Chapter L: Gods as Guardians of Morality (1)

AS men are concerned about the conduct of their fellow men towards their gods, so gods are in many cases concerned about men's conduct towards one another--disapproving of vice and punishing the wicked, approving of virtue and rewarding the good. But this is by no means a universal characteristic of gods. It is a quality attributed to certain deities only and, as it seems, in most instances slowly acquired.

We are told by competent observers that the supernatural beings of savage belief frequently display the utmost indifference to all questions of worldly morality. According to Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, the Central Australian natives, though they assume the existence of both friendly and mischievous spirits, "have not the vaguest idea of a personal individual other than an actual living member of the tribe who approves or disapproves of their conduct, so far as anything like what we call morality is concerned."[1] The Society Islanders maintained that "the only crimes that were visited by the displeasure of their deities were the neglect of some rite or ceremony."[2] The religious belief of the Gonds of Central India is said to be wholly unconnected with any idea of morality; a moral deity demanding righteous conduct from his creatures, our informant adds, is a religious {664} conception far beyond the present capacity either of the Indian savage or the ordinary Hindu.[3] Of the E[(w]e-, Yoruba-, and Tshi-speaking peoples of the West African Slave and Gold Coasts Major Ellis writes:--"Religion, at the stage of growth in which we find it among these three groups of tribes, has no connection with morals, or the relations of men to one another. It consists solely of ceremonial worship, and the gods are only offended when some rite or ceremony has been neglected or omitted. . . . Murder, theft, and all offences against the person or against property, are matters in which the gods have no immediate concern, and in which they take no interest, except in the case when, bribed by a valuable offering, they take up the quarrel in the interests of some faithful worshipper."[4] So also among the Bambala, a Bantu tribe in the Kasai, south of the River Congo, "there is no belief that the gods or spirits punish wrong-doing by afflicting the criminal or his family, nor are the acts of a man supposed to affect his condition after death."[5] The Indians of Guiana, says Sir E. F. Im Thurn, observe an admirable code of morality, which exists side by side with a simple animistic form of religion, but the two have absolutely no connection with one another.[6] With reference to the Tarahumares of Mexico Dr. Lumholtz states that the only wrong towards the gods of which an Indian may consider himself guilty is that he does not dance enough. "For this offence he asks pardon. Whatever bad thoughts or actions toward man he may have on his conscience are settled between himself and the person offended."[7] In the primitive Indian's conception of a god," Mr. Parkman observes, "the idea of moral good {665} has no part. His deity does not dispense justice for this world or the next."[8]

[Footnote 1: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 491.]

[Footnote 2: Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 397.]

[Footnote 3: Forsyth, _Highlands of Central India_, p. 145. See also Hodgson, _Miscellaneous Essays_, i. 124 (Bódo and Dhimáls); Caldwell, _Tinnevelly Shanars_, p. 36; Lyall, _Asiatic Studies_, p. 45; Radloff, _Das Schamanenthum_, p. 13 (Turkish tribes of the Altai).]

[Footnote 4: Ellis, _Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, p. 293. _Idem_, _Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_, p. 10. The E[(w]e god Mawu is represented as an exception to this rule (_infra_, p. 686).]

[Footnote 5: Torday and Joyce, 'Ethnography of the Ba-Mbala,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxxv. 415.]

[Footnote 6: Im Thurn, _Indians of Guiana_, p. 342.]

[Footnote 7: Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_, i. 332.] [Footnote 8: Parkman, _Jesuits in North America_, p. lxxviii. See also Eastman, _Dacotah_, p. xx.; Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_, ii. 195 (Dacotahs).]

That many savage gods are so thoroughly selfish as to care about nothing else than what concerns their own interests, may also be inferred from the character attributed to them. We have seen that the altruistic sentiment is the chief source from which moral emotions spring, and of the gods of various uncivilised peoples we hear not only that they are totally destitute of benevolent feelings, but that they are of a malicious nature and mostly intent on doing harm to mankind.[9]

[Footnote 9: See Meiners, _Geschichte der Religionen_, i. 405; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii. 329; Avebury, _Origin of Civilisation_, p. 232 _sqq._; Roskoff, _Geschichte des Teufels_, i. 20 _sq._; Frazer, _Golden Bough_, iii. 40 _sqq._; Karsten, _Origin of Worship_, p. 46 _sqq._]

The Maoris of New Zealand regarded their deities as the causes of pain, misery, and death, as mighty enemies from whom nobody ever thought of getting any aid or good, but who were to be rendered harmless by means of charms or spells or by sacrifices offered to appease their wrath.[10] The Tahitians "supposed their gods were powerful spiritual beings, in some degree acquainted with the events of this world, and generally governing its affairs; never exercising any thing like benevolence towards even their most devoted followers, but requiring homage and obedience, with constant offerings; denouncing their anger, and dispensing destruction on all who either refused or hesitated to comply."[11] The Fijians "formed no idea of any voluntary kindness on the part of their gods, except the planting of wild yams, and the wrecking of strange canoes and foreign vessels on their coast";[12] and that some of these beings were conceived as positively wicked is indicated by the names given them--"the adulterer," "the rioter," "the murderer," and so forth.[13] The people of Aneiteum, in the New Hebrides, maintained that "earth and air and ocean were filled with natmasses, spiritual beings, but all malignant, who ruled over everything that affected the human race. . . . Their deities, like themselves, were {666} all selfish and malignant; they breathed no spirit of benevolence."[14]

[Footnote 10: Taylor, _Te Ika a Maui_, pp. 104, 148. Colenso, _Maori Races of New Zealand_, p. 62. _Cf._ Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118.]

[Footnote 11: Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 336.]

[Footnote 12: Williams and Calvert, _Fiji_, p. 195.]

[Footnote 13: _Ibid._ p. 185.]

[Footnote 14: Inglis, _In the New Hebrides_, pp. 30, 32.]

