Chapter IV: The Golden Bough (9)

452 H. Harkness, _Singular Aboriginal Race of the Neilgherry Hills_, p.
133; Metz, _The Tribes Inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills_, p. 78;
Jagor, “Ueber die Badagas im Nilgiri-Gebirge,” _Verhandl. d. Berlin.
Gesell. f. Anthropol._ (1876), p. 196 _sq._ For the custom of
letting a bullock go loose after a death, compare also Grierson,
_Bihar Peasant Life_, p. 409; Ibbetson, _Settlement Report of the
Panipat, Tahsil, and Karnal Parganah of the Karnal district_
(Allahabad, 1883) p. 137. In the latter case it is said that the
animal is let loose “to become a pest.” Perhaps the older idea was
that the animal carried away death from the survivors. The idea of
sin is not primitive.

_ 453 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
_Archaeological Review_, i. 180, _note_.

454 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxviii. § 86.

455 Plato, _Laws_, xi. c. 12, p. 933 B.

456 Ch. Rogers, _Social Life in Scotland_, iii. 226.

457 G. Lammert, _Volkmedizin und medizinischer Aberglaube in Bayern_, p.
264.

_ 458 Ib._ p. 263.

459 Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_, i.
§ 85.

460 Carl Meyer, _Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters_, p. 104.

461 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 979.

462 Henderson, _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, p. 143. Collections
of cures by transference will be found in Strackerjan’s work, cited
above, i. § 85 _sqq._; W. G. Black, _Folk-medicine_, ch. ii. Cp.
Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. c. 36.

_ 463 Blackwood’s Magazine_, February 1886, p. 239.

464 Aubrey, _Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (Folk-lore Society,
1881), p. 35 _sq._

465 Bagford’s letter in Leland’s _Collectanea_, i. 76, quoted by Brand,
_Popular Antiquities_, ii. 246 _sq._, Bohn’s ed.

466 In the _Academy_, 13th Nov. 1875, p. 505, Mr. D. Silvan Evans stated
that he knew of no such custom anywhere in Wales; and Miss Burne
knows no example of it in Shropshire. Burne and Jackson, _Shropshire
Folk-lore_, p. 307 _sq._

467 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 _Journ.
Anthrop. Inst_. v. 423 _sq._

468 Dubois, _Moeurs des Peuples de l’Inde_, ii. 32.

469 R. Richardson, in _Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. No. 674.

_ 470 Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. No. 674; ii. No. 559. Some of these
customs have been already referred to in a different connection. See
above, vol. i. p. 232.

_ 471 Op. cit._ iii. No. 745.

472 E. Schuyler, _Turkistan_, ii. 28.

473 E. F. im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_, p. 356 _sq._

474 Paul Reina, “Ueber die Bewohner der Insel Rook,” _Zeitschrift für
allgemeine Erdkunde_, N. F. iv. 356.

475 R. Parkinson, _Im Bismarck-Archipel_, p. 142.

476 [P. N. Wilken], “De godsdienst en godsdienstplegtigheden der
Alfoeren in de Menahassa op het eiland Celebes,” _Tijdschrift voor
Nederlandsch Indië_, December 1849, pp. 392-394; id., “Bijdragen tot
de kennis van de zeden en gewoonten der Alfoeren in de Minahassa,”
_Mededeelingen v. w. het Nederland. Zendelinggenootsch_. vii. (1863)
149 _sqq._; J. G. F. Riedel, “De Minahasa in 1825,” _Tijdschrift
voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xviii. (1872), 521 _sq._
Wilken’s first and fuller account is reprinted in Graafland’s _De
Minahassa_, i. 117-120.

477 Riedel, “Galela und Tobeloresen,” in _Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie_,
xvii. (1885) 82; G. A. Wilken, _Het Shamanisme bij de Volken van de
Indischen Archipel_, p. 58.

478 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,
p. 239.

479 Nieuwenhuisen en Rosenberg, _Verslag omtrent het eiland Nias_, p.
116 _sq._, Rosenberg, _Der Malayische Archipel_, p. 174 _sq._ Cp.
Chatelin, “Godsdienst en Bijgeloof der Niassers,” _Tijdschrift voor
Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvi. 139. The Dyaks also
drive the devil at the point of the sword from a house where there
is sickness. See Hupe, “Korte verhandeling over de godsdienst,
zeden, enz. der Dajakkers” in _Tijdschrift voor Neêrland’s Indië_,
viii. (1846) dl. iii. p. 149.

480 Forbes, _British Burma_, p. 233; Shway Yoe, _The Burman_, i. 282,
ii. 105 _sqq._; Bastian, _Die Völker des östlichen Asien_, ii. 98.

481 Lewin, _Wild Tribes of South-Eastern India_, p. 226.

482 Hecquard, _Reise an die Küste und in das Innere von West Afrika_, p.
43.

483 Sagard, _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons_, p. 279 _sqq._ (195
_sq._ of the Paris reprint). Compare _Relations des Jésuites_, 1639,
pp. 88-92 (Canadian reprint), from which it appears that each man
demanded the subject of his dream in the form of a riddle, which the
hearers tried to solve. The propounding of riddles is not uncommon
as a superstitious observance. Probably enigmas were originally a
kind of divination. Cp. Vambery, _Das Türkenvolk_, p. 232 _sq._;
Riedel, _De sluiken kroesharige rassen_, etc. p. 267 _sq._ In Bolang
Mongondo (Celebes) riddles may never be asked except when there is a
corpse in the village. N. P. Wilken en J. A. Schwarz, “Allerlei over
het land en volk van Bolaäng Mongondou,” _Mededeelingen van wege het
Nederlandsch. Zendelinggenootschap_, xi. (1867) p. 357.

484 The Rev. W. Ridley, in J. D. Lang’s _Queensland_, p. 441; cp.
Ridley, _Kamilaroi_, p. 149.

_ 485 Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow,
Alaska_ (Washington, 1885), p. 42 _sq._

486 Franz Boas, “The Eskimo,” _Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal
Society of Canada for 1887_, vol. v. (Montreal, 1888), sect. ii. 36
_sq._

487 Above, p. 162.

488 Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, vi. 82 _sqq._; Timothy
Dwight, _Travels in New England and New York_, iv. 201 _sq._; L. H.
Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 207 _sqq._; Mrs. E. A. Smith,
“Myths of the Iroquois,” _Second Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology_ (Washington, 1883), p. 112 _sqq._; Horatio Hale,
“Iroquois sacrifice of the White Dog,” _American Antiquarian_, vii.
7 _sqq._; W. M. Beauchamp, “Iroquois White Dog feast,” _ib._ p. 235
_sqq._

489 Squier’s notes upon Bartram’s _Creek and Cherokee Indians_, p. 78,
from the MS. of Mr. Payne. See above, p. 75 _note_.

