Chapter VII: Our Debt to the Savage (8)

1520 W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, pp. 250, 253-260. In like manner the
people of Sikhim intensely dread all mining operations, believing
that the ores and veins of metals are the stored treasures of the
earth-spirits, who are enraged by the removal of these treasures and
visit the robbers with sickness, failure of crops, and other
calamities. Hence the Sikhimese leave the copper mines to be worked
by Nepaulese. See L. A. Waddell, _Among the Himalayas_ (Westminster,
1899), p. 101.

1521 W. W. Skeat, _op. cit._ pp. 139 _sq._

1522 W. W. Skeat, _op. cit._ pp. 192 _sq._

1523 N. Annandale, “Primitive Beliefs and Customs of the Patani
Fishermen,” _Fasciculi Malayenses, Anthropology_, part i. (April
1903) pp. 84-86.

1524 C. Snouck Hurgronje, _De Atjèhers_ (Batavia and Leyden, 1893-1894),
i. 303.

M249 Names of things and animals tabooed in Sumatra, Nias, and Java.

1525 J. L. van der Toorn, “Het animisme bij den Minangkabauer der
Padangsche Bovenlanden,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en
Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, xxxix. (1890) p. 100. As to the
superstitions of gold-washers among the Gayos of Sumatra, see C.
Snouck Hurgronje, _Het Gajoland en zijne Bewoners_ (Batavia, 1903),
pp. 361 _sq._

1526 M. T. H. Perelaer, _Ethnographische Beschrijving der Dajaks_
(Zalt-Bommel, 1870), p. 215.

1527 J. T. Nieuwenhuisen en H. C. B. von Rosenberg, “Verslag omtrent het
eiland Nias,” _Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van
Kunsten en Wetenschappen_, xxx. (1863) p. 115. Compare W. Marsden,
_History of Sumatra_, p. 292; T. J. Newbold, _Account of the British
Settlements in the Straits of Malacca_, ii. 192 _sq._

1528 J. E. Neumann, “_Kemali_, _Pantang_ en _Rèboe_ bij de Karo-Bataks,”
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xlviii.
(1906) pp. 511 _sq._

1529 C. Snouck Hurgronje, _Het Gajoland en zijne Bewoners_ (Batavia,
1903), pp. 311 _sq._

1530 J. W. Thomas, “De jacht op het eiland Nias,” _Tijdschrift voor
Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvi. (1880) p. 275.

1531 L. N. H. A. Chatelin, “Godsdienst en bijgeloof der Niassers,”
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvi. (1880)
p. 165; H. Sundermann, “Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst,”
_Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, xi. (1884) p. 349; E. Modigliani,
_Un Viaggio a Nias_ (Milan, 1890), p. 593.

1532 A. L. van Hasselt, “Nota, betreffende de rijstcultuur in de
Residentie Tapanoeli,” _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en
Volkenkunde_, xxxvi. (1893) pp. 525 _sq._ The Singhalese also call
things by strange names when they are in the rice-fields. See A. A.
Perera, “Glimpses of Singhalese Social Life,” _Indian Antiquary_,
xxxii. (1903) p. 437.

1533 G. A. J. Hazeu, “Kleine Bijdragen tot de Ethnografie en de Folk-lore
van Java,” _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_,
xlvii. (1903) pp. 291 _sq._

M250 Names of things and animals tabooed in Celebes.

1534 A. C. Kruijt, “Een en ander aangaande het geestelijk en
maatschappelijk leven van den Poso-Alfoer,” _Mededeelingen van wege
het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xxxix. (1895) pp. 146-148;
_id._, “Eenige ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de Toboengkoe
en de Tomori,” _ibid._ xliv. (1900) pp. 228 _sq._

1535 N. Adriani und A. C. Kruijt, “Van Posso naar Mori,” _Mededeelingen
van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xliv. (1900) pp.
145 _sq._

1536 A. C. Kruijt, “Regen lokken en regen verdrijven bij de Toradja’s van
Midden Celebes,” _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en
Volkenkunde_, xliv. (1901) p. 8; _id._, “Het rijk Mori,”
_Tijdschrift van het Koniklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig
Genootschap_, II. Serie, xvii. (1900) p. 464, note.

M251 Common words tabooed by East Indian mariners at sea.

1537 B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van Zuid-Celebes_ (The
Hague, 1875), p. 107; _id._, “Over de _âdá’s_ of gewoonten der
Makassaren en Boegineezen,” _Verslagen en Mededeelingen der
Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde, III.
Reeks, ii. (Amsterdam, 1885) pp. 164 _sq._

1538 H. E. D. Engelhard, “Mededeelingen over het eiland Saleijer,”
_Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Neêrlandsch-Indië_,
Vierde Volgreeks, viii. (1884) p. 369.