The Santal of India believes in no god from whose benignity he may expect favour, but in "a multitude of demons and evil spirits, whose spite he endeavours by supplications to avert." Even his family god "represents the secret principle of evil, which no bolts can shut out, and which dwells in unseen but eternally malignant presence beside every hearth."[15] The Kamchadales do not seem to have hoped for anything good from their deities; Kutka himself, the creator of the universe and the greatest of the gods, was once caught in adultery and castrated.[16]

[Footnote 15: Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_, i. 181 _sq._]

[Footnote 16: Klemm, _Cultur-Geschichte der Menschheit_, ii. 318 _sq._ Steller, _Beschreibung von Kamtschatka_, p. 264.]

According to the beliefs of the Koksoagmyut, or Hudson Bay Eskimo, all the minor spirits are under the control of the great spirit whose name is Tung ak, and this being "is nothing more or less than death, which ever seeks to torment and harass the lives of people that their spirits may go to dwell with him."[17] Nay, even the special guardian spirit by which each person is supposed to be attended is malignant in character and ever ready to seize upon the least occasion to work harm upon the individual whom it accompanies; its good offices can be obtained by propitiation only.[18] Among the Nenenot, or Indians of Hudson Bay, "the rule seems to be that all spirits are by nature bad, and must be propitiated to secure their favour."[19] Of various Brazilian tribes we are likewise told that they do not believe in the existence of any benevolent spirits. Thus the Coroado Indian acknowledges only an evil principle, which sometimes meets him in the form of a lizard or a crocodile or an ounce or a man with the feet of a stag, sometimes transforms itself into a swamp, and leads him astray, vexes him, brings him into difficulty and danger, and even kills him.[20] The Mundrucus of the Cuparí have no notion of a good supreme being, but believe in an evil spirit, regarded merely as a kind of hobgoblin, who is at the bottom of all their little failures and gives them troubles in fishing, hunting, and so forth.[21] The Uaupés, says Mr. Wallace, "appear to have no definite idea of a God. . . . They have much more definite ideas of a bad spirit, 'Juruparí,' or Devil, whom they fear and {667} endeavour through their _pagés_ [or medicine men] to propitiate. When it thunders, they say the 'Juruparí' is angry, and their idea of natural death is that the 'Juruparí' kills them."[22]

[Footnote 17: Turner, 'Ethnology of the Ungava District,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 272.]

[Footnote 18: _Ibid._ p. 194.]

[Footnote 19: _Ibid._ p. 193 _sq._]

[Footnote 20: von Spix and von Martius, _Travels in Brazil_, ii. 243.]

[Footnote 21: Bates, _The Naturalist on the River Amazons_, ii. 137.]

[Footnote 22: Wallace, _Travels on the Amazon_, p. 500.]

In Eastern Africa, according to Burton, "the sentiment generally elicited by a discourse upon the subject of the existence of a Deity is a desire to see him, in order to revenge upon him the deaths of relatives, friends, and cattle."[23] The only quality of a moral character which the Wanika are said to ascribe to the supreme being, Mulungu, is that of vindictiveness and cruelty.[24] To the Matabele the idea of a benevolent deity is utterly foreign, but they have a vague notion of a number of evil spirits always ready to do harm, and the chief among these are the spirits of their ancestors.[25] All the good the Bechuanas enjoy they ascribe to rainmakers, but "all the evil that comes they attribute to a supernatural being";[26] of their principal god, Morimo, Mr. Moffat never once, in the course of twenty-five years spent in missionary labour, heard that he did good or was capable of doing so.[27] Among various other African peoples, travellers assure us, supernatural beings are supposed to exercise a potent influence for evil rather than for good, or beneficent spirits are, at any rate, almost unknown.[28] On the Gold Coast, according to Major Ellis, the majority of spirits are malignant, and every misfortune is ascribed to their action. "I believe," he adds, "that originally all were conceived as malignant, and that the indifference, or the beneficence (when propitiated by sacrifice and flattery), which are now believed to be characteristics of some of these beings, are later modifications of the original idea."[29]

[Footnote 23: Burton, _Lake Regions of Central Africa_, ii. 348.]

[Footnote 24: New, _Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa_, p. 103 _sq._]

[Footnote 25: Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_, p. 153.]

[Footnote 26: Campbell, _Second Journey in the Interior of South Africa_, ii. 204.]

[Footnote 27: Moffat, _Missionary Labours in Southern Africa_ (ed. 1842), p. 262.]

[Footnote 28: Rowley, _Religion of the Africans_, p. 55. Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, p. 443. Mockler-Ferryman, _British Nigeria_, p. 255 _sq._]

[Footnote 29: Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples_, pp. 12, 18, 20. _Cf._ Cruickshank, _Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast_, ii. 134.]

Of many savages it is reported that they have notions of good, as well as of evil spirits, but that they chiefly or exclusively worship the evil ones, since the others are supposed to be so good that they require no offerings or homage.[30] But adoration of supernatural beings which are {668} considered at least occasionally beneficent is also very prevalent among uncivilised peoples.[31] The gods of the pagan Lapps were all good, although they took revenge upon those who offended them.[32] Among the Navaho Indians of New Mexico "the gods who are supposed to love and help men the most receive the greatest honour"; whereas the evil spirits are not worshipped except, rumour says, by the witches.[33] The belief in guardian or tutelary spirits of tribes, clans, villages, families, or individuals, is extremely widespread.[34] These spirits may be exacting enough--they are often greatly feared by their own worshippers, and sometimes described as distinctly malignant {669} by nature;[35] but their general function is nevertheless to afford assistance to the person or persons with whom they are associated. At the same time it should be noticed that the goodness of many savage gods only consists in their readiness to help those who please them by offerings or adoration; and in no case does their benevolence prove that they take an active interest in morality at large. A friendly supernatural being is not necessarily a guardian of men's behaviour towards their fellow men. In Morocco the patron saint of a town, village, or tribe is not in the least concerned about any kind of conduct which has not immediate reference to himself.[36] It is believed that even the robber may, by invoking a dead saint, secure his assistance in an unlawful enterprise.

