,,myth1 ,,ritual1 ,,and ,,religion ,volume ,one ,by ,andrew ,lang ,,contents ,,preface ,,to ,,new ,,impression4 ,,preface ,,to ,,new ,,edition4 ,,chapter ,i4--,,systems ,,of ,,mythology4 ,definitions of religion--,contradictory evidence--,belief in spiritual beings--,objection to ,mr4 ,tylor's definition--,definition as regards this argument--,problem3 the contradiction between religion and myth--,two human moods--,examples--,case of ,greece-- ,ancient mythologists--,criticism by ,eusebius--,modern mythological systems--,mr4 ,max ,muller--,mannhardt4 ,,chapter ,,ii4--,,new ,,system ,,proposed4 ,chapter ,i4 recapitulated--,proposal of a new method3 ,science of comparative or historical study of man--,anticipated in part by ,eusebius1 ,fontenelle1 ,de ,brosses1 ,spencer 7of ,c4 ,c4 ,c41 ,cambridge71 and ,mannhardt--,science of ,tylor--,object of inquiry3 to find condition of human intellect in which marvels of myth are parts of practical everyday belief--,this is the savage state--,savages described--,the wild element of myth a survival from the savage state--,advantages of this method--,partly accounts for wide ,,diffusion as well as ,,origin of myths--,connected with general theory of evolution--,puzzling example of myth of the water- swallower--,professor ,tiele's criticism of the method-- ,objections to method1 and answer to these--,see ,appendix ,b4 ,,chapter ,,iii4--,,the ,,mental ,,condition ,,of ,,savages--,,confusion ,,with ,,nature--,,totemism4 ,the mental condition of savages the basis of the irrational element in myth--,characteristics of that condition3 7#a7 ,confusion of all things in an equality of presumed animation and intelligence2 7#b7 ,belief in sorcery2 7#c7 ,spiritualism2 7#d7 ,curiosity2 7#e7 ,easy credulity and mental indolence--,the curiosity is satisfied1 thanks to the credulity1 by myths in answer to all inquiries--,evidence for this--,mr4 ,tylor's opinion--,mr4 ,im ,thurn--,jesuit missionaries' ,relations--,examples of confusion between men1 plants1 beasts and other natural objects--,reports of travellers--,evidence from institution of totemism--,definition of totemism--,totemism in ,australia1 ,africa1 ,america1 the ,oceanic ,islands1 ,india1 ,north ,asia-- ,conclusions3 ,totemism being found so widely distributed1 is a proof of the existence of that savage mental condition in which no line is drawn between men and the other things in the world4 ,this confusion is one of the characteristics of myth in all races4 ,,chapter ,,iv4--,,the ,,mental ,,condition ,,of ,,savages--,,magic-- ,,metamorphosis--,,metaphysic--,,psychol ogy4 ,claims of sorcerers--,savage scientific speculation--,theory of causation--,credulity1 except as to new religious ideas--,post hoc1 ergo propter hoc--,fundamental ideas of magic--,examples3 incantations1 ghosts1 spirits--,evidence of rank and other institutions in proof of confusions of mind exhibited in magical beliefs4 ,,chapter ,v4--,,nature ,,myths4 ,savage fancy1 curiosity and credulity illustrated in nature myths-- ,in these all phenomena are explained by belief in the general animation of everything1 combined with belief in metamorphosis--,sun myths1 ,asian1 ,australian1 ,african1 ,melanesian1 ,indian1 ,californian1 ,brazilian1 ,maori1 ,samoan--,moon myths1 ,australian1 ,muysca1 ,mexican1 ,zulu1 ,macassar1 ,greenland1 ,piute1 ,malay--,thunder myths--,greek and ,aryan sun and moon myths--,star myths--,myths1 savage and civilised1 of animals1 accounting for their marks and habits--,examples of custom of claiming blood kinship with lower animals--,myths of various plants and trees--,myths of stones1 and of metamorphosis into stones1 ,greek1 ,australian and ,american--,the whole natural philosophy of savages expressed in myths1 and survives in folk-lore and classical poetry2 and legends of metamorphosis4 ,,chapter ,,vi4--,,non-,,aryan ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,of ,,man4 ,confusions of myth--,various origins of man and of things--,myths of ,australia1 ,andaman ,islands1 ,bushmen1 ,ovaherero1 ,namaquas1 ,zulus1 ,hurons1 ,iroquois1 ,diggers1 ,navajoes1 ,winnebagoes1 ,chaldaeans1 ,thlinkeets1 ,pacific ,islanders1 ,maoris1 ,aztecs1 ,peruvians-- ,similarity of ideas pervading all those peoples in various conditions of society and culture4 ,,chapter ,,vii4--,,indo-,,aryan ,,myths--,,sources ,,of ,,evidence4 ,authorities--,vedas--,brahmanas--,socia l condition of ,vedic ,india-- ,arts--,ranks--,war--,vedic fetishism--,ancestor worship--,date of ,rig- ,veda ,hymns doubtful--,obscurity of the ,hymns--,difficulty of interpreting the real character of ,veda--,not primitive but sacerdotal--,the moral purity not innocence but refinement4 ,,chapter ,,viii4--,,indian ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,of ,,man4 ,comparison of ,vedic and savage myths--,the metaphysical ,vedic account of the beginning of things--,opposite and savage fable of world made out of fragments of a man--,discussion of this hymn-- ,absurdities of ,brahmanas--,prajapati1 a ,vedic ,unkulunkulu or ,qat-- ,evolutionary myths--,marriage of heaven and earth--,myths of ,puranas1 their savage parallels--,most savage myths are repeated in ,brahmanas4 ,,chapter ,,ix4--,,greek ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,man4 ,the ,greeks practically civilised when we first meet them in ,homer-- ,their mythology1 however1 is full of repulsive features--,the hypothesis that many of these are savage survivals--,are there other examples of such survival in ,greek life and institutions8--,greek opinion was constant that the race had been savage--,illustrations of savage survival from ,greek law of homicide1 from magic1 religion1 human sacrifice1 religious art1 traces of totemism1 and from the mysteries--,conclusion3 that savage survival may also be expected in ,greek myths4 ,,chapter ,x4--,,greek ,,cosmogonic ,,myths4 ,nature of the evidence--,traditions of origin of the world and man-- ,homeric1 ,hesiodic and ,orphic myths--,later evidence of historians1 dramatists1 commentators--,the ,homeric story comparatively pure--,the story in ,hesiod1 and its savage analogues--,the explanations of the myth of ,cronus1 modern and ancient--,the ,orphic cosmogony--,phanes and ,prajapati--,greek myths of the origin of man--,their savage analogues4 ,,chapter ,,xi4--,,savage ,,divine ,,myths4 ,the origin of a belief in ,,god beyond the ken of history and of speculation--,sketch of conjectural theories--,two elements in all beliefs1 whether of backward or civilised races--,the ,mythical and the ,religious--,these may be coeval1 or either may be older than the other--,difficulty of study--,the current anthropological theory-- ,stated objections to the theory--,gods and spirits--,suggestion that savage religion is borrowed from ,europeans--,reply to ,mr4 ,tylor's arguments on this head--,the morality of savages4 ,,preface ,,to ,,new ,,impression4 ,when this book first appeared 7#ahhf71 the philological school of interpretation of religion and myth1 being then still powerful in ,england1 was criticised and opposed by the author4 ,in ,science1 as on the ,turkish throne of old1 ,amurath to ,amurath succeeds2 the philological theories of religion and myth have now yielded to anthropological methods4 ,the centre of the anthropological position was the ghost theory of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 the ,animistic theory of ,mr4 ,e4 ,r4 ,tylor1 according to whom the propitiation of ancestral and other spirits leads to polytheism1 and thence to monotheism4 ,in the second edition 7#aija7 of this work the author argued that the belief in a relatively supreme being1 anthropomorphic was as old as1 and might be even older1 than animistic religion4 ,this theory he exhibited at greater length1 and with a larger collection of evidence1 in his ,making of ,religion4 ,since #aija1 a great deal of fresh testimony as to what ,mr4 ,howitt styles the ,all ,father in savage and barbaric religions has accrued4 ,as regards this being in ,africa1 the reader may consult the volumes of the ,new ,series of the ,journal of the ,anthropological ,institute1 which are full of ,african evidence1 not1 as yet1 discussed1 to my knowledge1 by any writer on the ,history of ,religion4 ,as late as ,man1 for ,july1 #aijf1 ,no4 #ff1 ,mr4 ,parkinson published interesting ,yoruba legends about ,oleron1 the maker and father of men1 and ,oro1 the ,master of the ,bull ,roarer4 ,from ,australia1 we have ,mr4 ,howitt's account of the ,all ,father in his ,native ,tribes of ,south-,east ,australia1 with the account of the ,all ,father of the ,central ,australian tribe1 the ,kaitish1 in ,north ,central ,tribes of ,australia1 by ,messrs4 ,spencer and ,gillen 7#aijd71 also ,the ,euahlayi ,tribe1 by ,mrs4 ,langley ,parker 7#aijf74 ,these masterly books are indispensable to all students of the subject1 while1 in ,messrs4 ,spencer and ,gillen's work cited1 and in their earlier ,native ,tribes of ,central ,australia1 we are introduced to savages who offer an elaborate animistic theory1 and are said to show no traces of the ,all ,father belief4 ,the books of ,messrs4 ,spencer and ,gillen also present much evidence as to a previously unknown form of totemism1 in which the totem is not hereditary1 and does not regulate marriage4 ,this prevails among the ,arunta nation1 and the ,kaitish tribe4 ,in the opinion of ,mr4 ,spencer 7,report ,australian ,association for ,advancement of ,science1 #aijd7 and of ,mr4 ,j4 ,g4 ,frazer 7,fortnightly ,review1 ,september1 #aije71 this is the earliest surviving form of totemism1 and ,mr4 ,frazer suggests an animistic origin for the institution4 ,i have criticised these views in ,the ,secret of the ,totem 7#aije71 and proposed a different solution of the problem4 7,see also ,primitive and ,advanced ,totemism in ,journal of the ,anthropological ,institute1 ,july1 #aijf47 ,in the works mentioned will be found references to other sources of information as to these questions1 which are still sub judice4 ,mrs4 ,bates1 who has been studying the hitherto almost unknown tribes of ,western ,australia1 promises a book on their beliefs and institutions1 and ,mr4 ,n4 ,w4 ,thomas is engaged on a volume on ,australian institutions4 ,in this place the author can only direct attention to these novel sources1 and to the promised third edition of ,mr4 ,frazer's ,the ,golden ,bough4 ,a4 ,l4 ,,preface ,,to ,,new ,,edition4 ,the original edition of ,myth1 ,ritual and ,religion1 published in #ahhg1 has long been out of print4 ,in revising the book ,i have brought it into line with the ideas expressed in the second part of my ,making of ,religion 7#ahih7 and have excised certain passages which1 as the book first appeared1 were inconsistent with its main thesis4 ,in some cases the original passages are retained in notes1 to show the nature of the development of the author's opinions4 ,a fragment or two of controversy has been deleted1 and chapters xi4 and xii41 on the religion of the lowest races1 have been entirely rewritten1 on the strength of more recent or earlier information lately acquired4 ,the gist of the book as it stands now and as it originally stood is contained in the following lines from the preface of #ahhg3 ,while the attempt is made to show that the wilder features of myth survive from1 or were borrowed from1 or were imitated from the ideas of people in the savage condition of thought1 the existence--even among savages--of comparatively pure1 if inarticulate1 religious beliefs is insisted on throughout4 ,to that opinion ,i adhere1 and ,i trust that it is now expressed with more consistency than in the first edition4 ,i have seen reason1 more and more1 to doubt the validity of the ghost theory1 or animistic hypothesis1 as explanatory of the whole fabric of religion2 and ,i present arguments against ,mr4 ,tylor's contention that the higher conceptions of savage faith are borrowed from missionaries47#a7 ,it is very possible1 however1 that ,mr4 ,tylor has arguments more powerful than those contained in his paper of #ahib4 ,for our information is not yet adequate to a scientific theory of the ,origin of ,religion1 and probably never will be4 ,behind the races whom we must regard as nearest the beginning are their unknown ancestors from a dateless past1 men as human as ourselves1 but men concerning whose psychical1 mental and moral condition we can only form conjectures4 ,among them religion arose1 in circumstances of which we are necessarily ignorant4 ,thus ,i only venture on a surmise as to the germ of a faith in a ,maker 7if ,i am not to say ,creator7 and ,judge of men4 ,but1 as to whether the higher religious belief1 or the lower mythical stories came first1 we are at least certain that the ,christian conception of ,god1 given pure1 was presently entangled1 by the popular fancy of ,europe1 in new ,marchen about the ,deity1 the ,madonna1 her ,son1 and the ,apostles4 ,here1 beyond possibility of denial1 pure belief came first1 fanciful legend was attached after4 ,i am inclined to surmise that this has always been the case1 and1 in the pages on the legend of ,zeus1 ,i show the processes of degeneration1 of mythical accretions on a faith in a ,heaven-,god1 in action4 ,that the feeling of religious devotion attests high faculties in early man 7such as are often denied to men who cannot count up to seven71 and that the same high mental faculties444 would infallibly lead him1 as long as his reasoning powers remained poorly developed1 to various strange superstitions and customs1 was the belief of ,mr4 ,darwin47#b7 ,that is also my view1 and ,i note that the lowest savages are not yet guilty of the very worst practices1 sacrifice of human beings to a blood-loving ,god1 and ordeals by poison and fire1 to which ,mr4 ,darwin alludes4 ,the improvement of our science has freed us from misdeeds which are unknown to the ,andamanese or the ,australians4 ,thus there was1 as regards these points in morals1 degeneracy from savagery as society advanced1 and ,i believe that there was also degeneration in religion4 ,to say this is not to hint at a theory of supernatural revelation to the earliest men1 a theory which ,i must1 in limine disclaim4 7#a7 ,tylor1 ,limits of ,savage ,religion4 ,journal of the ,anthropological ,institute1 vol4 xxi4 7#b7 ,descent of ,man1 p4 #fh1 #ahga4 ,in vol4 ii4 p4 #ai occurs a reference1 in a note1 to ,mr4 ,hartland's criticism of my ideas about ,australian gods as set forth in the ,making of ,religion4 ,mr4 ,hartland1 who kindly read the chapters on ,australian religion in this book1 does not consider that my note on p4 #ai meets the point of his argument4 ,as to the ,australians1 ,i mean no more than that1 ,,among endless low myths1 some of them possess a belief in a maker of everything1 a primal being1 still in existence1 watching conduct1 punishing breaches of his laws1 and1 in some cases1 rewarding the good in a future life4 ,of course these are the germs of a sympathetic religion1 even if the being thus regarded is mixed up with immoral or humorous contradictory myths4 ,my position is not harmed by such myths1 which occur in all old religions1 and1 in the middle ages1 new myths were attached to the sacred figures of ,christianity in poetry and popular tales4 ,thus1 if there is nothing sacred in a religion because wild or wicked fables about the gods also occur1 there is nothing sacred in almost any religion on earth4 ,mr4 ,hartland's point1 however1 seems to be that1 in the ,making of ,religion1 ,i had selected certain ,australian beliefs as especially sacred and to be distinguished from others1 because they are inculcated at the religious ,mysteries of some tribes4 ,his aim1 then1 is to discover low1 wild1 immoral myths1 inculcated at the ,mysteries1 and thus to destroy my line drawn between religion on one hand and myth or mere folk-lore on the other4 ,thus there is a being named ,daramulun1 of whose rites1 among the ,coast ,murring1 ,i condensed the account of ,mr4 ,howitt47#a7 ,from a statement by ,mr4 ,greenway7#b7 ,mr4 ,hartland learned that ,daramulun's name is said to mean leg on one side or lame4 ,he1 therefore1 with fine humour1 speaks of ,daramulun as a creator with a game leg1 though when ,baiame is derived by two excellent linguists1 ,mr4 ,ridley and ,mr4 ,greenway1 from ,kamilaroi baia1 to make1 ,mr4 ,hartland is by no means so sure of the sense of the name4 ,it happens to be inconvenient to him6 ,let the names mean what they may1 ,mr4 ,hartland finds1 in an obiter dictum of ,mr4 ,howitt 7before he was initiated71 that ,daramulun is said to have died1 and that his spirit is now aloft4 ,who says so1 and where1 we are not informed17#c7 and the question is important4 7#a7 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xiii4 pp4 #ddj-dei4 7#b7 ,ibid41 xxi4 p4 #bid4 7#c7 ,ibid41 xiii4 p4 #aid4 ,for the ,wiraijuri1 ,,in ,,their ,,mysteries1 tell a myth of cannibal conduct of ,daramulun's1 and of deceit and failure of knowledge in ,baiame47#a7 ,of this ,i was unaware1 or neglected it1 for ,i explicitly said that ,i followed ,mr4 ,howitt's account1 where no such matter is mentioned4 ,mr4 ,howitt1 in fact1 described the ,mysteries of the ,coast ,murring1 while the narrator of the low myths1 ,mr4 ,matthews1 described those of a remote tribe1 the ,wiraijuri1 with whom ,daramulun is not the chief1 but a subordinate person4 ,how ,mr4 ,matthews' friends can at once hold that ,daramulun was destroyed by ,baiame 7their chief deity71 and also that ,daramulun's voice is heard at their rites1 ,i don't know47#b7 ,nor do ,i know why ,mr4 ,hartland takes the myth of a tribe where ,daramulun is the evil spirit who rules the night17#c7 and introduces it as an argument against the belief of a distant tribe1 where1 by ,mr4 ,howitt's account1 ,daramulun is not an evil spirit1 but the master of all1 whose abode is above the sky1 and to whom are attributed powers of omnipotence and omnipresence1 or1 at any rate1 the power to do anything and to go anywhere4444 ,to his direct ordinances are attributed the social and moral laws of the community47#d7 ,this is not an evil spirit6 ,when ,mr4 ,hartland goes for scandals to a remote tribe of a different creed that he may discredit the creed of the ,coast ,murring1 he might as well attribute to the ,free ,kirk the errors of ,rome4 ,but ,mr4 ,hartland does it67#e7 ,being cunning of fence he may reply that ,i also spoke loosely of ,wiraijuri and ,coast ,murring as1 indifferently1 ,daramulunites4 ,i did1 and ,i was wrong1 and my critic ought not to accept but to expose my error4 ,the ,wiraijuri ,daramulun1 who was annihilated1 yet who is an evil spirit that rules the night1 is not the ,murring guardian and founder of recognised ethics4 7#a7 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xxv4 p4 #big4 7#b7 ,ibid41 ,may1 #ahie1 p4 #dai4 7#c7 ,ibid4 7#d7 ,ibid41 xiii4 pp4 #deh1 #dei4 7#e7 ,folk-,lore1 ix41 ,no4 iv41 p4 #bii4 ,but1 in the ,wiraijuri mysteries1 the master1 ,baiame1 deceives the women as to the ,mysteries6 ,shocking to ,,us1 but to deceive the women as to these arcana1 is1 to the ,australian mind in general1 necessary for the safety of the world4 ,moreover1 we have heard of a lying spirit sent to deceive prophets in a much higher creed4 ,finally1 in a myth of the ,mystery of the ,wiraijuri1 ,baiame is not omniscient4 ,indeed1 even civilised races cannot keep on the level of these religious conceptions1 and not to keep on that level is--mythology4 ,apollo1 in the hymn to ,hermes1 sung on a sacred occasion1 needs to ask an old vine-dresser for intelligence4 ,hyperion sees all and hears all1 but needs to be informed1 by his daughters1 of the slaughter of his kine4 ,the ,lord1 in the ,book of ,job1 has to ask ,satan1 ,whence comest thou8 ,now for the sake of dramatic effect1 now from pure inability to live on the level of his highest thought1 man mythologises and anthropomorphises1 in ,greece or ,israel1 as in ,australia4 ,it does not follow that there is nothing sacred in his religion4 ,mr4 ,hartland offers me a case in point4 ,in ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's ,australian ,legendary ,tales 7pp4 #aa1 #id71 are myths of low adventures of ,baiame4 ,in her ,more ,australian ,legendary ,tales 7pp4 #hd-ii71 is a very poetical and charming aspect of the ,baiame belief4 ,mr4 ,hartland says that ,i will seek to put the first set of stories out of court1 as a kind of joke with no sacredness about it4 ,not ,i1 but the ,noongahburrah tribe themselves make this essential distinction4 ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker says37#a7 ,the former series 7with the low ,baiame myths7 were all such legends as are told to the black picaninnies2 among the present are some they would not be allowed to hear1 touching as they do on sacred things1 taboo to the young4 ,the blacks draw the line which ,i am said to seek to draw4 7#a7 ,more ,legendary ,tales1 p4 xv4 ,in yet another case7#a7 grotesque hunting adventures of ,baiame are told in the mysteries1 and illustrated by the sacred temporary representations in raised earth4 ,i did not know it2 ,i merely followed ,mr4 ,howitt4 ,but ,i do not doubt it4 ,my reply is1 that there was something sacred in ,greek mysteries1 something purifying1 ennobling1 consoling4 ,for this ,lobeck has collected 7and disparaged7 the evidence of ,pindar1 ,sophocles1 ,cicero and many others1 while even ,aristophanes1 as ,prof4 ,campbell remarks1 says3 ,we only have bright sun and cheerful life who have been initiated and lived piously in regard to strangers and to private citizens47#b7 ,security and peace of mind1 in this world and for the next1 were1 we know not how1 borne into the hearts of ,pindar and ,sophocles in the ,mysteries4 ,yet1 if we may at all trust the ,fathers1 there were scenes of debauchery1 as at the ,mysteries of the ,fijians 7,nanga7 there was buffoonery 7to amuse the boys1 ,mr4 ,howitt says of some ,australian rites71 the story of ,baubo is only one example1 and1 in other mysteries than the ,eleusinian1 we know of mummeries in which an absurd tale of ,zeus is related in connection with an oak log4 ,yet surely there was something sacred in the faith of ,zeus6 ,let us judge the ,australians as we judge ,greeks4 ,the precepts as to speaking the straightforward truth1 as to unselfishness1 avoidance of quarrels1 of wrongs to unprotected women1 of unnatural vices1 are certainly communicated in the ,mysteries of some tribes1 with1 in another1 knowledge of the name and nature of ,our ,father1 ,munganngaur4 ,that a ,totemistic dance1 or medicine-dance of ,emu hunting1 is also displayed7#c7 at certain ,mysteries of a given tribe1 and that ,baiame is spoken of as the hero of this ballet1 no more deprives the ,australian moral and religious teaching 7at the ,mysteries7 of sacred value1 than the stupid indecency whereby ,baubo made ,demeter laugh destroys the sacredness of the ,eleusinia1 on which ,pindar1 ,sophocles and ,cicero eloquently dwell4 ,if the ,australian mystae1 at the most solemn moment of their lives1 are shown a dull or dirty divine ballet d'action1 what did ,sophocles see1 after taking a swim with his pig8 ,many things far from edifying1 yet the sacred element of religious hope and faith was also represented4 ,so it is in ,australia4 7#a7 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xxiv4 p4 #daf4 7#b7 ,religion in ,greek ,literature1 p4 #bei4 ,it is to be regretted that the learned professor gives no references4 ,the ,greek ,mysteries are treated later in this volume4 7#c7 ,see ,a picture of ,australia1 #ahbi1 p4 #bfd4 ,these studies ought to be comparative1 otherwise they are worthless4 ,as ,mr4 ,hartland calls ,daramulun an eternal ,creator with a game leg who died1 he may call ,zeus an eternal father1 who swallowed his wife1 lay with his mother and sister1 made love as a swan1 and died1 nay1 was buried1 in ,crete4 ,i do not think that ,mr4 ,hartland would call ,zeus a ghost-god 7my own phrase71 or think that he was scoring a point against me1 if ,i spoke of the sacred and ethical characteristics of the ,zeus adored by ,eumaeus in the ,odyssey4 ,he would not be so humorous about ,zeus1 nor fall into an ignoratio elenchi4 ,for my point never was that any ,australian tribe had a pure theistic conception unsoiled and unobliterated by myth and buffoonery4 ,my argument was that ,,among their ideas is that of a superhuman being1 unceasing 7if ,i may not say eternal71 a maker 7if ,i may not say a ,creator71 a guardian of certain by no means despicable ethics1 which ,i never proclaimed as supernormally inspired6 ,it is no reply to me to say that1 in or out of ,mysteries1 low fables about that being are told1 and buffooneries are enacted4 ,for1 though ,i say that certain high ideas are taught in ,mysteries1 ,i do not think ,i say that in ,mysteries no low myths are told4 ,i take this opportunity1 as the earliest1 to apologise for an error in my ,making of ,religion concerning a passage in the ,primitive ,culture of my friend ,mr4 ,e4 ,b4 ,tylor4 ,mr4 ,tylor quoted7#a7 a passage from ,captain ,john ,smith's ,history of ,virginia1 as given in ,pinkerton1 xiii4 pp4 #ac-ci1 #afcb4 ,in this passage no mention occurs of a ,virginian deity named ,ahone but ,okee1 another and more truculent god1 is named4 ,i observed that1 if ,mr4 ,tylor had used ,strachey's ,historie of ,travaile 7#afab71 he would have found a slightly varying copy of ,smith's text of #afcb1 with ,ahone as superior to ,okee4 ,i added in a note 7p4 #bec73 ,there is a description of ,virginia1 by ,w4 ,strachey1 including ,smith's remarks published in #afab4 ,strachey interwove some of this work with his own ,,ms4 in the ,british ,museum4 ,here1 as presently will be shown1 ,i erred1 in company with ,strachey's editor of #ahdi1 and with the writer on ,strachey in the ,dictionary of ,national ,biography4 ,what ,mr4 ,tylor quoted from an edition of ,smith in #afcb had already appeared1 in #afab1 in a book 7,map of ,virginia1 with a description of the ,countrey7 described on the title-page as written by ,captain ,smith1 though1 in my opinion1 ,smith may have had a collaborator4 ,there is no evidence whatever that ,strachey had anything to do with this book of #afab1 in which there is no mention of ,ahone4 ,mr4 ,arber dates ,strachey's own ,,ms4 7in which ,ahone occurs7 as of #afaj-afae47b7 ,i myself1 for reasons presently to be alleged1 date the ,,ms4 mainly in #afaa-afab4 ,if ,mr4 ,arber and ,i are right1 ,strachey must have had access to ,smith's ,,ms4 before it was published in #afab1 and we shall see how he used it4 ,my point here is that ,strachey mentioned ,ahone 7in ,,ms47 before ,smith's book of #afab was published4 ,this could not be gathered from the dedication to ,bacon prefixed to ,strachey's ,,ms41 for that dedication cannot be earlier that #afah47c7 ,i now ask leave to discuss the evidence for an early pre-,christian belief in a primal ,creator1 held by the ,indian tribes from ,plymouth1 in ,new ,england1 to ,roanoke ,island1 off ,southern ,virginia4 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult4 ii4 p4 #cdb4 7#b7 ,arber's ,smith1 p4 cxxxiii4 7#c7 ,hakluyt ,society1 ,strachey1 #ahdi1 pp4 xxi41 xxii4 ,,the ,,god ,,ahone4 ,an insertion by a manifest plagiary into the work of a detected liar is not1 usually1 good evidence4 ,yet this is all the evidence1 it may be urged1 which we have for the existence of a belief1 in early ,virginia1 as to a good ,creator1 named ,ahone4 ,the matter stands thus3 ,in #afjg-afji the famed ,captain ,john ,smith endured and achieved in ,virginia sufferings and adventures4 ,in #afjh he sent to the ,council at home a ,,ms4 map and description of the colony4 ,in #afji he returned to ,england 7,october74 ,in ,may1 #afaj1 ,william ,strachey1 gent41 arrived in ,virginia1 where he was secretary of state to ,lord ,de la ,warr4 ,in #afab ,strachey and ,smith were both in ,england4 ,in that year ,barnes of ,oxford published ,a ,map of ,virginia1 with a description1 etc41 written by ,captain ,smith1 according to the title-page4 ,there was annexed a compilation from various sources1 edited by ,w4 ,s41 that is1 ,,not ,william ,strachey1 but ,dr4 ,william ,symonds4 ,in the same year1 #afab1 or in #afaa1 ,william ,strachey wrote his ,historie of ,travaile into ,virginia ,britannia1 at least as far as page #abd of the ,hakluyt edition of #ahdi47a7 7#a7 ,for proof see p4 #bd4 third line from foot of page1 where #afab is indicated4 ,again1 see p4 #ih1 line #e1 where last year is dated as #afaj1 about ,christmas1 which would put ,strachey's work at this point as actually of #afaa2 prior1 that is1 to ,smith's publication4 ,again1 p4 #abd1 this last year1 myself being at the ,falls 7of the ,james ,river71 ,i found in an ,indian house certain clawes444 which ,i brought away and into ,england4 ,if ,strachey1 who went out with ,lord ,de la ,warr as secretary in #afaj1 returned with him 7as is likely71 he sailed for ,england on #bhth ,march1 #afaa4 ,in that case1 he was in ,england in #afaa1 and the passages cited leave it dubious whether he wrote his book in #afaa1 #afab1 or in both years47#a7 7#a7 ,mr4 ,arber dates the ,,ms4 #afaj-afae1 and attributes to ,strachey ,laws for ,virginia1 #afab4 ,strachey embodies in his work considerable pieces of ,smith's ,map of ,virginia and ,description1 written in #afjh1 and published in #afab4 ,he continually deserts ,smith1 however1 adding more recent information1 reflections and references to the ancient classics1 with allusions to his own travels in the ,levant4 ,his glossary is much more extensive than ,smith's1 and he inserts a native song of triumph over the ,english in the original47#a7 ,now1 when ,strachey comes to the religion of the natives7#b7 he gives eighteen pages 7much of it verbiage7 to five of ,smith's47#c7 ,what ,smith 7#afab7 says of their chief god ,i quote1 setting ,strachey's version 7#afaa-afab7 beside it4 7#a7 ,strachey1 pp4 #gi-hj4 ,he may have got the song from ,kemps or ,machumps1 friendly natives4 7#b7 ,pp4 #hb-ajj4 7#c7 ,arber1 pp4 #gd-gi4 ,,smith 7,published1 #afab74 ,but their chiefe ,god they worship is the ,diuell4 ,him they call ,oke1 and serue him more of feare than loue4 ,they say they have conference with him1 and fashion themselues as near to his shape as they can imagine4 ,in their ,temples1 they have his image euile favouredly carved1 and then painted1 and adorned with chaines1 copper1 and beades2 and covered with a skin1 in such manner as the deformity may well suit with such a ,god4 ,by him is commonly the sepulcher of their ,kings4 ,,strachey 7,written1 #afaa-ab74 ,but their chief god they worship is no other1 indeed1 then the divell1 whome they make presentments of1 and shadow under the forme of an idoll1 which they entitle ,okeus1 and whome they worship as the ,romans did their hurtful god ,vejovis1 more for feare of harme then for hope of any good2 they saie they have conference with him1 and fashion themselves in their disguisments as neere to his shape as they can imagyn4 ,in every territory of a weroance is a temple and a priest1 peradventure two or thrie2 yet happie doth that weroance accompt himself who can detayne with him a ,quiyough-quisock1 of the best1 grave1 lucky1 well instructed in their misteryes1 and beloved of their god2 and such a one is noe lesse honoured then was ,dianae's priest at ,ephesus1 for whome they have their more private temples1 with oratories and chauneells therein1 according as is the dignity and reverence of the ,quiyough-quisock1 which the weroance wilbe at charge to build upon purpose1 sometyme twenty foote broad and a hundred in length1 fashioned arbour wyse after their buylding1 having comonly the dore opening into the east1 and at the west end a spence or chauncell from the body of the temple1 with hollow wyndings and pillers1 whereon stand divers black imagies1 fashioned to the shoulders1 with their faces looking down the church1 and where within their weroances1 upon a kind of biere of reedes1 lye buryed2 and under them1 apart1 in a vault low in the ground 7as a more secrett thing71 vailed with a matt1 sitts their ,okeus1 an image ill-favouredly carved1 all black dressed1 with chaynes of perle1 the presentment and figure of that god 7say the priests unto the laity1 and who religiously believe what the priests saie7 which doth them all the harme they suffer1 be yt in their bodies or goods1 within doores or abroad2 and true yt is many of them are divers tymes 7especyally offendors7 shrewdly scratched as they walke alone in the woods1 yt may well be by the subtyle spirit1 the malitious enemy to mankind1 whome1 therefore1 to pacefie and worke to doe them good 7at least no harme7 the priests tell them they must do these and these sacrifices unto 7them7 of these and these things1 and thus and thus often1 by which meanes not only their owne children1 but straungers1 are sometimes sacrificed unto him3 whilst the great god 7the priests tell them7 who governes all the world1 and makes the sun to shine1 creating the moone and stars his companyons1 great powers1 and which dwell with him1 and by whose virtues and influences the under earth is tempered1 and brings forth her fruiets according to her seasons1 they calling ,ahone2 the good and peaceable god requires no such dutyes1 nor needes be sacrificed unto1 for he intendeth all good unto them1 and will doe noe harme1 only the displeased ,okeus1 looking into all men's accions1 and examining the same according to the severe scale of justice1 punisheth them with sicknesse1 beats them1 and strikes their ripe corn with blastings1 stormes1 and thunder clapps1 stirrs up warre1 and makes their women falce unto them4 ,such is the misery and thraldome under which ,sathan hath bound these wretched miscreants4 ,i began by calling ,strachey a plagiary4 ,the reader will now observe that he gives far more than he takes4 ,for example1 his account of the temples is much more full than that of ,smith1 and he adds to ,smith's version the character and being of ,ahone1 as what the priests tell them4 ,i submit1 therefore1 that ,strachey's additions1 if valid for temples1 are not discredited for ,ahone1 merely because they are inserted in the framework of ,smith4 ,as far as ,i understand the matter1 ,smith's ,map of ,virginia 7#afab7 is an amended copy1 with additions1 by ,smith or another writer of that description1 which he sent home to the ,council of ,virginia1 in ,november1 #afjh47a7 ,to the book of #afab was added a portion of ,relations by different hands1 edited by ,w4 ,s41 namely1 ,dr4 ,symonds4 ,strachey's editor1 in #ahdi1 regarded ,w4 ,s4 as ,strachey1 and supposed that ,strachey was the real author of ,smith's ,map of ,virginia1 so that1 in his ,historie of ,travaile1 ,strachey merely took back his own4 ,he did not take back his own2 he made use of ,smith's ,,ms41 not yet published1 if ,mr4 ,arber and ,i rightly date ,strachey's ,,ms4 at #afaj-ae1 or #afaa-ab4 ,why ,strachey acted thus it is possible to conjecture4 ,as a scholar well acquainted with ,virginia1 and as ,secretary for the ,colony1 he would have access to ,smith's ,,ms4 of #afjh among the papers of the ,council1 before its publication4 ,smith professes himself no scholer47#b7 ,on the other hand1 ,strachey likes to show off his ,latin and ,greek4 ,he has a curious1 if inaccurate1 knowledge of esoteric ,greek and ,roman religious antiquities1 and in writing of religion aims at a comparative method4 ,strachey1 however1 took the trouble to copy bits of ,smith into his own larger work1 which he never gave to the printers4 7#a7 ,arber1 p4 #ddd4 7#b7 ,arber1 p4 #ddb4 ,now as to ,ahone4 ,it suits my argument to suppose that ,strachey's account is no less genuine than his description of the temples 7illustrated by a picture by ,john ,white1 who had been in ,virginia in #aehi71 and the account of the ,great ,hare of ,american mythology47#a7 ,this view of a ,virginian ,creator1 our chief god who takes upon him this shape of a hare1 was got1 says ,strachey1 last year1 #afaj1 from a brother of the ,potomac ,king1 by a boy named ,spilman1 who says that ,smith sold him to ,powhattan47#b7 ,in his own brief narrative ,spelman 7or ,spilman7 says nothing about the ,cosmogonic ,legend of the ,great ,hare4 ,the story came up when ,captain ,argoll was telling ,powhattan's brother the account of creation in ,genesis 7#afaj74 7#a7 ,strachey1 p4 #ih-ajj4 7#b7 ,spilman's ,narrative1 ,arber1 cx4-cxiv4 ,now ,strachey's ,great ,hare is accepted by mythologists1 while ,ahone is regarded with suspicion4 ,ahone does not happen to suit anthropological ideas1 the ,hare suits them rather better4 ,moreover1 and more important1 there is abundant corroborative evidence for ,oke and for the ,hare1 ,michabo1 who1 says ,dr4 ,brinton1 was originally the highest divinity recognised by them1 powerful and beneficent beyond all others1 maker of the heavens and the world1 just like ,ahone1 in fact4 ,and ,dr4 ,brinton instructs us that ,michabo originally meant not ,great ,hare1 but the spirit of light47#a7 ,thus1 originally1 the ,red ,men adored ,the ,spirit of ,light1 maker of the heavens and the world4 ,strachey claims no more than this for ,ahone4 ,now1 of course1 ,dr4 ,brinton may be right4 ,but ,i have already expressed my extreme distrust of the philological processes by which he extracts ,the ,great ,light2 spirit of light1 from ,michabo1 beyond a doubt6 ,in my poor opinion1 whatever claims ,michabo may have as an unique creator of earth and heaven--,god is ,light1--he owes his mythical aspect as a ,hare to something other than an unconscious pun4 ,in any case1 according to ,dr4 ,brinton1 ,michabo1 regarded as a creator1 is equivalent to ,strachey's ,ahone4 ,this amount of corroboration1 valeat quantum1 ,i may claim1 from the ,potomac ,indians1 for the belief in ,ahone on the ,james ,river4 ,dr4 ,brinton is notoriously not a believer in ,american monotheism47#b7 7#a7 ,myths of the ,new ,world1 p4 #agh4 7#b7 ,myths of the ,new ,world1 p4 #ec4 ,the opponents of the authenticity of ,ahone1 however1 will certainly argue3 ,for ,oke1 or ,oki1 as a redoubted being or spirit1 or general name for such personages1 we have plentiful evidence1 corroborating that of ,smith4 ,but what evidence as to ,ahone corroborates that of ,strachey8 ,i must confess that ,i have no explicit corroborative evidence for ,ahone1 but then ,i have no accessible library of early books on ,virginia4 ,now it is clear that if ,i found and produced evidence for ,ahone as late as #afbe1 ,i would be met at once with the retort that1 between #afaj and #afbe1 ,christian ideas had contaminated the native beliefs4 ,thus if ,i find ,ahone1 or a deity of like attributes1 after a very early date1 he is of no use for my purpose4 ,nor do ,i much expect to find him4 ,but do we find ,winslow's ,massachusetts ,god1 ,kiehtan1 named ,,after #afbb 7,i only ask for information71 and if we don't1 does that prevent ,mr4 ,tylor from citing ,kiehtan1 with apparent reliance on the evidence87#a7 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 ii4 p4 #cdb4 ,again1 ,ahone1 though primal and creative1 is1 by ,strachey's account1 a sleeping partner4 ,he has no sacrifice1 and no temple or idol is recorded4 ,therefore the belief in ,ahone could only be discovered as a result of inquiry1 whereas figures of ,oke or ,okeus1 and his services1 were common and conspicuous47#a7 ,as to ,oke1 ,i cannot quite understand ,mr4 ,tylor's attitude4 ,summarising ,lafitau1 a late writer of #agbd1 ,mr4 ,tylor writes3 ,the whole class of spirits or demons1 known to the ,caribs by the name of cemi1 in ,algonkin as manitu1 in ,huron as oki1 ,lafitau now spells with capital letters1 and converts them each into a supreme being47#b7 ,yet in ,primitive ,culture1 ii41 #cdb1 #ahia1 ,mr4 ,tylor had cited ,smith's ,okee 7with a capital letter7 as the chief god of the ,virginians in #afab4 ,how can ,lafitau be said to have elevated oki into ,oki1 and so to have made a god out of a class of spirits or demons1 in #agbd1 when ,mr4 ,tylor had already cited ,smith's ,okee1 with a capital letter and as a chief god1 in #afab8 ,smith1 rebuked for the same by ,mr4 ,tylor1 had even identified ,okee with the devil4 ,lafitau certainly did not begin this erroneous view of ,oki as a chief god among the ,virginians4 ,if ,i cannot to-day produce corroboration for a god named ,ahone1 ,i can at least show that1 from the north of ,new ,england to the south of ,virginia1 there is early evidence1 cited by ,mr4 ,tylor1 for a belief in a primal creative being1 closely analogous to ,ahone4 ,and this evidence1 ,i think1 distinctly proves that such a being as ,ahone was within the capacity of the ,indians in these latitudes4 ,mr4 ,tylor must have thought in #ahia that the natives were competent to a belief in a supreme deity1 for he said1 ,another famous native ,american name for the supreme deity is ,oki47#c7 ,in the essay of #ahib1 however1 ,oki does not appear to exist as a god's name till #agbd4 ,we may now1 for earlier evidence1 turn to ,master ,thomas ,heriot1 that learned mathematician who spoke the ,indian language1 and was with the company which abandoned ,virginia on #ahth ,june1 #aehf4 ,they ranged #acj miles north and #acj miles north-west of ,roanoke ,island1 which brings them into the neighbourhood of ,smith's and ,strachey's country4 ,heriot writes as to the native creeds3 ,they believe that there are many gods which they call ,mantoac1 but of different sorts and degrees4 ,also that there is one chiefe ,god that hath beene from all eternitie1 who1 as they say1 when he purposed first to make the world1 made first other gods of a principall order1 to be as instruments to be used in the ,creation and ,government to follow1 and after the ,sunne1 ,moone and ,starres as pettie gods1 and the instruments of the other order more principall4444 ,they thinke that all the gods are of humane shape1 and represent them by anthropomorphic idols4 ,an idol1 or image1 ,kewasa 7the plural is ,kewasowok71 is placed in the temples1 where they worship1 pray and make many offerings4 ,good souls go to be happy with the gods1 the bad burn in ,popogusso1 a great pit1 where the sun sets4 ,the evidence for this theory of a future life1 as usual1 is that of men who died and revived again1 a story found in a score of widely separated regions1 down to our day1 when the death1 revival and revelation occurred to the founder of the ,arapahoe new religion of the ,ghost ,dance4 ,the belief works for righteousness4 ,the common sort444 have great care to avoyde torment after death1 and to enjoy blesse1 also they have great respect to their ,governors4 7#a7 ,okee's image1 as early as #afjg1 was borne into battle against ,smith1 who captured the god 7,arber1 p4 #cic74 ,ahone was not thus en evidence4 7#b7 ,journal of ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,feb41 #ahib1 pp4 #bhe1 #bhf4 7#c7 ,prim4 ,cult11 ii4 p4 #cdb4 ,this belief in a chief god from all eternitie 7that is1 of unexplained origin71 may not be convenient to some speculators1 but it exactly corroborates ,strachey's account of ,ahone as creator with subordinates4 ,the evidence is of #aehf 7twenty-six years before ,strachey71 and1 like ,strachey1 ,heriot attributes the whole scheme of belief to the priestes4 ,this is the sum of their religion1 which ,i learned by having speciall familiaritie with some of their priests47#a7 ,i see no escape from the conclusion that the ,virginians believed as ,heriot says they did1 except the device of alleging that they promptly borrowed some of ,heriot's ideas and maintained that these ideas had ever been their own4 ,heriot certainly did not recognise the identity4 ,through conversing with us they were brought into great doubts of their owne 7religion71 and no small admiration of ours2 of which many desired to learne more than we had the meanes for want of utterance in their language to expresse4 ,so ,heriot could not be subtle in the native tongue4 ,heriot did what he could to convert them3 ,i did my best to make ,his immortall glory knowne4 ,his efforts were chiefly successful by virtue of the savage admiration of our guns1 mathematical instruments1 and so forth4 ,these sources of an awakened interest in ,christianity would vanish with the total destruction and discomfiture of the colony1 unless a few captives1 later massacred1 taught our religion to the natives47#b7 7#a7 ,according to ,strachey1 ,heriot could speak the native language4 7#b7 ,heriot's ,narrative1 pp4 #cg-ci4 ,quaritch1 ,london1 #ahic4 ,i shall cite another early example of a ,new ,england deity akin to ,ahone1 with a deputy1 a friend of sorcerers1 like ,okee4 ,this account is in ,smith's ,general ,history of ,new ,england1 #afjf-afbd4 ,we sent out a colony in #afjg2 they all returned in the yeere #afjh1 esteeming the country a cold1 barren1 mountainous rocky desart4 ,i am apt to believe that they did not plant the fructifying seeds of grace among the natives in #afjg-afjh4 ,but the missionary efforts of ,french traders may1 of course1 have been blessed2 nor can ,i deny that a yellow-haired man1 whose corpse was found in #afbj with some objects of iron1 may have converted the natives to such beliefs as they possessed4 ,we are told1 however1 that these tenets were of ancestral antiquity4 ,i cite ,e4 ,winslow1 as edited by ,smith 7#afbc-bd73-- ,those where in this ,plantation 7,new ,plymouth7 say ,kiehtan7#a7 made all the other ,gods3 also one man and one woman1 and with them all mankinde1 but how they became so dispersed they know not4 ,they say that at first there was no king but ,kiehtan1 that dwelleth far westerly above the heavens1 whither all good men go when they die1 and have plentie of all things4 ,the bad go thither also and knock at the door1 but 7'the door is shut'7 he bids them go wander in endless want and misery1 for they shall not stay there4 ,they never saw ,kiehtan17#b7 but they hold it a great charge and dutie that one race teach another2 and to him they make feasts and cry and sing for plenty and victory1 or anything that is good4 7#a7 ,in #ahgc ,mr4 ,tylor regarded ,dr4 ,brinton's etymology of ,kiehtan as ,kittanitowit ,great ,living ,spirit1 as plausible4 ,in his edition of #ahia he omits this etymology4 ,personally ,i entirely distrust the philological theories of the original sense of old divine names as a general rule4 7#b7 ,they never saw ,kiehtan4 ,so1 about #ahed1 ,the common answer of intelligent black fellows on the ,barwon when asked if they know ,baiame444 is this3 ',kamil zaia zummi ,baiame1 zaia winuzgulda'2 ',i have not seen ,baiame1 ,i have heard or perceived him'4 ,if asked who made the sky1 the earth1 the animals and man1 they always answer ',baiame'4 ,daramulun1 according to the same authority in ,lang's ,queensland1 was the familiar of sorcerers1 and appeared as a serpent4 ,this answers1 as ,i show1 to ,hobamock the subordinate power to ,kiehtan in ,new ,england and to ,okee1 the familiar of sorcerers in ,virginia4 7,ridley1 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 #ahgb1 p4 #bgg47 ,they have another ,power they call ,hobamock1 which we conceive the ,devill1 and upon him they call to cure their wounds and diseases2 when they are curable he persuades them he sent them1 because they have displeased him2 but1 if they be mortal1 then he saith1 ',kiehtan sent them'2 which makes them never call on him in their sickness4 ,they say this ,hobamock appears to them sometimes like a man1 a deer1 or an eagle1 but most commonly like a snake2 not to all but to their ,powahs to cure diseases1 and ,undeses444 and these are such as conjure in ,virginia1 and cause the people to do what they list4 ,winslow 7or rather ,smith editing ,winslow here71 had already said1 ,they believe1 as do the ,virginians1 of many divine powers1 yet of one above all the rest1 as the ,southern ,virginians call their chief god ,kewassa 7an error71 and that we now inhabit ,oke4444 ,the ,massachusetts call their great god ,kiehtan47#a7 7#a7 ,arber1 pp4 #gfg1 #gfh4 ,here1 then1 in ,heriot 7#aehf71 ,strachey 7#afaa-ab7 and ,winslow 7#afbb71 we find fairly harmonious accounts of a polydaemonism with a chief1 primal1 creative being above and behind it2 a being unnamed1 and ,ahone and ,kiehtan4 ,is all this invention8 ,or was all this derived from ,europeans before #aehf1 and1 if so1 from what ,europeans8 ,mr4 ,tylor1 in #ahgc1 wrote1 ,after due allowance made for misrendering of savage answers1 and importation of white men's thoughts1 it can hardly be judged that a divine being1 whose characteristics are often so unlike what ,european intercourse would have suggested1 and who is heard of by such early explorers among such distant tribes1 could be a deity of foreign origin4 ,,now1 he can ,,hardly be ,,altogether a deity of foreign origin47#a7 ,i agree with ,mr4 ,tylor's earlier statement4 ,in my opinion ,ahone--,okeus1 ,kiehtan--,hobamock1 correspond1 the first pair to the usually unseen ,australian ,baiame 7a crystal or hypnotic vision of ,baiame scarcely counts71 while the second pair1 ,okeus and ,hobamock1 answer to the ,australian familiars of sorcerers1 ,koin and ,brewin2 the ,american ,powers being those of peoples on a higher level of culture4 ,like ,tharramulun where ,baiame is supreme1 ,hobamock appears as a snake 7,asclepius74 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult41 ii4 #cdj1 #ahgc1 #ahib4 ,for all these reasons ,i am inclined to accept ,strachey's ,ahone as a veritable element in ,virginian belief4 ,without temple or service1 such a being was not conspicuous1 like ,okee and other gods which had idols and sacrifices4 ,as far as ,i see1 ,strachey has no theory to serve by inventing ,ahone4 ,he asks how any races if descended from the people of the first creation1 should maintain so general and gross a defection from the true knowledge of ,god4 ,he is reduced to suppose that1 as descendants of ,ham1 they inherit the ignorance of true godliness4 7p4 #de74 ,the children of ,shem and ,japheth alone retained1 until the coming of the ,messias1 the only knowledge of the eternal and never-changing ,trinity4 ,the ,virginians1 on the other hand1 fell heir to the ignorance1 and fearful and superstitious instinct of nature of ,ham 7p4 #dj74 ,ahone1 therefore1 is not invented by ,strachey to bolster up a theory 7held by ,strachey71 of an inherited revelation1 or of a sensus numinis which could not go wrong4 ,unless a proof be given that ,strachey had a theory1 or any other purpose1 to serve by inventing ,ahone1 ,i cannot at present come into the opinion that he gratuitously fabled1 though he may have unconsciously exaggerated4 ,what were ,strachey's sources8 ,he was for nine months1 if not more1 in the colony3 he had travelled at least #aae miles up the ,james ,river1 he occasionally suggests modifications of ,smith's map1 he refers to ,smith's adventures1 and his glossary is very much larger than ,smith's2 its accuracy ,i leave to ,american linguists4 ,such a witness1 despite his admitted use of ,smith's text 7if it is really all by ,smith throughout7 is not to be despised1 and he is not despised in ,america47#a7 ,strachey1 it is true1 had not1 like ,smith1 been captured by ,indians and either treated with perfect kindness and consideration 7as ,smith reported at the time71 or tied to a tree and threatened with arrows1 and laid out to have his head knocked in with a stone2 as he alleged sixteen years later6 ,strachey1 not being captured1 did not owe his release 7#a7 to the magnanimity of ,powhattan1 7#b7 to his own ingenious lies1 7#c7 to the intercession of ,pocahontas1 as ,smith1 and his friends for him1 at various dates inconsistently declared4 ,smith certainly saw more of the natives at home3 ,strachey brought a more studious mind to what he could learn of their customs and ideas2 and is not a convicted braggart4 ,i conjecture that one of ,strachey's sources was a native named ,kemps4 ,smith had seized ,kemps and ,kinsock in #afji4 ,unknown authorities 7,powell8 and ,todkill87 represent these two savages as the most exact villaines in the country47#b7 ,they were made to labour in fetters1 then were set at liberty1 but little desired it47#c7 ,some souldiers ran away to the liberated ,kemps1 who brought them back to ,smith47#d7 ,why ,kemps and his friend are called two of the most exact villains in the country does not appear4 ,kemps died of the surveye 7scurvey1 probably7 at ,jamestown1 in #afaj-aa4 ,he was much made of by ,lord ,de la ,warr1 could speak a pretty deal of our ,english1 and came orderly to church every day to prayers4 ,he gave ,strachey the names of ,powhattan's wives1 and told him1 truly or not1 that ,pocahontas was married1 about #afaj1 to an ,indian named ,kocoum47#e7 ,i offer the guess that ,kemps and ,machumps1 who came and went from ,pocahontas1 and recited an ,indian prayer which ,strachey neglected to copy out1 may have been among ,strachey's authorities4 ,i shall1 of course1 be told that ,kemps picked up ,ahone at church4 ,this did not strike ,strachey as being the fact2 he had no opinion of the creed in which ,ahone was a factor1 the misery and thraldome under which ,sathan has bound these wretched miscreants4 ,according to ,strachey1 the priests1 far from borrowing any part of our faith1 feare and tremble lest the knowledge of ,god1 and of our ,saviour ,jesus ,christ be taught in these parts4 7#a7 ,arber1 cxvii4 ,strachey mentions that 7before his arrival in ,virginia7 ,pocahontas turned cart-wheels1 naked1 in ,jamestown1 being then under twelve1 and not yet wearing the apron4 ,smith says she was ten in #afjh1 but does not mention the cart-wheels4 ,later1 he found it convenient to put her age at twelve or thirteen in #afjh4 ,most ,american scholars1 such as ,mr4 ,adams1 entirely distrust the romantic later narratives of ,smith4 7#b7 ,the ,proeeedings1 etc41 by ,w4 ,s4 ,arber1 p4 #aea4 7#c7 ,ibid41 p4 #aee4 7#d7 ,ibid41 p4 #aeg4 7#e7 ,strachey1 pp4 #ed1 #ee4 ,strachey is therefore for putting down the priests1 and1 like ,smith 7indeed here borrowing from ,smith71 accuses them of sacrificing children4 ,to ,smith's statement that such a rite was worked at ,quiyough-cohanock1 ,strachey adds that ,sir ,george ,percy 7who was with ,smith7 was at1 and observed a similar mystery at ,kecoughtan4 ,it is plain that the rite was not a sacrifice1 but a ,bora1 or initiation1 and the parallel of the ,spartan flogging of boys1 with the retreat of the boys and their instructors1 is very close1 and1 of course1 unnoted by classical scholars except ,mr4 ,frazer4 ,strachey ends with the critical remark that we shall not know all the certainty of the religion and mysteries till we can capture some of the priests1 or ,quiyough-quisocks4 ,students who have access to a good library of ,americana may do more to elucidate ,ahone4 ,i regard him as in a line with ,kiehtan and the ,god spoken of by ,heriot1 and do not believe 7#a7 that ,strachey lied2 7#b7 that natives deceived ,strachey2 7#c7 that ,ahone was borrowed from the ,god of ,captain ,smith4 ,,myth1 ,,ritual1 ,,and ,,religion4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,systems ,,of ,,mythology4 ,definitions of religion--,contradictory evidence--,belief in spiritual beings--,objection to ,mr4 ,tylor's definition--,definition as regards this argument--,problem3 the contradiction between religion and myth--,two human moods--,examples--,case of ,greece--,ancient mythologists--,criticism by ,eusebius--,modern mythological systems--,mr4 ,max ,muller--,mannhardt4 ,the word ,religion may be1 and has been1 employed in many different senses1 and with a perplexing width of significance4 ,no attempt to define the word is likely to be quite satisfactory1 but almost any definition may serve the purpose of an argument1 if the writer who employs it states his meaning frankly and adheres to it steadily4 ,an example of the confusions which may arise from the use of the term religion is familiar to students4 ,dr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,lang wrote concerning the native races of ,australia3 ,they have nothing whatever of the character of religion1 or of religious observances1 to distinguish them from the beasts that perish4 ,yet in the same book ,dr4 ,lang published evidence assigning to the natives belief in ,turramullun1 the chief of demons1 who is the author of disease1 mischief and wisdom47#a7 ,the belief in a superhuman author of disease1 mischief and wisdom is certainly a religious belief not conspicuously held by the beasts2 yet all religion was denied to the ,australians by the very author who prints 7in however erroneous a style7 an account of part of their creed4 ,this writer merely inherited the old missionary habit of speaking about the god of a non-,christian people as a demon or an evil spirit4 7#a7 ,see ,primitive ,culture1 second edition1 i4 #dai4 ,dr4 ,lang's negative opinion was contradicted in testimony published by himself1 an appendix by the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,ridley1 containing evidence of the belief in ,baiame4 ,those who have learned that ',god' is the name by which we speak of the ,creator1 say that ,baiame is ,god47#a7 7#a7 ,lang's ,queensland1 p4 #dde1 #ahfa4 ,as a minimum definition of religion1 ,mr4 ,tylor has suggested the belief in spiritual beings4 ,against this it may be urged that1 while we have no definite certainty that any race of men is destitute of belief in spiritual beings1 yet certain moral and creative deities of low races do not seem to be envisaged as spiritual at all4 ,they are regarded as ,,existences1 as ,,beings1 unconditioned by ,time1 ,space1 or ,death1 and nobody appears to have put the purely metaphysical question1 ,are these beings spiritual or material87#a7 ,now1 if a race were discovered which believed in such beings1 yet had no faith in spirits1 that race could not be called irreligious1 as it would have to be called in ,mr4 ,tylor's minimum definition4 ,almost certainly1 no race in this stage of belief in nothing but unconditioned but not expressly spiritual beings is extant4 ,yet such a belief may conceivably have existed before men had developed the theory of spirits at all1 and such a belief1 in creative and moral unconditioned beings1 not alleged to be spiritual1 could not be excluded from a definition of religion47#b7 7#a7 ,see ,the ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bja-baj4 7#b7 ,the history of the ,jews1 nay1 the history of our own mind1 proves to demonstration that the thought of ,god is a far easier thought1 and a far earlier1 than that of a spirit4 ,father ,tyrrell1 ,s4 ,j41 ,the ,month1 ,october1 #ahih4 ,as to the ,jews1 the question is debated4 ,as to our own infancy1 we are certainly taught about ,god before we are likely to be capable of the metaphysical notion of spirit4 ,but we can scarcely reason from children in ,christian houses to the infancy of the race4 ,for these reasons we propose 7merely for the purpose of the present work7 to define religion as the belief in a primal being1 a ,maker1 undying1 usually moral1 without denying that the belief in spiritual beings1 even if immoral1 may be styled religious4 ,our definition is expressly framed for the purpose of the argument1 because that argument endeavours to bring into view the essential conflict between religion and myth4 ,we intend to show that this conflict between the religious and the mythical conception is present1 not only 7where it has been universally recognised7 in the faiths of the ancient civilised peoples1 as in ,greece1 ,rome1 ,india and ,egypt1 but also in the ideas of the lowest known savages4 ,it may1 of course1 be argued that the belief in ,creator is itself a myth4 ,however that may be1 the attitude of awe1 and of moral obedience1 in face of such a supposed being1 is religious in the sense of the ,christian religion1 whereas the fabrication of fanciful1 humorous1 and wildly irrational fables about that being1 or others1 is essentially mythical in the ordinary significance of that word1 though not absent from popular ,christianity4 ,now1 the whole crux and puzzle of mythology is1 ,why1 having attained 7in whatever way7 to a belief in an undying guardian1 ',master of ,life1' did mankind set to work to evolve a chronique scandaleuse about ,,him8 ,and why is that chronique the elaborately absurd set of legends which we find in all mythologies8 ,in answering1 or trying to answer1 these questions1 we cannot go behind the beliefs of the races now most immersed in savage ignorance4 ,about the psychology of races yet more undeveloped we can have no historical knowledge4 ,among the lowest known tribes we usually find1 just as in ancient ,greece1 the belief in a deathless ,father1 ,master1 ,maker1 and also the crowd of humorous1 obscene1 fanciful myths which are in flagrant contradiction with the religious character of that belief4 ,that belief is what we call rational1 and even elevated4 ,the myths1 on the other hand1 are what we call irrational and debasing4 ,we regard low savages as very irrational and debased characters1 consequently the nature of their myths does not surprise us4 ,their religious conception1 however1 of a ,father or ,master of ,life seems out of keeping with the nature of the savage mind as we understand it4 ,still1 there the religious conception actually is1 and it seems to follow that we do not wholly understand the savage mind1 or its unknown antecedents4 ,in any case1 there the facts are1 as shall be demonstrated4 ,however the ancestors of ,australians1 or ,andamanese1 or ,hurons arrived at their highest religious conception1 they decidedly possess it47#a7 ,the development of their mythical conceptions is accounted for by those qualities of their minds which we do understand1 and shall illustrate at length4 ,for the present1 we can only say that the religious conception uprises from the human intellect in one mood1 that of earnest contemplation and submission3 while the mythical ideas uprise from another mood1 that of playful and erratic fancy4 ,these two moods are conspicuous even in ,christianity4 ,the former1 that of earnest and submissive contemplation1 declares itself in prayers1 hymns1 and the dim religious light of cathedrals4 ,the second mood1 that of playful and erratic fancy1 is conspicuous in the buffoonery of ,miracle ,plays1 in ,marchen1 these burlesque popular tales about our ,lord and the ,apostles1 and in the hideous and grotesque sculptures on sacred edifices4 ,the two moods are present1 and in conflict1 through the whole religious history of the human race4 ,they stand as near each other1 and as far apart1 as ,love and ,lust4 7#a7 ,the hypothesis that the conception was borrowed from ,european creeds will be discussed later4 ,see1 too1 ,are ,savage ,gods borrowed from ,missionaries8 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,january1 #ahii4 ,it will later be shown that even some of the most backward savages make a perhaps half-conscious distinction between their mythology and their religion4 ,as to the former1 they are communicative2 as to the latter1 they jealously guard their secret in sacred mysteries4 ,it is improbable that reflective black fellows have been morally shocked by the flagrant contradictions between their religious conceptions and their mythical stories of the divine beings4 ,but human thought could not come into explicit clearness of consciousness without producing the sense of shock and surprise at these contradictions between the ,religion and the ,myth of the same god4 ,of this we proceed to give examples4 ,in ,greece1 as early as the sixth century ,b4 ,c41 we are all familiar with ,xenophanes' poem7#a7 complaining that the gods were credited with the worst crimes of mortals--in fact1 with abominations only known in the orgies of ,nero and ,elagabalus4 ,we hear ,pindar refusing to repeat the tale which told him the blessed were cannibals47#b7 ,in ,india we read the pious ,brahmanic attempts to expound decently the myths which made ,indra the slayer of a ,brahman2 the sinner1 that is1 of the unpardonable sin4 ,in ,egypt1 too1 we study the priestly or philosophic systems by which the clergy strove to strip the burden of absurdity and sacrilege from their own deities4 ,from all these efforts of civilised and pious believers to explain away the stories about their own gods we may infer one fact--the most important to the student of mythology--the fact that myths were not evolved in times of clear civilised thought4 ,it is when ,greece is just beginning to free her thought from the bondage of too concrete language1 when she is striving to coin abstract terms1 that her philosophers and poets first find the myths of ,greece a stumbling-block4 7#a7 ,ritter and ,preller1 ,hist4 ,philos41 ,gothae1 #ahfi1 p4 #hb4 7#b7 ,olympic ,odes1 i41 ,myers's translation3 ,to me it is impossible to call one of the blessed gods a cannibal4444 ,meet it is for a man that concerning the gods he speak honourably1 for the reproach is less4 ,of thee1 son of ,tantalus1 ,i will speak contrariwise to them who have gone before me4 ,in avoiding the story of the cannibal god1 however1 ,pindar tells a tale even more offensive to our morality4 ,all early attempts at an interpretation of mythology are so many efforts to explain the myths on some principle which shall seem not unreasonable to men living at the time of the explanation4 ,therefore the pious remonstrances and the forced constructions of early thinkers like ,xenophanes1 of poets like ,pindar1 of all ancient ,homeric scholars and ,pagan apologists1 from ,theagenes of ,rhegium 7#ebe ,b4 ,c471 the early ,homeric commentator1 to ,porphyry1 almost the last of the heathen philosophers1 are so many proofs that to ,greece1 as soon as she had a reflective literature1 the myths of ,greece seemed impious and ,,irrational4 ,the essays of the native commentators on the ,veda1 in the same way1 are endeavours to put into myths felt to be irrational and impious a meaning which does not offend either piety or reason4 ,we may therefore conclude that it was not men in an early stage of philosophic thought 7as philosophy is now understood7--not men like ,empedocles and ,heraclitus1 nor reasonably devout men like ,eumaeus1 the pious swineherd of the ,odyssey--who evolved the blasphemous myths of ,greece1 of ,egypt and of ,india4 ,we must look elsewhere for an explanation4 ,we must try to discover some actual and demonstrable and widely prevalent condition of the human mind1 in which tales that even to remote and rudimentary civilisations appeared irrational and unnatural would seem natural and rational4 ,to discover this intellectual condition has been the aim of all mythologists who did not believe that myth is a divine tradition depraved by human weakness1 or a distorted version of historical events4 ,before going further1 it is desirable to set forth what our aim is1 and to what extent we are seeking an interpretation of mythology4 ,it is not our purpose to explain every detail of every ancient legend1 either as a distorted historical fact or as the result of this or that confusion of thought caused by forgetfulness of the meanings of language1 or in any other way2 nay1 we must constantly protest against the excursions of too venturesome ingenuity4 ,myth is so ancient1 so complex1 so full of elements1 that it is vain labour to seek a cause for every phenomenon4 ,we are chiefly occupied with the quest for an historical condition of the human intellect to which the element in myths1 regarded by us as irrational1 shall seem rational enough4 ,if we can prove that such a state of mind widely exists among men1 and has existed1 that state of mind may be provisionally considered as the fount and ,,origin of the myths which have always perplexed men in a reasonable modern mental condition4 ,again1 if it can be shown that this mental stage was one through which all civilised races have passed1 the universality of the mythopoeic mental condition will to some extent explain the universal ,,diffusion of the stories4 ,now1 in all mythologies1 whether savage or civilised1 and in all religions where myths intrude1 there exist two factors--the factor which we now regard as rational1 and that which we moderns regard as irrational4 ,the former element needs little explanation2 the latter has demanded explanation ever since human thought became comparatively instructed and abstract4 ,to take an example2 even in the myths of savages there is much that still seems rational and transparent4 ,if savages tell us that some wise being taught them all the simple arts of life1 the use of fire1 of the bow and arrow1 the barbing of hooks1 and so forth1 we understand them at once4 ,nothing can be more natural than that man should believe in an original inventor of the arts1 and should tell tales about the imaginary discoverers if the real heroes be forgotten4 ,so far all is plain sailing4 ,but when the savage goes on to say that he who taught the use of fire or who gave the first marriage laws was a rabbit or a crow1 or a dog1 or a beaver1 or a spider1 then we are at once face to face with the element in myths which seems to us ,,irrational4 ,again1 among civilised peoples we read of the pure all-seeing ,varuna in the ,vedas1 to whom sin is an offence4 ,we read of ,indra1 the ,lord of ,thunder1 borne in his chariot1 the giver of victory1 the giver of wealth to the pious2 here once more all seems natural and plain4 ,the notion of a deity who guides the whirlwind and directs the storm1 a god of battles1 a god who blesses righteousness1 is familiar to us and intelligible2 but when we read how ,indra drank himself drunk and committed adulteries with ,asura women1 and got himself born from the same womb as a bull1 and changed himself into a quail or a ram1 and suffered from the most abject physical terror1 and so forth1 then we are among myths no longer readily intelligible2 here1 we feel1 are ,,irrational stories1 of which the original ideas1 in their natural sense1 can hardly have been conceived by men in a pure and rational early civilisation4 ,again1 in the religions of even the lowest races1 such myths as these are in contradiction with the ethical elements of the faith4 ,if we look at ,greek religious tradition1 we observe the coexistence of the ,,rational and the apparently ,,irrational elements4 ,the ,,rational myths are those which represent the gods as beautiful and wise beings4 ,the ,artemis of the ,odyssey taking her pastime in the chase of boars and swift deer1 while with her the wild wood-nymphs disport them1 and high over them all she rears her brow1 and is easily to be known where all are fair17#a7 is a perfectly ,,rational mythic representation of a divine being4 ,we feel1 even now1 that the conception of a queen and goddess1 chaste and fair1 the abbess1 as ,paul de ,saint-,victor calls her1 of the woodlands1 is a beautiful and natural fancy1 which requires no explanation4 ,on the other hand1 the ,artemis of ,arcadia1 who is confused with the nymph ,callisto1 who1 again1 is said to have become a she-bear1 and later a star2 and the ,brauronian ,artemis1 whose maiden ministers danced a bear-dance17#b7 are goddesses whose legend seems unnatural1 and needs to be made intelligible4 ,or1 again1 there is nothing not explicable and natural in the conception of the ,olympian ,zeus as represented by the great chryselephantine statue of ,zeus at ,olympia1 or in the ,homeric conception of ,zeus as a god who turns everywhere his shining eyes1 and beholds all things1 and protects the righteous1 and deals good or evil fortune to men4 ,but the ,zeus whose grave was shown in ,crete1 or the ,zeus who played ,demeter an obscene trick by the aid of a ram1 or the ,zeus who1 in the shape of a swan1 became the father of ,castor and ,pollux1 or the ,zeus who deceived ,hera by means of a feigned marriage with an inanimate object1 or the ,zeus who was afraid of ,attes1 or the ,zeus who made love to women in the shape of an ant or a cuckoo1 is a being whose myth is felt to be unnatural and bewildering47#c7 ,it is this ,,irrational and unnatural element1 as ,mr4 ,max ,muller says1 the silly1 senseless1 and savage element1 that makes mythology the puzzle which men have so long found it4 ,for1 observe1 ,greek myth does not represent merely a humorous play of fancy1 dealing with things religiously sacred as if by way of relief from the strained reverential contemplation of the majesty of ,zeus4 ,many stories of ,greek mythology are such as could not cross1 for the first time1 the mind of a civilised ,xenophanes or ,theagenes1 even in a dream4 ,,this was the real puzzle4 7#a7 ,odyssey1 vi4 #ajb4 7#b7 7,greek word omitted72 compare ,harpokration on this word4 7#c7 ,these are the features in myth which provoke1 for example1 the wonder of ,emeric-,david4 ,the lizard1 the wolf1 the dog1 the ass1 the frog1 and all the other brutes so common on religious monuments everywhere1 do they not all imply a ,,thought which we must divine8 ,he concludes that these animals1 plants1 and monsters of myths are so many enigmas and symbols veiling some deep1 sacred idea1 allegories of some esoteric religious creed4 ,jupiter1 ,paris1 #ahcb1 p4 lxxvii4 ,we have offered examples--,savage1 ,indian1 and ,greek--of that element in mythology which1 as all civilised races have felt1 demands explanation4 ,to be still more explicit1 we may draw up a brief list of the chief problems in the legendary stories attached to the old religions of the world--the problems which it is our special purpose to notice4 ,first we have1 in the myths of all races1 the most grotesque conceptions of the character of gods when mythically envisaged4 ,beings who1 in religion1 leave little to be desired1 and are spoken of as holy1 immortal1 omniscient1 and kindly1 are1 in myth1 represented as fashioned in the likeness not only of man1 but of the beasts2 as subject to death1 as ignorant and impious4 ,most pre-,christian religions had their zoomorphic or partially zoomorphic idols1 gods in the shape of the lower animals1 or with the heads and necks of the lower animals4 ,in the same way all mythologies represent the gods as fond of appearing in animal forms4 ,under these disguises they conduct many amours1 even with the daughters of men1 and ,greek houses were proud of their descent from ,zeus in the shape of an eagle or ant1 a serpent or a swan2 while ,cronus and the ,vedic ,tvashtri and ,poseidon made love as horses1 and ,apollo as a dog4 ,not less wild are the legends about the births of gods from the thigh1 or the head1 or feet1 or armpits of some parent2 while tales describing and pictures representing unspeakable divine obscenities were frequent in the mythology and in the temples of ,greece4 ,once more1 the gods were said to possess and exercise the power of turning men and women into birds1 beasts1 fishes1 trees1 and stones1 so that there was scarcely a familiar natural object in the ,greek world which had not once 7according to legend7 been a man or a woman4 ,the myths of the origin of the world and man1 again1 were in the last degree childish and disgusting4 ,the ,bushmen and ,australians have1 perhaps1 no story of the origin of species quite so barbarous in style as the anecdotes about ,phanes and ,prajapati which are preserved in the ,orphic hymns and in the ,brahmanas4 ,the conduct of the earlier dynasties of classical gods towards each other was as notoriously cruel and loathsome as their behaviour towards mortals was tricksy and capricious4 ,the classical gods1 with all their immortal might1 are1 by a mythical contradiction of the religious conception1 regarded as capable of fear and pain1 and are led into scrapes as ludicrous as those of ,brer ,wolf or ,brer ,terrapin in the tales of the ,negroes of the ,southern ,states of ,america4 ,the stars1 again1 in mythology1 are mixed up with beasts1 planets and men in the same embroglio of fantastic opinion4 ,the dead and the living1 men1 beasts and gods1 trees and stars1 and rivers1 and sun1 and moon1 dance through the region of myths in a burlesque ballet of ,priapus1 where everything may be anything1 where nature has no laws and imagination no limits4 ,such are the irrational characteristics of myths1 classic or ,indian1 ,european or ,american1 ,african or ,asiatic1 ,australian or ,maori4 ,such is one element we find all the world over among civilised and savage people1 quod semper1 quod ubique1 quod ab omnibus4 ,it is no wonder that pious and reflective men have1 in so many ages and in so many ways1 tried to account to themselves for their possession of beliefs closely connected with religion which yet seemed ruinous to religion and morality4 ,the explanations which men have given of their own sacred stories1 the apologies for their own gods which they have been constrained to offer to themselves1 were the earliest babblings of a science of mythology4 ,that science was1 in its dim beginnings1 intended to satisfy a moral need4 ,man found that his gods1 when mythically envisaged1 were not made in his own moral image at its best1 but in the image sometimes of the beasts1 sometimes of his own moral nature at its very worst3 in the likeness of robbers1 wizards1 sorcerers1 and adulterers4 ,now1 it is impossible here to examine minutely all systems of mythological interpretation4 ,every key has been tried in this difficult lock2 every cause of confusion has been taken up and tested1 deemed adequate1 and finally rejected or assigned a subordinate place4 ,probably the first attempts to shake off the burden of religious horror at mythical impiety were made by way of silent omission4 ,thus most of the foulest myths of early ,india are absent1 and presumably were left out1 in the ,rig-,veda4 ,the religious sentiment of the hymns1 already so elevated1 has discarded most of the tales which offended it1 but has not succeeded in discarding them all47#a7 ,just as the poets of the ,rig-,veda prefer to avoid the more offensive traditions about ,indra and ,tvashtri1 so ,homer succeeds in avoiding the more grotesque and puerile tales about his own gods47#b7 ,the period of actual apology comes later4 ,pindar declines1 as we have seen1 to accuse a god of cannibalism4 ,the ,satapatha ,brahmana invents a new story about the slaying of ,visvarupa4 ,not ,indra1 but ,trita1 says the ,brahmana apologetically1 slew the three-headed son of ,tvashtri4 ,indra assuredly was free from that sin1 for he is a god1 says the ,indian apologist47#c7 ,yet sins which to us appear far more monstrous than the peccadillo of killing a three-headed ,brahman are attributed freely to ,indra4 7#a7 ,les ,religions de l',inde1 ,barth1 p4 #ad4 ,see also postea1 ,indian ,myths4 7#b7 ,the reasons for ,homer's reticence are probably different in different passages4 ,perhaps in some cases he had heard a purer version of myth than what reached ,hesiod2 perhaps he sometimes purposely 7like ,pindar7 purified a myth2 usually he must have selected1 in conformity with the noble humanity and purity of his taste1 the tales that best conformed to his ideal4 ,he makes his deities reluctant to drag out in dispute old scandals of their early unheroic adventures1 some of which1 however1 he gives1 as the kicking of ,hephaestus out of heaven1 and the imprisonment of ,ares in a vessel of bronze4 ,compare ,professor ,jebb's ,homer1 p4 #hc3 whatever the instinct of the great artist has tolerated1 at least it has purged these things away4 that is1 divine amours in bestial form4 7#c7 ,satapatha ,brahmana1 ,oxford1 #ahhb1 vol4 i4 p4 #dg4 ,while poets could but omit a blasphemous tale or sketch an apology in passing1 it became the business of philosophers and of antiquarian writers deliberately to whitewash the gods of popular religion4 ,systematic explanations of the sacred stories1 whether as preserved in poetry or as told by priests1 had to be provided4 ,india had her etymological and her legendary school of mythology47#a7 ,thus1 while the hymn ,,seemed to tell how the ,maruts were gods1 born together with the spotted deer1 the etymological interpreters explained that the word for deer only meant the many-coloured lines of clouds47#b7 ,in the armoury of apologetics etymology has been the most serviceable weapon4 ,it is easy to see that by aid of etymology the most repulsive legend may be compelled to yield a pure or harmless sense1 and may be explained as an innocent blunder1 caused by mere verbal misunderstanding4 ,brahmans1 ,greeks1 and ,germans have equally found comfort in this hypothesis4 ,in the ,cratylus of ,plato1 ,socrates speaks of the notion of explaining myths by etymological guesses at the meaning of divine names as a philosophy which came to him all in an instant4 ,thus we find ,socrates shocked by the irreverence which styled ,zeus the son of ,cronus1 who is a proverb for stupidity4 ,but on examining philologically the name ,kronos1 ,socrates decides that it must really mean ,koros1 not in the sense of a youth1 but signifying the pure and garnished mind4 ,therefore1 when people first called ,zeus the son of ,cronus1 they meant nothing irreverent1 but only that ,zeus is the child of the pure mind or pure reason4 ,not only is this etymological system most pious and consolatory1 but it is1 as ,socrates adds1 of universal application4 ,for now ,i bethink me of a very new and ingenious notion1444 that we may put in and pull out letters at pleasure1 and alter the accents47#c7 7#a7 ,rig-,veda ,sanhita4 ,max ,muller1 p4 #ei4 7#b7 ,postea1 ,indian ,divine ,myths4 7#c7 ,jowett's ,plato1 vol4 i4 pp4 #fcb1 #fgj4 ,socrates1 of course1 speaks more than half in irony1 but there is a certain truth in his account of etymological analysis and its dependence on individual tastes and preconceived theory4 ,the ancient classical schools of mythological interpretation1 though unscientific and unsuccessful1 are not without interest4 ,we find philosophers and grammarians looking1 just as we ourselves are looking1 for some condition of the human intellect out of which the absurd element in myths might conceivably have sprung4 ,very naturally the philosophers supposed that the human beings in whose brain and speech myths had their origin must have been philosophers like themselves--intelligent1 educated persons4 ,but such persons1 they argued1 could never have meant to tell stories about the gods so full of nonsense and blasphemy4 ,therefore the nonsense and blasphemy must originally have had some harmless1 or even praiseworthy1 sense4 ,what could that sense have been8 ,this question each ancient mythologist answered in accordance with his own taste and prejudices1 and above all1 and like all other and later speculators1 in harmony with the general tendency of his own studies4 ,if he lived when physical speculation was coming into fashion1 as in the age of ,empedocles1 he thought that the ,homeric poems must contain a veiled account of physical philosophy4 ,this was the opinion of ,theagenes of ,rhegium1 who wrote at a period when a crude physicism was disengaging itself from the earlier religious and mythical cosmogonic systems of ,greece4 ,theagenes was shocked by the ,homeric description of the battle in which the gods fought as allies of the ,achaeans and ,trojans4 ,he therefore explained away the affair as a veiled account of the strife of the elements4 ,such strife was familiar to readers of the physical speculations of ,empedocles and of ,heraclitus1 who blamed ,homer for his prayer against ,strife47#a7 7#a7 ,is4 et ,osir41 #dh4 ,it did not occur to ,theagenes to ask whether any evidence existed to show that the pre-,homeric ,greeks were ,empedoclean or ,heraclitean philosophers4 ,he readily proved to himself that ,apollo1 ,helios1 and ,hephaestus were allegorical representations1 like what such philosophers would feign1--of fire1 that ,hera was air1 ,poseidon water1 ,artemis the moon1 and the rest he disposed of in the same fashion47#a7 7#a7 ,scholia on ,iliad1 xx4 #fg4 ,dindorf 7#ahgg71 vol4 iv4 p4 #bca4 ,this manner of apologetics is as old as ,theagenes of ,rhegium4 ,homer offers theological doctrine in the guise of physical allegory4 ,metrodorus1 again1 turned not only the gods1 but the ,homeric heroes into elemental combinations and physical agencies2 for there is nothing new in the mythological philosophy recently popular1 which saw the sun1 and the cloud1 and the wind in ,achilles1 ,athene1 and ,hermes47#a7 7#a7 ,grote1 ,hist1 of ,greece1 ed4 #ahfi1 i4 p4 #djd4 ,in the ,bacchae 7#bia-big71 ,euripides puts another of the mythological systems of his own time into the mouth of ,cadmus1 the ,theban king1 who advances a philological explanation of the story that ,dionysus was sewn up in the thigh of ,zeus4 ,the most famous of the later theories was that of ,euhemerus 7#caf ,b4,c474 ,in a kind of philosophical romance1 ,euhemerus declared that he had sailed to some ,no-man's-land1 ,panchaea1 where he found the verity about mythical times engraved on pillars of bronze4 ,this truth he published in the ,sacra ,historia1 where he rationalised the fables1 averring that the gods had been men1 and that the myths were exaggerated and distorted records of facts4 7,see ,eusebius1 ,praep4 ,e41 ii #ee47 ,the ,abbe ,banier 7,la ,mythologie expliquee par l',histoire1 ,paris1 #agch1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bah7 attempts the defence of ,euhemerus1 whom most of the ancients regarded as an atheist4 ,there was an element of truth in his romantic hypothesis47#a7 7#a7 ,see ,block1 ,euhemere et sa ,doctrine1 ,mons1 #ahgf4 ,sometimes the old stories were said to conceal a moral1 sometimes a physical1 sometimes a mystical or ,neo-platonic sort of meaning4 ,as every apologist interpreted the legends in his own fashion1 the interpretations usually disagreed and killed each other4 ,just as one modern mythologist sees the wind in ,aeetes and the dawn in ,medea1 while another of the same school believes1 on equally good evidence1 that both ,aeetes and ,medea are the moon1 so writers like ,porphyry 7#bgj ,a4 ,d47 and ,plutarch 7#fj ,a4 ,d47 made the ancient deities types of their own favourite doctrines1 whatever these might happen to be4 ,when ,christianity became powerful1 the ,christian writers naturally attacked heathen religion where it was most vulnerable1 on the side of the myths1 and of the mysteries which were dramatic representations of the myths4 ,pretty gods you worship1 said the ,fathers1 in effect1 homicides1 adulterers1 bulls1 bears1 mice1 ants1 and what not4 ,the heathen apologists for the old religion were thus driven in the early ages of ,christianity to various methods of explaining away the myths of their discredited religion4 ,the early ,christian writers very easily1 and with considerable argumentative power1 disposed of the apologies for the myths advanced by ,porphyry and ,plutarch4 ,thus ,eusebius in the ,praeparatio ,evangelica first attacks the ,egyptian interpretations of their own bestial or semi-bestial gods4 ,he shows that the various interpretations destroy each other1 and goes on to point out that ,greek myth is in essence only a veneered and varnished version of the faith of ,egypt4 ,he ridicules1 with a good deal of humour1 the old theories which resolved so many mythical heroes into the sun2 he shows that while one system is contented to regard ,zeus as mere fire and air1 another system recognises in him the higher reason1 while ,heracles1 ,dionysus1 ,apollo1 and ,asclepius1 father and child1 are all indifferently the sun4 ,granting that the myth-makers were only constructing physical allegories1 why did they wrap them up1 asks ,eusebius1 in what ,,we consider abominable fictions8 ,in what state were the people who could not look at the pure processes of ,nature without being reminded of the most hideous and unnatural offences8 ,once more3 ,the physical interpreters do not even agree in their physical interpretations4 ,all these are equally facile1 equally plausible1 and equally incapable of proof4 ,again1 ,eusebius argues1 the interpreters take for granted in the makers of the myths an amount of physical knowledge which they certainly did not possess4 ,for example1 if ,leto were only another name for ,hera1 the character of ,zeus would be cleared as far as his amour with ,leto is concerned4 ,now1 the ancient believers in the physical phenomena theory of myths made out that ,hera1 the wife of ,zeus1 was really the same person under another name as ,leto1 his mistress4 ,for ,hera is the earth 7they said at other times that ,hera was the air71 and ,leto is the night2 but night is only the shadow of the earth1 and therefore ,leto is only the shadow of ,hera4 ,it was easy1 however1 to prove that this scientific view of night as the shadow of earth was not likely to be known to myth-makers1 who regarded swift ,night as an actual person4 ,plutarch1 too1 had an abstruse theory to explain the legend about the dummy wife1--a log of oak-wood1 which ,zeus pretended to marry when at variance with ,hera47#a7 7#a7 ,pausanias1 ix4 #ca4 ,this quarrel1 he said1 was merely the confusion and strife of elements4 ,zeus was heat1 ,hera was cold 7she had already been explained as earth and air71 the dummy wife of oak-wood was a tree that emerged after a flood1 and so forth4 ,of course1 there was no evidence that mythopoeic men held ,plutarchian theories of heat and cold and the conflict of the elements2 besides1 as ,eusebius pointed out1 ,hera had already been defined once as an allegory of wedded life1 and once as the earth1 and again as the air1 and it was rather too late to assert that she was also the cold and watery element in the world4 ,as for his own explanation of the myths1 ,eusebius holds that they descend from a period when men in their lawless barbarism knew no better than to tell such tales4 ,ancient folk1 in the exceeding savagery of their lives1 made no account of ,god1 the universal ,creator 7here ,eusebius is probably wrong7444 but betook them to all manner of abominations4 ,for the laws of decent existence were not yet established1 nor was any settled and peaceful state ordained among men1 but only a loose and savage fashion of wandering life1 while1 as beasts irrational1 they cared for no more than to fill their bellies1 being in a manner without ,god in the world4 ,growing a little more civilised1 men1 according to ,eusebius1 sought after something divine1 which they found in the heavenly bodies4 ,later1 they fell to worshipping living persons1 especially medicine men and conjurors1 and continued to worship them even after their decease1 so that ,greek temples are really tombs of the dead47#a7 ,finally1 the civilised ancients1 with a conservative reluctance to abandon their old myths 7,greek text omitted71 invented for them moral or physical explanations1 like those of ,plutarch and others1 earlier and later47#b7 7#a7 ,praep4 ,e41 ii4 #e4 7#b7 ,ibid41 #f1ai4 ,as ,eusebius1 like ,clemens of ,alexandria1 ,arnobius1 and the other early ,christian disputants1 had no prejudice in favour of ,hellenic mythology1 and no sentimental reason for wishing to suppose that the origin of its impurities was pure1 he found his way almost to the theory of the irrational element in mythology which we propose to offer4 ,even to sketch the history of mythological hypothesis in modern times would require a book to itself4 ,it must suffice here to indicate the various lines which speculation as to mythology has pursued4 ,all interpretations of myth have been formed in accordance with the ideas prevalent in the time of the interpreters4 ,the early ,greek physicists thought that mythopoeic men had been physicists4 ,aristotle hints that they were 7like himself7 political philosophers47#a7 ,neo-platonists sought in the myths for ,neo-platonism2 most ,christians 7unlike ,eusebius7 either sided with ,euhemerus1 or found in myth the inventions of devils1 or a tarnished and distorted memory of the ,biblical revelation4 7#a7 ,met41 xi4 #h1ai4 ,this was the theory1 for example1 of good old ,jacob ,bryant1 who saw everywhere memories of the ,noachian deluge and proofs of the correctness of ,old ,testament ethnology47#a7 7#a7 ,bryant1 ,a ,new ,system1 wherein an ,attempt is made to ,divest ,tradition of ,fable1 #aggd4 ,much the same attempt to find the ,biblical truth at the bottom of savage and ancient fable has been recently made by the late ,m4 ,lenormant1 a ,catholic scholar47#a7 7#a7 ,les ,origines de l',histoire d'apres le ,bible1 #ahhj-ahhd4 ,in the beginning of the present century ,germany turned her attention to mythology4 ,as usual1 men's ideas were biassed by the general nature of their opinions4 ,in a pious kind of spirit1 ,friedrich ,creuzer sought to find ,,symbols of some pure1 early1 and ,oriental theosophy in the myths and mysteries of ,greece4 ,certainly the ,greeks of the philosophical period explained their own myths as symbols of higher things1 but the explanation was an after-thought47#a7 ,the great ,lobeck1 in his ,aglaophamus 7#ahbi71 brought back common sense1 and made it the guide of his vast1 his unequalled learning4 ,in a gentler and more genial spirit1 ,c4 ,otfried ,muller laid the foundation of a truly scientific and historical mythology47#b7 ,neither of these writers had1 like ,alfred ,maury17#c7 much knowledge of the myths and faiths of the lower races1 but they often seem on the point of anticipating the ethnological method4 7#a7 ,creuzer1 ,symbolik und ,mythologie1 #b;d edit41 ,leipzig1 #ahcf-dc4 7#b7 ,introduction to a ,scientific ,system of ,mythology1 ,english trans41 ,london1 #ahdd4 7#c7 ,histoire des ,religions de la ,grece ,antique1 ,paris1 #aheg4 ,when philological science in our own century came to maturity1 in philology1 as of old in physics and later in symbols1 was sought the key of myths4 ,while physical allegory1 religious and esoteric symbolism1 verbal confusion1 historical legend1 and an original divine tradition1 perverted in ages of darkness1 have been the most popular keys in other ages1 the scientific nineteenth century has had a philological key of its own4 ,the methods of ,kuhn1 ,breal1 ,max ,muller1 and generally the philological method1 cannot be examined here at full length47#a7 ,briefly speaking1 the modern philological method is intended for a scientific application of the old etymological interpretations4 ,cadmus in the ,bacchae of ,euripides1 ,socrates in the ,cratylus of ,plato1 dismiss unpalatable myths as the results of verbal confusion4 ,people had originally said something quite sensible--so the hypothesis runs--but when their descendants forgot the meaning of their remarks1 a new and absurd meaning followed from a series of unconscious puns47#b7 ,this view was supported in ancient times by purely conjectural and impossible etymologies4 ,thus the myth that ,dionysus was sewn up in the ,,thigh of ,zeus 7,greek text omitted7 was explained by ,euripides as the result of a confusion of words4 ,people had originally said that ,zeus gave a pledge 7,greek text omitted7 to ,hera4 ,the modern philological school relies for explanations of untoward and other myths on similar confusions4 ,thus ,daphne is said to have been originally not a girl of romance1 but the dawn 7,sanskirt1 dahana3 ahana7 pursued by the rising sun4 ,but as the original ,aryan sense of ,dahana or ,ahana was lost1 and as ,daphne came to mean the laurel--the wood which burns easily--the fable arose that the tree had been a girl called ,daphne47#c7 7#a7 ,see ,mythology in ,encyclop4 ,brit4 and in ,la ,mythologie 7,a4 ,l471 ,paris1 #ahhf1 where ,mr4 ,max ,muller's system is criticised4 ,see also ,custom and ,myth and ,modern ,mythology4 7#b7 ,that a considerable number of myths1 chiefly myths of place names1 arise from popular etymologies is certain3 what is objected to is the vast proportion given to this element in myths4 7#c7 ,max ,muller1 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,december1 #ahhe2 ,solar ,myths1 ,january1 #ahhf2 ,myths and ,mythologists 7,a4 ,l74 ,whitney1 ,mannhardt1 ,bergaigne1 and others dispute the etymology4 ,or4 and ,ling4 ,studies1 #ahgd1 p4 #afj2 ,mannhardt1 ,antike ,wald und ,feld ,kultus 7,berlin1 #ahgg71 p4 xx42 ,bergaigne1 ,la ,religion ,vedique1 iii4 #bic2 nor does ,curtius like it much1 ,principles of ,greek ,etymology1 ,english trans41 ii4 #ib1 #ic2 ,modern ,mythology 7,a4 ,l471 #ahig4 ,this system chiefly rests on comparison between the ,sanskrit names in the ,rig-,veda and the mythic names in ,greek1 ,german1 ,slavonic1 and other ,aryan legends4 ,the attempt is made to prove that1 in the common speech of the undivided ,aryan race1 many words for splendid or glowing natural phenomena existed1 and that natural processes were described in a figurative style4 ,as the various ,aryan families separated1 the sense of the old words and names became dim1 the nomina developed into numina1 the names into gods1 the descriptions of elemental processes into myths4 ,as this system has already been criticised by us elsewhere with minute attention1 a reference to these reviews must suffice in this place4 ,briefly1 it may be stated that the various masters of the school--,kuhn1 ,max ,muller1 ,roth1 ,schwartz1 and the rest--rarely agree where agreement is essential1 that is1 in the philological foundations of their building4 ,they differ in very many of the etymological analyses of mythical names4 ,they also differ in the interpretations they put on the names1 ,kuhn almost invariably seeing fire1 storm1 cloud1 or lightning where ,mr4 ,max ,muller sees the chaste ,dawn4 ,thus ,mannhardt1 after having been a disciple1 is obliged to say that comparative ,indo-,germanic mythology has not borne the fruit expected1 and that the ,,certain gains of the system reduce themselves to the scantiest list of parallels1 such as ,dyaus ,zeus ,tius1 ,parjanya ,perkunas1 ,bhaga ,bog1 ,varuna ,uranos 7a position much disputed71 etc4 ,mannhardt adds his belief that a number of other equations--such as ,sarameya ,hermeias1 ,saranyus ,demeter ,erinnys1 ,kentauros ,gandharva1 and many others--will not stand criticism1 and he fears that these ingenious guesses will prove mere jeux d'esprit rather than actual facts47#a7 ,many examples of the precarious and contradictory character of the results of philological mythology1 many instances of dubious etymologies1 false logic1 leaps at foregone conclusions1 and attempts to make what is peculiarly ,indian in thought into matter of universal application1 will meet us in the chapters on ,indian and ,greek divine legends47#b7 ,the method in its practical working shows a fundamental lack of the historical sense1 says ,mannhardt4 ,examples are torn from their contexts1 he observes2 historical evolution is neglected2 passages of the ,veda1 themselves totally obscure1 are dragged forward to account for obscure ,greek mythical phenomena4 ,such are the accusations brought by the regretted ,mannhardt against the school to which he originally belonged1 and which was popular and all-powerful even in the maturity of his own more clear-sighted genius4 ,proofs of the correctness of his criticism will be offered abundantly in the course of this work4 ,it will become evident that1 great as are the acquisitions of ,philology1 her least certain discoveries have been too hastily applied in alien matter1 that is1 in the region of myth4 ,not that philology is wholly without place or part in the investigation of myth1 when there is agreement among philologists as to the meaning of a divine name4 ,in that case a certain amount of light is thrown on the legend of the bearer of the name1 and on its origin and first home1 ,aryan1 ,greek1 ,semitic1 or the like4 ,but how rare is agreement among philologists6 7#a7 ,baum und ,feld ,kultus1 p4 xvii4 ,kuhn's epoch-making book is ,die ,herabkunft des ,feuers1 ,berlin1 #ahei4 ,by way of example of the disputes as to the original meaning of a name like ,prometheus1 compare ,memoires de la ,societe de ,linguistique de ,paris1 t4 iv4 p4 #ccf4 7#b7 ,see especially ,mannhardt's note on ,kuhn's theories of ,poseidon and ,hermes1 ,b4 u4 ,f4 ,k41 pp4 xviii41 xix41 note #a4 ,the philological method1 says ,professor ,tiele17#a7 is inadequate and misleading1 when it is a question of discovering the ,,origin of a myth1 or the physical explanation of the oldest myths1 or of accounting for the rude and obscene element in the divine legends of civilised races4 ,but these are not the only problems of mythology4 ,there is1 for example1 the question of the ,,genealogical relations of myths1 where we have to determine whether the myths of peoples whose speech is of the same family are special modifications of a mythology once common to the race whence these peoples have sprung4 ,the philological method alone can answer here4 ,but this will seem a very limited province when we find that almost all races1 however remote and unconnected in speech1 have practically much the same myths4 7#a7 ,rev4 de l',hist4 des ,rel41 xii4 #c1 #bfj1 ,nov41 ,dec41 #ahhe4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,new ,,system ,,proposed4 ,chap4 ,i4 recapitulated--,proposal of a new method3 ,science of comparative or historical study of man--,anticipated in part by ,eusebius1 ,fontenelle1 ,de ,brosses1 ,spencer 7of ,c4 ,c4 ,c41 ,cambridge71 and ,mannhardt--,science of ,tylor--,object of inquiry3 to find condition of human intellect in which marvels of myth are parts of practical everyday belief--,this is the savage state--,savages described--,the wild element of myth a survival from the savage state--,advantages of this method--,partly accounts for wide ,,diffusion as well as ,,origin of myths--,connected with general theory of evolution--,puzzling example of myth of the water-swallower--,professor ,tiele's criticism of the method--,objections to method1 and answer to these--,see ,appendix ,b4 ,the past systems of mythological interpretation have been briefly sketched4 ,it has been shown that the practical need for a reconciliation between ,,religion and ,,morality on one side1 and the ,,myths about the gods on the other1 produced the hypotheses of ,theagenes and ,metrodorus1 of ,socrates and ,euemerus1 of ,aristotle and ,plutarch4 ,it has been shown that in each case the reconcilers argued on the basis of their own ideas and of the philosophies of their time4 ,the early physicist thought that myth concealed a physical philosophy2 the early etymologist saw in it a confusion of language2 the early political speculator supposed that myth was an invention of legislators2 the literary ,euhemerus found the secret of myths in the course of an imaginary voyage to a fabled island4 ,then came the moment of the ,christian attacks1 and ,pagan philosophers1 touched with ,oriental pantheism1 recognised in myths certain pantheistic symbols and a cryptic revelation of their own ,neo-platonism4 ,when the gods were dead and their altars fallen1 then antiquaries brought their curiosity to the problem of explaining myth4 ,christians recognised in it a depraved version of the ,jewish sacred writings1 and found the ark on every mountain-top of ,greece4 ,the critical nineteenth century brought in1 with ,otfried ,muller and ,lobeck1 a closer analysis2 and finally1 in the sudden rise of comparative philology1 it chanced that philologists annexed the domain of myths4 ,each of these systems had its own amount of truth1 but each certainly failed to unravel the whole web of tradition and of foolish faith4 ,meantime a new science has come into existence1 the science which studies man in the sum of all his works and thoughts1 as evolved through the whole process of his development4 ,this science1 ,comparative ,anthropology1 examines the development of law out of custom2 the development of weapons from the stick or stone to the latest repeating rifle2 the development of society from the horde to the nation4 ,it is a study which does not despise the most backward nor degraded tribe1 nor neglect the most civilised1 and it frequently finds in ,australians or ,nootkas the germ of ideas and institutions which ,greeks or ,romans brought to perfection1 or retained1 little altered from their early rudeness1 in the midst of civilisation4 ,it is inevitable that this science should also try its hand on mythology4 ,our purpose is to employ the anthropological method--the study of the evolution of ideas1 from the savage to the barbarous1 and thence to the civilised stage--in the province of myth1 ritual1 and religion4 ,it has been shown that the light of this method had dawned on ,eusebius in his polemic with the heathen apologists4 ,spencer1 the head of ,corpus1 ,cambridge 7#afcj-ic71 had really no other scheme in his mind in his erudite work on ,hebrew ,ritual47#a7 ,spencer was a student of man's religions generally1 and he came to the conclusion that ,hebrew ritual was but an expurgated1 and1 so to speak1 divinely licensed adaptation of heathen customs at large4 ,we do but follow his guidance on less perilous ground when we seek for the original forms of classical rite and myth in the parallel usages and legends of the most backward races4 7#a7 ,de ,legibus ,hebraeorum ,ritualibus1 ,tubingae1 #aghb4 ,fontenelle in the last century1 stated1 with all the clearness of the ,french intellect1 the system which is partially worked out in this essay--the system which explains the irrational element in myth as inherited from savagery4 ,fontenelle's paper 7,sur l',origine des ,fables7 is brief1 sensible1 and witty1 and requires little but copious evidence to make it adequate4 ,but he merely threw out the idea1 and left it to be neglected47#a7 7#a7 ,see ,appendix ,a41 ,fontenelle's ,origine des ,fables4 ,among other founders of the anthropological or historical school of mythology1 ,de ,brosses should not be forgotten4 ,in his ,dieux ,fetiches 7#agfj7 he follows the path which ,eusebius indicated--the path of ,spencer and ,fontenelle--now the beaten road of ,tylor and ,m',lennan and ,mannhardt4 ,in anthropology1 in the science of ,waitz1 ,tylor1 and ,m',lennan1 in the examination of man's faith in the light of his social1 legal1 and historical conditions generally1 we find1 with ,mannhardt1 some of the keys of myth4 ,this science makes it manifest that the different stages through which humanity has passed in its intellectual evolution have still their living representatives among various existing races4 ,the study of these lower races is an invaluable instrument for the interpretation of the survivals from earlier stages1 which we meet in the full civilisation of cultivated peoples1 but whose origins were in the remotest fetichism and savagery47#a7 7#a7 ,mannhardt op4 cit4 p4 xxiii4 ,it is by following this road1 and by the aid of anthropology and of human history1 that we propose to seek for a demonstrably actual condition of the human intellect1 whereof the puzzling qualities of myth would be the natural and inevitable fruit4 ,in all the earlier theories which we have sketched1 inquirers took it for granted that the myth-makers were men with philosophic and moral ideas like their own--ideas which1 from some reason of religion or state1 they expressed in bizarre terms of allegory4 ,we shall attempt1 on the other hand1 to prove that the human mind has passed through a condition quite unlike that of civilised men--a condition in which things seemed natural and rational that now appear unnatural and devoid of reason1 and in which1 therefore1 if myths were evolved1 they would1 if they survived into civilisation1 be such as civilised men find strange and perplexing4 ,our first question will be1 ,is there a stage of human society and of the human intellect in which facts that appear to us to be monstrous and irrational--facts corresponding to the wilder incidents of myth--are accepted as ordinary occurrences of everyday life8 ,in the region of romantic rather than of mythical invention we know that there is such a state4 ,mr4 ,lane1 in his preface to the ,arabian ,nights1 says that the ,arabs have an advantage over us as story-tellers4 ,they can introduce such incidents as the change of a man into a horse1 or of a woman into a dog1 or the intervention of an ,afreet without any more scruple than our own novelists feel in describing a duel or the concealment of a will4 ,among the ,arabs the agencies of magic and of spirits are regarded as at least as probable and common as duels and concealments of wills seem to be thought by ,european novelists4 ,it is obvious that we need look no farther for the explanation of the supernatural events in ,arab romances4 ,now1 let us apply this system to mythology4 ,it is admitted that ,greeks1 ,romans1 ,aryans of ,india in the age of the ,sanskrit commentators1 and ,egyptians of the ,ptolemaic and earlier ages1 were as much puzzled as we are by the mythical adventures of their gods4 ,but is there any known stage of the human intellect in which similar adventures1 and the metamorphoses of men into animals1 trees1 stars1 and all else that puzzles us in the civilised mythologies1 are regarded as possible incidents of daily human life8 ,our answer is1 that everything in the civilised mythologies which we regard as irrational seems only part of the accepted and natural order of things to contemporary savages1 and in the past seemed equally rational and natural to savages concerning whom we have historical information47#a7 ,our theory is1 therefore1 that the savage and senseless element in mythology is1 for the most part1 a legacy from the fancy of ancestors of the civilised races who were once in an intellectual state not higher1 but probably lower1 than that of ,australians1 ,bush-men1 ,red ,indians1 the lower races of ,south ,america1 and other worse than barbaric peoples4 ,as the ancestors of the ,greeks1 ,aryans of ,india1 ,egyptians and others advanced in civilisation1 their religious thought was shocked and surprised by myths 7originally dating from the period of savagery1 and natural in that period1 though even then often in contradiction to morals and religion7 which were preserved down to the time of ,pausanias by local priesthoods1 or which were stereotyped in the ancient poems of ,hesiod and ,homer1 or in the ,brahmanas and ,vedas of ,india1 or were retained in the popular religion of ,egypt4 ,this theory recommended itself to ,lobeck4 ,we may believe that ancient and early tribes framed gods like unto themselves in action and in experience1 and that the allegorical softening down of myths is the explanation added later by descendants who had attained to purer ideas of divinity1 yet dared not reject the religion of their ancestors47#b7 ,the senseless element in the myths would1 by this theory1 be for the most part a survival2 and the age and condition of human thought whence it survived would be one in which our most ordinary ideas about the nature of things and the limits of possibility did not yet exist1 when all things were conceived of in quite other fashion2 the age1 that is1 of savagery4 7#a7 ,we have been asked to ,,define a savage4 ,he cannot be defined in an epigram1 but by way of choice of a type3-- #a4 ,in material equipment the perfect savage is he who employs tools of stone and wood1 not of metal2 who is nomadic rather than settled2 who is acquainted 7if at all7 only with the rudest forms of the arts of potting1 weaving1 fire-making1 etc42 and who derives more of his food from the chase and from wild roots and plants than from any kind of agriculture or from the flesh of domesticated animals4 #b4 ,in psychology the savage is he who 7extending unconsciously to the universe his own implicit consciousness of personality7 regards all natural objects as animated and intelligent beings1 and1 drawing no hard and fast line between himself and the things in the world1 is readily persuaded that men may be metamorphosed into plants1 beasts and stars2 that winds and clouds1 sun and dawn1 are persons with human passions and parts2 and that the lower animals especially may be creatures more powerful than himself1 and1 in a sense1 divine and creative4 #c4 ,in religion the savage is he who 7while often1 in certain moods1 conscious of a far higher moral faith7 believes also in ancestral ghosts or spirits of woods and wells that were never ancestral2 prays frequently by dint of magic2 and sometimes adores inanimate objects1 or even appeals to the beasts as supernatural protectors4 #d4 ,in society the savage is he who 7as a rule7 bases his laws on the well-defined lines of totemism--that is1 claims descent from or other close relation to natural objects1 and derives from the sacredness of those objects the sanction of his marriage prohibitions and blood-feuds1 while he makes skill in magic a claim to distinguished rank4 ,such1 for our purpose1 is the savage1 and we propose to explain the more senseless factors in civilised mythology as survivals of these ideas and customs preserved by conservatism and local tradition1 or1 less probably1 borrowed from races which were1 or had been1 savage4 7#b7 ,aglaoph41 i4 #aec4 ,had ,lobeck gone a step farther and examined the mental condition of veteres et priscae gentes1 this book would have been1 superfluous4 ,nor did he know that the purer ideas were also existing among certain low savages4 ,it is universally admitted that survivals of this kind do account for many anomalies in our institutions1 in law1 politics1 society1 even in dress and manners4 ,if isolated fragments of earlier ages abide in these1 it is still more probable that other fragments will survive in anything so closely connected as is mythology with the conservative religious sentiment and tradition4 ,our object1 then1 is to prove that the silly1 savage1 and irrational element in the myths of civilised peoples is1 as a rule1 either a survival from the period of savagery1 or has been borrowed from savage neighbours by a cultivated people1 or1 lastly1 is an imitation by later poets of old savage data47#a7 ,for example1 to explain the constellations as metamorphosed men1 animals1 or other objects of terrestrial life is the habit of savages17#b7--;a natural habit among people who regard all things as on one level of personal life and intelligence4 ,when the stars1 among civilised ,greeks or ,aryans of ,india1 are also popularly regarded as transformed and transfigured men1 animals and the like1 this belief may be either a survival from the age when the ancestors of ,greeks and ,indians were in the intellectual condition of the ,australian ,murri2 or the star-name and star-myth may have been borrowed from savages1 or from cultivated peoples once savage or apt to copy savages2 or1 as in the case of the ,coma ,berenices1 a poet of a late age may have invented a new artificial myth on the old lines of savage fancy4 7#a7 ,we may be asked why do savages entertain the irrational ideas which survive in myth8 ,one might as well ask why they eat each other1 or use stones instead of metal4 ,their intellectual powers are not fully developed1 and hasty analogy from their own unreasoned consciousness is their chief guide4 ,myth1 in ,mr4 ,darwin's phrase1 is one of the miserable and indirect consequences of our highest faculties4 ,descent of ,man1 p4 #fi4 7#b7 ,see ,custom and ,myth1 ,star-,myths4 ,this method of interpreting a certain element in mythology is1 we must repeat1 no new thing1 though1 to judge from the protests of several mythologists1 it is new to many inquirers4 ,we have seen that ,eusebius threw out proposals in this direction2 that ,spencer1 ,de ,brosses1 and ,fontenelle unconsciously followed him2 and we have quoted from ,lobeck a statement of a similar opinion4 ,the whole matter has been stated as clearly as possible by ,mr4 ,b4 ,b4 ,tylor3-- ,savages have been for untold ages1 and still are1 living in the myth-making stage of the human mind4 ,it was through sheer ignorance and neglect of this direct knowledge how and by what manner of men myths are really made that their simple philosophy has come to be buried under masses of commentator's rubbish4447#a7 ,mr4 ,tylor goes on thus 7and his words contain the gist of our argument73 ,the general thesis maintained is that myth arose in the savage condition prevalent in remote ages among the whole human race2 that it remains comparatively unchanged among the rude modern tribes who have departed least from these primitive conditions1 while higher and later civilisations1 partly by retaining its actual principles1 and partly by carrying on its inherited results in the form of ancestral tradition1 continued it not merely in toleration1 but in honour47#b7 ,elsewhere ,mr4 ,tylor points out that by this method of interpretation we may study myths in various stages of evolution1 from the rude guess of the savage at an explanation of natural phenomena1 through the systems of the higher barbarisms1 or lower civilisations 7as in ancient ,mexico71 and the sacerdotage of ,india1 till myth reaches its most human form in ,greece4 ,yet even in ,greek myth the beast is not wholly cast out1 and ,hellas by no means let the ape and tiger die4 ,that ,mr4 ,tylor does not exclude the ,aryan race from his general theory is plain enough47#c7 ,what is the ,aryan conception of the ,thunder-god but a poetic elaboration of thoughts inherited from the savage stage through which the primitive ,aryans had passed87#d7 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 #bnd edit41 i4 p4 #bhc4 7#b7 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bge4 7#c7 ,primitive ,culture1 #bnd edit41 ii4 #bfe4 7#d7 ,pretty much the same view seems to be taken by ,mr4 ,max ,muller 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,january1 #ahhb7 when he calls ,tsui ,goab 7whom the ,hottentots believe to be a defunct conjuror7 a ,hottentot ,indra or ,zeus4 ,the advantages of our hypothesis 7if its legitimacy be admitted7 are obvious4 ,in the first place1 we have to deal with an actual demonstrable condition of the human intellect4 ,the existence of the savage state in all its various degrees1 and of the common intellectual habits and conditions which are shared by the backward peoples1 and again the survival of many of these in civilisation1 are indubitable facts4 ,we are not obliged to fall back upon some fanciful and unsupported theory of what primitive man did1 and said1 and thought4 ,nay1 more2 we escape all the fallacies connected with the terms primitive man4 ,we are not compelled 7as will be shown later77#a7 to prove that the first men of all were like modern savages1 nor that savages represent primitive man4 ,it may be that the lowest extant savages are the nearest of existing peoples to the type of the first human beings4 ,but on this point it is unnecessary for us to dogmatise4 ,if we can show that1 whether men began their career as savages or not1 they have at least passed through the savage status or have borrowed the ideas of races in the savage status1 that is all we need4 ,we escape from all the snares of theories 7incapable of historical proof7 about the really primeval and original condition of the human family4 7#a7 ,appendix ,b4 ,once more1 our theory naturally attaches itself to the general system of ,evolution4 ,we are enabled to examine mythology as a thing of gradual development and of slow and manifold modifications1 corresponding in some degree to the various changes in the general progress of society4 ,thus we shall watch the barbaric conditions of thought which produce barbaric myths1 while these in their turn are retained1 or perhaps purified1 or perhaps explained away1 by more advanced civilisations4 ,further1 we shall be able to detect the survival of the savage ideas with least modification1 and the persistence of the savage myths with least change1 among the classes of a civilised population which have shared least in the general advance4 ,these classes are1 first1 the rustic peoples1 dwelling far from cities and schools1 on heaths or by the sea2 second1 the conservative local priesthoods1 who retain the more crude and ancient myths of the local gods and heroes after these have been modified or rejected by the purer sense of philosophers and national poets4 ,thus much of ancient myth is a woven warp and woof of three threads3 the savage donnee1 the civilised and poetic modification of the savage donnee1 the version of the original fable which survives in popular tales and in the sacred chapters of local priesthoods4 ,a critical study of these three stages in myth is in accordance with the recognised practice of science4 ,indeed1 the whole system is only an application to this particular province1 mythology1 of the method by which the development either of organisms or of human institutions is traced4 ,as the anomalies and apparently useless and accidental features in the human or in other animal organisms may be explained as stunted or rudimentary survivals of organs useful in a previous stage of life1 so the anomalous and irrational myths of civilised races may be explained as survivals of stories which1 in an earlier state of thought and knowledge1 seemed natural enough4 ,the persistence of the myths is accounted for by the well-known conservatism of the religious sentiment--a conservatism noticed even by ,eusebius4 ,in later days1 when they became ashamed of the religious beliefs of their ancestors1 they invented private and respectful interpretations1 each to suit himself4 ,for no one dared to shake the ancestral beliefs1 as they honoured at a very high rate the sacredness and antiquity of old associations1 and of the teaching they had received in childhood47#a7 7#a7 ,praep4 ,e41 ii4 #f1 #ai4 ,thus the method which we propose to employ is in harmony both with modern scientific procedure and with the views of a clear-sighted ,father of the ,church4 ,consequently no system could well be less heretical and unorthodox4 ,the last advantage of our hypothesis which need here be mentioned is that it helps to explain the ,,diffusion no less than the ,,origin of the wild and crazy element in myth4 ,we seek for the origin of the savage factor of myth in one aspect of the intellectual condition of savages4 ,we say in one aspect expressly2 to guard against the suggestion that the savage intellect has no aspect but this1 and no saner ideas than those of myth4 ,the ,,diffusion of stories practically identical in every quarter of the globe may be 7provisionally7 regarded as the result of the prevalence in every quarter1 at one time or another1 of similar mental habits and ideas4 ,this explanation must not be pressed too hard nor too far4 ,if we find all over the world a belief that men can change themselves and their neighbours into beasts1 that belief will account for the appearance of metamorphosis in myth4 ,if we find a belief that inanimate objects are really much on a level with man1 the opinion will account for incidents of myth such as that in which the wooden figure-head of the ,argo speaks with a human voice4 ,again1 a widespread belief in the separability of the soul or the life from the body will account for the incident in nursery tales and myths of the giant who had no heart in his body1 but kept his heart and life elsewhere4 ,an ancient identity of mental status and the working of similar mental forces at the attempt to explain the same phenomena will account1 without any theory of borrowing1 or transmission of myth1 or of original unity of race1 for the world-wide diffusion of many mythical conceptions4 ,but this theory of the original similarity of the savage mind everywhere and in all races will scarcely account for the world-wide distribution of long and intricate mythical ,,plots1 of consecutive series of adroitly interwoven situations4 ,in presence of these long romances1 found among so many widely severed peoples1 conjecture is1 at present1 almost idle4 ,we do not know1 in many instances1 whether such stories were independently developed1 or carried from a common centre1 or borrowed by one race from another1 and so handed on round the world4 ,this chapter may conclude with an example of a tale whose ,,diffusion may be explained in divers ways1 though its ,,origin seems undoubtedly savage4 ,if we turn to the ,algonkins1 a stock of ,red ,indians1 we come on a popular tradition which really does give pause to the mythologist4 ,could this story1 he asks himself1 have been separately invented in widely different places1 or could the ,iroquois have borrowed from the ,australian blacks or the ,andaman ,islanders8 ,it is a common thing in most mythologies to find everything of value to man--fire1 sun1 water--in the keeping of some hostile power4 ,the fire1 or the sun1 or the water is then stolen1 or in other ways rescued from the enemy and restored to humanity4 ,the ,huron story 7as far as water is concerned7 is told by ,father ,paul ,le ,jeune1 a ,jesuit missionary1 who lived among the ,hurons about #afcf4 ,the myth begins with the usual opposition between two brothers1 the ,cain and ,abel of savage legend4 ,one of the brothers1 named ,ioskeha1 slew the other1 and became the father of mankind 7as known to the ,red ,indians7 and the guardian of the ,iroquois4 ,the earth was at first arid and sterile1 but ,ioskeha destroyed the gigantic frog which had swallowed all the waters1 and guided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes47#a7 7#a7 ,relations de la ,nouvelle ,france1 #afcf1 p4 #ajc 7,paris1 ,cramoisy1 #afcg74 ,now where1 outside of ,north ,america1 do we find this frog who swallowed all the water8 ,we find him in ,australia4 ,the aborigines of ,lake ,tyers1 remarks ,mr4 ,brough ,smyth1 say that at one time there was no water anywhere on the face of the earth4 ,all the waters were contained in the body of a huge frog1 and men and women could get none of them4 ,a council was held1 and444 it was agreed that the frog should be made to laugh1 when the waters would run out of his mouth1 and there would be plenty in all parts4 ,to make a long story short1 all the animals played the jester before the gigantic solemn frog1 who sat as grave as ,louis ,,xv4 ,i do not like buffoons who don't make me laugh1 said that majestical monarch4 ,at last the eel danced on the tip of his tail1 and the gravity of the prodigious ,batrachian gave way4 ,he laughed till he literally split his sides1 and the imprisoned waters came with a rush4 ,indeed1 many persons were drowned1 though this is not the only ,australian version of the ,deluge4 ,the ,andaman ,islanders dwell at a very considerable distance from ,australia and from the ,iroquois1 and1 in the present condition of the natives of ,australia and ,andaman1 neither could possibly visit the other4 ,the frog in the ,andaman version is called a toad1 and he came to swallow the waters in the following way3 ,one day a woodpecker was eating honey high up in the boughs of a tree4 ,far below1 the toad was a witness of the feast1 and asked for some honey4 ,well1 come up here1 and you shall have some1 said the woodpecker4 ,but how am ,i to climb8 ,take hold of that creeper1 and ,i will draw you up1 said the woodpecker2 but all the while he was bent on a practical joke4 ,so the toad got into a bucket he happened to possess1 and fastened the bucket to the creeper4 ,now1 pull6 ,then the woodpecker raised the toad slowly to the level of the bough where the honey was1 and presently let him down with a run1 not only disappointing the poor toad1 but shaking him severely4 ,the toad went away in a rage and looked about him for revenge4 ,a happy thought occurred to him1 and he drank up all the water of the rivers and lakes4 ,birds and beasts were perishing1 woodpeckers among them1 of thirst4 ,the toad1 overjoyed at his success1 wished to add insult to the injury1 and1 very thoughtlessly1 began to dance in an irritating manner at his foes4 ,but then the stolen waters gushed out of his mouth in full volume1 and the drought soon ended4 ,one of the most curious points in this myth is the origin of the quarrel between the woodpecker and the toad4 ,the same beginning--the tale of an insult put on an animal by hauling up and letting him down with a run--occurs in an ,african ,marchen47#a7 7#a7 ,brough ,smyth1 ,aborigines of ,victoria1 i4 #dbi1 #dcj2 ,brinton1 ,american ,hero ,myths1 i4 #ee4 ,cf4 also ,relations de la ,nouvelle ,france1 #afcf1 #afdj1 #afga2 7,sagard1 ,hist4 du ,canada1 #afcf1 p4 #dea27 ,journal ,anthrop4 ,inst41 #ahha4 ,now this strangely diffused story of the slaying of the frog which had swallowed all the water seems to be a savage myth of which the more heroic conflict of ,indra with ,vrittra 7the dragon which had swallowed all the waters7 is an epic and sublimer version47#a7 ,the heavenly water1 which ,vrittra withholds from the world1 is usually the prize of the contest4 7#a7 ,ludwig1 ,der ,rig-,veda1 iii4 p4 #ccg4 ,see postea1 ,divine ,myths of ,india4 ,the serpent of ,vedic myth is1 perhaps1 rather the robber-guardian than the swallower of the waters1 but ,indra is still1 like the ,iroquois ,ioskeha1 he who wounds the full one47#a7 ,this example of the wide distribution of a myth shows how the question of diffusion1 though connected with1 is yet distinct from that of origin4 ,the advantage of our method will prove to be1 that it discovers an historical and demonstrable state of mind as the origin of the wild element in myth4 ,again1 the wide prevalence in the earliest times of this mental condition will1 to a certain extent1 explain the ,,distribution of myth4 ,room must be left1 of course1 for processes of borrowing and transmission1 but how ,andamanese1 ,australians and ,hurons could borrow from each other is an unsolved problem4 7#a7 ,gubernatis1 ,zoological ,myth4 ii4 #cie1 note #b4 ,when ,indra kills the serpent he opens the torrent of the waters 7p4 #cic74 ,see also ,aitareya ,brahmana1 translated by ,haug1 ii4 #dhc4 ,finally1 our hypothesis is not involved in dubious theories of race4 ,to us1 myths appear to be affected 7in their origins7 much less by the race than by the stage of culture attained by the people who cherish them4 ,a fight for the waters between a monstrous dragon like ,vrittra and a heroic god like ,indra is a nobler affair than a quarrel for the waters between a woodpecker and a toad4 ,but the improvement and transfiguration1 so to speak1 of a myth at bottom the same is due to the superior culture1 not to the peculiar race1 of the ,vedic poets1 except so far as culture itself depends on race4 ,how far the purer culture was attained to by the original superiority of the ,aryan over the ,andaman breed1 it is not necessary for our purpose to inquire4 ,thus1 on the whole1 we may claim for our system a certain demonstrable character1 which helps to simplify the problems of mythology1 and to remove them from the realm of fanciful guesses and conflicting etymological conjectures into that of sober science4 ,that these pretensions are not unacknowledged even by mythologists trained in other schools is proved by the remarks of ,dr4 ,tiele47#a7 7#a7 ,rev4 de l',hist4 des ,rel41 ,le ,mythe de ,cronos1 ,january1 #ahhf4 ,dr4 ,tiele is not1 it must be noted1 a thorough adherent of our theory4 ,see ,modern ,mythology3 ,the ,question of ,allies4 ,dr4 ,tiele writes3 ,if ,i were obliged to choose between this method 7the system here advocated7 and that of comparative philology1 it is the former that ,i would adopt without the slightest hesitation4 ,this method alone enables us to explain the fact1 which has so often provoked amazement1 that people so refined as the ,greeks1444 or so rude1 but morally pure1 as the ,germans1444 managed to attribute to their gods all manner of cowardly1 cruel and disorderly conduct4 ,this method alone explains the why and wherefore of all those strange metamorphoses of gods into beasts and plants1 and even stones1 which scandalised philosophers1 and which the witty ,ovid played on for the diversion of his contemporaries4 ,in short1 this method teaches us to recognise in all those strange stories the survivals of a barbaric age1 long passed away1 but enduring to later times in the form of religious traditions1 of all traditions the most persistent4444 ,finally1 this method alone enables us to explain the origin of myths1 because it endeavours to study them in their rudest and most primitive shape1 thus allowing their true significance to be much more clearly apparent than it can be in the myths 7so often touched1 retouched1 augmented and humanised7 which are current among races arrived at a certain degree of culture4 ,the method is to this extent applauded by a most competent authority1 and it has been warmly accepted by a distinguished ,french school of students1 represented by ,m4 ,gaidoz4 ,but it is obvious that the method rests on a double hypothesis3 first1 that satisfactory evidence as to the mental conditions of the lower and backward races is obtainable2 second1 that the civilised races 7however they began7 either passed through the savage state of thought and practice1 or borrowed very freely from people in that condition4 ,these hypotheses have been attacked by opponents2 the trustworthiness of our evidence1 especially1 has been assailed4 ,by way of facilitating the course of the exposition and of lessening the disturbing element of controversy1 a reply to the objections and a defence of the evidence has been relegated to an ,appendix47#a7 ,meanwhile we go on to examine the peculiar characteristics of the mental condition of savages and of peoples in the lower and upper barbarisms4 7#a7 ,appendix ,b4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,mental ,,condition ,,of ,,savages--,,confusion ,,with ,,nature--,,totemism4 ,the mental condition of savages the basis of the irrational element in myth--,characteristics of that condition3 7#a7 ,confusion of all things in an equality of presumed animation and intelligence2 7#b7 ,belief in sorcery2 7#c7 ,spiritualism2 7#d7 ,curiosity2 7#e7 ,easy credulity and mental indolence--,the curiosity is satisfied1 thanks to the credulity1 by myths in answer to all inquiries--,evidence for this--,mr4 ,tylor's opinion--,mr4 ,im ,thurn--,jesuit missionaries' ,relations--,examples of confusion between men1 plants1 beasts and other natural objects--,reports of travellers--,evidence from institution of totemism--,definition of totemism--,totemism in ,australia1 ,africa1 ,america1 the ,oceanic ,islands1 ,india1 ,north ,asia--,conclusions3 ,totemism being found so widely distributed1 is a proof of the existence of that savage mental condition in which no line is drawn between men and the other things in the world4 ,this confusion is one of the characteristics of myth in all races4 ,we set out to discover a stage of human intellectual development which would necessarily produce the essential elements of myth4 ,we think we have found that stage in the condition of savagery4 ,we now proceed to array the evidence for the mental processes of savages4 ,we intend to demonstrate the existence in practical savage life of the ideas which most surprise us when we find them in civilised sacred legends4 ,for the purposes of this inquiry1 it is enough to select a few special peculiarities of savage thought4 #a4 ,first we have that nebulous and confused frame of mind to which all things1 animate or inanimate1 human1 animal1 vegetable1 or inorganic1 seem on the same level of life1 passion and reason4 ,the savage1 at all events when myth-making1 draws no hard and fast line between himself and the things in the world4 ,he regards himself as literally akin to animals and plants and heavenly bodies2 he attributes sex and procreative powers even to stones and rocks1 and he assigns human speech and human feelings to sun and moon and stars and wind1 no less than to beasts1 birds and fishes47#a7 7#a7 ,so fasst auch das ,alterthum ihren ,unterschied von den ,menschen ganz anders als die spatere ,zeit4--,grimm1 quoted by ,liebrecht1 ,zur ,volkskunde1 p4 #ag4 #b4 ,the second point to note in savage opinion is the belief in magic and sorcery4 ,the world and all the things in it being vaguely conceived of as sensible and rational1 obey the commands of certain members of the tribe1 chiefs1 jugglers1 conjurors1 or what you will4 ,rocks open at their order1 rivers dry up1 animals are their servants and hold converse with them4 ,these magicians cause or heal diseases1 and can command even the weather1 bringing rain or thunder or sunshine at their will47#a7 ,there are few supernatural attributes of cloud-compelling ,zeus or of ,apollo that are not freely assigned to the tribal conjuror4 ,by virtue1 doubtless1 of the community of nature between man and the things in the world1 the conjuror 7like ,zeus or ,indra7 can assume at will the shape of any animal1 or can metamorphose his neighbours or enemies into animal forms4 7#a7 ,see ,roth in ,north-,west ,central ,queensland ,aborigines1 chapter xii41 #ahig4 #c4 ,another peculiarity of savage belief naturally connects itself with that which has just been described4 ,the savage has very strong ideas about the persistent existence of the souls of the dead4 ,they retain much of their old nature1 but are often more malignant after death than they had been during life4 ,they are frequently at the beck and call of the conjuror1 whom they aid with their advice and with their magical power4 ,by virtue of the close connection already spoken of between man and the animals1 the souls of the dead are not rarely supposed to migrate into the bodies of beasts1 or to revert to the condition of that species of creatures with which each tribe supposes itself to be related by ties of kinship or friendship4 ,with the usual inconsistency of mythical belief1 the souls of the dead are spoken of1 at other times1 as if they inhabited a spiritual world1 sometimes a paradise of flowers1 sometimes a gloomy place1 which mortal men may visit1 but whence no one can escape who has tasted of the food of the ghosts4 #d4 ,in connection with spirits a far-reaching savage philosophy prevails4 ,it is not unusual to assign a ghost to all objects1 animate or inanimate1 and the spirit or strength of a man is frequently regarded as something separable1 capable of being located in an external object1 or something with a definite locality in the body4 ,a man's strength and spirit may reside in his kidney fat1 in his heart1 in a lock of his hair1 or may even be stored by him in some separate receptacle4 ,very frequently a man is held capable of detaching his soul from his body1 and letting it roam about on his business1 sometimes in the form of a bird or other animal4 #e4 ,many minor savage beliefs might be named1 such as the common faith in friendly or protecting animals1 and the notion that natural deaths 7as we call them7 are always ,,unnatural1 that death is always caused by some hostile spirit or conjuror4 ,from this opinion comes the myth that man is naturally not subject to death3 that death was somehow introduced into the world by a mistake or misdeed is a corollary4 7,see ,myths of the ,origin of ,death in ,modern ,mythology47 #f4 ,one more mental peculiarity of the savage mind remains to be considered in this brief summary4 ,the savage1 like the civilised man1 is curious4 ,the first faint impulses of the scientific spirit are at work in his brain2 he is anxious to give himself an account of the world in which he finds himself4 ,but he is not more curious than he is1 on occasion1 credulous4 ,his intellect is eager to ask questions1 as is the habit of children1 but his intellect is also lazy1 and he is content with the first answer that comes to hand4 ,ils s'arretent aux premieres notions qu'ils en ont1 says ,pere ,hierome ,lalemant47#a7 ,nothing1 says ,schoolcraft1 is too capacious 7sic7 for ,indian belief47#b7 ,the replies to his questions he receives from tradition or 7when a new problem arises7 evolves an answer for himself in the shape of ,,stories4 ,just as ,socrates1 in the ,platonic dialogues1 recalls or invents a myth in the despair of reason1 so the savage has a story for answer to almost every question that he can ask himself4 ,these stories are in a sense scientific1 because they attempt a solution of the riddles of the world4 ,they are in a sense religious1 because there is usually a supernatural power1 a deus ex machina1 of some sort to cut the knot of the problem4 ,such stories1 then1 are the science1 and to a certain extent the religious tradition1 of savages47#c7 7#a7 ,relations de la ,nouvelle ,france1 #afdh1 p4 #gj4 7#b7 ,algic ,researches1 i4 #da4 7#c7 ,the ,indians 7,algonkins7 conveyed instruction--moral1 mechanical and religious--through traditionary fictions and tales4--,schoolcraft1 ,algic ,researches1 i4 #ab4 ,now these tales are necessarily cast in the mould of the savage ideas of which a sketch has been given4 ,the changes of the heavenly bodies1 the processes of day and night1 the existence of the stars1 the invention of the arts1 the origin of the world 7as far as known to the savage71 of the tribe1 of the various animals and plants1 the origin of death itself1 the origin of the perplexing traditional tribal customs1 are all accounted for in stories4 ,at the same time1 an actual divine ,maker is sometimes postulated4 ,the stories1 again1 are fashioned in accordance with the beliefs already named3 the belief in human connection with and kinship with beasts and plants2 the belief in magic2 the belief in the perpetual possibility of metamorphosis or shape shifting2 the belief in the permanence and power of the ghosts of the dead2 the belief in the personal and animated character of all the things in the world1 and so forth4 ,no more need be said to explain the wild and 7as it seems to us moderns7 the irrational character of savage myth4 ,it is a jungle of foolish fancies1 a walpurgis nacht of gods and beasts and men and stars and ghosts1 all moving madly on a level of common personality and animation1 and all changing shapes at random1 as partners are changed in some fantastic witches' revel4 ,such is savage mythology1 and how could it be otherwise when we consider the elements of thought and belief out of which it is mainly composed8 ,we shall see that part of the mythology of the ,greeks or the ,aryans of ,india is but a similar walpurgis nacht1 in which an incestuous or amorous god may become a beast1 and the object of his pursuit1 once a woman1 may also become a beast1 and then shift shapes to a tree or a bird or a star4 ,but in the civilised races the genius of the people tends to suppress1 exclude and refine away the wild element1 which1 however1 is never wholly eliminated4 ,the ,erinyes soon stop the mouth of the horse of ,achilles when he begins1 like the horse in ,grimm's ,goose ,girl1 to hold a sustained conversation47#a7 ,but the ancient1 cruel1 and grotesque savage element1 nearly overcome by ,homer and greatly reduced by the ,vedic poets1 breaks out again in ,hesiod1 in temple legends and ,brahmanic glosses1 and finally proves so strong that it can only be subdued by ,christianity1 or rather by that break between the educated classes and the traditional past of religion which has resulted from ,christianity4 ,even so1 myth lingers in the folk-lore of the non-progressive classes of ,europe1 and1 as in ,roumania1 invades religion4 7#a7 ,iliad1 xix4 #dah4 ,we have now to demonstrate the existence in the savage intellect of the various ideas and habits which we have described1 and out of which mythology springs4 ,first1 we have to show that a nebulous and confused state of mind1 to which all things1 animate or inanimate1 human1 animal1 vegetable or inorganic1 seem on the same level of life1 passion and reason1 does really exist47#a7 ,the existence of this condition of the intellect will be demonstrated first on the evidence of the statements of civilised observers1 next on the evidence of the savage institutions in which it is embodied4 7#a7 ,creuzer and ,guigniaut1 vol4 i4 p4 #aaa4 ,the opinion of ,mr4 ,tylor is naturally of great value1 as it is formed on as wide an acquaintance with the views of the lower races as any inquirers can hope to possess4 ,mr4 ,tylor observes3 ,we have to inform ourselves of the savage man's idea1 which is very different from the civilised man's1 of the nature of the lower animals4444 ,the sense of an absolute psychical distinction between man and beast1 so prevalent in the civilised world1 is hardly to be found among the lower races47#a7 ,the universal attribution of souls to all things--the theory known as ,animism--is another proof that the savage draws no hard and fast line between man and the other things in the world4 ,the notion of the ,italian country-people1 that cruelty to an animal does not matter because it is not a ,christian1 has no parallel in the philosophy of the savage1 to whom all objects seem to have souls1 just as men have4 ,mr4 ,im ,thurn found the absence of any sense of a difference between man and nature a characteristic of his native companions in ,guiana4 ,the very phrase1 ',men and other animals1' or even1 as it is often expressed1 ',men and animals1' based as it is on the superiority which civilised man feels over other animals1 expresses a dichotomy which is in no way recognised by the ,indian4444 ,it is therefore most important to realise how comparatively small really is the difference between men in a state of savagery and other animals1 and how completely even such difference as exists escapes the notice of savage men444 ,it is not1 therefore1 too much to say that1 according to the view of the ,indians1 other animals differ from men only in bodily form and in their various degrees of strength2 in spirit they do not differ at all47#b7 ,the ,indian's notion of the life of plants and stones is on the same level of unreason1 as we moderns reckon reason4 ,he believes in the spirits of rocks and stones1 undeterred by the absence of motion in these objects4 ,not only many rocks1 but also many waterfalls1 streams1 and indeed material objects of every sort1 are supposed each to consist of a body and a spirit1 as does man47#c7 ,it is not our business to ask here how men came by the belief in universal animation4 ,that belief is gradually withdrawn1 distinctions are gradually introduced1 as civilisation and knowledge advance4 ,it is enough for us if the failure to draw a hard and fast line between man and beasts1 stones and plants1 be practically universal among savages1 and if it gradually disappears before the fuller knowledge of civilisation4 ,the report which ,mr4 ,im ,thurn brings from the ,indians of ,guiana is confirmed by what ,schoolcraft says of the ,algonkin races of the northern part of the continent4 ,the belief of the narrators and listeners in every wild and improbable thing told helps wonderfully in the original stories1 in joining all parts together4 ,the ,indian believes that the whole visible and invisible creation is animated4444 ,to make the matter worse1 these tribes believe that animals of the lowest as well as highest class in the chain of creation are alike endowed with reasoning powers and faculties4 ,as a natural conclusion they endow birds1 beasts and all other animals with souls47#d7 ,as an example of the ease with which the savage recognises consciousness and voluntary motion even in stones1 may be cited ,kohl's account of the beliefs of the ,objibeways47#e7 ,nearly every ,indian has discovered1 he says1 an object in which he places special confidence1 and to which he sacrifices more zealously than to the ,great ,spirit4 ,the hope of ,otamigan 7a companion of the traveller7 was a rock1 which once advanced to meet him1 swayed1 bowed and went back again4 ,another ,indian revered a ,canadian larch1 because he once heard a very remarkable rustling in its branches4 ,it thus appears that while the savage has a general kind of sense that inanimate things are animated1 he is a good deal impressed by their conduct when he thinks that they actually display their animation4 ,in the same way a devout modern spiritualist probably regards with more reverence a table which he has seen dancing and heard rapping than a table at which he has only dined4 ,another general statement of failure to draw the line between men and the irrational creation is found in the old ,jesuit missionary ,le ,jeune's ,relations de la ,nouvelle ,france47#f7 ,les sauvages se persuadent que non seulement les hommes et les autres animaux1 mais aussi que toutes les autres choses sont animees4 ,again3 ,ils tiennent les poissons raisonnables1 comme aussi les cerfs4 ,in the ,solomon ,islands1 ,mr4 ,romilly sailed with an old chief who used violent language to the waves when they threatened to dash over the boat1 and old ,takki's exhortations were successful47#g7 ,waitz7#h7 discovers the same attitude towards the animals among the negroes4 ,man1 in their opinion1 is by no means a separate sort of person on the summit of nature and high above the beasts2 these he rather regards as dark and enigmatic beings1 whose life is full of mystery1 and which he therefore considers now as his inferiors1 now as his superiors4 ,a collection of evidence as to the savage failure to discriminate between human and non-human1 animate and inanimate1 has been brought together by ,sir ,john ,lubbock47#i7 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #afg-afi4 7#b7 ,among the ,indians of ,guiana 7#ahhc71 p4 #cej4 7#c7 ,op4 ,cit41 #cee4 7#d7 ,schoolcraft1 ,algic ,researches1 i4 #da4 7#e7 ,kohl1 ,wanderings ,round ,lake ,superior1 pp4 #eh1 #ei2 ,muller1 ,amerikan ,urrelig41 pp4 #fb-fg4 7#f7 #afcf1 p4 #aji4 7#g7 ,western ,pacific1 p4 #hd4 7#h7 ,anthropologie der ,natur-,volker1 ii4 #agg4 7#i7 ,origin of ,civilisation1 p4 #cc4 ,a number of examples of this mental attitude among the ,bushmen will be found in chap4 v41 postea4 ,to a race accustomed like ourselves to arrange and classify1 to people familiar from childhood and its games with vegetable1 animal and mineral1 a condition of mind in which no such distinctions are drawn1 any more than they are drawn in ,greek or ,brahmanic myths1 must naturally seem like what ,mr4 ,max ,muller calls temporary insanity4 ,the imagination of the savage has been defined by ,mr4 ,tylor as midway between the conditions of a healthy1 prosaic1 modern citizen1 and of a raving fanatic1 or of a patient in a fever-ward4 ,if any relics of such imagination survive in civilised mythology1 they will very closely resemble the productions of a once universal temporary insanity4 ,let it be granted1 then1 that to the lower tribes of man1 sun and stars1 trees and rivers1 winds and clouds1 become personal1 animate creatures1 leading lives conformed to human or animal analogies1 and performing their special functions in the universe with the aid of limbs like beasts1 or of artificial instruments like men2 or that what men's eyes behold is but the instrument to be used or the material to be shaped1 while behind it there stands some prodigious but yet half-human creature1 who grasps it with his hands or blows it with his breath4 ,the basis on which such ideas as these are built is not to be narrowed down to poetic fancy and transformed metaphor4 ,they rest upon a broad philosophy of nature2 early and crude1 indeed1 but thoughtful1 consistent1 and quite really and seriously meant47#a7 7#a7 ,primtive ,culture1 i4 #bhe4 ,for the sake of illustration1 some minor examples must next be given of this confusion between man and other things in the world1 which will presently be illustrated by the testimony of a powerful and long diffused set of institutions4 ,the ,christian ,quiches of ,guatemala believe that each of them has a beast as his friend and protector1 just as in the ,highlands the dog is the friend of the ,maclaines4 ,when the ,finns1 in their epic poem the ,kalewala1 have killed a bear1 they implore the animal to forgive them4 ,oh1 ,ot-so1 chant the singers1 be not angry that we come near thee4 ,the bear1 the honey-footed bear1 was born in lands between sun and moon1 and he died1 not by men's hands1 but of his own will47#a7 ,the ,red ,men of ,north ,america7#b7 have a tradition showing how it is that the bear does not die1 but1 like ,herodotus with the sacred stories of the ,egyptian priests1 ,mr4 ,schoolcraft cannot induce himself to write it out47#c7 ,it is a most curious fact that the natives of ,australia tell a similar tale of ,,their native bear4 ,he did not die when attacked by men47#d7 ,in parts of ,australia it is a great offence to skin the native bear1 just as on a part of the west coast of ,ireland1 where seals are superstitiously regarded1 the people cannot be bribed to skin them4 ,in ,new ,caledonia1 when a child tries to kill a lizard1 the men warn him to beware of killing his own ancestor47#e7 ,the ,zulus spare to destroy a certain species of serpents1 believed to be the spirits of kinsmen1 as the great snake which appeared when ,aeneas did sacrifice was held to be the ghost of ,anchises4 ,mexican women7#f7 believed that children born during an eclipse turn into mice4 ,in ,australia the natives believe that the wild dog has the power of speech2 whoever listens to him is petrified2 and a certain spot is shown where the wild dog spoke and turned the men into stone27#g7 and the blacks run for their lives as soon as the dog begins to speak4 ,what it said was ,bones4 7#a7 ,kalewala1 in ,la ,finlande1 ,leouzon ,le ,duc 7#ahde71 vol4 ii4 p4 #ajj2 cf4 also the ,introduction4 7#b7 ,schoolcraft1 v4 #dbj4 7#c7 ,see similar ceremonies propitiatory of the bear in ,jewett's ,adventures among the ,nootkas1 ,edinburgh1 #ahbd4 7#d7 ,brough ,smyth1 i4 #ddi4 7#e7 ,j4 ,j4 ,atkinson's ,,ms4 7#f7 ,sahagun1 ii4 viii4 #bej2 ,bancroft1 iii4 #aaa4 ,compare stories of women who give birth to animals in ,melusine1 #ahhf1 ,august-,november4 ,the ,batavians believe that women1 when delivered of a child1 are frequently delivered at the same time of a young crocodile as a twin4 ,hawkesworth's ,voyages1 iii4 #gef4 ,liebrecht1 ,zur ,volkskunde1 p4 #ag et seq4 7#g7 ,brough ,smyth1 ,aborigines of ,victoria1 i4 #dig4 ,these are minor examples of a form of opinion which is so strong that it is actually the chief constituent in savage society4 ,that society1 whether in ,ashantee or ,australia1 in ,north ,america or ,south ,africa1 or ,north ,asia or ,india1 or among the wilder tribes of ancient ,peru1 is based on an institution generally called totemism4 ,this very extraordinary institution1 whatever its origin1 cannot have arisen except among men capable of conceiving kinship and all human relationships as existing between themselves and all animate and inanimate things4 ,it is the rule1 and not the exception1 that savage societies are founded upon this belief4 ,the political and social conduct of the backward races is regulated in such matters as blood-feud and marriage by theories of the actual kindred and connection by descent1 or by old friendship1 which men have in common with beasts1 plants1 the sun and moon1 the stars1 and even the wind and the rain4 ,now1 in whatever way this belief in such relations to beasts and plants may have arisen1 it undoubtedly testifies to a condition of mind in which no hard and fast line was drawn between man and animate and inanimate nature4 ,the discovery of the wide distribution of the social arrangements based on