';SV-'.fr.,*y¥? 'M4^ »?\r'.":r. ,n:^ FREDERICK W. HODGE COLLECTK Huntin< Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104075688 THE EAST-INDIAN PRIMITIVE fO.^ll'OSlTK 1-1(TIKK Oi' TIIK V f:i>I)A-SAKAI-T<>ALA-HAKATAN TYPE OF HIMANITV. ONK Ol' THE KAKI.IKST GROl I'S OI' MANKIND IN EXISTENCK. KhXONSTRICTEU I'KOM SfJI.IOMAN ( VEI}I>A-CEVI,ON) I'l,. HI, V. MARTIN (SKNOt-SAKAI-MAI.AKKA) I'L. I, II. SIvKAT (SKNOI-.SAKAI-MAI.AKKA) I. 2», O, lt>0. I.INO-ROTH (BAKATAN-BORNEO) I. IW. IIADDON (BAKATAN-BOBNEO) l-l,. .VXVII. HOSE (BAKATAN-UORNEOl I'b. XXII-XXVT. CI.XXIV. FF. 8ABASIN (TOAI,A-(IEl.EBES) V. (H) VIG. 3 PI.. VIII. IN ALL «J FACE.S, .VND COMPARE THE GROIP-PICTVBES WTTHIN. PREHISTORIC RELIGION A STUDY IN PRE-CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OP THE OGEANIC, CENTRAL AFRICAN, AN1> ^HA20NIAN PRIMITIVES, THEIR DEVEL- OPMENT AMONG THE XATER INDO-ASIATIC AND TOTEMIC PEO- PLES, THEIR INTERPRETATION BY THE WESTERN-ASIATIC AND CAUCASIAN RACES OP NEOLITHIC CULTURE, AND THEtR POSSIBLE CONNEXION WITH THE EARLIEST RELIGION OP MANKIND. PHILO LAOS MILLS, S.T. L. CAPITAL PUBLISHERS, INC. WASHINGTON 191S Copyright, 1918, BY Philo Laos Mills All Rights Reserved. LIST OF PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 1. The East-Indian Primitive Frontispiece 2. The Aborigines of the Far East XXIII 3. The Oldest Symbol of the Human Race, The Latin Cross ; 1 4. Facsimile of a Charm-Tube (Malakka) 7 5. The "Great Master" (Ceylon) 19 6. The "Spirit-Father in Heaven" (Borneo) 25 7. The "Father of All" (Australia-Melanesia) 37 8. The "Father above the Clouds" (Africa) 47 9. The "Father of Shining Light" (South America) 53 10. Specimen of a Buru-Mystery, the Sun-Serpent (India) 61 11. The Secret of Life, or the African Snake-Mystery 67 12. The Giant WoUunqua, or the Australian World-Serpent 71 13. The Great Medicine, or the North-American Sun-Mystery 75 14. "To Anu and Ishtar" (Babylonian Votive-Tablet) 83 15. Sumerian Prayers to Bel, "Father Enlil, Lord of the Lands" 87 16. Royal Pyramid Texts (Egyptian Wall-Paintings) 91 17. A Hymn of Praise to Ashur (Assyrian Tablet) 99 18. A Prayer to Ishtar, Queen of Heaven (Assyrian Tablet) 1(K) 19. The Transcendence of the God of Israel, the Twenty-third Psalm 101 20. The Trilingual Behistun-Inscription of Darius the Great 106 21. The Yasna of the Avesta (Persian Text) 107 22. A Primitive Planisphere, The Six Cycles of Creation 133 23. A Developed Planisphere, The Seven Great Wakandas 151 24. The Seven Tablets of Creation (Babylonian Series), "The Chaos" 161 25. Do. "The Making of Heaven and Earth," "The Making of Man" 162 26. The Bilingual Tablets of Sippar, "The Primitive Ocean" 163 27. The Modelling of Mankind on the Potter's Wheel (Egyptian) 167 28. The Hebrew Hexahemeron, with Assyrio-Babylonian Parallels 172 29. revealing its Immense Antiquity, but Theological Independence 173 30. The Persian Dualism as Expressed in the Ancient Avesta 175 31. The Babylonian Zodiac, or the Advanced Planisphere 183 32. The Converted Zodiac, or the Christian Heavens 186 33. Primitive Paradise Picture, The Seven Heavens and The Tree of Life 195 34. Developed Paradise Picture, The Seven Wakandas and The Magic Cedar 209 35. The Adapa-Legend of Babylonia, "The Sage of Eridu" 212 36. The "Tree of Eridu" (Bilingual Incantation-Text) 213 7)1. Egyptian Fragments on the Tree of Life and the Serpent 215 38. The Tree of Life in Assyrio-Babylonian Art 216 39. The Hebrew Toledoth, with a few Assyrian Parallels 217 40. The Persian Hom-Yasht (Zoroaster's Vision of the Soma) 219 41. Advanced Paradise-Picture, "The Music of the Spheres" 222 42. Converted Paradise-Picture, The Christian Apocalj^ptic Signs 223 43. The Four Rivers of Paradise (Prehistoric Map of the East) 232 44. The Island of Borneo as a "Fraction" jof the Lost Continent 233 45. Ideal Paradise-Scene, "The Enchanted Forest at Night" 239 46. The Star of Bethlehem as The Guiding Star of the Magi 251 LIST OF PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 47. The Babylonian "Tables of Destiny" as the Perverted Channels 273 48. of a Prehistoric Hope (Planetary Signs) 274 49. Egyptian Parallels on the Advent of a Better Age 275 50. The Protevangelium, or the First Gospel Given to Man 279 51. The Gatha Ushtavaiti, or the Persian Cry for Deliverance 291 52. The Finding of the Light of the World 295 53. Primitive Sacrifice, "The Sadaka," or The Cain- Abel Sacrifice 31S 54. Primitive Sacrifice ' (Malakkan Rite), The "First Fruit" offering 320 55. Primitive Sacrifice (Malakkan Rite), The Blood-Throwing 321 56. Primitive Sacrifice (Sinhalese Rite), The Coconut-Offering 326 57. Primitive Sacrifice (Sinhalese Rite), The Deer-Sacrifice 327 58. Primitive Sacrifice (Bornean Rite), The Betel-Palm Offering) 334 59. Primitive Sacrifice (Bornean Rite), The Bird-Sacrifice 335 60. Primitive Sacrifice (Australian Rite), The Spear-Throwing 341 61. Primitive Sacrifice (African Rite), The Moduma-Fruit-Offering 342 62. Primitive Sacrifice (African Rite), The Buffalo Sacrifice 343 63. Primitive Sacrifice (Amazonian Rite), The Arrow-Shooting 345 64. Totemic Sacrifice (Indian Rite), The Corisumption of the World-Egg 349 65. Totemic Sacrifice (African Rite), The Sprinkling of the Meal 351 66. Totemic Sacrifice (Australian Rite), The Intichiuma Ceremony 353 67. Totemic Sacrifice (North-American Rite), The Smoke Offering 356 68. Totemic Sacrifice (North- American Rite), The Sun-Dance ._ 357 69. Recent Sacrifice, The Pre-Sargonic Temple of Bel at Nippur 358 70. Recent Sacrifice, Babylonian Incantation Ritual 359-363 75. The Statue of Gudea, Patesi of Lagash 364 76. Recent Sacrifice (Egyptian Rite), The Corn-Offering 365 n. Recent Sacrifice (Hebrew-Palestinian Rite), The Sacrifice of Melchisedech . . 370 78. The Manna, The Tabernacle, and The Holy of Holies 371 79. The Temple of Jerusalem in the Visions of Ezekiel 372 80. Plan of a Parsee Fire-Temple, Bombay, India 373 81. Recent Sacrifice (Persian Rite), The Mazdaean Soma- Worship 374 82. Hellenistic Development — The Mysteries of Mithras 375 83. Recent Sacrifice (Brahministic Rite), The Hindoo Pagoda of Trinchinopoli 377 84. Recent Sacrifice (Brahministic Rite), The Cave-Temple of Vishvakarman ^. 378 85. Recent Sacrifice (North- American Rite), The "Banquet of the Clouds" ?. 382 86. Recent Sacrifice (North- American Rite), The Dance of the Corn-Maidens 383 87. Recent Sacrifice (Aztec Rite), The Great Fire-Temple of Mexico 384 88. Recent Sacrifice (Aztec Rite), The Burning of the Human Victim 38S 89. The Double Sacrifice of the Redeemer 414 90. The "Fractio Panis," or the Eucharist in the Catacombs , 415 91. The Babylonian Ark in Form and Imagery 435 92. The Deluge-Tablets (Selected Readings) 437 93. The Deluge-Tablets (Selected Readings) 438 94. The "House of the Seven Foundations of Heaven and Earth'' 439 95. The Borsippa Tower-Inscription of Nebuchadnezar II 438 96. The so-called "Babel-Tablet" describing the Confusion of Tongues 439 97. Migrations of the Ark and Tower-Motif 440 98. A Savage Picture of the Future Life 459 99. Ishtar's Descent Into Hell (Assyrian Tablet) , 479 100. The Isles of the Blessed or the Apex of Pre-Christian Hope 482 101. The Balance of Truth and the Egyptian Hesperides 483 102. The Supernatural Consummation 486 103. The Persian Aftermath, or the Last Judgment 487 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHB Assyrisches Handworterbuch (Delitzsch-Leipzig, 1896) . ASKT Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte (Haupt). B. A. E Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington). C. T Cuneiform Texts of the British Museum (London) . J. A. I Journal of the Anthropological Institute. J. A. O. S Journal of the American Oriental Society. J. I. A Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia. J. R. A. S Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. J. R. G. S Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. KB Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (Jensen) KT Keilinschriftliches Textbuch- zum alten Testament (Winckler) O. B. I Old Babylonian Inscriptions (Hilprecht-Pennsylvania)'. OT "The Old Testament," etc. (Works by Pinches or Jeremias). FSB A Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology R Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia. RB A Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens ( Jastrow-Giessen, 1914) . S. B. E Sacred Books of the East (Clarendon Press, Oxford). SR Report of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington). ZE Zeitschrift ftir Ethnologie. ZKT Zeitschrift f iir Katholische Theologie (Innsbruck) . ZNW Zeitschrift f iir Neutestamentliche Wissenschaf t (Giessen) . TO MY BELOVED FATHER THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 2 PREHISTORIC RELIGION But more than this. The same Ught of reason has also a moral aspect, it points to a great Lawgiver, the guardian of the moral conscience, one who has written His law in the heart of man in such manner that The 'primary dictates of the Natural Law cannot be ignored with- out some culpability. (S. Thom 1, 2. q. 94. Suarez, de Legibus, 2, ch. 5-17ff.) This means that, quite apart from any revealed decree, the love, honor, and worship of God, together with the love and respect for his neighbor, are to a large extent natural to man, nay, that even the practice of sacrifice, with the various rites or ceremonies that may yet accompany it, is so flrmly rooted in the very constitution of man that it may be called instinctive. To put it briefly, the "prehistoric" religion of man may be said to embrace a belief in God as Creator and Judge, the binding power of the ten commandments, and the offering up of some kind of atonement-rites. On the other hand this "natural" religion has its well-defined limits : — "// any man shall say that in the divine revelation no true and proper mysteries are contained, but that all the doctrines of faith can be understood and demonstrated by properly cultivated reason out of natural principles, let him be anathema." (Vat. III. Can. 4, 1.) Now it is important to understand that throughout this work we are treating of man as under a double aspect, natural and supernatural, and that no attempt is being made to ground supernatural doctrines upon naturalistic antecedents, but rather to show that the supposed parallelisms are typical and nothing more. This concerns more especially (1) the relation of the cosmic triads to the doctrine of the Trinity, (2) the belief in a saving demiurge as distinct from the divine Messiah, (3) the use of certain medicines as preceding the Seven Sacraments, In each case it will be our endeavor to show that no triad has ever developed into a Trinity, no demiurge into a divine Redeemer, no medicine into a supernatural Sacrament. It will be found that the former are separated from the latter by a gulf which no unaided power of reason can bridge. Nevertheless, as the golden thread of the supernatural has never been entirely lost in any age of the human race, whether historic or prehistoric, as we cannot say to what extent the primitive revelation has not been preserved in this or that fragment of prehistoric antiquity or by this or that section of primitive man, it is clearly impossible to treat this subject in such a manner as to exclude the influx of all supernatural light from the rich body of folk-lore which we are about to examine. PROLOG 3 For if the two orders of truth are so inextricably woven together in every period of man, we must be prepared to find occasional vestiges of an idea which we know from other sources to have been a revealed dogma. Hence in the treatment of this subject due allowance must be made for the necessary infiltration of supernatural light upon a belief, a tradition or a practice which could never have been derived from the innate tenden- cies of human nature. This may apply to any of the following subjects : — (1) Under the title "God" we intend to show that the idea of a supreme personal Being is entirely natural to man, but that any intimations of a "Trinity" must be traced to a past revelation, handed down in corrupt form. (2) Under "Creation" the idea of six creative epochs, culminating in the creation of man, may be looked upon as the relic of a fuller light. (3) Under "Paradise" it is clear that the story of the elevation and fall of man presupposes a fact which cannot be gleaned by natural reasoning alone. (4) Under "Redemption" it is particularly plain that, although the longing for salvation is inherent in the human breast, the distinct prophecy of a divine Messiah to come is something that cannot be read from the stars. (5) Under "Sacrifice and Sacramentals" we note that the various pre- historic medicines are suggested by the various religious needs in the life of man, but that the idea of a "suffering" god, and pre-eminently that of the Mystical Lamb, must be regarded as a supernatural symbolism of an all-sufficient Sacrifice to come, while the purely natural medicines have no connexion whatever with the seven supernatural channels of grace. (6) Under "Retribution" the recollection of a great devastation by fire or water must be traced in part at least to a "visitation from heaven." (7) Under "Life Eternal" the notion of a heaven of delights and a hell of punishment is natural enough, though the subject of a "beatific vision" must, if genuine, be handled with similar reservations. Thus we see that nature and super-nature are so intertwined in the history of man in all ages, thait it is quite impossible to treat the one to the exclusion of the other, — ^we must always allow for some supernatural influx. Nevertheless, as the primary aim of our present study is simply to bring out a voluminous collection of prehistoric facts, and then to interpret those facts in the light of our own supernatural standpoint, it is evident that the question of fact should be the primary one ; theories and explanations should in every instance be made to follow. In this way each of the above subjects will be brought before the reader just as it presents itself to us in perfectly nude and colorless form, and only in the subsequent analysis will an attempt be mad6 to group the phenomena in such a manner as to suggest some theological conclusions. 4 PREHISTORIC RELIGION The importance of such a work seems to me to be obvious. In the first place there are those whose superficial reading has brought them in contact with perverted views of the nature and origin of man. They have been taught to look to a purely animal ancestor as the progenitor of the human race and naturally feel disquieted when they hear of a con- fessedly simian type as the only representative of primitive man. How is this consistent with the dignity and nobility of human nature? To them we offer our Introduction, in which the existence of a very primitive human type, of normal mental and moral qualities, is sought to be demon- strated out of the purely scientific and ethnological data, leaving to the biologist the task of accounting for such a type. In other words, our primitive is a man, not a developed anthropoid. Then there are those who' have, dabbled with Tylor's Primitive Culture, with Frazer's pretentious work on Totemism and Exogamy, and who are firmly convinced that primitive man was either entirely atheistic, or if in possession of any religion at all, that the idea of God was developed out of the ghost or the magical nature-cult. To them we shall oppose an enormous array of religious facts which have only recently been unearthed, but which in their united force point to conclusions of precisely the opposite characterj^it is the All-Father belief which precedes the totemic or animistic cult by indefinite ages. Primitive man believed in God, and only in later times was the belief corrupted. Then again there are other subjects which have a more intimate rela- tion to man's supernatural destiny. The fact that the Redeemer points to an age of original innocence which was subsequently lost by an act of moral rebellion, this can hardly be squared with the current notions, popular or professional, that the human race has on the contrary raised itself by its own impetus from the lowest fetichism and animal-worship to the most exalted monotheism and monogamous practices of modern times. If the one is true, the other is clearly false. Now whatever view we may take of the Paradise-story as having a mystical content, it is quite certain that the Messiah refers to it not simply as speech-figure, but as an actual condition of the first couple. "Have ye not read, that He who made man from the beginning, made them male and female?" — "Moses by reason of the hardness of your heart permitted you to put away youi*. wives, but from the beginning it was not so." (Matt. 19, 4. 19, 8.) As Christ is continually quoting the Torah, it is clear that He regards it as revealed history, and part of this history includes the originally sacred character of the marriage-tie. Primitive m/m was monogamous, polygamy belongs to a later age. PROLOG 5 In like manner the story of Eden cannot be dissolved into myth, but is a definite prehistoric event, upon which the whole of Christian theology is founded. "And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." (I. Cor. 15, 22.) What becomes of this doctrine if man be regarded as a mere product of nature, of blind evolutionary forces? The first and second Adam stand and fall together; and in defending the one, we are defending the other. Similarly the idea and the hope of Redemption is traced by the Messiah and indeed by the whole cycle of Christian thought to the earliest ages of man, — ^it is part of a revelation given to man in paradise. Is it con- ceivable that this revelation should have been entirely lost, that it should have left no vestiges whatever in the folk-lore of humanity? And in the picture of the Tree of Life, in the first-fruit offerings of Cain, in the bread and wine of Melchisedech, have we not a distinct intimation of the originally unbloody nature of the primitive sacrifice? If these are facts and not fancies, it will stand to reason that they must have left some impress in the prehistoric annals of the race, and in searching for these traces, we shall be indirectly supporting the divine tradition: "Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech." (Heb. 5, 6.) Finally we have the revealed picture of the Father in Heaven as the Dispenser of justice, as the Rewarder of the good and the Punisher of the wicked. Here again the portrayal of the ten antediluvian patriarchs, of the rising dualism of humanity, of the pious Enoch, of the corrupting Nephilim, of the righteous Noah, of the salvation of the few and the destruction of the many in the Great Flood, — all these things, together with the broad doctrines of a future recompense in soul and body alike, could not have vanished from, the face of the earth in their entirety; if a record of momentous facts and actual prehistoric beliefs, they must have left some mark of their presence in their trail. But what is more important, the Great Deluge is quoted by Christ as actual history: — "And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ma/rrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark and they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away, so also shall the com- ing of the Son of man be." (Mat. 24, 37 Lk. 17, 26ff.) If words mean any- thing at all, they imply a period of corruption, destruction, and reconsti- tution of the human race upon a more recent Asiatic level, of which humanity as such could not have lost the entire record. If real and actual events, they must be to some extent verifiaJjle. 6 PREHISTORIC RELIGION Now I am aware that I shall be met with the usual objection that I am trying to prove too much, that I am starting with dogmas, that I have already made up my mind that such and such must be the case. We can imagine such an objector appealing to the so-called "colorless" methods of modern science and baldly denouncing our entire thesis as an a priori assumption, somewhat as follows : "You are looking for God, and therefore you find Him ; for the idea of creation, and therefore it is easily verified; for the garden of pleasure, and therefore it can be readily mapped out; for redemption, and therefore every belief in a demiurge points to a future Messiah; for a primitive unbloody sacrifice, and therefore every first-fruit offering takes on a sacrificial character; for a ubiquitous deluge, and therefore every story of a floating raft is a direct reference to such an event; for a heaven, hell and purgatory, because it fits in beautifully with your own esohatology, — throughout you are consciously doctoring the facts to make them square with your own preconceived views on the nature, origin, and 'super- natural' enlightenment of the human race ; you are reading the past by the light of the present, — plainly begging the question." To this polite insinuation we make the following polite reply: — "You are not looking for God, and therefore you do not find Him; you have no conception of the act of creation, and therefore you deny the concept to the savage ; you have no belief in an age of original innocence, and therefore you throw over all the testimonies to that effect; you have no adequate idea of redemption, and therefore you entirely ignore the gropings of the savage heart for final deliverance; you have a horror of sacrifice and the greatest contempt for holy observances, and therefore you interpret the entire ritual of mankind as nothing but mummery and magical superstition; you have been taught to throw unending ridicule on the story of the ark, and therefore you studiously avoid everything that can reimotely point to such an event; you have lost all faith in a definite hereafter, and therefore you convert the savage heavens and hells into mere dream-states, — in short, you are wilfully perverting the plain mes- sage of humanity to suit your own decadent philosophy, you are evidently trying to make out a case for universal nihilism in religion, — a petitio principii of the worst kind." It is a pity that we should start with a mutual misunderstanding, but I will endeavor to remove it by an appeal to a more balanced judgment, a more approved system of reasoning. PROLOG 7 Let us approach this subject in a frankly impartial spirit, putting out of our minds as far as possible any personal leanings towards this or that aspect of life or existence. It will surely be allowed that there is an order of reality which is independent of a man's personal sympathies, otherwise the science of discovery would come to an end, there would be nothing to "discover." I may not enjoy the sensations of an earthquake, but I can- not argue it away by an appeal to idealistic philosophy. The testimony of the senses is objective and absolute. In like manner it ought to be possible to bring together a sufficient number of data in the pre-history of man to point to more or less definite conclusions, whether I accept those conclusions as illustrating my own philosophical opinions or not. In other words, our first duty should be to eliminate the personal equation as far as possible, to look upon things as they are. You appeal to the facts of prehistoric antiquity, — I will do the same, — it is a perfectly fair chal- lenge. Then, as to interpretation, — here of course we are liable to part com- pany. To you the religious phenomena may suggest nothing but a spon- taneous evolutionism out of the inner consciousness of man, — to me they are eloquent of a far deeper truth, of the fact that man has preserved many fractions of a primitive undiluted truth, which in the course of ages has become corrupted by a downward moral development. And upon what do I ground this persuasion? I ground it upon what is nothing more or less than a principle of reason itself, — that there are certain truths that are beyond the limits of unassisted reason to attain, that transcend the full comprehension of the human intellect, that are frankly mysteries. To deny this would be to deny the existence of psychic powers higher than our own, to measure the Infinite by the capacity of our feeble brain-cells — a slight disproportion! If then I find a belief or a practice in the pre- historic past which is evidently more than a mere product of natural phil- osophy, my own logic forces me to trace these beliefs to super-naiursl causes, — they cannot be spun out of mere reflexions, they demand a com- munication from the Father of lights. What these truths are, we have just been considering, and it is here that we stand upon two entirely different pedestals. You derive the entire folk-lore of the human race out of a merely natural reflexion on the facts of consciousness. I derive that same folk-lore out of a primitive plenitude of supernatural truth, which has since been shattered into a thousand fragments, — though I also allow that some of it can be proved by natural reason. It is simply a case of separating the lower from the higher sources of intellectual vision, and this should commend itself to any fair-minded- searcher after truth. 8 PREHISTORIC RELIGION With the supernatural thus well in the foreground, we have no fear of bringing to light certain aspects of belief and practice which may at first sight appear surprising. But there are two errors that we must guard against, — the error of traditionalism, and the error of immanentism. As to the danger of deriving all forms of belief from a divine tradi- tion, pure and simple, it is an insidious tendency which we have long since outgrown, and is already condemned by the above propositions on the "natural" knowledge of God. Before I can follow any tradition, how- ever inspiring, I must be sure, on independent grounds, that the tradition is true, worthy to be followed. Thus a belief in God as Creator and Rewarder of the human race precedes the act of faith in a divine tradition at least in nature if not in time. The two acts may synchronise in this or that particulai" circumstance, but logically they are two distinct opera- tions of the mind,— I believe in God, because He exists, — then, I believe in God, because He has spoken, — the one follows the other. But apart from this, it is quite certain that a divine tradition may be lost, and has de facto been lost by a large section of the humaji race. We must there- fore be prepared not only for corruptions but for entire eclipses of truth, though this is fortunately the great exception. On the other hand, the opposite practice of dissolving the entire body of revealed truth into myth and allegory, of looking upon the supernatural as a mere evolution out of subjective states of consciousness, is far more fatal in its consequences than any over-estimation of the tradition-argu- ment. Those who would avoid all appeals to the past records of the race on the score of "traditionalism" are in reality secret immanentists ; they have no belief that divine dogmas have any real or objective basis, and therefore they scorn every attempt to find such a basis. The elevation and fall of man are not physical but symbolical' events, paradise is con- verted into a pious allegory, Noah's ark consigned to the realm of pedagogic literature, — throughout it is symbolism, and only symbolism that forms the background of dogma, there is no objective or absolute criterion of truth, everything is psychological "tendency." It is needless to state that this Origenistic allegorism is gnawing at the very entrails of a sound theology, that it is in direct opposition to the repeated declarations of the Church. The separation of faith and history is a modernistic error, and those who interpret the opening chapters of Genesis as mere "poetry" incur the risk of a severe censure. (See the decree "Lamentabili" passim, and the reports of the Biblical Commission.) PROLOG 9 Another question, to be sure, is that which concerns the degree in which faitli is proved by history, to what extent the divine tradition can be supported by archaeological facts. For it is not per se inconceivable that a divine revelation, once given, might have vanished from the earth in such a way as to leave but few vestiges, and none that are at all unsul- lied by later corruptions. This is a point which we must always bear in mind. The supernatural certainty in a divine tradition may coexist with a non-committal attitude on the subject of its prehistoric transmission, of its positive verification in this or that instance. The fact that some of these vestiges may be regarded as doubtful, and that the entire subject of prehistoric faith is a comparatively modern acquisition, naturally leads the cautious believer to suspend his judgment; he assents to the deposit, not because it is provable, but because it is revealed, even if not confirmed by vestiges, it is still eternally true. This is a well-intended measure of safety, and wisely points to divine authority as the ultimate norm of super- natural truth. But we have already noted that, although corruptions and perversions of truth are only to be expected in all the ages of man, the supernatural has never entirely vanished, and it is on the face of it incredible that in view of the enlarged field of modern research nothing whatever should be left of the finger of God in human history to be dis- covered by scientific means. The enemy has been throwing this at us for many centuries, and it is time that the tide were turned, that the true picture of prehistoric man were at length presented. If, then, in the treatment of certain aspects of this question we have erred on the side of excessive realism, it is a pardonable antidote to the prevalent looseness with which the historic supernatural is dismissed, — simply ignored as a power in the life of man. We may, as I have said, try to find too much, we may overestimate the content of the message by carrying into it too much of our own psychology. But it is better to find too much than too little, and to find nothing at all is a wilful conspiracy against natural reason no less than against supernatural light, — it is simply ignoring the overwhelming evidence of both sources of truth. It is easy enough to sneer at the six "days" of creation, but what if the savage has a vague recollection of a similar work? It seems hard to believe that our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit at the instigation of a "talking" serpent, but what if this is one of the earliest persuasions of man? It is easy to make cheap jokes about a universal deluge, but what if a unique drowning'Calamity is one of the most widespread traditions of the human race?' 10 PREHISTORIC RELIGION Those who studiously avoid these subjects have a secret conviction that they never actually occurred, and they might as well be candid enough to say so. They may smile at our reconstructions, but they having noth- ing better to offer in their place, — in fact, they offer us a blank, and are rather happy to do so; it helps to support their theory of a progressive evolution of dogmas. To such as these, and in fact to the entire school of negative thinkers, the present work cannot but be distasteful; it is a direct repudiation of their favorite thesis of a gradual rise of the religious conscience out of a mental and moral zero. We have firmly determined to fight this universal atheism, and are ready for the fight, — let there be no misunderstanding of our initial purpose. But to those of the conserva- tive school, who belong to the "household of faith," this book may yet convey a double impression : — (1) There are those to whom the religious data will come as a welcome surprise. They will be glad to feel that the sign of the Cross is so ancient, that the All-Father cult is the earliest religion of man, that the six days of Genesis admit of such valuable illustration, that the Tree of Life and the Garden of God are once more restored to them as physical realities. Even if overdrawn in this or that particular instance, the main body of facts can hardly be questioned, and they cannot fail to be reassuring. Nay more, — the same group of believers will be looking for the Star of Redemption in the later ages of man ; they will thrill with delight when they find that of all the peoples of antiquity we alone of the noble Aryan race, the Persian Magi of the gospels, were allowed to find the King of Glory as the reward of our supernatural faith. Is this not a beautiful confirmation of the gospel narrative, hitherto regarded by some as almost a romance, almost too good to be true? Then again the early sacrificial rites of humanity will make a similar impression. They will hail with universal sympathy the natural instinct by which man uses the medicines of nature as the natural expression of his religious feelings, they will see in the First-fruit Sadaka a distant symbolism of the divine benevolence, and the entire sacrificial practice will tend to show that man is by nature ritualistic, far removed from a merely esoteric religion. Finally, to hear once more of a real "ark," and of a real heaven, hell, and purgatory, can- not but bring solace to a humanity distraught with doubts and with religious dissensions, — in fact, all these things sound traditional and orthodox, they seem to support the revealed position in a thousand different ways, and they make Christ our Lord the one unique Light of the World, the common hope of Jew and Gentile alike. PROLOG 11 (2) There are others, however, to whom the same religious data might suggest an erroneous inference. What? The sign of the Gross before Christ? The hexahemeron before Moses? The tree of Ufa before Eden? Redemption before the Redeemer? The sadaka before the Eucharist? Medicines before sacraments? Deluge-heroes before Ararat? Visions of God before Calvary? It looks as if you were deriving the whole of the revealed basis of faith out of a mere human tradition, making the supernatural to "grow" out of the natural, supporting that very scheme of religious evolutionism which you pretend to condemn. It does not incresise, but rather it lessens my faith, to be told that some of our most cherished dogmas have been anticipated by unregenerate savages, that prehistoric man should have shared, however remotely, in a volume of holy lore and tradition which I cannot but regard as all-sacred, unfit for any "pagan" hands to touch. So far from being elevated by all this prehistoric rubbish, I am on the contrary chagrined and depressed at its evident portent. It seems to imply that there is nothing entirely unique in the Christian religion; that the latter is but the crown and apex of many previous attempts to solve the riddle of existence, — simply the pleroma or the natural fulfilment of the spontaneous longings of the human race, — a "culmination." It leaves me with a less powerful grip on the supernatural than I had before, and the last state of my soul is worse than the first. After what we have just been expounding on the mutual relation of the natural and the supernatural in all ages of man, it is needless to repeat that the above impression is indeed deplorable, and one which we are doing our best to remove. In the first place, we deny the insinuation in toto. We are not deriving the religious ideas of humanity out of a primitive blank, but out of a primitive plenitude. We are starting with the supernatural, not closing with it, — even if it is also true that some of these ideas might have been suggested by the natural constitution of man. We have separated the two sources with sufficient clearness. It is therefore untrue to say that we are evolving dogmas, — on the contrary, we are pre- supposing a large body of primitive dogma, out of which, as out of a rich mine, the sacred traditions of man have been quarried. If this is not poles apart from modern immanentism, then what is it? It reestablishes the supernatural, it does not repudiate it. If, then, we find many striking beliefs in the early history of man, they are so many confirmations, not repudiations of Christian dogma, which latter, as we shall invariably show, cannot be evolved out of naturalistic speculations. This will always remain the most powerful 'critique' at our disposal, and we intend to apply it cautiously, but unsparingly. 12 PREHISTORIC RELIGION In the second place, it must be candidly admitted that some of us have all too narrow a view of the divine economy. There was a time when we could shelve the prehistoric problem by a wholesale denunciation of every form of pre-Christian belief as a damnable superstition, an unadul- terated falsehood. Omnes dii gentium daemonia, — "all the gods of the gentiles are demons,"— such was the cry with which the early Christian apologists justly assailed the disgusting vices with which the contemporary pagan world was rank, and it was not very difficult to prove that Christian- ity was immensely superior to any of its "heathen" competitors. But the matter assumes a different aspect when we ascend into high antiquity. Not corruptions, but illuminations are the prominent feature in the earlier periods of the race, and the further we mount up, the stronger and purer does the light of heaven appear to shine, though never with the splendor of Christian truth. AH this, however, is a modern acquisition, and in keeping time with this new world of thought that is opening out before us, we are happy to find that "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world." The discovery of these facts should furnish a strong support to the dogma of a primitive revelation, indeed they point so forcibly in this direction that they cannot be explained without the theory of a partial survival of revealed truth over large sections of the hulman race. Thus they expand our ideas of the divine government, — they do not becloud them. Finally, it is most important to distinguish between the external form and the internal content of a religion. For, although forms may be indefi- nitely ancient, the content is liable to change; in no case more so than in the sudden and violent transition which marks the use of the pagan rites from the entirely new use of the Christian mysteries. It is here especially that we must guard against any misconstructions. The discovery of pre- Christian analogies, — ^whether in theological terminology, or in the external ritual by which religion is expressed, — is something that we must be pre- pared for, and cannot be argued away by a worn-out appeal to the unique- ness of Christian ceremonies on the purely material side. Are there not many things in our Christian ritual which, viewed in their broader and more general aspects, exhibit some external points of resemblance to Jewish or pagan practice? Does not religion clothe herself in similar garb the world over? The fact is there are certain natural forms by which religion is expressed in all ages of man, and from this point of view we may rightfully admit some continuity with the remote past. Nature is perfected by grace, not destroyed or entirely cancelled by its higher operations. PROLOG 13 But continuity of form has nothing to do with continuity of content. The use of prayer-beads and holy water is as old as the ocean, but neither can the Holy Rosary be derived from an Astarte-cult, nor the rite of Baptism from a Mithraic doucbe. Sacred candles have nothing to do with prehistoric torches, nor the Blessed Sacrament with a transplanted So'ma- worship. In each case there are external resemblances and typical pre- figurations which it would be unwise to deny, — ^we may even hail them as the forerunners of better things to come, as providential or prehistoric "lights," — but to evolve the one out of the other indicates the crassest ignorance of the meaning and content of the Christian formulae. Did any savage ever baptise in the name of a triune God? any Persian paitish see in the "bread of chastity" the body and blood of a crucified Savior? Is there anything in common between the Dominican Rosary, with its fifteen mysteries of the life of Christ, and the vain babblings of the gentiles, with their knotted cords and their spinning prayer- wheels ? If mere externals be the test of a similarity, we answer, — yes, — there is many a rationalist that can learn from primitive man the art of invoking God by prostrations of body no less than of soul, by consecrating every minute to some ritual act, by using beads, pictures, water, and incense as the vivid expressions of his own interior faith, and to this extent we are nearer to Him than he, our religion is symbolic and sacramental, — a "living" faith. But when it comes to dogma, there is no bridge between paganism and Christianity, between the Old and the New Law, and those who cannot see the essential difference between bath-house and Baptism, prayer-beads and Rosary, soma and Sacred Host, are indeed in a pitiable state. Let them read the gospel of the New Birth, the formula of the Annunciation, the "eucharistic" chapter of St. John, and they will be convinced of the oppo- site; the Messiah inaugurates an entirely new dispensation, as is evident from the misconstruction put upon His words, — "How can a man be born when he\ is old?", "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John, 3, 4. 6, 53.) If these were current beliefs, they would not have occasioned the wonderment, nay even the apostasy of some of his early followers, — they are new, transcendent, heaven-begotten mysteries. With this initial misunderstanding removed, we do not hesitate to reveal the beauty and the symmetry of pre-Christian faith in all its ful- ness, without needlessly clipping its wings under the absurd pretext that it will destroy the uniqueness of the gospel. There is a primitive light to which the Messiah would call us back, and in finding its vestiges, we shall be adding but one more jewel to the crown of His Divinity. 14 PREHISTORIC RELIGION It is therefore hoped, that the main impression of this book will be a favorable one; that it will help to clear up certain questions which until recently have been handled with indifferent success. There are millions of people who are dtiven to despair by the apparently hopeless verdict of modern science on all that concerns the nature, origin, and destiny of the human species, and to whom the opening chapters of Genesis seem to be in appalling contradiction to the unanimous voice of modern research. If the revealed history of primitive man is exploded to the four winds, what becomes of the Bible as the infallible word of God? And if Moses be consigned to the limbo of romance, where is the guarantee that the New Testament will fare any better? The whole system stands and falls together as a unit, and by cultivating a negative habit of mind we gradually undermine the entire basis of supernatural truth, — the whole structure gradually dwindles from our mind,— we have lost the Faith. It is surely worth while to save what we can out of this universal wreckage, and to re-examine the data to see whether the message of science is in reality such as it is commonly given out to be, whether in fact it forces us to assume so radical a position. If it can be shown that this is not the case, that on the contrary the most recently discovered facts tend to support the revealed tradition with an almost epoch-making force, it is surely high time to bring these facts before the public, to let them know that real science has a very different story to tell. If this book accomplishes nothing more than to restore to primitive man his birthright as a God-created being, it wilL not have been writtejn in vain. But we hope that it may lead to more than this. The reader should feel at the end of this study that he is nearer to the supei'natural than he was before, that his own religion is acquiring a new lease of life by its alliance with prehistoric lore, that the name of Christ is nearer and dearer to him now that he sees what the divine Being has meant to humanity throughout the ages of time, how vividly the teachings of Christ are illustrated by the prehistoric annals of mankind, how suggestive of heavenly light are many of the beliefs and practices with which he has come in contact, yet how incomparably superior is the Faith of Pentecost. To what extent this is actually borne out by the facts must of course be our main object of controversy, — it is now to be estab- lished by a painstaking analysis of all the data. But that this may be the final effect of the book, is the sincere desire of the author. If, then, the present work is branded as a "Tendenzschrift," we have nothing to say beyond what has already been noted above. We all have "tendencies" of one kind or another, and the obvious course is to measure the value of the tendency by an impartial appeal to the logic of facts. The true tendency will vindicate its own right to existence. PROLOG 15 In the nature of the case this work must assume the character of a com- pilation. The field of comparative and prehistoric religion being well- nigh illimitable, it is beyond the capacity of any single individual to master it with his own private resources, — he must be copiously supported by the investigations of others if his work is to be in any sense comprehensive as well as convincing. It is, therefore, necessary for me to preface once and for all that a large portion of this book is the result of the labors of spe- cialists, whose willing cooperation has been secured, and to whom I am directly indebted for immediate and timely illumination. For while I can say without exaggeration that a large part of the prehistoric and Baby- lonian cuneiform matter is in a more direct sense my own work, while the entire treatment of the subject, with its analyses, criticisms and conclu- sions, as well as the diagrams, stands and falls with my own personality, it would be grossly wanting in propriety not to acknowledge the immense debt that is due to the labors of the many authors who have made it pos- sible for me to collect this material and to offer it to the public in a new and more easily accessible dress. No modern writer can face the world of criticism unless he is firmly supported by authorities of the highest rank, — it would be unblushing audacity to attempt such a thing, — he must let the voice of professional scholarship speak without reserve, even if that voice be occasionally ambiguous and wanting in firm and well-tested solidity, — he cannot afford to stand on his own feet. It has, therefore, been my spe- cial endeavor to illustrate this subject by appealing to as many first-class authorities as is conveniently possible. I am, in fact, re-editing their work per longum et latum, though I wish it to be distinctly understood that all obligations have been publicly or privately acknowledged. Among these obligations those to the British Museum and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania take the first place. Dr. Kenyon has given me full authority to publish the "Cuneiform Texts" in the Ulnited States with inter- linear transliterations, while rare and interesting material has been obtained from Prof. Hilprecht's "Old Babylonian Inscriptions" and Prof. Langdon's newly-edited "Sumerian Psalms." A special and personal tribute of thanks is due to Prof. George S. Duncan, of the department of Assyriology and Egyptology of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, for reviewing the Babylonian matter and transcribing and translating the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, — the latter entirely his own composition. A word of acknowledgment is also due to Drs. Butin and Vaschalde of the Catholic University of America, and especially to Dr. Kennedy, without whom I could hardly have undertaken this work. These and that emi- nent Jewish expert. Dr. Immanuel Casanowicz, are the principal gentle- men in Washington to whom I owe a lasting debt of personal gratitude. 16 PREHISTORIC RELIGION In the department of Persian hieratic literature, I have obtained prac- tically all that is here offered from the pen of my own father, the late Professor Lawrence Heyworth Mills, Doctor of Divinity of Columbia Uni- versity, New York, and for many years Professor of Iranian Literature and Philology in the University of Oxford, England. While I have the highest regard for the standing and the accomplishments of this eminent scholar, — in his own day undoubtedly the greatest living authority on the pre-exilic Persian or Achaemanean Zoroastrianism, — I have taken the liberty of viewing the entire subject from a some- what different standpoint, and although I may rightfully assume that his literary productions are technically flawless, I have put my own perspec- tive into their higher theological interpretation. As to the prehistoric archaeological and ethnological data, it would take a small volume even to mention the names of those upon whose works I have reared the greater part of this edifice. The present abnormal state of the world has made it impossible to communicate with many of these European gentlemen, whose timely word of advice and assistance would have been most desirable. I can only presume their cooperation and gen- erous approval when making use of their sources. In the meantime a sincere word of appreciation is due to Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and to his co-workers at the Smithsonian Insti- tution, for supplying me with many archaeological curiosities, and for reviewing the material on the North-American folklore, and especially on the Pueblo ritual. Mr. W. H. Holmes furnished the Aztec fire-temple. Finally, it is impossible to bring out a "prehistoric bible" of this nature without craving the indulgence of the public, and still more that of accredited scholars, on the subject of its necessary imperfections. It is beyond all human capacity to produce an ideally perfect edition of any ancient text by purely autographic methods, — try as hard as he may, the copyist is bound to make some slips and oversight; he is only human. And as in the present case the author is at the same time the copyist and has had to do the entire work from cover to cover without any assistance, it should be understood that these reproductions are only approximations, they cannot claim to be absolutely exact. It is therefore confidently expected that, with all the care that has been given to make these texts, tablets and transcriptions as nearly perfect as possible, the few oversights will be readily pardoned in view of the substantial accuracy of the great bulk of the work. Philo L. Mills, Capital Publishers, Washington, D. C. Sept. 24, 1918. PREFACE 17 A GENERAL ORIENTATION ON THE STATUS QUAESTIONIS To bring before the reader the main points of our present study in more clear and concise form, I have thought it useful to bring out the chief objects of controversy with a vievs^ to shov^^ing how I intend to handle these questions and what provisions have been made to meet the more common objections that will naturally arise and to guard against all pos- sible misunderstandings. The following should be carefully borne in mind by all who peruse these pages with a view to understanding their general spirit and tendency. (1) The doctrine of unlimited evolution naturally finds no place in the present work. Natural reason and supernatural light are at one in con- demning a system which is scientifically, philosophically and theologically false. Hence it will be of inestimable value to discover that in every department of religious belief and practice there is evidence of an initial fulness and integrity which cannot be explained on Darwinian or evolu- tional lines, but presupposes the direct influx of a higher Power, something transcendent. (2) Applying this to the human species as such, it will be found that by no possibility can the original type of mankind be deduced from an anthropoidal precursor, but that on the contrary, the gap between savage and simian is more glaring in the earlier than in the later ages of humanity, which suggests that there has been a very large, if not a universal physical degeneration. Primitive man was undoubtedly an ideal and unique being. What we see is the more or less corrupted though comparatively pure sur- vivor, not the "ideal" man. (3) From this it will follow that no existing type of humanity can be regarded as the bearer of an undiluted primitive faith except as an approximation, as something similar to what was once upon the earth. Hence all the existing savage beliefs are more or less tainted, but exhibit greater or less approximations to absolute truth in proportion to their antiquity or to the purity with which the primitive revelation has been handed down. (4) On the other hand, there is no direct connexion between religious and material culture, the earliest races of man being culturally low but religiously and morally highly developed. In fact, an advance in culture is often accompanied by a collective degeneration, as can be easily proved. Only in Christianity do we find the highest material and moral civilisation fused into one, but even this by no immanent necessity. 18 PREFACE (5) The "Law of Progress" is not so simple that it can be expressed in a single sentence. It is a complicated equation, better expressed by the zigzag than by the straight line. The fact is, humanity can advance in one sense and retard in another, and throughout all history there have been upward and downward developments sometimes going on simultaneously. It would be better to say that there is no "law" of progress when we are dealing with free agents, — it is a pure fiction except when applied to purely material or cultural data. (6) Hence in surveying the succeeding chapters it must not be in- ferred that because a belief is put down as early, it is either the best or the most primitive, but simply that it is relatively pure, comparatively primi- tive. An idea may be late in its expression but absolutely primitive in its content for the simple reason that the ideal ancestor is beyond our reach. (7) This concerns more especially the relation of the written super- natural or- the inspired biblical truth to the faded or fragmentary super- natural as we read it in the corrupted folklore of humanity. On no account can a direct equation be established between any biblical and "babylon- ian" subject in such sense as to insinuate that the one is simply a fuller edition of the other, a more perfect recension. THE WRITTEN BIBLE IS LATE IN ITS APPEARANCE BUT ABSOLUTELY PURE AND PRIMITIVE IN ITS MESSAGE, WHILE THE EXTRA-BIBLICAL TRADITIONS HOLD A PRIORITY OF COMPOSITION BUT NOT OF CONTENT: THEY ARE VALUABLE ONLY IN SO FAR AS THEY LEND CONFIRMATION TO THE BIBLICAL RECORD WHICH IS ITSELF FOUNDED ON PREHIS- TORIC RECORDS WHICH HAVE SINGE BEEN LOST. This of course must be our principal controversial thesis throughout the work and it is vitally important to its clear understanding. Revelation is wider than inspiration, it is true; but I hope to show under each chapter that in no case has the inspired author simply "exploited" the contemporary records, but that on the contrary, the internal and external evidence shows very clearly that while the terminology and literary setting may often be traced to extra-biblical parallels, the dogmatic ideas are absolutely independent and presuppose a direct illumination of the mind of the inspired writer, by which the true religious history of man was brought before his vision, free from every taint of error or corruption. In this way the divine tradi- tion is seen to be independent of any of its falsely supposed pagan "sources," while the supernatural cannot be derived out of the natural, as I have explained in the Prolog. These few words will suffice for the present in order to put into proper perspective the general framework of our collected material. Its applica- tion to individual subjects will be found under each chapter. Philo L. Mills, October 2, 1918. PREHISTORIC RELIGION INTRODUCTION In every investigation there is something that is taken for granted, and something for which we are searching, in the hope of discovering a new line of facts. In the present study on the primitive religion of man there are two questions that present themselves for immediate solution by way of a preamble: — (1) Are there any primitive types of man in existence? (2) Is it possible to reconstruct their religion from the scattered materials that have come down to us? As to the first question, it must be admitted that, as far as the general verdict of biology is concerned, there is no type of man at present in existence that can claim to be a literally primitive type. Such a form has passed out of existence long ago and is past recovery. Incessant changes, — climatic, physical, psychological or functional, — have so modified the organic structure of man, have so influenced his constitution, somatic and psychic, that it would be bold indeed to point to any section of the race as representative of the common ancestor of mankind. On the other hand it is no less evident that among the existing races of man there are great differences. There are some that are culturally recent, others admittedly ancient, while still others seem to mirror the conditions of life of an age which has long since perished, — to represent in fact a type which is relatively primitive, — an approach at least to primitive man. It is with such a type that our present study is occupied. As to the second question, it is true that much of our material is scat- tered, fragmentary, and at times dtefective. But this is no reason for reject- ing the combined weight of the evidence en m/isse. The deficiency of single areas can generally be corrected by the wealth and promise of more favored regions. The material must be carefully sifted. The combined picture thus obtained should furnish a sufiicient basis for drawing con- clusions of a solid and scientific value. In no case can evidence be accepted that is based upon loose or inaccurate data. The material must come from an unimpeachable source. 11 PREHISTORIC RELIGION Let us approach this subject in the light of existing evidence. I. THE QUESTION OF "REAL PRIMITIVES" (A) The Evidence op Culture, — The Pre-Ghbllean Age In looking for the earliest types of humanity there are two methods at our disposal. We may dig into the earth and search for his early remains, for the earliest vestiges of his bones and industry, — or, we may turn to the living races and argue backwards, — we may say that the lowest and least developed section of humanity is apt to represent the earlier type. The one is the method of palaeontology, the other of comparative ethnol- ogy, and both are fruitful and productive of important results. But in comparing the value of each method we shall find that the evidence afforded by the living survivor is in many respects more certain, more direct, and more complete, than that obtained from his osseous remains. It is more certain, — ^because the number of facts is greater, and the general principle of a gradation of culture unquestionable, — it is more direct, — because we see the original actually before our eyes, — it is more com- plete, — because the existing type brings before us the life of primitive man in all its entirety, without the help of imaginary reconstructions, based on a few flints and cranial fragments. A brief consideration will make this clear. It has been possible in recent times to produce a fairly accurate picture of neolithic and even palaeolithic man. We see ourselves reflected in the Lake-dwellers of Europe, and to'some extent in the Mammoth and Bear-hunters of the great Ice Age. But the further we go back, the more dim grows the picture, the more scanty the materials for the reconstruction of man. For if the neolithic remains are generally complete and sufficiently numerous to afford a fairly satisfactory picture, the glacial skeletons are with few exceptions faulty and fragmentary, they consist for the most part of por- tions of a skull, a rib, or a shin-bone, from which with their accompanying industry the living form is conjured up from the dead, — ^we are told to look to the Australian for his modern representative. Now it is quite true that these buried or "fossil" remains are very important, they furnish in fact an indirect check to the ethnological data. But their combined result is otherwise disappointing. They tell us little of the real appearance of man, little of his daily life, nothing of his social organisation, and next to nothing of his religious beliefs. At most, they are mere landmarks, mile- stones in the early history of man.^ ^— 1 Compare in this connection G. Scott-EUiot, Prehistoric Man and His Story, (London, 1915), who^e reconstructions are more ingenuous than scientific, though as anthropoidal types they are possibly of some value. The same of H. F. Osbom, Men of the Old Stone Age, (New York, 1916), an otherwise admirable work. INTRODUCTION III A far more satisfactory method is that of turning to the existing races of man and asking ourselves the simple question, — Who are the lowest in the scale of human culture? For the general principle will be accepted, that in the upward ascent of man the lower normally precedes the higher stage of civilisation, that where we find a comparative blank we have reasons to suspect a case of arrested development, — a primitive survival. The Ages op Man It is evident for instance that we are now living in the age of iron and steel, of electricity and motor-cars, and we feel quite certain that where these are entirely absent it is a sufficiently plain proof that the people lived before these powers or commodities were discovered or became the recognised means of construction, of transportation. It is possible, of course, for a man to bury himself in the back woods, to return to the "simple" life, to live like a savage, — but it is quite impossible for an entire race to do so without assuming something akin to a miracle, an extraor- dinary catastrophe, by which the whole of the former civilisation was wiped out, entirely forgotten. Now although there is some evidence for cultural breaks, and even catastrophes, in the early history of man, there is hardly a single case in which a typical industry, once established, has ever been abandoned without the introduction of a higher industry, which industry has been normally evolved out of the lower. On this the buried remains speak with no uncertain voice. In every case the cruder tools have given away to the more perfected implements, and as to the celebrated "golden" age, where is the evidence that this age was material rather than moral, an age of peace and of spiritual enlightenment? = The Bronze Age But if the use of the black metals marks the highest level of "civilised" man, the preceding Bronze and Copper Period is no less distinctive. It belongs essentially to those half-cultured yellow races of Central Asia who have carried their yellow metal to the furthest ends of the earth, not perhaps in person, but by contact with neighboring peoples. India, Arabia, North Africa, the Malay Archipelago, — all have felt the influence of the bronze sword, and its presence is an infallible index that these peoples are living in a period which has definitely passed away for the higher races, say, between 2- and 4000 B. C. These shining metals are also found in the New World, the Indians being the bearers of a high copper industry. ^Comp. W. I. Thomas, Source-book for Social Origins, (Chicago, 1912), p. 33Sff. for inventions and technology J. Dechelette, Manuel d'Archeologie, (Paris, 1908), for palaeo- graphic data. IV PREHISTORIC RELIGION The New Stone Age It is possible, however, to go considerably further down in the scale of human progress. "We have all heard of the great Stone Age, and its name marks it ofT from all the metallic cultures. Though distributed over vast sections of the earth's surface, it exists in its purity only in the wilder and less accessible portions of the globe, more especially in the Oceanic and Australian regions of the far East. In all other quarters it is partly fused with the metal cultures, though it still forms the background of the Central Indian, the North-African, and the native North and South-Ameri- can cultures. The American Indian is still living in the Stone Age, even though he understands the use of copper and has borrowed his steel chisel from the whites, for the latter are clearly imported or superficially acquired, — otherwise he would not continue the use of stone as the chief instru- ment of his handicraft. This puts him back at least 5000 years before the commencement of the present era, and for similar reasons the above races must be dated back to a period at least equally early. The Old Stone Age But the shape and finish of stone implements is by no means uniform. There is a sharp distinction between the perfected and polished flint of the neolithic age and the more crude productions of its predecessor, a difference which is accompanied by a standard of life and industry which is in every respect more primitive. Man is no longer tied to the soil, he has become a wild hunter, for whom the animal creation possesses a paramount interest, it becomes the chief theme of his art, of his inspira- tion. Clothing, housing, nutrition, navigation, and so on, — all are adapted to the more simple requirements of the buffalo-hunt, they show a continual tendency to become less artificial, more and more dependent on the needs and circumstances of the hour, — ^^skin-raiment, round-house, forest-fauna, bark-canoe, etc. — the latter a specially commodious and portable means of locomotion. Among the peoples where this phase of life may still be seen in its more essential features are the wild Dravidians of Southern India, the Bantus of Eastern Africa, the Prairie Indians of North America, and again the Australian and Melanesian peoples of Oceanica. While the staple foods and commodities vary considerably throughout this region, the general similarity in habits and conditions of life, more espe- cially in the interior, is too striking not to arrest attention. They carry us back to the time when our forefathers hunted the bison on the steppes of Central Europe, — a period between 10 and 20000 years before Christ.' 'W. J. SoUas, Ancient Hunters and their modern Representatives, (London 1915) pp 160ff. Obermaier, Der Mensch der Vorzeit, (Vienna, 1914), pp. 176, 253, 316ff. It is' not- pretended that the American and European Palaeolithic were strictly contemporaneous. The glacial culture of Europe reached America at a later age. See p. LVI. INTRODUCTION V The Age op Shell, Bone, and Bamboo Will it be possible to sink still lower, to arrive at a period when human- ity had not even acquired the art of making the pointed flint, of cutting the hard stone into the more or less defmite form of a lozenge? Such a period seems to be postulated by the existence of "eoliths," which are hardly more than scrapers, rough flints of jagged outline, of irregular pattern. In view of the fact, however, that acknowledged experts are unable to agree as to the human origin of these flints, and that several notable writers have boldly denied it, they are not a safe means for measuring the age or industry of a people, they are of no value as a time- piece, except in so far as their exclusive use would seem to show that the users had not yet arrived at the stage known as the Ghellean industry. If, however, we find a group of peoples who cannot manufacture any kind of a flint, but simply pick up the eoliths ready made, and whose cut- ting-implements consist for the most part of flakes, shells, bones, bamboo- slivers, and pointed pieces of wood, hardened or "tempered" by flre, — the suggestion arises that they may belong to an age before flint-chisels were manufactured, especially when their mode and manner of life is even more primitive than anything to be found in the Stone Ages. Who are these peoples? Geographical Extent op the Bamboo Culture (1) Malay Peninsula: — "Stone implements are very numerous in the peninsula, but it is an open question whether any forms of stone imple- ment, except possibly chips or flakes, were ever manufactured by any of the wild tribes, the weight of evidence being decidedly against it. Th(e rudimentary stage through which these tribes have passed, and in some cases are still passing, may perhaps be more accurately described as a "wood and bone" age than as an age of stone. The most primitive form of knife, still found among them, consists of a sharp sliver of bamboo, which makes a very fair tool. None are in the habit of dressing them- selves in the skins of animals, or of decorating themselves with the feathers of birds. "They use a girdle made of leaves or fungus-strings, and live in the simplest of wind-shelters. Their weapons are the wooden bow and the bamboo blowpipe, they hunt the tiger, the elephant and the rhinoceros, but they do not resort to the hunting of game until their supply of vegetable food begins to give out. They live off wild yams and jungle produce, they "plow" fire, but have no knowledge of navigation. Their bamboo tubes furnish the only music." * * W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, (London, 1906), Vol. I. pp. 242, 249ff. (weapons and implements), 137-138, (dress), 168ff. (habitations), 200, (hunting), 109, (food), 113, (fire). Vol. II. 11/ff. (music), — an indispensable work on the aboriginal life, recommended \o all beginners (copious illustrations.) VI PREHISTORIC RELIGION Geographical Extent of the Bamboo Culture (2) Andaman Islands: — "Stones are not used by the Andamanese for cutting wood or bone, the latter being usually crushed by a hammer for the sake of the marrow. Before the (quite recent) introduction of iron, small holes were bored with bone or pieces of shell, but rarely if ever with stone, and no implement has been found which might be supposed to have served as a stone saw or scraper, for which purpose shells apparently have been generally employed. The Andamanese assert that they never, even when iron was scarce, made arrow-heads, axes, adzes, or chisels of stone. They also affirm that the fragments that have been found in the kitchen-middens are merely quartz-flakes or broken pieces of cook- ing stones or hones which in former times, as now, were thrown among the rubbish when no longer in use. The bamboo, though not employed in such a variety of ways as it is by many savages, is yet in constant use, — for the making of harpoon and arrow-shafts, of water-holders, knives, tongs, and netting-needles." Their only vesture consists of small bunches of Pandanus-leaves, skins of animals are not made use of in any way, and their huts are simple lean-to's or tree-shelters. With large bows and harpoons they hunt for flesh, fish, or fowl indiscriminately, though here also their primary diet is a vegetable one. They cannot make fire, but produce rude pottery and fairly good canoes, made of solid tree-stumps, and formerly hollowed out with shells." (3) Southern India, Ceylon: — Among the Forest- Veddas the use of stone, except in the shape of quartz-eoliths, is apparently unknown. Here the bow and arrow seem to perform the function of implements. "The arrow is still the almost universal cutting-tool, as we had good opportunity of ascertaining at Hennebedda." Both are made of hardwood or bamboo, and the bowstring of twisted tree-bast. Their leaf-hut is equally primitive, and their hunting-life closely resembles that of the Andamanese. Like them they make crude pottery, but do not manufacture any kind of canoe.' (4) Philippines: — The Negritos of Zambales make practically every- thing out of bamboos, banana-leaves, and bark fibre-strings. In no single case has the use of stone chiseling instruments been reported. In the wild state they build rough wind-screens, hunt the forest deer with bamboo bows and arrows, and use the bamboo firestick. Baskets, combs, knives, fiddles and flutes, — all are made of the same material. Navigation is wanting.'^ ^ E. H. Man, On the Original Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, (London, 1885), p. 160- 161 (flint chips and shells, — cf. Stoliczka, Notes on the Kjokken-Moddings of the Andaman Islands), p. 157 (bamboos), p. 110 (attire), p. 39 (huts), p. 179 (shell-adze). » C. G. Selig- man, The Veddas, (Cambridge, 1911), p. 324ff. (tools, etc.), p. 19-20 (quartz implements), p. 36ff. (huts). 'W. A. Reed, Negritos of Zambales (Manila, 1904), p. 39-48, (general ethnology) . INTRODUCTION VII Geographical Extent op the Bamboo Culture (3) Borneo: — The wild Dayaks, or Bakatans, are grouped in small communities and inhabit the dense jungle at the head-waters of the prin- cipal rivers of Borneo. They are a nomad people who build no permanent houses of any kind, do not cultivate the soil, and live by hunting and gathering the wild fruits and jungle produce. Their mode of life is very much more primitive than that of the Kayans and other inhabitants of the interior. Leaf-shelter, fire-stick, absence of clothing, use of cocoanut- shells, of palm and banana-leaves, of bamboo harps, flutes, implements, and blowpipes, all connect them with the Malakkan, and still more with the Philippine region, the actual use of higher stone implements being conspicuous by its absence.^ (4) Celebes: — The Toalas or "Back-woodsmen" of Celebes make quartz imitations of palaeolithic celts, but their quality is far inferior to the Magdalenian flints, the natives preferring the use of tooth, bone, and bamboo." (5) New Guinea and Melanesia: — Though the Papuans are living in an age of stone, there are many tribes in the interior that reveal vestiges of a far more primitive state. Among the Mimika of the North-West "the one and only kind of shelter (except the communal dwelling) is the primitive and temporary leaf-hut, pitched to the ground." Though in possession of a stone adze, a great deal of their cutting is done by means of shells and bone-scrapers, and among the Tapiros these and the split bamboos are the only cutting instruments of native use. The Mafulus of the East know nothing but a shell, bone, and bamboo industry, their stone axe being borrowed from the coast tribes. This distinctive culture may in fact be traced far into Melanesia, where it still survives in the bamboo- knives, bows and arrows, quivers and Jew's harps, that are so frequently met with." (6) Central Africa: — ^Among the Akkas or Negrillos of the great Congo region, a very similar stage of industrial life has been revealed. Most of the above elements are here represented in equally crude form, and as to the use of stone implements, there is nothing intermediate between the borrowed iron and the prehistoric bone or shell-industry, if we except a few stone hammers or scrapers. Central Africa has hardly been touched by the palaeolithic wave, and its isolation is still to be accounted for.^^ 8H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, (London, 1896) Vol. I. p. 16-18 A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, black, white, and brown, (London, 1901), p. 320. Hose and McDougall, Journ. Anthr. Instit. (1901) Vol. XXXI, p. 125, A. W. >Iieu- wenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, (Leyden, 1907) Vol. I. p. 52. » P. and F. Sarasin, Materialien zur Naturgeschichte der Insel Celebes, (Wiesbaden, 1905), Vol. V. Pt. I. p. 9-26ff. " C. G. Rawling, The Land of the New Guinea Pygmies, (London, 1913) p. 253-259 (shells, split rattans). W. Williamson, The Mafulu Mountain People of British New Guinea, (London, 1912) p. 26flf. 11 B. Ankermann, L'Ethnographie actuelle de I'Afrique meridionale. Anthropos, I. (1906) p. 919. Mgr. LeRoy, Les Pygmees d'Afrique et de ITnde. (Tours, undated) p. 255. VIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Geographical Extent oe the Bamboo Culture (9) SoiUh America: — In the forests of Central Brazil there are groups of wild peoples who seem to be on the same primitive level of existence. "The Shingu-tribes are living in an age of shell, wood, tooth, and bone,"— such is the implied conclusion of the greatest expert on the Amazon- ian region, and it is based on the fact that so few of the natives under- stand the art of making a celt, though they are otherwise intelligent and the materials are not wanting. All their necessities are supplied by the natural produce of the jungle, — cane, rattan, bamboo, or palm- wood, — and the exceedingly low state of their culture is out of harmony with what we know of the material condition of the stone-age peoples. If a stone- industry is nevertheless in existence, the above author is convinced that these are not native but imported features. A similar condition is revealed by the Kaingang and Botokudos in the mountainous regions of Eastern Brazil." A Parallel Culture in the Antarctic Region But if all the above phenomena be explained on the principle of accli- matisation, of the loss of a high stone culture through migration into the tropics, where stone is scarce, and wood and bamboo abundant, such a theory is gravely impugned by the parallel condition of very low peoples at the extreme southern ends of each of the continents, to wit — The Tasmanians, Bushmen, and Fuegians Here we find an almost identical state of affairs as in the equatorial belt, less only the tropical material, out of which weapons and implements are manufactured. The Tasmanian is still very near the "eolithic" age of industry, stones and sticks are his only weapons, flakes or scrapers his only tools, and his manner of life is almost equally primitive.^' The same to some extent of the Bushmen," also the Fuegians." The very fact that these tribes go almost naked and sleep in miserable lean-to's in spite of the biting frosts of a frigid climate, this alone is sufficient evidence that they have never learnt the art of making clothes or houses, they are a "survival." A Pre-palaeolithic Horizon (?) If then a pre-palaeolithic age is unquestionable, it will seem highly probable that the above equatorial peoples have not lost a higher stone industry, but have never possessed one, as it is inconceivable that such an enormous section of humanity should have sunk to the crude level of life in which we find them, — a level far below the wildest of North-American Indians." 12 K. Von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvolkem Central Brasiliens (Berlin, 1894) p 200-204ff. P. Ehrenreich, Uber die Botokudos, (in ZE. 1887, p. 14-33.) "H Ling-RoA The Aborigines of Tasmania, (Halifax, 1899) p. 67, 83, 14S (eoliths.) i* G. W. Stow The Native Races of South-Africa (London, 1910) p. 62f f. " J. M. Cooper DD. Bulletin 63 of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, 1917) p. 223. i«Obermaier, 1. c. 176, 415 For a full presentation of the culture argument see below, pp. XLI, 121ff, where the entire material, mental, social and religious complexity is seen to form a "convergence" irresistible in its power. INTRODUCTION IX (B)The Evidence op Government, — the Patrurchal'Agb This is not the place to enter into a discussion of all the theories that have been propounded to solve the problem of the primitive social organi- sation of man. Such a solution seems as far off as ever as long as we confine ourselves to one line of argument to the exclusion of every other. Nay more, the supposed priority of this or that social system cannot be judged on its ovs^n merits, (intrinsic probability), but must be determined in every case by the concomitant evidence of the cultural and ethnological sciences, vi^hich in this respect should claim our principal attention. In other words, the priority of a system should be judged by the priority of its culture, and not otherwise. This means that a sociological argument tends to become more and more a cultural one, and is treated as such by the more advanced experts. Nevertheless, there is something to be said for the psychological method, to this extent at least, that, given a complex system, a more simple state of society is thereby postulated. Now in comparing the social condition of the above peoples even with their nearest neighbors, a perceptible difference is at once noticeable. Kingship and aristocracies are for the most part unknown, hereditary chieftainship as a rule the exception, natural "headmanship" by far the more common, and simple patriarchal rule on family units the most com- mon of all, — evidently the basis of the entire system. But what is still more important, the complicated institution of totemism, by which the whole of the community is divided into innumerable clans or septs, and these again combined into higher groups, known as the two-, four-, or eight-class "phratries," — such a state of society is largely unknown to these peoples, and it is a point upon which I desire to lay particular stress. While a primitive tribal division is here and there to be found, and may no doubt have taken place in very early times, it seems quite certain that the family must have preceded the higher unit, whether as class or clan, that the individual must have existed before the social group, unless we admit a system of group-evolution from lower forms, a theory which is entirely arbitrary and has no foundation in fact. What we see in this lowest stratum of human culture is the prominence of the individual as against the state, a method of government in which the father of a family obtains a "natural" leadership, which is largely independent of the col- lective group." 1° See the above authors passim, under social organisation, government, totemism, relation- ship, etc. Thus Skeat, I. 494. Man, 40, S8. Seligman, 59-121. Reed, 70. Ling-Roth (Borneo), CXCVII. Hose and McDougall, 202-212, Sarasin, V (II). 125. Rawling, 275. Williamson, 90, 114. LeRoy, 210, 221. Von den Steinen, 330. Ehrenreich, 30. Ling-Roth (Tasm),S7,63. Stow, 33. Coojjer, 149, 177. But Bushmen are more advanced and most Melanesians have arrived at totemic organisation. Comp. also W. I. Thomas, Source-Book for Social Origins (1912), p. 7S3f f . on the Patriarchate. Contra : E. S. Hartland, "Matrilineal Kinship and the Question of its Priority," Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. IV, No. 1 (Jan.-March, 1917), whose analysis is excellent but incomplete. The author seems to be entirely oblivious of the above peoples, where father-right is the preponderating, if not the only form. X PREHISTORIC RELIGION This has been well expressed by Ratzel and Westermarck: — "Among most 'natural' races the family and society form unions so large, so frequently coinciding, so exclusive, that little remains to spare for the state. The rapid break-up of (the later) empires is counterbalanced by the sturdy tribal life. When the empires fall to pieces, new ones form themselves from the old tribes. The family of blood-relations, in their coinmon barrack or village, represents at the same time a political unit, which can from time to time enter into combination with others of the same kind, to which perhaps it is bound by more distant relationship. But it is quite content to remain by itself so long as no external power operates to shake its narrow contentment. Negro Africa, with all its wealth of population, contains no single really large state. In that country, the greater an empire, the less its duration and the looser its cohesion. It requires greater organising and consolidating power, such as we meet with among the Fulbes or Wahuma, not merely to found, but also, even if with difficulty, to maintain kingdoms like Sokoto or Uganda. Even the Zulus, high as they stand in warlike organisation, have never been able to spread permanently beyond their natural boundaries, and at the same time maintain cohesion with their own country. Even in the Mussulman states of the Sudan we meet with this want of firm internal cohesion, which is equally at the bottom of the weakness which brought down the native states of Central and South America. . . In the Malay Archipelago it seems not to have been until the arrival of Islam that the formation of states rose above disjointed village communities. Even in our own day the great powers of South and East Asia lacked the clearness and definition in the matter of political allegiance, which are a privilege of the higher civilisations." " "The suggestion that, in olden times, the natural guardian of the chil- dren was not the father, but the maternal uncle, has no foundation in fact. Neither has the hypothesis that all the males of the tribe indiscriminately were the guardians. All the evidence we possess tends to show that among our earliest human ancestors the family, not the tribe, forced the nucleus of every social group. Even now there are savage peoples of the loXvest type who live rather in separate families than in tribes, and facts indicate that the chief reason for this is want of sufficient food ( ?) . The sociability of man sprang in the main from progressive intellectual and material civilisation, whilst the tie that kept together husband and wife, parents and children, was, if not the only, at least the principal factor in the earliest forms of man's social life." " 18 F Ratzel, A History of Mankind, Vol. I. p. 138. i' Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage (N. Y. 1903), p. S38. INTRODUCTION XI (C)The Evidence op Language, — the Prb-Inplbxional Age On the same principle it is impossible to argue with absolute certainty that the structure and vocabulary of a language is an infallible index of its relative age, that because we find words that are short and simple, they are ipso facto the earlier forms. Phonetic decay has affected nearly every living tongue, and is demonstrable for the modern Chinese, and to some extent also for modern English. The history of language is not so simple a matter that it can be expressed by a rigid formula, according to which the monosyllabic invariably precedes the agglutinative, this again the inflexional or polysynthetic stage. A reverse process is conceivable, at least in the matter of syllables. On the other hand it is equally one-sided to deny the existence of primitive "roots" on the ground that no root-sound was ever uttered by man, and that primitive languages already show an advanced, a complex organisation. Now such a statement is at variance with facts. Nearly all the tongues spoken by the above peoples are simple and crude in the extreme, monosyl- labic roots are common, not only as interjections, but as fully constituted words, descriptive of persons, actions, or things. But what is more strik- ing, there is practically no syntax, — no delicate arrangement of words or particles by which the meaning of the sentence is more or less modified, if we except a few inversions or prepositional uses. The meaning is more often determined by the context or by the tone of voice, and as to inflexions, they simply do not exist. There is often no article, no gender, number or case, no declensions, no conjugations, no voices, moods, or tenses, other than occasional inversions, reduplications, appositions, or postpositions. The same word may stand for noun, verb, or adjective, and even when of two or more syllables, the use of prefixes, affixes, or infixes as an integral part of a word is quite frequently wanting. This means that many of these tongues have not even arrived at the agglutinative stage of develop- ment, and apart from any theories, it seems incredible that these races should have entirely lost a developed grammar, together with a higher numeral system, if they had ever possessed one. Again, the existing dis- tribution of archaic Melanesian forms is phenomenal, — extending from Hawai to New Zealand, and from Madagascar to Easter Island, almost to within reach of the South-American continent, — further evidence for the priority and remote antiquity of the Oceanic tongues.^* ^* For the aboriginal dialects of Malakka, consult C. 0. Blagden, apud Skeat op. cit. II. 481ff. O. Tauern, Versuch einer Sakai-Grammatik (Anthropos, Vol. IX 1914) p. 529. For the other regions see the above authors under "language," and comp. H. Codrington, The Melanesian Languages (Oxford, 1885) p. lOlff. There is considerable evidence to shovir that human language was originally one, and continued to be one in root-sounds long after agglutination had begun to operate. XII PREHISTORIC RELIGION To take an illustration from the Senoi-Sakai dialects of Central Malakka, we shall see at a glance how simple, or rather "imitative," they appear to be. Thus,— fing- cha cha-na, "I eat rice", Heh te-las kuh ka jih, "He has killed flsh this-one", Derk eng be ma-chut, "House mine very small". Ok iodz eng ma he, "Give axe mine to him". He chip ma'lor?, "You go to where? (whither?)", Ja-lok me-nang eng hot chip ma se-rak bort chep, "Tomorrow brother mine will go to forest, catch birds", [mxi, general particle for motion, direction) Abu eng to, peng ta adja, "My father (is) a great chief, great master", etc. The Andamanese, though essentially monosyllabic, has advanced to agglutination: — Ar-tam do-ra ab-ja-bag I'eda-re, dona a-chitik a-be-ri nga-ke, "Dora was formerly a bad man, but now he is a good one," lit- erally: artam, formerly, dora (proper name), ab-ja-bag, man-bad, I'eda-re, exist-did, (feuphonic, eda, exist, re, did,-past time), (lona, but, a-chitik, now, a-be-ri-nga-ke, man-good is {ke, present time) {Abu, abe, apai, gen- erically for man,-father or mother.) The Sinhalese, though considerably influenced by Sanskrit, shows many archaic forms as spoken by the wilder Veddas: — Bus-kV Bas-Ki! adina atak gena at baruwak gena pimbina atak gena, thopa ammat appat enda kiyapa, — "Bush-ki, Bash-ki! (imitating cry of deer), bring the bow, axe, and firestick, and tell your mother and father to come", {atak gena, lit. pulling-stick.) The Philippine Negrito and Bornean Dayak exhibit the Austronesian tongues in their greatest purity, as witness: — A-ma na-na ma-ham-pa, "Father-mother are good", Iko sam a-nak m,ang-an-ka-nin, "I and my chil- dren eat boiled rice", Al-lo bu-in bi-tu-in alet la-lang-it, "Sun, moon, and stars, shine in the sky", (Zambal-Aeta.) A-ba-lin-go Orma-ka ta-bru-wa tOrpeng ta adja bali pen-ya-long, "Our Father (in) heaven (is a) great father, great spirit, great master, great man, a heavenly spirit" (Central Bornese and Forest-Dayak) . The Melanesian languages will be found to re-echo many of the above word forms, and to show in fact traces of an original linguistic unity. This is less the case "with the Tasmanian- Australian group, though expres- sions like {a)-baia, at-natu, dara, papang, mung-an, mara-wa, point in the same direction. For the Congo region of Central Africa we have abundant illustra- tions: — A-bor-ta a-dya ani-dmba wa-lungu wa^nkula wa-aka wa^ba-twa, etc. The father hunter, the great one, who has made the heavens, the fruit-trees, the black man, the persecuted race", {wa sign of plural, twa passive of ta, to hunt.) For the Amazonian belt we have such forms as Aba-angui pa-pa ka- mu-shi-ni, "Father (of) heaven, father (of) shining light", in which the same fundamental roots may be traced, though the structure is otherwise polysynthetic." i» These examples are taken partly from quoted authorities, partly from material collected by the author independently. Further illustrations will be found throughout the text of this book. INTRODUCTION XIII '(D)Thb Evidence of Mathematics and Music THE quinary system AND THE PENTATONIC SCALE It will stand to reason that when life is simple and the needs of a peo- ple are few, the science of counting will be correspondingly weakly devel- oped, that there will be little or nothing to count. At the same time, some method of measuring things, of determining, for instance, the number of foodstuffs collected, — ^plants, animals, or birds,— will be clearly of primary importance, ajid must have taken place at a very early age of human devel- opment. There can now be little doubt that the first measuring-rod of humanity was supplied by the human body, it was the legs and arms, and more especially the fingers, that were first used to express number. This means that the first mathematical system was a quinary one, based on the five fingers of one hand, the decimal system being by comparison com- plicated and presupposing at least a greater number of things to count, while the astronomical method of dividing the year into months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes, according to the relative position of sun, moon, and stars in the zodiac etc. requires an elaborate study of the motions of the heavenly bodies, which (except for day and night-divisions, seasons and so on), can hardly be credited to the unsophisticated consciousness of early man. Now this is in harmony with what we actually find among the lowest peoples of whom we know. Among the aborigines of Malakka native numerals do not extend beyond three, four, or five, all higher digits being demonstrably of Malay origin. In the Andaman Islands the only arith- metic consists of one, two, and many, expressed by the forefinger, this and the middle-finger, and finally by all the fingers united. The Veddas count everything by one's, holding up sticks or fingers, and they become confused when attempting to count above five or six, the Sinhalese twenty being incomprehensible. The Philippine Negritos and the Bornean Dayaks are in a very similar stage. They count things by their fingers and toes, the one-to-five series being again fundamental. The five-system is equally prominent among the Melanesians, and more especially in the Banks Islands, where we have reasons to suspect a primitive survival. Australians rarely get beyond four or five, or at most ten, while the Tastnanians close their counting with five. The same or very similar con- ditions are presented in Central Africa and South-America, which shows that this is not a mere local but a universal trait of very primitive peoples. Can this and the absence of exact time-divisions be explained on any other principle but that of a primitive finger-counting? 2° 2» Evidence on this subject will be found in each of the above authors under "Numera- tion", "Arithmetic", sometimes under "Language", or "Mental culture". Compare G. Kewitsch, Zur Entstehung des 60— Systems (Zeitschr. f. Assyriologie, June, 1915), p. 265ff. For a possibly still earlier 3-system,— father, mother, child,— see the same, and compare the East Indian one, two, three,— yo, dua, t^/o,— certified for Borneo and the adjacent territory. (Hose-McDougall, Pagan Tribes, 11. 193). XIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION But if the finger-method represents the earUest because ^Khe most "natural" means for the expression of number, the same five fingers will also suggest a series of five musical sounds which is the leading idea of the "scale," though there is of course no necessary intrinsic connexion between the two. What has the evidence to say on this subject? By the "Pentatonic Scale" is to be understood a succession of sounds which do not cover the whole of our modern octave, but stop at the fifth note of the series, all other tones being either disregarded or looked upon as the members of a new scale. Such a system is evidently more primitive or at least more undeveloped than the octave, double-octave, or the modern eight-octave system, the latter of which offers no less than 57 tones or semi- tones with all the accidentals. This scale has the advantage of great sim- plicity as well as beauty. It consists of three fundamental elements, the tonic, the mediant, and the dominant, which, when sounded together give the beautiful triad of harmony that was destined to play such a prominent role in modern music. Suffice it to say, that among the great majority of our "primitives", this series of five tones — do, re, mi, fa, sol, — furnishes the normal range of their voices as well as their instruments, that is, to judge from the records that have so far been obtained. It exists both in major and minor modes, the minor triad being particularly dulcet, and reminding in its plaintive wail of the sorrowful tones of the Gregorian. It is not too much to say, that this "plain chant" dates back to the very beginnings of the race, and is in striking contrast to the polyphonic, fugal, and sometimes decidedly sensual music of later times. Even the Hindoo, Australian, and North-American folk-song can show nothing so primitive as this in the East Indies. As to the expression of sound by natural or artificial contrivances, there can be no doubt that the first instrument used by man was his own voice, and this is found as a fact to be the most universal tone-producer. Side by side, however, we find the bow and the bamboo tube at an extremely early period of human development, and these were destined to furnish the basis for all the string, — ^wind, — or percussion-instruments of later ages. As a curiosity the bamboo-viol of Indonesia is at least worth men- tioning. It is known as the Aka Buluh (lit. Bow-bamboo), the buluh consisting of nothing but a bamboo tube strung with one, two, or three pieces of plant-fibre! There is some difference between this and the rauanasiron-flddles of India, the rebab of Arabia, and the modern Amati Violin!" 21 For details on this interesting subject see the above authors under "Music" "Instru- ments", etc. esp. Ling-Roth (Borneo), II. 257-266. Compare Erich von Hornbostel, Uber ein akustisches Kriterium fiir Kulturzusammenhange, (ZE. 1911), p. 601-615. The prehistoric five-tone scale has no connection with the Scotch-Irish Pentatonic, though this also is found. Hornbostel speaks of "Quintenparallelen," five-tone singing. INTRODUCTION XV (E)The Evidence op Physique, — the Pre-Neanderthal Age It has been seen that the reconstruction of the primitive type offers no ordinary difficulties. And indeed, apart from our knowledge from revealed sources, it must be admitted that the primitive nature of man, whether physical or mental, eludes our grasp. In the words of Dwight and Kohl- briigge, "we know nothing of the great problem of evolution, we have not even seen its face." ^ At the same time there are a certain number of facts, descriptive and scientific, which seem to suggest that we must look to the above equatorial races as the nearest approach to the primitive type. Let us see upon what grounds this assertion is made. (1) A Tropical Form It is true that we have no means for fixing the first appearance of man with anything like certainty. If he arose during the last glaciation or in high altitudes, a more or less familiar "white" type is not unpicturable. But the fact is, we have grave reasons for believing that man as a species is pre-glacial. His Ghellean industry was certainly interglacial, and the existing Java skull and other remains, — even if parallel, anthropoidal forms, as they probably are, — point suspiciously in the same direction. We are thus inclined to look to the melanic races as satisfying more closely the demands of a monogenetic original. With the growing consciousness of the enormous antiquity of man, and his possible existence under pliocene suns, there has come the conviction that the earlier types must be sought among those branches of humanity that exhibit the conditions of life that are decidedly tropical, if not equatorial. The fact that man is a non-furry animal would seem to indicate that he saw the light in a warm climate, that he belongs in fact to the tropical fauna. In other words we may have to go back to the time when the whole earth was covered with giant grasses and bamboos, when the conditions of climate, of heat, vegeta- tion and moisture, were more or less uniform, when the combined action of environment, of food, occupations, and habits of life, was such as naturally to suggest the type of humanity that is now confined to the two tropics. To this opinion the great majority of writers are now converging, even if considerations of climate are not always the primary ones. The question of temperature as a morphological factor is one which we cannot ignore.^ IT. Dwight, Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist, (N. Y. 1911), p. 199. L. H. Kohlbrugge, Die morphologische Abstammung des Menschen, (Stuttgart, 1908), p. 88. ^ Consult among others A. H. Keane, Ethnology, (Cambridge, 1909) pp. 221-240. A. C. Haddon, The Wander- ings of Peoples, (Cambridge, 1912) p. ISff. A. R. Wallace, Natural Selection and Tropical Nature, (London & New York, 1895), pp. 178-181. K. Weule, Kulturelemente der Menscheit, (Stuttgart, 1912) p. 8-9. Stratz, Naturgeschichte des Menschen, (Stuttgart, 1904) p. 45. Dr. Hugo Obermaier, Der Mensch der Vorzeit, (Munich, 1912), p. 325ff. XVI PREHISTORIC RELIGION (2) An Indo-Oceanig Form But there are other and more weighty reasons why we should turn, to the tropics, and more especially to South-Eastern Asia in our quest for the earlier forms. Given a more or less uniform climate in the earlier days of the earth's history, this would locate man at the poles with as much propriety as on the equator. Palm-trees and magnolias then flourished as far north as Spitzbergen. This might be a plausible argument, but is con- tradicted by the palaeontological and zoological evidence, which confines the continuous evolution of higher life to the eastern tropics. Contrary to the Darwinian theory, which is purely hypothetical, the existing primitives as we actually find them are distributed over an area which shows that they followed the higher anthropoids but are in no wise descended from them. Now the Southern-Asiatic and Australasian area is precisely that region in which these forms predominate, and for this reason nearly all modern authors turn to this area as to the cradle of the race.' It is true that the "higher life"-zone extends into Central Africa, and in fossil form as far north as Switzerland, where we have the Pleiopithecus of the miocene. But it has always been felt that these groups are too sporadic and isolated to form anything like a continuous bridge. Africa is poor in fossils, and European anthropoids can hardly be said to furnish us with a complete cycle of higher forms. Thus it is precisely the zoological and biological data that make the Southern-Asiatic theory so powerful. In no other portion of the earth is there such cumulative evidence for the continuity of floral and faunal development* If then the verdict of biologists is now almost unanimous on the Old- World origin of man, — the pan-American theorists finding but little favor among our best specialists--,the question arises, what type of humanity the term "melanic" is intended to imply. Though it is commonly asso- ciated vdth a negroid physiognomy, it is important to note that we do not take it in this restricted, but in the wider sense of "constitutionally dark- skinned." As such it includes not only the negroid, but, as we shall presently see, the proto-mongoloid and proto-caucasioid peoples, which are perhaps equally ancient, or approximately so. All that is here intended is that the tawny to dark-faced aborigines of the far East are, as far as we can conjecture, the nearest approach in a lineal descent to the supposed "primitive" man. 3 Keane, Haddon, Wallace, Stratz, Obermaier, etc. loc. cit. supra. * See especially Ober- maier, 1. c. p. 380, the leading Catholic authority on the matter. The term "Indo-Austral" is meant to include any land (possibly submerged) extending from Peninsular Asia south- wards vaguely "Australasia" "temuria" "Miocene Continent", etc. Compare Osbom, Men of the Old Stone Age, (1916), p. 49, SUff. INTRODUCTION XVIi (3) A Melanig Sub-Form Another and more subtle question is that of the relative priority of the melanic races among one another. Here there is room for considerable controversy. There are two types that present themselves, — ^the normal melanic, and the pygmoidal sub-form. The latter exist in three varieties, — known as Negritos, Veddas, and Jakuns — , the latter being the famous Malayan sea-gypsies who form the undercurrent of the present Malayan civilisation. (1) It is argued in favor of the pygmoidal races that they are real "first- forms", that the biogenetic law requires a juvenile as a prelude to the fully developed type, that we must go beyond diluvial man to a still more primitive, ante-diluvian, pre-Neanderthal form of high-brow features, that some of the tertiary anthropoids are more strikingly human, and exhibit these qualities in a manner which they share with the above races alone, that these are in any case the most tropical peoples and exhibit the most rudimentary form of life and industry, — all this, moreover, on the embry- ological theory, that the development of the race follows the development of the individual and postulates therefore a more juvenile form. (The general position of Keane, Kollmann, Ranke, Schmidt, Hubrecht, Kohl- briigge, based on previous speculations of Huxley, Haeckel, Mueller, etc.) (2) For the priority of the normal type it is asserted that there is no palaeontological evidence for the existence of any pygmoidal primitives, that nearly all the diluvial skeletons are of normal height, dolichocephalic and low-brow types, that the negritos are pygmies, degenerates, or bio- logical freaks, (on the starvation-theory), that the true homo primigenius must be sought among the Indo-Australians as the nearest approach to diluvial man, (Neanderthal, Piltdown, Heidelberg, Java.) (Followed by Schwalbe, Klaatsch, Virchow, Obermaier, though with considerable hesitancy).