably assisted man considerably 
 towards attaining a higher than animal culture. 
 
 Again, the feeling of shame is closely connected with 
 these functional phenomena ; it is produced by ideas 
 which arise from the importance and sensibility of 
 functions, tending towards diffidence and mistrust of 
 them, and is expressed originally upon any external 
 interference with a function. Later it becomes altruistic. 
 We may also observe that amongst early men it is also 
 to an important extent concerned with alimentary pro- 
 cesses. It is at first sight surprising to read the follow- 
 ing statement, but a slight acquaintance with primitive 
 habit shows how inevitable such facts are, and observa- 
 tion of the lower classes in modern times reveals the 
 same phenomenon. Amongst the Bakairi every man 
 eats by himself; when one eats in the presence of 
 another, it is the custom to do so with head averted, 
 while the other turns his back and does not speak till 
 the meal is over. When the German explorer, not 
 knowing of this, ate his lunch without giving notice, they 
 hung their heads and showed on their faces real shame. 1 
 
 All these emotions and the ideas connected there- 
 with are part of the foundation of social and of sexual 
 taboo. Closely connected as they are with contact and 
 with functional sensitiveness, they at once, when in the 
 altruistic stage in which one conceals or refrains from 
 functions to avoid causing others to feel disgust or 
 shame, vary in intensity according to the distance of the 
 person whose feelings are being considered. A man 
 
 1 K. von den Steinen, Unter den Natur-V'6lkern Zentral-Braulien;, 66. 
 
vi SHAME— PERSONAL ISOLATION 141 
 
 certainly would avoid performing such acts as involve 
 these emotions before an entire stranger, for to primitive 
 thought a stranger is a potential foe, and in such a case 
 we see the original cause of such secrecy ; but on the 
 other hand, amongst acquaintances and friends, he is 
 less ready to insist upon secrecy than he is with closer 
 connections, such as those with whom he lives. The 
 reason is the accentuation, first of the danger, and later 
 of altruistic consideration, produced in each case by the 
 very closeness of the contact. Add to this the religious 
 caution between the two sexes, and we get a potential 
 avoidance of all such functions in the presence of the 
 other sex generally, and especially in the presence of 
 those with whom a man is in closest daily contact. Not 
 only civilised ideas and habits of decency and personal 
 cleanliness, but human systems and institutions of the 
 most important character are built on these founda- 
 tions. 
 
 These ideas of contact, which are found all over the 
 world, give to human relations generally a religious 
 meaning, such as we can hardly realise by imagination. 
 Every individual, as such, is surrounded by a taboo 
 of personal isolation ; and for communication between 
 him and his fellows there is in theory needed a go- 
 between. A type of this may be seen in the New Jj 
 Hebridean custom, where the last man to " take the 
 book" (i.e. turn Christian), was a "sacred man," whose 
 sanctity was such that anything given to him by a 
 white man had to be passed through the hands of a 
 go-between. 1 Secondly, to take the dangerous side of 
 the taboo character, all human and sexual properties, 
 states of mind and of emotion, even acts and thoughts, 
 are so material that they exude, sans phrase, from the skin. 
 
 1 jfcurn, Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 12. 
 
 1 
 
i 4 2 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 In civilised stages of society, moral and social 
 systems which are themselves closely connected in 
 origin with this early view of contact, have so defined 
 and safeguarded human relations that these ideas have 
 almost disappeared. They exist still, however, in one 
 or two special forms, as in the still rampant belief in 
 the evil eye throughout Southern Europe, and in the 
 refinement always kept in civilisation, which reveals its 
 material origin in more or less dainty avoidance of the 
 lower classes, of " publicans and sinners." 
 
 Primitive man has some differences in his code of 
 morals, but on the whole, he is more moral in the 
 social sense than is civilised man. A few examples will 
 illustrate this basis of early morality. The immaturity 
 of the human " will " is a characteristic of early man. 
 What is said of the Fijians applies still more to earlier 
 peoples. "We have to bear in mind the absolute help- 
 lessness of the Fijian, in fact, the Polynesian generally, 
 when anybody has acquired a moral ascendancy over 
 him." l Death often occurs from this moral fear. 
 Sorcery is so dreaded by Australians that individuals 
 have been known to die through fear of it. 2 As we 
 have seen, amongst the Australians a great motor power 
 is the belief in sorcery or witchcraft. In the everyday 
 life of the black, a pressure originating in this source 
 may be said to be always at work. 3 Of the Kurnai 
 it is said that " the gratification of self is choked in 
 them, as in us, by a sense of duty or by affection. 
 Speaking to a Kroatun young man about the food 
 prohibited during initiation, I said, ' But if you were 
 hungry and caught a female opossum, you might eat 
 it if the old men were not there ' ; he replied, ' I could 
 not do that : it would not be right.' Although I 
 
 1 Seemann, of. at. 190. 2 Curr, of. cit, i. 49. 3 Id. i. 45, 46. 
 
vi PRIMITIVE MORALITY 143 
 
 tried to find out from him some other reason, he could 
 give no other than that it would be wrong to disregard 
 the customs." 1 In New South Wales the universal 
 reprobation which followed a breach of ancient customs, 
 preserved a strict observance of morality. 2 Amongst 
 the Maoris tapu was law, and far more observed and 
 feared than the latter, as such, ever has been in higher 
 culture. 3 So it has been said of the Fijian tambu; "the 
 taboo is a religion in itself, and without doubt has 
 helped to prevent savages from allowing their naturally 
 depraved natures to have full scope to carry out their 
 intentions. The law-givers who introduced the tambu 
 must have done so with the idea of promoting the 
 happiness of the community, and of encouraging 
 morality among the people." 4 The Leh-tas, according 
 to the Karens, have no laws or rulers, and do not require 
 any, as they never commit any evil among themselves 
 or against other people. "The sense of shame amongst 
 this tribe is so acute, that on being accused of any evil 
 act by several of the community, the person so accused 
 retires to a desolate spot, digs his grave and strangles 
 himself." 5 Amongst the Hill Dyaks crime is so rare, 
 that its punishments are only known from tradition. 
 They have a complete system similar to the Polynesian 
 tabu. 6 In New Britain marriage within the totem-clan 
 would bring instant destruction upon the woman, and 
 the man's life would never be secure. Her relatives 
 would be so ashamed, that only her death could satisfy 
 them. " However, such a case never occurs in a 
 thickly populated district. If a man should be accused 
 of adultery or fornication with a woman, he would at 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 256, 257. 2 Wilkes, op. cit. ii. 193. 
 
 3 Id. ii. 383. ' Anderson, op. cit. 89. 
 
 5 A. R. Colquhoun, Among the Shafts, 76. 6 Low, op. cit. 247, 248. 
 
i 4 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 once be acquitted by the public voice, if he could say 
 ' she is one of us' ; i.e. she belongs to my totem." l In 
 Timor "the custom of pomali is general, fruit-trees, 
 houses, crops, and property of all kinds being protected 
 from depredation by this ceremony, the reverence for 
 which is very great. A palm branch stuck across an 
 open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is a more 
 effectual guard against robbery than any amount of 
 locks and bars." 2 The same is true of most primitive 
 races. In Hawaii a " wicked person " was one who 
 broke tabu? Amongst the Indians of Guiana any 
 breach of the marriage system is "wicked." 4 Amongst 
 the Zulus umtakati means "witch, wizard, or evil-doer," 
 i.e. murderers, adulterers, one who violates rules of 
 consanguinity ; also one who does secret injury to 
 another, by using " medicine," e.g. human remains, or 
 poison. Evil-doers can injure health, destroy life, cause 
 cows to become dry, prevent rain, occasion lightning. 5 
 Turning to the question of deterrents, amongst the 
 Bangerang it was believed that the sorcery of other 
 tribes could be counteracted by their own incantations. 
 On the other hand, they sometimes feel that the incan- 
 tations of their own doctors can be neutralised by 
 stronger ones on the part of their enemies ; and so they 
 " frequently revenge a death in the tribe — which is of 
 course attributed to sorcery, though in effect the result of 
 sickness or accident — by attacking at night a hostile camp 
 and massacring the sleepers." 6 In Hawaii violators 
 of taboo were seized by the priests and killed. 7 Mr. 
 Curr says of the Australian tribes with which he was 
 
 1 B. Danks, in Journ. Anthrcp. Inst, xviii. 282, 283. 
 
 2 A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, 450. 3 Ellis, Tour in Hawaii, 279. 
 4 Brett, op. cit. 98. 5 Shooter, op. tit. 141. 
 
 6 Curr. op. cit. i. 47, 49. 7 Wilkes, op. cit. iv. 40. 
 
vi SANCTIONS OF MORALITY 145 
 
 acquainted, " we find our blacks, male and female, 
 submitting for years loyally and without exception to 
 a number of irksome restraints, especially in connection 
 with food, just as we Roman Catholics do to the fasts 
 and abstinences imposed by the Church. Now the 
 question is, what is the hidden power which secures 
 the black's scrupulous compliance with custom in such 
 cases? What is it, for instance, which prompts the 
 hungry black boy, when out hunting with the white 
 man, to refuse (as I have often seen him do) to share 
 in a meal of emu flesh, or in some other sort of food 
 forbidden to those of his age, when he might easily do 
 so without fear of detection by his tribe ? What is it 
 that makes him so faithfully observant of many trying 
 customs ? The reply is, that the constraining power in 
 such cases is not government, whether by chief or 
 council, but education ; that the black is educated from 
 infancy in the belief that departure from the customs 
 of his tribe is inevitably followed by one at least ot 
 many evils, such as becoming grey, ophthalmia, skin 
 eruptions, or sickness ; but above all, that it exposes the 
 offender to the danger of death from sorcery." ' The 
 Luang Sermata islanders hold that sickness is due to 
 " sin " ; - and this is a common human idea, a phase 
 of which is the belief that evil physical results follow 
 breaches of the system or principle of marriage, and, 
 ;we may add, of sexual taboo generally. Amongst the 
 Australians old people are mostly sorcerers; "and 
 custom holds the weak and the young in willing sub- 
 jection to the old." 3 In speaking of the power of the 
 old men, and the enforcing of moral laws by them, 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen show that the influence 
 which supports custom is far from being impersonal. 
 
 1 Curr, op. cit. i. 54, 55. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 325. s Eyre, op. cit. ii. 3S4. 
 
 L 
 
146 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 In the Central Australian tribes which they examined, 
 they found that offenders were regularly dealt with by 
 the elder men, and that offending natives were perfectly 
 well aware that they would " be dealt with by some- 
 thing much more real than an impersonal power." 
 In reference to the dying -out of native races upon 
 contact with Europeans, they remark of the Central 
 Australian tribes, that " the young men under the 
 new influence become freed from the wholesome 
 restraint of the older men, who are all-powerful in 
 the normal condition of the tribe. The strict moral 
 code, which is certainly enforced in their natural state, 
 is set on one side, and nothing is adopted in place 
 of it." 1 
 
 Early men have also an elaborate etiquette based on 
 these ideas. Amongst the Northern Indians when two 
 people met, they would stop when within twenty yards, 
 and generally sit or lie down, without speaking for some 
 minutes. 2 The origin of such may be seen in the 
 Australian practice ; when a tribe approaches another, 
 that is unknown to it, they carry burning sticks to 
 purify the air. 3 In the Dieri and neighbouring tribes, 
 when a man reaches home, no notice at first is taken, 
 until he sits down ; then " the friends or relations sit 
 around, and the news is whispered, whatever it may be, 
 and repeated in a loud voice to the whole camp." Also, 
 when an influential native arrives, he is received thus : — 
 " On approaching the camp, the inmates close in with 
 raised arms, as in defence ; then the person of note 
 rushes at them, making a faint blow as if to strike them, 
 they warding it off with their shields ; immediately after 
 they embrace him and lead him into the camp, where 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 15, 8. 
 2 Hearne, op. cit. 332. 3 Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 134. 
 
vi PRIMITIVE ETIQUETTE 147 
 
 the women bring him food." 1 The Malay, says Mr. 
 Wallace, is " particularly sensitive to breaches of etiquette, 
 or any interference with the personal liberty of himself 
 or another. As an example, I may mention that I often 
 found it very difficult to get one Malay servant to 
 waken another. He will call as loud as he can, but will 
 hardly touch, much less shake his companion." 2 In the 
 islands of Leti, Moa, and Lakor, and the Babar Islands 
 no one may without important reason wake a sleeping 
 man. 3 The greatest possible insult to a man in 
 Tenimber and Timorlaut is to spit in his face, or to step 
 over his body when on the ground. 4 In New Caledonia 
 there is an elaborate system of etiquette. Politeness 
 requires one to walk in front of the person to whom 
 respect is due ; to enter first on introducing him ; to 
 pass in front and not behind him. 5 The Fijians observe 
 scrupulously certain rules of etiquette. The Javanese 
 are distinguished for the formal observance of etiquette. 7 
 The Tagalas of Luzon and Mindanao are remarkable 
 for a sentiment of personal shamefulness, called hya, 
 which renders them very susceptible of insult, and 
 causes them to respect the feelings of others. 8 The same 
 results of the taboo of personal isolation are constant in 
 all stages of culture. The whole series of phenomena, 
 lastly, helps to disprove the common idea that early 
 society possessed a communistic and socialistic character. 
 The "rights" of the individual in property, marriage, 
 and everything else, were never more clearly defined 
 than by primitive man. 
 
 1 Gason, in Journ. Jlnthrop. Inst. xxiv. 173 ; id. in Curr, op, cit. ii. 50. 
 
 2 Wallace, op. cit. 443. 3 Riedel, op. cit. 378. 
 4 Id. 295. B Featherman, op. cit. ii, 85. 
 
 6 Id. ii. 200. 7 Id. ii. 382. * Id. ii. 481. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 There are still to be described the two most im- 
 portant forms of contact, contact by means of food 
 and by sexual intercourse. I have deferred their 
 description because they have so close a connection 
 with sexual taboo, the further developments of which 
 chiefly take the lines marked out by ideas concern- 
 ing these two functions of eating and of sexual con- 
 gress. 
 
 Biologically, the sexual impulse is a development 
 from the nutritive, and the primary cjpse connection of 
 the two functions is continued in thought, subconscious 
 and physiological, and appears sometimes above the 
 threshold of consciousness. We find further, that many 
 primary human conceptions are not only based on the 
 connection but express it clearly. One of the most 
 obvious links between the two is the kiss, and much 
 popular thought and language preserves similar concep- 
 tions. 
 
 Various rules attest the importance of " man's bread 
 and oil and wine." The natives of the Baram district 
 of Borneo feed alone ; " they are very particular about 
 being called away from their meals, and it takes a great 
 deal to make a man set about doing anything before he 
 has concluded his repast." To such an extent is this 
 practice observed that it is considered wrong to attack 
 even an enemy whilst he is eating, but the moment he 
 
chap, vii EATING AND DRINKING 149 
 
 has finished it is legitimate and proper to fall upon him. 1 
 The custom of eating in silence is found amongst the 
 Ahts, Maoris, Siamese, and the ancient Hindoos. 2 The 
 Arabs of Syria mutter a bismillah before eating, and 
 take their meals in silence. 3 In Siam it is a maxim of 
 the Buddhist priests that " to eat and talk at the same 
 time is a sin." 4 The Tahitians offered a prayer before 
 they ate their food. 5 The Mois of Cochin China invoke 
 a superior power before eating and drinking. 6 The 
 Malayalam Sudras of Travancore bathe and put sacred 
 ashes on the forehead before each meal. 7 In origin, the 
 custom of prayer before eating was not an expression of 
 thankfulness. The object was to avert any deleterious 
 influence that the food might possess. On this is super- 
 imposed the wish that the food may be good and bene- 
 
 , ficial, may be " blessed," which passes into an invocation 
 to a superior power to so bless it, and also, for the older 
 
 ; idea often remains, to cleanse the food from harmful 
 properties. 
 
 The savage realises better than most civilised men 
 that his life, his health and strength, and general well- 
 being depend chiefly upon what is ultimately the most 
 necessary of human functions. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that so many customs and beliefs attach to 
 the processes of eating and drinking. " The procuring 
 
 [•of food is the great business of the Australian's life," 
 says a good observer, " and forms one of the principal 
 
 jtopics of his conversation." Custom and belief in 
 this connection are based upon the egoistic physical 
 
 1 journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 160. 
 
 2 Sproat, op. cit. 61 ; Thomson, Neiu Zealand, 160 ; Bowring, Siam, i. 1 10 ; 
 i Manu, iii. 236, 237. 
 
 :! Featherman, op. cit. v. 448, 451. 4 Bowring, op. cit. i. 328. 
 
 •' Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 350.' 6 Cochinchine francaise, viii. 12. 
 
 7 Mateer, op. cit. 112. 8 Curr, op. cit. i. 81. 
 
150 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 sensibility of man, applied to the object of his fiercest 
 desires, and with this there combine later all his concep- 
 tions of matter and of material and human contact. 
 Thus the savage as a rule prefers to eat alone, as he 
 prefers to be alone for the performance of similar func- 
 tions, from egoistic caution and fear of interruption. 
 The Karajas always eat by themselves, with back turned. 1 
 Amongst the Bakairi every man eats by himself ; when 
 one has to eat in the presence of another it is the custom 
 to do so with head averted, while the other turns his 
 back and does not speak till the meal is over. When 
 von den Steinen ate before them they hung their heads 
 and were " ashamed." 2 The Zafimanelos of Madagascar 
 eat alone with locked doors. 3 The Maori gentleman 
 eats in solitude. 4 The rule is common in Polynesia and 
 Africa. It is naturally still more emphasised in the case 
 of kings and chiefs. The King of Abyssinia always 
 dines alone. 5 Amongst the Niam-niam the king takes 
 his meals in private ; no one may see the contents of his 
 dish, and everything that he leaves is carefully thrown 
 into a pit, set apart for the purpose. All that he 
 handles is held as " sacred," and may not be touched ; 
 and a guest, though of higher rank, may not so much 
 as light his pipe with embers from the king's fire. 6 A 
 carved and gilt wooden screen was always placed in 
 front of Montezuma at his meals, that no one might see 
 him while eating. 7 In Loango the king is sacred ; from 
 his birth he is forbidden to eat with any one, and various 
 foods are prohibited to him. He eats and drinks alone, 
 in huts devoted to the purpose. The covered dishes 
 containing his food are preceded by a crier, at whose 
 
 1 K. von den Steinen, Unter den Natur-Volkern Zentral-Brasiliens, 67. 
 
 2 Id. 66. 3 Antananarivo Annual, ii. 219. 
 
 4 Yate, op. cit. 20. 5 Harris, Highlands of Ethiopia, iii. 171, 172, 322. 
 
 6 Schweinfurth, ot>. cit. ii. 98. ' Bancroft, op. cit. iii. 129. 
 

 vii EATING IN SECRET 151 
 
 proclamation all get out of the way and bolt their doors ; 
 for any person seeing the king eat is put to death. A 
 privileged few may be present, but they are bound to 
 conceal their faces, or the king places a robe over his 
 head. All that leaves his table is at once buried. 1 A 
 crier proclaimed when the King of Cacongo was about 
 to eat or drink, that the people might cover their faces 
 or fall to the ground with down-turned eyes. 2 When 
 the King of Canna was offered a glass of rum by Mr. 
 Winwood Reade, he hid his face and the glass under a 
 Turkish towel. 3 In Dahomey it is death to see the king 
 eat ; if he drinks in public, a curtain is held up to con- 
 ceal him. 4 The King of Susa at meals is concealed by 
 a curtain from his guests. 5 The King of the Mon- 
 buttoo always takes his meals in private, and no one 
 may see the contents of his dish. The King of Congo 
 eats and drinks in secret. If a dog should enter the 
 I house while he is at table, it is killed. On one occasion 
 the king's son having accidentally seen his father drink- 
 ing was executed on the spot. 7 A Pongo chief never 
 ! drinks in the presence of others without a screen to 
 J conceal him ; on the Pongo coast it is believed that one 
 I is more liable to witchcraft when eating, drinking, or 
 sleeping. 8 In Ashantee a man of consequence never 
 drinks before his inferiors without hiding his face from 
 them. The belief is that an enemy can then " impose a 
 spell on the faculties " of the man who is drinking. 9 
 So in Tonga no one may see the king eat ; therefore 
 those present turn their backs upon him. Nor may 
 
 1 Bastian, An tier Loango Kiitte, i. 220, 262, 263. 
 
 3 Id. San Salvador, 58. :< W. Reade, Savage AJrica, 184. 
 
 4 J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 202 ; Reade, op. cit. 53 ; Burton, Dahomey, i. 244. 
 
 5 Harris, op. cit. iii. 78. s Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 98 
 7 Reade, op. cit. 359. 8 Wilson, op. cit. 308, 310. 
 
 9 Bowdich, Cape Coast Castle to Ashanti, 438. 
 
152 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 one eat in his presence without averting the face. It 
 is also forbidden to eat in the presence of a superior 
 relation without turning the back. 1 
 
 The basis of this preference for eating in solitude is 
 the animal egoistic impulse ; later it becomes altruistic, 
 and also is combined, as we have seen this egoistic sensi- 
 bility always combined, with general ideas about contact 
 and transmission of properties. The modern small boy 
 who eats his cake in a corner still shows the most 
 primitive form of the custom. 
 
 The savage is extremely careful that what he eats 
 and drinks shall be free from deleterious properties, 
 inherent or acquired. Such properties are all those 
 which, as we have seen, the savage attributes to material 
 substances, and especially to dangerous persons, and are 
 neither spiritual nor material but both, and can be im- 
 parted by all possible forms of material transmission. 
 In this wide generalisation there would of course occur 
 from time to time cases in which food possessed some 
 harmful property, whether of poison or disease, and 
 such cases corroborated the general precautions. The 
 people of Kumaun use a special room for eating, 
 into which nothing " unclean " may come. The cook 
 has to put on clean clothes before cooking, and he is 
 not allowed to touch any one after he has begun, nor to 
 leave the room. No one is allowed to touch him when 
 at work. 2 Maoris do not eat inside the house. 3 
 Bulgarians before drinking make the sign of the cross, 
 to prevent the devil entering the body with the liquor. 4 
 Similarly, devout Russians have been observed to blow 
 on the glass in order to neutralise " the Satanic opera- 
 
 1 W. Mariner, The Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 235 ; Cook and King, Voyage, 
 i- 232. 2 Panjab Notes and Queries, iii. 2. 454. 
 
 3 D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 411. 4 Sinclair and Brophy, A Residence in Bulgaria, 14. 
 
vii TAKING OFF THE FETISH 153 
 
 tion of spirituous liquors. ' ' * Amongst the Eskimo, when 
 a new spring of water is found, it is usual for the oldest 
 man present, failing an angekok, to drink first, in order 
 to rid the water of any evil influence it may possess. - 
 In Eastern Central Africa, when a chief has a beer- 
 drinking, his priest or captain brings out the beer to the 
 guests and tastes it to show that it is not poisoned. 3 So 
 amongst the Damaras the chief must first taste the 
 provisions before they are eaten by the rest of the 
 assembly. 4 Amongst the Iddahs 5 the same custom is 
 found, and amongst the Zulus it is not etiquette to offer 
 beer without first tasting it ; " it is meant to ensure the 
 receiver against death in the pot ; ' while another is 
 eating, it is wrong to spit. 6 Amongst the Krumen at a 
 palm wine-drinking the goodwife of the house has to 
 take the first and last draught herself, to show the 
 guests that she has not been dealing in poison or 
 witchcraft. This is called " taking off the fetish." ~ 
 Amongst the Basutos, when food or drink is offered 
 to a man, and he is not sure that it is not poisoned, he 
 lets the host taste it first. 8 These customs are widely 
 spread in Africa. In the Banks Islands on presenting 
 food to a visitor the host first takes a bite himself to 
 show that it is not charmed, or to take the risk upon 
 himself. 9 In New Guinea it is a mark of friendship to 
 offer water to a stranger. Before presenting it, the 
 natives first drink themselves to prove that the water is 
 not poisoned. 10 These cases show the idea that things 
 new or strange possess a dangerous property. 
 
 The history of fasting forms a curious chapter in the 
 
 1 Erman, Siberia, i. 416. 2 Cranz, op. cie. i. 193. 
 
 3 Macdonaltl, Africana, i. 191. 4 C. J. Anderson, Lake Ngami, 224. 
 
 5 Schon and Crowther, Expedition up the Niger, 82. 6 Leslie, op. cit. 205. 
 
 7 J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 124. 8 Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, vi. 34. 
 
 9 Codrington, op. cit. 204. 10 Rosenberg, Der Malayhche Archipel, 470. 
 
i 5 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 development of the human soul. In origin it was a 
 method used by primitive man to avoid the possibility 
 of any injurious influence entering his body. The 
 savage never fasts because he likes it, but simply to 
 avoid danger. This painful process is not gone through 
 unless for some very important reason ; for instance, 
 when a primitive crisis is at hand, when the food-supply 
 is to be coaxed by magic, or the success of a hunt or a 
 war to be secured, or a dangerous period of life to be 
 passed through, such as puberty and mourning. In 
 some of these cases the mere practice develops the 
 further idea that fasting is useful as a training of the 
 body and a discipline for the nerves. It is worth 
 noting that the practice of fasting was referred to a 
 primitive reason by the early Christians, namely, to 
 prevent " evil spirits" entering the body. 1 The subject 
 of taboos upon certain foods is a large one. The 
 practice of forbidding certain kinds of food during a 
 dangerous state is very widely spread ; it includes cases 
 of real dietetic science, embedded in fallacious instances 
 based on analogy. Sometimes the choice is arbitrary, 
 as it often is in an interesting extension of the custom, 
 according to which an individual is throughout life, or 
 for some particular period, forbidden a certain food. 
 Thus, amongst the Bakalai, to every man some particular 
 food is roondah ; if he were to eat it, his wives would 
 give birth to children resembling it. 2 Every man and 
 woman in the Andaman Islands is prohibited all through 
 life from eating some one or more fish or animal. It is 
 generallv one which in childhood was observed or 
 imagined by the mother to occasion some functional 
 derangement. When the child is old enough, the 
 
 1 Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, i. 116, 262. 
 2 Du Chaillu, of. cit. 308 ; cf. Bosman, Description of Guinea, 400. 
 
vii FASTING AND FOOD TABOOS 155 
 
 reason is explained, and, cause and effect being clearly- 
 demonstrated, the individual avoids it carefully. 1 The 
 principle behind this custom is that of savage make- 
 believe. If a particular food is taboo to a man, he 
 believes that thereby his ordinary food will never hurt 
 him. The practice correlates in principle with the 
 arbitrary selection of fetishes and the like, and is con- 
 nected with the beliefs and customs concerning external 
 souls. The following cases are instructive in this 
 connection ; in Halmahera and Wetar sickness is often 
 ascribed to eating forbidden foods. 2 Icthyosis and 
 leprosy are regarded in Halmahera as due to eating 
 forbidden food ; and one may become a suzvanggi by 
 eating it. These suwanggis have the power of sorcery, 
 and were often killed by the community for causing 
 death. ; Ordinary illness is ascribed in the Luang 
 Sermata Islands to " bad winds " and bad food. Severe 
 illnesses are ascribed to evil spirits. 4 Malay like 
 modern European medicine is chiefly concerned with 
 dieting. 5 
 
 Further, the principles of primitive thought con- 
 cerned with contact and material transmission find full 
 development here, in all the forms of custom and belief 
 relating to human relations and social taboo. Material 
 contact leaves its impress for good or bad upon food, as 
 upon everything else. Food that a man has touched is 
 permeated by his properties, and accordingly can 
 transmit these to others ; it is also on the same principle 
 a part of himself, and any injury done to it is believed 
 to affect himself. The belief extends to any food, not 
 that he has touched, but of the same kind as he usually 
 
 1 Man, in Journ. Anthrop. In it. xii. 354. 
 
 2 Riedel, in Zeitichr'ift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 83 j and in De iluik-en krotiharige ratun 
 tuachen Selebet en Papua, 452. 
 
 3 Id. I.e. and 66. 4 Id. op. cit. 327. 5 Slceat, op. eit. 408. 
 
156 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 eats. The connection of food with human attributes is 
 well seen in the following example. The natives of the 
 Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country have many idioms 
 attributing the passions to the state of the stomach. 1 
 This is true of many languages, and in all ages men 
 have more or less realised the fact, but early man 
 realises this connection most keenly. It is natural that 
 the nearer man is to his animal ancestors, the more 
 his life should be guided by the chief process of animal 
 life. 
 
 Food possesses the characteristics of that from which 
 it is taken, and the savage avoids foods that are thus 
 harmful, and prefers those that are thus nutritious. 
 The Masai eat beef to make them strong, and a man 
 will eat bullock's flesh for a whole day to get up 
 courage for a battle. 2 We have seen how this obvious 
 principle is extended to the eating of human flesh in 
 order to acquire human courage and strength. 
 
 The method of injuring a man by magic use of 
 remnants of his food is an extension of ideas of contact 
 already described. In Tanna, as we saw, the disease- 
 makers injure a man by burning his nahak, that is the 
 refuse of his food, or any article that has been in 
 close contact with his body. When a person is taken 
 ill, he believes that it is occasioned by some one who 
 is burning his nahak ; and if he dies, his friends ascribe 
 it to the disease-maker as having burnt the refuse to 
 the end. 3 
 
 In the next phase, that of involuntary transmission, 
 the specific contagion of human influences is the object 
 of precaution. Uncivilised man regards strangers with 
 feelings of hostility and suspicion. These feelings ex- 
 tend to food that they have touched or tasted. Thus 
 
 1 Curr, cp. cit. iii. 191. ' 2 Thomson, op. cit. 264. 3 Supra, 126. 
 
vii DANGERS OF EATING 157 
 
 the Papuans of Humboldt Bay would not touch any 
 food which their European visitors had previously 
 tasted, nor even drink the water offered to them. 
 This aversion was " due to superstitious ideas." a The 
 Yule islanders refused to accept a share of anything 
 which their visitors ate.' 2 The black-fellows of Victoria 
 regard as wholesome any food that is not poisonous or 
 connected with superstitious beliefs, but they will not 
 touch any food which has been partaken of by a 
 stranger. 3 The Basutos were afraid to eat anything 
 which a white man had touched. 4 The Poggi islanders 
 would not touch the food offered them by Europeans 
 until it had first been tasted by one of the ship's 
 company. 5 This instance is a link with the last set of 
 customs. Hence the Atiu islanders refused to eat with 
 the missionaries, 6 and the Indians with the Prince of 
 Wied. 7 
 
 We have now arrived at the prohibition against 
 eating with certain persons. In Tanna no food is 
 accepted if offered with the bare hands, " as such 
 contact might give the food a potency for evil." In 
 New Zealand one can be "bewitched' by eating or 
 drinking from the calabash of an ill-wisher, or by 
 smoking his pipe. Personal misfortunes are attributed 
 to such indiscretions. "When a man is sick, he is in- 
 variably questioned by the doctor, for example, whose 
 pipe he smoked last. 9 In ancient India a Brahmin 
 might not eat the food of an enemy or an ungrateful 
 man, or that offered by an angry, sick, or intoxicated 
 : person. 10 In the Mulgrave Islands those who are not 
 
 1 Rosenberg, op. cit. 478. 2 D'Albertis, op. cit. i. 261. 
 
 3 Dawson, op. cit. 18. * Arbousset, op. cit. 149. 
 
 5 Crisp, in Asiatick Researches, vi. Si. 6 Gill, Jottings from the Pacific, $Z. 
 
 7 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 166. s Featherman, op. cit. ii. 76. 
 
 9 Polack, Ne-iv Zealand, i. 280, 263. 10 Manu, iv. 213, 214, 207. 
 
i 5 3 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 initiate ought never to drink from the same cup with 
 sorcerers. 1 In Fiji persons who suspect others of 
 plotting against them avoid eating in their presence. 2 
 The Fijians consider it objectionable, just as we do, for 
 several persons to drink out of the same vessel. 3 No 
 respectable Zulu would eat in the company of Ama- 
 tongas, who are regarded as "evil-doers" (wizards). 4 
 In New Zealand no one dare eat the food of a " tapued 
 person " (gentleman), " for this is equivalent to eating 
 his sacredness." On one occasion a slave ate his chief's 
 dinner by mistake ; when told of what he had done he 
 was seized with convulsions and cramp in the stomach, 
 and died at sundown. 5 Similarly, if any one ate the 
 Mikado's food, his mouth and throat would swell up 
 and death would ensue. 6 Cadiack whalers are con- 
 sidered " unclean," and no one will eat out of the 
 same dish with them, or even approach them, for that 
 reason. 7 In Fiji the sick are credited with malignant 
 properties; they are supposed to "pollute'' objects 
 which they touch, and food, by means of their saliva. 
 Great care is always taken that no one touches the 
 king's cup-bearer. s In Tahiti, all who were employed 
 in embalming the dead were during the process care- 
 fully avoided by every one, as " the guilt of the crime 
 for which the deceased had died was supposed in some 
 degree to attach to such as touched the body. They 
 did not feed themselves, lest the food, denied by the 
 touch of their polluted hands, should cause their own 
 death, but were fed by others." 9 In New Zealand 
 
 1 D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 408. 2 Williams and Calvert, Fiji, i. 249. 
 
 3 Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 349. 4 Shooter, op. cit. 115. 
 
 5 Shortland, Maori Religion, 26 ; Neiv Zealand, by a Pakeha Maori, 114. 
 
 6 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 386. 7 Lisiansky, op. cit. 174. 
 
 8 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 620 ; Wilkes, cp. cit. iii. 115. 
 
 9 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iv. 388 ; so in Fiji, Meinicke, op. cit. iii. 40, Hawaii 
 and Samoa, id. ii. 300, 276. 
 
vii CONTAGION BY FOOD 159 
 
 one who has touched a dead body may not use his 
 hands to eat, but is either fed by others or picks up 
 his food with his teeth from the ground or the food- 
 basket. Those who feed such a person offer the food 
 with outstretched arm, and are careful not to touch 
 him. 1 In Samoa, while a dead body is in the house, 
 no food may be eaten under the same roof ; meals are 
 taken outside or in another house. Those who attend 
 upon the dead dare not handle their food, but are fed 
 for some days by others. The penalty for breaking 
 this rule is baldness and loss of teeth. 2 In Fiji any 
 one who has touched a chief, living or dead, becomes 
 tabu ; he cannot handle food, but must be fed by 
 others. Hence barbers are continually in this case. 3 
 In Tonga, when a man has touched a superior chief, or 
 anything belonging to him, he may not feed himself 
 with his own hands. Should he do so, he will infallibly 
 swell up and die. 4 To take examples of another sort 
 of contagion. In Burma one is denied by sitting or 
 eating with the " impure " caste of Sandalas. The 
 ancient Brahmin who ate the food of "outcasts" be- 
 came thereby an "outcast" himself. In modern India 
 members of different castes will not eat food cooked 
 in the same vessel ; if a person of another caste touch 
 a cooking vessel, it must be thrown away. 7 The food 
 of a Fijian chief may not be carried by boys who have 
 not been tattoed, lest the meat be rendered "unclean" ; 
 boys being " unclean " until then. 8 A New Zealand 
 gentleman must eat apart from his friends in solitude. 9 
 The Tuitonga might not eat in the presence of older 
 
 1 Brown, New Zealand, 1 1. 
 
 - Turner, Samoa, 145 ; id. Nineteen Tears in Polynesia, 22S. 
 
 8 Erskine, Western Pacific, 254. * Mariner, op. cit. i. 150, ii. 80. 
 
 5 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 173. 6 Manu, xi. 176, 181 ; Ward, Hindoos, ii. 149. 
 
 7 Ward, op. cit. ii. 317. 8 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 166. 9 Vate, cp. cit. 20. 
 
160 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 members of his family. 1 The King of Loango from 
 his birth may never eat with any one. 2 On the Loango 
 coast, among numerous restrictions upon food, occurs 
 a prohibition against eating in company with others. 3 
 Amongst the Alfoers of Celebes the priest who is 
 responsible for the growth of the rice may not during 
 his office eat or drink with any one, nor drink out of 
 another's cup. 4 In Cambodia people will not eat with 
 a priest. 5 In the Sandwich Islands no one could eat 
 with the chief, who was "sacred."' 3 In Tonga inferiors 
 and superiors may not eat together. 7 In New Zealand 
 a slave may not eat with his master, nor even eat of 
 the same food or cook at the same fire. 8 In some parts 
 of Polynesia a man will never eat with another out of 
 the same basket. 9 It is extremely unusual for Nubians 
 and the Niam-niam to take any meals in common. 10 
 This taboo is the main feature in certain systems of 
 caste. In Tonga there are ranks and orders that can 
 neither eat nor drink together. 11 In Uripiv (New 
 Hebrides) the males are divided into ten " castes " 
 corresponding to age in life. Promotion is marked by a 
 change of name. The members of each " caste " mess 
 together and may not eat with others. Unmarried 
 mess-mates also sleep together. 12 In India "eating to- 
 gether is one of the grand tests of identity of caste." 
 A Hindoo must take precautions " to insulate himself, 
 as it were, during his meal, lest he be contaminated by 
 the touch of some undetected sinner who may be 
 present." 13 In Ceylon, under the Kandyan dynasty, 
 
 I D'Urville, op. tit. ii. JJ. ' 2 Bastian, Loango- Ku'ste, i. 172. 3 Id. I.e. 
 
 4 Mededeelingen "van ivege het Nederiandsch Zendeling-Genootsehap, xi. 126. 
 
 5 Aymonier, op. cit. 170. 6 Varigny, op. ch. 13. 7 D'Urville, op. tit. I.e. 
 
 8 Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of'Neiv Zealand, 106. 
 
 9 Waitz-Gerlind, op. cit. v. 54. 10 Schweinfurth, op. cit. 447. 
 
 II Mariner, op. cit. ii. 234. 12 Somerville, in "Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 6, 7. 
 13 Mateer, op. tit. 331 ; Colebrooke, op. cit. vii. 277. 
 
vii CONTAGION BY FOOD 161 
 
 the most dreaded punishment for erring ladies was to 
 hand them over to the low-caste Rodiyas. A Rodiya 
 thereupon was ordered to put betel from his mouth 
 into the mouth of the delinquent, after which her 
 " degradation " was indelible. There were two lower 
 castes than the Rodiyas, who were so despised that no 
 human being would touch rice cooked in their houses. 1 
 The Black Jews of Loango are so despised that no one 
 will eat with them. 2 The Santhals hate the Hindus, 
 and will not receive food which comes from their 
 hands. 3 The Paharias regard themselves as superior 
 to the Keriahs, with whom they may neither eat nor 
 drink. 4 
 
 We next are met by familiar extensions of the 
 principle of contagion. The prohibition against eating 
 and drinking before the eyes of others is an outcome 
 of that universal appreciation of the power of the 
 human gaze which has reached its most superstitious 
 development in the belief in the Evil Eye. The idea 
 is still that of contagion, for facts show the belief that 
 malignance and other properties can be conveyed by a 
 look as certainly as by other methods of infection, 
 and thus taint the food and drink of the individual 
 who fears. The Oriental belief that food is rendered 
 poisonous by the Evil Eye is a luminous instance. In 
 Abyssinia, the doors are carefully barred before meals 
 to exclude the Evil Eye, and a fire is lighted, otherwise 
 " devils " will enter, and " there will be no blessing on 
 the meat." The king always dines alone. 5 Amongst 
 the Nubians no food is carried without being carefully 
 covered, for fear of the Evil Eye. No one is ever seen 
 
 1 Tennent, op. cit. ii. 189. 2 Bastian, of. cit. i. 278. 
 
 3 Rowney, Wild Tribes of India, 74. 4 V. Ball, Jungle Life of India, 89. 
 
 5 Harris, op. cit. iii. 171, 172, 322. 
 M 
 
1 62 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 eating. 1 The Zafimanelo of Madagascar lock the doors 
 before every meal, and no one ever sees them eat. 2 A 
 Khol will leave off eating if a man's shadow passes 
 across the dishes. 3 
 
 It is clear that men believe human properties to be 
 transmitted not only by contact with the food of others, 
 but by eating with them or in their presence. The 
 same idea lurks subconsciously in the modern mind ; 
 the objection against eating with "publicans and sinners" 
 is still strong, and is based on the same " primitive " 
 conception. 
 
 The altruistic development of these ideas is to be 
 observed in such practices as the following. The 
 Niam-niam are very particular at their meals, and when 
 several are drinking together, they may be observed to 
 wipe the rim of the cup before passing it on. 4 As 
 always in connection with contact, the tendency is for 
 any human emanation to be regarded as in itself un- 
 desirable, and with the growth of intellect and refine- 
 ment such are, as animal characteristics, brought into 
 the sphere of disgust, not only altruistic but individual- 
 istic also. Amongst the Natchez it was considered a 
 great offence to drink out of the same cup or eat out 
 of the same dish set apart for the chief. 5 It is for- 
 bidden in Wetar to eat or drink anything out of vessels 
 used by the chiefs. 6 Young Bedouin boys show defer- 
 ence to their father by never presuming to eat out of 
 the same dish, nor even in his presence. 7 The altruistic 
 form is in principle, it will be observed, closely con- 
 nected with the ideas of ngadhungi ; to eat another's 
 food is a real injury to him, in all the primitive sense 
 
 1 Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 326. " Antananarivo Annual, ii. 219. 
 
 3 Rowney, of. cit. 65. 4 Schweinfurth, cp. cit. ii. 19. 
 
 5 Featherman, cp. cit. iii. 138. 6 Riedel, cp. cit. 455. 
 
 7 Featherman, op. cit. v. 363. 
 
vii EATING WITH OTHERS 163 
 
 of the word " real." In New Zealand to eat a man's 
 food was a gross insult, it was equivalent to eating the 
 man himself, or his " sacredness." l 
 
 In sexual as in social taboo generally these beliefs 
 have had a remarkable influence. The widely spread 
 rule of sexual taboo that men and women may not eat 
 together, is, as are taboos of commensality generally, in 
 origin a form of egoistic sensitiveness with regard to 
 the most important vital function ; sexual separation 
 and sexual solidarity build upon this, and the general 
 ideas of contact applied to sexual relations develop a 
 superstitious fear that the contact, whether by contagion 
 or infection, or otherwise, of food with the person, or 
 influence of the female, transmits to the male the pro- 
 perties of woman, and, though this is not so much in 
 evidence, food " infected " by males transmits to the 
 female the properties of the male, and the rule becomes 
 a complete taboo. 
 
 It is to be observed that the prohibition has several 
 variations : for instance, women may not enter the 
 cooking-house of the men, and men may not eat those 
 kinds of food used by women, in some cases, by a 
 natural extension, not even female animals. 
 
 To begin with some special circumstances — 
 
 In Ceram men during mourning may not eat the 
 females of deer and certain other animals.- Amongst 
 the Motu of New Guinea when a man is helega, for 
 example after touching a dead body, he lives apart from 
 his wife, and may not eat food that she has cooked. 3 
 A Yucatan " Captain " during his three years of office, 
 might know no woman, nor might his food be served 
 by women. 4 The cook of the King of Angoy was 
 
 1 Shortland, Maori Religion, 26. - Riedel, op. cit. 142. 
 
 * Lawes, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. viii. 3-0. 4 Bancroft, of. cit. ii. 741. 
 
164 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 expected to keep himself pure, and might not even live 
 with a wife. 1 Algonkin priests, who are ordained to a 
 life of chastity, may not even eat food prepared by a 
 married woman." Buddhist monks in Burma may not 
 eat food cooked by female hands ; if a female offers 
 rice, they may accept but not eat. 3 Individuals in a 
 state of danger or solemn service, in other words 
 " under taboo," have especial reasons to avoid female 
 contagion. 
 
 The fact that the prohibition occurs at puberty 
 serves to bring into relief the idea that danger from the 
 other sex is apprehended at this period. Amongst the 
 Kurnai of Gippsland a " novice " may not eat female 
 animals ; he becomes free of the forbidden food by 
 degrees, in this way : an old man suddenly comes 
 behind him and without warning smears the fat of the 
 cooked animal over his face. 4 Amongst the Narrin- 
 yeri boys during the progress of " initiation," which is 
 not complete until the beard has been pulled out three 
 times, and each time has been allowed to grow to the 
 length of two inches, are forbidden to eat any food 
 which belongs to women. Everything that they possess 
 or obtain becomes narumbe, sacred from the touch of 
 women, a term also which is applied to themselves. 
 They are forbidden to eat with women, " lest they 
 grow ugly or become grey." 5 This belief is in- 
 structive, as showing how the superstitious fear of the 
 other sex may exist side by side with a desire to please, 
 or even give rise to means thereto. 
 
 The prohibition also applies to young men generally. 
 The Dyaks of North- West Borneo forbid their young 
 
 1 Bastian, Loango-Kiiste, i. 216. 2 Bancroft, of. cit. ii. 212. 
 
 3 Shway Yoe, The Burman, i. 136. 4 Journ. Anthrof. Inst. xiv. 316. 
 
 5 Native Tribes of South Australia, 17, 69. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 165 
 
 men and warriors to eat vension, which is the food of 
 women and old men, because it would make them as 
 timid as deer. 1 In the tribes of Western Victoria boys 
 are not allowed to eat any female quadruped. If they 
 are caught eating a female opossum, for instance, they 
 are severely punished ; the reason given is that such 
 food makes them peevish and discontented," in other 
 words, it gives them the failings which a black-fellow 
 ascribes to the female sex. In the Andamans bachelors 
 may only eat with the male sex, and spinsters with 
 females. 3 
 
 Amongst the Kurnai of Gippsland men may only 
 eat the males of the animals which they use for food. 4 
 The Port Lincoln tribe observes certain laws about 
 animal food, the general principle of which is this : 
 that the male of any animal should be eaten by grown- 
 up men, the female by women, and the young animal 
 by children only. 5 
 
 In special circumstances, here as elsewhere, the in- 
 tensified sexual property then acquired is believed to be 
 transmissible by the agency of food. In Western 
 Victoria a menstruous woman may not take any one's 
 food or drink, and no one will touch food that has 
 been touched by her, " because it will make them 
 weak." 6 In Queensland menstruous women are " un- 
 clean," and no one will touch a dish which they have 
 used. 7 Amongst the Maoris, if a man touched a men- 
 struous woman, he would be tapu ; if he had connection 
 with her or ate food cooked by her, he would be 
 " tapu an inch thick." s In the Aru Islands menstruous 
 
 1 St. John, op. cit. i. 186, 206. - Dawson, op. cit. 52. 
 
 :! Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xi. 344. " Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 197. 
 
 5 Native Tribes of South Australia, 220, H Dawson, op. cit. ci. cii. 
 
 7 Lumholtz, op. cit. 119. 8 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 101. 
 
1 66 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 women may not plant, cook, or prepare any food. 1 In 
 Ceram-laut and Gorong, amongst the Samoyeds and 
 Kalundas, wives at the catamenia may not prepare their 
 husband's food. 2 At menstruation a Chippeway wife 
 may not eat with her husband ; she must cook her 
 food at a separate fire, since any one using her fire will 
 fall ill. The same rule is enforced at child-birth. 3 A 
 Kaniagmut woman is " unclean ' : ' for some days both 
 after delivery and menstruation ; no one in either case 
 may touch her, and she is fed with food at the end 
 of a stick. 4 Amongst the Omahas and Ponkas women 
 during the monthly periods may not eat with their 
 husbands. These tribes have a belief that if one eats 
 with a menstruous woman, the lips dry up, the blood 
 turns black, and consumption is the final result. It is 
 but fair to add that it is mainly children who believe 
 this, the old people have no fear of the kind. 5 A 
 Brahmin might not allow himself to be touched by a 
 menstruous woman, or eat food offered by a woman. 
 Amongst the Vedahs of Travancore the wife at men- 
 struation is secluded for five days, in a hut a quarter of 
 a mile away, which is also used by her at child-birth. 
 The next five days are passed in a second hut, half-way 
 between the first and her house. On the ninth day her 
 husband holds a feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and 
 invites his friends to a spread of rice and palm -wine. 
 Until this evening he has not dared to eat anything but 
 roots, for fear of being killed by the " devil." On the 
 tenth day he must leave his house, to which he may 
 not return until the women, his and her sister, have 
 bathed his wife, escorted her home and eaten rice 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 178. 2 Id. op. cit. 209 ; Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. i. 273. 
 
 '" Id. ii. 354. 4 Dall, op. cit. 403 ; Bancroft, op. at. i. in. 
 
 5 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 275. B Manu, iv. 208, 211. 
 
vn SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 167 
 
 together. For four days after his return, moreover, 
 he may not eat rice in his own house, nor have 
 connection with his wife. 1 
 
 In Fiji a wife when pregnant may not wait upon 
 her husband. 2 In the Caroline Islands men may not 
 eat with their wives when pregnant, though small boys 
 are allowed to do so. 3 The Indians of Guiana believe 
 that if a pregnant woman eat of game caught by hounds 
 they will never be able to hunt again. 4 Amongst the 
 tribes on the Amazon, if a pregnant woman eat any 
 particular meat, it is believed that any animal partaking 
 of the same will suffer ; a domestic animal will die, a 
 hound will be rendered incapable of hunting, and a 
 man who eats such food will never again be able to 
 shoot that particular animal. 5 Amongst the Chippe- 
 ways a lying-in woman may not eat with her husband, 
 and must cook her food at a separate fire ; ° a Kirgis 
 woman when lying-in is " unclean "' and may not give 
 her husband his food. 7 In the islands Luang and 
 Sermata the husband gives a feast after a birth, at 
 which only women may be present. It is believed that 
 any man tasting the food will be unlucky in all his 
 undertakings. 8 Amongst the tribes of the Oxus valley 
 the mother is " unclean " for seven days, and no one 
 will eat from her hand, nor may she suckle her infant 
 during that period. 9 
 
 The examples of the prohibition in ordinary life are 
 arranged geographically. 
 
 The Warua of Central Africa, when offered a drink, 
 put up a cloth before the face while they swallow. 
 
 1 Jagor, in Zeitschrift fir Ethnohgie, xi. 164. " Williams, op. at. i. 137. 
 8 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. i. 514. 4 im Thurn, op. cit. 233. 
 
 5 Wallace, The Ama-zons, 501. 6 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 353. 
 
 7 Id. ii. 351. s Riedel, op. cit. 326. 
 
 9 Biddulph, The Tribes cf the Hindoo Koosh,?,i. 
 
168 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 They will not allow any one to see them eat or drink, 
 especially those of the opposite sex. "I could not," 
 says Cameron, " make a man let a woman see him 
 drink." Hence every person has his own fire, and 
 every man and woman must cook for themselves. 1 On 
 the Loango coast both bridegroom and bride must 
 make a full confession of their sins at the marriage 
 ceremony of Lemba ; should either fail to do so, or 
 keep anything back, they will fall ill when eating 
 together as man and wife. Only such marriages as are 
 performed in the presence of this fetish Lemba are 
 legitimate ; a negro dares not let any of his wives, 
 except the one thus married, cook his food, or look 
 after his wardrobe. This fetish also serves to keep the 
 wives in order and to punish them for infidelity. 2 In 
 Eastern Central Africa, when a wife has been guilty of 
 unchastity, her husband will die if he taste any food 
 that she has salted. As a consequence of this super- 
 stition, a wife is very liable to be accused of killing 
 her husband. Accordingly, when a wife prepares her 
 husband's food, she will often get a little girl to put 
 the salt in. 3 Amongst the Braknas of West Africa 
 husbands and wives do not eat together. 4 Fulah 
 women may not eat with their husbands. 5 In Ashanti 
 and Senegambia, amongst the Niam-niam and the 
 Barea, the wife never eats with the husband. 6 Amongst 
 the Beni-Amer a wife never eats in the presence of 
 her husband. 7 Amongst the Krumen the chief wife 
 only may eat with the husband. 8 In Eastern Central 
 Africa each village has a separate mess for males and 
 
 1 Cameron, in ycurn. Anthrop. Inst. vi. 173. 
 
 - Bastian, Loango Ku'ste, i. 170, 172. 3 Macdonald, op. cit. i. 173. 
 
 4 Giraud-Teulon, op. cit. 107. 5 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 471. 
 
 6 J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 182 ; W. Reade, op. cit. 453 ; Macdonald, op. cit. i. 227 ; 
 Munzinger, op. cit. 526. 7 Id. 325. 3 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. no. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 169 
 
 females. 1 This prohibition is very general throughout 
 Africa. 
 
 In Egypt the wives and female slaves are not 
 allowed to eat with the master. 2 Amongst the Aeneze 
 Arabs husband and wife do not eat together. 3 Amongst 
 the Wahabees and Syrian Arabs the women may not 
 eat with the male members of the family. 4 So with 
 the Druses of Lebanon. 5 The Beni-Harith would not 
 eat or drink at the hands of a woman, and "would 
 rather have died of hunger than break the rule." 
 Herodotus states that Carian women did not eat with 
 their husbands, nor would they address them as 
 " husband." 7 
 
 Amongst the Kurds husband and wife never eat 
 together. 8 A Samoyed woman may not eat with men, 
 much less with her husband, whose leavings form her 
 meals. 9 
 
 A Hindu wife never eats with her husband, " if his 
 own wife were to touch the food he was about to eat, 
 it would be rendered unfit for his use." 10 So in ancient 
 India ; to quote Manu, "let him not eat in the company 
 of his wife." u A Brahmin might not eat food given 
 by a woman, or by those " who are in all things ruled 
 by women," nor might he eat the leavings of women. 12 
 In Travancore the women must eat after the men. 13 
 Amongst the Khonds the wife and children wait upon 
 the master while he eats, then they may take their 
 meal. Women may not eat hog's flesh, and may only 
 
 I Macdonald, op. cit. i. 151. - Lane, op. cit. i. 236, 243. 
 :i Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, i. 64. 
 
 * Featherman, op. cit. v. 451, 393. 5 Chasseaud, op. cit. 77. 
 
 ' W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage in .-indent Arabia, 312. 
 7 Herodotus, i. 146. s Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 15. 
 
 9 Bastian, Der Mensch, iii. 295. : ' J Colebrooke, op. cit. 166. 
 
 II Manu, iv. 43. 12 Id. xi. 153 ; iv. 217. 
 13 Mateer, op. cit. 204 : id. The Land of Charity, 65. 
 
170 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 taste liquor at festivals. 1 The men and women of 
 Kumaun eat separately. 2 Amongst the hill tribes near 
 Rajmahal in Bengal the women are not allowed to eat 
 with the men. 3 Amongst the Todas men and women 
 may not eat together. 4 At a Santhal wedding the 
 bride and bridegroom eat together after fasting all 
 day ; this is the first time she has ever eaten with a 
 man. 5 In Cochin a wife never eats with her husband. 6 
 A Siamese wife prepares her husband's meals, but dines 
 after him. 7 In the Maldive Islands husband and wife 
 may not eat together. 8 The same rule is in force 
 amongst the Khakyens. 9 In China by marriage a 
 woman "only changes masters" ; the wife neither eats 
 with her husband nor with her male children ; she 
 waits upon them at table ; she may not touch what her 
 son leaves. 10 In Corea men and women have their 
 meals separately, the women waiting on the men. 
 " Family life is utterly unknown in Corea." u 
 
 Amongst the Indians of Guiana husbands and wives 
 eat separately. 12 Macusi women eat after the men. 13 
 Amongst the Bororo women and children eat after the 
 men, and finish their leavings. 14 Amongst the Arau- 
 canians only the chief wife may eat with her husband. 15 
 In ancient Mexico each person had a separate bowl for 
 eating ; the men ate first and by themselves, the women 
 and children afterwards. 16 In Yucatan men and women 
 
 1 Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India, 72. 
 
 2 Panjab Notes and Queries, iii. 2. 454. 
 
 3 T. Shaw, in Asiatick Researches, iv. 59. 4 Marshall, op. cit. 82. 
 
 5 E. T. Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, 216. 
 
 6 A. Bastian, Allerlei aits Mensch- und Volkenkunde, ii. 160. 
 
 7 Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 585. 8 fourn. Anthrop. Inst. xvi. 168. 
 9 Anderson, op. cit. 137. 10 Hue, L'empire chinois, i. 26S. 
 
 11 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 306. 
 
 12 im Thurn, op. cit. 256 ; Brett, op. cit. 2S. 1S Id. I.e. 
 
 34 Von den Steinen, op. cit. 215. 15 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 516. 
 
 16 L. H. Morgan, Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, 10 1. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 171 
 
 ate apart.J "So far as I have yet travelled," says 
 Catlin, " in the Indian country, I have never yet seen 
 an Indian woman eating with her husband. Men form 
 the first group at the banquet, and women and children 
 and dogs all come together at the next." 2 Amongst 
 the Iroquois tribes the men ate first and by themselves, 
 then the women and children took their meal alone. 
 Of these people it has been said that the women " must 
 approach their lords with reverence ; they must regard 
 them as most exalted beings, and are not permitted to 
 eat in their presence." 3 Mandan women may not eat 
 with the men. 4 So amongst the Abenaques, Seminoles, 
 and Northern Indians. 5 The Seneca Indians relate of 
 the changes in their customs resulting from the innova- 
 tions of the whites, " that when the proposition that 
 man and wife should eat together, which was so contrary 
 to immemorial usage, was first determined in the affir- 
 mative, it was formally agreed that man and wife should 
 sit down together at the same dish and eat with the 
 same ladle, the man eating first and then the woman, 
 and so alternately until the meal was finished." 
 Amongst the Natchez the husband used a respectful 
 attitude towards his wife, and addressed her as if he 
 were her slave ; he did not eat with her. 7 An Eskimo 
 wife "dares not eat with her husband." * Amongst 
 the Indians of California husbands and wives eat 
 separately ; they may not even cook at the same 
 fire. 9 Karalit and Kutchin women may not eat with 
 men. 10 
 
 1 L. H. Morgan, op. cit. 103. - Catlin, North American Indians, i. 202. 
 
 3 Morgan, op. cit. 99 ; Robertson, History of America, 178. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 297. 5 Id. iii. 94, 169 ; Hearne, op. at. 90. 
 
 6 Morgan, op. cit. 100. 7 Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nowvelle France, iii. 423. 
 
 8 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 308. 9 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 390. 
 
 10 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 420, 384. 
 
172 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Amongst the extinct Tasmanians husband and wife ate 
 separately. 1 The rule is general throughout Australia ; 
 the gin never eats till the man has finished, and then she 
 eats his leavings. 2 In Victoria males and females have 
 separate fires at which they cook their own food. 
 Many of the best kinds of food are forbidden to 
 women. 3 In Queensland also the husband reserved the 
 best of the food for himself. 4 In Central Australia the 
 men and women eat and camp separately. 5 
 
 Amongst the Arfaks of New Guinea the men and 
 women eat apart. 6 Amongst the Kayans and Punans 
 of Borneo the men feed alone, attended on by the 
 women. 7 Amongst the Battas of Sumatra husband 
 and wife may not eat from the same dish. s In the 
 Mentawey Islands the man eats alone in the house ; 
 the women are forbidden to use many kinds of food. 9 
 In the islands Wetar and Dama women may not eat 
 with the men ; in Romang husband and wife take their 
 meals at the same time but separately. 10 Men and 
 women may not eat together in Halmahera. 11 
 
 In Melanesia generally, women may not eat with 
 men. 12 In the Solomon Islands husband and wife do 
 not eat together ; she prepares his meal, and when he 
 has finished she eats what he has left. 13 In the Banks 
 Islands all the adult males belong to the men's club, | 
 Suqe, where they take their meals, while the women 
 and children eat at home. 14 In Tanna women may not 
 eat with men, they may not drink kava, nor share in 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 105. 2 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 777. 
 
 3 Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 134. 4 Lumholtz, op. cit. 161. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 467, 469. 6 D'Albertis, op. cit. i. 218. 
 
 7 Hose, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 160. 8 Ellis, op. cit. i. 117. 
 
 9 Rosenberg, op. cit. 196. 10 Riedel, op. cit. 458, 464. 
 
 11 Id. in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 59. 
 
 12 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 676 ; Meinicke, op. cit. i. 67. 
 
 13 Guppy, op. cit. i. 41. 14 Journ. An'krop. Inst. x. 237. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 173 
 
 the kava-dnnking feasts of the men. 1 In the New 
 Hebrides generally, women always eat apart from the 
 men. 2 In Uripiv " the most noticeable features of 
 domestic life will be found in the curious segregation 
 of the sexes and the superstitious dread of eating any- 
 thing female. A few days after birth a killing of pigs 
 takes place and the child is ' rated a man.' Hence- 
 forward he must cook his own meals at his own fire, 
 and eat with men alone, otherwise death will mysteri- 
 ously fall upon him. The fact of his being suckled, 
 however, which often goes on for two years, is quite 
 overlooked." 3 In Malekula men and women cook 
 their meals separately, and even at separate fires, and 
 all female animals, sows, and even hens and eggs are 
 forbidden articles of diet. A native told Lieutenant 
 Somerville that a mate of his had died from partaking 
 of sow. 4 In New Caledonia women may not eat with 
 the men. 5 In Fiji husband and wife may not eat 
 together, nor brother and sister, nor the two sexes 
 generally. Young men may not eat of food left by 
 women. Boys, as being " unclean ' until they have 
 been tatooed, may not carry food to the chiefs, for 
 their touch would render it " unclean." ° 
 
 In Ponape the men take their meals in the club- 
 house. 7 In Kusaie women may not eat with men 
 owing to the tabu? In Rarotonga the women ate 
 apart from the men. 9 In the Hervey Islands husband 
 and wife never eat together, and the first-born child, 
 boy or girl, may not eat with any member of the 
 family. 10 In Paumotu the women may not eat with 
 
 1 Turner, Nineteen Tears in Polynesia, 85. 2 Meinicke, of. cit. i. 197. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 4. 4 Id. 381. 5 Meinicke, op. cit. i. 231. 
 
 6 Williams, op. cit. i. 167, 136 ; D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 102. 
 
 7 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. v. 2. "2. 8 Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 377. 
 
 9 Id. ii. 143. 10 Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 94. 
 
i 7 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the men, and are not allowed to eat several kinds of 
 food, such as large fish and turtles. These laws are 
 enforced by the tabu} So in Tubuai tabu forbids the 
 women to eat with men, or to use as food turtles and 
 pigs. 2 In the Marquesas Islands to each dwelling 
 there is attached a special eating-house for the men, 
 which the women are forbidden to enter. 3 In Nuka- 
 hiva, according to another account, the rich have 
 separate buildings for dining-rooms on particular 
 occasions of feasting which women are not permitted 
 to enter ; so strict is the rule, that they dare not even 
 pass near them. Women are forbidden kava and 
 certain foods. 4 In Rurutu men and women do not eat 
 together, " owing to superstitious fear ; they believe 
 that in such case the wife would be destroyed by a 
 spirit." 5 In Bow Island the men threw the remains 
 of their meals to their wives. 6 In Rotumah the men 
 of the family eat first ; when they have finished, the 
 women and children begin their meal at a separate 
 table. 7 In New Zealand, where every man eats by 
 himself away from his friends, women and slaves may 
 not eat with men. Men may not eat with their wives 
 nor wives with their male children, " lest their tapu or 
 sanctity should kill them." s In the Sandwich Islands 
 the king's wives were not allowed to enter his eating- 
 house. 9 In Hawaii the women were forbidden to eat 
 in company with men, and even to enter the eating- 
 room during meals. Three houses necessarily belonged 
 to each family, the dwelling-house, a house for the 
 
 1 Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 219. 2 Id. ii. 199. 3 Id. ii. 249. 
 
 4 Lisiansky, op. cit. 87 ; Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 252, 247. 
 3 Ellis, op. cit. iii. 97, 98. 6 Beechey, op. cit. i. 242. 
 7 D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 44.0. 
 
 5 Thomson, The Story of New Zealand, i. 60 ; Taylor, op. cit. i. 168. 
 '■' Kotzebue, Voyage to the South Sea, i. 305. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 175 
 
 repasts of the men, and another for the meals of the 
 women. The residence was common ; the women's 
 house was not closed against our sex, but a decorous 
 man would not enter it. The eating-house of the men 
 was tabooed to women. " We ourselves saw the corpse 
 of a woman floating round our ship, who had been 
 killed because she had entered the eating-house of her 
 husband in a state of intoxication." The raison d'etre 
 of the two eating-houses belonging to each family was 
 because the two sexes might not eat together. Women 
 dared not be present at the meals of the men, on pain 
 of death. Each sex had to dress their own victuals 
 ' over a separate fire. The two sexes were not allowed 
 to use the flesh of the same animal. Hog's flesh, 
 turtle, several kinds of fruit, cocoa, bananas, etc., were 
 prohibited to the women. 1 From another account of 
 the Sandwich Islands we gather the following : women 
 might not eat with men ; their houses and their labours 
 were distinct ; their aliment was prepared separately. 
 A female child from its birth until death was allowed 
 no food that had touched the father's dish. " From 
 childhood onwards no natural affections were incul- 
 pated ; no social circle existed." 2 Ellis' account of the 
 state of things in the Society and Sandwich Islands is 
 as follows : — " The institutes of Oro and Tane inexor- 
 ably require not only that the wife should not eat those 
 kinds of foods of which the husband partook, but that 
 i|»he should not eat in the same place or prepare her 
 kood at the same fire. This restriction applied not 
 )nly to the wife with regard to her husband, but to 
 .11 individuals of the female sex, from their birth to 
 
 1 Lisiansky, op. cit. 127, 126 ; Kotzebue, op. cit. iii. 249, i. 310; Meinickc, op. 
 it. ii. 300 ; H. T. Cheever, Life in the -Sandwich Islands, 24. 
 - Jar vis, History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, 94, 95 ; Varigny, op. cit. 42. 
 
176 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 their death. The children of each sex always ate apart. 
 As soon as a boy was able to eat, a basket was provided 
 for his use, and his food was kept distinct from that 
 of the mother. The men were allowed to eat the flesh 
 of the pig, of fowls, every variety of fish, cocoa-nuts, 
 and bananas, and whatever was presented as an offering 
 to the gods ; these the females, on pain of death, were 
 forbidden to touch, as it was supposed they would 
 pollute them. The fires at which the men's food was 
 cooked were also sacred, and were forbidden to be used 
 by the females. The basket in which the provision 
 was kept, and the house in which the men ate, were 
 also sacred, and prohibited to the females under the 
 same cruel penalty. Hence the inferior food for the 
 wives and daughters was cooked at separate fires, 
 deposited in distinct baskets, and eaten in lonely soli- 
 tude by the females in little huts erected for the 
 purpose." The whole custom was known as the ai 
 tabu or " sacred eating." l Cook observed of the 
 Sandwich islanders, that " in their domestic life, the 
 women live almost entirely by themselves." This 
 condition of family life was most noticeable in Tahiti. 
 The Tahitians forbade men and women to eat together; 
 they " had an aversion to holding any intercourse with 
 each other at their meals, and they were so rigid in the 
 observance of this custom that even brothers and sisters 
 had their separate baskets of provisions, and generally 
 sat some yards apart, when they ate, with their backs 
 to each other, without exchanging a word." 2 To 
 resume the previous account : " their domestic habits 
 were unsocial and cheerless. This is probably to be 
 attributed to the invidious distinction established by 
 
 1 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 116, 129, 263, iv. 386 ; id. Tour in Haivaii, 368. 
 
 2 Cook and King, op. cit. iii. 130 ; Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery, i. 105, 139. 
 
vii SEXUAL TABOO IN EATING 177 
 
 their superstitions, and enforced by tabu between the 
 sexes. The father and mother, with their children, never, 
 as one social happy band, surrounded the domestic 
 hearth, or assembling under the grateful shade of 
 the verdant grove, partook together, as a family, of 
 the bounties of Providence. The nameless but delight- 
 ful emotions experienced on such occasions were un- 
 known to them, as well as all that we are accustomed 
 to distinguish by the endearing appellation of domestic 
 happiness. In sickness or pain, or whatever other 
 circumstances the mother, the wife, the sister, or the 
 daughter, might be brought into, tabu was never re- 
 laxed. The men, especially those who occasionally 
 attended on the services of idol-worship in the temple, 
 were considered ra, or sacred ; while the female sex 
 was considered noa, or common : the most offensive 
 and frequent imprecations which the men were accus- 
 tomed to use towards each other, referred also to this 
 degraded condition of the females. ' Mayest thou 
 become a bottle, to hold salt water for thy mother,' 
 or ' mayest thou be baked as food for thy mother,' 
 were imprecations they were accustomed to denounce 
 upon each other." 1 Making due allowance for mission- 
 ary prejudice, the action of sexual taboo in these islands 
 had considerable results, and its meaning is shown in 
 a marked fashion. King Kamehameha " broke " the 
 tabu by eating with his wives. 2 
 
 Cases of this taboo have even been found in modern 
 
 ,Europe. At a Servian wedding the bride for the first 
 
 and only time in her life eats with a man, and is served 
 
 instead of serving. In Brandenburg it is believed that 
 
 .lovers and married people who eat from one plate or 
 
 , drink from one glass will come to dislike each other, 
 
 1 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 129. 2 Varigny, cp. cit. 42. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, vn 
 
 and in the district of Fahrland, near Potsdam, there is 
 a prohibition, which is observed, against such persons 
 biting the same piece of bread. 1 
 
 It was suggested by Robertson Smith that the pro- 
 hibition against husbands and wives eating together 
 may have been due to the fact that by exogamy 
 they were of different tribes, and therefore could not 
 eat the same food. But on the present showing this 
 is impossible. In later thought, this idea may occasion- 
 ally have been developed, but that it was never original 
 is shown not only by the present evidence but by the 
 facts that the system of tribal, totemic, and " classifica- 
 tory " foods is rare, while sexual taboo in eating is 
 almost universal, and that the taboo is no less common 
 between brothers and sisters, who are of the same tribe, 
 and also, except in rare cases, of the same totem-clan 
 or marriage-class. 
 
 1 Reinsberg Duringsfeld, Hochzeitsbuch, 81, 217. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 If contact of the two sexes is always potentially danger- 
 ous, owing to fear of the chief result of contact, con- 
 tagion of properties, it is to be expected that to savage 
 thought the dangers of contagion should be multiplied 
 and deepened when the contact is of the most intimate 
 kind possible. The savage regards intercourse com- 
 mensal and sexual as the closest, and especially in 
 marriage, of which state the sharing of mensa and thorus 
 is the chief feature for ordinary thought. As com- 
 mensality is regulated by this fear of contact, so is 
 sexual intercourse. The ideas beneath each form of 
 contact are the same. The supreme biological import- 
 ance of the nutritive impulse, of which the sexual is an 
 extension or complement, and the delicate mechanism 
 of the organs of generation, have determined in the 
 usual ratio man's psychological attitude towards this 
 function. As all primitive psychological attitudes arise 
 from what may be called physiological thought, the 
 actual process of functions producing directly ideas 
 .concerning them, more or less reflex and subconscious, 
 so as to be practically inherent in the human mind, so 
 the depth of such ideas varies as the importance of the 
 function. The impulse of sex is only less strong than 
 that of hunger. Periodicity has assisted to make its 
 .psychological character less ordinary, and less of an 
 .everyday concern, and hence more shrouded in secrecy 
 
^ 
 
 1 80 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and more surrounded by mystery and fear. The 
 instinct, as it may be truly called, for performing 
 important functions in secret is of course due to anxiety 
 concerning their unimpeded performance, and to fear 
 of interruption. This principle can be traced right 
 down to the lower animals. The savage is far more 
 secretive in this function than is civilised man ; what 
 Riedel states of the Ceramese, is true of the generality 
 of savage and barbarous peoples. In Ceram, he says, 
 all natural functions, especially that of coitus, are per- 
 formed in secret, by preference in the forest. 1 In Fiji, 
 from motives of delicacy, " rendezvous between hus- 
 band and wife are arranged in the depths of the forest, 
 unknown to any but the two." 2 Bowdich stated that 
 in Western Africa if a man cohabited with a woman 
 without the house, or in the bush, they both became 
 the slaves of the first person who discovered them, 
 but could be redeemed by their families. 3 This less 
 common rule presupposes more or less publicity in the 
 forest. In the Aru Islands and Wetar intercourse is 
 not performed in the house, but in the forest. 4 In 
 Makisar all bodily functions are performed in secret, 
 and exposure is reprehensible. 5 The savage is also 
 more refined in language with regard to this subject 
 than are most civilised men ; thus in Ceram it is for- 
 bidden to speak of sexual matters in the presence of a 
 third person ; 6 and obscenity, that fungus-growth of 
 civilisation through degeneration or wrong methods of 
 education, is either unknown amongst savages or re- 
 garded as a heinous sin. Ethnology supplies many 
 cases of apparent obscenity, but the expressions are not 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebet en Papua, 96. 
 
 2 Seeman, op. cit. no, 191. 
 
 3 Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, 259. 
 
 4 Riedel, op. cit. 250, 448. 5 Id. 406. 8 Id. 96. 
 
vni SEXUAL INTERCOURSE 181 
 
 obscene, they express a man's righteous and religious 
 indignation, and have much the same force as " infidel " 
 and " blasphemer " when used seriously. 
 
 Again, the phenomena of modesty in the female 
 deepen this reserve. Dr. Ellis, who has given the best 
 account of the origin of the feeling of modesty, points 
 out the impulse in female animals and women " to 
 guard the sexual centres against the undesired advances 
 of the male. The naturally defensive attitude of the 
 female is in contrast with the naturally aggressive 
 attitude of the male in sexual relationships." This 
 impulse for defence is carried on into the state of 
 desire, and female animals are known to run after the 
 male, and " then turn to flee, perhaps only submitting 
 with much persuasion." There is the well-known case 
 of a hind running away from a stag, but in a circle 
 round him. " Modesty thus becomes an invita- 
 tion." l 
 
 Sexual taboo has emphasised the ideas arising from 
 this functional process, by filling them with a content 
 of religious fear. As to the psychological attitude of 
 the male sex, we often find, especially in European 
 folklore, the fear of possible ligature or impotentia con- 
 jugalis at marriage, an anxiety coming straight from 
 function and closely connected with the universal , care, 
 often passing into religious fear, about doing something 
 for the first time, or something unusual or important. 
 Witches are often supposed to be able to cause this, as 
 in South Celebes. 2 
 
 This feeling of egoistic sensibility, again, connects 
 closely with the widely spread idea underlying contact, 
 that injury may be caused by the ill-will or dangerous 
 
 1 Haveloclc Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, ii. 29. 
 
 - B. F. Matthes, Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie -van Zuid-Ce/ehes, 97. 
 
1 82 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 habit of another, either with or without intention, 
 either by the means of sympathetic magic or of what 
 may be called sympathy. This form of sympathetic 
 magic to which I apply the term ngadhungi, is, as we 
 have seen, a natural development of that simple idea of 
 contagion which may be called sympathy, man using 
 nature's " bacteriological " or " electrical " means for 
 his own ends. As is the case with every physical 
 function and organ, so against the organs of genera- 
 tion this method can be used. In Ceram difficult 
 labour for woman, and in men, impotence, are caused 
 by putting disease-transmitting articles where people 
 " may tread on them. 1 In Tanna aud Malekula " the 
 closest secrecy is adopted with regard to the penis, not 
 at all from a sense of decency, but to avoid narak, the 
 sight even of that of another man being considered 
 t-most dangerous. They therefore wrap it round with 
 many yards of calico, winding and folding them until 
 a preposterous bundle eighteen inches or two feet long 
 is formed." 2 We have here the not infrequent con- 
 verse of the " evil eye " ; to see a thing is a method by 
 which one may contract its contagious properties. Of 
 the Arunta Messrs. Spencer and Gillen report, " as a 
 general rule, women are not supposed to be able to 
 exercise much magic except in regard to the sexual 
 organs, but we have known of a woman being speared 
 to death by the brother of her husband, who accused 
 her of having killed the latter by means of a pointing 
 stick. Women exercise peculiar powers in regard to 
 the sexual organs. To bring on a painful affection in 
 those of men, a woman will procure the spear-like seed 
 of a long grass (Inturkirra), and having charmed it by 
 singing some magic chant over it, she waits an oppor- 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 140. 2 Somerville, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 368. 
 
vin THE SEXUAL ORGANS AND MAGIC 183 
 
 tunity to point and throw it towards the man whom 
 she desires to injure. Shortly after this has been done 
 the man experiences pain, as if he had been stung by 
 ants, his parts become swollen, and he at once attri- 
 butes his sufferings to the magic influence of some 
 woman who wishes to injure him. A woman may also 
 charm a handful of dust which she collects while out 
 digging up yams or gathering seeds, and having 
 ' sung ' it brings it into camp with her. She takes 
 the opportunity of sprinkling it over a spot where the 
 man whom she wishes to injure is likely to micturate. 
 If he should do so at this spot he would experience a 
 scalding sensation in the urethra, and afterwards suffer 
 a great amount of pain. Women may also produce 
 disease in men by ' singing ' over and thus charming a 
 finger, which is then inserted in the vulva ; the man 
 who subsequently has connection with her will become 
 diseased and may lose his organs altogether, and so 
 when a woman wishes to injure a man she will some- 
 times after thus ' poisoning ' herself, seek an oppor- 
 tunity of soliciting him, though he be not her proper 
 Unawa. Syphilitic disease amongst the Arunta is, as a 
 matter of fact, very frequently attributed to this form 
 of magic, for it must be remembered that the native 
 can only understand disease of any form as due to evil 
 magic, and he has to provide what appears to him to be 
 a suitable form of magic to account for each form of 
 disease." 1 The disease Erkincha, as we have noticed, 
 is transmitted in the same way. The natives do not 
 reason " from a strictly medical point of view ; their 
 idea in a case of this kind is that a man suffering from 
 Erkincha conveys a magic evil influence which they call 
 Arungquiltha to the women, and by this means it is 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 547, 548. 
 
1 84 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 conveyed as a punishment to other men." l As in 
 other forms of contact, so in this, the transmission of 
 disease is included in the hylo-idealistic contagion of 
 properties, though it is not the origin of these ideas. 
 Similarly, amongst the Zulus, a man suspicious of his 
 wife's fidelity gets " medicine '' from a doctor, and 
 takes it internally. By cohabiting with his wife he 
 gives her the seed of disease, and any one cohabiting 
 with her afterwards, acquires it, while she remains un- 
 injured. They have also a " medicine " which can 
 make a man sensitive to the existence of that state in a 
 woman which can produce disease ; it is rubbed into a 
 scarification on the back of the left hand. If a woman 
 whom he approaches is in this state, a spasmodic con- 
 traction attacks his fingers when he touches her, and he 
 therefore abstains. " It is from dread of this ' disease ' 
 that a man will not marry a widow till she has had 
 medical treatment to remove all possibilities of com- 
 municating it." 2 The " intention " is in this example 
 well illustrated, being aimed at a third party, and 
 leaving the intermediary free, and also being clearly 
 a man's vengeance materialised and transmitted. 
 