490 Garcilasso de la Vega, _Royal Commentaries of the Yncas_, pt. i. bk.
vii. ch. 6, vol. ii. p. 228 _sqq._, Markham’s translation; Molina,
“Fables and Rites of the Yncas,” in _Rites and Laws of the Yncas_
(Hakluyt Society, 1873), p. 20 _sqq._; Acosta, _History of the
Indies_, bk. v. ch. 28, vol. ii. p. 375 _sq._ (Hakluyt Society,
1880). The accounts of Garcilasso and Molina are somewhat
discrepant, but this may be explained by the statement of the latter
that “in one year they added, and in another they reduced the number
of ceremonies, according to circumstances.” Molina places the
festival in August, Garcilasso and Acosta in September. According to
Garcilasso there were only four runners in Cuzco; according to
Molina there were four hundred. Acosta’s account is very brief. In
the description given in the text features have been borrowed from
all three accounts, where these seemed consistent with each other.

491 Bosman’s “Guinea,” in Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 402.
Cp. Pierre Bouche, _La Côte des Esclaves_, p. 395.

492 S. Crowther and J. C. Taylor. _The Gospel on the Banks of the
Niger_, p. 320.

493 Mansfield Parkyns, _Life in Abyssinia_, p. 285 _sqq._

494 Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 196 _sq._

495 Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh_, p. 103.

496 W. Macpherson, _Memorials of Service in India_, p. 357 _sq._
Possibly this case belongs more strictly to the class of mediate
expulsions, the devils being driven out upon the car. Perhaps,
however, the car with its contents is regarded rather as a bribe to
induce them to go than as a vehicle in which they are actually
carted away. Anyhow it is convenient to take this case along with
those other expulsions of demons which are the accompaniment of an
agricultural festival.

497 R. van Eck, “Schetsen van het eiland Bali,” _Tijdschrift voor
Nederlandsch Indië_, N. S. viii. (1879) 58-60. Van Eck’s account is
reprinted in J. Jacobs’s _Eenigen tijd onder de Baliërs_ (Batavia,
1883), p. 190 _sqq._

_ 498 U.S. Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology_, by H. Hale,
p. 67 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the U.S. Exploring
Expedition_, iii. 90 _sq._ According to the latter, the sea-slug was
eaten by the men alone, who lived during the four days in the
temple, while the women and boys remained shut up in their houses.

499 Bastian, _Die Völker des östlichen Asien_, v. 367.

_ 500 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 792; D. C. J. Ibbetson,
_Outlines of Panjab Ethnography_, p. 119.

501 Baron, “Description of the Kingdom of Tonqueen,” Pinkerton’s
_Voyages and Travels_, ix. 673, 695 _sq._; cp. Richard, “History of
Tonquin,” _ib._ p. 746. The account of the ceremony by Tavernier
(whom Baron criticises very unfavourably) is somewhat different.
According to him the expulsion of wicked souls at the New Year is
combined with sacrifice to the honoured dead. See Harris, _Voyages
and Travels_, i. 823.

502 Aymonier, _Notice sur le Cambodge_, p. 62.

503 Bastian, _Die Völker des östlichen Asien_, iii. 237, 298, 314, 529
_sq._; Pallegoix, _Royaume Thai ou Siam_, i. 252. Bastian (p. 314),
with whom Pallegoix seems to agree, distinctly states that the
expulsion takes place on the last day of the year. Yet both state
that it occurs in the fourth month of the year. According to
Pallegoix (i. 253) the Siamese year is composed of twelve lunar
months, and the first month usually begins in December. Hence the
expulsion of devils would commonly take place in March, as in
Cambodia.

504 J. Anderson, _Mandalay to Momien_, p. 308.

505 Max Buch, _Die Wotjäken_, p. 153 _sq._

506 Bastian, _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_, ii. 94.

507 J. G. von Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_, i. 160. Cp. above, vol. i.
p. 276.

508 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle
credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore_, p. 42 _sq._

509 Von Alpenburg, _Mythen und Sagen Tirols_, p. 260 _sq._ A Westphalian
form of the expulsion of evil is the driving out the _Süntevögel_,
_Sunnenvögel_, or _Sommervögel_, _i.e._, the butterfly. On St.
Peter’s Day, 22d February, children go from house to house knocking
on them with hammers and singing doggerel rhymes in which they bid
the _Sommervögel_ to depart. Presents are given to them at every
house. Or the people of the house themselves go through all the
rooms, knocking on all the doors, to drive away the _Sunnenvögel_.
If this ceremony is omitted, it is thought that various misfortunes
will be the consequence. The house will swarm with rats, mice, and
other vermin, the cattle will be sick, the butterflies will multiply
at the milk-bowls, etc. Woeste, _Volksüberlieferungen in der
Grafschaft Mark_, p. 24; J. W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen
Mythologie, i. 87; A. Kuhn, _Westfälische Sagen, Gebräuche und
Märchen_, ii. §§ 366-374; Montanus, _Die deutschen Volksfeste,
Volksbräuche_, etc., p. 21 _sq._; Jahn, _Die deutschen
Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_, pp. 94-96.

510 Usener, “Italische Mythen,” in _Rheinisches Museum_, N. F. xxx. 198.

511 S. Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 159.

512 G. Catlin, _North American Indians_, i. 166 _sqq._; _id._,
_O-kee-pa, a Religious Ceremony, and other Customs of the Mandans_.

513 Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 172. Cp. above, p. 178.

514 A. Bastian, in _Verhandl. d. Berlin. Gesellsch. f. Anthropol._ 1881,
p. 151; cp. _id._, _Völkerstämme am Brahmaputra_, p. 6 _sq._ Amongst
the Chukmas of South-east India the body of a priest is conveyed to
the place of cremation on a car; ropes are attached to the car, the
people divide themselves into two equal bodies and pull at the ropes
in opposite directions. “One side represents the good spirits; the
other, the powers of evil. The contest is so arranged that the
former are victorious. Sometimes, however, the young men
representing the demons are inclined to pull too vigorously, but a
stick generally quells this unseemly ardour in the cause of evil.”
Lewin, _Wild Tribes of South-Eastern India_, p. 185. The contest is
like that between the angels and devils depicted in the frescoes of
the Campo Santo at Pisa. In Burma a similar contest takes place at
the funeral of a holy man; but there the original meaning of the
ceremony appears to be forgotten. See Sangermano, _Description of
the Burmese Empire_ (ed. 1885), p. 98; Forbes, _British Burma_, p.
216 _sq._; Shway Yoe, _The Burman_, ii. 334 _sq._, 342. Sometimes
ceremonies of this sort are instituted for a different purpose. In
some East Indian islands when the people want a rainy wind from the
west, the population of the village, men, women, and children,
divide into two parties and pull against each other at the ends of a
long bamboo. But the party at the eastern end must pull the harder,
in order to draw the desired wind out of the west. Riedel, _De
sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_, p. 282. The
Cingalese perform a ceremony like “French and English” in honour of
the goddess Patiné. Forbes, _Eleven Years in Ceylon_ (London, 1840),
i. 358.

_ 515 Folk-lore Journal_, vii. 174.

516 François Valentyn, _Oud-en nieuw Ost-Indiën_, iii. 14. Backer,
_L’Archipel Indien_, p. 377 _sq._, copies from Valentyn.

