The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)

A. van Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar (Paris, 1904), p. 113.

26

Father Porte, “Les Reminiscences d'un missionnaire du Basutoland,” Missions Catholiques, xxviii. (1896) p. 235.

27

Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 32.

28

P. J. de Arriaga, Extirpacion de la idolatria del Piru (Lima, 1621), pp. 11, 132.

29

W. Marsden, History of Sumatra (London, 1811), p. 301.

30

A. van Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar, p. 113, quoting De Thuy, Étude historique, géographique et ethnographique sur la province de Tuléar, Notes, Rec., Expl., 1899, p. 104.

31

T. C. Hodson, “The genna amongst the Tribes of Assam,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxvi. (1906) p. 98. The word for taboo among these tribes is genna.

32

The Duibhlinn is the part of the Liffey on which Dublin now stands.

33

The site, marked by the remains of some earthen forts, is now known as Rathcroghan, near Belanagare in the county of Roscommon.

34

The Book of Rights, edited with translation and notes by John O'Donovan (Dublin, 1847), pp. 3-8. This work, comprising a list both of the prohibitions (urgharta or geasa) and the prerogatives (buadha) of the Irish kings, is preserved in a number of manuscripts, of which the two oldest date from 1390 and about 1418 respectively. The list is repeated twice, first in prose and then in verse. I have to thank my friend Professor Sir J. Rhys for kindly calling my attention to this interesting record of a long-vanished past in Ireland. As to these taboos, see P. W. Joyce, Social History of Ancient Ireland, i. 310 sqq.

35

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 418 sqq.

36

Diodorus Siculus, i. 70.

37

G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique, ii. 759, note

; A. Moret, Du caractère religieux de la royauté Pharaonique (Paris, 1902), pp. 314-318.

38

(Sir) J. G. Scott, Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, part ii. vol. i. (Rangoon, 1901) p. 308.

39

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. ii. pp. 191 sq.

40

Among the Gallas the king, who also acts as priest by performing sacrifices, is the only man who is not allowed to fight with weapons; he may not even ward off a blow. See Ph. Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas: die geistige Cultur der Danâkil, Galla und Somâl, p. 136.

41

Among the Kafirs of the Hindoo Koosh men who are preparing to be headmen are considered ceremonially pure, and wear a semi-sacred uniform which must not be defiled by coming into contact with dogs. “The Kaneash [persons in this state of ceremonial purity] were nervously afraid of my dogs, which had to be fastened up whenever one of these august personages was seen to approach. The dressing has to be performed with the greatest care, in a place which cannot be defiled with dogs. Utah and another had convenient dressing-rooms on the top of their houses which happened to be high and isolated, but another of the four Kaneash had been compelled to erect a curious-looking square pen made of poles in front of his house, his own roof being a common thoroughfare” (Sir George Scott Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush (London, 1898), p. 466).

42

Similarly the Egyptian priests abstained from beans and would not even look at them. See Herodotus, ii. 37, with A. Wiedemann's note; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 5.

43

Similarly among the Kafirs of the Hindoo Koosh the high priest “may not traverse certain paths which go near the receptacles for the dead, nor may he visit the cemeteries. He may not go into the actual room where a death has occurred until after an effigy has been erected for the deceased. Slaves may cross his threshold, but must not approach the hearth” (Sir George Scott Robertson, op. cit. p. 416).

44

Aulus Gellius, x. 15; Plutarch, Quaest, Rom. 109-112; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii. 146; Servius on Virgil, Aen. i. 179, 448, iv. 518; Macrobius, Saturn. i. 16. 8 sq.; Festus, p. 161 a, ed. C. O. Müller. For more details see J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.

326 sqq.

45

Sir Harry Johnston, Liberia (London, 1906), ii. 1076 sq., quoting from Bishop Payne, who wrote “some fifty years ago.” The Bodia described by Bishop Payne is clearly identical with the Bodio of the Grain Coast who is described by the Rev. J. L. Wilson (Western Africa, pp. 129 sqq.). See below, p. 23; and The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. p. 353. As to the iron ring which the pontiff wears on his ankle as the badge of his office we are told that it “is regarded with as much veneration as the most ancient crown in Europe, and the incumbent suffers as deep disgrace by its removal as any monarch in Europe would by being deprived of his crown” (J. L. Wilson, op. cit. pp. 129 sq.).

46

W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 98-103.

47

For restrictions imposed on these lesser milkmen see W. H. R. Rivers, op. cit. pp. 62, 66, 67 sq., 72, 73, 79-81.

48

W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas, pp. 79-81.

49