 As has been pointed out, ngadhungi (narak) and 
 beneficent transmission are exactly the same except in 
 the character of the " intention," which is evil in the 
 first case and good in the second, and love -charms 
 proper, used to inspire love, are frequently based on this 
 method. A man or woman in the Arunta and other 
 tribes can charm another's love by " singing " a head- 
 band, which is then given to the person to wear ; a 
 man can inspire a woman's love by " singing " the shell 
 ornament he wears from his girdle. As they express 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 412 
 2 Callaway, The Religious System of the Amazulu, 287, 288. 
 
vni LOVE CHARMS 185 
 
 the result, the woman sees " lightning ' : on it, and it 
 makes "her inwards shake with emotion." The 
 idealism of love and its physiological accompaniments 
 are here put in a way worthy of any high culture. It 
 is to be observed that this same method is used to cure 
 sickness, the shell ornament being placed on the sick 
 man's chest. 1 To inspire love, the people of Makisar 
 place secret charms in the footprints of a man or a 
 woman. 2 In the Kei Islands herbs mixed with women's 
 hair and hung in a tree are used for this. The women 
 arouse love in men by charming betel which they have 
 themselves prepared. 3 Sympathetic charms are used by 
 men and women in Buru to excite love. One takes 
 some betel or tobacco, and after speaking a charm over 
 it, places it in the betel-box. When the man or woman 
 against whom the charm is directed makes use of this 
 betel, he or she falls in love with the owner. The same 
 effect is produced by muttering charms over the oil 
 which the woman uses for her hair, or over a piece of 
 hair one has got from a woman. The most potent 
 method, however, is the burying of a piece of prepared 
 ginger, with the muttering of one's desire, in some spot 
 where the woman usually passes. 4 In Tenimber the 
 men make considerable use of charms to engage the 
 women's affections. To this end they place a mixture 
 of roots and lime on some spot where the woman has 
 urinated. It is believed that the woman after a short 
 time will fall madly in love with the man. Young men 
 are therefore forbidden to use lime. 5 In the Babar 
 Islands when a quarrel occurs between lovers, the man 
 avenges himself by keeping a piece of her hair, or some 
 bit of betel she has thrown away. Afterwards, as a 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, cp. clt. 545. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 414. 
 
 3 Id. 223. * Id. II. 5 Id. 302. 
 
1 86 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 result, her children by another man will die. Lovers 
 in these islands have full intimacy, but it must be kept 
 secret, for there is a fine attaching. It is believed that 
 men, if fined, are ungallant enough to make the woman 
 ill and unlucky by curses. 1 Lovers in the Aru Islands 
 give each other gifts, but never a lock of hair, for fear 
 that if they quarrelled the one might make the other ill 
 by burning it. 2 For love-charms Arunta women also 
 " make and ' sing ' special okinchalanina or fur-string 
 necklets, which they place round the man's neck, or 
 they may simply charm a food such as a witchetty-grub 
 or lizard and give this to the man to eat." To promote 
 desire, a man will give a woman to eat a part of the 
 reproductive organs of a male opossum or kangaroo. 
 In the case of a delicate woman, a husband tries to 
 strengthen her by " singing " over such part of a male 
 animal, which she then eats. 3 This instance shows the 
 identity of such love-charms and the transmission of 
 strength already described. 
 
 In the love-charms quoted, there are cases not only 
 of ngadhungi but of transmission by ordinary contact. 
 Leaving now this transmission of evil purpose and of 
 love, we come to the general ideas of transmission of 
 properties by ordinary contact. As one fears the 
 malicious intention of an enemy which results in sickness 
 or death by transmission of his malevolence, and 
 welcomes or disdains, as the case may be, the feelings of 
 love transmitted by material methods, so one fears or 
 invites the involuntary transmission of another's qualities 
 by contact. The lover is concerned with both sides of 
 the taboo state in its beneficent aspect, he hopes to 
 transmit his own love to his mistress and to receive hers 
 by contact. But if, as is generally the case with 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 358, 370. 2 Id. 262. 3 Spencer and Giilen, op. cit. 548. 
 
viii CONTAGION OF WEAKNESS 187 
 
 uncivilised man, the imperious instinct of love is crossed 
 or conditioned by presuppositions concerning female 
 character derived from the experience of ordinary life, 
 the caution which he shares with the animals in the 
 satisfaction of love will be accentuated by somewhat of 
 fear of the contagion of female properties in the closest 
 sort of contact. We shall see that the male sex, with an 
 unanimity which is practically universal, ascribe to the 
 female a relative inferiority in physical strength. This 
 is a physiological idea arising straight from a sexual 
 secondary difference which is practically universal. If 
 savage man then fears that in ordinary association with 
 women he may be infected with their relative weakness, 
 and if the more civilised fear the moral " infection ' of 
 effeminacy, it is quite natural that in the closest form 
 of contact this fear should be accentuated. 
 
 The conception is also based on what is the comple- 
 ment of the idea of female weakness, namely, the 
 practically universal physiological belief that sexual 
 intercourse is weakening. This is a conception that 
 may be called instinctive, inasmuch as it arises straight 
 from a peculiarity of the function. This peculiarity is 
 the fact that sexual intercourse is followed by a 
 temporary depression, resulting from increased blood- 
 pressure. The idea, then, that contact with women- 
 entails weakness, thus arises in two ways which meet by 
 a remarkable coincidence in the sexual act. 
 
 In further illustration we may note the idea, probably 
 universal, and correlative with the above mentioned 
 physiological conception, that strength resides in the 
 male seminal fluid. It is an interesting case of effect 
 put for cause. In ordinary human thought the seed is 
 the strength, as much as the blood is the life. The 
 folk-medicine of most countries, especially Europe, is 
 
1 88 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 full of cases where human semen is used to cure sickness. 
 Primitive man most practically, it is to be noted, 
 correlates weakness and sickness ; and there are also 
 numerous examples of semen being administered in 
 order to produce strength. The idea is then carried 
 on to the organs of generation, as has been already 
 described. Zulus think the testes the seat of strength. 1 
 
 Much indirect evidence from savage custom has, 
 already appeared showing the universal belief that sexual 
 intercourse is enervating, a belief based on this double 
 idea. The Seminoles believed that carnal connection 
 with a woman exercised an enervating influence upon 
 men and rendered them less fit for the duties of a 
 warrior. 2 In Halmahera men must practice continence 
 when at war, " otherwise they will lose their strength." 3 
 In South Africa a man when in bed must not touch his' 
 wife with his right hand ; " if he did so, he would have 
 no strength in war, and would surely be slain." 4 
 
 The explanation of the rule, which forbids to 
 warriors and hunters any sort of intercourse with 
 women before and during their expeditions, may now 
 be completed. The main feature of such rules is the 
 injunction of continence, and the idea which prompts 
 this is that while contact with women transmits female 
 weakness, the retention of a secretion, in which strength 
 is supposed to reside, ensures vigour and strength. A 
 Congo belief is here instructive ; when the Chitome goes 
 out to make his judicial circuit, criers "proclaim a fast 
 of continence, the penalty for breaking which is death. 
 The belief is that by such continence they preserve the 
 life of their common father." 5 Similarly in the Kei 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 116. 2 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, v. 272. 
 
 a Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, xvii. 69. 
 
 4 Macdonald, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 140. 5 W. Reade, cp. cit. 362. 
 
vin THEORY OF CONTINENCE 189 
 
 Islands men before going to war may have no intercourse 
 with women, and those who remain behind must practice 
 the same continence. 1 In New Caledonia, to abstain 
 from carnal connection with women is considered a 
 meritorious act, and is strictly observed on all solemn 
 occasions, especially when going to war. 2 Strict chastity 
 is observed by Malays in a stockade, else the bullets of 
 the garrison will lose their power. 3 In Ceramlaut it is 
 a sin not to cleanse the person after intercourse with a 
 woman, when a man is about to go to war. 4 After 
 killing his first man, the young Natchez warrior was 
 required to abstain for six months from all sexual 
 intercourse, and was prohibited from tasting meat. 5 A 
 seven-days' taboo amongst the Malays, when fishing, is 
 the scrupulous observance of chastity. 6 During the 
 pilgrimage to Mecca which every Mussulman must 
 perform once in his life, he has to abstain from all 
 sexual intercourse. 7 The celibacy of warriors was a 
 chief feature of Zulu and Fiji militarism. Tchaka 
 based it on an existing custom and belief. 8 The Fijians 
 had a custom identical with that of the ancient Thebans.' J 
 In practice, doubtless, an unmarried man may make a 
 better soldier, precisely because there is no tie to render 
 death more terrible. 
 
 Further, just as many detachable portions of the 
 organism are regarded as parts of a man's soul, being 
 filled with his life and character, and sometimes, for his 
 safety, as external souls, so those secretions which have 
 in fact the closest connection with life and strength 
 might naturally be regarded in thought as having 
 
 1 Rieilel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 223. 
 
 2 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 92. 3 Skeat, Malay Magic, 524. 
 
 4 Riedel, op. cit. 168. 5 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 146. 
 
 6 Skeat, op. cit. 315. ' Burckhardt, Tra-veh in Arabia, i. 163. 
 
 8 Shooter, .p. cir. 47. 9 Williams, op. cit. i. 45 ; Polyaenus, ii. 5.1. 
 
190 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 inherent in them a considerable part of the life and soul, 
 or sometimes as being identical therewith. The widely- 
 spread belief that the blood is the life is well known ; 
 it is also often regarded as containing the soul ; soul, 
 life, and strength are essentially identical in savage 
 thought. We also find, not only the universal idea 
 that the seed is the strength, but, as might be expected, 
 also cases where the soul is actually believed to be con- 
 tained in the organs of procreation. Thus, in the 
 islands Leti, Moa, and Lakor, when a man is very ill, a 
 ram is killed, and its genitals given him to eat. The 
 people believe that " the principle of life resides in those 
 parts." 1 Similarly, the Naudowessies believe that the 
 father gives the child its soul, the mother its body only. 2 
 This is quite logical from the elementary notions of 
 procreation. Now when we apply to these ideas the 
 physiological fact that a temporary depression follows 
 the sexual act, we may infer as probable a more or less 
 constant physiological idea that in that act the man 
 transmits some of his best strength, a part of his soul 
 or life. We have had occasion to notice how primi- 
 tive thought often anticipates modern scientific theory 
 in some rough generalisation, and here is a concep- 
 tion on a par with other early conceptions, which 
 anticipates somewhat the latest theories of the Germ- 
 plasm. 
 
 In the next place, there is the preliminary part of 
 the function, the perforation of the hymen. Here we 
 have an instructive instance of the diffidence, anxiety, 
 and caution with which the savage not only approaches 
 things and acts unfamiliar or met with for the first time, 
 but makes preparation for the due and proper perform- 
 ance of important functions, not by way of improving 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 393. 2 Carver, North America, 378. 
 
viii RUPTURE OF THE HYMEN 191 
 
 upon Nature, but of making sure of the working of 
 Nature's mechanism. Deferring for a moment the 
 latter consideration, we can estimate here the female 
 attitude. There is in the female sex a universal 
 physiological anxiety concerning this act. Savages 
 cannot feel so much pain or so much pleasure as men 
 of a more complex and highly organised brain, but their 
 precautions against, and fear of, pain are far more 
 elaborate and anxious. Like the higher animals, the 
 savage is very diffident and timid by nature, except 
 when a strong physical impulse is in full progress. 
 Now we find that the savage uses more or less direct 
 methods to avoid this preliminary act of handselling ; 
 the avoidance is due to a vague religious fear based on 
 the ideas of sexual taboo, also to the anxiety about a 
 difficulty and, doubtless, to consideration for the female. 
 Thus in the Dieri and neighbouring tribes it is the 
 universal custom when a girl reaches puberty to rupture 
 the hymen} In the Portland and Glenelg tribes this is 
 done to the bride by an old woman ; and sometimes 
 white men are asked for this reason to deflower 
 maidens. 2 The artificial rupture of the hymen is a very 
 widely spread custom. In the practice we see clearly the 
 double idea of ridding the function of such difficulty as 
 is identified by the savage with a spiritual -material 
 result, and of removing the first and therefore most 
 virulent part of female contagion, as the West African 
 " takes off the fetish " from a strange liquor by getting 
 some one to " handsel " it. 
 
 Again, ignorance of the nature of female periodicity 
 leads man to consider it as the flow of blood from a 
 wound, naturally, or more usually, supernaturally pro- 
 duced. We must also bear in mind the connection 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrof. Inst., xxiv. 169. 2 Brough Smyth, op. cit. ii. 319. 
 
192 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 often made between the menstrual flow and the blood 
 shed at the perforation of the hymen. The two results 
 appear so similar that man often infers more or less 
 exact identity of cause. 
 
 An obvious inference was that the menstrual blood 
 was caused by the bite of a supernatural animal, or by 
 congress with such or with a supernatural human agent 
 or evil spirit. The first of these is a fairly common 
 idea. Certain Australian tribes believe that menstrua- 
 tion comes from dreaming that a bandicoot has scratched 
 the parts. 1 In New Britain it is traced to the bite of a 
 supernatural bird, 2 and in Portugal to that of a snake. 3 
 Messrs. Ploss and Bartels reproduce in illustrations 
 wooden figures from New Guinea, one representing a 
 crocodile biting a woman's vufaa, another, a crocodile 
 shaped like a snake emerging therefrom, and a third, a 
 snake, in shape like the male organ, at the entrance of 
 the vagina. 4 In Portugal, according to another account, 
 it is believed that during menstruation women are 
 " liable to be bitten by lizards, and to guard against this 
 risk they wear drawers during this period." 5 In 
 Abyssinia there is a belief that if the bride leaves her 
 home in the interval between the betrothal and the 
 marriage she will be bitten by a snake. 6 At the first 
 menstruation of a Chiriguano girl old women run about 
 the hut with sticks, " striking at the snake which has 
 wounded her." 7 " In a modern Greek folk-tale the 
 Fates predict that in her fifteenth year a princess must 
 be careful not to let the sun shine on her, for if this 
 were to happen she would be turned into a lizard." 8 
 
 . 
 
 1 Journ. Ant hop. Inst. xxiv. 177. 2 Ploss u. Bartels, Das Weib*, ii. 330, 334. 
 
 3 Id. I.e. 4 Id. i.e. 5 H. Ellis, op. cit. ii. 237. 
 
 6 M. Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia, ii. 41. 7 Lettres e'difantes et curieuses, viii. 333. 
 
 8 J. G. Frazer, The Go/den Bough 2 , iii. 220. 
 
viii THE SERPENT 193 
 
 Some Australian tribes believe in a supernatural serpent 
 which attacks women. 1 Macusi women at menstruation 
 will not go in the forest, for fear of being loved by a 
 snake. 2 In Rabbinical tradition the serpent is the 
 symbol of sexual desire. 3 Amongst the Malays to 
 dream of being bitten by a snake portends success in 
 love. 4 The connection of the serpent with sexual 
 matters is very familiar, especially in European folk- 
 lore, and is found all over the world. The explanation 
 has been several times hinted at and is obvious when- 
 one considers the likeness in shape of the serpent, lizard, 
 , eel, and similar animals, to the male organ of generation. 
 It is worth noting that the curious phallic towers of 
 Zimbabwe are surmounted by a bird's head. 5 And, as 
 in primitive thought similar objects produce similar 
 results, the dangerous effect of such supernatural organs 
 is attributed to similar things, which may not therefore 
 be touched or eaten by women at these dangerous times. 
 Thus in New Guinea women are not allowed to eat eels, 
 because a god once took the form of an eel to approach 
 a woman who was bathing. 6 Young women in the 
 Ha4ifax Bay tribe are forbidden to eat the flesh of male 
 animals and eels. 7 Amongst the Central Australians 
 boys and girls may not before puberty eat large lizards, 
 else they will acquire an abnormal craving for sexual 
 intercourse. 8 
 
 As to the second form of the belief, by the outward 
 projection of the idea, the agent feared becomes an 
 anthropomorphic spirit. Subconsciously the result is 
 attributed to the male sex, but as the agent is invisible, 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 175. 2 Ploss u. Bartels, cp. cit. ii. 334. 
 
 3 Ellis, I.e. * Clifford, In Cur: and K«mj.ong, 189. 
 
 B T. Bent, in J cum. Anthrop. Ins:, xxii. 125. 
 
 6 Gill, op. cit. 279. " Curr, The Australian Race, ii. 425. 
 
 8 Spencer and Gillen, cp. cit. 471, 4-2. 4-3. 
 i O 
 
194 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the inference is naturally to a spiritualised man. Such 
 is also the case with the widely spread belief in incubi 
 and succubi, which is due to a similar inference from a 
 common phenomenon of the early days of sexual life. 
 The result is ascribed to a supernatural nocturnal visitor. 
 Amongst the Yorubas erotic dreams are attributed to 
 Elegbra, a god who, either as male or female, consorts 
 sexually with men and women in their sleep. 1 In the 
 particular question before us, we find a link between 
 the serpent and a human agent in a common folk-tale 
 motive. The old Sanskrit story tells of a beautiful 
 girl who killed a cobra to get the jewel from its head. 
 To avenge this, the king of the snakes assumed the 
 form of a handsome youth, and after winning the girl's 
 affections, married her. " At last the day came, and 
 the nuptial ceremony was over, and the bridegroom 
 went with his bride into the nuptial chamber. And he 
 lifted her on to the marriage-bed, and called her by 
 her name. And as she turned towards him, he ap- 
 proached her slowly, with a smile on his face. And 
 she looked and saw issuing from his mouth and dis- 
 appearing alternately, a long tongue, thin, forked, and 
 quivering like that of a snake. And in the morning 
 the musicians played to waken the bride and bridegroom. 
 But the day went on, and they never came forth. 
 Then the merchant, her father, and his friends, after 
 waiting a long time, became alarmed, and went and 
 broke the door, which was closed with a lock. And 
 then they saw the bride lying dead on the bed, alone, 
 and on her bosom were two small marks. And they 
 saw no bridegroom. But a black cobra crept out of 
 the bed, and disappeared through a hole in the wall. 
 In Siam evil spirits are believed to make " the wound 
 
 1 Ellis, op. cit. 67. ~ A Digit of the Moon, 93, 94, 95. 
 
 " 2 
 
vni THE DEMON LOVER i 95 
 
 which causes the monthly flow of blood. 1 The idea is 
 further extended. In the Aru Islands the women fear 
 the evil spirit Bcitai, when traversing the forest, because 
 he takes the semblance of their husbands, and has inter- 
 course with them there, shown afterwards by bleeding 
 from the vagina. 2 So in Kola and Kobroor the women 
 avoid going alone in the forest, so as not to be ap- 
 proached by sisij evil spirits, the result of which is the 
 growth of stones in the uterus and subsequent death. 3 
 In the Babar Islands there are evil spirits in the shape 
 of men who approach young women, in the form of 
 their husbands, and make them pregnant. These are 
 identified with the well-known suwanggi, who are 
 actual persons versed in sorcery. 4 In the island of 
 Wetar there is an evil spirit, named Kluantelus^ who 
 takes the form of a handsome man, and has intercourse 
 with women ; accordingly, women never go unaccom- 
 panied into the forest. 5 The Jews of the East believe i 
 that male spirits form alliances with women, while the 
 female spirits " entangle in their cunning meshes of 
 wedded love the young men of earth." According to 
 the Javanese the air is peopled by wandering genii of 
 evil. Ghostly demons often disguise themselves in 
 human form, and appear as counterfeit husbands to 
 wives whom they mislead by their deceptive allure- 
 ments. 7 In Nias the seducer is fined and the woman 
 killed. A pregnant woman often asserts that she was 
 ravished by a spirit, and she thus saves her life and 
 that of her child. 8 The Malays suppose that Pontianak 
 is the ghost of a woman dying in child-birth, which 
 presents itself at midnight to men and emasculates 
 
 1 Loubere, I.e. - Riedel, op. cit. 252. 3 Id. 271. 
 
 4 Id. 340. ° Id. 439. 6 Featherman, op. cit. v. 129. 
 
 7 Id. ii. 396. 8 Id. 356. 
 
196 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 them. 1 The natives of Amboina and Uliase believe in 
 evil spirits, male and female, who practise the following 
 trick. When a man and a woman have made an 
 assignation in the forest, one of these evil spirits is apt 
 to take the shape and place of the man or the woman, 
 and whoever has intercourse with such dies in a few 
 days. These people also believe that Pontianak, who 
 in these islands is feared by women in child-birth, steals 
 away infants and the genital organs of men. 2 The 
 correlation of evil spirits with human beings is here 
 well illustrated. 
 
 To these ideas is partly due the common estimate 
 of woman as a mysterious being who has communica- 
 tion with the world of spirits. The other factor in the 
 belief is the hysteria which is more or less frequent in 
 the sexual life of woman. Thus, in Buru hysterical 
 prophetesses are believed to have had intercourse with 
 evil spirits. 3 The idea further develops into the widely 
 spread belief that women, especially about the time 
 of puberty, have communication with gods, a belief 
 emphasised by the common practice of secluding them 
 at that time. This idea has been made much of by 
 various systematised cults, and has resulted in many 
 phenomena of religious parthenogenesis. In Cambodia 
 it is sacrilege to abuse a young girl who is not of an 
 age to marry. They are called the wives of Prah En 
 [Indra). During the seclusion called " the shade " 
 which is necessary at puberty, young girls are called 
 the wives of Rea, and it is a sin to abuse them. On 
 leaving their retreat, they become the wives of men. 4 , 
 
 Another agent sometimes connected with these 
 phenomena of periodicity is the sun. Dr. Frazer has 
 
 1 Featherman, of. cit. 434. 2 Riedel, of. cit. 57, 58. 
 
 S Id. 9. 4 Aymonier, of. cit. 192, 193. 
 
" 
 
 vin SUN AND MOON 197 
 
 given many examples of girls at puberty being forbidden 
 to see the sun, or fire, in connection with the idea that 
 the sun can cause impregnation, as in the familiar story 
 of Danae. He also points out that boys at puberty, 
 mourners, warriors who have slain a foe, and other 
 tabu persons may not look upon the sun or the fire. 
 Associated with the fear is the belief that the tabued 
 girl might pollute the sun, as Samoyed women can 
 pollute the fire ; i.e. make it dangerous from taboo 
 qualities to others. This is the objective aspect of 
 taboo. From the subjective aspect, the point of view 
 of the person in danger, there is the belief that impreg- 
 nation can be effected by the sun. Early thought - 
 speculated deeply on the connection of the sun with 
 the fertility and growth of vegetable and animal life. 
 Not only the gentle rain from heaven, but also the 
 kindly rays of the warm sun were credited, not un- 
 scientifically, with the power of impregnating Mother 
 Earth and her offspring. Inference from growth under 
 the warm sun would naturally lead to the belief that 
 women could thus be influenced by it. The moon also 
 was sometimes credited with this power over women. 
 Here we come to the interesting question how far early j 
 man had observed the rhythmical connection of female 
 periodicity with the moon. That monthly periodicity . 
 belongs to women and moon alike could not fail to be 
 marked, and there are indications that it was. Hence 
 conceptions of an anthropomorphic kind concerning 
 the connection of women with the moon. The " faith- 
 ful witness in Heaven," by the way, is more often than 
 not masculine in primitive thought. In both of these 
 correlative ideas, as also in the case of fire, often 
 identified more or less with the sun, as the earthly 
 phenomenon of the heavenly idea, we have now to 
 
(fi 
 
 198 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 consider whether they connect with any functional 
 peculiarity of women, especially at puberty. In the 
 case of mourners and the like, the potential danger of 
 re, as a beneficent but somewhat dangerous essence, 
 not to be trifled with, is enough reason for the taboo, 
 and applies also to girls and boys at the beginning of 
 the sexual life. There is, however, a further coincid- 
 ence arising, as so often, from a function. A peculiarity 
 of puberty which passes on into the phenomena of love, 
 is sudden accession of bodily heat, by which the whole 
 frame from time to time feels filled with fire. It is in 
 ideas arising from this functional phenomenon that we 
 are to find the ultimate explanation of this fear of the 
 sun. In all these taboos at puberty, it is the dangerous 
 results of association with the other sex that are 
 guarded against, and so characteristic a symptom as 
 accession of heat could not fail to be noticed and 
 avoided as far as possible. The "patient," using the 
 primitive connotation of this term, must keep cool. 
 Parallel ideas from savage psychology bring this out. 
 Anger, which is physiologically connected with an 
 accession of heat, is often attributed by savages to 
 possession by an evil spirit, as amongst the Battas. 1 
 More precisely there is a universal connection, seen in 
 
 • all languages, between love and heat. Malay physio- 
 logy, for instance, states that love is made of fire. 2 
 We saw in a Greek folk-tale the connection between 
 the sun at puberty and the lizard, a symbol of mascu- 
 
 I Unity. A Central Australian myth of the origin of fire 
 states that it came from the penis of a euro, which 
 contained "very red fire." 3 Again, and the idea is 
 natural enough in tropical countries, there is a frequent 
 
 1 Junghuhn, op. cit. ii. 156. - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 427. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, of. cit. 446. 
 
viii HEAT 199 
 
 connection made between heat and evil spirits. To 
 keep cool is one of the points of savage comfort in a 
 hot climate, a wish which naturally would pass into the 
 spiritual life. In Ceram and Watubella a house which 
 is filled with evil spirits is called a " warm " house ; : 
 and sickness is often identified with heat, and the 
 patient is before all things to be made cool ; while 
 health and soundness are identified with coolness. For 
 forty-four days after birth the Malay mother may not 
 eat foods which have a heating effect on the blood, and 
 the Malay infant is bathed with cold water every four 
 hours " in order that it may be kept cool." a Especi- 
 ally fever is, of course, connected with heat. In the 
 Wyingurri tribe of West Australia the sun is Tchintu. 
 A stone of that name contains the heat of the sun, and 
 is used to give a man fever by placing it where he will 
 tread. 3 Here, as in so many cases before mentioned, 
 there comes in the interesting question whether primi- 
 tive man observed the connection of the temperature 
 of the body with health and illness. As before, the 
 case stands thus ; man's unanalysed experience of 
 temperature in sickness is included under an excessively 
 wide generalisation, which has within it, though con- 
 cealed in fallacy, a scientific truth, destined to emerge 
 after a training in analysis and experiment. 
 
 This connection between illness, evil spirits, and heat 
 is an adequate explanation of the rule whereby many 
 persons in various kinds of danger may not see the sun 
 or fire. Pamali {tabu) amongst the Hill Dyaks is 
 imposed on all kinds of occasions. People subjected to 
 it are not allowed to bathe, to touch fire, or follow 
 ordinary occupations. 4 The heir to the throne of 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 141, 210. - Skeat, op. at. 343. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. ch. 541. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 278. 
 
200 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Bogota might not see the sun, nor converse with a 
 woman. 1 When a Pima kills a man, he has to fast 
 sixteen days, is cut off from all social intercourse, and 
 may not look at a fire. 2 
 
 Further, it is natural that on these ideas sexual 
 intercourse should be especially forbidden at sexual 
 crises, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and for some 
 time after child-birth. Woman's subconscious physical 
 fear of man here correlates with an instinct of physio- 
 logical thought caused by the discomfort of the func- 
 tion, and for the male sex, his fear of female contagion 
 is intensified by the presence of female " disease." It 
 is not long since the medical world gave up the primi- 
 tive idea that menstrual blood is deleterious. In the 
 present connection this hylo- idealistic "disease'' is 
 identical with the property of the sexual taboo state ; 
 on these occasions woman is more of a woman than in 
 ordinary circumstances, and the danger of contagion is 
 accordingly intensified. 
 
 Such are the dangers connected with the sexual act 
 in the mind of primitive man, and to remove the 
 material contagion there was used, with more than the 
 mere idea of cleanliness, a religious purification. The 
 bath taken by a Cadiack bridegroom and bride after 
 the wedding night, " for the purification of himself and 
 his partner," is one instance of a universal practice. 3 
 The fear of transmission of female properties, here 
 intensified, is also indirectly connected with female 
 sexual secretions, such as menstrual blood, a special 
 form of ceremonial " uncleanness." Moreover, when 
 ideas of shame and disgust and, later, of religious 
 purity, are brought in, the old undifferentiated spiritual- 
 
 1 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iv. 359. 2 Featherman, op. cit. Hi. 240. 
 
 3 Lisiansky, cp. cit. 199. 
 
 
viii SEXUAL DANGERS 201 
 
 material secretions, as they may be called, which com- 
 bined contagion of female weakness, and imaginary 
 disease and poison on the one hand, and on the other 
 hand, of materialised physical fear of the male sex, in 
 the virus which made contact dangerous, were split 
 into specialised forms. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 These ideas concerning contact regulate in social taboo 
 human relations generally, and in sexual taboo those of 
 men and women. The sexual properties whose trans- 
 mission renders contact dangerous or beneficent may 
 now be recapitulated, and further proof given of their 
 character and of the fact of their transmission. We 
 have seen that where sympathy, desire, or love appears, 
 contact between persons otherwise mutually dangerous 
 becomes beneficent. Sympathy, aided by a common 
 human impulse, which may be called allopathic, some- 
 times regards sexual difference as in itself efficacious to 
 cure diseased For instance, the Australians employ the 
 urine of the opposite sex as a cure for sickness. In 
 very serious cases blood from a woman's sexual organs 
 is given to a man, and his body is rubbed with it ; or 
 blood from a man is given to a woman. 1 From a 
 similar idea comes a custom found in the Aru Islands, 
 where a battle can be instantly stopped if a woman 
 throws her girdle between the armies." But apart from 
 k cases like these and the methods of contact employed 
 in love-charms and marriage ceremonies, sexual contact 
 is usually, on the principles of sexual taboo, regarded 
 as deleterious. The Central Australians believe that to 
 put a man's hair necklet or girdle near a woman would 
 
 1 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 300 ; Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 464. 
 2 Riedel, op. cit. 261. 
 
chap, ix SEXUAL CONTAGION 203 
 
 be productive of serious evil to her. They believe that 
 sterility may be brought about by a girl in her youth 
 playfully or thoughtlessly tying on a man's hair waist- 
 band. The latter so used, if only for a moment or 
 two, has the effect of cramping her internal organs and 
 making them incapable of the necessary expansion, and 
 this is the most frequent explanation of sterility given 
 by the natives. 1 
 
 Owing to the monopoly of thought by the male sex 
 it is rarely we hear of transmission of masculine pro- 
 perties to the female. It is more often a vague dele- 
 terious result that is thought of; for instance, Maori 
 men may not eat with their wives, nor may male 
 children eat with their mothers, " lest their tapu, or 
 ' sanctity,' should kill them." 2 This male tapu is, ot 
 course, male characteristics, such as relative superiority 
 of strength. The Miris will not allow their women to 
 eat tiger's flesh, " lest it should make them too strong- 
 minded." 3 We have noticed cases where men are not 
 allowed to be present at lying-in, because their presence 
 would hinder the birth. Another case is from Halma- 
 hera, where a pregnant woman is afraid to eat food left 
 by her husband, for it would cause painful labour. 4 
 European folklore illustrates this masculine contagion, 
 and the general idea that contact produces assimilation. 
 In Hannover- Wendland and the Altmark, if a boy and 
 girl are baptised in the same water, the boy becomes a 
 woman-hunter, and the girl grows a beard. In Neu- 
 mark if a girl is baptised in water used for a boy she 
 will have a moustache. In Lower Saxony and Meck- 
 lenburg a boy must not be baptised in water which has 
 been used for a girl, else he grows up beardless ; while 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 539, 52. 2 Taylor, op. cit. 168. 
 
 3 Dalton, op. cit. 33. 4 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 78. 
 
2o 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 a girl if baptised in water used for a boy becomes mis- 
 chievous like boys. In Scotland if Jeanie is baptised 
 before Sandie, she grows a beard and Sandie is beardless. 1 
 Hessian lads think they can escape conscription by carry- 
 ing a baby-girl's cap in their pocket. 2 Lastly, when 
 females are of a masculine temperament they often assume 
 male attire, an interesting practical method of assimilation. 3 
 What, then, are the chief female properties the 
 transmission of which is feared as deleterious? First 
 of all, mere difference is regarded by the savage as 
 dangerous, simply because it is unknown. In the second 
 place, the difference is specialised as inferiority of 
 physical strength and stature, relatively, that is, to the 
 male standard. It is a universal conception amongst men 
 of all stages of culture that woman is weaker than man. 
 As a rule, man forgets the relativity of this character- 
 istic, and regards woman as more or less absolutely 
 weak. That this idea is practically inherent in human 
 male nature, as a physiological inference of the simplest 
 kind, is proved by its regular expression in the life and 
 literature of all ages. The use and connotation of the 
 word " effeminate " illustrates this well. This evidence 
 taken with that of ethnology is overwhelming. Primi- 
 tive man agrees with the most modern of the moderns, 
 for instance, with a Nietzsche, who regards woman as 
 a slight, dainty, and relatively feeble creature. The 
 ethnological evidence for this masculine belief is very 
 extensive. 4 General inferiority is sometimes found as a 
 secondary result. 
 
 1 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 217. - A. Wuttke, Deutsche Abcrglaube, 100. 
 
 3 Masculine females assume male attire — -Brooke, Ten Tears in Saraivak, i. 131 ; 
 yourn. Antkrop. Inst, xxiii. 7 ; G. A. Wilken, in De Indische Gids for 188 1, 263 ; 
 W. Reade, op. cit. 364; Bastian, San Salvador, 177 ft". 5 Giraud-Teulon, op. cit. 
 309 ff. (Amazons). 
 
 4 Darwin, Descent of Man, 117, 597; Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, iii. 
 
 
A 
 
 ix THE WEAKER VESSEL 205 
 
 In the savage mind the belief has been corroborated 
 by the fallacies that woman's periodic loss of blood 
 marks enfeeblement — an idea which often correlates 
 with the notion that woman is a chronic invalid, sick- 
 ness and weakness being identified, — and that sexual 
 intercourse is weakening. 
 
 In the next place is the relative timidity of women. 1 
 
 292; H. Ellis, Man and Woman, 395; Tasmanians, Bonwick, op. cit. 10; Aus- 
 tralians, Eyre, cp. cit. ii. 207, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xvi. 205, Lumholtz, Among 
 Cannibals, 100, 163, Native Tribes of South Australia, II, Waitz-Gerland, cp. cit. vi. 
 774, 775, Letourneau, Sociologie, 169 ; Polynesians, D'Urville, op. cit. i. 520, 
 Beechey, op. cit. i. 238, 241, Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 219, 198, Ellis, Polynesian Re- 
 searches, iii, 199, 293, 294, 257 j Fijians, Williams, op. cit. i. 156, 169, Wilkes, op. 
 cit. iii. 332, Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 45, Waitz-Gerland, o^>. cit. vi. 627 ; New Caledonians, 
 Meinicke, op. cit. i. 231, Gamier, Oceanic, 1S6, 350, 354, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 
 626, Anderson, Fyi and New Caledonia, 218, 232 ; New Hebrides, Meinicke, op. cit. 
 i. 203, Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 7 ; 0_ueen Charlotte Islands, Meinicke, op. cit. i. 
 177; Solomon Islands, id. i. 166 ; Melanesia generally, id. i. 67, Parkinson, Im 
 Bismarck-Archipel, 98, 99, Codrington, op. cit. 233, Powell, Wanderings in a Wild 
 Country, 54; Papuans, Rosenberg, op. cit. 454, 532 j Sumatra, Marsden, op. cit. 382, 
 Junghuhn, op. cit. ii. 135, 81 ; Bali, id. ii. 339 ; Nias, Tijdschrift -voor Indtsche Taal- 
 Land-en Volkenkunde, xxxvi. 3055 Sarawak, Brooke, op. cit. i. 10 1 ; Japan, Alcock, 
 The Capital of the Tycoon, i. 265 ; Corea, Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 434, Griffis, 
 op. cit. 245 ; China, M. Hue, Vempire chinois, i. 268 ; India, Missionary Records 
 {India), xviii. D'Urville, op. cit. i. no, Asiatick Researches, iv. 95, Histoire uni- 
 •verselle des voyages, xxxi. 352 ; Siam, Pinkerton, cp. cit. ix. 379 ; Afghans, Letourneau, 
 op. cit. 179 ; Samoyeds, Georgi, op. cit. 14, 15 ; Circassians, Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 142 ; 
 Russians, Ploss, op K cit. ii. 448; Ansayree, Featherman, op. cit. v. 495 ; Egyptians, 
 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 455, Lane, cp. cit. i. 252; Africa, Shooter, op. cit. 79, 80, 81, 
 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 387, 471, Ploss u. Bartels, cp. cit. ii. 426, D. Macdonald, 
 Africana, i. 137, 141, 35, C. New, Life in Eastern Africa, 359, Ploss, Das Kind, 442, 
 Letourneau, op. cit. 172, P. B. Du Chaillu, Equatorial Africa, 52, 3--, Harris, 
 Highlands of Ethiopia, iii. 58, Proyart, Loango, 93, W. Bosman, Description of Guinea, 
 320, Bastian, San Salvador, j 1, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiii. 465, xvi. 86, xxii. Il8, 119, 
 xxiv. 289, C J. Anderson, Lake Ngami, 231 ; Madagascar, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. 1 
 
 j ii. 438 ; Central and South America, Letourneau, cp. cit. 175, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. 
 iii. 515, 308, 382, iv. 130, Brett, op. cit. 353, Bancroft, cp. cit. iii. 494, Dobrizhofter, 
 
 I op. cit. ii. 155 ; North America, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 99, 101, Bancroft, op. cit. 
 
 ! i. 511, Peter Jones, History of the Ojebway Indians, 60, Charlevoix, Journal, vi. 44, 
 
 ' Powers, op. cit. 20, Sproat, op. cit. 91, Hearne, op. cit. 90, 310. 
 
 1 The following are typical cases: Lumholtz, cp. cit. 91 j Featherman, cp. cit. 
 v. 495 ; Kotzebue, Voyage to the South Sea, ii. 56, Asiatick Researches, vi. 82 ; Gamier, 
 cp. cit. 328, 349; Coote, op. cit. 163, 1645 Hearne, op. cit. 310; Waitz-Gerland, 
 
 . op. cit. vi. 775 ; Melville, The Marquesas Islands, -6 ; Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 232 ; K. von 
 
 : den Steinen, op. cit. 332 ; D'Albertis, cp. cit. i. 15, 189, 200, 292, 318, 337, 342. 
 
206 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 This characteristic and that of weakness are the com- 
 plement of masculine courage and strength, and are 
 connected with a physical subconscious fear of men. 
 When associated with hysterical phenomena, timidity 
 is merged in another conception of woman, as a 
 " mysterious " person. The mystery is based on sexual 
 differentiation, in particular on the sexual phenomena 
 of menstruation and child-birth. As we have seen, this 
 mystery is deepened by further ideas it creates, such as 
 the ascription of taboo properties to woman, and the 
 beliefs that woman has intercourse with the spiritual 
 world at menstruation, and that she is more or less of 
 i a potential witch. The whole reasoning is clinched by 
 the fact of a temporary depression, identified with loss 
 of strength, following upon intercourse with this weak 
 but mysterious creature, and the imperious demands of 
 nature which enforce association with the female sex, 
 inevitably cause a continuous repetition of sexual taboo 
 and of the ideas which underlie it. These organic 
 characteristics not only make woman peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible to religious influences, but have fitted her to 
 be a useful medium for priestcraft, and often to hold 
 the priestly authority herself. The priestess is a 
 frequent feature of savage worship. Here is to be 
 found the explanation of one set of cases of priests 
 dressing as women. For example, amongst the Sea 
 Dyaks some of the priests pretend to be women, or 
 rather dress as such, and like to be treated as females. 1 
 Patagonian sorcerers, who are chosen from children 
 who have St. Vitus' dance, wear women's clothes. 2 
 Amongst the Kodyaks there are men dressed as women, 
 who are regarded as sorcerers and are much respected. 3 
 
 1 St. John, op. at. i. 62. 2 Bastian, Der Mensch, iii. 310. 
 
 3 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 313. 
 
IX 
 
 CONTAGION OF WOMAN 207 
 
 Doubtless the idea is to assume such emotional peculiari- 
 ties of women as are useful to the priest. To the 
 savage mind, the donning of another's dress is more 
 than a token of the new position : it completes identity 
 by communicating the qualities of the original owner. 
 There is also the desire to command attention by eccen- 
 tricity if not by mystery, for both of which ends change 
 of sex is a time-honoured method. 
 
 It remains to add direct evidence for the belief, 
 which is the chief factor in sexual taboo, that contact 
 with women causes transmission of female character- 
 istics, femininity, effeminacy, weakness, and timidity 
 
 In South Africa a man must not, when in bed, touch 
 
 his wife with his right hand ; " if he did so, he would 
 
 have no strength in war, and would surely be slain." 
 
 If a man touch a woman during menstruation, " his 
 
 bones become soft, and in future he cannot take part in 
 
 ■ warfare or any other manly exercise." Stepping over 
 
 another's person is highly improper ; while if a woman 
 
 steps over her husband's stick " he cannot aim or hit 
 
 any one with it. If she steps over his assegai, it will 
 
 never kill or even hit an enemy, and it is at once 
 
 discarded and given to the boys to play and practise 
 
 with." l The Galela and Tobelorese are continent 
 
 during war, " so as not to lose their strength." - The 
 
 ^ Seminoles believed that " carnal connection with a 
 
 woman exercised an enervating influence upon men, 
 
 ■■[ and rendered them less fit for the duties of thelwarrior." 8 
 
 ' In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women. 
 
 On one occasion, when the men were compelled to 
 
 ! bake some bread, they were only persuaded to do so 
 
 1 J. E. Macilonald, in Jcurn. Anthrcp. Inst. xx. 140, 119, 130. L~~ 
 2 *J. G. F. Riedel, in ZeitscJirift fir Ethnologic, xvii. 69. 
 3 Schoolcraft, op. cit. v. 272. 
 
208 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 with the utmost difficulty, and were ever after pointed 
 at as old women. 1 North American Indians, both 
 before and after war, refrain " on religious grounds ' 
 from women. Contact with females, some of them 
 hold, " makes a warrior laughable, and injures his 
 bravery for the future." 2 One of Hesiod's maxims is 
 a prohibition against washing in water used by a / 
 woman. 3 In Homer, Odysseus fears lest he be 
 " unmanned," and therefore susceptible to Circe's 
 influence if he ascend her couch. 4 Assimilation to 
 the female character from such connection is illustrated 
 by a Cingalese myth. 5 In the Solomon Islands a man 
 will never pass under a tree fallen across the path, for 
 fear a woman may have stepped over it. 6 Amongst 
 the Bongos stools are only used by women ; the men 
 avoid such seats as effeminate. 7 In Central Australia, 
 during his period of initiation, a medicine-man must 
 sleep with a fire between him and his wife ; " if he did 
 not do this his power would disappear for ever." s 
 Amongst the Barea man and wife seldom share the 
 same bed ; the reason they give is " that the breath . 
 of the wife weakens her husband." 9 In Western 
 Victoria a menstruous woman may not take any one's 
 food or drink, and no one will touch food that she has 
 handled, " because it will make them weak." 10 Among 
 the Dyaks of North- West Borneo young men are for- 
 bidden to eat venison, which is the peculiar food of\ 
 women and old men, " because it would render them 
 as timid as deer." u A Zulu, newly married, dares not 
 
 I im Thurn, op. cit. 256. 
 
 :! Hesiod, Work 1 and Days, 798. 
 5 yisiatick Researches, vii. 439. 
 7 Schweinfurth, op. cit. i. 283. 
 9 Munzinger, op. cit. 526. 
 
 II St. John, op. cit. i. 186. 
 
 - Waitz-Gerlancl, op. cit. iii. 158. 
 
 4 Odyssey, x. 301, 339-41. 
 
 6 Guppy, op. cit. i. 4. 
 
 8 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 529. 
 
 10 Dawson, op. cit. cii. 
 
ix CONTAGION OF WOMAN 209 
 
 go out to battle, for fear he should be slain ; should he 
 do so and fall, the men say " the lap of that woman is 
 unlucky." 1 A Fan so weak that he could hardly move 
 about, was supposed to have become so by seeing the 
 blood of a woman who had been killed. " The weak 
 spirit of the woman had got into him." 2 Amongst the 
 Damaras men may not see a lying-in woman, " else they 
 will become weak and will be killed in battle." 3 In 
 Ceram menstruous women may not approach the men, 
 lest the latter should be wounded in battle. 4 In some 
 South American tribes the presence of a woman just 
 confined makes the weapons of the men weak. 5 The 
 same belief obtains among the Tschuktsches, who 
 accordingly remove all hunting and fishing implements 
 from the house before a birth.' 1 In the Booandik tribe 
 if men see women's blood they will not be able to 
 fight. 7 In the Encounter Bay tribe boys are told from 
 infancy that if they see menstrual blood their strength 
 will fail prematurely. 8 In the Wiraijuri tribe boys are 
 reproved for playing with girls ; the culprit is taken 
 aside by an old man, who solemnly extracts from his 
 legs some " strands of the woman's apron " which have 
 got in. 9 Amongst the Omahas, if a boy plays with 
 girls he is contemptuously dubbed " hermaphrodite." 1 " 
 In Brandenburg the peasants say that a baby boy must 
 not be wrapped in an apron, else it will, when grown 
 up, run after the girls. In Mecklenburg a new-born 
 girl must be first kissed by the mother and a boy by 
 the father, else the girl will grow whiskers and the 
 
 1 Callaway, op. cit. 441, 443. - M. H. Kingsley, Travels in Wat Africa, 447. 
 
 3 South African Folklore 'journal, ii. 63. 
 
 4 Riedel, De sluik-en krocsi.arige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 139. 
 
 5 Ploss u. Bartels. op. cit. ii. 26. 6 Id. I.e. 
 
 7 J. Smith, The Booandik Tribe, 5. 8 Native Tribes of South Australia, 186. 
 
 9 fourn. Anthrop. Inst. xiii. 448. 
 
 10 J. O. Dorsey, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 266. 
 
2io THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 boy's face be hairless. 1 The Khyoungthas have a 
 legend of a man who reduced a king and his men to 
 a condition of feebleness by persuading them to dress 
 up as women and perform female duties. When they 
 had thus been rendered effeminate, they were attacked 
 and defeated without a blow. " That," say the 
 Khyoungthas, " is why we are not so brave as 
 formerly." 2 The advice given to Cyrus by Crcesus 
 was identical with that of the Hillman, and the result 
 was the same. 3 Contempt for female timidity has 
 caused a curious custom amongst the Gallas ; they 
 amputate the mammae of boys soon after birth, believ- 
 ing that no warrior can possibly be brave who possesses 
 them, and that they should bejong to women only. 4 
 From such ideas is derived the custom of degrading I 
 the cowardly, infirm, and conquered to the position i 
 of females. At the " initiation " of a Macquarrie boy J 
 the men stand over him with waddies, threatening , 
 instant death if he complains while the tooth is being 
 knocked out. He is afterwards scarified : if he 
 shows any sign of pain, three long yells announce the 
 fact to the camp ; he is then considered unworthy to 
 be admitted to the rank of men, and is handed over to 
 the women as a coward. Thenceforward he becomes 
 the playmate and companion of children. 5 Amongst, 
 the Lhoosais, when a man is unable to do his work, 
 whether through laziness, cowardice, or bodily in- 
 capacity, he is dressed in women's clothes and has toi 
 associate and work with the women. 6 Amongst the 
 Porno Indians of California, when a man becomes too 
 
 1 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 202, 205. 2 Lewin, Wild Races of South- Eastern India, 136. 
 
 3 Herodotus, i. 155-57. 
 
 4 Harris, op. cit. iii.58. The cauterisation of the mamma by Amazons is to be.compared. 
 
 5 G. F. Angas, Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and Neiv Zealand, ii. 224. 
 Lewin, op. cit. 255. 
 
ix EFFEMINACY 211 
 
 infirm for a warrior, he is made a menial and assists 
 the squaws. 1 So in Cuba and Greenland, with the 
 additional degradation of wearing female dress. 2 
 When the Delawares were denationalised by the 
 Iroquois and prohibited from going out to war, they 
 were, according to the Indian notion, " made women," 
 and were henceforth to confine themselves to the' 
 pursuits appropriate to women. 3 The connection of 
 lack of virility with the normal estimate of woman has 
 also led to the remarkable custom of degrading 
 impotent men and others to the position of females. 
 Thus, amongst the Yukis and other tribes of Cali- 
 fornia are to be seen men dressed as women, who are 
 called i-wa-musp, man-woman. They appear to be 
 destitute of desire and virility ; they perform all the 
 duties of women, and shirk all functions pertaining to 
 men. Two reasons are given for the origin of this 
 :lass, masturbation, or a wish to escape the responsi- 
 Dilities of manhood. There is a ceremony to initiate 
 such men to their chosen life ; the candidate is placed 
 :'n a circle of fire, and a bow and " woman-stick " are 
 offered to him, with a formal injunction to choose one 
 or the other, and to abide by his choice for ever. 4 The 
 ■:-.< Tsecats of Madagascar are impotents who dress as 
 ' vomen. 5 The Higras of South India are natural 
 hunuchs, or castrated in boyhood ; they dress in 
 ■•jrvomen's clothes.'' Impotent Kookies dress as women. 7 
 :|:.Terodotus and Hippocrates describe a class of impotent 
 xjlnen amongst the ancient Scythians who were made to 
 lo women's work and to associate with women alone. 8 
 
 1 Powers, op. cit. 160. 
 
 J Bastian, Dcr Mcnsch, iii. 313, 314 5 cf. Waitz-Gcrland, op. cit. iii. 472. 
 
 3 L. H. Morgan, The League of the Iroquois, 16. * Powers, op. cit. 132, 133. 
 
 5 Bastian, op. cit. iii. 311. ,; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ii. 406. 
 
 7 Lewin, op. cit. 280. • 8 Herodotus, i. 105, iv. 67 ; Hippocrates, i. 561. 
 
212 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 With regard to the particular circumstances of 
 menstruation and child-birth, the obvious vehicle of 
 contagion is blood. But it is not the fear of woman's 
 blood which is the primary cause of avoidance ; this 
 would not account, except by the most strained analogy, 
 for most of the facts ; nor is there any flux of blood 
 during pregnancy, when woman is regularly taboo I 
 woman's hair, nail-parings, and occupations can hardly 
 be avoided from a fear of woman's blood ; and there 
 is also the female side of the question to be taken into, 
 account. It is necessary to note this, because an 
 attempt has been made to build up for savage thought 
 a shrine of mystery round woman, cemented with 
 blood, and that not her own, but ordinary human 
 blood. 1 The savage indeed regards blood, as he does 
 flesh and other human substance, as containing the life, 
 but sentimental ideas of the sacredness of blood in 
 itself, as apart from its containing human or sexual 
 properties, are not to be found in early thought ; nor 
 in early thought are there any such strong notions 
 of the blood-tie of kindred, as is generally supposed.] 
 Blood is only one of many vehicles by which 
 contact influences relation. Blood is freely used by 
 savages to assuage thirst, as well as to produce 
 strength. The prohibition against letting it fall on 
 the ground has led to an erroneous idea of its 
 " sacredness," and in most cases may be more simply 
 explained. When slaying a hog for a feast, the 
 Niasese plunge the knife into the heart, so as to lose 
 as little blood as possible. Each person cooks his 
 piece carefully, so as to retain the blood ; some eat it 
 raw. 2 Amongst the Karalits seal's blood is preserved 
 
 1 As by E. Durkheim, "La prohibition de l'inceste et ses origines," in L ' Anm* 
 Sociologijue for 1898. - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 350. 
 
 
ix BLOOD 213 
 
 in balls, and, to prevent the escape of the blood when 
 an animal is killed, the wound is immediately closed 
 up. 1 To savages who do not know the use of salt, 
 blood is an excellent substitute. In the Central 
 Australian tribes " blood may be given by young 
 men to old men of any degree of relationship, and at 
 any time, with a view to strengthening the latter." 
 Again, blood is not infrequently used to assuage thirst 
 and hunger ; indeed, when under ordinary circum- 
 stances a black-fellow is badly in want of water, what 
 he does is to open a vein in his arm and drink the 
 blood.- Other Australian tribes " have no fear of 
 blood or of the sight of it " ; they drink it freely to 
 acquire strength. 3 The Wachaga and Koos delight in 
 drinking warm blood fresh from a slaughtered animal. 4 
 At the Dieri ceremony of Wilyaru blood drawn from 
 men is poured on the novice's back " to infuse courage, 
 and to show him that the sight of blood is nothing." 5 
 The latter reason is secondary. Woman's blood is 
 feared or desired, just as are other parts of woman, 
 because it is a part of woman and contains feminine 
 properties. 
 
 The contagion of woman during the sexual crises of 
 menstruation, pregnancy, child-birth, is simply intensified, 
 because these are occasions when woman's peculiar 
 characteristics are accentuated, these are feminine 
 .crises when a woman is most a woman. This is the 
 •only difference between contact then and contact in 
 "ordinary states, a difference of degree only. 
 
 We may now conclude the description of the ideas 
 which have produced sexual taboo. We have traced 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 420. a Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 461, 462. 
 
 3 Jour. Anihrop.lmt. xxiv. 172-79. 4 Id. xviii. 13 ; Rowney, op. cit. 31. 
 5 Howitt, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. S2. 
 
2i 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 its origin from sexual differentiation, difference of 
 occupation, and a resulting solidarity in each sex ; 
 this biological material is then informed by religious 
 ideas concerning human relations, which are regulated 
 by contact. Thus the usual working motive in sexual 
 taboo is that the properties of the one sex can be 
 transmitted to the other by all methods of contact, 
 transmission, or contagion, and by various vehicles. 
 Animal-like, the savage fears weakness more than any- 
 thing else. Two remarkable facts have emerged — first, 
 that it is dangerous, and later, wrong, for men to have 
 anything to do with women ; intercourse commensal and 
 sexual being especially dangerous because especially 
 intimate, but there is a tendency against all living 
 together ; and secondly, that sexual intercourse, even i 
 when lawful morally and legally, is dangerous first, and 
 . later, sinful. To primitive thought all intercourse has 
 one connotation of material danger, which later split 
 into ideas of sins, such as incest and fornication, for 
 any intercourse is the breaking of a personal taboo and 
 a sexual taboo, and the material results of such breaking 
 develop into moral sin. 
 
 Sexual taboo would seem to have had the useful i 
 -results not only of assisting Nature's institution of the 
 family and of producing the marriage system, by 
 preventing licence both within and without the family 
 limits, keeping men from promiscuity and incest, de- 
 gradations which were never primitive — the early 
 efforts of human religious thought being in the 
 direction of assisting, not of checking, Nature — but 
 
 I also of emphasising the characteristic qualities of each 
 sex by preventing a mixture of male and female 
 temperaments through mutual influence and associa- 
 tion, and, as the complement to this, of accentuating 
 
ix SEXUAL TABOO 215 
 
 by segregation the charm each sex has for the other in 
 love and married life, the charm of complementary 
 difference of character. Man prefers womanliness in 
 woman, and woman prefers manliness in man ; sexual 
 taboo has enhanced this natural preference. 
 
 Where sexual taboo is fully developed, the life of 
 husband and wife is a sort of divorce a mensa et thoro, 
 and the life of men and women is that of two divided 
 castes. The segregation is naturally emphasised as 
 between young persons of the opposite sex, most of 
 all between those who, as living in the somewhat close 
 contact of the family, are more strictly separated, both 
 because parents prevent the dangerous results obviated 
 by sexual taboo with all the more care since their own 
 children are in danger, and because, subsequently, a feel- 
 ing of duty in this regard is combined with the natural 
 . affection of brothers and sisters, which is due to early 
 association. The biological basis of this separation is 
 the universal practice by which boys go about with the 
 . father as soon as they are old enough, and the girls 
 1 remain with the mother. This is the preparatory educa- 
 tion of the savage child, beginning about the age of 
 i seven. Girls and boys till the age of seven or eight, and 
 sometimes till puberty, are often classed as " children," 
 with no distinction of sex, as amongst the Kurnai. 1 
 I In Leti, Moa, and Lakor children are brought up to- 
 ■■ gether till about ten years old. The girls then begin 
 to help the mother, and the boys go about with the 
 I father. So in the Babar Islands." Amongst the Kaffirs, 
 I as amongst most peoples, boys and girls till seven or 
 eight live with the mother. As soon as they are old 
 enough, the boys are taken under the father's charge. 3 
 
 1 Fbc:: and Houitt. op. cit. 1S9. - Riedel, op. cit. 392, 355. 
 
 3 Lichtenstein, op. cit. i. 260. 
 
216 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 In Samoa the boys leave their mother's care at seven 
 years of age, and come under the superintendence of 
 their father and male relatives. They are now circum- 
 cised and receive a new name. 1 This case combines an 
 " initiation " ceremony placed at a date earlier than 
 usual. In Patagonia the sons begin to go about with 
 the father at ten, and the girls with the mother at 
 nine. 2 Amongst the Jaggas boys have to live together 
 as soon as they can do without a mother's care. 3 Of 
 some Australian tribes Mr. Curr reports that " from 
 a very early age the boys begin to imitate their fathers, 
 and the girls their mothers, in their everyday occupa- 
 tions. When the boy is four or five years of age 
 the father will make him a miniature shield, spear, 
 and wommera, with which the little fellow fights 
 his compeers and annoys his mother and the dogs. 
 About seven or eight years of age commences in 
 earnest the course of education. At eight or ten 
 , the boy has to leave the hut of his father and sleep 
 in one common to the young men and boys of the 
 tribe." 4 
 
 The following cases show how sexual taboo empha- 
 sises this. In the Society and Sandwich Islands " as 
 soon as a boy was able to eat, his food was kept distinct 
 from that of his mother, and brothers and sisters might 
 not eat together from the earliest age." 5 In Uripiv 
 boys from a few days after birth are supposed to eat 
 with the male sex only, else " death would mysteriously 
 fall upon them. The fact of suckling, however, is 
 overlooked." 6 In Fiji brothers and sisters may not 
 speak to each other, nor eat together. The boys sleep 
 
 1 Globus, xlvii. 71. - Musters, op. cit. 177. 
 
 3 Krapf, op. cit. 243. 4 Curr, op. cit. i. 71. 
 
 5 Ellis, Tour in Hawaii, 368 ; id. Polynesian Researches, i. 263 ; Cook and King, 
 op. cit. ii. 156. fi J own. Antrop. Inst, xxiii. 4. 
 
ix BROTHER AND SISTER 217 
 
 in a separate room. The relationship between brothers 
 and sisters is termed ngane, which means " one who 
 shuns the other." 1 In some Australian tribes brother 
 and sister are not allowed even to converse. 2 Amongst 
 all the Indian tribes of California brothers and sisters 
 scrupulously avoid living together. 3 In Melanesia 
 there is a remarkable avoidance between a boy and his 
 sisters and mother, beginning when he is first clothed, 
 and in the case of the sister when she is first tatooed. 
 He is also forbidden to go underneath the women's 
 bed-place, just as a Melanesian chief thinks it a degra- 
 dation to go where women may be above his head. 4 
 In Fiji, again, brothers and sisters may not converse, 
 the boys' sleeping-room is separated from that of the 
 girls, and boys may not eat with a female. 5 In New 
 Caledonia brothers and sisters after having reached 
 years of maturity are no longer permitted to entertain 
 any social intercourse with each other ; they are pro- 
 hibited from keeping each other's company, even in the 
 presence of a third person, and if they casually meet, 
 they must instantly go out of the way, or, if that is 
 impossible, the sister must throw herself on the ground 
 with her face downwards. Yet, if a misfortune should 
 befall one of them, they assist each other to the best of 
 their ability through the medium of a common friend. 
 In Japan young princes are prohibited from all inter- 
 course with the opposite sex. According to the moral 
 code of the same country, " parents must teach their 
 daughters to keep separate from the other sex. The 
 old custom is : man and woman shall not sit on the 
 same mat, nor put their clothing in the same place, 
 
 1 Williams, op. cit. i. 136, 167. - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 142. 
 
 3 Powers, op. cit. 412. 4 Codrington, op. cit. 232, 233. 
 
 5 Williams, op. cit. i. 167 ; W. Coote, Wanderings South and East, 138. 
 
 6 V. <ie Rochas, Nowvelh Caledonie, 239. 
 
2i 8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 shall have different bathrooms, shall not give or take 
 anything directly from hand to hand. On walking 
 out, even in the case of families, the men must keep 
 separate from their female relatives." l In the Hervey 
 Islands the first-born son is forbidden to kiss his sister ; 
 " she may not cross his path when the wind which 
 has passed over her is likely to touch his most sacred 
 person." 2 Amongst the Nairs of Malabar a man 
 honours his eldest sister ; he may never stay in the 
 same room with his other sisters, and his behaviour 
 to them is most reserved. 3 In the Nanburi caste of 
 Travancore " women are guarded with more than 
 Moslem jealousy ; even brothers and sisters are separ- 
 ated at -an early age." 4 In Tonga a chief pays the 
 greatest respect to his eldest sister, and may never enter 
 her house. 5 In Ceylon a father is forbidden to see his 
 daughter at all after she has arrived at puberty, so also 
 in the case of mother and son. 6 Amongst the Todas 
 near relations of different sexes consider it a "pollution" 
 if even their garments should touch, and a case is men- 
 tioned of a girl expressing horror when handled by her 
 father. 7 A Corean girl is taught that the most dis- 
 graceful thing a woman can do is to allow herself to be 
 seen or spoken to by any man outside her own family 
 circle. After the age of eight, she is never allowed to 
 enter the men's quarters of her own home. "The 
 boys in the same way are told that it is unbecoming 
 and undignified to enter the portion of the house set 
 apart for females. The men and the women have their 
 
 1 Siebold, op. cit. 208 ; Bird, op. cit. i. 323. 
 
 2 Gill, Life in the Southern hies, 46, 47, 9. 
 
 3 Giraud-Teulon, op. cit. 153. 4 Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, 144. 
 5 Mariner, op. cit. ii. 156. 6 Trans. Ethnol. Soc. iii. 71. 
 
 7 H. Harkness, Description of the Aboriginal Race inhabiting the Neilg/terry 
 Hills, 72. 
 
ix SEPARATION OF THE YOUNG 219 
 
 meals separately, the women waiting on their husbands. 
 Thus family life as we have it is utterly unknown in 
 Corea." 1 
 
 With the approach of puberty, the sexual question 
 appears which emphasises the separation, both natural 
 and taboo, and at the ceremonies of initiation boys 
 are formally taken away, as they have practically already 
 been taken away, from the mother's sphere and female 
 associations. The danger, now enhanced by a new 
 instinct, produces the very common custom that from 
 this time boys may not sleep even in the house or with 
 the family. A common form of this custom is the 
 institution of public buildings, which combine the 
 features of a dormitory and a club, for the use of the 
 young men. In Annam these are called morongs. 
 The custom is found, for instance, amongst the Niam- 
 niam and Bongos, the Dyaks, in the islands between 
 Celebes and New Guinea, in New Guinea, Tonga, 
 the Andaman Islands, South and West Africa, and 
 amongst the Pueblos, in the New Hebrides, and Indo- 
 China. 2 
 
 The separation of the young outside the family is 
 a fairly regular social rule. On Fraser's Island " a young 
 man will not sit down on the same stool or box, or in 
 fact anywhere where a young woman has been sitting 
 at any time. They imagine that the young man would 
 sicken and die. The shadow of young women must 
 not pass over the sleeping - places of young men." 3 
 Among the Iroquois young men could have no inter- 
 
 1 Griffis, Corca, 244 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 305, 306. 
 
 2 Schweinfurth, op. cit. i. 303, ii. 21 j Low, op. cit. 247 ; RieHel, op. cit. 12, 250, 
 287,443; Gill, op. cit. 240; Farmer, op. cit. 47; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xi. 1375 
 Shooter, op. cit. 15 ; A. B. Ellis, op. at. 9- ; Featherman, op. cit. iii. 230; 'J -urn. 
 Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 2-3 ; Ball, op. cit. 645 ; and especially S. E. Peal, in Journ. 
 Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 249. 
 
 3 Curr, op. cit. iii. 145. 
 
220 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 course with girls, nor even conversation J 1 and amongst 
 most North American tribes, " the chastity of girls is 
 carefully guarded." 2 " The separation of the immature 
 youth of the two sexes is a feature strongly insisted upon 
 in the social practice of all the North-Western Ameri- 
 can tribes." 3 Amongst the Northern Indians " girls are 
 from the early age of eight or nine years prohibited by 
 custom from joining in the most innocent amusements 
 with children of the opposite sex. When sitting in 
 their tents, or even when travelling, they are watched 
 and guarded with such an unremitting attention as 
 cannot be exceeded by the most rigid discipline of an 
 English boarding-school." 4 Amongst the Omahas a 
 girl may not speak to a man, except very near relations. 5 
 In Madagascar the tribes of the forest and East Coast 
 have a higher morality than the Hovas, girls being 
 scrupulously kept from any intercourse with the male 
 sex until marriage. 6 Amongst the Greenlanders single 
 persons of both sexes have rarely any connection ; for 
 instance, a maid would take it as an affront were a 
 young fellow to offer her a pinch of snuff in company. 7 
 Eusofzye women consider it indecent to associate with 
 the men. 8 In Loango a youth dare not speak to a girl 
 except in her mother's presence. 9 Amongst the Hill 
 Dyaks the young men are carefully separated from the 
 girls. 10 In New South Wales unmarried youths and 
 girls may not speak to each other. 11 In some Victorian 
 tribes the unmarried adults of both sexes are kept care- 
 
 I Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 103. 2 Id. iii. III. 
 
 3 W. H. Dall, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 81. 
 
 4 Hearne, op. cit. 311. 
 
 5 J. O. Dorsey, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 270. 
 
 6 Sibree, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 43. r Cranz, op. cit. i. 145. 
 
 8 Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Cabul, i. 241, 243, 313. 
 
 9 Pinkerton, op. cit. xvi. 568. 10 H. Low, Sarawak, 300. 
 
 II Brough Smyth, op. cit. ii. 318. 
 
ix SEPARATION OF THE YOUNG 221 
 
 fully apart. Amongst the same people the seducer of 
 an unmarried girl is beaten to death, and the girl is 
 punished and sometimes killed. 1 In South Nias both 
 the seducer and the girl are put to death. 2 In the 
 Tenimber Islands (Timorlaut) it is taboo for a boy to 
 touch a girl's breast or hand, and for her to touch his 
 hair. 3 Amongst the Leh-tas of Burma boys and girls 
 " when they may have occasion to pass each other, avert 
 their gaze, so that they may not see each other's 
 faces." 4 In Cambodia the girls are carefully secluded, 
 and the reserve which they show is remarkable. " The 
 stringency of custom prevents the intercourse of the 
 young. Accordingly, the role of village Don Juan is 
 scarcely possible." 5 In the Andaman Islands bachelors 
 may only eat with men, spinsters with women. In 
 Tasmania " the young men and lads moved early from 
 the camp in the morning so as not to interfere with 
 female movements at rising. Unmarried men never 
 wandered in the bush with women ; if meeting a party 
 of the other sex, native politeness required that they 
 turned and went another way." 7 An Australian * 
 woman, in most tribes, is not allowed to converse or 
 have any relations with any adult male save her 
 husband. Even with a grown-up brother she is almost 
 forbidden to exchange a word. s Here the proprietary 
 jealousy of husbands is a factor in the rule ; but the 
 common Australian custom, as in the Central tribes, 
 where no man as a general rule may go near the 
 Erlukwirra ("women's camp") and no woman may 
 approach the Ungunja (" men's camp "), 9 brings us 
 
 1 Dawson, op. cit. ci. 2 Rosenberg, op. cit. 167. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 300. 4 Fytche, Burma, i. 343. 
 
 5 Aymonier, in Cochinchine franfaise, vi. 191, 198. 
 
 6 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 344. ~ Bonwick, op. cit. 1 1. 
 
 8 Curr, op. cit. i. 109. 9 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 178, 467. 
 
222 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 back to sexual taboo, and reminds us that this separa- 
 tion of the young is due to all the ideas of this taboo, 
 and not to the fear of sexual intercourse only. Such 
 rules as usual become further causes, and have per- 
 petuated the separation of the sexes. 
 
 In the examples of separation of brother and sister, 
 we have been really reviewing the process of preventing 
 " incest," and in those of the separation of young 
 persons generally, the process of preventing " pro- 
 miscuity." Neither of these needed prevention, for 
 neither was ever anything but the rarest exception in 
 any stage of human culture, even the earliest ; the 
 former is prevented by the psychological difficulty with 
 which love comes into play between persons either 
 closely associated or strictly separated before the age of 
 puberty, a difficulty enhanced by the ideas of sexual 
 taboo, which are intensified in the closeness of the 
 family circle, where practical as well as religious con- 
 siderations cause parents to prevent any dangerous 
 connection. We saw that in many cases, not merely is 
 the intercourse of husband and wife not practised in the 
 house, but even the performance of ordinary functions, 
 such as eating, is prohibited there, as in New Zealand 
 and the Sandwich Islands. Parents bring up their 
 children by the same rule, which is, put briefly, that all 
 close connection between the sexes is dangerous, and 
 especially between those who are in close contact. 
 Marriage of man and woman is theoretically a forbidden 
 thing, both outside and inside the family circle. The 
 very word "incest" originally meant simply "unchaste," 
 connoting a merely general infringement of sexual taboo, 
 such infringement being more reprehensible between 
 those who are not likely to make it. As to the fictions of 
 primitive " incest " and " promiscuity," both in popular 
 
ix INCEST • . 223 
 
 tradition and scientific theories of primitive marriage, 
 it is natural that marriage systems should be explained 
 as intended to put a stop to a prevailing practice, by 
 those who do not know how religion simply assists 
 nature, but the explanation does not at all go to show 
 that these practices ever existed. 
 
 Lastly, as will be discussed hereafter, it is the 
 application of sexual taboo to brothers and sisters, who, 
 because they are of opposite sexes, of the same genera- 
 tion, and are in close contact, and for no other reasons, 
 are regarded as potentially marriageable, that is the 
 foundation of exogamy and the marriage system. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 We have seen the complication of the eternal drama of 
 sex, and now approach the denoument as expressed in 
 certain features of the ceremonies at puberty, and 
 generally in love-practices and marriage ritual. The 
 taboo is now to be broken. 
 
 The general removal of taboo takes many forms, 
 some of which we have observed in passing. In all 
 these forms alike the idea is to get rid of the material 
 taboo substance, the " sacredness " or " uncleanness " 
 with which the body has been, as it were, permeated 
 and infected from contact of some sort with danger, 
 religiously conceived, coming from spiritual or human 
 agents, and, in human relations, especially from human 
 agents sometimes spiritualised, sometimes conceived of 
 abstractly, or embodied in concrete persons. As the 
 dangers are, whether spiritual or material, conceived of 
 materially, so the methods used to obviate or remove 
 them are such as would be used in dealing with 
 matter. 
 
 First, we may brieflv refer to some of the com- 
 monest means of avoiding the dangers of taboo, used 
 before these dangers have descended and in expectation 
 of them. Persons in this state of expectation are 
 already taboo, as we have seen, but no confusion need 
 attach to the double meaning. Again, when a person 
 is guarding himself against these dangers, their pre- 
 
chap, x HIDING FROM EVIL 225 
 
 sence, potential or actual, causes other persons to avoid 
 him, for fear of coming in for the same. So much 
 being premised, we may instance the method of hiding 
 from danger ; thus sick people are frequently hidden 
 so as to escape, if possible, from the evil influence. 1 
 People often change their house to avoid evil, 2 and it is 
 a common practice after a death to burn the house 
 down, or desert it. 3 When a man is sick, the Aru 
 islanders fire off guns round the house, to drive away 
 the evil spirits. If this fails, they take him to another 
 house, to deceive them. 4 The Ceramese take a sick 
 man to another house, to deceive evil spirits. 5 The 
 Watubela natives remove a sick man from his house, 
 " because it is a ' warm ' house, or in order to deceive 
 the evil spirits." 6 The latter is the object of this 
 practice in the Kei Islands. 7 When a sick man is about 
 to die, the Eskimo family gather up all their posses- 
 sions, close up the hut, and seek another abode/ 
 When death occurred amongst the Yumas, the site of 
 the village was altered. 9 
 
 Various forms of seclusion carry out the same idea. 
 Taboo persons dwell in special huts, so as to protect 
 •themselves and to isolate themselves from others. A 
 garb of woe is both appropriate to the feelings of the 
 fearful soul and diverts the attention of evil. A sick 
 Basuto sits under a rock, where, clothed with miserable 
 rags, he eats the coarsest food ; he never washes ; and 
 :ontinually curses the person who has bewitched him. 10 
 A good instance of dressing in rags for the practical 
 Durpose of exciting pity in human hearts is the custom 
 is used by defendants in ancient Rome. 
 
 1 Bastian, Allcrlci, i. 437. * 2 Riedel, op. cit. 265, 266, 267. 
 
 3 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 160 ; Spix, op. cit. ii. 251. * Riedel, op. cit. 266. 
 
 5 Id. 141. 6 Id. 210. 7 Id. 238. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 406. 9 Id. iii. 190. 10 Casalis, op. cit. 277. 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Evil is again barred by drawing a line, or by making 
 a barricade. Barriers of water or fire are often used. 
 To drive awav evil from the infant, the Timorlaut 
 natives place it by the fire. 1 Next there is the use of 
 protecting garments, and veils, the latter with special 
 reference to the danger of being seen by or seeing the 
 dreaded influence ; there is also in this practice a desire 
 not to infect others with the evil to which one is sub- 
 ject. Amongst the Wa-taveta pregnant women wear 
 veils. 2 The veil is commonly worn by women at men- 
 struation, as by other taboo persons, such as mourners. 
 The King of Susa eats behind a screen. 3 The use of 
 sacred umbrellas probably goes back to the same idea. 
 Amongst the Dyaks an umbrella is placed over a sick 
 person. 4 The common use of amulets to keep off evil 
 needs no illustration. By the use of dummies one per- 
 suades the evil influence that one is dead already, or 
 engages the attention of evil agents, while escape is 
 being effected. The natives of Timorlaut cheat the 
 evil agents, by using puppets to represent the sick. 5 
 The Burmese believe that the patient will recover if he 
 is buried in effigy. 6 In Celebes the sick man is taken 
 to another house and a dummy is left on his bed. 7 To 
 prevent a dead mother taking her child, the Melanesians 
 place a dummy in her arms. 8 A similar method is 
 to pretend that the sick man is already dead ; the 
 friends hold a mock funeral with this object in 
 East Central Africa. 9 To avoid sickness, the Babar 
 natives set adrift dummies of themselves in a boat, 
 wherein they also place bowls in which their sick 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 303. 2 J. Thomson, op. cit. 61. 
 
 :! Harris, op. cit. Hi. 78. 4 Brooke, op. cit. i. 95. 
 
 5 Riedel, op. cit. 304. fi Shway Yoe, op. cit. ii. 138. 
 
 7 N. Graafland, De Mina/iassa, i. 326. 8 Codrington, op. cit. 275. 
 
 9 Bastian, op. cit. i. 437 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 114, 115. 
 
x VEILS— DUMMIES— SACRIFICE 227 
 
 friends have spat. They will also change houses to 
 cure illness. 1 
 
 Similar is the use of proxies or substitutes, to keep * 
 the danger from the person concerned. Once a year, a 
 bull is killed by the Zulus on behalf of the king ; the 
 strength of the bull enters him, thereby prolonging his 
 lite and health. 2 In Tonga a human victim was slain 
 to " avert the wrath of angry gods from the king." 3 
 Before the chief's son was circumcised, the Manyuema 
 first tried the operation on a slave. 4 
 
 Again, there is the common practice of giving up to 
 
 the evil influence a part of one's self, in the large sense 
 
 I in which the savage conceives of such, a piece of one's 
 
 hair, food, clothing, or the like ; the idea being to 
 
 sacrifice a part to preserve the whole, sometimes the 
 
 whole man, at other times the whole of a particular 
 
 organ or sense-process. In the Central provinces of 
 
 [India, when cholera is about, the priest takes a straw 
 
 from each house and burns these. Chickens are also 
 
 driven into the fire and burnt ; the idea is that the 
 
 straws and chickens are substitutes. 5 In Tonga people 
 
 but off a little finger to avert calamity. To propitiate 
 
 :^he gods they would cut off a finger-joint, and holding 
 
 'ap their hands confess " they had done wrong, but were 
 
 ;orry." Another account says that they would cut off 
 
 1 little finger on the occasion of illness, as a propitiatory 
 
 offering to the gods. G This idea of sacrificing a part 
 
 ;eems to be the meaning of cutting off a finger-joint or 
 
 ock of hair at the grave of a dead person, or during 
 
 nourning. 7 Connected with this is the no less logical 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 357. - Leslie, op. cit. 91. 
 
 3 Farmer, op. cit. 53. 4 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 363. 
 
 5 Punjab Notes and Queries, i. 41S. 6 Farmer, op. cit. 12S ; Mariner, op. cit. i. 454. 
 7 Fiji, Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 100 ; Pimas, Comanches, Wichita, Minnetarrees, 
 mos, Blackfeet, Crows, and Sioux, First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 99 fF. ; 
 
228 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 method of making believe that one's soul is in some 
 object, which is then put safely away, as an external 
 soul. 
 
 Another most widely spread method is fasting, the 
 idea of which is to avoid swallowing food which may be 
 tainted by the dangerous influence — to prevent evil 
 entering a man. Parallel to this is the method of 
 continence, the object being to retain the source of 
 strength within the body, for if it be allowed to leave 
 the body, the individual will lose strength which he may 
 need for the ghostly conflict, and also the ghostly 
 enemy may use the person's strength thus detached from 
 him to injure him by the method of ngadhungi. 
 
