The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)

Examples of the fatal effects of imagination in other parts of the world.

Thus in the Polynesian race, to which the Maoris belong, superstition erected round the persons of sacred chiefs a real, though at the same time purely imaginary barrier, to transgress which actually entailed the death of the transgressor whenever he became aware of what he had done. This fatal power of the imagination working through superstitious terrors is by no means confined to one race; it appears to be common among savages. For example, among the aborigines of Australia a native will die after the infliction of even the most superficial wound if only he believes that the weapon which inflicted the wound had been sung over and thus endowed with magical virtue. He simply lies down, refuses food, and pines away.495 Similarly among some of the Indian tribes of Brazil, if the medicine-man predicted the death of any one who had offended him, “the wretch took to his hammock instantly in such full expectation of dying, that he would neither eat nor drink, and the prediction was a sentence which faith effectually executed.”496 Speaking of certain African races Major Leonard observes: “I have seen more than one hardened old Haussa soldier dying steadily and by inches, because he believed himself to be bewitched; so that no nourishment or medicines that were given to him had the slightest effect either to check the mischief or to improve his condition in any way, and nothing was able to divert him from a fate which he considered inevitable. In the same way, and under very similar conditions, I have seen Kru-men and others die, in spite of every effort that was made to save them, simply because they had made up their minds, not (as we thought at the time) to die, but that being in the clutch of malignant demons they were bound to die.”497 The Capuchin missionary Merolla da Sorrento, who travelled in the West African kingdom of Congo in the latter part of the seventeenth century, has described a remarkable case of death wrought purely by superstitious fear. He says: “It is a custom that either the parents or the wizards give certain rules to be inviolably observed by the young people, and which they call chegilla: these are to abstain from eating either some sorts of poultry, the flesh of some kinds of wild beasts, such and such fruits, roots either raw or boiled after this or another manner, with several other ridiculous injunctions of the like nature, too many to be enumerated here. You would wonder with what religious observance these commands are obeyed. These young people would sooner chuse to fast several days together, than to taste the least bit of what has been forbidden them; and if it sometimes happen that the chegilla

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

1

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 332 sqq., 373 sqq.

2

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 352 sqq.

3

Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century: from recent Dutch Visitors to Japan, and the German of Dr. Ph. Fr. von Siebold (London, 1841), pp. 141 sqq.

4

W. G. Aston, Shinto (the Way of the Gods) (London, 1905), p. 41; Michel Revon, Le Shintoïsme, i. (Paris, 1907), pp. 189 sqq. The Japanese word for god or deity is kami. It is thus explained by the native scholar Motoöri, one of the chief authorities on Japanese religion: “The term Kami is applied in the first place to the various deities of Heaven and Earth who are mentioned in the ancient records as well as their spirits (mi-tama) which reside in the shrines where they are worshipped. Moreover, not only human beings, but birds, beasts, plants and trees, seas and mountains, and all other things whatsoever which deserve to be dreaded and revered for the extraordinary and pre-eminent powers which they possess, are called Kami. They need not be eminent for surpassing nobleness, goodness, or serviceableness alone. Malignant and uncanny beings are also called Kami if only they are the objects of general dread. Among Kami who are human beings I need hardly mention first of all the successive Mikados – with reverence be it spoken… Then there have been numerous examples of divine human beings both in ancient and modern times, who, although not accepted by the nation generally, are treated as gods, each of his several dignity, in a single province, village, or family.” Hirata, another native authority on Japanese religion, defines kami as a term which comprises all things strange, wondrous, and possessing isao or virtue. And a recent dictionary gives the following definitions: “Kami. 1. Something which has no form but is only spirit, has unlimited supernatural power, dispenses calamity and good fortune, punishes crime and rewards virtue. 2. Sovereigns of all times, wise and virtuous men, valorous and heroic persons whose spirits are prayed to after their death. 3. Divine things which transcend human intellect. 4. The Christian God, Creator, Supreme Lord.” See W. G. Aston, Shinto (the Way of the Gods), pp. 8-10, from which the foregoing quotations are made. Mr. Aston himself considers that “the deification of living Mikados was titular rather than real,” and he adds: “I am not aware that any specific so-called miraculous powers were authoritatively claimed for them” (op. cit. p. 41). No doubt it is very difficult for the Western mind to put itself at the point of view of the Oriental and to seize the precise point (if it can be said to exist) where the divine fades into the human or the human brightens into the divine. In translating, as we must do, the vague thought of a crude theology into the comparatively exact language of civilised Europe we must allow for a considerable want of correspondence between the two: we must leave between them, as it were, a margin of cloudland to which in the last resort the deity may retreat from the too searching light of philosophy and science.