517 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,
p. 304 _sq._

_ 518 Ib._ p. 25 _sq._

_ 519 Ib._ p. 141.

520 Riedel, _op. cit._ p. 78.

_ 521 Ib._ p. 357.

_ 522 Ib._ pp. 266, 304 _sq._, 327, 357. For other examples of sending
away disease-laden boats in these islands, _ib._ pp. 181, 210; Van
Eck, “Schetsen van het eiland Bali,” _Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch
Indië_, N.S. viii. (1879) p. 104; Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. 147;
Hupe, “Korte verhandeling over de godsdienst, zeden, enz. der
Dajakkers,” _Tijdschrift voor Neêrland’s Indië_, 1846, dl. iii. 150;
Campen, “De godsdienstbegrippen der Halmaherasche Alfoeren,”
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvii.
(1882) p. 441; _Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society_, No. 12, pp. 229-231; Van Hasselt, _Volksbeschrijving van
Midden-Sumatra_, p. 98.

523 J. Dumont D’Urville, _Voyage autour du monde et à la recherche de La
Pérouse, sur la corvette Astrolabe_, v. 311.

524 Roepstorff, “Ein Geisterboot der Nicobaresen,” _Verhandl. der
Berlin. Gesellsch. f. Anthropologie_ (1881), p. 401. For Siamese
applications of the same principle to the cure of individuals, see
Bastian, _Die Volker des östlichen Asien_, iii. 295 _sq._, 485 _sq._

_ 525 Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. No. 418.

_ 526 Id._ iii. No. 373.

_ 527 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 1127.

_ 528 Id._ ii. No. 1123.

529 F. Fawcett, “On the Saoras (or Savaras),” _Journ. Anthrop. Soc.
Bombay_, i. 213 _note_.

_ 530 Journ. Anthrop. Soc. Bombay_, i. 37.

531 R. Andree, _Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche_ (first
series), p. 30.

532 J. H. Gray, _China_, ii. 306.

_ 533 Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. 598.

534 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,
p. 393.

535 Bastian, _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_, ii. 93.

_ 536 Id._ ii. 91.

_ 537 Asiatic Researches_, ix. 96 _sq._

538 J. H. Gray, _China_, ii. 306 _sq._

539 T. J. Hutchinson, _Impressions of Western Africa_, p. 162.

540 Bogle and Manning, _Tibet_, edited by C. R. Markham, p. 106 _sq._

541 E. T. Atkinson, “Notes on the History of Religion in the Himalaya of
the North-West Provinces,” _Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal_, liii. pt. i. (1884), p. 62.

_ 542 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, from the MSS. of
John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, edited by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh,
1888), ii. 439.

543 W. M. Beauchamp, “The Iroquois White Dog Feast,” _American
Antiquarian_, vii. 237.

_ 544 Ib._ p. 236; T. Dwight, _Travels in New England and New York_, iv.
202.

545 Above, p. 165 _sq._

546 Leviticus xvi. Modern Jews sacrifice a white cock on the eve of the
Festival of Expiation, nine days after the beginning of their New
Year. The father of the family knocks the cock thrice against his
own head, saying, “Let this cock be a substitute for me, let it take
my place, let death be laid upon this cock, but a happy life
bestowed on me and on all Israel.” Then he cuts its throat and
dashes the bird violently on the ground. The intestines are thrown
on the roof of the house. The flesh of the cock was formerly given
to the poor. Buxtorf, _Synagoga Judaica_, c. xxv.

547 S. Crowther and J. C. Taylor, _The Gospel on the Banks of the
Niger_, pp. 343-345. Cp. J. F. Schon and S. Crowther, _Journals_, p.
48 _sq._ The account of the custom by J. Africanus B. Horton (_West
African Countries and Peoples_ p. 185 _sq._) is entirely from
Taylor.

548 Turpin, “History of Siam,” in Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, ix.
579.

549 Ködding, “Die Bataksche Götter,” _Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_,
xii. (1885) pp. 476, 478.

550 The ceremony referred to is probably the one performed on the tenth
day, as described in the text.

551 “Report of a Route Survey by Pundit—from Nepal to Lhasa,” etc.,
_Journal Royal Geogr. Soc._ xxxviii. (1868) pp. 167, 170 _sq._;
“Four Years’ Journeying through Great Tibet, by one of the
Trans-Himalayan Explorers,” _Proceed. Royal Geogr. Soc._ N.S. vii.
(1885) p. 67 _sq._

552 Aeneas Sylvius, _Opera_ (Bâle, 1571), p. 423 _sq._

553 Usener, “Italische Mythen,” _Rheinisches Museum_, N.F. xxx. 198.

554 J. Thomas Phillips, _Account of the Religion, Manners, and Learning
of the People of Malabar_, pp. 6, 12 _sq._

555 Herodotus, ii. 39.

556 Herodotus, ii. 38-41; Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Egyptians_, iii. 403 _sqq._ (ed. 1878).

557 Herodotus, _l.c._

558 See above, pp. 95 _sqq._, 137 _sq._

_ 559 Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 335.

560 Strabo, xi. 4, 7. For the custom of standing upon a sacrificed
victim, cp. Demosthenes, p. 642; Pausanias, iii. 20, 9.

561 In the Dassera festival, as celebrated in Nepaul, we seem to have
another instance of the annual expulsion of demons preceded by a
time of licence. The festival occurs at the beginning of October and
lasts ten days. “During its continuance there is a general holiday
among all classes of the people. The city of Kathmandu at this time
is required to be purified, but the purification is effected rather
by prayer than by water-cleansing. All the courts of law are closed,
and all prisoners in jail are removed from the precincts of the
city.... The Kalendar is cleared, or there is a jail-delivery always
at the Dassera of all prisoners.” This seems a trace of a period of
licence. At this time “it is a general custom for masters to make an
annual present, either of money, clothes, buffaloes, goats, etc., to
such servants as have given satisfaction during the past year. It is
in this respect, as well as in the feasting and drinking which goes
on, something like our ‘boxing-time’ at Christmas.” On the seventh
day at sunset there is a parade of all the troops in the capital,
including the artillery. At a given signal the regiments commence
firing, the artillery takes it up, and a general firing goes on for
about twenty minutes, when it suddenly ceases. This probably
represents the expulsion of the demons. “The grand cutting of the
rice-crops is always postponed till the Dassera is over, and
commences all over the valley the very day afterwards.” See the
description of the festival in Oldfield’s _Sketches from Nipal_, ii.
342-351. On the Dassera in India, see Dubois, _Moeurs, Institutions
et Cérémonies des Peuples de l’Inde_, ii. 329 _sqq._ Amongst the
Wasuahili of East Africa New Year’s Day was formerly a day of
general licence, “every man did as he pleased. Old quarrels were
settled, men were found dead on the following day, and no inquiry
was instituted about the matter.” Ch. New, _Life, Wanderings, and
Labours in Eastern Africa_, p. 65. In Ashantee the annual festival
of the new yams is a time of general licence. See the Note on
“Offerings of first fruits” at the end of the volume.