 Then in cases of actual taboo, where the person 
 concerned is actually infected with danger, or probably 
 has been, for the primitive mind makes no distinction 
 in its wide generalisation, the commonest method of 
 removing the contagion is "purification." The taboo 
 essence, as if exuding from the pores, and clinging to 
 the skin, like a contagious disease, is wiped off with 
 "'water, the universal cleanser, or similar substances. 
 After menstruation and child-birth, and sickness gener- | 
 ally, the contagion is got rid of by a bath. In Shoa 
 " defiled " men, who had eaten forbidden food, were 
 sprinkled with water. 1 The contagion of death is 
 removed in the same way, and so is the stain of sin 
 from penitents. 2 At a later stage, the water used may 
 be rendered more efficacious, by being itself " holy " or 
 " medicinal." Or the patient is purified so as by fire, 
 the other great cleanser, or by disinfectants of various 
 sorts, smoke and incense, which are to fire as the offering 
 
 Tasmanians, Australians, Eyre, op. cit. ii. 343 ; Ellice Islands, Cooper, Ccral Islands, 
 ii. 256 ; New Caledonia, Anderson, op. cit. 220. 
 
 1 Harris, op. cit. iii. 147. 2 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 123. 
 
x PURIFICATION 229 
 
 of incense is to a burnt sacrifice. The chair in which a 
 Manchurian bride goes to the house of the bridegroom 
 is "disinfected" with incense, to drive away evil 
 spirits. 1 Or again it is taken off by a rougher method 
 — wiped off with the hands, or a scraper of wood, a 
 sacred strigil, as it were. The following is the descrip- 
 tion of a Navajo medicine-man's method : he pressed a 
 bundle of stuff to different parts of the body, each time 
 holding up this "receiver" to the smoke-hole, blowing 
 with a quick puff, as if blowing away the evil influence 
 drawn from the body. 2 After births and deaths 
 "defilement" is taken off by the New Hebrideans 
 thus : cocoa-nut milk is poured over the body, or a 
 branch is drawn down body and limbs so as to sweep 
 the substance away. 3 The Maoris remove tapu by 
 water or by passing over the body a piece of wood, 
 which is then buried. 4 Where the evil clings closer, it 
 lis beaten off. The method of beating is also used to 
 'drive out evil spirits, and there is a natural and easy 
 •confusion between the two ideas, as would be the 
 lobvious double inference from sickness, for instance. 
 •Infected clothes are removed and destroyed. The 
 INavajo who has touched a dead body, takes his clothes 
 off afterwards and washes himself before he mingles 
 ! with the living. 5 The Cherokees flung their old clothes 
 iinto the river, " supposing then their own impurities to 
 ibe removed." ° The Maori slave who took his clothes 
 'off before entering a sacred place which would have 
 infected him with its "sanctity," was wiser in his 
 generation. 7 
 
 Again, the virus can be taken off and transferred by 
 
 1 Folklore, i. 487. - Fifth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 420. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 12. 4 Yate, op. cit. 104, 137. 
 
 6 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 123. 8 Frazer, op. cit." iii. 74. 
 
 7 Shortlantl, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 293. 
 
230 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 contact to some one who is more or less always taboo, or 
 is a corpus vile, in which case the savage infers that the 
 virus leaves the original sufferer entirely. He infers 
 this because he desires it ; when he does not so desire, 
 as in the case of a man's mana, the good quality that 
 can be transferred, it passes, but not away. If a Maori 
 chanced to touch any one's head, he received its 
 " sacredness ' by the contact, and had to rub his hands 
 on fern-root, which was then eaten by the head of the 
 family in the female line. Thus his hands became noa 
 again. 1 The various Maori methods of " lifting " tapu 
 are called Whangaihan. The Tongan method is in- 
 t teresting. If a man contracted tabu from touching a 
 chief, he ceremonially touched the soles of the feet or 
 a superior chief with his hands, and then washed him- 
 self. If a man ate food with tabued hands, he avoided 
 dangerous results by putting the foot of a chief on 
 his stomach. The idea is that by contact the tabu 
 substance is transferred from the man's organs to the 
 chief. 2 A tapued Maori would free himself from tapu 
 by touching a child, and by taking food from its hands. 
 The man was thus free, but the child was tapu for a 
 day. 3 Of the Maoris it has been said that the " most 
 marked peculiarities of their customs can be traced to 
 the principle that food which has once touched a sacred 
 object becomes itself sacred, and must not be eaten 
 except by the sacred object." 4 Some of the previous 
 cases show how food is used to remove taboo. In 
 Fiji the taboo persons wash, and then wipe their hands 
 on some animal, e.g. a pig. The latter thus becomes 
 sacred to the chief, and they lose the tabu, and are free 
 to work, to feed themselves, and to live with their 
 
 1 Shortland, op. at. 68. 
 
 3 Dieffenbach, New Zealand, ii. 105. 
 
 2 Mariner, op. clt. ii. 220, 
 4 Shortland, cp. cit. 294. 
 
x REMOVAL OF TABOO 231 
 
 wives. When a chief wishes to remove tabu from 
 himself, he transfers it to a priest. 1 It is an important 
 fact that where the ideas of contact underlying social 
 taboo are most thoroughly worked out, as for instance, 
 amongst the Maoris and Zulus, the connection of food 
 plays an important part, not only in taboo but in its 
 removal. The savage believes not only that what 
 comes out of a man defiles him, but that what enters 
 him does so also, and especially is this so with food. 
 It is food that gives a man his life and strength, and 
 that also may, by forming his very substance, transmit 
 evil to him in the most certain way. By a natural 
 analogy, the evil can best be removed from him by the 
 use of food. Later we shall see how the taking of new 
 food is connected with this. The connection of fasting 
 and silence with taboo is well shown by some methods 
 of removing it, which at the same time remove the 
 obligation to abstinence and the ban of silence. The 
 fast incumbent upon mourners is ended in the Nguria 
 : tribe by some one touching the lips of the mourner 
 : with meat. In this case, as in others, there is combined 
 the idea of rendering the freedom to eat or speak, safe, 
 ;by a rehearsal of the action.- The common ban of 
 silence imposed in various ceremonies bv the Central 
 Australians is removed by touching the lips with food, 
 or some sacred object. 3 
 
 There is another important method — inoculation, y 
 The idea is earlier than Jenner and Pasteur ; it is one of 
 the oldest and most far-reaching conceptions of man- 
 kind. As with all primitive ideas, however, it must be 
 remembered that it has a religious connotation, and is 
 generalised round a much wider circle than even our 
 
 1 Wilkes, tp. cit. ii. 99, 100. - Curr, op. cit. i. :Sq. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 248, 381 ft*. 
 
232 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 metaphorical use of the word. As with other early- 
 theories, so with this, a successful positive instance 
 ensures the general continuance of the method. When 
 the savage inoculates for nearly every danger, as did 
 the Zulus, there might well occur cases where, for 
 instance, small-pox was thus successfully combated. 
 In Abyssinia, when small-pox is raging, they take a 
 boy and inoculate him, and with the lymph supplied 
 by him every one is inoculated against the disease. 1 
 There is a curiously strong superstitious fear of 
 lightning amongst the Zulus, doubtless the result of 
 a peculiarity of their climate. A Zulu has explained, 
 " it is this that causes fear in men ; the dreaded thing 
 comes from above and not from below. They are 
 afraid of something that looks down upon all of us, 
 not that it will really strike, but the fear arises from 
 thinking that it is a thing above us ; we cannot defend 
 ourselves from it, as from a stone thrown by another/' 
 The somewhat incoherent statement would apply well 
 enough to the more timid individuals in a civilised and 
 scientific age. Now the Zulu theory is, that anything 
 struck by lightning has in it the "power" of the light- 
 ning. The " doctors " make themselves proof against 
 it by " inoculation," and are thus also brought into 
 " sympathy " with electric forces, and know when it 
 is going to thunder. To protect the people, the 
 priests sometimes give orders that an ox struck by 
 lightning must be eaten. After this preventive homoeo- 
 pathic dose they take emetics and wash. 2 Similarly, 
 when a Zulu is about to cross a river full of crocodiles, 
 he will chew some crocodile's excrement, and spatter it 
 over his person, in the belief that this will protect him 
 
 1 Harris, op. clt. ii. 159. 
 
 2 Callaway, op. cit. 403, 380, 402. 
 
 
X 
 
 INOCULATION 233 
 
 against them. 1 The idea is clearly protection by- 
 assimilation through inoculation. In West Africa the 
 blood of a slain enemy is drunk by all who have never 
 killed an enemy before. 2 When Kaffirs have killed 
 a lion, they rub their eyes with his skin before they 
 look at his dead body. 3 The people of New Britain 
 believe that after eating enemies they have slain they 
 cannot be injured by the friends of the latter. 4 In 
 South Africa warriors are inoculated before battle with 
 a powder made from slain enemies. This is placed by 
 the medicine-man in an incision on the forehead of 
 each soldier, and gives him strength. 5 To avoid the 
 evil effects of a stranger's eye who enters a house where 
 an infant is, a Mentawey father will take off its head- 
 covering and give it to the stranger, who after holding 
 it a while returns it. 6 Amongst the Zulus, if a man 
 wishes to obtain a favour from a chief or great man, or 
 when he is accused of some crime and has to appear 
 before the chief, he tries to get something belonging 
 to the latter, and this he wears next his skin. So, if a 
 man has an illness, caused, as he thinks, by some animal, 
 the animal's flesh is administered to him.' The 
 Malays regard the spines of a certain fish as poisonous, 
 but believe that if the brain of the fish is applied to 
 the wound it will act as a complete antidote to the 
 poisonous principle. 8 This principle of the " hair or 
 the dog that bit you " is inoculation after the event, 
 the principle of homceopathv, assimilation to the object 
 which causes injury. This extension brings out the 
 identity of inoculation with other cases of assimilation 
 bv contact. The following examples, in which a sort 
 
 1 Shooter, op. cit. 21S. 2 Bowdich, op. cit. 300. 
 
 3 Arbousset, op. cit. 214. 4 Powell, op. cit. 92. 
 
 5 Jourr.. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 133. 6 Rosenberg, op. cit. 198. 
 
 9 Callaway, op. cit. 142. 8 Skeat, op. cit. 309. 
 
234 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 of " reverse inoculation ' takes place, also show this 
 clearly. Gipsy thieves in Servia put their own blood 
 into the food of one who they suspect knows of their 
 offence. They believe that this prevents him from 
 betraying them, and makes him friendly. 1 Negro 
 Indians believe that a dog will be faithful to his master 
 if he gives it some bread soaked in his own sweat.' 2 A 
 Magyar maiden believes that if she rubs some of her 
 blood in a young man's hair he will love her. 3 A 
 Cherokee bridegroom, if jealous, will rub his saliva on 
 the breast of his sleeping wife, to induce her to be 
 faithful. 4 
 
 There is often a difficulty about inoculation, viz., 
 the procuring of lymph. Where this can be sur- 
 mounted, however, many kinds of dangers and 
 spiritual and material " diseases '" are prevented from 
 having their fullness of ill result by inoculating the 
 patient against them. As is sometimes the case now, 
 in connection with small-pox, so amongst savages 
 inoculation is chiefly used, sometimes only used, when 
 no other methods avail. The risk due to passing 
 through even a reduced form of the particular danger 
 is one that early man would not lightly undertake. As 
 a rule, he takes no risks and undergoes no pains that 
 he can help, and never except for some serious purpose. 
 It is especially when one is, as it were, in an infected, 
 area from which one cannot escape, and among infected 
 or dangerous persons with whom one must to some 
 extent associate, that inoculation is seen by the savage, 
 as by us, to be the best method of safety. 
 
 Inoculation is the infusion of diseased matter from a 
 diseased person into a healthy person, who by contract- 
 
 1 Am Urquell, iii. 64. 2 Owen, Old Rabbit, 142. 
 
 8 Am Urquell, iii. 269. 4 Seventh Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 380. 
 
 
x INOCULATION 235 
 
 ing the disease in a very mild form, escapes the full 
 effects which would result in the ordinary course of 
 contraction. In other words, it is a form of contagion, 
 it is the deadly method of Nature used against herself. 
 It fs the avoiding of the dangers of taboo by boldly 
 courting them ; taboo is minimised by breaking it. It 
 will be obvious now, first, that the principle of inocu- 
 lation is the same (differing only in intention) as that of 
 involuntary contagion and of ngadhungi, which is only 
 " contagion " developed. Comparing it with such 
 typical cases as those in which one is involuntarily 
 tainted or " inoculated," using the word to sharpen 
 the point, with the dangerous qualities of another, 
 we see its identity with all these ideas of contact. 
 Secondly, it is identical with those love-charms and 
 similar practices in which you take or receive a portion 
 of the desired person, in order to receive into yourself 
 his desirable properties, or transmit your own hate or 
 love to another. Here are the passive and the active 
 aspects of inoculation. 
 
 It is natural that such transmission should be 
 especially effective when performed through the 
 jmedium of food, for thereby the transmitted pro- 
 perty is most surely taken into the system. Of 
 this method in various forms we shall find illustration 
 •in ceremonies at puberty and marriage. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 The last and most important method of breaking 
 taboo remains to be described. In it the whole cycle 
 of ideas of contact which underlie human relations 
 generally and the relations of the sexes in particular, 
 is completed, and thus the principles on which the 
 ceremonies of marriage and the marriage system are 
 based receive their full description. 
 
 Inoculation was the last method reviewed, and two 
 forms of it were seen — inoculation of one person with 
 the properties of another, and reverse inoculation, by 
 which one person assimilates another to himself by 
 inoculating him with himself. The method now to be 
 described is simply mutual inoculation of two indi- 
 viduals with each other. A and B being mutually 
 taboo, desire to remove the dangers of their relation ; 
 being destined to live together, or to perform some 
 dangerous act together, or to be in more or less close 
 and therefore potentially dangerous connection, their 
 best method is, as we have seen, inoculation. A 
 therefore inoculates himself against B by taking a 
 part of B into his own system, and B does the same ; 
 but this is equivalent to reverse inoculation, for A has 
 practically given B a part of himself, and B has done 
 the same ; the two methods here coincide. The 
 j results are those which belong to reciprocity ; each has 
 a part of the other in his keeping, and this part not 
 
chap, xi MUTUAL INOCULATION 237 
 
 only assimilates each to the other by transmission of 
 properties, but is a pledge, deposit and hostage. Thus 
 identity of interests is secured, and the possibility of 
 mutual treachery or wrong is prevented, not only by 
 the fact that injury done to B by A is equivalent to 
 injury done by A to himself, but also by the fact that 
 if B is wronged, he may work vengeance by injuring 
 through his malicious properties or by the method of 
 ngadhungi the part of A which he possesses ; and not 
 only this, but, theoretically at least, in such an event, 
 the part of B possessed by A may punish A by the 
 sympathy it still retains with B, its original owner. 
 Each has " given himself away " to the other in a very 
 real sense. Taboo against connection is broken by 
 making the connection, just as Kamehameha broke the 
 tabu by eating with his wives ; and the result is simply 
 union, in the most vital sense, effected by assimilation 
 and passing into identification. But the ideas we have 
 just described underlie all union of this kind, not only 
 in early thought, but implicitly always ; it is simply the 
 psychological principle of union analysed into its com- 
 ponent parts. The relation is the full development of 
 contact, which it is unnecessary to trace again in detail. 
 Of the various parts of one's self each and every one 
 may be used. Hair, blood, garments, and names are 
 common instances. The idea is also satisfied by each 
 party partaking of the same thing, such as food and 
 drink, flesh and blood, by smoking together, or 
 by dividing a "token," familiar instances being the 
 <rv/j.fio\ov and split sixpence. In one of the most 
 striking cases this is the umbilical cord of one party. 
 This is often preserved, as has been seen, and is re- 
 garded as very sacred and as possessing part of the 
 " life " of the original owner. 
 
238 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 The Narrinyeri have the following custom. The 
 remains of a child's umbilical cord are carefully pre- 
 served by the father in a bunch of feathers. The relic 
 is called kalduke. This he will give to a man in 
 another tribe who has children, by which act his child 
 and the other man's children become ngia ngiampe 
 to each other. The duties of this relation are that 
 they may not touch or come near each other, nor speak 
 to one another, and the usual object of the custom 
 is that these children when grown may be entrusted 
 with the barter of commodities between the two tribes. 
 During such commercial transactions the ngiampe per- 
 sons of course may not speak to each other, a third 
 person does the talking. Moreover any two individuals 
 may and often do enter this relation for a time, one 
 cutting his own kalduke in two and each keeping half. 
 They are ngia ngiampe as long as they each retain his 
 piece. This relation is often imposed on two indi- 
 viduals to prevent them marrying. 1 The above is so 
 typical an example, that I may be allowed to use the 
 term ngia ngiampe hereafter to express this relation. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to give a multiplicity of 
 examples which show each and every one of the pos- 
 sible vehicles of the mutual transmission ; most of 
 these have been mentioned already in cases of contact 
 and of single inoculation. The latter practice, as the 
 one-sided application of the principle, should be borne 
 in mind when reviewing the following cases. First of 
 all, lovers not merely symbolise their desire for union 
 by this means, but really effect identification. In Wetar 
 engaged couples exchange locks of hair, gifts, especially 
 clothes that have been worn, in order to have the smell 
 of the loved one near them. Lovers in Amboina ex- 
 
 1 G. Taplin, in Native Tribes of South Australia, 32. 
 
xi NGIA NGIAMPE 
 
 2 39 
 
 change hair, rings, and clothes they have worn. After 
 their first meeting, a Timor-laut girl takes the girdle of 
 the young man, in order to make him faithful to her. 
 . In Amboina lovers drink each other's blood ; " it is a 
 real sacrament." 1 Peasant lovers in France used to 
 pledge their affections by spitting into each other's 
 mouths. 1 ' The practice is most common between lovers, 
 and as a marriage ceremony, effecting union, satisfying 
 love, and producing the responsibilities of reciprocity. 
 
 The next most common uses are for hospitality and 
 friendship, the making of alliances and covenants be- 
 tween man and man or tribe and tribe, the so-called 
 [•"blood brotherhood"; also as a method of making 
 peace, the compact being sealed in various ways, 
 especially by eating together (just as now a bargain is 
 \ sealed " over a drink "). Throughout the world the 
 closest bond is produced by the act of hospitality, 
 [the sharing of one's bread and salt with the stranger 
 | within the gates. In the countless examples of this 
 i it is often quite naturally found that one side only is 
 Concerned (single inoculation), but practically the act, 
 1 *ven when no commensality takes place, has all the 
 fcifect of a reciprocal process. Thus, in the Mentawey 
 jlslands when a stranger enters the house, the father, by 
 (vay of avoiding the ill effects of the stranger's eyes 
 Ijapon his child, takes from it its head-covering and 
 rives it to the visitor, who after holding it a while 
 . :, eturns it. 3 This case brings out well the fear and 
 aution underlying acts of hospitality. Amongst the 
 Coniagas visitors are presented with a cup of water, 
 s a ceremonial act marking friendship. 4 In Java a 
 uperior pays to an inferior the highest compliment 
 
 I ' Riedel, op. cit. 44-, 6", 300, 41. - F. Liebrecht, Ger-vau -von Tilbury, 72. 
 
 3 Rosenberg, op. cit. 198. 4 Featherman, of. cit. iii. 454. 
 
2 4 o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 if he offers him his half-chewed betel. 1 Amongst the 
 Iroquois the regular act of courtesy towards any visitor > 
 was to present him with a dish of hominy. To neglect 
 this was a breach of good manners. 2 In Sumatra the 
 guest who pays a visit to his friend is presented with 
 betel as a token of hospitality. This is an act of 
 common politeness which can neither be omitted nor 
 refused. 3 
 
 The biological origin of the whole of the phenomena . 
 is shown by these cases. The Timorese salute each 
 other by touching noses and drawing a deep breath. 4 
 When meeting friends and acquaintances, the Eskimo 
 greet each other by rubbing noses together, and then 
 they spit into their hands and mutually pass them over 
 each other's face. When they wish to give assurance 
 of mutual friendship they eat together, and mutually 
 rub each other's breast, saying, llaga, " let us be 
 friends." 5 The biological origin is also clear when the 
 method is the giving of food to a person, and the 
 Greek fashion of drinking a health is a good type of 
 these ideas. The fashion coincides naturally with the 
 practice, illustrated above, of drinking first to show 
 that the drink is not harmful. Such satisfaction of the 
 senses, again, predisposes the consciousness to amity 
 and goodwill ; this is an innate human idea. The 
 following illustrates it. Amongst the Knisteneaux the 
 rite of smoking the calumet begins all public discussion. 
 It dissipates all differences, and no one who entertains 
 feelings of enmity towards another can smoke the pipe 
 with him without being previously reconciled. No 
 one is allowed to participate in the sacred rite who has 
 not abstained from cohabiting with his wife for twenty-. 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 383. 2 Id. iii. 14. s Id. op. cit. ii. 303. 
 
 4 Id. ii. 461. 5 Id. iii. 405. 
 
xi HOSPITALITY 
 
 241 
 
 four hours previously. Contracts solemnised by smok- 
 ing the calumet are held to be inviolable. 1 The phrase 
 of hospitality in the Society and Sandwich Islands is 
 "let us eat together." 2 Amongst the North American 
 Indians tobacco-smoking, and in the East Indies the 
 chewing of betel, have naturally taken over all the ideas 
 attached to food. The passing round of the calumet is 
 the regular North American custom of making peace 
 and alliances, and smoking together is a mark of hospi- 
 tality and friendship. In principle, of course, the act 
 itself produces these results. The Powhattans observed 
 ceremonial forms in receiving a stranger or visitor. 
 The most influential man brought the calumet or pipe 
 of peace, lighted it, and having drawn a few puffs, he 
 handed it to the stranger, who, if he were friendlv 
 disposed, accepted it ; the pipe then went alternately 
 from mouth to mouth until each one present had 
 inhaled the smoke. 3 Amongst the Druses hospitality 
 is one of the sacred duties whose implied obligations 
 they never disregard or violate. No consideration of 
 interest, no dread of power, can ever induce them to 
 betray or deliver up to an enemy the stranger or 
 fugitive with whom they have contracted the sacred 
 engagement of "bread and salt." 4 Amongst the 
 Bedouin Arabs, as is well known, a guest once received 
 in the tent becomes " one of the family," and the duty 
 of protecting him is sacred. All members of the tribe 
 \ are also tacitly pledged for the security of his life and 
 property. It is considered discourteous, if not an 
 insult, to ride up to the front of a man's tent with- 
 out stopping and eating his bread. 5 Amongst the 
 tribes of the Nedjed it is customary to pour a cup of 
 
 1 Featherman, op. at. iii. 269. - W. Ellis, Tour in Hawaii, 357. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 115. 4 Id. v. 4-5. 5 Id. v. 371. 
 
 R 
 
242 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. > 
 
 melted butter on the head of the guest who partakes ij 
 of the hospitality of the tent. 1 
 
 Limbus who wish to form an alliance of " brother- 
 hood " exchange ceremonially their scarves and some 
 money, and smear each other's foreheads with rice paste. 2 
 The Kumis, when making a contract, kill a goat, and J 
 smear the head and feet of the parties with its blood. 3 
 The Tindeko ("blood brotherhood") is very common 
 on the Upper Congo. The blood of the two parties is i 
 mingled and put on a leaf, which is then divided and I 
 eaten by the pair. " It is a form of cementing friend- 3 
 ship and a guarantee of good faith, which is respected 
 by the most unscrupulous ; and it possesses a religious 
 significance." 4 In the Kayan ceremony a drop of 
 blood from each party is mixed with tobacco and; 
 smoked in a cigarette. 5 Amongst the Ardras drinking 
 together forms a bond of friendship. In Madagascar 
 " brotherhood " is produced by the two parties drink- 
 ing each other's blood, in which a piece of ginger is 
 dipped. They then each drink a mixture from the 
 same bowl, praying that it may turn into poison for. 
 him who fails to keep the oath. 7 The most indissoluble 
 tie of friendship that can exist between one Dyak and 
 another is called sobat, or the tie of " brotherhood." A 
 vein is opened in the arm of each of the parties, and 
 the blood is dropped into two cups. The two then 
 exchange cups and drink each other's blood. Next, 
 another cup, containing a mixture of the blood of both, 
 is emptied in divided parts by each. s 
 
 The practice of exchanging names in order to seal 
 friendship is universal throughout Polynesia and 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 372. 2 H. H. Risley, The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. lviii 
 
 3 Lewin, op. cit. 228. 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 292. 
 
 5 Id. xxiii. 166. 6 R. F. Burton, Mission to Dahomey, 245 
 
 7 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 81. 8 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 264. 
 
XI 
 
 TIES OF FRIENDSHIP 
 
 2+3 
 
 Melanesia. 1 The Australian natives form permanent 
 ties of friendship and " brotherhood ' by exchanging 
 names. 2 For mutual protection and as a token of 
 friendship the Vanikoros of the La Perouse Islands 
 form ties of " brotherhood " with one another, and even 
 with strangers whose favour they wish to secure. " To 
 effect this the parties mutually exchange names ; and 
 each one first striking his own breast and calling 
 himself by his friend's name, strikes next the breast 
 of his comrade and gives him his own name. In 
 
 : confirmation of this indissoluble alliance, they mutually 
 offer presents to each other." 3 Amongst the Chippe- 
 
 : ways, as with most North American Indians, the 
 
 ' smoking together of the calumet confirmed alliance 
 of friendship and treaties, and made the agreement 
 so sacred that its violation would have had fatal 
 
 : consequences. 4 Amongst the Seminoles the drinking 
 together of their favourite beverage, " the black drink," 
 
 iwas the regular method of forming a tie of friendship. 
 Amongst the Dyoor mutual spitting is used as a 
 salutation, a token of goodwill, a pledge of attachment, 
 or oath of fidelity. It is the proper way to give 
 solemnity to a league of friendship.'' The same 
 'practice is used regularly by the Masai. 7 Amongst 
 the Khamptis " exchange of clothes gives birth to 
 or is a sign of amity ; and by exchange of weapons 
 even the most deadly enemies become fast friends, 
 md if one falls in fight, it is the duty of the other to 
 .ivenge him." The Kingsmill islanders rub noses and 
 exchange names as a mark of friendship.' The well- 
 
 1 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 16 1. 
 
 ' Id. ii. 95. 
 
 5 Id. iii. 172. 
 
 7 Thomson, op. cit. 165, 166. 
 
 9 Wilkes, op. cit. iv. ^ 1 . 
 
 - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 139. 
 4 Id. iii. 246. 
 
 Schweinfurth, op. cit. i. 205. 
 s Rovvney, op. cit. 162. 
 
244 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 known taio system, in Tahiti, for instance, is a good 
 example of this. When voyagers arrived, they were 
 expected each to choose a taio ; one exchanged names 
 with him, and thus the two became protector and 
 - protege, with " all things in common." 1 In the 
 ! Marquesas friends are tabu."- The same principles 
 underlie the giving and receiving of presents ; this 
 is in essence an exchange of one's self. In Buru the 
 interchange of gifts is a regular method of making 
 friendship, 3 as indeed it has been and still is all over the 
 world, since Achilles and Diomed exchanged " gold for 
 bronze." In Central Celebes the same bond of friend- 
 ship is used. 4 In New Guinea the exchange of presents 
 and of names with visitors makes the latter sacred and 
 secure from harm. 5 The Dusuns of North Borneo j 
 exchange weapons to become sworn friends. 6 In Pata- J 
 gonia there is an elaborate etiquette amongst chiefs ; 
 one may not enter the toldo of another until presents 
 have been exchanged. 7 A Timorese woman bestows 
 the highest mark of attachment upon her lover, when she \ 
 gives him the flower garland which adorns her hair, or 
 the scarf pin from her bosom. A superior who wishes 
 to show goodwill to a subordinate, presents him with a 
 portion of the betel he has chewed, which the inferior 
 then chews. Young girls send a dose of chewed betel 
 wrapped in a banana leaf to the young men to whom 
 they are favourably disposed, and receive a similar gift 
 in exchange. 8 Friendship is made between villages in 
 Leti, Moa, and Lakor by eating flesh and drinking 
 blood together. 9 The following case resumes many 
 
 1 Melville, Omoo, 154; D'Urville, op. cit. i. 527. 
 
 2 Melville, The Marquesas, 155. 3 Riedel, op. cit. 19. 
 
 4 Bijdragen tot de lndische Taal-Land-en Volkenkur.de -van Nederlandsch Indie, xxxv. 
 
 5. 1. 79. 5 Gill, op. cit. 233. 6 F. Hatton, North Borneo, 196. 
 
 7 Musters, op. cit. 184. 8 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 461. 9 Riedel, op. cit. 396. 
 
xi COVENANTS 
 
 245 
 
 details, and is among many which prove the present 
 explanation. In Timor-laut friendship is ceremonially 
 sealed thus : the parties offer each other a present, 
 and then take the ravnoru kida oath ; a mixture of 
 water, palm wine, and sea-water is prepared, in which a 
 stone or a tooth is placed ; the chief washes the hands 
 of the two parties, and pricks a hand of each, letting 
 the blood drop into the mixture. A prayer is offered 
 to Dudilaa, as witness, that the one who breaks the oath 
 may pass away like water, become weak like one who 
 has drunk too much palm wine, or sink into the sea 
 like a stone. The two then drink of the liquor, and 
 the stone or the tooth is split in two to be kept by the 
 parties as a testimony. Similar covenants between 
 whole villages are sealed by eating together the flesh of 
 
 a slave. 1 
 
 In the next place, it is a common method of settling 
 - disputes, and of making peace, and in these cases we 
 see clearly the fear of danger which underlies and in- 
 duces the practice, as we have seen manslayers inoculate 
 their dead foe with themselves, or themselves with the 
 ; dead foe, to secure immunity from his friends or from 
 ; his ghost. A case may be prefixed, which sums up 
 much of the primitive conception. In Buru when a 
 man has been detected in adultery, he has to pay a fine 
 !of a pig, with which a feast is prepared for the relatives 
 ;of both parties. The guilty persons, however, before 
 this can be partaken of, must " drink the oath." So in 
 ! the same island the manslayer has to pay compensation, 
 something for the head, something for the body, arms, 
 legs, and so on, and also one or more pigs to make a 
 family feast. At the feast he sits apart with a relative 
 of the dead man, before a wooden bowl, in which are 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 284. 
 
246 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 two plates of food. While eating, the pair exchange 
 plates, and so the wrong is atoned for and peace is made. 1 
 Amongst the Barea, when " blood vengeance " is satisfied, 
 there results (we may well suppose on the same prin- 
 ciples) " a sort of relationship " between the murderer 
 and the family of the murdered man. 2 The Arab 
 manslayer kills a camel before the tent of his adversary 
 (the avenger of blood), and the blood is supposed to 
 wipe away that of the person slain (the original idea 
 being that the camel is a gift and a substitute for 
 the murderer's life) ; the flesh of the camel is im- 
 mediately eaten by the friends of the parties. 3 In 
 Amboina peace is made between villages by a feast. 4 
 In Buru, once more, when a family quarrel concerning 
 a divorce has taken place, the ill-feeling is ended by 
 a family feast. Before setting to, the father of the 
 divorced woman puts on the shoulders of her late hus- 
 band some clothes belonging to his (the father's) estab- 
 lishment ; the husband simultaneously puts on the 
 father a cloth which he has himself brought. Then 
 the father and the husband exchange plates of food. 
 " All this marks reconciliation, and will prevent any 
 further quarrel." 5 Amongst the Tagalogs of the 
 Philippines peace or an alliance of friendship was made 
 by mingling blood and wine, and then drinking the 
 mixture. 6 The Wakamba make peace by slaying an 
 animal and eating its flesh together. 7 Oaths in the 
 Watubella Islands are taken to terminate quarrels, or to ; 
 make friendship. The " oath ' is drunk. Peace is 
 made after war by eating food mingled with the blood 
 of the parties. s The people of Luang-Sermata make 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 18. 2 Munzinger, op. cit. 502. 3 Featherman, op. cit. v. 374. 
 4 Riedel, op. cit. 52. 5 Id. 23. ° Featherman, op. cit. ii. 473. 
 
 7 Krapf, op. cit. 313. 8 Riedel, op. cit. 198, 202. 
 
XI 
 
 RECONCILIATION 247 
 
 peace by drinking together. 1 In the Babar Islands the 
 blood of the two parties is mingled with liquor and 
 drunk, both when peace is made between two villages 
 and when two persons form a league of friendship, and 
 also when a man and wife are divorced. 2 In the islands 
 Leti, Moa, and Lakor, when a man has cursed another, 
 the injury is put away by the two eating together at a 
 feast made for the purpose. 3 Amongst the Kyans, if 
 two enemies meet in a house, they will refuse to recog- 
 nise each other, and a reconciliation can only take place 
 after a fowl has been killed and a part of the blood has 
 been sprinkled over them. 4 In forming alliances and 
 making peace amongst the Battas the heart of a slain 
 animal is divided into as many pieces as there are 
 persons present, and eaten by all. 5 In New Caledonia, 
 when two enemies become reconciled, they mutually 
 cut each other's beard as a pledge that the hatred which 
 they entertained for each other is extinct. The same 
 ceremony is observed when two friends meet after a 
 long absence. ,; The Nootka Indians ratified treaties 
 by smoking the calumet. Safe conduct was guaranteed 
 to ambassadors who carried the pipe of peace. 7 At 
 peacemaking in Wetar the parties exchange presents 
 and eat together. When a bond is made between two 
 individuals or villages, the parties drink each other's 
 blood as a mark of union. The members of such 
 villages may not after this ceremony intermarry . s To 
 make a bond of mutual assistance the Timor-laut 
 natives kill a slave, and the two parties eat his flesh. ,J 
 At making peace the Kei islanders ceremonially sever a 
 , kalapa leaf in two, and each party takes home half. 10 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 324. - Id. 342. ° Id. 379. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. ch. ii. 281. B Id. ii. 333. 6 Id. ii. 85. 
 
 7 Id. iii. 351. 8 Riedel, op. cit. 446, 447. 9 Id. 279. 10 Id. 234. 
 
248 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 In Leti, Moa, and Lakor, at the making of peace, a stick 
 is broken in two, and each party keeps a piece. In the 
 ceremonial words uttered on the occasion, this phrase 
 is used, " our women shall be sisters and our men 
 brothers." Quarrels between individuals are settled by- 
 mutual kisses, and drinking together. 1 In the last few 
 cases we have the " split token," the kalduke. The 
 Ceramese habitually make alliance of friendship by 
 exchanging presents, especially of food. Moreover, 
 quarrels between two villages are settled, and peace 
 made after war, in the following way. Gifts are ex- 
 changed, and a feast made in one village, to which 
 members of the other are invited. The chiefs of' both 
 parties drop some of their own blood into a dish of 
 food, in which swords and other weapons are dipped. 
 This food they now alternately eat. (Here by the 
 way is clearly seen the meaning of the primitive oath.) 
 Then the other village celebrates a feast identical in 
 details with the former, and thus the bond is sealed. 
 Many villages have been through the ceremony. The 
 ceremony is called pela, and " those who have taken 
 part therein may not intermarry, but must help each 
 other in war." A similar process is gone through by 
 parties who are going "head-hunting" together.' 2 
 
 Another form of the relation of ngia ngiampe is the 
 fairly frequent practice of lending or exchanging wives. 
 A wife, in early thought, is a part of the man. Some- 
 times it is a case of hospitality, but always it is a very 
 sacred act, and produces the religious results of this 
 relation, as is shown by the Australian taboo between 
 those who have exchanged their partners. 3 Hospitality, 
 of course, is identical with ngiampe relations generally. 
 I shall discuss the practice later, and there point out 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 389. 2 Id. 128, 129. 3 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 339. 
 
xi WIVES EXCHANGED— GUILDS 249 
 
 one particular reason for it. Timorese who have made 
 a pact of friendship in the usual way of ngiampe, may 
 lend each other their wives. 1 In theory, of course, the 
 lending will in its turn continue the ngiampe relation 
 already begun, as it does in Australia. The Eskimo 
 frequently offer their wives to strangers, and the women 
 are not loath to perform this act of hospitality. 2 The 
 Yumas, by way of hospitality, lent their wives to their 
 guests. 3 A case which shows the principle of the 
 custom is the following : in New South Wales when 
 two tribesmen had quarrelled and wished to be re- 
 conciled, one would send his wife to the other, and 
 a temporary exchange of partners was made. 4 The 
 Northern Indians sometimes exchanged wives for a 
 night. It was esteemed as one of the strongest ties of 
 friendship. If either man died, the other was bound to 
 support his children, a rule which was never broken/' 
 
 Very commonly this bond results when persons pass 
 through the same ordeal or ceremony together. Thus 
 amongst the Basutos the boys who have been "initiated" 
 together, as also the girls, form a guild of friends. 6 
 Amongst Congo tribes the boys who are " initiated " 
 together, practically form a " society " ; " through after 
 life there exists a bond of union between individuals 
 who have been members of this strange fraternity." ~ 
 The same thing is found in the case of Australian 
 boys " initiated ' together/ There, also, they are 
 generally made " members of the totem," a sort of 
 i " mystical body," which is itself in effect a con- 
 ; tinuous ngiampe relation. There is also a similar bond 
 
 1 Riedel, in Deutsche Geographische Blatter, x. 230. 
 
 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 405. 3 Id. iii. 189. 
 
 4 Cameron, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiv. 353. 5 Hearne, op. cit. 129. 
 
 6 Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic for 1874, 37. 7 "Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 289. 
 
 s Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 198. 
 
250 * THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 between the operators and the boys they have operated 
 
 upon l 
 
 The chief result of the mutual act is the duty of 
 mutual respect and mutual assistance. The primitive 
 form of this twofold duty is a tabop against physical 
 personal contact, combined with an obligation, for 
 instance, to assist in war. In many cases, of course, 
 circumstances render the assistance one-sided, becoming, 
 for instance, protection. Amongst the Tacullis, or 
 Carrier Indians, the cabin of the chief is a place of 
 refuge, where the homicide is secure. He is also con- 
 sidered as being under the protection of the chief if he 
 wears any article of his dress. 2 Amongst the Kabyles 
 there is a universal institution called anaya, a kind of 
 freemasonry, with all the inviolability of the protecting 
 guardianship which it guarantees. It is a bond of union 
 which makes all Kabyles brothers, and when once in 
 possession of the well-known token or pledge of security, 
 the stranger or fugitive may travel anywhere, and the 
 passport will be recognised. A violation of the anaya 
 would be regarded as a grievous insult, and give rise to 
 an inveterate feud. The respect and consideration to 
 which the anaya is entitled depend in a great measure 
 on the reputation and character of the patron who 
 confers the privilege. The anaya of a celebrated mara- 
 bout is most extensive in its practical bearing and most 
 certain in its conciliatory effects. 3 " Zaid-al-Khail re- 
 fuses to slay the thief who has surreptitiously drunk 
 from his father's milk-bowl the night before." 4 The 
 protection is produced by eating "even the smallest 
 portion of food belonging to the protector." A case is 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 248 5 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 338, 339 ; Jcurn. Anthrop. 
 Ir.tt. xx. 84, 85. 2 Featherman, cp. cit. iii. 3S1. 
 
 3 jJ mVm ~o6. 4 Robertson Smith, op. cit. 149, 150. 
 
xi PROTECTION 251 
 
 given by Burckhardt of an Arab proving that he had 
 eaten of the same date with a member of the tribe. 1 A 
 natural concomitant to the sacred duty of hospitality 
 amongst the Bedouins is the no less important relation 
 which exists between the protector and the protected 
 {dakheil and dakhal), which involves mutual obliga- 
 tion religiously observed, and good faith fully guarded 
 against all violations and shortcomings. To reproach a 
 man with having broken his dakheil is to touch him on 
 the most tender point of honour, for it constitutes the 
 grossest insult in the social ethics of Arab manners. 
 Various acts are employed to confer dakheil. Amongst 
 the Shamars, if a man can seize a thread or string, one 
 end of which is held bv his enemy, he immediately 
 becomes his dakheil. He acquires the privilege of 
 dakheil if he only touches the covering of the tent, or 
 even if he can hit it by throwing a weapon at it ; and 
 this right of claiming protection has been carried so far 
 that by spitting upon a man one becomes his dakheil. 
 Amongst the Arabs of Sinai, the dakheil is only con- 
 sidered effective if the fugitive has contrived to eat or 
 sleep in the tent. If two enemies unexpectedly meet, 
 and the salam passes between them, this is regarded as 
 a signal of truce, and they will refrain from every 
 hostile act, although the salutation may have been 
 exchanged by mistake.- Another custom which exists 
 among some Arabs, in particular the tribes of the 
 Nedjed, is that of guardian, zvasy. This institution, 
 which makes a Bedouin who accepts the responsibility 
 the special friend and protector of the family of an 
 Arab even after the death of the latter, is principally 
 designed for the security of minor children, women, 
 and old men. The obligation of was y and the claim of 
 
 1 Burckhardt, op. cit. 186, 1S7. 2 Featherman, op. dr. v. 372. 
 
252 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the protected are generally mutual, and descend by 
 hereditary succession. Almost every Arab is a pro- 
 tector, and is in turn the protected. The means of 
 effecting this is by the present of a camel. 1 
 
 Further, it is clear that while it is this obligation 
 of mutual assistance which is the object of forming this 
 relation, yet the taboo against physical contact is an 
 essential concomitant, which helps us to see the origin 
 of the whole method. The reason for the resulting 
 taboo is that A and B are become identical by trans- 
 mission of personality, and therefore A avoids all 
 physical contact with B, because it is through physical 
 .contact ultimately that all personal injury is effected, 
 'and by such contact he might injure himself in B ; B 
 < on his side has the same feeling. The idea is well 
 brought out in a Maori belief; if another person ate 
 a man's food, he was regarded as " having eaten the 
 man," and the insult was gross.-- And so A avoids all 
 physical contact with B, primarily for fear of injuring 
 himself ; he will not eat with B, lest he eat himself, 
 nor touch B lest he injure himself by the harm inherent 
 in contact. The feeling is deepened by the fact that it 
 is mutual, and therefore each fears injuring the other, 
 ras well as himself, by physical contact. The breaking 
 of the taboo of personal isolation has thus produced 
 a fresh taboo of even greater force, yet still because 
 egoism is its chief factor ; in the original taboo 
 one feared lest one should be injured by the con- 
 tact of others, in this one fears lest one injure one's 
 • own self as well. The kalduke is identical with the 
 ngadhungi. 
 
 That this is the origin of the taboo and also of the 
 binding force of the ngiampe relation is shown by the 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 373. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 107. 
 
xi BASIS OF NGIA NGIAMPE 253 
 
 following examples. The object of making men who 
 are to go on an expedition drink each other's blood is 
 said by the Central Australians to be the prevention of 
 treachery. 1 In New South Wales when two tribesmen 
 had quarrelled and wished to be reconciled, they made a 
 temporary exchange of wives. 2 In Africa, when a wife is 
 unfaithful, her husband will die if he eat food she has 
 salted. 3 On the Loango coast bridegroom and bride 
 are required to make a full confession of their sins 
 at the marriage ceremony ; should either fail to do so, 
 or should keep anything back, they will fall ill when 
 eating together as man and wife. 4 In Victoria friends 
 exchange hair as a mark of affection. It is very un- 
 lucky to lose this ; should one do so, he asks the other 
 to cancel the exchange by returning his hair. If this 
 were not done, the loser might die. So strong is this 
 belief that persons in such circumstances have been 
 known to fall into bad health, and sometimes actually 
 die. 5 In the Moluccas a man going to war is at 
 pains to make up any quarrel he may have, for fear 
 the ill-wishes of his adversary may injure him in battle. 
 Should a man have had an affaire, and have given up 
 the woman, he goes to ask her forgiveness before 
 setting out, and offers a present. If she will not be 
 conciliated, he does not go on the expedition, for fear 
 of the results. (i Lovers in the Aru Islands give each 
 other gifts. Hair, however, is not exchanged, for fear 
 that in case of a quarrel the one may make the other 
 ill by burning it. 7 When a lover is jilted in the Babar 
 Islands, he will avenge this by hiding a piece of the girl's 
 hair, or betel that she has used, in a tree. When she 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. '- Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiv. 353. 
 
 3 Macdonald, Africana, i. 173. 4 Bastian, Loango Ku'ste, i. 172. 
 
 5 Dawson, op. cit. 55. 
 
 6 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 387. 7 Id. 262. 
 
254 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 becomes a wife and mother, her children will then die. 1 
 In Brandenburg it is believed that lovers and married 
 people who eat from one plate or drink from the same 
 glass will come to dislike each other. 2 A similar fear 
 was seen in the illustrations of the primitive oath. 
 
 Some typical instances of this resulting taboo are 
 these. Between husbands who have lent each other 
 their wives there is, in Australia, a taboo of a very 
 stringent character, and in other parts of the world a 
 duty enjoining the protection of the children of the 
 lender after his death. 3 Amongst the Dieri boys may 
 not speak to those who have operated upon them at 
 " initiation " until a present has been given. 4 At the 
 "initiation" ceremony of the Central Australians a taboo 
 is set between the man who performs the operation and 
 the boy who undergoes it. This is removed by the 
 boy making him an offering of food. The final 
 " initiation " ceremonies are ended by each initiate 
 bringing an offering of food to his abmoara man who 
 decorated him, and with whom there is up to now a 
 taboo. It is called man's meat. At this ceremony 
 also the old men are sprinkled with blood from the 
 young men, sometimes into their mouths ; the idea 
 being to strengthen the older men at the expense of 
 the younger. The removal of the taboo is thus : 
 " the man receiving food sat down, and the young man 
 brought it and put it before him. The old man took 
 it up and held it, and then put it to the young man's 
 mouth. Thus the ban of silence was removed." 
 Previously the ban of approach may be removed by 
 the abmoara rubbing him with red ochre. 5 Amongst 
 
 1 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 358. 
 
 2 Reinsberg Duringsfeld, op. cit. 81. s Eyre, op. cit. ii. 338, 339. 
 
 4 Howitt, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 84, 85. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 248, 38 1, 382, 383, 386. 
 
xi THE SECOND TABOO 255 
 
 the natives of the Murray River, those who have 
 officiated at the initiation ceremonv never afterwards 
 mention the names of the boys, nor do the latter men- 
 tion the names of those who have operated upon them. 
 Also, if one gives food or anything else to another, it is 
 either laid on the ground for him to take, or is given 
 through a third person " in the gentlest and mildest 
 manner possible, whereas to another native it would be 
 jerked." l In serious cases of illness amongst the Central 
 Australians, a woman's blood is given to a male patient 
 and a man's to a woman. When the patient recovers, 
 he or she may not speak to the person whose blood was 
 given, nor may the latter speak to the convalescent, 
 until a gift of food has been presented. Again, a 
 woman " sings ' a mixture of fat and red ochre, 
 which she then rubs on the body of a sick man. On 
 recovery he may not speak to her until he has " given 
 her food." 2 Amongst the Munda Kols there is a 
 relation of duti fulness between the child and the 
 person who gives it its name." Blood is regularly 
 given by men of the Central Australian tribes to each 
 
 I other in order to produce strength ; the man whose 
 
 • blood has been taken " becomes tabu to him until 
 he releases him from the ban of silence by ' singing ' 
 over his mouth." Blood is drunk at meetings of 
 
 , reconciliation ; and in connection with the giving of 
 blood to a man to strengthen him, e.g. when he is 
 going on an avenging expedition, there is the belief 
 
 ' that " this partaking together of blood prevents the 
 possibility of treachery." 4 Here we come back to the 
 duty implied by the process, and the sanction which 
 supports it ; it is clearly seen also in the pela ceremonv 
 
 1 Eyre, I.e. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 464. 
 
 3 PI033, Das Kirti, i. 163. 4 Spencer and Gillen, I.e. 
 
256 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 of the Ceramese, which produces the obligation of mutual 
 assistance in war. The preparation of a young man 
 for marriage in New Britain is identical with a sort 
 of " initiation." He has to hide in the forest from all 
 his female relatives for three, sometimes six, months. 
 Should he happen to meet a female relative, " he does 
 not run away from her, but keeps on his way until 
 they meet, when he will step aside from the road, and 
 hold out to her anything he may have in his possession. 
 She takes it without a word, and they part. It now 
 becomes the duty of the young man's friends to 
 redeem for him that which he may have given to her." 
 Until this pledge is redeemed, he is considered to be in 
 disgrace and is much ashamed. 1 Chiefs in Patagonia 
 will not enter each other's tents till presents have been 
 exchanged. 2 For touching the head of a Maori chief 
 whom he was treating for illness, Mr. Yate was asked 
 to make a payment. He never administered a dose of 
 medicine to a Maori without such a demand from the 
 patient. 3 These are cases of the taboo of personal 
 isolation which is implicit in all human relations. In 
 the following case it is seen as self-respect, which is 
 injured through the breaking of the taboo by an insult. 
 Amongst the Zulus the term unesisila (" you have 
 dirt ") implies that you have done or said something, 
 or some one has done or said something to you, which 
 has " bespattered you with metaphorical dirt, in Scrip- 
 tural phrase, ' has defiled you.' The writer compares 
 the expression, " his hands are not clean." To use 
 this term to another is a gross insult. If a woman has 
 received the worst possible insult a woman can, omka 
 ninazala, which means " you will bear children to your 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 287. - Musters, op. cit. 184. 
 
 3 Yate, op. cit. 104, 105. 
 
xi FIRST AND SECOND TABOO 
 
 257 
 
 father-in-law," she makes a great to-do, and goes to 
 the kraal of the offending person, and kills an animal 
 belonging to him. This is eaten by old women or little 
 children, but not by any one of marriageable age. " The 
 beast has received into its substance the insila which 
 has now left the woman who received the insult." 1 
 
 The balance is set right by reparation, the receipt of 
 
 a present being identical in principle with the taking 
 
 of something from the other party. The various 
 
 methods of breaking the taboo of personal isolation 
 
 reproduce the state of taboo once more. The taboo 
 
 s broken, and the breaking produces another taboo, 
 
 which in its turn may be broken. This is inevitable 
 
 Torn the principles which underlie the practice, and the 
 
 r act also proves those principles. These cases naturally 
 
 ead up to what may be called continuous ngiampe. A 
 
 principle of contact is, once in contact always in contact ; 
 
 ind this is actualised in permanent relations, ngiatnpe 
 
 n theory, such as between friends and lovers, between 
 
 msband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister. 
 
 When we remember the pregnant meaning which 
 
 >ersonal contact has in all its forms amongst primitive 
 
 nen, it becomes less difficult to realise the superlative 
 
 mportance of such a relation as this. It is, without ■ 
 
 oubt, in primitive thought, a bond of such transcen- 
 
 ent strength and inviolability, owing to the sensitive 
 
 idividualism of early man, who practically regards 
 
 very part of himself as sacred, that we may look in 
 
 ain through history for a tie of equal power. Cer- 
 
 linly no ordinary ancient or modern conception of 
 
 le duties of kinship has such force, nor even modern 
 
 rinciples of honour and similar moral ties ; the 
 
 rimitive bond is the most binding Categorical Impera- 
 
 1 Leslie, op. cit. 169, 174, 175. 
 S 
 
258 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 tive invented by man, and in its origin and results 
 alike, seems on a par with laws of nature ; it is a kind 
 of physical " identity in difference." The theory of 
 Maine, that status precedes contract, and that contract 
 is unknown in primitive culture, needs revision. His 
 evidence applies to barbarism, not to savagery. 
 
 Further, the same idea, though not developed to its 
 logical conclusion, though this is always ready to 
 become actual instead of potential, runs through all 
 ideas of contact, especially when consciously mutual. 
 In eating together, the kalduke is the food ; in sexual 
 intercourse there is a similar conception. Sometimes 
 the kalduke is split in two — and here we have the world- 
 wide practice of dividing a " token " — of which each of 
 
 J the two parties keeps a piece. All who have anything 
 in common, even a common aim or sympathy, are 
 
 * potentially in this relation, and the idea of ngia ngiampe 
 is inherent in their reciprocal attitude. The thief and 
 his partner, the confessor and his penitent, those who 
 share the same dwelling, the same trade, those who are 
 of the same sex or the same age, those who have the 
 same totem, the same kindred, the same god 1 — all 
 these are potentially bound by the same principle. 
 The idea goes all round the circle of human relations, 
 and is potentially existent wherever there is mutual 
 connection. The more subtle sort is found where con- 
 tact is continuous. To husband and wife, the kalduke 
 is the marriage-bed, the living together, the child, born 
 or unborn ; this is illustrated by the phrase, common to 
 many languages, which describes the child as a " pledge.' 
 True, it is often as a pledge of wifely chastity, but 
 this is not merely an extension, but is the same ides 
 
 1 In Fiji, when distant towns have the same gods, the inhabitants have thi 
 privilege of doing as they please in each others' town (Pritchard, op. cit. 364). 
 
xi HUMAN RELATIONS 259 
 
 only half expressed. The fidelity of the wife is the 
 
 chief attitude required of her by the ngia ngiampe 
 
 relation. Between lovers, besides love-tokens, lovers' 
 
 knots, and so-called charms and the like, the relation 
 
 , of ngia ngiampe underlies the kiss, the embrace, and 
 
 any contact. Between friends also, the clasp of hands, 
 
 , the embrace, the savage rubbing of noses, show the 
 
 1 principle. " Freemasonry " is an interesting case of an 
 
 ; institution based on this. 
 
 These psycho - physical ideas continue into the 
 
 .psychical phenomena of emotion and cognition ; they 
 
 iare here more subtle, but no less enduring, whatever 
 
 ithe refinement of culture may be. In connection with 
 
 (the phenomena of ideation, we spoke of the' memory- 
 
 iimage of a man's foe impressed upon his brain ; 
 
 another instance would be the memory-image of a 
 
 ,:loved person. In both, and any similar cases, the 
 
 memory-image is identical in kind, though necessarily 
 
 ;'ess material in degree, with the kaldnke of the 
 
 Australian black-fellow. The image is the man's 
 
 pelf in the keeping of another ; in the one case it 
 
 Is an Erinys, the spiritual image of one who is hated 
 
 |md feared, in the other that of one who loves. In 
 
 )oth cases it is a man's self transferred to another, 
 
 and bringing with it all the ideas of hostage and 
 
 oledge ; and when the matter is reciprocal, there is 
 
 :he complex reciprocity which is seen in all mutual 
 
 Contact and personal relation. Again, the same 
 
 •pplies, though necessarily the occurrence is sporadic, 
 
 o the reflection of a person's image which he himself 
 
 ;an see in the retina of the other. In the connection 
 
 :f love, this is a favourite commonplace of poetical 
 
 nd popular thought. " And she said : ' See, thy 
 
 nage is reflected a thousand times in these gems that 
 
260 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 reflect thee ; yet look in my eyes, and thou shalt see 
 thyself through their reflection in my heart.' Then 
 the king looked into her eyes, and saw himself reflected 
 in them like the sun in a deep lake. And he whispered 
 in the shell of her ear : ' Thou hast robbed me of my- 
 self, give me back myself in thy form.' ' 1 Again, in 
 connection with the idea we saw reason to attribute to 
 primitive man, namely, that all apparently abnormal 
 or unusual states of emotion, such as sudden anger or 
 ecstasy, or the surging of love, when close contact with 
 another attends these states, as, for instance, in the case of 
 love, both in popular language and in psychology there 
 is recognised the idea that, if the emotional state is 
 " transmitted," if, as we say, A is " infected " with B's 
 enthusiasm or love, A is " inspired " with B, then B is 
 transferred to him, and so we come to the kalduke again. 
 Lastly, the whole set of ideas is of course the 
 psychological basis of union, physical and spiritual, 
 and well shows the materialistic workings of the human 
 brain. Mutual inoculation, ngia ngiampe, is union 
 looked at from within. It should be noted also that 
 the next category to that of union is identity, and 
 it is interesting to trace in the thought and practice 
 of mankind, as we may in these phenomena, both 
 the recognition of this metaphysical truth and the 
 attempt to realise it in human intercourse. As 
 Aristophanes puts it of lovers in the Symposium : 
 " Suppose Hephaestus with his instruments to come 
 to the pair who are lying side by side, and say to 
 them, ' What do you people want of one another ? ' 
 they would be unable to explain. And suppose, 
 further, that when he saw their perplexity, he said, 
 ' Do you desire to be wholly one, always day and 
 
 1 A Digit of the Mcon, 117. 
 
xi LOVE AND IDENTITY 261 
 
 night to be in one another's company ? for if 
 this is what you desire, I am ready to melt you into 
 one,' they would confess that this becoming one instead 
 of two was their exact desire." And he visualises 
 the whole psychology of love-practices and marriage- 
 ceremonial in the mythos, worthy of the poet of the 
 Clouds, in which the earliest man was a bisexual 
 hermaphrodite being, " having a name corresponding 
 to this double nature, which had once a real existence, 
 but is now lost, and the name is only preserved as 
 a term of reproach." ..." The primeval man 
 was round, his back and sides forming a circle ; and 
 !he had four hands and four feet, one head with two 
 faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck, and 
 precisely alike. He could walk backwards or for- 
 wards, and could also roll over at a great rate, turning 
 on his four hands and four feet like tumblers going 
 over and over with their legs in the air ; this was 
 when he wanted to run fast." Primeval man became 
 proud, and would have laid hands on the gods, and 
 Aristophanes now gives his version of the Fall : " and 
 IZeus said, ' Methinks I have a plan which will humble 
 ;:heir pride and mend their manners ; they shall con- 
 tinue to exist, but I will cut them in two, and then 
 :hey will be diminished in strength and increased in 
 lumbers ; this will have the advantage of making them 
 nore profitable to us. They shall walk upright on 
 •wo legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be 
 •ruiet, I will split them again, and they shall hop about 
 pn a single leg.' He spoke, and cut men in two, like a 
 orb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might 
 livide an egg with a hair. After the division, the two 
 >arts of man, each desiring his other half, came together, 
 nd throwing their arms about one another, clung, and 
 
262 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 in their eagerness to grow into one were perishing from 
 hunger without ever making an effort, because they did 
 not like to do anything apart." " Human nature was 
 originally one, and we were a whole, and the desire and 
 pursuit of the whole is called Love." * 
 
 This reintroduction of a state of taboo, connoting j 
 mutual caution, respect and religious responsibility, 
 has had a profound influence on the development of 
 morality. In it we can see the religious nature of 
 human relations, and the connection between morality 
 and religion, in any sense of the latter term. It illus- 
 trates clearly the growth of the conception of responsi- 
 bility to others, and marks the psychological process 
 whereby altruism emerges from egoism, the two im- 
 pulses being indeed but two sides of one idea, for man 
 is both an individual and a social creature. As to the i 
 new taboo, the primitive form of the idea of mutual ' 
 responsibility, the characteristics of the state are of ( 
 course somewhat different from the original taboo of 
 isolation ; the dangers there were those arising from 
 ignorance ; these, now the original taboo has been 
 removed by breaking it, a removal which forms union, 
 a completion as it were of some magnetic circuit, or a 
 double inoculation, these are the dangers which will 
 result from breaking a bond which is as strong as death, 
 for it is a bond made by giving one's own life in pawn, 
 and thus they are the basis of duty. 
 
 When the mind has completed its inference of a 
 superior power, this power is set up as the judge and 
 upholder of such relations, and a friend may say to his 
 friend or lover, as the token is exchanged, " Mizpah. 
 The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are 
 absent one from another." Taking another feature, 
 
 1 Plato, Symposium, 190, 192 (Jowett's translation). 
 
XI 
 
 IDENTITY AND DUTY 263 
 
 the primitive " oath " is first, the man's self, then his 
 " substitute " or " pledge " in the " thing " administered, 
 and later, the god who exacts vengeance on the perjured. 
 To return, — the brief statement that in the Mar- 
 quesas " friends are tabu " gives the whole case in a 
 nutshell. They are taboo to each other as the result 
 of their intercourse, their contact, in fine, the kalduke. 
 We can see the idea of the original taboo combined 
 with the later one of mutual duty, in the taboo result- 
 ing in Australia between the men who perform the 
 operation at puberty and the boys who undergo it. 
 They have been in a peculiarly intimate relation, body 
 :and soul as it were have been exposed and made naked 
 to each other's eyes, a dangerous service has been per- 
 jformed, and its results may be dire. Therefore, they 
 ,may not speak to each other. The ban is removed 
 •by a present of food. 1 This act of union removes the 
 original dangers but introduces a relation of sympathy 
 ind duty. We also saw that the ngia ngiampe of the 
 Narrinyeri are taboo in that they may not speak, but 
 ,:heir mutual responsibility is such that they are ex- 
 Dressly made in order to conduct barter, their fairness 
 ,ias been, that is, rendered above suspicion. Exactly 
 |:he same relation is induced between godparents 
 ,ind the like, and their proteges, as between the black- 
 "ellow and boy. The sponsors or " bridesmen " of a 
 Beni-Amer bride have a peculiar relation with her. 
 They may not speak to her for the rest of her life, but 
 : hey are sworn to defend her and protect her, and 
 .ctually do so when her husband's conduct requires it. 2 
 We observed above that the forming of alliances by 
 mating together prevented the possibility of treachery 
 >n the part of either concerned. The ceremony is 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 248. - Munzinger, op. cit. 325. 
 
264 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 often performed for this purpose only, just as is single 
 inoculation. For a man will not betrav his own flesh ; 
 just as duty is shown by not eating one's own totem or 
 even looking at it. 
 
 These cases lead up to two results, most important 
 for our present purpose. In the first place, I put it 
 that, taking into account all the evidence, psychological 
 and ethnological, concerning human relations, we have 
 here the most important primitive conception of re- 
 lationship. The biological tie is not so obvious as are 
 those of physical contact, nor is the idea of " blood- 
 kinship " at all an early conception. Those who hold 
 that the " blood-covenant " is the original of which all 
 these other cases are " deteriorations," are obliged to 
 use the most forced analogies, and I do not think it 
 necessary to point these out, for they are quite obvious. 
 Nor is there, in any example quoted, any primary idea 
 of making a man of the same kin ; the idea is to 
 identify two individuals, qua individuals. Again, close 
 daily contact is for the savage a more important tie 
 than that of kinship, except in the case of parent, 
 especially mother and child ; blood-kinship is only one 
 form of human relations, and that not the most patent. 
 The tie or kalduke of having the same mother is the 
 basis of the " maternal system," the tie or kalduke of 
 physical close contact is the basis of all primitive kin- 
 ship ; as opposed to later ideas of " blood " the basis is 
 this daily contact, which is a continuous ngiampe rela- 
 tion. To the savage mind blood is only one variety of 
 human substance, though an important one. Enquirers 
 often, it is to be noted, confuse the care taken of blood 
 as being a part of an individual with the later idea of 
 " blood " as a term for kinship. Lastly, all these cases 
 of ngiampe may be in theory, as in practice they are, 
 
xi RELATIONSHIP 265 
 
 taken under the category of friendship, and friendship i 
 is a far stronger psychological tie than kinship of blood. 
 I shall return to this conception of relationship later, 
 and also to the next result. This is that very interest- 
 ing detail in the Narrinyeri, Wetarese, and Ceramese 
 customs. In the first of these persons are sometimes 
 placed in the ngia ngiampe relation for the express 
 purpose of preventing them from marrving. In the 
 two latter cases, all who have been through the pela 
 ceremony of eating together, such as accomplices in 
 head-hunting, and members of two villages who have 
 thus made peace, are bound to help each other in war, 
 but may not intermarry. To these may be added the 
 fact that "sponsorship" and " gossipry " in European 
 custom are bars to marriage, both between the sponsors 
 themselves and between them and the family, for a 
 member of which they have been acting. 
 
 These facts supply the second part of the reason 
 why brothers and sisters and those who live together 
 may not marry. Before the sexual taboo is removed, 
 that taboo prevents intercourse of all kinds, including 
 marriage, between such persons ; when it has been 
 removed, either by a definite ceremony, as at " initia- 
 tion," or by a recognition of continuous ngia ngiampe 
 in living together, eating together, and the like, the 
 ; resulting principles of this new relation also prevent 
 intercourse, including marriage. The same fears which 
 led up to and which enforce ngia ngiampe, now, in the 
 • form of duty, prevent what the original taboo pre- 
 sented ; and the prohibition, being superimposed on a 
 continuous biological relation, becomes strengthened 
 when the latter is fully recognised. Put shortly, the 
 ngiampe relation prevents all physical contact, and 
 'marriage is a permanent form of physical contact. 
 
266 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, xi 
 
 More as to this hereafter ; meanwhile I may note that 
 the Narrinyeri, Wetarese, and Ceramese customs have 
 not yet, so far as I am aware, been employed by the 
 supporters of the theory that primitive kinship was 
 welded by a conception of the " blood-tie," which in 
 its legal pedantry is quite unprimitive. They would 
 doubtless explain the rules of the Narrinyeri, Wetarese, 
 and Ceramese as analogies from the " blood-covenant," 
 but if so, why should there be a taboo preventing the 
 two parties, when of the same sex, from speaking to 
 each other or having any physical contact ? Blood- 
 relations do not usually send each other to Coventry. 
 Why again should a "godfather" and a "godmother" 
 not marry, though theoretically married ? It is more 
 scientific to argue for the development of the concep- 
 tion of blood -relationship and blood -covenant alike 
 from the elementary ideas of human relations. The 
 cause which prevents these people from marrying is 
 identical with that which prevents others in the like 
 relation both from betraying one another, and from 
 having any physical contact, the relation of marriage 
 being in primitive thought a dangerous one ; and 
 between those who are identified with each other by 
 exchange of personality, no reciprocal act which may 
 injure either through the other, and thus poison the 
 connection, may be performed. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 A digression, in which another application of the 
 ideas of contact will be brought out, is necessary to 
 throw further light on some particular features of the 
 subject. The common practice of disguise is used to 
 avoid both real and imaginary danger. Thus the 
 New Caledonians, when about to murder a man, put 
 on grotesque masks so as not to be recognised, 1 just 
 as the highwayman of romance was wont to wear a 
 black mask. In war the Tongans change their war- 
 costume at every battle, by way of disguise.-' Dr. 
 Frazer has shown that mourning is disguise, being 
 generally the reverse of ordinary wear. 3 Again, in 
 Zanzibar parents paint the faces of their children to 
 look like " little devils," so as to preserve them from 
 '"the evil eye." 4 For the same reason Persian parents 
 would paint their children's faces black, and German 
 parents put mud on their children's heads and dress 
 them in mean clothes/' In Egypt the children who 
 are most beloved are the worst clad. One may often 
 see a fine lady walking in a magnificent dress, and by 
 her side a boy or girl, her own child, its face smeared 
 with dirt, and wearing clothes which look as if they 
 bad not been washed for months. The intention is to 
 
 1 Anderson, op. cit. 222. - Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 10. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xv. 73, 98 ff. 4 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 134. 
 
 5 Id. I.e. 
 
268 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 avoid " the evil eye." l The Chinese believe that 
 certain evil spirits attempt to ruin the health of 
 bright and promising children. To delude the spirit, 
 they shave the child's head, and call him " little 
 priest," treating him as a worthless child and of no 
 more consequence than a despised Buddhist priest. 
 They also use derogatory epithets and names, so 
 as to make the evil spirits think that they care 
 little about the child. Sometimes they have it adopted 
 into another family, for the same reason. 2 A 
 Javanese woman in the seventh month of preg- 
 nancy bathes and has cocoa-nut milk poured over 
 her ; also she has to change her dress seven times 
 a day. 3 
 
 An interesting form of disguise, which is found in 
 early custom as well as in modern romance, is the 
 wearing of the dress of the other sex ; it is generally 
 the male sex who adopt this disguise, and no doubt in 
 many cases the same idea is present as that which leads 
 to the wearing of rags and dirty clothes ; evil influences 
 are more likely to pass over the sex which, from the 
 male point of view, is the less important. The ancient 
 Lycians were ordered by their law to wear women's 
 dress when they mourned a dead relative. Plutarch 
 explains it as " by way of showing that mourning is 
 effeminate, that it is womanly and weak to mourn. 
 For women are more prone to mourning than are 
 men, barbarians than Greeks, and inferior persons than 
 superior. Among barbarians again, it is not the most 
 manly races such as Kelts and Gauls, but Egyptians, 
 Syrians, and Lydians who indulge most in mourning. 
 The latter when mourning go into pits and will not 
 
 1 Lane, op. cit. i. 60. ~ Doolittle, op. cit. ii. 229. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 386. 
 
XII 
 
 CHANGE OF SEX 269 
 
 look upon the sun." 1 When an Egyptian boy is cir- 
 cumcised, at the age of five or six, he parades the 
 streets, dressed as a girl in female clothes and orna- 
 ments, borrowed from some lady. In front of him 
 also a school friend walks, evidently taking his place as 
 a " proxy," for he wears round his neck the boy's own 
 writing-tablet. A woman sprinkles salt behind the boy 
 to counteract " the evil eye " ; this is doubtless the 
 reason why he is dressed as a girl. 2 Possibly the story 
 of Achilles in Scyros, living as a girl with the daughters 
 of King Lycomedes, is connected with some such idea. 
 Achilles also had his name changed, another method 
 !of disguise ; Issa and Pyrrha being mentioned as the 
 name taken. Similarly, to conceal the infant Dionysus -'• 
 from Hera, Zeus gave him to Hermes, who took him 
 to Ino and Athamas with orders to nurse him as a 
 girl. 3 In the Babar Islands a party of women bury 
 the placenta. If the child is a boy, they wear male 
 girdles, if a girl, female sarongs* Here the idea is 
 sympathy. When Zulus undertake the " black ox 
 sacrifice " which produces black rain, the chief men 
 put on the girdles of young girls. 5 The same idea is 
 •extended amongst the same people into a method of 
 keeping off sickness from the cattle by changing their 
 keepers, thus : when cattle disease is prevalent and 
 expected, it is kept off" by the umkuba, the custom of 
 ifthe girls herding the cattle for a day. All the girls 
 and unmarried women rise early, dress themselves 
 entirely in their brothers' clothes, and taking their 
 brothers' knobkerries and sticks, open the cattle-pen 
 >and drive the cattle to pasture, returning at sunset. 
 
 1 Plutarch, Contolatio ad Apollonium, 22 ; Valerius Maximus, xii. 6. 13. 
 8 Lane, op. cit. i. 61, 62; ii. 279. 
 
 3 Ptolenueus, Nor. Hist, i.; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 3; Nonnus, Narraticnes, 
 i. 19. * Riedel, op. cit. 354. 5 Callaway, op. cit. 93. 
 
270 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 No one of the opposite sex dares to go near them on 
 this day, or speak to them. 1 Here the principle is, 
 as it were, allopathic, change of sex is a method of 
 changing the luck or averting bad luck. 
 
 Any sort of change or substitution may be used to 
 escape danger. In Java the infant was carried about 
 in the arms of female relatives until the navel was 
 perfectly closed, and a stone cylinder dressed up as a 
 baby took the place of the child in its basket cradle. 
 When the child reached the age of seven months its 
 feet were for the first time allowed to touch the ground, 
 and to commemorate this a feast was given by the 
 parents. 2 In Amboina, if a couple have lost several 
 children, they will give the next to another woman to 
 suckle. 3 Change of name is a common method of 
 avoiding danger or of altering luck. A barren woman 
 in Ceramlaut changes her name. 4 Amongst the Lopars 
 every time the child fell ill the christening was repeated 
 and the name changed. 5 Similarly amongst the Kings- 
 mill islanders. 6 If a Malay child falls ill after receiv- 
 ing its name, it is temporarily adopted by another 
 family who give it a different name. 7 In Nias a 
 youth's name is changed at marriage, a girl's at 
 puberty. 8 Tuscarora boys received a new name at 
 puberty, and another when they became warriors. 9 
 The custom is very common throughout the world, 
 and we may begin the next argument with this 
 practice. 
 
 ' The savage boy receives a new name at puberty and 
 gives up his old one, just as does the Catholic novice 
 
 1 Carbutt, in South African Folklore Journal, ii. 12, 13. 
 
 - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 386, 387. " Riedel, op. cit. 75. 
 
 4 Id. 176. 5 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 148. 
 
 ,; Wilkes, op. cit. v. 102. 7 Skeat, op. cit. 34. 
 
 8 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 354. 9 Id. iii. 128. 
 
xii CHANGE OF IDENTITY 271 
 
 and the Catholic priest. 1 What is the idea behind the 
 practice ? It is part of a very widely spread human 
 impulse to change one's personal identity, and the 
 possibility of the change is more than half believed. 
 As the infant at baptism was rescued from Satan, and 
 became by the washing away of the " old Adam '" a 
 new creature, receiving a name as the symbol of its 
 new life, as the warrior who has slain a foe takes his 
 name to add to his own personality the properties of 
 the owner, and sometimes to avoid reprisals by so 
 doing, and as the novice turns his back on the old life 
 and begins a new life, so there are occasions in every 
 man's existence when he would gladly for various 
 reasons become "another man," and in earlv society 
 this was thought possible. These things that are 
 changed to effect the transformation are parts of the 
 man's life or soul, such as names and garments, and 
 represent his whole being. Let us take some cases 
 which prove this belief in change of personality. When 
 a Central Australian is made a medicine -man, he is 
 supposed to be killed by a spirit, who removes all his 
 . internal organs and supplies him with a new set. After 
 this the man returns to life.- The Kaffir word used 
 !to express the initiation of a priest to his office, "means 
 • 'renewal,' and is the same that is used for the first 
 appearance of the new moon, and for the putting forth 
 •of the grass and buds at the commencement of spring. 
 By which it is evidently intended to intimate that the 
 man's heart is renewed, that he has become an entirely 
 different person from what he was before, seeing with 
 different eyes and hearing with different ears." The 
 
 1 So the Yoruba novice at the end of his novitiate for the priesthood takes a 
 new name, A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 97. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. at. 523, 524. i Maclean, op. cit. 79. 
 
272 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 closing ceremony of the " initiation " of Kaffir boys is 
 that they are chased to the river, where they wash off 
 the white clay they have been smeared with during 
 their separation ; then everything connected with their 
 stay is collected in the hut they have lived in, and the 
 whole is burned. The boys are smeared with fat and 
 red clay, and are given new karosses. They then 
 depart, being careful not to look back upon the burn- 
 ing hut, lest some supernatural evil should befall them, 
 and they therefore cover their heads. 1 After the 
 initiation to manhood of Powhattan boys, it was pre- 
 tended that a veil of oblivion had been cast over their 
 past life. " Forgetting that they had been children, 
 they entered by suffering and increased knowledge into 
 their new career of manhood." 2 Amongst the Congo 
 negroes boys and girls are " initiated " at puberty, each 
 set of boys and each set of girls forming a sort of 
 secret society, called N'Kimba and Fua-Kongo. The 
 rite is commonly precipitated when it is supposed that 
 the women are not bearing enough children. The 
 person being " initiated " is supposed to die and rise 
 again. At the end of the ceremonies the "initiates" 
 take new names and pretend to have forgotten their 
 former life ; they do not even recognise their parents 
 and friends. 3 In Corea, on the fourteenth day of the 
 first month of the year, any one who is entering on a 
 "critical year of his life," makes an effigy of straw, 
 dresses it in his own clothes, and casts it on the road, 
 and then feasts all night. Whatever happens to the 
 cast-out image is supposed to happen to the man's 
 former self, now gone into the past, and " Fate is 
 believed to look upon the individual in new clothes as 
 
 1 Maclean, op. cit. 99. 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 116. 
 
 3 Jcuin. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 289. 
 
xii NEW LIFE 273 
 
 another man." 1 "At the end of the year all the 
 men of certain Zulu tribes procure a strong emetic 
 which they swallow. No special reason is given for 
 the custom, except that it 'clears away all the 
 evil humours of the body.'"' 2 A Dyak will change 
 his name after recovering from a severe illness, in 
 the hope, as we may suppose, of thus getting rid 
 of his former personality and its liability to disease. 8 
 Dr. Frazer has already pointed out that boys at 
 "initiation" are often supposed to die and come to 
 life again. 4 
 
 As will be seen when " initiation " is discussed, " the 
 old life " put away by the boy at puberty is that of 
 women, the life of the nursery ; and we may suppose 
 that the ideas of sexual taboo fixed somewhat or the 
 same belief upon the purification of infants, that is to 
 say, the infant is baptized or purified from the taboo 
 state in which child-birth left it and the mother, a state 
 }f ceremonial uncleanness arising from the breaking-up, 
 ! is it were, of woman's organism, and the diffusion of 
 ler sexual properties. 
 
