Chapter L: Gods as Guardians of Morality (2)

In South America, too, several tribes have been found to believe in a benevolent Great Spirit, who is indifferent to men's behaviour and is not worshipped by them.[118] Of the Passés, however, we are told by a Portuguese official who travelled in Brazil in 1774-75 that they have the idea of a creator who rewards good people by allowing their souls to stay with him and punishes the wicked by turning their souls into evil spirits.[119] But according to Mr. Bates "these notions are so far in advance of the ideas of all other tribes of Indians . . . that we must suppose them to have been derived by the docile Passés from some early missionary or traveller."[120] Of the Fuegians, again, Admiral Fitzroy writes:--"A great black man is supposed to be always wandering about the woods and mountains, who is certain of knowing every word and every action; who cannot be escaped, and who influences the weather according to men's conduct." Of this influence our informant gives the following instance. A native related a story of his brother who once killed a man--one of those very wild men who wander about in the woods supporting themselves by theft--because he stole from him a bird. Afterwards he was very sorry for what he had done, particularly when it began to blow hard. In telling the story, the brother said:--"Rain come down--snow come down--hail come down--wind blow--blow--very much blow. Very bad to kill man. Big man in woods no like it, he very angry." The same native also reproached the surgeon {682} of the Beagle for shooting some young ducks with the old bird:--"Very bad to shoot little duck--come wind--come rain--blow--very much blow."[121] In the latter case, however, no mention was made of the black man in the woods. From Admiral Fitzroy's account Mr. Andrew Lang draws the conclusion that the Fuegians have evolved the idea of a high deity, an ethical judge, who "makes for righteousness," who searches the heart, who almost literally "marks the sparrow's fall," and whose morality is so much above the ordinary savage standard that he regards the slaying of a stranger and an enemy, caught redhanded in robbery, as a sin.[122] This statement may serve as a specimen of the spirit in which its author deals with the subject of supreme beings in savage beliefs. There is after all some difference between a high moral god and a mythical weather doctor who lives in the woods and sends bad weather if a wild man, who also lives in the woods, is killed. Mr. Bridges, our most trustworthy authority on the Fuegians, says nothing of the black man, but states that nearly all the old men among the Fuegians are medicine-men, and that these wizards make frequent incantations in which they seem to address themselves to a mysterious being called Aïapakal. And they also believe in another spirit, named Hoakils, from whom they pretend to obtain a supernatural power over life and death.[123]

[Footnote 118: Bernau, _Missionary Labours in British Guiana_, p. 49. Hoffmann, _op. cit._ p. 90 _sqq._]

[Footnote 119: Ribeiro de Sampaio, _Diario da viagem_, p. 79.]

[Footnote 120: Bates, _The Naturalist on the River Amazons_, ii. 244. _Cf._ _ibid._ ii. 162; Dobrizhofter, _Account of the Abipones_, ii. 57 _sq._; Müller, _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_, p. 289.]

[Footnote 121: King and Fitzroy, _Voyages of the "Adventure" and "Beagle,"_ ii. 180.]

[Footnote 122: Lang, _Making of Religion_, pp. 188, 198. The same description of the Fuegian black man is repeated by M. Hoffmann (_op. cit._ p. 40).]

[Footnote 123: Bridges, quoted by Hyades and Deniker, _Mission scientifique du Cap Horn_, vii. 256.]