562 See above, vol. i. p. 275 _sq._

563 Above, pp. 186 _sq._, 192.

564 H. Usener, “Italische Mythen,” _Rheinisches Museum_, N. F. (1875)
xxx. 194.

565 Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iii. 29, iv. 36. Lydus places the
expulsion on the Ides of March, that is 15th March. But this seems
to be a mistake. See Usener, “Italische Mythen,” _Rheinisches
Museum_, xxx. 209 _sqq._ Again, Lydus does not expressly say that
Mamurius Veturius was driven out of the city, but he implies it by
mentioning the legend that his mythical prototype was beaten with
rods and expelled the city. Lastly, Lydus only mentions the name
Mamurius. But the full name Mamurius Veturius is preserved by Varro,
_Ling. Lat._ vi. 45; Festus, ed. Muller, p. 131; Plutarch, _Numa_,
13.

566 Usener, _op. cit._ p. 212 _sq._; Roscher, _Apollon und Mars_, p. 27;
Preller, _Römische Mythologie_,3 i. 360; Vaniček,
_Griechisch-lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch_, p. 715. The
three latter scholars take Veturius as = _annuus_, because _vetus_
is etymologically equivalent to ἔτος. But, as Usener argues, it
seems quite unallowable to take the Greek meaning of the word
instead of the Latin.

567 Cato, _De agri cult._ 141.

568 Varro, _De lingua latina_, v. 85.

569 See the song of the Arval Brothers in _Acta Fratrum Arvalium_, ed.
Henzen, p. 26 _sq._; Wordsworth, _Fragments and Specimens of Early
Latin_, p. 158.

570 Above, p. 64.

571 Cato, _De agri cult._ 83.

572 Above, vol. i. p. 70 _sqq._ p. 105 _sq._

573 Preller, _Römische Mythologie_,3 i. 360; Rosscher, _Apollon und
Mars_, p. 49; Usener, _op. cit._ The ceremony also closely resembles
the Highland New Year ceremony described above, p. 145 _sq._

574 Propertius, v. 2, 61 _sq._; Usener, _op. cit._ p. 210. One of the
functions of the Salii or dancing priests, who during March went up
and down the city dancing, singing, and clashing their swords
against their shields (Livy, i. 20; Plutarch, _Numa_, 13; Dionysius
Halicarn. _Antiq._ ii. 70) may have been to rout out the evils or
demons from all parts of the city, as a preparation for transferring
them to the scapegoat Mamurius Veturius. Similarly, as we have seen
(above, p. 194 _sq._), among the Iroquois, men in fantastic costume
went about collecting the sins of the people as a preliminary to
transferring them to the scapegoat dogs. We have had many examples
of armed men rushing about the streets and houses to drive out
demons and evils of all kinds. The blows which were showered on
Mamurius Veturius seem to have been administered by the Salii
(Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ vii. 188; Minucius Felix, 24, 3; Preller,
_Röm. Myth._3 i. 360, _note_ 1; Rosscher, _Apollon und Mars_, p.
49). The reason for beating the scapegoat will be explained
presently. As priests of Mars, the god of agriculture, the Salii
probably had also certain agricultural functions. They were named
from the remarkable _leaps_ which they made. Now dancing and leaping
high are common sympathetic charms to make the crops grow high. See
Peter, _Volksthümliches aus Oesterreichisch Schlesien_, ii. 266; E.
Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben_, p. 499,
No. 333; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen_, p. 49;
O. Knoop, _Volkssagen_, etc., _aus dem östlichen Hinterpommern_, p.
176, No. 197; E. Sommer, _Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen
und Thüringen_, p. 148; Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus
Thüringen_, p. 190, No. 13; Woeste, _Volksüberlieferungen in der
Grafschaft Mark_, p. 56; _Bavaria_, ii. 298; _id._, iv. Abth. ii.
pp. 379, 382; Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten u. Gebräuche unter den
Sachsen Siebenbürgens_, p. 11 _sq._; Schulenberg, _Wendische
Volkssagen und Gebräuche_, p. 252; Wuttke, _Der deutsche
Volksaberglaube_,2 § 657; Jahn, _Die deutsche Opfergebräuche bei
Ackerbau und Viehzucht_, p. 194 _sq._; cp. Schott, _Walachische
Mährchen_, p. 301 _sq._; Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, i.
264; Cieza de Leon, _Travels_ (Hakluyt Soc. 1864), p. 413. Was it
one of the functions of the Salii to dance and leap on the fields at
the spring or autumn sowing, or at both? The dancing processions of
the Salii took place in October as well as in March (Marquardt,
_Sacralwesen_,2 p. 436 _sq._), and the Romans sowed both in spring
and autumn (Columella, ii. 9, 6 _sq._) In their song the Salii
mentioned Saturnus or Saeturnus the god of sowing (Festus, p. 325,
ed. Müller. _Saeturnus_ is an emendation of Ritschl’s. See
Wordsworth, _Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin_, p. 405). The
weapons borne by the Salii, while effective against demons in
general, may have been especially directed against the demons who
steal the seed corn or the ripe grain. Compare the Khond and Hindoo
Koosh customs described above, p. 173. In Western Africa the field
labours of tilling and sowing are sometimes accompanied by dances of
armed men on the field. See Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais
en Guinée, Isles voisines, et à Cayenne_, ii. p. 99 of the Paris
ed., p. 80 of the Amsterdam ed.; Olivier de Sanderval, _De
l’Atlantique au Niger par le Foulah-Djallon_ (Paris, 1883), p. 230.
In Calicut (Southern India) “they plough the land with oxen as we
do, and when they sow the rice in the field they have all the
instruments of the city continually sounding and making merry. They
also have ten or twelve men clothed like devils, and these unite in
making great rejoicing with the players on the instruments, in order
that the devil may make that rice very productive.” Varthema,
_Travels_ (Hakluyt Soc. 1863), p. 166 _sq._ The resemblance of the
Salii to the sword-dancers of northern Europe has been pointed out
by K. Müllenhoff, “Ueber den Schwerttanz,” in _Festgaben für Gustav
Homeyer_ (Berlin, 1871). In England the Morris Dancers who
accompanied the procession of the plough through the streets on
Plough Monday (the first Monday after Twelfth Day) sometimes wore
swords (Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 505, Bohn’s ed.), and
sometimes they “wore small bunches of corn in their hats, from which
the wheat was soon shaken out by the ungainly jumping which they
called dancing.... Bessy rattled his box and danced so high that he
showed his worsted stockings and corduroy breeches.” Chambers, _Book
of Days_, i. 94. It is to be observed that in the “Lord of Misrule,”
who reigned from Christmas till Twelfth Night (see Brand, _Popular
Antiquities_, i. 497 _sqq._), we have a clear trace of one of those
periods of general licence and suspension of ordinary government
which so commonly occur at the end of the old year or beginning of
the new one in connection with a general expulsion of evils. The
fact that this period of licence immediately preceded the procession
of the Morris Dancers on Plough Monday seems to indicate that the
functions of these dancers were like those which I have attributed
to the Salii. But the parallel cannot be drawn out here. Cp.
meantime Dyer, _British Popular Customs_, pp. 31, 39. The Salii were
said to have been founded by _Morrius_, King of Veii (Servius on
Virgil, _Aen._ viii. 285). _Morrius_ seems to be etymologically the
same with _Mamurius_ and _Mars_ (Usener, _Italische Mythen_, p.
213). Can the English _Morris_ (in _Morris_ dancers) be the same?
Analogy suggests that at Rome the Saturnalia, which fell in December
when the Roman year began in January, may have been celebrated in
February when the Roman year began in March. Thus at Rome, as in so
many places, the public expulsion of evils at the New Year would be
preceded by a period of general licence, such as the Saturnalia was.
A trace of the former celebration of the Saturnalia in February or
the beginning of March may perhaps be seen in the _Matronalia_,
celebrated on 1st March, at which mistresses feasted their slaves,
just as masters feasted theirs at the Saturnalia. Macrobius,
_Saturn._ i. 12, 7; Solinus, i. 35, p. 13, ed. Mommsen; Joannes
Lydus, _De mensibus_, iii. 15.