1539 E. F. Jochim, “Beschrijving van den Sapoedi Archipel,” _Tijdschrift
voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxxvi. (1893) p. 361.

1540 M. J. van Baarda, “Fabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der
Galelareezen,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indië_, xlv. (1895) p. 508.

1541 S. D. van de Velde van Cappellan, “Verslag eener Bezoekreis naar de
Sangi-eilanden,” _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche
Zendelinggenootschap_, i. (1857) pp. 33, 35.

1542 A. C. Kruijt, “Een en ander aangaande het geestelijk en
maatschappelijk leven van den Poso-Alfoer,” _Mededeelingen van wege
het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap_, xxxix. (1895) p. 148.

1543 Th. J. F. van Hasselt, “Gebruik van vermomde Taal door de Nufooren,”
_Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xlv. (1902)
pp. 279 _sq._

M252 Common words tabooed in Sunda, Borneo, and the Philippines.

1544 K. F. Holle, “Snippers van den Regent van Galoeh,” _Tijdschrift voor
Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxvii. (1882) pp. 101 _sq._

1545 Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, “The Relations between Men and Animals in
Sarawak,” _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1902)
p. 205; W. H. Furness, _Home-life of Borneo Head-hunters_
(Philadelphia, 1902), pp. 17, 186 _sq._

1546 Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _op. cit._ p. 186.

1547 Ch. Brooke, _Ten Years in Sarawak_ (London, 1866), i. 208; Spenser
St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_,2 i. 71 _sq._

1548 Juan de la Concepcion, _Historia general de Philipinas_, i.
(Manilla, 1788), p. 20. Compare J. Mallat, _Les Philippines_ (Paris,
1846), i. 64.

M253 The avoidance of common words seems to be based on a fear of spirits
and a wish to deceive them or elude their notice. Common words
avoided by hunters and fowlers in order to deceive the beasts and
birds.

1549 On this subject Mr. R. J. Wilkinson’s account of the Malay’s
attitude to nature (_Malay Beliefs_, London and Leyden, 1906, pp. 67
_sq._) deserves to be quoted: “The practice of magic arts enters
into every department of Malay life. If (as the people of the
Peninsula believe) all nature is teeming with spiritual life, some
spiritual weapon is necessary to protect man against possible
ghostly foes. Now the chief and most characteristic weapon of the
Malay in his fight against the invisible world is courtesy. The
peasant will speak no evil of a tiger in the jungle or of an evil
spirit within the limits of that spirit’s authority.... The tiger is
the symbol of kingly oppression; still, he is royal and must not be
insulted; he is the ‘shaggy-haired father’ or ‘grandfather’ of the
traveller in the woods. Even the birds, the fish and the fruits that
serve as human food are entitled to a certain consideration: the
deer is addressed as a ‘prince,’ the coco-nut tree as a ‘princess,’
the chevrotin as ‘emperor of the jungle’ (_shah alam di-rimba_). In
all this respect paid to unseen powers—for it is the soul of the
animal or plant that is feared—there is no contemptible adulation or
cringeing; the Malay believes that courtesy honours the speaker more
than the person addressed.”

1550 The character of King Solomon appears to be a favourite one with the
Malay sorcerer when he desires to ingratiate himself with or lord it
over the powers of nature. Thus, for example, in addressing silver
ore the sage observes:—

“_If you do not come hither at this very moment_
_ You shall be a rebel unto God,_
_ And a rebel unto God’s Prophet Solomon,_
_ For I am God’s Prophet Solomon._”—

See W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 273. No doubt the fame of his
wisdom has earned for the Hebrew monarch this distinction among the
dusky wizards of the East.

M254 General conclusion. Human gods, on whom the welfare of the community
is believed to depend, are obliged to observe many rules to ensure
their own safety and that of their people.
M255 A study of these rules affords us an insight into the philosophy of
the savage. Our debt to our savage forefathers.