The South African Bushmans, another very backward people, are likewise represented by Mr. Lang and M. Hoffmann as believers in a supreme being.[124] A native said to Mr. Orpen that Cagn made all things, and that the people prayed to him:--"O Cagn! O Cagn! are we not your children, do you not see our hunger? Give us food." And he gave them what they asked for both hands full. But although he was at first very good and nice, he afterwards "got spoilt through fighting so many things."[125] However, according to another statement, made by a person who from childhood had much intercourse with Bushmans and knew their language, they did not believe in a God or the great father of men, but in a devil who made everything with his left hand.[126] The Hottentots spoke of Tsui-goab as "the giver of all blessings, the Father on high, All-father, the {683} avenger, who fought daily the battle for his people." They thus identified him with the ancestor of the tribe, but Tsui-goab was also the name by which they called the Infinite.[127] Among the pagans of Africa there is, in fact, a very widespread belief in a benevolent supreme deity, a creator or maker of things, who lives in or above the sky, who generally takes no concern whatever in the affairs of mankind, who mostly receives no worship, and is, as a rule, totally indifferent to good or evil.[128] In some rare instances only he is described as a judge of human conduct. Thus some of the Bechuanas believe that a being who is vaguely called by the name of Lord and Master of things, Mongalinto, punishes thieves by striking them with the lightning.[129] According to an old writer, Father Santos, the natives of Sofala in South-Eastern Africa acknowledge a god, called Molungo, "who both in this and the world to come they fancy measures retribution for the good and evil done in this." They believe in the existence of twenty-seven paradises, where everyone enjoys a pleasure proportionate to the merits of his life; while those who have passed their lives in wickedness are supposed to be condemned to a privation from the sight of the holy presence of Molungo, and to suffer torments in one of the thirteen hells they assume to exist, each according to the evil he has done.[130] The Baluba, a Bantu people of Equatorial Africa, have the notion of a creator, named Fidi-Mukullu, who punishes the souls of the wicked before they are reborn on earth, whereas the good return to life again, in the shape of chiefs or other important persons, immediately after they have died.[131] The Awemba, {684} another Bantu people, who inhabit the stretch of country lying between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Bangweolo, acknowledge a supreme being, Leza, who "is the Judge of the dead, and condemns thieves, adulterers and murderers to the state of Vibanda, or Viwa (evil spirits), exalting the good to the rank of _mipashi_, or benevolent spirits."[132] Other natives in the neighbourhood of Lake Tanganyika recognise a creator called Kabesa, who lives in the sky and admits to his abode the souls of good people after death, but turns away the souls of the wicked.[133] The Akikuyu of British East Africa recognise three gods all of whom are called Ngai. One of them, however, is considered the supreme deity. "If a man is good this Ngai can give him much property. If he does wrong the same power can strike him down with disease and cause his livestock to dwindle away. . . . The sudden death of a man, for instance by lightning, is ascribed to some evil act of his life being punished by Ngai."[134] Proyart tells us that the Negroes of Loango believed in a supreme being, Zambi, who had created all that is good in the world, who was himself good and loved justice in others, and who severely punished fraud and perjury.[135] It is of course impossible to say exactly how far the statements referring to African supreme beings represent unadulterated native beliefs. In criticising Kolb's account of the supreme and perfect god of the Hottentots, Bishop Callaway observes, "Nothing is more easy than to enquire of heathen savages the character of their creed, and during the conversation to impart to them . . . ideas which they never heard before, and presently to have these come back again as articles of their own original faith, when in reality they are but the echoes of one's own thoughts."[136] With reference to the West African native Miss Kingsley likewise remarks that he has a wonderful power of assimilating foreign forms of belief, and that when he once has got hold of a new idea it remains in his mind long after the missionaries who put it there have passed away.[137] And besides the teaching of missionaries there are in Africa several factors which for centuries have tended to introduce foreign conceptions, namely, intercourse with European settlers, the operations of the slave trade, and the influence of Muhammedanism.[138] But at the same {685} time it seems exceedingly probable that the African belief in a supreme being has a native substratum. In many cases he is apparently the heaven god;[139] but he may also be a mythical ancestor, as the Hottentot god Tsui-goab and the Zulu god Unkulunkulu; or a personification of the supernatural, as is suggested by such names as the Masai Ng[)a]i, the Monbuttu Kilima, and the Malagasy Andriamanitra;[140] or the assumed cause of anything which particularly fills the savage mind with wonder or awe. Among the natives of Northern Guinea, according to Mr. Wilson, "every thing which transpires in the natural world beyond the power of man, or of spirits, who are supposed to occupy a place somewhat higher than man, is at once and spontaneously ascribed to the agency of God."[141] Nay, for reasons which will be stated immediately, I am even of opinion that the function of a moral judge, occasionally attributed to the great god of African pagans, has in some instances an independent origin.

[Footnote 124: Lang, _Making of Religion_, p. 210. Hoffmann, _op. cit._ p. 40 _sq._]

[Footnote 125: Orpen, 'Glimpse into the Mythology of the Maluti Bushmen,' in _The Cape Monthly Magazine_, N.S. ix. 2.]

[Footnote 126: Campbell, _Second Journey in the Interior of South Africa_, i. 29.]

[Footnote 127: Hahn, _The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi_, pp. 122, 126 _sq._]

[Footnote 128: Livingstone, _Missionary Travels_, p. 641 (tribes of the Zambesi). Rattray, _Stories and Songs in Chinyanja_, p. 198 (natives of Central Angoniland). Stigand, 'Natives of Nyassaland,' in _Jour. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ xxxvii. 130. Roscoe, 'Bahima,' _ibid._ xxxvii. 108 _sq._ Wilson and Felkin, _Uganda_, i. 206. Beltrame, _Il Fiume Bianco e i Dénka_, pp. 191, 192, 276 _sq._ Kingsley, 'Fetish View of the Human Soul,' in _Folk-Lore_, viii. 142 _sq._; _Idem_, _Travels in West Africa_, pp. 442, 508. Parkinson, 'Asaba People of the Niger,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxxvi. 312. Bosman, _Description of the Coast of Guinea_, pp. 121 _sq._ (Gold Coast natives), 348 (Slave Coast natives). Cruickshank, _Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast_, ii. 126 _sq._ Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_, p. 26 _sqq._ _Idem_, _E[(w]e-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, p. 33 _sq._ Winterbottom, _Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone_, i. 222. Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 209 (natives of Northern Guinea). Rowley, _Religion of the Africans_, pp. 15, 16, 54. Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 347 _sqq._ Lang, _Making of Religion_, p. 230 _sqq._ Hoffmann, _op. cit._ p. 45 _sqq._]

[Footnote 129: Arbousset and Daumas, _Exploratory Tour to the North-East of the Colony of Good Hope_, p. 322 _sq._]

[Footnote 130: Santos, 'History of Eastern Ethiopia,' in Pinkerton, _Collection of Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 687.]