 Further, this desire to efface the past, to put off 
 'the old man " and to put on the new, is very clearly 
 wrought out in those " festivals," generally annual and 
 )ften coinciding with the beginning of the new year, 
 elebrated by whole communities. Thus, in old Peru 
 he people held an annual ceremony, the object of 
 vhich was to banish all ills. They would shake their 
 lothes, pass their hands over their faces and arms, as if 
 1 the act of washing. They bathed, exclaiming that 
 leir maladies should leave them. The Iroquois had 
 
 1 Griffis, op. cit. 298. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 132. 
 
 3 St. John, op. cit. i. 73 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 165. 
 
 4 Frazer, The Golden Bough 2 , iii. 422. 
 
274 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 an annual expulsion of evils, preceded by a general 
 confession of sins. 1 Once a year the members of an 
 Eskimo tribe assemble. The angekok offers up an ■ 
 invocation on behalf of the people for their happiness 
 and prosperity during the coming year. Next day : 
 they form a circle round a vessel of water, and each 
 member in turn eats a small piece of meat which he 
 brings with him, wishing meanwhile for good things ; 
 then he dips a cup of water and drinks, thinking of 
 his guardian divinity. 2 The Talmud Jews of Poland: 
 celebrate the New Year's festival on the first day of 
 Tisri. On this day they believe that God sits in judg- 
 ment over angels and men, to make a record of their 
 deeds done during the last twelve months ; their acts 
 are weighed and scrutinised, the sentence is pronounced 
 which is sealed on the great day of Atonement, and all 
 are predestined for the coming year either unto life or 
 death. Worshippers of both sexes are dressed in white 
 burial-robes. In the evening they all go to a running 
 stream, into which each one throws some crumbs of 
 
 (bread, that the water may carry away his sins. On the 
 day preceding the day of Atonement, a cock is swung 
 round the head of each male and a hen round the heac 
 of each female, and then killed and eaten as an ex- 
 I piatory offering to redeem the sinner from death. 
 The Cherokees had a new year's festival ; one da) 
 was the general cleaning day ; old clothes were burnt 
 the pots, pans, and other utensils were broken, tb 
 town and all the cabins were swept clean, and ever 
 kind of filth or dirt was banished out of sight. Evei 
 the remaining provisions were destroyed, and all fire 
 were extinguished. The warriors after they had takei 
 the war-medicine fasted for three days, ai*d during thi 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. 2 iii. 72 sqq. 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 407. 3 Id. v. 159 
 
XII 
 
 NEW LIFE 275 
 
 period abstained from all sexual intercourse. Malefac- 
 tors and exiles were pardoned. On the festival day 
 the people dressed up in new apparel ; new fire was 
 lighted, and new corn cooked and eaten. In the even- 
 ing music and dancing enlivened the proceedings. 
 The festivities lasted three or four days. This was also 
 the time for receiving and making visits, and friends 
 from neighbouring villages interchanged courtesies and 
 congratulated each other on having been favoured with 
 a new lease of life for another year. 1 
 
 In these examples of the common notion that a 
 change of life best coincides with a new year, we see 
 how the old personality is as far as possible cast away, 
 and the new one put on with rejoicings. Certain 
 "climacteric" seasons and biological crises in human 
 life are also very natural periods for this impulse to 
 show itself. One or two of these crises have been 
 mentioned. In organised religions the practice is made 
 the most of. At the monthly religious festivals in 
 Bali, the priest distributes holy water to the wor- 
 shippers. 2 Periodic feasts amongst totemic peoples, 
 at which the totem is eaten, are similar in intention. 
 Periodic " confession " in Catholic countries introduces 
 a periodic " turning of a new leaf." After child-birth 
 mother and child are purified, and dressed in new 
 garments, after menstruation the woman is cleansed ; 
 mourners put away their sorrow by newness of life. 
 The prominence of food and feasting in some of these 
 examples is a fact liable to be overlooked, but of great 
 importance. It is not merely the new corn and wine 
 Drought out and used for the first time at some of 
 :hese annual Saturnalia that is to be noted, though this 
 s a particularly instructive case, but the use of any 
 
 1 Featherman, op. est. iii. 15-. " Id. ii. 410. 
 
276 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 food, in these festivals and in others, at religious periods 
 and biological crises, or even every day. The wine that 
 " maketh glad the heart of man " and the " bread that 
 strengthen's man's heart " are naturally, as is to be 
 gathered from the previous account of food-customs, 
 the best means of giving new life and strength. And 
 in savage philosophy the laying-hold upon life and the 
 preservation of strength, is the main duty of existence 1 
 it is so much more important to him than it is to us ir. 
 an age where physical disabilities are so greatly reduced. 
 We still use the phrase " to feel a new man " after 2 
 meal, and to the savage the phrase is more of a reality 
 and we may conclude that on certain occasions, wher 
 circumstances were suitable, primitive man did thus fee. 
 that his personal identity was more or less changed, as 
 his natural force was renewed, by meat and drink. The 
 Masai and the Wa-kwafi are the most practical beef- 
 eaters in the world. A man will sit all day by a bullock 
 gorging himself with its meat, in order to strengthen 
 himself for battle. 1 During the "initiation' perioc 
 the boys of many North American tribes, such as the 
 Shawanese, besides observing dietary regulations, took 
 a violent emetic at regular intervals. 2 This is a practica; 
 way of getting rid of one's original personal substance 
 and it has to be brought into connection with the 
 common taboos upon various foods at and before 
 puberty, removed when the boy is " initiate " and able 
 to receive them. The intention of building up the 
 lad's strength is expressly stated in many such cases 
 At the Seminole New Year festival, the " black drink ' 
 was drunk, and war-medicine taken. The latter was 
 also taken, as it is in so many lands, before a battle, in 
 order to inspire the warriors with strength and courage/ 
 
 1 Thomson, op. cit. 264. 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 182. 3 Id. iii. 173. 
 
XII 
 
 NEW LIFE 
 
 277 
 
 This " black drink " is the Seminole national beverage, 
 and its excellent qualities have helped to bring out in 
 everyday practice the idea of beginning afresh and 
 acquiring new life and strength. " The Seminoles 
 drank every morning a kind of tea called ' the black 
 drink,' a decoction of the leaves of the Cassine bush. 
 It is slightly exhilarating, and the drinking of it was 
 considered a solemn ceremonial act ; it was supposed 
 that it had a purifying effect upon their life, and effaced 
 from their minds all the wrongs and injustice they had 
 committed, that it possessed the power of imparting 
 courage to the warrior and of rendering him invincible, 
 and that it had a tendency of binding closer the ties of 
 friendship." 1 Amongst the Zulus at the opening of 
 the new year with the feast of first-fruits the men are 
 "doctored" in order "to make them strong, healthy, 
 and prosperous for the coming year." 2 
 
 During and after sickness, again, the system is built 
 up by new food. In Tasmania a sick man was given 
 human blood to drink. 3 The Zulus give sick persons 
 'the gall of a he-goat. 4 Amongst the Dyaks sick per- 
 sons are sprinkled with blood by the priest. 5 The 
 Beni-Amer cure their sick by bathing them in the blood 
 of a girl or of some animal. The blood of a goat is 
 thus poured over a man's head and body. Such cases 
 often correlate with the idea of a substitute and with 
 the common double idea, as in the Mithraic taurobolium, 
 that blood both washes away sins and gives ghostly 
 strength. On this principle the Zulus once a year kill 
 1 bull ; " its strength is supposed to enter into the 
 ting, thereby prolonging his life and strength. In 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 171. 
 
 :! Bonwick, op. cit. 89. 
 
 5 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 283. 
 
 2 L. Grout, Zulu Land, 161. 
 4 Callaway, op. cit. 368, 372. 
 c Munzinger, op. at. 310. 
 
278 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 some tribes a chief on his accession is washed in the 
 blood of some near relative, who is put to death for 
 the purpose." 1 In Tonga human victims were slain to 
 deter angry gods from destroying the king. 2 
 
 The universal desire for " representatives " and 
 " substitutes," due partly to irresponsibility and partly 
 to convenience, may be referred to here in a few ex-; 
 amples. Amongst the Motu to ensure a good harvest 
 some leading man becomes helaga (taboo). 3 In New 
 Caledonia, when a great chief is ill, or when some great 
 calamity befalls them, they select the best-looking girl, 
 and stretching her out prostrate on the ground inflict 
 on her a severe castigation, which is intended to act as 
 a charm, in order to avert the impending evil. 4 Ir 
 Shoa, to save the king's life, an animal is led round hi: 
 bed and then slaughtered. 5 In Chrysee a straw man is' 
 burned as a substitute when one is ill. 6 The Arabiar 
 custom of killing a sheep at a birth is explained b} 
 them " as averting evil from the child by shedding 
 blood on its behalf." 7 The Acaxees before taking th< 
 war-path select a maiden of the tribe, who secludes her 
 self during the whole period of the campaign, speaking 
 to no one, and eating nothing but a little parched con 
 without salt. 8 The practice is common with kings a 
 the representatives of their people. Thus the Mikad< 
 had to sit on the throne for some hours every morning 
 with his crown on, motionless, so as to preserve peac 
 and tranquillity in the empire. 9 
 
 Again, " purification ' is ended on all occasions b 
 taking food, or otherwise assimilating new strengtr 
 
 1 Leslie, op. cit. 91 5 Shooter, op. cit. 216. 2 Farmer, op. cit. 53. 
 
 3 Chalmers, op. cit. 181. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 92. 
 
 5 Harris, op. cit. iii. 385. 6 A. R. Colquhoun, Across Chrysee, 38. 
 
 7 W. R. Smith, op. cit. 153, 154. 8 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 581. 
 
 ! ' Kaempfer, History of Japan, i. 150. 
 
xii NEW LIFE 279 
 
 The link between this and "washing off'' the past, 
 whether " contagion ' or " sin," is seen in cases like 
 this : sextons and mourners alike are " purified ' 
 amongst the Zulus from the " uncleanness " by being 
 sprinkled with the gall of an animal sacrificed, or by 
 drinking fresh milk. 1 After expelling all disease and 
 ills, the Incas rubbed themselves with a paste of blood, 
 to take away all weakness and infirmity.- The gall 
 and the blood, of course, introduce new strength into 
 the system. 
 
 New clothes form another method of starting afresh ; 
 a man feels more or less " new ' when wearing a new 
 dress, and this universal practice on great occasions of 
 feasting, ceremonies, and marriage has this idea behind 
 it. The link between washing, " purification," and 
 new garments is made by such early toilet-practices as 
 anointing the body with oil, fat, and paint. The 
 
 , " purification ' of a Kaffir woman after child-birth is 
 completed by smearing her with fat and red clay. 3 For 
 
 , her this is a renewal of " decent apparel." 
 
 We have thus traced the passage of disguise into 
 
 i change, and of change into newness of life ; in the next 
 place change passes into exchange, exchange of identity, 
 with the same ideas behind the practice. The idea of a 
 disguise is often latent in this, but seldom emerges, 
 for it is fused with more important aims. It may be 
 discerned in this account of the notorious Feast of 
 Fools, an account which may be here placed first, as 
 
 . this exchanging of identity is most prominent in 
 
 1 festivals of the Saturnalia type. " The priests were the 
 principal actors ; their faces were blacked, and they 
 were dressed as clowns or women, and ate blood- 
 
 1 Shooter, op. ch. 241, 247. - Frazer, op. ch. 2 iii. 74. 
 
 * Maclean, op. ch. 94. 
 
2 8o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 puddings on the altar. Obscene songs were sung in 
 the choir. Many other actors took part, both men 
 and women, the men being disguised as women, and 
 the women as men." This festival took place at 
 Christmas. Similar practices were followed in the 
 carnival on Shrove Tuesday, at which men dressed up 
 as women and women as men. 1 The idea is also latent 
 in an ancient Argive festival, the 'Tfipio-Tt/cd, held every 
 year, at which women dressed in men's garments, and 
 men in women's robes and veils ; 2 and also in many 
 Saturnalian festivals, such as the Saturnalia of ancient 
 Rome, at which slaves exchanged position and dress 
 with their masters, and men with women. These cases 
 are explained by the Zulu custom, according to which, 
 to avert a cattle plague, the girls herd the cattle for a 
 day. The idea is to change the luck by an exchange, 
 which emphasises the interval thus placed between the 
 old state and the new. So in New South Wales wives are 
 exchanged, not only for reconciliation, but to escape some 
 calamity. 3 The tribes on the Murray River practised 
 temporary exchange of wives " in order to avert some 
 great trouble which they fancied was coming ; tor 
 instance, they heard once that a great sickness was 
 coming down the Murray, and the cunning old men 
 proposed to each other that they should exchange wives 
 to ensure safety from it." 4 It is a simple method, but 
 actually it has been interpreted as a proof of primitive 
 " promiscuity." A detail used to corroborate the 
 interpretation is that the old men thought it necessary 
 to revert to "the old customs of the tribe" ; but the 
 old custom to which they returned was surely this 
 
 1 Dulaure, Des di-vinite's ge'ne'ratrices, xv. 315 ; Brand, op. cit. i. 36, 66. 
 
 2 Plutarch, Mulierum Virtutes, 245 E. ' Jourr*. Anthrop. lust. xiv. 353. 
 4 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 290. 
 
xii EXCHANGE OF IDENTITY 281 
 
 temporary exchange of wives, not promiscuity. The 
 suggestion proves too much. The sexual licence of the 
 Nanga in Fiji was practised when any person fell ill. 1 
 The Kurnai, when alarmed at the appearance of an 
 Aurora Australis, tried to send it away by magic, and 
 also exchanged wives. 2 An Eskimo prescription for 
 sickness is exchange of wives ; if a child is ill, it changes 
 its parents. 3 
 
 The chief ideas in these ceremonial practices of 
 exchange, whether of wives or other possessions, are, 
 primarily, the wish for a preliminary interval before 
 starting a new life, a sort of vital pausa or artificial 
 gulf between the old and the new, while there is implicit 
 in the exchange an act of disguise ; and secondarily, 
 a desire for un ion with o ne's fellows, which is actually 
 effected by exchange of identity. The latter, it will be 
 noticed, is identical with union, and is the final prin- 
 ciple of contact seen in the relation of ngia ngiampe. 
 We saw that the " black drink " of the Seminoles has 
 the property of uniting hearts, and the human expres- 
 sion of mutual friendliness by eating and drinking 
 together has been fully described. This explains the 
 characteristic feature in festivities of the type of the 
 Saturnalia, held once a year as a rule, and conceived as 
 a means of starting life afresh. The wild pranks and 
 general misbehaviour often associated with these festivals 
 are doubtless to a great extent the expression of re- 
 joicing at putting away the troubles of the past, but 
 there is a method in the madness, a psychological reason 
 behind it. Restraints are indeed broken, but the breaking 
 of them is, first, a break with the old life, and, secondly, 
 a method of union, not merely the result of over-feeding 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiv. 28. - Id. xiii. 189. 
 
 ': Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, 593. 
 
282 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 
 I and excessive drinking. Take the case of the so-called 
 
 1 " promiscuous " intercourse often found on these occa- 
 sions ; it is exactly parallel to the exchange of wives we 
 have already noticed. Each is the expression of a desire 
 
 • for union with one's fellows. The very fact that the 
 lending of wives is frequent as an act of hospitality 
 connects the principles together. Hospitality is a close 
 
 . form of union. Exchange of wives, of dress, of names, 
 of positions, or of anything belonging to a man, alike 
 produces union. This secondary result of the common 
 practice of men and women dressing up in the garments 
 of the other sex, followed in Alsace at vintage festivals, 1 
 and on many similar occasions elsewhere, is that the 
 two sexes are united, just as they are united in theory 
 and in practice in the so-called licence used on such 
 occasions. As showing how assimilation in dress and 
 the like is a form of the desire for union, the following 
 case is instructive. At a dance of girls amongst the 
 Rejangs several young men were observed to show I 
 excitement. At last they joined in the dance ; and the 
 postures they assumed were quite similar to those of 
 the maidens. " It is on such occasions that marriage 
 contracts are generally made." 2 This impulse towards 
 assimilation is seen now when 'Arry and 'Arriet ex- 
 change hats. Similar methods of effecting union by con- 
 tact are also brought back to one physiological impulse, 
 by comparing with them the Eskimo method of salutation. I 
 They salute each other by licking each other's hands, 
 and then drawing them over their own faces and bodies 
 first, and afterwards over the face and body of the 
 other. 3 
 
 Again, all taboos are removed for a while to form an 
 
 1 W. Mannhanlt, Der Baumkuhus, 314. 2 Bickmore, op. cit. 496. 
 
 3 Beechey, op. cit. i. 391. 
 
xii UNION 283 
 
 interval between the old and the new, while the very 
 act of breaking them produces the chief result aimed at, 
 union, and this union is a Dionysiac form of the ngia 
 ngiampe relation. Such union is effected by masters 
 and slaves exchanging positions and attire, by men and 
 women exchanging the garments of their sex, by eating 
 together, by mutual feastings, by exchange of presents 
 and of friendly visits, and the like. All these are 
 methods of union, but they are no less exchanges of 
 identity ; all in fact are acts of the ngiampe type. Thus • 
 old wounds are healed, old quarrels patched up ; the 
 licence is simply a method of cementing union. New 
 food and drink meanwhile renew man's strength, and 
 food shared with others in feasts, or the flesh and blood 
 of the totem or god sacramentally eaten, cement the 
 union of one with another. 
 
 Man's desire for social union and harmony is very 
 keen, and the fact that he has these ceremonial methods 
 of producing it, as those others used to produce 
 harmony and union between individuals, is one which 
 tells strongly in favour of the view that, as man was 
 perhaps not always gregarious, so in early society he 
 had none of the solidarity of clan, tribe, or kin, 
 which is often attributed to him. Why these anxious 
 methods of welding together the body politic, if the 
 "tie of blood" was instinctively so strong? Man's 
 individualism, though diffident and shy of responsibility, 
 was in primitive times by no means lost in socialism. 
 Individual diffidence and the "desire for company," as 
 it may be phrased, for the desire of children and of the 
 average sensual man in every age is of the same nature 
 as their primitive brother's desire, may be seen in what 
 Ellis states of the Polynesians. " One of the reasons 
 which they gave whv so many slept in a house was 
 
284 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 their constant apprehension of evil spirits, which were 
 supposed to wander about at night and grasp or strangle 
 the objects of their displeasure, if found alone ; great 
 numbers passing the night under the same roof removed 
 this fear and inspired confidence of security." l So the 
 Nicobarese never bathe nor go to the burial-ground 
 except in company, from superstitious fear. 2 The 
 feeling has given rise to a common practice observed 
 with " sacred " persons whose safety is either threatened 
 or is important to the community. When the King of 
 Boni in Celebes sits, all sit ; when he rises, all rise ; 
 should he ride and fall from his horse, all must fall 
 from their horses likewise ; when he bathes, all the 
 courtiers must bathe too. 3 The same custom is used 
 in Fiji, and is known as bale muri} In Abyssinia there 
 are four officers called Lika Mankuas, who have to 
 clothe themselves exactly like the king, so that the 
 enemy may not be able to distinguish him. A Mr. 
 Bell, an Englishman, once held this post. 5 In Uganda, 
 if the king laughs, all the courtiers laugh, if he sneezes, 
 all sneeze, and so on. Amongst Kaffir tribes the " king 
 has a sort of valets, who appear to wear his cast-off 
 clothes ; when he is sick, they are obliged to allow them- 
 selves to be wounded, that a portion of their blood may 
 be introduced into the king's circulation, and a portion 
 of his into theirs. They are usually killed at his death." 
 This case leads to those of " mock kings " and the like, 
 who are often substitutes and proxies for the real 
 monarch, as well as for the people, whose " pawns " they 
 are. In the Yoruba country the king's eldest son 
 
 1 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 341. ° Featherman, op. cit. ii. 250. 
 
 3 Mundy, Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes, i. 30. 
 
 4 Williams, op. cit. i. 39. 5 Krapf, op. cit. 454. 
 
 fi Felkin, op. cit. 711. Athenaeus (249) and Strabo (xvii. 2, 3) give similar accounts 
 of barbaric kings. ' Shooter, op. cit. 117. 
 
 I 
 
xii EXTENDED IDENTITY 285 
 
 governs jointly with him. He has to commit suicide 
 when the king dies. 1 In connection with the fear of 
 handselling, it is noteworthy that such persons are used 
 to do acts for the first time, so as to remove the danger. 
 Thus in the Hindoo Koosh the rajah begins the plough- 
 ing and sowing. The Todas employ the low -caste 
 Curumbas to guide the first plough, sow the first seed, 
 and reap the first sheaf. 2 
 
 Let us now take some miscellaneous illustrations of 
 these principles, occurring in these periodic festivals of 
 renewal and of union, and on other occasions. During 
 the winter season the Koniagas make and return visits ; 
 insults are forgiven and enemies reconciled by inviting 
 each other to entertainments. 3 At the Saturnalia festival 
 of the Mundaris the masters feast their labourers. 4 The 
 Karalits celebrate an annual festival at the winter 
 solstice. It is a time of general rejoicing, and is 
 connected with the reappearance of the sun. Eating 
 is the most conspicuous part of the entertainment. 
 Frequently they lend their wives to each other. 5 There 
 is some idea of securing an infant's safety in the practice, 
 common throughout the Archipelago between Celebes 
 and New Guinea, of giving a feast to a number of 
 village children, when a child is born or receives its 
 name. 
 
 Amongst the Dieri and neighbouring tribes on 
 occasions of making peace, covenants, and alliances, 
 occasions, of course, which have in common with 
 Saturnalia the intention of union, and also at tribal 
 festivals generally, there is an exchange of wives all 
 round and what is wrongly called " promiscuous " 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 167. - Biddulph, op. cit. 106 j Harkness, op. cit. 56. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 453. 4 Dalton, op. cit. 196. 
 
 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 432. 6 Riedel, op. cit. 75. 
 
286 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 sexual intercourse. 1 It is a sacred method of union as 
 I have shown. The fact that jealousy is forbidden on 
 these occasions, does not prove, as has been asserted, 
 either that the custom is a return to previous commun- 
 ism, or that the Australian has no marital jealousy. 
 If he has none, why forbid it ? In the case of forming 
 alliances the exchange is, of course, a factor in making 
 the union, such contact sympathetically assists it. At 
 the Saturnalia of the Hos "promiscuous" intercourse 
 takes place. 2 The people of Leti, Moa, and Lakor 
 hold an annual feast, at which free intercourse takes 
 
 pi 
 
 ace/ 
 
 Amongst the Hawaiians " promiscuous " sexual 
 intercourse takes place at the feast after a death. 4 In 
 Mangaia, at the same feast, all exchange presents. 5 At 
 the annual funeral feast on Nancowry Island, one of 
 the Nicobars, numerous hogs are killed and eaten, and 
 all the guests daub their faces with the blood.' 5 The 
 Battas celebrate a feast after a death, at which a number 
 of animals are killed and eaten. 7 The Samoyeds kill a 
 reindeer over the grave, the Arinzes a horse, and the 
 mourners eat it there. s After a Chippeway funeral the 
 " offering to the dead " is prepared, consisting of meat- 
 soup or brandy, which is handed round to those present ; 
 while the portion reserved for a burnt-offering is thrown 
 into the fire, and is supposed to have been accepted by 
 the ghostly self of the departed. 9 
 
 On such occasions there is to be seen the working 
 of these principles ; a desire for union among the 
 survivors and a desire for new strength and life, both 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 173, 169. 
 
 2 Dalton, op. cit. 196. 
 
 4 Lisiansky, op. cit. 122. 
 
 6 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 247. 
 
 8 Georgi, op. cit. 16, 31. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 373. 
 
 5 Gill, op. cit. tj. 
 
 "' Id. ii. 329. 
 
 9 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 251 
 
 
xir UNION AFTER DEATH 287 
 
 prompted by the sad example of the dead person ; the 
 two impulses are satisfied simultaneously by eating 
 together, exchanging gifts, or similar acts of union, 
 such as sexual intercourse. Again, as may be seen 
 when the mourners eat the offerings of the dead, there 
 is the further and most natural idea, retained by 
 Catholicism in the feast of All Souls, of effecting union 
 with the departed. This desire for the impossible is a 
 psychological necessity in real mourning, and is well 
 shown by such customs as that of widows in the I 
 Hervey Islands, who will wear the dress of their dead | 
 husbands. A widower may be seen walking about in 
 a gown of his departed wife. " Instead of her shawl, a 
 mother will wear on her back a pair of trousers belong- 
 ing to a little son just laid in his grave." 1 Andamanese 
 widows carry about the skulls of their dead husbands. 2 
 Red Indian mothers carry a doll, representing a dead 
 child, and Australian women carry about the rotting 
 remains of their dead husbands. 3 In Timorlaut as 
 mourning the widow wears a piece of her dead 
 husband's clothing in her hair ; this is also done by 
 widowers. 4 Communion with the dead is most exactly 
 reached, and the identity of eating with a person 
 and eating him most clearly shown, in the common 
 Australian practice in which mourners drink the 
 humours of the decaying corpse, or eat its flesh. The 
 Kurnai anoint themselves with decomposed matter from 
 the dead. 5 It is done in the Kingsmills " to remember 
 him." 6 So in Timorlaut mourners smear themselves 
 with the fluids of the corpse. 7 The Aru islanders 
 drink them " to effect union with the dead man." 
 
 1 Gill, op. cit. 78. a Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 300. 
 
 3 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 243. 4 Riedel, op. cit. 307. 
 
 5 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 243. 6 Id. I.e. ' Riedel, op. cit. 308. 
 
288 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Some is kept in order to injure enemies (by the con- 
 tagion of death, we may well suppose). 1 This case 
 resumes in itself all the principles of contact, and 
 shows the fallacy of supposing such practices to be 
 intended to keep "the life in the family." Of course, 
 the idea correlates with the notion of getting a dead 
 man's strength, as we have seen, but the impulse is 
 individual. When Artemisia drank the ashes of 
 Mausolus, 2 it was for love of him, and not to satisfy 
 I family pride. Here we once more reach the idea of 
 receiving a man's properties by eating his flesh ; and 
 conversely in these mourning customs, there is some- 
 times to be seen a desire to avoid injury from the 
 departed spirit, by inoculating oneself with him, an ' 
 idea translated by many peoples into a fear that the 
 ghost will be offended if he is not mourned for 
 properly. 
 
 Another feature of these festivals is a practice which . 
 is very common in all early religious custom, and is a 
 good illustration of that general habit of " make- 
 believe," which is connected with sympathetic magic ; 
 on the one hand, and on the other with primitive . 
 diffidence in action, and fear of close-quarters, an early 
 stage in the growth of character which is not easily 
 passed. At the Saturnalia of the Hos, sons and 
 daughters revile their parents, and their parents revile 
 them. 3 This method of showing the reality of the 
 change of life by emphasising the interval between the 
 new and the old may lead up to the feature we are 
 to discuss. In Upper Egypt on the ioth of September 
 of each year, there is a festival at which each town 
 chooses a temporary lord, who is dressed up as a clown. 4 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 267. 2 A. Gellius, x. 18 ; V. Maximus, iv. 65. 
 
 3 Dalton, ep. cit. 196. 4 Klunzinger, Bilder aus Obzr-Agypten, 180. 
 
xii MAKE-BELIEVE 289 
 
 In this, as in the case of most mock kings collected, 
 there is a double idea. The mock king is a " proxy " 
 for the people, he is their substitute, who bears their 
 calamities away as a scapegoat ; and he is reviled and 
 mocked. He represents them, on the principles of 
 substitution and make-believe ; he takes away their 
 troubles, on the same principles, and because of the 
 desire for a periodic change of life and of personal 
 identity. Why is he mocked and ill-treated ? The 
 actual word "mock," with its double meaning, preserves 
 the answer. They deserve the reviling for their sins, 
 but he as their proxy will receive it ; it is a convenient 
 method of substitution, of transference of responsibility. 
 Moreover, by a natural confusion, he represents these 
 evils, in particular those which admit of easy personifi- 
 cation, such as diseases and the like ; as such, he is to 
 be scourged and mocked as they would gladly treat the 
 . , actual evils. He is thus a proxy for two sets of 
 . persons. 
 
 The war-dance and similar sympathetic processes, 
 . which assist the real result by imitating it, show how 
 ; the above mentioned idea is connected with sympathetic 
 1 magic. These practices have a true psychological basis 
 1 and subjective use; they resemble "rehearsals"; by 
 previously going through the result, man ensures its 
 successful issue, just as one runs over in his mind 
 something he is about to do. In the Chippeway war- 
 dance the warriors imitated the actions of surprising 
 the enemy, of tomahawking, scalping, and drinking the 
 blood of the foe. 1 In the Algonquin war-dance before 
 an expedition each man in turn branished his toma- 
 hawk, and furiously struck the post round which they 
 stood, in a manner as if he were killing a foe, whom 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 256. 
 U 
 
[ 
 
 1 
 
 290 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 he then fictitiously scalped by a characteristic mimic | 
 action. 1 The Mandans before a buffalo hunt go 
 through a dance imitating the various stages of thai 
 hunt. One man represents a buffalo, and he is slain i 
 in pantomime, skinned, and cut up. 2 
 
 In some cases these rights, contests, and riotings are 
 intended to drive away actual evil influences, in othen 
 the potentiality of evil is driven away, before it carl 
 become actualised ; and this is naturally done or. 
 occasions when excessive joy by psychological lavs: 
 induces a fear of vague imminent danger, as seen ir 
 ideas of Nemesis. The practice is also followed t( 
 avenge some wrong, fancied or real, with a half serious 
 half " make-believe ' feeling. Thus, in New Britaini 
 when a boy and girl who are betrothed, are grown up| 
 and part of the " price " has been paid, he builds a littl 
 house in the bush, and elopes with his bride. He 
 father sallies out with friends, apparently in anger, t<i 
 kill the groom. They do not really wish to find hirr 
 but they burn the house. On their return they Ant - 
 the pair installed in their home. 3 Amongst the sam 
 people, when a widower marries, the female relatives c 
 the dead wife assemble near his place. It is a day c 
 liberty and fun with them. They take their husbands 
 or brothers' weapons, or any article of male attire the 
 can find, and have the liberty of daubing with re 
 paint any man they can catch. If a woman approache 
 a man he moves off. At a given signal they thro 1 
 themselves on his house, fences, and property, an. 
 destroy as far as they can. The owner has no powt 
 to interfere. The custom is called Varagut. The onl 
 explanation they give is that "the women are angry c 
 account of the first wife, they do not care to see tl 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 78. 2 Id. iii. 298. a Romilly, op. cit. 27. 
 
 '■•: 
 
 *.." 
 
xii MAKE-BELIEVE 291 
 
 labour of the first wife go to benefit the second." 1 
 Similarity at Fijian funerals, the women whip the men 
 with long whips, and the men flip clay bullets at the 
 J women. 2 On the other side, savage " make-believe " is 
 connected with diffidence, and with an interesting 
 notion that the " intention " is everything. Amongst 
 the Maoris a blow given by proxy is regarded as if 
 it actually were dealt to the person intended, and is 
 1 spoken of as such. A man, for instance, struck the 
 ground close to his enemy, who was lying ill ; Mr. 
 Shortland on hearing an account of this was given 
 t'to understand that the sick man had actually been 
 thrashed. 3 A mourner in the Andaman Islands will 
 shoot arrows into the jungle, evil spirits who cause 
 death being supposed to dwell there ; he also will, 
 pierce the ground with a spear all round the dead 
 ■ man, " hoping to inflict a mortal wound on an unseen 
 enemy." 4 In Maori warfare a part of the stockade is 
 called after a hostile chief and then fired at by the 
 ■garrison. One often hears a chief complain that he 
 has been shot at, when it was only his effigy. South 
 Australians when about to attack Europeans beat their 
 weapons together, threw dust in the air, spat, etc., and 
 .made gestures of defiance.''' All this kind of thing is 
 ■; well seen in the habits of children and of animals, and 
 •;'s due to fear of direct action. Now, in some of these 
 ;:.: annual festivals and on other occasions there are mock 
 •: contests, which are explained by these ideas. We saw 
 low parents and children revile each other at their 
 iaturnalia ; the same principle is behind the football 
 natch played at the annual festival in Shoa, first 
 
 , ] Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 292. 2 Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 99. 
 
 a Shortland, Southern Districts, 21, 22. 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xi. 146. 
 
 :' 5 Shortland, op. cit. 26, 27. 6 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 225. 
 
292 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 between men, and then between women. The victori- 
 ous side abuses the defeated, and riot and debauchery 
 end the day. 1 After a successful fishing expedition 
 Fijian women were seen to meet the returning men 
 with dancing and songs and with a smart volley oi 
 bitter oranges, this the men returned by driving the, 
 women from the beach. 2 This simple case of delighl 
 expressed in recrimination is no custom, but a psycho- 
 logical result, quite common in human nature, which 
 however, is instructive here as illustrating the origin o 
 customs which resemble it. 
 
 The same method is also used in primitive etiquette 
 which is based on fear and the taboo of persona 
 isolation. When Krapf arrived at a Pemba village 
 the king was very friendly, but ordered his musketeer i 
 to fire a volley, " to expel evil spirits." 3 In Tong 
 presents are made to a new arrival, visitor, or nativ i 
 who has been away, but there is a curious provisc 
 The new-comers can be challenged by any one, and J 
 sort of sham fight must take place. The visitor 
 always get a thorough beating, but it is all done i 
 a friendly way. 4 Mr. New was always received in th i 
 African villages he reached, with war -dances. 5 Th 
 Indians of the Yukon, on meeting Mr. Dall, advance , 
 on him firing blank cartridge. 6 So amongst the Maori 
 mock fights were performed at all visits, reeds an 
 rail-fencing being used instead of weapons. 7 
 
 In savage as in other etiquette indirectness is un 
 versal. In East Africa a mistake in etiquette towarc 
 the chief is severely punished, and amongst the Waganc 
 the offender may be slain on the spot. A man wi 
 
 1 Harris, op. cit. Hi. 19S. 2 Williams, op. cit. i. 92. 
 
 3 Krapf, op. cit. 269. 4 Mariner, op. cit. 346. 
 
 5 C. New, Life in Eastern Africa, 80, 301. 6 Dal), op. cit. 93. 
 
 7 Polack, New Zealand, i. 86, 87, ii. 170. 
 
xii MAKE-BELIEVE 293 
 
 hardly address another directly as " you," nor will he 
 use a direct negative if he can avoid it. The expres- 
 sions are " the master knows," etc., and for a negative, 
 " I will see if that happens." * 
 
 The " make-believe " method is often used in punish- 
 ment. Amongst Australians and Tasmanians the 
 I offender against the customs was required to stand 
 •• while spears were thrown at him, which he avoided as 
 i| best he could by contortions of the body. 2 In the 
 I Milya-uppa tribe, when a man had given another some 
 cause of complaint, custom required that he should 
 -allow his head to be struck by the individual offended, 
 -till blood came. 3 In some Australian tribes a culprit 
 -was provided with a shield, and " the prosecutors stand- 
 ing at a certain distance hurled spears at him. If he 
 ^succeeded in warding off the weapons, he was dis- 
 charged. " 4 The Malays settle disputes between tribes 
 'thus; a certain number of combatants for each tribe 
 ; beat each other with sticks till one or other cries 
 enough, and the victors claim the right for which they 
 'contested.'' The Fijian act of reparation to obtain for- 
 giveness was called soro ; it was the offering of a present 
 '•in certain attitudes of humiliation. 6 
 
 •'*' In manv of the above-mentioned customs there is 
 
 'xlearly brought out the subconscious feeling, so charac- 
 
 -' 'teristic of the religious relations of man with man in 
 
 primitive culture, that it is human persons who cause 
 
 trouble and evil, human agencies that are to be punished 
 
 or propitiated. In others the fiction of primitive 
 
 .^"promiscuity" is exposed; others, again, illustrate 
 
 the primitive conception of relationship. 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 119. 2 Curr, op. cit. iii. 596. 
 
 3 Id. ii. 179. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 142. 
 
 5 Id. ii. 429. 6 Id. ii. 214. ; 
 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Sect, i 
 
 At the beginning of the chain of culture appear one 
 or two simple precautionary and educational measures 
 applied to boys and girls on reaching the age of puberty, 
 at our end of the chain are confirmation and a more or 
 less lengthy period of education. In both of these, - : 
 and in all intermediate stages and developments, the 
 chief ideas behind the ceremonies of so-called "initia- 
 tion ' are concerned with the going-out of childhood | 
 and the entering -upon the state of manhood and I 
 womanhood. The putting -away of the old life of 
 childhood and sexlessness, and the taking -up of the 
 responsibilities, social and sexual, of the new, and also . 
 the education imparted, were often dramatised amongst 
 early peoples by " sympathetic " processes. As noticed 
 before, this kind of rehearsal was meant to ensure the 
 proper performance of the duties represented in the 
 mystery-play. We also find useful instruction giver 
 as to the duties of manhood and womanhood, the 
 sexual relation and marriage ; girls are entrusted with 
 such feminine lore as the women possess, while the 
 boys are entrusted with the tribal history and secrets b) 
 the old men, the repositories of power, and the rea 
 ' and responsible guardians of the State. The excelleno 
 not only of the military and political, but also of th< 
 
chap, xin CONFIRMATION 295 
 
 moral instruction given at " initiation " has often been 
 remarked. 
 
 Leaving this aspect of primitive confirmation, we 
 proceed to examine the dangers spiritual and material, 
 of the old life, which are cast aside, and of the new life, 
 which are to be faced, to both of which the ceremonies 
 at puberty have reference. 
 
 To take the case of girls first. There is nothing in 
 the old life that is likely to be dangerous to her, for 
 she will still find her best comfort and companionship 
 with her mother and female friends, but she has to 
 meet the dangers of the other sex, now that she is 
 marriageable. These dangers we have already re- 
 viewed ; there is the natural timidity, and subconscious 
 physical fear of the male sex, deriving from the natural 
 passivity and functional nervous characteristics of 
 woman, and expressed in that coyness and shrinking, 
 which are so potent a sexual charm ; often, however, 
 especially at marriage, and sometimes at child-birth, the 
 latent fear comes out as direct fear of the male sex. 
 We have seen how menstruation is regarded as the 
 result of a supernatural act of violence or rupture of 
 the hymen, and here too there is a functional timidity 
 ! to be reckoned with, as also in the same act at marriage. 
 All these functional ideas focus, as a rule subconsciously, 
 into fear of the other sex, and consciously into vague 
 fear of " spiritual" danger, all originally deriving from 
 ■■ the psychological and physical change of the organism 
 at puberty. On the other side, in the male view of 
 female confirmation, there is the usual fear of a taboo 
 state, emphasised here by the fact that it is the charac- 
 teristic female condition, connoting loss of strength 
 and transmitting weakness. In regard to male con- 
 firmation, the chief feature is that the old life with the 
 
296 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 women is given up, but the irony of nature insists 
 that though the man may cast aside his life with 
 women, he must soon return to it, in a more dangerous 
 form. As tor the casting -away of the life of the 
 nursery, the Damaras reckon a man's age from his 
 circumcision, not counting the previous years at all. 1 
 Amongst the Kurnai a part of the initiation is the 
 following ceremony. The mothers stand in a line 
 facing their sons, and each mother and son sprinkle I 
 each other with water ; this signifies that they are no 
 longer under their mothers' control. 2 
 
 The dangers of this taboo state, that is, the dis-l 
 abilities of the old life and the responsibilities of the 
 new, are neutralised by various means. Tests of 
 endurance are gone through, fasting and purification ; 
 candidates are beaten, sometimes to increase their 
 strength, at others to get rid of the dangerous sub- 
 stance of taboo ; they are fumigated and purified, 
 secluded and concealed. 3 
 
 More precisely each sex is tabooed to the other, for 
 it is against the dangers of sexual contact that the 
 process is directed. So the maiden at puberty must 
 not see males, or be seen by them, nor have any 
 association with them whatever ; first, for her safety, 
 because it is the male sex in the abstract which causes 
 her trouble and danger, and contagion from them is 
 dangerous ; secondly, for the safety of men, who by 
 contagion of her accentuated femininity would be 
 injured. In the same way, boys at puberty may not 
 see nor have any association with females ; first, for 
 their own safety, because it is the female sex in the 
 abstract which produces these dangers, and contact with 
 
 1 South African Folklore Jcurnal, i. 44. 
 2 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 197, 198. 3 See Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 424 ff. 
 
xin DANGERS OF PUBERTY 297 
 
 them is dangerous, causing weakness and effeminacy ; 
 and secondly, we may infer that the girls are to be 
 considered, and that when men are attaining their 
 manhood some fear of manly contagion is present 
 to the female mind, as it is at marriage. The 
 Kurnai hold that sickness mutually results if women 
 touch boys who are being initiated. 1 Kaffir girls 
 at puberty are placed in a separate hut, and none but 
 females are allowed to see them. 2 At the ceremony 
 of excision of South Celebes girls no man may be 
 present. 3 When a Cambodian girl enters " the shade," 
 the rules she has to observe in " the shade " are : 
 not to let herself be seen by a strange man ; not to 
 look at men, even furtively ; not to bathe till night, 
 lest any one should see her, nor alone, but accompanied 
 by her sister. Many kinds of food also are forbidden 
 her. 4 Loango girls at puberty are secluded in a hut in 
 the forest, and no man may go near them. From the 
 first day until they are given in marriage, they are called 
 nkumbi (hymen). They are instructed in the duties 
 of married life and motherhood. Girls of New Britain, 
 while in the " cages " where they are imprisoned from 
 puberty to marriage, may not be seen by men ; so with 
 those of New Ireland. In both New Britain and New 
 Ireland boys at initiation may not be seen by women. 
 The New Hebridean boy at puberty, when he is cir- 
 cumcised and receives a new name, may not see the 
 face of woman. 7 Boys of the Irwin River and 
 Murchison River tribes are separated from the women 
 for several weeks after circumcision. A boy was once 
 killed for being found in a woman's company. 8 In 
 
 : Journ. Anthrcp. Inst. xiv. 306. - Maclean, op. cit. 101. 
 
 :; Matthes, op. cit. 71. 4 Aymonier, op. cit. 193. 
 
 6 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 439. *> Danks, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 284, 287. 
 
 7 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 4. 8 Curr, op. cit. i. 369. 
 
 6 
 
298 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 New Caledonia no woman may see the boys while 
 recovering from circumcision. 1 Amongst the Masai, 
 Wakamba, Wanika, and Wakikuyu boys are circum- 
 cised in bands together ; they are carefully kept from 
 the girls and women. 2 Only men may be present at 
 the circumcision of Mandingo boys. 3 At initiation 
 Australian boys may not see women. 4 Ceramese boys 
 at puberty may not be seen by women. 5 Special 
 developments of this have been already noticed, such as 
 the prohibition to look upon the sun or fire. 
 
 The boy's renunciation of the old life of the 
 " nursery," woman's life, may be illustrated by the 
 following cases. Boys amongst the Central Australians 
 are called " children," as are girls, until the initiation, 
 which begins between the ages of ten and twelve. 
 Swahili boys leave their mothers' care when circum- 
 cised at the age of seven. 7 Songo boys are initiated 
 between the ages of eight to ten. Their mothers may 
 not see them during this period ; they are secluded in 
 special huts. s 
 
 Frequently initiation is put earlier, and very often, 
 as has been observed, the boy begins to go about 
 with his father before the ceremony takes place. As 
 a matter of convenience a boy has often to wait, but 
 there is always to be borne in mind the distinction 
 between the beginning of boyhood and of manhood. 
 A Zuni boy is " initiated " any time after he is four 
 years old. Previously he has been called " baby," now 
 he receives a name. He has a " godfather," who 
 breathes upon a wand, which he then extends to the 
 child's mouth. The initiation is " mainly done by the 
 
 1 Ploss, op. cit. i. 360. 2 Id. i. 362. " Id. i. 365. 
 
 4 Jourti. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 1S1, 183 ; Eyre, op. cit. ii. 133. 
 
 5 Riedel, op. cit. 130. H Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 215. 
 7 Ploss, op. cit. i. 361. 8 Id. i. 364. 
 
xiii THE NEW LIFE AND THE OLD 299 
 
 sponsors, and the boy must personally take the vows as 
 soon as he is old enough." ! Here we have a prototype 
 of our baptism, and the distinction is made, as it often 
 is where circumcision, for instance, takes place at five, 
 six, or seven years of age, between reception into the 
 ranks of boys and of men. 
 
 After initiation there is the almost universal rule 
 that boys sleep and mess and live together, most often 
 outside of the family dwelling. This we have already 
 described. 
 
 The change ot life is marked and assisted by various 
 .. methods of altering identity, and it is important to 
 notice that personal identity undergoes a very real 
 transformation, physiological and psychical, at puberty. 
 Wanika boys are smeared all over with white earth, so 
 that they cannot be recognised. At the end of the 
 initiation they wash. 2 The name being a universal 
 mark of identity, and often conceived of, on the 
 principles we have described, as a part of the organism, 
 is thus changed at puberty. The new name — some- 
 . times there has not been a previous one — is practically 
 |\ a new life. A Haida youth changes his name four 
 times. 3 In Nias men take a new name at marriage. 4 
 The Aino receives a new name at pubertv. 5 So with 
 the Iroquois. 6 The extinct Tasmanians initiated their 
 boys into the rights and duties of manhood with 
 certain ceremonial forms. A secret name was whispered 
 into the boys' ears at the conclusion of the ceremony. 7 
 In West and East Australia the boy's new name is 
 whispered to him by the " sponsor." s In the 
 Narrinyeri, Dieri, and Port Lincoln tribes boys 
 
 1 Fifth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 553. 2 Krapf, op. cit. 147. 
 
 3 G. M. Dawson, Geological Sur-vey of Canada, 131. 4 Rosenberg, op. cit. 154. 
 
 Ploss, op. cit. i. 160. 6 Morgan, Ancient Society, -9. 
 
 7 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 105. 8 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 41-. 
 
300 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 receive a new name at initiation. 1 So with the 
 Basutos, Nufoers of New Guinea, the Samoyeds, 
 South Americans, New Hebrideans, and the Indians 
 of Nootka. 2 When a Japanese boy reached puberty, 
 a " godfather " cut off his forelock and gave him a 
 new name. 3 Girls in Nias and Sierra Leone receive 
 a new name at puberty. 4 In the Andamans these 
 names for girls are beautifully called " flower names." 
 
 Again, there is here practised the common custom 
 of sacrificing a part of the body, by way of ensuring 
 the security of the rest and of assisting, by casting 
 it away, the renunciation of the " old man." Mandan 
 boys have the little finger cut off at puberty "as a 
 sacrifice to their patron deity." 6 Aino boys have their 
 hair cut at puberty ; 7 the same is done to Warrau 
 girls ; Carib girls have it burnt off. Siamese girls and 
 boys and Hindu boys have their hair cut. s The 
 practice of knocking out one or more teeth at 
 initiation has already been referred to. It probably 
 is originally intended to secure the rest of the teeth, 
 in especial reference to the adult's food which is now 
 to be eaten. Sennar boys and girls have a tooth 
 knocked out. 9 The Wakikuyu knock out both front 
 teeth of the bottom row at puberty. 10 The Pepos of 
 Formosa knocked out an eye-tooth of boys " to assist 
 their breathing." u At the initiation of Macquarrie 
 boys a tooth is knocked out ; if the boy cries, the 
 women taunt him for being a girl. 12 An Australian 
 
 1 Native Tribes of South Australia, 51, 268, 224. 
 
 2 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 423, 424, 445 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 5 ; R. Andree, 
 Ethnographische Parallelen, i. 174. 
 
 3 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 436. i Id. I.e. ; Featherman, op. cit. ii. 354. 
 
 5 Man, in J own. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 128. 
 
 6 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 301 ; Ploss, op. cit. ii. 431. 7 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 436. 
 8 Id. ii. 435, 426. 9 Id. ii. 437. 10 Id. i. 306. 
 
 11 Id. i. 306, ii.424. 12 Id. ii. 416. 
 
xiii THE NEW LIFE AND THE OLD 301 
 
 boy, after having had two teeth knocked out, is told 
 that no one may see him, nor must he see any one, 
 " else his mouth will close up and he will die of 
 hunger." ! Here, and in the Formosan case, we may 
 see a further reason for the practice, that is, to 
 facilitate eating. Probably this is an essential part 
 of the reason, as with the practice of filing the teeth at 
 puberty, the East Indian parallel of the Australian 
 custom. 2 In Ceram after the filing of the teeth all 
 kinds of food are given to the child. 3 In the Goul- 
 bourn tribe, near Melbourne, two teeth are struck out 
 and are given to the boy's mother, who places them 
 on the highest bough of a young gum tree. 4 Here, 
 lastly, we have a secondary result of the custom ; 
 the tooth, being a part of the personality, is instinct 
 with the boy's life, and may be used as a sort of 
 external soul. 
 
 As the initiation of boys removes them from the 
 effeminate and weakening sphere of woman's life, so it 
 also provides for a renewal of strength. The great 
 ceremony of Engwura is supposed by the Central 
 Australians to have the effect of strengthening all who 
 pass through it. Shortly after the beginning of the 
 performances, which sometimes last from September 
 to January, the men are separated from the women 
 until the end. 5 The boys are told during initiation 
 that the ceremony will promote their growth to man- 
 hood, and they are also told by tribal fathers and elder 
 brothers that in future they must not play with the 
 women and girls, nor must they camp with them as 
 hitherto. They have up to now gone out with the 
 
 1 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 418. 2 Riedel, cp. cit. 228, 437 ; Skeat, op. cit. 359. 
 
 3 Riedei, op. cit. 137. 4 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 417. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 271-74. 
 
3 o2 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 women hunting for food, now they begin to accom- 
 pany the men. 1 
 
 We have seen how a man's strength can be trans- 
 mitted to another by contact. This is the object of 
 the following customs. The first ceremony of the 
 initiation of boys in the Adelaide tribes is the covering 
 them with blood drawn from a man's arm. 2 In 
 Western and Eastern Australia the "sponsor" opens a 
 vein in his arm, which the boy sucks, and the blood is 
 also dripped upon the boy's back. 3 So in many other 
 tribes of Australia, as the Dieri, men are bled and the 
 blood is allowed to stream over the boy ; " it gives him 
 courage." 4 On the same principle the young Masai 
 for some time after initiation, eats nothing but beef and 
 drinks nothing but blood and milk. The initiate 
 become the warriors, and the whole system is very like 
 the training of young knights in mediaeval Europe. 5 
 
 " Man's meat " and the food of adults is naturally 
 tabooed till maturity is reached. Andamanese boys 
 and girls have a long list of foods they may not eat 
 until initiated. The taboo on each food is taken off 
 ceremonially. For instance, the " pig taboo '" is taken 
 off by pressing a pig on to the boy's body " in token of 
 his becoming strong and brave." The "honey taboo " 
 with girls is not removed till after the birth of the 
 first child. The turtle " taboo " is thus removed ; the 
 chief boils turtle fat, and when cool pours it over the 
 boy's head and body, and rubs it into him. He is 
 then fed with turtle and nothing else for three days. 6 
 
 The common rule of fasting at puberty is to prevent 
 dangerous influences entering the system with food. It 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 216. 2 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 333. 3 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 417. 
 4 Id. ii. 421 ; yourn. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 82. 5 Thomson, op. cit. 187. 
 
 c Man, in yourn. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 134, 130. 
 
xin MALE AND FEMALE FOOD 303 
 
 also prepares for the reception of the new food. A 
 frequent concomitant of fasting is the taboo against 
 eating with other persons. Thus, during the initiation 
 of Kaffir boys no one is allowed to eat with them. 1 
 Boys or girls at puberty must fast amongst the Guay- 
 quiris, Uaupes, Passes, Mandans, Andamanese, Tobas, 
 Mataguayos, Chiriguanos, and Australians. - 
 
 Again, the ideas of sexual taboo regulate the diet ; 
 the most common prohibition is, of course, against 
 eating with the other sex, for fear of contagion. The 
 idea is extended thus. Women and children of the 
 Powell's Creek tribe may not eat bandicoot, snake, or 
 iguana ; 3 the reason for the two former being doubt- 
 less that they are connected with the origin of menstrua- 
 tion. For boys, women's food, either what they have 
 touched, or simply the species used for women's diet, 
 is often tabooed, for feminine weakness would be trans- 
 mitted by eating them. None but women and boys 
 not grown up are allowed by the Dyaks to eat venison, 
 the deer being a timid animal. 4 Amongst the Central 
 Australians a boy not circumcised may not eat large 
 lizards, nor may women ever do so, else they will have 
 an abnormal craving for sexual intercourse. 5 In New 
 South Wales a boy at initiation may not eat the emu, 
 this being " the woman " ; and he may not even look at 
 a woman ; and for some time must cover his mouth 
 with his rug when a woman is near. The forbidden 
 food is finally allowed to him, by giving him some to 
 eat, or rubbing him with its fat. 6 This introduction to 
 the forbidden food is a regular part of the ceremonies 
 
 1 Maclean, op. cit. 98. 
 
 I- Ploss, op. cit. ii. 429, 431, 427 ; Eyre, op. cit. ii. 293, 294. 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 179. 4 Low, op. cit. 266. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 471, 473. 
 6 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xiii. 455. 
 
3 o 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 which end " initiation " ; and it is to be observed how 
 youths are inoculated against the dangers even of 
 eating with women and of eating women's food. 
 
 Another method of emphasising the newness of life 
 is that the boy receives an external soul in various 
 forms, a tutelar divinity, or guardian angel ; this is 
 perhaps connected with the idea that the soul may 
 escape in the act of union with women, as it is un- 
 doubtedly based on a psychological characteristic of 
 puberty, that desire for the new and the strange, that 
 romantic aspiration after ideals and guiding-stars, which 
 is part of the blossoming of love, and has such an 
 important connection with religion. It is here, indeed, 
 that the psychological dependence of the religious 
 faculty on the sexual first appears. Thus, the Iroquois 
 boy fasted, until he dreamt of the spirit that was to be 
 his good angel. The figure in which he appeared was 
 tattooed upon the body of the boy, and rules were to 
 be observed in order to obtain the favour and avoid the 
 displeasure of the tutelar spirit. 1 The North Carolina 
 boy at puberty looked for a tutelar spirit in his dreams. 
 Anything that struck him particularly was chosen. He 
 took his name from it. 2 The young Chippeway at 
 puberty fasts and watches, in order to find his guardian 
 manitou? The Salish boy at puberty went into the 
 forest, where he remained secluded, until some animal, 
 bird or fish, appeared to him in a dream. This became 
 his tutelary deity, and a claw, feather, or tooth of such 
 was used as a protecting talisman. 4 In many of these 
 cases there is found, as Dr. Frazer has pointed out, 5 the 
 idea that the boy receives into himself the divine person. 
 But this is a form of new life, and it thus correlates with 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 42. 2 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 431. 
 
 3 Featherman, op, cit. iii. 260. 4 Id. iii. 368. 5 Frazer, op. cit- iii. 422. 
 
xiii PATRONS— BULLROARERS 305 
 
 the idea of obtaining new life and strength by new food 
 and similar methods. Thus, in the Arunta tribe, while 
 circumcision is being performed, bullroarers are con- 
 tinuously sounded, so as to be easily heard by the 
 women and children. By them it is supposed that the 
 roaring is the voice of the great spirit Twanyirika, 
 jwho has come to take the boy away. This spirit only 
 appears when a boy is initiated. He enters his body 
 after the operation, and leaves him after his seclusion. 
 'The same belief is found in most Australian tribes. 1 
 The Arunta explanation of impregnation is that an 
 ancestor is re-incarnated in the form of a " spirit child," 
 •who enters a woman ; when this takes place a churinga 
 [a. sacred object identical with the bullroarer used at 
 
 nidation by most Australians) is found at the place. 
 1 Each churinga — the tribe possesses a collection — is 
 i dentified with an ancestor. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen 
 pnfer that they are a modification of the common idea 
 
 )f the " external soul," by which the man's life is 
 I ecured by being hidden away in a material object. 
 Ifhe Kurnai identify the bullroarer used at initiation 
 jvith a great ancestor, Turndun. When the old men 
 ■eveal these objects to the boys, they say " we will 
 rhow you your grandfather." 2 Considerable mystery 
 Iji attached by the Arunta to their sacred objects, 
 
 huringa, " a mystery which," say Messrs. Spencer and 
 
 rillen, " has probably had a large part of its origin in 
 
 le desire of the men to impress the women of the 
 > 'ibe with an idea of the supremacy and superior power 
 
 f the male sex." "The churinga is supposed to 
 iidow the possessor with courage and accuracy of aim, 
 
 id also to deprive his opponent of these qualities. So 
 i.rm is their belief in this that if two men were fighting 
 
 rj l Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 246. 2 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 198. 
 
 X 
 
 
306 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and one of them knew that the other carried a churinga 
 while he did not, he would certainly lose heart at once 
 and without doubt be beaten." 1 Now amongst the 
 Australians of the Arunta and neighbouring tribes, and 
 the Yaroinga tribe, a man can charm a woman to love 
 him, and a woman can do the same to a man, by- 
 making a noise with a bullroarer. The humming 
 seems to be a sort of spiritual invitation ; the belief, at 
 least, is that the man or woman thus charmed, immedi- 
 ately comes to the person using the charm. This is 
 actually a marriage ceremony. 2 We may suppose, then, ; 
 that the use of the bullroarer at initiation is concerned! 
 with this new life in its sexual aspect, and that sexual j 
 strength for procreation is imparted by the ancestral] 
 spirits. The suggestion is corroborated by the Dierii 
 custom and belief. A bullroarer is given to each boy] 
 at puberty. If a woman were to see it, the peopled 
 would have no snakes or lizards. The boy on receiv-j 
 ing it " becomes inspired by Murauma, who makes the] 
 noise, and it causes a supply of snakes." 3 The connec-j 
 tion of the serpent and the male organ seems thus to 
 explain the well-known initiation custom of the use of 
 the bullroarer. 
 
 Initiation makes men and women, and prepares boys! 
 and girls for the responsibilities of contact with the 
 other sex. The two quotations which follow illustrate 
 this. In South Australia a stupid old man whom the 
 natives have not deemed worthy " of receiving the 
 honours of their ceremonies" was still called a boy. 4 
 In Australia universal law forbids a man to marry until 
 after the ceremonies are performed by which the status 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 137, 130. 
 
 2 Id. 541, 542, 545 ; W. E. Roth, Aborigines of North-West Central Queensland, 162 
 
 3 Howitt, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 83. 4 Eyre, op. cit. ii. 201. 
 
xrn PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE 307 
 
 of young men is reached. 1 Instruction in future duties 
 is often imparted ; thus Swahili girls at puberty are 
 instructed in matters relating to sex. 2 Apache girls on 
 arriving at a marriageable age were instructed by the 
 chief in the duties and responsibilities of married life.' 5 
 
 But there are other methods of preparing each 
 sex for their mutual relations. The artificial rupture 
 of the hymen sometimes takes place in infancy, but 
 generally at puberty. 4 The reason for this we have 
 already given ; the idea of a possible impediment is 
 associated by the savage with certain physical peculiari- 
 ties, such as the hymen. By removing this, both physical 
 difficulties are removed, and the spiritual dangers that 
 arise from the contemplation of the physical fact are 
 also obviated. Fears of female contamination and of 
 the performance for the first time of dangerous acts are 
 ;also thus removed, and the material property of taboo 
 I which emanates from such is taken off by handselling. 
 : It is often combined, as in Australia, with a cere- 
 monial act of intercourse which has the same object 
 ( of preparing the woman for married life by removing 
 I imaginary dangers. 5 
 
 Other peoples satisfy these fears by a " rehearsal " of 
 'the act, for the safety both of the male and of the 
 female. At the puberty ceremonies performed on 
 girls in Ceram no man may enter the house. One of 
 the old women takes a leaf, and ceremonially perforates 
 lit with her finger, as a symbol of the perforation of the 
 hymen. After the ceremony the girl has free liberty of 
 Intercourse with men ; in some villages old men have 
 access to her the same evening. 6 Amongst the Galelas 
 
 Curr, op. cit. i. 106. - Ploss, op. ch. ii. 437. s Featherman, op. cit. iii. 190. 
 
 4 jfourn. Antkrop. Inst. xxiv. 168, 169 (Australian tribes). 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 93 ff. j Ploss, op. cit. i. 3~6. 
 
 6 Riedel, op. cit. 138. 
 
308 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and Tobelorese of Halmahera, boys are initiated at 
 puberty in the festival oi osi (G.) imalauhu or mahoiki 
 (T.). A number are brought into a large shed, in 
 which are two tables, one for the men and one for the 
 women, who must be separated while eating. An old 
 man solemnly rubs a piece of wood, which makes water 
 red, into a vessel of water, imitating while doing this, 
 the act of coitus. This is done for each boy, whose 
 name is called out. The red water represents the 
 blood which results from the perforation of the hymen. 
 The faces and bodies of the boys are smeared with this 
 red water. Red is regarded as the colour of life and 
 well-being. The boys then go to the woods, where 
 they must expose themselves to the sun as much 
 as possible. 1 The second feature of this Halmahera 
 ceremony leads us to a further point. The religious j 
 importance of women's blood has been described by 
 Dr. Frazer. The object of smearing the boys with J 
 the red water, symbolical of the blood shed at the per- 
 foration of the hymen, is to secure them from the 
 harm, which the ideas treated of in this book explain, 
 that may arise from sexual intercourse. The method 
 is the familiar one of " inoculation." External appli- 
 cation is a method of transmission, as we have seen, 
 and sympathetic inoculation is a form of this. There 
 is also to be observed the injunction that the boys must 
 expose themselves to the sun. This fact taken in 
 conjunction with the sun-taboo common at puberty, 
 goes to show the origin of this idea, namely, 
 that heat, natural or artificial, is a concomitant 
 of sexual desire. The connection between fire and 
 sex is also emphasised by the similarity in colour 
 of fire and blood, and by the combination in one 
 
 1 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fi'r Etknologie, xvii. 81, 82. 
 
xiii INOCULATION 309 
 
 ceremony of painting the body red and exposure to 
 the sun. 
 
 This " sympathetic " rehearsal is obviously intended 
 to " initiate ' the youths into the mystery of sexual 
 union, and also to neutralise its dangers. I cannot see 
 in the Halmahera custom any trace of a symbolical 
 pretence of begetting them anew, as Dr. Frazer thinks 
 is the meaning. 1 
 
 The origin of circumcision has been already sug- 
 gested. There is also often to be traced the idea that, 
 by removing a part of the organism, dangerous and in 
 danger as it is, these dangers are neutralised ; this 
 passes later into the notion that thus its " impurity ' 
 is removed, and the sexual act made less gross. A 
 . common practice, corresponding to circumcision of 
 males, is the " excision ' of girls at puberty, as 
 amongst the Amakosa and Loanda tribes, the Masai 
 and Wakuasi,'-' and the same idea is doubtless the 
 origin of the practice. 
 
 There is next to be noticed in a remarkable set of 
 customs a practice which also shows the object of these 
 precautions ; this is, in its simpler form, the introduc- 
 tion of the " initiate " to the opposite sex ; in its com- 
 pleter form, there is sexual or other intercourse. The 
 idea is of the same nature as that of " inoculation," as 
 seen in the Halmahera custom, and is parallel to a 
 " trial " of sexual relations. Now that the individual 
 is prepared to meet the complementary sex, he must do 
 so ; for, however strong sexual taboo may be, men and 
 women must meet, in marriage at least ; and thus the 
 two sexes make " trial " of each other, as if the prepara- 
 tion necessitated putting it to the test ; and thereby 
 each sex is practically " inoculated " against the other, 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit? iii. 441. 2 Ploss, op. cit. i. 384. 
 
310 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 by being " inoculated " with each other, in view of the 
 more permanent alliance of wedlock. We saw this 
 practice followed in Australia after the ceremonial rup- 
 ture of the hymen. So, immediately after circumcision, 
 a Ceramese boy must have intercourse with some girl, 
 it matters not with whom, " by way of curing the 
 wound." This is continued till the blood ceases to 
 flow. 1 In certain tribes of Central Africa both boys 
 and girls after initiation must as soon as possible have 
 intercourse, the belief being that if they do not they 
 will die. 2 Narrinyeri boys during initiation after the 
 preliminary rites had complete licence as regards un- 
 married females, not only such as they might lawfully 
 marry, but even those of their own clan and totem. 3 
 After the seclusion of a Kaffir girl at puberty, she is 
 allowed to cohabit with any one during a festal period 
 which follows ; and Kaffir boys after being circumcised 
 are allowed to seize any unmarried women they please, 
 and have connection with them. 4 A similar custom is 
 found on the Congo. 5 The Muhammadan negroes of 
 the Senegal are circumcised at fourteen. They are 
 looked after for a month, during which time they walk 
 about in a procession. " They may commit during 
 this period any violence against girls, except rape and 
 murder." After the month is up, they are men. A 
 Zulu girl at puberty goes through a ceremonial process. 
 Secluded in a special hut, she is attended by twelve or 
 fourteen girls. " No married man may come near the 
 dwelling, and should any one do so he is beaten away 
 by the girls, who attack him most viciously with sticks 
 and stones. During her seclusion the neophyte musi 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharlge rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, i^g. 
 
 2 Macdonald, Africana, i. 126. 3 Howitt, in "Journ. Antltrop. Inst. xii. 37 
 4 Maclean, op. cit. 101, 98. 5 Journ. Anthrop. Ins:, xxii. 100. 
 
 6 Reade, op. cit. 451. 
 
XIII 
 
 INOCULATION 311 
 
 on no account see or address any man, married or 
 unmarried." At the end of the period a number of 
 girls and unmarried men have intercourse in the hut. 
 After a further period of seclusion the girl bathes and 
 is " clean," and after the perforation of the hymen by 
 two old women, she is a woman. 1 After initiation to 
 the warrior's set, El-Moran, the Masai young men 
 associated freely with girls ; in fact each El-Moran had 
 a lady who went about with him, and the practice was 
 very similar to that known in the Europe of Chivalry, 
 — the girl, for instance, puts on the warrior's armour 
 for him. 2 
 
 The introduction to adults' food contains the same 
 idea, and often is " inoculation " against contagion of 
 women's food and eating with women. Before their 
 initiation Halmaherese boys may not eat pisang or 
 fowls. At the end of the initiation feast women give 
 to the boys pisang and fowl's flesh to eat. 3 The idea 
 was illustrated in connection with the removal of food- 
 taboos at puberty. 
 
 The idea also assumes other forms in which we see 
 
 both the savage impulse towards " make-believe," and 
 
 . the recognition that certain characteristics of puberty 
 
 j and puberty ceremonies alike have relation to sexual 
 
 . complementary function, a recognition developed, as so 
 
 often by sexual taboo, into sexual antagonism. This 
 
 sexual hostility appeared in some of the last few 
 
 1 examples. Bamangwato girls at puberty go about in 
 
 bands, and beat boys of their age with whips. The 
 
 latter are not considered men until they have endured 
 
 1 this ordeal without flinching. The girls also in their 
 
 1 Macdonald, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 117, 118. 
 
 2 Thomson, op. cit. 187. 
 
 3 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, xvii. 82. 
 
312 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 turn have to endure certain ill-usage from the boys. 1 
 This is also done by proxy. At the feast to celebrate 
 the pubertv of a Mura boy men and women beat each 
 other with whips until the blood comes. It is an " act 
 of love." ' 2 As often in such cases, especially when 
 general licence takes place, the sympathy of others is 
 shown in the most practical way. What is in effect 
 the last phase of the Engwura, or final initiation 
 ceremony of the Arunta, is a dance performed by 
 young women, by way of invitation to men ; and " at 
 this period of the ceremonies a general interchange 
 and also a lending of women takes place, and visiting 
 natives are provided with temporary wives." This 
 woman's dance goes on every night for two or three 
 weeks. 3 Here we can see "sympathy" at work, and 
 the union of society effected, not by " promiscuity," 
 but by a sacred exchange, which assists the future 
 union of the young people. This sexual sympathy 
 passing into antagonism is sometimes fulfilled by one 
 sex assuming the apparel of the other. Amongst the 
 Basutos the initiation both of youths and girls at 
 puberty was called polio. It was not held at the same 
 time for both sexes. The ceremony was incumbent 
 upon every member of the community at the proper 
 age. All who passed through it together, formed " a 
 guild of friends." The candidates went out into the 
 country — here we speak of the boys' polio — and no 
 woman dared come near them. Their food was pre- 
 pared bv the men in charge, who instructed them in 
 male duties, and put them through tests of endurance. 
 They were circumcised, and after the operation wore 
 aprons for three months. The girls likewise were taken 
 
 1 Ploss, op. tit. i. 381, 382. - Id. ii. 42'-. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 381. 
 
xiii SYMPATHY 313 
 
 into the country, and were instructed by the women in 
 female duties. They were smeared with ashes. No 
 male might come near them. " The women folk acted 
 like mad people during this time ; they went about 
 performing curious mummeries, wearing men's clothes, 
 and carrying weapons, and were very saucy to men 
 they met." 1 At the second initiation ceremony of the 
 Arunta there are women who dance, carrying shields 
 (the men's property) ; shields are never carried by 
 women except on this occasion." 
 
 Lastly, as the ceremonies of initiation prepare the 
 two sexes for contact with each other, and are followed 
 by introduction and intercourse, the practice is, so far, 
 a preliminary marriage ceremonv, in which a bov or 
 girl is married to the other sex in extenso ; more than 
 this, however, is often the case, and " initiation ' is 
 actually marriage. Savage women, and to some extent 
 men also, are marriageable and married at pubertv, 
 and the combination of ceremonies is a natural one. 
 The ideas of sexual taboo, I take it, have caused the 
 deferring of marriage to a later date. There are 
 several examples which show the link between initiation 
 i ceremonies and marriage, which it is hardlv necessary 
 1 to quote. For instance Loanda girls eight days before 
 : marriage are excised bv a medicine-man. J Amongst 
 the Central Australian tribes the ceremony performed 
 on girls at pubertv is actuallv their marriage rite, 
 > though as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen point out, it 
 serves as an initiation for the girls. 4 For the boys the 
 initiation means more than this, but it also includes a 
 reference to marriage ; for instance after the first of 
 
 1 Endemann, in Zeittchrifi Jur Ethnol —• for i ?■"-)-, 37 ft. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, ct>. dr. zzo. 
 s Ploss, op. c:t. i. 384. 4 Spencer and Gillen. sf>. cit. 93. 
 
3 i 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the initiatory ceremonies the boy is painted by the man 
 who is Umbirna to him, i.e. brother of the woman he 
 may marry. Also the woman who will be the boy's 
 mother-in-law, runs off with him, but the men bring 
 him back again. 1 Amongst the Kamilaroi the novice 
 is taken from the women by the men of that " clan " 
 to which belong the women he may select his wife 
 from. Each novice has a " guardian " of that clan. 2 
 
 Sect. 2 
 
 In primitive society the young man and maiden are 
 required to avoid each other from their engagement 
 until marriage. This taboo is a repetition for two 
 particular individuals of the taboo at puberty between 
 the two sexes generally. The principle here also is to 
 prevent all intercouse until the particular ceremonies 
 which obviate the dangers of the new relation, mutual 
 " contagion " between two particular persons, have been 
 performed, and to prepare them for these and for the 
 new state of life, — the taboo of avoidance being thought 
 to be in itself some guarantee of future safety. The 
 dangers are those of sexual taboo, here naturally 
 emphasised, for the two sexes are now to meet ; they 
 coincide, as they are in origin connected, with that 
 mutual diffidence arising from complementary sexual 
 difference and accentuated at the awakening of love, — 
 the shyness of sex. The young people are about to 
 enter upon a critical state, that of living in more or 
 less close contact with each other, and as that state 
 derives its dangers from their reciprocal influence, a 
 taboo is set between them until it is removed by the 
 
 1 Soencer and Gillen, op, cit. 215, 443. - jfourn. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 420. 
 
xiii ENGAGEMENT TABOO 315 
 
 ceremony which unites them while rendering them 
 mutually innocuous. 
 
 The practice naturally coincides with the desire of 
 parents to keep the couple waiting till arrangements 
 are completed, and to prevent union until they are 
 bound together, such premature union being thought 
 especially dangerous, and in later culture sinful, while 
 in all stages it leaves repudiation open to the man with 
 consequent injury to the woman. Amongst the Nickol 
 Bay natives girls promised in marriage are not allowed 
 to speak to their future husbands, and are said to be 
 torka to them. 1 So in the Newcastle tribe, when an 
 old man promises a young friend that he shall have his 
 wife after his death, the husband-expectant is forbidden 
 to speak to his future wife or sit in a hut in which she 
 is. 2 After betrothal in Nias, Borneo, and the Watubella 
 Islands, no communication between the pair is allowed 
 till the wedding. 3 In Buru, Ceram, and Luang Sermata, 
 a youth when engaged may not go near his fiancee^ 
 look at her, or speak to her. 4 In Abyssinia during 
 the time of betrothal, generally three or four months, 
 the girl is strictly confined to the house. Intercourse 
 with her friends is not interrupted, but she remains 
 entirely invisible to the voung man, who meanwhile 
 frequently visits her father.'' The lover in South 
 Arabia sends his father or some near relative to ask 
 for the lady's hand, and from the moment the proposal 
 is accepted the girl can no longer go abroad unveiled, 
 and she and her betrothed are no longer permitted to 
 visit or to have any other personal relations with one 
 another." Amongst the Dorahs children are betrothed 
 
 1 Curr, '.p. cit. i. 298. a Id. i. 324. 
 
 ;; Rosenberg, Het tiland Nias, 38 ; Perelaer, cp. cit. 50 ; Riedel, De sluik-en 
 \ irccskarige rassen tusscaen Selebes en Papua, 205. 
 
 4 Id. 21, 134, 324. 5 Featherman, cp. cit. v. 604. 6 Id. v. 421. 
 
. 3 16 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 at an early age, and part of the "purchase-money ' is 
 paid then. Henceforth all intercourse between the two 
 families is interrupted, and they are prohibited from 
 speaking to one another, and the bride and bridegroom 
 are not allowed to see each other, or even pronounce 
 each other's name. Similarly amongst the Ayamboris 
 of New Guinea. 1 Elsewhere in New Guinea betrothed 
 persons may not see each other. Should they meet 
 vok on the road, the girl must hide heiiinii_a__lr££ until 
 the young man has passed. 2 Amongst the Lampongs 
 and Menangkabauers of Sumatra no communication is 
 allowed between betrothal and marriage. 3 " The Malay 
 fiancee, unlike her European sister, is at the utmost 
 pains to keep out of her lover's way, and to attain 
 this object she is said to be as watchful as a tiger." 4 
 The Wataveta bridegroom pays the "bride-price" in 
 bullocks, sometimes by instalments. After one payment 
 the bride is " sealed " to him. She is not allowed to go 
 out of the house, and may on no account see a man, not 
 even her betrothed. If the latter is poor, the engage- 
 ment may last, as it often does in civilised races, for 
 years. 5 Amongst the Jews of Morocco the pair never 
 see each other from the engagement to the marriage. 
 
 It is a curious fact, which will later be shown to 
 have considerable importance, that the taboo between 
 engaged couples reproduces the common taboo between 
 a brother and sister ; in other words, their state is a 
 re-presentation of life in the family, where sister and 
 brother are kept apart, and the " sanctity ' of the 
 home, in the primitive sense, is preserved by the mother 
 on the principles of sexual taboo. 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 33, 383. 2 Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, viii. 180. 
 3 Horst, in De Induche Gids (1880), 978 ; Van Hasselt, Volksbeschri'yving Midden- 
 Sumatra s, 275. 4 Skeat, op. cit. 366. 
 5 Thomson, op. cit. 61. 6 Leared, op. cit. 34. 
 
xin BETROTHAL BY PROXY 317 
 
 Lastly, these principles also supply the reason why 
 betrothal is generally carried out by proxies, and why 
 sometimes a man does not even woo his lady-love in 
 person. Thus amongst the /Kaffirs, when the suitor" 
 calls to make the acquaintance of the girl, the latter /' 
 speaks to him through her brother, for she will not 
 speak to him direct. 1 Amongst the Yao and allied 
 tribes there is an institution which we might call 
 " surety " or " god-parent." Every girl has a surety ; 
 and when her hand is sought in marriage it is this^, 
 official who is approached and not her parents. He 
 makes the necessary arrangements and sees what pro- 
 vision is to be made for her and her children, and also 
 in the event of her being sent away without just cause, 
 he interferes, and generally redresses her wrongs. - 
 " Representatives " of the Malay suitor visit the girl's 
 .parents to perform the betrothal. Atter matters arc 
 jarranged, one of these presents some betel, brought for 
 the purpose, to the people of the house, saying " This is 
 ja pledge of your daughter's betrothal." The father 
 replies: "Be it so, I accept it." 3 Sometimes the 
 mothers perform this office ; amongst the Iroquois 
 ,the young girl was led by her mother to the bride- 
 groom's lodge, and on entering she presented to her 
 mother-in-law a few cakes of maize. The mother of 
 the groom returned the compliment by offering some 
 venison to the bride's mother. " This interchange of 
 ,bread and meat gave final sanction to the marriage, 
 and the young couple were now looked upon as man 
 and wife." 4 
 
 1 Shooter, op. cit. 56. - Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 118. 
 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 365. 4 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 28. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Few peoples, if any, of those known to us, are without 
 some marriage ceremony. As to those who are said 
 to possess none, it will generally be found that there is 
 some act performed which is too slight or too practical 
 to be marked by an observer as a " ceremony," but 
 which when analysed turns out to be a real marriage 
 rite. Two common modes of marriage amongst the 
 Arunta and other Central Australian tribes illustrate 
 this, and also go to prove the correctness of the view 
 here put forward, that marriage rites of union are 
 essentially identical with love-charms, and that other 
 marriage rites coincide with precautions taken to lessen 
 the dangers of contact between the sexes, not only in 
 ordinary life, but at the critical stage of puberty. A 
 man or woman in the Arunta tribe can charm a person 
 of the other sex to love, by making music with a bull- 
 roarer. If he or she soon comes to the musician, the 
 marriage is thereby complete. 1 This method is a love- 
 charm in the Yaroinga tribe. 2 The other method is 
 the perforation of the hymen, at once an initiatory and a 
 marriage ceremony. 3 In fact, the mere act of union 
 is potentially a marriage ceremony of the sacramental 
 kind, and as the ideas of contact develop directly from 
 physiological functions, one may even credit the earliest 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 541, 542. 2 Roth, op. cit. 182. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 93 ff. 
 
chap, xiv MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 319 
 
 animistic men with some such vague conception before 
 any ceremony became crystallised. 
 
 Marriage being the permanent living-together of a 
 man and woman, what is the essence of a marriage 
 ceremony ? It is the "joining together " of a man and 
 a woman, in the words of our English Service " for 
 this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and 
 shall be joined unto his wife ; and they two shall be 
 one flesh." At the other side of the world, amongst 
 the Orang Benuas, these words are pronounced by an 
 elder, when a marriage is solemnised : " Listen all 
 ye that are present ; those that were distant are now 
 brought together ; those that were separated are now 
 united." ! Marriage ceremonies in all stages of culture 
 may be called religious with as much propriety as any 
 ceremony whatever ; but this religious character in 
 most cases, and practically always except in the highest 
 
 1 stages, concerns the human relations of the human pair. 
 
 jl have shown above how in primitive thought human 
 relations contain the essentials of a religious character. 
 
