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The Mystic Rose: A Study of Primitive Marriage

Ernest Crawley · 1902 · Archive.org DjVu text layer (identifier mysticroseastud00crawgoog, Google Books digitization) of the 1902 Macmillan first edition · Public Domain · uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Comparative study of sexual taboo and primitive marriage; first edition published 1902 by Macmillan.

Served verbatim, era-bound vocabulary and all — the house frames, it never paraphrases; what a passage does and does not show rides its receipt.

Chapter I

\w religiously
All study of the origins of social institute* face and of
based on what ethnology can teach us of the
of the lower races and on the primitive conc^^-js of the
human relations which are thus established. It Greek
in early modes of thought that we can find the expi^ho
tion of ceremonies and systems which originated il
primitive society ; and, if ceremony and system are the
concrete forms in which human relations are expressed,
an examination, ethnological and psychological, of
human relations, is indispensable for enquiry into
human institutions. It is necessary to lay stress upon
this principle, for students of the history of marriage
have hitherto ignored it, or rather, while using the facts
of ethnology, have shown no sympathy with primitive
thought. They have interpreted primitive custom by
ideas which are far from primitive, which, in fact, are
relatively late and belong to the legal stage of human
culture. The attribution of legal conceptions to primi-
tive thought has had the usual effect of a priori theory,
and has checked enquiry.

In his History of Human Marriage ^ Dr. Wester-
marck made a much-needed protest, and refuted several
of these pseudo-syntheses. In the constructive portion
of his work he uses the biological argument. This was

^ E. Westermarclc, The History of Human Marriage (xSgx).

he facts of biology must supply the

SECONDARY yj investigation. But he goes too far

one direction, and in another not far

atter line of enquiry is sex. One of

rkable defects of the legal school of

its neglect to take sexual relations into

liscussing a sexual relation like that of

Marriage as a state c

sanctions Thj^i^g pages I have followed the principle
mo er-in- i\f bo^ jn ceremony and in system, is
the cuatom = '... ■ c , , ■

n pnmitive conceptions or sexual relations.

-lUateral phenomena will be discussed, which

^.te and are themselves explained by these concep-

>«S ; and though the lines of the argument lead from

^ffuman relations through sexual relations to meet in

marriage, yet by the way they will touch upon the

connection of morality and religion with the social life

of mankind.

At the outset it may be well to bring forward a few
striking facts of custom, as types of the problems to be
solved, and as a help towards clearness. Such are the
following, which may be put, after the fashion of
Plutarch, as questions : —

(i) Why, according to a very general custom, are
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, respectively,
required to avoid each other in one or more ways, and,
in particular, may not eat together ?

(2) Why do engaged couples also, as is frequently
the case, avoid each other with religious caution?

(3) Why, again, do men and women generally,
practise the same religious avoidance of each other?

(4) Why, according to a common custom, is it
necessary for the bridegroom to take his bride by
violence ? (" Marriage by capture.")

(5) Why are the bride and bridegroom in Bengal
first married to two trees?

(6) Why did the bride in ancient Argos wear a
beard in the bridal chamber, and why in Kos was the
bridegroom arrayed in women's clothes when he received
his bride ?

' (7) Why, according to a widely spread custom,
which, like the next, has excited the laughter of man-
kind, shqpld a man and his mother-in-law religiously
avoid each other, to the extent of hiding the face and of
being " ashamed " ?

(8) Why, as is the practice in several parts of the
world, and as was reported of the Tibarenoi by Greek
writers and of the King of Torelore by the jogleor who
wrote Cest Daucassin et Nicolete^ does the husband lie-
in and pretend to be a mother when his wife is confined ?
{Couvade.)

The primitive mental habit in its general features is
best described negatively by the term unscientific^ and
positively by religious ^ in the ordinary connotation of
that term. Superstitious would be preferable, were it
not too narrow ; as to magicy I do not here distinguish
— magic being simply the superstitious or religious
method as opposed to the scientific. This primitive
thinking does not distinguish between the natural and
the supernatural, between subjective and objective
reality. Primitive man regards the creations of his
own imagination as being no less real than the exist-
ences for which he has the evidence of sense-perception,
in a sense more real, precisely because they elude sense-
perception, though dealt with in the same way as
objective reality ; and, while the latter is always chang-
ing, these ideal existences, like the ideas of Plato, never
pass away. Objective reality also takes on some

Jie facts of biology must supply the

one direction, and in another not far

atter line of enquiry is sex. One of

rkable defects of the legal school of

its neglect to take sexual relations into

HUSBAND... F i i • n i. r

liscussing a sexual relation like that or

Marriage as a state c

sanctions Thr^^jj^g pages I have followed the principle

mother-in-law u ^u • j • ^ •

/e, both in ceremony and in system, is

yVi primitive conceptions of sexual relations.

^llateral phenomena will be discussed, which

.te and are themselves explained by these concep-

j^ ; and though the lines of the argument lead from

.rfuman relations through sexual relations to meet in

marriage, yet by the way they will touch upon the

connection of morality and religion with the social life

of mankind.

(i) Why, according to a very general custom, are
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, respectively,
required to avoid each other in one or more ways, and,
in particular, may not eat together ?

(2) Why do engaged couples also, as is frequently
the case, avoid each other with religious caution ?

(3) Why, again, do men and women generally,
practise the same religious avoidance of each other i

(4) Why, according to a common custom, is it
necessary for the bridegroom to take his bride by
violence ? (" Marriage by capture.")

(5) Why are the bride and bridegroom in Bengal
first married to two trees?

(6) Why did the bride in ancient Argos wear a
beard in the bridal chamber, and why in Kos was the
bridegroom arrayed in women's clothes when he received
his bride ?

/ (7) Why, according to a widely spread custom,
which, like the next, has excited the laughter of man-
kind, should a man and his mother-in-law religiously
avoid each other, to the extent of hiding the face and of
being ** ashamed " ?

The primitive mental habit in its general features is
best described negatively by the term unscientific^ and
positively by religiouSy in the ordinary connotation of
that term. Superstitious would be preferable, were it
not too narrow ; as to magicy I do not here distinguish
— magic being simply the superstitious or religious
method as opposed to the scientific. This primitive
thinking does not distinguish between the natural and
the supernatural, between subjective and objective
reality. Primitive man regards the creations of his
own imagination as being no less real than the exist-
ences for which he has the evidence of sense-perception,
in a sense more real, precisely because they elude sense-
perception, though dealt with in the same way as
objective reality ; and, while the latter is always chang-
ing, these ideal existences, like the ideas of Plato, never
pass away. Objective reality also takes on some

4 THE MTSTiC ROSE chap.

propcrjes at ideai rea^iy. so dm for pnardrc nun the

tuperairuraj and ih£ nznznl --T-^--*?a-iy, or nrber, are
no: ditring'ji'jied, This pofloscroj a itbIt monisnc,
and is Tfrrhrr maiemlisr dot •^-'^f'-^ boi undifler—
cnrnted. "Matter" is «ip;i->'?i'. aivi *-s5Hrit" is
materiaJ, though sometimes isT~sb^ Primitive logic
corre^Kinds to tH^ moaphT^r ; h is likewise undificr-
entiatcd, and is cbicfiv guided br ** mareiia] ^liides "
and a Realism mme |n-c»x>unccd than that <^ the School-
men. Such inference necessarily indadcs true results,
inductive and dcductiTC, bu: no less necessarily these
results were not distinguished trora the ^Isc ; inex-
tricably confiised with f^lacy, which often owed its
ccmtinuance to the association, truth was held but was
not recognised as a distinct species. As to " survivals **
of primitive speculation and custom into civilised
periods, the term is misused when it is implied that
these are dead forms, surviving like fossil remains or
rudimentary organs ; the fact is that human nature
rcmwns potentially primitive, and it is not easy even
for those most favoured by descent to rise above these
primitive ideas, precisely because these ideas " spring
eternally" from permanent functional causes. Every
one would still be primitive were it not for education,
and the importance of education in the evolution of the
soul can hardly be over-estimated.

The undifferentiated character of primitive culture,
its reference of all departments of thought and practice
to one psycholf^ical habit, the superstitious or religious,
may be illustrated from higher stages. "The political
and religious Governments of the Kaffir tribes are so
intimately connected that the one cannot be overturned
without the other ; they must stand or fall together." ^

' Mielcin, Ccmfadium of Kaffir Laiai and Cailcmi, 107.

The great pagan civilisations show ^""^^king belongs
homogeneity. The ideal society oftJor men to touch
Puritans alike, was one where there sh^rstitiofis motives
tion between Church and State, where--^ Amongst the
life and thought, politics and domestic^in that the wife
and social morality, speculation and ^^ belongs to her
be subsumed under religion, and a man who has
religious method. Such an ideal differ. i^ peace or war,^
from the actual condition of primitive soO^^^ sex. ^^er
term be used to describe this, it is homdgSReous and
monistic in practice and theory ; one method is applied
to its philosophy of nature and of man, its politics and
public life, its sociology and human relations, domestic
and social, its medical science and practice, its ethics
and morality, its ordinary thought and action in every-
day life, its behaviour and etiquette. Thus, as will also
be shown by the way, there is a religious meaning
inherent in the primitive conception and practice of aU
human relations, which is always ready to become
actualised ; and the same is true of all individual pro-
cesses of sense and emotion and intellection and, in
especial, of those functional processes that are most
easily seen in their working and results. Not only
" the Master knot of Human Fate," but all human
actions and relations, all individual and social pheno-
mena, have for primitive man, always potentially and
often actually, a full religious content. So it is with
that sub-division of human nature and human life
caused by sex ; all actions and relations, all individual
and social phenomena conditioned by sex, are likewise
filled with a religious meaning. Sexual relations and
sexual processes, as all human relations and human
processes, are religious t© the primitive mind. The
conception of danger, neither material nor spiritual, but

f .

upon those just entering the married state."* In
Russia, all doors, windows, and even the chimney, are
closed at a wedding, to prevent malicious witches fly-
ing in and hurting the bride and bridegroom.* The
Chuvashes honour their wizards (Jemzyas) and always
invite them to weddings, for fear that an offended
iemzya might destroy the bride and bridegroom.'

Savages and barbarians, and, we may add, mankind
in general, are very secretive concerning their functional
life. This attitude is naturally emphasised when the
sexual act is in question. Thus amongst the natives of
the Ceramlaut Archipelago, between Celebes and Papua,
where there is a veneer of Islam, it is the custom for
both man and wife to say the well-known formula of
good Moslems before the sexual act.* This is a general
rule in Islam, especially on the first night of marriage.*
The old Romans similarly invoked Dea VirginensiSj
while ceremonially loosing the zone.® The natives of
Amboina believe in a witch, Pontianak^ who steals away
not only infants, but the genital organs of men.^ In
South Celebes, the evil spirit most feared by the male
sex is one that makes a man incapable of performing
his marital duties.^ A similar belief is very common in
European folklore.

Again, as soon as a Nicobarese woman shows signs
of pregnancy, dancing and singing are interdicted in
the village.® Pregnant women in the island Kisar, or
Makiser, take a knife with them, when they leave the

^ Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. 305.

2 W. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, 381.

• Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxiv. 156.

^ J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 173.
^ A. Bastian, Der Mensch in dar Geschichte, iii. 293.

• Augustine, De Civitate Dei, iv. 11. ' Riedel, op. cit. 58.
^ Matthes, op. cit, 97.

• A. Featherman, Social History of the Races of Mankind, ii. 246.

house, in order to frighten away evil spirits.' The
same practice is found in Amboina, and the Watubella
Islands.^ In the Ceramkut Islands, pregnant women
use charms to protect themselves against evil influences,
and in Ceram (Nusaina) they dread the evil spirit
Putiana or Ponttanak? Among the Basutos pr^nant
women are subject to witchcraft, and they wear skin-
aprons to protect them.* In New Zealand and New
Caledonia, for instance, they are tabu ; ^ amot^st the
latter people also, and in Siam, the Marianne, Gilbert
and Marshall Islands, amongst the Pshawes and some
Transcaucasian tribes' they are "unclean," i.e. taboo.
Turning to the other ade of the taboo state, we find
that amongst the natives of Costa Rica, a woman who
is for the first time pr^nant, " infects the whole neigh-
bourhood " ; all deaths are laid to her charge, and the
husband pays the damages. This remarkable influence
" seems to be an evil spirit, or rather a property
acquired " by women in that state.'

At child-birth, more than at any other functional
crisis, woman is taboo, and in that state where religion
develops evil spirits. Amongst the Alfoers, before a
birth, the husband sets a naked sword in front of the
house, to keep off evil spirits who might bring ill-luck
to the delivery.* In the Philippine Islands, there is an
evil spirit, which causes painful labour. It is to be
recognised by its voice, and when the husband hears it,
he locks up the house, closing every chink, and goes
round with a sword thrusting and parrying all night.
In the morning he takes a well-earned rest, because " he

> Ritdel, up. cU. 417. = U. 71, 207. • Id. i7j-74, 134.

* E. Ciwlit, ni Baaiiia, 151. ' H. Plow, Dat Kmd, i. 10.

* H. PIou n. M. BartcU, Dai fPiii, u. 601.

T W. M. Gabh, Trmiaeiiaii afiki jimiricaa Piilaepliical Sxiitf for 1S7S, 505.

* I. G. F. Ricdel, in Ztintkiji Jir EllmUeiu tor 1S71, 403.

has saved his wife."^ Amongst the Ovaherero the
woman at child-birth, and the special hut which she
occupies, are both zera^ holy.^ More often, women in
child-bed and for some time after, are called " unclean,"
frequently fabuy but "holy," fabu and imclean are
so far not differentiated. Amongst peoples who use
special terms like tapUy as the Polynesians, she is Uipu ;
elsewhere, as a rule, " unclean."

Especially is this the case after child-birth. The
infant also is taboo, and comes under the same category.*
In the islands Amboina and Uliasser the new-born babe
is subject to the attacks of evil spirits, and is put by
the fire to protect him.* In East Central Africa, when
the child is seven days old, the parents believe that it is
past its greatest dangers, and in order to prevent evil
spirits from doing it further mischief, they strew the
place with dressed victuals by way of appeasing them.*^

At puberty also, religious ideas are found. Amongst
the Kurnai of Gippsland "the initiatory ceremony,
which introduced the young of both sexes to member-
ship in the community, is a commemoration — even a
species of rude worship — by the tribe, of the eponymous
ancestors, Yeerung and Djeetgun. It forms the great
central idea of Kurnai society." ® Amongst the Narrin-
yeri boys at initiation are narumbe^ sacred in a special
sense, of which more hereafter.''^ Amongst the Chiri-
guanos the girl at puberty fasts, and is secluded, while
women beat the floor and walls with sticks, by way of

^ Bowring, The Philippines^ 120 ; A. Bastian, Die Volkern des Ostlichen Asien^ v.
270.

' South African Folklore Joumalj ii. 63.

• Plo«8, Das Kind J i. 51.

^ Riedel, De sluik'-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua^ 73.
^ D. Macdonald, Africana^ i. 224.

* L. Fifon and A. W. Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai^ 199.
7 Native Trihes of South Australia^ 18.

I SEX AND RELIGION ii

finding and driving away " the snake that has wounded
the girl." ' The Siamese, who imagine that cWl spirits
swarm in the air, believe that these enjoy the first fruits
of their girls, and that they cause the "wound" which
renews itself every month.' On the religious state of
girls at puberty Dr. Frazer gives many details.'

The same religious fears are connected with men-
struation generally. Amongst the Vedahs of Travan-
core the wife at her monthly periods is secluded for
five days in a hut, a quarter of a mile away, which is
also used by her at child-birth. The next five days are
passed in a second hut, half-way between the first and
the house. On the ninth day the husband holds a
feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and invites his
friends. Until this evening he has not dared to eat
anything but roots, for fear of being killed by " the
devil." * Here, as in the next case, the dangerous side
of taboo is prominent. Amongst the Maoris, if a man
touched a menstnious woman, he would be tapu ; if he
had connection with her, or ate food cooked by her, he
would be " fapu an inch thick." *

In all these relations and functional crises connected
with sex, a religious state is, as it were, entered upon.
There is not needed, to prove this, the major premiss,
that all primitive practice and belief are essentially
religious ; the particular instances themselves point
clearly to a connection with religion. Though further
evidence of this is to be found in most races from
China to Peru, and even in higher civilisations, while
European folklore is fiill of such evidence, yet a few
typical examples may suffice.

1 Lttlra idifiantn a curkiiat, viii, JJ3 ;
114. ^ Loubere, Siam, i. 103.

* F. J»gor, in ZtiiKhrififir Eihulagu, li.

• E, Tregeir, in Jam. jiiiirep. /inf., xix.

It may be objected that the presence of evil spirits
in some of the above cases proves nothing. But all I
wish to point out just now is the actual presence of evil
or danger. I am far from wishing to imply that the
evil spirits or dangerous influences present on all these
occasions are those against which the ceremonies of
marriage, baptism, and the like were instituted as safe-
guards. In some of these cases the evil influence stated
is that which has caused the rite or the taboo ; in others
it is not so ; other cases again are selected as examples
of a belief in the process of crystallisation into cere-
mony, superimposed upon an already crystallised cere-
mony of similar origin, such as the cases of marriage
taken from South Celebes, Manchuria, and Russia ;
whilst others show an original ceremony in the process
of development from belief, as in the case of the Indian
girl at puberty and the Vedahs at menstruation, and in
those of the Muhammadan and Roman bridegrooms,
where the Roman ceremony is obviously the crystallisa-
tion of an idea similar to the Muhammadan. In the
higher stages of culture it is hardly necessary to quote
instances to prove that marriage, baptism, confirmation,
and " the churching of women " are religious cere-
monies, but it is important to mark the continuity of
these with the ritual of early man. A long array of
facts might be given to show that the main line of
development in ritual is from the propitiation or insula-
tion of evil influences to the conciliation of beneficent
powers. The change is eflPected in this way : the
dangers feared are originally insulated before and
during the progress of the function, as is the natural
course, then at the end of the function, the expulsion of
the dangers is performed for the last time, and often
shows a twofold character, purification and propitiation.

such as, to take the case of child-birth, the purification
of the woman with water, and the propitiation of the
spirits by food. The practice of performing the chief
ceremony at the end of a functional crisis was more sure
of continuance, precisely because the danger is then
usually over, and the ceremony therefore cannot be
discredited. Further, keeping the same instance, puri-
fication after child-birth, the deliverance from danger is
naturally ascribed to some beneficent spirit, and the
water with which the woman is purified of that danger
takes on the character of " holy " accordingly. The
examples drawn from the Vedahs, and from an East
Central African tribe, are here instructive, as showing
the necessary components of a ceremony and illustrating
its origin.

We must next point out the fact that the rules and
restrictions (taboos) imposed in these sexual relations or
sexual crises, some of which are expressly called tabu,
are identical with those imposed in other tabu states,
such as hunting, war and the preparation therefor,
mourning, also in the case of those sacred persons,
priest-kings, incarnate gods, at once more and less than
man, of whom Dr. Frazer treats in his great work.
But the plurality of causes, which makes it unsafe to
infer similarity of cause from similar effects, necessitates
an analysis of particular results.

The ideas underlying the above-cited examples of
taboo are in some cases connected with "spiritual"
dangers, and, to that extent, are religious. In the
further analysis of these and other cases, the religious
character of practice and belief will be made more clear,
and the precise nature of the danger will be investigated.
For the present, let us take one or two of the above
cases, which might be multiplied indefinitely, to show

■4 THE MVSIIC ROSE chap, i

the ideucicy of i^ kkas saiafTTag Polrnestui tmim and
smilsr rcEgxKB scxxs dscwtnerc A Maori mmian at
uieusuiutiaa ts :^t, laz. ssr ooe toodiEzig licr is tapu.
Now, ■ccordmg to the ***"*«^ Ex&f aboot this fimctioD,
tlie dai^er ts dex to eril sptria wfucfa cause m wfxrnd,
of which the mensCnnl b£ood it the result and proof,
and it is oootact wit& this tfood of which the Maori
male is so atraid. Add to t!us the tact that the Maoris
themselves not only ideadfy moiscnul Uood with an
evil s{nnt, K^kuiikm, but ilfo hold that die tapu state
generally is due to the InBuence of ancestral spirits,* and
identificatioD of taboo and " spiritual " influence is so
far complete.

Nov, if behind any sexual relaticm or sexual fiuic-
tional crisis and the relations between the sexes resulting
in connection with it, there arc found ideas identical
with those underlying any taboo or religious condition,
we may infer for all such Ideas in primitive thought, not
only correlation but identity- of origin.

As we proceed we shall find evidence not only for
identifying this religious state of "spiritual" danger
with the dangers underlying taboo, and with thfise pro-
ceeding from evil agencies, material, spiritual, or both,
but also for ascribing this state to the functional crises
of sex and the ensuing sexual attitude, and even to the
ordinary relations of the sexes.

Chapter II

"We have seen reason to suppose that men and women at
marriage, women during menstruation, pr^nancy, and
child-birth, infants, boys and girls at puberty, not to
mention other critical conditions, are regarded by early
man as being in that mysterious religious state which
necessitates the impOMtion of restrictions and safe-
guards, or taboos, and to which mourners and Icings,
warriors and priests alike are called. In the last case
cited from the Maoris we see very clearly the twofold
nature of the state in which these sacra persona find
themselves. They are dangerous and are themselves in
danger. Dr. Frazer has here applied most happily
the langu^e of electricity. The person charged with
this electric force, which is both dangerous and bene-
ficent, must be insulated by various taboos.

The Polynesian tabu, especially in Hawaii and
New Zealand, was the basis of society ; it was the
support of all religious, moral, and social institutions,
for all of which it supplied a supernatural sanction.
The system was indeed a good example of the religious
character of early society. Used by priests and nobles
for their own ends and no less for the good of the
community, it early divided into religious, political, and
social tabu. Every priest and every gentleman was
tabu^ "sacred." The opposite state was noa, "com-
mon." This was the system after a long development.

An excellent observer says of the Indian of British
Guiana that his "whole world swarms with beings.
He is surrounded by a host of them, possibly hurtfiiL
It is therefore not wonderful that the Indian fears to
be without his fellow, fears even to move beyond the
light from his camp-fire, and when obliged to do so
carries a firebrand with him, that he may have a chance
of seeing the beings among whom he moves. Nor is it
wonderful that occasionally the neighbourhood of their
settlement seems to the Indians to become so oppres-
sively full of gathering beings, that the peatman who
has the power of frightening those beings, even when
they are invisible, is employed to effect a general clear-
ance of the air." ^ Amongst the Sonthals evil spirits
are ubiquitous, and offerings of grain are placed on the
paths to appease them.* In Egypt the Ginn pervade
everything ; they inhabit rivers, ruined houses, wells,
baths, ovens, and latrines. When pouring water or
anything on the ground, it is the custom to exclaim,
" Permission," by way of craving pardon of any Ginnee
that may be there.* The Karalits believe that the air
is peopled with invisible " spectres," which the angekoks
only can discern and catch while they are hovering
about.* The New Caledonians imagine that demon-
agencies pervade the universe, and that they haunt
their huts to trouble their sleep and are the original
cause of sickness and death.^ In Siam evil spirits are
thought to swarm in the air. The people believe that
they enjoy the first fruits of their girls.® "In one
respect the life of the Kurnai was a life of dread. He

^ £. F. im Thum, Among the Indians of Guiana^ 372.

2 V. Ball, Jungle Lift in India, 235.

^ £. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, i. 284.

* Featherman, op, cit, iii. 444.

^ /</. ii. 91. ' Loubcrc, op. cit, i, 203.

lived in fear of the visible and invisible. He never
knew the moment when the lurking Brajerak might
not spear him from behind, and never knew the
moment when some secret foe among the Kurnai might
not succeed in passing over him some spell, against
which he could not struggle, or from which the most
potent counter -charms given him by his ancestors
could not free him." ^ The natives of Hatam in New
Guinea had a great dread of poison infused in the
atmosphere.* The last two cases form a link between
the natural and the supernatural.

We thus see that in the thought of some peoples,
man's whole environment is more or less full of the
agencies or influences of evil, and as we may presuppose
the same psychological material for all mankind, we
infer a similarity of psychological result, potential if not
actual, for all peoples at a certain stage of culture.
The term " evil spirit " is often misused ; many evil
influences, which are not anthropomorphic at all, are
too readily called "spirits." Supernaturnal personifi-
cations will not cover all the cases of primitive spirit-
ualism. These dangers are still undifFerentiated and
combined in one genus in which there is no distinc-
tion between natural and supernatural, real and ideal,
nor between persons and other existences or entia ;
these "spirits" are really material, though unseen, and
many are simply " influences," states of matter, imper-
sonal forces. The atmosphere is thus charged with
" spiritual " electricity, with bacteria of invisible mischief.
Man needs to walk warily ; at any time he may be
subjected to dangers coming from this hylo-idealistic
force. The conduction or induction, contagion or
infection, may result in death or sickness, spiritual or

^ Fifon and Howitt, op, cit, 259. * L. M. D'Albertis, New Guinea, i. 122.

material danger, real or but vaguely apprehended, the
subjective notion being often stronger than objective
presentation from its very elusiveness.

These influences are of the kind which produce the
state of religious peril, or Taboo. When we take our
attention from the mysterious force of taboo and
analyse its subject, we find first that it is the " spiritual "
danger which makes him taboo and dangerous to others,
as soon as it descends upon him and fills him with virus
or electric force. It is no inconsistency that a man is
often taboo before the danger attacks him, for he is
expecting it, or that people like Dr. Frazer*s incarnate
gods, or even the ordinary Maori gentleman, are always
taboo. These sacra persoriie have the religious con-
dition imposed upon them every day, they are cottidie
feriata. It is a natural extension with persons on
whom the safety of the world depends, as in the case of
the incarnate gods, and no less with persons like the
Maori, who has been led by the development of a
system which combined the characteristics of Roman
Catholicism with those of Feudalism, to believe, like
many a modern aristocrat, that he is somewhat more
than the salt of the earth.

The next commonest form in which the danger,
resulting in taboo, is presented, is that of contagion of
a sickness neither real nor imaginary, neither natural or
supernatural, but both. This predication of " spiritual "
sickness, though almost universal, and, as will be seen
later, of very great importance in the history of human
relations, does not cover all the facts, and we want to
know the origin of this idea also. We have found the
danger to come from the environment of the individual,
and then to settle upon him. We may then look for
its original character in the actual environment, not as

it may really be, but as it is conceived to be, that is,
conditioned by the individual's conception thereof; and
secondly, where the environment is humanity, in the
characteristics attributed to such persons by the indi-
vidual. Now we find, after examining the facts, that
1 there is one characteristic which inheres in all these
i manifold dangers. Things and persons are potentially
dangerous, acts and functions are potentially liable to
i danger, which are strange, unfamiliar, unusual, "abnormal,
in a word, more or less unknown. Man's ignorance is
the occasion of his fears, and he fears anything or
everything which he does not understand. Of the
savage it may most truly be said, omnia exeunt in
mysferiunr. Man's superstitious fears are found to be
in the exact ratio of man's ignorance. To all these
potential dangers he naturally ascribes the results which
he knows to ensue from real physical danger, and of
course this wide generalisation includes cases of real
injury inextricably confused with a thousand empty
terrors. As man's earliest thinking is anthropomorphic
and in terms of himself, he attributes to agencies which
he does not understand, not only the conscious power
and methods of human beings, but the involuntary
influence or deleterious properties of dangerous men,
such as enemies or diseased persons ; and these imagin-
ary results coming from things and persons feared
because they are not understood, are actually accentu-
ated by the very fact that the persons or things do not
harmonise with man's knowledge of himself. Wonder
becomes uneasiness, and eventually produces an attitude
of religious caution. Again, man's fears are for himself,
and especially for those parts and functions of his
organism which are most important for life and health
and are actually most liable to injury. Here there

falls to be considered what may be called physiological
thought^ subconsciously arising from and concentrating
upon physiological functions. Especially important in
human psychology is the physiological thought arising
from the two chief physical functions of nutrition and
sex. For these and other complex and delicate func-
tions, man's ignorance creates many potential dangers,
and this leads to various attitudes of religious caution
in their performance.

Let us take some cases which illustrate this poten-
tiality of danger, inhering, through man's subjective
conceptions, in things and acts and states which are
different from what is usual and ordinary, which more
or less break the comfortable routine of life, or which
he cannot explain. From this point of view, the
original idea behind the Maori term noa^ for instance,
which means common as opposed to tapu^ is what we
should call normal or regular. In South Celebes the
Buginese word pemdli (J.q. Polynesian tabu) denotes all
things unusual, and such are supposed to bring evil
consequences in their train.^ In the Marquesas any-
thing different from ordinary custom is called taboo.*
The Dyaks perform mystic ceremonies " for the most
frivolous causes ; when they have a bad dream, if a
tree falls, or a basket of rice be upset." Pamali (^iabu)
is imposed on practically any occasion when something
unusual or important is about to or has taken place.*
Strangeness, potential danger, and spiritual power go
together in the savage mind. " The Masai conception
of deity {ngat) is vague," as Joseph Thomson pointed
out. " I was ngai ; my lamp was ngai ; whatever struck
them as strange or incomprehensible they supposed to

1 Matthes, op, cit, io8, * Melville, TAe Marquesas Islands, 248.

' Featherman, op, cit, 278, 282.

have some connection with ngai,'^^ The Cadiacks
believed that every act was under the influence of some
object, stone, or the like, especially if the said object
was curious in appearance.^ Of the Guiana Indian,
Mr. im Thurn states that, " he always sees a spirit in
any instrument which does him harm. When he falls
on a rock, he attributes the injury to it. If he sees any-
thing in any way curious or abnormal, and if soon after
an evil befall him, he regards the thing and the evil as
cause and efl^ect. Just as some rocks, viz. the more
peculiar, are more malignant than others, so it is not
every river, but every bend and portion of a river that
has a spirit ; spirits of falls and rapids are still more
dreaded, therefore people are more frequently drowned
there. Spirits consist of harmless and harmful. The
former are quite inactive. The good that befalls an
Indian he takes as a matter of course, as the result of
his own exertions, and all the evil as the work of evil-
wishing spirits. He performs no acts to attract the
goodwill of spirits, but he constantly does act or avoid
action to arrest the ill-will of other spirits."® When
animals act contrary to their ordinary habits, the Kafiirs
regard them as omens.* So in Chinese and European
folklore, the crowing of a hen is ominous of something
unusual about to happen.* Amongst the Patagonians
any unfamiliar object was supposed to possess an evil
spirit ; and any boy or girl who was odd or peculiar,
was marked out for the profession of wizard.* So the
Kaffirs of Natal honoured persons who were subject to
fits, but they refused to eat out of such a person's

^ J. Thomson, TArougk Masai Land, 260.

> U. Litiansky, ^ f^oyage Round the fForld, 243.

* im Thum, op. cit, 370, 377, 379. * J. Shooter, The Kaffin ofNata!^ 165.

* DooUttle, op. cit. ii. 328.

* 6. C. Muster*, At Home with the Patagonians^ 181, 182.

24 THE MTSnC ROS chap.

TcssdL- Kx£rs h^a i^ carta cf tSriner or doctxr
hy bca^ iIL sad cs^xoaDr ilie ij.<}.euincc of ^Klepdc
sTiBjXDass is a KsAr ^uw t3ui he s ^■^^"■"'"g ■ seer/
Neurcpzdis a*r Tsnz± hcooarcd is the '^"<4» of Led,
Mca, 2ai Lj^orJ Ths Sak^a^xgaJl, ± weak ind
nmoffccs lact. sre proassed br riie nootxi dm it is
uncamiT ro isediJc wiTi lian.* Aiiioi^;st the com-
moaxsz ascs arc iccse »Jicg poreaimHty of danger h
ascribed to ssraagers. Tbe Guaranis suspeoed every
stranger ci hcesiETT.' D'AJberns w^s requested by the
Alfccrs cppoere Ri^m to kaTc ilicir village bccaase
his presence hroughi bad Jack. " TTie people began to
die." ther cwnplainci, *• as soon as you looked at us.
Five have i^ed in throe days."* The Somoons fear
evil ;iii!ucnce from smnjcrs.- On entering a strange
country the Maoris pertVm s oerenu»iy to make it nea,
as it may have been »/<&, that is, potentially dangerous.'
When an Australian tribe approaches another that is
unknown, they carry bumine sricks "to [Hirify the
air."* Strange meats, such as are far instance non-
indigenous, are feared by the Indians ot Guiana, and they
are rendered eatable by the ptaiman, or even occa^on-
ally an old woman blowing on them certain times, so
as to expel the "spirit."'* In German folklore there
is the custom of blowing thrice into a strange spoon,
before eating with it." The Indians of Guiana are
afraid of the food of strangers, or of anything belonging

* ShDDtcr, 1^. nV. lit.

* Callaway, TU Rtligkui Sjticm tfikt JbwimlM, 199 ; Shooter, 191.

* Riedel, af. cii. 37!. ♦ &„i AfrUar. Fdli-n J'-n-i, \\, ji.
■ E>s1iriihaffcr, Tkt Ablpmi, 163. • D'Albertii, if. lU. i. 5j,

' G. Turotr, Samoa a Hvidrid Tori Ap, 191.

' Sbortland, Tradiiumi and Suptrakimt nfiii Neui ZiaUedot, loj.

» R. Brough Smyth, Tkt Abarlgim, tfVkl<ria, i. .34.

" im Thura. tf. cit. j6!.

" F. Plain, Btiira£ or Dttaieka Myiioligk, 257.

to such.^ The Zulus taboo all foods that arc strange
or unknown.^ A similar idea underlies the common
diffidence about beginning an act or doing something
for the first time, or handselling a new object. Before
shooting a cataract for the first time, on the first sight
of any new place, striking rocks, etc., the Guiana Indian
arrests the ill-will of the spirits. The dreaded objects
are not mentioned, are not looked at more than is
necessary, and artificial means of blinding the eyes with
pepper juice are used to avoid the dreaded sight.' The
Sandwich Islanders prayed before they ate, before tilling
the ground, before building houses, launching boats, or
casting nets.* Before starting on a hunting expedition,
the Hurons consulted their tutelar spirits to ascertain
whether the time was propitious.*^ This kind of thing
is world-wide. In the Luang Sermata Islands enquiries
are made as to whether the new house will be unlucky.
In the Babar Islands, before entering a new house,
offerings are thrown inside, that the spirit, OrloUy may
not make the inmates ill.® In the Sandwich Islands,
before the owner entered a new house, the priest
performed ceremonies and slept in it, to prevent evil
spirits resorting thereto, and to secure the inmates from
the effects of incantation.*^ A similar practice is found
in Persia and China.® Amongst the Nicobarese sorcerers
are employed to drive away evil spirits from the site
selected for the building of a house. When a new
boat is launched, a fire is lighted round it to expel the
evil spirits.*^ Similarly, when an interval has elapsed,

* W. H. Brett, TAe Indian Tribet of Guiana^ 363.
^ D. Leslie, Among the Zulus and Amatongat^ 197.

• im Thurn, op. cit, 380. * W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 350.
' Featherman, op. cit. iii. 54. • Riedel, op. cit. 318, 343.

' W. Ellis, A Tour in Hawan^ 293 ; Polynesian Researches, iv. 322.
^ Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, iz. 26o;'Doolittle, op, cit. ii. 325.
^ Featherman, op. cit. ii. 250.

dwelling-houses become dangerous. Thus the Bashkirs,
on returning from their nomadic life of the summer to
their winter - quarters, approach these dwellings with
reluctance, believing that Skeilan has taken up his abode
there. The women therefore are sent forward first,
armed with sticks, with which they strike the doors,
uttering curses ; when they have made their round, the
men ride forward at full speed, with terrific shouts, to
banish the dreaded demon from his hiding-place.' We
may also compare the common belief that danger
attaches to the first of any fruits or meats, as in the
ceremony of first-fruits amongst the Kaffirs" and many
other peoples, such " holiness " as attaches thereto being
undistinguished from any kind of potential danger.
Again, there is an almost universal belief that sickness
and death are unnatural and abnormal. Being strange
conditions of which the savage cannot solve the
mystery, he often attributes them to the influence of
evil spirits. Amongst the Zulus no one is believed to
die a natural death except in battle or a row." Among
most Congo tribes death is seldom regarded in the light
of a natural event,* Amongst the Dieri and neigh-
bouring tribes of South Australia, " no native contracts
a disease or complaint from natural causes ; the disease
is supposed to be caused by some enemy." In an'
serious case, the Koonkies or doctors are called
beat " the devil " out of the camp. " This is done by,
the stuffed tail of a kangaroo, by beating the ground
and out of the camp, chasing him away for some
distance."' The Kurnai could not conceive of death
by disease. It was regarded as due to the magical

\, Riiit im dii Erdt, i. lej.
. cii. 4S. * H. Wjrd, in

> S. Gaion, ta Jiva. jiailaaf. 1

* Shooter, aji. c,

influence of enemies or evil spirits. Death, according
to their ideas, could only occur through accident, open
violence, or secret magic.^ Amongst the tribes of
Central Australia "no such thing as natural death is
realised by the native ; a man who dies has of necessity
been killed by some other man, or perhaps even by a
woman, and sooner or later that man or woman will be
attacked. However old or decrepit a man or woman
may be when death takes place, it is at once supposed
that it has been brought about by the magic influence
of some enemy." ^ All deaths, sicknesses, and calamities
are attributed by the Andamanese to evil spirits.® The
Navajos ascribe death to Chinde^ "the devil," who
remans in the vicinity of the dead. Those who per-
form the burial protect themselves from the evil in-
fluence by smearing their naked bodies with tar.* Death
has always been a mystery, and it is no wonder that
savage and barbarous peoples should have regarded it as
an abnormal event. This conception is illustrated by
the numerous myths invented to explain the abnormality
of death. An interesting case, repeating the idea of
"death and his brother sleep," is the myth of the Yaos
and Wayisa of East Central Africa. They say that
death is largely caused by wizards ; it was originally
brought into the world by a woman, who taught two
men to go to sleep. One day, while they slumbered,
she held the nostrils of one of them, till his breath
ceased and he died.*^ Sickness, in a lesser degree, is
also mysterious. With such unusual states, as is gener-
ally the case, we find connected evil spirits or taboo or
both, and may trace these predications back to man's

^ Fbon and Howitt, op, clt, 251, 258. ' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 48, 476.

• E. H. Man, in Jown. jintArop. Inst. x\. 288, 289.

• First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (Waihington), 123.

• J. Macdonald, in Jcurn. Anthrcp. Inst. xxii. iii, 112.

dwelling-houses become dangerous. Thus the Bashkirs,
on returning from their nomadic life of the summer to
their winter -quarters, approach these dwellings with
reluctance, believing that Sheitan has taken up his abode
there. The women therefore are sent forward first,
armed with sticks, with which they strike the doors,
uttering curses ; when they have made their round, the
men ride forward at full speed, with terrific shouts, to
banish the dreaded demon from his hiding-place.^ We
may also compare the conunon belief that danger
attaches to the first of any fruits or meats, as in the
ceremony of first-fruits amongst the Kaffirs ^ and many
other peoples, such " holiness " as attaches thereto being
undistinguished from any kind of potential danger.
Again, there is an almost universal belief that sickness
and death are unnatural and abnormal. Being strange
conditions of which the savage cannot solve the
mystery, he often attributes them to the influence of
evil spirits. Amongst the Zulus no one is believed to
die a natural death except in battle or a row.' Among
most Congo tribes death is seldom regarded in the light
of a natural event.* Amongst the Dieri and neigh-
bouring tribes of South Australia, " no native contracts
a disease or complaint from natural causes ; the disease
is supposed to be caused by some enemy." In any
serious case, the Koonkies or doctors are called in, to
beat " the devil " out of the camp. " This is done by
the stuffed tail of a kangaroo, by beating the ground in
and out of the camp, chasing him away for some
distance." ^ The Kurnai could not conceive of death
by disease. It was regarded as due to the magical

^ A. Erman, R^iu um die Erde^ i. 103. ^ Shooter, op, cit, 25, 7.y,

• Leslie, op. cit, 48. * H. Ward, in J own, Anthrop, Inst, xxiv, 287,

* S. Gaton, in Joym, Anthrop, Ltst, xxiv. 170.

influence of enemies or evil spirits. Death, according
to their ideas, could only occur through accident, open
violence, or secret magic.^ Amongst the tribes of
Central Australia "no such thing as natural death is
realised by the native ; a man who dies has of necessity
been killed by some other man, or perhaps even by a
woman, and sooner or later that man or woman will be
attacked. However old or decrepit a man or woman
may be when death takes place, it is at once supposed
that it has been brought about by the magic influence
of some enemy." ^ All deaths, sicknesses, and calamities
are attributed by the Andamanese to evil spirits.® The
Navajos ascribe death to Chindcy "the devil," who
remains in the vicinity of the dead. Those who per-
form the burial protect themselves from the evil in-
fluence by smearing their naked bodies with tar.* Death
has always been a mystery, and it is no wonder that
savage and barbarous peoples should have regarded it as
an abnormal event. This conception is illustrated by
the numerous myths invented to explain the abnormality
of death. An interesting case, repeating the idea of
"death and his brother sleep," is the myth of the Yaos
and Wayisa of East Central Africa. They say that
death is largely caused by wizards ; it was originally
brought into the world by a woman, who taught two
men to go to sleep. One day, while they slumbered,
she held the nostrils of one of them, till his breath
ceased and he died.^ Sickness, in a lesser degree, is
also mysterious. With such unusual states, as is gener-
ally the case, we find connected evil spirits or taboo or
both, and may trace these predications back to man's

^ FUon and Howitt, op, eit, 251, 258. ' Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 48, 476.
' £. H. Man, in Jotarn, Antkrop, Inst, xi, 288, 289.
* First Report of tkt Bureau of Ethnology (Washington), 123.
^ J. Macdonald, in youm, Antkrop, Inst, zxii. iii, 112.

conceptions of what is unusual and not understood, in
combination with his instinctive desire for life, health,
and strength. All illness and bodily evil in British
Guiana is the work of spirits, occasionally supposed
to act in human form, but generally not, ** therefore
disease is more common than assault by bodily foes/* *
Amongst the Basutos sickness is attributed to ill-
wishers who bewitch one.^ In the last examples, we sec
how human and supernatural agencies may meet.

Again, in the case of normal functions, which arc
unusual in so far as they are periodic, it is natural that
danger from spiritual agencies should be thought of
chiefly when the crisis is worse than usual. Thus in
the Aru Islands it is at difficult labour that means are
taken against evil spirits, for instance, the banging of
drums ; so in the island Wetar and the Ceramlaut
Archipelago.® If labour is difficult, the Chinese suppose
it is due to an evil spirit that prevents the child's
appearance ; * and in the Philippines, when the birth is
delayed, witches are supposed to be responsible, and are
driven away by exploding gunpowder from a mortar
improvised out of a bamboo.^ If the new-born child
howls, the Babar natives attribute it to the influence of
an evil spirit, and food is spread for it outside the
house/ This case is somewhat surprising, but perhaps
it is excessive squalling that is referred to. More
naturally, if a Chinese child will not suck nor cry and
appears lifeless, the belief is that it is exposed to evil
influences.*^

The Andamanese and Maoris ascribe internal pains
to evil spirits ; and amongst the latter people, when a

^ im Thurn, op, cit, 366. ^ Casalis, op. cit, 277.

' Riedel, op, cit, 265, 449, 175. •* Doolittlc, op, cit, i. 118.

* Bowring, op, cit, 144. • Ricdcl, op, cit, 354. ' Doolittle, op, cit, i. lao.

chief is in pain, he is thereby accounted tapu} Also
when a Maori warrior was afraid, the tohunga invoked
a friendly spirit to repulse the evil spirit causing the
fear.^ It will be remembered that the Maori tapu
implies that one is under the influence of the ancestral
spirits ; and the apparent inconsistency, that a Maori
gentleman, who is always tapUy can become tapu at
various crises, and, as will be seen later, can contract
such tapu as to injure his inherent tapUy is quite natural
and needs no explanation. Further, the Battas attri-
bute not only diseases, but such phenomena as anger,
to evil spirits, which also force men to do murder and
commit crimes.® Such states as idiocy, hysteria, and
various forms of neurosis are, as is well known, ex-
plained by savages in the same way. We still have the
phrase "an inspired idiot." Intoxication is similarly
explained, also such apparently irregular conditions as
ecstasy and enthusiasm. In the same way, popular
thought and language prove this to be so with love, no
less than with other periodic emotional crises. Both
the Yoruba and the Ewe -speaking peoples attribute
sexual desire to possession by the god of love {Legba)}
It is very natural that savage ignorance should ascribe
to possession by supernatural influences those strong
impulses which carry a man away and render him for
the moment a blind automaton. The very word
" passion " preserves the primitive idea that such states
are due to external agency ; yet these facts limit still
further primitive man's knowledge of himself.

Again, if we survey the whole of human life and
human relations, we find that all states in which there

1 Man, op, cit, xi. 84 ; Shortland, op. cit. 82 ; W. Yate, Niw Zealand^ 104.
^ Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand^ 67, 68.
' F. Junghuhn, Die Battalander auf Sumatra^ ii, 156.
^ A. B. Ellis, Tkt Ewe-speaking Peopla of West Africa^ 41.

persons present some unexplained strangeness, and we
may conclude that the mere fact of sexual differentia-
tion is enough to form the basis of a similar religious
caution between men and women. In the second place,
functional crises are accentuated forms of this sexual
differentiation, and their apparent abnormality causes
uneasiness to the individual and to the other sex also.
The following case sums up the argument ; the Indians
of Costa Rica believe that the ceremonial **unclean-
ness" called bu-ku-ru is very virulent. It is most
dangerous from a woman in her first pregnancy. " Sk
infects the whole neighbourhood, and all deaths are
laid at her door." Also, " a place which has not been
visited for a long time, or one approached for the first
time, is infected with bu-ku-ru.'' ^ Here then we have
an ultimate origin for the religious precautions used
not only at birth, puberty, and pregnancy, but at the
entering upon a new relation, and that a sexual rela-
tion, such as marriage.

The whole series of phenomena, as may especially
be seen in the ideas and practices concerned with things
new and unusual, with the handselling of such, and
with the entering upon strange or important acts and
functions, illustrates well a characteristic of early man
in the animistic stage, which may be described as
diffidence, lack of initiative and incapacity for respond
bility, and is the general result of ignorance and inex-
perience. This mental and moral habit has, as the
material on which it works, the very ignorance with
which it is associated in origin. Later, this interesting
stage of human development will be shown to have
developed moral ideas which have profoundly influenced
the progress of man.

1 W. M. Gabb. op, cit, 504.

Chapter III

" In the beginning, when Twashtri came to the creation
of woman, he found that he had exhausted his materials
in the making of man, and that no solid elements were
left. In this dilemma, after profound meditation, he
did as follows. He took the rotundity of the moon,
and the curves of creepers, and the clinging of tendrils,
and the trembling of grass, and the slenderness of the
reed, and the bloom of flowers, and the lightness of
leaves, and the tapering of the elephant's trunk, and the
glances of deer, and the clustering of rows of bees, and
the joyous gaiety of sunbeams, and the weeping of
clouds, and the fickleness of the winds, and the timidity
of the hare, and the vanity of the peacock, and the
softness of the parrot's bosom, and the hardness of
adamant, and the sweetness of honey, and the cruelty
of the tiger, and the warm glow of fire, and the cold-
ness of snow, and the chattering of jays, and the cooing
of the kokilaj and the hypocrisy of the crane, and the
fidelity of the chakrawakuy and compounding all these
together, he made woman and gave her to man. But
after one week, man came to him and said : Lord, this
creature that you have given me makes my life miser-
able. She chatters incessantly and teases me beyond
endurance, never leaving me alone ; and she requires
incessant attention, and takes all my time up, and cries
about nothing, and is always idle ; and so I have come

to give her back again, as I cannot live with her. So
Twashtri said : Very well ; and he took her back.
Then after another week, man came again to him and
said : Lord, I find that my life is very lonely, since I
gave you back that creature. I remember how she
used to dance and sing to me, and look at me out of
the comer of her eye, and play with me, and cling to
me ; and her laughter was music, and she was beaudfiil
to look at, and soft to touch ; so give her back to me
again. So Twashtri said ; Very well ; and gave her back
again. Then after only three days, man came back to
him again and said : Lord, I know not how it is ; but
after all I have come to the conclusion that she is more
of a trouble than a pleasure to me ; so please take her
back again. But Twashtri said : Out on you ! Be off!
I will have no more of this. You must manage how
you can. Then man said : But I cannot live with her.
And Twashtri rephed : Neither could you live without
her. And he turned his back on man, and went <»
with his work. Then man said : What is to be done?
for I cannot live either with her or without her." ^

This extract from a beautiful Sanscrit story illustrates
a conception of the relations of man and woman, which
often recurs in literature. The same conception, due
ultimately to that difference of sex and of s^nul
characters which renders mutual sympathy and under^
standing more or less difficult, is characteristic of
mankind in all periods and stages of culture. Woman
is one of the last things to be understood by man;
though the complement of man and his partner in
heahh and sickness, poverty and wealth, woman ii
different from man, and this difference has had the same
religious results as have attended other things which

I jf Diiii t/iii afm, tnav by F. W. Biin, 13-15.

Ill SEXUAL TABOO 35

man does not understand. The same is trae of
woman's attitude to man. In the history of the sexes
there have been always at work the two complementary
physical forces of attraction and repulsion ; man and
woman may be regarded, and not fancifully, as the
highest sphere in which this law of physics operates ; in
love the two sexes are drawn to each other by an
irresistible sympathy, while in other circumstances there
is more or less of segregation, due to and enforced by
human ideas of human relations.

The remarkable facts which follow show the primitive
theory and practice of this separation of the sexes. Both
in origin and results the phenomena are those of Taboo,
and hence I have applied to these facts the specific term
of Sexual Taboo. At first sight this early stage of the
relations of men and women may cause surprise, but
when one realises the continuity of human ideas, and
analyses one's own consciousness, one may find there in
potentiality, if not actualised by prejudice, the same con-
ception, though perhaps emptied of its religious content.

In Nukahiva if a woman happens to sit upon or even
pass near an object which has become tabu by contact
with a man, it can never be used again, and she is put
to death.^ In Tahiti a woman had to respect those
places frequented by men, their weapons and fishing
implements ; the head of a husband or father was sacred
from the touch of woman, nor might a wife or daughter
touch any object that had been in contact with these
tabued heads, or step over them when their owners were
asleep.^ In the Solomon Islands a man will never pass
under a tree fallen across the path, because a woman
may have stepped over it before him.^ In Siam it is

^ D'UrvIIle, V^tyage pittoresque autour du Mondt, i. 505.
^ C. Letoameau, Sociologies 173. ' H. B. Guppy, The Solomon Islands, i. 4.

considered unlucky to pass under women's clothes hung
out to dry.' It is degrading to a Melaneaan chief to
go where women may be above his head ; boys also are
forbidden to go underneath the women's bed-place.'
Amongst the Karens of Burmah going under a house
when there are females within is avoided ; and in
Burmah generally it is thought an indignity to have a
woman above the head ; to prevent which the houses
are never built with more than one storey.* Tlus
explanation of an architectural peculiarity is doubtless
ex post f ado. Amongst the people of Rajmahal, if a
man be detected by a woman sitting on her cot and she
complains of the impropriety, he pays her a fowl as
fine, which she returns ; on the other hand, if a man
detects a woman sitting on his cot, he kills the fowl
which she produces in answer to his complaint, and
sprinkles the blood on the cot to purify it, after which
she is pardoned.* In Cambodia a wife may never use
the pillow or mattress of her husband, because "she
would hurt his happiness thereby,"^ In Siam the wife
has a lower pillow " to remind her of her inferiority."*
This reason is possibly late. Amongst the Barea man
and wife seldom share the same bed, the reason they
give is, that if they sleep together the breath of the
wife will render her husband weak.' Amongst the
Lapp no grown woman may touch the hinder part of
the house, which is sacred to the sun.* No woman

' Baitian, oji. dt. iii. ijo.

■ R. H. CoJringtan, Tit Milanaim, Ijy

* yarxal afihi Amtrhan Oriaial Suiirj, iv. ]ii ; Butian, up, dt. u. ijo.

* ColebcoDke in ylimiiek Satartiii, iv. 8S.

* E. Aymonier, L.. etariaiti ii tnynKni mferuiiituix dts Cam6ulgim, i6». Tie
Cambodians alio (ay that a uicd pillow ihould be waihed at oace, or taken cxntC,
for Nrcery ii eiiily performed by it> meini agiinit one who has uted it.

* Pialurtoa, of, cii. it. J 8 J.

T W. MnailaECr, Oiufiiiaiiieii Sriidia, 516. " Ploii, Dai Ximi, ii. 4J5.

Ill SEXUAL TABOO 37

may enter the house of a Maori chief.^ Amongst the
Kafias of East Africa husband and wife see each other
only at night, never meeting during the day. She is
secluded in the^ interior portion of the house, while he
occupies the remainder. ** A public resort is also set
apart for the husband, where no woman is permitted to
appear. A penalty of three years' imprisonment
attaches to an infringement of this rule." ^ Observers
have noted " the haughty contempt " shown by Zulus
for their wives. Men and women rarely are seen
together ; if a man and his wife are going to the same
place, they do not walk together.* In some Redskin
tribes and amongst the Indians of California a man
never enters his wife's wigwam except under cover of
the darkness ; and the men's club-house may never be
entered by women.* The Bedouin tent is divided into
two compartments for the men and women respectively.
No man of good reputation will enter the women's part
of the tent or even be seen in its shadow.^ In Nukahiva
the houses of important men are not accessible to their
own wives, who live in separate huts.® Amongst the
Samoyeds and Ostyaks a wife may not tread in any part
of the tent except her own corner ; after pitching the
tent she must fumigate it before the men enter.^ In
Fiji husbands are as frequently away from their wives
as with them ; it is not, in Fijian society, thought well
for a man to sleep regularly at home.® Another account

^ R. Taylor, Te Uta a Maui^ 165 ; Trcgear, in Jotarn, Antkrop, Inst, ziz. 118 ;
iJ, Maori Comparative Dictkmary, %.y, KoAuAaAu; Shortland, Afnori Religion^ 10 1 ; id.
Southern Districts ofNno Zealand^ 295.

^ J. L. Knipf, Eighteen Years in Eastern Africa^ 58.

' Shooter, op, cit, 81, 82.

^ Lafitan, Meenrs des sattvages AM/rifnains, L 576 ; S. Powers, The Tribes of
Calif orma^ 24. * Featherman, op, cit, v. 357.

^ D^Urville, op, cit, \, 504. ^ J. Georgi, Les nations Samoyides, 15, 137.

8 T. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, i. 137.

states that " it is quite against Fijian ideas of delicacy
that a man ever remains under the same roof with his
wife or wives at night." He may not take his night's
repose anywhere except at one of the public bures of his
town or village. The women and girls sleep at home.
" Rendezvous between husband and wife are arranged
in the depths of the forest, unknown to any but the
two." All the male population, married and unmarried,
sleep at the bures^ or club-houses, of which there are
generally two in each village. Boys till of age have a
special one.^ From another account we learn that
women are not allowed to enter a bure^ which is also
used as a lounge by the chiefs.^ In New Caledonia a
peculiarity of conjugal life is that men and women do
not sleep under the same roof. The wife lives and
sleeps by herself in a shed near the house. "You
rarely see the men and women talking or sitting
together. The women seem perfectly content with the
companionship of their own sex. The men, who loiter
about with spears in a most lazy fashion, are seldom
seen in the society of the opposite sex.® No Hindu
female may enter the men's apartments.* In New-
Guinea the women sleep in houses apart, near those of
their male relatives. The men assemble for conversa-*
tion and meals in the marea^ a large reception-house,
which women may not enter.* Amongst the Nubians
each family has two dwelling-houses, one for the males,
the other for the females.® In the Sandwich Islands
there were six houses connected with every great estab-
lishment ; one for worship, one for the men to eat in,

^ B. S«eman, Viti, no, 191.

> Wilkef, U.S, Exploring Expedition^ iii. 97, 352.

' J. Gamier, Oc/anie^ 186 ; J. W. Anderson, Fiji and New CaJedonia, 232.

^ Plo«s, Dm Kind, ii. 441. ^ D^Albertis, op, cit. i. 282, 320, 390, 391.

^ Waitz-GerUnd, op, cit, ii. 485.

Ill SEXUAL TABOO 39

another for the women, a dormitory, a house for kapa-
beating, and one where at certain intervals the women
might live in seclusion.^ In the Caroline Islands a
chief's establishment has one house for the women, a
second for eating, and a third for sleeping.^ In the
Admiralty Islands there is a house reserved in each
village for the use of women, both married and single,
while the single men live together in a separate
building.® The Shastika Indians of California have a
town-lodge for men and another for women. Other
Californian tribes possess the first institution ; the
women may not enter the men's lodges.* The centre
of Bororo life is the Baito^ the men's house, where all
the men really live ; the family huts are nothing more
than a residence for the women and children. Amongst
the Bakairi and the Schingu tribes generally, women
may never enter the men's club-house, where the men
spend most of their time.* In the Solomon Islands
women may not enter the men's tambu house, nor even
cross the beach in front of it.^ In Ceram women are
forbidden to enter the men's club-house.^ In New
Britain there are two large houses in each village, one
for men, the other for women : neither sex may enter
the house of the other.® In the Marquesas Islands the
// where the men congregate and spend most of their
time is taboo to women, and protected by the penalty
of death from the imaginary pollution of a woman's
presence ; the chiefs never trouble about any domestic
affairs.^ In the Pelew Islands there is " a remarkable

^ J. J. Jarvet, The Hawaiian or Sandwich IslanJsf 208.

* C. E. Meinicke, Die hueln dex Stillen Oceans, ii. 370.

• yourn, Anthrop, Inst, vi. 413. * Powert, ^, cit, 244, 24.

' K. voa den Steinen, Unter den Natur^Volkem Zentral'BrasHiens, 480.

• Guppy, op, cit. u 67. ' Riedel, op. cit. 1 10.
B W. Powell, fFanderings in a fTtld Country, 84.

* Melville, op. cit. 10 1, 210.

separation of the sexes." Men and women hardly live
together, and family life is impossible. The segrega-
tion is political as well as social.^ In the Society
and Sandwich Islands the female sex was isolated and
humiliated by tabu^ and in their domestic life the women
lived almost entirely by themselves.^ In Uripiv (New
Hebrides) there is a curious segregation of the sexes,
beginning, at least in one respect, soon after a boy is
born.® In Rapa (Tubuai Islands) all men are tabu to
women.* In Seoul, the capital of Corea, " they have
a curious curfew law called pern -y a. A large bell is
tolled at about 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. daily, and between
these hours only are women supposed to appear in
the streets. In the old days men found in the streets
during the hours allotted to women were severely
punished, but the rule has been greatly relaxed of late
years." " Family life, as we have it, is utterly un-
known in Corea." * The Ojebway, Peter Jones, thus
writes of his own people : "I have scarcely ever seen
anything like social intercourse between husband and
wife, and it is remarkable that the women say little in
the presence of the men." * In Senegambia the negro
women live by themselves, rarely with their husbands,
and their sex is virtually a clique.'^ In Bali to speak .
tete-i-teU with a woman is absolutely forbidden.® In ,
Egypt a man never converses with his wife, and in the .
tomb they are separated by a wall, though males and
females are not usually buried in the same vault.^

* J. S. Kubary, youmal des Museum Godtffroy^ iv. 43, 53 j id. Die sociaien Einrich"
tungen der PeUmtTy 33, 148 \ Meinicke, op, eit, ii. 380 ; K. Semper, Die Palau biseln^
318, 319, 366. * W. £llii,o^. cit, i. 129 ; id. Tour Through Hawaii^ 369.

' B. T. Somerville, in Joum, Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 4. ^ Letourneau, op, cit, 174.

^ H. S. Saundenon, in Journ, Anthrop, List, xxiv. 305, 306.

^ P. Jones, History of the Ojehtvay Indians^ 60.

' L. J. B. Berenger-Ferand, Les peuplades de la S/n/gamhie, 373.

^ Junghohn, op, cit, ii. 340. * Plost, cp, cit, ii. 455.

Ill SEXUAL SOUDARITY 41

Some cases of this complementary result, solidarity
of sex, have been noticed, and others will occur in
various connections. It is practically universal in all
stages of culture, even the highest. Amongst the
Bedouins of Libya women associate for the most part
with their own sex only.^ In Morocco women are by
no means reserved when by themselves, nor do they
seek to cover their faces.^ Amongst the Gauchos of
Uruguay women show a marked tendency to huddle
together.® Sexual solidarity is well brought out in
the following. Amongst the extinct Tasmanians, if
a wife was struck by her husband, the whole female
population would come out and bring the " rattle of
their tongues to bear upon the brute."* When ill-
treated, the Kaffir wife can claim an asylum with her
father, till her husband has made atonement. " Nor
would many European husbands like to be subjected to
the usual discipline on such occasions. The offending
husband must go in person to ask for his wife. He is
instantly surrounded by the women of the place, who
cover him at once with reproaches and blows. Their
nails and fists may be used with impunity, for it is the
day of female vengeance, and the belaboured delinquent
is not allowed to resist. He is not permitted to see his
wife, but is sent home, with an intimation of what
cattle are expected from him, which he must send before
he can demand his wife again." * Amongst the Kunama
the wife has an agent who protects her against her
husband, and fines him for ill-treatment. She possesses
considerable authority in the house, and is on equal

^ Featherman, op, eit. v. 645.

* A. Leared, Morocco and the Moors^ 119.

' D. Christison, in Joum, Antkrop, Inxt, xi. 43.

^ J. Bon wick. Daily Lift and Origin of the Tasmanians, 73.

' Maclean, op. cit, 53.

terms with her husband.^ Amongst the Beni-Amer
women enjoy considerable independence. To obtain
marital privileges, the husband has to make his wife a
present of value. He must do the same for every
harsh word he uses, and is often kept a whole night out
of doors in the rain, until he pays. The women have a
strong esprit de corps ; when a wife is ill-treated the
other women come in to help her ; it goes without
saying that the husband is always in the wrong. The
women express much contempt for the men, and it is
considered disgraceful in a woman to show love for her
husband.^

The first of these examples shows the length to
which religious ideas may carry this segregation, the
last is one of many cases in which the solidarity of sex
is seen. This is well brought out in examples of club-
life, and there is here a close parallel to be found, not
merely humorous, in the institution and etiquette of the.
modern club. The same biological tendency is behind
both the modern and the primitive institution, though
the later one is no longer supported by religious ideas:
Again, sexual differentiation often develops into reat
antagonism. The attempts of the Indians of California
to keep their women in check show how the latter
were struggling up to equality.® An account of the
Hottentots represents that the women, though ill- *
treated and forced to do harder work, can defend them-
selves and avenge their wrongs.* A Poul (Fulah}
governs his wives by force, but they recoup themselves
when they get the chance.* The Indian of Brazil has*
a wholesome dread of his wives, and "follows the

^ Munzinger, op. cit, 387. ^ IJ. 324, 325,

• Powers, cp. eit. 406. * Waitz-Gcrland, op. cit. ii. 341.

' Hhtoire wtk/erselle des 'voyages, xxviii. 439.

Ill SEXUAL ANTAGONISM 43

maxim of laissez faire with regard to their intrigues." ^
Amongst the Wataveita fire-making is not revealed to
women, " because/' say the men, " they would then
become our masters." * The Miris will not allow their
women to eat tiger's flesh, lest it should make them tQo
strong-minded.® The Fuegians celebrate a festival, ,
Kina^ in conmiemoration of their revolt against the
women, " who formerly had the authority, and possessed
the secrets of sorcery." * In the Dieri tribe of South
Australia men threaten their wives, should they do any-
thing wrong, with the "bone," the instrument of
sorcery, which, when pointed at the victim, causes
death ; " this produces such dread among the women,
that mostly instead of having a salutary eflfect,' it causes
them to hate their husbands." * The Pomo Indians of
California " find it very difficult to maintain authority
over their women." A husband often terrifies his wife
into submission by personating an ogre ; after this she
is usually tractable for some days.® Amongst the Tatu
Indians of California, the men have a secret society,
which gives periodic dramatic performances, with the
object of keeping the women in order. The chief
actor, disguised as a devil, charges about among the
assembled squaws.^ The Gualala and Patwin Indians
have similar dances, performed by the assembled men,
to show the women the necessity of obedience.® In
Africa the anxious attempts of the men to keep the
women down have been noted.^ The adult males in
South Guinea have a secret association, Nda^ whose
object is to keep the women, children, and slaves in

^ PloM u. Bartels, Das fVeib^ ii. 424. * Joum, Anthrop, Inst. xv. 10.

• E. T. Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, 33.

* Giraud-Teulon, Lex origines du mortage et de lafamtlle, 448.

B Native Tribes of South Australia, 276. ^ Powers, op. eit, 154, 161.

^ Id, 141. * Id, 193, 224. > Battian, San Salvador, 182.

order.^ The Mumbo-Jumbo of the Mandingos is well
known. The same performer, who represents Mumbo-
Jumbo, has also the duty of keeping the sexes apart for
the forty days after circumcision.^ Other instances of
associations to keep the women in subjection are the
Egbo in Calabar, Oro in Yoruba, the Purro^ Semo^ and
varieties of Egbo on the west coast, the Bundu amongst
the Bullamers.® Women in their turn form similar
^ associations amongst themselves, in which they discuss
their wrongs and form plans of revenge. Mpongwe
women have an institution of this kind, which is really
feared by the men.* Similarly amongst the Bakalais
and other African tribes.*

1 The way in which each sex is self-centred is also
I illustrated by the natural practice that women worship
female, and men male deities. This needs no illustra-
tion, but a very instructive case may be quoted, which
comes from ancient Roman life. When husband and
wife quarrelled, they visited the shrine of the goddess
Viriplaca on the Palatine. After opening their hearts
in confession, they would return in harmony. This
" appeaser of the male sex " was regarded as domes tide
pads custos.^ Similarly, Bakalai women have a tutelar
spirit, which protects them against their male enemies
and avenges their wrongs.^ According to the Green-
landers, the moon is a male and the sun a female spirit ;
the former rejoices in the death of women, while the
latter has her revenge in the death of men. All males,
therefore, keep within doors during an eclipse of the

1 J. L. Wilson, TFestem AfricOy 396." « Waitz-Gerland, op, cie. ii. 118.

' Bastian, op, cit, 179 5 Waitz-Gerland, op, cit, ii. 1 18 ; Journ, Anthrop, hat, vi. 121.
^ Bastian, op, cit. 180 ; id, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, iii. 294 j id, Loango KSste^
ii. 24 \ J. L. Wilson, op, eit, 397.

^ P. B. Du Chaillu, E^torial Africa, 296.

^ Valerius Maximus, ii. 16. "^ Du Chaillu, op. cit, loc, cit.

Ill SEX IN RELIGION

sun, and all females during an eclipse of the moon.^
In the Pelew Islands the kalids of men are quiet and
gentlemanly ; it is those of women that make disturb-
ances, and inflict disease and death on members of the
family.* The same hostility makes use of the system
of sex-totems. In the Port Lincoln tribe a small kind
of lizard, the male of which is called Ibirriy and the
female Waka^ is said to have divided the sexes in the
himian species, " an event which would appear not to
be much approved of by the natives, since either sex
has a mortal hatred against the opposite sex of these
little animals, the men always destroying the Waka and
the women the Ibirriy * In the Wotjobaluk tribe it is
believed that the " life of Ngunungunut (the bat) is the
life of a man, and the life of Yartatgurk (the nightjar)
is the life of a woman " ; when either is killed, a man
or woman dies. Should one of these animals be killed,
every man or every woman fears that he or she may be
the victim ; and this gives rise to numerous fights.
" In these fights, men on one side, and women on the
other, it was not at all certain who would be victorious,
for at times the women gave the men a severe drubbing
with their yam-sticks, while often the women were
injured or killed by spears."* In some Victorian
tribes the bat is the man's animal, and they " protect
it against injury, even to the half-killing of their wives
for its sake." The goatsucker belongs to the women,
who protect it jealously. '* If a man kills one, they are
as much enraged as if it was one of their children, and
will strike him with their long poles." The mantis
also belongs to the men and no woman dares kill it.*

^ Cranz, Greenland.^ i. 213.

^ J. S. Kubary in Bastian't AlUrlei aus Volks- und Menschenkunde^ i. 22.

' Native Tribes of South AustraliOf 241. ^ Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 58.

' Dawton, Australian AhorigineSy 53.

\ Such segregation of the sexes has influenced language.
In Madagascar there are terms proper for a woman to
use to her own sex, others for women to men, and for
men to women.^ Amongst the Guaycurus the women
have many words and phrases peculiar to themselves,
and never employed by men ; the reason being that the
women are "barred" by the men.^ So in Surinam.*
The proper Fijian term for a newly circimicised boy is
tevCy which may not be uttered when women are pre-
sent, in which case the word kula is used ; and there are
many words in the language which it is tambu to utter
in female society.* In Micronesia many words are
tabooed for men when conversing with women.* In
Japan female writing has quite a diflferent syntax and
many peculiar idioms ; the Japanese alphabet possesses
two sets of characters, katakana for the use of men, and
hiragana for women.^ In Fiji, again, women make their
salutations in different words from those of the men.^

^In the language of the Abipones some words vary
according to sex.® The island Caribs have two distinct
vocabularies, one used by men and by women when
speaking to men, the other used by women when speak-
ing to each other, and by men when repeating in oratio
obliqua some saying of the women. Their councils of
war are held in a secret dialect or jargon, in which the
women are never initiated.® It has been suggested that
this inconvenient custom, according to which a Carib
needs to know, like Ennius, three languages, is due to

^ J. Sibree in Jowrn, Antbrop, Inst. ix. 48.

' Waitz-Gcrland, op, at, iiL 472. • Ploss u. Barteli, op, cit, i. 1 10.

^ Williami, op, cit, i. 167 ; Anderson, op. cit, 89.

^ Waitz-OerUnd, op, cit, v. 147.

• I. Bird, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, i. 133 ; Siebold, Manners and Customs of tkg
JapaneUy \, 299.

' Wilkes, op, cit, iii. 326. 8 DobrixhofFer, op, cit, ii. 197.

• im Thurn, op, cit, 186 ; Brett, op, cit, 131.

Ill SEX IN LANGUAGE 47

exogamy, husband and wife retdning the languages of
their original tribes respectively. This explanation,
however, does not account for the martial dialect, and
has been refuted by Mr. im Thurn on other grounds.^
Even in cases where this explanation may hold, this
cause is not the ultimate origin of the custom, but
merely carries on an existing practice. Thus in some
tribes of Victoria, the marriage -system is organised
exogamy, but the inconvenience of sexual taboos has led
to the use of iuf Artificial language or " turn-tongue." ^
Similar phenomena occur in all stages of culture, and
in modern Europe sexual separation to some extent still
influences popular language, women and men respectively
using certain terms peculiar to each sex.

In connection with names, sexual taboo has developed
a prohibition which has had a particular influence upon
many languages. A Hindu wife is never allowed to
mention the name of her husband. She generally
speaks of him, therefore, as "the master" or "man of
the house."® Amongst the Barea the wife may not
utter her husband's name.* Amongst the Kirgiz the
women may not utter the names of the male members
of the household, to do so being "indecent."* A
Zulu woman may not call her husband by his name,
either when addressing him or when speaking of him
to others ; she must use the phrase " father of so-and-
so." This particularly applies to the i-gama (real
name). Further, the women may not use the inter^
dieted words in their ordinary sense. Consequently
they are obliged to alter words and phrases which con-
tain the prohibited sounds. This has had considerable
influence upon the language, and the women have a

1 Loc. cit. ' Dawson, op, cit. 40. ' Ward, The Hindoos, ii. 337,

* Muazinger, of>, cit, 526. ' Ploss u. Bartels, of, cit. i. iii.

large vocabulary of their own. Any woman transgress-
ing the rule is accused of witchcraft by the " doctor,"
and punished with death. This prohibition on names
belongs to the hlonipa system, and the altered vocabu-
lary of the women, which is unintelligible to the men,
is called ukuSeta ktvabapzi, "women's language."^ In
the Solomon Islands men show considerable reluctance
to give the names of women, and when prevailed upon
to do so, pronounce them in a loa^Me. as if It were
not proper to speak of them to ot^B^B^the Pelew
Islands men are not allowed to speak openly of married
women, nor to mention their names.' Amongst the
Todas there is some delicacy in mentioning the names
of women at all ; they prefer to use the phrase " wife
of so-and-so."' A Servian never speaks of his wife
or daughter before men.* Amongst the Nishinams o?
California a husband never calls his wife by name on
any account ; should he do so she has the right to get a
divorce. In this tribe no one can be induced to divulge
his own name." Dr. Frazer has explained this wide-
spread reluctance'; the name is a vital part of a man,
and often regarded as a sort of soul. Sexual taboo has
used this idea to form a special duty as between men
and women, especially husbands and wives. In one or
two cases feelings of proprietary jealousy have doubt-
less had some influence, but as a rule the religious fears
as to sexual relations have played the chief pan in tljM
prohibition. ■

' C«lbiw«]r, f. til. \ i6 [ Shootet. if. <k.

• o«ppy. f- '» '■ 4T-
> J. S. Kubicr to BMitin't W/JWA^ « IVi>- w^ StaactatMmU,

« MtntMll, jl rWMiKix «— (B ri> TMm t;.

* Mitvrcllin /WUn^il. fl. ■ Powtn, ^ tif. }I5.
' J. ti. Ftuct, rif OiMM Bt^\ i. tej .f.

Wuu-Ocrluiil,~r^ tit. iL jgg.
id. Kg

Ill SEX IN OCCUPATIONS 49

Evidence drawn from the respective occupations of
the two sexes throws further light upon sexual taboo.
Sexual differentiation in primary and secondary sexual
characters necessitates some difference of occupation, and
the religious ideas of primitive man have emphasised
the biological separation.

Amongst the Dacotas custom and superstition ordain
that the wife iMst carefully keep away from all that
belongs to J^^Hpband's sphere of action.^ The
Bechuanas IKverailow women to touch their cattle,
accordingly the men have to plough themselves.* So
amongst the Kaffirs, " because of some superstition." *
Amongst the Todas women may not approach the
tirieriy where the sacred cattle are kept, nor the sacred
paldls} In Guiana no women may go near the hut
where ourali is made.* In the Marquesas Islands the
use of canoes is prohibited to the female sex by tabu ;
the breaking of the rule is punished with death. Con-
versely, amongst the same people, /^/>tf-making belongs
exclusively to women ; when they are making it for
their own head-dresses it is tabu for men to touch it.®
In Nicaragua all the marketing was done by women.
A man might not enter the market or even see the
proceedings, at the risk of a beating.^ In New Cale-
donia it is considered infra dig, for the men to perform
manual labour, at any rate in the neighbourhood of the
settlement ; such work is done by women only.* In
Samoa, where the manufacture of cloth is allotted solely
to the women, it is a degradation for a man to engage
in any detail of the process.* In the Andaman Islands

* Waitx-Gcrland, op. cit. iii. lOO. ^ Journ. Anthrop. Inxt, x. ii.

• Jd. xvi. 119. * Marshall, op, cit. 137.

• im Thum, op cit. 311, ® Melville, op. cit, 13, 245.
' H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, iii. 145.

* Anderson, op, cit, 231. * W. T. Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences, 131.

the performance by men of duties supposed to belong
to women only, is regarded as infra dig} An Eskimo
thinks it an indignity to row in an umiak^ the large
boat used by women. The different offices of husband
and wife are also very clearly distinguished ; for ex-
ample, when he has brought his booty to land, it would
be a stigma on his character if he so much as drew a
seal ashore, and, generally, it is regarded as scandalous
for a man to interfere with what is the w^rk of women.*
In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women ;
on one occasion when the men were perforce compelled
to bake, they were only persuaded to do so with the
utmost difficulty, and were ever after pointed at as old
women.® Exactly the same feelings subsist in the
highest civilisations.

The chief occupations of the male sex in those
. stages of culture with which we have principally to deal
are hunting and war. The supreme importance of
these occasions has been referred to above, and is
expressed by such terms as the Polynesian tabu. These
terms generally imply rules and precautions intended to
secure the safety and success of the warrior or hunter,
which form sometimes a sort of system of " training."
Among these regulations the most constant is that
which prohibits every kind of intercourse with the
female sex. Thus in New Zealand a man who has any
important business on hand, either in peace or war, is
tapu and must keep from women. On a war party
men are tapu to women, and may not go near their
wives until the fighting is over.* In South Africa
before and during an expedition men may have no

^ Man, in Joum, Anthrop. Inst, zii. 286.

' F. Nansen, The First Oosdng of Greenland^ 192 j Cranz, op. cit, i. 138, 154.

• im Thurn, op. cit. 256.

* Waits-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 349 ; Tregear, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xix. iii.

Ill SEXUAL TABOO 51

connection with women.^ Nootka Indians before war
abstain from women.^ In South-East New Guinea for
some days before fighting the men are " sacred," helega^
and are not allowed to see or approach any woman.^ A
Samoyed woman is credited with the power of spoiling
the success of a hunt.* Amongst the Ostyaks harm
befalls the hunter either from the ill-wishes of an enemy
or the vicinity of a woman.*^ Amongst the Ahts whale-
fishers must abstain from women.^ A Motu man
before hunting or fishing is helega ; he may not see his
wives, else he will have no success.^ North American
Indians both before and after war refrain " on religious
grounds " from women. " Contact with females makes
a warrior laughable, and injures, as they believe, his
bravery for the future." Accordingly the chiefs of the
Iroquois, for instance, remain as a rule unmarried until
they have retired from active warfere.® The Damaras
may not look upon a lying-in woman, else they will
become weak and consequently be killed in battle.®
In the Booandik tribe if men see women's blood they
will not be able to fight.^^ In some South American
tribes the presence of a woman lately confined makes
the weapons of the men weak,^^ and the same belief
extends amongst the Tschutsches to hunting and fish-
ing implements.^^ Amongst the Zulus women may
not go near the army when about to set out. Old
women, however, who are past chUd-bearing may do
so ; for such " have become men " and " no longer

^ Macdonald, in Journ, Anthrof, List, xix. 284.

^ Bancroft, op, at, i. 189.

' Chalmers, Pioneering in New Guinea, 65.

^ Ploss u. BarteU, op, cit, ii. 433. ^ Erman, op, cit, ii. 55.

^ G. M. Sproat, Scenes and SttuHa 0/ Savage Lije, 227.

7 Chalmers, op, cit, 186. ^ Waitz-Gerland, 0/. cit. Hi. 158, 159.

> SoutA African Folklore Journal, ii. 63. ^^ J. Smith, The Booandik Tribe, 5.

^^ Ploss u. Bartels, op, cit, ii. 26. ^ Id,, op, cit. loc, cit.

observe the customs of hlonipa in relation to the

men.

Woman has generally been debarred more or less
from the public life and civil rights of men. This is an
■ extension of the biological difference of occupation,
sometimes exaggerated into seclusion amongst poly-
gamous races, and into somewhat of inferiority in
martial and feudal societies. We may instance, to go
no further, the Australian natives, the Fijians, who have
religious grounds for the exclusion, the Sumatrans, the
Hindus and Muhammadans, and mofet civilised nations.*

Again, women are more often than not, excluded
from the religious worship of the community. The
Arabs of Mecca will not allow women religious instruc-
tion, because "it would bring them too near their
masters." According to some theologians of Islam,
they have no place in Paradise.* The Ansayrees con-
sider woman to be an inferior being without a soul, and
"therefore compel her to do all the drudgery and
exclude her from religious services." * In the Sandwich
Islands women were not allowed to share in worship or
festivals, and their touch "polluted" offerings to the
gods.^ If a Hindu woman touches an image, its
divinity is thereby destroyed and it must be thrown
away.® The Australians are very jealous lest women or
strangers should intrude upon their sacred mysteries :
it is death for a woman to look into a bora.^ In Fiji
women are kept away from all worship ; dogs are
excluded from some temples, women from all.® In the

^ Callaway, op, cit, 441-43.

* Waitz-Gerland, op, cit, vi. 775, 627 j Junghuhn, op, cit, ii. 97.

' Letoumeau, op, cit, 180. ^ Featherman, op, cit, v. 495.

B W. Ellis, op, cit. i, 129 ; Melnicke, op, cit, ii. 300.

• Ward, op, cit, ii. 13. ' Ridley, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst, ii. 271,
® Williams, Fiji and the Fijians^ i. 232, 238 j Waitz-Gcrland, op, cit, vi. 627.

Ill SEXUAL TABOO 53

Gilbert and Marshall Islands and in Tonga, women are
excluded from worship.^ The women of the hill tribes
near Rajmahal may not sacrifice nor appear at shrines,
nor take part in religious festivals.* Amongst the
Tschuwashes women dare not assist at sacrifices.*
Bayeye women may not enter the place of sacrifice,
which is the centre of tribal life.* Amongst the Gallas
women may not go near the sacred woda-trtc where
worship is celebrated.^ On the east of the Gulf of
Papua women are not allowed to approach the temple.®
In New Ireland women may not enter the temples.^ In
the Marquesas Islands the hoolah^hoolah ground, where
festivals are held, is tabu to women, who are killed if
they enter or even touch with their feet the shadow of
the trees.®

Festivals and feasts, dances and entertainments of
various character, are similarly often prohibited to
women. In the Schingu tribes of Brazil women may
not be present at the dances and feasts.® In New
Britain women are not allowed to be present at the
festivals, and when men are talking of things which
women may not hear, the latter must leave the hut.^®
Amongst the Ahts women are never invited to the
great feasts." Amongst the Aleuts the women
have dances from which the men are excluded ; the
men have their dances and exclude women. It is
regarded as a fatal mischance to see on these occasions

^ Meinicke, op* cit, ii. 338 ; Waitz-GerUnd, op, cit, vi. 348.

3 Aiiatick Researches^ iv. 51, loi. ' M. P. S. Pallas, Vofages^ i. 135.

^ South African Folklore Journal^ ii. 36.

6 W. C. HarrU, The HighUnds of Ethiopia^ iii. 56.
^ Chalmers and Gill, New Guinea,, 140, 150.

7 H. H. Romilly, The fTestem Pacific and New Guinea, 44.

^ Melville, op, cit. 100. ' Von den Steitun, op, cit, 214.

'^ R. Parkinson, hi Bismarck Archipelago^ 300 ; Romilly, op, cit, 29.
^ G. M. Sproat, op, cit. 60.

one of the opposite sex.* Similar exclusion of women
from what is regarded as not being their sphere is
indeed very widely spread, and is of course foimd in the
highest civilisations.

Where the prohibition is not needed to be carried
out, the ideas which underlie these customs are satisfied
by separating the sexes, as is the case still in many
Catholic churches. Much in the same way the sexes
never mingle together at the dances in the Hervey
Islands.* Amongst the Nufoers of New Guinea men
and women are separated on the same occasions ; * and
at entertainments of every kind amongst the Green-
landers men and women sit apart.*

In the next place we have to consider the very
widely spread rule which insists upon the separation of
the sexes, so far as is possible, at those functional crises
with which sex is concerned. It is a special result of
the ideas of sexual taboo applied to the most obvious
sexual differences, primary sexual characters.

During pregnancy there is sometimes avoidance
between the wife and the husband, as in the Caroline
Islands, where men may not eat with their wives during
pregnancy,^ and in Fiji where a pregnant woman may
not wait upon her husband.® Lenape women as soon
as they were pregnant separated from their husbands.^
So also amongst the Coroados, Puris, and Coropos.®

At birth, though there are a few cases where the
husband attends or assists his wife, the general rule
throughout the peoples of the world is that only the

^ W. H. Dall, Alaska and its Resources^ 389 ; Bancroft, op, at. Hi. 145.

« W. W. Gill, Life in tAe Southern Isles, 65.

s Van Hauelt, in Zeitschrifi fir Etkmlogie, viii. 186.

* Cranz, 0^. df. i. 158. ^ Waitz-Gerland, op, cit, vii. 106.

• Williamt, op. cit, i, 137. ' Featherman, op, eit, iii. 107.
^ Spiz and Martiot, Travels in Brasul, 247.

Ill SEXUAL CRISES 5j

female sex may be present. Thus in Buru only old
women may be in the room.^ In South Africa the
husband may not see his wife while she is lying-in.*
Amongst the Basutos the father is separated from
mother and child for four days, and may not see them
until the medicine man has performed the religious
ceremony of " absolution of the man and wife." If this
were neglected, it is believed that he would die when he
saw his wife.*

At puberty it is a widespread rule that neither sex
may see the other. Amongst the Narrinyeri boys
during initiation are called narumbe^ i.e. sacred from
the touch of women, and everything that they possess
or obtain becomes narumbe also.* Amongst the Basutos
no woman may come near the boys during initiation.^
In New Ireland girls may not be seen by any males
except relatives from puberty to marriage, during which
time they are kept in cages.® No man may come near
the girls of Ceram while they are being subjected to the
ceremonies necessary at puberty.^

During menstruation generally, the separation of the
sexes is most prominent, and is most widely spread.
As examples, there are the Pueblo Indians, amongst
whom women must separate from the men at menstrua-
tion, and before delivery, because if a man touch a
woman at those times he will fall ill.® An Australian,
finding that his wife had lain on his blanket during
menstruation, killed her, and died of terror in a
fortnight.®

^ J. G. F. Riedel, De slmk-en kroetkarigt ratsen ttaschat Silebes en Papma^ 24.
3 Macdonald, in Jonm, Antkrop, Lut, xix. 267.

Grutxncr, in Ztitukrifi fir Et^noiogie for 1877, 78.

Nativ€ Tribes ofSomk Australia^ 69.

K. Endemann, in Zeitukrifi fir Etkmlogie for 1874, 37.

B. Danlu, in Joum. Antkrop, Lut. xviii. 284. ^ Riedel, op, ctt, 138.

Bancroft^ op, cit, i. 549. • W. Ridley, in Joiaii, Antkrop, Lut, ii. 268.

Even at marriage there is a good deal of separation
of the sexes, and actually of the bride and bridegroom
for as long as possible. Thus in Amboina none but
women may enter the room where the bride sits in
state.^ In the Watubella Islands the men stand on one
side with the groom and the women on the other with
the bride. The feast is in two parts ; the groom and
the men eat their " breakfast " separately, and then the
bride and the women fall to.* At marriage -feasts
amongst the Jews of Jerusalem the men sit on one side
with the bridegroom, while the bride and the women
occupy the opposite side of the room.' And generally,
at marriage, the bride is escorted by women, and the
bridegroom by men.

In these cases there is avoidance between the sexes at
sexual crises, as a rule more emphasised than that
during ordinary life. The question may be asked — is
the latter prohibition merely an extension of the former ?
When we penetrate to the ideas lying behind both, we
shall find these to be identical, and of such a specific
character and universal extension that we must suppose
the sex-taboos imposed at sexual crises to be simply
emphasised results of these ideas, though, as always,
such results become through the very continuance of
the phenomena to which they apply, further causes for
the support of these ideas. Not to anticipate what will
be treated of later, it may be pointed out first that
perhaps the most widely spread and the most stringent
of all sex-taboos has nothing to do with sexual functions
— ^this is the prohibition against eating together. In the
second place, in order rightly to estimate the whole of •
the evidence, it must be borne in mind that these sexual .

^ A. S. Bickmore, East Indian Archipelago, 276.
' Riedel, op, cit, 205. ' Featherman, op. cit. v. 140.

Ill ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL TABOO 57

functions are parallel to the various occupations of the
respective sexes : in biology and in primitive thought
child-bearing is as much a feminine occupation as is the
preparation of meals, and the confirmation of a boy as
much of a male occupation as is warfare or the chase.
Also, it is clear from a survey of the various cases of
sexual taboo, first, that the avoidance is of the religious
and taboo character; secondly, that men and women
are afraid of dangerous results from each other — the
fact that we see more of the man's side of the question
is an instance of the way in which the male sex has
practically monopolised the expression of thought ; and j
thirdly, that where one sex or the other is particularly
liable to danger, as men at war, or women at child-birth,
more care is naturally taken to prevent injury from the
other sex.

In the taboos against eating together, we shall see an
expression of that almost universal preference for
solitude, while important physiological functions are
proceeding, due ultimately to the instinct of self-
preservation in the form of subconscious physiological
thought arising from those functions ; and in the
taboos against one or the other sex in sexual crises the
same preference is seen, commuted by sexual solidarity
to a preference for the presence of the same sex ; and
in all forms of the taboo it is evident that to a religious
regard for personal security, there has been applied a
religious diffidence concerning persons who are more or w
less unknown, different from what is normal, different
from one's self. /

So far, then, we may take it that the complementary
difference of sex, producing by physiological laws a
certain difference of life no less than of function, came
in an early stage of mental development to be accentu-

ated by religious ideas, which thus enforced more
strongly such separation as is due to nature. The
separation thus accentuated by religious conceptions as
to sexual difference, is assisted by the natural solidarity
of each sex, until there is, as we find so very generally,
a prohibition or sex-taboo more or less regularly imposed
throughout life. Man and woman, as such, are ignorant
of each other, as if they were diflFerent species ; they are
constantly tending to become, what they never can
become, two divided castes ; every woman and every
man are, as men and women, potentially taboo to each
other.

All living religious conceptions spring from more or
less constant functional origins, physiological and psycho-
logical. Now when we look at mankind in general,
and in particular at civilised societies, we find that men
as a rule prefer to associate with men, and women with
women, except on those occasions when the functional
needs of love, for instance, call for union and sympathy
between the sexes. We may thus realise that the same
biological causes, working through human ideas of
primary and secondary sexual difference, produce this
subconscious preference which we find in the civilised
man, and with more primitive expression in the modern
boy, no less than the religious segregation we find
amongst early peoples.

Chapter IV

Before passing on to the discussion of primitive ideas
of human relations, there is the problem of the connec-
tion of human persons with the spiritual agencies of
taboo in its social aspect to be considered.

Primitive science is materialistic, and the fact is
evident in every case cited, that evil or harm — even
when due to evil spirits — is of a material nature. Evil
spirits in the first place are warded off by material
methods. Thus the Khonds prevent the approach of
Joogah Petinu, the goddess of small-pox, by barricading
the paths with thorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons
of stinking oil.* Amongst the Bechuanas, to arrest
disease or prevent it from entering a village, a pointed
stone is planted at the middle of the entrance, or a
cross-bar smeared with " medicine," *

In the next place, there is a vagueness as to the
distinction between spirits and material evil influence.
Amongst the natives of Central Australia ^rungquiltha
is the term applied to persons or things possessed of
magical power. For instance, " a pointing stick used
by a medicine man is Arungquiltha ; it is applied indis-
orfninately to the magical influence itself, and to the
object in which it is resident. It is a vague term, and
sometimes can be best expressed by saying that a thing

' Macphenon, Mmariali efSirvia in InJia, jjo.
■ Snai jtfiiim FMi-n J<mrnel, i. 34.

is possessed by an evil spirit." * In the Luang Sermata
Islands sickness is caused by bad food, " bad wind," the
influence of evil persons or evil spirits.^ Amongst the
Indians of Costa Rica there are two kinds of ceremonial
uncleanness, nya and bu-ku-ru. The former is con-
nected with death, the latter, which is the more
virulent, is most dangerous from a woman in her first
pregnancy. She infects the whole neighbourhood, and
all deaths are laid at her door. People going from her
house carry the contagion with them. Arms and
utensils transmit it, and therefore the people beat
things with a stick before using, or sweep the house.
A place which has not been visited for a long time, or
one approached for the first time, is infected with
iu-ku-ru. " It is an evil spirit, or rather a property
acquired." * The personification of various evils and of
diseases and plagues is so well known as to need no
illustration. In the following cases there is a confusion
between evil spirits and contagious matter, real or
imaginary. Amongst the Dieri and neighbouring
tribes of South Australia, no one is believed to contract
a disease or complaint, or even to die, from natural
causes. The disease or death is caused by some enemy,
of their own or neighbouring tribe, and in any serious
case the Koonkies or doctors are called in, to beat out
the devil, Cootchie. "This is done by beating the
ground in and out of the camp, chasing him away for
some distance." Also, "many an innocent man has
been condemned to death through this superstition,
being believed to have in his possession the small bone
of a human leg." * Amongst the Vedahs of Travancore,

^ spencer and Gillen, The Native Tribet of Central AustraRAf 548.
2 Riedel, op, at, 327. • W. M. Gabb, op. cit, 504.

* Gaton, in Joum, Anthroip, Jntt, xxiv, 170.

IV SPIRITS MATERIAL AND CONTAGIOUS 6i

the wife at menstruation lives in a separate hut for five
days, at a good distance from the home. The next five
days she spends in another, half-way distant. During
these ten days, the husband dares not eat in his house
anything but roots, for fear of being killed by " the
devil." ^ The Maoris believed that the spirits of dead
ancestors could send a kahukaku to a man ; this would
enter his body and feed on vital parts. In a Maori
poem the statement occurs, "should the kahukahu
gnaw spitefully, it will be certain death." The kahukahu
is the personification of the germs of a human being,
supposed to be contained in the menses^ and the Maoris
avoid contact with menstrual blood as if it were a
poison.* Again, in Manchuria the sedan-chair in which
the bride goes to the home of the groom is " disin-
fected" with incense, to drive away "evil spirits."*
They seem therefore to be regarded as material influ-
ences resembling germs of a disease. The properties of
the taboo state are in fact always material and trans-
missible, and are removed by material methods as if
they were a physical secretion or emanation. Thus in
Fiji, when tabu is removed, the tabooed persons wash
in a stream ; they then take an animal, a pig or turtle,
on which they wipe their hands, and this animal becomes
sacred to the chief. The tabu is now oflF, and they are
free to work, to feed themselves, and to live with their
wives.* In Borneo and South Celebes evil spirits, after
a funeral for instance, cling to one's body "like a
burr."* The Friar Roman Pane described a native
sorcerer in the West Indies " pulling the disease oflF the

^ PI088, Dai Kittdy ii. 435.