[Footnote 131: Wissmann, Wolf, &c., _Im Innern Afrikas_, p. 158. Wissmann, _Quer durch Afrika_, p. 379.]

[Footnote 132: Sheane, 'Awemba Religion,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxxvi. 150 _sq._ ]

[Footnote 133: Schneider, _Die Religion der afrikanischen Naturvölker_, p. 84.]

[Footnote 134: Tate, 'Kikuyu Tribe,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxxiv. 263.]

[Footnote 135: Proyart, 'History of Loango,' in Pinkerton, _Collection of Voyages and Travels_, xvi. 594.]

[Footnote 136: Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 105 _sq._]

[Footnote 137: Kingsley, in _Folk-Lore_, viii. 150.]

[Footnote 138: _Cf._ Rowley, _Religion of the Africans_, pp. 28, 90; Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 229 _sq._; Cruickshank, _op. cit._ ii. 126.]

[Footnote 139: See Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 347 _sqq._]

[Footnote 140: See _supra_, ii. 586 _sq._]

[Footnote 141: Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 209. See also Livingstone, _Expedition to the Zambesi_, p. 521 _sq._, quoted _supra_, ii. 594.]

Generally speaking, then, it seems that the All-father, supreme being, or high god of savage belief may be traced to several different sources. When not a "loan-god" of foreign extraction, he may be a mythical ancestor or headman; or a deification of the sky or some large and remote object of nature, like the sun; or a personification or personified cause of the mysteries or forces of nature. The argument that the belief in such a being is "irreducible" because it prevails among savages who worship neither ancestors nor nature,[142] can carry no weight in consideration of the fact that he himself, as a general rule, is no object of worship. In various instances we have reason to suppose that even though the notion of a supreme being is fundamentally of native origin, foreign conceptions have been engrafted upon it; and to these belongs in particular the idea of a heavenly judge who in the after-life punishes the wicked and rewards the good. But we are not entitled to assume that the idea of moral retribution as a function of the great god has in every case been adopted {686} from people of a higher culture. A mythical ancestor or headman may of his own accord approve of virtue and disapprove of vice; and, besides, justice readily becomes the attribute of a god who is habitually appealed to in curses or oaths. That the supreme being of savages is thus invoked, is in some cases directly stated by our authorities. In making solemn treatises, the Hurons called on Oki, the heaven god.[143] The Negroes of Loango, who believed that Zambi, the supreme being, punished fraud and perjury, took his name in testimony of the truth.[144] Among the Awemba the supreme god Leza, who is believed to reward the good and to punish thieves, adulterers, and murderers, is invoked both in blessings and curses, the injured man praying that Leza will send a lion to devour the evildoer.[145] In the E[(w]e-speaking Ho tribe on the Slave Coast the great god Mawu, who is said to inflict punishment on the wicked, is frequently appealed to in law-cases, by the judge as well as by the plaintiff and the accused.[146] In Northern Guinea the name of the supreme being is solemnly called on three times at the ratification of an important treaty, or when a person is condemned to undergo the "red-water ordeal."[147] Of the Mpongwe we are told that "when a covenant is about to be formed among the different tribes, Mwetyi [the supreme being] is always invoked as a witness, and is commissioned with the duty of visiting vengeance upon the party who shall violate the engagement. Without this their national treaties would have little or no force. When a law is passed which the people wish to be especially binding, they invoke the vengeance of Mwetyi upon every transgressor, and this, as a general thing, is ample guarantee for its observance."[148] Among the East African Wakamba, when the supposed criminal is to undergo the ordeal of the hatchet, a magician makes him repeat the following words:--"If I have stolen the property of so and so, or committed this crime, let {687} Mulungu respond for me; but if I have not stolen, nor done this wickedness, may he save me." The magician then passes the red-hot iron four times over the flat hand of the accused; and the people believe that if he is guilty, his hand will be burned, but that, if innocent, he will suffer no injury.[149] Among the Masai a person who is accused of cattle-lifting and on that account subjected to the ordeal of drinking a mixture of blood and milk, has first to swear, "O God, I drink this blood, if I have stolen the cattle this blood will kill me." Should he not die within a fortnight he is considered innocent.[150] The Madi of Central Africa have various means of trial by ordeal, through which it is believed that the guilt of a suspected individual can be detected; and "before any of these trials the men look up and solemnly invoke some invisible being to punish him if guilty, or help him if innocent."[151] Of the natives of the Zambesi, all of whom have an idea of a supreme being, Livingstone states that, when undergoing an ordeal, "they hold up their hands to the Ruler of Heaven, as if appealing to him to assert their innocence."[152]

[Footnote 142: Lang, _Magic and Religion_, p. 42. Hoffmann, _op. cit._ pp. 122, 126, 131.]