[Footnote 30: Wilken, _Het Animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel_, p. 207 _sq._ Perham, 'Sea Dyak Religion,' in _Jour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc._ no. 10, p. 220; St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_, i. 69 _sq._ (Sea Dyaks). Blumentritt, 'Der Ahnencultus und die religiösen Anschauungen der Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,' in _Mittheil. d. kais. u. kön. Geograph. Gesellsch. in Wien_, xxv. 166 _sqq._ Prain, 'Angami Nagas,' in _Revue coloniale internationale_, v. 489. Forsyth, _op. cit._ pp. 141, 143 (Gonds). Hooker, _Himalayan Journals_, i. 126 (Lepchas). Robertson, _History of America_, i. 383; Müller, _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_, pp. 150, 151, 232, 260; Dorman, _Origin of Primitive Superstition_, p. 30 (American Indians). Sproat, _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 212 (Ahts). Falkner, _Description of Patagonia_, p. 116; Prichard, _Through the Heart of Patagonia_, p. 97.]

[Footnote 31: See _supra_, ii. 615 _sq._]

[Footnote 32: von Düben, _Lappland_, pp. 227, 285. Friis, _Lappisk Mythologi_, p. 106. Jessen, _Norske Finners og Lappers Hedenske Religion_, p. 33.]

[Footnote 33: Matthews, _Navaho Legends_, p. 40. See also _ibid._ p. 33.]

[Footnote 34: Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_, pp. 17, 18, 77, 92. _Idem_, _E[(w]e-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, p. 75. Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 387 (Mpongwe). Tuckey, _River Zaire_, p. 375. Ellis, _History of Madagascar_, i. 395 _sq._ Ratzel, _History of Mankind_, i. 321 (various South Sea Islanders). Turner, _Samoa_, p. 17 _sq._ Williams and Calvert, _Fiji_, p. 185 _sq._ Inglis, _op. cit._ p. 30 (people of Aneiteum). Christian, _Caroline Islands_, p. 75. Wilken, _Het Animisme_, pp. 231 _sqq._ (Minahassers, Macassars, and Bugis of Celebes), 243 (Javanese). Selenka, _Sonnige Welten_, p. 103 _sq._ (Dyaks). Forbes, _Insulinde_, p. 203 (natives of Tenimber). von Brenner, _Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras_, p. 221 (Bataks). Mason, 'Religion, &c. among the Karens,' in _Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xxxiv. 196. Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_, i. 182, 186 _sq._ (Santals). Hodgson, _Miscellaneous Essays_, i. 128 (Bódo and Dhimáls). Bailey, 'Veddahs of Ceylon,' in _Trans. Ethn. Soc._ N.S. ii. 301; Nevill, 'Vaeddas of Ceylon,' in _Taprobanian_, i. 194. Schmidt, _Ceylon_, p. 291 _sq._ (Tamils). Bergmann, _Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmüken_, iii. 182 _sq._ Abercromby, _Pre- and Proto-historic Finns_, i. 160 (Ostiaks). Buch, 'Die Wotjaken,' in _Acta Soc. Scient. Fennicæ_, xii. 595 _sq._ Castrén, _Nordiska resor och forskningar_, iii. 106, 107, 174 _sq._ (Finnish tribes). Boas, 'Central Eskimo,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ vi. 591. Turner, _ibid._ xi. 193 _sq._ (Hudson Bay Eskimo), 272 (Hudson Bay Indians). Hoffman, 'Menomini Indians,' _ibid._ xiv. 65. McGee, 'Siouan Indians,' _ibid._ xv. 179; Parkman, _op. cit._ p. lxx; Dorman, _op. cit._ p. 227 (North American Indians). Müller, _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_, pp. 72 (North American Indians), 171 (Indians of the Great Antilles). Couto de Magalhães, _Trabalho preparatorio para aproveitamento do selvagem no Brazil--O selvagem_, p. 128 _sqq._ Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 199 _sqq._]

[Footnote 35: Schmidt, _Ceylon_, p. 291 _sq._ (Tamils). Turner, in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 193 _sq._ (Hudson Bay Eskimo), 272 (Hudson Bay Indians). McGee, _ibid._ xv. 179; Müller, _op. cit._ p. 72 (North American Indians).]

[Footnote 36: For a singular exception to this rule see _supra_, ii. 67 _sq._]

On the other hand, instances are not wanting in which savage gods are supposed to punish the transgression of rules relating to worldly morality. Occasionally, as we have noticed above, such gods are represented as avengers of some special kind of wrong-doing--murder,[37] theft,[38] niggardliness,[39] want of hospitality,[40] or lying.[41] Of certain Negro tribes we are told that, "when a man is about to commit a crime, or do that which his conscience tells him he ought not to do, he lays aside his fetiche, and covers up his deity, that he may not be privy to the deed."[42] The Tonga Islanders "firmly believe that the gods approve of virtue, and are displeased with vice; that every man has his tutelar deity, who will protect him as long as he conducts himself as he ought to do; but, if he does not, will leave him to the approaches of misfortune, disease, and death. . . . All rewards for virtue or punishments for vice happen to men in this world only, {670} and come immediately from the gods."[43] The Ainu of Japan are heard to say, "We could not go contrary to the customs of our ancestors without bringing down upon us the wrath of the gods."[44] And of various savages we are told that they believe in the existence of a supreme being who is a moral lawgiver or judge.

[Footnote 37: _Supra_, i. 378 _sq._]

[Footnote 38: _Supra_, ii. 59 _sq._]

[Footnote 39: _Supra_, i. 561 _sq._]

[Footnote 40: _Supra_, i. 578.]

[Footnote 41: _Supra_, ii. 114 _sq._]

[Footnote 42: Tuckey, _op. cit._ p. 377. _Cf._ Monrad, _Skildring af Guinea-Kysten_, p. 27, n. *]

[Footnote 43: Mariner, _Natives of the Tonga Islands_, ii. 149, 107.]