' ShoitUnd, Southern Districts ofNtw Zealand^ 294-95.
> Lockhart, in Folklore, i. 487. * Wilket, op. cit. ii. 99.

^ M. J. F. Perelaer, Ethnographischt Beschrijtfing der Dajaks, 44, 54, 252 ;
Matthet, op» cit, 49.

patient's legs as one pulls ofF a pair of trousers/'^
In the New Hebrides, ceremonial " uncleanness," for
instance from death or child-birth, is taken oflF by
sweeping a branch over the body.* To cure a sick
person, the Navajo priest pressed bundles of stuff to
diflFerent parts of the body from head to foot. Each
time after pressing them on the body, he *' held them
up to the smoke-hole, and blew on them in that direc-
tion a quick puflF, as if blowing away some evil influence
which the bundles were supposed to draw from the
body." They were then buried.'

We see then that evil spirits are not always clearly
distinguished from the transmissible properties of matter.
The latter are no doubt often regarded logically enough
as the emanations of the "evil spirit," the trail or
slime of the serpent ; but the points to be stressed are,
first, that where evil spirits are predicated of tabooed
persons the evil can be transmitted by contagion and
infection ; secondly, that many so-called " evil spirits "
are not supernatural persons at all, but evil material
properties of natural things or of human persons.
Further, this latter notion is a factor in the process of
anthropomorphic personification, of which more is to be
said ; and the whole set of phenomena illustrates the
importance of material contact as leading to transmis^on
of material evil.

In fact, the inherent materialism of human thought,
which so hardly allows of progress to idealism, is even
more in evidence among primitive men than it is now.
Primitive man believes in the supernatural, but super-
natural beings and existences are to him really material
— the supernatural is a part of and obeys the laws of

^ E, B. Tylor, Primitive Culture^ ii. 129. ^ D. Macdonald, Oceaniay 184.

' Wathington Mathews, in Fifth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology ^ 420.

nature. How difficult it is to conceive of iinmaterial
existence, except by a negation of thought, is well
seen in popular conceptions of the nature of the
soul, especially those of modern spiritualism. In the
last analysis of these conceptions, the soul is gener-
ally found to be simply attenuated or etherealised
matter. Similar are the conceptions of early man,
not only of the soul, but of all supernatural beings,
existences, and influences ; and they are well illus-
trated by the methods used in dealing with such,
being generally those that would be used in dealing

with matter.

In the next place, there are the familiar facts of

anthropomorphism. " Man never knows how anthropo-
morphic he is." Goethe's epigram applies most com-
pletely to early man, for he is more anthropomorphic
in his ideas, and is less aware of the fact. He thinks of
everything in terms of himself, and his ideal creations
of supernatural beings are generally in his own image,
or in the image of animals which for him are man-like
as possessing such close similarities of structure and
function. The modern theory of descent would have
been easily understood in its general outline by early
man, who has, by the way, several conceptions which
foreshadow it. The Digger Indians of California say
that their ancestors derived their existence from coyotes ;
these became Indians, but as one died the body was
changed into a number of little creatures which were
gradually developed into deer, elks, and antelopes ;
others took wings and flew about in the air. Men
originally went on all fours, and gradually progressed
to a higher organisation. While in a state of transition,
they were in the habit of sitting upright, and from this
cause, having worn oflF their tails, they now appear

without this appendage.^ The Central Australians have
the theory of man's descent from animals.*

There is often a natural confusion between the person
who is possessed or obsessed by spirits and the spirits
themselves, as in the case of him whose name was
L^ion. Thus, according to the Cambodians, the Arak
are spirits, dwelling in trees or houses. Grou are
sorcerers, men or women, who invoke the jiraky and
are possessed by them. During the period of posses-
sion they are themselves called Arak^ the latter being
incarnate in them.* The Nickol Bay natives believe in
an evil spirit, Juno^ who kills men ; when a man of the
tribe prowls about seeking to kill other blacks, he is
said to be a Juno for the time.*

A priori it would be expected that in cases where a
dangerous condition or taboo state arises in close con-
nection with a man's fellow -men, he should have
inferred from his experience of all human relations that
the danger was due to one or more of his fellows, and
psychology bears this out.

In the psychology of personification there are two
processes to be observed. First, there are the pheno-
mena of ideation, especially when visualised. The fact
that the memory-image is formed below the threshold
of consciousness, and suddenly emerges complete in
outline, is one of great importance for the origin and
development of animistic thought. As a simple illus-
tration, let us take the case of a man who is in fear of
another. For this, by the way, we often use the instruc-
tive phrase "bodily fear." Such a man will chiefly
avoid personal contact, as likely to result in personal
injury, and all ill that happens to him he will ascribe to

^ Featherman, op. cie, iii. 215. ^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 392.

* Aymonier, op, cit, 176. * E. M, Curr, The Auitralian Race, i. 298,

the influence of his enemy ; while in the secret depths of
his soui, the image of his foe, impressed upon his brain,
is lying dormant, ready at any moment to rise above the
threshold. Whenever he closes his eyes to shut out
the thought of his enemy, the image of him appears.
His brain is, in a word, " obsessed " by the image of his
foe. This memory-image, presented to complete con-
sciousness, I believe to be a factor in the origin of
anthropomorphic animism, of no less importance than
its subconscious appearance in sleep. The man's own
soul has thus acquired an image of his fix:, a tiny but
evil spirit, which appears within him, he knows not how
nor whence. Its presence helps to explain " possession,"
and certain conceptions of personal influence and of the
supernatural powers of man. The actual result to the
subject, apart from actual violence at his enemy's hands,
might be illness from fear. There are many cases on
record where similar fear has killed a man. If the man
did fall ill in this way, he would be perfectly justified in
inferring his enemy to have caused the illness ; there
are besides numerous cases where illness is attributed to
potential, in default of knowledge of actual human foes.
Early man knows little of bacteriolc^y, but he has the
great principle of contagion very strongly outlined and
extended all round the circle of human relations. If a
man who is sick is conscious of having made an enemy,
he generally attributes his sickness to him ; for to his
mind man can do everything, and everything he does
is potentially transmissible. In cases such as drowning,
injury from lightning, and from various natural forces
or objects other than man, of course other agencies are
inferred, though many such are anthropomorphic ; but
where a man, as in social relations is generally the case,
can ascribe his troubles to human ^ency, he does so.

CHA^l^

Ag^n, our supposed subject does not distinguish the
real and the ideal, and from this would arise a crowd
of ideas and precautionary measures against the ubiqui-
tous evil image of his foe, as well as against his actual
self. And there will be thus a constant interchange
between his natural and supernatural dangers. Now,
fear is the main cause of the precautions of taboo, and
though I do not insist that ideas concerning contact
obtained a religious connotation before the creation of
evil spirits, yet there is no doubt that the two sets of
ideas are, in reference to human relations, correlative,
and work tt^ether. Just as in artistic criticism one
comes back in the end to the personality behind a work,
so in human relations the beginning and the ending is
personality and personal contact. In these relations the
danger, which is both real and ideal, proceeds from man
and to man returns— the link between, say, the first
meeting with an enemy, and the second, being that
veritable Erinys, the visualised image of him in the
other's brain.

I now proceed to give actual cases from the relations
of man with man, in which ideas of physical and spiritual
danger combine in persons. There is a large mass of
such facts, and we find that the attribution of human
ills and sicknesses to human agency is more pronounced
in the lower and less in the higher stages of culture,
while modern science brings us back to the view of the
lower races.

In Ceram - laut sickness is caused through the
influence of evil spirits or "poisoning" by evil persons,
suwanggi. The two methods are practically inter-
changeable, and appear throughout the islands between
Celebes and New Guinea.^ In the Aru Islands such

' Riedel, 0^ tJ

178, x6s, Jo4,3o;, 341,

persons are able to extract men's souls. They can
make themselves invisible, or take the shape of bats,
pigs, dogs, crocodiles, or birds.^ Amongst the Dieri,
Auminie, Yandrawontha, Yarawuarka, and Pilladapa
tribes of Australia, "no person dies a natural death,
death is supposed to be caused by some evil-disposed
person of their own or neighbouring tribe ; they
religiously believe this superstition, it is called * Mookoo-
elieduckuna^ (translation : Mookoo^ * bone ' ; duckuna^
*to strike,' i.e. struck by a bone). Many an innocent
man has been condemned to death through this super-
stitious custom, believing that he had in his possession
the small bone of a human leg." ^ Amongst the tribes
of North- West Australia, no man can die unless he has
been bewitched. "Some one is supposed to come at
night and take away the fat out of the man's belly ;
and his friends must find out who did it, to kill him." *
The natives in the district of Powell's Creek, in the
northern territory of South Australia, ascribe *' death or
illness to some strange black - fellow, belonging to
another tribe, who has doomed a certain man or woman
to die or suffer from ill-health. It is not unusual, such
is their superstitious belief, that a man, apparently in
good health, will in a very short time lose condition
and die, under the impression that he has been doomed
by a member of some other tribe ; " * the people of the
Belyando tribe believe that no strong man dies except
as the consequence of witchcraft. "That should A
and B, two strong blacks of the same tribe who were
quite friendly, go out hunting together, and A, on
returning to the camp, be suddenly taken ill and die,

* Ricdcl, 253, 327. ^ Gason, op, cit. xxiv. 170.

• Bassett Smith, in Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 327,

* jf cairn. Anthrop, Inst. xxiv. 178.

the tribe would believe that B had killed him by
means of witchcraft, and demand his life accordingly/' *
Amongst the Murray River natives, at the fimend of a
dead person, some relative generally attempted to spear
some one, till it was explained that the deceased did not
die by sorcery.^ Messrs. Spencer and Gillen remark of
the Central Australians, ^'the undercurrent of anxious
feeling, which, though it may be stilled, and indeed
forgotten for a time, is yet always present. In lus
natural state the native is often thinking that some
enemy is attempting to harm him by means of evil
magic, and, on the other hand, he never knows when a
medicine-man in some distant group may not point him
out as guilty of killing some one else by magic. It is,
however," they add, " easy to lay too much stress upon
this. ... It is not right to say that the Australian
native lives in constant dread of the evil magic of an
enemy. The feeling is always, as it were, lying dor-
mant, and ready to be called up by any strange or
suspicious sound." ^ " All ailments of every kind, from
the simplest to the most serious, are without exception
attributed to the malign influence of an enemy in either
human or spirit shape."* "Amongst most Congo
tribes death is seldom regarded in the light of a natural
event. In most cases the charm doctor accuses an old
person, or a slave, of having been the cause. The
accused is forthwith secured, and at an appointed time
is submitted to a poison ordeal." * In Tongareva
death is ascribed to witchcraft.® The Kurnai believed
that death only occurred from accident, open violence,
or secret magic. The magical influence of enemies was

* Curr, cf, ciu iii. 27, 28. ' Eyre, 9p, cie. U, 349, 353.

* Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 53, 54. ^ Id, 530.

* H. Ward, in Joum, Antkrop, Inst, xxiv. 287.

• W. W. Gill, Jottings frm the Pacific, 225.

the ordinary cause of natural death, though sometimes
attributed to evil spirits.^ The Abipones thought that
no one would die if the jugglers and Spaniards were
banished. They attributed every death to these. Man
could only die by magic, and a sick man often suspected
some person of making him ill, and accordingly would
go for him.* Amongst the Bongos old women are
especially suspected of alliance with wicked spirits, and
are accused if sudden death occurs.* Amongst the
Gonds the fear of witchcraft and the evil eye is so great,
that " there is nothing they will not do to guard them-
selves agdnst these influences." * "So deeply rooted in
the Indian's bosom is the belief concerning the origin of
diseases'* (from sorcery) "that they have little idea
of sickness arising from other causes." The Indians
of Guiana attribute all disease to sorcery. The sorcerer
is credited with the power of causing as well as curing
illness.* Amongst the Yorubas witchcraft is the chief
cause of sickness and death.* Amongst the tribes
of East Central Africa disease and sudden death are
attributed to witchcraft. The notorious "smelling
out" of the guilty person follows, and if found
he is put to death.^ In Hawaii disease could be
caused by the prayers of an enemy.® The Chiquitos
often attributed disease to the female "jugglers" or
lady -doctors.^ The Guarani magicians could inflict
or ward off^ disease and death.^^ In Siam disease is
attributed to sorcery." When a death occurs among

^ Fison and Howitt, op, at, 251, 258. ' Dobrixhoffer, cf, ctt. ii. 84, 223, 227.

• G. Schweinftirth, The Heart of Africa^ 307.

< H. B. Rowncy, WiU Trihes of India, 15.

B W. H. Brett, The Indian Trihes of Guiana, 365.

> A. B. Ellis, The Toruha-tfeaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, 118.

7 Macdonald, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xxii. 104.

B Ellis, Tour in Hofwaii, 258. ' Dobrizhoflfer, op, cit. ii. 264.

^^ Id, I, 71, " Loubcrc, op, cit, i. 206.

the Dacotas that cannot be reasonably accounted for, it
is supposed to have been caused by the mischievous
action of a neighbouring clan by sorcery. Constant
feuds are thus caused.* When a sudden death occurs,
the people of the New Hebrides ascribe it to sorcerers.*
Amongst the Bannars every misfortune is attributed to
the malice of persons who have the power of influencing
their fate.' Among the Maoris a belief in witchcraft
almost universally prevailed. If a chief, or his wife or
child fell ill, it was attributed to witchcraft. Those
possessing the art were often hired to bewitch people.*
In the Babar Islands evil persons make others ill by
magic. When such are found out they are put to
death.* Reality and imagination sometimes coincide,
as in East Central Africa, where " the doctor " who can
kill by magic will administer real poison for a fee.*
There are also interesting cases showing how zoo-
morphism and reality correlate. In Tenimber and
Timor-laut various illnesses are due to evilly disposed
persons or evil spirits, taking the form of birds."^

In the following cases, we may see the actual meeting-
place and reconciliation of two theories as to the origin
of the moral law, from supernatural and human sanctions.
For these are cases where, behind the spiritual, there is
a human agent at work. Amongst the Yorubas the
god Egungun becomes incarnate from time to time, in
this way : a man dressed up like the god goes about,
and carries off people who are troublesome to their
neighbours. "He is thus a kind of supernatural
inquisitor, who appears from time to time to inquire
into the conduct of people, particularly of women, and

^ Feathennan, op. cit, iii. 290. ' Id. ii. yy.

> H. Mouhot, Traxfels in Indo-Ckmrn^ u. 28.

< Yatc, op, ciu 95. • Riedel, op. cit. 358.

• Jowm. Anthrop. hat. xxii. 105. ' Riedel, op. cit. 305.

to punish misdeeds. Although it is well known that
Egungun is only a di^uiscd man, yet it is popularly
believed that to touch him, even by accident, causes
death." ^ In British Guiana blood-revenge is closely
connected with the system of sorcery. If a man dies,
and it is supposed that an enemy has lulled him by
means of an evil spirit, they employ a sorcerer to find
him. A near relative is then charged mth the duty of
vengeance ; he becomes a Kanaima, i.e. he is possessed
by the destroying spirit so called, and has to live apart,
according to strict rules, and to submit to many priva-
tions, till the deed of blood is done. When the man is
killed, the murderer must pass a stick through his body,
to taste the victim's blood. Not until this is done does
he become an ordinary man once more, but wanders
about, and madness comes upon him through the
agency of the disappointed sjnrit. The family of the
victim, to prevent the Kanaima getting at the body,
sometimes manage to bury it in a secret place, or take
out the liver and put a red-hot axe in its place. Then,
if the Kanaima visit the corpse, the heat of the axe-head
will pass into his body and consume him. Sometimes
they put ourali poison on the body, for the purpose of
destroying the Kanaima. In cases of secret enmity
poison is used, and, in consequence of all this, the
Indians seldom consider themselves safe. He against
whom or whose near relative wrong has been done,
becomes a Kanaima, and all injury which befalls an
Indian is the work of such. The Kanaima may assume
any shape, often that of the jaguar (which by the way
is the most dangerous animal the Indian knows), often
an inanimate ^ape ; for instance, the feaiman will
extract from his patient a stick or stone, which is the

' Ellii, «^ eit. 107.

bodily form of the Kanaima caiising iUncss.^ Very
nmilar is the practice of Kurdaitcha amongst the Central
Australians.'

Is there any amilar ccxrelation of '* spirits*' and
human beings, or spiritual and human influence, in the
relations of the one sex ?nth the other ? We may well
expect that there should be, and there are facts which
show it.

The Pomo Indians find it difficult to maintain authority
over their women. A husband often terrifies his wife into
submission by personating an c^e.* Amongst the Tatu
Indians of California the men have a secret society which
gives periodic dramatic entertainments with the object of
keeping the women in order. The chief actor, di^uised
as a devil, charges about among the assembled squaws.^
The Mumbo Jumbo of the Mandingoes is a well-known
case. The periodic impersonation is intended to frighten
the women. The same performer who represents Mumbo
Jumbo has also the duty of keeping the sexes apart for
the forty days after circumcision.^ Amongst the Krumen,
when a wife dies, the husband is believed to have caused
her death by witchcraft.* In Congo widows and widowers
arc charged with the same.^ In Loango, when a man is
ill, his wife is accused of causing the illness by witchcraft,
and must undergo the cassa ordeal.® The Chiquitos
used to kill the wife of a sick man, believing her to be
the cause of his illness.* In Luzon wives are sometimes
bewitched by their husbands.^^ In China a man's illness
is often attributed to the spirit of a former wife.^^ In

* Urrtt, pp. eit, 357-60 ) im Thurn, op. clt, 368.

* Spencer ind Oillen, op, at, 47. * Powers, op, cit, 154, 161.

^ A/. 141. ' WaiU-Gerland, op, cit, ii. 118.

* J. L. Wilion, H^tittm AfricA^ 115. ' Waitz-GerUnd, 9p, cit. ii. iso.
" lUitiin, LoitngO'KSttty i. 46. > Dobrixhoflfier, op, cit, ii. 264.

1 ' l)« Tivrra, in Glohm^ xlvii. 314. " Doolittle, op, cit, i. 146.

Halmahera women who die in child-bed are supposed to
become evil spirits, oputiana, who emasculate men, and
cause injury to pregnant women.' This belief is found
among the Malays.* Among the Kei islanders if a
woman dies in child-bed they kill the unborn babe, to
prevent the woman becoming a Pontianak, in which case
she would haunt her husband and emasculate him.' It
is easy to see how this sort of belief correlates with, if it
does not arise from, a common phase of sexual fear.

In the next examples there is no hint of spiritual
influence at all, human influence alone has the deleterious
result. The Cambodians have the following belief in
the case of a young married pair, neither of whom have
been married before. When the wife is enceinte for the
first time, the husband is able to take from her the fruit
of her womb, by m^c influence over her. Accordingly,
the parents of the bride never trust their son-in-law, and
will not let the young couple go out of their sight. In
Cambodia the married pair live with or near the bride's
parents.* When a Halmahera woman is three months
pregnant, she uses protective charms to prevent evil men
destroying the babe. She may not eat the remains of
her husband's food, " because that would cause diflicult
labour."' In Amboina and the Am Islands men are
not allowed to see a woman confined, because "their
presence would hinder the birth."* Conversely, at the
feast to celebrate the birth in the Luang Sermata Islands,
only women may be present. If men partook of even
the slightest morsel they would be unlucky in all their

> J. G. F. Riedel, in ZiitKinftJir Eiiiieligit, iv-ii. S5.

» W, W. SkMl, M^ Mtp', 41+.

■ Rieitcl, Di lUii-m irtidarigi raia luiKia Siltiii a Fapta, 1J9.

' Ajrmonicr, »p. til, 1S7.

* RiedeL, in ZtiHckriJi Jia EiimUpi, ivii, 79.

* U. Dt iluH-ei irMii*ri[i ram* Hmeia Siliia ta Papua, 73, 16].

Chapter V

mfoinni dtrcwigii wiiscii viiii'l taboo wtvksy ana tncse

must wyw be rrj mined. It wie cooipare tfac nets of
socsal taboo geaeraS j or of its snbcfiwiaoB, sczul taboo,
we find that tbe ultimate test of laumEaB irbiinns in
both genuj and sfecits^ b ctmima^ An imraligation of
primtdre ideas concemii^ tbe relations of man with
man^ when guided by this doe, will by bare the prin-
ciples iHuch underlie die theory and practice of sexual
taboo. Arisng, as we hare seen, firom sexual cfificren-
tiation, and forced into permanence by dificrcnce </
occupation and sexual scrfidarity, this s^rcgation re-
ceives the continuous support of religious conceptions
as to human relations. Tliese conceptions centre upon
contact, and ideas of contact are at the root <^ all
conceptions of human relations at any stage </ culture ;
contact is the one universal test, as it is the most
elementary form, of mutual relations. Psychology
hears this out, and the point is psychological rather
than ethnological.

As 1 have pointed out bef(»^ and shall have occaaon
to do so again, a comparative examination, as»sted by
psychology, of the emotions and ideas of average
modern humanity, is a most valuable dd to ethno-
logical enquiry. In this connection, we find that desire
or willingness for physical contact is an animal emotion,

cH.v CONTACT IN HUMAN RELATIONS 77

more or less subconscious, which is characteristic of
similarity, harmony, friendship, or love. Throughout
the world, the greeting of a friend is expressed by con-
tact, whether it be nose -rubbing, or the kiss, the
embrace, or the clasp of hands ; so the ordinary expres-
sion of friendship by a boy, that eternal savage, is
contact of arm and shoulder. More interesting still,
for our purpose, is the universal expression by contact,
of the emotion of love. To touch his mistress is the
ever-present desire of the lover, and in this impulse,
even if we do not trace it back, as we may without
being fanciful, to polar or sexual attraction inherent in
the atoms, the ^iXia of Empedocles, yet we may place
the beginning and ending of love. When analysed,
the emotion always comes back to contact. As Clough
puts it : —

" Well, I know, after all, it is only juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition, in short, and what is juxtaposition? "
Further, mere willingness for contact is found univer-
sally when the person to be touched is healthy, if not
clean, or where he is of the same age or class or caste,
and we may add, for ordinary humanity, the same sex.

On the other hand, the avoidance of contact, whether
consciously or subconsciously presented, is no less the
universal characteristic of human relations, where simi-
larity, harmony, friendship, or love is absent. This
appears in the attitude of men to the sick, to strangers,
distant acquaintances, enemies, and in cases of difference
of age, position, sympathies or aims, and even of sex.
Popular language is full of phrases which illustrate this
feeling.

Again, the pathology of the emotions supplies many
curious cases, where the whole being seems concentrated
upon the sense of touch, with abnormal desire or dis-

gust for contact ; and in the evolution of the emotions
from physiological pleasure and pain, contact plays an
important part in connection with iFunctional satisfaction
or dissatisfaction with the environment.

In the next place there are the facts, first, that an
element of thought inheres in all sensation, while sensa-
tion conditions thought ; and secondly, that there is a
close connection of all the senses, both in origin, each
of them being a modification of the one primary sense
of touch, and in subsequent development, where the
specialised organs are still co-ordinated through tactile
sensation, in the sensitive surface of organism. Again,
and here we can see the genesis of ideas of contact, it is
by means of the tactile sensibility of the skin and
membranes of sense-organs, forming a sensitised as well
as a protecting surface, that the nervous system conveys
to the brain information about the external world, and
this information is in its original aspect the response to
impact. Primitive physics, no less than modern, recc^-
nises that contact is a modified form of a blow. These
considerations show that contact not only plays an
important part in the life of the soul, but must have
had a profound influence on the development of ideas,
and it may now be assumed that ideas of contact have
been a universal and original constant factor in human
relations, and that they are so still. The latter assump-
tion is to be stressed, because we find that the ideas
which lie beneath primitive taboo are still a vital part
of human nature, though mostly emptied of their re-
ligious content ; and also because, as I hold, ceremonies
and etiquette such as still obtain, could not possess such
vitality as they do, unless there were a living psycho-
logical force behind them, such as we find in elementary
ideas which come straight from fiinctional processes.

These ideas of contact are primitive in each sense of
the word, at whatever stage of culture they appear.
They seem to go back in origin and in character to
that highly developed sensibility of all animal and even
organised life, which forms at once a biological monitor
and a safeguard for the whole ot^anism in relation to
its environment. From this sensibility there arise sub-
jective ideas concerning the safety or danger of the
environment, and in man we may suppose these sub-
jective ideas as to his environment, and especially as to
his fellow-men, to be the origin of his various expressions
of avoidance or desire for contact.

Lastly, it is to be observed that avoidance of contact
is the most conspicuous phenomenon attaching to cases
of taboo when its dangerous character is prominent.
In taboo the connotation of " not to be touched " is
the salient point all over the world, even in cases of
permanent taboo such as belongs to Samoan and Maori
chiefs, with whom no one dared come in contact ; and
so we may infer the same aversion to be potential in all
such relations, f

In connection with the phenomena of ideation and
with the next question, there comes in the familiar piece
of elementary metaphysics which has played so great
a part in religion from the days of primitive man, the
idea of substance and accidents. The distinction is
quite familiar to savages ; they can tell you how the
god eats only the essence of a sacrifice, leaving behind
the properties of colour, shape, taste, and the like for
the priest or worshippers. In East Central Africa the
people give an offering of flour to the ancestral spirits,
when a person is ill. The spirits r^ale themselves
with the "essence" of the flour.^ The Galelas and

Tobelorese of Halmahera hold that spirits eat the
"essence" of food.^ The Hill Dyaks place choice
morsels before their gods, who extract the " essence "
of the food.^ Amongst the Yorubas evil spirits are
supposed to cause illness in young children. They
enter them and eat their food, so that they pine away.
The spirit is supposed to eat the "spiritual" part of
the food.*

So with regard to man*s ideas of his fellow-men.
The visual image and similar appearances, such as a
man's shadow, are his essence, soul or second-self, and
the ideas a man forms of another's characteristics are
the properties. On the other hand, the reference of
all the characteristics of a man to him, as so many
predicates to one subject, forms a correlative method
by which the soul or essence of a man is thought of.
For instance, in the New Hebrides the word for soul
connotes the essence of a man ; * the Wetarese poeti-
cally liken the soul to the smell of a flower.* Here
again we see the materialism of early thought ; even
" essence " is material, and is sometimes visible. There
is no distinction between the substantial nature of
"soul," a man's properties, physical and spiritual,
magical influence whether of man or spirit, the con-
tagious properties ot disease, the mystical character of
" taboo," the wholesome or deleterious influence of men
and evil spirits — they are all alike material and trans-
missible.

Now it is this material transmissibility that makes
contact of such importance, and it is transmission of

1 J. G. F. Ricdcl, in Zeittchrifi fur Etkwhgie, xvii. 67.

2 H. Low, Sarawak^ 251.

» A. B. Ellis, op. cit, iii, 113.
^ D. Macdonald, Oceania, 180.
* J. G. F. Ricdcl, De sluik-en hroeiharige ranen tmschen Seleies en Papua, 453.

V TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES 8i

properties, whether of nature, man, or spirits, that lies
behind the avoidance or desire for contact.

Potentially always and actually often, it is true of all
men and conditions of men and natural objects, that
their properties can be transmitted by all possible
material methods, and even by actio in dtstans. For
practical purposes we may speak of contagion^ and in so
far as the properties transmitted are evil, all contact is
contagion. The wide generalisation of early man, of
course, covered real cases of infection of disease, or
transmission of strength, and the affirmative instances,
as usual, helped to perpetuate the n^ative, though
what Messrs. Spencer and Gillen state of the Central
Australians, applies to all early peoples. In connection
with the disease Erkincha and its contagion, the natives
do not reason " from a strictly medical point of view ;
their idea in a case of this kind is, that a man suffering
from Erkincha conveys a magic evil influence, which
they call Arungquiltha, to the women, and by this
means it is conveyed as a punishment to other men."
This Arungquillha is a typical example of the primitive
ideas of contact, and may preface a set of cases which
show the meaning and application of these ideas. The
same people say when the sun is eclipsed, that " jirung-
quiltha has got into it," this being an "evil or malignant
influence, sometimes regarded as personal and at other
times as impersonal." Here the idea is applied to a
strange, unusual phenomenon. They have also a tradi-
tion of a thin, emaciated man ; " where he died arose a
stone, the rubbing of which may cause emaciation in
other people. This stone is charged with ^rungquiltha,
or evil influence." Again, there is a myth of an old
man who plucked boils from his body, each of which
turned into a stone. This group of stones is still to be

seen, and they are called stone-sores. Men who desire
to harm others, hit these stones with spears ; which are
then thrown in the direction of the victim. The spears
carry away with them Arungquiltha from the stones,
and this produces an eruption of painiful boils in the
victim. And similarly, any stones marking the spot
where men died from magical influence, are themselves
credited with magical powers.^ This principle may be
illustrated from Maori and Red Indian science. The
latter say that "Nature has the property to transfuse
the qualities of food, or of objects presented to the
senses, into men.*'* The former hold that anything
placed in contact with a sacred object acquires the
sacred nature of that object, and anything thus made
sacred cannot be eaten or used for cooking.' " Unclean-
ness " attaches to mourners, enchanters, and murderers,
amongst the Kaflirs. The murderer washes to remove
the contagion of his guilt, the mourner to remove the
contagion of death, and the enchanter washes when he
renounces his art.* This " uncleanness " is the con-
tagious property of taboo and is not distinguished from
** sacredness," whether in the case of kings, priests,
Maori gentlemen, infants, women during pregnancy,
child-birth, and menstruation, boys and girls at puberty,
or other especially taboo characters. The Polynesian
word parapara means, " first, a sacred place ; secondly,
the first fruits of fish ; thirdly, a tree ; fourthly, defiled
or unclean, from having touched sacred food ; cf. para^
dross, sediments ; parapara^ dirt, soilure, stain ; parare^
food."* It is noticeable that Kaffir words for **un-

1 Spencer and Gillen, •p, cit. 412, 566, 441, 550, 552.
' J. Adair, History oftht jimerUan Indians^ 133.

• Shortland, Southtrn Dhtrictt of New Zealand, 292-94.

• H. Lichten»tein, Travel in Southern Africa, i. 257.

• E. Tregcar, Maori Piaionary, i.v.

cleanness" connote "rubbing" and that which is
"rubbed off." ^ Lucian, speaking of the sacred pigs
of Hierapolis, the touch of which rendered one " un-
clean," says that some thought they were "unclean,"
others "sacred."' In other words, they were taboo.
When lightning strikes a Kaffir kraal or individual
or object, the persons connected therewith are "un-
clean." Animals struck by lightning are never eaten.'
Amongst the Malays " not only is the king's person
considered sacred, but the sanctity of his body is
believed to communicate itself to his regalia, and to
slay those who break the royal taboos." Again, "the
theory of the king as the divine man, is held perhaps
as strongly in the Malay region as in any other part
of the world, a fact which is strikingly emphasised
by the alleged right of Malay monarchs to slay at
pleasure without being guilty of a crime."* So with
the materialised dignity of chiefs and the like persons.
No one in Samoa dared come in contact with a chief,'
and in New Zealand such contact caused transmission
of lapu.'^ Again, in Melanesia, where we see ideas of
taboo attaching to men generally, a fact which shows
its derivation from subjective conceptions of a man's
own importance and power, and in more primitive form,
his egoistic caution, mana, which combines personal
ability, influence, strength, and luck, is the regular
term for any result of such, and is of a supernatural
character. Mana comes from communication with
spirits, and from eating human flesh. All men of any
importance have large supplies of mana. To give a

' Dohne, Zidii-Kiiffir Ditriaury. ' Luciao, Di da Syria, 54.

• Maclean, tf. cii. 86, 111. • W. W. Skial, Mal^ Mafic, 13.

■> Wilko, If. til. ii. 103.

■ R. Tayior, Tt iia a Maai, 1(5 ; Shortland, Saaian Diarktt tf Ntto ZalanJ,
291^4.

boy a start in the world, a kind man will put his hand
on the boy's head to impart the mysterious force.^ The
transmission of "virtue" ends in the laying-on of
hands, as it began in man's ideas connected with con-
tact. The civilised man still subconsciously gains
solace, comfort, and strength, from the contact of a
friend, and at the other end of the chain, the same is
true of animals.

In the Solomon Islands, again, inland people are
thought to have more mana than coast people. When
they go down to the coast, they avoid spreading out
their fingers, for to point the fingers at a man is to
shoot him with a charm.* In this example, we may
note the extension of the idea that a man's qualities are
transmitted by touch ; the outstretched hand and spread-
ing of the fingers signify " intention," and the hand is
the organ of touch, par excellence. The last religious
phase of this idea is seen in the Catholic gesture of
benediction.

" Badi is the name given to the evil principle which,
according to the view of Malay medicine-men, attends
(like an evil angel) everything that has life, and inert
objects also, for these are regarded as animate.'- It is
also described as " the enchanting or destroying influence
which issues from anything, e.g. from a tiger which one
sees, from a poison-tree which one passes under, from
the saliva of a mad dog, from an action which one has
performed ; the contagious principle of morbid matter."
It is applied to " all kinds of evil influences or principles
such as may have entered into a man who has un-
guardedly touched a dead animal or bird, from which
the badi has not yet been expelled, or who has met the

R. H. Codrington, in Journ, Anthrop, List, 279, 285, 303.

* Id, op, cit. 301.

Wild Huntsman in the forest." There are one
hundred and ninety of these " mischiefs." Mr. Skeat
compares the English word " mischief" in the phrase
" it has the mischief in it." Illness is ascribed by the
Malays to accidental contact with badi. A man also
contracts baJi when another practises magic on him by
means of a wax image.^ In Malay medicine neutralis-
ing ceremonies are used to destroy the evil principle,
and also expulsory ceremonies to cast it out. The
Malays also use counter-charms to neutralise the active
principle of poison, and this is " extended to cover all
cases where any evil principle (even for instance a
familiar spirit) is believed to have entered the sick
person's system." * Amongst the Arunta, when a
man is ill, " he will sometimes have a stone churinga
belonging to his totem brought from the storehouse.
With the flint flake of his spear-thrower, he will scrape
off some of the edge of the churinga^ mix the dust with
water and drink it, the mixture being supposed to be
very strengthening. The idea evidently is, that in some
way he absorbs part of the essence of the stone, there-
by gaining strength, as it is endowed with the attributes
of the individual whom it represents." * The Iroquois
believed that sorcerers used an impalpable, invisible
poison that carried infection through the air and pro-
duced death.* The Kurnai were afraid of white men,
and believed that their eyes possessed a supernatural
power. One would say to another, "Don't look, or
he will Idll you ! " A white man could " flash death "
upon a man. Death could only occur from accident,
open violence, or secret magic. The last was met by
counter-charms. "Every individual, though doubtful

^ Skeat, op, cit, 427-29, 430. ' Id, 410, 425.

' Spencer and GiUen, op, cit, 1^^. * Featherman, op, cit. iii. 43.

of h'lB own magic piowers, has no doubt about the
possible powers of any other person. If the individual
himself fails, he supposes that he is not strong enough.
Nearly every one carries a round black pebble of magic
[mwer. For instance, if it is buried with a man's
excreta, that person receives the magic bulk in his
intestines and dies. The touch of it is supposed to be
highly injurious to any but its owner. It is believed
that a bulk has the power of motion ; for instance a
man once saw a bulk, in the shape of a bright spark of
fire, cross over a house. From all this we may infer
that some secret influence passes from the magic sub-
stance to the victim." Further, the magic influence,
" may, they suppose, be communicated from this to
some other substance, as a throwing-stick, spear, or
club. Death also occurred through a combination of
sorcery and violence : this combination was called
barn." It is clear from the above that subjective hate
and malice, the influence or will of a person, is regarded
as materalised and visible.^

The material character of these properties is evident
in all cases, and the last quotation gives a remarkable
instance of magical property or human "intention"
being visible. The common method of curing illness
by cupping, or sucking out the " bad" blood, as used
by the people of the Kei Islands.* is scientific in a way,
but not to be distinguished from other early methods.
Some curious developments of the materialistic concet>-
tion are these. The Laplanders attributed disease to
spiritual birds. They flew to the shamr.ii («3(W) and
shook out of their feathers a multitude of poisonous
insects, like lice, called magic flies, Ian. If these flies

• Fiwn •nd Howitl. Kimilarci ami Kw^i, M'S-49, i;i-5i-

» Rieiiel, »/...-». 419.

fell on men or beasts, they brought sickness and other
misfortunes. The noids carefully gathered up these
insects, but never touched them with bare hands ; they
kept them in boxes, using them to do injury.^ This
is a curious coincidence with the fact that germs of
disease are known to be carried about by flies. They
also used a magic axe, with which they touched people,
and a disease thus caused could only be cured by the
noid who caused it.* In the same way, the Encounter
Bay tribes believed that if a person was lightly tapped
upon the breast with the magic knobbed-stick, he would
sicken and die. A similar magic weapon was a hatchet
of black stone, of which the sharp end was used to
bewitch men, and the obtuse end was only efficacious
when women were the victims.® Again, Australian
sorcerers extract from their own bodies by passes and
manipulations a magical essence called boylya^ which
they can make to enter the patient's body.* The East
Central Africans practice counter-irritation by making
incisions in which ashes and roots are rubbed. This is
called "killing the disease."^ These ideas have pro-
duced the " sucking cure," with which the " cupping "
of the Kei Islanders may be compared, and the concep-
tion, such as is found in Australia, that pain in any
part of the body is due to the presence of some foreign
substance. The Central Australians not only project
into a sick man crystals to counteract the evil influence,
but extract things from his body by sleight-of-hand.
Avengers carry churinga like those kept as sacred
objects, filled with souls of ancestors ; " they are supposed,
as usual, to impart to them strength, courage, accuracy

^ Joum. Anthrop. Intt, xxiv. 149. ' Id, l,c,

• Featherxnan, op, cit. ii. 179. * E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture^ ii. 146.

' yourn, Anthrop, Inst, xxii. 104.

of his own magic powers, has no doubt about the
possible powers of any other person. If the individual
himself fails, he supposes that he is not strong enough.
Nearly every one carries a round black pebble of magic
power. For instance, if it is buried with a man's
excreta, that person receives the magic bulk in his
intestines and dies. The touch of it is supposed to be
highly injurious to any but its owner. It is believed
that a bulk has the power of motion ; for instance a
man once saw a bulky in the shape of a bright spark of
fire, cross over a house. From all this we may infer
that some secret influence passes from the magic sub-
stance to the victim." Further, the magic influence,
"may, they suppose, be communicated from this to
some other substance, as a throwing-stick, spear, or
club. Death also occurred through a combination of
sorcery and violence : this combination was called
barny It is clear from the above that subjective hate
and malice, the influence or will of a person, is regarded
as materalised and visible.^

The material character of these properties is evident
in all cases, and the last quotation gives a remarkable
instance of magical property or human " intention "
being visible. The conunon method of curing illness
by cupping, or sucking out the " bad " blood, as used
by the people of the Kei Islands,* is scientific in a way,
but not to be distinguished from other early methods.
Some curious developments of the materialistic concep-
tion are these. The Laplanders attributed disease to
spiritual birds. They flew to the shaman {noid) and
shook out of their feathers a multitude of poisonous
insects, like lice, called magic flies, Ian. If these flies

^ Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai^ 248-49, 251-52.

* Riedel, op. cit, 419.

fell on men or beasts, they brought sickness and other
misfortunes. The noids carefully gathered up these
insects, but never touched them with bare hands ; they
kept them in boxes, using them to do injury.^ This
is a curious coincidence with the fact that germs of
disease are known to be carried about by flies. They
also used a magic axe, with which they touched people,
and a disease thus caused could only be cured by the
noid who caused it.^ In the same way, the Encounter
Bay tribes believed that if a person was lightly tapped
upon the breast with the magic knobbed-stick, he would
sicken and die. A similar magic weapon was a hatchet
of black stone, of which the sharp end was used to
bewitch men, and the obtuse end was only efficacious
when women were the victims.® Again, Australian
sorcerers extract from their own bodies by passes and
manipulations a magical essence called boylya^ which
they can make to enter the patient's body.* The East
Central Africans practice counter-irritation by making
incisions in which ashes and roots are rubbed. This is
called "killing the disease."* These ideas have pro-
duced the " sucking cure," with which the " cupping "
of the Kei Islanders may be compared, and the concep-
tion, such as is found in Australia, that pain in any
part of the body is due to the presence of some foreign
substance. The Central Australians not only project
into a sick man crystals to counteract the evil influence,
but extract things from his body by sleight-of-hand.
Avengers carry churinga like those kept as sacred
objects, filled with souls of ancestors ; " they are supposed,
as usual, to impart to them strength, courage, accuracy

^ Joum. Antknp. Inti. xxiv. 149. ' Id, Ix,

• Featherman, op, cit, ii. 179. * E. B. Tylor, Primtth/t Culturi\ ii. 146.

' J mm, Antkrep, hut, zzil. 104.

90 THE NfYSTIC ROSE chap.

see from this case how personal properties are r^arded
as transmissible.

In these miscellaneous examples there are combined
many features of contact which will be developed here-
after, and it will be noticed that these various ** influ-
ences" are essentially of the kind which underlies the
phenomena of taboo; whether they are ceremonial
undeanness," evil influence of man or spirit, or
sacredness," each may be the property of the taboo
character, either in its specialised form or as belonging
to the ordinary individual. All are simply results of
human characteristics, properties, and states.

Personal properties are what others suppose them to
be, according to their estimate of the person in question ;
or, on the other hand, they are what their possessor
supposes them or himself to be. He believes that he
can transmit himself or his properties to others, with
results according to the estimate he holds of his character
at the time, and either with or without " intention " ;
and his fellowmen also believe that he can transmit
himself to them, with results according to their estimate
of him. Thus, in love-charms we find that the lover
believes he can transmit his feelings or rather himself,
full of love as he is, to his mistress, an idea arising
straight from animal contact and ideas about it ; and
in sorcery, we find that men transmit their feelings
of envy, hatred, and malice to the person concerned.
These ideas are justified to their holders by such
phenomena of contact as are scientifically true. Accord-
ingly, a man can transmit his strength, his ability, and
his personal influence, his crimes and his degradation,
his splendour or his shame, voluntarily or involun-
tarily.

As illustrating the continuity of culture we may point

out that similar ideas exist now, though considerably
lightened of their crude religious materialism, which,
however, is preserved in language. When we say that A
and B cannot abide each other, we are at the bottom of
such institutions as Caste, Club, Clique, and such
emotional attitudes as prejudice and insularity. We
avoid the company of " publicans and sinners " ; we say,
we do not wish to be contaminated by their presence ;
we speak of moral influence in terms which are still
materialistic ; we talk of being poisoned by a man or by
a book. Such constant human ideas need only to be
accentuated by religion to produce exactly the same
results of subjective feeling which gave rise to the
phenomena of social taboo. ^

Using the language of contagion, as more convenient,
for primitive man does not distinguish between trans-
mission of disease and transmission of all other states
and properties, we find that practically every human
quality or condition can be transferred to others.
Where evil influence or dangerous properties are not
difl^erentiated, we have seen many cases of their con-
tagion and infection. Very often the force of taboo,
when thus vaguely conceived, has correspondingly vague
results in transmission, such as sudden death, sickness,
or other supernatural visitations. Similar vague results
follow the ill-wishes of an enemy, unless he specifies the
efl^ect he desires, but this will, of course, be sickness or
death as a rule. This vagueness of result is naturally
found most in the conception of the persons who receive
the contagion, as they do not know the " intention," to
use the term in its liturgical sense, of the dangerous
person.

Degradation, as is well seen in Caste countries, is
contagious. Thus, in ancient India, a Brahmin became

an outcast by using the same carriage or seat or by eat-
ing with an outcast.^ The touch of an inferior still
contaminates a high-caste Hindoo.* In Burma a man
may be defiled by atting or eating with a low-caste
Sandala.' The black Jews of Loango are so despised
that no one will eat with them.^ In Travancore
courtiers must cover the mouth with the right hand,
lest their breath should pollute the king or other
superior. Also at the temples, a low-caste man must
wear a broad bandage over his nose and mouth, that
his breath may not pollute the idols.' In Egypt the
Jews are r^;arded as so unclean by the Moslems that
their blood would defile a sword, and therefore they are
never beheaded.® The name of the Rodiya caste in
Ceylon means " filth." No recognised caste could deal
or hold intercourse with a Rodiya. Their contact was
shunned as ^^ pollution/* and they themselves acquiesced.
On the approach of a traveller they would shout, to
warn him to stop till they could get off the road, and
allow him to pass without the risk of too close proximity
to their persons. " The most dreadful of all punish-
ments under the Kandyan dynasty was to hand over the
offender, if a lady of high rank, to the Rodiyas. She
was * adopted ' by the latter thus : a Rodiya took betel
from his own mouth, placed it in hers, and after this
till death her degradation was indelible. As if to
demonstrate that within the lowest depths of degrada-
tion there may exist a lower still, there are two races of
outcasts in Ceylon who are abhorred and avoided, even
by the Rodiyas." The latter would tie up their dogs,
to prevent them prowling in search of food to the

^ Laws ofMottu (ed. Biihler], zi. i8i.

^ Ward, op, cit. ii. 149 ; Colebrooke, in Atlatick ResearcAes, viL 277.

' D'Urvillc, op. cit, i. 173. * Bastian, Loango-Kuste^ i, 278.

' S. Mateer, Native Life in Trawmctire^ 129. ' Lane, op. cit, ii. 346.

dwellings of these wretches.^ Dulness can be trans-
mitted ; thus the Red Indians will not eat animals of a
gross quality, because such food conveys " dulness " to
the system.* The Indians of Equador believe that eat-
ing "heavy" meats produces unwieldiness.' Timidity
can be transferred, as amongst the Dyaks, where young
men are forbidden to eat venison, because it would make
them timid as deer.* The Hottentots will not eat the
flesh of hares, because it would make them faint-hearted."
Stupidity, according to the people of Morocco, is the
chief characteristic of the hyxna. A dull man is said
to have eaten the brains of an hyasna. A woman can
make her husband stupid by giving him hya*na meat.'
Weakness is transmissible ; amongst the Barea man and
wife seldom share the same bed. The reason they give
is, " that the breath of the wife weakens her husband." ''
Effeminacy is transmissible ; amongst the Omahas if a
boy plays with girls he is dubbed "hermaphrodite" ;*
in the Wirajuri tribe boys are reproved for playing
with girls — the culprit is taken aside by an old man,
who solemnly extracts from his legs some " strands of
the woman's apron " which have got in.* Pain, also,
can be transmitted or transferred. Thus the Australians
apply a heated spear-thrower to the cheek of one who is
suffering from toothache, and then throw it away, be-
lieving that the toothache is transferred to it.'" In old
Greek folklore, if one who had been stung by a scorpion
sat on an ass, the p^n was supposed to be transferred

' J. E. Teuncnt, Crji/fn, iSS-gi. ' Adiir, tf. cU. i}].

' yamt. Anlircf, lull. vii. 503.

* Spcnier St. John, Li/, m ih, Fmu, o/il,, Far Ea«, I 186.

' T. Hiha, Tnmi-Gcam. 106. ' Leared, 1^ cii. 304.

' Muniingtr, op. cil. 516.

» J. 0. Doney, Tiirii Rifcri tf Bureinnf Ei^mhgj, 166.

° yaim. jittth-of. Iml. Xlii. 44S. " Diwion, op. cii. 59.

from him to the ass.^ The taboo state resulting from
sin and crime has material properties. At the purifica-
tion ceremony of the Cherokees, they threw their old
clothes into the river, supposing thus their impurities t6
be removed.* Similarly the Incas shook their clothes
for the same purpose, and passed the hands over head
and face, arms and l^s, as if washing. It was* done to
drive evil and maladies away.' At the installation of a
king in the Sandwich Islands, the priest struck him on
the back with a sacred branch, by way of purifying him
from all defilement and guilt he may have contracted.*
Consequently, it is transmissible by contagion. Thus
in East Central Africa, when a wife has been guilty of
unchastity, her husband will die if he taste any food she
has salted ; when preparing his food, she asks a little
girl to put the salt in it. A guilty wife may be forgiven
by her husband, but in this case he cannot live with the
faithless one till a third party has been with her.*
Amongst the Falashas a visit to an unbeliever's dwelling
is considered a sin, and subjects the transgressor to the
penance of submitting to a thorough ablution before he
is permitted to enter his home.® A Brahman embraced
the Rajah of Travancore, undertaking to bear his sins
and diseases.^ The idea is well brought out in the
familiar practice of "sin-eating." It is well known
that the highest religions have found it difficult, and in
view of the materialism of human thought not altogether
desirable, to rise beyond a material conception of " sin."
The savage conceives of the results of sin, such as break-
ing of taboo, as material, and clinging to his person, and

^ Geoponica^ xiii. 9 ; xv. i. " Frazer, op, cit?^ iii. 74.

' Id, l.c, * Ellis, Polynesian ResearcheSy iii. no.

* Macdonald, Africanay \, 173 j 'J mam, Anthrop, Inst, xxii. no.

• Fcathcrman, op, cit, v. 635. ' Matccr, op, cit, 136.

at both ends of the chain of culture sin is washed away
by water, and can be transmitted by '' contagion " in
early culture, by " influence " in later.

Early man is only too well aware of the contagion
and infection of certain sicknesses and diseases. Of
sickness we need no instances, but of the interesting
fact that death not only causes sickness but is in itself
contagious, we may cite illustrations.

Beginning with the correlation of evil spirits and
dangerous human properties, we find that where spirits
are thought of, the fear is that others may be attacked
by them in the same way as the dead man. They are
naturally supposed to hang about their quarry, and
often the dead man is identified with the angel of death
who killed him. In Halmahera after a death, fire is set
round the house to keep the evil spirits from the body.^
In Cambodia a dead body is carried away feet foremost
that it may not see the house, in which event other
sicknesses and other deaths would result.* On Teressa
Island, one of the Nicobars, the mourners shave their
heads, and drown their grief by drinking hard. On the
day of death they are not allowed to go to the jungle, lest
they might be killed by the demons, and they abstain
from the food which was most relished by the deceased
in his lifetime.^ Amongst the Yorubas death is generally
attributed to witchcraft. Enquiry is made whether any
other member of the family is threatened with the like
fate, and also whether the soul of the dead is likely to
be further molested by the evil spirits.* The Navajos
ascribe death to the devil, ChindCy who remains about
the dead man. Those who bury him, protect their
bodies from the evil influence by smearing themselves

^ Riedel, in Zeitschrtft fur EtAnologie, xvii. 84. ' Aymonier, of>, cit. 202.

' Featherman, op, cit, U. 247. * A. B. Ellis, op, cit, 155.

with tar.^ The Kamchadales abandoned the cabin in
which a man died, because the judge of the under-
world had been there and might cause the death of
others. Those who buried a corpse feared bnng pursued
by death, and to avoid him they took certain precautions.'
At Batta funerals men march behind the coffin brandish-
ing swords to drive away the begus or demons.' Amongst
the Clallams and Twanas there is a superstitious fear
about going near the dead body, for fear the evil spirit
who killed the man may kill them also.* Here we sec
how the idea of the contagion of death is connected
with evil spirits. Men fear that they may meet iwth
the same fate as the dead man. Amongst the Koosa
Kaffirs there is a general fear that illness or misfortune
may fall upon others if a dying person is not removed
from the kraal. From the same motive if they see a
person drowning, or in danger of his life in any way,
particularly if he should utter a scream of terror, they
always run away from him.* The latter idea is world-
wide and obtains amongst ourselves.

Passing to transmission of the state or influence of
death, we find that immediately after a death has occurred
the Karalits carry out every movable article, ^*that it
may not be contaminated and rendered unclean." • There
is a Swiss superstition that the dress of a child that dies
will kill any child it is given to.^ Amongst the Talmud
Jews "whenever a death occurs in a house, all the water
is poured out ; for it is supposed that the Angel of
Death defiles the water by washing oflF the poison drops
that adhere to his sword." The corpse is carefully

1 First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 123. * Georgi, op, cit, 91, 92.
' Featherman, op. cit. ii. 330.

♦ First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 176.

* Ltchtcnstein, op. cit, i. 258. • Fcathcrman, op, cit, iii. 437.
' PI088, Das Kind, i. 240.

washed ; and after the funeral the mourners wash their
hands.^ At a death all members of a Zulu kraal eat
"medicine" to protect them from evil influences. When
the king's mother ied he was begirt with charms " to
keep the evil from him."' "To prevent death from
entering " the food and ddnk iron used to be put in
them by the Northern Scots. Whisky has been spoiled
by neglect of this.^ In the Babar Islands after a burial
no one may go back to his house until he has washed
his hands and eaten some food.^ The Northern Indians
were " unclean " after murder ; all concerned in it could
not cook any kind of victuals for themselves or others.
They could not drink out of any other dish, or smoke out
of any other pipe than their own, and none other would
dnnk or smoke out of theirs. For a long time they would
not kiss their wives or children." In Samoa those who
attended upon a dead person were careful not to handle
any food, and for dap were fed by others, as if they were
helpless infants ; while the dead body was in the house,
no food was eaten inside, the family took their meals out
of doors.' Amongst the Central Eskimo, " when a child
dies, women who carried it in their hands must throw
their jackets away if the child has urinated on them."'
Among the Navajos of New Mexico and Arizona the
person who touches or carries the dead body takes off
his clothes afterwards, and washes his body before
mingling with the living.* The Ilavars of Travancore
ascribe "pollution" to the house after a death." The
Greenlanders believe that if a man when whale-fishing

' FothemiiD, of. cii. t. 15G. ' Lolie, ef. at, 197, Z51.

■ W. Gtegor, Folkkn ifihi tfcrii-Eair i/SculaaJ, 206.
* J. G. F. Riedcl, Dt ilai-ai inmiarigi rasia naitkn Sliibtl n Pafaa, }6o.
' S. Hurac, Jmnty to 1*1 Narlim Ocian, 104-5. * Turner, of. cil. 145.
^ F. Ba», Tit Cniral EsUmi, 612.
; ■ Fril Sifurl tftht Bwtan ofElhulsgy, 113. » Mileer, «p. til. 90.

fjH THE B4YSTIC R06E chap.

wean a dirty dreaa, especially one that is contamiiuted
by touching a corpse, the whaks will retire.^ Amongst
the Bechuanas death is beliered liable to come upon all
the cattle when a widow is mourning her husband.' In
the Aru Islands the humours of a decaying corpse are
uited vimctimes to make a man ill, by the help of the
iioul of the dead man. During the first night after
getting rid of the dead body, no one will sleep in the
houfte for fear of being made sick by meeting the soul
of the dead man in their dreams.* The ceremonial " un-
clcanncss," then, so generally ascribed to the dead, is the
prfiperty of taboo, and is based on the ideas of contact
which underlie social taboo.

Mence the custom of destroying the personal property
of the dead. The Zulus bum this " because they ait
afraid to wear anything belonging to a dead man." * The
Nicftharesc never use any object belonging to one wio
has been murdered, unless it has been previously purified
by the sorcerer.* The Greenlanders throw out of the
house everything belonging to the dead man, else ther
would be polluted and their lives unfortunate ; the
danger remains until the smell of the corpse has passed
away." Here, as in other examples, there is seen tia
obvious connection of the idea of contagion with smelL
The practice of cremation originated in the same way.

Another reason for this destruction of propertv,
namely, to provide the dead man with utenals and
furniture in the next world, is well known, and oftot
combines with the present explanation, though probahlv
It is later in origin.

Another result is the common practice of de

"'"■^■"J™-";:.!*.

THE SOIL A CONDUCTOR

the house, or destroying it, after sickness or death. A
common reason for this practice in sickness is to mislead
the evil spirits by removing the sick man to another
house. With this may be compared the custom of
pretending that the sick man is dead, by performing
funeral rites over a dummy corpse. Burial places are
notoriously of evil omen, because they are infected by
death and by the dead. The Gorngd and Tungu are
afraid to visit the places where the dead are buried, for
fear the spirits may make them ill.' The ground is
often r^arded as a good conductor of evil and disease.
In Tenimber and Timorlaut strangers are not buried, for
fear that sickness may thus spread over the country.*
From this idea comes the common objection to burial
among early peoples, no less than in modern times
when cremation is becoming fashionable. The Masai
do not bury people, because, as they say, the body
would poison the soil.^ Exactly the same practice and
belief is found in East Central Africa.* This idea, com-
bined with fear of ghosts, has helped to form the relatively
late phenomena of ancestral and Chthonian hierolc^y. It
is also one factor in the formation of the common idea
that the ground is dangerous. We shall not, perhaps,
be wrong in adding the multifarious dangers in the
shape of snakes, scorpions, and other things that creep
upon the ground. On this hypothesis we may explain
the rule that people in certain taboo states may not
touch the ground, because there is the abode of evil,
material and spiritual. Combined with this is the
other side of the idea, namely, that " virtue " is apt to
be conducted into the soil by contact, as has been worked
out by Dr. Frazer.* As to spirits there residing, in

' Riedd, Dp. rii. 171. > M. jo6.

* Jao'n. Antin,p. b,t. xxu. H3.

Ethiopia you should never throw flmd on the ground,
lest you hurt the dignity of some unseen elf.^ The
natives of Kola and Kobroor fear the spirit who lives in
the ground.* The Bedouins never throw an object to
the ground without saying TesduTy " Permission." • In
the Punjab spirits are thought to be in the habit c^
upsetting bedsteads ; accordingly, bride and groom may
not sleep on bedsteads for several days before and after
marriage.^ In spiritualistic seances held by Giuana
sorcerers, the rule is that one must not put one's feet to
the ground, for the spirits are swarming there.*

From the belief in the contagion and infection of
death, combined with the belief in and fear of the
ghosts of the dead, the origin of which I would explain
on the lines used above in the account of personal
agents, arises the taboo upon mourners, who are, fttHn
their proximity, in danger from the dead and also
dangerous to others. I would also attribute to thb
contagion of death the rule of the ancient Romans, that
pairimi and matrimi only, boys and girls whose parents
respectively both live, may be acolytes in ceremonies.

Turning to the beneficent side of the taboo state,
where the individual is benevolent : he can transmit his
beneficence or good qualities, and others believe that
they can receive them from him, with the same limin-
tions connected with "intention." Rajah Brooke wis
regarded by the Dyaks, because of what he had dome
for them, as a supernatural being. He was bdicved
" to shed influence over them." Whenever he visited
a village, the people used to bring some of the puM
seed they were going to sow, for him to make it prodxic-

* H«rnt, ^ r«f. u. 196. ' Riedel, op, cit. 271.

• Fetthermui, ^ cit, ▼. 424. * Panjab Notes and S(maie»^ i. 214.

' im Thnm, ^, cit. 335.

V TRANSMISSION OF PROPERTIES loi

tive ; and women bathed his feet, preserving the water
to put on the fields and make them fertile.^ Here is
the v^ue sort of beneficent influence materially trans-
mitted. In Melanesia, mana^ which is a man's character,
ability, influence, and power combined, in other words,
himself and his attributes materialised, can be transferred
to young men or others by the laying-on of hands.'
Amongst love-charms, the transmission by the lover
of his loving qualities, of himself impregnated with
love, to his mistress, to inspire her with affection, is
world-wide. Thus in European folk-custom, a lover
applies a piece of his hair, drops of his blood or sweat,
or water in which he has washed his hands, to the
garments of the girl whose affection he desires.* In
this kind of thing we reach down to the origin of ideas
of contact in physiological thought. Similarly, friend-
ship and friendly feelings are transmissible, as will be
seen in the ceremonies common at making peace or
consolidating friendship.

Again, world-wide customs attest the belief that
properties such as strength, courage, swiftness, and the
like, can be transmitted by contact with those possessing
them, or by assimilating separable parts of such persons.
Hence, as is at last becoming well known, the origin
and chief meaning of cannibalism. The flesh and blood
of a man are, by a natural fallacy, regarded as the best
means for transmission of his properties. The flesh o\
a slain enemy is eaten and his blood drunk by the
savage in order to acquire his strength and courage.
The Bechuanas have a solemn ceremony of eating the
flesh of an enemy killed, " following the ancient super-
stition that eating human flesh inspires courage, and by

' Low, »f. ck, »47, 159. ■ ■ Codriogtoa, in Jitra. AaUrtf. Lttt^ l,t,

■ PloM u. Butclt, tf. lit. u. 441 ff.

degrees renders the warrior invincible. So far from
liking it, they feel abhorrence, and yield to it only from
superstition." ^ The flesh of a slain enemy is eaten in
Timorlaut to cure impotence.* The New Caledonians
eat slain enemies to acquire courage and strength.'
Before battle the Zulus "ceremoniously eat cattle to
get their qualities, that they may be brave.*** The
Amaxosa drink the gall of an ox to make themselves
fierce.* The notorious Matuana drank the gall of
thirty chiefs, believing it would render him strong.*
The Pinya, or armed band of the Dieri, by whom
offences are punished, after putting a man to death,
wash their weapons, " and, getting all the gore and
flesh adhering to them off, mix it with some water ; a
little of this is given to each to swallow, and they
believe that thereby they will be inspired with courage
and strength. The fat of the murdered man is cut off
and wrapped round the weapons of all the old men." ^
The people of Halmahera drink the blood of slain
enemies, in order to become brave.® In Amboina
warriors drink the blood of enemies they have killed, to
acquire their courage.' The Muskogees ate the hearts
of enemies to get courage, and their brains to get
intellect.^® The Battas greedily drink' the blood and
eat the flesh of prisoners of war and condemned
criminals.^^ The people of Celebes drink the blood of
enemies to make themselves strong.^^

The idea is further generalised amongst the natives

^ Lichtenstein, op. cit, ii. 290. ^ Riedel, op, cit, 279.

' Garnier, NmtvelU Cal/donicy 347. * Callaway, op, cit, 438.

^ Shooter, op. cit. 216. • Id. l.c. ^ Curr, op, cit, ii. 53.

^ Riedel, in Zeitschriji fur Ethmlogie^ xvii. 86.
' Id. De iluik-en kroethwige rassen ttutchen Selebes en Papua^ 52.
"^^ J. Adair, op, cit, 135. " Featherman, op. cit, ii. 335.

^^ Riedel, in Bijdragen tot de Tool Land en Vothnkunde van Nederlandsch Indte^
XXXV. 5, I. 90.

of Central Australia. " When starting on an avenging
expedition or Atninga^ every man of the party drinks
some blood, and also has some spurted over his body,
so as to make him what is called uchuilimay that is, lithe
and active. The elder men indicate from whom the
blood is to be drawn, and the men so selected must not
decline, though the amount drawn from a single
individual is often very great ; indeed, we have known
of a case in which blood was taken from a young and
strong man until he dropped down from sheer exhaus-
tion."^ In the Luritcha tribe of Central Australia
"young children are sometimes killed and eaten, and
it is not an infrequent custom, when a child is in weak
health, to kill a younger and healthy one, and then to
feed the weakling on its flesh, the idea being that this
will give to the weak child the strength of the stronger
one." ^ The natives of the Dieri and neighbouring
tribes will eat a man and drink his blood in order to
acquire his strength ; the fat is rubbed on sick people.*
In Tasmania a man's blood was often administered as a
healing draught.* South Australian women will rub
their gums till they bleed, and give the blood to be
swallowed by their husbands, to cure sickness.^ Many
peoples, for instance the Yorubas, believe that the
" blood is the life." ® The Shoshones believed that they
became animated by the spirit of a fallen foe if they
partook of his flesh.^ From this comes the idea that
inspiration can be effected by drinking blood.

Similarly the flesh and blood of animals are taken to
acquire their characteristics. Hottentots will not eat
the flesh of hares, for fear it might make them timid,

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 461. ^ Z/. 475.

• Joum, Anthrop, Inst, xxiv. 172, 178, 179, 182. * Bonwick, 0^. cit. 89.
6 Featherman, op. cit, ii. 178. ^ A. B. Ellis, op, cit, 6S.

' Featherman, op. cit, iii. 206.

but they will eat a lion's flesh and drink its blood, in
order to get its courage and strength.' Among the
Motu boys eat pigs and other animals to acquire their
strength.^ The men of Buru and the Aru Islands eat
dogs to become bold and nimble.^ In Morocco it is
believed that eating lion's flesh makes cowards brave.
On the same principle ants are given to lethargic people,
an excellent practical application of the proverb. If a
woman meets an hysena she becomes stupid, for the
hysena is the most stupid of animals ; of a dull man
one says, " he has eaten the brains of an hysena.'
woman will sometimes administer such brain-sauce
her husband, who thus becomes stupid, and her asci
dancy over him is rendered complete.*

Every part of a man's body is regarded by primiti'
science as impregnated with his properties ; but such
parts are especially so considered which themselves are
held to have a special connection with the life and soul ;
and these are chiefly important organs and centres.
From each and any of these parts of the organism,
transmission of properties can be effected, with beneficent
or maleficent results according to circumstances or the
subjective estimate held at the time. Instructive
examples are found in folk-medicine.*

Various modes of transmission have appeared already.
Others will be seen in the following examples. The
most certain method of acquiring properties is by eating
and drinking, but any mode of contact will suffice,
and in such modes primitive thought includes sight,
proximity, and similar connections ; " intention " even
can form the link by actio in dtstam. We have also

nan

Hdin. ^. li

1. 106.

1 Oulmm, P\^>trif. cit. ii. 263.

3 Plosi, Das Kindy i. zoo j Skeat, op. cit. 430 ; R. F. Burton, The Armkam
Night Sy V. 30. < Taylor, op, cit. 165.

* Bancroft, op. cit. i. 286. « Featherman, op. cit, u. 465.
' Pliny, op. cit. xxviii. 18. 8 fiourke, op. cit, 349.

V VEHICLES OF TRANSMISSION iii

" suppose it will give them strength to apply the sweat
of their horses to their own bodies. After a ride they
scrape off the sweat from their horses' backs with the
hand, and rub it about their persons as if it were one of
their ordinary greasy ointments. A horse is not an
unclean animal, and cannot defile." These people have
a practice which shows well the ideas of transmission
of properties. Before the tongue of any animal is
eaten, the tip is cut off; on human analogy they believe
that " here is the seat of curses and ill-wishes."'

Some Queensland tribes used to flay a slain enemy
and preserve the skin as powerful "medicine." They
would cover their patients with it as with a blanket.*
This case forms a link with those in which a man's
garments cont^n his properties, and accordingly can
transmit them through the bodily exhalations remaining
therein. In early thought a man's dress is a real part
of him, and can be used as a substitute for him. Thus
in Tonga, when the office of high priest was vacant, his
dress was put on his chair, and yams were ofi«red to it.
It was supposed to be an exact equivalent.* The Zulus
call in *' the lightning-doctor " to avert hail-storms. If
he is not at home, they take his blanket, and spread it
out before the storm. It is regarded as an equivalent.*
On the principle of transmission, the Mikado's clothes,
if worn by any one else, would cause the wearer pain
and produce swellings. His taboo "sanctity" was such
that his eating and drinking vessels were destroyed after
being used once ; any one eating from them would be
seriously injured.*

Transmission of properties for good or evil, and

' Schwelnfortb, tf. cit. il 3*6, J17. ^ Fiwii and Howitt, efi. cil, 113,

* S. S. Farmer, Tonga and til FrimJIj Idaait, 130.

* Cilliway, sf. lit. 278. ' Frinr, tf. dl? iii. 233,

it is coupled with spitting in a man's face.^ In Ceram,
when passing by a person who is sitting down, one must
bow.^ Mere touch or proximity even is quite enougL
The sensitive part of a Kaffir ^* doctor" is his shouldos.
No one may touch him there. If a man merely stands
behind a doctor, he sends him off with the cry, ** Get
away ! you are hurting me ; it is as if you sat upon
me.

Further, in Ethiopia disease can be caused by the
shadow of an enemy falling upon one.^ Amongst the
Hawaiians people may not let their shadows ^11 upon
the chief.* The Malays and West Africans r^ard a
man's shadow as a soul.^

The mere act of sight can also transmit qualities.
Thus Kolosh women during menstruation and child-
birth live in a special hut. They are avoided by the
men, and wear at menstruation a peculiar hat, that they
"may not defile heaven with a look."^ Similarly
amongst the Aleuts.® When Kaffirs have killed the
" sacred " lion, to avert " danger " they rub their eyes
with his skin, before they look at his dead body.* The
natives of Borneo are afraid lest Europeans, by looking
at them, should make them Ul}^ Some Papuans com-
plained to an explorer that they began to die **as
soon as you looked at us.'* " Guiana Indians, before
approaching a dangerous place, rub their eyes with
pepper to make them fill with water, by way of not
seeing the dreaded object.^*

^ Ricdcl, of>, cit. 295. 2 Id, 129.

* CalUw«y, of>. cit, 159. * Harris, op, eh. ii. 158.
' C. de Varigny, S^uatorze Ans aux lies Sandwich^ 13.

* Skcit, op, cit, 575 J W. Rcadc, Saxrage Africa, 539.

' Erman, op, cit, ii. 318. " Plots, Das Kind, ii. 434.

* Arboustet and Daumas, Tour to the Ncrth'East Co/otiy of the Cape of Good Hope^
214. ^° Schwaner, Borneo, ii. 167.

" D'Albertii, op, cit, 53. ^^ im Thum, op, cit, 369.

Similar phenomena are connected with the sense of
sight throughout the world. As are all the senses, so
sight is a form of contact, both in modern physics,
primitive belief, and still to some extent in ordinary
civilised ideas. The " power of the himian eye " is a
case of this, and we still fear '* influence " by being
looked at or by seeing persons and things. We prevent
a child from seeing a dead person for sentimental
reasons — early man did so for the more practical
purpose of avoiding contagion.^ So I would explain
the common rule which forbids one to look back- after
performing a dangerous thing or visiting a dangerous
place. An interesting feature of these beliefs appears
in the above-cited cases ; to the savage, the same result
ensues from seeing a dangerous thing and from being
seen by it. The sense of sight is both active and
passive, and contact through it can be effected from
either end. The myth of the ostrich, which is supposed
to bury its head in the sand in the idea that it thus
becomes invisible, is repeated in human thought, both
when the savage shuts his eyes to avoid seeing a dreaded
thing, as an equivalent to not being seen by it, and
when we shut our eyes to escape from a sight we are
afraid of, or a thought that we would expel. The
world-wide belief in the " evil eye," and the fact that
psychical influence is most easily exerted by the look,
illustrate these ideas. It is especially envy that is here
transmitted. Lane mentions the case of an Egyptian
refusing to buy meat from a well-patronised butcher's
shop, because it would be poisonous to eat meat which
had hung in the street before the eyes of the public, so
that every beggar who passed envied it.'

Lastly, a man's words — heard, reported, or read — can

' Riedel, Dp. cii. 361. * Lane, c^. cil. i. 316.

degrees renders the warrior invincible. So far from

lilting it, they feel abhorrence, and yield to it only from
superstition."' The flesh of a slain enemy is eaten in
Timorlaut to cure impotence.^ The New Caledonians
eat slain enemies to acquire courage and strength.''
Before battle the Zulus " ceremoniously eat cattle to
get their qualities, that they may be brave."* The
Amaxosa drink the gall of an ox to make themselves
fierce.* The notorious Matuana drank the gall of
thirty chiefs, believing it would render him strong.^
The Pinya, or armed band of the Dieri, by whom
offences are punished, after putting a man to death,
wash their weapons, " and, getting all the gore and
flesh adhering to them ofi^, mix it with some water ; a
little of this is given to each to swallow, and they
believe that thereby they will be inspired with courage
and strength. The fat of the murdered man is cut off
and wrapped round the weapons of all the old men."^
The people of Halmahera drink the blood of slain
enemies, in order to become brave.* In Amboina
warriors drink the blood of enemies they have killed, to
acquire their courage." The Muskogees ate the hearts
of enemies to get courage, and their brains to get
intellect.'" The Battas greedily drink the blood and
eat the flesh of prisoners of war and condemned
criminals." The people of Celebes drink the blood of
enemies to make themselves strong.'^

The idea is further generalised amongst the natives

Gamier. Nian

■.iU a,l/J«U, 347.

* C.ll.w,y, .^. .,V. 4j8. ■

Shoottr, »;.. r/i

r. 116. ■W./.f.

' Curr, >f. c,l. ii. S3. ■

Riedel, in Ztu

iiciriftju- Etinoliigii, XMU.

.86. 1

Id. Di liai-a

irwinrigi ratal imuiiii ;

Wei« oi PapBo, 52.

> J. Adair. „>. ,

r«. 135.

" F«therm>u^y.. «». ii. 3jj.

' Ried.1, ia Bij

Jragfl M di TaalU-d

« r^lbniu>ui, van NidtrladKh InJu,

of Central Australia. " When starting on an avenging
expedition or AtningUy every man of the party drinks
some blood, and also has some spurted over his body,
so as to make him what is called uchuilima^ that is, lithe
and active. The elder men indicate from whom the
blood is to be drawn, and the men so selected must not
decline, though the amount drawn from a single
individual is often very great ; indeed, we have known
of a case in which blood was taken from a young and
strong man until he dropped down from sheer exhaus-
tion." ^ In the Luritcha tribe of Central Australia
"young children are sometimes killed and eaten, and
it is not an infrequent custom, when a child is in weak
health, to kill a younger and healthy one, and then to
feed the weakling on its flesh, the idea being that this
will give to the weak child the strength of the stronger
one."* The natives of the Dieri and neighbouring
tribes will eat a man and drink his blood in order to
acquire his strength ; the fat is rubbed on sick people.*
In Tasmania a man's blood was often administered as a
healing draught.* South Australian women will rub
their gums till they bleed, and give the blood to be
swallowed by their husbands, to cure sickness.^ Many
peoples, for instance the Yorubas, believe that the
" blood is the life." ^ The Shoshones believed that they
became animated by the spirit of a fallen foe if they
partook of his flesh.^ From this comes the idea that
inspiration can be effected by drinking blood.

Similarly the flesh and blood of animals are taken to
acquire their characteristics. Hottentots will not eat
the flesh of hares, for fear it might make them timid,

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 461. ^ Id. 475.

* Joum, Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. I7Z, 178, 179, 182, * Bon wick, 0^. cit. 89.
^ Featherman, op. cit. ii. 178. ' A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 6S,

' Featherman, op. cit. iii. 206.

performed acts of devotion at mourning. They cut
their hair short, burned the skin, and lopped off the
end joints of the little toe and little finger.^ To secure
success in an undertaking the Mandans lop off one of
the phalanges of their fingers, and preserve it in a
bundle of absinthium}

The idea that detachable portions of the organism
retain the substance and life of the possessor, and, as
such, bring upon him any injury they may receive,
explains a common set of beliefs and practices con-
cerned with the placenta, umbilical cord, and the ** caul."
In Amboina the placenta is hidden away in a tree.' In
the Babar Islands women hang it in a tree ; on their
way they carry weapons, " because evil spirits might, if
they got hold of the placenta, make the child ill."*
The remains of the umbilical cord are sacred in New
Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, and many parts of the world.*
In Iceland the caul is supposed to contain a part of the
child's soul. It is kept safe, therefore, and sometimes
buried under the threshold. Whoever destroys it,
" robs the child of its soul." • The sacred character
of the caul is well known in European folklore.'^ A
particular point in connection with these appurtenances
of the new-born child is, that as they preserve the sub-
stance of the possessor, they can give him health and
strength in after-life. If a child is born with a caul,
Amboinese women preserve this, and when the child is
ill, dip it in water and give this water to the child to
drink.® In Ceram the remains of the umbilical cord
are kept, and hung round the child's neck to keep off
sickness, or are otherwise used when the child is ill.*

^ Featherman, cp, cit, 11, 205. ' Id. off, cit, iii. 303. » Riedel, op, cit, 23.

* Id, 355. » PloM, Das Kind, i. 15. « Id. L 13.

' Id, \, 14. • Riedel, 9t>, cit, 74. » Id, 135.

In the Watubela Islands the placenta is buried under a
tree. The remans of the umbilical cord are preserve3,
to be used as medicine for the child.* In the islands
Leti, Moa, and Lakor the child's navel-string is kept,
and used by him later as an amulet in war or when
travelling.* It is used as an amulet by the Somalis,
Kalmucks, Chinese, Soongars, and Alfoers of Celebes.*
In Greenland it cures the child's sicknesses. In ancient
Peru and modern Europe it cures the child to whom it
is given to suck.* Similarly with the "caul" with
which an infant is sometimes born." The Central
Australians work the navel-string into a necklace
which the child wears round its neck. '* This makes it
grow, keeps it quiet, and averts illness." • The connec-
tion, already noticed, between these appurtenances and
the idea of the external soul, is also seen in the follow-
ing cases : the Fijians buried the umbilical cord with a
cocoa-nut, the last being intended to grow up by the
time the child reached maturity.^ It is interesting to
compare the modern custom of planting a tree as a.
record of the birth of a child. The navel-^tnng and
the placenta are in South Celebes called the " brother "
and "sister" of the child.^

We have seen the transmission, chiefly involuntary,
of a man's properties through contact with him or with
any part of him, or object that has had connection with
him, and we now come to what is a development of
these ideas of contact, in cases where the individual
transmits his own properties or his feelings by means of
contact with himself or by putting detachable parts of
himself in contact with others, by an act of will or

1 Id. m8. ' Id. 391. » PIdm, Das Kind, i. l6, 17.

* td. 17, \t. * Id. 391. ' spencer and Oillen, tf. tk. 461,

' Williimi, ff. cil. i. 17s. ' Mitthe*, op. eit. J7.

"intention." To impart "virtue" or ability, the
Melanesian who is full of it (mana) lays his hands on
the recipient.^ The latter, of course, consciously or
subconsciously would here perform an act of ^th. So
the lover imparts his love to hts mistress by all kinds
of methods — he sends a lock of imr, or food he has
touched, in the hope that his personality contained
therein will soften her heart, that is, that she may be
assimilated to him by contact with him.

Enemies, on the other hand, can do the same by all
these methods, but it is not surprising that they seldom
use them. The reason is that they would thus put
themselves in the power of the very man they wish to
hurt, by giving to him a part of themselves, for he may
injure them by magic treatment of it, which his own
virus contained in the part might not be strong enough
to overcome. The best course is then naturally found
to be, either to use the mere act of will, or to get hold
of some detachable part of the man, or anything that
has been in contact with him, and by working the
" intention " on that, to do him hurt. The idea is, as
stated above, a man is not distinguished from his
separate parts, and injury done to them is done to him.
The easy analogy which leads the savage to " make-
believe," assists him here. It will be convenient to
give to this widely spread method and theory the name
it has in Australia, where its development is very
complete, that of ngadkungi. Both the act of will,
assisted sometimes by a make-believe process, and also
the method of ngadhungi are, as will be obvious,
developments of the ideas of contact ; and both,
it is hardly necessary to premise, are often used for
benevolent purposes. The following cases show how

■ Sufra, 83,84.

the " intention *\or subjective attitude may produce the
various results connected with taboo. In order to
ward off a danger from themselves, or to send evil
to another person, the Zulus squirt water contMning
medicine from the mouth.* To cause a person to
become thin and weak, the Arunta puts spittle on the
tips of his fingers, which are then bunched together
and jerked in the direction of the victim. This is
called Puliliwuma or spittle-throwing.' A string-whip
associated with magic is carried by Central Australian
men. '* The sight of one is alone enough to cause
the greatest fright to a woman who has offended her
husband, while the stroke is supposed to result in
death, or at least in maiming for life. In addition to
this use, the ililika is sometimes unwound and cracked
like a whip in the direction of any individual whom it
is desired to injure, when the evil influence is supposed
to travel through the sat, and so to reach the victim."*
In many Amboina villages there are persons who anoint
their eyes daily with certain ingredients, in order to
increase their keenness of sight, and to acquire "a warm
eye." Such are greatly feared, for they can by con-
centration of a look make any one ill and poison
food.* Amongst the Nicobarese there are sorcerers,
who possess the power not only of curing diseases
but of afflicting people with various ailments, and can
even cause death by a mere act of power.' Sorcerers
are very dangerous in Cambodia, in that they can en-
chant people by a mere act of will.* Hidatsa sorcerers
can injure persons at a distance.^ In Tenimber and
Timor-laut a common method of causing a man to be

' CilUwijr, ff. tit. 435. ' Spencer md Gillen, op. lU. jji.

■ U, 540, * Ricdcl, ^. fit. 61. ' Feathcrmaii, up. ck. ii. 148.

' AymoDier, op. cil. 181. ^ FtiOicnnaa, ef. cii. iii. 31I.

CHAP.

ill is to place objects, such as thorns and sharp stones,
on the ground where he is likely to pass. Over these
curses have been muttered. The person walking over
these objects will fall ill. Another method is to use
curses, and blow in a special way under a man's house.^
This illustrates a principle of savage "make-believe,"
viz. a fear of direct action. Amongst the Orang
Benuas are sorcerers who have the art of tujuy which is
the power of killing an enemy at a distance ; this is
done by pointing a dagger or a sumpitan in his direc-
tion.* The Australians have a well-known method of
injuring persons at a distance, by pointing a bone at
them.^ Being the bone of a dead man, it has in it
both human qualities and the contagion of death, but
apart from these accidents, the essence of the practice
is this ; the man first sings curses and evil wishes over
it, e.g. " may your heart be rent asunder,'* and his will
or " intention " of hatred and malice enters materially
into the bone, and veritably "informs" it. As the
natives explain, " any bone, stick, spear, etc., which has
been *sung,' is endowed with Arungquiltha^ magical
poisonous properties," but these are the man's tempor-
ary characteristics of hate materially conceived.* There
are actual cases where a man who has been hit by a
"sung" spear, or knows that a man has pointed "the
bone " at him, has pined away and died of fear.*^ For
a very different object, that of inspiring love, the same
method is used. Women " sing " over necklets of fur,
which they place round the man's neck, or "sing"
over some food which they then give him to eat.
They transfuse, in fact, their "intention" of love

^ Riedel, op, cit, 304.

• Joum, Anthrop, Inst, xxiv,

» Id, Lc.

188.

' Featherman, op, cit, ii. 441.

* Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 534, 537.

« Id, 548.

into the substance, and thus it passes to the person
intended.

The same conception is the essential feature of a
common class of oaths and ordeals, which in primitive
practice are identical. The formula of the oath passes
materially into the thing sworn by, which, as Greek
reminds us, was the original oath, and as the following
cases show, is of such a character as to do that injury
to the perjurer which he invokes upon himself. The
" oath " is held, or eaten or drunk, so as to ensure
assimilation, and if perjury or treachery results, the
wish has its eflfect and renders the substance of the
'* oath " deleterious. Thus in Madagascar parties
taking an oath pray that the liquor drunk, which is
the material " oath," may turn into poison for him
who breaks it.' In Ceram an oath is taken by eating
food in which a sword has been placed.* In Tenimber
the oath-taker invokes death, and drinks his own blood
in which a sword has been dipped.' The Tunguses
drink the blood of a dog, which is then burned, and
the wish made is "may I burn as this dog if I break
my oath."* When the Timorese take an oath they
drink water mixed with gunpowder and earth, saying,
'* May I die of sickness, by powder or the sword, if I
swear falsely." * Amongst the Malays, when swearing
fidelity, alliance, etc., water in which daggers, spears, or
bullets have been dipped, is drunk, the drinker saying,
" If I turn tr^tor, may I be eaten up by this dagger or
spear."' A Balinesc when giving evidence takes in
his hand a basin of water, and pronounces these words,
" May I perish with my whole generation if what I say
is not true," and in confirmation of this sacramental

> DUrville, ^. lit. 181. ' Riedel, tf. tii. 119. ' Id. 184.

* Gcorgi, <>p. tit. 48. * Featbernun, ef. til. u. 4G6. ' Slwil, afi, til, ;i8.

declaration he drinks the water.^ The terms of a
Sumatran oath are, " If what I now declare is truly and
really so, may I be freed and cleared fi-om my oath ;
if what I assert is wittingly false, may my oath be the
cause of my destruction." * The same material trans-
mission of " intention " is the motive power behind the
practice of setting taiu-mBrks on property. The in-
dignation of the injured party informs the notice, just
as the power of the law is behind the name on a
modern warning to trespassers. For the security of
property in the Luang -Sermata Islands, they place
marks thereon to warn people from trespassing. Any
person found trespassing, becomes ill or dies. They
are of various kinds : a notice made of hen-feathers
causes pains in the thief's back ; one sort causes him
to be struck by lightning, another to be eaten by
sharks.' Similarly, sickness follows trespassers on
property thus protected in the island Makiser.*

The method of ngadhungi is well known. On the
principle stated above, a man can work injury or any
result according to his "intention" on another, by
treating parts of him in various ways. It will be
remembered that a man's food is especially connected
with him, from the mere fact of the important results
of food to the organism, and it will be noticed that
such detachable portions of personality as food, hair,
nail-parings, clothes, and the like, are peculiarly easy to
get hold of. Amongst the aborigines of Queensland
any food left over from the meal is always burnt, to
prevent the possibility of sorcerers getting hold of it
and injuring them by means of the food.^ The western
tribes of Victoria *' believe that if an enemy gets

^ Featherman, op. cit, ii. 408. ^ W. Manden, Sumatra^ 238.

* Riedel, op, cit, 317. ^ Id, 414. * C. Lumholtz, Among Carmiiali, 298.

possession of anything that has belonged to them, even
such things as bones of animals which they have eaten,
broken weapons, feathers, portions of dress, pieces of
skin, or refuse of any kind, he can employ it as a charm
to produce illness in the person to whom they belonged.
They are, therefore, very careful to burn up all rubbish
or uncleanness before leaving a camping-place. Should
anything belonging to an unfriendly tribe be found at
any time, it is given to the chief, who preserves it as a
means of injuring the enemy. This •wuulon is lent to
any one of the tribe who wishes to vent his spite against
any one belonging to the unfriendly tribe. When used
as a charm, the wuulon is rubbed over with emu fat
mixed with red clay, and tied to the point of a spear-
thrower, which is stuck upright in the ground before
the camp-fire. The company sit round watching it,
but at such a distance that their shadows cannot fall
on it. They keep chanting imprecations on the enemy
till the spear-thrower turns round and falls in his
direction."' "The whole community of the Narrinyeri
is influenced by disease -makers. Their method is
called ngadhungi, and is practised in the following
manner. Every adult black-fellow is constantly on the
look-out for bones of ducks, swans, or other birds, or
fish, the flesh of which has been eaten by anybody.
When a man has obtained a bone, he supposes that he
possesses the power of life and death over the man,
woman, or child who ate its flesh. Should circumstances
arise calculated to excite the resentment of the disease-
maker towards the person who ate the flesh of the
animal from which the bone was taken, he immediately
sticks the bone in the ground near the fire, firmly
believing that it will produce disease in the person for

* Diwion, tf. ai. 54.

whom it was designed, however distant he may be.
Death also may result. All the natives, therefore, are
careful to burn the bones of the animals which they eat,
so as to prevent their enemies from getting hold of
them. When a person is ill, he generally regards his
sickness as a result of ngadhungiy and tries to discover
who is the disease-maker. When he thinks that he has
discovered him, he puts down a ngadhungi to the fire,
for the purpose of retaliating, that is, if he possesses
one made of an animal from which his enemy has eaten.
And if he has not, he tries to borrow one. Frequendy,
when a man has got the ngadhungi of another, he will
go to him and say, * I have your ngadhungiy what will
you give me for it ? ' Perhaps the other man will say
that he has one belonging to the person who asks him,
and in that case they will make an exchange, and each
destroy the ngadhungi. The constant seeking for
revenge caused by this belief produces an atmosphere
of suspicion among the natives. It is often the case
that they will trust none but relatives ; all others are
regarded as possible enemies." ^ In the Encounter Bay
tribe the same superstition is rampant. If a man has
not been able to get a bone of an animal eaten by his
foe, he takes an animal, and cooks and offers the meat
in a friendly manner to his intended victim, having
previously taken from it a piece of bone.* In Tanna
the disease-makers injure a man by burning his nahak^
that is, the refuse of his food, or any article that has
been in close contact with his body. When a person is
taken ill, he believes that it is occasioned by some one
who is burning his nahak; and if he dies, his friends ascribe
it to the disease-maker as having burnt the refuse to the
end. All the Tannese carry small baskets about with

1 Natiffe Tribes of South Auitralia^ 24, 25, 26, 136. » Jd, 196.

them, into which they put banana skins, cocoanut husk,
or any refuse from that which they may have been
eating, in order to avoid its discovery by an enemy,
until reaching and crossing a stream of running water,
which alone has the power of annulling such con-
tingency. "It is surprising how these men are dreaded,
and how strong the belief is that they have in their
hands the power of life and death." The belief "has
so strong a hold in Tanna that all the continual fights
and feuds are attributable to it."^ The practice of
burning a man's food in order to injure him flourishes
in New Britain ; the islanders are therefore carefiU to
hide or burn their leavings.^ In the Banks Islands one
man can injure another by charming some bit of food,
hair, or nwl-parings, anything in fact that has been in
close connection irith his body ; they are consequently
at pains to hide all such.* In Pululaa (Solomon Islands)
guests bring their own food to feasts, as they may not
eat the food set out- The belief is that if a visitor
should purposely or accidentally retain a morsel of food
of his host, he can thereby exercise a mysterious influence
over the giver of the feast. In such a contingency the
host will redeem the lost fragment at as high a figure as
he can afford.* In the Solomon Islands, again, an enemy
will throw scraps of his victim's food into a sacred pool,
of which he knows the spirit or Tindalo. If the food
is eaten by a fish or snake the man will die.' Through-
out Melanesia it is believed that one man may harm
another by taking bits of his food into a sacred place,
upon which the victim's lips will swell and his body
break out with ulcers." In the New Hebrides, when

I G. Turner, Nbiaitn rari In PUymiu, %ij ; B. T. Scmerville, in Join, jlnlhr^

hu. xtiii. 19, 10. " W. Po«ll, Wa7,dtrini, m a fTiU Cou^lry, 171.

• Jam. Aiaknf. hu. i. i8j. • Coole, IfmliThgi Semi end Eait, 177.

' 7™™, Ajiihri^. hii. I. JO9. • R. H, Codrington, 7"At Mtlauaant, 188.

the mae snake carries away a fragment of food into the
place sacred to a spirit^ a man who has eaten of th^t
will sicken as the fragment decays.^ The Malays take
great care in disposing of the clippings of hair, as they
believe that "the sympathetic connection which exists
between himself and every part of his body continues to
exist, even after the physical connection has been severed,
and that he will suffer from any harm that may befall
the severed parts of his body, such as the clippings of
his hair or the parings of his nails. Accordingly he
takes care that these severed portions of himself shall
not be left in places where they might either be exposed
to accidental injury or fall into the hands of malicious
persons who might work magic on them to his detriment
or death." Charms are used by the Malays for an
infinity of purposes. They are worked by ** direct
contact, sometimes by indirect, sometimes without."
To charm a person, take soil from the centre of the
foot-print of the person you wish to charm, and " treat
it ceremonially " for about three days. Another Malay
method of charming a person is to scrape off some of
the wood of the floor from the place where your
intended victim has been sitting ; then mould it with
wax into a figure resembling him ; the figure is scorched
over a lamp, while the following words are repeated,
"It is not wax that I am scorching, icis th^ iiver,
heart, and spleen of so-and-so that I scorch." The
Malays use clippings of the victim's hair, his saliva, and
parings of his nails, etc., in making the well-known wax
image, into which pins are stuck, and " which Hs still
believed by all Malays to be a most effective method of
causing the illness or death of an enemy." To work
dissension between a husband and wife, a Malay makes

^ R. H. Codrington, The Melaneuans^ 203.

two wax figures resembling them ; he breathes upon
them, and puts them back to back, so that they look
away from one another.* The Mandans believe that
a person at a distance may be injured or killed by
sticking a needle in the heart of a figure made of clay
or wood representing him.* In Luang-Sermata one can
cause swellings of the head or hands of an enemy by
burning his hair.' In Buru, as a love-charm, one
*' speafcs over " oil the woman uses for her hair, or
over a hair of her one finds. Or one buries a piece
of ginger where she mil pass.* The natives of the
Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country believe that if
you can procure some hair or excrement of an enemy,
his life will decay while they are in your possession.'
In the Babar Islands the method is used to make people
ill, of burning their hair or strih they have used. This
is also done by rejected lovers." Witchcraft prevailed
amongst the Tasmanians. They procured some object
belonging to the person, and, having enveloped it in
fat, they laid it before the fire, and they supposed that
as the fat was gradually melting, the health of their
enemy would by degrees decline and that he would
thus be doomed to perish.^ The Cambodians say that
a traveller must not throw away fragments of his
garments when in a foreign country. If he does not
wsh to be unlucky, he must keep them,* The Gpps-
land tribes " practised sorcery, with a view to taking
the lives of their enemies. The mode of proceeding
was to obtain possession of something which had

' Ske.t,iif.ri/.44,.lioiiOOtia!

; Fruer'i C, i. 193 i Skat, 569, S70, 45,

'3. ThewordtoftheMiUyt

:h»nn *re identical with thoie uMd hj the loreereM

Thcocritiu u.

» FuCherman, of. cit. iii. joj.

» Riedel. q*. r«. 3.8.