[Footnote 143: Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 342.]

[Footnote 144: Proyart, _loc. cit._ p. 594.]

[Footnote 145: Sheane, in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxxvi. 151.]

[Footnote 146: Spieth, _Die E[(w]e-Stämme_, p. 415.]

[Footnote 147: Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 210.]

[Footnote 148: _Ibid._ p. 392.]

[Footnote 149: Krapf, _Travels in Eastern Africa_, p. 173.]

[Footnote 150: Marker, _Die Masai_, p. 211.]

[Footnote 151: Felkin, 'Notes on the Madi,' in _Proceed. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh_, xii. 334.]

[Footnote 152: Livingstone, _Missionary Travels_, p. 641 _sq._]

It has often been said that the oath and ordeal involve a belief in the gods as vindicators of truth and justice, that they are "appeals to the moral nature of the Divinity."[153] If this were true, moral retribution would certainly be an exceedingly common function of savage gods. But, as we have noticed before,[154] the efficacy ascribed to an oath is originally of a magic character, and if it contains an appeal to a god he is, according to primitive notions, a mere tool in the hand of the person invoking him. So also the ordeal is essentially a magical ceremony. In many cases at least, it contains a curse or an oath which has reference to the guilt or innocence of a suspected person, and the {688} proper object of the ordeal is then to give reality to the imprecation for the purpose of establishing the validity or invalidity of the suspicion.

[Footnote 153: Tiele, _Elements of the Science of Religion_, i. 86. Réville, _Les religions des peuples non-civilisés_, i. 103. Brinton, _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p. 225. Schneider, _Religion der afrikanischen Naturvölker_, p. 255. Hodgson, _Miscellaneous Essays_, i. 126. Dahn, _Bausteine_, ii. 21, 24. Gummere, _Germanic Origins_, p. 183.]

[Footnote 154: _Supra_, ii. 118 _sqq._]

Thus in West Africa the common ordeal which consists in drinking a certain draught or "eating the fetish" is regularly accompanied by an oath or a curse.[155] In the Calabar the accused person, before swallowing the ju-ju drink _mbiam_, which is made of filth and blood, recites an oath beginning with the words, "If I have been guilty of this crime," and ending with the words, "Then, Mbiam, Thou deal with me!" And whenever this ordeal is used the greatest care is taken that the oath shall be recited in full.[156] Of the Negroes of the Gold Coast Bosman states that "if any person is suspected of thievery, and the indictment is not clearly made out, he is obliged to clear himself by drinking the oath-draught, and to use the imprecation, that the Fetiche may kill him if he be guilty of thievery."[157] In Ashantee, "when any one denies a theft, an aggry bead is placed in a small vessel, with some water, the person holding it puts his right foot against the right foot of the accused, who invokes the power of the bead to kill him if he is guilty, and then takes it into his mouth with a little of the water."[158] Among the Negroes of Northern Guinea, in the case of the "red-water ordeal," the accused "invokes the name of God three times, and imprecates his wrath in case he is guilty of the particular crime laid to his charge." He then steps forward and drinks freely of the "red water"--that is, a decoction made from the inner bark of a tree of the mimosa family. If it nauseates and makes him vomit freely, he is at once pronounced innocent, whereas, if it causes vertigo and he loses self-control, it is regarded as evidence of guilt.[159] According to an old account, the Negroes of Sierra Leone have a "water of cursing," boiled of barks and herbs. The witch-doctor puts his divining-staff into the pot and drops or presses the water out of it upon the arm or leg of the suspected person, muttering over it these words:--"Is he guilty of this, or hath he done this or that; if yea, then let it scald or burn him, till the very skin come off." If the person remains unhurt they hold him innocent, and proceed to {689} the trial of another, till the guilty is discovered.[160] Among the Wadshagga of Eastern Africa the medicine-man gives to the accused a poisonous draught with the words, "If you fall down, you have committed the crime and told a lie, if you remain standing we recognise that you have spoken the truth."[161]

[Footnote 155: See, besides the references below, Monrad, _Skildring af Guinea-Kysten_, p. 35 _sq._ (Negroes of Accra); Beecham, _Ashantee_, p. 215 _sqq._; Ratzel, _op. cit._ iii. 130.]

[Footnote 156: Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, p. 465.]

[Footnote 157: Bosman, _op. cit._ p. 125.]

[Footnote 158: Bowdich, _Mission to Ashantee_, p. 267.]

[Footnote 159: Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 225 _sq._]

[Footnote 160: Dapper, _Africa_, p. 405.]

[Footnote 161: Volkens, _Der Kilimandscharo_, p. 249.]