[Footnote 44: Batchelor, _Ainu of Japan_, p. 243 _sq._]

In Australia, especially in New South Wales and Victoria but also in other parts of the continent, many of the native tribes have the notion of an "All-father," called Baiame, Daramulun, Mungan-ngalla, Bunjil, Nurelli, Nurundere, or by some other name.[45] He is represented as an anthropomorphic, supernatural being and as the father of the race or the maker of everything, who at one time dwelt on the earth but afterwards ascended to a land beyond the sky, where he still remains. He is of a kindly disposition, and requires no worship; in a very few cases only we meet with some faint traces of a cult offered him.[46] {671} He is frequently believed to have instituted the initiation ceremonies,[47] and to have given the people their laws.[48] Thus Nurundere is said to have taught the Narrinyeri all the rites and ceremonies whether connected with life or death; on inquiry why they adhere to any custom, the reply is that Nurundere commanded it.[49] At the _boorah_, or initiation, of the Euahlayi tribe, Byamee is proclaimed as "Father of All, whose laws the tribes are now obeying"; and in one of their myths he is described as the original source of all the totems and of the law that persons of the same totem may not intermarry.[50] Bunjil taught the Kulin the arts of life, and told them to divide themselves into two intermarrying classes so as to prevent marriages between kindred.[51] Daramulun instructed the Yuin what to do and gave them laws which the old people have handed down from father to son to the present time.[52] And in several instances the Australian "All-father" is represented as a guardian of morality who punishes the wicked and rewards the good. Bunjil "very frequently sent his sons to destroy bad men and bad women . . . who had killed and eaten blacks."[53] Daramulun, or Tharamulun, who from his residence in the sky watches the actions of men, "is very angry when they do things that they ought not to do, as when they eat forbidden food."[54] The natives of the Herbert River, in Queensland, believe that anybody who takes a wife from the prohibited sub-class, or who does not wear the morning necklace for the prescribed period, or who eats forbidden food, will sooner or later die in consequence, since his behaviour is offensive to Kohin, a supernatural being who is supposed to have his dwelling in the Milky Way but to roam about at night on earth as a gigantic warrior killing those whom he meets.[55] Most commonly, however, the retribution is said to come after death. {672} The tribes about Maryborough, in Queensland, maintain that the ghosts of those who are good or those who have a high degree of excellence in any particular line--fishing, hunting, fighting, dancing, and so forth--are directed by Birral to an island in the Far North, where he resides.[56] Among the Cape River tribes, "when a Blackfellow dies whose actions during life have been what they hold to be good, he is said to ascend to Boorala (_i.e._, to the Creator, literally 'good'), where he lives much as he did on earth, less the usual terrestrial discomforts"; whereas to the man who has led a bad life death is thought to be simple annihilation.[57] The Kulin said that when they die they will be subjected to a sort of trial by Binbeal, "the good being rewarded in a better land, the bad driven away, but where they seemed to have no idea."[58] According to another account, again, Binbeal, after he has subjected the spirits of the deceased to an ordeal of fire to try whether they are good or bad, liberates the good at once, whereas the bad are confined and punished.[59] The Illawarra, who lived from thirty to a hundred miles south of Sidney, believed that when people die they are brought up to a large tree where Mirirul, the supreme ruler, examines and judges them. The good he takes up to the sky, the bad he sends to another place to be punished. The women said to their children when they were naughty, "Mirirul will not allow it."[60] Among the Wathiwathi, in New South Wales, the belief prevails that if the spirit of a bad man escapes the traps which are set for it on its course in the sky, it is sure to fall into the hell of fire. The good spirit, on the other hand, is received by two old women who take care of it till it becomes accustomed to its new abode; and after a time the great God, Tha-tha-puli, comes with a host of spirits to see the newcomer and try his strength.[61] According to a report written by Archdeacon Günther in 1839, Baiame is supposed to like the blacks who are good; and "there is also an idea entertained by the more thoughtful that good natives will go to Baiame when they die."[62] Later authorities state that Baiame is believed not only to reward the good after death, but also to punish the wicked--that is, persons who tell lies or kill men by striking them secretly or who are unkind towards the old and sick or, generally, who break his laws.[63] A very elaborate {673} theory of retribution is communicated by Mr. Manning, whose notes date from 1844 or 1845. Boyma (Baiame) is said to be seated far away in the north-east on an immense throne made of transparent crystal and standing in a great lake. He has a son, Grogoragally, equal with him in omniscience, who acts as mediator for the souls to the Great God. His office is to watch over the actions of mankind and to bring to life the dead to appear before the judgment-seat of his Father, who alone pronounces the judgment of eternal happiness in heaven or eternal misery in a hell of everlasting fire. Women and boys dying before the initiation, however, do not go to heaven; the men have a vague idea that another world is reserved for them. There is also a third person, half human, half divine, called Moodgeegally, who makes Boyma's will known to mankind and is the avowed enemy of all wicked people, transmitting their misdeeds to Grogoragally.[64]

[Footnote 45: Henderson, _Colonies of New South Wales_, p. 147. de Strzelecki, _New South Wales_, p. 339. Manning, 'Aborigines of New Holland,' in _Jour. and Proceed. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales_, xvi. 157 _sqq._ Ridley, _Kámilarói_, p. 135 _sqq._ Cameron, 'Some Tribes of New South Wales,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xiv. 364 _sq._ Langloh Parker, _Euahlayi Tribe_, p. 4 _sqq._ Threlkeld, _An Australian Language as spoken by the Awabakal_, p. 47. Mathews, _Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales and Victoria_, p. 138 _sqq._ Mathew, _Eagle-hawk and Crow_, p. 146 _sqq._ Fountain and Ward, _Rambles of an Australian Naturalist_, p. 296. _Missions-Blatt aus der Brüdergemeine_, xvi. 101, 143; Parker, _Aborigines of Australia_, p. 24; Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_, p. 49 (tribes in Victoria). Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, i. 423 _sqq._ Taplin, 'Narrinyeri,' in Woods, _Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 55 _sqq._ Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 489 _sqq._ Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 498 _sq._ (Kaitish). Strehlow, quoted by Thomas, 'Religious Ideas of the Arunta,' in _Folk-Lore_, xvi. 429 _sq._ _Idem_, quoted by von Leonhardi, 'Religiöse und totemistische Vorstellungen der Aranda und Loritja in Zentralaustralien,' in _Globus_, xci. 286 _sq._ Curr, _The Australian Race_, i. 253 (Larrak[=i]a); ii. 465, 475 (some Cape River natives). Lang, _Cooksland_, p. 459 _sq._; _Idem_, _Queensland_, p. 379 _sq._ Roth, _Ethnol. Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines_, pp. 16, 153. 158. Salvado, _Mémoires historiques sur l'Australie_, p. 258 (natives of West Australia).]