5

M. Revon, op. cit. i. 190 n.2

6

Kaempfer, “History of Japan,” in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, vii. 716 sq. However, Mr. W. G. Aston tells us that Kaempfer's statements regarding the sacred character of the Mikado's person cannot be depended on (Shinto, the Way of the Gods, p. 41, note †). M. Revon quotes Kaempfer's account with the observation that, “les naïvetés recèlent plus d'une idée juste” (Le Shintoïsme, vol. i. p. 191, note 2). To me it seems that Kaempfer's description is very strongly confirmed by its close correspondence in detail with the similar customs and superstitions which have prevailed in regard to sacred personages in many other parts of the world and with which it is most unlikely that Kaempfer was acquainted. This correspondence will be brought out in the following pages.

7

In Pinkerton's reprint this word appears as “mobility.” I have made the correction from a comparison with the original (Kaempfer, History of Japan, translated from the original Dutch manuscript by J. G. Scheuchzer, London, 1728, vol. i. p. 150).

8

Caron, “Account of Japan,” in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, vii. 613. Compare B. Varenius, Descriptio regni Japoniae et Siam (Cambridge, 1673), p. 11: “Nunquam attingebant (quemadmodum et hodie id observat) pedes ipsius terram: radiis Solis caput nunquam illustrabatur: in apertum aërem non procedebat,” etc. The first edition of this book was published by Elzevir at Amsterdam in 1649. The Geographia Generalis of the same writer had the honour of appearing in an edition revised and corrected by Isaac Newton (Cambridge, at the University Press, 1672).

9

A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste (Jena, 1874-75), i. 287 sq., compare pp. 353 sq.

10

H. Klose, Togo unter deutscher Flagge (Berlin, 1899), pp. 189, 268.

11

J. B. Labat, Relation historique de l'Éthiopie occidentale (Paris, 1732), i. 254 sqq.

12

Ch. Wunenberger, “La Mission et le royaume de Humbé, sur les bords du Cunène,” Missions Catholiques, xx. (1888) p. 262.

13

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 415 sq.

14

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique-centrale, iii. 29 sq.; H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, ii. 142 sq.

15

A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste, i. 355.

16

O. Dapper, Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 336.

17

O. Baumann, Eine afrikanische Tropen-Insel, Fernando Póo und die Bube (Wien und Olmütz, 1888), pp. 103 sq.

18

G. Zündel, “Land und Volk der Eweer auf der Sclavenküste in Westafrika,” Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, xii. (1877) p. 402.

19

Béraud, “Note sur le Dahomé,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), Vme Série, xii. (1866) p. 377.

20

A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste, i. 263.

21

Bosman's “Guinea,” in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, xvi. 500.

22

A. Dalzell, History of Dahomey (London, 1793), p. 15; Th. Winterbottom, An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone (London, 1803), pp. 229 sq.

23

J. B. L. Durand, Voyage au Sénégal (Paris, 1802), p. 55.

24

W. S. Taberer (Chief Native Commissioner for Mashonaland), “Mashonaland Natives,” Journal of the African Society, No. 15 (April 1905). p. 320.

25

A. van Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar (Paris, 1904), p. 113.

26

Father Porte, “Les Reminiscences d'un missionnaire du Basutoland,” Missions Catholiques, xxviii. (1896) p. 235.

27

Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 32.

28

P. J. de Arriaga, Extirpacion de la idolatria del Piru (Lima, 1621), pp. 11, 132.

29

W. Marsden, History of Sumatra (London, 1811), p. 301.

30

A. van Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar, p. 113, quoting De Thuy, Étude historique, géographique et ethnographique sur la province de Tuléar, Notes, Rec., Expl., 1899, p. 104.

31

T. C. Hodson, “The genna amongst the Tribes of Assam,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxvi. (1906) p. 98. The word for taboo among these tribes is genna.

32

The Duibhlinn is the part of the Liffey on which Dublin now stands.

33

The site, marked by the remains of some earthen forts, is now known as Rathcroghan, near Belanagare in the county of Roscommon.

34

The Book of Rights, edited with translation and notes by John O'Donovan (Dublin, 1847), pp. 3-8. This work, comprising a list both of the prohibitions (urgharta or geasa) and the prerogatives (buadha) of the Irish kings, is preserved in a number of manuscripts, of which the two oldest date from 1390 and about 1418 respectively. The list is repeated twice, first in prose and then in verse. I have to thank my friend Professor Sir J. Rhys for kindly calling my attention to this interesting record of a long-vanished past in Ireland. As to these taboos, see P. W. Joyce, Social History of Ancient Ireland, i. 310 sqq.