Among the Hawaiians, in the ordeal called _wai haalulu_, "prayer was offered by the priest" while a large dish of water was placed before the culprit, who was required to hold his hands over the fluid; and if it shook, his fate was sealed.[162] Among the Tinguianes in the district of El Abra in Luzon, if a man is accused of a crime and denies it, the headman of the village, who is also the judge, causes a handful of straw to be burned in his presence. The accused then holds up an earthern pot and says, "May my belly be changed to a pot like this if I am guilty of the crime of which I am accused." If he remains unchanged in body, the judge declares him innocent.[163] The following ordeal is in use among the Tunguses of Siberia. A fire is made and a scaffold erected near the hut of the accused. A dog's throat is then cut and the blood received in a vessel. The body is put on the wood of the fire, but in such a position that it does not burn. The accused passes over the fire, and drinks two mouthfuls of the blood, the rest whereof is thrown into the fire; and the body of the dog is placed on the scaffold. Then the accused says:--"As the dog's blood burns in the fire, so may what I have drunk burn in my body; and as the dog put on the scaffold will be consumed, so may I be consumed at the same time if I be guilty."[164]

[Footnote 162: Jarves, _History of the Hawaiian Islands_, p. 20.]

[Footnote 163: Lala, _Philippine Islands_, p. 100.]

[Footnote 164: Hartland, _Legend of Perseus_, ii. 85 _sq._]

The "trial of jealousy" mentioned in the Old Testament involved a curse pronounced by the priest to the effect that the holy water which the woman suspected of adultery had to drink should cause her belly to swell and her thigh to rot.[165] In India the ordeal was expressly regarded as a form of the oath, the same word, _[s.]apatha_, being used to denote both.[166] We have seen above that in the Middle Ages every judicial combat was necessarily preceded by an oath, which essentially decided the issue of the fight and the question of guilt.[167] So also at the moment when the hot iron was raised and the accused took {690} it into his hand, the Deity was invoked to manifest the truth.[168] The ordeal of the Eucharist involved the following formula recited by the victim:--"Et si aliter est quam dixi et juravi, tunc hoc Domini nostri Jesu Christi corpus non pertranseat gutur meum, sed hæreat in faucibus meis, strangulet me suffocet me ac interficiat me statim in momento."[169]

[Footnote 165: _Numbers_, v. 20 _sqq._]

[Footnote 166: Jolly, 'Beiträge zur indischen Rechtsgeschichte,' in _Zeitschr. d. Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellsch._ xliv. 346. Oldenberg, _Die Religion des Veda_, p. 510, n. 1. See also Patetta, _Le ordalie_, p. 14.]

[Footnote 167: _Supra_, i. 505.]

[Footnote 168: Beames, in his _Translation of Glanville_, p. 351 _sq._]

[Footnote 169: Dahn, _op. cit._ ii. 16.]

To the list of ordeals which contain an oath or a curse as their governing element many other instances might probably be added in which no imprecation has been expressly mentioned by our authorities in their short descriptions of the ceremonies. This is all the more likely to be the case as magical practices often imply imprecations which are not formally expressed.[170] But there may also be ordeals which have a different origin. Thus the custom of swimming witches seems to have arisen from the notion that everything unholy is repelled by water and unable to sink into its depths;[171] and the ordeal of touching the corpse of a murdered person no doubt originated in the belief that the soul of such a person lingered about the body until appeased by the shedding of the murderer's blood and that "by the murderer's approach, and especially by his polluted touch, the soul was excited to an instant manifestation of its indignation, by appearing in the form in which it was supposed to subsist, viz. in that of blood."[172] However, even though all ordeals have not the same foundation, it seems highly improbable that any people, in the first instance, resorted to this method of discovering innocence and guilt from a belief in a god who is by his nature a guardian of truth and justice.

[Footnote 170: See, for instance, Westermarck, '_L-[(]âr_, or the Transference of Conditional Curses in Morocco,' in _Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor_, p. 361 _sqq._]

[Footnote 171: Binsfeldius, _Tractatus de confessionibus maleficorum et sagarum_, p. 315. In the North-East of Scotland it was believed that, if a person committed suicide by drowning, the body did not sink, but floated on the surface (Gregor, _Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland_, p. 208).]

[Footnote 172: Pitcairn, _Criminal Trials in Scotland_, iii. 187.]