 ■ l need not recapitulate here the principles of human 
 relations as expressed in ideas of contact, or their 
 
 .application to relations between the two sexes. Before 
 marriage, and in many cases also after marriage, the 
 sexes are separated by these ideas of sexual taboo ; at 
 marriage, they are joined together by the same ideas, 
 worked out, in the most important set of rites, to their 
 logical conclusion in reciprocity of relations. Those 
 who were separated are now joined together, those who 
 were mutually taboo, now break the taboo. In the 
 higher stages the ceremony lifts the union into the 
 ideal plane, as, for instance, symbolising the mystic 
 union of Christ and His Church ; or, as in Brahmin 
 
 1 Newbold, British Settlements in Malacca, ii. 407. 
 
320 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 marriages, where the bridegroom says to the bride, " I 
 am the sky, thou art the earth ; come let us marry," 
 words referring to " the two great parents of the Aryan 
 race, as the Rig -Veda calls them, Dyaushpitar and 
 Prthivi matar} It is also unnecessary to recapitulate 
 the various dangers which have been shown responsible 
 for the taboo between the sexes and the various sexual 
 properties of which the contagion is feared, all of which 
 lead to the implicit idea that not only all contact of 
 man and woman, but the state of marriage itself, is 
 harmful and later, sinful, in fact theoretically for- 
 bidden. Hence the conception that marriage ceremonies 
 " prevent ' this danger and this sin. It is sufficient 
 
 t merely to state that the ceremonies of marriage are ( 
 intended to neutralise these dangers and to make the ' 
 
 | union safe, prosperous, and happy. With this is con- 
 nected the wish to bind the one to the other, so as to - 
 s prevent, if possible, later repudiation. This, by the 
 way, is exactly the idea held by the average man still. 
 I may also point out here that the object of marriage 
 ceremonies is not and never was, to join together the 
 man or the woman, as the case may be, with " the life, 
 or blood, or flesh of the tribe." There is no trace of 
 this sentimental socialism in primitive society, though 
 there are facts which look like it, no more than there 
 is or ever was a community of wives ; marriage is 
 between individuals and is an individualistic act. The 
 mere existence of the egoistic impulse, not to be casually 
 identified with jealousy, is enough to discredit the 
 
 y suggestion ; and the tendency of society from primitive 
 animalism upwards has been from individualism to 
 
 ! socialism. It is a perversion of history and of psycho- 
 logy as well, to make man more communistic the more 
 
 1 Tylor, Primitive Culture* i. 327. 
 
xiv ONE FLESH 321 
 
 primitive he is. There may be a few isolated cases in 
 peoples whose tribal solidarity has become pronounced, 
 where the later legal notion has arisen, but since in 
 nearly all such cases, marriage is allowed within the 
 tribe (exogamy nearly always sanctioning cousin - 
 marriage), there can be no original intention of making 
 tribe -fellows of two persons who are already tribe - 
 fellows. Nor did any man ever yet marry a tribe, 
 although in the humorous side of life, relatives are 
 sometimes found to act as if he did ; no man ever yet 
 felt the tribal blood surge through his veins as he 
 drank wine with his wife in the marriage ceremony. 
 True, a new relationship is formed, a new member 
 enters the family or tribe (rarely the latter), but this 
 idea is secondary, and does not touch the marriage 
 ceremony except in a few cases as referred to, in which 
 it is very probable that the report is half inference, in 
 any case it is a pseudo-scientific piece of myth-making, 
 whether on the part of observer or native informant. 
 The Church in her marriage service shows more insight 
 than many ethnologists, when she repeats the words 
 " for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother 
 and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be 
 one flesh." The word " flesh," by the way, does not by 
 any means refer to kinship or tribal union, as who 
 should say in late human parlance "one blood." Even 
 in the Hebrew the individual meaning is the primary 
 one. This is also recognised by our Service ; " So 
 ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies. 
 He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man 
 ever yet hated his own flesh." Lastly, is it fear of 
 the tribe that makes a maid veil her face before her 
 intended husband, or a bridegroom dress up as a 
 woman ? The inadequacy of the theory is evident in 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 t 
 
 every kind of marriage rite. We shall recur to this 
 when discussing "group-marriage" and relationships. 
 
 Marriage ceremonies neutralise the dangers attaching 
 o union between the sexes, in all the complex meaning 
 of those dangers. The ritual may be divided into two 
 classes, corresponding to the two divisions of ideas con- 
 cerning contact, those namely that obviate or neutralise 
 the dangers of taboo ( i ) by one or more of the simple 
 methods, (2) by one or more of the double or complex 
 methods, typified by ngia ngiampe or mutual inocula- 
 tion. The first breaks taboo by removing or neutralis- 
 ing the taboo property, the second breaks taboo between 
 two persons by breaking it, i.e. by assimilating the two 
 persons, inoculating them with each other, the principle 
 coinciding with that of union. Marriage sums up all, 
 the principles and practice of sexual taboo, as any close 
 union between any two persons sums up those of social 
 taboo, and in the details it will frequently be obvious 
 how some ceremony answers to some taboo, as a positive 
 to a negative. 
 
 Lastly, when we find only one or two sorts oi 
 ceremonies referring directly to sexual intercourse, while 
 the others refer to ordinary contact, with special refer- 
 ence to eating together, and generally to the state oi 
 living together in contact, we need not refer marriage 
 ceremonies generally to fear of danger from sexual 
 intercourse alone, or from female periodicity ; these 
 take their place as parts of the whole, as they do ir 
 sexual taboo. 
 
 It is interesting to note the materialistic powei 
 attached to the marriage rite, as shown, for instance 
 in Burmah. It is believed in that country that when i 
 wife dies in child-bed she becomes a maleficent demon 
 Accordingly, when a wife does die thus, the husbanc 
 
 
xiv BASIS OF THE RITUAL 323 
 
 at once gets a divorce. 1 In Java if a man wishes to be 
 divorced, the priest cuts the " marriage -cord " before 
 witnesses, and this simple act severs the nuptial tie. 2 
 We may also note that with many peoples, and the 
 fact is instructive, there is less ceremonial when a widow 
 is married. 3 In cases where the " paternal system " is 
 followed, there should on the tribal theory of marriage, 
 be no ceremony at all when a widow is married, because 
 she has already the life of the tribe flowing in her 
 veins ; but there is some ceremony. It is reduced 
 precisely because she has been through the same thing 
 before, and is therefore less in danger from men and 
 less dangerous. She has been handselled. 
 
 For practical purposes, as is hardly necessary to 
 premise, the complex fears of men and women are 
 often subconscious, or are only expressed as a feeling 
 of diffidence with regard to the novel proceedings, and 
 also are not always focussed on the personality of either 
 party with its inherent dangerous properties nor stimu- 
 lated by conscious realisation of particular dangers. 
 Potentially the consciousness has knowledge of all the 
 : principles, and cross-examination might elicit most, but 
 actually the fears are vague, they are fears of vague 
 strangeness and danger. We have, however, seen cases 
 where the individual in marriage is consciously aware 
 that it is his human partner who is to be feared, and 
 others will occur as we proceed. Amongst the Mord- 
 vins, as the bridegroom's party sets out for the house 
 of the bride, the " best man " marches thrice round the 
 - party with a drawn sword or scythe, imprecating curses 
 : upon ill-wishers. In Nizhegorod the "best man" walks 
 thrice round the partv, against the sun, holding an 
 
 1 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 173. a Featherman, op. cit. ii. 383. 
 
 3 Slceat, op. cit. 382 ; yourr.. Anthrcp. Inst. xxiv. 11 ; Lane, op. cit. i. 195. 
 
3 2 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 eikon. Then he places himself in front of them, and 
 scratches the ground with a knife, cursing evil spirits 
 and evilly disposed persons. 1 In the county of Durham 
 men with guns used to escort the bridal party to 
 church. The guns were fired at intervals over the 
 heads of the bride and bridesmaids. In Cleveland guns 
 were fired over the heads of the newly married pair all 
 the way from church.' 2 In China it was supposed that 
 when a new bride in her chair passed a certain place,, 
 evil spirits would approach and injure her, causing her, 
 to be ill ; hence the figure of a great magician (a Taoist 
 priest) riding a tiger, and brandishing a sword, was ; 
 painted in front. 3 In Manchuria, when the bridal 
 sedan-chair arrives at the bridegroom's house, the door ; 
 is shut and crackers are fired to keep off "evil spirits." 4 J, 
 Again, in South Arabia the bride goes in procession to 
 the bridegroom's dwelling, her turban ornamented inl: 
 front with a bouquet of garlic as a protection against the, I- 
 " evil eye." 5 In Manchuria the bride is taken in pro- 
 cession to the bridegroom's house. Two men run in 
 front, each holding a red cloth, by which it is intended . 
 to ward off evil influences ; ° an excellent application of 
 the man with the red flag. Also the sedan-chair ir 
 which she goes to the bridegroom's house is "dis- 
 infected " with incense, to drive away evil spirits, anc 
 in it is put a calendar containing names of idols whc 
 control the demoniacal hosts. Again, before a bride ii , v 
 taken out of her sedan-chair, on arriving at the bride 
 groom's house, he fires three arrows at the blinds. 
 Amongst the Bechuanas the bridegroom throws ai 
 arrow into the hut before he enters to take his bride. 
 
 1 Folklore, i. 445. 2 W. Henderson, Folklore of the Northern Counties, 3! 
 
 3 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 95. 4 Folklore, i. 487. 5 Featherman, op. cit. v. 422. 
 
 6 Folklore, I.e. 7 Id. I.e. 8 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xvi. 8 
 
XIV 
 
 EVIL INFLUENCES 325 
 
 So the Andamanese bridegroom when introduced to his 
 :'oride has some arrows put in his hand. 1 Amongst the 
 Bheels and Bheelalahs the groom touches the "marriage- | 
 bed " with a sword. 2 Thus is to be explained, and 
 tot as a survival of " marriage by capture," the old 
 Roman custom, in which the bridegroom combed the 
 ;oride's hair with a spear, the ctelibaris hast a? 
 
 The practice of throwing rice originated in the idea" 
 }f giving food to the evil influences to induce them to 
 oe propitious and depart, but in many cases it seems to 
 « lave developed into a sympathetic method of securing 
 ertility,/ and on the other hand is regarded by some 
 tbeoples as an inducement to the soul to stay. In 
 Celebes, for instance, there is a belief that the bride- 
 groom's soul is apt to fly away at marriage, and rice 
 s therefore scattered over him to induce it to remain. 4 
 ^lour and sweetmeats similarly in old Greek custom 
 ivere poured over the new bridegroom. 5 Where, as 
 rften in folk-custom, such things are flung about 
 imong the onlookers, the idea was originally of the 
 ■:ype first described. The nuts used thus at old Roman 
 veddings are a well-known instance. 
 
 A common class of preliminary ceremonial includes 
 /arious kinds of lustration or purification, the inner 
 neaning of which is to neutralise the mutual dangers 
 )f contact. Before the wedding the bridegroom in 
 South Celebes bathes in holy water. The bride is 
 dso fumigated. 7 Shortly before the wedding day the 
 \byssinian girl has a thorough ablution and her diet is 
 •estricted. s When the Matabele bride arrives at the 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 232. '- Jaurn. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 404. 
 3 Festus, 44 ; Plutarch, Sfuastiona Romano?. 87. 4 Matthes, op. cit. 33. 
 
 5 Scholiast on Aristophanes, PJutus, 768. '' Festus, 183. 
 
 7 Matthes, op. cit. 21. s Featherman, op. cit. v. 604. 
 
326 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 bridegroom's house she pours water over him. 1 Puri- 
 fication by water forms " an integral part of Malay- 
 customs at birth, adolescence, marriage, sickness, death, 
 and, in fact, at every critical period of the life of a 
 Malay." 2 In all these it is called tepong tawar, which 
 properly means " the neutralising rice-flour water, 
 neutralising being used almost in a chemical sense, i.e. 
 in the sense of ' sterilising ' the active element of 
 poisons, or of destroying the active potentialities of 
 evil spirits." Amongst the Malays lustrations are 
 continued by the newly married pair for three days. 
 The first ceremonies at a wedding consist in fumigating 
 the bride and groom with incense, and then smearing 
 them with "neutralising paste" which averts "ill-luck." 
 Here the idea emerges into conscious realisation of the 
 persons to be feared. 
 
 We saw that initiation practices are theoretically I 
 marriage ceremonies by which the individual is married 
 in abstract to the other sex — that is, prepared for the 
 dangers of intercourse. Naturally the two are often 
 combined or show similarity of rite. Thus in British 
 Guiana a young man before marriage undergoes an 
 ordeal ; his flesh is wounded, and he is sewn into a j 
 hammock full of fire-ants. 4 Amongst the Sakalavas 
 and Betsileo the aspirant to a lady's hand has to be shot 
 at with spears ; he is expected to show cleverness and 
 courage by avoiding them. 5 In Fiji girls are tattooed 
 at puberty or immediately after marriage. During the 
 process of healing they are tabu siga, " kept from the 
 sun." 6 In connection with this, we have seen the mean- I 
 ing of the prohibition and may note that, as danger 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 84. 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 77, 385, 376. 
 5 Journ. Anthrop. Ir.it. ix. J.2. 
 
 - Skeat, op. cit. 278. 
 
 4 im Thurn, op. cit. 221. 
 
 G Williams, op. cit. i. 170. 
 
xiv LIGHT AND DARKNESS 327 
 
 is obviated by refraining from such exposure, in the 
 same way as by abstinence at marriage, superstition and 
 self-control alike being thus satisfied, so, when the 
 individual is spiritually prepared, exposure or satis- 
 faction becomes safe and even beneficial. After 
 initiation Halmahera boys must expose themselves to 
 the sun. 1 Similar was the custom amongst the Hindus, 
 I by which the bride had to look at the sun on the 
 I day before marriage. 2 In Central Asia the young 
 . pair greet the rising sun. Similarly amongst the 
 Chacos. 3 The fertilising power of the sun is 
 : now useful and a blessing. We may compare our 
 I proverb, " Happy is the bride on whom the sun 
 shines." 
 
 Weddings very commonlv take place in the evening, 
 or at night, a custom natural enough for its convenience 
 and its obviation of dangers, such as that of the evil 
 jeye and those connected with human, and especially 
 :.with female, shyness and timidity. Taken in con- 
 inection with the last custom, we may without excess 
 of fancifulness note the coincidence with nature's 
 method of shrouding her processes of production in 
 mystery and darkness, and of revealing their results 
 in the light. Amongst the Santhals marriages take 
 place at night, and the bride is conveyed to her 
 husband in a basket. 4 In Morocco and the Babar 
 Islands, amongst the Maoris, the Copts, and Polish 
 Jews, to take a few cases, marriages are made after 
 sunset or at night." Amongst the ancient Romans the 
 bridegroom had to go to his bride in the dark, a 
 custom on which Plutarch speculates in his " Roman 
 
 1 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 82. 
 ' 2 Frazer, op. cit.- Hi. 222. 3 Id. I.e. 4 E. G. Man, Sonthalia, 98, 99. 
 
 5 Leared, op. cit.; J. G. F. Riedel, *De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Seleies 
 en Papua, 350 ; Shortland, op. cit. 140 ; Featherman, op. cit. v. 509, 153. 
 
328 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Questions." 1 Amongst the Zulus it is against etiquette 
 for the bridal party to enter the bridegroom's hut in 
 the day-time. 2 
 
 In the next place, we find various customs by which 
 the young people hide, from vague evil, or from each 
 other. In these customs, which pass into various sorts 
 of seclusion, concealment, and veiling, the real meaning 
 of such marriage ceremonial is often very clearly seen. 
 Sexual shyness not only in woman but in man, is inten- 
 sified at marriage, and forms a chief feature of the dan- 
 gerous sexual properties mutually feared. When fully 
 ceremonial, the idea takes on the meaning that satisfaction 
 of these feelings will lead to their neutralisation, as in fact 
 it does. The bridegroom in ancient Sparta supped on 
 the wedding-night at the men's mess, and then visited his 
 bride, leaving her before daybreak. This practice was 
 continued, and sometimes children were born before the 
 pair had ever seen each other's faces by day. 3 At weddings 
 in the Babar Islands the bridegroom has to hunt for his 
 bride in a darkened room. This lasts a good while if 
 she is shy. 4 In South Africa the bridegroom may not 
 see his bride till the whole of the marriage ceremonies 
 have been performed. 5 In Persia a husband never sees 
 his wife till he has consummated the marriage. 6 At 
 marriages in South Arabia the bride and bridegroom 
 have to sit immovable in the same position from noon 
 till midnight, fasting, in separate rooms. The bride is 
 attended by ladies, and the groom by men. They may 
 not see each other till the night of the fourth day. 7 In 
 Egypt the groom cannot see the face of his bride, even 
 by a surreptitious glance, till she is in his absolute pos- 
 
 1 Plutarch, ^. R. 65 ; Servius on Virgil, Eclog. viii. 29. 
 
 3 Leslie, op. cit. 115. 3 Plutarch, Lycurgus, xv. 48. 
 
 4 Riedel, op. cit. 351. 5 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 271. 
 6 Chardin, in Pir.kerton, ix. 154. 7 Featherman, op. cit. v. 422. 
 
xiv MAY NOT SEE EACH OTHER 329 
 
 session. Then comes the ceremony, which he performs, 
 of uncovering her face. 1 In Egypt, of course, this has 
 been accentuated by the seclusion and veiling of women. 
 In Morocco, at the feast before the marriage, the bride 
 and groom sit together on a sort of throne ; all the 
 time the poor bride's eyes are firmly closed, and she sits 
 amid the revelry as immovable as a statue. On the 
 next day is the marriage. She is conducted after dark 
 to her future home, accompanied by a crowd with 
 lanterns and candles. She is led with closed eyes 
 along the street by two relatives, each holding one of 
 her hands. " Such is the regard to propriety on this 
 solemn occasion, that the bride's head is held in its proper 
 position by a female relative who walks behind her." 
 She wears a veil, and is not allowed to open her eyes 
 until she is set on the bridal bed with a girl friend 
 beside her. 2 Amongst the Zulus the bridal party 
 proceeds to the house of the groom, having the bride 
 hidden amongst them so that no one can see her. 
 They stand facing the groom, while the bride sings 
 a song. Her companions then suddenly break away, 
 and she is discovered standing in the middle with a 
 fringe of beads covering her face. 3 Amongst the 
 people of Kumaun the husband sees his wife first 
 after the joining of hands. 4 Amongst the Bedui of 
 North-East Africa the bride is brought on the evening 
 of the wedding-day by her girl friends to the groom's 
 house. She is closely muffled up. 5 Amongst the Jews 
 of Jerusalem the bride at the marriage ceremony stands 
 under the nuptial canopy, her eyes being closed that 
 she may not behold the face of her future husband 
 
 1 Lane, op. cit. i. 197. 2 Leared, op. cit. 36, 38. 
 
 :! Leslie, op. cit. 1 16. 4 Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. 244. 
 
 5 Munzinger, op. cit. 148. 
 
330 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 before she reaches the bridal chamber. 1 In Melanesia 
 the bride is carried to her new home on some one's 
 back, wrapped in many mats, with palm-fans held 
 about her face, " because she is supposed to be modest 
 and shy." 2 Amongst the Damaras the groom cannot 
 see his bride for four days after marriage. When a 
 Damara woman is asked in marriage, she covers her 
 face for a time with the flap of a head-dress made for 
 this purpose. 3 At the Thlinkeet marriage ceremony 
 the bride must look down and keep her head bowed all 
 the time ; during the wedding-day she remains hiding 
 in a corner of the house, and the groom is forbidden 
 to enter. 4 At a Yezedee marriage the bride is covered 
 from head to foot with a thick veil, and when arrived 
 at her new home she retires behind a curtain in the 
 corner of a darkened room, where she remains for 
 three days before her husband is permitted to see her." 
 In Corea the bride has to cover her face with her long 
 sleeves when meeting the bridegroom at the wedding. 1 ' 
 The Manchurian bride uncovers her face for the first 
 time, when she descends from the nuptial couch. 7 As 
 has already been shown, it is dangerous even to see 
 dangerous persons. Sight is a method of contagion 
 in primitive science, and the idea coincides with the 
 psychological aversion to see dangerous things, and 
 with sexual shyness and timidity. In the customs 
 noticed we can distinguish the feeling that it is dan- 
 gerous to the bride for her husband's eyes to be 
 upon her, and the feeling of bashfulness in her which 
 induces her neither to see him nor to be seen by him. 
 These ideas explain the origin of the bridal veil and 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 140. - Codrington, op. cit. 242. 
 
 :i South African Folklore Journal, i. 49 ; C j. Anderson, op. cit. 225. 
 4 Dall, op. at. 415. 5 Featherman, op. cit. v. 62. 
 
 6 Journ. Antrop. Insr. xxiv. 305. ' Folklore, i. 489. 
 
 
xiv THE BRIDAL VEIL 
 
 similar concealments. Dobrizhoffer wrote of Abipont 
 women as often hiding in the woods before marriage, 
 many " seeming to dread the assaults of tigers less than 
 the untried nuptials." When the bride was led to the 
 groom's tent, eight girls held a carpet in front of her. 1 
 Amongst the Bedouins of Ethiopia the bride is con- 
 cealed under a canopy carried by girls.- At Druse 
 marriages the bride .is hidden in a long red veil, which 
 is removed by the groom in the bridal chamber. 3 The 
 bridal veil is used, to take a few instances, in China, 
 Burmah, Corea, Russia, Bulgaria, Manchuria, and'l 
 Persia ; in all these cases it conceals the face entirely. 4 . 
 Cases where a sacred umbrella is held over the head, as 
 amongst the Chinese, 5 are connected with the sanctity of 
 the head, the idea being to prevent evil coming down 
 upon that sensitive part of the body. Thus when the 
 King of Dahomey drank with Burton, a parasol was 
 placed over him to prevent his being seen. 6 
 
 Various methods of seclusion both from each other 
 and from external danger, are illustrated by the 
 following. In some Victorian tribes the young man, as 
 soon as he had passed the ceremonies of initiation, was 
 introduced to the bride, already assigned to him, to 
 gaze at her, for he was forbidden to converse with her. 
 She was then sent to her mother-in-law, who took care 
 of her until the marriage had taken place, but the young 
 man had no access to his future wife. At sunset the 
 bride took her seat in front of her relatives and friends, 
 being separated by a large fire from the bridegroom, 
 who was seated in front of a group of his own friends. 
 
 1 Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 208. 2 Harris, op. cit. i. 287. 
 
 3 Chasseaud, op. cit. 166. 
 
 4 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 79 ; Anderson, op. cit. 141 ; Griffis, op. cit. 249 ; Ralston, 
 op. cit. 280 ; Sinclair and Brophy, op. cit. 73 ; Folklore, i. 489. 
 
 5 Folklore, i. 365. 6 Burton, op. cit. i. 244. 
 
332 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 He was then introduced by the groomsmen to the bride, 
 who received him with downcast eyes and in perfect 
 silence. After some feasting the pair were escorted to 
 their future home, but they were still sequestered for 
 two moons, sleeping on different sides of the fire and 
 watched over by a female and a male guardian, who 
 provided them with food. After this period the bride 
 stayed with her parents for a fortnight and then went 
 to her husband. 1 Amongst the Arabs of Mount Sinai the 
 bride is required by decency to remain secluded in her 
 tent for a fortnight, and the rule is that she may only 
 leave it at night, so as not to be seen by men. 2 In 
 certain South African tribes the girl is put in a hut 
 alone. After some days she is taken to another hut, 
 and then to her husband. 3 In New Britain the bride 
 stays in the hut of her intended five days alone, while 
 his relatives bring her food. Meanwhile he is in one of 
 the hiding-places (known only to the men) in the 
 forest, or hidden in tall grass. 4 In Port Moresby 
 the groom sleeps with the bride, but must leave her 
 before dawn, because " he is ashamed to be seen coming 
 from his wife in daylight." 5 The Tipperah youth 
 serves the bride's father for three years, during which 
 time he uses her as a wife. But on the wedding-night 
 he has to sleep with her surreptitiously ; he leaves the 
 house before dawn, and absents himself for four days. 6 
 Amongst the Nufoers the bride and groom may not 
 meet each other alone till the fifth day, but even then 
 only by night, and for four days more he must leave 
 his wife's chamber before day. 7 Parallel to the New 
 Britain custom is an extension of this idea, illustrated 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 142. 2 Id. v. 368. 
 
 a D. Livingstone, South Africa, 412. 
 
 4 R. Parkinson, Im Eismarci-ArcAipel, 98. 5 Chalmers, op. cit. 163. 
 
 6 Lewin, op. cit. 203. 7 F. H. Guillemani, The Cruise of the Marchesa, ii. 287. 
 
xiv SECLUSION AND FLIGHT 
 
 333 
 
 by the custom of: Bedouin brides. At night the bride, 
 before consummation of the marriage, runs away to the 
 hills and hides. There her friends bring her food, 
 while the husband looks for her. This is repeated the 
 next night, and when he finds her he must consummate 
 the marriage, and remain all night with her in the hills. 1 
 Conversely in Egypt on the day after marriage the man 
 who carried the bridegroom upstairs takes him to an 
 "entertainment" in the country, where thev spend the 
 whole day. This ceremony is called el-hooroobeh, " the 
 flight." He returns in the evening.- In Corea after 
 three days of marriage the young husband goes away 
 for a time. 3 Again, both bride and groom are secluded 
 within the house ; for ten days in Luzon, during which 
 no one may enter ; i among the Minahassas for three 
 days and nights in a dark room ; amongst the Bedui 
 for forty days. 5 It is said that amongst some of the 
 Bedui, the wife may not leave the house for three years 
 nor touch any work ; ° in Bulgaria they are shut up for 
 - a week, during which they may not go out nor receive 
 visitors. 7 The newly wedded pair in the Aru Islands 
 ( are shut up for four days, and are looked after by the 
 bride's mother. 3 In Ceramlaut the young pair may not 
 go out of the house for three days. 9 This applies often 
 to the bride only, as amongst the Bedouins, where she 
 stays in the tent for a fortnight. 10 In the Kingsmill 
 Islands the house is screened with mats for ten days, 
 and the bride may not go out. 11 For forty days after 
 marriage the Javanese bride was secluded. 12 Amongst 
 the Copts she may not go out, even to see her parents, 
 
 I Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahabees, i. 269. 2 Lane, op. cit. i. 214. 
 
 3 Griffis, op. cit. 251. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 498. 5 Id. ii. 611. 
 
 6 Munzinger, op. cit. 148. 7 Sinclair and Brophy, op. cit. 73. 
 
 8 Riedel, op. cit. 262. 9 Id. 172. Burckhardt, op. cit. i. 268. 
 
 II Wilkes, op. cit. v. 101. 1 - Featherman, op. cit. ii. 384. 
 
334 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 till the delivery of her first child, or until the end of a 
 year. 1 Wataveta brides " are set apart for the first 
 year as something almost too good for earth. They 
 are dressed, adorned, physicked, and pampered in every 
 way, almost like goddesses. They are screened from 
 vulgar sight, exempted from all household duties, and 
 prohibited from all social intercourse with all of the 
 other sex except their husbands. They are never left 
 alone, are accompanied by some one wherever they may 
 wish to go, and are not permitted to exert themselves 
 in the least ; even in their short walks they creep at a 
 snail's pace, least they should overstrain their muscles. 
 Two of these celestial beings were permitted to visit 
 me." They wore veils of iron chain, hanging to below 
 the lips. " They honoured me only with their eyes ; 
 they did not let me hear the mellow harmony of their 
 voices. They had to see and be seen, but not to be 
 heard or spoken to. Brides are treated in this manner 
 until they present their husbands with a son or 
 daughter, or the hope of such a desired event has 
 passed away. In the former case the goddess falls to 
 the level of an ordinary housewife ; in the other well 
 for her if she be not despised or even discarded."" 
 Here the practice passes into care for the unborn child 
 and avoidance of risks on the part of the young wife. 
 On the other hand, in Java again, neither bride nor 
 groom may go out of the house, or perform any hard 
 work, for forty days before the wedding. 3 
 
 Behind these customs there is sexual shyness, and the 
 ideas that association with women is improper as well as 
 dangerous, leading to effeminacy, and that for women, 
 association with men is improper ; but, further, these 
 
 5 Lane, op. cit. ii. 333. 2 New, op, cit. 360, 361. 
 
 3 Raffles, History of Java, i. 325. 
 
xiv SEXUAL SOLIDARITY 335 
 
 ideas coincide with that solidarity of sex, which respects 
 and sympathises with the sexual shyness of each party. 
 Accordingly amongst the Bedui the bride spends the 
 wedding-day with her girl friends and the bridegroom 
 with young men. 1 At Watubella marriages the men 
 take their place by the bridegroom, and the women by 
 the bride. 2 The Babar bride is attended by women 
 friends. 3 Amongst the Barbary Arabs the young wife 
 is escorted to the dowar of her husband by all the 
 women of the neighbourhood. 4 During the marriage 
 feast of four days amongst the Damaras she may only 
 sleep with the girls, behind her mother's house. He is 
 not allowed to see his bride or even to enter the werft, 
 during these four days, but stays somewhere behind it. 
 When the pair go to his home, her mother and other 
 women go with them to see her safely installed. 5 In 
 Amboina the marriage takes place in the house of the 
 young man's parents, but no men may be present. 
 After a week a feast takes place at the house of the 
 bride's parents, but at this only men may be present.'"' 
 
 Returning to the subject of disguise, used as a 
 concealment from danger, " spiritual," personal, and 
 sexual, vaguely conceived or clearly realised in a 
 member of the other sex, we may note the practice of 
 Muhammadans in the north-west provinces of India ; 
 for some days before marriage both bride and groom 
 wear dirty clothes. 7 The common custom by which the 
 bride's hair is shaven or a lock cut off is doubtless 
 connected with the ideas which cause this practice in 
 other taboo states. Something, some part of one, must 
 be given up by way of propitiating evil influences, a 
 
 1 Munzinger, op. cit. 147. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 205. 3 Id. 350. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. cit. v. 530. 6 South African Folklore) Journal, i. 49. 
 
 r ' Riedel, op. cit. 69. 7 Crooke, in Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. 960. 
 
 k^ 
 
. 
 
 336 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 part must be sacrificed for the whole. The idea is 
 sometimes merged in the principle of change of identity, 
 by supposing a part of the person to be instinct with 
 the properties of the whole ; in other cases it becomes 
 later a sacrifice to some deity, as Greek brides cut 
 off a lock of hair. In some of the Fiji Islands the 
 bride cut off a long lock of her hair, in others all 
 her hair was shaven off. 1 The head of a Kaffir bride 
 was shaved. 2 
 
 There are some interesting customs which show both 
 the taboo character of bride and bridegroom and also an 
 attempt at disguising them by fictitious change of 
 identity. " The Malay wedding ceremony, even as ; 
 carried out by the poorer classes, shows that the 
 contracting parties are treated as royalty, that is to say, 
 as sacred human beings, and if any further proof is 
 required, in addition to the evidence which may be 
 drawn from the general character of the ceremony, I 
 may mention first the fact that the bride and bridegroom 
 are actually called Raja sari {i.e. ' the sovereigns of a 
 day '), and secondly, that it is a polite fiction that no 
 command of theirs, during their one day of sovereignty, 
 may be disobeyed." 3 During the first week of marriage 
 the Syrian pair play at being king and queen ; they sit 
 on a throne, and the villagers sing songs. 4 Wetzstein 
 conjectures that " the Song of Songs " is a collection of 
 such. 5 
 
 Somewhat similar is the idea underlying the habit of 
 wearing finery or new clothes for a new or important 
 event. On the same plane is the common custom of 
 erecting a " marriage -bower," well known amongst 
 
 1 Featherman, op. at. ii. 203. - Shooter, op. cit. 75. 
 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 388. * Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic for 1873, 270. 
 
 5 S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, 452. 
 
/ 
 
 xiv MOCK BRIDES 337 
 
 Hindu peoples, and once common in Spain. 1 For 
 Abyssinian weddings a dass or bower of green branches 
 is erected in the courtyard. Here bride and groom sit 
 in state on opposite sides, each surrounded by friends. 2 
 
 Next comes the very interesting custom of substitut-i^- 
 ing a mock bride for the real one. Thus, amongst the 
 Beni-Amer the groom and his friends are often mocked 
 ; when they come to take the bride, her people substitut- 
 ing a false bride for the true one. The substitute is 
 carefully disguised and allows herself to be taken, and 
 at last when the procession is well outside the village, 
 [she reveals herself and runs back laughing. This may 
 [be done more than once. 3 Amongst the Saxons of 
 Transsylvania the bride is concealed with two married 
 women behind a curtain, on the evening of the wedding- 
 day, and the husband has to guess which is his wife ; 
 all three try to mislead him. 4 This kind of thing is 
 common in European folk -custom. Amongst the 
 Moksha an old woman dressed up as a bride dances 
 before the company. 5 Amongst the Esthonians the 
 bride's brother dresses up in woman's clothes, and 
 personates the bride. In Brittany the substitutes are 
 first a little girl, then the mistress of the house, and 
 lastly the grandmother. In Poland an old woman, in 
 Polonia a bearded man personate the bride. 6 
 
 Bride or groom is sometimes attended by one or 
 more persons dressed up to resemble him or her. 
 : These persons are intended to be duplicates, and the 
 : idea is " safety in numbers," combined with similarity 
 : of costume, much as the sacred shield of Roman worship 
 : was kept safe by being placed amongst a number of fac- 
 
 1 Th. Moore, Marriage Customs, 56. 2 Featherman, op. cit. v. 604, 605. 
 3 Munzinger, op. cit. 324. 4 Gerard, The Land beyond the Forest, i. 185. 
 
 5 Folklore, i. 446. 6 Folklore, iv. 147. 
 
 Z 
 
 
338 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 similes. The bale muri of Fiji has the same origin. 
 The modern Egyptian bridegroom walks between two 
 friends dressed exactly like himself. 1 Amongst the 
 Abyssinians, when a princess is married, she is accom- 
 panied in the procession by her sister, dressed exactly 
 like herself. 2 
 
 The very natural practice of being accompanied on, 
 these, as on other important occasions, by a friend ofi 
 one's own sex, has crystallised into the institution ofj 
 groomsmen, bridesmaids, and the like. They resemble! 
 generally persons like the Roman advocati, who were 
 witnesses to character and general supporters of a 
 litigant. In marriage ceremonial their original function 
 is sympathy and assistance in a trying ordeal more or 
 less fraught with " spiritual " danger, but sometimes! 
 their duty becomes more specialised. At Egyptian] 
 weddings the bride is attended by several girls who] 
 cluster round her under the same canopy. 3 We may-i 
 compare the Zulu custom of surrounding the bride] 
 with a throng of maidens. At Malay weddings the] 
 bride is attended by one or more girl-companions, and] 
 the bridegroom by two pages. 4 During the first few 
 days after a wedding the South Celebes bride is attended 
 by eight girls, and also is accompanied by a lady of her r 
 own age, who is dressed exactly like her. The bride-' 
 groom is also accompanied by a young man of his own 
 age, dressed like himself. 5 The Abyssinian bridegroom 
 is attended by six to twelve bridesmen, called arkees, 
 " to whom particular functions are assigned and extra- 
 ordinary privileges are allowed." Boys of the same 
 social class unite together and form a kind of society, 
 binding themselves to act as arkees for each other. At 
 
 1 Lane, op. cit. i. 212. - Harris, op. cit. ii. 225. 
 
 Lane, op. cit. i. 217, 200. 4 Skeat, op, cit. 375. 5 Matthes, op. cit. 29 
 
 3 
 
xiv BRIDESMAIDS AND BEST MAN 339 
 
 the marriage ceremony they pledge themselves to fulfil 
 towards the bride the part of " brethren " ; they wait 
 on her, and furnish her with meat should she hunger, 
 and with milk should she thirst. During the first few 
 weeks of marriage the arkees sleep in the bridal chamber 
 and supply the pair with anything they may want in 
 the night ; and one arkee keeps constant watch during 
 this period over the bride. 1 In these examples is well 
 seen the way in which the women stand by the bride 
 and the men by the groom, a fact which indicates the 
 real origin of marriage ceremonies. The last case shows 
 a chivalrous perversion of sympathy. Again, in Russia 
 on the wedding -night a man called a klyetnik was 
 appointed to watch round the bridal chamber. 2 Similarly 
 in ancient Greece one of the bridegroom's friends was 
 ailed 6vpwp6<; ; he used to stand at the door and prevent 
 e women assisting the bride when she screamed. 3 The 
 ardy suggestion which has been made, that our " best 
 an " was originally the strongest of the bridegroom's 
 riends who assisted him in capturing the bride from 
 he foreign tribe is well refuted bv this as by all the 
 vidence. It is sex, not the tribe, that is concerned.' 
 
 It is a very general custom that as many pre- 
 iminaries as possible, including the proposal of marriage 
 d the arrangement of the contract, should be per- 
 brmed not by the bride and bridegroom-elect, but by 
 riends or sponsors. The reason is obvious after what 
 as been said. Thus, in Egypt the marriage contract 
 s performed between the bridegroom and the bride's 
 eputy (wekeel). These two join hands which are cere- 
 monially covered with a cloth. 4 We thus arrive at 
 roxies in the marriage rite. Amongst the Karens it is 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 606. 2 Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, 2S1. 
 
 3 Pollux. Onomasticon, iii. 42. 4 Lane, op. cit. i. 200. 
 
340 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the sponsors of the pair who offer the cup to each other, 
 drinking out of which forms the ceremony. 1 In Persia 
 marriage by proxy is the rule, and the groom never 
 sees his wife till he has consummated the marriage. 2 
 An interesting parallel is found in Cingalese custom. 
 An astrologer has to decide if the horoscopes of the 
 suitor and the girl suit each other. Once when the 
 bridegroom's horoscope was not suitable, he produced 
 that of his infant brother, which was satisfactory. This 
 child personated the groom and was married to the 
 bride. 3 The bride and bridegroom in South Celebes 
 have each a " representative," doeta ; if the bride's 
 representative is a man, that of the groom is a woman, 
 and vice versa. The South Celebes bride does not 
 appear at the wedding. She is represented by her 
 deputy, and is herself secluded in an inner room. After 
 the ceremony, at which the bride is not present, the 
 bridegroom may not see her yet, but goes home, leaving i: 
 his sword as his representative. After being separated . 
 from his bride for three days, he returns to take his 
 sword ; he gets it back by giving a present. 4 A link 
 with other customs is the following. At the weddings 
 of Creek Indians the bridegroom ceremonially stuck 
 a reed into the ground, and the bride did the same, . 
 placing her reed close to his. They then each took the 
 other's reed, and by this act became man and wife. 5 
 
 The interesting custom by which one of the pair, or 
 both, are married to trees, is a good instance of the 
 primitive fashion of " make-believe," by which an effigy 
 does duty for a person, all risks thus being obviated. 
 Amongst the Mundas, after a mimic fight for the 
 
 1 Macmahon, The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, 322. 
 
 2 Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 154. 3 Forbes, Eleven Years in Ceylon, i. 328. 
 * Matthes, op. cit. 22, 27, 29, 3c. 5 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 160. 
 
xiv PROXIES— TREE MARRIAGE 341 
 
 bride, the pair are anointed with turmeric and wedded 
 to two trees, the bride to a mahwa, the groom to a 
 mango, or both to mangoes. They touch the tree with 
 sindur, clasp it, and then are tjed to it. Subsequently 
 he touches her forehead with sindur? This case brings 
 dut the point, that the mock ceremony is intended to 
 ensure the harmlessness or success of the real ceremony. 
 Amongst the Kumis the bridegroom is first married to 
 a mango tree. He embraces it, and is tied to it with 
 thread, and he daubs it with red lead. The bride also 
 is wedded to a mango. She is brought to her home in 
 a basket, and the groom is carried thither on a platform 
 supported by men.- It is a Hindu custom, when mis- 
 t fortune in marriage is foretold by the astrologers, for 
 the person concerned to be first married to an earthen 
 vessel. 3 Again, the Hindus consider it dangerous to be 
 a man's third wife ; accordingly in such a case the bride- 
 groom is betrothed first to a tree, which is supposed to 
 die in the woman's stead. 4 Another account states that 
 iwhen a Hindu takes a third wife, he is married first to a 
 [tree, " to avoid the danger of being married for the 
 third time." 5 These last three examples throw light on 
 the practice in Bengal, and the two last show that the 
 danger is mutual. In the so-called "child-marriage'^ 
 of the Nayars of Travancore, a sword may represent 
 the bridegroom. At Malay marriages the ceremony 
 .s actually performed with the bridegroom alone. The 
 ipriest says to him, " I wed you, A, to B, daughter of 
 C, for a portion of two bharas."' This instance may 
 >erve to show the marriage rite developing into a civil 
 ict. 
 
 1 Dalton, op. cit. 194. 2 Id. 319. 
 
 :; 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, liii. i. IOO. 
 
 4 Ward, op. cit. i. 134, ii. 247. 5 Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. 252. 
 
 6 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 293. 7 Skeat, op. cit. 382. 
 
342 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 The next class of marriage ceremonies includes 
 various kinds of abstinence. Bride and bridegroom 
 must maintain silence for a certain period. This is a 
 common taboo upon persons passing through a critical 
 period, and the principle behind it is a natural impulse 
 of egoistic sensibility, a sort of recognition of the 
 importance of the occasion, combined with more or less 
 of spiritual fear, either of general danger or, in this case, 
 danger from each other. It is dangerous to speak to 
 dangerous persons, and the principle here combines 
 with sexual shyness. Some such practice is doubtless 
 responsible for the Greek name of the wedding-night, 
 vv% iJLvo-TLtcr). The bride and groom amongst the 
 Andamanese are introduced to each other, after sitting 
 apart in silence for some time. They then •remain 
 silent until the evening. Often the pair pass several 
 days after marriage without exchanging a single word, 
 and even avoid looking at one another. " One might \ 
 suppose they had had a serious quarrel." 1 In Corea 
 the bride is expected to keep absolute silence on the 
 wedding-day and in the nuptial chamber. 2 
 
 Again, they must keep awake, for the same reasons 
 of sexual taboo. In New Guinea after the ceremony 
 bride and groom sit up all night. If sleep threatens 
 they are at once aroused ; the belief being that by 
 remaining awake they will have a happy life. This 
 goes on for four nights. Not until the "fifth day may 
 they meet each other alone, but even then only by 
 night, and for four days more the husband must leave 
 his wife's chamber before daybreak. 3 Amongst the 
 Sumatrans the pair sit up all night in state. 4 After the 
 marriage ceremony of the Dorahs the guests pass the 
 
 1 Man, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 138. 2 Griffis, op. cit. 247. 
 
 3 Guillemard, op. cit. ii. 287. 4 Marsden, op. cit. 269. 
 
xiv THE MYSTIC NIGHT 
 
 343 
 
 night in feasting ; the young couple take no part, and 
 are not allowed to go to sleep for one moment, because 
 it is supposed that this nightly vigil can alone secure 
 their future happiness. 1 The young pair in Borneo may 
 not go to sleep, " else evil spirits would make them ill." 2 
 
 The pair frequently are obliged to fast, with the 
 object of preventing evil influences entering the system 
 by means of food. Thus amongst the Wa-teita the 
 bride and groom are shut up for three days without 
 food. 3 The young Macusi bridegroom-elect fasts from 
 meat for some time before marriage. 4 Amongst the 
 Thlinkeets they are required to fast for two days, " in 
 order to ensure domestic concord and happiness." At 
 the expiration of that time they are allowed to partake 
 of a Tittle food, when a second fast of two days is 
 added, after which they are allowed to come together 
 for the first time.' Here is seen the curious association 
 between commensal and sexual intercourse, which derives 
 from the biological connection between the nutritive 
 and sexual impulses, and is often expressed in physio- 
 logical thought. 
 
 A very frequent rule is that the consummation of 
 the marriage is deferred for a time. This points to the 
 dangers already reviewed of this close physical connec- 
 tion, in which, as in eating together, the ideas of sexual 
 taboo are concentrated, and illustrates a principle which 
 runs through all these practices of abstinence, as from 
 sleep and eating, and is seen in all similar taboos, that a 
 temporary self-denial of a dangerous satisfaction will 
 obviate the risks of its ordinary fulfilment. There is 
 also later developed in this rule the idea that sexual 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 3;. - Perelaer, op. cit. 53. 
 
 3 J. Thomson, op. cit. 57. * im Thurn, op. cit. 222. 
 
 5 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 11 1. 
 
344 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 intercourse, as such, is improper. The Chinese practice 
 of putting a charm-sword, made of " cash," on the 
 bridal bed, illustrates the danger of this union. 1 
 Amongst the Narrinyeri it is " a point of decency for 
 the couple not to sleep close to each other for the first 
 two or three nights ; on the third or fourth night the 
 man and his wife sleep together under the same rug." 2 
 The result is often attained by placing a person 
 between the pair, as Sigurd placed his sword between 
 himself and Brynhild. For three nights after a wedding 
 in the Kei Islands, an old woman sleeps between the 
 pair, sometimes a child is used for this. 3 In Luzon the 
 pair sleep on the first night with a space of two ells 
 between them, in which lies a boy, six or eight years 
 old. 4 Elsewhere certain persons are deputed to keep 
 them apart. The Southern Slav bridegroom has a 
 djever, " bride -carrier," who sleeps during the first 
 night beside the bride, the bridegroom not being 
 allowed to sleep with her for two nights. 5 After the 
 mock flight and pursuit in the bridal chamber, the 
 South Celebes couple are attended during the night 
 by women called " bridesmothers," who prevent all 
 intimacy between them. 6 In Achin the young couple 
 may not come together for seven nights, and they are 
 kept awake by old women. 7 In the Babar Islands the 
 pair during the first few nights sleep in the same room, 
 but the bride sleeps with some female relatives and the 
 bridegroom with some male relatives. 8 In Endeh for 
 four nights old women sit up with the pair to prevent 
 them from approaching each other. 9 Amongst the 
 
 1 Doolittle, op. cit. ii. 313. 2 Curr, op. cit. ii. 245. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 236. 4 Blumentritt, Ethnographic der Philippine?!, 3S. 
 
 5 F. S. Krauss, Sitte u. Branch der Sudslaven, 60S. 6 Matthes, op. cit. 35. 
 
 7 Kruyt, Atjek en de Atjehers, 193. s Riedel, op. cit. 351. 
 
 9 Tijdschrift 'vcor Indhche Taal Land-en Volkenkunde, xxiv. 525. 
 
xiv CONTINENCE 
 
 Nahuas in the feasting, drinking, and dancing, the 
 bride and groom took no part ; they now had four 
 days' fasting and penance, in the strict retirement of 
 their own room, where they were closely guarded by 
 old women. On no account might they leave the 
 room. The time was to be passed in prayer ; " and 
 on no account were they to allow their passions to get 
 the better of them or indulge in carnal intercourse." 
 Amongst the Mayas the pair had to remain quite still, 
 until the fire burnt out, and not until then could they 
 consummate the marriage.- The Thlinkeet bridegroom 
 could not claim his marital rights until four weeks 
 after marriage. 3 Amongst the Nootkas no intercourse 
 may take place between the pair for ten days. 4 In the 
 Frazer Island tribe of Queensland they do not come 
 together for nearly two months after marriage.' In 
 Persia the husband does not consummate the marriage 
 for several days.' ; Amongst the Dyaks the pair may 
 not come together for two or three nights and days. 
 The groom feasts with his friends, the bride is with 
 her mother and female relatives. 7 Amongst the Soen- 
 danese the bridegroom has no access to his bride for 
 four days. She will not look at him or speak to him. 8 
 Amongst the Madoerese the marriage is not consum- 
 mated till the third night. 9 Amongst the Nufoers this 
 takes place on the fifth day ; on the first night they are 
 set back to back, so as not to see each other. This is 
 repeated each night. When he leaves her each of these 
 mornings, they must not see each other, " a sign of her 
 maiden shame." 10 Amongst the Tengger of Java the 
 
 1 Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 261. 2 Id. ii. 676. 
 
 8 Id. op. cit. i. in. * Id. i. 198. 
 
 5 Brough Smyth, op. at. i. 84. 6 Pinkerton, op. cit. ix. 154. 
 
 7 Perelaer, op. cit. 53. 8 Ritter, Java, 29. 
 
 9 Veth, Java, 1.635. 10 Van Hasselt, in Zcitsckrift fur Ethnologie, viii. 181 ff. 
 
346 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 marriage is not consummated for five days after the 
 wedding. 1 In Egypt it is customary for husbands to 
 deny themselves their conjugal rights during the first 
 week after marriage with a virgin bride. 2 In the last case 
 we see the consideration produced by the actual inten- 
 sity of maidenly feelings, which is the usual psycho- 
 logical phenomenon at the first union ; sexual taboo 
 regards this as an especial property of woman, and com- 
 bines with it the other idea that first contact with a virgin 
 is more dangerous than with other women. This latter 
 point is clearly brought out in the next group of customs. 
 Before proceeding to these, we may notice an 
 excellent example of the way in which these principles 
 develop religious abstinence as a meritorious act. 
 There is a story in the Syriac Judas Thomas s Acts of 
 a bride and a bridegroom who were converted by an 
 apparition of the Lord in the bridal chamber, and 
 passed the night in continence. Next morning the 
 king, the bride's father, came in and found them sitting, 
 the one opposite the other ; and the face of the bride 
 was uncovered, and the bridegroom was very cheerful. 
 " The mother of the bride saith to her : ' Why art thou 
 sitting thus and art not ashamed, but art as if, lo ! thou 
 wert married a long time and for many a day ? ' And 
 her father too said, " Is it thy great love for thy 
 husband that prevents thee from even veiling thyself? 1 
 And the bride answered and said, " Truly, my father, 
 I am in great love, and am praying to my Lord that I 
 may continue in this love which I have experienced this 
 night. I am not veiled because the veil of corruption 
 is taken from me, and I am not ashamed because the 
 deed of shame has been removed far from me." 3 
 
 1 Featherman, op. at. ii. 399. 2 Lane, op. cit. ii. 273. 
 
 3 Wright, Apocryphal Acts, ii. 156 ff. For the idea that coitus in marriage is 
 sinful, see id, ii. 122, 155, 191, 223, 233, 234. 
 
xiv DEFLORATION 347 
 
 Sexual intercourse, summing up as it does in primitive 
 thought all the dangers of sexual taboo, especially the 
 danger of weakness and effeminacy, produced by con- 
 tagion from women and by loss of strength (both ot 
 body and soul) on the part of the man by emission, is 
 rendered more safe by certain ceremonies, the meaning 
 of which is very obvious, though enquirers have curiously 
 missed it. These ceremonies are not to be confused 
 with the so-called jus prima noctis, which has occurred 
 sporadically in history, though mis -termed. That 
 practice is simply a barbarous assertion of despotic 
 authority of the patriarchal sort, appearing for instance 
 in feudal or similar stages of society. With it these 
 customs have nothing to do. 
 
 This marriage ceremony consists in perforation ot 
 the hymen by some appointed person other than the 
 husband ; it is most common in the lowest stages ot 
 culture, especially in Australia. Tribes which have 
 this rite are commonly said to practise no marriage 
 ceremony. This statement is of course erroneous ; to 
 primitive thought this ceremony is a very real mar- 
 riage rite. The best examples come from the Arunta 
 and connected tribes of Central Australia, and have 
 been well described bv Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. 1 
 The ceremony, rude and practical as it may seem, is 
 nevertheless sacred and even religious, as is shown by 
 the facts that the natives regard it as a ceremony, and 
 that the operators are painted with charcoal, a sacred 
 custom followed in magical rites, and especially when 
 an avenging party is being sent out. The tribes of 
 Central Australia who have this ceremony are the 
 Arunta, Ilpirra, Kaitish, Warramunga, lliaura, Waagai, 
 Bingonguia, Walpari, and Luritcha. When a girl 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 93 ff. 
 
348 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 arrives at puberty she is, owing to the convenient 
 classificatory system, already marked out as the poten- 
 tial wife of the men of the proper complementary 
 division, and has .been, or is then, allotted to a par- 
 ticular suitor. The ceremony is performed by persons 
 who vary according to the tribe ; sometimes it is done 
 by a sister ; the important point is that the prospec- 
 tive husband never undertakes it. The hymen is arti- 
 ficially perforated, and then the assisting men have 
 access (ceremonial, be it observed) to the girl in a 
 stated order, and in some tribes it is men of a division 
 which has no intermarriage with the girl's division, who 
 have this access. The object of the custom is clearly 
 to remove the danger of sexual intercourse for the 
 husband, and perhaps also for the wife, by a ceremonial 
 previous rehearsal of it. The danger partly coincides, 
 as we have seen, with the apparent physical impediment 
 to intercourse. The act is in two parts, perforation 
 and intercourse. The men who have access do not 
 possess the right as an " expiation " for individual mar- 
 riage, or anything like it ; it is a religious act, and 
 altruistic at that ; it is not done as a reminder that 
 they, as "communal" or " group -husbands," have 
 really as much right to the woman as her husband 
 has ; the mere fact that men of forbidden groups 
 sometimes have access proves this. It is simply a 
 removal of the danger by proxy, and the rite may 
 be classed with other proxy-marriages. The next point 
 to be observed has been already referred to, namely, 
 that here " initiation " and marriage are one. 1 This 
 economy shows that " initiation " ceremonies of this 
 kind are marriages to the other sex in abstract, and is 
 itself due to the convenience of the classification, which 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 93. 
 
xiv DEFLORATION 349 
 
 decides what persons are marriageable to each other. 
 Amongst the Wataveta the bridegroom seizes his bride 
 by force ; in this he is aided by four friends, who have 
 access to her during the five days' festivities of the 
 wedding. 1 Amongst the Wa-teita she hides, and the 
 groom with four friends catch her. The four friends 
 have intercourse with her. 2 This last fact has been 
 used as a proof of primitive promiscuity and the like. 
 It is nothing of the kind. Comparing it with the 
 Central Australian custom, we see in it the same service, 
 which is the last act of subjugation as it were, the last 
 detail in the preparation of the bride for her husband. 
 It may, and to some extent doubtless does, develop 
 into a kind of reward given on the part of the husband 
 to the friends who have assisted him, but such a de- 
 velopment is quite secondary. The Kurnai suitor was 
 assisted by some friends, who had intercourse with the 
 bride. 3 This religious service is often performed by 
 such persons in Australian tribes. An important 
 preliminary of marriage amongst the Masai is the 
 performance of this operation on the girl. 4 This de- 
 floration is performed by the father of the bride amongst 
 the Sakais, Battas, and Alfoers of Celebes. 5 In the 
 Philippines there were certain men whose profession 
 it was to deflower brides, in case the hymen had not 
 been ruptured in childhood by an old woman who was 
 sometimes employed for this. 6 The defloration of the 
 bride was amongst some Eskimo tribes entrusted to 
 the angekok, or priest. 7 The idea sometimes develops 
 later into a belief that the contact of a holy person 
 renders marital contact safe, or will ensure fertility. 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxi. 365. 2 J. Thomson, cp. cit. 51. 
 
 3 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 202. 4 J. Thomson, op. cit. 25S. 
 
 5 Ploss u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 490. 6 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 474. 
 
 7 Id. iii. 406. 
 
350 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 In childless families the Karalits often invite the angekok 
 to have connection with the wife. 1 
 
 There is next a large class of marriage customs 
 which in the first place bring out very clearly sexual 
 solidarity ; the women, as it were, make marriage an 
 opportunity for showing their mutual sympathy with 
 each other as women, and they take the side of the 
 bride in her bashfulness or resistance, as if the occasion 
 were a test case between the two sexes, as indeed it is. 
 We have seen the same sort of thing in connection 
 with birth, and have noticed how the women cling 
 together at marriage till the last moment. These pheno- 
 mena also show how marriage ceremonies have inherent 
 in them, as binding the pair together, or neutralising 
 each other's dangerous influence, the intention and 
 power to make their life harmonious and sympathetic. 
 In the second place, these customs are one of the best 
 guides to the ideas of sexual taboo in their relation 
 to marriage ritual. We here see one of the chief 
 factors of sexual taboo, woman's shyness, timidity, 
 and modesty, accentuated by the physiological sensibility 
 which resists physical subjugation, chiefly in connection 
 with the act of intercourse, but appearing more or less 
 throughout all the proceedings. It is an instance of 
 the taboo of personal isolation. The phenomena all lead 
 up, by the way, to the correct understanding of so-called 
 " marriage by capture." There is also to be noted the 
 diffidence characteristic of both sexes upon entering a 
 new and strange state, a diffidence psychologically identical 
 with that produced on other similar and taboo occasions. 
 
 Hence the common practice of carrying bride or 
 groom or both ; amongst the Kumis the groom is 
 carried to the bride's house on men's shoulders. 2 In 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 432. 2 Dalton, op. cit. 319. 
 
xiv BRIDE LIFTING 351 
 
 Egypt it is considered right that the groom as well 
 as the bride should exhibit some bashfulness, and a 
 friend therefore carries him up to the hareem? In 
 Honduras and amongst the Miaos the bride was 
 conveyed to her husband on a man's shoulders.' 2 In 
 Guatemala and Salvador the pair were carried by 
 their friends to their new house, and shut in a room. :J 
 The Nahua bride was borne upon a litter or on the 
 back of a brideswoman or sponsor. 4 In civilised 
 societies a brougham is used on what is really the same 
 principle, an especial arrangement for an especial 
 occasion, in which convenience combines with cere- 
 monial. There is no survival, in these cases, of 
 " marriage by capture," though they sometimes of 
 course coincide with the desire to checkmate female 
 resistance, as they have been found to coincide with 
 a prevention of results from bashfulness, both these 
 feelings being part of the foundations of taboo. The 
 innate tendency to what may be called polar or com- 
 plementary opposition between the sexes is well brought 
 out in a Kurnai practice. If the men were backward 
 in marrying, the girls would kill some of the yeerung, 
 the birds that were the sex-totems of the men. This 
 led to a fight with sticks between the two sexes. Next 
 day the young men killed some djeetgun, the sex-totems 
 of the women ; a second fight was the result. The 
 ultimate issue was a marriage or two. Fighting 
 makes friends sometimes amongst savages as amongst 
 modern boys. At betrothal amongst the Kamchadales 
 when the man takes hold of the girl, the married 
 women ceremonially beat him. 6 Amongst the Mos- 
 
 1 Lane, op. cit. i. 214. 
 
 2 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 730 ; Colquhoun, Across dry see, 383. 
 
 3 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 703. 4 Id. ii. 255. 
 
 5 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 201. 6 Georgi, op. cit. 89. 
 
352 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 quitos the bridegroom has to charge into a circle of 
 women who surround the bride ; " he shoulders her 
 like a sack and trots off for the mystic circle (of men), 
 into which the women may not enter, and reaches it, 
 urged on by the frantic cries of the women, before the 
 crowd can rescue her." * This may be called " capture," 
 but it' is capture from the female sex. The Makuana 
 suitor has to throw the girl in a wrestling bout in order 
 to secure her hand. Also the father and mother give 
 him a few ceremonial blows with a stick, "as if to 
 assure themselves that he sincerely loves their daughter." 2 
 In Sumatra the bride is not surrendered to her husband 
 immediately after the marriage ceremony of the joining 
 of hands, for custom requires that the young girl 
 should show at least a feigned reluctance to sacrifice 
 her virginity, and in this resistance she is aided by 
 the old matron who is her ceremonial attendant and 
 was the messenger sent by the bridegroom with his 
 proposal of marriage. The bride sits in state all night 
 for two or three nights, carefully guarded. 3 The 
 Wakamba groom, after paying the bride-price, has to 
 carry off the bride by force, the parents not surrender- 
 ing her without a struggle. 4 
 
 Of the same origin is the common practice of 
 abusive language at weddings. Amongst the Kaffirs 
 the bride insults the groom, showing thereby that the 
 moment of her submission has not yet come. 5 In the 
 Punjab it is a general custom for the relatives of the 
 bride to hurl abusive epithets at the bridegroom." 
 This has actually been supposed to be a relic of 
 " marriage by capture " ! The Fescennina locutio is a case 
 
 1 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 733. 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 306. 
 fl Shooter, op. cit. 74. 
 
 2 Arbousset, op. cit. 249. 
 
 4 Krapf, op. cit. 354. 
 
 6 Punjab Notes and Queries, ii. 976. 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 3 S3 
 
 in point. In many instances, of course, as in European 
 folk-custom, the abuse is directed against the " evil 
 eye " and possible external danger to the young couple. 
 We have noticed the impulse in animals and man- 
 kind to guard the sexual centres against the undesired 
 advances of the male. " This is carried on into desire, 
 and female animals are known to run after the male 
 and then turn to flee, perhaps only submitting with 
 much persuasion. Modesty thus becomes an invitation. 
 The naturally defensive attitude of the female is in 
 contrast with the naturally aggressive attitude of the 
 male in sexual relationships." * Such maiden coyness or 
 physiological shrinking, as has been explained before, is 
 accentuated at marriage, especially in connection with the 
 act of union. Amongst the Bedouins the bride cries loudly 
 while the marriage is being consummated.'- In Sumatra 
 when the young couple are left together, custom 
 demands that she shall defend herself ; the struggle 
 often lasts some days. 3 " Husbands have told me of 
 brides who sob and tremble with fright on the wedding- 
 night, the hysteria being sometimes alarming. E, aged 
 twenty-five, refused her husband for six weeks after 
 marriage, exhibiting the greatest fear of his approach. 
 Ignorance of the nature of the sexual connection is often 
 
 o 
 
 the cause of exaggerated alarm. In Jersey I used to hear 
 of a bride who ran to the window and screamed ' murder ' 
 on the wedding-night." 4 Now in primitive thought this 
 characteristic has to be neutralised, and it is done by a 
 ceremonial use of force, which is half real and half 
 make-believe. General cases of force used in connubial 
 "capture," so called, will illustrate this, as of course 
 the violence there used has the same meaning, though 
 
 1 H. Ellis, op. cit. ii. 29. " Burckhardt, op. cit. i. 266. 
 
 3 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 184. 4 H. Ellis, op. cit. ii. 25. 
 
 2 A 
 
354 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 generalised. Returning to more general developments 
 of bashfulness and timidity as against the other sex, 
 leading up to acts of mock half-real violence, we find 
 that at Kaffir weddings, the " principal idea seems to be 
 to show the great unwillingness of the girl to be trans- 
 formed into a wife." After the reception of the bride's 
 party, the bride creeps up to the bridegroom's wives, if 
 he has any, or his mother, and says she has come to 
 stay and hopes they will be good to her, otherwise she 
 will go back to the father, mother, and relatives who 
 were so loath to part with her. They reply that they 
 do not know — they are not sure — they will see how 
 she behaves herself, and so on. She then pretends to 
 run away, but a female relative of the groom brings her 
 back. In the evening she runs about the kraal with a 
 following of girls crying after her. She is supposed to 
 be running back to her old home, and the girls are 
 supposed to be preventing her. Next day she hlonipas 
 (hides) from the male sex, but in the afternoon she 
 comes out with some girls, and commences the cere- 
 mony of hlanibeesa (literally, "washing"). She takes 
 water and throws it about the men. 1 The neutralising 
 of evil influences from the other sex by the use of water 
 is seen in the last detail. The various stages of the 
 following ceremonial show well how it is the maiden 
 who is to be conciliated. In Fiji the first act of wooing, 
 to obtain the girl's consent, was called " mutual attach- 
 ment." The next step was " nursing " ; the girl was 
 conducted to the bridegroom's house. As she wept 
 copious tears at being torn from the parental home, the 
 friends of the groom endeavoured to assuage her sorrow 
 by offering presents. This was called " the drying of 
 tears." The next step was the "warming," and con- 
 
 1 Leslie, op. cit. 196, 117, 118. 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 355 
 
 sisted in the sending of food to the bride by the bride- 
 groom. For the next step, the groom and his friends 
 arrived and the girl served them with food she had 
 prepared, and she and the bridegroom ate together. 
 This was known as " the bathing," for before it the 
 bride bathed in the sea. 1 Cases of " connubial capture ' ; 
 have nothing whatever to do, it need hardly be observed, 
 with so-called "marriage by capture." Among the 
 Karens the candidate for a maiden's hand has to escalade 
 her cabin, and is expected to overthrow a strong man 
 placed for her defence. 2 The stock description of 
 Australian marriage, for instance at Botany Bay, that 
 the man knocks the woman down with a club, and 
 carries her off, is exaggerated. 3 An Australian girl, 
 when made over to her husband, goes to his hut with 
 reluctance, and when that feeling does not occur, it is 
 the fashion to assume it, and occasionally the husband 
 uses violence and compels his wife to enter his camp, 
 u a circumstance," adds Mr. Curr, who knew the natives 
 well, " which has been much burlesqued by some 
 writers." 4 Aelian states of the Sacae that the bride- 
 groom had to do battle with his intended, and naively 
 adds, "they do not go so far as to kill each other." 5 
 Amongst the Tunguzes and Kamchadales a marriage is 
 not definitely " arranged and concluded until the suitor 
 has got the better of his beloved by force, and has torn 
 her clothes. 6 The Makuana suitor has to wrestle with 
 his bride. 7 Amongst the Samoyeds the groom has to 
 take his wife by force, because she resists strenuously. 8 
 In Greenland two old women are sent to negotiate with 
 the parents of the girl. The latter, on hearing the 
 
 1 Williams, op. cit. i. 169, 170. 2 j. Bowring, Siam, ii. 45. 
 
 3 As by Bastian, Der Mev.sch, iii. 292. 4 Curr, op. cit. i. no. 
 
 5 Aelian, xii. 38. 6 Erman, op. cit. ii. 442. 
 
 7 Arbousset, op. cit. z±q. 8 Georgi, op. cit. 13. 
 
Ss6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 proposal, runs out of doors, tearing her hair ; for single 
 women " affect bashfulness and aversion to any proposal 
 of marriage, though their betrothed are well assured of 
 acquiescence." Sometimes they swoon, or run off tc 
 some deserted spot. Women go in search of the 
 refractory maiden, and drag her forcibly to the suitor' 
 house, where she sits tor some days disconsolate an 
 refuses nourishment. When friendly exhortation ijjl 
 unavailing, she is compelled by force and even blows tc 
 receive her husband. 1 At the ceremony of uncovering 
 the face of an Egyptian bride, the groom has to give 
 her a present of money therefor, and she does noi 
 allow the uncovering without some reluctance, if noi 
 violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty 
 He then sees her face for the first time. 2 Marriage: 
 amongst the Nestorians are solemnised in church ar 
 hour after midnight. Standing before the altar ii 
 separate groups, each surrounded by their respectivi 
 friends, the bride refuses to join hands with the bride- 
 groom, and some degree of force is necessary to accom- 
 plish the object. 3 When asked in marriage the Karali 
 maiden feigns the greatest bashfulness. Sometimes he 
 resistance is of a serious nature ; she often escape 
 and hides in the mountains. The two matrons wh( 
 negotiated the betrothal for the bridegroom go out t< 
 find her, and drag her to the house of the suitor. Her 
 she remains for days in a sullen and dejected mood 
 with dishevelled hair, and refusing to eat. She is some 
 times compelled by blows to accept her new position. 
 Amongst the Thlinkeets the bridegroom gives valuabl 
 presents to the father of the bride. On the wedding 
 day the guests sing and dance, in order to induce th 
 
 : Cranz, op. at. i. 146. 2 Lane, op. cit. i. 214. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. at. v. 75. 4 Featherman, iii. 434. 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 357 
 
 bride to leave her hiding-place in the corner of the 
 room. She at last comes forth, and with a downcast 
 countenance takes her seat by the side of the bride- 
 groom. 1 Amongst the Eastern Tinnes the woman who 
 is asked in marriage affects an unwillingness to change 
 her condition ; but the suitor takes hold of the hair of 
 his betrothed and drags her out of her father's dwelling. 2 
 K. O. Muller explains the form of " capture " in ancient 
 Sparta more correctly than do ethnologists ; "it indi- 
 cates," he says, " that a girl could not surrender her 
 freedom and virgin purity unless compelled by the 
 violence of the stronger sex." 3 In ancient Rome at 
 plebeian marriages the groom and his friends invaded 
 the house and carried off the bride with feigned violence 
 from her mother's lap. 4 The Khonds hold a feast at 
 the bride's house. Far in the night " the principals in 
 the scene are raised by an uncle of each upon his 
 shoulder and borne through the dance. The burdens 
 'are suddenly exchanged, and the uncle of the youth 
 disappears with the bride. The assembly divides into 
 two parties ; the friends of the bride endeavour to 
 arrest, those of the bridegroom to cover her flight, and 
 men, women, and children mingle in mock conflict." 
 " I saw a man bearing away upon his back something 
 enveloped in an ample covering of scarlet cloth ; he was 
 surrounded by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by 
 them protected from the desperate attacks made upon 
 him by a party of young women. The man was just 
 married, and the burden was his blooming bride, whom 
 he was conveying to his own village. Her youthful 
 friends, as it appears is the custom, were seeking to 
 regain possession of her, and hurled stones and bamboos 
 
 1 Featherman, iii. 390. - Id. iii. 248. 
 
 3 K. O. Muller, The Dorians, IV. iv. 2. * Appuleius, Maamcrphoses, iv. 
 
358 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 at the head of the devoted bridegroom until he reached 
 the confines of his own village. Then the tables were 
 turned and the bride was fairly won ; and off her young 
 friends scampered, screaming and laughing, but not 
 relaxing their speed till they reached their own village." 
 The Kalmuck bridegroom, when the "price" is fixed' 
 goes with some friends to carry off the bride. "A 
 sham resistance is always made by the people of hei 
 camp, in spite of which she fails not to be borne awa) 
 on a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts and feui 
 de joie." 2 A century ago in Wales, "on the morning 
 of the wedding-day the groom with his friend: 
 demanded the bride. Her friends gave a positive 
 refusal, upon which a mock scuffle ensued. The bride 
 mounted beside her nearest kinsman, is carried off anc 
 is pursued by the groom and his friends with louc 
 shouts. When they have fatigued themselves and thei 
 horses, he is suffered to overtake his bride, and lead: 
 her away in triumph." 3 The Fuegian suitor, as soor 
 as he is able to maintain a wife, obtains her relatives 
 consent, and does work for them. Then he watche 
 for an opportunity to carry her off. If she is unwilling 
 she hides in the woods until her admirer is tired o 
 looking, but this seldom happens. 4 The Aeneze groom 
 soon after sunset, goes to a tent pitched for him at ; 
 distance from the camp ; there he shuts himself u] 
 and awaits the arrival of the bride. The bashful gir 
 meanwhile runs from the tent of one friend to anothe 
 till she is caught at last, and conducted in triumph b; 
 a few women to the bridegroom's tent ; he receives he 
 at the entrance, and forces her into it. 5 Amongst tfo 
 
 1 Macpherson, Report upon the Khonds, 55 ; Campbell, Persona! Narrative of Ser-v'u 
 in Khondistan, 44. 2 De Hell, Travels on the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, 25c 
 
 3 Karnes, Sketches of the History of Man, i. 449. 
 * Fitzroy, Voyage of the Ad-venture and Beagle, ii. 182. 5 Burckhardt, op. cit. i. 107 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 359 
 
 Bedouins of Sinai the bride is met in the evening by the 
 groom and two of his young friends, and carried off by 
 force to her father's tent. " She defends herself with 
 stones, and often inflicts wounds on the young men, 
 even though she does not dislike her lover, for according 
 to custom the more she struggles, bites, kicks, cries, 
 and strikes, the more she is applauded ever after by her 
 own companions." There follows the throwing over 
 her of the abba, or man's cloak, and a formal announce- 
 ment of the name of the husband. Then she is dressed 
 in bridal attire, and, still struggling, is led two or three 
 times round and finally into the groom's tent. The 
 resistance is continued to the last. 1 In New Zealand 
 " even where all were agreeable, it was the custom for 
 the groom to go with a party and appear to take her 
 away by force, her friends yielding her up after a feigned 
 struggle." 2 The Baca custom is this: "A young 
 man first tells some of his friends that he admires a 
 certain girl, and after a stated period he speaks to her 
 and says he would like to twala, i.e. carry her off. 
 If she is agreeable to this twala, he carries her off by 
 stealth to his parents' village." On the third day she is 
 returned to her father's house with the dowry cattle. 3 
 Some of the following cases are of the same class as the 
 practice of hiding already noted. On an appointed day 
 the Ayetas send the prospective bride to the forest to 
 hide herself. If she is favourably inclined to the match, 
 she takes care that her place of concealment shall be 
 easily discovered. If she is found by the groom before 
 sunset, and is brought back to her parents, the marriage 
 is completed. 4 Amongst the Hos after three days of 
 marriage, the bride has to leave her husband, and he 
 
 1 Burckhardt, op. cit. i. 263, 264. 2 R. Taylor, op. cit. 163. 
 
 3 Jcurn. Anthrop, Inst. xx. 138. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 33. 
 
" 1 
 
 360 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 has to carry her home again, while she strenuously 
 resists, kicking, screaming, and biting. " It should b 
 done as if there were no shamming about it 
 Amongst the Orang-Benuas of Malacca the bride runs 
 away into the forest during the wedding ceremonies ; 
 the groom chases her, and if he falls or returns unsuc- 
 cessful, " he is met with the jeers and merriment of the 
 whole party, and the match is declared off. It gener- 
 ally happens though, that the lady contrives to stumble 
 over the root of some tree friendly to Venus, and falls 
 (fortuitously of course) into the outstretched arms of 
 her pursuer." 2 In the Mezeyne tribe of the Sinai 
 peninsula the girl after betrothal is furnished with pro- 
 visions by her female friends, and is encouraged to run 
 away and fly to the mountains. If the bridegroom 
 succeeds in finding her retreat, he is bound to con- 
 summate the marriage on the spot, and pass the night 
 in the open country. He brings her home, but she 
 repeatedly escapes and only consents to live in her 
 husband's tent after she is far advanced in pregnancy. 
 After remaining with her family about a year, she 
 rejoins her husband, though she may not be expecting 
 a child. 3 Amongst the Digger Indians of California, 
 after the parents' consent to the marriage has been 
 obtained, the girl leaves the paternal home and conceals 
 herself, and if the suitor succeeds in finding her twice 
 out of three times, he is entitled to claim her as his 
 own. 4 The same kind of thing is sometimes seen on 
 the part of the bridegroom, sexual bashfulness not 
 always being confined to the female sex. It is the 
 Egyptian custom that the bridegroom as well as the 
 bride should exhibit bashfulness ; and he is carried up 
 
 1 Ball, op. cit. 479. 2 Newbold, British Settlements in Malacca, ii. 407. 
 
 a Burckhardt, op. cit. i. 269. 4 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 212. 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 361 
 
 to the hareem by a friend. 1 In the Andamans the bride 
 sits among the matrons, and the groom among the 
 bachelors. The chief approaches him in order to lead 
 him to the bride, but he assumes a modest demeanour 
 and simulates reluctance to move ; after encouragement 
 he allows himself to be led slowly, sometimes he is 
 dragged, up to the girl, who, if young, displays much 
 modesty, weeping and hiding her face ; her female 
 attendants straighten her legs, and the groom is then 
 made to sit on her thighs, and thus they are married. 2 
 Amongst the Kaffirs the groom, no less than the bride, 
 runs away, but is brought back by the women. 3 In the 
 above cases we have seen the maiden "captured," if the 
 term be kept, but from herself, from her innocent, shy, 
 and timid personality, by a rough but half-kind method 
 of violence, which has the effect of obviating her bash- 
 fulness by conquering it, and of neutralising its results, 
 which, being part of the basis of sexual taboo and a 
 peculiar property of the female sex, are dangerous to 
 men, by a make-believe or sympathetic process. 
 
 In some of the following examples we see the bride 
 " captured " and taken away from her sex also, who, 
 by psychological necessity, take her part, as previous 
 examples have shown. Ceremonial or mock fights 
 here naturally signify both the sexual opposition and 
 the need of force to ensure the safety of the union. 
 Amongst the Bedouins of South Arabia the bridegroom 
 and his young friends go to the dwelling of the bride's 
 father to demand the lady. They are gravely informed 
 that she has fled to unknown parts. They then pro- 
 ceed to search, and find a cavern guarded by a troop of 
 young girls, and on approaching it they are met with a 
 shower of stones. They endeavour to storm the place, 
 
 1 Lane, op. tit. i. 214. 2 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 1 37. 3 Shooter, op. tit. 76. 
 
362 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and in the end the young women take to flight, leaving 
 the bride to the assailants. The bridegroom enters the 
 cavern and takes possession of his bride, and after a 
 short time they come out together, the bride having 
 her face veiled in the manner of married women. 1 At 
 a Druse wedding the bride, closely veiled, is conducted 
 in solemn procession to the house of the bridegroom. 
 Modesty, whether real or feigned, on the part of the 
 bride requires that the moving column should proceed 
 but slowly, to indicate to her future husband that she is 
 not over-anxious to enter upon the duties of the 
 married state, and a halt is made at short intervals, 
 when the weary march is enlivened by songs and the 
 exhibition of the sword-dance. On passing the thres- 
 hold of the bridegroom's house, the bride sticks firmly 
 to the door-post a lump of yeast. At this moment her 
 intended husband is standing on the housetop exactly 
 above the door, holding a drawn sword over her head, 
 " emblematical of the absolute authority which he is to 
 exercise over her." 2 The inference which ends this 
 account may give the modern explanation of the 
 custom, but does not reach its original meaning. 
 The detail is parallel to those cases, previously men- 
 tioned, where a weapon is presented or thrown. At 
 the marriage of sheikhs amongst the Druses the bride 
 and her party on their way to the bridegroom's home 
 are met by a party representing the bridegroom. A 
 mock fight takes place, in which the bridegroom's party 
 is generally driven back, and after a vigorous resistance 
 the bride forces her way in, and is safely lodged in the 
 hareem. When the bridegroom is about to enter, she 
 throws a massive veil of muslin and gold over her head, 
 covering her face, neck, and shoulders, and reaching to 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 422. a Id. v. 480. 
 
xiv SEXUAL RESISTANCE 363 
 
 the waist. The noise of footsteps is then heard, and 
 the bridegroom enters, lifts her veil, and after a hurried 
 glance at her, replaces it and retires. While the groom 
 sits in state, his brother returns thanks for congratu- 
 lations in his stead. 1 Amongst the Dorahs of New 
 Guinea the bride is conducted by her female relatives to 
 the house of the bridegroom, where she places herself 
 behind a mat-screen so as not to be seen by the men. 
 Here the dowry of the bride is given to the groom's 
 parents. She is then led back to her own house, where 
 she awaits the arrival of the bridegroom. When 
 he makes his appearance with his friends, he finds the 
 door shut against him, and it is only at the earnest 
 remonstrance of the father of the young woman that 
 the portals of the nuptial chamber are opened. 2 When 
 the Malay bridegroom arrives at the bride's house, there 
 is a mimic conflict for the person of the bride. In 
 some cases a rope or piece of red cloth is stretched 
 across the path to bar the progress of the bridegroom's 
 party, and a stout resistance is made till the groom 
 pays a fine. He enters the house amid volleys of 
 rice, and fights his way to the reception room. 8 After 
 the three days' separation which follows the South 
 Celebes wedding, the bridegroom, on coming to 
 claim his bride, finds the house barricaded, and the 
 inmates fire muskets. Entrance is allowed after a 
 payment. Later on he enters the bridal chamber, 
 where the bride sits on the bed concealed by curtains, 
 and when he is about to open the curtains, he is resisted 
 by the women who are in attendance on the bride. 
 When this difficulty is surmounted, the bride pretends 
 to run away ; however, she stays for the ceremony in 
 which one sews the pair together by their clothes. 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 481. 2 Id. ii. 31, 32. 3 Skeat, op. cit. 381. 
 
