The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)

318

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, op. cit. i. 167-169.

319

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, op. cit. i. 169.

320

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, i. 171-182.

321

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, op. cit. i. 169 sq.

322

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, op. cit. i. 163 sq.

323

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, ii. 130 sq. The game as to the religious significance of which Dr. Nieuwenhuis has no doubt is the masquerade performed by the Kayans of the Mahakam river, where disguised men personate spirits and pretend to draw home the souls of the rice from the far countries to which they may have wandered. See below, pp. 186 sq.

324

Ch. Keysser, “Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 3, 9 sq., 12 sq.

325

Ch. Keysser, op. cit. pp. 123-125.

326

Ch. Keysser, op. cit. iii. 125 sq.

327

Ch. Keysser, op. cit. iii. 161.

328

On the principles of homoeopathic or imitative magic, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 52 sqq. The Esquimaux play cat's cradle as a charm to catch the sun in the meshes of the string and so prevent him from sinking below the horizon in winter. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 316 sq. Cat's cradle is played as a game by savages in many parts of the world, including the Torres Straits Islands, the Andaman Islands, Africa, and America. See A. C. Haddon, The Study of Man (London and New York, 1898), pp. 224-232; Miss Kathleen Haddon, Cat's Cradles from Many Lands (London, 1911). For example, the Indians of North-western Brazil play many games of cat's cradle, each of which has its special name, such as the Bow, the Moon, the Pleiades, the Armadillo, the Spider, the Caterpillar, and the Guts of the Tapir. See Th. Koch-Grünberg, Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern (Berlin, 1909-1910), i. 120, 123, 252, 253, ii. 127, 131. Finding the game played as a magical rite to stay the sun or promote the growth of the crops among peoples so distant from each other as the Esquimaux and the natives of New Guinea, we may reasonably surmise that it has been put to similar uses by many other peoples, though civilised observers have commonly seen in it nothing more than a pastime. Probably many games have thus originated in magical rites. When their old serious meaning was forgotten, they continued to be practised simply for the amusement they afforded the players. Another such game seems to be the “Tug of War.” See The Golden Bough,2 iii. 95.

329

See Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 318 sqq.

330

Stefan Lehner, "Bukaua," in R. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 478 sq.

331

See Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 386.

332

H. Zahn, “Die Jabim,” in R. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 290.

333

H. Zahn, op. cit. pp. 332 sq.

334

H. Zahn, op. cit. p. 333.

335

Stefan Lehner, “Bukaua,” in R. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) p. 448.

336

A. C. Haddon, in Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 218, 219. Compare id., Head-hunters, Black, White, and Brown (London, 1901) p. 104.

337

A. C. Haddon, in Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 346 sq.

338

A. W. Howitt, “The Dieri and other kindred Tribes of Central Australia,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xx. (1891) p. 83; id., Native Tribes of South-East Australia (London, 1904), p. 660. The first, I believe, to point out the fertilising power ascribed to the bull-roarer by some savages was Dr. A. C. Haddon. See his essay, “The Bull-roarer,” in The Study of Man (London and New York, 1898), pp. 277-327. In this work Dr. Haddon recognises the general principle of the possible derivation of many games from magical rites. As to the bull-roarer compare my paper “On some Ceremonies of the Central Australian Tribes,” in the Report of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science for the year 1900 (Melbourne, 1901), pp. 313-322.

339

J. G. Kohl, Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen (Dresden and Leipsic, 1841), ii. 25.

340

For the evidence see The Dying God, pp. 277-285.

341

On the Kayan chiefs and their religious duties, see A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, i. 58-60.

342

See above, p. 36.

343

See above, p. 74.

344

Plutarch, Praecepta Conjugalia, 42. Another of these Sacred Ploughings was performed at Scirum, and the third at the foot of the Acropolis at Athens; for in this passage of Plutarch we must, with the latest editor, read ὑπὸ πόλιν for the ὑπὸ πέλιν of the manuscripts.

345

See above, pp. 50 sqq.

346

Etymologicum Magnum, s. v. Βουζυγία, p. 206, lines 47 sqq.; Im. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca (Berlin, 1814-1821), i. 221; Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 199; Hesychius, s. v. Βουζύγης; καθίστατο δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς καὶ ὁ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀρότους ἐπιτελῶν Βουζύγης; Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. E. L. Leutsch und F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1839-1851), i. 388, Βουζύγης; ἐπὶ τῶν πολλὰ ἀρωμένων. Ὁ γὰρ Βουζύγης Ἀθήνησιν ὁ τὸν ἱερὸν ἄροτον ἐπιτελῶν … ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἀρᾶται καὶ τοῖς μὴ κοινωνοῦσι κατὰ τὸν Βίον ὕδατος ἢ πυρὸς ἢ μὴ ὑποφαίνουσιν ὁδὸν πλανωμένοις; Scholiast on Sophocles, Antigone, 255, λόγος δὲ ὅτι Βουζύγης Ἀθήνησι κατηράσατο τοῖς περιορῶσιν ἄταφον σῶμα. The Sacred Ploughing at the foot of the Acropolis was specially called bouzygios (Plutarch, Praecepta Conjugalia, 42). Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie (Berlin, 1889) pp. 136 sqq.