* It is evident that this question cannot be settled in the present state of our knowledge. Nevertheless it is worth while to bring forward the chief arguments which, apart from mere plausibilities, tend to make the priority of a human sub-type a fairly strong proposition. It is necessary in the first place to be impartial, and not to be swayed either by sentiment or by the sound of great names. As to sentiment, it makes no diflference to "Man", psychology being equal, whether he be five or six feet in height. ' For a full discussion of the biological question, see J. Kollmann, Die Pygmaen und Hire systematische Stellung innerhalb des Menschengeschlechts (Verhandlungen der Natur- forscher-Gesellschaft, Basel, 1902) Vol. XVI. Idem, Die Abstammung des Menschen, Globus, 87, 190S) p. 144ff. Also Rev. W. Schmidt, Die Stellung der Pygmaenvolker in der Entwickelungsgeschichte der Menscheit, (Stuttgart, 1910) pp. 1-43 (Opinions of Huxley, Hackel, Kollman, Ranke, Miiller, Klaatsch, etc.) Rt. Rev. Mgr. LeRoy, Les ^gm^es d'Afrique et de I'Inde (Tours, undated) pp. 283-308. (The two latter from the Catholic standpoint). Also Keane, Ethnology, pp. 242-263. XVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Normal and Sub-normal Forms And as to authorities, the balance is if anything in favor of the sub-type theory, the names of Schmidt, Huxley, Kollmann, being more professional in this line of research than those of the rival school, who are moreover divided. (1) There is a gradual decrease of stature as we descend into the remote past. (Gomp. modern European with neolithic and glacial man, — 5 ft. 6 to 5 ft. 2 (Neanderthal). The Veddas (av. 5ft.l) taper into the negrito (av. 4 ft. 10).» (2) The embryonic phenomena are particularly strong among the negrito races. This does not imply any genetic relation with existing anthropoids, but rather the opposite, the appearance of a very primitive, more or less embryonic or foetal form. This form is characterised by the high brow, normal profile, straight features, and brachycephalism, — something very different from the long-headed, sloping-faced negro, as we know him. It is generally surmounted by an abundance of frizzly, in the case of the Veddas of curly black hair, which makes the combined impres- sion a passable one. There is nothing pathological about this type. It is normal, vigorous, healthy, human, — ^but exhibits certain very primitive, almost embryonic symptoms which are altogether unique. Foremost among these is the lanugo, or pall-like hair, which occurs sporadically among these types, and regularly with the human foetus, but which is not found among any other section of humanity of which we know. Then again, the large eye-balls, the broad nose, the receding chin, the smallness of the legs and hands in proportion to the trunk, — all these are not so much anthropoidal as infantile, if not foetal traits, and stamp their possessors as being possibly a very primitive people.'' (3) The uniformity and distribution of these peoples is another proof of their antiquity. The fact that we find three nearly identical types on both sides of the Indian Ocean, — Negrito-Negrillo, Toala-Vedda, Tas- manian-Bushmen — , that all are sub-types to the higher races, that all have been isolated by the stronger races that surround them, — ^this fact can hardly be explained except on the theory of priority. Moreover a large portion of the Indo-Asian, Australian, and Polynesian sub-area is strongly negroid, and presupposes a melanic and probably a negrito basis in extremely remote times.* ' For gradations of stature among living races, see F. Birkner, Die Rassen und Volker der Menscheit, (Munich, 1914) p. 184-192. Kollmann, 1. c. supra. '' Comp. Birkner, 1. c. p. 191-192, for Nubian and Akka-type, (side-face, limbs), p. 194-203 (for infantile traits), LeRoy, 1. c. p. 82. Schmidt, 1. c. p. 27. Keane, 1. c. p. 175 (for lanugo). » Recently called Papuasia. Comp. Keane, 1. c. p. 242-294. Also A. B. Meyer, The Distribution of Negritos (Dresden, 1899) p. 79. Gerland, The physical uniformity of the Oceanic Race (London, 1895). Flower and Lydekker, The Study of Mammals, p. 748. Quatrefages extended this area even to the New World, an opinion which has been recently revived by Kollmann, in Globus, 81, (1902) p. 325. Comp. Schmidt, 1. c. LeRoy, 1 c. p. 321ff. Haddon, 1. c. p. 33-37.— The reader is cautioned against many of Keane's statements, which, though true in the main, are entirely unreliable on the negrito physique, as are his appended sketches, which are mere caricatures. INTRODUCTION XIX Normal AND Sub-normal Forms (4) The alleged absence of palaeontological evidence is at most a nega- tive argument, and is partly at variance vs^ith facts, partly not to the point. Most of the glacial skeletons are rather below the normal, and the existing Piltdown skull is a high-brow type, now proved to be fully human." We are dealing with a pre-Australian, pre-Neanderthal form, and the existing fragments are too problematical to furnish any certain conclusions, the Java remains being very possibly those of a female gibbon (!) Such in brief are the reasons which make the theory of a subtype more or less plausible. In fact the evidence is sufficiently positive and suffi- ciently variegated to establish a certain presumption in favor of its truth. In any case, as this is one of the types of humanity that is to be the main object of the present study, it is well to know what can be said in favor of its antiquity. It is a type of mankind which is quite interesting. Though small of stature, the Vedda-varieties exhibit an attractive exterior. Their splendid physique, unmarred by scarification, their noble locks of curly or wavy hair, their almost biblical countenances, — all combine to make this in many respects a worthy approximation to primitive man. The negritos are divided into two sections, Indo-Oceanic and African. Besides the pure negritos, properly so called, there are the allied pygmoidal races mentioned above, who are slightly below the normal height. Of these the Veddas, Dayaks, and Tasmanians are of principal interest to us as belonging to one of the oldest groups of humanity in existence. (A) PURE NEGRITOS (1) Indo-Oceanic: The Semang of Malakka, the Mincopi of the Andaman Islands the Aeta of the Philippines, the Tapiro and Mafulu of New Guinea. (2) African: The Akka, Batwa, Watwa, Wambutti, etc. of the Great Congo Forest, with scattered East- and West-African Negrillos, (as far as known to us). The Ainos of Japan are at present irreducible. (B) pygmoidal races (1) Indo-Oceanic: The Sakai and Jakun of Malakka, the Veddas of Ceylon, the Forest-Dayaks of Borneo (?), the Toalas of Celebes, and the axtinct Tasmanians. (2) African: The Bushmen only are so far known to belong to this group. (3) American : The Tapuya races of Central Brazil, — Botokudos, etc.— together with the Fuegian primitives at the far southern end of the conti- nent, though it is far from certain that these can be classed with them. If tropical man and woolly hair be made the chief test of priority, it will be seen that (A) takes precedence of (B), though we cannot afford to ignore (B) as a very primitive offshoot of early man. * The earliest certainly human remains so far discovered, belonging to the third inter- glacial (Riss-Wurm), See Osborn, Men of the Old Stone Age, (1916), p. 512 (Appendix). XX PREHISTORIC RELIGION Three Types op Melanic Primitives This, however, involves no small assumption. If there are good rea- sons for believing that primitive man belongs to the torrid belt, and more especially to the Oceanic regions of the Old World, if moreover we admit, that the case for the negritos is a plausible one, especially when coupled with the cultural and ethnological data, as we have seen, — it is still far from certain that the woolly-haired types are necessarily the earlier ones. On the basis of flat or round hair-sections we find the following grada- tions among existing races : — (1) Nigritic Form— Frizzly Hair— Flat Section— (Negroid). It may be argued that as the weak hair-section predominates in the eastern tropics, the Malayan invasion being quite recent, it is quite probable that this accompanies the earliest form of bodily evolution as yet known to us, the downy or fluffy nature of the lanugo tending to confirm it, — (Infant hair). It is here that the juvenile traits are most pronounced, whether in stature, physiognomy, or bodily proportions. (2) Veddaic Form — Smooth Hair — Elliptic Section — (Caucasioid). Nevertheless, — the existence of a very similar type with wavy or Caucasian hair, and with features of almost European regularity, and this also within the tropics and suspiciously near the negrito areas, among a people that are almost equally low down in the scale of culture, — this should make us hesitate in assigning point blank the priority to the woolly- haired varieties. The Veddas are perhaps equally ancient, the 'hairy Aino' being very probably the survival of a pre-Mongoliari race, with long curly 'ocks, in the near Pacific. (3) Malayic Form — Lank Hair — ^Round Section — (Mongoloid). Finally, there is the proto-Malayic or Jakun form of humanity, which is characterised by the lank or sleek hair-section, and has also shown a fair degree of persistency in both eastern and western tropics, if we are to consider the Brazilian aborigines as their nearest relatives, (proto-Indian form). These also are wild races on extremely low levels of existence. The Real Primitive a Composite Thus on the embryological theory of sub-forms we find three more or less close approaches to what is believed to be the aboriginal form, the three types furnishing the germs as it were for the three main divisions of humanity, — black, white, and yellow. Such a convergence would seem to indicate that the real primitive was a composite, that he embodied the characteristics of many races. At the same time the shapely Vedda, as being a medium-type and satisfying all the essential requirements of a primitive, may not impossibly represent the nearest approach to the underived original. INTRODUCTION XXI Recent Evidence on the Physique op These Peoples (1) Malakkcm Type:— "Both Semang and Sakai are generally well- formed, and are not unfrequently described as showing a magnificent physique. Deformed people and dwarfs are extremely rare". "The Semang as a race were far from being unpleasant-looking people, the most striking peculiarity in their appearance being a certain wild look about the region of the eyes, as well as a natural restlessness of the eyes themselves, which these tribes possess in common with wild animals." "Their skin-color is a dark chocolate brown, their hair woolly and brown- ish-black, their face round, their forehead narrow and projecting, their nose short, and their nostrils much distended." "The face of the Sakai is fairly long and broad, but pointed towards the chin, their color is distinctly lighter than that of the Semang." The hair is black, long, and wavy, and they have large brown eyes, very much as the Veddas.^ (2) Andamanese Type: — "The remark that is commonly made by strangers who see them for the first time is, 'How well these savages are developed!' In confirmation of this I would refer you to the photographs. The ammoniacal, rancid, goat-like exhalations of the negro are not found among them. When in health and under ordinary circumstances, their breath is sweet".^ (3) Sinhalese Type: — "The Veddas are a medium brown-black — the eyes are always dark-brown — the chin is rarely prominent — the lips, though well developed, are not tumid — the jaw is not prognathous — a short, wavy-haired, dolichocephalic race, with moderately long faces, and moderately broad noses"." (4) Philippine Type: — "So far from being ape-like in appearance, some of the Aetas are very well-built little men, with broad chests, symmet- rical limbs, and well-developed muscles, hardened by incessant use. The lips are medium-thick, far less than the lips of the African negro, and are not protruding. The Aeta have practically no prognathism".* (5) Bornean Type: — "The Forest Dayaks, or Bakatans, are a slender race, of moderate height, and paler in color than most tribes. They are among the finest of aboriginals, with long wavy hair, imposing brows, and fairly regular features". "The physique of the inland tribes is supe- rior to that of the Malays. The Kayans and Muruts are specially lithe and active, — bronzy, straight-limbed, and statuesque". "It seems very probable that the pure Dayaks, like the Battaks (of Sumatra), belong to a proto- morphic, almost mediterranean aboriginal race and are closely related, if not identical, with the American and Oceanic primitives".^ 1 Skeat, 1. c. I. p. 100. Also 34-42, 43-48, 56-57ff. = Man, 1. c. p. 5-7. s Seligman, 1. c. p. 17-18. * Reed, 1. c. p. 34-36. » Ling-Roth (Borneo) Vol. L pp. 16-19, 57. Haddon, 1. c. p. 81. (combined statement). F. W. Burbidge, The Gardens of the Sun, (London, 1880), p. 156. Stratr, Rassenschonheit, (Stuttgart, 1904), p. 192-193. XXII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Recent Evidence on the Physique op these Peoples (6) Celebesian Type:— The Toalas or "Backwoodsmen" of Celebes are of medium height, medium brown complexion, deep brown eyes, lofty brow, and black wavy hair. They are in all essentials a Vedda-race.* (7) Papuan Type;— "They were of good proportions, strong and wiry, without any signs of deformity or dwarfishness, and in color a dark choc- olate. The nose was straight and broad, the eyes black, the lips thick, the general contour of the face oval." "Physically the Papuan of the Mimika Coast is an extraordinarily fine creature, which is all the more surprising when the slothful life he leads, the meagre food upon which he subsists, and the amount of disease prevalent in this swampy district are taken into consideration".'' (8) Tasmanian Type: — The Tasmanians were a negroid race of low to medium stature, but the existing reports reveal in some cases a noble picture, though the evidence on this subject is scanty and at times con- flicting. To judge from the earlier prints, it would seem that they were closely allied to the Papuan race, though their Papuan affinities are still uncertain, and perhaps they form an ethnic group of their own. (Com- pare them with the Bushmen?) ^ (9) African Type: — "The Negrillo is far from being deformed or badly proportioned. On the contrary he is a very gay, agile, well-built little man. I have seen no ugly wounds, skin-diseases, or nervous troubles among them." « (10) South American Type: — The Botokudos are of medium stature, go absolutely nude, and exhibit at times a splendid physique. Like the Kaingang they have oval faces, black horizontal eyes, and brown rather than copper complexions. The mongolic traits are very generally absent among them.^" These reports might be multiplied indefinitely, and extended into fur- ther details on the physical anthropology of these peoples, their exact stature, cranial measurements, and so on. But on the one hand, such exact statistics are not always to be obtained, — they are at times even con- tradictory — , on the other, I am firmly convinced that craniology alone is a very poor index of the physical and even mental character of a race. However defective the above summary as a complete scientific statement, it shows that the common opinion of the low, degraded, quasi-simian character of early man is one that needs to be severely corrected. The above races are the physical equals of any others, and some hygienic respects perhaps their superiors." «Sarasin, 1. c. Pt. 11. p. 41ff. ' Rawling, 1. c. p. 54, 110, 2S3. » Ling-Roth (Tasm) p. 7-lOff. «LeRoy, 1. c. p. 71, 91. '» Ehrenreich, 1. c. p. 14ff. P. Teschauer, S. J. Die Cain- gang oder Coroados-Indianer, (Anthropos, IX, 1914), p. 21. ^^For medical statistics, consult the same authors under "Medicine", "Disease", from which it appears that native diseases are few and non-syphilitic. THE ABORIGINES OF THE FAR EAST PRIMITIVE GROUP-PICTURES SENOI- MALAKKA SENOI- JMAI.AKKA 1!\K \'I' \N-KANO«IT, OKANti-l Kir. BORNEO SPECIMENS OF THE VBI)l)A-SAKAI-TOAI,A-BAKAXAN TYPE Ol' HiaiANITY, ONE OF THE FJAREIEST GROFI'S OF MANKIND IN EXISTENCE. TAKEN FROM C. G. SEFIfJMAN (VEDnA-CEYEON) , PE. V, VI. R. MARTIN SENOA-SAKAI- JIAEAKKA), PT.. II. II. EING-ROTII (BAK.\T.VN-I50RNE6) , P. 19, .AND CO>IP.\RE 1'. S.VKASIN, V (II). I'l,. vm (FOR TO.\EA-CEEEBES) . "The I'kits do not biiUd liouses, and I have licen (old b.i a D.vak lived with Uiimh ioi' a while that they make teniporar.v shelters between buttresses of larce forest trees. The.v live b.v hunting, and use the sumptian or hlow-pipe. I ha\e onl.i seen one I kit and lie was a chief, a well- built man aliont .5 feet 8 inches high, slim, and with a rather refined face, and a rather more promi- nent nose than the D.vak. Mala.v, or Kayan; but this ehar-acteristic may have been jieculiar to the man," (Maxwell. Apud TiuB-IJotli, Borneo, Vol. 1. P. 19). INTRODUCTION XXIII The Physical Picture of Primitive Man We are now in possession of sufficient materials for forming a more or less proximate estimate of the physical appearance of primitive man, — an estimate which is based not upon hypothetical fragments, but upon the actual appearance of living groups of humanity which antedate any- thing that can be certainly known from the buried remains. It will be seen that the groups which we have established as the "child-races" of man are practically the same as those which we have found to be primitive on entirely independent grounds, — culture, industry, social and linguistic phenomena. Such a united testimony can hardly be accidental, but makes the antiquity and priority of these peoples an increasingly certain prop- osition. But on closer inspection it will be noticed that cultural and phys- ical evolution do not always proceed pari passu, that there are some very low races of man that are physically well-developed, practically normal. Such for instance are the wild Dayaks of . Borneo, the Fuegians and Botokudos of South-America, and perhaps also the Tasmanians. From this it will appear that Stature is not the final test, that it is possible to have very primitive peoples who, however juvenile in other respects, show no signs of being stunted or underdeveloped. The Bornean Type as a Normal Primitive If we take the East-Indian types as the nearest approach to the real primitive on biological grounds, we shall find that the Central Indonesian group contains specimens of humanity that are as low as any to be found on earth, while their stature approaches the normal, if it does not some- times exceed it. Here in the supposed cradle of mankind, at the meeting- point of Malaysia and Papuasia, of black, brown, and yellow races, are we brought face to face with a type of humanity which forcibly recalls the traditional picture of the father of humanity. Whether as Toalas or Toradjas, Bukits or Bakatans, Kayans or Kanowits, a confused but noble type may be dimly discerned in the background. It is of medium height, with well-proportioned limbs, and of statuesque bearing. The color is a genial dark-brown, which in the depths of the forest verges into a lighter tint. The face is oval, the forehead erect, the eyes large and piercing, the long black hair falls in graceful curls over the shoulders. These are largely "ideal" traits, rarely to be found in combination, but the juvenile symptoms are nevertheless strongly marked, — slender hands and feet, fresh complexions, generally youthful features — , which tends to show that they belong to the same child-group of humanity that we have already described above. (See the frontispiece and the appended group-pictures) . XXIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION Summary, — Convergence of Evidence It will thus be seen that from whatever point of view the subject be approached, the antiquity of the proto-melanic area, — understanding by this the more or less nigritian sub-types of Oceania, Central Africa, and possibly South America — , is one that makes a growing impression on the mind of the student. This does not imply of course that any one type can be taken as literally primitive, for such a type is no longer in existence. Doubtless there has been a process of degeneration as well as evolution, which makes the fixity of any single type largely problematical. But in spite of this it will hardly be denied, that the races in question do approximate more closely to the primitive conditions of life, — climatic, somatic, social and industrial — , than any other section of humanity that has so far come within our knowledge. Moreover the general similarity of type, of physical, mental and social culture, over such vast and widely separated areas, has long been a puzzle to ethnologists, and can only be explained on the supposition of a fundamental unity of stock, from which by successive climatic modifications the present races of mankind have been developed. Such being the present state of our knowledge, it is useless to indulge in further speculations as to which of these varieties should claim pre- cedence over the other. There has been a tendency in recent times to look upon these so-called pygmoidal races as the common progenitors of humanity. It must never be forgotten, however, that the real primitive eludes our grasp, that he was probably a composite, that he may have been anything from a simple Negrito up to a handsome Vedda, but that the youth of humanity would seem to be in harmony with a youthful type, — such a type being commonly called pygmoidal, but in its one line perfect, fresh from the hand of the Creator. On the supposition then, that this idea should be rendered increasingly plausible, — and the cultural and biological data seem to suggest ilr— , the term itself, implying as it does a tone of contempt, is an unfortunate one. Did not the giant Germans ridicule the puny Romans as a band of pygmies? And yet the "pygmies" conquered the world. The designation is therefore best avoided, and in dealing with these types they will be referred to as "negritos", "veddas", "dayaks", "toalas", or simple "primitives", as the case may be. In this way their dignity will be safeguarded as in the best sense human, while ample room will be left for the priority of an "ideal" form in the remote past. But such an "ideal" is beyond the powers of any known science to reconstruct. The existing types are shadows of the original, the original itself has been lost. INTRODUCTION XXV II. THE SOURCE-QUESTION In estimating the value of a prehistoric tradition, it is important to separate the clear from the doubtful, the certain from the problematic, the indigenous element from that which has been borrowed from an outside source. This concerns the authenticity of two factors, — (1) the authen- ticity of report, and — (2) the authenticity of tradition. (1) As to the truth of that which is reported, much will depend on the character and equipment of the reporter. The field of comparative religion is a new one, that of prehistoric religion quite recent. The latter depart- ment is being pioneered by men who, whatever their powers of observa- tion, are certainly beyond the average of trustworthiness. Names that include those of Catholic bishops, like Schneider^ and LeRoy,'' Prefects apostolic, like Mgr. Dunn,* missionaries of the Divine Word, like Schmidt ' and Hestermann,* apostles of the Sacred Heartj like Meyer* and Egedi,* are apt to solicit our attention on the score of seriousness, if on no other But apart from this, they have lived, or are living, on intimate personal terms with the natives, they have penetrated into regions that are rarely if ever visited by the white man, and they have studied their customs, their folk- lore and their mythology in a manner that is epoch-making and that reflects undying credit on the great Institution that brought them forth. If to this be added the names of Breuil and Cartaillac," of Piette and Ober- maier,' — experts in the allied field of palaeontology and rock-paintings — , the honor-list of the Catholic Church swells to a noble figure. If however their writings be suspected of "tendency", these tendencies can easily be corrected by more secular writers, whose "tendencies", though in an opposite direction, have involuntarily brought out the same results. Graebner, Thomas, Foy, and Ankermann,^ are admittedly colorless, while Mrs. Parker * and Andrew Lang " are frankly "converts", who have been brought to change their opinions solely by an impartial examination of the overwhelming evidence of facts. Though this subject has all the attractions as well as the dangers of novelty, it is beginning to occupy the serious attention of men of science, of religious students of all persuasions.^" ^Mgr. W. Schneider, Die Naturvolker, (Mitnster, 1885). Idem, Die Religion der afrikanischen Naturvolker, (Miinster, 1891). "Mgr. A. LeRoy, La Religion des Primitifs, (Paris, 1911). »Rev. W. Schmidt, Ursprung der Gottesidee, (Miinster, 1912). Idem, Pygmaenvolker, (Stuttgart, 1910). Idem, Mythologie der austronesischen Volker, (Vienna, 1910. * Articles in Anthropos passim, (Vienna, 1907-1914). = Cartaillac-Breuil, La Caveme d'Altamira a Santillane, (Paris, 1910). "Dr. Hugo Obermaier, Der Mensch der Vorzeit (Munich, 1912). 'The Culture-cycle school, see below under Kulturkreis, p. XLIff. *Mrs. Langloh-Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, (London, 1905). "Andrew Lang, The Making of Religion, Magic and Religion, Secret of the Totem (London, 1901-9). I'Comp. Intern. Congr. of Religions (Basle, 1904, Oxford, 1908, Louvain, 1912). XXVI PREHISTORIC RELIGION So much for a general survey. As to special sources for particular areas, we have, in addition to the above, a large number of independent authors, whose divided voices might be open to question, but whose united testimony is surely powerful. Only the most important can be given here. Thus we have Skeat," Vaughan-Stevens," and Martin," for the Malakkan races, Man " and Portman " for the Andaman Islands, Meyer," Reed," and Montano," for the Philippines, Rawling" and Williamson ^^ for New Guinea, Howitt" and Ling-Roth" for the Tasmanian- Australian region. For the Central African Negrillos we have only one standard work, that of Mgr. LeRoy, Bishop of Alinda.^' The same for the South-African Bush- men, where the name of Stow^* stands easily first. This completes the negrito cycle strictly so-called, but includes the somewhat taller Tas- manians and Bushmen as cognate races with hair of woolly texture. With regard to the wavy-and sleek-haired pygtmoidal races, so little is yet known of their higher culture that they are not always a safe investment in the present state of our knowledge. We have Skeat"" again for the Sakai, Seligman "" for the Veddas, and Sarasin " for the Toalas, and in the New World, Von den Steinen "* and Ehrenreich,"° for the lank-haired primitives of the Amazonian belt. If we touch upon these races at all, it is chiefly for the reason that something should be said to complete the picture, if it is only to show how the primitive ideals may still be kept up by a group of races which on the above ethnological schedule are possibly equally ancient. As to the much later, glacial and neolithic, peoples, (Indo-Asiatic and Eurasian), authorities are quoted only for the sake of comparison, chiefly religious, with early man. Names and titles are too numerous to be mentioned in this place, — they will be found in the footnotes, under each section.'" 11 W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, Pa^an Races of the Malay Peninsula, 2 vols. (Lon- don, 1906). 12 H. Vaughan-Stevens, Materialien zur Kenntniss der wilden Stamme auf der Halbinsel Malakka, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1892-4). i^ R. Martin, Die Inlandstamme der Malaischen Halbinsel, (Jena, 1905). i*E. H. Man, The aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, (London, 1883). i" M. V. Portman, A History of our Relations with the Andamanese, 2 vols. (Calcutta, 1899, rare). "A. B. Meyer, Die Philippinen, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1902). "W. A. Reed, The Negritos of Zambales, (Manila, 1904). i* Joseph Montano, Voyage aux Philippines, (Paris, 1886). Idem, Missions aux Philippines, (Paris, 1887). i» C. G. Rawling, The Land of the New Guinea Pygmies, (London, 1913). =«>R. W. Williamson, The Mafulu Mountain People of British New Guinea, (London, 1912). ^^ A. W. Hewitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, (London, 1904). 22 H. Ling-Roth, The Aborigines of Tasmania, (Halifax, 1899, rare). 23 LeRoy, op. cit. supra. Also, Les Pygmees d'Afrique et de ITnde, (Tours, undated). " G. W. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa, (Lon- don, 1910). 26 Skeat-Blagden, op. cit. sup. 26 q. G. Seligman and Brenda Z. Seligman, The Veddas, (Cambridge, Engl. 1911). 27 ^r. Paul and Dr. Fritz Sarasin, Maiterialien zur Naturgeschichte der Insel Celebes, (with valuable plates), (Wiesbaden, 1905). 28 k. Von den Steinen Unter den Naturvolkem Central Brasiliens, (Berlin, 1894). 2» Paul Ehrenreich, Die Mythen und Legenden der Siid-Amerikanischen Urvolker, (Berlin, 1905). so A good reference-work on primitive man in general will be found in W. I. Thomas, Source-Book for Social Origins, (Chicago, 1912), with excellent bibliography. Tylor's Primitive Culture should be read with caution as many of his data are entirely unreliable. INTRODUCTION XXVII Supplementary Sources For those, however, who wish to pursue this subject at further length and do some original work on areas that are still largely unexplored, I would recommend as a preliminary study the inspection of certain works which have recently attracted considerable attention by reason of the important facts which they promise to bring to light. Among these are the collections or discoveries of Ling Roth," Haddon,^^ and Nieuwen- huis,=' concerning the wild inhabitants of Central Borneo, and the articles that have api>eared on the same subject from the pen of Messrs. Hose and McDougall in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, and in a more recent work." In view of the fact that many of these inland tribes are as primitive as any to be found in the archipelago, the startling disclosures of the two latter should be carefully examined and weighed, — the only two white men that have given us anything like a complete account of the beliefs and practices of the Forest-Dayaks and their allies in the tropical jungle, though the work of Nieuwenhuis is otherwise indispen- sible. For similar reasons the mythology of the Gelebesian Toradjas, com- monly known as Posos or Alfoors, should not be omitted, as they may shed some valuable light on the Toala beliefs, which are as yet very obscure."' Nor should the Molukkas be passed over without comparing the flndings of Kruyt and Riedel on the subject of the pre-Islamic Malayan and Papuan faith, which are here found in juxtaposition.^* As to New Guinea itself, it is a land of mystery, but the current articles in the Anthropos " and the reports of the Royal Netherlands Missionary Society '* should be occasion- ally inspected. These and the Journal of the Indian Archipelago '° furnish in fact the main channels through which further light in this region may be expected. Finally the important work of Dr. Cooper is opening out a new world of research in the antarctic zone, his immense collection of facts on the South-American Fuegians being altogether invaluable.*" "The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, (London, 1896), 2 vols. ^^A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, black, white, and brown, (London, 1901). ^^A. W. Nieuwenhuis, In Centraal Borneo, (Leyden, 1900). Idem, Quer durch Borneo, (Leyden, 1904), both two- volume works. '* Charles Hose and William McDougall, The Relation of men and animals in Sarawak, Journ. Anthr. Inst. Vol. XXXI, (London, 1901), ^. 173-213. Idem, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, (London, 1912), 2 vols. s°A. Kruyt, De legenden der Poso-Alfoeren, Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelingsgenootschap, 38de jaarg. (The Hague, 1894). Idem. Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel, (Hague, 1906). ^'Fr. Riedel, De sluik-en kroesharigen rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, (Hague, 1886). '^Anthropos, (Vienna, 1907-1916). ss Mededeelingen van wege het Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zendelings- genootschap, an annual report published at the Hague, Netherlands. Also the reports of 9ie Koninklijke Nederlandsche Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, (ibid), a geographical pub- lication of the Dutch government. ^9 journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, Also Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, (Straits branch), both of which contain at times interesting material. *" J. M. Cooper, DD. Analytical and critical Bibliography of the tribes of Tierra del Fuego and adjacent territory, Bull. 63 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, (Washington, 1917), p. 1-228. XXVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION The Source-Question, — Indigenous Origin (2) A more complex problem is that of the antiquity and indigenous origin of the beliefs and practices that are reported. Can it be possible that this or any other section of humanity has preserved intact a tradition which upon the most conservative estimate must reach back many thou- sands of years? From what we know of 'progress' in modern times, such an idea seems altogether unlikely, — an improbable assumption. But per- haps we have not been schooled in time-values. It seems difficult to realise, for instance, that Chinese culture has been stagnant for three-thousand years, that the neolithic age was for six-thousand years non-metallic, that before that time the unpolished flint was in use for at least double that period and the rough eolith for periods indefinitely longer. But if there is one thing that palaeontology has impressed upon our minds, it is the fact that for countless ages the human race has been on the same uniform level of culture, that changes have been incredibly slow, and that in many instances there have been 'stagnations' of ancient areas which have left them in precisely the same condition, social and industrial, that they occu- pied from time immemorial. Now if such a 'stagnation' be admitted in type and physiognomy, in arts and industries, in social and linguistic phenomena, why not a stagnation in religion also? Does it not form an important, nay, the most essential cultural element of all? But this is a problem of wide ramifications. Suffice it to say for the present, that the evidence for the remote antiquity of a cult is based on the convergent tes- timony of numerous and widely separated sources. The secrecy of the cult, the nature of its propagation, the mythology in which it is clothed, the fidelity with which it is echoed in distant centers on exactly the same level, — all these make a combined impression of originality, which it would surely be unwise to put down as a mere coincidence. They may in some cases produce moral certainty. Whether they do this or not, must of course be determined in single instances. It is through elimination of all impossible values that the unknown quantity is discovered.^" *" Comp. an excellent article by Father Le Clercq : 'Indications pratiques pour faire des observations en matiere religieuse chez les peuples incultes', in Anthropos, VIII. (1913) p. 12-21. The objection on the score of "hoary antiquity" is sentimental rather than scientific. Wherever a borrowing cannot be distinctly proved, the evidence is in most cases too strong to be resisted. Comp. A. Lang, Magic and Religion, (London, 1901), Chapt. II. (pp. 15-45), on "The Theory of Loan-gods", a clear and forcible statement. It is through the principle of "cumulative convergence" that the mind beg^ins to see that the early development of man exhibits a homogeneity of mental phenomena which is so striking that, in view of the parallel phenomena in the social and cultural field, an essential connexion is positively demanded between the age of a people and its corresponding beliefs. See below, pp. XLI, 121, 507. INTRODUCTION XXIX m. THE PSYCHOLOGY OP PRIMITIVES — A Normal Mentality — Another question that has intimate bearings on the present subject is that of the mental capacity of the races with which we are dealing. Given a set form of religious beliefs, how far can they be said to embody an adequate, that is a metaphysical idea of divine truth? Have the races in question a sufiicient power of abstraction to attain to the idea of God in any sense in which we understand it? Clearly there is room for discus- sion here, as opinions have not been wanting that have boldly affirmed, that the so-called "savage" of today is a mental pariah, that his intellect is but little removed from the associative power of brutes. Evidence for this was believed to be abundant. They could not count beyond four, they had no names for generic ideas, they could not always recognise pictures, they were slow and unprogressive, they were stunted if not obtuse. This impression has colored the works of nearly all writers, from Sir John Lubbock^ down to Tylor^ and even Westermarck,* and it was easy to make out a case for the stupidity of primitive man, when so little could be said for his modern survivor. These hasty inductions were destined to be modified, partly by the findings of palaeontology, partly by the more profound study of the nature-peoples as we actually find them. In both cases have materials come to our hand that have greatly influenced, in some cases reversed, our judgment on the early mentality of the race. — ^Inventive Power — (1) As to palaeontology, it has long been recognised that the very fact of the survival of man amid the wreck and ruin of the glacial epoch is in itself a proof of his decided superiority to the animal creation. What he lacks in physical and muscular strength, he more than makes up by the quickening power of his intellect. Thus it has come to pass, that while large and swift-footed animals, like the Cave-Bear and the Irish Elk, were unable to protect their species from extinction, man alone has, by the sheer force of his ingenuity and contriving-power, saved his race from the "deluge" by means of inventions, — tools, fire, clothing, means of trans- port, — devices. It has even been argued that the art of making fire by fric- tion is alone sufficient to prove his higher mentality.* 1 Lubbock, Prehistoric Times, 6th. Ed. (N. Y. 1910) p. 548. = Tylor, Primitive Culture, 4th. Ed. (N. Y. 1904). » Westermarck, The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, (New York, 1912) II. 595. *Obermaier, op. cit. p. 418. Weule, Die Kultur der Kulturlosen, p. 60-99. XXX PREHISTORIC RELIGION Psychology, — Cranial Capacity Then again the fossil remains of man are telling a similar story. They have revealed the fact that there is no substantial difference between man glacial and man recent, that in both cases we are dealing with a true 'homo sapiens', however undeveloped the type may be. For neolithic man parallels may be found among the Gaucasic races of today, while the palaeolithic type recalls a confused Gaucasioid to-Mongoloid to-Negroid image which is best expressed by the Dravidian or Indo-Australian races of our time. There is in fact so close a resemblance between the Neander- thal and the modern Australian skull, both in form and capacity, that many authors, including Klaatsch and Virchow, have boldly identified the diluvial race, and even primitive man, with this type.^ For reasons that have already been given, such a conclusion seems altogether premature. Granted, that diluvial man and the Australian type are close parallels, a loophole must surely be left for the priority of still earlier types on the basis of Kollmann's theory of pre-glacial forms.^ Here palaeontology deserts us, but the finger of ethnology points with growing emphasis to the equatorial belt, and offers the melanic sub-type as a possible transition to glacial man. Once more, therefore, the past yields to the present, the dead is interpreted by the living form. — High Art — But before quitting the field of buried antiquity, it would be well to call attention to the general verdict of this science on the mental endow- ment of the human race during the long period of the Ice Age. Apart from the inventive talent already referred to, the more recent discoveries of rock-paintings have revealed a degree of esthetic taste, of artistic refine- ment which is surprising and which has caused many to look upon them as masterpieces, which have rarely if ever been excelled.' Summing up this question Prof. Klaatsch thus expresses himself : — "Primitive man was neither bad nor stupid He is rather to be looked upon as a superior being- . . ('hochstehendes Wesen') . . who by the power of his individ- uality and mental adroitness was in many respects above the parvenues of culture." * Compare also some very similar remarks made by Eduard Meyer in his new History of Antiquity, an admittedly cold and materially prejudiced author: "We shall have to descend to the fifth dynasty of Egypt in order to And parallels of equal worth." (to the Magdalenian paintings) ." 1 Australian-Preneanderthaloid, (Klaatsch, in Proc. Anat. Soc. 1908, 38.) ^Kollmann, 1. c. supra. ' Cartailhac-Breuil, op. cit. p. 126. Obermaier, p. 253. * Klaatsch, at the Cologne Congress of German Physicians and Scientists, 1908. ^ E. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums. (Berlin, 1910), vol. I. p. 247. INTRODUCTION XXXI Psychology,— The Modern Survivor (2) So far the verdict of archaeology. What have the living races to tell us of their own psychology? Does not the preceding eulogy seem rather far-fetched when applied to existing races as we actually find them? And yet there are enormous sections of humanity that are living on approximately the same level as the Magdalenian bear-hunters. I have only to refer to the rock-paintings and chromographs of the modern Australians and Bushmen to see how nearly they approach the diluvial type. Then again, if we compare the bone-engravings of the Indian and Eskimo with those of his palaeolithic forefathers, we shall find it difficult in some cases to note any difference. Much the same may be said of their other industries and their habits of life. Clearly we are here face to face, either with a direct racial equation, or with a 'mental convergence' of such a nature that the psychology of the past may be safely interpreted by the light of the present, or vice versa. If then the Mammoth- and Rein- deer-man solicits our admiration by reason of his prowess, his skill, his inventive and artistic faculty, the same meed of praise should be due to his modern survivor, — always allowing for possible degenerations, owing to want of fixity in the type.^ — "Intelligence" — But it is a far cry from these to our own primitives of the equatorial belt. Here we have nothing but ethnology to go by, as they are believed to be 'pre-glacial', to antedate the age of the earliest fossil remains of man. What then is to be learnt of this interesting people? Are they 'pygmies' in intellect as they are supposed to be in their bodily frames? Far from it. The study of their psychology is, like their discovery, a new acquisition. "Bright, keen, vivacious, adroit, intelligent, — of almost fairy-like deft- ness", — such are a few of the epithets that have been employed by different travelers in their reports from different and widely separated areas, "Intelligence" is of course an elastic term, and has been employed with a variety of popular meanings, but the sense in which it is used in the present place is at least synonymous with that of adaption of means to ends, and implies therefore a delicate perception of cause and effect, — more than a mere 'instinct'. Far from being crude, or in any sense blunt or puny, it is a faculty which is relatively high, relatively 'perfect'.^ ^Birkner, Der diluviale Mensch in Europa, (Mun. 1912). Obermaier, op. cit. 2S3f. 2 Opinions of Skeat, Reed, Meyer, Man, Portman, Stow, Johnston, etc. collected by Schmidt, Pygmaenvolker, p. 111-116. See also Johnston, The Pygmies of the Great Congo Forest, (SR. 1902, 489). LeRoy, Les Pygmees, pp. 9S-14S. XXXII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Psychology, — Abstractive Power Yet even with these concessions there may be some doubt as to whether these 'low' and culturally backward types are in any sense worthy to figure as the earliest representatives of the race. Does not the sexless char- acter of their language, the absence of generic terms, the paucity of their numerals, argue against any really abstractive knowledge on their part, any adequate perception of immensity, eternity, infinity, etc. as we under- stand them? To this question a twofold answer may be given. (1) It is important to distinguish between the capacity for intellectual processes and their facility. The former may exist in full vigor, while the latter may, through want of training, remain dormant or unde- veloped, — confined to 'essential' relations. (Compare the scholastic 'potency' and 'act').^ (2) On the other hand, their existing psychology has been largely mis- interpreted, largely misunderstood. The fact that these races are endowed with speech, (whether native or borrowed), this alone implies a power of abstraction, though the simplicity of their wants begets a simplicity of language, a small vocabulary, a paucity of terms. In all these matters means are proportioned to ends, as in other departments of life. Then again many are gifted with wonderful memories, certainly not a sign of degeneracy.^ But the best test is that of the school or mission house, where we meet with statistics that are surprising. Dr. Brander mentions the case of a young boy, who had been educated in an orphan-school, and who, in spite of his tender years, (12), could read English and Urdu fluently, as well as speak and write in both these languages, retaining also a knowledge of his mother tongue. He had besides acquired a fair knowl- edge of arithmetic. And, Mr. Man is careful to add, — "this is not an excep- tional case, for I could instance others, and one lad in particular, who was his superior." ' That this is not a mere case of infant precocity is shown by the fact that some of them have been known in later years to figure as teachers.* Mgr. LeRoy speaks of polyglot Akkas (0-koas), with "an intelligence at least equal to those of their own age", and he and many other missionaries have assured us that they show as deep a grasp of the Catholic Faith as any other races with which they have come in contact.' While little is yet known of this subject, it seems to be clear that those theories will have to be revised, that speak so slightingly of the 'infant mentality' of early man.' iThe inherent defect in J. G. Romanes, Mental Evolution in Man, (1896). ^ Parker 1. c p 11. Man, 1. c. p. 28. » Man, 1. c. p. 27-28. * Portman, 1. c. vol. I, p. 117. " LeRoy, Les Pygmees, p. 143-144. Compare, for mstance, the reports of the Mission Fathers in British New Guinea, Borneo, and the far East. * Compare D. Brinton, Religions of primitive peoples, (N. Y. 1889) p. 15. (Am, Indians). INTRODUCTION XXXIII Psychology, — Abstractive Power This subject has been well handled by Mr. W. I. Thomas in his new Souroe-Book, (Chicago, 1912), an exceedingly useful manual. He says:— "Another serious charge against the intelligence of the lower races is lack of the power of abstraction. They certainly do not deal largely in abstraction, and their languages are poor in abstract terms. But there is a great difference between the habit of thinking in abstract terms and the ability to do so. The degree to which abstraction is employed in the activities of a group depends on the complexity of the activities and on the complexity of consciousness in the group. When science, philosophy, and logic, and systems of reckoning time, space, and number, are taught in the schools; when the attention is not so much engaged in perceptual as in deliberate acts; and when thought is a profession, then abstract modes of thought are forced on the mind. This does not argue absence of power of abstrac- tion in the lower races, but lack of practice. To one skilled in any line an unpracticed person seems very stupid, and this is apparently the reason why travelers report that the black and yellow races have feeble powers of abstraction. It is generally admitted, however, that the use of speech involves the power of abstraction, so that all races have the power in some degree. When we come further to examine the degree in which they possess it, we find that they compare favorably with ourselves in any test which involves a fair comparison. On the other side of number we have another test of the power of abstraction and while the lower races show lack of practice in this, they show no lack of power. It is true that tribes have been found with no names for numbers beyond two, three, or five ; but these are isolated groups, like the Veddas and Bushmen, who have no trade or commerce, and lead a miserable existence, with little or nothing to count. The directions of attention and the simplicity or complexity of mental processes depend on the character of the external situation which the mind has to manipulate. // the activities are simple, the mind is simple, and if the activities are nil, the mind would be nil. The mind is nothing but the means of manipu- lating the outside world. . . . From the standpoint of modern mathe- matics. Sir Henry Savile and the Bushmen are both woefully backward; and in both cases the backwardness is not a matter of mental incapacity, but of the state of the science".'' 'W. I. Thomas, Source-Book for Social Origins, (Chicago, 1912), pp. 160-164. XXXIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION IV. THE SOCIOLOGY OF PRIMITIVES — A Normal Morality — If we pass from the mentality to the morality of these races, it is chiefly for the reason that mind alone furnishes an incomplete picture of man, that it is worse than useless unless it finds a normal, healthy, and legitimate outlet for its operations. And so, in estimating the general character of these peoples, the social and ethical question is one that we cannot afford to pass over. There must be some guarantee that we are dealing with a type which is fully 'human', which is ethically fit to be the recipient of divine truth. What light have the sciences to shed on this question? — Past versus Present — (1) It cannot be denied that the general tone of ethnology has until recent years been decidedly negative. Under the pressure of extreme evo- lution theories, the priority of a lower standard of ethics, of promiscuity, group-marriage and free love, has become almost a dogma. We have only to turn to any of the more widely-read works on this subject to see how thoroughly this idea has taken possession of the modern mind. 'Low, degraded, beastly, animalish", — such are the expressions that are com- monly heard, whenever this subject is treated, ex professo, or otherwise.^ And yet it was difficult to believe that these races could have fallen below the average of the higher anthropoids, — say of the Orang, which is gen- erally monogamous. Quite recently, however, criticism has taken a new turn, and it has been found necessary to make some important conces- sions. In the first place, there are two classes of morals, corresponding to two classes of races, — the Negro and the Negrito. While the former is considerably better than he is commonly painted, he cannot compare in this respect to his more primitive prototype. It has already been remarked that the Negrito social system is primitive to a degree. It is made up of simple family units, with little or no coherence. The father of the family is king, priest, judge, ruler, physician, — all in one. Now it is clear that under such a system of direct paternal surveillance, the tendency to violate the moral law will be considerably diminished. And such, in fact, is found to be the case. All reports agree, that, while considerable ante- nuptial freedom seems to be allowed, "the Negritos as a race are virtuous," and that, "once married, they rarely, if ever, desert their consort".^ 1 See for instance Lubbock, op. cit.p. 540-SS9, (Savage ideas of virtue, absence of religion). 2 A general summary of the evidence will be found in Schmidt, op. c. 155-168. Also in LeRoy, op. cit. 223-224. Johnston, 1. c. Westermarck, op. cit. II. 424, Human Marriage, 436. INTRODUCTION XXXV Morality, — High Standards Do we require further evidence on this subject? Here are the words of a recent author, who writes from a purely material or "evolutional" point of view : — "Marriage is indissoluble among the Andamanese, some Papuans of New Guinea, (certain tribes) in Sumatra, among the Igorrotes and Italones of the Philippines, the Veddas of Ceylon, and in the Romish Church".' And, — he might have added — , among the aborigines of Malakka, among the Aeta of the Philippines, among the wild Dayaks of Borneo, among the Toalas of Celebes, among many of the American and Australian aborigines, and among the Negrillos of Central Africa. Here is the evi- dence : — "This idea of the laxity of the marriage-tie among the negritos may possibly arise from the great ante-nuptial freedom which appears to be allowed, but there is every reason to believe that when once married, the Semang of both sexes are in the highest degree faithful to one another and that cases of unfaithfulness are exceedingly rare. That conjugal infidelity is strongly discountenanced, is shown by the penalty assigned to it, — death." Among the Sakai "divorce, though permitted, was extremely rare", "the punishment for adultery was death", and among the Jakun, "I do not remember a single case in which a Besisi had more than one wife".* "So far from the contract being regarded as a merely temporary arrangement, to be set aside at the will of either party, no incompatibility of temper or other cause is allowed to dissolve the union, and while bigamy polygamy, polyandry, are unknown, conjugal fidelity till death is not the exception, but the rule".° "The Veddas' constancy to their wives is a very remarkable trait in their character. They are strictly monogamous, and infidelity whether in the husband or wife appears to be unknown".' "Divorce is not very common among the Negritos of Zambales. There seems to be a sentiment against it. If the offender is caught and is unable to pay the necessary fine, the penalty is death".'' "Highly significant as against other Dayak tribes is the complete fidelity to the marriage-tie among the Bahau, and the equality of conjugal rights between man and woman, in spite of the numerical superiority of the latter, argues for a degree of continence and sexual self-control that we would hardly expect among a people on such a low level of culture".* »L. T. Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, (London, 1906) Vol. I. p. 150. * Skeat, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, Vol. II. p. SS-S6, 65-67, 76f f. ' Man, on the Andaman Islands, p. 67. «Seligman, 1. c. p. 87-88. ^Reed, 1. c. p. 61ff. ^a. W. Nieuwenhuis, Centraal- Borneo, Vol. I. p. 100, (Translation from the Dutch). XXXVI PREHISTORIC RELIGION Morality, — High Standards "The Toalas are strict monogamists. . . Infidelity and desertion are rare".* In Australia "a wife is bound to be faithful to her husband. For the first offense she is branded with a flrestick; for a second offence she is speared in the leg; for further offences she is killed." It is added, how- ever, that "no penalty attaches to the man", and that wife-loaning is occa- sionally practiced. Among the Kurnai bigamy is allowed, but sex-relations are otherwise strict. "Wives were not exchanged under any circumstances, nor were lent to friendly visitors"." For the Congo-region Mgr. LeRoy gives similar testimony: — "When we visited the diff'erent camps, we saw that it was precisely the family which monopolises everything else. The father is ruler, the father is judge, the father is priest, and he unites all these attributes in one quality, that which gives him paternity. His wife is his, and his only". The author is careful to add, however, that while monogamy is the rule, polygamy is by no means unknown, the latter being due to economic causes.^^ Among the South-American Botokudos, monogamy preponderates and divorce is punished with blows. Less so among the Gaingang and Bakairi, for here the family ties are no longer as rigid, and polygamy and deser- tion are said to be practiced. There seems to be no uniform standard in the Amazonian belt, and exact statistics are difficult to obtain.^* The same remarks apply to some extent to the Tasmanians and Bush- men. We are distinctly told that divorce is prohibited under the usual penalties, that stability marks the normal state of the family. But there is considerable evidence to show, that exceptions are too numerous to allow of any universal statement in the matter, and that polygamous unions have undoubtedly occurred. It is more especially among the Bushmen, that we have reasons to suspect a growing invasion of Hottentot influence.*" The Fuegians, in like manner, seem to have preserved many ideals of the primitive life. Among the Yahgans the unity and stability of the mar- ried state is a very general characteristic, even if the occasional custom of taking two or more wives connects them with the common Patagonian practice." Taken all in all, these testimonies suggest, if they do not always prove the permanency of the marriage-bond, and are in any case a valuable argument for the priority and the preponderance of a high standard of marital ideals." •Sarasin, 1. c. Vol. V (II). p. 126. "Howitt, 1. c. pp. 258, 280. "LeRoy, 1. c. pp. 221- 224 (Translation from the French). ^^ Ehrenreich, Die Botokudos, 1. c. p. 31. P. Teschauer, S. J. Die Caingang etc. 1. c. p. 22ff. Von den Steinen, 1. c. p. 332ff. i8 Ling Roth (Tasm) p. 113. Stow, 1. c. p. 95. 1* Cooper, 1. c. p. 166. ^^ Cf. Westermarck, Human Marriage (N. Y. 1903) pp. 431-517ff. who supports this thesis with an abundance of data. INTRODUCTION XXXVII Morality, — Absence op Grosser Grimes But have not ugly reports reached us with regard to cannibalism, infanticide, theft, murder, and "head-hunting"? It is certainly a remark- able fact that it is precisely in these particulars that these stock-races offer such a strong contrast, not only to their more powerful congeners, but even to many of the so-called culture-peoples, which in this respect claim to stand so high. The general absence of crime, or at least its extreme rarity, is something that cannot fail to make a powerful impres- sion upon the mind of the unprejudiced student. As to cannibalism, it is one of the latest triumphs of ethnology to have demonstrated its relative absence. Sporadic cases may occur here and there, owing to contact with "higher" races, but it forms no part of primitive practice as such.^ The same may be said of infanticide, and other forms of violence, whether to person or property. Individual cases are indeed reported, and in some sections degeneracy has undoubtedly set in, but these do not affect the general statement, that the care of offspring, the sanctity of the marriage- tie, the respect for life and liberty, is one of the most noticeable features of these peoples. Moreover, if the opposite practice is reported from this or that particular region, it can nearly always be traced to external causes of pressure and persecution, which, by forcing an alien culture upon them, has destroyed the simplicity of their nomadic life.^ — Cultivation op Higher Virtues — (2) But there is also evidence to show, that these people are not with- out the higher virtues, — truth, mercy, justice, charity, liberality, and self- sacrifice, — ^virtues that are rarely if ever associated with 'primitive' man. As to honesty and the love of truth, it has come to the notice of more than one traveler how favorably they compare with many of the civilised peoples, say with the Malays, in this regard. "I have never detected an untruth except one arising from errors of judgment," writes Gol. Reed," and similar reports have reached us from other parts of Oceania and Central Africa.* Respect for women and children, and care for the aged and the infirm, is in many cases equally well attested. Certainly any race that will sacrifice food and clothing, nay even life itself, for the support of the aged and the little ones, can hardly be called a degenerate, but is in this respect an ideal people." 1 Schmidt, p. 147, LeRoy, p. 193, (general statistics). 2 Schmidt, 141 f. LeRoy, 227f. 8 Reed, Negritos of Zambales, p. 61. * Portman, A History, II. p. 872. LeRoy, 212. b Comp. Man, op. cit. p. 25-26. Howitt, 1. c. pp. 594, 766, W (for philanthropy). Further evidence on this subject will be found below under each section. For the general morality of the nature-peoples see also Joseph Miiller, Das sexuelle Leben der Naturvolker, (Leipzig, 1901), 2d. Edit, and H. Visscher, Religion u. sociales Leben bei den Naturvolkern. (Bonn, 1911). 2 vols. XXXVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Moral Statistics In illustration of these principles a few testimonies may be worth quoting in greater detail. (1) For the Malakkans: — "Grime among the Semang appears to be extremely rare". "Theft and murder among the Sakai are so exceedingly rare as to be a quantity ndgligeable". "Child-bearing generally continues up to the age of about forty-two years, though there was one case in which a woman gave birth to a child at fifty. Elsewhere we are informed that the average number of children in a Sakai family is four". "When an unmarried Jakun girl had recourse to procuring abortion, she entirely lost all position and status in the clan. She was despised by the other women, and scorned as a bride by the men ; and finally she exposed herself to the disgrace of being chastised by her parents". "None of the wilder jungle- folk are cannibals, and there is no proof at all that cannibalism has ever, at least in historical times, occurred among them". "The fact is, — and it is but scant justice to acknowledge it — , that, rude and uncultivated as these people are, yet in some respects they are vastly superior to the races by whom they are likely to be absorbed, — more honest, more truthful, less covetous, more free in every way from crime".* (2) For the Andamanese: — "That outcome of civilisation, — suicide — , is unknown among them". "Not a trace could be discovered of the existence of cannibalism in their midst, even in far off times". "The unnatural custom of infanticide is unknown to the Andamanese". "Every care and consideration are paid by all classes to the very young, the weak, the aged, and the helpless, and these, being made special objects of interest and attention, invariably fare better in regard to the comforts and neces- saries of life than any of the otherwise more fortunate members of the community".' (3) For the Veddas: — "The Hennebeddas have retained their old vir- tues of truthfulness, chastity, and courtesy". "The only case of suicide of which we heard took place in connection with a breach of the common rule of conjugal fidelity". "In every respect the women seem to be treated as the equals of the men. Indeed, when we gave presents of food, the men SI tmed usually to give the women and children their share first". "The Veddas are affectionate and indulgent parents, the babies are generally happy, but should they cry, their wishes are immediately gratified by either parent". They have a keen sense of ownership, quarrels are rare, and violent crimes, together with cannibalistic practices, apparently unknown, the eating of the enemy's "liver" being an exceptional and doubtful instance.' » Skeat, Pagan Races, I. 497, SOI, 524, II. 11-12, 24, 285. '' Man, Andaman Islands, 25, 43, 45, 109. (Comp. Portman, op. cit. sup.) » Seligman, 1. c. 37, 88-90, 106, 207-208. INTRODUCTION XXXIX Moral Statistics (4) For the Philippine Negritos: — "Murder is so rare as to be almost unknown. The disposition of the Negrito is peaceable, and seldom leads him into trouble. Parents seem to have great affection for their children, (and vice versa). This continues through life, as is shown by the care which the aged receive at the hands of the juniors. I have never detected an untruth except one arising from errors of judgment. I believe that many of the vices of the negrito are due to contact with the Malayan, to whom he is, at least in point of truthfulness, honesty, and temperance, far superior". There is no evidence of cannibalism among the pure Aetas, either at present or in any previous times." (5) For the Bornean Dayaks:—"The Land-Dayaks are amiable, honest, grateful, moral and hospitable. Grimes of violence, other than head-hunt- ing, are unknown. The wild Bakatans, or Forest-Dayaks, are very mild savages, they are not head-hunters, do not keep slaves, are generous to one another, are moderately truthful, and probably never do any injury by making a false statement. On first acquaintance they appear melan- choly, and certainly shy and timid-looking, but when they have gained confidence, they show themselves in their true colors as a cheerful and bright people, who are very fond of their children, and kind to the women"." (Combined testimony of Low, Haddon, Hose, and McDougall). "It must not be imagined that either the Malays or the native Borneans are the bloodthirsty savages they are sometimes made out to be. The Malays generally are courteous, dignified, and hospitable. But monogamy is the rule with the Borneans, and polygamy with the Malays. The aboriginals are active, while, as a class, the Malays are lethargic and luxurious"." (6) For the Papuans: — As a race the Papuans can hardly be described as a peaceful or mild-mannered folk. Nevertheless it is worth noting that neither the Tapiros nor Mafulus are habitual cannibals, the latter con- fining the practice to the devouring of an enemy. Among the Melanesians, on the other hand, "it may be safely asserted that in the Banks Islands and Santa Cruz there has been no cannibalism, though the natives were not ignorant of the practice of it by others". Slavery and head-hunting are alike unknown in this region, and family life reveals an attractive picture. The same remarks apply in part to the Papuan Mafulu, and doubtless also to the Tapiro above, though information on this subject is as yet too fragmentary to furnish any certain conclusions." » Reed, Negritos of Zambales, p. 56, 61, 62, 63. " Haddon, 1. c. p. 320, 321, 322. " Burbidge, The Gardens of the Sun, p. 152, 156. " Codrington, The Melanesians, p. 27f f. p. 343, 345. Comp. Williamson, The Mafulu, p. 63, 179flf. Rawling, The Tapiro, 1. c. p. 275. XL PREHISTORIC RELIGION Moral Statistics (7) For the Tasmmiian- Australians: — "I was saved by a native girl, when my sisters were drowned while bathing"." "The three deadly sins were unprovoked murder, lying to the elders of the tribe, or stealing a woman within the prohibited degrees"." "The Kurnai men carry their wives about the country, when too old or too sick to walk"." "There was no cannibalism in Tasmania"." (8) For the Central Africans: — "The sentiment of shame is universal among the Negrillos, as elsewhere. Nudity is not obscenity. . . The black, like the white man has invented certain special dances, particular feasts, secret initiations etc. in which it is understood that sexual indulgence has its rights. This is a proof that in the ordinary course of life chastity has its also. As to theft it is strictly prohibited among themselves. As to others, they are looked as strangers and usurpers, and it is lawful to take from them whatever can be filched. Slander and calumny are equally reproved. I have made frequent inquiries about cannibalism, but the answer was always a negative one except among the Beku who are a mixed race. They have a fellow feeling for one another, assisting each other as the occasion may require"." (9) For the North- American Indians: — "A maiden guilty of fornica- tion may be punished by her mother or female guardian, but if the crime is flagrant, the matter can be taken up by the council-women of the gens. The punishment for adultery consists of various bodily mutilations . . . for theft twofold restitution must be made . . . maiming is com- pounded ... in the case of murder, compensation must be offered to the aggrieved party . . . witchcraft is punished by death, stabbing, toma- hawking, or burning".^' "The common and substantially universal cus- tom of hospitality among the American Indians, at the period of their dis- covery, must be regarded as evidence of a generous disposition, and as exhibiting a trait of character highly creditable to the race"." (10) For the Amazonian Peoples: — ^We find a striking gradation of morals as we pass from the primitive East to the more advanced West. Among all monogamy preponderates, but among the Botokudos divorce is punished with blows, among the Bakairi it is freely countenanced, and with the Yivaros multiple marriages are no longer uncommon. Cannibal- ism, infanticide, and head-hunting appear to show a steady increase the nearer we approach the Andean plateaus.'"* In most other respects these peoples resemble the North-American Indian." " Langloh-Parker, 1. c. p. 1. "Idem, p. 78. " Howitt, 1. c. p. 766. "Ling Roth (Tasm), p. 97 (quoting original authorities). ^'LeRoy, Les Pygmees, pp. 193, 209-217 short translation). ^^J. W. Powell, Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Vol. I. pp. 59-69 (condensed statement). ^^L. H. Morgan, Houses and Home-life of the American Aborigines, pp. 44-62. Contributions to American Ethnology, Vol. IV. Cf. Thomas, Source- book (1912), p. 8S5. 20 Data taken from Ehrenreich, Uber die Botokudos, (Zeitschrift, fur Ethnologic, 1887), p. 31ff. Von den Steinen, 1. c. p. 332. P. Rivet, Les Indiens Yivaros (Anthropologic, 1907) p. 333f. ^i Further information in Westermarck, The Origin and Development of Moral Ideals, (1912), 2. Vols., a masterly digest. INTRODUCTION XLI V. SPONTANEITY OR COLLECTIVISM? THEORY OF CULTURAL UNITS AND 'CIRCLES' (KULTURKREIS) There is one more question to be considered before approaching this subject at closer range. It concerns the analysis of religious facts, with a view to determining their origination, — either spontaneously, without regard to time, place, or industry, — or by transmission from definite centers corresponding to different eras of social and cultural development. That this is a problem of vast importance, will be seen immediately, when- ever it is a question of analysing a religious complexity, of determining the priority of this or that element in the complexity. Thus if it can be proved that certain forms of belief go hand in hand with certain forms of culture and with them exclusively, it will follow that the occasional over- lapping of one culture over the other will entail a corresponding over- lapping of ideas and produce a complexity, in which the prior and posterior elements should be clearly recognised. In this way many of the 'primitive' areas have been overflooded by a later culture, and present to us a mythology which cannot be left as it stands, but must be examined and carefully dissected before it can pass muster as a primitive belief. How far is this mythology native, and how far has it been imported from a foreign source? such is the question upon the answer to which much of the value of the succeeding pages will have to depend. In answering this question ethnologists have been divided into two camps. There are those that believe that similarities in the laws of thought are sufficient to produce similarities of development, that identities are mere coincidences ; while others are as firmly convinced that the accumu- lation of these identities is so striking that some genetic connexion must be postulated, that there must be some equation between different 'cultures' and different 'phases' of belief. The former is represented by the school of Bastian,^ Andree," Ehrenreich,' etc, while the latter is the position taken up by Ratzel,* Frobenius," Graebner,' Thomas,^ Foy,^ Schmidt," Anker- mann," and many others." lA. Bastian Der "Volkergedanke," etc. (Berlin, 1881). ^R. Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen tind Vergleiche, (Leipzig, 1889). 'P. Ehrenreich, Die allgemeine Mythologie und ihre ethnologischen Gnindlagen, (Berlin, 1910). *Fr. Ratzel, Volkerkunde, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1895). " L. Frobenius, Volkerkunde, (Hannover, 1902), Idem, Geographische Kulturkunde, (Leipzig, 1904). *F. Graebner, Kulturkreise u. Kulturschichten in Oceanien, (ZE. 1905, p. 28f). Idem, Die melanesische Bogenkultur, (Anthr. 1909, 730f). ^ N. W. Thomas, Kulturkreise in Australien, (ZE. 790S, 7S9f). SW. Foy, Ftihrer durch das Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, (Cologne), 1910. * W. Schmidt, Mythologie der austronesischen Volker, (Vienna, 1910). "Ankermann, Kulturkreise in Afrika, (ZE. 1905, p. 54-84). "General exposition by W. Schmidt in Anthropos, VL (1911), pp. 1010-1036, and F Graebner, Methode der Ethnologie, (Heidelberg, 1911). XLII PREHISTORIC RELIGION KULTURKREIS Now with regard to this whole subject it may be said in a general way that there is no reason to take an extreme or exclusive view, either for or against the system of "unified progress" or otherwise. There can be no doubt that the "elemental" concept has come to stay, that it embodies an important truth, the fact, namely, that the psychology of man is very much the same all the world over, that with similar conditions of climate, soil and productive material, similar developments are apt to follow, that when they change, these change, though not always with the same physiographic persistency. It was this general law, verified in numerous instances, that led Buckle of old to exclaim: — "Give me the latitude and longitude of a nation, and I will give you its religion," — an observation which, however distorted, contains some germs of truth when applied to religious expres- sion. But more than this. The wholesale application of the transmission theory, (understanding by this a liieral migration not only of culture but also of culture-bearers), — ^has been the occasion of great abuses and led many to abandon the whole system as an artificial construction. We have only to recall the heroic attempts of Winkler" and Jeremias^^ to re- duce the whole of the astral mythology to Pan-Babylonian waves of culture to see how easy it is to make our conclusions overlap our premises ; though here the mistake was caused by deficiency of material and has no bearings on the general truth of the culture-notion as such. For indeed that notion, in the sense of cultural 'eras' (with or without racial contact), is some- thing that must be clearly postulated in any system that would account for the development of the human race in all its fulness and complexity. The fact that different cultures correspond to different ages, and these again to different climates, races, and so on, — this thought was at the bottom of the elemental theory and has become the mainstay of the tradition-argu- ment, only with this difference, that the number of identities is felt to be so striking, (even down to the smallest details) that the idea of transmis- sion, in one sense or another, has become almost irresistible. Thus while the old theory of spontaneous development still holds its own, the newer idea of organic and cultural units encircling the earth in successive waves of social and mental advancement is one that is steadily gaining ground and is now coming more and more to the front," "H. Winkler, Himmels-und Weltenbild der Babylonier, (Leipzig, 1903). 2d. Ed. "A. Jeremias, Die Panbabylonisten, (Leipzig, 1907). Comp. also E. Stiicken, Astralmythen, (Leipzig, 1907). i* See the "Semaine d'Ethnologie religieuse" of Louvain, (Paris, 1913), pp. 35-56. ("L'Etude, d'Ethnologie," by W. Schmidt) (Bibliography), Idem, Solar and Lunar Mythology, Totemism, (ibid. pp. 99, 255ff). Hestermann, Kulturkreis, (ibid. p. 117ff.). INTRODUCTION XLI 1 1 Culture- Cycles for Three Epochs What then are the facts upon which the new system is founded? Broadly they may be stated as follows : — Let us take two typical cultures, — the lowest known culture, that of our own "primitives", and a decidedly higher culture, — that of the North- American Indians. Comparing these two cultures, we are struck by two features, — a certain uniformity within each culture, and a certain radical diversity between the cultures. The points to be noted are briefly these : (1) In the "primitive" culture there are certain similarities between the negrito peoples and their allies which extend, as we have seen, into the social sphere. Now if these similarities are found to extend still further, if they are found to embrace such details as the leaf-apron, the wind- screen, the fire-plow, the simplest of bows and arrows, the bamboo knife, the bone- or shell-scraper, the stone hammer, the wooden clapper, the tubeviol, the quinary numeration, the pejitatonic scale, the tree-float, the balsaraft, the patriarchal system, the local exogamy, the paternal descent, the earth or tent-funeral, etc. etc. — ^we begin to suspect more and more that they form a complete cultural unit, that as there is uniformity in nearly every aspect of life, there is probably a uniformity in religion also. And such in fact is found to be the case. This region is characterised by extreme simplicity, both of thought and practice. The father of the family combines in his own person the office of king, priest, and medicine-man, there are no classes, professions, or vocations in life, other than those dictated by the natural requirements of sex. Moreover it is especially to be noted that there is a minimum of astral mythology in this region, as well as a general absence of that complex system of relationship between a man and a natural (generally a living) object, that goes by the name of totemism, and that forbids the killing or eating of the totem, or the inter- marrying of those that belong to the same totemic clan.' (2) Now let us take the North-American Indian on the broad prairies. He was formerly wrapt in heavy blankets of buffalo-skin, was covered with quills and feather-ornament, and was often painted or tattooed. He lived in tent, wigwam, or round houses of earth or grass, he produced Are by rapidly twirling a stick ; he used a heavy spear, a broad shield, and a stone- headed club, as well as a massive bow, which was often spliced, tipped, or doubly-reflected. 'All the sources agree on this point. (See pp. V-XIV above for the combined data.) "There is no trace of totemism among the Semang" writes Skeat, (1. c. II. 260). There is only the Soul- or Conception-bird (the dove), which is eaten by the mother during par- turition. (Ibid. II. 3-S.) The so-called "taboo" or "yat-tub" of the Adamanese has no relation to marriage, but is designed to prevent indigestion 1 (Man, 1. c. 134). The Sex- bird reappears in S. E. Australia among the Kurnai who are otherwise non-toteraic, though the idea of relationship is more pronounced. (Hgwitt, 1. c. 148, 168). For Central Africa, see LeRoy, 1. c. p. 19Sff. XLIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION Culture-Gycles for Three Epochs He knew how to sharpen, sometimes also to polish stone, and he was an expert carver in horn, bone, and wood. He was a paintfer in polychrome, whether on skin, wood, or rock, and had acquired the art of making pottery and of weaving his own garments, though the latter are still in the hand- made stage of development. Music he expresses chiefly by means of the bone-flute, drum, and the rattle, and his songs extend over three octaves. He counts by the vigesimal or the decimal system, and plies the rivers in well-shaped canoes, "dug-outs", "bull-boats", or balsas. He governs the tribe or nation by means of a single chieftaincy, which is often heredi- tary, the dignity passing from father to son in a regular line. Before he arrives at manhood, he is initiated, either by a strenuous fast, or by some other form of bodily penance which admitts him to a full knowledge of the secrets or mysteries of the tribe. These ordeals are managed by professional "medicine-men", who have the power to expel bad spirits, and to treat the patient by means of dances, manipulations, incantations, and the like. Matrimonial rites are complicated. A man is forbidden to marry any woman of his own clan-totem, and in addition to this he is often obliged to marry into another class or "phratry", which makes the sub-totem divide with the group-totem the power of regulating the tie. When a man dies, he is often given a platform- or tree- burial, and the corpse is either embalmed and mummified, or sometimes cremated. But, more important than all, there is a wonderful similarity of beliefs throughout this region. Apeu't from the question of a supreme divinity, there is a strong solar element running through the mythology, and the whole of nature is looked upon as genetically related to man, as in some sense his direct ancestor. That this is not putting the case too strongly, may be proved by any one who will examine this mythology in its native setting. All the plainsmen "dance" to the sun, they "come" from the sun, the bear, and the buffalo, to which at death they return, while the Kwakiutl of the far North- West claim to be descended from the sun, the sea, and the thunder-bird, and they have an elaborate ghost-dance, in which the "mask of the sun" and the fire-wheel are leading features. In the words of Dr. Boas, "all nature is animated, and the spirit of any being can become the spirit of a man, who thus acquires supernatural power.' « Cultural items will be found in F. W. Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, (Wash- ington, 1907), each under its respective heading. For North-American totemism and matri- monial rites, consult Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, 4 vols. (London, 1910), Vol. III. pp. 213, 237, 275, 325, 389, 423, 502, 533. For the mythologies, J. O. Dorsey, Omaha Sociology, 3d. Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, (Washington, 1884), p. 347ff. Idem, A Study of Siouan Cults, 11th. Report, p. 395; G. B. Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales (London, 1893) po 191-193. Dr. Franz Boas, The social organisation and the secret societies of the Kwakiutl Indians, Rep. of U. S. National Museum for 1895 (Washington, 1897), pp. 374-375ff. Also ' Sth Report of B. A. E. p. 52. Comp. J. A. Jacobsen, "Geheimbunde der Kiistenbewohner NordWest-Amerikas", in Zeitschr. Ethnol. XXIII, pp. (383)-(385). INTRODUCTION XLV Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs But these ideas are not confined to the North-American continent. This system of metamorphic evolution and transmigration of souls finds a close parallel in far-off India, Africa, and Australasia. Nay more, it goes hand in hand with a very similar culture, vi^hether we look at it from the industrial, social, or religious point of view. As to India, there are wild tribes living in (he Dekkan, generally known as Dravidians, who, (in so far as they are not hindooised), exhibit such a striking resemblance to the North-American Indian in their social and matrimonial life, that some resemblance in their religious ideas is only to be expected. Apart from the fact that the clans and "gotras" show an identical organisation, we find the same practice of the "sororate" (or marriage with deceased wife's sister), the same taboos on food, the same fear of devouring an ancestor concealed in this or that plant or animal totem, the same permission to eat the said totem as a sacred or "sacramental" rite, and above all the same kind of astral mythology, which associates all natural objects, animate or inanimate, with the great central orb of heaven, — the Dravidian "Sin Bonga".! This is hardly a Brahminical importation. "The (aboriginal) Mallas", writes Professor Oppert, "like their ancestors, still worship the Sun, which is the presiding deity of Multan, a circumstance that intimates a Scythian (?) or non-Aryan origin.'"' "Like other primitive races of Turanian or Scythian origin (?), the Todas revere the great luminaries of the sky, the Sun and the Moon, besides the Fire." ^ With the latter the buff'alo is sacred, and cannot be killed or eaten, except on sacrificial occa- sions.* Practically all the Dravidian races believe in their descent from the totems, — sun, moon, plants or animals, and with these and the Khasis of Assam transmigration of souls into the totems is clearly taught." It is true that modern India has been largely "overcoated" by a higher culture, so that many of the minor elements of the totemistic complex are difficult to trace, — implements, initiations, burial-rites.^ But in its main outlines this picture is almost a reproduction of the conditions that exist in the Missouri and St. LavsTence basins, and it calls for some explanation, whether from the mental or the cultural point of view. ^S. C. Roy, The Mundas and their country, (Calcutta, 1912), pp. 400-412, App. XXff. Criticism in Anthrop. VIII (1913) pp. 272-274. (W. Schmidt, on solar mythology, &c.) "G. Oppert, The original inhabitants of India, (London, 1893), p. 78. ' lb. p. 188. * lb. p. 186-188. Here the totemic relation is not clearly recognised. Comp : — ' Frazer, op. cit. vol. II. pp. 218-335, for Indian totemism in general. lb. p. 321, (note 4), for totemism and metempsychosis in Assam. ^ Comp. however the rudimentary bow, the buffalo-hunt, the use of palaeoliths in the wild state, the existence of circumcision, the platform or pyre-funeral, the painting or embalming of the corpse, — all attested in numerous instances. See Roy, 1. c. p. 354-466. E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, (Madras, 1908), pp. 140-145-150 (funeral), 388ff. (circumcision, shell-trumpet), 466 (Fire-drill), 624 (Bark-belt), 556 (Boomerang, etc), XLVI PREHISTORIC RELIGION Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs But if we pass over to Eastern Africa and Australasia, and find the identical combination of points, even down to many minor details, — ^the argument for a cultural connexion, — even if by oceanic highways, — ^begins to assume serious proportions. Not one or two elements only, but whole complexities of culture are here at stake. To take but one instance, — Australasia. Here we have the same totemic system as in India and North America. We have the Sun-god in Indonesia, and the Moon-god in Melanesia, clans or "septs" in the former, class-"phratries" in the latter, round-houses in the one, gabled houses in the other, communal life in one case, mask-dances and secret societies in the other, — both of these areas overlapping each other in many parts. All the minor elements of the culture, — from the fire-drill down to the pointed flint, the solid canoe, and the shell-trumpet, together with circumcision, platform-burial, mummification, sand- or rock-painting, bone- or wood- carving, animal hunting by means of bevelled bows, flint-headed spears, and bone-constructed harpoons, — all these elements are vividly represented in this region and are partly fused on the Australian continent.'' Here we have in the "Alcheringa" that same idea of transmigration and re-incarna- tion of totemic spirits in the womb of the mother that has been mentioned above.* Now can all these facts be fortuitous? Can all these identities be explained by a merely accidental, mental "convergence"? Perhaps. But in the meantime they form a cultural unit, as distinct from the "archaic" or "neolithic" types, as the middle ages differ from classic times and from the twentieth century. Says Frazer: "What communication was pos- sible between . . . Southern India and N. E. America . . . between Dravidians and Iroquois . . . between N. S. Wales and S. Africa . . . between the Kamilaroi (E. Australia) and the Herero, (W. Africa) ?" And he suggests the "action of similar minds", by reason of impassable (?) oceans.* And yet he draws a menacing parallelism between Dravidian and Australian totemism, and in comparing them with the Iroquois of North- Eastern America, he says: "Their agreement in the principles and most of the details of a complex family system has been justly described by its discoverer, L. H. Morgan, as 'one of the most extraordinary applications of the natural logic of the human mind to the facts of the social system preserved in the experience of mankind' ", — and this without any reference to the remaining ethnological data.^" 'H. L. Roth, The Natives of Saravak and British North Borneo, (London, 1896). C. G. Seligman, The Melanesians of British New Guinea, (Cambridge, 1910). R. H. Codrington. The Melanesians, (Oxford, 1891) 32, 69, 348. Comp. Frazer, op. cit. V. II. pp. 185-217 (Indonesia), 25-150 (New Guinea and Melanesia). Graebner in Anthrop. IV (1909) pp. 998f. Foy, op. cit. pp. 61, 74-75, 226. « Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of C. Australia, pp. 145, 174. » IV. 15. " 11. 228, 331, INTRODUCTION XLVII Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs Now the point that the "cycIe"-theory wishes to bring forward is this: — It affirms that the similarities throughout this area are altogether too strik- ing to be dismissed as mere coincidences. Apart from the question of how the culture was propagated, — ^whether by land-bridge or ocean-pas- sage, (both are possible), — it requires us to assume an intimate cultural interdependence of humanity at a certain definite stage of its development. This stage is known as the "Totem-culture", of which the following facts are believed to be provable: — (1) That it is later than the "archaic" culture, (No. 1). This would appear to be self-evident. The whole complexity is in every way more advanced. Compare any of the items in the above summary, and the statistics given on pp. V-XIV. (2) That it is earlier than the neolithic and a fortiori to the metallic (or bronze) ages. (Recent culture). This does not imply the absence of all neolithic or "metallic" elements. There is hardly a section of humanity that has not felt the influence of the polished flint or the bronze sword. But it does imply that there is a strong under-current of pre-neolithic or "palaeolithic" elements precisely in those sections of the area that have preserved the totemistic culture in its great- est purity, — Central Australia, Central India (in parts), South-Central Africa, and North-Central North America.^ Moreover from what is known of Neolithic peoples in the strict sense, — European Lake-dwellers, Oceanic Polynesians, North-African Mauretanians, North-American Cliff-dwellers, &c. etc. — it appears to be more and more evident that though they have some analogies to the totem-culture, — worship of sun, moon, stars, plants, animals etc. — the idea of a personal descent from these objects, vsdth pro- hibition of marriage to those of the same totem, is conspicuous by its absence." Not until far later, Hindoo or Brahminical, times do we find the idea of metempsychosis at all strongly developed, but without any relation to marriage or the classificatory system.^ Finally there is a strik- ing parallelism between palaeolithic man (as known to us) and the social and industrial condition of these peoples, a parallelism which extends to solar symbols, animal paintings, hand-silhouettes, and masked dances.* iComp. W. Foy, op. cit. pp. 51-62 (Australia), 225-227, (India), 181-186 (Africa) 149-154, 167-171 (North America),— showing parallelism with Oceania and strong palaeolithic sur- vivals 2 For analogies and contrasts between totem-culture and European Neolithic, see Graebner Die Melanesische Bogenkultur (supra), pp. 1025-1030. Implying a palaeolithic totemism,' ib. &p. 1031 note. Also Frazer, op. cit. IV. 12-14 (pre-Caucasic) 30-38 (pre-poly- theistic) 'Frazer, IV. 13. For alleged Egyptian totemism, see J. Capart in "Semaine d'EthnoIogie religieuse" (supra) pp. 274-278. * Obermaier, op. cit. 253-258, 413-430. XLVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs This is illustrated by a comparison of the totem-culture with the last great prehistoric era that we know of, the age of polished and hafted flint, and of the more advanced social and mental phenomena that accompany it. (3) To begin again with the North- American region, it is more espe- cially among the plateau-Indians of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, generally described as Pueblos, that we meet with a far higher culture than is to be found in most of the other sections of the continent. Instead of the miserable skins or blankets, formerly so common in the plain-states, the Zuni Indian and the Navajo is a comparatively well-dressed man, his loom-weaved shirts^ trousers, and moccasins, presenting an almost modern appearance. These have since spread over nearly the entire continent, but they are of finer quality among the highland tribes, and are par- ticularly elaborate in the Alaskan region. In place of the simple wigwam, we here meet with the castellated dwelling or cliff-house, which is often constructed of large and solid blocks of masonry, the sign of a settled non- nomadic civilisation. Fire is made by the flint and pyrites method as well as by drilling, and the compound double-reflected bow, made of several strips of buffalo-horn, is clearly a new invention. Superfine axes, chisels, and boring-tools testify to a more finished industry, while as potters and weavers the Pueblos are unexcelled, the elaborately painted vessels and the famous "Navajo-loom" being an addition to any museum. Blow-horns and polyphonic flutes accompany a richly melodic chant, and on the Pacific coast we find the built-up plank-boat, with all the modern acces- sories. We have entered in short a new world of culture, and with this a new world of ideas.^ Among these the institution of hereditary Priest-Kingship must be pro- nounced as one of the most distinctive. The Pueblo "Sun-Priests" origin- ally controlled not only the weather, but the entire gens or nation. But, what is of particular interest to us, they are the center of an astronomical ritual, in which sun, moon, and stars are not so much the genetic causes of things as the exponents of the divine will, the abode of numerous spirit- beings, themselves immaterial, — rcu-wa. This is evident from the fact that marriage is no longer dependent on cosmic or animal ancestry, — the totems are mere symbols — , and at death man is delivered from nature, he becomes a spirit, migrating from star to star. In other words, man has become independent of nature and his spirits are personal "gods" who manifest their will by the relative position of the heavenly bodies, — Sun, Moon, and Venus.* 5 Cultural Items in Hodge, op. cit. supra. * For mythology and sociology see F. H. Gush- ing, Outlines of Zuni Creation-myths, 13th. Ann. Rep. B. A. E. (Washington, 1891), p. 247fr. M. C. Stevenson, The Zuni Indians, 23d. Rep. do. (1904) passim. INTRODUCTION XLIX Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs But if these data be justly regarded as inconclusive, they may be sup- plemented by a vast material from the Old World, vs^hich shows that our main contention is a correct one, though the evidence can here only be given in brief. From what can be known of the mound-builders of neolithic Europe, it appears that they stood on a very similar stage of culture, their large stone monuments being frequently inscribed with very similar hieroglyphs, — the star, the cross, and later, the swastika. These and the stone "circles" may or may not be taken as solar symbols, — on this opinions are divided — , but the practice of tomb-burial and of supplying the deceased wdth a large part of his personal and household effects, including food and drink "for the journey", shows without a question that the life beyond is conceived as essentially the same as the present, — there is no return to the buffalos. Moreover the occasional trepanning of the skull reveals a strong belief in spiritism, in the escape of the soul (or demon) from its material environ- ment.' Further and more definite evidence is obtained from the buried remains of Egypt and Mesopotamia. There is an abundance of material to prove, — as we shall presently see — , that the earliest symbols for divinity were dis- tinctly astral, the eight-rayed star being the foundation of Babylonian religion. This is not a sun-cult in the purely material sense, but an astrotheological system, in which the heavenly bodies are looked upon as so many distinct persons, the solar orb being invariably the "father" of all the gods and himself apparently transcendent. The same ideas are re-echoed in the later Graeco-Roman, the Polynesian, and the contempo- rary Chinese theology. In every case we have a "heavenly one" or a "shining father", whose vice-regent is the "son of heaven" or the national high-priest, who decides the fate of kingdoms and the conduct of private life largely by what he sees in the skies, in the twelve signs of the zodiac, or in the entrails of certain animals. Religign has become largely astro- logical and animistic, the sexagesimal system finally triumphant. Archi- tecture, sculpture, painting, music, navigation, and so on, all show a far more developed state than anything to be found among the totemic peoples, and with this has come a different aspect of life and existence. Man is no longer descended from plants or animals, he is "created" by god or demi-god, and as such he is free to marry within certain degrees of descent, he becomes in fact more and more aristocratic, more and more endog- amous. As to his soul, it does not re-enter the brutes, but passes to a land of shades or to a life of glory, it has become "divine".' ' For the European Neolithic consult Obermaier, op. cit. pp. 465-524. Dechelette Manuel d'Archeologie (Paris, 1908) pp. 347-630. » S. P. Handcock, Mesopotamian Archaeology (N. Y. 1912). Also Jastrow, Sayce, Meyer, Schmidt, etc. op. cit. infra, for Babylonian, Egyptian, Indo-European, and Polynesian data. L PREHISTORIC RELIGION Culture-Cycles for Three Epochs From all this material it may be inferred with some certainty that there are at least three epochs in the pre-history of man, corresponding to three mental or social stages in the evolution of the race. These are : — (1) The "primitive" or "archaic" stage, which is believed to be pre- palaeolithic, and which is characterised by an extreme simplicity of thought and practice, by the absence of cosmic or animal "pedigrees", and by the general superiority of man over nature, which makes him a unique, a supra-mundane being.^ (2) The "mediaeval" or "totemic" stage, which belongs roughly speak- ing to the palaeolithic, and whose dominant note is the identity of a man with a natural object, his descent from that object, and his possible return into that object by palingenesis or re-birth. This object may be anything, from the sun or moon down to a blade of grass ; it affects food and matri- mony very vitally, but leaves the transcendent Cause of nature otherwise untouched.'' (3) The more "modern" or "recent" stage, which is contemporary with the neolithic, and in which the astral elements have become real divinities, though they are generally subordinate to chief divinity and have no genetic relation to man. (Henotheism).* But besides these general complexities, — ^which seem to be well proven, — modern ethnologists have carried the culture-notion to such an extent as to subdivide these areas into smaller units, and to require transitional stages from one culture to the other. Thus between the "Archaic"- and the "Totem"- they insert the "Boomerang"-culture, (with a supposed lunar mythology) , and between the Totem- and Recent- they introduce a "Two- class" or "Mask"-culture with similar tendencies. Then again the Totem- culture may be divided into three sections, — ^Aurignacian, Solutrean, Mag- dalenian, — and the Neolithic age similarly into three stages, known as the "Bow", "Polynesian" and "Arctic" culture. But whether all these "transitions" etc. will stand the test of verification, remains to be seen, as also the supposed equations between any given age and its accompanying industry (down to the smallest details). In the following table, (p. LVI- LVII), are given the main results of this system as applied to five principal periods. This table is compiled from original sources,* — and this, I believe, for the first time, — but it makes no pretence to being final or exhaustive and is subject to indefinite modification with the advance of the times. 1 This would seem to follow from its non-totemic character. Man is not 'classified' with nature, though he 'belongs' to it. Cp. Schmidt, 1. c. pp. 183-187, 241 f. 2 Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, vol. IV. pp. 4-6. Spencer and Gillen, loc. cit. sup. ^ Comp. Leopold von Schroeder, Altarische Religion, (Munich, 1918), (in the press). Also O. Schrader, Reallexi- con der indogermanischen Alterthumskunde, pp. 824ff. Recent opinions on Totemism, Animism, Solar and Lunar Mythology, will be found in the Compte-Rendu of the "Semaine d'Ethnologie" (Louvain, 1912) p. 93, 99, 225ff. * Graebner, Foy, Schmidt, Ankermann, opera citata supra. INTRODUCTION LI Arguments for the Five-Period System Advanced It has been seen that a threefold stratification of culture is fairly well evidenced by nearly all the data from taken from three extreme and w^idely separated periods of humanity. Does it not seem on the face of it probable that the gap between the lower and the far higher culture is bridged over by some intervening stage of development, some transition from the one to the other? Such transitions have been verified over and over again in the domain of palaeontology, and would seem to suggest that the kindred fields of ethnology and comparative mythology run on parallel lines, show a parallel course of development, corresponding to some extent with the industrial change. Let us see to what extent this argument is borne out by the facts. some intervening periods necessary It seems incredible that the rise from the crude primitive to the com- plicated totemic culture could have taken place without leaving some ves- tiges of a transitional period. Such vestiges are revealed in the palaeonto- logical data, which require the Ghellean-Mousterian as a stepping-stone to the perfected Aurignacian-Magdalenian industry. Man could hardly become such a fine artist, — painter, engraver, carver, boat-builder — , in a day. The evolution of perfected tools requires time, and such time is clearly marked in the annals of archaeology. Similarly the rise from the Magdalenian to the full Neolithic reveals a hiatus which has only recently filled out. The existence of a transitional Azylian-Tardenoisian stage, with microlithic industry, perfected bone-needles, stringed instruments, and masked dances, may now be regarded as certain, whether from the archaeological or the ethnological point of view. Let us consider these two transitions one by one. first transitional stage, — "boomerang"-culture Between the Oceanic Primitives on the one hand and the advanced Indo-Asiatic and totemic peoples on the other, an intermediate type of humanity is revealed in the proto-Malayan family, which has left vestiges of its presence in Indo-Africa, Indo-Australia, and possibly in Indo-South- America, (Bororo-Group?). Its architecture rarely exceeds that of the bee-hive hut, or tunnel-house, and its typical weapon is the Boomerang, which can be traced from Southern India, through Egypt to the Sudan, through Malaysia to Australia, and through North America to Peru and Central Brazil. Its "Bundle-Canoe" is found in regions as far apart as the Coromandel-Coast and Tasmania, the upper Nile and the lower Amazon (Shingu Region). LI I PREHISTORIC RELIGION Arguments for the Five-Period System This reveals a considerable advance upon prinaitive conditions, in that the making of palaeoliths, hovs'ever crude, the more complex dv^^eliings, however unsubstantial, the manufacture of plaited belts and basket-work, of bundle-canoes and of a highly finished throwing-instrument, is a clear indication that the bearers of this culture have learnt more of the arts and sciences than their immediate predecessors, even though it falls equally short of that of their immediate successors. It is not pretended that all the items of this culture can be verified throughout the above vast area, — far from it — , but the elements common to Indo-Africa and Australia are sufficiently striking to merit the further consideration of ethnologists, and the South-American data seem to reflect many of its distinctive features. As to social organisation and higher beliefs, the material is as yet far too fragmentary to admit of any generalisations, — that is, for the com- bined area. The wild Malays of the East, the Tamils of Southern India, the Nigerians of the Sudan, the Tasmanioids of Australia, and the Bororos of Central Brazil, — all these exhibit such striking variations, both in climate, physique and adopted culture, that anything like a uniformity, either in beliefs and practices, is hardly to be expected. But upon one aspect of this development emphasis can, I think, be laid with a fair degree of security. From what is so far known of the mythology of these peoples, it appears that in large sections of the Oceanic and South American regions, the association of religious ideas with the waxing and waning moon, and the practice of more or less occult magic by means of the whirring-disk or "bull-roarer", is too significant to be dismissed offhand as a mere side-issue. We shall find very shortly that the idea of the "Spider-Moon", and the association of divinity with some mysterious and apparently sagacious animal — the spider, the lizard — , extends with slight variations from the Malay Peninsula, through Central Borneo and Melanesia, to South-East Australia on the one hand, and to the farthest Amazonian regions on the other. Considering that these territories are already linked together by many of the cultural elements above referred to, a presumption is formed that they are linked together in their beliefs as well, and this opinion has recently been defended with considerable force by several experts in ethnology and comparative mythology.^ IF. Graebner, Kulturkreise in Ozeanien, (ZE. 190S, p. 28ff). Idem. Methode, (1911), p. 149. W. Foy, Fiihrer, pp. 60, 72, 149, 155, 182, 22Sff (Data for five continents)*. W. Schmidt, Mythologie der austronesischen, Volker, (1910), p. 25. (Lunar Myths). Ehren- reich, AUgeraeine Mythologie, (1910), p. 115, 262-272. Idem. Die Mythen und Legenden der siid-amerikanischen Urvolker, (1905), pp. 34-36, 42-44, 66-102 (Migrations of solar and lunar myths,— the "Spider-Moon," etc.). INTRODUCTION LIII Arguments for the Five-Period System SECOND TRANSITIONAL STAGE, — TWO-CLASS OR "MASK"-CULTURE Until recently no separation has been made between the pure totem- culture and the classiflcatory-system. Both appeared to be so closely inter- twined, SO inextricably woven together, as to form almost a unit. Yet even Frazer soon began to recognise that the two ideas are by no means synony- mous, that it is possible to have the class-system without totemism and vice versa, even though in practice they are nearly always found together." It has been shown that the break between the full Magdalenian and the early Neolithic culture is no longer as abrupt as was once supposed. The palaeontological evidence has brought to light an intervening stratum, known as the Azylian-Tardenoisan period, which was famous for the production of superfine flints and bone-needles, for the manufacture of higher musical instruments, and for the performance of costume- or masked-dances. If we look to the existing races of mankind as its pos- sible representative, we shall find that in no single case has this culture been preserved with anything like purity, but that strong undercurrents of the culture may be discerned among the Turanian-Asiatic, the West- African-Bantu, the East-Indian-Melanesian, and the more advanced North and South-American peoples. Here we shall discover that the above elements are accompanied by the painted mask, the gable-roofed club- house, the built-up canoe or plank-boat, the bamboo-flddle and pan-pipe, the men's secret society, the female "matriarchate", the skull-trophy with associated head-hunting, and above all the Ghost-Dance, which is the most distinctive of all the external features of this culture, and which can be traced from Nigeria to Melanesia, and from Alaska to Brazil.' While many of the intervening links have disappeared, it is being felt that these complexities are too strong to be accidental, that a parallelism over such widely separated areas points to some genetic relation in the past, or at least to some unified or collective development. In nearly every case, the social and industrial stage of this period may be marked off from the full neolithic on the one hand and from the preceding "glacial" stage on the other, though the growing contact with higher cultures and the general fusion of cultures will probably account for the apparent want of con- tinuity in its geographical distribution. 