364 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 This is followed by the ceremony of placing one 
 garment, a sarong, over the pair, who are then con- 
 sidered united. The rite is called ridja/a-sampoe, 
 " catching the bride with a sarong as with a fishing- 
 net." l It is a curious coincidence that, while the 
 bridegroom is on his way to the bride's home, his 
 escort fish the air for evil spirits with nets. 2 Further, 
 when the pair are released from the sarong which is 
 about them both, the bride pretends to run away again ; 
 she is followed by the bridegroom, and pushes him 
 off with her fan. The next night and for two nights 
 more the running away is repeated with variations. 
 The whole business is ended by a final ceremony called 
 " reconciliation." 3 In small towns and villages of 
 modern Egypt the bridegroom visits the mosque, and 
 meanwhile the bride and her party take possession 
 of his house. He is conducted home in procession 
 by his friends, who carry lighted torches, and perform 
 sham fights. When he reaches his dwelling the women 
 are summarily turned out, and he is ushered in as it 
 were by main force. Here a lighted lamp reveals 
 to him the face of his bride, which he pretends never 
 to have seen before. 4 In Soemba a sham fight takes 
 place between the men who act for the bridegroom 
 and the female relatives of the bride, until the former 
 manage to seize her. 5 Amongst the Mundas and 
 Oraons there is a mimic fight for the bride. 6 Such 
 mock fights and "captures" are very common in 
 the peasant-customs at marriage throughout Europe. 7 
 Amongst the Saxons of Transsylvania, a crowd of 
 
 1 Matthes, of. cit. 31, 33, 34. 2 Id. 31. 
 
 3 J d- 35, 37, 42- 4 Featherman, of. cit. v. 563, 564. 
 
 5 Vcrhandelingen -van het Eatav. Genootschaf -van Kunsten en Wetenschaffcn, 
 
 xxxvi. 53. 
 
 Dalton, of. cit. 194, 253. ' Reinsberg-Duringfeld, Hochzeitsbuch, fassim. 
 
XIV 
 
 THE FLIGHT 365 
 
 masked figures attempt to separate the newly wed 
 pair. If they succeed, the bridegroom has to win her 
 back by a fight or a ransom ; it is a bad omen if they 
 are separated. 1 This is a good example, as showing 
 how force on the part of the husband is in all these 
 customs intended to make the union secure. 
 
 There are a few cases where destiny is propitiated 
 by a retreat after the ceremony. This coincides with 
 the natural desire to escape from a more or less trying 
 ordeal. In some cases the escape is to one's old home. 
 On the night of the third day after a Malay wedding 
 there is a very curious ceremony. The relatives of 
 the groom assemble and make a bonfire of rubbish 
 under the house of the newly married couple. Such 
 a smoke is raised that presently the bridegroom comes 
 down, ostensibly to see what is the matter, but as soon 
 as he appears he is seized and carried ofF bodily to his 
 own parents' house. These proceedings are known as 
 "the stealing of the bridegroom." Next day he is 
 escorted back in a grand procession. On his arrival 
 the pair are sprinkled with water to avert ill-luck, and 
 with holy water to bring good luck. 2 The day after 
 marriage the Egyptian bridegroom is taken into the 
 country, by the man who carried him up to the hareem ; 
 this is called " the flight." 3 Amongst the Wa-teita, 
 after the three days' fast and seclusion which follow 
 marriage, the bride is conveyed to her old home again 
 by a procession of girls. 4 Amongst the Larkas she 
 runs home after three days and tells her parents she is 
 not happy. The groom has to come and take her 
 back by force. 5 Other cases have been mentioned 
 incidentally. 
 
 1 Gerard, op. at. i. 186. - Skeat, op. cit. 385, 386. 
 
 3 Lane, op. cit. i. 214. 4 J. Thomson, op. cit. 51. 5 Rowney, op. cit. 67. 
 
366 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 There is a curious custom, with one or two varia- 
 tions, which is found occasionally. It is the custom 
 of drubbing the newly wedded pair, or "ragging their 
 rooms." It is not an "expiation " for marriage, but is 
 induced by that common human feeling which prompted 
 the superstitious Greek to throw away something of 
 value so as to avoid Nemesis. It is a sort of sacrifice 
 to propitiate destiny, combined with the idea that 
 people who have been thus rendered more or less 
 destitute will be passed over by jealous powers of evil. 
 It is done by the Maoris, who swoop down upon the 
 dwelling of the newly wed couple, and plunder and 
 destroy their goods. The practice is also followed 
 on all great occasions as a mark of respect. It is 
 instructive to note that it is performed when one has 
 broken tapu (as, by the way, a married pair have 
 broken sexual taboo), and when one has had an 
 accident. 1 Another account states, " as soon as the 
 marriage is consummated, the nearest relatives of both 
 attack the hut, rob it, and give the pair a sound 
 thrashing. This ceremony is also performed on the 
 occasion of misfortune happening to a person." 2 The 
 same idea is to be seen in the common practice of 
 breaking something at a wedding, such as a piece of 
 crockery, as amongst the Saxons of Transsylvania, 
 who still say it is to keep off misfortune. 3 It is the 
 Dyak custom, when two tribes make peace, for each 
 in turn to invade and plunder each other's land. It 
 is done ceremonially. 4 This half-real revenge is 
 intended to satisfy one's feelings, in accordance with 
 the savage instinctive habit of make-believe. This 
 sacrifice of property has become a regular thing 
 
 1 Yate, op. cit. 86, 97, 104, 237. 2 Polack, op. cit. i. 141. 
 
 3 Gerard, op. cit. ii. 35. 4 Brooke, op. cit. i. 368. 
 
xiv MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE 367 
 
 amongst the Haidahs, who make a potlatch on every 
 possible occasion, the system being in fact a sort 
 of stock-exchange gamble and settling up. 1 Cases 
 such as the following, which are often misunderstood, 
 are explained in the same way : when a Kurnai girl 
 elopes (the recognised method of getting married), 
 she is beaten by her relatives, not as a punishment, but 
 "simply to follow an ancestral custom," which, it may 
 be added, is not " expiation for marriage." 2 The idea of 
 the parents is, by a make-believe beating, with somewhat 
 of reality in it, to relieve their parental feelings. 
 
 Few theories of primitive society have had such 
 vogue as that of Marriage by Capture, yet few theories 
 have been built on such slender foundations. The 
 tinge of romance belonging to the hypothesis has 
 no doubt had something to do with its popularity. 
 Its general unscientific nature, however, has been 
 demonstrated by Mr. Fison and Dr. Westermarck ; 
 it remained to examine the types of formal and con- 
 nubial " capture." The explanation of these forms 
 as not being survivals, as not indeed having anything 
 to do with " marriage by capture " proper, but arising 
 in a natural way from normal human feelings, destroys 
 what was the chief support of the old theory of 
 " capture." The theory, then, that mankind in 
 general, or even any particular section of mankind, 
 ever in normal circumstances were accustomed to 
 obtain their wives by capture from other tribes, may 
 be regarded as exploded. There have been, of course, 
 and still are, sporadic cases of capture of wives from 
 hostile tribes or others, but such cannot prove a rule. 
 A useful illustration may be drawn from Australian 
 custom. It has often been asserted that marriage by 
 
 1 G. M. Dawson, op. clt. 126, 127. 2 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 259. 
 
368 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 capture is a common practice amongst the natives. 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen note this, and point out 
 that it is of the rarest occurrence amongst the Central 
 Australians, and that when it does occur, it arises out 
 of an expedition of vengeance against a hostile tribe. 1 
 Mr. Curr also states that it is very rare throughout the 
 continent. 2 The capture of women is naturally an 
 attendant circumstance of invasion. Further, the 
 " marriage by capture " so often attributed to the 
 Australians simply amounts to this, that the woman 
 to be married, according to peaceful tribal custom and 
 classificatory arrangement, is sometimes forcibly taken 
 by the bridegroom for obvious reasons, as we have seen, 
 or, as in all ages happens, elopement take place. In 
 Ceram, for instance, we are told that " marriage by 
 capture (sic) takes place usually when the girl's parents 
 are opposed to the match." 3 When carefully examined, 
 most of the old examples adduced as instances of mar- 
 riage by capture turn out to be either mere inferences of 
 such, or cases of connubial and formal capture, or, as the 
 last case and many of McLennan's examples, elope- 
 ments. 
 
 " Capture ' proper, that is, hostile capture from 
 
 another tribe, has never been, and could never be, a 
 mode of marriage, it is only a method of obtaining a 
 wife. These two have often been confused. Con- 
 nubial and formal capture are very widely spread, but 
 are never survivals of real capture. The former is 
 often found as a matter of fact proceeding to secure 
 the person of the wife, and sometimes occurs side by 
 side with formal capture. In fact, formal capture far 
 from being itself a survival, either of connubial or of 
 hostile capture, is the ceremonial mode of which con- 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. - Curr, op. cit. i. 108. 3 Riedel, op. cit. 133. 
 
xiv MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE 369 
 
 nubial capture is the non-ceremonial ; each is a living 
 realitv, the one being material and the other ideal, 
 the one practical and the other ceremonial. If, as 
 Prof. Tylor holds with McLennan, formal capture is a 
 survival of real capture (hostile or connubial), there 
 ought to be no cases of formal capture in the maternal 
 stage. But there are such. The people of New Britain 
 who reckon genealogy by female descent have marriage 
 by "formal capture." 1 Again, what precise bearing, 
 :we may ask, on this question have cases where the 
 bridegroom is captured ? Such a practice (formal) is 
 followed by the Garos, a maternal people. 2 Is this a 
 record of the passage from a paternal to a maternal 
 system? For Prof. Tylor regards "capture" as being 
 the way by which "paternal" households gradually 
 superseded " maternal." 3 The young bridegroom cer- 
 tainly is often under this, perhaps more often than 
 :under the paternal system, more or less looked after by 
 his parents-in-law, but it is because of paternal and 
 .maternal feelings, not because of the maternal system. 
 But there is no evidence that the maternal system was 
 Lever general or always preceded the paternal system ; 
 such evidence as the common practice of a man living 
 with his bride's parents for a short time, before setting 
 ' up house for himself, proving nothing except that they 
 •wish to look after their daughter's welfare until a child 
 is born, and to see that permanence is thereby assured 
 to the tie ; or in many cases that it is a convenient 
 arrangement until the pair get a house. As to capture 
 setting on foot paternal institutions, we may here see 
 another way in which misconceptions may arise as to 
 the maternal system. This is, after all, except in rare 
 cases, simply a method of genealogy, and has nothing 
 
 1 Jourr.. Anthop. Inst, xviii. 294 ft'. a Rowney, op. cit. 195. 3 J.A.I, xviii. 260. 
 
 2 B 
 
 
370 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 to do with the husband's authority in the family ; yet, 
 under any system, and in any age, sexual difference 
 makes the wife the housekeeper with some control 
 within the house, while the husband is guardian of the 
 family and has general control. This is well seen in 
 those Australian tribes which have the maternal system, 
 but the husband is master and guardian of the family, 
 and has a taboo with his mother-in-law. I mention 
 the last detail, because that has been adduced as 
 proof of marriage by capture, the mother it is sup- 
 posed being so indignant at the heartless " capture 
 of her daughter that she will not even speak to 
 her son-in-law. Of course such cases may hav( 
 occurred. 
 
 Lastly, exogamy is by no means a result of real or 
 any sort of capture. To attempt to show that it is 
 would be as hardy as to try, with McLennan, to prove 
 the practice of capture as resulting from infanticide of 
 female children. Capture cannot be proved universa 
 enough to have given rise to so widely spread a systei 
 as exogamy ; also the real meaning of the term exogami 
 is often misunderstood. 
 
 It is now perhaps evident that it is not the tribe 
 from which the bride is abducted, nor, primarily, her 
 family and kindred, but her sex. A second class of 
 cases are those where woman's sexual characters of 
 timidity, bashfulness, and passivity are sympathetically 
 overcome by make-believe representation of male 
 characteristic action. A third class combines these 
 two, and potentially, they may always merge in eacl 
 other. Connubial capture and formal capture are 
 identical, but the latter is on the spiritual plane. 
 
 The ceremonies to be next mentioned form a linl 
 between neutralising ceremonies and those which actually 
 
XIV 
 
 INOCULATION 371 
 
 and materially unite the man and woman. The prin- 
 ciple behind them is that of inoculation. That principle 
 has been described, and its use to lessen sexual danger 
 has been seen in the account of initiatory rites. Being 
 one-sided only, it is useful for marriage in abstract or 
 in extenso, as initiation may be called, but is naturally 
 not common as a sacramental method of marrying two 
 j individuals. As the initiatory practice is in essence 
 ; identical with love -charms of similar character, so is 
 this marriage ceremony. A case which shows the 
 identity of principle is from Morocco. On the evening 
 before the marriage, the " henna night," the bridegroom 
 visits the bride. He applies henna to her hands, and 
 removes a ring from her finger and a bracelet from her 
 arm, and wears the one or the other until the nuptials 
 are finally celebrated. 1 He thus assimilates himself to 
 her, and brings himself into communion with her, 
 satisfying his instincts of love and his subconscious fear 
 of union at the same time. The example is also in- 
 structive as being on the way to become a double 
 inoculation in the fact that he applies something to her. 
 The common Indian practice of sindur, by which the 
 groom touches the bride with red ochre, sugar and 
 water, and the like, is inoculation of her with himself. 
 The Bheel ceremony in which the bride does this as 
 well, shows inoculation become mutual. 2 
 
 There are some interesting cases in which the prin- 
 ciple of inoculation is expressed by one or other of the 
 pair wearing the dress of the opposite sex. It is in- 
 oculation and assimilation effected by wearing the same 
 ' kind of clothes as the loved and dreaded person, and 
 is paralleled by many cases in which a lover wears a 
 bracelet or some article of clothing of his mistress. 
 
 1 Leared, op. cit. 35, 36. - Journ. An'hrop. Inst. ix. 402. 
 
372 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Thomson says of Masai weddings : " Strangest of all, 
 and strikingly indicative of the fact that he had ex- 
 changed the spear for the distaff, the bridegroom had 
 actually to wear the garment of a ditto (girl) for one 
 month ; just imagine what fun it would be in this staid 
 and dignified country of ours, if a young man had to 
 spend his honeymoon in a cast-off suit of his wife's 
 maiden clothes." 1 In ancient Cos, according to 
 Plutarch, the bridegroom was dressed in women's 
 clothes when he received his bride. 2 The story of 
 Heracles and Omphale may have some similar origin. 
 Plutarch connects the custom and the myth ; but in 
 the old fashion makes the myth the origin of the 
 custom. On the other hand, in ancient Argos there 
 was a law, that brides " should wear beards when they 
 slept with their husbands." 3 The Spartan bride was 
 clothed in a man's cloak and shoes, and put on her bed 
 in the darkness by her bridesmaid, to wait for the 
 entrance of the groom. 4 It may be noted that there 
 are some cases in European custom, as in Wales, where 
 the bride is disguised in men's clothes. 5 The chief 
 point in these is the disguise, and in origin the Euro- 
 pean customs may be nothing more. 
 
 We now reach the ceremonies which, more than any 
 others, unite the man and woman. The principle of 
 their action is double or mutual "inoculation," which 
 renders the union innocuous on either side. Having 
 already fully described this method of ngia ngiampe, we 
 need here only repeat that it is the completion of ideas 
 of contact. Mutual inoculation is, when looked at 
 from the other side, union ; each of the two parties 
 
 1 Thomson, op. cit. 258. 2 Plutarch, Quastiones Graca, 58. 
 
 3 Id. Mulierum Virtutes, 245 E, F. 4 Id. Lycurgus, xv. 48. 
 
 5 T. Moore, Marriage Customs, 37. 
 
xiv UNION 373 
 
 gives to the other a part of himself, and receives from 
 the other a part of him ; this part, on the principles of 
 contact, may be, as it is in love-charms, a lock of hair, 
 a piece of clothing, food that has been touched or not, 
 blood, and the like. This effects union by assimilating 
 the one to the other, so as to produce somewhat of 
 identity of substance. When the act is done simultane- 
 ously, its sacramental character is intensified. The 
 urron thus effected has, in accordance with the ideas 
 behind it, a most binding force, each party as having 
 given part of himself into the other's keeping is 
 thereby bound, and as having received part of the 
 other has thereby a hold over the other ; and the act 
 is the materialised expression of a desire for union, 
 identical in principle with physical contact, especially 
 with contact in love. It sums up and recapitulates the 
 whole cycle of conceptions as to human relations, which 
 are latent in human nature. 
 
 First we find the very general ceremony of joining 
 hands and the like. Here mere mutual contact fulfils 
 the union. It is a ceremonial pre-representation of the 
 actual union in marriage, assisting that union by making 
 it safe and by making it previously, and as it were 
 objectively. In Fiji the chief marriage ceremony is the 
 joining of hands, as it is amongst the Algonquins, 
 Egvptians, and many another people, including our- 
 selves. 1 At Abyssinian weddings the bride and groom 
 crook their little fingers together under a cloth which 
 is held over them.- The Puttooas tie the thumbs of 
 the pair together. 3 The Egyptian bride and groom 
 stand face to face, grasp each other's right hands and 
 press the thumbs together, a handkerchief being put 
 
 1 Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 91 ; Featherman, op. cit. iii. 74 ; Lane, op. cit. i. 20c. 
 - Featherman, op. cit. v. 606. 3 Rowney, op. cit. 93. 
 
374 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 over the clasped hands. 1 A curious example of the 
 close connection the pair sometimes have with their 
 attendant sponsors, combined with ideas of sexual soli- 
 darity, is from the Bondei. The bride and groom 
 hold hands, each takes his and her kungwi by the hand, 
 each kungwi holds the hand of a child, the male kungwi 
 that of a boy, and the female that of a girl. 2 
 
 In Nias, again, mutual contact is expressed in another 
 way. The chief marriage ceremony is the pressing 
 together of the heads of the young pair. 3 The Anda- 
 manese marriage ceremony is this : the bridegroom is 
 made to sit down on the bride's legs, which are, some- 
 times forcibly, straightened out for the purpose. 4 The 
 pressing together of two things is an obvious method 
 of union and of inoculation ; and the marriage cere- 
 mony is curiously paralleled by the Andamanese method 
 of making a boy at initiation " free " of a forbidden 
 food, pig, for instance. A pig is pressed down upon 
 him, and brought into contact with most of his person. 5 
 
 Another method of joining the pair together is by 
 throwing a garment over them to cover them both ; 
 the same method has been noticed as applied to the ] 
 joining of hands. At marriage amongst the Jews of 
 Jerusalem a white cassock is thrown over the pair, 
 " to indicate that they now belong to one another." 
 All present exclaim, " May it be a good sign ! " 6 The 
 same is done by the Hovas. 7 In Tahiti the pair 
 were enveloped in a cloth. s So in the south-east of 
 Borneo, North Nias, and amongst the Battas of Sumatra. 9 
 
 1 Lane, op. cit. i. 200. 2 Dale, in Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst, xxv. 199. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 354. 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 137. 
 
 5 Id. 135. 6 Featherman, op. cit. v. 140. 
 
 ' Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 41. 8 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 117. 
 
 H Ausland for 1885, 785; Sunciermann, in Ailgemtin. Missions -Zeitschrift, xi. 
 443 ; van der Tuulc, Bataksch Woorder.boek, s.-v. abis. 
 
XIV 
 
 UNION 375 
 
 One would expect to find cases of double " inocula- 
 tion " by means of dress, each wearing the dress of the 
 other sex. In European folk-custom there are several 
 traces of this, bride and groom exchanging head-dresses 
 and the like. 1 After betrothal the Ainu boy and girl 
 wear each other's clothes. 2 This method of union is a 
 common phenomenon in love - practice, and when a 
 modern 'Arry and 'Arriet exchange hats, the fact is no 
 coincidence, but is due to the same principle inherent in 
 the human consciousness. To the same order of ideas 
 belongs an Andamanese custom. " They address young 
 married people in a strange way, calling the husband 
 by the name of the wife." 3 
 
 The commonest of all marriage ceremonies of union 
 is eating and drinking together. This mutual inocula- 
 tion by food is the strongest of all ties of the ngia 
 ngiampe sort, and breaks the most important of sexual 
 taboos, that against eating together. Eating food 
 together produces identity of substance, of flesh, and 
 thereby introduces the mutual responsibility resulting 
 from eating what is part of the other, and giving the 
 other part of oneself to eat ; each has the other in 
 pledge, and each is in pawn to the other ; any ill- 
 feeling later, or sin, will produce bad results between 
 the pair. The closest union is produced with the 
 closest of responsibilities. Its binding force has been 
 already traced to its origin, as is shown by the Loango 
 custom, that bride and groom must make a full con- 
 fession of their sins at the marriage ceremony, else they 
 will fall ill when eating together. 4 The practice is of 
 course identical with those we have surveyed in con- 
 nection with hospitality, the sharing of "bread and 
 
 1 Reinsberg-Duringsfeld, op. clt. passim. - Batchelor, The Ainu, 142. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 129. * Bastian, Loango Kiiste, i. 172. 
 
376 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 salt," a large class of love-charms, and acts of ngiampe. 
 It goes back to the animal expression of sympathy 
 by contact and by a gift of food. The practice has 
 nothing to do originally with transferring the groom or 
 the bride to the other's kin ; food produces flesh, and 
 flesh is connected with blood, but the " tie of blood " 
 is an inference not very prominent in early thought, 
 the tie of eating together is recognised earlier both in 
 practice and in theory. The bride and groom become 
 " one flesh," but this is union of two individuals only ; 
 it is only late in culture, and then but rarely, that 
 kinship assumes such superiority over individualism. 
 For instance, the- exogamous Melanesians say that the 
 wife never becomes one of her husband's " clan," but 
 is "at the door," " half-way across." l The pair are 
 brought into a close relation, but not relationship, 
 although in primitive thought the latter is a relation. 
 The theory that the " blood covenant " and the similar 
 marriage ceremony are intended to cause the blood of 
 the tribe to flow in the veins of the new member, is 
 based on late legal fictions. Exchange of blood is 
 commoner between lovers than as a marriage ceremony, 
 and lovers are not likely to think of tribal union ; the 
 act in Amboina, for instance, is regarded as a real sacra- 
 ment of affection. 2 Also, on the theory relatives by 
 marriage should not marry as they do. Again, are all 
 the cases where husbands and wives do not eat together 
 to be explained by the fact that, owing to exogamy, 
 they are of different tribes ? Robertson Smith made a 
 further suggestion that it was because they were of 
 different totems, and therefore had different systems 
 of forbidden food ; 3 but the latter system is rarely 
 applied to marriage. This theory of tribal communion 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. x. 314. - Riedel, op. cit. 41. 3 Op. cit. 312. 
 
xiv UNION OF INDIVIDUALS 377 
 
 involves too many inconsistencies, and we need some 
 explanation more in accordance with human nature, 
 and with primitive thought. Well, as to this sex- 
 taboo and marriage ceremony alike, exogamy rarely 
 implies that the husband and wife are of different 
 tribes. Thev more often than not are of different 
 families only, and often cousins. Again, brothers and 
 sisters are often forbidden to eat together. They are 
 actually of the same family, of the same totem, and of 
 the same tribe. What does the taboo imply but sex ? 
 Lastly, it has been overlooked that in most cases one 
 person only is added to the tribe, namely, the new 
 wife or the new husband. This being so, it should not 
 be necessary, if the idea is simply to make that person 
 a member of the tribe, for more to be done than that 
 he or she only should eat some tribal food or drink 
 some tribal blood ; but in most cases the other party 
 also eats and drinks — why? To cause the tribal 
 blood of the stranger's tribe to flow in his or her 
 veins ? This seems supererogatory. It may be said, 
 the idea is to knit the two tribes together, but that is 
 another story. Here I will only observe that primarily 
 it does nothing of the kind, and that the theory breaks 
 down before such cases as the following, in which the 
 ceremony has for its sole object this knitting together 
 of two tribes. The ceremonial communion, by which 
 two tribes or villages in Ceram and Wetar form 
 alliance, is intended to join them together for mutual 
 help in war. 1 It will be allowed that such covenants 
 form as important a bond, for treachery is thereby 
 neutralised, as that made by an intermarriage. Now, 
 after this ceremony, it is expressly forbidden for them 
 to intermarrv. Here we may remember that married 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 12S, 129, 446, 44-. 
 
 ; 
 
378 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 couples do not always live together as such, but, as has 
 been shown, often do not eat together. On the present 
 theory, this apparent contradiction, and the curious 
 result of the Ceramese and Wetarese tribal covenants 
 both receive a satisfactory explanation. 
 
 The offering of a gift of food, which is part of 
 the biological basis of the custom, is often used as a 
 proposal of marriage. In Halmahera and Borneo a 
 proposal is made by offering betel to the girl. She 
 shows her acceptance by receiving it. 1 In Samoa the 
 suitor offers her a basket of bread-fruit ; or he asks her 
 parents for her hand. If they are friendly and eat 
 with him, his addresses are sure to be favourably re- 
 ceived. 2 Here is seen the ordinary use of the method 
 as a test of friendliness. At the betrothal ceremony of 
 the Yezedees the sheikh delivers to the bridegroom 
 a loaf of consecrated bread, half of which is eaten by 
 each of the betrothed. 3 The very common practice of 
 a love-gift thus passes into a proposal of marriage, and 
 in the last case it is seen in the process of becoming 
 a marriage rite. This marriage rite may indeed be 
 described as a crystallisation of the love -charm of 
 exchange of food. 
 
 At marriage there are some interesting variations. 
 In the Duke of York Islands a cocoanut is broken 
 over the heads of the pair, and its milk poured over 
 them. 4 Amongst the Barbary Arabs the parents of the 
 groom present the young wife on her arrival with milk 
 and honey. 5 Amongst the Koosa Kaffirs the relatives 
 of the groom hand milk to the bride, reminding her 
 that it is from the cows which belong to the bride- 
 
 1 Riedel in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, xvii. 75 ; St. John, op. cit. i. 54, 161. 
 
 2 Wilkes, op. cit. ii. 138. 3 Featherman, op. cit. v. 62. 
 
 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 290. 5 Featherman, op. cit. v. 530. 
 
xiv EATING TOGETHER 379 
 
 groom. Of this milk she may not drink while the 
 bridegroom is her suitor only, but now she is to drink 
 it, and from this moment the union is indissolubly con- 
 cluded. The people shout, " She drinks the milk ! She 
 hath drunk the milk ! " a This case, of course, is one- 
 sided " inoculation " ; the bride eats the bridegroom's 
 food, that is, she eats his substance in both senses of the 
 word. In the next two cases, sexual shyness has played 
 its part. At weddings in Ceram-laut the bride does 
 not appear, being hidden in her chamber ; the bride- 
 groom eats with her people.- In Amboina an old 
 woman puts " food of the house " (the wedding 
 being in the bridegroom's dwelling) in the bride's 
 mouth. 3 The South Celebes bridegroom is offered 
 the betel -box of his bride, from which he takes 
 some betel.* In Ceram the bride eats a male 
 opossum, and the bridegroom a female of the same 
 animal. 5 
 
 A Servian bride ate with her husband on the 
 wedding-day, the first and last occasion in her life on 
 which she ate with a man. 6 Niam-niam women never 
 eat with men, but at the marriage ceremony they eat 
 with their husbands. 7 At Hova marriages the pair eat 
 together, and then a lamba is thrown round them both. s 
 The joining of hands is used in the Malaccas, where 
 it is followed by eating together ; 9 so in Nias and 
 Timor, and amongst the Orang-Sakai of Perak. 10 
 Amongst the Topantunuasu of Celebes the pair are 
 placed on one mat, and the bridegroom places his 
 
 1 Lichtenstein, op. cit. i. 262. 
 
 2 Rieclel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, \'-. 
 "' Id. jo. 4 Matthes, op. cit. 30. 5 Riedel, op. cit. 133. 
 
 6 Reinsberg-Diiringsfeld, op. cit. 81. " Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 28. 
 
 " Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 41. '■' Journal of 'the Indian Archipelago, i. 338. 
 
 10 Rosenberg, op. cit. 38 ; Miiller, Reizen en onderzoeiingen in den Indischen Archipel, 
 ii. 258 ; jfourn. Ind. Archipelago, iv. 431. 
 
3 8o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 right leg on the left leg of the bride. They then eat 
 rice together. 1 Santhal couples fast on the wedding- 
 day, but after the sindur dan they eat together. 
 This is the first and last time she eats with a man. 2 
 In the Kei Islands, the young couple eat together and 
 exchange betel ; this forms the wedding ceremony. In 
 Ceram after these words are repeated by an elder, "what 
 the husband wishes the wife must wish, and what the 
 wife wishes the husband must also wish, and let them 
 not forget their parents," the couple eat together. The 
 young couple in Timorlaut eat together out of one 
 dish at the wedding. When the Babar bridegroom has 
 found his bride, after the search in the dark, his friend 
 places their heads together, and then the pair eat 
 together out of the same dish. 3 The Batta bride and 
 groom sit together and eat rice from the same dish. 4 
 So in Rao, " as a token of friendship." 5 Eating 
 together is the marriage ceremony in Palembang, 
 Tebing-Tinggi, and Ranau, and amongst the Orang- 
 Mantra ; in Borneo we have the same ceremony, some- 
 times varied by smoking the same cigarette. In 
 Mindanao and Celebes there is the same ceremony 
 of marriage, and also in Bali, Flores, and the Sawu 
 Islands. 7 In many of the above cases betel is chewed 
 together by the pair. In New Guinea the rite is 
 common. s The Navajo couple ate maize -pudding 
 
 1 Bijd. T.L.V.K. Ned. Ind. iii. 5. 1. 90. 2 Dalton, op. cit. 216. 
 
 :; Riedel, op. cit. 236, 133, 301, 351. 
 
 4 Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie, i. 846, ii. 179. 
 
 5 Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Land en Volkenkunde, xxviii. 578. 
 
 6 Pr'atorius, in De Indische Bij. i. 429 ; Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie (1873), 
 2. 295 ; Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, 219; Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Land en 
 Volkenkunde, x. 428 ; St. John, op. cit. 50, 5 c 
 
 7 Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie (1840), i. 122 ; Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- 
 Land en Volkenkunde, xviii. 383 ; Globus, xliii. 60 ; Graafland, De Minahassa, i. 319 ; 
 Veth, Java, i. 634 ; Riedel, in Revue Coloniale Internationale (1885), i. 308, (1886), 
 j. -o. 8 Rosenberg, Dcr Malay isch Archipel, 455. 
 
xiv EATING TOGETHER 381 
 
 from the same plate. 1 In Russia and Scandinavia the 
 pair used to drink from the same cup ; so in Brazil and 
 Japan. 2 Amongst the Ghonds and Korkus the garments 
 of the pair are tied together, and they interchange 
 things and eat together. 3 At Dorah weddings the 
 oldest man present joins the right hands of the young 
 couple, reminding them of their mutual duties and 
 expressing his best wishes. A pot filled with sago- 
 mush is then placed before them, of which they serve 
 to each other three mouthfuls in alternate succession. 4 
 In the Kingsmill Islands the pair sit on a new mat, and 
 the priest presses their foreheads together, and sprinkles 
 their faces with water. They then eat together some 
 fish and bread-fruit. 5 At Dyak marriages the bride 
 and groom eat together, and are sprinkled with rice. 
 In the Manuahiki Islands the priest gave the man a 
 cocoanut to drink and he, after sipping the milk, gave 
 it to the woman and she drank. 7 In Fiji the marriage 
 ceremony was the eating by the pair out of the same 
 dish. s In Madagascar bride and groom eat together, 
 and thus become man and wife. It is " apparently a 
 symbol of the future unity of their interests." 9 At a 
 wedding in the Philippines the young couple were 
 required to eat from the same plate and drink from 
 the same cup. 10 At a Malay wedding friends put in 
 the hands of bride and bridegroom handfuls of rice, 
 and with this the two feed each other simultaneously. 11 
 Amongst the Larkas rice and meat are offered to her, 
 " by partaking of which she becomes of her husband's 
 
 ! Waitz-Geriand, op. cit. iii. 105. 
 
 2 Westermarck, H:s:,r; :f Human Marriage, 419. 
 
 3 Forsyth, The Highlands of Central India, 149. 
 
 4 Featherman, op. at. ii. 32. 6 Wilkes, op. cit. v. 101. 
 * Featherman, op. cit. ii. 266. 7 Turner, Samoa, 2-6. 
 
 s Williams and Calvert, op. cit. i. i"t. 9 Sibree, op. cit. 193. 
 
 10 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 4-4. u Skeat, op. cit. 383. 
 
382 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 caste " (sic). Later, a cup of beer is given to each, these 
 are mingled and the pair drink ; this " completes the 
 marriage." 1 At marriages in Java the groom offers 
 the bride some rice which they eat together out of the 
 same dish, or the pair take betel out of the same box, 
 " to indicate their union." 2 In the valleys of the 
 Hindoo Koosh the marriage ceremony is that the 
 pair eat together a cake of bread. 3 In Ceylon the 
 pair have their little fingers tied together. They then 
 eat out of the same dish, "to show they are now of 
 equal rank" (jzV). 4 In Mangaia the marriage ceremony 
 was that bride and groom ate together ; 5 so amongst 
 the Sarae." The Khyoungtha bride and groom are 
 tied together, and fed by the priest with rice, each 
 receiving seven alternate helpings.' Amongst the 
 Chukmas the pair are tied together and in that position 
 they feed each other, the best man and bridesmaid 
 guiding their hands. 8 In Dardistan the pair eat together, 
 this being the marriage ceremony. 9 Eating together is 
 a common marriage custom amongst European peasants. 
 In Germany the pair eat off the same plate. 10 In ancient 
 Rome at marriage by confarrealio, the bride and groom 
 ate together panis farreus, in the presence of the Flamen 
 Dialis and Pontifex Maximus. 11 In South Slavonia the 
 bride eats half an apple and gives the other half to the 
 bridegroom. 12 If we can isolate the folk-lore element 
 in the story of Eve's apple, it seems most probable that 
 some such love -practice or marriage rite as this is 
 behind it. There is an unmistakable reference to sexual 
 
 I Rowney, op. cit. 67. 2 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 3S5. 
 Biddulph, op. cit. 79. 4 Forbes, op. cit. i. 331. 
 5 Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 63. 6 Munzinger, op. cit. 384. 
 7 Lewin, op. cit. 129. 8 Id. 177. 
 
 9 G. W. Leitner, in Asiatic Quarterly Review, v. 153. 
 
 10 A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaherglaube, 560. 
 
 II Gains, i. 108 ff. 12 Krauss, op. cit. 276, 459. 
 
 
xiv DRINKING TOGETHER 383 
 
 relations in the story, the serpent being the zoomorphic 
 presentment of virility, which, as has been noticed, is a 
 widely spread way of explaining certain sexual pheno- 
 mena. Further, there is the knowledge of evil as dis- 
 tinguished from the state of innocence, a fact curiously 
 paralleled by the psychological analysis of the result of 
 the ngia ngiampe relation, of which eating together it 
 the most typical form. The symbolism of the apple, 
 as found in Greek and Latin folk-lore, is of course later. 
 Drinking wine is no substitute for or survival of 
 drinking blood ; each has the same effect, but wine is 
 primarily liquid nourishment. The taking together of 
 the Communion is in Catholic countries an essential 
 part of the marriage ceremony. It is so in the English 
 Church, according to the rubric. Some examples of 
 drinking together have been already noticed. In the 
 island Romang the pair drink together out of one 
 cup ; this is the wedding ceremony. 1 At marriages in 
 Morocco the priest hands to the couple a glass of wine 
 after blessing it, and each drink of it. The glass is 
 then smashed on the ground by the groom, " with a 
 covert meaning that he wishes they may never be 
 parted until the glass again becomes perfect." 2 The 
 idea is originally to prevent others making magic use 
 of the vessel to the harm of those who have drunk, 
 and, later, to prevent any undoing of the rite. At the 
 marriage ceremony of Polish Jews the Rabbi hands a 
 goblet of wine, over which he pronounces a blessing, to 
 the pair, who sip each in turn of the wine. 3 Amongst 
 the Hos, Lepchas, and Tipperahs, the bride and groom 
 drink beer together out of the same cup. 4 In China 
 
 1 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 460. 
 
 2 Leared, op. cit. 37. 3 Featherman, op. cit. v. 154. 
 4 Dalton, op. cit. 193 ; Risley, op. cit. ii. 8 ; Lewin, op. cit. 202. 
 
384 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and Corea they drink wine out of two cups which are 
 tied together by red thread. 1 Amongst the Nestorians 
 the final act of the marriage ceremonial is the taking of 
 the Communion together. 2 
 
 Various national narcotics, sedatives, and the like, 
 are used in the same practice, as has been seen already. 
 The Aru bride is carried to the wedding, and the 
 ceremony is the partaking together of betel? The 
 Sibuyou bride and bridegroom sit side by side on two 
 crowbars ; their heads are knocked together, and they 
 then put betel in each other's mouth. Previously to 
 the last rite, the priest waves a pair of fowls above 
 their heads. After the exchange of betel, the fowls are 
 killed, and from the appearance of the blood the priest 
 predicts the future fortunes of the newly wedded pair. 
 The Balans at marriage chew betel together. The 
 Sintahs rub the chest, forehead, and hands of the pair 
 with a paste of saffron, gold-dust, and fowls' blood. 
 Lastly, a string of beads is bound round the wrist of 
 each of the pair. 4 Amongst the Minahasses of Celebes 
 the young couple sit side by side, and, betel being placed 
 in the hand of each, they exchange it and chew it. 
 They are thus legally married. 5 In the Natchez wedding 
 ceremony the pair ate together out of the same dish. 
 Afterwards the bridegroom smoked the calumet and 
 " wafted the first fumes towards the parents of his wife, 
 and then towards his own parents in token of the 
 alliance." 6 
 
 Drinking each other's blood has no real pre-eminence 
 in early custom over other means of assimilation ; blood 
 is simply a part of one's self. Where the practice is 
 
 1 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 86 ; Griffis, op. cit. 249. 2 Featherman, op. cit. v. 75. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 262. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 267. 
 
 5 Id. ii. 64. 6 Id. iii. 139. 
 
xiv BLOOD COMMUNION 385 
 
 followed, it is not relationship that is the result, but 
 relation, — of ngia ngiampe, just as is effected by food 
 and other vehicles of contact. It is rather a rare 
 custom, far more rare than the " blood covenant," and 
 a corollary of the blood covenant between two tribes 
 was actually found to be that they may not intermarry. 
 This was explained in the account of ngia ngiampe. It 
 
 I is in fact commoner as used by lovers than as a marriage 
 ceremony, and lovers are the last persons to think of 
 
 ■ tribal union. In Amboina lovers drink each other's 
 blood, mixed with food, " to show their close attach- 
 ment," and the custom is said to have a sacramental 
 binding force. 1 This practice of lovers is very common 
 in Europe and elsewhere. 2 
 
 At marriages amongst the Wukas the young couple 
 mutually make a slight cut in their foreheads sufficiently 
 
 : deep to let the blood flow, and the other members of 
 both families follow their example. " This binds 
 
 1 together all the relatives on both sides in the closest 
 
 :fraternal alliance." 3 A common variation is anointing 
 with blood. Amongst the Bengal tribes the marriage 
 ceremony is the sindur dan, in which the groom marks 
 •the bride's forehead with red lead. Red lead is possibly, 
 but not certainly, a substitute for blood. 4 The Birhor 
 ceremony is that bride and groom smear each other 
 with blood drawn from their little fingers. 5 The Kewat 
 ceremony of marriage is the sindur dan, after which 
 blood is drawn from the hands of bride and groom and 
 mingled with food which is then eaten by the pair. 
 Similarly amongst the Rajpoots. 6 
 
 The same principles of relation, of ngia ngiampe, 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 4.1. 2 Ploss u. Bartels, Das fVeib, ii. 442 ff. 
 
 3 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 32. * Dalton, op. cit. 160, 216, 252, 273, 321. 
 
 5 Id. 220. 6 Risley, op. cit. i. 456 ; ii. 189. 
 
 2 C 
 
386 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 more subconscious indeed, but still inherent and always 
 liable to pass from potentiality to actuality, are behind 
 the practice of feasting at weddings. We have found 
 this kind of thing in connection with Saturnalia festivals. 
 So at marriage the friends of both feel somewhat bound 
 together by the union of the pair, and expression is 
 given to this by eating and drinking together. Here 
 indeed the new member is united to the family, so far 
 as sharing in a feast effects this. Just as two men 
 nowadays are more or less brought into friendly union 
 by taking wine together or " having a drink," and 
 members of societies are united in closer sympathy by 
 a dinner or a feast, so the husband and wife are joined 
 together by communion, and to some extent also their 
 friends by mutual feasting. These happen to be 
 different families, but rarely different tribes ; their 
 union, however, is not primarily a fiction of blood- 
 kinship, but a more general relation of friendliness, as 
 persons who have the same interests and a mutual 
 acquaintance in the happy bride or bridegroom, but, 
 originally, as persons who eat together. The connec- 
 tion of feasting with the importance of food is shown 
 at Huron weddings, where there was a feast of every 
 kind of game, including fish, and meat for dogs. 1 As 
 to other expressions of joy and good feeling, we may 
 say of wedding dances what an old Motu-Motu man 
 said to Mr. Chalmers : " No drums are beaten uselessly, 
 there are no dances that are merely useless." 2 
 
 The same ideas are behind the common practice of 
 gifts from bride to groom and from groom to bride, 
 and between the friends and relatives of the pair; just 
 as they are behind the identical practices of love-gifts 
 and gifts from man to man. A gift means far more 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 56. 2 Chalmers, op. cit. 181. 
 
 
 
XIV 
 
 BRIDAL GIFTS 387 
 
 to primitive man than it does to us ; it is part of him- 
 self. A Patagonian chief is prevented by custom from 
 entering the tent of another till presents have been 
 exchanged. 1 This case shows the principles of ngia 
 ngiampe. Amongst the Khakyens there seems to be 
 little more of marriage ceremonial than interchange of 
 presents, this is essential, and really seems to constitute 
 marriage. 2 The importance of gifts in this connection 
 is shown bv the Kaffir custom that the bride may not 
 eat food from the bridegroom's kraal until the " presents " 
 lave duly arrived. 3 The marriage gifts in South 
 Celebes between bride and groom are very numerous 
 and most of them are variously symbolical of marriage, 
 amongst them are ginger -roots which have grown 
 together. 4 In Japan the sending of presents to the 
 Dride by the groom is one of the most important parts 
 Sof the marriage ceremony. When done, the contract 
 tis complete, and neither party can draw back.. 5 It is 
 not, as Dr. Westermarck thinks,'" a relic of a previous 
 
 ustom of marriage by purchase ; the latter is, on the 
 
 ontrary, a development from this. 
 
 The explanation of bride-gifts is really the explana- 
 :ion of what is mis-called " marriage by purchase." In 
 many peoples, of course, as commercial instincts ripen, 
 and daughters are found to have their price, the old 
 '.dea fades into the " light of common day," and buying 
 ind selling become connected with marrying and giving 
 
 n marriage. But originally it was not so. The so- 
 :alled bride-price was originally ot the same class as 
 :he kalduke, a. pledge, a part of one's self, given to 
 mother and received from him. Buying and selling 
 
 1 Musters, cp. cit. 1S4. 2 Anderson, :p. cit. 30. 
 
 3 Shooter, cp. cit. 54. * M a tthe a, if -i3, 22-26, 25. 
 
 5 Trar.sjcr.'.r.s /' .*-; Asiatic Society of japan, xiii. 12c. 6 Op. cit. 395. 
 
388 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 with primitive peoples have not the same sordid con- 
 notation as they now have. The principle involved is 
 more personal, more religious ; there is less of price and 
 more of value, more of the pledge than of profit and 
 loss. As showing something of the early idea of pay- 
 ments and purchase, the following case is useful. When 
 two villages in the New Hebrides make peace, the 
 offending village is mulcted in a sum of pigs. There 
 is, however, a sham fight, in which the village which 
 has to pay the pigs is defeated, thus giving a pretext 
 for the payment. 1 
 
 In the Banks Islands, when all the " purchase- 
 money " for the bride has been paid, the women come 
 forward and refuse to let the bride go until a further 
 sum is put down. 2 The harta y or bride-price, amongst 
 the Minahasses of Celebes " should not be considered 
 as a price, it has rather the nature of a compensation 
 paid to the bride's family for the loss of one of its 
 working and child -producing members." 3 Amongst 
 the Todas and Osages the marriage contract " resembles, 
 but is not, an act of barter." The Osage bride is 
 stripped of all her clothes and ornaments, which become 
 the property of the groom's mother ; but she receives in 
 exchange a new suit equally valuable. The ceremonies 
 are concluded by a family feast ; 4 much as amongst 
 the Chippeways, whose weddings were ended by a feast 
 at which presents were exchanged between the bride-, 1 
 groom and the relatives of the bride. 5 As to the 
 bride-price amongst the Kaffirs a good observer states, 
 " the transaction is not a mere purchase. The cattle 
 paid for the bride are divided amongst the male 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 17. 2 Codrington, op. cit.Z-fl. 
 
 3 Hickson, A Naturalist in North Celebes, 282. 
 
 4 Marshall, op. cit. 211 ; Featherman, op. cit. iii. 308. 
 
 5 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 249. 
 
xgr THE BRIDE-PRICE 389 
 
 relations, and are considered by the law to be held in 
 trust for the benefit of herself and children, should she 
 be left a widow. She can accordingly legally demand 
 assistance from any of those who have partaken of her 
 dowry." 1 At Kaffir betrothals a goat is killed at the 
 kraal of the suitor, or if he has no goat, a present of 
 beads is made to the girl. Until the one or the other 
 is done, she may not eat at the kraal, where she remains 
 a few days. Besides the cattle he has to " pay " for 
 his wife, he must give a cow to the bride's mother ; 
 this is called ukutu, referring to the thongs made from 
 an ox-hide, and hung round the bride during infancy. 
 This ox is thus " repaid " by the groom. Again, there 
 is " the ox of the girl " to be slain at the marriage ; 
 this is given by the bride's father to the groom. It is 
 also called " the ox which has a surplus," and represents 
 these ideas : (1) it stands for the value of the girl, (2) 
 it gives an assurance to the recipient that the spirit of 
 the father — I-hloze — will not after his death come to 
 disturb the place where his daughter lives, and (3) that 
 his girl will bear many children. On arriving at the 
 bridegroom's kraal after sunset, she gives him a present 
 of beads, but does not speak; she receives also a present 
 from him which she hands to her brother. Next day, 
 the friends of the bride go to the kraal to demand from 
 the bridegroom the ox called um-goliswa. The groom 
 says he has no ox, and is thereupon informed that the 
 bride will be taken away. After remaining concealed 
 for a time, he now tries to run away, but is prevented 
 by a company of women, a smile on his face showing 
 that his efforts are merely formal. The um-goliswa is 
 now brought and given to the bride's friends. The 
 father of the bride delivers a lecture to the groom, on 
 
 1 Maclean, op. cit, 53 ; Journ, Anthrop. Inst. xix. 270. 
 
390 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, xiv 
 
 the duty of behaving well to her, and warns him of the 
 impropriety of beating his wife. Then the slaughter 
 of " the ox of the girl " takes place ; this is the " fixing 
 point of the ceremony," previously the bride could be 
 removed. 1 This account brings out clearly the religious 
 importance of " bride-gifts," and is instructive as show- 
 ing the identity of the " purchase-money " with these. 
 It is to be noted lastly that there underlies the practice 
 an idea that the "ox of the girl" is a substitute for 
 her, and the ox of the bridegroom a substitute for 
 him, securing safety, both religious and practical, to 
 both parties. 2 There is also to be noted the sexual 
 shyness on the part of the bridegroom, as shown by the 
 formal attempt to escape. 
 
 To conclude this sketch of marriage ceremonies, it 
 is to be observed that the reason why marriage ritual is 
 often excluded from religion proper by enquirers, and 
 why much of it is apparently secular, is precisely the 
 fact that the subconscious fear of the one sex towards 
 the other is here so liable to emerge into consciousness, 
 when a man and a woman stand face to face. Much of 
 religion begins with, as it returns to, human person- I 
 alities. 
 
 1 Shooter, op. cit. 54, 71, 72. 
 
 2 The Damara custom may be compared ; a special part of the ox sacrificed at a 
 wedding may only be eaten by young girls. With the fat therefrom the brides- 
 maids deck the hair of the bride. — South African Folklore Journal, i. 49. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Husband and wife are thus in the relation of ngia 
 ngiampe, emphasised by its being a sexual form ; they 
 have been brought into that relation by a special cere- 
 mony of union, and remain in it both as a result of 
 that ceremony, of which permanence of union is not 
 the least important object, and as a result of living 
 together, which is itself a potential mode of ngia 
 ngiampe. This continuous contact introduces once 
 more all the original dangers of sexual taboo, as it were 
 in spite of the act of ngia ngiampe ; in other words, 
 the factors of contact which produce the taboo remain, 
 after the taboo is broken by union, so as to give that 
 union its sanction or binding force. The resulting 
 taboo, that of responsibility, is thus emphasised by the 
 original ideas of contact. We saw how this new taboo 
 of responsibility arises, and that it is the psychological 
 basis of altruism ; of this and of the original sexual 
 taboos between husband and wife, which also now 
 recur, not inconsistently, as a result of the ngia 
 ngiampe relation, it is unnecessary to quote instances, 
 but a few illustrations will be given to show how the 
 mutual responsibility of married persons is based on 
 the original ideas of contact. The duty resulting is 
 primarily between husband and wife, then between 
 parents and children, and between the children them- 
 selves, secondarily between either of the married pair 
 
392 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and those brought by the marriage into relation with 
 each. Many details, such as the following, show how 
 conscious application of the ideas of contact supplement 
 such biological relations. A Zulu mother, when about 
 to leave her baby for a few minutes, will squeeze her 
 milk over its hands, breast, and back, or spit on it, 
 " as a protective charm " to ensure its safety during 
 her absence. 1 Amongst the Maoris if the mother's 
 breasts give no milk, she and her husband are kept 
 apart for a night, to allow the karakia (incantation), 
 which has been employed as cure, to take effect. 2 In 
 Luang Sermata, if a woman's children have died while 
 being suckled, the next born is given to other people 
 to be nursed. 3 Amongst the people of the Loango 
 Coast the bridegroom and the bride before the marriage 
 ceremony have to confess their sins to the priest ; if 
 they fail to do so, or if either keep back anything, evil 
 and misfortune " will result when they eat together." 4 
 This example is an excellent illustration of all these 
 ideas. In South-East Africa a guilty wife may be for- 
 given but the husband cannot live with her till a third 
 party has been with her. If a guilty woman were to 
 put salt in her husband's food, and he were to eat it, 
 he would surely die, therefore many women ask a 
 little girl to put in the salt. 5 We see here and in the 
 following how the adhesive substance of guilt which 
 may injure the wronged party is prevented from acting, 
 by the use of an intermediary. After divorce an 
 Egyptian husband cannot legally take his wife again, 
 till she has been married and divorced by another man. 
 They employ a poor, ugly, or blind man for this, 
 
 1 Leslie, op. cit. 147. - Shortlaad, Maori Religion, 30. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 327. 4 Bastian, Lcango Kuste, i. 170, 172. 
 
 " Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. no. 
 
V / 
 
 xv NGIA NGIAMPE IN MARRIAGE 393 
 
 called moostahhill. Many rich Turks keep a special 
 black slave for this purpose, generally one who has not 
 reached puberty. 1 Amongst the Samoyeds, if birth 
 is difficult, one suspects the woman of adultery. 2 
 Amongst the Druses, if a wife leave her husband's 
 abode without an injunction to return, this is equivalent 
 to divorce. However willing both are to unite, they 
 cannot come together till she has first been married to 
 a third party, who must then divorce her ; after this 
 she can return. 3 Again, when a Chiquito man fell ill, 
 they used to kill the wife thinking her to be the cause 
 of his sickness, and imagining when she was removed 
 that he would recover. 4 Amongst the Krumen when a 
 wife dies, the husband is believed to have caused her 
 death by "witchcraft." 5 In Congo tribes widows and 
 widowers are similarly accused. In Madagascar the 
 widow is reviled and informed that it is her fault that 
 her Vintana (fate) ( has been stronger than that of her 
 husband, and that she " is virtually the cause of his 
 death." 7 When a Zulu woman has lost her husband 
 and is married by a brother or other man, the spirit of 
 her late husband follows her continually. If she is 
 pregnant and the spirit comes to her, she falls ill and 
 miscarries. By placing in an ant-heap some spittle, 
 collected in her mouth while dreaming of him, the 
 ghost is laid. 8 In China it is believed that when 
 members of a family are sick one after the other, there 
 is a mysterious and injurious influence existing between, 
 for example, husband and wife, or father and son. 9 In 
 Samoa, when one was sick, the priest assembled all the 
 
 1 Lane, op. at. i. 228. 2 Georgi, op. cit. 14. 
 
 3 Chasseaud, op. cit. 186. 4 Dobrizhoffcr, op. cit. ii. 264. 
 
 5 J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 115. 6 Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 120. 
 
 7 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 45. 8 Callaway, op. cit. 16 1. 
 
 9 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 143. 
 
394 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 family round the sick-bed, and made them confess 
 their sins. " The requisition was always implicitly 
 obeyed, and each one confessed everything he or she 
 had ever at any time done. Whether it were theft, 
 adultery, seduction, lying, or invoking a curse upon 
 the sick person, however long concealed, all was openly 
 and with solemn contrition confessed." l Here is 
 evident the idea of danger inherent in all contact, 
 emphasised by the very closeness of the relation, in 
 spite of the friendliness of a united life ; it is to be 
 compared with the Loango rule that husband and wife 
 must confess their sins, else they will be injured by 
 eating together. Amongst the Samoyeds at a Shaman's 
 performances, his wife "as an unclean thing, must keep 
 out of the way." 2 In New Guinea when a man is 
 taboo he lives apart from his wife, and his food is 
 cooked by his sister. 3 
 
 The same ideas are somewhat differently expressed 
 in the following. In Timor-laut a married man's hair 
 may not be cut, else his wife will die. 4 A Sarawak man 
 will put himself under pamali to cure a sick child. 5 
 The conduct of one connected by contact reacts upon 
 the other, when either is absent. No water may be 
 boiled inside a Mahlemut house while the deer-hunt 
 continues. 6 If a Hottentot goes out hunting, his wife 
 kindles a fire. " She may not do anything else but watch 
 the fire and keep it alive. If the fire should be extin- 
 guished, the husband will not be lucky." She may 
 throw water about instead ; if she gets tired, her servant 
 must do it. If neglected, the same result follows. 7 
 When absent on a journey Acaxee men refrained from 
 
 1 Pritchard, op. cit. 147. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 141. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. viii. 370. 4 Riedel, op. cit. 292. 
 
 5 Low, op. cit. 402. 6 Dall, op. cit. 147. 7 Hahn, op. cit. JJ. 
 
xv NGIA NGIAMPE IN MARRIAGE 395 
 
 using salt ; they said : " Perhaps our wives are not 
 behaving well in our homes and we shall die." l 
 Amongst the Kaffirs, should a man's wife, while he 
 is on a journey, anoint herself with the oil or fat in 
 daily use, she will not only suffer herself but bring 
 calamity upon her husband ; should she dream during 
 his absence, she must offer a private gift for herself and 
 her absent lord. 2 When a Malay is at war, his pillows 
 and sleeping-mat at home are kept rolled up. If any 
 one else were to use them, the " absent warrior's courage 
 would fail, and disaster would befall him." His wife 
 and children may not have their hair cut during his 
 absence. 3 Not only was the traveller obliged, according 
 to the Nahua superstition, to abstain from baths during 
 his absence, but even his family during the same period, 
 while allowed to bathe the body, might not wash the 
 head or face oftener than once in eighty days. 4 In East 
 Central Africa while a woman's husband is absent on 
 an expedition, she goes without anointing her head or 
 washing her face ; she must not bathe, she scarcely 
 washes her arms. She must not cut her hair ; her oil- 
 vessel (chisasi) is kept full of oil till his return, and 
 may be hung up in the house, or kept by the side of her 
 bed. 5 In time of war, amongst the Tshi-speaking 
 peoples, the wives of the men who are with the army 
 paint themselves white, and decorate themselves with 
 beads and charms, and make a daily procession through 
 the town, invoking the protection of the gods for their 
 absent husbands. " This ceremony is called Mohbor-meh, 
 , a word compounded of mohbor, ' pity,' and meh, ' me,' 
 and which may be freely translated, ' Have mercy upon 
 
 1 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 581. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 116. 
 
 3 Skeat, op. cit. 524. 4 Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 392. 
 
 5 Macdonald, Africana, i. 81. 
 
396 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 us ! ' Besides the daily procession, Mohbor-meh women, 
 painted white from head to foot, dance publicly in the 
 streets, uttering howls and shrieks, leaping and ges- 
 ticulating, and brandishing knives and swords. On 
 the day upon which a battle is expected to take place 
 they run to and fro with guns, or sticks roughly carved 
 to represent guns, and pierce green paw -paws with 
 knives, in imitation of the foemen's heads. This 
 ceremony is generally performed in a complete state 
 of nudity, and frequently some of the principal women 
 appear with two hen's eggs fastened above the pudenda. 
 Any man, except the aged and infirm, who may be 
 discovered in the town or village, is at once assailed with 
 torrents of abuse, and charged with cowardice, taunted 
 with want of manliness, assaulted with sticks, and 
 driven out of the town. Mohbor-meh women appear 
 to be regarded in some respects as female warriors, who 
 guard the town in the absence of the men." x The 
 impersonation of the male sex is doubtless intended 
 to complete identification, and so make sympathetic 
 action more certain. In the Babar Islands, when the 
 men are at war, the women must fast and abstain from 
 sexual intercourse. 2 In Timor-laut, when a ship is at 
 sea, the girls of the village are bound to sing and dance 
 daily on the beach, by way of bringing the men back 
 speedily. 3 
 
 In other connections there are instructive cases like 
 the following. The foreskin removed at the circum- 
 cision of an Arunta boy is swallowed by the younger 
 brother of the initiate ; the idea is that it will 
 strengthen him, and make him grow tall and strong. 
 The blood is rubbed over his elder sisters, and they 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, The Tshi- speaking Peoples of the West Coast of Africa, 226, 227. 
 
 2 Rierlel, op. cit. 341. 3 Id. 290. 
 
xv NGIA NGIAMPE IN MARRIAGE 397 
 
 cut locks of his hair. 1 Here there is doubtless the 
 intention of strengthening those with whom one is in 
 a responsible relation, and perhaps the contact thus 
 intensified helps to intensify the particular taboo of sex 
 here involved. In the Central Australian tribes an 
 important right and duty is the giving and receiving of 
 hair. It is often given in return for a favour ; and the 
 principle behind the custom has been already described. 
 A man's chief supply comes from his mother-in-law ; 
 he also gets hair from his son-in-law and brother-in- 
 law. 2 
 
 Marriage being an act of danger is on these principles 
 tabooed between certain persons. As we saw in Ceram 
 marriage between different tribes is allowed, and even 
 between " upper and lower classes," the only restriction 
 is that villages which have performed the pela ceremony 
 of eating together sacramentally, which necessitates 
 alliance in war, may not intermarry. 3 The principle 
 is well illustrated by this : in the islands Leti, Moa, 
 and Lakor, Dere and Luli are the protecting deities of 
 the village, the former is male, the latter female. They 
 are the spirits of the founders of the village, and 
 their lineal descendants are employed as go-betweens, 
 muani riesre and puata riesre, between these gods 
 and the villagers, procuring, for instance, help in 
 sickness for the latter. If the muani riesre dies, 
 his sister's son succeeds him ; the puata riesre is 
 succeeded by her sister or daughter. Both man and 
 woman have equal privileges, but they may never 
 marry. 4 
 
 Cases have already been cited to show how a dan- 
 gerous service produces a taboo of the ngia ngiampe 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 251. 2 Id. 465. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 134. 4 Riedel, op. cit. 375. 
 
398 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 species. The taboo between the operators and those 
 operated upon in puberty ceremonies, is identical with 
 the common taboos between men who have exchanged 
 wives, between sponsors and god-children, and between 
 a married person and the assistant in the act, and in 
 each case it is one of duty and responsibility. The 
 last-mentioned custom may be well illustrated from the 
 Beni-Amer. When a wife quarrels with her husband 
 and seems inexorable, one of her bridesmen is called in. 
 She cannot resist this intervention ; " for between the 
 bride and the companions of the groom there exists an 
 eternal friendship, which never fails, though they may 
 not see each other." 1 The duty of natural affection 
 similarly renders a brother and sister in New Caledonia 
 most ready to help each other though they are taboo to 
 each other, 2 and generally between husbands and wives 
 the same result is regular, both for psychology and for 
 religious custom. 
 
 The general principle that persons closely connected 
 by contact must avoid dangerous contact, which would 
 lead to personal as well as mutual harm, is illustrated 
 by totemic customs. The Bakalai believe that if a man 
 ate his totem, the women would miscarry, or give birth 
 to animals of the totem kind.^ The Omahas think that 
 eating the totem, which is forbidden food, will cause 
 sickness to the man's wife and children. 4 Here, as so 
 often, a man's conduct affects his intimates, through the 
 continuous contact he has with them. 
 
 The same conception of danger combined with 
 intimacy appears very clearly in a Central Australian 
 belief. A man is obliged to supply his wife's relatives 
 with a certain amount of food ; but he is always cautious 
 
 1 Munzinger, op. cit. 325. 2 De Rochas, op. cit. 239. 
 
 3 Du Chaillu, op. cit. 309. 4 James, Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii. 50. 
 
xv NGIA NGIAMPE IN MARRIAGE 399 
 
 that these people should never see him eating, " else 
 their smell would get into the food and make him ill." ! 
 The results of contact generally, of dangerous services 
 and dangerous relations, are all taboos of the same 
 order. 
 
 Accordingly, we may decide that in primitive society, 
 as now, individualism still shows itself above any con- 
 nection of marriage or relationship. Owing to the 
 taboo of personal isolation and egoism, all society, as 
 such, is dangerous. The ties of intermarriage and of 
 blood-kinship are special cases of ngiampe, and in early 
 society they have not superseded this general conception 
 of relationship. 
 
 There is perhaps no savage custom, if we except the 
 Couvade, which has so increased the gaiety of civilised 
 nations as the common taboo between a man and his 
 mother-in-law. Amongst early peoples, this custom 
 forms a real part of the marriage system, and is a result 
 of the ngia ngiampe relation of marriage. The taboo 
 is also found between wives and their fathers-in-law, 
 and, though far less commonly, between other relations 
 by marriage, as between the husband and his sisters-in- 
 law, the wife and her brothers-in-law, and in a few 
 cases irrespective of sex, but by far the commonest form 
 is the mutual avoidance of husband and wife's mother. 
 The mother-in-law almost assumes the role of a super- 
 natural person. A Zulu swears by his mother-in-law. 2 
 When we examine complete accounts of the custom, it 
 is clear that the prohibition is one of extraordinary 
 strength and conceals no ordinary meaning. It also 
 t becomes evident that the relation is one of the ngia 
 \ngiampe sort, that it is a particularly intense expression 
 of the ideas of sexual taboo, and that the feelings con- 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 469. 2 Shooter, op. cit. 101. 
 
4 oo THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 cerned are religious in their character, the sentiment 
 connected with the breaking of the rule being one of 
 religious horror. 
 
 In many cases the avoidance begins, naturally 
 enough, with betrothal, as amongst the Bondei. 1 In 
 the tribes of New South Wales there is a taboo between 
 a man and the mother of his promised wife, but not so 
 pronounced as it is after marriage. 2 In some Victorian 
 tribes the girl's mother and aunts may not look at 
 the suitor nor speak to him from betrothal till 
 death. When they speak in each other's presence 
 they have to use a " turn-tongue." He may never 
 mention his mother-in-law's name. 3 Some typical 
 examples follow, in which various ideas of contact 
 occur, and the connection with sexual taboo is seen. 
 The Zulu system of uku-hlonipa is a network of 
 sexual taboos ; of this particular case the following 
 account is given. " This is a very singular custom, 
 and in its nature and tendencies presents insuperable 
 difficulties to the introduction of civilised habits into 
 the domestic circle, and especially to the exercise of j 
 those kindly offices which Christianity inculcates. By 
 this strange custom, a daughter-in-law is required to 
 hlonipa her father-in-law, and all her husband's male 
 relations in the ascending line, that is, to be cut off 
 from all intercourse with them. She is not allowed to 
 pronounce their names even mentally. Hence this 
 custom has given rise to an almost distinct language 
 among the women. The son-in-law is placed under cer- 
 tain restrictions towards his mother-in-law. He cannot 
 enjoy her society, or remain in the same hut with her, 
 nor can he pronounce her name. The daughter-in-law 
 must to a certain extent hlonipa her mother-in-law 
 
 1 Jourr.. Anthrop. Inst. xxv. 198. 2 Op. cit. xiv. 353. 3 Dawson, op. cit. 29. 
 
 . 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 401 
 
 also." l Another account states that the husband must 
 not speak to, look at, or eat with his mother-in-law, 
 and neither husband nor wife may utter the names of 
 each other's relatives. " This is hlonipa. "When a 
 mother-in-law meets her son-in-law, she will not speak 
 to him, she will hide her head and the breasts that 
 suckled his wife. If she meets him on the road, where 
 she cannot turn away, and where she has no covering, 
 she will tie a piece of grass round her head as a sign 
 that she hlonipas. All correspondence has to be carried 
 on between third parties. ... A woman does not 
 mention her father-in-law, and she hides from her son- 
 in-law. She says it is not right that he should see the 
 breasts which suckled his wife." - Amongst the Fijians 
 ' a free flow of the affections between members of the 
 ame family is prevented by the strict observance of 
 national or religious customs, imposing a most un- 
 natural restraint. Brothers and sisters, husbands and 
 ivives, fathers and sons-in-law, mothers and daughters- 
 n-law, brothers and sisters-in-law are thus severally 
 brbidden to speak to each other or to eat from the 
 ame dish." 3 This account is not very explicit, but is 
 mportant as connecting these customs with the taboos 
 jetween husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. 
 .\m0n2st the Sarae and Barea the mother-in-law con- 
 :eals herself from her son-in-law. 4 Amongst the 
 Vrawaks the son-in-law might not see the face of his 
 other-in-law, and if they lived in the same house, 
 hey were obliged to keep on opposite sides of a parti- 
 ion. 5 Mr. Curr, speaking of the mutual avoidance of 
 on-in-law and mother-in-law, " a singular and widely 
 
 1 Maclean, op. at. 95, 96. a Leslie, op. cit. 102, 141. 
 
 3 Williams, op. at. i. 136. 4 Munzinger, op. cit. 3S8, 526. 
 
 5 Tylor, Early History of Mankind, 285. 
 2 D 
 
 IT 
 
4 02 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 spread custom in Australia," says, " when a girl has 
 been promised to a man in marriage, or when he is 
 married, the man and the mother of his wife or be- 
 trothed scrupulously avoid each other's presence. Should 
 the mother-in-law require to pass even within a hundred 
 yards of her son-in-law, she covers herself, if the tribe 
 wears clothes, from head to foot with her cloak. Also 
 they never exchange words together except in cases of 
 necessity. I have often noticed the awkward occur- 
 rences to which this custom leads, but I could not get 
 the blacks satisfactorily to explain its design. Never-: 
 theless the object of the practice seems to lie on the 
 surface." 1 It was criminal for a son-in-law and 
 mother-in-law to look at one another, in the tribes 
 of the Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country." On 
 Fraser's Island " the mother-in-law must not look upon 
 her son-in-law at any time : they believe that if she 
 did he would go mad, and would go and live in the 
 bush like a wild man." 3 Amongst the Banyai a man 
 must sit with his knees bent in the presence of his 
 mother-in-law, and may not put out his feet towards 
 her. 4 In Central Celebes the son-in-law may not speak 
 to his mother-in-law privately. 5 Amongst the Omahas 
 and Hidatsas a man ■ does not speak to his wife's 
 mother. 6 The prohibition of intercourse of the slightest 
 sort between a man and his mother-in-law is practically 
 universal throughout Australia. The taboo between 
 a man and his father-in-law is there probably rare. 
 Mr. Howitt asserts that it does not exist. 7 Amongst 
 the North American Indians, however, it seems fairly 
 
 1 Curr, op. cit. i. 97. 2 Id. iii. 163. 
 
 3 jj m ;;;_ j^r 4 Livingstone, op. cit. 622. 
 
 5 Bijdragen tot de Taal Land-en Volker.kunde Nederlandsch Indie, xxxv. 5. 1. 91. 
 
 6 J. O. Dorsey, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 262 ; Featherman 
 op. cit. iii. 329. 7 Jam;. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 503 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 403 
 
 common, though not so common as the ordinary- 
 form. 
 
 Amongst the Bondei the prospective bridegroom 
 does not eat with his betrothed after betrothal, nor 
 with his father-in-law or mother-in-law, nor does the 
 girl with him or his parents. At the wedding ceremony 
 the pair eat together, and the groom eats with his 
 father-in-law, but neither then nor on any occasion 
 may he eat with his mother-in-law. 1 In Amboina the 
 son-in-law may not eat with the mother-in-law ; a so 
 also in Buru ; 3 in Halmahera the son-in-law when in 
 his wife's house may not eat out of vessels used by her 
 parents, and the same prohibition applies to her when 
 in his. 4 A Congo proverb runs : " My mother-in-law 
 is angry with me, but what do I care? We do not 
 eat from the same dish." 5 
 
 In Ceram the son-in-law may not come near his 
 mother-in-law. She may not utter his name, nor he 
 hers. He calls her "mother." This prohibition 
 against uttering each other's name is found in the 
 Torres Straits, amongst the Sioux and Omahas, the 
 Kaffirs, in Buru, the Aru Islands, the Kei Islands, 
 and Wetar. 7 In the Banks Islands a man will not 
 name his wife's father, but will sit with him and con- 
 verse ; as to his wife's mother, he will not come near 
 her, nor mention her name ; he and she avoid each 
 other, though if necessary they will talk at a distance. 
 No person can be induced to mention his own name. 8 
 This mutual taboo on names is a real duty, the utter- 
 
 I Jour;:. Anthrop. Inst. xxv. 200. a Riedel, op. cit. 43. •> W. 23. 
 4 Id. in Zeitschrift fur Et/inoicgie, xvii. 69. 5 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 296. 
 
 II Riedel, De shik-cn kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 102. 
 " Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 338; Schoolcraft, op. cit. li. 196; Harmon, Travels 
 
 in Inter::?- of A a, 341 ; Leslie, op. cit. 172 ; Riedel, op. cit. 5, 263, 236, 
 
 448. 8 Coote, op. cit. 138. 
 

 404 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 ance of another's name being equivalent to putting him 
 in danger. Accordingly, in Amboina, the son-in-law 
 calls his mother-in-law "mother." People are never 
 called by their names. 1 In Ceram the son-in-law 
 may not mention his mother-in-law's name, and he 
 therefore calls her " mother." 2 In Wetar the son- |i 
 in-law calls his mother-in-law " mother," and father- |< 
 in-law "father." 3 The same titles are used by the It 
 Kaffirs. Amongst the latter people the wife is called J 
 " daughter of so-and-so." 4 Similar results are found It 
 where the common prohibition occurs against husband I: 
 and wife mentioning each other's name. In Buru the 
 father-in-law of Jadet is called " father of Jadet 
 In the Aru Islands the son-in-law calls his mother-in-law, 
 his wife's name being Madamar, " mother of ' Madamar"] 
 and his father-in-law " father of Madamar" 
 
 Where the classificatory system is well developed, 
 the taboo is extended to persons who potentially may 
 or might have come into this relation. Thus, in the 
 Urabunna tribe the mother of a man's wife is called his 
 " nowillie (equivalent to father's sister), and any woman 
 of that relationship is mura to him and he to her, and 
 they must not speak to one another." 7 
 
 Three explanations have been attempted. The first; 
 is that of Mr. Fison, 8 and has been suggested by others. : 
 It is that the rule is due to a fear of intercourse which 
 is unlawful, though theoretically allowed on some classi- 
 ficatory systems. This seems to be corroborated by 
 such traditions as that of the Gaboon natives, who say 
 the rule was founded "because of an incest," 9 and by 
 a few recorded cases, due to special circumstances, in 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 43. 2 Id. 102. 3 Id. 448. 
 
 4 Leslie, op. cit. 172, 173. 5 Riedel, op. cit. 5. 
 
 6 Riedel, op. cit. 263. ' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 61. 
 
 8 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 103. 9 Bowdich, op. cit. 437. 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 405 
 
 which a man has married mother and daughter at 
 once. This explanation also is one most likely to 
 occur to explorers, who have personal knowledge of 
 savages ; for there is no doubt at all that the horror 
 [felt by the savage at infringement of the taboo between 
 himself and his mother-in-law is of the same character 
 as that inspired by the idea of incest, among savage and 
 civilised peoples alike, a horror religiosus rather than 
 naturalis. But against this explanation, it is enough 
 to point out the antecedent improbability of any man, 
 not to mention a savage, ever falling in love with 
 a woman old enough to be his mother or mother-in- 
 law, and the improbability of so many peoples concur- 
 ring in being afraid of this, while there is a general 
 preference amongst savages for marriage within the 
 same generation. Moreover, technically such connec- 
 tion is not incest, except in the four-class system. 
 What truth there is in the theory is this, that the 
 practical man is apt to focus sexual taboo upon sexual 
 intercourse, and, while theoretically the mother-in-law is 
 marriageable in many systems (and so there would be 
 no " incest " except in so far as the idea of incest in 
 primitive thought was not differentiated from any 
 sexual connection, all such being theoretically danger- 
 ous), yet, this general intercourse being feared may 
 3e referred to in this special way. Still the question 
 remains, why should this be so feared ? 
 
 The second explanation is that of Sir J. Lubbock, 
 ivho traced it to "marriage by capture." 1 "When 
 the capture was a reality, the indignation of the parents 
 would also be real ; when it became a mere symbol, 
 the parental anger would be symbolised also, and would 
 oe continued even after its origin was forgotten." This 
 
 1 Origin of Civilisation. 114. 
 
4 o6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 theory has been assisted by one or two mistaken 
 accounts of explorers ; but, in the first place, " mar- 
 riage by capture " was never more than a rare sporadic 
 result ; in the second place, the preponderance of sex 
 is overlooked. Why should the " indignation " be so 
 generally expressed by the mother only ? Thirdly, no 
 fact ever remained as a symbol or ceremony without 
 some real psychological impulse to inspire it. 
 
 The third explanation is that of Prof. E. B. Tylor, 
 who thinks that the custom is simply the familiar one 
 of " cutting," and is due to the idea that the hus- 
 band for instance, when coming to live with his wife's 
 parents, is regarded as an outsider, not one of the 
 family, and is therefore " not recognised." This is 
 altered, however, when the first child is born. Now, 
 having contributed to the formation of a new member 
 of the family, he is recognised at last and the taboo is 
 over. 1 Prof. Tylor, indeed, shows some probability that 
 the custom by which the husband is " cut " is causally 
 connected with the practice according to which the 1 
 husband resides with his wife's family. This, however, 
 would go without saying, as would the converse also, 
 precisely because the person chiefly concerned is a 
 stranger, and is one amongst many. The explanation 
 is simply a restatement of the problem. He adds, 
 however, that there are no cases of avoidance between 
 the wife and the husband's family, where the husband 
 lives with the wife's family. But there are such cases, 
 as in Ceram ; 2 though such . are naturally uncommon, 
 precisely because only one member of the husband's 
 family is on the spot. Mr. Howitt also, while assert- 
 ing that there is a taboo throughout most of Australia 
 between a man and his mother-in-law, denies that there 
 
 1 yourn. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 246 ff. ' 2 Riedel, op. cit. 102. 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 407 
 
 is a taboo between a man and his father-in-law. 1 Why 
 should the cutting fall to the mother? Prof. Tylor 
 does not take into account the preponderance of sex in 
 these customs. In each and every case the prohibition 
 is focussed on the husband and the mother-in-law, 
 or, more rarely, on the wife and the father-in-law, 
 though it may include various relations of either sex. 
 Again, though it is, so far, " cutting " and non-recog- 
 nition, yet such terms fail to explain the religious 
 horror with which the rule is connected, nor does there 
 seem to be any warrant for such an extraordinary in- 
 tensity of family exclusiveness. Moreover, such cases 
 as the following are in principle quite opposed to 
 " cutting." In Central Celebes a man may not speak 
 -privately to his mother-in-law.'-' When typical cases 
 are examined the feeling behind the custom is widely 
 different from that behind the practice of " cutting '" a 
 person, whether a non-relative or otherwise ; also the 
 avoidance is mutual in the generality of cases. Still 
 less does this explanation explain the no less intense 
 horror found between a man and his mother-in-law 
 amongst peoples where the wife resides from the first 
 at her husband's home ; on his theory, this would be 
 a survival from the practice in the maternal stage, but 
 such survival shows too much life, and the hypothesis 
 that the maternal system always preceded the paternal 
 is itself untenable. The taboo ceases in a few cases 
 when a child is born ; what usually happens is, that the 
 pair who live with the wife's parents set up a house for 
 themselves when a child is born, the birth of a child 
 being a common signal that the union is to be perma- 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Ins:, xii. 503. 
 