this belief is entirely due to ,mr4 ,j4 ,f4 ,m',lennan1 the author of ,primitive ,marriage4 ,mr4 ,m',lennan's essays 7,the ,worship of ,plants and ,animals1 ,totems and ,totemism7 were published in the ,fortnightly ,review1 #ahfi-ga4 ,any follower in the footsteps of ,mr4 ,m',lennan has it in his power to add a little evidence to that originally set forth1 and perhaps to sift the somewhat uncritical authorities adduced47#a7 7#a7 ,see also ,mr4 ,frazer's ,totemism1 and ,golden ,bough1 with chapter on ,totemism in ,modern ,mythology4 ,the name ,totemism or ,totamism was first applied at the end of the last century by ,long7#a7 to the ,red ,indian custom which acknowledges human kinship with animals4 ,this institution had already been recognised among the ,iroquois by ,lafitau17#b7 and by other observers4 ,as to the word totem1 ,mr4 ,max ,muller7#c7 quotes an opinion that the interpreters1 missionaries1 ,government inspectors1 and others who apply the name totem to the ,indian family mark must have been ignorant of the ,indian languages1 for there is in them no such word as totem4 ,the right word1 it appears1 is otem2 but as totemism has the advantage of possessing the ground1 we prefer to say totemism rather than otemism4 ,the facts are the same1 whatever name we give them4 ,as ,mr4 ,muller says himself17#d7 every warrior has his crest1 which is called his totem27#e7 and he goes on to describe a totem of an ,indian who died about #agic4 ,we may now return to the consideration of otemism or totemism4 ,we approach it rather as a fact in the science of mythology than as a stage in the evolution of the modern family system4 ,for us totemism is interesting because it proves the existence of that savage mental attitude which assumes kindred and alliance between man and the things in the world4 ,as will afterwards be seen1 totemism has also left its mark on the mythologies of the civilised races4 ,we shall examine the institution first as it is found in ,australia1 because the ,australian form of totemism shows in the highest known degree the savage habit of confusing in a community of kinship men1 stars1 plants1 beasts1 the heavenly bodies1 and the forces of ,nature4 ,when this has once been elucidated1 a shorter notice of other totemistic races will serve our purpose4 7#a7 ,voyages and ,travels1 #agia4 7#b7 ,moeurs des ,sauvages 7#agbd71 p4 #dfa4 7#c7 ,academy1 ,december #ae1 #ahhc4 7#d7 ,selected ,essays 7#ahha71 ii4 #cgf4 7#e7 ,compare ,mr4 ,max ,muller's ,contributions to the ,science of ,mythology4 ,the society of the ,murri or black fellows of ,australia is divided into local tribes1 each of which possesses1 or used to possess1 and hunt over a considerable tract of country4 ,these local tribes are united by contiguity1 and by common local interests1 but not necessarily by blood kinship4 ,for example1 the ,port ,mackay tribe1 the ,mount ,gambier tribe1 the ,ballarat tribe1 all take their names from their district4 ,in the same way we might speak of the people of ,strathclyde or of ,northumbria in early ,english history4 ,now1 all these local tribes contain an indefinite number of stocks of kindred1 of men believing themselves to be related by the ties of blood and common descent4 ,that descent the groups agree in tracing1 not from some real or idealised human parent1 but from some animal1 plant1 or other natural object1 as the kangaroo1 the emu1 the iguana1 the pelican1 and so forth4 ,persons of the pelican stock in the north of ,queensland regard themselves as relations of people of the same stock in the most southern parts of ,australia4 ,the creature from which each tribe claims descent is called of the same flesh1 while persons of another stock are fresh flesh4 ,a native may not marry a woman of his own flesh2 it is only a woman of fresh or strange flesh he may marry4 ,a man may not eat an animal of his own flesh2 he may only eat strange flesh4 ,only under great stress of need will an ,australian eat the animal which is the flesh-and-blood cousin and protector of his stock47#a7 7,these rules of marriage and blood1 however1 do not apply among the ,arunta of ,central ,australia1 whose ,totems 7if ,totems they should be called7 have been developed on very different lines47#b77 ,clearer evidence of the confusion between man and beast1 of the claiming of kin between man and beast1 could hardly be4 7#a7 ,dawson1 ,aborigines1 pp4 #bf1 #bg2 ,howitt and ,fison1 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #afi4 7#b7 ,spencer and ,gillen1 ,native ,tribes of ,central ,australia4 ,but the ,australian philosophy of the intercommunion of ,nature goes still farther than this4 ,besides the local divisions and the kindred stocks which trace their descent from animals1 there exist among many ,australian tribes divisions of a kind still unexplained4 ,for example1 every man of the ,mount ,gambier local tribe is by birth either a ,kumite or a ,kroki4 ,this classification applies to the whole of the sensible universe4 ,thus smoke and honeysuckle trees belong to the division ,kumite1 and are akin to the fishhawk stock of men4 ,on the other hand1 the kangaroo1 summer1 autumn1 the wind and the shevak tree belong to the division ,kroki1 and are akin to the black cockatoo stock of men4 ,any human member of the ,kroki division has thus for his brothers the sun1 the wind1 the kangaroo1 and the rest2 while any man of the ,kumite division and the crow surname is the brother of the rain1 the thunder1 and the winter4 ,this extraordinary belief is not a mere idle fancy--it influences conduct4 ,a man does not kill or use as food any of the animals of the same subdivision 7,kroki or ,kumite7 with himself1 excepting when hunger compels1 and then they express sorrow for having to eat their wingong 7friends7 or tumanang 7their flesh74 ,when using the last word they touch their breasts1 to indicate the close relationship1 meaning almost a portion of themselves4 ,to illustrate3 ,one day one of the blacks killed a crow4 ,three or four days afterwards a ,boortwa 7a man of the crow surname and stock71 named ,larry1 died4 ,he had been ailing for some days1 but the killing of his wingong 7totem7 hastened his death47#a7 ,commenting on this statement1 ,mr4 ,fison observes3 ,the ,south ,australian savage looks upon the universe as the ,great ,tribe1 to one of whose divisions he himself belongs2 and all things1 animate and inanimate1 which belong to his class are parts of the body corporate whereof he himself is part4 ,this account of the ,australian beliefs and customs is borne out1 to a certain extent1 by the evidence of ,sir ,george ,grey17#b7 and of the late ,mr4 ,gideon ,scott ,lang47#c7 ,these two writers take no account of the singular dichotomous divisions1 as of ,kumite and ,kroki1 but they draw attention to the groups of kindred which derive their surnames from animals1 plants1 and the like4 ,the origin of these family names1 says ,sir ,george ,grey1 is attributed by the natives to different causes4444 ,one origin frequently assigned by the natives is1 that they were derived from some vegetable or animal being very common in the district which the family inhabited4 ,we have seen from the evidence of ,messrs4 ,fison and ,howitt that a more common native explanation is based on kinship with the vegetable or plant which bestows the family surname4 ,sir ,george ,gray mentions that the families use their plant or animal as a crest or kobong 7totem71 and he adds that natives never willingly kill animals of their kobong1 holding that some one of that species is their nearest friend4 ,the consequences of eating forbidden animals vary considerably4 ,sometimes the ,boyl-yas 7that is1 ghosts7 avenge the crime4 ,thus when ,sir ,george ,grey ate some mussels 7which1 after all1 are not the crest of the ,greys71 a storm followed1 and one of his black fellow improvised this stave3-- ,oh1 wherefore did he eat the mussels8 ,now the ,boyl-yas storms and thunders make2 ,oh1 wherefore would he eat the mussels8 7#a7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #afi4 7#b7 ,travels1 ii4 #bbe4 7#c7 ,lang1 ,lecture on ,natives of ,australia1 p4 #aj4 ,there are two points in the arrangements of these stocks of kindred named from plants and animals which we shall find to possess a high importance4 ,no member of any such kindred may marry a woman of the same name and descended from the same object47#a7 ,thus no man of the ,emu stock may marry an ,emu woman2 no ,blacksnake may marry a ,blacksnake woman1 and so forth4 ,this point is very strongly put by ,mr4 ,dawson1 who has had much experience of the blacks4 ,so strictly are the laws of marriage carried out1 that1 should any sign of courtship or affection be observed between those 'of one flesh1' the brothers or male relatives of the woman beat her severely4 ,if the incestuous pair 7though not in the least related according to our ideas7 run away together1 they are half-killed2 and if the woman dies in consequence of her punishment1 her partner in iniquity is beaten again4 ,no eric or blood-fine of any kind is paid for her death1 which carries no blood-feud4 ,her punishment is legal47#b7 ,this account fully corroborates that of ,sir ,george ,grey47#c7 7#a7 ,taplin1 ,the ,nerrinyeri4 p4 #b4 ,every tribe1 regarded by them as a family1 has its ngaitge1 or tutelary genius or tribal symbol1 in the shape of some bird1 beast1 fish1 reptile1 insect1 or substance4 ,between individuals of the same tribe no marriage can take place4 ,among the ,narrinyeri kindred is reckoned 7p4 #aj7 on the father's side4 ,see also 7p4 #df7 ngaitge ,samoan aitu4 ,no man or woman will kill their ngaitge1 except with precautions1 for food4 7#b7 ,op4 cit41 p4 #bh4 7#c7 ,ibid41 ii4 #bbj4 ,our conclusion is that the belief in one flesh 7a kinship shared with the animals7 must be a thoroughly binding idea1 as the notion is sanctioned by capital punishment4 ,another important feature in ,australian totemism strengthens our position4 ,the idea of the animal kinship must be an ancient one in the race1 because the family surname1 ,emu1 ,bandicoot1 or what not1 and the crest1 kobong1 or protecting and kindred animal1 are inherited through the mother's side in the majority of stocks4 ,this custom1 therefore1 belongs to that early period of human society in which the woman is the permanent and recognised factor in the family while male parentage is uncertain47#a7 ,one other feature of ,australian totemism must be mentioned before we leave the subject4 ,there is some evidence that in certain tribes the wingong or totem of each man is indicated by a tattooed representation of it upon his flesh4 ,the natives are very licentious1 but men would shrink from an amour with a woman who neither belonged to their own district nor spoke their language1 but who1 in spite of that1 was of their totem4 ,to avoid mistakes1 it seems that some tribes mark the totem on the flesh with incised lines47#b7 ,the natives frequently design figures of some kind on the trees growing near the graves of deceased warriors4 ,some observers have fancied that in these designs they recognised the totem of the dead men2 but on this subject evidence is by no means clear4 ,we shall see that this primitive sort of heraldry1 this carving or painting of hereditary blazons1 is common among the ,red ,men of ,america47#c7 7#a7 ,cf4 ,bachofen1 ,das ,mutterrecht2 ,m',lennan1 ,primitive ,marriage1 passim2 ,encycl4 ,brit4 s4 v4 ,family4 7#b7 ,fison1 op4 cit41 p4 #ff4 7#c7 ,among other recent sources see ,howitt in ,organisation of ,australian ,tribes 7,transactions of ,royal ,society of ,victoria1 #ahhi71 and ,spencer and ,gillen1 ,natives of ,central ,australia4 ,in ,central ,australia there is a marked difference in the form of ,totemism4 ,though a large amount of evidence might be added to that already put forward1 we may now sum up the inferences to be drawn from the study of totemism in ,australia4 ,it has been shown 7#a7 that the natives think themselves actually akin to animals1 plants1 the sun1 and the wind1 and things in general2 7#b7 that those ideas influence their conduct1 and even regulate their social arrangements1 because 7#c7 men and women of the kinship of the same animal or plant may not intermarry1 while men are obliged to defend1 and in case of murder to avenge1 persons of the stock of the family or plant from which they themselves derive their family name4 ,thus1 on the evidence of institutions1 it is plain that the ,australians are 7or before the influence of the ,europeans became prevalent were7 in a state of mind which draws no hard and fast line between man and the things in the world4 ,if1 therefore1 we find that in ,australian myth1 men1 gods1 beasts1 and things all shift shapes incessantly1 and figure in a coroboree dance of confusion1 there will be nothing to astonish us in the discovery4 ,the myths of men in the ,australian intellectual condition1 of men who hold long conversations with the little native bear1 and ask him for oracles1 will naturally and inevitably be grotesque and confused47#a7 7#a7 ,brough ,smyth1 i4 #ddg1 on ,,ms4 authority of ,w4 ,thomas4 ,it is a far cry from ,australia to the ,west ,coast of ,africa1 and it is scarcely to be supposed that the ,australians have borrowed ideas and institutions from ,ashantee1 or that the people of ,ashantee have derived their conceptions of the universe from the ,murri of ,australia4 ,we find1 however1 on the ,west ,african ,coast1 just as we do in ,australia1 that there exist large local divisions of the natives4 ,these divisions are spoken of by ,mr4 ,bowditch 7who visited the country on a mission in #ahag7 as nations1 and they are much more populous and powerful 7as the people are more civilised7 than the local tribes of ,australia4 ,yet1 just as among the local tribes of ,australia1 the nations of the ,west ,african ,coast are divided into stocks of kindred1 each ,,stock having its representatives in each ,,nation4 ,thus an ,ashantee or a ,fantee may belong to the same stock of kindred as a member of the ,assin or ,akini nation4 ,when an ,ashantee of the ,annona stock of kindred meets a ,warsaw man of the same stock they salute and acknowledge each other as brothers4 ,in the same way a ,ballarat man of the ,kangaroo stock in ,australia recognises a relative in a ,mount ,gambier man who is also a ,kangaroo4 ,now1 with one exception1 all the names of the twelve stocks of ,west ,african kindreds1 or at least all of them which ,mr4 ,bowditch could get the native interpreters to translate1 are derived from animals1 plants and other natural objects1 just as in ,australia47#a7 ,thus ,quonna is a buffalo1 ,abrootoo is a cornstalk1 ,abbradi a plantain4 ,other names are1 in ,english1 the parrot1 the wild cat1 red earth1 panther and dog4 ,thus all the natives of this part of ,africa are parrots1 dogs1 buffaloes1 panthers1 and so forth1 just as the ,australians are emus1 iguanas1 black cockatoos1 kangaroos1 and the rest4 ,it is remarkable that there is an ,incra stock1 or clan of ants1 in ,ashantee1 just as there was a race of ,myrmidons1 believed to be descended from or otherwise connected with ants1 in ancient ,greece4 ,though ,bowditch's account of these ,west ,african family divisions is brief1 the arrangement tallies closely with that of ,australia4 ,it is no great stretch of imagination to infer that the ,african tribes do1 or once did1 believe themselves to be of the kindred of the animals whose names they bear47#b7 ,it is more or less confirmatory of this hypothesis that no family is permitted to use as food the animal from which it derives its name4 ,we have seen that a similar rule prevails1 as far as hunger and scarcity of victuals permit it to be obeyed1 among the natives of ,australia4 ,the ,intchwa stock in ,ashantee and ,fantee is particularly unlucky1 because its members may not eat the dog1 much relished by native epicures1 and therefore a serious privation4 ,equally to be pitied were the ancient ,egyptians1 who1 if they belonged to the district of the sheep1 might not eat mutton1 which their neighbours1 the ,lycopolitae1 devoured at pleasure4 ,these restrictions appear to be connected with the almost universal dislike of cannibals to eat persons of their own kindred except as a pious duty4 ,this law of the game in cannibalism has not yet been thoroughly examined1 though we often hear of wars waged expressly for the purpose of securing food 7human meat71 while some ,south ,american tribes actually bred from captive women by way of securing constant supplies of permitted flesh47#c7 ,when we find stocks1 then1 which derive their names from animals and decline to eat these animals1 we may at least ,,suspect that they once claimed kinship with the name-giving beasts4 ,the refusal to eat them raises a presumption of such faith4 ,old ,bosman7#d7 had noticed the same practices4 ,one eats no mutton1 another no goat's flesh1 another no beef1 swine's flesh1 wild fowl1 cocks with white feathers1 and they say their ancestors did so from the beginning of the world4 7#a7 ,the evidence of native interpreters may be viewed with suspicion4 ,it is improbable1 however1 that in #ahag the interpreters were acquainted with the totemistic theory of mythologists1 and deliberately mistranslated the names of the stocks1 so as to make them harmonise with ,indian1 ,australian1 and ,red ,indian totem kindreds4 ,this1 indeed1 is an example where the criterion of recurrence or coincidence seems to be valuable4 ,bowditch's ,mission to ,ashantee 7#ahgc71 p4 #aha4 7#b7 ,this view1 however1 does not prevail among the totemistic tribes of ,british ,columbia1 for example4 7#c7 ,cieza de ,leon 7,hakluyt ,society71 p4 #ej4 ,this amazing tale is supported by the statement that kinship went by the female side 7p4 #di72 the father was thus not of the kin of his child by the alien woman4 ,cieza was with ,validillo in #aech4 7#d7 ,in ,pinkerton1 xvi4 #djj4 ,while in the case of the ,ashantee tribes1 we can only infer the existence of a belief in kinship with the animals from the presence of the other features of fully developed totemism 7especially from the refusal to eat the name-giving animal71 we have direct evidence for the opinion in another part of ,africa1 among the ,bechuanas47#a7 ,casalis1 who passed twenty-three years as a missionary in ,south ,africa1 thus describes the institution3 ,while the united communities usually bear the name of their chief or of the district which they inhabit 7local tribes1 as in ,australia71 each stock 7tribu7 derives its title from an animal or a vegetable4 ,all the ,bechuanas are subdivided thus into ,bakuenas 7crocodile-men71 ,batlapis 7men of the fish71 ,banarer 7of the buffalo71 ,banukus 7porcupines71 ,bamoraras 7wild vines71 and so forth4 ,the ,bakuenas call the crocodile their father1 sing about him in their feasts1 swear by him1 and mark the ears of their cattle with an incision which resembles the open jaws of the creature4 ,this custom of marking the cattle with the crest1 as it were1 of the stock1 takes among some races the shape of deforming themselves1 so as the more to resemble the animal from which they claim descent4 ,the chief of the family which holds the chief rank in the stock is called ',the ,great ,man of the ,crocodile'4 ,precisely in the same way the ,duchess of ,sutherland is styled in ,gaelic ',the ,great ,lady of the ,cat1' though totemism is probably not the origin of this title4 7#a7 ,e4 ,casalis1 ,les ,bassoutos1 #ahei4 ,casalis proceeds3 ,no one would dare to eat the flesh or wear the skin of the animal whose name he bears4 ,if the animal be dangerous--the lion1 for example--people only kill him after offering every apology and asking his pardon4 ,purification must follow such a sacrifice4 ,casalis was much struck with the resemblance between these practices and the similar customs of ,north ,american races4 ,livingstone's account7#a7 on the whole corroborates that of ,casalis1 though he says the ,batau 7tribe of the lion7 no longer exists4 ,they use the word bina 'to dance1' in reference to the custom of thus naming themselves1 so that when you wish to ascertain what tribe they belong to1 you say1 ',what do you dance8' ,it would seem as if this had been part of the worship of old4 ,the mythological and religious knowledge of the ,bushmen is still imparted in dances2 and when a man is ignorant of some myth he will say1 ,i do not dance that dance1 meaning that he does not belong to the guild which preserves that particular sacred chapter47#b7 7#a7 ,missionary ,travels 7#aheg71 p4 #ac4 7#b7 ,orpen1 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 #ahgb4 ,casalis noticed the similarity between ,south ,african and ,red ,indian opinion about kinship with vegetables and beasts4 ,the difficulty in treating the ,red ,indian belief is chiefly found in the abundance of the evidence4 ,perhaps the first person who ever used the word totemism1 or1 as he spells it1 totamism1 was 7as we said7 ,mr4 ,long1 an interpreter among the ,chippeways1 who published his ,voyages in #agia4 ,long was not wholly ignorant of the languages1 as it was his business to speak them1 and he was an adopted ,indian4 ,the ceremony of adoption was painful1 beginning with a feast of dog's flesh1 followed by a ,turkish bath and a prolonged process of tattooing47#a7 ,according to ,long17#b7 ,the totam1 they conceive1 assumes the form of some beast or other1 and therefore they never kill1 hurt1 or eat the animal whose form they think this totam bears4 ,one man was filled with religious apprehensions1 and gave himself up to the gloomy belief of ,bunyan and ,cowper1 that he had committed the unpardonable sin1 because he dreamed he had killed his totem1 a bear47#c7 ,this is only one example1 like the refusal of the ,osages to kill the beavers1 with which they count cousins17#d7 that the ,red ,man's belief is an actual creed1 and does influence his conduct4 7#a7 ,long1 pp4 #df-di4 7#b7 ,ibid41 p4 #hf4 7#c7 ,ibid41 p4 #hg4 7#d7 ,schoolcraft1 i4 #cai4 ,as in ,australia1 the belief in common kin with beasts is most clearly proved by the construction of ,red ,indian society4 ,the totemistic stage of thought and manners prevails4 ,thus ,charlevoix says17#a7 ,plusieurs nations ont chacune trois familles ou tribus principales1 ,,aussi ,,anciennes1 ,a ,,ce ,,qu',,il ,,paroit1 ,,que ,,leur ,,origine4 ,chaque tribu porte le nom d'un animal1 et la nation entiere a aussi le sien1 dont elle prend le nom1 et dont la figure est sa marque1 ou1 se l'on veut1 ses armoiries1 on ne signe point autrement les traites qu'en traceant ces figures4 ,among the animal totems ,charlevoix notices porcupine1 bear1 wolf and turtle4 ,the armoiries1 the totemistic heraldry of the peoples of ,virginia1 greatly interested a heraldic ancestor of ,gibbon the historian17#b7 who settled in the colony4 ,according to ,schoolcraft17#c7 the totem or family badge1 of a dead warrior is drawn in a reverse position on his grave-post4 ,in the same way the leopards of ,england are drawn reversed on the shield of an ,english king opposite the mention of his death in old monkish chronicles4 ,as a general rule17#d7 persons bearing the same totem in ,america cannot intermarry4 ,the union must be between various totems4 ,moreover1 as in the case of the ,australians1 the descent of the chief is in the female line4 ,we thus find among the ,red ,men precisely the same totemistic regulations as among the ,aborigines of ,australia4 ,like the ,australians1 the ,red ,men never 7perhaps we should read hardly ever7 eat their totems4 ,totemists1 in short1 spare the beasts that are their own kith and kin4 ,to avoid multiplying details which all corroborate each other1 it may suffice to refer to ,schoolcraft for totemism among the ,iowas7#e7 and the ,pueblos27#f7 for the ,iroquois1 to ,lafitau1 a missionary of the early part of the eighteenth century4 ,lafitau was perhaps the first writer who ever explained certain features in ,greek and other ancient myths and practices as survivals from totemism4 ,the ,chimera1 a composite creature1 lion1 goat and serpent1 might represent1 ,lafitau thought1 a league of three totem tribes1 just as wolf1 bear and turtle represented the ,iroquois ,league4 7#a7 ,histoire de la ,france-,nouvelle1 iii4 #bff4 7#b7 ,introductio ad ,latinam ,blasoniam1 by ,john ,gibbon1 ,blue ,mantle1 ,london1 #afhb4 ,the dancers1 were painted some party per pale1 gul and sab1 some party per fesse of the same colours2 whence ,gibbon concluded that heraldry was ingrafted naturally into the sense of the humane race4 7#c7 ,vol4 i4 p4 #cef4 7#d7 ,schoolcraft1 v4 #gc4 7#e7 ,ibid41 iii4 #bfh4 7#f7 ,ibid41 iv4 #hf4 ,the martyred ,pere ,rasles1 again1 writing in #agbc17a7 says that one stock of the ,outaonaks claims descent from a hare 7the great hare was a man of prodigious size71 while another stock derive their lineage from the carp1 and a third descends from a bear2 yet they do not scruple1 after certain expiatory rites1 to eat bear's flesh4 ,other ,north ,american examples are the ,kutchin1 who have always possessed the system of totems47#b7 7#a7 ,kip's ,jesuits in ,america i4 #cc4 7#b7 ,dall's ,alaska1 pp4 #aif-aih4 ,it is to be noticed1 as a peculiarity of ,red ,indian totemism which we have not observed 7though it may exist7 in ,africa1 that certain stocks claim relations with the sun4 ,thus ,pere ,le ,petit1 writing from ,new ,orleans in #agcj1 mentions the ,sun1 or great chief of the ,natchez ,indians47#a7 ,the totem of the privileged class among the ,natchez was the sun1 and in all myths the sun is regarded as a living being1 who can have children1 who may be beaten1 who bleeds when cut1 and is simply on the same footing as men and everything else in the world4 ,precisely similar evidence comes from ,south ,america4 ,in this case our best authority is almost beyond suspicion4 ,he knew the native languages well1 being himself a half-caste4 ,he was learned in the ,european learning of his time2 and as a son of the ,incas1 he had access to all surviving ,peruvian stores of knowledge1 and could collect without difficulty the testimonies of his countrymen4 ,it will be seen7#b7 that ,don ,garcilasso de la ,vega could estimate evidence1 and ridiculed the rough methods and fallacious guesses of ,spanish inquirers4 ,garcilasso de la ,vega was born about #aedj1 being the son of an ,inca princess and of a ,spanish conqueror4 ,his book1 ,commentarias ,reales17#c7 was expressly intended to rectify the errors of such ,spanish writers as ,acosta4 ,in his account of ,peruvian religion1 ,garcilasso distinguishes between the beliefs of the tribes previous to the rise of the ,inca empire and the sun-worship of the ,incas4 ,but it is plain1 from ,garcilasso's own account and from other evidence1 that under the ,incas the older faiths and fetichisms survived1 in subordination to sun-worship1 just as ,pagan superstitions survived in custom and folk-lore after the official recognition of ,christianity4 ,sun-worship1 in ,peru1 and the belief in a ,supreme ,creator there1 seem even1 like ,catholicism in ,mexico1 ,china and elsewhere1 to have made a kind of compromise with the lower beliefs1 and to have been content to allow a certain amount of bowing down in the temples of the elder faiths4 ,according1 then1 to ,garcilasso's account of ,peruvian totemism1 ,an ,indian was not looked upon as honourable unless he was descended from a fountain1 river17#d7 or lake1 or even from the sea1 ,,or ,,from ,a ,,wild ,,animal1 such as a bear1 lion1 tiger1 eagle1 or the bird they call cuntur 7condor71 or some other bird of prey 47#e7 ,a certain amount of worship was connected with this belief in kinship with beasts and natural objects4 ,men offered up to their totems what they usually saw them eat47#f7 ,on the seacoasts they worshipped sardines1 skates1 dog-fish1 and1 for want of larger gods1 crabs4444 ,there was not an animal1 how vile and filthy soever1 that they did not worship as a god1 including lizards1 toads and frogs4 ,garcilasso 7who says they ate the fish they worshipped7 gives his own theory of the origin of totemism4 ,in the beginning men had only sought for badges whereby to discriminate one human stock from another4 ,the one desired to have a god different from the other4444 ,they only thought of making one different from another4 ,when the ,inca emperors began to civilise the totemistic stocks1 they pointed out that their own father1 the sun1 possessed splendour and beauty as contrasted with the ugliness and filth of the frogs and other vermin they looked upon as gods47#g7 ,garcilasso1 of course1 does not use the ,north ,american word totem 7or ote or otem7 for the family badge which represented the family ancestors4 ,he calls these things1 as a general rule1 pacarissa4 ,the sun was the pacarissa of the ,incas1 as it was of the chief of the ,natchez4 ,the pacarissa of other stocks was the lion1 bear1 frog1 or what not4 ,garcilasso accounts for the belief accorded to the ,incas1 when they claimed actual descent from the sun1 by observing7#h7 that there were tribes among their subjects who professed similar fabulous descents1 though they did not comprehend how to select ancestors so well as the ,incas1 but adored animals and other low and earthly objects4 ,as to the fact of the ,peruvian worship of beasts1 if more evidence is wanted1 it is given1 among others1 by ,cieza de ,leon17#i7 who contrasts the adoration of the ,roman gods with that offered in ,peru to brutes4 ,in the important temple of ,pacha-camac 7the spiritual deity of ,peru7 they worshipped a she-fox or vixen and an emerald4 ,the devil also appeared to them and spoke in the form of a tiger1 very fierce4 ,other examples of totemism in ,south ,america may be studied in the tribes on the ,amazon47#aj7 ,mr4 ,wallace found the ,pineapple stock1 the ,mosquitoes1 ,woodpeckers1 ,herons1 and other totem kindreds4 ,a curious example of similar ideas is discovered among the ,bonis of ,guiana4 ,these people were originally ,west ,coast ,africans imported as slaves1 who have won their freedom with the sword4 ,while they retain a rough belief in ,gadou 7,god7 and ,didibi 7the devil71 they are divided into totem stocks with animal names4 ,the red ape1 turtle and cayman are among the chief totems47#aa7 7#a7 ,kip1 ii4 #bhh4 7#b7 ,appendix ,b4 7#c7 ,see translation in ,hakluyt ,society's ,collection4 7#d7 ,like many ,greek heroes4 ,odyssey1 iii4 #dhi4 ,orsilochus1 the child begotten of ,alpheus4 7#e7 ,comm4 ,real41 i4 #ge4 7#f7 ,ibid41 #ec4 7#g7 ,ibid41 #ajb4 7#h7 ,ibid41 #hc4 7#i7 ,cieza de ,leon 7,hakluyt ,society71 p4 #ahc4 7#aj7 ,acuna1 p4 #ajc2 ,wallace1 ,travels on ,amazon 7#ahec71 pp4 #dha-ejf4 7#aa7 ,crevaux1 ,voyages dans l',amerique du ,sud1 p4 #ei4 ,after this hasty examination of the confused belief in kinship with animals and other natural objects which underlies institutions in ,australia1 ,west and ,south ,africa1 ,north and ,south ,america1 we may glance at similar notions among the non-,aryan races of ,india4 ,in ,dalton's ,ethnology of ,bengal17#a7 he tells us that the ,garo clans are divided into maharis or motherhoods4 ,children belong to the mahari of the mother1 just as 7in general7 they derive their stock name and totem from the mother's side in ,australia and among the ,north ,american ,indians4 ,no man may marry 7as among the ,red ,indians and ,australians7 a woman belonging to his own stock1 motherhood or mahari4 ,so far the maharis of ,bengal exactly correspond to the totem kindred4 ,but do the ,maharis also take their names from plants and animals1 and so forth8 ,we know that the ,killis1 similar communities among the ,bengal ,hos and ,mundos1 do this47#b7 ,the ,mundaris1 like the ,oraons1 adopt as their tribal distinction the name of some animal1 and the flesh of that animal is tabooed to them as food2 for example1 the eel1 the tortoise4 ,this is exactly the state of things in ,ashanti4 ,dalton mentions also7#c7 a princely family in ,nagpur which claims descent from a great hooded snake4 ,among the ,oraons he found7#d7 tribes which might not eat young mice 7considered a dainty7 or tortoises1 and a stock which might not eat the oil of the tree which was their totem1 nor even sit in its shade4 ,the family or tribal names 7within which they may not marry7 are usually those of animals or plants1 and when this is the case1 the flesh of some part of the animal or the fruit of the tree is tabooed to the tribe called after it4 7#a7 ,dalton1 p4 #fc4 7#b7 ,ibid41 p4 #ahi4 7#c7 ,ibid41 p4 #aff4 7#d7 ,ibid41 p4 #bed4 ,an excellent sketch of totemism in ,india is given by ,mr4 ,h4 ,h4 ,risley of the ,bengal ,civil ,service3--7#a7 7#a7 ,the ,asiatic ,quarterly1 ,no4 #c1 ,essay on ,primitive ,marriage in ,bengal4 ,at the bottom of the social system1 as understood by the average ,hindu1 stands a large body of non-,aryan castes and tribes1 each of which is broken up into a number of what may be called totemistic exogamous septs4 ,each sept bears the name of an animal1 a tree1 a plant1 or of some material object1 natural or artificial1 which the members of that sept are prohibited from killing1 eating1 cutting1 burning1 carrying1 using1 etc47#a7 7#a7 ,here we may note that the origin of exogamy itself is merely part of a strict totemistic prohibition4 ,a man may not use an object within the totem kin1 nor a woman of the kin4 ,compare the ,greek idiom 7,greek text omitted74 ,mr4 ,risley finds that both ,kolarians1 as the ,sonthals1 and ,dravidians1 as the ,oraons1 are in this state of totemism1 like the ,hos and ,mundas4 ,it is most instructive to learn that1 as one of these tribes rises in the social scale1 it sloughs off its totem1 and1 abandoning the common name derived from bird1 beast1 or plant1 adopts that of an eponymous ancestor4 ,a tendency in this direction has been observed by ,messrs4 ,fison and ,howitt even in ,australia4 ,the ,mahilis1 ,koras and ,kurmis1 who profess to be members of the ,hindu community1 still retain the totemistic organisation1 with names derived from birds1 beasts and plants4 ,even the ,jagannathi ,kumhars of ,orissa1 taking rank immediately below the writer-caste1 have the totems tiger1 snake1 weasel1 cow1 frog1 sparrow and tortoise4 ,the sub-castes of the ,khatlya ,kumhars explain away their totem-names as names of certain saints1 who1 being present at ,daksha's ,horse-sacrifice1 transformed themselves into animals to escape the wrath of ,siva1 like the gods of ,egypt when they fled in bestial form from the wrath of ,set4 ,among the non-,aryan tribes the marriage law has the totemistic sanction4 ,no man may marry a woman of his totem kin4 ,when the totem-name is changed for an eponym1 the non-,aryan1 rising in the social scale1 is practically in the same position as the ,brahmans1 divided into exogamous sections 7gotras71 the members of which profess to be descended from the mythical rishi or inspired saint whose name the gotra bears4 ,there is thus nothing to bar the conjecture that the exogamous gotras of the whole ,brahmans were once a form of totem-kindred1 which 7like aspiring non-,aryan stocks at the present day7 dropped the totem-name and renamed the septs from some eponymous hero1 medicine-man1 or ,rishi4 ,constant repetition of the same set of facts becomes irksome1 and yet is made necessary by the legitimate demand for trustworthy and abundant evidence4 ,as the reader must already have reflected1 this living mythical belief in the common confused equality of men1 gods1 plants1 beasts1 rivers1 and what not1 which still regulates savage society17#a7 is one of the most prominent features in mythology4 ,porphyry remarked and exactly described it among the ,egyptians--common and akin to men and gods they believed the beasts to be47#b7 ,the belief in such equality is alien to modern civilisation4 ,we have shown that it is common and fundamental in savagery4 ,for instance1 in the ,pacific1 we might quote ,turner17#c7 and for ,melanesia1 ,codrington17#d7 while for ,new ,zealand we have ,taylor47#e7 ,for the ,jakuts1 along the banks of the ,lena in ,northern ,asia1 we have the evidence of ,strahlenberg1 who writes3 ,each tribe of these people look upon some particular creature as sacred1 e4g41 a swan1 goose1 raven1 etc41 and such is not eaten by that tribe though the others may eat it47#f7 ,as the majority of our witnesses were quite unaware that the facts they described were common among races of whom many of them had never even heard1 their evidence may surely be accepted as valid1 especially as the beliefs testified to express themselves in marriage laws1 in the blood-feud1 in abstinence from food1 on pillars over graves1 in rude heraldry1 and in other obvious and palpable shapes4 ,if we have not made out1 by the evidence of institutions1 that a confused credulity concerning the equality and kinship of man and the objects in nature is actually a ruling belief among savages1 and even higher races1 from the ,lena to the ,amazon1 from the ,gold ,coast to ,queensland1 we may despair of ever convincing an opponent4 ,the survival of the same beliefs and institutions among civilised races1 ,aryan and others1 will later be demonstrated47#g7 ,if we find that the mythology of civilised races here agrees with the actual practical belief of savages1 and if we also find that civilised races retain survivals of the institutions in which the belief is expressed by savages1 then we may surely infer that the activity of beasts in the myths of ,greece springs from the same sources as the similar activity of beasts in the myths of ,iroquois or ,kaffirs4 ,that is to say1 part of the irrational element in ,greek myth will be shown to be derived 7whether by inheritance or borrowing7 from an ascertained condition of savage fancy4 7#a7 ,see some very curious and disgusting examples of this confusion in ,liebrecht's ,zur ,volkskunde1 pp4 #cie1 #cif 7,heilbronn1 #ahgi74 7#b7 ,de ,abst41 ii4 #bf4 7#c7 ,nineteen ,years in ,polynesia1 p4 #bch1 and ,samoa by the same author4 ,complete totemism is not asserted here1 and is denied for ,melanesia4 7#d7 ,journ4 ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,religious ,practices in ,melanesia4 7#e7 ,new ,zealand1 ,animal ,intermarriage with ,men4 7#f7 ,description of ,asia 7#aghc71 p4 #chc4 7#g7 ,professor ,robertson ,smith1 ,kinship in ,arabia1 attempts to show that totemism existed in the ,semitic races4 ,the topic must be left to ,orientalists4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,mental ,,condition ,,of ,,savages--,,magic--,,metamorphosis--,,m etaphysic--,,psychology4 ,claims of sorcerers--,savage scientific speculation--,theory of causation--,credulity1 except as to new religious ideas--,post hoc1 ergo propter hoc--,fundamental ideas of magic--,examples3 incantations1 ghosts1 spirits--,evidence of rank and other institutions in proof of confusions of mind exhibited in magical beliefs4 ,i mean eftsoons to have a fling at magicians for their abominable lies and monstrous vanities4--,,pliny1 ap4 ,phil4 ,holland4 ,quoy de ceux qui naturellement se changent en loups1 en juments1 et puis encores en hommes8--,,montaigne1 ,apologie pour ,raymond de ,sebonde4 ,the second feature in the savage intellectual condition which we promised to investigate was the belief in magic and sorcery4 ,the world and all the things in it being conceived of vaguely as sensible and rational1 are supposed to obey the commands of certain members of each tribe1 such as chiefs1 jugglers1 or conjurors4 ,these conjurors1 like ,zeus or ,indra1 can affect the weather1 work miracles1 assume what shapes1 animal1 vegetable1 or inorganic1 they please1 and can metamorphose other persons into similar shapes4 ,it has already been shown that savage man has regarded all ,,things as ,,persons much on a level with himself4 ,it has now to be shown ,,what ,,kind ,,of ,,person ,,he ,,conceives ,,himself ,,to ,,be4 ,he does not look on men as civilised races regard them1 that is1 as beings with strict limitations4 ,on the other hand1 he thinks of certain members of his tribe as exempt from most of the limitations1 and capable of working every miracle that tradition has ever attributed to prophets or gods4 ,nor are such miraculous powers1 such practical omnipotence1 supposed by savages to be at all rare among themselves4 ,though highly valued1 miraculous attainments are not believed to be unusual4 ,this must be kept steadily in mind4 ,when myth-making man regards the sky or sun or wind as a person1 he does not mean merely a person with the limitations recognised by modern races4 ,he means a person with the miraculous powers of the medicine-man4 ,the sky1 sun1 wind or other elemental personage can converse with the dead1 and can turn himself and his neighbours into animals1 stones and trees4 ,to understand these functions and their exercise1 it is necessary to examine what may be called savage science1 savage metaphysics1 and the savage theory of the state of the dead4 ,the medicine-man's supernatural claims are rooted in the general savage view of the world1 of what is possible1 and of what 7if anything7 is impossible4 ,the savage1 even more than the civilised man1 may be described as a creature moving about in worlds not realised4 ,he feels1 no less than civilised man1 the need of making the world intelligible1 and he is active in his search for causes and effects4 ,there is much speculation in these eyes that he doth glare withal4 ,this is a statement which has been denied by some persons who have lived with savages4 ,thus ,mr4 ,bates1 in his ,naturalist on the ,amazon17#a7 writes3 ,their want of curiosity is extreme4444 ,vicente 7an ,indian companion7 did not know the cause of thunder and lightning4 ,i asked him who made the sun1 the stars1 the trees4 ,he didn't know1 and had never heard the subject mentioned in his tribe4 ,but ,mr4 ,bates admits that even ,vicente had a theory of the configuration of the world4 ,the necessity of a theory of the earth and water had been felt1 and a theory had been suggested4 ,again1 ,mr4 ,bates says about a certain ,brazilian tribe1 ,their sluggish minds seem unable to conceive or feel the want of a theory of the soul2 and he thinks the cause of this indolence is the lack of a written language or a leisured class4 ,now savages1 as a rule1 are all in the leisured class1 all sportsmen4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 too1 has expressed scepticism about the curiosity attributed to savages4 ,the point is important1 because1 in our view1 the medicine-man's powers are rooted in the savage theory of things1 and if the savage is too sluggish to invent or half consciously evolve a theory of things1 our hypothesis is baseless4 ,again1 we expect to find in savage myths the answer given by savages to their own questions4 ,but this view is impossible if savages do not ask themselves1 and never have asked themselves1 any questions at all about the world4 ,on this topic ,mr4 ,spencer writes3 ,along with absence of surprise there naturally goes absence of intelligent curiosity47#b7 ,yet ,mr4 ,spencer admits that1 according to some witnesses1 the ,dyaks have an insatiable curiosity1 the ,samoans are usually very inquisitive1 and the ,tahitians are remarkably curious and inquisitive4 ,nothing is more common than to find travellers complaining that savages1 in their ardently inquiring curiosity1 will not leave the ,european for a moment to his own undisturbed devices4 ,mr4 ,spencer's savages1 who showed no curiosity1 displayed this impassiveness when ,europeans were trying to make them exhibit signs of surprise4 ,impassivity is a point of honour with many uncivilised races1 and we cannot infer that a savage has no curiosity because he does not excite himself over a mirror1 or when his ,european visitors try to swagger with their mechanical appliances4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer founds1 on the statements of ,mr4 ,bates already quoted1 a notion that the savage1 lacking ability to think and the accompanying desire to know1 is without tendency to speculate4 ,he backs ,mr4 ,bates's experience with ,mungo ,park's failure to draw the negroes about the causes of day and night4 ,they had never indulged a conjecture nor formed an hypothesis on the matter4 ,yet ,park avers that the belief in one ,god is entire and universal among them4 ,this he pronounces without the smallest shadow of doubt4 ,as to primitive man1 according to ,mr4 ,spencer1 the need for explanations about surrounding appearances does not occur to him4 ,we have disclaimed all knowledge about primitive man1 but it is easy to show that ,mr4 ,spencer grounds his belief in the lack of speculation among savages on a frail foundation of evidence4 7#a7 ,vol4 ii4 p4 #afb4 7#b7 ,sociology1 p4 #ih4 ,mr4 ,spencer has admitted speculation1 or at least curiosity1 among ,new ,caledonians1 ,new ,guinea people1 ,dyaks1 ,samoans and ,tahitians4 ,even where he denies its existence1 as among the ,amazon tribes mentioned by ,mr4 ,bates1 we happen to be able to show that ,mr4 ,bates was misinformed4 ,another traveller1 the ,american geologist1 ,professor ,hartt of ,cornell ,university1 lived long among the tribes of the ,amazon4 ,but ,professor ,hartt did not1 like ,mr4 ,bates1 find them at all destitute of theories of things--theories expressed in myths1 and testifying to the intellectual activity and curiosity which demands an answer to its questions4 ,professor ,hartt1 when he first became acquainted with the ,indians of the ,amazon1 knew that they were well supplied with myths1 and he set to work to collect them4 ,but he found that neither by coaxing nor by offers of money could he persuade an ,indian to relate a myth4 ,only by accident1 while wearily paddling up the ,paranamirim of the ,ituki1 did he hear the steersman telling stories to the oarsmen to keep them awake4 ,professor ,hartt furtively noted down the tale1 and he found that by setting the ball rolling1 and narrating a story himself1 he could make the natives throw off reserve and add to his stock of tales4 ,after one has obtained his first myth1 and has learned to recite it accurately and spiritedly1 the rest is easy4 ,the tales published by ,professor ,hartt are chiefly animal stories1 like those current in ,africa and among the ,red ,indians1 and ,hartt even believed that many of the legends had been imported by ,negroes4 ,but as the majority of the ,negro myths1 like those of the ,australians1 give a reason why for the existence of some phenomenon or other1 the argument against early man's curiosity and vivacity of intellect is rather injured1 even if the ,amazonian myths were imported from ,africa4 ,mr4 ,spencer based his disbelief in the intellectual curiosity of the ,amazonian tribes and of ,negroes on the reports of ,mr4 ,bates and of ,mungo ,park4 ,but it turns out that both ,negroes and ,amazonians have stories which do satisfy an unscientific curiosity1 and it is even held that the ,negroes lent the ,amazonians these very stories47#a7 ,the ,kamschadals1 according to ,steller1 give themselves a reason why for everything1 according to their own lively fancy1 and do not leave the smallest matter uncriticised47#b7 ,as far1 then1 as ,mr4 ,spencer's objections apply to existing savages1 we may consider them overweighed by the evidence1 and we may believe in a naive savage curiosity about the world and desire for explanations of the causes of things4 ,mr4 ,tylor's opinion corroborates our own3 ,man's craving to know the causes at work in each event he witnesses1 the reasons why each state of things he surveys is such as it is and no other1 is no product of high civilisation1 but a characteristic of his race down to its lowest stages4 ,among rude savages it is already an intellectual appetite1 whose satisfaction claims many of the moments not engrossed by war or sport1 food or sleep4 ,even in the ,botocudo or the ,australian1 scientific speculation has its germ in actual experience47#c7 ,it will be shown later that the food of the savage intellectual appetite is offered and consumed in the shape of explanatory myths4 7#a7 ,see ,amazonian ,tortoise-,myth41 pp4 #e1 #cg1 #dj2 and compare ,mr4 ,harris's ,preface to ,nights with ,uncle ,remus4 7#b7 ,steller1 p4 #bfg4 ,cf4 ,farrer's ,primitive ,manners1 p4 #bgd4 7#c7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #cfi4 ,but we must now observe that the actual experience1 properly so called1 of the savage is so limited and so coloured by misconception and superstition1 that his knowledge of the world varies very much from the conceptions of civilised races4 ,he seeks an explanation1 a theory of things1 based on his experience4 ,but his knowledge of physical causes and of natural laws is exceedingly scanty1 and he is driven to fall back upon what we may call metaphysical1 or1 in many cases supernatural explanations4 ,the narrower the range of man's knowledge of physical causes1 the wider is the field which he has to fill up with hypothetical causes of a metaphysical or supernatural character4 ,these supernatural causes themselves the savage believes to be matters of experience4 ,it is to his mind a matter of experience that all nature is personal and animated2 that men may change shapes with beasts2 that incantations and supernatural beings can cause sunshine and storm4 ,a good example of this is given in ,charlevoix's work on ,french ,canada47#a7 ,charlevoix was a ,jesuit father and missionary among the ,hurons and other tribes of ,north ,america4 ,he thus describes the philosophy of the ,red ,men3 ,the ,hurons attribute the most ordinary effects to supernatural causes47#b7 ,in the same page the good father himself attributes the welcome arrival of rainy weather and the cure of certain savage patients to the prayers of ,pere ,brebeuf and to the exhibition of the sacraments4 ,charlevoix had considerably extended the field in which natural effects are known to be produced by natural causes4 ,he was much more scientifically minded than his savage flock1 and was quite aware that an ordinary clock with a pendulum cannot bring bad luck to a whole tribe1 and that a weather-cock is not a magical machine for securing unpleasant weather4 ,the ,hurons1 however1 knowing less of natural causes and nothing of modern machinery1 were as convinced that his clock was ruining the luck of the tribe and his weather-cock spoiling the weather1 as ,father ,charlevoix could be of the truth of his own inferences4 ,one or two other anecdotes in the good father's history and letters help to explain the difference between the philosophies of wild and of ,christian men4 ,the ,pere ,brebeuf was once summoned at the instigation of a ,huron wizard or medicine-man before a council of the tribe4 ,his judges told the father that nothing had gone right since he appeared among them4 ,to this ,brebeuf replied by drawing the attention of the savages to the absurdity of their principles4 ,he admitted7#c7 the premise that nothing had turned out well in the tribe since his arrival4 ,but the reason1 said he1 plainly is that ,god is angry with your hardness of heart4 ,no sooner had the good father thus demonstrated the absurdity of savage principles of reasoning1 than the malignant ,huron wizard fell down dead at his feet6 ,this event naturally added to the confusion of the savages4 7#a7 ,histoire de la ,france-,nouvelle4 7#b7 ,vol4 i4 p4 #aia4 7#c7 ,vol4 i4 p4 #aib4 ,coincidences of this sort have a great effect on savage minds4 ,catlin1 the friend of the ,mandan tribe1 mentions a chief who consolidated his power by aid of a little arsenic1 bought from the whites4 ,the chief used to prophesy the sudden death of his opponents1 which always occurred at the time indicated4 ,the natural results of the administration of arsenic were attributed by the barbarous people to supernatural powers in the possession of the chief47#a7 ,thus the philosophy of savages seeks causas cognoscere rerum1 like the philosophy of civilised men1 but it flies hastily to a hypothesis of supernatural causes which are only guessed at1 and are incapable of demonstration4 ,this frame of mind prevails still in civilised countries1 as the ,bishop of ,nantes showed when1 in #ahdf1 he attributed the floods of the ,loire to the excesses of the press and the general disregard of ,sunday4 ,that supernatural causes exist and may operate1 it is not at all our intention to deny4 ,but the habit of looking everywhere for such causes1 and of assuming their interference at will1 is the main characteristic of savage speculation4 ,the peculiarity of the savage is that he thinks human agents can work supernaturally1 whereas even the ,bishop reserved his supernatural explanations for the ,deity4 ,on this belief in man's power to affect events beyond the limits of natural possibility is based the whole theory of ,,magic1 the whole power of sorcerers4 ,that theory1 again1 finds incessant expression in myth1 and therefore deserves our attention4 7#a7 ,catlin1 ,letters1 ii4 #aag4 ,the theory requires for its existence an almost boundless credulity4 ,this credulity appears to ,europeans to prevail in full force among savages4 ,bosman is amazed by the ,african belief that a spider created the world4 ,moffat is astonished at the ,south ,african notion that the sea was accidentally created by a girl4 ,charlevoix says1 ,les sauvages sont d'une facilite a croire ce qu'on leur dit1 que les plus facheuse experiences n'ont jamais pu guerir47#a7 ,but it is a curious fact that while savages are1 as a rule1 so credulous1 they often laugh at the religious doctrines taught them by missionaries4 ,elsewhere they recognise certain essential doctrines as familiar forms of old4 ,dr4 ,moffat remarks1 ,to speak of the ,creation1 the ,fall and the ,resurrection1 seemed more fabulous1 extravagant and ludicrous to them than their own vain stories of lions and hyaenas4 ,again1 ,the ,gospel appeared too preposterous for the most foolish to believe47#b7 ,while the ,zulus declared that they used to accept their own myths without inquiry17#c7 it was a ,zulu who suggested to ,bishop ,colenso his doubts about the historical character of the ,noachian ,deluge4 ,hearne7#d7 knew a ,red ,man1 ,matorabhee1 who1 though a perfect bigot with regard to the arts and tricks of the jugglers1 could yet by no means be impressed with a belief of any part of ,,our religion4 ,lieutenant ,haggard1 ,r4,n41 tells the writer that during an eclipse at ,lamoo he ridiculed the native notion of driving away a beast which devours the moon1 and explained the real cause of the phenomenon4 ,but his native friend protested that he could not be expected to believe such a story4 ,yet other savages aver an old agreement with the belief in a moral ,creator4 7#a7 ,vol4 ii4 p4 #cgh4 7#b7 ,missionary ,labours1 p4 #bde4 7#c7 ,callaway1 ,religion of ,amazulus1 i4 #ce4 7#d7 ,journey among the ,indians1 #agie1 p4 #cej4 ,we have already seen sufficient examples of credulity in savage doctrines about the equal relations of men and beasts1 stars1 clouds and plants4 ,the same readiness of belief1 which would be surprising in a ,christian child1 has been found to regulate the rudimentary political organisations of grey barbarians4 ,add to this credulity a philosophy which takes resemblance1 or contiguity in space1 or nearness in time as a sufficient reason for predicating the relations of cause and effect1 and we have the basis of savage physical science4 ,yet the metaphysical theories of savages1 as expressed in ,maori1 ,polynesian1 and ,zuni hymns1 often amaze us by their wealth of abstract ideas4 ,coincidence elsewhere stands for cause4 ,post hoc1 ergo propter hoc1 is the motto of the savage philosophy of causation4 ,the untutored reasoner speculates on the principles of the ,egyptian clergy1 as described by ,herodotus47#a7 ,the ,egyptians have discovered more omens and prodigies than any other men2 for when aught prodigious occurs1 they keep good watch1 and write down what follows2 and then1 if anything like the prodigy be repeated1 they expect the same events to follow as before4 ,this way of looking at things is the very essence of superstition4 7#a7 ,,ii4 p4 #hb4 ,savages1 as a rule1 are not even so scientific as the ,egyptians4 ,when an untoward event occurs1 they look for its cause among all the less familiar circumstances of the last few days1 and select the determining cause very much at random4 ,thus the arrival of the ,french missionaries among the ,hurons was coincident with certain unfortunate events2 therefore it was argued that the advent of the missionaries was the cause of the misfortune4 ,when the ,bechuanas suffered from drought1 they attributed the lack of rain to the arrival of ,dr4 ,moffat1 and especially to his beard1 his church bell1 and a bag of salt in his possession4 ,here there was not even the pretence of analogy between cause and effect4 ,some savages might have argued 7it is quite in their style71 that as salt causes thirst1 a bag of salt causes drought2 but no such case could be made out against ,dr4 ,moffat's bell and beard4 ,to give an example from the beliefs of ,english peasants4 ,when a cottage was buried by a little avalanche in #aggb1 the accident was attributed to the carelessness of the cottagers1 who had allowed a light to be taken out of their dwelling in ,christmas-tide47#a7 ,we see the same confusion between antecedence and consequence in time on one side1 and cause and effect on the other1 when the ,red ,indians aver that birds actually bring winds and storms or fair weather4 ,they take literally the sense of the ,rhodian swallow-song3-- ,the swallow hath come1 ,bringing fair hours1 ,bringing fair seasons1 ,on black back and white breast47#b7 7#a7 ,shropshire ,folk-,lore1 by ,miss ,burne1 iii4 #dja4 7#b7 ,brinton1 ,myths of ,new ,world1 p4 #ajg4 ,again1 in the ,pacific the people of one island always attribute hurricanes to the machinations of the people of the nearest island to windward4 ,the wind comes from them2 therefore 7as their medicine-men can notoriously influence the weather71 they must have sent the wind4 ,this unneighbourly act is a casus belli1 and through the whole of a group of islands the banner of war1 like the flag of freedom in ,byron1 flies against the wind4 ,the chief principle1 then1 of savage science is that antecedence and consequence in time are the same as effect and cause47#a7 ,again1 savage science holds that ,,like ,,affects ,,like1 that you can injure a man1 for example1 by injuring his effigy4 ,on these principles the savage explains the world to himself1 and on these principles he tries to subdue to himself the world4 ,now the putting of these principles into practice is simply the exercise of art magic1 an art to which nothing seems impossible4 ,the belief that his ,shamans or medicine-men practise this art is universal among savages4 ,it seriously affects their conduct1 and is reflected in their myths4 7#a7 ,see account of ,zuni metaphysics in chapter on ,american ,divine ,myths4 ,the one general rule which governs all magical reasoning is1 that casual connection in thought is equivalent to causative connection in fact4 ,like suggests like to human thought by association of ideas2 wherefore like influences like1 or produces analogous effects in practice4 ,any object once in a man's possession1 especially his hair or his nails1 is supposed to be capable of being used against him by a sorcerer4 ,the part suggests the whole4 ,a lock of a man's hair was part of the man2 to destroy the hair is to destroy its former owner4 ,again1 whatever event follows another in time suggests it1 and may have been caused by it4 ,accompanying these ideas is the belief that nature is peopled by invisible spiritual powers1 over which magicians and sorcerers possess influence4 ,the magic of the lower races chiefly turns on these two beliefs4 ,first1 man having come to associate in thought those things which he found by experience to be connected in fact1 proceeded erroneously to invert their action1 and to conclude that association in thought must involve similar connection in reality4 ,he thus attempted to discover1 to foretell1 and to cause events1 by means of processes which we now see to have only an ideal significance47#a7 ,secondly1 man endeavoured to make disembodied spirits of the dead1 or any other spirits1 obedient to his will4 ,savage philosophy presumes that the beliefs are correct1 and that their practical application is successful4 ,examples of the first of the two chief magical ideas are as common in unscientific modern times or among unscientific modern people as in the savage world4 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #ad4 ,the physicians of the age of ,charles ,,ii4 were wont to give their patients mummy powder1 that is1 pulverised mummy4 ,they argued that the mummy had lasted for a very long time1 and that the patients ought to do so likewise4 ,pliny imagined that diamonds must be found in company with gold1 because these are the most perfect substances in the world1 and like should draw to like4 ,aurum potabile1 or drinkable gold1 was a favourite medical nostrum of the ,middle ,ages1 because gold1 being perfect1 should produce perfect health4 ,among savages the belief that like is caused by like is exemplified in very many practices4 ,the ,new ,caledonians1 when they wish their yam plots to be fertile1 bury in them with mystic ceremonies certain stones which are naturally shaped like yams4 ,the ,melanesians have reduced this kind of magic to a system4 ,among them certain stones have a magical efficacy1 which is determined in each case by the shape of the stone4 ,a stone in the shape of a pig1 of a bread-fruit1 of a yam1 was a most valuable find4 ,no garden was planted without the stones which were to increase the crop47#a7 ,stones with a rude resemblance to beasts bring the ,zuni luck in the chase4 7#a7 ,rev4 ,r4 ,h4 ,codrington1 ,journ4 ,anth4 ,inst41 ,february1 #ahha4 ,the spiritual theory in some places is mixed up with the like to like theory1 and the magical stones are found where the spirits have been heard twittering and whistling4 ,a large stone lying with a number of small ones under it1 like a sow among her sucklings1 was good for a childless woman47#a7 ,it is the savage belief that stones reproduce their species1 a belief consonant with the general theory of universal animation and personality4 ,the ancient belief that diamonds gendered diamonds is a survival from these ideas4 ,a stone with little disks upon it was good to bring in money2 any fanciful interpretation of a mark was enough to give a character to the stone and its associated ,vui or spirit in ,melanesia4 ,in ,scotland1 stones shaped like various parts of the human body are expected to cure the diseases with which these members may be afflicted4 ,these stones were called by the names of the limbs which they represented1 as 'eye-stone1' 'head-stone'4 ,the patient washed the affected part of the body1 and rubbed it well with the stone corresponding47#b7 7#a7 ,codrington1 ,journ4 ,anth4 ,soc41 x4 iii4 #bgf4 7#b7 ,gregor1 ,folk-,lore of ,north-,east ,counties1 p4 #dj4 ,to return from ,european peasant-magic to that of savages1 we find that when the ,bushmen want wet weather they light fires1 believing that the black smoke clouds will attract black rain clouds2 while the ,zulus sacrifice black cattle to attract black clouds of rain47#a7 ,though this magic has its origin in savage ignorance1 it survives into civilisation4 ,thus the sacrifices of the ,vedic age were imitations of the natural phenomena which the priests desired to produce47#b7 ,c'etait un moyen de faire tombre la pluie en realisant1 par les representations terrestres des eaux du nuage et de l'eclair1 les conditions dans lesquelles celui-ci determine dans le ciel l'epanchement de celles-la4 ,a good example of magical science is afforded by the medical practice of the ,dacotahs of ,north ,america47#c7 ,when any one is ill1 an image of his disease1 a boil or what not1 is carved in wood4 ,this little image is then placed in a bowl of water and shot at with a gun4 ,the image of the disease being destroyed1 the disease itself is expected to disappear4 ,compare the magic of the ,philistines1 who made golden images of the sores which plagued them and stowed them away in the ark47#d7 ,the custom of making a wax statuette of an enemy1 and piercing it with pins or melting it before the fire1 so that the detested person might waste as his semblance melted1 was common in mediaeval ,europe1 was known to ,plato1 and is practised by ,negroes4 ,some ,australians take some of the hair of an enemy1 mix it with grease and the feathers of the eagle1 and burn it in the fire4 ,this is bar or black magic4 ,the boarding under the chair of a magistrate in ,barbadoes was lifted not long ago1 and the ground beneath was found covered with wax images of litigants stuck full of pins4 7#a7 ,callaway1 i4 #ib4 7#b7 ,bergaigne1 ,religion ,vedique1 i4 #abf-ach1 i41 vii41 viii4 7#c7 ,schoolcraft1 iv4 #dia4 7#d7 #a ,samuel vi4 #d1 #e4 ,the war-magic of the ,dacotahs works in a similar manner4 ,before a party starts on the war-trail1 the chief1 with various ceremonies1 takes his club and stands before his tent4 ,an old witch bowls hoops at him2 each hoop represents an enemy1 and for each he strikes a foeman is expected to fall4 ,a bowl of sweetened water is also set out to entice the spirits of the enemy47#a7 ,the war-magic of the ,aryans in ,india does not differ much in character from that of the ,dacotahs4 ,if any one wishes his army to be victorious1 he should go beyond the battle-line1 cut a stalk of grass at the top and end1 and throw it against the hostile army with the words1 ,prasahe kas trapasyati8--,o ,prasaha1 who sees thee8 ,if one who has such knowledge cuts a stalk of grass and throws the parts at the hostile army1 it becomes split and dissolved1 just as a daughter-in-law becomes abashed and faints when seeing her father-in-law1--an allusion1 apparently1 to the widespread tabu which makes fathers-in-law1 daughters-in-law1 sons-in-law1 and mothers-in-law avoid each other47#b7 7#a7 ,schoolcraft1 iv4 #dif4 7#b7 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 iii4 #bb4 ,the hunt-dances of the ,red ,indians and ,australians are arranged like their war-magic4 ,effigies of the bears1 deer1 or kangaroos are made1 or some of the hunters imitate the motions of these animals4 ,the rest of the dancers pretend to spear them1 and it is hoped that this will ensure success among the real bears and kangaroos4 ,here is a singular piece of magic in which ,europeans and ,australian blacks agree4 ,boris ,godunoff made his servants swear never to injure him by casting spells with the dust on which his feet or his carriage wheels had left traces47#a7 ,mr4 ,howitt finds the same magic among the ,kurnai47#b7 ,seeing a ,tatungolung very lame1 ,i asked him what was the matter4 ,he said1 ',some fellow has put ,,bottle in my foot'4 ,i found he was probably suffering from acute rheumatism4 ,he explained that some enemy must have found his foot-track and have buried in it a piece of broken bottle4 ,the magic influence1 he believed1 caused it to enter his foot4 ,on another occasion a native told ,mr4 ,howitt that he had seen black fellows putting poison in his foot-tracks4 ,bosman mentions a similar practice among the people of ,guinea4 ,in ,scottish folk-lore a screw nail is fixed into the footprint of the person who is to be injured4 7#a7 ,rambaud's ,history of ,russia1 ,english trans41 i4 #cea4 7#b7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #bej4 ,just as these magical efforts to influence like by like work their way into ,vedic and other religions1 so they are introduced into the religion of the savage4 ,his prayers are addresses to some sort of superior being1 but the efficacy of the prayer is often eked out by a little magic1 unless indeed we prefer to suppose that the words of the supplication are interpreted by gesture-speech4 ,sproat writes3 ,set words and gestures are used according to the thing desired4 ,for instance1 in praying for salmon1 the native rubs the backs of his hands1 looks upwards1 and mutters the words1 ',many salmon1 many salmon'4 ,if he wishes for deer1 he carefully rubs both eyes2 or1 if it is geese1 he rubs the back of his shoulder1 uttering always in a sing-song way the accustomed formula4444 ,all these practices in praying no doubt have a meaning4 ,we may see a steady hand is needed in throwing the salmon-spear1 and clear eyesight in finding deer in the forest47#a7 7#a7 ,savage ,life1 p4 #bjh4 ,in addition to these forms of symbolical magic 7which might be multiplied to any extent71 we find among savages the belief in the power of songs of ,,incantation4 ,this is a feature of magic which specially deserves our attention4 ,in myths1 and still more in marchen or household tales1 we shall constantly find that the most miraculous effects are caused when the hero pronounces a few lines of rhyme4 ,in ,rome1 as we have all read in the ,latin ,delectus1 it was thought that incantations could draw down the moon4 ,in the ,odyssey the kinsfolk of ,odysseus sing a song of healing over the wound which was dealt him by the boar's tusk4 ,jeanne d',arc1 wounded at ,orleans1 refused a similar remedy4 ,sophocles speaks of the folly of muttering incantations over wounds that need the surgeon's knife4 ,the song that salved wounds occurs in the ,kalewala1 the epic poem of the ,finns4 ,in many of ,grimm's marchen1 miracles are wrought by the repetition of snatches of rhyme4 ,this belief is derived from the savage state of fancy4 ,according to ,kohl17#a7 ,every sorrowful or joyful emotion that opens the ,indian's mouth is at once wrapped up in the garb of a wabanonagamowin 7chanson magicale74 ,if you ask one of them to sing you a simple innocent hymn in praise of ,nature1 a spring or jovial hunting stave1 he never gives you anything but a form of incantation1 with which he says you will be able to call to you all the birds from the sky1 and all the foxes and wolves from their caves and burrows47#b7 ,the giant's daughter in the ,scotch marchen1 ,nicht1 ,nought1 ,nothing1 is thus enabled to call to her aid all the birds of the sky4 ,in the same way1 if you ask an ,indian for a love-song1 he will say that a philtre is really much more efficacious4 ,the savage1 in short1 is extremely practical4 ,his arts1 music and drawing1 exist not pour l'art1 but for a definite purpose1 as methods of getting something that the artist wants4 ,the young lover whom ,kohl knew1 like the lover of ,bombyca in ,theocritus1 believed in having an image of himself and an image of the beloved4 ,into the heart of the female image he thrust magic powders1 and he said that this was common1 lovers adding songs1 partly elegiac1 partly malicious1 and almost criminal forms of incantation47#c7 7#a7 ,page #cie4 7#b7 ,cf4 ,comparetti's ,traditional ,poetry of the ,finns4 7#c7 ,kitchi gami1 pp4 #cie1 #cig4 ,among the ,indo-,aryans the masaminik or incantations of the ,red ,man are known as mantras47#a7 ,these are usually texts from the ,veda1 and are chanted over the sick and in other circumstances where magic is believed to be efficacious4 ,among the ,new ,zealanders the incantations are called karakias1 and are employed in actual life4 ,there is a special karakia to raise the wind4 ,in ,maori myths the hero is very handy with his karakia4 ,rocks split before him1 as before girls who use incantations in ,kaffir and ,bushman tales4 ,he assumes the shape of any animal at will1 or flies in the air1 all by virtue of the karakia or incantation47#b7 7#a7 ,muir1 ,sanskrit ,texts1 v4 #dda1 ,incantations from the ,atharva ,veda4 7#b7 ,taylor's ,new ,zealand2 ,theal's ,kaffir ,folk-,lore1 ,south-,african ,folk-,lore ,journal1 passim2 ,shortland's ,traditions of the ,new ,zealanders1 pp4 #acj-ace4 ,without multiplying examples in the savage belief that miracles can be wrought by virtue of physical ,,correspondances1 by like acting on like1 by the part affecting the whole1 and so forth1 we may go on to the magical results produced by the aid of spirits4 ,these may be either spirits of the dead or spiritual essences that never animated mortal men4 ,savage magic or science rests partly on the belief that the world is peopled by a choir invisible1 or rather by a choir only occasionally visible to certain gifted people1 sorcerers and diviners4 ,an enormous amount of evidence to prove the existence of these tenets has been collected by ,mr4 ,tylor1 and is accessible to all in the chapters on ,animism in his ,primitive ,culture4 ,it is not our business here to account for the universality of the belief in spirits4 ,mr4 ,tylor1 following ,lucretius and ,homer1 derives the belief from the reasonings of early men on the phenomena of dreams1 fainting1 shadows1 visions caused by narcotics1 hallucinations1 and other facts which suggest the hypothesis of a separable life apart from the bodily organism4 ,it would scarcely be fair not to add that the kind of facts investigated by the ,psychical ,society--such facts as the appearance of men at the moment of death in places remote from the scene of their decease1 with such real or delusive experiences as the noises and visions in haunted houses--are familiar to savages4 ,without discussing these obscure matters1 it may be said that they influence the thoughts even of some scientifically trained and civilised men4 ,it is natural1 therefore1 that they should strongly sway the credulous imagination of backward races1 in which they originate or confirm the belief that life can exist and manifest itself after the death of the body47#a7 7#a7 ,see the author's ,making of ,religion1 #ahih4 ,some examples of savage ghost-stories1 precisely analogous to the facts of the ,psychical ,society's investigations1 may be adduced4 ,the first is curious because it offers among the ,kanekas an example of a belief current in ,breton folk-lore4 ,the story is vouched for by ,mr4 ,j4 ,j4 ,atkinson1 late of ,noumea1 ,new ,caledonia4 ,mr4 ,atkinson1 we have reason to believe1 was unacquainted with the ,breton parallel4 ,to him one day a ,kaneka of his acquaintance paid a visit1 and seemed loth to go away4 ,he took leave1 returned1 and took leave again1 till ,mr4 ,atkinson asked him the reason of his behaviour4 ,he then explained that he was about to die1 and would never see his ,english friend again4 ,as he seemed in perfect health1 ,mr4 ,atkinson rallied him on his hypochondria2 but the poor fellow replied that his fate was sealed4 ,he had lately met in the wood one whom he took for the ,kaneka girl of his heart2 but he became aware too late that she was no mortal woman1 but a wood-spirit in the guise of the beloved4 ,the result would be his death within three days1 and1 as a matter of fact1 he died4 ,this is the groundwork of the old ,breton ballad of ,le ,sieur ,nan1 who dies after his intrigue with the forest spectre47#a7 ,a tale more like a common modern ghost-story is vouched for by ,mr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,du ,ve1 in ,australia4 ,in the year #ahfj1 a ,maneroo black fellow died in the service of ,mr4 ,du ,ve4 ,the day before he died1 having been ill some time1 he said that in the night his father1 his father's friend1 and a female spirit he could not recognise1 had come to him and said that he would die next day1 and that they would wait for him4 ,mr4 ,du ,ye adds that1 though previously the ,christian belief had been explained to this man1 it had entirely faded1 and that he had gone back to the belief of his childhood4 ,mr4 ,fison1 who prints this tale in his ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai17#b7 adds1 ,i could give many similar instances which have come within my own knowledge among the ,fijians1 and1 strange to say1 the dying man in all these cases kept his appointment with the ghosts to the very day4 7#a7 ,it may1 of course1 be conjectured that the ,french introduced this belief into ,new ,caledonia4 7#b7 ,page #bdg4 ,in the ,cruise of the ,beagle is a parallel anecdote of a ,fuegian1 ,jimmy ,button1 and his father's ghost4 ,without entering into a discussion of ghosts1 it is plain that the kind of evidence1 whatever its value may be1 which convinces many educated ,europeans of the existence of veridical apparitions has also played its part in the philosophy of uncivilised races4 ,on this belief in apparitions1 then1 is based the power of the savage sorcerers and necromants1 of the men who converse with the dead and are aided by disembodied spirits4 ,these men have greatly influenced the beginnings of mythology4 ,among certain ,australian tribes the necromants are called ,birraark47#a7 ,the ,kurnai tell me1 says ,mr4 ,howitt1 that a ,birraark was supposed to be initiated by the ',mrarts 7ghosts7 when they met him wandering in the bush4444 ,it was from the ghosts that he obtained replies to questions concerning events passing at a distance or yet to happen1 which might be of interest or moment to his tribe4 ,mr4 ,howitt prints an account of a spiritual seance in the bush47#b7 ,the fires were let go down4 ,the ,birraark uttered a cry 'coo-ee' at intervals4 ,at length a distant reply was heard1 and shortly afterwards the sound as of persons jumping on the ground in succession4 ,a voice was then heard in the gloom asking in a strange intonation1 ',what is wanted8' ,questions were put by the ,birraark and replies given4 ,at the termination of the seance1 the spirit-voice said1 ',we are going'4 ,finally1 the ,birraark was found in the top of an almost inaccessible tree1 apparently