575 Plutarch, _Quaest. Conviv._ vi. 8.

576 See above, pp. 176, 194.

577 Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ iii. 57, from Petronius.

578 Helladius, in Photius, _Bibliotheca_, p. 534 A, ed. Bekker; Schol.
on Aristophanes, _Frogs_, 734, and on _Knights_, 1136; Hesychius,
_s.v._ φαρμακοί; cp. Suidas, _s.vv._ κάθαρμα, φαρμακοός, and
φαρμακούς; Lysias, _Orat._ vi. 53. That they were stoned is an
inference from Harpocration. See next note.

579 Harpocration, _s.v._ φαρμακός, who says δύο ἄνδρας Ἀθήνησιν ἑξῆγον
καθάρσια ἐσομένους τῆς πόλεως ἐν τοῖς Θαργηλίοις, ἕνα μὲν ὑπερ τῶν
ἀνδρῶν, ἕνα δὲ ὑπερ τῶν γυναικῶν. He does not expressly state that
they were put to death; but as he says that the ceremony was an
imitation of the execution of a mythical Pharmacus who was stoned to
death, we may infer that the victims were killed by being stoned.
Suidas (_sv._ φάρμακος) copies Harpocration.

580 Strabo, x. 2, 9. I do not know what authority Wordsworth (_Greece,
Pictorial, Historical, and Descriptive_, p. 354) has for saying that
the priests of Apollo, whose temple stood near the edge of the
cliff, sometimes flung themselves down in this way.

581 Tzetzes, _Chiliades_, v. 726-761. Tzetzes’s authority is the
satyrical poet Hipponax.

582 This may be inferred from the verse of Hipponax, quoted by
Athenaeus, 370 B, where for φαρμάκου we should perhaps read φαρμακοῦ
with Schneidewin (_Poetae lyr. Gr._3 ed. Bergk, ii. 763).

583 See his _Mytholog. Forschungen_, p. 113 _sqq._, especially 123 _sq._
133.

584 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xx. 101; Dioscorides, _De mat. med._ ii. 202;
Lucian, _Necyom._ 7; _id._, _Alexander_, 47; Theophrastus,
_Superstitious Man_.

585 Theocritus, vii. 106 _sqq._ with the scholiast.

586 Cp. Aug. Mommsen, _Heortologie_, 414 _sqq._; W. Mannhardt, _A. W.
F._ p. 215.

587 At certain sacrifices in Yucatan blood was drawn from the genitals
of a human victim and smeared on the face of the idol. De Landa,
_Relation des choses de Yucatan_, ed. Brasseur de Bourbourg (Paris,
1864) p. 167. Was the original intention of this rite to transfuse
into the god a fresh supply of reproductive energy?

588 Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ ix. 26.

589 De Santa-Anna Nery, _Folk-lore Brésilien_ (Paris, 1889) p. 253.

590 Above, pp. 148 _sq._ 187. Compare Plutarch, _Parallela_, 35, where a
woman is represented as going from house to house striking sick
people with a hammer and bidding them be whole.

591 Acosta, _History of the Indies_, ii. 375 (Hakluyt Soc.) See above,
p. 169.

592 Osculati, _Esplorazione delle regioni equatoriali lungo il Napo ed
il fiume delle Amazzoni_ (Milan, 1854), p. 118.

593 Ed. Beardmore, _Anthropological Notes collected at Mowat, Dandai,
New Guinea_ (1888) (in manuscript).

594 Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_, i. 155.

595 F. S. Krauss, _Kroatien und Slavonien_ (Vienna, 1889), p. 108.

596 W. Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 257.

597 W. Mannhardt, _B. K._ p. 258-263. See his whole discussion of such
customs, pp. 251-303, and _Myth. Forsch._ pp. 113-153.

598 Acosta, _History of the Indies_, ii. 323 (Hakluyt Soc. 1880).

599 Sahagun, _Histoire des choses de la Nouvelle Espagne_ (Paris, 1880),
pp. 61 _sq._, 96-99, 103; Acosta, _History of the Indies_, ii. 350
_sq._; Clavigero, _History of Mexico_, trans. by Cullen, i. 300;
Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 319 _sq._ For
other Mexican instances of persons representing deities and slain in
that character, see Sahagun, pp. 75, 116 _sq._, 123, 158 _sq._, 164
_sq._, 585 _sqq._, 589; Acosta, ii. 384 _sqq._; Clavigero, i. 312;
Bancroft, ii. 325 _sqq._, 337 _sq._

600 Sahagun, pp. 18 _sq._, 68 _sq._, 133-139; Bancroft, iii. 353-359.

601 Sahagun, p. 584 _sq._ For this festival see also _id._ pp. 37 _sq._
58 _sq._ 60, 87 _sqq._ 93; Clavigero, i. 297; Bancroft, ii. 306
_sqq._

602 Clavigero, i. 283.

603 Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, ii. 142.

_ 604 Memorials of Japan_ (Hakluyt Society, 1850), pp. 14, 141; Varenius,
_Descriptio regni Japoniae_, p. 11; Caron, “Account of Japan,” in
Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, vii. 613; Kaempfer, “History of
Japan,” in _id._, vii. 716.

605 Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, iii. 102 _sq._ ed. 1836; James
Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, p. 329.

606 Bastian, _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_, iii. 81.

607 Athenaeus, 514 C.

608 Bancroft, _l.c._

609 Kaempfer, “History of Japan,” in Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_,
vii. 717; Caron, “Account of Japan,” _id._ vii. 613; Varenius,
_Descriptio regni Japoniae_, p. 11, “_Radiis solis caput nunquam
illustrabatur: in apertum aërem non procedebat_.”

610 Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, iv. 359.