35

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 418 sqq.

36

Diodorus Siculus, i. 70.

37

G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, ii. 759, note 3; A. Moret, Du caractère religieux de la royauté Pharaonique (Paris, 1902), pp. 314-318.

38

(Sir) J. G. Scott, Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, part ii. vol. i. (Rangoon, 1901) p. 308.

39

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. ii. pp. 191 sq.

40

Among the Gallas the king, who also acts as priest by performing sacrifices, is the only man who is not allowed to fight with weapons; he may not even ward off a blow. See Ph. Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas: die geistige Cultur der Danâkil, Galla und Somâl, p. 136.

41

Among the Kafirs of the Hindoo Koosh men who are preparing to be headmen are considered ceremonially pure, and wear a semi-sacred uniform which must not be defiled by coming into contact with dogs. “The Kaneash [persons in this state of ceremonial purity] were nervously afraid of my dogs, which had to be fastened up whenever one of these august personages was seen to approach. The dressing has to be performed with the greatest care, in a place which cannot be defiled with dogs. Utah and another had convenient dressing-rooms on the top of their houses which happened to be high and isolated, but another of the four Kaneash had been compelled to erect a curious-looking square pen made of poles in front of his house, his own roof being a common thoroughfare” (Sir George Scott Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush (London, 1898), p. 466).

42

Similarly the Egyptian priests abstained from beans and would not even look at them. See Herodotus, ii. 37, with A. Wiedemann's note; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 5.

43

Similarly among the Kafirs of the Hindoo Koosh the high priest “may not traverse certain paths which go near the receptacles for the dead, nor may he visit the cemeteries. He may not go into the actual room where a death has occurred until after an effigy has been erected for the deceased. Slaves may cross his threshold, but must not approach the hearth” (Sir George Scott Robertson, op. cit. p. 416).

44

Aulus Gellius, x. 15; Plutarch, Quaest, Rom. 109-112; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii. 146; Servius on Virgil, Aen. i. 179, 448, iv. 518; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 16. 8 sq.; Festus, p. 161 a, ed. C. O. Müller. For more details see J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.2 326 sqq.

45

Sir Harry Johnston, Liberia (London, 1906), ii. 1076 sq., quoting from Bishop Payne, who wrote “some fifty years ago.” The Bodia described by Bishop Payne is clearly identical with the Bodio of the Grain Coast who is described by the Rev. J. L. Wilson (Western Africa, pp. 129 sqq.). See below, p. 23; and The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. p. 353. As to the iron ring which the pontiff wears on his ankle as the badge of his office we are told that it “is regarded with as much veneration as the most ancient crown in Europe, and the incumbent suffers as deep disgrace by its removal as any monarch in Europe would by being deprived of his crown” (J. L. Wilson, op. cit. pp. 129 sq.).

46

W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 98-103.

47

For restrictions imposed on these lesser milkmen see W. H. R. Rivers, op. cit. pp. 62, 66, 67 sq., 72, 73, 79-81.

48

W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas, pp. 79-81.

49

The Magic Art, vol. ii. p. 4.

50

Id. vol. i. pp. 354 sq.

51

A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste, i. 354 sq., ii. 9, 11.

52

Zweifel et Moustier, “Voyage aux sources du Niger,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), VIme Série, xx. (1880) p. 111.

53

O. Dapper, Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 250.

54

J. Matthews, Voyage to Sierra-Leone (London, 1791), p. 75.

55

T. Winterbottom, Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone (London, 1803), p. 124.

56

The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, collected and historically digested by F. Balthazar Tellez (London, 1710), pp. 197 sq.

57

Manners and Customs of the Japanese, pp. 199 sqq., 355 sqq.

58

Richard, “History of Tonquin,” in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, ix. 744 sqq.

59

L. A. Waddell, Among the Himalayas (Westminster, 1899), pp. 146 sq.

60

W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, Second Edition (London, 1832-1836), iii. 99 sqq.

61

W. W. Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, pp. 293 sqq.

62

The late Rev. Lorimer Fison, in a letter to the author, dated August 26, 1898.

63

W. Mariner, An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, Second Edition (London, 1818), ii. 75-79, 132-136.

64

Strabo, vii. 3. 5, pp. 297 sq. Compare id. vii. 3. 11, p. 304.

65

Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, iii. 2. My friend Professor Henry Jackson kindly called my attention to this passage.

66

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. p. 416, and above, p. 6.