[Footnote 46: When the natives of Cooksland, in North-Eastern Australia, rob a wild bees' hive they generally leave a little of the honey for Buddai, the supernatural ancestor of their race (Lang, _Cooksland_, p. 460; _Idem_, _Queensland_, p. 380). Mrs. Langloh Parker (_op. cit._ pp. 8, 9, 79, 89) was told that in the Euahlayi tribe prayers are addressed to Byamee at funerals for the souls of the dead, and that at some initiatory rites the oldest medicine-man present addresses a prayer to him asking him to give the people long life as they have kept his law; but they do not profess to pray or to have prayed to Byamee on any other occasions (_cf._ Manning, _loc. cit._ p. 164). The natives inhabiting the neighbourhood of Lake Boga in Victoria have to placate Pei-a-mei by dances (_Missions-Blatt aus der Brüdergemeine_, xvi. 143). Of the South-Eastern Australian Daramulun Mr. Howitt says (_op. cit._ p. 507 _sq._) that, although there is no worship of him, "the dances round the figure of clay and the invocating of his name by the medicine-men certainly might have led up to it."]

[Footnote 47: Manning, _loc. cit._ p. 165; Ridley, _op. cit._ pp. 141, 155; Langloh Parker, _op. cit._ p. 7 (Boyma, Baiame, Byamee). Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 495 (Daramulun). M'Kinlay, quoted _ibid._ p. 496. Mr. Threlkeld says (_op. cit._ p. 47) that Koin, an imaginary male being who has the appearance of a black, is supposed to precede the coming of the natives from distant parts when they assemble to celebrate certain of their ceremonies.]

[Footnote 48: Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 489 (Nurelli of the Wiimbaio). M'Kinlay, quoted _ibid._ p. 496.]

[Footnote 49: Taplin, in Woods, _op. cit._ p. 55.]

[Footnote 50: Langloh Parker, _op. cit._ p. 7 _sq._]

[Footnote 51: Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 491.]

[Footnote 52: _Ibid._ p. 495.]

[Footnote 53: Brough Smyth, _op. cit._ i. 423.]

[Footnote 54: Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 495.]

[Footnote 55: _Ibid._ p. 499.]

[Footnote 56: Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 498.]

[Footnote 57: Curr, _op. cit._ ii. 475.]

[Footnote 58: Parker, _Aborigines of Australia_, p. 24.]

[Footnote 59: Ridley, _op. cit._ p. 137.]

[Footnote 60: _Ibid._ p. 137.]

[Footnote 61: Cameron, in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xiv. 364 _sq._]

[Footnote 62: Günther, quoted by Thomas, in _Man_, 1905, p. 51.]

[Footnote 63: Ridley, _op. cit._ pp. 135, 136, 140. Langloh Parker, _op. cit._ p. 70.]

[Footnote 64: Manning, _loc. cit._ p. 159 _sqq._]

It seems probable that these statements represent a mixture of Christian ideas and genuine aboriginal beliefs. There is reason to believe that the Australian notion of an "All-father" is not in the first instance due to missionary influence;[65] we have records of it from a comparatively early date, it is spread over a wide area, it has been found among natives who live in a state of great isolation, and the multitude of different names by which the "All-father" is called in different tribes does not suggest a recent origin from a common source. He may very well be a mythical ancestor. Mr. Howitt observes that the master in the sky-country represents the Australian idea of a headman--"a man who is skilful in the use of weapons of offence and defence, all-powerful in magic, but generous and liberal to his people, who does no injury or violence to any one, yet treats with severity any breaches of custom or morality."[66] But he may also be a personification of supernatural force in general, or a being who has been invented to account for all kinds of marvellous phenomena. The word _altjira_, by which the Arunta call their great god, is apparently not a proper name; according to Kempe, it is applied to five gods, whose names he gives, as also to the sun, moon, and remarkable things generally.[67] And Mulkari, who figures in the beliefs of some Queensland tribes, is described not only as "a benevolent, omnipresent, supernatural being," but as "anything incomprehensible," as {674} the supernatural power who makes everything which the blacks cannot otherwise account for.[68] On the other hand, it is hardly possible to doubt that in various instances Christian conceptions have been infused into the aboriginal belief either by the natives themselves or by our informants.[69] Biblical traits are conspicuous in some of the legends. Bishop Salvado tells us that, according to West Australian beliefs, the Creator, Motogon, "employa ces paroles: 'Terre, parais dehors': et il souffla, et la terre fut créée. 'Eau, parais dehors'; et il souffla, et l'eau fut créée."[70] The believers in Nourelle give the following account of the origin of death:--The first created man and woman were told not to go near a certain tree in which a bat was living, as the bat was not to be disturbed. But one day the woman, while gathering firewood, went near the forbidden tree; the bat flew away and after that came death.[71] And the same natives also believe that Nourelle created a great serpent, to which he gave power over all created things.[72] So also the doctrine of a hell with everlasting fire has almost certainly a foreign origin; and in some other points the genuineness of the Australian theories of retribution is at least open to doubt, even though the function of a judge cannot be regarded as incompatible with the notion of a mythical headman in the sky. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe that it would be a very easy matter indeed to form, as the result of a general statement such as might be made by any individual native in reply to a question, a perfectly wrong impression with regard to the native's idea as to the existence of anything like a supreme being inculcating moral rules.[73] Of the Central Australian aborigines they say:--"Any such idea as that of a future life of happiness or the reverse, as a reward for meritorious or as a punishment for blameworthy conduct, is quite foreign to them. . . . We know of no tribe in which there is a belief of any kind in a supreme being who rewards or punishes the individual according to his moral behaviour, using the word moral in the native sense."[74] So far as the Arunta are concerned, this statement is confirmed by Mr. Strehlow. He writes that their god Altjira, who lives in the sky and shows himself to man in the lightning, is a {675} good god who never inflicts any punishments on human beings.[75]

[Footnote 65: See especially Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 504 _sqq._; Lang, _Magic and Religion_, p. 25 _sqq._; Thomas, in _Man_, p. 50 _sqq._; von Leonhardi, in _Globus_, xci. 287.]