2 Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, (1910), Vol. IV. pp. 71-136, on the origin of exogamy and the class-system, and their geographical distribution, esp. p. 136. ' Items will be found in F. Graebner, Die Melanesische Bogenkultur, (Anthropos, 1909), p. 998ff. (with a valuable map). Also in Foy, op. cit. pp. 61, 75, 150, 1S6_, 170, I83, 225ff. showing distribution oyer five continents, if European Palaeolithic (Azylian stage) be included. Comp. Obermaier, Der Mensch der Vorzeit (1912) pp. 213-222, 424-430, 434-43S, for late-palaeolithic parallels. Also J. Dechelette, Manuel d'Archeologie, (Paris, 1908), p. 318ff. LIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION Arguments for the Five-Period System The quality of belief which is characteristic for this period is intimated, partly by the numerous buried remains, partly by the existing races as we actually find them. The combined data furnish sufficient evidence for inferring that a pronounced spirit-cult with a developed ancestor-worship forms as it were the background, upon which the skull-cult, the ghost- jdance, the fire-walk, and other secret orgies, have been in part engrafted. We have only to refer to the decapitated skeletons of Ofnet and Mas d'Azyl, to the phantastic figures with masked heads that adorn so many of the French and Spanish caverns of this period, not to speak of the spiral designs, the "eye" patterns, the hand-silhouettes, the amputated fingers, the painted pebbles, and other symbolic devices, to see how faithfully many if not most of these features are represented among the surviving peoples above enumerated.* If they have so many elements in common with late-glacial man, including their industry, does it not seem highly probable that they mirror to some extent their religious beliefs, that where a spirit-cult is demonstrable in the one case, it is to say the least strongly suggested in the other? But as to the nature of the existing beliefs, there is throughout a strongly developed ghost-worship, which without attaining to the full maturity of a universal animism, has brought the tribal ancestor into bold relief, who now occupies the principal position in the cult, the converging- point in the ritual. The numerous "ghost-societies", distributed over such vast regions, — from Melanesia to Brazil — , are alone sufficient to prove this, however vague and mysterious may be their inner symbolism. The fact that most of these dancing-escapades take place by moonlight has trans- ferred the central object of the mythology from the sun to the moon, it is the lunar phases which again arouse the interest of man, the bright and dark moon being often symbolical of the twofold division of society into the class-phratries, which division is commonly expressed in Oceania by the "Eagle-Hawk and Grow", — the two typical birds of the class-system." But whatever be exact relation of the social and mythological data, — and much obscurity still surrounds this subject — , the case for an intervening culture, characterised by the above features, and illustrated in part by the above peoples, is becoming increasingly strong with every fresh discovery. *Obermaier, loc. cit. supra, giving the latest discoveries of the Abbe Breuil (Paris, 1910), with existing survivals among nature-peoples, (pp. 2S3-2S8). "J. Mathew, Eagle-Hawk and Crow, (London and Melbourne, 1899), pp. 93-148. R. Codrington, The Melanesians, (Oxford, 1891), pp. 20-68 (social features), pp. 69-115, (secret societies and mysteries), p. 34Sff. (skull-trophies, etc.). Also Graebner, Foy, 1. c. sup. and W. Schmidt, Austronesische Mythologie, (1910), pp. 128ff. Ursprung, p. 302ff. Ehrenreich, Siidamerikanische Mytii- ologie, p. 34f f . INTRODUCTION LV Arguments for the Five-Period System Thus the combined evidence, — palaeontological, ethnological, myth- ological — , establishes a fairly strong presumption in favor of at least two intermediate stages, which are marked off with sufficient clearness to be for the most part recognisable. However deficient many of the existing links may prove to be, — and such deficiencies are only to be expected by analogy with geological "breeiks" — , the convergence is in most cases too striking not to rivet the attention of the inquiring student. Such transitions are not only a priori probable, but for certain periods plainly demon- strable, and have been long since recognised in the field of archaeology, the discovery of the ethnological parallels being comparatively recent. Thus in the Neolithic, the lacustrian is sharply divided from the later megalithic and pyramid-building-stage, the huge monuments of Western- Eurasia, Northern India, Polynesia, and Peru, being characterised by so many similarities, both in structure and design, as to call for some period of common development during which massiveness in architecture became, as it were, the craze. Advanced navigation in finely constructed galleys, with typical three-cornered (Polynesian) sails and elegantly constructed rudders, was then the order of the day, the ocean became the common highway of commerce, bereft of many of its old-time terrors. At a still later period, the sub-arctic peoples of the far North gave birth to the most recent of all developments of prehistoric industry, that of stitched moccasin foot-wear and European trousers, — the so-called "Pantaloon- culture". It is not always realised that the standard male attire of modern times is the distant descendant of the Eskimo snow-costume, and that, far from being ancient, or in any full sense primitive, the existing sub-arctic populations are in reality the bearers of a very late, almost contemporary phase of civilisation, — for which reason they are of little or no value as the exponents of an early tradition. It will thus be seen that in the analysis of any known culture — Periods may be multiplied indefinitely, nearly every supposed break has brought to light an intervening bridge, from which the transition from a lower to a higher civilisation may as a rule be vaguely recognised. In view, however, of the greater primitive- ness of the non-metal ages, the above five periods may be deemed sufficient, they embody five of the earliest stages in the upward ascent of man.« « Further details in Obermaier, op. cit. pp. Part II. pp. 439ff. K. Weule, Die Urgesellschaft und ihre Lebensfursorge, (Stuttgart, 1912), pp. 63-110. Idem, Leitfaden, (1912) pp. 103- 136, and with great clearness by the writers of the Cologne-school, esp. W. Foy, op. at. pp. 76, 271ff. LVI THE PREHISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF MAM TIME-TABLE: RAGE-TYPE: (survivals) (A) ARCHAIC (PRE-PALAEOLITHIC) (B) BOOMERANG ( EARLY-PALAEOLITHIC) Oceanic Primitive (East Ind.) Indo-Asian-Malaysian (Tamil) African Primitive (Congo Belt) " G. African Nigerian (Sudanese) Australian Primitive (Tasman) Indo-Asian- Australian (Sub-zone) Amazonian Primitive (Brazil)?* [ndo-Asian-Amazonian (Bororo)?* CLIMATE: Tropical (with Pluviation) Tropical to Mild. Glaciation. FOOD: (Veg.) (Staple Animal) (Narcotics) Banana, Plantain, Palm-fruit. Wild Boar. (Tiger, Eleph. and Rhinoceros in Indo-Africa) . . Narcotics originally wanting. Banana, Palm-fruit, Pine-apple. Wild Boar. (Tiger, Eleph. and Hippopotamus in Indo-Africa). Narcot, originally wanting. CLOTHING: Leaf-Belt and Skin-Mantle Loin-strap and Fur- jacket. ORNAMENT: Generally wanting. (Combs & Shell-necklace in Malaysia. Body-painting in parts) . Plaited Belts and Head^bands. Nose, Lip, and Ear-ornament. Painting and Scarification. HABITATION: Cave, Tent, or Windshelter. Bee-hive Hut and Tunnel-house. FIRE-MAKING : Fire-Strap and Fire-Plow Fire-Plow and Fire-Drill. WEAPONS: IMPLEMENTS: Staff-Bow, with fibre-string & Boomerang dominates, with reed arrow. Blowpipe in parts, spear, club, and fencing-shield. Also clubs & simple spears. Bow and arrow survive. Bamboo-Knife & Stone Hammer. Chipped Flint and Stone Axe. Flint-chips, flakes, bone and (Chellean-Mousterian Industry) shell-scrapers (untouched). Bone implements survive. ARTS AND INDUSTRIES: MUSIC: The Bamboo Vessel & Charm-tube. The Magic Wand or Bull-roarer. Simple tracery. Crude Pottery. Bamboo vessels and basket-work. Zig-zag patterns. Network. Cord & Hair-string technique. TheMonochord, or "Pangolo"? Sounding-stick and Bull-roarer. NAVIGATION: Tree-Float or "Balsa"-Raft. Balsa-Raft and Bundle-Canoe. GOVERNMENT: Patriarchal Family-system, with "natural" Headinanship. Presidential Clan-system, with elective Headmanship ( ? ) . INITIATION: Fasting and lustration. Fasting and tooth-pulling. SACRIFICE: First-fruits and animals. First-fruits and animals. MARRIAGE: Paternal, — local exogamy. Maternal, — clan-exogamy ( ?) . BURIAL: Simple earth or tent-grave. Niche or Tree-grave. Cremation. BELIEFS: Supposed Monotheistic Belt. Mythology appears in simple anthropomorphic dress. ♦Note : The whole of the Region of Lunar Mythology. Divinity as waxing and waning moon, "spider"-moon. (Magic). New-World culture must be looked upon as LVII >R FIVE PERIODS— CULTURE SCHEDULE (C) TOTEM (ADV. PALAEOLITHIC) (D) TWO-GLASS (LATE PALAEOLITHIC) (E) RECENT (NEOLITHIC) lo-Asian-Dravidian (Kolar) 3t-African Bantuan 3st-Papuan-Australian st-Indian N. American?* Indoasian-Eurasian (Turan) West-African Bantuan East-Papuan-Australian West-Indian N. American?* Eurasian-Caucasian (Ligur). N. African-Mauretanian. Oceanic-Polynesian. Melanesian-Pan-American.* treme. Glaciation full. Mild. Glaciation recedes. Normal. Alluvium begins. 'n, Rice, and Pine-apple, ffalo, Reindeer, Kangaroo, iephant, Rhinoceros, etc.) rcotics imported. Corn, Rice, and Pine-apple. Great Elk & Forest-Stag. Tropics retain fauna. Narcotics imported. Corn, Wheat, & Barley-Cult. Dog, Horse, Sheep, Pig, etc. Tropics retain fauna. Hemp, Tobacco, Betel-nut. ["k-cincture & Fur- jacket. Bark-cincture & Fur-jacket. Flax-garments, (weaved). ime & Flower-ornament, temic Crests & Head-gear, nting & Scarification. The Painted Mask in all its varieties. Ghost-garb. Painting & Scarification. The Diadem. Spiral Cinc- ture. Boar-tooth necklace. Branding and Tattooing. und-House or Wigwam. Gable-roofed Glub-House. Pile-, Stone-, or Cliff-House. e-Drill (perfected). Fire-Drill and Fire-Saw. Fire-Flint, Fire-Pump, etc. relied Bow (oval section), ated Spear. Throwing- ik. Bone Dagger. Bevelled Bow w. Broad Shield. Flinted Spear & Morning- star Bludgeon. Flat Bow w. Round Shield. Flinted Spear. Sling-Bow, Double-reflected Arctic Bow. nted Flint (perfected) arignacian-Magdalenian) le implements (perfected) Small Flint, Bone Needle. ( Azylian-Tardenoisian ) Digging-stick or shovel. Ground or polished Flint. ( Flenusian-Robenhausen) Knee-adze, Spindle-whirl. i carved Figurine. Carved vis. Painting & Engraving. cle & Spiral Pattern. The Painted Mask. Painted Pebbles. Phonetic Alphab. Circle & Spiral Pattern. Pottery & Loom-weaving. Hammock and Rope-bridge. Star and Swastika. le-Flute & Shell-Trumpet. Fiddle, Gong, Panpipe, etc. Horn, Drum, Piano, Organ. 'k-canoe and Dug-out. Bark-canoe & Plank-boat. Sail-boat, w. outriggers &c. riarchal Sept-system, h hereditary chief. Presidential Tribe-System with electing classes. Patriarchal-National. Kingship and Aristrocracy. ting & Circumcision. Ghosfrdance. Fire-walk. Branding and Tattooing. n, Buffalo, Reindeer. Cannibalism and Human. Corn, Horse, Sheep, Human. ernal, Totemic Exogamy. Maternal, Class Exogamy. Paternal, Local Exogamy. tform. Mummification. Skull-Trophy, Cremation. Tomb-burial. Cremation. :ion of Solar Mythology. Advanced Lunar Mythology, inity as Genetic Power Ghost-dance & Skeleton- mature. (Totemism). cult point to Spiritism. ter importation from Asia. America forms a separate province Advanced Solar Mythology. Divinity as "World-Soul" or "Mana". (Animism). LVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Does the Evidence Garry Conviction? As a broad generalisation, then, it would seem some such groups of social and industrial development are revealed with considerable cer- tainty by all the data that are so far accessible to us. Is it sufficiently strong to establish a corresponding mental development, to prove that in a given age the thoughts and mythologies of a people will assume a definite color and tendency, pointing to some leading motif or guiding- theme as being uppermost for the time? This from the above evidence may be regarded as a fairly safe induction. The points enumerated are not too few, the analysis not too brief, to warrant a decisive verdict on the subject for at least three cidtural epochs. But it does not lay claim to such convincing power as to render a detailed investigation superfluous. The Culture-Schedule is a Well-Propounded Working-Scheme Like other movements in the inductive sciences it has to pass through the stage of extended verification before it can attain to the dignity of a fully demonstrated system. It is by means of more or less plausible theories that the greatest triumphs of modern science have been attained. The discoverer uses an artificial scheme as a "working-hypothesis", finds it satisfactory, and by repeated applications in numerous individual instances, comes to the conclusion that he has discovered a "law", that nature has yielded one more of her secrets. In like manner — The Parallelism Between Mental and Social Evolution is a Thesis Which Requires Extensive and Individual Proof. Such a proof has been broadly intimated in the preceding analysis, but it is summary and suggestive rather than final and exhaustive. It points the finger to those regions where such a parallelism may be expected, and where it is in part demonstrated, it makes no pretense to establishing a rigid equation between the ethnological and the mythological data. The data will be tested and verified in the ensuing study; it is only through a detailed examination of each area that anything like a cumulative argument can be propounded with any hope of success. The mythologies must be carefully dissected, whereby some such stratification in beliefs and practices may be estab- lished with greater or less certainty or probability, as the case may be. The proof will then be brought nearer, that for three (or possibly five) broad eras of humanity, the material, mental, and social data reveal such an astounding similarity and dis- tinctive coloring, that some genetic unity in the past will seem to be postu- lated. INTRODUCTION LIX Application of the Fobm-Critemon In estimating the value of this system, the following points deserve to be noted, in so far as they concern its purely material aspect: — (1) The equations between time, race, industry, etc. are only approxi- mations. They do not pretend to be rigidly fixed, but admit of much over- lapping. (2) The migration of culture does not imply a migration of culture- "bearers." (3) The cultural items for any single region have no reference to their origination but rather to their dissemination. They simply mean that in this or that period this or that form of culture obtained the ascendancy. With these provisos we will now reconsider the scheme. What have the leading specialists to say on the subject? It is to be noted in the first place that none of the "convergence" school of writers excludes the idea of cultural "units", and even the idea of whole- sale borrowing in this or that particular instance.^ But more than this, the general tone of criticism, though often reserved, is on the whole decidedly in favor of transmission-possibilities, exception being taken only to smaller details, which in the first effort to master such an enormous area, are naturally difficult to verify in all their complexity. Roland B. Dixon, in a monograph, "The Independence of the Culture of the American Indian," " handles the Asiatic theory somewhat roughly as "in no sense demonstrated". At the same time he gives Dr. Graebner the credit of having called attention to some striking parallelisms between American and Oceanic culture, viz: — "the true plank-canoe, the use of a masticatory with lime, head-hunting and associated skull-cults, the blow- gun, the throwing-stick, the hammock and perhaps the institution of the men's house and certain peculiar masked dances and forms of masks in use in Papuan Melanesia and in America only in parts of Brazil." (But what about the Ghost-Dance in the far North-West?) Elsewhere he puts the "historical" on the same level with the "evolutionary" school : — "We have, it is hoped, left behind us the period of vague and futile theorising, without facts or with too few facts, but there are still many who believe that evolution is the master-key which will unlock all doors, and that by the amassing of more or less heterogeneous and unrelated facts from all over the world a continuous development through definite stages of culture may everywhere be shown. The partisans of independent development iCbmp. Anthropos, VI. (1912) pp. 1010-1036. Also K. Weule, Kultur der Kulturlosen, (supra) pp. 11-30, ('Ethnographische Parallelen') esp. p. 16, where the author, following Andree, admits a cultural borrowing "within the enclosed province", though he is otherwise non-committal, and leaves the question an open one. ^ In "Science", vol. XXXV._ (1912) pp. 46-55. Professor Dixon is on the whole the most cautious writer on this subject, and is open to conviction. LX REfflSTORIC RELIGION Application op the Form-Cmterion based on the theory of the psychological unity of the human mind, are set over against those who believe in the "complexity" of cultures, and the possibility that by analysis and comparison their historic relationships may be determined, and who would explain similarities in culture between widely separated peoples on this basis or on that of convergent evolution." Dixon therefore clearly recognises "definite stages of culture", with or without "historical relationships".* R. H. Lowie, in an article "On the Principle of Convergence in Ethnology",* draws a valuable distinction between the morphology and the teleology of a culture. To prove identity of culture there must be not only identity of form but identity of purpose in the details of the culture. He argues that many of the identities are mere "analogies" and have differ- ent meanings under different conditions of origination. But he seems to overlook the principle that many of these analogies may become identities by serving exactly the same purpose, as for instance the different kinds of throwing-sticks, loin-cinctures, platform-graves, etc. and that where the form-criterion is weak, the teleological criterion is by comparison strong, so strong in fact as to produce a "unity" of culture. Lowie's ideas, though suggestive, are too rigid and one-sided to be likely to triumph. His analysis has revealed a strong parallelism and has failed to disprove an historical connexion." As against the hesitating attitude of American writers, the bold stand taken by Prof. Nordenskjold, — one of the greatest Americanists of the day, — comes as a welcome surprise. He says: "Without accepting the classification of Mr. Graebner, I believe that it is impossible to deny that we have, especially in South America, different elements of civilisation, which without any doubt have come from Asia and Melanesia. "We have, for instance, the 'Sling-Bow' whose singular Asiatic-American distribu- tion is well known. Is it possible that such a complicated instrument could have been invented independently in Asia and America? I hardly think so. We have also the Blow-pipe, the big Alarm-drum, the Pan-flute (or Mouth-organ), the star-headed Bludgeon or 'Morning-star' Club, the 'Ikattic' Tattooing-process, the Rope- or Suspension-Bridge, etc. — all of which we may find in Asia, Melanesia, and America." • It is interesting to note in this connexion that Prof. W. H. Holmes, of the U. S. National Museum, has recently given utterance to a similar pos- sibility : — 8 Criticism in Anthropos, VII. (1912), pp. S0S-S06. *In the Journal of American Folk- lore, Vol. XXV (1912) pp. 24-42. "Criticism in Anthropos VII. (1912), pp. 1061-1062. « Erland Nordenskjold, Une Contribution a la Connaissance de I'Anthropogeographie de I'Amerique, in Journale de la Societe des Amerjcanistes de Paris, (Paris, 1912), Tome IX. pp. 24f. See also Anthrop. VI. (1911), pp. 1018ff. for opinions of Franz Boas and W. H, Rivers on the same subject. INTRODUCTION LXI Application op the Form-Criterion Prof. Holmes takes the following suppositional case: — "The student examining certain collections of primitive antiquities discovers that a particular form of chipped flint knife-blade occurs in America and also in the Old World, and explains the occurrence by the oft-observed fact that with a given state of culture, given needs, and given materials, men of all races reach kindred results. When, however, he observes that the blade of the knife in each case is hooked at the end, keen and highly specialised, he wonders how such correspondence could occur. Pressing his inves- tigation further, he discovers on the two continents other knife-blades of chipped flint with curved and keen point and identical specialisation to facilitate hafting, and a further identical elaboration for purposes of embellishment, and he begins to inquire whether the people concerned in the making of these two groups of artifacts are not related or have not in some way come in close contact. His interest is intensified when he observes that the groups of closely identical blades occur in two trans- oceanic areas at points of nearest approach, and also not in any case in more remote localities on the respective continents, and he is astonished to discover further that the two areas involved are connected by oceanic currents and trade winds by means of which sea-going craft could make the ocean voyage from continent to continent with comparative ease. Later he finds that other objects of handicraft belonging to these adjacent areas have similar correspondences, and his previous impressions are decidedly strengthened. When going more deeply into the investigation, he learns that similar phenomena occur elsewhere, that in numerous localities on the shores of the one continent the culture traces have close similarities to those of the adjacent transoceanic areas, and no such resemblances elsewhere, and he concludes without hesitation, and con- cludes safely, that contact of peoples and transfer of transoceanic cultures have taken place, not only at one but at many points".'' This is only an ideal case, but Prof. Holmes then mentions the peculiar forms of axes, adzes, gouges, bannerstones, ceramics, pyramid-temples, etc. which he compares with Old-World models, and though he does not handle the question of stratified culture, he does not exclude a possible migration of "members of the White, the Polynesian, and perhaps even the Black races", — a strong admission, though it falls short of culture-cycles as such.* These quotations will be sufficient to show that "transmission" is begin- ning to be talked about, that it is attracting the attention of high author- ities. ■'W. H. Holmes, in the American Anthropologist, Vol. XIV, No. 1. (Jan-March, 1912). Reprint, p. 33-34. « Ibid. p. 36. For Pleistocene connexions, see articles by Dall, Gidley, Clark; for Neolithic connexions those by Hough, Hagar, et al. in the same number, LXII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Application op the Form-Criterion This is brought out with unhesitating force in a very recent publica- tion of Prof. Gudmund Hatt, the Danish expert of Copenhagen. In his analysis of the distribution of various types of arctic footwear, etc. he finds it difficult to believe that this can be explained without transmission. "Some ethnologists like to imagine local and independent origins for cultural phenomena. Others have a natural dislike for independent origins and prefer to search for cultural centers' and the ways and roads of cul- tural transmission. The present writer belongs to the latter class. This may perhaps to some extent be a matter of personal taste. Cultural phe- nomena of striking similarity may develop independently in different areas. But when we find a certain cultural element distributed over a con- tinuous area, we have a right and the obligation to search for a center of origin. It is and always has been much easier to borrow an idea from one's neighbors than to originate a new idea, and transmission of cultural elements, which in all ages has taken place in a great many different ways, is and has been one of the greatest promoters of cultwral development" ? Applying this to the Asiatic-American province, he says: — "My study of arctic clothing, the results of which have been published in my book Arktiske Skinddragter, has strengthened the opinion that Nor- thern Asia has been the scene of a great development of clothing types." 1. Clothing developed from the poncho type. 2. Clothing developed from the loose mantle (originally a simple deerskin) . 3. Trousers developed from leggings (with triangular genital cloth). 4. Trousers developed from breechcloth (passing between the legs). 5. Boots and shoes developed from stocking and sandal ("sandal- boots"). 6. Moccasins and boots developed from moccasins ("moccasin- boots"). The author then distinguishes two large cultural waves, which in pre- historic times swept over the northern regions. The first he calls the "Coast"- or "Eskimo-culture", which was without snow-shoes, the sec- ond the "Inland"- or "Tungusic-culture", extending from Lapland to Labrador, and which brought with it that most valuable possession of arctic races. The conical lodge and the birch-bark canoe are also men- tioned in this connexion as well as the reindeer nomadism, but these are evidently far more ancient than the writer would seem to imply, though they may have reached northern Asia at a comparatively late epoch. In any case, it is noteworthy that one of pur greatest authorities on pre- historic footwear should be tracing our highest arctic culture to two independent waves originating in Asia. 'Gudmund Hatt, Moccasins and their relation to arctic footwear, Memoirs of the Am, Anthropol. Assoc. Vol. III. No. 3 (July-Sept. 1916) p. 246ff, INTRODUCTION LXIII Parallelism with the Mental Development Among English writers the idea of a mental parallelism is for the first time prominently defended by Dr. W. H. Rivers, who in a lecture delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Science calls atten- tion to "The Ethnological Analysis of Culture" as a new field of research." He says "It was through the combined study of social forms and of lan- guage that I was led to see that the change I had traced (between different systems of blood-relation) was not a spontaneous evolution, but one which had taken place under the influence of a blending of peoples. The com- bined morphological and linguistic study of systems of relationship has led me to recognise that a definite course of social development had taken place in an aboriginal society under the influence of an immigrant people". . . . "Further study made it clear that those I have called the immigrant people, though possessing these features in common, (totemism, class- system) , had reached Melanesia at different times and with decided differ- ences of culture"." "In recent speculation the idea of mana is coming to be regarded as having been the basis of religious ideas and practice, preceding animism as the earliest form of religion. ... If I am right in my analysis of Oceanic culture, the Melanesian concept of mana is not a suitable basis for these speculations. It is certain that the word mana belongs to the culture of the immigrants into Melanesia, and not to that of the aborigines." . . . The evidence certainly does not support the view that the concept of mana is more primitive than animism, for the immigrants were already in a very advanced stage of animistic religion, a cult of the dead being certainly one of the most definite of their religious institutions"." Mana and animism are therefore looked upon as concomitant and later develop- ments in religious history. "I have tried to indicate that evolutionary speculation can have no firm basis unless there has been a previous analysis of cultures and civilisa- tions now spread over the earth's surface. Without such an analysis it is impossible to say whether an institution or belief possessed by a people who seem simple and primitive mxiy not really be the product of a relatively advanced culture forming but one element of a complexity which at first sight seems simple and homogeneous" .^^^ This is the first estimate as far as I know (in English) of the religious value of the Kulturkreis, totemism and animism being regarded as dis- tinctly later phenomena, and this purely from the ethnological or cultural data." 10 W. H. Rivers, The Ethnological Analysis of Culture, in "Science" Vol. XXXIV, (1911) pp. 385-397. " Ibid. p. 389. " Ibid. p. 390. is Ibid. p. 390. " lb. p. 392. " Comp. Elliot Smith, The Evolution of Man, (Smiths. Rep. 1912-13. p. 5S3-SS4), Rev. John M. Cooper, DD., The Higher Culture of Early Man (Eccles. Review, Sept. 1914,) pp. 259-283 (an able article). LXIV PREHISTORIC RELIGION Parallelism with the Mental Development Still more clear is the voice of Dr. F. Boas, admittedly one of the great- est authorities on North- American folk-lore and comparative mythology : — "Our considerations make it probable that the wide differences between the manifestations of the human mind in various stages of culture may be due almost entirely to the form of individual experience, which is determined by the geographical and social environiment of the individual. It would seem that, in different races, the organisation of the mind is on the whole alike, and that the varieties of mind in different races do not exceed, perhaps not even reach, the amount of normal individual variation in each race. It has been indicated that, notwithstanding this similarity in the form of individual mental processes, the expression of mental activity of a community tends to show a characteristic historic develop- ment. From a comparative study of these changes among the races of man is derived our theory of the general development of human culture. But the development of culture must not be confounded with the develop- ment of mind. Culture is an expression of the achievements of the mind, and shows the cumulative effects of the activities of many minds. But it is not an expression of the organisation of the minds constituting the community, which may in no way differ from the minds of a community occupying a much more advanced stage of culture".^* Boas thus empha- sises the psychological unity of the human race, while he admits that culture is an index of its collective manifestation; implying a collective progress, a "unified" development. Speaking of its expression in terms of a dominant mythology, he says : — "Perhaps the objection may be raised to my argument, that the similar- ities of mythologies are not only due to borrowing, but also to the fact that under similar conditions which prevail in a limited area, the human mind creates similar products. While there is a certain truth in this argument so far as elementary forms of human thought are concerned, it seems quite incredible that the same complex theory should originate twice in a limited territory. The very complexity of the tales and their gradu£d dwindling down to which I have referred above, cannot possibly be explained by any other method than thai of dissemination. Wherever geographical continuity of the area of distribution of a complex ethnic phenomenon is found, the laws of probability exclude the theory that in this continuous area the complex phenomenon has arisen independently in various places, but compels us to assume that in its present complex form its distribution is due to dissemination, while its composing elements may have arisen here or there"." "Journal of American Folk-lore, Vol. XIV p. 11. "Ibidem. Vol. IX. p. 1-11. * INTRODUCTION LXV Parallelism with the Mental Development Coming to the native North American mythology and its relation to the Old World groups, the same author makes the following characteristic summary : — "These considerations lead me to the following conclusions, upon which I desire to lay stress The analysis of one definite mythology of North America shows that in it are embodied elements from all over the con- tinent, the greater number belonging to neighboring districts, while many others belong to distant areas, or, in other words, that dissemination of tales has taken place all over the continent. In most cases we can dis- cover the channels through which the tale flowed, and we recognise that in each and every mythology of North America we must expect to find numerous foreign elements. And this leads to the conclusion that similar- ities of culture on our continent are always more likely due to diffusion than to independent development. When we turn to the Old World, we know that there also diffusion has taken place through the whole area, from Western Europe to the islands of Japan, and from Indonesia to Siberia, and to Northern and Eastern Africa. In the light of the similar- ities of inventions and myths, we must even extend this area along the Northern Pacific coast of America as far south as Columbia River. These are facts that cannot be disputed".^* (The italics are ours) . From the greatest specialist on South-American mythology we are now assured that these similarities do not stop here, but extend far into the Gordilleran region, the southern continent being by no means isolated. "It may be looked upon as a ceriain proposition", says Paul Ehren- reich, "that the legends of both halves of the New World are organically interrelated. A whole number of South-American myths, legends, and fairy-tales are to be looked upon as the relics of a very ancient layer of tradition covering the whole of the New World. On the other hand, a younger peregrination and infiltration of mythical elements and motives, a corresponding uniformity of combinations, and even a complete set of well-rounded hero-stories, are demonstrably of northern, probably of pacific coast, origin, and can be traced at least in part into the Eastern Hemisphere. Old-World mythology, — ^this may be affirmed with cer- tainty — , is much more copiously represented in America than has been heretofore supposed. This is not confined to the north-western region, which forms almost a mythological province with certain portions of Eastern Asia, but stretches with its numerous offshoots far into the South- American region"." 18 Journal of American Folk-lore, Vol. IX, p. 1-11. Ibidem, p. 10. These quotations may also be found in W. I. Thomas, Source-Book, (Chicago, 1912), pp. ISS, 308, 313. i" P. Ehrenreich, Sudamerikanische Mythologie (1905), p, 97-98. Corap. idem, p. 100, for ural- altaic and East-Indian connexions. LXVI PREHISTORIC RELIGION Parallelism with the Mental Development Still more recently Prof. G. Elliot Smith, of Manchester University, England, has expressed his opinion in such clear and forcible language that vi^e cannot help feeling there must be something back of the scheme. In a current article in "Science" he voices his conviction that "those whose minds are still sufficiently alert to be no longer blinded by the out- worn dogmas of Bastian and Tylor will be led to accept the views which I have sketched as the only possible interpretation of the facts" — "The writings of Graebner, Frobenius, Ankermann, Foy, Schmidt, and Montadon, were quite unknown to me when my conclusions were first formulated; their views and mine have nothing in common except that both repudiate the speculations and the antiquated psychology which for fa/r too long have been permitted to hide the truth". Here are some of his "facts":— "We are now sufficiently acquainted with the earliest literatures of Egypt, Babylonia, and India, to know that the association of the eagle or hawk with all these varied phenomena was not due to the reasons Mr. Brinton gives, — (natural instinct). The mingling of eagle-people with sun-people and the association of the latter with serpent-people and with the worshippers of Osiris (the controller of water) was the beginning of the cotnplex blending of the symbol of the sun, the serpent, the eagle, and the toater. In the Babylonian thunder-bird further attributes were added, and others again in India, the far East, and America". "The American thunder-bird and the winged snake ivith deer's antlers certainly came from the Old World". "We can trace the association of the deer with control of the waters from Babylonia along the whole Asiatic littoral, watching the symbolism gradually increase in richness and complexity as, in its passage from west to east, it blends with a variety of other elements, until eventually it emerges in the Chinese dragon, which it sup- plies with antlers". "In the light of the complex history and the scores of wholly chance circumstances that contributed to the making up of this Asiatic wonder-beast, is it at all credible that the Algonkin and Iroquois serpent with wings and deer's horns is an independent invention?" He concludes by citing Prof. Hopkins as having "proved up to the hilt" the Asiatic, and more especially the Indian, derivation of many of the religious ideas of the American Iroquois, and believes that "in the light of our present knowledge it is now possible to refer to its original source the germ of a very large number of elements in the pre-Columbian civilisation of America". ^'^ 20 G Elliot Smith, The Origin of the Pre-Columbian Civilisation in America, (Science, Vol. XV. March, 1917), p. 241ff. INTRODUCTION LXVII PARALLEIilSM WITH THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT As all these writers are dealing with comparatively advanced, stone- or bronze-age peoples, — ^whether in Asia, Melanesia, or America — , it will stand to reason that if a convergence of material and mental phenomena be admitted for the earliest ages of man, as is strikingly illustrated by the earliest phenomena of negrito culture, such a convergence, if not a genetic interdependence, must, in view of the above testimonies, be also admitted for the higher peoples, and thus the idea of broad units of culture, extend- ing in almost unbroken continuity from the earliest times is, to say the least, powerfully suggested, — admitted even by the supposed advocates of spontaneous development. Combined evidence for a "stratified" development. We are now in position to appreciate this subject in its proper per- spective. It is true that the above extracts are only broad statements, show- ing the general homogeneity and interdependence of cultural or myth- ological phenomena over certain wide areas. They do not of themselves demonstrate the further claim that this development has taken place in certain well-defined and progressive periods. If now we turn to the detailed evidence as given in the preceding summary, we shall find I think that the combined 'materifil is sufficiently weighty and sufficiently well- tested to merit the serious consideration of a scientific mind. "What was there shown to be solidly evidenced, — ^whether from the archaeological, eth- nological, or mythological point of view — , is now seen to be endorsed in its main outlines by the voice of authorities, who are not as yet identified with any definite "scheme" of development, but who see in its general tendencies a movement in the right direction, and whose more specific utterances appear to lend it a powerful corroboration. If Boas and Norden- skjold make out such a strong case for a mythological or cultural "prov- ince" in their respective departments, if Ehrenreich is prepared to stake his reputation on certain successive waves of Asiatic and Pan- American traditions binding together whole continents in a common inheritance of folk-lore, it is surely time to turn to the period-scheme with renewed zest, and to see how beautifully these conclusions accord with what culture-specialists by profession have discovered by more detailed examination. These opinions strongly corroborate the Period-system, of this there can be no doubt, and its further confirmation must, as I have said, be sought in the continual application of the schedule to definite and detailed instances, from which its importance and its truth may be the more completely tested. LXVIII PREHISTORIC RELIGION Preliminary Conclusions As to my own position in the matter, I wish to say once and for all, that I do not regard the above evidence as sufficiently exhaustive in all its parts to be able to serve as the only foundation upon which the stately structure of a religious system is to be reared. Even if it be allowed, as indeed it must, that most of the ethnological data are substantially accurate, their higher interpretation in terms of a corresponding myth- ology is not always beyond criticism, and we cannot always be sure that a given instrument, such as the 'bull-roarer', has always served the same magical purpose and no other, (Compare the modern 'whirly-gig' or 'buzzing'-toy) . Then again it is risky in the present state of our knowledge to speak of all culture as having been derived from Asia, even if we include Eurasia and Australasia. Though the evidence points strongly in this direction, the time has not yet come to speak with certainty of 'Austro- Asiatic waves of influence' as excluding all native or autochthonous devel- opments. The Arctic (and Antarctic) problem is one that is still to be worked out in many of its details, and may yet modify a universal theory of transmission. These and other uncertainties have made me hesitate to give full sanction to a theory which is still dividing the attention of the learned world, but which will require many years of patient labor and investigation to be verified in all its details, that is, as a rigid transmission- system. On the other hand, it would be foolish not to recognise the important services that the system may render to the religious student in all those matters which seem to be well-established. These are : — (1) The extreme simplicity of the primaeval area (a) in the nomadic manner of life, (b) in the rudimentary arts and industries, (c) in the primitive social state (d) in the general absence of totemism and of "nature-affinity" theories (e) in the personal and anthropomorphic myth- ology which makes man (and God?) the first and most direct object of apprehension, (see above pp. V-XV. p. XLIII). (2) The intrusion of a later and far more complicated culture in which all these elements have become dominated by a totemic, cosmic, or astral mythology, — though the fundamental features of (1) are still to be traced. (3) The existence of a still later and strongly animistic belt, in which the primitive elements re-appear as deities, but without the totemic relation. As a broad system, therefore, the above schedule may be safely fol- lowed, (even down to the transitional stages), but its complete endorse- ment can only be attained by a detailed examination of each individual 21 Further opinions on this subject in "Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien" Vol. 42 (1912) pp. (102-125) Discussion by leading experts. INTRODUCTION LXIX APPLICATION From these conclusions it is evident that the culture-notion admits of valuable applications. Where in former times people saw nothing but the casual and the haphazard, there now reigns the dominion of law, an orderly succession of different social and mental complexities which cor- respond to different "ages" or "stages" of belief. To take but one illus- tration, — ^the Australian Continent. Until recently there has been no dis- tinction made between North, South, East, or West, except on the a priori grounds that this or that social system unust have been the more primitive one. The whole continent was looked upon as a homogeneous unit, with- out any differentiations either as to physique, language, weapons, imple- ments, industries, and other details. With the help of a more powerful method, it is now possible to separate at least five different layers or epochs of culture with nearly the same precision as that with which the geologist discovers layers or stratifications in the earth's crust. Thus, for instance :— (1) There is a Tasmanian under-current, which is 'archaic' or nearly so. This forms the basis of a large portion of the South-Eastern maritime belt. (2) There is a 'Boomeranff'-l&yer, which has been pushed into the far South-East and in which magic and a lunar mythology become promi- nent. (3) There is the To^em-culture, which, advancing from the North- west, has taken possession of the center, and given a solar turn to the preceding. (4) The Two-Class or 'Phratraic' culture has invaded the continent from the North-East, advanced to the center, and driven the former into the background; (5) and finally there is a Neolithic wave, which, originating (vaguely) in Eurasia has travelled via India and Indonesia into Oceania, but has affected the continent chiefly on the Northern and Eastern border, though its influence can be felt in other sections (Mana, strong Animism). Now the value of these generalisations is apparent. With their help it is possible to dissect any given mythology into its component parts, and to determine the earlier and the later elements of the mythology with some degree of accuracy. It is truei, of course, that these elements are sometimes confused and difficult to disentangle, but when we have ninety-nine per- cent of totemism in one area to only one percent in the other, it will stand to reason that the elements that make up the totemistic complex, — such as sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, in their vital relation to man, — must be first removed in order to reveal the pre-totemic mythology in all its purity. In this way many of the Australian areas can be successfully "expurgated." LXX PREHISTORIC RELIGION In the following study it is therefore taken for granted that the culture- scheme above indicated is now appreciated at its proper value. This does not mean that the question of cultural origins or mythological propaga- tion is thereby settled. Quite the contrary. It simply affirms that there is good evidence to show that the items enumerated under each section are sufficiently well-tested to serve, broadly speaking, as the basis for a classi- fication, in which the elements of time, race, industry, and higher beliefs form as it were a "unity", whether by convergence or by actual physical transmission. That this is really the case can of course only be brought to a positive proof by a far wider analysis than the one we have just attempted. It is only through repeated applications and verifications in individual cases that a proposed "system" passes over into a demonstrated fact. This was the method by which astronomers discovered the "Ring" of 256 (?) asteroids, where before they suspected nothing but an acci- dental display of meteoric phenomena. It is time alone that can bring forth complete certainties, whether in the field of cosmology or of sociology. The treatment is as follows: — ^The material is arranged according to theological headings, — God, Creation, Paradise, etc. — and is handled under a double aspect, — {l)Direct Analysis: — Here are given the statistics for each area, with the chief points of criticism and their suggested solutions, (very briefly). Then (2) Combined or Ctimparative Analysis: — (a) of Antiquity, (of the areas examined), (b) of Sources, (native or imported)-, (c) of Interpretation, (by combination of sources), — followed by criticism and coimter-criticism of recent authors, and conclusion. It has been found more serviceable to separate the direct from the comparative analysis for the simple reason that it is quite impossible to estimate this problem in its true proportions without a clear understanding (1) of the precise "state of the question" for each area, (2) of the identities, similarities, and inter- fdependericies of religious ideas, which can only be discovered by a detailed comparison and collation of all the sources and their location in a definite "system" of primitive belief. In this manner it is hoped that the treatment will gain in clearness and focus the attention of the student upon the main point at issue; — the accumulation of evidence for the social and religious solidarity of man during the earliest epoch of his evolution that is at present known to us. The other alternative, — ^that of bringing the entire religious system before the reader in a single glance, offers too much material to be easily digested. The individual picture will be given first, the universal picture will be reserved for our concluding chapter. INTRODUCTION LXXI SUMMARY The main results of this introductory survey are therefore as follows : (1) Primitive man belongs to the torrid zone, and more especially to the Oceanic regions of the Old World. Isolated survivals may exist else- where. (2) The combined evidence of the biological, ethnological,^ and sociological data establishes a strong presumption, that the proto- melanoids of the far East are in many respects the nearest approach to the primitive type. (3) This means that the real primitive was probably a composite, — an "ideal" form — , from which the three main divisions of humanity have issued, leaving the existing sub-forms {negrito, vedda, proto-malay) as its germinal vestiges. (4) We are therefore justified in looking to the latter as the earliest existing representatives of the race ; — as the "protomorphic" group. (5) On no account can the primitive type be derived from any exist- ing anthropoids, as the morphological traits of these peoples show a strik- ing divergence from any of the simian types, as well as an equally strong convergence into an unknown type, which cannot now be reconstructed. The combined evidence, however, points to a relatively symmetrical, high- brow form. (6) The mentality of primitives is far higher than was formerly sus- pected. There is no essential difference between man recent, glacial, or pre-glacial, nor is there a shred of evidence for the "homo alalus" or speechless man. In every case we have a "homo sapiens" endowed with different degrees of mental facility, depending upon the complexity of his needs and environment. In this respect the above races compare favor- ably with the higher peoples. (7) The morality of primitives has recently been placed in a far more favorable light. There is considerable evidence to prove that the institu- tion of m,onogamy is very generally recognised by the lowest races of man that are known to us. Among the East-Indian primitives this is especially the case. Furthermore, there is a very general absence, or at least a rarity, of gross crime, whether as theft, murder, infanticide, cannibalism, or human sacrifice. On the contrary, the lessons of honesty, charity, kindli- ness and generosity are strongly inculcated from the tenderest years, and social and domestic relations reveal a simple, but attractive picture. (8) These statistics are sufficient to show that the supposed incapacity of primitive man to be the recipient or the bearer of a relatively high order of theological truth is ipso facto an untenable, proposition. It is further contradicted by the reports from the missionary field, which show that the despised primitive is as receptive of supernatural doctrines and as retentive of them, as any of his more favored or "civilised" brethren. LXXH PREHISTORIC RELIGION SUMMARY (9) In the analysis of any given mythology, however, it is necessary to distinguish the original from the imported elements. (10) This can only be accomplished by an ethnological and myth- ological analysis of culture, from vs^hich it may be show^n that certain groups of ideas go hand in hand v^'ith certain definite stages of culture, and are characteristic of certain definite periods of human development. (H) A preliminary analysis of three vi^ide epochs of humanity has revealed the fact that the institution known as totemism is confined to a certain group of races, which are higher than any of the above primitives, and lower than the full neolithic and civilised races of antiquity. (12) A further investigation has disclosed with some probability the existence of two intermediate layers, in which magic and spiritism respec- tively claim an important element in the religious belief. (13) // therefore magic and totemism, spiritism and animism, can be proved to be absent from the earliest belt, it will stand to reason thai they are all laier developments in religious history, and by a similar process of exclusion it may be proved that they follow one another in the order indicated, or at least are characteristic of their respective cultures. (14) Such a proof has been roughly outlined in the above analysis, but it presents the results of professional research, rather than the research itself. It is a broad summary of what has already been discovered. (15) Detailed proof will be found in the following study, in which each of the above statements will be made good by a rigid examination of the cultural and mythological data for each successive or typical region. (16) But without a preliminary schedule it is quite impossible to understand the bearings of this subject on the religious problem as such. (17) In its broader tendencies the system is receiving the support of many notaJjle experts, and is attracting the attention of all scholars. (18) Independently of all theories, however, the facts will be able to speak for themselves, and should therefore merit our primary attention. I have thought it useful to summarise once more the main points of our present contention, in order that the exact position of the status quaes- tionis may the more easily be recognised. We will now proceed to the examination of the religious material as such, — ^beginning with the lowest aborigines of Oceania, and concluding with the highest culture-peoples of North and South America. PREHISTORIC RELIGION CHAPTER THE FIRST DE DEO UNO The Savage idea of a Supreme Being in its origin and development — Direct Analysis- THE OLDEST SYMBOL OF THE HUMAN RACE THE ALL-FATHER SIGN AS BECOMSXBUCTED FBOM THE EABLIEST EXISTING PICTOGBAPH8 AND COMBINBD TVITH ATTESTED UGHT- AND SPIBIT-STMBOI.S AND WITH THE CREATION- OB BENE- DICTION-SIGNS. '"^^--Xvyf^ SIATEBIAI.S, SOURCES AND PICTOGBAPHIC INTERPRETATIONS IN THE FOLLOTHNG PLATES. AND COMPARE TH. DANZET, DIE ANTANGE DER SCHBIFT (LEIPZIG, 1910) PI. I-XII. J. ASHTON, THE HISTOBT OF THE CBOSS (LONDON, 1898). T. WILSON, THE SWASTIKA (WASHINGTON, 1894). W. HOFFMAN, THE BEGINNINGS OF WRITING (NEW TOBK, 1898) P. 146 FF. EVOLUTION (MOPFNIAN) GOD 1 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (A, 1) KARI — Peninsular Region, Malakka. Semang Negrito, Prov. op Perak There is a deity worshipped by the aborigines of Malakka who seems to possess the qualities of a supreme Being. His name is Kari, (Thunder) , and is described by the natives in the following terms : — ^ He is of supernatural size and of fiery breath, but is now invisible. He has always existed, even before the creation. He knows all things, at least all things that concern man. He can do all things, His will is irresistible. He has made all things, excepting the earth and the body of man. These were made by Pie, a subordinate being or demiurge. He is angered by the commission of sin, but shows pity for man, and is moved by the plead- ings of Pie on man's behalf. He is the supreme Judge of souls and the Master of life and death. He requires at times a sacrifice of blood, with a definite ritual, — human blood-aspersion — , accompanied by the burning of incense, (benzoine), and the formula, — "Blood! I throw you up to Heaven!" Three questions suggest themselves with regard to these data: — (1) Are the Semang the real aborigines of the land? (2) Can the testimony of the reporters be trusted? Is not the wording rather advanced and somewhat suggestive of foreign influence? (3) May not the supreme figure be a glorified hero, a mythological ancestor? Let us consider these points one by one. (1) The racial antiquity of the negritos in general has already been vindicated in the preceding pages. In the present instance there are spe- cial reasons for believing that the Semang are among the earliest inhabit- ants of Malakka. In the first place, they inhabit the interior of the country, and are surrounded by taller and more powerful races, — Malayan, Indone- sian, etc. — ^which shows that they were not the invaders but the invaded, the true aborigines of the land. Then again the three peninsular races form three gradations of culture, in which the Semang occupy the lowest rung of the ladder. None of these peoples make celts, but are living in an age of wood, bone, and bamboo." All their industries and habits of life are on the same primitive level of crudeness, and their language cannot be iden- tified with any known dialect, but is rather a decrepid survival of the aboriginal Ocean-tongue, spoken long before the Malayans and other races had invaded the archipelago.* All this shows that we are dealing with an aboriginal people. 1 Points taken from W. W. Skeat, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, (London, 1906), Vol. II. pp. 177-178, 199-205, founded partly on H. Vaughan-Stevens, Materialien zur Kenntniss der wilden Stamme auf der Halbinsel Malakka, (Berlin, 1894), Vol. III. pp. 107-109, 117, 132ff. Cf. R. Martin, Die Inlandstatnme der Malaischen Halbinsel, (Jena, 1905) pp. 932-987. W. Schmidt, Pygmaenvolker (Stuttgart, 1910), p. 219ff. => Slc?at, 1, ?. J. 53-54, 242-254, 494-496. » Skeat, II. p. 379f f. - . -j 2 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (2) With regard to the sources, the testimony of Vaughan-Stevens is now generally accepted. The fact that most of his details have been veri- fied,— blood-charms, burial-bamboos, wind-spirits, and much mythological matter, — "establishes", in the words of Skeat, "a presumption in favor of his general accuracy".* This is further strengthened by the fact that in the neighboring Andaman Islands a very similar deity has been inde- pendently verified by Man and Portman, and the picture of a "Thunder- God" "of fiery breath, surrounded by Wind- or Sky-spirits is rather too specific, with all its details, to have been arbitrarily invented. It is a forcible reminder of the Thunder-Gods of South-East Australia and other primitive regions, where we have abundant evidence for its authenticity. It may therefore be presumed in default of evidence to the contrary, that the sources are trustworthy. As to the native origin of the belief, we must remember that a striking similarity of belief among widely-separated aborigines points to a com- mon internal, indigenous source. But apart from this, an imported religion can hardly be admitted in the present instance for the following reasons : — First: — There are no traces of Hindoo or Western-Asiatic influences. Brahminism, with its strong metempsychosis-doctrine, finds little support among these simple people, much less the pantheism that accompanies it. The supreme Being is simply the Sky-Lord, who hurls His shafts in the thunder-storm, and to whom the soul returns at the hour of death." His Wind-spirits are the executioners of His will, not the high and mighty divinities of Western Asia, ever contending for supremacy, challenging His authority. Second: — There are no traces of Christian or Islamic influences. Needless to say, the absence of Christological notions excludes the former, while the worship of Allah, with its distinctive rites and ceremonies, has little in common with the simple invocation of Kari for protection from lightning. Gould the Moslems have introduced this faith without intro- ducing some at least of the Moslem practices, more especially the general custom of circumcision? There is nothing exactly analogous to the human Blood-throwing of the Negritos among any of the civilised races of the Peninsula.* Finally: — The name Kari cannot be derived from any known Malayan or Austroasiatic tongue, which shows that the name at least could not have been borrowed. The secrecy of the cult is also heavily against impor- tation.^ If then Kari is both pre-Islamic and pre-Brahministic in concept, and pre-Austro-asiatic in name, it is not too much to say that He is a native divinity. « Skeat, II. 2U, » Ibid, II. 209, • Ilbid, II, 204, ^ S?hini4t, 1, c, m-m. GOD 3 OGEANIG PRIMITIVE FORM (3) With regard to interpretation, the theory of a "glorified hero" is jdiflicult to maintain, for there is positively no ancestor-worship or cult of the dead. Moreover the qualities assigned to Him can hardly be applied to spirits or saints. "He knovj^s all things. He has made all things, He can do all things." It is true that we have a possible ancestor, but more likely a Mediator, in Pie. He helps to create, and is appeased by sacrifice.' There are also numerous Wind — , or Sky-spirits,— jSenrtu, Chini, Tappern, Min- ang, etc. These, however, play a very subordinate role, they are all the "servants" of Kari, and to none, as far as we know, is a regular sacrifice offered." But as to magic and animism, spirit and ancestor-worship, the following points should be considered in greater detail : — The magical combs and mystical bamboos serve as protections against disease. As such they might be interpreted as charms or amulets. But the important point is, that although they serve the purpose of apparent "safeguards," they are brought into close relation with Kari and Pie, from whom in fact they derive all their efficacy. It is through the divinity that the "charm" is worked." This is more especially the case with the so- called "Blood-Gharm" in which human blood is drawn from the shin-bone, mixed with a little water, and thrown in a bamboo-cylinder up to Heaven, — with the exclamation : — "Blood! I throw you up to Heaven! I draw blood, I draw curdled blood! Blood! I throw you up to the sun!", or words to that effect, the invocation being repeated each time that the liquid is thrown up, until all is finished." The purpose of this strange rite is to avert the thunderbolts of the Almighty, not merely to placate the "angry skies," as some have suggested. This is proved by the fact, that Kari, the Thunder-God, has Himself instituted the rite, that He is its direct object, "The practice of throwing blood up to the skies", says Skeat, "is a Semang sacrifice addressed to Kari",^^ and the moral and personal nature of this sacrifice is also attested by Vaughan-Stevens : "Kari Himself makes no use of the blood thus sacrificed, but is pacified by this sign of His children's repentance and ceases to hurl His thunderbolts, and continue His com- plaints of their misdeeds to their creator-demiurge. Pie, at least until they again give Him occasion to do so"." Thus the supposed "thunder-charm" is in reality an atonement-sacrifice to the supreme divinity, a beautiful ceremony, and suggestive of some symbolic meaning. It shows that Heaven can only be regained by the shedding of blood, by a human "life"- sacrifice, though the ceremony is of course only mystical, strictly symbolic. This and the analogous practices connected with the "magic flower" are in fact among the earliest forms of the Sadaka at present known to us, — ^the offering of the most precious substances, solid or liquid, to the Creator. • Skeat, op. ciL II. p. 211-214. » Ibid. II. 180, 212, 214, 217. i» See the Bamboo-pattefns described by Skeat, I. 420ff. 436ff. where the interpretations are giY?n> esp. Myth-bamboo, NO, 1. (Kari). "Skeat, II. 20S. "lb. II. 199. "lb. II. 205, ' 4 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM In like manner the Birth- and Burial-bamboos are better described as "sacramentals" than as wonder-working charms. The former sanctifies the marriage-bond very much as a wedding-ring does among ourselves," while the latter conducts the dying soul directly to the judgment-seat of Kari.^^ This judgment-seat is vividly depicted in the famous Myth- Bamboo, No. 1. which, however crude in execution, brings out the supreme position of the Thunder-God in a manner that is quite unmis- takable." It shows that all these bamboos have an inner moral relation to a personal deity. If then the objection be raised that the alleged "divinity" is shrouded in magic, that there little personal worship connected with this belief, the answer is that the conclusion is altogether too premature, that it is not founded on a careful analysis of facts. If but few formal prayers have so far been authenticated, it is owing to our meagre knowledge as yet of the interior lives of these people, to their extreme reticence with regard to things sacred, and to the fact that they express their feelings and yearnings for the divine in actions rather than words, though informal cries for help and protection are attested in this or that instance. The above practices show clearly that Kari is worshipped, both by word and action, and this proves that He is a Person, not a mere force or nature-power. But if magic is practically nil, spirit- and ancestor-worship is still less in evidence. The medicine-man is still identified with the tribal chief, an early custom," and he casts out not "demons" of disease, but the dis- ease itself, which shows that the idea of demoniacal possession is not yet fully present to the mind of these savages." Then again the practice of spirit-feeding is quite unknown, — there is no fear of any occult ancestor returning to life in the shape of a ghost, of requiring propitiation. Authorities are strong on this point. "The Semang religion shows remarkably few traces demon-worship, very little fear of ghosts, and still less of any sort of animistic beliefs"." Vaughan-Stevens declares in fact that they do not believe in ancestor-spirits at all, an opinion which is at least worth quoting.^" From these data it may be concluded that Kari is a transcendent Per- sonality, that "He possesses all the essential attributes of a Supreme Being"." There is here a minimum of crime, no human life-sacriflce, and no cannibalism. Conjugal fidelity is strict, and the natives are in many respects "vastly superior to the races by whom they are likely to be absorbed". Though this is doubtless an exaggerated estimate, it will probably be admitted that in some of its more fundamental features the moral condition of the natives is not overdrawn.^' 1* Skeat 1 c I 4S8-4S9. " Ibid. I. 460. " Ibid. I. 448-454. " Ibid. II. 196. " Ibid. II. 200, 229. " Ibid II. 181. »» Ibid. II. 181. " Schmidt, 1. c. p. 225, " Skeat, 1, c I. 524. and Qompare the extracts given above, p. XXXVIII, GOD 5 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM If further evidence be desired on this subject, we might call attention to a few points in the mythology and legends of the Malakkan Negritos which throw an interesting sidelight on the nature of these beliefs. The statement that Kari made all things is in itself a vague proposition unless some details are given as to how He made them, to what extent this action was a personal and direct process. Now, not only is Pie clearly a subordinate being, but Kari produces the entire universe by His word, as it is distinctly stated that He "commanded" Pie to complete the work.''' This takes place in successive periods, during which Sky and Wind-spirits, Heaven, Earth, and Underworld, are all pictured as the result of a divine action, symbolised by the powerful metaphor, — "His Breath".^* Moreover He has prepared a Paradise for man, known as the "Island of Fruits" or the "Rising Land" where He stations the first human couple, Ayer and Tanah, meaning "Water" and "Earth", a suggestive nomenclature.'" Though Pie produces the body of man, — Kari inspires the soul of man directly, — "Kari Himself gave them souls".^' These grow on the Paradise- Tree, and are sent out by Him to the womb of the expectant mother in the form of the "Soul-Bird," — here the Argus-Pheasant, which bird is then religiously eaten by the mother as a sacred obligation.^^ There are also distinct echoes of a state of primitive innocence and immortality, during which man offered up the first-fruits of the earth to His Creator, which we may regard as the earliest form of the Paradisaic Sacrifice, — the command to abstain from certain fruits, — the Palm, the Banana (?) — , during certain seasons, and this under penalty of death. The common Malakkan tradi- tion has it that originally men were destined to live forever, — "there was no pain or sickness there" — , but that through the growing wickedness and disobedience of man, — evidently connected in some way with the breach of a divine command, — Kari decreed their death, and it v^as only through the intercession of Pie, the "mediator", that the entire race was not extinguished.^* "Let men die like the Banana, and leave their offspring behind", runs the Mantra legend, and stories of a great Deluge are also in circulation."' Nevertheless there is still hope. At death each soul is brought before the judgment-seat of Kari, and, according to its merits, is either condemned to a boiling lake, or admitted to the joys of Kari's Fruit- Paradise.'" These items make it more clear than ever that what we have here is not a loose bundle of nature-myths, but a pure theology, with a personal God in the center. It is the story of a heavenly Father, of an exacting Judge, even if the phantastic forms under which He appears are equally good evidence that we are here in presence of a simple-minded and strongly anthropo- morphic mythology, "Skeat, II. 211. "Idem, II. 207, 212. "Idem, II. 207, 336. 2« Idem, II. 211. fr Idem, II. 21Sir. ?8 Idem, II. 211, 292. " Idem, II. 336ff, 'o Idem, II. 209. <5 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM As this is one of the earliest and possibly purest regions of Negrito culture,— being paralleled only by certain sections of Central Africa and possibly Tasmania,— it may not be amiss to call attention to the main points of this controversy in so far as they affect the question of Negrito beliefs in general, and of which this is a good average specimen. It will be seen that the main objection to the authenticity of these beliefs is that the races in question are not primitive, that their ideas are probably borrowed, and that, even if native, they fall short of being theistic, they are too much mixed up with magical and other obscure practices to be of any theological value. As to the first point, — enough evidence has surely been given to show that of all the known peoples these are the lowest and least developed exemplars of the human family and in this case they are unquestionably the aborigines of the land. As to a borrowing from outside sources, anything like a recent borrowing from high cultures is very generally ruled out, — there are no traces of any such influence, — though in some few cases the cast and color of the mythology, with a slightly higher grade of industry, may demand some contact with a more advanced wave of civilisation, but this only in extremely remote times. Such influences may conceivably affect the form and even the content of the legends, they may even obscure and obliterate the original picture, — but of this in the present instance there is hardly a sign. The Malakkan Negritos are among the least contaminated, and their mythology can be' left to stand as it is. It shows no traces of importation from any source other than that of the common Oceanic tradition, which we have every reason to believe embodies the most ancient and unadulterated tradition of the human race, — speaking of course relatively, as far as our present sources of knowledge can carry us. Finally, the picture presented by the supreme Divinity is anthropomorphic 6Uid undeniably childlike, but this is all in favor of His personal character and His remote antiquity. Nay more, the supposed "magical" practices resolve themselves into the use of certain articles, (bamboos, etc.), which are believed to be sacred, and to protect the wearer from harm, not by their own hidden virtue, but by the fact that the Divinity has ordained them, that He alone operates through them. They are in a certain sense "sacramentals". Thus magic in the absolute sense can hardly be said to exist, and the absence of any animistic or spiritistic beliefs, makes the picture of a "Supreme Person," tower head and shoulders above all wind-spirits and demiurges, however sacred, — a transcendent Being. With this the social and ethical data are in striking accord. THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS FAC-SIMILE OF A "CHARM-TUBE" AS USED BY THE ABORIGINES OF MALAKKA AND POUND IN 8IMII/AB TOEM OVER I/ABGB SECTIONS or THE EQUATOBIAX BEIT, WHEBE -|- OB X IS FUNDAMBNTAI, FOB MAN OB SUFEB-MAN (GOD). '.•( I I r ANTU A ABU— TA-"PENG f wrm\ PLE~TD-K/VKI -TD-SNA BUAH-TA -TABU-TA-BUAH CHAWA-TOA^fCU-CHARW^C^ 9: ^^PX-tO ABANS-?TO-AP< (^ L ASA-ASAPA-ASAT>» dluiinjll^ TAH AH -BANGUN SUPPOSED INTEBPBETATION "THE FATHEB ON HIGH— WITH HIS SKY- AND WIND-SPtBITS-^UDGES MANKIND WITH THUNDEB AND UOHTNING— IN THE GABDEN OF FEUIT 8— FILLED WITH WILD ANIMAI.S— FBOTECTED BY GUABDIAN SPIRITS— AND RISING IN SPtENDOB OUT OF THE EASTEBN SEA." SEE MYTH-BAMBOO NO. 1. SKEAT-BLAGDEN, PAGAN RACES OF THE MALAY FENINSVIiA, (LONDON, 1906), VOL. I. F. 448-481, AND COMPARE THE DESIGNS AND PATTERNS ON THE FOLI.OWING PLATES AND THE CONTEXT OF THE MYTHOLOGY. GOD 7 OCEANIC PRIMITVE FORM (A, 2) PENG— The Senoi-Sakai Tribes of Malakka. Prov. op Perak and Selangor. Adjoining these wild jungle-folk, and in some cases amalgamating with them, we find an equally crude people, the Sakai or Senoi, among whom the deity Peng, (Father, Master), occupies a very similar position, to wit — He is of supernatural size and invisible. He is immortal. He seems to be omniscient, as He invariably knows when men do wrong. Though not definitely mentioned as Creator, He presides over the existing universe, having the power of life and death over the human race and the spiritual world alike. He appears as the champion of man against both demons and wild beasts. He is angered by the commission of certain acts, but may also show mercy. He is the supreme and final Judge of souls, which are cleansed and prepared for Him by a mother-mediator, — Lanyut — , who washes their souls in a purifying water. His punishments are inflicted by means of His agents, the demons, but man is described as appealing to Him for help in difficulties. He requires a sacrifice of blood, fruits, and incense, which, though apparently directed to "spirits", are indirectly offered to Him as a prophylactic sacrifice, — "Accept this bowl of blood we offer!" ^ With regard to the ethnic position of the Sakai and the authenticity of this belief, the following points should be noted : — (1) These people share with the negritos the honor of belonging to the earliest groups of mankind that we know of. Though of taller stature, they are characterised by a social and industrial culture almost equally low. With them they form the background of the pre-Malayan popula- tion of the peninsula, and as such are entitled to be called the joint- aborigines of Central Malakka. But though Semang and Sakai are intimately inter-related, this relation is more striking on the cultural than on the physical side. For although their wild life and crude industry is almost equally undeveloped, there are reasons for believing that the long wavy hair of the Sakai-Toala-Vedda group is nearer to the supposed foetus- type of the real primitive than the short beady curls of the negrito, even though their stature be slightly higher. This makes the study of the above races a most interesting one. In looking into the face of a Senoi, we feel irresistibly that the traditional picture of the father of humanity has been brought perceptibly nearer, that we are in presence of something noble, something comparatively dignified. 1 Points taken from Skeat, Pagan Races, Vol. 11. pp. 179, 234ff. Comp. Vaughan-Stevens, op. cit II. 131flf. Martin, op. cit. p. 984-985. Dr. Paul Sarasin, "Uber religiose Vorstellungen bei den niedrigsten Menschenformen", II. International Congress of Religions (Basle, 1904) pp. 124-140, emphasising high morality but "obscure" ( ?) religious beliefs, (cult of the dead). 8 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (2) According to Skeat "an analysis of the character of the Sakai 'God', {Tuhan, Pirman, Peng), shows that he occupies very much the same place in the Sakai cosmogony as is occupied by Kari and Pie in that of the Semang", and "that the real difficulty in treating Semang and Sakai religion will be to discover their points of difference".* If this is correct, — and the main traits of the mythology seem to bear it out — , the above remarks on the native origin of the Semang beliefs apply with equal force to the Sakai, they embody in substance the pre-Malayic and pre-Brahmin- istio belief, and the student is therefore referred to chief points 6ibove enumerated, with a discussion of the sources. Like Kari, Peng is a supreme Sky-Lord, he is surrounded by a multitude of sky, wind, or earth- spirits, he is certainly the ruler if not the creator of man, and good and bad alike return to him as their judge, the office of Lanyut being paralleled to some extent by that of Pie, the supposed mediator. This together with the existence of very similar if not identical practices, the use of "bam- boos" with cryptic allegorical inscriptions, the consecration of birth, life, and death, by equally distinctive ceremonies, the general absence of totem- ism, and still more of any strongly Islamic or Hindoo rites, among which circumcision, polygamy, organised asceticism, elaborate pilgrimages and the like, form an important if not an essential constituent, — all this shows that the religion of the aborigines could hardly have been borrowed from the latter in globo, even if some few features might have Altered through in this or that particular instance. We are therefore justified in treating the main body of this tradition as substantially indigenous, a consideration which gathers additional strength when we consider that the linguistic evidence tends to support it. For it is precisely in the all-important matter of the name of the divinity that an outside borrowing becomes difficult to maintain. For if Tuhan is suspiciously Malayan, and Pirman is evidently the Arabic Firman, the designation of Peng as the "High Father" of the Sakai seems to be peculiar to this lower stratum of the population and to re-echo the earliest designa- tions for fatherhood that we know of, — Pa, Papa, Papang, Pang, Peng, etc., — an inversion or reduplication of the still more primitive Ap (Ab), Apa {Aba),Apu (Abu), which is the universal root for "father" in all ages. This and the general coherence of the mythology, reveeding many non- Malayan as well as non-negrito expressions, points to a parallel, indepen- dent, prehistoric tradition. It will gain additional force when we consider that the identical expression, Peng, (Pen-ya-long) , is found also in Borneo and other portions of the Indian archipelago,' • Skeat, op. cit pp. 178, .195. * The term "Peng" is old-Malayan for "father"' and may be recognised in the expressions penghulu, penglim, penyalong, etc. for "Chief" See Blagden, apud Skeat, Vol. II. p. 557 (for Peng), p. 598 (for pa, abu, &c). GOD 9 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (3) This will become increasingly clear the moment the beliefs and practices of these people are studied in their native dress. Thus Peng is said to live in the high heavens, where he is servea by the wind-spirits and by the female giantess, Granny Lanyut, the "Mother- Long-breasts", whose office of purifier has been mentioned above. That these are dependent beings created by Him alone may be certainly inferred from the fact that "Peng is able to annihilate them, and can also increase their numbers, but nobody else can kill them", — an evident proof of omnipotence. These beings are partly helpful, partly malignant, but no demon, not even the tiger-spirit, is allowed to afflict them unthout His per- mission, — an important point, more especially as these visitations are looked upon as a punishment for wrong-doing, for rebellion against His laws.* That these laws may be distantly connected with a first-fruit taboo is suggested by the paradise-legend and the modern custom of still reserv- ing certain fruits on certain occasions. There is in fact an "Island of Fruits" prepared by Peng for the first couple, Ba-lut and Wa-lut, where "man and beast lived on fruits alone, and every tree and plant bore sweet and wholesome fruit", but in the sequel the power of the apes and demons proved too strong, half the trees were turned sour, and Peng ordered them to slay the wild beasts for food and taught them the art of hunting and the use of the so-called "bamboos".' Now these "Charm-Bamboos", whether for birth, marriage, or burial, are here distinctly traced to Peng as their originating source; it is the "Father-God" that has instituted the sacred rites, the famous "Seven- Bamboo" actually containing the marks of his celestial hands, imprinted or incised on the surface.* Their function is to avert disease, to dispel the harmful demons, to procure supernatural favors at least negatively, by warding off contrary evils. "Accept this bowl of blood we offer!" — such is the oblation formula among the Blandas or mixed-blood Sakai,^ and the throwing-up of the blood (or water), the burning of incense (in a cocoa- nut-shell), the numerous lustrations, petitions, and votive-ordeals that frequently accompany this rite reveal a strong sense of religious depen- dence, and are none the less theistic because their primary object seems to be to expel the demons. For it is only by the power of Peng that the demons exist; he has willed their expulsion, and their suppression means his glorification, an indirect act of worship. If, then, the sacrifice is seem- ingly transferred to the "devil," we have good reasons for believing that it is precisely this mixture of blood with the more advanced peninsular tribes which is directly responsible for this largely negative cult.* « Skeat op. dt II. pp. 239, 242. » Idem, II. p. 234, Vaughan-Stevens, III. I28ff. • Skeat, I. 475. II. 235 (Bamboo markings). ^ Skeat, II. 297. • Idem. II. 241-289. 10 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Again, it is the sugar-palm and the cocoa-nut, and th© areca-palm that figure as the most important "life-giving" trees, their fruits and juices possess the power of healing all diseases, and it is through the application of their leaves to the sick and dying that the most important cures are worked, the areca-leaf being regarded as specially efficacious.' These and the celebrated love-plant, the chinduai, whose delicate blossom is crushed in water and oil and then consumed by the patient, are remotely connected in the popular belief with the days of man's innocence, their efficacy depending in each case on the will of the Almighty, for "if Peng intends a man to be injured, there is no remedy against it"." It is the "World Eagle" that protects the secret of life, the big Dragon that overwhelms the earth with a deluge of water, and at death the soul is washed by Mother Lanyut in the purgatorial waters and conducted over the Paradise-bridge, where if irredeemable it will fall into a boiling lake, if righteous and repentant, it will pass over to the "Island of Fruit-Trees". Here they wait till Peng sends them a friend of the same sex, to show them the way to the "Husks of the Clouds"." Throughout the analogy with the Semang-system is apparent, the wording and sequence of events is very similar, though a few names and items seem to postulate an independent tradition. But if magic and demonism appear to be more pronounced, we must remember that Malayan shamanism is rampant throughout the peninsula, that it must have affected these tribes in particular instances, but that the wording and content of the mythology and most of the native customs are as underivable from Malayan as from supposed Christian (!) sources. Where is the evi- dence of any such influence? Finally, the moral nature of this divinity may be inferred from the character of the natives as we actually find them. "They are a most peaceful race, affectionate and faithful both to their family and friends, and never make war on each other or go in for any sort of inter-tribal fighting" (Skeat). "They are most kind and simple-hearted, always anxious to assist any white man that happened to be in want of assistance. In their natural state they are given neither to lying nor cheating" (Hale). "Thanks to their honesty, they can do without police" (De Morgan). "Murder is exceedingly rare, theft equally rare" (Idem). "Divorce, though permitted, was extremely rare" (Lias). "The punishment for adultery was death" (Maxwell). "None of these races are cannibals, and there is no proof at all of past cannibalism"." 9 Skeat, op. cit. 11. 257ff. " Idem, II. 261, 256. " Idem, II. 23S-240. " Idem, I. pp. 527- 529, giving the combined evidence, also I. 501. II. 285. GOD 11 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (A, 3) TUHAN — The Mantka-Jakuns op Malakka — , Prov. of Selangor As the last of the pagan peninsular races the "savage Malays" of southern Malakka deserve at least a passing notice. Of their native divinity, — Tuhan di Bawah — , a few important facts may be gathered : — This being is a "Lord of the Underworld" and a creator of the earth and man. He seems to be omniscient and all-powerful, as he knows the actions of man and is capable of destroying him. He is guardian of human destiny and to some extent a divine judge. He has a son or demiurge, To Entah, to whom he has entrusted the care of the race. He has appointed certain sacrificial observances, chiefly against demons, among which the blood-throwing ceremony is still practiced among a section of the aborigines. A few remarks on the nature of these beliefs will be sufficient. (1) The Jakuns are the earliest sleek-haired brachicephalic race that we know of. Together with the Semang-Sakai they belong to the lowest group of pygmoidals in existence, and are undoubtedly the fore-runners of the historic Malayan family. Their arts and industries, though con- siderably above the negrito average, are yet sufficiently undeveloped to merit the title of "pre-lithic", and their distinctive weapon is the bamboo- gun or "blowpipe", which they have distributed over large portions of the Indian archipelago. Thus they form the third member of the aboriginal group, and should be judged accordingly.^ This makes a borrowing of religious ideas on the face of it unlikely, and is out of harmony with the tone of the mythology, which shows many more analogies with the preceding than with the civilised Islamic system. "Tuhan di Bawah has made the earth, and lives beneath it (sic) . He dwells beneath the land of Nayek and by his power supports all above him. He is the Father of Ayer and Tanah, the parents of the race, who came from a place called 'Rising Land' in the sky, which sky was 'originally very near low and near to the earth'. Here there was no death but an abun- dance of fruits, and Tuhan, seeing that mankind multiplied too rapidly (through eating the fruit) , turned half of them into trees. The pleadings of Tu Entah "The Lord knows who" are of no avail, — "Let men die like the banana" — is Tuhan's verdict. In the sequel To Entah arranges the climate, fixes the divisions of time, makes the earth habitable, and saves the race from the deluge. At death the soul is judged by Tuhan, and the good are carried to Tuhan's Fruit-Island.*. ^Skeat, op. cit. I. 66, 304ff. 2 idem, II. 290-376, esp. 319-348 (on the Mantra), founded partly on D. F. Hervey, The Mantra Traditions, J. R. A. S. No. 10, p. 189ff. & H. Borie, Notice sur les Mantras, transl. by P. Bourien. in Transactions of Ethnological Soci-'-- of London, vol. III. p. 72fif. 12 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM In the parallel tradition of the Benua, it is Pirman (Master), who made the world and everything that is visible. He dwells in the sky and is himself invisible, and can only be approached through the mediumship of Jewa-Jewa. All spirits derive their power from Him." Among the Besisi, again, it is Tuhan to whom they pray to release their moon-ancestors from Island of Fruits, and Gaffer "Engkoh" (or Jongkoh) who is the guardian of Paradise. Here again we have the Chinduai, or Love-Plant, as well as the "Yearning Bamboo", the sacred Gocopalm, and other distinctively native touches.* Throughout the wording of the creation-legends, with their apes and tortoises, their solar and stellar-myths, their rising-lands and fruit-palaces, their numerous guardians, and above all their almost universal mediators or "saviors", makes a derivation from Mussulman sources impossible to maintain, even if individual expressions, — Tuhan, Pirman, etc., may be linguistically traced to outside influences. In every case the "Lord-Master" is intimately interwoven with the rest of the folk- lore; they form an indivisible unit. "The Mantra", says Skeat, "have not to any great extent acquired any of the Malayan ideas respecting the form of the earth, the motion of the sun, etc." "The Malays" (like Mr. Logan) "were not aware, either that the Benua believed in God, or that the magician's power was considered to be derived from Him and entirely dependent on His pleasure".' On the contrary, it is far more likely that the natives have borrowed many of their superstitious practices (as well as their less-pleasing morals) from the Malays, their Poyangism, their sacrificial "trays", their developed magic, finding its duplicate in the Islamic shamanism of the day, while the theistic part of the belief, with a savior-demiurge, grows more and more pronounced the more we penetrate into the more isolated sections of this region, — the "thunder-fruit" and the "father-mother"-god being most conspicuous among the orang-utan or "wild men of the woods", as we have seen. On the other hand, the expression "Lord of the Underworld" marks a decided degeneration, and reveals with some force the contact with demonism, with the ghost-god, — only to be expected. This is further illustrated by the ethical data. For although "crimes are very rare", "theft unknown", "cannibalism unheard of", polygamy and divorce have eaten their way into the social fabric, though even here "I do not remember a single case in which a Besisi had more than one wife". The general decency of these people, even if occasionally marred by con- trary examples, is an argument in favor of their simple if crude religious beliefs.' T R Loean. The Orang-Benua of Johor, Journ. Ind. Archipel. Vol. I. p. 283ff. Cp. Skeat IL m «G. C. Bellainy etc. apud Skeat, II. 298-319. "Skeat, II. 319, 353. 'Idem, I. 512! II. 76, 285. GOD 13 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (B) PULUGA— Andaman Islands MiNcori Negrito, (South Andaman) Adjacent to the coast of Malakka, in the Andaman Islands, there is a deity worshipped who is described in very similar terms. His name is Puluga, (Thunder). Of Him it is said: — '■ Though His appearance is like fire, He is now-a-days invisible. He was never born and is immortal. By Him the world and all objects, animate and inanimate were created, excepting only the powers of evil. He is regarded as omniscient while it is day, knowing even the thoughts of men's hearts. He is angered by the commission of certain sins, — false- hood, theft, grave assault, murder, wax-burning, — ^while to those in pain or distress He is pitiful, and sometimes deigns to afford relief. He is the Judge from whom each soul receives sentence after death, and is said to affect their course of action in life. He has instituted a sacrifice, — ^the offering-up of the first-fruits of the season, — ^which is implied by the com- mand not to partake of the said fruits during a portion of the rainy season. The penalty for this in remote times was said to be death, — the deluge. The following difficulties might suggest themselves with regard to this subject. (1) The antiquity of this region is not incontestable, the industries are somewhat advanced. (2) The sources are scanty and Indo- Malayan influences not impossible. (3) The picture is tarnished by two defects which seem to be serious, to wit: — There is strong anthropomor- phism ; Puluga eats and drinks, has wife and family, knows things "while it is day", gives way to anger, etc. There is also an incipient dualism; The spirits of evil are apparently self-created, 6uid Puluga is powerless to control them, — they seem eternal. (4) Puluga is in no sense divine, but rather a female spider or possibly a lizard, without cult and without sacrifice. These difficulties are more apparent than real, but as they seem to be of considerable weight, the following considerations may not be out of place: — (1) The Andamanese belong to the Archaic belt, of purely Negrito stock (p. VI). As such they are real primitives, even if some of their industries are slightly above the Negrito level, — painting, pottery, canoe- building. These exist only in rudimentary form and are believed to be for the most part indigenous. The natives cannot work stone, but employ chips and flakes in the natural state.' The supposed palaeoliths found in the kitchen-middens are really quartz-eoliths, and the "celts of tertiary sandstone" the rudest of scrapers.* ^ Points taken from E. H. Man. The original inhabitants of the Andaman Islands (Lon- don, 1883), pp. 85, 89ff. Cp. M. V. Portman, A History of our Relations with the Andamanese, (Calcutta, 1899) Vol. I. p. 44-45. Schmidt, 1. c. p. 193-219. ^ Man, 1. c p. 160ff. 'Man, p. 161. Stoliczka, Notes on the Kjokken-Moddings of the And. Islds. 14 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (2) The convergence between the testimony of Man and Portman, a testimony paralleled by Skeat and Vaughan-Stevens in Malaysia, is a strong argument for its authenticity. A "Thunder-God", "of fiery breath", and surrounded by Wind- or Sky-spirits, agrees too closely with what has been found in other Negrito areas to have been invented or bor- rowed. We cannot of course exclude all outside influences. But that these influences must have been extremely remote, is evident from the fact that there are not the smallest vestiges of any such influence as having proceeded from any of the higher cultures, whether of historic or pre- historic times. Thus Puluga is pre-Islamic, because there has never been the shadow of Mussulman influence in the islands and the entire myth- ology and practice of the Andamanese excludes it. He is pre-Christian, because it is inconceivable that any missionaries could have landed among the people without leaving some impress of a Christian soteriology on their minds or in their language, — and this is here notoriously absent. He is pre-Brahministic, because pantheism and metempsychosis agrees very ill with the simple personal position of Puluga and His direct lord- ship over His creatures, who return directly to Him as their Judge. He is pre-Shaministic because there are not the least traces of spirit- or ances- tor-worship in any part of the islands, and the figure of Puluga is supreme, singular, and unique, not sharing His authority with any other gods or demigods of Asiatic or Indian fame, even though the wicked spirits are eternally opposed to Him. Thus it is next to certain that the idea of divinity could not have been borrowed from any of the Central or West- ern-Asiatic religions. Both Man and Portman bear witness to this. "It is extremely improbable that their legends were the result of the teaching of missionaries" says Man,* and he calls attention to the want of any tradition, to the absence of any traces, and to the existence of parallel cases elsewhere. Similarly Portman; — "The anthropological professors are very anxious to prove that the Andamanese must have derived their word for, and their idea of, a Deity from some of the more civilised nations, etc., but I cannot agree with it," ° and he points to the immense antiquity of the race, to their seclusion and innate conservatism, and the absence of any vestiges, cultural, linguistic, or otherwise. As the greatest authority on Andamanese history, these words are significant. They show that peo- ple of unprejudiced minds and of considerable erudition have openly acknowledged the existence of native divinities independently of "civilised" sources, even though their physical and moral attributes may seem astoundingly high- * Man, 1. c. p. 88-89. " Portman, A History, Vol. I. p. 45. GOD 15 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (3) But while the remote antiquity of this cult seems unquestionable, it is not impossible, and indeed quite probable, that some outside influences in the early dawn of humanity may have invaded the islands in a slightly later period of development. This is suggested by the fact that some of the Andamanese industries are rather above the average of Negrito culture, and that Puluga Himself has been mixed up with a lunar mythology which, we have every reason to believe, is a later accretion derived from continental sources, as witness its entire absence in other Negrito regions, — Malakka, Tasmania, Central Africa. This mythology affects the form rather than the content of the legends, but it has modified to some extent the primitive picture of divinity by introducing unworthy conceptions of the divine. Thus while the "eating and drinking" of Puluga may be described as a harmless metaphor, and His "anger" is generally an ethical anger at the sins of men, Puluga's "wife and family", and the expression "to know things while it is day" reveals the inroads of an undoubtedly later circle of ideas, as nearly all the Negrito divinities are unmarried figures and are generally said to "know all things" without qualification; they have no connexion with day and night themes; with the revolution of the heavens. Moreover the description of Puluga's wife and family as the "mother eel, with black daughters and white sons" is believed to be a lunar complex, (bright and dark moon)," and the association of Puluga with the spider in certain sections of these islands, shows without a question, as we shall presently see, that He has come in contact with the typical theme of the Boomerang culture, the "Spider-Moon". Be this as it may, the intrusion of later notions, with or without the moon-motif, is clearly revealed by the ethnological data, and this no doubt will account for the fact that the evil spirits have become independent of Puluga, the first and only case of dualism among the entire Negrito cycle. But even if the report be left to stand as it does, the spirits of evil, though self-created, are powerless to create, they have no theistic attributes, and, though greatly feared, they are neither obeyed nor in any sense worshipped or appeased, Puluga is in this respect a unique Being. If then a later wave of culture has made some inroads, it cannot be said that magic itself is at all strongly developed. "No charms except the Chauga-ta, or Bone-necklace, are employed in the hope of averting or curing illness. After recovery no ceremonies of purification take place".'' The "dreamers" are not a fixed cast, but must earn their reputation".* «Comp. Man, op. cit. p. 90. Also Schmidt, Pygmaenvolker, p. 211-212, ' Man, 1. c. p. 95. « Man, i. c. p. 29. 1<5 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM As to animism and spirit-worship, no organised worsliip of ancestors or of the forces of nature can be said to exist. "There is no trace to be found of the worship of trees, stones, or other objects, and it is a mistake to suppose that they adore or invoke the celestial bodies".* Altogether, it seems more natural to suppose that Puluga is a primeval Heaven-God, whose voice is the thunder, and whose shafts the lightning, but whose image has been obscured in parts by the intrusion of a somewhat later phase of belief. (4) This phase can be traced throughout the secondary, more advanced Oceanic region, and down into the heart of South-America, — Central Brazil. It consists in bringing the supreme figure into connexion with the waxing and waning moon, and identifying Him in some way with the spider, the lizard, or some other mysterious animal. Thus Amaka, Quat-Marawa, Daramulun, and Kamushini are all spinning spiders surrounded by a strong lunar mythology, (q. v.), and they one and all belong to a slightly higher stage of culture, compared with the Malakkan, Tasmanian, and Central-African divinities, where this theme is conspicuous by its absence. This is a clear proof that they are a later development, that the original Heaven-God has no connection with animal or astral symbols. Now this is precisely the case in the Andaman Islands. Puluga, the personal Heaven-God, rules supreme in South-Andaman, even if His picture is slightly tarnished by sexual and unworthy themes. But in the neighboring North and Little Andamans we find Biliku, the female spider, and Oluga, the female lizard, both usurping the position of the Thunder-God. Now these are precisely the areas that are more advanced, where we have reasons to suspect an outside influence. (Bark-cincture, Round-house, Communal-dwelling, Platform-couches, Out-rigged Canoes, &c) . This has robbed the North and Little Andamanese of the clear notion of a Creator, but has left Puluga in exclusive possession of the center, — a supreme, personal Being, worshipped in the best sense, by the sacriflc* of obedience and of the first-fruits of the earth. Such is the true picture of Puluga, which has forced Mr. Man to exclaim : "It is from regard to the fact that their beliefs approximate so closely to the true Faith concerning the Deity that I have adopted the Eng- lish method of spelling all equivalents of 'God' with an initial capital". This agrees with the ethical data. The marriage-tie is strict, and there is a notable absence of gross crime, infanticide, cannibalism, or human sacrifice. •Man 1 c. p. 95. "Compare A. R. Brown, in "Folk-Lore" (Sept. 1909), pp. 257-271. "See Man pp. XXIV, 30. Portman, 1. c. I. 13, 40, 45-46. II. 721-726, 825-826. Also B. Kloss, In the Andamans and Nicobars, (New York, 1903), pp. 28-43, Schmidt, 1. c. pp. 204-210, (lexical analysis). " Man, p. 90, note. Cp, Portman, I, 44. GOD 17 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Yet even with these concessions it may still be objected that the absence of any disUnet cult of the alleged divinity, of any personal invocations of his name, of any cries for help, protection, and the like, makes it increas- ingly doubtful vi'hether he can be regarded as in any sense a living, per- sonal divinity. This is a plausible objection, but I have already called attention to the fact that observations of this nature are extremely difficult to make by reason of the shyness and timidity of the natives and their reserve on all matters of a private and religious nature. It is even remarkable that enough should have leaked out of their beliefs to supply two white men with the skeleton at least of a religious creed. That this is the sum-total of all their beliefs and practices seems hardly credible, even though formal prayers in our modern sense are largely at a discount, nor should we expect to find them. But apart from our ignorance of the interior side of the religion, the numerous legends and some of the prac- tices of the Andamanese leave no room for doubt that Puluga is a real force and power in their lives. Thus the Creation-legends speak of Puluga's Sky-Palace where he reigns with his numerous family, with the Morovin or Sky-spirits, and with his only son, Pichor, a kind of mediator or archangel. As in Malakka, he is the Creator of heaven and earth, of the seas and the underworld, and even the bad spirits are forced to acknowledge his sway. Here also he has prepared a Paradise for man at- Wotaemi, & locality in South Andaman Island. Into this Garden of Pleasure he places the first man and woman, Tomo and Ghana, and here he instructs them in the arts and industries of life, and supplies them with the power of speech. But what is more important, he shows them all the different fruit-trees of the jungle, and in doing this he commands them not to partake of certain fruits during the rainy season. Here we have the Paradisaic Sacrifice in clear outline, — the idea of abstention from an otherwise legitimate gratification, the offering up of the first fruits of the garden. Furthermore, it is distinctly stated that death and misery came upon man through disobeying the divine command, through eating the forbidden fruit. Men became more and more violent, they grew more and more remiss in observing the laws of Puluga, until finally he sends a great Flood and destroys them all, except a favored few who repeople the earth from Wotaemi. That is why the First-fruit sacrifice is offered up to this day. In the meantime those who have kept his commandments pass over the Paradise-bridge to live forever with Puluga in his Sky-Palace." " Details and items will be found in Man, op. cit. pp. 90-106 : 18 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM If then it is still insisted that we have no means of proving a personal worship, we answer that the mythology of the Andamanese clearly implies such a worship, that the best proof for the cult of a divine Being is afforded partly by the position He occupies in the popular mind, partly by the degree in which His laws are obeyed and are a controlling force in the customs and habits of the people. Now the above legends show with considerable force that Puluga is not a mere myth, nor is he an ancestor or a glorified hero, however exalted, but that he is looked upon as a Creator, a Ruler, a Judge, a Lawgiver, with whom his people have been and are still in close communion, — he is still ruling over them, he is their Father. This consciousness of a supernatural being need not express itself in words so much as in acts, — ^the best form of worship, even if the word, of which we know so little, helps to make it more personal, more direct. How then is this worship expressed in practice, what form does it take? It shows itself among other things in the high tone of morality that is here apparently in vogue, in the general security of human life, in the unity and stability of the married tie, in the absence of all the more brutal and unnatural practices that so often disfigure the lives of many of the nature-peoples, and finally in the delicate care that is taken of the old, the sick, and the afflicted, who invariably fair better than their more fortunate brethren. In so far as these practices can be proved to be in force, they argue for a high grade of belief, or, at least, they prove that such a belief brings forth good fruits, that it is practical, that the divinity is commen- surate to produce the result. But if these phenomena be put down as mere "nature-religion", common-sense philosophy, and the like, so much better for the common-sense philosophy, especially as it leads to a Creator of all, or seems at least to accompany Him. A simple theism is here reflected in the simple lives of a simple people.