611 Alonzo de Zurita, “Rapport sur les differentes classes de chefs de
la Nouvelle-Espagne,” p. 30, in Ternaux-Compans’s _Voyages,
Relations et Mémoires originaux_ (Paris, 1840); Waitz, _l.c._;
Bastian, _Die Culturländer des alten Amerika_, ii. 204.

612 Cieza de Leon, _Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru_ (Hakluyt Soc.
1883), p. 18.

613 Pechuel-Loesche, “Indiscretes aus Loango,” _Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie_, x. (1878) 23.

614 Rev. James Macdonald (Reay Free Manse, Caithness), _Manners,
Customs, Superstitions, and Religions of South African Tribes_ (in
manuscript).

615 The Rev. G. Brown, quoted by the Rev. B. Danks, “Marriage Customs of
the New Britain Group,” _Journ. Anthrop. Institute_, xviii. 284
_sq._; cp. Rev. G. Brown, “Notes on the Duke of York Group, New
Britain, and New Ireland,” _Journ. Royal Geogr. Soc._ xlvii. (1877)
p. 142 _sq._ Powell’s description of the New Ireland custom is
similar (_Wanderings in a Wild Country_, p. 249). According to him
the girls wear wreaths of scented herbs round the waist and neck; an
old woman or a little child occupies the lower floor of the cage:
and the confinement lasts only a month. Probably the long period
mentioned by Mr. Brown is that prescribed for chiefs’ daughters.
Poor people could not afford to keep their children so long idle.
This distinction is sometimes expressly stated; for example, among
the Goajiras of Colombia rich people keep their daughters shut up in
separate huts at puberty for periods varying from one to four years,
but poor people cannot afford to do so for more than a fortnight or
a month. F. A. Simons, “An exploration of the Goajira Peninsula,”
_Proceed. Royal Geogr. Soc._ N.S. vii. (1885) p. 791. In Fiji,
brides who were being tattooed were kept from the sun. Williams,
_Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 170. This was perhaps a modification of
the Melanesian custom of secluding girls at puberty. The reason
mentioned by Mr. Williams, “to improve her complexion,” can hardly
have been the original one.

616 Chalmers and Gill, _Work and Adventure in New Guinea_, p. 159.

617 Schwaner, _Borneo, Beschrijving van het stroomgebied van den
Barito_, etc. ii. 77 _sq._; Zimmerman, _Die Inseln des Indischen und
Stillen Meeres_, ii. 632 _sq._; Otto Finsch, _Neu Guinea und seine
Bewohner_, p. 116.

618 Riedel, _De sluik-en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua_,
p. 138.

619 Sproat, _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 93 _sq._

620 Erman, “Ethnographische Wahrnehmungen u. Erfahrungen an den Küsten
des Berings-Meeres,” _Zeitschrift f. Ethnologie_, ii. 318 _sq._;
Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_, ii. 114 _sq._; Holmberg, “Ethnogr.
Skizzen über die Völker d. russischen Amerika,” _Acta Societatis
Scientiarum Fennicae_, iv. (1856) p. 320 _sq._; Bancroft, _Native
Races of the Pacific States_, i. 110 _sq._; Krause, _Die
Tlinkit-Indianer_, p. 217 _sq._; Rev. Sheldon Jackson, “Alaska and
its Inhabitants,” _American Antiquarian_, ii. 111 _sq._; W. M.
Grant, in _Journal of American Folk-lore_, i. 169. For caps, hoods,
and veils worn by girls at such seasons, compare G. H. Loskiel,
_History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians_,
i. 56; _Journal Anthrop. Institute_, vii. 206; G. M. Dawson, _Report
of the Queen Charlotte Islands_, 1878 (Geological Survey of Canada),
p. 130 B; Petitot, _Monographie des Dènè-Dindjié_, pp. 72, 75;
_id._, _Traditions indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest_, p. 258.

621 Holmberg, _op. cit._ p. 401; Bancroft, i. 82; Petroff, _Report on
the Population_, etc. _of Alaska_, p. 143.

622 Lafitau, _Moeurs des Sauvages amériquains_ i. 262 _sq._

_ 623 Lettres édifiantes et curieuses_, viii. 333. On the Chiriguanos see
Von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika’s zumal Brasiliens_, p. 212
_sqq._

624 Thevet, _Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1575) ii. 946 B _sq._;
Lafitau, _op. cit._ i 290 _sqq._

625 Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_, ii. 315 _sq._; Martius,
_Zur Ethnographie Amerika’s_, p. 644.

626 Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinée, Isles voisines,
et à Cayenne_, iv. p. 365 _sq._ (Paris ed.), p. 17 _sq._ (Amsterdam
ed.)

627 Above, p. 213 _sq._, vol. i. p. 153 _sq._

628 This interpretation of the custom is supported by the fact that
beating or scourging is inflicted on inanimate objects expressly for
the purpose indicated in the text. Thus the Indians of Costa Rica
hold that there are two kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, _nya_ and
_bu-ku-rú_. Anything that has been connected with a death is _nya_.
But _bu-ku-rú_ is much more virulent. It can not only make one sick
but kill. “The worst _bu-ku-rú_ of all is that of a young woman in
her first pregnancy. She infects the whole neighbourhood. Persons
going from the house where she lives carry the infection with them
to a distance, and all the deaths or other serious misfortunes in
the vicinity are laid to her charge. In the old times, when the
savage laws and customs were in full force, it was not an uncommon
thing for the husband of such a woman to pay damages for casualties
thus caused by his unfortunate wife.... _Bu-ku-rú_ emanates in a
variety of ways; arms, utensils, even houses become affected by it
after long disuse, and before they can be used again must be
purified. In the case of portable objects left undisturbed for a
long time, the custom is to beat them with a stick before touching
them. I have seen a woman take a long walking stick and beat a
basket hanging from the roof of a house by a cord. On asking what
that was for, I was told that the basket contained her treasures,
that she would probably want to take something out the next day, and
that she was driving off the _bu-ku-rú_. A house long unused must be
swept, and then the person who is purifying it must take a stick and
beat not only the movable objects, but the beds, posts, and in short
every accessible part of the interior. The next day it is fit for
occupation. A place not visited for a long time or reached for the
first time is _bu-ku-rú_. On our return from the ascent of Pico
Blanco, nearly all the party suffered from little calenturas, the
result of extraordinary exposure to wet and cold and want of food.
The Indians said that the peak was especially _bu-ku-rú_, since
nobody had ever been on it before.” One day Mr. Gabb took down some
dusty blow-guns amid cries of _bu-ku-rú_ from the Indians. Some
weeks afterwards a boy died, and the Indians firmly believed that
the _bu-ku-rú_ of the blow-guns had killed him. “From all the
foregoing, it would seem that _bu-ku-rú_ is a sort of evil spirit
that takes possession of the object, and resents being disturbed;
but I have never been able to learn from the Indians that they
consider it so. They seem to think of it as a property the objects
acquires.” W. M. Gabb, _Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica_
(read before the American Philosophical Society, 20th August 1875),
p. 504 _sq._

629 A. R. Wallace, _Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro_,
p. 496.

630 Bose, _The Hindoos as they are_, p. 86. Similarly, after a Brahman
boy has been invested with the sacred thread, he is for three days
strictly forbidden to see the sun. He may not eat salt, and he is
enjoined to sleep either on a carpet or a deer’s skin, without a
mattress or mosquito curtain. _Ib._ p. 186. In Bali, boys who have
had their teeth filed, as a preliminary to marriage, are kept shut
up in a dark room for three days. Van Eck, “Schetsen van het eiland
Bali,” _Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië_, N. S. ix. (1880) 428
_sq._

631 Moura, _Royaume du Cambodge_, i. 377.

632 Aymonier, “Notes sur les coutumes et croyances superstitieuses des
Cambodgiens,” _Cochinchine Française, Excursions et
Reconnaissances_, No. 16 (Saigon, 1883), p. 193 _sq._ Cp. _id._
_Notice sur le Cambodge_, p. 50.