[Footnote 66: Howitt, _op. cit._ p. 507. See also _ibid._ p. 501.]

[Footnote 67: Thomas, in _Folk-Lore_, xvi. 431.]

[Footnote 68: Roth, _op. cit._ pp. 36, 153.]

[Footnote 69: Mr. J. D. Lang (_Queensland_, p. 379 _sq._; _Cooksland_, p. 459 _sq._) even suspects Asiatic influence in the case of Buddai, or Budjah, the mythical ancestor of certain Queensland aborigines. Not only does his name remind of Buddha, but a story told of him is remarkably similar to an Eastern legend.]

[Footnote 70: Salvado, _op. cit._ p. 258.]

[Footnote 71: Brough Smyth, _op. cit._ i. 428.]

[Footnote 72: _Ibid._ i. 423.]

[Footnote 73: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 492 _sqq._]

[Footnote 74: _Ibid._ p. 491.]

[Footnote 75: Strehlow, quoted by Thomas, in _Folk-Lore_, xvi. 429 _sq._ _Idem_, quoted by von Leonhardi, in _Globus_, xci. 287.]

From various Polynesian and Melanesian islands we hear of a supreme being--called Io by the Maoris,[76] Tangaroa by the Samoans,[77] Taaroa by the Society Islanders,[78] and so forth[79]--who has made everything, but who is too remote and indistinct to be an object of worship and takes no interest in the morals of men. In some instances at least he seems to be a very shadowy deification of the forces of nature. Thus Io is described as "the great originator, the All-Father, who pervades space, has no residence, and cannot be localised"; and the conception of Tangaroa is equally abstract.[80] Mr. Guppy learned that the natives of Treasury Island and the Shortlands, in the Solomon Group, believe in a Good Spirit who lives in a pleasant land, whither all men who have led good lives go after death; whereas all bad people are transported to the crater of Bagana, the burning volcano of Bougainville, which is the home of the Evil Spirit and his companion spirits.[81] But this belief savours too much of a Christian hell to be accepted as genuine without further evidence.

[Footnote 76: Gudgeon, 'Maori Religion,' in _Jour. Polynesian Soc._ xiv. 108 _sq._]

[Footnote 77: _Ibid._ p. 108 _sq._]

[Footnote 78: Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 323 _sqq._]

[Footnote 79: Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 344 _sqq._ Hoffmann, _La notion de l'Être suprême chez les peuples non civilisés_, p. 70 _sqq._]

[Footnote 80: Gudgeon, in _Jour. Polynesian Soc._ xiv. 108.]

[Footnote 81: Guppy, _Solomon Islands_, p. 53.]

The Sea Dyaks of Borneo have a great good god called Batara, or Petara, who created the world and rules over it, and is the cause of every blessing. He is not susceptible to human influence, and therefore receives no worship. But he approves of industry, honesty, purity of speech, and skill in word and work. He punishes theft, injustice, disrespect for old persons, and adultery; and immorality among the unmarried is supposed to bring a plague of rain upon the earth as a punishment inflicted by Petara. In general, says Mr. Perham, he is against man's sin; but over and above moral offences many sins have been invented which are simply the infringement of _pemate_, or _tabu_.[82] Like many other great gods of savages, Petara is lacking in individuality. He is at all events not now supposed to be one supreme god, but the general belief is that there are many Petaras--in fact as many Petaras as men. Each man, the people say, has his own peculiar Petara, his own tutelary deity, and if a {676} person is miserable it is because his Petara is miserable.[83] This account, however, loses much of its interest when we find that the name Batara or Petara has obviously been borrowed from Sanscrit, where the word _bha[t.][t.]âra_ means "lord" or "master."[84] The great gods of some other peoples in the Malay Archipelago, again, have names which are derived from Arabic--Lahatala, Latala, or Hatalla, from _Allah ta[(]âla_. Hence when the Alfura of Bura are heard to say that their highest god, Opo-geba-snulat or Lahatala, writes down in a book the actions of men so as to be able to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked as they deserve, there is every reason to think of influence from Muhammedanism.[85]

[Footnote 82: Perham, 'Petara,' in _Jour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc._ no. 8, p. 149 _sq._ St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_, i. 69 _sq._ Selenka, _op. cit._ p. 97 _sqq._]

[Footnote 83: Perham, in _Jour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc._ no. 8, p. 134 _sq._]

[Footnote 84: _Ibid._ p. 133. Wilken, _Het Animisme_, p. 162.]

[Footnote 85: Wilken, _op. cit._ pp. 162, 240 _sq._]

The Andaman Islanders are reported to believe in a supreme being, P[=u]luga, who was never born and is immortal, who has created the world and all its objects, who is omniscient when it is day, knowing even the thoughts of their hearts. Whilst pitiful to those in distress, he is angered by the commission of certain sins--falsehood, theft, grave assault, murder, adultery, and burning wax. He is the judge from whom each soul receives its sentence after death. The "spirits" of the departed are sent by him to a place comprising the whole area under the earth, to await the resurrection. The "souls" of the departed, again, pass either into paradise or to another place which might be described as purgatory, a place of punishment for those who have been guilty of heinous sins, such as murder. At the resurrection the soul (from which evil emanates) and the spirit (from which all good emanates) will be reunited and will henceforth live permanently on the new earth, since the souls of the wicked will then have been reformed by the punishments inflicted on them during their residence in the "purgatory."[86] Mr. Man, who has given us this account, thinks it is extremely improbable that the legends about P[=u]luga, about the powers of good and evil, and about a world beyond the grave, are the result of the teaching of missionaries or others.[87] But his assumption that they are indigenous seems hardly justified by the very scanty knowledge we possess of the past history of these islanders. Considering their low state of culture, the metaphysical subtlety in some of the notions recorded by Mr. Man would certainly be more astonishing if India were not so near.