^* But if a complete act of religion demands some external manifestation, some visible acknowledgment of the Creator's dominion over His creatures, surely the flrst-fruit sacrifice is such an act. By fasting and abstinence man offers to the Giver of all that which he prizes most dearly, his means of subsistence. He then consumes the very object he has sacrificed as a token of union, — as a pledge that he and his Father are one, are reconciled. Surely this is a "worship", and one of the highest kind. It need not be clothed in words, it speaks for itself. 1* Further particulars on this subject in Man, op. cit. pp. 24, 43, 45, 67S. Also Porttnan, op. cit. I. p. 42ff, THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS THE GREAT MASTER OUTUCNE-DBAWINGS HADE BY THE VEDDAS ON BOCKS, AND DOUBTLESS OBIOINAI,!.! OK BAMBOOS, TO EXFBESS THE IDEA OF HEADSHIP, MALE OB FEMALE, AND THKNCB APPLIED ALSO TO THE BITPBEHE SKT-BEINO. KAtOae-WANN lYA K anse-bamdara- makappa ffmnn BUS-Kl JB^S-KI, ADIIHAATAKCEMA AT 3AHUWAK QETNA PIMBIMA ATAK t^EfJA, TbOPA AMMAT APPAT ENOC KIYA'PA •TATHEB-MOTHEB" (SUPBB-MAN OB WOMAN). "GBEAT HABTEB", "MIGHTT HFWrEB". "B€SH-KI, BASB-KIl OO AND BBINO THE BOW, THE AXE, AND THE FIBEKnCK, AND TEIX TOUB MOTHER AND FATHEB TO COME" (GENEBAL FOBMULA FOB THE HUNTING PABTD. CONSDLT C. G. BBLIGMAN, THE TEDDAS, (CAMBBIDGE, 1911), PL. LTI-LX (FOB DEBION0), AND PF. 279, £84, 88S FF. (FOB LEXICOLOOT), 18> FF. (FOB BELHEFB). GOD 19 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (B, 2) KANDE-YAKA— The Veddas,— Southern India, Ceylon Among the Forest- Veddas of the interior of Ceylon there is a cult of a personal being known as Kande-Yaka or "Great Spirit", who seems to stand very high in the minds of the natives, even if his creative-power is not clearly provable. He is pictured as an "ideal hunter",— a helpful and benevolent being, who was once upon earth and taught them all they know. Apparently He was without beginning and is certainly without end, as He still hears the petitions of his children, and is in some sense omniscient. All things are subject to Him, and nothing in heaven and earth happens without his permission, all spirits acknowledging Him as the "Lord of the Dead". He requires a sacrifice of first-fruits and animals, accompanied by the burning of incense, during which He is invoked as Kande-Wanniya, or "Great Master", and is petitioned for temporal and spiritual favors.^ On this subject a few concise statements will be sufficient. The Veddas are the last vestiges of a pre-palaeolithic race in India.* Though generally free from foreign influence, they were at an early period invaded by settlers from the Ganges valley, who intermarried with them and became the Sinhalese of the present day, with a later infusion of Tamil blood. This explains the fact that many of the Veddas are decidedly advanced, — ^with kingship and nobility — , and this must be taken into account in every attempt to reconstruct their early religion. Among the Forest Veddas or Hennebeddas, however, we meet with very primitive traits, which leads us to expect that here at least the old Vedda beliefs should appear in their purest form. That there are such beliefs is now unquestionable, but as to their nature, there is still great obscurity. Dr. Seligman confirms the reports of the two Sarasins that there is a pronounced worship of ancestors and cult of the dead. Nay more, he speaks of a "Lord of the Dead", Kande Yaka, who may be no more than a great yaka, or departed spirit or tribal chief, but whose rather unique position as the "Lord" of the lesser spirits and the object of invocation at the Fa/ca-sacrifice for protection from evil and success in hunting seems to reflect many of the negrito practices in this regard. I would like to state briefly why I regard this being as originally more than a tribal hunter, a mere weather-doctor. It is true that the absence of any creation-legends makes this "mighty hunter" of the Veddas a rather weak figure. But when we consider the intimate relation between religious belief and public and private morals, we are inclined to suspend a hasty verdict on this subject and to look upon him as the relic of a better and purer state of religious consciousness, and this for the following reasons : — 1 Points taken from C. G. Seligman, The Veddas, (Cambridge, 1911), pp. 30, 132ff. Comp. Sarasin, Religiose Vorstellungen bei den niedrigsten Menschenformen, 1. c. supra, p. 124ff. ' Seligman, op. cit. p. 20 (quartz-eoliths), pp. 81 (family-life), p. 318ff. (arts and industries). 20 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (1) He is not described as having any human ancestors, and He is unmarried. (2) He is immortal, He is above all spirits, and He has supreme command. (3) He listens to prayer for favors that are beyond finite power to bestow. (4) He controls rain, wind, and seasons, implying some notion of transcendence. (5) He is the guardian of the moral conscience, which is here con- spicuously high, forbidding any needless aggression, violence, adultery, etc. In illustration, take the following invocations at the Kirikoraha cere- monies, in which the sacred cocoanut is offered to Kande Yaka: — "King of the hills, who continues to go from hill to hill, cause rain!" "It is the Great Master, {Kande Wanniya) , whose place is on the crest of this hill, who continues to go unto this hill. The Great Master of the high- est place of the hill, who continues to cause this rain of great drops, drops from a dense cloud, makes out footprint by footprint of excellent sambar deer!" "Long life! Long life! To the Great Master, to the great God of the chief place of the hill, who lias become the Chief of the group of the sixty- seven of the hill!" "Today, grant your divine favor to the beautiful cooked food of this offering which I give! May it seem good to you to arrange it at the point of the arrow, etc. Long life! Long life!"^ The sixty-seven here referred to are nearly all bandaras or deified chiefs, and the fact that none of these nae yakas or departed spirits are addressed in precisely the same strain as the foregoing, that none are described as the causes of natural phenomena or as having anything like the same prominence, — this in my opinion should make us hesitate in putting down Kande-Yaka as a mere ghost-god. Without doubt the ancestor-cult is strongly developed in this region, spirit-feeding is only too common, — both doubtless inherited from the hybrid Sinhalese — , for it is precisely among the Hennebeddas and their more primitive kin that the simple picture of an all-bestowing Mahappa or Great Father looms up in clearer perspective, comparatively free from the polytheistic superstructure. Finally, the fact that "no reverence is paid to heavenly bodies",* that there is "no worship of sun or moon", together with the high morality of the natives and their strictly monogamous life,' renders the theory of a purely ancestral god more and more difficult to maintain. The Veddas are a beautiful, peace-loving, gentle-mannered, and highly moral race, and it seems difficult to account for all the above facts without assuming some consciousness, however bedimmed in parts, of a quasi-supernatural Power. ' Seligman, op. cit. pp. 284-286 (Texts and Translations by H. Parker, slightly amended in parts). * Seligman, 1. c. p. 144, » Seligman, 1. c. p. Biff. GOD 21 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (G, 1) ANITO — Phillipine Negritos, North and South Luzon The material on the Philippine religion is unfortunately rather scat- tered. There is however a great supernatural Being who is generally described as Anito in South Luzon, though He goes by the name of "Maker" or "Creator" in other parts, and of whom the following informa- tion may be gathered from different sources : — ^ He appears to dwell in a huge rock, but is otherwise invisible, a spirit He knows all things, at least all things that concern man, He sees their actions at all times. He can do all things, He is above all other spirits, and is greatly feared. He has evidently created all things, and as such He is the Lord of all spirits, though in what relation we are not informed. He punishes the wrongdoing of man by sending diseases, and is therefore in some sense the guardian of the moral order, and probably the supreme Judge of mankind as a consequence. He is invoked on certain occasions, as at weddings, when He is prayed to in low tones : "Praise to the Supreme Being, our Maker!" He has instituted a sacrifice, — deer-sacrifice, banana- sacrifice, — ^which, though sometimes offered to the minor spirits, is at least in one instance offered only to the supreme Spirit, to Him directly, with the invocation: — "This for Thee!" — a thanksgiving after the chase. Against the authenticity of this belief it might be urged: — (1) Neither the antiquity of the regions nor the genuineness of the sources are beyond challenge. (2) The feeding of the spirits of the dead is a common practice, and the medicine-man plies a large and lucrative traffic. There are elaborate exorcism-rites with dances and manipulations. Such practices seem to point to an advanced spirit-worship, or demonism, A brief consideration of these points will be sufficient. (1) The Philippine Negritos are pure only in South Luzon, (Zambales. Bataan) and in portions of the islands of Alabat, Panay, Negros, and Mindanao. These are generally known as Aetas, and are on the lowest level of culture.* In all other regions, and more especially in North Luzon, they are strongly saturated with Malayan blood, and have adopted a higher type of civilisation, together with many evil practices of a later age, — cannibalism and head-hunting. It is therefore all-important to note that the regions examined are with one exception the most primitive in the islands, and that all ethnologists look upon the Aetas as the aborigines of the land, iW. A. Reed, The Negritos of Zambales, (Manila, 1904) p. 65. F. Blumentritt, Negritos of North Luzon, in Globus, XLV, (1884), p. 75, quoting Fr. Villaverde, OP. Steen A. Bille, Reise der Corvette Galathea, (Copenhagen, 1852) Vol. I. p. 452, quoting Father Estevan Mena. (Alabat Aetas). = Reed, 1. c. p. 17-23. 22 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM As to the sources, there can hardly be any doubt as to their genuine- ness, but there may be some complaint of their content, of the fact that so little has been reported. The testimony of three independent witnesses, — two of them Catholic priests,— and these from three different areas, must surely carry some weight, though the poverty of the material reported is somewhat disappointing. We must remember, however, that this task is a very difficult one, and although the reports have come to us only in fragments, they are nevertheless precious, indispensable fragments. (2) This means that for two very primitive areas, — Zambales and Alabat, — ^we find the distinct outlines of a divinity, who, however mys- terious His nature, is recognised as an Over-Lord, a supreme Spirit, nay, even as a Creator. This idea extends also into the third area,— North Luzon, — ^though here the reports are equally fragmentary. It shows, how- ever, that the idea is continuous, not confined to any one section of the island group. On the other hand, it must also be admitted, that as nearly all these populations have come in contact with a later Indonesian wave of culture, as many of them have advanced to ranch-life, substantial houses, use of higher musical instruments, &c., the existence of spiritism in some form or another is a correspondingly prominent feature. We know that cast-priesthoods and professional medicine-men are admittedly later elements, the Shamanism of Western Asia finding practically no response among the Negritos in their purest state, as witness its general absence in Malakka, the Andaman Islands, Central Africa, and probably Tasmania. Votive-offerings and spirit-feeding are quite unknown in these sections, or exist only as sporadic phenomena. But even in the Philippines there are signs that the Shamanistic wave has but little affected the purest and least advanced section of the aborigines, for it is precisely from Alabat and South Luzon, — areas of least contamination, — that the reports of a supreme personal Divinity come to us in their strongest if simplest form. It may therefore be concluded, that although spirit-worship has invaded these populations in parts, it has not succeeded in dethroning a personal Creator in the oldest region, a Being worshipped by prayer and sacrifice. The very simplicity of this nomadic cult, without temple, hierarchy, or circumcision-rite, is a guarantee of its non-Malayan origin, of its remote antiquity. Here also the moral statistics are comparatively high. For although degeneracy has set in among the half-breeds of North-Luzon, the pure Aetas are a peaceable race, and lead simple, upright and virtuous lives.* 8 Reed 1 c 61ff. Comp. A. B. Meyer, Die Philippinen, (Dresden, 1899), Vol. III. p. 33ff. J. Montano, Voyage aux Philippines, (Paris, 1898), p. 71. Schmidt, 1. c. 142ff. GOD 23 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM But if the direct reports of a supreme divinity in this region are dis- appointingly brief, there are several points connected with the social and religious practices of these people that deserve to be considered in greater detail, as they may help to shed some valuable light on nature of the belief and the power it has to enforce the moral law by sanctions more or less rigorous. (C, 2) The Negritos op Zambales In the Zambales region, which is best known to us, and where the natives are still living the half-naked life of the deer-hunter which is con- tent with the frail and collapsible windshelter, there are interesting customs at the end of the chase which deserve to be noticed. Col. Reed has described the ceremony in a few forcible words. "A bed of green rushes or cane is made on which the animal is placed and skinned. This done, the head man of the party, or the most important man present, takes a small part of the entrails or heart, cuts it into fine bits and scatters the pieces in all directions, at the same time chanting in a monotone a few words which mean 'Spirits, we thank you for this successful hunt! Here is your share of the spoils I' This is done to feed and appease the spirits which the Negritos believe inhabit all places, and the ceremony is never neglected".* It is a pity that this reporter has not supplied us with more information as to the nature of these spirits, whether good or evil, helpful or malevolent. He says indeed that "all adverse circumstances, sickness, failure of crops, unsuccessful hunts, are attributed to them, and that so long as things go well, the spirits are not much considered".' But even good spirits, and the supreme Being himself, are not always heeded in such cases, and it appears that these spirits are not demons, but dead ancestors, which, with the hunting formula mentioned above, is an important point in favor of their benevolence. Be this as it may, the author goes on to say that "there is a huge black bowlder, which the Negritos believe to be the home of One powerful Spirit, and that the spirits of all who die enter this one Spirit, called Anito, who has his abiding place in this rock. No Negrito ever passes this rock without leaving a banana, or some other article of food. If they do, bad luck or accident is sure to attend the trip".' This has the suspicious ring of the "Creator" of the Alabats, and is in any case an interesting find. But more than all, this Banana-sacrifice to Anito is a forcible reminder of the Paradisaic or First-fruit sacrifice of the Andamanese, and the exclamation "This for Thee!" might well be applied in this place.' * Reed, Negritos of Zambales, p. 48. ' Reed, 1. c. p. 6S. * Reed, 1. c. p. 65. ' Taken from Fr. Vaiaverde's report of the Negritos of North Luzon (above). 24 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM In connection with tliis ceremony, Col. Reed tells us that the present governor of Zambales, Senor Lesaca, once passed this rock, and for amuse- ment, and greatly to the horror of the Negritos with him—, spurned it by kicking it with his foot and eating part of a banana and throwing the rest in the opposite direction. The Negritos were much concerned and said that something would happen to him, and, sure enough, before he had gone far, he got an arrow through both legs from savage Negritos along the trail who could have known nothing of the occurrence. Of course this only strengthened the belief.^ This incident is given for what it is worth, but it shows that there was something peculiarly sacred to these people in the mysterious rock, in which the Great Anito was believed to be present, and where, as upon a gigantic altar, they placed the sacred Banana with the evident hope of securing some favor, of imploring His mercy. For Anito has a direct control of human life, He is the Master of human destiny. "Disease is considered the punishment for wrong-doing, the more serious diseases coming from the supreme Anito, the lesser ones from the lesser anitos. If smallpox visits a rancheria, it is because someone has cut down a tree or killed an animal belonging to a spirit which has invoked the aid of the supreme Spirit in inflicting a more severe punishment than it can do alone".* This also implies that Anito listens to prayer, that He is invoked by His needy ones, for if the dead can obtain favors, so surely can the living. Moreover it is distinctly stated that the dead return to Anito, they do not pass into lower animals, which is one more proof that we are deal- ing with a strong personality, with a direct Judge. It is also worth noting that here too the so-called "Magic Comb" is in use, together with other "charm-tubes" of the variety that we have already certified for Malakka. In so far as these articles are brought into con- nexion with the divinity, they obtain a "sacred" character analogous to the Malakkan tubes (q. v.). But in the absence of any clear proof to this effect and the far greater development of spiritism, we have reasons to suspect that most of these objects are mere "good-luck" amulets, harmless enough in their way, but of no definite religious import.*" Such in brief is the picture of Anito, — a being who is evidently trans- cendent, but of whose inner nature we are still left in the dark. It is here in the Philippines that the pure, "unshaved" Negrito is seen at his best." 8 Reed, 1. c. p. 65. "Reed, ibidem. " Reed, 1. c. pp. 37-38. " See Reed's photographs, where the original pompadour-type may be clearly distinguished. THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS THE SPIRIT FATHER IN HEAVEN A8 SYHBOUCAULT DEFICTSD IN BI-OWPIPE-PATTBBNS, ALTAB-POSTS, BAMBOO DIADEMS AND SO-CAI.LKD "XOTBM-POLES", AMONG THE OBANG-UKIT AND OBANG-KENTA, THE ABOBIOINAL DATAKS OF BORNEO 8TMBOUC ALTAB-CBOSS W^ •msn OF LIFE /kj-hh-hI T»EN-V&-LOMCr W ^ K AKTU-APU-ANTU ^-BA- Ul Nq-0 kMBI-lAMAKA +1+ + + BALKBAU-SALI ME AhrrU-FEMYA-ANTU APU-KAYA.N SYMBOLIC ALTAB-CBOSS '^^ TREE OF LIFE KAVU-X^eu A-H-t-H4 CORONET BAU- PEH- YA- UONO FBIMITITE INTEBPBETATION "FATHEB OF SPIBITS ABOTE— HOI.Y, HOIiT, UOI.T,— GUARDIAN SPIRIT OF THE TREE OF MFE." THE NUMEROUS CROSSES AND TREE PATTERNS CAN ONLY BE EXPLAINED AS A DISTANT SYMBOLISM THE FRUIT— AND FATHER-GOD-THEME OF THE ABORIGINES. SEE H. LING- ROTH, THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AMD BRITISH NORTH BORNEO, n. S9, 186. HOSE- MeDOUOAI.L, THE PAGAN TRIBES OF BOBNBO, (LONDON, 1912), PL. 146, 181. GOD 25 OCEANIC PRIMITrVE FORM (D, 1) AMAKA — The Forest Da yaks op Central Borneo Among the wild inhabitants of the interior of Borneo there is a belief in a mysterious being, variously known as Amei, BaMngo, or Bali Penya- long, of whom the following information may be gathered : — ^ He is the supreme Governor of the world and the Master of human destiny. He sees and knows all things, at least in so far as they concern the human race. He is a good being, both helpful and benevolent, and is evidently their Judge, as Het has supreme control over human life. He is a Thunder-God and a "Father in Heaven", to whom they have access in all their needs. He has a female partner, Doh Penyalong, who is a specitd patroness of women, a "Mother-Mediator". He has instituted their sacred rites and observances, among which the throwing up of blood and the offering up of the sacred blossom of the betel-palm are the most distinc- tive, with the simple invocation: — Ama-ka! — Bali-Penya-longI — "Our Father in Heaven!" A few preliminary remarks on this subject will be necessary. The wild "Punans", or "Bakatans", are grouped in small communities and inhabit the dense jungle at the head-waters of the principal rivers of Borneo. They are a slender race, of moderate height, and paler in color than most tribes. They do not cultivate the soil, but live on whatever they can find in the jungle. Leaf -hut, firestick, scarcity of clothing, absence of a higher stone or metallic industry, all these are aboriginal symptoms which, together with their bamboo implements and blowpipes, connect them with the central Malakkan and also with the Philippine region. They may therefore be classed as "primitives" in the best sense, and are more- over a genial and attractive race, which makes their study a doubly inter- esting one. Unfortunately there are only two white men that have supplied us with any exact details of their religious beliefs, and even these are con- fined to the barest essentials, though they furnish a sufficient basis for drawing conclusions of considerable value when coupled with the remain- ing data, the discoveries of Dr. Nieuwenhuis being very important. And first, — as to the name of the divinity. There is here an apparent discrepancy, which can only be remedied by collating all the designations for divinity both here and among the neighboring Kenyahs, Kayans, and Kalamantans. From this it will appear that Aba (Ama), Abali (Amaka), Bali, Balingo (Tamei, Tamaka), are fundamental for this region, the form Amaka extending, as we shall see, far into the Molukkas, to the Spice Islands. 1 H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North-Borneo, (London, 1896). Vol. I. p. 16ff. A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, black, white, and brown, (London, 1901), p. 320flf. (for general ethnology). Charles Hose and W. McDougall, The Relation between men and animals in Sarawak, (J. A. L London, 1901, Vol. XXXI. pp. 173-213). Idem, The Pagan Tribes of. Borneo, (London, 1912), Vol. IL pp. 1-19, 185-186. (For ethnology and religious beliefs). For the work of Dr. Nieuwenhuis, see below, p. 27. 26 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Thus the name reported by Hose and McDougall as Bali-lutong can easily be dissected into more primitive elements, in which the roots ab-bor ling-long-lung reappear in many of the above word-combinations, signify- ing Father, Master, Heaven, High, Clouds, etc. In this manner Aba-lingo is probably the original of Balingo, the high thunder-god of the neighbor- ing Kenyas, though the word bali has also a secondary technical sense of "spirit" or "soul", terms equally well known to the wild forest-folk. "The Punans", writes Dr. Hose, "worship the Supreme Being (sic) as the Kenyas do, and they address Him as Bali-lutong. They have similar ideas with regard to the soul of man and its destination after death, and like all other peoples they believe themselves to be surrounded by spirits which may be harmful to them. Their medicine-men are sometimes called in by people of other tribes and enjoy a high reputation".'' Again, — "They pray to Bali-Peny along, (evidently the same being), who seems to be the principal object of their trust. This being is probably conceived anthro- pomorphically — but they make no images in human form, and we do not know that Bali-Penyalong is supposed by them to have a wife — ^their rites involve no animal sacrifices, and they do not look for guidance or answer to prayer in the entrails of animals". Moreover, "the term bali is only applied to a being having special powers of the sort that we should call supernalural", "indeed no human being is addressed or spoken of with the title bali".^ It is certainly noteworthy that one of the few prayers so far recorded should be addressed directly to Him, as when at the common sacrificial ceremony the ritual fires are lighted, and the blossom of the Betel-Palm is solemnly offered to the Aba-lingo, the Bali-Penyalong, the "Spirit-Father-in-Heaven".* This seems to reveal an extraordinary power for help, for neither the crocodile nor the omen bird are of any serious significance in this ceremony, as I shall presently show. "The Punans are very mild savages, they are not head-hunters, do not keep slaves, are generous to one another, and moderately truthful, and probably never do any injury by making a false statement. They are a cheerful and bright people, who are very fond of their children and kind to the women". "The Bakatans are not cannibals"." This is an attractive picture, as it tends to reveal a moral, peaceful, and truth-loving God as the author and keeper of the public conscience. But it is impossible to appreciate this subject without comparing them with their next-door neighbors, the Kenyas and Kayans. » Hose-McDougall, Men and Animals, p. 19S. "Idem, Pagan Tfibes, II. 186, 29, 121. * Idem, Men and Animals, p. 196. Pagan Tribes, II. 84, 189 (hatred of crocodiles). » Had- don, op. cit. p. 320-321. Brooke, apud Ling-Roth, op. cit. I. 17. Compare Hose, Pagan Tribes, I 175 (no cannibalism), II. 180 (innocent of vices, primitive family life). GOD 27 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Of these the Kenyahs are the nearest blood-relations of the Bakatans, and the lowest in point of culture, which makes it probable that they embody a very similar belief. Here Balingo is distinctly the god of thunder, and Bali Penyalong is "the supreme Being to whom the Kenyahs pray for guidance in important undertakings, while the women pray to Doh Penyalong, his wife".* But the most distinctive feature is the cult of the Hawk, an omen-bird, which is never killed or eaten, but is offered in sacrifice to Bali-Penyalong, with the words : — "0 Spirit of this bird Ask Bali Penyalong to take away all sickness from us and to keep us from all harm!" ' — accompanied by the flame and smoke of the ritual flres and the sprinkling of the worshippers and the image of Bali Penyalong with the blood of the bird. Here the "Blood-Brotherhood" is firmly established, "when each of the two men drinks or smokes in a cigarette a little of the other's blood drawn with a bamboo knife". But the most important point in this ceremony is the fact that the omen-bird is not in itself the divinity, but that "they look upon the hawks as messengers or intermediaries between themselves and Bali Penyalong".^ Among the Kayans we find the same fundamental ideas, but somewhat differently worded. "Like the Kenyahs they worship a supreme Being under the name of Laki Tenangan, or 'Grandfather Tenangan', and the women pray to Do Tenangan, his wife". Here Laki Neho appears under the form of the Hawk, but he is a mediator between God and man, as is clear from the sacrificial rite, in which fires are lighted, a hen or a pig slaughtered, and an egg offered to him with the invocation: — "This is for thee to eat! Carry my message directly to Laki Tenangan, that I may become well, and mxiy train my children in the patfi of right living!" ' In the parallel account furnished by Dr. Nieuwenhuis it is Amei Tingei (intensitive Amxika, Tamaka), who is the "High Father" of the Kayans, who spins the world out like a spider, who made the first human pair, Adja and Djaja, who induces a rice-famine in the earthly Paradise, who punishes the violations of the moral law, who is an all-knowing, all- ruling Spirit or Bruwa, having innumerable spirits under His sway. Here also the hen and the egg are sacrificed, and foods are wrapt in banana- leaves and liquids offered in bamboo-cylinders to the Great To, or "Uni- versal Spirit". At death the good are carried to Apu Lagran,— Amaka's place of heavenly delights. This report, furnished by an eminent scientific expert, is of considerable value, as it tends to corroborate the findings of less professional authors and to supply us with something approaching to a native story of world-origins.** «Hose, M* and Animals, p. 17S. »IbiA p.. 184-185. "Ibid p., 177. « Ibid. p. 189-190. 10 A. W. Nteuwenhuis, In Centraal Bomett, (2 Vols. Leyden, 1900) VoL t. p. 139-141. Idem, Quer durch Borneo, (2 vols. Leyden, 1904) Vol. I. pp. 98-99, 100-103, 112-132. (This is a short English version of the original Dutch and German report). For the Kalai^atitsiilS) see the Bakatans above, & Comp. Hose, p. 192. 28 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Now in collating all this evidence it seems to be clear that the belief a supreme personal Being shines through the different mythologies in a manner which makes it quite impossible to confound Him with any bird, beast, or tribal ancestor, however sacred. As a fact, the hawk or omen- bird becomes less conspicuous the more we delve into the jungle, and is quite unimportant among the Bakatans or lowest aborigines of the land. This shows that divination, with all the animistic practices that it implies, shows a steady decrease the more we penetrate into the primitive zone. The simple "Our Father" of the jungle-folk has little or no connection with the omen-bird, nor is the "spirit" of a pig, or any other animal invoked in order to obtain mystic communion with Him. Again, He is sexless and wifeless, His female "partner" being prominent only among the Kenyahs and the more advanced tribes, while the general absence of nature and ancestor-worship is at least equally striking. But as to the purity and authenticity of this belief, it is to be noted that there is no organised totemism among any of the natives, least of all among the Bakatans. "The prevalence of the beliefs in a supreme Being" says Hose, "tends to prevent the development of totemism, and we can- not conclude without saying something as to the possible origin of this conception of a beneficent Being, more powerful than all the others, who sends guidance and warnings by the omen-birds, and who receives and answers prayers carried to Him by the souls of the fowls and pigs. It might be thought that this concept had been borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the Malays. But we do not think that vieiv is tenable." And the authors emphasise the fact that this is a living belief among the wild forest-men, far from Malay influence, while it is a dead one the Ibans or Sea-Dayaks, close to Malay influence, — an important point, and one upon which Archdeacon Perham concurs.^^ Moreover — "It is doubtful whether those of the aboriginals who have mixed least with the other peoples pay any attention to the omen-birds. With that exception there is probably no vsfild animal of the jungle that the Punans do not kill and eat'.'," The crocodile. is shunned and avoided, but this is not "totemism", Jor which reason we are amply justified in contending for a pure and lofty cult of divinity. Again,— "Highly significant as against other Dayak tribes is the complete fidelity to the marriage-tie among the Bahau (or wild men of the interior), and the equality of conjugal rights between man and woman, with a numerical preponderance of the latter, argues for a degree of continence and sexual self-control that is surprising among a people on such a low level of culture." "Hose and McDougall, Men and Animals, p: 202-212. . >2 Ibid, p. 195. " Nieuwenhuis, In Centraal Borneo, Vol. I. p. lOO; (Translation from the Outch). Comp. also P. W. Schmidt, Mythologie der Austronesischen Volker, (Vienna, 1910). pp. 11, 12, 23ff. for further griticism, GOD 29 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (D,2) The Toalas and Toradajas op Celebes These conclusions are seen to be still further corroborated by the exist- ence of a common form Kalangi as the designation for the "Heavenly One" among the aborigines of Central Celebes. For the Toalas, or "backwoodsmen", religious statistics are as yet very meagre. The authors speak vaguely of a tree-cult w^ith sacrifice, vs^hich cannot but remind us of the betel-fruit offerings above." Fortunately the deficiency can be supplied in part by the neighboring tribes. Among the Makassars and Buginese of Southern Celebes we find Adji- Patoto as the "Ruler of Destiny", with whom is associated Datu-Palinge as the "Creator" of the world. The latter is a female, it is true, but Adji- Patoto suggests "Fatherhood", while Pcdinge is too suspiciously near Kalangi not to reveal the fundamental meaning of Pa-lingo as the "Father- in-Heaven", of which Ka-langi as the "Chief" or Creator of Heaven is but a variation. Though these deities are apparently married, and have a divine child, — Batara, "the Lord" — , who descends from heaven in a bamboo and prepares a paradise for man — , there is evidence to show that they were originally free from the sex-relation, as we shall presently see.^" A similar tradition is preserved by the Toradjas of the interior, among whom I-lai and In-dara figure as the "Father-Mother"-God, and a being called Samoa takes the place of the demiurge. The latter makes two human beings, man and woman, out of stone, and breathes into them the breath of life. He conducts them to a high mountain, offers them a stone and a banana, and through choosing the banana they have lost the gift of immortality. Here I-M is the common Austronesian I-laki, or I-langi, which as Yalangi means nothing less than "I am in Heaven" (the Great "I AM"?), and where the phonetic analogy with Kalangi is once more apparent.^' But as to Kalangi himself. He forms the background of the Minahassa traditions of Northern Celebes. Though apparently one of the sons of Lumimu'ut, the "Mother Earth", his position as the "Lord of Heaven" and his identification with Muntu'untu, the "Highest One", (the mountain- peak) , "the Great Master, who has made heaven and earth, and is acknowl- edged as the Lord by all the gods", seems to reveal a distinct notion of transcendence. Here also He is the center of a "tree-cult with sacrifice", He is prayed to by gods and men, and He is the Helper of man and the Ruler of human destiny." ^*P. and F. Sarasin, Materialien zur Kenntniss der Naturgeschichte der Insel Celebes, (Wiesbaden, 1905) Vol. V. Part II. p. 126. " G. Wilken, Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel {Leyden, 1885) p. 232ff. A. C. Kruyt, Idem (Hague, 1906) p. A67B. i^Kruyt, 1. c. p. 469. Also, Mededeeligen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelingsgenootschap. (1894) p. 339flf. " Schwartz-Adriani, Tonteniboansche Teksten, (Leyden, 1907). Vol. II. p. 337, 477ff. 30 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (D,3) The Ceramese-Amboina Group, — Southern Molukkas Finally we have the mixed Malayan and Papuan populations of the eastern Spice Islands, among whom we find the same mythological con- cepts in all their essentials. For Ceram Frederik Riedel reports of a Heaven-god, Vpu Langi, and an Earth-mother, Vpu Tapene, both of whom are invoked on solemn occasions. The natives say that they came down from heaven, others that they sprang out of the Nunu-tree, a species of fig, which was planted on the mountain summit of an island in the West. The same tradition is found among ihe natives of Burn, where Vbun Langi and Ubun Sanane are evidently synonymous with the above. This is further emphasized by the Amaka Lanito and the Inaka Utne of the Amboina-group, the col- lateral forms Vpu Lanito and Upu Vme revealing the fact that Amaka and Upu {Apo, etc) are identical terms. These are invoked by the common expression Aamina Lanito, "Father-Mother-Heaven", which shows that both are equally heavenly, though their creative power is here no longer as vivid, men springing out of the Kanari-tree, which however was planted by Amaka, the "Father" of All. It is He that carries on a con- tinual war against thunder and lightning, and who lives in the place where Anin, the wind, has its source, — showing that He is distinct and above the creation and above His female "mediator"." It will now be seen with what right we have identified the forms Aba, Ama, Apu, Vpu, Amaka, Tdmaka, as the origineil designations for the divine "Fatherhood" throughout the central Indonesian zone. Ab or Am is one of the earliest roots for "father" in existence, its reduplicated or syncopated form appearing in all combinations with Ba, Bu, Pa, Pu, Ma, Mu, such as Ba-lingo, Pa-lingo, Pu-lingo (perhaps Pu-luga?) Ma-amba, Mu-untu, Mu-lungu, etc. Ka and Ta are for the most part intensitive or causative, from which we get Ka-ri, Ka-lingo, Ka-langi, Ama-ka, Ta-ma~ka, etc. signifying "Great Father", "Creator", and so on, while the La, Langi- series is fundamental for "Heaven", "Clouds", "Light", etc. which in com- bination with the A6a-notion reveals Aba-Langi, "Father in Heaven" as the universal basic form, the idea of "thunder" being a secondary notion expressive of power, — Ka, Ta. (Compare also Lowa-Langi of the Niassians). On the other hand Da, Do, Dara, Djadja, Chawah, etc. as "Blood", "Life", "Female Principle",- is always subordinate to Adja, Adji, Adjam, as the male "governor", which shows that Amaka-Balingo-Kalangi is essentially sexless." w Fr. Riedel, De sluik-en kroes-harigen rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, ('s Gravenhage, 1886) p 160ff. 7, Slff. *» Further discussion in W. Schmidt, Austronesische Mythologie, pp, 11, 23, SS, 68, 94ff GOD 31 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (E, 1) ABUDA— The Aru Islanders, — ^Arapura Bay, New Guinea In crossing the Molukkas we have already entered the "black" region, in which the Papuan type begins to assume the ascendancy. We leave Indonesia proper and enter the enormous domain of Papuasia, which extends from here to Tasmania on the one side, and to Fiji and New Caledonia on the other. Of the aborigines of the Aru Islands we have as yet little knowledge, but the following points should be noted: — It appears that they worship an "Abuda" or "Father"-Boitai, "who lives at the foundation, under these islands", and to whom they still pray and offer wild fruits. Though pictured as a man, as the ancestor of all the frizzly-haired Papuans, he seems to be an eternal being, to whom they have continual access in prayer. This is suggested by the fact that the astral triad, — sun, moon, and earth, — is of very little significance in this region, being entirely eclipsed by Boitai, the "Lord" of the Earth, and Taidue, the "Lady" of the Sea, — once more a divine couple. That the former overshadows the latter, and is a supra-mundane being, may be inferred from the conjuration- formula, in which He is invoked in astronomical language, to be sure, but in which the idea of a single divine personality is clearly revealed, to wit, "0 Moon, Lord-Sun! Thou who seest all things that are in Heaven and Earth!" An inspection of His titles will show that the position of sun, moon, and earth, etc. in Dyabu- laran, Dyabu-vulan, Dyabu-vava, is either subordinate, or, what is more probable, purely descriptive and complementary, being a triple invoca- tion to Boitai as the "Lord of the sun, the Lord of the moon, and the Lord of the earth," — a suggestive prayer.^ That this is really the case is rendered increasingly certain by the testimony of Baron Van Hoevell, who dis- tinctly states that there is no vestige of an organised sun-cult on the islands.* I am prepared to admit, however, that the astral mythology has made considerable inroads in these regions, which is only to be expected from their growing contact with higher cultures. At the same time an analysis of Dyabu reveals once more the two roots dya and abu, the former of which is here vaguely "Lordship", doubtless a later addition to the more primitive abu which we have already identified as the "father"-root in the earliest zone. Boitai is therefore an abu, and in his triple manifesta- tion He is in fact an Abuda, an "Oldest One", a "Life-giver", which is sur- prising in view of the confused racial and religious character of these peoples. 1 Fr. Riedel, De sluik-en kroes-harigen rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, ('sGravenhage, Ind. Taal-Land-en Volkenkundt, Vol. XXXIII (1890), p. 82. » Comp. W. Schmidt. Austron- esische Mythologie, p. 89ff. to whom I am indebted for these references. 32 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (E, 2) The Tapiros,— North- West Netherlands New Guinea Of the newly discovered Tapiros we have as yet no definite informa- tion. It will be useful, however, to call attention to a few anthropological and ethnological data which may serve as a help for correctly estimating their religious position. The following is from the pen of Dr. H. S. Har- rison : — "In the case of the Tapiro of New Guinea recently discovered by Cap- tain Rawling and his colleagues, circumstances prevented anything but a preliminary survey, though the information gained is sufficient to show that they fall into line with other negritos scattered in small groups over a wide but discontinuous area of the earth's surface. . . . Conspicuous among the physical characters of the Tapiro are the low stature, the woolly hair, the dark skin, and the broad head. To use the language of science, they are ulotrichous melanic brachicephals of an average height of less than five feet. The same definition may be applied to certain pygmy-tribes found in regions not far distant, and also in Central Africa. The former are usually called Negritos, and the latter are often spoken of as Negrillos. The Negrito-group has hitherto included only the Andamanese of the Andaman Islands, the Semang of parts of the Malay Peninsula, and the Acta of the Philippines. To these must now be added the negritos of Dutch New Guinea, for which the only native name is that of Tapiro".' Speaking of their social and religious customs, he says — "We have no information as to the manners and customs, and the social or tribal organisation of the Tapiro, but if they are in agreement with other pygmy groups, there will be no departure from the prevailing simplicity. Amongst these, totemism and clan-systems are wanting or rudimentary, hereditary chieftainship is apparently unknown, and the social groups partake of the nature of family associations, the villages, if such exist, being always small. There is no ancestor-cult or ceremonial spirit-worship, but in some cases at least a belief in supernatural beings is known to prevail, and there may even be recognition of a supreme deity. Monogamy is usual and women are not ill-treated. Death appears to be regarded as a natural event, and not as the result of witchcraft or sorcery, and burial of the dead in the ground is customary, though platform and tree-burial are occasionally practiced in some groups".* But as we have no knowledge of the Tapiro beliefs as such, we are forced to turn to the adjacent areas for further enlightenment. » H. S. Harrison, in Rawling, The Land of the New Guinea Pygmies, (London, 1913) p. 266-267, on the neRrito-question. * Ibid., p. 275. GOD 33 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (E, 3) AWONA-KAWA — The Karesau-Islanders of German New Guinea This deficiency can now be supplied by the Karesau-Islanders, who inhabit the coast region directly to the north-east, on the German side of the great continental divide, known as the Charles-Louis range or the Victor-Emmanuel mountains. These peoples are sufficiently low to have been the bearers of an aboriginal Papuan faith, their semi-nomadic life and loose social organisation being based exclusively on "natural" or clan headmanship, which, as we have seen, approaches nearest to the primitive standard. Organised totemism is here unknown, and spirit and ancestor- worship at a minimum, all of which are points favorable to a lofty cult of divinity. They acknowledge a supreme ieing whom they call Awona-kawa or Wonekau, who lives in the heavens and has no temples or sculptured representations. In this He is distinguished from the ancestor-spirits who live in the marea or spirit-house. He is recognised as the Maker if not the Creator of all, but is himself an invisible, benevolent, and providential being, who is very powerful, directs the destinies of man, and is appealed to in all important undertakings. At the end of the initiation-ceremony for youths — in which all, including women and children assist — , there is an offering of fruits and animals, where, with eyes raised to heaven, He is solemnly invoked in the following strain: — "0 Wonekau! Come down, and look upon my wife, my children, my mother, my father, my sisters,, my brothers, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my friends, my fellow-beings!" ' It is fortunate that in this case we have the direct reports of a very reliable witness, the Rev. Father Schmidt, S. V. D., who, as he says, was most careful not to suggest anything to the minds of the natives, but let them tell their own story, in their own words, and in their own way. The following conversation with one of the aboriginals is certainly interest- ing:— "Has Wonekau . lived in heaven for a long time, forever?" "They haven't told me" was the answer, "but I am forbidden to eat the casuar forever", (as long as time lasts), showing that the idea of timeless dura- tion was not absent. "When a child has been lost in the back-woods, the mother runs into the forest and shrieks to Wonekau as follows: — Wonekau! Thou art good! Go, and tell the whites, that my child must come back!" — ^this apropos of the fact that the child had left the maternal hearth, and gone to the coast to live with the whites. "When a child, has arrived at the sixth or eighth year, the fatheriells him all iaboiit Wonekau and what He demands, as follows : — 'Anthropos, II. (190S) p. 1029ff. The same report will be found, supplemented and in part corrected in Austronesische Mythologie, p. 117-119. 34 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM "They are not to steal arrows, cocoa-nuts, or other things, for Wonekau sees all things, though He cannot be seen Himself. But if people do steal, they are not taken by Wonekau into His palace in Heaven, but are con- signed to the flames". "Where are these flames, are they under the earth?". "I don't know". When strangers are amused at their native customs, they answer: "You mustn't laugh, Wonekau has made it so". When a man has finished a difficult piece of work, they say, — "That comes from Wonekau, who helped him". At night the men gather together on the sea-shore, and one tells the story of Wonekau under the light of the stars: — "Men and fellow beings! We are in existence! (Just think of it). Our land is very good. The Pleiades and the stars are shining. This is a great year. Wonekau, He is very good. He is invisible, He makes the Pleiades and the stars!" — and so on. Further evidence of the moral nature of this being is furnished by the story of the adulterer, who, after being warned by his fellows with the words, — "Friend, you must not do that, no one may steal the wife of another, you must give back the woman", is finally reproved by the leader with the strong allocution : — "Friend, I will say nothing more to you. The Lord Wonekau is already seeing you". As to the authenticity of this belief, its native origin, it seems to be fully established, partly by the isolation of the natives, partly by the phrase- ology of the legends. I have suggested Awona-kawa as the original of Wonekau, hitherto regarded as irreducible. This would give the mean- ing "Father on High", which accords well with His heavenly character. But what is more important, a borrowing from Christian sources is directly repudiated by the natives themselves. Children for the first time trained in the mission-school of Tumleo involuntarily exclaimed: "Now it comes out that father was right after all. You boys of Dallmannhafen! Is not 'Gott' the same as your Wonekau and our Wonakau?" A more conspicuous proof of the originality of a religious system could hardly be desired. Taking it all together, this report must be pronounced as one of the most well-supported and epoch-making in the entire "black" belt, and one of which our Catholic missionary fathers may well be proud. The dis- covery of a monotheistic and monogamous people among the "barbarous and bloodthirsty Papuans", is one of the many surprises to which we are gradually becoming accustomed in other regions. It is still too early to say how far these lofty notions extend into the interior, but the first pillars of the bridge have been constructed connecting the Aru Islands with Dutch and German New Guinea. GOD 35 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (E, 4) CHIDIBEY— The Mafulu Negritos op British New Guinea Of the Mafulus of North-West British New Guinea a few interesting facts have been collected by Mr. Robert W. Williamson, whose valuable work on the social and religious condition of that people has been com- mended by Prof. A. C. Haddon, of Cambridge, England.' They know of a semi-divine being called Chi-di-bey, who "may be a mem, or may be a spirit, (they appear to be vague as to this), who has immense power, and who once passed through their country in a direc- tion from east to west. Wherever you may be, if you speak of this per- sonage, and ask to be told in what direction he travelled, they always point out one which is from east to west. They believe that it was Chidibey who taught them all their customs, including dancing and manufacture, and that he ultimately reached and remained in the land of the white man, where he is now living, and that the superior knowledge of the white man has been acquired from him. One of the Fathers of the mission was seriously asked by a native whether he had ever seen Chidibey {\) They seem to think that he is essentially a beneficent being. They regret his having left the country, but they have no doubt as to this, and they do not regard him as still continuing to exercise any influence over them and their affairs, have no ceremonies or observances with reference to him, £ind do not address to him any supplications. As traces of his passage through their country they will show you certain extraordinarily shaped rocks and stones, but they have no ceremonies with reference to these, and they have no fear of them".'' It is impossible to read this report without being reminded of the old negrito Heaven-God, who is without fixed habitation, who has "immense power", who teaches them all they know, who is a benevolent being, who dwells or manifests his presence on certain rocks. (Comp. Anito of the Philippines). This agrees well with the primitive culture of the Mafulu, whose crude bamboo industry and non-totemic organisation is in such contrast to the perfected stone civilisation of the Melanesians. Neverthe- less, the fact that many of them are of mixed Melanesian blood and have naturally borrowed some of their customs, such as cannibalism and ghost- worship (though only to a limited extent), this will explain the fact that the above divinity is no longer untarnished, he has lost the role of Creator, he has no external cult, he has ceded all his rights to the more popular "spirits", who are the controlling power of Melanesian religion." • R. W. Williamson, The Mafulu Mountain People of British New Guinea (London, 1912). »Idem, pp. 264-265. *Idem, p. 266ff. Note:— I have adopted the spelling Chi-di-bey as the phonetic equivaJent of the original Tsi-di-be. 36 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (E, 5) QUAT-MARAWA— CENTRAL MELANESIA This is illustrated by the figure of Quat-Mamwa,—a. quondam deity of the tribes inhabiting the Banks Islands, (Central Melanesia).* Though born or evolved from a stone, he is a vui or pow^erful spirit. "It is certain", says Codrington, "that he was believed to have made things in another sense from that in which men could be said to have made them. ... He has fixed the natural condition of things in the world, — light, darkness, storms, winds, rains, seasons — , He has made man out of clay and woman out of supple twigs", — ^which seems to reveal a rather superior, if not a supreme being, and certainly a personal one. His char- acter, though at times facetious, is generally pure and noble, he is helpful and good-natured, and has taught men the arts.* Nevertheless he is asso- ciated with Maraiva, the Spider, who is in every sense his duplicate, a coUaborateur in the act of creation or a possible demiurge, — the "Spider- Moon". He is but one of a multitude of vui, to whom flrst-fruits, money, and even human life are occasionally sacrificed, he is a married divinity with eleven brothers but apparently no sons, and though his name is invoked in the hour of need, it is always coupled with that of Marawa, his helpmate, as follows : "Qxmt-Marawa! Look down upon me! Prepare the sea, that I may go on a safe sea! Beat down the waves, that I may come to a safe harbor!" While this has an inspiring ring, it must be offset by- the fact that in practice he is hardly more than a dead ancestor, he has been confused with the tribal ghost, he is treated and fed like a disembodied spirit, he is the Quat or "Lord" of the Underworld, a mere phantom.^" By comparing him, however, with the above divinity, Mr. Williamson writes : — "I have been unable to find an account of any spiritual or partly spiritual being associated with the beliefs of Papuans or Melanesians who can be regarded as similar to Chidibey. Perhaps the nearest approach to him will be found in Quat of the Banks Islands"." Now it is this unique- ness and isolation among all other manistic taboos of the Papuo-Melanesian belt, which together with the strong Negrito strain, certified for New Guinea and highly probable for Melanesia, makes the existence of some interconnexion in the remote past an almost certain proposition. It is possible of course that the Mafulu divinity may be a faint echo of Quat, though in view of Mafulu "primitiveness", — absence of high stone culture, of totemism, of reincarnation-doctrine, of ghost-dance — , it seems more probable that he is the wreck of a former Amaka^god, whose worship has been lost by spiritism, but whose unique personality still survives in the popular mind." « R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, Their Anthropology and Folklore, (Oxford, 1891). •Idem, pp. 154-158. "Idem, p. 159ff. 128, 145fF. "Williamson, op. cit. p. 266. "Comp. Williamson, pp. 69, 90, 266ff. Schmidt, Austronesische Mythologie, pp. 107, 141. THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS THE FATHER OF ALL AS SYKBOUSED IN THE BARK SHIELD-INSCBIFnONS OF THE AUSTBAIXAN KAMH-ABCOI, nf THE AUSTRALIAN CAVE-DRAWINGS, AND BY THE 'LAND OF QCAT', THE CEBEMONIAI, HEAD-GEAR OF THE BANKS-ISLANDERS, CBNTRAL BIEI-ANESIA ^ + I < I t I I ^ ' SUGOJ^STED MEANING "MAY FATHER BAIME PROTECT US BY HIS FIERY BREATH." SEE K. LANGLOH-PARKEB, THE ErAHIAYI TRIBE, (LONDON, 1905), P. 80, 181 K. WEULE, LEITPADEN DER VOLKERKUNDE, (LEIPZIG, 1912), PL. 59, AND H. CODRINGTON, THE MELANEMANS, (OXFORD, 1891), P. 104, FROM WOTCH IT BECOMES INCREASINGLY EVIDENT THAT THE SIMPLE CROSS-SIGN HAS A QUASI-BELIGIOIS SIGNIFICANCE, GOD 3? OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (F) Australia-Tasmania, — South Eastern Belt The continent of Australia offers an enormous field for sociological study. For our present purposes, however, it will be sufficient to treat of those tribes only that are racially, ethnically, and linguistically connected with the so-called "primaeval" area,— that region of the far South-East that faces Tasmania and is generally credited with being one of the most primitive haunts of man in existence.^ The "High Gods" of Australia may be conveniently grouped as follows, — and these are only the most important : — (a) Baiame of the Kamilaroi, and (b) Nurrundere of the Narrinyeri, — Darling and Murray-river tribes. Inland Basin, (c) Bundjil of the Kulin, and (d) Daramulun of the Yuin-Kuri, South Coast (e) Mungan-ngaua of the Kurnai, — Extreme South, Gippsland. Let us consider them one by one. (F) (1) BAIAME,— Kamilaroi, New South Wales For Baiame, — Great One, Creator? — the following information is to hand : — Baiame is eternal, — He is "very, very old, but never older".^ Baiame knows all things, — He is "all-seeing Spirit".* Baiame can do all things, — "He can do what He wishes".* Baiame has made all things, — "He who made all things is Baiame".^ Baiame rewards the good and punishes the wicked both here and hereafter.* Baiame instils reverence and fear in a manner which is not shared by any other being, — affection, reverence, duty.' To Baiame alone prayers are ofTered and the sacrifice of obedience, as when "Baiame, Father of All!" is invoked at the Bora, or Initiation- Rite.' All this savors of high theism, but is apparently marred by the fol- lowing defects taken from different points of view: — (1) It has been said that these tribes are no longer "primitive" and that missionary influence is not improbable, — the old theory of importa- tion again.' (2) It has been suggested that Baiame is nothing but a deified hero, — the leader of the tribe, — ^who has been invested with supernatural honors in order to magnify the tribe-consciousness, — the theory of apotheosis.^" (3) Baiame's "wives", "hunting-expeditions", etc., are inconsistent with any ideas of a Supreme Being, however rudimentary, — there is excessive anthropomorphism.^^ It is therefore on the face of it unlikely that this picture is of any real value. lA. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, (London, 1904), p. 24-33. 2 McDonald, in Journ. Anthrop. Instit. Vol. VII. p. 257. ^ Langloh-Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, (London, 1905), p. 79. * McDonald, 1. c. and Archdeacon Gunther, cited by N. W. Thomas in "Man", (1905), p. 46. « W. Ridley, Kamilaroi, (Sydney, 1866), pp. 17, 136, Cp. Parker, 1. c. p. 4-5. * McDonald and Gunther, loc. cit. supra. ' Parker, 1. c. p. 9. * Parker, 1. c. pp. 8-9 (prayer), 72 (address), 79-80 (Baiame-song, untranslated). » E. B. Tylor, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. Vol. XXI. pp. 283-299 (Limits of savage religion). i» Howitt, 1. c. pp. 491, SOO-SOl, 506-507. (Exaggeration of human attributes). " E. S. Hartland, in "Folk- lore", Dec. 1898. (Denial of divine attributes). 38 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Let us see to what extent these objections are justified. (1) It is quite true that none of these Australian tribes are strictly "primitive", that is primitive compared with the pure Negrito and the suggested Tasmanian type. Their culture is in every way more advanced, they live in more solid structures, and have discovered the art of making flint implements of palaeolithic and even neolithic design. They have an elaborate totemic system with four matrimonial classes, — an institution which is quite unknown among the lowest races of mankind. Yet with all this, there are clear traces or survivals of an earlier age, and of an earlier race, with whom they must have fused in very remote times, — the Tasmanian. This is revealed by their approximation to the Tasmanian type and by the fact that there is a strong under-current of very primitive culture which agrees very ill with an advanced stone-civilisation, — the grass apron, the fire-plow, the windshelter, the general sparsity of cloth- ing in spite of a more rigorous climate. We must therefore be prepared for something anomalous, for a social and religious mixture. If certain features of this mythology can be proved to be common to the lowest Negrito and Tasmanian belt, it will stand to reason that these are the earlier forms, while the existence of a different circle of ideas will argue just as strongly for their introduction from a higher culture, provided these ideas can be shown to be peculiar to that culture, or at least to be strongly associated with it. A different question is that of the native origin of the beliefs. Here the evidence gives no uncertain sound. For if a later wave of prehistoric influence must be admitted, a recent borrowing from Christian sources is now impossible to maintain. Tylor's objection that no savage mind is capable of such "advanced" thought is directly contradicted by the testi- mony of Lang, Howitt, Thomas, Langloh-Parker, and others, that these ideas are indigenous. Howitt has proved conclusively that Baiame ante- dates all the missions,^* and Mrs. Parker writes: — "I was first told of Baiame in whispers by a very old native, said to have been already grey- haired, when Sir Thomas Mitchell discovered the Narran in 1846, (ten years before the missions). But He was a worshipful being, revealed in the mysteries, long before missionaries came, as (he) and all my inform- ants aver"." Similarly Thomas has shown that Baiame dates back to 1830, — evidence which ought to be conclusive,^* — especially as Waitz, our greatest authority, emphatically denies importation.^* 1* Howitt, Native Tribes, p. S04-50S. ^^ Langloh-Parker, 1. c. p. 5. (summary). 1* Thomas loc. cit. supra. i» Wait*, Anthropologic der Naturvolker, (Leipzig, 1872), Vol. IV. pp 796-798. Comp. A. Lang, Magic and Religion, (London, 1901), p. 25. GOD 39 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (2) But if the theory of a "Loan-God" is now generally abandoned, — and detailed reasons for this will appear in the sequel, — it is not on the face of it impossible that the supposed divinity might have been derived from an ancestor, — an "ideal headman" who lives in the sky, and to whom the natives pray in the hour of need. But this is going beyond the imme- diate data, it is "theorizing" on the probable origin of the belief. That a great headman might have suggested the idea is not per se impossible, but it will have to be proved that such a headman ever existed, nay more that he was worshipped and adorned with the supernatural qualities above mentioned. Now, not only is this unprovable, but there is strong evidence to show, that this could hardly have been the origin of the belief. There is no trace of hero- or ancestor-worship from which such a concept could have been developed. Moreover a headman, though "great", is hardly a "Baiame", a "Creator", a "Maker of all things", "an endless Being", an "all-seeing Spirit". The transition from human to divine attributes is too abrupt. Baiame stands out of all relation to tribal chiefs, to medicine-men and magicians. He is worshipped, while they are not, the image is human, but the attributes are superhuman. Howitt's objection is therefore merely a speculative one. It concerns the origin of the idea, not the idea itself, for he is satisfied that Baiame in His present form is, to say the least, an "ideal" being." Then again, the worship that is given to Baiame, and His hold over the public conscience, is something that is difficult to derive from a defunct ancestor. At the Borah, or Initiation-ceremony, He is solemnly invoked as "Father of All, whose laws the tribes are now obeying!", and the youth are put through a severe fire- and fasting-test, in which they are instructed in all the details of what can only be called a "religion". Baiame "has made all things". He is "the original source of all totems". He has com- manded them to observe the customs, "because Baiame says so". He requires them to observe the moral law, — for the "three deadly sins are: unprovoked murder, lying to the elders of the tribe, and stealing a woman within the forbidden degrees". Moreover "kindliness towards the old and sick is strictly inculcated as a command of Baiame, to whom all breaches of His laws are reported by the all-seeing spirit at a man's death, and he is judged accordingly". Finally, the petition to Baiame, that "the blacks may live long", that "He may send rain", that "the dead may rest in peace", etc., — all are so many indications that we are dealing with a superhuman, an omniscient, an omnipotent Being.'° " Howitt, Native Tribes, p. 507. "o For the facts, Parker, 1. c. pp. 7-9, 78-79. Cf. Schmidt, Ursprung der Gottesidee, (Miinster, 1912), pp. 173, 349flf. 40 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (3) But is not Baiame disfigured by "wife and family", by his role as a "hunter", by his confusion with the sun and the emu, by his invo- cation under the form of a crude clay figure which is anything but sug- gestive of a spiritual, an invisible being?" We are here face to face, partly with a harmless anthropomorphism, partly with a social and religious complexity, in which certain features are clearly of later growth, the result of a fusion with higher and later forms culture. (Cp. point 1). This can be shown by the fact that in the most primitive region, that of the East Indies, Central Africa, and probably Tasmania, the supreme Being is very generally unmarried, the hunting-theme is absent, sun, moon and animals have no relation to Him, and there are no plastic representa- tions of the divine. Baiame as the Sun-god, with Emu feet, is the leading motif of the Australian totem-culture, as may be easily proved by the very similar figure of Altjira among the strongly totemic Aruntas, where we find the Emu-Sun, wife and family, hunting-escapades, and other undig- nified traits. This culture, and the solar ideas that accompany it, can be traced to at least four continents, and is in every way more advanced than any of the Negrito cycles or the supposed Tasmanian belt.^" If then Baiame is tarnished in part by solar and sexual features, if He has been dragged into the world of plant and animal totems, we know from what quarter this part of His picture could alone have been derived. It cor- responds to the more advanced aspect of Kamilaroi civilisation, that aspect which binds them to the central Aruntas, while its more primitive features suggest just as forcibly that the simple picture of the All-Father rivets Him to the lowest Stratum of belief as yet known to us, — the Negrito Tasmanian circle. Thus two different phases of thought are here in col- lision, and by eliminating the elements that are demonstrably later, the original picture of Baiame stands out in bold relief, to wit : — The human notes bring out His Personality, the supernatural notes His Divinity." This argumentation will appear more conclusive the more the subject is developed in greater detail. For the present it should be observed that although a decadence in beliefs and practices is here distinctly notice- able, — growing nature-worship with magical and totemic ceremonies, cannibalistic practices, etc. — there is a strong undercurrent of pure theology which has left Baiame in undisputed possession of the field, — a moral Being who requires from His creatures a strict account of their actions, a high standard. For any being that can vindicate the moral law not only in the future but also in the present life, must be more than a 'headman', he must be a faint image, to say the least, of the supreme Judge of heaven and earth,''* 21 Hartland, 1. c. supra. Cp. Schmidt, Ursprung, pp. 222, 370flF. 22 See Introduction p. XLIII. above, "s Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 388ff. " Parker, 1. c. p. 50-60, 61-70fr. GOD 41 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM In illustration of this subject, the following customs, violent though some of them undoubtedly seem, will speak for themselves : — "Should a girl be found guilty of frailty, it being her first fault, her brothers and nearest male relations made a ring around her, after having bound her hands and feet, and toss her one from the other until she is in a dazed condition and almost frightened to death. Should a w^oman have been discovered to be an absolute w^anton, men from any of the clans make a ring around her, she being bound, and tossed from one to the other, and when exhausted is unbound and left by her relations to the men to do as they please to her, — the almost inevitable result is death".^" The practice of killing half-caste babies is justified on the plea that Baiame's laws have been ignored, that His children have strayed from the path of virtue, — a brutal custom, but indicative of a strong moral feeling. For Baiame had said that "as long as the blacks kept his sacred laws, so long should He stay in His crystal seat (in heaven), and the blacks live on earth. But if they failed to keep up the Borah rites as He had taught them, then He would move and their end would come, and only the Wundah, or white devils, be in their country".28 The high price that is placed upon chastity is illustrated by the beautiful legend of the seven virgins that came down from heaven, two of whom were ravished by mortals and made to live with them, while the remaining five remained spotless. The seven virgins are the Pleiades, and the two ravished virgins are the two stars in the Pleiades that shine with a diminished brightness." Charity and self-sacrifice are inculcated from the tenderest years. Mothers sing to their babies somewhat as follows: — "Give to me, baby, give to her baby, give to him, baby, give to one, baby, give to all, baby! Be kind, do not steal, do not touch what belongs to another, leave it alone, be kind!" .While there are some ugly blotches on the morality of these tribes, — theory and practice being not always in harmony and many revolting customs in vogue, — this picture will show beyond doubt that Baiame has a close relation to morals, that He is an ethical Being. As the best known of the Australian "High-Gods", this may serve as a good example of Australian belief and practice in its earlier form. Of the still earlier but far less known divinities of the South-East a brief summary will be suffi- cient, as the want of space and the poverty of matter forbid a more lengthy discussion in these pages, interesting though such a discussion might prove to be. «» Parker, 1. c. p. 60. " Parker, 1. c. p. 9S-96. «' Parker, 1. c. p. 52-54. 42 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (P) (2) NURRUNDERE,— Narrinye!ri Tribes, South Australu As an equivalent of Baiame, but with some approach to Bundjil below, stands the figure of Nurrundere, the chief deity of the Narrinyeri-tribes. He has made all things, and has taught men the arts and sciences.^ His voice is the thunder, and his work the rainbow.^ He has brought his people down the river, (Murray), and has ordained a sacrifice which he requires at stated intervals, — a Wallaby-offering.' He is no longer on earth, but is now in heaven, and his name is uttered only with the greatest reverence.* Here again the notion of a headman, hunter, or tribal leader, can be separated from that of a Maker and Giver of all, a being who is dis- tinctly superhuman, though he is pictured under human forms. Mar- riage in these tribes is on the local totemic system with male descent, and there is a starvation-ceremony by which the youth are admitted to full membership of the clan. Spirit and ancestor-worship are wanting, or at least weakly developed." (F) (3) BUNDJIL, — KuLiN tribes, South West Victoria For Bundjil of the Kulin tribes, the material is scanty and difficult to collate. Moreover his picture is tarnished by astral features, as he is now identified with a star, (Altair, or Fomalhaut). "See!" (pointing to the star), "that one is Bundjil. You see Him, and He sees you!". His sons (or brothers) are also stars, and his alleged wives are two black swans.' By disentangling the complicated mythology, often contradictory, by which this central figure has been obscured, it has been possible to elimi- nate one by one those notes or attributes that are inconsistent with his prime qualities and show traces of belonging to a later group of ideas. We have already seen that the notion of a married divinity, associated more or less with the sun, moon, and stars, is the leading theme of the more advanced totem-culture, and is conspicuously absent in the earliest stream of human tradition. (Gomp. p. 40.) When these items are removed as out of harmony with the more primitive aspect of this people, socially and culturally, the original picture of Bundjil as the Heaven-God, with thunder and rainbow-traits, may be clearly discerned in the background, as witness: — He is the Maker of all things, and the teacher of arts and sciences. He is the guardian of the moral order, and the Father in Heaven, in short. He is a personal being, with mixed human and divine attributes.' This is the region of two-class totemism, with paternal descent." I Howitt, 1. c. p. 488, quoting G. Taplin, The Narrinyeri, (Adelaide, 1879), p. SS. « Taplin, 1 c p S7f . * Taplin, 1. c. p. 55. * Taplin, ibid. » Howitt, 1. c. p. 260. 673, 434. « Howitt, I. c 128 489-492. '^ Howitt, 1. c. 491-492. Cp. Brough-Smith, The Aborigines of Victoria (Melbourne, 1878) Vol I, pp. 423-442. » Howitt, p. 126, 610. GOD 43 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (P) (4) DARAMULUN ,— YuiN-KuRi, New South Wales Another prominent figure in this connection is that of Daramulun, — the high Thunder-God of the Kuri nation,— New South Wales. It is remarkable that he is one of the few deities in Australia that is not hampered with rivals or assistants or family retinue, but stands supreme as the one God of heaven to whom deference is due. He is Biamban, or "Great Master", He can go everywhere and do any- thing.^ He is Creator of all things, at least in one instance.* He was once upon earth, but is now in heaven, where He watches the actions of men. He can see people, and is very angry when they do wrong.* He has taught mankind the arts and industries, and He alone has instituted the sacred mysteries, — the so-called Kuringal. On these occasions, his voice, which is heard in the thunder, is re-echoed in the whirring of the "Bull-roarer", or sacred wand, and one who is deputed to take his place marshals the young men, and in the name of Daramulun knocks out one of their front teeth. This is the only occasion on which his picture is allowed to be exposed or his name uttered. The women and uninitiated know Him only under the more common title Papang',— Father, — or Biamban, — Master.' But if this picture of Daramulun is simple and clear, his later associa- tions are indeed manifold. He is a falcon. He has a mother, the Emu, He has only one leg, (Dara-mulun) , He is the spirit that dwells in the Bull- roarer as in a secret charm, and that compels obedience by virtue of its own hidden power, (Schwirrholzgeist).' These items may be interpreted as accidentals, of no essential importance to his main character as a creat- ing divinity. But that they are later accretions derived from the same source as in the preceding cases, is, to say the least, highly probable. His identification with the falcon, spider, or lizard, and his association with the emu-sun, reveals a close connection with the central Arunta totemic region, where animal and astral themes are alone in evidence. More- over his maimed condition is by no means primitive, — the existing figures are all complete, — ^while the bull-roarer-spirit is a natural intensification of his hidden presence, which has become more and more blended with magical rites.' It will be noted, moreover, that the nearer we approach the Tasmanian region, the more pure is the picture presented by the supreme Being, the more free from sexual and naturalistic details. Mar- riage in these tribes is on the simple totemic system with local exogamy and male descent. iHowitt, 1. c. p. SS3. * Ridley, Kamilaroi, p. 156. »HowJtt, pp. 494-495. *Ibid. » Howitt, p. 516-562. » Howitt, p. 560, 58Sflf. ' Howftt, p. 553, 563ff. Cp. Schmidt, Ursprung, pp. 344-349. 44 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (F) (5) MUNGAN-NGAUA,— KuRNAi, South Victoria As the last and in many respects the purest form in Australian the- ology, the figure of Mungan-ngaua looms bright and clear as the supreme being of the Kurnai tribes of South-East Victoria, — Gippsland. He is the only divinity that has no other name but that which describes his paternal relation to mssi,— Mungan-ngaua — , "Our Father", the "Father" of the human race. Unfortunately but little is known of his physical and ethical traits. These are kept a strict secret, and are known only to the initiated, and to them obscurely. Perhaps the most vivid picture of his character is obtained at one of these tribal initiations, or Jeraeils, where the youth are instructed in the following terms: — "Long ago there was a great being called Mungan-ngaua, who lived on earth and taught the Kurnai all they know. He gave them also their personal names, such as Tulaba. He had a son, Tundun, (Adam?), who was married, and is the direct ancestor of the Kurnai. He instituted the Jeraeil at the command of his father, and made the instruments, — ^bull- roarers — , that bear his name, — Tundun. Some tribal traitor impiously revealed the secrets to the women, and for this reason. He sent down fire from heaven, (the Aurora Australis), and a great flood, in which all were drowned except a few of their own ancestors. After this He left the earth and ascended into heaven, where He still remains."^ It has been objected that this story is somewhat thin, that it leaves the real nature of Mungan-ngaua undermined. It must be confessed that his role as Creator is inferential rather than self-evident, but the sparsity of the attributes that are assigned to Him is at most a negative argument, and proves little when compared with the unique position that He occupies in the life of the people. At least this much may be affirmed: — He was apparently never made, and is certainly immortal. He is their father, their teacher, their judge, and their lawgiver. He has commanded them (1) to listen to and obey the old men, (2) to share everything with their friends, (3) to live peaceably with their friends, (4) not to inter- fere with girls and married women, (5) to obey the food-restrictions, etc.^ — from which it is evident that we are dealing with an .ethical being, — the Author and Guardian of the moral law. Marriage in these tribes is on the local system, with "sex"-totems and male descent. These are among the most primitive and strongly Tasmanioid tribes on the entire continent.* 1 Howitt, op. cit. pp. 490, 630ff. ' Idem, p. 633. ' Comp. Schmidt, Ursprung, pp. 324-332. Pwitt, 1, C. pp. 269-271. GOD 45 OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM (F) (6) MARRA-BOONA,— Tasmanian Pure Of the aborigines of Tasmania, now extinct, we have only the most slender statistics.^ Only those, moreover, will be of any religious value to us that depict the natives as they existed before their loss of liberty, before they were placed under conditions of pressure, that is, before 1834. These accounts speak of a divinity, Marra Boona, whose name, though only seriously studied since the time of Milligan, (1854), can hardly be any other than that of the chief god of the Mount Royal tribes, — South Tas- mania. The full name, — Tiggana-Marra^Booncn — , has been variously interpreted by scholars, either as "Spirit of great creative power" accord- ing to Milligan, or simply as "High-One-Exalted!' , (Extremus-Unus- Eminens), according to Fr. Schmidt. The exact meaning must be deter- mined by future lexicologists.^ In any case these epithets fit in well with the vague descriptions of a deity that have been handed down from very early sources, collected and quoted by Ling-Roth, to wit : — He is the spirit of light and is opposed to the spirit of darkness. (On this point all are agreed, — Jeffreys, Horton, Leigh, etc. — 1820-1822). He is a benevolent being and the author of good, (Ibidem). He is the Creator of man, if not of the universe, (Horton, 1821), and therefore in some sense supreme, at least over the human race. He is addressed by prayers and invocations, which imply an ethical relation of worship and a "feel- ing" for personality, — (Jeffreys, 1820, Leigh, 1822). Approaching this subject in greater detail, — it must be admitted that the evidence is neither as clear nor as copious as might have been desired. But the explicit statement of three very early writers must surely be of some weight, more especially as the lexical evidence tends to support it. "These creatures have a song", says Jeffreys (1820), "which they sing to their imaginary deity, of whom however they have a very vague idea and who as they say, presides over the day, while an evil spirit or demon appears at night. This divinity, whatsoever He may be, they look upon as the Giver of good, and it does not appear that they acknowledge more than one God". Horton also testifies, (1821), that they have a creation- legend, according to which they were created "by a benevolent Being", at first "with tails and without knee-joints, when another being descended from heaven, and full of sympathy for the sufferers, cut off their tails and lubricated their joints." If these items mean nothing more, they imply, at least, that the origin of man is apparently attributed to a good, wise and benevolent Creator, though the tail-motif leaves, of course, much to be desired in the way of a pure concept.* 1 Collected by H. Ling-Roth in his classic work, The Aborigines of Tasmania, (Halifax, 1899), from which most of the present material has been derived. ^ Compare Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 216flf. for Milligan and the lexical analysis. ^ The simplicity of this story is a guarantee of its native origin. For the sources, see Ling-Roth, pp. 53-54. 46 GOD OCEANIC PRIMITIVE FORM Similarly Leigh, (1822), writes :— "Their religious beliefs are very obscure. Nevertheless, they believe in two spirits : the good spirit governs the day, and the evil spirit the night. To the good spirit they attribute all the good, and to the wicked spirit all the evil. When any member of the family is on a journey, they are accustomed to sing to the good spirit, in order to implore his protection over their absent friends, and that they may return in health and safety". The later testimonies of Henderson, Robinson, Lloyd, Bonwick, etc. (1832-1870), confirm in part the earlier reports, with this difference that all, with the exception of Robinson, recognise demonism and spirit-worship to be the chief constituent of Tasmanian religion. From these data it may be inferred with great probability that the Tas- manians at one time recognised a single, supreme, and benevolent divinity, opposed by another, malevolent divinity, and that with the loss of their liberty and their constrained conditions of life, they have turned more and more to spiritism as a last refuge to their shattered hopes. We cannot therefore reject the united testimony of the earlier reports confirmed by Milligan's lexical studies in 1854. It reveals the existence a "Great High One", whose creative power is attested as early as 1821, and whose benevolence, providence, and personal worship seem to be implied by the existing data. But with regard to His nature, we are left very largely in the dark. The word "spirit" is dubious, and we have no knowledge of ancient Tasmanian worship, that could give us a clue to the "forms" under which it took place. If however Ling-Roth is right in his explicit denial of any sun- or moon-worship on the part of the natives,' we have an important point in favor of a pure, unadulterated cult of divinity, unassociated with the elaborate nature-worship of later times. This is a consideration of no small value. It means that Tasmanian religion antedates the cosmic theology by indefinite periods, that the supreme divinity has no relation to sun or moon-cult. This and the absence of totemism * brings it very near the Negrito level, with whom from the standpoint of culture as well as physique the Tasmanians are closely allied." From what can still be known of this interesting people it appears that they stood on a comparatively high moral level. The marriage-tie was strict and adultery was punished with blows. All agree that there was no cannibalism, and no infanticide except such as was forced upon them by contact with whites.* ■Ling-Roth, op. cit. p. 54. *Ideni, p. 63. (totemism). "Idem, p. 67fF. (culture). 8 Idem, pp. 113-115 (marriage), p. 97 (cannibalism), p. 162 (infanticide). Note:— "There is no evidence that they were in awe of the sun, nor that they associated childbirth with the moon",— p. 54. where the authorities are given. (I have not been able to procure the originals), THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS THE FATHER ABOVE THE CLOUDS QUITEB-INSCRIFTION ITSED BT THE NEGBII.rOS OF THE CONGO-BEI.T FOE SECTJKTNG A SUCCBSSFCL CHASE, AND INTERPRETED IN PART BY THE MTTHOI.OGT, EN PART BY THE APPENDED STMBOIiS FOR THE "MASTER IN HI^ATEN." X ANYAMBYE TB.IBAU IMIXIAXIOM MARKS 'Ca ABO OKI) BUSMMAN tW,JJ>l.e CROSS A'KEHQ- •KAAMG rfeA-AWBA SftDAKA-MCSDUMA-SAtiAKA \ X MUZIKU muzTru ^^ AMULA.-"Y1| ANYA1V1BYB TRIBAU . MARKS fGABOOW) 3USHMAS TRIPLE CKOSS "KA«ANa COMBINED INTERPRETATION "THE FATHER ON HIGH— THE CREATOR— WHO HAS PLANTED THE SACRED MODCMA TREE— MAT HE PROTECT US BY HIS GUARDIAN-SPIRITS." SEE MOB. L,EBOT, I-E8 PYGMBES NBGRILL,ES D'AFRiaUE ET NEGRITOS DB L'ABIE, (TOURS, 191Q>, P. 189, 262, AND G. W. STOW, THE NATIVE RACES OF SOUTH AFRICA. (LONDON, 1910), P. 28, 120, FOR NEGRILLO AND BUSHMAN SYMBOLISM. GOD 47 CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM (G) The Akka-Batua Negrillos op Central Africa The Negrillos of Central Africa, though famed since classic times, have only recently been studied with anything like precision. And even now, little enough is known of their more subtle beliefs to be able to pass any final conclusions as to their character. But the materials that have come to hand are nevertheless sufficiently well-tested and sufficiently sur- prising to merit further inquiry. (G) (1) WAKA — East Central Africa, — Boni-Watwa Of a mysterious being called Waka the following facts have been col- lected by Mgr. LeRoy in a personal interview with the natives : — * Waka can see everything, but cannot be seen Himself, — a spiritual being(?). He is the Master of all and has given them all they have, — a Creator. He is the Judge of all, as when He descends from heaven and takes the lives of men at His will, who are then buried in the earth. He is severe and requires a sacrifice, in which the best portions of food are burnt, poured out, or thrown up to heaven, with the following words : — "Waka! Thou hast given me this buffalo, this honey, this wine. Behold thy portion. Grant me continued strength and life, and that no harm may come to my children!" The Boni-Watwas are pure primitives and their antiquity unquestion- able. As to possible importation, it is to be noted, that although Waka is also the name for God among the Hamitic Gallas, their neighbors, it is hardly probable from the want of any Islamic features in their religion that the name or idea is of Islam origin, (Allah). For if so, why were not other Islamic elements, such as dances and dervishes, fakirs, circum- cision and medicine-men, transferred also? Moreover the Negrillos com- monly speak the language of their neighbors, and Waka would be their natural expression for what the Gallas call God. This is in fact a mere question of terminology, and has no bearing on the native origin of the belief, which is now generally admitted.' As to spiritistic and magical practices, the author has taken care to determine that no charms or amulets of any kind are used by the natives in the hope of driving out the pepos, or bad spirits, of which they know nothing.* On the other hand the Sadaka, or firstling-sacrifice is common to nearly all the Negrillos, and is generally wanting among all tribes or peoples of Mohammedan per- suasion. This is a strong point against importation.' '^Mjgr. LeRoy, Les Pygmees, Negrilles d'Afrique et Negritos de I'Asie, (Tours, undated), pp. 17^178. Comp.. Schmidt, Pygmaenvolker, p. 232. ^ See above pp. » Schmidt, 1. c. p. 232, note 1, 4. * LeRoy, L c. p. 176. ^ idem, p. 178, where the author states that on the con- trary the first-fruit idea was borrowed from the Watwa, this on the testimony of a Pocorao tribesman. 48 GOD CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM (G) (2) INDAGARRA,— Mid-Central Africa,— Urundi-Watwa Father J. M. Van der Burgt reports of a deity in Central Africa, (Urundi), whose name, Indagarra, he associates with a verb meaning "to live", "to be strong" (?).i The following facts deserve in any case to be noted : — He appears to abide in the heavens and cannot now be seen. He has made the first man and the first woman, the parents of the race. He has a subordinate spirit, Ryangombe, who may be a mediator, but who is identified in the popular mind with the first man, (or Adam). He is the supreme Judge of man after death, when He sends the good upwards to a place of enjoyment, and the bad downwards to a place of misery. The author also states that few amulets are worn by the natives, though they manufacture them for the neighboring Warundi and Watutsi, and that very few temples or fetich-houses are to be found, which in this case are certainly imported features. We are therefore justified in conjectur- ing that this is a deity "similar to Waka above, though further information will be necessary before any more definite opinion can be formed. (G) (3) NZAMBI, — ^West-Central Africa, Ajongo-Gaboon (Mixed) From the Gaboon-region, West-Africa, Mgr. LeRoy has obtained the following information concerning Nzambij — again by pensonal (inter- view : — He lives on high, and His voice is the thunder. He is the Master of all. He has made all, and "in His sight we are all very small". He causes men to live and to die. When a man dies, his shadow descends into the earth, deeper and deeper. (Purgatory). Then it gradually rises and ascends to God. If he has been good, God- says: "Stay here, you will possess great forests and want nothing". If evil, God throws him into the fire, which is above (sic!). All these things, we are assured, the Ajongo have believed from time immemorial. As against Anyambie of the Nkomis, Nzambi is distinctly a Judge, with rewards and punishments. His name has no connection with the neigh- boring divinity, and the Ajongo wear no amulets, and have no priests and sorcerers.' Similar reports have reached us of the Akkas,* Batuas, Wambuttis," etc. This, in connection with the firstling-sacrifice above mentioned,* renders the conclusion probable that these are primary, aboriginal, Central-African beliefs.' Such is the verdict of Mgr. LeRoy, who moreover assures us that this belief is superior to that of the Bantus, and is accompanied by a higher standard of private and public morals, — ^less violence, greater observance of chastity.' GOD 49 CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM To illustrate this subject, and at the same time to obtain a graphic idea of how the natives express their religious views to those whom they feel they can make their confidentials, I cannot do better than quote verbatim the report of Mgr. LeRoy, one of the few white men who has ever taken the trouble to handle this matter with anything like satisfaction." "I have been singularly struck", says the bishop, "at the difference which exists, — and this entirely to their advantage, — ^between our little men and the neighboring tribes, a difference which I had already dis- covered on the eastern coast and which to my astonishment I found to be the same on the other side of Africa. When I accidentally invaded the Boni-settlement, (close to Malindi, Zanzebar), and made the acquaintance of the chief, I drew from him a remark which surprised me. Contrary to the custom of the Bantus around them, pagan or more or less mussul- man, these Bonis carry no amulets. " 'I do not see among you those dawas, irisis, and all those things which other tribes carry around their necks, arms, and everywhere', was my remark. 'No', was the answer. 'Why not? are these things wicked?' 'We know nothing about them'. 'But if the pepo (or spirit) enters one of your bodies, what do you do to expel him?' 'The pepo never comes to us, he knows only the Wa-nyika and the Mussulman'. 'And you have no sacrifice either, (Sadaka) , for example when you kill a buffalo, when you find honey, when some evil threatens you?' 'Listen, if you want to know everything. When I kill a buffalo, I take a small portion, the best of it, and place it on the fire. One part remains there to be burnt, the other I eat with my children. If I find honey, I take none of it until I have thrown a little into the forest or up to heaven. And when I get palm- wine, I must first scatter a little of it over the ground. ... Is that what you want to know? " 'Yes, — but in doing this, you say nothing?' 'I do. I say for example : — "Wakal Thou hast given me this buffalo, this honey, this wine. Behold thy portion. Grant me strength and life, and that no harm may come to my children !" ' " Waka is the Galla name for God. I knew this, but it was better to play the ignorant, and let this savage explain himself in his own way. "Waka?" said I, "what is Waka?" "You have never heard of Waka? Why, He is the Master of all. He whom the Swahilis call Mu-ungu. He gives us these lands, these forests, these rivers, everything that you see : We live off Him, but He is severe. He wants His sheu'e of things, and we give it to Him." "Have you seen Him?" "Seen Waka? Who could ever see Waka? But He sees us easily. ' LeRoy, op. cit. p. 17SB. I give a short English version of the original French. so GOD CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM "Sometimes He comes into our camp and makes one of us die. Then we bury him in the earth, him whom he has deprived of life. For it is dangerous to remain under the eye of God". The author concludes:— "These backwoodsman-ideas of God and of sacrifice that is due to Him made, I repeat, a profound impression upon me, superior by far as they were to those commonly scattered among their agricultural, sedentary, and comparatively civilised neighbors. They reversed the conceptions that I had made on the subject, and which wanted to make out (according to the books) that religious and other knowledge goes hand in hand with material civilisation". This is only one specimen of the above author's numerous interviews with the natives, and every time he found not only "the recognition of a personal and supreme Divinity" but the offering up of sacrifices to His name. "For my part", he says, "I have found no group in which He was unknown." Rut if the magical and animistic practices of the Rantus are here con- spicuously absent, any notions of totemism, of a descent from trees or animals, are equally distant. Waka has made men and all things directly, they do not spring from lower forms, and at death He is their immediate Judge, there are no reincarnations. They have a natural shyness towards the Chimpanzee, and they regard the Moduma-Tree as sacred, the latter containing the secret of life, from which they abstain at stated intervals, offering up the sacred nut as a "present to the Lord". Moreover, "I made many inquiries to know whether the negrillos were cannibals. The answer was always in the negative, except among the Reku (or Rushmen), or very intermittently," — a verdict with which Gasati agrees.^^ They are a peaceful, affectionate, and comparatively moral people, among whom monogamy prevails and women are not ill treated. "They have a fellow-feeling for one another, assisting one another as the occasion may require", and their family life and social customs should be studied with the help of Mgr. LeRoy's interesting pictures, which will reveal more powerfully than any words can do, how these simple childish people reverence themselves and their Creator. As to the name of this divinity, the word Waka contains the two roots Wa and Ka, from which the meaning "High Man" "Great Master" may not improbably be revealed. Nzambi {Nza-amba) is "He who creates", while Inda-gdrra is taken to mean "The Strong One" "He who is alive". In any case, the expression Abe-Yehu-Mu-lungu will speak for itself — "Our Father, who art in Heaven!" "■" 10 LeRoy 1 c. p. 187. ^^ Ibid. p. 193. ^^ Por linguistic notes and invocations see Idem, p. 112ff. Also,' La Religion des Primitifs (Paris, 1911) p. 173ff. 301. GOD 51 CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM (H) KAANG — South-African Belt, — Kalahari Bushmen, (Maluti) Of the Bushman religion, (Kalahari Desert, South Africa), conflicting reports are in circulation. This is owing to the fact that these tribes are no longer unadulterated, but exhibit certain advanced features, (use of palaeoliths, poisoned arrows, pottery, and polychrome), side by side with very early elements, (wind-screen, loin-strap, fire-stick, etc.), which makes their position an anomalous one. They are also beyond the negrito stature,^ have powerful hereditary chiefs,^ show vestiges of totemic ideas,' are strongly addicted to magic,* and exhibit a morality by no means flaw- less, — polygamy and infanticide in parts.' These, by contrast with qualities of an opposite nature, make their combined character very diffi- cult to estimate. Nevertheless, there is a general consensus of opinion that they are an ancient people, and in the most primitive area, that of the Maluti, or Mountain-Bushmen, we hear of a great being called Kaang, (Master), of whom the following information has been gathered: — ' Kaang cannot be seen with the eyes, but only with the heart of man. Kaang causes to live and causes to die, gives or refuses rain. "At first he was very good and nice, but he got spoilt through fighting so many things" (Idea of original goodness contending with increasing evil). "He has made all things and we pray to Him". He is to be addressed in times of famine, or before going to war, or when performing the sacred dance, {Mo'koma). The following prayer is authenticated: — "0 Kaang, Kaang! Are we not thy children? Bo you not see our hunger? Give us food!" "And He gives us both our hands full".' He has instituted the Mo'koma or "Dance of Blood", a terrible gambol, in which both sexes take part, and which ends with swooning and nose-bleeding, but the transgression of whose rites on the score of sexual excess is punished by Kaang with ter- rible chastisements, — transformation into beasts, and banishment to a mysterious region under the water." From what has been seen above, it seems probable that Kaang is an old Bushman "God", whose character has been partly lost by growing social and moral deterioration. Dr. Bleek's identification of Kaang with the grasshopper, (Mantis), shows inroads of the totem-culture in the West, but leaves his nature undetermined in the more primitive region, (Maluti)." A similar invasion of animal ideas has been noted in Australia and the Andaman Islands, (q. v.) It must be admitted, however, that this figure is too humanised and corrupted in its present appearance to satisfy the rigid demands of a pure theism. It points at the most to a former and probably more elevated conception of the divine. ^G. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa, (London, 1910), p. 12. 2 Idem, p. 186. » Idem, p. 129ff. * Idem, p. 125. » Idem, pp. 95-97, SO-Sl. • Idem, pp. 40, 151. ^ stow, 1. c. pp. 113, 132-134, taken partly from T. Arbousset, Relation d'un voyage au Cap de Bonne Esperance, (Paris, 1842) p. SOlff. partly from J. M. Orpen, A. Glimpse into the mythology of the Maluti Bushmen, Cape Monthly Magazine, July, 1874. ' Stow, 1. c. p. 134. » Ideni, p. 120. " Idem. p. 133-134. 52 GOD CENTRAL AFRICAN PRIMITIVE FORM Review Such in brief are the main outlines of the earliest African faith as yet known to us. It cannot be denied that the picture is fragmentary, that the material offered is far from voluminous, that the conclusions drawn are not in every case beyond criticism. We must remember, however, that this is an entirely new field, and that in the first endeavor to uncover these beliefs, to penetrate beyond the veil of tribal secrecy, there must needs be considerable dilflculty and not a little disappointment, that with such an expenditure of labor the material reported should be apparently small. But the quantity of the matter offered is not always the best test of its veracity, of its relative importance. A few vital statistics are worth volumes of undigested folk-lore, of secondary issues. In the present case the splendid work of Mgr. LeRoy has opened out a new world of investiga- tion in Central Africa, and the facts that he has brought to light should be a stimulus for every searcher after truth to widen its domain, to bring more secrets to the surface. The more essential points of his report have been given above, for the more descriptive matter the reader is referred to the work itself, which serves as an excellent and at present the only popular introduction to the study of Negrillo beliefs. Taking this area as a whole, there can be no doubt that the main points established admit of a fairly rigid demonstration, — to wit, — (1) It cannot now be denied that the races in question, Negrillo and Bushman, are the real aborigines of the African continent. It is also impos- sible to suppose that their beliefs were borrowed from "higher" peoples for the simple reason that their isolation and the want of any higher traces, whether in their tradition or in their practices, makes the above supposition increJisingly dilTicult, if not impossible, to maintain. (2) The facts collected are sufficiently numerous and variegated to warrant the conclusion that a personal and providential "Maker of AH" is not only acknowledged, but worshipped and invoked by His needy chil- dren. This simple childlike religion binds the Negrillos to their brethren, the Oceanic Negritos, which is one more point in favor of its authenticity. This completes the cycle of negrito races and their allies, the Tas- manians and Bushmen being included as cognate races of woolly hair. It is now time to turn our attention to another group, which, though closely allied to them, represents a transition to a somewhat different type of humanity. THE AGE OF BAMBOOS AND OF STRAIGHT-LINE PATTERNS THE FATHER OF SHINING LIGHT nCTOGRAFHIC SKRIES DISCOVERED AMONG THE SHINOr-TRIBES OF THE MIDDI E AMAZON AND SUGGESTING THE FBINCIFAI. THEME OF THE KERI-KAMEB LEGEND MVTH- PATTERMS 9 CO m FROMTHB o ^MAZQKIAN A8A — XHCut ■p;S^T>A- IC&IVtuSlHI SEEVe ^ff■rl■A-yux.Kgpgx^Idem. PL XXIII. THE AGE OF ROCK-PAINTINGS AND OF SPIRAL DESIGNS THE SECRET OF LIFE OR THE AFRICAN SNAKE MYSTERY THE EVOLVING MCI-UNGU BEIXG ANOTHER VERSION OF THE SUN-SERPENT WITH A VAGUE PERSONAL FORCE IN THE BACKGROUND. DESIGNS USED BY THE NANDI AS SHIELD ORNAMENTS AND FOUND ALSO ON ROCKS OVER LARGE SECTIONS QF THE EAST-AFRICAN AREA, WITH THE EVIDENT MOTIVE OF DIVINE PROTECTION. BANTU INVOCATION TO THE SUN-FATHER: "O MULUNGU. MERCYI" SEE MGB. LEROY, LA RELIGION DE8 PRUUITIFS, (PARIS, 1011), P. 128 GOD 67 CENTRAL AFRICAN TOTEMIG FORM (M,2) MULUNGU,— East Central Africa,— (Eastern Bantu) The cultural connexion between India-Africa, like that between India- Australia, India-North America, makes it more than probable that they form in a sense a religious unit, in which the institution of totemism forms a primary if not a paramount element. Among the Bantus of Eastern Africa nearly all the items of this culture may still be traced, more especially the bark-belt, the round-house, the fire-drill, the half- round bow, the carved figurine, circumcision, platform-burial, etc. though in nearly every case the Western-Asiatic neolithic wave has driven the older civilisation into the background, with the result that many of these elements appear in the far South- West, as among the Hereros.^ For this region the form Mulungu is fundamental for deity, extending with slight variations from the Tana to the Zambezi, and far into the interior. Mgr. Schneider, late bishop of Paderborn, has already treated these central figures of Bantu mythology with considerable detail,^ but his reports must be supplemented by those of Mgr. LeRoy, which are more recent and more direct.' The following are the main points of the report : — Mulungu is a great Sky- or Light-Lord, and is believed to be the author of the world and of all existence. He has many mulungus or minor spirits under him, but he himself is unique and indescribable, "neither man nor spirit, nor ghost, nor heaven, nor earth nor anything, though he is in all and through all".* In many parts his name is still invoked in prayer and sacrifice, but in others, as among the Zulus, his worship has long since been abandoned, and he is simply known as Unku-lunkulu, the "Old, Old One", the "Ancient of Days", etc. Some of the old invoca- tions breathe quite a lofty spirit: — "Mulungu! Send us rain! We are in misery, we hunger! and we are thy children. Send us clouds of rain, that we may obtain food. We as/c it of thee, Mulungu, our Father!" "O Mulungu, send us peace, tranqmllity", etc.'' Such aspirations are a clear indication of a personal beneficent divinity. But as to the inner nature of Mulungu, He is mysterious. The name is variously translated as "He who is in heaven", {Mu-lungu, — Mu-ingu, Mungu) , or as the equivalent of Molimo, Modimo, Morimo, South-African for "spirit" "soul" etc.* There is evidence, however, to show that the name and the idea may be taken in a very different sense, a sense which we cannot afford to ignore. Let us consider for a moment the various appella- tions for divinity in these Bantu lands and note the widely divergent mean- ings that are assigned to words of similar if not identical sound. 1 Foy, op. cit. p. 182-185. B. Ankertnann, Ktilturkreise in Africa, Zeitschr. fiir Ethnologic (1905) p. 54-84. 2 Schneider, Die Religion der afrikanischen Naturvolker, (1891), pp. 28- 48, 59-100. » LeRoy, La Religion des Primitifs, (Paris, 1909). * LeRoy, op. cit p. 184ff. » Idem, p. 298ff. ' « Idem, p. 176ff. and comp. Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 139. Comp. Lang, Magic and Religion, p. 235. Making of Religion, p. 213ff. 68 GOD CENTRAL AFRICAN TOTEMIC FORM I am not in a position to speak with any linguistic certainty, but the form mu-longo as a designation for the totemic taboo is too suspiciously near the above to be passed over in silence. It is found among the Wa- gogo and other tribes of German East Africa, admittedly one of the centers of African totemism, where it occurs side by side with the form mu-ziro. "As a Wa-gogo clan has its muziro (forbidden thing), so each Wa- gogo family has its mulongo (forbidden thing), which is transmitted from the father to his children. The wife may have a different mulongo from that of her husband, but her children do not inherit it. The mulongo is apparently forbidden only after marriage. To eat the mulongo involves the loss of hair and teeth; to eat the muziro is said to cause the skin to fall off. From this account it would seen that the Wa-gogo have, like the Herero, a double set of totems, one set {muziro) being appropriated to the clans, and the other set (mulongo) to the families. The latter are heredi- tary in the male line".' In view of the conflicting etymologies given above and its additional derivation from the Kanioka molongo, a word apparently meaning "row", "line", "descent",* we are equally justified in inferring that mulungu is an abstract for anything sacred or mysterious, and more especially for the genetic relation of things, the family taboo, the occult ancestor. "The Wa-gogo think that if a person kills or eats the animal which is the totem of his clan, he thereby endangers his relations, but not himself".* More- over, throughout the Bantu domain, there is a very general belief in the transmigration of souls into the lower animals, especially into snakes and serpents, which shows that the supposed divinity is incapable of deliver- ing man from the shackles of nature, that he is himself to a certain extent a nature-god." What then is Mulungu? It would be premature to reach any dogmatic conclusions from the existing material. But although the ancient picture of a Father in Heaven is still in evidence, there are strong reasons for believing that he has lost much of his original purity, that he has been drawn into this own creation as a family totem, that he is simply "taboo". Morality in this region is not flawless. "At time of circumcision", says Mr. Cole, "abusive language is very much indulged in, and the women espe- cially lose all sense of modesty, and the country becomes a mighty bed- lam"." While this is doubtless an exaggeration or at most a sporadic phenomenon, the inroads of moral laxity, of general polygamy, is a fact that can hardly be denied." T Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, Vol. II. p. 404. * Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 140. .^ Frazer, 1 c. II. 403. "Frazer, 1. c. II. 388-392 (Theory of Bantu Totemism). Dr. Theal's theory is vet to be oroved false. ^^H. Cole, Notes on the Wagogo of German East Africa, Jowrn, ?Mithr. Inst. XX3CII (,\m) P- 307. Frazer, II. 403. " LeRoy, op. Qit. p. lOlff. GOD 69 CENTRAL AFRICAN TOTEMIC FORM But the character of a divinity is best described by the legends, rites and practices of a people in his regard. How far does he help or direct them? To what extent is he a personal power in their lives? Now it is interesting to observe that throughout the Eastern Bantu domain the Sun and the Hyaena are intimately interconnected, that they are in a peculiar sense sacred, — mulungu. Not only is the hyaena sac- rifled to Mulungu, the Heaven-God, but among many, as among the Nandi, the bodies of the dead are given to the hyaenas to eat, in the hope that their spirits may share the occult powers of the animal, that they may communicate with their ancestors." Here there are special Sun- and Thunder-men that drive away thunder-storms by throwing an axe into the clouds with the exclamation: — "Thunder! Be silent in our townl^* We have little information of the higher Nandi beliefs, so that it would be premature to conclude that this is a mere thunder-charm, (compare the Malakkan negritos). But the custom such as it is, savors strongly of sympathetic magic, of the control of nature by means of parallel, dispro- portionate forces, — impersonal power. Further South, among the Bechuanas, there is a whole tribe dedicated to the Sun. The members of this "Sun-Tribe" say that, when the sun rises in a cloudy sky, he is afflicting their heart (!). All the food of the previous day is then given to the old women, who alone may touch it or give it to the children whom they nurse. The people go down in a body to the river to wash their bodies. On returning to the village after this ablution the chief kindles a flre in his hut, and the people come and get Are for themselves from his. Then follows a "Sun-Dance", accompanied by a monotonous chant, on the public place of the village. In this dance he who has lost his father lifts his hat towards the sun ; he who has lost his mother, his right hand; while orphans who have lost both parents, raise neither, but cross both hands on the breast." It is not easy to interpret this ceremony with anything like satisfac- tion. But the saluting of the sun, and the raising and crossing of the hands in honor of the dead ancestor, seem to reveal some connexion between the Sun and the ancestor, while the flre in the hut of the Sun- chief is best explained by supposing that the kindling of the fires of the earth will re-kindle the fires of the solar orb. — the celestial ancestor, — a probable case of long-distance magic. The similar customs among many savage and semi-civilised peoples tend to confirm this view, founded as it is upon detailed and repeated observations among numerous and widely separated races of mankind." "A. C. Hollis, The Nandi, (Oxford, 1908), p. 70S. "Ibidem. " Arbousset et Daumas, Voyage d'Exploration, pp. 3S0ff. Frazer, II. 373. "Idem, II. 374. Comp. Lang, Magic and Religion, p. 3, 235. Making of Religion, p. 6Sff. 70 GOD CENTRAL AFRICAN TOTEMIC FORM Among the Hereros of the far South-West there are curious stories of the origin of the Sun and Rain-clans, but they shed little light on the real origin of the cult, they are evidently mythical and extremely simple. "Once upon a time there were two sisters, whose uncle was dead, and they thought they would go to the funeral. The one said, 'It is very hot, let us wait for the rain'. But the other had no fear of the heat, and away she went to the funeral. So the one who waited for the rain was called 'She who was related by marriage to the rain', and the one who had no fear of the heat was called 'She who is related by marriage to the Sun'. That was the origin of the Sun and Rain clans." It cannot be said that these stories carry much conviction, either on the subject of the origin, or on the equally difficult question of the nature of these beliefs. Some allowance must always be made for the pictorial and symbolic method by which savages commonly convey their meaning, more especially to strangers. But the combined picture can hardly be rejected in those points that are particularly prominent, and these are the more or less direct cult of the Sun and the Hyaena, and the belief that these objects are in some way related to man, that they are his ancestors. A realistic interpretation is suggested by the fact that the disembodied spirit speaks "through" the Hyaena, and that in both cases the Sun-cult is associated with the souls of the deceased, with the funeral of a relative. Hence the strong expression "to be married to the Sun" implies at least this much, that the ancestor has migrated to the Sun, which, for this reason, obtains the closest relation to the survivor expressed by the marriage-rela- tion. Finally, the production of rain and sunshine by more or less occult agencies, and the general absence of personal prayers to the great Mulungu, except in isolated sections of the North East, makes it more and more probable that this is a vague divinity whose name is invoked in parts, but whose personality has been dimmed in others by the growing importance of nature-powers. In so far as Mulungu is the Father of All, he is trans- cendent, in so far as he is Sun, Serpent, or Hyaena, he is the totem, sacred or profane just in proportion to the degree in which his All-Father char- acter is still recognised. To what extent this is the case in each individual instance, it is impossible from the existing material to determine, but the above data show with sufficient clearness, that the concept has been largely naturalised, whether for better or for worse, must remain for the present a disputed question. THE AGE OF ROCK-PAINTINGS AND OF SPIRAL DESIGNS THE GIANT WOLLUNQUA OR THE AUSTRALIAN WORLD-SERPENT J-ARTLT BXFBESSIVE OF CBEATIVE ACTION, AND FABTLT DEiCBIPTITK OF THK MYTHICAL FEATS OF THE REPTILE AS HANDED DOWN IN THE FOFUI.AB LEGENDS *'*»UMQl«J'^ ^^CUMS-Of^ %f^^>tAl>'«^ THE WOBLD-SEBPENT ISSUES FBOM THE EMt'-STJN AND GITEB BIBTH TO THE 8PIBIT> ANCESTORS OF DREAM-TIME. MOTIVE: MULTIPLICATION OF FOODS OBOUND-DBAWINO ASSOCIATED WITH THE WARBAMUNGA CEREMONY OF THE WOLLUNQUA SNAKE AND INTEBPBETED BY THE 8IMIT>AB DRAWINGS CONNECTED WITH THE CNTICHIUMA CEREMONIES OF THE EMU TOTEM (ABUNTA TRIBE). HEBE THE CIRCLES ORIGINALLY BEFBEBENTED THE EMU-BUN, AND WEBE LATEB CONTENTIONAUSED DTTO TBEEB, WELLS, BOOEB, ETC. ABUNTA DTVOOATIONl "O ALTJIRA. HELPI" SEE SFENCEB AND GILLEN, THE NOBTHEBN TRIBES OF CENTBAL AUBTBALIA (LOKDOH 1904), PP. 177, tze, 787 FF. GOD 71 CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN TOTEMIC FORM (M, 3) ALTJIRA, — Central Australia, — (Arunta Tribe) But if the preceding divinities are partly related to nature and man, either as the "sun-spirit", or vaguely as the "taboo", their counterpart in Australia is still more immersed in the nature-complex, his personality has been largely forgotten. Of this being, — Altjira, (Aboriginal One?) — , a few reliable facts have been gathered by G. Strehlow, a recent mission- ary,^ of whom W. L Thomas says in his Source-book that "his reports are important as supplementary to and corrective of those of Spencer and Gillen in the same region".* Altjira is an eternal being, and is represented as a big strong man of ruddy complexion, whose long flaxen hair hangs over his shoulders. This is the first indication of his solar character, the long glistening hair repre- senting the sun's rays.' Like the Indian divinity he lives in the Sun, he has several beautiful wives and many sons and daughters, who carry out his behests. But though his image is human, he and his family have emu- or dog's feet, he is not the creator of the world, which is eternal, and though "good" {mara), he has no ethical relation to man, who neither fear nor love him. These were not created, but evolved from shapeless masses during the primaeval age of evolution, Alcheringa, ("Dream-Time"), and partly fashioned by totemic lizard-gods, or serpents, {am,unga-quinia- quinia), who instituted the rites of circumcision and subincision. It is from these inapertwas, inter-interas, or shapeless ancestors, — called also altjira-inkaras, (the uncreated, immortal ones) — , of partly human, partly animal form — , that the Arunta derive the whole universe of being. More- over in every Central-Australian tribe without exception there exists a belief that each soul is a reincarnation of a totemic ancestor, to which he may return at the hour of death. According to another tradition, how- ever, the good return to the great Altjira, while the wicked are devoured by evil spirits.* The main outlines of this system seem clear enough. Altjira, though formerly supreme, is now an evolutional divinity with emu-feet(!), who arose out of nature and has conquered the high heavens. In other words he is a totemised Heaven-God, who has become part and parcel of nature, of which he forms the climax.' This will become increasingly evident the more the Arunta customs and beliefs are studied as a whole and compared with the neighboring cults. Throughout this region the divinities have been mixed up with the forces of nature to such an extent as to hide, if not to entirely eclipae, their original features. * C. Strehlow, Die Aranda «nd Loritja Stamme in Central- Australien, edited by F. Leon- hardi, in Veroffentlichungen aus dem stadtischen Volkermuseum der Stadt Frankfurt, (Frankfurt, 1907-1910) Vol. I. ' Thomas, Source-book, p. 913. » Strehlow, 1. c. (Aranda) p. 1, 16. (Loritja) p. 1, 8. * See Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Aus- tralia, (London, 1904), pp. 14Sff. 174ff. for "Dream-Time", reincarnation, and eschatology. * Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 124, 372. 72 GOD CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN TOTEMIC FORM For it seems clear that this another case of an otiose divinity, a former Creator, a forgotten God. The fact that Altjira is eternal, of superhuman outlines, of righteous ethical qualities, this alone suggests that He was at one time supreme, and probably worshipped. It is difficult to explain such a "rudimentary survival" unless we suppose that, like the divinities of the South-East, he was at one time a "living" God. But with this more ancient concept there has been blended a different set of ideas. Of these ideas that of the "Emu-Sun" is one of the most important. The identification of Altjira with the Sun and the Emu is the first indication that we are deal- ing with a naturalised divinity, an impersonal force, an evolutional god. This is not putting the case too strongly. His very name has been applied to the shapeless "monads", lizards, grass-seed totems, and the like, who as the altjird-inkaras are unborn, undying, — the germs of all life, of all existence. But more than this. They are the centers of an elaborate cult, in which they alone are recognised as all-powerful. Thus at the Intichiuma ceremony of the Emu-totem, elaborate draw- ings representing primarily the sun, but secondarily the emu-intestines, feathers, eggs, etc. are made upon the ground in red or black ochre. Then two men, — bedaubed with paint and emu-feathers, take their place in the center, one personifying the tribe, the other a "sun"-ancestor (sic). The former brandishes a flower-stalk, while the latter holds a small disk with a central patch representing the navel of the original sun-ancestor. Both performers kneel one behind the other, and by swaying their bodies from side to side seek to obtain supernatural power from the emu-sun to the accompaniment of a rude incantation, Wah, Wah, Wah!, by the sur- rounding tribesmen.* Now in so far as Altjira is behind the sun, a certain notion of trans- cendence is here implied, it is through Altjira that the "charm" is operated. But the fact is, his personality is hardly recognised, there are few suppli- cations to a Heavenly Father, but rather crude magical incantations to the sun for the increase of food, for the multiplication of totems. This ceremony, suggestive though it be, is magical rather than religious, though it is capable of a religious interpretation with a personal god. Such a personality may still be traced in part, but he is a married divinity, of half animal nature, unloved and unrespected. The Aruntas have 4-class totemism with male descent. Monogamy is in vogue, but polygamy, wife- loaning, cannibalism, smd infanticide, are all represented in this region. In fact, it is these practices, which, with the revolting custom of "sub- incision," have given the proverbially shady reputation to the modern "savage" as most of us hear of him.' •Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 182, 737. Idem, Across Australia, (1912), Vol. 11. pp. 268-273flf. 'Ibidem. GOD 73 CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN TOTEMIG FORM Among other strongly totemised cults of this region those of the neigh- boring Loritja deserve to be mentioned, for the reason that their chief divinity Tukura is in many respects a duplicate of the foregoing, — a quondam Creator, whose personality has been lost by excessive naturalism. All the remarks that have been made of the former apply with equal force to the latter, and it is sufflcient in the present place to indicate, that the above data are corroborated by the appearance of a parallel divinity among a people who are culturally and industrially on nearly the same level.* If the same cannot be said of the Dieri nation, a group of tribes inhabit- ing the Lake-Eyre region, it is precisely for the reason that here more than elsewhere animism and spirit-worship have made more than ordinary progress, it is the defunct ancestor that alone is recognised. There may be some doubt as to the exact meaning of the term Mura Mura, whether with Gason we take it as "the Good Spirit", — Mooramoora — , written as a proper name, or whether, as seems more likely from the practices of these people, it is simply the generic designation for anything mysterious, — spirit, ghost, ancestor, rainmaker, etc." The attempt of Lang and others to read a unique divinity into this term is one that does not commend itself to an impartial criticism." To substantiate such a prop- osition, a personal cult would have to be clearly proved, but of such a cult there is no direct evidence. On the contrary, the existing data tend to show that mura-mura is either generic, or, if anything specific, the Dieri designation for the alcheringa of the Aruntas, the half-animal indescribables who are the origin of all existence. Nay more, the mura- mura ceremony of the snake-totem, in which two men dig up the fossil reptile, here distinctly called mura-mura, sprinkle the remains with blood drawn from the arm, collect the supposed excrement of the animal, and then scatter the mixture over the sandhills in the hope of increasing the supply of carpet-snakes, — this is as good evidence as can be desired that, whatever other meanings may have been attached to the term, the name is certainly applied to the snake and lizard totems from which the Dieri believe themselves to be descended.^^ It also shows that here, as in the intichiumxt ceremonies to the North, entities are multiplied by occult forces which are not clearly in control of a personal divinity. At the most, the mura-mura is a wonder-working ancestor, and he of half-animal form. Such an interpretation will gather additional force when we consider the numerous parallel cases in this immediate area in which the divinity is identified with emu, falcon, snake or spider. If the neighboring deities are of such a nature, it is hardly probable that this supposed "ancestor" is much more than a mysterious magical agency." •Strehlow, op. cit. supra. » S. Gason, The Dieri Tribe, (Adelaide, 1874), p. 260ff. Frazer, I. 350. " Lang, Magic and Religion, p. 62-63. Schmidt, Ursprung, 268, 269. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 480-482. ibidem, p. 798, for the Minkani ceremony. *' Thus it is probable that Frazer's view comes very near the truth. 74 GOD CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN TOTEMIC FORM This is of course mostly negative evidence, based on the apparent absence of personal invocations to a supreme Being. But that such a belief is entirely absent, I do not pretend for one moment to assert. It may be a concealed, symbolic belief, expressed in ritual rather than words, and there are one or two vague indications that Mura-Mura was at one time^ invoked by the mythical ancestors, though the few items collected by Fr. Schmidt are too vague and isolated to carry conviction. They show at the outside that the deity was formerly worshipped, but has since been abandoned in favor of a more alluring belief, in itself an important point as it helps to explain the genesis, if not the deterioration of the idea expressed by mura-mura. But that such a deterioration has here set in, can hardly be questioned, and until it can be proved that the Great mura- mura{7) has made the totem his own, that He is working in and through the supposed ancestor,— which is not in itself impossible — , the religion of these people can hardly be called more than a disguised form of nature and ancestor-worship. With this the social and ethical data are in sus- picious accord. This is one of the few regions of Australia where the pure 2-class system with maternal descent is in vogue. While there is no essential connexion between this and a lower standard of practice, we have reasons to believe that spiritism, cannibalism, and head-hunting are the accompaniments of a culture which is typically late-Melanesian and which is here represented in its most vivid form. In any case, it is a note- worthy fact that here alone do we And the strange practice of group-mar- riage, — technically called the Pirauru-relation — , not simply as an aberrant phenomenon, but as a legally recognised matrimonial state.^' We will now be able to appreciate how sharply the divinities of Central Australia are marked off from those of the far South-East, as well as to trace the origin of those elements in the latter which are clearly disfigure- ments. If the All-Father is strong in the South-East and weak in the Celiter, it is because the sun and the emu, the lizard and the carpet- snake, are paramount in the interior and comparatively unknown or unheeded on the coast. Altjira, the Emu-Sun, has supplied Baiame with Emu-feet, it has associated Daramulun with the Lizard, but in neither case has the totem-culture dethroned the ancient Father in Heaven in the most primitive region of the Australian continent as yet known to us." ■ 1' Howitt, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 73 N. W. Thomas Kinship-organisation and Group-marriage in Australia, (Cambridge, 1906). i* See under Baiame, etc., pp. 37ff. above. THE AGE OF ROCK-PAINTINGS AND OF SPIRAL DESIGNS THE GREAT MEDICINE OR THE NORTH AMERICAN SUN-MYSTERY THE ALL-SEEtNG WAKAMDA SBOmiNO SUN- AMD SEBPSSST-'rBXWES SEFABATED BreSTEB'T-DECOBATIONB PAINTED BT THE OMAHAS AND OTHEB SIOtlAN TBIBE8 VTOS BOCKS, BLANKETS, OB DWELLINGS, TO EXPBESS THE TRIBAL CULT TO THE StTN, THE SNAKE, THE CEDAB AND THE COBNSTALK, WHICH ABB FECUUABLT SACBED. "HAIL, MYSTEBIOCS POWEB, THOU WHO ABT THE SUN I I WISH TO FOLLOW THY COUBSEI O WAKANDA, PITT ME I TOU BEGULATE EVEBYTHINO THAT MOTES, TOU DECtDB WHEN HT LAST HOUB SHALL COME!" TAKEN FBOM J. O. DOBSEY, A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS, IITH. BEP. OF THE BUBEAU OF AMEBIC AN ETHNOLOGY, (WASHINGTON, ISM), PP. S72-4<0. GOD 75 NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM (M, 4) WAKANDA, — Prairie Belt — (Sioux-Dakota-Omaha) It is in the broad Prairie-belt of the Missouri basin that the more advanced totem-culture of North-America has been preserved in its most distinctive form.^ We have the nomadic life, the buffalo-hunt, the fur- blanket, the face and body paint, the round-house, the fire-drill, the half- round bovs', the flint-headed spear, the throwing-stick, the carved figurine, the polychrome picture, the bone-flute, the bark-canoe, the patriarchal sept- system, the tribal initiation, the totemic marriage, the platform and tree- burial.^ It is to be noted, however, that these elements have been largely fused with a later neolithic and copper wave of industry, and some allow- ance must therefore be made for the possible intrusion of later stages of belief. Of Wakanda of the Omaha an early authority, Edwin James, writes as follows: "The Wakanda is believed to be the best of beings, the Creator and Preserver of all things, and the Fountain of Mystic Medicine. Omniscience, omnipresence, and vast powers are attributed to Him, and He is supposed to afflict them with sickness, poverty or misfortune, for their evil deeds. ... He seems to be a Protean god, he is supposed to appear to different persons under different forms. ... He appears to one in the shape of a grizzly bear, to another in that of a bison, to a third in that of a beaver, owl, etc. All the Magi, in the administration of their medicine to the sick and afflicted, mimic the action and voice, variously exaggerated and modified, of the animal, which, they say, is their respective medicine, or, in other words, that in which the Wakanda appeared to them." * Now it is objected by J. Owen Dorsey that the writer mistook the generic name Wakanda for a specific one, that it stands for any great spirit, anything sacred, anything wonderful, not necessarily the supreme Being.* This no doubt is possible. The name wakan is used indefinitely for anything marvellous, mysterious, incomprehensible. It's best equiv- alent is toboo,— "sacred"." But on the one hand, the wording of the report, even if exaggerated, seems inconsistent with the idea of a merely tutelary power, on the other hand, his personal nature is attested among other things by the "Smoke" ceremony of the Buffalo men, in which smoke is blown up to heaven with the exclamation, "Here, Wakanda, is the smoke!" They say they do this because Wakanda "gave" them the pipes, and that he "rules" over them." iFrazer, Totemism and Exogamy, III. p. 87ff. ^ For each of these items consult F. W. Hodge, HaAdbook of American Indians, (Washmgton, 1907-10), 2 volumes, an excellent com- nilation » See Frazer III. 398. * J. O. Dorsey, A Study of Siouan Cults, 11th. Rep. B. A. E. (Washington, 1894), pp. 372-430. » Frazer, III. 108. 'Ibidem. See also the Sun-Dance prayers on the opposite page. 76 GOD NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM But this question is not so easily disposed of. The fact that Wakanda is the general term for "Mystery", and that there is practically no supreme or absolute worship attached to him, makes it difficult to believe that he is in any real sense a unique divinity. There are also no clear-cut crea- tion-myths to sh.ovf that he is above, superior, or anterior to the world, — a transcendent being. On the contrary, the beliefs and practices of the Omahas tend to reveal a vague nature-worship in which the wakans are the primary germinal-units, which contain within themselves the power to produce all things, to operate all wonders. Here again it is the Sun and the Buffalo that figure as the most important agencies, — as witness: During the Buffalo-Dance of the Omaha Ghost-Society the members prance about disguised in the skins and horns of the animal and then come together for the purpose of making rain. This they do by dancing around a vessel of water and spurting the water into the air in imitation of rain. Then they upset the vessel, spill the water on the ground, fall down, and lap the water up, besmirching their faces in the act.' Members of the Turtle-clan draw a figure of the turtle on the ground and place some pieces of cloth on the figure in the hope of dispelling a fog.' The same tribes have an order of Thunder-shamans, who predict the weather by what they see in dreams and visions of the Thunder-being, — in this case the Sun, the Moon, and other celestial phenomena." But the most distinctive ceremony of all the Plains tribes was the Sun-Dance, in which the performers gyrated for hours before a buffalo^skull and a sacred pole representing the Sun. This ceremony is rich in symbolism, mostly astrological, but it shows, in the words of Dorsey, that "the Sun, or a god spoken of as the 'Great Mystery,' 'Great Medicine' (Wakanda), or 'Man above', was even more prominent in their eyes, being symbolised by the center pole"." It will be noticed how close is the approach to the Intichiuma ceremonies of Australia and the Soso-bonga rites of Central India. This is carried still further in the death-ceremony. "You are going to the animals the bulTalos", the dying-man is told, wrapped in buffalo skins. "You are going to rejoin your ancestors!" " This shows with considerable clearness that the Wakanda is essentially a nature-god, that he appears under a myriad forms, the highest of which is the Sun, — the Great Wakanda. Though theoretically supreme, he has lost his hold upon human life, upon human destiny. For any god that can suffer his clients to reappear as buffalos can hardly be described as a wise and benevolent Creator; there is something essentially deficient, something essentially sinister in his make-up. ij. 0. Dorsey, Omaha Sociology, 3d. Rep. B. A. E. (Washington, 1884), pp. 347fl. 'Dorsey, 1. c. p. 240. » Idem, A Study of Siouan Cults, 11th. Report, p. 395. "Idem, in Kodge, Handbook, II. p. 651. " Idem, Omaha Sociology, p. 229. GOD 77 NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM Are we then to conclude that this is typical for the entire continent, that what we find is at most a nature-worship disguised by the term wakanda? This in the present state of our knowledge would be a some- what premature induction. The fact that hints of a "Man above", of a Maker, a Giver, a Ruler, are distinctly thrown out to us, and that acknowl- edged authorities like Dorsey and Fletcher are able to read a personal, and even a creative meaning into the term, — this, together with the common tendency of man to personify nature, to make it human and lifelike, should make us hesitate in associating this idea with the unknown X, — the mere sum-total of all the powers in existence. While Wakanda "is the name given to the mysterious all-pervading and life-giving power to which certain anthropomorphic aspects are attributed, the word is also applied to objects or phenomena regarded as sacred or mysterious. These two uses of the word are never confused in the minds of the thoughtful. When, during his fast, the Omaha sings — 'Wakanda! Here needy he stands, and I am he!', his address is to 'the power that moves', 'causes to move', that is, gives life; for the ability to move is to the Omaha mind synonymous with life. In this prayer the Omaha is not crying to those forces or forms spoken of as wakanda in songs that relate to objects seen in dreams or to symbols- of magic." " If then we have some standing- ground for a personal divinity, a transcendent Wakanda, it is no less evi- dent that this divinity is associated if not identified with the Sun, and the above remarks are at least in part justified, the solar predominating over the human features, with the result that a direct personal worship is here at a minimum, it is shrouded in magical and totemic practices which may have an intimate relation to Him, but of whose "sacred" character there is no clear proof. Thus it is not impossible that the Great Wakanda may be concealed under some lesser wakan, — bear, buffalo, snake, turtle — , to whom He imparts His divine character in a secret and incomprehensive manner, the whole process being described as the "Great Mystery", offered up to the Supreme Being as a sacrifice of atonement, and even partaken of by the worshipper as a sacrament of union with the divine. Such a "com- munion"-rite is indeed beautiful to contemplate, more especially under the "Sacred Corn", but it is yet to be proved that Wakanda is present as a Person, that He is not simply a magic force or potency. In so far as He is above the totems, unique and incommunicable, such an imparting of power is not inconceivable, but in so far as simply the X of existence, the Great Unknown, such a function is hardly more than a charm. "See the article on the Wakanda by Miss Alice B. Fletcher of Washington, (1910), in Hodge, Handbook, H. p. 897. Also ofl the Totem by J. N. B. Hewitt, Ibid. p. 787. 78 GOD NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM It is interesting to note in ttiis connection that the generic idea of "mystery" as a common designation for the Godhead is particularly strong, and especially developed on the North American continent. The Algonquin Manitoo and the Iroquois Orenda have practically the same meaning, — that which surpasses the ordinary powers of man to compre- h(!nd — , anything extraordinary, whether in the mental or physical world. H(!re too the term cannot be interpreted as a personal one without qualifi- cation. Manitoo is an appellative, designating "the mysterious and unknown potencies and powers of life and of the universe."" As the Kitchi Manito, or "Great Spirit", it has been brought into connexion with a personal divinity, nay with a Creator of all, and this in view of the undoubted existence of parallel cases elsewhere, makes the Chippewa deity a strong figure, though convincing evidence is in most cases difficult to obtain." The Napi divinity of the Blackfeet and the Ahone-god of the Virginians are unquestionably prominent and apparently personal, but the Blackfeet have outgrown totemism, and of the Virginians we know too little to be able to pass any final judgment as to the nature of their beliefs as a totemic people." Moreover, as a branch of the Iroquois, they belong to the Orenda-r&gion, of which Mr. Hewitt thus writes : — "This hypothetic principle was conceived to be immaterial, occult, impersonal, myterious in mode of action, limited in function and efficiency, and not at all omnipotent (sic), local and not omnipresent, and ever embodied and immanent in some object, although it was believed that it could be transferred, attracted, acquired, increased, suppressed, or enthralled by the orenda of occult ritualistic formulas endowed with more potency." " How a "local" force can be always "immanent in some object" is difficult to understand, but consistency is hardly to be expected in this place, and the entire catalogue of attributes that are assigned to the Orenda shows how confused and entangled the notion is, how far from satisfying the rigid demands of a theistic notion. Hence the existence of "High Gods" in the Iroquois region must be interpreted by the parallel light of the orenda. While a personal dominance can be proved in this or that instance, the sources are too far off to allow of any exact defini- tions as to its nature. From what has already been found of existing divinities, it appears to be more and more probable that although a com- manding figure is for the most part traceable in single outline, the orenda- wakan-manitoo system has either expanded the notion, or, — what is more likely — , it has obscured it by a confused jumble of nature-beliefs. "A. F. Chamberlain under "Manito" (Hodge, I. 800). "W. Warren, A History of the Oiibways, (St. Paul, Minn., 1885), pp. 63-65. Frazer, IH. 382ff, "Cp. Lang, Making of Riligion. 230.237ff. "J. W. B. Hewitt, under "Orenda", (Hodge, II..147). GOD 79 NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM The social and moral statistics tend to bear this out. While the noble and the ignominious are mysteriously intertwined in all the ages of man, there is here no longer that delicate perception of the moral fitness of things that we find in the earlier stages of human society. Polygyny and divorce exist side by side with the stricter code of an earlier age, and there is evidence to show that irregular unions, even at sacred functions were by no means unknown. There was also less regard for the sanctity of life. Cannibalism in some form or another was at one time practised by all these tribes, whether confined to cases of hunger, or to those of sharing the brave qualities of an enemy. Wars, duels, and blood-revenge were once the order of the day, though striking instances of kindliness, hos- pitality and the like are also on record. The picture in short is a two- fold one, but the growing inroads of a weaker standard are distinctly noticeable." (M, 5) GHINIGCHINICH,— Pacific Belt— (California Region) The Rocky Mountain divide separates the Plains and Plateau Indians from their more primitive forbears on the Pacific slope, to whom pottery, weaving, agriculture, and mocassin-raiment, are largely unknown, or exist only as sporadic features. They lead the half-naked life of the deer- hunter that goes hand in hand with the loin-cloth, the round-house, the fire-drill, the unpolished flint, the self-bow, the throwing-stick, the wooden boomerang, the bull-roarer, the bone-whistle, the basket-canoe, and the balsa-raft — (California region)." Father Boscana in his labors among the Acagchemem tribes of Southern California thus writes of their religious beliefs: — " "Although ignorant as they were of the knowledge of the true God, the moral instruction given by parents to their children was contained in the precepts of Chinigchinich, which were strongly impressed upon their minds, that they might become good, and avoid the fate of the evil. The perverse child invariably was destroyed, and the parents of such remained dishonored. At the age of six or seven years they gave him a kind of god as protector, — an animal, in whom they were to place entire confidence who would protect them from harm, etc. They were not, however, to consider this animal as the real God, for He was invisible, and inhabited the mountains and bowels of the earth, but if He did appear to them at any time, it was in the shape of an animal of the most terrific description. 12 Hodge, op. cit. I. 200, S71, 808. i' Items in Hodge, passim. " Fr. Geronimo Boscana, Chinigchinich, An Historical Account of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions of the Indians at the Missionary Establishment of S. Juan Capistrano, Alta California, called the Acagche- mem Nation, in "Life in California", by an American [A. Robinson], N. Y. 1846, pp. 270, a very rare work. (Frazer, III. 404.) 80 GOD NORTH AMERICAN TOTEMIG FORM This was not Chinigchinich, but another called Touch, signifying a Devil. That they might know the class of animal, which the God, Chinigchinich, had selected for their particular veneration, a kind of drink was administered to them, made from a plant called Pibat, which was reduced to a powder, and mixed with other intoxicating ingredients. Soon after taking this preparation they became senseless, and for three days were deprived of any sustenance whatever." The report then describes how the neophyte is commanded to obey implicitly whatever visions are vouchsafed him during the trance, how he imagines an inter- view with a bear, crow, or rattlesnake, how he finally divulges the secret to the by-standers and the commands of the mysterious apparition. This report is of value because it reveals a distinction between the supreme divinity and the totems. While the former is invisible and benevolent, the latter are visible and of animal form. This is characteristic of the totem-culture in its earlier stage, for though an advanced clan- system is here absent, matrimonial totemism of the undeveloped form (individual and local), is now known to exist. Moreover Merriam assures us all these Californian tribes believe that they "came from" certain ani- mals, trees, or rocks, which suggests the conclusion that they may also return to the same by re-birth." This and the narcotic ceremony recorded above shows with some force that the divinity has lost much of his power to control the life and destiny of man by rational sanctions, that he is after all only a nature-god. Institutions appear to be patriarchal and plutocratic, with local exogamy and male descent. It will thus be seen that throughout the totemic zone there exists a cer- tain similarity of belief and practice which is too striking to be put down as a mere coincidence. In every case the divinity h^as been drawn into closer relations with nature, whether as the Buru-Bonga of India, the Mulungu of Africa, the Altjira-Inkara of Australia, or the Wakanda of North America. This is evidenced by his role as a married hunter, by his cosmic and solar character, by his possible confusion with the tribal totem, and by his want of direct control of the moral law. Throughout this region there is also a strong belief in metempsychosis and in the multiplication of entities by impersonal magic. To what extent these elements have affected the combined picture of the divinity, will be dis- cussed later on. }« JHerriam, in the American Anthropologist, X. (1908), No. 4. Compare Hodge, II, 793. GOD 81 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM (N) EURASIAN-POLYNESIAN-CORDILLERAN GrOUP,— NEOLITHIC BeLT, (Recent) The association of the European Neolithic with the Caucasian race of historic memory is one of the most daring achievements of modern ethnol- ogy. It is believed to be solidly probable by reason of the striking homo- geneity of that culture, by the fact that the modern ethnical boundaries correspond very largely to the ancient ones, (Nordic, Alpine, Mediterranean Group), and by the survival into historic times of certain elements that are believed to be peculiar to the Indogermanic races,— among others the Dagger and the Blow horn, which are well certified for the middle-Euro- pean Pile-period.^ Whether this will be substantiated by further evidence, remains to be seen. In the meantime it can hardly be doubted that, as the character of this culture was fundamentally Caucasian, it was at least in part Indogermanic, and we are therefore justified in using the latter as one of our sources. On this system it will be possible to read the religion of the lake-dwellers and megalithic architects partly in the linguistic records of the past, (Aryan religion), partly in the existing Austronesian and Cordilleran-American traditions, which are still associated with a very similar culture, (Advanced neolithic and bronze age). It is essen- tially a highland culture, encircling the earth in almost unbroken con- tinuity, — from the Alps and Carpathians to the Caucasus, and through the Himalayan region to Indo-China and Polynesia on the one hand, and to Alaska, Mexico, Peru, and Patagonia on the other. (Polynesian-Cordilleran extension) ? But if the Aryan race was a conspicuous figure during the second stone age, it was by no means the earliest or only one, and it seems certain that we must go beyond Europe to Western Asia in order to find the real begin- nings of neolithic civilisation. The threefold dispersion of Caucasian races, to Arabia, Egypt, and Iran, seems to postulate some common radiat- ing center from which the proto-Caucasian race must first have emerged into prominence. Now such a center is found in that portion of Western Asia which is racially and territorially neutral, — neither Aryan, Semitic, Hamitio nor Mongolic — , but which is associated with the beginnings of all four, and tenanted by a people whose physique and language are irreducible, — the so-called "Sumerian" race of the Mesopotamian plains. Whatever be the exact interrelation of these peoples in prehistoric ages, some remote binding-link seems to be called for, and such a link is suffi- ciently prominent in the "land of the four rivers" to merit our serious con- sideration.* IF. Graebner, Die Melanesische Bogenkultur, (Anthropos, IV. 1909) pp. 1029-1030. O. Schrader, Sprachyergleichung und Urgeschichte, (Jena, 1907) pp. 349f. Idem, Reallexicon der indogermanischen Alterthumskunde, (Strassburg, 1901) p. 824ff. A. Schliz, in Prae- historische Zeitschrift, (Berlin, 1912), pp. 36ff: (Craniology)', Conip. also Keane, Ethriblogy, p. 108. Haddon, Wanderings, p. 40. " Graebner, op. cit. pp. 998ff. = Cbmp. 'L. W.' King, A History of Sumer and Akkad, (London, 1912), pp. 321-348. (Cultural influence on Egfjrpt, Asia, and the West). 82 GOD WESTERN ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM It is not pretended that this was the direct ancestor of any of the ''white" races as we now know them. It was not even Caucasian in the modern sense, but is better described as proto-Gaucasioid, revealing per- haps some Mongolia affinities. Their ethnic position is still largely proble- matical, while their language has been affiliated with nearly every known tongue. This agrees well with the theory above supported and is only to be expected on the supposition that they antedate any existing represen- tatives of the Caucasian stock, forming a possible tlink between the Dravidians of Central India and the pre-Aryan Ligurians of the middle- European Pile-belt.* Here we have a people whose prehistoric past ascends indefinitely, and not impossibly to the eighth millennium before Christ." For these remote ages the alluvial mounds of Mesopotamia have revealed a culture which is characteristically neolithic, and this in its earlier stages. We have the simple mat-garment, or apron, (hand-weaved) , the mud-hut and the clay architecture, (indigenous), the fire-flint, the sling-bow, the developed boomerang, the polished flint-knife, the bone-needle, the simplest kind of pottery, (unmarked), the clay figurine, the wooden lyre, the xylophone, the reed-boat, the "patesi"-kingship, the free marriage, (iion-totemic) , and above all the tomb-burial with contracted corpse, which is now believed to antedate the cremation-rite of the later Caucasian and Indoger- manic peoples." It will be seen that most of these elements fit in well with what we know of the early pre-megalithic lacustrian age, though the nature of the soil will account for its strongly "alluvial" character. If then we raise the Sumerian problem to the forefront of ethnic pos- sibilities in relation to early neolithic man, it is because the finger of archaeology points strongly in this direction, because we require a neutral Gaucasioid race as the bearer of the earliest neolithic culture, and because it carries us back to a time when the whole of Western Eurasia formed as it were a unit, — a time which was pre-Sargonic in Babylonia, predynastic in Egypt, and generally prehistoric in Persia. Finally, as our present appeal must be to the buried records of the past, it is only in Egypt and Mesopotamia that we possess the earliest extant syllabic or alphabetic writing, as distinct from mere pictographs, and this must always be a heavy denominator in any attempt to evaluate in their true proportions the early beliefs and practices of a civilisation which has been buried for tve-thousand years.'' * Comp. F. Weissbach, Die Sumerische Frage, (Leipzig, 1898) (Linguistic theory) King, 00 cit pp 1-15 ((Jeneral Introduction) pp. 40-55 (ethnical affinities). "Ur-Nina, 3000. Ctaieiform. 3-4000. Hieroglyphic, 4-SOOO. Lowest strata, 8-10000. "Items in S. P. Handcock, Mesofotataiah Archaeology, la&x. (New York, 1912). THE AGE OF TABLETS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF SYLLABIC WRITING TO ANU AND ISHTAR VOTIVE-TABLET OF LUGAL-TABSI, KING OF KI9H, OF THE AGE OF ME8IUM, CA., SlOO B. 0. m i-> MU< MA. BU CCriTEIFOKM TEXTS FBOM THE VAEYJXttOAlt TABLBTB OF THE StRimH UUSEUW, IfUBtlSiaSD IK LOXDON ^1908) VOX,, m, No> 181S5, DECOPHEKBD AKD TBAIfSIATED BT F. THVBEAC-OAKOm. DIE SUMEBISCHEN UNB AKKADISOHEK' KOMOSDfSCHBIFTKN', (I^raPZIO. 1907), P. 160. (Br Fennissloo of the Britlsb Sfngeom.) GOD 83 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM (N, 1) ANU— EN-LIL— EN-KI— Sumerian Triad The three ideograms for Heaven-Earth-Underworld (An-Li-Ki) are well represented on the earliest tablets from Nippur and Lagash. The ques- tion arises: (1) Can any precedence be established for them as signs? (2) Do they stand for abstractions, persons, or things? (3) Is there any evidence to show that either has held a personal supremacy over the other from time immemorial? One of the earliest inscriptions as yet known to us is that on the votive- tablet of Lugal-Tarsi, king of Kish, in which he dedicates the great temple of Kish to Anu, (and the Lady Ninni), at a date which can hardly be less than 3000-3100 B. C. (Age of Mesilim). It runs as follows:— "To Anu, King of the lands, and to Ninni — the Lady Ninni — hath Lugal-Tarsi, king of Kish, erected the wall of this temple." ^ Now the use of the ^.nw-sign in this passage, first absolutely, "to Anu," and then determinately, as a mere prefix to Istar-Ninni, shows with some force that in the first instance we are dealing with the "divinity" par excellence, the "High One", while in the second case he is speaking of a deity who shares something of this exalted position, but is more of the nature of a patron saint, a protecting goddess. This determinative use marks, in fact, all the lesser divinities, while in the case of Anu himself it was unnecessary to add any other ideogram : He is Himself the God of all gods, the Heavenly One, Moreover, His high antiquity is proved by the fact that the same ideogram can be read as a hieroglyph far into the pre-dynastic age (4000), and that a very similar sign has been certified among the pictographs of the early neolithic age, from the mounds of Europe to the cliffs of Arizona.'' As to the nature of Anu, though the symbol is unquestionably a solar or astral one, its evolution being ■^^ "^^ ^TlN *M — ®*®' (compare the Chinese yt^ Egyptian —^ Indogermanic *^^ ), He is a Person. For, to take the test of worship, Gudea calls his patron saint Bau, "the daughter of Anu," "King of the gods," in whose honor he builds a temple,' Ur-Engur invokes Nannar (the moon) as the "mighty bull of Anu" (the sun?),* Lugal Zaggisi (2800) calls himself the high- priest of Anu, the "loving Father of Enlil," to whom he sacrifices ' and Lugal-Tarsi builds the great temple of Kish in honor of Anu, "King of the lands", the tablet quoted above. While the hieroglyphic evidence tends to show some connexion with the sun in very remote times, the title "king" or "father" points with equal force to a great Personality. *Cun. Texts, (British Museum), Vol. Ill, No. 121SS. Thureau-Dargin, Die sumer- ischen und akkadischen Konigsinschriften (Leipzig, 1907), p. 160. * Barton, Babylo- nian Writing (Leipzig-Baltimore), p. S. Wilson, The Swastika (Wash. 1896), p. 926 ff. » Th. Dangin, 1. c. p. 79, 101. * Idem, p. 189. <* Idem, p. ISSff. Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, I. 2. 84 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND RECENT FORM Thus the expression lu-gal, for "king" is literally "great man", and this, together with adda for "father", shows that the astral divinity An is not simply a nature-power, but a living personal character, symbolised by the orb of heaven or the star as the most appropriate expression of his mysterious nature. I even venture to suggest that the term dingir as the common appellative for divinity may contain the notion of "life-power" {tin-gir?) in the sense that the divine nature is conceived as "life" and therefore not as a mere force or tendency of matter. But apart from this, the above inscriptions reveal a fatherly ruler, a celestial patesi, with sufficient clearness. Side by side with the God of Heaven, we have En-lil, the god of the earth, the winds, or the air, and En-ki, the god of the deep. In both cases the prefix En is ideographically represented on the earliest tablets by the hand and scepter, H,--!! ^S^^ denoting lordship, dominion, kingship. Thus En-lil is written 2^,*-, Wor , later .- h -j||[|H|- , and finally >Jl ^:3Tr signifying "Lord" of the earth, clouds, or air. His worship is almost as old as that of Anu and equally prominent. Gudea calls Ningirsu the "son of En-lil," the "mighty warrior" of En-lil, « En-shag- kush-an-na attributes his victories to En-lil, the god of battles, ' Eannatum calls him "King of heaven and earth," Entemena, "King of the Lahds," "Father of gods," etc. In like manner En-ki is the first ^^^^ fc:^ ^^ ' ^^^ Anally ^SX'^j^i • '^^^^ ^^ ^°^- monly translated "Lord of the Land," but the fact that he is universally as- sociated with the liquid element, Aa, "Water," and that he is identical with E-A Ea, "House of Water," makes it more probable that the above should be read "Lord of the Deep," of the "Underworld." In any case he figures as such from the earliest times, and for many he is not only the Lord of the Deep, but the "Fountain of Wisdom" as well, — En-zu, — a singularly abstract designation." Now what is the relation of these deities to one another? Are they three independent divinities, or three aspects or manifestations of a single divinity? This for want of unimpeachable evidence can never be known with certainty. The designation of deity as "Highness, Dominion, and Wisdom", is a tempting device, but the same logic would force us to include many of the minor dingirs as equally manifestations of the divine. From the fact that Anu is called the "Father of En-lil", whereas no other deity is ever called the "Father" of Anu, we may conclude with some probability that Anu is the Father of all the gods, but to what extent identi- cal or of the same nature with one, or any of them, we shall indeed never know." «Th.-D. 26, 96, 98ff. ''Th.-D. 157. 'Th.-D. 14, 37. »Th.-D. 18, 40, 60. 124. "Cp. J. Hehn, Die biblische und babylonische Gottesidee, (Leipzig, 1913), pp. 1-29, the latest and best work on the subject. GOD 85 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM But a mere Sky-lord, however heavenly, does not satisfy the full defi- nition of deity. There must be some evidence that he is looked on as a Maker, if not a Creator of all. Now of such evidence we have in the present instance only the barest fragments, and these from the later Semitic-Babylonian period, when the ancient pantheon had already been swallowed up by the single commanding personality of Bel-Marduk, the saviour-god of Mesopotamia. In the well-known Creation-Epic we find the following concatenation : — 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mnmmu-Apsu, Lachmu-Lachamu, Ansar-KiSar, Anu-Bel-Ea,IStar, etc. — symbolising: — Chaos-Deep (?) Day-Dawn (?), Heaven-Earth, Sky-Lord-Deep, Mistress," If Mummu-Apsu-IStar be excluded, the former as an indeterminate void, (Tiamat?), the latter as a mere patronal goddess, we have the famous "septette" of divinity which is so characteristic of later Babylonian thought. But what is more important, the entire system seems to insinuate an evolution of gods, — a theogony — , in which Anu himself is pictured as rising out of heaven and earth, which are themselves the children of the day and dawn, and these again the children of Mvmmu, the Chaos, the "mother of them all". It is still a disputed point to what extent these are poetical personifications or real personalities, for even here it is the Baby- lonian triad, — Anu, Bel, Ea, — that alone are recognised as real, personal, producing agencies, their great enemy being Mummu, who as the Serpent Tiamat, figures in the celebrated story of Bel and the Dragon. In this legend it is En-lil (Bel), who cleaves the great Serpent in twain, out of which he makes heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein, while man he fashions in an extraordinary manner, by cutting off his head and mixing his blood with the slime of the earth, — surely a vivid creation- legend. But this account is not isolated. In the parallel Adapa-myih, it is En-ki (Ea) who creates the Actopo-man, and in the Gilgamesh-Epic it is distinctly stated that En-ki created the first man in the image of Anu through Arum (the Earth?), whence the name allotted to him was Ea- bani, — "God-created". If then we have reasons to suspect that Anu-Bel {Enlil)-Ea formed a cosmic triad even in the earliest, pre-Sargonic times, the functions assigned to the one may be safely transferred to the other, and Anu thus becomes a Creator by means of his "generated" divinities. At the same time, the divine hieroglyph and the above "theogony" seem to point to the pos- sibility that he and his entire hierarchy were at one time more closely related to nature, more directly associated with its immanent, evolutionary forces." "For the text see L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, (London, 1902), in Luzac's Semitic Text and Translation Series, Vols. XII, XIII. "Compare Hehn, 1. c. and J Nikel Die Genesis in Keilschriftforschung (Freiburg, 1903) p. 113. 86 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM Here again we find those strange echoes of a "tree of life", a serpent, a temptation and fall, in which Ea, the God of the Deep, plays such a con- spicuous part, — yet evidently in conjunction with Anu, the Heaven-God. "At Eridu a palm-tree grew, in holy place it blossomed. Its roots were bright, as crystal white, they spread forth to the waters. The shrine of Ea was its home, at Eridu, the fertile. Its seat the center of the earth, its leaves the couch of Ba-u. Into its holy house, which like a forest spread its shade. Hath no man ever entered. Alone the God of Light, He dwells within, On lowland coast, between the parting rivers"." But the moral of the story is not flawless. Adapa has lost the "Bread and Water of Life" because he follows the advice of the Ocean-God to reject the latter, and to ask of Anu clothing and oil, — hardly a straight- forward action. In the Gilgamesh-Epic, the hero travels to the "Isles of the Blest" and obtains a marvellous root from his ancestor, the translated "Noah", but on his return a serpent darts up and he loses the precious treasure. In the Deluge story again, it is the Ghaldaean "trinity" that decrees the destruction of man and saves the righteous few very much as in the biblical legend. There is in fact ample evidence for the personal leadership of the triad, but of his worship in those remote times we know very little. From the title, lugal kurkurra and the temple remains, there is reason to believe that each guardian deity had his own shrine at the summit of the Zikkurat, or the E-kur, temple-tower, in imitation of a mountain. The discovery of beads, statues, and temple-lamps shows that it took place under plastic forms, the Patesi, or Priest-King, acting as the vice-gerent of the Almighty. Here no doubt the great sacrifices took place, of the sheep, the ram, and the ox, and bloodless offerings were made of bread and wine, — recalling the First-Fruit sacrifice of the far East and of Central Africa. This was accompanied by the burning of incense or aromatic spices, and by a musical performance on the rude harpsichord or wooden lyre, to judge by the representations on many of the early steles." There is no evidence to show that at any time human sacrifices were olfered up to the deity, nor is there any proof that the bodies of the dead were burnt in supposed "crematories", the custom of tomb-burial of the dead being now well cer- tified, even for the earliest period. Thus the worship was, as far as we can conjecture, both humane and dignified. For further particulars on these and similar subjects the reader is referred to the succeeding chapters, more especially the one on Sacrifice." "Text in C. T. XVI. PL. 46, 183ff. "God of Light" lit: "Sun-god" "Tammuz" (ibid). "Compare E. J. Banks, Bismya, the lost city of Adab, (N. Y. 1912) (latest excavations). i» Further details in S. P. Handeock, Mesopotamian Archaeology, (N. Y. 1912) and P. Dhorme, La Religion Assyro-babylonienne, (Paris, 1910). SUMERIAN PRAYERS TO BEL FBOBI THB CCNBIFOItM TEXTS OF THB BRITISH HCSKCM Vol. XV. FI. 10, S-S, & Fl. IS, 1-9. "PAXHER ENUI..LOFU3 OFTHE UAMOS " A— A i»> MU UU. UIV. U MO UW E KMHKUH. — WA A— A lOl MU Ul_ Lit. U— I K»U UM SUA -CA X.\ — 3»A A— A (o> MU — ui. — uu &i« — SAC aia oa- A— A (D1 MU Ul. UU I OE JJU |M T6- NA A— A (.J>1 MU Ul- UU AMA eV»IN NA SA »A A— A (01 MU m. — LIU U UiU UA AUR-DUK «T=^ETURN , LOOK DOWN UPON THY CtTY " N>-ruK NKSiW u unu ZU U C<9^~OU9) EUtM MA. NIXUK NiaiM u URU XU U- CSE -IHld) U MU UN K.URK.UR RA GE NlfilM — U URU — «U U MU UN SAS — fiA Zl I3A. MIOI**— U URU-^aj) tn) MU "' *->>- A A. KA NA AO «IA SIB SAC G'Q QA NIGIN U U<%U-CiU> ►—I — < I DE »U llvt TS NA MIOIM-U — URU- AMA EAIN— -NA SA SA NICIN— U UR.U-OUt} U— — i-Ut. LA 3>UI* OUR. NICIM U UMU-CKU> SEE I/ANGDOM. Sl/HEBIAN AND BABYI.OiaAN FSAI.MB, (I.ONDON, 1900) F. 876, 298 JASTBOW. BEUGION BABYI.ONIENS VND ASSTBIBNS, (OIESSEN, 190B), n. F. 61, BT. VANDEBBCBOH, IN J. A. O. S. VOL.\ XXX (1910) F. 61-71. GOD 87 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM As to the expression of worship by prayer, the oldest Sumerian hymns reveal a deep feeling of dependence upon an all-merciful Father. But we must not be surprised if these supplications are directed chiefly to Enlil, the second member of the triad. A "Heaven-God" was too distant and abstract a conception to withstand the encroachments of a "Lord of the lands", one who was in a peculiar sense the national savior. At the temple of Bel in Nippur the lamentation-ritual of this kind was par- ticularly vivid: — 1, "Father Enlil, Lord of the lands.' 2, Father Enlil, Lord of the living command! 3, Father Enlil, shepherd of the blackheads! 4, Father Enlil, who seest by thine own power! 5, Father Enlil, strong Lord directing mankind! 6, Father Enlil, who causest mul- titudes to repose in peace!" " 1, "0 mighty Enlil, return, look down upon thy city! 2, strong and mighty one, return, look down upon thy city! 3, Lord of the lands, return, look down upon thy city! 4, Lord of the living command, return look down upon thy city! 5, Father of the land, return, look down upon thy city! 6, Shepherd of the blackheads, return, look down upon thy city! 7, Who regardest us unth eyes of mercy, return, look down upon thy city! 8, Who bringest forth the light, return, look down upon thy city! 9, Who protectest the weak against the strong, return, look down upon thy city!" and so on in endless refrain." Again, Lugal-Zaggisi, king of Uruk, thus addresses the god of Nippur: — "0 Enlil, King of the lands, piy beloved Father! Grant me long life! Give rest and peace unto this land! Make my armies to flourish! Preserve the sanctuaries, look favorably upon this land! Have mercy upon the people! Give me power to rule with a firm hand!" " Again, take the following formula for the general confession of sins : — "0 Lord, my transgressions are m.any, great are my sins! God, my transgressions are many, great are my sins! God, whoever it be, my transgressions are many, great are my sins!" " But there is evidence of another kind that may prompt us to modify this conclusion to some exteint. The existence of divination, augury, hep- tascopy, and demoniacal obsession, with an elaborate incantation-ritual for the expulsion of witches, this is a fact which cannot be passed over without revealing a belief in magical and spiritistic agencies, which is generally branded as "superstitious," and which seems to detract from the simplicity and purity of an All-Father cult. "Cun. Texts. XV. PI. lo, 3-8. i' Cun. Texts. XV. PI. 13, 1-9. Elima nituki, Assyrian transcription for Enlil (Bel). Compare the versions ofLangdon, Jastrow, and Vanderburgh, cited on the opposite page, i' Hilprecht, Old Babyl. Inscript. I, 2, no. 87. Thur. Dang. op. cit. p. 154; Jastrow I. 394- ^'' Rawlinson, Cun. Inscr. of Western Asia, IV. pi. ioff. ("whoever it be"=:"kriown or unknown"), Jastrow, II, 102. .. ,_. 88 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM I have already had occasion to remark that a ceremony can only be called "magical" if a supreme Being is deliberately and explicitly excluded. The invocation of a patron saint and the expulsion of a harmful demon is the most natural of religious actions, and even the diagnosis of future events by inspecting the liver of the sacrificial animal is more or less excusable in proportion as the vi^hole action is referred to the deity, is believed to be the expression of his divine will. Hence the fearu-inspections and the s/iip^M-incantations must be interpreted in the light of a higher belief, in which they become the expressions of a divine power acting through the kabittu, the soul or "liver" of the animal, which for the time was identified with the soul of the deity. Such a practice, however repre- hensible, led to the study of the science of medicine. Moreover in the shiptu-viinal for the expulsion of demons we find the higher divinities often invoked : — "May Anu and Antum arise, to dispel the disease! May Bel, the Lord of Nippur, arise, to give life by his irrevocable decrees! May Ea, the Lord of humanity arise, he who with his hands made man- kind". &c. It is a long litany for the sick, in which by means of prayers and purga- tions, water-aspersions and so on, the imprisoned demon is let loose, and the sufferer restored to health, — surely an appropriate custom.^" Yet with all this the intrusion of demon-worship, with many spiritistic and occult practices, is too pronounced a fact to be put down as a mere side-issue. The growing importance of the nature powers, not simply as mystery-forces, but as personal life-centers endowed with "zi" — , "life- or spirit-power" — , has produced a hierarchy of strong independent divin- ities which is frankly polytheistic, the distinction between god and demon being often difiicult to trace. They are all dingir-ilu,— high, and mighty personalities, whose kabittu or liver-soul decides the fate of humanity, sometimes to their great misfortune. It is Shamash, the god of divination, who is the father of this science, by which stars and entrails, bird-flights and the "evil eye", are in direct control of human life, the manu or "ghastly look" being the chief exponent of this secret power. I do not venture to hazard any etymologies, but the combination shamah-manu is too suggestive of "Shamanism" as a doctrine of "fire-spirits" to be lightly dismissed." Manistic animism, with occasional phallic develop- ments, was destined to be one of the most important moulding-forces of early neolithic region, — as we shall see. And this is the one point that should never be ignored whenever we attempt to read the exact meemings into terms which have long since changed their original significations. ^B Surpu, IV. 68-87. in Zimmern, Beitrage zur Kenntniss der babylonischen Religion, (Leipzig, 1901), PI. X. (Incantation-text). ^iComp. the ritual-tablets in Zimmern, loc. cit. & Shiptu-tablets, No. 57, I. 14. minutu, (i7) Samas ^manrm.) Also Delitzsch, Assyr. Hand- worterbuch, under shamu, manu, etc. (Leipzig, 1896). GOD 89 WESTERN-ASIATIC OR NEOLITHIC FORM What then is the idea expressed by zi7 Does it stand for life in gen- eral, or for a special form or manifestation of life, the disembodied spirit, the soul-double? Hieroglyphically zi is expressed by the flowering stalk, VIZ. Assyr. J^jj^ , and is generally translated "life", Assy- rian nisu.'^ It occurs very early, being found in the inscriptions of Ean- natum and Gudea between two and three thousand B. C.=' Here it is appar- ently used as an abstract, the "Life" of Ea {zi dingir Ea) being interpreted by the parallel en-zi, the equivalent of en-ti, — "Lord of Life" — , and by such combinations as zi-kum or zi-kura, which as the "Life of Heaven and Earth" became the standard formula for the expulsion of demons. Thus a well-known sij)tvL-\&h\&i, which begins with an invocation to the Ocean- god, ends with an incantation to the heaven and earth : — "0 Life of Heaven, mayest thou conjure it! Life of earth, mayest thou conjure it!" — in which zi appears to have no other meaning than that of life in general, as it is not applied to the tigillu, or healing herb, which cures the patient on such occasions." But even admitting that zi was originally the flower- ing reed, as suggested by the ideogram, there is no evidence to show that it was a disembodied spirit, much less a demon, as the latter are known as lilu, lilitu (airy ones), alu, galu, shedu, utukku (great ones), ekimmu, akkhasu (capturers) , labasu, labartu, (tormentors, destroyers), but never to my knowledge described as zi, which was evidently the Sumerian symbol for the gesh-tin, or "Tree of Life", the shaimmu balati of the Baby- lonians, — the source of immortality, ( y\. ^.^C^ =11).=' ^^ Again, the Assyrian transcriptions show with considerable clearness that the Semitic invaders understood the expression in a similar sense, the niS Hani, being the "Life of the gods", used in all conjuration-formulas. Thus nis Same lu-u ta-mat, nis irsiti lu-u tOr-mat, (general form), or more specifically, ni-is ASur beli-iarabi . . . sum-ma^inalibbi Mbe annuti naru suatu la uSahru, — "By Ashur, great god! ... To think that I should have dug this canal !" Delitzsch goes so far as to say that nisu stands for exist- ence, essence, or personality, "a word of very broad signification", though he admits its application to spirits or demons in some instances.^' If then the Semitic transcribers read such a lofty and refined meaning into the term, and there is no clear proof that it was used for lilu or wandering spirits, is it too much to say that zi stands for life- or spirit-power in gen- eral, even though it might also be taken for "spirits"? 2' Barton, Babylonian Writing, (Leipzig-Baltimore, 1913), PI. 23, No. 91. 23 Sarzec, Decouvertes en Chaldee, PI. 3, A, 1, 11. Cun. Texts. IX. 1. 1, 6. Comp. Price, — The great Cylinder-inscriptions of Gudea, A. 1, IS. B. 1, 3. 9, 22. Th. D. 89. " Rawlinson, V. I-S8. C. T. XVII. PI. 19, Kol. I. 32-51. « Barton, op. cit. PI. 18 No. 76. 2» Delitzsch, Assyrisches Hand- worterbuch, p. 482-483, under nisu. 90 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC OR REGENT FORM Thus the application of zi to the High gods, while it appears to be ani- mistic, seems to reveal a deeper notion of divinity than can be conveyed by a discarnate form, a mere phantasm. "The HI, or ghost", says Prof. Sayce, "was distinct from the zi. While the zi belonged to the world of the living, the HI belonged to the world of the dead"." . . . "Unlike the Hlla, the zi represented the man himself in his personality ; if that person- ality were destroyed, it also ceased to exist". It is true of course that on this view En-Hl would be a "Lord of ghosts", but it must be remembered that the earliest picture-writing gives no direct intimation of a malev- olent being, but is vaguely expressive of earth, clouds, air, in a gen- eral sense, the identification of HI with the demon not being provable except in the later shiptu-ritual, when it was applied to the night-spirits that terrified the living in the form of a cloud. That ghost-hunting was rampant during this period admits of no doubt, but it was a secondary development, not a primary one. Though magic and demonism are strongly developed within the historical period, it cannot be proved that Bel was originally evolved from the ghost. Rather should it be said that the zi of the gods represents perhaps the first attempt to define the nature of the supreme Being as a "Personal Spirit", one who was more than a personal "Father" on the one hand, or an impersonal "Mystery" on the other, — an ethereal Essence, who, though clothed in the garb of nature, was above all totems, the life and animating power of all being. If it is also true that there is a spiritistic side to the concept, this is only to be expected by analogy with all great movements, in which a new idea is struggling for recognition, but is at once distorted and applied in the wrong direction, — the ghost-god. This represents a distinct advance upon all the preceding systems. As an offset to the elaborate fasts, the dreams and trance-visions, by which the bonga or the wakan is secured as a personal guardian, union with the divine is once more obtained by the more direct channels of prayer and sacrifice, though fasts and penances survive as a secondary means for achieving the same end. AH culminates in the "Bread and Water of Life", — the bloodless immolation ofTered to Anu by the earliest kings, — clearly a survival of the paradisaic or first-fruit libations of the days of man's innocence. After that the outlook is gloomy. There is no clear vision of a heavenly Father, but Aralu, the land of shades, the abode of "the spirits in prison". Yet the soul has crossed the rivers of death, it has no more need of earthly necessities, it is immortal, — it has arrived at the "Isles of the Blessed". " Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 280. 2» Ibid. p. 278. THE CONTEMPORARY AGE OF WALL-PAINTINGS AMD THE BEGINNINGS OF ALPHABETIC WRITING A TIMELESS CREATOR I'YBAMID TEXTt PSFI I. SETHK, VOL. U, P. 302, SEC. 144G. F. 663b. P. 6«4c. P. 6e4d. Me-S»(MSl)PEP-l *»EH IN IXeF ATUM EM HEPBR-RCT J»BT EH HCT8R- i*eT TA EM riEPER-RBT REMTCT EM ME-SI-T MrTSKU CH HeTEW-MT MET INVOCATION TO THE NINE PARTS OF THE: HEART OF ATUM "O MIGHTY ENNEAD" PYRAMID TEXT: PEPI U. SETHE, VOIi. U. P. 374. SEC. 1633. N. 66Sa. N. 66Sb. N. 665c. HA -PESEUeT CAT l-Mt-T I - UM ATUM ftHU TKFHUr M H 1 A f- 1'^ ill ^^^1^ OCB Nirr OSIRIS ISIS SET NeT>HTY3 MCSU .ACTUM PED-lBET EHMesUP HIEROGLYPHIC ORIGINAL IN K. SETHE, DIE ALTAGYFTISCHEN PYRAHI- DENTEXTE NACH DEN FAPIERABDBCCKEN VND FHOTOGRAFHIEN DES BER- LINER MITSETCHS, MED HERACSGEOEBEN UNO ERLAVTERT (LEIPZIG, 190S* 1910), VOL. n PP. 302 AND 374. TRANSLITEBATION AND TRANSLATION BY PBOF. G. S. DUNCAN, OF JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, TO APPEAR IN HIS FOBTHCOSONG WORK, "THE PYRAMID TEXTS, CRITICALLY TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED", (BALTIMORE, 1918), AND COMPARE P. VIREY, LA RELIGION DE L'ANCIBNNE EGYPTE, (PARIS, 1910), P. 8-7, GOD 91 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND RECENT FORM (N, 2) OSIRIS— ISIS— HORUS— Egyptian Nome-Triad We are told by Prof. Maspero that the earliest Egyptian monuments that we possess, those of the III. and IV. dynasties, side by side with certain divine persons, frequently mention God, the one God — Dieu, le dieu un, le dieu unique. These startling words are based upon the disclosures of certain pyramid texts in which men and gods are pictured as the result of a single divine action.^ But the first strong reference to the monothe- istic concept is found in the pyramid of King Pepi I., about 2500 B. C. "This King Pepi was born by his father Atiem, before the sky was created, before the earth was created, before mankind was created, before the gods were created, before death had been made." " From the use of the passive voice and the instrumental "by" in this passage, it is argued that a single personal Creator is here intended, and that the appearance of the same hieroglyph in remote antiquity, Atum, Atem, Tum, tends to show that this or a very similar figure was looked upon as the maker or modeller of all. This divinity is always depicted in human form, he is sexless and wifeless, and he is described in the Book of the Dead as the "Creator of the heavens, the Maker of all existence, who has begotten all there is, who gave birth to all the gods, who created him- self, the Lord of life, who bestows upon the gods the strength of youth".' At last equally old is the designation Ra or Re for the material sun, from which the combinations arose — Atum-Ra, Horus-Ra, Osiris-Ra, Amon-Ra, etc. — and soon the triads began to appear, among which Tum-Shu-Tefnut furnishes probably the model for the great Egyptian "trinity," Osiris-Isis- Horus, the famous Nome-Triad. But it is the great Ennead of Heliopolis that can alone interpret this figure. Here we find a generation of gods in the following order : 12 345 6789 A tum-Shu-Tefnut-Geb-Nut-Osii'is-Isis-Set-Nephtys, indicating Father-Air-Dew-Earth-Sky-Light-Land-Deep-Mistress. These are the nine parts of the heart of Atum, and are thus invoked: — "0 mighty Ennead of gods which is at Heliopolis, Atum-Shu- Tefnut-Geb-Nut-Osiris-Isis-Set-Nephtys, children of Atum, whose heart spreads out to them!" * This is as clear evidence as can be desired that although A iwrn-fla is a first and apparently unique divinity, the remaining eight parts of his "heart" are at least equally essential, and the position of the national Osiris- triad, with the orginial Set, is here plainly indicated. 1 Evidence in Virey, La Religion de I'ancienne Egypte, (Paris, 1910), p. 1-5. 2 K. Sethe, Die altagyptischen Pyramidentexte (Leipzig, 1910), Vol. II., p. 302. Trans- lations by Prof. George S. Duncan, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and Virey, 1, c. p. 6. Heperet lit., "came .into being." ^ Erman, .Agyptische Religion (Berlin, 1909), p. 10 ff. Book of the Dead, LXXIX, i. Virey, 1. g. p. 136. * Sethe, Vol. II, p. 374. Comp. Ernian, 1. c. p. 44, 73ff. Virey, 1. c. p. 7, 146ff. 92 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM Are we then to infer that the different "gods" of the Egyptian pantheon are distinct divinities or different aspects of one and the same divinity? This will depend on the interpretation of the "Holy Nine", and their rela- tion to the later triads, whether of Memphis or Thebes. The designation of Tum-Ra as the "All-Sun", the "great god Pan", revealing himself in the Ennead through increasingly higher forms, the whole culminating in Osiris-Isis-Horus as in the most vivid manifestation of the divine, is one that suggests a monotheistic interpretation, more especially as the sup- posed Sun-god is not a blind nature-force, but a creating and life-giving Personality, apparently timeless and eternal, and one who transmits these attributes to his apparent "successors" in undiminished brightness. They are all Creators, whether as Chnum-Ra or Shu-Ra, — modelling the egg which conceals the light and the germ of the future world (a direct moulder of man after the analogy of the potter's wheel) ," or as the great Amon-Ra, who as the "concealed" Sun inherits the fulness of the divine majesty under the later dynasty of Thebes." In every case the similarity if not the identity of attributes points to an underlying unity of essence, of which the different nome-gods are but varying expressions. This is a plausible argument, but cannot be allowed to stand as it does without considerable qualification. In the first place we have the mys- terious Nun at the beginning of the series, out of which, as out of the chaotic deep, there arises the "World-Egg," and from this again the Sun- light, Ra, who then becomes the Father of all existence, etc." This has the suspicious ring of a theogony, of a rise of divinities out of lower powers, even if Nun himself be personified and endowed with all the divine pre- rogatives of his children, — ^wisdom, power, providence, and the rest. It is possible of course that Nunu is an interpolation, (Bab. Mummu) , but even so, it shows that we may have to go beyond Tum-Ra to the still more archaic Nunu or Water-chaos as the Father of the Light-god. How far is this genealogy still to be carried? But if a generation of gods be ruled out as unproven, and the Holy Nine be looked upon as nine aspects or revela- tions of the "All-Sun-God", there is still the practical difTiculty, that this idea of transcendence has been largely lost sight of. The entire theology of the Nile reveals a series of independent divinities, who however unified in the abstract, are to all intents ahd purposes separate divinities. This belief is neither pantheistic nor monotheistic, but rather polytheistic, with a strong monotheistic background, — a phase of belief analogous to that of ancient Mesopotamia. To this conclusion most of our authors seem to give their eissent, the term 'Henotheism' expressing most probably its rather complex manifestation." loBrugsch, op. cit. p. S02ff. "Idem, p. 22, 148. "Idem, p. 101. "Estimates on this question m Brugsch, 1.. c. p. 90-99. Sayce, op. cit. p. 127-152. H. Hyvernat, Article "Egypt" (Cath. Encyl. Vol. V. p. 329flf.). GOD 93 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM Now the transfer of divine attributes from one personality to another is one of the commonest features of Egyptian religion. If such a transfer be regarded as an equivalence, a sign that one divinity is tantamount to another, merely a vt^ider or more concrete expression of what has been known and believed before, then the expression Osiris as the equivalent of Tum-Ra may be looked upon as nothing but a nominal variation of the latter, both appellations being equally ancient and designating one and the same Light-god conceived under different forms. The monumental evi- dence tends to bear this out. Osiris is both lexically and ideographically the "many-eyed", the "all-seeing one", symbolised by "^^^^ the rising and setting sun, and this is precisely the symbol of Tum-Ra in all astrologi- cal combinations.' There is in fact good reason for believing that Ra, Horus, Turn, and Osiris, are but four designations for the four successive positions of the sun, hence for the four points of the compass, and sec- ondarily for the four seasons. This is suggested by the following combi- nations, in which the four divinities are clearly the manifestations of a single fla-power, shedding his benevolent rays at different angles over Isis, the mother-earth. If Tum-Ra be taken as the "All-Sun", the sun in general, then Horus represents the sun at the zenith, the midday- or the summer-sun, while Osiris is the midnight or winter-sun, and Isis is the passive generative principle, the earth, the symbol of fruitfulness, of vegetation, of the corn.* This symbolism is not without its deep inner meaning. It tends to show that all these solar deities are different aspects of the All-Sun, and form as it were an essential unity, being differentiated only by relative position, brightness, and power of influencing the earth,. The analogy with Babylon is apparent. For if Anu-Bel-Ea stands for Heaven, Earth, and Underworld, the original Egyptian triad, Osiris-Isis-Set, admits of a similar interpretation. But in the conflict between light and darkness, (Osiris-Set), and the murder of Osiris, his son Horus becomes the King of Heaven (Midday Sun) , while Osiris takes the place of Set in the Underworld, the Typhon-god having been slain by Horus to avenge his father's death. In this manner the triad has become inverted, Osiris is the king of shades, while Horus is the Sky-Lord. Thus the so- called Egyptian ''trinity" is to some extent accounted for.' ' Cp. Erm^ op. cit. p. 10, 15, 34. * This is an original sketch, founded partly on the data of Brugsch, Religion u. Mythologie der alten Agypter, p. 231flf. ' For Osiris-legend, Brugsch, 1. c. p. 611ff. Erraan, 1. c. p. 42ff. Virey, 1. c. p. 149ff. Comp. also J. H. Breasted, Devel- opment of Religion and Thought in ancient Egypt (N. Y. 1912). pp. 8-12, 18-48, a valuable summary. 94 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM But is not Osiris identified with the sacred bull, Osiris-Apis, (Serapis) ? Is he not a dying and murdered god, a mere mummy, incapable of satis- fying even the most elementary definitions of deity? The strong animal- worship of ancient Egypt is a glaring fact that cannot be explained away any arbitrary theory of symbolism. The ox, the crocodile, and the serpent, are unquestionably the objects of a cult even in the earliest times. But the important point to consider is this : The lingering vestiges of totemic ideas are only to be expected in this region, but of the institution of totem- ism itself there is so far no direct evidence. Men are not descended from animals, there is no exogamy but rather endogamy in the clan, and of fasting and taboo the monuments are equally silent." The incarnation of the divinity in the form of a bull or a beetle, of Horus in the form of the hawk, of Isis in that of the sacred Corn, is one which leaves the person- ality of these deities unscathed, they are still transcendent, they speak to us in the language of superhuman demigods. This is evident from the Osiris- legend alone, in which the triad speaks and acts as Father, Mother, and Child, whatever be the outward form in which they appear. That this legend may be very ancient in Egypt is revealed by the neolithic graves, where the custom of dismembering the corpse and then burying the frag- ments with trinkets and food-stuffs "for the journey" recalls the dismem- berment of the body of Osiris and its re-union in the form of a mummy, the feeding of the corpse being paralleled by the feeding of Osiris with the Corn-fruit libations of Egypt, — one of the earliest and best authenticated examples of Egyptian sacrifice." But the nature of Osiris is more clearly revealed by the Ka-Ba-Khu, — the body, soul, and spirit-"double", which like the Sumerian zi, {HI), and the Semitic kabittu (liver), describes the invisible, the spiritual part of man, — his ghost or "luminous spirit". For whatever be the fate of the Ka, the ku-spirit of man follows Osiris through the limbo of darkness, and rises with him to the Paradise of Alu, there to be judged by him and his forty-two assessors. "Praise be to Thee, Osiris, Lord of the twofold Truth! Praise to Thee, great God, Lord of the twofold Truth! I come to Thee, my Lord, I draw near to see thine excellences!" . . . such was the greeting of the soul to the Great Ka-Ho-Tep, the "Shining Spirit". The repudiation of every form of sin on the part of the penitent proves that Osiris is a lover of charity, chastity, and self-sacrifice. "/ am pure! I am pure!" — such wa,s his repeated exclamation." i^See T Capart, in Compte Rendu of the Louvain Congress, , (Paris, 1913) p. 274ff. 11 De la Saussaye, Lehrbpch der Religionsgeschichte, .(1905), I. pp. 214-240. i«Cojmp. Sayce, op. cjt. p. 46-70, 153-180. Maspero, op. cit. I. p. 166ff. GOD 95 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM It is evident that the character of Egyptian religion cannot be appre- ciated without taking into consideration the meaning and function of the Ka, — the philosophy of the "double". That it embodies an immaterial concept seems certain, it is an abstract for "life", yet as the double of the body it is subject to limitations, nay it is in need of food and sustenance, and as such it partakes of a material nature, it is but a rarified body, a "ghost". This is shown by the fact that the Ka of a dead man can only communicate with his entombed mummy by means of a pictured door, through which the Ka passes in entering the tomb. It is living in a world of shams and pictures, and these for it are as good as the reality. Never- theless real food-stuffs are offered to the Kd, and in this it is distinguished from the Khu or pure "light-soul" which has got beyond the stage of earthly necessities." This is illustrated by the following address which the dead man makes to his Ka on the day of resurrection : — "Hail to thee, who wast my Ka during life ! Behold I cpme to thee, I arise resplendent, I labor, I am strong, I am hale. I bring grains of incense, I am purified thereby, and I thereby purify that which goeth forth from thee ... I am that amulet of green feldspar, the necklace of the god Ra, which is given to them that are on the horizon. They flourish, I flourish, my Ka flourishes even as they. The scale of the balance rises, Truth rises high unto the nose of the god Ra on the day on which my Ka is where I am. My head and my arm are restored to me where I am. I am he whose eye seeth, whose ears hear. I am not a beast of sacrifice. The sacrificial formulae for the higher ones in heaven are recited where I am"." Now it is a noteworthy fact that the Egyptian sign for the Ka y y corresponds to some extent with the Babylonian ideogram for "life" (Sum, zi, Ideogr. WYj^ ) > "ot so much in their external form, as in the context in which they are found." In both cases we are dealing with a flowering reed, whether single or double, which is clearly symbolical of a disembodied form, as there is a sharp distinction between the Ka or zi of a god and the god himself. This affects such forms as En- zi, (En-ti) , En-lil, zi-an-ki, zi-kum, zi-kura, etc., the zi of Eridu being the HI of Nippur, and both the equivalent of the Assyr. ni!u, the niS ilani being the "life" or spirit" of the gods, paralleled by the Eyptian ka-chepra, ka- Turn, ka-Ra, ka-Hotep, Osiris-ka, the life-double, the picture, or the simil- itude of the divine." " A H. Saycc. The Religions of ancient Egypt and Babylonia. (Edinburgh, 1903) p. 56-70. i*Book of the Dead, ch. lOS. Sayce, 1. c. p. (s. " Sayce. 1. c. p. 58, 27SS. Barton, Baby- lonian Writing, 23, No. 91. Delitzsch. Assyrisches Handworterbuch, under m«. "Cun. Texts, IX, 1. 6. Erman, p. 102; Brugsch, op. crt. p. 420, 306. Virey, I. c. p. 231ff. 96 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM But Ka is not the highest expression of the divine nature. There is ba, the less material soul, and above all things, khu, the completely emanci- pated spirit, the "spark" of the divine intelligence, symbolised by the Phoe- nix, the mythical fire-bird. This expression is the most subtle that can well be conceived for conveying the notion of rarified light as the most appro- priate picture of what is essentially spiritual, of its nature immortal and godlike. The four Khu of Horns, the Sun, are the four major stars of the Great Bear, and they became the "Manes" or Guardian-spirits of Manetho, the semi-divine dynasty which intervened between the dynasties of gods and men." Their Babylonian equivalent was the zi of the gods, the zi of heaven and earth, the zi of all things, the invisible life-power concealed in all being. It was essentially personal, even if it worked through inanimate objects." This sublime and apparently advanced concept could only be kept pure, however, in so far as it was separated from the lower Ka, the needy or carnal double, which as the HI or hobgoblin of the Euphrates, wandered about from tomb to tomb, seeking rest and finding none. But this was only partially to be the case. The confusion of Ka and Khu, of hungry ghost and heavenly spirit, was often such that the whole system degenerated into a demon-worship with the most baneful moral consequences to the race. "The double did not allow its family to forget it, but used all the means at its disposal to remind them of its existence. It entered their homes and their bodies, terrified thism, waking and sleeping, by its sudden apparitions, struck them down with disease and madness, and would even suck their blood like the modern vampire"." Phallic symbols, both in Egypt and Babylonia, testify to the preverted nature of this influence. It is even on record that Turn begat Shu and Tefnut by means of a solitary act, — surely the limit of a distorted notion, — even if it be looked upon as aberrant phenomenon, an isolated case.=" Throughout the attribution of personal spiritual powers even to lifeless objects of whatever kind, while it broad- ened the sphere of divine action in its better manifestations, entailed a cor- respondingly dangerous tendency, whenever the ffa-worship took exclusive possession of the field. We are here in presence of what is commonly called "animism", — belief in a spiritual power emanating from countless life-centers. "As in Egypt, so in Babylonia, animism was the earliest shape assumed by religion, and it was through animism that the Sumerian formed his conception of the divine"." " Sayce, op. cit. p. 61. ^" Idem, p. 58. ^' Masi ^tuK OA»l-a>AM-WU C-TIU lUkSI SE - EL MA-TA— A-TI NIK-^KI E — ftu TA-KtIT— tAJku LU>uS.:tMIMSA-~AH A*UH bU— 4U— »l XI — KlR-JUl L.W— &AK1-JB1 ^M— liu (*')SI.B g — MAW-a^ a '8*t.KU«tkU^-^A TA-MIT— X*-iu, tU-'Uft-'rA.I^A— AH kU — UT_jrAk — KAR KUf(— us SU UUO-^kUL. ■ «A«, 1^ (ILU)AiuRMkt ItiM tlMATt (**tA.I«li)H.U— MB AD NA-— A— Tl A— MAn — WtS LU U» . Tl TAH-~ai»^— -TU A-NA— 4e-MS-E Aa— KU— U— T» A— NA a A 1\ A— A— Tl t-U < »R— ^» e— NU — US— — M (&U«p«in— u KA^-t* uai-MI AB-KAI. ILAMI ■ MUT— TAk— tU BA— ««U U IkANI IMU— AL kIB OkU) «%— XMR (VtBBU) fc NIK— kA— A— Tl Ml— &U0^> A&UK. ^ KI^SIT— »U RU— KA— i«r Kl — M* &«»-•> E Uk uVk—TA— X %A I SlD-^, I. P. Bg«. GOD 99 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM But we cannot leave the banks of the Euphrates without calling atten- tion to the lofty tone, the almost Palestinian ring, of many of the hymns and prayers addressed to the two highest members of the Assyrian pantheon: 1, "Mighty Lord of Lords, all-knowing! 2, Prince of the gods! Master of Destiny! 3, Ashur! Mighty Lord, all-knowing! 4, Lord of the gods and Master of our fate! 5, Father Ashur! the Almighty! Lord of Lords, and Lord of the lands! 6, / will praise his greatness, I unll unake known his majesty, 7, / will exalt his memory, I will glorify his name! 8, / unll re- veal the splendor of him who dwells in his holy temple, 9, / will praise his power, I will extol his virtue, — 10, heavenly Ashur! — Lord of our fate! ii, Thai I may reveal his greatness to all nations, — 12, that generations to come may hear of his name — 13, / will praise his dominion for ever and ever — the wise one — 14, Him of great Understanding, Arbiter of the gods, 15, Creator of the heavens. Former of the mountains, 16, Source of all gods. Father of Ishtar, 17, mighty Heart, subtle Intelligence, 18, Glorious one! Whose name evokes fear, whose word travels to the ends of the earth. 20, His spirit is like the mountains, his foundations cannot be seen, 21, he shines like the firmament — ^22, From all eternity is Thy Name"? Though the hymn exists only in fragments and requires much inter- linear reading, the analogy to Psalm 29 (28) is obvious. Again — 1, "/ pray unto thee, Lady of Ladies, divinest of all divinities! 2, Ishtar! Queen of all people. Directress of mankind! 3, Irnini! Thou art raised on high, Mistress of the spirits of heaven! 4, Thou art mighty, thou hast sovereign power! Exalted is thy name! 5, Thou art the Light of heaven and earth, valiant daughter of the Moon! 6, ruler of weapons, arbitress of battles, 7, framer of all decrees, wearer of the crown of dominion! 8, Lady! Majestic is thy rank! Over all the gods is it exalted! — 40, Where thou lookest in pity, the dead man lives again, the sick is heaJUed. The. afflicted is saved from his affliction, when he beholds thy face. 42, /, thy servant, sorrowful, sighing, and in distress, cry unto thee. 43, Look upon me, my Lady, and accept my supplication! 44, Truly pity me, and hearken unto my prayer! 45^ Cry unto me "It is enough!", and let thy spirit be appeased. 46, How long shall my body Umient, which is full of rest- lessness and confusion? 47, How long shall my heart be afflicted, which is full of sorrow and sighing?" * » Craig, Assyrio-Babylonian Religious Texts, Vol. I., Plates 32-34. (K. 3258). (Leipzig, 189s). Retranslation from Jastrow, i. c. (new germ, edit.) Vol. I., p. 520. Comp. Martin, Textes Religieux (Paris, 1903), p. 126. ' King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (London, 1902), Vol. I, p. 222-237 (Transcription and translation). Vol. IL PI. 75-84 (Text). Comp. Jastrow, i, c. Vol. II, pp. 66-08, Dhorme, Choix de Textes (Paris, 1907), p. 356 flF. 100 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND RECENT FORM Again, though Adad is the god of storms and represents the fearful, the terrible side of divinity,— the idea of justice—, he is yet capable of acts of mercy, he listens to the cry of the penitent, — "Merciful Lord among the great gods, I turn to Thee, I supplicate Thee! Be merciful unto me, Lord, and hear my prayer. Destroy my enemies, Dispel my antagonists. Let not the venom of the sorcerers come near! Have compassion on me and grant me thy grace ! My god and my goddess — (patron-saints) — procure for me tranquillity. May thy heart be pacified, may thy spirit be softened, grant me thy peace! Grant me thy favor, grant me thy mercy, grant me thy grace ! Then will I praise thy majesty, proclaim thy glory, acknowledge thy rule"." Now in reproducing these passages in the English vernacular, we must be careful not to read a meaning into the text which cannot be found; we must beware of carrying our own psychology into an age in which animism and nature-worship existed side by side with a higher vision of divinity, an age in which theory and practice were often as violently opposed as they are commonly said to be in all the ages of man. Thus the expression "Lord of Lords" and "God of Gods", however suggestive of Jewish-Christian ideas, differs essentially from the latter in that the en-lil Hani or ilu Hani is the first among many deities of the same nature, each of which is described in very similar terms, a "lord of the lands", a "father of all the gods". Ashur is simply the greatest of great ones, not the unique Jehovah, the "I AM" of Israel. In like manner, the exalted character of "Our Lady of Niniveh" should not blind us to the numerous corruptions to which her worship was destined to give rise, corruptions which were too constant and uniform to be put down as mere accidentals. Finally, although the High Ones are invoked against sorcery, they are themselves the object of divination, it is the kabittu or liver of the sacrificial animal that reveals the heart, mind, or purpose of the deity, — omens are his divine "will". Yet with all this the verdict of the tablets is decisive on the subject of a lofty, comparatively pure cult of divinity. Phallic signs in the alphabet were the most natural means for the differentiation of sex, and probably meant no more than indications of gender. From the penitential formulas it is quite certain that high and noble ideals were in the air, and perhaps it is not too much to say that this early Assyrian faith represents with the Iranian the nearest approach to a supernatural religion," 11 "King, Babylonian Magic, (London, 1896), No. 21, lines 61-71. Jastrow, I. p. 484. Comp. Dhorme, La Religion Assyro-Babylonienne, pp. 210-241 (La Loi morale). A PRAYER TO ISHTAR "QUEEN OF HEAVEN- KNOWN AS THE PBAYEB OF THE BAI8ING OF THE RAND ^ 45 26187 OBV. ifsTu u— sfct—— c«— — Ki BC-urr Be— u— e— n «-lat i— la-a-ti [ILO> I&-TA1* SaH— HA— T« KUkz-UAT OAr-AP-M B Mu JU-T&^WWAT -rB-NI>^e>e^l LlLU) IR — NI— Nl MO— TA— LA— A— Tl ».A— Srr (ILU) latest CiaS— RA — A -n MA- AU— — KA— A— -r* 6u-MU— W.I %l — «.u AT— XI — MA MA-AM- ►iA-llAT &^Me U >H*mM M»r-«*ATflUU)%IN KA-RIT-Tl MUT— TAa-Bl— lA «r KAKKJB iA-Kl-MA-AT Tl<— KLl — ON— Tl HA— Mi— MAT fil— rttlA. PA%-Sl ^— b|— ^AT A— ei — E SG — lU— Tl (ILUJBSUT SUP-PU— U HAR— au— HA BV.\ KA— l> IkAMI SI— RU ">VHERE TMOU UOOKESrr.lN PITY" A — &AR TAP— B*L.— LA— s» « — »AL-LUT MITu • TE— IB-»t MAR-SU I^JCl— IR LA I— ^— Ro A— Mi RU PA— Ml— Kl I'M** "sj^^^K m^^ ^=^^]^^m ANA-KU AU— SI— K.« AM— HU $U — MU— HU ^UM— RU — SU AU>I-.IU A— MuR— <•»—«• — MA(n.ui aecn— lA ui k» — e um— mi-mi— -ia Kl — MI& MAP-H — SlM-NI— MA %|— M«— C TAS— H— Tl A — UU-LAP— lA 1M— Tl U TA— M»— HI TEXT AND TBANSUTERATION BY I.. W. KING, TBE SEVEN TABLETS OF CBEATION, (LONDON, 1902), VOt. I. M,. IXXV-IjXSJX, VOt. D. P. aaSFF. AND COMPARE P. DHOBBIE, CHOIX DE TESTES BEUGIECX, (PABIS, 1907), P. 350FF. ^ASTBOW, B. B. A. n. ««•««. THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL AS tLI^VSTBATBD BT THB 24TH PSALH, DOVAI, VS. S3 : nn nuTi >3n nswi r>«n rnn^> i THC feAKTH IS THS tOFtO'S AMD TH« FULNESS TMEREOF TKC W0KLB AfU> TrteVnUT SweiXTHEReiN POR Ht UATH tsouNBGO IT U^OMTHr SEA«i AMO MATW ^ftePARED »T Uf>ON THE fMveR«. >^HO SHALC ASCENb IhTTO THE MOUNTAtN OF THB LORD. OR WHO «HAI.«. QTANS IM HIS HOUV T»l.Ace ? THE INNOCENT OF HANSS ANJ> THE CUEAN OF HEART, WHO HATH NOT TAKEN HI9 90UI. IN VAIN . NOR SWORN n?>"Ki mn* a^ rmis^Mi^ S: ncn5> vim ^y oeeeiTFULUY to hi« NeicHscR. he «hal\. receive a suEssiKte FROM THe tORO, A.N& MERCY FROM SOB' HI6 SAVIOR . THIS IS THE Feneration of them that seek him, OF TMEM THAT SEEK THE FAOE OF THE a03> OF JACOB. D>iv ^nm i^\ir3m q:^''^^'^ vr^m ]m T-.rfcD UFT UF' YOUR GATES "O VB ^RINCES.ANS »e VE UFTEO UP.VE e/BRUASHNQ »OOR» , AMB THE KINC OF Cl^KY SHAI.I. ENTER IN. rnv miT io:)n i>i3 nr ♦& a nmn w ^ni WHO IS THE KIN4 OF CUORY ? THC I.ORb STRONG AHb MIGHTV, THE LORD MIGHTY IN BATTUE. tm^ ^y^ ]w 9 : nQn>D "im niir imi UFT.'"ui»'vouR eATe»To've"FRiNces, AN© bbve uptci) up.ve m ^cs 10 : ii:3>n'T» ^y\ ctiy ^nn^ xm) eV«UA«nN0~90ei^. AN» THB KINC OF CUORV SiHAkk GHT6R IN. : icoT\ i» ^in Jii^ccf :nin* imn i>q m WHO l».THB KIMC or OCORY? TMB ».0ON, 10OT), COI^. I. § 9. TH-A— T - t-Y 3SA - A - T«A — YA— VA — U - & ^^"rZi^ - A - YA --TM - I -YA A - U - 1«A-MA- AX-3)A- A g^ MA -Q - y] - I - MA KH-Sa-TRA-M F-RA-A-»A^-RA A -U -T«A-MA-»a:-aJA-A-MA-l— Y U --pA- Ai-TA-A -M PJ A-»A-T«A YA-A-TA-A I - MA KH-*A--mA-M ft HA^/j- :ba, -a -TVk-YA-l -(xl VAr-H-NA-A A ■- U — .7*A-MA-At-»A-A -HA 1 — MA tai-&ik--mA-M a>A — A -~ T^ — Ml — V -Y ft ^•-T^^m y (AO — AK (lv() TA •HI - t- YA MA-uS(J,4)saiNKUK(HA')-AN-W fAM) U-T^A-MaX-tA HI|^MKUK-MC (M)U TU-NI-tS Al — AK. CAN) U-'BA,-MAi--rA W - JK" En J (M)U TA — aS KU- V& (MQ UOtt)zUN»(UK-Me-HI 111 ►<»^1t^^^«^^^gK]^TA SA-wml-TU-A IS-ZAN-NU Q (ILU) U - Kl - MI-ia:-»A 1S_«| 3»^N-NU a— Sil MU^I JU. C ^ASWJ-xu A-CiA--rA (0 p^AKU AJS-^A— «Ar ItiK ¥IU-I 4a (ll-U) U - m - Ml - IZ~»K —• SAWwi]— TU A-NEB, AVESTA, (STCTTOABT, 189S). FOB MEW PROMETIO TBANSCBIPTION SEE "A STVOT OF TASNA L" WITH INTBOMICTION PAHLATI AND PEBSIAN TEXTS, AND WITH THE CLOSEB SANSCBIT E<)nTAI,ENTS, BY PKOF. tAWBENCE HEYWOBTH MIIX8, D. D. (BBOCKHAVS-LEIPZIO, 1»1«), P. 87 (AVESTA TBANSLITEB^ION), P. 9S (COBBECTED ENO- lilSH EQUIVALENTS). FOB THE APPBOVED TBANSLATION, BASED ON AN EXHA08TIVB STtJDV OF AlX THE DOCUMENTS. SEE "THE ZEND-AVESTA, PABT m." BEING VOL. XXXI OF THB SACBED BOOKS OF THE EAST, EDITED BY F. MAX MVIXEB (OXFOBD, 1U7), P. IH. GOD 107 WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM But the most characteristic feature of the Zoroastrian faith is its dual- ism and the doctrine of the seven spirits. At the very outset we And two personal principles at work, each of which brings forth two antagonistic worlds, the one essentially good, the other essentially evil." 12 3 4 5 6 7 Ahura-Mdzda^sha, Vohu-Manah, Kshathra^ramaitijlaurvatat^meretatat Life Truth Love Law Energy Health Immortality These are opposed by an opposite series corresponding to each mem- ber : — 12 3 4 5 Angra-Mainyu, DruJ, Akem-Mana, Dush-Kshathra, Taramaiti, Evil Falsehood Hate Anarchy Insolence 6 7 Avaetat, Merethyu Dejection Death Whether the seven Ameshiis of the first series are seven aspects or attributes of divinity, of which Mazda is one, or whether they are to be looked upon as dependent spirits after the manner of the Jewish-Christian archangels, cannot be determined with certainty, though the original num- ber, six, favors the latter supposition. In any case, whether as a "sep- tade" of attributes or a sevenfold hierarchy, they figure very early both in Avesta and Rig-Veda, but there is no necessity of deriving the "seven spirits of Zekariah directly from the Amesha-Spentas. There is ample evi- dence for a "Holy Seven" or a sevenfold division of divine manifestations in the Babylonian and perhaps even in the Egyptian system, the "septes- sence" of divinity surviving in the Sabbath and Hexahemeron of the Jews, while the Hebrew Cherubim, Seraphim, Maleachim, etc. are clearly of pre- exilic origin, being closely paralleled by the Assyrian karubu and other pro- tecting divinities. However, a comparison of the Ameshas with the Heb- deads or Enneads of the Euphrates or the Nile reveals at a glance that, while the former are abstracts, the latter are cosmic designations and stand for an entirely different circle of ideas. (Compare the Babylonian and Egyptian lists)." As to the nature of Ormazd, ( Ahura-Meizda) , it is revealed in the Gathas, or "Hymns," Which, as the Yasna, or "Sacrifice", represent the oldest documents of the moral idea and of subjective religion, the esoteric faith : — "/ will announce and complete my sacrifice to Ahura-Mazda, the Creator, the radiant, the glorious, the greatest, the best, and the most beautiful. Whose body{?) is all-perfect, whose Order is supreme, who disposes our minds aright. Who sends His joy-creating grace afar. Who made us and fashioned us, who has nourished and protected us, who is the most boun- tiful Spirit".^^ ^^ L. H. Mills, Avesta Eschatology compared with the Books of Daniel and Revelations (Chicago, 1908) pp. 67-83 : "God and His Immortals". Idem, Our Own Religion, p. 18, lOSff. Also Gathas, passim. '^ See under "Creation", p. 175if. where this subject is treated with more detail. ^' Yasna, I, 1. This is a free translation, based upon the combined Avesta and Pahlavi texts. 108 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND RECENT FORM He is tlius declared to be a Spirit, — Manali — , a good Spirit, — Vohu- Manafi— in fact a "lioly" Spirit,— Spenta-Mamyu,—Ee is unique, He is the Truth, He is the supreme Goodness. He is also omniscient," omnip- otent," and all-provident." He is Creator of heaven and earth, of men and of all the "gods"." He is a Teacher and Ijawgiver," an unchangeable Friend, Protector and Strengthener," the Founder of a kingdom that is to be for the poor,^'' the supreme Judge of man at the end of the world." As nearly all these expressions are found in the Gathic Avesta, their high antiquity seems assured, (700-900 B. C). Furthermore, there is the Paradise of Airyana-Vejah in the Himalayas, where Ahura-Mazda has stationed the first man, Yima, and where Mithra, Friendship, and Haoma, the sacred Soma-Tree, impart health, life, immor- tality. In the sequel Yima falls into the power of the Serpent, Azhi-Dakaka, through an act of prevarication, through telling an untruth, — a character- istically Iranian touch." Nevertheless Redemption is promised, there are echoes of a Savior, to be born of a virgin, though the Bundahish tradition is very late and disfigured by unworthy details.^'' In the meantime salvfi- tion may be purchased and forgiveness obtained by a blameless life "in thought, word, and deed", by offering up the «oma-sacrifice, by tending the sacred fires {Atar) by abstaining from heresy, violence, untruthful- ness, perjury, and sexual sins, by practicing charity, generosity, philan- thropy. At death the soul is judged by its own conscience before Ahura's throne in presence of Mithra, Sraosha, Rashnu, it is rewarded or punished by a heaven or hell of "thoughts, words, and deeds", and at the end of time will come the last prophet, the resurrection of the dead, the general judg- ment, and the final triumph of Mazda over the evil spirit, who will be destroyed for ever." I do not intend to handle the difficult question of the origin and antiquity of these beliefs, nor to propound any theories on the nature of manah or fravashi as the "soul" or "spirit" of a person, and their possible connexion with the Latin manes or the Hindoo jntris. Suffice it to say that the exor- cism of demons is a pronounced feature from the earliest times, and seems to reveal a strong belief in spiritistic influences, — not simply personified forces, but personal agencies.*" But if the entire system be branded as comparatively late, as surviving in its hellenistic form in the "Mysteries of Mithras", we answer that the Aryan race was a late arrival on the field of the world's activity, that Egypt and Babylon both preceded her by many centuries, but that she was the first to adore at the crib of the Redeemer.^* "Yasna, 31. 13. 14. "Y. 43, 6. "Ibid. "Behistun. "Y. 31. 5, 11. "Y. 31, 7. 20 Y 28 4 34, 3. " Y. 43, 4flf. ^^ Vendidad, Iff. s' Yasht, 13. 62. 142. 1% 92. and Bundahish, 144ff "Details in Yashts (13, 19, 22) and Vendidad (19) etc. ^ See the Yasna and Ven- didad passim. 2» as the Iranian magi (?). See under "Redemption" below. GOD 109 WESTEEIN-ASIATIG AND REGENT FORM Brahministic Development The common impression that the Aryan invaders of India were the originators of a more or less pantheistic nature-vs^orship, culminating in the later Brahminism, is one that needs to be considerably modified. THE EARLY VEDIC FAITH IDENTICAL WITH THE AVESTIC-IRANIAN There can no longer be any doubt that the equations Ahura-Asura, Mithra-Mitra, Haoma-Soma, etc. hold good, and this not only as verbal identities (under Grimm's law), but also as theological expressions for "Spirit", "Friendship", "Immortality" (?), even if as nature-symbols they can also be read as "Heaven", "Sun", "Earth", etc. — relics of the totemic age.