347

Such Sabbaths are very commonly and very strictly observed in connexion with the crops by the agricultural hill tribes of Assam. The native name for such a Sabbath is genna. See T. C. Hodson, “The Genna amongst the Tribes of Assam,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxvi. (1906) pp. 94 sq.: “Communal tabus are observed by the whole village… Those which are of regular occurrence are for the most part connected with the crops. Even where irrigated terraces are made, the rice plant is much affected by deficiencies of rain and excess of sun. Before the crop is sown, the village is tabu or genna. The gates are closed and the friend without has to stay outside, while the stranger that is within the gates remains till all is ended. The festival is marked among some tribes by an outburst of licentiousness, for, so long as the crops remain ungarnered, the slightest incontinence might ruin all. An omen of the prosperity of the crops is taken by a mock contest, the girls pulling against the men. In some villages the gennas last for ten days, but the tenth day is the crowning day of all. The men cook, and eat apart from the women during this time, and the food tabus are strictly enforced. From the conclusion of the initial crop genna to the commencement of the genna which ushers in the harvest-time, all trade, all fishing, all hunting, all cutting grass and felling trees is forbidden. Those tribes which specialise in cloth-weaving, salt-making or pottery-making are forbidden the exercise of these minor but valuable industries. Drums and bugles are silent all the while… Between the initial crop genna and the harvest-home, some tribes interpose a genna day which depends on the appearance of the first blade of rice. All celebrate the commencement of the gathering of the crops by a genna, which lasts at least two days. It is mainly a repetition of the initial genna and, just as the first seed was sown by the gennabura, the religious head of the village, so he is obliged to cut the first ear of rice before any one else may begin.” On such occasions among the Kabuis, in spite of the licence accorded to the people generally, the strictest chastity is required of the religious head of the village who initiates the sowing and the reaping, and his diet is extremely limited; for example, he may not eat dogs or tomatoes. See T. C. Hodson, “The Native Tribes of Manipur,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxi. (1901) pp. 306 sq.; and for more details, id., The Naga Tribes of Manipur (London, 1911), pp. 168 sqq. The resemblance of some of these customs to those of the Kayans of Borneo is obvious. We may conjecture that the “tug of war” which takes place between the sexes on several of these Sabbaths was originally a magical ceremony to ensure good crops rather than merely a mode of divination to forecast the coming harvest. Magic regularly dwindles into divination before it degenerates into a simple game. At one of these taboo periods the men set up an effigy of a man and throw pointed bamboos at it. He who hits the figure in the head will kill an enemy; he who hits it in the belly will have plenty of food. See T. C. Hodson, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxvi. (1906) p. 95; id., The Naga Tribes of Manipur, p. 171. Here also we probably have an old magical ceremony passing through a phase of divination before it reaches the last stage of decay. On Sabbaths observed in connexion with agriculture in Borneo and Assam, see further Hutton Webster, Rest Days, a Sociological Study, pp. 11 sqq. (University Studies, Lincoln, Nebraska, vol. xi. Nos. 1-2, January-April, 1911).

348

See above, p. 71.

349

See above, p. 71 note 5.

350

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 137-139.

351

See the old Greek scholiast on Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Chr. Aug. Lobeck, Aglaophamus (Königsberg, 1829), p. 700; Andrew Lang, Custom and Myth (London, 1884), p. 39. It is true that the bull-roarer seems to have been associated with the rites of Dionysus rather than of Demeter; perhaps the sound of it was thought to mimick the bellowing of the god in his character of a bull. But the worship of Dionysus was from an early time associated with that of Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries; and the god himself, as we have seen, had agricultural affinities. See above, p. 5. An annual festival of swinging (which, as we have seen, is still practised both in New Guinea and Russia for the good of the crops) was held by the Athenians in antiquity and was believed to have originated in the worship of Dionysus. See The Dying God, pp. 281 sq.

352

See above, pp. 95 sq., and below, pp. 186 sq.

353

See above, p. 39.

354

Th. Koch-Grünberg, Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern (Berlin, 1909-1910), i. 137-140, ii. 193-196. As to the cultivation of manioc among these Indians see id. ii. 202 sqq.

355

F. B. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion (London, 1896), p. 240; H. Hirt, Die Indogermanen (Strasburg, 1905-1907), i. 251 sqq.