 2 Riedel, in Bijdr^gen tot de Taal Land-en Vdker.kur.de -van Nederlandsch Indie, 
 xxxv. 5. 1. 91. 
 
4 o8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 nent, in other words, that the marriage is complete ; as 
 we shall see, there is reason for the cessation, but it is 
 not that the man is now become a member of the family. 
 It is clear that the custom cannot be explained by 
 ordinary modern conceptions either of incest or of 
 family exclusiveness. The custom is, in fact, part of 
 the great system of ideas which has produced both the 
 marriage system with its various bars, and the solidarity 
 of the family. On the face of it the taboo in typical 
 cases seems analogous to the phenomena of sexual 
 taboo. This has been indicated by its connection with 
 engagement taboos. Amongst the Zulus the mother- 
 in-law taboo is but one detail of an intricate system of 
 social and sexual taboo, the latter predominating. We 
 have seen that the ideas underlying sexual taboo have 
 produced amongst other things mutual avoidance 
 between engaged couples, and between the married man 
 and his wife. If a man avoids his own wife so care- 
 fully, why in the name of probability should he avoid 
 or be avoided by his mother-in-law as well, if the 
 reason be either fear of incest or social non-recognition ? 
 It seems to be causally connected with a man's avoid- 
 ance of his own wife. Now when we rid our minds of 
 associations, it becomes relevant to ask, why should she 
 be called the man's mother at all ? It is at least strange, 
 in spite of the suffix "in-law." The theoretical primitive 
 form of the family in its bi-sexual character was, as we 
 have seen, separation of man and wife, except when the 
 needs of love require satisfaction, and separation of the 
 boys and girls as soon as puberty drew near. The 
 young boy went about with his father as soon as 
 possible, and at puberty was formally weaned from 
 association with the nursery and its feminine atmosphere, 
 and his life became masculine. He no longer was to 
 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 409 
 
 live in the house where, as he might remember, he was 
 so early separated from his sisters, a separation naturally 
 ascribed to the mother, being an older person, with 
 authority, of the same sex as the girls in her care. The 
 sex so dangerous to man, because of those qualities 
 which spoil a man, was taboo to him — for a season. 
 Soon, however, the inevitable came — love drove him to 
 the dangerous sex, and he must needs obey. Similar 
 was the case of the primitive girl, in regard to the sex 
 dangerous to her. The taboo has to be broken, the 
 two tabooed persons must be joined together. In other 
 words, the young man has to enter once more that 
 feminine sphere from which he was so early taken 
 away ; he has to live with a woman again, no longer 
 in the innocent ignorance of childhood, but with full 
 knowledge of the dangers and responsibilities of the 
 union. His female comrade is not now his sister, as in 
 the old days, but his wife ; and in the ages before the 
 importance of blood -kinship, when living together or 
 any close contact was the obvious bond, there was no 
 hard conventional distinction between women of the 
 same age. Poetry and popular language preserve this 
 vagueness ; the lover in the Song of Songs cries " My 
 sister, my spouse," and the savage lover uses the same 
 phrase. As showing the re-entrance into the feminine 
 sphere, an initiation custom may be cited. At a 
 certain stage of the proceedings of initiation amongst 
 the Arunta, the boy's prospective mother-in-law runs 
 off with the boy, but the men fetch him back. 1 Again, 
 the new female companion of our hero also has a 
 mother, who is not indeed his own mother, but the 
 mother of his partner or quasi-s\sttr y as who should say 
 "mother-in-law." The analogy between the two 
 
 1 Spencer anil Gillen, op. cit. 443. 
 
4 io THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 states is complete. This new life with a new woman 
 whose mother is in a position, as mother, to guard 
 her daughter and see to her new son's behaviour, is a 
 reproduction of the old life, when his mother-in-blood 
 regulated the household and separated the children. It 
 is the same picture with higher lights and deeper 
 shadows. He again lives under one roof with that 
 dangerous creature, a woman, but in the new relation of 
 wife ; he again has a mother controlling to some extent 
 the new relation which is a new version of the old, but 
 she is a mother-in-law. His attitude towards the wife, 
 when love is not upon him, will be what it was to his 
 sister, but he now knows the reason, and his attitude 
 towards the mother-in-law will be what it was to his 
 mother, but the connotation of that term has altered. 
 She might rather be called his " spiritual mother," his 
 " mother-in-religion," if we may pervert the meaning 
 such terms would have now. All the religious principles 
 of sexual taboo inform the relation, and between 
 husband and wife there is a taboo pregnant with 
 religious meaning, the more so in proportion to the 
 closeness of the sexual tie, closer than that between 
 brother and sister. The relation between the husband 
 and his wife's mother is also full of religious meaning ; 
 it is to begin with an embarrassing one, for she is neither 
 his mother, though of that age, nor his sister, nor his 
 wife, though a woman. Yet she is his " mother " 
 in a religious sense. As he, from sexual taboo, 
 ngiampe duty, and inequality of age, would avoid 
 all physical intimacy with his own mother, so does 
 he a fortiori avoid it with his mother-in-law. 
 For the taboo is enhanced, and here Prof. Tylor's 
 theory has some truth, by the fact that the woman 
 is not the man's real mother, and is to that extent less 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 411 
 
 familiar, as is also the case with his wife in relation to 
 himself. 
 
 When the practical aspect of the relation is con- 
 sidered, the mother-in-law is responsible for her 
 daughter's safety, and oversees the husband's behaviour, 
 but in primitive custom this also renders his attitude 
 towards her one of religious respect ; in the case of 
 taboo between the wife and her father-in-law, the same 
 applies, and the attitude is strengthened by her religious 
 fear of the male sex. There are many facts which show 
 the practical side of this relation, the natural anxiety of 
 the mother concerning her daughter's welfare, and here 
 the preponderance of sex in these customs and the 
 causal connection with residence are explained. This 
 anxiety concentrates upon child-birth, and is often con- 
 cerned with the prevention of repudiation on the part 
 of the husband, a question settled by the birth of a 
 child. Amongst the Damaras, when the pair go to 
 their home, the bride's mother and other women go 
 with her to see her safely installed. 1 Identity of sex 
 increases affection between mother and daughter ; and 
 here there is naturally some indignation at the loss of a 
 loved daughter. Abipone mothers " could hardly bear 
 to part with their daughters." 2 In modern Egypt a 
 man prefers that his mother-in-law should live with him 
 to protect his wife's honour, and consequently his own. 
 The mother-in-law is called " protector." 3 Mr. Yate 
 gives the following statement as to a Maori Christian 
 wedding. The bride's mother came to him and told 
 him she was pleased that her daughter was going to be 
 married to Pahan, but " that she must be angry about 
 it with her mouth." On returning with the bridegroom 
 
 1 South African Folklore Journal, i. 49. Dobrizhoffer, op at. ii. 208. 
 
 3 Lane, op. cit. i. 219. 
 
4 i2 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 and bride the procession was met by her. " She began 
 to assail us all furiously. She put on a most terrific 
 countenance, threw her garments about, and tore her 
 hair like a fury ; then said to me : ' Ah, you white 
 missionary, you are worse than the devil ; you first 
 make a slave lad your son by redeeming him from his 
 master, and then marry him to my daughter. I will 
 tear your eyes out ! ' The old woman, suiting the 
 action to the word, feigned a snatch at my face, at the 
 same time saying in an undertone, that it was ' all 
 mouth,' and that she did not mean what she said." * 
 In the case of a young married pair in Cambodia, 
 neither of whom have been married before, it is 
 believed that when the wife is enceinte for the first 
 time, the husband is able to take from her by magic 
 the unborn babe. Accordingly " the parents of the 
 bride never trust their son-in-law, and will not let the 
 young couple go out of their sight." 2 
 
 There is another element already hinted at, which 
 enters the question. It will be found that the mother- 
 in-law taboo tends to disappear when the taboos between 
 husband and wife are intensified, and vice versa. The 
 other element is this ; as sexual taboo must be kept up 
 for safety, all the more so because of close union and 
 especially until a child is born, for the pair are con- 
 tinuously breaking the rule and all their conduct affects 
 the child, a substitute to receive the onus of taboo is 
 useful, and the best substitute is the mother-in-law ; if 
 the husband avoids her, his relations with his wife will 
 be secure, and if the mother-in-law avoids him, her 
 daughter's safety will be secured likewise. This idea 
 coincides with filial and maternal duty, and is a good 
 instance of savage make-believe in shifting responsi- 
 
 1 Yate, op. cit. 97. 2 Aymonier, op.cit. 187. 
 
xv THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 413 
 
 bility. The embarrassing relation of a mother who is 
 no mother assists in the formation of the conception. 
 Again, the principles of contact find here their full 
 development ; the wife is the link between the mother- 
 in-law and the husband, she belongs to and is a part of 
 each, she is the kalduke as well as the " mediator " 
 between them, and this important form of connection 
 produces the most intensified responsibility, and taboos 
 the two parties. The ngia ngiampe relation is shown 
 by the Central Australian custom, according to which 
 a mother-in-law and son-in-law are bound to supply 
 each other with hair and game, 1 and by the neces- 
 sary result in all cases of the taboo that a third 
 party is the medium of communication, as in the 
 Torres Straits, and amongst the Omahas,- the wife 
 being the intermediary for conversation and com- 
 munication. 
 
 This explanation finds a parallel and a proof in 
 what is the same thing in modern society. The avoid- 
 ance by a man of his mother-in-law is a well-known 
 feature of bourgeois manners, and is a frequent subject 
 of humorous anecdote. The Germans have the 
 proverbial phrases " Schwiegermutter — Teufelsunter- 
 futter," " Schwiegermutter — Tigermutter," and English 
 has the expression " mother-in-law and daughter-in-law* 
 are a tempest and a hailstorm." In the practical 
 sphere, the taboo still obtains in civilisation. The 
 reason underlying both the primitive and the civilised 
 form of this phenomenon is the same, though the 
 religious meaning has evaporated from the latter. The 
 modern husband resents her interference, to which he 
 half-consciously knows she has a right, as being of the 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. at. 26, 4c, 465. 
 
 2 J own. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 3385 Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 262. 
 
4 i4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap, xv 
 
 same sex as his wife, an older woman and her mother ; 
 and she does not quite trust him, in her anxiety for her 
 daughter's welfare. Both now and then the mother- 
 in-law is avoided, precisely because she is the mother- 
 in-law. 
 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 No general account of customs and beliefs concerning 
 child-birth is here attempted ; some of the more im- 
 portant have been referred to, and one or two others 
 will be discussed. As a dangerous crisis child-birth is 
 attended by evil influences ; as a sexual crisis these, as 
 we have seen, are sexual. Direct attribution of the 
 danger to the agency of the opposite sex often appears, 
 while conversely that sex especially fears the contagion 
 of femininity at a crisis when the female organism is, as 
 it were, broken up. Men, and even the husband, are 
 prohibited from being present, as in the Marianne 
 Islands, Wetar, New Caledonia, amongst the Zulus, 
 Damaras, and Dyaks. 1 In the Aru Islands and 
 Amboina, the reason is given that the presence of 
 men would hinder the birth.- Similar reference to the 
 origin of these taboos in sexual ideas is seen in such 
 beliefs as that of the Aleuts, who suppose that difficult 
 labour is due to misconduct on the wife's part, a belief 
 that sometimes causes domestic discord. 3 In Samoa all 
 the pains of child-birth are imputed to the fault of the 
 husband. 4 This idea of mutual responsibility between 
 persons in close contact is illustrated by a Maori 
 practice. If the mother's breasts give no milk, both 
 
 1 D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 494 ; Riedel, De sluik-en krocsharige rassen tussc/ien Seleies 
 en Papua, 449 ; Gamier, op. cit. 183 ; Shooter, op. cit. 88 ; South African Folklore 
 Journal, ii. 62 ; Low, op. c::. 307. -i Riedel, op. cit. 263, 73. 
 
 3 Featherman, op, cit. iii. 467. 4 Globus, xlvii. 70. 
 
4 i6 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 husband and wife are sprinkled ceremonially with 
 water, and kept apart to allow the charm to have its 
 
 effect. 1 
 
 The Saturnalia practices already referred to, occur 
 at child-birth and with the same meaning. Thus in 
 Abyssinia after a birth the women rush out into the 
 courtyard singing and shouting, and if a man dares to 
 approach them, he is invariably caught and retained 
 captive until he purchases his freedom with a ransom 
 in money or beer. 2 In Fiji at the feast to celebrate a 
 birth the men paint on each other's bodies the tattoo 
 marks used by women. 3 This is the same in principle 
 as wearing the dress of the other sex. 
 
 The customs and beliefs relating to the birth of 
 twins are both numerous and interesting. Here I will 
 merely point out that the chief idea behind such super- 
 stitions is that not only is the occurrence abnormal, but 
 one of the infants is the offspring of a spirit or god. 
 Twins are very sacred amongst the Damaras, all 
 present at the feast are called " twins," and afterwards 
 form a sort of guild. 4 Amongst the Yorubas the god 
 Elegbra, who is a patron of Love, is also the tutelar 
 god of twins. One of twins is always called after him. 
 This god is supposed to consort with men and women 
 during sleep, and so fulfils the function of the incubus 
 and succubus? The twin children of Amphitryon are a 
 case in point. Many peoples on the other hand kill 
 one of twin infants. 
 
 The most interesting practice in connection with 
 child-birth is the curious custom to which Prof. Tylor 
 has given the name of Couvade. In its perfect form 
 
 1 Shortland, Maori Religion, 30. - Featherman, op. cit. v. 607. 
 
 3 Williams, op. cit. i. 175. 4 South African Folklore Journal, ii. 107. 
 
 5 A. B. Ellis, The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, 80, 67. 
 
xvi TWINS— COUVADE 417 
 
 the husband takes to his bed and pretends to be lying- 
 in, while the wife goes about her usual employments as 
 soon as may be after delivery. Some connect it with 
 the world-wide belief that the conduct of the mother 
 before and also after birth affects the child. The 
 Hottentots believe that if a pregnant woman eats lion's 
 or leopard's flesh, the child will have the characteristics 
 of those animals. 1 In European folklore the belief 
 occurs that if a pregnant woman walks over a grave 
 her child will die ; 2 in Transsylvania, if one throws a 
 flower in her face, the child will have a mole on that 
 part of its face. 3 
 
 Further, it is quite natural in view of the closeness 
 
 of the tie, which, as ngia ngiampe, is regulated by 
 
 kontact, that the conduct of the father also should 
 
 affect the welfare of the child. The biological tie is 
 
 [enforced by the ideas of contact. In the Andamans a 
 
 pregnant woman abstains from pork, turtle, honey, 
 
 ;iguana, and paradoxurus, and after a while her husband 
 
 [also abstains from the last two foods, believing that 
 
 [the embryo would suffer if he ate them. 4 Similarly 
 
 [amongst the Coroados, Puris, and Coropos. 5 Amongst 
 
 j.the Californian Indians the old women washed the 
 
 f child as soon as born, and "although the husband did 
 
 mot affect the sufferings of labour, his conduct was 
 
 (supposed in some measure to affect the unborn child, 
 
 (and he was consequently laid under certain restrictions, 
 
 such as not being allowed to leave the house or eat fish 
 
 and meat." 6 At Suan the husband shuts himself up 
 
 tfor some days after the birth of his first child, and will 
 
 <'eat nothing. 7 During the forty-four days of " unclean- 
 
 1 Hahn, op. cit. 88. 2 Panzer, op. cit. 262. 
 
 3 Gerard, op. cit. i. 191. 4 Jcurn. Anthrop. bat, xii. 355. 
 
 5 Spix, Ethnographic Siid-jimerikas, ii. 247. 6 Bancroft, op. cit. i. 412. 
 
 7 Chalmers, op. cit. 165. 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
4 i 8 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 ness," taboos are imposed on the Malay husband as 
 well as on his wife. He may not, e.g. shave his head ; 
 may not hurt or kill anything. 1 Amongst the Piojes 
 both father and mother fast for three days after the 
 birth. 2 The Niasese wife and husband both refrain 
 from certain foods before the birth. 3 In Greenland, if 
 the husband works just before the birth, the child will 
 die. 4 Amongst the Dyaks the number of foods for- 
 bidden to the pregnant woman is increased during the 
 last month ; and even the father of the expected child 
 is put under the same restrictions ; neither may light a 
 fire, nor approach one, else the child will be born 
 spotted ; they may not eat fruit, else the child will 
 have stomach-ache ; they may not make holes in wood, 
 else it will be born blind, nor dive under water, else the 
 child will be suffocated in the womb and be still-born. 5 
 This kind of thing is common in New Guinea. 6 
 Amongst the Indians of Guiana the father abstains 
 from certain kinds of animal food. If he eats the 
 flesh of a water-haas, which has protruding teeth, the 
 child will have the same ; if he eats the spotted labbA 
 the child will have spots. Mr. im Thurn says, " there 
 is some idea that if the father eats strong food, washes, 
 smokes, handles weapons, it would have the same result 
 as if the babe did so." 7 
 
 Couvade proper is combined with these practices by 
 the last -mentioned people. "The woman works as 
 usual up to a few hours before birth ; she goes to the 
 forest with some women, and there the birth takes 
 place. In a few hours she is up and at work, and 
 suffers little. As soon as the child is born, the father 
 
 1 Skeat, op. cit. 345. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. viii. 222. 
 
 3 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 36. 4 Id. i. 35. 
 
 5 Perelaer, op. cit. 38, 39. 6 Chalmers, op. cit. 165. 
 
 7 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 462 j im Thurn, The Indians of British Guiana, 218. 
 
XVI 
 
 COUVADE 419 
 
 takes to his hammock, and abstains from work, from 
 meat, and all food but weak gruel of cassava meal, 
 from smoking, from washing himself, and above all 
 from touching weapons of any sort, and is nursed and 
 cared for by all the women of the place. He may not 
 scratch himself with his finger-nails, but may use a 
 splinter of cokerite palm. This goes on for days, 
 sometimes weeks." l Amongst the Digger Indians, 
 when the wife is about to be delivered, the husband 
 plays the invalid ; he stretches himself on his couch, 
 grunts and groans as if oppressed with pain, and is 
 attended to and nursed for several days. 2 Amongst the 
 Dyaks the family is interdicted (poma/i) for eight days ; 
 and during this time the husband plays the invalid. He 
 is fed on rice and salt, that the infant's stomach may 
 not swell, and is required to keep out of the sun, and 
 abstain from bathing. 3 Amongst the Passes he paints 
 himself black, and stays in his hammock fasting, until 
 ithe navel-string of the child has fallen off. 4 In Zar- 
 dandan, and amongst the Ainus, Miris, and Miaos, the 
 Lagunero and Ahomama, the Caribs, and in Martinique, 
 Surinam, Guiana, Brazil, amongst the Jivaros, Mun- 
 ■ durucus, Macusis, Arawaks, and Arecunas, and in 
 > Wanga, Malabar, and the Nicobars, the father lies-in 
 after the birth. 5 In Celebes and California he lies-in 
 'and is attended by his wife. 6 Amongst the Erukala- 
 I Vandhu of Southern India "directly the woman feels 
 [the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who immedi- 
 ] ately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places 
 1 on his forehead the mark which the women usually 
 I' place on theirs, retires into a dark room, where there is 
 
 1 im. Thurn, The Indians of British Guiana, 217. 
 
 2 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 213. 3 Id. ii. 268. 
 * Martius, Ethnographic Sud-Ameriias, i. 51 1. 
 
 5 H. Ling Roth, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxi. 228 ff. 6 Id. I.e. 
 
4 2o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, cover- 
 ing himself up with a long cloth. When the child is 
 born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the 
 father, assafoetida, jaggery, and other articles are then 
 given, not to the mother but to the father. During 
 the days of ceremonial uncleanness, the man is treated 
 as the other Hindus treat their women on such occa- 
 sions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has 
 everything needful brought to him." 1 
 
 Two explanations of the practice have been sug- 
 gested, one by Bachofen, supported by Prof. Tylor ; and 
 the other by Prof. Tylor, which he afterwards abandoned 
 for the former. Bachofen " takes it to belong to the 
 turning-point of society when the tie of parentage, till 
 then recognised in maternity, was extended to take in 
 paternity, this being done by the fiction of representing 
 the father as a second mother. He compares the 
 Couvade with the symbolic pretences of birth which in 
 the classical world were performed as rites of adoption. 
 To his significant examples may be added the fact that 
 among certain tribes the Couvade is the legal form by 
 which the father recognises a child as his." 2 In other 
 words, it is a piece of symbolism whereby the father 
 asserts his paternity, and accordingly his rights as a 
 father, as against the maternal system of descent and 
 inheritance. Prof. Tylor finds it most frequent in what 
 he calls the maternal-paternal stage, represented by 
 peoples with whom the husband lives for a year with 
 the wife's family, and then removes. As a record 
 of the change from a maternal to a paternal system, 
 and a means whereby that change was effected, it should 
 not, as he points out, occur in the purely maternal 
 
 1 J. Taylor, in Indian Antiquary, May 1874, p. 151. 
 
 2 E. B. Tylor, in J own. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 256. 
 
xvi COUVADE 421 
 
 stage. According to his tables it does not, but, as 
 Mr. Ling Roth has shown, cases of the Couvade are 
 actually found in the maternal stage ; viz. amongst the 
 Arawaks and Melanesians, both of whom have maternal 
 descent. Further, the custom would be too much of a 
 legal fiction if it meant all this originally ; and early 
 man has not, as may easily be shown, any such lawyer- 
 like love of formality in matters of descent and inherit- 
 ance ; like the animals, he attaches himself to those 
 with whom he happens to be born ; and as to inherit- 
 ance, there is nothing to inherit. Doubtless in certain 
 cases, as amongst the Mundurucus, the Couvade may 
 have come to be used as a method whereby the father 
 recognises the child as his ; but this, besides being 
 secondary, is not the same thing as a legal fiction 
 asserting the father's rights as against the maternal 
 system. It is rather a case of paternal pride. It would 
 be expected that a people should themselves be aware 
 j of the fact, if assertion of paternal rights as against 
 maternal were the object of the custom, the maternal 
 system and counter-assertions being so obvious, but no 
 tribe actually holds this meaning of the Couvade. 
 
 The second explanation, proposed and later aban- 
 doned by Prof. Tylor, may be also given in his words. 
 He laid stress on the " magical-sympathetic nature of a 
 large class of Couvade rites as implying a physical bond 
 between parent and child : thus, an Abipone would not 
 take snuff lest his sneezing might hurt his new-born 
 baby, and a Carib father must abstain from eating sea- 
 cow lest his infant should get little round eyes like it. 
 This motive, which is explicitlv or implicitly recognised 
 by the savages themselves, certainly forms part of the 
 explanation of the Couvade. It is, however, secondary, 
 being due to the connection considered as subsisting 
 
 
422 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 between parent and child, so that these sympathetic 
 prohibitions may be interpreted as originally practised 
 by the mother only, and afterwards adopted by the 
 father." This explanation covers more facts than does 
 the other ; it is also more scientific than the other, 
 in its application of primitive psychology rather than 
 later legalism to a primitive custom. But it does not 
 apply at all to Couvade proper. 
 
 Each of these explanations, however, like many 
 another explanation of marriage customs and systems 
 on legal lines, really errs in not taking into account the 
 woman's side of the question. They show a sympathy 
 with the father and with the child, but forget the 
 mother, and are thus a modern document illustrating 
 the history of woman's treatment by man. 
 
 On examining the facts, we can distinguish two 
 
 
 classes of Couvade customs, which often combine, but 
 are essentially distinct. We have first a very widely 
 spread group of customs, in which the father, as well 
 as the mother, must avoid certain acts and certain 
 things for fear of injuring the unborn or new-born 
 child. These have been illustrated, and show a result 
 of the ngia ngiampe relation. They are a good example 
 of the principles of contact underlying human relations 
 and relationships. Things and persons that have been 
 or are in contact of any sort, or between whom there is 
 any tie of contact or connection, retain the connection 
 in a material form, and either party can thereby sympa- 
 thetically influence the other. As Mr. Ling Roth 
 points out, there are cases where the child affects the 
 father. 1 On Bachofen's theory, this would be an asser- 
 tion of paternity by the child ; but on the principles 
 of ngiampe it is natural enough. The child's substance 
 
 1 H. Ling Roth, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxi. 234. 
 
xvi COUVADE 423 
 
 is part of the father and the mother alike, both in 
 biological fact and in primitive inference from this and 
 from the principles of contact, and parental affection 
 and responsibility apply the principles of contact, which 
 are the material basis of affection and responsibility, in 
 order to ensure the child's welfare. All such connection 
 being potentially of the ngiampe species, the sympathy 
 is a result of that relation, and shows the material 
 nature of the bond. Similar phenomena have already 
 been noted, such as the conduct of women when their 
 husbands are absent. Thus, in South East Africa, if a 
 man's wife while he is on a journey anoints herself 
 with the oil or fat in daily use, she will not only suffer 
 herself but bring calamity upon her husband. 1 On the 
 same principle in Paraguay, when a child is ill, all its 
 relatives fast, abstaining from such foods as are supposed 
 to be injurious to the child. 2 In the East Indies it is a 
 common thing for a father to become he/aga, i.e. put 
 himself under taboo, in order to cure a sick child. 3 
 When a Thlinkeet medicine-man is about to give an 
 exhibition, his relatives who form the chorus must fast 
 and take emetics previously. 4 At the circumcision of a 
 Madagascar boy both the parents fast, and also the 
 nurse and those who prepare the boy's food. 5 
 
 The dangers of contact which underlie the relation, as 
 between husband and wife, assist towards the husband's 
 duty. When a KafHr woman is pregnant, he should 
 not bathe " because he will quickly be carried away by 
 water." When a Guatemala wife was barren, she 
 confessed her sins ; if that had no effect, her husband 
 also confessed, and his cloak was laid on his wife. 7 
 
 1 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 1 16. - Ploss, Das Kind, i. 150. 
 
 ;i St. John, op. cit. i. 175. 4 Dall, op. cit. 426. 
 
 W. Ellis, Madagascar, i. 187. 6 Callaway, op. cit. 443. 
 
 7 Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 678. 
 
4 2 4 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Here the connection we are speaking of is almost 
 developed into Couvade. So in a case of difficult 
 labour, which was believed due to some breaking of 
 tapu, the Maori husband plunged in the river, while 
 the priest pronounced a charm. 1 By extension of the 
 ngiampe relation we get a case like that of the Chiri- 
 guanos, with whom not only the father but the other 
 children lie-in and fast at the birth. 2 Such an example 
 does not fit with Bachofen's theory, for on that theory 
 the children would be claiming paternity. 
 
 Any connection with residence that may remain 
 after distinguishing true and false Couvade, is due to 
 the cause behind that residence. In real Couvade the 
 husband lies-in ; the simulation by the father of the 
 mother's part is obviously the essence of the custom. 
 If we examine the phenomena of Couvade proper, and 
 apply to them the principles of primitive religion, we 
 have but to explain why the father should pretend to 
 be a mother, or, for this is apt to be ignored, though it 
 inheres in the definition of Couvade and is its explana- 
 tion, why does he pretend to be his wife ? Any account 
 of birth-customs, or of the religious ideas connected 
 with this important event, will show sufficient reason. 
 Birth is an occasion of religious peril, witness the evil 
 spirits and evil influences which ever lie in wait to 
 injure both child and mother ; and who so proper a 
 person to defend mother and child from them as the 
 father and husband ? He does do so in many ways, as 
 in the island Serua, where the husband prays when his 
 wife is confined ; 3 or in the Philippines, where he walks 
 round the house all night fighting the demons with a 
 drawn sword. 4 The Miaos recognise the husband's 
 
 1 Shortland, Maori Religion and Superstition, 30. 2 Globus, xlviii. 35. 
 
 3 Riedel, op. cit. 468. 4 Bowring, The Philippines, 120. 
 
xvi COUVADE 425 
 
 duty, when they explain that the husband's going to 
 bed for forty days is on the principle that he should 
 bear the same hardships as his wife. 1 In the other set 
 of cases, the most prominent feature is the sympathy 
 between father and child, but in Couvade proper the 
 chief feature is the taking over by the father of the 
 personality of the mother. He defends mother and 
 infant, by pretending to be the mother. The idea is 
 the familiar one of substitution ; if he pretends to be 
 ill, and if his wife makes no fuss, but goes about her 
 work quietly, the evil influences and agencies may 
 possibly be deceived and think that the pretended 
 mother is their real victim. They do not know that 
 the poor invalid is a strong and healthy man, and the 
 natural guardian and protector of the family besides. 
 The result is a happy issue from the peril, — the husband 
 has done his duty. A case which is decisive is that of 
 the Erukala-Vandhu, already noted. As soon as birth 
 approaches, the husband puts his wife's clothes upon 
 himself, and makes the woman's mark on his forehead 
 and lies-in. He is treated as the mother during the 
 whole period of " uncleanness." 2 A German peasant 
 woman, in the same way, will wear her husband's 
 coat, " in order to delude the evil spirits who are 
 liable to attack her" from the time of birth till the 
 " churching." 3 
 
 As has been shown already, sympathy expressed by 
 contact is always tending to pass into substitution and 
 exchange of identity. This is notably the case in 
 Couvade, where no doubt in most cases of the husband's 
 lying-in, the idea is sympathy only, and though it is not 
 always extended to its logical conclusion as amongst 
 
 1 Colquhoun, Across Chrysee, 335. 2 Indian Antiquary (1874), 1 5 I. 
 
 3 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 123. 
 
426 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 the Erukala-Vandhu, yet subconsciously and potentially 
 the final form is there. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the Saturnalia customs 
 referred to as practised at birth, shows this sympathy 
 practised by another than the husband, and may be 
 compared with the cases where the children also lie-in. 
 The matrons of certain East Central African tribes 
 sing and dance to celebrate the approaching birth ; 
 one of them pretends, by dressing up for the part, 
 to be a woman with child. 1 Such a case seems to 
 dispose of the legal explanation of the Couvade, 
 for the Couvade here is performed by a woman. 
 When the Mohbor-meh women of the Tshi peoples 
 dress up as men, and pretend to be their soldier- 
 husbands, we see the same principle which is behind 
 the Couvade. 
 
 Many cases show not complete substitution, but the 
 idea that the father's influence helps the mother by 
 contact, effected in various ways. Often there is but a 
 slight step needed to make the substitution complete. 
 In the Watubella Islands, if the wife's delivery is 
 difficult, some of her hushand's clothes are put under 
 her. 2 The father's personality thus transmitted by his 
 clothes assists the mother. In primitive thought, as 
 has been shown, dress contains the properties of the 
 wearer, as the mantle of Elijah contained his virtue, 
 and thus imparts to others the health, strength, and 
 power of resistance belonging to the owner. In Central 
 Australia, when the labour is difficult, a man takes the 
 husband's hair-girdle, and ties it round the woman's 
 breasts ; if after a time the child is not yet born, the 
 husband walks once or twice slowly past the Erlukivirra 
 (women's camp) to induce the unborn child to follow 
 
 1 D. Macdonald, AJricana, i. 129. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 207. 
 
XVI 
 
 COUVADE 427 
 
 him. 1 In Lechrain a mother before the churching has 
 taken place puts on her husband's hat when she goes out, 
 " to prevent evil happening to her." 2 In Brandenburg 
 on a similar principle of contact, if a woman is anxious 
 about her husband, he burns a piece of his stocking and 
 rubs the ashes on her, before his departure. The idea, 
 as the peasants say, is that then she will not be afraid. 3 
 
 The child is often protected in this way by the 
 garments of either parent. After the birth of a Chinese 
 baby its father's trousers are hung up in the room, " so 
 that all evil influences may enter into them instead of 
 into the child." 4 In Thiiringen the child is protected 
 against evil spirits by hanging a man's shirt before the 
 window, or a woman's dress in front of the door." In 
 Hungary and South Germany the father's smock is 
 laid upon the child to protect it against fairies. 6 In 
 KOnigsberg it brings luck to the child to wrap it in his 
 father's smock ; also, to prevent its being carried off 
 by the evil Drud before baptism the mother puts on it 
 her clothes. 7 Amongst the Basutos, if a child vomits, 
 the medicine man cuts a piece from the father's setsiba 
 garment, and binds it on the child. This helps towards 
 a cure. 8 In Silesia a sick child is wrapped in the 
 mother's bridal apron, to make it well ; a Bohemian 
 mother ties a piece of her dress on a sick child. 9 In 
 Bern a child is wrapped in its father's shirt to make 
 him strong. 10 Ideas of sexual taboo influence this 
 custom sometimes, as in a German custom of wrapping 
 a boy in his father's smock after birth, to bring him 
 luck, but never in his mother's. 11 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 467. 2 Ploss, op. clt. i. 254. 
 
 3 Id. i. 30. 4 Doolittle, op. cit. i. 122. 
 
 5 Ploss, op. cit. i. 123. 6 Id. I.e. 7 Id. l.c. 
 
 8 Griitzner, in Zcitschrift fur Ethnologie for 1877, p. 78. 
 
 9 Ploss, op. cit. ii. 217, 221. 10 Id. i. 62. n Id. ii. 40. 
 
428 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Is Couvade intended, as anthropologists assert, to 
 preserve the infant only ? It may be so, but when we 
 consider the man who dresses up as his wife, and cases 
 where the protection of the wife is explicit, and when 
 we remember also that the savage is a better man 
 than he is generally painted, and has a real altruism 
 and marital responsibility, we may give him credit 
 for the intention to protect his wife no less than his 
 child. 
 
 A custom parallel to those in which father and 
 mother, or both, take the child under their protection 
 by putting part of themselves in contact with it, is the 
 common practice whereby the parents assume the name 
 of the child. Thus, amongst the Babar islanders, who 
 have the maternal system of descent, the parents change 
 their names at the birth of the first child, thus, Rahajana 
 umlee, father, and Rahajana rile, mother, of Rahajana} 
 In Wetar the parents are called after the name of the 
 first child— " father of A B," "mother of A B" — 
 " because they are now become more important than 
 the barren and unmarried." 2 Parents in the Aru 
 Islands take the name of their first child, thus, Kamis 
 aema, father, and Kamis djina, mother, of Kamis? In 
 Leti, Moa and Lakor, and the Kei Islands, the parents 
 are called by the name of the first child, " father of 
 A B," "mother of A B." 4 Forty days after the 
 birth of a child in Java its head was shaved, and the 
 name was given and announced by the father, who, and 
 the mother, henceforth bore the name of their son. 5 
 In Buru, Ceram, and Ceramlaut, the parents are called 
 " as a title of respect " by the name of the oldest child. 6 
 In Halmahera the parents change their names thus at 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 353. 2 Id. 450. 3 Id. 260. 
 
 4 Id. 392, 23S. 5 Veth, Java, i. 642. 6 Riedel, op. at. 5, 137, 152. 
 
xvi TEKNONYMY 429 
 
 the birth of their first child. 1 Both parents take the 
 name of the first child in Celebes, Sumatra, and amongst 
 the Patagonians.' 2 The Dyaks are very fond of children. 
 Parents sink their own names on the birth of the first 
 child, and are called by its name with the prefixes Pa 
 and Ma. " It illustrates their family pride." Should 
 the eldest child be dead or lost, they are called after 
 the next surviving one. Thus, Pa-Jaguen was called 
 Pa-Belal till his daughter Jaguen was restored from 
 slavery by the assistance of the Rajah of Sarawak. 3 In 
 some Australian tribes, " numerical names are given to 
 children in the order of birth, the suffix showing sex. 
 Thus the first child, if a boy, is called Kertameru, if a 
 girl, Kertanya ; the second child in the same way is 
 called JVarri/ya, or Warriarto. Soon afterwards 
 another name is added from some plant, animal, or 
 insect. This name continues until after marriage and 
 the birth of the first child, when the father and mother 
 take the name of the child, with the affix binna or 
 spinna (adult) for the father, ngangki (female) for the 
 mother ; thus, Kadli being the child's name, the father 
 is called Kadlispinna, the mother Kadlingangki. The 
 names of both father and mother are thus changed at 
 the birth of every child." 4 Amongst the Bechuanas 
 "the parents take the name of the child." "Our 
 eldest boy," says Livingstone, " being named Robert, 
 Mrs. Livingstone was after his birth always addressed 
 as Ma-Robert, instead of Mary, her Christian name." 
 
 Prof. Tylor explains it thus ; 6 the husband is 
 " treated as a stranger till his child, being born a 
 member of the family, gives him a status as father 
 
 1 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fur Ethr.ologie, xvii. 80. 
 
 2 G. A. Willcen, in De Ir.dische Gids (1SS1), p. 284 ; Musters, op. cit. 177. 
 
 3 Low, op cit. 197 ; Perelaer, op. at. 42. * E;.re, op cit, ii. 324, 325. 
 5 Livingstone, South Africa, 126. 6 Op. cit. 249. 
 
430 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 of a member of the family," whereupon he ceases 
 to be " cut." But if the father in the same way 
 as Prof. Tylor suggests concerning the Couvade, 
 borrowed the idea from the mother, it is hardly likely 
 that the mother originally practised the custom for a 
 quite different reason. If she did it for the same 
 reason, that is, to assert her maternity, this ought to 
 presuppose a previous paternal system, and if she con- 
 tinued to do it for the same reason, the result is a 
 strange competition. Prof. Tylor's explanation fails to 
 take into account the fact that in almost every case, 
 even, as amongst the Babar islanders, in maternal 
 systems, the mother also takes the child's name. 
 Again, why, as amongst the Mayas, should the father 
 call himself by the name of his son, and the mother 
 call herself by the name of her daughter ? the son being 
 Ek, and the daughter being Can, the father was named 
 " father of Ek," and the mother " mother of Can." x 
 This example shows what is not uncommon, an attempt 
 to supersede relationship by sex. 
 
 There is, without doubt, in the practice a sort of 
 assertion both of paternity and maternity, but not as 
 against the opposing system. This assertion is, as the 
 savage himself has explained, a paternal and maternal 
 expression of pride, just as in the highest stages of 
 civilisation, a man or woman who has a distinguished 
 son likes to be referred to as the " father or mother of 
 so-and-so." Amongst the Thlinkeets, if a son acquire 
 a reputation, the father will drop his own name and 
 call himself " father of N or M." 2 In Madagascar 
 parents sometimes assume the name of their children, 
 especially should they rise to distinction in the public 
 service, as Raini Mahay, father of Mahay, Raini 
 
 1 Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 680. 2 Featherman, cp. cit. iii. 391. 
 
xvi TEKNONYMY 431 
 
 Maka, father of Maka." 1 The Malagasy have the 
 regular custom also ; both parents take the name of 
 the eldest child, Raini Soa, father of Soa, Rem Soa, 
 mother of Soa. 2 But when we take into consideration 
 the religious importance of the name in primitive 
 thought, we may confidently infer that this feeling of 
 pride is only secondary, and is combined with the more 
 vital reason, namely, that the parents, father and mother 
 alike, take the child under their protection by taking 
 its name, that vital part of him as it is supposed to be, 
 thus protecting him from those who might take this 
 name in vain or work worse mischief against it, and by 
 significantly calling themselves father and mother of 
 the child, profess in the most material way their 
 responsibility for it, and their relation to it. The 
 practice is an instance of ngia ngiampe, but naturally 
 one-sided and not a mutual exchange, for the child is 
 an " infant " still. The method is exactly half of that 
 common form of ngiampe, which consists in mutual 
 exchange of names to effect identity and mutual respon- 
 sibility between two persons. Further, this taking 
 over of the child's personality or part of his soul, so as 
 practically to form a religious surname for the parents, 
 renders them in a real sense the child's " spiritual " 
 parents and protectors, as they are already its biological 
 guardians. They are now its godparents also. There 
 is another result however. As the child on the prin- 
 ciples of relation is the pledge, the kalduke between 
 father and mother, this simultaneous adoption by the 
 pair of its name, renews, as between themselves, the 
 relation of ngia ngiampe which has been performed at 
 marriage, and which is also inherent in their continuous 
 
 1 Ellis, History of Madagascar, i. 154. y 
 
 2 Sibree, Madagascar and its People, 198, 199. 
 
432 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 living together. If we may say so, the act confirms 
 their "spiritual" wedlock, and is a sort of re-marriage. 
 This is natural enough when we consider the fact that 
 the birth of the first child (and it is usually the name 
 of the first child only that is thus assumed) in savage 
 custom seals finally the marriage alliance, as it is indeed 
 a signal of permanence in the tie and psychologically 
 binds the pair together in the joy that a man is born 
 into the world. This is corroborated by such facts as 
 the Zulu practice. The wife in Zululand is not 
 designated a wife until she has borne a child. 1 The 
 idea is seen from another side in the not unfrequent 
 custom that the husband does not gain incontrolled 
 possession of his bride until she has become a mother. 
 Amongst the Nubians the husband is not till then 
 allowed by custom to build a separate house for him- 
 self. 2 So amongst the Knisteneaux the husband lives 
 with his wife's parents until the first child is born. 
 " The birth gives full sanction to the marriage, and the 
 wife henceforth calls him by the honorary title of 
 1 father of her child.' " 3 The Chippeway bridegroom 
 lives with his father-in-law until the first child is born. 4 
 This is part of the explanation of the common practice 
 whereby the husband lives till then with his wife's 
 parents. As this custom is not part of a matriarchal 
 system, so the assumption of the name is no assertion 
 against such, it is simply the completion of the 
 marriage. There are also found actual instances of 
 this potential renewal of marriage at the first birth. 
 Amongst the Todas it is not uncommon for the pair to 
 separate until a second marriage ceremony has taken 
 place. " When it is apparent that they are likely to 
 
 1 Shooter, op. cit. 74. 2 Featherman, op. cit. v. 260. 
 
 3 Id. iii. 261. 4 Id. iii. 248. 
 
 
xvi THE SECOND MARRIAGE 433 
 
 have a family, this second ceremony ensues. In most 
 respects this corresponds with the preceding one " ; the 
 husband ties another tali round the neck of his bride. 
 r It is seldom that disunion takes place after this." 1 
 Just before lying-in the South Celebes wife is practically 
 married again to her husband, she and he being cere- 
 monially covered with one garment, as they were at 
 marriage. 2 The idea here is to secure safety to the 
 woman by reasserting the mutual responsibility of the 
 pair, as in Couvade, and is a very natural practice now 
 that the trinity of father, mother, and child is about to 
 be actualised. A case already cited shows the principle 
 of ngiampe between husband and wife in connection 
 with names, combined with the ngiampe relation between 
 parent and child. The Andamanese call a young husband 
 by his wife's name ; when she is pregnant, he is called 
 by her name with the name of the child prefixed (it is a 
 common practice in early races to name the child before 
 birth), and now the wife also has the child's name pre- 
 fixed to her own. 3 
 
 The custom is also found rarely at puberty. 
 Amongst the Alfoers when a boy named, for instance, 
 Taieamie, arrives at puberty, his father, named Sapiakh, 
 now calls himself Sapialeh- Taieamie- amay ; when his 
 second son reaches puberty he adds his name also, thus, 
 Sapialeh-Taleamie-Karapupuleh-amay. 4 The custom 
 thus merges in the practice of changing the name at 
 puberty. It also is found in marriage. Thus in Buru 
 the father-in-law of Jadet, for instance, is called " father 
 of Jadet." 5 The mother-in-law, as we have seen, com- 
 monly makes a ngiampe relation with the son-in-law. 
 
 1 Harkness, op. cir. 116. a Matthes, op. cit. 51. 
 
 3 Man, in ycurr.. Anthrop. Inst, xii. 129. 4 Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 424. 
 
 5 Riedel, De sluik-en kroeskarige rassen tusschen SchLcs cr. Papua, 5. 
 
 2 F 
 
434 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Here we come back again to sexual taboo as between 
 husband and wife. The practice naturally coincides 
 sometimes with the taboo on the names of husband and 
 wife. In savage custom, as we have seen, rarely is any 
 one addressed by his real name, to do so is to place 
 such an one in danger, it is a wrong done to his 
 personality. Responsibility between husband and wife 
 emphasises this rule. Thus amongst the Barea and 
 Beni-Amer the wife may not utter her husband's name. 1 
 Perak women in talking of their husbands use a peri- 
 phrasis which means " house and house-ladder," and is 
 tantamount to saying " my household " instead of " my 
 husband." 2 Amongst the Tuyangs a man will speak 
 of his wife as " my dull thorn," or " the thorn in my 
 ribs," or " the mean one of the inner room." 3 The 
 idea is not so much contempt as a desire to protect her 
 personality. Amongst the natives of the New Hebrides 
 a woman after marriage is called "wife of so-and-so," a 
 practice common everywhere, and identical in principle 
 with the modern European custom. 4 The custom of 
 calling the parent " father ' : or " mother of the child 1 
 is a convenient way of avoiding the use of the personal 
 name, both generally and as between husband and wife. 
 Amongst the Zulus there is the rule in connection with 
 hlonipa, that all females related to the girl's family may 
 never call her husband by name, but " father of so-and- 
 so " ; if there are no children they call him umkweniana. 
 " They think it not respectful to call him by his name, 
 and so with all young persons to old ones." The son- 
 in-law will not call his mother-in-law by name, but 
 simply mother, and the wife is called " so-and-so of so- 
 and-so," " child of her father." A woman must not 
 
 1 Munzinger, op. cit. 526, 325. 2 Skeat, op. cit. 369. 
 
 3 Colquhoun, op. cit. 250. 4 Journ. Anthrop. hist, xxiii. 7. 
 
xvi NAME TABOOS 435 
 
 call her husband by name, either to him or of him, but 
 " father of so-and-so." ! Amongst the Zulus the child 
 often has its name given before birth, " probably 
 because it is not considered etiquette for the people of 
 the bridegroom's kraal to speak to or of the bride by 
 her own name," and she is therefore frequently known 
 as "the mother of so-and-so," before the marriage has 
 taken place, although women more correctly take the 
 name or surname of their father on marriage, e.g. a 
 woman whose father's name is Jiba is Oka-Jiba — " she 
 of Jiba" i.e. daughter of Jiba. If a woman is known 
 as " mother of Nobatagati" her first child will receive 
 that name if it be a girl ; if a boy, the masculine form, 
 Matagati, will be used." 
 
 As has been already noted, the parents protect the 
 child by taking its name into their keeping. The 
 ideas so prevalent as to the importance of the name 
 and the dangers that may threaten it may be referred 
 to once more. The Dyaks alter the name of a sick 
 child to deceive the evil spirits. 3 The Tonquinese give 
 children horrid names to frighten away evil spirits. 4 
 Amongst the Cingalese the name of the child never 
 transpires ; it is known to the father and astrologer 
 alone. The father gives it by whispering it in the 
 child's ear. At puberty it receives a new name. 5 In 
 Abyssinia one's baptismal name is concealed to prevent 
 evil spirits from injuring one thereby. The name of a 
 child is never mentioned in Guiana, " because those 
 who know the name would thus have the child in their 
 power." 7 The Pulayers of Malabar dare not even 
 
 1 Leslie, op. cit. 1-3 ; Callaway, -p. cit. 316. 
 
 - South African Folklore Journal, ii. 15. 3 St. John, op. cit. i. 197. 
 
 4 Ba 5 tian, Kambodja, 3S6. B Forbes, Eleven Tears ir. Ceylon, i. 32 3. 
 
 6 M. Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia, 301. 7 im Thura, op. cit. 220. 
 
436 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 call their children " children," but term them 
 " monkeys." 1 
 
 The name-giving is therefore naturally regarded as 
 an important business. It is practically always a 
 religious act, as it gives the child a personality, a soul. 
 Sexual taboo here finds a place, as in Luang Sermata 
 and Ceram, where the father names the boys and the 
 mother the girls. 2 In Hawaii a son, when hardly 
 weaned, took the father's name, and the mother was no 
 longer allowed to eat with the child or touch its food. 3 
 The importance of the ceremony is brought out in 
 the Narrinyeri belief that it is unlucky to name a child 
 before it can walk, 4 in the custom of giving up the 
 name when a person bearing it dies, and in the 
 Egyptian method of giving the name. The Kadi 
 sucks a sweetmeat, and lets it trickle into the child's 
 mouth. He thus " gives the name out of his mouth," 5 
 a practical method of showing the material nature of 
 the name in early thought. 
 
 The giving of a name, as of anything else, also pro- 
 duces no less than the taking of a name, the ngiampe 
 relation ; the gift is, as such, a real part of one's self. 
 Thus the Koosas have the custom of giving a man a 
 new name, which no one knows but he who gives it. 
 It is regarded as a very great honour. 6 Amongst the 
 Munda-kols a relative or friend gives the child its 
 name, and between the two there is throughout their 
 lives a " relation of dutifulness." 7 The already sub- 
 sisting ngiampe relation between parent and child is 
 thus emphasised when the parent gives it a name, as it 
 
 1 Ploss, op. cit. i. 168. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 327, 135. 
 
 3 D'Urville, op. cit. i. 475. 4 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 145. 
 
 6 Ploss, op. cit. i. 164. 
 
 6 Lichtenstein, op. cit. i. 25S. Compare Revelation, ii. 17, xix. 12. 
 
 7 Ploss, op. cit. i. 163. 
 
xvi CHRISTENING 437 
 
 is when he takes it. In European folklore there is a 
 common belief, natural as a result of ideas of contact, 
 that the characteristics of the person who gives the 
 child its name, or of those who bear the same name, or 
 of godparents generally, affect the child. 1 There is 
 a Sioux custom called "the transfer of character"; 
 a brave and good man breathes into the infant's 
 mouth. 2 Lastly, the idea that the name is an external 
 soul may be illustrated from the Todas. From fear of 
 the " evil eye," an infant may not be seen by any one 
 except its parents until it receives a name. Then at 
 last it may be shown to outsiders ; 3 the idea being that 
 it is rendered secure by having a double personality, 
 part of which can be easily concealed or withheld. 
 
 The ceremonial " uncleanness " attaching to the 
 mother is one of the most universal results of sexual 
 taboo. The separation between husband and wife after 
 a birth is often prolonged until the child is weaned, the 
 idea being that milk, as a female secretion, is a specially 
 dangerous vehicle for transmission of her effeminate 
 properties. Hence the infant from contact with the 
 mother is also " unclean," that is, " dangerous," in the 
 taboo sense, no less than it is in danger. To this idea 
 is due the practice, which is fairly common, of taking 
 boys away from the mother as soon as possible. The 
 interest taken by all women in a birth, as well as in a 
 baby, and the diffidence found in the male sex concern- 
 ing the same, arise straight from sexual differentiation ; 
 the next development of this is the common psycho- 
 logical phenomenon that women both resent indiffer- 
 ence as to the event, and for a time express diffidence, a 
 sort of fear of causing disgust, in connection with the 
 
 1 Ploss, of. cit. i. 159, ii. 226. 2 Eleventh Rep. Bur. Ethn. 482. 
 
 3 Harlcness, op. cit. 99. 
 
438 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 first showing of the child to the father. Amongst the 
 Northern Indians the mother is " unclean " for five 
 weeks after birth, and remains in a separate hut. No 
 male may approach her, not even her husband ; if he 
 were to see mother and child, it is feared that " he 
 might take a dislike to the latter." 1 The recognition 
 of the child by the father follows as a matter of course 
 upon such a principle. Conversely in Egypt the father 
 dares not see his child till the seventh day, " for fear he 
 might injure it unwillingly by a look." 2 The Kurnai 
 infant is first taken to the father's brother, and then to 
 the father. 3 The object is doubtless to make the 
 former a go-between, and so to facilitate the natural 
 course of paternal emotion. Amongst the Basutos the 
 father is separated from mother and child for four days. 
 He is introduced to them thus : the medicine -man 
 performs a ceremony called " the helping, or the 
 absolution of the man and wife." If this is not done, 
 the husband will swell up, or, if he goes to his wife, he 
 will die. The lepheko, a log four or six feet long, 
 which is laid in front of the door when any one is sick, 
 is brought, and she is set on it, and the husband put 
 opposite her so that their legs touch. The medicine- 
 man then rubs them all over with a preparation of roots 
 and fat. Healing water is also drunk first by the 
 husband and then by the wife. 4 The name and nature 
 of this ceremony well show the ideas of taboo behind 
 it, and also point to the inference that it is another 
 renewal of the marriage tie, similar to the South Celebes 
 custom. 
 
 The ideas of sexual taboo are responsible for such 
 
 1 Kearne, op. cit. 93. Cf. Crooke, op. cit. i. 277. 
 
 2 Ploss, Das Kind, i. 132. 3 Fison ami Howitt, op. cit. 204. 
 4 Grutzner, in Zcitsckrift fiir Ethnologie for 1877, p. 7S. 
 
xvi ABSOLUTION OF PARENTS 439 
 
 customs as this of the Zulus. The first-born and 
 second-born sons cannot inherit, " because," say the 
 Zulus in a vague way, " they are the sons of the 
 womb." 1 This is an interesting detail in the history 
 of primogeniture. 
 
 As to the taboo on the infant, the Roti belief that 
 the first hair of a child is not his own, and unless cut 
 off will make him weak, is explainable ultimately as 
 being due to connection with the mother.- All the 
 contagious matter, however, is removed from mother 
 and child by the usual purification ceremonies. The 
 churching of women is a development of this. In 
 Malay ceremonial " lustration is generally accomplished 
 either by means of fire or of water." " Infants are 
 purified by fumigation, and women after child-birth are 
 half-roasted over the purificatory fire." 
 
 The principles of responsibility in ngia ngiampe have 
 in this connection an interesting result. For instance 
 in Wetar the parents may not name their child, " for it 
 would thus be liable to illness." 4 Such parental anxiety 
 for the child's safety, combined with the primitive 
 impulse to shift responsibility as the best way of meet- 
 ing it, is the ultimate raison d'etre of godparents. 
 The principle is similar to that of the relation of 
 parents-in-law. In primitive thought both sets of 
 persons are religious representatives. The godparents 
 are proxies for the real parents, and as such render the 
 responsibilities of the latter easier. Similar relations 
 are those formed between the operators and the boys 
 operated upon at initiation ceremonies, and between the 
 bridesmen and the bride, and the taboo there resulting 
 
 1 Arbousset and Daumas, cp. cit. 149. 
 
 2 Tijdtchrifi -vocr Neerlands-lr.die, ii. 635. 
 
 3 Skeat, cp. cit. 77. 4 Riedel, cp. cit. 449. 
 
44 o THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 is often paralleled by a taboo between godparents and 
 children. Amongst the Haidas at the ceremony of 
 naming the child a sister of the father's holds it and 
 becomes its godmother. 1 At the circumcision of a 
 Hova boy the parent or other person who holds it, and 
 also the operator, are called rani jaza, " father of a 
 child." A woman also acts as mother on the occasion, 
 and is called " mother of a child." " They are a kind of 
 godfather and godmother." - Godparents are found 
 amongst the Mayas, Caribs, and Japanese. 3 Their 
 representation of the parents is shown in European 
 folklore, as in Thiiringen, where they receive each a 
 half of the christening cake. 4 In Altmark bread and 
 cheese are given to the godparents, who divide it 
 between themselves. 5 All over Europe it is the practice 
 for them to give each other presents. (i Their responsi- 
 bilities are illustrated by the German notion that they 
 must be chosen carefully, because all their qualities, 
 especially moral, pass to the child. In Voigtland and 
 Franconia the godfather must be careful to wash, else 
 the child will be unclean in habits. In the Erzgebirg 
 he may not carry a knife, for fear the child may 
 develop suicidal mania. Godparents must fast, that 
 the child may not be greedy. 7 The taboos are illus- 
 trated by the prohibition regular in Europe, that god- 
 parents may not marry either their godchildren or 
 each other. 
 
 Lastly, there is an interesting case of that method of 
 securing safetv by spreading one's identity over a 
 number of similar persons, which has been illustrated in 
 connection with Saturnalia. Union, as was seen, is a 
 
 1 G. M. Dawson, op. cit. 131. 2 J own. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 40. 
 
 3 Ploss, cp. cit. i. 191,293, 291. 4 Id. i. 232. ' Id. i. 234. 
 
 6 Id. i. 241. ' Id. i. 159 ; ii. 226. 
 
xvi GODPARENTS 441 
 
 result of this. In the Kei Islands after the name- 
 giving the parents entertain all the children of the 
 village. 1 After the infant has been bathed the parents 
 in Ceram-laut feast some children of the village. 2 
 Shortly after a birth in Amboina three to five children 
 are brought into the chamber and there feasted. 3 The 
 reason behind these customs is shown by the following 
 cases. In Amboina, if a child does not thrive, the 
 parents gave a feast to the children of the village ; these 
 latter are supposed to give presents to the sick child. 4 
 In other words a ngiampe relation is established. The 
 next cases show the principle of securing safety by 
 substitution. Soon after a birth the Watubella mother 
 bathes in the sea, accompanied by eight or ten children 
 out of the village. If she is too weak to go, another 
 woman takes her place. On the way these children 
 have to shout continually, " in order to divert the 
 attention of the evil spirits from the child." The 
 Thlinkeets hold festivals " in honour of children." 
 Slaves to the number of the children for whom the 
 celebration is made receive their liberty. The operation 
 of boring the ears of the children is performed on this 
 occasion. 
 
 1 Riedel, op. at. 23s. - Id. 17+. ' Id. 73- 
 
 -1 U. 75. r> Id. 207. 6 Dall. op. cit. 420. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 The study of the marriage system has been blocked, 
 owing to the neglect of students to use primitive data 
 of custom and thought for the explanation of rules 
 invented by primitive man. By using modern or 
 relatively late conceptions of relationship, generally 
 legal in character, and by ignoring the significant series 
 of facts which show the primitive relations of men and 
 women, and on which, rather than on later legal ideas, 
 primitive marriage and primitive relationship rest, they 
 have explained the origin of marriage ceremonies and 
 the marriage system on legal lines, and have thus been 
 led to attribute to early man such monstrosities of 
 improbability, as the general practice of female infan- 
 ticide and of marriage by capture, promiscuity of wives, 
 " group- marriage," and general incest. Moreover, 
 they have been compelled on their theory to explain 
 certain ceremonial acts, the religious character of which 
 is obvious, as being legal fictions. The reconstruction, 
 however, of primitive society cannot be effected with 
 " bricks of law," but only with bricks of human nature 
 mortared by religion. 
 
 In order to explain the origin of the marriage 
 system, i.e. the relation of marriage to relationship, we 
 must first penetrate to the ideas which underlie human 
 relations generally, and sexual relations in particular. 
 This has been done ; and as a result we have worked 
 
chap, xvii THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM 443 
 
 out the primitive conception of marriage and its respon- 
 sibilities, and the origin of the marriage ceremonies and 
 practices which arise from that conception. Secondly, 
 we must reach the ideas behind the primitive conception 
 of relationship. This also has been done. Relationship 
 comes from relation, and the primitive conception of 
 relationship is identical with the primitive conception 
 of human relations. As Messrs. Spencer and Gillen 
 remark of Australian relationship, we must, in order 
 to understand it, first disabuse our minds of the modern 
 conception of kinship. 
 
 The chief characteristic of the primitive marriage 
 system, as is well known, is exogamy. But it is no 
 less the characteristic of all marriage systems in every 
 age. For what is exogamy ? It is often strangely 
 misunderstood ; but obviously the one invariable ante- 
 cedent in all exogamous systems, indeed in all marriage 
 systems, is the prohibition of marriage " within the 
 house." This prohibition is the essence of exogamy 
 and of all bars to marriage. I have shown how sexual 
 taboo produces a religious separation of children in the 
 home ; originally based on the sexual difference which 
 leads the father to take the boys about with him, while 
 the mother takes the girls, it is afterwards enforced by 
 the principles of sexual taboo, and its extension by the 
 use of relationships produces the various forms of 
 exogamy. Robertson Smith set the question in the 
 right direction when he said, "whatever is the origin 
 of bars to marriage, they certainly are early associated 
 with the feeling that it is indecent for housemates to 
 intermarry." 1 If we apply to the word "indecent" the 
 connotation of sexual taboo, which gave rise amongst 
 other things to the especial meaning of this word, and 
 
 1 W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 170. 
 
444 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 if we understand by "housemates" those upon whom 
 sexual taboo concentrates, we have explained exogamy. 
 
 It is unscientific to have recourse to an hypothesis of 
 primitive incest or promiscuity. The frequent myths 
 which seem to countenance the suggestion are easily 
 explained by the ideas of sexual taboo, which attach 
 potential "sin" to any sexual relation. All the facts 
 are distinctly opposed to any probability that incest or 
 promiscuity was ever really practised at all. I shall 
 return to this point when discussing " group-marriage." 
 
 On the other hand, Dr. Westermarck's explanation 
 of the prohibition against the marriage of near kin is 
 equally mistaken. He supposes that there is a general 
 human "instinct" against inbreeding, resulting from 
 the survival of those peoples who have avoided it, in- 
 breeding being assumed to be deleterious. In the first 
 place, this presupposes in some remote period a general 
 use of the very practice which elsewhere he argues was 
 never general. In the next place, though many attempts 
 have been made, it has never yet been rendered even 
 probable that inbreeding, as such, is deleterious to the 
 race. Evidence drawn from animals in domesticity, or 
 from civilised peoples, proves nothing with regard to 
 primitive man, the conditions being so entirely different. 
 The utmost that can be shown by such evidence is, that 
 inbreeding perpetuates or reproduces congenital taints. 
 This result is important enough, but it was other con- 
 siderations that led man to avoid " incest," not in- 
 breeding, for the latter has rarely been avoided at all. 
 The well-known statistics of Professor G. H. Darwin 
 really left the question undecided. Dr. Westermarck 
 considers that they proved the injurious results, while 
 most enquirers consider that they proved the contrary. 
 A satisfactory statistical proof requires a higher per- 
 
xvn MARRIAGE OF NEAR KIN 445 
 
 centage than this, little short in fact of a hundred 
 thousand to one. On the other hand, there is at least 
 one case of a people living more or less in a state of 
 nature, who actually seem to be physically benefited by 
 inbreeding, viz. certain Fijian stocks, with whom first 
 cousins are required to marry. Mr. Basil Thomson 
 has shown that these Fijians are considerably the 
 superiors in all the usual physical tests, of those who 
 forbid cousin -marriage. 1 Mr. Curr states that the 
 Australian natives he knew were well aware that the 
 aim of the marriage system was to prevent the union 
 of nearly related individuals ; but he could not discover 
 on what ground consanguineous marriages were held to 
 be objectionable. 2 As to disadvantages of inbreeding, 
 the Australians whom he knew were quite ignorant. 3 
 Certain South American tribes give no other reason for 
 avoidance of marriage between near relatives except 
 "shame." 4 Huth gives much evidence to show that 
 there is no innate horror of incest in man.' The 
 peasants of the Government of Archangel say that 
 marriages between blood-relations are " blessed with a 
 rapid increase of children." (l 
 
 Again, in nearly all the exogamous systems known, 
 that is, in the common type of two exogamous classes, 
 and also in the less common type of two exogamous 
 classes each split into two sub-classes, it is necessitated 
 by the system that first cousins, when children of a 
 brother and sister, may marry, and where the system is, 
 as is generally the case, rigidly followed, are expected to 
 marry. This, however, is no more a proof of primitive 
 inbreeding and incest, than is the Archangel notion. 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 383 ft". a Curr, op. cit. i. 112. 
 
 :; Id. i. 236. 4 Westermarck, op. cit. 31S, 320. 
 
 5 A. H. Huth, The Marriage of Near Kin, ic-14. 6 Folklore, i. 469. 
 
446 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 If then there is an " instinct " against inbreeding, it 
 stultifies itself in a very curious way. Also the 
 evidence which Dr. Westermarck cites necessarily con- 
 cerns cousin-marriage chiefly, and yet he is forced to come 
 back to an "instinct" against marriage between house- 
 mates, though cousins are rarely such. It would be 
 more correct to say that there is an " instinct " for in- 
 breeding, which is checked by human religious ideas. 
 He does not make allowance, in connection with the 
 prohibition between housemates, for the common pro- 
 hibition of marriage between first cousins (when 
 children of two brothers or of two sisters), who do not 
 live together, and between totemic tribe-fellows, for 
 instance, who have never seen each other ; nor does he 
 explain the common fact that persons entirely unrelated, 
 though living together, may marry (the " instinct " 
 against inbreeding would here show the wonderful 
 insight that " instinct " was once supposed to possess), 
 or the more common fact that persons entirely 
 unrelated who live together may not marry (here the 
 " instinct " would seem to have been easily duped). 
 
 There is also the remarkable fact, as has been seen, 
 that to no little extent brothers and sisters, mothers 
 and sons, fathers and daughters, do not live together. 
 This is a result of sexual taboo, and is originally a part 
 of the cause why such marriage is avoided, and not a 
 result of the avoidance of incest. 
 
 Lastly, it is not scientific to use the term " instinct ' : 
 of this kind of thing. Instinct proper is only con- 
 cerned with immediate processes of function ; it is 
 physiological thought, and has nothing in its content 
 except response of function to environment. Instinct 
 possesses neither tradition nor prophecy. 
 
 The present hypothesis gives the reason why brothers 
 
xvn ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 447 
 
 and sisters in some cases do not live together, which 
 reason is also the chief factor in producing what is 
 really a complex feeling, the subconscious or conscious 
 " aversion " to love and marriage, first, between those 
 who are in continuous contact, and secondly, between 
 those who are not. In the simple form of the aversion 
 we have seen the intensification of sexual taboo in the 
 closeness of the family circle, where no dangerous acts 
 may be performed, such as eating in some cases, to the 
 extent that parents prevent brothers and sisters from 
 eating together, speaking together, or having any 
 ordinary physical relations. These prohibitions are an 
 accentuated form of the taboo of personal isolation, 
 inherent in human relations. They of course include 
 the dangerous act of marriage. They are not due 
 originally to a fear of incest, as such, but to the fear of 
 sexual contagion of properties, of which the idea of 
 incest is one particular result. Practically all sexual 
 relations, and not merely intercourse, are " incest " for 
 primitive man, in his sense of the word — the breaking 
 of a taboo instituted to prevent the dangerous results 
 of physical contact between persons who are, qua sexual, 
 mutually dangerous ; and it would be easy to show that, 
 psychologically, the belief in the injurious results of 
 inbreeding is of religious origin, and parallel to the 
 belief that sickness is due to sin or violation of taboo. 
 
 As showing that sexual intercourse is not the chief 
 or only relation that is feared, it is to be observed that 
 amongst several peoples illicit connections between the 
 young before they are of age to marry are allowed, 
 though illicit marriage is strictly forbidden. Licence 
 before marriage is very common in the East Indies. 1 It 
 
 1 G. A Wilken. in Bijdrage;: tor de Taal-Land er. Volkenkimde van Nederlandsch 
 Indie, xxxviii. 3, 438 ft. 
 
448 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 is allowed between members of " classes " that may not 
 intermarry in some Australian tribes, of the Lower 
 Murray, Lower Darling, and perhaps the Port Lincoln 
 and Kunandaburi tribes, 1 but it is probable that these 
 Australian cases, if all the facts were known, would 
 bear another explanation. Here, as in marriage itself, 
 it is the living together, the permanent contact, the 
 sharing of life at bed and board, together with the 
 procreation of children, that are the important things. 
 
 The other factor in the simple form of the pro- 
 hibition is a psychological result of sexual solidarity 
 and sexual taboo. The bringing-up of children in this 
 manner produces what is a psychological impossibility 
 of sexual love between brothers and sisters. Separation 
 before the sexual instinct shows itself, has in effect set 
 the consciousness outwards by the time puberty arrives, 
 and then, when the sexual instinct has appeared, it is 
 biassed towards realisation out of the "house," and this 
 is what actually occurs ; for out of the house the 
 prohibition is not so stringent nor so carefully enforced, 
 while love is produced by chance meetings with 
 acquaintances. This coincides with the psychological 
 fact that love's awakening turns the mind away from 
 what is familiar and known towards what is strange and 
 romantic. 
 
 We may now pass to cases where the children are 
 not strictly separated. Here, when living together 
 becomes a sentiment, we have reached the complex 
 form of the prohibition. It is the relation of ngia 
 ngiampe once more. Living together, especially where 
 commensality is allowed, forms one of the closest bonds 
 of mutual respect and duty. Originally the feeling of 
 
 1 J. G. Frazer, Toiemism, 59 ; Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 37 ; Native Tribes of South 
 
 Australia, 222. 
 
xvn ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 449 
 
 duty is one of reciprocal caution, if not of fear, for 
 each person has part of the other in his or her keeping ; 
 but this conception soon merges into that of mutual 
 responsibility, and between the parties concerned any 
 dangerous relation such as marriage is out of the 
 question. It is not convenient, it is improper, it is an 
 offence against the harmony of the house for such 
 dangerous relations to occur, and parents prevent such 
 occurrences. The case is identical with that of eating 
 together. As we have seen, such dangerous functions 
 are often not permitted in the house or family circle at 
 all, where in the confined space and personal proximity 
 their dangerousness would be intensified. Moreover, 
 it is natural that parents should apply their own experi- 
 ence for the advantage of their children. They know, 
 if not the responsibilities, at least the superstitious 
 dangers attaching to any relations between the sexes, 
 and in particular, accustomed as they are to refer all 
 mutual disagreements, perils of the soul and body alike, 
 in sexual and other crises, to their own reciprocal 
 action and mutually dangerous relations, that is, to the 
 principles of mutual contact [ngia ngiampe), they will 
 naturally prevent any repetition of such between their 
 children. 
 
 In this question we see fully developed once more 
 the primitive ideas of contact in relation, and, in 
 particular, how physical relations of any sort, including 
 that of marriage, are tabooed, first between persons 
 different enough or distant enough to be spiritually 
 or physically dangerous ; and secondly, between persons 
 near enough and closely enough connected to be 
 mutually responsible, that is, potentially dangerous in 
 a more complex way, to each other. In the former, 
 danger is intensified, in the latter, duty. 
 
 2 c 
 
450 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Of the former, the typical result is the Ceramese 
 and Wetarese practice of forbidding marriage between 
 members of villages who have made a military alliance 
 by the pela ceremony, the nature of the ceremony 
 preventing treachery, while it brings them into the 
 second class of persons ; of the latter the prohibition of 
 marriage between brothers and sisters is the typical 
 result. 
 
 In the former, again, there is implied the impulse to 
 endogamy, as seen in the constant marriage of cousins, 
 in the latter the impulse to exogamy, which, in its 
 lowest terms, is the avoidance of marriage between 
 brothers and sisters. 
 
 Lastly, at puberty the separation between brothers 
 and sisters is stereotyped, both by natural and artificial 
 means. Where ceremonies of " initiation " obtain, the 
 bond of initiation, simultaneous or otherwise, connects 
 the boys of the community together on the one hand, 
 and the girls on the other, by a close tie of the 
 ngiampe species, and thus the way is prepared for an 
 extension of the prohibition. Fellow-initiates become 
 "brothers "or "sisters." Thus, amongst the Kurnai 
 all the young men who have been initiated at the same 
 time are "brothers" and address each other's "wives" 
 as "wife"; 1 this is identical with those cases where 
 fellow-initiates form " guilds." 
 
 Such and all terms of relationship, it is to be noted, 
 are in primitive thought also terms of relation. They 
 are both terms of kinship and terms of address. Here 
 may be reconciled a somewhat bitter controversy 
 between those who hold the former and those who 
 hold the latter connotation of classificatory terms. In 
 all ages terms of relationship are terms of relationship, 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. at. 198. 
 
xvii RELATIONSHIP 451 
 
 but no less are they, secondarily, terms of address. 
 Of primitive times this is especially true, for " kinship " in 
 primitive thought is a vaguer term than in later culture, 
 not because of any primitive promiscuity, but because 
 the tie of blood had not attained prominence over 
 looser ties of contact and identity of age. To the 
 primitive man such a term as " brother " includes men 
 of his own age, who are in more or less close contact 
 with him, and " sister " includes women in the same 
 way. So with terms like "husband" and "wife." 
 There is also often to be seen a very natural confusion 
 between these two sets of terms. A "wife" is a 
 woman of one's own generation, but so is one's sister ; 
 the same applies to " husband " and " brother," mutatis 
 mutandis. This is brought out by the very widely 
 spread use of the words "brother" and "sister" by 
 young people and even by lovers. In Ceram-laut 
 young people call each other "brother" or "sister." 1 
 Friends in the Aru Islands call each other " brother." - 
 In the Babar Islands, lovers call each other " brother " 
 and " sister." 3 Indeed, it seems that early man finds 
 it difficult to rise above the confused notion that all 
 women of his own age are potential " sisters," just as 
 we may infer from many facts cited above a similar 
 difficulty in surmounting the similar idea that any con- 
 nection with any women of that age is equivalent to 
 marriage. Thus, potentially, brothers and sisters are, 
 in primitive thought, already married through having 
 lived together, and therefore, as it were, cannot be 
 married actually. This confusion between " wife " and 
 " sister " is shown by a Kurnai explanation of a practice 
 at initiation. Behind each youth there sits a girl called 
 
 1 Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tunchen Sehbes en Papua, 153. 
 2 Id. 260. 3 Id. 35°- 
 
452 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Krau-un. She is a " comrade " and not a wife ; the 
 Kurnai " carefully pointed out that they were like 
 sisters and not like wives." Such girls are often 
 cousins of the boys. 1 
 
 Next as to relationships, beginning with those persons 
 who live together more or less, it is to be noted that 
 habitual proximity and contact is the strongest and 
 most ordinary tie, and is earlier in thought than the tie 
 of blood. The strong conception of the tie of blood, 
 best seen in feudal and semi -civilised societies, is by 
 no means so strong in primitive culture. Identity of 
 " flesh " if not of food, that is, commensality, are both 
 earlier in thought than that of blood. A test case for 
 psychology is perhaps that closest of ties between 
 mother and child ; here in all stages of human culture, 
 the idea of the tie of blood is psychologically the last to 
 appear ; mutual affection and the relations of help and 
 dependence result from that tie, but psychologically 
 that tie is ignored. Psychologically speaking, relation- 
 ship develops originally from relations, and in primi- 
 tive thought, relations are the test of kinship and not 
 vice versa. The relative lateness of the idea of the 
 blood-tie is also indicated by the views held by such 
 early races as the Central Australians, for instance, 
 upon the facts of conception and birth. In the Arunta 
 tribe every member is born " as a reincarnation of the 
 never-dying spirit-part of one of these semi-animal 
 ancestors." This principle is revealed to boys at the 
 second initiation ceremony, and pantomimically acted. 
 The child is not the result of intercourse, which only 
 prepares the mother for its reception. The sacred 
 Erathipa stone ( = " child ") has a hole through which 
 spirit-children look out for women who may pass, and 
 
 1 Fison and Hovvitt, op. cit. 195. 
 
 
xvn RELATIONSHIP 453 
 
 it is believed that visiting the stone will result in con- 
 ception. " If a young woman has to pass near the 
 stone, and does not wish to have a child, she will care- 
 fully disguise her youth, distorting her face and walk- 
 ing with the aid of a stick. She will bend herself 
 double like a very old woman, the tones of whose 
 voice she will imitate, saying, ' Don't come to me, I 
 am an old woman.' A black line is painted above 
 the hole, and is always renewed by any man who visits 
 it. A similar black line, called by the same name, is 
 painted above the eye of a new-born child to prevent 
 sickness. A man may cause women to be pregnant, 
 even at a distance, by rubbing the stone and repeating 
 a charm. Or, if a man wants to punish his wife for 
 supposed unfaithfulness, he rubs it, saying, " Go quickly 
 and hang on tightly." That is, the child is to remain 
 so long in the woman as to cause her death. If a man 
 and wife desire a child, he ties his hair-girdle round it. 1 
 The Arunta, who hold these views, count descent 
 through the father. The old superstitious ideas still 
 obtain, though the biological fact is practically ad- 
 mitted. Another indication that the tie of blood is 
 late, is the fact that in some Australian tribes the boys 
 follow the father in " descent," and the girls the 
 mother. 2 Lastly, it is the name, and not the u blood," 
 that in most early societies is the chief test of classifi- 
 catory or totemic relationship, in maternal and paternal 
 descent alike ; 3 and also these very relationships have 
 as their essential purpose not relationship but preven- 
 tion of marriage. 
 
 If one thinks over the matter, it is obvious that the 
 inference of identity of flesh and blood would be a later 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 228, 229, 265, 337, 
 338. 2 Infra, 456. 3 Westermarck, op. cit. III. 
 
454 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 achievement than the inference of vague connection 
 between a mother or father and child ; and though the 
 biological ties were certain, with the increase of know- 
 ledge, to supersede other conceptions and practically 
 were always used, yet there are many facts which point 
 to attempts on the part of other ideas of relation to 
 become conceptions of relationship. It is to be noted 
 also that the idea of the blood-tie cannot explain most 
 of these, except by such forced analogy as is quite 
 impossible. 
 
 In the account of ngia ngiampe we reviewed the 
 more artificial forms of " relationship." Of other 
 forms, firstly, identity of sex very commonly amounts 
 to a relationship, and where sexual taboo is well- 
 developed, it is perhaps the strongest tie of all. It is 
 a result of sexual solidarity, and assumes various 
 forms. For instance, in several Australian tribes each 
 sex has a totem ; in the Port Lincoln tribe a small 
 kind of lizard, the male of which is called Ibirri, and 
 the female fVaka, is said to have divided the sexes in 
 the human species ; " an event that would appear not 
 to be much approved of by the natives, since either 
 sex has a mortal hatred against the opposite sex of 
 these little animals, the men always destroying the 
 Waka and the women the Ibirri." 1 In the Wotjo- 
 baluk tribe it is believed that " the life of Ngunungunut 
 (the bat) is the life of a man, and the life of Tartatgurk 
 (the night-jar) is the life of a woman " ; when either is 
 killed, a man or woman dies. Should one of these 
 animals be killed, every man or every woman fears 
 that he or she may be the victim ; and this gives rise 
 to numerous fights. "In these fights, men on one 
 side and women on the other, it was not all certain 
 
 1 Native Tribes of South Australia, 241. 
 
xvii RELATIONSHIP 455 
 
 who would be victorious ; for at times the women gave 
 the men a severe drubbing with their yam-sticks, while 
 often the women were injured or killed by spears." l 
 In some Victorian tribes the bat is the men's animal, and 
 they " protect it against injury, even to the half-killing 
 of their wives for its sake." The goatsucker belongs 
 to the women, who protect it jealously. " If a man 
 kills one, they are as much enraged as if it was one of 
 their children, and will strike him with their long 
 poles." The mantis also belongs to the men, and no 
 woman dares kill it. 2 In the Ta-ta-thi tribes of New 
 South Wales the men have the bat for their sex-totem, 
 and the women the small owl. They address each 
 other as Owls and Bats. 3 In the Mukjarawaint tribe 
 of Western Victoria the bat is the men's totem and 
 the night -jar the women's. 4 The Kulin tribe of 
 Victoria has two pairs of sex-totems, the bat (male) 
 and night-jar (female), and the emu-wren (male) and 
 superb-warbler (female). 5 Amongst the Coast Murring 
 people the men's totem is "man's brother," the women's 
 " woman's sister," phrases which recur in North- West 
 Victoria. 6 The best example is from the Kurnai. All 
 men are descendants of Teerung (emu-wren), and all 
 women of Djeetgun (superb-warbler). Emu- wrens are 
 the men's brothers, and superb-warblers the women's 
 sisters. Sometimes if young men were slow to marry, 
 the women went out in the forest and killed some 
 emu-wrens, and casually showed them to the men. An 
 uproar followed. The men were very angry ; the 
 yeerungs their brothers had been killed ; men and girls 
 got sticks and attacked each other. Next day the 
 
 1 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 58. 2 Dawson, op. cit. 53. 
 
