Introduction to the History of Religions Part 37

[233] See the references in article "Circ.u.mambulation" in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[234] Westermarck, _Human Marriage_, 3d ed., p. 542. This s.e.xual instinct is carried back by Darwin (_Descent of Man_, chap. xii) to the lower animals.

[235] Cf. Gen. iii, 7. There is no conclusive evidence that the concealment of parts of the body by savages is prompted by modesty (cf. Ratzel, _History of Mankind_, i, 93 ff.), but it may have contributed to the development of this feeling.

[236] Cf. Y. Him, _Origins of Art_, chap. xvi. For the Maori usage see R. Taylor, _New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, chap. xviii.

[237] Cf. Lucien Carr, "Dress and Ornaments of Certain American Indians" (in _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, 1897).

[238] Ratzel, op. cit., Index, s.v. _Tattooing_; Boas, _The Central Eskimo_, p. 561; Frobenius, _Childhood of Man_, chap. ii. Among some tribes (as the Fijians) untattooed persons are denied entrance into the other world. Naturally the origin of tattoo is by some tribes referred to deities: see Turner, _Samoa_, p. 55 f.; _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xix, 100 (New Zealand); xvii, 318 ff. (Queen Charlotte Islands and Alaska). The Ainu hold that it drives away demons (Batchelor, _The Ainu_, p. 22).

[239] Turner, op. cit., p. 141.

[240] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, chap. vi.

[241] Frobenius, _Childhood of Man_, p. 31 ff.; cf. chap. i.

[242] Spencer and Gillen, op. cit., chap. vii.

[243] On a possible connection between tattoo marks and stigmata cf. W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 3d ed., p. 334.

[244] See -- 23. Blood of men is sometimes drunk, simply to a.s.suage thirst, or as a curative (Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 462, 464).

[245] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, Index, s.v. _Art, decorative_; _Journal of American Folklore_, vol. xviii, no. 69 (April, 1905).

[246] So the dress of the Jewish high priest (Ex. xxviii), that of the Lamas of Tibet (Abbe Huc, _Travels in Tartary, Tibet and China_, ii, chap. ii; Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_, p.

250), and costumes in some Christian bodies.

[247] Of the same nature is Jeremy Taylor's view (_An Apology for authorized and set forms of Liturgy_, Question 1, -- 7 ff.) that, as earthly monarchs are not addressed in the language of everyday familiar intercourse, so it is not proper that the deity should be approached with other than choice and dignified words--public prayers should be carefully worded.

[248] Cf. A. C. Haddon, article "Art" in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[249] A. de Quatref.a.ges, _The Pygmies_, p. 157.

[250] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, Index, s.v. _Hunting_.

[251] Batchelor, _The Ainu_ (the hunting of the bear); and so many American tribes, and, in part, some half-civilized peoples, as the Arabs of North Africa.

[252] Teit, in _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, ii, 280.

[253] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, p.

291 ff.

[254] Hollis, _The Nandi_, p. 8 (cf. p. 24).

[255] Hollis (op. cit., p. 6 f.) relates that on a certain occasion when his party was driven from its wagons by a swarm of bees, a Nandi man appeared, announced that he was of the bee totem, and volunteered to restore quiet, which he did, going stark naked into the swarm. His success was doubtless due to his knowledge of the habits of bees.

[256] So in the Tsimshian ceremony in eating the first fish caught (Boas, in _Fifth Report of the British a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science_, vol. lix, p. 51). Cf. the Jewish rule (Ex. xii, 46), which may have had a similar origin.

[257] Teit, in _Jesup North Pacific Expedition_, ii, 282. A similar provision is mentioned in Ex. xvi, 16-20.

[258] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 167 f., and _Native Tribes of Northern Australia_, p. 308 etc.; Strehlow, _Die Aranda-und Loritjastamme in Zentralaustralien_, part ii, p. 39 etc.

[259] Dixon, _The Northern Maidu_, p. 285 f.

[260] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, p.

177 f.

[261] Dorsey, _The Skidi p.a.w.nee_, p. 149.

[262] Seligmann, op. cit., p. 291 ff.

[263] Here again the taboos are precautions against injurious supernatural influences.

[264] He is said also to imitate the cries of animals--that is, he combines natural means with supernatural.

[265] Spencer and Gillen, and Strehlow, loc. cit.

[266] This feeling for the tribal life may be called germinal public spirit. Cf. above, -- 103.

[267] Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2d ed., ii, 238 ff.

[268] Hopkins, _Religions of India_, p. 526.

[269] Frazer (_Golden Bough_, 2d. ed., ii, 43 ff.) refers to B. Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, ii, 311; Strachey, _Historie_, p. 84; Krapf, _Travels_, p. 69 f.; Mone, _Geschichte des Heldenthums im nordlichen Europa_, i, 119.

See, further, T. Williams and Calvert, _Fiji_, p. 181 f.; W.

Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_, ii, 169.

[270] Ex. xxii, 29 [28]; xiii, 12, 13.

[271] Spencer and Gillen, op. cit., chap. vi.

[272] _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xxv, 104 ff.

[273] Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2d ed., iii, 78.

[274] _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xxiii, 18; xxvi, 30. Other examples are given by Frazer in his _Golden Bough_, 2d. ed., i, 81 ff., 163; he cites cases of persons (priests and kings) held responsible for rain, and put to death if they failed to supply it.

[275] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 145. On certain Roman ceremonies (that of the lapis ma.n.a.lis and others) that have been supposed to be connected with rain making see Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Romer_, p. 106; W. W. Fowler, _Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic_, iii.

[276] Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 23.

[277] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i, 454; Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, i, 52 ff.; ii, 532 ff.

[278] There is, of course, another side to the character of ghosts--sometimes they are friendly.

[279] Ploss, _Das Kind_, 2d ed., i, chap. iv.