' Ii.ff.<U. 10, It.

• Curr, ry. fir. iii. 179.

" Riedel.,y. ti>. 377.

' Fdthermia, if. til. H. 109.

' Aymonier, tf. cir. 166.

belonged to the person whose death was desired, such
as some of his hair, excrement, or food ; or to touch
him with an egg-shaped piece of stone which was called
bulky and was thought to be possessed of magic powers
At other times they would charm by means of the
makthar (real name of the person) ; or several of them,
retiring to some lonely spot, and drawing on the ground
a rude likeness of the victim, would sit around it and
devote him to destruction with cabalistic ceremomes.
Such was their dread of proceedings of this sort that,
not unfrequently, men and women who learnt that the7
had been made the subjects of incantation, quickly pined
away and died of fright."^ The Central Australians
use the method of drawing a portrait of the intended
victim, and stabbing it.^ In Wetar one can make a
man ill by getting hold of some of his saliva, hair, betel
he has chewed, a piece of his clothes, or anything
belonging to him. These objects are put in a place
haunted by evil spirits, who are then called upon to
kill the man or make him ill.' Sorcerers amongst the
Karalits injure or slay persons by magic use of any
part of the victim's body, or part of an animal killed
by such.* Before a battle, a Zulu chief sits on a circlet
of "medicines," containing some object belonging to
the hostile chief, and he says, " I am overcoming him ;
I am now treading him down ; he is now under me. I
do not know by what way he will escape." '^ The
Zulus also use a vessel of medicines which one chums
like a Chinese praying-machine. A young man will
use it as a love-charm ; if it froths, he knows he has
prevailed over the girl. Something belonging to her is

^ Curr, op, cit, iii. 547. ^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 550.

' Riedel, op, cit, 451. * Fcatherman, op, cit, iii, 437.

B Callaway, op, cit, 34Z.

put in it. The churn is used before war, mth some-
thing in it belonging to the hostile chief, so as to kill
or weaken htm. Any disease may be caused by walk-
ing over " medicines " placed, to that end, in the path.^
Another account of the Zulus says that before the army
sets out, the king makes "medicine" Jn which is some
personal article belonging to his enemy. "The belief
in this is so strong, that when a chief is forced to retreat,
the floor of his hut is scraped, and for this reason
Dingan, when he fled from the Boers, burnt his hut."'
The method is used mth saliva, as well as other vehicles,
in Ceylon and Nukahiva ; ' and throughout the islands
between Celebes and New Guinea the method flourishes
in many forms, both for injury and for producing love.*
A very common form is the injuring of a person by
means of his name. To injure a person, the Amboinese
use some of his sirih he has thrown away, a piece of his
hair, or clothing ; also one writes his name on a piece
of paper, which is put Jn a gun and fired off, or else
one puts it in the highest branch of a tree.' The
Gippsland blacks objected strongly to let any one
outside the tribe know their names, lest their enemies,
learning them, should make them vehicles of incantation,
and so charm their lives away. As children were not
thought to have enemies, they used to speak of a man
as "the fether, uncle, or cousin of so-and-so," naming
a child, but on all occasions abstained from mentioning
the name of a grown-up person." In many Australian
tribes " the belief obtains itiai the life of an enemy may
be taken by the use of his name in incantations. The
consequence of this idea is, that in the tribes in which

> CMlfnty <f. til. J43, 346, JJ. » Shooter, if. tit. 343.

' Tenncnt, ff. at. ii. 544 j D'Orvillc, if. til. i. 501. * Riedel, of. til. peubm.
* Id. ip. til. 61, 79. ' Cun, If, til. iU. 545.

it obtains, the name of the male is given up for ever at
the time when he undergoes the first of a series of
ceremonies which end in conferring the rights of man-
hood. In such tribes a man has no name, and, instead
of calling a man by name, one addresses him as brother,
nephew, or cousin, as the case may be, or by the name
of the class to which he belongs." ^ Sorcery is one of
the most heinous crimes in Bali. A man is guilty of it
if he writes the name of any one on the winding-sheet
of a corpse, or on a dead man*s bier, or if he makes an
image of paste of the person he intends to bewitch, or if
he hangs from a tree a slip of paper on which his name
is written, or if he buries such a paper in the ground, or
in a haunted place.^ In Abyssinia it is believed that
the sorcerer can cause no injury to a person unless he
knows his true name, and it is the custom for mothers
to conceal the baptismal name of their children, and to
substitute for it. Son of St. George, Slave of the Virgin,
Daughter of Moses, and the like.* In modern Europe
there is still to be found, especially amongst children,
some diffidence about revealing the Christian name.

^ Curr, op. cit. i. 46. ^ Featherman, op, cit, ii. 408. * JJ, v. 6, 8.

Chapter VI

With this sensibility to contact there is always closely
connected the instinctive care of functions and organs,
which are, of course, but specialised channels of contact,
both in use and origin, and this care is common to
all highly organised life. It is a good instance of
physiolc^cal thought. Throughout the world it is the
general rule for the performance of human fimctions to
take place in secret, and this secrecy is closer in primi-
tive than in civilised custom.^ As will be shown later,
one important fiinction, that of eating and drinking,
though no longer secret in civilised periods, was so in
early society. Prayer before such functions testifies to
this caution, and the custom of the Babar islanders, who
pray to the ancestral spirits before eating, drinking, and
sleeping, or of the people of Timorlaut, who pray to
Dudilaa before such functions as sexual intercourse,
eating, and drinking, is typical of the generality of
mankind.' Hence also the general ascription of the
taboo character to the various functions, especially the
nutritive and sexual. When called "unclean," the
term originally is equivalent to taboo, still undiffer-
entiated, though later it becomes specialised by other
associations. The Hindu and Muhammadan rules of
" uncleanness " in connection with physical functions,

' J. G. F. Riedel, Di ilnk^ Javaiarigi raam tmuia Sddnt a Paf^, 96, 40«.
• Id. lit, t%x.

are examples of a general human practice.^ The
universal desire for solitude during the performance of
certain physical functions, shared by man with the
higher animals, is an extension of the organic instinct
for safety and self-preservation. These functions,
especially the nutritive, sexual, and excretory, are not
only of supreme importance in oi^anic life, but their
performance exposes the individual to danger, by ren-
dering him defenceless for the time being. Ideas
formed straight from this instinct invest such Amctions
at once with a potential sacredness, and asast towards i
religious concealment of them. Again, this impulse for
solitude is emphasised, as psycholc^ proves, in illness
and in critical states, a fact which shows the origin of
many taboos on their subjective ade.

In the development of these ideas, each principle of
contact has its share, and the biological caution is
intensified by religious conceptions. The very com-
plexity and importance of functions intensifies both the
biological and the religious care of them. The indi-
vidual avoids, in the first place, the dangers resulting to
himself from contact with others ; and secondarily, from
knowledge of these dangers, he concludes that the
material secretions and emanations are in every case
dangerous, even apart from personal properties, and
accordingly avoids his own, for his own sake and,
altruistically, for the sake of his fellows. This altru-
istic feeling is later, and is connected with ctisgust.

While it is the functions and external organs con-
nected with nutrirlon and sex that are most guarded,
and the senses of taste and touch that arc here most
sensitive, yet the instinct to preserve and insulate fi'om
danger all the channels of sense is seen in savage custom.

This insulation is effected sometimes by wearing amulets
upon the external oi^ns, sometimes by means of the
painful processes of tattooing, boring, and scarification.
It is erroneous to attribute these practices to the
desire for ornament. There is ample evidence that
*' savage mutilation " is never due to this desire ; the
savage does not hold with the maxim — ilfaut souffrir
pour etre belle ; on the contrary, he is extremely averse
to p^n, except for the purpose of preserving his life,
health, and strength. Accordingly, when we find that
the mouth and lips, the teeth, nose, eyes, ears, and
genital organs are subjected to such processes, we may
infer that the object is to secure the safety of these
sense-organs, by what is practically a permanent amulet
or charm.

The idea behind the mutilation of organs is complex.
Let us take the common practices of piercing an organ,
filing the teeth, knocking out a tooth, circumcision,
and perforation of the hymen. The first part of the
idea is to obviate possible difficulty in function, sug-
gested by an apparent closure of the organ ; this possi-
bility of difficulty is to the savage a potentiality of evil,
and is connected with the fear of doing a thing for the
first time, a fear which, as we have seen, creates a
material dangerous substance attaching to the thing in
question, and needing removal before contact can safely
take place. The Pepos state that the object of knock-
ing out one or more teeth at puberty is to assist breath-
ing.^ Shortly after a birth the Malays administer to
the child "the mouth-opener" ; "first you take a green
cocoa-nut, split it in halves, put a grain of salt inside
one half of the shell, and give it to the child to drink,
counting up to seven, and putting it up to the child's

> PloN, ^1 JGW, ii. 414.

mouth at the word seven." * This account is important
as suggesting that the first taking of food, the first
employment of the mouth, is a dangerous crisis. When
we take into account the importance of food in savage
life, and the care of the mouth and teeth resulting, also
the fact that this knocking out of teeth, like the similar
process of teeth-filing, is regularly performed at puberty,
when as a rule there are certain food taboos removed,
and a boy is initiated to ••man's food," it is a fair
conjecture that its object is to secure in some way the
safety of that important function. When a Dieri boy
has had the teeth knocked out, he may not look at the
men who performed the operation, or " his mouth would
close up and he would be unable to eat." * Mr. Skeat
was invariably told that the Malay practice of teeth-
filing not only beautified but preserved the teeth from
decay.* The idea of ornament is later. With the
particular imaginary danger already mentioned all
danger of material contact of course combines, includ-
ing that of disease in the wide range of reality and
imagination with which early man regards disease.
Amongst the Cadiacks a hole is bored through the
septum of the child's nose, when it is washed after birth.
These people have also the practice of piercing the
septum in cases where venereal disease attacks the nose.*
The connection is obvious. The Yorubas call circiun-
cision " the cutting that saves." * Amongst the Central
Australians there is a causal connection between the
practice of sub -incision and the common disease
Erkincha. It is not, as has been proved, intended to
prevent impregnation, nor does it have this result.'

* Skeat, op, eit, 337. ^ Howitt, in Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xx. 80.
' Skeat, op, eit, 359.^ * U. Lieiansky, op. cit. 200, 201.

* A. B. Ellis, op, cit. 66. ' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 405, 264.

The ceremony of head-biting performed on Central
Australian boys at puberty is supposed to make the
hair grow strong.' Now it is prevention of fiiture
harm, illness and weakness, and transmission of strength
and life that are one special object of ceremonies at
puberty. Again, it has been conclusively proved that
circumcision does not prevent disease, and it is probable
that there was no sanitary intention in its origin, except
such as forms part of the explanation here given.* The
ceremony amongst the Semites was originally "religious"
in the primitive sense, but here, as elsewhere, when the
religious habit becomes rational, the fallacy of sanitary
intention in circumcision became prominent, and may
often have been the reason for the continuance of the
practice. The last factor in the principle behind these
mutilations is one very closely connected with ideas of
contact, and applies especially to such practices as circum-
cision. The deleterious emanation from strange or new ■
things is identical in theory with human emanations, not
only from strange or unhandselled beings, but from
characteristic parts of such, and in later thought, from
such parts of one's own personality. This dangerous
emanation is any physical secretion religiously regarded,
and its retention is prevented by cutting away separable
parts which would easily harbour it, as the teeth retain
morsels of food. This primitive notion is the same
with those of personal cleanliness and of the removal of
separable parts of a tabooed person. Dr. Frazer points
out the idea of destroying separable parts of tabooed
persons ; thus, in' Roti the first hair of a child " is not
his own, and unless cut off will make him ill." When
the part is cut off, there result the ideas, first of securing

' Spencer anil OiUen, tf, cit. 15 1.
* Joiepli Juote, in ytan. Aminf. /««. it. ]1.

the safety of the rest by sacrificing a part, a practice
well illustrated by the custom of cutting ofF the little
finger ; and secondly, of sacrificing such part to a deity
so as to consecrate the rest, by m^ng it less ** impure "
or ^^ taboo r Thus, Sir A. B. Ellis infers that drcum-
cision amongst the Yorubas and Ewe peoples is a sacri-
fice of a portion of the organ, which the god inspires,
to ensure the well-being of the rest. The rite is there
connected with the worship of Elegbra} And for the
earlier notion, the Jews and Egyptians regarded it as a
" cleansing." *

Circumcision and artificial hynxen-perforation thus
originated in the intention both to obviate hylo-idealistic
danger resulting from apparent closure, and to remove
a separable part of a taboo organ, on the above-stated
principles. This removal also explains the practice of
excision. The other ideas follow later, and the safety
both of the individual and of those who will have con-
tact is the more necessary because that contact is with
the other, the dangerous sex.

As to the insertion of plugs and sticks and the like,
in the nose, lips, and ears, it is probable that the original
object was to keep ofF evil from the organs by a mark,
an idea connected with the widely spread belief that the
attention of the evil influence is thus diverted from the
organ as lightning is diverted from an object by the
lightning-rod.

Here is to be considered the psychology of disgust.
The emotion in its origin is caused by the presence or
contact of what is dangerous or useless to the individual
organism, chiefly in connection with the nutritive and
sexual functions. It is part of the natural law of

^ A. B. £1118, op, cie. 66.
' Ploss, Das Kmd^ i. 345 ; Tniten, Die Sitten u, Gebraucke der alten Hebraer, nc.

VI DISGUST— IMPURITY 139

economy, ultimately chemical, which produces an im-
pulse for what one needs and an avoidance of what one
does not need, or has cast away. Food that is needed
is the object of man's fiercest desire, and, on the other
hand, food after satiety or the excreta from food pro-
duce the strongest loathing ; in each case the feeling is
part of the primary nutritive impulse. The same desire
and loathing belong to the sexual functions and emotions,
the development and complement of the nutritive. The
sensitive instinct of self-preservation and of self-realisa-
tion which insulates a man from other organisms, ac-
centuates the emotion of di^ust when the cast-oiF sub-
stances -are from others, and makes those from himself
more tolerable. Further, where there is no desire, there
is potential disgust, especially at the sight of another's
function. Disgust correlates with satiety and is the
opposite pole to desire and satisfaction, and ultimately
its connection is with the alimentary functions alone,
from which the sexual and other are developed. Desire
and disgust are the final expression of chemical laws of
combination and rejection. Desire and disgust are
curiously blended when with one's own desire unsatis-
fied one sees the satisfection of another ; and here we
may see the altruistic stage beginning ; this has two
sides, the fear of causing desire in others, and the fear of
causing disgust, in each case personal isolation is the
psycholi^ical residt.

The ideas of impurity and ceremonial " uncleanness "
are closely connected with these phenomena, and in
primitive thought are concerned with the nutritive no
less than with other functions. Theoretically, if we
carry primitive ideas to their logical conclusion, the
perfecdy " pure *' person is one who should not only
avoid contact with the functional effluvia of others, but

all contact with persons also ; and moreover, to obviate
pollution from his own functions, should abstain not
only *from sexual but from nutritive processes as well.
It is the ascetic ideal of the perfect Buddhist This
practice (cuTKffa-i^) has probably assisted man conriderably
towards attaining a higher than animal culture.

Again, the feeling of shame is closely connected with
these functional phenomena ; it is produced by ideas
which arise from the importance and sensibility of
functions, tending towards diffidence and mistrust of
them, and is expressed originally upon any external
interference with a function. Later it becomes altruistic.
We may also observe that amongst early men it is also
to an important extent concerned with alimentary pro-
cesses. It is at first sight surprising to read the follow-
ing statement, but a slight acquaintance with primitive
habit shows how inevitable such facts are, and ohs^^-
tion of the lower classes in modern times reveals dfe
same phenomenon. Amongst the Bakairi every man
eats by himself; when one eats in the presence of
another, it is the custom to do so with head averted,
while the other turns his back and does not speak till
the meal is over. When the German explorer, not
knowing of this, ate his lunch without giving notice, they
hung their heads and showed on their faces real shame.^

All these emotions and the ideas connected there-
with are part of the foundation of social and of sexual
taboo. Closely connected as they are with contact and
with functional sensitiveness, they at once, when in the
altruistic stage in which one conceals or refrains from
functions to avoid causing others to feel disgust or
shame, vary in intensity according to the distance of the
person whose feelings are being considered. A man

^ K. von den Steinen, Unter den Natur-Volktm ZtntraUBraalient^ 66.

VI SHAME— PERSONAL ISOLATION 141

certainly would avoid performing such acts as involve
these emotions before an entire stranger, for to primitiveL,
thought a stranger is a potential foe, and in such a ca^ -
we see the original cause of such secrecy ; but on th^
other hand, amongst acquaintances and friends, he i»'>
less ready to insist upon secrecy than he is with closer
connections, such as those mth whom he lives. The
reason is the accentuation, first of the danger, and later
of altruistic consideration, produced in each case by the
very closeness of the contact. Add to this the religious
caution between the two sexes, and we get a potential
avoidance of all such functions in the presence of the
other sex generally, and especially in the presence of
those with whom a man is in closest daily contact. Not
only civilised ideas and habits of decency and personal
cleanliness, but human systems and institutions of the
most important character are built on these founda-
tions.

These ideas of contact, which are found all over the
world, give to human relations generally a religious
meaning, such as we can hardly realise by imagination.
Every individual, as such, is surrounded by a taboo
of personal isolation ; and for communication between
him and his fellows there is in theory needed a go-
between. A type of this may be seen in the New
Hebridean custom, where the last man to " take the
book" ((.f. turn Christian), was a "sacred man," whose
sanctity was such that anything given to him by a
white man had to be passed through the hands of a
go-between.' Secondly, to take the dangerous side of
the taboo character, all human and sexual properties,
states of mind and of emotion, even acts and thoughts,
are so material that they exude, sam phrase, from the skin.

■ Jan. Aminf, Ina. xtiii. il.

In civilised stages of society, moral and social
systems which are themselves closely connected in
origin with this early view of contact, have so defined
and safeguarded human relations that these ideas have
almost disappeared. They exist still, however, in one
or two special forms, as in the still rampant belief in
the evil eye throughout Southern Europe, and in the
refinement always kept in civilisation, which reveals its
material origin in more or less dainty avoidance of the
lower classes, of " publicans and sinners."

Primitive man has some diflferences in his code of
morals, but on the whole, he is more moral in the
social sense than is civilised man. A few examples will
illustrate this basis of early morality. The immaturity
of the human " will " is a characteristic of early man.
What is said of the Fijians applies still more to earlier
peoples. •* We have to bear in mind the absolute help-
lessness of the Fijian, in fact, the Polynesian generally,
when anybody has acquired a moral ascendancy over
him."^ Death often occurs from this moral fear.
Sorcery is so dreaded by Australians that individuals
have been known to die through fear of it.* As we
have seen, amongst the Australians a great motor power
is the belief in sorcery or witchcraft. In the everyday
life of the black, a pressure originating in this source
may be said to be always at work." Of the Kurnai
it is said that "the gratification of self is choked in
them, as in us, by a sense of duty or by afFection.
Speaking to a Kroatun young man about the food
prohibited during initiation, I said, *But if you were
hungry and caught a female opossum, you might eat
it if the old men were not there'; he replied, *I could
not do that : it would not be right.' Although I

^ Sccmann, op, at, 190. ^ Curr, op, eit. i, 49. » /^, j^ ^^^ ^g

tried to find out from him some other reason, he could
give no other than that it would be wrong to disregard
the customs."' In New South Wales the universal
reprobation which followed a breach of ancient customs,
preserved a strict observance of morality.* Amor^t
the Maoris tapu was law, and far more observed and
feared than the latter, as such, ever has been in higher
culture.' So it has been said of the Fijian tamhu; "the
taboo is a religion in itself, and without doubt has
helped to prevent savages from allowing their naturally
depraved natures to have full scope to carry out their
intentions. The law-givers who introduced the tambu
must have done so with the idea of promoting the
happiness of the community, and of encouragii^
morality among the people." * The Leh-tas, according
to the Karens, have no laws or rulers, and do not require
any, as they never commit any evil among themselves
or against other people. "The sense of shame amongst
this tribe is so acute, that on being accused of any evil
act by several of the community, the person so accused
retires to a desolate spot, digs his grave and strangles
himself." ' Amongst the Hill Dyaks crime is so rare
that its punishments are only known from tradition.
They have a complete system similar to the Polynesian
tabu} In New Britain marriage within the totem-clan
would bring instant destruction upon the woman, and
the man's life would never be secure. Her relatives
would be so ashamed, that only her death could satisfy
them. " However, such a case never occurs in a
thickly populated district. If a man should be accused
of adultery or fornication with a woman, he would at

' Fiion and Howitl, ef. til. 156, IJ?. * Wilku, tf. cir. ii. 193.

* U. ii. 383. * ADderion, ef. cii, Sg.

■ A. R. Coliguhauc, jlmmg lU Sidiri, 76. ' Low, sp, eh. 147, 14S.

once be acquitted by the public voice, if he could say
* she is one of us * ; i.e. she belongs to my totem." ^ In
Timor "the custom of pomali is general, fruit-trees,
houses, crops, and property of all kinds being protected
from depredation by this ceremony, the reverence for
which is very great. A palm branch stuck across an
open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is a more
effectual guard against robbery than any amount of
locks and bars." * The same is true of most priiAitive
races. In Hawaii a "wicked person" was one who
broke faiu.^ Amongst the Indians of Guiana any
breach of the marriage system is "wicked."* Amongst
the Zulus umtakati means "witch, wizard, or evil-doer,"
i.e. murderers, adulterers, one who violates rules of
consanguinity ; also one who does secret injury to
another, by using " medicine," e.g. human remains, or
poison. Evil-doers can injure health, destroy life, cause
cows to become dry, prevent rain, occasion lightning.*
Turning to the question of deterrents, amongst the
Bangerang it was believed that the sorcery of other
tribes could be counteracted by their own incantations.
On the other hand, they sometimes feel that the incan-
tations of their own doctors can be neutralised by
stronger ones on the part of their enemies ; and so they
" frequently revenge a death in the tribe — which is of
course attributed to sorcery, though in effect the result of
sickness or accident — by attacking at night a host'de camp
and massacring the sleepers."* In Hawaii violators
of taboo were seized by the priests and killed.^ Mr.
Curr says of the Australian tribes with which he was

^ B. Danks, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 282, 283.

2 A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago^ 450. ' Ellis, Tour in Hatuaii^ 279.

* Brett, op. cit, 98. » Shooter, op, at. 141.

« Curr. op. cit. i. 47, 49. ' Wilkes, op, cit, iv. 40.

V] SANCTIONS OF MORAUTY 145

acquainted, '* we find our blacks, male and female,
submitting for years loyally and without exception to
a number of irksome restraints, especially in connection
with food, just as we Roman Catholics do to the fests
and abstinences imposed by the Church. Now the
question is, what is the hidden power which secures
the black's scrupulous compliance with custom in such
cases? What is it, for instance, which prompts the
hungry black boy, when out hunting with the white
man, to refuse (as I have often seen him do) to share
in a meal of emu flesh, or in some other sort of food
forbidden to those of his age, when he might easily do
so without fear of detection by his tribe ? What is it
that makes him so faithfully observant of many trying
customs ? The reply is, that the constraining power in
such cases is not government, whether by chief or
council, but education ; that the black is educated from
in^ncy in the belief that departure from the customs
of his tribe is inevitably followed by one at least of
many evils, such as becoming grey, ophthalmia, skin
eruptions, or sickness ; but above all, that it exposes the
offender to the danger of death from sorcery," ' The
Luang Sermata islanders hold that sickness is due to
"sin";^ and this is a common human idea, a phase
of which is the belief that evil physical results follow
breaches of the system or principle of marriage, and,
we may add, of sexual taboo generally. Amongst the
Australians old people are mostly sorcerers ; " and
custom holds the weak and the young in willing sub-
jection to the old." ' In speaking of the jwwer of the
old men, and the enforcing of moral laws by them,
Messrs. Spencer and Gillen show that the influence
which supports custom is far firom being impersonal.

' Curr, of. cii. i. S4, 55. » Riedel, op. cii. 1*5. ' Ejre, of. cit. ii. J84.

In the Central Australian tribes which they examined,
they found that offenders were r^ularly dealt with by
the elder men, and that offending natives were perfectly
well aware that they would " be dealt with by some-
thing much more real than an impersonal power.'*
In reference to the dying -out of native races upon
contact with Europeans, they remark of the Central
Australian tribes, that "the young men under the
new influence become freed from the wholesome
restraint of the older men, who are all-powerful in
the normal condition of the tribe. The strict moral
code, which is certainly enforced in their natural state,
is set on one side, and nothing is adopted in place
of it." '

Early men have also an elaborate etiquette based on
these ideas. Amongst the Northern Indians when two
people met, they would stop when within twenty yards,
and generally sit or lie down, without speaking for some
minutes.^ The origin of such may be seen in the
Australian practice ; when a tribe approaches another,
that is unknown to it, they carry burning sticks to
purify the air.^ In the Dieri and neighbouring tribes,
when a man reaches home, no notice at first is taken,
until he sits down ; then " the friends or relations sit
around, and the news is whispered, whatever it may be,
and repeated in a loud voice to the whole camp.** Also,
when an influential native arrives, he is received thus : —
*• On approaching the camp, the inmates close in with
raised arms, as in defence ; then the person of note
rushes at them, making a faint blow as if to strike them,
they warding it off^ with their shields ; immediately after
they embrace him and lead him into the camp, where

^ Spencer and Gillen, o^, cit, 15, 8.
2 Hearac, op, cit, 332. * Brough Smyth, op, cit. i. 134.

the women bring him focxi." • The Malay, says Mr.
Wallace, is " particularly sensitive to breaches of etiquette,
or any interference with the personal liberty of himself
or another. As an example, I may mention that I often
found it very difficult to get one Malay servant to
waken another. He will call as loud as he can, but will
hardly touch, much less shake his companion."' In the
islands of Leti, Moa, and Lakor, and the Babar Islands
no one may without important reason wake a sleeping
man.' The greatest possible insult to a man in
Tenimbcr and Timorlaut is to spit in his face, or to step
over his body when on the ground.* In New Caledonia
there is an elaborate system of etiquette. Politeness
requires one to walk in front of the person to whom
respect is due ; to enter first on introducing him ; to
pass in front and not behind him.' The Fijians observe
scrupulously certain rules of etiquette." The Javanese
are distinguished for the formal observance of etiquette.'
The Tagalas of Luzon and Mindanao are remarkable
for a sentiment of personal shamefulness, called hya,
which renders them very susceptible of insult, and
causes them to respect the feelings of others.* The same
results of the taboo of personal isolation are constant in
all stages of culture. The whole series of phenomena,
lastly, helps to disprove the common idea that early
society possessed a communistic and socialistic character.
The " rights " of the individual in property, marriage,
and everything else, were never more clearly defined
than by primitive man.

G.«.n, Id Jem

■H. .Aniknf. Lisi. ixiv. iJi i id/ii

I Cnrr, ef. cU. a

.50.

W.li.«.v-«

'<■ 44J-

» Riidel. ,p.

r/r. 378.

Id. 29S-

' Fnthermio, if. tit.

ii. Is-

M. ii. 100.

' li. ii. 381.

» W. ii.481.

Chapter VII

There are still to be described the two most im-
portant forms of contact, contact by means of food
and by sexual intercourse. I have deferred their
description because they have so close a connection
with sexual taboo, the further developments of which
chiefly take the lines marked out by ideas concern-
ing these two functions of eating and of sexual con-
gress.

Biologically, the sexual impulse is a development
from the nutritive, and the primary close connection of
the two functions is continued in thought, subconscious
and physiological, and appears sometimes above the
threshold of consciousness. We find further, that many
primary human conceptions are not only based on the
connection but express it clearly. One of the most
obvious links between the two is the kiss, and much
popular thought and language preserves similar concep-
tions.

Various rules attest the importance of " man's bread
and oil and wine." The natives of the Baram district
of Borneo feed alone ; " they are very particular about
being called away from their meals, and it takes a great
deal to make a man set about doing anything before he
has concluded his repast." To such an extent is this
practice observed that it is considered wrong to attidc
even an enemy whilst he is eating, but the momen

CHAP. VII EATING AND DRINKING 149

has finished it is legitimate and proper to fall upon him.^
The custom of eating in silence is found amongst the
Ahts, Maoris, Siamese, and the ancient Hindoos.* The
Arabs of Syria mutter a bismillah before eating, and
take their meals in "Silence.? In Siam it is a maxim of
the Buddhist priests that " to eat and talk at the same
time is a sin." * The Tahitians oflFered a prayer before
they ate their food.* The Mois of Cochin China invoke
a superior power before eating and drinking.® The
Malayalam Sudras of Travancore bathe and put sacred
ashes on the forehead before each meal.^ In origin, the
custom of prayer before eating was not an expression of
thankfulness. The object was to avert any deleterious
influence that the food might possess. On this is super-
imposed the wish that the food may be good and bene-
ficial, may be " blessed," which passes into an invocation
to a superior power to so bless it, and also, for the older
idea often remains, to cleanse the food from harmful
properties.

The savage realises better than most civilised men
that his life, his health and strength, and general well-
being depend chiefly upon what is ultimately the most
necessary of human fimctions. It is not surprising,
therefore, that so many customs and beliefs attach to
the processes of eating and drinking. " The procuring
of food is the great business of the Australian's life,"
says a good observer, *' and forms one of the principal
topics of his conversation."® Custom and belief in
this connection are based upon the egoistic physical

^ youm. Antkrop. Init, xziii. i6o.

' Sproat, op. cit, 6i ; Thomion, New Zealaudj i6o $ Bo wring, Siam^ i. i lo ;
Mamij iii. 236, 237.

' Featherman, op, ch, v. 448, 451. * Bowring, op, cit, u 328.

* EUis, PofynmoM JUuarcAes^ >• 350. * Coch'mcUne franfoiu^ viii. 12.

f Matecr, op. cit, 112. ^ Corr, op. cit. i. 81.

sensibility of man, applied to the object of his fiercest
desires, and with this there combine kter all his concep-
tions of matter and of material and human contact.
Thus the savage as a rule prefers to eat alone, as be
prefers to be alone for the performance of similar fiinc-
tinns, from ^oistic caution and fear of interruptiui.
The Karajas always eat by themselves, with back, turned.'
Amongst the Bakairi every man eats by himself; vfaen
one has to eat in the presence of another it is the custoni
to do so with head averted, while the other turns his
back and does not speak till the meal is over. Whe:
von den Steinen ate before them they hung their heai^
and were "ashamed."' The Zafimanelosof Madagascsr
eat alone with locked doors.' The Maori gendcmEc
eats in solitude.* The rule is common in Polynesas ani
Africa. It is naturally still more emphasised in tiie asc
of kings and chiefs. The King of Abyssinia alirew
dines alone.' Amongst the Niam-niam the king t^s
his meals in private ; no one may see the contcnxs of he
dish, and everything that he leaves is carefidly dirDwr.
into a pit, set apart for the purpose. All thai hs
handles is held as " sacred," and may not be toochec ;
and a guest, though of higher rank, may not so muri.
as light his pipe with embers from the king''s fire.'- A
carved and gilt wooden screen was alwaj^ plnrrri ir
front of Montezuma at his meals, that no one nughr s&
him while eating.' In Loango the king is sacred ; troir.
his birth he is forbidden to eat with any one, and various
foods arc prohibited to him. He eats and drinks alone,
in huts devoted to the purpose. The covered dishes
containing his food are preceded by a crier, at whoc:

> K. ™n i«> Steinen, Umtr dn Ngtv-f^U,,, Ziiirel-BraiUiim, 6t.

-' Ahm

iM-am/c W>»u/, >i. 119

f. <:x, M.

• Hjr.

i>,lligl,U«J,^fF.lA,<fU,

ifnrth, c«. d,.

"■ t*-

' Bid.

■'""-'/'■"'■ "'• '»y-

proclamation all get out of the way and bolt their doors ;
for any person seeing the king eat is put to death. A
privileged few may be present, but they are bound to
conceal their faces, or the king places a robe over his
head. All that leaves his table is at once buried.^ A
crier proclaimed when the King of Cacongo was about
to cat or drink, that the people might cover their faces
or fall to the ground with down-turned eyes.* When
the King of Canna was offered a glass of rum by Mr.
Winwood Reade, he hid his face and the glass under a
Turkish towel.^ In Dahomey it is death to see the king
eat ; if he drinks in public, a curtain is held up to con-
ceal him.* The King of Susa at meals is concealed by
a curtain from his guests.* The King of the Mon-
buttoo always takes his meals in private, and no one
may see the contents of his dish.® The King of Congo
eats and drinks in secret. If a dog should enter the
house while he is at table, it is killed. On one occasion
the king's son having accidentally seen his father drink-
ing was executed on the spot.^ A Pongo chief never
drinks in the presence of others without a screen to
conceal him ; on the Pongo coast it is believed that one
is more liable to witchcraft when eating, drinking, or
sleeping.^ In Ashantee a man of consequence never
drinks before his inferiors without hiding his face from
them. The belief is that an enemy can then " impose a
spell on the faculties" of the man who is drinking.^
So in Tonga no one may see the king eat ; therefore
those present turn their backs upon him. Nor may

^ Bastian, An der Loango Ku'ste, i. 220, 262, 263.

2 IJ. San Salvador, 58. * W. Reade, Savage Africa^ 184.

* J. L. Wilson, of, cit. 202 ; Reade, op, cit, 53 ; Burton, Dahomey, i. 244.
^ Harris, op, cit. iii. 78. • Schweinfurth, op, at, ii. 98
' Reade, op, cit, 359. * Wilson, op, cit. 308, 310.

* Bowdich, Cape Coast Castle to Ashanti, 438.

one eat in his presence without averting the face. It
is also forbidden to eat in the presence of a superior
relation without turning the back.^

The basis of this preference for eating in solitude is
the animal egoistic impulse ; later it becomes altruistic,
and also is combined, as we have seen this egoistic sensi-
bility always combined, with general ideas about contact
and transmission of properties. The modern small boy
who eats his cake in a corner still shows the most
primitive form of the custom.

The savage is extremely careful that what he eats
and drinks shall be free from deleterious properties,
inherent or acquired. Such properties are all those
which, as we have seen, the savage attributes to material
substances, and especially to dangerous persons, and are
neither spiritual nor material but both, and can be im-
parted by all possible forms of material transmission.
In this wide generalisation there would of course occur
from time to time cases in which food possessed some
harmful property, whether of poison or disease, and
such cases corroborated the general precautions. The
people of Kumaun use a special room for eating,
into which nothing " unclean " may come. The cook
has to put on clean clothes before cooking, and he is
not allowed to touch any one after he has begun, nor to
leave the room. No one is allowed to touch him when
at work.2 Maoris do not eat inside the house.'
Bulgarians before drinking make the sign of the cross,
to prevent the devil entering the body with the liquor.*
Similarly, devout Russians have been observed to blow
on the glass in order to neutralise " the Satanic opera-

1 W. Manner, The Natives of the Tonga hUnd,, ii. 235 . Cook and Kini. ^«..«
132. • Punjab Notts and S^ueries, iii. ^ .r. ^' ^^'

» D^Urvillc, op, cit. ii. 41 1. * Sinclair and Brophy, ^ Residence i„ Bui

i. 232.

tion of spirituous liquors." ' Amongst the Eskimo, when
a new spring of water is found, it is usual for the oldest
man present, failing an angekek, to drink first, in order
to rid the water of any evil inBuence it may possess.*
In Eastern Central Africa, when a chief has a beer-
drinking, his priest or captain brings out the beer to the
guests and tastes it to show that it is not poisoned.' So
amongst the Damaras the chief must first taste the
provisions before they are eaten by the rest of the
assembly.* Amongst the Iddahs ' the same custom is
found, and amongst the Zulus it is not etiquette to ofFer
beer without first tasting it ; " it is meant to ensure the
receiver against death in the pot ; " while another is
eating, it is wrong to spit." Amongst the Krumen at a
palm wine-drinking the goodwife of the house has to
take the first and last draught herself, to show the
guests that she has not been dealing in poison or
witchcraft. This is called "taking off the fetish."^
Amongst the Basutos, when food or drink is oiFered
to a man, and he is not sure that it ts not poisoned, he
lets the host taste it first." These customs are widely
spread in Africa. In the Banks Islands on presenting
food to a visitor the host first takes a bite himself to
show that it is not charmed, or to take the risk upon
himself.' In New Guinea it is a mark of friendship to
offer water to a stranger. Before presenting it, the
natives first drink themselves to prove that the water is
not poisoned.*" These cases show the idea that things
new or strange possess a dangerous property.

The history of fasting forms a curious chapter in the

' Erman, SUtria, i. 416. ^ Crini, cf. til. i. 19].

' Macdonild, Ajrlaaa, i. 191. * C. J. Andcnon, Lakt t/gtaii, IZ4.

' Schon and Crowther, Erft£tuii nf lit Nigir, %i. * Lalic, op. cit. 105.

' J. L. Wilion, ef. ch. 114. ■ ZtaKkrlfi fSr EiiMkgii, -ri, 34.

» Codrington, if. cii. 104. '• Rounberg, Dn- Malrfiitii Arckftl, 470.

development of the human soul. In origin it was a
method used by primitive man to avoid the possibility
of any injurious influence entering his body. The
savage never fasts because he likes it, but simply to
avoid danger. This painful process is not gone through
unless for some very important reason ; for instance,
when a primitive crisis is at hand, when the food-supply
is to be coaxed by magic, or the success of a himt or a
war to be secured, or a dangerous period of life to be
passed through, such as puberty and mourning. In
some of these cases the mere practice develops the
further idea that fasting is useful as a training of the
body and a discipline for the nerves. It is worth
noting that the practice of fasting was referred to a
primitive reason by the early Christians, namely, to
prevent '' evil spirits " entering the body.^ The subject
of taboos upon certain foods is a large one. The
practice of forbidding certain kinds of food during a
dangerous state is very widely spread ; it includes cases
of real dietetic science, embedded in fallacious instances
based on analogy. Sometimes the choice is arbitrary,
as it often is in an interesting extension of the custom,
according to which an individual is throughout life, or
for some particular period, forbidden a certain food.
Thus, amongst the Bakalai, to every man some particular
food is roondah ; if he were to eat it, his wives would
give birth to children resembling it.^ Every man and
woman in the Andaman Islands is prohibited all through
life from eating some one or more fish or animal. It is
generally one which in childhood was observed or
imagined by the mother to occasion some functional
derangement. When the child is old enough, the

* Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, i. ii6, 262.
^ Du Chaillu, <»/>. cit, 308 j cf. Bosman, Description 0/ Guinea, 400.

vii FASTING AND FCX)D TABOOS 155

reason is explained, and, cause and effect being clearly
demonstrated, the individual avoids it carefully.' The
principle behind this custom is that of savage make-
believe. If a particular food is taboo to a man, he
believes that thereby his ordinary food will never hurt
him. The practice correlates in principle with the
arbitrary selection of fetishes and the like, and is con-
nected with the beliefe and customs concerning external
souls. The following cases are instructive in this
connection ; in Halmahera and Weur sickness is often
ascribed to eating forbidden foods.* Icthyosis and
leprosy are regarded in Halmahera as due to eating
forbidden food ; and one may become a suwanggi by
eating it. These suwanggis have the power of sorcery,
and were often killed by the community for causing
death.' Ordinary illness is ascribed in the Luang
Sermata Islands to " bad winds " and bad food. Severe
illnesses are ascribed to evil spirits.* Malay like
modern European medicine is chiefly concerned with
dieting.'

Further, the principles of primitive thought con-
cerned with contact and material transmission find full
development here, in all the forms of custom and belief
relating to human relations and social taboo. Material
contact leaves its impress for good or bad upon food, as
upon everything else. Food that a man has touched is
permeated by his properties, and accordingly can
transmit these to others ; it is also on the same principle
a part of himself, and any injury done to it is believed
to affect himself. The belief extends to any food, not
that he has touched, but of the same kind as he usually

' Man, in ^wrn. Anikrop. ha. liL 354.

* Ricdcl, in Ztiucirifi fir Et/auiigii, ivii. S] ; and is Dc iliai-ei iraoAarigi raua
luacia Sdctci a Fafue, 451.

' Iti. !j, and 66. * IJ. tf. til. 317. ' Skat, o^. til. 408.

cats. The connection of food with human attributes h
well seen in the following example. The natives of thC'
Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country have many idioms
attributing the passions to the state of the stomach.'
This is true of many languages, and in all ages men
have more or less realised the fact, but early man
realises this connection most keenly. It is natural that
the nearer man is to his animal ancestors, the mo]
his life should be guided by the chief process of ani:
life.

Food possesses the characteristics of that from whii
it is taken, and the savage avoids foods that are thi
harmful, and prefers those that are thus nutritious.
The Masai eat beef to make them strong, and a man
will eat bullock's flesh for a whole day to get up
courage for a battle.^ We have seen how this obvioi
principle is extended to the eating of human ilesh
order to acquire human courage and strength.

The method of injuring a man by magic use
remnants of his food is an extension of ideas of conti
already described. In Tanna, as we saw, the disease-
makers injure a man by burning his nahak, that is the
refuse of his food, or any article that has been
close contact with his body. When a person is tak<
ill, he believes that it is occasioned by some one wl
is burning his nahak ; and if he dies, his friends ascril
it to the disease-maker as having burnt the refuse
the end.^

In the next phase, that of involuntary transmission,
the specific contagion of human influences is the object
of precaution. Uncivilised man regards strangers with
feelings of hostility and suspicion. These feelings
tend to food that they have touched or tasted. Thi

' Curr, op, iif. ill. 191. ■ Thomson, 0^. cii. 164. ' Safra, 116.

se-
the

VII

DANGERS OF EATING

the Papuans of Humboldt Bay would not touch any
food which their European visitors had previously
tasted, nor even drink the water offered to them.
This aversion was " due to superstitious ideas." ^ The
Yule islanders refused to accept a share of anything
which their visitors ate.^ The black-fellows of Victoria
r^ard as wholesome any food that is not poisonous or
connected with superstitious beliefs, but they will not
touch any food which has been partaken of by a
stranger.' The Basutos were afraid to eat anything
which a white man had touched.* The Poggi islanders
would not touch the food offered them by Europeans
until it had first been tasted by one of the ship's
company.^ This instance is a link with the last set of
customs. Hence the Atiu islanders refused to eat with
the missionaries/ and the Indians with the Prince of
Wied.^

We have now arrived at the prohibition against
eating with certain persons. In Tanna no food is
accepted if offered with the bare hands, "as such
contact might give the food a potency for evil." ® In
New Zealand one can be " bewitched " by eating or
drinking from the calabash of an ill-wisher, or by
smoking his pipe. Personal misfortunes are attributed
to such indiscretions. When a man is sick, he is in-
variably questioned by the doctor, for example, whose
pipe he smoked last.^ In ancient India a Brahmin
might not eat the food of an enemy or an ungrateful
man, or that offered by an angry, sick, or intoxicated
person.^^ In the Mulgrave Islands those who are not

^ D'Albertis, cp, ck, i. 261.

* Arbousset, op. cit. 149.

• Gill, Jottings from the Pacific^ 42.
^ Featherman, op, cit, ii. 76.

^^ Manu, iv. 213, 214, 207.

^ R<Menberg, op, cit. 478.

• Dawson, op. cit. 18.

• Crisp, in Asiatick ReuarcheSj vi. 81.
■^ Waitx-Gcrland, op, cit, iii. 166.

• Polack, Ne-w Zealand^ i. 280, 263.

initiate ought never to drink from the same cup with
sorcerers.^ In Fiji persons who suspect others of
plotting against them avoid eating in their presence.*
The Fijians consider it objectionable, just as we do, for
several persons to drink out of the same vessel.* No
respectable Zulu would eat in the company of Ama-
tongas, who are regarded as "evil-doers" (wizards).*
In New Zealand no one dare eat the food of a " tapued
person " (gentleman), " for this is equivalent to eating
his sacredness." On one occasion a slave ate his chiePs
dinner by mistake ; when told of what he had done he
was seized with convulsions and cramp in the stomach,
and died at sundown.* Similarly, if any one ate the
Mikado's food, his mouth and throat would swell up
and death would ensue.^ Cadiack whalers are con-
sidered "unclean," and no one will eat out of the
same dish with them, or even approach them, for that
reason.^ In Fiji the sick are. credited with malignant
properties ; they are supposed to " pollute ** objects
which they touch, and food, by means of their saliva.
Great care is always taken that no one touches the
king's cup-bearer.® In Tahiti, all who were employed
in embalming the dead were during the process care-
fully avoided by every one, as " the guilt of the crime
for which the deceased had died was supposed in some
degree to attach to such as touched the body. They
did not feed themselves, lest the food, defiled by the
touch of their polluted hands, should cause their own
death, but were fed by others." * In New Zealand

1 D'Urvillc, e/». dr. ii. 408. « Williams and Calvert, F/;/, i. 249.

• Wilkcf, op, cit. iii. 349. * Shooter, op. cit. 115.

^ Shortland, Maori Religion^ 26 ; New Zealand^ by a Pakeha Maori, 114.

• D'Urville, op, cit, i. 386, "^ Litiansky, op. cit. 174.

• Featherman, op, cit, ii. 620 ; Wilkct, op. cit. iii. 115.

• Ellis, Polynesian Researches^ iv. 388 j so in Fiji, Mcinickc, op. cit. iii. 4.0, Hawaii
and Samoa, id, ii. 300, 276.

one who has touched a dead body may not use his
hands to eat, but is dther fed by others or picks up
his food with his teeth from the ground or the food-
basket. Those who feed such a person offer the food
mth outstretched arm, and are careful not to touch
him.^ In Samoa, while a dead body is in the house,
no food may be eaten under the same roof ; meals are
taken outside or in another house. Those who attend
upon the dead dare not handle their food, but are fed
for some days by others. The penalty for breaking
this rule is baldness and loss of teeth.' In Fiji any
one who has touched a chief, living or dead, becomes
tabu ; he cannot handle food, but must be fed by
others. Hence barbers are continually in this case.'
In Tonga, when a man has touched a superior chief, or
anything belonging to him, he may not feed himself
with his own hands. Shoidd he do so, he will infallibly
swell up and die.* To take examples of another sort
of contagion. In Burma one is defiled by sitting or
eating with the " impure " caste of Sandalas.' The
ancient Brahmin who ate the food of "outcasts" be-
came thereby an "outcast" himself." In modern India
members of different castes will not eat food cooked
in the same vessel ; if a person of another caste touch
a cooking vessel, it must be thrown away.^ The food
of a Fijian chief may not be carried by boys who have
not been tattoed, lest the meat be rendered "unclean" ;
boys being "unclean" until then.* A New Zealand
gentleman must eat apart from his friends in solitude.*
The Tuitonga might not cat in the presence of older

' Brown, Nfor Zaiaad, ii.

^ Turner, Samoa, 145 ; id. Nitulia Tiari « Poljauia, 228.

' E^^fcin^ ffaiirn Pacific, 154. • Mirina, ef. cit. i. ijo, ii. 80.

• D-Urvillc, sp. fir. i. 17J. • M«nD,ii. 176, it I; Wird, 0W»i, [i. 149.

^ Ward, if. cii. ii. 317. ' D'UrviUe, of. cit. i. iW. ' Ytte, if, cit. io.

^//>. IHh MrSTK »J«: CHAP.

H^ni^^ ^4 ^w family/ The King of Loango from
>^># \AfiM fmy m-^ icU with any cnt/ On the Loango
M/^; iM?M/^^ nunusfffm rt§inc6aM upon food, occurs
^ |^//fMMf)/^» «gMM)Mt eactng m company with others.'
A^^M/M($%f tUft Mfmr^ of Celebes the priest who b
ffii^\iim^U\» fftf the grrmth of the rice may not during
hi^ tiffin nt^t (If drmk with any one, nor drink out of
HMMlliitf% au^),^ In Cambodia people will not eat with
H prif^fr^ In the Sandwich Islands no one could or
wilh ihp ^hlpf, who was "sacred."* In Tonga
Hiul nuppriorM nmy not eat together.^ In New
H ^kvp \\\Ay wut cat with his master, nor eFcn ea:af
\\w 4HIU() foml ()r cook at the same fire.^ InsoBoir pics
Mt PulyhptiU H man will never eat with anodicr our of
\\w ^\m Utikot/ It is extremely unusual for Nuina&
Hiul \\\^ Nii^m^niam to take any meak in cqhhihih.^
rhi^ uUh^ U the main feature in certain MmiBUBk it
Vi^Mv \\\ l\mga there are ranks and orden tfiar csir
^viUhv^r K^t wivr drink together," In ITt^ibr .;?for
Mv^lM'isW^) the males are divided into cbil ^-caaes '
vsM'vvN*|XM\vling to age in life. Promotion is^ marfert byn.
vh4i\g\> \}i name. The members of eack **-cBSct** Tinas
U^v^h^i^c ;And may not eat with ot&cr^ GlhsBacnefcL
HW^iiat-Jk^utcti al§o sfeep together.^ In haSBt ^•^aainaf ri^
l^v^K<?r U vv^ of the grand tests o^ aiamcir jr ^aasc. *
A \ IukW must take prccaotioQs *^ cq Thmiiarg luamstiL
^ XK wtfT^ir^ during his meal, lest he be- cuntaminuBkL -"t
^h<? tvHAch of some undetected smnar ^wnr nmv -^
^^^esjiiC.** ^ In. Ceylan^ under the KamrraDr oaruaatr.

* .\vii)«H)ter. .^ j;/. i-n. » Tiriiny. ia vr. ir» ' JTIrnikii 3«t. „r...

VII CONTAGION BY FOOD i6i

the most dreaded punishment for erring ladies was to
hand them over to the low-caste Rodiyas. A Rodiya
thereupon was ordered to put betel from his mouth
into the mouth of the delinquent, after which her
"degradation" was indelible. There were two lower
castes than the Rodiyas, who were so despised that no
human being would touch rice cooked in their houses.^
The Black Jews of Loango are so despised that no one
will eat with them.' The Santhals hate the Hindus,
and will not receive food which comes from their
hands.' The Paharias regard themselves as superior
to the Keriahs, with whom they may neither eat nor
drinlc*

We next are met by familiar extensions of the
principle of contagion. The prohibition against eating
and drinking before the eyes of others is an outcome
of that universal appreciation of the power of the
human gaze which has reached its most superstitious
development in the belief in the Evil Eye, The idea
is still that of contagion, for facts show the belief that
malignance and other properties can be conveyed by a
look as cert^nly as by other methods of infection,
and thus taint the food and drink of the individual
who fears. The Oriental belief that food is rendered
poisonous by the Evil Eye is a luminous instance. In
Abyssinia, the doors are carefully barred before meals
to exclude the Evil Eye, and a fire is lighted, otherwise
" devils " will enter, and " there will be no blessing on
the meat." The king always dines alone.' Amongst
the Nubians no food is carried without being carefully
covered, for fear of the Evil Eye. No one is ever seen

■ TcnUBit, tf. lit. ii. 189. ' Butun, tf. cii. i. 278.

' Rownty, WilJ Trit,, oflmiia, 74. • V. Bill, Jw,£lt Lifi »/ India, 89.

' Hmrrii, ep. til. iii. 171, I7I, ]11.

eating.^ The Zafimanelo of Madagascar lock the doors
before every meal, and no one ever sees them eat.* A
Khol will leave off eating if a man's shadow passes
across the dishes.'

It is clear that men believe himian properties to be
transmitted not only by contact with the food of others,
but by eating with them or in their presence. The
same idea lurks subconsciously in the modern mind ;
the objection against eating with " publicans and sinners"
is still strong, and is based on the same " primitive "
conception.

The altruistic development of these ideas is to be
observed in such practices as the following. The
Niam-niam are very particular at their meals, and when
several are drinking together, they may be observed to
wipe the rim of the cup before passing it on.* As
always in connection with contact, the tendency is for
any human emanation to be regarded as in itself im-
desirable, and with the growth of intellect and refine-
ment such are, as animal characteristics, brought into
the sphere of disgust, not only altruistic but individual-
istic also. Amongst the Natchez it was considered a
great offence to drink out of the same cup or eat out
of the same dish set apart for the chief.^ It is for-
bidden in Wetar to eat or drink anything out of vessels
used by the chiefs.® Young Bedouin boys show defer-
ence to their father by never presuming to eat out of
the same dish, nor even in his presence.^ The altruistic
form is in principle, it will be observed, closely con-
nected with the ideas of ngadhungi ; to eat another's
food is a real injury to him, in all the primitive sense

^ Schwelnfurth, op. cit, ii. 326. ^ Antananar'rvo Annwily ii. 219.

• Rowney, op. cit, 65. * Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 19.

• Featherman, op. cit. iii. 138. ® Riedcl, op. cit. 455.

' Featherman, op. cit. v. 363,

of the word " real." In New Zealand to eat a man's
food was a gross insult, it was equivalent to eating the
man himself, or his " sacredness." *

In sexual as in social taboo generally these beliefe
have had a remarkable influence. The widely spread
rule of sexual taboo that men and women may not eat
together, is, as are taboos of commensality generally, in
origin a form of egoistic sensitiveness with r^ard to
the most important vital function ; sexual separation
and sexual solidarity build upon this, and the general
ideas of contact applied to sexual relations develop a
superstitious fear that the contact, whether by contagion
or infection, or otherwise, of food with the person, or
influence of the female, transmits to the male the pro-
perties of woman, and, though this is not so much in
evidence, food " infected " by males transmits to the
female the properties of the male, and the rule becomes
a complete taboo.

It is to be observed that the prohibition has several
variations : for instance, women may not enter the
cooking-house of the men, and men may not eat those
kinds of food used by women, in some cases, by a
natural extension, not even female animals.

To begin with some special circumstances —

In Ceram men during mourning may not eat the
females of deer and certain other animals.' Amongst
the Motu of New Guinea when a man is heUga, for
example after touching a dead body, he lives apart from
his wife, and may not eat food that she has cooked.'
A Yucatan "Captwn" during his three years of office,
might know no woman, nor might his food be served
by women.* The cook of the King of Angoy was

' ShonUnd, Matri Rfligan, 16. - RIedet, up. lii. 141.

' Lawn, in yvm. Anikrof. /mi, viii. 370. * llancroft, if. lii. ii. 741.

expected to keep himself pure, and might not even live
with a wife.^ Algonkin priests, who are ordained to a
life of chastity, may not even eat food prepared by a
married woman.^, Buddhist monks in Burma may not
eat food cooked by female hands ; if a female offers
rice, they may accept but not eat.* Individuals in a
state of danger or solemn service, in other words
" under taboo," have especial reasons to avoid female
contagion.

The fact that the prohibition occurs at puberty
serves to bring into relief the idea that danger from the
other sex is apprehended at this period. Amongst the
Kurnai of Gippsland a " novice " may not eat female
animals ; he becomes free of the forbidden food by
degrees, in this way : an old man suddenly comes
behind him and without warning smears the fat of the
cooked animal over his face.* Amongst the Narrin-
yeri boys during the progress of " initiation,'* which is
not complete until the beard has been pulled out three
times, and each time has been allowed to grow to the
length of two inches, are forbidden to eat any food
which belongs to women. Everything that they possess
or obtain becomes narumbe^ sacred from the touch of
women, a term also which is applied to themselves.
They are forbidden to eat with women, "lest they
grow ugly or become grey."*^ This belief is in-
structive, as showing how the superstitious fear of the
other sex may exist side by side with a desire to please,
or even give rise to means thereto.

The prohibition also applies to young men generally.
The Dyaks of North- West Borneo forbid their young

^ Bastian, Loango-Kustej i. 216. ^ Bancroft, op. cit, ii. 212.

' Shway Yoc, The Burmafty i. 136. * J own, Anthrop. Inst, xiv. 716.

* Native Tribes of South Australia^ 17, 69.

men and warriors to eat vension, which is the food of
women and old men, because it would make them as
timid as deer.' In the tribes of Western Victoria boys
are not allowed to eat any female quadruped. If they
are caught eating 2 female opossum, for instance, they
are severely punished ; the reason given is that such
food makes them peevish and discontented,* in other
words, it gives them the filings which a black-fellow
ascribes to the female sex. In the Andamans bachelors
may only eat with the mate sex, and spinsters with
females.'

Amongst the Kurnai of Gippsland men may only
eat the males of the animals which they use for food.*
The Port Lincoln tribe observes certain laws about
animal food, the general principle of which is this :
that the male of any animal should be eaten by grown-
up men, the female by women, and the young animal
by children only.'

In special circumstances, here as elsewhere, the in-
tensified sexual property then acquired is believed to be
transmissible by the agency of food. In Western
Victoria a menstruous woman may not take any one's
food or drink, and no one will touch food that has
been touched by her, " because it will make them
weak."' In Queensland menstruous women are "un-
clean," and no one will touch a dish which they have
used.' Amongst the Maoris, if a man touched a men-
struous woman, he would be tapu ; if he had connection
with her or ate food cooked by her, he would be
" lapu an inch thick." ^ In the Aru Islands menstruous

> St. John, tf. lit, i. 186, 106. I Dawton, ef. cii. 5:

' ytw. AKiirtf. I<at. x\. 3+4. ■* Fiioa ind Howict

• Naiivi Triiii e/Sctai Amraiit, IXo. * Diwioa, if. cii. d

' Lumholu, Of. lie. 119. ' Jatitn. Antkrif. In

women may not plant, cook, or prepare any foocL^ In
Ceram-laut and Gorong, amongst the Samoyeds and
Kalundas, wives at the caiamenia may not jM-epare their
husband's food.' At menstruation a Chippeway wife
may not eat with her husband ; she must cook her
food at a separate fire, since any one u^ng her fire will
fall ill. The same rule is enfc»-ced at child-lnrdu' A
Kaniagmut woman is ^^ unclean" for some days both
after delivery and menstruation ; no one in either case
may touch her, and she is fed with food at the end
of a stick/ Amongst the Omahas and Ponkas women
during the monthly periods may not eat with their
husbands. These tribes have a belief that if one eats
with a menstruous woman, the lips dry up, the blood
turns black, and consumption is the final result. It is
but fair to add that it is mainly children who believe
this, the old people have no fear of the kind.* A
Brahmin might not allow himself to be touched by a
menstruous woman, or eat food offered by a woman.*
Amongst the Vedahs of Travancore the wife at men-
struation is secluded for five days, in a hut a quarter of
a mile away, which is also used by her at child-birth.
The next five days are passed in a second hut, half-way
between the first and her house. On the ninth day her
husband holds a feast, sprinkles his floor with wine, and
invites his friends to a spread of rice and palm -wine.
Until this evening he has not dared to eat anything but
roots, for fear of being killed by the " devil." On the
tenth day he must leave his house, to which he may
not return until the women, his and her sister, have
bathed his wife, escorted her home and eaten rice

^ Id. op, cit. 209 ; Plots u. Bartels, op, cit, i. 273.
* Id, ii. 354. * Dall, op, cit, 403 ; Bancroft, op, at.i, 1 1 1.

^ Ricdcl, op, cit, 178.
Id, ii. 354. « Liaii, op, cit, 403 ; sa:

PI08S u. Barteb, op, cit, ii. 275. ^ Manu, iv. 208, 211.

together. For four days after his return, moreover,
he may not eat rice in his own house, nor have
connection with his wife.^

In Fiji a wife when pr^nant may not ynat upon
her husband.' In the Caroline Islands men may not
eat with thetr wives when pregnant, though small boys
are allowed to do so.' The Indians of Guiana believe
that if a pregnant woman eat of game caught by hounds
they will never be able to hunt again.* Amongst the
tribes on the Amazon, if a pregnant woman eat any
particular meat, it is believed that any animal partaking
of the same will suffer ; a domestic animal will die, a
hound will be rendered incapable of hunting, and a
man who eats such food will never again be able to
shoot that particular animal.** Amongst the Chippe-
ways a lying-in woman may not eat with her husland,
and must cook, her food at a separate fire ; " a Kirgis
woman when lying-in is " unclean " and may not give
her husband his food.^ In the islands Luang and
Sermata the husband gives a feast after a birth, at
which only women may be present. It is believed that
any man tasting the food will be unlucky in all his
undertakings.^ Amongst the tribes of the Oxus valley
the mother is " unclean " for seven days, and no one
will eat from her hand, nor may She suckle her infant
during that period.'

The examples of the prohibition in ordinary life are
arranged geographically.

The Warua of Central Africa, when offered a drink,
put up a cloth before the face while they swallow.

' Jjgot, in Ztiriiirijr fir Eiinolape, xi, 164. * Williami, sf, lit. i. 137.
> Ploii 11. Bartcli, ep. di. I. 514. * im Tham, i^. ciV. ijj.

' Wallace, Tii jtmatont, 501. • Plou u. Biiteli, ef. lii. ii. 353.

' td, ii. jjt. ' Riedel, ap. cir, jib.

' Biddulph, Tit Triiti o/iii Higdeo Kooii, 81.

They will not allow any one to see them eat or drink,
especially those of the opposite sex. " I could not,"
says Cameron, ^^make a man let a woman see him
drink." Hence every person has his own fire, and
every man and woman must cook for themselves.^ On
the Loango coast both bridegroom and bride must
make a full confession of their sins at the marriage
ceremony of Lemba ; should either fail to do so, or
keep anything back, they will fall ill when eating
together as man and wife. Only such marriages as are
performed in the presence of this fetish Lemba are
legitimate ; a negro dares not let any of his wives,
except the one thus married, cook his food, or look
after his wardrobe. This fetish also serves to keep the
wives in order and to punish them for infidelity.* In
Eastern Central Africa, when a wife has been gfuilty of
unchastity, her husband will die if he taste any food
that she has salted. As a consequence of this super-
stition, a wife is very liable to be accused of killing
her husband. Accordingly, when a wife prepares her
husband's food, she will often get a little girl to put
the salt in.* Amongst the Braknas of West Afria
husbands and wives do not eat together.* Fulah
women may not eat with their husbands.*^ In Ashanti
and Senegambia, amongst the Niam-niam and the
Barea, the wife never eats with the husband.^ Amongst
the Beni-Amer a wife never eats in the presence of
her husband.^ Amongst the Krumen the chief wife
only may eat with the husband.® In Eastern Central
Africa each village has a separate mess for males and

' Cameron, in yourn, Anthrop, Inu, vi. 173.

' Bastian, Loango Kiiste^ i. 170, 172. ^ Macdonald, op, cit, i. 173.

* Giraud-Teulon, op. cit. 107. * Waitr-Gcrland, op. cit. ii, 471.

• J. L. Wilson, op. cit, 182 ; W. Reade, op. cit. 453 ; Macdonald, op. cit. i. 22- •
Munzinger, op. cit. 526. ' Id. 325. ** Waitz-Gcrland, op. cit. ii. no

females.' This prohibition is very general throughout
Africa.

In Egypt the wives and female slaves are not
allowed to eat with the master." Amongst the Aeneze
Arabs husband and wife do not eat together.' Amongst
the Wahabees and Syrian Arabs the women may not
eat with the male members of the family.* So with
the Druses of Lebanon." The Beni-Harith would not
eat or drink at the hands of a woman, and " would
rather have died of hunger than break the rule."**
Herodotus states that Carian women did not eat with
their husbands, nor would they address them as
" husband." ^

Amongst the Kurds husband and wife never eat
tt^ether.* A Samoyed woman may not eat with men,
much less with her husband, whose leavings form her
meals.^

A Hindu wife never eats with her husband, " if his
own mfe were to touch the food he was about to eat,
it would be rendered unfit for his use." " So in andent
India ; to quote Manu, "let him not eat in the company
of his wife."" A Brahmin might not eat food given
by a woman, or by those " who are in all things ruled
by women," nor might he eat the leavings of women.'*
In Travancore the women must eat after the men."
Amongst the Khonds the wife and children wut upon
the master while he eats, then they may take their
meal. Women may not eat hog's flesh, and may only

' Micdonild, of. lit. L 151. ' Lane, ef. cil. i. 136, I43.

" Butclchardt, Ntia <n tia BiJam and Wtkidjt, i. 64.

' Fnthcrman, tf. cil. v. 451, 393, * ChuMmd, tf. til. 77.

" W, R. Smith, KimMp and Marriagi in Aniitni Arebit, 312.

~ HcTodotui, t. 146. ■ Pinlunon, tf. lit. ii. 15.

' Batlian, Dtr Maick, iii. 295. '• Colebrooke, if. cil. 166.

" Mmu, iv. 43, " !d, li. 153 ; iv. 117,

" Matcct, i^. riM04 i id. Tit Lend ef C»ar:iy, t^.

taste liquor at festivals.^ The men and women of
Kumaun eat separately.* Amongst the hill tribes near
Rajmahal in Bengal the women are not allowed to eat
with the men.* Amongst the Todas men and women
may not eat together.* At a Santhal wedding the
bride and bridegroom eat together after fasting aD
day ; this is the first time she has ever eaten with a
man.* In Cochin a wife never eats with her husband.^
A Siamese wife prepares her husband's meals, but dines
after him.^ In the Maldive Islands husband and wife
may not eat together.* The same rule is in force
amongst the Khakyens.* In China by marriage a
woman " only changes masters " ; the wife neither eats
with her husband nor with her male children ; she
waits upon them at table ; she may not touch what her
son leaves.^^ In Corea men and women have their
meals separately, the women waiting on the men.
" Family life is utterly unknown in Corea." "

Amongst the Indians of Guiana husbands and wives
eat separately.^* Macusi women eat after the men.^
Amongst the Bororo women and children eat after the
men, and finish their leavings.^* Amongst the Arau-
canians only the chief wife may eat with her husband."
In ancient Mexico each person had a separate bowl for
eating ; the men ate first and by themselves, the women
and children afterwards.^* In Yucatan men and women

^ Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India^ 72.
^ Panjab Notes and S^ueries^ iii. 2. 454.

• T. Shaw, in Asiatick Researches, iv. 59. * Marshall, op. cit. 82.
5 E. T. Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal , 216.

' A. Bastian, Allerlei aus Mensch- und Volkenkunde, ii. 160.

' Pinkcrton, op. cit. ix. 585. * Journ. Anthrop, Inst. xvi. 168.

• Anderson, op. cit. 137. ^® Hue, V empire chinois, i. 268.
^^ Journ. Anthrop, Inst. xxiv. 306.

" im Thurn, op. cit. 256 j Brett, op. cit. 28. " Id. I.e.

" Von den Steinen, op, cit. 215. ^^ Waitz-Gcrland, op. cit. iii. 516.

^* L. H. Morgan, Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines^ 10 1.

ate apart.J "So far as I have yet travelled," says
Catlin, " in the Indian country, I have never yet seen
an Indian woman eating with her husband. Men form
the first group at the banquet, and women and children
and dogs all come together at the next." ^ Amongst
the Iroquois tribes the men ate first and by themselves,
then the women and children took their meal alone.
Of these people it has been said that the women " must
approach their lords with reverence ; they must regard
them as most exalted beings, and are not permitted to
eat in their presence." * Mandan women may not eat
with the men.* So amongst the Abenaques, Seminoles,
and Northern Indians.^ The Seneca Indians relate of
the changes in their customs resulting from the innova-
tions of the whites, "that when the proposition that
man and wife should eat together, which was so contrary
to immemorial usage, was first determined in the affir-
mative, it was formally agreed that man and wife should
sit down together at the same dish and eat with the
same ladle, the man eating first and then the woman,
and so alternately until the meal was finished."®
Amongst the Natchez the husband used a respectful
attitude towards his wife, and addressed her as if he
were her slave ; he did not eat with her.^ An Eskimo
wife " dares not eat with her husband." * Amongst
the Indians of California husbands and wives eat
separately; they may not even cook at the same
fire.* Karalit and Kutchin women may not eat with
men.^°

^ L. H. Morgan, op. ch. 103. ^ Catlin, North American Indians^ i. 202.

^ Morgan, op, cit. 99 ; Robertson, History of America^ 178.

^ Featherman, op. cit. iii. 297. ^ Id. iii. 94, 169 ; Hearne, op. cit, 90.

^ Morgan, op. cit. 100. ^ Charlevoix, Histoire de la Notn/elle France^ iii. 423.

^ Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. iii. 308. ^ Bancroft, op. cit. i. 390.

^^ Featherman, op, cit. iii. 420, 384.

Amongst the extinct Tasmanians husband and wife ate
separately.^ The rule is general throughout Australia ;
the gin never eats till the man has finished, and then ^e
eats his leavings.^ In Victoria males and females have
separate fires at which they cook their own food.
Many of the best kinds of food are forbidden to
women.* In Queensland also the husband reserved the
best of the food for himself.* In Central Australia the
men and women eat and camp separately.*

Amongst the Arfaks of New Guinea the men and
women eat apart.® Amongst the Kayans and Punans
of Borneo the men feed alone, attended on by the
women.^ Amongst the Battas of Sumatra husband
and wife may not eat from the same dish.^ In the
Mentawey Islands the man eats alone in the house;
the women are forbidden to use many kinds of food.*
In the islands Wetar and Dama women may not eat
with the men ; in Romang husband and wife take thdr
meals at the same time but separately.^® Men and
women may not eat together in Halmahera.^^

In Melanesia generally, women may not eat with
men.^^ In the Solomon Islands husband and vidfe do
not eat together ; she prepares his meal, and when he
has finished she eats what he has left.^' In the Banks
Islands all the adult males belong to the men*s club,
SuqCy where they take their meals, while the women
and children eat at home.^* In Tanna women may not
eat with men, they may not drink kavay nor share in

^ Featherman, of. cit. ii. 105. ^ Waitz-Gerland, op, cit. vi. 777.

* Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 134. * Lumholtz, op. cit. 161,

* Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 467, 469. * D'Albertis, op. cit, \, %i%,
^ Hose, in Joum. Antkrop. Inst, xxiii. 160. ^ Ellii, op. cit, i. 117.

* Rosenberg, op. cit. 196. ^® Riedel, op, cit. 458, 464.
'^ Id. in Zeitsckriji fur Etknotogie, xvii. 59.

" Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi. 676 ; Meinicke, op. cit. i. 67.

" Guppy, op. cit, i. 41. ^* Jotarn.Anthrop. Inst, x. 237.

the kava-^rinking feasts of the men.^ In the New
Hebrides generally, women always eat apart from the
men.^ In Uripiv "the most noticeable features of
domestic life will be found in the curious segregation
of the sexes and the superstitious dread of eating any-
thing female. A few days after birth a killing of pigs
takes place and the child is * rated a man/ Hence-
forward he must cook his own meals at his own fire,
and eat with men alone, otherwise death will mysteri-
ously fall upon him. The fact of his being suckled,
however, which often goes on for two years, is quite
overlooked."* In Malekula men and women cook
their meals separately, and even at separate fires, and
all female animals, sows, and even hens and eggs are
forbidden articles of diet. A native told Lieutenant
Somerville that a mate of his had died from partaking
of sow.* In New Caledonia women may not eat with
the men.^ In Fiji husband and wife may not eat
together, nor brother and sister, nor the two sexes
generally. Young men may not eat of food left by
women. Boys, as being " unclean " until they have
been tatooed, may not carry food to the chiefs, for
their touch would render it " unclean." ^

In Ponape the men take their meals in the club-
house.^ In Kusaie women may not eat with men
owing to the fatu.^ In Rarotonga the women ate
apart from the men.* In the Hervey Islands husband
and wife never eat together, and the first-born child,
boy or girl, may not eat with any member of the
family.^® In Paumotu the women may not eat with

^ Turner, Nineteen Tears in Polynesia^ 85. * Meinicke, of>. cit. i. 197.

' yown. Antkrop. Inst, xxiii. 4. * /</. 381. * Meinicke, op, cit. i. 231.

* Williams, op. cit. i. 167, 136 5 D'Urville, op. cit. ii. 102.

' Waitz-Gcrland, op, cit. v. 2. 72. • Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 377.

» Id. ii. 143. 10 Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 94.

the men, and are not allowed to eat several kinds of
food, such as large fish and turtles. These laws arc
enforced by the tabu} So in Tubuai tabu forbids the
women to eat with men, or to use as food turtles and
pigs.* In the Marquesas Islands to each dwelling
there is attached a special eating-house for the men,
which the women are forbidden to enter.* In Nuka-
hiva, according to another account, the rich have
separate buildings for dining-rooms on particular
occasions of feasting which women are not permitted
to enter ; so strict is the rule, that they dare not even
pass near them. Women are forbidden ka'va and
cert^n foods.* In Rurutu men and women do not eat
together, " owing to superstitious fear ; they believe
that in such case the wife would be destroyed by a
spirit."^ In Bow Island the men threw the remains
of their meals to their wives.® In Rotumah the men
of the family eat first ; when they have finished, the
women and children begin their meal at a separate
table.^ In New Zealand, where every man eats by
himself away from his friends, women and slaves may
not eat with men. Men may not eat with their wives
nor wives with their male children, " lest their tapu or
sanctity should kill them." ® In the Sandwich Islands
the king's wives were not allowed to enter his eating-
house.® In Hawaii the women were forbidden to eat
in company with men, and even to enter the eating-
room during meals. Three houses necessarily belonged
to each family, the dwelling-house, a house for the

' Meinlcke, op. cit. ii. 2x9. 2 jj jj ,^g 8 jj^ ..^ ^

** Lisiansky, op. cit. 87 j Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 252, 247.

^ Ellis, op. cit. iii. 97, 98. * Beechcy, op. cit. i. 242.

♦ D'Urvillc, op. cit. ii. 440.

8 Thomson, The Story of New Zealand^ i. 60 ; Taylor, op. cit. i. i68.

8 Kotzebue, Voyage to the South Sea, i. 305.

repasts of the men, and another for the meals of the
women. The residence was common ; the women's
house was not closed against our sex, but a decorous
man would not enter it. The eating-house of the men
was tabooed to women. "We ourselves saw the corpse
of a woman floating round our ship, who had been
killed because she had entered the eating-house of her
husband in a state of intoxication." The raison d*etre
of the two eating-houses belonging to each family was
because the two sexes might not eat together. Women
dared not be present at the meals of the men, on pain
of death. Each sex had to dress their own victuals
over a separate fire. The two sexes were not allowed
to use the flesh of the same animal. Hog's flesh,
turtle, several kinds of fruit, cocoa, bananas, etc., were
prohibited to the women. ^ From another account of
the Sandwich Islands we gather the following : women
might not eat with men ; their houses and their labours
were distinct ; their aliment was prepared separately.
A female child from its birth until death was allowed
no food that had touched the father's dish. "From
childhood onwards no natural affections were incul-
cated ; no social circle existed." ^ Ellis' account of the
state of things in the Society and Sandwich Islands is
as follows : — " The institutes of Oro and Tane inexor-
ably require not only that the wife should not eat those
kinds of foods of which the husband partook, but that
she should not eat in the same place or prepare her
food at the same fire. This restriction applied not
only to the wife with regard to her husband, but to
all individuals of the female sex, from their birth to

^ Lisiansky, op. cit. 127, 126 \ Kotzebue, op. cit, iii. 249, i. 310; Meinicke, of,
c'lt, ii. 300 J H. T. Chccvcr, Life in the Sandwich hlandsy 24.

'-^ Jarvis, History of the Hawaiian or Sand'wich Islands^ 94, 95 ; Varigny, op. cit. 42.

their death. The children of each sex always ate apart.
As soon as a boy was able to eat, a basket was provided
for his use, and his food was kept distinct from that
of the mother. The men were allowed to eat the flesh
of the pig, of fowls, every variety of fish, cocoa-nuts,
and bananas, and whatever was presented as an offcnng
to the gods ; these the females, on pain of death, were
forbidden to touch, as it was supposed they would
pollute them. The fires at which the men's food was
cooked were also sacred, and were forbidden to be used
by the females. The basket in which the proviaon
was kept, and the house in which the men ate, were
also sacred, and prohibited to the females under the
same cruel penalty. Hence the inferior food for the
wives and daughters was cooked at separate fires,
deposited in distinct baskets, and eaten in lonely soli-
tude by the females in little huts erected for the
purpose." The whole custom was known as the at
tabu or "sacred eating."^ Cook observed of the
Sandwich islanders, that "in their domestic life, the
women live almost entirely by themselves.** This
condition of family life was most noticeable in Tahiti.
The Tahitians forbade men and women to eat together;
they " had an aversion to holding any intercourse with
each other at their meals, and they were so rigid in the
observance of this custom that even brothers and sisters
had their separate baskets of provisions, and generally
sat some yards apart, when they ate, with their backs
to each other, without exchanging a word."^ To
resume the previous account : " their domestic habits
were unsocial and cheerless. This is probably to be
attributed to the invidious distinction established by

^ Ellis, Polynesian Reuarchex^ i. 1 16, 129, 263, iv. 386 ; id. Tour in Hawaii^ 368.
* Cook and King, op. cit. iii. 130 ; Vancouver, Voyage of Ditcwtry^ i, 105, 139.

their superstitions, and enforced by tabu between the
sexes. The iather and mother, with their children, never,
as one social happy band, surrounded the domestic
hearth, or assembling under the grateful shade of
the verdant grove, partook together, as a family, of
the bounties of Providence. The nameless but delight-
fixl emotions experienced on such occasions were un-
known to them, as well as all that we are accustomed
to distinguish by the endearing appellation of domestic
happiness. In sickness or pain, or whatever other
circumstances the mother, the wife, the sister, or the
daughter, might be brought into, tabu was never re-
laxed. The men, especially those who occa^onally
attended on the services of idol-worship in the temple,
were considered ra, or sacred ; while the female sex
was considered noa, or common : the most offensive
and frequent imprecations which the men were accus-
tomed to use towards each other, referred also to this
degraded condition of the females. ' Mayest thou
become a bottle, to hold salt water for thy mother,*
or ' mayest thou be baked as food for thy mother,'
were imprecations they were accustomed to denounce
upon each other."' Making due allowance for mission-
ary prejudice, the action of sexual taboo in these islands
had considerable results, and its meaning is shown in
a marked fashion. King Kamehameha "broke" the
tabu by eating with his wives.*

Cases of this taboo have even been found in modern
Europe. At a Servian wedding the bride for the first
and only time in her life eats with a man, and is served
instead of serving. In Brandenburg it is believed that
lovers and married people who eat from one plate or
drink from one glass will come to dislike each other,

' Ellii, PoljaaiiBi Reuarciti, i. I19. ' Virigny, cf. dl. 41.

and in the district of Fahrland, near Potsdam, there is
a prohibition, which is observed, agunst such persons
biting the same piece of bread.'

It was suggested by Robertson Smith that the pro-
hibition against husbands and wires eating together
may have been due to the fact that by ex<^amy
they were of diflferent tribes, and therefore could not
cat the same food. But on the present showing this
is impossible. In later thought, this idea may occasion-
ally have been developed, but that it was never original
is shown not only by the present evidence but by the
facts that the system of tribal, totemic, and " clasafica-
tory" foods is rare, while sexual taboo in eating b
almost universal, and that the taboo is no less common
between brothers and sisters, who are of the same tribe,
and also, except in rare cases, of the same totem-clan
or marriage-class.

> Reintberg Diiriapfeld, Hociadniuci, 8t, 117.

Chapter VIII

If contact of the two sexes is always potentially danger-
ous, owing to fear of the chief result of contact, con-
tagion of properties, it is to be expected that to savage
thought the dangers of contagion should be multiplied
and deepened when the contact is of the most intimate
kind possible. The savage regards intercourse com-
mensal and sexual as the closest, and especially in
marriage, of which state the sharing of mensa and thorus
is the chief feature for ordinary thought. As com-
mensality is regulated by this fear of contact, so is
sexual intercourse. The ideas beneath each form of
contact are the same. The supreme biological import-
ance of the nutritive impulse, of which the sexual is an
extension or complement, and the delicate mechanism
of the organs of generation, have determined in the
usual ratio man's psychological attitude towards this
function. As all primitive psychological attitudes arise
from what may be called physiological thought, the
actual process of functions producing directly ideas
concerning them, more or less reflex and subconscious,
so as to be practically inherent in the human mind, so
the depth of such ideas varies as the importance of the
function. The impulse of sex is only less strong than
that of hunger. Periodicity has assisted to make its
psychological character less ordinary, and less of an
everyday concern, and hence more shrouded in secrecy

and more surrounded by mystery and fear. The
instinct, as it may be truly called, for performing
important functions in secret is of course due to anxiety
concerning their unimpeded performance, and to fear
of interruption. This principle can be traced right
down to the lower animals. The savage is far more
secretive in this function than is civilised man ; what
Riedel states of the Ceramese, is true of the generality
of savage and barbarous peoples. In Ceram, he says,
all natural functions, especially that of coitus^ are per-
formed in secret, by preference in the forest.^ In Fiji,
from motives of delicacy, ^^ rendezvous between hus-
band and wife are arranged in the depths of the forest,
unknown to any but the two." * Bowdich stated that
in Western Africa if a man cohabited witfii a woman
without the house, or in the bush, they both became
the slaves of the first person who discovered them,
but could be redeemed by their families.* This less
common rule presupposes more or less publicity in the
forest. In the Aru Islands and Wetar intercourse is
not performed in the house, but in the forest.* In
Makisar all bodily functions are performed in secret,
and exposure is reprehensible.* The savage is also
more refined in language with regard to this subject
than are most civilised men ; thus in Ceram it is for^
bidden to speak of sexual matters in the presence of a
third person ; * and obscenity, that fungus-growth of
civilisation through degeneration or wrong methods of
education, is either unknown amongst savages or re-
garded as a heinous sin. Ethnology supplies many
cases of apparent obscenity, but the expressions are not

^ J. G. F. Riedel, De siuik-en kroetharige rauem tusscken Seleha m Pi^ua^ 96.

^ Secman, op. cit. no, 191.

^ Bowdich, M'nuonjrom Caf.e Coast Castle to Askantee^ 259.

* Riedel, op, cit, 250, 448. ' Id, 406. * Id, 96.

VIII SEXUAL INTERCOURSE i8i

obscene, they express a man's righteous and religious
indignation, and have much the same force as " infidel "
and "blasphemer" when used seriously.

Again, the phenomena of modestly in the female
deepen this reserve. Dr. Ellis, who has given the best
account of the origin of the feeling of modesty, points
out the impulse in female animals and women "to
guard the sexual centres against the undesired advances
of the male. The naturally defensive attitude of the
female is in contrast with the naturally aggressive
attitude of the male in sexual relationships." This
impulse for defence is carried on into the state of
desire, and female animals are known to run after the
male, and " then turn to flee, perhaps only submitting
with much persuasion." There is the well-known case
of a hind running away from a stag, but in a circle
round him. " Modesty thus becomes an invita-
tion." ^

Sexual taboo has emphasised the ideas arising from
this functional process, by filling them with a content
of religious fear. As to the psychological attitude of
the male sex, we often find, especially in European
folklore, the fear of possible ligature or impotentia eon-
jugalis at marriage, an anxiety coming straight from
fiinction and closely connected with the universal care,
often passing into religious fear, about doing something
for the first time, or something unusual or important.
Witches are often supposed to be able to cause this, as
in South Celebes.'

This feeling of egoistic sensitnlity, agun, connects
closely with the widely spread idea underlying contact,
that injury may be caused by the ill-will or dangerous

1 Hitelock SUU, Sladki » ri* PifcUigj tfSar, G. ly.

habit of another, either with or without intention,
either by the means of sympathetic magic or of what
may be called sympathy. This form of sympathetic
magic to which I apply the term ngadhungi^ is, as we
have seen, a natural development of that simple idea of
contagion which may be called sympathy, man using
nature's " bacteriological " or " electrical " means for
his own ends. As is the case with every physical
function and organ, so against the organs of genera-
tion this method can be used. In Ceram difficult
labour for woman, and in men, impotence, are caused
by putting disease-transmitting articles where people
may tread on them.^ In Tanna aud Malekula "the
closest secrecy is adopted with regard to the pnis^ not
at all from a sense of decency, but to avoid narak^ the
sight even of that of another man being considered
most dangerous. They therefore wrap it round with
many yards of calico, winding and folding them until
a preposterous bundle eighteen inches or two feet long
is formed."^ We have here the not infrequent con-
verse of the " evil eye " ; to see a thing is a method by
which one may contract its contagious properties. Of
the Arunta Messrs. Spencer and GiUen report, ** as a
general rule, women are not supposed to be able to
exercise much magic except in regard to the sexual
organs, but we have known of a woman being speared
to dottth by the brother of her husband, who accused
her of having killed the latter by means of a pointing
stick. Women exercise peculiar powers in regard to
the sexual organs. To bring on a painful affliction in
those of men, a woman will procure the spear-like seed
of a long grass {Inturkirra\ and having charmed it by
singing some magic chant over it, she waits an oppor-

* Riedel, op, cit. 140. ^ Soxnerville, in Joum, Antkrop. Inst, xxiv, 368,

tunity to point and throw it towards the man whom
she desires to injure. Shortly after this has been done
the man experiences pain, as if he had been stung by
ants, his parts become swollen, and he at once attri-
butes his sufferings to the magic influence of some
woman who wishes to injure him. A woman may also
charm a handful of dust which she collects while out
digging up yams or gathering seeds, and having
*sung' it brings it into camp with her. She takes
the opportunity of sprinkling it over a spot where the
man whom she wishes to injure is likely to nycturate.
If he should do so at this spot he would experience a
scalding sensation in the urethra^ and afterwards suffer
a great amount of pain. Women may also produce
disease in men by * singing * over and thus charming a
finger, which is then inserted in the vulifa; the man
who subsequently has connection with her will become
diseased and may lose his organs altogether, and so
when a woman wishes to injure a man she will some-
times after thus * poisoning' herself, seek an oppor-
tunity of soliciting him, though he be not her proper
Unawa. Syphilitic disease amongst the Arunta is, as a
matter of fact, very frequently attributed to this form
of magic, for it must be remembered that the native
can only understand disease of any form as due to evil
magic, and he has to provide what appears to him to be
a suitable form of magic to account for each form of
disease." ^ The disease Erkinchuy as we have noticed,
is transmitted in the same way. The natives do not
reason " from a strictly medical point of view ; their
idea in a case of this kind is that a man suffering from
Erkincha conveys a magic evil influence which they call
Arungquiltha to the women, and by this means it is

^ Spencer and Gillen, The Native Tri^s of Central Australia^ 547, 548.

iii

conveyed as a punishment to other men."^ As in
other forms of contact, so in this, the transmission of
disease is included in the hylo-idealistic contagion of
properties, though it is not the origin of these ideas.
Similarly, amongst the Zulus, a man suspicious of his
wife's fidelity gets "medicine" from a doctor, and
takes it internally. By cohabiting with his wife he
gives her the seed of disease, and any one cohabiting
with her afterwards, acquires it, while she remains im-
injured. They have also a " medicine " which can
make a man sensitive to the existence of that state in a
woman which can produce disease ; it is rubbed into a
scarification on the back of the left hand. If a woman
whom he approaches is in this state, a spasmodic con-
traction attacks his fingers when he touches her, and he
therefore abstains. ** It is from dread of this * disease '
that a man will not marry a widow till she has had
medical treatment to remove all possibilities of com-
municating it." * The " intention ** is in this example
well illustrated, being aimed at a third party, and
leaving the intermediary fi-ee, and also being clearly
a man's vengeance materialised and transmitted.

As has been pointed out, ngadhungi {narak) and
beneficent transmission are exactly the same except in
the character of the " intention," which is evil in the
first case and good in the second, and love -charms
proper, used to inspire love, are frequently based on this
method. A man or woman in the Arunta and other
tribes can charm another's love by " singing " a head-
band, which is then given to the person to wear ; a
man can inspire a woman's love by " singing " the shell
ornament he wears from his girdle^ As they express

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 412
' Callaway, T^ Religious System of the Amazulu, 2S7, 28S.

the result, the woman sees "lightning" on it, and it
makes " her inwards shake with emotion." The
idealism of love and its physiological accompaniments
are here put in a way worthy of any high culture. It
is to be observed that this same method is used to cure
sickness, the shell ornament being placed on the sick
man's chest.^ To inspire love, the people of Maldsar
place secret charms in the footprints of a man or a
woman.' In the Kei Islands herbs mixed with women's
hair and hung in a tree are used for this. The women
arouse love in men by charming betel which they have
themselves prepared.' Sympathetic charms are used by
men and women in Buru to excite love. One takes
some betel or tobacco, and after speaking a charm over
it, places it in the betel-box. When the man or woman
against whom the charm is directed makes use of this
betel, he or she &lls in love with the owner. The same
effect is produced by muttering charms over the oil
which the woman uses for her hair, or over a piece of
hair one has got from a woman. The most potent
method, however, is the burying of a piece of prepared
ginger, with the muttering of one's desire, in some spot
where the woman usually passes.* In Tenimber the
men make considerable use of charms to engage the
women's affections. To this end they place a mixture
of roots and lime on some spot where the woman has
urinated. It is believed that the woman after a short
time will fell madly in love with the man. Young men
are thereforfc forbidden to use lime.' In the Babar
Islands when a quarrel occurs between lovers, the man
avenges himself by keeping a piece of her hair, or some
bit of betel she has thrown away. Afterwards, as a

■ Spencer ind Gillea, 9p. tit. 54;. ' Riedcl, ef. eit. 414.

' Id. 1*3. • U. It. ^ Id. 302.

result, her children by another man will die. Lovers
in these islands have full intimacy, but it must be kept
secret, for there is a fine attaching. It is believed that
men, if fined, are ungallant enough to make the woman
ill and unlucky by curses.^ Lovers in the Aru Islands
give each other gifts, but never a lock, of hair, for fear
that if they quarrelled the one might make the other ill
by burning it.^ For love-charms Arunta women also
"make and *sing' special okinchalanina or fur-string
necklets, which they place round the man's neck, or
they may simply charm a food such as a witchetty-grub
or lizard and give this to the man to eat." To promote
desire, a man will give a woman to eat a part of the
reproductive organs of a male opossum or kangaroo.
In the case of a delicate woman, a husband tries to
strengthen her by " singing " over such part of a male
animal, which she then eats.* This instance shows the
identity of such love-charms and the transmission of
strength already described.

In the love-charms quoted, there are cases not only
of ngadhungi but of transmission by ordinary contact.
Leaving now this transmission of evil purpose and of
love, we come to the general ideas of transmission of
properties by ordinary contact. As one fears the
malicious intention of an enemy which results in sickness
or death by transmission of his malevolence, and
welcomes or disdains, as the case may be, the feelings of
love transmitted by material methods, so one fears or
invites the involuntary transmission of another's qualities
by contact. The lover is concerned with both sides of
the taboo state in its beneficent aspect, he hopes to
transmit his own love to his mistress and to receive hers
by contact. But if, as is generally the case with

* Riedel, op. cit. 358, 370. ^ Id, 262. * Spencer and Gillen, o/». cit. 548.

uncivilised man, the imperious instinct of love is crossed
or conditioned by presuppositions concerning female
character derived from the experience of ordinary life,
the caution which he shares with the animals in the
satisfection of love will be accentuated by somewhat of
fear of the contagion of female properties in the closest
sort of contact. We shall see that the male sex, with an
unanimity which is practically universal, ascribe to the
female a relative inferiority in physical strength. This
is a physiological idea arising straight from a sexual
secondary difference which is practically universal. If
savage man then fears that in ordinary association with
women he may be infected with their relative weakness,
and if the more civilised fear the moral " infection '* of
effeminacy^ it is quite natural that in the closest form
of contact this fear should be accentuated.

The conception is also based on what is the comple-
ment of the idea of female weakness, namely, the
practically universal physiological belief that sexual
intercourse is weakening. This is a conception that
may be called instinctive, inasmuch as it arises straight
from a peculiarity of the function. This peculiarity is
the fact that sexual intercourse is followed by a
temporary depression, resulting from increased blood-
pressure. The idea, then, that contact with women
entails weakness, thus arises in two ways which meet by
a remarkable coincidence in the sexual act.

In further illustration we may note the idea, probably
universal, and correlative with the above mentioned
physiological conception, that strength resides in the
male seminal fluid. It is an interesting case of eflect
put for cause. In ordinary human thought the seed is
the strength, as much as the blood is . the life. The
folk-medicine of most countries, especially Europe, is

full of cases where human semen is used to cure ^ckness.
Primitive man most practically, it is to be noted,
correlates weakness and sickness ; and there are also
numerous examples of semen being admimstered in
order to produce strength. The idea is then carried
on to the organs of generation, as has been already
described. Zulus think the testes the seat of strength.^

Much indirect evidence from savage custom has
already appeared showing the universal belief that sexual
intercourse is enervating, a belief based on this double
idea. The Seminoles believed that carnal connection
with a woman exercised an enervating influence upon
men and rendered them less fit for the duties of a
warrior.* In Halmahera men must practice continence
when at war, " otherwise they will lose their strength.** •
In South Africa a man when in bed must not touch his
wife with his right hand ; " if he did so, he would have
no strength in war, and would surely be slain." *

The explanation of the rule, which forbids to
warriors and hunters any sort of intercourse with
women before and during their expeditions, may now
be completed. The main feature of such rules is the
injunction of continence, and the idea which prompts
this is that while contact with women transmits female
weakness, the retention of a secretion, in which strength
is supjx)sed to reside, ensures vigour and strength. A
Congo belief is here instructive ; when the Chitome goes
out to make his judicial circuit, criers " proclaim a fast
of continence, the penalty for breaking which is death.
The belief is that by such continence they preserve the
life of their common father."* Similarly in the Kei

' Joum, Anthrop, Inst. xx. 1 16. * Si:hoolcraft, Indian Tribes^ v. 272.

' Riedel, in Zeitichrtft fur Etknclogie, xvii. 69.