asleep47#c7 ,there was one ,birraark at least to every clan4 ,the ,kurnai gave the name of ,brewin 7a powerful evil spirit7 to a ,birraark who was once carried away for several days by the ,mrarts or spirits47#d7 ,it is a belief with the ,australians1 as1 according to ,bosman1 it was with the people of the ,gold ,coast1 that a very powerful wizard lives far inland1 and the ,negroes held that to this warlock the spirits of the dead went to be judged according to the merit of their actions in life4 ,here we have a doctrine answering to the ,greek belief in the wizard ,minos1 ,aeacus1 and ,rhadamanthus1 and to the ,egyptian idea of ,osiris as judge of the departed47#e7 ,the pretensions of the sorcerer to converse with the dead are attested by ,mr4 ,brough ,smyth47#f7 ,a sorcerer lying on his stomach spoke to the deceased1 and the other sitting by his side received the precious messages which the dead man told4 ,as a natural result of these beliefs1 the ,australian necromant has great power in the tribe4 ,mr4 ,howitt mentions a case in which a group of kindred1 ceasing to use their old totemistic surname1 called themselves the children of a famous dead ,birraark1 who thus became an eponymous hero1 like ,ion among the ,ionians47#g7 ,among the ,scotch ,highlanders the position and practice of the seer were very like those of the ,birraark4 ,a person1 says ,scott17#h7 was wrapped up in the skin of a newly slain bullock and deposited beside a waterfall or at the bottom of a precipice1 or in some other strange1 wild and unusual situation1 where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror4 ,in this situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed and whatever was impressed on him by his exalted imagination ,,passed ,,for ,,the ,,inspiration ,,of ,,the ,,disembodied ,,spirits who haunt these desolate recesses4 ,a number of examples are given in ,martin's ,description of the ,western ,islands47#i7 ,in the ,century magazine 7,july1 #ahhb7 is a very full report of ,thlinkeet medicine-men and metamorphoses4 7#a7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #bec4 7#b7 ,page #bed4 7#c7 ,in the ,jesuit ,relations 7#afcg71 p4 #ea1 we read that the ,red ,indian sorcerer or ,jossakeed was credited with power to vanish suddenly away out of sight of the men standing around him4 ,of him1 as of ,homeric gods1 it might be said1 ,who has power to see him come or go against his will8 7#d7 ,here1 in the first edition1 occurred the following passage3 ,the conception of ,brewin is about as near as the ,kurnai get to the idea of a ,god2 their conferring of his name on a powerful sorcerer is therefore a point of importance and interest4 ,mr4 ,howitt's later knowledge demonstrates an error here4 7#e7 ,bosman in ,pinkerton1 xvi4 p4 #dja4 7#f7 ,aborigines of ,australia1 i4 #aig4 7#g7 ,in ,victoria1 after dark the wizard goes up to the clouds and brings down a good spirit4 ,dawkins1 p4 #eg4 ,for eponymous medicine-men see ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #bca4 7#h7 ,lady of the ,lake1 note #a to ,canto iv4 7#i7 ,p4 #aab4 ,the sorcerer among the ,zulus is1 apparently1 of a naturally hysterical and nervous constitution4 ,he hears the spirits who speak by whistlings speaking to him47#a7 ,whistling is also the language of the ghosts in ,new ,caledonia1 where ,mr4 ,atkinson informs us that he has occasionally put an able-bodied ,kaneka to ignominious flight by whistling softly in the dusk4 ,the ghosts in ,homer make a similar sound1 and even as bats flit gibbering in the secret place of a wondrous cavern1444 even so the souls gibbered as they fared together 7,odyssey1 xxiv4 #e74 ,the familiar spirits make him 7that ,zulu sorcerer7 acquainted with what is about to happen1 and then he divines for the people4 ,as the ,birraarks learn songs and dance-music from the ,mrarts1 so the ,zulu ,inyanga or diviners learn magical couplets from the ,itongo or spirits47#b7 7#a7 ,callaway1 ,religious ,system of the ,amazules1 p4 #bfe4 7#b7 ,on all this1 see ,possession in ,the ,making of ,religion4 ,the evidence of institutions confirms the reports about savage belief in magic4 ,the political power of the diviners is very great1 as may be observed from the fact that a hereditary chief needs their consecration to make him a chief de jure47#a7 ,in fact1 the qualities of the diviner are those which give his sacred authority to the chief4 ,when he has obtained from the diviners all their medicines and information as to the mode of using the isitundu 7a magical vessel71 it is said that he often orders them to be killed4 ,now1 the chief is so far a medicine-man that he is lord of the air4 ,the heaven is the chief's1 say the ,zulus2 and when he calls out his men1 though the heaven is clear1 it becomes clouded by the great wind that arises4 ,other ,zulus explain this as the mere hyperbole of adulation4 ,the word of the chief gives confidence to his troops2 they say1 ',we are going2 the chief has already seen all that will happen in his vessel'4 ,such then are chiefs2 they use a vessel for divination47#b7 ,the makers of rain are known in ,zululand as heaven-herds or sky-herds1 who herd the heaven that it may not break out and do its will on the property of the people4 ,these men are1 in fact1 7,greek text omitted71 cloud-gatherers1 like the ,homeric ,zeus1 the lord of the heavens4 ,their name of herds of the heavens has a ,vedic sound4 ,the herd that herds the lightning1 say the ,zulus1 does the same as the herder of the cattle2 he does as he does by whistling2 he says1 ',tshu-i-i-i4 ,depart and go yonder4 ,do not come here4' ,here let it be observed that the ,zulus conceive of the thunder-clouds and lightning as actual creatures1 capable of being herded like sheep4 ,there is no metaphor or allegory about the matter17#c7 and no forgetfulness of the original meaning of words4 ,the cloud-herd is just like the cowherd1 except that not every man1 but only sorcerers1 and they who have eaten the lightning-bird 7a bird shot near the place where lightning has struck the earth71 can herd the clouds of heaven4 ,the same ideas prevail among the ,bushmen1 where the rainmaker is asked to milk a nice gentle female rain2 the rain-clouds are her hair4 ,among the ,bushmen ,rain is a person4 ,among the ,red ,indians no metaphor seems to be intended when it is said that it is always birds who make the wind1 except that of the east4 ,the ,dacotahs once killed a thunder-bird7#d7 behind ,little ,crow's village on the ,missouri4 ,it had a face like a man with a nose like an eagle's bill47#e7 7#a7 ,callaway1 p4 #cdj4 7#b7 ,callaway1 ,religions ,system of the ,amazules1 p4 #cdc4 7#c7 ,ibid41 p4 #che4 7#d7 ,schoolcraft1 iii4 #dhf4 7#e7 ,compare ,callaway1 p4 #aai4 ,the political and social powers which come into the hands of the sorcerers are manifest1 even in the case of the ,australians4 ,tribes and individuals can attempt few enterprises without the aid of the man who listens to the ghosts4 ,only he can foretell the future1 and1 in the case of the natural death of a member of the tribe1 can direct the vengeance of the survivors against the hostile magician who has committed a murder by bar or magic4 ,among the ,zulus we have seen that sorcery gives the sanction to the power of the chief4 ,the winds and weather are at the command of ,bosman's great fetisher4 ,inland from the ,gold ,coast17#a7 the king of ,loango1 according to the ,abbe ,proyart1 has credit to make rain fall on earth4 ,similar beliefs1 with like political results1 will be found to follow from the superstition of magic among the ,red ,indians of ,north ,america4 ,the difficulty of writing about sorcerers among the ,red ,indians is caused by the abundance of the evidence4 ,charlevoix and the other early ,jesuit missionaries found that the jongleurs1 as ,charlevoix calls the ,jossakeeds or medicine-men1 were their chief opponents4 ,as among the ,scotch ,highlanders1 the ,australians and the ,zulus1 the ,red ,indian jongleur is visited by the spirits4 ,he covers a hut with the skin of the animal which he commonly wears1 retires thither1 and there converses with the bodiless beings47#b7 ,the good missionary like ,mr4 ,moffat in ,africa1 was convinced that the exercises of the ,jossakeeds were verily supernatural4 ,ces seducteurs ont un veritable commerce avec le pere du mensonge47#c7 ,this was denied by earlier and wiser ,jesuit missionaries4 ,their political power was naturally great4 ,in time of war ils avancent et retardent les marches comme il leur plait4 ,in our own century it was a medicine-man1 ,ten ,squa ,ta ,way1 who by his magical processes and superstitious rites stirred up a formidable war against the ,united ,states47#d7 ,according to ,mr4 ,pond17#e7 the native name of the ,dacotah medicine-men1 ,wakan1 signifies men supernaturally gifted4 ,medicine-men are believed to be wakanised by mystic intercourse with supernatural beings4 ,the business of the wakanised man is to discern future events1 to lead and direct parties on the war-trail1 to raise the storm or calm the tempest1 to converse with the lightning or thunder as with familiar friends47#f7 ,the wakanised man1 like the ,australian ,birraark and the ,zulu diviner1 dictates chants and prayers4 ,in battle every ,dacotah warrior looks to the ,wakan man as almost his only resource4 ,belief in ,wakan men is1 ,mr4 ,pond says1 universal among the ,dacotahs1 except where ,christianity has undermined it4 ,their influence is deeply felt by every individual of the tribe1 and controls all their affairs4 ,the ,wakan man's functions are absorbed by the general or war-chief of the tribe1 and in ,schoolcraft 7iv4 #die71 ,captain ,eastman prints copies of native scrolls showing the war-chief at work as a wizard4 ,the war-chief who leads the party to war is always one of these medicine-men4 ,in another passage the medicine-men are described as having a voice in the sale of land4 ,it must be observed that the ,jossakeed1 or medicine-man1 pure and simple1 exercises a power which is not in itself hereditary4 ,chieftainship1 when associated with inheritance of property1 is hereditary2 and when the chief1 as among the ,zulus1 absorbs supernatural power1 then the same man becomes diviner and chief1 and is a person of great and sacred influence4 ,the liveliest account of the performances of the ,maori tohunga or sorcerer is to be found in ,old ,new ,zealand17#g7 by the ,pakeha ,maori1 an ,english gentleman who had lived with the natives like one of themselves4 ,the tohunga1 says this author17#h7 presided over all those services and customs which had something approaching to a religious character4 ,they also pretended to power by means of certain familiar spirits1 to foretell future events1 and even in some cases to control them4444 ,the spirit 'entered into' them1 and1 on being questioned1 gave a response in a sort of half whistling1 half-articulate voice1 supposed to be the proper language of spirits4 ,in ,new ,south ,wales1 ,mrs4 ,langlot ,parker has witnessed a similar exhibition4 ,the spirits told the truth in this case4 ,the ,pakeha ,maori was present in a darkened village-hall when the spirit of a young man1 a great friend of his own1 was called up by a tohunga4 ,suddenly1 without the slightest warning1 a voice came out of the darkness4444 ,the voice all through1 it is to be remembered1 was not the voice of the tohunga1 but a strange melancholy sound1 like the sound of a wind blowing into a hollow vessel4 ',it is well with me2 my place is a good place4' ,the spirit gave an answer to a question which proved to be correct1 and then ',farewell1' cried the spirit ,,from ,,deep ,,beneath ,,the ,,ground4 ',farewell1' again1 ,,from ,,high ,,in ,,air4 ',farewell1' once more came moaning through the distant darkness of the night4 ,as chiefs in ,new ,zealand no less than tohungas can exercise the mystical and magical power of tabu1 that is1 of imparting to any object or person an inviolable character1 and can prevent or remit the mysterious punishment for infringement of tabu1 it appears probable that in ,new ,zealand1 as well as among the ,zulus and ,red ,indians1 chiefs have a tendency to absorb the sacred character and powers of the tohungas4 ,this is natural enough1 for a tohunga1 if he plays his cards well1 is sure to acquire property and hereditary wealth1 which1 in combination with magical influence1 are the necessary qualifications for the office of the chieftain4 7#a7 ,pinkerton1 xvi4 #dja4 7#b7 ,charlevoix1 i4 #aje4 ,see ,savage ,spiritualism in ,cock ,lane and ,common ,sense4 7#c7 ,ibid41 iii4 #cfb4 7#d7 ,catlin1 ii4 #ag4 7#e7 ,in ,schoolcraft1 iv4 #djb4 7#f7 ,pond1 in ,schoolcraft1 iv4 #fdg4 7#g7 ,auckland1 #ahfc4 7#h7 ,page #adh4 ,here is the place to mention a fact which1 though at first sight it may appear to have only a social interest1 yet bears on the development of mythology4 ,property and rank seem to have been essential to each other in the making of social rank1 and where one is absent among contemporary savages1 there we do not find the other4 ,as an example of this1 we might take the case of two peoples who1 like the ,homeric ,ethiopians1 are the outermost of men1 and dwell far apart at the ends of the world4 ,the ,eskimos and the ,fuegians1 at the extreme north and south of the ,american continent1 agree in having little or no private property and no chiefs4 ,yet magic is providing a kind of basis of rank4 ,the bleak plains of ice and rock are1 like ,attica1 the mother of men without master or lord4 ,among the house-mates of the smaller settlements there is no head-man1 and in the larger gatherings ,dr4 ,rink says that still less than among the house-mates was any one belonging to such a place to be considered a chief4 ,the songs and stories of the ,eskimo contain the praises of men who have risen up and killed any usurper who tried to be a ruler over his place-mates4 ,no one could possibly establish any authority on the basis of property1 because superfluous property1 implements1 etc41 rarely existed4 ,if there are three boats in one household1 one of the boats is borrowed by the community1 and reverts to the general fund4 ,if we look at the account of the ,fuegians described in ,admiral ,fitzroy's cruise1 we find a similar absence of rank produced by similar causes4 ,the perfect equality among the individuals composing the tribes must for a long time retard their civilisation4444 ,at present even a piece of cloth is torn in shreds and distributed1 and no one individual becomes richer than another4 ,on the other hand1 it is difficult to understand how a chief can arise till there is property of some sort by which he might manifest and still increase his authority4 ,in the same book1 however1 we get a glimpse of one means by which authority can be exercised4 ,the doctor-wizard of each party has much influence over his companions4 ,among the ,eskimos this element in the growth of authority also exists4 ,a class of wizards called ,angakut have power to cause fine weather1 and1 by the gift of second-sight and magical practices1 can detect crimes1 so that they necessarily become a kind of civil magistrates4 ,these ,angekkok or ,angakut have familiar spirits called ,torngak1 a word connected with the name of their chief spiritual being1 ,torngarsak4 ,the ,torngak is commonly the ghost of a deceased parent of the sorcerer4 ,these men1 says ,egede1 are held in great honour and esteem among this stupid and ignorant nation1 insomuch that nobody dare ever refuse the strictest obedience when they command him in the name of ,torngarsak4 ,the importance and actual existence of belief in magic has thus been attested by the evidence of institutions1 even among ,australians1 ,fuegians and ,eskimos4 ,it is now necessary to pass from examples of tribes who have superstitious respect for certain individuals1 but who have no property and no chiefs1 to peoples who exhibit the phenomenon of superstitious reverence attached to wealthy rulers or to judges4 ,to take the example of ,ireland1 as described in the ,senchus ,mor1 we learn that the chiefs1 just like the ,angakut of the ,eskimos1 had power to make fair or foul weather in the literal sense of the words47#a7 ,in ,africa1 in the same way1 as ,bosman1 the old traveller1 says1 ,as to what difference there is between one negro and another1 the richest man is the most honoured1 yet the most honoured man has the same magical power as the poor ,angakuts of the ,eskimos4 7#a7 ,early ,history of ,institutions1 p4 #aie4 ,in the ,solomon ,islands1 says ,dr4 ,codrington1 there is nothing to prevent a common man from becoming a chief1 if he can show that he has the mana 7supernatural power7 for it47#a7 7#a7 ,journ4 ,anth4 ,inst41 x4 iii4 #bhg1 #cjj1 #cji4 ,though it is anticipating a later stage of this inquiry1 we must here observe that the sacredness1 and even the magical virtues of barbarous chiefs seem to have descended to the early leaders of ,european races4 ,the children of ,odin and of ,zeus were sacred kings4 ,the ,homeric chiefs1 like those of the ,zulus and the ,red ,men1 and of the early ,irish and ,swedes1 exercised an influence over the physical universe4 ,homer7#a7 speaks of a blameless king1 one that fears the gods1 and reigns among many men and mighty1 and the black earth bears wheat and barley1 and the sheep bring forth and fail not1 and the sea gives store of fish1 and all out of his good sovereignty4 7#a7 ,od41 xix4 #aji4 ,the attributes usually assigned by barbarous peoples to their medicine-men have not yet been exhausted4 ,we have found that they can foresee and declare the future2 that they control the weather and the sensible world2 that they can converse with1 visit and employ about their own business the souls of the dead4 ,it would be easy to show at even greater length that the medicine-man has everywhere the power of metamorphosis4 ,he can assume the shapes of all beasts1 birds1 fishes1 insects and inorganic matters1 and he can subdue other people to the same enchantment4 ,this belief obviously rests on the lack of recognised distinction between man and the rest of the world1 which we have so frequently insisted on as a characteristic of savage and barbarous thought4 ,examples of accredited metamorphosis are so common everywhere1 and so well known1 that it would be waste of space to give a long account of them4 ,in ,primitive ,culture7#a7 a cloud of witnesses to the belief in human tigers1 hyaenas1 leopards and wolves is collected47#b7 ,mr4 ,lane7#c7 found metamorphosis by wizards as accredited a working belief at ,cairo as it is among ,abipones1 ,eskimo1 or the people of ,ashangoland4 ,in various parts of ,scotland there is a tale of a witch who was shot at when in the guise of a hare4 ,in this shape she was wounded1 and the same wound was found on her when she resumed her human appearance4 ,lafitau1 early in the last century1 found precisely the same tale1 except that the wizards took the form of birds1 not of hares1 among the ,red ,indians4 ,the birds were wounded by the magical arrows of an old medicine-man1 ,shonnoh ,koui ,eretsi1 and these bolts were found in the bodies of the human culprits4 ,in ,japan1 as we learn from several stories in ,mr4 ,mitford's ,tales of ,old ,japan1 people chiefly metamorphose themselves into foxes and badgers4 ,the sorcerers of ,honduras7#d7 possess the power of transforming men into wild beasts1 and were much feared accordingly4 ,among the ,cakchiquels1 a cultivated people of ,guatemala1 the very name of the clergy1 haleb1 was derived from their power of assuming animal shapes1 which they took on as easily as the ,homeric gods47#e7 ,regnard1 the ,french dramatist1 who travelled among the ,lapps at the end of the seventeenth century 7#afha71 says3 ,they believe witches can turn men into cats2 and again1 ,under the figures of swans1 crows1 falcons and geese1 they call up tempests and destroy ships47#f7 ,among the ,bushmen sorcerers assume the forms of beasts and jackals47#g7 ,dobrizhoffer 7#agag-ia71 a missionary in ,paraguay1 found that sorcerers arrogate to themselves the power of transforming themselves into tigers47#h7 ,he was present when the ,abipones believed that a conversion of this sort was actually taking place3 ,alas1 cried the people1 his whole body is beginning to be covered with tiger-spots2 his nails are growing4 ,near ,loanda1 ,livingstone found that a chief may metamorphose himself into a lion1 kill any one he choses1 and then resume his proper form47#i7 ,among the ,barotse and ,balonda1 while persons are still alive they may enter into lions and alligators47#aj7 ,among the ,mayas of ,central ,america sorcerers could transform themselves into dogs1 pigs and other animals2 their glance was death to a victim47#aa7 ,the ,thlinkeets think that their ,shamans can metamorphose themselves into animals at pleasure2 and a very old raven was pointed out to ,mr4 ,c4 ,e4 ,s4 ,wood as an incarnation of the soul of a ,shaman47#ab7 ,sir ,a4 ,c4 ,lyall finds a similar belief in flourishing existence in ,india4 ,the ,european superstition of the were-wolf is too well known to need description4 ,perhaps the most curious legend is that told by ,giraldus ,cambrensis about a man and his wife metamorphosed into wolves by an abbot4 ,they retained human speech1 made exemplary professions of ,christian faith1 and sent for priests when they found their last hours approaching4 ,in an old ,norman ballad a girl is transformed into a white doe1 and hunted and slain by her brother's hounds4 ,the aboriginal peoples of ,india retain similar convictions4 ,among the ,hos17#ac7 an old sorcerer called ,pusa was known to turn himself habitually into a tiger1 and to eat his neighbour's goats1 and even their wives4 ,examples of the power of sorcerers to turn1 as with the ,gorgon's head1 their enemies into stone1 are peculiarly common in ,america47#ad7 ,hearne found that the ,indians believed they descended from a dog1 who could turn himself into a handsome young man47#ae7 7#a7 ,vol4 i4 pp4 #cji-cae4 7#b7 ,see also ,m',lennan on ,lykanthropy in ,encyclopedia ,britannica4 7#c7 ,arabian ,nights1 i4 #ea4 7#d7 ,bancroft1 ,races of ,pacific ,coast1 i4 #gdj4 7#e7 ,brinton1 ,annals of the ,cakchiquels1 p4 #df4 7#f7 ,pinkerton1 i4 #dga4 7#g7 ,bleek1 ,brief ,account of ,bushman ,folk-,lore1 pp4 #ae1 #dj4 7#h7 ,english translation of ,dobrizhoffer's ,abipones1 i4 #afc4 7#i7 ,missionary ,travels1 p4 #fae4 7#aj7 ,livingstone1 p4 #fdb4 7#aa7 ,bancroft1 ii4 7#ab7 ,century ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahhb4 7#ac7 ,dalton's ,ethnology of ,bengal1 p4 #bjj4 7#ad7 ,dorman1 pp4 #acj1 #acd2 ,report of ,ethnological ,bureau1 ,washington1 #ahhj-ha4 7#ae7 ,a ,journey1 etc41 p4 #cdb4 ,let us recapitulate the powers attributed all over the world1 by the lower people1 to medicine-men4 ,the medicine-man has all miracles at his command4 ,he rules the sky1 he flies into the air1 he becomes visible or invisible at will1 he can take or confer any form at pleasure1 and resume his human shape4 ,he can control spirits1 can converse with the dead1 and can descend to their abodes4 ,when we begin to examine the gods of ,,mythology1 savage or civilised1 as distinct from deities contemplated1 in devotion1 as moral and creative guardians of ethics1 we shall find that1 with the general1 though not invariable addition of immortality1 they possess the very same accomplishments as the medicine-man1 peay1 tohunga1 jossakeed1 birraark1 or whatever name for sorcerer we may choose4 ,among the ,greeks1 ,zeus1 mythically envisaged1 enjoys in heaven all the attributes of the medicine-man2 among the ,iroquois1 as ,pere le ,jeune1 the old ,jesuit missionary1 observed17#a7 the medicine-man enjoys on earth all the attributes of ,zeus4 ,briefly1 the miraculous and supernatural endowments of the gods of ,,myth1 whether these gods be zoomorphic or anthropomorphic1 are exactly the magical properties with which the medicine-man is credited by his tribe4 ,it does not at all follow1 as ,euemerus and ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer might argue1 that the god was once a real living medicine-man4 ,but myth-making man confers on the deities of myth the magical powers which he claims for himself4 7#a7 ,relations 7#afcf71 p4 #aad4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,nature ,,myths4 ,savage fancy1 curiosity and credulity illustrated in nature myths--,in these all phenomena are explained by belief in the general animation of everything1 combined with belief in metamorphosis--,sun myths1 ,asian1 ,australian1 ,african1 ,melanesian1 ,indian1 ,californian1 ,brazilian1 ,maori1 ,samoan--,moon myths1 ,australian1 ,muysca1 ,mexican1 ,zulu1 ,macassar1 ,greenland1 ,piute1 ,malay--,thunder myths--,greek and ,aryan sun and moon myths--,star myths--,myths1 savage and civilised1 of animals1 accounting for their marks and habits--,examples of custom of claiming blood kinship with lower animals--,myths of various plants and trees--,myths of stones1 and of metamorphosis into stones1 ,greek1 ,australian and ,american--,the whole natural philosophy of savages expressed in myths1 and survives in folk-lore and classical poetry2 and legends of metamorphosis4 ,the intellectual condition of savages which has been presented and established by the evidence both of observers and of institutions1 may now be studied in savage myths4 ,these myths1 indeed1 would of themselves demonstrate that the ideas which the lower races entertain about the world correspond with our statement4 ,if any one were to ask himself1 from what mental conditions do the following savage stories arise8 he would naturally answer that the minds which conceived the tales were curious1 indolent1 credulous of magic and witchcraft1 capable of drawing no line between things and persons1 capable of crediting all things with human passions and resolutions4 ,but1 as myths analogous to those of savages1 when found among civilised peoples1 have been ascribed to a psychological condition produced by a disease of language acting after civilisation had made considerable advances1 we cannot take the savage myths as proof of what savages think1 believe and practice in the course of daily life4 ,to do so would be1 perhaps1 to argue in a circle4 ,we must therefore study the myths of the undeveloped races in themselves4 ,these myths form a composite whole1 so complex and so nebulous that it is hard indeed to array them in classes and categories4 ,for example1 if we look at myths concerning the origin of various phenomena1 we find that some introduce the action of gods or extra-natural beings1 while others rest on a rude theory of capricious evolution2 others1 again1 invoke the aid of the magic of mortals1 and most regard the great natural forces1 the heavenly bodies1 and the animals1 as so many personal characters capable of voluntarily modifying themselves or of being modified by the most trivial accidents4 ,some sort of arrangement1 however1 must be attempted1 only the student is to understand that the lines are never drawn with definite fixity1 that any category may glide into any other category of myth4 ,we shall begin by considering some nature myths--myths1 that is to say1 which explain the facts of the visible universe4 ,these range from tales about heaven1 day1 night1 the sun and the stars1 to tales accounting for the red breast of the ousel1 the habits of the quail1 the spots and stripes of wild beasts1 the formation of rocks and stones1 the foliage of trees1 the shapes of plants4 ,in a sense these myths are the science of savages2 in a sense they are their sacred history2 in a sense they are their fiction and romance4 ,beginning with the sun1 we find1 as ,mr4 ,tylor says1 that in early philosophy throughout the world the sun and moon are alive1 and1 as it were1 human in their nature47#a7 ,the mass of these solar myths is so enormous that only a few examples can be given1 chosen almost at random out of the heap4 ,the sun is regarded as a personal being1 capable not only of being affected by charms and incantations1 but of being trapped and beaten1 of appearing on earth1 of taking a wife of the daughters of men4 ,garcilasso de la ,vega has a story of an ,inca prince1 a speculative thinker1 who was puzzled by the sun-worship of his ancestors4 ,if the sun be thus all-powerful1 the ,inca inquired1 why is he plainly subject to laws8 why does he go his daily round1 instead of wandering at large up and down the fields of heaven8 ,the prince concluded that there was a will superior to the sun's will1 and he raised a temple to the ,unknown ,power4 ,now the phenomena which put the ,inca on the path of monotheistic religion1 a path already traditional1 according to ,garcilasso1 have also struck the fancy of savages4 ,why1 they ask1 does the sun run his course like a tamed beast8 ,a reply suited to a mind which holds that all things are personal is given in myths4 ,some one caught and tamed the sun by physical force or by art magic4 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #bhh4 ,in ,australia the myth says that there was a time when the sun did not set4 ,it was at all times day1 and the blacks grew weary4 ,norralie considered and decided that the sun should disappear at intervals4 ,he addressed the sun in an incantation 7couched like the ,finnish ,kalewala in the metre of ,longfellow's ,hiawatha72 and the incantation is thus interpreted3 ,sun1 sun1 burn your wood1 burn your internal substance1 and go down4 ,the sun therefore now burns out his fuel in a day1 and goes below for fresh firewood47#a7 7#a7 ,brough ,smyth1 ,aborigines of ,victoria1 i4 #dcj4 ,in ,new ,zealand the taming of the sun is attributed to the great hero ,maui1 the ,prometheus of the ,maoris4 ,he set snares to catch the sun1 but in vain1 for the sun's rays bit them through4 ,according to another account1 while ,norralie wished to hasten the sun's setting1 ,maui wanted to delay it1 for the sun used to speed through the heavens at a racing pace4 ,maui therefore snared the sun1 and beat him so unmercifully that he has been lame ever since1 and travels slowly1 giving longer days4 ,the sun1 when beaten1 cried out and revealed his second great name1 ,taura-mis-te-ra47#a7 ,it will be remembered that ,indra1 in his abject terror when he fled after the slaying of ,vrittra1 also revealed his mystic name4 ,in ,north ,america the same story of the trapping and laming of the sun is told1 and attributed to a hero named ,tcha-ka-betch4 ,in ,samoa the sun had a child by a ,samoan woman4 ,he trapped the sun with a rope made of a vine and extorted presents4 ,another ,samoan lassoed the sun and made him promise to move more slowly47#b7 ,these ,samoan and ,australian fancies are nearly as dignified as the tale in the ,aitareya ,brahmana4 ,the gods1 afraid that the sun would fall out of heaven1 pulled him up and tied him with five ropes4 ,these ropes are recognised as verses in the ritual1 but probably the ritual is later than the ropes4 ,in ,mexico we find that the sun himself 7like the stars in most myths7 was once a human or pre-human devotee1 ,nanahuatzin1 who leapt into a fire to propitiate the gods47#c7 ,translated to heaven as the sun1 ,nanahuatzin burned so very fiercely that he threatened to reduce the world to a cinder4 ,arrows were therefore shot at him1 and this punishment had as happy an effect as the beatings administered by ,maui and ,tcha-ka-betch4 ,among the ,bushmen of ,south ,africa the sun was once a man1 from whose armpit a limited amount of light was radiated round his hut4 ,some children threw him up into the sky1 and there he stuck1 and there he shines47#d7 ,in the ,homeric hymn to ,helios1 as ,mr4 ,max ,muller observes1 the poet looks on ,helios as a half god1 almost a hero1 who had once lived on earth1 which is precisely the view of the ,bushmen47#e7 ,among the ,aztecs the sun is said to have been attacked by a hunter and grievously wounded by his arrows47#f7 ,the ,gallinomeros1 in ,central ,california1 seem at least to know that the sun is material and impersonal4 ,they say that when all was dark in the beginning1 the animals were constantly jostling each other4 ,after a painful encounter1 the hawk and the coyote collected two balls of inflammable substance2 the hawk 7,indra was occasionally a hawk7 flew up with them into heaven1 and lighted them with sparks from a flint4 ,there they gave light as sun and moon4 ,this is an exception to the general rule that the heavenly bodies are regarded as persons4 ,the ,melanesian tale of the bringing of night is a curious contrast to the ,mexican1 ,maori1 ,australian and ,american ,indian stories which we have quoted4 ,in ,melanesia1 as in ,australia1 the days were long1 indeed endless1 and people grew tired2 but instead of sending the sun down below by an incantation when night would follow in course of nature1 the ,melanesian hero went to ,night 7conceived of as a person7 and begged his assistance4 ,night 7,qong7 received ,qat 7the hero7 kindly1 darkened his eyes1 gave him sleep1 and1 in twelve hours or so1 crept up from the horizon and sent the sun crawling to the west47#g7 ,in the same spirit ,paracelsus is said to have attributed night1 not to the absence of the sun1 but to the apparition of certain stars which radiate darkness4 ,it is extraordinary that a myth like the ,melanesian should occur in ,brazil4 ,there was endless day till some one married a girl whose father the great serpent1 was the owner of night4 ,the father sent night bottled up in a gourd4 ,the gourd was not to be uncorked till the messengers reached the bride1 but they1 in their curiosity1 opened the gourd1 and let night out prematurely47#h7 7#a7 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 p4 #aca4 7#b7 ,turner1 ,samoa1 p4 #bj4 7#c7 ,sahagun1 ,french trans41 vii4 ii4 7#d7 ,bleck1 ,hottentot ,fables1 p4 #fg2 ,bushman ,folk-,lore1 pp4 #i1 #aa4 7#e7 ,compare a ,californian solar myth3 ,bancroft1 iii4 pp4 #he1 #hf4 7#f7 ,bancroft1 iii4 #gc1 quoting ,burgoa1 i4 #abh1 #aif4 7#g7 ,codrington1 ,journ4 ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,february1 #ahha4 7#h7 ,contes ,indiens du ,bresil1 pp4 #a-i1 by ,couto de ,magalhaes4 ,rio de ,janeiro1 #ahhc4 ,m4 ,henri ,gaidoz kindly presented the author with this work4 ,the myths which have been reported deal mainly with the sun as a person who shines1 and at fixed intervals disappears4 ,his relations with the moon are much more complicated1 and are the subject of endless stories1 all explaining in a romantic fashion why the moon waxes and wanes1 whence come her spots1 why she is eclipsed1 all starting from the premise that sun and moon are persons with human parts and passions4 ,sometimes the moon is a man1 sometimes a woman and the sex of the sun varies according to the fancy of the narrators4 ,different tribes of the same race1 as among the ,australians1 have different views of the sex of moon and sun4 ,among the aborigines of ,victoria1 the moon1 like the sun among the ,bushmen1 was a black fellow before he went up into the sky4 ,after an unusually savage career1 he was killed with a stone hatchet by the wives of the eagle1 and now he shines in the heavens47#a7 ,another myth explanatory of the moon's phases was found by ,mr4 ,meyer in #ahdf among the natives of ,encounter ,bay4 ,according to them the moon is a woman1 and a bad woman to boot4 ,she lives a life of dissipation among men1 which makes her consumptive1 and she wastes away till they drive her from their company4 ,while she is in retreat1 she lives on nourishing roots1 becomes quite plump1 resumes her gay career1 and again wastes away4 ,the same tribe1 strangely enough1 think that the sun also is a woman4 ,every night she descends among the dead1 who stand in double lines to greet her and let her pass4 ,she has a lover among the dead1 who has presented her with a red kangaroo skin1 and in this she appears at her rising4 ,such is the view of rosy-fingered ,dawn entertained by the blacks of ,encounter ,bay4 ,in ,south ,america1 among the ,muyscas of ,bogota1 the moon1 ,huythaca1 is the malevolent wife of the child of the sun2 she was a woman before her husband banished her to the fields of space47#b7 ,the moon is a man among the ,khasias of the ,himalaya1 and he was guilty of the unpardonable offence of admiring his mother-in-law4 ,as a general rule1 the mother-in-law is not even to be spoken to by the savage son-in-law4 ,the lady threw ashes in his face to discourage his passion1 hence the moon's spots4 ,the waning of the moon suggested the most beautiful and best known of savage myths1 that in which the moon sends a beast to tell mortals that1 though they die like her1 like her they shall be born again47#c7 ,because the spots in the moon were thought to resemble a hare they were accounted for in ,mexico by the hypothesis that a god smote the moon in the face with a rabbit27#d7 in ,zululand and ,thibet by a fancied translation of a good or bad hare to the moon4 7#a7 ,brough ,smyth1 ,aborigines of ,victoria1 i4 #dcb4 7#b7 ,tylor1 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #cec4 7#c7 ,bleek1 ,reynard in ,south ,africa1 pp4 #fi-gd4 7#d7 ,sahagun1 viii4 #b4 ,the ,eskimos have a peculiar myth to account for the moon's spots4 ,sun and moon were human brother and sister4 ,in the darkness the moon once attempted the virtue of the sun4 ,she smeared his face over with ashes1 that she might detect him when a light was brought4 ,she did discover who her assailant had been1 fled to the sky1 and became the sun4 ,the moon still pursues her1 and his face is still blackened with the marks of ashes47#a7 ,gervaise7#b7 says that in ,macassar the moon was held to be with child by the sun1 and that when he pursued her and wished to beat her1 she was delivered of the earth4 ,they are now reconciled4 ,about the alternate appearance of sun and moon a beautifully complete and adequate tale is told by the ,piute ,indians of ,california4 ,no more adequate and scientific explanation could possibly be offered1 granting the hypothesis that sun and moon are human persons and savage persons4 ,the myth is printed as it was taken down by ,mr4 ,de ,quille from the lips of ,tooroop ,eenah 7,desert ,father71 a chief of the ,piutes1 and published in a ,san ,francisco newspaper4 7#a7 ,crantz's ,history of ,greenland1 i4 #bab4 7#b7 ,royaume de ,macacar1 #afhh4 ,the sun is the father and ruler of the heavens4 ,he is the big chief4 ,the moon is his wife and the stars are their children4 ,the sun eats his children whenever he can catch them4 ,they flee before him1 and are all the time afraid when he is passing through the heavens4 ,when he 7their father7 appears in the morning1 you see all the stars1 his children1 fly out of sight--go away back into the blue of the above--and they do not wake to be seen again until he1 their father1 is about going to his bed4 ,down deep under the ground--deep1 deep1 under all the ground--is a great hole4 ,at night1 when he has passed over the world1 looked down on everything and finished his work1 he1 the sun1 goes into his hole1 and he crawls and creeps along it till he comes to his bed in the middle part of the earth4 ,so then he1 the sun1 sleeps there in his bed all night4 ,this hole is so little1 and he1 the sun1 is so big1 that he cannot turn round in it2 and so he must1 when he has had all his sleep1 pass on through1 and in the morning we see him come out in the east4 ,when he1 the sun1 has so come out1 he begins to hunt up through the sky to catch and eat any that he can of the stars1 his children1 for if he does not so catch and eat he cannot live4 ,he1 the sun1 is not all seen4 ,the shape of him is like a snake or a lizard4 ,it is not his head that we can see1 but his belly1 filled up with the stars that times and times he has swallowed4 ,the moon is the mother of the heavens and is the wife of the sun4 ,she1 the moon1 goes into the same hole as her husband to sleep her naps4 ,but always she has great fear of the sun1 her husband1 and when he comes through the hole to the nobee 7tent7 deep in the ground to sleep1 she gets out and comes away if he be cross4 ,she1 the moon1 has great love for her children1 the stars1 and is happy to travel among them in the above2 and they1 her children1 feel safe1 and sing and dance as she passes along4 ,but the mother1 she cannot help that some of her children must be swallowed by the father every month4 ,it is ordered that way by the ,pah-ah 7,great ,spirit71 who lives above the place of all4 ,every month that father1 the sun1 does swallow some of the stars1 his children1 and then that mother1 the moon1 feels sorrow4 ,she must mourn2 so she must put the black on her face for to mourn the dead4 ,you see the ,piute women put black on their faces when a child is gone4 ,but the dark will wear away from the face of that mother1 the moon1 a little and a little every day1 and after a time again we see all bright the face of her4 ,but soon more of her children are gone1 and again she must put on her face the pitch and the black4 ,here all the phenomena are accounted for1 and the explanation is as advanced as the ,egyptian doctrine of the hole under the earth where the sun goes when he passes from our view4 ,and still the ,great ,spirit is over all3 ,religion comes athwart ,myth4 ,mr4 ,tylor quotes7#a7 a nature myth about sun1 moon and stars which remarkably corresponds to the speculation of the ,piutes4 ,the ,mintira of the ,malayan ,peninsula say that both sun and moon are women4 ,the stars are the moon's children2 once the sun had as many4 ,they each agreed 7like the women of ,jerusalem in the famine71 to eat their own children2 but the sun swallowed her whole family1 while the moon concealed hers4 ,when the sun saw this she was exceedingly angry1 and pursued the moon to kill her4 ,occasionally she gets a bite out of the moon1 and that is an eclipse4 ,the ,hos of ,north-,east ,india tell the same tale1 but say that the sun cleft the moon in twain for her treachery1 and that she continues to be cut in two and grow again every month4 ,with these sun and moon legends sometimes coexists the ,,religious belief in a ,creator of these and of all things4 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #cef4 ,in harmony with the general hypothesis that all objects in nature are personal1 and human or bestial1 in real shape1 and in passion and habits1 are the myths which account for eclipses4 ,these have so frequently been published and commented on7#a7 that a long statement would be tedious and superfluous4 ,to the savage mind1 and even to the ,chinese and the peasants of some ,european countries1 the need of an explanation is satisfied by the myth that an evil beast is devouring the sun or the moon4 ,the people even try by firing off guns1 shrieking1 and clashing cymbals1 to frighten the beast 7wolf1 pig1 dragon1 or what not7 from his prey4 ,what the hungry monster in the sky is doing when he is not biting the sun or moon we are not informed4 ,probably he herds with the big bird whose wings1 among the ,dacotahs of ,america and the ,zulus of ,africa1 make thunder2 or he may associate with the dragons1 serpents1 cows and other aerial cattle which supply the rain1 and show themselves in the waterspout4 ,chinese1 ,greenland1 ,hindoo1 ,finnish1 ,lithunian and ,moorish examples of the myth about the moon-devouring beasts are vouched for by ,grimm47#b7 ,a ,mongolian legend has it that the gods wished to punish the maleficent ,arakho for his misdeeds1 but ,arakho hid so cleverly that their limited omnipotence could not find him4 ,the sun1 when asked to turn spy1 gave an evasive answer4 ,the moon told the truth4 ,arakho was punished1 and ever since he chases sun and moon4 ,when he nearly catches either of them1 there is an eclipse1 and the people try to drive him off by making a hideous uproar with musical and other instruments47#c7 ,captain ,beeckman in #agjd was in ,borneo1 when the natives declared that the devil was eating the moon4 7#a7 ,tylor1 ,primitive ,culture1 vol4 i42 ,lefebure1 ,les ,yeux d',horus4 7#b7 ,teutonic ,mythology1 ,english trans41 ii4 #gjf4 7#c7 ,moon-,lore by ,rev4 ,t4 ,harley1 p4 #afg4 ,dr4 ,brinton in his ,myths and ,myth-,makers gives examples from ,peruvians1 ,tupis1 ,creeks1 ,iroquois and ,algonkins4 ,it would be easy1 and is perhaps superfluous1 to go on multiplying proofs of the belief that sun and moon are1 or have been1 persons4 ,in the ,hervey ,isles these two luminaries are thought to have been made out of the body of a child cut in twain by his parents4 ,the blood escaped from the half which is the moon1 hence her pallor47#a7 ,this tale is an exception to the general rule1 but reminds us of the many myths which represent the things in the world as having been made out of a mutilated man1 like the ,vedic ,purusha4 ,it is hardly necessary1 except by way of record1 to point out that the ,greek myths of sun and moon1 like the myths of savages1 start from the conception of the solar and lunar bodies as persons with parts and passions1 human loves and human sorrows4 ,as in the ,mongolian myth of ,arakho1 the sun sees all and hears all1 and1 less honourable than the ,mongolian sun1 he plays the spy for ,hephaestus on the loves of ,ares and ,aphrodite4 ,he has mistresses and human children1 such as ,circe and ,aeetes47#b7 7#a7 ,gill1 ,myths and ,songs1 p4 #de4 7#b7 ,see chapter on ,greek ,divine ,myths4 ,the sun is all-seeing and all-penetrating4 ,in a ,greek song of to-day a mother sends a message to an absent daughter by the sun2 it is but an unconscious repetition of the request of the dying ,ajax that the heavenly body will tell his fate to his old father and his sorrowing spouse47#a7 7#a7 ,sophocles1 ,ajax1 #hdf4 ,selene1 the moon1 like ,helios1 the sun1 was a person1 and amorous4 ,beloved by ,zeus1 she gave birth to ,pandia1 and ,pan gained her affection by the simple rustic gift of a fleece47#a7 ,the ,australian ,dawn1 with her present of a red kangaroo skin1 was not more lightly won than the chaste ,selene4 ,her affection for ,endymion is well known1 and her cold white glance shines through the crevices of his mountain grave1 hewn in a rocky wall1 like the tombs of ,phrygia47#b7 ,she is the sister of the sun in ,hesiod1 the daughter 7by his sister7 of ,hyperion in the ,homeric hymns to ,helios4 7#a7 ,virgil1 ,georgics1 iii4 #cia4 7#b7 ,preller1 ,griech4 ,myth41 i4 #afc4 ,in ,greece the aspects of sun and moon take the most ideal human forms1 and show themselves in the most gracious myths4 ,but1 after all1 these retain in their anthropomorphism the marks of the earliest fancy1 the fancy of ,eskimos and ,australians4 ,it seems to be commonly thought that the existence of solar myths is denied by anthropologists4 ,this is a vulgar error4 ,there is an enormous mass of solar myths1 but they are not caused by a disease of language1 and--all myths are not solar6 ,there is no occasion to dwell long on myths of the same character in which the stars are accounted for as transformed human adventurers4 ,it has often been shown that this opinion is practically of world-wide distribution47#a7 ,we find it in ,australia1 ,persia1 ,greece1 among the ,bushmen1 in ,north and ,south ,america1 among the ,eskimos1 in ancient ,egypt1 in ,new ,zealand1 in ancient ,india--briefly1 wherever we look4 ,the ,sanskrit forms of these myths have been said to arise from confusion as to the meaning of words4 ,but is it credible that1 in all languages1 however different1 the same kind of unconscious puns should have led to the same mistaken beliefs8 ,as the savage1 barbarous and ,greek star-myths 7such as that of ,callisto1 first changed into a bear and then into a constellation7 are familiar to most readers1 a few examples of ,sanskrit star-stories are offered here from the ,satapatha ,brahmana47#b7 ,fires are not1 according to the ,brahmana ritual1 to be lighted under the stars called ,krittikas1 the ,pleiades4 ,the reason is that the stars were the wives of the bears 7,riksha71 for the group known in ,brahmanic times as the ,rishis 7sages7 were originally called the ,rikshas 7bears74 ,but the wives of the bears were excluded from the society of their husbands1 for the bears rise in the north and their wives in the east4 ,therefore the worshipper should not set up his fires under the ,pleiades1 lest he should thereby be separated from the company of his wife4 ,the ,brahmanas7#c7 also tell us that ,prajapati had an unholy passion for his daughter1 who was in the form of a doe4 ,the gods made ,rudra fire an arrow at ,prajapati to punish him2 he was wounded1 and leaped into the sky1 where he became one constellation and his daughter another1 and the arrow a third group of stars4 ,in general1 according to the ,brahmanas1 the stars are the lights of virtuous men who go to the heavenly world47#d7 7#a7 ,custom and ,myth1 ,star-,myths2 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #bhh1 #bia2 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,amerikanischen ,urreligionen1 pp4 #eb1 #ec4 7#b7 ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 i4 #bhc-bhf4 7#c7 ,aitareya ,bramana1 iii4 #cc4 7#d7 ,satapatha ,brahmana1 vi4 #e1 #d1 #h4 ,for ,greek examples1 ,hesiod1 ,ovid1 and the ,catasterismoi1 attributed to ,eratosthenes1 are useful authorities4 ,probably many of the tales in ,eratosthenes are late fictions consciously moulded on traditional data4 ,passing from savage myths explanatory of the nature of celestial bodies to myths accounting for the formation and colour and habits of beasts1 birds and fishes1 we find ourselves1 as an old ,jesuit missionary says1 in the midst of a barbarous version of ,ovid's ,metamorphoses4 ,it has been shown that the possibility of interchange of form between man and beast is part of the working belief of everyday existence among the lower peoples4 ,they regard all things as on one level1 or1 to use an old political phrase1 they level up everything to equality with the human status4 ,thus ,mr4 ,im ,thurn1 a very good observer1 found that to the ,indians of ,guiana all objects1 animate or inaminate1 seem exactly of the same nature1 except that they differ by the accident of bodily form4 ,clearly to grasp this entirely natural conception of primitive man1 the civilised student must make a great effort to forget for a time all that science has taught him of the differences between the objects which fill the world47#a7 ,to the ear of the savage1 animals certainly seem to talk4 ,as far as the ,indians of ,guiana are concerned1 ,i do not believe that they distinguish such beings as sun and moon1 or such other natural phenomena as winds and storms1 from men and other animals1 from plants and other inanimate objects1 or from any other objects whatsoever4 ,bancroft says about ,north ,american myths1 ,beasts and birds and fishes fetch and carry1 talk and act1 in a way that leaves even ,aesop's heroes quite in the shade47#b7 7#a7 ,journ4 ,anthrop4 ,inst41 xi4 #cff-cfi4 ,a very large and rich collection of testimonies as to metamorphosis will be found in ,j4 ,g4 ,muller's ,amerikanischen ,urreligionen1 p4 #fb et seq42 while1 for ,european superstitions1 ,bodin on ,la ,demonomanie des ,sorciers1 ,lyon1 #aeih1 may be consulted4 7#b7 ,vol4 iii4 p4 #abg4 ,the savage tendency is to see in inanimate things animals1 and in animals disguised men4 ,m4 ,reville quotes in his ,religions des ,peuples ,non-,civilise's1 i4 #fd1 the story of some ,negroes1 who1 the first time they were shown a cornemuse1 took the instrument for a beast1 the two holes for its eyes4 ,the ,highlander who looted a watch at ,prestonpans1 and observing1 ,she's teed1 sold it cheap when it ran down1 was in the same psychological condition4 ,a queer bit of savage science is displayed on a black stone tobacco-pipe from the ,pacific ,coast47#a7 ,the savage artist has carved the pipe in the likeness of a steamer1 as a steamer is conceived by him4 ,unable to account for the motive power1 he imagines the paddle to be linked round the tongue of a coiled serpent1 fastened to the tail of the vessel1 and so he represents it on the black stone pipe4 ,nay1 a savage's belief that beasts are on his own level is so literal1 that he actually makes blood-covenants with the lower animals1 as he does with men1 mingling his gore with theirs1 or smearing both together on a stone27#b7 while to bury dead animals with sacred rites is as usual among the ,bedouins and ,malagasies to-day as in ancient ,egypt or ,attica4 ,in the same way the ,ainos of ,japan1 who regard the bear as a kinsman1 sacrifice a bear once a year4 ,but1 to propitiate the animal and his connections1 they appoint him a mother1 an ,aino girl1 who looks after his comforts1 and behaves in a way as maternal as possible4 ,the bear is now a kinsman1 7,greek text omitted71 and cannot avenge himself within the kin4 ,this1 at least1 seems to be the humour of it4 ,in ,lagarde's ,reliquiae ,juris ,ecclesiastici ,antiquissimae a similar ,syrian covenant of kinship with insects is described4 ,about #gjj ,a4 ,d41 when a ,syrian garden was infested by caterpillars1 the maidens were assembled1 and one caterpillar was caught4 ,then one of the virgins was made its mother1 and the creature was buried with due lamentations4 ,the mother was then brought to the spot where the pests were1 her companions bewailed her1 and the caterpillars perished like their chosen kinsman1 but without extorting revenge47#c7 ,revenge was out of their reach4 ,they had been brought within the kin of their foes1 and there were no ,erinnyes1 avengers of kindred blood1 to help them4 ,people in this condition of belief naturally tell hundreds of tales1 in which men1 stones1 trees1 beasts1 shift shapes1 and in which the modifications of animal forms are caused by accident1 or by human agency1 or by magic1 or by metamorphosis4 ,such tales survive in our modern folk-lore4 ,to make our meaning clear1 we may give the ,european nursery-myth of the origin of the donkey's long ears1 and1 among other illustrations1 the ,australian myth of the origin of the black and white plumage of the pelican4 ,mr4 ,ralston has published the ,russian version of the myth of the donkey's ears4 ,the ,spanish form1 which is identical with the ,russian1 is given by ,fernan ,caballero in ,la ,gaviota4 7#a7 ,magazine of ,art1 ,january1 #ahhc4 7#b7 ,malagasy ,folk-,tales1 ,folk-,lore ,journal1 ,october1 #ahhc4 7#c7 ,we are indebted to ,professor ,robertson ,smith for this example1 and to ,miss ,bird's ,journal1 pp4 #ij1 #ig1 for the ,aino parallel4 ,listen6 do you know why your ears are so big8 7the story is told to a stupid little boy with big ears74 ,when ,father ,adam found himself in ,paradise with the animals1 he gave each its name2 those of ,,thy species1 my child1 he named 'donkeys'4 ,one day1 not long after1 he called the beasts together1 and asked each to tell him its name4 ,they all answered right except the animals of ,,thy sort1 and they had forgotten their name6 ,then ,father ,adam was very angry1 and1 taking that forgetful donkey by the ears1 he pulled them out1 screaming ',you are called ,,donkey6' ,and the donkey's ears have been long ever since4 ,this1 to a child1 is a credible explanation4 ,so1 perhaps1 is another survival of this form of science--the ,scotch explanation of the black marks on the haddock2 they were impressed by ,st4 ,peter's finger and thumb when he took the piece of money for ,caesar's tax out of the fish's mouth4 ,turning from folk-lore to savage beliefs1 we learn that from one end of ,africa to another the honey-bird1 schneter1 is said to be an old woman whose son was lost1 and who pursued him till she was turned into a bird1 which still shrieks his name1 ,schneter1 ,schneter47#a7 ,in the same way the manners of most of the birds known to the ,greeks were accounted for by the myth that they had been men and women4 ,zeus1 for example1 turned ,ceyx and ,halcyon into sea-fowls because they were too proud in their married happiness47#b7 ,to these myths of the origin of various animals we shall return1 but we must not forget the black and white ,australian pelican4 ,why is the pelican parti-coloured87#c7 ,for this reason3 ,after the ,flood 7the origin of which is variously explained by the ,murri71 the pelican 7who had been a black fellow7 made a canoe1 and went about like a kind of ,noah1 trying to save the drowning4 ,in the course of his benevolent mission he fell in love with a woman1 but she and her friends played him a trick and escaped from him4 ,the pelican at once prepared to go on the war-path4 ,the first thing to do was to daub himself white1 as is the custom of the blacks before a battle4 ,they think the white pipe-clay strikes terror and inspires respect among the enemy4 ,but when the pelican was only half pipe-clayed1 another pelican came past1 and1 not knowing what such a queer black and white thing was1 struck the first pelican with his beak and killed him4 ,before that pelicans were all black2 now they are black and white4 ,that is the reason47#d7 7#a7 ,barth1 iii4 #ceh4 7#b7 ,apollodorus1 i4 #g 7#ac1 #ab74 7#c7 ,sahagun1 viii4 #b1 accounts for colours of eagle and tiger4 ,a number of races explain the habits and marks of animals as the result of a curse or blessing of a god or hero4 ,the ,hottentots1 the ,huarochiri of ,peru1 the ,new ,zealanders 7,shortland1 ,traditions1 p4 #eg71 are among the peoples which use this myth4 7#d7 ,brough ,symth1 ,aborigines of ,australia1 i4 #dgg1 #dgh4 ,that is the reason4 ,therewith native philosopy is satisfied1 and does not examine in ,mr4 ,darwin's laborious manner the slow evolution of the colour of the pelican's plumage4 ,the mythological stories about animals are rather difficult to treat1 because they are so much mixed up with the topic of totemism4 ,here we only examine myths which account by means of a legend for certain peculiarities in the habits1 cries1 or colours and shapes of animals4 ,the ,ojibbeways told ,kohl they had a story for every creature1 accounting for its ways and appearance4 ,among the ,greeks1 as among ,australians and ,bushmen1 we find that nearly every notable bird or beast had its tradition4 ,the nightingale and the swallow have a story of the most savage description1 a story reported by ,apollodorus1 though ,homer7#a7 refers to another1 and1 as usual1 to a gentler and more refined form of the myth4 ,here is the version of ,apollodorus4 ,pandion 7an early king of ,athens7 married ,zeuxippe1 his mother's sister1 by whom he had two daughters1 ,procne and ,philomela1 and two sons1 ,erechtheus and ,butes4 ,a war broke out with ,labdas about some debatable land1 and ,erechtheus invited the alliance of ,tereus of ,thrace1 the son of ,ares4 ,having brought the war1 with the aid of ,tereus1 to a happy end1 he gave him his daughter ,procne to wife4 ,by ,procne1 ,tereus had a son1 ,itys1 and thereafter fell in love with ,philomela1 whom he seduced1 pretending that ,procne was dead1 whereas he had really concealed her somewhere in his lands4 ,thereon he married ,philomela1 and cut out her tongue4 ,but she wove into a robe characters that told the whole story1 and by means of these acquainted ,procne with her sufferings4 ,thereon ,procne found her sister1 and slew ,itys1 her own son1 whose body she cooked1 and served up to ,tereus in a banquet4 ,thereafter ,procne and her sister fled together1 and ,tereus seized an axe and followed after them4 ,they were overtaken at ,daulia in ,phocis1 and prayed to the gods that they might be turned into birds4 ,so ,procne became the nightingale1 and ,philomela the swallow1 while ,tereus was changed into a hoopoe47#b7 ,pausanias has a different legend2 ,procne and ,philomela died of excessive grief4 7#a7 ,odyssey1 xix4 #ebc4 7#b7 ,a ,red ,indian nightingale-myth is alluded to by ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,amerik4 ,urrel41 p4 #age4 ,some one was turned into a nightingale by the sun1 and still wails for a lost lover4 ,these ancient men and women metamorphosed into birds were ,,honoured ,,as ,,ancestors by the ,athenians47#a7 ,thus the unceasing musical wail of the nightingale and the shrill cry of the swallow were explained by a ,greek story4 ,the birds were lamenting their old human sorrow1 as the honey-bird in ,africa still repeats the name of her lost son4 7#a7 ,pausanias1 i4 v4 ,pausanias thinks such things no longer occur4 ,why does the red-robin live near the dwellings of men1 a bold and friendly bird8 ,the ,chippeway ,indians say he was once a young brave whose father set him a task too cruel for his strength1 and made him starve too long when he reached man's estate4 ,he turned into a robin1 and said to his father1 ,i shall always be the friend of man1 and keep near their dwellings4 ,i could not gratify your pride as a warrior1 but ,i will cheer you by my songs47#a7 ,the converse of this legend is the ,greek myth of the hawk4 ,why is the hawk so hated by birds8 ,hierax was a benevolent person who succoured a race hated by ,poseidon4 ,the god therefore changed him into a hawk1 and made him as much detested by birds1 and as fatal to them1 as he had been beloved by and gentle to men47#b7 ,the ,hervey ,islanders explain the peculiarities of several fishes by the share they took in the adventures of ,ina1 who stamped1 for example1 on the sole1 and so flattened him for ever47#c7 ,in ,greece the dolphins were1 according to the ,homeric hymn to ,dionysus1 metamorphosed pirates who had insulted the god4 ,but because the dolphin found the hidden sea-goddess whom ,poseidon loved1 the dolphin1 too1 was raised by the grateful sea-god to the stars47#d7 ,the vulture and the heron1 according to ,boeo 7said to have been a priestess in ,delphi and the author of a ,greek treatise on the traditions about birds71 were once a man named ,aigupios 7vulture7 and his mother1 ,boulis4 ,they sinned inadvertently1 like ,oedipus and ,jocasta2 wherefore ,boulis1 becoming aware of the guilt1 was about to put out the eyes of her son and slay herself4 ,then they were changed1 ,boulis into the heron1 which tears out and feeds on the eyes of snakes1 birds and fishes1 and ,aigupios into the vulture which bears his name4 ,this story1 of which the more repulsive details are suppressed1 is much less pleasing and more savage than the ,hervey ,islanders' myth of the origin of pigs4 ,maaru was an old blind man who lived with his son ,kationgia4 ,there came a year of famine1 and ,kationgia had great difficulty in finding food for himself and his father4 ,he gave the blind old man puddings of banana roots and fishes1 while he lived himself on sea-slugs and shellfish1 like the people of ,terra del ,fuego4 ,but blind old ,maaru suspected his son of giving him the worst share and keeping what was best for himself4 ,at last he discovered that ,kationgia was really being starved2 he felt his body1 and found that he was a mere living skeleton4 ,the two wept together1 and the father made a feast of some cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit1 which he had reserved against the last extremity4 ,when all was finished1 he said he had eaten his last meal and was about to die4 ,he ordered his son to cover him with leaves and grass1 and return to the spot in four days4 ,if worms were crawling about1 he was to throw leaves and grass over them and come back four days later4 ,kationgia did as he was instructed1 and1 on his second visit to the grave1 found the whole mass of leaves in commotion4 ,a brood of pigs1 black1 white and speckled1 had sprung up from the soil2 famine was a thing of the past1 and ,kationgia became a great chief in the island47#e7 7#a7 ,schoolcraft1 ii4 #bbi1 #bcj4 7#a7 ,boeo1 quoted by ,antoninus ,liberalis4 7#c7 ,gill1 ,south ,sea ,myths1 pp4 #hh-ie4 7#d7 ,artemidorus in his ,love ,elegies1 quoted by the ,pseud-,eratosthenes4 7#e7 ,gill1 ,myths and ,songs from ,south ,pacific1 pp4 #ace-ach4 ,the owl was a baker's daughter is the fragment of ,christian mythology preserved by ,ophelia4 ,the baker's daughter behaved rudely to our ,lord1 and was changed into the bird that looks not on the sun4 ,the ,greeks had a similar legend of feminine impiety by which they mythically explained the origin of the owl1 the bat and the eagle-owl4 ,minyas of ,orchomenos had three daughters1 ,leucippe1 ,arsippe and ,alcathoe1 most industrious women1 who declined to join the wild mysteries of ,dionysus4 ,the god took the shape of a maiden1 and tried to win them to his worship4 ,they refused1 and he assumed the form of a bull1 a lion1 and a leopard as easily as the chiefs of the ,abipones become tigers1 or as the chiefs among the ,african ,barotse and ,balonda metamorphose themselves into lions and alligators47#a7 ,the daughters of ,minyas1 in alarm1 drew lots to determine which of them should sacrifice a victim to the god4 ,leucippe drew the lot and offered up her own son4 ,they then rushed to join the sacred rites of ,dionysus1 when ,hermes transformed them into the bat1 the owl and the eagle-owl1 and these three hide from the light of the sun47#b7 7#a7 ,livingstone1 ,missionary ,travels1 pp4 #fae1 #fdb4 7#b7 ,nicander1 quoted by ,antoninus ,liberalis4 ,a few examples of ,bushman and ,australian myths explanatory of the colours and habits of animals will probably suffice to establish the resemblance between savage and ,hellenic legends of this character4 ,the ,bushman myth about the origin of the eland 7a large antelope7 is not printed in full by ,dr4 ,bleek1 but he observes that it gives an account of the reasons for the colours of the gemsbok1 hartebeest1 eland1 quagga and springbok47#a7 ,speculative ,bushmen seem to have been puzzled to account for the wildness of the eland4 ,it would be much more convenient if the eland were tame and could be easily captured4 ,they explain its wildness by saying that the eland was spoiled before ,cagn1 the creator1 or rather maker of most things1 had quite finished it4 ,cagn's relations came and hunted the first eland too soon1 after which all other elands grew wild4 ,cagn then said1 ,go and hunt them and try to kill one2 that is now your work1 for it was you who spoilt them47#b7 ,the ,bushmen have another myth explanatory of the white patches on the breasts of crows in their country4 ,some men tarried long at their hunting1 and their wives sent out crows in search of their husbands4 ,round each crow's neck was hung a piece of fat to serve as food on the journey4 ,hence the crows have white patches on breast and neck4 7#a7 ,brief ,account of ,bushmen ,folk-,lore1 p4 #g4 7#b7 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahgd4 ,in ,australia the origins of nearly all animals appear to be explained in myths1 of which a fair collection is printed in ,mr4 ,brough ,symth's ,aborigines of ,victoria47#a7 ,still better examples occur in ,mrs4 ,langloh ,parker's ,australian ,legends4 ,why is the crane so thin8 ,once he was a man named ,kar-ween1 the second man fashioned out of clay by ,pund-jel1 a singular creative being1 whose chequered career is traced elsewhere in our chapter on ,savage ,myths of the ,origin of the ,world and of ,man4 ,kar-ween and ,pund-jel had a quarrel about the wives of the former1 whom ,pund-jel was inclined to admire4 ,the crafty ,kar-ween gave a dance 7jugargiull1 corobboree71 at which the creator ,pund-jel was disporting himself gaily 7like the ,great ,panjandrum71 when ,kar-ween pinned him with a spear4 ,pund-jel threw another which took ,kar-ween in the knee-joint1 so that he could not walk1 but soon pined away and became a mere skeleton4 ,thereupon ,pund-jel made ,kar-ween a crane1 and that is why the crane has such attenuated legs4 ,the ,kortume1 ,munkari and ,waingilhe1 now birds1 were once men4 ,the two latter behaved unkindly to their friend ,kortume1 who shot them out of his hut in a storm of rain1 singing at the same time an incantation4 ,the three then turned into birds1 and when the ,kortume sings it is a token that rain may be expected4 7#a7 ,vol4 i4 p4 #dbf et seq4 ,let us now compare with these ,australian myths of the origin of certain species of birds the ,greek story of the origin of frogs1 as told by ,menecrates and ,nicander47#a7 ,the frogs were herdsmen metamorphosed by ,leto1 the mother of ,apollo4 ,but1 by way of showing how closely akin are the fancies of ,greeks and ,australian black fellows1 we shall tell the legend without the proper names1 which gave it a fictitious dignity4 7#a7 ,antoninus ,liberalis1 xxxv4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,frogs4 ,a woman bore two children1 and sought for a water-spring wherein to bathe them4 ,she found a well1 but herdsmen drove her away from it that their cattle might drink4 ,then some wolves met her and led her to a river1 of which she drank1 and in its waters she bathed her children4 ,then she went back to the well where the herdsmen were now bathing1 and she turned them all into frogs4 ,she struck their backs and shoulders with a rough stone and drove them into the waters1 and ever since that day frogs live in marshes and beside rivers4 ,a volume might be filled with such examples of the kindred fancies of ,greeks and savages4 ,enough has probably been said to illustrate our point1 which is that ,greek myths of this character were inherited from the period of savagery1 when ideas of metamorphosis and of the kinship of men and beasts were real practical beliefs4 ,events conceived to be common in real life were introduced into myths1 and these myths were savage science1 and were intended to account for the ,origin of ,species4 ,but when once this train of imagination has been fired1 it burns on both in literature and in the legends of the peasantry4 ,every one who writes a ,christmas tale for children now employs the machinery of metamorphosis1 and in ,european folk-lore1 as ,fontenelle remarked1 stories persist which are precisely similar in kind to the minor myths of savages4 ,reasoning in this wise1 the ,mundas of ,bengal thus account for peculiarities of certain animals4 ,sing ,bonga1 the chief god1 cast certain people out of heaven2 they fell to earth1 found iron ore1 and began smelting it4 ,the black smoke displeased ,sing ,bonga1 who sent two king crows and an owl to bid people cease to pollute the atmosphere4 ,but the iron smelters spoiled these birds' tails1 and blackened the previously white crow1 scorched its beak red1 and flattened its head4 ,sing ,bonga burned man1 and turned woman into hills and waterspouts47#a7 7#a7 ,dalton1 pp4 #ahf1 #ahg4 ,examples of this class of myth in ,indo-,aryan literature are not hard to find4 ,why is dawn red8 ,why are donkeys slow8 ,why have mules no young ones8 ,mules have no foals because they were severely burned when ,agni 7fire7 drove them in a chariot race4 ,dawn is red1 not because 7as in ,australia7 she wears a red kangaroo cloak1 but because she competed in this race with red cows for her coursers4 ,donkeys are slow because they never recovered from their exertions in the same race1 when the ,asvins called on their asses and landed themselves the winners47#a7 ,and cows are accommodated with horns for a reason no less probable and satisfactory47#b7 7#a7 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 ii4 #bgb1 iv4 #i4 7#b7 iv4 #ag4 ,though in the legends of the less developed peoples men and women are more frequently metamorphosed into birds and beasts than into stones and plants1 yet such changes of form are by no means unknown4 ,to the north-east of ,western ,point there lies a range of hills1 inhabited1 according to the natives of ,victoria1 by a creature whose body is made of stone1 and weapons make no wound in so sturdy a constitution4 ,the blacks refuse to visit the range haunted by the mythic stone beast4 ,some black fellows were once camped at the lakes near ,shaving ,point4 ,they were cooking their fish when a native dog came up4 ,they did not give him anything to eat4 ,he became cross and said1 ',you black fellows have lots of fish1 but you give me none'4 ,so he changed them all into a big rock4 ,this is quite true1 for the big rock is there to this day1 and ,i have seen it with my own eyes47#a7 ,another native1 ,toolabar1 says that the women of the fishing party cried out yacka torn1 very good4 ,a dog replied yacka torn1 and they were all changed into rocks4 ,this very man1 ,toolabar1 once heard a dog begin to talk1 whereupon he and his father fled4 ,had they waited they would have become stones4 ,we should have been like it1 wallung1 that is1 stones4 7#a7 ,native narrator1 ap4 ,brough ,smyth1 i4 #dgi4 ,among the ,north ,american ,indians any stone which has a resemblance to the human or animal figure is explained as an example of metamorphosis4 ,three stones among the ,aricaras were a girl1 her lover and her dog1 who fled from home because the course of true love did not run smooth1 and who were petrified4 ,certain stones near ,chinook ,point were sea-giants who swallowed a man4 ,his brother1 by aid of fire1 dried up the bay and released the man1 still alive1 from the body of the giant4 ,then the giants were turned into rocks47#a7 ,the rising sun in ,popol ,vuh 7if the evidence of ,popol ,vuh1 the ,quichua sacred book1 is to be accepted7 changed into stone the lion1 serpent and tiger gods4 ,the ,standing ,rock on the ,upper ,missouri is adored by the ,indians1 and decorated with coloured ribbons and skins of animals4 ,this stone was a woman1 who1 like ,niobe1 became literally petrified with grief when her husband took a second wife4 ,another stone-woman in a cave on the banks of the ,kickapoo was wont to kill people who came near her1 and is even now approached with great respect4 ,the ,oneidas and ,dacotahs claim descent from stones to which they ascribe animation47#b7 ,montesinos speaks of a sacred stone which was removed from a mountain by one of the ,incas4 ,a parrot flew out of it and lodged in another stone1 which the natives still worship47#c7 ,the ,breton myth about one of the great stone circles 7the stones were peasants who danced on a ,sunday7 is a well-known example of this kind of myth surviving in folk-lore4 ,there is a kind of stone ,actaeon7#d7 near ,little ,muniton ,creek1 resembling the bust of a man whose head is decorated with the horns of a stag47#e7 ,a crowd of myths of metamorphosis into stone will be found among the ,iroquois legends in ,report of ,bureau of ,ethnology1 #ahhj-ha4 ,if men may become stones1 on the other hand1 in ,samoa 7as in the ,greek myth of ,deucalion71 stones may become men47#f7 ,gods1 too1 especially when these gods happen to be cuttlefish1 might be petrified4 ,they were chased in ,samoa by an ,upolu hero1 who caught them in a great net and killed them4 ,they were changed into stones1 and now stand up in a rocky part of the lagoon on the north side of ,upolu47#g7 ,mauke1 the first man1 came out of a stone4 ,in short17#h7 men and stones and beasts and gods and thunder have interchangeable forms4 ,in ,mangaia7#i7 the god ,ra was tossed up into the sky by ,maui and became pumice-stone4 ,many samples of this petrified deity are found in ,mangaia4 ,in ,melanesia matters are so mixed that it is not easy to decide whether a worshipful stone is the dwelling of a dead man's soul or is of spiritual merit in itself1 or whether the stone is the spirit's outward part or organ4 ,the ,vui1 or spirit1 has much the same relations with snakes1 owls and sharks47#aj7 ,qasavara1 the mythical opponent of ,qat1 the ,melanesian ,prometheus1 fell dead from heaven 7like ,ra in ,mangia71 and was turned into a stone1 on which sacrifices are made by those who desire strength in fighting4 7#a7 ,see authorities ap4 ,dorman1 ,primitive ,superstitions1 pp4 #acj-ach4 7#b7 ,dorman1 p4 #acc4 7#c7 ,many examples are collected by ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,amerikanischen ,urreligionen1 pp4 #ig1 #aaj1 #abe1 especially when the stones have a likeness to human form1 p4 #ag;a4 ,im der ,that werden auch einige in ,steine1 oder in ,thiere and ,pflanzen verwandelt4 ,cf4 p4 #bbj4 ,instances 7from ,balboa7 of men turned into stone by wizards1 p4 #cji4 7#d7 ,preller thinks that ,actaeon1 devoured by his hounds after being changed into a stag1 is a symbol of the vernal year4 ,palaephatus 7,de ,fab4 ,narrat47 holds that the story is a moral fable4 7#e7 ,dorman1 p4 #acg4 7#f7 ,turner's ,samoa1 p4 #bii4 7#g7 ,samoa1 p4 #ca4 7#h7 ,op4 cit41 p4 #cd4 7#i7 ,gill1 ,myths and ,songs1 p4 #fj4 7#aj7 ,codrington1 ,journ4 ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,february1 #ahha4 ,without delaying longer among savage myths of metamorphosis into stones1 it may be briefly shown that the ,greeks retained this with all the other vagaries of early fancy4 ,every one remembers the use which ,perseus made of the ,gorgon's head1 and the stones on the coast of ,seriphus1 which1 like the stones near ,western ,point in ,victoria1 had once been men1 the enemies of the hero4 ,also he slew the ,gorgon1 sings ,pindar1 and bare home her head1 with serpent tresses decked1 to the island folk a stony death4 ,observe ,pindar's explanatory remark3 ,i ween there is no marvel impossible if gods have wrought thereto4 ,in the same pious spirit a ,turk in an isle of the ,levant once told ,mr4 ,newton a story of how a man hunted a stag1 and the stag spoke to him4 ,the stag spoke8 said ,mr4 ,newton4 ,yes1 by ,allah's will1 replied the ,turk4 ,like ,pindar1 he was repeating an incident quite natural to the minds of ,australians1 or ,bushmen1 or ,samoans1 or ,red ,men1 but1 like the religious ,pindar1 he felt that the affair was rather marvellous1 and accounted for it by the exercise of omnipotent power47#a7 ,the ,greek example of ,niobe