^ This does not destroy their personality, but only the manner of its expression, the form in which it is clothed, as there can be no doubt that, with Varuna and Indra, they were worshipped as persons from the remotest, historical antiquity (about 2000 B. C). BRAHMINISM AN ARYAN-DRAVIDIAN COMPOUND But in the subsequent intermingling and partial fusion with the Indo- Kolarian aborigines, it was unavoidable that this comparatively lofty the- ology should be soiled by the prevailing totemism and reincarnation- doctrines of Central India, even if the rigid caste-system is something entirely new.^ Brahma-Vis hnu-Siwa take the place of the older pantheon, in which personal creation recedes more and more into the background, the new triad being simply a theogony of divine manifestations, first as Thought-power, ( ?) , second as Sun-power, and finally as Storm-power, which in still later times were worked up into the more refined concept of "Creator", "Preserver" and "Destroyer", three aspects of the one undefinable, illimitable Being.' In modern Hindooism we find a few faint vestiges of the true light struggling through the mists of a belated naturalism. Taoistic Development The existence or parallel ideas among the Mongolian races is a fact that should here be noted. In the Yi-king or "Book of Changes" (perhaps 1500 B. C), all things are the result of two opposite principles, the yang: and the ying, — in which the great triad "Heaven, Earth, and Man" is sym- bolished by the trigram. ' (Khien-Khwan-Kan) , called "Father- Mother-Son", and over which Shang-Ti rules as the Lord of creation. The same to some extent in the Shu-King or "Book of History".* In the age of Confucius and Laotze (6-500) it is the doctrine of the Tao, — the "vital monad"—, that leads to strong ancestor-worship.'' 1 Oldenberg, Vedic Religion, p. 103flf. Mills, Our own Religion, pp. 77-78, 93ff. 2 Cf. S. Iyengar, on the origin of Aryan culture in India, Anthr. IX. p. 1-15. ' Cf. Rig- Veda, I-X, with the later Brahmanas and Upanishads (S. B. E. I-XLVI). * S. B. E. Vol. XVI. (Yi- king), p. SO. III. (Shu-King), p. xxiiiflf. and compare Paul Carus, Chinese Thought (Chi- cago, 1907) p. 2Sflf. -' S. B. E. Vol. XL. (Tao-Teh-King). 110 GOD WESTERN-ASIATIC AND REGENT FORM Shintoistic Development In the Shinto system of Japan three Creators are prominent from the earliest times. They arc called Ameno-minaka-nushi, Takami-musubi, Kami-busubi, the flrst of whom existed immovably at the time of creation, while the latter were agents in the creation. They are followed by seven generations of heavenly spirits, several other groups, and Anally by the fathers of Japan from whom the emperor, or Mikado, is directly descended. It is instructive to notice how the early ideas of a transcendent Being are, as in China, gradually fused with those of the ancestor, — it is the "Way of the gods !" « Western-Aryan Development Homer and Hesiod are the classic sources for the Graeco-Roman religion, (ca. 1000 B. C). It has already been shown that the liguistic evidence establishes with some certainty the existence of the common Indo-germanlc root div, to "shine", from which our own word "divinity" has been derived. In the Greek Zeus and the Latin deus this root is par- ticularly clear, and the combination Zeus-pater, Deus-pater, Ju-piter, tells its own story, it is a "Heavenly Father" that is here intimated. Neverthe- less in the works of the above authors there is apparently a "theogony", Zeus being the son of Chronos (Time), which makes Jupiter the son of Saturn, while the position of Uranos, Oceanus, and other elemental deities, is strongly suggestive of a rise of divinities out of nature-powers, even if the latter be treated as "personifications" rather than "personal- ities", a point which can never be settled. The main features of the Graeco-Roman belief are sufficiently well known. I would however call attention to the generally lofty tone of the father of Greek literature, to the absence of deliberate obscenity, to the delicate portrayal of social and family life in the character of his heroes, and to the unbloody sacrifices or "libations" {spondai) to which he bears witness. Much the same may be said of the Germanic religion as revealed in the Eddas and the Niebelungen Lied. The germanic gods have given their names to our days of the week, — Tiu's day being next to Sun and Moon- day, the most important ferial. In both religions, however, there is a strong spirit-cult known as "manism" among the Latins, and the practice of divination, spirit-feeding, ghost- and demon-hunting, of caricaturing the gods by clothing them at times with the basest of human passions, shows that even the offering of priceless hecatombs and the sacrifice of human life is unable to redeem a world which is gradually speeding to its own inevitable dissolution.' » Papinot, Diet, d'histoire et de geographic de Japon, (Yokohama, 1906). 'See the Qassics passim, and Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums, II. 1-242, and compare in general A. Schmidt, Gedanken tiber die Entwickelung der Religion auf Grund der Babylonischen Qucllen. Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, (Leipzig, 1911), pp. 1-136. GOD 111 LATER OCEANIC AND RECENT FORM (N, 6) AUSTRONESIAN DEVELOPMENT, (SoUTH SeA ISLANDS ) From the preceding evidence it is clear that archaeology alone cannot settle the question of neolithic religion. The inscriptions carry us back to the fourth or fifth millennium before Christ, and then they desert us. Luckily there are large groups of peoples that are still on the neolithic level, and that can give us some picture, however vague, of the early con- ditions of neolithic worship. Among these are the natives of the South- Sea Islands, who are living in the advanced stone age, and mirror to some extent the conditions of the earlier lacustrian and the later megalithic periods. What light can they throw on the question of a supreme personal divinity? Is this being ultimately of astral origin? (a) BATARA — Indonesian Recent — (N. W. Borneo) As to Batara (or Petara) of the Bornean Sea-Dayaks, (lacustrian), there is no direct evidence of his solar character. The name is the San- scrit Bhattara ("Lord" "Master"), and he is described as the Maker of heaven and earth and of all things, including sun, moon, and stars. The Creation legend appears in two forms, in the first of which Batara occupies a prominent position: — "Batara first expanded the heavens, — thick as the crest of a red rooster. Batara first created the earth, — thick as the fruit of the Horse-Mango. Batara first poured forth the waters, — great as the fibres of the rattan. Batara first cleft the clay in two parts, — and it became man".^ In the other version greater details are given. In the beginning there was a huge expanse of water, over which two creative spirits, Ara and Irik hovered in the form of birds. They dived under and brought forth two solid substances of the size of a hen's egg. Out of these Ara made the heaven and Irik the earth. By comparing heaven and earth, it was found that the earth was too large. So they pressed it together, and mountains and valleys were formed. Trees and plants then sprouted out of their own accord. The two spirits then essayed the creation of man, first as a red- sapped tree, and finally as a figure of clay, who as male and female, became the ancestors of the race, known as Tanah-Kumpok, — the "earth- formed".^ Nevertheless "all spirits came from Batara, who made them air7 The native origin of these legends is stamped on the very wording, even if the hatching-theme and the waters are suggestive of Western- Asiatic influences. Batara "works", though his creation is largely auto- matic. 1 H. Ling-Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (London, 1896), Vol. L p. 165ff. 2 Mgr. E. Dunn, Prefect Apostolic of British Borneo, in Anthropos, I. (1906) -pp. ll-?4ff.— a series on the Iban Dayaks. Comp. W. Schmidt, Grundlinien einer Vergleichung der Reiigionen u. MyUiologien der Austronesishen Volker, (Vienna, 1910), pp. 4-7. ' Dunn, op. cit. p. 177. 112 GOD LATER OCEANIC AND REGENT FORM Of the nature of Batara we have considerable information. He is often addressed as, Patu nadu apai, Endang nadai indai, — an "orphan, without father — ever without mother".* He is an antu, or invisible spirit, and has neither temples nor pictures, though he demands prayer, he requires sacrifice, he is the stern guardian of morality. Perham's estimate is worth considering. He says in substance, that although the concept of Batara is by no means a lofty one, yet he is nevertheless a "good" being. Although he lets men die as a sign of his displeasure, evil is not attributed to him. He is always on the side of justice and right. Batara cannot be unjust, cannot be unchaste. Batara approves of industry, honesty, clean- ness of tongue, integrity in word and action. He admonishes men to harbor the stranger, feed the hungry with rice, give drink to the thirsty, console the afflicted, guard their fingers from theft and their hearts from contamination. Unchastity is believed to be punished by Batara with heavy rain, and can only be atoned for by fire and sacrifice. Every locality trodden by an adulterer is cursed by the gods, until the deed has been expiated by a suitable sacrifice.^ This is an attractive picture, but must be offset by other considerations which tend to make the above precepts largely theoretical. In the first place Batara is the name for any god or antu, even for the demon of the underworld, though there is admittedly only one supreme Batara, the creator of them all. Yet he requires two an\— BIN TEXT AMD TBAN8CBIFTION BY ZIMMEBN, BEITBAGE ZUB KENNTNIS DEB BABYLONISCHBN BEI.IGION, (LEIPZIG. 1801), NO. 78. L. 69-74. BABYLONIAN INCANTATION RITUAL SHURPU SERIES, II. 5. 130ff. THE SO-CALLED "CONFESSION-TABLET" (K. 8868+K. 5495) 3r. 5 6 <2. (3 H- 20 ^L 4a 49 SO tKKIfl lU-SU I — kU-Ul IKJ_ TVU SU ["«].!S^ ^i? 4ffl:^>^ (,lTn) UMMI MAR— TA IP — WU 6U ^M^Hnn=^^fi^ ^^ ^ $iL ►#- A — h4A BIT TAP-PI e— ^U I Te ^TUl US A— NA aSS^ST tap— pi B — £u IT TS JJI JJA Ml TAP— Pt E— & IT TA BA — AK SU BAT -|»P— Tl E — SU IT TA — M. — SA->>ii THE ACCUSATION OF GUILT BE-UUM AN-NU-U-A MA 'I a>A RA-BArAyt-TA-TU-U-A JASTBOW, RBA, n. P. lOeff. (GBBAIAN BDITION) IT. B. PL 10 "O LOBD, HT TBANBOBB8SIONS ABB MANY, 6BBAT ABE UY STSSV THE "ABSOLUTION" (K. 8868 Rev. + K. 150) IBO 135 HO LU-U -PAT — -RA (lU) ^MA& aOA—A— AK— NU mi— TUB. MA&-M>Ji ILANI JBeUiBQ^NU-U (IC) MAKDUK PU— Ur— RA ILANI -HABim MA-iA SUM-Su-MU Xl^K■^} SACRIFICE A^fD SACRAMENTALS 363 RECENT ASIATIC FORM Early Babylonian Rite (4) Penitential Practice: — ^Apart from the abstinences which are ipso facto implied in every food-offering, there is little in the line of physical mortification that is required of the penitent sinner. In place of a lacera- tion of the body there is a laceration of the soul, which is just as severe and far more searching from the point of view of moral guilt. The exami- nation of conscience was conducted before the Sangu as follows : — "Has he blasphemed his god? Has he blasphemed his goddess? Has he said yes for no, and no for yes? Has he pointed with the finger, spoken evil, spoken impurity, encouraged calumny? Has he estranged father from son, mother from daughter, friend from friend, etc? Has he never released a prisoner, granted him a vision of daylight? Has he dishonored his father and mother? Has he given false measure, taken bad money, removed the boundary-stones? Has he invaded his neighbor's house, taken his neighbor's wife, shed his neighbor's blood, stolen his neighbor's clothes?" "0 Lord, my transgressions are m/iny, great are my sins!" (Contrition). "Come to deliver us, Shairmsh, thou Lord of Justice! (Absolution-Formula). Release the ban, thou priest of the gods, thou merciful lord, Marduk! Release the ban, ye great gods, as many of you as there are. Anu and Antum, release the ban! Bel, thou king and creator of all, release the ban! Belit, thou queen of Ekiur, release the ban! Enki, king of the ocean, release the ban! Eridu, House of the ocean, release the ban!" etc." These are only a few of the divinities invoked on this occasion, but the whole ceremony reveals a genuine desire to deliver the penitent from the fetters of sin, to reconcile him with the supernatural beings that he has offended. As to physical healing, it is accomplished by water and fire, or by water and oil, with an application of the medicinal herb, the tigallu or gesh-tin ("tree of life"), and the recitation of the formulae under (1) and (2). Yet, dignified as they are, these ceremonies are grossly poly- theistic, — the culprit is released from the ban of witchcraft by a series of cosmic agents who are themselves the authors of divination and sorcery in one of its most repulsive forms. There is no guarantee whatever that the sins are in any sense pardoned. (5) Priesthood: — All these functions are performed or presided over by the Sangu, or priest, who as the patesi or "father", of Sumerian times, was at once the civil governor. At a later period we find three well marked groups, — the aSipu, or conjuror, the baru, or diviner, and the zammeru, or chanter — , the supreme functionary being the "Priest-King" or High- Priest {Sangammahu) . He is God's representative and is einointed with oil (pa^iSu), he wears the mitre and carries the mace. Though the Sumerian Sangu was apparently shaved, the Semitic kings were invariably bearded, but the priestly unction was universal." " Surpn, II. S-SOff. (K. 8868), Zimmern, 3-5, Rawlinson, IV, PI. 10. (Contrition- formula), >*Dhorrae, Rel, Ass, Bab. pp. 282-302. ^t RECENT SACRIFICE (EGYPTIAN RITE) DO eOsMHi%^^^ ? ]\i:> Hini (G^i^ 14-, 18) "BLESSED BE ABRAHAM OF THE MOST HIGH GOD!" "BLESSED BE THE MOST HIGH GOD!'" •liETH EEN ABHAIIAMS RKI ICION AND THE KKLK^ION ((E THE I'KIEST-KINC; MKl.CHI- SEDEK THEUK EMSIS A CONNEXION OF ItKI.K^IOlS IIISTOKY I rON WHICH THE I,AST WOKI) HAS >OT VEI' 15EEN SAID. I'llE 3H)KE OK I,ESS (LEAKEY KECO(iMSVHLE WOKSHIT OE '(iOI) MOST HH^!' LINKS MtKAHAiM THE BAISVEONIAN H ITH THE THUS KlN Movers, Das Opferwesen der Karthager und Phonizier (1847) 372 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS REGENT ASIATIC FORM Hebrew — Palestinian Rite (4) Atonement:— The Kappora, or "Covering" of sin, is the proximate effect of the tresspass-offering, supplemented by a confession of guilt and a satisfaction, either to the aggrieved party, or to the priest of the Lord. On the great Day of Atonement (the 10th of Tishri) there is a national confession and remission of sin, accompanied by prolonged w^ailing and "affliction of soul". The high priest sends the scape-goat into the desert to "carry off their sins", confessing over him all the iniquities of the chil- dren of Israel. "Pardon, Lord, Pardon thy people, and be not angry with us for ever!" With the blood of the first goat he has sprinkled people, sanctuary, and Holy of Holies as described above. The healing of diseases is accom- plished by similar exorcisms. Strict fasts are decreed on the Day of Atone- ment.* (5) Priesthood: — It is clear that priest and patriarch were original- identical terms. But from the time of the exodus we find three distinct orders of sacred functionaries, — (1) The High Priesthood (beginning with Aaron). (2) The Aaronitic Priesthood (the sons of Aaron). (2) The Levitical Order, (the sons of Levi). They are anointed with oil, and wear the usual Asiatic insignia, the lofty mitre and the staff being the highest emblems of authority." (6) Matrimony: — ^While monogamy was looked upon as the primitive and ideal state of humanity, the practice of taking two or more wives was evidently regarded as having a divine sanction. Polygamy steadily grew in popular and royal favor, until by the time of Solomon it exceeded all reasonable limits (300 wives and 700 concubines!). Though the position of woman was respectable and protected by the highest social and moral practice, it could hardly be called ideal. Marriage was a purely legal con- tract, and could be dissolved by the "writ of divorcement" with as little difficulty as it could be embraced. Nevertheless the family life of the patriarchs exhibits many examples of noble and unselfish devotion on both sides, and the names of Sarah and Rebecca, of Ruth and Naomi, will ever be associated with what is best and highest in female nature. This means that national exogamy was regarded with favor.^ (7) Burial: — The idea of the family cemetery appears to be strongly developed from the earliest times. Earth, cave, and tomb-burial all claimed an equal share in the method of disposal, but the absence of cremation is again noticeable. The custom of embalming was introduced from Egypt. Though self-laceration was discountenanced, mourning in "sackcloth and ashes" was approved. The absence of offerings reflects a more spiritual view of the hereafter.' * Lev 16. 23, 26. Num. S, 5. 29, 7. Text founded on Joel, 2, 17. Healing of Lepers, Lev. 14, 1-57. • Ex. 28. 29. Lev. 8-9. Num. 3-4. « Gen. 4, 19. Lev. 18. Deut. 24. ^ Gen. 25, 9. SO. 26. RECENT SACRIFICE (HEBREW-PALESTINIAN RITE) THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM AS IT APPEARED IN THE VISIONS OF EZEKIEI. "SURGE ET ILLIIMINARE, JERUSALEM" (18. 60, 1) BIRD'S BYE VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY, WITH THE OUTER COURTS AND BUIUJINGS, BASED CHIEFLY ON THE RESTORATIONS BY CHIFIEZ, A HISTORY OF ART IN SARDINIA, JUDAEA, SYRIA, AND ASIA MINOR, (BY FERROT AND CHIFIEZ, LONDON, 1890). RECENT SACRIFICE (PERSIAN RITE) PLAN OF A PARSEE FIRE-TEMPLE. BOMBAY. INDIA DIAOBAM TAKEN FBOM JAUtES DABMESTETEB, THE ZEND-AVESTA, (PABIS. 188S). FI.. I. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 373 REGENT ASIATIC FORM (N, 5) Persian Rite The following represents the primitive Persian ritual as reconstructed from the earliest Avestic sources (700-900 B. C.) (1) Birth-Ceremonies: — Purification by water is well attested in the earliest liturgical fragments, and was evidently applied to infants and mothers at birth, as may be inferred from the following powerful invor cation : — "/ will praise the ivater of the sacred river, Ardvi Sura Anahita, the wide-flowing, the healing in its influence, powerful against demons, de- voted to Ahura's lore, worshipped with sacrifice within the corporeal world, furthering all living beings, — holy, helping on the increase of our herds and settlements, — holy, increasing our wealth, — holy, helping on the progress of the land, — holy, as indeed she is!" Then follows: — "The sacred River, ivhich purifies the seed of all male beings, which sanctifies the wom,bs of all women at birth, which makes all women fortunate in labor, and brings them regular and timely flow of milk". An actual birth-formula may be discerned in the prayer of Zoroaster : — "0 ye waters! I beseech you for this favor. Grant unto me this bless- ing, in whose bestowal ye flow down to me far my bettering, with never failing truth. ye waters! I beseech you for wealth and power of many kinds and for a self-dependent offspring whom, multitudes may bless, and for whose ivasting or defeat or death or vengeful punishment or overtaking, may no man pray!" To what extent this was a pouring or sprinkling-ceremony cannot be determined, but the description of the water as "Mazda-made" is signifi- cant, — though the same epithet is also applied to nearly every other sub- stance.^ (2) Maturity-Rite: — Purification by fire is of the very essence of Iranian faith, the sacred flame being tended day and night without intermission: — "Be now aflame within this house, be ever without fail in flame! Be all ashine within this house, be on thy groivth ivithin this house!" "Give me, Fire, Ahura Mazda's Son! that whereby instructors to me may be allotted, now and for evermore, giving light to me of Heaven, the best life of the saints, brilliant, all-glorious. May I reap the good reward, the good renown, the long forecasting preparation of the soul!" This "preparation" was accomplished by a catechetical zand or in- struction, in which domestic, civil, and religious duties, with purity "in thought, word and deed", were severely inculcated. It was the entrance into Mazda's Kingdom, though the description of the fire as Mazda's "son" reveals its strongly animistic coloring.^ 1 Fr. Spiegel, Eranische Alterthumskunde (Leipzig, 1873) p. SliT. L. H. Mills, The Zend- Avesta, Part. III. Yasna, Visparad Afrinagan, Gahs, etc. (S. B. E. Oxford, Vol. XXXI.), Yasna LXV. p. 316-320. 321fr. 2 Spiegel, p. 4Sff. Mills, Yasna, LXII. p. 313-316. Y. XIX- XXI. p. 2S9-269. 374 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMEISFTALS RECENT ASIATIC FORM Persian Rite (3a) Haoma-Sacrifice: — It is generally admitted that the sacrifice of the Soma-plant is one of the oldest forms of Aryan worship, and one of the few that are "essentially connected with prayer" (Schrader). THE 'DRAONA-OBLATE' AND THE 'HAOMA-WINE' . That this offering was consumed under two species, solid and liquid, admits of no doubt, and is evident from the following offertories : — "With a perfect and a holy oblation I offer this Myazda, and I offer the Haoma and the Haoma Juice for the propitiation of the spirit of Zoroaster Spitama, the saint, and I offer the wood-billets with the perfume for the propitiation of the Fire, Thou, Ahura-Mazda's son! And I offer the Haoma with a perfect and a holy oblation for the propitiation of the sacred waters, Mazda-made! And I offer this Haoma-water, this fresh milk, this sacrificial sheaf!" etc. This means that solid wafers and a fermented drink were prepared and offered up with incense upon an altar, the former being expressed by myasda {draona), the latter being known as parahaoma, or sacred mixture. This would be accompanied by the singing of the Gathas : — "Salvation's Hail be his, whoever he may be! May the All-Ruling send it! He supreme o'er strife. Long-lasting strength be ours, of Thee I asic it. For the upholding Right, this. Holy Zeal, vouchsafe us, — Rich Power, Blest Rewards, the Good Mind's Life!" (See p. 291). Then might follow an abjuration of sin (p. 376), and Anally what may be called a "consecration", an invocation to the Soma-deity: — "/ am Haoma, the Holy, the driving death afar! Pray unto me, and pre- pare me for thy taste. Praise me in thy praises as the saints do praise!" Six blessings are then besought, and the faithful are invited to par- take : — "Eat, ye men, of this Myasda, ye who have deserved it by your stainless life!" Praises are then sung in thanksgiving for this gift of the Creator: — "Praise unto Haoma, Mazda-made! Good is Haoma, Mazda-made! All the plants of the Haoma do I praise! From the silver cup I pour Thee to the golden chalice forth. Let not thy sacred liquor spill to earth, of precious cost!" The chants and dedications are repeated, and the service is closed. Now it is important to realise that the Haoma was not a mere charm but a personal divinity, — forming, with the Vedic god Mithra, a union, even in the most ancient times, ages before the Iranian and the Indian became two separate peoples. This may be called a polytheistic, as it was certainly an animistic cult, but it does not compromise the fact that a superior deity was believed to impart His spiritual strength through the Soma, that this was His symbolic manifestation.' 'Schrader, Reallexicon der indogermanischen Alterthumskunde (Strassb. 1901), pp. 599, 60S. Mills, Yasna, VII. pass. XLIII, 1. (Gathas, Leipzig, p. 3), Yasna, IX. 2, 19 (Horn Yasht), VIII. 2, X, 17. (S. B. E. XXXI. pp. 222-243. Comp. also Visparad, III-XII, (Ibid, p. 341-3SS) for ritual law, rubrics, etc. The Soma was "lifted up". RECENT SACRIFICE (PERSIAN RITE) . 4(P^Jl;)99.jj!>>jU(^. V^^ -^f/^ ^v^e^lS^^l^Itl^^^, THE ZAOTAR OFFERS THE SACRED HAOMA ANCIENT MAZDAEAN rlRE-KITl AL AS PRACTICED BY THK PABSEES OF THE TEMPLE OF SIANBKJI SBTH, BOMBAY, INDIA. BEVEALING THE MAIN POINTS OF THE YASNA SAC- RIFICIAL RITE: — STONK ALTAR, LAVACRUM, i\OXINO-BO\VL, SOMA-VESSEL, BARESMA. LITURGICAL CHALICE. AND EVER-BIRNING FIRES. iLVTERIALS TAKEN FROM JAJEES DABMESTETER, THE ZEND-AVESTA, PART I., YASNA, VISP.4KAD, (PARIS, 1893)^ PL. IV, VI. THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRAS OR THE SO-CALLED 'MITHRAIC COMMUNION' ,^l V':;""',"''^,!? **^^*''J"?^'^ 'O '"E DECADENT lUH Al. Ol THE I.ATEIi KOJIAN EMl-lKE: ON HIE l,M I A RAVEN' AND A I'EKSIAN', ON THE RIGHT A SOrOIBR' AND A JION' ••WHISTLE! (^NAKI.I GRINT! DRAM' VOl |{ BREAI II illKKE II.MESr' -THOU So/^ OU COB THE HELIODROME INVOKES THE "GREAT SUN" (?) UAS-BKMEES IROM KON.IKA, KISCHII.IA. AND OIIIEB I'ARIS, ( (>I.I.E( lED UV IKANZ OIJMONT, AND 11,1,1 STKATEI) IN HIS WORK ••DIE ,MVSTERIKN DKS .^iri'lIRA" (I.EIPZK:, 19)1). PL. HE EOR THE lEXT OE THE RITIAE SEE; THE S.4ME, ANI> CO.AII'.VRE A. OIETKICHS. EINE M ll'll K ASI.i'i' I Ki: I E. (EEirZKi. lOK)), IT. 7. II. .' I .S (EOK UIHRTCS, INM). CATIONS, lie.) SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 375 RECENT ASIATIC FORM Persian Rite (3b) Hellenistic Development: — This essential connexion of Haoma- Soma with the primitive Persian pantheon flnds its historical complement in The Mysteries op Mithras For if Ahura-Mithra-Hacoma represented in the pre-Gathic Aryan period the idea of Heaven-Light-Immortality in general, though doubtless described under concrete images as Sky-Sun-Earth, etc., it vs^as only natural that on deeper theological reflection the triad should be unified, and the great "mediator of light, truth, and friendship" brought into bold prominence as The So-Called Incarnation of All-Father-Heaven This v^^as accomplished by a fusion of the Iranian Mithras with the B el-Mar duk- Jupiter cult of Babylon and with the Phrygian and Cappa- docian worship of Attis and Cybele, not to speak of the possible Egyptian influence of Osiris-Ra, the "many-eyed", the "all-seeing-one", the savior of his people. From the former was obtained the legend of Mithras and sacred Bull, the idea of the triumph of man over the lower creation and of his conquest of the sun, from the latter the equally-inspiring doctrine of the annual death, resurrection, and assumption of Mithras into heaven. But the development did not stop here. The great banquet of the god was not forgotten, it was His Manifestation in the Mystic Brotherhood of Love The old liturgy can dimly be recognised in the purifications with water and fire, followed by the consecration, elevation, and consumption of the cruciform altar-breads and of the mixed chalice of wine and water, which had taken the place of the old Haoma- juice, — this undoubtedly due to Christian influence. Nay more, we find the same adoration of the heavenly food with chants and incense, the same description of its physical and spiritual life-imparting character, the same baresma or sacred sheaf-bundle, and essentially the same priestly ornaments, among which the Persian mitre or the Phrygian cap have ever been the most distinctive. On the other hand, the wording of the liturgy, with its serio-cosmic situa- tions is decidedly appalling, and reveals an undeniable deterioration. The Seven Degrees or Mithraic "Sacraments" Still more interesting was the division of the faithful into seven degrees of initiates who were bound together by a solemn oath {sacramentum) , known as Raven, Cryptic, Soldier, Lion, Persian, Heliodrome, and Father, the title "Father of fathers" being reserved for the head of the hierarchy. Doubtless the whole system was the result of ages of syncretistic develop- ments, but we must be prepared for its high antiquity and a comparatively high tone of ascetical practice, though much of the Mithraism of the Roman empire was undoubtedly influenced by Christian forms of thought and expression.'" 8'>Cumont, Die Mysterien des Mithras (Leipzig, 1911) pp. 1-28, 9S-13S, 136-163 (with photographic plates). A. Gasquet, Essai sur le Culte et les Mysteres de Mithras (Paris, 1899) Comp. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894), pp. 29-31, 302ff. Mills, Hom-Yasht (S. B. E. XXXI) p. 230. Spiegel, op. cit. p. 78, IHfif. 376 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS REGENT ASIATIC FORM Persian Rite (4) The Mazda-YOfSnian Confession: — Note the following abjuration of sin : — "I confess myself a Mazdayasnian of the order of Zoroaster, the enemy of the demons, devoted to the lore of the Lord, praiser of the bounti- ful Immortals! — And therefore I abjure all robbery, all violence agairist the sacred kine, all drought to the wasting of the Mazdayasnian villages. And I abjure the shelter and the headship of the demons, evil as they are and bereft of good, void of virtue, deceitful in their wickedness, — the Demon-of-the-Lie, the most loathsome of existing things, bereft of good! Off, off do I abjure the demons, — and the sorcerers, — their thoughts, words, and deeds, — and their seed — and the iniquitous of every kind!" Fasting and self-flagellation frequently accompanied this act, but it was still a long way off a personal confession of individual sins to an authorised minister.* (5) Priesthood: — ^Already in the earlier period we find a well-developed hierarchy, in which the Zaotar, the Ratu, and the Mobad corresponded to some extent to priest, deacon, and sub-deacon, the priest being entrusted with the zaothra, or holy water, and the baresma, or sheaf-bundle. Over all stood the chief zaotar, or the "Arch-Priest" clothed with the Persian mitre. The mobads were subdivided into Havanan, or Mortar- man, Atarevakhsha, Fire-tender, Frabaretar, Presenter, Aberet, Water- carrier, Asnatar, Washer, Rathunskar, Soma-mixer, Sraoshavareza, Fla- gellant, — in all seven minor orders. Purifications with fire, water, honey, or oil, were a necessary step to admission.* (6) Matrimony: — The practice of monogamy, with purity in thought, word, and deed, was one of the most distinctive features of the old Zoroas- trian faith. "/ will love him and vie with him, since from my father he gained me! The pure for the pure ones — May Ahura-Mazda grant it for ever!" This solemn profession of fidelity was followed by the priestly bless- ing:— "By these laws of the Faith which I utter, obtain ye the life of the Good Mind! Let each one the other in righteousness cherish!" Institutions were evidently patriarchal and aristocratic, but although polygamy and divorce were alike discountenanced in ancient times, they became common enough in the historic period, and the only flaw to an ideal family system was the kinship-marriage which often passed into actual incest.' (7) Burial: — It likewise appears that burial of the dead in the tomb (with occasional cremation) was the original Iranian practice, the custom of exposing the corpse in the "tower of silence" belonging to the later period.' "Mills, Yasna, XII. "Idem, Yasna, II. Visparad, III. «Y. LIII. 'Idem, p. XXXI. Comp. Geiger, The Civilisation of the eastern Iranians in ancient times, for Persian arch- aeology in general. Also James Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta, (Paris, 1892), Vol, I. (Introduction). RECENT SACRIFICE ( BRAHMINISTIC RITE) THE SERINGHAM PAGODA OF TRINCHINOPOLI APPROXIMATE OUTI>INES OF THE STRUCTITRE ILLISIRATIXG THE STEP-BIOTIl' IN THE MODERN HINDOO ARCIUTECTVRE RECENT SACRIFICE (BRAHMINISTIC RITE) THE CAVE-TEMPLE OF VISHVAKARMAN, ELLORA. INDIA THK BII>DHIST CAVK-TEMrJ^KS ABE IIKWN Ol T Ol' IIIE !SOr>II> ROCK, AND HEKK IS THE SANf Tl AKY ()!■ VIISIIVAKARMAX, ONK OK THE PROMINENT OEITIES OF IIIE ANCIENT PANTHEON SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 377 REGENT ASIATIC FORM Hindoo-Chinese Rite In countries where the Brahministic faith is in the ascendant,— using the word in the widest sense as a conglomerate of refined nature-worship with metempsychosis in the background,— we find a superficial resem- blance of thought and practice to much of the foregoing, but revealing on closer examination the strong naturalistic undergrowth by which it is tainted, an element which we have already traced to a prehistoric contact with the totem-peoples of Southern Asia. These regions embrace the greater part of Aryan India and to some extent of Mongolian China, and a few notes on this subject seem to be called for. (1) The consciousness of depravity, with a growing moral pessimism, flhds its expression in the excessive multiplication of exorcism-rites by which delivery from the pains of karma, or reincarnation, was hoped to be secured. Hence the Bath-House or the water-front were in continual requisition, not only for curing the original uncleanness, but for daily, nay even hourly, purification. It is not surprising therefore that the use of "holy water" should be more conspicuous in this than any former age, in itself a laudable practice, but one that was rarely if ever associated with a unique personal divinity, — it was a reversion, unconsciously, no doubt, to the magical control of the sinister powers of nature by contrary in- fluences, an expurgating spell. The comparatively low and "impure" condition of women, while by no means universal, emphasises the grow- ing disgust for physical existence in general. (2) While the early Vedic initiations still breathe the lofty spirit of the Avesta, with personal prayers, consecrations, absolutions with water, investiture with the sacred girdle, moral and religious instruction, etc., they became more and more the privilege of a special caste, and in the later Hindoo rites ascetical practices in the shape of fasting and self- torture had reached such a height of unnatural development as to culmi- nate in the incredible austerities of the famous "anchorites" with nothing more hopeful than entire self-extinction or absorption into the great Brahma, the unconscious All. (3) In like manner the sacrificial worship shows a steady degenera- tion, from the primitive Soma-offering to the horse, the ox, and even the human sacrifice. The socalled Buddhist "Mass" retains many elements of the primitive concept and the Chinese emperor undoubtedly offers his annual holocaust to the great Shang-Ti above ; but on the other hand the "enlightened" ascetics repudiated all external immolations as useless, and it is important to understand that the religion of these devotees was largely self-centered, not to say egotistic; they relied on their own, not on super- natural power. Apart from this, however, sacrificial observances do not greatly deviate from the normal. The commonest form of religious offer- ing in most of these lands consists in the burning of scented sticks or aromatic spices through which the favor of this or that divinity is sought to be obtained. 378 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS REGENT ASIATIC FORM Hindoo-Chinese Rite (4) Expiation, in the sense of a personal accusation of faults and with a definite moral content, was to be found side by side with self-flagellation and bodily torments endured for their own sake or as a means for entirely extinguishing the lower appetities. As is well known, the penitential dis- cipline originally included works of charity, feeding the hungry, nursing the sick, etc. and it was only among the extreme ascetics of later times that the doctrine of self-help gave birth to a fatalistic view of existence, which, especially in the Mongol kingdoms, excluded all aid to the suffer- ing. Yet even here, the existence of medical dispensaries tells a different story, — consistency is rarely to be found in any of these nature-religions. (5) The clerical state, formerly within the reach of all, was now made so difficult of entrance, that only the enlightened few had any chance of attaining to it, the Brahminical Priesthood being narrow, ultra-exclusive, and contemptuous of manual labor. While this may be interpreted as iii a certain sense "aristocratic", it led to a growing estrangement of the peo- ple, who, precisely through this neglect, fell into every kind of grovelling superstition. Hence the infinite variety of faiths in modern India. (6) This dualism became still more pronounced in everything that concerned the moral and matrimonial life. While it is undeniable that purity in thought, word and deed, and even absolute chastity, were held out as the highest ideals of man, the development of this true and noble doctrine became so one-sided among the higher yogi devotees that it con- demned marriage as something immoral, — the parent of all the Montanism and Manichaeism that were destined to overrun the West. The conse- quences to public morality were naturally most deplorable. With the sanctity of human life branded at its very source, the people in their despair gave themselves up to every form of natural and unnatural indul- gence, and had it not been for the innate conservatism of humanity, the "religious marriage", with the edifying ceremonies that still accompany it, might have been swept from the face of the land. (7) In the disposal of the dead we also meet with a corresponding variety of practice, but the frequency of cremation is in harmony with a growing disregard for the body, with a more pessimistic view of its ulti- mate destiny. To sum up, — we cannot afford to lightly dismiss a series of religious beliefs, which, however decadent, represent for hundreds of millions of souls their only hope of deliverance, their only escape from sorrow and pain.^ 1 Sources in S. B. E. (Oxford), Vol. I. II. VII-XV. XVII-XXII. XXV-XXVI. XXXII-XLIV. (India), III. XVI. XIX. XXVII-XXVIII (China). Comp. also Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, (Berlin, 1894), Hildebrandt, Ritual-Literatur Vedischer Opfer und Zauber (Jena, 1897). Rev. C. F. Aiken, D. D., The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, (Boston, 1900), for a comparative estimate. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 379 RECENT ASIATIC FORM Graego-Roman Rite Somewhat more hopeful was the development of theology in the West- ern-Aryan region, where as a fact it paved the way for the seed of the gospel. Not the escape from existence, but, on the contrary, the glorifica- tion of life in all its artistic fulness, this was the ideal of the Greek and Roman. If we take the Augustan empire as the climax of the Graeco- Latin spirit, fused as no doubt it was with nearly every cult of the Orient, we shall find practically the whole spiritual world represented in minia- ture, and focussed upon one single point, — the city of Rome, the meeting- point of the nations. So much has been said of the boundless corruptions of this great Circe of the West, that it is time that the brighter side of the picture were also presented, even if only to enumerate a few of its more elevating aspects. (1) Apart from the Mithraic "fonts", which had penetrated into the remotest confines of the empire, we have reasons to believe that the lavacrum and the temple bath-house served the purpose in part at least of religious purification-ceremony, in which water was poured or sprinkled over the neophyte in probably the same manner as in the eastern rites. Certain it is that the idea of a baptizeria can be traced to Homeric times, where we find ceremonial ablutions distinctly enjoined as prepara- tion for any solemn event, and in the times of Terence and Plutarch we hear of a lustration ceremony on the eighth or ninth day after birth, dur- ing which the new-born child received its distinctive name and was con- secrated to heaven by a suitable sacrifice. There can be no doubt of its religious significance.' (2) The more barbaric initiations by fire and physical endurance have given place to a refined system of education, in which the youth of both sexes were carefully trained and prepared for the duties of civil and matrimonial life. At the assumption of the toga virilis, the Roman boy was solemnly dedicated to the service of the state-gods with impressive ceremonies.^ (3a) The old agrarian sacrifice of the Homeric age, in which a meal- offering was prepared for the deity, {oulai), and libations of wine were made in his presence, (spondai), may still be detected in the annual harvest-festival celebrated by the Roman Pontiffs in the temple of Jupiter- Capitolinus, not to speak of the Bacchic Mysteries, the Ceres-Festivals, the Mithraic Suppers, etc. in which the "bread of chastity" was eaten or the "chalice of life" was drunk in the hope of attaining to some special praeter- natural purity of soul. That this was in part attained, in spite of corrup- tions, should not surprise us, though we have already noted its very flip- pant and largely degenerate character.' 1 Iliad, I. 449. III. 270, etc. Terence, Andria, 3, 2-3. Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 102. Cicero, De Leg. 2, 10. = Cicero, ad Att. 6, 1, 12. Ovid, Fasti, 3, 771. (Feast of the Liberalia). * Iliad, I. 449 (oulai), II. 341 (spondai). Lucian, De Sacrificiis. 14 (to lares and penates), and compare R. Reitrenstein, Die Hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, (Leipzig, 1910) and p. 375 above. 380 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS RECENT ASIATIC FORM Graeco-Roman Rite (3b) But this was not deemed sufficient to appease the anger of divinity except for the very elect, those who had risen above the grosser failings of humanity. For the sins of the nation gigantic hecatombs were off"ered as early as the days of the heroes, and the ox, the horse, and the sheep recall the common Indogermanic materials of sacrifice. That human life itself was not spared on these greater occasions, is only too evident, and it is the one stain that disfigures the whole of the Western- Aryan worship.*" (4) Penitential practice reveals the greatest contrasts, from the cast- iron rigorism of the Stoics and oriental sects to the easy, happy-go-lucky morality of the Epicureans and later Hedonists, in which the pursuit of pleasure was extolled as the highest duty of man. A middle course was steared by the ordinary fasts and penances that were commonly imposed by the flamens.* (5) For it is more especially in the hierarchical organisation that we discern the greatest external resemblances to the Christian Priesthood. The very names of Pontifex Maximus and Flamen Dialis will speak for themselves ; they were held in the greatest reverence as the channels, nay as the incarnations of deity, they were obliged to live up to the highest ethical and monogamous standards, and it is from them that we obtain the Roman Pallium, to a less extent the Cope, Chasuble, Dalmatics, Tunics, Albs, Maniples, and other items of ecclesiastical millinery, the mitre be- ing probably of oriental origin. Moreover in the Vestal Virgins we have a distinct anticipation of an order of female celibates, consecrated to Heaven by the emission of vows." (6) It can no longer be maintained that Roman morals were that un- speakable thing painted by the later cynics. Before the days of decadence monogamy without divorce was the law of the land, marriages were valid only when celebrated in the presence of the priest {confarreatio) , and though the legal position of women was good, it was hardly as high as in some of our modern Christian states.* (7) Finally, in the matter of burial, we find the nearest approach to the Christian tomb in the reverential disposal of the dead in the earliest ages.! Now it is quite true that this picture reflects the Rome of the Kings and Consuls rather than that of the Caesars, when corruption was already flowing in a mighty torrent. But it does represent the external mould, as it were, into which the new metal of the Christian Faith was about to be poured. The subject tapers too much into the historical field to be further discussed. 3b Iliad and Odyssey passim-Iphigenia, etc. * See the works of Horace, Sallust, Juvenal, and Seneca for contemporary sects. ^ Livy, Roman History, 1, 20. Cic. De Leg. 2, 8, 12, (for pontifex). "Cicero, pro Flacc. 34. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 2, 25 (for confar- reatio). '' Sec the early classics throughout, and compare Joseph Miiller, Das sexuelle Leben der altfen Kulturvolker, (Leipzig, 1902), pp. 43, 84fF. for Graeco-Roman morals in general. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 381 RECENT OCEANIC FORM (N, 6) Polynesian Rite In the far eastern World the more prominent features of this newer cult can still be traced, though they lack the refining element that was destined to prepare the world for the classic civilisation of Europe. Pass- ing over the Indo-Melanesian zone, we may take the modern Polynesian culture as a fair exponent of its more recent Oceanic development. (1) Birth-Customs — At the moment of birth the Samoan child is placed under the custody of the household god, the aitu fale, from which it receives its name, followed by the usual purification-baths for parent and infant. This occasion is not lacking in solemnity and religious fer- vor, as the child is believed to be not only the protege but the incarnation of the special divinity that descends in the father's line, the father being in fact the family priest, though mother-kin is also recognised. One of the commonest household patrons is known as "Child of the Moon", Aleimasima, the son of Heaven and Earth being the common Polynesian Tangaroa, the ever renewing Moon. "Child of the Moon, you have come!" — such is a common exclamation to the protecting spirit that watches over the new fledgeling. (2) Maturity Rites: — But it is more especially at a solemn feast of the New Moon, which may be fixed for any period of the child's life, that the members of the family join together in the following prayer, — "0 Child of the Moon! Keep far away disease and death!" This is accompanied by food-offerings to the birth-deity and pro- longed feasting, though it has no essential connexion with a coming-of- age ceremony. A more distinct initiation-rite is marked by the custom of branding and tattooing, which admits the youth to the full privileges of manhood. That these ordeals, though theoretically religious, are mixed up with sexual and phallic dances, seems to be certain, — they are indeed barbaric and reflect the growing degeneracy of the period to which they belong. (3) The Sacred Cup-Sacrifice: — Like other peoples of this age, the Samoans have advanced to closed temple-worship. At the annual May- Festival a coconut-cup is suspended from the temple roof, and part of its contents is poured out or dedicated before the god of heaven (Rangi), the remainder being consumed by the worshippers according to rank, all drinking from the same cup. "With my hand on this cup, m/iy Heaven-God look upon me, and send me swift destruction, if I took the thing which has been stolen!" This conjuration-formula, by which sin is repudiated, reveals an ethical content to the ceremony which is surprising, for "they firmly believed that it would be death to touch the cup and to t«ll a lie"( !). 382 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS REGENT OCEANIC FORM Polynesian Rite (3b) Human Sacrifice: — ^While the modern Samoans have outgrown the barbarity of the human sacrifice, there is ample evidence for its prac- tice in the adjacent Oceanic regions, the Sandwich Islands and Tahiti being particularly famous for this form of immolation, formerly no doubt very prevalent. Yet common as it is, it belongs to a comparatively recent epoch. (4) Penitential Practice: — This is the region above all others in which the taboo is in force, understanding by this a complicated system of fasts and abstinences, — a relic of the old totem-cult. Personal penances in- variably assume this form, frequently coupled, however, with a public accusation and satisfaction for the crimes or faults committed. Though Polynesian justice is strict, the religious conception of sorrow is weakly developed. (5) Priesthood: — As in India, the caste-system pervades all branches of Polynesian society, including the priesthood. It is true that domestic worship is commonly conducted by the father of the family (supra), but all the more important public functions are in the hands of an order of hereditary tulafale, or pleading-chiefs, who constitute a landed aristocracy and culminate in that typical institution of the South-Sea Islands, the Priest-kingship, with agnatic descent. So great is the power vested in this Polynesian "pope", that in some cases he cannot even touch the earth without making it taboo, that is, unfit for any other mortal to cultivate. (6) Matrimony: — Nothing separates this aristocratic exclusiveness from the old totem-system so strongly as the common practice of endogamy, the custom of marrying within the class or the caste, as the case may be. Any violation of this rule is punishable in the Tonga Islands with burning. Union of relatives, however, is strictly forbidden, and in many respects the rank accorded to women is comparatively high, the wife of the Samoan chief sharing his political power. As might be expected, polygamy is universally tolerated, and divorce legally obtainable, but on no subject are we presented with such a variety of pictures as on that of sexual morality. (7) Burial: — This extreme development of class-distinction is carried even into the grave, only the souls of princes being regarded as immortal and worthy of a dignified tomb- or urn-burial. For the common people and the "slaves" almost any form of disposal is deemed sufficient.* ^ Main sources in George Turner, Samoa a hundred years ago and long before, (London, 1884). A. Kramer, Die Samao-Inseln (Stuttgart, 1903). W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, (London, 1859). R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in der Sudsee (Stuttgart, 1907). F. Graebner, Die sozialen Systeme in der Stidsee, Zeitschrift fur Socialwissenchaft, Vol. XI (1908), Heft 11 and 12. Idem, Kulturkreise in Ozeanien, Z. f. Ethn. Vol. XXXVII. pp. 28-53. See also p. 114 above. RECENT SACRIFICE (NORTH-AMERICAN RITE) "THE BANQUET OF THE CLOUDS" V o» ^A/e (XX x> HEAVENS,'?- ec^' cje THEITBOIBTIO BADf-CEBBMONT OF THE SIA KNIFE-SOCIETT, KEW MEXICO, INTOEINa ■ They will also furnish a valuable antecedent for the traditional orthodox "funeral," the custom of cremation being unknown in the earliest times, or at least rare and exceptional. (See the data above.) 404 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM Death- Ceremonies Show Considerable Variations But if the dignity of the body and the solemnity of the moment are visibly brought to the surface by these and the mourning services vv^hich follovi', — ^vv^ailing, fasting, taboo, strict silence, etc. — their neglect is be- lieved to be the cause of severe visitations from heaven, divine friendship having been lost by "kicking the body into the sea" (Australia) . In later ages vi^e find a grovs^ing indifference to the fate of the body, the mummi- fication of the corpse is more often the prelude to the pyre-funeral, the body being cremated, and the bones sometimes collected in the family urn or preserved as trophies. Quite often, hovs^ever, the body is thrown into the river, or given to the hyaenas to eat (Africa). "You are going back to the buffalos, you are going to rejoin your ancestors", — such is the only consolation given to the dying North-American Omaha. In sharp contrast to this is the painful care that is given to the dead or dying in the more recent stone or bronze period. Not only an unction, but even an embalmment of the body, is or becomes the general rule in Western Asia and Egypt, the corpse is placed in tomb, temple-tower, or pyramid, the soul is despatched with nearly all its earthly belongings, it even re-enters the tomb by means of the "spirit-door" in order to partake of the rich banquet prepared by the relatives to keep it from starvation! While this is doubtless an extreme practice, the custom of feeding the dead is so universal that it may be called typical of the age, with the final result that it degenerates into a worship of ancestors, (China). In still later his- toric times the burning of the dead is revived with great pomp and cere- mony, and is again indicative of a more pessimistic outlook into the future, being the normal practice in the days of the Graeco-Roman decad- ence and in fact of all modern degenerate peoples. Nevertheless, the simple earth-grave has never been forgotten, it exists side by side with the soul-boat or the funeral urn, and the last rites of the dead are still in evi- dence. But all is only tentative and ephemeral. The Christian Sacrament is a New Institution "/* any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with the oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in his sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James, 5, 14). Here we have for the first time an anointing of the sick coupled with a supernatural pardon: — "THROUGH THIS HOLY UNCTION MAY THE LORD FORGIVE THEE THY SINS". It is this "Extreme Unction", instituted by Christ and promulgated by St. James, that alone avails us, foreshadowed as it is by the anointing of His own body in anticipation of His death." =2 Comp. Matt. 26, 12. 27, 60. John, 12, 3. James, 5, 14-15. "For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial" (Matt. 26, 12). See also S. Thom. Supp. q 29ff Suarez, disp. 39-44. Tanquerey, III. S70ff. Pourrat, op. cit. pp. 101, ISS. 308. 3S2flF. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 405 COMPARATIVE CRITICISM VI. The Sacrament op Order Has No Parallel in Prehistoric Antiquity If then the preceding rites can hardly be made to fit in with the new channels of supernatural power, either in their nature or in the order in which they appear, it is hardly to be expected that the perpetuation of a priesthood in so far as this is a general practice among the nature-peoples, should show anything but the most distant analogies to the Christian Ordination-rite. That there should be some mediator between heaven and earth, is only to be expected, but his office cannot in any sense be com- pared, either morally or theologically, to the extraordinary position of the Christian Priesthood. The Primitive Patriarchate Cannot Explain it We have seen that in the first ages of man priest and family-father were identical terms, which in view of the rudimentary social state was indeed inevitable. It is quite clear, for instance, that in the first human family, the father was ipso facto priest, ruler, and doctor all in one, as there was no one else to usurp the office; This is known as the primitive Patriarchate, or father-rule, of which we have abundant evidence. On this system, the father administers the entire ritual in the name of the All-Father above, and thus the priesthood is derived from God, the Father of the human race. This is the first and original title of every form of divine minister, as may be easily proved by an analysis of the earliest terms, — Peng, Penglima, Pengulu, Papa, etc. — forms which go back to the root Ab or Ap, from which we get most of the designations for Sky- Father. Nay more, the father trains his son to succeed him, and thus provides for the needs of his spiritual posterity. "May your life be long! I am training a scholar of the mind!" (Ceylon). This preparation natur- ally includes a moral instruction, an explanation of the tribal mysteries, and finally a delegation, in which the son inherits the father's powers, when the latter can no longer officiate. As an external sign the candidate is commonly besmeared with oil, turmeric, or some kind of body paint, he receives the sacred bamboo, the wand, or the pastoral staff, he is bidden to nurse his locks of hair, and after a short fast he is ready to assume the duties of his office. Naturally enough celibacy is unknown in this early stage of society, the penglimm are married, but as they believe in one God, so they have only one wife. The 'Duplex Potestas' is Naturally Wanting This, however, is a comparatively minor issue. That which separates the Christian Priest from the Patriarch is not so much the married tie as the entire absence of anything approaching to the "Double Power," the jurisdiction over the natural and the mystical Body of Christ." 23 This must not be taken to imply that marriage furnishes a diriment impediment to all priesthood, but simply tends to show that where the higher ideal is entirely ignored, we have a consequent lowering of the office to the level of a more secular or lay profession, though the married Patriarch is in possession of supernatural power. 406 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Later "Medicine-Man" is a Travesty In the nature of the case such a primitive organisation could not last very long. With the expansion of the family into the tribe, and this again into the horde or nation, different vocations begin to assert themselves, and by degrees the office of healer, dreamer, or medicine-man becomes a separate profession, though the chief medicine-man is still the head of the community, it is the most powerful patti or gommera w^ho generally governs the tribe. Minor offices are known as "ghostfinder" (India), "healer" (Africa), "bone-wizard" (Australia), "mystery-doctor" (North- America), but the magical nature of this profession is revealed by the extraordinary, in some cases the unnatural practices by which this power is believed to be acquired, — by prolonged starvation, swooning away in delirium, seeing the totem-guardian in a trance, cutting into the entrails or cranium, snake-charming, boning, pointing and crystal-throwing. "May your heart be rent asunder!" This Australian curse summarises the evil effects of this terrific medicine, even if it is meant to counteract witchcraft. In other instances we find the same respect for the genuine healer as heretofore. He is as a rule elaborately painted, carries the nose- quill or the atnongara-crystal, brandishes the prayer-stick or the buffalo- horn, and wears the totemic plant or animal ensign on his head. But here more than ever the healing profession is essentially medical ; it exer- cises physical, not moral disease. The More Recent "Patesi" is Essentially a Demon-Hunter So far the physical and moral healers are united in the same person, the priest is also the doctor. With the gradual separation of the two offices the more purely spiritual functions of the priesthood become more pronounced and a definite hierarchy with a Priest-Kingship begins to evolve. The Babylonian patesi is still the "great father", but he is assisted by numerous lower orders, more especially the exorcist {asipu), who conducts for him the physical cures. Nevertheless, the fact remains, that his power is still essentially negative; he is himself an exorcist in that he procures the good only by chasing away the contrary evils, he is a high- class demon-hunter. While this is not without its moral value, it shows that the direct acquisition of positive spiritual power is beyond his reach, that the power is still largely prophylactic and utilitarian, — a mere counter-irritant to destroy the identical medicine. "Similia similibus curantur", — it is this homeopathic principle which underlies all these purging actions of whatever kind; the practitioner uses nature to cure nature, he can never get outside the cycle of purely natural causes." 2* Compare Dhorme, La Religion Assyrio-Babylonienne, p. 282ff. for the connexion of the sangu with sorcery. Also Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, (London, 1913). Introduction. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 407 COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Levitical Priesthood Offers a Brighter Outlook It is refreshing to turn by contrast to the land of the Hebrews and to note the rise of a higher and purer ideal of the divine ministry. From the first the separation of religion from magic, of spirit from ghost, is a pro- nounced feature in the higher life of this people, and with it the complete disconnexion of the Lord's anointed from the mere spell-worker. This medicine is strongly allopathic from the remotest times; it knows only one source of power, and that a supernatural one, symbolised by the Urim and Thummim, the "Light" and the "Truth", and by the majestic inscription on the diadem of the High Priest, Kodesh LeAdonai, "Holiness unto the Lord". This pure theology has been ever at warfare with all forms of witchcraft, divination, augury, astrology, heptascopy, and other pernicious devices, and so we see the Jewish kohen in possession of a power which is derived directly from the God of Heaven; he is in fact, like Melchisedech, "the priest of the Most High God", and he exorcises sin and sickness, not by Beelzebub, but by "invoking the Name, of the Lord". But Labors Under Equally Great Imperfections Yet in spite of the elevated, sorcery-hating character of his profession, he is the mere type of forerunner of a still higher and holier office. With all the prophetical importance of the Mosaic ritual, it is still essentially figurative, — the Lamb and the mystical Blood are powerless to effect the redemption ; they are types of a power to come, they have no absolute value. And Finally Dissolves in the Higher Order of the New Covenant This inherent deficiency is brought into unmistakable clearness by the growing consciousness that sin cannot be pardoned through human chan- nels, nay, that a complete pardon of sin is unattainable, — "Who can for- give sins but God only?" (Mark, 2, 7), "/ have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept a sacrifice from your hand" (Mai. 1, 10). All this shows the essentially tentative and limited nature of the kappora, it is a mere cloak of the past transgression, not its destruction. With the positive teaching of the Messiah and the institution of the Primacy, this "covering" of sin becomes an aphesis, — the old mincha a "koinonia of the Body of Christ", two entirely new supernatural concepts. "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and he said to them: RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST. WHOSE SINS YOU SHALL FORGIVE, THEY ARE FORGIVEN THEM; WHOSE SINS YOU SHALL RETAIN, THEY ARE RETAINED" (Jh. 20, 22). "THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU. DO THIS FOR A COMMEMORATION OF ME" (Lk. 22, 19). It is this "dismissal" of sin and "communion" of Christ, which, with the new ideal of virginal chastity, of voluntary celibacy, has con- signed the old Jewish theocracy to the forgotten past.^^ "Corap. Matt. 16, 18. John, 21, 15-17 (for the Primacy). John, 20, 22 (for the Dele- gation). Matt. 19, 10-12 (for the Counsel of Celibacy). I Cor. 7, 25-40 (for Apostolic Counsel of Virginity). Also S. Thom. Supp. qu. 34ff.: Bellarmine, de sacram. ordinis. passim. Tanquerey, III. 594ff. Pourrat, 1. c. p,jlOO, 311ff, . / 408 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM VII. Neither Has the Sacramental Union of Man and Wipe Anything But the Most Distant Analogies With the Pre-Christian Marriage-Rite As a final nexus between the old and the new, the religious joining of hands as practiced by ancient and primitive peoples is made to serve as the only basis for the promulgation of an identical ceremony under the New Law, — a mere continuation of what has already been handed down and believed from the earliest times. Such a swift and easy comparison reveals its essential superficiality by drawing attention to the following facts : The Primitive Marriage Has a Divine Sanction In consideration of the fact that the Messiah Himself bears witness to an original sanctity in the matrimonial relation, it is instructive indeed to turn to the nature-peoples and to see how the earlier practices in this regard testify to His own omniscient consciousness. So far from finding a condition of promiscuity or sexual free love, the more recent discoveries are sufficiently numerous and well-authenticated to establish the thesis that monogamy was the original state of man, that all other forms of this union are corruptions that came in with a later age. Not only does this imply the union of one man with one woman, but in addition the union is very generally regarded as permanent, — divorce is not commonly rec- ognised, and desertion apparently rare. The aboriginal family was of course endogamous, — there were no people to marry without — , but with the spread of the race a mild form of local exogamy became the rule, and in time all blood-marriages were tabooed as incestuous. In the choice of the bride a good deal of liberty prevailed in other respects, there was no bridal purchase and rarely an artificial betrothal, though the consent of the father and the free consent of the bride were as a rule demanded, mar- riage by elopment being strongly disapproved. On the contrary, in the most primitive regions the marriage is valid only when celebrated in presence of the father of either family, and accompanied by prayer, sac- rifice, or the lighting of torches, (Andaman Islands). "May you be blessed with offspring!" (Malakka), "Praise to the supreme Being, our Maker!", (Philippine^, Borneo). As in all ages, it is the occasion of feast- ing and merriment, of exchange of gifts, of presenting of "rings" in the shape of bamboos, hair-combs, or shell-necklaces, of sprinklings with water, rice, or the mystic fern- juice. And is Doubtless of Supernatural Institution And with this comes the rather important indication that the ceremony is more than the outgrowth of a universal human instinct, dictated by the common necessities of mankind. The Creator and Lord of nature is often asked to bestow His blessing upon what is felt to be an act of funda- mental social importance, evidently instituted by Him alone.'" *' See Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, (New York, 1903), and Idem, The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, (N. Y. 1908), for a broad confirmation of these statements, and compare p. xxxv-xl above. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 409 COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Totemic Marriage is Soiled by its "Animal Affinities" With the introduction of the totem-cult, all these items become in- creasingly complex, but without any corresponding moral advantage. There is a long list of prohibited degrees, depending upon plant or animal ancestry, and the individual totem competes with the class or phratraic ensign in determining what people are not to marry. While this has its useful aspect, it has been the occasion of secondary developments which are far from pleasing. It is true that the externals of rite are for the most part preserved, — "May our hands remain clasped for ever". (India), but the growing secularisation of the union and the increasing laxity of the tie is revealed by the frequency of polygamy, by the approval of divorce, and by the institution of marriage by purchase or capture, secret elope- ments being rarely reprehended. Under the still later "matriarchate", with its secret societies and phallic dances, religious symbolism has prac- tically vanished, and the inroads of polyandry and other unnatural prac- tices show that the so-called "mother-right" is not the unmixed blessing that some have supposed. Women are now feared and terrorised rather than loved, the masked dance being designed to keep them under sub- jection — , the whole reveals a decidedly unnatural and sordid relation. The More Recent Marriage Exhibits a Double Picture All this is swept away with the dawn of the new stone age, when the ancient concept of a single permanent union is once more revived, but only with partial success. Throughout Western Asia there is evidence of an original monogamous practice, the Babylonian patesi and the Egyptian pharaoh being generally ornamented with one wife, at least in theory. The same applies to the Palestine of the patriarchs, the Persia of Zoroaster, the India of the Rig- Veda, the China of the first celestials, and more dis- tantly to the Polynesian and more recent American cultures. One example will be sufficient, — "By these laws of the faith which I utter, obtain ye the life of the Good Mind" (Persia) . Concomitantly there has been a desire to grant more liberty to the female partner, to make her a free agent in business-contracts, and to admit her to the privileges of the sanctuary as a virgin, as a devotee or a priestess. This is especially the case in Greece and Rome, where the oldest classics give evidence of a high feeling for the dignity of the bond and the equality of conjugal rights, the priestly marriage being regarded as the only legal one, (Confarreatio) . This, however, is only one side of the picture. The other is represented by the indefinite polygamy of the later Hebrews and indeed of all historic peo- ples, by the extraordinary freedom in the change of partners, and finally by the abominable practice of temple-prostitution and habitual incest, which brought on the dissolution of the later empires. Nothing on earth is more tragic than to watch the gradual degeneration of the sex-instinct from a divinely implanted feeling of oneness to the licenses and terrible excrescences of the age of Nero. 410 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM All Pre-Christian Unions are Lacking Either in Their Nature or in Their Religious Significance If then we gather all the marriage-ceremonies of mankind under one head, we shall see that, while the fundamental principles of the natural law are too deep-seated to be entirely effaced in any age of the race, they either remain on this purely natural level, or are distorted and perverted with the most fatal consequences to the well-being of mankind. If the primitive union is conspicuous both for its unity and its stability, it is the result of a past supernatural revelation on the dignity and inviolability of the tie, — "And they shall be two in one flesh" (Gen. 2, 24). In no case however, does it rise to the importance of a special channel of divine sanctity, co-ordinate with the other great functions of religion. And this is the one differentiating note of all the pre-Christian ceremonials in so far as they show any approach to the Christian rite. The wedding is more of a social necessity than a positive means of sanctification, and it reveals its fragile character by the loose relations which, even in the ages of its purest manifestation, so often disfigure the private lives of the couple. The New Bond op Love is Based on a Supernatural Parallel It is therefore in harmony with the works of the divine wisdom that with the advent of a new supernatural dispensation, the old giving in marriage should acquire an entirely original, supernatural stamp. "Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder", (Matt. 19, 6) . The unity and indissolubility of the tie, battled shattered by the Mosaic prescription, is not only restored to its pristine level of strictness, but it becomes the sign or symbol of Christ's union with the Church : — "Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord: Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the savior of his body. There- fore as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it: that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life! So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. THIS IS A GREAT SACRAMENT: but I speak in Christ and in the Church." (Ephes. 5, 22-32). The uiysterion here referred to is thus raised to the level of a unique communication of supernatural gifts, based upon as sublime an analogy as can well be conceived. It is the Redeemer's mar- riage with His mystical Bride which is the model of this union, con- secrated as it is by His personal presence at the marriage of Cana. Montan- ism and Matriarchates fade away in its cleansing atmosphere." 2' P. Devine, The Law of Christian Marriage, (New York, 1908). S. Thorn. Supp. qu. 42ff. Bellarmine, de Sacrani. Matrimonii, passim. Tanquerey, III. 626ff. Pourrat, 1. c. 314, 321fiF. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 411 COMPARATIVE CRITICISM VIII. Minor Sacramentals Exhibit Few External Analogies Coming now to those secondary acts of divine worship in which any appropriate object is used as the expression of the divine benevolence or the worshipper's feeling of dependence, there will naturally be many occa- sions in which the common longings of the human heart will take on similar forms of expression the world over. Yet even here there are cer- tain glaring facts which make it impossible to derive the more distinctively Christian practices from any of their presumable antecedents, but which point rather to the opposite, — the influencing of Pagan by Jewish and Christian forms. The Trinitarian Sign op the Cross, Coupled With the Aspersion op Water, is op Christian and Pre-Constantinian Origin Foremost among these is the common and extremely ancient practice of dipping the fingers in the font of Holy Water and signing the person with the sign of the Cross. While a cruciform symbolism need have no connexion as such with the central mystery of the new Faith, the making of the sign with the arms and fingers and the accompanying invocation of the Trinity is something that cannot be found in any pre-Christian cult • of whatever kind, and, we may safely say, will never be found. It hangs together with the rite of Baptism, and should be judged accordingly, — it is a continual reminder of the primitive cleansing. "We mark our fore- heads with the Sign of the Cross", says Tertullian in the II. century (de cor. mil. 3). If then the formula for the New Birth cannot, as we have attempted to show, be extricated in any theological sense from the cosmic triads of the day, it will hardly be necessary to point out that its symbolic repetition stands in the same category, — it is a spontaneous piece of devo- tion which grew out of the Church with the same facility as did the con- servation of the eucharistic elements in the Mass, a desire to have the source of Life continually accessible. "In this Sign thou shalt conquer!" Had the Christian symbolism been understood in precisely the same sense as its predecessors, it could not have occasioned the conversion of Con- stantine; he saw in the heavens that which no pagan symbol could con- tain, — the "Sign of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24, 30). It is therefore suffi- ciently obvious, that, however ancient the prehistoric sign of the cross may be taken to be, it was absolutely devoid of anything approaching to a supernatural content; it was simply the designation for All-Father- Heaven, having no connexion with a definite, divine, or historical mys- tery. The four points of the compass or the three dimensions in space can suggest some beautiful thoughts, but they can hardly be made to serve as anything but the scaffolding of the new doctrine ; they break to pieces when touched by the transforming spell of the Holy Trinity. Thus the prehistoric data bring into ever stronger relief the essentially unique character of the Divine Sign.''* 2* Bunsen, Das Symbol des Kreuzes bei alten Nationen und die Entstehung des Kreuz- S3TnboIs der christlichen Kirche (Berlin, 1876). Se3rmour, The Cross in Tradition, History and Art, (New York, 1898). Lowrie, Christian Art and Archaeology, (New York, 1906), pp. 236-244. 412 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Holy Rosary is Not Derived From the Magic Necklace Another sufficiently common but very deceptive parallelism is drawn by many archaeological writers between the Christian Rosary as we now have it, and the regular repetition of set forms of prayer as undoubtedly practiced by ancient and primitive peoples and occasionally counted on so-called string-beads or prayer-necklaces. That this should be a fairly general practice should occasion as little astonishment as the custom of kneeling or of throwing up the hands, they are convenient ways of ap- proaching the divine mercy, putting law and order into religious devo- tions. An early example of repeated prayer-forms may perhaps be seen in the Bakatan invocations to the heavenly "Medicine-Man", — "0 holy Dayong, thou who lovest mankind, bring back thy servant from Leman, the land between life and death!" (p. 334). Similar forms are found throughout the primitive zone, and there can be no question that the efficacy of the prayer is in some way connected with the string of shells or precious stones by which the savage commonly adorns his person. In this way the different stones have different magical or religious powers, or are sometimes symbolical of different virtues, — the amethyst of courage and constancy, the ruby of loyalty and devotion, the emerald of persever- ance and hope, the diamond of immaculate purity, stainlessness of religious character. It is by no means certain, however, that definite stones are connected with definite prayers, nor that these are regularly counted on "beads", as some would imagine. Except for the dropping of the stone or shell as an offering to the deity, they partake very largely of the character of charms. Much Less From the Divining-Grystals The use of the magic stone as an amulet leads to the still more occult practice of reading hidden events in the polished stone, so-called crystal- gazing. That such a pretence is made by many savage or civilised peo- ples, need no longer be questioned; it belongs to that class of phenomena known as clairvoyance, telepathy, mental dissociation, the sub-con- scious (?) The diviner or medicine-man takes the magic ball, and by gazing stedfastly into it, "sees whatever he wishes to see", "locates the hidden disease", "discovers the unknown criminal", and so on. Similar feats are performed by looking into the water, using a drop of blood, or gazing into red ink. But apart from the v6ry questionable character of these phenomena, there is no reason to regard them as more than advanced medical practices having their modern analogues in "radium". X-ray-treatment, auto-hypnotism, and other exceptional devices. That primitive man should make use of the "crystal-beads," is indeed rather sur- prising, but the accompaniments of all these practices, — craniotomy, swooning away, the kniving and boning of victims — , shows that a large part of them must be attributed to demoniacal power.=» 2" Compare A. Lang, Crystal Visions, savage and civilised, being pp. 83-104, of "The Making of Religion", (London, 1909), where most of these phenomena can be explained as hallucinations. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 413 COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Sacred Chaplet Cannot be Traced to the Hindoo Prayer-Wheels A still more impossible comparison is founded on the alleged similar- ity between the rotating prayer-machines of the Hindoos and others and the counting of prayers on the string of beads as practiced in the Christian rite. The endless repetition of such sounds as Aum, Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah, standing for "three", "earth", "air", "heaven", tell their own story of a cosmic philosophy, while in the later Lamaism, the all-powerful formula, Om mani padme hum, "0 jewel of the lotus, hum!", is a purely machine- made invocation, written and multiplied on slips of paper running around a cylinder, and operated by hand, wind, or water-power. It is sad to think that modern Buddhism should have turned to the "magic flower" for inspiration, a cult which in primitive times was purely symbolic and comparatively harmless, but which is here regarded as the mainspring of all supernatural effort and stripped of every connexion with a personal God. Moreover, it is quite certain that this very late system of "forcing" the divine by means of purely automatic actions was entirely unknown in the western world, Buddhism, with its reincarnation-doctrine, exer- cised no influence whatever on the spread of the Gospel, and to insinuate any contact of early Christian with Shamanistic practice indicates a gross want of perception of the significance of two entirely different religious movements. Nothing approaching to a prayer-mill was ever known in the land of Palestine. On the other hand, the somewhat startling fact of the existence of attested prayer-beads in many of these eastern lands, and accompanied by fastings, penances, "mass"-offerings, sacred vestments, holy-water aspersions, monastic orders, and even complete "monasteries", while not necessarily or universally imported, show, according to our most careful authorities, that some part of the external ritual of these peoples must in all probability be traced to early Christian, and very prob- ably to Nestorian influences.'" Nor to the Jewish "Sacred Chains" As a more rational basis for what is after all a very obvious instru- ment of devotion, the knotted cords and emblematic chains of the Jews offer a more attractive comparison. It appears to be fairly probable that the psalms of David were thus counted from the earliest times, and on the Day of Atonement the national wailing, "Pardon, Lord, pardon thy peo- ple!", might be facilitated by a similar marking of prayers. This and the twelve precious stones of the High Priest, symbolising the twelve tribes and the twelve precious virtues, are suggestive enough of a "rosary" to merit our passing attention. But apart from the "one hundred blessings", there is no reason to believe that these necklets were thus used in the time of the Messiah, and their meaning and function are, as far as we know at present, very obscure. There is no proof that the "chains" of Isaiah, 3, 19, were used as counting-machines, though they might well have been so.'^ *' Rev. Charles Francis Aiken, D. D. The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, (Boston, 1900), pp. 11, 149ff. Sven Hedin, Trans-Himalaya, (London, 1913), pp. 310-329. 'i See J. R. Volz, Art "Beads," Cath. Encycl. Vol. II. pp. 361-362. 414 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS COMPARATIVE CRITICISM But Must be Ultimately Founded on the Lord's Prayer and the Angexic Salutation It is to this quarter, however, that we may look for the more plausible antecedents of early Christian custom. "Hold fast the form of sound words", (2 Tim. 1, 13). That the apostle is here referring at the very least to the Paternoster and the primitive Apostles' Creed, seems probable, and the "form" of the words had long been determined by the Master Himself,— "When ye pray, say: Our Father, who art in Heaven", etc. (Mat. 6, 9 Lk. 11, 2). What more natural than that these set forms of prayer should be kept in memory by the help of a simple cord of knots, beads, or shells, as we read in the lives of some of the early ascetics? The sacred formulae were continually on their lips, they were constantly repeated, from hour to hour, nay, from minute to minute, and they had only to use the instru- ments already familiar, to transfer the old beads from the Jewish Psalter to the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation, — "Hail, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women", (Lk. 1, 28). While the whole of this devotion was no doubt of gradual and silent growth, and suggested possibly by Jewish custom, it was certainly not directly derived either from this or the analogous pagan rites. In other words, the Annunciation must be coupled with the Incarnation; if the latter is an unparalleled fact, so indeed is the former. The Modern Meditation-Rosary Must be Traced to St. Dominic But while the fifty Paternosters and Aves may be indefinitely ancient as invocations, the numbers being suggested by the fingers of the hand or the Davidic Psalter, the new arrangement in groups of three, representing three phases in the life of Christ or the heavenly Mother, each decade commencing with the Lord's Prayer and followed by ten Marian saluta- tions, demands a more positive and personal source for its propagation. Whatever may be said on the side of criticism in favor of a gradual development of the modern out of the primitive Rosary, the sudden appearance of the Marian Psalter in the hands of the Friars-Preachers at the close of the fifteenth century is something that calls for a more ade- quate explanation. Even if the contemporary sources are deficient on this subject, the finger of the supernatural points, with its wonted element of mystery, to the personality of St. Dominic as the original bearer of the famous celestial vision; for it is through his sons and followers pre-emi- nently that the Marian Rosary has attained to the proportions of a world- embracing cult. Here we have a symphony of prayer which, beginning in joy, ascending in sorrow, and triumphing in glory, runs through the whole gamut of the supernatural, and by its threefold appeal to the infancy, passion, and resurrection of Christ, sounds the minor triad of harmony, the most beautiful chord in music. We may well be thankful for this most precious boon of our Faith.'^ 82 For controversial questions see H. Thurston, S. J., Art. "Rosary", Cath. Encylop. Vol. XIII, pp. 184-187. Contra: A. M. Skelly, O. P., St. Dominic and the Rosary, or, Was he its Founder? (Portland, Oregon, 1913). Comp. I. M. Casanowicz, The Collection of Rosaries in the U. S. National Museum, (Washington, 1909), p. 3S0ff. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 414a COMPARATIVE CRITICISM The Seven Sacraments Have Therefore no Parallels in the Prehistoric Past Either in Their Nature, Number^ or Order Returning, then, to the question which we set ourselves to discuss at the beginning of this chapter, that on the essence of sacrifice and on the nature and meaning of the primitive medicines, we see now that the latter cannot be equated with the Christian Sacraments on any system which involves a fair comparison. In the first place, their nature has been seen to be purely negative and dispositive and their efficiency purely natural, — in the second place, their number is entirely indefinite, having no essential connexion with the number seven, — and finally the order in which they are treated is strictly conventional, following the various needs in the higher life of man, but showing no necessary succession from one to the other except in the broadest and most general way, and different essen- tially in some of the most important links of the chain. If we have arranged them in an ascending series of seven, it is because the Christian sacramental system was the first to select this number as marking out seven special and supernatural channels of power, with which the medi- cines offer at times striking though very defective analogies, but which are too solidly founded on the universal needs of the human soul not to reveal some points of contact with the principal stages in the savage use of the corresponding remedies, — miserable attempts to supply the innate feeling for help during the different periods of his life, beginning with birth and closing with death. I have shown, I hope conclusively, that in these, as in other matters, there is a deep undercurrent of universal sym- pathy running through all the ages of man, but that the pouring of the new wine into the old bottles by the transforming hand of the Messiah was so violent as to burst the bottles as well as their content and to stamp the new number seven upon seven entirely new and life-giving vessels of sanctity. The Seven Sacraments Inaugurate a New Era op Grace We are thus brought face to face with the historic and uniquely super- natural Person of Christ as the direct source of our modern sacraments. He is baptised in the Jordan, He blesses little children. He sacrifices His Body, His forgives sinners, He heals the sick. He ordains His apostles. He assists at the marriage of Gana. And with this as our dogmatic rallying- point, we may sweep all secondary issues for the present aside, the detailed matter and form of each sacrament, with the nature and efficacy of its power, being partly revealed in the scripture, partly defined by the insti- tutional Church. In the meantime we have realised with sufficient force that as the new Healer is incomparatively superior to any shadowy demiurges of prophetic fame, so the powers that issue from Him cannot be measured in terms of their corrupted folklore ; they are raised to the level of unique, divine, incommunicable mysteries. THE "FR ACTIO PAN lb OR THE EUCHARIST IN THE CATACOMBS KKVKAI,lNE: •I A^l THE ItltlOAl) OF MIK" (JOHN, (1, :i.-,) 'KESENTS THE '■|5l{EAKIN IN IHE TllK CATACOiMIS OE ST. rKIS('IEI,.\. HOME, IIKSI' HALE OE THK| •■'ITIE (iOOI) SHEi'HEKD," .\ I'DI'l I.AU CHKISIIAN SI IS.IEfT OE TllK III. ON C'ENTl KV. BEEOW: THE "HASKET Ol O.'-IEKS" THE MVSTKAE EISH, AM) KKI'RKSENI'IN(i THE THE SACRED Sl'EClES,— ('AT.XCOJIB OE S' AM> THE •( I I- OE CLASS,' KESTINC l"EK.>l.\NENr I'KESENt'E (H' C HIilST IN r. C'AEEIXTl S, II. CENTl KV SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 415 THE UNIQUENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF SACRIFICE AND OF SACRAMENTAL VIVIFICATION It would be a grave oversight to dismiss this subject without making a final appeal to the united facts of antiquity with a view to understand- ing, more explicitly perhaps than heretofore, how unbridgeable is the chasm that separates the new dispensation from the old, how incom- parably superior is the Christian doctrine of sacrifice and its mediation through sacramental channels than any of its pagan or Jewish forerun- ners. For this purpose it will be both useful and equitable to make a short comparison of the two systems in order to bring out more forcibly, (1) the points of resemblance, (2) the points of intrinsic difference, by which this superiority may be brought more clearly to the surface. Both Systems Convey the Means op Sanctipication It is evident, in the first place, that in so far as nature herself can be used as a "symbol of love", the employment of this or that medium for communicating with the powers above is simply dictated by the common conscience of mankind, it is the most natural and spontaneous of human actions. Without some external ritual or symbolism a real, living religion cannot for a long time continue; it sinks into mere speculation, a mere "theory" of the relations of God to man. Hence it should not be surpris- ing that in almost all the ages of man the idea of obtaining some kind of help from supernatural powers by means of ordinary every-day channels is the outgrowth of a mere instinct, for which there is abundant precedent in human nature as such. What would we think of a human family, or even a large society, in which all expressions of devotion, all tokens of aiTection, all signs of internal gratitude, all marks of internal love, were constantly and conspicuously absent? They would be branded as bar- barians, unfit to share in the common decencies of humanity. And so, in the liturgical practices of mankind we note the common yearning of the human heart for some kind of assurance that the deity is benevolent, that as a fact he is there to help them, that he has signified his approval by ex- ternal signs. Some Consciousness of the Divine Benignity is Universal In the interpretation of the pre-Christian ritual of mankind it is, there- fore, no strain whatever upon our Christian conscience to admit that many of these practices may, and perhaps actually do, confer a certain natural tendency to things above, a certain beginning in the fruition of the divine goodness. 416 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS Similarities of Needs Beget Similarities op Expression Coming more particularly to the individual rites, we may also will- ingly concede that, as they are founded upon the universal needs of humanity in all ages, some external, and even internal resemblances may be traced in their general structure and portent. The sprinkling of water is vaguely promissory of a rise to a higher life, of the washing away of the initial defilement, of the healing of the primitive breach between God and man. Nay more, in the climax of all the ritual we may dimly discern a faint analogy between the first-fruit sadaka and those more exuberant gifts of the divine love that are in the exclusive possession of the Holy Eucharist. In both cases there is an imparting of divine power in or through the sacrificial elements, which, however misunderstood or per- verted in the premessianic days of humanity, cannot but betoken some form of union, and that of the most intimate kind, between the Creator and the creature. The whole ceremony is dimly prophetic of the day when the God of Heaven shall give Himself in His fulness to His starving chil- dren, shall be sacrificed in a unique and unapproachable sense on the altar of Calvary and in the Eucharistic Genacle. To this extent, then, we may speak of a mystical or prophetical yearning after God throughout the cycles of time, in that by some mysterious supernatural light, He has sig- nified His coming in human flesh and His conveyance of the divine life as a food for the soul by certain vague and adumbrative symbols, which pre- figure the real immolation that will some day be enacted. In this, as in other great interventions of the divine mercy, coming events cast their shadows before. "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began", — in the canonical "prophets" these signs are unmistakable, they are explicit predictions. But Similarities are Opposed by Essential Differences Nevertheless, a more searching study of the internal content of these rituals will bring into ever-increasing clearness, that the differences are on the whole far more pronounced than the resemblances, that while some form of communication of the divine is universal, the mythology in which it is clothed and the manner in which it is manifested, differentiates the pre-Christian rites so essentially and fundamentally from their modern successors that anything like a continuity cannot be spoken of. As this subject is one of the burning questions of the day and is so commonly mishandled by superficial students of comparative religion, it may be worth while to «all attention to three aspects at least, in which the old and the new medicines differ, not only in degree, but also in kind, in the man- ner in which the divine is conceived to operate. SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS 417 The Trinitarian Formula is One op the Transcending Elements For, at the very threshold of the Christian system we find an invocation of the divine name, vi^hich under the triune designation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is something entirely nevs' in the religious experience of mankind. To wash with water, and to invoke the blessing of Heaven is indeed natural enough; but to baptise in the name of a superhuman, in- comprehensible mystery is clearly beyond the unassisted powers of man to effect, — it postulates a direct and unique illumination from an equally unique and supernatural source. Hence the derivation of the rite of bap- tism from the Levitical, nay even from the Mithraic purification-cere- monies, breaks to pieces under this one hammer alone, for in none of the pre-Christian or non-Christian rites is there the remotest hint of a triune nature of God, the so-called triads being, as we have conclusively shown in our first chapter, but an empty and cosmic designation for the three points of the universe, and moreover entirely eclipsed and forgotten in the age of the historical appearance of the Messiah. And this will apply with equal force to all those further sacramental actions, with which the name of the Trinity is essentially coupled, — Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Order, and the rest. If the Trinity itself is a unique revelation, it will stand to reason that these trinitarian rites are equally so ; they are raised far above the level of nature. The Personal Immolation of God is Another But we would be ignoring the central dogma of the Christian faith were we to stop short with the mere names of things, however sublime. The invocations of the Holy Trinity lead us to suspect that in other depart- ments also there have been divine activities which are far in excess of what has ever before taken place on the stage of the world's history. "We have seen that, although we have something approaching to the idea of personality in the earliest consciousness of man, the socalled "immola- tion" of God is at most mystical and adumbrative, while in the later ages the notion of a personal subsistence begins to fade away altogether, until it is revived, but only with partial success and with a strongly animistic and pantheistic coloring, among the more refined peoples of "Western Asia. But it was reserved for the historic incarnation of the Son of God to bring out this idea of personality, whether in the Creator or in the creature, in all its sublime and unadulterated purity. Here alone do we find, not only the idea, but the actual fact of a suffering and dying God, one who is no mere product of the mythical fancy, but the personal supporter of the powers of the universe, — God and man. 418 SACRIFICE AND SACRAMENTALS The Imparting of the Divine Life is a Third From this inimitable reality it will follow that the sacramental "giving" of the Body of Christ is hardly the outgrowth of a Jewish agape or a Persian love-feast. Apart from the entire novelty of the words of institu- tion, the terms "body of God", "life of God", "gift of God", as used in the contemporary cults, must always be understood in the light of the mental atmosphere of the times,— they are one and all either tinged with the idea of "emanation" pure and simple, as in the Egyptian mysteries and the later Neo-Platonism, or they are obscured by a vague naturalism and undis- guised polytheism, which makes of Mithras and Demeter little more than solar or lunar heroes, or, finally, they have lost all definite theological con- tent, if indeed they ever possessed one, as in the Jewish funeral feasts. Moreover it is no small assumption to suppose that the Mithraic rites of the time of Augustus were identical with those of the Persian Achaemenids or of still earlier times, when the worship of the great Mazda was still comparatively pure. The one liturgy that we possess of this kind is of very late redaction, and would rather incline us to suppose the opposite, it is full of puerilities and corruptions. Thus in spite of a similarity of termin- ologies it is quite impossible to derive the Christian concept of a personal sharing of the Life of God from any of the surrounding "life"-philoso- phies. That which makes the Christian doctrine of the Eucharist so in- comparably superior to any of its supposed predecessors is the giving of God Himself in His own incommunicable purity, not the acquiring of this or that mysterious or praeternatural quality vaguely associated with a power above. And it is this which should always be uppermost in our minds whenever we attempt to institute comparisons. The Moral Criterion Should Not be Omitted While anything like an adequate treatment of this subject must here be relinquished, it is clear that a supernatural moral effect requires a pro- portionately supernatural cause. If then the worship of Osiris finally dis- solved into the lowest of sex-worship, and even the "brotherhood of love" was incapable of stemming the tide of universal corruption, we have one more reason to look to those spotless souls of the early Christian ages as a final confirmation of our theological thesis. "These are they that follow the lamb withersoever it goeth. And they are not defiled with women, for they are virgins". This alone is a moral miracle, which can only be ade- quately traced to a heavenly power. The fact is, they are living the life of God in a personal sense, for the first time they are sharers in the divine nature as such, they are pulsating with the super-conceivable life of the Holy Trinity,— diuiwoe consortes naturae! CHAPTER THE SIXTH DE DEO CONSUMMATORE IN VIA Illustrations of the Doctrine of Temporal Retribution THE RUINS OF THE GREATEST MONUMENT IN ANTIQUITY ■I'HK GKiANTlC SIOl ND OF BIRS-NIJIROl) .STANUS AS A SEXTIXKI. Or THK DIVINE Jl STICE AND A rKRI'Ei'l Al. EXAMI'I.K OF THE I'Rl STRATION OF III MAN AMBITION. — THE MOST fONSFK'l <>l S OU.IK(T IN THE ENTIRE MESOI'OTAMIAN PLAINS, — ITS I'KESENT HEIGHT BEING ABOI I' ir.O I'EFrr. AN!) VISIBT.K FOR ACANV MII.FIS OVER THE I'FAT EOWI-ANDS. FOR POSSIBLE CONNEXIONS mi'H THE TRADITIONAL 'XOn'ER', CONSULT VIGOIROIX, LA BIBLE ET LES DECOl VERTES MODBRNES, (PARIS. 1896), VOL. I. P. 37.5-401. AND COMP.iRE THE FINDINGS OF RAM1.1NSON, SAVCE. BALL. OPPERT, SCHRADER. SKINNER. .lASTROW. AND .IBRK.UIAS ON THE S.-VMK SCB.IECT. FOB BORSIPPA = SCM. BAR— SAP. "DIVISION OF TONGUES." SEM. BAR-SIPTU. HEBR. BAR- SEPHATH (BAR.VR-SAPHAH). AND THEN ASSIjnLATED WITH BAL.\I. BALBEL, BABEL, (BAB-ILI . "GATE OF GOD"). SEE VIGOUROUX. OP. CTT. P. S98. DILSLVNN. (JEN. 307. NIKEL. GEN. SOO. HOBERC;. fiEN. T3:!. BARTON, MABYLONI.AN MTIITING. No. 77 (BAR). No. 340 (SAP). RETRIBUTION 419 In the preceding chapters we have treated of the supreme Being chiefly as the Creator and the Preserver of man, we have looked upon Him as the source of existence, the hope of salvation, the object of sacrifice. It is now time to turn our attention to a different aspect of the divine economy, that under which He rewards or punishes mankind by sanctions more or less rigorous in order to carry out the moral plan of the universe, the glorification of His name, the fulfilment of His eternal law. For it is clearly insufiicient to speak of God as the ultimate aim of humanity unless he is capable of vindicating his authority as a moral person by actions, purgative, punitive, or remunerative, as the case may be. If human justice requires the punishment of the sinner and the reward of the just, in default of which human life would have no meaning, so much more does the divine justice necessitate a definite system of retribution, without which the moral government of the world would come to an end, and He Him- self incapable of carrying out the great plan. It is true that the nature of this recompense is not thereby specified, nor can we exclude those higher counsels of perfection by which select souls serve him for His own sake and not for that of his gifts, and are thus not directly seeking the external reward. But let no man presume to say that for humanity as such phy- sical pain and pleasure are a matter of indifference, that for the great majority of mankind, including the "saints", the hope of heaven and the fear of hell, have not ever been the strongest incentives to right conduct, nay, even to the heroic, however much their ideas of beatitude and damna- tion may have been colored by their own personal phantasies. Happiness of some kind, even at the cost of sacrifice, is the necessary end of all being, whether we define it as a purely spiritual delight or as flowing over upon the senses, and its opposite in the form of failure, calamity, misfortune, is as much abhorred by the hunted bison of the prairies as it' is by the dis- appointed anchorite of the desert, who has failed to "find his God", to ward ofT the attacks of the demon. If then the cycle of life is inconceivable without a constant struggle for a definite end, physical or moral, there must surely be many examples of success and failure by which this universal law of existence is illustrated. Will it be possible to find such examples in the annals of the past, to dis- cover how the Creator has disciplined the race by His rewards and pun- ishments? 420 RETRIBUTION This brings us to the subject of our present consideration. For as there are two sides to the dispensation of justice, — one in this world, and one in the next — , so there are two ways of approaching the doctrine of retri- bution, — first, as a system of temporal recompense, by which the good survive and the evil perish as a result of their observance or contempt of the moral law, — and secondly, as a system of spiritual recompense, by which the same souls are blest or lost in eternity for identical reasons. Retribution, Temporal and Eternal But as there is no direct equation between physical and moral felicity in the present order, as it quite often happens that the wicked prosper and the good are chastised or humiliated, it is manifestly impossible to treat the two subjects under one head, they should be separated if for no other reason than to emphasise the all-important moral truth that the existing inequalities and social conventionalities are in no sense final, that there is a "triumph of failure" of which economists have not as yet taken cog- nisance, that perhaps "the last shall be first, and the first last". Temporal Retribution as a Moral Example Nevertheless, as the preservation of the race and of moral goodness in general normally stand or fall together, it is equally in harmony with the divine wisdom that certain brilliant examples of physical and moral triumph over the powers of evil should be held up as evidence that even in this world the good shall be saved and shall prosper, while the end of the ungodly is, "they shall be rooted out at the last". The Deluge and the Babylonian Dispersion We have already seen how the origin of death and of physical misery is traced to moral causes, it is man that has brought this temporal mis- fortune upon himself by an act of moral rebellion. But this is not all. In the later ages of humanity we hear of another great catastrophe, — that of the deluge — , in which the few only are saved, the great mass of humanity perishing in the all-devouring waters. It is the object of our present essay to attempt a short pre-history of man, by way of showing how far the existing traditions on this head are borne out by the universal folk-lore of antiquity and can be harmonised in such a way as to present a fairly com- plete picture. In this way the story of the Flood and the Babylonian con- fusion of tongues, — familiar from our infancy — , may take on a new scientific and moral value, now that we are able to estimate them in the light of a more extended knowledge of nature and man. RETRIBUTION 421 EARLY ASIATIC TRADITION Turning again to the far East as the earliest theatre of human activity, it has already become sufficiently evident that the idea of retributive justice is a pronounced feature in the mythologies of a large portion of the aborigines. Apart from the fall, by vs^hich death, sickness, black magic, or the evil eye, were set free to roam the earth and afflict humanity, vs^e find the equally strong persuasion that by degrees the vi'hole of the race became so entirely abandoned as to bring upon themselves a great w^orld- cataclysm, by vs^hich all or nearly all were destroyed as a punishment for their moral obliquities. Side by side we invariably find the picture of some great national hero or popular demi-god, who, with a small fraction of humanity, generally saves himself and his household from the rising waters of the ocean or from a rain of fire by his own virtue, industry, and foresight, and thus figures as the type or the model of the divine deliver- ance. Let us see to what extent this is borne out in individual instances. (A) Peninsular Region, — Malakka We have already called attention to the swift judgments passed by the old Heaven-God upon those who transgress His laws. The first humans violate the decrees of heaven by contracting irregular unions, which evi- dently implies some command of sexual restraint, of observing the ordinary laws of social decency. As a punishment He "burns them up with His breath". He "turns them into trees". He "converts the demons themselves into stone", — surely a powerful warning. But if the lightning destroys individuals or at most smaller groups of mankind, it is the great world-deluge that destroys humanity as such. Relics of this idea may still be found among some of the natives. The Flood, the Ark, and the Rainbow "According to the Semang legend of the Rainbow, a great dragon or snake in ancient times broke up the skin of the earth, so that the world was overwhelmed with water. According to the Mantra, it was a giant turtle that brought the water up from below through a hole in the ground, from among the roots of a "pulai" tree, thus causing a flood which developed afterwards into the ocean. A Benua account, which is the full- est of the three, refers besides to a kind of vessel in which the first parents of the race are alleged to have effected their escape from drowning. According to the traditions of both Semang and Benua, moreover, it is the mountains that give fixity to the earth's skin".' ' Skeat, Pagan Races, II. 186. Compare II. 339 for the Mantra, II. 356 for th? Benua version. 