* Macdonald, in Journ, Anthrof, Inst, xx. 140. * W. Reade, cp. cit, 362.

viir THEORY OF CONTINENCE 189

Islands men before going to war may have no intercourse
with women, and those who remain behind must practice
the same continence.^ In New Caledonia, to abstain
from carnal connection with women is considered a
meritorious act, and is strictly observed on all solemn
occasions, especially when going to war.^ Strict chastity
is observed by Malays in a stockade, else the bullets of
the garrison will lose their power.* In Ceramlaut it is
a sin not to cleanse the person after intercourse with a
woman, when a man is about to go to war.* After
killing his first man, the young Natchez warrior was
required to abstain for six months from all sexual
intercourse, and was prohibited from tasting meat.* A
seven-days' taboo amongst the Malays, when fishing, is
the scrupulous observance of chastity.^ During the
pilgrimage to Mecca which every Mussulman must
perform once in his life, he has to abstain from all
sexual intercourse.^ The celibacy of warriors was a
chief feature of Zulu and Fiji militarism. Tchaka
based it on an existing custom and belief.® The Fijians
had a custom identical with that of the ancient Thebans.*
In practice, doubtless, an unmarried man may make a
better soldier, precisely because there is no tie to render
death more terrible.

Further, just as many detachable portions of the
organism are regarded as parts of a man's soul, being
filled with his life and character, and sometimes, for his
safety, as external souls, so those secretions which have
in fact the closest connection with life and strength
might naturally be regarded in thought as having

^ Riedel, De duik-en kroetkarige rassen tuttchen SeUhes en PapuA, 223.

* Fcatherman, cp, ciu ii. 92. ' Skcat, Mal^ Magic, 524.

* Riedel, of>, cit. 168. * Feathcrman, op. cit, iii. 146.

' Skeat, op. cit. 315. ^ Burckhardt, Trctveh in Arabia, i. 163.

8 Shooter, cp. cit. 47. • Williams, op. cit. \. 45 ; Polyznus, ii. 5. i.

inherent in them a considerable part of the life and soul,
or sometimes as being identical therewith. The widely
spread belief that the blood is the life is well known ;
it is also often regarded as containing the soul ; soul,
life, and strength are essentially identical in savage
thought. We also find, not only the universal idea
that the seed is the strength, but, as might be expected,
also cases where the soul is actually believed to be con-
tained in the organs of procreation. Thus, in the
islands Leti, Moa, and Lakor, when a man is very ill, a
ram is killed, and its genitals given him to eat. The
people believe that " the principle of life resides in those
parts." ^ Similarly, the Naudowessies believe that the
father gives the child its soul, the mother its body only.*
This is quite logical from the elementary notions of
procreation. Now when we apply to these ideas the
physiological fact that a temporary depression follows
the sexual act, we may infer as probable a more or less
constant physiological idea that in that act the man
transmits some of his best strength, a part of his soul
or life. We have had occasion to notice how primi-
tive thought often anticipates modern scientific theory
in some rough generalisation, and here is a concep-
tion on a par with other early conceptions, which
anticipates somewhat the latest theories of the Germ-
plasm.

In the next place, there is the preliminary part of
the ftmction, the perforation of the hymen. Here we
have an instructive instance of the diffidence, anxiety,
and caution with which the savage not only approaches
things and acts unfamiliar or met with for the first time,
but makes preparation for the due and proper perform-
ance of important functions, not by way of improving

* Riedel, o^. ciu 393. ^ Carver, North America^ 378.

upon Nature, but of making sure of the working of
Nature's mechanism. Deferring for a moment the
latter consideration, we can estimate here the female
attitude. There is in the female sex a universal
physiological anxiety concerning this act. Savages
cannot feel so much pain or so much pleasure as men
of a more complex and highly organised brain, but their
precautions against, and fear of, pain are far more
elaborate and anxious. Like the higher animals, the
savage is very diffident and timid by nature, except
when a strong physical impulse is in full progress.
Now we find that the savage uses more or less direct
methods to avoid this preliminary act of handselling ;
the avoidance is due to a vague religious fear based on
the ideas of sexual taboo, also to the anxiety about a
difficulty and, doubtless, to consideration for the female.
Thus in the Dieri and neighbouring tribes it is the
universal custom when a girl reaches puberty to rupture
the hymen} In the Portland and Glenelg tribes this is
done to the bride by an old woman ; and sometimes
white men are asked for this reason to deflower
maidens.^ The artificial rupture of the hymen is a very
widely spread custom. In the practice we see clearly the
double idea of ridding the function of such difficulty as
is identified by the savage with a spiritual -material
result, and of removing the first and therefore most
virulent part of female contagion, as the West African
" takes oflF the fetish " fi-om a strange liquor by getting
some one to " handsel " it.

Again, ignorance of the nature of female periodicity
leads man to consider it as the flow of blood from a
wound, naturally, or more usually, supernaturally pro-
duced. We must also bear in mind the connection

^ Jcurn. Anthrop, Imt.^ xxiv. 169. ' Brough Smyth, op, at, ii. 319.

often made between the menstrual flow and the blood
shed at the perforation of the hymen. The two results
appear so similar that man often infers more or lesS
exact identity of cause.

An obvious inference was that the menstrual blood
was caused by the bite of a supernatural animal, or by
congress with such or with a supernatural human agent
or evil spirit. The first of these is a fairly conmion
idea. Certain Australian tribes believe that menstrua-
tion comes from dreaming that a bandicoot has scratched
the parts.^ In New Britain it is traced to the bite of a
supernatural bird>^ and in Portugal to that of a snake.'
Messrs. Ploss and Bartels reproduce in illustrations
wooden figures from New Guinea, one representing a
crocodile biting a woman's vuha^ another, a crocodile
shaped like a snake emerging therefrom, and a third, a
snake, in shape like the male organ, at the entrance of
the vagina.^ In Portugal, according to another account,
it is believed that during menstruation women are
" liable to be bitten by lizards, and to guard against this
risk they wear drawers during this period."^ In
Abyssinia there is a belief that if the bride leaves her
home in the interval between the betrothal and the
marriage she will be bitten by a snake.® At the first
menstruation of a Chiriguano girl old women run about
the hut with sticks, *' striking at the snake which has
wounded her."^ "In a modern Greek folk-tale the
Fates predict that in her fifteenth year a princess must
be careful not to let the sun shine on her, for if this
were to happen she would be turned into a lizard." *

1 Joum, Anthop, Inst. xxiv. 177. ' Plots u. Bartels, Das fVeib\ ii. 330, 334.

» Id, U, * Id. U. » H. Ellis, op. cit. ii. 237.

• M. Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia^ ii. 41. ^ Lettres /dijiantes et curieuset, viii. 333.

® J. G. Frazcr, The Golden Bough \ iii. 220.

Some Australian tribes believe in a supernatural serpent
which attacks women.^ Macusi women at menstruation
will not go in the forest, for fear of being loved by a
snake.^ In Rabbinical tradition the serpent is the
symbol of sexual desire.* Amongst the Malays to
dream of being bitten by a snake portends success in
love.* The connection of the serpent with sexual
matters is very familiar, especially in European folk-
lore, and is found all over the world. The explanation
has been several times hinted at and is obvious when
one considers the likeness in shape of the serpent, lizard,
eel, and similar animals, to the male organ of generation.
It is worth noting that the curious phallic towers of
Zimbabwe are surmounted by a bird's head.*^ And, as
in primitive thought similar objects produce similar
results, the dangerous effect of such supernatural organs
is attributed to similar things, which may not therefore
be touched or eaten by women at these dangerous times.
Thus in New Guinea women are not allowed to eat eels,
because a god once took the form of an eel to approach
a woman who was bathing.® Young women in the
Halifax Bay tribe are forbidden to eat the flesh of male
animals and eels.^ Amongst the Central Australians
boys and girls may not before puberty eat large lizards,
else they will acquire an abnormal craving for sexual
intercourse.®

As to the second form of the belief, by the outward
projection of the idea, the agent feared becomes an
anthropomorphic spirit. Subconsciously the result is
attributed to the male sex, but as the agent is invisible,

^ Featherman, op, cit, ii. 175. ' Ploss u. Battels, op, cit, ii. 334.

^ Ellit, U, ^ Clifford, In Court and Kampwg^ 189.

^ T. Bent, in J own, Antkrop, biu, xxii. 125.

'* Gill, op, cit, 279. ^ Curr, The Australian Race, ii. 425.

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 471, 472, 473.

the inference is naturally to a spiritualised man, Su<
is also the case with the widely spread belief in incui
and succui/i, which is due to a similar inference from
common phenomenon of the early days of sexual lift
The result is ascribed to a supernatural nocturnal visitor.-
Amongst the Yorubas erotic dreams are attributed to
Elegbra, a god who, either as male or female, consorts
sexually with men and women in their sleep.' In the
particular question before us, we find a link between
the serpent and a human agent in a common folk-tale
motive. The old Sanskrit story tells of a beautiful
girl who killed a cobra to get the jewel from its head.
To avenge this, the king of the snakes assumed the
form of a handsome youth, and after winning the girl's
affections, married her. "At last the day came, and
the nuptial ceremony was over, and the bridegroom
went with his bride into the nuptial chamber. And he
lifted her on to the marriage-bed, and called her by,
her name. And as she turned towards him, he a]
proached her slowly, with a smile on his face. Ai
she looked and saw issuing from his mouth and dis-
appearing alternately, a long tongue, thin, forked, and
quivering like that of a snake. And in the morning
the musicians played to waken the bride and bridegroom.
But the day went on, and they never came forth.
Then the merchant, her father, and his friends, after,
waiting a long time, became alarmed, and went ai
broke the door, which was closed with a lock. Ai
then they saw the bride lying dead on the bed, alone,''
and on her bosom were two small marks. And they
saw no bridegroom. But a black cobra crept out of
the bed, and disappeared through a hole in the wall."*
In Siam evil spirits are believed to make "the wound"

' Ellit, ef. til. 67. ' ^ D-.gii i/rii Mm-!, (

'"^1

which causes the monthly flow of blood.^ The idea is
further extended. In the Aru Islands the women fear
the evil spirit Boitai^ when traversing the forest, because
he takes the semblance of their husbands, and has inter-
course with them there, shown afterwards by bleeding
from the vagina} So in Kola and Kobroor the women
avoid going alone in the forest, so as not to be ap-
proached by sisi^ evil spirits, the result of which is the
growth of stones in the uterus and subsequent death.*
In the Babar Islands there are evil spirits in the shape
of men who approach young women, in the form of
their husbands, and make them pregnant. These are
identified with the well-known suwanggiy who are
actual persons versed in sorcery.* In the island of
Wetar there is an evil spirit, named KluanteluSy who
takes the form of a handsome man, and has intercourse
with women ; accordingly, women never go unaccom-
panied into the forest.* The Jews of the East believe
that male spirits form alliances with women, while the
female spirits "entangle in their cunning meshes of
wedded love the young men of earth." • According to
the Javanese the air is peopled by wandering genii of
evil. Ghostly demons often disguise themselves in
human form, and appear as counterfeit husbands to
wives whom they mislead by their deceptive allure-
ments.^ In Nias the seducer is fined and the woman
killed. A pregnant woman often asserts that she was
ravished by a spirit, and she thus saves her life and
that of her child.® The Malays suppose that Pontianak
is the ghost of a woman dying in child-birth, which
presents itself at midnight to men and emasculates

* Loubere, Ix. '^ Ricdel, op. cit. 252. ' Id. 271.

* Id, 340. * Id, 439. • Featherman, o/>, cit, v. 129.
' Id, ii. 396. 8 Id. 356.

the inference is naturally to a spiritualised man. Such
is also the case with the widely spread belief in incubi
and succuiij which is due to a similar inference from a
common phenomenon of the early days of sexual life.
The result is ascribed to a supernatural nocturnal visitor.
Amongst the Yorubas erotic dreams are attributed to
Elegbra, a god who, either as male or female, consorts
sexually with men and women in their sleep.^ Iji the
particular question before us, we find a link between
the serpent and a human agent in a common folk-tale
motive. The old Sanskrit story tells of a beautiful
girl who killed a cobra to get the jewel from its head.
To avenge this, the king of the snakes assumed the
form of a handsome youth, and after winning the girl's
afirections, married her. " At last the day came, and
the nuptial ceremony was over, and the bridegroom
went with his bride into the nuptial chamber. Ajid he
lifted her on to the marriage-bed, and called her by
her name. And as she turned towards him, he ap-
proached her slowly, with a smile on his face. And
she looked and saw issuing from his mouth and dis-
appearing alternately, a long tongue, thin, forked, and
quivering like that of a snake. And in the morning
the musicians played to waken the bride and bridegroom.
But the day went on, and they never came forth.
Then the merchant, her father, and his friends, after
waiting a long time, became alarmed, and went and
broke the door, which was closed with a lock. And
then they saw the bride lying dead on the bed, alone,
and on her bosom were two small marks. And they
saw no bridegroom. But a black cobra crept out of
the bed, and disappeared through a hole in the wall."*
In Siam evil spirits are believed to make " the wound "

^ Elli«, op, est, 67. 2 ^ j)igif of the Moon, 93, 94, 95.

which causes the monthly flow of blood.^ The idea is
further extended. In the Am Islands the women fear
the evil spirit Boitai^ when traversing the forest, because
he takes the semblance of their husbands, and has inter-
course with them there, shown afterwards by bleeding
from the vagina} So in Kola and Kobroor the women
avoid going alone in the forest, so as not to be ap-
proached by sisi^ evil spirits, the result of which is the
growth of stones in the uterus and subsequent death.*
In the Babar Islands there are evil spirits in the shape
of men who approach young women, in the form of
their husbands, and make them pregnant. These are
identified with the well-known suwanggi^ who are
actual persons versed in sorcery.* In the island of
Wetar there is an evil spirit, named KluanteluSy who
takes the form of a handsome man, and has intercourse
with women ; accordingly, women never go unaccom-
panied into the forest.* The Jews of the East believe
that male spirits form alliances with women, while the
female spirits "entangle in their cunning meshes of
wedded love the young men of earth." • According to
the Javanese the air is peopled by wandering genii of
evil. Ghostly demons often disguise themselves in
human form, and appear as counterfeit husbands to
wives whom they mislead by their deceptive allure-
ments.^ In Nias the seducer is fined and the woman
killed. A pregnant woman often asserts that she was
ravished by a spirit, and she thus saves her life and
that of her child.® The Malays suppose that Pontianak
is the ghost of a woman dying in child-birth, which
presents itself at midnight to men and emasculates

' Loubere, Lc, ^ Ricdel, op. cit. 252. ' Id, 271.

* Id. 340. * Id, 439. • Featherman, op, cit, v. 129.

' Id, ii. 396. 8 Id. 356.

consider whether they connect with any functional
peculiarity of women, especially at puberty. In the
case of mourners and the like, the potential danger of
fire, as a beneficent but somewhat dangerous essence,
not to be trifled with, is enough reason for the taboo,
and applies also to girls and boys at the beginning of
the sexual life. There is, however, a further coincid-
ence arising, as so often, from a function. A peculiarity
of puberty which passes on into the phenomena of love,
is sudden accession of bodily heat, by which the whole
frame from time to time feels filled with fire. It isjn
ideas arising from this functional phenomenon that we
are to find the ultimate explanation of this fear of the
sun. In all these taboos at puberty, it is the dangerous
results of association with the other sex that are
guarded against, and so characteristic a symptom as
accession of heat could not fail to be noticed and
avoided as far as possible. The " patient," using the
primitive connotation of this term, must keep cool.
Parallel ideas from savage psychology bring this out.
Anger, which is physiologically connected with an
accession of heat, is often attributed by savages to
possession by an evil spirit, as amongst the Battas.^
More precisely there is a universal connection, seen in
all languages, between love and heat. Malay physio-
logy, for instance, states that love is made of fire.^
We saw in a Greek folk-tale the connection between
the sun at puberty and the lizard, a symbol of mascu-
linity. A Central Australian myth of the origin of fire
states that it came from the fenis of a euro, which
contained "very red fire."* Again, and the idea is
natural enough in tropical countries, there is a frequent

^ Junghuhn, op, cit, ii. 156. 2 Fcathcrman, op, cit. ii. 427.

' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 446.

connection made between heat and evil spirits. To
keep cool is one of the points of savage comfort in a
hot climate, a wish which naturally would pass into the
spiritual life. In Ceram and Watubella a house which
is filled with evil spirits is called a " warm " house ; *
and sickness is often identified with heat, and the
patient is before all things to be made cool ; while
health and soundness are identified with coolness. For
forty-four days after birth the Malay mother may not
eat foods which have a heating eflFect on the blood, and
the Malay infant is bathed with cold water every four
hours " in order that it may be kept cool." ^ Especi-
ally fever is, of course, connected with heat. In the
Wyingurri tribe of West Australia the sun is Tchintu.
A stone of that name contains the heat of the sun, and
is used to give a man fever by placing it where he will
tread.* Here, as in so many cases before mentioned,
there comes in the interesting question whether primi-
tive man observed the connection of the temperature
of the body with health and illness. As before, the
case stands thus ; man's imanalysed experience of
temperature in sickness is included under an excessively
wide generalisation, which has within it, though con-
cealed in fallacy, a scientific truth, destined to emerge
after a training in analysis and experiment.

This connection between illness, evil spirits, and heat
is an adequate explanation of the rule whereby many
persons in various kinds of danger may not see the sun
or fire. Pamali (jabu) amongst the Hill Dyaks is
imposed on all kinds of occasions. People subjected to
it are not allowed to bathe, to touch fire, or follow
ordinary occupations.* The heir to the throne of

^ Riedel, op. cit. 141, 210. ^ Skeat, oj>. cie, 343.

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 541. * Featherman, op, cit, ii. 278.

Bogota might not see the sun,

When ;

, kills

nor converse
I man, he has to
social intercourse,

with

woman.'

sixteen days, is cut oiF
may not look at a fire.''

Further, it is natural that on these ideas sexual
intercourse should be especially forbidden at sexual
crises, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and for some
time after child-birth. Woman's subconscious physical j
fear of man here correlates with an instinct of physio-^
logical thought caused by the discomfort of the func-1
tion, and for the male sex, his fear of female contagion
is intensified by the presence of female " disease." It
is not long since the medical world gave up the primi-
tive idea that menstrua] blood is deleterious. In the
present connection this hylo - idealistic " disease " is
identical with the property of the sexual taboo state ;
on these occasions woman is more of a woman than in
ordinary circumstances, and the danger of contagion is
accordingly intensified. _

Such are the dangers connected with the sexual act J
in the mind of primitive man, and to remove the
material contagion there was used, with more than the
mere idea of cleanliness, a religious purification. The
bath taken by a Cadiack bridegroom and bride after
the wedding night, " for the purification of himself and
his partner," is one instance of a universal practice.'
The fear of transmission of female properties, here
intensified, is also indirectly connected with female
sexual secretions, such as menstrual blood, a special
form of ceremonial " uncleanness." Moreover, when
ideas of shame and disgust and, later, of religious
purity, are brought in, the old undiiFerentiated spiritual

> WliU-G«]ind, ep. ei,

' Liiianiky, ij

material secretions, as they may be called, which com-
bined contagion of female weakness, and imaginary
disease and poison on the one hand, and on the other
hand, of materialised physical fear of the male sex, in
the virus which made contact dangerous, were split
into specialised forms.

Chapter IX

These ideas concerning contact regulate in social taboo
human relations generally, and in sexual taboo those of
men and women. The sexual properties whose trans-
mission renders contact dangerous or beneficent may
now be recapitulated, and further proof given of their
character and of the fact of their transmission. We
have seen that where sympathy, desire, or love appears,
contact between persons otherwise mutually dangerous
becomes beneficent. Sympathy, aided by a common
human impulse, which may be called allopathic, some-
times regards sexual diflFerence as in itself efficacious to
cure disease. For instance, the Australians employ the
urine of the opposite sex as a cure for sickness. In
very serious cases blood from a woman's sexual organs
is given to a man, and his body is rubbed with it ; or
blood from a man is given to a woman.^ From a
similar idea comes a custom found in the Aru Islands,
where a battle can be instantly stopped if a woman
throws her girdle between the armies.^ But apart from
cases like these and the methods of contact employed
in love-charms and marriage ceremonies, sexual contact
is usually, on the principles of sexual taboo, regarded
as deleterious. The Central Australians believe that to
put a man's hair necklet or girdle near a woman would

^ Eyre, c/>. cit, ii. 300 ; Spencer and Gillcn, o/>. cit, 464.

• Riedel, o/>. cit. 261.

CHAP. IX SEXUAL CONTAGION 203

be productive of serious evil to her. They believe that
sterility may be brought about by a girl in her youth
playfully or thoughtlessly tying on a man's hair waist-
band. The latter so used, if only for a moment or
two, has the eflfect of cramping her internal organs and
making them incapable of the necessary expansion, and
this is the most frequent explanation of sterility given
by the natives.^

Owing to the monopoly of thought by the male sex
it is rarely we hear of transmission of masculine pro-
perties to the female. It is more often a vague dele-
terious result that is thought of; for instance, Maori
men may not eat with their wives, nor may male
children eat with their mothers, "lest their tapu^ or
* sanctity,' should kill them." ^ This male tafu is, of
course, male characteristics, such as relative superiority
of strength. The Miris will not allow their women to
eat tiger's flesh, " lest it should make them too strong-
minded." * We have noticed cases where men are not
allowed to be present at lying-in, because their presence
would hinder the birth. Another case is from Halma-
hera, where a pregnant woman is afraid to eat food left
by her husband, for it would cause painful labour.*
European folklore illustrates this masculine contagion,
and the general idea that contact produces assimilation.
In Hannover-Wendland and the Altmark, if a boy and
girl are baptised in the same water, the boy becomes a
woman-hunter, and the girl grows a beard. In Neu-
mark if a girl is baptised in water used for a boy she
will have a moustache. In Lower Saxony and Meck-
lenburg a boy must not be baptised in water which has
been used for a girl, else he grows up beardless ; while

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 539, 52. ^ Taylor, op. cit, 168.

' Dalton, op. cit. 33. * Riedel, in Zeitschrtfi fir Etknologie^ xvii. 78.

a girl if baptised in water used for a boy becomes mis-
chievous like boys. In Scotland if Jeanie is baptised
before Sandie, she grows a beard and Sandie is beardless.^
Hessian lads think they can escape conscription by carry-
ing a baby-girl's cap in their pocket.* Lastly, when
females are of a masculine temperament they often assume
male attire, an interesting practical method of assimilation.'
What, then, are the chief female properties the
transmission of which is feared as deleterious? First
of all, mere difference is regarded by the savage as
dangerous, simply because it is unknown. In the second
place, the difference is specialised as inferiority of
physical strength and stature, relatively, that is, to the
male standard. It is a universal conception amongst men
of all stages of culture that woman is weaker than man.
As a rule, man forgets the relativity of this character-
istic, and regards woman as more or less absolutely
weak. That this idea is practically inherent in human
male nature, as a physiological inference of the simplest
kind, is proved by its regular expression in the life and
literature of all ages. The use and connotation of the
word " effeminate " illustrates this well. This evidence
taken with that of ethnolc^y is overwhelming. Primi-
tive man agrees with the most modern of the moderns,
for instance, with a Nietzsche, who regards woman as
a slight, dainty, and relatively feeble creature. The
ethnological evidence for this masculine belief is very
extensive.* General inferiority is sometimes found as a
secondary result.

^ Plo8«, Das K'tnd^ i. 217. ^ A, Wuttkc, Deutsche Aberglauhe^ loo.

' Masculine females assume male attire — Brooke, Ten Tears In Sarawak^ i. 131 •
Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 7 ; G. A. Wilken, in De Indiscke Gids for 188 1, 263 ;
W. Reade, op. cit. 364; Bastian, Sirn Salvador^ 177 fF. ; Giraud-Teulon, op, cit.
309 ff. (Amazons).

* Darwin, Descent of Man, 117, 597; Bastian, Der Mensch in der Gesckichte^ iii.

In the savage mind the belief has been corroborated
by the fallacies that woman's periodic loss of blood
marks enfeeblement — an idea which often correlates
with the notion that woman is a chronic invalid, sick-
ness and weakness being identified, — and that sexual
intercourse is weakening.

In the next place is the relative timidity of women.^

292; H. Ellis, Man and Womany 395; Tasmanians, Bon wick, op, cit. 10; Aus-
tralians, Eyre, op. cit, ii. 207, yourn, AntArop. Ltst,yxyi, 205, Lumholtz, Anung
Cannihals, 100, 163, Native Trihes of South Australia^ 11, Waitz-Gerland, op, cit, vi«
774, 775, Letoumeau, Sociologies 169 ; Polynesians, D'Urville, 0^. cit, i. 520,
Beechey, ^. cit. i. 238, 241, Meinicke, op. cit. ii. 219, 198, Ellis, Polynesian Re-
searches^ iii, 199, 293, 294, 257 ; Fijians, Williams, op. cit. i. 156, 169, Wilkes, op,
cit. iii. 332, Meinicke, op, cit. ii. 45, Waitz-Gerland, op, cit. vi. 627 ; New Caledonians,
Meinicke, op, cit. i. 231, Gamier, Oceanie^ 186, 350, 354, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. vi.
626, Anderson, F/// and New Caledonia^ 218, 232 ; New Hebrides, Meinicke, op, cit,
i. 203, J cum, Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 7 \ Queen Charlotte Islands, Meinicke, op, cit, i.
177; Solomon Islands, id, i. 166; Melanesia generally, id. i. 67, Parkinson, Im
Bismarck-ArcAipels 98, 99, Codrington, op. cit. 233, Powell, JVanderings in a fVild
Country^ 54 ; Papuans, Rosenberg, op, cit, 454, 532 ; Sumatra, Marsden, op. cit. 382,
Junghuhn, op, cit. ii. 135, 81 ; Bali, id. ii. 339 ; Nias, Tijdsckrifi voor Indische Taal-
Land-en Volkenhmdey xxxvi. 305; Sarawak, Brooke, 0^. cit. i. 10 1 j Japan, Alcock,
The Capital of the Tycoon^ i. 265 ; Corea, Ploss u. Bartels, cp, cit. ii. 434, Griffis,
op, cit. 245 ; China, M. Hue, Vempire chinois^ i. 268 ; India, Missionary Records
{India)y xviii. D'Urville, op. cit. i. no, Asiatick Researches^ iv. 95, Histoire uni-
verselle des voyages^ xxxi. 352 ; Siam, Pinker ton^ op. cit. ix. 379 ; Afghans, Letoumeau,
op. cit. 179 ; Samoyeds, Georgi, tf. cit, 14, 15 ; Circassians, Pinker ton, op, cit. ix. 142 ;
Russians, Ploss, op, cit, ii. 448 j Ansayree, Featherman, op, cit. v. 495 ; Egyptians,
Ploss, op, cit, ii. 455, Lane, op. cit, i. 252; Africa, Shooter, op, cit, 79, 80, 81,
Waitz-Gerland, op, cit, ii. 387, 471, Ploss u. Bartels, op, cit, ii. 426, D. Macdonald,
Africana, i. 137, 141, 35, C. tJcWyLifi in Eastern Africa, 359, Ploss, Das Kind, 442,
Letoumeau, op, cit, 172, P. B. Du Chaillu, Equatorial Africa, 52, 377, Harris,
Highlands of Ethiopia, iii. 58, Proyart, Loango, 93, W. Bosman, Description of Guinea,
^20,B3iSti3in, San Salvador, J I, yourn. Anthrop, Inst. xiii. 465, xvi. 86, xxii. 118, 119,
xxiv. 289, C. J. Anderson, Lake Ngami, 231 j Madagascar, Waitz-Gerland, op. cit}
ii. 438 ; Central and South America, Letoumeau, 0/. cit, 175, Waitz-Gerland, op, cit,
iii. 515, 308, 382, iv. 130, Brett, op, cit, 353, Bancroft, op, cit. iii. 494, Dobrizhoffer,
op. cit. ii. 155 ; Northt America, Waitz-Gerland, op, cit. iii. 99, 10 1, Bancroft, op, cit.
i. 511, Peter Jones, History of the Ojebway Indians, 60, Charlevoix, youmal, vi. 44,
Powers, op, cit. 20, Sproat, op, cit, 91, Heame, op, cit, 90, 310.

^ The following are typical cases: Lumholtz, op. cit. 91 ; Featherman, op, cit,
V. 495 ; Kotzebue, Voyage to the South Sea, ii. 56, Asiatick Researches, vi. 82 ; Gamier,
ep. cit. 328, 349 J Coote, op. cit. 163, 164; Heame, op. cit, 310 } Waitz-Gerland,
op. cit. vi. 775 5 Melville, The Marquesas Islands, 76 5 Wilkes, op, cit, iii. 232 $ K. von
den Steincn, op, cit. 332 5 D'Albertis, op. cit, \. 15, 189, 2CX3, 292, 318, 337, 342.

Doubtless the idea is to assume such emotional peculiari-
ties of women as are useful to the priest. To the
savage mind, the donning of another's dress is more
than a token of the new position : it completes identity
by communicating the qualities of the original owner.
There is also the desire to command attention by eccen-
tricity if not by mystery, for both of which ends change
of sex is a time-honoured method.

It remains to add direct evidence for the belief,
which is the chief factor in sexual taboo, that contact
with women causes transmission of female character-
istics, femininity, effeminacy, weakness, and timidity

In South Africa a man must not, when in bed, touch
his wife with his right hand ; " if he did so, he would
have no strength in war, and would surely be slain."
If a man touch a woman during menstruation, " his
bones become soft, and in future he cannot take part in
warfare or any other manly exercise.*' Stepping over
another's person is highly improper ; while if a woman
steps over her husband's stick ** he cannot aim or hit
any one with it. If she steps over his assegai^ it will
never kill or even hit an enemy, and it is at once
discarded and given to the boys to play and practise
with."^ The Galela and Tobelorese are continent
during war, " so as not to lose their strength." * The
Seminoles believed that " carnal connection with a
woman exercised an enervating influence upon men,
and rendered them less fit for the duties of the I warrior." ^
In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women.
On one occasion, when the men were compelled to
bake some bread, they were only persuaded to do so

* J. E. Macdonald, in Journ, Antkrop, Inst. xx. 140, 119, 130.
2 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zeltichrifi fur Ethndogie^ xvii. 69.

* Schoolcraft, op, cit, v. 272.

This characteristic and that of weakness are the com-
plement of masculine courage and strength, and are
connected with a physical subconscious fear of men.
When associated with hysterical phenomena, timidity
is merged in another conception of woman, as a
" mysterious " person. The mystery is based on sexual
differentiation, in particular on the sexual phenomena
of menstruation and child-birth. As we have seen, this
mystery is deepened by further ideas it creates, such as
the ascription of taboo properties to woman, and the
beliefs that woman has intercourse with the spiritual
world at menstruation, and that she is more or less of
a potential witch. The whole reasoning is clinched by
the fact of a temporary depression, identified with loss
of strength, following upon intercourse with this weak
but mysterious creature, and the imperious demands of
nature which enforce association with the female sex,
inevitably cause a continuous repetition of sexual taboo
and of the ideas which underlie it. These organic
characteristics not only make woman peculiarly sus-
ceptible to religious influences, but have fitted her to
be a useful medium for priestcraft, and often to hold
the priestly authority herself. The priestess is a
frequent feature of savage worship. Here is to be
found the explanation of one set of cases of priests
dressing as women. For example, amongst the Sea
Dyaks some of the priests pretend to be women, or
rather dress as such, and like to be treated as females.^
Patagonian sorcerers, who are chosen from children
who have St. Vitus' dance, wear women's clothes.*
Amongst the Kodyaks there are men dressed as women,
who are regarded as sorcerers and are much respected.'

^ St. John, op. c'tt, i. 62. ^ Bastian, Der Menichy iii. 310.

' Waitz-Gcrland, op, c'tt, iii. 313.

Doubtless the idea is to assume such emotional peculiari-
ties of women as are useful to the priest. To the
savage mind, the donning of another*s dress is more
than a token of the new position : it completes identity
by communicating the qualities of the original owner.
There is also the desire to command attention by eccen-
tricity if not by mystery, for both of which ends change
of sex is a time-honoured method.

In South Africa a man must not, when in bed, touch
his wife with his right hand ; " if he did so, he would
have no strength in war, and would surely be slain."
If a man touch a woman during menstruation, " his
bones become soft, and in future he cannot take part in
warfare or any other manly exercise." Stepping over
another's person is highly improper ; while if a woman
steps over her husband's stick " he cannot aim or hit
any one with it. If she steps over his assegai^ it will
never kill or even hit an enemy, and it is at once
discarded and given to the boys to play and practise
with."^ The Galela and Tobelorese are continent
during war, " so as not to lose their strength." ^ The
Seminoles believed that " carnal connection with a
woman exercised an enervating influence upon men,
and rendered them less fit for the duties of the] warrior." ^
In British Guiana cooking is the province of the women.
On one occasion, when the men were compelled to
bake some bread, they were only persuaded to do so

' J. £. Macdonald, in Journ, Anthrop. Inst, xz. 140, 119, 130.
2 J. G. F. Riedel, in Zcitichrifi fir Etkndogit^ xvii. 69.
^ Schoolcraft, op, du v. 272.

CHAP.

with the utmost difficulty, and were ever after pointed
at as old women.^ North American Indians, both
before and after war, refrain " on religious grounds "
from women. Contact with females, some of them
hold, " makes a warrior laughable, and injures his
bravery for the future." * One of Hesiod's maxims is
a prohibition against washing in water used by a
woman.' In Homer, Odysseus fears lest he be
" unmanned," and therefore susceptible to Circe's
influence if he ascend her couch.* Assimilation to
the female character from such connection is illustrated
by a Cingalese myth.* In the Solomon Islands a man
will never pass under a tree fallen across the path, for
fear a woman may have stepped over it.® Amongst
the Bongos stools are only used by women ; the men
avoid such seats as effeminate.^ In Central Australia,
during his period of initiation, a medicine-man must
sleep with a fire between him and his wife ; " if he did
not do this his power would disappear for ever."^
Amongst the Barea man and wife seldom share the
same bed ; the reason they give is " that the breath
of the wife weakens her husband."* In Western
Victoria a menstruous woman may not take any one's
food or drink, and no one will touch food that she has
handled, " because it will make them weak." ^° Among
the Dyaks of North- West Borneo young men are for-
bidden to eat venison, which is the peculiar food of
women and old men, " because it would render them
as timid as deer." ^^ A Zulu, newly married, dares not

* im Thurn, op. cit, 256.
•^ Hesiod, JVorki and Diiys, 798.
" jiiiatick Reuarchesj vii. 439.
' Schwcinfurth, op. cit, i. 2S3.
® Munzinger, op. cit. 526.
" St. John, cp. cit. \. 186.

^ Waitz-Gcrland, op. cit. iii. 158.

^ Odysuy, X. 301, 339-41-

® Guppy, op. cit. i. 4.

** Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 529.

*° Dawson, op. cit. cii.

go out to battle, for fear he should be slain ; should he
do so and fall, the men say " the lap of that woman is
unlucky." ^ A Fan so weak that he could hardly move
about, was supposed to have become so by seeing the
blood of a woman who had been killed. " The weak
spirit of the woman had got into him." * Amongst the
Damaras men may not see a lying-in woman, " else they
will become weak and will be killed in battle."' In
Ceram menstruous women may not approach the men,
lest the latter should be wounded in battle.* In some
South American tribes the presence of a woman just
confined makes the weapons of the men weak.^ The
same belief obtains among the Tschuktsches, who
accordingly remove all hunting and fishing implements
from the house before a birth.® In the Booandik tribe
if men see women's blood they will not be able to
fight.^ In the Encounter Bay tribe boys are told from
infancy that if they see menstrual blood their strength
will fail prematurely.® In the Wiraijuri tribe boys are
reproved for playing with girls ; the culprit is taken
aside by an old man, who solemnly extracts from his
legs some " strands of the woman's apron " which have
got in.* Amongst the Omahas, if a boy plays with
girls he is contemptuously dubbed ** hermaphrodite." ^^
In Brandenburg the peasants say that a baby boy must
not be wrapped in an apron, else it will, when grown
up, run after the girls. In Mecklenburg a new-born
girl must be first kissed by the mother and a boy by
the father, else the girl will grow whiskers and the

* Callaway, op, ctt, 441, 443. ^ M. H. Kingsley, Tneveh in IVeit Africay 447.

* South African Fdklore Journaly ii. 63.

^ Riedel, De sluik-en kroeshartge rassen tusichen Selebes en Fa^ua^ 139.

* PloM u. BarteU, op, cit, ii. a6. " Id. I.e.

f J. Smith, TAe Booandik Tribe, 5. « jsfative Tribes of South Australia, 186.

® Joum. Anthrop. Inst. xiii. 448.

^® J. O. Dorsey, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 266.

boy's face be hairless.^ The Khyoungthas have t
legend of a man who reduced a king and his men to Ith
a condition of feebleness by persuading them to dress L
up as women and perform female duties. When they ^
had thus been rendered effeminate, they were attacked I
and defeated without a blow. " That," say the
Khyoungthas, " is why we are not so brave as
formerly."^ The advice given to Cyrus by Croesus
was identical with that of the Hillman, and the result
was the same.' Contempt for female timidity has
caused a curious custom amongst the Gallas ; they
amputate the mammie of boys soon after birth, believ-
ing that no warrior can possibly be brave who possesses
them, and that they should belong to women only.*
From such ideas is derived the custom of degrading
the cowardly, infirm, and conquered to the position
of females. At the " initiation " of a Macquarrie boy
the men stand over him with waddies, threatening
instant death if he complains while the tooth is being
knocked out. He is afterwards scarified : if he
shows any sign of pain, three long yells announce the
fact to the camp ; he is then considered unworthy to
be admitted to the rank of men, and is handed over to
the women as a coward. Thenceforward he becomes
the playmate and companion of children.^ Amongst
the Lhoosais, when a man is unable to do his work,
whether through laziness, cowardice, or bodily in-
capacity, he is dressed in women's clothes and has to
associate and work with the women.® Amongst the
Pomo Indians of California, when a man becomes too

> PI088, Das Kindj ii. 202, 205. ^ Lewin, fFild Races ofSouth-RastemLuliay 136.
^ Herodotus, i. 155-57.

* Harris, (^. cit, iii. 58. The cauterisation of the mamm^ by Amaxons is to be^ompared.
' G. F. Angas, Savage Lift and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand, ii. 224.
® Lewin, 0^. cit, 255.

EFFEMINACY 211

for a warrior, he is made a menial and assists
[uaws.^ So in Cuba and Greenland, with the
>nal degradation of wearing female dress.*
the Delawares were denationalised by the
As and prohibited from going out to war, they
according to the Indian notion, " made women,*'
were henceforth to confine themselves to the
ttts appropriate to women.^ The connection of
of virility with the normal estimate of woman has
led to the remarkable custom of degrading
jnt men and others to the position of females,
amongst the Yukis and other tribes of Cali-
are to be seen men dressed as women, who are
i-wa-muspy man-woman. They appear to be
ite of desire and virility ; they perform all the
of women, and shirk all functions pertaining to
Two reasons are given for the origin of this
masturbation, or a wish to escape the responsi-
of manhood. There is a ceremony to initiate
ii men to their chosen life ; the candidate is placed
a circle of fire, and a bow and " woman-stick " are
sred to him, with a formal injunction to choose one
the other, and to abide by his choice for ever.* The
Beats of Madagascar are impotents who dress as
men.^ The Higras of South India are natural
mchs, or castrated in boyhood ; they dress in
men's clothes.® Impotent Kookies dress as women.^
arodotus and Hippocrates describe a class of impotent
ti amongst the ancient Scythians who were made to
women's work and to associate with women alone.®

c powers, of. cit. x6o.

iBattian, Der Menuk^ iii. 3139 314 ; cf, Waitz-Gerland, op. ch. Hi. 472.

kL. H. Morgan, TJu Leaffte ^the Iroquois^ 16. * Powers, op. cit. 132, 133.

BmIiui, ^. fff. UL 311. ^ Joum. Anthrop. Imt. ii. 406.

■Uiy ^ dr. aSo. ^ Herodotus, i. 105, iv. 67 ; Hippocrates, i. 561.

With regard to the particular circumstances of
menstruation and child-birth, the obvious vekicli (t
contagion is blood. But it is not the fear of iroimn's|
blood which is the primary cause of avoidance ; tl
would not account, except by the most strained analogf,
for most of the facts ; nor is there any flux of blool
during pregnancy, when woman is regularly tih;i
woman^s hair, nail-parings, and occupations can hardhl
be avoided from a fear of woman's blood ; and tbn
is also the female side of the question to be taken iiK
account. It is necessary to note this, because n
attempt has been made to build up for savage thoo^l
a shrine of mystery round woman, cemented iri&!
blood, and that not her own, but ordinary hum
blood.^ The savage indeed n^ards blood, as he doo
flesh and other human substance, as containing the ik
but sentimental ideas of the sacredness of blood i
itself, as apart from its containing human €^ sexoi
properties, are not to be found in early thought ; ncr
in early thought are there any such strong notioBS
of the blood-tie of kindred, as is generally supposed. ]
Blood is only one of many vehicles by whidi
contact influences relation. Blood is freely used bf
savages to assuage thirst, as well as to produce
strength. The prohibition against letting it fall on
the ground has led to an erroneous idea of its
** sacredness," and in most cases may be more simply
explained. When slaying a hog for a feast, the
Niasese plunge the knife into the heart, so as to lose
as litde blood as possible. Each person cooks Us
piece carefully, so as to retain the blood ; some eat it
raw.' Amongst the Karalits seal's blood is preserved

* A» by E. Durkheim, *• La prohibition dc Tincrttr et tes ori^inet,** m VAmt
S&s':u:g:qite for 1S9S. * Feathcnnaa, ^ «f, ii. »ra

in balls, and, to prevent the escape of the blood when
an animal is killed, the wound is immediately closed
up.^ To savages who do not know the use of salt,
blood is an excellent substitute. In the Central
Australian tribes " blood may be given by young
men to old men of any degree of relationship, and at
any time, with a view to strengthening the latter.**
Again, blood is not infrequently used to assuage thirst
and hunger ; indeed, when under ordinary circiun-
stances a black-fellow is badly in want of water, what
he does is to open a vein in his arm and drink the
blood .^ Other Australian tribes " have no fear of
blood or of the sight of it " ; they drink it freely to
acqmre strength.' The Wachaga and Koos delight in
drinking warm blood fresh from a slaughtered animal.^
At the Dieri ceremony of Wtlyaru blood drawn from
men is poured on the novice's back " to infuse courage,
and to show him that the sight of blood is nothing." ^
The latter reason is secondary. Woman's blood is
feared or desired, just as are other parts of woman,
because it is a part of woman and contains feminine
properties.

The contagion of woman during the sexual crises of
menstruation, pregnancy, child-birth, is simply intensified,
because these are occasions when woman's peculiar
characteristics are accentuated, these are feminine
crises when a woman is most a woman. This is the
only difference between contact then and contact in
ordinary states, a difference of degree only.

We may now conclude the description of the ideas
which have produced sexual taboo. We have traced

^ Fcathcrman, op. cit, iii. 420. ^ Spencer and Gillcn, op. cit. 461, 462.

* Jour. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 172-79. * Id. xviii. 13 j Rowney, op. cit, 31.

* Howitt, in Jown, Antkrop, Inst. xx. 82.

its origin from sexual differentiation, difference of
occupation, and a resulting solidarity in each sex ;
this biological material is then informed by religious
ideas concerning human relations, which are regulated
by contact. Thus the usual working motive in sexual
taboo is that the properties of the one sex can be
transmitted to the other by all methods of contact,
transmission, or contagion, and by various vehicles.
Animal-like, the savage fears weakness more than any-
thing else. Two remarkable facts have emerged — first,
that it is dangerous, and later, wrong, for men to have
anything to do with women ; intercourse commensal and
sexual being especially dangerous because esp>ecially
intimate, but there is a tendency against all living
together ; and secondly, that sexual intercourse, even
when lawful morally and legally, is dangerous first, and
later, sinful. To primitive thought all intercourse has
one connotation of material danger, which later split
into ideas of sins, such as incest and fornication, for
any intercourse is the breaking of a personal taboo and
a sexual taboo, and the material results of such breaking
develop into moral sin.

Sexual taboo would seem to have had the usefial
results not only of assisting Nature's institution of the
family and of producing the marriage system, by
preventing licence both within and without the family
limits, keeping men fi-om promiscuity and incest, de-
gradations which were never primitive — the early
efforts of human religious thought being in the
direction of assisting, not of checking. Nature — but
also of emphasising the characteristic qualities of each
sex by preventing a mixture of male and female
temperaments through mutual influence and associa-
tion, and, as the complement to this, of accentuating

by segregation the charm each sex has for the other in
love and married life, the charm of complementary
difference of character. Man prefers womanliness in
woman, and woman prefers manliness in man ; sexual
taboo has enhanced this natural preference.

Where sexual taboo is fully developed, the life of
husband and wife is a sort of divorce a mensa et thoro^
and the life of men and women is that of two divided
castes. The segregation is naturally emphasised as
between young persons of the opposite sex, most of
all between those who, as living in the somewhat close
contact of the family, are more strictly separated, both
because parents prevent the dangerous results obviated
by sexual taboo with all the more care since their own
children are in danger, and because, subsequently, a feel-
ing of duty in this regard is combined with the natural
affection of brothers and sisters, which is due to early
association. The biological basis of this separation is
the universal practice by which boys go about with the
father as soon as they are old enough, and the girls
remain with the mother. This is the preparatory educa-
tion of the savage child, beginning about the age of
seven. Girls and boys till the age of seven or eight, and
sometimes till puberty, are often classed as " children,"
with no distinction of sex, as amongst the Kurnai.^
In Leti, Moa, and Lakor children are brought up to-
gether till about ten years old. The girls then begin
to help the mother, and the boys go about witli the
father. So in the Babar Islands.^ Amongst the Kaffirs,
as amongst most peoples, boys and girls till seven or
eight live with the mother. As soon as they are old
enough, the boys are taken under the father's charge.

^ Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 1S9. ' Riedel, op. cit. 392, 355.

' Lichtenstein, op. cit, i. 260.

In Samoa the boys leave their mother's care at seven
years of age, and come under the superintendence of
their father and male relatives. They are now circum-
cised and receive a new name.^ This case combines an
"initiation" ceremony placed at a date earlier than
usual. In Patagonia the sons begin to go about with
the father at ten, and the girls with the mother at
nine.* Amongst the Jaggas boys have to live together
as soon as they can do without a mother's care.* Of
some Australian tribes Mr. Curr reports that "from
a very early age the boys begin to imitate their fathers,
and the girls their mothers, in their everyday occupa-
tions. When the boy is four or five years of age
the father will make him a miniature shield, spear,
and wommera^ with which the little fellow fights
his compeers and annoys his mother and the dogs.
About seven or eight years of age commences in
earnest the course of education. At eight or ten
the boy has to leave the hut of his father and sleep
in one common to the young men and boys of the
tribe."*

The following cases show how sexual taboo empha-
sises this. In the Society and Sandwich Islands "as
soon as a boy was able to eat, his food was kept distinct
fi-om that of his mother, and brothers and sisters might
not eat together from the earliest age."*^ In Uripiv
boys from a few days after birth are supposed to eat
with the male sex only, else " death would mysteriously
fall upon them. The fact of suckling, however, is
overlooked."® In Fiji brothers and sisters may not
speak to each other, nor eat together. The boys sleep

' Globus^ xlvii. 71. ' Musters, op. cit. 177.

' Krapf, op, cit, 243. * Curr, op. cit. i. 71.

^ Ellis, Tour in Hawaii^ 368 j id. Polynesian Research:, i. 263 ; Cook and King,
op. cit. ii. 156. ^ yourn. Antrop. Inst, xxiii. 4.

in a separate room. The relationship between brothers
and sisters is termed ngane^ which means "one who
shuns the other." ^ In some Australian tribes brother
and sister are not allowed even to converse.* Amongst
all the Indian tribes of California brothers and sisters
scrupulously avoid living together.' In Melanesia
there is a remarkable avoidance between a boy and his
sisters and mother, beginning when he is first clothed,
and in the case of the sister when she is first tatooed.
He is also forbidden to go underneath the women's
bed-place, just as a Melanesian chief thinks it a degra-
dation to go where women may be above his head.*
In Fiji, again, brothers and sisters may not converse,
the boys' sleeping-room is separated from that of the
girls, and boys may not eat with a female.^ In New
Caledonia brothers and sisters after having reached
years of maturity are no longer permitted to entertain
any social intercourse with each other ; they are pro-
hibited from keeping each other's company, even in the
presence of a third person, and if they casually meet,
they must instantly go out of the way, or, if that is
impossible, the sister must throw herself on the ground
with her face downwards. Yet, if a misfortune should
befall one of them, they assist each other to the best of
their ability through the medium of a common friend.*
In Japan young princes are prohibited from all inter-
course with the opposite sex. According to the moral
code of the same country, " parents must teach their
daughters to keep separate from the other sex. The
old custom is : man and woman shall not sit on the
same mat, nor put their clothing in the same place,

* Williams, op, cit, i. 136, 167. * Featherman, op, cit, ii. 142.

* Power*, op, cit, 4x2. * Codrington, op, cit, 232, 233.
^ Williams, op. cit. i. 167 5 W. Coote, fVanderings South amd East, 138.

^ v. de Rochas, NcuvtlU Caledonii, 239.

2i« THE MYSTIC RO^ chap.

shall hsnrc differ emt hadBrooBB^ shill oot girc or take
aajcfuag dutkJtiw ncm knui to Fignrf Oa walking
CKSty cuen la tat case qb noacfiesy toe kbcb imiu^I keep
separate from their Icmale rdatiTes^'*' ^ bt die Hervey
Istaticfs the first-licni sod is Ibrfanddea to kiss ms sster ;
^she majr not crass ins path wincsi the wind which
has passed oiner her is Ekdr to tooch his most sacred
perKm.**^ Amongst the Nairs of Mabhr a man
honours his eldest sister; he mar jmLiti stay in the
some room with his other sssters^ and Ins befaaTioar
to them is most rescrred.^ In fiat Nanbori caste of
TraTanoore ^ women arc gmeded with more than
Moslem jcaloosj ; even htotheis and sisters are sqnr-
ated at an early ^e-**^ In Ton^ a chief pays the
greatest rc^xct to his cklest sister, and mar never enter
her honse.^ In Ceylon a father is fbrfaidden to see his
dai^hter at all after she has arnrcd at puberty, so also
in die case of mother and son.' Amoc^st the Todas
near relations of different sexes consider it a ** pollution''
if even their garments shoald touch, and a case is men-
tioned of a girl expressing horror when handled by her
father.' A Corean girl is taught that the most dis-
graceful thing a woman can do is to aDow herself to be
scm or spoken to by any man outside her own fomily
drde. After the age of eight, she is never allowed to
enter the men*s quarters of her own home. *'The
boys in die same way are told that it is unbecoming
azid unc&gnified to enter the portiOQ of the house set
apart for females. The men 2nd the women have their

^ SaeboUv«^ at. 2o3 ; Bord^ if^ ,sr^ L jst.

^ Gin^ Lifi m sit SmtkmrK Ida^ 46^ 4>"« ^

^ GffaiBi-Tcalioa, af^dt, 15^ ^ )XtC«ter« \msv9 Li:ji at Travmuart^ 144.

' Mariner^ j^.de. a. 156- * T-^ws. £»ia»l 5»c. ui> 71.

meals separately, the women waiting on their husbands.
Thus family life as we have it is utterly unknown in
Corea." '

With the approach of puberty, the sexual question
appears which emphasises the separation, both natural
and taboo, and at the ceremonies of initiation boys
are formally taken away, as they have practically already
been taken away, from the mother's sphere and female
associations. The danger, now enhanced by a new
instinct, produces the very common custom that from
this time boys may not sleep even in the house or with
the family. A common form of this custom is the
institution of public buildings, which combine the
features of a dormitory and a club, for the use of the
young men. In Annam these are called morongs.
The custom is found, for instance, amongst the Niam-
niam and Bongos, the Dyaks, in the islands between
Celebes and New Guinea, in New Guinea, Tonga,
the Andaman Islands, South and West Africa, and
amongst the Pueblos, in the New Hebrides, and Indo-
China.*

The separation of the young outside the family is
a fairly regular social rule. On Eraser's Island " a young
man will not sit down on the same stool or box, or in
fact anywhere where a young woman has been sitting
at any time. They imagine that the young man would
sicken and die. The shadow of young women must
not pass over the sleeping - places of young men."
Among the Iroquois young men could have no inter-

^ Griffis, CoreA, 244 j Joum. Antkrop, Inst, xxiv. 305, 306.

2 Schweinfurth, op, cit. i. 303, ii. 21 ; Low, op. cit. 247 5 Ricdcl, op, at, 12, 250,
287,443 ; Gill, op, cit, 240; Farmer, 0^. cit. 47 ; Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xi. 137 5
Shooter, op. cit. 15 5 A. B. Ellis, op, at. 97 j Featherman, op. cit. iii. 230; Joum,
Anthrop. Inst, xxiii. 273 j Ball, op. cit. 646 ; and especially S. E. Peal, in Joum,
Antkrop. Inst. xxii. 249.

' Curr, op. cit, iii. 145.

course with girls, nor even conversation ;' and amongst
most North American tribes, " the chastity of girls is
carefully guarded," * " The separation of the immature
youth of the two sexes is a feature strongly insisted upon
in the social practice of all the North-Western Ameri-
can tribes."* Amongst the Northern Indians "girls arc
from the early age of eight or nine years prohibited by
custom from joining in the most innocent amusements
with children of the opposite sex. When sitting in
their tents, or even when travelling, they are watched
and guarded with such an unremitting attention as ■
cannot be exceeded by the most rigid discipline of an I
EMiish boarding-school." * Amongst the Omahas a '
(rirl may not speak to a man, except very near relations,*
In Madagascar the tribes of the forest and East Coast
have a higher morality than the Hovas, girls being
scrupulously kept from any intercourse with the male
sex until marriage." Amongst the Greenlanders single
persons of both sexes have rarely any connection ; for
instance, a maid would take it as an affront were a
young fellow to offer her a pinch of snuff in company.'^
Eusofzye women consider it indecent to associate with
the men.^ In Loango a youth dare not speak to a girl
except in her mother's presence.'' Amongst the Hill
Dyaks the young men are carefully separated from the
girls.'" In New South Wales unmarried youths and
girls may not speak to each other," In some Victorian 1
tribes the unmarried adults of both sexes are kept care- J

' Wsiti-GtrlMd, cf. CXI. iii. 103. ^ U. iii. 111.

' W. H. Dall, m Tiird fo^f o/ikt BMram ,/ Eihothgy, Si.

* Horne, tp. cii. jit.
' J. O. DotKy, in Tiird Ktfcrr tfih Bvuu of Eiinslegj, 170.

* Sil>ree, in ^«ni. Anilnf. Inu. ii. 43. ' Cnni, cp. til, I, 145,
" ElphilMConc, Aciaaml oflkt Kingdom cf Cabal, i. 141, 14], 313.

* Pinktrton, If. cit. iW. 56S. " H, Lov, Sartviti, joo.
" Brough Smyth, cp. cii, u. 31!,

fully apart. Amongst the same people the seducer of
an unmarried girl is beaten to death, and the girl is
punished and sometimes killed.^ In South Nias both
the seducer and the girl are put to death.* In the
Tenimber Islands (Timorlaut) it is taboo for a boy to
touch a girl's breast or hand, and for her to touch his
hair.* Amongst the Leh-tas of Burma boys and girls
" when they may have occasion to pass each other, avert
their gaze, so that they may not see each other's
faces." * In Cambodia the girls are carefully secluded,
and the reserve which they show is remarkable. " The
stringency of custom prevents the intercourse of the
young. Accordingly, the role of village Don Juan is
scarcely possible." * In the Andaman Islands bachelors
may only eat with men, spinsters with women.® In
Tasmania " the young men and lads moved early from
the camp in the morning so as not to interfere with
female movements at rising. Unmarried men never
wandered in the bush with women ; if meeting a party
of the other sex, native politeness required that they
turned and went another way."^ An Australian
woman, in most tribes, is not allowed to converse or
have any relations with any adult male save her
husband. Even with a grown-up brother she is almost
forbidden to exchange a word.® Here the proprietary
jealousy of husbands is a factor in the rule ; but the
common Australian custom, as in the Central tribes,
where no man as a general rule may go near the
Erlukwirra (" women's camp ") and no woman may
approach the Ungunja (" men's camp "),• brings us

^ Dawson, of>, cit, ci. ' Rotenberg, op, cit, 167.

* Riedei, op, cit, 300. * Fytchc, Burma, i. 343.
^ Aymonier, in Cochinchine frau^aise^ vi. 191, 198.

• Journ. Anthrop, Inst. xii. 344. ^ Bon wick, op, cit. 11.

^ Curr, op, cit, i. 109. ^ Spencer and GiUen, op, cit. 178, 467.

back to sexual taboo, and reminds us that this separa-
tion of the young is due to aU the ideas of this taboo,
and not to the fear of sexual intercourse only. Such
rules as usual become further causes, and have per-
petuated the separation of the sexes.

In the examples of separation of brother and sister^
we have been really reviewing the process of preventing
" incest," and in those of the separation of young
persons generally, the process of preventing " pro-
miscuity." Neither of these needed prevention, for
neither was ever anything but the rarest exception in
any stage of human culture, even the earliest ; the
former is prevented by the psychological difficulty with
which love comes into play between persons either
closely associated or strictly separated before the age of
puberty, a difficulty enhanced by the ideas of sexual
taboo, which are intensified in the closeness of the
family circle, where practical as well as religious con-
siderations cause parents to prevent any dangerous
connection. We saw that in many cases, not merely is
the intercourse of husband and wife not practised in the
house, but even the performance of ordinary functions,
such as eating, is prohibited there, as in New Zealand
and the Sandwich Islands. Parents bring up their
children by the same rule, which is, put briefly, that all
close connection between the sexes is dangerous, and
especially between those who arc in dose contact.
Marriage of man and woman is theoretically a forbidden
thing, both outside and inside the family circle. The
very word " incest " originally meant simply " unchaste,"
connoting a merely general infringement of sexual taboo,
such infringement being more reprehensible between
those who are not likely to make it. As to the fictions of
primitive " incest " and " promiscuity," both in popular

tradition and scientific theories of primitive marriage,
it is natural that marriage systems should be explained
as intended to put a stop to a prevailing practice, by
those who do not know how religion simply assists
nature, but the explanation does not at all go to show
that these practices ever existed.

Lastly, as will be discussed hereafter, it is the
application of sexual taboo to brothers and sisters, who,
because they are of opposite sexes, of the same genera-
tion, and are in close contact, and for no other reasons,
are regarded as potentially marriageable, that is the
foundation of exogamy and the marriage system. 1

Chapter X

We have seen the complication of the eternal drama of
sex, and now approach the dinoument as expressed in
certain features of the ceremonies at puberty, and
generally in love-practices and marriage ritual. The
taboo is now to be broken.

The general removal of taboo takes many forms,
some of which we have observed in passing. In all
these forms alike the idea is to get rid of the material
taboo substance, the "sacredness" or " uncleanness '*
with which the body has been, as it were, permeated
and infected from contact of some sort with danger,
religiously conceived, coming from spiritual or human
agents, and, in human relations, especially from human
agents sometimes spiritualised, sometimes conceived of
abstractly, or embodied in concrete persons. As the
dangers are, whether spiritual or material, conceived of
materially, so the methods used to obviate or remove
them are such as would be used in dealing with
matter.

First, we may briefly refer to some of the com-
monest means of avoiding the dangers of taboo, used
before these dangers have descended and in expectation
of them. Persons in this state of expectation are
already taboo, as we have seen, but no confusion need
attach to the double meaning. Again, when a person
is guarding himself against these dangers, their pre-

CHAP. X HIDING FROM EVIL 225

sence, potential or actual, causes other persons to avoid
him, for fear of coming in for the same. So much
being premised, we may instance the method of hiding
from danger ; thus sick people are frequently hidden
so as to escape, if possible, from the evil influence.^
People often change their house to avoid evil,* and it is
a common practice after a death to burn the house
down, or desert it.'* When a man is sick, the Aru
islanders fire ofF guns round the house, to drive away
the evil spirits. If this fdls, they take him to another
house, to deceive them.'* The Ceramese take a sick
man to another house, to deceive evil spirits.* The
Watubela natives remove a sick man from his house, /

" because it is a * warm ' house, or in order to deceive
the evil spirits."^ The latter is the object of this
practice in the Kei Islands.^ When a sick man is about
to die, the Eskimo family gather up all their posses-
sions, close up the hut, and seek another abode.^
When death occurred amongst the Yumas, the site of
the village was altered.^

Various forms of seclusion carry out the same idea.
Taboo persons dwell in special huts, so as to protect
themselves and to isolate themselves from others. A
garb of woe is both appropriate to the feelings of the
fearful soul and diverts the attention of evil. A sick
Basuto sits under a rock, where, clothed with miserable
rags, he eats the coarsest food ; he never washes ; and
continually curses the person who has bewitched him.^^
A good instance of dressing in rags for the practical
purpose of exciting pity in human hearts is the custom
as used by defendants in ancient Rome.

1 Bastiaa, Allerla^ i. 437. ^ Riedel, op, cit. 265, 266, 267.

' A. B. EUit, op. cie, 160 $ Spiz, op, at. ii. 251. ^ Riedel, op, cit. 266.

» Id. 141. • Id. 210. f Id. 238.

^ Featherman, op. cit, iii. 406. ^ Id, m, 190. ^^ Catalit, op. cit. 277.

Evil is again barred by drawing a line, or by making
a barricade. Barriers of water or fire are often used.
To drive away evil from the infant, the Timorlaut
natives place it by the fire.^ Next there is the use of
protecting garments, and veils, the latter with special
reference to the danger of being seen by or seeing the
dreaded influence ; there is also in this practice a desire
not to infect others with the evil to which one is sub-
ject. Amongst the Wa-taveta pregnant women wear
veils.* The veil is commonly worn by women at men-
struation, as by other taboo persons, such as mourners.
The King of Susa eats behind a screen.' The use of
sacred umbrellas probably goes back to the same idea.
Amongst the Dyaks an umbrella is placed over a sick
person.'* The common use of amulets to keep off evil
needs no illustration. By the use of dummies one per-
suades the evil influence that one is dead already, or
engages the attention of evil agents, while escape is
being efl^ected. The natives of Timorlaut cheat the
evil agents, by using puppets to represent the sick.^
The Burmese believe that the patient will recover if he
is buried in effigy.* In Celebes the sick man is taken
to another house and a dummy is left on his bed.^ To
prevent a dead mother taking her child, the Melanesians
place a dummy in her arms.® A similar method is
to pretend that the sick man is already dead ; the
friends hold a mock funeral with this object in
East Central Africa.® To avoid sickness, the Babar
natives set adrift dummies of themselves in a boat,
wherein they also place bowls in which their sick

^ Riedel, op. cit. 303. * J. Thomson, o/>. cit. 61.

3 Harris, of>. cit. iii. 78. * Brooke, o/>. cit. i. 95.

* Ricdcl, of>. cit. 304. *^ Shway Yoc, op. cit. ii. 138.
' N. GraaHand, De Minahatsa^ \. 326. ® Codrington, op. cit. 275.

• Bastian, op. cit. i. 437 j Journ. Anthrop. Intt. xxii. 114, 115.

X VEILS— DUMMIES— SACRIFICE 227

friends have spat. They will also change houses to
cure illness.^

Similar is the use of proxies or substitutes, to keep
the danger from the person concerned. Once a year, a
bull is killed by the Zulus on behalf of the king ; the
strength of the bull enters him, thereby prolonging his
life and health.* In Tonga a human victim was slain
to " avert the wrath of angry gods from the king." ^
Before the chief's son was circumcised, the Manyuema
first tried the operation on a slave.*

Again, there is the common practice of giving up to
the evil influence a part of one's self, in the large sense
in which the savage conceives of such, a piece of one's
hair, food, clothing, or the like ; the idea being to
sacrifice a part to preserve the whole, sometimes the
whole man, at other times the whole of a particular
organ or sense-process. In the Central provinces of
India, when cholera is about, the priest takes a straw
from each house and burns these. Chickens are also
driven into the fire and burnt ; the idea is that the
straws and chickens are substitutes.*^ In Tonga people
cut ofl^ a little finger to avert calamity. To propitiate
the gods they would cut off a finger-joint, and holding
up their hands confess " they had done wrong, but were
sorry." Another account says that they would cut off
a little finger on the occasion of illness, as a propitiatory
ofl^ering to the gods.® This idea of sacrificing a part
seems to be the meaning of cutting off a finger-joint or
lock of hair at the grave of a dead person, or during
mourning.^ Connected with this is the no less logical

* Riedel, op. cit. 357. ' Leslie, of>. cit, 91.

' Farmer, op. cit. 53. * Ploss, Das JCindj i. 363.

* Punjab Notes and S^ueriei, i. 418. * Farmer, op. cit. 128 ; Mariner, op. cit. i. 454.
^ Fiji, Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 100 ; Pi mas, Comanches, Wichita, Minnetarrees,

Finos, Blackfeet, Crows, and Sioux, First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 99 fF. ;

method of making believe that one's soul is in some
object, which is then put safely away, as an external
soul.

Another most widely spread method is fasting, the
idea of which is to avoid swallowing food which may be
tainted by the dangerous influence — to prevent evil
entering a man. Parallel to this is the method of
continence, the object being to retain the source of
strength within the body, for if it be allowed to leave
the body, the individual will lose strength which he may
need for the ghostly conflict, and also the ghostly
enemy may use the person's strength thus detached from
him to injure him by the method of ngadhungi.

Then in cases of actual taboo, where the person
concerned is actually infected with danger, or probably
has been, for the primitive mind makes no distinction
in its wide generalisation, the commonest method of
removing the contagion is " purification." The taboo
essence, as if exuding from the pores, and clinging to
the skin, like a contagious disease, is wiped ofF with
water, the universal cleanser, or similar substances.
After menstruation and child-birth, and sickness gener-
ally, the contagion is got rid of by a bath. In Shoa
" defiled " men, who had eaten forbidden food, were
sprinkled with water.^ The contagion of death is
removed in the same way, and so is the stain of sin
from penitents.^ At a later stage, the water used may
be rendered more efficacious, by being itself " holy " or
" medicinal." Or the patient is purified so as by fire,
the other great cleanser, or by disinfectants of various
sorts, smoke and incense, which are to fire as the offering

Tatmaniani, Australian*, Eyre, cf>. cit, ii. 343 ; Ellicc Islands, Cooper, Ccrml luaxax^
ii, 256 i New Caledonia, Anderson, of>. cit, 220.

* Harris, cf, cit, iii. 147. *-* Firsr Report zfthe Btereau of Etkrz^^^y^ 125.

of incense is to a burnt sacrifice. The chair in which a
Manchurian bride goes to the house of the bridegroom
is "disinfected" with incense, to drive away evil
spirits.^ Or again it is taken ofF by a rougher method
— ^wiped ofF with the hands, or a scraper of wood, a
sacred strigil, as it were. The following is the descrip-
tion of a Navajo medicine-man's method : he pressed a
bundle of stuff to different parts of the body, each time
holding up this " receiver " to the smoke-hole, blowing
with a quick pufF, as if blowing away the evil influence
drawn from the body.* After births and deaths
"defilement" is taken off by the New Hebrideans
thus : cocoa-nut milk is poured over the body, or a
branch is drawn down body and limbs so as to sweep
the substance away.* ^^he Maoris remove tapu by
water or by passing over the body a piece of wood,
which is then buried.* Where the evil clings closer, it
is beaten off. The method of beating is also used to
drive out evil spirits, and there is a natural and easy
confusion between the two ideas, as would be the
obvious double inference from sickness, for instance.
Infected clothes are removed and destroyed. The
Navajo who has touched a dead body, takes his clothes
off afterwards and washes himself before he mingles
with the living.* The Cherokees flung their old clothes
into the river, " supposing then their own impurities to
be removed." • The Maori slave who took his clothes
off before entering a sacred place which would have
infected him with its "sanctity," was wiser in his
generation.^

Again, the virus can be taken off and transferred by

' Folklore^ i. 487. " Fifih Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 420.

' Jourrt. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 12. * Yate, op, cit. 104, 137,
• First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 123. • Frajter, op, cit? iii. 74.

^ Shortland, Southern Districts of New Zealand, 293.

cxmtact to some one who is sxsre or less ahniys taboo, or
is a ctrpus viJt^ in winch otse ti^ SM^ntgc inicrs that the
virmi icaTcs the onginal suflcan entirely. Fie infers
this hcnrasc he desires it ; when he does not so dcaie,
as in the case of a man^^s muauL, the good quality that
can be transferred, it passes, but not away. If a Mkmi
rhanrrd to touch any oner's head, he reoeiTcd its
^ sacredness '^ 1^ the contact, and had to rob ins hands
on fern-root, which was then eatm by the head of the
fesuly in the feanale line. Tims his hands 'hin^^n^ mo£
again.^ Tlie Tanoos Maori nKthods of *^ Bf&Dg *" u^
MTC called WhsmFMHuau Tlie Tanean TnfffJMjd is in-
tcncsdng. If a man contracted tsim from '^^'^^^^^ixg a
chief, he iciemamallT toorhrd the soi&es cf li^ feet oc
a supcnor chief with ins hanrk, and then washed Inm-
self. If a man ate food with toimsi hand^;, he ajToodcd
dangerous irsolts by patting the foot of a chief on
has stnmarh,. The idea is that by contact the ZMim
suTygfanne is transferred feoon the man^s organs to the
dnef' A utpue^ Maori would i«e himself from i^£
by tonrihrng a child, and by taiing food from its handsu
The man was thus free, but the rhilvi was ti^ far a
dar.^ Of the Maoris n has been sdd that lie ^ most
naarked prruHaritJCS of their nHffnrms can be traced to
lie prinrrple that food which has once touched a sacred
object become iself sacred, and must not be eaten
except br tic sacred oiwrL."* Some of tie prrvious
cases iiov how iriod is used to remove taboo. In
F^ lie taboo persons wa^ and then w^ ticir hands
on some animal, £^. a -p^g. The lartcr thus becomes
sacred to tic chief, and tier jcse tie zuim^ and arc free
to work, to feed liemselver^ ani to iivc witi liar

- Snortonc. «t. ::: t>S. ~ "Marinr:. «. rrz. ii. ^aa, ^.

• 3irftriitacL. JVso Zeajatu:.. L. iz>:; "* Slionttnc^. st,. ai, oqu..

wives. When a chief wishes to remove tabu from
himself, he transfers it to a priest.^ It is an important
fact that where the ideas of contact underlying social
taboo are most thoroughly worked out, as for instance,
amongst the Maoris and Zulus, the connection of food
plays an important part, not only in taboo but in its
removal. The savage believes not only that what
comes out of a man defiles him, but that what enters
him does so also, and especially is this so with food.
It is food that gives a man his life and strength, and
that also may, by forming his very substance, transmit
evil to him in the most certain way. By a natural
analogy, the evil can best be removed from him by the
use of food. Later we shall see how the taking of new
food is connected with this. The connection of fasting
and silence with taboo is well shown by some methods
of removing it, which at the same time remove the
obligation to abstinence and the ban of silence. The
fast incumbent upon mourners is ended in the Nguria
tribe by some one touching the lips of the mourner
with meat. In this case, as in others, there is combined
the idea of rendering the freedom to eat or speak, safe,
by a rehearsal of the action.* The common ban of
silence imposed in various ceremonies by the Central
Australians is removed by touching the lips with food,
or some sacred object.*

There is another important method — inoculation.
The idea is earlier than Jenner and Pasteur ; it is one of
the oldest and most far-reaching conceptions of man-
kind. As with all primitive ideas, however, it must be
remembered that it has a religious connotation, and is
generalised round a much wider circle than even our

^ Wilkes, 9p. eii. ii. 99, too. ' Curr, ef>, cit. i. 289.

* Spencer ami Otlkn, cp. at, 248, 381 ff.

metaphorical use of the word. As with other earl^l
theories, so with this, a successful positive instance
ensures the general continuance of the method. When
the savage inoculates for nearly every danger, as did
the Zulus, there might well occur cases where, for
instance, small-pox was thus successfully combated.
In Abyssinia, when small-pox is raging, they take a
boy and inoculate him, and with the lymph supplied
by him every one is inoculated against the disease.^
There is a curiously strong superstitious fear of
lightning amongst the Zulus, doubtless the result of
a peculiarity of their climate. A Zulu has explained,
" it is this that causes fear in men ; the dreaded thing
comes from above and not from below. They are
afraid of something that looks down upon all of us,
not that it will really strike, but the fear arises from
thinking that it is a thing above us ; we cannot defend
ourselves from it, as from a stone thrown by another."
The somewhat incoherent statement would apply well
enough to the more timid individuals in a civilised and
scientific age. Now the Zulu theory is, that anything
struck by lightning has in it the "power" of the light-
ning. The "doctors" make themselves proof against
it by " inoculation," and are thus also brought into
" sympathy " with electric forces, and know when it
is going to thunder. To protect the people, the
priests sometimes give orders that an ox struck by
lightning must be eaten. After this preventive homceo-
pathic dose they take emetics and wash.^ Similarly,
when a Zulu is about to cross a river full of crocodiles,
he will chew some crocodile's excrement, and spatter it
over his person, in the belief that this will protect him .

' Harrit, up. ta, ii, 159.

* Cilkway, afi. ril. v'i-"i^°' 4°*-

against them.^ The idea is clearly protection by
assimilation through inoculation. In West Africa the
blood of a slain enemy is drunk by all who have never
killed an enemy before.* When Kaffirs have killed
a lion, they rub their eyes with his skin before they
look at his dead body.' The people of New Britain
believe that after eating enemies they have slain they
cannot be injured by the friends of the latter.* In
South Africa warriors are inoculated before battle with
a powder made from slain enemies. This is placed by
the medicine-man in an incision on the forehead of
each soldier, and gives him strength.* To avoid the
evil effects of a stranger's eye who enters a house where
an infent is, a Mentawey father will take off its head-
covering and give it to the stranger, who after holding
it a while returns it.^ Amongst the Zulus, if a man
wishes to obtain a favour from a chief or great man, or
when he is accused of some crime and has to appear
before the chief, he tries to get something belonging
to the latter, and this he wears next his skin. So, if a
man has an illness, caused, as he thinks, by some animal,
the animal's flesh is administered to him.^ The
Malays regard the spines of a certain fish as poisonous,
but believe that if the brain of the fish is applied to
the wound it will act as a complete antidote to the
poisonous principle.® This principle of the "hair or
the dog that bit you" is inoculation after the event,
the principle of homoeopathy, assimilation to the object
which causes injury. This extension brings out the
identity of inoculation with other cases of assimilation
by contact. The following examples, in which a sort

^ shooter, op. cit. 218. ^ Bowdich, op. cit. 300.

' Arbousset, op. cit. 214. "* Powell, op. cit, 92.

* Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xz. 133. • Rosenberg, op. cit, 198.

* Callaway, op. cit. 142. ^ Skeat, op. cit, 309.

of " reverse inoculation " takes place, also show this
clearly. Gipsy thieves in Servia put their own blood
into the food of one who they suspect knows of their
offence. They believe that this prevents him from
betraying them, and makes him friendly.^ Negro
Indians believe that a dog will be faithful to his master
if he gives it some bread soaked in his own sweat^ A
Magyar maiden believes that if she rubs some of her
blood in a young man's hair he will love her.* A
Cherokee bridegroom, if jealous, will rub his saliva on
the breast of his sleeping wife, to induce her to be
faithful/

There is often a difficulty about inoculation, viz.,
the procuring of lymph. Where this can be sur-
mounted, however, many kinds of dangers and
spiritual and material " diseases " are prevented from
having their fullness of ill result by inoculating the
patient against them. As is sometimes the case now,
in connection with small-pox, so amongst savages
inoculation is chiefly used, sometimes only used, when
no other methods avail. The risk due to passing
through even a reduced form of the particular danger
is one that early man would not lightly undertake. As
a rule, he takes no risks and undergoes no pains that
he can help, and never except for some serious purpose.
It is especially when one is, as it were, in an infected
area from which one cannot escape, and among infected
or dangerous persons with whom one must to some
extent associate, that inoculation is seen by the savage,
as by us, to be the best method of safety.

Inoculation is the infusion of diseased matter from a
diseased person into a healthy person, who by contract-

^ jim Urquell^ iii. 64. ^ Owen, Old Rabbity 142.

' Am Urfuellf iii. 269. * Seventh Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 380.

ing the disease in a very mild form, escapes the full
effects which would result in the ordinary course of
contraction. In other words, it is a form of contagion,
it is the deadly method of Nature used against herself.
It is the avoiding of the dangers of taboo by boldly
courting them ; taboo is minimised by breaking it. It
will be obvious now, first, that the principle of inocu-
lation is the same (differing only in intention) as that of
involuntary contagion and of ngadhungiy which is only
*' contagion " developed. Comparing it with such
typical cases as those in which one is involuntarily
tainted or " inoculated," using the word to sharpen
the point, with the dangerous qualities of another,
we see its identity with all these ideas of contact.
Secondly, it is identical with those love-charms and
similar practices in which you take or receive a portion
of the desired person, in order to receive into yourself
his desirable properties, or transmit your own hate or
love to another. Here are the passive and the active
aspects of inoculation.

It is natural that such transmission should be
especially effective when performed through the
medium of food, for thereby the transmitted pro-
perty is most surely taken into the system. Of
this method in various forms we shall find illustration
in ceremonies at puberty and marriage.

Chapter XI

The last and most important mediod of breaking
taboo remans to be dcsajbed. In it the whole cycle
of ideas of contact which underlie human relations
generally and the relations of the sexes in particular,
is completed, and thus the prindples on which the
ceremonies of marriage and the marriage system are
based receive their full description.

Inoculation was the last method reviewed, and two
forms of it were seen — ^inoculation of one person with
the properties of another, and reverse inoculation, by
which one person assimilates another to himself by
inoculating him with himself. The method now to be
described is simply mutual inoculation of two indi-
viduals with each other. A and B being mutually
taboo, desire to remove the dangers of their relation ;
being destined to live together, or to perform some
dangerous act together, or to be in more or less close
and therefore potentially dangerous connection, their
best method is, as we have seen, inoculation. A
therefore inoculates himself ag^dnst B by taking a
part of B into his own system, and B does the same ;
but this is equivalent to reverse inoculation, for A has
practically given B a part of himself, and B has done
the same ; the two methods here coincide. The
results are those which belong to reciprocity ; each has
a part of the other in his keeping, and this part not

CHAP. XI MUTUAL INOCULATION 237

only assimilates each to the other by transmission of
properties, but is a pledge, deposit and hostage. Thus
identity of interests is secured, and the possibility of
mutual treachery or wrong is prevented, not only by
the fact that injury done to B by A is equivalent to
injury done by A to himself, but also by the fact that
if B is wronged, he may work vengeance by injuring
through his malicious properties or by the method of
ngadhungi the part of A which he possesses ; and not
only this, but, theoretically at least, in such an event,
the part of B possessed by A may punish A by the
sympathy it still retains with B, its original owner.
Each has " given himself away " to the other in a very
real sense. Taboo against connection is broken by
making the connection, just as Kamehameha broke the
tabu by eating with his wives ; and the result is simply
union, in the most vital sense, effected by assimilation
and passing into identification. But the ideas we have
just described underlie all union of this kind, not only
in early thought, but implicitly always ; it is simply the
psychological principle of union analysed into its com-
ponent parts. The relation is the full development of
contact, which it is unnecessary to trace again in detail.
Of the various parts of one's self each and every one
may be used. Hair, blood, garments, and names are
common instances. The idea is also satisfied by each
party partaking of the same thing, such as food and
drink, flesh and blood, by smoking together, or
by dividing a "token," familiar instances being the
crvfifioXov and split sixpence. In one of the most
striking cases this is the umbilical cord of one party.
This is often preserved, as has been seen, and is re-
garded as very sacred and as possessing part of the
" life " of the original owner.

The Narrinyeri have the following custom. The
remans of a child's umUlical cord are carefully pre-
served by the father in a bunch of feathers. The reHc
is called kalduke. This he will give to a man in
another tribe who has children, by which act his diild
and the other man's children become ngia ngiampe
to each other. The duties of this relation are that
they may not touch or come near each other, nor ^)eak
to one another, and the usual object of the custom
is that these children when grown may be entrusted
with the barter of commodities between the two tribes.
During such commercial transactions the ngiampe per-
sons of course may not speak to each other, a third
person does the talking. Moreover any two individuals
may and often do enter this relation for a time, one
cutting his own kalduke in two and each keeping half.
They are ngia ngiampe as long as they each retain his
piece. This relation is often imposed on two indi-
viduals to prevent them marrying.^ The above is so
typical an example, that I may be allowed to use the
term ngia ngiampe hereafter to express this relation.

It is hardly necessary to give a multiplicity of
examples which show each and every one of the pos-
sible vehicles of the mutual transmission ; most of
these have been mentioned already in cases of contact
and of single inoculation. The latter practice, as the
one-sided application of the principle, should be borne
in mind when reviewing the following cases. First of
all, lovers not merely symbolise their desire for union
by this means, but really effect identification. In Wetar
engaged couples exchange locks of hair, gifts, especially
clothes that have been worn, in order to have the smell
of the loved one near them. Lovers in Amboina ex-

' G. Taplin, in Nat'rve Tribes of South Australia^ 32.

change hair, rings, and clothes they have worn. After
their first meeting, a Timor-laut girl takes the girdle of
the young man, in order to make him faithful to her.
In Amboina lovers drink each other's blood ; " it is a
real sacrament."^ Peasant lovers in France used to
pledge their affections by spitting into each other's
mouths.^ The practice is most common between lovers,
and as a marriage ceremony, effecting union, satisfying
love, and producing the responsibilities of reciprocity.

The next most common uses are for hospitality and
friendship, the making of alliances and covenants be-
tween man and man or tribe and tribe, the so-called
" blood brotherhood " ; also as a method of making
peace, the compact being sealed in various ways,
especially by eating together (just as now a bargain is
sealed "over a drink"). Throughout the world the
closest bond is produced by the act of hospitality,
the sharing of one's bread and salt with the stranger
within the gates. In the countless examples of this
it is often quite naturally found that one side only is
concerned (single inoculation), but practically the act,
even when no commensality takes place, has all the
effect of a reciprocal process. Thus, in the Mentawey
Islands when a stranger enters the house, the father, by
way of avoiding the ill effects of the stranger's eyes
upon his child, takes fi-om it its head-covering and
gives it to the visitor, who after holding it a while
returns it.' This case brings out well the fear and
caution underlying acts of hospitality. Amongst the
Koniagas visitors are presented with a cup of water,
as a ceremonial act marking friendship.^ In Java a
superior pays to an inferior the highest compliment

* Riedcl, op. cit. 447, 67, 300, 41. ' F. Liebrecht, Gervasewm Tilbwy, 72.

^ Rosenberg, <f. rxr. 198. * Featherman, op. cit, iii. 454.

the

if he offers him his half-chewed betel.' Amongst the
Iroquois the regular act of courtesy towards any visitor
was to present him with a dish of hominy. To neglect
this was a breach of good manners." In Sumatra the
guest who pays a visit to his friend is presented wil
betel as a token of hospitality. This is an act
common politeness which can neither be omitted
refused.*

The biological origin of the whole of the phenom<
is shown by these cases. The Timorese salute ea<
other by touching noses and drawing a deep breath.*
When meeting friends and acquaintances, the Eskimo
greet each other by rubbing noses together, and then
they spit into their hands and mutually pass them over
each other's face. When they wish to give assurance
of mutual friendship they eat together, and mutually
rub each other's breast, saying, Uago, "let us be
friends." ' The biological origin is also clear when the
method is the giving of food to a person, and the
Greek fashion of drinking a health. is a good type of
these ideas. The fashion coincides naturally with the
practice, illustrated above, of drinking first to show
that the drink is not harmful. Such satisfaction of the
senses, again, predisposes the consciousness to amity
and goodwill ; this is an innate human idea. The
following illustrates it. Amongst the Knisteneaux the
rite of smoking the calumet begins all public discussion,
it dissipates all differences, and no one who entertains
feelings of enmity towards another can smoke the pi
with him without being previously reconciled,
one is allowed to participate in the sacred rite who
not abstained from cohabiting with his wife for tweni

four hours previously. Contracts solemnised by smok-
ing the calumet are held to be inviolable.* The phrase
of hospitality in the Society and Sandwich Islands is
"let us eat together."^ Amongst the North American
Indians tobacco-smoking, and in the East Indies the
chewing of betely have naturally taken over all the ideas
attached to food. The passing round of the calumet is
the regular North American custom of making peace
and alliances, and smoking together is a mark of hospi-
tality and friendship. In principle, of course, the act
itself produces these results. The Powhattans observed
ceremonial forms in receiving a stranger or visitor.
The most influential man brought the calumet or pipe
of peace, lighted it, and having drawn a few pufl^s, he
handed it to the stranger, who, if he were friendly
disposed, accepted it ; the pipe then went alternately
from mouth to mouth until each one present had
inhaled the smoke.* Amongst the Druses hospitality
is one of the sacred duties whose implied obligations
they never disregard or violate. No consideration of
interest, no dread of power, can ever induce them to
betray or deliver up to an enemy the stranger or
fugitive with whom they have contracted the sacred
engagement of " bread and salt." * Amongst the
Bedouin Arabs, as is well known, a guest once received
in the tent becomes " one of the family," and the duty
of protecting him is sacred. All members of the tribe
are also tacitly pledged for the security of his life and
property. It is considered discourteous, if not an
insult, to ride up to the front of a man's tent with-
out stopping and eating his bread.^ Amongst the
tribes of the Nedjed it is customary to pour a cup of

1 Fcathcrman, cp. cit. iii. 269. ^ W. Ellis, Tcttr in Hcnvaiiy 357.

3 Fcathcrman, op. cit. iii. 115. ** Id. v. 475. * Id. v. 371.

melted butter on the head of the guest who partakes
of the hospitality of the tent.*

Limbus who wish to form an alliance of " brother-
hood " exchange ceremonially their scarves and some
money, and smear each other's foreheads with rice paste.*
The Kumis, when making a contract, kill a goat, and
smear the head and feet of the parties with its blood.'
The Tindeko (" blood brotherhood ") is very conmion
on the Upper Congo. The blood of the two parties is
mingled and put on a leaf, which is then divided and
eaten by the pair. " It is a form of cementing friend-
ship and a guarantee of good faith, which is respected
by the most unscrupulous ; and it possesses a religious
significance.*' * In the Kayan ceremony a drop of
blood from each party is mixed with tobacco and
smoked in a cigarette.* Amongst the Ardras drinking
together forms a bond of friendship.* In Madagascar
" brotherhood " is produced by the two parties drink-
ing each other's blood, in which a piece of ginger is
dipped. They then each drink a mixture from the
same bowl, praying that it may turn into poison for
him who fails to keep the oath.^ The most indissoluble
tie of friendship that can exist between one Dyak and
another is called sobat^ or the tie of " brotherhood." A
vein is opened in the arm of each of the parties, and
the blood is dropped into two cups. The two then
exchange cups and drink each other's blood. Next,
another cup, containing a mixture of the blood of both,
is emptied in divided parts by each.^

The practice of exchanging names in order to seal
friendship is universal throughout Polynesia and

' Featherman, op, cit, v. 372. ^ H. H. Risley, The Tribes and Castes of Bengal^ i. IviiL

• Lewin, op, cit, 228. ** Journ. Antkrop, Inst, xxiv. 292.

* Id, xxiii. 166. • R. F. Burton, Mission to DoAomev, 245.
' D'Urvillc, op, cit, i. 81. • Featherman, op, cit, ii. 264.

TIES OF FRIENDSHIP

Melanesia.^ The Australian natives form permanent
ties of friendship and " brotherhood " by exchanging
names.^ For mutual protection and as a token of
friendship the Vanikoros of the La Perouse Islands
form ties of " brotherhood " with one another, and even
with strangers whose favour they wish to secure. " To
effect this the parties mutually exchange names ; and
each one first striking his own breast and calling
himself by his friend's name, strikes next the breast
of his comrade and gives him his own name. In
confirmation of this indissoluble alliance, they mutually
offer presents to each other."' Amongst the Chippe-
ways, as with most North American Indians, the
smoking together of the calumet confirmed alliance
of friendship and treaties, and made the agreement
so sacred that its violation would have had fatal
consequences.* Amongst the Seminoles the drinking
together of their favourite beverage, " the black drink,"
was the regular method of forming a tie of friendship.^
Amongst the Dyoor mutual spitting is used as a
salutation, a token of goodwill, a pledge of attachment,
or oath of fidelity. It is the proper way to give
solemnity to a league of friendship.® The same
practice is used regularly by the Masai.^ Amongst
the Khamptis "exchange of clothes gives birth to
or is a sign of amity ; and by exchange of weapons
even the most deadly enemies become fast friends,
and if one falls in fight, it is the duty of the other to
avenge him." ^ The Kingsmill islanders rub noses and
exchange names as a mark of friendship.® The well-

^ PI088, Das Kind^ i. 161.
' Id, H. 95.

* Id, Hi. 172.

' Thomson^ op, eit, 165, 166.

• Wilkes, op, cit, iv. 51.

^ Featherman, op, cit. ii. 139.
^ Id, iii. 246.

^ Schweiafurth, 0^. cit, i. 205.
* Rowney, op. cit, 162.

known taio system, in Tahiti, for instance^ is a good
example of this. When yoyagers arrlveJy tfaey were
expected each to choose a taio ; one exchanged names
with him, and thus the two became protector and
prot^e, with ^^ all things in comuKMi.'* ^ In die
Marquesas friends are tabu? The same prindfdes
underlie the giving and recaving of presents ; this
is in essence an exchange of one*s self. In Buru the
interchange of gifts is a r^ular method of making
friendship,' as indeed it has been and still is all over the
world, since Achilles and Diomed exchanged ^ gold for
bronze." In Central Celebes the same bond of friend-
ship is used.^ In New Guinea the exchange of presents
and of names with visitors makes the latter sacred and
secure from harm.* TTie Dusuns of North Borneo
exchange weapons to become sworn friends.* In Pata-
gonia there is an elaborate etiquette amongst chiefs;
one may not enter the toldo of another until presents
have been exchanged.^ A Timorese woman bestows
the highest mark of attachment upon her lover, when she
gives him the flower garland which adorns her ludr, or
the scarf pin from her bosom. A superior who wishes
to show goodwiU to a subordinate, presents him with a
portion of the betel he has chewed, which the inferior
then chews. Young girls send a dose of chewed betel
wrapped in a banana leaf to the young men to whom
they are favourably disposed, and receive a »milar gift
in exchange.® Friendship is made between villages in
Leti, Moa, and Lakor by eating flesh and drinking
blood together.* The following case resumes many

^ Melville, Omcc^ 154 j Dtrnlk, sf. c:c. L 52-.

* Melville, Tit IkLtrfaauL, 155. ^ RietieL. 9p. cit. 19.

** Bijdr^at est dt ImdUcit TAil-L^atd-tm yjktnkatuic xtm yaatTMjKi Indicj xxxv.
5. I. "9. * Gill. -./. cit. 235. •* F. Hxttvxu SjrtJk Bcmeo^ 196.

^ Mosten, cf, c:t, 184. * Fcathennaru jc. .:.-. ii. 4«m. * RiedeU eft, cit. 396.

details, and is among many which prove the present
explanation. In Timor-laut friendship is ceremonially
sealed thus : the parties ofFer each other a present,
and then take the ravnoru kida oath ; a mixture of
water, palm wine, and sea-water is prepared, in which a
stone or a tooth is placed ; the chief washes the hands
of the two parties, and pricks a hand of each, letting
the blood drop into the mixture. A prayer is offered
to Dudilaa^ as witness, that the one who breaks the oath
may pass away like water, become weak like one who
has drunk too much palm wine, or sink into the sea
like a stone. The two then drink of the liquor, and
the stone or the tooth is split in two to be kept by the
parties as a testimony. Similar covenants between
whole villages are sealed by eating together the flesh of
a slave.^

In the next place, it is a common method of settling
disputes, and of making peace, and in these cases we
see clearly the fear of danger which underlies and in-
duces the practice, as we have seen manslayers inoculate
their dead foe with themselves, or themselves with the
dead foe, to secure immunity from his friends or from
his ghost. A case may be prefixed, which sums up
much of the primitive conception. In Buru when a
man has been detected in adultery, he has to pay a fine
of a pig, with which a feast is prepared for the relatives
of both parties. The guilty persons, however, before
this can be partaken of, must " drink the oath." So in
the same island the manslayer has to pay compensation,
something for the head, something for the body, arms,
legs, and so on, and also one or more pigs to make a
family feast. At the feast he sits apart with a relative
of the dead man, before a wooden bowl, in which are

^ Riedel, op, at, 284.

