The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)

71

See, for example, O. Baumann, Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle (Berlin, 1894), p. 214; G. M. Dawson, “Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia,” Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, ix. (1891) section ii. p. 38; F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde (Heilbronn, 1879), pp. 267 sq., 273 sq., 276, 278 sq.; R. Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche (Stuttgart, 1878), p. 48; Catat, in Le Tour du Monde, lxv. (1893), p. 40. Some of these writers have made a special study of the practices in question. See F. Liebrecht, “Die geworfenen Steine,” Zur Volkskunde, pp. 267-284; R. Andree, “Steinhaufen,” Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, pp. 46-58; E. S. Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, ii. (London, 1895) pp. 204 sqq.; E. Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 419 sqq. With the views of the last of these writers I am in general agreement.

72

However, at the waterfall of Kriml, in the Tyrol, it is customary for every passer-by to throw a stone into the water; and this attention is said to put the water-spirits in high good humour; for they follow the wayfarer who has complied with the custom and guard him from all the perils of the dangerous path. See F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 236 sq.

73

J. A. H. Louis, The Gates of Thibet, Second Edition (Calcutta, 1894), pp. 111 sq.

74

L. A. Waddell, Among the Himalayas (Westminster, 1899), pp. 115, 188.

75

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique-Centrale, ii. 564.

76

C. Sapper, “Die Gebräuche und religiösen Anschauungen der Kekchí-Indianer,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, viii. (1895) pp. 197 sq.

77

D. Forbes, “On the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru,” Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, ii. (1870) pp. 237 sq.; G. C. Musters, “Notes on Bolivia,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, xlvii. (1877) p. 211; Baron E. Nordenskiöld, “Travels on the Boundaries of Bolivia and Argentina,” The Geographical Journal, xxi. (1903) p. 518.

78

P. J. de Arriaga, Extirpacion de la Idolatria del Piru (Lima, 1621), pp. 37, 130.

79

F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 274; Brett, “Dans la Corée Septentrionale,” Les Missions Catholiques, xxxi. (1899) p. 237.

80

W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India (Westminster, 1896), i. 115. “In some parts of Bilaspore there may be seen heaps of stones, which are known as kuriyā, from the word kurhonā, meaning to heap or pile-up. Just how and why the practice was started the people cannot explain; but to this day every one who passes a kuriyā will take up a stone and throw it on the pile. This, they say, has been done as long as they can remember” (E. M. Gordon, Indian Folk Tales, London, 1908, p. 14).

81

W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India (Westminster, 1896), i. 267 sq.

82

Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), p. 163.

83

P. Amaury Talbot, In the Shadow of the Bush (London, 1912), p. 242. As to the goddess Nimm, see id., pp. 2 sq.

84

P. Amaury Talbot, op. cit. p. 91.

85

A. Karasek, “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Waschambaa,” Baessler-Archiv, i. (1911) p. 194.

86

M. Martin, “A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland,” in John Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), iii. 691.

87

E. Aymonier, Notes sur le Laos (Saigon, 1885), p. 198.

88

E. T. Atkinson, The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) p. 832.

89

T. T. Cooper, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce (London, 1871), p. 275. Compare W. W. Rockhill, The Land of the Lamas (London, 1891), pp. 126 sq.

90

Rev. J. Macdonald, “Manners, Customs, Superstitions, and Religions of South African Tribes,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xx. (1891) p. 126.

91

Sir James E. Alexander, Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa (London, 1838), i. 166.

92

S. Kay, Travels and Researches in Caffraria (London, 1833), pp. 211 sq. When the Bishop of Capetown once passed a heap of stones on the top of a mountain in the Amapondo country he was told that “it was customary for every traveller to add one to the heap that it might have a favourable influence on his journey, and enable him to arrive at some kraal while the pot is yet boiling” (J. Shooter, The Kaffirs of Natal, London, 1857, p. 217). Here there is no mention of a prayer. Similarly a Basuto on a journey, when he fears that the friend with whom he is going to stay may have eaten up all the food before his guest's arrival, places a stone on a cairn to avert the danger (E. Casalis, The Basutos, London, 1861, p. 272). The reason alleged for the practice in these cases is perhaps equivalent to the one assigned by the Melanesians and others; by ridding the traveller of his fatigue it enables him to journey faster and so to reach his destination before supper is over. But sometimes a travelling Mowenda will place a stone, not on a cairn, but in the fork of a tree, saying, “May the sun not set before I reach my destination.” See Rev. E. Gottschling, “The Bawenda,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxv. (1905) p. 381. This last custom is a charm to prevent the sun from setting. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 318. In Senegal the custom of throwing stones on cairns by the wayside is said to be observed “in order to ensure a speedy and prosperous return.” See Dr. Bellamy, “Notes ethnographiques recueillies dans le Haut-Sénégal,” Revue d' Ethnographie, v. (1886) p. 83. In the Fan country of West Africa the custom of adding a leafy branch to a heap of such branches in the forest was explained by a native, who said that it was done to prevent the trees and branches from falling on the traveller's head, and their roots from wounding his feet. See Father Trilles, “Mille lieues dans l'inconnu,” Les Missions Catholiques, xxxiv. (1902) p. 142.