422 RETRIBUTION The Origin of the Sea and the Gulturb-Hero In at least two cases we have a fairly definite account of the origin of the sea and of a semi-divine deliverer. Among the Mantra it is To~Entah, the "Lord-knows-who", who saves mankind from complete destruction by procuring the death of the turtle from which the menacing waters take their rise, while for the Benua we have a few additional data : — "The ground on which we stand is not solid, — it is merely the skin of the earth. In ancient times Pirman {=Tuh(m, Peng) broke up this skin, so that the world was destroyed and overwhelmed with water. Afterwards he caused the hills of Johor to rise out of water, this low land which we now inhabit being formed later. These mountains in the south, together with Mount Ophir, and other hills to the north, give a fixity to the earth's skin. The earth still depends entirely on these mountains for its steadi- ness," etc. "When the first hills had already emerged, a ship of pulai-wood, com- pletely covered over, and without any opening, was left floating on the waters. In this Pirman had enclosed a man and a woman whom He had created. After the lapse of some time the vessel no longer progressed either with or against the current, and ceased to be driven to and fro. The man and the woman, therefore, feeling it to be motionless, nibbled their way through it, and standing upon the dry ground, beheld this our world". The Repeopling of the Peninsula "In an age gone by, of which they do not even know the century, a Mantra chief named Batin Alam, "King of the Universe", constructed a large and beautiful vessel and set sail from Constantinople (?). This ship not only sailed with great rapidity, but possessed the wonderful property of propelling itself. It anchored after several days voyage in what was then a small port, since named Malakka. In this ship had been brought all the requisites for founding a colony. Batin Alam's ship was not destroyed, but still exists (they say) underneath the mountains of the peninsula". The Moral Cause op These Visitations These items can hardly be called more than incoherent scraps or frag- ments of a story which probably reached them from Western sources. Only among the negritos and the wild forest-folk is a moral cause seem- ingly implied, the fire and brimstone no less than the flood being sent by the Father-God as a visitation upon the sins of humanity (supra). On the other hand they seem to have heard of the flood rather than to have actually experienced it, — they talk of others building a boat and landing, not of themselves. RETRIBUTION 423 EARLY ASIATIC TRADITION (B, 1) Andaman Islands Among the neighboring Andamanese the recollections of a past devas- tation by water are more pronounced as well as original. Here the race is pictured as continually deteriorating in consequence of their growing dis- regard of the laws of the Heaven-God, the violation of the first-fruit taboo being the root of the evil. The original paradise-race, known as chaugata-bangas, are described as fine tall men with large beards, and they are said to have been long-lived, but otherwise similar to the present inhabitants. In those days Puluga was their friend and companion, He taught them all the arts and the use of fire, and instructed them in the use of speech and the manufacture of simple tree-stump canoes, which could float without braces! All this came to an end with their continued dis- obedience of His commands. The Puluga-Flood as a Punishment "At last Puluga's anger burst forth, and without any warning He sent a great Flood which covered the whole land (except His own mountain) and destroyed all living. Four persons, who happened to be in a canoe when the catastrophe occurred, were able to effect an escape, Lorola being the principal man, and Kalola the chief woman. When the waters sub- sided, they found themselves near Wotaemi, the original paradise, where they landed and discovered that every living thing had perished, but Puluga re-created the animals, birds, etc. In spite of this, however, they suffered severely in consequence of all their fires having been extinguished, and they could devise no means of repairing their loss. At this juncture one of their recently deceased friends appeared in their midst in the form of a bird named Luratut, a Kingfisher. Seeing their distress he flew up to the sky, where he discovered Puluga seated beside the fire. He thereupon seized and attempted to carry away in his beak a burning log, but the blazing brand fell on Puluga, who, incensed with pain (sic), hurled it at the intruder. Happily for those concerned the missile missed its mark and fell near the very spot where the four survivors were deploring their con- dition". They were now once more equipped with their domestic fires, and in spite of their resentment of Puluga's policy, were finally reduced by him to submission. "This is said to have been the last occasion on which Puluga rendered Himself visible or held any communication with them, but the warning He then gave them has not been forgotten, and the islanders are to this day strict in the observance of His commands". As these commands cover practically the whole decalogue including theft, murder, and adultery, the moral import of this "flood" is obvious.^ 2 Man, Andaman Islands, 95-102, and compare p. 13 above. 424 RETRIBUTION EARLY ASIATIC TRADITION This is one of the clearest accounts we possess of a drowning-calamity in the earlier days of mankind, and its authenticity and indigenous origin seem to be demanded by the antiquity and isolation of the people. But what is more important, it puts a definite ethical content into the story, it is here more than elsewhere that the whole transaction is looked upon as a punishment for sin, and as an example and encouragement for the faith- ful. From this consideration alone it should merit our study, as well as from the fact that it recognises an ante-diluvian race to have preceded the present pygmoidals and to have been more closely allied to the normal type, though otherwise belonging to the same group and of similar habits and industry. It points to the existence of a taller and more masculine branch. (B, 2) Ceylon Concerning the folk-lore of the Veddas Dr. Seligman thus expresses himself : — "There is an extraordinary absence of legend among all groups of Veddas who have not been greatly influenced by the Sinhalese. Con- cerning the origin of men, natural features and things, the Veddas seem absolutely incurious, nor do their songs refer to any of these subjects. There are no stories of talking animals or of how their rockshelters were formed, they have not even a tale of their own origin. Apart from a few accounts of the origin of particular yaku and the deeds they performed, the following two legends, — on the origin of fire and the rainbow — , were all that we could hear, though the most diligent inquiry was made".^ These stories of the fire-eating chief and the rainbow-woman are entirely devoid of serious import. But it is surprising that no echoes, at least, of world-inundation should have reached them. Are we to infer that they escaped the ordeal, that the waters should have spared the land of Ceylon? This no doubt is possible, but in the mean time the case should be placed on file, pending further investigation. (G) Philippines Similar remarks apply to the Philippine archipelago, at least to that portion inhabited by the aboriginals, or Aetas. That the Negritos of Zambales have a wholesome fear of divine justice is revealed by the fear- ful consequences that are believed to follow the sin of sacrilege, that is of tampering with the sacrificial objects, — it means instant death, or some great misfortune. Manifestly our knowledge of their folk-lore is as yet too limited to pronounce upon the presence of absence of any distinct nature-myths.' » Seligman, The Ve4das, p. 322. « Reed, Negritos, p. 65, RETRIBUTION 425 (D) Borneo and the Eastern Archipelago Flood-legends are common enough in Borneo and the adjacent islands, but it is an open question how far they can be considered as of native origin and not rather as an importation due to contact with higher Malay and Islamic peoples. Certain it is, that among the wilder and more in- accessible tribes the traditions on this head become increasingly rare, though the stories of the swamping of some remote ancestor or the salva- tion of a few grandees are sufTiciently numerous to point at least to a common prehistoric tradition. That the Father in Heaven is an exacting Judge, that He punishes mankind by sending a rice-famine, by with- drawing the fruits of the earth, has already been shown in the preceding pages, and the reconquest of the heavens by some great hero, vi'hether as Amei or Kling, is a good illustration of the survival of virtue, the reward of the just. These data may now be supplemented by the following frag- ments : — A Da YAK Story op the Flood and Its Consequences "Trow was a great man, and when the flood commenced, proved him- self to be so, for he procured a large wooden mortar for pounding paddy, and made a boat of it, and taking the fair Temenjen, and a dog, a pig, a fowl, and a cat, etc. he launched forth into the deep. After the flood sub- sided, Trow having landed his stock and cargo, thought long and deeply, and after mature consideration seems to have come to the conclusion that to repeople the earth many wives were necessary. So out of a log of wood he made one, and out of a stone he created another, and, various other articles having been converted to a similar purpose, he married them, so that it was not surprising that ere many years he had a family of some twenty, who learned to till the earth and to lay the foundation of various Dayak tribes including that of the Tringus". On this Grant makes the following comment : — "Trow, then, is the reputed ancestor of the Tringus-Dayaks. Tuppa is their Supreme God, who in His anger sends thunder and lightning, and in His mercy sun and gentle rain". Here we have a more distant recognition of the moral element, in that the condescending Weather-God is looked upon as the apparent source of weal or woe, which in turn are conditioned by man's behavior. But the accessories of the story, with its carved mortars and organised polyg- amy, show pretty clearly that it came to the natives from higher Malayan sources. None of the aborigines would speak of themselves as the authors of such a state of society. B H. Ling-Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, Vol. I. p. 300, Vol, 11. p. CCI, 426 RETRIBUTION EARLY ASIATIC TRADITION Another Version op the Same Event On the testimony of Schwaner we have received the following account:— "The Ott-Danums call the supreme Being Mahadara. He created the earth and all that therein is. In the beginning there was noth- ing but water, and all endeavors to draw out the dry land remained fruit- less, until the seven Nagas (or jars) were taken for a foundation, on to which basis Mahadara threw the earth down out of heaven. As formerly there was nothing but water, so now the water and light are suppressed and the universe is overwhelmed with earth. Mahadara stepped down from his seat, and pressed this together into firm masses, stones, etc. He formed the mountain ranges and heights, the depths of lakes and seas, the beds of rivers and brooks, so that the water now got its bed in the dry ground. Only after that were men made out of the earth, and the rest of creation developed". Then he continues : — "According to the belief of the Ott-Danums there was once a big deluge on the island, on which occasion many inhabitants lost their lives. But the crown of the Bukit Arai at Mendai, which may be a side-pocket of the Kapuas-Bohang, remained above water, and was the abode of a small num- ber of people who were able to save themselves in praus until the waters, which had covered the land for three months, had abated, and the ground was dry once more". "The Ott-Danums trace their descent from two different ancestors, who came down from heaven in golden ships, followed by their slaves in wooden and less costly vessels". Here again the nucleus of the story, with its rising and sinking river- beds, may well be traced to a vague recollection of the past upheavals and depressions in the island, accompanied by more or less formidable inun- dations. But, as in the previous instance, the mention of naga-jars, of slaves, and of golden ships, is a sufficient proof of the recent origin of the remainder. (E) Melanesia Similar ideas are associated with Quat-Marawa in the Banks Islands. "He cut himself a large canoe, and took into it his wife and brothers and all living creatures, and shut himself up with them inside the canoe, to which he had made a covering. Then came a deluge of rain, the great hollow of the island became full of water, and the canoe with all its occu- pants disappeared". Here the deity has been mixed up with the deluge- hero, but, according to Godrington "it is certain that the story is older than any knowledge of Noah's ark among the people", — possibly a correct inference, though it is wanting in solid proof.' « Codrington, The Melanesians, pp. 166-167. RETRIBUTION 427 EARLY AUSTRALIAN TRADITION (F) Australia-Tasmania The prehistoric origin of some kind of water-myth is proved by noth- ing so clearly as the existence of these legends in those portions of the world where any infiltration from higher sources seems to be ruled out. As in the Andaman Islands, so in the primitive Australian area, the far South East, it seems quite impossible to derive these ideas from the white, or any of the yellow races, and our most careful and trusted authorities are now unanimous in repudiating it. It is only where the flood-heroes are associated with a distinctly recent form of civilisation that we are forced to assume either the advent of a later race or a transmission from some higher channels, through which the earlier heroes have been sup- lied with more modern paraphernalia, — large water-craft, advanced implements. Ths Tasmanian Deluge and the Aurora Australis Contrary to what might be expected, the Australian region is fairly well supplied with references or hints, at least, of a great visitation by water. The numerous Thunder- and Rainbow-gods of New South Wales and Victoria are partly pointing to such an event, and in the area nearest to Tasmania we are in possession of a fairly realistic flood-legend. "Mungan-ngaua, the tribal 'Our Father', had a son named Tundun, who was married, and who is the direct ancestor of the Kurnai, their Weintwin, or father's father. Mungan-ngaua instituted the Jeraeil (or initiation), which was conducted by Tundun, who made the instruments bearing the names of himself and his wife, (the bull-roarers) . When some one impiously revealed the secrets of the Jeraeil to the women and thereby brought the anger of the Father-God on the Kurnai, he sent his fire, the Aurora Australis, which filled the whole space between the earth and the sky. Men went mad with fear and speared each other, fathers killing thek* children, husbands their wives, and brethren each other. Then the sea rushed over the land, and nearly all mankind was drowned. Those who survived became the Muk-kurnai. Some turned into animals, birds, rep- tiles, fishes, and Tundun and his wife became porpoises! Mungan then left the earth, and ascended to the sky, where he still remains".^ Allowing for a few intrusions of totemism, this thrilling anecdote reveals the punitive idea of the deluge with some force, it is sacrilege and wholesale murder that precede the event, though the fate of the survivers is hardly enviable. Moreover the absence of any reference to higher cul- tures may well be taken to indicate its remote antiquity. » Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 45>3. 428 RETRIBUTION EARLY AFRICAN AND AMAZONIAN TRADITION (G) Central and South Africa In spite of their sense of sin and the temporal penalties that accom- pany it, it seems strange that neither the Negrillos of the Congo, nor the Bushmen of the Kalahari should be in possession of any account of so widespread a tradition of the human race. One would suppose that the Being who vindicates his sanctity by destroying them with the lightning, by "banishing them to a mysterious region under the water", would have left some record of his dealings with humanity at large. But no data on this subject are as yet forthcoming, and perhaps, we may add, they are not likely to appear in the future. It is in harmony with the exceedingly primitive state of these peoples that, like their equally primitive brethren in the far East, in Ceylon, Borneo, and Malakka, their recollections of such an event should be of the vaguest, the wildest tribes being invariably with- out any strongly worded deluge-story. As in previous cases, this silence should make us reconsider its probable cause. Are they an ante-diluvian race? (K) South America and Patagonia On the other hand the South-American continent is by comparison rich in flood-literature, though even here the less civilised areas have preserved the tradition in fainter form.' For the Botokudos no certain data are as yet available, though the "Great Master" can be "angry" with his children and destroy them with the thunder-bolt. But for the Caingang, Bakairi, and other forest-peoples we possess abundant examples of retribution. Here it is more commonly a "Flood of Fire" that acts as the instrument of the Almighty, and the causes assigned for it are invariably of a moral nature, — it is above all things the violation of the couvade that exposes the culprit to the visita- tions of heaven, to the lacerations of wild beasts, and finally to the great conflagration. This means that adultery, incest, and sexual crimes are the chief cause of the divine anger, but never without some examples of virtue. Among the Tupi, it is Irin Mage, who is saved by the Creator Monan, and who then gives birth to a new posterity, who replenish the earth with justice. The same or similar ideas may be traced to the extreme end of Patagonia. Among the Onas of Tierra del Fuego there is the belief that the paradise-race was succeeded by a generation of decadents, whose crimes of violence increased to such an extent that Anally a great Giant came down from heaven and killed them all, the flood cutting them off from the mainland.* 8 See the sources under p. 54, 57, 58ff, above, esp. Ehrenreich, Ipc. cit. ibid. Cooper, 1. q. p. 163-164. RETRIBUTION 429 LATER ASIATIC TRADITION (M, 1) The Mundas op Central India With the ripening ages of humanity the consciousness of a great world cataclysm seems to become more vivid and detailed, vi'hich again suggests that it belongs to a comparatively late epoch in the history of the race. Among the Mundari peoples of Central India we find a much more explicit version than any that we have so far considered, and as it abounds in many striking and interesting anecdotes, and throws valuable sidelights on the early history of man, we do not hesitate to reproduce it at considerable length, though we have already given the main points in a preceding chapter." THE EARLY MIGRATIONS OF MAN After their expulsion from the Ajam-Garh, or Garden of Adam, (whose location is not defined) the descendants of our first parents "wandered about over the face of the earth, over hills and dales, through forests untrodden by the feet of man and over fields unworn by the plough". HIS ARRIVAL IN CHOTA-NAGPUR Finally, on the arrival of the Oraons (in India), the Mundas, always averse to living among strangers, made for the central plateau of Chota- Nagpur. "It was the famous patriarch, Risa Munda, who led his tribesmen on this eastward march. And Risa's followers numbered fully twenty- one thousand". THE BEGINNINGS OP PASTORAL LIFE "From their encampment at Muruma the Mundas scrutinised the forests all around them. Not a trace of human habitation or pasturage for cattle could they discern". The story then describes how the different patriarchs established themselves in different parts of the country, and gave their names to the chief localities. Evidently the Mundas were then still in the nomadic or hunting stage, as there is no mention of farms. THE REBELLION OP MAN AND THE FIRE-PLOOD "The sons of men threw off their allegiance to Sin-Bonga, who there- upon sent a warning to men on earth through his servant-birds, the Crow and the Owl(?). But men refused to obey him. Enraged at the impious contumacy of man, the Sun-God showered down on the earth below a lerrible rain of fire to destroy mankind". THE CONCEALMENT OP THE SURVIVING PAIR "And the race of man would have been altogether extinct but for the saving pity of the sister of the Sun-God, — Sin-Bonga-Misi. The com- passionate goddess carried off a man and a woman, and hid them under a jovi-marsh! •Materials in S. C. Roy, The Mundas, (1912), pp. VII-XIIfT. (Appendix). 430 RETRIBUTION LATER ASIATIC TRADITION The Sun-God had his suspicions, and he despatched his bird-mes- sengers to look out for any human being that might have escaped the gen- eral conflagration. Long and patiently did the sagacious birds search for some trail of the existence of man. They had well-nigh despaired of suc- cess when at length the crow alighted on a leaf-cup such as men use. It lay on the marsh and betokened the presence of man. But no human being could anywhere be seen. Straightway the crow picked up the leaf-cup with its beak and carried it to the Sun-God". THE MARSH-SPIRIT AND THE DIVINE DEGREE "Thereupon Sin-Bonga himself went down to the marsh, where he was met by the presiding marsh-spirit. Of her he demanded to know if she had any human beings in her custody. To this she promptly replied: — "All men hast thou struck down with fire and brimstone. Where shall I get one now?" But the Sun-God was not convinced. At length, however, he won the confidence of the marsh-spirit by promising not to destroy mankind again, and added : — "Henceforth you shall have two parts of the sons of men, and I shall take only a third part to myself". At this she brought out the surviving human pair from inside the jovi-marsh, and Sin-Bonga placed them once more on the green earth". THE DISPERSION PROM AJAM-GARH "And this man and this woman were called Lutkum-Haram and Lutkum-Buria respectively. They lived together as man and wife at Ajam-Garh, and the world was peopled by their progeny. Since then, as a mark of the marsh-spirit's power over them, most men have some wart or other mark on their skin(!)". (Compare the "mark" of Cain and the scariflcation-rite ?) . Considerations I have already brought to notice the essentially native ring of most of these stories, two of which are here pieced together to form a com- posite. Their value lies in the fact that from beginning to end we find a paternal Sun-God who directs the destinies of the race by rewards and pun- ishments, who is the immediate cause of the flood, and who not only allows the few to be saved at the bidding of the Marsh-spirit and the queen of heaven, but even promises that in future two-thirds of the race shall triumph. In spite of an evident confusion of the first ancestor with the deluge-hero and the absence of any clear reference to the moral nature of the "rebellion" spoken of, it must be admitted that they furnish us with important links in the pre-history of man, they seem to reveal the con- tinuity of some form of divine government. RETRIBUTION 431 LATER ASIATIC TRADITION Another Account op the Dispersion The following contributions to the early history of the Mundas are described by Roy as "more ambitious, but obviously less authentic", though he admits that "the genuine portions of the legend can easily be told off from the excrescences put upon it". THEY CAME FROM CENTRAL ASIA WITH THEIR SUN-GOD "Lutkum Haram was the first ancestor of the sons of men. Lutkum's son was Hembo. Hembo begat Kus, Kus begat Morih. From Morih descended the Korku, the Marki, the Santal, the Ho, or Larka, the Bhumij, the Konko, the Korwa, the Sinji and many other tribes who composed the Munda race". "Morih migrated from his native land in Central Asia with his whole family and his fowls. Morih passed through Tibbat-nagar and crossing the north-eastern Ghats entered Jhar-Kand-Hindustan, the forest- covered India, and spread over the whole of the northern country. They wor- shipped Sirma-Sing, the Sun-God of Heaven, and established powerful kingdoms, in which they erected big temples and forts, and small mounds". THE EGYPTIAN INVASION UNDER SISIRIM "One Sisirim, king of Missour (Egypt) led his forces against the Mundas, but the powerful chief Seto, at the head of his terrible troops, repulsed them". This, as Roy says, may refer to the fabulous invasion by the Egyptian Sesostris, and with less probability to the Assyrian Semiramis. THE HINDOO INVASION "Hundreds of years later the Hindoos, Gonds, Oraons, Kherwars and other tribes entered the Mundawar country by the north-western ghats, or passes. And in time war broke out between the Hindoos and the Mundas. Some bloody battles were fought in the Punjaub. The mighty warriors of the ancient Munda race, with their bows and arrows, their stones and slings, their drums and tom-toms, fell upon the newcomers like tigers on a flock of sheep". THE HINDOO-MUNDARI FUSION "But after long years of warfare the Mundaris began to make peace with the Hindoos, Gonds, Oraons, and other races. The Mundas by degrees even went so far as to adopt from the Oraons the worship of the bhuts and choose Oraon wives for themselves. And the offspring of such intermarriages formed a new tribe which came to be called Khantias or Kharias". That such a racial fusion was exceptional and strongly disapproved, is shown by the following episodes preserved in the national folk-lore : — 432 RETRIBUTION LATER ASIATIC TRADITION THE RAGE IS PRESERVED PROM EXTINCTION When a Kherwar chief had become enamoured of a Munda girl, the matter was brought to the notice of the Mundari chiefs who unanimously decided that such marriages could not be permitted. "For", said they, "if once we begin to do so, our race will gradually degenerate and at length die out altogether". THE HELPING HAND OP THE SUN-GOD When the invading peoples threatened to use violence to force inter- marriage with the natives, and went so far as to burn down their houses, the latter simply retreated into the mountains. "They constructed leaf- huts to shelter themselves against the rain and the wind, and had to live solely on the roots and fruits of the jungle". THE REWARD OP THE JUST "And now Sirma-Sing made Risa Munda the leader of the tribe. One night Risa had a vision of Sirma-Sing in a dream. He dreamt he heard Sirma-Sing addressing him: — "Your sufferings shall soon be at an end. Awake! Arise! And go to the extensive and elevated country to the south, where the Assurs lived in the days before the deluge. There shall you make for yourselves a permanent home". THE BURNING OP SWEET INCENSE "Risa Munda, guided by Heavenly Light, led the Mundas southwards into an immense forest tract. There he raised an altar (pinda), and burnt incense in honor of Sirma-Sing, and made clearances in the forest, and settled down for good". THE SERPENT AND THE ORIGIN OP THE KILIS Not only does Sirma-Sing destroy the big cobras at the petition of his hero, but he even makes the reptile useful to man. "Once upon a time Sutia, the Patriarch, lay down underneath an overspreading Bar-tree not far off from his house. After he had fallen asleep a huge Nag-Serpent (Cobra) proceeded to the spot and spread out his hood like an umbrella to protect the sleeping patriarch from the rays of the sun. When he awoke, he was amazed, he thanked Sirma-Sing, and got up and went his way". For this reason the Nag-Kili or Serpent-clan is one of the most famous of Munda totem-groups. Taking all this material together, it cannot but suggest some important reflexions. It is evidently the picture of a diluvial race struggling to main- tain its honor and the purity of its stock. Even if some of these items are of later addition, the main features carry us far back into the past. RETRIBUTION 433 NORTH-AMERICAN TRADITION In the contemporary African and Australian region we have little to chronicle beyond what has already been remarked for the earlier period. The absence or rarity of flood-legends except in the Tasmanian area is continued in the succeeding age, the few exceptions being hardly worthy of serious consideration, being for the most part due to foreign contact. Not that flimsy stories of cosmic upheavals, storms, or inundations are entirely wanting, accompanied by the usual saviors or surviving deliverers, but very generally these powers and personalities have been so mixed up with mythical, totemic, and cosmogonic notions, including the ever- appearing world-serpent, the snake, the lizard, or the hyena, that in the majority of cases a connected flood-story can hardly be recognised. Different is the case with North America. This is pre-eminently the land of deluge-myths, many of which have become fairly popularised. Yet even here it is necessary to distinguish the earlier from the later tra- ditions, and not to treat the entire continent as a mythological unit. (M, 4) The Traditions op the Omahas and Their Allies For it is precisely among the (formerly) nomadic tribes of the prairies that the recollections of such a catastrophe are still in a vague and un- moulded state, not half so elaborate as in the highland region. the plumed snake and the thunder-bird Among the subjects which, according to Dixon, belong to the oldest strata of beliefs, is that of the Water-Spirit, also known as the Horned Snake or the Plumed Serpent, who is always regarded as a more or less malign being at war with the Thunder-Bird. This in itself suggests a past conflict between wind and water, between Sky-Father or "Thunder-Man" and the eternal serpent, who here as elsewhere drowns the earth with a volume of brine. the rising waters and the wisest man It is certainly a notable fact that even among the wildest of our Prairie Indians the first humans are invariably pictured as either rising out of the ocean or in some way battling with the liquid element. Among the Omahas it is believed that men were originally bufl'alos who dwelt under the surface of the water. When they came to the surface, they "jumped about in the water, making it muddy. Having reached the land, they snuffed at the four winds and prayed to them(!). The north and west winds were good, the south and east winds were evil", and so on. This may be called the general cosmogonic basis upon which the story of Wisest Man is founded." "R. B. Dixon, Anthropology of North America, (New York, 191S), p. 285 (by Paul Radin). Dorsey, Omaha Sociology, B.A.E. 3d. Report, p. 229. 434 RETRIBUTION NORTH AMERICAN TRADITION The Gree and the Cherokee Rain-Flood This idea, still shadowy among the plains-tribes, is by degrees more prominently brought to the front. Among the Cree all are drowned in a great inundation except one woman, a Kwaptahw, or "Virgin", who saves herself by gripping the legs of the "War-Eagle", by whom she is carried to a lofty crag, and through whom she gives birth to twins, the parents of the present population. The Cherokee will tell you that all were destroyed except one family, who warned by the barking of their dog, saved them- selves in a large boat. The Chippewa Snow-Flood Among the neighboring Chippewa the physical causes are assigned to the naelting of the snow or the mountain glaciers, — a more scientific con- cept. At the beginning of time there was a great Snow-Flood. It was caused by the gnawing of a mouse, which bit through the mantle of the earth, and thus disimprisoned the internal heat. Suddenly the snow melted, so that the tallest pines were submerged and the water rose even above the highest mountain peaks. Only one old man had foreseen the calamity and manufactured a great canoe, upon which he floated about and collected the chief animals. Other Accounts But these are only a few of the well-nigh endless versions to be founl in almost every part of the continent, and they do not of themselves postu- late a more than local origin, — they are not sufficiently explicit in the matter of details, — whether as to time, place, or circumstances — , to war- rant any connexion with old-world mythology, there is too much variety in the heroes, the boats, and the method of survival, to require more than a rising and falling of rivers, an elevation or depression of lands. In this they are distinguished from higher Algonquin, Pueblo, and Eskimo myths, some of which almost force us to assume an Asiatic transmission, so strik- ing are the harmonies with the biblical record. But of this more below. Comments For the present it is sufficient to note that in what we have called the totem-zone of North America we find what seems to be a growing degen- eration, — the old punitive notion of an avenging Heaven-God welded on to the Sky-Wakanda, the plumed Snake, and the Buffalo-cult, by which the moral aspect of these water-exploits is considerably diminished. They are more in the line of physical feats than of moral examples, though an ethical content may no doubt here and there be inferred. It pays to be on good terms with "the powers of Heaven". THE BABYLONIAN ARK IN FORM AND IMAGERY RKSTOKATION A('(01{l>IN:()I.()(il( AL DATA, SIIOWINC TIIK KARI.Y NKOI.ITIIK' HOI SK-HOAT. WTI II SUVKN STORIIOS AND MNIC (OM- 1'ART.MH;N'I'S. IIIH I'LANK-CONSTRI <"I KD III 1. 1.. (I RVICD ISOMS. (I nil"- WINDOW s AMI SIDK-DOORS. ^LLAB. ^ ^^ ^ ,^e^. ^ >y^ rilK K-I.ir-IM , OR "KI.OATlNd IIOl SK". SI MKKIAN: M\ (I III.: ARClinHCri RK Ol- TIIK l.AKK-DWKI,l.l\ - NOAH ? ■IIIK, (illXiA:MI';Sli-IIA.SISATRA MOIil', OR ■I'lIK (iRKAT l.lON-m NTKR AM) Till-; DKI.I (^ i<:-ll ICIiO. A I'KTI RK Ol' NOAII STANDINCi IN TIIK DOOR Ol' Til li ARK(?) SKK A. .JKREMIAS. TIIK OLD TKS'IA.>IKNT IN THE I.Killr o|- TIIK AN( lENl' KAST, (NKW YORK, lilll), I'. :;u-4u >»er-TA— Tm-WST-Tt 4«K-»tU AUI Su-U lA— WW. — MA ItAMl KtH-»U — ^ A MA Sa-KW4 A-BU-Bt UB- UA I.IBBACb*)-^"-NU IIAMI WBim ftin^BA-Su ABU-SU-NU (ILU) A-KlU— UM MA-LIK-9U-NU KU-RVXiU (|U1)SEL flOXAUl — &1-MU (»UJ> N«K— IB CUflM_- LA-2U-MU (JLli) EN-HU— CH (IUi^M«N-ie«-A»«S(lUl) E— A IT— TI-Su-KU XA-SiB — MA y^-M/Cr— SU-NU ^-«iA-AH-N^-AANAKI-IK— W-^ W— Ik-KlS-W - Kl — IK — Kl — 4u St-Mt-MA I 0A— RU Ml— IS-SA — AS AMIUJ Su— H.I — n»-PA— KU — U MA1R(M) UBAH— (|LU) Ty-TU u- KUR atTU Bi-m isu EUPPU mu4-S»-r. miSki iiJ — I NAPtkn J TEXT: DELITZSCH, AS8TBISCHI; liESESTVCKE, (LEIPZIG, 1885), P. 101-102. HAUPT, MIM- BODEF08, (I/EIFZIG, 1891), P. SSB. TBAUSLITEBATION AND TRANSLATION: P. JENSEN, K. B. (BEBI/IN, 1900), VI. 830. WINCKLER, KT. 84ff. DHORME, CHOIX DE TEXTES, (PARIS, 1907), P. lOlff. TRANSLATIONS ONLY; PINCHES, OT. 101-102. JEREMIAS, OT. I. 8«ir, RETRIBUTION 437 REGENT ASIATIC TRADITION (4) The Degeneration But the divine message is soon distorted and becomes the basis of false wisdom, of occultism, of nature-worship, symbolised by Amel-Sin, "the Man of the Moon". Even Methuselah, the "Man of God", is possibly sin- ister, the "Man of Violence" ( ?) . In the ninth king, Ubartutu-Lamech, this is carried still further. He is the Servant of God, who institutes farming, music, metallurgy, fine art, but at the expense of polygamy; he glories in his many wives and his bloody conquests, — the dualism has now reached its climax. (5) The Punishment Finally the anger of heaven is aroused and all are destroyed in the great Flood with the exception of the Hero and his followers, Hasisatra-Marduk representing the Wise man of the Bull, the Horus of Egypt, the Noah of the Hebrews, the Sisyphus, or Xisuthros of the Greeks and Romans. The Mbsopotamian Deluge In the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh-Epic we are told how the "Source of Life" (Uta-Napishti) received a revelation from the Ocean-God in a dream, warning him of the impending calamity and commanding him to construct the big ship. Hasisatra tells the story to Gilgamesh, the post- diluvian Nimrod: — " Col. I. 8. "Father-of-Life, {the Wise), thus spake to him, Gilgamesh: — / will unfold to thee, Gilgamesh, the mystery, of m.y life, 10. The secret of the Gods unll I impart to thee: — Shurippak, the city which thou knowest, H. Which lies upon the banks of the Euphrates, That city was of old the realm of Gods, And they determined in their hearts to make a flood. Am,ong them was their father, Anu, {shining Heaven), 15. And their counsellor, mighty hero, Bel, And their herald Ninib, bearer of the throne. And their prince En-nu-gi, leader of the host. The Lord of Wisdom, Ocean, had communed with them, And he repeated their command unto the earth:- — 20. Earth, thou Earth! Town of sacred fame! Hearken, thou Earth, and Toitm, thou understand! man of Shurippak, servant of God above, Destroy thy house and build a mighty ship. Leave ivhnt thou hast, and seek far thine own life!" 1^ Text collated from Delitzsch Haupt, Jensen, Winckler, etc. See opposite page. Com- pare also the translations of Pinches, O. T. p. 101-102, and of Jeremias, 1. c. p. 247. The above is a free metrical version. 438 RETRIBUTION REGENT ASIATIC TRADITION These opening lines show at least that the flood is of celestial origin, though the moral cause can only be inferred from the end of the story. The Construction of the Ark Coming to the details of the narrative, it is quite interesting to see how it follows or anticipates (?) the biblical account, even down to the cubits or "ells", by which it is finished, the "stories" by which it is adorned, and the pitch or asphalt by which it is cemented, though we can hardly expect an agreement in numbers, and the detail of the "door" and "windows" is missing. Thus the biblical 300x50x30 cubits are represented by 120 ells of height, while the 3 stories of Genesis correspond to 6 or 7 stories of the Epic. The Introduction of Living Beings 77. "With all that I had I filled the ship, with all that I had of silver I filled it, with all that I had of gold I filled it, xcith all that 1 had of living creatures I filled it. I brought up into the ship my male and female house- hold, cattle and beasts of the field, artisans, all did I bring in". There is no mention of the "twos" and "sevens" of Genesis, nor of clean or unclean, nor of Jehowah "shutting him in", for Utna shuts his own door. The Duration op the Flood and the Bird-Flights 121. "Six days and six nights lasted the wind, the storm- flood and the hurricane swept the land. On the seventh day, the hurricane ceased", etc. 133. "After twelve double hours the land arose and upon Mt. Nizir the ship rested". For six days it remained in this position, and on the seventh the hero sends out a dove, a swallow, and a raven, the two first of which return, while the latter flies away. Thus the 7+7=14 days of duration are paralleled by the Hebrew 40 days of rain and the 7-(-7+7=21 days of waiting on Mt. Ararat, during which Noah sends out one raven and three doves with similar purpose. In both cases the entire period may have lasted one year, (Comp. Gen. 8, 14). The Cause of the Flood Finally, there is a distinct intimation of human sin as its moral cause : 168. "Thou sage of the gods, Bel! — Why hast thou made this flood? etc. . , . The sinner has committed sin, the evil-doer his misdeed — Be merciful, let him not be cut off! Yield,— -let him not perish!" Though the nature of this sin is not further specified, these words of the Ocean-God reveal a pleading divinity whose role of mercy cannot but be commended, — they show the pitying side of the deity, and the need of help. Even if the call is now too late, the few may yet escape destruction. THE DELUGE-TABLETS THE r\ LLI NO- OFTHE SHIP MIMVM, I — Su— u Ej-SI-EM-^t MIMWi\ l-4u-U E — SI-EN-SI \i— Si ouiwsu MIMMA 1—^-^ E — SI— ai]-^ Z3EK. NA^ATI KA— LA-MA. US--m — LI — A — [NAJEUPPl KA— lA KJM- Tl- I A USA-IAT-IA BU— ULSEW U- MA-AM SEW MAW UM-MA-A-NI ll IT ^U- U A-BU-3U A— NA "grr (^XA-A-AN) I— TH- tA-A KA- QU U A— NA ^ASU Nl — SIR I TE-Mro EUPFU §1 THE MO'RAU CAUSE OF THE FUSCD • AT — TA AB KAL I LANI KU — RA — C?>u) KJ 1 Kl 1 UA -TAM — TA-UK-MA, A-BU-BU TA^-KUN BC-EL HI.-TI C-MID HI-TA-A-SuBE-EL KIL-LA-Tl E-MIB KlL-iAT-Su TUJ — UM-ME A-A I B - BA-T1 - I >C Su-DU-UB A-A THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN FOUNDATIONS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH BEING THE IKAIIIE Ol BEI.-NKBO AT BORSIPPA. SHOWING 7 STAGES, 7 COLORS T GOUS, 7 |-|,ANKTS, 7 KAYS Ol THE WEEK, AND KNOWN AS e — UK-IM1N-AN~ K» (SIN) MOOM SCARtET (K(NIB) I IIE IIANtilNG GAKDKNS' Ol ItAltVI.ON WEUE I Oil AITION. KKSrORAITON ACC ORDINCi I'O HERODOTIS, KLIO, I. 181. KOLDEWV, DIE TEMI'BL VON BABYLON I ND BORSlPrA, (LEIPZIG, IBll) THE BORSIPPA TOWER-INSCRIPTION OF NEBUKADNEZAR II. (b. c. 604-561) SHOWtNO THE PROBABLE ANTIQtUTT OF THE DESTBOTED STBCCTUBB OB BEFEBBDfO POSSIBLY TO SOME REMOTE PREHISTORIC EVENT. K. 1685 + K. 1686, COL. I, *6-S«, COL. II, 14-17. Col ^lO l-~.NU-MI-.gu e - Uft-IMIN-AN-Kl » - KU— RA — AT 3AR SA.-P (Kl) &\ &AKW1MA— Ay— T« l-TU-^U-MA ^% AMMA-ru U — 2A_AK W ^KU-MA LA U UU IA~A Ri — e — 4a— A— Sa UI-— TU U UM -M — E— KU — TTtM IN— KU-MU-U-MA lA iu— TE-^U-TUl MU — SI— E Ml e— &\ i"+ A— NA e— Bi— Si — ^ U U— UL— Ul U Kt— B-Sl — ^ «tH> &f».&S> se^=».Vl CE (7) JBAbJiI-U CVi.\) SA — Ml — IX> A— NA IL— Kl IM :BAB]YL0M was VOKEa> to f=T01^CEI> LABOR U TLA SU — U U SA-AU— LU ^UL— LA rsMALUlAND dT*.eAT- T*. E NI>eF«.Er> SCT*Vlce(?) ><.»w ^ ^^ ^>^»^^«^<=^»^^ -|3M-MA-AS ai — NA KA— LA U — Ml I — S-U— uS PtHROUGHItVIEIR. WAIL.INC5S ALL UAY WAS HE^ AF1=LtCTED 0_KA TA — A:Z. — 2.1 IM— T\ — 4l-NA I— NAMA-AI-U pTHB-OUtiH^THEtR. LAMErMTATlOtsia UF»OM ]HIs]c01JCH U UL U KA-r TA Si l-r TA HE OBT-AltMET) ^aO SUeST* (_ (J A UCt «3A — T1 — Su-MA TE-ME- <3A-AM l — SA-PA-Ay [l tslJ-TME ANCjER OP HtS HEABTT ME' STOPPED THEIR. SUT-T-HCATION (?) LA-NAl^U— BA-AL-tOM HE SET HIS FACE QuS-TIAN — Nl TE MA UT-TAK.— Kl — RA Ml— UK~Su-UN JHE dHANJcSeD^HeiRjUNISERSTAMlJl NO- .THEIR COUNSEL WAS AtTEREI* TEXT AND TBAN8CRIPTION ACCORDING TO KING, THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION, vol,. I. F. 220. FOR THE VARIANT: C-BA-AL-tU TIL-I,A (IN LINE 6) — "THEY WORKED AT THE MOUND" (THE 8TEP-T0VFBB) , SEE DELITZSClI, ASSYBISCHE I.ESES- TIKKE. NO. 268, ASSYR. HANDWOBTBBBUCH, P. 219 (TILLA — MOUND). FOR EXACT MEAN- INGS OF TBMA (MIND) AND TAMU (LANGUAGE) SEE IDEM, HANDW. PP. «97, 70«. RETRIBUTION 439 REGENT ASIATIC TRADITION (6) The Restoration and the Reward op Virtue The story of the descent upon the mountain is in the main parallel to the biblical version, but not without important differences. The Sacrifice The words in which the animal sacrifice is described are more real- istic than inspiring, though they convey a very similar sentiment:— "The gods smelted the odor, the gods smelted a sweet fragrance, the gods gathered like flies around the sacrificer". On the other hand the Rainbow and the divine Covenant are missing, instead of which we have a wrangling of divinities and a translation of the hero : — The Apotheosis "Formerly was Vtnapishtim man. For evermore shall Utnapishtim and his wife be praised, like unto us the gods. Far away shall Utna- pishtim dwell at river's mouth!" "Then did they bring, me far away, and at the river's mouth they let me dwell". This refers to the distant Eridu or the Isles of the Blest, whither Gilga- mesh had wandered to search for the Herb of Life, and where he meets our deluge-hero, who then confides to him the entire story. (7) The "House of the Seven Foundations of Heaven and Earth." The same idea of divine punishment may be contained in a fragment, in which the tower-story seems to be hinted at. It tells of certain "tyrants" evil-minded men, who rose in rebellion against the God of Heaven. They tried to construct a step-tower, but the wind destroyed the structure, and "Anu confounded them, great and small, and confused their language". Even if this refers to the liberation of Babylon from nothing but local usurpers, it is surely an interesting incident, and we know from other sources how widely diffused the tradition on this subject is. At present it seems most probable that the temple of Bel in Borsippa is the structure referred to. It was known as E-ur-imin-an-ki, or "House of the seven foundations of Heaven and Earth" and was said to "pierce the skies".^* Age and Value op the Legends These are the most important sources we possess for the prehistoric period, the more recently-discovered fragments and the "Sumerian" ver- sion adding nothing that is essentially new, and much that is doubtful and unsatisfactory. They show, however, that the main current of the flood- legend is immensely ancient, — ^how ancient it will be our final endeavor to estimate."^' ^' See the accompanying tablets, and p. 419. " See the above sources and comp. S. Langdon, The Suftierian Epic of Paradise, the Flood, and the Fall of Man, (Philadelphia, 1915). Publications of the University of Pennsylvania, Babylonian Section. 440 RETRIBUTION REGENT ASIATIC TRADITION (N, 2) Egyptian Version At first sight it would appear that the Nile-region is without any clear tradition of a water-calamity, the inundations of the sacred river being regarded as a blessing rather than a curse, the source of fertility. On closer inspection, however, it will be found that the cosmic Ennead, or Holy Nine, represent a divine struggle, in which Atum-Ra, or Father Sun, is continually punishing or purifying his creation, even if that creation be regarded as an emanation of his own substance, as his own "heart". HoRus AS A Moral Example Apart from a promise of redemption, implied in the triumph over Apophis and the translation of Shu, there can be little doubt that the story of the martyred Osiris, imprisoned in a chest and floating down the river, followed by the compassionate Isis and the avenging or redeeming Horus, embodies the main outlines of a flood-tradition, the more so, as it is Set, the Ocean, or Typhon-God, that slays the founder of Egypt, and is in turn slain by his victorious brother. This means that Osiris stands for pre- diluvial humanity, the original "Light", Isis is the mediator or revealer of that Light, Set is the rebellious son, the all-consuming Ocean, and Horus is the righteous ofl'spring who conquers the waters, and establishes a new dynasty. The legend is thus seen to have obtained a cosmic setting. Additional Evidence The following fragments may help to shed some light on the subject: — "In the beginning the Sun-God was king of the earth. But since he had grown old, men no longer believed in his authority. At his command the goddess Hathor began a slaughter amongst mankind. But he saved a few by cunning. He caused beer to be brewed and to be mixed with the blood. Hathor drank of the mixture, and could no longer recognise mankind to destroy them". "Thou tookest a seat upon the Cow, thou didst hold her horns, and didst swim here upon the great flood of the sacred Mehur. There were no plants. He began when he united himslf with the earth and when the waters rose to the mountain". The first is an extract from the Book of the Cow, and as Hathor-Isis was supplied by Toth with a cow's head, the connection is evident. By protecting 5e^0cean, the goddess could be said to be the cause of the flood. The second is a hymn to AmorirRa, in which a similar deluge seems to be referred to, though a derivation from Asiatic sources is to be suspected." i*See Jeremias, op. cit. p. 254, quoting Brugsch and Wiedeman. Compare. also Book of the Dead, ch. J 75, and p. 265 above, MIGRATIONS OF THE ARK AND TOWER-MOTIF Ml ©HIP.OFTHE CiOXiS AfaiS TOWeR — BABYLONIA OSIT^IS —TAIVtMUZ. CHEST — EaVFT ai_ THE STEP-PYRAM»1> OFSAKKATJAH— NlUE-t>ElTA,EU NU-{li-RAl A &A.ilV IT»,T*.U BU— BU — US— SU-NU A-K^tSu-NUTt-lT-TU I4U — u nu UL IM — MA-KU ihiA e — Tu — Ti aS-^ba| LAS— -^U— MA K.IMA IS SU — Rt SU— BAT KAP— [PQ BL\ I8U SALTt U ISU SIKkURI ^A— -TU— uy ip—Tn^u TEXT: DEMTZ8CH, AS8TRISCHE I^ESESTCKEE, (1885), P. U«. COMPABE C. T. XV. PI.. 46, 1-lt. IV B. 31. TRANSCRIPTIONS BT JENSEN, KB (1900), P. 80 AND DHOBME, CHOIX DBTEXTBS, (1»07), P. 3)86. (TBAN8I.ATIONS IBID.) LIFE ETERNAL 479 THE MORE REGENT BELIEF (N, 1) The Babylonian Concept of the World Beyond "The view that life continues in some form after death is so common among people on the level of primitive culture, or who have just risen above this level, that its presence in advanced religions may be regarded as a legacy bequeathed from the earliest period in the history of man- kind"." These characteristic words of Prof. Jastrow find their fulfilment in those forms of belief which we are now about to consider, and which, though essentially the same on the question of personal survival, differ toto caelo from those that we have just been treating in the manner in which that survival is pictured, they inaugurate a new view of the life beyond the grave. Reincarnation is now consigned to the forgotten past, and in its stead we have, with few exceptions, a permanent escape from nature, in which the soul is waiting or preparing for its final transfer to a life of glory. ARALU and the LAND OF SHADES Gloomy indeed are the terms in which this place of waiting is described in the earlier Babylonian literature, as witness : — "To the land from which there is no return, the home of darkness, Ishtar, the daughter of Nannar, turned her mind to go. Yea, the daughter of Nannar turned her mind to go. To the house of gloom, the dwelling of Irkalla, To the house from which those who enter depart not, the road from whose path there is no return, to the house where they who enter are deprived of light, a place where dust is their nourishment and clay their food. The light of heaven they behold not, in thick darkness they divell, they are clad like bats in a garb of wings, on the door and the post the dust is laid". This is the famous "descent into hell" in which Ishtar, the "mother" of humanity, searches the underworld in quest of her dying son, the expiring Tammuz." A PAINLESS STATE OP EXPECTATION But although all are condemned, good and bad alike, to enter this "mountain-house of the dead", E-kur-bad, there is no evidence that it was associated with any positive pains other than the deprivation of light and of the joys of earthly existence. Nergal and his demons pursue the living rather than the dead, they are imprisoners, not exactly tormentors. The divinities take no pleasure in human suffering for its own sake,— which is indeed rather consoling. 2* M. J. Jastrow, Aspects of religious belief and practice in Babylonia and Assyria, (New York, 1911), p. 351. ^''Fot text and translation see oppos. page. Comp. also S. Langdon, Taramuz and Ishtar, (Oxford, 1914), pp. 1-113, 480 LIFE ETERNAL THE MORE RECENT BELIEF THE WANDERING OP THE SOUL IN SEARCH OP POOD The idea of "disembodied spirit", always vague to the mind of the primitive, is as unattainable to the native of Mesopotamia as it is to the wild men of India or the Malakkan straits. But here on the Euphrates the lilu of the departed is a semi-carnal nature, essentially a ghost. Though normally confined to the world below, it occasionally slips out and haunts the living with its dreaded form, seeking for food, for bodily sustenance. Hence the tomb of the departed is carefully cherished, and supplied with enormous quantities of provender, in order that the beloved ancestor may not go hungry or be in physical want. While this reveals a praiseworthy love and "communion" with the departed, it shows no less forcibly that the life in hades is not essentially different from the life on earth. THE PIRST HINT AT RESURRECTION But in the mean time there are other thoughts which are vaguely groping out for a more perfect recompense. In one of the Tammuz- hymns the Mother-goddess is pictured as bringing her sleeping son to life;— "Then unto the shepherd, unto the plain of Aralu, she went. 'As for me, unto Tammuz in the house of resting will I go!' His sister, queen of the tablets, in heaven and earth she wandered. Even in the sacred sheepfolds where the sheep are fallen. For the shepherd the sister went into the earth where he suffered, To bring him back to life, — for the shepherd, to bring him back to lifel "0 brother, fruit of my eyes! Lift up my eyes! Who is thy sister? I am thy sister. Who is thy mother? I am thy mother! In the sunrise when thou risest, rise! At the dawn when thou appearest, appear! The queen of Enna who cries:— Alas, my husband, alas my son!" As Tammuz is the representative of mankind in general, that is of living and dying nature, his restoration to life, in which the whole of the creation shares, cannot but be portentous of final deliverance, of a resurrection of mankind from the gloom of Aralu. It is true that this is only temporary, for he dies again with the approach of winter, but such as it is, it fills the heart with a momentary prospect of eternal reunion. It is dumu-zi ab-zu, the "faithful son of the fresh waters", who renews the face of the earth, and who as the abu or "father" of vegetation represents the murdered shepherd (Abel), slain by the ruthless kanaku, or storm-demon (Kain)." »« Langdon, 1. c. p. 6, S2ff. Delitisch, Assyr. Worterb. p, 589, kanaku-ka-du, and compare p. 436 above. LIFE ETERNAL 481 THE MORE REGENT BELIEF SHAMASH AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT In like manner the position of Shamash as the "judge of heaven and earth" is difficult to reconcile with a uniform fate for the whole of man- kind. "Thou Shalt not slander,— speak what is pure! Thou Shalt not speak evil,— speak what is kind/ He who slanders and speaks what is bad. Him will Shamash smite on his head!"" The failure of human justice in this world and the triumph of the evil liver would naturally raise their thoughts to a recompense beyond : — "0 Lord! Light in the darkness. Opener of the portals of heaven! Merciful God, who raisest the lowly, who protectest the weak. Upon thy light all the great gods are waiting. The whole of the lieavenly host looks upon thy face. The whole of humanity thou leadest e-MA-'RU I;ai>u-u ISU CRINI tHU-SAP lUVNI PAKAK(tt'l'R-N'-N» TA— A— SU 81U — LA — SU MA — U «- 4»r-A-TI "SAMTU-STOMSS IT BEAP^S AS FRUIT* (QlUiA,ME3H^ . Cy.^-SO) ABNU SAMTU NA-Sa-AT I— Ml — IB— &A ^ ISU yU-UM^NA-T-UM Ul UU— tA- AT A-NA asA- iJA-- LA. Ta.-BAr ^^^ >^ ^ ^^:^MH~^eiT ABNU UK-NU NA ^1 "■*> — AS- yAL. XA IN BA NA-^I— MA A-NAA-MA-TW ^-A-A — AM FOB BELIBF-SCULPTUBB SEE A. JEBBIMIAS, THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE UOHT OF THE ANCIENT EAST, (1911), VOL. I. FIG. 66. THE BALANCE OF TRUTH AND THE EGYPTIAN HESPERIDES THB SOUL IB WEIGHED IN THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, JUDGED BY OSIBIS, AND FINALLY CONDUCTED TO THE "GABDENS OF LIFE" PIAOBAMS TAKEN FBOH P. TIBET, LA BELIOION DE L'ANCIENNE EGYPTE, (PABIS, 1»10), PP. 1S7, ie41. AND FOUND IN SIMILAB FOBM IN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, C. 125FF. LIFE ETERNAL 483 THE MORE RECENT BELIEF (N, 2) The Parallel Development in Egypt "In no people, ancient or modern, has the idea of a life beyond the grave held so prominent a place as among the ancient Egyptians"." This statement of a recent author is probably not exaggerated. For if the fate of the soul in some region remote from the present is as strongly rcognised on the Euphrates as it is on the Nile, it is only in the land of the Pharaohs that have direct testimony to an immediate and universal judgment, followed by a certain and infallible reward, in which the body shares the fate of the higher principle to the end of the story. Moreover it is here only that we note the beginnings of a higher psychology, the first attempt to distinguish between spiritism and spirituality, the hungry ghost and the divine image.** THE Ka wanders about the tomb The doctrine of a threefold constitution of man on the basis of ka-ba-khu,— ho Ay, soul and spirit,— though it cannot be called absolutely new, is nevertheless brought out with such sharp distinctions, that it may be regarded as characteristic of the new era. Of these the ka is the lowest and most material form, it is nothing but a "double" of the body and is subject to all the wants and physical limitations of the latter. At death the ka of the dead man still hovers about the tomb, and is so vitally identi- fied with the corpse which it has just left, that the one interacts upon the other, it is amost the "forma cadaverica" of the scholastics. Hence the elaborate care with which the remains are constantly treated and supplied with all the necessities of the earthly life, food, shelter, clothing, orna- ments, etc. In a later age the body is even embalmed, the double is painted on the lid of the sarcophagus, and the ka enters the tomb by the spirit-door to receive the banquet, — a sufiicient proof of its material and earthly nature. THE Ba IS JUDGED IN THE HALL OP TRUTH In the mean time, however, the ba or soul of the man meets with a far different fate. It is called to the Hall of Truth to be judged by Osiris and his forty-two assessors, it must give an account of the deeds done in the body. "Praise unto thee, Osiris, Lord of the twofold Truth! I come unto thee, my God, I draw near to see thine excellences! I know thee, I know thrj name, I know the names of the forty-two who are with thee in the Hall of Truth! I am pure, I am pure, I am pure!" — these were a few of its exclamations." "J. H. Breasted, Development of religious thought in ancient Egypt, (1912), p. 49. ** See the Book of the Dead passim, and compare A. H. Sayce, The Religions of ancient Egypt and Babylonia, (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 46, lS3ff. "Book of the Dead, chapt. 12S. Comp. Erman, Aegyptische Religion, p. 117. Virey, 1. c. p. 157ff. 484 LIFE ETERNAL THE MORE RECENT BELIEF TYPHON-SET AND THE PUNISHMENT OP THE WICKED If his soul is found wanting in the balance of divine justice, it is passed over to the typhon-god, and either purged or destroyed in a hell of fire and brimstone. This doctrine of a "second death" is well in evidence. OSIRIS AND THE "VISION OP GOD", — KhU On the other hand, the good soul passes on to its just reward. "Guided by the intelligence (or the khu) it traverses space, learning the secrets of the universe, and coming to understand the things that are dark and mys- terious to us here. At length its education in the other world is completed and it is permitted to see God face to face and to lose itself in His ineffable glory" (Sayce) . This is strong language to use in connection with a largely animistic cult, and it is hardly implied in the wording, — "/ come unto thee, my God! I draw near to see thine excellences!" Nevertheless, the all-seeing Oriris imparts to his creatures the "spark" of the divine life, it is a noble though semi-pantheistic feeling of oneness. Ka-Khu AND THE DOCTRINE OP THE RESURRECTION But the ka and the khu, though initially separated, are destined to be re- united. It is Osiris the mummy that sounds the first note of a future har- mony, of a reunion of body and spirit upon a higher plane. In the 105th chapter of the Book of the Dead the soul is described as addressing its own ka on the day of resurrection in somewhat striking terms : — "Hail unto thee, thou who wast my ka during life! Behold I come unto thee, I arise resplendent, I labor, I am strong, I am hale, I bring grains of incense, I am purified thereby, and I hereby purify that which goeth forth from thee. — The scale of balance rises. Truth rises high unto the face of the divine Ra on the day on which my ka is where I am. My head and my arm are restored where I am. I am he whose eye seeth, whose ear heareth, I am not a beast of sacrifice. The sacrificial formulae for the higher ones in heaven are recited where I am!" THE FIELD OP ALU IN THE SKIES Finally there is a heavenly duplicate of the earthly paradise, as in Meso- potamia. The kingdom of Osiris, known as the Field of Alu, is in the constellation of the Great Bear, while Isis shines as Sirius, and Horus is the Morning Star. The Milky Way becomes the heavenly Nile, and here the blessed live in perpetual happiness under the rule of Osiris, working, feasting, praying, and even contending, as they do below, but without pain and without end in time. This forms a fitting climax to the Egyptian hope, though it betrays its earthly origin in a manner that seems quite unmis- takable it can never get beyond a semi-animistic and cosmogonic mys- ticism,— the real vision of God is as far off as ever. LIFE ETERNAL 485 THE MORE REGENT BELIEF (N, 4) The Hebrew-Palestinian Concept The same analogies, though with a strong monotheistic setting, may be traced in the fundamental framework of the Jewish concept of the here- after. It can no longer be maintained that, because this picture is not par- ticularly bright, it exhibits no deviation whatever from the common con- sciousness of the times. From beginning to end the hand of a single and almighty Judge looms up in terrifying yet ever merciful form, and although the topography of the "heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters that are under the earth" reveals the common persuasion of man- kind in all ages on the threefold location of a place of recompense, these places are peopled with angelic or demoniacal beings very different from the planetary or the stellar deities of the surrounding nations. JEHOVAH AND THE LAND OP SHEOL That the Hebrew sheol is a place of banishment rather than universal punishment may be inferred from the fact that the good as well as the bad were said to descend to it, the holy patriarchs no less than the wicked blasphemers. (Comp. Gen. 37, 35 with Num. 16, 30). In this it is similar to the Aralu of Babylonia and the Hades of Greece and Rome, in that all with few exceptions go to a "hollow" or a dark cave in the earth, where, though deprived of light and happiness, they are not necessarily tortured. More often they "sleep", or "go down to the pit in silence". But in this case the judgment is directly in the hands of Jehovah, there are no phan- tastic adventures in a land of shades, no bargainings with tartaric pilots, it is the Lord God who is the supreme "Judge of all the earth", (Gen. 18, 25. Ps. 94, 2) . Whatever external resemblances the "bosom of Abraham" may be said to possess with the "land from which there is no return", it is presided over by the God of Heaven, — "If I descend into hell, thou art there also" (Ps. 138, 8). LUCIFER AND THE PUNISHMENT OF GEHENNA Moreover, there is considerable evidence to show that with the positively damned, those to be eternally punished, the Hebrews soon associated a special place, which as the ge-hinnon, or Valley of Hinnon, became iden- tified with what we call "hell", (Targ. Jonath. to Gen. 3, 24. Enoch, 26). Though the term Lucifer as the day-star is applied by Isaiah (14, 12) to the king of Babylon, it is generally conceded to have an ulterior meaning. The falling prince may be traced in substance to the "satan" of 1 Ghron. 21, 1, and the serpent- tempter of Gen. 3, Iff. In this way the tradition of an' evil personality, or an "enemy" of man, is seen to have its roots in the remote past. Nor is there any reason to question that this Hebrew demon- ology is entirely independent of any of the gods and demons of the sur- rounding lands. 486 LIFE ETERNAL THE MORE REGENT BELIEF EDEN AND THE PARADISE OP THE BLESSED But if sheol exists for Iiumanity at large, gan-eden is the distant hope of the more perfect. Founded on Gen. 2, 8, it is promised in Isaiah, 51, 3 :— "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody". These and the well-known passages in Ezekiel, (28, 13), not to speak of the celestial visions of Isaiah (6, 1) and of Daniel (7, 1), describing the four beasts, with the throne and the sea of glass, clearly point to a heavenly beyond. THE RESURRECTION AND THE BEATIFIC VISION Again, the assumption of Enoch and Elias (Gen. 5, 24. 4 Kings, 2, 12), belonging as it does to the earliest period, forestalls the physical resur- rection : — "My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and the driver thereof!" These vivid examples gradually pave the way for a more universal hope :— "/ know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God. Whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. This my hope is laid up in my bosom". (Job. 19, 25) . "Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again. Awake and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust!" (Is. 26, 19) . Together with the 16th. psalm and the visions of Ezekeil (1, 3) and Daniel (12, 2) these passages furnish sufficient evidence of a future vision of God in both natures, though they also imply its prophetical and mys- terious delay. ITS CONSUMMATION IN THE NEW LAW These delays and uncertainties are finally ?wept away by the teaching of the Messiah and His triumph over death. The empty tomb and the ascension have opened up the holy of holies to all mankind, and the descent into hell has for ever broken the chains of the "spirits in prison". In other respects the Jewish paradise remains as it was before, but is ampli- fied with all the treasures of heavenly lore with which "the Orient from on high hath visited us". In the revelation of St. John the divine the whole of the visible universe is mapped out as the mansion of the blessed, and in the "mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand" we have the consummation of the seven stars of the ancients, the seven planets of "Pleiades" to which the faithful few would hope to ascend. The hope is now dissolved in the reality, — humanity has at last discovered her one Redeemer. THE SUPERNATURAL CONSUMMATION THE HEAVENS ARE OPENED BY THE MESSIAH a\V iby -i^v inn^i *n ^i>xa ^nvT ^:\>^i •I KNOW THAT MV KEUKEMKB MVETH" (JOB. D), JS) ••THE JIVSTEKV Ol I HE SEVEN STARS H-HHH THOL SAHEST IN MY RIGHT HANI), ANI» THE SEVEN GOLDEN OANHLES'I'K KS" (APOC. ),!.>0) ••WORTHY IS THE I.AJIB THAT WAS SLAIN TO RECEIVE I'OWER AND DIVINITY AND WISDOM AND STRENGTH AND HONOR AND GLORY AND BENEDICTION" (APOC. 5, I'J). THE SICCESSIVB VISIONS OF ISAIAH, KZBKIEL AND DANIEL; AND THE CORRECTED VISION OF ST. .lOHN THE DIVINE ON fHE THKONE OI" (iOD .AND THE L.VMB COLOR WORK BY R, C. BOSWEL THE PERSIAN AFTERMATH OR THE LAST JUDGMENT AS rAINTI.Y I'OKTKAVJfiD IN TIIK GATHA I'STAVAITI, MEI^C'RIBINU THK KSOTEBIC BKCOM- PENSK, BUT FALLING SHOUT OF THE INTEGRAL IDEA OF BEATITLDE. ZOROASTER'S VISION OF THE LIFE BEYOND AS AN ETHICAL THOl Gil INCOMFLETE rUTlKB FOCI SSING THE NATIBAL ASPIRATIONS OF MAN IN ALL AGES— "THE DIVINE WISDOM" (YASNA, XLIII, 5) AHUT^A MEMHT MA2BA THVA AT SPENTEM PAOURVTm 35ARESEM ZATHOI ANHBuS TUVA HYAT UKHT3HA YA-CA MTzMiAVAN SYAOTHNA KAO HYAT VAN HAVE ASHTm VANUHTm AKAl AKEM "VBA, I CONCEIVKD OF THEE AS BOI'NTEOIS, O AHIKV MAZDA, WHEN IN CREATION'S BIRTH I SAW THEE FIRST, WHEN, DEEDS AND WORDS MOST JIST REWARDING, TlIOl GIVEST, ILL TO THE EVIL, I'l RE BLESSING TO THE GOOD, BY THY JLST WISDOM IN THE CREATION'S FINAL CHANGE". TEXT AND TRANSCKII'TION IN "THE FIVE ZOROASTRIAN GATHAS". BY LAWRENCE HEY'. WORTH MILLS, D. D. (LEII'ZIG, 18fl.S-94), P. 43. TRANSLATIONS IBID, AND IN "GATHAS" (POPLLAK EDITION, 1800), I". 4. THE ABOVE IS A FAIRLY LITERAL THOUGH METRICALLY ItOlNDED VERSION. LIFE ETERNAL 487 THE MORE REGENT BELIEF (N, 5) The Persian Doctrine op the Future Life It cannot be denied that the early Persian eschatology is decidedly abstract and immaterial, though not to such an extent as to exclude all participation of the body in the fate of the soul. Here are a few examples : — '" JUDGMENT ON THE PRINCIPLES OP MORAL CONDUCT "Then those spirits created, as first when they came together, Life and our death decreeing, how all at the last shall be ordered. For evil men the worst life, for the faithful the best inspiration". That these are more than mental states, though undoubtedly condi- tioned by a life "in thought, word, and deed", is suggested by the follow- ing pictures: — A HELL OP APPARENT DESTRUCTION "But he who deceives the saint, for him shall at last be destruction, Long life in the darkness his lot, foul food with revilings loathsome, This is your world, ye faithless, by your deeds your own souls will bring it". A HEAVEN OP UNENDING WEAL "But Ahura Mazda will give both weal and a life immortal. With the fulness of grace from Himself as the head of dominion, And the Good Mind's Power will lie send to His friend in deed and in truth". A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION SEEMS TO BE PROMISED "Let Angra-Mainyu, the evil spirit, be hid beneath the earth, let the demons disappear, let the dead arise, and let the bodily life be sustained in these now lifeless bodies". THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE SHARED BY THE ENTIRE CREATION "We sacrifice unto the kingly Glory which shall cleave unto the vic- torious Saoshyant and his companions, when he shall make the world progress unto perfection, and when it shall be never dying, not decaying, never rotting, ever living, ever useful, having power to fulfd all wishes, when the dead shall arise and immortal life shall come, when the settle- ments shall all be deathless". There is no reason to question the antiquity of these ideas, many of which might well have been evolved on Persian soil. Even the Vendidad, with its vivid judgment-scenes and its golden thrones, is too closely knit up with the Gathic spirit, to be looked upon as an exotic, though much of the Pahlavi literature was no doubt tinged with Jewish concepts of the hereafter. "0 righteousness, when shall I see thee? And thee, thou Holy Spirit of Truth"? In these words is summed up the Persian hope of a future vision of God, »» Texts from Yasna, 30, 4. 31, 20, 21. Fragm. 4. Yasht, 19, 83, in Mills, Zendavesta S. B. E. XXXI. and Idem, Our own Religion in ancient Persia, pp. 132, 24ff. 488 LIFE ETERNAL THE MORE REGENT BELIEF The Contemporary Brahministic Development In striking contrast to tliis exalted, almost biblical, view of the destiny and the dignity of man, comes the sad story of pessimism and ultimate self-extinction vi^hich reaches us from the banks of the Ganges, — the only civilised part of the vporld in which a change into lower forms is still con- sistently believed in, though the few have always a chance to escape. Where do I come from? Whither am I going? In the earlier Rig- Veda this is clear enough. I came from Varuna-Mitra and I shall return to him, it is the Avestic faith. But in the later Brahmanas and Upanishads the picture of the supreme Being is thinned down to a mere abstraction. He is the indefinable basis of existence into which all things are absorbed. With this negative view of the divine the fate of the soul is an equally cheerless one, it must either reappear in the body or lose all self-conscious- ness. The Nirwana op Buddhism This reaches its logical consequence in the doctrine of Nirwana, which, in spite of the volumes that have been written about it, still remains an incomprehensible mystery to the Western mind. To be and not to be at one and the same time, this seems to challenge the laws of logic. Accord- ing to the most approved authorities, it is not annihilation, and yet it is no known or imaginable form of existence. It seems to be a quiescence of the faculties, in which the soul loses itself in the Infinite. Now it is important to note that this is precisely the negative side of our own doc- trine of beatitude, it emphasises an all-important truth, that in order to see God, we must die to self, die to our lower nature, — "He that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it". The Christian ascetic no less than the Buddhist monk is thus losing his life for God, but with this fundamental difference, that while the former is seek- ing a positive communion with a supreme Personality, the latter has noth- ing but deliverance to look forward to ; he is living in a dreamland, in a world of unknown possibilities." But of this more presently. Western-Aryan Development In the mean time the Western branch of the Aryan stock is spinning out the old theme of heaven, earth and underworld, with renewed zest. Here the classic Hades of middle Europe is but another Aralu, while the heavenly Elysium is another Isle of the blessed. In spite of its many cor- ruptions, this faith has preserved our ancestors from the fate of the Hindoo avatars. " Estimates on this subject in Foussin, Hull, etc. Lectures on the History of Religions. (Herder, 1910), Vol. I. under Buddhism and Hindooism. LIFE ETERNAL 489 THE MORE REGENT BELIEF (N, 6) Indo-Melanesian and Polynesian Development With the spread of the more recent Aryan culture to the East, followed by the still later Islamic invasion, the beliefs on the subject of immortality exhibit a corresponding variety of detail. We And a strong conscious- ness of a super-human life beyond the grave, side by side with the linger- ing vestiges of reincarnation and reappearance under lower forms. This conflict of ideas is no where more apparent than in the Indian archipelago. In spite of their strong eschatology, the Kayans of Borneo "believe in the reincarnation of the soul, although this belief is not clearly harmonised with the belief in another world" (sic). The passing of the soul of a grandfather into that of his grandchild is for the most part temporary, as the parent reclaims his soul when he enters paradise. For the rest we know, that the concept of the hereafter is in other respects extremely vivid, the Kayans having no less than five different places of recompense, while the doctrine of seven heavens is found among the Sea- Dayaks and other advanced tribes. This may be partly due to Mussulman influence. A growing indifference to death is characteric of the eastern Melanesian zone. "Death is easy, of what use is life, to die is rest", — by these sayings the Fiji islanders look forward to death with happiness, they even bury one another alive to hasten the monaent. As to their ultimate fate, we find the same doctrine of a descent to the grandchild combined with a uni- versal animism, in which it is believed that every created thing has its soul and will share with mankind a blissful immortality. In northern Melan- esia there is a Hades, or land "far away", where the good are rewarded and the evil punished, but is otherwise very similar to the present state. Future felicity is in proportion to the amount of shell-money the man left behind him, — if he left much money, he will proceed to the realm of bliss, if little or no money, he will be banished to the earth and sent home to) roam like a wild beast in the forest, battening on leaves and filth ( !). This commercial aspect of the life to come reaches its climax in the Polynesian doctrine of limited immortality. The native of Samoa or Tonga has developed a feudal system, in which only the souls of kings, princes, or chiefs are regarded as undying, the great mass of humanity, including the brutes, dissolving into nothingness. This is the logical opposite of the Fiji-belief, and is perhaps the only example on record, in which the rich and the poor are looked upon as belonging to essentially different orders of being." «« Examples Uken from Frazer, Belief in Immortality, pp. 393, 419ff. See also the sotirces under p. iiiff. supra. 490 LIFE ETERNAL THE MORE RECENT BELIEF (N, 7) North and South- American region The essential similarity of thought in the two hemispheres is brought out once more by the common bond of hope that unites the more advanced peoples of the North and South American continent with their brethren in the Old World, Here again the vast majority have emancipated them- selves from the doctrine of rebirth, and are looking to the skies for deliverance." siPAPU and the grand canon Whatever be the traditional idea connected with the word sipapu, it is certain that for the majority of the mountain tribes it represents not only the place of emergence at birth, but also the place of migration at death. With the Hopi it is associated with the Grand Canon, and among the Zuni and other tribes it is connected with a sacred lake where the souls of the dead are judged. For upon reaching the lake, say the Zunis, "the soul descends the mystic ladder to meet the council of the gods, and thence passes on to the undermost world, the place of Zuni nativity". Pos- sibly sipapu and lake are identical terms. In any case, the dead are human ancestors of spirit-form, who as rain or weather-doctors are still helpful to man; they are invoked and even worshipped as living personalities. For this reason the Zuni bury their dead; they never incinerate them." APOYAN TACHU AND THE VISION OF THE ALL-SUN But is there no brighter prospect than the usual underworld? The close connexion between Sky and Sun-Father, the dwelling of the "rain- makers" in the clouds, not to speak of the worship of Sun, Moon, and Venus as the abode of the blessed, would seem to suggest it. But apart from this the desire for union with the "Father of all" is vaguely implied in the Pueblo hymns, and among the Pawnee of Nebraska we find the very ambiguous phrase: — "We see ourselves living with Tirawa!" This and the so-called "beatific vision" of the Chippewa, in which they see the Great Manitoo in a dream, coming to them in the form of a "beautiful man", furnishes suflicient material for inferring that, however much identified with the sun, it is a Supreme Person that is the final object of beatitude. Here also the Pleiades have mystical associations. CONTINUITY WITH THE FAR SOUTH Finally, an examination of the ancient Mexican and Peruvian archives will reveal the fact that these astrotheological ideas extend far into the southern continent. In every case there are clearly marked heavens and hells, which have no immediate connexion with a return to nature. »» Sources in Gushing, Fewkes, Grinnell, etc. 1. c. supra, p. llSflF. *• Comp. H. K. Uaeberlip i|» MewdJFS of the Am. Anthr. Assoc (1916), Vol. Ill- No. I. p. ISflf. LIFE ETERNAL 491 THE COMBINED PICTURE With this general survey of the more typical beliefs on this subject for the difTerent ages of man, we can now proceed to a discussion of their fuller meaning in the light of the evidence furnished by the combined folk-lore for each successive era. Let us first consider the message as such, and then apply the results to a consideration of the philosophical prob- lems that they seem to be opening out, — the question as to how far these different forms of belief can be said to have any objective value, any bearing on the vital problem of immortality as it presents itself to us in our own day. For without such an application the preceding facts are little more than an antiquarian curiosity. (1) The primitive picture op the life beyond forces us to assume, NOT only that the SOUL IS IMMORTAL, BUT THAT IT MEETS WITH AN IMME- DIATE recompense in ONE OF THREE PHYSICALLY DISTINCT WORLDS. This is the first proposition that admits of fairly convincing establish- ment from the earlier mythologies. Take up any of the traditions of the earlier races, whether in the East Indies, Australia, Africa, or South- America, and you will be struck by the intense realism, the almost child- like simplicity, with which they describe the passage of the soul to the paradise-bridge, over oceans of air and water, and either to a far-off fruit- island, or to a boiling lake situated under the bridge. This is especially conspicuous in the far East, but begins to pale off in the more distant regions, where however an ascent to the sky or a descent to the under- world is fairly general, supplemented by a mysterious third place which is closely connected with the land beneath. It is therefore sufficiently evi- dent that the idea of "heaven-earth-and-underworld" is one of the earliest convictions of the human race and is associated by primitive man with a direct and immediate recompense in one or other of their departments. These may be galled Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, inasmuch as thby transcend the normal state op human existence. It is no less evident that as each of these places is associated with a state of life which is more or less permanent, continuous, and impassable — not depending upon marriage or the common physical means of sub- sistence — , they point to a condition of life which is in this respect essen- tially different from the present one. They transcend the ordinary phy- sical laws of birth, death and decay, they are supramundane and appar- ently timeless localities, and as such may be compared to the Christian places of reward and punishment. 492 LIFE ETERNAL THE COMBINED PICTURE The vision op God is desired, but hardly possessed Furthermore, the way in which the beatific life is described shows that the enjoyment of the divine presence is its primary object, it is to "see" or to "live" with the Father in Heaven that a man goes to the island of fruits. At the same time, the crude, anthropomorphic, and occasionally frivolous manner in which these visions are brought home to us can hardly be reconciled with what we understand by the term, but must be taken to indicate a vivid feeling after God, not His direct apprehension. In other respects the Beatific life is similar to the present If, however, the element of physical and moral evil be excluded, the future life is externally similar to the present one. There is no absorption or loss of identity, but rather an intensely real, physical existence in a world which is but a duplicate or a higher edition of the world below; the blessed continue their life of earth on a higher plane. This is revealed by the eating and drinking in the garden of fruits, by the accompaniment oif bow or blowpipe to the grave, and by the general picture of paradise as a mysterious hunting-ground, where there is plenty of game and no end of coconut-tree^. These weapons, however, are used chiefly to ward off demons in the shape of rapacious animals, they are not employed in para- dise as such, for we are distinctly told that in the land of promise men^ and animals live on terms of friendship, there is no shedding of blood, but rather a heavenly banquet obtained from the enchanted fruits. This and the "burial-bamboo", which is sometimes the only trinket that accom- panies them to the grave, reveals the essentially harmless state of future existence. Moreover it is eternal or never-ending, — they "never return to the earth". There is a hope op resurrection, but no positive proof Now inasmuch as the primitive psychology of man makes no hard and fast distinction between soul and body, the former being for the most part a soft material substance "shaped like themselves", (comp. the Egyptian ka), the life beyond is already pictured as in some sense a bodily one, there is no need of a further union of soul and body of earth. But this is not always the case. Among the Andamanese, for instance, body and soul are apparently distinguished and their final union is heralded as the day of resurrection! This and the frequent hints at a life of physical agility and invulnerability, coupled with the extreme care that is given to the corpse and its painting or anointing in preparation for a life to come, cannot but suggest that in the mind of primitive man body and soul will some day rise to a life of glory. While this may be called a very natural longing, it cannot rise to the dignity of a clearly revealed belief in a spiritual and corporal beatitude, LIFE ETERNAL 493 THE COMBINED PICTURE (2) In the age which immediately "follows these beliefs are grad- ually MERGED IN A PANTHEISTIC THEORY OP TRANSMIGRATION. The preceding system strikes too deeply into the heart of man to be ever entirely obliterated. And so among the peoples of later culture we find fractions at least of the old ideas embedded in the framework of the mythology. There are always vestiges of a belief in a permanent recom- pense, the good migrating to the Sun-Father, the wicked descending to the world-serpent or to the land of snakes. Side by side, however, we note the advent of an entirely novel theory of destiny, which now becomes all- absorbing. Cycles op reincarnation take the place op permanent States With the gradual identification of a man with his totem-ancestor, the essential difference between higher and lower forms of life and existence begins to disappear. Man is but a cogwheel in the gigantic machinery of evolution, and there is, normally-speaking, no way of evading the cycle of life, of escaping the horror of rebirth. No sooner does he die, than he is forced to reappear, and, strange to say, almost always in some lower state, it is with the lizards and the grass-seed that he must recommence the entire struggle of existence over again, there is no royal road to paradise. Even the Indian manita-bongas, like the American wakans, reside for the most part in buffalos, if they do not actually descend to the level of the Australian inapertwas or the African mulungus, — mere mystery-forces. The idea op personality grows more and more dim And yet with all the cumulative proof that we have from four con- tinents that the dead are actually converted into essentially different forms, there seems to be a general persuasion that they do not thereby lose their identity. They are still addressed as father, brother, sister, and so on, indeed they are very wide awake and helpful to man, they can even talk like human beings, (Comp. the African hyaena). Now with this extensive body of evidence, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that the idea of "person" is distinct from that of "psychic manifestation", that, as it is pos- sible for the divine to take on a lower nature, so these phenomena can only be explained on the principle of an "assimilation" of the totemic object. Yet the system is not without its ethical value But however degraded and deplorable such a destiny would seem to be for what was made in the image of God, it fulfills to some extent the office of a purgatorial state. For if the common herd reappear as crocodiles, it is the man of prayer and penance who sees in a dream "the Great Wakanda", and thus merits by his own initiative the foretaste of a better world to come. 494 LIFE ETERNAL THE COMBINED PICTURE (3) In more recent times the old bschatology is revived, but in MORE amplified AND ASTRONOMICAL FORM. One of the most remarkable facts in the history of religion is the very vi'ide gulf which separates all these strange speculations from that phase of belief which immediately follows them. One would hardly suppose that they belonged to the same humanity. With the exception of a few lands where a contact with the totem-peoples can easily explain it, the whole of the transmigration-system is thrown overboard, and the soul is once more free to roam the skies and search for the heavens. It has redeemed its birthright. The old heavens and hells are once more re- established, and the intervening space is occupied with a land of shades, which is now particularly prominent. Definite places op reward and punishment are again recognised Though the majority of mankind are consigned to the land beneath, there are intimations of a dilTerence of treatment proportioned to the good or evil life led in the body. The just have a foretaste of better things, while the wicked are tantalised by a recollection of their past misdeeds. Nay more, for the incorrigibly rebellious a tartarus or gehenna is the appro- priate punishment, while for the heroic few there is an elysium or isle of the blest that opens out its enchanting vistas. Though there is a general tone of gloom, the silver lining is beginning to appear in the clouds. But the vision op the divine is still in the future Notwithstanding the strong expressions that reach us from the Nile and the land of Persia, it would be impossible to say that the vision of divinity in the hall of truth or the temple of heaven can be constructed as a literal participation in the divine essence. The surroundings are still too earthly, the feeding of the disembodied spirit all too human. Yet the desire for union with the divine is unquestionably present, the soul has reached the last step in the ladder of expectation. Resurrection and stellar migration are in the air Concomitantly the hope of a future reunion of soul and body is becom- ing increasingly prominent, and finds its proof in the elaborate funeral rites and in the mapping out of the stars as the future abodes of man. The Heavens are finally opened by the Messiah But all this finds its supernatural complement in the person of the Re- deemer, who thus forms the apex of the inspired prophecies of old. In His altogether unique opening of the inner sanctuary, the soul has at last found its inevitable term,— nothing less than the vision of God — , and the hopes of the gentiles are now supplemented by the direct gift of the Creator Himself. LIFE ETERNAL 495 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS Such then is an impartial estimate of the message as we actually read it in the pages of mankind. It reveals at a glance what we had hardly expected, namely, that the traditional orthodox view on this subject is after all the original view of the human race, and that the much talked of rein- carnation system, so far from being primitive, belongs to the middle ages of its development. This is an interesting find, but cannot help us much in the solution of the problem unless it can be shown by ulterior argu- ments that both are grounded upon reason, but that the one is immensely superior to the other as an ultimate norm of moral conduct. While it is beyond the scope of the present study to treat this subject philosophically, a few concluding remarks in this direction seem to be called for, if only to show how important is the bearing of the entire question on the prob- lems of modern life. With such a great variety of viewpoint on a matter so vitally connected with the welfare of the human race, it cannot be sur- prising that not a few souls are somewhat uneasy about their own here- after; they begin to feel that there is too much disagreement on the subject to lead to any certainties of any kind, that perhaps we had better confess our ignorance and leave the problem unsolved, — ^we simply "do not know". THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL IS A PHILOSOPHICAL CERTAINTY, INDEPENDENT OP TRADITION OR EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION The first point to be considered in this connexion is that the certainty of immortality is not derived from any tradition, however unanimous, nor yet from the testimony of supposed mediums, good, bad, or indifferent, but that it is founded upon an invincible persuasion of our inner conscious- ness that the thinking ego or mind-substance cannot of its nature be destroyed. "that which hath no parts CANNOT BE DISSOLVED INTO PARTS" It is the unity and continuity of the soul w^ith its marvellous powers of appropriating the external world by actions which transcend the cate- gories of space and time, known as the "universal reflex", that furnishes the metaphysical certainty of its own persistence as a physical unit. While all else changes, personal identity does not change, but is on the contrary soaring out to a world beyond the senses, manipulating that world as if it were its slave, almost re-creating the world by its own inventive genius. Can such a power be the result of atomic forces when it controls those forces? Can personality be divided into physical parts when its mental functions transcend those parts and repudiate them in their own working? You might as well say that copper and zinc are identical with electricity simply because the former set the ether flowing. The fp,ct is, these metals release the electric fluid, they do not produce it; it is already there. 496 LIFE ETERNAL CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS It is not altogether flattering to our modern "superior knowledge" to realise that this common-sense philosophy requires no elaborate training of the intellect to bring home to ourselves. It is the first thought that sug- gests itself to the mind of the savage, in however fanciful a form. "My soul immortal? Why, how could it die? It is like the air we breathe", etc. It is really humiliating to think that these backwoodsmen have a clearer knowledge of human psychology than many of our contemporary savants with their elaborate soul-measuring instruments and their "thought-photo- graphy". Granting that the physiological aspect of the brain as the phy- sical instrument for absorbing the sense-phantasm requires a more serious and searching study than has heretofore been given to it, it is surely the height of folly to look to the physical laboratory for a superphysical sub- stance, to consult the oracles of spiritism for a truth which requires no table-turning to demonstrate its reality. Modern psychology has committed the unpardonable error of confusing the "phenomenon" with the "noumenon", the external instrument with the internal principiant, and until this error is removed we shall be for ever tapping around in a world of subdued lights and mohaimas. The pate op the individual is sealed by his own actions Again, there is a universal consensus of all peoples, historic or prehis- toric, that whatever the nature of the life beyond, it is determined by the conduct of the soul in the present existence, the good being in some way rewarded, and the wicked punished or annihilated. This also flows with equal certainty from the moral aspect of the finality of all being. Human life, not to speak of the divine government, would cease to have any moral content, and all ethical struggle would come to an end, unless the universal law of equilibrium, of moral recompense, could make itself felt. It is simply unethical and immoral to think otherwise ; we would be encourag- ing the adulterer. The ultimate triumph of goodness is thus seen to be a universal persuasion. Transmigration is one answer but a defective one Coming to the nature of the recompense as such, the most cursory study of the beliefs of mankind must convince the more thoughtful that the doc- trine of palingenesis or re-birth has had among its advocates a very large section of the human race. Even in our own time the study of Oriental "wisdom" has brought it once more before the mind of the public, and it is perhaps at the present moment the most widely diffused of all "secret" doctrines. Such an enormous hold upon the conscience of mankind can- not be accounted for unless we candidly admit that it contains some elements of moral greatness. LIFE ETERNAL 497 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS For, to say nothing of its very wide distribution and its promulgation by some of the wisest thinkers of mankind, it gives a fascinating solution to the mysteries of heredity and of physical and social inequality. Why am I born white rather than black, rich rather than poor, healthy rather than diseased, talented rather than obtuse, heroic rather than cowardly? These things are not mere accidents. It is because in a former life I have battled with the forces of evil, I have conquered the opposite tendencies, and as a reward I am what you see me to be, I have myself and only my- self to thank for it, it is an ethical conquest, the discovery of a new world. Who can deny that this furnishes a strong sanction for right conduct, for living up to ever higher ideals? If as a prize I ascend to the lamas, and as a punishment I descend to the catterpillars, have I not good reason to obey the moral law, to be in short philosophical? The law of karma is indeed one answer to the problem of evil, but it is neither the first nor the best one, and it robs mankind of a still higher and holier ideal. The moral sanctions op metempsychosis are not sufficiently strong For, however much certain types of humanity may be spurred to virtue or deterred from vice by the prospect of a migration into higher or lower forms in nature, there is an invincible desire among the more perfect to deliver themselves for ever from its enslaving and degrading fetters. Who can honestly say that they would like to make their lives over again, even on a higher plane, in view of the fact that it can never be constant, never without great suffering, never without the continual possibility of a relapse into sin, and of its consequent penalties, the recommencement of the cycle of life with the worms and spiders? It is because the supernatural char- acter of the soul requires a supernatural destiny, that such a doctrine can never be approved by the better and healthier voice of humanity. The higher conscience of mankind requires permanence, not variation, in its ultimate fate, and such has been the feeling of humanity in all its highest manifestations, as witness the nirwana of the yogis, which aims at com- plete riddance of our lower nature, not at its continual return. If then the very constitution of our nature recoils at such a future, the system is con- demned on its own showing and is moreover insufficient to guard moral- ity in any sense in which we understand it. The moral decadence of all peoples who still cling to it, the wholesale vice, infanticide, murder, and adultery, which almost invariably follow in its wake, is alone a sufficient proof that it is incapable of dealing with problems morally fundamental. And how could it be otherwise with a system which is in such glaring antithesis to the dignity of human nature, which reduces human beings to the level of dogs and robs them of all higher feelings for personality? 498 LIFE ETERNAL CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The theistic solution is all sufficient To the question, where I came from and whither I am going, the Chris- tian saint no less than the primitive savage and the Oriental mystic give practically the same answer. "I came directly from the hand of God, and I shall return to Him, and if I cannot explain my exact status in the present life it is because I cannot see into the mind of an all-wise Providence, who has ordained that this shall be for me the best and the most perfect way." In this manner all is attributed to the divine mercy rather than to the individual's self-glorifying merits, though there is doubtless something in the individual's character which, foreseen by the Divine Mind, gives him the appropriate means for workihg out his own salvation. Moreover the realistic heaven no less than the terrifying hell and the purifying purga- tory have ever been and still are the only final safeguards of the moral law, with which the six descents of Siwa and the boddhisattwas cannot for a moment compare. Where I am continually free to change my ticket, I can never arrive at the terminus, I can never obtain that peace which "passeth all understanding". And it is precisely the saints of all ages who have been most emphatic on the realism of the hereafter, who have ever insisted on the vision of heaven as a moral stimulus to the heroic no less than on a wholesome fear of hell as the most powerful deterrent from a life of sin. This speaks more powerfully than all theorising, and contains* within itself the vindication of its truth. The doctrine op the resurrection pocusses the hopes op all ages But there is a soul of truth in many of the fractured faiths by which we are still surrounded. The human and physical side of the doctrine of palingenesis is the one redeeming point in the system, inasmuch as it pre- pares mankind for a better reincarnation than can be conveyed by the sacred buffalos. Now this longing for a double existence, for a beatifica- tion both in body and soul, is eminently fulfilled in that higher union of the two natures which is promised in the doctrine of the resurrection. Here then is the evident meeting-point of the two systems, the plain upon which the buddhas and the saints may some day meet. It is through a beatific and integral life in both natures that the highest and most complete ideal of the life to come is finally acquired, and once acquired it furnishes the key to the long-sought mystery. "/ know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin and in my flesh I shall see God! Whom I myself shall see an<$ mine eyes shall behold, and not another. This my hope is laid up in my bosom". (Job. 19,25). LIFE ETERNAL 499 THE UNIQUENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF BEATITUDE And with these words we have indicated the one essential feature which distinguishes the new revelation from the old in everything that concerns the contemplation and the final fruition of God in the world to come. As this subject is not always appreciated at its proper value, it seems useful to call attention to certain grave and much-neglected points which place the Christian view of the hereafter upon an altogether unique and unapproachable pedestal. With a more profound and extended study of the hidden wisdom of the ages, it must indeed be admitted that some of our old-time notions of the utter hopelessness of primitive man in regard to his own fate must be consigned to the well-deserved limbo of a forgotten past. It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that the knowledge and love of God as the final end of beatitude does not necessitate a more than natural longing for union with the divine, that the contemplation of God as a philosophical essence, nay, even as an absolute Person, is within the reach of humanity as such, and from this point of view it is most consoling, if not actually inspiring, to find such an abundance of material in proof of a proposition which has always been upheld by conservative thinkers. And if we turn once more to the combined, and more especially to the earlier impressions of the human race, we may candidly admit that this "seeing" and "living with" the Creator, in however crude or fanciful a form, does contain some elements of undoubted truth, — it is possible for any child of Adam to enjoy the divine presence by "abstraction", that is, by seeing the glory of God reflected in the works of creation, and to this extent we may speak of a "natural beatitude", the seeing of God as it were in a mirror,— in specie aliena — , in the works of His hands. Limits op the natural fruition op God ' But it is this precisely which assigns to the natural knowledge and love of God its well-defined frontiers. For by no stretch of reason, however exalted, can the faculties of man attain to such a height of development as to penetrate into the divine essence, to see God in His own incommuni- cable purity. This would involve a logical or a psychological leap, for which there is no warrant in purely human philosophy. When a man is face to face with the Infinite, he can no longer argue with finite cate- gories, he requires that the Infinite impart Himself to his soul out of His own Goodness and Love, he cannot attain to it by his own power,— it is the relation of a speechless infant to an all-wise, all-powerful Father. 500 LIFE ETERNAL The prehistoric "visions" op God are purely abstractive If then v^^e turn to the material on this head, we shall find that in every case the supposed seeing or dwelling with the divine is tranished with the naturalistic and the immediately useful. In the earliest period, which is also the purest, there is a dignified island of fruits, which, how- ever, is soiled by the hunting-theme and its purely material delights. There is not so much as a hint that the soul enjoys the Creator for His own sake, much less that He imparts Himself to the soul as a unique, an all-satisfy- ing Personality. And in the later ages of man this is perhaps still more pronounced. With all the undeniable beauty of the Babylonian and Egyp- tian schemes of the hereafter, there is not the shadow of proof that we are dealing with more than a fruition of God through His gifts, nowhere do we find anything that could insinuate a living the life of God, an actual assimilation to the divine nature. This is proved partly by the animistic pluralism underlying such expressions as "communication of life", "vision of the All-Sun", "imparting of power through demiurges", etc., partly by the utterly inadequate picture of the future life as still in need of earthly necessities, the feeding at the tomb emphasising its essentially limited, its semi-mundane character. "Rich power, blest rewards, the Good Mind's life", — this is as far as our pre-Christian sources can lead us, it is an enjoy- ment of God through a good conscience, not the enjoyment of the divine nature as such. The Beatific Vision opens out a new supernatural horizon But if there is one thing which cuts the teaching of the Messiah clear from all but the Jewish systems, it is the doctrine of a real, personal, how- ever incomprehensible seeing of God, the idea, namely, that the Heaven of the blessed is not simply an elysium of fruits or a paradise of "thoughts, words, and deeds", but that it is in a more direct sense an immediate in- tuition and fruition of God in specie propria, — transcending all that the poor heart of man could ever conceive. Of this we have abundant evi- dence in the Scriptures. "The beholding the face of my Father who is in heaven" is a prominent theme in the gospels, while the sharing of the very nature of God is expressely taught in the epistles "Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it haih not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like unto him: for we shall see him as he is". (1. John, 3, 2). Aga.in— "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him", (1 Cor. 2, 9). It would be difficult for human language to express more forcibly what in the nature of the case surpasses philosophical definition. CHAPTER THE EIGHTH CONFIRMATIO Summary and Gjmparative Analysis SUMMARY 501 AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS We have come to the end of our present investigation. With this treat- ment of the four last things the entire chain of prehistoric beliefs is com- pleted, and it is seen that the last link of the chain forges into the first, it is the divine being who is the beginning and end of the cycle. In the study of this universal creed of humanity and its different articles it has been found necessary to continually revert to the opening chapters in order to gain a synoptic view of the relation of the parts to the whole, in order to appreciate the general coherence of the system. This is unavoidable in any presentation of the subject which shall be at once clear and convinc- ing, as it is impossible to treat the entire creed under one head without sacrificing the element of limited concentration, which is so important. It will therefore be allowed that this method is on the whole the most fruitful and practical one, even if it distributes the matter over a some- what lengthy and cumbersome area. But as it is beyond the range of a first survey to view the combined facts in such a manner that their united testimony may be productive of a lasting and compelling assent, it seems necessary to take one more logi- cal step in order to bring home to ourselves the united force and meaning of the facts presented. Without a final summary, or "confirmation" of proofs, the most telling argument remains but a truncated pyramid. And so, if we would realise the full weight of the evidence as it is brought before us in all its parts, it will be necessary to interlace those parts in such a manner that the whole picture may be revealed to us at a glance, in a single vision, as it were, of the mind's eye. That this must involve some little repetition and tedious reconsideration is indeed inevitable, but inas- much as the prize is of no mean order,— being nothing less than a clear notion or comprehension of what "God" has meant to our remote ances- tors and what He still means to ourselves, — the battle is worth the fight- ing. I will leave it to the impartial reader to judge for himself, whether or not, at the end of this study, our ideas of the divine have not been con- siderably widened, whether or not the entire investigation has not brought to light aspects of divinity which are both suggestive and fascinating. 