2+6

two plates of food. While eating, the pair exchange
plates, and so the wrong is atoned for and peace is made.'
Amongst the Barea, when " blood vengeance " is satisfied,
there results (we may well suppose on the same prin-
ciples) "a sort of relationship" between the murderer
and the family of the murdered man.^ The Arab
manslayer kills a camel before the tent of his adversary
(the avenger of blood), and the blood is supposed to
wipe away that of the person slain (the original idea
being that the camel is a gift and a substitute for
the murderer's life) ; the flesh of the camel is im-
mediately eaten by the friends of the parties." In
Amboina peace is made between villages by a feast.*
In Buru, once more, when a family quarrel concerning
a divorce has taken place, the ill-feeling is ended by
a family feast. Before setting to, the father of the
divorced woman puts on the shoulders of her late hus-
band some clothes belonging to his (the father's) estab-
lishment ; the husband simultaneously puts on the
father a cloth which he has himself brought. Then
the father and the husband exchange plates of food.
"All this marks reconciliation, and will prevent any
further quarrel." ^ Amongst the Tagalogs of the
Philippines peace or an alliance of friendship was made
by mingling blood and wine, and then drinking the
mixture.'^ The Wakamba make peace by slaying an
animal and eating its flesh together.' Oaths in the
Watubella Islands are taken to terminate quarrels, or to
make friendship. The " oath " is drunk. Peace is
made after war by eating food mingled with the blood
of the parties.^ The people of Luang-Sermata make

' Riedcl, c^ ri(. iS.
* Riedel, cf. ch, ;i.

' Krapfptf. ftf. 313.

■' Fadicrman, cf. cii. v. J74.
" Featheioiui, ^. lit. ii. 47J.

" Riidtl, ^. cii. 19$, I

peace by drinking together.* In the Babar Islands the
blood of the two parties is mingled with liquor and
drunk, both when peace is made between two villages
and when two persons form a league of friendship, and
also when a man and wife are divorced.^ In the islands
Leti, Moa, and Lakor, when a man has cursed another,
the injury is put away by the two eating together at a
feast made for the purpose.® Amongst the Kyans, if
two enemies meet in a house, they will refuse to recog-
nise each other, and a reconciliation can only take place
after a fowl has been killed and a part of the blood has
been sprinkled over them.* In forming alliances and
making peace amongst the Battas the heart of a slain
animal is divided into as many pieces as there are
persons present, and eaten by all.*^ In New Caledonia,
when two enemies become reconciled, they mutually
cut each other's beard as a pledge that the hatred which
they entertained for each other is extinct. The same
ceremony is observed when two friends meet after a
long absence.® The Nootka Indians ratified treaties
by smoking the calumet. Safe conduct was guaranteed
to ambassadors who carried the pipe of peace.^ At
peacemaking in Wetar the parties exchange presents
and eat together. When a bond is made between two
individuals or villages, the parties drink each other's
blood as a mark of union. The members of such
villages may not after this ceremony intermarry.® To
make a bond of mutual assistance the Timor-laut
natives kill a slave, and the two parties eat his flesh.®
At making peace the Kei islanders ceremonially sever a
kalapa leaf in two, and each party takes home half.^^

^ Ricdcl, op. est, 324. 2 jj 242. 3 ij^ 27^,

* Fcatherman, op, cit, ii. 281. * Id, ii. 333. ^ Id, ii. 85.

' Id, iii. 351. ' Ricdcl, op, cit, 446, 447. ® Id, 279. ^® Id. 234.

In Leti, Moa, and Lakor, at the making of peace, a stick
is broken in two, and each party keeps a piece. In the
ceremonial words uttered on the occasion, this phrase
is used, ^^oiu- women shall be sisters and our men
brothers." Quarrels between individuals are settled by
mutual kisses, and drinking together.^ In the last few
cases we have the "split token," the kalduke. The
Ceramese habitually make alliance of friendship by
exchanging presents, especially of food. Moreover,
quarrels between two villages are settled, and peace
made after war, in the following way. Gifts are ex-
changed, and a feast made in one village, to which
members of the other are invited. The chiefs of both
parties drop some of their own blood into a dish of
food, in which swords and other weapons are dipped.
This food they now alternately eat. (Here by the
way is clearly seen the meaning of the primitive oath.)
Then the other village celebrates a feast identical in
details with the former, and thus the bond is sealed.
Many villages have been through the ceremony. The
ceremony is called pela^ and "those who have taken
part therein may not intermarry, but must help each
other in war." A similar process is gone through by
parties who are going "head-hunting" together.^

Another form of the relation of ngia ngiampe is the
fairly frequent practice of lending or exchanging wives.
A wife, in early thought, is a part of the man. Some-
times it is a case of hospitality, but always it is a very
sacred act, and produces the religious results of this
relation, as is shown by the Australian taboo between
those who have exchanged their partners.^ Hospitality,
of course, is identical with ngiampe relations generally.
I shall discuss the practice later, and there point out

1 Ricdcl, op. cit. 389. « Id. iz8, 129. ^ Eyre, op. cit. {{, 33^.

XI WIVES EXCHANGED— GUILDS 249

one particular reason for it. Timorese who have made
a pact of friendship in the usual way of ngiampCy may
lend each other their wives.^ In theory, of course, the
lending will in its turn continue the ngiampe relation
already begun, as it does in Australia. The Eskimo
frequently offer their wives to strangers, and the women
are not loath to perform this act of hospitality.^ The
Yumas, by way of hospitality, lent their wives to their
guests.* A case which shows the principle of the
custom is the following : in New South Wales when
two tribesmen had quarrelled and wished to be re-
conciled, one would send his wife to the other, and
a temporary exchange of partners was made.* The
Northern Indians sometimes exchanged wives for a
night. It was esteemed as one of the strongest ties of
friendship. If either man died, the other was bound to
support his children, a rule which was never broken.*

Very commonly this bond results when persons pass
through the same ordeal or ceremony together. Thus
amongst the Basutos the boys who have been " initiated *'
together, as also the girls, form a guild of friends.®
Amongst Congo tribes the boys who are "initiated"
together, practically form a " society " ; " through after
life there exists a bond of union between individuals
who have been members of this strange fraternity."^
The same thing is found in the case of Australian
boys "initiated" together.* There, also, they are
generally made " members of the totem," a sort of
" mystical body," which is itself in effect a con-
tinuous ngiampe relation. There is also a similar bond

^ Riedel, in Deutuhe Geograpkische Blatter^ x. 230.

^ Fcatherman, op. cit. iii. 405. ^ Id, Hi. 189.

* Cameron, in Joum. Anthrop, Inst. xiv. 353. ' Hcamc, op, cit, 129.

« Zcitichriji fir Etkndogie for 1874, 37. ' Joum, Antkrop, List, xxiv, 289.

^ Fison and Howitt, op, cit. 198.

between the operators and the boys they have operated
upon.^

The chief result of the mutual act is the duty of
mutual respect and mutual assistance. The primitive
form of this twofold duty is a taboo against physical
personal contact, combined' with an obligation, for
instance, to assist in war. In many cases, of courc
circumstances render the assistance one-sided, becoming
for instance, protection. Amongst the TacuUis or
Carrier Indians, the cabin of the chief is a place of
refuge, where the homicide is secure. He is also con-
sidered as being under the protection of the chief if he
wears any article of his dress.* Amongst the Kabyles
there is a universal institution called anayuy a kind of
freemasonry, with all the inviolability of the protecting
guardianship which it guarantees. It is a bond of union
which makes all Kabyles brothers, and when once in
possession of the well-known token or pledge of security
the stranger or fugitive may travel anywhere, and the
passport will be recognised. A violation of the anaM
would be regarded as a grievous insult, and give rise to
an inveterate feud. The respect and consideration to
which the anaya is entitled depend in a great measurt
on the reputation and character of the patron who
confers the privilege. The anaya of a celebrated man-
hout is most extensive in its practical bearing and m(.
certain in its conciliatory effects.^ " Zaid- 1 KK *!
fuses to slay the thief who has surrentit;.? ""i ^\ \
from his father's milk-bowl the night beCT'^^ Tk

portion of food belonging to the protector

A caseis

protection is produced by eating "even th '

ector/' J,

1 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 248 ; Eyre, cp, dr. ii. ^^
Inst. XX. 84, 85. ^ Weatherman, cl ^^^ ' Journ. Antkf

3 Uv. 306. * Robertson Smith^''* ''^' 3^'*

given by Burckhardt of an Arab proving that he had
eaten of the same date with a member of the tribe.^ A
natural concomitant to the sacred duty of hospitality
amongst the Bedouins is the no less important relation
which exists between the protector and the protected
{dakheil and dakhat)^ which involves mutual obliga-
tion religiously observed, and good faith fully guarded
against all violations and shortcomings. To reproach a
man with having broken his dakheil is to touch him on
the most tender point of honour, for it constitutes the
grossest insult in the social ethics of Arab manners.
Various acts are employed to confer dakheil. Amongst
the Shamars, if a man can seize a thread or string, one
end of which is held by his enemy, he immediately
becomes his dakheil. He acquires the privilege of
dakheil if he only touches the covering of the tent, or
even if he can hit it by throwing a weapon at it ; and
this right of claiming protection has been carried so far
that by spitting upon a man one becomes his dakheil.
Amongst the Arabs of Sinai, the dakheil is only con-
sidered efFective if the fugitive has contrived to eat or
sleep in the tent. If two enemies unexpectedly meet,
and the salam passes between them, this is regarded as
a signal of truce, and they will refrain from every
hostile act, although the salutation may have been
exchanged by mistake.^ Another custom which exists
among some Arabs, in particular the tribes of the
Nedjed, is that of guardian, wasy. This institution,
which makes a Bedouin who accepts the responsibility
the special friend and protector of the family of an
Arab even after the death of the latter, is principally
designed for the security of minor children, women,
and old men. The obligation of wasy and the claim of

^ Burckhardt, op, ciu i86, 187. ' Featherman, op, cie. v. 372.

following examples. The object of making men who
are to go on an expedition drink each other's blood is
said by the Central Australians to be the prevention of
treachery.^ In New South Wales when two tribesmen
had quarrelled and wished to be reconciled, they made a
temporary exchange of wives.^ In Africa, when a wife is
unfaithful, her husband will die if he eat food she has
salted.® On the Loango coast bridegroom and bride
are required to make a full confession of their sins
at the marriage ceremony ; should either fail to do so,
or should keep anything back, they will fall ill when
eating together as man and wife.* In Victoria friends
exchange hair as a mark of affection. It is very un-
lucky to lose this ; should one do so, he asks the other
to cancel the exchange by returning his hair. If this
were not done, the loser might die. So strong is this
belief that persons in such circumstances have been
known to fall into bad health, and sometimes actually
die.* In the Moluccas a man going to war is at
pains to make up any quarrel he may have, for fear
the ill- wishes of his adversary may injure him in battle.
Should a man have had an affaire^ and have given up
the woman, he goes to ask her forgiveness before
setting out, and offers a present. If she will not be
conciliated, he does not go on the expedition, for fear
of the results.^ Lovers in the Aru Islands give each
other gifts. Hair, however, is not exchanged, for fear
that in case of a quarrel the one may make the other
ill by burning it.^ When a lover is jilted in the Babar
Islands, he will avenge this by hiding a piece of the girl's
hair, or betel that she has used, in a tree. When she

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. '^ Joum. Anthrop. Inst. xiv. 353.

•* Macdonald, y^/Vtf«tf, i. 173. * "QMiizn, Loango KuitCyX. 172.

^ Dawson, op. cit. 55.

* Riedel, De s/uii-m kroaharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, 387. ' Id. 262.

the protected are generally mutual, and descend by
hereditary succession. Almost every Arab is a pro-
tector, and is in turn the protected. The means of
effecting this is by the present of a camel. ^

Further, it is clear that while it is this obligation
of mutual assistance which is the object of forming this
relation, yet the taboo against physical contact is an
essential concomitant, which helps us to see the origin
of the whole method. The reason for the resulting
taboo is that A and B are become identical by trans-
mission of personality, and therefore A avoids all
physical contact with B, because it is through physical
contact ultimately that all personal injury is effected,
and by such contact he might injure himself in B ; B
on his side has the same feeling. The idea is well
brought out in a Maori belief; if another person ate
a man's food, he was regarded as "having eaten the
man," and the insult was gross.^- And so A avoids all
physical contact with B, primarily for fear of injuring
himself; he will not eat with B, lest he eat himself,
nor touch B lest he injure himself by the harm inherent
in contact. The feeling is deepened by the fact that it
is mutual, and therefore each fears injuring the other,
as well as himself, by physical contact. The breaking
of the taboo of personal isolation has thus produced
a fresh taboo of even greater force, yet still because
egoism is its chief factor ; in the original taboo
one feared lest one should be injured by the con-
tact of others, in this one fears lest one injure one's
own self as well. The kalduke is identical with the
ngadhungi.

That this is the origin of the taboo and also of the
binding force of the ngiampe relation is shown by the

^ Featherman, op, cit, v. 373. ^ joum. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 107.

following examples. The object of making men who
are to go on an expedition drink each other's blood is
said by the Central Australians to be the prevention of
treachery.^ In New South Wales when two tribesmen
had quarrelled and wished to be reconciled, they made a
temporary exchange of wives.^ In Africa, when a wife is
unfaithful, her husband will die if he eat food she has
salted.® On the Loango coast bridegroom and bride
are required to make a full confession of their sins
at the marriage ceremony ; should either fail to do so,
or should keep anything back, they will fall ill when
eating together as man and wife.* In Victoria friends
exchange hair as a mark of affection. It is very un-
lucky to lose this ; should one do so, he asks the other
to cancel the exchange by returning his hair. If this
were not done, the loser might die. So strong is this
belief that persons in such circumstances have been
known to fall into bad health, and sometimes actually
die.* In the Moluccas a man going to war is at
pains to make up any quarrel he may have, for fear
the ill- wishes of his adversary may injure him in battle.
Should a man have had an affaire^ and have given up
the woman, he goes to ask her forgiveness before
setting out, and offers a present. If she will not be
conciliated, he does not go on the expedition, for fear
of the results.® Lovers in the Aru Islands give each
other gifts. Hair, however, is not exchanged, for fear
that in case of a quarrel the one may make the other
ill by burning it.^ When a lover is jilted in the Babar
Islands, he will avenge this by hiding a piece of the girl's
hair, or betel that she has used, in a tree. When she

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. ^ Jotm, Antkrop, Iniu xiv. 353.

^ Macdonald, yl/^/Vontf, i. 173. ** Bastian, I.otf»r^o Auvi/r, i. 172.

^ Dawson, op. cit. 55.
^ Riedel, De ilu'tk'cn kroesharige rassen tuuchen Selebei en Papua^ 387. ^ Id, 262.

becomes a wife and mother, her children will then die.^
In Brandenburg it is believed that lovers and married
people who eat from one plate or drink from the same
glass will come to dislike each other.* A similar fear
was seen in the illustrations of the primitive oath.

Some typical instances of this resulting taboo are
these. Between husbands who have lent each other
their wives there is, in Australia, a taboo of a very
stringent character, and in other parts of the world a
duty enjoining the protection of the children of the
lender after his death.* Amongst the Dieri boys may
not speak to those who have operated upon them at
" initiation " until a present has been given.* At the
"initiation" ceremony of the Central Australians a taboo
is set between the man who performs the operation and
the boy who undergoes it. This is removed by the
boy making him an offering of food. The final
" initiation " ceremonies are ended by each initiate
bringing an offering of food to his abmoara man who
decorated him, and with whom there is up to now a
taboo. It is called man's meat. At this ceremony
also the old men are sprinkled with blood from the
young men, sometimes into their mouths ; the idea
being to strengthen the older men at the expense of
the younger. The removal of the taboo is thus :
" the man receiving food sat down, and the young man
brought it and put it before him. The old man took
it up and held it, and then put it to the young man's
mouth. Thus the ban of silence was removed."
Previously the ban of approach may be removed by
the abmoara rubbing him with red ochre.^ Amongst

^ Riedel, Di slmk-en kroesAarige rassen tuischen SeUbes en Papua ^ 358.

* Reinsberg Diiringsfeld, op. cit, 81. * Eyre, op, cit. ii. 338, 339.

* Howitt, in Joum, Anthrop. Init, xx. 84, 85.

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 248, 381, 382, 383, 386.

the natives of the Murray River, those who have
officiated at the initiation ceremony never afterwards
mention the names of the boys, nor do the latter men-
tion the names of those who have operated upon them.
Also, if one gives food or anything else to another, it is
either laid on the ground for him to take, or is given
through a third person " in the gentlest and mildest
manner possible, whereas to another native it would be
jerked." ^ In serious cases of illness amongst the Central
Australians, a woman's blood is given to a male patient
and a man's to a woman. When the patient recovers,
he or she may not speak to the person whose blood was
given, nor may the latter speak to the convalescent,
until a gift of food has been presented. Again, a
woman " sings " a mixture of fat and red ochre,
which she then rubs on the body of a sick man. On
recovery he may not speak to her until he has " given
her food." 2 Amongst the Munda Kols there is a
relation of dutifulness between the child and the
person who gives it its name.* Blood is regularly
given by men of the Central Australian tribes to each
other in order to produce strength ; the man whose
blood has been taken " becomes tabu to him until
he releases him from the ban of silence by * singing '
over his mouth." Blood is drunk at meetings of
reconciliation ; and in connection with the giving of
blood to a man to strengthen him, e.g. when he is
going on an avenging expedition, thei*e is the belief
that " this partaking together of blood prevents the
possibility of treachery." * Here we come back to the
duty implied by the process, and the sanction which
supports it ; it is clearly seen also in the pela ceremony

^ Eyre, Lc ' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit, 464.

' Plots, Dot Kind, i. 163. ^ Spencer and Gillen, /.r.

of the Ceramese, which produces the obligation of mutual
assistance in war. The preparation of a young man
for marriage in New Britain is identical with a sort
of " initiation." He has to hide in the forest from all
his female relatives for three, sometimes six, months.
Should he happen to meet a female relative, ** he does
not run away from her, but keeps on his way until
they meet, when he will step aside from the road, and
hold out to her anything he may have in his possession.
She takes it without a word, and they part. It now
becomes the duty of the young man's friends to
redeem for him that which he may have given to her."
Until this pledge is redeemed, he is considered to be in
disgrace and is much ashamed.^ Chiefs in Patagonia
will not enter each other's tents till presents have been
exchanged.^ For touching the head of a Maori chief
whom he was treating for illness, Mr. Yate was asked
to make a payment. He never administered a dose of
medicine to a Maori without such a demand from the
patient.^ These are cases of the taboo of personal
isolation which is implicit in all human relations. In
the following case it is seen as self-respect, which is
injured through the breaking of the taboo by an insult.
Amongst the Zulus the term unesisila (" you have
dirt ") implies that you have done or said something,
or some one has done or said something to you, which
has " bespattered you with metaphorical dirt, in Scrip-
tural phrase, 'has defiled you.' " The writer compares
the expression, "his hands are not clean." To use
this term to another is a gross insult. If a woman has
received the worst possible insult a woman can, omka
ninazala^ which means " you will bear children to your

^ Journ. Anthrop, Init. xviii, 287. - Musters, op. cit. 184.

^ Yate, op, cie. 104, 105.

father-in-law," she makes a great to-do, and goes to
the kraal of the offending person, and kills an animal
belonging to him. This is eaten by old women or little
children, but not by any one of marriageable age. '* The
beast has received into its substance the insila which
has now left the woman who received the insult." ^

The balance is set right by reparation, the receipt of
a present being identical in principle with the taking
of something from the other party. The various
methods of breaking the taboo of personal isolation
reproduce the state of taboo once more. The taboo
is broken, and the breaking produces another taboo,
which in its turn may be broken. This is inevitable
from the principles which underlie the practice, and the
fact also proves those principles. These cases naturally
lead up to what may be called continuous ngiampe. A
principle of contact is, once in contact always in contact ;
and this is actualised in permanent relations, ngiampe
in theory, such as between friends and lovers, between
husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister.

When we remember the pregnant meaning which
personal contact has in all its forms amongst primitive
men, it becomes less difficult to realise the superlative
importance of such a relation as this. It is, without
doubt, in primitive thought, a bond of such transcen-
dent strength and inviolability, owing to the sensitive
individualism of early man, who practically regards
every part of himself as sacred, that we may look in
vain through history for a tie of equal power. Cer-
tainly no ordinary ancient or modern conception of
the duties of kinship has such force, nor even modern
principles of honour and similar moral ties ; the
primitive bond is the most binding Categorical Impcra-

^ Leslie, op. cie, 169, 174, 175.
S

tive invented by man, and in its origin and results
alike, seems on a par with laws of nature ; it is a kind
of physical " identity in difference." The theory of
Maine, that status precedes contract, and that contract
is unknown in primitive culture, needs reviaon. His
evidence applies to barbarism, not to savagery.

Further, the same idea, though not developed to its
logical conclusion, though this is always ready to
become actual instead of potential, runs through all
ideas of contact, especially when consciously mutual.
In eating together, the kalduke is the food ; in sexual
intercourse there is a similar conception. Sometimes
the kalduke is split in two — and here we have the world-
wide practice of dividing a " token " — of which each of
the two parties keeps a piece. All who have anything
in common, even a common aim or sympathy, are
potentially in this relation, and the idea of ngia ngiampc
is inherent in their reciprocal attitude. The thief and
his partner, the confessor and his penitent, those who
share the same dwelling, the same trade, those who arc
of the same sex or the same age, those who have the
same totem, the same kindred, the same god^ — all
these are potentially bound by the same principle.
The idea goes all round the circle of human relations,
and is potentially existent wherever there is mutual
connection. The more subtle sort is found where con-
tact is continuous. To husband and wife, the kalduke
is the marriage-bed, the living together, the child, born
or unborn ; this is illustrated by the phrase, common to
many languages, which describes the child as a " pledge."
True, it is often as a pledge of wifely chastity, but
this is not merely an extension, but is the same idea

* In Fijif when distant towns have the same gods, the inhabitants have the
privilege of doing as they please in each others' town (Pritchard, op. cit. 364).

only half expressed. The fidelity of the wife is the
chief attitude required of her by the ngia ngiampe
relation. Between lovers, besides love-tokens, lovers*
knots, and so-called charms and the like, the relation
of ngia ngiampe underlies the kiss, the embrace, and
any contact. Between friends also, the clasp of hands,
the embrace, the savage rubbing of noses, show the
principle. " Freemasonry '* is an interesting case of an
institution based on this.

These psycho - physical ideas continue into the
psychical phenomena of emotion and cognition ; they
are here more subtle, but no less enduring, whatever
the refinement of culture may be. In connection with
the phenomena of ideation, we spoke of the memory-
image of a man's foe impressed upon his brain ;
another instance would be the memory-image of a
loved person. In both, and any similar cases, the
memory-image is identical in kind, though necessarily
less material in degree, with the kalduke of the
Australian black-fellow. The image is the man's
self in the keeping of another ; in the one case it
is an Erinys, the spiritual image of one who is hated
and feared, in the other that of one who loves. In
both cases it is a man's self transferred to another,
and bringing with it all the ideas of hostage and
pledge ; and when the matter is reciprocal, there is
the complex reciprocity which is seen in all mutual
contact and personal relation. Again, the same
applies, though necessarily the occurrence is sporadic,
to the reflection of a person's image which he himself
can see in the retina of the other. In the connection
of love, this is a favourite commonplace of poetical
and popular thought. " And she said : * See, thy
image is reflected a thousand times in these gems that

reflect thee ; yet look in my eyes, and thou shak see
thyself through their reflection in my heart.* Then
the king looked into her eyes, and saw himself leflected
in them like the sun in a deep lake. And he whispatd
in the shell of her ear : ^ Thou hast robbed me t^ mr-
self, give me back myself in thy form.* ** * Again, in
connection with the idea we saw reason to attribute to
primidve man, namely, that all apparendy abnormsl
or unusual states of emodon, such as sudden anger or
ecstasy, or the surging of love, when close contact with
another attends these states, as, for instance, in the case of
love, both in popular language and in psychology there
is recognised the idea that, if the emotional state is
" transmitted," if, as we say, A is " infected ** with B'$
enthusiasm or love, A is ^* inspired " with B, then B b
transferred to him, and so we come to the kalduke again.
Lasdy, the whole set of ideas is of course the
psychological basis of union, physical and spiritual,
and well shows the materialistic workings of the human
brain. Mutual inoculation, ngia ngiampe^ is union
looked at from within. It should be noted also that
the next category to that of union is identity, and
it is interesting to trace in the thought and practice
of mankind, as we may in these phenomena, both
the recognition of this metaphysical truth and the
attempt to realise it in human intercourse. As
Aristophanes puts it of lovers in the Symposium:
*' Suppose Hephaestus with his instruments to come
to the pair who are lying side by side, and say to
them, * What do you people want of one another ? *
they would be unable to explain. And suppose,
further, that when he saw their perplexity, he said,
* Do you desire to be wholly one, always day and

* A Di^it oj tke Aft#<r, 117.

night to be in one another's company ? for if
this is what you desire, I am ready to melt you into
one,' they would confess that this becoming one instead
of two was their exact desire." And he visualises
the whole psychology of love-practices and marri^e-
ceremonial in the mythos, worthy of the poet of the
Clouds, in which the earliest man was a bisexual
hermaphrodite being, " having a name corresponding
to this double nature, which had once a real existence,
but is now lost, and the name is only preserved as
a term of reproach." ..." The primeval man
was round, his back and sides forming a circle ; and
he had four hands and four feet, one head with two
faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck, and
precisely alike. He could walk backwards or for-
wards, and could also roll over at a great rate, turning
on his four hands and four feet like tumblers going
over and over with their legs in the air ; this was
when he wanted to run fast." Primeval man became
proud, and would have laid hands on the gods, and
Aristophanes now gives his version of the Fall : " and
Zeus said, ' Methinks I have a plan which will humble
their pride and mend their manners ; they shall con-
tinue to exist, but I will cut them in two, and then
they will be diminished in strength and increased in
numbers ; this will have the advantage of making them
more profitable to us. They shall walk upright on
two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be
quiet, I win split them again, and they shall hop about
on a single leg.' He spoke, and cut men in two, like a
sorb-apple which Is halved for pickling, or as you might
divide an egg with a hair. After the division, the two
parts of man, each desiring his other half, came tf^ether,
and throwing their arms about one another, clung, and

in their eagerness to grow into one were perishing from
hunger without ever making an effort, because they did
not like to do anything apart." " Human nature was
originally one, and we were a whole, and the desire and
pursuit of the whole is called Love." ^

This reintroduction of a state of taboo, connoting
mutual caution, respect and religious responsibility,
has had a profound influence on the development of
morality. In it we can see the religious nature of
human relations, and the connection between morality
and religion, in any sense of the latter term. It illus-
trates clearly the growth of the conception of responsi-
bility to others, and marks the psychological process
whereby altruism emerges from egoism, the two im-
pulses being indeed but two sides of one idea, for man
is both an individual and a social creature. As to the
new taboo, the primitive form of the idea ot mutual
responsibility, the characteristics of the state are of
course somewhat different from the original taboo of
isolation ; the dangers there were those arising from
ignorance ; these, now the original taboo has been
removed by breaking it, a removal which forms union,
a completion as it were of some magnetic circuit, or a
double inoculation, these are the dangers which will
result from breaking a bond which is as strong as death,
for it is a bond made by giving one's own life in pawn,
and thus they are the basis of duty.

When the mind has completed its inference of a
superior power, this power is set up as the judge and
upholder of such relations, and a friend may say to his
friend or lover, as the token is exchanged, " Mizpah.
The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are
absent one from another." Taking another feature,

^ Plato, Symposium, 190, 192 (Jowett's translation).

the primitive " oath " is first, the man's self, then his
** substitute " or " pledge " in the " thing " administered,
and later, the god who exacts vengeance on the perjured.
To return, — the brief statement that in the Mar-
quesas " friends are tabu " gives the whole case in a
nutshell. They are taboo to each other as the result
of their intercourse, their contact, in fine, the kalduke.
We can see the idea of the original taboo combined
with the later one of mutual duty, in the taboo result-
ing in Australia between the men who perform the
operation at puberty and the boys who undergo it.
They have been in a peculiarly intimate relation, body
and soul as it were have been exposed and made naked
to each other's eyes, a dangerous service has been per-
formed, and its results may be dire. Therefore, they
may not speak to each other. The ban is removed
by a present of food.^ This act of union removes the
original dangers but introduces a relation of sympathy
and duty. We also saw that the ngia ngiampe of the
Narrinyeri are taboo in that they may not speak, but
their mutual responsibility is such that they are ex-
pressly made in order to conduct barter, their fairness
has been, that is, rendered above suspicion. Exactly
the same relation is induced between godparents
and the like, and their proteges^ as between the black-
fellow and boy. The sponsors or " bridesmen " of a
Beni-Amer bride have a peculiar relation with her.
They may not speak to her for the rest of her life, but
they are sworn to defend her and protect her, and
actually do so when her husband's conduct requires it.^
We observed above that the forming of alliances by
eating together prevented the possibility of treachery
on the part of either concerned. The ceremony is

' Spencer and Gillen, op, eit, 248. ^ Munzinger, op, cit, 325.

often performed for this purpose only, just as b angle
inoculation. For a man will not betray his own Bcsh ;
just as duty is shown by not eating one*s own totem or
even looking at it.

These cases lead up to two results, most important
for our present purpose. In the first place, I put it
that, taking into account all the evidence, psychological
and ethnological, concermng human relations, we have
here the most important primitive conception of re-
lationship. The biological tie is not so obvious as are
those of physical contact, nor is the idea of ^^ blood-
kinship '* at all an early conception. Those who hold
that the " blood-covenant " is the original of which all
these other cases are "deteriorations,** are obliged to
use the most forced analogies, and I do not think it
necessary to point these out, for they are quite obvious.
Nor is there, in any example quoted, any primary idea
of making a man of the same kin ; the idea is to
identify two individuals, qud individuals. Again, close
daily contact is for the savage a more important tie
than that of kinship, except in the case of parent,
especially mother and child ; blood-kinship is only one
form of human relations, and that not the most patent.
The tie or kalduke of having the same mother is the
basis of the " maternal system,** the tie or kalduke of
physical close contact is the basis of all primitive kin-
ship ; as opposed to later ideas of " blood ** the basis is
this daily contact, which is a continuous ngiampe rela-
tion. To the savage mind blood is only one variety of
human substance, though an important one. Enquirers
often, it is to be noted, confuse the care taken of blood
as being a part of an individual with the later idea of
" blood '* as a term for kinship. Lastly, all these cases
of ngiampe may be in theory, as in practice they are.

XI RELATIONSHIP ^ 265

taken under the category of friendship, and friendship
is a far stronger psychological tie than kinship of blood.
I shall return to this conception of relationship later,
and also to the next result. This is that very interest-
ing detail in the Narrinyeri, Wetarese, and Ceramese
customs. In the first of these persons are sometimes
placed in the ngia ngiampe relation for the express
purpose of preventing them from marrying. In the
two latter cases, all who have been through the pela
ceremony of eating together, such as accomplices in
head-hunting, and members of two villages who have
thus made peace, are bound to help each other in war,
but may not intermarry. To these may be added the
fact that " sponsorship " and " gossipry " in European
custom are bars to marriage, both between the sponsors
themselves and between them and the family, for a
member of which they have been acting.

These facts supply the second part of the reason
why brothers and sisters and those who live together
may not marry. Before the sexual taboo is removed,
that taboo prevents intercourse of all kinds, including
marriage, between such persons; when it has been
removed, either by a definite ceremony, as at " initia-
tion," or by a recognition of continuous ngia ngiampe
in living together, eating together, and the like, the
resulting principles of this new relation also prevent
intercourse, including marriage. The same fears which
led up to and which enforce ngia ngiampe, now, in the
form of duty, prevent what the original taboo pre-
vented ; and the prohibition, being sup>erimposed on a
continuous biological relation, becomes strengthened
when the latter is fully recognised. Put shortly, the
ngiampe relation prevents all physical contact, and
marriage is a permanent form of physical contact.

More as to this hereafter ; meanwhile I may note that
the Narrinyeri, Wetarese, and Ceramese customs have
not yet, so far as I am aware, been employed by the
supporters of the theory that prinutive kinship was
welded by a conception of the ** blood-tie,** which in
its legal pedantry is quite unprimitive. They would
doubtless expl^n the rules of the Narrinyeri, Wetarese,
and Ceramese as analogies from the ^^ blood-covenant,**
but if so, why should there be a taboo preventing the
two parties, when of the same sex, from speaking to
each other or having any physical contact ? Blood-
relations do not usually send each other to Coventry.
Why again should a " godfather ** and a " godmother "
not marry, though theoretically married ? It is more
scientific to argue for the development of the concep-
tion of blood - relationship and blood -covenant alike
from the elementary ideas of human relations. The
cause which prevents these people from marrying is
identical with that which prevents others in the like
relation both from betraying one another, and from
having any physical contact, the relation of marriage
being in primitive thought a dangerous one ; and
between those who are identified with each other by
exchange of personality, no reciprocal act which may
injure either through the other, and thus poison the
connection, may be performed.

Chapter XII

A DIGRESSION, in which another application of the
ideas of contact will be brought out, is necessary to
throw further light on some particular features of the
subject. The common practice of disguise is used to
avoid both real and imaginary danger. Thus the
New Caledonians, when about to murder a man, put
on grotesque masks so as not to be recognised/ just
as the highwayman of romance was wont to wear a
black mask. In war the Tongans change their war-
costume at every battle, by way of disguise.^ Dr.
Frazer has shown that mourning is disguise, being
generally the reverse of ordinary wear." Again, in
Zanzibar parents paint the faces of their children to
look like " little devils," so as to preserve them from
*'the evil eye."* For the same reason Persian parents
would paint their children's faces black, and German
parents put mud on their children's heads and dress
them in mean clothes.* In Egypt the children who
are most beloved are the worst clad. One may often
see a fine lady walking in a magnificent dress, and by
her side a boy or girl, her own child, its face smeared
with dirt, and wearing clothes which look as if they
had not been washed for months. The intention is to

^ Anderson, op. cit, 222. - Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 10.

* Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xv. 73, 98 fF. * Ploss, Dat Kind^ i. 134.

» Id. U

avoid "the evil eyc/*^ The Cluncse believe that
certain evil spirits attempt to ruin the health of
bright and promising children. To delude the spirit,
they shave the child's head, and call him "little
priest," treating him as a worthless child and of no
more consequence than a despised Buddhist priest
They also use derogatory epithets and names, so
as to make the evil spirits think that they care
little about the child. Sometimes they have it adopted
into another family, for the same reason.' A
Javanese woman in the seventh month of pr^-
nancy bathes and has cocoa-nut nulk poured over
her ; also she has to change her dress seven times
a day."

An interesting form of disguise, which is found in
early custom as well as in modern romance, is the
wearing of the dress of the other sex ; it is generally
the male sex who adopt this disguise, and no doubt in
many cases the same idea is present as that which leads
to the wearing of rags and dirty clothes ; evil influences
are more likely to pass over the sex which, from the
male point of view, is the less important. The ancient
Lycians were ordered by their law to wear women's
dress when they mourned a dead relative. Plutarch
explains it as " by way of showing that mourning is
effeminate, that it is womanly and weak to mourn.
For women are more prone to mourning than are
men, barbarians than Greeks, and inferior persons than
superior. Among barbarians again, it is not the most
manly races such as Kelts and Gauls, but Egyptians,
Syrians, and Lydians who indulge most in mourning.
The latter when mourning go into pits and will not

' Lane, op. cit. i. 60. ° Doolittle, op, cit. \\, 229.

^ Fcathcrman, op. cit. ii. 386.

look upon the sun." ^ When an Egyptian boy is cir-
cumcised, at the age of five or six, he parades the
streets, dressed as a girl in female clothes and orna-
ments, borrowed from some lady. In front of him
also a school friend walks, evidently taking his place as
a " proxy," for he wears round his neck the boy*s own
writing-tablet. A woman sprinkles salt behind the boy
to counteract " the evil eye " ; this is doubtless the
reason why he is dressed as a girl.^ Possibly the story
of Achilles in Scyros, living as a girl with the daughters
of King Lycomedes, is connected with some such idea.
Achilles also had his name changed, another method
of disguise ; Issa and Pyrrha being mentioned as the
name taken. Similarly, to conceal the infant Dionysus
from Hera, Zeus gave him to Hermes, who took him
to Ino and Athamas with orders to nurse him as a
girl.' In the Babar Islands a party of women bury
the placenta. If the child is a boy, they wear male
girdles, if a girl, female sarongs} Here the idea is
sympathy. When Zulus undertake the "black ox
sacrifice" which produces black rain, the chief men
put on the girdles of young girls.^ The same idea is
extended amongst the same people into a method of
keeping ofF sickness from the cattle by changing their
keepers, thus : when cattle disease is prevalent and
expected, it is kept off by the umkubdy the custom of
the girls herding the cattle for a day. All the girls
and unmarried women rise early, dress themselves
entirely in their brothers' clothes, and taking their
brothers' knobkerries and sticks, open the cattle-pen
and drive the cattle to pasture, returning at sunset.

^ Plutarch, Cmsolatio ad yipoi/onium^ ii ; Valerius Maximus, xii. 6. 13.
^ Lane, op. cit. i. 61, 62 $ ii. 279.

^ Ptolemaeus, Nor, Hist, \. j Apollotlorus, Blbliot/iecay iii. 3 ; Nonnus, Narrationes^
ii. 19. * Riedel, op. cit. 354. ' Callaway, op. cit. 93.

No one of the opposite sex dares to go near them on
this day, or speak to them.^ Here the prindple is,
as it were, allopathic, change of sex is a method of
changing the luck or averting bad luck.

Any sort of change or substitution may be used to
escape danger. In Java the infant was carried about
in the arms of female relatives until the navel was
perfectly closed, and a stone cylinder dressed up as a
baby took the place of the child in its basket cradle.
When the child reached the age of seven months its
feet were for the first time allowed to touch the ground,
and to commemorate this a feast was given by the
parents.^ In Amboina, if a couple have lost several
children, they will give the next to another woman to
suckle." Change of name is a common method of
avoiding danger or of altering luck. A barren woman
in Ceramlaut changes her name.* Amongst the Lopars
every time the child fell ill the christening was repeated
and the name changed.*^ Similarly amongst the Kings-
mill islanders.* If a Malay child falls ill after receiv-
ing its name, it is temporarily adopted by another
family who give it a different name.^ In Nias a
youth's name is changed at marriage, a girl's at
puberty.^ Tuscarora boys received a new name at
puberty, and another when they became warriors.*
The custom is very common throughout the world,
and we may begin the next argument with this
practice.

The savage boy receives a new name at puberty and
gives up his old one, just as does the Catholic novice

' Carbutt, in &iuth African Folklore Journal^ ii. I2, 13.

2 Featherman, op, cit, ii. 386, 387. * Riedel, of>, cit. 75.

* Li. 176. * Journ, Antkrop, Itut. Jcxiv*

• Wiikcs, op, cit, V. 102. 7 skcat, op, cit, 34.
® Featherman, op, cit. ii. 354. • Id, iii. 128.

and the Catholic priest.^ What is the idea behind the
practice? It is part of a very widely spread human
impulse to change one's personal identity, and the
possibility of the change is more than half believed.
As the infant at baptism was rescued from Satan, and
became by the washing away of the "old Adam" a
new creature, receiving a name as the symbol of its
new life, as the warrior who has slain a foe takes his
name to add to his own personality the properties of
the owner, and sometimes to avoid reprisals by so
doing, and as the novice turns his back on the old life
and begins a new life, so there are occasions in every
man*s existence when he would gladly for various
reasons become "another man," and in early society
this was thought possible. These things that are
changed to effect the transformation are parts of the
man's life or soul, such as names and garments, and
represent his whole being. Let us take some cases
which prove this belief in change of personality. When
a Central Australian is made a medicine -man, he is
supposed to be killed by a spirit, who removes all his
internal organs and supplies him with a new set. After
this the man returns to life.^ The Kaffir word used
to express the initiation of a priest to his office, "means
' renewal,' and is the same that is used for the first
appearance of the new moon, and for the putting forth
of the grass and buds at the commencement of spring.
By which it is evidently intended to intimate that the
man's heart is renewed, that he has become an entirely
diflFerent person from what he was before, seeing with
difFerent eyes and hearing with different ears." ^ The

' So the Yoruba novice at the end of his novitiate for the priesthood takes a
new name, A. B. Ellis, op. at. 97.

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. at, 523, 524. ' Maclean, op. cit. 79.

closing ceremony of the " initiation " of Kaffir boys is
that they are chased to the river, where they wash off
the white clay they have been smeared with during
their separation ; then everything connected ^th their
stay is collected in the hut they have lived in, and the
whole is burned. The boys are smeared with fat and
red clay, and are given new karosses. They then
depart, being careful not to look back upon the burn-
ing hut, lest some supernatural evil should befall them,
and they therefore cover their heads.^ After the
initiation to manhood of Powhattan boys, it was pre-
tended that a veil of oblivion had been cast over their
past life. "Forgetting that they had been children,
they entered by suffering and increased knowledge into
their new career of manhood." * Amongst the Congo
negroes boys and girls are " initiated " at puberty, each
set of boys and each set of girls forming a sort of
secret society, called N^Kimba and Fua-Kongo. The
rite is commonly precipitated when it is supposed that
the women are not bearing enough children. The
person being " initiated " is supposed to die and rise
again. At the end of the ceremonies the " initiates "
take new names and pretend to have forgotten their
former life ; they do not even recognise their parents
and friends.^ In Corea, on the fourteenth day of the
first month of the year, any one who is entering on a
"critical year of his life," makes an effigy of straw,
dresses it in his own clothes, and casts it on the road,
and then feasts all night. Whatever happens to the
cast-out image is supposed to happen to the man's
former self, now gone into the past, and "Fate is
believed to look upon the individual in new clothes as

^ Maclean, op, cit. 99. ^ Featherman, op. ek. iii. ii6.

' Journ, Antltrop. Inst, xxiv, 289.

another man."' "At the end of the year all the
men of certain Zulu tribes procure a strong emetic
which they swallow. No special reason is given for
the custom, except that it ' clears away all the
evil humours of the body.' " ' A Dyak will change
his name after recovering from a severe illness, in
the hope, as we may suppose, of thus getting rid
of his former persondity and its liability to disease.'
Dr. Frazer has already pointed out that boys at
"initiation" are often supposed to die and come to
life again.*

As will be seen when " initiation " is discussed, " the
old life " put away by the boy at puberty is that of
women, the life of the nursery ; and we may suppose
that the ideas of sexual taboo fixed somewhat of the
same belief upon the purification of infants, that is to-r
say, the infant is baptized or purified from the taboo
state in which child-birth left it and the mother, a state
of ceremonial uncleanness arising from the breaking-up,
as it were, of woman's organism, and the diffusion of
her sexual properties.

Further, this desire to effzcx the past, to put off
" the old man " and to put on the new, is very clearly
brought out in those "festivals," generally annual and
often coinciding with the beginning of the new year,
celebrated by whole communities.' Thus, in old Peru
the people held an annual ceremony, the object of
which was to banish all ills. They would shake their
clothes, pass their hands over their faces and arms, as if
in the act of washing. They bathed, exclaiming that
their maladies should leave them. The Iroquois had

* Griffii, a^ til. I9S. ' 7"r«. Aminf. lut, tx. 131.

* St. Jeba, tf.ib.lf3i ^**b. jUtinf. Ima. xsiii. 165.

an annual expulsion of evils, preceded by a general
confession of sins.^ Once a year the members of an
Eskimo tribe assemble. The angekok ofFers up an
invocation on behalf of the people for their happiness
and prosperity during the coming year. Next day
they form a circle round a vessel of water, and each
member in turn eats a small piece of meat which he
brings with him, wishing meanwhile for good things ;
then he dips a cup of water and drinks, thinking of
his guardian divinity.* The Talmud Jews of Poland
celebrate the New Year's festival on the first day of
Tisri. On this day they believe that God sits in judg-
ment over angels and men, to make a record of their
deeds done during the last twelve months ; their acts
are weighed and scrutinised, the sentence is pronounced
which is sealed on the great day of Atonement, and all
are predestined for the coming year either unto life or
death. Worshippers of both sexes are dressed in white
burial-robes. In the evening they all go to a running
stream, into which each one throws some crumbs of
bread, that the water may carry away his sins. On the
day preceding the day of Atonement, a cock is swung
round the head of each male and a hen round the head
of each female, and then killed and eaten as an ex-
piatory offering to redeem the sinner from death.'
The Cherokees had a new year's festival ; one day
was the general cleaning day ; old clothes were burnt,
the pots, pans, and other utensils were broken, the
town and all the cabins were swept clean, and every
kind of filth or dirt was banished out of sight. Even
the remaining provisions were destroyed, and all fires
were extinguished. The warriors after they had taken
the war-medicine fasted for three days, and during this

^ Frazcr, 0^. cit^'xn, "ji sqq. ^ Fcathcrman, <>^. cit, iii. 407, ^ Id, v. 159.

period abstained from all sexual intercourse. Malefac-
tors and exiles were pardoned. On the festival day
the people dressed up in new apparel ; new fire was
lighted, and new corn cooked and eaten. In the even-
ing music and dancing enlivened the proceedings.
The festivities lasted three or four days. This was also
the time for receiving and making visits, and friends
from neighbouring villages interchanged courtesies and
congratulated each other on having been favoured with
a new lease of life for another year.^

In these examples of the common notion that a
change of life best coincides with a new year, we see
how the old personality is as far as possible cast away,
and the new one put on with rejoicings. Certain
" climacteric " seasons and biological crises in human
life are also very natural periods for this impulse to
show itself. One or two of these crises have been
mentioned. In organised religions the practice is made
the most of. At the monthly religious festivals in
Bali, the priest distributes holy water to the wor-
shippers.^ Periodic feasts amongst totemic peoples,
at which the totem is eaten, are similar in intention.
Periodic " confession " in Catholic countries introduces
a periodic " turning of a new leaf." After child-birth
mother and child are purified, and dressed in new
garments, after menstruation the woman is cleansed ;
mourners put away their sorrow by newness of life.
The prominence of food and feasting in some of these ,
examples is a fact liable to be overlooked, but of great
importance. It is not merely the new corn and wine
brought out and used for the first time at some of
these annual Saturnalia that is to be noted, though this
is a particularly instructive case, but the use of any

' Featherman, op. cit, iii. 157. * Id, ii. 410.

food, in these festivals and in others, at religioiis periods
and biological crises, cr even every day. The wine that
^ maketh glad the heart of man ** and the " bread diat
strengthen's man's heart** are naturally, as is to be
gathered from the previous account of fbod-customs,
the best means of giving new life and strength. And
in savage philosophy the laying-hold upon life and the
preservation of strength, is the main duty of existence ;
it is so much more important to him than it is to us in
an age where physical disabilities are so greatly reduced.
We still use the phrase ^^ to feel a new man ** after a
meal, and to the savage the phrase is more of a reality,
and we may conclude that on certain occasions, when
circumstances were suitable, primitive man did thus feel
that his personal identity was more or less changed, as
his natural force was renewed, by meat and drink. The
Masai and the Wa-kwafi are the most practical beef-
eaters in the world. A man will ^t all day by a bullock
gorging himself with its meat, in order to strengthen
himself for battle.^ During the "initiation** period
the boys of many North American tribes, such as the
Shawanese, besides observing dietary regulations, took
a violent emetic at regular intervals.* This is a practical
way of getting rid of one's original personal substance,
and it has to be brought into connection with the
common taboos upon various foods at and before
puberty, removed when the boy is " initiate *' and able
to receive them. The intention of building up the
lad*s strength is expressly stated in many such cases.
At the Seminole New Year festival, the " black drink '*
was drunk, and war-medicine taken. The latter was
also taken, as it is in so many lands, before a batdci in
order to inspire the warriors with strength and camfffgii^

^ Thomson, op, cit, 264. ^ Feathernun, op, at, iu. i8l« ^

'Uiktt

This " black drink " is the Seminole national beverage,
and its excellent qualities have helped to bring out in
everyday practice the idea of beginning afresh and
acquiring new life and strength. "The Seminoles
drank every morning a kind of tea called * the black
drink/ a decoction of the leaves of the Cassine bush.
It is slightly exhilarating, and the drinking of it was
considered a solemn ceremonial act ; it was supposed
that it had a purifying effect upon their life, and effaced
from their minds all the wrongs and injustice they had
committed, that it possessed the power of imparting
courage to the warrior and of rendering him invincible,
and that it had a tendency of binding closer the ties of
friendship."^ Amongst the Zulus at the opening of
the new year with the feast of first-fruits the men are
" doctored " in order " to make them strong, healthy,
and prosperous for the coming year." *

During and after sickness, again, the system is built
up by new food. In Tasmania a sick man was given
human blood to drink.* The Zulus give sick persons
the gall of a he-goat.* Amongst the Dyaks sick per-
sons are sprinkled with blood by the priest.* The
Beni-Amer cure their sick by bathing them in the blood
of a girl or of some animal. The blood of a goat is
thus poured over a man*s head and body.® Such cases
often correlate with the idea of a substitute and with
the conmion double idea, as in the Mithraic tauroboliumy
that blood both washes away sins and gives ghostly
strength. On this principle the Zulus once a year kill
a bull ; " its strength is supposed to enter into the
king, thereby prolonging his life and strength. In

1 FntbermM,^ A VL 171. * L. Orcmt, Zulm Lmd^ 161.

* BoKvki^ ^ A $9. * CiUawiy, c^. at, 368, 372.

" "* " * "^ •■• • Mimsiiifer, ^, at, 310.

some tribes a chief on his accession is washed in the
blood of some near relative, who is put to death for
the purpose." ^ In Tonga human victims were slain to
deter angry gods from destroying the king.*

The universal desire for "representatives** and
" substitutes," due partly to irresponsibility and partly
to convenience, may be referred to here in a few ex-
amples. Amongst the Motu to ensure a good harvest
some leading man becomes helaga (taboo).* In New
Caledonia, when a great chief is ill, or when some great
calamity befalls them, they select the best-looking girl,
and stretching her out prostrate on the ground inflict
on her a severe castigation, which is intended to act as
a charm, in order to avert the impending evil.* In
Shoa, to save the king's life, an animal is led round his
bed and then slaughtered.^ In Chrysee a straw man is
burned as a substitute when one is ill.* The Arabian
custom of killing a sheep at a birth is explained by
them "as averting evil from the child by shedding
blood on its behalf." ^ The Acaxees before taking the
war-path select a maiden of the tribe, who secludes her-
self during the whole period of the campaign, speaking
to no one, and eating nothing but a little parched corn
without salt.® The practice is common with kings as
the representatives of their people. Thus the Mikado
had to sit on the throne for some hours every morning,
with his crown on, motionless, so as to preserve peace
and tranquillity in the empire.®

Again, " purification " is ended on all occasions by
taking food, or otherwise assimilating new strength.

^ Leslie, op, cit. 91 j Shooter, «>/>. cit. 216. ^ Farmer, op. cit. 53.

3 Chalmers, op, cit, iSi. * Featherman, op. cit. ii. 92.

^ Harris, op. cit. iii. 385. * A. R. Colquhoun, Across CArysee, 384.

^ W. R. Smith, op. cit. 153, 154. ® Bancroft, op. cit. \. 581.

• Kaempfer, History ofyapan, i. 1 50.

The link between this and "washing ofF" the past,
whether "contagion" or "sin," is seen in cases like
this : sextons and mourners alike are " purified "
amongst the Zulus from the " imcleanness " by being
sprinkled with the gall of an animal sacrificed, or by
drinking fresh milk.^ After expelling all disease and
ills, the Incas rubbed themselves with a paste of blood,
to take away all weakness and infirmity.- The gall
and the blood, of course, introduce new strength into
the system.

New clothes form another method of starting afresh ;
a man feels more or less " new " when wearing a new
dress, and this universal practice on great occasions of
feasting, ceremonies, and marriage has this idea behind
it. The link between washing, "purification," and
new garments is made by such early toilet-practices as
anointing the body with oil, fat, and paint. The
" purification " of a Kaffir woman after child-birth is
completed by smearing her with fat and red clay.* For
her this is a renewal of " decent apparel."

We have thus traced the passage of disguise into
change, and of change into newness of life ; in the next
place change passes into exchange, exchange of identity,
with the same ideas behind the practice. The idea of a
disguise is often latent in this, but seldom emerges,
for it is fused with more important aims. It may be
discerned in this account of the notorious Feast of
Fools, an account which may be here placed first, as
this exchanging of identity is most prominent in
festivals of the Saturnalia type. " The priests were the
principal actors ; their faces were blacked, and they
were dressed as clowns or women, and ate blood-

* Shooter, op. cit. 241, 247. *-* Frarcr, of>, cit? iii. 74.

' Maclean, op. cit. 94.

puddings on the altar. Obscene songs were sung in
the choir. Many other actors took part, both men
and women, the men being disguised as women, and
the women as men." This festival took place at
Christmas. Similar practices were followed in the
carnival on Shrove Tuesday, at which men dressed up
as women and women as men.^ The idea is also latent
in an ancient Argive festival, the 'TfipumKo^ held every
year, at which women dressed in men's garments, and
men in women's robes and veils;* and also in many
Saturnalian festivals, such as the Saturnalia of ancient
Rome, at which slaves exchanged position and dress
with their masters, and men with women. These cases
are explained by the Zulu custom, according to which,
to avert a cattle plague, the girls herd the cattle for a
day. The idea is to change the luck by an exchange,
which emphasises the interval thus placed between the
old state and the new. So in New South Wales wives are
exchanged, not only for reconciliation, but to escape some
calamity.^ The tribes on the Murray River practised
temporary exchange of wives *' in order to avert some
great trouble which they fancied was coming ; for
instance, they heard once that a great sickness was
coming down the Murray, and the cunning old men
proposed to each other that they should exchange wives
to ensure safety from it." * It is a simple method, but
actually it has been interpreted as a proof of primitive
"promiscuity." A detail used to corroborate the
interpretation is that the old men thought it necessary
to revert to "the old customs of the tribe" ; but tbe
old custom to which they returned was surely tiiit

^ Dulaure, Dtt dnnnites g/n/ratrices, xv. 315; Brand, 0^. cit, i. 36, 66.

' PluUrch, Mulienm yirtutes^ 245 £. > Joum, Antkrop, huL A* f f |U

^ Fison and Howitt, of>, at, 290.

temporary exchange of wives, not promiscuity. The
suggestion proves too much. The sexual licence of the
Nanga in Fiji was practised when any person feU ill.^
The Kurn^, when alarmed at the appearance of an
Aurora AustraliSy tried to send it away by magic, and
also exchanged wives.* An Eskimo prescription for
sickness is exchange of wives ; if a child is ill, it changes
its parents.'

The chief ideas in these ceremonial practices of
exchange, whether of wives or other possessions, are,
primarily, the wish for a preliminary interval before
starting a new life, a sort of vitai pausa or artificial
gulf between the old and the new, while there is implicit
in the exchange an act of disguise ; and secondarily,
a desire for union with one*s fellows, which is actually
effected by exchange of identity. The latter, it will be
noticed, is identical with union, and is the final prin-
ciple of contact seen in the relation of ngia ngiampe.
We saw that the " black drink " of the Seminoles has
the property of uniting hearts, and the human expres-
sion of mutual friendliness by eating and drinking
together has been fully described. This explains the
characteristic feature in festivities of the type of the
Saturnalia, held once a year as a rule, and conceived as
a means of starting life afresh. The wild pranks and
general misbehaviour often associated with these festivals
are doubtless to a great extent the expression of re-
joicing at putting away the troubles of the past, but
there is a method in the madness, a psychological reason
behind it. Restraints are indeed broken, but the breaking
of them is, first, a break with the old life, and, secondly,
a method of union, not merely the result of over-feeding

* Journ, Antkrop. Inst. xiv. 28. « Id, xiii. 189.

' Sixth Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology y 593.

and excessive drinking. Take the case of the so-called
" promiscuous " intercourse often found on these occa-
sions ; it is exactly parallel to the exchange of wives we
have already noticed. Each is the expression of a desire
for union with one*s fellows. The very fact that the
lending of wives is frequent as an act of hospitality
connects the principles together. Hospitality is a close
form of union. Exchange of wives, of dress, of names,
of positions, or of anything belonging to a man, alike
produces union. This secondary result of the common
practice of men and women dressing up in the garments
of the other sex, followed in Alsace at vintage festivals,^
and on many similar occasions elsewhere, is that the
two sexes are united, just as they are united in theory
and in practice in the so-called licence used on such
occasions. As showing how assimilation in dress and
the like is a form of the desire for union, the following
case is instructive. At a dance of girls amongst the
Rejangs several young men were observed to show
excitement. At last they joined in the dance ; and the
postures they assumed were quite similar to those of
the maidens. " It is on such occasions that marriage
contracts are generally made." ^ This impulse towards
assimilation is seen now when 'Arry and 'Arriet ex-
change hats. Similar methods of effecting union by con-
tact are also brought back to one physiological impulse,
by comparing with them the Eskimo method of salutation.
They salute each other by licking each other*s hands,
and then drawing them over their own faces and bodies
first, and afterwards over the face and body of the
other.^

Again, all taboos are removed for a while to form an

^ W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus^ 314. * Bickmore, of>. cit. 496.

^ Becchey, of>. cit. i. 391.

interval between the old and the new, while the very
act of breaking them produces the chief result aimed at,
union, and this union is a Dionysiac form of the ngia
ngiampe relation. Such union is effected by masters
and slaves exchanging positions and attire, by men and
women exchanging the garments of their sex, by eating
together, by mutual feastings, by exchange of presents
and of friendly visits, and the like. All these are
methods of union, but they are no less exchanges of
identity ; all in fact are acts of the ngiampe type. Thus
old wounds are healed, old quarrels patched up ; the
licence is simply a method of cementing union. New
food and drink meanwhile renew man's strength, and
food shared with others in feasts, or the flesh and blood
of the totem or god sacramentally eaten, cement the
union of one with another.

Man's desire for social union and harmony is very
keen, and the fact that he has these ceremonial methods
of producing it, as those others used to produce
harmony and union between individuals, is one which
tells strongly in favour of the view that, as man was
perhaps not always gregarious, so in early society he
had none of the solidarity of clan, tribe, or kin,
which is often attributed to him. Why these anxious
methods of welding together the body politic, if the
'* tie of blood " was instinctively so strong ^ Man's
individualism, though diffident and shy of responsibility,
was in primitive times by no means lost in socialism.
Individual diffidence and the " desire for company," as
it may be phrased, for the desire of children and of the
average sensual man in every age is of the same nature
as their primitive brother's desire, may be seen in what
Ellis states of the Polynesians. " One of the reasons
which they gave why so many slept in a house was

their constant apprehension of evil spirits, which were
supposed to wander about at night and grasp or strangle
the objects of their displeasure, if found alone ; great
numbers passing the night under the same roof removed
this fear and inspired confidence of security." ^ So the
Nicobarese never bathe nor go to the burial-ground
except in company, from superstitious fear.* The
feeling has given rise to a common practice observed
with " sacred *' persons whose safety is either threatened
or is important to the community. When the King of
Boni in Celebes sits, all sit ; when he rises, all rise ;
should he ride and fall from his horse, all must fall
from their horses likewise ; when he bathes, all the
courtiers must bathe too.' The same custom is used
in Fiji, and is known as bak muri} In Abyssinia there
are four officers called Lika MankuaSy who have to
clothe themselves exactly like the king, so that the
enemy may not be able to distinguish him. A Mr.
Bell, an Englishman, once held this post.* In Uganda,
if the king laughs, all the courtiers laugh, if he sneezes,
all sneeze, and so on.^ Amongst Kaffir tribes the " king
has a sort of valets, who appear to wear his cast-ofF
clothes ; when he is sick, they are obliged to allow them-
selves to be wounded, that a portion of their blood may
be introduced into the king's circulation, and a portion
of his into theirs. They are usually killed at his death." ^
This case leads to those of " mock kings " and the like,
who are often substitutes and proxies for the real
monarch, as well as for the people, whose " pawns " they
are. In the Yoruba country the king's eldest son

^ Ellis, Polyneuan ReuarcheSy i. 341. ^ Featherman, op, cit. ii. 250.

' Mundy, Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celehes, i. 30.
** Williams, op. cit, i. 39. ' Krapf, op, cit, 454.

^ Felkin, op, cit, 711. Athenaeus (249) and Strabo (xvii. 2, 3) give similar accounts
of barbaric kings. ' Shooter, o/>. c/f. 117.

governs jointly with him. He has to commit suicide
when the king dies.^ In connection with the fear of
handselling, it is noteworthy that such persons are used
to do acts for the first time, so as to remove the danger.
Thus in the Hindoo Koosh the rajah begins the plough-
ing and sowing. The Todas employ the low -caste
Curumbas to guide the first plough, sow the first seed,
and reap the first sheaf.^

Let us now take some miscellaneous illustrations of
these principles, occurring in these periodic festivals of
renewal and of union, and on other occasions. During
the winter season the Koniagas make and return visits ;
insults are forgiven and enemies reconciled by inviting
each other to entertainments.' At the Saturnalia festival
of the Mundaris the masters feast their labourers.* The
Karalits celebrate an annual festival at the winter
solstice. It is a time of general rejoicing, and is
connected with the reappearance of the sun. Eating
is the most conspicuous part of the entertainment.
Frequently they lend their wives to each other.* There
is some idea of securing an infant*s safety in the practice,
common throughout the Archipelago between Celebes
and New Guinea, of giving a feast to a number of
village children, when a child is born or receives its
name.**

Amongst the Dieri and neighbouring tribes on
occasions of making peace, covenants, and alliances,
occasions, of course, which have in common with
Saturnalia the intention of union, and also at tribal
festivals generally, there is an exchange of wives all
round and what is wrongly called "promiscuous"

^ A. B. Ellis, op. cit. 167. ^ Biddulph, o/>. cit, 106 { Harknest, op, cit, 56.

^ Featherman, op. cit. iii. 453. ^ Dalton, op. cit, 196.

* Fcathcrman, op, cit, iii. 432. • Riedel, op, cit, 75.

sexual intercourse.^ It is a sacred method of union as
I have shown. The fact that jealousy is forbidden on
these occasions, does not prove, as has been asserted,
either that the custom is a return to previous conunun-
ism, or that the Australian has no marital jealousy.
If he has none, why forbid it ? In the case of forming
alliances the exchange is, of course, a factor in making
the union, such contact sympathetically assists it. At
the Saturnalia of the Hos "promiscuous** intercourse
takes place.* The people of Leti, Moa, and Lakor
hold an annual feast, at which free intercourse takes
place.*

Amongst the Hawaiians "promiscuous" sexual
intercourse takes place at the feast after a death.* In
Mangaia, at the same feast, all exchange presents.^ At
the annual funeral feast on Nancowry Island, one of
the Nicobars, numerous hogs are killed and eaten, and
all the guests daub their faces with the blood.^ The
Battas celebrate a feast after a death, at which a number
of animals are killed and eaten.^ The Samoyeds kill a
reindeer over the grave, the Arinzes a horse, and the
mourners eat it there.® After a Chippeway funeral the
" offering to the dead " is prepared, consisting of meat-
soup or brandy, which is handed round to tKose present ;
while the portion reserved for a burnt-offering is thrown
into the fire, and is supposed to have been accepted by
the ghostly self of the departed.^

On such occasions there is to be seen the working
of these principles ; a desire for union among the
survivors and a desire for new strength and life, both

^ yourn. Anthrop. Inst. xxiv. 173, 169.

2 Dalton, oft. cit. 196. 3 RieJcl, op. cit. 373.

* Lisiansky, op. cit. 122. ^ Gill, op. cit. y-j.

^ Featherman, op. cit. ii. 247. 7 /^ jj jj^

8 Georgi, op, cit. 16, 31. ^ Featherman, op. cit. iii. 251.

XII

UNION AFTER DEATH

prompted by the sad example of the dead person ; the
two impulses are satisfied simultaneously by eating
together, exchanging gifts, or similar acts of union,
such as sexual intercourse. Again, as may be seen
when the mourners eat the offerings of the dead, there
is the further and most natural idea, retained by
Catholicism in the feast of All Souls, of effecting union
with the departed. This desire for the impossible is a
psychological necessity in real mourning, and is well
shown by such customs as that of widows in the
Hervey Islands, who will wear the dress of their dead
husbands. A widower may be seen walking about in
a gown of his departed wife. " Instead of her shawl, a
mother will wear on her back a pair of trousers belong-
ing to a little son just laid in his grave." ^ Andamanese
widows carry about the skulls of their dead husbands.^
Red Indian mothers carry a doll, representing a dead
child, and Australian women carry about the rotting
remains of their dead husbands.' In Timorlaut as
mourning the widow wears a piece of her dead
husband's clothing in her hair ; this is also done by
widowers.* Communion with the dead is most exactly
reached, and the identity of eating with a person
and eating him most clearly shown, in the common
Australian practice in which mourners drink the
humours of the decaying corpse, or eat its flesh. The
Kurnai anoint themselves with decomposed matter from
the dead.* It is done in the Kingsmills " to remember
him."^ So in Timorlaut mourners smear themselves
with the fluids of the corpse.^ The Aru islanders
drink them "to effect union with the dead man."

1 Gill, •p, cit. 78.

' Fison and Howitt, op, cit, 243.

' Ftton and Howitt, op, cit, 243.

^ Ploss u. Bartels, op, cit, ii. 300.

* Riedel, op. cit, 307.

• Id, l,c, ' Riedel, op, cit, 308.

Some is kept in order to injure enemies (by the con-
tagion of death, we may well suppose).^ Tliis case
resumes in itself all the principles of contact, and
shows the fallacy of suppdsing such practices to be
intended to keep " the life in the family/' Of course,
the idea correlates with the notion of getting a dead
man's strength, as we have seen, but the impulse is
individual. When Artemisia drank the ashes of
Mausolus,^ it was for love of him, and not to satisfy
family pride. Here we once more reach the idea of
receiving a man's properties by eating his flesh ; and
conversely in these mourning customs, there is soom-
times to be seen a desire to avoid injury from the
departed spirit, by inoculating oneself with him, an
idea translated by many peoples into a fear that the
ghost will be offended if he is not mourned for
properly.

Another feature of these festivals is a practice which
is very common in all early religious custom, and is a
good illustration of that general habit of "make-
believe," which is connected with sympathetic magic
on the one hand, and on the other with primitive
diffidence in action, and fear of close-quarters, an early
stage in the growth of character which is not easily
passed. At the Saturnalia of the Hos, sons and
daughters revile their parents, and their parents revile
them.^ This method of showing the reality of the
change of life by emphasising the interval between the
new and the old may lead up to the feature we art
to discuss. In Upper Egypt on the loth of September
of each year, there is a festival at which each town
chooses a temporary lord, who is dressed up as a clown.*

' Riedcl, op. cit. 267. ^ A. Gellius, x. 18 j V. Maximus, iv. 6?

3 Dalton, 0^. r/V. 196. * Klunzingcr, BiUer aus Ob.'r-Agypten 180

In this, as in the case of most mock kings collected,
there is a double idea. The mock king is a " proxy "
for the people, he is their substitute, who bears their
calamities away as a scapegoat ; and he is reviled and
mocked. He represents them, on the principles of
substitution and make-believe ; he takes away their
troubles, on the same principles, and because of the
desire for a periodic change of life and of personal
identity. Why is he mocked and ill-treated? The
actual word "mock," with its double meaning, preserves
the answer. They deserve the reviling for their sins,
but he as their proxy will receive it ; it is a convenient
method of substitution, of transference of responsibility.
Moreover, by a natural confusion, he represents these
evils, in particular those which admit of easy personifi-
cation, such as diseases and the like ; as such, he is to
be scourged and mocked as they would gladly treat the
actual evils. He is thus a proxy for two sets of
persons.

The war-dance and similar sympathetic processes,
which assist the real result by imitating it, show how
the above mentioned idea is connected with sympathetic
magic. These practices have a true psychological basis
and subjective use ; they resemble " rehearsals " ; by
previously going through the result, man ensures its
successful issue, just as one runs over in his mind
something he is about to do. In the Chippeway war-
dance the warriors imitated the actions of surprising
the enemy, of tomahawking, scalping, and drinking the
blood of the foe.^ In the Algonquin war-dance before
an expedition each man in turn branished his toma-
hawk, and furiously struck the post round which they
stood, in a manner as if he were killing a foe, whom

^ Featherman, ep. cit. iii. 256.
U

he then fictitiously scalped by a characteristic mimic
action.^ The Mandans before a bufiklo hunt go
through a dance imitating the various stages of the
hunt. One man represents a buffalo, and he is slain
in pantomime, skinned, and cut up.^

In some cases these fights, contests, and riotings art
intended to drive away actual evil influences, in others
the potentiality of evil is driven away, before it can
become actualised ; and this is naturally done on
occasions when excessive joy by psychological law
induces a fear of vague imminent danger, as seen in
ideas of Nemesis. The practice is also followed to
avenge some wrong, fancied or real, with a half serious,
half " make-believe " feeling. Thus, in New Briton,
when a boy and girl who are betrothed, are grown up,
and part of the " price " has been paid, he builds a little
house in the bush, and elopes with his bride. Her
father sallies out with friends, apparently in anger, to
kill the groom. They do not really wish to find him,
but they burn the house. On their return they find
the pair installed in their home.^ Amongst the same
people, when a widower marries, the female relatives of
the dead wife assemble near his place. It is a day of
liberty and fun with them. They take their husbands'
or brothers' weapons, or any article of male attire they
can find, and have the liberty of daubing with red
paint any man they can catch. If a woman approaches
a man he moves off. At a given signal they throw
themselves on his house, fences, and property, and
destroy as far as they can. The owner has no power
to interfere. The custom is called Varagut. The only
explanation they give is that " the women are angry on
account of the first wife, they do not care to see the

* Featherman, op, clt, iii. 78. ' Id, iii. 298. • Romilly, op. at. 27.

XII

MAKE-BELIEVE

labour of the first wife go to benefit the second.'*^
Similarily at Fijian funerals, the women whip the men
with long whips, and the men flip clay bullets at the
women. ^ On the other side, savage " make-believe " is
connected with diffidence, and with an interesting
notion that the ** intention " is everything. Amongst
the Maoris a blow given by proxy is regarded as if
it actually were dealt to the person intended, and is
spoken of as such. A man, for instance, struck the
ground close to his enemy, who was lying ill ; Mr.
Shortland on hearing an account of this was given
to understand that the sick man had actually been
thrashed.' A mourner in the Andaman Islands will
shoot arrows into the jungle, evil spirits who cause
death being supposed to dwell there ; he also will
pierce the ground with a spear all round the dead
man, " hoping to inflict a mortal wound on an unseen
enemy.*' * In Maori warfare a part of the stockade is
called after a hostile chief and then fired at by the
garrison. One often hears a chief complain that he
has been shot at, when it was only his effigy.*^ South
Australians when about to attack Europeans beat their
weapons together, threw dust in the air, spat, etc., and
made gestures of defiance.* All this kind of thing is
well seen in the habits of children and of animals, and
is due to fear of direct action. Now, in some of these
annual festivals and on other occasions there are mock
contests, which are explained by these ideas. We saw
how parents and children revile each other at their
Saturnalia ; the same principle is behind the football
match played at the annual festival in Shoa, first

' yourn. Antkrop, Ifut. xxiv. 292.

^ Shortland, Southern Districts, 2 1, 22.

* Shortland, op, cit, 26, 27.

^ Wilkes, op. cit. III. 99.

* yourn. Anthrop, Inst, xi, 146.

• Eyre, op. cit. ii. 225.

CHAP.

between men, and then between women. The victori-
ous side abuses the defeated, and riot and debauchery
end the day.^ After a successful fishing expedition
Fijian women were seen to meet the returning men
with dancing and songs and with a smart volley of
bitter oranges, this the men returned by driving the
women from the beach.* This simple case of delight
expressed in recrimination is no custom, but a psycho-
logical result, quite common in human nature, whidi,
however, is instructive here as illustrating the origin of
customs which resemble it.

The same method is also used in primitive etiquette,
which is based on fear and the taboo of personal
isolation. When Krapf arrived at a Pemba village,
the king was very friendly, but ordered his musketeers
to fire a volley, " to expel evil spirits." • In Tongi
presents are made to a new arrival, visitor, or native
who has been away, but there is a curious provisa
The new-comers can be challenged by any one, and a
sort of sham fight must take place. The visitors
always get a thorough beating, but it is ail done in
a friendly way.* Mr. New was always received in the
African villages he reached, with war -dances.^ The
Indians of the Yukon, on meeting Mr. Dall, advanced
on him firing blank cartridge.* So amongst the Maoris
mock fights were performed at all visits, reeds and
rail-fencing being used instead of weapons.^

In savage as in other etiquette indirectness is uni-
versal. In East Africa a mistake in etiquette towards
the chief is severely punished, and amongst the Waganda
the offender may be slain on the spot. A man will

^ Harris, op. cit. iii. 198.
* Krapf, op. cit. 269.

» C. New, Lifi in Eastern Africa, 80, 301. « Dall, op. dt, 93.

7 Polack, Ntw Zealandj \. 86, 87, ii. 170.

' Williams, op, cit. i. 92.
* Mariner, op, dr. 346.

hardly address another direcdy as " you," nor will he
use a direct negative if he can avoid it. The expres-
sions are " the master knows," etc., and for a negative,
** I will see if that happens."^

The " make-believe " method is often used in punish-
ment. Amongst Australians and Tasmanians the
offender against the customs was required to stand
while spears were thrown at him, which he avoided as
best he could by contortions of the body.^ In the
Milya-uppa tribe, when a man had given another some
cause of complaint, custom required that he should
allow his head to be struck by the individual offended,
till blood came.' In some Australian tribes a culprit
was provided with a shield, and " the prosecutors stand-
ing at a certain distance hurled spears at him. If he
succeeded in warding off the weapons, he was dis-
charged." * The Malays settle disputes between tribes
thus ; a certain number of combatants for each tribe
beat each other with sticks till one or other cries
enough, and the victors claim the right for which they
contested.*^ The Fijian act of reparation to obtain for-
giveness was called soro ; it was the offering of a present
in certain attitudes of humiliation.*

In many of the above-mentioned customs there is
clearly brought out the subconscious feeling, so charac-
teristic of the religious relations of man with man in
primitive culture, that it is human persons who cause
trouble and evil, human agencies that are to be punished
or propitiated. In others the fiction of primitive
" promiscuity " is exposed ; others, again, illustrate
the primitive conception of relationship.

^ yourn, Anthrop. Inst, xxii. 119. ' Curr, op, cit, iii. 596.

' Id. ii. 179. * Featherman, op, cit, ii. 142.

° Id, ii. 429. ^ Id, ii. 214.

Chapter XIII

Sect, i

At the beginning of the chain of culture appear one
or two simple precautionary and educational measures
applied to boys and girls on reaching the age of puberty,
at our end of the chain are confirmation and a more or
less lengthy period of education. In both of these,
and in all intermediate stages and developments, the
chief ideas behind the ceremonies of so-called " initia-
tion " are concerned with the going-out of childhood
and the entering -upon the state of manhood and
womanhood. The putting -away of the old life of
childhood and sexlessness, and the taking -up of the
responsibilities, social and sexual, of the new, and also
the education imparted, were often dramatised amongst
early peoples by " sympathetic " processes. As noticed
before, this kind of rehearsal was meant to ensure the
proper performance of the duties represented in the
mystery-play. We also find useful instruction given
as to the duties of manhood and womanhood, the
sexual relation and marriage ; girls are entrusted with
such feminine lore as the women possess, while the
boys are entrusted with the tribal history and secrets by
the old men, the repositories of power, and the real
and responsible guardians of the State. The excellence
not only of the military and political, but also of the

CHAP. XIII CONFIRMATION 295

moral instruction given at " initiation ** has often been
remarked.

Leaving this aspect of primitive confirmation, we
proceed to examine the dangers spiritual and material,
of the old life, which are cast aside, and of the new life,
which are to be faced, to both of which the ceremonies
at puberty have reference.

To take the case of girls first. There is nothing in
the old life that is likely to be dangerous to her, for
she will still find her best comfort and companionship
with her mother and female friends, but she has to
meet the dangers of the other sex, now that she is
marriageable. These dangers we have already re-
viewed ; there is the natural timidity, and subconscious
physical fear of the male sex, deriving from the natural
passivity and functional nervous characteristics of
woman, and expressed in that coyness and shrinking,
which are so potent a sexual charm ; often, however,
especially at marriage, and sometimes at child-birth, the
latent fear comes out as direct fear of the male sex.
We have seen how menstruation is regarded as the
result of a supernatural act of violence or rupture of
the hymeriy and here too there is a functional timidity
to be reckoned with, as also in the same act at marriage.
All these functional ideas focus, as a rule subconsciously,
into fear of the other sex, and consciously into vague
fear of " spiritual " danger, all originally deriving from
the psychological and physical change of the organism
at puberty. On the other side, in the male view of
female confirmation, there is the usual fear of a taboo
state, emphasised here by the fact that it is the charac-
teristic female condition, connoting loss of strength
and transmitting weakness. In regard to male con-
firmation, the chief feature is that the old life with the

women is given up, but the irony of nature insists
that though the man may cast aside his life with
women, he must soon return to it, in a more dangerous
form. As for the casting -away of the life of the
nursery, the Damaras reckon a man's age from his
circumcision, not counting the previous years at all.^
Amongst the Kurnai a part of the initiation is the
following ceremony. The mothers stand in a line
facing their sons, and each mother and son sprinkle
each other with water ; this signifies that they are no
longer under their mothers* control.*

The dangers of this taboo state, that is, the dis-
abilities of the old life and the responsibilities of the
new, are neutralised by various means. Tests of
endurance are gone through, fasting and purification ;
candidates are beaten, sometimes to increase their
strength, at others to get rid of the dangerous sub-
stance of taboo ; they are fumigated and purified,
secluded and concealed.'

More precisely each sex is tabooed to the other, for
it is against the dangers of sexual contact that the
process is directed. So the maiden at puberty must
not see males, or be seen by them, nor have any
association with them whatever ; first, for her safety,
because it is the male sex in the abstract which causes
her trouble and danger, and contagion from them is
dangerous ; secondly, for the safety of men, who by
contagion of her accentuated femininity would be
injured. In the same way, boys at puberty may not
see nor have any association with females ; first, for
their own safety, because it is the female sex in the
abstract which produces these dangers, and contact with

^ South African Folklore Journal, i. 44.
' Fison and Howitt, of>. at. 197, 198. -^ See Ploss, Das Kind, ii. 424 ff.

them is dangerous, causing weakness and efFemlnacy;
and secondly, we may infer that the girls are to be
considered, and that when men are attaining their
manhood some fear of manly contagion is present
to the female mind, as it is at marriage. The
Kurnai hold that sickness mutually results if women
touch boys who are being initiated.^ Kaffir girls
at puberty are placed in a separate hut, and none but
females are allowed to see them.^ At the ceremony
of excision of South Celebes girls no man may be
present.^ When a Cambodian girl enters " the shade,'*
the rules she has to observe in ** the shade ** are :
not to let herself be seen by a strange man ; not to
look at men, even furtively ; not to bathe till night,
lest any one should see her, nor alone, but accompanied
by her sister. Many kinds of food also are forbidden
her.* Loango girls at puberty are secluded in a hut in
the forest, and no man may go near them. From the
first day until they are given in marriage, they are called
nkumbi {hymen). They are instructed in the duties
of married life and motherhood.^ Girls of New Britain,
while in the " cages '* where they are imprisoned from
puberty to marriage, may not be seen by men ; so with
those of New Ireland. In both New Britain and New
Ireland boys at initiation may not be seen by women.*
The New Hebridean boy at puberty, when he is cir-
cumcised and receives a new name, may not see the
face of woman.^ Boys of the Irwin River and
Murchison River tribes are separated from the women
for several weeks after circumcision. A boy was once
killed for being found in a woman's company.® In

' Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xiv. 306. *-* Maclean, op, cit, loi,

" Matthes, op, cit, 71. * Aymonier, op, cit, 193.

^ Ploss, op. cit. ii. 439. ' Danks, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 284, 287.

" Jiurn. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 4. • Curr, op, cit, i. 369.

New Gdedonia no woman may see the boys while
recovering from circumcision.^ Amongst the Masai,
Wakamba, Wanika, and Wakikuyu boys are circum-
cised in bands together ; they are carefully kept from
the girls and women.* Only men may be present at
the circumcision of Mandingo boys.' At initiation
Australian boys may not see women.* Ceramese boys
at puberty may not be seen by women.* Special
developments of this have been already noticed, such as
the prohibition to look upon the sun or fire.

The boy's renunciation of the old life of the
"nursery," woman's life, may be illustrated by the
following cases. Boys amongst the Central Australians
are called " children," as are girls, until the initiation,
which begins between the ages of ten and twelve.*
Swahili boys leave their mothers' care when circum-
cised at the age of seven.^ Songo boys are initiated
between the ages of eight to ten. Their mothers may
not see them during this period ; they are secluded in
special huts.®

Frequently initiation is put earlier, and very often,
as has been observed, the boy begins to go about
with his father before the ceremony takes place. As
a matter of convenience a boy has often to wait, but
there is always to be borne in mind the distinction
between the beginning of boyhood and of manhood.
A Zuni boy is " initiated " any time after he is four
years old. Previously he has been called " baby," now
he receives a name. He has a "godfather," who
breathes upon a wand, which he then extends to the
child's mouth. The initiation is " mainly done by the

^ Plots, of>. cit, i. 360. ' /</. i. 362. 3 /<^. i. 55r

* yourn. Antkrop. Inst. xxiv. 181, 183 ; Eyre, op. cit. ii. 133.
^ Riedel, op, cit. 130. ^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 215.

' PI088, op. cit. i. 361. * Id. i. 364.

sponsors, and the boy must personally take the vows as
soon as he is old enough." ^ Here we have a prototype
of our baptism, and the distinction is made, as it often
is where circumcision, for instance, takes place at five,
six, or seven years of age, between reception into the
ranks of boys and of men.

After initiation there is the almost universal rule
that boys sleep and mess and live together, most often
outside of the family dwelling. This we have already
described.

The change of life is marked and assisted by various
methods of altering identity, and it is important to
notice that personal identity undergoes a very real
transformation, physiological and psychical, at puberty.
Wanika boys are smeared all over with white earth, so
that they cannot be recognised. At the end of the
initiation tjiey wash.^ The name being a universal
mark of identity, and often conceived of, on the
principles we have described, as a part of the organism,
is thus changed at puberty. The new name — some-
times there has not been a previous one — is practically
a new life. A Haida youth changes his name four
times.* In Nias men take a new name at marriage.*
The Aino receives a new name at puberty.^ So with
the Iroquois.* The extinct Tasmanians initiated their
boys into the rights and duties of manhood with
certain ceremonial forms. A secret name was whispered
into the boys' ears at the conclusion of the ceremony.^
In West and East Australia the boy*s new name is
whispered to him by the " sponsor.'* ® In the
Narrinyeri, Dieri, and Port Lincoln tribes boys

^ Fifth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 553. * Krapf, op, at. 147.

' G. M.DsLWtoTL, Geological Survey of CoftaJaf I ^i. * Rosenberg, 0^. c/V. 154.

^ PloMy op. cit, u 160. • MoTgam, Ancient Society^jq,

7 Featherman, op. cit. ii. 105. ^ Plo8t,0^. cit, ii. 417.

receive a new name at initiation.^ So with the
Basutos, Nufoers of New Guinea, the Samoyeds,
South Americans, New Hebrideans, and the Indians
of Nootka.* When a Japanese boy reached puberty,
a ** godfather '* cut off his fcM^ock and gave him a
new name.' Girls in Nias and Sierra Leone receive
a new name at puberty.^ In the Andamans these
names for girls are beautifully called " flower names." ^
Again, there is here practised the common custom
of sacrificing a part of the body, by way of ensuring
the security of the rest and of as^sting, by casting
it away, the renunciation of the " old man." Mandan
boys have the little finger cut oflF at puberty "as a
sacrifice to their patron deity." * Aino boys have their
hair cut at puberty ; ^ the same is done to Warrau
girls ; Carib girls have it burnt oflF. Siamese girls and
boys and Hindu boys have their hair cut.® The
practice of knocking out one or more teeth at
initiation has already been referred to. It probably
is originally intended to secure the rest of the teeth,
in especial reference to the adult's food which is now
to be eaten. Sennar boys and girls have a tooth
knocked out.® The Wakikuyu knock out both front
teeth of the bottom row at puberty.^® The Pepos of
Formosa knocked out an eye-tooth of boys " to assist
their breathing." " At the initiation of Macquarrie
boys a tooth is knocked out ; if the boy cries, the
women taunt him for being a girl.^^ An Australian

^ Native Tribes of South Australia, 51, 268, 224.

* Plots, op, cit, ii. 423, 424, 445 ; Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. 5 ; R. Andrce,
Ethnograpkiscke Parallelen, i. 174.

* PI088, op, cit, ii. 436. * Id. I.e. i Featherman, op. cit. ii. 354.

* Man, in Journ. Anthrcp. Inst. xii. 128.

* Featherman, op. cit. iii. 301 ; Ploss, op. cit. ii. 431. ' Ploss, op. cit. ii. 436.

* Id. ii. 435, 426, • Id. ii. 437. ^° Id. i. 306.
'^ /./. i. 306, ii. 424. '- Id. ii. 416.

boy, after having had two teeth knocked out, is told
that no one may see him, nor must he see any one,
" else his mouth will close up and he will die of
hunger." ^ Here, and in the Formosan case, we may
see a further reason for the practice, that is, to
facilitate eating. Probably this is an essential part
of the reason, as with the practice of filing the teeth at
puberty, the East Indian parallel of the Australian
custom.^ In Ceram after the filing of the teeth all
kinds of food are given to the child.' In the Goul-
bourn tribe, near Melbourne, two teeth are struck out
and are given to the boy's mother, who places them
on the highest bough of a young gum tree.* Here,
lastly, we have a secondary result of the custom ;
the tooth, being a part of the personality, is instinct
with the boy*s life, and may be used as a sort of
external soul.

As the initiation of boys removes them from the
effeminate and weakening sphere of woman's life, so it
also provides for a renewal of strength. The great
ceremony of Engwura is supposed by the Central
Australians to have the effect of strengthening all who
pass through it. Shortly after the beginning of the
performances, which sometimes last from September
to January, the men are separated from the women
until the end.*^ The boys are told during initiation
that the ceremony will promote their growth to man-
hood, and they are also told by tribal fathers and elder
brothers that in future they must not play with the
women and girls, nor must they camp with them as
hitherto. They have up to now gone out with the

* PloM, Op. cit. ii. 418. ' Riedel, op, cit, 228, 437 5 Skeat, op. cit. 359.

3 Riedel, op, cit. 137. * Plo8», op. cit. ii, 417.

* Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 271-74.

women hunting for food, now they begin to accom-
pany the men.^

We have seen how a man*s strength can be trans-
mitted to another by contact. This is the object of
the following customs. The first ceremony of the
initiation of boys in the Adelaide tribes is the covering
them with blood drawn from a man*s arm.* In
Western and Eastern Australia the " sponsor ** opens a
vein in his arm, which the boy sucks, and the blood is
also dripped upon the boy's back.' So in many other
tribes of Australia, as the Dieri, men are bled and the
blood is allowed to stream over the boy ; " it gives him
courage.*** On the same principle the young Masai
for some time after initiation, eats nothing but beef and
drinks nothing but blood and milk. The initiate
become the warriors, and the whole system is very like
the training of young knights in mediaeval Europe.*

" Man's meat " and the food of adults is naturally
tabooed till maturity is reached. Andamanese boys
and girls have a long list of foods they may not eat
until initiated. The taboo on each food is taken off
ceremonially. For instance, the " pig taboo " is taken
oflF by pressing a pig on to the boy's body " in token of
his becoming strong and brave." The "honey taboo"
with girls is not removed till after the birth of the
first child. The turtle " taboo " is thus removed ; the
chief boils turtle fat, and when cool pours it over the
boy's head and body, and rubs it into him. He is
then fed with turtle and nothing else for three days.*

The common rule of fasting at puberty is to prevent
dangerous influences entering the system with food. It

^ Spencer and Gillen, op.ch. 216. ^ Eyre, op. cit. ii. 333. ' Plo»8, op. cit, ii. 417.
* Id, ii. 421 ; Jottrn. Antkrop. Intt, xx. 82. * Thomson, op, cit, 187.

^ Man, in Journ, Anth^op. Inst. xii. 134, 130.

also prepares for the reception of the new food. A
frequent concomitant of fasting is the taboo against
eating with other persons. Thus, during the initiation
of Kaffir boys no one is allowed to eat with them.^
Boys or girls at puberty must fast amongst the Guay-
quiris, Uaupes, Passes, Mandans, Andamanese, Tobas,
Mataguayos, Chiriguanos, and Australians.^

Again, the ideas of sexual taboo regulate the diet ;
the most common prohibition is, of course, against
eating with the other sex, for fear of contagion. The
idea is extended thus. Women and children of the
Powell's Creek tribe may not eat bandicoot, snake, or
iguana ; ^ the reason for the two former being doubt-
less that they are connected with the origin of menstrua-
tion. For boys, women's food, either what they have
touched, or simply the species used for women's diet,
is often tabooed, for feminine weakness would be trans-
mitted by eating them. None but women and boys
not grown up are allowed by the Dyaks to eat venison,
the deer being a timid animal.* Amongst the Central
Australians a boy not circumcised may not eat large
lizards, nor may women ever do so, else they will have
an abnormal craving for sexual intercourse.* In New
South Wales a boy at initiation may not eat the emu,
this being " the woman " ; and he may not even look at
a woman ; and for some time must cover his mouth
with his rug when a woman is near. The forbidden
food is finally allowed to him, by giving him some to
eat, or rubbing him with its fat.* This introduction to
the forbidden food is a regular part of the ceremonies

^ Maclean, op. ciu 98.

2 Plost, op, ctt, ii. 429, 431, 427 ; Eyre, op, cit, ii. 293, 294.

3 yourn. Antkrop, Inst, xxiv. 179. * Low, op. cit. 266.

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. 471, 473.

^ yourn. Antkrop. Inst, xiii. 455.

which end ** initiation " ; and it is to be observed how
youths are inoculated against the dangers even of
eating with women and of eating women's food.

Another method of emphasising the newness of life
is that the boy receives an external soul in various
forms, a tutelar divinity, or guardian angel ; this is
perhaps connected with the idea that the soul may
escape in the act of union with women, as it is un-
doubtedly based on a psychological characteristic of
puberty, that desire for the new and the strange, that
romantic aspiration after ideals and guiding-stars, which
is part of the blossoming of love, and has such an
important connection with religion. It is here, indeed,
that the psychological dependence of the religious
faculty on the sexual first appears. Thus, the Iroquois
boy fasted, until he dreamt of the spirit that was to be
his good angel. The figure in which he appeared was
tattooed upon the body of the boy, and rules were to
be observed in order to obtain the favour and avoid the
displeasure of the tutelar spirit.^ The North Carolina
boy at puberty looked for a tutelar spirit in his dreams.
Anything that struck him particularly was chosen. He
took his name from it.^ The young Chippeway at
puberty fasts and watches, in order to find his guardian
manitou} The Salish boy at puberty went into the
forest, where he remained secluded, until some animal,
bird or fish, appeared to him in a dream. This became
his tutelary deity, and a claw, feather, or tooth of such
was used as a protecting talisman.* In many of these
cases there is found, as Dr. Frazer has pointed out,^ the
idea that the boy receives into himself the divine person.
But this is a form of new life, and it thus correlates with

* Featherman, of>, cit, iii. 42. 2 pioig^ op, cit. ii. 431.

• Featherman, op, cit, iii. 260. * Id, iii. 368. ^ Frazer, 0/. aV.^ iji. 422.

XIII PATRONS— BULLROARERS 305

the idea of obtaining new life and strength by new food
and similar methods. Thus, in the Arunta tribe, while
circumcision is being performed, bullroarers are con-
tinuously sounded, so as to be easily heard by the
women and children. By them it is supposed that the
roaring is the voice of the great spirit Twanyirika^
who has come to take the boy away. This spirit only
appears when a boy is initiated. He enters his body
after the operation, and leaves him after his seclusion.
The same belief is found in most Australian tribes.^
The Arunta explanation of impregnation is that an
ancestor is re-incarnated in the form of a " spirit child,"
who enters a woman ; when this takes place a churinga
(a sacred object identical with the buUroarer used at
initiation by most Australians) is found at the place.
Each churinga — the tribe possesses a collection — is
identified with an ancestor. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen
infer that they are a modification of the common idea
of the "external soul," by which the man's life is
secured by being hidden away in a material object.
The Kurnai identify the bullroarer used at initiation
with a great ancestor, Turndun. When the old men
reveal these objects to the boys, they say "we will
show you your grandfather."^ Considerable mystery
is attached by the Arunta to their sacred objects,
churinga^ " a mystery which," say Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen, " has probably had a large part of its origin in
the desire of the men to impress the women of the
tribe with an idea of the supremacy and superior power
of the male sex." "The churinga is supposed to
endow the possessor with courage and accuracy of aim,
and also to deprive his opponent of these qualities. So
firm is their belief in this that if two men were fighting

' Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 246. ^ Fison and Howitt, op, at, 198.

and one of them knew that the other carried a churinga
while he did not, he would certjunly lose heart at once
and without doubt be beaten."^ Now amongst the
Australians of the Arunta and neighbouring tribes, and
the Yaroinga tribe, a man can charm a woman to love
him, and a woman can do the same to a man, by
making a noise with a bullroarer. The humming
seems to be a sort of spiritual invitation ; the belief, at
least, is that the man or woman thus charmed, immedi-
ately comes to the person using the charm. This is
actually a marriage ceremony.^ We may suppose, then,
that the use of the bullroarer at initiation is concerned
with this new life in its sexual aspect, and that sexual
strength for procreation is imparted by the ancestral
spirits. The suggestion is corroborated by the Dieri
custom and belief. A bullroarer is given to each boy
at puberty. If a woman were to see it, the people
would have no snakes or lizards. The boy on receiv-
ing it " becomes inspired by Murauma^ who makes the
noise, and it causes a supply of snakes." * The connec-
tion of the serpent and the male organ seems thus to
explain the well-known initiation custom of the use of
the bullroarer.