356

Rev. J. Shooter, The Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country (London, 1857), pp. 17 sq. Speaking of the Zulus another writer observes: “In gardening, the men clear the land, if need be, and sometimes fence it in; the women plant, weed, and harvest” (Rev. L. Grout, Zulu-land, Philadelphia, n. d., p. 110).

357

A. Delegorgue, Voyage dans l'Afrique Australe (Paris, 1847), ii. 225.

358

H. A. Junod, Les Ba-Ronga (Neuchatel, 1908), pp. 195 sq.

359

L. Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa (London, 1898), p. 85.

360

L. Decle, op. cit. p. 160.

361

C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, The Great Plateau of Northern Rhodesia (London, 1911), p. 302.

362

L. Decle, op. cit. p. 295.

363

C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, The Great Plateau of Northern Nigeria (London, 1911), p. 179.

364

Rev. J. H. Weeks, “Notes on some Customs of the Lower Congo People,” Folk-lore, xx. (1909) p. 311.

365

In order to guard against any breach of the rule they strewed Agnus castus and other plants, which were esteemed anaphrodisiacs, under their beds. See Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, i. 134 (135), vol. i. p. 130, ed. C. Sprengel (Leipsic, 1829-1830); Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxiv. 59; Aelian, De Natura Animalium, ix. 26; Hesychius, s. v. κνέωρον; Scholiast on Theocritus, iv. 25; Scholiast on Nicander, Ther. 70 sq.

366

Scholiast on Aristophanes, Thesmophor. 80; Plutarch, Demosthenes, 30; Aug. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 310 sq. That Pyanepsion was the month of sowing is mentioned by Plutarch (Isis et Osiris, 69). See above, pp. 45 sq.

367

See below, vol. ii. p. 17 sq.

368

Dudley Kidd, The Essential Kaffir (London, 1904), p. 323. Compare B. Ankermann, “L'Ethnographie actuelle de l'Afrique méridionale,” Anthropos, i. (1906) pp. 575 sq. As to the use of the Pleiades to determine the time of sowing, see note at the end of the volume, “The Pleiades in Primitive Calendars.”

369

Rev. E. Casalis, The Basutos (London, 1861), pp. 143 (with plate), pp. 162-165.

370

A. C. Hollis, The Nandi (Oxford, 1909), p. 19. However, among the Bantu Kavirondo, an essentially agricultural people of British East Africa, both men and women work in the fields with large iron hoes. See Sir Harry Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate (London, 1904), ii. 738.

371

M. W. H. Beech, The Suk (Oxford, 1911), p. 33.

372

F. Stuhlmann, Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika (Berlin, 1894), p. 36.

373

F. Stuhlmann, op. cit. p. 75.

374

Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 426, 427; compare pp. 5, 38, 91 sq., 93, 94, 95, 268.

375

H. Rehse, Kiziba, Land und Leute (Stuttgart, 1910), p. 53.

376

G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa3 (London, 1878), i. 281.

377

G. Schweinfurth, op. cit. ii. 40.

378

Rev. J. H. Weeks, “Anthropological Notes on the Bangala of the Upper Congo River,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxix. (1909) pp. 117, 128.

379

E. Torday, “Der Tofoke,” Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xli. (1911) p. 198.

380

E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, “Notes on the Ethnography of the Ba-Mbala,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxv. (1905) p. 405.

381

P. B. du Chaillu, Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa (London, 1861), p. 22.

382

P. B. du Chaillu, op. cit. p. 417.

383

A. D'Orbigny, L'Homme Américain (de l'Amérique Méridionale) (Paris, 1839), i. 198 sq.

384

Le Sieur de la Borde, “Relation de l'Origine, Mœurs, Coustumes, Religion, Guerres et Voyages des Caraibes Sauvages des Isles Antilles de l'Amerique,” pp. 21-23, in Recueil de divers Voyages faits en Afrique et en l'Amerique (Paris, 1684).

385

E. F. im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana (London, 1883), pp. 250 sqq., 260 sqq.

386

C. F. Phil. v. Martius, Zur Ethnographie Amerika's, zumal Brasiliens (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 486-489. On the economic importance of the manioc or cassava plant in the life of the South American Indians, see further E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. (Oxford, 1892) pp. 310 sqq., 312 sq.

387

A. R. Wallace, Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (London, 1889), pp. 336, 337 (The Minerva Library). Mr. Wallace's account of the agriculture of these tribes is entirely confirmed by the observations of a recent explorer in north-western Brazil. See Th. Koch-Grünberg, Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern (Berlin, 1909-1910), ii. 202-209; id., “Frauenarbeit bei den Indianern Nordwest-Brasiliens,” Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxxviii. (1908) pp. 172-174. This writer tells us (Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern, ii. 203) that these Indians determine the time for planting by observing certain constellations, especially the Pleiades. The rainy season begins when the Pleiades have disappeared below the horizon. See Note at end of the volume.