Nor must we make any inference as to the moral character of gods from the mere prevalence of a belief in {691} a future world where men are in some way or other punished or rewarded for their conduct during their life. Such a belief is said to be fairly common among uncivilised races;[173] and, although in several cases it is undoubtedly due to Christian or other foreign influence,[174] I agree with Dr. Steinmetz that we are not entitled to {692} assume that it is so in all.[175] It seems that the savage mind may by itself, in various ways, come to the idea of some kind of moral retribution after death. First, the condition of the dead man is often supposed to depend upon the attentions bestowed on him by the survivors. Mr. Turner was told that, in the belief of the St. Augustine Islanders in Polynesia, the souls of the departed "if good" went to a land of brightness and clear weather in the heavens, but "if bad" were sent to mud and darkness; and the answer to his next question informed him that in this case "goodness" meant that the friends of the deceased had given him a good funeral feast, and that "badness" meant that his stingy friends had provided nothing at all.[176] Although Mr. Turner sees no moral distinction in these terms, there may be one nevertheless. Speaking of the Efatese, in the New Hebrides, Mr. Macdonald observes:--"A man's condition in the future would be, to some extent, happy or miserable according to his life here. Supposing he were a worthless fellow, very scanty worship would be rendered to him at his death and few animals slain to accompany him to the spirit world; and thus he would occupy an inferior position there corresponding to his social worthlessness here. This belief," our informant adds, "has undoubtedly great influence in making men strive to live so as to obtain the good opinion of their fellows, and leave an honourable memory behind them at death."[177] The Bushmans, who maintain that the dead will ultimately go to a land abounding in excellent food, put a spear by the side of a departed friend in order that, when he arises, he may have something to defend himself with and procure a living; but, if they hate the person, they deposit no spear, so that on his resurrection he may either be murdered or starved.[178] The dead may also have to suffer from the curses of those whom they injured while alive. At Motlav, in the {693} Banks Islands, relatives "watch the grave of a man whose life was bad, lest some man wronged by him should come at night and beat with a stone upon the grave, cursing him."[179] At Gaua, in the same group, "when a great man died his friends would not make it known, lest those whom he had oppressed should come and spit at him after his death, or _govgov_ him, stand bickering at him with crooked fingers and drawing in the lips, by way of curse."[180] The Maoris were careful to prevent the bones of their dead relatives from falling into the hands of their enemies, "who would dreadfully desecrate and ill-use them, with many bitter jeers and curses."[181] A person may, moreover, himself during his lifetime directly provide for his comfort in the life to come, and if the act by which he does so is apt to call forth approval its result is easily interpreted as its reward. Thus the Kukis of India believe that all enemies whom a person has killed will in his future abode be in attendance on him as slaves;[182] and this belief probably accounts for their opinion that nothing more certainly ensures future happiness than destroying a number of enemies.[183] We have further to notice the common idea that a person's character after his death remains more or less as it was during his life. Hence the souls of bad people are supposed to reappear in the shape of obnoxious animals[184] or become evil spirits,[185] and this may lead to the notion that they have to do so as a punishment for their wickedness.[186] And as the revengeful feelings of men likewise are believed to last beyond death, offenders may in the {694} other world have to suffer from the hands of those whom they injured in this.[187] Some of the Nagas of Central India maintain that "a murdered man's soul receives that of his murderer in the spirit world and makes him his slave."[188] The Chippewas think that in the land of the dead "the souls of bad men are haunted by the phantoms of the persons or things they have injured."[189] In Aurora, in the New Hebrides, the belief prevails that the ghosts of those whom a man has wronged in this world take a full revenge upon him after death.[190] According to the Banks Islanders, if a person has killed a good man without cause, the good man's ghost withstands his murderer, when the latter after death wants to enter into Panoi, the good place; but if one man has killed another in fair fight he will not be withstood by the person whom he slew.[191] And not only the offended party but the other dead as well may, from dislike or fear, be anxious to refuse the souls of bad people admittance to their company. In the belief of the Pentecost Islanders, when the soul of a murdered man comes to the land of ghosts with the instrument of death upon him, he tells who killed him, and when the murderer arrives the ghostly people will not receive him, but he has to stay apart with other murderers.[192] The Iroquois allot separate villages even to the souls of those who have died in war and of those who have committed suicide, because the other dead are afraid of their presence.[193] Among the Negroes of Northern Guinea, according to Mr. Wilson, "the only idea of a future state of retribution is implied in the use of a separate burial-place for those who have died 'by the red-water ordeal' or who have been guilty of grossly wicked deeds";[194] and if a person's body is buried apart, his soul will naturally remain equally isolated.[195] That the frequent idea of the bad being separated {695} from the good after death is largely due to the assumed unwillingness of the latter to associate with dangerous or disreputable souls, seems probable from the fact that, in the beliefs of the lower races, paradise generally plays a much more prominent part than hell, the lot of the wicked being to suffer want rather than to be subjected to torments.[196] But, finally, it must also be remembered that the other world is a creation of men's fancy, and may therefore be formed in accordance with their hopes and wishes. Beyond the gloom of death they imagine a paradise where life is much happier than here on earth.[197] Why, then, might not their moral feelings, only too often ungratified in the reality of the present, occasionally seek satisfaction in the dreams of the future?