93

Th. Hahn, “Die Buschmänner,” Globus, xviii. 141. As to the cairn in question, see above, p. 16.

94

J. Smith, Trade and Travels in the Gulph of Guinea (London, 1851), p. 77.

95

O. Dapper, Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 117.

96

A. Leared, Morocco and the Moors (London, 1876), p. 301. Compare E. Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), p. 454.

97

E. Doutté, op. cit. pp. 454 sq.

98

Dudley Kidd, The Essential Kafir (London, 1904), p. 261.

99

Rev. John Campbell, Travels in South Africa (London, 1822), ii. 207 sq.

100

Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 342 sq.

101

P. Cayzac, “La religion des Kikuyu,” Anthropos, v. (1910) p. 311.

102

Rev. J. Roscoe, “The Bahima, a Cow Tribe of Enkole,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. (1907) p. 111.

103

Dr. R. F. Kaindl, “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus, lxxvi. (1899) p. 254.

104

J. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien (Halle a. S., 1888-1890), i. 34.

105

E. Diguet, Les Annamites (Paris, 1906), pp. 283 sq.

106

W. Müller, “Über die Wildenstämme der Insel Formosa,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xlii. (1910) p. 237. The writer's use of the pronoun (sie) is ambiguous.

107

Father E. Amat, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, lxx. (1898) pp. 266 sq.

108

Rev. W. Ellis, History of Madagascar (London, n. d.), i. 422 sq.; compare id., pp. 232, 435, 436 sq.; Rev. J. Sibree, The Great African Island (London, 1880), pp. 303 sq. As to divination by the sikidy, see J. Sibree, “Divination among the Malagasy,” Folk-lore, iii. (1892) pp. 193-226.

109

W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 374; J. Sibree, The Great African Island, p. 304; J. Cameron, in Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, Reprint of the First Four Numbers (Antananarivo, 1885), p. 263.

110

N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, De Bare'e-sprekende Toradja's van Midden-Celebes, i. (Batavia, 1912) p. 399.

111

W. Ködding, “Die Batakschen Götter,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, xii. (1885) p. 478; Dr. R. Römer, “Bijdrage tot de Geneeskunst der Karo-Batak's,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, l. (1908) p. 223.

112

W. E. Maxwell, “The Folklore of the Malays,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 7 (June, 1881), p. 27; W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic (London, 1900), pp. 534 sq.

113

Dio Chrysostom, Orat. liii. vol. ii. pp. 164 sq. ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1857). Compare Plato, Republic, iii. 9, p. 398 a, who ironically proposes to dismiss poets from his ideal state in the same manner. These passages of Plato and Dio Chrysostom were pointed out to me by my friend Professor Henry Jackson. There was a Greek saying, attributed to Pythagoras, that swallows should not be allowed to enter a house (Plutarch, Quaest. Conviv. viii. 7, 1).

114

Dr. R. F. Kaindl, “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus, lxxvi. (1899) pp. 255 sq.

115

Leviticus xiv. 7, 53.

116

J. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentumes (Berlin, 1887), p. 156; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, New Edition (London, 1894), pp. 422, 428.

117

W. Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (Calcutta, 1896), iii. 434.

118

E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India (Madras, 1909), i. 113-117; id., Ethnographic Notes in Southern India (Madras, 1906), pp. 192-196; Captain H. Harkness, Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the Summit of the Neilgherry Hills (London, 1832), p. 133; F. Metz, The Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, Second Edition (Mangalore, 1864), p. 78; Jagor, “Ueber die Badagas im Nilgiri-Gebirge,” Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie (1876), pp. 196 sq. At the Badaga funerals witnessed by Mr. E. Thurston “no calf was brought near the corpse, and the celebrants of the rites were satisfied with the mere mention by name of a calf, which is male or female according to the sex of the deceased.”