388

R. Southey, History of Brazil, vol. i. Second Edition (London, 1822), p. 253.

389

J. B. von Spix und C. F. Ph. von Martius, Reise in Brasilien (Munich, 1823-1831), i. 381.

390

K. von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Berlin, 1894), p. 214.

391

J. J. von Tschudi, Peru (St. Gallen, 1846), ii. 214.

392

Captain T. H. Lewin, Wild Races of South-Eastern India (London, 1870), p. 255.

393

E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872), p. 33.

394

E. T. Dalton, op. cit. pp. 226, 227.

395

Nieuw Guinea, ethnographisch en natuurkundig onderzocht en beschreven (Amsterdam, 1862), p. 159.

396

Op. cit. p. 119; H. von Rosenberg, Der Malayische Archipel (Leipsic, 1878), p. 433.

397

P. A. Kleintitschen, Die Küstenbewohner der Gazellehalbinsel (Hiltrup bei Münster, preface dated Christmas, 1906), pp. 60 sq.; G. Brown, D.D., Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 324 sq.

398

A. C. Kruijt, “Een en ander aangaande het geestelijk en maatschappelijk leven van den Poso-Alfoer,” Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, xxxix. (1895) pp. 132, 134; J. Boot, “Korte schets der noordkust van Ceram,” Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) p. 672; E. H. Gomes, Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo (London, 1911), p. 46; E. Modigliani, Un Viaggio a Nías (Milan, 1890), pp. 590 sq.; K. Vetter, Komm herüber und hilf uns! Heft 2 (Barmen, 1898), pp. 6 sq.; Ch. Keysser, “Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 14, 85.

399

J. Gumilla, Histoire Naturelle, Civile et Géographique de l'Orénoque (Avignon, 1758), ii. 166 sqq., 183 sqq. Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 139 sqq.

400

S. Powers, Tribes of California (Washington, 1877), p. 23.

401

Father Geronimo Boscana, “Chinigchinich,” in [A. Robinson's] Life in California (New York, 1846), p. 287. Elsewhere the same well-informed writer observes of these Indians that “they neither cultivated the ground, nor planted any kind of grain; but lived upon the wild seeds of the field, the fruits of the forest, and upon the abundance of game” (op. cit. p. 285).

402

Father Geronimo Boscana, op. cit. pp. 302-305. As to the puplem, see id. p. 264. The writer says that criers informed the people “when to cultivate their fields” (p. 302). But taken along with his express statement that they “neither cultivated the ground, nor planted any kind of grain” (p. 285, see above, p. 125 note 2), this expression “to cultivate their fields” must be understood loosely to denote merely the gathering of the wild seeds and fruits.

403

See above, pp. 81 sq.

404

H. E. A. Meyer, “Manners and Customs of the Encounter Bay Tribe,” in Native Tribes of South Australia (Adelaide, 1879), pp. 191 sq.

405

(Sir) George Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia (London, 1841), ii. 292 sq. The women also collect the nuts from the palms in the month of March (id. ii. 296).

406

(Sir) George Grey, op. cit. ii. 12. The yam referred to is a species of Diascorea, like the sweet potato.

407

R. Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria (Melbourne, 1878), i. 209.

408

P. Beveridge, “Of the Aborigines inhabiting the Great Lacustrine and Riverine Depression of the Lower Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower Lachlan, and Lower Darling,” Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1883, vol. xvii. (Sydney, 1884) p. 36.

409

R. Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, i. 214.

410

W. Stanbridge, “Some Particulars of the General Characteristics, Astronomy, and Mythology of the Tribes in the Central Part of Victoria, South Australia,” Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, N.S., i. (1861) p. 291.

411

Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1899), p. 22.

412

O. Schrader, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 6 sqq., 630 sqq.; id., Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte3 (Jena, 1905-1907), ii. 201 sqq.; H. Hirt, Die Indogermanen, i. 251 sqq., 263, 274. The use of oxen to draw the plough is very ancient in Europe. On the rocks at Bohuslän in Sweden there is carved a rude representation of a plough drawn by oxen and guided by a ploughman: it is believed to date from the Bronze Age. See H. Hirt, op. cit. i. 286.

413

Strabo, iii. 4. 17, p. 165; Heraclides Ponticus, “De rebus publicis,” 33, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, ii. 219.

414

Tacitus, Germania, 15.

415

J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), p. 313.

416

(Sir) G. Grey, Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia (London, 1841), ii. 292.

417

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen (Strasburg, 1884), pp. 292 sqq. See above, p. 40, note 3.

418