 3 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst. xiv. 350. 4 Id. xii. 45. 
 
 5 Id. xv. 4.16. 6 Id. xv. 416. 
 
456 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 young men went and killed some of the women's 
 sisters, the birds djeetgun, superb -warblers, and the 
 result was a worse fight than before. By and by, an 
 eligible young man would meet a marriageable girl, 
 and would say "Djeetgun," she replied, "Yeerung! 
 What does the Yeerung eat ? " This would lead to a 
 marriage. Sons of course follow the father's totem, 
 Yeerung, and daughters the mother's, Djeetgun} 
 
 Sex also supersedes kinship in other ways. A 
 Maori boy inherits the father's, a girl the mother's 
 property. 2 So for teknonymy amongst the Mayas. 3 
 In Victoria a boy's " nearest relative " is his father, a 
 girl's her mother. 4 In the Ikula tribe, which has four 
 totem-clans, the sons of a Budera man and a Kura 
 woman are Budera, and the daughters are Kura. b 
 
 One of the earliest ties of relationship is that of 
 sharing food together, a natural variation, though not 
 widely spread, being that those to whom the same food 
 is taboo are akin. Such cases form good examples of 
 the action of the principles of contact, and are often 
 connected with the practice according to which young 
 men initiated together, or otherwise associated, habitu- 
 ally take their meals in common. Thus amongst the 
 New Hebrideans there are sets of initiated boys, 
 arranged according to age, and each set mess together 
 and sleep together, and may not eat with other persons. 6 
 The connection between food and kinship is very clear 
 in early thought, and it is natural that it should be 
 so ; the inference being that food produces flesh, and 
 identity of food produces identity of flesh. Amongst 
 the Kamilaroi all things in heaven and earth are 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 201, 215. 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 99. 
 
 3 Supra, 430. * Dawson, op. cit. 38. 
 
 5 J.A.I, xii. 509. 5 Id. xxiii. 6, 7. 
 
xvii RELATIONSHIP 457 
 
 assigned to the clan-divisions of the tribe, and to such 
 a question as "What division does a bullock belong 
 to ? " the answer is, " It eats grass, therefore it is 
 Boortwerio." 1 So the answer to what is practically a 
 proposal of marriage on the part of a young Kurnai 
 was, we saw, " Teerung ! (the male totem). What 
 does the yeerung eat ? " Amongst the Dieri Murdoo, 
 which means taste, is the term for " family," and the 
 first question asked of a stranger is "What Murdoo ?" 2 
 Again, in the tribes of the Belyando River the "classes" 
 or divisions for purposes of marriage are allowed to eat 
 certain foods only. 3 Amongst the Damaras the word 
 for " marriage division " is oruzo, which refers to food, 
 and these divisions are described as "dietaries." 4 
 Another account states that the "clans" of the 
 Damaras are distinguished by food-taboos. One, for 
 instance, may not eat sheep without bones, another, 
 oxen with certain spots. They will not even touch 
 vessels in which such have been cooked, or go near 
 the smoke of the fire used to cook it. 5 The Gaelic 
 names for family, teadhloch and cuedich, mean, first, 
 having a common residence, and, secondly, those who eat 
 together. 6 The Arabic and Hebrew words for " flesh ' 
 have also the connotation of " kindred " or " clan." 
 
 The connection in totemic tribes between identity 
 of food and relationship by totem, those who have the 
 same totem being regarded as akin, is shown in the 
 Narrinyeri tribe. The totems here are called ngaitye, 
 which means " friend." All members of a totem-clan 
 are regarded as " relations." This, as is well known, 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 169. 2 Curr, op. cit. ii. 49. 
 
 3 Id. iii. 27. 4 South African Folklore Journal, i. 40. 
 
 5 C. J. Anilersson, Lake Ngami, 222 ff. 
 
 6 McLennan, Studies in Ancient History, 123. 
 
 7 Robertson Smith, op. cit. 148, 176. 
 
458 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 is the case with all totem-clans. In some Australian 
 tribes, however, it is to be noted, totemism has nothing 
 to do with marriage. " The ngaitye of the Narrinyeri 
 may be killed and eaten by those who possess it, but 
 they are always careful to destroy the remains, such as 
 bones, feathers, etc., lest an enemy should obtain them 
 and use them for purposes of sorcery. They never 
 marry one who belongs to the same ngaitye." x When 
 boys are initiated together they become " tribal 
 brothers," and the marriage-bar is thus extended out- 
 side the family. In the Torres Straits " initiation 
 mates " may not marry each other's sisters. 2 
 
 Lastly, in connection with food-kinship there is the 
 widely spread custom of forming a tie of " brotherhood " 
 by eating and drinking together. This is a common 
 form of the relation of ngia ngiampe, and I need not 
 quote again the examples we have already reviewed. 
 Later than this there arises the same practice with 
 blood as the kalduke, and here relations and relationship 
 meet. I may add that amongst the Arabs and else- 
 where milk-kinship is equivalent to real kinship. 3 This 
 is due originally not to analogy from motherhood, but 
 to primitive ideas about food. Milk is regarded as 
 equivalent to flesh by the Arabs, and milk -kinship 
 forms one of Muhammad's forbidden degrees. 
 
 Again, when friends in the Aru Islands and Ceram- 
 laut call each other "brother" or "sister," and when 
 lovers in the Babar Islands call each other " brother " 
 and " sister," 4 we see another form of primitive relation- 
 ship, based on contact and combined with identity of 
 age. It is no analogy, except in terminology, from the 
 real relationship, nor yet does it point to primitive 
 
 1 G. Taplin, in Curr, op. cit. ii. 245. a Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 411. 
 
 3 Robertson Smith, op. cit. 149. 4 Riedel, op. cit. 260, 153, 350. 
 
xvn RELATIONSHIP 459 
 
 incest or promiscuity. When lovers and married 
 persons call each "brother and sister" 1 we see that 
 love and marriage are another form of primitive 
 relationship, i.e. of ngiampe. And here is to be found 
 one reason for the common misconception that marriage 
 ceremonies were intended to make the pair of one kin. 
 In primitive thought relationship is not our relationship. 
 It is rather relation. Relation and relationship are not 
 yet differentiated, that is all. The Cherokees " reckon 
 a friend in the same rank with a brother, both with 
 regard to marriage and any other affair in social life.' 2 
 Amongst the Seminoles two young men would agree to 
 be life-friends, " more than brothers." 3 This is a very 
 common thing in early races. 
 
 Again, any form of the ngia ngiampe relation is, as 
 we have seen, equivalent to relationship. The disciples 
 of a Buryat Shaman are his " sons." 4 Adoption, so 
 common in early peoples, is frequently a bar to 
 marriage, as amongst the Eskimo, Greenlanders, and 
 Andamanese. 5 In European folk-religion there is the 
 rule, sanctioned by the Catholic Church, that god- 
 parents become kin to the family, and marriage may not 
 take place between the godparents themselves, between 
 them and members of the family, or the godchildren. 6 
 Godparents are proxies for the parents, and as such 
 ought to marry, or at least to be married already ; the 
 fact that they may not marry proves the primitive ideas 
 both of sexual relation and of relationship, and shows 
 the impossibility of analogy from kinship. 
 
 Lastly, there is the well-known form of kinship by 
 name. It is parallel to kinship by totem, and is too 
 
 1 Wright, cp. cit. ii. 224, 229. 2 Adair, op. cit. 190. 
 
 3 Fifth Rep. Bur. Eth. 508. 4 J-A.l. xxiv. 135. 
 
 5 Ninth Rep. Bur. Eth. 419 ; Cranz, cp. cit. i. 146 ; J.A.I, xii. 126. 
 
 6 Ploss, Dai Kind, i. 198 if., 291. 
 
460 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 familiar to need illustration. Dr. Westermarck has 
 shown that this is the important point in both maternal 
 and paternal descent. 1 In other words, those who have 
 the same name are ngia ngiampe and may not marry. 
 
 Primitive relationship, it is clear, is at once stronger 
 and weaker than the civilised tie ; weaker, because the 
 bond of blood has not assumed a superiority over other 
 relations, close contact being the test ; stronger, because 
 the ideas of contact which characterise these relations 
 have so intense a religious meaning and enforce duty 
 so stringently. 
 
 The famous Matriarchal Theory was as exaggerated 
 in its early forms as was the Patriarchal. It is now 
 coming to be recognised that it is simply the tracing 
 of descent through the mother and giving the children 
 her name, though there are a few cases where inherit- 
 ance of property has later come under the rule, some 
 of these being due to sex. It is a method of tracing 
 genealogy, more convenient in polygamous societies, and 
 more natural in primitive times, when the close connec- 
 tion of mother and child during the early days of 
 infancy emphasises the relation. The system was 
 explained by Bachofen as due to the supremacy of 
 women, and by McLennan as due to doubtful paternity 
 and primitive promiscuity. It is not, however, doubt- 
 ful paternity which causes maternal genealogy ; Dr. 
 Westermarck has shown this, and also that the hypo- 
 thesis of primitive promiscuity is without any founda- 
 tion whatever. 2 The last position of the theory of 
 promiscuity will be taken when we discuss " group- 
 marriage " so-called. He has also proved that, though 
 common, " maternal descent " cannot have been either 
 universally or generally a stage through which man has 
 
 1 Op. cit. in. 2 Op. cit. chapters iv. v. vi. 
 
 - 
 
xvii MATRIARCHY 461 
 
 passed. Amongst the lowest tribes in the scale, those 
 of Australia, paternal descent is nearly as common as 
 maternal. It is interesting to notice that the reckoning 
 of descent exclusively through either the maternal or 
 the paternal line, is an example of the influence which 
 sex must necessarily have upon relationships. In those 
 cases where the sons follow the father's clan, and the 
 daughters the mother's, there was a similar phenomenon ; 
 here, there is an attempt to make relationship for both 
 sexes follow one sex to the exclusion of the other. In 
 maternal descent, no less than in paternal, however, the 
 relation to the unrepresented side of the house is of 
 course easy to trace. In the islands of Leti, Moa, and 
 Lakor, there is seemingly an attempt to adjust the 
 balance in unisexual relationship, by making the sons 
 follow the mother and the daughters the father, 1 but 
 this is doubtless due to considerations of caste. 
 
 Why did not early peoples trace descent in the 
 apparently obvious way, from both father and mother ? 
 For the same reason that we, for instance, use the 
 paternal name to trace descent. In the ages before 
 writing, the use of both parents' names and their 
 application to children would be too complicated, as it 
 still is found. This consideration has much to do with 
 " classificatory relationship." But here too sexual taboo 
 has had its influence, and by dividing the family into 
 two parts indefinitely postponed the trial of solutions. 
 A Zulu custom shows the connection of sexual taboo 
 with the paternal system, and has more than a merely 
 casual interest as a savage Salic law. The first-born 
 and second -born sons of the king cannot inherit, 
 because, say the Zulus in a vague way, " they are the 
 sons of the womb." 2 A similar idea shows itself in the 
 
 1 Riedel, op. cit. 392, 384. 2 Arbousset and Daumas, op. cit. 149. 
 
462 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 objection held by some peoples to the children of two 
 sisters marrying, while they do not object to marriage 
 between the children of two brothers ; for instance, 
 in Leti, Moa, Lakor, and Madagascar. With the 
 latter people such marriage is regarded as " incest." l 
 Such marriage is of course prevented by the usual 
 exogamous system, whether maternal or paternal, and 
 so is marriage between brothers' children, but the ideas 
 of sex have asserted themselves. It is as if female 
 influence rendered "nearness" of kin too near, while 
 crossing of sex adjusts the balance. 
 
 Prof. Tylor has connected the maternal system with 
 the practice whereby the husband takes up his residence 
 with his wife's people. He regards this as the earliest 
 form of setting up an establishment, followed by a 
 transitional method, by which the couple begin married 
 life in the wife's house, but eventually remove. 2 In the 
 first place, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen assert, that as far 
 as they know, it is not the custom in any Australian 
 tribe, maternal or otherwise, for the husband to reside 
 with his wife's people. 3 In the Kunandaburi tribe 
 Messrs. Howitt and Fison remark that, though the 
 maternal system is used, yet the wife goes to her 
 husband's people. 4 In Guinea the maternal system is 
 followed, but the wife goes at once to the husband's 
 home, so in New Britain, and amongst the Arawaks. 5 
 Again, as to the " transitional " method, it seems at 
 least improbable that the inconvenience of setting up 
 one's residence amongst the wife's people and then 
 setting up another, should have been undergone in 
 
 1 Riedcl, op. cit. 385 ; J. Sibree, Madagascar, 248. 
 
 2 Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 247 ff. 
 
 3 Op. cit. 470. 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 35. 
 
 5 Bosman, Description of Guinea, 392, 420 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 293, 294 5 
 id. xxi. 230 j Brett, op. cit. 101. 
 
 
XVII 
 
 RESIDENCE 463 
 
 order to satisfy the maternal system. The incon- 
 venience is certainly put up with, but in most cases it 
 will be found that it is put up with in order to satisfy 
 certain universal feelings of human nature, stronger and 
 more important than is an arbitrary system of kinship. 
 In the first place, it is natural that the marriage should 
 take place, as it often does, both in primitive and 
 modern times, at the "residence" of the bride's 
 parents. Womanly and maternal feelings are not to be 
 denied to the primitive mothers of the race. In many 
 cases early marriage is not a momentary act, but a long 
 process, extending sometimes over several weeks, and 
 during this period the bridegroom resides with his wife's 
 people. 
 
 We have seen how in Cambodia a girl's parents are 
 so careful of her happiness that for some time they 
 keep a very strict watch over the son-in-law ; x also, 
 this natural human feeling often concentrates upon the 
 first delivery of the young bride, and mothers show 
 especial anxiety concerning this. The genial Dobriz- 
 hoffer reported of his Abipones : " Mothers are careful 
 of their daughters, and can hardly bear to part with 
 them. Parents after satisfying themselves of the 
 probity of the son-in-law allow the pair to live in a 
 separate house." 2 The Malay bridegroom is " nomin- 
 ally expected to remain under the roof and eye of his 
 mother-in-law for about two years," after which he 
 may remove to a house of his own. 3 The Omaha wife 
 remains for some time with her parents, the husband 
 visiting her, before she goes to live with him ; 4 so 
 amongst the Sarae. 5 We have also seen in connection 
 with " marriage by capture " how girls cling to their 
 
 1 Supra, 412. 2 Op. cit. ii. 208. 3 Skeat, op. cit. 384. 
 
 4 James, Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii. 47. 5 Munzinger, op. cit. 387. 
 
464 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 home, a feeling naturally enhanced when child-birth 
 approaches — the young wife wishes to be with her 
 mother. 1 
 
 Amongst the Barea the wife returns to her mother's 
 house for her first delivery and there stays three 
 months. 2 Amongst the Adel Bedouin the wife re- 
 mains in her father's house till she has borne three 
 children. 3 Amongst the Luhtongs the wife lives at her 
 mother's house, the husband sleeping there. After the 
 birth of the first child she goes to his house. 4 Amongst 
 the Bedouins of Sinai the wife stays with her parents 
 till the child is born. 5 So amongst the Khyens and 
 Ainus, Shawanese, Abipones, and Chippeways. 6 
 
 It should be noted here that marriage is often not 
 regarded as complete until a child is born. A birth is 
 indeed a very natural sign of the completion of the 
 marriage tie, and this needs no explanation, though it 
 explains this residing with the bride's parents till the 
 birth, when we take into ^consideration the affection 
 between mother and daughter, and suspicions of the 
 other sex fostered by sexual taboo. Taboos between 
 the newly married show this, as between themselves ; 
 the Miao bride and groom occupy separate bedrooms 
 until the first child is born, afterwards they use one 
 bed. 7 The birth relieves anxiety both maternal and 
 connubial. The Knisteneaux case showed this com- 
 pletion of the marriage. s Amongst the Nubians tem- 
 porary mat huts make a part of every family dwelling. 
 These are occupied by people recently married, for it is 
 " only after the young wife has become a mother that 
 
 1 Supra, 354. 2 Munzinger, op. cit. 527. 3 Harris, op. cit. i. 2SS. 
 
 4 Colquhoun, Across Chrysee, 394. 5 Burclchardt, op. cit. 153. 
 
 6 Rowney, op. cit. 203 ; Siebold, Ethnologische Studien uber die Aino, 3 1 ; Klemm, 
 Culturgeschichte, ii. 75 ; Featherman, op. cit. iii. 248. 
 
 '' Colquhoun, Across Chrysee, 373. 8 Supra, 432. 
 
xvn RESIDENCE 465 
 
 the husband can gain uncontrolled possession of his 
 bride, and he is then allowed to build a stone house for 
 himself in any locality he may choose." 1 As a result 
 of a similar feeling, the ceremony of marriage amongst 
 the Hovas is first celebrated at the house of the bride's 
 parents, then at that of the bridegroom's. 2 The same 
 practice occurs in Nepal. 3 
 
 As to the bride's affection for her old home, which 
 coincides with sexual taboo, we find it commonly 
 satisfied by returning thither. Amongst the Hindus, 
 after a few weeks the bride returns to her paternal 
 home for a visit. 4 Amongst the Bheelalahs the bride's 
 parents take her from her husband back to their house, 
 where she stays for a week. 5 The Turkoman bride 
 returns to her parents after six weeks, to spend a year 
 with them. 6 Amongst the Wa-teita the bride after the 
 three days' seclusion and fasting at her husband's house, 
 which form part of the marriage ceremonial, is con- 
 veyed back to her parents' home by a procession of 
 girls. After a while she returns. 7 I do not think that 
 Prof. Tylor allows for these cases. 
 
 In more religious form this feeling is satisfied 
 amongst the Larkas by the wife running home after 
 three days of married life. " The most modest course 
 for the wife to follow is to run away from his house 
 and tell her friends that she cannot love him ; and the 
 husband must show great anxiety for her, and convey 
 her back by force." s Other instances of the same sort 
 of thing we have reviewed when treating of so-called 
 marriage by capture. In more primitive form still, in 
 South Australia the Powell's Creek bride is taken away 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. v. 260. - J-wn. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 41. 
 
 3 Oldheld, Sketches from Nepal, i. 410. 4 joitrn. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 404. 
 
 5 /(/. ix. 404. 6 Fraser, Journey into Korhasan, ii. 37 5. 
 
 " J. Thomson, op. cit. 51. 8 Rowney, op. cit. 67. 
 
 2 H 
 
4 66 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I 
 
 to a considerable distance after being " purchased or 
 captured " (sic) and kept isolated with her husband for 
 some months, until she " settles down to the new order 
 of things." The pair then rejoin the tribe. 1 
 
 Temporary residence with the bride's parents, then, 
 is no survival of continuous residence, but is due to 
 various forms of sexual taboo and parental care. For 
 continuous residence the Ainu practice is instructive ; if 
 the girl or her parents propose the match, the pair live 
 in the bride's village, and vice versa. 2 
 
 Nor is the change of residence a transitional method. 
 It takes place, firstly, after the satisfacton of the feelings 
 we have discussed. The Siamese bridegroom builds a 
 room off* the house of his wife's parents and there they 
 live for some months, after which he builds a house of his 
 own. 3 In Nukahiva the bridegroom lives with his bride's 
 parents ; if, after a time " the pair are still attached to 
 each other," they set up a separate establishment. 4 An 
 Egyptian does not always become a householder at 
 marriage, but may live with his wife in her parents' house. 5 
 Amongst the Soomoos the groom lives with the bride's 
 people until the girl is old enough to be married. 6 
 And in New Britain the girl, if very young, stays with 
 her parents ; if full-grown, she goes to her husband's 
 house. In New Britain, by the way, descent is through 
 the mother. 7 In Samoa, " a woman does not become a 
 man's wife until he takes her to his own house." 8 
 
 Secondly, the change of residence is due to a very 
 obvious circumstance. In some of the Fiji Islands, 
 after the ceremony of eating together, the girl returned 
 to her parents, where she remained until the marriage 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 177. 
 3 Loubere, op. cit. i. 157. 
 5 Lane, op. cit. ii. 269. 
 7 Id. xviii. 289. 
 
 2 Batchelor, op. cit. 140. 
 
 4 Lisiansky, op. cit. 83. 
 
 6 yourn. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 205. 
 
 8 Pritchard, op. cit. 134. 
 
xvn RESIDENCE 467 
 
 was consummated, or rather until the bridegroom had 
 built his house. 1 In Leti, Moa, and Lakor, the husband 
 lives with his wife's parents, till he has built a house. 2 
 In Wetar, the husband lives with his wife's people till 
 he gets a house of his own. 3 Economic causes indeed 
 have always had a good deal to do with marriage. 
 Amongst the Barea a man is " in the power ' : (sic) of 
 his wife's father until he builds a house of his own. 4 
 Amongst the Cadiacks the bridegroom " pays " for his 
 wife by working for her parents, living with them until 
 the full amount is worked off. 5 The same practice is 
 found amongst the Aleuts, the Arruans of New Guinea, 
 the Klamaths, in Timorlaut, the Kei Islands, Amboina, 
 and the Watubela Islands.''' Amongst the Arawaks the 
 bride's father expects his son-in-law to do some work 
 for him ; the young couple often live with him " until 
 an increasing family renders a separate establishment 
 necessary." These Indians, it is to be noted, are a 
 " maternal " people. 7 Though in origin the " bride- 
 price " is not purchase-money, yet, as commercialism 
 develops, we find cases like that of the Watubela 
 islanders, with whom the children " belong " to the 
 wife's family until the bride-price is fully paid. 8 Many 
 peoples in the East Indies, such as the Battas and 
 Malays, have; three forms of marriage :' J ( 1 ) the 
 groom pays "purchase-money" ; (2) if he is poor, he 
 works for her parents, living in their house ; (3) 
 elopement. In Amboina and Ceram, if the bride- 
 groom cannot pay the " price," he lives with her in her 
 parents' house, and works for them. If he can pay it, 
 
 1 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 203. 2 Riedel, op. cit. 390. z Id. 448. 
 
 4 Munzinger, op. cit. 447. 5 Lisiansky, op. cit. 198. 
 
 6 Featherman, op. cit. iii. 467 ; ii. 33 ; iii. 329 ; Riedel, op. cit. 301, 236, 68, 132. 
 
 7 Brett, op. cit. 10 1. 8 Riedel, op. cit. 205. 
 
 9 Junghuhn, op. cit. ii. 132, 350. 
 
468 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 she goes to his house. 1 Lastly, amongst the extinct 
 Tasmanians, supposed to have been the lowest race in 
 the scale known, the husband took his bride to his own 
 wirlie, and the system of descent was maternal. 2 The 
 usual Australian custom is for the man to take his wife 
 to his own tribe ; and the exception which sometimes 
 occurs amongst the Arunta is natural enough ; they 
 are a "paternal" people, but men of other tribes some- 
 times join them, taking a wife from them and setting 
 up their abode. 3 
 
 We may now proceed to notice the well-known 
 machinery by which exogamy is worked in so many 
 early societies, the " classificatory system." Its origin 
 is perfectly clear. It is in its simplest form of two 
 exogamous intermarrying divisions, consistent with 
 either the paternal or maternal system of descent. It 
 is unnecessary to describe it fully, or to show what has 
 been well shown by Messrs. Fison and Howitt, Spencer 
 and Gillen, that the terms are terms of kinship and not 
 terms of address. As we have seen, however, they are 
 in origin terms of relation, and accordingly, so far, 
 terms of address also. For instance, the term Ifmunna 
 in Central Australia, which is that used between 
 members of the two subclasses which make up one of 
 two exogamous divisions, would be better described as a 
 term of relation. 4 Relation and relationship are not 
 differentiated in primitive thought. Again, all of the 
 terms can be used as terms of address, just as our 
 terms of relationship can be so used, " aunt " and 
 " uncle " for instance, that is, instead of the personal, 
 name. In connection with the account of relations, 
 already given, an instance typical of all mankind 
 
 1 Rieelel, op. cit. 68, 132. 2 Bonwick, op. cit. 72. 
 
 3 Journ. Anthrap. Inst, xviii. 250 j Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 60. 4 Id. 71. 
 
xvii MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 469 
 
 is the modern Egyptian practice ; women address 
 aged female friends as " mother," young ones as 
 " sister." x 
 
 The commonest form of classificatory exogamy is 
 that where the members of the tribe are divided into 
 classes for purposes of marriage, members of one class 
 being forbidden to marry in that class, but bound to 
 marry into the other. Taking the Urabunna tribe as 
 as example, the scheme is as follows, Matthurie and 
 Kirarawa being the two exogamous classes, and descent 
 being through the mother 2 : — 
 
 Matthurie (male). 
 Kirarawa (female). 
 
 ! 
 
 III I 
 
 i.K.f. 2. K.f. 3 .K.m. 4. K.m. 
 
 M.m. M.m. M.f. M.f. 
 
 I I I I 
 
 I I I I I II I 
 
 5. K.m. 6. K.f. 7. K.m. 8. K.f. 9. M.m. 10. M.f. 11. M.m. 12. M.f. 
 
 The main point here is, of course, that brothers and 
 sisters may not marry ; the system presupposes this 
 when putting them under the same name. The next 
 point is that first cousins, when children of two 
 sisters, as 5 and 8, 6 and 7, or of two brothers, as 
 9 and 12, 10 and 11, may not marry, this being 
 an accident of the system. Thirdly, first cousins, 
 when children of a brother and sister, as 7 and 10, 
 8 and 9, may marry, they being of different 
 classes, and in most systems they are indeed expected 
 to marry, as in Australia and Fiji. This species of 
 cousin -marriage Prof. Tylor has well called "cross- 
 cousin-marriage." When this is the case, the system 
 is endogamous as well. Primitive exogamy is in fact 
 also endogamous ; and when it is understood that the 
 
 1 Featherman, op. at. v. 265. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 60. 
 
470 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 essential object of exogamy is to prevent marriage 
 between "brothers" and "sisters," there is no need to 
 tabulate exogamous peoples, for exogamy is practised 
 by every race of mankind, as it is by ourselves, or to 
 search for its origin. As to Prof. Tylor's suggestion 
 that exogamy was due to a desire to secure the survival 
 of the tribe by forming alliances outside, the choice 
 being between marrying -out or dying -out, 1 this is 
 another kind of " exogamy," and one indeed that is 
 sporadic only, though a natural enough practice, as it is 
 between European royal families. Early exogamy 
 proper is a family and not a tribal matter, and is also 
 somewhat too endogamous to include a political 
 exogamy in its origin, and savages do not possess such 
 political insight as would warrant the inference that 
 such was a general cause of exogamy. 
 
 Further, each of these marriage - classes is sub- 
 divided into several totem -classes, and there is an 
 arrangement as to which totems may intermarry, 
 descent being still through the mother. 2 Thus : — 
 
 Matthurie Dingo, m. 
 Kirarawa Waterhen, f. 
 
 K.W., m. K.W., f. 
 
 M.D., f. M.D., m. 
 
 The next form of the classificatory system is one 
 which is common in Australia. Here each of the two 
 exogamous classes is divided into two subclasses. 
 Thus, in the Kamilaroi tribe the two exogamous classes 
 are Dilbi and Kupathin ; Dilbi is divided into Muri 
 and Kubi, Kupathin into Ipai and Kumbo. Muri must 
 marry Kumbo, and Kubi Ipai, no other intermarriage 
 
 1 Jcurn. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 267. 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 61. 
 
 
XVII 
 
 MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 
 
 47i 
 
 being allowed. There is the further arrangement that 
 the children belong to the companion subclass of the 
 mother, descent being maternal. 1 Dr. Frazer calls this 
 " indirect female descent." 2 Thus : — 
 
 MuU. 
 
 Dilbi 
 
 ( Muri 
 \Kubi 
 
 f Ip a ' 
 Kupathin \ v 
 r ^ Kur 
 
 Marries. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 Ipai. 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Kumbo, 
 
 Kubi 
 
 Muri. 
 
 Muri 
 
 Kubi. 
 
 bo 
 
 The same system is found in the southern division of 
 the Arunta, though in process of further subdivision 
 as in the northern tribe, 3 and in the Kiabara tribe, 
 both these tribes having paternal descent. 4 When this 
 system is tabulated, it will be found that one difference 
 is produced by it. In the Kiabara tribe Dilebi is 
 divided into Baring and Turowine, Cubatine into Bundah 
 and Bui coin, and the marriages and descent are as 
 follows : — 
 
 Baring, m. 
 Bundah, f. 
 I 
 
 Turowine, f. 
 Bulcoin, m. 
 I 
 
 Turowine, f. 
 Bulcoin, m. 
 
 Turowine, m. 
 Bulcoin, f. 
 
 .1 
 Turowine, m. 
 
 Bulcoin, f. 
 
 I 
 
 I II II I 
 
 ndah, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m. Bundah, f. Baring, m. Baring, f. Baring, m. Baring, f. 
 
 ring, f. Baring, m. Baring, f. Baring, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m. 
 
 The difference is this — the system obviously keeps the 
 marriages within the same generation, Turowine and 
 Bulcoin alternating with Bundah and Baring. The 
 children of a given father being put in a separate class, 
 of course, amounts to this. 
 
 This result can hardly be counted as accidental when 
 we remember that the savage no less than other men 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 37. 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 70. 
 
 2 Frazer, Totemism, 73. 
 
 * Journ. Ar.throp. Inst. xiii. 336. 
 
472 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 prefers the natural marriage with one of the same 
 generation. That this feeling should have been codi- 
 fied, as it were, is an instance of the way in which early- 
 man tries to assist nature. The vague fear of the 
 possibility of sexual relation with the mother-in-law, 
 for instance, which sometimes emerges above the com- 
 plex feelings brought by sexual taboo into that relation, 
 is a case in point ; another is the fact, that in some 
 codified marriage -systems, as in our own "Table of 
 Kindred and Affinity," a man is forbidden to marry his 
 grandmother, a grandfather his granddaughter, and so 
 on, each case being one never likely to occur. 
 
 There is nothing in these systems except identity of 
 name to prevent children of brothers or of sisters 
 marrying, though some peoples, as the Malagasy, allow 
 children of brothers to marry, but not children of 
 sisters, ideas of sexual taboo probably causing this 
 result ; and though other peoples, especially those 
 higher in the scale, often prohibit all cousin-marriage. 
 The old Canon Law of the Church, for instance, did 
 In these cases descent is reckoned from father 
 
 so 
 
 and mother together, cross-cousin marriage being thus 
 prevented as well as the other form. 
 
 The third development of the classificatory system 
 is that found in the Northern Arunta tribe, and de- 
 scribed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. 2 It is a further 
 subdivision of the last form mentioned, and the 
 difference in result produced by it, is clearly that it 
 also prevents cross-cousin marriage. In the Southern 
 Arunta tribe the four subclasses are Panunga and 
 Bukhara, Purula and Kumara ; in the Northern, 
 Panunga is divided into Panunga and Uknaria, Purula 
 
 1 Du Cange, Glossarium media et infima Latin: tatis, s.-v. generatio. 
 2 Op. at. 71 ff. 
 
XVII 
 
 MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 
 
 473 
 
 into Purula and Ungalla, Bukhara into Bukhara and 
 Appungerta, Kumara into Kumara and Umbitchana. 
 The system is thus given by Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen : — 
 
 I. 
 
 Panunga 
 Uknaria 
 
 2. 
 
 Purula 
 
 Ungalla 
 
 Appungerta 
 Bukhara 
 
 4- 
 Kumara. 
 Umbitchana 
 
 Bulthara 
 
 Kumara 
 
 Uknaria 
 
 Purula. 
 
 Appungerta 
 
 Umbitchana 
 
 Panunga 
 
 Ungalla. 
 
 Reading across the page, Panunga m. (i) marries 
 Purula f. (2), and the children are Appungerta (3), 
 Purula m. (2) marries Panunga f. (1), and the children 
 are Kumara (4), and so on. By tabulating the system, 
 we see how cross-cousin marriage is prevented : — 
 
 Panunga, m. 
 Purula, f. 
 I 
 
 Appungerta, f. 
 Umbitchana, m. 
 
 I 
 
 Appungerta, f. 
 Umbitchana, m. 
 
 I 
 
 Appungerta, m. 
 
 Umbitchana, f. 
 
 Appungerta, m. 
 Umbitchana, f. 
 
 _ I I II II I 
 
 Ungalla,m. Ungalla, f. Ungalla,m. Ungalla, f. Panunga,m. Panunga.f. Panunga, m. Panunga,f. 
 
 Uknaria, f. Uknaria, m. Uknaria, f. Uknaria, m. Purula, f. Purula, m. Purula, f. Purula, m. 
 
 A further point of interest in the Central Australian 
 system is this ; in the Urabunna tribe nupa women, i.e. 
 women who are marriageable on the system to a 
 particular man, are daughters of his mother's elder 
 brothers, blood or tribal, or of his father's elder sisters, 
 and none others ; a man's wife must belong to the 
 senior side of the tribe. This rule is evidently a 
 codification of the practice found so generally amongst 
 savages, that elder sisters have a prior right to marriage 
 over younger, and is an instance of wise consideration 
 on the part of primitive man. 1 It is a sort of attempt 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 64, 65. 
 
474 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 to assist nature, and is parallel to the preference for 
 marriage within the same generation. In Nias, Halma- 
 hera, Java, and China, for example, a younger sister is 
 not allowed to marry before an older one. 1 It is to be 
 noted, that in the Arunta tribe there are, as happens in 
 other classificatory systems, distinct names for elder 
 and younger brothers and sisters, and that when two 
 brothers in blood marry two sisters in blood, the elder 
 brother marries the elder sister ; and further, a man 
 may speak freely to his elder sisters in blood, but to 
 tribal elder sisters only at a distance. To younger 
 sisters, blood and tribal, he may not speak. 2 In the 
 Arunta tribe, that is, there is a taboo against women of 
 the junior side, but no fixed rule forbidding marriage 
 with them ; in the Urabunna tribe there is such a rule, 
 and we hear of no taboo. 
 
 An interesting example of the way in which age 
 influences such relations occurs amongst the Khyoungtha 
 and other Indian hill -tribes, and the Andamanese. 
 With the former, a younger brother may touch and 
 speak to his elder brother's wife ; " but it is thought 
 improper for an elder brother even to look at the wife 
 of his younger brother. This is a custom more or less 
 common among all hill-tribes ; it is found carried to a 
 preposterous extent among the Santals." 3 An Anda- 
 manese may not speak directly but only through a 
 third person to a married woman who is younger than 
 himself. Women are restricted in the same way in 
 relation to their husband's elder brother. Till an 
 Andamanese reaches middle age, he evinces great shy- 
 ness in the presence of the wife of a younger brother or 
 
 1 Rosenberg, Der Malayische Archipel, 155; Riedel, in Zcitschriftfiir Ethnologic, xvii. 
 76 j Winter, in Tijdschrift -voor Nederlandsch-Indii (1843), i. 566 ; Gray, China, i. 190. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, of. cit. 88, 89. 3 Lewin, op. cit. 130. 
 
xvn MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 475 
 
 cousin, and the feeling is reciprocated. His elder 
 brother's wife receives from him the respect due to a 
 mother. 1 In the first case, superiority of age in the 
 male induces the idea of a potentiality of sexual control 
 of a younger female, and with an older woman there is 
 the analogy of the mother, suggested by her greater 
 age. In the second case, the custom is combined with 
 taboos of the mother-in-law species. 
 
 We may now consider the last position of the theory 
 that promiscuity was once prevalent amongst early 
 peoples; this is the so-called " group -marriage " of 
 several Australian tribes. Morgan, McLennan, and 
 Lubbock were supported in their hypothesis of primi- 
 tive promiscuity or community of wives by Messrs. 
 Fison and Howitt, who first adduced the phenomena 
 of "group-marriage." Dr. Westermarck has so ably 
 shown the unscientific character of the promiscuity 
 theory, that it would be unnecessary to add to what 
 he has said, were it not for the fact that Messrs. 
 Spencer and Gillen in their important work have, I 
 think, too easily given their assent to Fison and 
 Howitt's interpretation of " group-marriage " as prov- 
 ing early promiscuity. Indeed they assert that there 
 is no such thing as individual marriage in the Urabunna 
 tribe. It will be clear after we have examined these 
 facts, that Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have misunder- 
 stood their origin and meaning, and that their criticism 
 of Dr. Westermarck's condemnation of the promiscuity 
 theory is therefore mistaken. In one detail, that of the 
 so-called jus -prim* noctis, Dr. Westermarck is wrong, 
 but so are Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. 
 
 They say that the facts of the Urabunna system 
 " can only be explained on the theory of the former 
 
 1 Man, in Journ. Anthrof. Inst. xii. 136, 355. 
 
476 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 existence of group-marriage which has necessarily given 
 rise to the terms of relationship." x Now, on the 
 Urabunna system of two exogamous intermarrying 
 classes, the term mia for instance, includes not only the 
 meaning of our " mother " but that of " tribal mother," 
 being applied to all women of the same generation in 
 the class to which a man's real mother belongs. 2 But 
 this is an obvious result of the classificatory system, 
 and, apart from the system, it is the regular result of 
 the primitive theory of relationship ; the system codifies 
 a combination of relation and relationship, " address " 
 and age. It is the system and not group- marriage, 
 which has given rise to these terms of relationship ; 
 these do not in themselves necessarily point to a 
 previous promiscuity or even to a present group- 
 marriage. This "marriageableness" is found also in 
 Fiji, but we do not either there or in Australia find 
 any " right ' exercised upon it. We have seen that 
 relation and relationship were not differentiated, and 
 here the classificatory system has stereotyped this con- 
 fusion. And so when the women of the same genera- 
 tion and class to which a man's real mother belongs 
 are called " mother," and the sisters of his wife in like 
 manner are called " wives," and the brothers of his 
 father are called " father," it no more follows that a 
 man once practised promiscuous marriage with all such 
 " wives," or that he now possesses the right to do so, 
 than that a man once was begotten by all the men who 
 were thus his " fathers," or was born of all the women 
 who were thus his " mothers." Amongst the Kurnai 
 the wife's sister though called " wife " would not sleep 
 in the man's hut, and a brogan though calling a man's 
 wife "wife" and though she called him "husband" 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 59. 2 Id. 58. 
 
 
xvii GROUP-MARRIAGE 477 
 
 would have to camp with the young men. 1 So much 
 for the ordinary type of group-marriage. But further, 
 in the Urabunna tribe each man has living with him 
 (Messrs. Spencer and Gillen do not term them wives) 
 certain nupa women, that is, women who on the system 
 are tribal-sisters of his wife, and therefore potentially 
 marriageable to him. But this is nothing but actual 
 polygamy. The inference that all such nupa women 
 are or once were married to all the men, as group to 
 group, or to one man, is unwarranted ; they are simply 
 " marriageable " because of the system. It is possible 
 that a legal-minded savage might draw the inference, 
 but this would not prove such marriage to have been 
 ever actual ; there are limits to the polygamous im- 
 pulse, and the elaborate character of the system is 
 not consistent with a previous confused promiscuity. 
 Promiscuity would not leave, as its results, a system so 
 exact that intermarriage with the wrong class is con- 
 sidered a crime. 
 
 Again, there are other women in the relation of 
 Piraungaru to every man, like the Pirauru of the 
 Dieri tribe, " to whom he has access under certain 
 conditions." 2 The result is, Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen state, " that every woman is the special nupa of 
 one man, but he has no exclusive right to her, as she is 
 the Piraungaru of certain other men who also have 
 the right of access to her " {i.e. as Piraungaru). 
 " There is no such thing as one man having the 
 exclusive right to one woman. Individual marriage 
 does not exist either in name or in practice in the 
 Urabunna tribe." 3 
 
 In this connection they speak of a " rudimentary 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 210. 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 62. 3 Id. 63. 
 
478 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 custom " ; * that is to say, they seem to regard the 
 present system of " rights " as a survival of a fully 
 developed promiscuity. As to this, I would submit 
 that the Urabunna group -marriage has never been 
 more fully developed than it is now, that it is no 
 modified survival, and that it is far from being' a 
 "rudimentary" custom. The essence of a "rudi- 
 mentary ' " custom should surely be that of a " rudi- 
 mentary ' organ, that is to say, a " rudimentary ' 
 custom is one that exists but has no present meaning 
 or use. Now the Urabunna custom seems to have a 
 good deal of meaning still, and to be used in rather a 
 regular way. The term " rudimentary " in this con- 
 nection both begs the question and stultifies their 
 theory. Again, since Prof. Tylor's Primitive Culture, 
 and Darwin's Origin of Species were given to the world, 
 there has been too indiscriminate and careless a use of 
 the terms " survival ' and " rudimentary " ; customs 
 and beliefs of the greatest vitality have been described 
 and condemned as " survivals " or " rudimentary 
 customs " ; the form in such cases being of course a 
 survival, but within the form there is a living content, 
 not separable from it, though often changed from its 
 earliest connotation. 
 
 As to the Piraungaru women of the Urabunna to 
 whom a man has " the right of access " ; they have 
 been called " accessory wives," but the term is as mis- 
 leading as it would be if applied to the wives whom 
 husbands amongst many peoples occasionally "lend' 
 to their guests by way of hospitality. Let us take a 
 similar practice of the Arunta, of which the Urabunna 
 is evidently a development. " Under ordinary circum- 
 stances in the Arunta and other tribes," individual 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 105 ff. 
 
xvn PROMISCUITY 479 
 
 marriage exists, but at certain times a man may have 
 access to other women, sometimes even women of a 
 forbidden class. 1 What are these occasions? First, 
 the well-known savage custom just referred to, by 
 which a man lends his wife to a friend or guest as an 
 act of friendship, gratitude, or hospitality. 2 This is 
 not lightly undertaken, but is an act involving a really 
 religious obligation, as we have seen, and where it is 
 reciprocal it is the highest form of the ngia ngiampe 
 relation. In these cases the wife lent has to be of the 
 class marriageable to the man who receives her from 
 his friend. Secondly, a general exchange of wives takes 
 place at certain important festivals. 3 This custom has 
 been already explained. It has nothing whatever to do 
 with the marriage system, except as breaking it for a 
 season, women of forbidden degrees being lent, on the 
 same grounds as conventions and ordinary relations are 
 broken at festivals of the Saturnalia type, the object 
 being to change life and start afresh, by exchanging 
 everything one can, while the very act of exchange 
 coincides with the other desire, to weld the community 
 together. Thirdly, right of access holds at the cere- 
 mony whereby young women are made marriageable, 
 that is, is physically prepared for her husband, and 
 which is identical with a marriage ceremony. 4 In the 
 Arunta tribe and others where group -marriage, they 
 say, exists in a " modified form," this right of access 
 does hold, but it simply amounts to a religious duty, 
 whereby the bride is physically prepared for her husband. 
 Various persons in various tribes perform this prelimin- 
 ary act, which is neither jus prints noctis nor "religious 
 prostitution " of the Babylonian type. Here their 
 criticism of Dr. Westermarck is sound, but their own 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 95. 2 Id. 98. 3 Id. 96. * Id. 92-97. 
 
480 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 inference that it is a " rudimentary right of marriage " 
 surviving from primitive promiscuity, is more beside 
 the mark still. The act is intended to remove the 
 danger attaching to union (and that the dangerous one 
 of sexual intercourse) for the first time (a dangerous 
 time), with a woman, a dangerous person, — the whole 
 business, in idea and practice, being of the primitive 
 religious stamp, and of the same character as " priestly 
 defloration," and it is quite opposed in theory to the 
 so-called jus -prima noctis which, if it ever obtained in 
 Europe (it probably never obtained elsewhere), was 
 simply a barbarous application of feudal rights, and 
 also to religious prostitution. Finally, it is not an 
 " expiation for marriage," as Lubbock thought. 
 
 On examining Mr. Howitt's careful description of 
 the Dieri marriage system and the Pirauru practice, to 
 which the Urabunna Piraungaru practice is compared, 
 we find that in that tribe " license prevails between 
 the intermarrying classes at certain ceremonial times," 
 namely, at initiation ceremonies, and when a marriage 
 takes place between members of different tribes. As 
 to the Piraurus, called " paramours " by the white 
 settlers, if a man's own wife is absent he may have 
 marital relations with his Pirauru, " but he cannot 
 take her away (from her real husband) unless by his 
 consent, excepting at the above-mentioned ceremonial 
 times." No other occasion of access is mentioned. 
 He adds that the system is not complete promiscuity, 
 for the Pirauru " are allotted at some great initiation 
 ceremony." l The first part of the above has the same 
 explanation as the Arunta customs ; and the Pirauru 
 custom is evidently a polyandrous extension, which is 
 often found, of the custom of lending wives, namely, 
 
 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xx. 53, 56. 
 
xvii PROMISCUITY 481 
 
 when a husband is absent a particular man may live 
 with her, as in the Cicisbeate of South Europe. 1 
 
 The following is Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's 
 account of the Piraungaru of the Urabunna. " To 
 women who are the Piraungaru of a man (the term is 
 a reciprocal one), the latter has access under certain 
 conditions, so that they may be considered as accessory 
 wives. There is no such thing as one man having the 
 exclusive right to one woman ; the elder brothers, or 
 Nuthie, of the latter, in whose hands the matter lies, 
 will give one man a preferential right, but at the same 
 time they will give other men of the same group a 
 secondary right to her. Individual marriage does not 
 exist, either in name or in practice, in the Urabunna 
 tribe. The initiation (sic) in regard to establishing the 
 relationship of Piraungaru between a man and a woman 
 must be taken by the elder brothers, but the arrange- 
 ment must receive the sanction of the old men of the 
 group before it can take effect. As a matter of actual 
 practice, this relationship is usually established at times 
 when considerable numbers of the tribe are gathered 
 together to perform important ceremonies, and when 
 these and other matters of importance which require 
 the consideration of the old men are discussed and 
 settled. A man may always lend his wife, that is, the 
 woman to whom he has the first right, to another 
 man, provided always he be her Nupa, without the 
 relationship of Piraungaru existing between the two, 
 but unless this relationship exists, no man has any 
 right of access to a woman. Occasionally, but rarely, 
 it happens that a man attempts to prevent his wife's 
 Piraungaru from having access to her, but this leads to 
 a fight and the husband is looked upon as churlish. 
 
 1 Th. Moore, of. cit. 64. 
 2 I 
 
482 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 When visiting distant groups where, in all likelihood, 
 the husband has no Piraungaru, it is customary for 
 other men of his own class to offer him the loan of 
 one or more of their Nupa women, and a man, besides 
 lending a woman over whom he has the first right, 
 will also lend his Piraungaru." x " The relation of 
 Piraungaru is established between any woman and men 
 to whom she is Nupa — that is, to whom she may be 
 lawfully married, by her Nuthie or elder brothers. If 
 a group be camped together, and as a matter of fact 
 groups of individuals who are Piraungaru to one 
 another do usually camp together, then in the case of a 
 particular woman her special Nupa man has the first 
 right to her, but if he be absent the Piraungaru have 
 the right to her ; or, if the Nupa man be present, the 
 Piraungaru have the right to her, subject to his 
 consent, which is practically never withheld." 2 
 
 The very fact that the husband's consent must be 
 obtained proves that he is the woman's husband, 
 and that individual marriage exists, though slightly 
 modified. The Piraungaru, like the Pirauru practice, 
 is a development, in one aspect, of the practice of 
 lending wives, coinciding with a polyandrous and 
 polygamous tendency, and, in another, of the religious 
 exchange of wives, as is made probable by its con- 
 nection with tribal meetings. Polyandry, if not poly- 
 gamy, is an abnormal practice, though found sporadi- 
 cally even in Southern Europe, where the Cicisbeate is 
 a close parallel to one side of the Urabunna institu- 
 tion. Lastly, it may be noted that even if this poly- 
 andry and polygamy were real "group-marriage," it 
 by no means proves the previous existence of wilder 
 promiscuity for the Urabunna, much less for the rest 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, op. at. 62, 63. a Id. 1 10. 
 
xvii INDIVIDUAL MARRIAGE 483 
 
 of mankind, as a stage through which man has passed. 
 Everything points, on the contrary, to the inference 
 that the Dieri and Urabunna practices are abnormal 
 developments, which have never been more complete 
 than they are now. 
 
 Other facts that have been used in the attempt to 
 prove primitive promiscuity and incest have been fully 
 dealt with by Dr. Westermarck. Endogamy and the 
 marriage of cousins have also been so used. It seems 
 unnecessary to refute this. The system of morongs, or 
 bachelor -houses, in which the young men live and 
 sleep, has also been used in favour of the promiscuity 
 theory ; 1 but there is no ground whatever on which it 
 may be so used ; even the illicit intercourse sometimes 
 allowed to boys, is merely either youthful love-making, 
 which is more or less common in all societies, or a 
 custom sanctioned by religious ideas as to its necessity. 
 
 It may be confidently assumed that individual 
 marriage has been, as far as we can trace it back, the 
 regular type of union of man and woman. The 
 Promiscuity theory really belongs to the mythological 
 stage of human intelligence, and is on a par with many 
 savage myths concerning the origin of marriage, and 
 the like. These are interesting but of no scientific 
 value. They are cases of mental actualisation of appar- 
 ently potential states which were really impossible 
 except as abnormal occurrences. When men medi- 
 tated upon marriage ceremonial and system, they would 
 naturally infer a time when there was not only no rite, 
 but no institution of marriage. Hence the common 
 idea of which the Promiscuity theory is a result, that 
 marriage was ordained to prevent illicit intercourse ; 
 this, of course, it does prevent, but it invents it first. 
 
 1 By S. E. Peal, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxi. 255. 
 
484 THE MYSTIC ROSE chap. 
 
 Taboo and law when they sanction a human normal 
 practice produce the possibility of sin. There was of 
 course a time when there was no marriage ceremony, 
 but the ideas of such were latent in the actual union of 
 man and woman. 
 
 The survey of marriage and of sexual relations in 
 early races suggests many thoughts. For instance, one 
 is struck by the high morality of primitive man. Not 
 long ago McLennan could assert confidently that the 
 savage woman was utterly depraved ; but a study of 
 the facts shows quite the contrary. The religious 
 character of early human relations, again, gives a sense 
 of tragedy ; man seems to feel that he is treading in 
 slippery places, that he is on the brink of precipices, 
 when really his foot standeth right. This sensitive 
 attitude would seem to have assisted the natural 
 development of man. We have also seen the remark- 
 able fact that most of these primitive customs and 
 beliefs are repeated in the average civilised man, not as 
 mere survivals, though their religious content has been 
 narrowed, but springing from functional causes con- 
 stant in the human organism. Further, it seems to be 
 a probable inference that the functional impulses, not 
 only of man but of at least all higher organisms, have 
 latent in them a potential religious content. This has 
 been noted as especially actualised in the social relations 
 of the individual. The history of psychological pro- 
 cesses is the history of the religious consciousness. 
 Lastly, in connection with the main subject, marriage, 
 this diffidence and desire for security and permanence 
 in a world where only change is permanent, has led to 
 certain conceptions of eternal personalities who control 
 and symbolise the marriage tie. Psychologically, the 
 union of man and woman amounts to identification and 
 
xvn GODS OF MARRIAGE 485 
 
 combination of the two sexes ; and in the theological 
 development of this idea, as the Philippine islanders, 
 Chinese, and Yorubas, to quote from what is a large 
 list, 1 have deities who combine the attributes of both 
 sexes, so the Greeks and Romans sometimes included 
 male characteristics in their conception of the Goddess 
 of Love, 2 and lifted marriage to the ideal plane in the 
 conception of the cepbs yd/ios. More simply, many 
 peoples have thought of a divine trinity of persons to 
 symbolise the family of husband, wife, and child ; 
 Christian Europe, for instance, has worshipped the 
 Holy Family for many, hundred years. For the male 
 sex an ideal of the Eternal Feminine often satisfies such 
 aspirations, and this survey may fittingly close with a 
 reference to the most prominent ideal personality for 
 modern Europe in this connection, the Maiden-Mother, 
 the Mystical Rose, for her figure enshrines many 
 elemental conceptions of Man and Woman and their 
 relations. 
 
 1 Bowring, op. cit. 158 ; Doolittle, op. at. i. 261 ; A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 41. 
 
 - Photius, Bibliotheca, 151, b. 5 ; Lydus, De Mensikus, ii. 10, iv. 95 ; the 
 Bearded Venus in Cyprus, Mncrobius, iii. 8, Servius on Virgil, Aer.eid, ii. 632, the 
 same in Pamphylia, Lydus, op. cit. iv. 44. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abnormal, the, 22 sqq. 
 
 Abuse, 267 sq., 288, 291 sq., 352 
 
 Adoption, 459 
 
 A ge, 4°5> 45 8 H- 
 
 Allopathy, 202, 270 
 
 Altruism, 134, 139, 262 sq. 
 
 Amulets, 135, 226 
 
 Anaya, 250 
 
 Animism, 65 
 
 Annual feasts, 273 iqq. 
 
 Anointing, 105 sq. 
 
 Anthropomorphism, 63, 192 sqq. 
 
 Arkees, 338 sq. 
 
 Arungquiltha, 59 sq., 8 I sq., 88, 122, 1 8 3 
 
 Asceticism, 140 
 
 Assimilation, 371 sq. 
 
 Associations, male and female, 44 
 
 Bachofen, J, vii, 420, 422, 424, 460 
 
 Badi, 84 sq. 
 
 Bale muri, 284, 338 
 
 Baptism, 6, 12, 299 
 
 Barriers, 226 
 
 Best man, 339 
 
 Betrothal, 317 
 
 Biology, xi, 1 sq. 
 
 Birth, 6, 9, 54 sq., 464 
 
 Blood, IOI sqq., 202, 212 sq., 264, 
 
 384 sqq. 
 Blood-brotherhood, 239, 242 
 Blood-covenant, 264 sqq., 376 sqq. 
 Blood-kinship, 264 sq., 376 sqq., 452 
 
 sqq., 458 
 Body, parts of, 1 20 sqq. 
 Boitai, 195 
 Bones, 108 sq., 122 
 Breath, 1 10 
 
 Bride, 3, 7 sq., 100, 194, 263, 318 sqq. 
 Bridegroom, 3, 7 sq., 100, 194, 318 sqq. 
 Bride-price, 387 sqq. 
 Bridesmen, 263, 398 
 Brother and sister, 2, 35, 216 sqq., 316 
 
 «?■> 444 m-> 45° m-> 4 6 9 
 
 Brotherhood 239, 242 sq. 
 
 Bu-ku-ru, 60, 88 sq. 
 
 Bulk, 86, 130 
 Bullroarers, 305 sq., 318 
 Burial, 98 sq. 
 
 Calibaris hast a, 325 
 
 Calumet, 240 sqq. 
 
 Cannibalism, 101 sqq. 
 
 Canon law, 472 
 
 Capture, marriage by, ix, 2, 325, 350 
 
 sqq., 367 sqq. 
 connubial, 353 sqq. 368 sq. 
 formal, 368 sq. 
 Caste, 160 sq. 
 Caul, 1 1 8 s/. 
 Ceremonies, xi, 318 sqq. 
 Change of identity, 271 sq., 299 sqq., 
 
 336 
 Change of life, 299 sqq. 
 Child-birth, 9 sq., 212 sq., 41 I, 41 5 sqq. 
 Christening, 436 sq. 
 Churching, 12 
 Churinga, 85, 87, 305 sq. 
 Cicisbei, 481 sq. 
 Circumcision, 136 sqq., 309 
 Classificatory system, 348, 468 sqq. 
 Clothes, new, 279 
 Coitus, 8, 179 sqq., 258, 307 sq., 343 
 
 '??•» 346 sqq. 
 Commensality, 157 sqq., 214, 456 sqq. 
 Communion, 383 sq. 
 Communism, 348 
 Community of wives, 475 sqq. 
 Confarreatlo, 382 
 Confession, 275 
 Confirmation, 6, 12, 294 sqq. 
 Consummation deferred, 343 sqq. 
 Contact, 51, 66, 76 sqq., 88, 90 sqq. 
 
 134 sq., 140 sqq., 18 I sqq., 1 87 sq., 
 
 202 sqq., 223, 236 sq., 250 sqq., 
 
 252, 372 sqq., 449 
 Contagion, 19, 60 sqq., 65, 8 1 sqq., 155 
 
 sqq., 183 sq., 191, 200, 202 sqq., 
 
 2 35 
 sexual, 203 sqq., 296 jy., 307 
 
 Continence, 188 sq., 228, 343 jyy. 
 
4 88 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 Courage transmitted, 101 sqq. 
 Cousin-marriage, 445 sq., 469, 483 
 Couvade, 3, 416 sqq. 
 Covering, 373 sq. 
 
 Cross-cousin-marriage, 469, 472 sq. 
 Curr, E. M., 144, 216, 355, 368, 401, 
 445 
 
 Dakheil, 251 
 Darwin, C, 478 
 Darwin, G. H., 444 
 Dead, offerings to, 286 sq. 
 Dead, union with, 286 sqq. 
 Death, 26 sqq., 60, 67 sqq., 95 sqq. 
 Defloration, 347 sqq. 
 Degradation, 91 sq., 161 
 Descent of man, 63 sq. 
 Desire, 139 
 Difference, 21, 31 sq. 
 Diffidence, 32 
 Dirty clothes, 335 
 Disease-makers, 125 sqq. 
 Disguise, 267 sq., 279, 281, 335, 372 
 Disgust, 109, 138 sqq., 437 
 Disinfection, 229 
 Djeetgun, 351 
 Dreams, 194 
 
 Dress, in, 204, 210 sq., 229, 268, 313, 
 371 sqq. 
 exchange of, 371 sq., 419 sq. 
 Drinking, III, 148 sqq. 
 Drinking together, 383 
 Dulness, 93 
 Dummies, 99, 220 
 Duplicates, 337 
 Duty, 262 sqq., 391 sqq. 
 
 Eating, 56 sq., 112, 133 
 Eating with others, 148 sqq., 157 sqq., 
 239 sqq., 258, 375 sqq., 403 
 with women, 163 sqq. 
 Education, 307 
 
 Effeminacy, 93, 187, 204, 207 sqq. 
 Effigy, 291 
 Egbo, 44 
 Egoism, 30 sqq. 
 Elegbra, 138, 194 
 El-hooroobth, 333 
 Elopement 368 
 Emotions, 29 sq. 
 Endogamy, 469, 483 
 Engaged couples, 2, 314 sqq. « 
 
 Engivura, 301, 312 
 Er at In pa, 452 sq. 
 Erkincha, 136 sq., 182 
 Erlukiv'irra, 221 
 Essence, 79 sq. 
 Ethics, 16 
 Etiquette, 146 sq., 293 sq. 
 
 Evil influences, 6, 18 sqq., 80 sqq., 290 
 Exchange, 242 sq., 248 sq., 266, 279, 
 
 375 W\„ 
 of dress, viii, 282, 375 
 
 of identity, 279 sq. 
 
 of parents, 281 
 
 of wives, 280 sq., 285 sq., 312, 479 
 
 Exogamy, 178, 223, 321, 369 sq., 376 
 
 sqq., 443 sqq., 468 sqq. 
 
 Expiation for marriage, viii, 480 
 
 Extended identity, 284 sq., 424 sq., 
 
 440 sq. 
 
 Family, 485 
 
 Fasting, 153 sq., 228, 302 sqq., 343 
 
 Feast of Fools, 279 
 
 Feasts, wedding, 386 
 
 Female contagion, 163 sqq., 207 sqq. 
 
 properties, 204 sqq. 
 Fescennina locutio, 352 
 Fever, 199 
 
 Finger-joints, 118, 227 
 Fire, 197 sqq., 226, 228 
 First-born, 438 sq. 
 Fison, L., 367, 404, 462, 468, 475 
 Flesh, 101 sqq., 319 sqq. 
 Flight, 365 
 
 Food, 112, 124 sq., 136, 148 sqq., 230 
 sq., 302 sqq., 3 II, 343,378^,456 
 
 forbidden, 154 sq., 417 sqq. 
 
 new, 275 sq., 302 sqq. 
 Frazer, J. G., viii, x sq., II, 13, 15, 
 17, 30, 48, 99, 117, 128, 137, 197 
 sq., 267, 273, 304, 308 sq., 471 
 Freemasonry, 259 
 Friendship, 243 sqq., 265,459 
 Functions, 21, 28, 54 sqq., 133 sqq., 484 
 
 Generation, marriage in same, 47 1 sq. 
 Gifts, 247 sqq., 257, 378 
 
 bridal, 386 sqq. 
 Gillen, F. J., vii, 31, 68, 81, 145, 182, 
 
 3°5, 3 I 3> 347) 3^8, 443. 462, 468, 
 
 472 sq., 475, 477, 481 
 Go-between, 141, 217, 238, 413, 438 
 Godparents, 263, 266, 439, 459 
 Groomsmen, 338 sq. 
 Group-marriage, 348, 476 sqq. 
 Guilds, 249 
 
 Hair, 107 sq., 178, 184 sqq., 202 sq., 
 
 227, 253, 336 
 Handselling, 323 
 Heat, 198 sq., 308 
 Heracles, 372 
 Hermaphrodite deities, 485 
 Herodotus, 169, 211 
 Hesiod, 208 
 Hiding, 225, 328 sq., 337, 359 sqq 
 
INDEX 
 
 489 
 
 Hippocrates, 21 1 
 
 Hlanibeesa, 354 
 
 Won; fa, 48, 52, 354, 400 sq., 434 sq. 
 
 Holiness, 10 
 
 Homer, 208 
 
 Homeopathy, 89, 232 sq. 
 
 Hospitality, 239 sqq. 
 
 Howitt, A. W., 401, 406, 462, 468, 
 
 475. 480 
 Human influence, 66 sqq., 90 sqq. 
 Huth, A. H., 445 
 Hya, 147 
 Hymen, rupture of, 138, 190 sq., 307 
 
 sq., 318, 347 sqq. 
 Hysteria, 196 
 
 Ideation, 64 sq., 259 
 
 Identity, change of, 271 sq., 299 sq., 336 
 
 exchange of, 279 sq. 
 
 extended, 440 
 iepbs ya.fj.os, 485 
 II Mia, i2i 
 
 im Thurn, E. F., 47, 418 
 Impotence, 181, 210 
 Impurity, 139 
 Inbreeding, 444 sqq. 
 Incarnation, 70 sq., 305 
 Incest, 214, 222 sq., 483 
 Incubi, 194 
 
 Indirect female descent, 471 
 Individualism, 147, 257, 283 sq., 320 
 
 "!■■> 399. 475. 4^3 
 Infants, 10 
 Influences, 12, 13, 19, 31 sq., 59 sqq., 
 
 6 5. 6 7 m-> 9° s ?- 95. Il6 
 Initiation, 10, 273, 276, 294 sqq., 450 
 Inoculation, 231 sqq., 236 sqq., 308 
 
 m-> 371 m- 
 
 Insila, 89, 256 sq. 
 
 Instinct, 444, 446 
 
 Intention, 90 sq., 120 sqq., 184, 291 
 
 Intimates, 141 
 
 Ipmunr.a, 468 
 
 Isolation, 141, 255 sqq. 
 
 I-iva-mu:p, 211 
 
 Joining hands, 373 sq. 
 
 Jus prima metis, 347, 475, 479 sq. 
 
 Kahuiahu, 14, 61 
 
 Kalduie, 238 sqq., 252, 258 sqq., 387 
 
 Kenaur.a, 71 sq. 
 
 Kluantelus, 195 
 
 Krau-un, 452 
 
 Kurdaiteha, 72 
 
 Language, sex in, 46 sq. 
 
 Lemba, 168 
 
 Lending wives, 47S sq. 
 
 Leslie, D., 89 
 
 Licence, 281, 447 sq. 
 
 Life, new, 273 sqq., 304 sq. 
 
 Lightning, 232 
 
 Liia maniua, 2S4 
 
 Ling Roth, H., 421 sq. 
 
 Lizards, 193 
 
 Love, 261 sq., 448 
 
 Love-charms, 101, 120, 122, 184 sqq., 
 
 235, 238 sq., 318, 371 
 Lovers, 253, 259 sqq. 
 Lubbock, J., viii, 405, 475, 4S0 
 Lymph, 232, 234 
 
 Magic, 3, 67 sqq., 120 sqq., 182 sqq. 
 
 Maine, H., 258 
 
 Make-believe, 120, 122, 2S8 sqq., 311 
 
 sq., 340, 366 sq. 
 Mamma, 2IO 
 Ma'.a, 83 sq., IOI 
 Manicheans, 109 
 Marriage, 6 sqq., 12, 56, 143, 222, 265, 
 
 290, 313 sq., 320 
 Marriage bars, 265, 443 sqq. 
 Marriage-bower, 336 sq. 
 Marriage by capture, 350 sqq., 354 sqq. 
 367 sqq. . 
 
 ceremonies, 6, 2-^9, 306, 318 sqq. 
 
 gods of, 484 sq. 
 
 renewal of, 432 sq., 464 
 
 state of, 391 sqq. 
 
 system, 214, 222 sq-., 442 sqq. 
 Maternal system, 369, 420 sqq., 460 
 
 sqq. 
 Maternal-paternal system, 420 sqq. 
 Matriarchal theory, ix, 369 
 Matrimi, 100 
 
 Matter, 4, 19, 59 sqq., 94 sq., 141 
 McLennan, J. F., vii, 368 sqq., 460, 
 
 *7Si 484 
 
 Men and women, mutual avoidance of, 
 
 2. 35 m- 
 
 Men dressing as women, 282, 313, 419 
 Menstruation, 11, 55, 109, 165 sq., 
 
 191 sq., 197, 200, 212 sq. 
 Metaphysics, 4 
 Mia, 476 
 
 Milk, 112 sq., 437 
 Milk-kinship, 45S 
 Mithraism, 277 
 Mizpah, 262 
 Mock brides, 337 
 
 fights, 361 sqq. 
 
 kings, 288 sq. 
 Modesty, 181, 353 
 Mohbor-meh, 395 sq. 
 Monism, 4 sq. 
 Moon, 197 
 Mcostahh'dl, 393 
 
49° 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 Morality, 32, 142 sqq., 262, 484 
 
 Morgan, L. H., 475 
 
 Moron gs, 219, 483 
 
 Mother, 460 
 
 Mother-in-law, ix, 3, 314, 317, 331, 
 
 369, 399 sqq., 463 
 Mourners, 100 
 Mu'ller, K. O., 357 
 Mumbo-jumbo, 44, 72 
 Mummy, 109 
 Mutilation, 135 sqq. 
 
 Nahak [narak), 126 sq., 156, 182 
 
 Nail-parings, 109, 128 sq. 
 
 Names, 47 sq., 132, 242 sq., 270 sqq., 
 
 403 sq., 428 sqq., 433 sqq., 459 sq. 
 changed, 299 sq. 
 exchanged, 242 sqq. 
 Namim, 88 
 Nanga, 28 I 
 Narumbe, 1 64 
 Navel-string, 118 sq. 
 Near kin, marriage of, 444 sqq. 
 Nemesis, 290 
 New, the, 25 sq. 
 clothes, 336 
 life, 304 
 names, 270 sq. 
 Ngadhungi, 120, 124 sqq., 162, 182 sqq., 
 
 192 sq., 219, 228, 235, 237, 244, 
 
 252 
 Ngia nglampe, 238 sqq., 252 sqq., 258 
 
 sqq., 264 W ., 283, 322, 372 sqq., 
 
 385 sq., 391 j ?? ., 413, 417 sqq., 
 
 422 J ?? ., 433, 436, 441, 448 sq., 
 
 454, 458 sq. 
 Night, marriage at, 327 sq. 
 Noivillie, 404 
 Nupa, 473, 477, 481 sq. 
 Nya, 88 
 
 Oaths, 123 sq., 245 j^., 248 
 
 Occupations of the sexes, 49 sqq. 
 
 Omphale, 372 
 
 Ordeals, 123 sq. 
 
 Organs, 104 sqq., 133 sqq., 178, 227 
 
 Pain, 93 
 
 Part for whole, 117 sq., 227 
 
 Parthenogenesis, 196 
 
 Paternal system, 369, 461 
 
 Patrimi, 100 
 
 Peace-making, 245 sq. 
 
 Pela, 248, 255, 397, 450 
 
 Personality, 117 
 
 Persons, 59, 62, 64, 66 sqq., 74 sq., 390 
 
 Physiological thought, 22, 57, 179, 200 
 
 Piraungaru, 4.JJ sqq., 480 sq. 
 
 Pirauru, 477, 480 
 
 Placenta, 1 1 8 sq. 
 
 Pledges, 237 
 
 Ploss, H., 192 
 
 Plutarch, 268, 327, 372 
 
 Polio, 312 sq. 
 
 Polyandry, 480 sqq. 
 
 Polygamy, 477, 482 
 
 Pomali, 144, 199 
 
 Pontianak, 8, 195 sq. 
 
 Pot latch, 367 
 
 Prayer, 133, 149 
 
 Pregnancy, 8 sq., 54, 73, 212 sq. 
 
 Priests dressing as women, 206 
 
 Primitive thought, 3 sqq. 
 
 Promiscuity, 214, 222 sq., 280 sqq., 312, 
 
 460, 475 sqq. 
 Properties, 80 sqq., 323 
 transmitted, 437 sqq. 
 Property, destruction of, 98 sq., 366 sq. 
 Proposal of marriage, 378 
 Proxies, 227, 289, 317, 339 sqq., 348 sq. 
 Proximity, 114 
 
 Proxy, marriage by, 339 sqq., 348 sq. 
 Psychology, xi, 433, 484 
 Puberty, 10 sq., 55, 164, 196, 219, 270 
 
 sq., 294 sqq. 
 Puliliivuma, 121 
 Purchase, marriage by, 387 sqq. 
 Purification, 200, 228 sq., 278 sq., 325 sq. 
 Purity, 139 sq. 
 Pythagoreans, 107 
 
 Rags, 225 
 
 Realism, 4 
 
 Red, 308 
 
 Refuse of food, 124 sqq. 
 
 Relations, human, 76 sqq., 258 sqq. 
 
 Relationship, terms of, 476 
 
 Relationships, 264 sq., 376 sqq., 399, 
 
 442 sq., 452 sqq., 468 
 Religion, 3, 5, 44 sq., 49, 58, 304, 484 
 Representatives, 317 
 Residence, change of, 466 sqq. 
 
 with wife's people, ix, 369, 406,411, 
 
 420, 432, 462 sqq. 
 Responsibility, 391 sqq. 
 Rice, 325 
 
 Ridjala-sampoe, 364 
 Riedel, J. G. F., 180 
 Ritual, 12 sq. 
 
 Sacraments, 318 
 Sacrifice, 227 sq. 
 
 of a part, 138, 300, 336 
 Saliva, 112, 121 
 Saturnalia, 279 sqq., 285 sq., 416, 426, 
 
 479 
 
 Seclusion, 225 sq., 328 sqq. 
 
 Separation, 331 sq. 
 
INDEX 
 
 491 
 
 Sex, 2, 5, 11, 22, 148, 339, 370, 454 
 
 sqq., 460 sq. 
 change of, 268 sq. 
 solidarity of, 41 sq., 335, 350 
 Sex-totems, 45, 454 sq. 
 Sexual antagonism, 42 sq., 291 sq., 311 
 
 sq., 361 sqq., 416 
 dangers, 295 sqq. 
 functions, 133 
 influence, 72 sqq., 202 sqq. 
 intercourse, 8, 179 sqq., 200, 214, 258, 
 
 307 sq., 310 sq., 322, 343 sqq., 346 
 
 sqq. 
 properties, 323 
 resistance. 353 sqq. 
 taboo, 35 sqq., 153 sqq., 181, 213 
 
 sqq., 296 J ?? ., 313, 322, 375, 399 
 
 m-< 43+^ 437 m-i 447 *?•> 4 6 5 s ?- 
 
 Sham fights, 292 
 
 Shyness, 314, 328 sqq., 354 157. 
 
 Sickness, 20, 26 jy., 60, 66 sqq. 
 
 Sight, 114 sq., 182, 226, 328 sqq. 
 
 Silence, 231, 342 
 
 Sin, 74, 94 sq., 145, 214, 279, 320, 346, 
 
 484 
 Sindur-dan, 341, 380, 385 
 Sisters and brothers, 2, 316 sq., 444 sqq., 
 
 450 sqq. 
 Skeat, W. W., 85, 136 
 Skin, in 
 Sleep, 342 sq. 
 Smell, 1 10 
 
 Smith, W. Robertson, x, 178, 376, 443 
 Snakes, 107, 192 sq., 303, 306 
 Socialism, 147, 283 sq. 
 Soil, 98 sq. 
 Solitude, 134 
 Soul, 63, 80, 189 sq. 
 external, 117, 228 
 Spencer, B., vii, 31, 68, 81, 145, 182, 
 
 3°5, 3 X 3> 347. 3 68 > 443, 4 62 , 4 68 , 
 472 sq., 475, 477, 481 
 
 Spirits, evil, 10 sqq., 17 sqq., 59 sqq., 62 
 
 sq., 74 sq., 154 
 Spiritual, the, 4, 13 sq., 19 sqq., 31 
 Sponsors, 263, 265, 298 sq., 317, 339 sq., 
 
 .374 
 Statistics, ix. 
 Stepping over, 114, 219 
 Strange, the, 21 sqq., 24 sqq. 
 Strangers, 141, 156 
 
 Strength, 10 1 sqq., 106 sqq., 137, 187 
 sq., 306 
 new, 276 sqq., 301 sq., 311 sqq. 
 Stupidity, 95 
 
 Substitutes, 227, 270, 278, 337 sq., 441 
 Succubi, 194 
 
 Sun, 192 sq., 196 sqq., 30S, 327 
 Supernatural, the, 4, 19, 62 sq., 66, 192 
 
 Survivals, 4, 367 sqq., 478, 484 
 Suivanggi, 66, 155, 195 
 Sweat, no 
 Swiftness, 10 1 sqq. 
 Sympathy, 202, 232, 269 
 Sympathy of father, mother, and child, 
 417 sqq. 
 
 Taboo, 6 sqq., 9 sqq., 1 3, 1 5 sqq., 20 
 sqq., 29 sq., 35 sq., 47, 49 sq., 56 
 m-< 74 *?•> 7 8 *?•> 82 sq., 90 jy., 
 12 1, 132, 140 sq., 144, 236 i ? ., 252 
 sqq., 484 
 breaking of, 223 sqq., 282 j^., 319 
 
 m- 3 22 » 375 *?• 
 sexual, 16, 35 sqq., 49 j ?? ., 56 sqq., 
 
 74 J?m 140 '?-, 2i3> *??•> 3 22 > 375 
 Tabu {tapu), 6 7., 9 sqq., 13 j ? ., 15 j ?? ., 
 
 ", 4°. 49. 6l > '43. l 5 s , l6 5> 173 
 
 7tf£« marks, 122, 144 
 
 Tabu siga, 326 
 
 Tuio, 244 
 
 Taurololium, 277 
 
 Teeth, 108 j^., 135 j^., 300 sq. 
 
 Teeth-filing, 136 
 
 Teknonymy, ix, 428 sqq. 
 
 Tepong-tatvar, 326 
 
 Terms of relationship, 450 sqq. 
 
 Testicles, 188 
 
 Theocritus, 129 
 
 Thomson, B., 445 
 
 Thought, physiological, 21 sq., 57, 58 
 
 sq., 138 sq., 148 
 Thrashing, mock, 366 sq. 
 Ties, 257 
 
 Timidity, 93, 205 sq., 209 sq., 370 
 Tokens, 237 sqq. 
 Totems, 249, 398, 457 
 Totem clans, 470 
 Transmission of properties and states, 
 
 80 sqq., 90 sqq., 104 sqq., 1 19 sqq., 
 
 155, 162, 186 ■> sqq., 200, 235, 302 sqq. 
 Tree-marriage, 340 sq. 
 Trespassing, 124 
 Tribal theory, 320 sq., 376 sqq. 
 Turndun, 305 
 Turn-tongue, 47, 400 
 Tutelar deities, 304 
 Tiva/a, 359 
 Twins, 416 
 Tylor, E. B., viii, xi, 369, 406 sq., 410, 
 
 416, 420 sq., 429 sq., 462, 465, 469 
 
 'J; 478 
 
 v{3pi<rTiK&, 280 
 Uku-hior.ipa, 400 sq. 
 Umbilical cord, 237 sq. 
 Umbirna, 314 
 
492 
 
 THE MYSTIC ROSE 
 
 Umbrellas, 226, 331 
 
 Umkuba, 269 sq. 
 
 Uncleanness, 10, 62, 82, 133 sq., 137 
 
 *?.?•» 224 
 Ungunja, 221 
 Union, 237 sqq., 260 sqq., 281 j^., 318 
 
 Unknown, the, 21 sqq. 
 
 Varagut, 290 
 Veils, 226, 330 sqq. 
 Venus, the bearded, 485 
 Virginiensis, Dea, 8 
 V'triplaca, Dea, 44 
 
 War-dance, 289 
 Warm eyes, 121 
 
 houses, 225 
 Wasy, 251 sq. 
 Water, 226, 228 
 Wax-images, 128 sq. 
 
 Weakness, 36, 51, 93, 187 sq., 204 sqq. 
 
 279, 296 sq. 
 Westermarck, E., x sq., I sq., 367, 387, 
 
 444, 460, 47 5i 479, 4^3 
 Whangaihan, 230 
 Wickedness, 143 sq. 
 Widows, 323 
 
 Wife and husband, 2, 35 sqq., 391 sqq. 
 Wilken, G. A., x. 
 Wilyaru, 2 13 
 Wives exchanged, 248 sq., 280 sq., 285 
 
 sq., 312 
 Women and men, 2, 35 sqq. 
 Women dressing as men, 282, 290, 3 1 3 T 
 
 396, 419, 426 sq. 
 eating with, 303, 311 
 Women's language, 48 
 Words, 115 sq. 
 IVuulon, 125 
 
 Yeerur.g, 351 
 
 ~> 
 
 ■ 
 
 THE END 
 
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