Initiation makes men and women, and prepares boys
and girls for the responsibilities of contact with the
other sex. The two quotations which follow illustrate
this. In South Australia a stupid old man whom the
natives have not deemed worthy "of receiving the
honours of their ceremonies " was still called a boy.*
In Australia universal law forbids a man to marry until
after the ceremonies are performed by which the status

^ Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 137, 130.

2 Id, 541, 542, 545 J W. E. Roth, Aborigines of North- fFeit Central ^eemlandy 162.

' Howitt, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst. xx. 83. * Eyre, op. cit. \\. 201.

xrri PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE 307

of young men is reached.' Instruction in future duties
is often imparted ; thus Swahili girls at puberty are
instructed in matters relating to sex.* Apache girls on
arriving at a marriageable age were instructed by the
chief in the duties and responsibilities of married life.'

But there are other methods of preparing each
sex for their mutual relations. The artificial rupture
of the hymen sometimes takes place in infancy, but
generally at puberty.* The reason for this we have
already given ; the idea of a possible impediment is
associated by the savage with certain physical peculiari-
ties, such as the hymen. By removing this, both physical
difficulties are removed, and the spiritual dangers that
arise from the contemplation of the physical fact are
also obviated. Fears of female contamination and of
the performance for the first time of dangerous acts are
also thus removed, and the material property of taboo
which emanates fi-om such is taken off by handselling.
It is often combined, as in Australia, with a cere-
monial act of intercourse which has the same object
of preparing the woman for married life by removing
imaginary dangers.^

Other peoples satisfy these fears by a '* rehearsal " of
the act, for the safety both of the male and of the
female. At the puberty ceremonies performed on
girls in Ceram no man may enter the house. One of
the old women takes a leaf, and ceremonially perforates
it with her finger, as a symbol of the perforation of the
hymen. After the ceremony the girl has free liberty of
intercourse with men ; in some villages old men have
access to her the same evening.' Amongst the Galelas

' Curt, e/. cil. i. io6. ' PloM, op. cir. u. 437. ' ¥atheTia*a,tf.iir. iii. 190.

• yon. jimirif. Isil. iiiv. ibS, 169 [Auitralian triba).

' Spenter uid Gillea, o/}. cir. 93 ff. ; Plan, nf. lit. i. 376,

• Riedel,^, cit. ij8.

and Tobelorese of Halmahera, boys are initiated at
puberty in the festival oi osi (G.) imalauhu or mahoiki
(T.). A number are brought into a large shed, in
which are two tables, one for the men and one for the
women, who must be separated while eating. An old
man solemnly rubs a piece of wood, which makes water
red, into a vessel of water, imitating while doing this,
the act of coitus. This is done for each boy, whose
name is called out. The red water represents the
blood which results from the perforation of the hymen.
The faces and bodies of the boys are smeared with this
red water. Red is regarded as the colour of life and
well-being. The boys then go to the woods, where
they must expose themselves to the sun as much
as possible.^ The second feature of this Halmahera
ceremony leads us to a further point. The religious
importance of women's blood has been described by
Dr. Frazer. The object of smearing the boys with
the red water, symbolical of the blood shed at the per-
foration of the hymen, is to secure them from the
harm, which the ideas treated of in this book explain,
that may arise from sexual intercourse. The method
is the familiar one of " inoculation." External appli-
cation is a method of transmission, as we have seen,
and sympathetic inoculation is a form of this. There
is also to be observed the injunction that the boys must
expose themselves to the sun. This fact taken in
conjunction with the sun-taboo common at puberty,
goes to show the origin of this idea, namely,
that heat, natural or artificial, is a concomitant
of sexual desire. The connection between fire and
sex is also emphasised by the similarity in colour
of fire and blood, and by the combination in one

^ Riedel, in Zeituhrift fur Ethnologie, xvii. 8i, 82.

ceremony of painting the body red and exposure to
the sun.

This " sympathetic " rehearsal is obviously intended
to " initiate " the youths into the mystery of sexual
union, and also to neutralise its dangers. I cannot see
in the Halmahera custom any trace of a symbolical
pretence of begetting them anew, as Dr. Frazer thinks
is the meaning.^

The origin of circumcision has been already sug-
gested. There is also often to be traced the idea that,
by removing a part of the organism, dangerous and in
danger as it is, these dangers are neutralised ; this
passes later into the notion that thus its "impurity"
is removed, and the sexual act made less gross. A
common practice, corresponding to circumcision of
males, is the " excision " of girls at puberty, as
amongst the Amakosa and Loanda tribes, the Masai
and Wakuasi,^ and the same idea is doubtless the
origin of the practice.

There is next to be noticed in a remarkable set of
customs a practice which also shows the object of these
precautions ; this is, in its simpler form, the introduc-
tion of the " initiate " to the opposite sex ; in its com-
pleter form, there is sexual or other intercourse. The
idea is of the same nature as that of " inoculation," as
seen in the Halmahera custom, and is parallel to a
** trial " of sexual relations. Now that the individual
is prepared to meet the complementary sex, he must do
so ; for, however strong sexual taboo may be, men and
women must meet, in marriage at least ; and thus the
two sexes make " trial " of each other, as if the prepara-
tion necessitated putting it to the test ; and thereby
each sex is practically " inoculated " against the other,

^ Frazer, op. cit.^ HI. 441. ^ Ploss,©^. cit. i. 384.

by being " inoculated " with each other, in view of the
more permanent alliance of wedlock. We saw this
practice followed in Australia after the ceremonial rup-
ture of the hymen. So, immediately after circumcision,
a Ceramese boy must have intercourse with some girl,
it matters not with whom, "by way of curing the
wound." This is continued till the' blood ceases to
flow.^ In certain tribes of Central Africa both boys
and girls after initiation must as soon as possible have
intercourse, the belief being that if they do not they
will die.^ Narrinyeri boys during initiation after the
preliminary rites had complete licence as regarda un-
married females, not only such as they might lawfully
marry, but even those of their own clan and totem*
After the seclusion of a Kaffir girl at puberty, she b
allowed to cohabit with any one during a festal period
which follows ; and Kaffir boys after being circumcised
are allowed to seize any unmarried women they please,
and have connection with them.* A similar custom is
found on the Congo.^ The Muhammadan negroes of
the Senegal are circumcised at fourteen. They arc
looked after for a month, during which time they walk
about in a procession. "They may commit during
this period any violence against girls, except rape and
murder." After the month is up, they are men.* A
Zulu girl at puberty goes through a ceremonial process.
Secluded in a special hut, she is attended by twelve or
fourteen girls. " No married man may come near the
dwelling, and should any one do so he is beaten awav
by the girls, who attack him most viciously with sticb
and stones. During her seclusion the neophyte must

1 J. G. F. Ricdcl, De sluik-en kroeiharige rassen tusschen SeUbes en Papua^ 130.

2 Macdonald, Africana, i. 126. ^ Howitt, in Jcurn. Antkrcp. Inst. xiL "-
* Maclean, o/>. cit. lOl, 98. ^ Journ. Anthrcp. Inst. xxVi, 100.

* Rea«ie, c/>. cit. 4 ; 1 .

on no account see or address any man, married or
unmarried." At the end of the period a number of
girls and unmarried men have intercourse in the hut.
After a further period of seclusion the girl bathes and
is " clean," and after the perforation of the hymen by
two old women, she is a woman.^ After initiation to
the warrior's set, El^Moratiy the Masai young men
associated freely with girls ; in fact each El-Moran had
a lady who went about with him, and the practice was
very similar to that known in the Europe of Chivalry,
— the girl, for instance, puts on the warrior's armour
for him.*

The introduction to adults' food contains the same
idea, and often is " inoculation " against contagion of
women's food and eating with women. Before their
initiation Halmaherese boys may not eat fisang or
fowls. At the end of the initiation feast women give
to the boys pisang and fowl's flesh to eat.* The idea
was illustrated in connection with the removal of food-
taboos at puberty.

The idea also assumes other forms in which we sec
both the savage impulse towards " make-believe," and
the recognition that certain characteristics of puberty
and puberty ceremonies alike have relation to sexual
complementary function, a recognition developed, as so
often by sexual taboo, into sexual antagonism. This
sexual hostility appeared in some of the last few
examples. Bamangwato girls at puberty go about in
bands, and beat boys of their age with whips. The
latter are not considered men until they have endured
this ordeal without flinching. The girls also in their

^ Macdonald, in Journ, Antkrop, Inst, xx, 117, 118.

2 Thomson, op, cit, 187.

' J. G. F. Riedel, in Zdtickrift fur Ethntdogie, xvii. 82.

turn have to endure certain ill-usage from the boys.^
This is also done by proxy. At the feast to celebrate
the puberty of a Mura boy men and women beat each
other with whips until the blood comes. It is an " act
of love."^ As often in such cases, especially when
general licence takes place, the sympathy of others is
shown in the most practical way. What is in effect
the last phase of the Engwura^ or final initiation
ceremony of the Arunta, is a dance performed by
young women, by way of invitation to men ; and " at
this period of the ceremonies a general interchange
and also a lending of women takes place, and visiting
natives are provided with temporary wives." This
woman's dance goes on every night for two or three
weeks.^ Here we can see " sympathy " at work, and
the union of society efFected, not by " promiscuity,"
but by a sacred exchange, which assists the future
union of the young people. This sexual sympathy
passing into antagonism is sometimes fulfilled by one
sex assuming the apparel of the other. Amongst the
Basutos the initiation both of youths and girls at
puberty was called polio. It was not held at the same
time for both sexes. The ceremony was incumbent
upon every member of the community at the proper
age. All who passed through it together, formed " a
guild of friends." The candidates went out into the
country — here we speak of the boys' polio — and no
woman dared come near them. Their food was pre-
pared by the men in charge, who instructed them in
male duties, and put them through tests of endurance.
They were circumcised, and after the operation wore
aprons for three months. The girls likewise were taken

'^ Id, ii. 427.

^ Plosi, o/». cit. i. 381, 382.

' Spencer and Gillen, o/>. cit. 381.

into the country, and were instructed by the women in
female duties. They were smeared with ashes. No
male might come near them. " The women folk acted
like mad people during this time ; they went about
performing curious mummeries, wearing men's clothes,
and carrying weapons, and were very saucy to men
they met." ^ At the second initiation ceremony of the
Arunta there are women who dance, carrying shields
(the men's property) ; shields are never carried by
women except on this occasion.^

Lastly, as the ceremonies of initiation prepare the
two sexes for contact with each other, and are followed
by introduction and intercourse, the practice is, so far,
a preliminary marriage ceremony, in which a boy or
girl is married to the other sex in ex tens 0 ; more than
this, however, is often the case, and " initiation " is
actually marriage. Savage women, and to some extent
men also, are marriageable and married at puberty,
and the combination of ceremonies is a natural one.
The ideas of sexual taboo, I take it, have caused the
deferring of marriage to a later date. There are
several examples which show the link between initiation
ceremonies and marriage, which it is hardly necessary
to quote. For instance Loanda girls eight days before
marriage are excised by a medicine-man.^ Amongst
the Central Australian tribes the ceremony performed
on girls at puberty is actually their marriage rite,
though as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen point out, it
serves as an initiation for the girls.* For the boys the
initiation means more than this, but it also includes a
reference to marriage ; for instance after the first of

* Endemann, in Zeitickriji fur Ethnolcgie for 1874, 37 ^*

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 220.

' PI0S8, op. cit. i. 384. * Spencer and Gillen, op, cit. 93.

the initiatory ceremonies the boy is painted by the man
who is Umbima to him, i.e. brother of the woman he
may marry. Also the woman who will be the boy's
mother-in-law, runs off with him, but the men bring
him back again.^ Amongst the Kamilaroi the novice
is taken from the women by the men of that " clan "
to which belong the women he may select his wife
from. Each novice has a ** guardian " of that clan.-

Sect. 2

In primitive society the young man and maiden are
required to avoid each other from their engagement
until marriage. This taboo is a repetition for two
particular individuals of the taboo at puberty between
the two sexes generally. The principle here also is to
prevent all intercouse until the particular ceremonies
which obviate the dangers of the new relation, mutual
" contagion " between two particular persons, have been
performed, and to prepare them for these and for the
new state of life, — the taboo of avoidance being thought
to be in itself some guarantee of future safety. The
dangers are those of sexual taboo, here naturally
emphasised, for the two sexes are now to meet ; they
coincide, as they are in origin connected, with that
mutual diffidence arising from complementary sexual
difference and accentuated at the awakening of love, —
the shyness of sex. The young people are about to
enter upon a critical state, that of living in more or
less close contact with each other, and as that state
derives its dangers from their reciprocal influence, a
taboo is set between them until it is removed by the

' Spencer and Gillen, op, dr. 215, 443. 2 J^c^urn. Anthrop, Inst. xxiv. 420.

ceremony which unites them while rendering them
mutually innocuous.

The practice naturally coincides with the desire of
parents to keep the couple waiting till arrangements
are completed, and to prevent union until they are
bound together, such premature union being thought
especially dangerous, and in later culture sinful, while
in all stages it leaves repudiation open to the man with
consequent injury to the woman. Amongst the Nickol
Bay natives girls promised in marriage are not allowed
to speak to their future husbands, and are said to be
torka to them.^ So in the Newcastle tribe, when an
old man promises a young friend that he shall have his
wife after his death, the husband-expectant is forbidden
to speak to his future wife or sit in a hut in which she
is.^ After betrothal in Nias, Borneo, and the Watubella
Islands, no communication between the pair is allowed
till the wedding.* In Bum, Ceram, and Luang Sermata,
a youth when engaged may not go near his fiancee^
look at her, or speak to her.* In Abyssinia during
the time of betrothal, generally three or four months,
the girl is strictly confined to the house. Intercourse
with her friends is not interrupted, but she remains
entirely invisible to the young man, who meanwhile
frequently visits her father.* The lover in South
Arabia sends his father or some near relative to ask
for the lady's hand, and from the moment the proposal
is accepted the girl can no longer go abroad unveiled,
and she and her betrothed arc no longer permitted to
visit or to have any other personal relations with one
another.^ Amongst the Dorahs children arc betrothed

' Curr, op, cit. i. 298, * Id, i. 324.

^ Rosenberg, Het eiUmd Nias, 38 ; Perelaer, op, cit, 50 ; Riedel, De tluik-en
kroesharige rasun tusscktn Seiches en Papua, 205.

* W. 21, 134, 324. * Featherman, op, cit, v. 604. • Id. v. 421.

at an early age, and part of the " purchase-money " is
paid then. Henceforth all intercourse between the two
families is interrupted, and they are prohibited from
speaking to one another, and the bride and bridegroom
are not allowed to see each other, or even pronounce
each other's name. Similarly amongst the Ayamboris
of New Guinea.^ Elsewhere in New Guinea betrothed
persons may not see each other. Should they meet
on the road, the girl must hide behind a tree until
the young man has passed.* Amongst the Lampongs
and Menangkabauers of Sumatra no communication is
allowed between betrothal and marriage.' " The Malay
fiancee^ unlike her European sister, is at the utmost
pains to keep out of her lover's way, and to attain
this object she is said to be as watchful as a tiger." *
The Wataveta bridegroom pays the "bride-price" in
bullocks, sometimes by instalments. After one payment
the bride is " sealed " to him. She is not allowed to go
out of the house, and may on no account see a man, not
even her betrothed. If the latter is poor, the engage-
ment may last, as it often does in civilised races, for
years.^ Amongst the Jews of Morocco the pair never
see each other from the engagement to the marriage.*^

It IS a curious fact, which will later be shown to
have considerable importance, that the taboo between
engaged couples reproduces the common taboo between
a lyother and sister ; in other words, their state is a
re-presentation of life in the family, where sister and
brother are kept apart, and the "sanctity" of the
home, in the primitive sense, is preserved by the mother
on the principles of sexual taboo.

* Featherman, 0/>. cit. \\. 33, 383. - Zeitschrlft fur Ethnolcgiey viii. i8o.
^ Horst, in De Indische Gids (1880), 978 ; Van Hasselt, yolkibeschrijving Middof

Sumatra Sy 275. * Skeat, op. cit. 366.

* Thomson, op. cit, 61. ^ Lcared, cp. cit. 34.

Lastly, these principles also supply the reason wiiy
betrothal is generally carried out by proxies, and why
sometimes a man does not even woo his lady-love in
person. Thus amongst the Kaffirs, when the suitor
calls to make the acquaintance of the girl, the latter
speaks to him through her brother, for she will not
speak to him direct.^ Amongst the Yao and allied
tribes there is an institution which we might call
" surety " or " god-parent." Every girl has a surety ;
and when her hand is sought in marriage it is this
official who is approached and not her parents. He
makes the necessary arrangements and sees what pro-
vision is to be made for her and her children, and also
in the event of her being sent away without just cause,
he interferes, and generally redresses her wrongs.^
" Representatives " of the Malay suitor visit the girl's
parents to perform the betrothal. After matters are
arranged, one of these presents some betel^ brought for
the purpose, to the people of the house, saying " This is
a pledge of your daughter's betrothal." The father
replies : " Be it so, I accept it." * Sometimes the
mothers perform this office ; amongst the Iroquois
the young girl was led by her mother to the bride-
groom's lodge, and on entering she presented to her
mother-in-law a few cakes of maize. The mother of
the groom returned the compliment by offering some
venison to the bride's mother. " This interchange of
bread and meat gave final sanction to the marriage,
and the young couple were now looked upon as man
and wife." *

* Shooter, op. c'tt. 56. ' Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxii. 118.

2 Skeat, op. cit. 365. * Fcathcrman, op. cit. iii. 28.

Chapter XIV

Kbw p^^pfes^ tf any, of those knovn to as» are without
^A^oftc xttirra^c ocmnony. As to tdStose who are ssad
to^ rv^^c^ none, it will generally be nxzod that there is
^Hti:c Jict performed which is too s£gSit or too practical
tv> b< marked by an observer as a ** ocrcniony," but
whkh when analysed turns out to be a real marriage
njte. Two common modes of maiil^e amongst the
Aninta and other Central Australian tribes illustrate
tluSy and also go to prove the conecmess €)f the view
here put forward, that marriage rites of union are
essentially identical with love-charms, and that other
marriage rites coincide with precautions taken to lessen
the dangers of contact between the sexes» not only in
ordinary life, but at the critical stage of puberty. A
man or woman in the Arunta tribe can charm a person
of the other sex to love, by making mu^c with a buU-
roarer. If he or she soon comes to the musician, the
marriage is thereby complete.^ This method is a love-
charm in the Yaroinga tribe.- The other method b
the perforation of the hfmen^ at once an initiatory and a
marriage ceremony.^ In fiict, the mere act of union
is potentially a marriage ceremony of the sacramental
kind» and as the ideas of contact develop directly from
physiological functions, one may even credit the earliest

^ Spcactf lai Cill«u ^ at. 541, 542. * Roth, t^ a tSi.

' Spencer aaa GilLou i^. czr. 95 n.

CHAP. XIV MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 319

animistic men with some such vague conception before
any ceremony became crystallised.

Marriage being the permanent living-together of a
man and woman, what is the essence of a marriage
ceremony ? It is the "joining together " of a man and
a woman, in the words of our English Service "for
this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and
shall be joined unto his wife ; and they two shall be
one flesh." At the other side of the world, amongst
the Orang Benuas, these words are pronounced by an
elder, when a marriage is solemnised : " Listen all
ye that are present ; those that were distant are now
brought together ; those that were separated are now
united." ^ Marriage ceremonies in all stages of culture
may be called religious with as much propriety as any
ceremony whatever ; but this religious character in
most cases, and practically always except in the highest
stages, concerns the human relations of the human pair.
I have shown above how in primitive thought human
relations contain the essentials of a religious character.
I need not recapitulate here the principles of human
relations as expressed in ideas of contact, or their
application to relations between the two sexes. Before
marriage, and in many cases also after marriage, the
sexes are separated by these ideas of sexual taboo ; at
marriage, they are joined together by the same ideas,
worked out, in the most important set of rites, to their
logical conclusion in reciprocity of relations. Those
who were separated are now joined together, those who
were mutually taboo, now break the taboo. In the
higher stages the ceremony lifts the union into the
ideal plane, as, for instance, symbolising the mystic
union of Christ and His Church ; or, as in Brahmin

^ Newbold, British Settlements in Malacca, ii. 407.

marriages, where the bridegroom says to th
am the sky, thou art the earth ; come let
words referring to " the two great parents of the Aryan
race, as the Rig-Veda calls them, Dyaushpitar and
Prthivi malar? It is also unnecessary to recapitulate
the various dangers which have been shown responsible
for the taboo between the sexes and the various sexual
properties of which the contagion is feared, all of which
lead to the implicit idea that not only all contact of
man and woman, but the slate of marriage itself, is
harmful and later, sinful, in fact theoretically for-
bidden. Hence the conception that marriage ceremonies
"prevent" this danger and this sin. It is sufficient
merely to state that the ceremonies of marriage are
intended to neutralise these dangers and to make the
union safe, prosperous, and happy. With this is con-
necled the wish to bind the one to the other, so as to
prevent, if possible, later repudiation. This, by the
way, is exactly the idea held by the average man still.
I may also point out here that the object of marriage
ceremonies is not and never was, to join together the
man or the woman, as the case may be, with " the life,
or blood, or flesh of the iribe." There is no trace of
this sentimental socialism in primitive society, though
there are facts which look like it, no more than there
is or ever was a community of wives; marriage is,
between individuals and is an individualistic act.
mere existence of the egoistic impulse, not to be casus
identified with jealousy, is enough to discredit the
suggestion; and the tendency of society from primitive
animalism upwards has been from individualism to
socialism. It is a perversion of history and of psycho-
logy as well, to make man more communistic the more

e U_

primitive he is. There may be a few isolated cases in
peoples whose tribal solidarity has become pronounced,
where the later legal notion has arisen, but since in
nearly all such cases, marriage is allowed within the
tribe (exogamy nearly always sanctioning cousin -
marriage), there can be no original intention of making
tribe -fellows of two persons who are already tribe -
fellows. Nor did any man ever yet marry a tribe,
although in the humorous side of life, relatives are
sometimes found to act as if he did ; no man ever yet
felt the tribal blood surge through his veins as he
drank wine with his wife in the marriage ceremony.
True, a new relationship is formed, a new member
enters the family or tribe (rarely the latter), but this
idea is secondary, and does not touch the marriage
ceremony except in a few cases as referred to, in which
it is very probable that the report is half inference, in
any case it is a pseudo-scientific piece of myth-making,
whether on the part of observer or native informant.
The Church in her marriage service shows more insight
than many ethnologists, when she repeats the words
** for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother
and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be
one flesh." The word " flesh," by the way, does not by
any means refer to kinship or tribal union, as who
should say in late human parlance "one blood." Even
in the Hebrew the individual meaning is the primary
one. This is also recognised by our Service ; "So
ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man
ever yet hated his own flesh." Lastly, is it fear of
the tribe that makes a maid veil her face before her
intended husband, or a bridegroom dress up as a
woman ? The inadequacy of the theory is evident in

every kind of marriage rite. We shall recur to this
when discussing " group-marriage " and relationships.

Marriage ceremonies neutralise the dangers attaching
to union between the sexes, in all the complex meaning
of those dangers. The ritual may be divided into two
classes, corresponding to the two divisions of ideas con-
cerning contact, those namely that obviate or neutralise
the dangers of taboo ( i ) by one or more of the simple
methods, (2) by one or more of the double or complex
methods, typified by ngia ngiampe or mutual inocula-
tion. The first breaks taboo by removing or neutralis-
ing the taboo property, the second breaks taboo between
two persons by breaking it, i.e. by assimilating the two
persons, inoculating them with each other, the principle
coinciding with that of union. Marriage sums up all
the principles and practice of sexual taboo, as any close
union between any two persons sums up those of social
taboo, and in the details it will frequently be obvious
how some ceremony answers to some taboo, as a positive
to a negative.

Lastly, when we find only one or two sorts of
ceremonies referring directly to sexual intercourse, while
the others refer to ordinary contact, with special refer-
ence to eating together, and generally to the state of
living together in contact, we need not refer marriage
ceremonies generally to fear of danger from sexual
intercourse alone, or from female periodicity ; these
take their place as parts of the whole, as they do in
sexual taboo.

It is interesting to note the materialistic power
attached to the marriage rite, as shown, for instance,
in Burmah. It is believed in that country that when a
wife dies in child-bed she becomes a maleficent demon.
Accordingly, when a wife does die thus, the husband

at once gets a divorce.^ In Java if a man wishes to be
divorced, the priest cuts the "marriage -cord" before
witnesses, and this simple act severs the nuptial tie.*
We may also note that with many peoples, and the
fact is instructive, there is less ceremonial when a widow
is married.' In cases where the " paternal system " is
followed, there should on the tribal theory of marriage,
be no ceremony at all when a widow is married, because
she has already the life of the tribe flowing in her
veins ; but there is some ceremony. It is reduced
precisely because she has been through the same thing
before, and is therefore less in danger from men and
less dangerous. She has been handselled.

For practical purposes, as is hardly necessary to
premise, the complex fears of men and women are
often subconscious, or are only expressed as a feeling
of diffidence with regard to the novel proceedings, and
also are not always focussed on the personality of either
party with its inherent dangerous properties nor stimu-
lated by conscious realisation of particular dangers.
Potentially the consciousness has knowledge of all the
principles, and cross-examination might elicit most, but
actually the fears are vague, they are fears of vague
strangeness and danger. We have, however, seen cases
where the individual in marriage is consciously aware
that it is his human partner who is to be feared, and
others will occur as we proceed. Amongst the Mord-
vins, as the bridegroom's party sets out for the house
of the bride, the " best man " marches thrice round the
party with a drawn sword or scythe, imprecating curses
upon ill-wishers. In Nizh^orod the " best man " walks
thrice round the party, against the sun, holding an

' D'Urirille, tf. at. i. 17J. * FeathenDan, of. cii, ii. 383,

* Sknt, cp. cit. jSi \ "Jim. AMhrtp. Imt. xxiv. 1 1 ; Line, if. cii. i. 195.

eikon. Then he places himself in front of them, and
scratches the ground with a knife, cursing evil spirits
and evilly disposed persons.^ In the county of Durham
men with guns used to escort the bridal party to
church. The guns were fired at intervals over the
heads of the bride and bridesmaids. In Cleveland guns
were fired over the heads of the newly married pjur all
the way from church.^ In China it was supposed that
when a new bride in her chair passed a cert^n place,
evil spirits would approach and injure her, causing her
to be ill ; hence the figure of a great magician (a Taoist
priest) riding a tiger, and brandishing a sword, was
painted in front.* In Manchuria, when the bridal
sedan-chair arrives at the bridegroom's house, the door
is shut and crackers are fired to keep ofF "evil spirits."*
Again, in South Arabia the bride goes in procession to
the bridegroom's dwelling, her turban ornamented in
front with a bouquet of garlic as a protection against the
" evil eye." ^ In Manchuria the bride is taken in pro-
cession to the bridegroom's house. Two men run in
front, each holding a red cloth, by which it is intended
to ward off evil influences ; ^ an excellent application of
the man with the red flag. Also the sedan-chair in
which she goes to the bridegroom's house is * Mis-
infected" with incense, to drive away evil spirits, and
in it is put a calendar containing names of idols who
control the demoniacal hosts. Again, before a bride is
taken out of her sedan-chair, on arriving at the bride-
groom's house, he fires three arrows at the blinds."
Amongst the Bechuanas the bridegroom throws an
arrow into the hut before he enters to take his bride.*

1 Folklore^ i. 445. ^ W. Henderson, Folklore of the Northern Counties, 38.

3 Doolittle, op, cit. i. 95. * Fclklore, i. 487. » Featherman, op. cit. v. 422.

• Folklore, Lc. ' Id, l,c, « Journ, Anthrop, Inst. xvi. 83.

So the Andamanese bridegroom when introduced to his
bride has some arrows put in his hand.* Amongst the
Bheels and Bheelalahs the groom touches the "marriage- '
shed " with a sword.* Thus is to be expl^ned, and
not as a survival of "marriage by capture," the old
Roman custom, in which the bridegroom combed the
bride's hair with a spear, the calibaris kasta}

The practice of throwing rice originated in the idea
of giving food to the evil influences to induce them to
be propitious and depart, but in many cases it seems to
have developed into 3 sympathetic method of securing
fertility, and on the other hand is regarded by some
peoples as an inducement to the soul to stay. In
Celebes, for instance, there is a belief that the bride-
groom's soul is apt to fly away at marriage, and rice
is therefore scattered over him to induce it to remain.*
Flour and sweetmeats similarly in old Greek custom
were poured over the new bridegroom." Where, as
often in folk-custom, such things are flung about
among the onlookers, the idea was originally of the
type first described. The nuts used thus at old Roman '
weddings are a well-known instance.*

A common class of preliminary ceremonial includes
various kinds of lustration or purification, the inner
meaning of which is to neutralise the mutual dangers
of contact. Before the wedding the bridegroom in
South Celebes bathes in holy water. The bride is
also fumigated.^ Shortly before the wedding day the
Abyssinian girl has a thorough ablution and her diet is
restricted.* When the Matabcle bride arrives at the

' Feathermin, of., cit. ii. 131. * Jotrn. Atitkrtf. laa. ix. 404.

' FnCui, 44 ; Plntirch, Suttmaitt Ramans, 87. * MaCthe*, y. lit. ]].

» Scholuit on AriitophiDM, Pltnu, 768. • FaCui, igj.

' Matlhet, If. cii. II. ' Feathemun, tp, til. v. 604.

i^S

THE MTSnC RGBE

CHAP.

'•'-•-**»:•«•

«i*.it«ini «•

's faciise she poors w^ter^OTer hiin.^ Pari-
6cst6oa bf wster fiarms ^an integral part of Malay
costocns at birth, adolcscrnce, maiflage, sickfyss, death,
and, in hct, at ew€rj critical period of the life of a
Miky.^ ^ In all these it b called iepong tawar^ which
properly means ''the neutralising rice-^ovir water,
Deotrafisii]^ haoig used almost in a chemical sense, U.
in the sense of 'sterilising' the active elem^it of
poisons, or of destroyii^ the active potentialities of

Amongst the Malays lustrations are
by the newly married pair for three days.
The fim ceremonies at a wedding consist in fomigating
the bride and groom with incense, and then smeanng
them with ^ neutralising paste " whidi averts " Ul-Iuck." '
Here the idea emerges into conscious realisation of the
persons to be feared.

We saw that initiation practices are theoretically
marriage ceremonies by which the individual is married
in abstract to the other sex — ^that is, prepared for the
dangers of intercourse. Naturally the two are often
combined or show similarity of rite. Thus in British
Guiana a young man before marriage undergoes an
ordeal ; his flesh is wounded, and he is sewn into a
hammock full of fire-ants.* Amongst the Sakalavas
and Betsileo the aspirant to a lady's hand has to be shot
at with spears ; he is expected to show cleverness and
courage by avoiding them.* In Fiji girls are tattooed
at puberty or immediately after marriage. During the
process of healing they are iabu siga^ " kept from the
sun."* In connection with this, we have seen the mean-
ing of the prohibition and may note that, as danger

' yourfi. Anthtof>. Intt. xxiii. 84.

• Skeat, 9f>. cir. 77, 385, 376.

• Journ, Anthr9p. Init. ix. 42.

^ Skeat, op. cit. 278.

* im Thurn, op, cit, 221.

® Williams, op, cit, i. 170.

xrv UGHT AND DARKNESS 327

is obviated by refraining from such exposure, in the
same way as by abstinence at marriage, superstition and
self-control alike being thus satisfied, so, when the
individual is spiritually prepared, exposure or satis-
fection becomes safe and even beneficial. After
initiation Halmahera boys must expose themselves to
the sun.' Similar was the custom amongst the Hindus,,
by which the bride had to look at the sun on the
day before marriage.* In Central Asia the young
pair greet the rising sun. Similarly amongst the
Chacos.' The fertilising power of the sun is
now useful and a blessing. We may compare our
proverb, " Happy is the bride on whom the sun
shines."

Weddings very commonly take place in the evening,
or at night, a custom natural enough for its convenience
and its obviation of dangers, such as that of the evil
eye and those connected with human, and especially
with female, shyness and timidity. Taken in con-
nection with the last custom, we may without excess
of fancifulness note the coincidence with nature's
method of shrouding her processes of production in
mystery and darkness, and of revealing their results
in the light. Amongst the Santhals marriages take
place at night, and the bride is conveyed to her
husband in a basket.* In Morocco and the Babar
Islands, amongst the Maoris, the Copts, and Polish
Jews, to take a few cases, marriages are made after
sunset or at night.^ Amongst the ancient Romans the
bridegroom had to go to his bride in the dark, a
custom on which Plutarch speculates in his " Roman

' J. G. F. Riedd, in Ziinckrifi fir Ethulii£ie, ivii. St.

' Fnier, if. tit.' a\. iii. * IJ. l.t. ^ E. G. Man, Sairialit, 9S, 99.

* Leirad, ef. tit. ( J. C. F. Riedel, Di i/kH-im imiiariit raiia Imthn Sildti
« Pafaa, 3J0 i SfiortUnd, tf. la. 140 ; Featbtrroio, if. tit. v. 509, ijj.

Questions." ^ Amongst the Zulus it is against etiquette
for the bridal party to enter the brid^room's hut in
the day-time.^

In the next place, we find various customs by which
the young people hide, from vague evil, or from each
other. In these customs, which pass into various sorts
of seclusion, concealment, and veiling, the real meaning
of such marriage ceremonial is often very clearly seen.
Sexual shyness not only in woman but in man, is inten-
sified at marriage, and forms a chief feature of the dan-
gerous sexual properties mutually feared. When fully
ceremonial, the idea takes on the meaning that satisfaction
of these feelings will lead to their neutralisation, as in fact
it does. The bridegroom in ancient Sparta supped on
the wedding-night at the men*s mess, and then visited his
bride, leaving her before daybreak. This practice was
continued, and sometimes children were born before the
pair had ever seen each other's faces by day.* At weddings
in the Babar Islands the bridegroom has to hunt for his
bride in a darkened room. This lasts a good while if
she is shy.* In South Africa the bridegroom may not
see his bride till the whole of the marriage ceremonies
have been performed.^ In Persia a husband never sees
his wife till he has consummated the marriage.^ At
marriages in South Arabia the bride and bridegroom
have to sit immovable in the same position from noon
till midnight, fasting, in separate rooms. The bride is
attended by ladies, and the groom by men. They may
not see each other till the night of the fourth day.*^ In
Egypt the groom cannot see the face of his bride, even
by a surreptitious glance, till she is in his absolute pos-

^ Plutarch, ^ U. 65 j Servius on Virgil, Eciog. viii. 29,

^ Leslie, o/>. cit, 115. ' Plutarch, Lycurgusy xv. 48.

* Riedel, of>. cit, 351. * Journ, Anthrop. Inst. xix. 271.

• Chardin, in PinAertort, ix. 154. ' Featherman, op. cit. v. 422.

session. Then comes the ceremony, which he performs,
of uncovering her face.^ In Egypt, of course, this has
been accentuated by the seclusion and veiling of women.
In Morocco, at the feast before the marriage, the bride
and groom sit together on a sort of throne ; all the
time the poor bride's eyes are firmly closed, and she sits
amid the revelry as immovable as a statue. On the
next day is the marriage. She is conducted after dark
to her future home, accompanied by a crowd with
lanterns and candles. She is led with closed eyes
along the street by two relatives, each holding one of
her hands. " Such is the regard to propriety on this
solemn occasion, that the bride's head is held in its proper
position by a female relative who walks behind her."
She wears a veil, and is not allowed to open her eyes
until she is set on the bridal bed with a girl friend
beside her.* Amongst the Zulus the bridal party
proceeds to the house of the groom, having the bride
hidden amongst them so that no one can see her.
They stand facing the groom, while the bride sings
a song. Her companions then suddenly break away,
and she is discovered standing in the middle with a
fringe of beads covering her face.' Amongst the
people of Kumaun the husband sees his wife first
after the joining of hands.* Amongst the Bcdui of
North-East Africa the bride is brought on the evening
of the wedding-day by her girl friends to the groom's
house. She is closely muffled up.' Amongst the Jews
of Jerusalem the bride at the marriage ceremony stands
under the nuptial canopy, her eyes being closed that
she may not behold the face of her future husband

' Line, ef. cil. i. 197. ' Lund, af. til. 36, ]S.

' Letlit.ofi. cil. 116. • Panjmt NoiB mud ^iaritt,n. m.

' MiuiiiDger, »/>. til. 14S.

before she reaches the bridal chamber.^ In Melanesia
the bride is carried to her new home on some one's
back, wrapped in many mats, with palm-fans held
about her face, " because she is supposed to be modest
and shy."^ Amongst the Damaras the groom cannot
see his bride for four days after marriage. When a
Damara woman is asked in marriage, she covers her
face for a time with the flap of a head-dress made for
this purpose.* At the Thlinkeet marriage ceremony
the bride must look down and keep her head bowed all
the time ; during the wedding-day she remains hiding
in a corner of the house, and the groom is forbidden
to enter.* At a Yezedee marriage the bride is covered
from head to foot with a thick veil, and when arrived
at her new home she retires behind a curtain in the
corner of a darkened room, where she remains for
three days before her husband is permitted to see her.^
In Corea the bride has to cover her face with her long
sleeves when meeting the bridegroom at the wedding.^
The Manchurian bride uncovers her face for the first
time, when she descends from the nuptial couch.^ As
has already been shown, it is dangerous even to see
dangerous persons. Sight is a method of contagion
in primitive science, and the idea coincides with the
psychological aversion to see dangerous things, and
with sexual shyness and timidity. In the customs
noticed we can distinguish the feeling that it is dan-
gerous to the bride for her husband's eyes to be
upon her, and the feeling of bashfulness in her which
induces her neither to see him nor to be seen by him.
These ideas explain the origin of the bridal veil and

* Featherman, op, cit. v. 140. * Codrington, op. cit. 242.
^ South African Folklore youtnal, i. 49 j C. J. Anderson, op. cit. 225.

* Dall, op. cit. 415. ^ Feathcrman, op. cit. v. 62.
^ Journ. Antrop. Inst. xxiv. 305. ^ Folklore^ i. 489.

similar concealments. DobrizhofFer wrote of Abipone
women as often hiding in the woods before marriage,
many " seeming to dread the assaults of tigers less than
the untried nuptials." When the bride was led to the
groom's tent, eight girls held a carpet in front of her.'
Amongst the Bedouins of Ethiopia the bride is con-
cealed under a canopy carried by girls.* At Druse
marri^es the bride is hidden in a long red veil, which
is removed by the groom in the bridal chamber.' The
bridal veil is used, to take a few instances, in China,
Burmah, Corea, Russia, Bulgaria, Manchuria, and
Persia ; in all these cases it conceals the face entirely.*
Cases where a sacred umbrella is held over the head, as
amongst the Chinese,' are connected with the sanctity of
the head, the idea being to prevent evil coming down
upon that sensitive part of the body. Thus when the
King of Dahomey drank with Burton, a parasol was.
placed over him to prevent his being seen.'

Various methods of seclusion both from each other
and from external danger, are illustrated by the
following. In some Victorian tribes the young man, as
soon as he had passed the ceremonies of initiation, was
introduced to the bride, already as^gned to him, to
gaze at her, for he was forbidden to converse with her.
She was then sent to her mother-in-law, who took care
of her until the marriage had taken place, but the young
man had no access to his future wife. At sunset the
bride took her seat in front of her relatives and friends,
being separated by a large fire from the brid^room,
who was seated in front of a group of his own friends.

' DohriiholTer, sf. tii. ii, tot. * Hiriu, tp. cii. \. 187.

> Chauand, ep. dl. 166.

* Dooliltic, tf. cit. i. 79 J Andcnod, ip. cir. 141 j GrilSi, Bf. dr. 149 ; RilMoo,
ef. rii. iSa j Sinclair ud Bro^y, ef. lit. 73 ; FMert, '1. 489.

* FslUcri, i. 365. • Burton, ef. til. 1. 144.

He was then introduced by the groomsmen to the bride,
who received him with downcast eyes and in perfect
silence. After some feasting the pair were escorted to
their future home, but they were still sequestered for
two moons, sleeping on different sides of the fire and
watched over by a female and a male guardian, who
provided them with food. After this period the bride
stayed with her parents for a fortnight and then went
to her husband.^ Amongst the Arabs of Mount Sinai the
bride is required by decency to remain secluded in her
tent for a fortnight, and the rule is that she may only
leave it at night, so as not to be seen by men.* In
certain South African tribes the girl is put in a hut
alone. After some days she is taken to another hut,
and then to her husband.* In New Britain the bride
stays in the hut of her intended five days alone, while
his relatives bring her food. Meanwhile he is in one of
the hiding-places (known only to the men) in the
forest, or hidden in tall grass.* In Port Moresby
the groom sleeps with the bride, but must leave her
before dawn, because " he is ashamed to be seen coming
from his wife in daylight." ^ The Tipperah youth
serves the bride's father for three years, during which
time he uses her as a wife. But on the wedding-night
he has to sleep with her surreptitiously ; he leaves the
house before dawn, and absents himself for four days.'
Amongst the Nufoers the bride and groom may not
meet each other alone till the fifth day, but even then
only by night, and for four days more he must leave
his wife's chamber before day.^ Parallel to the New
Britain custom is an extension of this idea, illustrated

^ Fcathcrman, op. clt. ii. 142. 2 id. v. 368.

3 D. Livingstone, South Africa^ 412.

< R. Parkinson, Im Bimarck-ArchipeU 98. » Chalmers, op. cit. 161

« Lcwin, op. cit. 203. ' F. H. Guillcmard, T/ie Cruhe of the Marche " %-

by the custom of Bedouin brides. At night the bride,
before consummation of the marriage, runs away to the
hills and hides. There her friends bring her food,
while the husband looks for her. This is repeated the
next night, and when he finds her he must consummate
the marriage, and remain all night with her in the hills.^
Conversely in Egypt on the day after marriage the man
who carried the bridegroom upstairs takes him to an
''entertainment" in the country, where they spend the
whole day. This ceremony is called el-hooroobeh^ " the
flight." He returns in the evening.^ In Corea after
three days of marriage the young husband goes away
for a time.* Again, both bride and groom are secluded
within the house ; for ten days in Luzon, during which
no one may enter ; * among the Minahassas for three
days and nights in a dark room ; amongst the Bedui
for forty days.* It is said that amongst some of the
Bedui, the wife may not leave the house for three years
nor touch any work ; ® in Bulgaria they are shut up for
a week, during which they may not go out nor receive
visitors.^ The newly wedded pair in the Am Islands
are shut up for four days, and are looked after by the
bride's mother.® In Ceramlaut the young pair may not
go out of the house for three days.* This applies often
to the bride only, as amongst the Bedouins, where she
stays in the tent for a fortnight.^^ In the Kingsmill
Islands the house is screened with mats for ten days,
and the bride may not go out." For forty days after
marriage the Javanese bride was secluded. ^^ Amongst
the Copts she may not go out, even to see her parents,

1 Burckhardt, Bedouins and JVahabeei^ i. 269. ^ Lane, op, cit, i. 214.

' Griffis, op. cit, 2$i. * Featherman, op. cit. ii. 498. * Id, H. 611.

® Munzinger, op. cit. 148. ^ Sinclair and Brophy, op, cit. 73.

* Ricdcl, op. cit. 262. • Id, 172. 1* Burckhardt, op. cit, i, 268.

" Wilkes, op, cit. V. 10 1. ^* Featherman, op, cit, ii. 384.

till the delivery of her first child, or until the end <^ a
year.^ Wataveta brides "are set apart fcwr the first
year as something almost too good for earth« They
are dressed, adorned, physicked, and pampered in every
way, almost like goddesses. They are screened from
vulgar sight, exempted from all household duties, and
prohibited from all social intercourse with all of the
other sex except their husbands. They are never left
alone, are accompanied by some one wherever they may
wish to go, and are not permitted to exert themselves
in the least ; even in their short walks they creep at a
snail's pace, least they should overstrain their muscles.
Two of these celestial beings were permitted to visit
me." They wore veils of iron chain, hanging to below
the lips. " They honoured me only with their eyes ;
they did not let me hear the mellow harmony of thdr
voices. They had to see and be seen, but not to be
heard or spoken to. Brides are treated in this manner
until they present their husbands with a son or
daughter, or the hope of such a desired event has
passed away. In the former case the goddess falls to
the level of an ordinary housewife ; in the other well
for her if she be not despised or even discarded." -
Here the practice passes into care for the unborn child
and avoidance of risks on the part of the young wife.
On the other hand, in Java again, neither bride nor
groom may go out of the house, or perform any hard
work, for forty days before the wedding.*

Behind these customs there is sexual shyness, and the
ideas that association with women is improper as well as
dangerous, leading to effeminacy, and that for women,
association with men is improper ; but, further, these

' Lane, op. cit. ii. 333. • New, of>, cit. 360, 361.

* Rafflet, History ofJav€iy i. 325.

ideas coincide with that solidarity of sex, which respects
and sympathises with the sexual shyness of each party.
Accordingly amongst the Bedui the bride spends the
wedding-day with her girl friends and the bridegroom
with young men.^ At WatubcUa marriages the men
take their place by the bridegroom, and the women by
the bride.^ The Babar bride is attended by women
friends.* Amongst the Barbary Arabs the young wife
is escorted to the dowar of her husband by all the
women of the neighbourhood.* During the marriage
feast of four days amongst the Damaras she may only
sleep with the girls, behind her mother's house. He is
not allowed to see his bride or even to enter the werft^
during these four days, but stays somewhere behind it.
When the pair go to his home, her mother and other
women go with them to see her safely installed.*^ In
Amboina the marriage takes place in the house of the
young man's parents, but no men may be present.
After a week a feast takes place at the house of the
bride's parents, but at this only men may be present.®

Returning to the subject of disguise, used as a
concealment from danger, "spiritual," personal, and
sexual, vaguely conceived or clearly realised in a
member of the other sex, we may note the practice of
Muhammadans in the north-west provinces of India ;
for some days before marriage both bride and groom
wear dirty clothes.^ The common custom by which the
bride's hair is shaven or a lock cut off is doubtless
connected with the ideas which cause this practice in
other taboo states. Something, some part of one, must
be given up by way of propitiating evil influences, a

^ Munzinger, op, cit. 147. * Riedel, op. cit, 205. • I J, 350.

* Feathermao, op, cit. v. 530. • SoufA African Folklore^ Journal^ i. 49.

^ Riedel, op, cit. 69. ' Crooke, in Panjab Notes and S^yeries, ii. 960.

part must be sacrificed for the whole. The idea is
sometimes merged in the principle of change of identity,
by supposing a part of the person to be instinct with
the properties of the whole ; in other cases it becomes
later a sacrifice to some deity, as Greek brides cut
ofF a lock of hair. In some of the Fiji Islands the
bride cut off a long lock of her hair, in others all
her hair was shaven ofF.^ The head of a Kaffir bride
was shaved.*

There are some interesting customs which show both
the taboo character of bride and bridegroom and also an
attempt at disguising them by fictitious change of
identity. "The Malay wedding ceremony, even as
carried out by the poorer classes, shows that the
contracting parties are treated as royalty, that is to say,
as sacred human beings, and if any further proof is
required, in addition to the evidence which may be
drawn from the general character of the ceremony, 1
may mention first the fact that the bride and bridegroom
are actually called Raja sari (i.e. ' the sovereigns of a
day '), and secondly, that it is a polite fiction that no
command of theirs, during their one day of sovereignty,
may be disobeyed." ^ During the first week of marriage
the Syrian pair play at being king and queen ; they sit
on a throne, and the villagers sing songs.* Wetzstein
conjectures that " the Song of Songs " is a collection of
such.'*

Somewhat similar is the idea underlying the habit of
wearing finery or new clothes for a new or important
event. On the same plane is the common custom of
erecting a " marriage -bower," well known amongst

• Featherman, op. cit, ii. 203. ' Shooter, op, cit. 75.

• Skeat, op. cit, 388. * Zeiachrift fir Ethnologic for 1873 270

• S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament^ 452.

Hindu peoples, and once common in Spain.^ For
Abyssinian weddings a dass or bower of green branches
is erected in the courtyard. Here bride and groom sit
in state on opposite sides, each surrounded by friends.^

Next comes the very interesting custom of substitut-
ing a mock bride for the real one. Thus, amongst the
Beni-Amer the groom and his friends are often mocked
when they come to take the bride, her people substitut-
ing a false bride for the true one. The substitute is
carefully disguised and allows herself to be taken, and
at last when the procession is well outside the village,
she reveals herself and runs back laughing. This may
be done more than once.* Amongst the Saxons of
Transsylvania the bride is concealed with two married
women behind a curtain, on the evening of the wedding-
day, and the husband has to guess which is his wife ;
all three try to mislead him.* This kind of thing is
common in European folk -custom. Amongst the
Moksha an old woman dressed up as a bride dances
before the company.* Amongst the Esthonians the
bride's brother dresses up in woman's clothes, and
personates the bride. In Brittany the substitutes are
first a little girl, then the mistress of the house, and
lastly the grandmother. In Poland an old woman, in
Polonia a bearded man personate the bride.*

Bride or groom is sometimes attended by one or
more persons dressed up to resemble him or her.
These persons are intended to be duplicates, and the
idea is " safety in numbers," combined with similarity
of costume, much as the sacred shield of Roman worship
was kept safe by being placed amongst a number of fac-

^ Th. Moore, Marriage CustomSj]$6. ' Featherman, op, cit, v. 604, 605.

* Munzingcr, op. cit. 324. ^ Gerard, The Land btyond the Forett^'u 185.

* Folklore, i. 446. • Folklore, iv. 147.

similes. The bale muri of Fiji has the same origin.
The modern Egyptian bridegroom walks between two
friends dressed exactly like himself.^ Amongst the
Abyssinians, when a princess is married, she is accom-
panied in the procession by her sister, dressed exactly
like herself.^

The very natural practice of being accompanied on
these, as on other important occasions, by a friend of
one's own sex, has crystallised into the institution of
groomsmen, bridesmaids, and the like. They resemble
generally persons like the Roman advocatiy who were
witnesses to character and general supporters of a
litigant. In marriage ceremonial their original function
is sympathy and assistance in a trying ordeal more or
less fraught with "spiritual" danger, but sometimes
their duty becomes more specialised. At Egyptian
weddings the bride is attended by several girls who
cluster round her under the same canopy.* We may
compare the Zulu custom of surrounding the bride
with a throng of maidens. At Malay weddings the
bride is attended by one or more girl-companions, and
the bridegroom by two pages.* During the first few
days after a wedding the South Celebes bride is attended
by eight girls, and also is accompanied by a lady of her
own age, who is dressed exactly like her. The bride-
groom is also accompanied by a young man of his own
age, dressed like himself.^ The Abyssinian bridegroom
is attended by six to twelve bridesmen, called arkees,
" to whom particular functions are assigned and extra-
ordinary privileges are allowed." Boys of the same
social class unite together and form a kind of society,
binding themselves to act as arkees for each other. At

^ Lane, op, cit. i. 212. 2 Harris, op. cit. ii. 225.

3 Lane, op, cit, i. 217, 200. * Skcat, op, cit. 375. » Matthes, op, cit. 29.

the marriage ceremony they pledge themselves to fulfil
towards the bride the part of " brethren " ; they wait
on her, and furnish her with meat should she hunger,
and with milk should she thirst. During the first few
weeks of marriage the arkees sleep in the bridal chamber
and supply the pair with anything they may want in
the night ; and one arkee keeps constant watch during
this period over the bride.^ In these examples is well
seen the way in which the women stand by the bride
and the men by the groom, a feet which indicates the
real origin of marriage ceremonies. The last case shows
a chivalrous perversion of sympathy. Again, in Russia
on the wedding -night a man called a klyetnik was
appointed to watch round the bridal chamber.* Similarly
in ancient Greece one of the bridegroom's friends was
called Ovp(pp6^ ; he used to stand at the door and prevent
the women assisting the bride when she screamed.* The
hardy suggestion which has been made, that our " best
man " was originally the strongest of the bridegroom's
friends who assisted him in capturing the bride from
the foreign tribe is well refuted by this as by all the
evidence. It is sex, not the tribe, that is concerned.

It is a very general custom that as many pre-
liminaries as possible, including the proposal of marriage
and the arrangement of the contract, should be per-
formed not by the bride and bridegroom-elect, but by
friends or sponsors. The reason is obvious after what
has been said. Thus, in Egypt the marriage contract
is performed between the bridegroom and the bride's
deputy (wekeel). These two join hands which are cere-
monially covered with a cloth.* We thus arrive at
proxies in the marriage rite. Amongst the Karens it is

^ Featherman, op. cit. v. 606. ' Ralston, Songs of the RussUm People^ 281.

' Pollux, Ottomasticon^ iii. 42. * Lane, op, cit, i, 200.

the sponsors of the pair who offer the cup to each other,
drinking out of which forms the ceremony.^ In Persia
marriage by proxy is the rule, and the gfroom never
sees his wife till he has consummated the marriage.^
An interesting parallel is found in Cingalese custom.
An astrologer has to decide if the horoscopes of the
suitor and the girl suit each other. Once when the
bridegroom's horoscope was not suitable, he produced
that of his infant brother, which was satisfactory. This
child personated the groom and was married to the
bride.* The bride and bridegroom in South Celebes
have each a "representative," doeta; if the bride's
representative is a man, that of the groom is a woman,
and vice versa. The South Celebes bride does not
appear at the wedding. She is represented by her
deputy, and is herself secluded in an inner room. After
the ceremony, at which the bride is not present, the
bridegroom may not see her yet, but goes home, leaving
his sword as his representative. After being separated
from his bride for three days, he returns to take his
sword ; he gets it back by giving a present.^ A link
with other customs is the following. At the weddings
of Creek Indians the bridegroom ceremonially stuck
a reed into the ground, and the bride did the same,
placing her reed close to his. They then each took the
other's reed, and by this act became man and wife.^

The interesting custom by which one of the pair, or
both, are married to trees, is a good instance of the
primitive fashion of " make-believe," by which an effigy
does duty for a person, all risks thus being obviated.
Amongst the Mundas, after a mimic fight for the

* Macmahoiif The Karem of the Golden ChersoneUy 322.

* Pinkerton, of>. cit. ix. 154. ' Forbes, Eleven Tears in Ceylon^ i. 328.

* MattheSf op. cit. 22, 27, 29, 30. ' Featherman, op. cit. iii. 160.

XIV PROXIES— TREE MARRIAGE 341

bride, the pair are anointed with turmeric and wedded
to two trees, the bride to a mahwa^ the groom to a
mango, or both to mangoes. They touch the tree with
sindur^ clasp it, and then are tied to it. Subsequently
he touches her forehead with sindur} This case brings
out the point, that the mock ceremony is intended to
ensure the harmlessness or success of the real ceremony.
Amongst the Kumis the bridegroom is first married to
a mango tree. He embraces it, and is tied to it with
thread, and he daubs it with red lead. The bride also
is wedded to a mango. She is brought to her home in
a basket, and the groom is carried thither on a platform
supported by men.* It is a Hindu custom, when mis-
fortune in marriage is foretold by the astrologers, for
the person concerned to be first married to an earthen
vessel.* Again, the Hindus consider it dangerous to be
a man's third wife ; accordingly in such a case the bride-
groom is betrothed first to a tree, which is supposed to
die in the woman's stead.^ Another account states that
when a Hindu takes a third wife, he is married first to a
tree, " to avoid the danger of being married for the
third time." ^ These last three examples throw light on
the practice in Bengal, and the two last show that the
danger is mutual. In the so-called "child-marriage"
of the Nayars of Travancore, a sword may represent
the bridegroom.* At Malay marriages the ceremony
is actually performed with the bridegroom alone. The
priest says to him, " I wed you, A, to B, daughter of
C, for a portion of two bharasy^ This instance may
serve to show the marriage rite developing into a civil
act.

^ Dalton, op, cit, 194. * Id, 319.

^ Journal of the Aaattc Society of Bengal^ liii. i. 100.

^ Ward, op, cit, \, 134, ii. 247. ^ Panjab Notes and S^iieries, u. 252.

' Journ, Attthrop, Inst, xii. 293. ' Skeat, op, cit, 382.

The next class of marriage ceremonies includes
various kinds of abstinence. Bride and brid^room
must maintain silence for a certain period. This is a
common taboo upon persons passing through a critical
period, and the principle behind it is a natural impulse
of egoistic sensibility, a sort of recognition of the
importance of the occasion, combined with more or less
of spiritual fear, either of general danger or, in this case,
danger from each other. It is dangerous to speak to
dangerous persons, and the principle here combines
with sexual shyness. Some such practice is doubtless
responsible for the Greek name of the wedding-night,
vuf fivoTiK'q. The bride and groom amongst the
Andamanese are introduced to each other, after sitting
apart in silence for some time. They then remain
silent until the evening. Often the pair pass several
days after marriage without exchanging a single word,
and even avoid looking at one another. " One might
suppose they had had a serious quarrel." ^ In Corea
the bride is expected to keep absolute silence on the
wedding-day and in the nuptial chamber.^

Again, they must keep awake, for the same reasons
of sexual taboo. In New Guinea after the ceremony
bride and groom sit up all night. If sleep threatens
they are at once aroused ; the belief being that by
remaining awake they will have a happy life. This
goes on for four nights. Not until the fifth day may
they meet each other alone, but even then only by
night, and for four days more the husband must leave
his wife's chamber before daybreak.^ Amongst the
Sumatrans the pair sit up all night in state."* After the
marriage ceremony of the Dorahs the guests pass the

* Man, in Jottm. Anthrop. fnst. xii. 138. ^ Griffis, op. cit, 247.

* Guillemard, op, cit, ii. 287. * Marsden, op. cit. 269.

night in feasting ; the young couple take no part, and
are not allowed to go to sleep for one moment, because
it is supposed that this nightly vigil can alone secure
their future happiness.^ The young pair in Borneo may
not go to sleep, " else evil spirits would make them ill." *

The pair frequently are obliged to fast, with the
object of preventing evil influences entering the system
by means of food. Thus amongst the Wa-teita the
bride and groom are shut up for three days without
food.* The young Macusi bridegroom-elect fasts from
meat for some time before marriage.* Amongst the
Thlinkeets they are required to fast for two days, " in
order to ensure domestic concord and happiness." At
the expiration of that time they are allowed to partake
of a little food, when a second fast of two days is
added, after which they are allowed to come together
for the first time.* Here is seen the curious association
between commensal and sexual intercourse, which derives
from the biological connection between the nutritive
and sexual impulses, and is often expressed in physio-
logical thought.

A very frequent rule is that the consummation of
the marriage is deferred for a time. This points to the
dangers already reviewed of this close physical connec-
tion, in which, as in eating together, the ideas of sexual
taboo are concentrated, and illustrates a principle which
runs through all these practices of abstinence, as from
sleep and eating, and is seen in all similar taboos, that a
temporary self-denial of a dangerous satisfaction will
obviate the risks of its ordinary fulfilment. There is
also later developed in this rule the idea that sexual

' Featherman, op, cit. iu 32. ' Pcrclaer, op, cit, 53.

3 J. Thomson, op. cit. 57. "• im Thurn, op, cit, 222.

^ Bancroft, op. cit, i. 11 1.

the

intercourse, as such, is improper. The Chinese practice
of putting a charm-sword, made of " cash," on the
bridal bed, illustrates the danger of this unit
Amongst the Narrinyeri it is "a point of decency
the couple not to sleep close to each other for the
two or three nights ; on the third or fourth night the
man and his wife sleep together under the same rug."-
The result is often attained by placing a person
between the pair, as Sigurd placed his sword between
himself and Brynhild. For three nights after a wedding
in the Kei Islands, an old woman sleeps between the
pair, sometimes a child is used for this.* In Luzon the
pair sleep on the first night with a space of two ells
between them, in which lies a boy, six or eight years
old/ Elsewhere certain persons are deputed to keep
them apart. The Southern Slav bridegroom has a
djever, " bride -carrier," who sleeps during the first
night beside the bride, the bridegroom not being
allowed to sleep with her for two nights,'' After the
mock flight and pursuit in the bridal chamber, the
South Celebes couple are attended during the night
by women called " bridesmothers," who prevent all
intimacy between them." In Achin the young couple
may not come together for seven nights, and they are
kept awake by old women/ In the Babar Islands the
pair during the first few nights sleep in the same room,
but the bride sleeps with some female relatives and the
bridegroom with some male relatives." In Endeh for
four nights old women sit up with the pair to prevent
them from approaching each other.* Amongst the

' Dooiiltlc, of. iil. ii. 513. • Curr, cp. cii. ii. ijc

" Riedel, op. di. 136. * BlunwnlriM, Eihia,grepiii Jtr Fii/ipfHua,

° F. S. Kriun, Sitti M. Branch Jir Si'dilruen, 60S. ' Millhd, af. dr. jd

' Knjt, Aljik tn it jlijrim, 193. ' Riedel, af.

• Tijdtt¥iji -^Kit Inducts TmI Land-n, y^intuiJi, «iv. 515,

Nahuas in the feasting, drinking, and dancing, the
bride and groom took no part ; they now had four
days' fasting and penance, in the strict retirement of
their own room, where they were closely guarded by
old women. On no account might they leave the
room. The time was to be passed in prayer ; " and
on no account were they to allow their passions to get
the better of them or indulge in carnal intercourse." ^
Amongst the Mayas the pair had to remain quite still,
until the fire burnt out, and not until then could they
consummate the marriage.^ The Thlinkeet bridegroom
could not claim his marital rights until four weeks
after marriage.* Amongst the Nootkas no intercourse
may take place between the pair for ten days.* In the
Frazer Island tribe of Queensland they do not come
together for nearly two months after marriage.^ In
Persia the husband does not consummate the marriage
for several days.*^ Amongst the Dyaks the pair may
not come together for two or three nights and days.
The groom feasts with his friends, the bride is with
her mother and female relatives.^ Amongst the Soen-
danese the bridegroom has no access to his bride for
four days. She will not look at him or speak to him.*
Amongst the Madoerese the marriage is not consum-
mated till the third night.® Amongst the Nufoers this
takes place on the fifth day ; on the first night they are
set back to back, so as not to see each other. This is
repeated each night. When he leaves her each of these
mornings, they must not see each other, " a sign of her
maiden shame." ^^ Amongst the Tengger of Java the

* Bancroft, op. cit. u, 261. • Id. ii. 676.

2 Id. op. cit. i. III. * Id. i, 198.

^ Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 84. ' Pinkerton, op, cit. ix. 154.

7 Perclacr, op. cit. 53. • Ritter, Java^ 29.

» Vcth, Java, i. 635. »» Van Hastelt, in Zettickrifi fur Ethndogie, viii. 181 ff.

marriage is not consummated for 6tc days after the
wedding.^ In Egypt it is customary for faosbozids to
deny themselves their conjugal rights durixig the first
week after marriage with a virgin bride.' In the last case
we see the consideration produced by the actual inten-
sity of maidenly feelings, which is the usual psycho-
logical phenomenon at the first union ; sexual taboo
regards this as an especial property of woman, and com-
bines with it the other idea that first contact with a virgin
is more dangerous than with other women. This latter
point is clearly brought out in the next group c^ customs.
Before proceeding to these, we may notice an
excellent example of the way in which these principles
develop religious abstinence as a meritorious act.
There is a story in the Syriac Judas Thomas's Acts of
a bride and a bridegroom who were converted by an
apparition of the Lord in the bridal chamber, and
passed the night in continence. Next morning the
king, the bride's father, came in and found them sitting,
the one opposite the other ; and the face of the bride
was uncovered, and the bridegroom was very cheerful.
** The mother of the bride saith to her : * Why art thou
sitting thus and art not ashamed, but art as if, lo ! thou
wert married a long time and for many a day ? ' " And
her father too said, " Is it thy great love for thy
husband that prevents thee from even veiling thyself? "
And the bride answered and said, " Truly, my father,
I am in great love, and am praying to my Lord that I
may continue in this love which I have experienced this
night. I am not veiled because the veil of corruption
is taken from me, and I am not ashamed because the
deed of shame has been removed far from me.''^

* Fcatherman, of>. at. ii. 399. * Lane, cp. cit. ii. 273.

' Wright, j4pocryphal Acti^ ii. 156 ff. For the idea that os-raj in marriage is
•inful, sec id, ii. 122, 155, 191, 223, 233, 234.

Sexual intercourse, summing up as It does in primitive
thought all the dangers of sexiul taboo, especially the
danger of weakness and effeminacy, produced by con-
tagion from women and by loss of strength (both of
body and soul) on the part of the man by emission, is
rendered more safe by certain ceremonies, the meaning
of which is very obvious, though enquirers have curiously
missed it. These ceremonies are not to be confused
with the so-called jus prima noctisy which has occurred
sporadically in history, though mts-termed. That
practice is simply a barbarous assertion of despotic
authority of the patriarchal sort, appearing for instance
in feudal or similar stages of society. With it these
customs have nothing to do.

This marriage ceremony consists in perforation of
the hymen by some appointed person other than the
husband ; it is most common in the lowest stages of
culture, especially in Australia. Tribes which have
this rite are commonly said to practise no marriage
ceremony. This statement ts of course erroneous ; to
primitive thought this ceremony is a very real mar-
riage rite. The best examples come from the Arunta
and connected tribes of Central Australia, and have
been well described by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.*
The ceremony, rude and practical as it may seem, is
nevertheless sacred and even religious, as is shown by
the facts that the natives regard it as a ceremony, and
that the operators are painted with charcoal, a sacred
custom followed In magical rites, and espedally when
an avenging party is being sent out. The tribes of
Central Australia who have this ceremony are the
Arunta, Ilpirra, Kaitish, Warramunga, lllaura, Waagai,
Bingongula, Walpari, and Luritcha. When a girl

' spencer lad Gillea, tf. cit. 9] S,

arrives at puberty she is, owing to the convenient
classificatory system, ab*eady marked out as the poten-
tial wife of the men of the proper complementary
division, and has been, or is then, allotted to a par-
ticular suitor. The ceremony is performed by persons
who vary according to the tribe ; sometimes it is done
by a sister ; the important point is that the prospec-
tive husband never undertakes it. The hymen is art-
ficially perforated, and then the assisting men have
access (ceremonial, be it observed) to the girl in a
stated order, and in some tribes it is men of a diviaon
which has no intermarriage with the girl's division, who
have this access. The object of the custom is clearly
to remove the danger of sexual intercourse for the
husband, and perhaps also for the wife, by a ceremonial
previous rehearsal of it. The danger partly coincides,
as we have seen, with the apparent physical impediment
to intercourse. The act is in two parts, perforation
and intercourse. The men who have access do not
possess the right as an " expiation " for individual mar-
riage, or anything like it ; it is a religious act, and
altruistic at that ; it is not done as a reminder that
they, as "communal" or "group -husbands," have
really as much right to the woman as her husband
has ; the mere fact that men of forbidden groups
sometimes have access proves this. It is simply a
removal of the danger by proxy, and the rite may
be classed with other proxy-marriages. The next point
to be observed has been already referred to, namely,
that here " initiation " and marriage are one.^ This
economy shows that " initiation " ceremonies of this
kind are marriages to the other sex in abstract, and is
itself due to the convenience of the classification, which

' Spencer and Gillcn, op, cit. 93.

decides what persons are marriageable to each other.
Amongst the Wataveta the bridegroom seizes his bride
by force ; in this he is aided by four friends, who have
access to her during the five days' festivities of the
wedding.^ Amongst the Wa-teita she hides, and the
groom with four friends catch her. The four friends
have intercourse with her.* This last fact has been
used as a proof of primitive promiscuity and the like.
It is nothing of the kind. Comparing it with the
Central Australian custom, we see in it the same service,
which is the last act of subjugation as it were, the last
detail in the preparation of the bride for her husband.
It may, and to some extent doubtless does, develop
into a kind of reward given on the part of the husband
to the friends who have assisted him, but such a de-
velopment is quite secondary. The Kurnai suitor was
assisted by some friends, who had intercourse with the
bride.* This religious service is often performed by
such persons in Australian tribes. An important
preliminary of marriage amongst the Masai is the
performance of this operation on the girl.* This de-
floration is performed by the father of the bride amongst
the Sakais, Battas, and Alfoers of Celebes.^ In the
Philippines there were certain men whose profession
it was to deflower brides, in case the hymen had not
been ruptured in childhood by an old woman who was
sometimes employed for this.* The defloration of the
bride was amongst some Eskimo tribes entrusted to
the angekoky or priest.^ The idea sometimes develops
later into a belief that the contact of a holy person
renders marital contact safe, or will ensure fertility.

^ Jowrn. Anthrop, Inst. xxi. 365. ^ J. Thomson, op, cit. 51.

3 Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 202. ^ J. Thomson, op. cit. 258.

^ PI088 u. Bartels, op. cit. ii. 490. ^ Featherman, op, cit. ii. 474.

^ Id. iii. 406.

In childless faunitics the Karalits often invite the angekok
to have connectkxi with the wife.^

There is next a large class of marriage customs
which in the first place Ining out very clearly sexusl
solidarity ; the women, as it were, make marriage an
opportunity for showing their mutual sympathy witii
each other as women, and they take the side of ik
bride in her bashfiilness or resstance, as if the occa^
were a test case between the two sexes, as indeed it &
We have seen the same sort of thing in connecdoo
with birth, and have noticed how the wcmien ding
togedier at marriage till the last moment. These pheno-
mena also show how marriage ceremonies have inherent
in them, as binding the pair tc^ether, or neutrali^
each othcr*s dangerous influence, the intention and
power to make their life harmonious and sympathetic
In the second place, these customs are one of the best
euides to the ideas of sexual taboo in their relation
to marriage ritiial. We here see one of the chief
factors of sexual taboo, woman's shyness, timidity,
and mcxlesty, accentuated by the physiological sensibility
which resists physical subjugation, chiefly in connection
with the act of intercourse, but appearing more or less
throughout all the proceedings. It is an instance of
the taboo of personal isolation. The phenomena all lead
up^ by the way^ to the correct understanding of so-called
** nurriage by capture.*' There is also to be noted the
ditRdence characteristic of both sexes upon entering a
new and strange state, a diffidence psychologically identical
with that produced on other similar and taboo occasions.

Hence the common practice of carrying bride or
groom or both ; amongst the Kumis the grroom is
carried to the bride's house on men's shoulders.* In

^ K«:Sr-«ua. v^ .'^•, ki. 4:1. « Daltoa, «^. dt. 319.

Egypt it is considered right that the groom as well
as the bride should exhibit some bashfulness, and a
friend therefore carries him up to the hareem} In
Honduras and amongst the Miaos the bride was
conveyed to her husband on a man's shoulders.^ In
Guatemala and Salvador the pair were carried by
their friends to their new house, and shut in a room.^
The Nahua bride was borne upon a litter or on the
back of a brideswoman or sponsor.* In civilised
societies a brougham is used on what is really the same
principle, an especial arrangement for an especial
occasion, in which convenience combines with cere-
monial. There is no survival, in these cases, of
*' marriage by capture," though they sometimes of
course coincide with the desire to checkmate female
resistance, as they have been found to coincide with
a prevention of results from bashfulness, both these
feelings being part of the foundations of taboo. The
innate tendency to what may be called polar or com-
plementary opposition between the sexes is well brought
out in a Kurnai practice. If the men were backward
in marrying, the girls would kill some of the yeerung^
the birds that were the sex-totems of the men. This
led to a fight with sticks between the two sexes. Next
day the young men killed some djeetgun^ the sex-totems
of the women ; a second fight was the result. The
ultimate issue was a marriage or two.* Fighting
makes friends sometimes amongst savages as amongst
modern boys. At betrothal amongst the Kamchadales
when the man takes hold of the girl, the married
women ceremonially beat him.* Amongst the Mos-

^ Lane, op. cit. i. 214.

^ Bancroft, op, cit, i. 730 ; Colquhoun, Across Chrysee, 383.

^ Bancroft, op. cit. i. 703. ^ /</. ii. 255.

' Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 201. ^ Georgi, op, cit, 89.

quitos the bridegroom has to charge into a circle of
women who surround the bride ; " he shoulders her
like a sack and trots off for the mystic circle (of men),
into which the women may not enter, and reaches it,
urged on by the frantic cries of the women, before the
crowd can rescue her." ^ This may be called " capture,"
but it is capture from the female sex. The Makuana
suitor has to throw the girl in a wrestling bout in order
to secure her hand. Also the father and mother give
him a few ceremonial blows with a stick, "as if to
assure themselves that he sincerely loves their daughter."*
In Sumatra the bride is not surrendered to her husband
immediately after the marriage ceremony of the joining*
of hands, for custom requires that the young girl
should show at least a feigned reluctance to sacrifice
her virginity, and in this resistance she is aided by
the old matron who is her ceremonial attendant and
was the messenger sent by the bridegroom with his
proposal of marriage. The bride sits in state all night
for two or three nights, carefully guarded.^ The
Wakamba groom, after paying the bride-price, has to
carry off the bride by force, the parents not surrender-
ing her without a struggle.*

Of the same origin is the common practice of
abusive language at weddings. Amongst the Kaffirs
the bride insults the groom, showing thereby that the
moment of her submission has not yet come.^ In the
Punjab it is a general custom for the relatives of the
bride to hurl abusive epithets at the bridegroom.^
This has actually been supposed to be a relic of
" marriage by capture " ! The Fescennina locutio is a case

^ Bancroft, op, cit. i. 733. * Arboussct, op, cit. 249.

^ Feathcrman, op. cit. ii. 306. •* Krapf, op. cit. 354.

^ Shooter, op. cit. 74. ® Punjab Notes and ^rria, ii. 976,

in point. In many instances, of course, as in European
folk-custom, the abuse is directed against the "evil
eye " and possible external danger to the young couple.
We have noticed the impulse in animals and man-
kind to guard the sexual centres against the undesired
advances of the male. " This is carried on into desire,
and female animals are known to run after the male
and then turn to flee, perhaps only submitting with
much persuasion. Modesty thus becomes an invitation.
The naturally defensive attitude of the female is in
contrast with the naturally aggressive attitude of the
male in sexual relationships." ^ Such maiden coyness or
physiological shrinking, as has been explained before, is
accentuated at marriage, especially in connection with the
act of union. Amongst the Bedouins the bride cries loudly
while the marriage is being consummated.* In Sumatra
when the young couple are left together, custom
demands that she shall defend herself; the struggle
often lasts some days.* " Husbands have told me of
brides who sob and tremble with fright on the wedding-
night, the hysteria being sometimes alarming. E, aged
twenty-five, refused her husband for six weeks after
marriage, exhibiting the greatest fear of his approach.
Ignorance of the nature of the sexual connection is often
the cause of exaggerated alarm. In Jersey I used to hear
of a bride who ran to the window and screamed * murder *
on the wedding-night." * Now in primitive thought this
characteristic has to be neutralised, and it is done by a
ceremonial use of force, which is half real and half
make-believe. General cases of force used in connubial
" capture," so called, will illustrate this, as of course
the violence there used has the same meaning, though

^ H. Ellis, op, cit. ii. 29. ' Burckhardt, op. cie, i. 266.

* D'Urvillc, op. cit. I 184. * H. Ellw, op. cit. ii. 25.

2 A

generalised. Returning to more general developments
of bashfulness and timidity as against the other sex,
leading up to acts of mock half-real violence, we find
that at Kaffir weddings, the ^^ principal idea seems to be
to show the great unwillingness of the girl to be trans-
formed into a wife." After the reception of the brides
party, the bride creeps up to the bridegroom's wives, if
he has any, or his mother, and says she has come to
stay and hopes they will be good to her, otherwise she
will go back to the father, mother, and relatives who
were so loath to part with her. They reply that they
do not know — they are not sure — they will see how
she behaves herself, and so on. She then pretends to
run away, but a female relative of the groom brings her
back. In the evening she runs about the kraal with a
following of girls crying after her. She is supposed to
be running back to her old home, and the girls are
supposed to be preventing her. Next day she hlonipas
(hides) from the male sex, but in the afternoon she
comes out with some girls, and commences the cere-
mony of hlanibeesa (literally, "washing**). She takes
water and throws it about the men.^ The neutralising
of evil influences from the other sex by the use of water
is seen in the last detail. The various stages of the
following ceremonial show well how it is the maiden
who is to be conciliated. In Fiji the first act of wooing,
to obtain the girl's consent, was called " mutual attach-
ment." The next step was ''nursing"; the girl was
conducted to the bridegroom's house. As she wept
copious tears at being torn from the parental home the
friends of the groom endeavoured to assuage her sorrow
by offering presents. This was called '* the drying of
tears." The next step was the "warming," and con-

* Letlie, op, cit, 196, X17, ij8.

sisted in the sending of food to the bride by the bride-
groom. For the next step, the groom and his friends
arrived and the girl served them with food she had
prepared, and she and the bridegroom ate together.
This was known as "the bathing," for before it the
bride bathed in the sea.^ Cases of " connubial capture "
have nothing whatever to do, it need hardly be observed,
with so-called "marriage by capture.'* Among the
Karens the candidate for a maiden's hand has to escalade
her cabin, and is expected to overthrow a strong man
placed for her defence.^ The stock description of
Australian marriage, for instance at Botany Bay, that
the man knocks the woman down with a club, and
carries her ofF, is exaggerated.* An Australian girl,
when made over to her husband, goes to his hut with
reluctance, and when that feeling does not occur, it is
the fashion to assume it, and occasionally the husband
uses violence and compels his wife to enter his camp,
" a circumstance," adds Mr. Curr, who knew the natives
well, "which has been much burlesqued by some
writers."* Aelian states of the Sacae that the bride-
groom had to do battle with his intended, and naively
adds, "they do not go so far as to kill each other."*
Amongst the Tunguzes and Kamchadales a marriage is
not definitely " arranged and concluded until the suitor
has got the better of his beloved by force, and has torn
her clothes.® The Makuana suitor has to wrestle with
his bride.^ Amongst the Samoyeds the groom has to
take his wife by force, because she resists strenuously.®
In Greenland two old women are sent to negotiate with
the parents of the girl. The latter, on hearing the

^ Williams, op. eit. i. 169, 170. * J. Bowring, 5rtfm, ii. 45.

^ As by Bastian, Der Mentck^ iii. 292. ^ Curr, op, cit, i. 110.

* Aelian, xii. 38. • Erman, op, cit, ii. 442.

^ Arboutset, op. cit, 24Q. • Gcorgi, op, cit, 13.

proposal, runs out of doors, tearing her hair ; for single
women " affect bashfulness and aversion to any proposal
of marriage, though their betrothed are wel! assured of
acquiescence," Sometimes they swoon, or run off" to
some deserted spot. Women go in search of the
refractory maiden, and drag her forcibly to the suitor's
house, where she sits for some days disconsolate and
refuses nourishment. When friendly exhortation is
unavailing, she is compelled by force and even blows to
receive her husband,^ At the ceremony of uncovering
the face of an Egyptian bride, the groom has to give
her a. present of money therefor, and she does not
allow the uncovering without some reluctance, if not
violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty.
He then sees her face for the first time.* Marriages
amongst the Nestorians are solemnised in church an
hour after midnight. Standing before the altar in
separate groups, each surrounded by their respective
friends, the bride refuses to join hands with the bride-
groom, and some degree of force is necessary to accom-
plish the object.' When asked in marriage the Karalit
maiden feigns the greatest bashfulness. Sometimes her
resistance is of a serious nature ; she often escapes
and hides in the mountains. The two matrons who
negotiated the betrothal for the bridegroom go out to
find her, and drag her to the house of the suitor. Here
she remains for days in a sullen and dejected mood,
with dishevelled hair, and refusing to eat. She is some-
times compelled by blows to accept her new position.*
Amongst the Thiinkeets the bridegroom gives valuable -
presents to the father of the bride. On the wedding-
day the guests sing and dance, in order to induce the

bride to leave her hiding-place in the corner of the
room. She at last comes forth, and with a downcast
countenance takes her seat by the side of the bride-
groom.^ Amongst the Eastern Tinnes the woman who
is asked in marriage afFects an unwillingness to change
her condition ; but the suitor takes hold of the hair of
his betrothed and drags her out of her father's dwelling.^
K. O. Miiller explains the form of " capture " in ancient
Sparta more correctly than do ethnologists ; " it indi-
cates," he says, " that a girl could not surrender her
freedom and virgin purity unless compelled by the
violence of the stronger sex."* In ancient Rome at
plebeian marriages the groom and his friends invaded
the house and carried off the bride with feigned violence
from her mother's lap.* The Khonds hold a feast at
the bride's house. Far in the night " the principals in
the scene are raised by« an uncle of each upon his
shoulder and borne through the dance. The burdens
are suddenly exchanged, and the uncle of the youth
disappears with the bride. The assembly divides into
two parties ; the friends of the bride endeavour to
arrest, those of the bridegroom to cover her flight, and
men, women, and children mingle in mock conflict."
" I saw a man bearing away upon his back something
enveloped in an ample covering of scarlet cloth ; he was
surrounded by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by
them protected from the desperate attacks made upon
him by a party of young women. The man was just
married, and the burden was his blooming bride, whom
he was conveying to his own village. Her youthful
fi*iends, as it appears is the custom, were seeking to
regain possession of her, and hurled stones and bamboos

^ Featherman, iii. 390. ' Id, iii. 248.

* K. O. Muller, Tht Doriatu, IV. iv. 2. * Appulciua, Metamorphoies, iv.

at the head of the devoted bridegroom until he reached
the confines of his own village. Then the tables wot
turned and the bride was fairly won ; and off her young
friends scampered, screaming and laughing, bat not
relaxing their speed till they reached their own village."*
The Kalmuck bridegroom, when the "price " is fixed,
goes with some friends to carry oflT the bride. "A
sham resistance is always made by the people of her
camp, in spite of which she fails not to be bc»-ne away
on a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts znd/eux
de joie^ * A century ago in Wales, " on the morning
of the wedding-day the groom with his friends
demanded the bride. Her friends gave a positive
refusal, upon which a mock scuffle ensued. The bride,
mounted beside her nearest kinsman, is carried off and
is pursued by the groom and his friends with loud
shouts. When they have fatigued themselves and their
horses, he is sufiTered to overtake his bride, and leads
her away in triumph." • The Fu^;ian suitor, as soon
as he is able to maintain a wife, obtains her relatives'
consent, and does work for them. Then he watches
for an opportunity to carry her oflF. If she is unwilling,
she hides in the woods until her admirer is tired of
looking, but this seldom happens.* The Aeneze groom,
soon after svmset, goes to a tent pitched for him at a
distance from the camp ; there he shuts himself up
and awaits the arrival of the bride. The bashful girl
meanwlule runs from the tent of one friend to another
till she is caught at last, and conducted in triumph by
a few women to the brid^room^s tent ; he receives her
at the entrance, and forces her into it.^ Amongst the

^ Maqibenoa, Rtfcrt t^>m tie Kkomdi^ 55 ; Campbell, Ptrsemal Nmrstrot •/ Senmce
hi KkomdistSM^ 44. * Dc Hell, Travels am tkt Steffes tftke C^sfi^m &», 259

' Kames, Skttckti tfzht Hzstvy tf Mmk, i. 449.
• Fitxroj, y^f^ •ftke AdxtKtwe jood Bteglc, ii. 182, * Bcrckhardt, sp. dr. i. 107.

Bedouins of Sinai the bride is met in the evening by the
groom and two of his young friends, and carried off by
force to her father's tent. " She defends herself with
stones, and often inflicts wounds on the young men,
even though she does not dislike her lover, for according
to custom the more she struggles, bites, kicks, cries,
and strikes, the more she is applauded ever after by her
own companions." There follows the throwing over
her of the abba^ or man's cloak, and a formal announce-
ment of the name of the husband. Then she is dressed
in bridal attire, and, still struggling, is led two or three
times round and finally into the groom's tent. The
resistance is continued to the last.^ In New Zealand
" even where all were agreeable, it was the custom for
the groom to go with a party and appear to take her
away by force, her friends yielding her up after a feigned
struggle." ^ The Baca custom is this : " A young
man first tells some of his friends that he admires a
certain girl, and after a stated period he speaks to her
and says he would like to twala^ i.e. carry her off.
If she is agreeable to this Puoala^ he carries her off by
stealth to his parents' village." On the third day she is
returned to her father's house with the dowry cattle.*
Some of the following cases are of the same class as the
practice of hiding already noted. On an appointed day
the Ayetas send the prospective bride to the forest to
hide herself. If she is favourably inclined to the match,
she takes care that her place of concealment shall be
easily discovered. If she is found by the groom before
sunset, and is brought back to her parents, the marriage
is completed.* Amongst the Hos after three days of
marriage, the bride has to leave her husband, and he

1 Burckhardt, op, cit, i, 263, 264. ^ R. Taylor, cp, cit, 163.

* J cum, Antkrop, Inst. xx. 138. * Featherman, 0^. cit, ii. 33.

has to carry her home again, while she strenuously
resists, kicking, screaming, and biting. ^' It should be
done as if there were no shamming about it"^
Amongst the Orang-Benuas of Malacca the bride runs
away into the forest during the wedding ceremonies;
the groom chases her, and if he falls or returns unsuc-
cessful, " he is met with the jeers and merriment of the
whole party, and the match is declared off. It gener-
ally happens though, that the lady contrives to stumble
over the root of some tree friendly to Venus, and falls
(fortuitously of course) into the outstretched arms of
her pursuer."^ In the Mezeyne tribe of the Sum
peninsula the girl after betrothal is furnished with pro-
visions by her female friends, and is encouraged to run
away and fly to the mountains. If the bridegroom
succeeds in finding her retreat, he is bound to con-
summate the marriage on the spot, and pass the night
in the open country. He brings her home, but she
repeatedly escapes and only consents to live in her
husband's tent after she is far advanced in pregnancy.
After remaining with her family about a year, she
rejoins her husband, though she may not be expecting
a child.* Amongst the Digger Indians of California,
after the parents' consent to the marriage has been
obtained, the girl leaves the paternal home and conceals
herself, and if the suitor succeeds in finding her twice
out of three times, he is entitled to claim her as his
own.* The same kind of thing is sometimes seen on
the part of the bridegroom, sexual bashfulness not
always being confined to the female sex. It is the
Egyptian custom that the bridegroom as well as the
bride should exhibit bashfulness ; and he is carried up

^ Ball, cf>. cit, 479. 2 Ncwbold, British Settlements in Malacca^ ii. 407.

3 Burckhardti op, cit, i. 269. ^ Featherman, op. cit. iii. 212.

to the hareem by a friend.^ In the Andamans the bride
sits among the matrons, and the groom among the
bachelors. The chief approaches him in order to lead
him to the bride, but he assumes a modest demeanour
and simulates reluctance to move ; after encouragement
he allows himself to be led slowly, sometimes he is
dragged, up to the girl, who, if young, displays much
modesty, weeping and hiding her face ; her female
attendants straighten her legs, and the groom is then
made to sit on her thighs, and thus they are married.^
Amongst the KafErs the groom, no less than the bride,
runs away, but is brought back by the women.* In the
above cases we have seen the maiden " captured," if the
term be kept, but from herself, from her innocent, shy,
and timid personality, by a rough but half-kind method
of violence, which has the effect of obviating her bash-
fulness by conquering it, and of neutralising its results,
which, being part of the basis of sexual taboo and a
peculiar property of the female sex, are dangerous to
men, by a make-believe or sympathetic process.

In some of the following examples we see the bride
"captured" and taken away from her sex also, who,
by psychological necessity, take her part, as previous
examples have shown. Ceremonial or mock fights
here naturally signify both the sexual opposition and
the need of force to ensure the safety of the union.
Amongst the Bedouins of South Arabia the bridegroom
and his young friends go to the dwelling of the bride's
father to demand the lady. They are gravely informed
that she has fled to unknown parts. They then pro-
ceed to search, and find a cavern guarded by a troop of
young girls, and on approaching it they are met with a
shower of stones. They endeavour to storm the place,

^ Lane, op. ck, i. 214. * Jomii, Anthrop, Inst, zii. 137. • Shooter, op, at, 76.

^i THE MISEK: ■QSE chap.

and lit dig emt tfe jPiing iWM«n: tTfar tty ^^to^ letfiag

her fagg" ^vcilaei in. t&c:
a^ Pnme ww fi ITng

Itt SOKSIDQL DCOCB9HOK ttT tfiC uCIBK Qe tin^

OMoanCf 9 wfiglficr cca or BsgpB^. dBc L&il pad! gc tot
briw flOfiuBCft t&tf^ dhc HBoraig; cMiiimit **^— "* pt'ocfffd
bnc sismjTy to* QufiaEOB to wtc fiiduc '^""""WiT tint sot b
not 09vr-cttDDtias CD colxr spm tnc (ni^Ks v Ac

wiicii Cw wcaiy nandk & cbIlvijkk. bjr ^^wgffr smcl ok
cxhtbitsoii ot cIk swuit-wasotL Ok pBani^ tbc t&RS-
hoJo Or Cw bndcgrooBis InoKy tnc "*'*" ***** ^*- ^ *^y
to the door-post a hanp of jott. At t&ift OKMBcit kff
ffitendcd husband is standing €■ tbr hooacfaop cssKttf
above the door, holdii^ a dravn aanatd over bar bead*
** emUematical of the absohitr jiuhiMkjf wEtic& be b to
exerci^ over her/*^ The inference whscft em& dss
account may give the modem CTpLin^r?o& of cbc
cu»Cr>m, but does not reach its ordinal mezmzig.
l*he detail is parallel to those cases, ptemiuualy mat-
tionedy where a weapon is presented or thrown. Ar
the marriage of sheikhs amongst the Druses the bade
and her party on their way to the brid^rcxxEi's booe
are met by a party representing the bridegroooi. A
mock fight takes place, in which the brid^room^s portf
is generally driven back, and after a vigorous res&tjaue
the bride forces her way in, and is safely lodged in the
hareem. When the brid^room is about to enter, sIk
throws a massive veil of muslin and gold over her head^
covering her face, neck, and shoulders, and reachii^ to

9p, cit. V. 422. * U. ▼. ^^,

the waist. The noise of footsteps is then heard, and
the bridegroom enters, lifts her veil, and after a hurried
glance at her, replaces it and retires. While the groom
sits in state, his brother returns thanks for congratu-
lations in his stead.^ Amongst the Dorahs of New
Guinea the bride is conducted by her female relatives to
the house of the bridegroom, where she places herself
behind a mat-screen so as not to be seen by the men.
Here the dowry of the bride is given to the groom's
parents. She is then led back to her own house, where
she awaits the arrival of the bridegroom. When
he makes his appearance with his friends, he finds the
door shut agdnst him, and it is only at the earnest
remonstrance of the father of the young woman that
the portals of the nuptial chamber are opened.* When
the Malay bridegroom arrives at the bride's house, there
is a mimic conflict for the person of the bride. In
some cases a rope or piece of red cloth is stretched
across the path to bar the progress of the bridegroom's
party, and a stout resistance is made till the groom
pays a fine. He enters the house amid volleys of
rice, and fights his way to the reception room.* After
the three days' separation which follows the South
Celebes wedding, the bridegroom, on coming to
claim his bride, finds the house barricaded, and the
inmates fire muskets. Entrance is allowed after a
payment. Later on he enters the bridal chamber,
where the bride sits on the bed concealed by curtains,
and when he is about to open the curtains, he is resisted
by the women who are in attendance on the bride.
When this difliculty is surmounted, the bride pretends
to run away ; however, she stays for the ceremony in
which one sews the pair together by their clothes.

' Featherman, op, cit, v. 481. * Id, ii. Jit 32. ' Skeat, op, cit, 381.

This is followed by the ceremony of placing (mt
garment, a sarongs over the p^, who are then con-
sidered united. The rite is called ridjala-samfce^
"catching the bride with a sarong as with a filling-
net."^ It is a curious coincidence that, while the
bridegroom is on his way to the bride's home, lus
escort fish the air for evil spirits with nets.* Further,
when the pair are released from the sarong which is
about them both, the bride pretends to run away again ;
she is followed by the brid^room, and pushes him
ofF with her fan. The next night and for two nights
more the running away is repeated with variations.
The whole business is ended by a final ceremony called
** reconciliation." • In small towns and villages of
modern Egypt the bridegroom visits the mosque, and
meanwhile the bride and her party take possession
of his house. He is conducted home in procession
by his friends, who carry lighted torches, and perform
sham fights. When he reaches his dwelling the women
are summarily turned out, and he is ushered in as it
were by main force. Here a lighted lamp reveals
to him the face of his bride, which he pretends never
to have seen before.* In Soemba a sham fight takes
place between the men who act for the bridegroom
and the female relatives of the bride, until the former
manage to seize her.*^ Amongst the Mundas and
Oraons there is a mimic fight for the bride.^ Such
mock fights and *' captures" are very common in
the peasant-customs at marriage throughout Europe.^
Amongst the Saxons of Transsylvania, a crowd of

* Matthes, op, cit. 31, 33, 34. 2 Id, 31.

' ^^' 35» 37» 4*' * Fcathcrman, op. cit, v. 563, 564.

* Verkanddingen van het Eatav, Genootsckap van Kunsten en JVetenichappeHy
zxxvi. 53.