[Footnote 173: Thomson, _Savage Island_, p. 94. Percy Smith, 'Futuna,' in _Jour. Polynesian Soc._ i. 39. Seemann, _Viti_, p. 400; Williams and Calvert, _Fiji_, p. 208. Codrington, _Melanesians_, p. 274 _sq._ (Banks' Islanders). Inglis, _New Hebrides_, p. 31; Turner, _Samoa_, p. 326 (people of Aneiteum). Campbell, _A Year in the New Hebrides_, p. 169 (people of Tana). Schwaner, _Borneo_, i. 183 (natives of the Barito district). Selenka, _op. cit._ pp. 88, 94, 112 (Dyaks). von Brenner, _op. cit._ p. 240 (Bataks of Sumatra), de Mas, _Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas_, 'Orijen, &c.' p. 14. Best, 'Prehistoric Civilisation in the Philippines,' in _Jour. Polynesian Soc._ i. 200 (Tagalo-Bisaya tribes). Worcester, _Philippine Islands_, p. 110 (Tagbanuas of Palawan). Smeaton, _Loyal Karens of Burma_, p. 186 _sq._ Anderson, _Mandalay to Momien_, p. 146 (Kakhyens). Lewin, _Wild Races of South-Eastern India_, p. 243 _sq._ (Pankhos and Bunjogees). Hunter, _Rural Bengal_, i. 210 (Santals). Macrae, 'Account of the Kookies,' in _Asiatick Researches_, vii. 195; Butler, _Travels in Assam_, p. 88 (Kukis). Stewart, 'Notes on Northern Cachar,' in _Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, xxiv. 620 (Old Kukis), 632 (Nagas). Macpherson, _Memorials of Service in India_, p. 92 _sqq._ (Kandhs). Thurston, 'Todas of the Nilgiris,' in the Madras Government Museum's _Bulletin_, i. 166 _sq._ Breeks, _Tribes and Monuments of the N[=i]lagiris_, p. 28 (Todas and Badagas). Radloff, _op. cit._ p. 11 _sq._ (Turkish tribes of the Altai). Georgi, _Russia_, i. 106 (Chuvashes). Cranz, _History of Greenland_, i. 186. Hall, _Arctic Researches among the Esquimaux_, p. 571 _sq._ Lyon, _Private Journal_, p. 372 _sqq._ (Eskimo of Igloolik). Boas, 'Central Eskimo,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ vi. 590. Nelson, 'Eskimo about Bering Strait,' _ibid._ xviii. 423. Douglas, quoted by Petroff, _Report on Alaska_, p. 177 (Thlinkets). Harrison, 'Religion and Family among the Haidas,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xxi. 17 _sqq._ Duncan, quoted by Mayne, _Four Years in British Columbia_, p. 293 _sq._ (Coast Indians of British Columbia). Mackenzie, _Voyages to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans_, p. cxix. (Chippewyans). Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 168 _sqq._ Harmon, _Journal of Voyages in the Interior of North America_, p. 364 _sq._ (Indians on the East side of the Rocky Mountains). Keating, _op. cit._ i. 110 _sq._ (Potawatomis); ii. 158 _sq._ (Chippewas). Say, quoted by Dorsey, 'Siouan Cults,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 422 (Kansas). Stevenson, 'Sia,' _ibid._ xi. 145 _sq._ Bartram, in _Trans. American Ethn. Soc._ iii. pt. i. 27 (Creek and Cherokee Indians). Powers, _Tribes of California_, pp. 34, 58, 59, 91, 110, 144, 155, 161. Buchanan, _North American Indians_, p. 235 _sqq._; Heriot, _Travels through the Canadas_, pp. 362, 536; Catlin, _North American Indians_, i. 156, and ii. 243; Domenech, _Great Deserts of North America_, ii. 380 (various Indian tribes of North America), von Martius, _Beiträge zur Ethnographie Amerika's_, i. 247 (Guatós). von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens_, p. 435 (Paressi). de Azara, _Voyages dans l'Amérique méridionale_, ii. 138 (Payaguás). Bosman, _op. cit._ p. 424 (people of Benin). Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 217 (Negroes of Northern Guinea). Reade, _Savage Africa_, p. 539 (Ibos). Mungo Park, _Travels in the Interior of Africa_, p. 250 (Mandingoes). Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 83 _sqq._ Marillier, _La survivance de l'âme et l'idée de justice chez les peuples non civilisés_, p. 33 _sqq._ Steinmetz, _Ethnologische Studien zur ersten Entwicklung der Strafe_, ii. 368 _sqq._]

[Footnote 174: _Cf._ Tylor, _op. cit._ ii. 84, 91 _sqq._; Marillier, _loc. cit._ p. 32 _sq._]

[Footnote 175: Steinmetz, _Studien_, ii. 366 _sqq._ _Idem_, 'Continuität oder Lohn und Strafe im Jenseits der Wilden,' in _Archiv f. Anthropologie_, xxiv. 577 _sqq._]

[Footnote 176: Turner, _Samoa_, p. 292 _sq._]

[Footnote 177: Macdonald, _Oceania_, p. 209.]

[Footnote 178: Campbell, _Second Journey in the Interior of South Africa_, i. 29.]