633 B. Schmidt, _Griechische Märchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 98.

634 Schneller, _Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol_, No. 22.

635 J. G. von Hahn, _Griechische und albanesische Märchen_, No. 41.

636 Gonzenbach, _Sicilianische Märchen_, No. 28. The incident of the
bone occurs in other folk-tales. A prince or princess is shut up for
safety in a tower and makes his or her escape by scraping a hole in
the wall with a bone which has been accidentally conveyed into the
tower; sometimes it is expressly said that care was taken to let the
princess have no bones with her meat. Hahn, _op. cit._ No. 15;
Gonzenbach, Nos. 26, 27; _Pentamerone_, No. 23. From this we should
infer that it is a rule with savages not to let women handle the
bones of animals during their monthly seclusions. We have already
seen the great respect with which the savage treats the bones of
game (see above, p. 116 _sqq._); and women in their courses are
specially forbidden to meddle with the hunter or fisher, as their
contact or neighbourhood would spoil his sport (see below, p. 238
_sqq._) In folk-tales the hero who uses the bone is sometimes a boy;
but the incident might easily be transferred from a girl to a boy
after its real meaning had been forgotten. Amongst the Hare-skin
Indians a girl at puberty is forbidden to break the bones of hares.
Petitot, _Traditions indiennes du Canada Nordouest_, p. 258. On the
other hand, she drinks out of a tube made of a swan’s bone (Petitot,
_l.c._ and _id._, _Monographie des Dènè-Dindjié_, p. 76), and we
have seen that a Thlinkeet girl in the same circumstances used to
drink out of the wing-bone of a white-headed eagle (Langsdorff,
_Reise um die Welt_, ii. 114).

637 W. Radloff, _Proben der Volkslitteratur der türkischen Stämme
Süd-Sibiriens_, iii. 82 _sq._

638 Bastian, _Die Völker des östlichen Asien_, i. 416, vi. 25; Turner,
_Samoa_, p. 200; _Panjab Notes and Queries_, ii. No. 797.

639 Amongst the Chaco Indians of South America a newly-married couple
sleep the first night on a skin with their heads towards the west;
“for the marriage is not considered as ratified till the rising sun
shines on their feet the succeeding morning.” T. J. Hutchinson, “The
Chaco Indians,” _Transact. Ethnolog. Soc._ iii. 327. At old Hindoo
marriages, the first ceremony was the “Impregnation-rite”
(_Garbhādhāna_). “During the previous day the young married woman
was made to look towards the sun, or in some way exposed to its
rays.” Monier Williams, _Religious Life and Thought in India_, p.
354. Amongst the Turks of Siberia it was formerly the custom on the
morning after marriage to lead the young couple out of the hut to
greet the rising sun. The same custom is said to be still practised
in Iran and Central Asia, the belief being that the beams of the
rising sun are the surest means of impregnating the new bride.
Vambery, _Das Türkenvolk_, p. 112.

640 Above, vol. i. p. 170.

_ 641 Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 186; E. J. Eyre, _Journals_,
ii. 295, 304; W. Ridley, _Kamilaroi_, p. 157; _Journ. Anthrop.
Inst._ ii. 268, ix. 459 _sq._; Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of
Victoria_, i. 65, 236. Cp. Sir George Grey, _Journals_, ii. 344; J.
Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, ci. _sq._

642 Bleek, _Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore_, p. 14; cp. _ib._ p. 10.

643 Gumilla, _Histoire de l’Orénoque_, i. 249.

644 James Adair, _History of the American Indians_, p. 123 _sq._

645 S. Hearne, _Journey to the Northern Ocean_, p. 314 _sq._; Alex.
Mackenzie, _Voyages through the Continent of North America_,
cxxiii.; Petitot, _Monographie des Dènè-Dindjié_, p. 75 _sq._

646 C. Leemius, _De Lapponibus Finmarchiae eorumque lingua vita et
religione pristina_ (Copenhagen, 1767), p. 494.

647 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vii. § 64 _sq._, xxviii. § 77 _sqq._ Cp.
_Geoponica_, xii. c. 20, 5, and c. 25, 2; Columella, xi. 3, 50.

648 A. Schleicher, _Volkstümliches aus Sonnenberg_; p. 134; B. Souché,
_Croyances, Présages et Traditions diverses_, p. 11; V. Fossel,
_Volksmedicin und medicinischer Aberglaube in Steiermark_ (Graz,
1886), p. 124. The Greeks and Romans thought that a field was
completely protected against insects if a menstruous woman walked
round it with bare feet and streaming hair. Pliny, _Nat. Hist._
xvii. 266, xxviii. 78; Columella, x. 358 _sq._, xi. 3, 64;
Palladius, _De re rustica_, i. 35, 3; _Geoponica_, xii. 8, 5 _sq._;
Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ vi. 36. A similar remedy is employed for the
same purpose by North American Indians and European peasants.
Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. 70; Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und
äussern Leben der Ehsten_, p. 484. Cp. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der
Siebenbürger Sachsen_, p. 280; Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten und
Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens_, p. 14; Grimm, _Deutsche
Mythologie_,4 iii. 468.