67

Miss Mary H. Kingsley in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxix. (1899) pp. 61 sqq. I had some conversation on this subject with Miss Kingsley (1st June 1897) and have embodied the results in the text. Miss Kingsley did not know the rule of succession among the fetish kings.

68

T. J. Hutchinson, Impressions of Western Africa (London, 1858), pp. 101 sq.; Le Comte C. N. de Cardi, “Ju-ju Laws and Customs in the Niger Delta,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxix. (1899) p. 51.

69

H. Goldie, Calabar and its Mission, New Edition (London, 1901), P. 43.

70

J. L. Wilson, Western Africa (London, 1856), p. 129. As to the taboos observed by the Bodio or Bodia see above, p. 15.

71

Miss Mary H. Kingsley, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxix. (1899) p. 62.

72

Marchoux, “Ethnographie, Porto-Novo,” Revue Scientifique, Quatrième Série, iii. (1895) pp. 595 sq. This passage was pointed out to me by Mr. N. W. Thomas.

73

O. von Kotzebue, Entdeckungs-Reise in die Süd-See und nach der Berings-Strasse (Weimar, 1821), iii. 149.

74

J. J. de Hollander, Handleiding bij de Beofening der Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Oost-Indië, ii. 606 sq. In other parts of Timor the spiritual ruler is called Anaha paha or “conjuror of the land.” Compare H. Zondervan, “Timor en de Timoreezen,” Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, Tweede Serie, v. (1888) Afdeeling, mehr uitgebreide artikelen, pp. 400-402.

75

A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, Black, White, and Brown (London, 1901), pp. 270-272.

76

Dr. Hahl, “Mittheilungen über Sitten und rechtliche Verhältnisse auf Ponape,” Ethnologisches Notizblatt, ii. Heft 2 (Berlin, 1901), pp. 5 sq., 7. The title of the prime-minister is Nanekin.

77

R. Salvado, Mémoires historiques sur l'Australie (Paris, 1854), p. 162; Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vii. (1878) p. 282. In this edifying catechism there is little to choose between the savagery of the white man and the savagery of the black.

78

Relations des Jésuites, 1634, p. 17; id., 1636, p. 104; id., 1639, p. 43 (Canadian reprint, Quebec, 1858).

79

H. Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 36. The Esquimaux of Bering Strait believe that every man has several souls, and that two of these souls are shaped exactly like the body. See E. W. Nelson, “The Eskimo about Bering Strait,” Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, part i. (Washington, 1899) p. 422.

80

Fr. Boas, in Sixth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada, p. 44 (separate reprint from the Report of the British Association for 1890).

81

Fr. Boas, in Ninth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada, p. 461 (Report of the British Association for 1894).

82

W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic (London, 1900), p. 47.

83

G. Maspero, Études de mythologie et d'archéologie égyptiennes (Paris, 1893), i. 388 sq.; A. Wiedemann, The ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul (London, 1895), pp. 10 sqq. In Greek works of art, especially vase-paintings, the human soul is sometimes represented as a tiny being in human form, generally winged, sometimes clothed and armed, sometimes naked. See O. Jahn, Archäologische Beiträge (Berlin, 1847), pp. 128 sqq.; E. Pottier, Étude sur les lécythes blancs attiques (Paris, 1883), pp. 75-79; American Journal of Archaeology, ii. (1886) pll. xii., xiii.; O. Kern, in Aus der Anomia, Archäologische Beiträge Carl Robert zur Erinnerung an Berlin dargebracht (Berlin, 1890), pp. 89-95. Greek artists of a later period sometimes portrayed the human soul in the form of a butterfly (O. Jahn, op. cit. pp. 138 sqq.). There was a particular sort of butterfly to which the Greeks gave the name of soul (ψυχή). See Aristotle, Hist. anim. v. 19, p. 550 b 26, p. 551 b 13 sq.; Plutarch, Quaest. conviv. ii. 3. 2.

84

W. W. Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific (London, 1876), p. 171.

85

H. Sundermann, “Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, Bd. xi. October 1884, p. 453.

86

The late Rev. Lorimer Fison, in a letter to the author, dated November 3, 1898.

87

H. A. Rose, “Note on Female Tattooing in the Panjâb,” Indian Antiquary, xxxi. (1902) p. 298.

88

B. F. Matthes, Over de Bissoes of heidensche priesters en priesteressen der Boeginezen (Amsterdam, 1872), p. 24 (reprinted from the Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Deel vii.).

89

A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, p. 439.

90

H. Ling Roth, “Low's Natives of Borneo,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxi. (1892) p. 115.

91