[Footnote 179: Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 269.]

[Footnote 180: _Ibid._ p. 269.]

[Footnote 181: Colenso, _Maori Races_, p. 28.]

[Footnote 182: Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 46.]

[Footnote 183: Macrae, 'Account of the Kookies,' in _Asiatick Researches_, vii. 195.]

[Footnote 184: Hill and Thornton, _Aborigines of New South Wales_, p. 4. Ratzel, _op. cit._ i. 317 (Solomon Islanders). Junghuhn, _Die Battaländer auf Sumatra_, ii. 338 (natives of Bali and Lombok). Cross, quoted by Mac Mahon, _Far Cathay and Farther India_, p. 203 (Karens). Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, ii. 419 (Maravi). Southey, _History of Brazil_, iii. 392 (Guaycurus). Powers, _Tribes of California_, pp. 144 (Tatu), 155 (Kato Pomo).]

[Footnote 185: Bailey, 'Wild Tribes of the Veddahs,' in _Trans. Ethn. Soc._ N.S. ii. 302, n. [double dagger] (Sinhalese), von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens_, p. 349 (Bakaïri).]

[Footnote 186: See Steinmetz, _Studien_, ii. 376; _Idem_, in _Archiv für Anthropologie_, xxiv. 603 _sq._]

[Footnote 187: _Cf._ Marillier, _loc. cit._ p. 44 _sq._]

[Footnote 188: Fytche, _Burma_, i. 354.]

[Footnote 189: Keating, _op. cit._ ii. 158 _sq._]

[Footnote 190: Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 279 _sq._]

[Footnote 191: _Ibid._ p. 274.]

[Footnote 192: _Ibid._ p. 288.]

[Footnote 193: Brebeuf, 'Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans le pays des Hurons,' in _Relations des Jésuites_, 1636, p. 104 _sq._ Hewitt, 'The Iroquoian Concept of the Soul,' in _Jour. of American Folk-Lore_, viii. 109.]

[Footnote 194: Wilson, _Western Africa_, p. 210.]

[Footnote 195: See _supra_, ii. 236 _sqq._]

[Footnote 196: This is especially the case among the Indians of North America (_cf._ Brinton, _Myths of the New World_, p. 242 _sq._; Dorman, _op. cit._ p. 33; Steinmetz, in _Archiv f. Anthrop._ xxiv. 591). See also Codrington, _op. cit._ p. 274 _sq._ (Banks' Islanders).]

[Footnote 197: Dove, 'Aborigines of Tasmania.' in _Tasmanian Jour. Natural Science_, i. 253. Polack, _Manners and Customs (of the New Zealanders_, i. 254; Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 118. Percy Smith, 'Futuna,' in _Jour. Polynesian Soc._ i. 39. Batchelor, _Ainu of Japan_, p. 225. Steller, _op. cit._ p. 269 (Kamchadales). Cranz, _op. cit._ i. 186 (Greenlanders). Robertson, _History of America_, ii. 202. Arbousset and Daumas, _op. cit._ p. 343 (Bechuanas).]

The belief in a moral retribution after death may thus originate in various ways, quite independently of any notion of a god who acts as a judge of human conduct. When such a belief is said to prevail among a savage people it is by no means the rule that the rewards or punishments are associated with the activity of a divine being. And when, as is sometimes the case, the fate of the dead is supposed to depend upon the will of a high god, the notions held about the other world, and especially about the place reserved for the wicked, in several instances suggest influence from a more advanced religion. But on the other hand it is not an idea which seems incompatible with genuine savage thought that, in cases where the souls of men are believed to go to live with gods, the latter select their companions and, like the human inhabitants of the other world, refuse admittance to undesirable individuals.

Religious ideas have no doubt already at the savage {696} stage begun to influence the moral consciousness even in points which have no direct bearing upon the personal interests of gods; but this influence is not known to have been so great as it has often been represented to be. I can find no solid foundation for the statements made by recent writers, that "the historical beginning of all morality is to be found in religion";[198] that even in the earliest period of human history "religion and morality are necessary correlates of each other";[199] that "all moral commandments originally have the character of religious commandments";[200] that in ancient society "all morality--as morality was then understood--was consecrated and enforced by religious motives and sanctions";[201] that the clan-god was the guardian of the tribal morality.[202] From various facts stated in this and earlier chapters I have been led to the conclusion that among uncivilised races the moral ideas relating to men's conduct towards one another have been much more influenced by the belief in magic forces which may be utilised by man, than by the belief in the free activity of gods.

[Footnote 198: Pfleiderer, _Philosophy and Development of Religion_, iv. 230.]

[Footnote 199: Caird, _Evolution of Religion_, i. 237.]

[Footnote 200: Wundt, _Ethik_, p. 99.]

[Footnote 201: Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, p. 267. _Cf._ _ibid._ p. 53.]

[Footnote 202: Jevons, _Introduction to the History of Religion_, pp. 112. 177.]