1551 “The mind of the savage is not a blank; and when one becomes
familiar with his beliefs and superstitions, and the complicated
nature of his laws and customs, preconceived notions of his
simplicity of thought go to the winds. I have yet to find that most
apocryphal of beings described as the ‘unsophisticated African.’ We
laugh at and ridicule his fetishes and superstitions, but we fail to
follow the succession of ideas and effort of mind which have created
these things. After most careful observations extending over
nineteen years, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing
in the customs and fetishes of the African which does not represent
a definite course of reasoning” (Rev. Thomas Lewis, “The Ancient
Kingdom of Kongo,” _The Geographical Journal_, xix. (1902) p. 554).
“The study of primitive peoples is extremely curious and full of
surprises. It is twenty years since I undertook it among the Thonga
and Pedi tribes of South Africa, and the further I advance, the more
I am astonished at the great number, the complexity, and the
profundity of the rites of these so-called savages. Only a
superficial observer could accuse their individual or tribal life of
superficiality. If we take the trouble to seek the reason of these
strange customs, we perceive that at their base there are secret,
obscure reasons, principles hard to grasp, even though the most
fervent adepts of the rite can give no account of it. To discover
these principles, and so to give a true explanation of the rites, is
the supreme task of the ethnographer,—a task in the highest degree
delicate, for it is impossible to perform it if we do not lay aside
our personal ideas to saturate ourselves with those of primitive
peoples” (Rev. H. A. Junod, “Les Conceptions physiologiques des
Bantou sud-africains et leurs tabous,” _Revue d’Ethnographie et de
Sociologie_, i. (1910) p. 126). These weighty words, the fruit of
ripe experience, deserve to be pondered by those who fancy that the
elaborate system of savage custom can have grown up instinctively
without a correspondingly elaborate process of reasoning in the
minds of its founders. We may not, indeed, always be able to
discover the reason for which a particular custom or rite was
instituted, for we are only beginning to understand the mind of
uncivilised man; but all that we know of him tends to shew that his
practice, however absurd it may seem to us, originated in a definite
train of thought and for a definite and very practical purpose.

1552 See above, pp. 159 _sq._

1553 M. J. van Baarda, “Fabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der
Galelareezen,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indië_, xlv. (1895) p. 513.

1554 John Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_
(Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 456.

1555 H. R. Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, ii. 175.

1556 J. Macdonald, _Light in Africa_ (London, 1890), p. 209.

1557 Rev. J. Roscoe, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
xxxii. (1902) p. 59.

1558 A. C. Hollis, _The Nandi_, pp. 24 _sq._, 36. In these cases the harm
is thought to fall on the person who steps over, not on the thing
which is stepped over.

1559 Rev. J. H. Weeks, “Customs of the Lower Congo People,” _Folk-lore_,
xx. (1909) p. 474.

1560 B. Gutmann, “Trauer und Begräbnissitten der Wadschagga,” _Globus_,
lxxxix. (1906) p. 199.

1561 E. Aymonier, _Voyage dans le Laos_, i. (Paris, 1895) p. 144.

1562 C. Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_ (London, 1903), i. 435.

1563 E. M. Curr, _The Australian Race_, i. 50.

1564 A. W. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 402.

1565 Father Lambert, _Mœurs et superstitions des Néo-Calédoniens_, pp.
192 _sq._

1566 P. von Stenin, “Das Gewohnheitsrecht der Samojeden,” _Globus_, lx.
(1891) p. 173.

1567 J. Richardson, in _Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine_,
_Reprint of the First Four Numbers_ (Antananarivo, 1885), p. 529;
_id._, _Reprint of the Second Four Numbers_ (Antananarivo, 1896), p.
296; J. Sibree, _The Great African Island_, p. 288; compare De
Flacourt, _Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar_ (Paris, 1658), p.
99.

1568 J. Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” _Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Bureau of American Ethnology_, pt. i. (Washington, 1900) p. 424.

1569 H. A. Junod, “Les Conceptions physiologiques des Bantou
sud-africains,” _Revue d’Ethnographie et de Sociologie_, i. (1910)
p. 138, note 3.

1570 F. S. Krauss, _Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven_, p.
52.

1571 See L. F. Sauvé, _Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_, p. 226, compare pp.
219 _sq._; E. Monseur, _Le Folk-lore Wallon_, p. 39; A. Wuttke, _Der
deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 § 603; J. W. Wolf, _Beiträge zur
deutschen Mythologie_, i. p. 208, § 42; J. A. E. Köhler,
_Volksbrauch_, etc., _im Voigtlande_, p. 423; A. Kuhn und W.
Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_, p. 462, §
461; E. Krause, “Abergläubische Kuren und sonstiger Aberglaube in
Berlin,” _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, xv. (1883) p. 85; R. H.
Kaindl, _Die Huzulen_, p. 5; J. V. Grohmann, _Aberglauben und
Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren_, p. 109, §§ 798, 799; Eijüb Abêla,
“Beiträge zur Kenntniss abergläubischer Gebräuche in Syrien,”
_Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina-Vereins_, vii. (1884) p. 81;
compare B. Chemali, “Naissance et premier âge au Liban,”
_Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 741.