and her children may best be quoted in ,mr4 ,bridges' translation from the ,iliad3-- ,and somewhere now1 among lone mountain rocks ,on ,sipylus1 where couch the nymphs at night ,who dance all day by ,achelous' stream1 ,the once proud mother lies1 herself a rook1 ,and in cold breast broods o'er the goddess' wrong4 --,prometheus the fire-bringer47#b7 ,in the ,iliad it is added that ,cronion made the people into stones4 ,the attitude of the later ,greek mind towards these myths may be observed in a fragment of ,philemon1 the comic poet4 ,never1 by the gods1 have ,i believed1 nor will believe1 that ,niobe the stone was once a woman4 ,nay1 by reason of her calamities she became speechless1 and so1 from her silence1 was called a stone47#c7 7#a7 ,pindar1 ,pyth4 x41 ,myers's translation4 7#b7 xxiv4 #faa4 7#c7 ,the ,scholiast on ,iliad1 xxiv4 #f1 #g4 ,there is another famous petrification in the ,iliad4 ,when the prodigy of the snake and the sparrows had appeared to the assembled ,achaeans at ,aulis1 ,zeus displayed a great marvel1 and changed into a stone the serpent which swallowed the young of the sparrow4 ,changes into stone1 though less common than changes into fishes1 birds and beasts1 were thus obviously not too strange for the credulity of ,greek mythology1 which could also believe that a stone became the mother of ,agdestis by ,zeus4 ,as to interchange of shape between men and women and ,,plants1 our information1 so far as the lower races are concerned1 is less copious4 ,it has already been shown that the totems of many stocks in all parts of the world are plants1 and this belief in connection with a plant by itself demonstrates that the confused belief in all things being on one level has thus introduced vegetables into the dominion of myth4 ,as far as possessing souls is concerned1 ,mr4 ,tylor has proved that plants are as well equipped as men or beasts or minerals47#a7 ,in ,india the doctrine of transmigration widely and clearly recognises the idea of trees or smaller plants being animated by human souls4 ,in the well-known ancient ,egyptian story of ,the ,two ,brothers17#b7 the life of the younger is practically merged in that of the acacia tree where he has hidden his heart2 and when he becomes a bull and is sacrificed1 his spiritual part passes into a pair of ,persea trees4 ,the ,yarucaris of ,bolivia say that a girl once bewailed in the forest her loverless estate4 ,she happened to notice a beautiful tree1 which she adorned with ornaments as well as she might4 ,the tree assumed the shape of a handsome young man-- ,she did not find him so remiss1 ,but1 lightly issuing through1 ,he did repay her kiss for kiss1 ,with usury thereto47#c7 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 who quotes this tale from ,andree1 says it has many analogies with the tales of metamorphosis of human beings into trees among the ancients1 as reported by ,ovid4 ,the worship of plants and trees is a well-known feature in religion1 and probably implies 7at least in many cases7 a recognition of personality4 ,in ,samoa1 metamorphosis into vegetables is not uncommon4 ,for example1 the king of ,fiji was a cannibal1 and 7very naturally7 the people were melting away under him4 ,the brothers ,toa and ,pale1 wishing to escape the royal oven1 adopted various changes of shape4 ,they knew that straight timber was being sought for to make a canoe for the king1 so ,pale1 when he assumed a vegetable form1 became a crooked stick overgrown with creepers1 but ,toa preferred standing erect as a handsome straight tree4 ,poor ,toa was therefore cut down by the king's shipwrights1 though1 thanks to his brother's magic wiles1 they did not make a canoe out of him after all47#d7 ,in ,samoa the trees are so far human that they not only go to war with each other1 but actually embark in canoes to seek out distant enemies47#e7 ,the ,ottawa ,indians account for the origin of maize by a myth in which a wizard fought with and conquered a little man who had a little crown of feathers4 ,from his ashes arose the maize with its crown of leaves and heavy ears of corn47#f7 7#a7 ,primitive ,culture1 i4 #ade2 examples of ,society ,islanders1 ,dyaks1 ,karens1 ,buddhists4 7#b7 ,maspero1 ,contes ,egyptiens1 p4 #be4 7#c7 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,amerik4 ,urrel41 p4 #bfd4 7#d7 ,turner's ,samoa1 p4 #bai4 7#e7 ,ibid44 p4 #bac4 7#f7 ,amerik4 ,urrel41 p4 #fj4 ,in ,mangaia the myth of the origin of the cocoa-nut tree is a series of transformation scenes1 in which the persons shift shapes with the alacrity of medicine-men4 ,ina used to bathe in a pool where an eel became quite familiar with her4 ,at last the fish took courage and made his declaration4 ,he was ,tuna1 the chief of all eels4 ,be mine1 he cried1 and ,ina was his4 ,for some mystical reason he was obliged to leave her1 but 7like the ,white ,cat in the fairy tale7 he requested her to cut off his eel's head and bury it4 ,regretfully but firmly did ,ina comply with his request1 and from the buried eel's head sprang two cocoa trees1 one from each half of the brain of ,tuna4 ,as a proof of this be it remarked1 that when the nut is husked we always find on it the two eyes and mouth of the lover of ,ina47#a7 ,all over the world1 from ancient ,egypt to the wigwams of the ,algonkins1 plants and other matters are said to have sprung from a dismembered god or hero1 while men are said to have sprung from plants47#b7 ,we may therefore perhaps look on it as a proved point that the general savage habit of levelling up prevails even in their view of the vegetable world1 and has left traces 7as we have seen7 in their myths4 7#a7 ,gill1 ,myths and ,songs1 p4 #gi4 7#b7 ,myths of the ,beginning of ,things4 ,turning now to the mythology of ,greece1 we see that the same rule holds good4 ,metamorphosis into plants and flowers is extremely common2 the instances of ,daphne1 ,myrrha1 ,hyacinth1 ,narcissus and the sisters of ,phaethon at once occur to the memory4 ,most of those myths in which everything in ,nature becomes personal and human1 while all persons may become anything in ,nature1 we explain1 then1 as survivals or imitations of tales conceived when men were in the savage intellectual condition4 ,in that stage1 as we demonstrated1 no line is drawn between things animate and inanimate1 dumb or articulate speaking1 organic or inorganic1 personal or impersonal4 ,such a mental stage1 again1 is reflected in the nature-myths1 many of which are merely aetiological1--assign a cause1 that is1 for phenomena1 and satisfy an indolent and credulous curiosity4 ,we may be asked again1 ,but how did this intellectual condition come to exist8 ,to answer that is no part of our business2 for us it is enough to trace myth1 or a certain element in myth1 to a demonstrable and actual stage of thought4 ,but this stage1 which is constantly found to survive in the minds of children1 is thus explained or described by ,hume in his ,essay on ,natural ,religion3 ,there is an universal tendency in mankind to conceive all beings like themselves1 and to transfer to every object those qualities444 of which they are intimately conscious47#a7 ,now they believe themselves to be conscious of magical and supernatural powers1 which they do not1 of course1 possess4 ,these powers of effecting metamorphosis1 of shape-shifting1 of flying1 of becoming invisible at will1 of conversing with the dead1 of miraculously healing the sick1 savages pass on to their gods 7as will be shown in a later chapter71 and the gods of myth survive and retain the miraculous gifts after their worshippers 7become more reasonable7 have quite forgotten that they themselves once claimed similar endowments4 ,so far1 then1 it has been shown that savage fancy1 wherever studied1 is wild2 that savage curiosity is keen2 that savage credulity is practically boundless4 ,these considerations explain the existence of savage myths of sun1 stars1 beasts1 plants and stones2 similar myths fill ,greek legend and the ,sanskrit ,brahmanes4 ,we conclude that1 in ,greek and ,sanskrit1 the myths are relics 7whether borrowed or inherited7 of the savage mental ,,status4 7#a7 ,see ,appendix ,b4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,non-,,aryan ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,of ,,man4 ,confusions of myth--,various origins of man and of things--,myths of ,australia1 ,andaman ,islands1 ,bushmen1 ,ovaherero1 ,namaquas1 ,zulus1 ,hurons1 ,iroquois1 ,diggers1 ,navajoes1 ,winnebagoes1 ,chaldaeans1 ,thlinkeets1 ,pacific ,islanders1 ,maoris1 ,aztecs1 ,peruvians--,similarity of ideas pervading all those peoples in various conditions of society and culture4 ,the difficulties of classification which beset the study of mythology have already been described4 ,nowhere are they more perplexing than when we try to classify what may be styled ,cosmogonic ,myths4 ,the very word cosmogonic implies the pre-existence of the idea of a cosmos1 an orderly universe1 and this was exactly the last idea that could enter the mind of the myth-makers4 ,there is no such thing as orderliness in their mythical conceptions1 and no such thing as an universe4 ,the natural question1 ,who made the world1 or how did the things in the world come to be8 is the question which is answered by cosmogonic myths4 ,but it is answered piecemeal4 ,to a ,christian child the reply is given1 ,god made all things4 ,we have known this reply discussed by some little girls of six 7a ,scotch minister's daughters1 and naturally metaphysical71 one of whom solved all difficulties by the impromptu myth1 ,god first made a little place to stand on1 and then he made the rest4 ,but savages and the myth-makers1 whose stories survive into the civilised religions1 could adhere firmly to no such account as this4 ,here occurs in the first edition of this book the following passage3 ,they 7savages7 have not1 and had not1 the conception of ,god as we understand what we mean by the word4 ,they have1 and had at most1 only the small-change of the idea ,god1--here the belief in a moral being who watches conduct2 here again the hypothesis of a pre-human race of magnified1 non-natural medicine-men1 or of extra-natural beings with human and magical attributes1 but often wearing the fur1 and fins1 and feathers of the lower animals4 ,mingled with these faiths 7whether earlier1 later1 or coeval in origin with these7 are the dread and love of ancestral ghosts1 often transmuting themselves into worship of an imaginary and ideal first parent of the tribe1 who once more is often a beast or a bird4 ,here is nothing like the notion of an omnipotent1 invisible1 spiritual being1 the creator of our religion2 here is only la monnaie of the conception4 ,it ought to have occurred to the author that he was here traversing the main theory of his own book1 which is that ,,religion is one thing1 myth quite another thing4 ,that many low races of savages entertain1 in hours of ,,religious thought1 an elevated conception of a moral and undying ,maker of ,things1 and ,master of ,life1 a ,father in ,heaven1 has already been stated1 and knowledge of the facts has been considerably increased since this work first appeared 7#ahhg74 ,but the ,,mythical conceptions described in the last paragraph coexist with the religious conception in the faiths of very low savages1 such as the ,australians and ,andamanese1 just as the same contradictory coexistence is notorious in ancient ,greece1 ,india1 ,egypt and ,anahuac4 ,in a sense1 certain low savages ,,have the conception of ,god1 as we understand what we mean by the word4 ,but that sense1 when savages come to spinning fables about origins1 is apt to be overlaid and perplexed by the frivolity of their mythical fancy4 ,with such shifting1 grotesque and inadequate fables1 the cosmogonic myths of the world are necessarily bewildered and perplexed4 ,we have already seen in the chapter on ,nature ,myths that many things1 sun1 moon1 the stars1 that have another birth1 and various animals and plants1 are accounted for on the hypothesis that they are later than the appearance of man--that they originally ,,were men4 ,to the ,european mind it seems natural to rank myths of the gods before myths of the making or the evolution of the world1 because our religion1 like that of the more philosophic ,greeks1 makes the deity the fount of all existences1 causa causans1 what unmoved moves1 the beginning and the end4 ,but the myth-makers1 deserting any such ideas they may possess1 find it necessary1 like the child of whom we spoke1 to postulate a ,,place for the divine energy to work from1 and that place is the earth or the heavens4 ,then1 again1 heaven and earth are themselves often regarded in the usual mythical way1 as animated1 as persons with parts and passions1 and finally1 among advancing races1 as gods4 ,into this medley of incongruous and inconsistent conceptions we must introduce what order we may1 always remembering that the order is not native to the subject1 but is brought in for the purpose of study4 ,the origin of the world and of man is naturally a problem which has excited the curiosity of the least developed minds4 ,every savage race has its own myths on this subject1 most of them bearing the marks of the childish and crude imagination1 whose character we have investigated1 and all varying in amount of what may be called philosophical thought4 ,all the cosmogonic myths1 as distinct from religious belief in a ,creator1 waver between the theory of construction1 or rather of reconstruction1 and the theory of evolution1 very rudely conceived4 ,the earth1 as a rule1 is mythically averred to have grown out of some original matter1 perhaps an animal1 perhaps an egg which floated on the waters1 perhaps a handful of mud from below the waters4 ,but this conception does not exclude the idea that many of the things in the world1 minerals1 plants and what not1 are fragments of the frame of a semi-supernatural and gigantic being1 human or bestial1 belonging to a race which preceded the advent of man47#a7 ,such were the ,titans1 demi-gods1 ,nurrumbunguttias in ,australia4 ,various members of this race are found active in myths of the creation1 or rather the construction1 of man and of the world4 ,among the lowest races it is to be noted that mythical animals of supernatural power often take the place of beings like the ,finnish ,wainamoinen1 the ,greek ,prometheus1 the ,zulu ,unkulunkulu1 the ,red ,indian ,manabozho1 himself usually a great hare4 7#a7 ,macrobius1 ,saturnal41 i4 xx4 ,the ages before the development or creation of man are filled up1 in the myths1 with the loves and wars of supernatural people4 ,the appearance of man is explained in three or four contradictory ways1 each of which is represented in the various myths of most mythologies4 ,often man is fashioned out of clay1 or stone1 or other materials1 by a ,maker of all things1 sometimes half-human or bestial1 but also half-divine4 ,sometimes the first man rises out of the earth1 and is himself confused with the ,creator1 a theory perhaps illustrated by the ,zulu myth of ,unkulunkulu1 ,the ,old1 ,old ,one4 ,sometimes man arrives ready made1 with most of the animals1 from his former home in a hole in the ground1 and he furnishes the world for himself with stars1 sun1 moon and everything else he needs4 ,again1 there are many myths which declare that man was evolved out of one or other of the lower animals4 ,this myth is usually employed by tribesmen to explain the origin of their own peculiar stock of kindred4 ,once more1 man is taken to be the fruit of some tree or plant1 or not to have emerged ready-made1 but to have grown out of the ground like a plant or a tree4 ,in some countries1 as among the ,bechuanas1 the ,boeotians1 and the ,peruvians1 the spot where men first came out on earth is known to be some neighbouring marsh or cave4 ,lastly1 man is occasionally represented as having been framed out of a piece of the body of the ,creator1 or made by some demiurgic potter out of clay4 ,all these legends are told by savages1 with no sense of their inconsistency4 ,there is no single orthodoxy on the matter1 and we shall see that all these theories coexist pell-mell among the mythological traditions of civilised races4 ,in almost every mythology1 too1 the whole theory of the origin of man is crossed by the tradition of a ,deluge1 or some other great destruction1 followed by revival or reconstruction of the species1 a tale by no means necessarily of ,biblical origin4 ,in examining savage myths of the origin of man and of the world1 we shall begin by considering those current among the most backward peoples1 where no hereditary or endowed priesthood has elaborated and improved the popular beliefs4 ,the natives of ,australia furnish us with myths of a purely popular type1 the property1 not of professional priests and poets1 but of all the old men and full-grown warriors of the country4 ,here1 as everywhere else1 the student must be on his guard against accepting myths which are disguised forms of missionary teaching47#a7 7#a7 ,taplin1 ,the ,narrinyeri4 ,he must also beware of supposing that the ,australians believe in a creator in our sense1 because the ,narrinyeri1 for example1 say that ,nurundere 'made everything'4 ,nurundere is but an idealised wizard and hunter1 with a rival of his species4 ,this occurs in the first edition1 but making all things is one idea1 wizardry is another4 ,in ,southern ,australia we learn that the ,boonoorong1 an ,australian coast tribe1 ascribe the creation of things to a being named ,bun-jel or ,pund-jel4 ,he figures as the chief of an earlier supernatural class of existence1 with human relationships2 thus he has a wife1 ,,whose ,,face ,,he ,,has ,,never ,,seen1 brothers1 a son1 and so on4 ,now this name ,bun-jel means eagle-hawk1 and the eagle-hawk is a totem among certain stocks4 ,thus1 when we hear that ,eagle-hawk is the maker of men and things we are reminded of the ,bushman creator1 ,cagn1 who now receives prayers of considerable beauty and pathos1 but who is 7in some theories7 identified with kaggen1 the mantis insect1 a creative grasshopper1 and the chief figure in ,bushman mythology47#a7 ,bun-jel or ,pund-jel also figures in ,australian belief1 neither as the creator nor as the eagle-hawk1 but as an old man who lives at the sources of the ,yarra river1 where he possesses great multitudes of cattle47#b7 ,the term ,bun-jel is also used1 much like our ,mr41 to denote the older men of the ,kurnai and ,briakolung1 some of whom have magical powers4 ,one of them1 ,krawra1 or ,west ,wind1 can cause the wind to blow so violently as to prevent the natives from climbing trees2 this man has semi-divine attributes4 ,from these facts it appears that this ,australian creator1 in myth1 partakes of the character of the totem or worshipful beast1 and of that of the wizard or medicine-man4 ,he carried a large knife1 and1 when he made the earth1 he went up and down slicing it into creeks and valleys4 ,the aborigines of the northern parts of ,victoria seem to believe in ,pund-jel in what may perhaps be his most primitive mythical shape1 that of an eagle47#c7 ,this eagle and a crow created everything1 and separated the ,murray blacks into their two main divisions1 which derive their names from the crow and the eagle4 ,the ,melbourne blacks seem to make ,pund-jel more anthropomorphic4 ,men are his 7,greek text omitted7 figures kneaded of clay1 as ,aristophanes says in the ,birds4 ,pund-jel made two clay images of men1 and danced round them4 ,he made their hair--one had straight1 one curly hair--of bark4 ,he danced round them4 ,he lay on them1 and breathed his breath into their mouths1 noses and navels1 and danced round them4 ,then they arose full-grown young men4 ,some blacks seeing a brickmaker at work on a bridge over the ,yarra exclaimed1 ,like 'em that ,pund-jel make 'em ,koolin4 ,but other blacks prefer to believe that1 as ,pindar puts the ,phrygian legend1 the sun saw men growing like trees4 7#a7 ,bleek1 ,brief ,account of ,bushman ,mythology1 p4 #f2 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahgd1 pp4 #a-ac2 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 pp4 #baj1 #cbd4 7#b7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #baj4 7#c7 ,brough ,smyth1 ,natives of ,victoria1 vol4 i4 p4 #dbc4 ,the first man was formed out of the gum of a wattle-tree1 and came out of the knot of a wattle-tree4 ,he then entered into a young woman 7though he was the first man7 and was born47#a7 ,the ,encounter ,bay people have another myth1 which might have been attributed by ,dean ,swift to the ,yahoos1 so foul an origin does it allot to mankind4 7#a7 ,meyer1 ,aborigines of ,encounter ,bay4 ,see1 later1 ,gods of the ,lowest ,races4 ,australian myths of creation are by no means exclusive of a hypothesis of evolution4 ,thus the ,dieyrie1 whose notions ,mr4 ,gason has recorded1 hold a very mixed view4 ,they aver that the good spirit ,moora-,moora made a number of small black lizards1 liked them1 and promised them dominion4 ,he divided their feet into toes and fingers1 gave them noses and lips1 and set them upright4 ,down they fell1 and ,moora-,moora cut off their tails4 ,then they walked erect and were men47#a7 ,the conclusion of the adventures of one ,australian creator is melancholy4 ,he has ceased to dwell among mortals whom he watches and inspires4 ,the ,jay possessed many bags full of wind2 he opened them1 and ,pund-jel was carried up by the blast into the heavens4 ,but this event did not occur before ,pund-jel had taught men and women the essential arts of life4 ,he had shown the former how to spear kangaroos1 he still exists and inspires poets4 ,from the cosmogonic myths of ,australia 7the character of some of which is in contradiction with the higher religious belief of the people to be later described7 we may turn1 without reaching a race of much higher civilisation1 to the dwellers in the ,andaman ,islands and their opinions about the origin of things4 7#a7 ,gason's ,dieyries1 ap4 ,native ,tribes of ,south ,australia1 p4 #bj4 ,the ,andaman ,islands1 in the ,bay of ,bengal1 are remote from any shores1 and are protected from foreign influences by dangerous coral reefs1 and by the reputed ferocity and cannibalism of the natives4 ,these are ,negritos1 and are commonly spoken of as most abject savages4 ,they are not1 however1 without distinctions of rank2 they are clean1 modest1 moral after marriage1 and most strict in the observance of prohibited degrees4 ,unlike the ,australians1 they use bows and arrows1 but are said to be incapable of striking a light1 and1 at all events1 find the process so difficult that1 like the ,australians and the farmer in the ,odyssey17#a7 they are compelled to hoard the seeds of fire4 ,their mythology contains explanations of the origin of men and animals1 and of their own customs and language4 7#a7 ,odyssey1 v4 #dij4 ,the ,andamanese1 long spoken of as godless1 owe much to ,mr4 ,man1 an ,english official1 who has made a most careful study of their beliefs47#a7 ,so extraordinary is the contradiction between the relative purity and morality of the ,,religion and the savagery of the myths of the ,andamanese1 that1 in the first edition of this work1 ,i insisted that the spiritual god of the faith must have been borrowed from the same quarter as the stone house in which he is mythically said to live4 ,but later and wider study1 and fresh information from various quarters1 have convinced me that the relative purity of ,andamanese religion1 with its ethical sanction of conduct1 may well be1 and probably is1 a natural unborrowed development4 ,it is easy for ,,myth to borrow the notion of a stone house from our recent settlement at ,port ,blair4 ,but it would not be easy for ,,religion to borrow many new ideas from an alien creed1 in a very few years1 while the noted ferocity of the islanders towards strangers1 and the inaccessibility of their abode1 makes earlier borrowing1 on a large scale at least1 highly improbable4 ,the ,andamanese god1 ,puluga1 is like fire but invisible1 unborn and immortal1 knowing and punishing or rewarding1 men's deeds1 even the thoughts of their hearts4 ,but when once mythical fancy plays round him1 and stories are told about him1 he is credited with a wife who is an eel or a shrimp1 just as ,zeus made love as an ant or a cuckoo4 ,puluga was the maker of men2 no particular myth as to how he made them is given4 ,they tried to kill him1 after the deluge 7of which a grotesque myth is told71 but he replied that he was as hard as wood4 ,his legend is in the usual mythical contradiction with the higher elements in his religion4 7#a7 ,journ4 ,anthrop4 ,soc41 vol4 xii4 p4 #aeg et seq4 ,leaving the ,andaman islanders1 but still studying races in the lowest degree of civilisation1 we come to the ,bushmen of ,south ,africa4 ,this very curious and interesting people1 far inferior in material equipment to the ,hottentots1 is sometimes regarded as a branch of that race47#a7 ,the ,hottentots call themselves ,khoi-khoi1 the ,bushmen they style ,sa4 ,the poor ,sa lead the life of pariahs1 and are hated and chased by all other natives of ,south ,africa4 ,they are hunters and diggers for roots1 while the ,hottentots1 perhaps their kinsmen1 are cattle-breeders47#b7 ,being so ill-nourished1 the ,bushmen are very small1 but sturdy4 ,they dwell in1 or rather wander through1 countries which have been touched by some ancient civilisation1 as is proved by the mysterious mines and roads of ,mashonaland4 ,it is singular that the ,bushmen possess a tradition according to which they could once make stone things that flew over rivers4 ,they have remarkable artistic powers1 and their drawings of men and animals on the walls of caves are often not inferior to the designs on early ,greek vases47#c7 7#a7 ,see ,divine ,myths of the ,lower ,races4 7#b7 ,hahu1 ,tsuni ,goam1 p4 #d4 ,see other accounts in ,waitz1 ,anthropologie1 ii4 #cbh4 7#c7 ,custom and ,myth1 where illustrations of ,bushman art are given1 pp4 #bij-bie4 ,thus we must regard the ,bushmen as possibly degenerated from a higher status1 though there is nothing 7except perhaps the tradition about bridge-making7 to show that it was more exalted than that of their more prosperous neighbours1 the ,hottentots4 ,the myths of the ,bushmen1 however1 are almost on the lowest known level4 ,a very good and authentic example of ,bushman cosmogonic myth was given to ,mr4 ,orpen1 chief magistrate of ,st4 ,john's territory1 by ,qing1 ,king ,nqusha's huntsman4 ,qing had never seen a white man1 but in fighting1 till he became acquainted with ,mr4 ,orpen47#a7 ,the chief force in ,bushmen myth is by ,dr4 ,bleek identified with the mantis1 a sort of large grasshopper4 ,though he seems at least as chimerical a beast as the ,aryan creative boar1 the mighty big hare of the ,algonkins1 the large spider who made the world in the opinion of the ,gold ,coast people1 or the eagle of the ,australians1 yet the insect 7if insect he be71 like the others1 has achieved moral qualities and is addressed in prayer4 ,in his religious aspect he is nothing less than a grasshopper4 ,he is called ,cagn4 ,cagn made all things and we pray to him1 said ,qing4 ,coti is the wife of ,cagn4 ,qing did not know where they came from2 perhaps with the men who brought the sun4 ,the fact is1 ,qing did not dance that dance1 that is1 was not one of the ,bushmen initiated into the more esoteric mysteries of ,cagn4 ,till we1 too1 are initiated1 we can know very little of ,cagn in his religious aspect4 ,among the ,bushmen1 as among the ,greeks1 there is no religious mystery without dancing4 ,qing was not very consistent4 ,he said ,cagn gave orders and caused all things to appear and to be made1 sun1 moon1 stars1 wind1 mountains1 animals1 and this1 of course1 is a lofty theory of creation4 ,elsewhere myth avers that ,cagn did not so much create as manufacture the objects in nature4 ,in his early day the snakes were also men4 ,cagn struck snakes with his staff and turned them into men1 as ,zeus1 in the ,aeginetan myth1 did with ants4 ,he also turned offending men into baboons4 ,in ,bushman myth1 little as we really know of it1 we see the usual opposition of fable and faith1 a kind creator in religion is apparently a magician in myth4 7#a7 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahgd4 ,neighbours of the ,bushmen1 but more fortunate in their wealth of sheep and cattle1 are the ,ovaherero4 ,the myths of the ,ovaherero1 a tribe dwelling in a part of ,hereraland which had not yet been under the influence of civilisation and ,christianity1 have been studied by the ,rev4 ,h4 ,reiderbecke1 missionary at ,otyozondyupa4 ,the ,ovaherero1 he says1 have a kind of tree ,ygdrasil1 a tree out of which men are born1 and this plays a great part in their myth of creation4 ,the tree1 which still exists1 though at a great age1 is called the ,omumborombonga tree4 ,out of it came1 in the beginning1 the first man and woman4 ,oxen stepped forth from it too1 but baboons1 as ,caliban says of the stars1 came otherwise1 and sheep and goats sprang from a flat rock4 ,black people are so coloured1 according to the ,ovaherero1 because when the first parents emerged from the tree and slew an ox1 the ancestress of the blacks appropriated the black liver of the victim4 ,the ,ovakuru ,meyuru or ,,old ,,ones in heaven1 once let the skies down with a run1 but drew them up again 7as the gods of the ,satapatha ,brahmana drew the sun7 when most of mankind had been drowned47#a7 ,the remnant pacified the ,,old ,,ones 7as ,odysseus did the spirits of the dead7 by the sacrifice of a ,,black ewe1 a practice still used to appease ghosts by the ,ovaherero4 ,the neighbouring ,omnambo ascribe the creation of man to ,kalunga1 who came out of the earth1 and made the first three sheep47#b7 7#a7 ,an example of a ,deluge myth in ,africa1 where ,m4 ,lenormant found none4 7#b7 ,south ,african ,folk-,lore ,journal1 ii4 pt4 v4 p4 #ie4 ,among the ,namaquas1 an ,african people on the same level of nomadic culture as the ,ovaherero1 a divine or heroic early being called ,heitsi ,eibib had a good deal to do with the origin of things4 ,if he did not exactly make the animals1 he impressed on them their characters1 and their habits 7like those of the serpent in ,genesis7 are said to have been conferred by a curse1 the curse of ,heitsi ,eibib4 ,a precisely similar notion was found by ,avila among the ,indians of ,huarochiri1 whose divine culture-hero imposed1 by a curse or a blessing1 their character and habits on the beasts47#a7 ,the lion used to live in a nest up a tree till ,heitsi ,eibib cursed him and bade him walk on the ground4 ,he also cursed the hare1 and the hare ran away1 and is still running47#b7 ,the name of the first man is given as ,eichaknanabiseb 7with a multitude of clicks71 and he is said to have met all the animals on a flat rock1 and played a game with them for copper beads4 ,the rainbow was made by ,gaunab1 who is generally a malevolent being1 of whom more hereafter4 7#a7 ,fables of ,yncas 7,hakluyt ,society71 p4 #abg4 7#b7 ,tsuni ,goam1 pp4 #ff1 #fg4 ,leaving these ,african races1 which1 whatever their relative degrees of culture1 are physically somewhat contemptible1 we reach their northern neighbours1 the ,zulus4 ,they are among the finest1 and certainly among the least religious1 of the undeveloped peoples4 ,their faith is mainly in magic and ghosts1 but there are traces of a fading and loftier belief4 ,the social and political condition of the ,zulu is well understood4 ,they are a pastoral1 but not a nomadic people1 possessing large kraals or towns4 ,they practise agriculture1 and they had1 till quite recently1 a centralised government and a large army1 somewhat on the ,german system4 ,they appear to have no regular class of priests1 and supernatural power is owned by the chiefs and the king1 and by diviners and sorcerers1 who conduct the sacrifices4 ,their myths are the more interesting because1 whether from their natural scepticism1 which confuted ,bishop ,colenso in his orthodox days1 or from acquaintance with ,european ideas1 they have begun to doubt the truth of their own traditions47#a7 ,the ,zulu theory of the origin of man and of the world commences with the feats of ,unkulunkulu1 the old1 old one1 who1 in some legends1 was the first man1 and broke off in the beginning4 ,like ,manabozho among the ,indians of ,north ,america1 and like ,wainamoinen among the ,finns1 ,unkulunkulu imparted to men a knowledge of the arts1 of marriage1 and so forth4 ,his exploits in this direction1 however1 must be considered in another part of this work4 ,men in general came out of a bed of reeds47#b7 ,but there is much confusion about this bed of reeds1 named ,uthlanga4 ,the younger people ask where the bed of reeds was2 the old men do not know1 and neither did their fathers know4 ,but they stick to it that that bed of reeds still exists4 ,educated ,zulus appear somewhat inclined to take the expression in an allegorical sense1 and to understand the reeds either as a kind of protoplasm or as a creator who was mortal4 ,he exists no longer4 ,as my grandfather no longer exists1 he too no longer exists2 he died4 ,chiefs who wish to claim high descent trace their pedigree to ,uthlanga1 as the ,homeric kings traced theirs to ,zeus4 ,the myths given by ,dr4 ,callaway are very contradictory4 7#a7 ,these legends have been carefully collected and published by ,bishop ,callaway 7,trubner ,co41 #ahfh74 7#b7 ,callaway1 p4 #i4 ,in addition to the legend that men came out of a bed of reeds1 other and perhaps even more puerile stories are current4 ,some men say that they were belched up by a cow2 others that ,unkulunkulu split them out of a stone17#a7 which recalls the legend of ,pyrrha and ,deucalion4 ,the myth about the cow is still applied to great chiefs4 ,he was not born2 he was belched up by a cow4 ,the myth of the stone origin corresponds to the ,homeric saying about men born from the stone or the oak of the old tale47#b7 7#a7 ,without anticipating a later chapter1 the resemblances of these to ,greek myths1 as arrayed by ,m4 ,bouche ,leclercq 7,de ,origine ,generis ,humani71 is very striking4 7#b7 ,odyssey1 xix4 #ajc4 ,in addition to the theory of the natal bed of reeds1 the ,zulus1 like the ,navajoes of ,new ,mexico1 and the ,bushmen1 believe in the subterranean origin of man4 ,there was a succession of emigrations from below of different tribes of men1 each having its own ,unkulunkulu4 ,all accounts agree that ,unkulunkulu is not worshipped1 and he does not seem to be identified with the lord who plays in heaven--a kind of fading ,zeus--when there is thunder4 ,unkulunkulu is not worshipped1 though ancestral spirits are worshipped1 because he lived so long ago that no one can now trace his pedigree to the being who is at once the first man and the creator4 ,his honour-giving name is lost in the lapse of years1 and the family rites have become obsolete47#a7 7#a7 ,see ,zulu religion in ,the ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bbe-bbi1 where it is argued that ghost worship has superseded a higher faith1 of which traces are discernible4 ,the native races of the ,north ,american continent 7concerning whose civilisation more will be said in the account of their divine myths7 occupy every stage of culture1 from the truly bestial condition in which some of the ,digger ,indians at present exist1 living on insects and unacquainted even with the use of the bow1 to the civilisation which the ,spaniards destroyed among the ,aztecs4 ,the original facts about religion in ,america are much disputed1 and will be more appropriately treated later4 ,it is now very usual for anthropologists to say1 like ,mr4 ,dorman1 no approach to monotheismn had been made before the discovery of ,america by ,europeans1 and the ,great ,spirit mentioned in these 7their7 books is an introduction by ,christianity47#a7 ,this view will not bear examination1 says ,mr4 ,tylor1 and we shall later demonstrate the accuracy of his remark47#b7 ,but at present we are concerned1 not with what ,indian religion had to say about her ,gods1 but with what ,indian myth had to tell about the beginnings of things4 7#a7 ,origin of ,primitive ,superstitions1 p4 #ae4 7#b7 ,primitive ,culture1 #ahgc1 ii4 p4 #cdj4 ,the ,hurons1 for example 7to choose a people in a state of middle barbarism71 start in myth from the usual conception of a powerful non-natural race of men dwelling in the heavens1 whence they descended1 and colonised1 not to say constructed1 the earth4 ,in the ,relation de la ,nouvelle ,france1 written by ,pere ,paul le ,jeune1 of the ,company of ,jesus1 in #afcf1 there is a very full account of ,huron opinion1 which1 with some changes of names1 exists among the other branches of the ,algonkin family of ,indians4 ,they recognise as the founder of their kindred a woman named ,ataentsic1 who1 like ,hephaestus in the ,iliad1 was banished from the sky4 ,in the upper world there are woods and plains1 as on earth4 ,ataentsic fell down a hole when she was hunting a bear1 or she cut down a heaven-tree1 and fell with the fall of this ,huron ,ygdrasil1 or she was seduced by an adventurer from the under world1 and was tossed out of heaven for her fault4 ,however it chanced1 she dropped on the back of the turtle in the midst of the waters4 ,he consulted the other aquatic animals1 and one of them1 generally said to have been the musk-rat1 fished7#a7 up some soil and fashioned the earth47#b7 ,here ,ataentsic gave birth to twins1 ,ioskeha and ,tawiscara4 ,these represent the usual dualism of myth2 they answer to ,osiris and ,set1 to ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 and were bitter enemies4 ,according to one form of the myth1 the woman of the sky had twins1 and what occurred may be quoted from ,dr4 ,brinton4 ,even before birth one of them betrayed his restless and evil nature by refusing to be born in the usual manner1 but insisting on breaking through his parent's side or arm-pit4 ,he did so1 but it cost his mother her life4 ,her body was buried1 and from it sprang the various vegetable productions1 pumpkins1 maize1 beans1 and so forth47#c7 7#a7 ,relations1 #afcc4 ,in this myth one ,messon1 the ,great ,hare1 is the beginner of our race4 ,he married a daughter of the ,musk-rat4 7#b7 ,here we first meet in this investigation a very widely distributed myth4 ,the myths already examined have taken the origin of earth for granted4 ,the ,hurons account for its origin2 a speck of earth was fished out of the waters and grew4 ,in ,m4 ,h4 de ,charencey's tract ,une ,legende ,cosmogonique 7,havre1 #ahhd7 this legend is traced4 ,m4 de ,charencey distinguishes 7#a7 a continental version2 7#b7 an insular version2 7#c7 a mixed and ,hindoo version4 ,among continental variants he gives a ,vogul version 7,revue de ,philologie et d',ethnographie1 ,paris1 #ahgd1 i4 #aj74 ,numi ,tarom 7a god who cooks fish in heaven7 hangs a male and female above the abyss of waters in a silver cradle4 ,he gives them1 later1 just earth enough to build a house on4 ,their son1 in the guise of a squirrel1 climbs to ,numi ,tarom1 and receives from him a duck-skin and a goose-skin4 ,clad in these1 like ,yehl in his raven-skin or ,odin in his hawk-skin1 he enjoys the powers of the animals1 dives and brings up three handfuls of mud1 which grow into our earth4 ,elempi makes men out of clay and snow4 ,the ,american version ,m4 de ,charencey gives from ,nicholas ,perrot 7,mem4 sur les ,moers1 etc41 ,paris1 #ahfd1 i4 #c74 ,perrot was a traveller of the seventeenth century4 ,the ,great ,hare takes a hand in the making of earth out of fished-up soil4 ,after giving other ,north ,american variants1 and comparing the animals that1 after three attempts1 fish up earth to the dove and raven of ,noah1 ,m4 de ,charencey reaches the ,bulgarians4 ,god made ,satan1 in the skin of a diver1 fish up earth out of ,lake ,tiberias4 ,three doves fish up earth1 in the beginning1 in the ,galician popular legend 7,chodzko1 ,contes des ,paysans ,slaves1 p4 #cgd74 ,in the ,,insular version1 as in ,new ,zealand1 the island is usually fished up with a hook by a heroic angler 7,japan1 ,tonga1 ,tahiti1 ,new ,zealand74 ,the ,hindoo version1 in which the boar plays the part of musk-rat1 or duck1 or diver1 will be given in ,indian ,cosmogonic ,myths4 7#c7 ,brinton1 ,american ,hero-,myths1 p4 #ed4 ,nicholas ,perrot and various ,jesuit ,relations are the original authorities4 ,see ,divine ,myths of ,america4 ,mr4 ,leland1 in his ,algonkin ,tales1 prints the same story1 with the names altered to ,glooskap and ,malsumis1 from oral tradition4 ,compare ,schoolcraft1 v4 #aee1 and i4 #cag1 and the versions of ,,pp4 ,charlevoix and ,lafitau4 ,in ,charlevoix the good and bad brothers are ,manabozho and ,chokanipok or ,chakekanapok1 and out of the bones and entrails of the latter many plants and animals were fashioned1 just as1 according to a ,greek myth preserved by ,clemens ,alexandrinus1 parsley and pomegranates arose from the blood and scattered members of ,dionysus ,zagreus4 ,the tale of ,tawiscara's violent birth is told of ,set in ,egypt1 and of ,indra in the ,veda1 as will be shown later4 ,this is a very common fable1 and1 as ,mr4 ,whitley ,stokes tells me1 it recurs in old ,irish legends of the birth of our ,lord1 ,myth1 as usual1 invading religion1 even ,christian religion4 ,according to another version of the origin of things1 the maker of them was one ,michabous1 or ,michabo1 the ,great ,hare4 ,his birthplace was shown at an island called ,michilimakinak1 like the birthplace of ,apollo at ,delos4 ,the ,great ,hare made the earth1 and1 as will afterwards appear1 was the inventor of the arts of life4 ,on the whole1 the ,iroquois and ,algonkin myths agree in finding the origin of life in an upper world beyond the sky4 ,the earth was either fished up 7as by ,brahma when he dived in the shape of a boar7 by some beast which descended to the bottom of the waters1 or grew out of the tortoise on whose back ,ataentsic fell4 ,the first dwellers in the world were either beasts like ,manabozho or ,michabo1 the ,great ,hare1 or the primeval wolves of the ,uinkarets17#a7 or the creative musk-rat1 or were more anthropomorphic heroes1 such as ,ioskeha and ,tawiscara4 ,as for the things in the world1 some were made1 some evolved1 some are transformed parts of an early non-natural man or animal4 ,there is a tendency to identify ,ataentsic1 the sky-woman1 with the moon1 and in the ,two ,great ,brethren1 hostile as they are1 to recognise moon and sun47#b7 7#a7 ,powell1 ,bureau of ,ethnology1 i4 #dd4 7#b7 ,dr4 ,brinton has endeavoured to demonstrate by arguments drawn from etymology that ,michabos1 ,messou1 ,missibizi or ,manabozho1 the ,great ,hare1 is originally a personification of ,dawn 7,myths of the ,new ,world1 p4 #agh74 ,i have examined his arguments in the ,nineteenth ,century1 ,january1 #ahhf1 which may be consulted1 and in ,melusine1 ,january1 #ahhg4 ,the hare appears to be one out of the countless primeval beast-culture heroes4 ,a curious piece of magic in a tradition of the ,dene ,hareskins may seem to aid ,dr4 ,brinton's theory3 ,pendant la nuit il entra1 jeta au feu une tete de lievre blanc et aussitot le jour se fit4--,petitot1 ,traditions ,indiennes1 p4 #agc4 ,but ,i take it that the sacrifice of a white hare's head makes light magically1 as sacrifice of black beasts and columns of black smoke make rainclouds4 ,some of the degraded ,digger ,indians of ,california have the following myth of the origin of species4 ,in this legend1 it will be noticed1 a species of evolution takes the place of a theory of creation4 ,the story was told to ,mr4 ,adam ,johnston1 who drew the narrator by communicating to a chief the ,biblical narrative of the creation47#a7 ,the chief said it was a strange story1 and one that he had never heard when he lived at the ,mission of ,st4 ,john under the care of a ,padre4 ,according to this chief 7he ruled over the ,po-to-yan-te tribe or ,coyotes71 the first ,indians were coyotes4 ,when one of their number died1 his body became full of little animals or spirits4 ,they took various shapes1 as of deer1 antelopes1 and so forth2 but as some exhibited a tendency to fly off to the moon1 the ,po-to-yan-tes now usually bury the bodies of their dead1 to prevent the extinction of species4 ,then the ,indians began to assume the shape of man1 but it was a slow transformation4 ,at first they walked on all fours1 then they would begin to develop an isolated human feature1 one finger1 one toe1 one eye1 like the ascidian1 our first parent in the view of modern science4 ,then they doubled their organs1 got into the habit of sitting up1 and wore away their tails1 which they unaffectedly regret1 as they consider the tail quite an ornament4 ,ideas of the immortality of the soul are said to be confined to the old women of the tribe1 and1 in short1 according to this version1 the ,digger ,indians occupy the modern scientific position4 7#a7 ,schoolcraft1 vol4 v4 ,the ,winnebagoes1 who communicated their myths to ,mr4 ,fletcher17#a7 are suspected of having been influenced by the ,biblical narrative4 ,they say that the ,great ,spirit woke up as from a dream1 and found himself sitting in a chair4 ,as he was all alone1 he took a piece of his body and a piece of earth1 and made a man4 ,he next made a woman1 steadied the earth by placing beasts beneath it at the corners1 and created plants and animals4 ,other men he made out of bears4 ,he created the white man to make tools for the poor ,indians--a very pleasing example of a teleological hypothesis and of the doctrine of final causes as understood by the ,winnebagoes4 ,the ,chaldean myth of the making of man is recalled by the legend that the ,great ,spirit cut out a piece of himself for the purpose2 the ,chaldean wisdom coincides1 too1 with the philosophical acumen of the ,po-to-yan-te or ,coyote tribe of ,digger ,indians4 ,though the ,chaldean theory is only connected with that of the ,red ,men by its savagery1 we may briefly state it in this place4 7#a7 ,ibid41 iv4 #bbh4 ,according to ,berosus1 as reported by ,alexander ,polyhistor1 the universe was originally 7as before ,manabozho's time7 water and mud4 ,herein all manner of mixed monsters1 with human heads1 goat's horns1 four legs1 and tails1 bred confusedly4 ,in place of the ,iroquois ,ataentsic1 a woman called ,omoroca presided over the mud and the menagerie4 ,she1 too1 like ,ataentsic1 is sometimes recognised as the moon4 ,affairs being in this state1 ,bel-,maruduk arrived and cut ,omoroca in two 7,chokanipok destroyed ,ataentsic71 and out of ,omoroca ,bel made the world and the things in it4 ,we have already seen that in savage myth many things are fashioned out of a dead member of the extra-natural race4 ,lastly1 ,bel cut his own head off1 and with the blood the gods mixed clay and made men4 ,the ,chaldeans inherited very savage fancies47#a7 7#a7 ,cf4 ,syncellus1 p4 #bi2 ,euseb41 ,chronic4 ,armen41 ed4 ,mai1 p4 #aj2 ,lenormant1 ,origines de l',histoire1 i4 #ejf4 ,one ought1 perhaps1 to apologise to the ,chaldeans for inserting their myths among the fables of the least cultivated peoples2 but it will scarcely be maintained that the ,oriental myths differ in character from the ,digger ,indian and ,iroquois explanations of the origin of things4 ,the ,ahts of ,vancouver ,island1 whom ,mr4 ,sproat knew intimately1 and of whose ideas he gives a cautious account 7for he was well aware of the limits of his knowledge71 tell a story of the usual character47#a7 ,they believe in a member of the extra-natural race1 named ,quawteaht1 of whom we shall hear more in his heroic character4 ,as a demiurge he is undoubtedly represented as the general framer1 ,i do not say creator1 of all things1 though some special things are excepted4 ,he made the earth and water1 the trees and rocks1 and all the animals4 ,some say that ,quawteaht made the sun and moon1 but the majority of the ,indians believe that he had nothing to do with their formation1 and that they are deities superior to himself1 though now distant and less active4 ,he gave names to everything2 among the rest1 to all the ,indian houses which then existed1 although inhabited only by birds and animals4 ,quawteaht went away before the apparent change of the birds and beasts into ,indians1 which took place in the following manner3-- ,the birds and beasts of old had the spirits of the ,indians dwelling in them1 and occupied the various coast villages1 as the ,ahts do at present4 ,one day a canoe manned by two ,indians from an unknown country approached the shore4 ,as they coasted along1 at each house at which they landed1 the deer1 bear1 elk1 and other brute inhabitants fled to the mountains1 and the geese and other birds flew to the woods and rivers4 ,but in this flight1 the ,indians1 who had hitherto been contained in the bodies of the various creatures1 were left behind1 and from that time they took possession of the deserted dwellings and assumed the condition in which we now see them4 7#a7 ,sproat1 ,scenes and ,studies of ,savage ,life1 pp4 #baj1 #baa4 ,crossing the northern continent of ,america to the west1 we are in the domains of various animal culture-heroes1 ancestors and teachers of the human race and the makers1 to some extent1 of the things in the world4 ,as the eastern tribes have their ,great ,hare1 so the western tribes have their wolf hero and progenitor1 or their coyote1 or their raven1 or their dog4 ,it is possible1 and even certain in some cases1 that the animal which was the dominant totem of a race became heir to any cosmogonic legends that were floating about4 ,the country of the ,papagos1 on the eastern side of the ,gulf of ,california1 is the southern boundary of the province of the coyote or prairie wolf4 ,the realm of his influence as a kind of ,prometheus1 or even as a demiurge1 extends very far northwards4 ,in the myth related by ,con ,quien1 the chief of the central ,papagos17#a7 the coyote acts the part of the fish in the ,sanskrit legend of the flood1 while ,montezuma undertakes the role of ,manu4 ,this ,montezuma was formed1 like the ,adams of so many races1 out of potter's clay in the hands of the ,great ,spirit4 ,in all this legend it seems plain enough that the name of ,montezuma is imported from ,mexico1 and has been arbitrarily given to the hero of the ,papagos4 ,according to ,mr4 ,powers1 whose manuscript notes ,mr4 ,bancroft quotes 7iii4 #hg71 all the natives of ,california believe that their first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their present dwelling-places1 and in very many cases these ancestors were coyotes4 7#a7 ,davidson1 ,indian ,affairs ,report1 #ahfe1 p4 #aca2 ,bancroft1 iii4 #ge4 ,the ,pimas1 a race who live near the ,papagos on the eastern coast of the ,gulf of ,california1 say that the earth was made by a being named ,earth-prophet4 ,at first it appeared like a spider's web1 reminding one of the ,west ,african legend that a great spider created the world4 ,man was made by the ,earth-prophet out of clay kneaded with sweat4 ,a mysterious eagle and a deluge play a great part in the later mythical adventures of war and the world1 as known to the ,pimas47#a7 7#a7 ,communicated to ,mr4 ,bancroft by ,mr4 ,stout of the ,pima ,agency4 ,in ,oregon the coyote appears as a somewhat tentative demiurge1 and the men of his creation1 like the beings first formed by ,prajapati in the ,sanskrit myth1 needed to be reviewed1 corrected and considerably augmented4 ,the ,chinooks of ,oregon believe in the usual race of magnified non-natural men1 who preceded humanity4 ,these semi-divine people were called ,ulhaipa by the ,chinooks1 and ,sehuiab by the ,lummies4 ,but the coyote was the maker of men4 ,as the first of ,nature's journeymen1 he made men rather badly1 with closed eyes and motionless feet4 ,a kind being1 named ,ikanam1 touched up the coyote's crude essays with a sharp stone1 opening the eyes of men1 and giving their hands and feet the powers of movement4 ,he also acted as a culture-hero1 introducing the first arts4 7#a7 7#a7 7,frauchere's ,narrative1 #beh2 ,gibb's ,chinook ,vocabulary2 ,parker's exploring ,tour1 i4 #aci27 ,bancroft1 iii4 #if4 ,moving up the ,west ,pacific coast we reach ,british ,columbia1 where the coyote is not supposed to have been so active as our old friend the musk-rat in the great work of the creation4 ,according to the ,tacullies1 nothing existed in the beginning but water and a musk-rat4 ,as the animal sought his food at the bottom of the water1 his mouth was frequently filled with mud4 ,this he spat out1 and so gradually formed by alluvial deposit an island4 ,this island was small at first1 like earth in the ,sanskrit myth in the ,satapatha ,brahmana1 but gradually increased in bulk4 ,the ,tacullies have no new light to throw on the origin of man47#a7 7#a7 ,bancroft1 iii4 #ih2 ,harmon's ,journey1 pp4 #cjb1 #cjc4 ,the ,thlinkeets1 who are neighbours of the ,tacullies on the north1 incline to give crow or raven the chief role in the task of creation1 just as some ,australians allot the same part to the eagle-hawk1 and the ,yakuts to a hawk1 a crow and a teal-duck4 ,we shall hear much of ,yehl later1 as one of the mythical heroes of the introduction of civilisation4 ,north of the ,thlinkeets1 a bird and a dog take the creative duties1 the ,aleuts and ,koniagas being descended from a dog4 ,among the more northern ,tinnehs1 the dog who was the progenitor of the race had the power of assuming the shape of a handsome young man4 ,he supplied the protoplasm of the ,tinnehs1 as ,purusha did that of the ,aryan world1 out of his own body4 ,a giant tore him to pieces1 as the gods tore ,purusha1 and out of the fragments thrown into the rivers came fish1 the fragments tossed into the air took life as birds1 and so forth47#a7 ,this recalls the ,australian myth of the origin of fish and the ,ananzi stories of the origin of whips47#b7 7#a7 ,hearne1 pp4 #cdb1 #cdc2 ,bancroft1 iii4 #ajf4 7#b7 ,see ,divine ,myths of ,lower ,races4 ,m4 ,cosquin1 in ,contes de ,lorraine1 vol4 i4 p4 #eh1 gives the ,ananzi story4 ,between the cosmogonic myths of the barbarous or savage ,american tribes and those of the great cultivated ,american peoples1 ,aztecs1 ,peruvians and ,quiches1 place should be found for the legends of certain races in the ,south ,pacific4 ,of these1 the most important are the ,maoris or natives of ,new ,zealand1 the ,mangaians and the ,samoans4 ,beyond the usual and world-wide correspondences of myth1 the divine tales of the various ,south ,sea isles display resemblances so many and essential that they must be supposed to spring from a common and probably not very distant centre4 ,as it is practically impossible to separate ,maori myths of the making of things from ,maori myths of the gods and their origin1 we must pass over here the metaphysical hymns and stories of the original divine beings1 ,rangi and ,papa1 ,heaven and ,earth1 and of their cruel but necessary divorce by their children1 who then became the usual ,titanic race which constructs and airs the world for the reception of man47#a7 ,among these beings1 more fully described in our chapter on the gods of the lower races1 is ,tiki1 with his wife ,marikoriko1 twilight4 ,tane 7male7 is another of the primordial race1 children of earth and heaven1 and between him and ,tiki lies the credit of having made or begotten humanity4 ,tane adorned the body of his father1 heaven 7,rangi71 by sticking stars all over it1 as disks of pearl-shells are stuck all over images4 ,he was the parent of trees and birds1 but some trees are original and divine beings4 ,the first woman was not born1 but formed out of the sun and the echo1 a pretty myth4 ,man was made by ,tiki1 who took red clay1 and kneaded it with his own blood1 or with the red water of swamps4 ,the habits of animals1 some of which are gods1 while others are descended from gods1 follow from their conduct at the moment when heaven and earth were violently divorced4 ,new ,zealand itself1 or at least one of the isles1 was a huge fish caught by ,maui 7of whom more hereafter74 ,just as ,pund-jel1 in ,australia1 cut out the gullies and vales with his knife1 so the mountains and dells of ,new ,zealand were produced by the knives of ,maui's brothers when they crimped his big fish47#b7 ,quite apart from those childish ideas are the astonishing metaphysical hymns about the first stirrings of light in darkness1 of becoming and being1 which remind us of ,hegel and ,heraclitus1 or of the most purely speculative ideas in the ,rig-,veda47#c7 ,scarcely less metaphysical are the myths of ,mangaia1 of which ,mr4 ,gill7#d7 gives an elaborate account4 7#a7 ,see ,divine ,myths of ,lower ,races4 7#b7 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 pp4 #aae-aba2 ,bastian1 ,heilige ,sage der ,polynesier1 pp4 #cf-ej2 ,shortland1 ,traditions of ,new ,zealanders4 7#c7 ,see chapter on ,divine ,myths of the ,lower ,races1 and on ,indian ,cosmogonic ,myths 7#d7 ,myths and ,songs from the ,south ,pacific1 pp4 #a-bb4 ,the ,mangaian ideas of the world are complex1 and of an early scientific sort4 ,the universe is like the hollow of a vast cocoa-nut shell1 divided into many imaginary circles like those of mediaeval speculation4 ,there is a demon at the stem1 as it were1 of the cocoa-nut1 and1 where the edges of the imaginary shell nearly meet1 dwells a woman demon1 whose name means the very beginning4 ,in this system we observe efforts at metaphysics and physical speculation4 ,but it is very characteristic of rude thought that such extremely abstract conceptions as the very beginning are represented as possessing life and human form4 ,the woman at the bottom of the shell was anxious for progeny1 and therefore plucked a bit out of her own right side1 as ,eve was made out of the rib of ,adam4 ,this piece of flesh became ,vatea1 the father of gods and men4 ,vatea 7like ,oannes in the ,chaldean legend7 was half man1 half fish4 ,the ,very ,beginning begat other children in the same manner1 and some of these became departmental gods of ocean1 noon-day1 and so forth4 ,curiously enough1 the ,mangaians seem to be sticklers for primogeniture4 ,vatea1 as the first-born son1 originally had his domain next above that of his mother4 ,but she was pained by the thought that his younger brothers each took a higher place than his2 so she pushed his land up1 and it is now next below the solid crust on which mortals live in ,mangaia4 ,vatea married a woman from one of the under worlds named ,papa1 and their children had the regular human form4 ,one child was born either from ,papa's head1 like ,athene from the head of ,zeus1 or from her armpit1 like ,dionysus from the thigh of ,zeus4 ,another child may be said1 in the language of dog-breeders1 to have thrown back1 for he wears the form of a white or black lizard4 ,in the ,mangaian system the sky is a solid vault of blue stone4 ,in the beginning of things the sky 7like ,ouranos in ,greece and ,rangi in ,new ,zealand7 pressed hard on earth1 and the god ,ru was obliged to thrust the two asunder1 or rather he was engaged in this task when ,maui tossed both ,ru and the sky so high up that they never came down again4 ,ru is now the ,atlas of ,mangaia1 the sky-supporting ,ru47#a7 ,his lower limbs fell to earth1 and became pumice-stone4 ,in these ,mangaian myths we discern resemblances to ,new ,zealand fictions1 as is natural1 and the tearing of the body of the ,very ,beginning has numerous counterparts in ,european1 ,american and ,indian fable4 ,but on the whole1 the ,mangaian myths are more remarkable for their semi-scientific philosophy than for their coincidences with the fancies of other early peoples4 7#a7 ,gill1 p4 #ei4 ,the ,samoans1 like the ,maoris and ,greeks1 hold that heaven at first fell down and lay upon earth47#a7 ,the arrowroot and another plant pushed up heaven1 and the heaven-pushing place is still known and pointed out4 ,others say the god ,ti-iti-i pushed up heaven1 and his feet made holes six feet deep in the rocks during this exertion4 ,the other ,samoan myths chiefly explain the origin of fire1 and the causes of the characteristic forms and habits of animals and plants4 ,the ,samoans1 too1 possess a semi-mythical1 metaphysical cosmogony1 starting from ,,nothing1 but rapidly becoming the history of rocks1 clouds1 hills1 dew and various animals1 who intermarried1 and to whom the royal family of ,samoa trace their origin through twenty-three generations4 ,so personal are ,samoan abstract conceptions1 that ,,space had a long-legged stool1 on to which a head fell1 and grew into a companion for ,space4 ,yet another myth says that the god ,tangaloa existed in space1 and made heaven and earth1 and sent down his daughter1 a snipe4 ,man he made out of the mussel-fish4 ,so confused are the doctrines of the ,samoans47#b7 7#a7 ,turner's ,samoa1 p4 #aih4 7#b7 ,turner's ,samoa1 pp4 #a-i4 ,perhaps the cosmogonic myths of the less cultivated races have now been stated in sufficient number4 ,as an example of the ideas which prevailed in an ,american race of higher culture1 we may take the ,quiche legend as given in the ,popol ,vuh1 a post-,christian collection of the sacred myths of the nation1 written down after the ,spanish conquest1 and published in ,french by the ,abbe ,brasseur de ,bourbourg47#a7 7#a7 ,see ,popol ,vuh in ,mr4 ,max ,muller's ,chips from a ,german ,workshop1 with a discussion of its authenticity4 ,in his ,annals of the ,cakchiquels1 a nation bordering on the ,quiches1 ,dr4 ,brinton expresses his belief in the genuine character of the text4 ,compare ,bancroft1 iii4 p4 #de4 ,the ancient and original ,popol ,vuh1 the native book in native characters1 disappeared during the ,spanish conquest4 ,the ,quiches1 like their neighbours the ,cakchiquels1 were a highly civilised race1 possessing well-built towns1 roads and the arts of life1 and were great agriculturists4 ,maize1 the staple of food among these advanced ,americans1 was almost as great a god as ,soma among the ,indo-,aryans4 ,the ,quiches were acquainted with a kind of picture-writing1 and possessed records in which myth glided into history4 ,the ,popol ,vuh1 or book of the people1 gives itself out as a post-,columbian copy of these traditions1 and may doubtless contain ,european ideas4 ,as we see in the ,commentarias ,reales of the half-blood ,inca ,garcilasso de la ,vega1 the conquered people were anxious to prove that their beliefs were by no means so irrational and so devilish as to ,spanish critics they appeared4 ,according to the ,popol ,vuh1 there was in the beginning nothing but water and the feathered serpent1 one of their chief divine beings2 but there also existed somehow1 they that gave life4 ,their names mean shooter of blow-pipe at coyote1 at opossum1 and so forth4 ,they said ,earth1 and there ,,was earth1 and plants growing thereon4 ,animals followed1 and the ,givers of life said ,speak our names1 but the animals could only cluck and croak4 ,then said the ,givers1 ,inasmuch as ye cannot praise us1 ye shall be killed and eaten4 ,they then made men out of clay2 these men were weak and watery1 and by water they were destroyed4 ,next they made men of wood and women of the pith of trees4 ,these puppets married and gave in marriage1 and peopled earth with wooden mannikins4 ,this unsatisfactory race was destroyed by a rain of resin and by the wild beasts4 ,the survivors developed into apes4 ,next came a period occupied by the wildest feats of the magnified non-natural race and of animals4 ,the record is like the description of a supernatural pantomime--the nightmare of a god4 ,the ,titans upset hills1 are turned into stone1 and behave like ,heitsi ,eibib in the ,namaqua myths4 ,last of all1 men were made of yellow and white maize1 and these gave more satisfaction1 but their sight was contracted4 ,these1 however1 survived1 and became the parents of the present stock of humanity4 ,here we have the conceptions of creation and of evolution combined4 ,men are ,,made1 but only the fittest survive2 the rest are either destroyed or permitted to develop into lower species4 ,a similar mixture of the same ideas will be found in one of the ,brahmanas among the ,aryans of ,india4 ,it is to be observed that the ,quiche myths1 as recorded in ,popol ,vuh1 contain not only traces of belief in a creative word and power1 but many hymns of a lofty and beautifully devotional character4 ,hail6 ,o ,creator1 ,o ,former6 ,thou that hearest and understandest us1 abandon us not1 forsake us not6 ,o ,god1 thou that art in heaven and on the earth1 ,o ,heart of ,heaven1 ,o ,heart of ,earth1 give us descendants and posterity as long as the light endures4 ,this is an example of the prayers of the men made out of maize1 made especially that they might call on the name of the god or gods4 ,whether we are to attribute this and similar passages to ,christian influence 7for ,popol ,vuh1 as we have it1 is but an attempt to collect the fragments of the lost book that remained in men's minds after the conquest71 or whether the purer portions of the myth be due to untaught native reflection and piety1 it is not possible to determine4 ,it is improbable that the ideas of a hostile race would be introduced into religious hymns by their victims4 ,here1 as elsewhere in the sacred legends of civilised peoples1 various strata of mythical and religious thought coexist4 ,no ,american people reached such a pitch of civilisation as the ,aztecs of ,anahuac1 whose capital was the city of ,mexico4 ,it is needless here to repeat the story of their grandeur and their fall4 ,obscure as their history1 previous to the ,spanish invasion1 may be1 it is certain that they possessed a highly organised society1 fortified towns1 established colleges or priesthoods1 magnificent temples1 an elaborate calendar1 great wealth in the precious metals1 the art of picture-writing in considerable perfection1 and a despotic central government4 ,the higher classes in a society like this could not but develop speculative systems1 and it is alleged that shortly before the reign of ,montezuma attempts had been made to introduce a pure monotheistic religion4 ,but the ritual of the ,aztecs remained an example of the utmost barbarity4 ,never was a more cruel faith1 not even in ,carthage4 ,nowhere did temples reek with such pools of human blood2 nowhere else1 not in ,dahomey and ,ashanti1 were human sacrifice1 cannibalism and torture so essential to the cult that secured the favour of the gods4 ,in these dark fanes--reeking with gore1 peopled by monstrous shapes of idols bird-headed or beast-headed1 and adorned with the hideous carvings in which we still see the priest1 under the mask of some less ravenous forest beast1 tormenting the victim--in these abominable temples the ,castilian conquerors might well believe that they saw the dwellings of devils4 ,yet ,mexican religion had its moral and beautiful aspect1 and the gods1 or certain of the gods1 required from their worshippers not only bloody hands1 but clean hearts4 ,to the gods we return later4 ,the myths of the origin of things may be studied without a knowledge of the whole ,aztec ,pantheon4 ,our authorities1 though numerous1 lack complete originality and are occasionally confused4 ,we have first the ,aztec monuments and hieroglyphic scrolls1 for the most part undeciphered4 ,these merely attest the hideous and cruel character of the deities4 ,next we have the reports of early missionaries1 like ,sahagun and ,mendieta1 of conquerors1 like ,bernal ,diaz1 and of noble half-breeds1 such as ,ixtlilxochitl47#a7 7#a7 ,bancroft's ,native ,races of ,pacific ,coast of ,north ,america1 vol4 iii41 contains an account of the sources1 and1 with ,sahagun and ,acosta1 is mainly followed here4 ,see also ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 ,ur4 ,amerik4 ,rel41 p4 #ejg4 ,see chapter on the ,divine ,myths of ,mexico4 ,there are two elements in ,mexican1 as in ,quiche1 and ,indo-,aryan1 and ,maori1 and even ,andaman cosmogonic myth4 ,we find the purer religion and the really philosophic speculation concurrent with such crude and childish stories as usually satisfy the intellectual demands of ,ahts1 ,cahrocs and ,bushmen2 but of the purer and more speculative opinions we know little4 ,many of the noble1 learned and priestly classes of ,aztecs perished at the conquest4 ,the survivors were more or less converted to ,catholicism1 and in their writings probably put the best face possible on the native religion4 ,like the ,spanish clergy1 their instructors1 they were inclined to explain away their national gods by a system of euhemerism1 by taking it for granted that the gods and culture-heroes had originally been ordinary men1 worshipped after their decease4 ,this is almost invariably the view adopted by ,sahagun4 ,side by side with the confessions1 as it were1 of the clergy and cultivated classes coexisted the popular beliefs1 the myths of the people1 partaking of the nature of folk-lore1 but not rejected by the priesthood4 ,both strata of belief are represented in the surviving cosmogonic myths of the ,aztecs4 ,probably we may reckon in the first or learned and speculative class of tales the account of a series of constructions and reconstructions of the world4 ,this idea is not peculiar to the higher mythologies1 the notion of a deluge and recreation or renewal of things is almost universal1 and even among the untutored ,australians there are memories of a flood and of an age of ruinous winds4 ,but the theory of definite epochs1 calculated in accordance with the ,mexican calendar1 of epochs in which things were made and re-made1 answers closely to the ,indo-,aryan conception of successive kalpas1 and can only have been developed after the method of reckoning time had been carried to some perfection4 ,when heaven and earth were fashioned1 they had already been four times created and destroyed1 say the fragments of what is called the ,chimalpopoca manuscript4 ,probably this theory of a series of kalpas is only one of the devices by which the human mind has tried to cheat itself into the belief that it can conceive a beginning of things4 ,the earth stands on an elephant1 the elephant on a tortoise1 and it is going too far to ask what the tortoise stands on4 ,in the same way the world's beginning seems to become more intelligible or less puzzling when it is thrown back into a series of beginnings and endings4 ,this method also was in harmony with those vague ideas of evolution and of the survival of the fittest which we have detected in myth4 ,the various tentative human races of the ,popol ,vuh degenerated or were destroyed because they did not fulfil the purposes for which they were made4 ,in ,brahmanic myth we shall see that type after type was condemned and perished because it was inadequate1 or inadequately equipped--because it did not harmonise with its environment47#a7 ,for these series of experimental creations and inefficient evolutions vast spaces of time were required1 according to the ,aztec and ,indo-,aryan philosophies4 ,it is not impossible that actual floods and great convulsions of nature may have been remembered in tradition1 and may have lent colour and form to these somewhat philosophic myths of origins4 ,from such sources probably comes the ,mexican hypothesis of a water-age 7ending in a deluge71 an earth-age 7ending in an earthquake71 a wind-age 7ending in hurricanes71 and the present dispensation1 to be destroyed by fire4 7#a7 ,as an example of a dim evolutionary idea1 note the myths of the various ages as reported by ,mendieta1 according to which there were five earlier ages or suns of bad quality1 so that the contemporary human beings were unable to live on the fruits of the earth4 ,the less philosophic and more popular ,aztec legend of the commencement of the world is mainly remarkable for the importance given in it to objects of stone4 ,for some reason1 stones play a much greater part in ,american than in other mythologies4 ,an emerald was worshipped in the temple of ,pachacamac1 who was1 according to ,garcilasso1 the supreme and spiritual deity of the ,incas4 ,the creation legend of the ,cakchiquels of ,guatemala7#a7 makes much of a mysterious1 primeval and animated obsidian stone4 ,in the ,iroquois myths7#b7 stones are the leading characters4 ,nor did ,aztec myth escape this influence4 7#a7 ,brinton1 ,annals of the ,cakchiquels4 7#b7 ,erminie ,smith1 ,bureau of ,ethnol4 ,report1 ii4 ,there was a god in heaven named ,citlalatonac1 and a goddess1 ,citlalicue4 ,when we speak of heaven we must probably think of some such world of ordinary terrestrial nature above the sky as that from which ,ataentsic fell in the ,huron story4 ,the goddess gave birth to a flint-knife1 and flung the flint down to earth4 ,this abnormal birth partly answers to that of the youngest of the ,adityas1 the rejected abortion in the ,veda1 and to the similar birth and rejection of ,maui in ,new ,zealand4 ,from the fallen flint-knife sprang our old friends the magnified non-natural beings with human characteristics1 the gods1 to the number of #afjj4 ,the gods sent up the hawk 7who in ,india and ,australia generally comes to the front on these occasions71 and asked their mother1 or rather grandmother1 to help them to make men1 to be their servants4 ,citlalicue rather jeered at her unconsidered offspring4 ,she advised them to go to the lord of the homes of the departed1 ,mictlanteuctli1 and borrow a bone or some ashes of the dead who are with him4 ,we must never ask for consistency from myths4 ,this statement implies that men had already been in existence1 though they were not yet created4 ,perhaps they had perished in one of the four great destructions4 ,with difficulty and danger the gods stole a bone from ,hades1 placed it in a bowl1 and smeared it with their own blood1 as in ,chaldea and elsewhere4 ,finally1 a boy and a girl were born out of the bowl4 ,from this pair sprang men1 and certain of the gods1 jumping into a furnace1 became sun and moon4 ,to the sun they then1 in ,aztec fashion1 sacrificed themselves1 and there1 one might think1 was an end of them4 ,but they afterwards appeared in wondrous fashions to their worshippers1 and ordained the ritual of religion4 ,according to another legend1 man and woman 7as in ,african myths7 struggled out of a hole in the ground47#a7 7#a7 ,authorities3 ,ixtlil42 ,kingsborough1 ix4 pp4 #bje1 #bjf2 ,sahagun1 ,hist4 ,gen41 i4 #c1 vii4 #b2 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 p4 #eaj1 where ,muller compares the ,delphic conception of ages of the world2 ,bancroft1 iii4 pp4 #fj1 #fe4 ,the myths of the peoples under the empire of the ,incas in ,peru are extremely interesting1 because almost all mythical formations are found existing together1 while we have historical evidence as to the order and manner of their development4 ,the ,peru of the ,incas covered the modern state of the same name1 and included ,ecuador1 with parts of ,chili and ,bolivia4 ,m4 ,reville calculates that the empire was about #bejj miles in length1 four times as long as ,france1 and that its breadth was from #bej to #ejj miles4 ,the country1 contained three different climatic regions1 and was peopled by races of many different degrees of culture1 all more or less subject to the dominion of the ,children of the ,sun4 ,the three regions were the dry strip along the coast1 the fertile and cultivated land about the spurs of the ,cordilleras1 and the inland mountain regions1 inhabited by the wildest races4 ,near ,cuzco1 the ,inca capital1 was the ,lake of ,titicaca1 the ,mediterranean1 as it were1 of ,peru1 for on the shores of this inland sea was developed the chief civilisation of the new world4 ,as to the institutions1 myths and religion of the empire1 we have copious if contradictory information4 ,there are the narratives of the ,spanish conquerors1 especially of ,pizarro's chaplain1 ,valverde1 an ignorant bigoted fanatic4 ,then we have somewhat later travellers and missionaries1 of whom ,cieza de ,leon 7his book was published thirty years after the conquest1 in #aeec7 is one of the most trustworthy4 ,the ,royal ,commentaries of ,garcilasso de la ,vega1 son of an ,inca lady and a ,spanish conqueror1 have often already been quoted4 ,the critical spirit and sound sense of ,garcilasso are in remarkable contrast to the stupid orthodoxy of the ,spaniards1 but some allowance must be made for his fervent ,peruvian patriotism4 ,he had heard the ,inca traditions repeated in boyhood1 and very early in life collected all the information which his mother and maternal uncle had to give him1 or which could be extracted from the quipus 7the records of knotted cord71 and from the commemorative pictures of his ancestors4 ,garcilasso had access1 moreover1 to the torn papers of ,blas ,valera1 an early ,spanish missionary of unusual sense and acuteness4 ,christoval de ,moluna is also an excellent authority1 and much may be learned from the volume of ,rites and ,laws of the ,yncas47#a7 7#a7 ,a more complete list of authorities1 including the garrulous ,acosta1 is published by ,m4 ,reville in his ,hibbert ,lectures1 pp4 #acf1 #acg4 ,garcilasso1 ,cieza de ,leon1 ,christoval de ,moluna1 ,acosta and the ,rites and ,laws have all been translated by ,mr4 ,clements ,markham1 and are published1 with the editor's learned and ingenious notes1 in the collection of the ,hakluyt ,society4 ,care must be taken to discriminate between what is reported about the ,indians of the various provinces1 who were in very different grades of culture1 and what is told about the ,incas themselves4 ,the