Dalton, op, cit, 194, 253. *? Reinsberg-Duringfeld, Hocksuitxhuck, passim.

masked figures attempt to separate the newly wed
pair. If they succeed, the bridegroom has to win her
back by a fight or a ransom ; it is a bad omen if they
are separated.^ This is a good example, as showing
how force on the part of the husband is in all these
customs intended to make the union secure.

There are a few cases where destiny is propitiated
by a retreat after the ceremony. This coincides with
the natural desire to escape from a more or less trying
ordeal. In some cases the escape is to one's old home.
On the night of the third day after a Malay wedding
there is a very curious ceremony. The relatives of
the groom assemble and make a bonfire of rubbish
under the house of the newly married couple. Such
a smoke is raised that presently the bridegroom comes
down, ostensibly to see what is the matter, but as soon
as he appears he is seized and carried ofiF bodily to his
own parents* house. These proceedings are known as
"the stealing of the bridegroom.'* Next day he is
escorted back in a grand procession. On his arrival
the pair are sprinkled with water to avert ill-luck, and
with holy water to bring good luck.* The day after
marriage the Egyptian bridegroom is taken into the
country, by the man who carried him up to the hareem ;
this is called "the flight."* Amongst the Wa-teita,
after the three days' fast and seclusion which follow
marriage, the bride is conveyed to her old home again
by a procession of girls.* Amongst the Larkas she
runs home after three days and tells her parents she is
not happy. The groom has to come and take her
back by force.* Other cases have been mentioned
incidentally.

1 Gerard, op. at. i. i86. * Skeat, op. at. 385, 386.

• Lane, op. at. i. 214. * J. Thornton, op. cit. 51. * Rowney, op. cit. 67.

There is a curious custom, with one or two varia-
tions, which is found occasionally. It is the custom
of drubbing the newly wedded pair, or "ragging thdr
rooms." It is not an " expiation " for marriage, but is
induced by that common himian feeling which prompted
the superstitious Greek to throw away something of
value so as to avoid Nemesis. It is a sort of sacrifice
to propitiate destiny, combined with the idea that
people who have been thus rendered more or less
destitute will be passed over by jealous powers of evil
It is done by the Maoris, who swoop down upon the
dwelling of the newly wed couple, and plunder and
destroy their goods. The practice is also followed
on all great occasions as a mark of respect. It is
instructive to note that it is performed when one has
broken tapu (as, by the way, a married pair have
broken sexual taboo), and when one has had an
accident.^ Another account states, "as soon as the
marriage is consummated, the nearest relatives of both
attack the hut, rob it, and give the pair a sound
thrashing. This ceremony is also performed on the
occasion of misfortune happening to a person.*' * The
same idea is to be seen in the common practice of
breaking something at a wedding, such as a piece of
crockery, as amongst the Saxons of Transsylvania,
who still say it is to keep off misfortune.* It is the
Dyak custom, when two tribes make peace, for each
in turn to invade and plunder each other's land. It
is done ceremonially.* This half-real revenge is
intended to satisfy one's feelings, in accordance with
the savage instinctive habit of make-believe. This
sacrifice of property has become a regular thing

^ Yate, op. cit. 86, 97, 104, 237. * Polacic, of>, cit. i. 141.

• Gerard, op. cit. ii. 35. * Brooke, op. cit. i. 368.

amongst the Haidahs, who make a pot latch on every
possible occasion, the system being in fact a sort
of stock-exchange, gamble and settling up.^ Cases
such as the following, which are often misunderstood,
are explained in the Siime way : when a Kurnai girl
elopes (the recognised method of getting married),
she is beaten by her relatives, not as a punishment, but
** simply to follow an ancestral custom," which, it may
be added, is not ** expiation for marriage." * The idea of
the parents is, by a make-believe beating, with somewhat
of reality in it, to relieve their parental feelings.

Few theories of primitive society have had such
vogue as that of Marriage by Capture, yet few theories
have been built on such slender foundations. The
tinge of romance belonging to the hypothesis has
no doubt had something to do with its popularity.
Its general unscientific nature, however, has been
demonstrated by Mr. Fison and Dr. Westermarck ;
it remained to examine the types of formal and con-
nubial "capture." The explanation of these forms
as not being survivals, as not indeed having anything
to do with " marriage by capture " proper, but arising
in a natural way from normal human feelings, destroys
what was the chief support of the old theory of
"capture." The theory, then, that mankind in
general, or even any particular section of mankind,
ever in normal circumstances were accustomed to
obtain their wives by capture from other tribes, may
be regarded as exploded. There have been, of course,
and still are, sporadic cases of capture of wives from
hostile tribes or others, but such cannot prove a rule.
A useful illustration may be drawn from Australian
custom. It has often been asserted that marriage by

^ G. M. Dawson, op, cit. 126, 127. ^ Fiton and Howitt, op, cit, 259.

capture is a common practice amongst the natives.
Messrs. Spencer and GiUen note'jbids, and point out
that it is of the rarest occurrence afiongst the Central
Australians, and that when it does occur, it arises out
of an expedition of vengeance against a hostile tribe.^
Mr. Curr also states that it is very rare throughout the
continent.* The capture of women is naturally an
attendant circumstance of invasion. Further, the
^* marriage by capture" so often attributed to the
Australians simply amounts to this, that the woman
to be married, according to peaceful tribal custom and
classificatory arrangement, is sometimes forcibly taken
by the bridegroom for obvious reasons, as we have seen,
or, as in all ages happens, elopement take place. In
Ceram, for instance, we are told that " marriage by
capture (sic) takes place usually when the girl's parents
are opposed to the match."* When carefully examined,
most of the old examples adduced as instances of mar-
riage by capture turn out to be either mere inferences of
such, or cases of connubial and formal capture, or, as the
last case and many of McLennan's examples, elope-
ments.

" Capture " proper, that is, hostile capture from

another tribe, has never been, and could never be, a
mode of marriage, it is only a method of obtaining a
wife. These two have often been confused. Con-
nubial and formal capture are very widely spread, but
are never survivals of real capture. The former is
often found as a matter-of-fact proceeding to secure
the person of the wife, and sometimes occurs side by
side with formal capture. In fact, formal capture far
from being itself a survival, either of connubial or of
hostile capture, is the ceremonial mode of which con-

^ Spencer and Gillen, o/>. cit. ^ Curr, of>. cit. i. io8. * Riedcl, op. cit, 133.

nubial capture is the non-ceremonial ; each is a living
reality, the one being material and the other ideal,
the one practical and the other ceremonial. If, as
Prof. Tylor holds with McLennan, formal capture is a
survival of real capture (hostile or connubial), there
ought to be no cases of formal capture in the maternal
stage. But there are such. The people of New Britain
who reckon genealogy by female descent have marriage
by "formal capture."^ Again, what precise bearing,
we may ask, on this question have cases where the
bridegroom is captured ? Such a practice (formal) is
followed by the Garos, a maternal people.^ Is this a
record of the passage from a paternal to a maternal
system ? For Prof. Tylor regards " capture " as being
the way by which "paternal" households gradually
superseded " maternal." * The young bridegroom cer-
tainly is often under this, perhaps more often than
under the paternal system, more or less looked after by
his parents-in-law, but it is because of paternal and
maternal feelings, not because of the maternal system.
But there is no evidence that the maternal system was
ever general or always preceded the paternal system ;
such evidence as the common practice of a man living
with his bride's parents for a short time, before setting
up house for himself, proving nothing except that they
wish to look after their daughter's welfare until a child
is born, and to see that permanence is thereby assured
to the tie ; or in many cases that it is a convenient
arrangement until the pair get a house. As to capture
setting on foot paternal institutions, we may here see
another way in which misconceptions may arise as to
the maternal system. This is, after all, except in rare
cases, simply a method of genealogy, and has nothing

' Jatrn. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 294 ff. ^ Rowney, op. cit, 195. * J-AJ, xviii. 260.

2 B

CHAP.

to do with the husband's authority in the iBsimily ; yet,
under any system, and in any age, sexual difFerence
makes the wife the housekeeper with some control
within the house, while the husband is guardian of the
family and has general control. This is well seen in
those Australian tribes which have the maternal system,
but the husband is master and guardian of the family,
and has a taboo with his mother-in-law. I mentia
the last detail, because that has been adduced as i
proof of marriage by capture, the mother it is sup-
posed being so indignant at the heartless "capture'*
of her daughter that she will not even speak to
her son-in-law. Of course such cases may have
occurred.

Lastly, exogamy is by no means a result of real or
any sort of capture. To attempt to show that it is
would be as hardy as to try, with McLennan, to prove
the practice of capture as resulting from infanticide rf
female children. Capture cannot be proved universal
enough to have given rise to so widely spread a system
as exogamy ; also the real meaning of the term exogam?
is often misunderstood.

It is now perhaps evident that it is not the tribe
from which the bride is abducted, nor, primarily, her
family and kindred, but her sex. A second class of
cases are those where woman's sexual characters of
timidity, bashfulness, and passivity are sympathetically
overcome by make-believe representation of male
characteristic action. A third class combines these
two, and potentially, they may always merge in each
other. Connubial capture and formal capture are
identical, but the latter is on the spiritual plane.

The ceremonies to be next mentioned form a link
between neutralising ceremonies and those which actually

and materially unite the man and woman. The prin-
ciple behind them is that of inoculation. That principle
has been described, and its use to lessen sexual danger
has been seen in the account of initiatory rites. Being
one-sided only, it is useful for marriage in abstract or
in extenso^ as initiation may be called, but is naturally
not common as a sacramental method of marrying two
individuals. As the initiatory practice is in essence
identical with love -charms of similar character, so is
this marriage ceremony. A case which shows the
identity of principle is from Morocco. On the evening
before the marriage, the " henna night," the bridegroom
visits the bride. He applies henna to her hands, and
removes a ring from her finger and a bracelet from her
arm, and wears the one or the other until the nuptials
are finally celebrated.^ He thus assimilates himself to
her, and brings himself into communion with her,
satisfying his instincts of love and his subconscious fear
of union at the same time. The example is also in-
structive as being on the way to become a double
inoculation in the fact that he applies something to her.
The common Indian practice of sindur^ by which the
groom touches the bride with red ochre, sugar and
water, and the like, is inoculation of her with himself.
The Bheel ceremony in which the bride does this as
well, shows inoculation become mutual.^

There are some interesting cases in which the prin-
ciple of inoculation is expressed by one or other of the
pair wearing the dress of the opposite sex. It is in-
oculation and assimilation effected by wearing the same
kind of clothes as the loved and' dreaded person, and
is paralleled by many cases in which a lover wears a
bracelet or some article of clothing of his mistress.

* Learcd, cp, c'lt. 35, 36. * Joum, Antkrop. Inst, ix. 402.

Thomson says of Masai weddings : " Strangest of all,
and strikingly indicative of the fact that he had ex-
changed the spear for the distaff, the bridegroom had
actually to wear the garment of a ditfo (girl) for one
month ; just imagine what fun it would be in this staid
and dignified country of ours, if a young man had to
spend his honeymoon in a cast-ofF suit of his wife's
maiden clothes." ^ In ancient Cos, according to
Plutarch, the bridegroom was dressed in women's
clothes when he received his bride.* The story of
Heracles and Omphale may have some similar origin.
Plutarch connects the custom and the myth ; but in
the old fashion makes the myth the origin of the
custom. On the other hand, in ancient Argos there
was a law, that brides " should wear beards when they
slept with their husbands." * The Spartan bride was
clothed in a man's cloak and shoes, and put on her bed
in the darkness by her bridesmaid, to wait for the
entrance of the groom.* It may be noted that there
are some cases in European custom, as in Wales, where
the bride is disguised in men's clothes.^ The chief
point in these is the disguise, and in origin the Euro-
pean customs may be nothing more.

We now reach the ceremonies which, more than any
others, unite the man and woman. The principle of
their action is double or mutual " inoculation," which
renders the union innocuous on either side. Having
already fully described this method of ngia ngiampe^ we
need here only repeat that it is the completion of ideas
of contact. Mutual inoculation is, when looked at
from the other side, union ; each of the two parties

^ Thomson, op. cit. 258. 2 piutarch, l^astiones Gracaty 58.

• Id. Mulierum Virtutei, 245 E, F. * Id. Lycurgus, xv. 48.

'^ T. Moore, Marriage Customs, 37.

gives to the other a part of himself, and receives from
the other a part of him ; this part, on the principles of
contact, may be, as it is in love-charms, a lock of hair,
a piece of clothing, food that has been touched or not,
blood, and the like. This effects union by assimilating
the one to the other, so as to produce somewhat of
identity of substance. When the act is done simultane-
ously, its sacramental character is intensified. The
union thus effected has, in accordance with the ideas
behind it, a most binding force, each party as having
given part of himself into the other's keeping is
thereby bound, and as having received part of the
other has thereby a hold over the other ; and the act
is the materialised expression of a desire for union,
identical in principle with physical contact, especially
with contact in love. It smns up and recapitulates the
whole cycle of conceptions as to human relations, which
are latent in human nature.

First we find the very general ceremony of joining
hands and the like. Here mere mutual contact fulfils
the union. It is a ceremonial pre-representation of the
actual union in marriage, assisting that union by making
it safe and by making it previously, and as it were
objectively. In Fiji the chief marriage ceremony is the
joining of hands, as it is amongst the Algonquins,
Egyptians, and many another people, including our-
selves.^ At Abyssinian weddings the bride and groom
crook their little fingers together under a cloth which
is held over them.^ The Puttooas tie the thumbs of
the pair together.^ The Egyptian bride and groom
stand face to face, grasp each other's right hands and
press the thumbs together, a handkerchief being put

^ Wilkes, op. cit. iii. 91 ; Featherman, op. cit, tii. 74 ; Lane, op. cit. i. zoo.
* Faibemiui, tp. at. ▼. 606. ' Rowney, op. cit. 93.

over the clasped hands.^ A curious example of the
close connection the pair sometimes have with their
attendant sponsors, combined with ideas of sexual soli-
darity, is from the Bondei. The bride and groom
hold hands, each takes his and her kungwi by the hand,
each kungwi holds the hand of a child, the male kungwi
that of a boy, and the female that of a girl.^

In Nias, again, mutual contact is expressed in another
way. The chief marriage ceremony is the pressing
together of the heads of the young pair.® The Anda-
manese marriage ceremony is this : the bridegroom is
made to sit down on the bride's legs, which are, some-
times forcibly, straightened out for the purpose.* The
pressing together of two things is an obvious method
of union and of inoculation ; and the marriage cere-
mony is curiously paralleled by the Andamanese method
of making a boy at initiation *'free" of a forbidden
food, pig, for instance. A pig is pressed down upon
him, and brought into contact with most of his person.^

Another method of joining the pair together is by
throwing a garment over them to cover them both;
the same method has been noticed as applied to the
joining of hands. At marriage amongst the Jews of
Jerusalem a white cassock is thrown over the pair,
** to indicate that they now belong to one another."
All present exclaim, " May it be a good sign ! " ® The
same is done by the Hovas.^ In Tahiti the pair
were enveloped in a cloth.^ So in the south-east of
Borneo, North Nias, and amongst the Battas of Sumatra.^

^ Lane, op, cit. I. 200. ^ Dale, in Journ, Anthrop. Inst. xxv. 199.

3 Fcathcrman, op. cit. ii. 354. * Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xii. 137.

''' Id. 135. 6 Fcathcrman, op. cit. v. 140.

' Journ. Anthrop. Inst. ix. 41. ^ W. Y.\X\%y Polynesian Researches^ i. 117.

^ Ausland for 1885, 785 j Sundermann, in Allgemcin. Missions ' Zeitschrijt, xi.
443 J van tier Tuuk, Bataksch fVoordenboek^ s.v. abis.

One would expect to find cases of double " inocula-
tion " by means of dress, each wearing the dress of the
other sex. In European folk-custom there are several
traces of this, bride and groom exchanging head-dresses
and the like.^ After betrothal the Ainu boy and girl
wear each other's clothes.* This method of union is a
common phenomenon in love - practice, and when a
modern 'Arry and 'Arriet exchange hats, the fact is no
coincidence, but is due to the same principle inherent in
the human consciousness. To the same order of ideas
belongs an Andamanese custom. ** They address young
married people in a strange way, calling the husband
by the name of the wife."*

The commonest of all marriage ceremonies of union
is eating and drinking together. This mutual inocula-
tion by food is the strongest of all ties of the ngia
ngiampe sort, and breaks the most important of sexual
taboos, that against eating together. Eating food
together produces identity of substance, of flesh, and
thereby introduces the mutual responsibility resulting
from eating what is part of the other, and giving the
other part of oneself to eat ; each has the other in
pledge, and each is in pawn to the other ; any ill-
feeling later, or sin, will produce bad results between
the pair. The closest union is produced with the
closest of responsibilities. Its binding force has been
already traced to its origin, as is shown by the Loango
custom, that bride and groom must make a full con-
fession of their sins at the marriage ceremony, else they
will fall ill when eating together.** The practice is of
course identical with those we have surveyed in con-
nection with hospitality, the sharing of "bread and

* Reinsberg-Diiringsfeld, op. cit, passim. *■* Batchelor, The jiinu^ 142. '

2 Journ. Antkrop. Inst. xii. 129. "• Bastian, Loango Kiistt^ \. 172.

salt/' a large class of love-charms, and acts of ngiampe.
It goes back to the animal expres^on of sympathy
by contact and by a gift of food. The practice has
nothing to do originally with transferring the groom or
the bride to the other's kin ; food produces flesh, and
flesh is connected with blood, but the "tie of blood"
is an inference not very prominent in early thought,
the tie of eating together is recognised earlier both in
practice and in theory. The bride and g^room become
" one flesh," but this is union of two individuals onlv ;
it is only late in culture, and then but rarely, that
kinship assumes such superiority over individualism.
For instance, the exogamous Melanesians say that the
wife never becomes one of her husband's " clan," but
is " at the door," " half-way across." ^ The pair are
brought into a close relation, but not relationship,
although in primitive thought the latter is a relation.
The theory that the " blood covenant " and the similar
marriage ceremony are intended to cause the blood of
the tribe to flow in the veins of the new member, is
based on late legal fictions. Exchange of blood is
commoner between lovers than as a marriage ceremony,
and lovers are not likely to think of tribal union ; the
act in Amboina, for instance, is regarded as a real sacra-
ment of affection.- Also, on the theory relatives by
marriage should not marry as they do. Again, are all
the cases where husbands and wives do not eat together
to be explained by the fact that, owing to exogamy,
they are of different tribes ^ Robertson Smith made a
further suggestion that it was because they were of
different totems, and therefore had different systems
of forbidden food ; ^ but the latter system is rarely
applied to marriage. This theory of tribal communion

^ Journ. Anthrop, Inst. x. 314. - Rieclel, op, cit. 41. ' Of>, cit. 312.

involves too many inconsistencies, and we need some
explanation more in accordance with human nature,
and with primitive thought. Well, as to this sex-
taboo and marriage ceremony alike, exogamy rarely
implies that the husband and wife are of different
tribes. They more often than not are of different
families only, and often cousins. Again, brothers and
sisters are often forbidden to eat together. They are
actually of the same family, of the same totem, and of
the same tribe. What does the taboo imply but sex ?
Lastly, it has been overlooked that in most cases one
person only is added to the tribe, namely, the new
wife or the new husband. This being so, it should not
be necessary, if the idea is simply to make that person
a member of the tribe, for more to be done than that
he or she only should eat some tribal food or drink
some tribal blood ; but in most cases the other party
also eats and drinks — why.'' To cause the tribal
blood of the stranger's tribe to flow in his or her
veins ? This seems supererogatory. It may be said,
the idea is to knit the two tribes together, but that is
another story. Here I will only observe that primarily
it does nothing of the kind, and that the theory breaks
down before such cases as the following, in which the
ceremony has for its sole object this knitting together
of two tribes. The ceremonial communion, by which
two tribes or villages in Ceram and Wetar form
alliance, is intended to join them together for mutual
help in war.^ It will be allowed that such covenants
form as important a bond, for treachery is thereby
neutralised, as that made by an intermarriage. Now,
after this ceremony, it is expressly forbidden for them
to intermarry. Here we may remember that married

' Riedel, of>. at, 128, 129, 446, 447.

couples do not always live tc^ether as such, but, as has
been shown, often do not eat together. On the present
theory, this apparent contradiction, and the curious
result of the Ceramese and Wetarese tribal covenants
both receive a satisfactory explanation.

The offering of a gift of food, which is part of
the biological basis of the custom, is often used as a
proposal of marriage. In Halmahera and Borneo a
proposal is made by offering betel to the girl. Sie
shows her acceptance by receiving it.^ In Samoa the
suitor offers her a basket of bread-fruit ; or he asks her
parents for her hand. If they are friendly and eat
with him, his addresses are sure to be favourably re-
ceived.^ Here is seen the ordinary use of the method
as a test of friendliness. At the betrothal ceremony of
the Yezedees the sheikh delivers to the bridegroom
a loaf of consecrated bread, half of which is eaten by
each of the betrothed.^ The very common practice of
a love-gift thus passes into a proposal of marriage, and
in the last case it is seen in the process of becoming
a marriage rite. This marriage rite may indeed be
described as a crystallisation of the love -charm of
exchange of food.

At marriage there are some interesting variations.
In the Duke of York Islands a cocoanut is broken
over the heads of the pair, and its milk poured over
them.* Amongst the Barbary Arabs the parents of the
groom present the young wife on her arrival with milk
and honey.^ Amongst the Koosa Kaffirs the relatives
of the groom hand milk to the bride,* reminding her
that it is from the cows which belong to the bride-

^ Ricdel in Zeitsckrift fir Ethnologie^ xvii. 75 j St. John, op. cit, i. 54, 161.
'^ Wilkes, e>/». cit. ii. 138. ^ Fcatherman, 0^. cir. v. 62.

^ Journ. Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 290. •** Featherman, op. cir. v. 530.

groom. Of this milk she may not drink while the
bridegroom is her suitor only, but now she is to drink
it, and from this moment the union is indissolubly con-
cluded. The people shout, *' She drinks the milk ! She
hath drunk the milk ! " ^ This case, of course, is one-
sided " inoculation " ; the bride eats the bridegroom's
food, that is, she eats his substance in both senses of the
word. In the next two cases, sexual shyness has played
its part. At weddings in Ceram-laut the bride does
not appear, being hidden in her chamber ; the bride-
groom eats with her people.^ In Amboina an old
woman puts "food of the house" (the wedding
being in the bridegroom's dwelling) in the bride's
mouth.^ The South Celebes bridegroom is offered
the betel 'hoyi of his bride, from which he takes
some betel.^ In Ceram the bride eats a male
opossum, and the bridegroom a female of the same
animal.*

A Servian bride ate with her husband on the
wedding-day, the first and last occasion in her life on
which she ate with a man.* Niam-niam women never
eat with men, but at the marriage ceremony they eat
with their husbands.^ At Hova marriages the pair eat
together, and then a lamba is thrown round them both.®
The joining of hands is used in the Malaccas, where
it is followed by eating together ; ® so in Nias and
Timor, and amongst the Orang-Sakai of Perak.^®
Amongst the Topantunuasu of Celebes the pair are
placed on one mat, and the bridegroom places his

^ Lichtenstein, op. cit. i. 262.

'^ Riedel, De sluik-en kroexharige rassen tusschen Stlebes en Papua, 172.
^ Id, 70. * Matthes, op, cit, 30. ^ Riedel, op, cit, 133.

^ Reinsberg-Duringsfeld, op, cit, 81. ^ Schweinfurth, op, cit, ii. 28.
* Journ.Anthrop, Inst, ix. 41. • Joumalof the Indian Archipelago, \, 338.

^® Rosenberg, op, cit, 38 \ Miiller, Reizen en onder^cekingen in den Indischen Archipel,
ii. 258 J Journ, Ind, Archipelago, iv. 431. m

right leg on the left leg of the bride. They then cat
rice together.^ Santhal couples fast on the wedding-
day, but after the sindur dan they eat together.
This is the first and last time she eats with a man.*
In the Kei Islands^ the young couple eat together and
exchange betel ; this forms the wedding ceremony. In
Ceram after these words are repeated by an elder, "what
the husband wishes the wife must wish, and what tiic
wife wishes the husband must also wish, and let them
not forget their parents," the couple eat together. The
young couple in Timorlaut eat together out of one
dish at the wedding. When the Babar bridegroom has
found his bride, after the search in the dark, his friend
places their heads together, and then the pair eat
together out of the same dish.^ The Batta bride and
groom sit together and eat rice from the same cUsh.*
So in Rao, "as a token of friendship.**^ Eating
together is the marriage ceremony in Paiembang,
Tebing-Tinggi, and Ranau, and amongst the Orang-
Mantra ; in Borneo we have the same ceremony, some-
times varied by smoking the same cigarette.^ In
Mindanao and Celebes there is the same ceremony
of marriage, and also in Bali, Flores, and the Sawu
Islands.^ In many of the above cases betel is chewed
together by the pair. In New Guinea the rite is
common.^ The Navajo couple ate maize -pudding

' Bijd, T.L.F,K. Ned. Ind, iii. 5. i. 90. ^ Dalton, op. cit. 216.

=» Ricdel, op. cit. 236, 133, 301, 351.

"* Ttjdichrift Hfocr Nederlandsch Indie, i. 846, ii. 179.

^ Tijdschrift •vocr Indische Taal'Land en Volkenkunde, xxviii. 578.

^ Pratorius, in De Indische Bij. i. 429 j Tijdschriffvoor Nederlandsch Indie (1873^
2. 295 } Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, 219 ; Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Land en
Volkenkunde, x. 428 } St. John, op. cit. 50, 5 1.

' Tijdschriffvoor Nederlandsch Indie (1840), i. 122 ; Tijdschriffvoor Indische TaaU
Land en Volkenkunde, xviii. 383 ; Globus, xliii. 60 ; Graafland, De Afinahassa, i. 319 •
Veth, Java, i. 634; Riedcl, in Revue (kloniale Internationale (1885), *• 308, (1886),
i. 70. 8 Rosenberg, Der Malay isch Archipel, 455.

from the same plate.^ In Russia and Scandinavia the
pair used to drink from the same cup ; so in Brazil and
Japan.2 Amongst the Ghonds and Korkus the garments
of the pair are tied together, and they interchange
things and eat together.* At Dorah weddings the
oldest man present joins the right hands of the young
couple, reminding them of their mutual duties and
expressing his best wishes. A pot filled with sago-
mush is then placed before them, of which they serve
to each other three mouthfuls in alternate succession.*
In the Kingsmill Islands the pair sit on a new mat, and
the priest presses their foreheads together, and sprinkles
their faces with water. They then eat together some
fish and bread-fruit.* At Dyak marriages the bride
and groom eat together, and are sprinkled with rice.*
In the Manuahiki Islands the priest gave the man a
cocoanut to drink and he, after sipping the milk, gave
it to the woman and she drank.^ In Fiji the marriage
ceremony was the eating by the pair out of the same
dish.® In Madagascar bride and groom eat together,
and thus become man and wife. It is " apparently a
symbol of the future unity of their interests." ® At a
wedding in the Philippines the young couple were
required to eat from the same plate and drink from
the same cup.^^ At a Malay wedding friends put in
the hands of bride and bridegroom handfuls of rice,
and with this the two feed each other simultaneously."
Amongst the Larkas rice and meat are oflfered to her,
" by partaking of which she becomes of her husband's

* Waitz-Gcrland, op, cit. iii. 105.

^ Wester marck, History of Human Marriagt\ 419.

"* Forsyth, TAe Highlands of Central India^ 149.

■* Featherman, op, cit, ii. 32. ^ Wiikcs, op, cit, v. loi.

** Feathcrman, op, cit. ii. 266. ' Turner, Samoa, 276.

^ Williams and Calvert, op. cit. i. 170. * Sibrec, op, cit, 193.

^® Feathcrman, op. cit. ii. 474. ^* Skeat, op. cit. 383.

CHAP.

caste " {sic). Later, a cup of beer is given to each, these
are mingled and the pair drink ; this " completes the
marriage."^ At marriages in Java the groom ofiers
the bride some rice which they eat together out of the
same dish, or the pair take iefel out of the same box,
"to indicate their union." ^ In the valleys of the
Hindoo Koosh the marriage ceremony is that the
pair eat together a cake of bread.* In Ceylon the
pair have their little fingers tied together. They then
eat out of the same dish, *'to show they are now of
equal rank" (j/V).* In Mangaia the marriage ceremony
was that bride and groom ate together ; ^ so amongst
the Sarae.*^ The Khyoungtha bride and groom are
tied together, and fed by the priest with rice, eadi
receiving seven alternate helpings. '^ Amongst the
Chukmas the pair are tied together and in that position
they feed each other, the best man and bridesm^d
guiding their hands.^ In Dardistan the pair eat together,
this being the marriage ceremony.* Eating together is
a common marriage custom amongst Europ>ean peasants.
In Germany the pair eat off the same plate.^^ In ancient
Rome at marriage by confarreaito^ the bride and groom
ate together pants farreus^ in the presence of the Flamv.
Dialis and Pontifex Maximus}^ In South Slavonia the
bride eats half an apple and gives the other half to the
bridegroom. ^^ If we can isolate the folk-lore element
in the story of Eve's apple, it seems most probable that
some such love -practice or marriage rite as this is
behind it. There is an unmistakable reference to sexual

^ Rowney, op. cit. 67. '^ Featherman, <?/>. cit. ii. 385.

^ Biddulph, op. cit. 79. * Forbes, op. cit. i. 331.

^ Gill, Life in the Southern Isles, 63. ^ Munzinger, op. cit. 384.

' Lewin, op. cit. 129. ^ /^/ ^jj^

* G. W. Lcitner, in Asiatic ^arterly Review, v. 153.

*® A. Wuttke, Der deufsche Volksaherglaube, 560.

** Gaius, i. 108 fF. *- Krauss, c&. t/V. 276, 459.

relations in the story, the serpent being the zoomorphic
presentment of virility, which, as has been noticed, is a
widely spread way of explaining certain sexual pheno-
mena. Further, there is the knowledge of evil as dis-
tinguished from the state of innocence, a fact curiously
paralleled by the psychological analysis of the result of
the ngia ngiampe relation, of which eating together it
the most typical form. The symbolism of the apple,
as found in Greek and Latin folk-lore, is of course later.
Drinking wine is no substitute for or survival of
drinking blood ; each has the same effect, but wine is
primarily liquid nourishment. The taking together of
the Communion is in Catholic countries an essential
part of the marriage ceremony. It is so in the English
Church, according to the rubric. Some examples of
drinking together have been already noticed. In the
island Romang the pair drink together out of one
cup ; this is the wedding ceremony.^ At marriages in
Morocco the priest hands to the couple a glass of wine
after blessing it, and each drink of it. The glass is
then smashed on the ground by the groom, " with a
covert meaning that he wishes they may never be
parted until the glass again becomes perfect."* The
idea is originally to prevent others making magic use
of the vessel to the harm of those who have drunk,
and, later, to prevent any undoing of the rite. At the
marriage ceremony of Polish Jews the Rabbi hands a
goblet of wine, over which he pronounces a blessing, to
the pair, who sip each in turn of the wine.^ Amongst
the Hos, Lepchas, and Tipperahs, the bride and groom
drink beer together out of the same cup.* In China

^ Riedel, De sluik-en kroeskarige rassen tuuchfn SeUbts en Papua, 460.

' Learcd, op, cit, 37. ' Feathennan, op, at, v. 154.

* Dalton, op, cit. 193 j Ritley, op, cit. ii. 8 j Lewin, op, cit, 202.

and Corea they drink wine out of t\iro cups which arc
tied together by red thread.^ Amongst the Nestorians
the final act of the marriage ceremonial is the taking of
the Communion together.*

Various national narcotics, sedatives, and the Hkc,
are used in the same practice, as has been seen already.
The Aru bride is carried to the wedding, and the
ceremony is the partaking together of betel.^ The
Sibuyou bride and bridegroom sit side by side on two
crowbars ; their heads are knocked together, and they
then put betel in each other's mouth. Previously to
the last rite, the priest waves a pair of fowls above
their heads. After the exchange of betel ^ the fowls arc
killed, and from the appearance of the blood the priest
predicts the future fortunes of the newly ivedded pair.
The Balans at marriage chew betel together. The
Sintahs rub the chest, forehead, and hands of the pjur
with a paste of saffron, gold-dust, and fowls' blood.
Lastly, a string of beads is bound round the wrist of
each of the pair.* Amongst the Minahasses of Celebes
the young couple sit side by side, and, betel being placed
in the hand of each, they exchange it and chew it.
They are thus legally married.^ In the Natchez wedding
ceremony the pair ate together out of the same dish.
Afterwards the bridegroom smoked the calumet and
" wafted the first fumes towards the parents of his wife,
and then towards his own parents in token of the
alliance." *^

Drinking each other's blood has no real pre-eminence
in early custom over other means of assimilation ; blood
is simply a part of one's self. Where the practice is

^ Doolittle, op. cit, i. 86 ; Griffis, op» ctt. 249. '^ Featherman, op, cit. v. --.

^ Riedel, op. cit. 262. ^ Featherman, op. cit. \\. 267.

* Id. H. 64. 6 Id. iii. 139.

followed, it is not relationship that is the result, but
relation, — of ngia ngiampey just as is effected by food
and other vehicles of contact. It is rather a rare
custom, far more rare than the " blood covenant," and
a corollary of the blood covenant between two tribes
was actually found to be that they may not intermarry.
This was explained in the account of ngia ngiampe. It
is in fact commoner as used by lovers than as a marriage
ceremony, and lovers are the last persons to think of
tribal union. In Amboina lovers drink each other's
blood, mixed with food, " to show their close attach-
ment," and the custom is said to have a sacramental
binding force.^ This practice of lovers is very common
in Europe and elsewhere.*

At marriages amongst the Wukas the young couple
mutually make a slight cut in their foreheads sufficiently
deep to let the blood flow, and the other members of
both families follow their example. "This binds
together all the relatives on both sides in the closest
fraternal alliance." ' A common variation is anointing
with blood. Amongst the Bengal tribes the marriage
ceremony is the sindur dan^ in which the groom marks
the bride's forehead with red lead. Red lead is possibly,
but not certainly, a substitute for blood.* The Birhor
ceremony is that bride and groom smear each other
with blood drawn from their little fingers.* The Kewat
ceremony of marriage is the sindur dan^ after which
blood is drawn from the hands of bride and groom and
mingled with food which is then eaten by the pair.
Similarly amongst the Rajpoots.*

The same principles of relation, of ngia ngiampCy

1 Riedel, op. cit, 41. > PIom q. BarUls, Da* H^eib, \u 442 ff.

' Featherman, op, cit, ii. 32. ^ Dalton, op, cit, 160, 216, 252, 273, 321.

' Id, 220. ' RUley, op, cit, i. 456 ; ii. 189.

2 C

more subconscious indeed, but still inherent and always
liable to pass from potentiality to actuality, are behind
the practice of feasting at weddings. We have found
this kind of thing in connection with Saturnalia festivals.
So at marriage the friends of both feel somewhat bound
together by the union of the pair, and expression is
given to this by eating and drinking together. Here
indeed the new member is united to the family, so far
as sharing in a feast effects this. Just as two men
nowadays are more or less brought into friendly union
by taking wine together or " having a drink," and
members of societies are united in closer sympathy by
a dinner or a feast, so the husband and wife are joined
together by communion, and to some extent also their
friends by mutual feasting. These happen to be
different families, but rarely different tribes ; their
union, however, is not primarily a fiction of blood-
kinship, but a more general relation of friendliness, as
persons who have the same interests and a mutual
acquaintance in the happy bride or bridegroom, but,
originally, as persons who eat together. The connec-
tion of feasting with the importance of food is shown
at Huron weddings, where there was a feast of every
kind of game, including fish, and meat for dogs.^ As
to other expressions of joy and good feeling, we may
say of wedding dances what an old Motu-Motu man
said to Mr. Chalmers : " No drums are beaten uselessly,
there are no dances that are merely useless." '

The same ideas are behind the common practice of
gifts from bride to groom and from groom to bride,
and between the friends and relatives of the pair; just
as they are behind the identical practices of love-gifts
and gifts from man to man. A gift means far more

to primitive man than it docs to us ; it is part of him-
self. A Patagonian chief is prevented by custom from
entering the tent of another till presents have been
exchanged.^ This case shows the principles of ngia
ngiampe. Amongst the Khakyens there seems to be
little more of marriage ceremonial than interchange of
presents, this is essential, and really seems to constitute
marriage.* The importance of gifts in this connection
is shown by the Kaffir custom that the bride may not
eat food from the bridegroom's kraal until the " presents '*
have duly arrived.* The marriage gifts in South
Celebes between bride and groom are very numerous
and most of them are variously symbolical of marriage,
amongst them are ginger -roots which have grown
together.* In Japan the sending of presents to the
bride by the groom is one of the most important parts
of the marriage ceremony. When done, the contract
is complete, and neither party can draw back.* It is
not, as Dr. Westermarck thinks,* a relic of a previous
custom of marriage by purchase ; the latter is, on the
contrary, a development from this.

The explanation of bride-gifts is really the explana-
tion of what is mis-called " marriage by purchase." In
many peoples, of course, as commercial instincts ripen,
and daughters are found to have their price, the old
idea fades into the ** light of common day," and buying
and selling become connected with marrying and giving
in marriage. But originally it was not so. The so-
called bride-price was originally of the same class as
the kaldukcy a pledge, a part of one's self, given to
another and received from him. Buying and selling

^ Musters, op. cit. 184. ' Anderson, op, cit. 30.

' Shooter, op. cit. 54. * Matthes, op. cit. 15-18, 22-26, 15.

* Transactions of tAe Asiatic Society ofjapan^ xiii. 120. * Op. cit, 395.

with primitive peoples have not the same sordid coo-
notation as they now have. The principle involved is
more personal, more religious ; there is less of price and
more of value, more of the pledge than of profit and
loss. As showing something of the early idea of pay-
ments and purchase, the following case is usefuL When
two villages in the New Hebrides make peace, the
offending village is mulcted in a sum of pigs. That
is, however, a sham fight, in which the village which
has to pay the pigs is defeated, thus giving a pretext
for the payment.^

In the Banks Islands, when all the ^^purchase-
money " for the bride has been paid, the women come
forward and refuse to let the bride go until a further
sum is put down.* The harta^ or bride-price, amongst
the Minahasses of Celebes ^^ should not be conadered
as a price, it has rather the nature of a compensation
paid to the bride's family for the loss of one of its
working and child -producing members."* Amongst
the Todas and Osages the marriage contract ** resembles,
but is not, an act of barter." The Osage bride is
stripped of all her clothes and ornaments, which become
the property of the groom's mother ; but she receives in
exchange a new suit equally valuable. The ceremonies
are concluded by a family feast;* much as amongst
the Chippeways, whose weddings were ended by a feast
at which presents were exchanged between the bride-
groom and the relatives of the bride.^ As to the
bride-price amongst the KafKrs a good observer states,
"the transaction is not a mere purchase. The cattle
paid for the bride are divided amongst the male

1 Journ. Anthrop. Imt. xxiii. 17. ^ Codrington, e^. r/V. 237.

• Hickson, A Naturalist in North Celebes, 282.

* Marshall, op, cit, 2H ; Featherman, «/>. cit, iii. 308.
^ Featherman, op, cit. iii. 249.

relations, and are considered by the law to be held in
trust for the benefit of herself and children, should she
be left a widow. She can accordingly legally demand
assistance from any of those who have partaken of her
dowry." ^ At Kaffir betrothals a goat is killed at the
kraal of the suitor, or if he has no goat, a present of
beads is made to the girl. Until the one or the other
is done, she may not eat at the kraal^ where she remains
a few days. Besides the cattle he has to "pay" for
his wife, he must give a cow to the bride's mother ;
this is called ukutUy referring to the thongs made from
an ox-hide, and hung round the bride during infancy.
This ox is thus ** repaid '* by the groom. Again, there
is " the ox of the girl " to be slain at the marriage ;
this is given by the bride's father to the groom. It is
also called " the ox which has a surplus," and represents
these ideas : (i) it stands for the value of the girl, (2)
it gives an assurance to the recipient that the spirit of
the father — I-hloze — will not after his death come to
disturb the place where his daughter lives, and (3) that
his girl will bear many children. On arriving at the
bridegroom's kraal after sunset, she gives him a present
of beads, but does not speak; she receives also a present
from him which she hands to her brother. Next day,
the friends of the bride go to the kraal to demand fi-om
the bridegroom the ox called um-goliswa. The groom
says he has no ox, and is thereupon informed that the
bride will be taken away. After remaining concealed
for a time, he now tries to run away, but is prevented
by a company of women, a smile on his face showing
that his efforts are merely formal. The um-goliswa is
now brought and given to the bride's friends. The
father of the bride delivers a lecture to the groom, on

1 Maclean, op, cit, 53 ; Jomn, Antkrvp, Inst, xiz. 270.

the duty of behaving well to her, and warns him of the
impropriety of beating his wife. Then the slaughter
of " the ox of the girl " takes place ; this is the " fixing
point of the ceremony," previously the bride could be
removed.^ This account brings out clearly the religious
importance of " bride-gifts," and is instructive as show-
ing the identity of the "purchase-money" with these.
It is to be noted lastly that there underlies the practice
an idea that the "ox of the girl" is a substitute tor
her, and the ox of the bridegroom a substitute for
him, securing safety, both religious and practical, to
both parties.^ There is also to be noted the sexual
shyness on the part of the bridegroom, as shown by the
formal attempt to escape.

To conclude this sketch of marriage ceremonies, it
is to be observed that the reason why marriage ritual is
often excluded from religion proper by enquirers, and
why much of it is apparently secular, is precisely the
fact that the subconscious fear of the one sex towards
the other is here so liable to emerge into consciousness,
when a man and a woman stand face to face. Much of
religion begins with, as it returns to, human person-
alities.

' The DsmiTi cuitom may be compsred j a special p»rl of (he oi HcriAced at a
Widding may only ht citrn by young girli. Wiih the fat thfrefrom die biid**-
maidi deck ihe hair of the bride.— 5auM .-ijiiraii FtHliri yuirnal, i. 49.

Chapter XV

Husband and wife are thus in the relation of ngia
ngiampsy emphasised by its being a sexual form ; they
have been brought into that relation by a special cere-
mony of union, and remain in it both as a result of
that ceremony, of which permanence of union is not
the least important object, and as a result of living
together, which is itself a potential mode of ngia
ngiampe. This continuous contact introduces once
more all the original dangers of sexual taboo, as it were
in spite of the act of ngia ngiampe ; in other words,
the factors of contact which produce the taboo remain,
after the taboo is broken by union, so as to give that
union its sanction or binding force. The resulting
taboo, that of responsibility, is thus emphasised by the
original ideas of contact. We saw how this new taboo
of responsibility arises, and that it is the psychological
basis of altruism ; of this and of the original sexual
taboos between husband and wife, which also now
recur, not inconsistently, as a result of the ngia
ngiampe relation, it is unnecessary to quote instances,
but a few illustrations will be given to show how the
mutual responsibility of married persons is based on
the original ideas of contact. The duty resulting is
primarily between husband and wife, then between
parents and children, and between the children them-
selves, secondarily between either of the married pair

and those brought by the marriage into relation with
each. Many details, such as the following, show how
conscious application of the ideas of contact supplement
such biological relations. A Zulu mother, when about
to leave "her baby for a few minutes, will squeeze her
milk over its hands, breast, and back, or spit on it,
" as a protective charm " to ensure its safety during
her absence.^ Amongst the Maoris if the mother's
breasts give no milk, she and her husband are kepi
apart for a night, to allow the karakia (incantation),
which has been employed as cure, to take efFect.* In
Luang Sermata, if a woman's children have died while
being suckled, the next born is given to other people
to be nursed.* Amongst the people of the Loango
Coast the bridegroom and the bride before the marriage
ceremony have to confess their sins to the priest ; if
they fail to do so, or if either keep back anything, evil
and misfortune " will result when they eat together." *
This example is an excellent illustration of all these
ideas. In South-East Africa a guilty wife may be for-
given but the husband cannot live with her till a third
party has been with her. If a guilty woman were to
put salt in her husband's food, and he were to eat it,
he would surely die, therefore many women ask a
little girl to put in the salt.^ We see here and in the
following how the adhesive substance of guilt which
may injure the wronged party is prevented from acting,
by the use of an intermediary. After divorce an
Egyptian husband cannot legally take his wife again,
till she has been married and divorced by another man.
They employ a poor, ugly, or blind man for this,

^ Leslie, op. cit. 147. 2 Shortland, Maori Religion^ 30.

• Riedel, op. cit. 327. ^ Bastian, Loango Kutte^ i, 170, 172.

• Journ. Antkrop. Inst. xxii. iio.

called moostahhill. Many rich Turks keep a special
black slave for this purpose, generally one who has not
reached puberty.^ Amongst the Samoyeds, if birth
is difficult, one suspects the woman of adultery.^
Amongst the Druses, if a wife leave her husband's
abode without an injunction to return, this is equivalent
to divorce. However willing both are to unite, they
cannot come together till she has first been married to
a third party, who must then divorce her ; after this
she can return.* Again, when a Chiquito man fell ill,
they used to kill the wife thinking her to be the cause
of his sickness, and imagining when she was removed
that he would recover.* Amongst the Krumen when a
wife dies, the husband is believed to have caused her
death by " witchcraft." ^ In Congo tribes widows and
widowers are similarly accused.* In Madagascar the
widow is reviled and informed that it is her fault that
her Vintana (fate) [has been stronger than that of her
husband, and that she " is virtually the cause of his
death." ^ When a Zulu woman has lost her husband
and is married by a brother or other man, the spirit of
her late husband follows her continually. If she is
pregnant and the spirit comes to her, she falls ill and
miscarries. By placing in an ant-heap some spittle,
collected in her mouth while dreaming of him, the
ghost is laid.® In China it is believed that when
members of a family are sick one after the other, there
is a mysterious and injurious influence existing between,
for example, husband and wife, or father and son.* In
Samoa, when one was sick, the priest assembled all the

^ Lane, op, cit. i. 228. ^ Georgi, op. at, 14.

^ Chasscaud, op, cit. 1S6. ^ Dobrixhoffer, op. cit. ii. 264.

^ J. L. Wilson, op. cit. 115. ^ Waitz-Gerland, op. cit. ii. 120.

"^ Jowrn. Antkrop. Imt. \x. 45. ^ Callavray, op, cit, 161.

* Doolittle, op. cit. L 143.

family round the sick-bed, and made them confess
their sins. " The requisition was always impliddy
obeyed, and each one confessed everything he or she
had ever at any time done. Whether it were theft,
adultery, seduction, lying, or invoking a curse upon
the sick person, however long concealed, all was openly
and with solemn contrition confessed." ^ Here is
evident the idea of danger inherent in all contact,
emphasised by the very closeness of the relation, in
spite of the friendliness of a united life ; it is to be
compared with the Loango rule that husband and wife
must confess their sins, else they will be injured by
eating together. Amongst the Samoyeds at a Shaman's
performances, his wife " as an unclean thing, must keep
out of the way." ^ In New Guinea when a man is
taboo he lives apart from his wife, and his food is
cooked by his sister.*

The same ideas are somewhat differently expressed
in the following. In Timor-laut a married man's ludr
may not be cut, else his wife will die.* A Sarawak man
will put himself under pamali to cure a sick child.^
The conduct of one connected by contact reacts upon
the other, when either is absent. No water may be
boiled inside a Mahlemut house while the deer-hunt
continues.® If a Hottentot goes out hunting, his wife
kindles a fire. " She may not do anything else but watch
the fire and keep it alive. If the fire should be extin-
guished, the husband will not be lucky." She may
throw water about instead ; if she gets tired, her servant
must do it. If neglected, the same result follows.^
When absent on a journey Acaxee men refrained from

1 Pritchard, op, cit, 147. a yourn, Anthrop, Inst. xxiv. 141.

• Journ, Anthrop, Inst, viii. 370. * Ricdcl, op, cit, 292.

» Low, op. cit. 402. « Dall, op. cit, 147. ' Hahn, op, cit, jy.

using salt ; they said : " Perhaps our wives are not
behaving well in our homes and we shall die."^
Amongst the Kaffirs, should a man's wife, while he
is on a journey, anoint herself with the oil or fat in
daily use, she will not only sufFer herself but bring
calamity upon her husband ; should she dream during
his absence, she must offer a private gift for herself and
her absent lord.* When a Malay is at war, his pillows
and sleeping-mat at home are kept rolled up. If any
one else were to use them, the " absent warrior's courage
would fail, and disaster would befall him." His wife
and children may not have their hair cut during his
absence.* Not only was the traveller obliged, according
to the Nahua superstition, to abstain from baths during
his absence, but even his family during the same period,
while allowed to bathe the body, might not wash the
head or face oftener than once in eighty days.* In East
Central Africa while a woman's husband is absent on
an expedition, she goes without anointing her head or
washing her face ; she must not bathe, she scarcely
washes her arms. She must not cut her hair ; her oil-
vessel {chisasi) is kept full of oil till his return, and
may be hung up in the house, or kept by the side of her
bed.* In time of war, amongst the Tshi-speaking
peoples, the wives of the men who are with the army
paint themselves white, and decorate themselves with
beads and charms, and make a daily procession through
the town, invoking the protection of the gods for their
absent husbands. " This ceremony is called Mohbor-meh^
a word compounded of mohbor^ * pity>* ^^d meh^ * me,'
and which may be freely translated, * Have mercy upon

* Bancroft, op, at, i. 581. * Jotm, Antknp, Intt, xx. 116.

' Skeat, op, cte, 524. ^ Bancroft, op, cit, ii. 392.

' Macdonald, AJricana^ i. 81.

us ! * Besides the d^ly procession, Mohbor-meh women,
painted white from head to foot, dance publicly in the
streets, uttering howls and shrieks, leaping and ges-
ticulating, and brandishing knives and swords. On
the day upon which a battle is expected to take place
they run to and fro with guns, or sticks roughly canrcd
to represent guns, and pierce green paw -paws with
knives, in imitation of the foemen's heads. This
ceremony is generally performed in a complete state
of nudity, and frequendy some of the principal women
appear with two hen's eggs fastened above the pudenda.
Any man, except the aged and infirm, who may be
discovered in the town or village, is at once assailed with
torrents of abuse, and charged with cowardice, taunted
with want of manliness, assaulted with sticks, and
driven out of the town. Mohbor-meh women appear
to be regarded in some respects as female warriors, who
guard the town in the absence of the men.'* ^ The
impersonation of the male sex is doubdess intended
to complete identification, and so make sympathetic
action more certain. In the Babar Islands, when the
men are at war, the women must fast and abstain from
sexual intercourse.^ In Timor-laut, when a ship is at
sea, the girls of the village are bound to sing and dance
daily on the beach, by way of bringing the men back
speedily.*

In other connections there are instructive cases like
the following. The foreskin removed at the circum-
cision of an Arunta boy is swallowed by the younger
brother of the initiate ; the idea is that it will
strengthen him, and make him grow tall and strong.
The blood is rubbed over his elder sisters, and they

* A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-tpeaktng Peoples of the fFest Coast of Afirka^ 226, 227.
^ Riedel, op, cit, 341. 8 /J. 290.

cut locks of his hair.^ Here there is doubtless the
intention of strengthening those with whom one is in
a responsible relation, and perhaps the contact thus
intensified helps to intensify the particular taboo of sex
here involved. In the Central Australian tribes an
important right and duty is the giving and receiving of
hair. It is often given in return for a favour ; and the
principle behind the custom has been already described.
A man's chief supply comes from his mother-in-law ;
he also gets hair from his son-in-law and brother-in-
law.^

Marriage being an act of danger is on these principles
tabooed between certain persons. As we saw in Ceram
marriage between difiFerent tribes is allowed, and even
between " upper and lower classes/* the only restriction
is that villages which have performed the fela ceremony
of eating together sacramentally, which necessitates
alliance in war, may not intermarry.* The principle
is well illustrated by this : in the islands Leti, Moa,
and Lakor, T>ere and Luli are the protecting deities of
the village, the former is male, the latter female. They
are the spirits of the founders of the village, and
their lineal descendants are employed as go-betweens,
muani riesre and puata riesre^ between these gods
and the villagers, procuring, for instance, help in
sickness for the latter. If the muani riesre dies,
his sister's son succeeds him ; the puata riesre is
succeeded by her sister or daughter. Both man and
woman have equal privileges, but they may never
marry.*

Cases have already been cited to show how a dan-
gerous service produces a taboo of the ngia ngiampe

^ Spencer and GilJen, op, at, 251. ' Id, 465.

' Riedel, op, at, 134. ^ Riedel, op, eit, 375.

species. The taboo between the operators and those
operated upon in puberty ceremonies, is identical wiA
the common taboos between men who have exchanged
wives, between sponsors and god-children, and between
a married person and the assistant in the act, and m
each case it is one of duty and responsibility. The
last-mentioned custom may be well illustrated from the
Beni-Amer. When a wife quarrels with her husband
and seems inexorable, one of her bridesmen is called in.
She cannot resist this intervention ; ** for between die
bride and the companions of the groom there easts an
eternal friendship, which never fails, though they may
not see each other." ^ The duty of natural affection
similarly renders a brother and sister in New Caledonia
most ready to help each other though they are taboo to
each other,* and generally between husbands and wives
the same result is regular, both for psychology and for
religious custom.

The general principle that persons closely connected
by contact must avoid dangerous contact, which would
lead to personal as well as mutual harm, is illustrated
by totemic customs. The Bakalai believe that if a man
ate his totem, the women would miscarry, or give birth
to animals of the totem kind.J The Omahas think that
eating the totem, which is forbidden food, will cause
sickness to the man's wife and children.* Here, as so
often, a man's conduct affects his intimates, through the
continuous contact he has with them.

The same conception of danger combined with
intimacy appears very clearly in a Central Australian
belief. A man is obliged to supply his wife's relatives
with a certain amount of food ; but he is always cautious

^ Munzinger, o/>. cit. 325. ^ Dc Rochas, op. cit. 239.

3 Du Chaillu, o/>. cit, 309. * James, Expedition to the Rocky Mountains ii. co.

8 that these people should never see him eating, "else
I their smell would get into the food and make him ill." ^
!i The results of contact generally, of dangerous services
: and dangerous relations, are all taboos of the same
;: order.

r Accordingly, we may decide that in primitive society,
as now, individualism still shows itself above any con-
nection of marriage or relationship. Owing to the
taboo of personal isolation and egoism, all society, as
such, is dangerous. The ties of intermarriage and of
blood-kinship are special cases of ngiampCy and in early
society they have not superseded this general conception
of relationship.

There is perhaps no savage custom, if we except the
Couvade, which has so increased the gaiety of civilised
nations as the common taboo between a man and his
mother-in-law. Amongst early peoples, this custom
forms a real part of the marriage system, and is a result
of the ngia ngiampe relation of marriage. The taboo
is also found between wives and their fathers-in-law,
and, though far less commonly, between other relations
by marriage, as between the husband and his sisters-in-
law, the wife and her brothers-in-law, and in a few
cases irrespective of sex, but by far the commonest form
is the mutual avoidance of husband and wife's mother.
The mother-in-law almost assumes the rSle of a super-
natural person. A Zulu swears by his mother-in-law.*
When we examine complete accounts of the custom, it
is clear that the prohibition is one of extraordinary
strength and conceals no ordinary meaning. It also
becomes evident that the relation is one of the ngia
ngiampe sort, that it is a particularly intense expression
of the ideas of sexual taboo, and that the feelings con-

^ Spencer and Gillen, cp, at, 469. * Shooter, 9p, at, 10 1.

cerned are religious in their character, the sentiment
connected with the breaking of the rule being one of
religious horror.

In many cases the avoidance begins, natunll?
enough, with betrothal, as amongst the Bondei.^ In
the tribes of New South Wales there is a taboo between
a man and the mother of his promised wife, but not so
pronounced as it is after marriage.* In some Victorian
tribes the girl's mother and aunts may not look at
the suitor nor speak to him from betrothal dl
death. When they speak in each other's presence
they have to use a "turn-tongue." He may new
mention his mother-in-law's name.* Some typical
examples follow, in which various ideas of contact
occur, and the connection with sexual taboo b seen.
The Zulu system of uku-hlonipa is a network of
sexual taboos ; of this particular case the following
account is given. "This is a very singular custom,
and in its nature and tendencies presents insuperable
difficulties to the introduction of civilised habits into
the domestic circle, and especially to the exercise of
those kindly offices which Christianity inculcates. By
this strange custom, a daughter-in-law is required to
hlonipa her father-in-law, and all her husband's male
relations in the ascending line, that is, to be cut off
from all intercourse with them. She is not allowed to
pronounce their names even mentally. Hence this
custom has given rise to an almost distinct language
among the women. The son-in-law is placed under cer-
tain restrictions towards his mother-in-law. He cannot
enjoy her society, or remain in the same hut with her,
nor can he pronounce her name. The daughter-in-law
must to a certain extent hlonipa her mother-in-law

^ Journ, Anthrop, hut, xxv. 198. ^ Op, cit. xiv. 353. • Dawson, op. ciu 29.

also." ^ Another account states that the husband must
not speak to, look at, or eat with his mother-in-law,
and neither husband nor wife may utter the names of
each other's relatives. " This is hlonipa. When a
mother-in-law meets her son-in-law, she will not speak
to him, she will hide her head and the breasts that
suckled his wife. If she meets him on the road, where
she cannot turn away, and where she has no covering,
she will tie a piece of grass round her head as a sign
that she hlonipas. All correspondence has to be carried
on between third parties. ... A woman does not
mention her father-in-law, and she hides from her son-
in-law. She says it is not right that he should see the
breasts which suckled his wife." ^ Amongst the Fijians
" a free flow of the affections between members of the
same family is prevented by the strict observance of
national or religious customs, imposing a most un-
natural restraint. Brothers and sisters, husbands and
wives, fathers and sons-in-law, mothers and daughters-
in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law are thus severally
forbidden to speak to each other or to eat from the
same dish." ^ This account is not very explicit, but is
important as connecting these customs with the taboos
between husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters.
Amongst the Sarae and Barea the mother-in-law con-
ceals herself from her son-in-law.* Amongst the
Arawaks the son-in-law might not see the face of his
mother-in-law, and if they lived in the same house,
they were obliged to keep on opposite sides of a parti-
tion.^ Mr. Curr, speaking of the mutual avoidance of
son-in-law and mother-in-law, " a singular and widely

^ Maclean, cp. cit. 95, 96. ^ Leslie, op, cit, 102, 141.

^ Williams, op. c':t. i. 136. * Munzinger, op, cit, 388, 526.

* Tylor, Early History of Mankind^ 285.

2 D

spread custom in Australia," says, ** when a girl has
been promised to a man in marriage, or when he is
married, the man and the mother of his wife or be-
trothed scrupulously avoid each other's presence. Should
the mother-in-law require to pass even within a hundred
yards of her son-in-law, she covers herself, if the tribe
wears clothes, from head to foot with her cloak. Also
they never exchange words together except in cases (rf
necessity. I have often noticed the awkward occur-
rences to which this custom leads, but I could not get
the blacks satisfactorily to explain its design. Never-
theless the object of the practice seems to lie on the
surface."^ It was criminal for a son-in-law and
mother-in-law to look at one another, in the tribes
of the Mary River and Bunya-Bunya country.^ On
Eraser's Island " the mother-in-law must not look upon
her son-in-law at any time : they believe that if she
did he would go mad, and would go and live in the
bush like a wild man." ^ Amongst the Banyai a man
must sit with his knees bent in the presence of his
mother-in-law, and may not put out his feet towards
her.* In Central Celebes the son-in-law may not speak
to his mother-in-law privately.^ Amongst the Omahas
and Hidatsas a man does not speak to his wife's
mother.® The prohibition of intercourse of the slightest
sort between a man and his mother-in-law is practically
universal throughout Australia. The taboo between
a man and his father-in-law is there probably rare.
Mr. Howitt asserts that it does not exist.^ Amongst
the North American Indians, however, it seems fairlv

^ Curr, op. at. i. 97. 3 l^{ jjj^ 55^

3 Id. iii. 145. *» Livingstone, op. cit. 622.

^ Bijdragen tot de Taal Land-en Volkenkundc Nedcrlandich Indie^ xxxv. 5. 1. oi.
^ J. O. Dorsey, in Third Report of the Bureau of Ethr.ology^ 262,- Featherman
op. cit. iii. 329. 7 y,^,.^^ Anthrop, Insr. xii. 503!

^ common, though not so common as the ordinary

' form.

^ Amongst the Bondei the prospective bridegroom

- does not eat with his betrothed after betrothal, nor
with his father-in-law or mother-in-law, nor does the
girl with him or his parents. At .the wedding ceremony
the pair eat together, and the groom eats with his
father-in-law, but neither then nor on any occasion
may he eat with his mother-in-law.^ In Amboina the
son-in-law may not eat with the mother-in-law ; ^ so
also in Buru ; * in Halmahera the son-in-law when in
his wife's house may not eat out of vessels used by her
parents, and the same prohibition applies to her when
in his.* A Congo proverb runs : " My mother-in-law
is angry with me, but what do I care? We do not
eat from the same dish." ^

In Ceram the son-in-law may not come near his
mother-in-law. She may not utter his name, nor he
hers. He calls her "mother."® This prohibition
against uttering each other's name is found in the
Torres Straits, amongst the Sioux and Omahas, the
Kaffirs, in Buru, the Aru Islands, the Kei Islands,
and Wetar.^ In the Banks Islands a man will not
name his wife's father, but will sit with him and con-
verse ; as to his wife's mother, he will not come near
her, nor mention her name ; he and she avoid each
other, though if necessary they will talk at a distance.
No person can be induced to mention his own name.®
This mutual taboo on names is a real duty, the utter-

^ Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxv. 200. * Riedel, of>, cit, 43. • Id. 23.

** Id. in Zeitichrift fur Ethnologic^ xvii. 69. * Journ, Anthrop. Inst, xxiv. 296.

** Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharige rasun tusschen Selebes en Papua^ 102.

"^ yourr.. Anthrop. Inst. xix. 338; Schoolcraft, c/>. «V. li. 196; Harmon, Trateli
in Interior of North America^ 341 j Leslie, op. cit. 172 ; Rieilcl, op. cit. 5, 263, 236,
44S. * Coote, op. cit. 138.

ance of another's name being equivalent to putting him
in danger. Accordingly, in Amboina, the son-in-law
calls his mother-in-law "mother." People are never
called by their names.^ In Ceram the son-in-law
may not mention his mother-in-law's name, and he
therefore calls her " mother." ° In Wetar the son-
in-law calls his mother-in-law " mother," and father-
in-law "father."^ The same titles are used by the
Kaffirs. Amongst the latter people the wife is called
" daughter of so-and-so." * Similar results are found
where the common prohibition occurs against husband
and wife mentioning each other's name. In Buru the
father-in-law of Jadet is called "father of Jadet."^
In the Aru Islands the son-in-law calls his mother-in-law,
his wife's name being Madamar, " mother oi Madamar"
and his father-in-law " father of Madamar." "

Where the classificatory system is well developed,
the taboo is extended to persons who potentially may
or might have come into this relation. Thus, in the
Urabunna tribe the mother of a man's wife is called his
" novjillie (equivalent to father's sister), and any woman
of that relationship is mura to him and he to her, and
they must not speak to one another." "

Three explanations have been attempted. The first
is that of Mr. Fison,^ and has been suggested by others.
It is that the rule is due to a fear of intercourse which
is unlawful, though theoretically allowed on some classi-
ficatory systems. This seems to be corroborated by
such traditions as that of the Gaboon natives, who say
the rule was founded "because of an incest,"^ and by
a few recorded cases, due to special circumstances, in

1 Ritdd, tf. di. 43. W. 101.

* Leilie, fp. lit. 171. 173. ' Riedd, op. cii. ;.

which a man has married mother and daughter at
once. This explanation also is one most likely to
occur to explorers, who have personal knowledge of
savages ; for there is no doubt at all that the horror
felt by the savage at infringement of the taboo between
himself and his mother-in-law is of the same character
as that inspired by the idea of incest, among savage and
civilised peoples alike, a horror religiosus rather than
naturalis. But against this explanation, it is enough
to point out the antecedent improbability of any man,
not to mention a savage, ever falling in love with
a woman old enough to be his mother or mother-in-
law, and the improbability of so many peoples concur-
ring in being afraid of this, while there is a general
preference amongst savages for marriage within the
same generation. Moreover, technically such connec-
tion is not incest, except in the four -class system.
What truth there is in the theory is this, that the
practical man is apt to focus sexual taboo upon sexual
intercourse, and, while theoretically the mother-in-law is
marriageable in many systems (and so there would be
no " incest " except in so far as the idea of incest in
primitive thought was not differentiated from any
sexual connection, all such being theoretically danger-
ous), yet, this general intercourse being feared may
be referred to in this special way. Still the question
remains, why should this be so feared ?

The second explanation is that of Sir J. Lubbock,
who traced it to "marriage by capture."^ "When
the capture was a reality, the indignation of the parents
would also be real ; when it became a mere symbol,
the parental anger would be symbolised also, and would
be continued even after its origin was forgotten." This

^ Origin ofCn/ilisation, 1 14.

theory has been assisted by one or two mistakes
accounts of explorers ; but, in the first place, " mar-
riage by capture " was never more than a rare spora&
result ; in the second place, the preponderance of sa
is overlooked. Why should the " indignation " be »
generally expressed by the mother only ? Thirdly, do
fact ever remained as a symbol or ceremony widwc
some real psychological impulse to inspire it.

The third explanation is that of Prof. E. B. Tykr,
who thinks that the custom is simply the familiar one
of ''cutting," and is due to the idea that the hus-
band for instance, when coming to live with his wifcs
parents, is regarded as an outsider, not one of the
family, and is therefore " not recognised.** This is
altered, however, when the first child is born. Now,
having contributed to the formation of a new member
of the family, he is recognised at last and the taboo s
over.^ Prof. Tylor, indeed, shows some probability that
the custom by which the husband is " cut ** is causallv
connected with the practice according to which the
husband resides with his wife's family. This, however,
would go without saying, as would the converse also,
precisely because the person chiefly concerned is a
stranger, and is one amongst many. The explanation
is simply a restatement of the problem. He adds,
however, that there are no cases of avoidance between
the wife and the husband's family, where the husband
lives with the wife's family. But there are such cases,
as in Ceram ; ' though such are naturally uncommon,
precisely because only one member of the husband's
tamily is on the spot. Mr. Howitt also, while assert-
ing that there is a taboo throughout most of Australia
between a man and his mother-in-law, denies that there

• y,JL"i. .-/««', r. /tj;. t\i:i. 240 rt'. - RiciicL ct. c:r. 102.

^ XV THE MOTHER-IN-LAW 407

^* is a taboo between a man and his father-in-law.^ Why
5 should the cutting fall to the mother? Prof. Tylor
• does not take into account the preponderance of sex in
? these customs. In each and every case the prohibition
: is focussed on the husband and the mother-in-law,
or, more rarely, on the wife and the father-in-law,
though it may include various relations of either sex.
Again, though it is, so far, " cutting " and non-recog-
nition, yet such terms fail to explain the religious
horror with which the rule is connected, nor does there
seem to be any warrant for such an extraordinary in-
tensity of family exclusiveness. Moreover, such cases
as the following are in principle quite opposed to
" cutting." In Central Celebes a man may not speak
privately to his mother-in-law.^ When typical cases
are examined the feeling behind the custom is widely
different from that behind the practice of " cutting " a
person, whether a non-relative or otherwise ; also the
avoidance is mutual in the generality of cases. Still
less does this explanation explain the no less intense
horror found between a man and his mother-in-law
amongst peoples where the wife resides from the first
at her husband's home ; on his theory, this would be
a survival from the practice in the maternal stage, but
such survival shows too much life, and the hypothesis
that the maternal system always preceded the paternal
is itself untenable. The taboo ceases in a few cases
when a child is born ; what usually happens is, that the
pair who live with the wife's parents set up a house for
themselves when a child is born, the birth of a child
being a common signal that the union is to be perma-

^ Joum. Antkrop. Init. xii. 503.

- Ricdel, in Bijdragen tot dt Taai Lar.d'tn Volktnkunde van NederlandscA Indity
XXXV. 5. I. 91.

4o8 THE MYSTIC ROBS. cai?.

ncnt, in other words» that the maniac is cmnplcrr ; a
we shall see, there is reasoa fer tfac ccaBBEtkxi^ boc k s
not that the man is nonr become a tnr ni.hr i afthc tsoA.
It is clear that the custom cumot be ^^i^^nm\ b^
ordinary modem concepckxis eitiier of incest or oc
family exclusiveness. The custom a» in £bct, part d
the great system of ideas which has prodixxd both tk
marriage system with its varioos bars, znd the soEdsekr
of the family. On the face of it the taboo in typd
cases seems analogous to the phcnomeiia of saad
taboo. This has been indicated by its conncctioti wA
engagement taboos. Amongst the Zulus the modier-
in-law taboo is but one detail of an intricate system of
social and sexual taboo, the latter predofninating. We
have seen that the ideas underlying sexual taboo hare
produced amongst other things mutual avofdance
between engaged couples, and between the married man
and his wife. If a man avoids his own wife so care-
fully, why in the name of probability should he avoid
or be avoided by his mother-in-law as well, if the
reason be either fear of incest or social non-recognition :
It seems to be causally connected with a man's avoid-
ance of his own wife. Now when we rid our minds of
associations, it becomes relevant to ask, why should she
be called the man's mother at all ? It is at least strange,
in spite of the suffix " in-law." The theoretical primitive
form of the family in its bi-sexual character was, as we
have seen, separation of man and wife, except when the
needs of love require satisfaction, and separation of the
boys and girls as soon as puberty drew near. The
young boy went about with his father as soon as
possible, and at puberty was formally weaned from
association with the nursery and its feminine atmosphere,
and his life became masculine. He no longer was to

live in the house where, as he might remember, he was
so early separated from his sisters, a separation naturally
ascribed to the mother, being an older person, with
authority, of the same sex as the girls in her care. The
sex so dangerous to man, because of those qualities
which spoil a man, was taboo to him — for a season.
Soon, however, the inevitable came — love drove him to
the dangerous sex, and he must needs obey. Similar
was the case of the primitive girl, in regard to the sex
dangerous to her. The taboo has to be broken, the
two tabooed persons must be joined together. In other
words, the young man has to enter once more that
feminine sphere from which he was so early taken
away ; he has to live with a woman again, no longer
in the innocent ignorance of childhood, but with full
knowledge of the dangers and responsibilities of the
union. His female comrade is not now his sister, as in
the old days, but his wife ; and in the ages before the
importance of blood -kinship, when living together or
any close contact was the obvious bond, there was no
hard conventional distinction between women of the
same age. Poetry and popular language preserve this
vagueness ; the lover in the Song of Songs cries " My
sister, my spouse," and the savage lover uses the same
phrase. As showing the re-entrance into the feminine
sphere, an initiation custom may be cited. At a
certain stage of the proceedings of initiation amongst
the Arunta, the boy's prospective mother-in-law runs
off with the boy, but the men fetch him back.^ Again,
the new female companion of our hero also has a
mother, who is not indeed his own mother, but the
mother of his partner or quasi-sistcVy as who should say
*' mother-in-law." The analogy between the two

^ Spencer and Gillen, cf. cit. 443.

states is complete. This new life 'with a new woman
whose mother is in a position, as mother, to guard
her daughter and see to her new son's behaviour, is a
reproduction of the old life, when his mother-in-blood
regulated the household and separated the children. It
is the same picture with higher lights and deeper
shadows. He again lives under one roof with diat
dangerous creature, a woman, but in the new relation of
wife ; he again has a mother controlling to some extent
the new relation which is a new version of the old, but
she is a mother-in-law. His attitude towards the wife,
when love is not upon him, will be what it was to his
sister, but he now knows the reason, and his attitude
towards the mother-in-law will be what it was to his
mother, but the connotation of that term has altered.
She might rather be called his " spiritual mother," lus
" mother-in-religion," if we may pervert the meaning
such terms would have now. All the religious principles
of sexual taboo inform the relation, and between
husband and wife there is a taboo pregnant mih
religious meaning, the more so in proportion to the
closeness of the sexual tie, closer than that between
brother and sister. The relation between the husband
and his wife's mother is also full of religious meaning ;
it is to begin with an embarrassing one, for she is neither
his mother, though of that age, nor his sister, nor his
wife, though a woman. Yet she is his "mother''
in a religious sense. As he, from sexual taboo,
ngiampe duty, and inequality of age, would avoid
all physical intimacy with his own mother, so does
he a fortiori avoid it with his mother-in-law.
For the taboo is enhanced, and here Prof. Tylor's
theory has some truth, by the fact that the woman
is not the man's real mother, and is to that extent less

familiar, as is also the case with his wife in relation to
himself.

When the practical aspect of the relation is con-
sidered, the mother-in-law is responsible for her
daughter's safety, and oversees the husband's behaviour,
but in primitive custom this also renders his attitude
towards her one of religious respect ; in the case of
taboo between the wife and her father-in-law, the same
applies, and the attitude is strengthened by her religious
fear of the male sex. There are many facts which show
the practical side of this relation, the natural anxiety of
the mother concerning her daughter's welfare, and here
the preponderance of sex in these customs and the
causal connection with residence are explained. This
anxiety concentrates upon child-birth, and is often con-
cerned with the prevention of repudiation on the part
of the husband, a question settled by the birth of a
child. Amongst the Damaras, when the pair go to
their home, the bride's mother and other women go
with her to see her safely installed.^ Identity of sex
increases affection between mother and daughter ; and
here there is naturally some indignation at the loss of a
loved daughter. Abipone mothers " could hardly bear
to part with their daughters." ^ In modern Egypt a
man prefers that his mother-in-law should live with him
to protect his wife's honour, and consequently his own.
The mother-in-law is called "protector."' Mr. Yate
gives the follo^ng statement as to a Maori Christian
wedding. The bride's mother came to him and told
him she was pleased that her daughter was going to be
married to Pahan, but '* that she must be angry about
it with her mouth." On returning ^th the bridegroom

^ South African Folklore youmal^ i. 49. Dobrizhoffer, op cit. ii. 208.

' Lane, op. at. i. 219.

and bride the proccssioa was met br facr. ^ She began
to assail us all furioosly. She pat on a most terrific
countenance, threw her garments about, and tore her
hair like a fiiry ; then said to me : ' Ah, jou white
misnonary, you are worse than the devil ; yoa fiisc
make a skve lad your son by redeeming him from his
master, and then marry him to my daughter. I^
tear your eyes out ! ' The (Jd wcHnan, qwt;^ ^
acdon to the word, feigned a snatch at my facCy at die
same time saying in an undertone, that it was 'aD
mouth,' and that she did not mean what she said.*^^
In the case of a young married pair in Cambodia,
neither of whom have been married before, it is
believed that when the wife is encoMte for the first
time, the husband is able to take from her by magic
the unborn babe. Accordingly ^the parents of the
bride never trust their son-in-law, and will not let the
young couple go out of their sight." *

There is another element already hinted at, which
enters the question. It will be found that the mother-
in-law taboo tends to disappear when the taboos between
husband and wife are intensified, and vue versd. The
other element is this ; as sexual taboo must be kept up
for safety, all the more so because of close union and
especially until a child is born, for the pair are con-
tinuously breaking the rule and all their conduct affects
the child, a substitute to receive the onus of taboo is
useful, and the best substitute is the mother-in-law ; if
the husband avoids her, his relations with his wife will
be secure, and if the mother-in-law avoids him, her
daughter's safety will be secured likewise. This idea
coincides with filial and maternal duty, and is a good
instance of savage make-believe in shifting responsi-

* Yate, op. cit. 97. "^ A)'monier, op. at. 187.

bility. The embarrassing relation of a mother who is
no mother assists in the formation of the conception.
Again, the principles of contact find here their full
development ; the wife is the link between the mother-
in-law and the husband, she belongs to and is a part of
each, she is the kalduke as well as the "mediator"
between them, and this important form of connection
produces the most intensified responsibility, and taboos
the two parties. The ngia ngiampe relation is shown
by the Central Australian custom, according to which
a mother-in-law and son-in-law are bound to supply
each other with hair and game,^ and by the neces-
sary result in all cases of the taboo that a third
party is the medium of communication, as in the
Torres Straits, and amongst the Omahas,^ the wife
being the intermediary for conversation and com-
munication.

This explanation finds a parallel and a proof in
what is the same thing in modern society. The avoid-
ance by a man of his mother-in-law is a well-known
feature of bourgeois manners, and is a frequent subject
of humorous anecdote. The Germans have the
proverbial phrases " Schwiegermutter — Teufelsunter-
futter," " Schwiegermutter — Tigermutter," and English
has the expression " mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
are a tempest and a hailstorm." In the practical
sphere, the taboo still obtains in . civilisation. The
reason underlying both the primitive and the civilised
form of this phenomenon is the same, though the
religious meaning has evaporated from the latter. The
modern husband resents her interference, to which he
half-consciously knows she has a right, as being of the

^ Spencer and Gillen, op. at, 26, 40, 465.

2 Journ, Antkrop, Inst, xix. 338 ; Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology^ 262.

same sex as his wife, an older woman and her mother ;
and she does not quite trust him, in her anxiety for her
daughter's welfare. Both now and then the mother-
in-law is avoided, precisely because she is the mother-
in-law.

Chapter XVI

No general account of customs and beliefs concerning
child-birth is here attempted ; some of the more im-
portant have been referred to, and one or two others
will be discussed. As a dangerous crisis child-birth is
attended by evil influences ; as a sexual crisis these, as
we have seen, are sexual. Direct attribution of the
danger to the agency of the opposite sex often appears,
while conversely that sex especially fears the contagion
of femininity at a crisis when the female organism is, as
it were, broken up. Men, and even the husband, are
prohibited from being present, as in the Marianne
Islands, Wetar, New Caledonia, amongst the Zulus,
Damaras, and Dyaks.^ In the Aru Islands and
Amboina, the reason is given that the presence of
men would hinder the birth.^ Similar reference to the
origin of these taboos in sexual ideas is seen in such
beliefs as that of the Aleuts, who suppose that difficult
labour is due to misconduct on the wife's part, a belief
that sometimes causes domestic discord.* In Samoa all
the pains of child-birth are imputed to the fault of the
husband.* This idea of mutual responsibility between
persons in close contact is illustrated by a Maori
practice. If the mother's breasts give no milk, both

^ D'Urville, cp. cit. ii. 494 ; Riedel, De sluik-en kroeskarige rassen tusschen Selebes
en Papuay 449 ; Gamier, op, cit. 183 ; Shooter, op. cit, 88 ; Sout/t African FolkUre
Journaiy ii. 62 ; Low, op. cit. 307. '^ Riedel, op, cit, 263, 73.

^ Fcatherman, cp, cit. iii. 467. * Globus, xlvii. 70.

husband and wife are sprinkled ceremonially with
water, and kept apart to allow the charm to have its
effect.^

The Saturnalia practices already referred to, occur
at child-birth and with the same meaning. Thus in
Abyssinia after a birth the women rush out into the
courtyard singing and shouting, and if a man dares to
approach them, he is invariably caught and retained
captive until he purchases his freedom with a ransom
in money or beer.^ In Fiji at the feast to celebrate a
birth the men paint on each other's bodies the tattoo
marks used by women.* This is the same in principle
as wearing the dress of the other sex.

The customs and beliefs relating to the birth of
twins are both numerous and interesting. HereT will
merely point out that the chief idea behind such super-
stitions is that not only is the occurrence abnormal, but
one of the infants is the offspring of a spirit or god.
Twins are very sacred amongst the Damaras, all
present at the feast are called " twins," and afterwards
form a sort of guild.** Amongst the Yorubas the god
Elegbra, who is a patron of Love, is also the tutelar
god of twins. One of twins is always called after him.
This god is supposed to consort with men and women
during sleep, and so fulfils the function of the incubus
and succubusJ" The twin children of Amphitryon are a
case in point. Many peoples on the other hand kill
one of twin infants.

The most interesting practice in connection with
child-birth is the curious custom to which Prof. Tylor
has given the name of Couvade, In its perfect form

^ Shortland, Maori Religion^ 30. - Fcatherman, op, cit. v. 607.

•* Williams, c/>. cit. {.175. ■* South African Folklore Joyrnal^ \\, lo".

•'' A. B. Ellis, Tht Toruba-ipcaking Peoples of the Slui>e Coast of West Africa 80 6t.

XVI TWINS— COUVADE 417

the husband takes to his bed and pretends to be lying-
in, while the wife goes about her usual employments as
soon as may be after delivery. Some connect it with
the world-wide belief that the conduct of the mother
before and also after birth affects the child. The
Hottentots believe that if a pregnant woman eats lion's
or leopard's flesh, the child will have the characteristics
of those animals.^ In European folklore the belief
occurs that if a pregnant woman walks over a grave
her child will die ; * in Transsylvania, if one throws a
flower in her face, the child will have a mole on that
part of its face.*

Further, it is quite natural in view of the closeness
of the tie, which, as ngia ngiampey is regulated by
contact, that the conduct of the father also should
aflFect the welfare of the child. The biological tie is
enforced by the ideas of contact. In the Andamans a
pregnant woman abstains from pork, turtle, honey,
iguana, and paradoxuruSy and after a while her husband
also abstains from the last two foods, believing that
the embryo would suflFer if he ate them.* Similarly
amongst the Coroados, Puris, and Coropos.* Amongst
the Californian Indians the old women washed the
child as soon as born, and ^^ although the husband did
not aflFect the suflFerings of labour, his conduct was
supposed in some measure to aflFect the unborn child,
and he was consequently laid under certain restrictions,
such as not being allowed to leave the house or eat fish
and meat."^ At Suan the husband shuts himself up
for some days after the birth of his first child, and will
eat nothing.^ During the forty-four days of " unclean-

^ Hahn, op, cit. 88. ^ Panzer, op, at, 262.

^ Gerard, op. cit, i. 191. * youm. Antkrop. hut, xii. 355.

' Spix, Ethnograpkie SUd-AmerikaSy ii. 247. * Bancroft, cp, cit, i. 412.

7 Chalmers, op, cit. 165.

2 E

ness,** taboos are imposed on the Malay husband as
well as on his wife. He may not, e.g. shave his head ;
may not hurt or kill anything.^ Amongst the Kc^
both father and mother fast for three days after the
birth.' The Niasese wife and husband both refrain
from certain foods before the birth.* In Greenland, if
the husband works just befcxie the birth, the child will
die.^ Amongst the Dyaks the number of foods for-
bidden to the pr^;nant woman is increased during die
last month ; and even the father of the expected child
is put under the same restrictions ; neither may light a
fire, nor approach one, else the child will be ham
spotted ; they may not eat fruit, else the child will
have stomach-ache ; they may not make holes in wood,
else it will be bom blind, nor dive under water, else die
child will be suffocated in the womb and be still-bom.^
This kind of thing is common in New Guinea.^
Amongst the Indians of Guiana the &ther abstains
from certain kinds of animal food. If he eats the
flesh of a water^haas^ which has protruding teeth, the
child will have the same ; if he eats the spotted labba,
the child will have spots. Mr. im Thurn says, ** there
is some idea that if the father eats strong food, washes,
smokes, handles weapons, it would have the same result
as if the babe did so." '^

Couvade proper is combined with these practices by
the last- mentioned people. "The woman works as
usual up to a few hours before birth ; she goes to the
forest with some women, and there the birth takes
place. In a few hours she is up and at work, and
suffers litde. As soon as the child is born, the father

* Skeat, op. cit. 345. ^ Journ. Antkrop, Inst, viii. 222.

' PI0S8, Das Kind^ i. 36. * Id. i. 35.

■ Pcrclacr, op. cit. 38, 39. • Chalmers, op. cit, 165.

' Journ. Antkrop. Inst. xix. 462 j im Thurn, The Indians of British Guiana 218.

takes to his hammock, and abstains from work, from
meat, and all food but weak gruel of cassava meal,
from smoking, from washing himself, and above all
from touching weapons of any sort, and is nursed and
cared for by all the women of the place. He may not
scratch himself with his finger-nails, but may use a
splinter of cokerite palm. This goes on for days,
sometimes weeks." ^ Amongst the Digger Indians,
when the wife is about to be delivered, the husband
plays the invalid ; he stretches himself on his couch,
grunts and groans as if oppressed with pain, and is
attended to and nursed for several days.* Amongst the
Dyaks the family is interdicted (j>omali) for eight days ;
and during this time the husband plays the invalid. He
is fed on rice and salt, that the infant's stomach may
not swell, and is required to keep out of the sun, and
abstain from bathing.' Amongst the Passes he paints
himself black, and stays in his hammock fasting, until
the navel-string of the child has fallen off.* In Zar-
dandan, and amongst the Ainus, Miris, and Miaos, the
Lagunero and Ahomama, the Caribs, and in Martinique,
Surinam, Guiana, Brazil, amongst the Jivaros, Mun-
durucus, Macusis, Arawaks, and Arecunas, and in
Wanga, Malabar, and the Nicobars, the father lies-in
after the birth.* In Celebes and California he lies-in
and is attended by his wife.* Amongst the Erukala-
Vandhu of Southern India ** directly the woman feels
the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who immedi-
ately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places
on his forehead the mark which the women usually
place on theirs, retires into a dark room, where there is

^ im. Thum, TAe Indians of British GuianOj 217.

^ Fcatherman, of. cit. Hi. 213. ' Id. ii. 268.

* Martius, Etknographie Sud-AwurikaSy i. 511.

* H. Ling Roth, in Jotarn, Antkrop. Inst, xxi. 228 fF. • Id, U,

only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, cover-
ing himself up with a long cloth. When the child is
born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the
father, assafoeHdUy jaggery, and other articles are then
given, not to the mother but to the father. During
the days of ceremonial uncleanness, the man is treated
as the other Hindus treat their women on such occa-
sions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has
everything needful brought to him/' ^

Two explanations of the practice have been sug-
gested, one by Bachofen, supported by Prof. Tyler ; and
the other by Prof. Tylor, which he afterwards abandoned
for the former. Bachofen " takes it to belong to the
turning-point of society when the tie of parentage, till
then recognised in maternity, was extended to take in
paternity, this being done by the fiction of representing
the father as a second mother. He compares the
Couvade with the symbolic pretences of birth which in
the classical world were performed as rites of adoption.
To his significant examples may be added the fact that
among certain tribes the Couvade is the legal form by
which the father recognises a child as his." ^ In other
words, it is a piece of symbolism whereby the father
asserts his paternity, and accordingly his rights as a
father, as against the maternal system of descent and
inheritance. Prof. Tylor finds it most frequent in what
he calls the maternal-paternal stage, represented by
peoples with whom the husband lives for a year with
the wife's family, and then removes. As a record
of the change from a maternal to a paternal system,
and a means whereby that change was eflFected, it should
not, as he points out, occur in the purely maternal

^ J. Taylor, in Indian Antiquary ^ May 1874, p. 151.
' E. B. Tylor, in Jcwn, Anthrop. Inst, xviii. 256.

stage. According to his tables it does not, but, as
Mr. Ling Roth has shown, cases of the Couvade are
actually found in the maternal stage ; viz. amongst the
Arawaks and Melanesians, both of whom have maternal
descent. Further, the custom would be too much of a
legal fiction if it meant all this originally ; and early
man has not, as may easily be shown, any such lawyer-
like love of formality in matters of descent and inherit-
ance ; like the animals, he attaches himself to those
with whom he happens to be born ; and as to inherit-
ance, there is nothing to inherit. Doubtless in certain
cases, as amongst the Mundurucus, the Couvade may
have come to be used as a method whereby the father
recognises the child as his ; but this, besides being
secondary, is not the same thing as a legal fiction
asserting the father's rights as against the maternal
system. It is rather a case of paternal pride. It would
be expected that a people should themselves be aware
of the fact, if assertion of paternal rights as against
maternal were the object of the custom, the maternal
system and counter-assertions being so obvious, but no
tribe actually holds this meaning of the Couvade.

The second explanation, proposed and later aban-
doned by Prof. Tylor, may be also given in his words.
He laid stress on the " magical-sympathetic nature of a
large class of Couvade rites as implying a physical bond
between parent and child : thus, an Abipone would not
take snuflF lest his sneezing might hurt his new-born
baby, and a Carib father must abstain from eating sea-
cow lest his infant should get little round eyes like it.
This motive, which is explicitly or implicitly recognised
by the savages themselves, certainly forms part of the
explanation of the Couvade. It is, however, secondary,
being due to the connection considered as subsisting

• f

between parent and child, so that these sympathedc
prohibitions may be interpreted as originally practised
by the mother only, and afterwards adopted by the
father/' This explanation covers more facts than does
the other ; it is also more scientific than the other,
in its application of primitive psychology rather than
later legalism to a primitive custom. But it does not
apply at all to Couvade proper.

Each of these explanations, however, like many
another explanation of marriage customs and systems
on legal lines, really errs in not taldng into account the
woman's side of the question. They show a sympathy
with the father and with the child, but forget the
mother, and are thus a modern document illustrating
the history of woman's treatment by man.

On examining the facts, we can distinguish two
classes of Couvade customs, which often combine, but
are essentially distinct. We have first a very widely
spread group of customs, in which the father, as well
as the mother, must avoid certain acts and certain
things for fear of injuring the unborn or new- bom
child. These have been illustrated, and show a result
of the ngia ngiampe relation. They are a good example
of the principles of contact underlying human relations
and relationships. Things and persons that have been
or are in contact of any sort, or between whom there is
any tie of contact or connection, retain the connection
in a material form, and either party can thereby sympa-
thetically influence the other. As Mr. Ling Roth
points out, there are cases where the child aflfects the
father.^ On Bachofen's theory, this would be an asser-
tion of paternity by the child ; but on the principles
of ngiampe it is natural enough. The child's substance

^ H. Ling Roth, in Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xxi. 234.

is part of the father and the mother alike, both in
biological fact and in primitive inference from this and
from the principles of contact, and parental affection
and responsibility apply the principles of contact, which
are the material basis of affection and responsibility, in
order to ensure the child's welfare. All such connection
being potentially of the ngiampe species, the sympathy
is a result of that relation, and shows the material
nature of the bond. Similar phenomena have already
been noted, such as the conduct of women when their
husbands are absent. Thus, in South East Africa, if a
man's wife while he is on a journey anoints herself
with the oil or fat in daily use, she will not only suffer
herself but bring calamity upon her husband.^ On the
same principle in Paraguay, when a child is ill, all its
relatives fast, abstaining from such foods as are supposed
to be injurious to the child.^ In the East Indies it is a
common thing for a father to become helagay i.e. put
himself imder taboo, in order to cure a sick child.'
When a Thlinkeet medicine-man is about to give an
exhibition, his relatives who form the chorus must fast
and take emetics previously.* At the circumcision of a
Madagascar boy both the parents fast, and also the
nurse and those who prepare the boy's food.*

The dangers of contact which underlie the relation, as
between husband and wife, assist towards the husband's
duty. When a Kaffir woman is pregnant, he should
not bathe ** because he will quickly be carried away by
water."* When a Guatemala wife was barren, she
confessed her sins ; if that had no effect, her husband
also confessed, and his cloak was laid on his wife.^

1 ymrm, Antkrvp, Inst. uii. 116. ' Plon, Das Kind, u 150.

' St. John, o^. at. i. 175. * DtU, «^. cit, 426.

W. EUit, Msdsgtttcmr^ L 187. * Callaway, op, at. 443.

^ Bancroft, 9p. cit. iL 678.

424 THE MTSnC RG^ csa?.

Here dae coaaeeatm. we tec %trA\.rtm «* s
derefeped bito CoarxicL So ics a cbc of ^tcsk
hboar^ which was bcBc^cd doc to soaBBC larcaAoBe d
iapm^ the Maori hiwhand ptuaged in die livcr, vSek
the priest proDOooced a ihum,- Bt i ■» wiaiMi of ^

ngiamfe rdation we get a cac Eke dut of tlae Gsri-
gitanoSy with whom not onhr tiie hsSsMBt but tlic odxr
children lie-in and fast lOi the bcrdi.^ Such an csamjie
does not fit with Bachofen's tfaeonr, for on that thoonr
the children would be rhiming patermtr.

Anjr connection with residence that maT reman
after distinguishing true and fkke Cookie, is doe to
the cause behind that resKlence. In real Coovade the
husband lies-in ; the emulation bv the £ttlicr of the
mother's part is obviously the essence of the custaoL
If we examine the phenomena of Couvadc proper, and
apply to them the principles of prinutivc rdigion, we
have but to explain why the father should pretend to
be a mother, or, for this is apt to be ignored, thoi^ it
inheres in the definition of Couvade and is its explana-
tion, why does he pretend to be his wife ? Any account
of birth-customs, or of the religious ideas connected
with this important event, will show sufficient reason.
Birth is an occasion of religious peril, witness the evil
spirits and evil influences which ever lie in wait to
injure both child and mother ; and who so proper a
person to defend mother and child from them as the
father and husband ? He does do so in many ways, as
in the island Serua, where the husband prays when his
wife is confined ; * or in the Philippines, where he walks
round the house all night fighting the demons with a
drawn sword.* The Miaos recognise the husband's

' Shortland, Maori Religion and Supenritiotif 30. ^ Glohus^ xlviii. 7C.