119

H. Harkness, l. c.

120

J. W. Breeks, An Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nīlagiris (London, 1873), pp. 23 sq.; W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 376 sq.

121

E. T. Atkinson, The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) pp. 927 sq. In other parts of North-Western India on the eleventh day after a death a bull calf is let loose with a trident branded on its shoulder or quarter “to become a pest.” See (Sir) Denzil C. J. Ibbetson, Report on the Revision of Settlement of the Panipat Tahsil and Karnal Parganah of the Karnal District (Allahabad, 1883), p. 137. In Behar, a district of Bengal, a bullock is also let loose on the eleventh day of mourning for a near relative. See G. A. Grierson, Bihār Peasant Life (Calcutta, 1885), p. 409.

122

W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual (Amsterdam, 1900), p. 83; Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, translated by Maurice Bloomfield (Oxford, 1897), pp. 308 sq. (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xlii.).

123

M. N. Venketswami, “Telugu Superstitions,” The Indian Antiquary, xxiv. (1895) p. 359.

124

A. Grünwedel, “Sinhalesische Masken,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, vi. (1893) pp. 85 sq.

125

J. G. Dalyell, Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 104 sq. I have modernised the spelling.

126

J. Perham, “Sea Dyak Religion,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 10 (December 1882), p. 232.

127

Rev. Richard Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants, Second Edition (London, 1870), p. 101.

128

T. C. Hodson, “The Native Tribes of Manipur,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxi. (1901) p. 302; id., The Meitheis (London, 1908), pp. 106 sq.

129

T. C. Hodson, “The Native Tribes of Manipur,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxi. (1901) p. 302.

130

T. C. Hodson, The Meitheis (London, 1908), pp. 104-106.

131

Compare The Dying God, pp. 116 sq.

132

The Jataha or Stories of the Buddha's former Births, vol. v., translated by H. T. Francis (Cambridge, 1905), pp. 71 sq.

133

Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), p. 342.

134

Rev. S. Mateer, Native Life in Travancore (London, 1883), p. 136.

135

J. Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (Folk-lore Society, London, 1881), pp. 35 sq.

136

Bagford's letter in Leland's Collectanea, i. 76, quoted by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 246 sq., Bohn's edition (London, 1882-1883).

137

In The Academy, 13th Nov. 1875, p. 505, Mr. D. Silvan Evans stated that he knew of no such custom anywhere in Wales; and the custom seems to be now quite unknown in Shropshire. See C. S. Burne and G. F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore (London, 1883), pp. 307 sq.

138

The authority for the statement is a Mr. Moggridge, reported in Archaeologia Cambrensis, second series, iii. 330. But Mr. Moggridge did not speak from personal knowledge, and as he appears to have taken it for granted that the practice of placing bread and salt upon the breast of a corpse was a survival of the custom of “sin-eating,” his evidence must be received with caution. He repeated his statement, in somewhat vaguer terms, at a meeting of the Anthropological Institute, 14th December 1875. See Journal of the Anthropological Institute, v. (1876) pp. 423 sq.

139

J. A. Dubois, Mœurs des Peuples de l'Inde (Paris, 1825), ii. 32 sq.

140

R. Richardson, in Panjab Notes and Queries, i. p. 86, § 674 (May, 1884).

141

Panjab Notes and Queries, i. p. 86, § 674, ii. p. 93, § 559 (March, 1885). Some of these customs have been already referred to in a different connexion. See The Dying God, p. 154. In Uganda the eldest son used to perform a funeral ceremony, which consisted in chewing some seeds which he took with his lips from the hand of his dead father; some of these seeds he then blew over the corpse and the rest over one of the childless widows who thereafter became his wife. The meaning of the ceremony is obscure. The eldest son in Uganda never inherited his father's property. See the Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), p. 117.

142

Panjab Notes and Queries, iii. p. 179, § 745 (July, 1886).

143

E. Schuyler, Turkistan (London, 1876), ii. 28.

144

W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), i. 401 sqq.