[Footnote 86: Man, 'Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xii. 112, 157, 158, 161 _sq._]

[Footnote 87: _Ibid._ p. 156.]

{677}Among the Karens of Burma the belief is held that Hades has a king or judge who stands at the door to admit or reject those who apply for admission into his kingdom. He decides the future of each. Those who have performed meritorious works are sent to the regions of happiness above; those who have done wickedness, such as striking father or mother, are delivered over to the king of hell who is in waiting; whilst those who have neither performed deeds of merit nor are guilty of great crimes are allotted a place in Hades.[88] At the same time the Karens' ideas of a future state are described as confused, indefinite, and contradictory. Mr. Mason writes:--"They seem to be a melee of different systems. That which appears to me indigenous Karen . . . represents the future world as a counterpart of this, located under the earth, where the inhabitants are employed precisely as they are here."[89] The Pahárias of the Rájmahal Hills believe that the souls of those who have been disobedient to the commands of Bedo Gosain will be condemned either to inhabit some portion of the vegetable kingdom for a certain number of years, or to be cast into a pit of fire, where the offender will suffer eternal punishment or be regenerated in the shape of a dog or a cat. Those who have led a good life, on the other hand, will be rewarded, first by enjoying a short but happy residence with Bedo Gosain in heaven, and subsequently by being born a second time on earth of women and being exalted to posts of great honour, as also by possessing an abundance of worldly goods.[90] In these notions our chief informant, Lieutenant Shaw, sees traces of Hinduism.[91] Lack of detailed information makes it impossible to decide whether the belief in a creator and heavenly judge which has been found in some other uncivilised tribes in India might be traced to a similar influence. The Munda Kols in Central Bengal maintain that the good and almighty Singbonga, who lives in the sky and is connected with the sun, has made everything. Being so far away he occupies himself very little with earthly matters, and is only in exceptional cases an object of worship; but he sees everything which happens, and is said to punish theft and insincerity.[92] So also the Kukis recognise a benevolent and all-powerful god {678} and creator, called Puthén, who is the judge of all mortals and awards punishments to the wicked both in this world and in the next.[93]

[Footnote 88: Mason, in _Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xxxiv. 196.]

[Footnote 89: _Ibid._ p. 195.]

[Footnote 90: Shaw, 'Inhabitants of the Hills near Rájamahall,' in _Asiatick Researches_, iv. 48 _sqq._ Sherwill, 'Tour through the Rájmahal Hills,' in _Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xx. 556.]

[Footnote 91: Shaw, in _Asiatick Researches_, iv. 46.]

[Footnote 92: Jellinghaus, 'Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche der Munda-Kolhs in Chota Nagpore,' in _Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie_, iii. 330 _sq._]

[Footnote 93: Stewart, 'Northern Cachar,' in _Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xxiv. 628.]

The Ainu of Japan believe in a great god or creator who bestows blessings upon the good and visits the bad with disease, unless they repent. They also say that good people go after death to the "island of the Great Spirit," or to the "kingdom of God," to lead a happy life; whereas bad people go to the "bad island," or to the "wet underground world," in which they suffer discomfort or, according to some, are burned in everlasting fires.[94] Of the pagan Samoyedes we are told that they regard the great Num as the creator of the universe, as an all-powerful and omniscient being, who protects the innocent, rewards the virtuous, and punishes the wicked.[95] But the primitive Num, who was simply the sky, was too far removed from the nomads who wandered across the frozen plain, to interfere to prevent catastrophe or accomplish their well-being; and in the provident actions and overseeing which some of the Samoyedes now ascribe to him, "we can clearly enough trace the influence of the missionary and the suggestion of the Christian faith."[96]

[Footnote 94: von Siebold, _Die Aino auf der Insel Yesso_, p. 24. Batchelor, _Ainu of Japan_, pp. 199, 235 _sqq._ Howard, _Life with Trans-Siberian Savages_, p. 193.]

[Footnote 95: Castrén, _op. cit._ iii. 14.]

[Footnote 96: Jackson, in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxiv. 398. See also Castrén, _op. cit._ iii. 14-16, 182 _sqq._]

Dr. Rink asserts that the Greenlanders considered Tornarsuk as the supreme being on whom they were dependent for any supernatural aid, and in whose abodes in the depth of the earth all such persons as had striven and suffered for the benefit of their fellow men should find a happy existence after death.[97] Dr. Nansen, however, is of opinion that Tornarsuk owes a great deal to missionary influence.[98] That he was not so superior a being as is commonly stated is evident from Captain Holm's description of the Angmagsaliks in Eastern Greenland, where he is represented as a monster living in the sea, of about the same length as a big seal, but thicker.[99] And to judge from Egede's description dating from the earlier part of the eighteenth century, Tornarsuk's notions of justice, if he had any, must in olden times have been very limited, as he took to his subterranean paradise only women that died in labour and men that perished at sea.[100]

[Footnote 97: Rink, _Greenland_, p. 141.]

[Footnote 98: Nansen, _Eskimo Life_, p. 242.]

[Footnote 99: Holm, 'Ethnologisk Skizze af Angmagsalikerne,' in _Meddelelser om Grönland_, x. 115.]

[Footnote 100: Egede, _Description of Greenland_, p. 197.]