» Riedel, oj>. cit. 468. "• Bowring, The Philippines, 120.

duty, when they explain that the husband's going to
bed for forty days is on the principle that he should
bear the same hardships as his wife.^ In the other set
of cases, the most prominent feature is the sympathy
between father and child, but in Couvade proper the
chief feature is the taking over by the father of the
personality of the mother. He defends mother and
infant, by pretending to be the mother. The idea is
the familiar one of substitution ; if he pretends to be
ill, and if his wife makes no fuss, but goes about her
work quietly, the evil influences and agencies may
possibly be deceived and think that the pretended
mother is their real victim. They do not know that
the poor invalid is a strong and healthy man, and the
natural guardian and protector of the family besides.
The result is a happy issue from the peril, — the husband
has done his duty. A case which is decisive is that ot
the Erukala-Vandhu, already noted. As soon as birth
approaches, the husband puts his wife's clothes upon
himself, and makes the woman's mark on his forehead
and lies-in. He is treated as the mother during the
whole period of " undeanness." ^ A German peasant
woman, in the same way, will wear her husband's
coat, "in order to delude the evil spirits who are
liable to attack her" from the time of birth till the
" churching." •

As has been shown already, sympathy expressed by
contact is always tending to pass into substitution and
exchange of identity. This is notably the case in
Couvade, where no doubt in most cases of the husband's
lying-in, the idea is sympathy only, and though it is not
always extended to its logical conclusion as amongst

^ Colquhoun, Acrou Chysee, 335. ' Indisn Antiquary (1874}, '5'*

' Plots, Das Kindy i. 123.

die Erukala-Vandhu, yet suboMiscioosly and potentially
the final form is there.

A remarkable instance of the Satximalia cnstoms
referred to as practised at birth, shows this sympitiij
practised by another than the husband, and may be
compared with die cases where die children also lie-in.
The matrons of certsdn East Central African tribes
sing and dance to celdnate the a[yraarhing Inrdi;
one of them pretends, by dressing up for the put,
to be a woman with child.^ Such a case seems to
dispose of the legal explanation of the Comrade,
for the Couvade here is performed by a woduul
When the Mohbor-meh women of the Tshi peo|^
dress up as men, and pretend to be their soldier-
husbands, we see the same principle which is bdiiiid
the Couvade.

Many cases show not complete substitution, but tbe
idea that the father's influence helps the mother by
contact, effected in various ways. Often there is but a
slight step needed to make the substitution complete.
In the Watubella Islands, if the wife's delivery is
difficult, some of her husband's clothes are put under
her.^ The father's personality thus transmitted by his
clothes assists the mother. In primitive thought, as
^ has been shown, dress contains the properties of the
wearer, as the mantle of Elijah contained his virtue,
and thus imparts to others the health, strength, and
power of resistance belonging to the owner. In Central
Australia, when the labour is difficult, a man takes the
husband's hair-girdle, and ties it round the woman's
breasts ; if after a time the child is not yet born, the
husband walks once or twice slowly past the Erluhuoirra
(women's camp) to induce the unborn child to follow

' D. Macdonald, AJricana^ i. 129. ^ Riedel, op, cit, 207.

him.^ In Lechrain a mother before the churching has
taken place puts on her husband's hat when she goes out,
•* to prevent evil happening to her/' * In Brandenburg
on a similar principle of contact, if a woman is anxious
about her husband, he burns a piece of his stocldng and
rubs the ashes on her, before his departure. The idea,
as the peasants say, is that then she will not be afraid.'

The child is often protected in this way by the
garments of either parent. After the birth of a Chinese
baby its father's trousers are hung up in the room, " so
that all evil influences may enter into them instead of
into the child." * In Thiiringen the child is protected
against evil spirits by hanging a man's shirt before the
window, or a woman's dress in front of the door.* In
Hungary and South Germany the father's smock is
laid upon the child to protect it against fairies.^ In
Kdnigsberg it brings luck to the child to wrap it in his
father's smock ; also, to prevent its being carried off
by the evil Drud before baptism the mother puts on it
her clothes.^ Amongst the Basutos, if a child vomits,
the medicine man cuts a piece from the father's setsiba
garment, and binds it on the child. This helps towards
a cure.^ In Silesia a sick child is wrapped in the
mother's bridal apron, to make it well ; a Bohemian
mother ties a piece of her dress on a sick child.® In
Bern a child is wrapped in its father's shirt to make
him strong.^^ Ideas of sexual taboo influence this
custom sometimes, as in a German custom of wrapping
a boy in his father's smock after birth, to bring him
luck, but never in his mother's.^^

^ Spencer and Gillen, op, cit, 467. ' Plost, op, cit. i. 254.

' Id. i. 30. ^ Doolittle, op, cit, i. 122.

* Plow, op, cit. i. 123. * Id. Lc, ' Id, U,
> Grutzner, in Ztitsckrift fttr EAmlogie for 1877, p. 78.

• Ploit, op, cit, u. 217, 221. *• Id, \, 62. " Id, ii. 40.

Is Couvade intended, as antliropologists assert, to
preserve the infant only ? It may be so, but wbcnit
consider the man who dresses up as his wife, and cass
where the protection of the wife is explicit, and when
we remember also that the savage is a better mn
than he is generally p^ted, and has a real altnnsm
and marital responsibility, we may give him credit
for the intention to protect lus wife no less than his
child.

A custom parallel to those in which father and
mother, cm- both, take the child under their protection
by putting part of themselves in contact with it, is die
common practice whereby the parents assume the name
of the child. Thus, amongst the Babar islanders, who
have the maternal system of descent, the parents change
their names at the birth of the first duld, thus, Rahajau
umlee^ father, and Rahajana riUy mother, of Rahajana}
In Wetar the parents are called after the name of the
first child—" father of A B,** « mother of A B "-
"because they are now become more imp>ortant than
the barren and unmarried."^ Parents in the Am
Islands take the name of their first child, thus, Kamis
aema^ father, and Kamis djinuy mother, of Kamis} In
Leti, Moa and Lakor, and the Kei Islands, the parents
are called by the name of the first child, " father of
A B," "mother of A B."* Forty days after the
birth of a child in Java its head was shaved, and the
name was given and announced by the father, who, and
the mother, henceforth bore the name of their son.^
In Buru, Ceram, and Ceramlaut, the parents are called
" as a title of respect " by the name of the oldest child.*
In Halmahera the parents change their names thus at

* Ricdcl, op. cit. 353. ^ Id. 450. • Id, 260.

* Id. 392, 238. * Veth, Java^ i. 642. • Ricdcl, op. cit, 5, 137, 152.

~ the birth of their first child.^ Both parents take the
; name of the first child in Celebes, Sumatra, and amongst
" the Patagonians.* The Dyaks are very fond of children.

■ Parents sink their own names on the birth of the first

■ child, and are called by its name with the prefixes Pa
and Ma. " It illustrates their family pride." Should
the eldest child be dead or lost, they are called after
the next surviving one. Thus, Pa-Jaguen was called
Pa-Belal till his daughter Jaguen was restored from
slavery by the assistance of the Rajah of Sarawak.^ In
some Australian tribes, ** numerical names are given to
children in the order of birth, the suffix showing sex.
Thus the first child, if a boy, is called Kertameru^ if a
girl, Kerianya ; the second child in the same way is
called Warritya^ or Warriarto. Soon afterwards
another name is added from some plant, animal, or
insect. This name continues until after marriage and
the birth of the first child, when the father and mother
take the name of the child, with the affix binna or
spinna (adult) for the father, ngangki (female) for the
mother ; thus, Kadli being the child's name, the father
is called Kadlispinna, the mother Kadlingangki. The
names of both father and mother are thus changed at
the birth of every child." * Amongst the Bechuanas
"the parents take the name of the child." "Our
eldest boy," says Livingstone, "being named Robert,
Mrs. Livingstone was after his birth always addressed
as Ma-Robert, instead of Mary, her Christian name." *

Prof. Tylor explains it thus ; • the husband is
"treated as a stranger till his child, being born a
member of the family, gives him a status as father

^ Riedel, in Zeinchrift fitr Ethnologie^ xvii. 80.

3 G. A. Wilkcn, in De Indiscke Gids (i88i), p. 284 ; Muftcrt, op, cit, 177.

' Low, Gp cit, 197 ; Pcrclacr, op. cit. 42. * Eyre, cp cit, ii. 324, 325.

• Livingstone, South Africa^ 126. • Op, cit. 249.

of a member of the &imir," wiaercopoD he etaaa
to be ^ cut.*' But if the hAet in the sune wtj
as Prof. Tylor suggests oooocmiz^ the Comnde^
borrowed the idea firom the mocfaer, it is hanUr Ekdf
that the mother originallT practised tibe * ■■M'-n fert
quite different reason. If she did it for the saK
reason, that is, to assert her maternity, this oi^it to
presuppose a previous paternal system, and if she cod-
tinued to do it for the same reason, the result is t
strange competition. Prof. Tylor's cxplanadcm fiib to
take into account the fact that in almost crcry case,
even, as amongst the Babar islanders, in matenul
systems, the mother also takes the child's name.
Again, why, as amongst the Mayas, should the father
call himself by the name of his son, and the mother
call herself by the name of her daughter ? the son bong
Ek^ and the daughter being Cnv, the father was named
"father of Ek," and the mother "mother of Can."^
This example shows what is not uncommon, an attempt
to supersede relationship by sex.

There is, without doubt, in the practice a sort of
assertion both of paternity and maternity, but not as
against the opposing system. This assertion is, as the
savage himself has explained, a paternal and maternal
expression of pride, just as in the highest stages of
civilisation, a man or woman who has a distinguished
son likes to be referred to as the " father or mother of
so-and-so." Amongst the Thlinkeets, if a son acquire
a reputation, the father wUl drop his own name and
call himself " father of N or M." * In Madagascar
parents sometimes assume the name of their children,
especially should they rise to distinction in the public
service, as Raini Mahay y father of Mahay, Raini

^ Bancroft, op. cit. ii. 680. * Feathcrman, op. cit, iii. 301.

MakUy father of Maka."^ The Malagasy have the
regular custom also ; both parents take the name of
the eldest child, Raini Soa^ father of Soa, Reni Soa^
mother of Soa.* But when we take into consideration
the religious importance of the name in primitive
thought, we may confidently infer that this feeling of
pride is only secondary, and is combined with the more
vital reason, namely, that the parents, father and mother
alike, take the child under their protection by taking
its name, that vital part of him as it is supposed to be,
thus protecting him from those who might take this
name in vain or work worse mischief against it, and by
significantly calling themselves father and mother of
the child, profess in the most material way their
responsibility for it, and their relation to it. The
practice is an instance of ngia ngiampey but naturally
one-sided and not a mutual exchange, for the child is
an " infant " still. The method is exactly half of that
common form of ngiampe^ which consists in mutual
exchange of names to effect identity and mutual respon-
sibility between two persons. Further, this taking
over of the child's personality or part of his soul, so as
practically to form a religious surname for the parents,
renders them in a real sense the child's "spiritual"
parents and protectors, as they are already its biological
guardians. They are now its godparents also. There
is another result however. As the child on the prin-
ciples of relation is the pledge, the kalduke between
father and mother, this simultaneous adoption by the
pair of its name, renews, as between themselves, the
relation of ngia ngiampe which has been performed at
marriage, and which is also inherent in their continuous

^ Ellif, History of Madagascar^ i. 154.
^ Sibree, Madagascar and its People^ 198, 199.

432 IHl!. AtlMK. JGLCfc CHAP.

firing tDgcthcr. If vc miT sy so, iIh* act luuiiius
tfaor ^^xritnal** wedlock, and s a sort or rc^^namagc
This is natural enough when wc ooBsidcr tis Act tint
the birth of the first duld (and it is nsmllT tiie nane
of the first child onhr that is thns assomcd} in smjh^
cnstom seals finally the nmiiige alfiancr, as it is indeed
a signal of permanence in the tie and psixbolagiciSj
binds the pair together in the joy that a man is born
into the workL This is corrobontBd fay saA iatts s
the Zulu practioe. The wife in ZnhilaTid is sot
desgnated a wife until she has borne a dnld.^ The
idea is seen from another side in the not unfrajQciit
custom that the husband does not gain inoontroDed
possesson of his bride until she has hrromr m mother.
Amongst the Nubians the hn^nd is not tiO then
allowed by custom to build a sepaiate hoase for him-
self.' So amongst the Kmsteneaux die husband fires
with his wife*s parents until the first child is boriL
** The Inrth gives fuU sanction to the marriaige, and the
wife henceforth calls him bv the honorarr tide of
* father of her child.' " * The Chippeway bridegroom
lives with his father-^n-law until the first child is bom/
This is part of the explanadon of the common [H^actice
whereby the husband fives till then with his wife's
parents. As this custom is not part of a matriarchal
system, so the assumption of the name is no assertion
against such, it is simply the completion of the
marriage. There are also found actual instances of
this potential renewal of marriage at the first birth.
Amongst the Todas it is not uncommon for the pair to
separate until a second marriage ceremony has taken
place. " When it is apparent that they are likely to

* Shooter, op. cit. 74. * Fcatkerman, 9f>. ck. ▼. a6o,

• /i/. iii. 261. * Id.uL 248.

have a family, this second ceremony ensues. In most
respects this corresponds with the preceding one " ; the
husband ties another tali round the neck of his bride.
** It is seldom that disunion takes place after this." ^
Just before lying-in the South Celebes wife is practically
married again to her husband, she and he being cere-
monially covered with one garment, as they were at
marriage.^ The idea here is to secure safety to the
woman by reasserting the mutual responsibility of the
pair, as in Couvade, and is a very natural practice now
that the trinity of father, mother, and child is about to
be actualised. A case already cited shows the principle
of ngiampe between husband and wife in connection
with names, combined with the ngiampe relation between
parent and child. The Andamanese call a young husband
by his wife's name ; when she is pregnant, he is called
by her name with the name of the child prefixed (it is a
common practice in early races to name the child before
birth), and now the wife also has the child's name pre-
fixed to her own.^

The custom is also found rarely at puberty.
Amongst the Alfoers when a boy named, for instance,
Taleamie^ arrives at puberty, his father, named Sapialeh^
now calls himself Sapialeh-Taleamie-amay ; when his
second son reaches puberty he adds his name also, thus,
Sapialeh-Taleamie-Karapupuleh-amay.* The custom
thus merges in the practice of changing the name at
puberty. It also is found in marriage. Thus in Buru
the father-in-law of Jadet, for instance, is called " father
of Jadet." ^ The mother-in-law, as we have seen, com-
monly makes a ngiampe relation with the son-in-law.

^ Harlcness, of>. cit. ii6. '^ Matthcs, op. cit. 51.

^ Man, in jfcurn. Anthrop, Inst. xii. 129. * Plosi, Das Kindj ii. 424.

' Ricdcl, Di sluik-tn krasJiarige rassen tusschen ScUbes en Papua^ 5.

2 F

Here we come back again to sexual taboo as between
husband and wife. The practice naturally coincides
sometimes with the taboo on the names of husband and
wife. In savage custom, as we have seen, rarely is any
one addressed by his real name, to do so is to fJace
such an one in danger, it is a wrong done to his
personality. Responsibility between husband and wife
emphasises this rule. Thus amongst the Barea and
Beni-Amer the wife may not utter her husband's name.^
Perak women in talking of their husbands use a peri-
phrasis which means ** house and house-ladder," and is
tantamount to saying " my household " instead of " my
husband."* Amongst the Tuyangs a man will speak
of his wife as " my dull thorn," or " the thorn in my
ribs," or ** the mean one of the inner foom." ' The
idea is not so much contempt as a desire to protect her
personality. Amongst the natives of the New Hebrides
a woman after marriage is called " wife of so-and-so," a
practice common everywhere, and identical in principle
with the modern European custom.* The custom of
calling the parent " father " or " mother of the child "
is a convenient way of avoiding the use of the personal
name, both generally and as between husband and wife.
Amongst the Zulus there is the rule in connection with
hlonipay that all females related to the girl's family may
never call her husband by name, but " father of so-and-
so " ; if there are no children they call him umkweniana,
" They think it not respectful to call him by his name,
and so with all young persons to old ones." The son-
in-law will not call his mother-in-law by name, but
simply mother y and the wife is called " so-and-so of so-
and-so," *' child of her father." A woman must not

^ Munzingcr, of>. cit. 526, 325. '^ Skeat, of>. cit. 369.

• Colquhoun, oy>. cit. 250. * *Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xxiii. -.

call her husband by name, either to him or of him, but
** father of so-and-so." ^ Amongst the Zulus the child
often has its name given before birth, "probably
because it is not considered etiquette for the people of
the bridegroom's kraal to speak to or of the bride by
her own name," and she is therefore frequently known
as ** the mother of so-and-so," before the marriage has
taken place, although women more correctly take the
name or surname of their father on marriage, e.g. 3,
woman whose father's name is Jiia is Oka^Jiba — " she
of Jiba^^ i.e. daughter of Jiba. If a woman is known
as " mother of Nobatagati^^ her first child will receive
that name if it be a girl ; if a boy, the masculine form,
Matagati^ will be used.^

As has been already noted, the parents protect the
child by taking its name into their keeping. The
ideas so prevalent as to the importance of the name
and the dangers that may threaten it may be referred
to once more. The Dyaks alter the name of a sick
child to deceive the evil spirits.* The Tonquinese give
children horrid names to frighten away evil spirits.*
Amongst the Cingalese the name of the child never
transpires ; it is known to the father and astrologer
alone. The father gives it by whispering it in the
child's ear. At puberty it receives a new name.*^ In
Abyssinia one's baptismal name is concealed to prevent
evil spirits from injuring one thereby.^ The name of a
child is never mentioned in Guiana, "because those
who know the name would thus have the child in their
power." ^ The Pulayers of Malabar dare not even

^ Leslie, op, cie. 173 ; Callaway, op. cit. 316.

2 South African Folklore Journal^ ii. 15. ' St. John, op, cit, i. 197.

* Bastian, Kambodja, 386. * FoTbtB, Eleven Tears in Ceylon, i, '^26.

® M. Parkynf, Life in Abyssiniay 301. ' im Thurn, op. cit, 220.

call their children " children," but term them
" monkeys." ^

The name-giving is therefore naturally regarded as
an important business. It is practically always a
religious act, as it gives the child a personality, a souL
Sexual taboo here finds a place, as in Luang Sermata
and Ceram, where the father names the boys and the
mother the girls.* In Hawaii a son, when hardly
weaned, took the father's name, and the mother was no
longer allowed to eat with the child or touch its food'
The importance of the ceremony is brought out in
the Narrinyeri belief that it is unlucky to name a child
before it can walk,* in the custom of giving up the
name when a person bearing it dies, and in the
Egyptian method of giving the name. The Kadi
sucks a sweetmeat, and lets it trickle into the child*s
mouth. He thus " gives the name out of his mouth," *
a practical method of showing the material nature of
the name in early thought.

The giving of a name, as of anything else, also pro-
duces no less than the taking of a name, the ngiampe
rclAtion ; the gift is, as such, a real part of one's self.
Thus the Koosas have the custom of giving a man a
new HAinc, which no one knows but he who gives it.
It is rcgArdcvl as a very great honour.* Amongst the
MuuvlA-kols X relati\-e or friend gives the child its
nAWC^ And between the two there is throughout their
lixx^ A "* rcUtion of dutitulncss,'" ^ The already sub-
sistiixg %r;Ampr relation between parent and child is
thus emphasised when the parent gives it a name, as it

r>^Mi^. rK .•• . ^ ^^^. • Rjcdel, ot^ czx, 327, 135.

."•'l viikv V ,'.. » 4^':. • Fcathcmaaii, t>p^ ciz, ii. 145.

'''W«x. .^ ,• .. > ih4

is when he takes it. In European folklore there is a
common belief, natural as a result of ideas of contact,
that the characteristics of the person who gives the
child its name, or of those who bear the same name, or
of godparents generally, affect the child.^ There is
a Sioux custom called " the transfer of character " ;
a brave and good man breathes into the infant's
mouth,* Lastly, the idea that the name is an external
soul may be illustrated from the Todas. From fear of
the *' evil eye," an infant may not be seen by any one
except its parents until it receives a name. Then at
last it may be shown to outsiders ; * the idea being that
it is rendered secure by having a double personality,
part of which can be easily concealed or withheld.

The ceremonial ** uncleanness " attaching to the
mother is one of the most universal results of sexual
taboo. The separation between husband and wife after
a birth is often prolonged until the child is weaned, the
idea being that milk, as a female secretion, is a specially
dangerous vehicle for transmission of her effeminate
properties. Hence the infant from contact with the
mother is also " unclean," that is, " dangerous," in the
taboo sense, no less than it is in danger. To this idea
is due the practice, which is fairly common, of taking
boys away from the mother as soon as possible. The
interest taken by all women in a birth, as well as in a
baby, and the diffidence found in the male sex concern-
ing the same, arise straight from sexual differentiation ;
the next development of this is the common psycho-
logical phenomenon that women both resent indiffer-
ence as to the event, and for a time express diffidence, a
sort of fear of causing disgust, in connection with the

^ PI088, cp. cit. i. 159, ii. 226. * Eleventh Reft, Bur, Ethn, 482.

' Harkness, op. cit, 99.

first showing of the child to the father. Amongst the
Northern Indians the mother is " unclean ** for five
weeks after birth, and remains in a separate hut. No
male may approach her, not even her husband ; if he
were to see mother and child, it is feared that "he
might take a dislike to the latter." ^ The recognition
of the child by the father follows as a matter of course
upon such a principle. Conversely in Egypt the father
dares not see his child till the seventh day, •• for fear he
might injure it unwillingly by a look.'* * The Kumai
infant is first taken to the father's brother, and then to
the father.' The object is doubdess to make the
former a go-between, and so to facilitate the natural
course of paternal emotion. Amongst the Basutos the
father is separated A-om mother and child for four days.
He is introduced to them thus : the medicine- man
performs a ceremony called "the helping, or the
absolution of the man and wife." If this is not done,
the husband will swell up, or, if he goes to his wife, he
will die. The ItphekOy a Ic^ four or six feet long,
which is laid in fix)nt of the door when any one is sick,
is brought, and she is set on it, and the husband put
oppvViitte her so that their legs touch. The medicine-
nun then rubs them all over with a preparation of roots
and tat. Healing water is also drunk first bv the
husband and then by the wife.* The name and nature
of this cxrrxrmony well show the ideas of taboo behind
it. and also point to the inference that it is another
nrticwol of the marriage t:e> similar to the South Celebes
cu:siCom.

The ideas of sexual uboo are responsible fcx* such

customs as this of the Zulus. The first-born and
second-born sons cannot inherit, "because," say the
Zulus in a vague way, "they are the sons of the
womb."* This is an interesting detail in the history
of primogeniture.

As to the taboo on the infant, the Roti belief that
the first hair of a child is not his own, and unless cut
off will make him weak, is explainable ultimately as
being due to connection with the mother.^ All the
contagious matter, however, is removed from mother
and child by the usual purification ceremonies. The
churching of women is a development of this. In
Malay ceremonial " lustration is generally accomplished
either by means of fire or of water." " Infants are
purified by fumigation, and women after child-birth are
half-roasted over the purificatory fire." ^

The principles of responsibility in ngia ngiampe have
in this connection an interesting result. For instance
in Wetar the parents may not name their child, " for it
would thus be liable to illness." * Such parental anxiety
for the child's safety, combined with the primitive
impulse to shift responsibility as the best way of meet-
ing it, is the ultimate rats on d^itre of godparents.
The principle is similar to that of the relation of
parents-in-law. In primitive thought both sets of
persons are religious representatives. The godparents
are proxies for the real parents, and as such render the
responsibilities of the latter easier. Similar relations
are those formed between the operators and the boys
operated upon at initiation ceremonies, and between the
bridesmen and the bride, and the taboo there resulting

^ Arboutset and Daomaf, op. cit, 149.

'^ Tijdsckrift voor Netrlandi'Indie^ \u 635.

' Skeat, op, cie, 77. * Riedel, op, at, 449.

CHAP.

is often paralleled by a taboo between gcxlparents and
children. Amongst the Haidas at the ceremony of
naming the child a sister of the father^s holds it and
becomes its godmother.^ At the circumcision of a
Hova boy the parent or other person 'who holds it, and
also the operator, are called rani jaza^ *' father of a
child." A woman also acts as mother on the occaaon,
and is called " mother of a child." " They are a kind of
godfather and godmother."* Godparents are found
amongst the Mayas, Caribs, and Japanese.' Their
representation of the parents is shown in European
folklore, as in Thiiringen, where they receive each a
half of the christening cake.* In Altmark bread and
cheese are given to the godparents, who divide it
between themselves.^ All over Europe it is the practice
for them to give each other presents.^* Their responsi-
bilities are illustrated by the German notion that they
must be chosen carefully, because all their qualities,
especially moral, pass to the child. In Voigtland and
Franconia the godfather must be careful to wash, else
the child will be unclean in habits. In the Erzgebirg
he may not carry a knife, for fear the child may
develop suicidal mania. Godparents must fast, that
the child may not be greedv.' The taboos are illus-
trated by the prohibition regular in Europ)e, that god-
parents may not marry either their godchildren or
each other.

Lastly, there is an interesting case of that method of
securing safety by spreading one's identity over a
number of similar persons, which has been illustrated in
connection with Saturnalia. Union, as was seen, is a

• ••• •« ^^1.

^"^..i-r. .irrhrr. Iks:, ix. 40.

4 7 .

f-- 1. 234.

1 CO ;

result of this. In the Kei Islands after the name-
giving the parents entertain all the children of the
village.^ After the infant has been bathed the parents
in Ceram-laut feast some children of the village.^
Shortly after a birth in Amboina three to five children
are brought into the chamber and there feasted.^ The
reason behind these customs is shown by the following
cases. In Amboina, if a child does not thrive, the
parents gave a feast to the children of the village ; these
latter are supposed to give presents to the sick child.*
In other words a ngiampe relation is established. The
next cases show the principle of securing safety by
substitution. Soon after a birth the Watubella mother
bathes in the sea, accompanied by eight or ten children
out of the village. If she is too weak to go, another
woman takes her place. On the way these children
have to shout continually, "in order to divert the
attention of the evil spirits from the child." ^ The
Thlinkeets hold festivals ** in honour of children."
Slaves to the number of the children for whom the
celebration is made receive their liberty. The operation
of boring the ears of the children is performed on this

occasion.^

^ Ricdel, off. cit. 238. ^ Id. ij^ ^ /t/. 73.

* Id. j^. " Id. 207. ® Dall, op. cit. 420.

Chapter XVII

The study of the marriage system has been blocked,
owing to the neglect of students to use primitive datt
of custom and thought for the explanation of rules
invented by primitive man. By using modern or
relatively late conceptions of relationship, generally
legal in character, and by ignoring the significant series
of facts which show the primitive relations of men and
women, and on which, rather than on later legal ideas,
primitive marriage and primitive relationship rest, they
have explained the origin of marriage ceremonies and
the marriage system on l^al lines, and have thus been
led to attribute to early man such monstro^ties of
improbability, as the general practice of female infan-
ticide and of marriage by capture, promiscuity of wives,
"group- marriage," and general incest. Moreover,
they have been compelled on their theory to expl^
certain ceremonial acts, the religious character of which
is obvious, as being legal fictions. The reconstruction,
however, of primitive societv cannot be effected witti
" bricks of law," but only with bricks of human nature
mortared by religion.

In order to explain the origin of the marriage
system, i.e. the relation <tf ' larria^ to relationship, wc
must first penetrate to
relations generally
This has beea

CHAP. XVII THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM 443

out the primitive conception of marriage and its respon-
sibilities, and the origin of the marriage ceremonies and
practices which arise from that conception. Secondly,
we must reach the ideas behind the primitive conception
of relationship. This also has been done. Relationship
comes from relation, and the primitive conception of
relationship is identical with the primitive conception
of human relations. As Messrs. Spencer and Gillen
remark of Australian relationship, we must, in order
to understand it, first disabuse our minds of the modern
conception of kinship.

The chief characteristic of the primitive marriage
system, as is well known, is exogamy. But it is no
less the characteristic of all marriage systems in every
age. For what is exogamy ? It is often strangely
misunderstood ; but obviously the one invariable ante-
cedent in all exogamous systems, indeed in all marriage
systems, is the prohibition of marriage "within the
house." This prohibition is the essence of exogamy
and of all bars to marriage. I have shown how sexual
taboo produces a religious separation of children in the
home ; originally based on the sexual difference which
leads the father to take the boys about with him, while
the mother takes the girls, it is afterwards enforced by
the principles of sexual taboo, and its extension by the
use of relationships produces the various forms of
exogamy. Robertson Smith set the question in the
right direction when he said, "whatever is the origin
of bars to marriage, they certainly are early associated
with the feeling that it is indecent for housemates to
intermarry."^ If we apply to the word "indecent" the
connotation of sexual taboo, which gave rise amongst
other things to the especial meaning of this word, and

^ W. Robertion Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia^ 170.

if we understand by " housemates " those upon whom
sexual taboo concentrates, we have explained exogamy.

It is unscientific to have recourse to an hypothesis of
primitive incest or promiscuity. The frequent myths
which seem to countenance the suggestion are easily
explained by the ideas of sexual taboo, which attach
potential " sin " to any sexual relation. All the facts
are distinctly opposed to any probability that incest or
promiscuity was ever really practised at all. I shall
return to this point when discussing " grou{>-marriage."

On the other hand. Dr. Westermarck's explanation
of the prohibition against the marriage of near kin is
equally mistaken. He supposes that there is a general
human " instinct " against inbreeding, resulting from
the survival of those peoples who have avoided it, in-
breeding being assumed to be deleterious. In the first
place, this presupposes in some remote period a general
use of the very practice which elsewhere he argues was
never general. In the next place, though many attempts
have been made, it has never yet been rendered even
probable that inbreeding, as such, is deleterious to the
race. Evidence drawn from animals in domesticity, or
from civilised peoples, proves nothing with regard to
primitive man, the conditions being so entirely different.
The utmost that can be shown by such evidence is, that
inbreeding perpetuates or reproduces congenital taints.
This result is important enough, but it was other con-
siderations that led man to avoid ''incest," not in-
breeding, for the latter has rarely been avoided at all.
The well-known statistics of Professor G. H. Darwin
really left the question undecided. Dr. Westermarck
considers that they proved the injurious results, while
most enquirers consider that they proved the contrary.
A satisfactory statistical proof requires a higher per-

centage than this, little short in fact of a hundred
thousand to one. On the other hand, there is at least
one case of a people living more or less in a state of
nature, who actually seem to be physically benefited by
inbreeding, viz. certain Fijian stocks, with whom first
cousins are required to marry. Mr. Basil Thomson
has shown that these Fijians are considerably the
superiors in all the usual physical tests, of those who
forbid cousin -marriage.^ Mr. Curr states that the
Australian natives he knew were well aware that the
aim of the marriage system was to prevent the union
of nearly related individuals ; but he could not discover
on what ground consanguineous marriages were held to
be objectionable.^ As to disadvantages of inbreeding,
the Australians whom he knew were quite ignorant.^
Certain South American tribes give no other reason for
avoidance of marriage between near relatives except
"shame."* Huth gives much evidence to show that
there is no innate horror of incest in man.^ The
peasants of the Government of Archangel say that
marriages between blood-relations are " blessed with a
rapid increase of children." *

Again, in nearly all the exogamous systems known,
that is, in the common type of two exogamous classes,
and also in the less common type of two exogamous
classes each split into two sub-classes, it is necessitated
by the system that first cousins, when children of a
brother and sister, may marry, and where the system is,
as is generally the case, rigidly followed, are expected to
marry. This, however, is no more a proof of primitive
inbreeding and incest, than is the Archangel notion.

^ Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xxiv. 383 ff. ^ Curr, oj?. cit, i. 1x2.

^ Id. i. 236. * Wcstcrmarck, op, cit. 3x8, 320.

* A. H. Huth, The Marriage of Near Kin^ lc-14. * Folklore, \. 469.

If then there is an " instinct " against inbreeding, it
stultifies itself in a very curious way. Also the
evidence which Dr. Westermarck cites necessarily con-
cerns cousin-marriage chiefly, and yet he is forced to come
back to an " instinct " against marriage between house-
mates, though cousins are rarely such. It would be
more correct to say that there is an " instinct " /br in-
breeding, which is checked by human religious ideas.
He does not make allowance, in connection with the
prohibition between housemates, for the common pro-
hibition of marriage between fiirst cousins (when
children of two brothers or of two sisters), who do not
live together, and between totemic tribe-fellows, for
instance, who have never seen each other ; nor does he
explain the common fact that persons entirely unrelated,
though living together, may marry (the ** instinct"
against inbreeding would here show the wonderful
insight that " instinct " was once supposed to possess),
or the more common fact that persons entirely
unrelated who live together may not marry (here the
*' instinct " would seem to have been easily duped).

There is also the remarkable fact, as has been seen,
that to no little extent brothers and sisters, mothers
and sons, fathers and daughters, do not live together.
This is a result of sexual taboo, and is originally a part
of the cause why such marriage is avoided, and not a
result of the avoidance of incest.

Lastly, it is not scientific to use the term " instinct "
of this kind of thing. Instinct proper is only con-
cerned with immediate processes of function ; it is
physiological thought, and has nothing in its content
except response of function to environment. Instinct
possesses neither tradition nor prophecy.

The present hypothesis gives the reason why brothers

and sisters in some cases do not live together, which
reason is also the chief factor in producing what is
really a complex feeling, the subconscious or conscious
" aversion " to love and marriage, first, between those
who are in continuous contact, and secondly, between
those who are not. In the simple form of the aversion
we have seen the intensification of sexual taboo in the
closeness of the family circle, where no dangerous acts
may be performed, such as eating in some cases, to the
extent that parents prevent brothers and sisters from
eating together, speaking together, or having any
ordinary physical relations. These prohibitions are an
accentuated form of the taboo of personal isolation,
inherent in human relations. They of course include
the dangerous act of marriage. They are not due
originally to a fear of incest, as such, but to the fear of
sexual contagion of properties, of which the idea of
incest is one particular result. Practically all sexual
relations, and not merely intercourse, are " incest " for
primitive man, in his sense of the word — the breaking
of a taboo instituted to prevent the dangerous results
of physical contact between persons who are, qud sexual,
mutually dangerous ; and it would be easy to show that,
psychologically, the belief in the injurious results of
inbreeding is of religious origin, and parallel to the
belief that sickness is due to sin or violation of taboo.

As showing that sexual intercourse is not the chief
or only relation that is feared, it is to be observed that
amongst several peoples illicit connections between the
young before they are of age to marry are allowed,
though illicit marriage is strictly forbidden. Licence
before marriage is very common in the East Indies.^ It

* G. A Wilkcn, in Bijdragfn tot de Taal-Lar.d en Volkenkur.de van Nederlandsck
Indie^ xzxviii. 3, 438 if.

is allowed between members of " classes " that may not
intermarry in some Australian tribes, of the Lower
Murray, Lower Darling, and perhaps the Port Lincoln
and Kunandaburi tribes,^ but it is probable that these
Australian cases, if all the facts were known, would
bear another explanation. Here, as in marriage itself,
it is the living together, the permanent contact, the
sharing of life at bed and board, together with the
procreation of children, that are the important things.

The other factor in the simple form of the pro-
hibition is a psychological result of sexual solidarity
and sexual taboo. The bringing-up of children in this
manner produces what is a psychological impossibility
of sexual love between brothers and sisters. Separation
before the sexual instinct shows itself, has in effect set
the consciousness outwards by the time puberty arrives,
and then, when the sexual instinct has appeared, it is
biassed towards realisation out of the "house," and this
is what actually occurs ; for out of the house the
prohibition is not so stringent nor so carefully enforced,
while love is produced by chance meetings with
acquaintances. This coincides with the psychological
fact that love's awakening turns the mind away from
what is familiar and known towards what is strange and
romantic.

We may now pass to cases where the children are
not strictly separated. Here, when living together
becomes a sentiment, we have reached the complex
form of the prohibition. It is the relation of ngia
ngiampe once more. Living together, especially where
commensality is allowed, forms one of the closest bonds
of mutual respect and duty. Originally the feeling of

^ J. G. Frazer, Totemism, 59 j Brough Smyth, cp.cit. i. 37 j Nuri've Tribes of South
Australia., 222.

XVII ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY

duty is one of reciprocal caution, if not of fear, for
each person has part of the other in his or her keeping ;
but this conception soon merges into that of mutual
responsibility, and between the parties concerned any
dangerous relation such as marriage is out of the
question. It is not convenient, it is improper, it is an
offence against the harmony of the house for such
dangerous relations to occur, and parents prevent such
occurrences. The case is identical with that of eating
together. As we have seen, such dangerous fimctions
are often not permitted in the house or family circle at
all, where in the confined space and personal proximity
their dangerousness would be intensified. Moreover,
it is natural that parents should apply their own experi-
ence for the advantage of their children. They know,
if not the responsibilities, at least the superstitious
dangers attaching to any relations between the sexes,
and in particular, accustomed as they are to refer all
mutual disagreements, perils of the soul and body alike,
in sexual and other crises, to their own reciprocal
action and mutually dangerous relations, that is, to the
principles of mutual contact {ngia ngiampe)^ they will
naturally prevent any repetition of such between their
children.

In this question we see fiilly developed once more
the primitive ideas of contact in relation, and, in
particular, how physical relations of any sort, including
that of marriage, are tabooed, first between persons
different enough or distant enough to be spiritually
or physically dangerous ; and secondly, between persons
near enough and closely enough connected to be
mutually responsible, that is, potentially dangerous in
a more complex way, to each other. In the former,
danger is intensified, in the latter, duty.

Of the former, the typical result is the Ccramcse
and Wetarese practice of forbidding marriage between
members of villages who have made a military alliance
by the pela ceremony, the nature of the ceremony
preventing treachery, while it brings them into the
second class of persons ; of the latter the prohibiticn of
marriage between brothers and sisters is the typical
result.

In the former, again, there is implied the impulse to
endogamy, as seen in the constant marriage of cousins,
in the latter the impulse to exogamy, which, in its
lowest terms, is the avoidance of marriage between
brothers and sisters.

Lastly, at puberty the separation between brotl
and sisters is stereotyped, both by natural and artifid
means. Where ceremonies of " initiation " obtain, the
bond of initiation, simultaneous or otherwise, connects
the boys of the community together on the one hand,
and the girls on the other, by a dose tie of 1
ngiampe species, and thus the way is prepared for J
extension of the prohibition. Fellow-initiates beca
"brothers" or "sisters." Thus, amongst the Kurttu
all the young men who have been initiated at the same
time are "brothers" and address each other's "wives"
as "wife";' this is identical with those cases where
fellow-initiates form "guilds."

Such and all terms of relationship, it is to be noted,
are in primitive thought also terms of relation. They
are both terms of kinship and terms of address. Here
may be reconciled a somewhat bitter controversy
between those who hold the former and those who
hold the latter connotation of classlficatory terms,
all ages terms of relationship are terms of relation!

othcfl
tific^
'n, the

meets

han^^^

is when he takes it. In European folklore there is a
common belief, natural as a result of ideas of contact,
that the characteristics of the person who gives the
child its name, or of those who bear the same name, or
of godparents generally, affect the child.^ There is
a Sioux custom called " the transfer of character " ;
a brave and good man breathes into the infant's
mouth.* Lastly, the idea that the name is an external
soul may be illustrated from the Todas. From fear of
the " evil eye," an infant may not be seen by any one
except its parents until it receives a name. Then at
last it may be shown to outsiders ; * the idea being that
it is rendered secure by having a double personality,
part of which can be easily concealed or withheld.

The ceremonial " uncleanness " attaching to the
mother is one of the most universal results of sexual
taboo. The separation between husband and wife after
a birth is often prolonged until the child is weaned, the
idea being that milk, as a female secretion, is a specially
dangerous vehicle for transmission of her effeminate
properties. Hence the infant from contact with the
mother is also " unclean," that is, " dangerous," in the
taboo sense, no less than it is in danger. To this idea
is due the practice, which is fairly common, of taking
boys away from the mother as soon as possible. The
interest taken by all women in a birth, as well as in a
baby, and the diffidence found in the male sex concern-
ing the same, arise straight from sexual differentiation ;
the next development of this is the common psycho-
logical phenomenon that women both resent indiffer-
ence as to the event, and for a time express diffidence, a
sort of fear of causing disgust, in connection with the

^ Ploss, of>. cit. i. 159, ii. 226. ^ Eleventh Rep, Bur. EtAn, 482.

' Harkness, op. at. 99.

first showing of the child to the father. Amongst tbe
Northern Indians the mother is ** unclean" for fi?e
weeks after birth, and remains in a separate hut. No
male may approach her, not even her husband ; if he
were to see mother and child, it is feared that "he
might take a dislike to the latter/* ^ The recognitioD
of the child by the father follows as a matter of course
upon such a {nindple. Conversely in Egypt the father
dares not see his child till the seventh day, ^* for fear he
might injure it unwillingly by a look.'* * The Kumai
in^t is first taken to the father's brother, and then to
the father.' The object is doubtless to make the
former a go-between, and so to facilitate the natural
course of paternal emotion. Amongst the Basutos the
father is separated from mother and child for four days.
He is introduced to them thus : the medicine -man
performs a ceremony called "the helping, or the
absolution of the man and wife.** If this is not done,
the husband will swell up, or, if he goes to his wife, he
will die. The Uphekoy a log four or six feet long,
which is laid in fh)nt of the door when any one is sick,
is brought, and she is set on it, and the husband put
opjX)site her so that their legs touch. The medicine-
man then rubs them all over with a preparation of roots
and fat. Healing water is also drunk first by the
husband and then by the wife.* The name and nature
of this ceremony well show the ideas of taboo behind
it, and also point to the inference that it is another
renewal of the marriage tie, similar to the South Celebes
custom.

The ideas of sexual taboo are responable for such

• Hfime, :r. .-;:. 95. Cf. Crooke, t:, c'::, i. 2-7.

- PjvW*, D^ K.nd^i, 152, * Fiiion snc Ho^itt. it. ^:t. 204.

* GrltzncT, in Z/;rs.-^.yr ,C' £r«ci*'..^:/ for iS — . F- "^-

customs as this of the Zulus. The first-born and
second-born sons cannot inherit, "because," say the
Zulus in a vague way, "they are the sons of the
womb."^ This is an interesting detail in the history
of primogeniture.

As to the taboo on the infant, the Roti belief that
the first hair of a child is not his own, and unless cut
ofF will make him weak, is explainable ultimately as
being due to connection with the mother.^ All the
contagious matter, however, is removed from mother
and child by the usual purification ceremonies. The
churching of women is a development of this. In
Malay ceremonial " lustration is generally accomplished
either by means of fire or of water." " Infants are
purified by fumigation, and women after child-birth are
half-roasted over the purificatory fire." ^

The principles of responsibility in ngia ngiampe have
in this connection an interesting result. For instance
in Wetar the parents may not name their child, " for it
would thus be liable to illness." * Such parental anxiety
for the child's safety, combined with the primitive
impulse to shift responsibility as the best way of meet-
ing it, is the ultimate rats on d^etre of godparents.
The principle is similar to that of the relation of
parents-in-law. In primitive thought both sets of
persons are religious representatives. The godparents
are proxies for the real parents, and as such render the
responsibilities of the latter easier. Similar relations
are those formed between the operators and the boys
operated upon at initiation ceremonies, and between the
bridesmen and the bride, and the taboo there resulting

^ Arbou»»et and Daumas, cp, cit. 149.

- Trdichr'ift tvor Nterlandi'lndi'ty ii. 635.

•' Skcat, op, cit. 77, * Riedel, op. cit, 449.

achievement than the inference of vague connection
between a mother or father and child ; and though the
biological ties were certain, with the increase of know-
ledge, to supersede other conceptions and practically
were always used, yet there are many facts which point
to attempts on the part of other ideas of relation to
become conceptions of relationship. It is to be noted
also that the idea of the blood-tie cannot explain most
of these, except by such forced analogy as is quite
impossible.

In the account of ngia ngiampe we reviewed the
more artificial forms of "relationship." Of other
forms, firstly, identity of sex very commonly amounts
to a relationship, and where sexual taboo is well-
developed, it is perhaps the strongest tie of all. It is
a result of sexual solidarity, and assumes various
forms. For instance, in several Australian tribes each
sex has a totem ; in the Port Lincoln tribe a small
kind of lizard, the male of which is called Ibirriy and
the female fVaka^ is said to have divided the sexes in
the human species ; " an event that would appear not
to be much approved of by the natives, since either
sex has a mortal hatred against the opposite sex of
these little animals, the men always destroying the
JVaka and the women the Ibirriy^ In the Wotjo-
baluk tribe it is believed that " the life of Ngunungunut
(the bat) is the life of a man, and the life of Tartatgurk
(the night-jar) is the life of a woman " ; when either is
killed, a man or woman dies. Should one of these
animals be killed, every man or every woman fears
that he or she may be the victim ; and this gives rise
to numerous fights. "In these fights, men on one
side and women on the other, it was not all certain

^ Native Tnhes of South Australia^ 241.

who would be Notorious ; for at times the women gave
the men a severe drubbing with their yam-sticks, while
often the women were injured or killed by spears."^
In some Victorian tribes the bat is the men's animal, and
they " protect it against injury, even to the half-killing
of their wives for its sake." The goatsucker belongs
to the women, who protect it jealously. " If a man
kills one, they are as much enraged as if it was one of
their children, and will strike him with their long
poles." The mantis also belongs to the men, and no
woman dares kill it.^ In the Ta-ta-thi tribes of New
South Wales the men have the bat for their sex-totem,
and the women the small owl. They address each
other as Owls and Bats.^ In the Mukjarawaint tribe
of Western Victoria the bat is the men's totem and
the night -jar the women's.* The Kulin tribe of
Victoria has two pairs of sex-totems, the bat (male)
and night-jar (female), and the emu-wren (male) and
superb-warbler (female).* Amongst the Coast Murring
people the men's totem is "man's brother," the women's
" woman's sister," phrases which recur in North- West
Victoria.* The best example is from the Kurnai. All
men are descendants of Teerung (emu-wren), and all
women of Djeetgun (superb-warbler). Emu-wrens are
the men's brothers, and superb-warblers the women's
sisters. Sometimes if young men were slow to marry,
the women went out in the forest and killed some
emu-wrens, and casually showed them to the men. An
uproar followed. The men were very angry ; the
yeerungs their brothers had been killed ; men and girls
got sticks and attacked each other. Next day the

^ Joum, Antkrop, Inst, xviii. 58. ^ Dawion, op, at, 53.

■ Joum, Antkrop, Inst, xiv. 350. * Id, xW, 45.

• Id, XV. 416. • Id, XV. 416.

4S6

CHAP.

young men went and killed some of the women's
sisters, the birds djeetgutij superb -warblers, and the
result was a worse fight than before. By and by, an
eligible young man would meet a marriageable girl,
and would say "Djeetgun," she replied, "Yeerung!
What does the Yeerung eat ? " This would lead to a
marriage. Sons of course follow the father's totem,
Teerungy and daughters the mother's, Djeetgun.^

Sex also supersedes kinship in other ways. A
Maori boy inherits the father's, a girl the mother's
property.^ So for teknonymy amongst the Mayas.'
In Victoria a boy's " nearest relative " is his father, a
girl's her mother.* In the Ikula tribe, which has four
totem-clans, the sons of a Budera man and a Kura
woman are Budera^ and the daughters are KuraJ^

One of the earliest ties of relationship is that of
sharing food together, a natural variation, though not
widely spread, being that those to whom the same food
is taboo are akin. Such cases form good examples of
the action of the principles of contact, and are often
connected with the practice according to which young
men initiated together, or otherwise associated, habitu-
ally take their meals in common. Thus amongst the
New Hcbrideans there are sets of initiated boys,
arranged according to age, and each set mess together
and sleep together, and may not eat with other persons.*
The connection between food and kinship is very clear
in early thought, and it is natural that it should be
so ; the inference being that food produces flesh, and
identity of food produces identity of flesh. Amongst
the Kamilaroi all things in heaven and earth are

^ Fison and Howitt, op, cit. 201, 215.
» Sitfrm^ 430.
• J.A.L xii. 509.

« Jcmm, Amtkrop, Imst, xix. 99.

• Diwson, op, at, 38.

• Id, xxiiL 6, 7.

assigned to the clan-divisions of the tribe, and to such
a question as ^^What division does a bullock belong
to ? " the answer is, " It eats grass, therefore it is
Boortwerioy^ So the answer to what is practically a
proposal of marriage on the part of a young Kurnai
was, we saw, " Teerung ! (the male totem). What
does the yeerung eat ? " Amongst the Dieri MurdoOy
which means taste^ is the term for " family," and the
first question asked of a stranger is "What Murdoo ?" *
Again, in the tribes of the Belyando River the "classes"
or divisions for purposes of marriage are allowed to eat
certdn foods only.* Amongst the Damaras the word
for " marriage division " is oruzo^ which refers to food,
and these divisions are described as "dietaries."*
Another account states that the "clans" of the
Damaras are distinguished by food-taboos. One, for
instance, may not eat sheep without bones, another,
oxen with certain spots. They will not even touch
vessels in which such have been cooked, or go near
the smoke of the fire used to cook it.^ The Gaelic
names for family, teadhloch and cuedich^ mean, first,
having a common residence, and, secondly, those who eat
together.® The Arabic and Hebrew words for " flesh "
have also the connotation of " kindred " or " clan." ^

The connection in totemic tribes between identity
of* food and relationship by totem, those who have the
same totem being regarded as akin, is shown in the
Narrinyeri tribe. The totems here are called ngaityey
which means " friend." All members of a totem-clan
are regarded as " relations." This, as is well known,

^ Fiton and Howitt, o^, cit, 169. ^ Corr, 0^. cit. il 49.

» LL iii. 17. * Soutk AJrican FMort Jounuly i. 40.

* C. J. Andertson, Lakt Ngaml, 222 ff.

* McLennan, Smditt m Ancient History y 123.
' Robertaon Smith, op. cit, 148, 176.

4^i Tsat ytsEscm hose chap.

h ISte tJm^ wxSL mL TStexiB^daas. hi some Ansrafian
Ui^^tsi^ '%f^msafsr^^ ir ^ n be: imtBri', fntmriyini has nodnng
Vtp iv iwck murrjijgg^ ** Tfe r^axqe of tbs: Narrinycri
fMffhe kSied ad sasa: Em dnac who pasaeas it, but
fhef 4fe 4bmm CAefeii tn ifattiuv die ccnxsanSy snch as
htiffiei^^ fesidMT% eor.y tea: ax enemy afaould abtam diem
m4 me tiktm fer twrputs of sarcery. They never
many owe irik> bebop » cfae asne ngaitje.^ ^ When
fi^yy* are inioaud usgsxber duy become ^tribsd
fyr^jtheri^,^ and the surnaigCHfsr b dma nrtendfd out-
iN4e the family. In the Torres Stralta ^izutiatk)ii
maU^ "" may not marry each ocfaer's ssters.^

lAi^tlyf in connection widi ^3od4dxiafaip there is the
widely upread custom cf formxng a tie of ^brotherhood'*
hy eating and drinking together. This is a common
form of the relation of ngia ngiampey and I need not
quote again the examples we have already reviewed.
later than this there arises the same practice with
hlcKxl a» the kalduke^ and here relations and relationship
ifir-i^t. I may add that amongst the Arabs and else-
where milk-kinship is equivalent to real kinship.' This
in tluc originally not to analogy from motherhood, but
to primitive ideas about food. Milk is regarded as
eijuivaleat to flesh by the Arabs, and milk-kinship
ruu one of Muhammad's forbidden degrees.

Again, when friends in the Am Islands and Ceram-
laut call each other *' brother " or " sister," and when
luverii in the Babar Islands call each other ** brother''
4ad *' sa!*ter/' * we sec another form of primitive relation-
Jihip, babied on contact and combined with identity of
iige. U is no analc^y, except in terminolc^^, from the
iviil relationship, nor yet does it point to primitive

/>. iit. ii. Z45. -i Jtmm. Antkr^. Inst. xix. 411.

» K-tv.l«i>a \1a4ih, .^. ,u. 149. * RicdeU op, dr. z6o. i;;^, 3^3.

incest or promiscuity. When lovers and married
persons call each "brother and sister"^ we see that
love and marriage are another form of primitive
relationship, i.e. of ngiampe. And here is to be found
one reason for the common misconception that marriage
ceremonies were intended to make the pair of one kin.
In primitive thought relationship is not our relationship.
It is rather relation. Relation and relationship are not
yet differentiated, that is all. The Cherokees " reckon
a friend in the same rank with a brother, both with
regard to marriage and any other affair in social life.^
Amongst the Seminoles two young men would agree to
be life-friends, " more than brothers." * This is a very
common thing in early races.

Again, any form of the ngia ngiampe relation is, as
we have seen, equivalent to relationship. The disciples
of a Buryat Shaman are his "sons."* Adoption, so
common in early peoples, is frequently a bar to
marriage, as amongst the Eskimo, Greenlanders, and
Andamanese.^ In European folk-religion there is the
rule, sanctioned by the Catholic Church, that god-
parents become kin to the family, and marriage may not
take place between the godparents themselves, between
them and members of the family, or the godchildren.®
Godparents are proxies for the parents, and as such
ought to marry, or at least to be married already ; the
fact that they may not marry proves the primitive ideas
both of sexual relation and of relationship, and shows
the impossibility of analogy from kinship.

Lastly, there is the well-known form of kinship by
name. It is parallel to kinship by totem, and is too

* Wright, op, cit. ii. 224, 229. * Adair, op. cit, 190.
' Fifih Rep, Bur, Eth. 508. * J^J. xxiv. 135.

• Ninth Rep, Bur, Eth, 419 ; Cranz, op, cit, i. 146 ; J,A,l, xii. 126.
< Plow, Dot Kindy L 198 fT^ 291.

familiar to need illustration. Dr. Westcrmarck has
shown that this is the important point in both maternal
and paternal descent.^ In other words, those who have
the same name are ngia ngiampe and may not many.

Primitive relationship, it is clear, is at once stronger
and weaker than the civilised tie ; weaker, because the
bond of blood has not assumed a superiority over other
relations, close contact being the test ; stronger, because
the ideas of contact which characterise these relations
have so intense a religious meaning and enforce duty
so stringently.

The famous Matriarchal Theory was as exaggerated
in its early forms as was the Patriarchal. It is now
coming to be recognised that it is simply the tradng
of descent through the mother and giving the children
her name, though there are a few cases where inherit-
ance of property has later come under the rule, some
of these being due to sex. It is a method of tradng
genealogy, more convenient in polygamous societies, and
more natural in primitive times, when the close connec-
tion of mother and child during the early days of
infancy emphasises the relation. The system was
explained by Bachofen as due to the supremacy of
women, and by McLennan as due to doubtful paternity
and primitive promiscuity. It is not, however, doubt-
ful paternity which causes maternal genealogy ; Dr.
Westermarck has shown this, and also that the hypo-
thesis of primitive promiscuity is without any foimda-
tion whatever.* The last position of the theory of
promiscuity will be taken when we discuss "group-
marriage " so-called. He has also proved that, though
common, " maternal descent " cannot have been either
universally or generally a stage through which man has

^ op. cit. III. ^ Op, cit, chapters iv. v. vi.

passed. Amongst the lowest tribes in the scale, those
of Australia, paternal descent is nearly as common as
maternal. It is interesting to notice that the reckoning
of descent exclusively through either the maternal or
the paternal line, is an example of the influence which
sex must necessarily have upon relationships. In those
cases where the sons follow the father's clan, and the
daughters the mother's, there was a similar phenomenon ;
here, there is an attempt to make relationship for both
sexes follow one sex to the exclusion of the other. In
maternal descent, no less than in paternal, however, the
relation to the unrepresented side of the house is of
course easy to trace. In the islands of Leti, Moa, and
Lakor, there is seemingly an attempt to adjust the
balance in xmisexual relationship, by making the sons
follow the mother and the daughters the father,^ but
tins is doubtless due to considerations of caste.

Why did not early peoples trace descent in the
apparently obvious way, from both father and mother ?
For the same reason that we, for instance, use the
paternal name to trace descent. In the ages before
writing, the use of both parents' names and their
application to children would be too complicated, as it
still is found. This consideration has much to do with
^* classificatory relationship." But here too sexual taboo
has had its influence, and by dividing the family into
two parts indefinitely postponed the trial of solutions.
A Zulu custom shows the connection of sexual taboo
with the paternal system, and has more than a merely
casual interest as a savage Salic law. The first-born
and second -born sons of the king cannot inherit,
because, say the Zulus in a vague way, " they are the
sons of the womb." ^ A similar idea shows itself in the

^ Riedel, op, cie. 392, 384. ' Arbouiiet and Danxnai, of, eit. 149.

objection held by some peoples to the children of two
sisters marrying, while they do not otgect to marriage
between the children of two brothers ; for instance,
in Leti, Moa, Lakor, and Madagascar. AVith the
latter people such marriage is regarded as ** incest*'*
Such marriage is of course prevented by the usual
exogamous system, whether maternal or paternal, and
so is marriage between brothers' children, but the ideas
of sex have asserted themselves. It is as if female
influence rendered " nearness " of kin too near, while
crossing of sex adjusts the balance.

Prof. Tylor has connected the maternal system with
the practice whereby the husband takes up his residence
with his wife's people. He regards this as the earliest
form of setting up an establishment, followed by a
transitional method, by which the couple begin married
life in the wife's house, but eventually remove.* In the
first place, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen assert, that as far
as they know, it is not the custom in any Australian
tribe, maternal or otherwise, for the husband to reside
with his wife's people.' In the Kunandaburi tribe
Messrs. Howitt and Fison remark that, though the
maternal system is used, yet the wife goes to her
husband's people.* In Guinea the maternal system is
followed, but the wife goes at once to the husband's
home, so in New Britain, and amongst the Arawaks.^
Again, as to the "transitional" method, it seems at
least improbable that the inconvenience of setting up
one's residence amongst the wife's people and then
setting up another, should have been undergone in

^ Riedel, op, at, 385 j J. Sibree, Madagascar^ 248.
^ Joum, Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 247 ff.

^ Of>, cit, 470. * Journ, Anthrop, Inst, xii, 35,

® Bosman, Description ofGuinea^ 392, 420 ; Journ. Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 293 204. •
id, xxi. 230 J Brett, op, cit. 101.

•

order to satisfy the maternal system. The incon-
venience is certainly put up with, but in most cases it
will be found that it is put up with in order to satisfy
certain xmiversal feelings of human nature, stronger and
more important than is an arbitrary system of kinship.
In the first place, it is natural that the marriage should
take place, as it often does, both in primitive and
modern times, at the "residence" of the bride*s
parents. Womanly and maternal feelings are not to be
denied to the primitive mothers of the race. In many
cases early marriage is not a momentary act, but a long
process, extending sometimes over several weeks, and
during this period the bridegroom resides with his wife's
people.

We have seen how in Cambodia a girl's parents are
so careful of her happiness that for some time they
keep a very strict watch over the son-in-law ; ^ also,
this natxiral human feeling often concentrates upon the
first delivery of the young bride, and mothers show
especial anxiety concerning this. The genial Dobriz-
hofFer reported of his Abipones : " Mothers are careful
of their daughters, and can hardly bear to part with
them. Parents after satisfying themselves of the
probity of the son-in-law allow the pair to live in a
separate house." * The Malay bridegroom is " nomin-
ally expected to remain under the roof and eye of his
mother-in-law for about two years," after which he
may remove to a house of his own.' The Omaha wife
remains for some time with her parents, the husband
visiting her, before she goes to live with him ; * so
amongst the Sarae.* We have also seen in connection
with " marriage by capture " how girls cling to their

^ Supra^ 412. ^ Op, cit, ii. 208. * Skeat, op, cit, 384.

* James, Expedition to the Rocky Mountains^ ii. 47. ' Mnnzinger, op. cit, 387.

home, a feeling naturally enhanced when child-lnrth
approaches — the young mfc wishes to be with her
mother.^

Amongst the Barea the wife returns to her mother's
house for her first delivery and there stays three
months.^ Amongst the Add Bedouin the wife re-
mains in her father's house till she has borne three
children.' Amongst the Luhtongs the wife lives at her
mother's house, the husband sleeping there. After the
birth of the first child she goes to his house/ Amongst
the Bedouins of Sinai the wife stays with her parents
till the child is born.^ So amongst the Khyens and
Ainus, Shawanese, Abipones, and Chippeways.*

It should be noted here that marriage is oft^n not
regarded as complete until a child is bom. A birth is
indeed a very natural sign of the completion of the
marriage tie, and this needs no explanation, though it
explains this residing with the bride's parents till the
birth, when we take into {consideration the affection
between mother and daughter, and suspicions of the
other sex fostered by sexual taboo. Taboos between
the newly married show this, as between themselves ;
the Miao bride and groom occupy separate bedrooms
until the first child is born, afterwards they use one
bed.^ The birth relieves anxiety both maternal and
connubial. The Knisteneaux case showed this com-
pletion of the marriage.® Amongst the Nubians tem-
porary mat huts make a part of every family dwelling.
These are occupied by people recendy married, for it is
" only after the young wife has become a mother that

* SttftOy 354. * Monzinger, 0^. cit. 527. ' Harris, of>. cit, i. 288.

^ Colquhoun, AcTMs CJbysee, 394. '^ Burckhardt, e^. cit. 153.

* Rowney« of>. cit, 203 ; Siebold, Etknoiogiuhe Studien uber die Aino, 3 1 j Klemm,
Ctdttirgtst'AifAtit^ ii. 75 ; Featherman, op. cit. iii. 248.

^ Calquhoun« Acms Chysttj 373. 8 Sufra, 432.

the husband can g^n uncontrolled possession of his
bride, and he is then allowed to build a stone house for
himself in any locality he may choose."^ As a result
of a similar feeling, the ceremony of marriage amongst
the Hovas is first celebrated at the house of the bride*s
parents, then at that of the bridegroom's.* The same
practice occurs in Nepal.*

As to the bride's affection for her old home, which
coincides with sexual taboo, we find it commonly
satisfied by returning thither. Amongst the Hindus,
after a few weeks the bride rqturns to her paternal
home for a visit.* Amongst the Bheelalahs the bride's
parents take her from her husband back to their house,
where she stays for a week.* The Turkoman bride
returns to her parents after six weeks, to spend a year
with them.* Amongst the Wa-teita the bride after the
three days' seclusion and fasting at her husband's house,
which form part of the marriage ceremonial, is con-*
veyed back to her parents' home by a procession of
girls. After a while she returns.^ I do not think that
Prof. Tylor allows for these cases.

In more religious form this feeling is satisfied
amongst the Larkas by the wife running home after
three days of married life. " The most modest course
for the wfe to follow is to run away from his house
and tell her friends that she cannot love him ; and the
husband must show great anxiety for her, and convey
her back by force." ^ Other instances of the same sort
of thing we have reviewed when treating of so-called
marriage by capture. In more primitive form still, in
South Australia the Powell's Creek bride is taken away

^ Featherman, op, cit, v. 260. * ycurH. Antkrop. Inst. ix. 41.

• Oldfield, Sketches JrwH Nepal, i. 410. * 'Joum, Antkrop. Inst, ix. 404.

• Id, ix. 404. • Frater, Journey into Korkasan, ii, 375.
' J. Thomson, op. cit, 51. • Rowncy, op. cit. 67.

2 H

CHAP.

•to a considerable distance after being ** purchased or
captured " (sic) and kept isolated with her husband for
some months, until she " settles down to the new order
of things." The pair then rejoin the tribe.^

Temporary residence with the bride's parents, then,
is no survival of continuous residence, but is due to
various forms of sexual taboo and parental care. For
continuous residence the Ainu practice is instructive ; if
the girl or her parents propose the match, the pair live
in the bride's village, and vice versa}

Nor is the change of residence a transitional method.
It takes place, firstly, after the satisfacton of the feelings
we have discussed. The Siamese bridegroom builds a
room off the house of his wife's parents and there they
live for some months, after which he builds a house of his
own.* In Nukahiva the bridegroom lives with his bride's
parents ; if, after a time *^ the pair are still attached to
each other," they set up a separate establishment.* An
Egyptian does not always become a householder at
marriage, but may live with his wife in her parents* house.^
Amongst the Soomoos the groom lives with the bride's
people until the girl is old enough to be married.^
And in New Britain the girl, if very young, stays with
her parents ; if full-grown, she goes to her husband's
house. In New Britain, by the way, descent is through
the mother.^ In Samoa, " a woman does not become a
man's wife until he takes her to his own house." ®

Secondly, the change of residence is due to a very
obvious circumstance. In some of the Fiji Islands,
after the ceremony of eating together, the girl returned
to her parents, where she remained until the marriage

^ youm, Antkrop, Inst. xxiv. 177.
• LouberCf op. cit. i. 157.
^ Lane, of>. cit. ii. 269.
' IJ. xviii. 289.

3 Batchelor, op, cit. 140.

* Lisiansky, op, cit, 83.

« yourn. Antkrop. Inst. xriv. 205.

s Pritchard, op. cit. 1 34.

was consummated, or rather until the bridegroom had.
built his house.^ In Leti, Moa, and Lakor, the husband
lives with his wife's parents, till he has built a house.*
In Wetar, the husband lives with his wife's people till
he gets a house of his own.' Economic causes indeed
have always had a good deal to do with marriage.
Amongst the Barea a man is " in the power *' (sic) of
his wife's father until he builds a house of his own.*
Amongst the Cadiacks the bridegroom " pays " for his
wife by working for her parents, living with them until
the full amount is worked off.* The same practice is
found amongst the Aleuts, the Arruans of New Guinea,
the Klamaths, in Timorlaut, the Kei Islands, Amboina,
and the Watubela Islands.^ Amongst the Arawaks the
bride's father expects his son-in-law to do some work
for him ; the young couple often Uve with him " until
an increasing family renders a separate establishment
necessary." These Indians, it is to be noted, are a
** maternal " people.^ Though in origin the " bride-
price" is not purchase-money, yet, as commercialism
develops, we find cases like that of the Watubela
islanders, with whom the children "belong" to the
wife's family until the bride-price is fully paid.' Many
peoples in the East Indies, such as the Battas and
Malays, have) three forms of marriage :• (i) the
groom pays ** purchase-money " ; (2) if he is poor, he
works for her parents, living in their house ; (3)
elopement. In Amboina and Ceram, if the bride-
groom cannot pay the " price," he lives with her in her
parents' house, and works for them. If he can pay it,

^ Featherman, op, cit. \\. 203. ^ Riedel, op, cit, 390. * Id, 448.

^ Munzinger, op, cit. 447. " Lisiansky, cp, cit, 198.

' Featherman, op, cit, iii. 467 ; ii. 33 ; lii. 329 ; Riedel, op, cit, 301, 236, 68, 132.
' Brett, op, cit, 10 1. • Riedel, op, cit, 205.

' Junghuhn, op, cit, ii. 132, 350.

she goes to his house.^ Lastly, amongst the extinct
Tasmanians, supposed to have been the lowest race in
the scale known, the husband took his bride to his own
wirliey and the system of descent was maternaL* The
usual Australian custom is for the man to take his wife
to his own tribe ; and the exception which sometimes
occurs amongst the Arunta is natural enough ; they
are a ** paternal " people, but men of other tribes some-
times join them, taking a wife from them and setting
up their abode.®

We may now proceed to notice the well-known
machinery by which exogamy is worked in so many
early societies, the " classificatory system." Its origin
is perfectly clear. It is in its simplest form of two
exogamous intermarrying divisions, consistent with
either the paternal or maternal system of descent. It
is unnecessary to describe it fully, or to show what has
been well shown by Messrs. Fison and Howitt, Spencer
and Gillen, that the terms are terms of kinship and not
terms of address. As we have seen, however, they are
in origin terms of relation^ and accordingly, so far,
terms of address also. For instance, the term Ipmunna
in Central Australia, which is that used between
members of the two subclasses which make up one of
two exogamous divisions, would be better described as a
term of relation.^ Relation and relationship are not
differentiated in primitive thought. Again, all of the
terms can be used as terms of address, just as our
terms of relationship can be so used, "aunt" and
" uncle " for instance, that is, instead of the personal
name. In connection with the account of relations
already given, an instance typical of all mankind

^ Riedcl, op. cit. 68, 1 32. ' Bonwick, op, cit. 72.

* yourn. Anthrop, Inst, xviii. 250 ; Spencer and Gillen, 9p, cit, 60. * Id, 71.

is the modern Egyptian practice ; women address
aged female friends as "mother," young ones as
" sister." ^

The commonest form of classificatory exogamy is
that where the members of the tribe are divided into
classes for purposes of marriage, members of one class
being forbidden to marry in that class, but bound to
marry into the other. Taking the Urabunna tribe as
as example, the scheme is as follows, Matthurie and
Kirarawa being the two exogamous classes, and descent
being through the mother * : —

Matthurie (male).
Kirarawa (female).

i i 1 1

I. ICf. 2. K.f. 3* K«m* 4* K«iA*

M^xn. M.m. M.f. M.f.

.__! , ! I I

L J I ^1 I • ' I

5. K.II1. 6.K.f. 7. K.m. 8. K.f. 9. M.m. 10. M.f. ix.M.in. i2.M.f.

The main point here is, of course, that brothers and
sisters may not marry ; the system presupposes this
when putting them under the same name. The next
point is that first cousins, when children of two
sisters, as 5 and 8, 6 and 7, or of two brothers, as
9 and 12, 10 and 11, may not marry, this being
an accident of the system. Thirdly, first cousins,
when children of a brother and sister, as 7 and 10,
8 and 9, may marry, they being of diflFerent
classes, and in most systems they are indeed expected
to marry, as in Australia and Fiji. This species of
cousin -marriage Prof. Tylor has well called "cross-
cousin-marriage." When this is the case, the system
is endogamous as well. Primitive exogamy is in fact
also endogamous ; and when it is understood that the

' Fattheniuui, ^ eit, v. 265. * Spencer and Gillen, tp. at, 60.

she goes to his house.' Lastly, amongst the cxtina
Tasmanians, supposed to have been the lowest race in
the scale known, the husband took his tn^de to his own
wirlict and the system of destxnt was matcmaL' The
usual Australian custom is for the man to take his mfe
to his own tribe ; and the exception which sometima
occurs amongst the Arunta is natural enough ; they
are a " paternal " people, but men of other tribes some-
times join them, taking a mfe from them and setting
up thdr abode."

We may now proceed to notice the well-known
machinery by which ex<^amy is worked in so many
early societies, the " clasaficatory system." Its origin
is perfectly dear. It is in its simplest fcnin of two
exogamous intermarrying divisions, conastent with
either the paternal or maternal system of descent. It
is unnecessary to describe it fully, or to show what fas
been well shown by Messrs. Fison and Howitt, Spencer
and C^en, that the terms are terms of kinship and not
terms of address. As we have seen, however, they are
in origin terms of relation, and accordingly, so &r,
terms of address also. For instance, the term Ipmumid
in Central Australia, which is that used between
members of the two subclasses which make up one of
two exogamous divisions, would be better described as a
term of relation.* Relation and relationship arc not
differentiated in primitive thought. Again, all of the
terms can be used as terms of address, just as our
terms of relationship can be so iwed, "aunt" and
"uncle" for instance, that is, instead of the personal
name. In connection with the account of relations
already given, an instance typical of all mankind

' Riedtl, t^. n>. SS, 13*.

) jMrK. Aiuknf. lull. xviiL xfo | Sfnor •»

being allowed. There is the further arrangement that
the children belong to the companion subclass of the
mother, descent being maternal.^ Dr. Frazer calls this
" indirect female descent." * Thus : —

Male,
DilW ^ ^"'^

Kupathin \

\Kubi
Ipai
Kumbo

Marries.

Children,

Kumbo

Ipai.

Ipai

Kumbo.

Kubi

Muri.

Muri

Kubi.

The same system is found in the southern division of
the Arunta, though in process of further subdivision
as in the northern tribe,' and in the Kiabara tribe,
both these tribes having paternal descent.* When this
system is tabulated, it will be found that one difference
is produced by it. In the Kiabara tribe Dilebi is
divided into Baring and Turowine^ Cubatine into Bundah
and Bulcoifiy and the marriages and descent are as
follows : —

Bariog, m.

Bundah, f.
^ ! ^ .

I n 1 I

Turowine, f. Turowine, f. Turowine, m. Turowine, m.

Bulcoin, m. Bulcoin, m. Bulcoin, f. Bulcoin, f.

I 1 I I

Bundah, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m. Bundah, f. Baring, m. Baring, f. Baring, m. Baring, f.
Bering, f. Baring, m. Baring, f. Baring, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m. Bundah, f. Bundah, m.

The difference is this — the system obviously keeps the
marriages within the same generation, Turowine and
Bulcoin alternating with Bundah and Baring. The
children of a given father being put in a separate class,
of course, amounts to this.

This result can hardly be counted as accidental when
we remember that the savage no less than other men

^ Fiton and Hewitt, Kamilaroi and Kymaiy 37. ' Frazer, Totemism, 73.

* Spencer and Gillen, ep, cit, 70. ^ J^vm, Antkrop, Inst, xiii. 336.

prefers the natural marriage with one of the same
generation. That this feeling should have been codi-
fied, as it were, is an instance of the way in which early
man tries to assist nature. The vague fear of the
possibility of sexual relation with the mother-in-law,
for instance, which sometimes emerges above the com-
plex feelings brought by sexual taboo into that relation,
is a case in point ; another is the fact, that in some
codified marriage -systems, as in our own " Table of
Kindred and Affinity," a man is forbidden to marry his
grandmother, a grandfather his granddaughter, and so
on, each case being one never likely to occur.

There is nothing in these systems except identity c
name to prevent children of brothers or of sistet
marrying, though some peoples, as the Malagasy, alio?
children of brothers to marry, but not children
sisters, ideas of sexual taboo probably causing
result ; and though other peoples, especially tha
higher in the scale, often prohibit alJ cousin-marriaj
The old Canon Law of the Church, for instance, dm
so.' In these cases descent is reckoned from fati
and mother together, cross-cousin marriage being 1
prevented as well as the other form.

The third development of the classificatory system
is that found in the Northern Arunta tribe, and de-
scribed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.' It is a further
subdivision of the last form mentioned, and the
difference in result produced by it, is clearly that it
also prevents cross-cousin marriage. In the Southern
Arunta tribe the four subclasses are Pananga and
Bullhara, Purula and Kumara ; in the Northern,
Panunga is divided into Panunga and Uknaria, Pun^

• Du Cinp, Chiuriam mtdiie a mfims Laumtaut, i.-b, gmieratio.

into Purula and Ungalla^ Bulthara into Bulthara and

Appungertdy Kumara into Kumara and Umbikhana.

The system is thus given by Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen : —

Panunga

Purula

Appungerta

Kumara.

Uknaria

Ungalla

Bulthara

Umbitchana.

Bulthara

Kumara

Uknaria

Purula.

Appungerta

Umbitchana

Panunga

Ungalla.

Reading across the p^e, Panunga m. (i) marries
Purula f. (2), and the children are Appungerta (3),
Purula m. (2) marries Panunga f. (i), and the children
are Kumara (4), and so on. By tabulating the system,
we see how cross-cousin marriage is prevented : —

Panunga, m.
Purula, f.

Appungerta, f. Appungerta, f. Appungerta, m. Appungerta, m.

Umbitchana, m. Umbitchana, m. Umbitchana, f. Umbitchana, f.

I » I .

^1 I II II I

g^lla,m. Ungalla, f. Ungalla, m. Ungalla, f. Panunga, m. Panunga, f. Panunga, m. Panunga, f.

naria, f. Uknaria, m. Uknaria, f. Uknaria, m. Purula, f. Purula, m. Purula, f. Purula, m.

A further point of interest in the Central Australian
system is this ; in the Urabunna tribe nupa women, i.e.
women who are marriageable on the system to a
particular man, are daughters of his mother's elder
brothers, blood or tribal, or of his father's elder sisters,
and none others ; a man's wife must belong to the
senior side of the tribe. This rule is evidently a
codification of the practice found so generally amongst
savages, that elder sisters have a prior right to marriage
over younger, and is an instance of wise consideration
on the part of primitive man.^ It is a sort of attempt

^ Spencer and Gillen, cp, cit. 64, 65.

to assist nature, and is parallel to the preference for
marriage within the same generation. In Nias, Halma-
hera, Java, and China, for example, a younger sister is
not allowed to marry before an older one.^ It is to be
noted, that in the Arunta tribe there are, as happens in
other dassificatory systems, distinct names for elder
and younger brothers and sisters, and that when two
brothers in blood marry two sisters in blood, the elder
brother marries the elder sister ; and further, a man
may speak freely to his elder sisters in blood, but to
tribal elder sisters only at a distance. To younger
sisters, blood and tribal, he may not speak.' In the
Arunta tribe, that is, there is a taboo against women of
the junior side, but no fixed rule forbidding marriage
with them ; in the Urabunna tribe there is such a rule,
and we hear of no taboo.

An interesting example of the way in which age
influences such relations occurs amongst the Khyoungtha
and other Indian hill -tribes, and the Andamanese.
With the former, a younger brother may touch and
speak to his elder brother*s wife ; " but it is thought
improper for an elder brother even to look at the wife
of his younger brother. This is a custom more or less
common among all hill-tribes ; it is found carried to a
preposterous extent among the Santals." • An Anda-
manese may not speak directly but only through a
third person to a married woman who is younger than
himself. Women are restricted in the same way in
relation to their husband's elder brother. Till an
Andamanese reaches middle age, he evinces great shy-
ness in the presence of the wife of a younger brother or

^ Rosenberg, Der Malty ische Archiptl^ 155; Riedel, in Zuttchrlfifir Etktolepe^ zru.
76 J Winter, in Tijdschriji voer NederlandKh-Indie (1843), i. 566 ; Gray, Ckma^ i. 190.
* Spencer and Gillen,o^. eit, 88, 89. • Lewin, 9p, eit, 130.

xvn MARRIAGE SYSTEMS 475

cousin, and the feeling is reciprocated. His elder
brother's wife receives from him the respect due to a
mother.^ In the first case, superiority of age in the
male induces the idea of a potentiality of sexual control
of a younger female, and with an older woman there is
the analogy of the mother, suggested by her greater
age. In the second case, the custom is combined with
taboos of the mother-in-law species.

We may now consider the last position of the theory
that promiscuity was once prevalent amongst early
peoples; this is the so-called ** group -marriage" of
several Australian tribes. Morgan, McLennan, and
Lubbock were supported in their hypothesis of primi-
tive promiscuity or community of wives by Messrs.
Fison and Howitt, who first adduced the phenomena
of "group-marriage." Dr. Westermarck has so ably
shown the unscientific character of the promiscuity
theory, that it would be unnecessary to add to what
he has said, were it not for the fact that Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen in their important work have, I
think, too easily given their assent to Fison and
Howitt's interpretation of " group-marriage " as prov-
ing early promiscuity. Indeed they assert that there
is no such thing as individual marriage in the Urabunna
tribe. It will be clear after we have examined these
facts, that Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have misunder-
stood their origin and meaning, and that their criticism
of Dr. Westermarck's condemnation of the promiscuity
theory is therefore mistaken. In one detail, that of the
so-called jus prima noctiSy Dr. Westermarck is wrong,
but so are Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.

They say that the facts of the Urabunna system
** can only be explained on the theory of the former

^ Man, in Joum, Antkrop, Inst. xii. 136, 355.

existence of group-marriage which has necessarily given
rise to the terms of relationship." ' Now, on the
Urabunna system of two exogamous intermarrying
classes, the term mia for instance, includes not only the
meaning of our " mother " but that of " tribal mother,"
being applied to all women of the same generation in
the class to which a man's real mother belongs,* But
this is an obvious result of the classificatory system,
and, apart from the system, it is the regular result ot
the primitive theory of relationship ; the system codifies
a combination of relation and relationship, "address"
and age. It is the system and not group- marriage,
which has given rise to these terms of relationship ;
these do not in themselves necessarily point to a
previous promiscuity or even to a present group-
marriage. This "marriageableness" is found also in
Fiji, but we do not either there or in Australia find
any '* right " exercised upon it. We have seen that
relation and relationship were not differentiated,
here the classificatory system has stereotyped this c(
fusion. And so when the women of the same genera^
tion and class to which a man's real mother belongs
are called " mother," and the sisters of his wife in like
manner are called " wives," and the brothers of his
father are called "father," it no more follows that a
man once practised promiscuous marriage with all such
" wives," or that he now possesses the right to do so,
than that a man once was begotten by all the men who
were thus his "fathers," or was born of all the women
who were thus his " mothers." Amongst the Kurnai
the wife's sister though called " wife " would not sleep
in the man's hut, and a hrogan though calling a man's
wife "wife" and though she called him "husband"

that
ao4M

would have to camp with the young men.^ So much
for the ordinary type of group-marriage. But further,
in the Urabunna tribe each man has living with him
(Messrs. Spencer and Gillen do not term them wives)
certain nupa women, that is, women who on the system
are tribal-sisters of his wife, and therefore potentially
marriageable to him. But this is nothing but actual
polygamy. The inference that all such nupa women
are or once were married to all the men, as group to
group, or to one man, is unwarranted ; they are simply
** marriageable *' because of the system. It is possible
that a legal-minded savage might draw the inference,
but this would not prove such marriage to have been
ever actual ; there are limits to the polygamous im-
pulse, and the elaborate character of the system is
not consistent with a previous confused promiscuity.
Promiscuity would not leave, as its results, a system so
exact that intermarriage with the wrong class is con-
sidered a crime.

Again, there are other women in the relation of
Piraungaru to every man, like the Pirauru of the
Dieri tribe, **to whom he has access under certain
conditions."* The result is, Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen state, " that every woman is the special nupa of
one man, but he has no exclusive right to her, as she is
the Piraungaru of certain other men who also have
the right of access to her'* {i.e. as Piraungaru).
"There is no such thing as one man having the
exclusive right to one woman. Individual marriage
does not exist either in name or in practice in the
Urabunna tribe." ^

In this connection they speak of a "rudimentary

^ Fison and Howitt, op, eit, 210.
^ Spencer and Gillen, op, eit, 62. ' Id, 63.

custom " ; ^ that is to say, they seem to regard the
present system of "rights" as a survival of a fully
developed promiscuity. As to this, I would submit
that the Urabunna group-marriage has never been
more fully developed than it is now, that it is no
modified survival, and that it is far from being* a
"rudimentary" custom. The essence of a "rudi-
mentary" custom should surely be that of a "rudi-
mentary" organ, that is to say, a "rudimentary"
custom is one that exists but has no present meaning
or use. Now the Urabunna custom seems to have a
good deal of meaning still, and to be used in rather a
regular way. The term "rudimentary" in this con-
nection both begs the question and stultifies their
theory. Again, since Prof. Tylor's Primitive Culture^
and Darwin's Origin of Species were given to the world,
there has been too indiscriminate and careless a use of
the terms " survival " and " rudimentary " ; customs
and beliefs of the greatest vitality have been described
and condemned as "survivals" or "rudimentary
customs " ; the form in such cases being of course a
survival, but within the form there is a living content,
not separable from it, though often changed from its
earliest connotation.

As to the Piraungaru women of the Urabunna to
whom a man has " the right of access " ; they have
been called " accessory wives," but the term is as mis-
leading as it would be if applied to the wives whom
husbands amongst many peoples occasionally "lend"
to their guests by way of hospitality. Let us take a
similar practice of the Arunta, of which the Urabunna
is evidently a development. " Under ordinary circum-
stances in the Arunta and other tribes," individual

^ Spencer and Giilen, op, cit, 105 ff.

marriage exists, but at certain times a man may have
access to other women, sometimes even women of a
forbidden class.^ What are these occasions? First,
the well-known savage custom just referred to, by
which a man lends his wife to a friend or guest as an
act of friendship, gratitude, or hospitality.* This is
not lightly undertaken, but is an act involving a really
religious obligation, as we have seen, and where it is
reciprocal it is the highest form of the ngia ngiampe
relation. In these cases the wife lent has to be of the
class marriageable to the man who receives her from
his friend. Secondly, a general exchange of wives takes
place at certain important festivals.® This custom has
been already explained. It has nothing whatever to do
with the marriage system, except as breaking it for a
season, women of forbidden degrees being lent, on the
same grounds as conventions and ordinary relations are
broken at festivals of the Saturnalia type, the object
being to change life and start afresh, by exchanging
everything one can, while the very act of exchange
coincides with the other desire, to weld the community
together. Thirdly, right of access holds at the cere-
mony whereby young women are made marriageable,
that is, is physically prepared for her husband, and
which is identical with a marriage ceremony.* In the
Arunta tribe and others where group -marriage, they
say, exists in a " modified form," this right of access
does hold, but it ^mply amounts to a religious duty,
whereby the bride is physically prepared for her husband.
Various persons in various tribes perform this prelimin-
ary act, which is neither ^^j prima nocHs nor " religious
prostitution" of the Babylonian type. Here their
criticism of Dr. Westermarck is sound, but their own

> Spenoer ind Gilleii, op, eU, 95. * M 98. * M 96. * Id. 92-97.

inference that it is a " rudimentary right of marriage "
surviving from primitive promiscuity, is more beside
the mark still. The act is intended to remove the
danger attaching to union (and that the dangerous one
of sexual intercourse) for the first time (a dangerous
time), with a woman, a dangerous person, — the whole
business, in idea and practice, being of the prinutive
religious stamp, and of the same character as " priestly
defloration," and it is quite opposed in theory to the
so-called jus prim^e nocHs which, if it ever obtained in
Europe (it probably never obtained elsewhere), was
simply a barbarous application of feudal rights, and
also to religious prostitution. Finally, it is not an
" expiation for marriage," as Lubbock thought.

On examining Mr. Howitt*s careful description of
the Dieri marriage system and the Pirauru practice, to
which the Urabunna Piraungaru practice is compared,
we find that in that tribe "license prevails between
the intermarrying classes at certain ceremonial times,"
namely, at initiation ceremonies, and when a marriage
takes place between members of different tribes. As
to the PirauruSy called "paramours" by the white
settlers, if a man's own wife is absent he may have
marital relations with his Pirauru^ "but he cannot
take her away (from her real husband) unless by his
consent, excepting at the above-mentioned ceremonial
times." No other occasion of access is mentioned.
He adds that the system is not complete promiscuity,
for the Pirauru " are allotted at some great initiation
ceremony." ^ The first part of the above has the same
explanation as the Arunta customs ; and the ^Pirauru
custom is evidently a polyandrous extension, which is
often found, of the custom of lending wives, namely,

^ yourn, Atthnp. Inst, xx. 53, 56.

xvn PROMISCUITY 481

when a husband is absent a particular man may live
with her, as in the Cicisbeate of South Europe.^

The following is Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's
account of the Piraungaru of the Urabunna. "To
women who are the Piraungaru of a man (the term is
a reciprocal one), the latter has access under certain
conditions, so that they may be considered as accessory
wives. There is no such thing as one man having the
exclusive right to one woman ; the elder brothers, or
Nuthie^ of the latter, in whose hands the matter lies,
will give one man a preferential right, but at the same
time they will give other men of the same group a
secondary right to her. Individual marriage does not
exist, either in name or in practice, in the Urabunna
tribe. The initiation (j/V) in regard to establishing the
relationship of Piraungaru between a man and a woman
must be taken by the elder brothers, but the arrange-
ment must receive the sanction of the old men of the
group before it can take effect. As a matter of actual
practice, this relationship is usually established at times
when considerable numbers of the tribe are gathered
together to perform important ceremonies, and when
these and other matters of importance which require
the consideration of the old men are discussed and
settled. A man may always lend his wife, that is, the
woman to whom he has the first right, to another
man, provided always he be her Nupa^ without the
relationship of Piraungaru existing between the two,
but unless this relationship exists, no man has any
right of access to a woman. Occasionally, but rarely,
it happens that a man attempts to prevent his wife's
Piraungaru from having access to her, but this leads to
a fight and the husband is looked upon as churlish.

* Th. Moore, o/. cit, 64.
2 I

When TTScdng <fistaiit groups where, in all likelihood,
the hashand has no Pirammgarm^ it is cnstomaiy for
other men of his own dass to oficr him the knn of
one or more of their Nmpa women, and a man^ besides
a woman over whcxn he has the first ri^it,
also lend his Pirammgmrmr^ ^The relation of
Piraungaru is established btiiimi any woman and men
to whom she is Air^ — that is» to whom she may be
lawfblly married, by her Nudue or elder brothers. If
a group be camped tx^cther, and as a matter of fact
groups of individuak who are Psramagarm to one
another do usually camp tx^cther, then in the case of a
particular woman her ^xdal Nmfa man has the first
r^ht to her, but if he be absent the PtrammgMru have
the right to her ; or, if the iVj^ man be present, the
Piraungaru have the r^ht to her, sul^ect to his
consent, which is practically never withhdd." *

The very fact that the husband's consent must be
obtained {Moves diat he is the woman's husband,
and that individual marriage exists, though slighdy
modified. The Piraungaru^ like the Pirauru practice,
is a development, in one aspect, oi the practice of
lending wives^ coinciding with a pc^yandrous and
polygamous tendency, and, in another, of the religious
exchange of wives, as is made probable by its con-
nection with tribal meetings. Polyandry, if not poly-
gamVy is an abnormal practice, though found sporadi-
cally even in Southern Europe, where the CicisbeaU is
a close parallel to one side of the Urabunna institu-
tion. Lastly, it may be noted that even if this poly-
andry and polygamy were real "group-marriage," it
by no means proves the previous existence of wilder
promiscuity for the Urabunna, much less for the rest

^ Spencer and Gillcn, up. cit. 63, 63. * Id. 1 10.

of mankind, as a stage through which man has passed.
Everything points, on the contrary, to the inference
that the Dieri and Urabunna practices are abnormal
developments, which have never been more complete
than they are now.

Other facts that have been used in the attempt to
prove primitive promiscuity and incest have been fully
dealt with by Dr. Westermarck. Endogamy and the
marriage of cousins have also been so used. It seems
unnecessary to refute this. The system of morongSy or
bachelor -houses, in which the young men live and
sleep, has also been used in favour of the promiscuity
theory ; ^ but there is no ground whatever on which it
may be so used ; even the illicit intercourse sometimes
allowed to boys, is merely either youthful love-making,
which is more or less common in all societies, or a
custom sanctioned by religious ideas as to its necessity.

It may be confidently assumed that individual
marriage has been, as far as we can trace it back, the
regular type of union of man and woman. The
Promiscuity theory really belongs to the mythological
stage of human intelligence, and is on a par with many
savage myths concerning the origin of marriage, and
the like. These are interesting but of no scientific
value. They are cases of mental actualisation of appar-
ently potential states which were really impossible
except as abnormal occurrences. When men medi-
tated upon marriage ceremonial and system, they would
naturally infer a time when there was not only no rite,
but no institution of marriage. Hence the common
idea of which the Promiscuity theory is a result, that
marriage was ordained to prevent illicit intercourse ;
this, of course, it does prevent, but it invents it first.

^ By S. E. Peal, in JourH. Anthrop, Init, xxi. 255.

Taboo and law when they sanction a human normal
practice produce the possibility of sin. There was of
course a time when there was no marriage ceremony,
but the ideas of such were latent in the actual union of
man and woman.

The survey of marriage and of sexual relations in
early races suggests many thoughts. For instance, one
is struck by the high morality of primitive man. Not
long ago McLennan could assert confidently that the
savage woman was utterly depraved ; but a study of
the facts shows quite the contrary. The religious
character of early human relations, again, gives a sense
of tragedy ; man seems to feel that he is treading in
slippery places, that he is on the brink of precipices,
when really his foot standeth right. This sensitive
attitude would seem to have assisted the natural
development of man. We have also seen the remark-
able fact that most of these primitive customs and
beliefs are repeated in the average civilised man, not as
mere survivals, though their religious content has been
narrowed, but springing from functional causes con-
stant in the human organism. Further, it seems to be
a probable inference that the functional impulses, not
only of man but of at least all higher organisms, have
latent in them a potential religious content. This has
been noted as especially actualised in the social relations
of the individual. The history of psychological pro-
cesses is the history of the religious consciousness.
Lastly, in connection with the main subject, marriage,
this diffidence and desire for security and permanence
in a world where only change is permanent, has led to
certain conceptions of eternal personalities who control
and symbolise the marriage tie. Psychologically, the
union of man and woman amounts to identification and

combination of the two sexes ; and in the theological
development of this idea, as the Philippine islanders,
Chinese, and Yorubas, to quote from what is a large
list,^ have deities who combine the attributes of both
sexes, so the Greeks and Romans sometimes included
male characteristics in their conception of the Goddess
of Love,^ and lifted marriage to the ideal plane in the
conception of the Upo<: ydfjLO(;. More simply, many
peoples have thought of a divine trinity of persons to
symbolise the family of husband, wife, and child ;
Christian Europe, for instance, has worshipped the
Holy Family for many* hundred years. For the male
sex an ideal of the Eternal Feminine often satisfies such
aspirations, and this survey may fittingly close with a
reference to the most prominent ideal personality for
modern Europe in this connection, the Maiden-Mother,
the Mystical Rose, for her figure enshrines many
elemental conceptions of Man and Woman and their
relations.

1 Bowring, op. eit, 158 ; Doolittle, op. eit. i. 261 ; A. B. Ellis, op, cit. 41.

2 Photius, Bibliotheea^ 151, b. 5j Lydus, Dt Mensibus^ ii. 10, iv. 955 the
Bearded Venus in Cyprus, Macrobius, iii. 8, Servius on Virgil, Aeneidy ii. 632, the
same in Pamphylia, Lydus, op, cit, iv. 44.