145

The Welsh custom of “sin-eating” has been interpreted by Mr. E. S. Hartland as a modification of an older custom of eating the corpse. See his article, “The Sin-eater,” Folk-lore, iii. (1892) 145-157; The Legend of Perseus, ii. 291 sqq., iii. p. ix. I cannot think his interpretation probable or borne out by the evidence. The Badaga custom of transferring the sins of the dead to a calf which is then let loose and never used again (above, pp. 36 sq.), the Tahitian custom of burying the sins of a person whose body is carefully preserved by being embalmed, and the Manipur and Travancore customs of transferring the sins of a Rajah before his death (pp. 39, 42 sq.) establish the practice of transferring sins in cases where there can be no question of eating the corpse. The original intention of such practices was perhaps not so much to take away the sins of the deceased as to rid the survivors of the dangerous pollution of death. This comes out to some extent in the Tahitian custom.

146

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii. 86.

147

Plato, Laws, xi. 12, p. 933 b.

148

Ἐφημερὶς ἀρχαιολογική, 1883, col. 213, 214; G. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum,2 No. 802, lines 48 sqq. (vol. ii. pp. 652 sq.).

149

Marcellus, De medicamentis, xxxiv. 102. A similar cure is described by Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxii. 149); you are to touch the warts with chick-peas on the first day of the moon, wrap the peas in a cloth, and throw them away behind you. But Pliny does not say that the warts will be transferred to the person who picks up the peas. On this subject see further J. Hardy, “Wart and Wen Cures,” Folk-lore Record, i. (1878) pp. 216-228.

150

Z. Zanetti, La Medicina delle nostre donne (Città di Castello, 1892), pp. 224 sq.; J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), p. 321; B. Souché, Croyances, présages et traditions diverses (Niort, 1880), p. 19; J. W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 1852-1857), i. 248, § 576; Dr. R. F. Kaindl, “Aus dem Volksglauben der Rutenen in Galizien,” Globus, lxiv. (1893) p. 93; J. Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-lore (Manchester and London, 1882), p. 157; G. W. Black, Folk-medicine (London, 1883), p. 41; W. Gregor, Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 49; J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 94 sq.

151

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 71, § 85; E. Monseur, Le Folklore Wallon (Brussels, n. d.), p. 29; H. Zahler, Die Krankheit im Volksglauben des Simmenthals (Bern, 1898), p. 93; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), p. 306.

152

A. Birlinger, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 483.

153

Thiers, Souché, Strackerjan, Monseur, ll.cc.; J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 95.

154

Ch. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1884-1886), iii. 226.

155

G. Lammert, Volksmedizin und medizinischer Aberglaube in Bayern (Würzburg, 1869), p. 264.

156

Ibid. p. 263.

157

J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 167, § 1180.

158

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. 71, § 85.

159

Geoponica, xiii. 9, xv. 1; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii. 155. The authorities for these cures are respectively Apuleius and Democritus. The latter is probably not the atomic philosopher. See J. G. Frazer, “The Language of Animals,” The Archæological Review, vol. i. (May, 1888) p. 180, note 140.

160

Marcellus, De medicamentis, xii. 24.

161

W. G. Black, Folk-medicine (London, 1883), pp. 35 sq.

162

Marcellus, De medicamentis, xvii. 18.

163

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxx. 61; Marcellus, De medicamentis, xxvii. 33. The latter writer mentions (op. cit. xxviii. 123) that the same malady might similarly be transferred to a live frog.

164

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxx. 64; Marcellus, De medicamentis, xxviii. 132.

165

Marcellus, De medicamentis, xxix. 35.

166

W. Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties (London, 1879), p. 143; W. G. Black, Folk-medicine, p. 35; Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 226.

167

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. 72, § 86.

168

J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 166, § 1173, quoting Kuhn's translation of Rig-veda, x. 97. 13. A slightly different translation of the verse is given by H. Grassmann, who here follows R. Roth (Rig-veda übersetzt, vol. ii. p. 379). Compare Hymns of the Rigveda, translated by R. T. H. Griffith (Benares, 1889-1892), iv. 312.

169

L. Strackerjan, op. cit. i. 72, § 87.

170

W. Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties (London, 1879), p. 143.

171

J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark (Berlin, 1839), p. 83; A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 384, § 62.

172

R. Wuttke, Sächsische Volkskunde2 (Dresden, 1901), p. 372.

173

J. V. Grohmann, op. cit. p. 230, § 1663. A similar remedy is prescribed in Bavaria. See G. Lammert, Volksmedizin und medizinischer Aberglaube in Bayern (Würzburg, 1869), p. 249.

174

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 375; W. G. Black, Folk-medicine, p. 46.

175

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 229 sq.

176

B. Schmidt, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen (Leipsic, 1871), p. 82.

177

A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 386.

178