649 For an example of the beneficent application of the menstrual
energy, see note on p. 241.

650 The rules just discussed do not hold exclusively of the persons
mentioned in the text, but are applicable in certain circumstances
to other tabooed persons and things. Whatever, in fact, is permeated
by the mysterious virtue of taboo may need to be isolated from earth
and heaven. Mourners are taboo all the world over; accordingly in
mourning the Ainos wear peculiar caps in order that the sun may not
shine upon their heads. Bastian, _Die Völker des östlichen Asien_,
v. 366. During a solemn fast of three days the Indians of Costa Rica
eat no salt, speak as little as possible, light no fires, and stay
strictly indoors, or if they go out during the day they carefully
cover themselves from the light of the sun, believing that exposure
to the sun’s rays would turn them black. W. M. Gabb, _Indian Tribes
and Languages of Costa Rica_, p. 510. On Yule night it has been
customary in parts of Sweden from time immemorial to go on
pilgrimage, whereby people learn many secret things and know what is
to happen in the coming year. As a preparation for this pilgrimage,
“some secrete themselves for three days previously in a dark cellar,
so as to be shut out altogether from the light of heaven. Others
retire at an early hour of the preceding morning to some out-of-the
way place, such as a hayloft, where they bury themselves in the hay,
that they may neither hear nor see any living creature; and here
they remain, in silence and fasting, until after sundown; whilst
there are those who think it sufficient if they rigidly abstain from
food on the day before commencing their wanderings. During this
period of probation a man ought not to see fire.” L. Lloyd, _Peasant
Life in Sweden_, p. 194. During the sixteen days that a Pima Indian
is undergoing purification for killing an Apache he may not see a
blazing fire. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, i.
553. Again warriors on the war-path are strictly taboo; hence
Indians may not sit on the bare ground the whole time they are out
on a warlike expedition. J. Adair, _History of the American
Indians_, p. 382; _Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John
Tanner_, p. 123. The holy ark of the North American Indians is
deemed “so sacred and dangerous to be touched” that no one, except
the war chief and his attendant, will touch it “under the penalty of
incurring great evil. Nor would the most inveterate enemy touch it
in the woods for the very same reason.” In carrying it against the
enemy they never place it on the ground, but rest it on stones or
logs. Adair, _History of the American Indians_, p. 162 _sq._ The
sacred clam shell of the Elk clan among the Omahas is kept in a
sacred bag, which is never allowed to touch the ground. E. James,
_Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains_, ii. 47; J. Owen
Dorsey, “Omaha Sociology,” _Third Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_
(Washington, 1884), p. 226. Newly born infants are strongly taboo;
accordingly in Loango they are not allowed to touch the earth.
Pechuel-Loesche, “Indiscretes aus Loango,” _Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie_, x. (1878) p. 29 _sq._ In Laos the hunting of elephants
gives rise to many taboos; one of them is that the chief hunter may
not touch the earth with his foot. Accordingly when he alights from
his elephant, the others spread a carpet of leaves for him to step
upon. E. Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_, p. 26. In some parts of
Aberdeenshire, the last bit of standing corn (which, as we have
seen, is very sacred) is not allowed to touch the ground; but as it
is cut, it is placed on the lap of the “gueedman.” W. Gregor,
“Quelques coutumes du Nord-Est du Comté d’Aberdeen,” _Revue des
Traditions populaires_, iii. (1888) 485 B. Sacred food may not, in
certain circumstances, touch the ground. F. Grabowsky, “Der Distrikt
Dusson Timor in Südost-Borneo und seine Bewohner,” _Ausland_ (1884),
No. 24, p. 474; Ch. F. Hall, _Narrative of the Second Arctic
Expedition_, edited by Prof. J. E. Nourse (Washington, 1879), p.
110; Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_, ii. 7. In Scotland, when
water was carried from sacred wells to sick people, the water-vessel
might not touch the ground. C. F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_,
p. 211. On the relation of spirits to the ground, compare Denzil
Ibbetson in _Panjab Notes and Queries_, i. No. 5.

_ 651 Die Edda_, übersetzt von K. Simrock,8 pp. 286-288, cp. pp. 8, 34,
264. In English the Balder story is told at length by Prof. Rhys,
_Celtic Heathendom_, p. 529 _sqq._

652 It is strange to find so learned and judicious a student of custom
and myth as H. Usener exactly inverting their true relation to each
other. After showing that the essential features of the myth of the
marriage of Mars and Nerio have their counterpart in the marriage
customs of peasants at the present day, he proceeds to infer that
these customs are the reflection of the myth. “Italische Mythen,”
_Rheinisches Museum_, N. F. xxx. 228 _sq._ Surely the myth is the
reflection of the custom. Men not only fashion gods in their own
likeness (as Xenophanes long ago remarked) but make them think and
act like themselves. Heaven is a copy of earth, not earth of heaven.

653 See Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 502, 510, 516.

654 Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 518 _sq._

655 In the following survey of these fire-customs I follow chiefly W.
Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, kap. vi. p. 497 _sqq._ Compare also Grimm,
_Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 500 _sqq._

656 Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen_ etc. _des Eifler Volkes_, i. pp. 21-25;
_B. K._ p. 501.

_ 657 B. K._ p. 501.

658 Vonbun, _Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie_, p. 20; _B. K._ p. 501.

659 E. Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben_, p.
380 _sqq_.; Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_, ii. 59 _sq._
, 66 _sq._; _Bavaria_, ii. 2, p. 838 _sq._; Panzer, _Beitrag zur
deutschen Mythologie_, i. p. 211, No. 232, _B. K._ p. 501 _sq._

_ 660 Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen_, p. 189;
Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, ii. 207; _B. K._ p. 500
_sq._

661 Th. Vernalcken, _Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich_, p.
293 _sq._; _B. K._ p. 498. See above, vol. i. p. 267.

_ 662 Schmitz, Sitten, u. Sagen des Eifler Volkes_, i. p. 20; _B. K._ p.
499.

663 Strackerjan, _Aberglaube u. Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_, ii.
39, No. 306; _B. K._ p. 499.

_ 664 B. K._ p. 499.

_ 665 B. K._ p. 498 _sq._

_ 666 B. K._ p. 499.

667 Schneller, _Märchen u. Sagen aus Wälschtirol_, p. 234 _sq._; _B. K._
p. 499 _sq._

_ 668 B. K._ pp. 502-505; Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 § 81;
Zingerle, _Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes_,2 p.
149, §§ 1286-1289; _Bavaria_, i. 1, p. 371.

669 Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. p. 212 _sq._, ii. p.
78 _sq._; _B. K._ p. 505.

670 Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_,
ii. p. 43 _sq._, No. 313; _B. K._ p. 505 _sq._

671 Wolf, _Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 75 _sq._; _B. K._ p.
506.

672 Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 512; _B. K._ p. 506 _sq._

673 H. Pröhle, _Harzbilder_, p. 63; Kuhn und Schwartz, _Norddeutsche
Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_, p. 373; _B. K._ p. 507.

674 Kuhn, _Markische Sagen und Märchen_, p. 312 _sq._; _B. K._ p. 507.

675 Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. p. 211 _sq._; _B. K._
p. 507 _sq._

676 Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_, ii. p. 82, No. 106; _B.
K._ p. 508.

_ 677 B. K._ p. 508; cp. Wolf, _Beiträge zur deutsch. Myth._ i. 74;
Grimm, _Deutsche Myth._4 i. 512. The two latter writers only state
that before the fires were kindled it was customary to hunt
squirrels in the woods.

678 Kuhn, _l.c._; _B. K._ p. 508.

679 Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 224 _sq._, Bohn’s ed., quoting
Sinclair’s _Statistical Account of Scotland_, 1794, xi. 620;
_Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, from the MSS. of
John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, edited by Alex. Allardyce, ii. 439-445;
_B. K._ p. 508.

680 Pennant, “Tour in Scotland,” Pinkerton’s _Voyages and Travels_, iii.
49; Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 226.

681 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_, p. 233 _sq._

_ 682 B. K._ p. 509; Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ i. 298 _sq._; Grimm, _D. M._4
i. 516.