political and religious condition of the ,peruvian empire is very clearly conceived and stated by ,garcilasso4 ,without making due allowance for that mysterious earlier civilisation1 older than the ,incas1 whose cyclopean buildings are the wonder of travellers1 ,garcilasso attributes the introduction of civilisation to his own ancestors4 ,allowing for what is confessedly mythical in his narrative1 it must be admitted that he has a firm grasp of what the actual history must have been4 ,he recognises a period of savagery before the ,incas1 a condition of the rudest barbarism1 which still existed on the fringes and mountain recesses of the empire4 ,the religion of that period was mere magic and totemism4 ,from all manner of natural objects1 but chiefly from beasts and birds1 the various savage stocks of ,peru claimed descent1 and they revered and offered sacrifice to their totemic ancestors47#a7 ,garcilasso adds1 what is almost incredible1 that the ,indians tamely permitted themselves to be eaten by their totems1 when these were carnivorous animals4 ,they did this with the less reluctance as they were cannibals1 and accustomed to breed children for the purposes of the cuisine from captive women taken in war47#b7 ,among the huacas or idols1 totems1 fetishes and other adorable objects of the ,indians1 worshipped before and retained after the introduction of the ,inca sun-totem and solar cult1 ,garcilasso names trees1 hills1 rocks1 caves1 fountains1 emeralds1 pieces of jasper1 tigers1 lions1 bears1 foxes1 monkeys1 condors1 owls1 lizards1 toads1 frogs1 sheep1 maize1 the sea1 for want of larger gods1 crabs and bats4 ,the bat was also the totem of the ,zotzil1 the chief family of the ,cakchiquels of ,guatemala1 and the most high god of the ,cakchiquels was worshipped in the shape of a bat4 ,we are reminded of religion as it exists in ,samoa4 ,the explanation of ,blas ,valera was that in each totem 7pacarissa7 the ,indians adored the devil4 7#a7 ,com4 ,real41 vol4 i41 chap4 ix41 x4 xi4 pp4 #dg-ec4 7#b7 ,cieza de ,leon1 xii41 xv41 xix41 xxi41 xxiii41 xxvi41 xxviii41 xxxii4 ,cieza is speaking of people in the valley of ,cauca1 in ,new ,granada4 ,athwart this early religion of totems and fetishes came1 in ,garcilasso's narrative1 the purer religion of the ,incas1 with what he regards as a philosophic development of a belief in a ,supreme ,being4 ,according to him1 the ,inca sun-worship was really a totemism of a loftier character4 ,the ,incas knew how to choose gods better than the ,indians4 ,garcilasso's theory is that the earlier totems were selected chiefly as distinguishing marks by the various stocks1 though1 of course1 this does not explain why the animals or other objects of each family were worshipped or were regarded as ancestors1 and the blood-connections of the men who adored them4 ,the ,incas1 disdaining crabs1 lizards1 bats and even serpents and lions1 chose the sun4 ,then1 just like the other totemic tribes1 they feigned to be of the blood and lineage of the sun4 ,this fable is1 in brief1 the ,inca myth of the origin of civilisation and of man1 or at least of their breed of men4 ,as ,m4 ,reville well remarks1 it is obvious that the ,inca claim is an adaptation of the local myth of ,lake ,titicaca1 the inland sea of ,peru4 ,according to that myth1 the ,children of the ,sun1 the ancestors of the ,incas1 came out of the earth 7as in ,greek and ,african legends7 at ,lake ,titicaca1 or reached its shores after wandering from the hole or cave whence they first emerged4 ,the myth1 as adapted by the ,incas1 takes for granted the previous existence of mankind1 and1 in some of its forms1 the ,inca period is preceded by the deluge4 ,of the ,peruvian myth concerning the origin of things1 the following account is given by a ,spanish priest1 ,christoval de ,moluna1 in a report to the ,bishop of ,cuzco in #aegj47a7 ,the story was collected from the lips of ancient ,peruvians and old native priests1 who again drew their information in part from the painted records reserved in the temple of the sun near ,cuzco4 ,the legend begins with a deluge myth2 a cataclysm ended a period of human existence4 ,all mankind perished except a man and woman1 who floated in a box to a distance of several hundred miles from ,cuzco4 ,there the creator commanded them to settle1 and there1 like ,pund-jel in ,australia1 he made clay images of men of all races1 attired in their national dress1 and then animated them4 ,they were all fashioned and painted as correct models1 and were provided with their national songs and with seed-corn4 ,they then were put into the earth1 and emerged all over the world at the proper places1 some 7as in ,africa and ,greece7 coming out of fountains1 some out of trees1 some out of caves4 ,for this reason they made huacas 7worshipful objects or fetishes7 of the trees1 caves and fountains4 ,some of the earliest men were changed into stones1 others into falcons1 condors and other creatures which we know were totems in ,peru4 ,probably this myth of metamorphosis was invented to account for the reverence paid to totems or pacarissas as the ,peruvians called them4 ,in ,tiahuanaco1 where the creation1 or rather manufacture of men took place1 the creator turned many sinners into stones4 ,the sun was made in the shape of a man1 and1 as he soared into heaven1 he called out in a friendly fashion to ,manco ,ccapac1 the ,ideal first ,inca1 ,look upon me as thy father1 and worship me as thy father4 ,in these fables the creator is called ,pachyachachi1 ,teacher of the world4 ,according to ,christoval1 the creator and his sons were eternal and unchangeable4 ,among the ,canaris men descend from the survivor of the deluge1 and a beautiful bird with the face of a woman1 a siren in fact1 but known better to ornithologists as a macaw4 ,the chief cause1 says the good ,christoval1 of these fables was ignorance of ,god4 7#a7 ,rites and ,laws of the ,yncas1 p4 #d1 ,hakluyt ,society1 #ahgc4 ,the story1 as told by ,cieza de ,leon1 runs thus37#a7 ,a white man of great stature 7in fact1 a magnified non-natural man7 came into the world1 and gave life to beasts and human beings4 ,his name was ,ticiviracocha1 and he was called the ,father of the ,sun47#b7 ,there are likenesses of him in the temple1 and he was regarded as a moral teacher4 ,it was owing apparently to this benevolent being that four mysterious brothers and sisters emerged from a cave--,children of the ,sun1 fathers of the ,incas1 teachers of savage men4 ,their own conduct1 however1 was not exemplary1 and they shut up in a hole in the earth the brother of whom they were jealous4 ,this incident is even more common in the marchen or household tales than in the regular tribal or national myths of the world47#c7 ,the buried brother emerged again with wings1 and without doubt he must have been some devil1 says honest ,cieza de ,leon4 ,this brother was ,manco ,ccapac1 the heroic ancestor of the ,incas1 and he turned his jealous brethren into stones4 ,the whole tale is in the spirit illustrated by the wilder romances of the ,popol ,vuh4 7#a7 ,second ,part of the ,chronicles of ,peru1 p #e4 7#b7 ,see ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bfe-bgj4 ,name and ,god are much disputed4 7#c7 ,the story of ,joseph and the marchen of ,jean de l',ours are well-known examples4 ,garcilasso gives three forms of this myth4 ,according to the old ,inca1 his maternal uncle1 it was the sun which sent down two of his children1 giving them a golden staff1 which would sink into the ground at the place where they were to rest from wandering4 ,it sank at ,lake ,titicaca4 ,about the current myths ,garcilasso says generally that they were more like dreams than straightforward stories2 but1 as he adds1 the ,greeks and ,romans also invented fables worthy to be laughed at1 and in greater number than the ,indians4 ,the stories of one age of heathenism may be compared with those of the other1 and in many points they will be found to agree4 ,this critical position of ,garcilasso's will be proved correct when we reach the myths of ,greeks and ,indo-,aryans4 ,the myth as narrated north-east of ,cuzco speaks of the four brothers and four sisters who came out of caves1 and the caves in ,inca times were panelled with gold and silver4 ,athwart all these lower myths1 survivals from the savage stage1 comes what ,garcilasso regards as the philosophical ,inca belief in ,pachacamac4 ,this deity1 to ,garcilasso's mind1 was purely spiritual3 he had no image and dwelt in no temple2 in fact1 he is that very ,god whom the ,spanish missionaries proclaimed4 ,this view1 though the fact has been doubted1 was very probably held by the ,amautas1 or philosophical class in ,peru47#a7 ,cieza de ,leon says the name of this devil1 ,pachacamac1 means creator of the world4 ,garcilasso urges that ,pachacamac was the animus mundi2 that he did not make the world1 as ,pund-jel and other savage demiurges made it1 but that he was to the universe what the soul is to the body4 7#a7 ,com4 ,real41 vol4 i4 p4 #ajf4 ,here we find ourselves1 if among myths at all1 among the myths of metaphysics--rational myths2 that is1 myths corresponding to our present stage of thought1 and therefore intelligible to us4 ,pachacamac made the sun1 and lightning1 and thunder1 and of these the sun was worshipped by the ,incas4 ,garcilasso denies that the moon was worshipped4 ,the reflections of the sceptical or monotheistic ,inca1 who declared that the sun1 far from being a free agent1 seems like a thing held to its task1 are reported by ,garcilasso1 and appear to prove that solar worship was giving way1 in the minds of educated ,peruvians1 a hundred years before the arrival of ,pizarro and ,valverde with his missal47#a7 7#a7 ,garcilasso1 viii4 #h1 quoting ,blas ,valera4 ,from this summary it appears that the higher ,peruvian religion had wrested to its service1 and to the dynastic purposes of the ,incas1 a native myth of the familiar class1 in which men come ready made out of holes in the ground4 ,but in ,peru we do not find nearly such abundance of other savage origin myths as will be proved to exist in the legends of ,greeks and ,indo-,aryans4 ,the reason probably is that ,peru left no native literature2 the missionaries disdained stories of devils1 and ,garcilasso's common sense and patriotism were alike revolted by the incidents of stories more like dreams than truthful records4 ,he therefore was silent about them4 ,in ,greece and ,india1 on the other hand1 the native religious literature preserved myths of the making of man out of clay1 of his birth from trees and stones1 of the fashioning of things out of the fragments of mutilated gods and ,titans1 of the cosmic egg1 of the rending and wounding of a personal heaven and a personal earth1 of the fishing up from the waters of a tiny earth which grew greater1 of the development of men out of beasts1 with a dozen other such notions as are familiar to contemporary ,bushmen1 ,australians1 ,digger ,indians1 and ,cahrocs4 ,but in ,greece and ,india these ideas coexist with myths and religious beliefs as purely spiritual and metaphysical as the belief in the ,pachacamac of ,garcilasso and the ,amautas of ,peru4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,indo-,,aryan ,,myths--,,sources ,,of ,,evidence4 ,authorities--,vedas--,brahmanas--,socia l condition of ,vedic ,india--,arts--,ranks--,war--,vedic fetishism--,ancestor worship--,date of ,rig-,veda ,hymns doubtful--,obscurity of the ,hymns--,difficulty of interpreting the real character of ,veda--,not primitive but sacerdotal--,the moral purity not innocence but refinement4 ,before examining the myths of the ,aryans of ,india1 it is necessary to have a clear notion of the nature of the evidence from which we derive our knowledge of the subject4 ,that evidence is found in a large and incongruous mass of literary documents1 the heritage of the ,indian people4 ,in this mass are extremely ancient texts 7the ,rig-,veda1 and the ,atharva-,veda71 expository comments of a date so much later that the original meaning of the older documents was sometimes lost 7the ,brahmanas71 and poems and legendary collections of a period later still1 a period when the whole character of religious thought had sensibly altered4 ,in this literature there is indeed a certain continuity2 the names of several gods of the earliest time are preserved in the legends of the latest4 ,but the influences of many centuries of change1 of contending philosophies1 of periods of national growth and advance1 and of national decadence and decay1 have been at work on the mythology of ,india4 ,here we have myths that were perhaps originally popular tales1 and are probably old2 here again1 we have later legends that certainly were conceived in the narrow minds of a pedantic and ceremonious priesthood4 ,it is not possible1 of course1 to analyse in this place all the myths of all the periods2 we must be content to point out some which seem to be typical examples of the working of the human intellect in its earlier or its later childhood1 in its distant hours of barbaric beginnings1 or in the senility of its sacerdotage4 ,the documents which contain ,indian mythology may be divided1 broadly speaking1 into four classes4 ,first1 and most ancient in date of composition1 are the collections of hymns known as the ,vedas4 ,next1 and 7as far as date of collection goes7 far less ancient1 are the expository texts called the ,brahmanas4 ,later still1 come other manuals of devotion and of sacred learning1 called ,sutras and ,upanishads2 and last are the epic poems 7,itihasas71 and the books of legends called ,puranas4 ,we are chiefly concerned here with the ,vedas and ,brahmanas4 ,a gulf of time1 a period of social and literary change1 separates the ,brahmanas from the ,vedas4 ,but the epics and ,puranas differ perhaps even still more from the ,brahmanas1 on account of vast religious changes which brought new gods into the ,indian ,olympus1 or elevated to the highest place old gods formerly of low degree4 ,from the composition of the first ,vedic hymn to the compilation of the latest ,purana1 religious and mythopoeic fancy was never at rest4 ,various motives induced various poets to assign1 on various occasions the highest powers to this or the other god4 ,the most antique legends were probably omitted or softened by some early ,vedic bard 7,rishi7 of noble genius1 or again impure myths were brought from the obscurity of oral circulation and foisted into literature by some poet less divinely inspired4 ,old deities were half-forgotten1 and forgotten deities were resuscitated4 ,sages shook off superstitious bonds1 priests forged new fetters on ancient patterns for themselves and their flocks4 ,philosophy explained away the more degrading myths2 myths as degrading were suggested to dark and servile hearts by unscientific etymologies4 ,over the whole mass of ancient mythology the new mythology of a debased ,brahmanic ritualism grew like some luxurious and baneful parasite4 ,it is enough for our purpose if we can show that even in the purest and most antique mythology of ,india the element of traditional savagery survived and played its part1 and that the irrational legends of the ,vedas and ,brahmanas can often be explained as relics of savage philosophy or faith1 or as novelties planned on the ancient savage model1 whether borrowed or native to the race4 ,the oldest documents of ,indian mythology are the ,vedas1 usually reckoned as four in number4 ,the oldest1 again1 of the four1 is the ,sanhita 7collection7 of the ,rig-,veda4 ,it is a purely lyrical assortment of the songs which the ,hindus brought with them from their ancient homes on the banks of the ,indus4 ,in the manuscripts1 the hymns are classified according to the families of poets to whom they are ascribed4 ,though composed on the banks of the ,indus by sacred bards1 the hymns were compiled and arranged in ,india proper4 ,at what date the oldest hymns of which this collection is made up were first chanted it is impossible to say with even approximate certainty4 ,opinions differ1 or have differed1 between #bdjj ,b4,c4 and #adjj ,b4,c4 as the period when the earliest sacred lyrics of the ,veda may first have been listened by gods and men4 ,in addition to the ,rig-,veda we have the ,sanhita of the ,sama-,veda1 an anthology taken from the ,rik-,samhita1 comprising those of its verses which were intended to be chanted at the ceremonies of the soma sacrifice47#a7 ,it is conjectured that the hymns of the ,sama-,veda were borrowed from the ,rig-,veda before the latter had been edited and stereotyped into its present form4 ,next comes the ,yajur-,veda1 which contains the formulas for the entire sacrificial ceremonial1 and indeed forms its proper foundations1 the other ,vedas being devoted to the soma sacrifice47#b7 ,the ,yajur-,veda has two divisions1 known as the ,black and the ,white ,yajur1 which have common matter1 but differ in arrangement4 ,the ,black ,yajur-,veda is also called the ,taittirya1 and it is described as a motley undigested jumble of different pieces47#c7 ,last comes ,atharva-,veda1 not always regarded as a ,veda properly speaking4 ,it derives its name from an old semi-mythical priestly family1 the ,atharvans1 and is full of magical formulae1 imprecations1 folk-lore and spells4 ,there are good reasons for thinking this late as a collection1 however early may be the magical ideas expressed in its contents47#d7 7#a7 ,weber1 ,history of ,indian ,literature1 ,eng4 transl41 p4 #fc4 7#b7 ,ibid41 p4 #hf4 7#c7 ,ibid1 p4 #hg4 ,the name ,taittirya is derived from a partridge1 or from a ,rishi named ,partridge in ,sanskrit4 ,there is a story that the pupils of a sage were turned into partridges1 to pick up sacred texts4 7#d7 ,barth 7,les ,religions de l',inde1 p4 #f7 thinks that the existence of such a collection as the ,atharva-,veda is implied1 perhaps1 in a text of the ,rig-,veda1 x4 #ij1 #i4 ,between the ,vedas1 or1 at all events1 between the oldest of the ,vedas1 and the compilation of the ,brahmanas1 these canonised explanations of a canonised text17#a7 it is probable that some centuries and many social changes intervened47#b7 7#a7 ,whitney1 ,oriental and ,linguistic studies1 ,first ,series1 p4 #d4 7#b7 ,max ,muller1 ,biographical ,essays1 p4 #bj4 ,the prose portions presuppose the hymns1 and1 to judge from the utter inability of the authors of the ,brahmanas to understand the antiquated language of the hymns1 these ,brahmanas must be ascribed to a much later period than that which gave birth to the hymns4 ,if we would criticise the documents for ,indian mythology in a scientific manner1 it is now necessary that we should try to discover1 as far as possible1 the social and religious condition of the people among whom the ,vedas took shape4 ,were they in any sense primitive1 or were they civilised8 ,was their religion in its obscure beginnings or was it already a special and peculiar development1 the fruit of many ages of thought8 ,now it is an unfortunate thing that scholars have constantly1 and as it were involuntarily1 drifted into the error of regarding the ,vedas as if they were primitive1 as if they exhibited to us the germs and genesis of religion and mythology1 as if they contained the simple though strange utterances of ,,primitive thought47#a7 ,thus ,mr4 ,whitney declares1 in his ,oriental and ,linguistic ,studies1 that the ,vedas exhibit to us the very earliest germs of the ,hindu culture4 ,mr4 ,max ,muller avers that no country can be compared to ,india as offering opportunities for a real study of the genesis and growth of religion47#b7 ,yet the same scholar observes that even the earliest specimens of ,vedic poetry belong to the modern history of the race1 and that the early period of the historical growth of religion had passed away before the ,rishis 7bards7 could have worshipped their ,devas or bright beings with sacred hymns and invocations4 ,though this is manifestly true1 the sacred hymns and invocations of the ,rishis are constantly used as testimony bearing on the beginning of the historical growth of religion4 ,nay1 more2 these remains of the modern history of the race are supposed to exhibit mythology in the process of making1 as if the race had possessed no mythology before it reached a comparatively modern period1 the ,vedic age4 ,in the same spirit1 ,dr4 ,muir1 the learned editor of ,sanskrit ,texts1 speaks in one place as if the ,vedic hymns illustrated the natural workings of the human mind in the period of its infancy47#c7 ,a brief examination of the social and political and religious condition of man1 as described by the poets of the ,vedas1 will prove that his infancy had long been left behind him when the first ,vedic hymns were chanted4 7#a7 ,ibid41 ,rig-,veda ,sanhita1 p4 vii4 7#b7 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #aca4 7#c7 ,nothing can prove more absolutely and more briefly the late character of ,vedic faith than the fact that the faith had already to be defended against the attacks of sceptics4 ,the impious denied the existence of ,indra because he was invisible4 ,rig-,veda1 ii4 #ab1 #e2 viii4 #hi1 #c2 v4 #cj1 #a-b2 vi4 #bg1 #c4 ,bergaigne1 ii4 #afg4 ,es gibt keinen ,indra1 so hat der eine und der ander gesagt 7,ludwig's version74 ,as ,barth observes1 the very ideas which permeate the ,veda1 the idea of the mystic efficacy of sacrifice1 of brahma1 prove that the poems are profoundly sacerdotal2 and this should have given pause to the writers who have persisted in representing the hymns as the work of primitive shepherds praising their gods as they feed their flocks47#a7 ,in the ,vedic age the ranks of society are already at least as clearly defined as in ,homeric ,greece4 ,we men1 says a poet of the ,rig-,veda17#b7 have all our different imaginations and designs4 ,the carpenter seeks something that is broken1 the doctor a patient1 the priest some one who will offer libations4444 ,the artisan continually seeks after a man with plenty of gold4444 ,i am a poet1 my father is a doctor1 and my mother is a grinder of corn4 ,chariots and the art of the chariot-builder are as frequently spoken of as in the ,iliad4 ,spears1 swords1 axes and coats of mail were in common use4 ,the art of boat-building or of ship-building was well known4 ,kine and horses1 sheep and dogs1 had long been domesticated4 ,the bow was a favourite weapon1 and warriors fought in chariots1 like the ,homeric ,greeks and the ,egyptians4 ,weaving was commonly practised4 ,the people probably lived1 as a rule1 in village settlements1 but cities or fortified places were by no means unknown47#c7 ,as for political society1 kings are frequently mentioned in the hymns1 and it was regarded as eminently beneficial for a king to entertain a family priest1 on whom he was expected to confer thousands of kine1 lovely slaves and lumps of gold4 ,in the family polygamy existed1 probably as the exception4 ,there is reason to suppose that the brother-in-law was permitted1 if not expected1 to raise up seed to his dead brother1 as among the ,hebrews47#d7 ,as to literature1 the very structure of the hymns proves that it was elaborate and consciously artistic4 ,m4 ,barth writes3 ,it would be a great mistake to speak of the primitive naivete of the ,vedic poetry and religion47#e7 ,both the poetry and the religion1 on the other hand1 display in the highest degree the mark of the sacerdotal spirit4 ,the myths1 though originally derived from nature-worship1 in an infinite majority of cases only reflect natural phenomena through a veil of ritualistic corruptions47#f7 ,the rigid division of castes is seldom recognised in the ,rig-,veda4 ,we seem to see caste in the making47#g7 ,the ,rishis and priests of the princely families were on their way to becoming the all-powerful ,brahmans4 ,the kings and princes were on their way to becoming the caste of ,kshatriyas or warriors4 ,the mass of the people was soon to sink into the caste of ,vaisyas and broken men4 ,non-,aryan aborigines and others were possibly developing into the caste of ,sudras4 ,thus the spirit of division and of ceremonialism had still some of its conquests to achieve4 ,but the extraordinary attention given and the immense importance assigned to the details of sacrifice1 and the supernatural efficacy constantly attributed to a sort of magical asceticism 7tapas1 austere fervour71 prove that the worst and most foolish elements of later ,indian society and thought were in the ,vedic age already in powerful existence4 7#a7 ,les ,religions de l',inde1 p4 #bg4 7#b7 ix4 #aab4 7#c7 ,ludwig1 ,rig-,veda1 iii4 #bjc4 ,the burgs were fortified with wooden palisades1 capable of being destroyed by fire4 ,cities may be too magnificent a word for what perhaps were more like pahs4 ,but compare ,kaegi1 ,the ,rig-,veda1 note #db1 ,engl4 transl4 ,kaegi's book 7translated by ,dr4 ,arrowsmith1 ,boston1 ,u4,s41 #ahhf7 is probably the best short manual of the subject4 7#d7 ,deut4 xxv4 #e2 ,matt4 xxii4 #bd4 7#e7 ,revue de l',histoire des ,religions1 i4 #bde4 7#f7 ,ludwig1 iii4 #bfb4 7#g7 ,on this subject see ,muir1 i4 #aib1 with the remarks of ,haug4 ,from all we know1 the real origin of caste seems to go back to a time anterior to the composition of the ,vedic hymns1 though its development into a regular system with insurmountable barriers can be referred only to the later period of the ,vedic times4 ,roth approaches the subject from the word brahm1 that is1 prayer with a mystical efficacy1 as his starting-point4 ,from brahm1 prayer1 came brahma1 he who pronounces the prayers and performs the rite4 ,this celebrant developed into a priest1 whom to entertain brought blessings on kings4 ,this domestic chaplaincy 7conferring peculiar and even supernatural benefits7 became hereditary in families1 and these1 united by common interests1 exalted themselves into the ,brahman caste4 ,but in the ,vedic age gifts of prayer and poetry alone marked out the purohitas1 or men put forward to mediate between gods and mortals4 ,compare ,ludwig1 iii4 #bba4 ,thus it is self-evident that the society in which the ,vedic poets lived was so far from being ,,primitive that it was even superior to the higher barbarisms 7such as that of the ,scythians of ,herodotus and ,germans of ,tacitus71 and might be regarded as safely arrived at the threshold of civilisation4 ,society possessed kings1 though they may have been kings of small communities1 like those who warred with ,joshua or fought under the walls of ,thebes or ,troy4 ,poets were better paid than they seem to have been at the courts of ,homer or are at the present time4 ,for the tribal festivals special priests were appointed1 who distinguished themselves by their comprehensive knowledge of the requisite rites and by their learning1 and amongst whom a sort of rivalry is gradually developed1 according as one tribe or another is supposed to have more or less prospered by its sacrifices47#a7 ,in the family marriage is sacred1 and traces of polyandry and of the levirate1 surviving as late as the epic poems1 were regarded as things that need to be explained away4 ,perhaps the most barbaric feature in ,vedic society1 the most singular relic of a distant past1 is the survival1 even in a modified and symbolic form1 of human sacrifice47#b7 7#a7 ,weber1 p4 #cg4 7#b7 ,wilson1 ,rig-,veda1 i4 p4 #ei-fc2 ,muir1 i4 ii42 ,wilson1 ,rig-,veda i4 p4 xxiv41 ii4 #h 7ii4 #ij72 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 ,haug's version1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #dfb1 #dfi4 ,as to the religious condition of the ,vedic ,aryans1 we must steadily remember that in the ,vedas we have the views of the ,rishis only1 that is1 of sacred poets on their way to becoming a sacred caste4 ,necessarily they no more represent the ,,popular creeds than the psalmists and prophets1 with their lofty monotheistic morality1 represent the popular creeds of ,israel4 ,the faith of the ,rishis1 as will be shown later1 like that of the psalmists1 has a noble moral aspect4 ,yet certain elements of this higher creed are already found in the faiths of the lowest savages4 ,the ,rishis probably did not actually ,,invent them4 ,consciousness of sin1 of imperfection in the sight of divine beings1 has been developed 7as it has even in ,australia7 and is often confessed4 ,but on the whole the religion of the ,rishis is practical--it might almost be said1 is magical4 ,they desire temporal blessings1 rain1 sunshine1 long life1 power1 wealth in flocks and herds4 ,the whole purpose of the sacrifices which occupy so much of their time and thought is to obtain these good things4 ,the sacrifice and the sacrificer come between gods and men4 ,on the man's side is faith1 munificence1 a compelling force of prayer and of intentness of will4 ,the sacrifice invigorates the gods to do the will of the sacrificer2 it is supposed to be mystically celebrated in heaven as well as on earth--the gods are always sacrificing4 ,often 7as when rain is wanted7 the sacrifice imitates the end which it is desirable to gain47#a7 ,in all these matters a minute ritual is already observed4 ,the mystic word brahma1 in the sense of hymn or prayer of a compelling and magical efficacy1 has already come into use4 ,the brahma answers almost to the ,maori karakia or incantation and charm4 ,this brahma of ,visvamitra protects the tribe of ,bharata4 ,atri with the fourth prayer discovered the sun concealed by unholy darkness47#b7 ,the complicated ritual1 in which prayer and sacrifice were supposed to exert a constraining influence on the supernatural powers1 already existed1 ,haug thinks1 in the time of the chief ,rishis or hymnists of the ,rig-,veda47#c7 7#a7 ,compare ,the ,prayers of ,savages in ,j4 ,a4 ,farrer's ,primitive ,manners1 and ,ludwig1 iii4 #bfb-bif1 and see ,bergaigne1 ,la ,religion ,vedique1 vol4 i4 p4 #aba4 7#b7 ,see texts in ,muir1 i4 #bdb4 7#c7 ,preface to translation of ,aitareya ,brahmana1 p4 #cf4 ,in many respects the nature of the idea of the divine1 as entertained by the ,rishis of the ,rig-,veda1 is still matter for discussion4 ,in the chapter on ,vedic gods such particulars as can be ascertained will be given4 ,roughly speaking1 the religion is mainly1 though not wholly1 a cult of departmental gods1 originally1 in certain cases1 forces of ,nature1 but endowed with moral earnestness4 ,as to fetishism in the ,vedas the opinions of the learned are divided4 ,m4 ,bergaigne7#a7 looks on the whole ritual as1 practically1 an organised fetishism1 employed to influence gods of a far higher and purer character4 ,mr4 ,max ,muller remarks1 that stones1 bones1 shells1 herbs and all the other so-called fetishes1 are simply absent in the old hymns1 though they appear in more modern hymns1 particularly those of the ,atharva-,veda4 ,when artificial objects are mentioned and celebrated in the ,rig-,veda1 they are only such as might be praised even by ,wordsworth or ,tennyson--chariots1 bows1 quivers1 axes1 drums1 sacrificial vessels and similar objects4 ,they never assume any individual character2 they are simply mentioned as useful or precious1 it may be as sacred47#b7 7#a7 ,la ,religion ,vedique1 vol4 i4 p4 #abc4 ,le culte est assimilable dans une certaine mesure aux incantations1 aux pratiques magiques4 7#b7 ,hibbert ,lectures1 p4 #aih4 ,when the existence of fetish herbs is denied by ,mr4 ,max ,muller1 he does not1 of course1 forget ,soma1 that divine juice4 ,it is also to be noted that in modern ,india1 as ,mr4 ,max ,muller himself observes1 ,sir ,alfred ,lyall finds that the husbandman prays to his plough and the fisher to his net1 these objects being1 at present1 fetishes4 ,in opposition to ,mr4 ,max ,muller1 ,barth avers that the same kind of fetishism which flourishes to-day flourishes in the ,rig-,veda4 ,mountains1 rivers1 springs1 trees1 herbs are invoked as so many powers4 ,the beasts which live with man--the horse1 the cow1 the dog1 the bird and the animals which imperil his existence--receive a cult of praise and prayer4 ,among the instruments of ritual1 some objects are more than things consecrated--they are divinities2 and the war-chariot1 the weapons of defence and offence1 the plough1 are the objects not only of benedictions but of prayers47#a7 ,these absolute contradictions on matters of fact add1 of course1 to the difficulty of understanding the early ,indo-,aryan religion4 ,one authority says that the ,vedic people were fetish-worshippers2 another authority denies it4 7#a7 ,barth1 ,les ,religions de l',inde1 p4 #g1 with the ,vedic texts4 ,were the ,rishis ancestor-worshippers8 ,barth has no doubt whatever that they were4 ,in the pitris or fathers he recognises ancestral spirits1 now companions of the gods1 and gods themselves4 ,at their head appear the earliest celebrants of the sacrifice1 ,atharvan1 the ,angiras1 the ,kavis 7the pitris1 par excellence7 equals of the greatest gods1 spirits who1 ,,by ,,dint ,,of ,,sacrifice1 drew forth the world from chaos1 gave birth to the sun and lighted the stars1--cosmical feats which1 as we have seen1 are sometimes attributed by the lower races to their idealised mythic ancestors1 the old1 old ones of ,australians and ,ovahereroes4 ,a few examples of invocations of the ancestral spirits may not be out of place47#a7 ,may the ,fathers protect me in my invocation of the gods4 ,here is a curious case1 especially when we remember how the wolf1 in the ,north ,american myth1 scattered the stars like spangles over the sky3 ,the fathers have adorned the sky with stars47#b7 7#a7 ,rig-,veda1 vi4 #eb1d4 7#b7 ,ibid41 x4 #fh1 xi4 ,mr4 ,whitney 7,oriental and ,linguistic ,studies1 ,first ,series1 p4 #ei7 gives examples of the ceremony of feeding the ,aryan ghosts4 ,the fathers are supposed to assemble1 upon due invocation1 about the altar of him who would pay them homage1 to seat themselves upon the straw or matting spread for each of the guests invited1 and to partake of the offerings set before them4 ,the food seems chiefly to consist of rice1 sesame and honey4 ,important as is the element of ancestor-worship in the evolution of religion1 ,mr4 ,max ,muller1 in his ,hibbert ,lectures1 merely remarks that thoughts and feelings about the dead supplied some of the earliest and most important elements of religion2 but how these earliest elements affect his system does not appear4 ,on a general view1 then1 the religion of the ,vedic poets contained a vast number of elements in solution--elements such as meet us in every quarter of the globe4 ,the belief in ancestral ghosts1 the adoration of fetishes1 the devotion to a moral ideal1 contemplated in the persons of various deities1 some of whom at least have been1 and partly remain1 personal natural forces1 are all mingled1 and all are drifting towards a kind of pantheism1 in which1 while everything is divine1 and gods are reckoned by millions1 the worshipper has glimpses of one single divine essence4 ,the ritual1 as we have seen1 is more or less magical in character4 ,the general elements of the beliefs are found1 in various proportions1 everywhere2 the pantheistic mysticism is almost peculiar to ,india4 ,it is1 perhaps1 needless to repeat that a faith so very composite1 and already so strongly differentiated1 cannot possibly be primitive1 and that the beliefs and practices of a race so highly organised in society and so well equipped in material civilisation as the ,vedic ,aryans cannot possibly be near the beginning4 ,far from expecting to find in the ,veda the primitive myths of the ,aryans1 we must remember that myth had already1 when these hymns were sung1 become obnoxious to the religious sentiment4 ,thus1 writes ,barth1 the authors of the hymns have expurgated1 or at least left in the shade1 a vast number of legends older than their time2 such1 for example1 as the identity of soma with the moon1 as the account of the divine families1 of the parricide of ,indra1 and a long list might be made of the reticences of the ,veda4444 ,it would be difficult to extract from the hymns a chapter on the loves of the gods4 ,the goddesses are veiled1 the adventures of the gods are scarcely touched on in passing4444 ,we must allow for the moral delicacy of the singers1 and for their dislike of speaking too precisely about the gods4 ,sometimes it seems as if their chief object was to avoid plain speaking4444 ,but often there is nothing save jargon and indolence of mind in this voluntary obscurity1 for already in the ,veda the ,indian intellect is deeply smitten with its inveterate malady of affecting mystery the more1 the more it has nothing to conceal2 the mania for scattering symbols which symbolise no reality1 and for sporting with riddles which it is not worth while to divine47#a7 ,barth1 however1 also recognises amidst these confusions1 the inquietude of a heart deeply stirred1 which seeks truth and redemption in prayer4 ,such is the natural judgment of the clear ,french intellect on the wilfully obscure1 tormented and evasive intellect of ,india4 7#a7 ,les ,religions de l',inde1 p4 #ba4 ,it would be interesting were it possible to illuminate the criticism of ,vedic religion by ascertaining which hymns in the ,rig-,veda are the most ancient1 and which are later4 ,could we do this1 we might draw inferences as to the comparative antiquity of the religious ideas in the poems4 ,but no such discrimination of relative antiquity seems to be within the reach of critics4 ,m4 ,bergaigne thinks it impossible at present to determine the relative age of the hymns by any philological test4 ,the ideas expressed are not more easily arrayed in order of date4 ,we might think that the poems which contain most ceremonial allusions were the latest4 ,but ,mr4 ,max ,muller says that even the earliest hymns have sentiments worthy of the most advanced ceremonialists47#a7 7#a7 ,history of ,sanskrit ,literature1 p4 #eef4 ,the first and oldest source of our knowledge of ,indo-,aryan myths is the ,rig-,veda1 whose nature and character have been described4 ,the second source is the ,atharva-,veda with the ,brahmanas4 ,the peculiarity of the ,atharva is its collection of magical incantations spells and fragments of folklore4 ,these are often1 doubtless1 of the highest antiquity4 ,sorcery and the arts of medicine-men are earlier in the course of evolution than priesthood4 ,we meet them everywhere among races who have not developed the institution of an order of priests serving national gods4 ,as a collection1 the ,atharva-,veda is later than the ,rig-,veda1 but we need not therefore conclude that the ,,ideas of the ,atharva are a later development of the more primitive ideas of the ,rig-,veda4 ,magic is quod semper1 quod ubique1 quod ab omnibus2 the ideas of the ,atharva-,veda are everywhere2 the peculiar notions of the ,rig-,veda are the special property of an advanced and highly differentiated people4 ,even in the present collected shape1 ,m4 ,barth thinks that many hymns of the ,atharva are not much later than those of the ,rig-,veda4 ,mr4 ,whitney1 admitting the lateness of the ,atharva as a collection1 says1 ,this would not necessarily imply that the main body of the ,atharva hymns were not already in existence when the compilation of the ,rig-,veda took place47#a7 ,the ,atharva refers to some poets of the ,rig 7as certain hymnists in the ,rig also do7 as earlier men4 ,if in the ,rig 7as ,weber says7 there breathes a lively natural feeling1 a warm love of nature1 while in the ,atharva1 on the contrary1 there predominates an anxious apprehension of evil spirits and their magical powers1 it by no means follows that this apprehension is of later origin than the lively feeling for ,nature4 ,rather the reverse4 ,there appears to be no doubt7#b7 that the style and language of the ,atharva are later than those of the ,rig4 ,roth1 who recognises the change1 in language and style1 yet considers the ,atharva part of the old literature47#c7 ,he concludes that the ,atharva contains many pieces which1 both by their style and ideas1 are shown to be contemporary with the older hymns of the ,rig-,veda4 ,in religion1 according to ,muir17#d7 the ,atharva shows progress in the direction of monotheism in its celebration of ,brahman1 but it also introduces serpent-worship4 7#a7 ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society4 iv4 #bec4 7#b7 ,muir1 ii4 #ddf4 7#c7 ,ibid41 ii4 #ddh4 7#d7 ,ibid41 ii4 #dea4 ,as to the ,atharva1 then1 we are free to suppose1 if we like1 that the dark magic1 the evil spirits1 the incantations1 are old parts of ,indian1 as of all other popular beliefs1 though they come later into literature than the poetry about ,ushas and the morality of ,varuna4 ,the same remarks apply to our third source of information1 the ,brahmanas4 ,these are indubitably comments on the sacred texts very much more modern in form than the texts themselves4 ,but it does not follow1 and this is most important for our purpose1 that the myths in the ,brahmanas are all later than the ,vedic myths or corruptions of the ,veda4 ,muir remarks17#a7 ,the ,rig-,veda1 though the oldest collection1 does not necessarily contain everything that is of the greatest age in ,indian thought or tradition4 ,we know1 for example1 that certain legends1 bearing the impress of the highest antiquity1 such as that of the deluge1 appear first in the ,brahmanas4 ,we are especially interested in this criticism1 because most of the myths which we profess to explain as survivals of savagery are narrated in the ,brahmanas4 ,if these are necessarily late corruptions of ,vedic ideas1 because the collection of the ,brahmanas is far more modern than that of the ,veda1 our argument is instantly disproved4 ,but if ideas of an earlier stratum of thought than the ,vedic stratum may appear in a later collection1 as ideas of an earlier stratum of thought than the ,homeric appear in poetry and prose far later than ,homer1 then our contention is legitimate4 ,it will be shown in effect that a number of myths of the ,brahmanas correspond in character and incident with the myths of savages1 such as ,cahrocs and ,ahts4 ,our explanation is1 that these tales partly survived1 in the minds perhaps of conservative local priesthoods1 from the savage stage of thought1 or were borrowed from aborigines in that stage1 or were moulded in more recent times on surviving examples of that wild early fancy4 7#a7 ,muir1 iv4 #dej4 ,in the age of the ,brahmanas the people have spread southwards from the basin of the ,indus to that of the ,ganges4 ,the old sacred texts have begun to be scarcely comprehensible4 ,the priesthood has become much more strictly defined and more rigorously constituted4 ,absurd as it may seem1 the ,vedic metres1 like the ,gayatri1 have been personified1 and appear as active heroines of stories presumably older than this personification4 ,the ,asuras have descended from the rank of gods to that of the heavenly opposition to ,indra's government2 they are now a kind of fiends1 and the ,brahmanas are occupied with long stories about the war in heaven1 itself a very ancient conception4 ,varuna becomes cruel on occasion1 and hostile4 ,prajapati becomes the great mythical hero1 and inherits the wildest myths of the savage heroic beasts and birds4 ,the priests are now ,brahmans1 a hereditary divine caste1 who possess all the vast and puerile knowledge of ritual and sacrificial minutiae4 ,as life in the opera is a series of songs1 so life in the ,brahmanas is a sequence of sacrifices4 ,sacrifice makes the sun rise and set1 and the rivers run this way or that4 ,the study of ,indian myth is obstructed1 as has been shown1 by the difficulty of determining the relative dates of the various legends1 but there are a myriad of other obstacles to the study of ,indian mythology4 ,a poet of the ,vedas says1 ,the chanters of hymns go about enveloped in mist1 and unsatisfied with idle talk47#a7 ,the ancient hymns are still enveloped in mist1 owing to the difficulty of their language and the variety of modern renderings and interpretations4 ,the heretics of ,vedic religion1 the opponents of the orthodox commentators in ages comparatively recent1 used to complain that the ,vedas were simply nonsense1 and their authors knaves and buffoons4 ,there are moments when the modern student of ,vedic myths is inclined to echo this petulant complaint4 ,for example1 it is difficult enough to find in the ,rig-,veda anything like a categoric account of the gods1 and a description of their personal appearance4 ,but in ,rig-,veda1 viii4 #bi1 #a1 we read of one god1 a youth1 brown1 now hostile1 now friendly2 a golden lustre invests him4 ,who is this youth8 ,soma as the moon1 according to the commentators4 ,m4 ,langlois thinks the sun is meant4 ,dr4 ,aufrecht thinks the troop of ,maruts 7spirits of the storm71 to whom1 he remarks1 the epithet dark-brown1 tawny is as applicable as it is to their master1 ,rudra4 ,this is rather confusing1 and a mythological inquirer would like to know for certain whether he is reading about the sun or soma1 the moon1 or the winds4 7#a7 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #hb1 #g1 but compare ,bergaigne1 op4 cit41 iii4 #gb1 enveloppes de nuees et de murmures4 ,to take another example2 we open ,mr4 ,max ,muller's translation of the ,rig-,veda at random1 say at page #di4 ,in the second verse of the hymn to the ,maruts1 ,mr4 ,muller translates1 ,they who were born together1 self-luminous1 with the spotted deer 7the clouds71 the spears1 the daggers1 the glittering ornaments4 ,i hear their whips almost close by1 as they crack them in their hands2 they gain splendour on their way4 ,now ,wilson translates this passage1 ,who1 borne by spotted deer1 were born self-luminous1 with weapons1 war-cries and decorations4 ,i hear the cracking of their whips in their hands1 wonderfully inspiring courage in the fight4 ,benfey has1 ,who with stags and spears1 and with thunder and lightning1 self-luminous1 were born4 ,hard by rings the crack of their whip as it sounds in their hands2 bright fare they down in storm4 ,langlois translates1 ,just born are they1 self-luminous4 ,mark ye their arms1 their decorations1 their car drawn by deer8 ,hear ye their clamour8 ,listen6 'tis the noise of the whip they hold in their hands1 the sound that stirs up courage in the battle4 ,this is an ordinary example of the diversities of ,vedic translation4 ,it is sufficiently puzzling1 nor is the matter made more transparent by the variety of opinion as to the meaning of the deer along with which the ,maruts are said 7by some of the translators7 to have been born4 ,this is just the sort of passage on which a controversy affecting the whole nature of ,vedic mythological ideas might be raised4 ,according to a text in the ,yajur ,veda1 gods1 and men1 and beasts1 and other matters were created from various portions of the frame of a divine being named ,prajapati47#a7 ,the god ,agni1 ,brahmans and the goat were born from the mouth of ,prajapati4 ,from his breast and arms came the god ,indra 7sometimes spoken of as a ram71 the sheep1 and of men the ,rajanya4 ,cows and gods called ,visvadevas were born together from his middle4 ,are we to understand the words they who were born together with the spotted deer to refer to a myth of this kind--a myth representing the ,maruts and deer as having been born at the same birth1 as ,agni came with the goat1 and ,indra with the sheep8 ,this is just the point on which the ,indian commentators were divided47#b7 ,sayana1 the old commentator1 says1 ,the legendary school takes them for deer with white spots2 the etymological school1 for the many-coloured lines of clouds4 ,the modern legendary 7or anthropological7 and etymological 7or philological7 students of mythology are often as much at variance in their attempts to interpret the traditions of ,india4 7#a7 ,muir1 ,sanskrit ,texts1 #bnd edit41 i4 #af4 7#b7 ,max ,muller1 ,rig-,veda ,sanhita1 trans41 vol4 i4 p4 #ei4 ,another famous1 and almost comic1 example of the difficulty of ,vedic interpretation is well known4 ,in ,rig-,veda1 x4 #af1 #d1 there is a funeral hymn4 ,agni1 the fire-god1 is supplicated either to roast a goat or to warm the soul of the dead and convey it to paradise4 ,whether the soul is to be thus comforted or the goat is to be grilled1 is a question that has mightily puzzled ,vedic doctors47#a7 ,professor ,muller and ,m4 ,langlois are all for the immortal soul1 the goat has advocates1 or had advocates1 in ,aufrecht1 ,ludwig and ,roth4 ,more important difficulties of interpretation are illustrated by the attitude of ,m4 ,bergaigne in ,la ,religion ,vedique1 and his controversy with the great ,german lexicographers4 ,the study of mythology at one time made the ,vedas its starting-point4 ,but perhaps it would be wise to begin from something more intelligible1 something less perplexed by difficulties of language and diversities of interpretation4 7#a7 ,muir1 v4 #bag4 ,in attempting to criticise the various ,aryan myths1 we shall be guided1 on the whole1 by the character of the myths themselves4 ,pure and elevated conceptions we shall be inclined to assign to a pure and elevated condition of thought 7though such conceptions do1 recognisably1 occur in the lowest known religious strata71 and we shall make no difficulty about believing that ,rishis and singers capable of noble conceptions existed in an age very remote in time1 in a society which had many of the features of a lofty and simple civilisation4 ,but we shall not1 therefore1 assume that the hymns of these ,rishis are in any sense primitive1 or throw much light on the infancy of the human mind1 or on the origin of religious and heroic myths4 ,impure1 childish and barbaric conceptions1 on the other hand1 we shall be inclined to attribute to an impure1 childish1 and barbaric condition of thought2 and we shall again make no difficulty about believing that ideas originally conceived when that stage of thought was general have been retained and handed down to a far later period4 ,this view of the possible1 or rather probable1 antiquity of many of the myths preserved in the ,brahmanas is strengthened1 if it needed strengthening1 by the opinion of ,dr4 ,weber47#a7 ,we must indeed assume generally with regard to many of those legends 7in the ,brahmanas of the ,rig-,veda7 that they had already gained a rounded independent shape in tradition before they were incorporated into the ,brahmanas2 and of this we have frequent evidence in the ,,distinctly ,,archaic ,,character ,,of ,,their ,,language1 compared with that of the rest of the text4 7#a7 ,history of ,indian ,literature1 ,english trans41 p4 #dg4 ,we have now briefly stated the nature and probable relative antiquity of the evidence which is at the disposal of ,vedic mythologists4 ,the chief lesson we would enforce is the necessity of suspending the judgment when the ,vedas are represented as examples of primitive and comparatively pure and simple natural religion4 ,they are not primitive2 they are highly differentiated1 highly complex1 extremely enigmatic expressions of fairly advanced and very peculiar religious thought4 ,they are not morally so very pure as has been maintained1 and their purity1 such as it is1 seems the result of conscious reticence and wary selection rather than of primeval innocence4 ,yet the bards or editors have by no means wholly excluded very ancient myths of a thoroughly savage character4 ,these will be chiefly exposed in the chapter on ,indo-,aryan ,myths of the ,beginnings of ,things1 which follows4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,indian ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,of ,,man4 ,comparison of ,vedic and savage myths--,the metaphysical ,vedic account of the beginning of things--,opposite and savage fable of world made out of fragments of a man--,discussion of this hymn--,absurdities of ,brahmanas--,prajapati1 a ,vedic ,unkulunkulu or ,qat--,evolutionary myths--,marriage of heaven and earth--,myths of ,puranas1 their savage parallels--,most savage myths are repeated in ,brahmanas4 ,in discussing the savage myths of the origin of the world and of man1 we observed that they were as inconsistent as they were fanciful4 ,among the fancies embodied in the myths was noted the theory that the world1 or various parts of it1 had been formed out of the body of some huge non-natural being1 a god1 or giant1 or a member of some ancient mysterious race4 ,we also noted the myths of the original union of heaven and earth1 and their violent separation as displayed in the tales of ,greeks and ,maoris1 to which may be added the ,acagchemem nation in ,california47#a7 ,another feature of savage cosmogonies1 illustrated especially in some early ,slavonic myths1 in ,australian legends1 and in the faith of the ,american races1 was the creation of the world1 or the recovery of a drowned world by animals1 as the raven1 the dove and the coyote4 ,the hatching of all things out of an egg was another rude conception1 chiefly noted among the ,finns4 ,the ,indian form occurs in the ,satapatha ,brahmana47#b7 ,the preservation of the human race in the ,deluge1 or the creation of the race after the ,deluge1 was yet another detail of savage mythology2 and for many of these fancies we seemed to find a satisfactory origin in the exceedingly credulous and confused state of savage philosophy and savage imagination4 7#a7 ,bancroft1 v4 #afb4 7#b7 ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 i4 #baf4 ,the question now to be asked is1 do the traditions of the ,aryans of ,india supply us with myths so closely resembling the myths of ,nootkas1 ,maoris and ,australians that we may provisionally explain them as stories originally due to the invention of savages8 ,this question may be answered in the affirmative4 ,the ,vedas1 the ,epics and the ,puranas contain a large store of various cosmogonic traditions as inconsistent as the parallel myths of savages4 ,we have an ,aryan ,ilmarinen1 ,tvashtri1 who1 like the ,finnish smith1 forged the iron vault of hollow heaven and the ball of earth47#a7 ,again1 the earth is said to have sprung1 as in some ,mangaian fables1 from a being called ,uttanapad47#b7 ,again1 ,brahmanaspati1 blew the gods forth like a blacksmith1 and the gods had a hand in the making of things4 ,in contrast with these childish pieces of anthropomorphism1 we have the famous and sublime speculations of an often-quoted hymn47#c7 ,it is thus that the poet dreams of the days before being and non-being began3-- 7#a7 ,muir1 v4 #ced4 7#b7 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #gb1 #d4 7#c7 ,ibid41 x4 #abf4 ,there was then neither non-entity nor entity2 there was no atmosphere nor sky above4 ,what enveloped 7all78444 ,was it water1 the profound abyss8 ,death was not then1 nor immortality3 there was no distinction of day or night4 ,that ,one breathed calmly1 self-supported2 then was nothing different from it1 or above it4 ,in the beginning darkness existed1 enveloped in darkness4 ,all this was undistinguishable water4 ,that ,one which lay void and wrapped in nothingness was developed by the power of fervour4 ,desire first arose in ,it1 which was the primal germ of mind 7and which7 sages1 searching with their intellect1 have discovered to be the bond which connects entity with non-entity4 ,the ray 7or cord7 which stretched across these 7worlds71 was it below or was it above8 ,there were there impregnating powers and mighty forces1 a self-supporting principle beneath and energy aloft4 ,who knows8 who here can declare whence has sprung1 whence this creation8 ,the gods are subsequent to the development of this 7universe72 who then knows whence it arose8 ,from what this creation arose1 and whether 7any one7 made it or not1 he who in the highest heaven is its ruler1 he verily knows1 or 7even7 he does not know47#a7 7#a7 ,muir1 ,sanskrit ,texts1 #bnd edit41 v4 #ceg4 ,here there is a ,vedic hymn of the origin of things1 from a book1 it is true1 supposed to be late1 which is almost1 if not absolutely1 free from mythological ideas4 ,the self-supporting principle beneath and energy aloft may refer1 as ,dr4 ,muir suggests1 to the father1 heaven above1 and the mother1 earth beneath4 ,the bond between entity and non-entity is sought in a favourite idea of the ,indian philosophers1 that of tapas or fervour4 ,the other speculations remind us1 though they are much more restrained and temperate in character1 of the metaphysical chants of the ,new ,zealand priests1 of the ,zunis1 of ,popol ,vuh1 and so on4 ,these belong to very early culture4 ,what is the relative age of this hymn8 ,if it could be proved to be the oldest in the ,veda1 it would demonstrate no more than this1 that in time exceedingly remote the ,aryans of ,india possessed a philosopher1 perhaps a school of philosophers1 who applied the minds to abstract speculations on the origin of things4 ,it could not prove that mythological speculations had not preceded the attempts of a purer philosophy4 ,but the date cannot be ascertained4 ,mr4 ,max ,muller cannot go farther than the suggestion that the hymn is an expression of the perennis quaedam philosophia of ,leibnitz4 ,we are also warned that a hymn is not necessarily modern because it is philosophical47#a7 ,certainly that is true2 the ,zunis1 ,maoris1 and ,mangaians exhibit amazing powers of abstract thought4 ,we are not concerned to show that this hymn is late2 but it seems almost superfluous to remark that ideas like those which it contains can scarcely be accepted as expressing man's earliest theory of the origin of all things4 ,we turn from such ideas to those which the ,aryans of ,india have in common with black men and red men1 with far-off ,finns and ,scandinavians1 ,chaldaeans1 ,haidahs1 ,cherokees1 ,murri and ,maori1 ,mangaians and ,egyptians4 7#a7 ,history of ,sanskrit ,literature1 p4 #efh4 ,the next ,vedic account of creation which we propose to consider is as remote as possible in character from the sublime philosophic poem4 ,in the ,purusha ,sukta1 the ninetieth hymn of the tenth book of the ,rig-,veda ,sanhita1 we have a description of the creation of all things out of the severed limbs of a magnified non-natural man1 ,purusha4 ,this conception is of course that which occurs in the ,norse myths of the rent body of ,ymir4 ,borr's sons took the body of the ,giant ,ymir and of his flesh formed the earth1 of his blood seas and waters1 of his bones mountains1 of his teeth rocks and stones1 of his hair all manner of plants1 of his skull the firmament1 of his brains the clouds1 and so forth4 ,in ,chaldean story1 ,bel cuts in twain the magnified non-natural woman ,omorca1 and converts the halves of her body into heaven and earth4 ,among the ,iroquois in ,north ,america1 ,chokanipok was the giant whose limbs1 bones and blood furnished the raw material of many natural objects2 while in ,mangaia portions of ,ru1 in ,egypt of ,set and ,osiris1 in ,greece of ,dionysus ,zagreus were used in creating various things1 such as stones1 plants and metals4 ,the same ideas precisely are found in the ninetieth hymn of the tenth book of the ,rig-,veda4 ,yet it is a singular thing that1 in all the discussions as to the antiquity and significance of this hymn which have come under our notice1 there has not been one single reference made to parallel legends among ,aryan or non-,aryan peoples4 ,in accordance with the general principles which guide us in this work1 we are inclined to regard any ideas which are at once rude in character and widely distributed1 both among civilised and uncivilised races1 as extremely old1 whatever may be the age of the literary form in which they are presented4 ,but the current of learned opinions as to the date of the ,purusha ,sukta1 the ,vedic hymn about the sacrifice of ,purusha and the creation of the world out of fragments of his body1 runs in the opposite direction4 ,the hymn is not regarded as very ancient by most ,sanskrit scholars4 ,we shall now quote the hymn1 which contains the data on which any theory as to its age must be founded3--7#a7 7#a7 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #ij2 ,muir1 ,sanskrit ,texts1 #bnd edit41 i4 #i4 ,purusha has a thousand heads1 a thousand eyes1 a thousand feet4 ,on every side enveloping the earth1 he overpassed 7it7 by a space of ten fingers4 ,purusha himself is this whole 7universe71 whatever is and whatever shall be4444 ,when the gods performed a sacrifice with ,purusha as the oblation1 the spring was its butter1 the summer its fuel1 and the autumn its 7accompanying7 offering4 ,this victim1 ,purusha1 born in the beginning1 they immolated on the sacrificial grass4 ,with him the gods1 the ,sadhyas1 and the ,rishis sacrificed4 ,from that universal sacrifice were provided curds and butter4 ,it formed those aerial 7creatures7 and animals both wild and tame4 ,from that universal sacrifice sprang the ,ric and ,saman verses1 the metres and ,yajush4 ,from it sprang horses1 and all animals with two rows of teeth2 kine sprang from it2 from it goats and sheep4 ,when 7the gods7 divided ,purusha1 into how many parts did they cut him up8 ,what was his mouth8 ,what arms 7had he78 ,what 7two objects7 are said 7to have been7 his thighs and feet8 ,the ,brahman was his mouth2 the ,rajanya was made his arms2 the being 7called7 the ,vaisya1 he was his thighs2 the ,sudra sprang from his feet4 ,the moon sprang from his soul 7,mahas71 the sun from his eye1 ,indra and ,agni from his mouth1 and ,yaiyu from his breath4 ,from his navel arose the air1 from his head the sky1 from his feet the earth1 from his ear the 7four7 quarters2 in this manner 7the gods7 formed the world4 ,when the gods1 performing sacrifice1 bound ,purusha as a victim1 there were seven sticks 7stuck up7 for it 7around the fire71 and thrice seven pieces of fuel were made4 ,with sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice4 ,these were the earliest rites4 ,these great powers have sought the sky1 where are the former ,sadhyas1 gods4 ,the myth here stated is plain enough in its essential facts4 ,the gods performed a sacrifice with a gigantic anthropomorphic being 7,purusha ,man7 as the victim4 ,sacrifice is not found1 as a rule1 in the religious of the most backward races of all2 it is1 relatively1 an innovation1 as shall be shown later4 ,his head1 like the head of ,ymir1 formed the sky1 his eye the sun1 animals sprang from his body4 ,the four castes are connected with1 and it appears to be implied that they sprang from1 his mouth1 arms1 thighs and feet4 ,it is obvious that this last part of the myth is subsequent to the formation of castes4 ,this is one of the chief arguments for the late date of the hymn1 as castes are not distinctly recognised elsewhere in the ,rig-,veda4 ,mr4 ,max ,muller7#a7 believes the hymn to be modern both in its character and in its diction1 and this opinion he supports by philological arguments4 ,dr4 ,muir7#b7 says that the hymn has every character of modernness both in its diction and ideas4 ,dr ,haug1 on the other hand17#c7 in a paper read in #ahga1 admits that the present form of the hymn is not older than the greater part of the hymns of the tenth book1 and than those of the ,atharva ,veda2 but he adds1 ,the ideas which the hymn contains are certainly of a primeval antiquity4444 ,in fact1 the hymn is found in the ,yajur-,veda among the formulas connected with human sacrifices1 which were formerly practised in ,india4 ,we have expressly declined to speak about primeval antiquity1 as we have scarcely any evidence as to the myths and mental condition for example1 even of palaeolithic man2 but we may so far agree with ,dr4 ,haug as to affirm that the fundamental idea of the ,purusha ,sukta1 namely1 the creation of the world or portions of the world out of the fragments of a fabulous anthropomorphic being is common to ,chaldeans1 ,iroquois1 ,egyptians1 ,greeks1 ,tinnehs1 ,mangaians and ,aryan ,indians4 ,this is presumptive proof of the antiquity of the ideas which ,dr4 ,muir and ,mr4 ,max ,muller think relatively modern4 ,the savage and brutal character of the invention needs no demonstration4 ,among very low savages1 for example1 the ,tinnehs of ,british ,north ,america1 not a man1 not a god1 but a ,,dog1 is torn up1 and the fragments are made into animals47#d7 ,on the ,paloure ,river a beaver suffers in the manner of ,purusha4 ,we may1 for these reasons1 regard the chief idea of the myth as extremely ancient--infinitely more ancient than the diction of the hymn4 7#a7 ,ancient ,sanskrit ,literature1 #egj4 7#b7 ,sanskrit ,texts1 #bnd edit41 i4 #ab4 7#c7 ,sanskrit ,text1 #bnd edit41 ii4 #dfc4 7#d7 ,hearne's ,journey1 pp4 #cdb-cdc4 ,as to the mention of the castes1 supposed to be a comparatively modern institution1 that is not an essential part of the legend4 ,when the idea of creation out of a living being was once received it was easy to extend the conception to any institution1 of which the origin was forgotten4 ,the ,teutonic race had a myth which explained the origin of the classes eorl1 ceorl and thrall 7earl1 churl and slave74 ,a ,south ,american people1 to explain the different ranks in society1 hit on the very myth of ,plato1 the legend of golden1 silver and copper races1 from which the ranks of society have descended4 ,the ,vedic poet1 in our opinion1 merely extended to the institution of caste a myth which had already explained the origin of the sun1 the firmament1 animals1 and so forth1 on the usual lines of savage thought4 ,the ,purusha ,sukta is the type of many other ,indian myths of creation1 of which the following7#a7 one is extremely noteworthy4 ,prajapati desired to propagate4 ,he formed the ,trivrit 7stoma7 from his mouth4 ,after it were produced the deity ,agni1 the metre ,gayatri1444 of men the ,brahman1 of beasts the goat2444 from his breast1 and from his arms he formed the ,panchadasa 7stoma74 ,after it were created the ,god ,indra1 the ,trishtubh metre1444 of men the ,rajanya1 of beasts the sheep4 ,hence they are vigorous1 because they were created from vigour4 ,from his middle he formed the ,saptadasa 7stoma74 ,after it were created the gods called the ,yisvadevas1 the ,jagati metre1444 of men the ,vaisya1 of beasts kine4 ,hence they are to be eaten1 because they were created from the receptacle of food4 ,the form in which we receive this myth is obviously later than the institution of caste and the technical names for metres4 ,yet surely any statement that kine are to be eaten must be older than the universal prohibition to eat that sacred animal the cow4 ,possibly we might argue that when this theory of creation was first promulgated1 goats and sheep were forbidden food47#b7 7#a7 ,taittirya ,sanhita1 or ,yajur-,veda1 vii4 i4 #a-d2 ,muir1 #bnd edit41 i4 #ae4 7#b7 ,mr4 ,m',lennan has drawn some singular inferences from this passage1 connecting1 as it does1 certain gods and certain classes of men with certain animals1 in a manner somewhat suggestive of totemism 7,fornightly ,review71 ,february1 #ahgj4 ,turning from the ,vedas to the ,brahmanas1 we find a curiously savage myth of the origin of species47#a7 ,according to this passage of the ,brahmana1 this universe was formerly soul only1 in the form of ,purusha4 ,he caused himself to fall asunder into two parts4 ,thence arose a husband and a wife4 ,he cohabited with her2 from them men were born4 ,she reflected1 ',how does he1 after having produced me from himself1 cohabit with me8 ,ah1 let me disappear4' ,she became a cow1 and the other a bull1 and he cohabited with her4 ,from them kine were produced4 ,after a series of similar metamorphoses of the female into all animal shapes1 and a similar series of pursuits by the male in appropriate form1 in this manner pairs of all sorts of creatures down to ants were created4 ,this myth is a parallel to the various ,greek legends about the amours in bestial form of ,zeus1 ,nemesis1 ,cronus1 ,demeter and other gods and goddesses4 ,in the ,brahmanas this myth is an explanation of the origin of species1 and such an explanation as could scarcely have occurred to a civilised mind4 ,in other myths in the ,brahmanas1 ,prajapati creates men from his body1 or rather the fluid of his body becomes a tortoise1 the tortoise becomes a man 7purusha71 with similar examples of speculation47#b7 7#a7 ,satapatha ,brahmana1 xiv4 #d1 #b2 ,muir1 #bnd edit41 i4 #be4 7#b7 ,similar tales are found among the ,khonds4 ,among all these ,brahmana myths of the part taken by ,prajapati in the creation or evoking of things1 the question arises who ,,was ,prajapati8 ,his role is that of the great ,hare in ,american myth2 he is a kind of demiurge1 and his name means ,the ,master of ,things ,created1 like the ,australian ,biamban1 ,master1 and the ,american title of the chief ,manitou1 ,master of ,life17#a7 ,dr4 ,muir remarks that1 as the ,vedic mind advances from mere divine beings who reside and operate in fire 7,agni71 dwell and shine in the sun 7,surya71 or in the atmosphere 7,indra71 towards a conception of deity1 the farther step would be taken of speaking of the deity under such new names as ,visvakarman and ,prajapati4 ,these are appellatives which do not designate any limited functions connected with any single department of ,nature1 but the more general and abstract notions of divine power operating in the production and government of the universe4 ,now the interesting point is that round this new and abstract ,,name gravitate the most savage and crudest myths1 exactly the myths we meet among ,hottentots and ,nootkas4 ,for example1 among the ,hottentots it is ,heitsi ,eibib1 among the ,huarochiri ,indians it is ,uiracocha1 who confers1 by curse or blessing1 on the animals their proper attributes and characteristics47#b7 ,in the ,satapatha ,brahmana it is ,prajapati who takes this part1 that falls to rude culture-heroes of ,hottentots and ,huarochiris47#c7 ,how ,prajapati made experiments in a kind of state-aided evolution1 so to speak1 or evolution superintended and assisted from above1 will presently be set forth4 7#a7 ,bergaigne1 iii4 #dj4 7#b7 ,avila1 ,fables of the ,yncas1 p4 #abg4 7#c7 ,english translation1 ii4 #cfa4 ,in the ,puranas creation is a process renewed after each kalpa1 or vast mundane period4 ,brahma awakes from his slumber1 and finds the world a waste of water4 ,then1 just as in the ,american myths of the coyote1 and the ,slavonic myths of the devil and the doves1 a boar or a fish or a tortoise fishes up the world out of the waters4 ,that boar1 fish1 tortoise1 or what not1 is ,brahma or ,vishnu4 ,this savage conception of the beginnings of creation in the act of a tortoise1 fish1 or boar is not first found in the ,puranas1 as ,mr4 ,muir points out1 but is indicated in the ,black ,yajur ,veda and in the ,satapatha ,brahmana47#a7 ,in the ,satapatha ,brahmana1 xiv4 #a1 #b1 #aa1 we discover the idea1 so common in savage myths--for example1 in that of the ,navajoes--that the earth was at first very small1 a mere patch1 and grew bigger after the animal fished it up4 ,formerly this earth was only so large1 of the size of a span4 ,a boar called ,emusha raised her up4 ,here the boar makes no pretence of being the incarnation of a god1 but is a mere boar sans phrase1 like the creative coyote of the ,papogas and ,chinooks1 or the musk-rat of the ,tacullies4 ,this is a good example of the development of myths4 ,savages begin1 as we saw1 by mythically regarding various animals1 spiders1 grasshoppers1 ravens1 eagles1 cockatoos1 as the creators or recoverers of the world4 ,as civilisation advances1 those animals still perform their beneficent functions1 but are looked on as gods in disguise4 ,in time the animals are often dropped altogether1 though they hold their place with great tenacity in the cosmogonic traditions of the ,aryans in ,india4 ,when we find the ,satapatha ,brahmana alleging7#b7 that all creatures are descended from a tortoise1 we seem to be among the rude ,indians of the ,pacific ,coast4 ,but when the tortoise is identified with ,aditya1 and when ,adityas prove to be solar deities1 sons of ,aditi1 and when ,aditi is recognised by ,mr4 ,muller as the ,dawn1 we see that the ,aryan mind has not been idle1 but has added a good deal to the savage idea of the descent of men and beasts from a tortoise47#c7 7#a7 ,muir1 #bnd edit41 vol4 i4 p4 #eb4 7#b7 ,muir1 #bnd edit41 vol4 i4 p4 #ed4 7#c7 ,see ,ternaux ,compans' ,nouvelles ,annales des ,voyages1 lxxxvi4 p4 #e4 ,for ,mexican traditions1 ,mexican and ,australian ,hurricane ,world's ,end1 ,bancroft1 v4 #fd4 ,another feature of savage myths of creation we found to be the introduction of a crude theory of evolution4 ,we saw that among the ,potoyante tribe of the ,digger ,indians1 and among certain ,australian tribes1 men and beasts were supposed to have been slowly evolved and improved out of the forms first of reptiles and then of quadrupeds4 ,in the mythologies of the more civilised ,south ,american races1 the idea of the survival of the fittest was otherwise expressed4 ,the gods made several attempts at creation1 and each set of created beings proving in one way or other unsuited to its environment1 was permitted to die out or degenerated into apes1 and was succeeded by a set better adapted for survival47#a7 ,in much the same way the ,satapatha ,brahmana7#b7 represents mammals as the last result of a series of creative experiments4 ,prajapati created living beings1 which perished for want of food4 ,birds and serpents perished thus4 ,prajapati reflected1 ',how is it that my creatures perish after having been formed8' ,he perceived this3 ',they perish from want of food'4 ,in his own presence he caused milk to be supplied to breasts4 ,he created living beings1 which1 resorting to the breasts1 were thus preserved4 ,these are the creatures which did not perish4 7#a7 ,this myth is found in ,popol ,vuh4 ,a ,chinook myth of the same sort1 ,bancroft1 v4 #ie4 7#b7 ii4 #e1 #aa2 ,muir1 #bnd edit41 i4 #gj4 ,the common myth which derives the world from a great egg--the myth perhaps most familiar in its ,finnish shape--is found in the ,satapatha ,brahmana47#a7 ,in the beginning this universe was waters1 nothing but waters4 ,the waters desired3 ',how can we be reproduced8' ,so saying1 they toiled1 they performed austerity4 ,while they were performing austerity1 a golden egg came into existence4 ,it then became a year4444 ,from it in a year a man came into existence1 who was ,prajapati4444 ,he conceived progeny in himself2 with his mouth he created the gods4 ,according to another text17#b7 ,prajapati took the form of a tortoise4 ,the tortoise is the same as ,aditya47#c7 7#a7 xi4 #a1 #f1 #a2 ,muir1 ,journal of ,royal ,asiatic ,society1 #ahfc4 7#b7 ,satapatha ,brahmana1 vii4 #d1 #c1 #e4 7#c7 ,aitareya ,brahmana1 iii4 #cd 7#aa1 #bai71 a very discreditable origin of species4 ,it is now time to examine the ,aryan shape of the widely spread myth about the marriage of heaven and earth1 and the fortunes of their children4 ,we have already seen that in ,new ,zealand heaven and earth were regarded as real persons1 of bodily parts and passions1 united in a secular embrace4 ,we shall apply the same explanation to the ,greek myth of ,gaea and of the mutilation of ,cronus4 ,in ,india1 ,dyaus 7heaven7 answers to the ,greek ,uranus and the ,maori ,rangi1 while ,prithivi 7earth7 is the ,greek ,gaea1 the ,maori ,papa4 ,in the ,veda1 heaven and earth are constantly styled parents27#a7 but this we might regard as a mere metaphorical expression1 still common in poetry4 ,a passage of the ,aitareya ,brahmana1 however1 retains the old conception1 in which there was nothing metaphorical at all47#b7 ,these two worlds1 heaven and earth1 were once joined4 ,subsequently they were separated 7according to one account1 by ,indra1 who thus plays the part of ,cronus and of ,tane ,mahuta74 ,heaven and earth1 says ,dr4 ,muir1 are regarded as the parents not only of men1 but of the gods also1 as appears from the various texts where they are designated by the epithet ,devapatre1 'having gods for their children'4 ,by men in an early stage of thought this myth was accepted along with others in which heaven and earth were regarded as objects created by one of their own children1 as by ,indra17#c7 who stretched them out like a hide1 who1 like ,atlas1 sustains and upholds them7#d7 or1 again1 ,tvashtri1 the divine smith1 wrought them by his craft2 or1 once more1 heaven and earth sprung from the head and feet of ,purusha4 ,in short1 if any one wished to give an example of that recklessness of orthodoxy or consistency which is the mark of early myth1 he could find no better example than the ,indian legends of the origin of things4 ,perhaps there is not one of the myths current among the lower races which has not its counterpart in the ,indian ,brahmanas4 ,it has been enough for us to give a selection of examples4 7#a7 ,muir1 v4 #bb4 7#b7 iv4 #bg2 ,haug1 ii4 #cjh4 7#c7 ,rig-,veda1 viii4 #f1 #e4 7#d7 ,ibid41 iii4 #cb1 #h4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,greek ,,myths ,,of ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,man4 ,the ,greeks practically civilised when we first meet them in ,homer--,their mythology1 however1 is full of repulsive features--,the hypothesis that many of these are savage survivals--,are there other examples of such survival in ,greek life and institutions8--,greek opinion was constant that the race had been savage--,illustrations of savage survival from ,greek law of homicide1 from magic1 religion1 human sacrifice1 religious art1 traces of totemism1 and from the mysteries--,conclusion3 that savage survival may also be expected in ,greek myths4 ,the ,greeks1 when we first make their acquaintance in the ,homeric poems1 were a cultivated people1 dwelling1 under the government of royal families1 in small city states4 ,this social condition they must have attained by #ajjj ,b4,c41 and probably much earlier4 ,they had already a long settled past behind them1 and had no recollection of any national migration from the cradle of the ,aryan race4 ,on the other hand1 many tribes thought themselves earth-born from the soil of the place where they were settled4 ,the ,maori traditions prove that memories of a national migration may persist for several hundred years among men ignorant of writing4 ,greek legend1 among a far more civilised race1 only spoke of occasional foreign settlers from ,sidon1 ,lydia1 or ,egypt4 ,the ,homeric ,greeks were well acquainted with almost all the arts of life1 though it is not absolutely certain that they could write1 and certainly they were not addicted to reading4 ,in war they fought from chariots1 like the ,egyptians and ,assyrians2 they were bold seafarers1 being accustomed to harry the shores even of ,egypt1 and they had large commercial dealings with the people of ,tyre and ,sidon4 ,in the matter of religion they were comparatively free and unrestrained4 ,their deities1 though1 in myth1 capricious in character1 might be regarded in many ways as making for righteousness4 ,they protected the stranger and the suppliant2 they sanctioned the oath1 they frowned on the use of poisoned arrows2 marriage and domestic life were guarded by their good-will2 they dispensed good and evil fortune1 to be accepted with humility and resignation among mortals4 ,the patriarchal head of each family performed the sacrifices for his household1 the king for the state1 the ruler of ,mycenae1 ,agamemnon1 for the whole ,achaean host encamped before the walls of ,troy4 ,at the same time1 prophets1 like ,calchas1 possessed considerable influence1 due partly to an hereditary gift of second-sight1 as in the case of ,theoclymenus17#a7 partly to acquired professional skill in observing omens1 partly to the direct inspiration of the gods4 ,the oracle at ,delphi1 or1 as it is called by ,homer1 ,pytho1 was already famous1 and religion recognised1 in various degrees1 all the gods familiar to the later cult of ,hellas4 ,in a people so advanced1 so much in contact with foreign races and foreign ideas1 and so wonderfully gifted by nature with keen intellect and perfect taste1 it is natural to expect1 if anywhere1 a mythology almost free from repulsive elements1 and almost purged of all that we regard as survivals from the condition of savagery4 ,but while ,greek mythology is richer far than any other in beautiful legend1 and is thronged with lovely and majestic forms of gods and goddesses1 nymphs and oreads ideally fair1 none the less a very large proportion of its legends is practically on a level with the myths of ,maoris1 ,thlinkeets1 ,cahrocs and ,bushmen4 7#a7 ,odyssey1 xx4 #ced4 ,this is the part of ,greek mythology which has at all times excited most curiosity1 and has been made the subject of many systems of interpretation4 ,the ,greeks themselves1 from almost the earliest historical ages1 were deeply concerned either to veil or explain away the blasphemous horrors of their own sacred chapters1 poetic traditions and temple legends4 ,we endeavour to account for these as relics of an age of barbarism lying very far behind the time of ,homer--an age when the ancestors of the ,greeks either borrowed1 or more probably developed for themselves1 the kind of myths by which savage peoples endeavour to explain the nature and origin of the world and all phenomena4 ,the correctness of this explanation1 resting as it does on the belief that the ,greeks were at one time in the savage status1 might be demonstrated from the fact that not only myths1 but ,greek life in general1 and especially ,greek ritual1 teemed with surviving examples of institutions and of manners which are found everywhere among the most backward and barbarous races4 ,it is not as if only the myths of ,greece retained this rudeness1 or as if the ,greeks supposed themselves to have been always civilised4 ,the whole of ,greek life yields relics of savagery when the surface is excavated ever so slightly4 ,moreover1 that the ,greeks1 as soon as they came to reflect on these matters at all1 believed themselves to have emerged from a condition of savagery is undeniable4 ,the poets are entirely at one on this subject with ,moschion1 a writer of the school of ,euripides4 ,the time hath been1 yea1 it ,,hath been1 he says1 when men lived like the beasts1 dwelling in mountain caves1 and clefts unvisited of the sun4444 ,then they broke not the soil with ploughs nor by aid of iron1 but the weaker man was slain to make the supper of the stronger1 and so on47#a7 ,this view of the savage origin of mankind was also held by ,aristotle37#b7 ,it is probable that the first men1 whether they were produced by the earth 7earth-born7 or survived from some deluge1 were on a level of ignorance and darkness47#c7 ,this opinion1 consciously held and stated by philosophers and poets1 reveals itself also in the universal popular ,greek traditions that men were originally ignorant of fire1 agriculture1 metallurgy and all the other arts and conveniences of life1 till they were instructed by ideal culture-heroes1 like ,prometheus1 members of a race divine or half divine4 ,a still more curious ,athenian tradition 7preserved by ,varro7 maintained1 not only that marriage was originally unknown1 but that1 as among ,australians and some ,red ,indians1 the family name1 descended through the mother1 and kinship was reckoned on the female side before the time of ,cecrops47#d7 7#a7 ,moschion2 cf4 ,preller1 ,ausgewahlte ,aufsatze1 p4 #bjf4 7#b7 ,politics1 ii4 #h-ba2 ,plato1 ,laws1 #ffg-fhj4 7#c7 ,compare ,horace1 ,satires1 i4 #c1 #ii2 ,lucretius1 v4 #ibc4 7#d7 ,suidas1 s4v4 ,prometheus2 ,augustine1 ,de ,civitate ,dei1 xviii4 #i4 ,while ,greek opinion1 both popular and philosophical1 admitted1 or rather asserted1 that savagery lay in the background of the historical prospect1 ,greek institutions retained a thousand birth-marks of savagery4 ,it is manifest and undeniable that the ,greek criminal law1 as far as it effected murder1 sprang directly from the old savage blood-feud47#a7 ,the ,athenian law was a civilised modification of the savage rule that the kindred of a slain man take up his blood-feud4 ,where homicide was committed ,,within the circle of blood relationship1 as by ,orestes1 ,greek religion provided the ,erinnyes to punish an offence which had1 as it were1 no human avenger4 ,the precautions taken by murderers to lay the ghost of the slain man were much like those in favour among the ,australians4 ,the ,greek cut off the extremities of his victim1 the tips of the hands and feet1 and disposed them neatly beneath the arm-pits of the slain man47#b7 ,in the same spirit1 and for the same purpose1 the ,australian black cuts off the thumbs of his dead enemy1 that the ghost too may be mutilated and prevented from throwing at him with a ghostly spear4 ,we learn also from ,apollonius ,rhodius and his scholiast that ,greek murderers used thrice to suck in and spit out the gore of their victims1 perhaps with some idea of thereby partaking of their blood1 and so1 by becoming members of their kin1 putting it beyond the power of the ghosts to avenge themselves4 ,similar ideas inspire the worldwide savage custom of making an artificial blood brotherhood by mingling the blood of the contracting parties4 ,as to the ceremonies of cleansing from blood-guiltiness among the ,greeks1 we may conjecture that these too had their primitive side2 for ,orestes1 in the ,eumenides1 maintains that he has been purified of his mother's slaughter by sufficient blood of swine4 ,but this point will be illustrated presently1 when we touch on the mysteries4 7#a7 ,duncker1 ,history of ,greece1 ,engl4 transl41 vol4 ii4 p4 #abi4 7#b7 ,see ,arm-pitting in ,ancient ,greece1 in the ,american ,journal of ,philology1 ,october1 #ahhe1 where a discussion of the familiar texts in ,aeschylus and ,apollonius ,rhodius will be found4 ,ritual and myth1 as might be expected1 retained vast masses of savage rites and superstitious habits and customs4 ,to be in all things too superstitious1 too full of deisidaimonia1 was even in ,st4 ,paul's time the characteristic of the ,athenians4 ,now superstition1 or deisidaimonia1 is defined by ,theophrastus17#a7 as cowardice in regard to the supernatural 77,greek text omitted774 ,this cowardice has in all ages and countries secured the permanence of ritual and religious traditions4 ,men have always argued1 like one of the persons in ,m4 ,renan's play1 ,le ,pretre de ,nemi1 that l'ordre du monde depend de l'ordre des rites qu'on observe4 ,the familiar endurable sequence of the seasons of spring1 and seed-sowing1 and harvest depend upon the due performance of immemorial religious acts4 ,in the mystic deposits1 says ,dinarchus1 lies the safety of the city47#b7 ,what the mystic deposits were nobody knows for certain1 but they must have been of very archaic sanctity1 and occur among the ,arunta and the ,pawnees4 7#a7 ,characters4 7#b7 ,ap4 ,hermann1 ,lehrbuch1 p4 #da2 ,aglaophamus1 #ife4 ,ritual is preserved because it preserves ,,luck4 ,not only among the ,romans and the ,brahmans1 with their endless minute ritual actions1 but among such lower races as the ,kanekas of ,new ,caledonia1 the efficacy of religious functions is destroyed by the slightest accidental infraction of established rules47#a7 ,the same timid conservatism presides over myth1 and in each locality the mystery-plays1 with their accompanying narratives1 preserved inviolate the early forms of legend4 ,myth and ritual do not admit of being argued about4 ,c'etait le rite etabli4 ,ce n'etait pas plus absurde qu'autre chose1 says the conservative in ,m4 ,renan's piece1 defending the mode of appointment of ,the priest who slew the slayer1 ,and shall himself be slain4 7#a7 ,thus the watchers of the dead in ,new ,caledonia are fed by the sorcerer with a mess at the end of a very long spoon1 and should the food miss the mouth1 all the ceremonies have to be repeated4 ,this detail is from ,mr4 ,j4 ,j4 ,atkinson4 ,now1 if the rites and myths preserved by the timorousness of this same cowardice towards the supernatural were originally evolved in the stage of savagery1 savage they would remain1 as it is impious and dangerous to reform them till the religion which they serve perishes with them4 ,these relics in ,greek ritual and faith are very commonly explained as due to ,oriental influences1 as things borrowed from the dark and bloody superstitions of ,asia4 ,but this attempt to save the native ,greek character for blitheness and humanity must not be pushed too far47#a7 ,it must be remembered that the cruder and wilder sacrifices and legends of ,greece were strictly ,,local2 that they were attached to these ancient temples1 old altars1 barbarous xoana1 or wooden idols1 and rough fetish stones1 in which ,pausanias found the most ancient relics of ,hellenic theology4 ,this is a proof of their antiquity and a presumption in favour of their freedom from foreign influence4 ,most of these things were survivals from that dimly remembered prehistoric age in which the ,greeks1 not yet gathered into city states1 lived in villages or kraals1 or pueblos1 as we should translate 7,greek text omitted71 if we were speaking of ,african or ,american tribes4 ,in that stage the early ,greeks must have lacked both the civic and the national or ,panhellenic sentiment2 their political unit was the clan1 which1 again1 answered in part to the totem kindred of ,america1 or ,africa1 or ,australia47#b7 ,in this stagnant condition they could not have made acquaintance with the many creeds of ,semitic and other alien peoples on the shores of the ,levant47#c7 ,it was later1 when ,greece had developed the city life of the heroic age1 that her adventurous sons came into close contact with ,egypt and ,phoenicia4 7#a7 ,claus1 ,de ,antiq4 ,form4 ,dianae1 #f1g1af4 7#b7 ,as ,c4 ,o4 ,muller judiciously remarks3 ,the scenes of nine-tenths of the ,greek myths are laid in ,,particular ,,districts ,,of ,,greece1 and they speak of the primeval inhabitants1 of the lineage and adventures of native heroes4 ,they manifest an accurate acquaintance with individual localities1 which1 at a time when ,greece was neither explored by antiquaries1 nor did geographical handbooks exist1 could be possessed only by the inhabitants of these localities4 ,muller gives1 as examples1 myths of bears more or less divine4 ,scientific ,mythology1 pp4 #ad1 #ae4 7#c7 ,compare ,claus1 ,de ,dianae ,antiquissima ,natura1 p4 #c4 ,in the colonising time1 still later--perhaps from #ijj ,b4,c4 downwards--the ,greeks1 settled on sites whence they had expelled ,sidonians or ,sicanians1 very naturally continued1 with modifications1 the worship of such gods as they found already in possession4 ,like the ,romans1 the ,greeks easily recognised their own deities in the analogous members of foreign polytheistic systems4 ,thus we can allow for alien elements in such gods and goddesses as ,zeus ,asterios1 as ,aphrodite of ,cyprus or ,eryx1 or the many-breasted ,ephesian ,artemis1 whose monstrous form had its exact analogue among the ,aztecs in that many-breasted goddess of the maguey plant whence beer was made4 ,to discern and disengage the borrowed factors in the ,hellenic ,olympus by analysis of divine names is a task to which comparative philology may lawfully devote herself2 but we cannot so readily explain by presumed borrowing from without the rude xoana of the ancient local temples1 the wild myths of the local legends1 the sacra which were the exclusive property of old-world families1 ,butadae or ,eumolpidae4 ,these are clearly survivals from a stage of ,greek culture earlier than the city state1 earlier than the heroic age of the roving ,greek ,vikings1 and far earlier than the ,greek colonies4 ,they belong to that conservative and immobile period when the tribe or clan1 settled in its scattered kraals1 lived a life of agriculture1 hunting and cattle-breeding1 engaged in no larger or more adventurous wars than border feuds about women or cattle4 ,such wars were on a humbler scale than even ,nestor's old fights with the ,epeians2 such adventures did not bring the tribe into contact with alien religions4 ,if ,sidonian merchantmen chanced to establish a factory near a tribe in this condition1 their religion was not likely to make many proselytes4 ,these reasons for believing that most of the wilder element in ,greek ritual and myth was native may be briefly recapitulated1 as they are often overlooked4 ,the more strange and savage features meet us in ,,local tales and practices1 often in remote upland temples and chapels4 ,there they had survived from the society of the ,,village status1 before villages were gathered into ,,cities1 before ,greeks had taken to a roving life1 or made much acquaintance with distant and maritime peoples4 ,for these historical reasons1 it may be assumed that the ,,local religious antiquities of ,greece1 especially in upland districts like ,arcadia and ,elis1 are as old1 and as purely national1 as free from foreign influences as any ,greek institutions can be4 ,in these rites and myths of true folk-lore and ,volksleben1 developed before ,hellas won its way to the pure ,hellenic stage1 before ,egypt and ,phoenicia were familiar1 should be found that common rude element which ,greeks share with the other races of the world1 and which was1 to some extent1 purged away by the genius of ,homer and ,pindar1 pii vates et ,phaebo digna locuti4 ,in proof of this local conservatism1 some passages collected by ,k4 ,f4 ,hermann in his ,lehrbuch der ,griechischen ,antiquitaten7#a7 may be cited4 ,thus ,isocrates writes17#b7 ,this was all their care1 neither to destroy any of the ancestral rites1 nor to add aught beyond what was ordained4 ,clemens ,alexandrinus reports that certain ,thessalians worshipped storks1 ,,in ,,accordance ,,with ,,use ,,and ,,wont47#c7 ,plato lays down the very law of least change which has been described4 ,whether the legislator is establishing a new state or restoring an old and decayed one1 in respect of gods and temples1444 if he be a man of sense1 he will ,,make ,,no ,,change ,,in ,,anything which the oracle of ,delphi1 or ,dodona1 or ,ammon has sanctioned1 in whatever manner4 ,in this very passage ,plato7#d7 speaks of rites derived from ,tyrrhenia or ,cyprus as falling within the later period of the ,greek ,wanderjahre4 ,on the high religious value of things antique1 ,porphyry wrote in a late age1 and when the new religion of ,christ was victorious1 ,comparing the new sacred images with the old1 we see that the old are more simply fashioned1 yet are held divine1 but the new1 admired for their elaborate execution1 have less persuasion of divinity1--a remark anticipated by ,pausanias1 ,the statues ,daedalus wrought are quainter to the outward view1 yet there shows forth in them somewhat supernatural47#e7 ,so ,athenaeus7#f7 reports of a visitor to the shrine of ,leto in ,delos1 that he expected the ancient statue of the mother of ,apollo to be something remarkable1 but1 unlike the pious ,porphyry1 burst out laughing when he found it a shapeless wooden idol4 ,these idols were dressed out1 fed and adorned as if they had life47#g7 ,it is natural that myths dating from an age when ,greek gods resembled ,polynesian idols should be as rude as ,polynesian myths4 ,the tenacity of ,,local myth is demonstrated by ,pausanias1 who declares that even in the highly civilised ,attica the ,demes retained legends different from those of the central city--the legends1 probably1 which were current before the villages were ,synoecised into ,athens47#h7 7#a7 ,zweiter ,theil1 #aheh4 7#b7 ,areop41 #cj4 7#c7 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,oxford1 #agae1 i4 #cd4 7#d7 ,laws1 v4 #gch4 7#e7 ,de4 ,abst41 ii4 #ah2 ,paus41 ii4 #d1 #e4 7#f7 xiv4 #b4 7#g7 ,hermann1 op4 cit41 p4 #id1 note #aj4 7#h7 ,pausanias1 i4 #ad1 #f4 ,it appears1 then1 that ,greek ritual necessarily preserves matter of the highest antiquity1 and that the oldest rites and myths will probably be found1 not in the ,panhellenic temples1 like that in ,olympia1 not in the ,,national poets1 like ,homer and ,sophocles1 but in the ,,local fanes of early tribal gods1 and in the ,,local mysteries1 and the myths which came late1 if they came at all1 into literary circulation4 ,this opinion is strengthened and illustrated by that invaluable guide-book of the artistic and religious pilgrim written in the second century after our era by ,pausanias4 ,if we follow him1 we shall find that many of the ceremonies1 stories and idols which he regarded as oldest are analogous to the idols and myths of the contemporary backward races4 ,let us then1 for the sake of illustrating the local and savage survivals in ,greek religion1 accompany ,pausanias in his tour through ,hellas4 ,in ,christian countries1 especially in modern times1 the contents of one church are very like the furniture of another church2 the functions in one resemble those in all1 though on the ,continent some shrines still retain relics and customs of the period when local saints had their peculiar rites4 ,but it was a very different thing in ,greece4 ,the pilgrim who arrived at a temple never could guess what oddity or horror in the way of statues1 sacrifices1 or stories might be prepared for his edification4 ,in the first place1 there were ,,human ,,sacrifices4 ,these are not familiar to low savages1 if known to them at all4 ,probably they were first offered to barbaric royal ghosts1 and thence transferred to gods4 ,in the town of ,salamis1 in ,cyprus1 about the date of ,hadrian1 the devout might have found the priest slaying a human victim to ,zeus1--an interesting custom1 instituted1 according to ,lactantius1 by ,teucer1 and continued till the age of the ,roman ,empire47#a7 7#a7 ,euseb41 ,praep4 ,ev41 iv4 #ag1 mentions1 among peoples practising human sacrifices1 ,rhodes1 ,salamis1 ,heliopolis1 ,chios1 ,tenedos1 ,lacedaemon1 ,arcadia and ,athens2 and1 among gods thus honoured1 ,hera1 ,athene1 ,cronus1 ,ares1 ,dionysus1 ,zeus and ,apollo4 ,for ,dionysus the ,cannibal1 ,plutarch1 ,themist41 #ac2 ,porphyr41 ,abst41 ii4 #ee4 ,for the sacrifice to ,zeus ,laphystius1 see ,grote1 i4 c4 vi41 and his array of authorities1 especially ,herodotus1 vii4 #aig4 ,clemens ,alexandrinus 7i4 #cf7 mentions the ,messenians1 to ,zeus2 the ,taurians1 to ,artemis1 the folk of ,pella1 to ,peleus and ,chiron2 the ,cretans1 to ,zeus2 the ,lesbians1 to ,dionysus4 ,geusius de ,victimis ,humanis 7#afii7 may be consulted4 ,at ,alos in ,achaia ,phthiotis1 the stranger ,,might have seen an extraordinary spectacle1 though we admit that the odds would have been highly against his chance of witnessing the following events4 ,as the stranger approaches the town-hall1 he observes an elderly and most respectable citizen strolling in the same direction4 ,the citizen is so lost in thought that apparently he does not notice where he is going4 ,behind him comes a crowd of excited but silent people1 who watch him with intense interest4 ,the citizen reaches the steps of the town-hall1 while the excitement of his friends behind increases visibly4 ,without thinking1 the elderly person enters the building4 ,with a wild and un-,aryan howl1 the other people of ,alos are down on him1 pinion him1 wreathe him with flowery garlands1 and1 lead him to the temple of ,zeus ,laphystius1 or ,the ,glutton1 where he is solemnly sacrificed on the altar4 ,this was the custom of the good ,greeks of ,alos whenever a descendant of the house of ,athamas entered the ,prytaneion4 ,of course the family were very careful1 as a rule1 to keep at a safe distance from the forbidden place4 ,what a sacrifice for ,greeks6 as the author of the ,minos7#a7 says in that dialogue which is incorrectly attributed to ,plato4 ,he cannot get out except to be sacrificed1 says ,herodotus1 speaking of the unlucky descendant of ,athamas4 ,the custom appears to have existed as late as the time of the scholiast on ,apollonius ,rhodius47#b7 7#a7 #cae1 c42 ,plato1 ,laws1 vi4 #ghb1 c4 7#b7 ,argonautica1 vii4 #aig4 ,even in the second century1 when ,pausanias visited ,arcadia1 he found what seem to have been human sacrifices to ,zeus4 ,the passage is so very strange and romantic that we quote a part of it47#a7 ,the ,lycaean hill hath other marvels to show1 and chiefly this3 thereon there is a grove of ,zeus ,lycaeus1 wherein may men in nowise enter2 but if any transgresses the law and goes within1 he must die within the space of one year4 ,this tale1 moreover1 they tell1 namely1 that whatsoever man or beast cometh within the grove casts no shadow1 and the hunter pursues not the deer into that wood1 but1 waiting till the beast comes forth again1 sees that it has left its shadow behind4 ,and on the highest crest of the whole mountain there is a mound of heaped-up earth1 the altar of ,zeus ,lycaeus1 and the more part of ,peloponnesus can be seen from that place4 ,and before the altar stand two pillars facing the rising sun1 and thereon golden eagles of yet more ancient workmanship4 ,and on this altar they sacrifice to ,zeus in a manner that may not be spoken1 and little liking had ,i to make much search into this matter4 ,,but ,,let ,,it ,,be ,,as ,,it ,,is1 ,,and ,,as ,,it ,,hath ,,been ,,from ,,the ,,beginning4 ,the words as it hath been from the beginning are ominous and significant1 for the traditional myths of ,arcadia tell of the human sacrifices of ,lycaon1 and of men who1 tasting the meat of a mixed sacrifice1 put human flesh between their lips unawares47#b7 ,this aspect of ,greek religion1 then1 is almost on a level with the mysterious cannibal horrors of ,voodoo1 as practised by the secret societies of negroes in ,hayti4 ,but concerning these things1 as ,pausanias might say1 it is little pleasure to inquire4 7#a7 ,pausanias1 viii4 #b4 7#b7 ,plato1 ,rep41 viii4 #efe1 d4 ,this rite occurs in some ,african coronation ceremonies4 ,even where men were not sacrificed to the gods1 the tourist among the temples would learn that these bloody rites had once been customary1 and ceremonies existed by way of commutation4 ,this is precisely what we find in ,vedic religion1 in which the empty form of sacrificing a man was gone through1 and the origin of the world was traced to the fragments of a god sacrificed by gods47#a7 ,in ,sparta was an altar of ,artemis ,orthia1 and a wooden image of great rudeness and antiquity--so rude indeed1 that ,pausanias1 though accustomed to ,greek fetish-stones1 thought it must be of barbaric origin4 ,the story was that certain people of different towns1 when sacrificing at the altar1 were seized with frenzy and slew each other4 ,the oracle commanded that the altar should be sprinkled with human blood4 ,men were therefore chosen by lot to be sacrificed till ,lycurgus commuted the offering1 and sprinkled the altar with the blood of boys who were flogged before the goddess4 ,the priestess holds the statue of the goddess during the flogging1 and if any of the boys are but lightly scourged1 the image becomes too heavy for her to bear4 7#a7 ,the ,purusha ,sukhta1 in ,rig-,veda1 x4 #ij4 ,the ,ionians near ,anthea had a temple of ,artemis ,triclaria1 and to her it had been customary to sacrifice yearly a youth and maiden of transcendent beauty4 ,in ,pausanias's time the human sacrifice was commuted4 ,he himself beheld the strange spectacle of living beasts and birds being driven into the fire to ,artemis ,laphria1 a ,calydonian goddess1 and he had seen bears rush back among the ministrants2 but there was no record that any one had ever been hurt by these wild beasts47#a7 ,the bear was a beast closely connected with ,artemis1 and there is some reason to suppose that the goddess had herself been a she-bear or succeeded to the cult of a she-bear in the morning of time47#b7 7#a7 ,paus41 vii4 #ah1 #ai4 7#b7 ,see ,artemis1 postea4 ,it may be believed that where symbolic human sacrifices are offered1 that is1 where some other victim is slain or a dummy of a man is destroyed1 and where legend maintains that the sacrifice was once human1 there men and women were originally the victims4 ,greek ritual and ,greek myth were full of such tales and such commutations47#a7 ,in ,rome1 as is well known1 effigies of men called ,argives were sacrificed47#b7 ,as an example of a beast-victim given in commutation1 ,pausanias mentions7#c7 the case of the folk of ,potniae1 who were compelled once a year to offer to ,dionysus a boy1 in the bloom of youth4 ,but the sacrifice was commuted for a goat4 7#a7 ,see ,hermann1 ,alterthumer41 ii4 #aei-afa1 for abundant examples4 7#b7 ,plutarch1 ,quest4 ,rom4 #cb4 7#c7 ix4 #h1 #a4 ,these commutations are familiar all over the world4 ,even in ,mexico1 where human sacrifices and ritual cannibalism were daily events1 ,quetzalcoatl was credited with commuting human sacrifices for blood drawn from the bodies of the religious4 ,in this one matter even the most conservative creeds and the faiths most opposed to change sometimes say with ,tartuffe3-- ,le ciel defend1 de vrai1 certains contentements1 ,mais on trouve avec lui des accommodements4 ,though the fact has been denied 7doubtless without reflection71 the fact remains that the ,greeks offered human sacrifices4 ,now what does this imply8 ,must it be taken as a survival from barbarism1 as one of the proofs that the ,greeks had passed through the barbaric status8 ,the answer is less obvious than might be supposed4 ,sacrifice has two origins4 ,first1 there are ,,honorific sacrifices1 in which the ghost or god 7or divine beast1 if a divine beast be worshipped7 is offered the food he is believed to prefer4 ,this does not occur among the lowest savages4 ,to carnivorous totems1 ,garcilasso says1 the ,indians of ,peru offered themselves4 ,the feeding of sacred mice in the temples of ,apollo ,smintheus is well known4 ,secondly1 there are expiatory or ,,piacular sacrifices1 in which the worshipper1 as it were1 fines himself in a child1 an ox1 or something else that he treasures4 ,the latter kind of sacrifice 7most common in cases of crime done or suspected within the circle of kindred7 is not necessarily barbaric1 except in its cruelty4 ,an example is the ,attic ,thargelia1 in which two human scape-goats annually bore the sins of the congregation1 and were flogged1 driven to the sea with figs tied round their necks1 and burned47#a7 7#a7 ,compare the ,marseilles human sacrifice1 ,petron41 #ada2 and for the ,thargelia1 ,tsetzes1 ,chiliads1 v4 #gcf2 ,hellad4 in ,photius1 p4 #aeij f4 and ,harpoc4 s4 v4 ,the institution of human sacrifice1 then1 whether the offering be regarded as food1 or as a gift to the god of what is dearest to man 7as in the case of ,jephtha's daughter71 or whether the victim be supposed to carry on his head the sins of the people1 does not necessarily date from the period of savagery4 ,indeed1 sacrifice flourishes most1 not among savages1 but among advancing barbarians4 ,it would probably be impossible to find any examples of human sacrifices of an expiatory or piacular character1 any sacrifices at all1 among ,australians1 or ,andamanese1 or ,fuegians4 ,the notion of presenting food to the supernatural powers1 whether ghosts or gods1 is relatively rare among savages47#a7 ,the terrible ,aztec banquets of which the gods were partakers are the most noted examples of human sacrifices with a purely cannibal origin4 ,now there is good reason to guess that human sacrifices with no other origin than cannibalism survived even in ancient ,greece4 ,it may be conjectured1 writes ,professor ,robertson ,smith17#b7 that the human sacrifices offered to the ,wolf ,zeus 7,lycaeus7 in ,arcadia were originally cannibal feasts of a ,wolf tribe4 ,the first participants in the rite were1 according to later legend1 changed into wolves2 and in later times7#c7 at least one fragment of the human flesh was placed among the sacrificial portions derived from other victims1 and the man who ate it was believed to become a were-wolf47#d7 ,it is the almost universal rule with cannibals not to eat members of their own stock1 just as they do not eat their own totem4 ,thus1 as ,professor ,robertson ,smith says1 when the human victim is a captive or other foreigner1 the human sacrifice may be regarded as a survival of cannibalism4 ,where1 on the other hand1 the victim is a fellow tribesman1 the sacrifice is expiatory or piacular4 7#a7 ,jevons1 ,introduction to the ,science of ,religion1 pp4 #afa1 #aii4 7#b7 ,encyc4 ,brit41 s4 v4 ,sacrifice4 7#c7 ,plato1 ,rep41 viii4 #efe1 ,d4 7#d7 ,paus41 viii4 #b4 ,among ,greek cannibal gods we cannot fail to reckon the so-called ,cannibal ,dionysus1 and probably the ,zeus of ,orchomenos1 ,zeus ,laphystius1 who is explained by ,suidas as the ,glutton ,zeus4 ,the cognate verb 77,greek text omitted77 means to eat with mangling and rending1 to devour gluttonously4 ,by ,zeus ,laphystius1 then1 men's flesh was gorged in this distressing fashion4 ,the evidence of human sacrifice 7especially when it seems not piacular1 but a relic of cannibalism7 raises a presumption that ,greeks had once been barbarians4 ,the presumption is confirmed by the evidence of early ,greek religious art4 ,when his curiosity about human sacrifices was satisfied1 the pilgrim in ,greece might turn his attention to the statues and other representations of the gods4 ,he would find that the modern statues by famous artists were beautiful anthropomorphic works in marble or in gold and ivory4 ,it is true that the faces of the ancient gilded ,dionysi at ,corinth were smudged all over with cinnabar1 like fetish-stones in ,india or ,africa47#a7 ,as a rule1 however1 the statues of historic times were beautiful representations of kindly and gracious beings4 ,the older works were stiff and rigid images1 with the lips screwed into an unmeaning smile4 ,older yet were the bronze gods1 made before the art of soldering was invented1 and formed of beaten plates joined by small nails4 ,still more ancient were the wooden images1 which probably bore but a slight resemblance to the human frame1 and which were often mere stocks47#b7 ,perhaps once a year were shown the very early gods1 the ,demeter with the horse's head1 the ,artemis with the fish's tails1 the cuckoo ,hera1 whose image was of pear-wood1 the ,zeus with three eyes1 the ,hermes1 made after the fashion of the pictures on the walls of sacred caves among the ,bushmen4 ,but the oldest gods of all1 says ,pausanias repeatedly1 were rude stones in the temple or the temple precinct4 ,in ,achaean ,pharae he found some thirty squared stones1 named each after a god4 ,among all the ,greeks in the oldest times rude stones were worshipped in place of statues4 ,the superstitious man in ,theophrastus's ,characters used to anoint the sacred stones with oil4 ,the stone which ,cronus swallowed in mistake for ,zeus was honoured at ,delphi1 and kept warm with wool wrappings4 ,there was another sacred stone among the ,troezenians1 and the ,megarians worshipped as ,apollo a stone cut roughly into a pyramidal form4 ,the ,argives had a big stone called ,zeus ,kappotas4 ,the ,thespians worshipped a stone which they called ,eros2 their oldest idol is a rude stone47#c7 ,it is well known that the original fetish-stone has been found in situ below the feet of the statue of ,apollo in ,delos4 ,on this showing1 then1 the religion of very early ,greeks in ,greece was not unlike that of modern ,negroes4 ,the artistic evolution of the gods1 a remarkably rapid one after a certain point1 could be traced in every temple4 ,it began with the rude stone1 and rose to the wooden idol1 in which1 as we have seen1 ,pausanias and ,porphyry found such sanctity4 ,next it reached the hammered bronze image1 passed through the archaic marbles1 and culminated in the finer marbles and the chryselephantine statues of ,zeus and ,athena4 ,but none of the ancient sacred objects lost their sacredness4 ,the oldest were always the holiest idols2 the oldest of all were stumps and stones1 like savage fetish-stones4 7#a7 ,pausanias1 ii4 #b4 7#b7 ,clemens ,alex41 ,protrept4 7,oxford1 #agae74 p4 #da4 7#c7 ,gill1 ,myths of ,south ,pacific1 p4 #fj4 ,compare a god1 which proved to be merely pumice-stone1 and was regarded as the god of winds and waves1 having been drifted to ,puka-,puka4 ,offerings of food were made to it during hurricanes4 ,another argument in favour of the general thesis that savagery left deep marks on ,greek life in general1 and on myth in particular1 may be derived from survivals of totemism in ritual and legend4 ,the following instances need not necessarily be accepted1 but it may be admitted that they are precisely the traces which totemism would leave had it once existed1 and then waned away on the advance of civilisation47#a7 7#a7 ,the argument to be derived from the character of the ,greek 7,greek text omitted7 as a modified form of the totem-kindred is too long and complex to be put forward here4 ,it is stated in ,custom and ,myth1 ,the history of the ,family1 in ,m',lennan's ,studies in ,early history1 and is assumed1 if not proved1 in ,ancient ,society by the late ,mr4 ,lewis ,morgan4 ,that ,greeks in certain districts regarded with religious reverence certain plants and animals is beyond dispute4 ,that some stocks even traced their lineage to beasts will be shown in the chapter on ,greek ,divine ,myths1 and the presumption is that these creatures1 though explained as incarnations and disguises of various gods1 were once totems sans phrase1 as will be inferred from various examples4 ,clemens ,alexandrinus1 again1 after describing the animal-worship of the ,egyptians1 mentions cases of zoolatry in ,greece47#a7 ,the ,thessalians revered storks1 the ,thebans weasels1 and the myth ran that the weasel had in some way aided ,alcmena when in labour with ,heracles4 ,in another form of the myth the weasel was the foster-mother of the hero47#b7 ,other ,thessalians1 the ,myrmidons1 claimed descent from the ant and revered ants4 ,the religious respect paid to mice in the temple of ,apollo ,smintheus1 in the ,troad1 ,rhodes1 ,gela1 ,lesbos and ,crete is well known1 and a local tribe were alluded to as ,mice by an oracle4 ,the god himself1 like the ,japanese harvest-god1 was represented in art with a mouse at his foot1 and mice1 as has been said1 were fed at his shrine47#c7 ,the ,syrians1 says ,clemens ,alexandrinus1 worship doves and fishes1 as the ,elians worship ,zeus47#d7 ,the people of ,delphi adored the wolf17#e7 and the ,samians the sheep4 ,the ,athenians had a hero whom they worshipped in the shape of a wolf47#f7 ,a remarkable testimony is that of the scholiast on ,apollonius ,rhodius1 ii4 #abd4 ,the wolf1 he says1 was a beast held in honour by the ,athenians1 and whosoever slays a wolf collects what is needful for its burial4 ,the burial of sacred animals in ,egypt is familiar4 ,an ,arab tribe mourns over and solemnly buries all dead gazelles47#g7 ,nay1 flies were adored with the sacrifice of an ox near the temple of ,apollo in ,leucas47#h7 ,pausanias 7iii4 #bb7 mentions certain colonists who were guided by a hare to a site where the animal hid in a myrtle-bush4 ,they therefore adore the myrtle1 7,greek text omitted74 ,in the same way a ,carian stock1 the ,ioxidae1 revered the asparagus47#i7 ,a remarkable example of descent mythically claimed from one of the lower animals is noted by ,otfried ,muller47#aj7 ,speaking of the swan of ,apollo1 he says1 ,that deity was worshipped1 according to the testimony of the ,iliad1 in the ,trojan island of ,tenedos4 ,there1 too1 was ,tennes honoured as the 7,greek text omitted7 of the island4 ,now his father was called ,cycnus 7the swan7 in an oft-told and romantic legend47#aa7444 ,the swan1 therefore1 as father to the chief hero on the ,apolline island1 stands in distinct relation to the god1 who is made to come forward still more prominently from the fact that ,apollo himself is also called father of ,tennes4 ,i think we can scarcely fail to recognise a mythus which was local at ,tenedos4444 ,the fact1 too1 of calling the swan1 instead of ,apollo1 the father of a hero1 demands altogether a simplicity and boldness of fancy which are far more ancient than the poems of ,homer4 7#a7 ,op4 cit41 i4 #cd4 7#b7 ,scholiast on ,iliad1 xix4 #aai4 7#c7 ,aelian1 ,h4 ,a41 xii4 #e2 ,strabo1 xiii4 #fjd4 ,compare ,apollo and the ,mouse1 ,custom and ,myth1 pp4 #ajc-abj4 7#d7 ,lucian1 ,de ,dea ,syria4 7#e7 ,aelian1 ,h4 ,a41 xii4 #dj4 7#f7 ,harpocration1 7,greek text omitted74 ,compare an address to the wolf-hero1 who delights in the flight and tears of men1 in ,aristophanes1 ,vespae1 #chi4 7#g7 ,robertson ,smith1 ,kinship in ,early ,arabia1 pp4 #aie-bjd4 7#h7 ,aelian1 xi4 #h4 7#i7 ,plutarch1 ,theseus1 #ad4 7#aj7 ,proleg41 ,engl4 trans41 p4 #bjd4 7#aa7 7,canne on ,conon1 #bh47 ,had ,muller known that this simplicity and boldness of fancy exist to-day1 for example1 among the ,swan tribe of ,australia1 he would probably have recognised in ,cycnus a survival from totemism4 ,the fancy survives again in ,virgil's ,cupavo1 with swan's plumes rising from his crest1 the mark of his father's form47#a7 ,descent was claimed1 not only from a swan ,apollo1 but from a dog ,apollo4 7#a7 ,aeneid1 x4 #ahg4 ,in connection with the same set of ideas1 it is pointed out that several 7,greek text omitted71 or stocks1 had eponymous heroes1 in whose names the names of the ancestral beast apparently survived4 ,in ,attica the ,crioeis have their hero 7,crio1 ,ram71 the ,butadae have ,butas 7,bullman71 the ,aegidae have ,aegeus 7,goat71 and the ,cynadae1 ,cynus 7,dog74 ,lycus1 according to ,harpocration 7s4 v47 has his statue in the shape of a wolf in the ,lyceum4 ,the general facts that certain animals might not be sacrificed to certain gods 7at ,athens the ,aegidae introduced ,athena1 to whom no goat might be offered on the ,acropolis1 while she herself wore the goat skin1 aegis71 while1 on the other hand1 each deity demanded particular victims1 explained by the ancients themselves in certain cases to be hostile animals1 find their natural explanation in totemism47#a7 ,mr4 ,evelyn ,abbott points out1 however1 that the names ,aegeus1 ,aegae1 ,aegina1 and others1 may be connected with the goat only by an old volks-etymologie1 as on coins of ,aegina in ,achaea4 ,the real meaning of the words may be different4 ,compare 7,greek text omitted71 the sea-shore4 ,mr4 ,j4 ,g4 ,frazer does not1 at present1 regard totemism as proved in the case of ,greece47#b7 7#a7 ,some apparent survivals of totemism in ritual will be found in the chapter on ,greek gods1 especially ,zeus1 ,dionysus1 and ,apollo4 7#b7 ,see his ,golden ,bough1 an alternative explanation of these animals in connection with ,the ,corn ,spirit4 ,as final examples of survivals from the age of barbarism in the religion of ,greece1 certain features in the ,mysteries may be noted4 ,plutarch speaks of the eating of raw flesh1 and tearing to pieces of victims1 as also fastings and beatings of the breast1 and again in many places abusive language at the sacrifices1 and other mad doings4 ,the mysteries of ,demeter1 as will appear when her legend is criticised1 contained one element all unlike these mad doings2 and the evidence of ,sophocles1 ,pindar1 ,plutarch and others demonstrate that religious consolations were somehow conveyed in the ,eleusinia4 ,but ,greece had many other local mysteries1 and in several of these it is undeniable the ,greeks acted much as contemporary ,australians1 ,zunis and ,negroes act in their secret initiations which1 however1 also inculcate moral ideas of considerable excellence4 ,important as these analogies are1 they appear to have escaped the notice of most mythologists4 ,m4 ,alfred ,maury1 however1 in ,les ,religions de la ,grece1 published in #aheg1 offers several instances of hidden rites1 common to ,hellas and to barbarism4 ,there seem in the mysteries of savage races to be two chief purposes4 ,there is the intention of giving to the initiated a certain sacred character1 which puts them in close relation with gods or demons1 and there is the introduction of the young to complete or advancing manhood1 and to full participation in the savage ,church with its ethical ideas4 ,the latter ceremonies correspond1 in short1 to confirmation1 and they are usually of a severe character1 being meant to test by fasting 7as ,plutarch says7 and by torture 7as in the familiar ,spartan rite7 the courage and constancy of the young braves4 ,the ,greek mysteries best known to us are the ,thesmophoria and the ,eleusinia4 ,in the former the rites 7as will appear later7 partook of the nature of savage medicine or magic1 and were mainly intended to secure fertility in husbandry and in the family4 ,in the ,eleusinia the purpose was the purification of the initiated1 secured by ablutions and by standing on the ram's-skin of ,zeus1 and after purifications the mystae engaged in sacred dances1 and were permitted to view a miracle play representing the sorrows and consolations of ,demeter4 ,there was a higher element1 necessarily obscure in nature4 ,the chief features in the whole were purifications1 dancing1 sacrifice and the representation of the miracle play4 ,it would be tedious to offer an exhaustive account of savage rites analogous to these mysteries of ,hellas4 ,let it suffice to display the points where ,greek found itself in harmony with ,australian1 and ,american1 and ,african practice4 ,these points are3 7#a7 mystic dances2 7#b7 the use of a little instrument1 called turndun in ,australia1 whereby a roaring noise is made1 and the profane are warned off2 7#c7 the habit of daubing persons about to be initiated with clay or anything else that is sordid1 and of washing this off2 apparently by way of showing that old guilt is removed and a new life entered upon2 7#d7 the performances with serpents may be noticed1 while the mad doings and howlings mentioned by ,plutarch are familiar to every reader of travels in uncivilised countries2 7#e7 ethical instruction is communicated4 ,first1 as to the mystic dances1 ,lucian observes37#a7 ,you cannot find a single ancient mystery in which there is not dancing4444 ,this much all men know1 that most people say of the revealers of the mysteries that they 'dance them out' 77,greek text omitted774 ,clemens of ,alexandria uses the same term when speaking of his own appalling revelations47#b7 ,so closely connected are mysteries with dancing among savages1 that when ,mr4 ,orpen asked ,qing1 the ,bushman hunter1 about some doctrines in which ,qing was not initiated1 he said3 ,only the initiated men of that dance know these things4 ,to dance this or that means to be acquainted with this or that myth1 which is represented in a dance or ballet d'action7#c7 77,greek text omitted774 ,so widely distributed is the practice1 that ,acosta1 in an interesting passage1 mentions it as familiar to the people of ,peru before and after the ,spanish conquest4 ,the text is a valuable instance of survival in religion4 ,when they were converted to ,christianity the ,peruvians detected the analogy between our sacrament and their mysteries1 and they kept up as much as possible of the old rite in the new ritual4 ,just as the mystae of ,eleusis practised chastity1 abstaining from certain food1 and above all from beans1 before the great ,pagan sacrament1 so did the ,indians4 ,to prepare themselves all the people fasted two days1 during which they did neyther company with their wives1 nor eate any meate with salt or garlicke1 nor drink any chic4444 ,and although the ,indians now forbeare to sacrifice beasts or other things publikely1 which cannot be hidden from the ,spaniardes1 yet doe they still use many ceremonies that have their beginnings from these feasts and auntient superstitions1 for at this day do they covertly make their feast of ,ytu at the daunces of the feast of the ,sacrament4 ,another feast falleth almost at the same time1 whereas the ,christians observe the solempnitie of the holy ,sacrament1 which ,,doth ,,resemble ,,it ,,in ,,some ,,sort1 ,,as ,,in ,,dauncing1 ,,singing ,,and ,,representations47#d7 ,the holy daunces at ,seville are under ,papal disapproval1 but are to be kept up1 it is said1 till the peculiar dresses used in them are worn out4 ,acosta's ,indians also had garments which served only for this feast4 ,it is superfluous to multiply examples of the dancing1 which is an invariable feature of savage as of ,greek mysteries4 7#a7 7,greek text omitted71 chap4 xv4 #bgg4 7#b7 ,ap4 ,euseb41 ,praep4 ,ev41 ii1 #c1 #f4 7#c7 ,cape ,monthly ,magazine1 ,july1 #ahgd4 7#d7 ,acosta1 ,historie of the ,indies1 book v4 chap4 xxviii4 ,london1 #afjd4 #b4 ,the ,greek and savage use of the turndun1 or bribbun of ,australia in the mysteries is familiar to students4 ,this fish-shaped flat board of wood is tied to a string1 and whirled round1 so as to cause a peculiar muffled roar4 ,lobeck quotes from the old scholia on ,clemens ,alexandrinus1 published by ,bastius in annotations on ,st4 ,gregory1 the following ,greek description of the turndun1 the bull-roarer of ,english country lads1 the ,gaelic srannam37#a7 7,greek text omitted74 ,the conus was a little slab of wood1 tied to a string1 and whirled round in the mysteries to make a whirring noise4 ,as the mystic uses of the turndun in ,australia1 ,new ,zealand1 ,new ,mexico and ,zululand have elsewhere been described at some length 7,custom and ,myth1 pp4 #bh-dd71 it may be enough to refer the reader to the passage4 ,mr4 ,taylor has since found the instrument used in religious mysteries in ,west ,africa1 so it has now been tracked almost round the world4 ,that an instrument so rude should be employed by ,greek and ,australians on mystic occasions is in itself a remarkable coincidence4 ,unfortunately1 ,lobeck1 who published the ,greek description of the turndun 7,aglaophamus1 #gjj71 was unacquainted with the modern ethnological evidence4 7#a7 ,pronounced strantham4 ,for this information ,i am indebted to my friend ,mr4 ,m',allister1 schoolmaster at ,st4 ,mary's ,loch4 #c4 ,the custom of plastering the initiated over with clay or filth was common in ,greek as in barbaric mysteries4 ,greek examples may be given first4 ,demosthenes accuses ,aeschines of helping his mother in certain mystic rites1 aiding her1 especially1 by bedaubing the initiate with clay and bran47#a7 ,harpocration explains the term used 77,greek text omitted77 thus3 ,daubing the clay and bran on the initiate1 to explain which they say that the ,titans when they attacked ,dionysus daubed themselves over with chalk1 but afterwards1 for ritual purposes1 clay was used4 ,it may be urged with some force that the mother of ,aeschines introduced foreign1 novel and possibly savage rites4 ,but ,sophocles1 in a fragment of his lost play1 the ,captives1 uses the term in the same ritual sense-- 7,greek text omitted74 7#a7 ,de ,corona1 #cac4 ,the idea clearly was that by cleansing away the filth plastered over the body was symbolised the pure and free condition of the initiate4 ,he might now cry in the mystic chant-- 7,greek text omitted74 ,worse have ,i fled1 better have ,i found4 ,that this was the significance of the daubing with clay in ,greek mysteries and the subsequent cleansing seems quite certain4 ,we are led straight to this conclusion by similar rites1 in which the purpose of mystically cleansing was openly put forward4 ,thus ,plutarch1 in his essay on superstition1 represents the guilty man who would be purified actually rolling in clay1 confessing his misdeeds1 and then sitting at home purified by the cleansing process 77,greek text omitted7747#a7 ,in another rite1 the cleansing of blood-guiltiness1 a similar process was practised4 ,orestes1 after killing his mother1 complains that the ,eumenides do not cease to persecute him1 though he has been purified by blood of swine47#b7 ,apollonius says that the red hand of the murderer was dipped in the blood of swine and then washed47#c7 ,athenaeus describes a similar unpleasant ceremony47#d7 ,the blood of whelps was apparently used also1 men being first daubed with it and then washed clean47#e7 ,the word 7,greek text omitted7 is again the appropriate ritual term4 ,such rites ,plutarch calls 7,greek text omitted71 filthy purifications47#f7 ,if daubing with dirt is known to have been a feature of ,greek mysteries1 it meets us everywhere among savages4 ,in ,o-,kee-,pa1 that curiously minute account of the ,mandan mysteries1 ,catlin writes that a portion of the frame of the initiate was covered with clay1 which the operator took from a wooden bowl1 and with his hand plastered unsparingly over4 ,the fifty young men waiting for initiation were naked and entirely covered with clay of various colours47#g7 ,the custom is mentioned by ,captain ,john ,smith in ,virginia4 ,mr4 ,winwood ,reade found it in ,africa1 where1 as among the ,mandans and ,spartans1 cruel torture and flogging accompanied the initiation of young men47#h7 ,in ,australia the evidence for daubing the initiate is very abundant47#i7 ,in ,new ,mexico1 the ,zunis stole ,mr4 ,cushing's black paint1 as considering it even better than clay for religious daubing47#aj7 7#a7 ,so ,hermann1 op4 cit41 #acc4 7#b7 ,eumenides1 #bgc4 7#c7 ,argonautica1 iv4 #fic4 7#d7 ix4 #gh4 ,hermann1 from whom the latter passages are borrowed1 also quotes the evidence of a vase published by ,feuerbach1 ,lehrbuch1 p4 #aca1 with other authorities4 7#e7 ,plutarch1 ,quaest4 ,rom41 #fh4 7#f7 ,de ,superstitione1 chap4 xii4 7#g7 ,o-,kee-,pa1 ,london1 #ahfg1 p4 #ba4 7#h7 ,savage ,africa1 case of ,mongilomba2 ,pausanias1 iii4 #ae4 7#i7 ,brough ,smyth1 i4 #fj4 7#aj7 ,custma and ,myth1 p4 #dj4 #d4 ,another savage rite1 the use of serpents in ,greek mysteries1 is attested by ,clemens ,alexandrinus and by ,demosthenes 7loc4 cit474 ,clemens says the snakes were caressed in representations of the loves of ,zeus in serpentine form4 ,the great savage example is that of the snake-dance of the ,moquis1 who handle rattle-snakes in the mysteries without being harmed47#a7 ,the dance is partly totemistic1 partly meant1 like the ,thesmophoria1 to secure the fertility of the lands of the ,moquis of ,arizonas4 ,the turndum or 7,greek text omitted7 is employed4 ,masks are worn1 as in the rites of ,demeter ,cidiria in ,arcadia47#b7 7#a7 ,the ,snake-,dance of the ,moquis4 ,by ,captain ,john ,g4 ,bourke1 ,london1 #ahhd4 7#b7 ,pausanias1 viii4 #af4 #e4 ,this last point of contact between certain ,greek and certain savage mysteries is highly important4 ,the argument of ,lobeck1 in his celebrated work ,aglaophamus1 is that the ,mysteries were of no great moment in religion4 ,had he known the evidence as to savage initiations1 he would have been confirmed in his opinion1 for many of the singular ,greek rites are clearly survivals from savagery4 ,but was there no more truly religious survival8 ,pindar is a very ancient witness that things of divine import were revealed4 ,happy is he who having seen these things goes under the hollow earth4 ,he knows the end of life1 and the god-given beginning47#a7 ,sophocles chimes in1 as ,lobeck says1 declaring that the initiate alone ,,live in ,hades1 while other souls endure all evils4 ,crinagoras avers that even in life the initiate live secure1 and in death are the happier4 ,isagoras declares that about the end of life and all eternity they have sweet hopes4 7#a7 ,fragm41 cxvi41 #abh ,h4 p4 #bfe4 ,splendida testimonia1 cries ,lobeck4 ,he tries to minimise the evidence1 remarking that ,isocrates promises the very same rewards to all who live justly and righteously4 ,but why not1 if to live justly and righteously was part of the teaching of the mysteries of ,eleusis8 ,cicero's evidence1 almost a translation of the ,greek passages already cited1 ,lobeck dismisses as purely rhetorical47#a7 ,lobeck's method is rather cavalier4 ,pindar and ,sophocles meant something of great significance4 7#a7 ,de ,legibus ii4 #ad2 ,aglaophamus1 pp4 #fi-gd4 ,now we have acknowledged savage survivals of ugly rites in the ,greek mysteries4 ,but it is only fair to remember that1 in certain of the few savage mysteries of which we know the secret1 righteousness of life and a knowledge of good are inculcated4 ,this is the case in ,australia1 and in ,central ,africa1 where to be uninitiated is equivalent to being selfish47#a7 ,thus it seems not improbable that consolatory doctrines were expounded in the ,eleusinia1 and that this kind of sermon or exhortation was no less a survival from savagery than the daubing with clay1 and the 7,greek text omitted71 and other wild rites4 7#a7 ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #aic-aig1 #bce4 ,we have now attempted to establish that in ,greek law and ritual many savage customs and usages did undeniably survive4 ,we have seen that both philosophical and popular opinion in ,greece believed in a past age of savagery4 ,in law1 in religion1 in religious art1 in custom1 in human sacrifice1 in relics of totemism1 and in the mysteries1 we have seen that the ,greeks retained plenty of the usages now found among the remotest and most backward races4 ,we have urged against the suggestion of borrowing from ,egypt or ,asia that these survivals are constantly found in local and tribal religion and rituals1 and that consequently they probably date from that remote prehistoric past when the ,greeks lived in village settlements4 ,it may still doubtless be urged that all these things are ,pelasgic1 and were the customs of a race settled in ,hellas before the arrival of the ,homeric ,achaeans1 and ,dorians1 and ,argives1 who1 on this hypothesis1 adopted and kept up the old savage ,pelasgian ways and superstitions4 ,it is impossible to prove or disprove this belief1 nor does it affect our argument4 ,we allege that all ,greek life below the surface was rich in institutions now found among the most barbaric peoples4 ,these institutions1 whether borrowed or inherited1 would still be part of the legacy left by savages to cultivated peoples4 ,as this legacy is so large in custom and ritual1 it is not unfair to argue that portions of it will also be found in myths4 ,it is now time to discuss ,greek myths of the origin of things1 and decide whether they are or are not analogous in ideas to the myths which spring from the wild and ignorant fancy of ,australians1 ,cahrocs1 ,nootkas and ,bushmen4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,greek ,,cosmogonic ,,myths4 ,nature of the evidence--,traditions of origin of the world and man--,homeric1 ,hesiodic and ,orphic myths--,later evidence of historians1 dramatists1 commentators--,the ,homeric story comparatively pure--,the story in ,hesiod1 and its savage analogues--,the explanations of the myth of ,cronus1 modern and ancient--,the ,orphic cosmogony--,phanes and ,prajapati--,greek myths of the origin of man--,their savage analogues4 ,the authorities for ,greek cosmogonic myth are extremely various in date1 character and value4 ,the most ancient texts are the ,iliad and the poems attributed to ,hesiod4 ,the ,iliad1 whatever its date1 whatever the place of its composition1 was intended to please a noble class of warriors4 ,the ,hesiodic poems1 at least the ,theogony1 have clearly a didactic aim1 and the intention of presenting a systematic and orderly account of the divine genealogies4 ,to neither would we willingly attribute a date much later than the ninth century of our era1 but the question of the dates of all the epic and ,hesiodic poems1 and even of their various parts1 is greatly disputed among scholars4 ,yet it is nowhere denied that1 however late the present form of some of the poems may be1 they contain ideas of extreme antiquity4 ,although the ,homeric poems are usually considered1 on the whole1 more ancient than those attributed to ,hesiod17#a7 it is a fact worth remembering that the notions of the origin of things in ,hesiod are much more savage and 7as we hold7 much more archaic than the opinions of ,homer4 7#a7 ,grote assigns his ,theogony to circ4 #gej ,a4,d4 ,the ,thegony was taught to boys in ,greece1 much as the ,church ,catechism and ,bible are taught in ,england2 ,aeschines in ,ctesiph41 #ace1 p4 #gc4 ,libanius1 #djj years after ,christ 7i4 #ejb-eji1 iv4 #hgd74 ,while ,hesiod offers a complete theogony or genealogy of deities and heroes1 ,homer gives no more than hints and allusions to the stormy past of the gods4 ,it is clear1 however1 that his conception of that past differed considerably from the traditions of ,hesiod4 ,however we explain it1 the ,homeric mythology 7though itself repugnant to the philosophers from ,xenophanes downwards7 is much more mild1 pure and humane than the mythology either of ,hesiod or of our other ,greek authorities4 ,some may imagine that ,homer retains a clearer and less corrupted memory than ,hesiod possessed of an original and authentic divine tradition4 ,others may find in ,homer's comparative purity a proof of the later date of his epics in their present form1 or may even proclaim that ,homer was a kind of ,cervantes1 who wished to laugh the gods away4 ,there is no conceivable or inconceivable theory about ,homer that has not its advocates4 ,for ourselves1 we hold that the divine genius of ,homer1 though working in an age distant rather than early1 selected instinctively the purer mythical materials1 and burned away the coarser dross of antique legend1 leaving little but the gold which is comparatively refined4 ,we must remember that it does not follow that any mythical ideas are later than the age of ,homer because we first meet them in poems of a later date4 ,we have already seen that though the ,brahmanas are much later in date of compilation than the ,veda1 yet a tradition which we first find in the ,brahmanas may be older than the time at which the ,veda was compiled4 ,in the same way1 as ,mr4 ,max ,muller observes1 we know that certain ideas which we find in later writers do not occur in ,homer4 ,but it does not follow at all that such ideas are all of later growth or possess a secondary character4 ,one myth may have belonged to one tribe2 one god may have had his chief worship in one locality2 and our becoming acquainted with these through a later poet does not in the least prove their later origin47#a7 7#a7 ,hibbert ,lectures1 pp4 #acj1 #aca4 ,after ,homer and ,hesiod1 our most ancient authorities for ,greek cosmogonic myths are probably the so-called ,orphic fragments4 ,concerning the dates and the manner of growth of these poems volumes of erudition have been compiled4 ,as ,homer is silent about ,orpheus 7in spite of the position which the mythical ,thracian bard acquired as the inventor of letters and magic and the father of the mysteries71 it has been usual to regard the ,orphic ideas as of late introduction4 ,we may agree with ,grote and ,lobeck that these ideas and the ascetic ,orphic mode of life first acquired importance in ,greece about the time of ,epimenides1 or1 roughly speaking1 between #fbj and #ejj ,b4,c47#a7 ,that age certainly witnessed a curious growth of superstitious fears and of mystic ceremonies intended to mitigate spiritual terrors4 ,greece was becoming more intimately acquainted with ,egypt and with ,asia1 and was comparing her own religion with the beliefs and rites of other peoples4 ,the times and the minds of men were being prepared for the clear philosophies that soon on ,argive heights divinely sang4 ,just as1 when the old world was about to accept ,christianity1 a deluge of ,oriental and barbaric superstitions swept across men's minds1 so immediately before the dawn of ,greek philosophy there came an irruption of mysticism and of spiritual fears4 ,we may suppose that the ,orphic poems were collected1 edited and probably interpolated1 in this dark hour of ,greece4 ,to me1 says ,lobeck1 it appears that the verses may be referred to the age of ,onomacritus1 an age curious in the writings of ancient poets1 and attracted by the allurements of mystic religions4 ,the style of the surviving fragments is sufficiently pure and epic2 the strange unheard of myths are unlike those which the ,alexandrian poets drew from fountains long lost47#b7 ,but how much in the ,orphic myths is imported from ,asia or ,egypt1 how much is the invention of literary forgers like ,onomacritus1 how much should be regarded as the first guesses of the physical poet-philosophers1 and how much is truly ancient popular legend recast in literary form1 it is impossible with certainty to determine4 7#a7 ,lobeck1 ,aglaophamus1 i4 #cag2 ,grote1 iii4 #hf4 7#b7 ,aglaophamus1 i4 #faa4 ,we must not regard a myth as necessarily late or necessarily foreign because we first meet it in an ,orphic composition4 ,if the myth be one of the sort which encounter us in every quarter1 nay1 in every obscure nook of the globe1 we may plausibly regard it as ancient4 ,if it bear the distinct marks of being a ,neo-platonic pastiche1 we may reject it without hesitation4 ,on the whole1 however1 our ,orphic authorities can never be quoted with much satisfaction4 ,the later sources of evidence for ,greek myths are not of great use to the student of cosmogonic legend1 though invaluable when we come to treat of the established dynasty of gods1 the heroes and the culture-heroes4 ,for these the authorities are the whole range of ,greek literature1 poets1 dramatists1 philosophers1 critics1 historians and travellers4 ,we have also the notes and comments of the scholiasts or commentators on the poets and dramatists4 ,sometimes these annotators only darken counsel by their guesses4 ,sometimes perhaps1 especially in the scholia on the ,iliad and ,odyssey1 they furnish us with a precious myth or popular marchen not otherwise recorded4 ,the regular professional mythographi1 again1 of whom ,apollodorus 7#aej ,b4,c47 is the type1 compiled manuals explanatory of the myths which were alluded to by the poets4 ,the scholiasts and mythographi often retain myths from lost poems and lost plays4 ,finally1 from the travellers and historians we occasionally glean examples of the tales 7holy chapters1 as ,mr4 ,grote calls them7 which were narrated by priests and temple officials to the pilgrims who visited the sacred shrines4 ,these chapters are almost invariably puerile1 savage and obscene4 ,they bear the stamp of extreme antiquity1 because they never1 as a rule1 passed through the purifying medium of literature4 ,there were many myths too crude and archaic for the purposes of poetry and of the drama4 ,these were handed down from local priest to local priest1 with the inviolability of sacred and immutable tradition4 ,we have already given a reason for assigning a high antiquity to the local temple myths4 ,just as ,greeks lived in villages before they gathered into towns1 so their gods were gods of villages or tribes before they were national deities4 ,the local myths are those of the archaic village state of culture1 more ancient1 more savage1 than literary narrative4 ,very frequently the local legends were subjected to the process of allegorical interpretation1 as men became alive to the monstrosity of their unsophisticated meaning4 ,often they proved too savage for our authorities1 who merely remark1 ,concerning this a certain holy chapter is told1 but decline to record the legend4 ,in the same way missionaries1 with mistaken delicacy1 often refuse to repeat some savage legend with which they are acquainted4 ,the latest sort of testimony as to ,greek myths must be sought in the writings of the heathen apologists or learned ,pagan defenders of ,paganism in the first centuries during ,christianity1 and in the works of their opponents1 the fathers of the ,church4 ,though the fathers certainly do not understate the abominations of ,paganism1 and though the heathen apologists make free use of allegorical 7and impossible7 interpretations1 the evidence of both is often useful and important4 ,the testimony of ancient art1 vases1 statues1 pictures and the descriptions of these where they no longer survive1 are also of service and interest4 ,after this brief examination of the sources of our knowledge of ,greek myth1 we may approach the ,homeric legends of the origin of things and the world's beginning4 ,in ,homer these matters are only referred to incidentally4 ,he more than once calls ,oceanus 7that is1 the fabled stream which flows all round the world1 here regarded as a ,,person7 the origin of the gods1 the origin of all things47#a7 ,that ,ocean is considered a person1 and that he is not an allegory for water or the aqueous element1 appears from the speech of ,hera to ,aphrodite3 ,i am going to visit the limits of the bountiful earth1 and ,oceanus1 father of the gods1 and mother ,tethys1 who reared me duly and nurtured me in their halls1 when far-seeing ,zeus imprisoned ,cronus beneath the earth and the unvintaged sea47#b7 ,homer does not appear to know ,uranus as the father of ,cronus1 and thus the myth of the mutilation of ,uranus necessarily does not occur in ,homer4 ,cronus1 the head of the dynasty which preceded that of ,zeus1 is described7#c7 as the son of ,rhea1 but nothing is said of his father4 ,the passage contains the account which ,poseidon himself chose to give of the war in heaven3 ,three brethren are we1 and sons of ,cronus whom ,rhea bare--,zeus and myself1 and ,hades is the third1 the ruler of the folk in the underworld4 ,and in three lots were all things divided1 and each drew a domain of his own4 ,here ,zeus is the ,,eldest son of ,cronus4 ,though lots are drawn at hazard for the property of the father 7which we know to have been customary in ,homer's time71 yet throughout the ,iliad ,zeus constantly claims the respect and obedience due to him by right of primogeniture47#d7 ,we shall see that ,hesiod adopts exactly the opposite view4 ,zeus is the ,,youngest child of ,cronus4 ,his supremacy is an example of jungsten recht1 the wide-spread custom which makes the youngest child the heir in chief47#e7 ,but how did the sons of ,cronus come to have his property in their hands to divide8 ,by right of successful rebellion1 when ,zeus imprisoned ,cronus beneath the earth and the unvintaged sea4 ,with ,cronus in his imprisonment are the ,titans4 ,that is all that ,homer cares to tell about the absolute beginning of things and the first dynasty of rulers of ,olympus4 ,his interest is all in the actual reigning family1 that of the ,cronidae1 nor is he fond of reporting their youthful excesses4 7#a7 ,iliad1 xiv4 #bja1 #cjb1 #bdf4 7#b7 ,in reading what ,homer and ,hesiod report about these matters1 we must remember that all the forces and phenomena are conceived of by them as ,,persons4 ,in this regard the archaic and savage view of all things as personal and human is preserved4 ,i maintain1 says ,grote1 moreover1 fully the character of these great divine agents as persons1 which is the light in which they presented themselves to the ,homeric or ,hesiodic audience4 ,uranus1 ,nyx1 ,hypnos and ,oneiros 7heaven1 night1 sleep and dream7 are persons just as much as ,zeus or ,apollo4 ,to resolve them into mere allegories is unsafe and unprofitable4 ,we then depart from the point of view of the original hearers without acquiring any consistent or philosophical point of view of our own4 ,this holds good though portions of the ,hesiodic genealogies are distinctly poetic allegories cast in the mould or the ancient personal theory of things4 7#c7 ,iliad1 xv4 #ahg4 7#d7 ,the custom by which sons drew lots for equal shares of their dead father's property is described in ,odyssey1 xiv4 #aii-bab4 ,here ,odysseus1 giving a false account of himself1 says that he was a ,cretan1 a bastard1 and that his half-brothers1 born in wedlock1 drew lots for their father's inheritance1 and did not admit him to the drawing1 but gave him a small portion apart4 7#e7 ,see ,elton1 ,origins of ,english ,history1 pp4 #ahe-bjg4 ,we now turn from ,homer's incidental allusions to the ample and systematic narrative of ,hesiod4 ,as ,mr4 ,grote says1 ,men habitually took their information respecting their theogonic antiquities from the ,hesiodic poems4 ,hesiod was accepted as an authority both by the pious ,pausanias in the second century of our era--who protested against any attempt to alter stories about the gods--and by moral reformers like ,plato and ,xenophanes1 who were revolted by the ancient legends17#a7 and1 indeed1 denied their truth4 ,yet1 though ,hesiod represents ,greek orthodoxy1 we have observed that ,homer 7whose epics are probably still more ancient7 steadily ignores the more barbarous portions of ,hesiod's narrative4 ,thus the question arises3 ,are the stories of ,hesiod's invention1 and later than ,homer1 or does ,homer's genius half-unconsciously purify materials like those which ,hesiod presents in the crudest form8 ,mr4 ,grote says3 ,how far these stories are the invention of ,hesiod himself it is impossible to determine4 ,they bring us down to a cast of fancy more coarse and indelicate than the ,homeric1 and more nearly resemble some of the holy chapters 77,greek text omitted77 of the more recent mysteries1 such1 for example1 as the tale of ,dionysus ,zagreus4 ,there is evidence in the ,theogony itself that the author was acquainted with local legends current both at ,krete and at ,delphi1 for he mentions both the mountain-cave in ,krete wherein the newly-born ,zeus was hidden1 and the stone near the ,delphian temple--the identical stone which ,kronos had swallowed--placed by ,zeus himself as a sign and marvel to mortal men4 ,both these monuments1 which the poet expressly refers to1 and had probably seen1 imply a whole train of accessory and explanatory local legends1 current probably among the priests of ,krete and ,delphi4 7#a7 ,timaeeus1 #da2 ,republic1 #cgg4 ,all these circumstances appear to be good evidence of the great antiquity of the legends recorded by ,hesiod4 ,in the first place1 arguing merely a priori1 it is extremely improbable that in the brief interval between the date of the comparatively pure and noble mythology of the ,iliad and the much ruder ,theogony of ,hesiod men ,,invented stories like the mutilation of ,uranus1 and the swallowing of his offspring by ,cronus4 ,the former legend is almost exactly parallel1 as has already been shown1 to the myth of ,papa and ,rangi in ,new ,zealand4 ,the later has its parallels among the savage ,bushmen and ,australians4 ,it is highly improbable that men in an age so civilised as that of ,homer invented myths as hideous as those of the lowest savages4 ,but if we take these myths to be1 not new inventions1 but the sacred stories of local priesthoods1 their antiquity is probably incalculable4 ,the sacred stories1 as we know from ,pausanias1 ,herodotus and from all the writers who touch on the subject of the mysteries1 were myths communicated by the priests to the initiated4 ,plato speaks of such myths in the ,republic1 #cgh3 ,if there is an absolute necessity for their mention1 a very few might hear them in a mystery1 and then let them sacrifice1 not a common pig1 but some huge and unprocurable victim2 this would have the effect of very greatly diminishing the number of the hearers4 ,this is an amusing example of a plan for veiling the horrors of myth4 ,the pig was the animal usually offered to ,demeter1 the goddess of the ,eleusinian mysteries4 ,plato proposes to substitute some unprocurable beast1 perhaps a giraffe or an elephant4 ,to ,hesiod1 then1 we must turn for what is the earliest complete literary form of the ,greek cosmogonic myth4 ,hesiod begins1 like the ,new ,zealanders1 with the august race of gods1 by earth and wide heaven begotten47#a7 ,so the ,new ,zealanders1 as we have seen1 say1 ,the heaven which is above us1 and the earth which is beneath us1 are the progenitors of men and the origin of all things4 ,hesiod7#b7 somewhat differs from this view by making ,chaos absolutely first of all things1 followed by wide-bosomed ,earth1 ,tartarus and ,eros 7love74 ,chaos unaided produced ,erebus and ,night2 the children of ,night and ,erebus are ,aether and ,day4 ,earth produced ,heaven1 who then became her own lover1 and to ,heaven she bore ,oceanus1 and the ,titans1 ,coeeus and ,crius1 ,hyperion and ,iapetus1 ,thea and ,rhea1 ,themis1 ,mnemosyne1 ,phoebe1 ,tethys1 and youngest after these was born ,cronus of crooked counsel1 the most dreadful of her children1 who ever detested his puissant sire1 ,heaven4 ,there were other sons of ,earth and ,heaven peculiarly hateful to their father17#c7 and these ,uranus used to hide from the light in a hollow of ,gaea4 ,both they and ,gaea resented this treatment1 and the ,titans1 like the children of ,heaven and ,earth1 in the ,new ,zealand poem1 sought to discern the difference between light and darkness4 ,gaea 7unlike ,earth in the ,new ,zealand myth1 for there she is purely passive71 conspired with her children1 produced iron1 and asked her sons to avenge their wrongs47#d7 ,fear fell upon all of them save ,cronus1 who 7like ,tane ,mahuta in the ,maori poem7 determined to end the embraces of ,earth and ,heaven4 ,but while the ,new ,zealand1 like the ,indo-,aryan myth17#e7 conceives of ,earth and ,heaven as two beings who have never previously been sundered at all1 ,hesiod makes ,heaven amorously approach his spouse from a distance4 ,this was the moment for ,cronus17#f7 who stretched out his hand armed with the sickle of iron1 and mutilated ,uranus4 ,as in so many savage myths1 the blood of the wounded god fallen on the ground produced strange creatures1 nymphs of the ash-tree1 giants and furies4 ,as in the ,maori myth1 one of the children of ,heaven stood apart and did not consent to the deed4 ,this was ,oceanus in ,greece17#g7 and in ,new ,zealand it was ,tawhiri ,matea1 the wind1 who arose and followed his father1 ,heaven1 and remained with him in the open spaces of the sky4 ,uranus now predicted7#h7 that there would come a day of vengeance for the evil deed of ,cronus1 and so ends the dynasty of ,uranus4 7#a7 ,theog41 #de4 7#b7 ,ibid41 #aaf4 7#c7 ,ibid41 #aee4 7#d7 ,ibid41 #aff4 7#e7 ,muir1 v4 #bc1 quoting ,aitareya ,brahmana1 iv4 #bg3 ,these two worlds were once joined2 subsequently they separated4 7#f7 ,theog41 #age-ahe4 7#g7 ,apollod41 i1 #ae4 7#h7 ,theog41 #bji4 ,this story was one of the great stumbling-blocks of orthodox ,greece4 ,it was the tale that ,plato said should be told1 if at all1 only to a few in a mystery1 after the sacrifice of some rare and scarcely obtainable animal4 ,even among the ,maoris1 the conduct of the children who severed their father and mother is regarded as a singular instance of iniquity1 and is told to children as a moral warning1 an example to be condemned4 ,in ,greece1 on the other hand1 unless we are to take the ,euthyphro as wholly ironical1 some of the pious justified their conduct by the example of ,zeus4 ,euthyphro quotes this example when he is about to prosecute his own father1 for which act1 he says1 ,men are angry with ,,me2 so inconsistently do they talk when ,i am concerned and when the gods are concerned47#a7 ,but in ,greek ,,the ,,tale ,,has ,,no ,,meaning4 ,it has been allegorised in various ways1 and ,lafitau fancied that it was a distorted form of the ,biblical account of the origin of sin4 ,in ,maori the legend is perfectly intelligible4 ,heaven and earth were conceived of 7like everything else71 as beings with human parts and passions1 linked in an endless embrace which crushed and darkened their children4 ,it became necessary to