{679} The "Great Spirit" so often referred to in accounts of North American Indians, is described as a being too elevated and remote to take much interest in the destinies and actions of men and too benevolent by nature to require propitiation or worship. Schoolcraft asserts that in their oral traditions there is no attempt "to make man accountable to him, here or hereafter, for aberrations from virtue, good will, truth, or any form of moral right. With benevolence and pity as prime attributes the Great Transcendental Spirit of the Indian does not take upon himself a righteous administration of the world's affairs, but, on the contrary, leaves it to be filled, and its affairs, in reality, governed, by demons and fiends in human form."[101] Yet there are instances in which he is represented in a different light. The most essential moral precepts of the Iroquois "were taught as the will of the Great Spirit, and obedience to their requirements as acceptable in his sight";[102] but whilst highly gratified with their virtues, he detested their vices, and punished them for their bad conduct not only in this world but in a future state of existence.[103] The Potawatomis considered that rape was visited by the anger of the Great Spirit.[104] Ti-ra'-wa, the supreme being of the Pawnees, applauds valour, abhors theft, and punishes the wicked by annihilation, whilst the good dwell with him in his heavenly home.[105] The Indians of Alabama told Bossu that those who behave themselves foolishly and disregard the supreme being will after death go to a barren land full of thorns and briars, with no hunting and no wives, whereas those who neither rob nor kill nor take other men's wives will occupy a very fertile country and live there a happy life.[106] Keating states that, according to the beliefs of the Dacotahs, men go to the residence of the Great Spirit if they have been good and peaceable, or if they died by the hand of their enemy, but that their souls are doomed to the residence of the Evil Spirit if they perish in a broil with their own countrymen.[107] This statement, however, is not supported by other authorities. Prescott writes of the same Indians:--"They have very little notion of punishment for crime hereafter in eternity: indeed, they know very little about whether the Great Spirit has anything to do with their affairs, present or future."[108] {680} And among the Omaha and Ponka, who are branches of the same people, the old men used to say to their fellow tribesmen, "If you are good, you will go to the good ghosts; if you are bad you will go to the bad ghosts." But nothing was ever said of going to dwell with Wakanda, or with demons.[109] As regards the origin of the North American notion of the Great Spirit different opinions have been expressed. On the one hand we are told that it is essentially only "the Indian's conception of the white man's god," which belongs not to the untutored but to the tutored mind of the savage.[110] On the other hand it is argued that the belief in the Great Spirit must be a native product, since it is reported to have occurred already before the arrival of the earliest Jesuit missionaries.[111] Unfortunately, however, we cannot be sure that our informants have accurately interpreted the beliefs of the Indians. Mr. Dorsey has pointed out that a fruitful source of error has been a misunderstanding of their terms and phrases.[112] The Dacotah word _wakanda_, which has been rendered into "Great Spirit," simply means "mystery," or "mysterious," and signifies rather a quality than a definite entity. Among many tribes the sun is wakanda, among the same tribes the moon is wakanda, and so are thunder, lightning, the stars, the winds, as also various animals, trees, and inanimate objects or places of a striking character; even a man, especially a medicine-man, may be considered wakanda.[113] So, too, the Menomini term _mashä' ma' nid[=o]_, or "great unknown," is not to be understood as implying a belief in one supreme being; there are several manidos, each supreme in his own realm, as well as many lesser mysteries, or deities, or spirits.[114] Mr. Dorsey also observes that in many cases Indians have been quick to adopt the phrases of civilisation in communicating with white people, whilst in speaking to one another they use their own terms.[115] At the same time it seems to me that if the notion of a Great Spirit had altogether a Christian origin we might expect to find an idea of moral retribution more commonly associated with it than the {681} statements imply. It may be that among the North American Indians also, as among some other peoples, a vague conception of something like a supreme being has arisen through a personification of the mysteries in nature.[116] But if this be the case the interest which the Great Spirit in rare instances takes in human conduct may all the same be due to missionary influence. It is certainly not an original characteristic of his nature. Among the Iroquois and Pawnees, who attribute to their great god the function of a moral judge, he also receives offerings--[117] a circumstance which indicates that he cannot be regarded as a typical representative of his class.

[Footnote 101: Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ i. 35.]

[Footnote 102: Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 172.]

[Footnote 103: Seaver, _Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Jemison_, p. 155.]

[Footnote 104: Keating, _Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, i. 127.]

[Footnote 105: Grinnell, _Pawnee Hero Stories_, p. 355. Lang, _Making of Religion_, p. 257.]

[Footnote 106: Bossu, _Travels through Louisiana_, i. 256 _sq._]

[Footnote 107: Keating, _op. cit._ i. 393 _sq._]

[Footnote 108: Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ ii. 195. _Cf._ _ibid._ iii. 229.]

[Footnote 109: Dorsey, 'Siouan Cults,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 419.]

[Footnote 110: Smith, 'Myths of the Iroquois,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ ii. 112. Tylor, 'Limits of Savage Religion,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxi. 284. Boyle, 'Paganism of the Civilised Iroquois,' _ibid._ xxx. 266.]

[Footnote 111: Lang, _Making of Religion_, p. 251 _sqq._ _Idem_, _Magic and Religion_, p. 19 _sqq._ Hoffmann, _op. cit._ p. 86 _sq._]

[Footnote 112: Dorsey, in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 365 _sq._]

[Footnote 113: _Ibid._ p. 366. McGee, in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xv. 181 _sqq._ _Cf._ James, _Expedition to the Rocky Mountains_, i. 268; Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 343.]

[Footnote 114: Hoffman, 'Menomini Indians,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xiv. 39, n. 1. _Cf._ Parkman, _Jesuits in North America_, p. lxxix.]

[Footnote 115: Dorsey, in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 365. See also Smith, _ibid._ ii. 112.]

[Footnote 116: The Great Spirit is represented by Schoolcraft (_op. cit._ i. 15) as a "Soul of the Universe which inhabits and animates every thing," and is supposed to exist under every possible form in the world, animate and inanimate. Of Ti-ra'-wa it is said that he "is in and of everything" (_supra_, i. 448).]

[Footnote 117: Seaver, _op. cit._ p. 155. _Supra_ i. 448.]