separate them1 and this feat was achieved not without pain4 ,then wailed the ,heaven1 and exclaimed the ,earth1 ',wherefore this murder8 ,why this great sin8 ,why separate us8' ,but what cared ,tane8 ,upwards he sent one and downwards the other4 ,he cruelly severed the sinews which united ,heaven and ,earth47#b7 ,the ,greek myth too1 contemplated earth and heaven as beings corporeally united1 and heaven as a malignant power that concealed his children in darkness4 7#a7 ,euthyphro1 #f4 7#b7 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 #aai4 ,but while the conception of heaven and earth as parents of living things remains perfectly intelligible in one sense1 the vivid personification which regarded them as creatures with human parts and passions had ceased to be intelligible in ,greece before the times of the earliest philosophers4 ,the old physical conception of the pair became a metaphor1 and the account of their rending asunder by their children lost all significance1 and seemed to be an abominable and unintelligible myth4 ,when examined in the light of the ,new ,zealand story1 and of the fact that early peoples do regard all phenomena as human beings1 with physical attributes like those of men1 the legend of ,cronus1 and ,uranus1 and ,gaea ceases to be a mystery4 ,it is1 at bottom1 a savage explanation 7as in the ,samoan story7 of the separation of earth and heaven1 an explanation which could only have occurred to people in a state of mind which civilisation has forgotten4 ,the next generation of ,hesiodic gods 7if gods we are to call the members of this race of non-natural men7 was not more fortunate than the first in its family relations4 ,cronus wedded his sister1 ,rhea1 and begat ,demeter1 ,hera1 ,hades1 ,poseidon1 and the youngest1 ,zeus4 ,and mighty ,cronus swallowed down each of them1 each that came to their mother's knees from her holy womb1 with this intent that none other of the proud sons of heaven should hold his kingly sway among the immortals4 ,heaven and ,earth had warned him that he too should fall through his children4 ,wherefore he kept no vain watch1 but spied and swallowed down each of his offspring1 while grief immitigable took possession of ,rhea47#a7 ,rhea1 being about to become the mother of ,zeus1 took counsel with ,uranus and ,gaea4 ,by their advice she went to ,crete1 where ,zeus was born1 and1 in place of the child1 she presented to ,cronus a huge stone swathed in swaddling bands4 ,this he swallowed1 and was easy in his mind4 ,zeus grew up1 and by some means1 suggested by ,gaea1 compelled ,zeus to disgorge all his offspring4 ,and he vomited out the stone first1 as he had swallowed it last47#b7 ,the swallowed children emerged alive1 and ,zeus fixed the stone at ,pytho 7,delphi71 where ,pausanias7#c7 had the privilege of seeing it1 and where1 as it did not tempt the cupidity of barbarous invaders1 it probably still exists4 ,it was not a large stone1 ,pausanias says1 and the ,delphians used to pour oil over it1 as ,jacob did7#d7 to the stone at ,bethel1 and on feast-days they covered it with wraps of wool4 ,the custom of smearing fetish-stones 7which ,theophrastus mentions as one of the practices of the superstitious man7 is clearly a survival from the savage stage of religion4 ,as a rule1 however1 among savages1 fetish-stones are daubed with red paint 7like the face of the wooden ancient ,dionysi in ,greece1 and of ,tsui ,goab among the ,hottentots71 not smeared with oil47#e7 7#a7 ,theog41 #dfj1 #dfe4 7#b7 ,theog41 #dih4 7#c7 x4 #bde4 7#d7 ,gen4 xxviii4 #ah4 7#e7 ,pausanias1 ii4 #b1 #e4 ,churinga in ,australia are greased with the natural moisture of the palm of the hand1 and rubbed with red ochre4--,spencer and ,gillen4 ,they are sacred things1 but not exactly fetishes4 ,the myth of the swallowing and disgorging of his own children by ,cronus was another of the stumbling-blocks of ,greek orthodoxy4 ,the common explanation1 that ,time 77,greek text omitted77 does swallow his children1 the days1 is not quite satisfactory4 ,time brings never the past back again1 as ,cronus did4 ,besides1 the myth of the swallowing is not confined to ,cronus4 ,modern philology has given1 as usual1 different analyses of the meaning of the name of the god4 ,hermann1 with ,preller1 derives it from 7,greek text omitted71 to fulfil4 ,the harvest-month1 says ,preller1 was named ,cronion in ,greece1 and ,cronia was the title of the harvest-festival4 ,the sickle of ,cronus is thus brought into connection with the sickle of the harvester47#a7 7#a7 ,preller1 ,gr4 ,myth41 i4 #dd2 ,hartung1 ii4 #dh2 ,porphyry1 ,abst41 ii4 #ed4 ,welcker will not hear of this etymology1 ,gr4 gott41 i4 #ade1 note #i4 ,the second myth1 in which ,cronus swallows his children1 has numerous parallels in savage legend4 ,bushmen tell of ,kwai ,hemm1 the devourer1 who swallows that great god1 the mantis insect1 and disgorges him alive with all the other persons and animals whom he has engulphed in the course of a long and voracious career47#a7 ,the moon in ,australia1 while he lived on earth1 was very greedy1 and swallowed the eagle-god1 whom he had to disgorge4 ,mr4 ,im ,thurn found similar tales among the ,indians of ,guiana4 ,the swallowing and disgorging of ,heracles by the monster that was to slay ,hesione is well known4 ,scotch peasants tell of the same feats1 but localise the myth on the banks of the ,ken in ,galloway4 ,basutos1 ,eskimos1 ,zulus and ,european fairy tales all possess this incident1 the swallowing of many persons by a being from whose maw they return alive and in good case4 7#a7 ,bleek1 ,bushman ,folk-lore1 pp4 #f1 #h4 ,a mythical conception which prevails from ,greenland to ,south ,africa1 from ,delphi to the ,solomon ,islands1 from ,brittany to the shores of ,lake ,superior1 must have some foundation in the common elements of human nature47#a7 ,now it seems highly probable that this curious idea may have been originally invented in an attempt to explain natural phenomena by a nature-myth4 ,it has already been shown 7chapter v47 that eclipses are interpreted1 even by the peasantry of advanced races1 as the swallowing of the moon by a beast or a monster4 ,the ,piutes account for the disappearance of the stars in the daytime by the hypothesis that the sun swallows his children4 ,in the ,melanesian myth1 dawn is cut out of the body of night by ,qat1 armed with a knife of red obsidian4 ,here are examples7#b7 of transparent nature-myths in which this idea occurs for obvious explanatory purposes1 and in accordance with the laws of the savage imagination4 ,thus the conception of the swallowing and disgorging being may very well have arisen out of a nature-myth4 ,but why is the notion attached to the legend of ,cronus8 7#a7 ,the myth of ,cronus and the swallowed children and the stone is transferred to ,gargantua4 ,see ,sebillot1 ,gargantua dans les ,traditions ,populaires4 ,but it is impossible to be certain that this is not an example of direct borrowing by ,madame ,de ,cerny in her ,saint ,suliac1 p4 #fi4 7#b7 ,compare ,tylor1 ,prim4 ,cult41 i4 #cch4 ,that is precisely the question about which mythologists differ1 as has been shown1 and perhaps it is better to offer no explanation4 ,however stories arise--and this story probably arose from a nature-myth--it is certain that they wander about the world1 that they change masters1 and thus a legend which is told of a princess with an impossible name in ,zululand is told of the mother of ,charlemagne in ,france4 ,the tale of the swallowing may have been attributed to ,cronus1 as a great truculent deity1 though it has no particular elemental signification in connection with his legend4 ,this peculiarly savage trick of swallowing each other became an inherited habit in the family of ,cronus4 ,when ,zeus reached years of discretion1 he married ,metis1 and this lady1 according to the scholiast on ,hesiod1 had the power of transforming herself into any shape she pleased4 ,when she was about to be a mother1 ,zeus induced her to assume the shape of a fly and instantly swallowed her47#a7 ,in behaving thus1 ,zeus acted on the advice of ,uranus and ,gaea4 ,it was feared that ,metis would produce a child more powerful than his father4 ,zeus avoided this peril by swallowing his wife1 and himself gave birth to ,athene4 ,the notion of swallowing a hostile person1 who has been changed by magic into a conveniently small bulk1 is very common4 ,it occurs in the story of ,taliesin47#b7 ,caridwen1 in the shape of a hen1 swallows ,gwion ,bach1 in the form of a grain of wheat4 ,in the same manner the princess in the ,arabian ,nights swallowed the ,geni4 ,here then we have in the ,hesiodic myth an old marchen pressed into the service of the higher mythology4 ,the apprehension which ,zeus 7like ,herod and ,king ,arthur7 always felt lest an unborn child should overthrow him1 was also familiar to ,indra2 but1 instead of swallowing the mother and concealing her in his own body1 like ,zeus1 ,indra entered the mother's body1 and himself was born instead of the dreaded child47#c7 ,a cow on this occasion was born along with ,indra4 ,this adventure of the 7,greek text omitted7 or swallowing of ,metis was explained by the late ,platonists as a ,platonic allegory4 ,probably the people who originated the tale were not ,platonists1 any more than ,pandarus was all ,aristotelian4 7#a7 ,hesiod1 ,theogonia1 #hhf4 ,see ,scholiast and note in ,aglaophamus1 i4 #fac4 ,compare ,puss in ,boots and the ,ogre4 7#b7 ,mabinogion1 p4 #dgc4 7#c7 ,black ,yajur ,veda1 quoted by ,sayana4 ,after ,homer and ,hesiod1 the oldest literary authorities for ,greek cosmogonic myths are the poems attributed to ,orpheus4 ,about their probable date1 as has been said1 little is known4 ,they have reached us only in fragments1 but seem to contain the first guesses of a philosophy not yet disengaged from mythical conditions4 ,the poet preserves1 indeed1 some extremely rude touches of early imagination1 while at the same time one of the noblest and boldest expressions of pantheistic thought is attributed to him4 ,from the same source are drawn ideas as pure as those of the philosophical ,vedic hymn17#a7 and as wild as those of the ,vedic ,purusha ,sukta1 or legend of the fashioning of the world out of the mangled limbs of ,purusha4 ,the authors of the ,orphic cosmogony appear to have begun with some remarks on ,time 77,greek text omitted774 ,time was when as yet this world was not47#b7 ,time1 regarded in the mythical fashion as a person1 generated ,chaos and ,aether4 ,the ,orphic poet styles ,chaos 7,greek text omitted71 the monstrous gulph1 or gap4 ,this term curiously reminds one of ,ginnunga-gap in the ,scandinavian cosmogonic legends4 ,ginnunga-gap was light as windless air1 and therein the blast of heat met the cold rime1 whence ,ymir was generated1 the ,purusha of ,northern fable47#c7 ,these ideas correspond well with the ,orphic conception of primitive space47#d7 7#a7 ,rig-,veda1 x4 #ij4 7#b7 ,lobeck1 ,aglaophamus1 i4 #dgj4 ,see also the quotations from ,proclus4 7#c7 ,gylfi's ,mocking4 7#d7 ,aglaophamus1 p4 #dgc4 ,in process of time ,chaos produced an egg1 shining and silver white4 ,it is absurd to inquire1 according to ,lobeck1 whether the poet borrowed this widely spread notion of a cosmic egg from ,phoenicia1 ,babylon1 ,egypt 7where the goose-god ,seb laid the egg71 or whether the ,orphic singer originated so obvious an idea4 ,quaerere ludicrum est4 ,the conception may have been borrowed1 but manifestly it is one of the earliest hypotheses that occur to the rude imagination4 ,we have now three primitive generations1 time1 chaos1 the egg1 and in the fourth generation the egg gave birth to ,phanes1 the great hero of the ,orphic cosmogony47#a7 ,the earliest and rudest thinkers were puzzled1 as many savage cosmogonic myths have demonstrated1 to account for the origin of life4 ,the myths frequently hit on the theory of a hermaphroditic being1 both male and female1 who produces another being out of himself4 ,prajapati in the ,indian stories1 and ,hrimthursar in ,scandinavian legend--one of his feet got a son on the other--with ,lox in the ,algonquin tale are examples of these double-sexed personages4 ,in the ,orphic poem1 ,phanes is both male and female4 ,this ,phanes held within him the seed of all the gods17#b7 and his name is confused with the names of ,metis and ,ericapaeus in a kind of trinity4 ,all this part of the ,orphic doctrine is greatly obscured by the allegorical and theosophistic interpretations of the late ,platonists long after our era1 who1 as usual1 insisted on finding their own trinitarian ideas1 commenta frigidissima1 concealed under the mythical narrative47#c7 7#a7 ,clemens ,alexan41 p4 #fgb4 7#b7 ,damascius1 ap4 ,lobeck1 i4 #dha4 7#c7 ,aglaoph41 i4 #dhc4 ,another description by ,hieronymus of the first being1 the ,orphic ,phanes1 as a serpent with bull's and lion's heads1 with a human face in the middle and wings on the shoulders1 is sufficiently rude and senseless4 ,but these physical attributes could easily be explained away as types of anything the ,platonist pleased47#a7 ,the ,orphic ,phanes1 too1 was almost as many-headed as a giant in a fairy tale1 or as ,purusha in the ,rig-,veda4 ,he had a ram's head1 a bull's head1 a snake's head and a lion's head1 and glanced around with four eyes1 presumably human47#b7 ,this remarkable being was also provided with golden wings4 ,the nature of the physical arrangements by which ,phanes became capable of originating life in the world is described in a style so savage and crude that the reader must be referred to ,suidas for the original text47#c7 ,the tale is worthy of the ,swift-like fancy of the ,australian ,narrinyeri4 7#a7 ,damascius1 #cha1 ap4 ,lobeck1 i4 #dhd4 7#b7 ,hermias in ,phaedr4 ap4 ,lobeck1 i4 #dic4 7#c7 ,suidas s4 v4 ,phanes4 ,nothing can be easier or more delusive than to explain all this wild part of the ,orphic cosmogony as an allegorical veil of any modern ideas we choose to select4 ,but why the allegory should closely imitate the rough guesses of uncivilised peoples1 ,ahts1 ,diggers1 ,zunis1 ,cahrocs1 it is less easy to explain4 ,we can readily imagine ,african or ,american tribes who were accustomed to revere bulls1 rams1 snakes1 and so forth1 ascribing the heads of all their various animal patrons to the deity of their confederation4 ,we can easily see how such races as practise the savage rites of puberty should attribute to the first being the special organs of ,phanes4 ,but on the ,neo-,platonic hypothesis that ,orpheus was a seer of ,neo-,platonic opinions1 we do not see why he should have veiled his ideas under so savage an allegory4 ,this part of the ,orphic speculation is left in judicious silence by some modern commentators1 such as ,m4 ,darmesteter in ,les ,cosmogonies ,aryennes47#a7 ,indeed1 if we choose to regard ,apollonius ,rhodius1 an ,alexandrine poet writing in a highly civilised age1 as the representative of ,orphicism1 it is easy to mask and pass by the more stern and characteristic fortresses of the ,orphic divine4 ,the theriomorphic ,phanes is a much less ,aryan and agreeable object than the glorious golden-winged ,eros1 the love-god of ,apollonius ,rhodius and ,aristophanes47#b7 7#a7 ,essais ,orientaux1 p4 #aff4 7#b7 ,argonautica1 #a-ab2 ,aves1 #fic4 ,on the whole1 the ,orphic fragments appear to contain survivals of savage myths of the origin of things blended with purer speculations4 ,the savage ideas are finally explained by late philosophers as allegorical veils and vestments of philosophy2 but the interpretation is arbitrary1 and varies with the taste and fancy of each interpreter4 ,meanwhile the coincidence of the wilder elements with the speculations native to races in the lowest grades of civilisation is undeniable4 ,this opinion is confirmed by the ,greek myths of the origin of ,man4 ,these1 too1 coincide with the various absurd conjectures of savages4 ,in studying the various ,greek local legends of the origin of ,man1 we encounter the difficulty of separating them from the myths of heroes1 which it will be more convenient to treat separately4 ,this difficulty we have already met in our treatment of savage traditions of the beginnings of the race4 ,thus we saw that among the ,melanesians1 ,qat1 and among the ,ahts1 ,quawteaht1 were heroic persons1 who made men and most other things4 ,but it was desirable to keep their performances of this sort separate from their other feats1 their introduction of fire1 for example1 and of various arts4 ,in the same way it will be well1 in reviewing ,greek legends1 to keep ,prometheus' share in the making of men apart from the other stories of his exploits as a benefactor of the men whom he made4 ,in ,hesiod1 ,prometheus is the son of the ,titan ,iapetus1 and perhaps his chief exploit is to play upon ,zeus a trick of which we find the parallel in various savage myths4 ,it seems1 however1 from ,ovid7#a7 and other texts1 that ,hesiod somewhere spoke of ,prometheus as having made men out of clay1 like ,pund-jel in the ,australian1 ,qat in the ,melanesian and ,tiki in the ,maori myths4 ,the same story is preserved in ,servius's commentary on ,virgil47#b7 ,a different legend is preserved in the ,etymologicum ,magnum 7voc4 ,ikonion74 ,according to this story1 after the deluge of ,deucalion1 ,zeus bade ,prometheus and ,athene make images of men out of clay1 and the winds blew into them the breath of life4 ,in confirmation of this legend1 ,pausanias was shown in ,phocis certain stones of the colour of clay1 and smelling very like human flesh2 and these1 according to the ,phocians1 were the remains of the clay from which the whole human race was fashioned by ,prometheus47#c7 7#a7 ,ovid4 ,metam4 i4 #hb4 7#b7 ,eclogue1 vi4 #db4 7#c7 ,pausanias1 x4 #d1 #c4 ,aristophanes1 too1 in the ,birds 7#fhf7 talks of men as 7,greek text omitted71 figures kneaded of clay4 ,thus there are sufficient traces in ,greek tradition of the savage myth that man was made of clay by some superior being1 like ,pund-jel in the quaint ,australian story4 ,we saw that among various rude races other theories of the origin of man were current4 ,men were thought to have come out of a hole in the ground or a bed of reeds1 and sometimes the very scene of their first appearance was still known and pointed out to the curious4 ,this myth was current among races who regarded themselves as the only people whose origin needed explanation4 ,other stories represented man as the fruit of a tree1 or the child of a rock or stone1 or as the descendant of one of the lower animals4 ,examples of these opinions in ,greek legend are now to be given4 ,in the first place1 we have a fragment of ,pindar1 in which the poet enumerates several of the centres from which different ,greek tribes believed men to have sprung4 ,hard it is to find out whether ,alalkomeneus1 first of men1 arose on the marsh of ,cephissus1 or whether the ,curetes of ,ida first1 a stock divine1 arose1 or if it was the ,phrygian ,corybantes that the sun earliest saw--men like trees walking2 and ,pindar mentions ,egyptian and ,libyan legends of the same description47#a7 ,the ,thebans and the ,arcadians held themselves to be earth-born4 ,the black earth bore ,pelasgus on the high wooded hills1 says an ancient line of ,asius4 ,the ,dryopians were an example of a race of men born from ash-trees4 ,the myth of gens virum truncis et duro robore nata1 born of tree-trunk and the heart of oak1 had passed into a proverb even in ,homer's time47#b7 ,lucian mentions7#c7 the ,athenian myth that men grew like cabbages out of the earth4 ,as to ,greek myths of the descent of families from animals1 these will be examined in the discussion of the legend of ,zeus4 7#a7 ,preller1 ,aus4 ,auf41 p4 #aeh4 7#b7 ,virgil ,aen41 viii4 #cae2 ,odyssey1 xix4 #afc2 ,iliad1 ii4 xxii4 #abj2 ,juvenal1 vi4 #aa4 ,cf4 also ,bouche ,leclerq1 ,de ,origine ,generis ,humani4 7#c7 ,philops4 iii4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,savage ,,divine ,,myths4 ,the origin of a belief in ,,god beyond the ken of history and of speculation--,sketch of conjectural theories--,two elements in all beliefs1 whether of backward or civilised races--,the ,mythical and the ,religious--,these may be coeval1 or either may be older than the other--,difficulty of study--,the current anthropological theory--,stated objections to the theory--,gods and spirits--,suggestion that savage religion is borrowed from ,europeans--,reply to ,mr4 ,tylor's arguments on this head--,the morality of savages4 ,the question of the origin of a belief in ,deity does not come within the scope of a strictly historical inquiry4 ,no man can watch the idea of ,,god in the making or in the beginning4 ,we are acquainted with no race whose beginning does not lie far back in the unpenetrated past4 ,even on the hypothesis that the natives of ,australia1 for example1 were discovered in a state of culture more backward than that of other known races1 yet the institutions and ideas of the ,australians must have required for their development an incalculable series of centuries4 ,the notions of man about the ,deity1 man's religious sentiments and his mythical narratives1 must be taken as we find them4 ,there have been1 and are1 many theories as to the origin of the conception of a supernatural being or beings1 concerned with the fortunes of mankind1 and once active in the making of the earth and its inhabitants4 ,there is the hypothesis of an original divine tradition1 darkened by the smoke of foolish mortal fancies4 ,there is the hypothesis of an innate and intuitive sensus numinis4 ,there is the opinion that the notion of ,deity was introduced to man by the very nature of his knowledge and perceptions1 which compel him in all things to recognise a finite and an infinite4 ,there is the hypothesis that gods were originally ghosts1 the magnified shapes of ancestral spectres4 ,there is the doctrine that man1 seeking in his early speculations for the causes of things1 and conscious of his own powers as an active cause1 projected his own shadow on the mists of the unknown1 and peopled the void with figures of magnified non-natural men1 his own parents and protectors1 and the makers of many of the things in the world4 ,since the actual truth cannot be determined by observation and experiment1 the question as to the first germs of the divine conception must here be left unanswered4 ,but it is possible to disengage and examine apart the two chief elements in the earliest as in the latest ideas of ,godhead4 ,among the lowest and most backward1 as among the most advanced races1 there coexist the ,,mythical and the ,,religious elements in belief4 ,the rational factor 7or what approves itself to us as the rational factor7 is visible in religion2 the irrational is prominent in myth4 ,the ,australian1 the ,bushman1 the ,solomon ,islander1 in hours of danger and necessity 'yearns after the gods1' and has present in his heart the idea of a father and friend4 ,this is the religious element4 ,the same man1 when he comes to indulge his fancy for fiction1 will degrade this spiritual friend and father to the level of the beasts1 and will make him the hero of comic or repulsive adventures4 ,this is the mythical or irrational element4 ,religion1 in its moral aspect1 always traces back to the belief in a power that is benign and works for righteousness4 ,myth1 even in ,homer or the ,rig-,veda1 perpetually falls back on the old stock of absurd and immoral divine adventures47#a7 7#a7 ,m4 ,knappert here1 in a note to the ,dutch translation1 denies the lowest mythical element to the ,hebrews1 as their documents have reached us4 ,it would be rash1 in the present state of knowledge1 to pronounce that the germ of the serious ,homeric sense of the justice and power of the ,divinity is earlier or later than the germ of the ,homeric stories of gods disguised as animals1 or imprisoned by mortals1 or kicked out of ,olympus4 ,the rational and irrational aspects of mythology and religion may be of coeval antiquity for all that is certainly known1 or either of them1 in the dark backward of mortal experience1 may have preceded the other4 ,there is probably no religion nor mythology which does not offer both aspects to the student4 ,but it is the part of advancing civilisation to adorn and purify the rational element1 and to subordinate and supersede the irrational element1 as far as religious conservatism1 ritual and priestly dogma will permit4 ,such were the general remarks with which this chapter opened in the original edition of the present work4 ,but reading1 reflection and certain additions to the author's knowledge of facts1 have made it seem advisable to state1 more fully and forcibly than before1 that1 in his opinion1 not only the puzzling element of myth1 but the purer element of a religious belief sanctioning morality is derived by civilised people from a remote past of savagery4 ,it is also necessary to draw attention to a singular religious phenomena1 a break1 or fault1 as geologists call it1 in the religious strata4 ,while the most backward savages1 in certain cases1 present the conception of a ,being who sanctions ethics1 and while that conception recurs at a given stage of civilisation1 it appears to fade1 or even to disappear in some conditions of barbarism4 ,among some barbaric peoples1 such as the ,zulus1 and the ,red ,indians of ,french ,canada when first observed1 as among some ,polynesians and some tribes of ,western and ,central ,africa little trace of a supreme being is found1 except a name1 and that name is even occasionally a matter of ridicule4 ,the highest religious conception has been reached1 and is generally known1 yet the ,being conceived of as creative is utterly neglected1 while ghosts1 or minor gods1 are served and adored4 ,to this religious phenomenon 7if correctly observed7 we must attempt to assign a cause4 ,for this purpose it is necessary to state again what may be called the current or popular anthropological theory of the evolution of ,gods4 ,that theory takes varying shapes4 ,in the philosophy of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer we find a pure ,euhemerism4 ,gods are but ghosts of dead men1 raised to a higher and finally to the highest power4 ,in the somewhat analogous but not identical system of ,mr4 ,tylor1 man first attains to the idea of spirit by reflection on various physical1 psychological and psychical experiences1 such as sleep1 dreams1 trances1 shadows1 hallucinations1 breath and death1 and he gradually extends the conception of soul or ghost till all nature is peopled with spirits4 ,of these spirits one is finally promoted to supremacy1 where the conception of a supreme being occurs4 ,in the lowest faiths there is said1 on this theory1 to be no connection1 or very little connection1 between religion and morality4 ,to supply a religious sanction of morals is the work of advancing thought47#a7 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult41 ii4 #cha4 ,huxley's ,science and ,hebrew ,tradition1 pp4 #cdf1cgb4 ,this current hypothesis is1 confessedly1 animistic1 in ,mr4 ,tylor's phrase1 or1 in ,mr4 ,spencer's terminology1 it is the ghost theory4 ,the human soul1 says ,mr4 ,tylor1 has been the model on which all man's ideas of spiritual beings1 from the tiniest elf to the heavenly ,creator and ruler of the world1 the ,great ,spirit1 have been framed47#a7 ,thus it has been necessary for ,mr4 ,tylor and for ,mr4 ,spencer to discover first an origin of man's idea of his own soul1 and that supposed origin in psychological1 physical and psychical experiences is no doubt adequate4 ,by reflection on these facts1 probably1 the idea of spirit was reached1 though the psychical experiences enumerated by ,mr4 ,tylor may contain points as yet unexplained by ,materialism4 ,from these sources are derived all really animistic gods1 all that from the first partake of the nature of hungry ghosts1 placated by sacrifices of food1 though in certain cases that hunger may have been transferred1 we surmise1 by worshippers to gods not ,,originally animistic4 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult41 ii4 #aji ,in answer to this theory of an animistic or ghostly origin of all gods1 it must first be observed that all gods are not necessarily1 it would seem1 of animistic origin4 ,among certain of the lowest savages1 although they believe in ghosts1 the animistic conception1 the spiritual idea1 is not attached to the relatively supreme being of their faith4 ,he is merely a powerful ,,being1 unborn1 and not subject to death4 ,the purely metaphysical question was he a ghost8 does not seem always to have been asked4 ,consequently there is no logical reason why man's idea of a ,maker should not be prior to man's idea that there are such things as souls1 ghosts and spirits4 ,therefore the animistic theory is not necessary as material for the god-idea4 ,we cannot1 of course1 prove that the god-idea was historically prior to the ghost-idea1 for we know no savages who have a god and yet are ignorant of ghosts4 ,but we can show that the idea of ,god may exist1 in germ1 without explicitly involving the idea of spirit4 ,thus gods ,,may be prior in evolution to ghosts1 and therefore the animistic theory of the origin of gods in ghosts need not necessarily be accepted4 ,in the first place1 the original evolution of a god out of a ghost need not be conceded1 because in perhaps all known savage theological philosophy the ,god1 the ,maker and ,master1 is regarded as a being who existed before death entered the world4 ,everywhere1 practically speaking1 death is looked on as a comparatively late intruder4 ,he came not only after ,god was active1 but after men and beasts had populated the world4 ,scores of myths accounting for this invasion of death have been collected all over the world47#a7 ,thus the relatively supreme being1 or beings1 of religion are looked on as prior to ,death1 therefore1 not as ghosts4 ,they are sometimes expressly distinguished as original gods from other gods who are secondary1 being souls of chiefs4 ,thus all ,tongan gods are ,atua1 but all ,atua are not original gods47#b7 ,the word ,atua1 according to ,mr4 ,white1 is ,a-tu-a4 ,a was the name given to the author of the universe1 and signifies3 ,am the unlimited in power1 ,the ,conception1 the ,leader1 the ,beyond ,all4 ,tua means ,beyond that which is most distant1 ,behind all matter1 and ,behind every action4 ,clearly these conceptions are not more mythical 7indeed ,a does not seem to occur in the myths71 nor are they more involved in ghosts1 than the unknown absolute of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,yet the word ,atua denotes gods who are recognised as ghosts of chiefs1 no less than it denotes the supreme existence47#c7 ,these ideas are the metaphysical theology of a race considerably above the lowest level4 ,they lend no assistance to a theory that ,a was1 or was evolved out of1 a human ghost1 and he is not found in ,maori ,,mythology as far as our knowledge goes4 ,but1 among the lowest known savages1 the ,australians1 we read that the ,creator was a gigantic black1 once on earth1 now among the stars4 ,this is in ,gippsland2 the deities of the ,fuegians and the ,blackfoot ,indians are also ,beings1 anthropomorphic1 unborn and undying1 like ,mangarrah1 the creative being of the ,larrakeah tribe in ,australia4 ,a very good man called ,mangarrah lives in the sky4444 ,he made everything 7blacks excepted74 ,he never dies47#d7 ,the ,melanesian ,vui never were men1 were something different1 and were ,,not ghosts4 ,it is as a ,being1 not as a ,spirit1 that the ,kurnai deity ,munganngaur 7,our ,father7 is described47#e7 ,in short1 though ,europeans often speak of these divine beings of low savages as spirits1 it does not appear that the natives themselves advance here the metaphysical idea of spirit4 ,these gods are just ,,beings1 anthropomorphic1 or 7in myth and fable71 very often bestial1 theriomorphic47#f7 ,it is manifest that a divine being envisaged thus need not have been evolved out of the theory of spirits or ghosts1 and may even have been prior to the rise of the belief in ghosts4 7#a7 ,see ,modern ,mythology1 ,myths of ,origin of ,death4 7#b7 ,mariner1 ii4 #abg4 7#c7 ,white1 ,ancient ,history of the ,maoris1 vol4 i4 p4 #d2 other views in ,gill's ,myths of the ,pacific4 ,i am not committed to ,mr4 ,white's opinion4 7#d7 ,journal ,anthrop4 ,inst41 ,nov41 #ahid1 p4 #aia4 7#e7 ,ibid41 #ahhf1 p4 #cac4 7#f7 ,see ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bja-baj1 for a more copious statement4 ,again1 these powerful1 or omnipotent divine beings are looked on as guardians of morality1 punishers of sin1 rewarders of righteousness1 both in this world and in a future life1 in places where ghosts1 though believed in1 ,,are ,,not ,,worshipped1 ,,nor ,,in ,,receipt ,,of ,,sacrifice1 and where1 great grandfathers being forgotten1 ancestral ghosts can scarcely swell into gods4 ,this occurs among ,andamanese1 ,fuegians and ,australians1 therefore1 among non-ghost-worshipping races1 ghosts cannot have developed into deities who are not even necessarily spirits4 ,these gods1 again1 do not receive sacrifice1 and thus lack the note of descent from hungry food-craving ghosts4 ,in ,australia1 indeed1 while ghosts are not known to receive any offerings1 the recent custom of providing food for it--the dead body of a friend--is derided by the intelligent old aborigines as 'white fellow's gammon'47#a7 7#a7 ,dawson1 ,australian ,aborigines1 p4 #ea1 #ahha4 ,the ,australians possess no chiefs like ,vich ,ian ,vohr or ,chingachgook whose ghosts might be said to swell into supreme moral deities4 ,headmen they have1 leaders of various degrees of authority1 but no ,vich ,ian ,vohr1 no semi-sacred representative of the tribe47#a7 ,nor are the ghosts of the ,headmen known to receive any particular posthumous attention or worship4 ,thus it really seems impossible to show proof that ,australian gods grew out of ,australian ghosts1 a subject to which we shall return4 7#a7 ,howitt1 ,organisation of ,australian ,tribes1 pp4 #aja-aac4 ,transactions of ,royal ,society of ,victoria1 #ahhi4 ,some supporters of the current theory therefore fall back on the hypothesis that the ,australians are sadly degenerate47#a7 ,chiefs1 it is argued1 or kings1 they once had1 and the gods are surviving ghosts of these wholly forgotten potentates4 ,to this we reply that we know not the very faintest trace of ,australian degeneration4 ,sir ,john ,lubbock and ,mr4 ,tylor have correctly argued that the soil of ,australia has not yet yielded so much as a fragment of native pottery1 nor any trace of native metal work1 not a vestige of stone buildings occurs1 nor of any work beyond the present native level of culture1 unless we reckon weirs for fish-catching4 ,the ,australian boomerang1 writes ,mr4 ,tylor1 has been claimed as derived from some hypothetical high culture1 whereas the transition-stages through which it is connected with the club are to be observed in its own country1 while no civilised race possesses the weapon47#b7 7#a7 ,see ,prof4 ,menzie's ,history of ,religion1 pp4 #af1 #ag1 where a singular inconsistency has escaped the author4 7#b7 ,prim4 ,cult41 i4 #eg1 #fg4 ,therefore the ,australian1 with his boomerang1 represents no degeneration but advance on his ancestors1 who had not yet developed the boomerang out of the club4 ,if the excessively complex nature of ,australian rules of prohibited degrees be appealed to as proof of degeneration from the stage in which they were evolved1 we reply that civilisation everywhere tends not to complicate but to simplify such rules1 as it also notoriously simplifies the forms of language4 ,the ,australian people1 when discovered1 were only emerging from palaeolithic culture1 while the neighbouring ,tasmanians were frankly palaeolithic47#a7 ,far from degenerating1 the ,australians show advance when they supersede their beast or other totem by an eponymous human hero47#b7 ,the eponymous hero1 however1 changed with each generation1 so that no one name was fixed as that of tribal father1 later perhaps to become a tribal god4 ,we find several tribes in which the children now follow the ,,father',s class1 and thus paternal kin takes the place of the usual early savage method of reckoning kinship by the mother's side1 elsewhere prevalent in ,australia4 ,in one of these tribes1 dwelling between the ,glenelg and ,mount ,napier1 headmanship is hereditary1 but nothing is said of any worship of the ghosts of chiefs4 ,all this social improvement denotes advance on the usual ,australian standard47#c7 ,of degeneration 7except when produced recently by ,european vices and diseases7 ,i know no trace in ,australia4 ,their highest religious conceptions1 therefore1 are not to be disposed of as survivals of a religion of the ghosts of such chiefs as the ,australians are not shown ever to have recognised4 ,the ,god idea in ,australia1 or among the ,andamanese1 must have some other source than the ,ghost-,theory4 ,this is all the more obvious because not only are ghosts not worshipped by the ,australians1 but also the divine beings who are alleged to form links between the ghost and the moral god are absent4 ,there are no departmental gods1 as of war1 peace1 the chase1 love1 and so forth4 ,sun1 sky and earth are equally unworshipped4 ,there is nothing in religion between a ,being1 on one hand 7with a son or sons71 and vague mischievous spirits1 boilyas or mrarts1 and ghosts 7who are not worshipped71 on the other hand4 ,the friends of the idea that the ,god is an ancient evolution from the ghost of such a chief as is not proved to have existed1 must apparently believe that the intermediate stages in religious evolution1 departmental gods1 nature gods and gods of polytheism in general once existed in ,australia1 and have all been swept away in a deluge of degeneration4 ,that deluge left in religion a moral1 potently active ,father and ,judge4 ,now that conception is considerably above the obsolescent belief in an otiose god which is usually found among barbaric races of the type from which the ,australians are said to have degenerated4 ,there is no proof of degeneracy1 and1 if degeneration has occurred1 why has it left just the kind of deity who1 in the higher barbaric culture1 is not commonly found8 ,clearly this attempt to explain the highest aspect of ,australian religion by an undemonstrated degeneration is an effort of despair4 7#a7 ,tylor1 preface to ,ling ,roth's ,aborigines of ,tasmania1 pp4 v4-viii4 7#b7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 p4 #bca4 7#c7 ,kamilaroi and ,kurnai1 pp4 #bgg1 #bgh4 ,while the current theory thus appears to break down over the deities of certain ,australian tribes and of other low savages to be more particularly described later1 it is not more successful in dealing with what we have called the fault or break in the religious strata of higher races4 ,the nature of that fault may thus be described3 ,while the deities of several low savage peoples are religiously regarded as guardians and judges of conduct both in this life and in the next1 among higher barbarians they are often little1 or not at all1 interested in conduct4 ,again1 while among ,australians1 and ,andamanese1 and ,fuegians1 there is hardly a verifiable trace1 if any trace there be1 of sacrifice to any divine being1 among barbarians the gods beneath the very highest are in receipt even of human sacrifice4 ,even among barbarians the highest deity is very rarely worshipped with sacrifice4 ,through various degrees he is found to lose all claim on worship1 and even to become a mere name1 and finally a jest and a mockery4 ,meanwhile ancestral ghosts1 and gods framed on the same lines as ghosts1 receive sacrifice of food and of human victims4 ,once more1 the high gods of low savages are not localised1 not confined to any temple or region4 ,but the gods of higher barbarians 7the gods beneath the highest71 are localised in this way1 as occasionally even the highest god also is4 ,all this shows that1 among advancing barbarians1 the gods1 if they started from the estate of gods among savages on the lowest level1 become demoralised1 limited1 conditioned1 relegated to an otiose condition1 and finally deposed1 till progressive civilisation1 as in ,greece1 reinstates or invents purer and more philosophic conceptions1 without being able to abolish popular and priestly myth and ritual4 ,here1 then1 is a flaw or break in the strata of religion4 ,what was the cause of this flaw8 ,we answer1 the evolution1 through ghosts1 of animistic gods who retained the hunger and selfishness of these ancestral spirits whom the lowest savages are not known to worship4 ,the moral divine beings of these lowest races1 beings 7when religiously regarded7 unconditioned1 in need of no gift that man can give1 are not to be won by offerings of food and blood4 ,of such offerings ghosts1 and gods modelled on ghosts1 are notoriously in need4 ,strengthened and propitiated by blood and sacrifice 7not offered to the gods of low savages71 the animistic deities will become partisans of their adorers1 and will either pay no regard to the morals of their worshippers1 or will be easily bribed to forgive sins4 ,here then is1 ethically speaking1 a flaw in the strata of religion1 a flaw found in the creeds of ghost-worshipping barbarians1 but not of non-ghost-worshipping savages4 ,a crowd of venal1 easy-going1 serviceable deities has now been evolved out of ghosts1 and ,animism is on its way to supplant or overlay a rude early form of theism4 ,granting the facts1 we fail to see how they are explained by the current theory which makes the highest god the latest in evolution from a ghost4 ,that theory wrecks itself again on the circumstance that1 whereas the tribal or national highest divine being1 as latest in evolution1 ought to be the most potent1 he is1 in fact1 among barbaric races1 usually the most disregarded4 ,a new idea1 of course1 is not necessarily a powerful or fashionable idea4 ,it may be regarded as a fad1 or a heresy1 or a low form of dissent4 ,but1 when universally known to and accepted by a tribe or people1 then it must be deemed likely to possess great influence4 ,but that is not the case2 and among barbaric tribes the most advanced conception of deity is the least regarded1 the most obsolete4 ,an excellent instance of the difference between the theory here advocated1 and that generally held by anthropologists1 may be found in ,mr4 ,abercromby's valuable work1 ,pre-and ,proto-,historic ,finns1 i4 #aej-aed4 ,the gods1 and other early ideas1 says ,mr4 ,abercromby1 could in no sense be considered as supernatural4 ,we shall give examples of gods among the races nearest the beginning1 whose attributes of power and knowledge can not1 by us at least1 be considered other than supernatural4 ,the gods 7in this hypothesis7 were so human that they could be forced to act in accordance with the wishes of their worshippers1 and could likewise be punished4 ,these ideas1 to an ,australian black1 or an ,andamanese1 would seem dangerously blasphemous4 ,these older gods resided chiefly in trees1 wells1 rivers and animals4 ,but many gods of our lowest known savages live beyond the sky4 ,mr4 ,abercromby supposes the sky god to be of later evolution1 and to be worshipped after man had exhausted the helpers that seemed nearest at hand444 in the trees and waters at his very door4 ,now the ,australian black has not a door1 nor has he gods of any service to him in the trees and waters1 though sprites may lurk in such places for mischief4 ,but in ,mr4 ,abercromby's view1 some men turned at last to the sky-god1 who in time would gain a large circle of worshippers4 ,he would come to be thought omnipotent1 omniscient1 the ,creator4 ,this notion1 says ,mr4 ,abercromby1 must1 if this view is correct1 be of late origin4 ,but the view is not correct4 ,the far-seeing powerful ,maker beyond the sky is found among the very backward races who have not developed helpers nearer man1 dwelling round what would be his door1 if door he was civilised enough to possess4 ,such near neighbouring gods1 of human needs1 capable of being bullied1 or propitiated by sacrifice1 are found in races higher than the lowest1 who1 for their easily procurable aid1 have allowed the ,maker to sink into an otiose god1 or a mere name4 ,mr4 ,abercromby unconsciously proves our case by quoting the example of a ,samoyede4 ,this man knew a ,sky-god1 ,num2 that conception was familiar to him4 ,he also knew a familiar spirit4 ,on ,mr4 ,abercromby's theory he should have resorted for help to the ,sky-god1 not to the sprite4 ,but he did the reverse3 he said1 ,i cannot approach ,num1 he is too far away2 if ,i could reach him ,i should not beseech thee 7the familiar spirit71 but should go myself2 but ,i cannot4 ,for this precise reason1 people who have developed the belief in accessible affable spirits go to them1 with a spell to constrain1 or a gift to bribe1 and neglect1 in some cases almost forget1 their ,maker4 ,but ,he is worshipped by low savages1 who do not propitiate ghosts and who have no gods in wells and trees1 close at hand4 ,it seems an obvious inference that the greater ,god is the earlier evolved4 ,these are among the difficulties of the current anthropological theory4 ,there is1 however1 a solution by which the weakness of the divine conception1 its neglected1 disused aspect among barbaric races1 might be explained by anthropologists1 without regarding it as an obsolescent form of a very early idea4 ,this solution is therefore in common use4 ,it is applied to the deity revealed in the ancient mysteries of the ,australians1 and it is employed in ,american and ,african instances4 ,the custom is to say that the highest divine being of ,american or ,african native peoples has been borrowed from ,europeans1 and is1 especially1 a savage refraction from the ,god of missionaries4 ,if this can be proved1 the shadowy1 practically powerless ,master of ,life of certain barbaric peoples1 will have degenerated from the ,christian conception1 because of that conception he will be only a faint unsuccessful refraction4 ,he has been introduced by ,europeans1 it is argued1 but is not in harmony with his new environment1 and so is half-remembered and half forgot4 ,the hypothesis of borrowing admits of only one answer1 but that answer should be conclusive4 ,if we can discover1 say in ,north ,america1 a single instance in which the supreme being occurs1 while yet he cannot possibly be accounted for by any traceable or verifiable foreign influence1 then the burden of proof1 in other cases1 falls on the opponent4 ,when he urges that other ,north ,american supreme beings were borrowed1 we can reply that our crucial example shows that this need not be the fact4 ,to prove that it is the fact1 in his instances1 is then his business4 ,it is obvious that for information on this subject we must go to the reports of the earliest travellers who knew the ,red ,indians well4 ,we must try to get at gods behind any known missionary efforts4 ,mr4 ,tylor offers us the testimony of ,heriot1 about #aehf1 that the natives of ,virginia believed in many gods1 also in one chief god1 who first made other principal gods1 and then the sun1 moon and stars as petty gods47#a7 ,whence could the natives of ,virginia have borrowed this notion of a ,creator before #aehf8 ,if it is replied1 in the usual way1 that they developed him upwards out of sun1 moon and star gods1 other principal gods1 and finally reached the idea of the ,creator1 we answer that the idea of the ,maker is found where these alleged intermediate stages are ,,not found1 as in ,australia4 ,in ,virginia then1 as in ,victoria1 a ,creator may have been evolved in some other way than that of gradual ascent from ghosts1 and may have been1 as in ,australia and elsewhere1 prior to verifiable ghost-worship4 ,again1 in ,virginia at our first settlement1 the native priests strenuously resisted the introduction of ,christianity4 ,they were content with their deity1 ,ahone1 the great ,god who governs all the world1 and makes the sun to shine1 creating the moon and stars his companions4444 ,the good and peaceable ,god444 needs not to be sacrificed unto1 for he intendeth all good unto them4 ,this good ,creator1 without sacrifice1 among a settled agricultural barbaric race sacrificing to other gods and ghosts1 manifestly cannot be borrowed from the newly arrived religion of ,christianity1 which his priests1 according to the observer1 vigorously resisted4 ,ahone had a subordinate deity1 magisterial in functions1 looking into all men's actions and punishing the same1 when evil4 ,to ,,this god sacrifices ,,were made1 and if his name1 ,okeus1 is derived from ,oki spirit1 he was1 of course1 an animistic ghost-evolved deity4 ,anthropological writers1 by an oversight1 have dwelt on ,oki1 but have not mentioned ,ahone47#b7 ,manifestly it is not possible to insist that these ,virginian high deities were borrowed1 without saying whence and when they were borrowed by a barbaric race which was1 at the same time1 rejecting ,christian teaching4 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult41 ii4 #cda4 7#b7 ,history of ,travaile into ,virginia1 by ,william ,strachey1 #afab4 ,mr4 ,tylor writes1 with his habitual perspicacity3 ,it is the widespread belief in the ,great ,spirit1 whatever his precise nature and origin1 that has long and deservedly drawn the attention of ,european thinkers to the native religions of the ,north ,american tribes4 ,now while1 in recent times1 ,christian ideas may undeniably have crystallised round the ,great ,spirit1 it has come to be thought that ,,the ,,whole ,,doctrine of the ,great ,spirit was borrowed by the savages from missionaries and colonists4 ,but this view will not bear examination1 says ,mr4 ,tylor47#a7 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult1 ii4 pp4 #cci1 #cdj 7#ahgc74 ,for some reason1 ,mr4 ,tylor modifies this passage in #ahia4 ,mr4 ,tylor proceeds to prove this by examples from ,greenland1 and the ,algonkins4 ,he instances the ,massachusett ,god1 ,kiehtan1 who created the other gods1 and receives the just into heaven4 ,this was recorded in #afbb1 but the belief1 says ,winslow1 our authority1 goes back into the unknown past4 ,they never saw ,kiehtan1 but ,,they ,,hold ,,it ,a ,,great ,,charge ,,and ,,duty ,,that ,,one ,,age ,,teach ,,another4 ,how could a deity thus rooted in a traditional past be borrowed from recent ,english settlers8 ,in these cases the hypothesis of borrowing breaks down1 and still more does it break down over the ,algonkin deity ,atahocan4 ,father ,le ,jeune1 ,s4,j41 went first among the ,algonkins1 a missionary pioneer1 in #afcc1 and suffered unspeakable things in his courageous endeavour to win souls in a most recalcitrant flock4 ,he writes 7#afcc73 ,as this savage has given me occasion to speak of their god1 ,i will remark that it is a great error to think that the savages have no knowledge of any deity4 ,i was surprised to hear this in ,france4 ,i do not know their secrets1 but1 from the little which ,i am about to tell1 it will be seen that they have such knowledge4 ,they say that one exists whom they call ,atahocan1 who made the whole4 ,speaking of ,god in a wigwam one day1 they asked me 'what is ,god8' ,i told them that it was ,he who made all things1 ,heaven and ,earth4 ,they then began to cry out to each other1 ',atahocan6 ,atahocan6 it is ,atahocan6' ,there could be no better evidence that ,atahocan was ,,not 7as is often said7 borrowed from the ,jesuits4 ,the ,jesuits had only just arrived4 ,later 7#afcd7 ,le ,jeune interrogated an old man and a partly ,europeanised sorcerer4 ,they replied that nothing was certain2 that ,atahocan was only spoken of as of a thing so remote1 that assurance was impossible4 ,in fact1 their word ,nitatohokan means1 ',i fable1 ,i tell an old story'4 ,thus ,atahocan1 though at once recognised as identical with the ,creator of the missionary1 was so far from being the latest thing in religious evolution that he had passed into a proverb for the ancient and the fabulous4 ,this1 of course1 is inconsistent with ,,recent borrowing4 ,he was neglected for ,khichikouai1 spirits which inspire seers1 and are of some practical use1 receiving rewards in offerings of grease1 says ,le ,jeune47#a7 7#a7 ,relations1 #afcc1 #afcd4 ,the obsolescent ,atahocan seems to have had no moral activity4 ,but1 in ,america1 this indolence of ,god is not universal4 ,mr4 ,parkman indeed writes3 ,in the primitive ,indian's conception of a ,god1 the idea of moral good has no part47#a7 ,but this is definitely contradicted by ,heriot1 ,strachey1 ,winslow1 already cited1 and by ,pere ,le ,jeune4 ,the good attributes of ,kiehtan and ,ahone were not borrowed from ,christianity1 were matter of ,indian belief before the ,english arrived4 ,mr4 ,parkman writes3 ,the moment the ,indians began to contemplate the object of his faith1 and sought to clothe it with attributes1 it became finite1 and commonly ridiculous4 ,it did so1 as usual1 in ,,mythology1 but not in ,,religion4 ,there is nothing ridiculous in what is known of ,ahone and ,kiehtan4 ,if they had a mythology1 and if we knew the myths1 doubtless they would be ridiculous enough4 ,the savage mind1 turned from belief and awe into the spinning of yarns1 instantly yields to humorous fancy4 ,as we know1 mediaeval popular ,christianity1 in imagery1 marchen or tales1 and art1 copiously illustrates the same mental phenomenon4 ,saints1 ,god1 our ,lord1 and the ,virgin1 all play ludicrous and immoral parts in ,christian folk-tales4 ,this is ,mythology1 and here is1 beyond all cavil1 a late corruption of ,religion4 ,here1 where we know the history of a creed1 ,religion is early1 and these myths are late4 ,other examples of ,american divine ideas might be given1 such as the extraordinary hymns in which the ,zunis address the ,eternal1 ,ahonawilona4 ,but as the ,zuni religion has only been studied in recent years1 the hymns would be dismissed as borrowed1 though there is nothing ,catholic or ,christian about them4 ,we have preferred to select examples where borrowing from ,christianity is out of the question4 ,the current anthropological theory is thus confronted with ,american examples of ideas of the divine which cannot have been borrowed1 while1 if the gods are said to have been evolved out of ghosts1 we reply that1 in some cases1 they receive no sacrifice1 sacrifice being usually a note of ghostly descent4 ,again1 similar gods1 as we show1 exist where ghosts of chiefs are not worshipped1 and as far as evidence goes never were worshipped1 because there is no evidence of the existence at any time of such chiefs4 ,the ,american highest gods may then be equally free from the taint of ghostly descent4 7#a7 ,parkman1 ,the ,jesuits in ,north ,america4 p4 lxxviii4 ,there is another more or less moral ,north ,american deity whose evolution is rather questionable4 ,pere ,brebeuf 7#afcf71 speaking of the ,hurons1 says that they have recourse to ,heaven in almost all their necessities1444 and ,i may say that it is1 in fact1 ,god whom they blindly adore1 for they imagine that there is an ,oki1 that is1 a demon1 in heaven1 who regulates the seasons1 bridles the winds and the waves of the sea1 and helps them in every need4 ,they dread his wrath1 and appeal to him as witness to the inviolability of their faith1 when they make a promise or treaty of peace with enemies4 ',heaven hear us to-day' is their form of adjuration47#a7 7#a7 ,relations1 #afcf1 pp4 #ajf1 #ajg4 ,a spiritual being1 whose home is heaven1 who rides on the winds1 whose wrath is dreaded1 who sanctions the oath1 is only called a demon by the prejudice of the worthy father who1 at the same time1 admits that the savages have a conception of ,god--and that ,god1 so conceived1 is this demon6 ,the debatable question is1 was the demon1 or the actual expanse of sky1 first in evolution8 ,that cannot precisely be settled1 but in the analogous ,chinese case of ,china we find heaven 7,tien7 and ,shang-ti1 the personal ruling ,deity1 corresponding to the ,huron demon4 ,shang-ti1 the personal deity1 occurs most in the oldest1 pre-,confucian sacred documents1 and1 so far1 appears to be the earlier conception4 ,the demon in ,huron faith may also be earlier than the religious regard paid to his home1 the sky47#a7 ,the unborrowed antiquity of a belief in a divine being1 creative and sometimes moral1 in ,north ,america1 is thus demonstrated4 ,so far ,i had written when ,i accidentally fell in with ,mr4 ,tylor's essay on ,the ,limits of ,savage ,religion47#b7 ,in that essay1 rather to my surprise1 ,mr4 ,tylor argues for the borrowing of ,the ,great ,spirit1 ,the ,great ,manitou1 from the ,jesuits4 ,now1 as to the phrase1 ,great ,spirit1 the ,jesuits doubtless caused its promulgation1 and1 where their teaching penetrated1 shreds of their doctrine may have adhered to the ,indian conception of that divine being4 ,but ,mr4 ,tylor in his essay does not allude to the early evidence1 his own1 for ,oki1 ,atahocan1 ,kiehtan1 and ,torngursak1 all undeniably prior to ,jesuit influence1 and found where ,jesuits1 later1 did not go4 ,as ,mr4 ,tylor offers no reason for disregarding evidence in #ahib which he had republished in a new edition of ,primitive ,culture in #ahia1 it is impossible to argue against him in this place4 ,he went on1 in the essay cited 7#ahib7 to contend that the ,australian god of the ,kamilaroi of ,victoria1 ,baiame1 is1 in name and attributes1 of missionary introduction4 ,happily this hypothesis can be refuted1 as we show in the following chapter on ,australian gods4 7#a7 ,see ,tylor1 ,prim4 ,cult41 ii4 #cfb1 and ,making of ,religion1 p4 #cah2 also ,menzies1 ,history of ,religion1 pp4 #ajh1aji1 and ,dr4 ,legge's ,chinese ,classics1 in ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vols4 iii41 xxvii41 xxviii4 7#b7 ,journ4 of ,anthrop4 ,inst41 vol4 xxi41 #ahib4 ,it would be easy enough to meet the hypothesis of borrowing in the case of the many ,african tribes who possess something approaching to a rude monotheistic conception4 ,among these are the ,dinkas of the ,upper ,nile1 with their neighbours1 whose creed ,russegger compares to that of modern ,deists in ,europe4 ,the ,dinka god1 ,dendid1 is omnipotent1 but so benevolent that he is not addressed in prayer1 nor propitiated by sacrifice4 ,compare the supreme being of the ,caribs1 beneficent1 otiose1 unadored47#a7 ,a similar deity1 veiled in the instruction of the as yet unpenetrated ,mysteries1 exists among the ,yao of ,central ,africa47#b7 ,of the negro race1 ,waitz says1 even if we do not call them monotheists1 we may still think of them as standing on the boundary of monotheism despite their innumerable rude superstitions47#c7 ,the ,tshi speaking people of the ,gold ,coast have their unworshipped ,nyankupon1 a now otiose unadored being1 with a magisterial deputy1 worshipped with many sacrifices4 ,the case is almost an exact parallel to that of ,ahone and ,oki in ,america4 ,,these were not borrowed1 and the author has argued at length against ,major ,ellis's theory of the borrowing from ,christians of ,nyankupon47#d7 7#a7 ,rochefort1 ,les ,isles ,antilles1 p4 #dae4 ,tylor1 ii4 #ccg4 7#b7 ,macdonald1 ,africana1 #a1 #ga1 #gb1 #acj1 #bgi-cja4 ,scott1 ,dictionary of the ,manganja ,language1 ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bcj-bch4 ,a contradictory view in ,spencer1 ,ecclesiastical ,institutions1 p4 #fha4 7#c7 ,anthropologie1 ii4 #afg4 7#d7 ,making of ,religion1 pp4 #bdc-bej4 ,to conclude this chapter1 the study of savage and barbaric religions seems to yield the following facts3-- #a4 ,low savages4 ,no regular chiefs4 ,great beings1 not in receipt of sacrifice1 sanctioning morality4 ,ghosts are not worshipped1 though believed in4 ,polytheism1 departmental gods and gods of heaven1 earth1 sky and so forth1 have not been developed or are not found4 #b4 ,barbaric races4 ,aristocratic or monarchic4 ,ghosts are worshipped and receive sacrifice4 ,polytheistic gods are in renown and receive sacrifice4 ,there is usually a supreme ,maker who is1 in some cases1 moral1 in others otiose4 ,in only one or two known cases 7as in that of the ,polynesian ,taaroa7 is he in receipt of sacrifice4 #c4 ,barbaric races4 7,zulus1 monarchic with ,unkulunkulu2 some ,algonquins 7feebly aristocratic7 with ,atahocan74 ,religion is mainly ancestor worship or vague spirit worship2 ghosts are propitiated with food4 ,there are traces of an original divine being whose name is becoming obsolescent and a matter of jest4 #d4 ,early civilisations4 ,monarchic or aristocratic4 7,greece1 ,egypt1 ,india1 ,peru1 ,mexico47 ,polytheism4 ,one god tends to be supreme4 ,religiously regarded1 gods are moral2 in myth are the reverse4 ,gods are in receipt of sacrifice4 ,heavenly society is modelled on that of men1 monarchic or aristocratic4 ,philosophic thought tends towards belief in one pure god1 who may be named ,zeus1 in ,greece4 #e4 ,the religion of ,israel4 ,probably a revival and purification of the old conception of a moral1 beneficent creator1 whose creed had been involved in sacrifice and anthropomorphic myth4 ,in all the stages thus roughly sketched1 myths of the lowest sort prevail1 except in the records of the last stage1 where the documents have been edited by earnest monotheists4 ,if this theory be approximately correct1 man's earliest religious ideas may very well have consisted1 in a sense1 of dependence on a supreme moral being who1 when attempts were made by savages to describe the modus of his working1 became involved in the fancies of mythology4 ,how this belief in such a being arose we have no evidence to prove4 ,we make no hint at a sensus numinis1 or direct revelation4 ,while offering no hypothesis of the origin of belief in a moral creator we may present a suggestion4 ,mr4 ,darwin says about early man3 ,the same high mental faculties which first led man to believe in unseen spiritual agencies1 then in fetichism1 polytheism and ultimately monotheism1 would infallibly lead him1 so long as his reasoning powers remained poorly developed1 to various strange superstitions and customs47#a7 ,now1 accepting ,mr4 ,darwin's theory that early man had high mental faculties1 the conception of a ,maker of things does not seem beyond his grasp4 ,man himself made plenty of things1 and could probably conceive of a being who made the world and the objects in it4 ,certainly there must be some ,being who made all these things4 ,he must be very good too1 said an ,eskimo to a missionary47#b7 ,the goodness is inferred by the ,eskimo from his own contentment with the things which are made47#c7 7#a7 ,darwin1 ,descent of ,man1 i4 p4 #ff4 7#b7 ,cranz1 i4 #aii4 7#c7 ,romans1 i4 #ai4 ,another example of barbaric man seeking after ,god may be adduced4 ,what the ,greenlander said is corroborated by what a ,kaffir said4 ,kaffir religion is mainly animistic1 ancestral spirits receive food and sacrifice--there is but an evanescent tradition of a ,lord in ,heaven4 ,thus a very respectable ,kaffir said to ,m4 ,arbrousset1 your tidings 7,christianity7 are what ,i want2 and ,i was seeking before ,i knew you4444 ,i asked myself sorrowful questions4 ',who has touched the stars with his hands8444 ,who makes the waters flow8444 ,who can have given earth the wisdom and power to produce corn8' ,then ,i buried my face in my hands4 ,this1 says ,sir ,john ,lubbock1 was1 however1 an exceptional case4 ,as a general rule savages do not set themselves to think out such questions47#a7 7#a7 ,origin of ,civilisation1 p4 #bja4 ,as a common fact1 if savages never ask the question1 at all events1 somehow1 they have the answer ready made4 ,mangarrah1 or ,baiame1 ,puluga1 or ,dendid1 or ,ahone1 or ,ahonawilona1 or ,atahocan1 or ,taaroa1 or ,tui ,laga1 was the maker4 ,therefore savages who know that leave the question alone1 or add mythical accretions4 ,but their ancestors must have asked the question1 like the very respectable ,kaffir before they answered it4 ,having reached the idea of a ,creator1 it was not difficult to add that he was good1 or beneficent1 and was deathless4 ,a notion of a good powerful ,maker1 not subject to death because necessarily prior to ,death 7who only invaded the world late71 seems easier of attainment than the notion of ,spirit which1 ex hypothesi1 demands much delicate psychological study and hard thought4 ,the idea of a ,good ,maker1 once reached1 becomes1 perhaps1 the germ of future theism1 but1 as ,mr4 ,darwin says1 the human mind was infallibly led to various strange superstitions4 ,as ,st4 ,paul says1 in perfect agreement with ,mr4 ,darwin on this point1 they became vain in their imaginations1 and their foolish heart was darkened4 ,among other imaginations 7right or wrong7 was the belief in spirits1 with all that followed in the way of instituting sacrifices1 even of human beings1 and of dropping morality1 about which the ghost of a deceased medicine-man was not likely to be much interested4 ,the supposed nearness to man1 and the venal and partial character of worshipped gods and ghost-gods1 would inevitably win for them more service and attention than would be paid to a ,maker remote1 unbought and impartial4 ,hence the conception of such a ,being would tend to obsolescence1 as we see that it does1 and would be most obscured where ghosts were most propitiated1 as among the ,zulus4 ,later philosophy would attach the spiritual conception to the revived or newly discovered idea of the supreme ,god4 ,in all this speculation there is nothing mystical2 no supernatural or supernormal interference is postulated4 ,supernormal experiences may have helped to originate or support the belief in spirits1 that1 however1 is another question4 ,but this hypothesis of the origin of belief in a good unceasing ,maker of things is1 of course1 confessedly a conjecture1 for which historical evidence cannot be given1 in the nature of the case4 ,all our attempts to discover origins far behind history must be conjectural4 ,their value must be estimated by the extent to which this or that hypothesis colligates the facts4 ,now our hypothesis does colligate the facts4 ,it shows how belief in a moral supreme being might arise before ghosts were worshipped1 and it accounts for the flaw in the religious strata1 for the mythical accretions1 for the otiose ,creator in the background of many barbaric religions1 and for the almost universal absence of sacrifice to the ,god relatively supreme4 ,he was1 from his earliest conception1 in no need of gifts from men4 ,on this matter of otiose supreme gods1 ,professor ,menzies writes1 ,it is very common to find in savage beliefs a vague far-off god1 who is at the back of all the others1 takes little part in the management of things1 and receives little worship4 ,but it is impossible to judge what that being was at an earlier time2 he may have been a nature god1 or a spirit who has by degrees grown faint1 and come to occupy this position4 ,now the position which he occupies is usually1 if not universally1 that of the ,creator4 ,he could not arrive at this rank by becoming faint1 nor could a nature-god be the ,maker of ,nature4 ,the only way by which we can discover what that being was at an earlier time is to see what he ,,is at an earlier time1 that is to say1 what the conception of him is1 among men in an earlier state of culture4 ,among them1 as we show1 he is very much more near1 potent and moral1 than among races more advanced in social evolution and material culture4 ,we can form no opinion as to the nature of such vague1 far-off gods1 at the back of all the others1 till we collect and compare examples1 and endeavour to ascertain what points they have in common1 and in what points they differ from each other4 ,it then becomes plain that they are least far away1 and most potent1 where there is least ghostly and polytheistic competition1 that is1 among the most backward races4 ,the more animism the less theism1 is the general rule4 ,manifestly the current hypothesis--that all religion is animistic in origin--does not account for these facts1 and is obliged to fly to an undemonstrated theory of degradation1 or to an undemonstrated theory of borrowing4 ,that our theory is inconsistent with the general doctrine of evolution we cannot admit1 if we are allowed to agree with ,mr4 ,darwin's statement about the high mental faculties which first led man to sympathetic1 and then to wild beliefs4 ,we do not pretend to be more ,darwinian than ,mr4 ,darwin1 who compares these miserable and indirect results of our higher faculties to the occasional mistakes of the instincts of the lower animals4 ,the opinion here maintained1 namely1 that a germ of pure belief may be detected amidst the confusion of low savage faith1 and that in a still earlier stage it may have been less overlaid with fable1 is in direct contradiction to current theories4 ,it is also in contradiction with the opinions entertained by myself before ,i made an independent examination of the evidence4 ,like others1 ,i was inclined to regard reports of a moral ,creator1 who observes conduct1 and judges it even in the next life1 as rumours due either to ,christian influence1 or to mistake4 ,i well know1 however1 and could1 and did1 discount the sources of error4 ,i was on my guard against the twin fallacies of describing all savage religion as devil worship1 and of expecting to find a primitive divine tradition4 ,i was also on my guard against the modern bias derived from the ghost-theory1 and ,mr4 ,spencer's works1 and ,i kept an eye on opportunities of borrowing47#a7 ,i had1 in fact1 classified all known idola in the first edition of this work1 such as the fallacy of leading questions and the chance of deliberate deception4 ,i sought the earliest evidence1 prior to any missionary teaching1 and the evidence of what the first missionaries found1 in the way of belief1 on their arrival4 ,i preferred the testimony of the best educated observers1 and of those most familiar with native languages4 ,i sought for evidence in native hymns 7,maori1 ,zuni1 ,dinka1 ,red ,indian7 and in native ceremonial and mystery1 as these sources were least likely to be contaminated4 7#a7 ,making of ,religion1 p4 #ahg4 ,on the other side1 ,i found a vast body of testimony that savages had no religion at all4 ,but that testimony1 en masse1 was refuted by ,roskoff1 and also1 in places1 by ,tylor4 ,when three witnesses were brought to swear that they saw the ,irishman commit a crime1 he offered to bring a dozen witnesses who did ,,not see him4 ,negative evidence of squatters1 sailors and colonists1 who did ,,not see any religion among this or that race1 is not worth much against evidence of trained observers and linguists who ,,did find what the others missed1 and who found more the more they knew the tribe in question4 ,again1 like others1 ,i thought savages incapable of such relatively pure ideas as ,i now believe some of them to possess4 ,but ,i could not resist the evidence1 and ,i abandoned my a priori notions4 ,the evidence forcibly attests gradations in the central belief4 ,it is found in various shades1 from relative potency down to a vanishing trace1 and it is found in significant proportion to the prevalence of animistic ideas1 being weakest where they are most developed1 strongest where they are least developed4 ,there must be a reason for these phenomena1 and that reason1 as it seems to me1 is the overlaying and supersession of a rudely ,theistic by an animistic creed4 ,that one cause would explain1 and does colligate1 all the facts4 ,there remains a point on which misconception proves to be possible4 ,it will be shown1 contrary to the current hypothesis1 that the religion of the lowest races1 in its highest form1 sanctions morality4 ,that morality1 again1 in certain instances1 demands unselfishness4 ,of course we are not claiming for that doctrine any supernatural origin4 ,religion1 if it sanctions ethics at all1 will sanction those which the conscience accepts1 and those ethics1 in one way or other1 must have been evolved4 ,that the cosmical law is the weakest must go to the wall is generally conceded4 ,man1 however1 is found trying to reverse the law1 by equal and friendly dealing 7at least within what is vaguely called the tribe74 ,his religion1 as in ,australia1 will be shown to insist on this unselfishness4 ,how did he evolve his ethics8 ,be it little or be it much they get1 says ,dampier about the ,australians in #afhh1 every one has his part1 as well the young and tender as the old and feeble1 who are not able to get abroad as the strong and lusty4 ,this conduct reverses the cosmical process1 and notoriously civilised society1 ,christian society1 does not act on these principles4 ,neither do the savages1 who knock the old and feeble on the head1 or deliberately leave them to starve1 act on these principles1 sanctioned by ,australian religion1 but 7according to ,mr4 ,dawson7 ,,not carried out in ,australian practice4 ,when old people become infirm444 it is lawful and customary to kill them47#a7 7#a7 ,australian ,aborigines1 p4 #fb4 ,as to the point of unselfishness1 evolutionists are apt to account for it by common interest4 ,a tribe in which the strongest monopolise what is best will not survive so well as an unselfish tribe in the struggle for existence4 ,but precisely the opposite is true1 aristocracy marks the more successful barbaric races1 and an aristocratic slave-holding tribe could have swept ,australia as the ,zulus swept ,south ,africa4 ,that aristocracy and acquisition of separate property are steps in advance on communistic savagery all history declares4 ,therefore a tribe which in ,australia developed private property1 and reduced its neighbours to slavery1 would have been better fitted to survive than such a tribe as ,dampier describes4 ,this is so evident that probably1 or possibly1 the ,dampier state of society was not developed in obedience to a recognised tribal interest1 but in obedience to an affectionate instinct4 ,ils s'entr' aiment les une les autres1 says ,brebeuf of the ,hurons47#a7 ,i never heard the women complain of being left out of feasts1 or that the men ate the best portions444 every one does his business sweetly1 peaceably1 without dispute4 ,you never see disputes1 quarrels1 hatred1 or reproach among them4 ,brebeuf then tells how a young ,indian stranger1 in a time of want1 stole the best part of a moose4 ,they did not rage or curse1 they only bantered him1 and yet to take our meat was almost to take our lives4 ,brebeuf wanted to lecture the lad2 his ,indian host bade him hold his peace1 and the stranger was given hospitality1 with his wife and children4 ,they are very generous1 and make it a point not to attach themselves to the goods of this world4 ,their greatest reproach is 'that man wants everything1 he is greedy'4 ,they support1 with never a murmur1 widows1 orphans and old men1 yet they kill hopeless or troublesome invalids1 and their whole conduct to ,europeans was the reverse of their domestic behaviour4 7#a7 ,relations1 #afcd1 p4 #bi4 ,another example of savage unselfish ethics may be found in ,mr4 ,mann's account of the ,andaman ,islanders1 a nomad race1 very low in culture4 ,it is a noteworthy trait1 and one which deserves high commendation1 that every care and consideration are paid by all classes to the very young1 the weak1 the aged1 and the helpless1 and these being made special objects of interest and attention1 invariably fare better in regard to the comforts and necessaries of daily life than any of the otherwise more fortunate members of the community47#a7 7#a7 ,j4 ,a4 ,i41 xii4 p4 #ic4 ,mr4 ,huxley1 in his celebrated ,romanes ,lecture on ,evolution and ,morality1 laid stress on man's contravention of the cosmic law1 the weakest must go to the wall4 ,he did not explain the evolution of man's opposition to this law4 ,the ordinary evolutionist hypothesis1 that the tribe would prosper most whose members were least self-seeking1 is contradicted by all history4 ,the overbearing1 grabbing1 aristocratic1 individualistic1 unscrupulous races beat the others out of the field4 ,mr4 ,huxley1 indeed1 alleged that the influence of the cosmic process in the evolution of society is the greater the more rudimentary its civilisation4 ,social progress means a checking of the cosmic process at every step and the substitution for it of another1 which may be called the ethical process4444 ,as civilisation has advanced1 so has the extent of this interference increased44447#a7 ,but where1 in ,europe1 is the interference so marked as among the ,andamanese8 ,we have still to face the problem of the generosity of low savages4 7#a7 ,ethics of ,evolution1 pp4 #ha-hd4 ,it is conceivable that the higher ethics of low savages rather reflect their emotional instincts than arise from tribal legislation which is supposed to enable a tribe to prosper in the struggle for existence4 ,as ,brebeuf and ,dampier1 among others1 prove1 savages often set a good example to ,christians1 and their ethics are1 in certain cases1 as among the ,andamanese and ,fuegians1 and1 probably among the ,yao1 sanctioned by their religion4 ,but1 as ,mr4 ,tylor says1 the better savage social life seems but in unstable equilibrium1 liable to be easily upset by a touch of distress1 temptation1 or violence47#a7 ,still1 religion does its best1 in certain cases1 to lend equilibrium2 though all the world over1 religion often fails in practice4 7#a7 ,prim4 ,cult41 i4 #ea4