502 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PREHISTORIC RELIGION If then a general or comparative analysis is something that we cannot dispense with, let us bring our attention once more to bear on the main question at issue, the origin and nature of the primitive concept of the divine being, touching on the collateral matter of creation, immortality, sacrifice and so on, only in so far as they help to illuminate this central point of contention and to bring it into clearer perspective. It is for this reason that we have deferred a detailed analysis of our first chapter for the present occasion, in that the more abundant material now in our posses- sion will enable us to focus all the descriptive matter upon this one funda- mental point, and to make it shine with increased brilliancy. Not that the abstract concept of divinity is the apex and end of all, far from it. The climax of all religion is reached in the idea and the practice of sacrifice without which the supposed "worship" of God is but an empty name. But in laying a solid foundation for the idea and the existence of God, we shall have laid the cornerstone upon which the higher edifice of the temple and the sanctuary can, so to speak, be raised. In fact it will become increas- ingly clear that there is no God without sacrifice, that a complete and integral act of religion includes within itself the notion of immolation or offering up of some object, even if this is only an a posteriori induction, not an immediate inference. In the nature of the case such a final criticism of the forces that are opposing us must take on the nature of a polemic, of an organised opposi- tion to the rival theories by which we are surrounded. Such an opposi- tion is demanded in every branch of science, whenever a more or less startling discovery tends to dissolve the previous theories into thin air. But we make no such high-sounding claim for any of our supposed "dis- coveries". Many of these conclusions have been in part anticipated and are at present simmering through the minds of the more thoughtful inves- tigators, — they are in fact "the latest news". Apart, however, from the fact that there is nothing entirely new under the sun, any combating of opposing theories should be taken in the friendliest sense. There is not an aspect from which this subject can be regarded that does not contain some elements of truth, no proposed explanation that cannot be made to account for some at least of the facts. In all these matters reserve and moderation should be our watchword, a future synthesis our constant hope. But in the mean time we shall not be timid, but boldly present our argument as it appears to us in its overwhelmingly convincing power, regardless of con- sequences. SUMMARY 503 I. THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY From what we have seen of the religious convictions of early man, it is evident that their value as primitive concepts concerning the being and nature of God is bound up with three questions upon which any argu- ment, theistic or otherwise, will have to depend, — (1) the question of priority, — (of certain areas over others), — (2) the question of authen- ticity, (of the sources that are at hand), — and (3) the question of interpre- tation, — how far do the same sources warrant the conclusions that have been drawn? Let us consider these points one by one, beginning with the first. (A-E) The Antiquity of the East-Indian Area and the Question of the Primitive Center op Distribution I have already given the cumulative reasons why we should look to the proto-melanic races of the far East as the most primitive exemplars of the human family. (See Introduction). Here I would only add a few extracts in order to illustrate this subject from the physical standpoint: — "In these gardens of nature man is the Adam of a modern Eden, primi- tive in habits and numerically insignificant. He has scarcely begun his battle with things inanimate or his struggle for existence as it is known to us. At home we have man as in some sort the master of nature, but in the Bornean forests nature still reigns supreme. Here with us man wrests his sustenance from her, there she is lavish in the bestowal of gifts unsought".^ "Primitive man was probably at a very early period a dominant race, spreading widely over the warmer regions of the earth as it then existed. As he ranged farther from his original home and became exposed to greater extremes of climate, etc. there would be corresponding external physical changes, — the red, black, yellow, or blushing white skin; the straight, the curly, the woolly hair; the scanty or abundant beard; the straight or oblique eyes; the various forms of pelvis, cranium, and other parts of the skeleton".^ "The inference seems irresistible that all these allied forms had their common primaeval home in and about the Indo-African and Austral Con- tinents of which considerable sections still survive".' "We must therefore look for the cradle of our race to the northern por- tion of the miocene block, (Lemuria), that is upon Asiatic territory. Here we find Pithecanthropes, and to the present day, in Borneo and Java, anthropoid apes. Here in Asia we see the continuous and unbounded development of higher life right through the tertiary and quaternary periods, and it is here that man, its highest product, must have received his first formation".* IF W. Burbidge, The Gardens of the Sun, (London, 1880), p. VII-VIII. (Preface). »A R. Wallace, Natural Selection and Tropical Nature, (London, 1895), p. 178. »A. H. Keane Ethnology, (1909), p. 236. *Obermaier, Der Mensch der Vorzeit, (Munich and Vienna, 1914), p. 380. 504 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY So much for the purely physical or biological side of the question. The recent discovery of pleistocene man in Australia tends to confirm this view and to shift the racial center of gravity more and more to the east. It is in these regions, therefore, that we may expect to find the real primitive. If, hovt^ever, we take the standpoint of culture, we have additional means for solving the problem and for determining specifically who and what these races are. It has been shown that the negritos, veddas, dayaks, toalas, bakatans, and mafulus, preceded all other peoples in this region by indefi- nite periods and that they form one of the most primitive groups of man- kind in existence. Here are a few additional testimonies : — THE RAGES IN QUESTION ARE QUASI-PRIMITIVES "The social facts, viewed in this light, are striking, and perhaps mor- tifying, but probably all that they mean is that the stage of development reached by these races of Malakka, — Semang; Sakai, Jakun — , is a rudi- mentary one, the exact counterpart of that golden age of innocence to which all civilised and semi-civilised races regretfully look back"." "The Mincopies are the original inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, whose occupancy dates from prehistoric times. A racial affinity may some day be found to exist between them and the Semang of the Malay penin- sula and the Aeta of the Philippine islands".* "The present-day Veddas are beyond doubt the lineal descendants in culture as well as physique of the early people who inhabitated Ceylon before it was colonised by an Aryan-speaking people".' "Of the negrito population of the Philippines the group largest in num- ber and probably purest in type is that in the Zambal mountains, W. Luzon".' "I have no doubt in my mind that this wandering race of people, — > Punans or Bakatans — , are the aboriginals of the country". "I look on these people as being the aboriginal stock of the population coastwise in this section of the island of Borneo, and their language tends to support it. The most primitive branch of the Malanaus are the Bakatans or Ukits, and I may mention that many of their practices are like those of the Semangs or Jakuns of the interior of Malakka"." "The Mafulus may be regarded as belonging to the older population of New Guinea, both Papuan and Melanesian having added something to their civilisation, as well as to their physical characters"." It is therefore beyond all doubt that, as far as science can carry us, these peoples represent the earliest offshoot of the primitive stock that is at present in our power of discovery. = Skeat, Pagan Races, I. 14. ^ Man, Andaman Islands, 2. ' Seligman, Veddas, 416. 8 Reed, Negritos, 23. sHose and Brooke, apud Ling-Roth, Borneo, I. 16-18. "William- son, Mafulu, 299, SUMMARY 505 THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY (F) Australia-Tasmania A more difficult problem is presented by the race-question on the Aus- tralian continent. For on the one hand there has been a gradual fusion of types which have so far blended as to produce a fairly homogeneous nation, on the other hand the distinctively local traits are not alvv'ays suffi- ciently constant or sufficiently vs^ell-marked to merit the designation of a racial type or sub-type. Here the biological argument is by comparison vs^eak, but the social and cultural data are correspondingly povsferful and seem to point to conclusions that may be of far-reaching theological con- sequences. IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT Until recently it has been received as an axiom that the primitive area in Australia is to be found in those central or north-central regions that are apparently isolated and that seem to be on the lowest level of indigenous culture. This is the standpoint of Tylor, Frazer, and others, who in their zeal for a pan-animistic or pan-totemistic theory, have laid it down as a first principle that theism cannot be primitive, that the first stages of mental development were of necessity multiform and found their expres- sion in that spontaneous deification of nature and the forces of nature, living and dead, that figures so largely in the religion, if such it be called, of the Central-Australian aborigines. They had only to appeal to Spencer and his ghost-gods, to Hegel and his self-winding absolute, to find abundant sanction for a theory which has since becpme classic : — In the development of man, whether socially or religiously, it is the lowest and most material that comes first. Therefore promiscuity precedes marriage, and totemism precedes theism, on tlie same principle that the less perfect precede the more perfect forms throughout the whole realm of nature that has so far become known to us. Now are these conclusions well-founded? Is it a fact that the Arunta- tribes of Central Australia represent the most ancient layer of civilisation on this or any other continent? The first writer that was bold enough to call this statement into question was Andrew Lang, who in his prolific writings on the subject has attempted a demonstration, purely sociological, that the real primitives are to be found in the South-East, that this alone is the area in which the ancient religion of Australia has been preserved. Recent investigation has only tended to confirm this view, the majority of writers being now solidly convinced that the whole question requires a new and more accurate method of treatment." 11 Andrew Lang, The Making of Religion, (London, 1900-1909), pp. 175-184; Idem, Magic and Religion, (London, 1901), pp. 46-75. Idem, The Secret of the Totem, (London, 1905), pp. 59-89, 188-201. The reception and criticism of these works has been well described by Father Schmidt in his recent work, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, (Munster, 1912), pp. 105-173ff. 506 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY This is not the place to enter into this subject in all its multitudinous aspects. Broadly the argument may be stated somewhat as follows : — (1) Biologically this region is the more ancient. Nearly all writers are now agreed that Australia was originally peopled by a dark, frizzly-haired Tasmanioid race, which was prior to the Dravidian or Indo-Caucasian wave of immigration." Now there are Tasmanioid elements in S. E. Aus- tralia, whereas there are no Australioid elements in Tasmania, from which it may be argued that the South-Eastern area takes the precedence." (2) Culturally there is a gradual development from South to North, to wit: — (a) The rough eoliths give way to pointed and polished tools. (b) Stones, sticks, and waddies yield to spear, shield and boomerang. (c) Caves and windshelters make room for substantial huts and "bee- hives". (d) The fire-plow develops into the fire-drill and the fire-saw. (e) The bundle-raft gives place to the bark-canoe and the large "dug- out". (f) The sounding-stick is superseded by the bone-flute and the shell- trumpet. (g) The simple earth-grave is supplemented by platform and tree- burial. While some of these evolutions may be open to question, there can be no doubt that they do in the main represent an order of time correspond- ing to some extent to an order of culture, — from Tasmania to Queensland. Here, however, there are isolated streaks that approach the Tasmanian level." (3) Socially, it has been pointed out with some force, that the existence of a living rite or custom side by side with a decaying one argues for the priority of the latter and the gradual introduction of the former. Hence circumcision was preceded by tooth-pulling, tooth-pulling probably by beard-plucking, beard-plucking by simple fasting, and so on. This means that simple local exogamy with paternal descent (Kurnai, South Victoria) must have preceded the complicated two, four, and eight-class culture of the Aruntas, etc. especially when it is considered that the Asiatic and African primitives are on very nearly the same level,^(sex-birds, fasting, etc. Compare the East Indies, Andaman Islands, and Central Africa)." (4) Linguistically the South-Eastern area forms almost a unit. The dialects are strongly Tasmanioid, with post-position of the genitive and vowel endings." " Howitt, op. cit. p. 24flF. John Matthew, Eaglehawk and Crow (London and Melbourne, 1899), pp. 1-4. Brough-Smith, The Aborigines of Victoria, II. p. 301. Keane, Ethnology, p 289flf Ling-Roth, Tasmania, p. 227-228. " Fritsch and Topinard, confirmed by Howitt and cited by Schmidt, 1. c. pp. 200, 324. "Matthew, op. cit. p. 22-26. Ling-Roth, 1. c. pp. 67, 83 107, 118. Graebner, Thomas, Foy, 1. c. supra. Schmidt, 1. c. p. 191-201. " Matthew, 1. c pp 26-29, 113-124 (Initiation-rites) where foreign importatibn is distirtctly implied, though the Tasmanian data are inaccurate. Comp. Ling-Roth, 1. c. supra and E. M. Curr, The Australian Race (Melbourne, 1887) Vol. I. p. 376, 402. " Though not exclusively so. Comp. W Schmidt, Die Gliederung der Australischen Sprachen, (with map), in Anthropos, 1912 (/an-Apr.), p. 230. SUMMARY 507 THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY Now although each of these arguments may be considered weak when taken alone, their cumulative power is certainly strong. This is being felt more and more in quite recent times, when, in spite of the proverbial tenacity with which a pet theory is clung to, several notable specialists have boldly taken their stand on the new platform. "From the investigations of Dr. Graebner", writes Father Schmidt, "it is therefore evident that the South-East contains the most ancient tribes of Australia, and therefore precisely that region which is conspicuous for the belief in the Supreme Being. This militates against Hewitt's theory, who says that as the south-eastern tribes represent a higher and therefore later stage of material and social culture as against the inland tribes, so their belief in a Supreme Being is the result of higher and later develop- ments. Precisely the opposite is the case"." "Besides the aboriginal culture", says Dr. Foy, "which we find par- ticularly well preserved in Tasmania, that island immediately opposite to South-East Australia, we must distinguish three cultural invasions of the continent"." "Thus the evidence afforded by the bodily structure", says Prof. Sollas, — "the best in these matters — , distinctly indicates the survival of primitive characters in the south of Australia, where ex hypothesi we might have expected to find them; whatever other evidence exists points in the same direction. The language of the Kurnai and Narrinyeri finds its nearest ally in Tasmania, their material culture is poorer in many respects than that of the more northern tribes, and their social organisation is simpler".^* "Though still in the palaeolithic stage, the Australians, unlike the more isolated Tasmanians, have made a considerable advance on the Mousterian culture. This they may easily have accomplished by their own efforts, yet at the same time there can be no doubt they have borrowed something from adjacent races. The people of Torres Straits and New Guinea visit the mainland in their canoes and the Australians cross over to New Guinea. Besides this the Malays voyage to the North-west coast in search of trepang".^" "According to Dr. Noetling", writes Prof. Elliot, "the original Tasman- ians had hardly advanced beyond this 'eolithic' grade. They had no idea of chipping or 'knapping' flint or other stones, but simply shattered them by throwing them down on a rock". Though this statement is wisely modified by the author, he admits that "among the Austrahans there is still evidence of the Tasmanians whom they assimilated. But the former have developed many rather advanced characteristics"." "W. Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 196ff. expounding Graebner, Fritsch, Topinard, etc. ^^W. Foy, Fiihrer durch das Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, (Cologne, 1910), p. 60. ^°W. Sollas, Ancient Hunters and their modern Representatives (Oxford, 191S), p. 284. '"Idem, p. 285. «^ Scott-Elliot, Prehistoric Man and his Story (London, 1915), pp. 108, 228. 508 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF PRIORITY (G-H) Central and South Africa For similar reasons the immense antiquity of the Central African Negrillos may now be considered well established. They are surrounded by stronger and more cultured races, Bantu, Hamitic, etc. who, though they have mingled with the negrillos in some few instances, have been unable to affect their general status or to imbue them with totemic or Islamic ideas respectively. They are nearly all in the shell- or bamboo- stage of archaic culture and their social organisation closely resemble that of their Oceanic brethren. It is generally admitted, however, that the Bush- men of the Kalahari desert are in some respects more advanced, — with higher industries and hereditary chiefs, which in combination with other features, chiefly physiological, place them slightly above the negrillos and very near the South-Australian aborigines. They occupy the same posi- tion to the negrillos that the Tasmanians do to the negritos, and should be judged accordingly. "By their type, by their social organisation, by what we have come to call by the too elastic name of 'civilisation' ", writes Bishop LeRoy, "all these peoples, all these races, and all these families, (referring to the Bantus, Hottentots, etc.), are found to differ essentially from another popu- lation everywhere distributed and everywhere identical: — the Negrillos, who, as we have many times insinuated, seem to have been decidedly the first occupants of the soil of Africa" j'^ "There cannot be any reasonable cause to doubt", says Stow, "that from a remote period to a comparatively recent date Southern Africa was solely in the possession of the Bushman race"P (K-L) South- America and Patagonia It has also been shown that the Tapuya races and their allies in thq Brazilian jungle are on the lowest level of American culture and are very probably the aborigines of the entire South-American continent. To- gether with the Fuegian peoples at the extreme end of Patagonia, they furnish one of the most primitive types of mankind to be found in the Western Hemisphere. "In the Botokudos", says Dr. Ehrenreich, "we have the oldest represen- tatives of the Ges-peoples or pure Tapuyas".^* Similarly Dr. Foy:— "A particularly archaic group of nomadic races is found in the Ges-tribes of Eastern Brazil, with primitive culture, and for whom the large ear- and lip-ornaments are characteristic". "To the lowest of American races must undoubtedly be counted the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, who inhabit the extreme south of the American continent"." «2LeR6v Les Pygmees, (1910), p. 323. *' Stow, The Native Races of South Africa (1910) p. 6. »« Ehrenreich Uber die Botokudos, (ZE, 1887), p. 81. ^'W. Foy, op. cit. p. 1S4-1SS'. SUMMARY 509 11. THE QUESTION OF AUTHENTICITY Principles and Their Application Convergence of testimony is said to be the best test of authenticity. When we have several independent vs^itnesses, all agreeing on the smallest items of a cultural complex, though separated by indefinite intervals of space and time, the chances are that their reports on the mythology and higher beliefs will be of correspondingly accurate value, — that as the former have been proved to be reliable through repeated verifications, the latter will be proved to be equally reliable, if not by direct verification, at least by their general resemblance and agreement with what has been found by other reporters elsewhere. (Principle of Convergence) . (A-E) East Indies The combined testimony of Vaughan-Stevens, Martin, Skeat, and Borie, and their general agreement on all questions affecting the material and social condition of the Malakkan races, establishes a presumption in favor of their accuracy when speaking of their religious beliefs. It has been objected that Vaughan-Stevens lacks confirmation and is something of an embellisher. It must not be forgotten, however, that great adventurers are notoriously apt to exaggerate here and there, but that this does not destroy the value of their testimony on matters of grave import, and that are or can be indirectly verified, at least in essentials. In this case, however, we have good reasons on independent grounds to accept his testimony. His general accuracy and the priceless value of his collected material have been commended alike by Dr. Skeat of Cambridge and by Professor Virchow of Berlin. The fact that most of his data have been verified inde- pendently, — blood-charms, bamboo-patterns, several wind-spirits, includ- ing the redoubtable Tappern, [Ta' Pdnn), the alleged servant of Kari, — makes it more than probable that his remaining statistics are reliable also. This opinion will gather additional momentum when we compare the tes- timony of E. H. Man for the neighboring Andaman Islands. Here we have a very similar deity, described in almost identical terms, — a thunder-god, of fiery breath, served by wind-spirits, and so on. Can it be possible that two independent reporters should have accidentally invented the same divinity? I hardly think so. Moreover Dr. Portman has given his highest approval to Mr. Man's work, and the fact that Puluga was so readily iden- tified by him establishes an inherent probability that Kari-Peng-Tuhan takes the same place in the Malakkan theology among a people who are on almost exactly the same level and have so many other points of similar- ity,— mythology, general culture. Finally the Veddas furnish additional confirmation from Parker and Seligman, whose description of the great Kande-Yaka approaches in some respects those of the above authors. 510 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF AUTHENTICITY As to the Philippines, though the sources are scattered, they are beyond criticism. Meyer and Blumentritt are safe in ethnology, while Montano is a good observer of customs. The evidence for a supreme divinity is grounded on three unimpeachable vs^itnesses, — two of them Catholic priests — , whose united reports, however fragmentary, can hardly be accused of deliberate fraud. They bear witness to the belief in a great Maker, which can be traced right through the heart of Central Borneo to the Aru-Islands and New Guinea, as is certified by Col. Reed, Dr. Hose, Bishop McDougall, Dr. Nieuwenhuis, Messrs. Kruyt and Riedel, Father Schmidt, and Monsignor Dunn. (F) Australia-Tasmania These data are further augmented by an abundance of material from the Australian region. Here we have a large number of first-hand wit- nesses, whose reports, however defective, are frankly impartial in spirit and tendency. Moreover these reports are so numerous and so widely separated in space and time, that it is quite impossible for a conscious fallacy to enter the field, at least in the matter of bare statistics. Take the work of Howitt, the standard authority on the "Native Tribes of South- East Australia". Whatever may be thought of his deductions, — and they are by no means flawless — , his main collection of facts as a direct observer of rights and customs is invaluable. He is one of the few modern explorers who has lived the lives of the natives, who has become a fully initiated member of the tribe. But what is more important, he does not stand alone. His conclusions have been anticipated or confirmed by other writers in complete independence. Thus Brough-Smith in "The Aborigines of Victoria", Taplin in "The Narrinyeri", Langloh-Parker in "The Euahlayi Tribe", Ridley in "The Kamilaroi", Ling-Roth in "The Aborigines of Tas- mania", the latter a huge compilation from original sources, — all proclaim from different points of the compass, that these facts are too constant, too uniform, and too universal to have been the result either of concoction or coincidence. They must have some foundation in the reality of the past. (G-L) Central Africa and South America The same remarks apply to the transoceanic regions. The work of Stow is founded upon Orpen and Arbousset, scientific observers of the first rank while the personal interviews of Bishop LeRoy and Father Vander Burgt among the natives of the Congo-belt have the distinctive ring of truth, they can hardly be questioned. Similarly Von den Steinen and Ehrenreich are final for South-America, being supported by Denis, Preuss, Rivet, Renault, St. Hilaire, Father Teschauer, and many others. Thus the combined picture is unassailable, however defective the individual sketch. It is hardly conceivable that such a unanimity can have any other basis than that of objective fact. SUMMARY 511 THE QUESTION OP AUTHENTICITY Criteria for Indigenous Origin As to the native origin of these traditions, their freedom from foreign influence, it is based on the broad principle, that when we have ninety- nine per cent of indigenous elements, — from the cave or windshelter down to matrimonial rites and mythology — , the chances are one hundred to one, that the remaining one per cent, — the religious beliefs — , will be indigenous also, that they form an integral part of the national life, that when the former change, the latter are apt to change in the same propor- tion, that as the former have existed from time immemorial, the latter have existed from time immemorial also. (Law of Concomitant Variations). A Surprising Uniformity This is strikingly illustrated by the fact that in the most ancient East- Indian and Tasmanian belt the deity is very generally a "Father"- or "Thunder-God", of "flery breath", but otherwise "invisible", who lives in the "high heavens" and is above all stars, suns, or planets, which, even when personified, have no genetic relation to man, but are rather his "messengers", the flery emanations of his almighty will. This idea extends with varying completeness from Malakka, Ceylon, and the Andaman Islands, {Kari-Kande-Yaka-Puluga-Tegion), through Borneo, the Philip- pines and New Guinea, (Ama/ca-Aniio-region) , down to South-East Aus- tralia, {Daramulun-Mungan-ngaua-Tegion) , and far into the heart of Cen- tral Africa, (Waka-Nzambi-region) , nay, eyen to the remotest conflnes of Central Brazil, {Tupan-Kamushini-Iguanchi-helt), — all of which compare. It seems difficult to account for this wonderful uniformity except on the theory of native origin. But it is possible to bring the argument to a more deflnite issue. Tylor's contention that the High Gods are due to missionary influence is at variance with facts. Long before the advent of any such mission, Bundjil Baiame, and Mungan-ngaua were worshipped in their respective terri- tories. There is strong evidence for this in at least three areas. Then again, there are no vestiges of such influence, whether religious or other- wise. A Catholic missionary would presumably leave them a crucifix, while a Protestant would hardly teach them to pray for the dead. Nd white man would ever associate Kari-Ple with the jungle-fruit, Puluga with a female spider, Kande-Yaka with a mighty hunter, Anito with a huge rock, Amaka with the enchanted forest, not to speak of the creation- legends, with their tailed baboons and dancing divinities, their stars and emus, their lizards and sex-birds. Finally the secrecy of the cult would have no meaning, if the people had borrowed from outside sources; they would be trying to conceal from the whites that which they knew every white man was cognisant of, that which the civilised races themselves had given them, — an absurd supposition. Secret societies do not borrow. 512 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF AUTHENTICITY Detailed Testimony As this subject is so commonly underestimated, I will give a few extracts from the leading authorities, even at the risk of a little repetition. THE IDEA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN IMPORTED Malakka: — "Here I only remark", writes Mr. Logan, "with reference to the incantations, charms, and other superstitions of the Mantra, that the greater part appear to be essentially native, that is, they have not borrowed from the Hindoos or Arabs, but have assumed their peculiar form from the state in which the tribe has existed on the peninsula from time imme- morial, while in substance they have been transmitted from the same com- mon source to which a large part of the inhabited world must refer i^g earliest superstitions. The religion of the Mantra is the primitive heathen- ism of Asia, which spreading far to the east and west, was associated with the regions of the eldest civilised nations, for it flourished in ancient Egypt before the Hebrews were a people, in Greece and Rome, and bids fair to outlast Hindooism in many parts of India".^^ But if this author derives Tuhan from Arabic sources. Dr. Skeat strongly protests against such a scheme, for he says: "Among the Mantra, and doubtless among other Jakun tribes, if the matter were more thoroughly investigated, there does undoubtedly exist a belief, shadowy though it be, in a deity, and this independently of Arabic sources. There are in fact, as among the Semang, traces of a dualistic system. . . . Ostensibly Semang is the legend that Kari created everything but man, whose creation he desired Pie to effect, and that when Pie had done so, Kari himself gave them souls".^' Again, — "Kari, {Kai, Kail) , "thunder", says Father Schmidt, "does not occur in any of the Sakai, Jakun, or other Austroasiatic languages, so that the name of this supreme Being is in every respect peculiar to the most ancient layer of the population, and could not have been borrowed".^" I have already treated the main points of this controversy in the preceding pages, and simply wish to call attention to the united force of the argument by a final appeal to the facts and a comparison with other regions. Andaman Islands : — "It is extremely improbable", says Mr. Man, "that their legends were the result of the teaching of missionaries and others", and he emphasises want of tradition, absence of traces, parallel cases else- where.'" Similarly Dr. Portman: — "The anthropological professors are very anxious to prove that the Andamanese must have derived their idea of a deity from some of the more civilised nations . . . but / cannot agree with it". (And he calls particular attention to the antiquity of the race, seclusion, conservatism, — no vestiges, social, linguistic, or otherwise)." !T J. R. Logan, in Journ. Indian Archipelago, Vol. I. pp. 329-330. ^s Skeat, Pagan Races, II. 179. 18S. «» Schmidt, Pygmaenvolker, p. 221 note. "> Man, 1. c. p. 88-89. si Portman, A History, Vol. I. p. 45. SUMMARY 513 THE QUESTION OP AUTHENTICITY Detailed Testimony Ceyton;— According to Dr. Seligman, "The three strata of belief which exist among the Veddas of the present day have not fused so thoroughly that there is any great difficulty in separating them. We believe that they may be tabulated as follows : (1) The cult of the dead, including the cult of the spirits of recent ancestors, that is of the nae yaku and the yaku of certain Veddas who have long been dead and may well be regarded as heroes {\). The most impor- tant of these is Kande Yaka (sic.) (2) The cult of foreign spirits who have become naturalised and have taken the friendly protective nature of the Vedda yaku. (3) The cult of foreign spirits who, though not often re- garded as such, have retained their foreign nature and are in the main ter- rible or even hostile".'^ Kande-Yaka, therefore, belongs to the most ancient stratum of beliefs, whatever be the value of this figure as a heaven-god, — he is a primitive "friend". Philippines:— "On the Tarlac trail, between Tarlac and Zambales province", says Col. Reed, "there is a huge black bowlder which the negritos believe to be the home of one powerful spirit. So far as I could learn the belief is that the spirits of all who die enter this one spirit or 'anito' who has its abiding place in this rock"." As no Catholic mis- sionary would associate the God of Heaven with bananas and rocks, it is clear that this part of the belief cannot be traced to such a quarter, what- ever other origin it may have had. Borneo:— J)v. Hose comes to similar conclusions. "It might be thought that the conception of a beneficent supreme Being has been borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the Malays. But we do not think that view is tenable. For this is a living belief among the Madangs (Kenyas, and others), far from Malay influence in the remote interior, while it is a dead one among the Ibans and Sea-Dayaks, close to Malay influence on the sur- rounding coast-line". Archdeacon Perham also testifies that "among the Ibans there are traces of belief in one supreme God, which suggests that the idea is one that has been prevalent, but has now almost died out".^* We have a strong case for Borneo, where the decadence of the later as com- pared with the earlier beliefs is strikingly illustrated. New Guinea: — "Now it comes out that father was right after all." You boys of Dalmannhafen, is not 'God' the same as your Wonekau and our Wonakau?" These remarks of the mission children on the identity of their ancestral faith with that of the imported school-religion shows with some force that the idea of God was already familiar to them. However enriched by the Christian concept, it was certainly not introduced by the 32 Seligman, The Veddas, p. 149. ^i^ Reed, Negritos of Zambales, p. 65. s^Hose and McDougall, in the Journ. Anthrop. Instit. (1901) Vol. XXXI. p. 212. including Perhara's report. ''W. Schmidt, Austronesische Mythologie, (1910), p. 118. 514 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE QUESTION OF AUTHENTICITY Detailed Testimony Australia: — "As to Australia", writes Andrew Lang, "in face of the evi- dence which settled Mr. Howitt's doubts as to the borrowing of these ideas, can any one bring a native of age and credit who has said that Baiame under any name was borrowed from the whites? Mr. Palmer is 'perfectly satisfied' that 'none of these ideas were derived from the whites'. He is speaking of the tribes of the Gulf of Carpentaria, far away indeed from Victoria and New South Wales. There is no greater authority among anthropologists than Waitz, and Waitz rejects the hypothesis that the higher Australian beliefs were borrowed from Christians". (His motives are, — their priority to the missions, the absence of any traces, the secrecy of the cult.") "It seems advisable", says Mr. Howitt, "that I should give the reasons which appear to me to prove conclusively the aboriginal origin of the behef in the tribal All-Father as I have given it". Then he mentions the case of the Kurnai informants, who had been initiated in 1844, sixteen years before the establishment of the two missions in Gippsland in 1860, and who assured him at the Jeraeil in 1864 that they were doing exactly as "the old men" had done when they themselves were initiated. "In answer to my inquiries about the legends told at the ceremonies, including that of Mungan-ngaua and his son Tundun, they said : "The old men told us so". Again, — "See! That one is Bundjil (pointing to the star Altair), you see him, and he sees you!" "This was before Bateman the missionary had settled on the banks of the Yarra river, and is conclusive as to the primitive character of the belief"." "I was first told of Baiame in whispers", says Mrs. Parker, "by a very old native, said to have been already grey-haired when Sir Thomas Mitchell discovered the Narran in 1846, (10 years before Mr. Ridley's catechism). But He was a worshipful being, revealed in the mysteries, long before any missionaries came, as all my informants aver".»» Africa and South America: — Two anecdotes will suffice for these regions : — Asked from what quarter they had received their ideas the Wa- Pokomo answered: "We have taken it from the Watwas or Negrillos", speaking of the first-fruit sacrifice to Waka (God)," "Is Keri the God of the Portuguese? No, we know nothing of him. ... He is another. . . , Keri lives in the heavens. He is the grandfather of the Bakairi" — implying independence of the native belief," «• Lang, Magic and Religion, pp. 42-43. " Howitt, Native Tribes, p. 504, 492ff. s* Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, p. 5. (condensed). =» LeRoy, Les Pygmees, p. 177. *» Von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvolkern, p. 380. For a general refutation of the "Loan-god" theory, extend- ing also to American Indians, see Lang, Magic and Religion, pp. 15-45, a powerful plea. These points are now generally conceded and Tylor appears to stand alone. Cp. Howitt, in Folk-Lore (1906), p. 188. N. W. Thomas, "Baime and the Bell-bird", in "Man" (1905), p. 44. Schmidt, Ursprung, p. 204-209. SUMMARY 515 III. THE QUESTION OF INTERPRETATION Principles op the Primitive Theology Given the antiquity and the genuineness of the sources, the question arises as to their meaning. Is there any sense in which these traditions can be said to embody a nucleus of truth, to reflect, however vaguely, the primitive ideas of a supreme Being? The answer to this question must depend very largely upon the combined weight of the evidence in all its parts rather than that afforded by any single region. By collating the material for the primitive belt, it is possible to obtain a more or less com- plete picture of the deity as presented to the mind of the natives. I. FOR THE QUIESCENT ATTRIBUTES (1) Simplicity or Spirituality Beginning with the idea of simplicity, the bpst test of such a notion is afforded by the attribute of invisibility or subtlety, which is fairly promi- nent: — "He is of fiery breath, but is now invisible" {Kari-Puluga, 1, 13), He is Kande-Yaka-Anito, 19, 24) "Great Spirit", He is To-Bmwa, "Invisible Spirit" {Amaka, 27), He is a Vui, or "powerful Spirit" {Quat-Marawa, 36), He is "all-seeing Spirit" {Baiame, 37), He is "Light-Spirit" {Marraboona, 45), He cannot "now" be seen (passim in Australasia), "He can see every- thing, but cannot be seen Himself" {Waka, 47), "He abides in the high heavens, and cannot now be seen" [Indagarra, 48), "He cannot be seen with the eyes but only with the heart of man" {Kaang, 51), "He is of sup?r- natural size and invisible" (very common from Peng, 7, downwards). He is "Sun, or Light-Spirit" {Kamushini, 54). Moreover He is heard and felt, rather than seen, His voice is the thunder and His shafts the lightning, (passim in the earlier form, compare Kari-Puluga, 1, 13. Amaka-Ballingo, 25. Nurrundere, 42. Daramulun, 43. Nzambi, 48. Iguanchi-Pillan, 53. Tupan, 57). Though conceived as a man. He has no temples or images, except Baiame-Daramulun, 40, 48, (which effigy is destroyed immediately after the initiation-rite). Bamboo and bark-scratchings of similar nature are found in other regions, (Malakka, Borneo, Central Africa, Brazil). The absence of plastic representations of a permanent nature is a characteristic of this era, and in strong contrast to the practices, sometimes perverted, of the higher peoples. It will thus be seen that the idea of a supra-local, in- visible, or spiritual being is very generally insinuated, sometimes described, though it is evident that such expressions must fall short of philosophical exactness, that the idea of simplicity is too refined a notion to be easily conveyed. Does not the very word "spirit" {anima, ruach, bruwa, etc.) indicate an analogy with the human breath, with the "wind" of hsaven? Note: — The figures given refer to the preceding page numbers. 516 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (2) Eternity "He has always existed, even before the creation" {Kari, 1), "He was never born, He is immortal" {Peng, 7. Puluga, 13) , — eternity in both direc- tions. He is Amaka, the Father or Generator before all time, {Amaka, 27) , He is "very, very old", but never "older" [Baiame, 37), "He was once upon earth, but is now in heaven, where He still remains", — common through- out Australia, (Gomp. Daramulun, 43, Mungan-ngaua, 44 etc.) These are explicit statements, but the idea is far wider than its expression. An eternity a parte post is universal, all these beings are "very, very old", they never "die". An eternity a parte ante is implied in such cases in which the figure is at once the "father" and "creator" of the universe and man. These cases are dealt with below under Creation. For the present it is important to note that in the doubtful-area, {Anito, Quat-Marawa, includ- ing the later peninsular and South-American divinities), a former creative role is strongly to be suspected, and this makes the attribute of eternity cer- tain for the above and highly probable for the remainder. Taken all in all, the timeless character of the supreme Being is well attested in the earliest mythology. (3) Immensity and Infinity These are difficult notions for the savage mind to express with any- thing like precision. They are generally the equivalents of large, big, enormous, terrible, etc. Thus "He is of supernatural size and of fiery breath" a forcible expression, if correctly reported, {Kari, Peng, 1, 7), "He knows and can do all things", (very general from Kari and Amaka down- wards, either explicitly or implicitly). He "has immense power" {Chidibey, Quat-Marawa, 35) , "He can do what He wishes" {Baiame, 37) , "He can go everywhere and do anything" {Daramulun, 43), — implying omnipresence, a ubiquitous being. Again,— "He is very, very big, the best, the biggest" (quite common in Australia- Af rica) , "He is the master of all. He has made all, and arranged all, and in His sight we are all very small" {Nzambi, 48), His name is Kan, Thunder, Amaka, Great Father, Quut, Great Lord, Baiame, Great One, Biamban, Great Master, Tupan, Great Chief, etc., all of which point to qualities that are distinctly above the normal, though they fail to bring out the notion of limitless being in all its fulness. Here again the apparent deficiency is supplemented by more powerful criteria, for any being that can create is ipso facto an immense, an infinite being. We' must therefore interpret this notion with the heljj of the operative attri- butes, from which the idea of the infinite may be deduced with more hope of success, (see below). SUMMARY 517 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (4) Transcendental Attributes, — Unity, Truth and Goodness (a) UNITY, — absence op parts Is this being singular or plural in number? The Kari-Ple-Puluga con- troversy suggests a lurking dualism. Kari-Ple are both apparently creators, and both receive the homage of worship and sacrifice, (1-5). It is certain, hovs'ever, that the thunder-god is immensely superior to his demiurge, he has evidently fashioned him, for the latter is his "servant" or "son", who carries out his behests and intercedes for humanity, and who, though he formed the body of man, did so at Kari's command, who alone "gave them souls". This is equally conspicuous for Puluga, Kande-Yaka, Amei-Amaka, Wonekau, Baiame, and other great figures, not excluding the Quat-Marawa couple. However powerful the surrounding spirits may be, — and they nearly all have powerful helpers — , the supreme divinity towers above them in importance, and He alone is invoked in the greatest emergence, {Bali Pen-ya-long, 25. Waka-Kaang, 47, 51), though an appeal to the Creator through some powerful saint or mediator is, as with us, not ex- cluded. Compare the cries for help to be given below, and this will be evi- dent, — the Father above is their chief or ultimate object. In other words, there is only one God, though his "messengers" are innumerable. (b) TRUTH, — CORRESPONDENCE OP REALITY WITH EXEMPLARY IDEAS That the universe is modelled after the exemplary ideas in the divine Mind, that it is in some sense a "pattern" of God, may be inferred from the fact that the "all-seeing Spirit" knows His creation, that it is in a very direct sense His own work. (Gomp. Kari, 1. Peng, 7. Puluga, 13. Amaka, 25. Quat-Marawa, 36. Baiame, 37. Nurrundere, Bundjil, 42. Daramulun, 43. Waka, 47. Kamushini, 55 (spider-motif) etc.) This seems to postulate a correspondence of the external, physical, with the internal, mental world, viewed from the standpoint of a divine originator. (Compare the "speculum" of the scholastics). God is thus the ontological truth of things. Is He also their ethical truth, the revealer of a true order of reality? It is a remarkable fact that in nearly every case the virtue of truthfulness is safeguarded by the highest sanctions, that lying is punished with severe chastisements. (Gomp. Puluga, 13, on the sin of "falsehood", Baiame, 39, on the "deadly sin of lying to the elders of the tribe", and the testimony of Reed, "I never detected an untruth except one arising from errors of judg- ment", and of Haddon, "they never do any injury by making a false state- ment", p. XXXIX above). If then these "gods" demand truthfulness from their creatures, it is not too much to say that they are truthful themselves, that their object is not to deceive but to elevate and illuminate mankind. 518 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (c) GOODNESS, WISDOM, AND HOLINESS The idea of goodness or moral perfection is contained either in the very- concept of the deity as defined by the natives, or in the lavs's and sanctions for moral conduct as reflected in the lives of those vs^ho acknowledge His sway. As to the former, it must be admitted that explicit references to "goodness" are few and far between. Perhaps it was not necessary to emphasise a quality which is so obvious a notion in any concept of divinity that is worthy of the name. Nevertheless, it is clear that the idea of a good rather than a cruel or malevolent god is not in itself immediately evident, and there must be some guarantee that we are dealing with a divine, not a demoniacal being. Now this may be gathered from the whole trend and tendency of the mythology. These supreme figures are essentially good, wise, and benevolent Creators, they are the authors and guardians of the moral law, and they punish the wrong-doing of man by severe measures, they are his judge. (Gomp. Kari, i, 4. Puluga, 13, 17. Kande-Yaka, 20. Of Anito, 24, it is distinctly stated that he punishes the transgressions of his law by "sending diseases". The same idea is contained in Amaka, 27, the author of adat, "moral law", in Wonekau, 33, the "good" being, who .punishes adultery, and perhaps even in Quat-Marawa, 36. However facetious the latter may be, he is never bad, malevolent, or immoral. This is equally prominent with Baiame, 37, the rewarder of the "good", and in fact with nearly all the Australian and African High-Fathers. Note espe- cially Kaang, 51 : "At first he was very good and nice, but he got spoilt through fighting so many things" (Idea of goodness contending with increasing evil). As to Kamushini and the Brazilian deities, the attribute of moral goodness may be inferred from the fire- and flood-legends of this region, in which the Sky-Father is said to have destroyed mankind on account of a violation of the moral law, — adultery, blasphemy, sacrilege, (54ff.). Finally, if ethical standards are to be our test, the remarkably high practice in this regard is something that requires an explanation. Murder and adultery are almost unknown, there is hardly any cannibalism or infanticide, and the "three deadly sins were unprovoked murder, lying to the elders of the tribe, and stealing a woman within the prohibited degrees". Moreover it is in the earliest region, (A-F), that this is most conspicuous, which tends to show that a pure theology and a pure morality develop on parallel lines. But the whole subject should be re-studied with the help of our Introduction (p. XXXIV-XL), from which the combined evidence on this head may be gathered. It is only through constant re- vision and recapitulation that the moral statistics for the earliest ages of man gradually sink into the mind of the student. SUMMARY 519 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (5) The Idea op Mercy It is generally supposed that mercy, the superabundance of love, is a "supernatural" attribute, being underivable from the idea of God except by metaphysical composition, that is, by adding a new, logically exclusive note. If this is so, it is all the more surprising to And this attribute dimly recognised in the earliest section. "He is angered by the commission of sin, but shows pity for man, and is moved by the pleadings of Pie on man's behalf" (Kari, 1), "He may also show mercy" {Peng, 7), "He is angered by the commission of certain sins, — falsehood, theft, grave assault, murder, adultery, etc.), while to those in pain or distress He is pitiful, and some- times deigns to afford relief" {Puluga, 13) . He shows pity, therefore, in at least three cases. In others it may be inferred from general benevolence, but not with certainty. Also from responses to prayer, (Kaang, 51), and from the survival of select souls from the flood, (supra). Here again the absence of explicit statements must be supplemented by the social and ethical data. The extreme kindness and charity that are meted out to the sick, the aged, and the infirm, who "invariably fare better than their more fortunate brethren", this has hardly the ring of a cruel and exacting divin- ity, and the numerous cases of unselfish heroism, of starvation for the sake of the progeny, of the rescue of feeble and decrepit persons when in peril of drowning, of the carrying about of wives on the backs of their husbands, "when too old or too sick to walk", — all these merciful actions point to a merciful God, to a being who is not a tryant but a tender Father of humanity. (Compare the data passim as given on p. XXXIVff. and in the text.) (6) The Idea of Justice But this Father is also just, He requires a strict account of the actions of man, He punishes their misdeeds. (Comp. Kari, 5. Puluga, 17. Anito, 24. Amaka, 27. Baiame, 37. Daramulun, 43. Mungan-ngaua, 44. and gen- erally throughout Australia-Africa). Here again a universal Flood is the result of divine justice for breaches of the moral law. (Comp. Kamushini- Monan, 54ff.) Then again, moral duties are held to bind sometimes under "pain of death", they never go unpunished. Taken altogether, therefore, these facts cannot fail to have some bearings on the moral qualities of the Lawgiver. He who requires truth, mercy, justice, chastity, charity, and self-sacrifice from His creatures and brings them forth in their lives, — He must Himself be truthful, merciful, just, pure, and inherently lovable,— recalling the old scholastic saying, so often forgotten,— iVemo dat quod non habet. 520 PREHISTORIC RELIGION (II.) FOR THE OPERATIVE ATTRIBUTES (1) Omniscience The operative attributes, being more external, are as a rule more easy to verify. Omniscience is fairly strong. "He knovs^s all things, at least all things that concern man" (Kari, 1. Peng, 7. Tuhan, H). "He is omniscient vi'hile it is day, knowing even the thoughts of men's hearts" (Puluga, 13) . (The addition "while it is day" has been shown to be a later touch) . "He sees their actions at all times" {Anito, 21), the same for Amaka (27), for Wonekau (34), and for the Quat-Marawa region (35), though with less security. He is "all-seeing spirit" (Baiame, 37), "See! That one is Bundjil, you see him, and he sees you!" {Bundjil, 42), "He watches the actions of men, He can see people" {Daramulun, 43). "Waka can see everything, but cannot be seen himself" {Waka, 47). These are verbatim reports, but the concept is implied in all regions where this Being is all-powerful. Note therefore the evidence for (2) Omnipotence Kari "can do all things, his will is irresistible" (1), Puluga-Anito- Amaka are at least "very powerful" (13, 24, 27), Chidibey has "immense power" (35), Baiame "can do what he wishes" (37), Daramulun "can go everywhere and do anything" (43), Waka is "the Master of all" (47), Nzambi the same (48), Kaang "causes to live and causes to die" (51), Kande-Yaka is "Great Spirit" (19), Tuhan di-Bawah is "Great Lord", etc. from which it is evident that this being is looked upon as more than an ordinary vui or spirit-agency, that he "sees" and "does" things in a man- ner that is rather above the normal, that is hardly shared by any of his associates. But does this imply an all-knowledge, an aZZ-power, in the strict sense? This can hardly be proved from the existing material. Though the language is sometimes strong, there are too many limiting clauses, the notion is sometimes vague (see above) . All we can say is that this being is endowed with "great" knowledge, and with "great" power, the superlative being suggested, the infinite hardly provable. (3) Providence By combining (1) and (2) with wisdom and goodness, we get the notion of Providence,^the disposal of all things according to their appointed ends, the fmalisation of being. If then these items have been correctly reported, it would seem that some such notion is thereby included. But apart from this, the idea of benevolence, of asking and obtaining things from the Giver of all, of rewards and punishments in the world to come, — this alone suggests a divine "planning", though it falls short of rigid demonstration. It is difficult to see what all these numerous prayers and invocations could otherwise mean. SUMMARY 521 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (III) THE NOTION OF CREATOR "The idea of a creation out of nothing is a product of priestly specula- tion, and is entirely foreign to the mind of primitive man". These words of Paul Ehrenreich, (Mythen, p. 29), presuppose for their truth, that the absence of an explicit statement proves the absence of the idea, a species of negative argument which is always dangerous. As to explicit state- ment, not until the time of the Maccabees can a creation "ex ouk onton" be strictly demonstrated from the wording, (2 Mace. 7, 28). Does this destroy the value of Gen. 1, 1, as an implicit recognition of the doctrine both by text and context? The majority of critics reply in the negative. In a very similar manner the absence of the clause "out of nothing" in the earliest legends proves at the most that this concept was not explicitly emphasised, not that it was non-existent. There are reasons for believing that a Maker of all things can hardly be less than a Creator out of nothing; for how could He make all things, if some things existed from all eternity? This reminds us of the famous Thomistic discussion on "eternal creation", admitted as conceivable only for a static creation, an immovable universe, but generally repudiated for all movable or perfectible, all "progressive" being. The difficulty of an infinite series is insurmountable, whatever may be said of "projected archetypes". If then we take the notion of uni- versal making as the safest test of creative power in the philosophical sense, we shall be led to the conclusion that this notion is fairly conspicu- ous from the earliest times, that it is in fact a characteristic of very early thought. Kari has "made all things", even if the earth and the body of man were formed. by Pie, his "servant" or demiurge, not impossibly a logos or divine mediator, (Creation, 134). Moreover He alone can "inspire" the soul, while the body is formed of clay and water, (ibidem). The same of Peng and of Tuhan-ai-Bawah, though in somewhat faded form (135, 136). Puluga has "made the world and all objects", excepting only the powers of evil, but these are dependent and have no creative functions, (137). The "Supreme Being" of the Alabat Aetas is addressed as "Our Maker" (138), and in Central Borneo Amaka-Ballingo is evidently a universal generator, even if by secondary causes, (139). This is equally pronounced in Celebes and the Southern Molukkas, with the "breath of heaven"-theme, (140), and in New Guinea, — "Wonekau made the Pleiades and the stars", (141). Baiame is distinctly a Creator, "He has made all things", and Bundjil forms the first pair out of a lump of clay and "breathes" on them, (142-143). This idea can be traced as far as Tasmania, where the "Spirit of great creative power" forms or fashions the first man, {Marraboona, 144). 522 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION THE NOTION OF CREATOR Turning to Africa, there is no lack of a creating God, if we take the reports just as they stand. "He has made all, He is the Master of all, and in His sight we are all very small", "He causes to live and causes to die" {Waka-Kaang, 145). In some cas:s the idea is contained in the root- meaning of the word, as in Nza-ambi, "He who creates", and that the terminus of this action is universal may be inferred from the fact that no other beings are regarded as self-subsistent, they all depend upon the Father above. Even the few mediators derive their power from Him alone, (ibid). As to South America, we have the same prominence of a single uni- versal First-Cause who shines through the different creation-legends in such a manner that He can be separated from the later culture-heroes with- out, as a rule, much difficulty. Tupan is a "Great Master", Monan is a "Creator", and Kamushini is a "Father of Shining Light", who "spins the world out like a spider". Even if Keri and Karnes, the created pair, have been bedecked with wonderful qualities, few can approach the central figure in commanding importance. The same may be said of the early Fuegian divinities, though the confusion of God and ancestor is here very marked. But if Pimaukel "has made all things", it is a "Great Giant" that came down from heaven, and formed the first Ona man and woman out of two mountains or clods of earth", — essentially the same concept. (54, 57, 147, 148). Furthermore, we have discovered that in this earliest layer of tradition creative action is largely personal, immediate, self-conscious, and direct, there are no independent or self-evolving units. Rather does the Sky- Father call the whole of nature into existence "by His breath", and this not suddenly, but in successive ages or periods of activity, — corresponding to light, water, earth, stars, animals, man, — in all six cycles, (188). While this does not of course exclude the operation of secondary agencies in the shape of wind, water, and fire-spirits, including "eagles", — a prehistoric synonym for what we call "angels" — , it seems very clear that through these messengers He reaches every form of creatable being. Now as this power to create is one of the most essential marks of a divine Being, it cannot be rated at too high a value. It shows that in the mind of the primitive savage all things were made by a supreme Person, though how He made them, he does not know. He insinuates "out of nothing", but leaves the question unanswered. Even we ourselves find it difficult to picture, how something can arise out of nothing, — but this is precisely the supreme test of divinity, it requires infinite power. SUMMARY 523 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (IV) THE ROLE OF LAWGIVER (1) As Revealed in the Paradise-Legends So much for the metaphysical side of the deity. For the ethical side we must turn to that more external aspect of the divine economy by vs^hich He governs the human race by definite norms or standards of conduct, in other words, by "laws". The idea of personality is incomplete unless it can be shown that the infinite Ego can vindicate His authority as a moral being by demanding His rights, by compelling the fulfilment of His eternal decrees. Only in this sense is He more than a creating-machine. The first illustration of this subject is obtained from the paradise- literature. We have seen that the combined folk-lore of the primitive age leaves no room for doubt that among the first commands given to the human race was that of abstention from a fruit or food-product which was in some mysterious way connected with the seat or the origin of life. It is the "Soul-Tree" of Malakka and South-Victoria, with the "enchanted fruits" of Borneo and Central Africa, that forms the basis of this command. "You shall not eat of the fruit of the paradise-tree" , — this is distinctly implied in all the earlier accounts where there are special frees that con- tain the power of procreation, of causing the human race to multiply. [Kari-Peng-Tuhan, 196-198. Puluga, 199. Amaka, 201, and very probably for Baiame, 203. Nzambi, 204, and Kamushini, 206). This is a clear hint that the original sin was in part sexual, it was a command to abstain from the indiscriminate use of the power of propagation, — in other words respect for the laws of marriage. But there is another tree which imparts the divine life in a higher sense it contains the power of making people invisible, immortal, "supernaturally beautiful and invulnerable" {Kari- Peng, 186, 316. Amaka, 201, 334. Baiame, 203, 341. Nzambi-Kaang, 204-206. and perhaps Kamushini, 207). This is the "Tree of Life", which is dis- tinguished from the "Tree of Death" in that it has no connection with sexual desire. While these two "soul-fruits" cannot always be separated, it is certain that a supreme taboo was placed upon both, and the punish- ment for its violation is expressed in the sentence: — "Because you have chosen the banana, your life shall be like its life. When the banana-tree has offspring, the parent-stem dies: so shall you die, and your children shall step in your place. Had you chosen the stone, your life would be like the life of the stone, changeless and immortal!" These words come from Borneo-Celebes, {Amaka-Samoa, 201), but the Andamanese tradition alone is sufficient to reveal a commanding and punishing God, and one essentially connected with the paradise-fruit, {Puluga, 199) . 524 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION THE ROLE OF LAWGIVER (2) As Revealed in the Hope op Redemption But the gates of Heaven are not to remain for ever closed. From the earliest times there is hope of reconciliation, symbolised by the triumph of the Heaven-God over the insidious crocodile, (Amaka, 201). Moreover, in so far as the Sky-Father himself saves man. He is the carrier of a divine Law vrhich is to reform the world, and this by his triple manifestation as Father-Mother-Son, an obscure relic of a paradisaic promise. That this is the pattern upon which the redemptive scheme has been built, is to say the least highly probable. Saving mothers and sons occur too fre- quently to be looked upon as mere ornaments. Kari saves by his son Pie, Peng by his mother Lanyut, Tuhan by his demiurge To-Entah, Puluga by his son or archangel Pijchor, Kande-Yaka by his son or brother Bilindi- Yaka, Amaka-Penya-long by his helping mother Do-Penya-long, Ilai and Indara by their divine child Samoa, Baiame by his son Gregorally, Bundjil by his son or brother Binbeal, Mungan-ngaua by his son Tundun, etc. (See pp. 255-262). In Africa we have at least one mediator in Ryangombe, and perhaps Cogaz, while in Brazil, Kamushini lives in Keri, the semi-divine deliverer (264). Now it is manifestly impossible to deduce any pure scheme of soteriol- ogy out of these mythical fragments. The personalities are too perfunc- tory, their nature and number are altogether too variable, to admit of any serious conclusions on the subject of a supposed "trinity". But that they are fractions of a past revelation on the subject can hardly be questioned, and, as they stand, they may be said to furnish the basis for a distant messianic hope, that may some day be realised. In other words, — It is God who is to save by His Son, and with the help of His Mother, — this is as far as the primitive data can possibly carry us> and even this can only point to the future by the general failure of the demiurges to effect salvation, — they must be continually replaced by new "saviors". It is here, however, that we may look for the source of the law as the moral standard of the faithful and as about to renew the earth. It is through imitating this model, the ideal or celestial "family", that a proto- type is given to all mankind to direct their conduct and to look to thte heavens for hope. "Amaka, Quat-Marawa! Save us!" — this formula seems to focus the common longing for deliverance, and the dusky mariner on the savage sea realises as well as any of us that the only hope of salvation must come from his fidelity to the eternal law. It is this certain hope that is for ever haunting the vision of primitive man, obscured as it is by every imaginable form of hero-worship. For behind the demiurge we are forced to recognise some Power who carries in His own person the promise of its fulfilment, (313). SUMMARY 525 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION THE ROLE OF LAWGIVER (3) As Revealed in Sacrifice, Institutions, and Eschatology Coming to the practical side of the question, the most efTicient test of a theory is found in its workability, in its power to mould and direct human life not only in its private but in its public and social relations. The role of institutional lawgiver is therefore all-important, and, being less abstract, is generally more easy to verify, being reflected in the sacred traditions and practices of the people and their latter-day beliefs. Let us make a brief review of the main points treated under this head. (1) birth-customs (a) The Birth-Bamboo: — Among the earliest practices reported in this connection is that of wearing the so-called birth-bamboo as a protection in childbirth. The Malakkan Tahong is a mystical cylinder worn by the mother which no one but her husband may see, but which she must never be without. It is believed to secure a successful delivery. Inscribed with the mystical patterns ordained by the Thunder-God, it has a semi-religious significance inasmuch as it contains the "soul-bird", which nestles in the "name-tree", and which is despatched from Kari's "paradise-tree", — which bird is then religiously eaten by the mother, — "She has eaten the bird", (319). A similar custom is reported from Ceylon, with tree-bast (327), and from Borneo, with the "birth-ring" (333), while the name-tree is very common, and the soul-bird reappears in South-East Australia as the sex-bird, (341). All this suggests that the birth of a child is regarded as a solemn and providential moment, as requiring the co-operation of divine power, the blessing of heaven. (b) The Couvade: — The mystical "lying-in" of the father is another very early custom. "At birth the husband is confined to his house for eight days, he must fast on rice and water, and for four days he cannot even take a bath or look at the sun". (Borneo, 333). The same to some extent for Melanesia (339) , and for South America, — "the father is a patient in so far as he feels himself at one with his new-born", (Brazil, 345). The ceremony emphasises the male parentage of the child, — a beautiful practice. (c) The Ablution: — "At the moment of birth, or soon after, the name of the child is solemnly pronounced by the midwife or medicine-man, the name being taken from the birth-tree, and the child is washed or sprinkled with water" (Malakka, 319). This ceremony is so universal, sometimes even with a cruciform sign (Australia. 341), that we can almost discern the formula : — "Palm-tree, Willow, Mangrove, — may Heaven help you!" (East Indies, 390). It is the means by which the child is dedicated to the Sky-Father, (ibid.) 526 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (2) THE INITIATION We have seen that the simplest form of initiation to manhood con- sists of an unction with palm-oil or turmeric, sometimes accompanied by a moderate fast, during which the candidate is instructed in the rights and obligations of citizenship, the laws of marriage, the observance of tribal customs. We have abundant evidence of the moral and quasi-religious nature of these functions, during which the adult name is generally assumed, the boys being called after animals, and the girls after flowers, — thus — "Bear, Buffalo, Rafflesia, Rhododendron, — I rub you with this oil!" "Be brave, be generous, be true!" a ceremony which is well attested for the East-Indies and Central Africa (319, 334, 343ff.) As an illustration of their serious moral and social import, take the Kurnai-initiation in South Victoria, in which the youth are instructed in the following terms : — "Our Father" has commanded you : — (1) to listen to and obey the old men, (2) to share everything with your friends, (3) to live peaceably with your friends, (4) not to interfere with girls and married women, (5) to obey the food-restrictions. Whatever abuses may have crept into these ordeals in later times, it/ is clear that these earliest initiations were conducive to good social stand- ards, that they tended to foster a healthy tone of social morality. (3) THE SACRIFICE AS SUCH The initiation naturally prepares the youth for admission to the sac- rifice in the proper sense, which, as we have shown, was originally and primarily of unbloody nature, the fruit of the paradise-tree being its prin- cipal model. It is commonly the bud or the blossom of the mystic palm, — generally known as the "magic flower" — , that is the foundation of this primitive cult and thus vaguely foreshadows the better gifts to come. The flower is kept in a bairiboo case, and on solemn occasions the blossom is wafted about with torches or flre-sticks, and the patient is "healed". In our analysis of the religious ideas underlying these rites, we have dis- covered that there is a vague belief that the Creator imparts His power to His creatures in some mysterious and incomprehensible manner, — that He operates His cures by means of the "magic" palm, which palm is often consumed in the fire to complete the offering. Its purpose is "to call back the souls of the suffering" to "make his children supernaturally beautiful and invulnerable". Side by side we find the deer, the bird, or the buffalo solemnly sacrificed to the Creator of all, and thus we reach the most primi- tive form of sacrifice as yet known to us. — the simple offering up of the first-fruits of the earth and the firstlings of the flock — , the so-called Sadaka, or Cain- Abel sacrifice. (Malakka, 320-321, Ceylon, 328-329, Borneo, 334-335, Central Africa, 342-343. See also 315. 394). SUMMARY 527 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION The Sacred Mysteries as Evidence of Prayer and Sacrifice the question of personality From the preceding data it would seem to be clear that the idea of per- sonality is distinctly implied in the notion of Lawgiver. He who rules by right divine is evidently a "substantia sui juris". This is brought into still bolder relief by the prayers and petitions that are addressed to Him for help, and which can only be referred to a real, "living" personality. THE TEST OP WORSHIP To take the test of worship, it must be admitted that formal prayers are at a minimum. There are certain solemn moments, however, when a definite form of words seems to be used, as witness — (I) "Blossom, I offer you to heaven! Blood, I throw you up to the sun!" Mystic palm, fern-juice or human blood, "thrown up" to the divinity, (ad- dressed to Kari-Ple, the god of the "thunder-fruit", [Malakkan Rite, 320]). '(2) "King of the hills, who continues to go from hill to hill, cause rain!" "Long life! Long life to the Great Master!" addressed to Kande-Yafca at the coconut-sacrifice, (Sinhalese Rite, 327). (3) "Praise to the supreme Being, our Maker!" — "This for Thee!" etc. addressed to the Alabat Creator, etc. with first-fruits, (Philippine Rite, 331). (4) "Father above! Spirit-Master in Heaven!" "0 holy Dayong, thou who lovest mankind, bring back thy servant from Leman, the land between life and death!" "O spirit of this bird! Ask the Heavenly Father to take away all sickness from us and to keep its from all harm!" (Bornean Rite, 334-335). (5) "Father of all, whose laws the tribes are now obeying!", addressed to Baiame, with spear-throwing, (Australian Rite, 341). (6) "Great Father!" {Pa.Tp&iig), "Great Master!" (Biamban), (Idem, 43). (7) "Our Father, who art in Heaven!" {Mungan-ngaua tiganna-marra- boona), the former in South Victoria, the latter in Tasmania (High-One- Exalted, 45). (8) "Our Father in Heaven! in Central Africa (50). "Forward, for- ward, forward! Let us gather the present of the Lord!" (Ibid. 343). (9) "Waka! Thou hast given me this buffalo, this honey, this wine. Behold thy portion. Grant me continued strength and life, and that no harm may come to my children!" (Central- African Firstling Rite, 343). (10) "0 Kaang, Kaang, are we not thy children? Bo you not see our hunger? Give us food! {And He gives us both our hands full") . (Bush- man Rite, 343). (II ) "The Great Chief is angry!" "The heavenly Master is scolding!" (12) "Father in Heaven, Father of shining Light!" {Aba-angui-papa- kamu-shini). Upper Shingu tribes, (Central Amazonian Rite, 54-57, 345). From this selected material it is evident that the invocation of a "Heavenly Father", and this for a moral purpose, (food, protection, help, blessing, etc.), is well developed in the earliest region. It will show that the theory of an unknown, unloved, unworshipped divinity can no longer be maintained. 528 PREHISTORIC RELIGION PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (4) Expiation In so far as the preceding rites are in part curative, they acquire also a medical aspect, in which the same herbs or specifics are administered to the sick as a healing portion. But the exorcism of sin is a special rite which is combined with the exorcism of sickness as of demoniacal origin. The shaman takes the palm-branch and with it he belabors the patient who is perched upon a rude couch in the medicine-hut, and invokes the yaka : — "/ crave your help in healing him, whose soul is sick, whose body stricken!" As the civil magistrate he knows his patient and the nature of his failings and he administers his medicine by gentle taps with the palm, by blowing over his head, or by brandishing the bamboo cross. This is as near an approach to an absolution from sin as we can find in the earliest times, though its semi-magical aspect has been duly noted, (322, 401). (5) Priesthood The extreme simplicity of the primitive government is revealed in noth- ing so forcibly as in the "patriarchate", — ^that system of family govern- ment in which the father unites in his own person all the vocations or professions in life, — he is their king, priest, guide, philosopher, and friend, — a condition which is inevitable in very early stages of society. This means that the entire ritual is administered by the family-father in the name of the All-Father above, and thus the priesthood is derived from God, the Father of the human race. Nay more, he trains his son to succeed him, — "May your life be long, I am training a scholar of the mind", (329) . fie anoints him with palm-oil, gives him the pastoral staff or the sacrificial bamboo, and so the power is handed down from one generation to another. (6) Matrimony In an age when new social experiments are in the air, it is refreshing to turn to the simple lives of these simple people, and see how they have solved the sex-problem by a direct appeal to the law of nature, which dictates : — (1) the union of one man with one woman, (2) division of labor as the basis of equality of sex. This union is very generally regarded as binding for life, — divorce is not normally recognised—, and its religious character is emphasized by the prayers and sacrifices that accompany it, as in the Philippines and Borneo. "Praise to the supreme B'eing, our Maker!" (322) . "May Father-in-Heaven protect us!" (338). Moreover the custom of dividing the labor between the two sexes, leav- ing the chase and the animal creation to the man, and the domestic hearth and the vegetable creation to the woman, this has produced a happy equili- brium in the rights and duties of the married couple, — the ideal relation. SUMMARY 529 PRIMITIVE INTERPRETATION (7) Burial and Eschatology It is in the matter of funeral rites that we meet with an equally unex- pected and perhaps still more striking phenomenon. So far from neglect- ing the body or even burning it, neither desertion nor cremation can be proved to have been the original practice. On the contrary, the body is generally painted or anointed in preparation for death with encouraging words, — "/ rub you with this fat. May you continue to live!" (403). "Happy journey to the land of Leman!" (338) . When however the supreme moment has arrived, the family will gather around the dying one and whisper consolations into his ear, bidding him a last farewell. After the soul has expired, the funeral itself is undertaken, which may consist in leaving the corpse in the spot where death super- vened, covered by the leaves of the forest, or, more commonly, in carrying it to some remote tree or rock-shelter to be consigned to the earth. Here and there the body is placed in the hollow of a tree as in a primitive cofTin. "Our father who went to that world, come to this world, come very quickly!" In these words is summed up the primitive belief in the here- after, which, as we have abundantly proved, is not an indefinite nowhere, still less a return to the animals, but a clearly-marked world of happiness or misery, which is the final lot of the saint or the sinner here below. For if the wicked descend to a boiling lake, and the half-cleansed are forced to contend with the fire and fumes of the. paradise-bridge, those who have obeyed the commands of the Heaven-God are admitted to the enchanted fruit-island, there to enjoy His blessings for ever. This, however, falls considerably short of what we understand by supernatural beatitude, (403, 492,500). Consideration I have thought it necessary to reproduce the ritual and many of these prayers in compact form in order to focus the attention of the reader upon the combined force of the argument as derived from their content. Only in this manner can the entire theology be viewed as it were in a single panorama. But if doubts may arise upon this or that particular point of belief or practice, the preceding pages should be reconsulted. As a reminder it should be noted that however doubtful or defective the interpretation of any single rite or ceremony may be taken to be, it can generally be corrected or supplemented by more detailed evidence from an adjacent rgion, and thus the combined interpretation remains on the whole well-founded. To appreciate the general coherence of the entire system, the following summary will represent the earliest convictions of mankind on the subject of a supernatural Being as far as all our preceding sources will allow us to make one. We may tabulate the general consciousness of early man in this regard in the following manner, and most of these statements will, I think, bear the test of serious scrutiny : — 530 PREHISTORIC RELIGION SUMMARY OF THE PRIMITIVE BELIEF The Combined Picture (1) There is throughout this region only one being, to whom the attri- butes of divinity have been assigned. He is generally described as: — (a) spiritual or invisible, ("He cannot now be seen"), (b) eternal or timeless, ("very, very old, but never older"), (c) infinite and immense, ("of supernatural size and of fiery breath"), (d) good, wise, and holy, (the author and guardian of the moral law), (e) merciful, ("He shows pity for man, is moved by his pleadings"), (f) just, (He rewards the good and punishes the wicked in both worlds), (g) all-knowing, ("He knows all things. He can see all things"), (h) all-powerful, ("He can go everywhere and do anything"), (k) all-provident, ("He gives us both our hands full"). (2) As to the chief test of divinity, the power of creating, — He is (1) maker of all, ("He has made all things") in nearly every instance, (m) sustainer of all, ("He causes to live and causes to die"), (n) creator of all things out of nothing, (not clearly provable, but may be inferred from universal making, an implied but confused idea). (3) But He is more than creator. He is a lawgiver, a personality sui juris, — (o) He is "Great Master", "Great Lord", "Great Father", "Our Father", (p) He watches over human life, ("He sees their actions at all times"), (q) He is their Teacher, ("He has taught them the arts of life"), (r) He is their Lawgiver, ("He has commanded them to observe the customs"), (s) He is the Guardian of the social order, ("Baiame told us so"), (t) He is the Guardian of the moral order, ("very angry when they do wrong"), (u) He is the object of worship in prayer and sacrifice, ("He hears their petitions. He answers their prayers, He accepts their sacrifices"), (v) He is the punisher of the wicked, ("He sends a great flood"), (w) He is rewarder of the good, ("He saves select souls from the flood"), (x) He is the final consummation of all things, ("He consigns the wicked to the world below, and rewards the righteous with a heaven of delights"). Now all this brings out the ethical attributes considered above. It reveals the qualities of truth, mercy, justice, and holiness, in a manner that is surprising and that suggests some serious thoughts on the origin of these ideas at such an early period of human development. Are they entirely spontaneous? Can they be explained by natural reasoning alone? This no doubt is partially possible. But in the mean time we have been brought face to face with a Heavenly Father, who gives His little ones their daily bread. SUMMARY 531 CRITICISM BY RECENT EXPERTS Let us see what impression these findings have made upon con- temporary authors, to what extent they bear out our main contentions. Malay Peninsula "The Mantra", says Father Borie, "recognise a supreme God, at whose command Raja Brahil created all things, God himself creating the firm- ament. They have also a day-of-judgment belief, yet their religion is mainly shaministic". This is Peng-Tuhan-di-Allah of Southern Malakka.^ "Speaking of the Benua belief in a deity, Mr. Logan remarks that, so far as he had been able to understand, the Berembun tribes had no idea of a supreme deity, and he had taken it for granted that he would find the Benua equally atheistic. His surprise therefore was great when he dis- covered that they had a simple and to a certain extent — a rational theology. They believed in the existence of one God, Pirman, who made the world and everything that is visible". "The Malays were not aware that the Benua believed in a God, or that the magicians power was considered to be derived from Him and entirely dependent on His pleasure".' Dr. Skeat gives the same impressions: — "Ostensibly Semang is the legend that Kari created everything but man, and that when Pie had formed the body of man, Kari himself gave them souls". "Among the Mantra and doubtless among other Jakun tribes, if the matter were more thoroughly investigated, there does undoubtedly exist a belief, shadowy though it be, in a deity, and this independently of Arabic sources"." "From all this evidence", says Father Schmidt, "it is clear that Kari, the High God of the Semang, occupies a unique position, that everything is sub- ject to Him, that He possesses the essential attributes of a supreme Being".* Andaman Islands "It is from regard to the fact that their beliefs on these points approxi- mate so closely to the true faith concerning the deity that I have adopted the English method of spelling all equivalents of "God" with an initial capital'. (And Mr. Man strongly repudiates an importation)." "The Andamanese", writes Dr. Portman, "believe in One God, who resides in Heaven above, who was the cause of existence of everybody and everything, directly or indirectly, and is a somewhat anthropomorphic conception, having passions, likes and dislikes. He corresponds in many ways to a European child's idea of deity". "The anthropological pro- fessors", he says, "are very anxious to prove that the Andamanese must have derived their word for and their idea of deity from some of the more civilised nations, but I cannot agree with it".' 1 H. Borie, On the Wild Tribes of the Interior of the Malay Peninsula in Transactions of the Ethnolog. Soc. of London, Vol. III. p. 72ff. »J. R. Logan, The Orang-Benua of Johor, Journ. Indian Archipelago, Vol. I. p. 29S. Skeat, Pagan Races, II. 322, 349. » Idem, II. 179, 185. * Schmidt, Pygmaeenvolker, p. 225. » Man, Andaman Islands, p. 90, not*. » Portman, A History, p. 45. 532 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CRITICISM BY REGENT EXPERTS Borneo "The Punans, or Bakatans", write Dr. Hose and Bishop McDougall, "reverence the supreme Being as the Kenyahs do and they address him as Bali-lutong" that is — Bali Pen-ya-long {"Spirit-Father-Above") J "The Kennyas believe in a beneficient supreme Being and in a great number of less powerful spirits. The spirit of any object is called bali. Balingo is the god of thunder, but more important than all is Bali-Pen-ya- long, to whom the Kenyas pray for guidance in important undertakings". Like the Kenyas, the Kayans worship the supreme Being under the name of Laki-Tenangan, or "Grandfather Tenangan", etc' "The prevalence of the belief in a supreme Being", says Dr. Hose, "must also tend to prevent the development of totemism, and we cannot conclude without saying something as to the possible origin of this conception of a beneficent Being, more powerful than all the others, who sends guidance and warnings by the omen-birds, and who receives and answers the prayers carried to him by the souls of the fowls and pigs. It might be thought that this conception of a beneficent supreme Being has been borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the Malays, but we do not think that view is tenable. For it is a living belief among the Madangs, far from Malay influence, while it is a dead one among the Ibans, close to Malay influence" (transcript).' Archdeacon Perham says of the Ibans that there are traces of belief in one supreme God, which suggests that the idea is one that has been pre- valent, but has now almost died out", — that is among the Sea-Dayaks.^» "This conception is one that undoubtedly makes for righteousness, because it reflects the character of the people, who, within the community and the tribe, are decent, human, and honest folk"." "Amei-Tingei," {Amaka), says Dr. Nieuwenhuis, 'is the 'High-Father' of the Bahau (or inland-tribes). For the Bahau, Amei is he who rules the lives of men, punishes the violations of adat, (moral law). He is all- knowing, and has under him a legion of bad spirits" (showing opposition of High- Father to bruwas and ghosts)." Speaking of the relation of the belief to morals, the same author says : "Highly significant as against other Dayak tribes is the complete fidelity to the marriage-tie among the Bahau, and the equality of rights between man and woman, with the consciousness of a numerical preponderance of the latter, argues for a degree, of continence and sexual self-control that we would hardly expect to find among a people on such a low level of cul- ture".'' 'Hose and McDougall, Journ. Anthrop. Institute, Vol. XXXI. (1910), p. 195. sidem, p. 175, 190. 8 Idem, p. 212. i" Ibidem. ^^ Idem, p. 213. (conclusion) . Comp. also by the same authors The Native Tribes of Borneo (London, 1912). ^^ A. W. Nieuwenhuis, In Centraal Borneo, (Leyden, 1900), Vol. I. p. 139ff. Idem, Quer durch Borneo, (Leyden, 1904), Vol. I. p. 98ff. " Centraal-Borneo, I. p. 100. SUMMARY 533 CRITICISM BY RECENT EXPERTS Australia-Tasmania "It seems quite clear", says Howitt, "that Nurrundere, Nurelli, Bundjil, Mungan-ngava, Daramulun, and Baiame, all represent the same being under different names ... an anthropomorphic supernatural being who lives in the sky and who is supposed to have some kind of influence on the morals of the natives. . . . I am satisfied that this belief has been locally evolved, and not introduced from without. But in saying this I must guard myself from being thought to imply any primitive revelation of a mono- theistic character. What I see is merely the action of elementary thought reaching conclusions such as all savages are capable of, and which may have been at the root of monotheistic beliefs"}* "From all this evidence", writes Andrew Lang, "it does not appear how non-polytheistic, non-monarchical, non-manes-worshipping savages evolved the idea of a relatively supreme, moral, and benevolent Creator, un- born, undying, watching, men's lives,— He can go everywhere, and do everything"." Dr. Foy of Cologne bears similar testimony: — "It is surprising, by the way, to find in South-East Australia the belief in One God, the 'Father' or 'Grandfather', who is the Creator of man and of the most important phenomena of nature, who has taught men the arts, and who watches over their conduct and the carrying out of his laws"." "Whether from the ontological or the psychologico-historical point of view", says Father Schmidt, "it is only a transcendent Personality, ("eine zu Beginn stehende Persoenlichkeit"), that is able to give a satisfactory explanation of all the religious facts in their origin and in their course of development"." "My anthropological reading was scanty", writes Mrs. Parker, "but I was well acquainted with and believed in HerlDert Spencer's 'ghost-theory' of the origin of religion in the worship of ancestral spirits. What I learnt from the natives surprised me, and shook my faith in Spencer's theory, with which it seemed incompatible".^* "We may indulge the conjecture", says Prof. Jevons, "that these are survivals from a period of belief in one God alone. . . . Nevertheless it seems strange. . . . How was the worship lost?" etc," "It is among the Kurnai", says Dr. SoUas, "whom on other grounds we have regarded as the most archaic tribes, that we meet with a monotheistic belief in its simplest and purest form. The supreme Being, who is known as Mungan-ngaua, or 'Our Father', dwells eternally in the sky. Unlike many other primitive gods, he has no wife, but a son, who is married, and the Kurnai are his descendants''.^" 1* Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, (1904), p. 499-500, 507. "A. Lang, Making of Religion, (1909), p. 184. "W. Foy, Fiihrer, (1910), p. 58. "Rev. W. Schmidt, Ursprung der Gottesidee, (1912), p. 488. " Langloh-Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, (1905), p. 3. ^'F. Jevons, Comparative Religion, (1913), p. 12;0flf. ^oW. Sollas, Ancient Hunters, (1915), p. 261-262. 534 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CRITICISM BY REGENT EXPERTS Central Africa "These backwoodsman-ideas of God and of sacrifice that is due to Him made, I repeat, a profound impression upon me", says Bishop LeRoy,^ "superior by far as they were to those commonly found among their agri- cultural, sedentary, and comparatively civilised neighbors. They reversed the conceptions that I had formed on the subject, and which wanted to make out, (according to the books), that religious and other knowledge goes hand in hand with material civilisation".*' "Contrary to the generality of the neighboring blacks, the Negrillos of the bantu lands seem not only to everywhere recognise a personal and sovereign God, but to place at his side and to offer him sacrifices. For my part at least, I have found no group in which he was unknown".'" "Thus it was in all probability", writes Stow, "that a germ of the relig- ious element sprang up in their (the Bushmen's) breast, and their super- stition ( !) created the idea of, as he has been styled by Arbousset, the Chief of the Sky, whom they named Kaang, and who was also called the Man, or the Master of all things".'" Sooth America Dr. Ehrenreich gives similar impressions from the Amazonian region. "The Botokudos invoke what they believe to be a Sky-being under the name of Tupan, 'chief or 'master'. He dwells in the clouds and his voice is the thunder, for which reason they shoot arrows into the air during storms in order to implore his protection . . they evidently fear him".''* "Kamushini", says Baron Von den Steinen, "is the oldest figure of Bakairi mythology. He is a father or grandfather . . . belongs to a dif- ferent people . . . makes men out of arrows . . . spins threads like a spider ... he is a heavenly spider".*' "Characteristic is the Tupi-myth. It begins with Monan, the Creator, of whom it is related that, being offended by mankind, he caused a con- flagration, which through the prayers of the only survivor, was quenched by the rain"." "The deeds of the culture-heros include, apart from the general equip- ment of the world, such as the fetching {\) of sun and m,oon, which is gen- erally the olTice of twins, all the higher interests of man"." (Strong cul- ture-heroes!) "The religious ideas of the Alacalufs verge upon dualism. They believe in a good spirit, the author of all good, and an evil spirit, the author of evil. The former is invoked in times of distress and danger, while they believe the latter can do all kinds of mischief, cause bad weather, send famine, or illness. He is supposed to be like an immense black man"." These are only the most important testimonies on this subject, but the belief covers a far wider area, as may be seen from our first chapter. "Rt. Rev. Mgr. LeRoy, Les Pygmees d'Afrique et de I'Asie, (1910), p. 177-178. »»Ibid. p. 187. «»Stow, Native Races of South Africa, (1910), p. 113. «* Renault and St. Hilaire, apud Ehrenreich, in Z.E. (1887), p. 3S. " Von den Steinen, p. 365ff. !» Ehrenreich, Mythen, p. 40. 2' Ibid. o. SS. 2* Cooper, op. cit. supra, p. 147-148. (These are short transcripts). SUMMARY 535 COUNTER-CRITICISM The position taken up Howitt, Hartland, Tyler, Frazer, and others, has already been considered in the preceding pages. It is broadly as follows : (1) These ideas are genuine, but fall short of being theistic. The All- Father is nothing but "the ideal headman in the sky-country", a super- human being, if you will, but evidently evolved from the national con- sciousness of leadership. (Howitt, Hartland, Van Gennep, etc.) (2) These ideas are not genuine, but the result of missionary influence. The real primitives are the Aruntas, Bantus, Arowaks, etc. where little or nothing of such beliefs is to be found. (Tylor, Frazer, King, Marret, and generally among the animistic or pre-animistic "magical" school). The Objections Are Inadequate It is needless to point out that these opinions neutralise one another on the score of origination-theories, if on no other. But apart from this they must be judged in the light of more recent and more accurate knowledge as follows: — (1) It is not denied that the idea of "headman" might have suggested the idea of "heavenly father", at least in his anthropomorphic role. Nevertheless — (a) Suggestion is not final derivation. All nature suggests a deity, but nature is not deity. In like manner "headman" suggests God, but headman is not God. Moreover this idea of headmanship is weakly developed among the more primitive tribes, and the sudden transition from tribal leader to an all-knowing, all-powerful Creator is inconsistent with a wholesale derivation of the idea from an earthly model. What becomes of this model when there no leaders to follow, when each family shifts for itself, as is the case with many of the wilder inhabitants of the East Indies and Central Africa? Yet it is precisely among the least-organised tribes that the belief is the strongest, as may easily be proved by the gradual fading of the belief among the more developed branches. (See the testimonies just given). Hewitt's objection is, therefore, merely a speculative one. It concerns, as I have said, the origin of the idea, not the idea itself, for he is satisfied that Baiame is an "ideal" being, that the natives at present take him to be "supernatural". (b) But even supposing, as indeed very probable, that father-in-heaven is nothing but a magnification of father-on-earth, the magnification itself is still to be accounted for. How comes it that the terms in which this being is described transcend as a rule all finite categories, that the savage vocabulary is exhausted in trying to express his immensity? Hartland's contention that these epithets are not always divine because clothed in a mythology at times corrupted, should be carefully reconsidered, nor is anything gained in attempting to deny that many of these surface corrup- tions are only too evident. 536 PREHISTORIC RELIGION GOUNTER-GRITIGISM The fact is, there are many instances in which such corruptions occur. But we have taken special pains to analyse these cases, and we have found that almost invariably the anti-theistic attributes, — mortality, sexuality and the like — , can be separated from the theistic nucleus as a later addition derived from a higher though degenerate form of culture. This is notor- iously the case on the Australian continent, and to a less degree in Borneo, and the Andaman Islands. In every case sky-father precedes spider, lizard, emu, hawk, or crocodile, by periods that cannot be measured, and the marrying, hunting, and dying god is thus shown to be an aftermath. The most primitive regions invariably reflect the purest theology. (Re-examine them). (2) As to the "loan-god" theory of Tylor and others, it is rather late in the day to talk of Christian influence where such an influence is now uni- versally rejected. I cannot repeat the cumulative force of the argument against recent borrowing, which has been fully discussed above (509). But as to the precedence of the Aruntas, with their totemism and rain- magic, I have given the whole of my Introduction and not a little of this summary to show that the scheme is ethnologically and sociologically erroneous, that all the totem-peoples are comparatively late arrivals. This has also been made out for each region independently. (See text). I will therefore consider this question as finally and definitely closed. The Idea is Not Derived From Animism Now in illustration of the points at issue, what do we actually find?* (1) As against Tylor and the old school,^ it may be confidently affirmed that there is practically no animism that is worthy of the name. Thei native of Gippsland, like the native of Malakka, or the rover of the Gongo forest, has no fear of ghosts, little faith in dreams, and no worship of dead ancestors. Among the Kurnai the yambo "goes up to the sky" and, though seen in dreams, it cannot revisit the earth, and is never worshipped. Among the East Indian primitives the semangat escapes to the heavens and never returns to the earth, "the soul is invisible to mortal eyes", while among the Negrillos the soul is an indefinable substance, but "neither ghost nor pepo". If then by animism be understood a cult of natural objects as "soul-beings" in the sense of spiritistic manifestations of more or less vivid nature, we can only say that this idea is at the most very weakly developed. An occasional belief in dreams has little significance, when it is considered that the All-Father is not "seen" in dreams, but "felt" in the waking state, and the absence of swoons or epilepsy in worship points in the same direction. To know God does not mean to understand the interior essences, the psychic "manifestations" of things. 1 E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 4th. Edition, (London, 1903). Vol. I. p. 417-431. Limits of savage Religrion, in Journ. Anthrop. Instit, Vol. XXL (1900), 283-299. SUMMARY 537 COUNTER-CRITICISM But if by animism be understood a spiritualisation of nature in the sense of a personification of natural forces, it may readily be admitted that "wind" and "water-spirits" are extremely ancient, nay that the Creator himself is the "breath of heaven". But personification is not animism. The primitive savage puts personality into everything, all nature "speaks" to him, but it speaks to him as a subject, — "I blow", "I rain", "I shine", "we help" — , not as a diffused life-principle, — "It is blowing, raining, shining", etc. In fact the primitive does not know what the "soul" or "life" really is, nor can he comprehend the idea of an infinitely subtle life- medium, what we call spirit-substance. Nevertheless he has a belief in a wonderful being, whom, for want of a better expression, he calls "Our Father". Can it be possible that this idea was evolved from the spirit- soul, when as yet the believer has no comprehension of the psychic nature of the antu, though he is firmly convinced that he and his "father" will live for ever in sky-land? Clearly there is a term missing in the logic that would connect the All-Father directly with a soul-cult, for there is no soul- cult in the earliest times. Nor Yet From Totemism (2) As against Frazer,'' all must depend of course on the meaning that is assigned to that exceedingly equivocal term, totemism. If, as I take it with Dr. Theal, it involves an essential identity of a man with his guardian, in such sense that he comes out of his totem and normally returns to it by a metempsychosis or rebirth, we have offered conclusive proof in the pre- ceding pages that this belief is very generally absent among the most primi- tive races of mankind, and is therefore not the genesis of a theistic belief. If, however, the guardian is simply a protector, animal or otherwise, but having no genetic relation to man, we are back in the primitive belt, with its divine "messengers", and in this sense totem and angel are identical terms. Nor Is It Evolved Out op Primitive Magic (3) As against King, Marett, and others,' the case is a more subtle one. Magic is admittedly widespread. Primitive man apparently draws super- natural effects out of impersonal objects, — stones, sticks, and boomerangs. But it must never be forgotten that the worship does not terminate in the object, but in the person operating the object, — in other words there is good and bad magic, depending upon the operator. Now the important point to consider is this : Magic steadily decreases the nearer we approach to the primitive zone. Here it either disappears, or is completely over- shadowed by the "Great Master". In this case magic becomes "mystery", the recognised channel of supernatural power.* aprazer, Totemism and Exogamy, (1910). I. p. 141ff. 'King, The Supernatural, Its origin, nature, and evolution (N. Y, 1892). Marett, Pre-animistic Religion, Folk-Lore, XI, (1900), 162ff. *Comp. Lang, Magic and Religion, (1901), p. 46-75, 538 PREHISTORIC RELIGION COUNTER-CRITICISM But Is Derived From the Notion op Fatherhood as First Cause If then the idea of a transcendent "person" is demonstrably prior to any of the above notions, there remains to consider, what could have been the possible source or basis of its formation. Novv' I believe that we have sufficient evidence to show that the idea of super-man is colored by that of father or paternal first cause in all most primitive regions that are acces- sible to us, that this is in fact the "natural" origin of the notion of God. To begin with Malakka, we have abu-ta-peng, "great father", as the equivalent of kari-ple, thunder-fruit, and at least equally ancient. In the Andamans puluga is distinctly an abu, abe, apai, a father in the sky, though he is also thunder. In Ceylon kande-yaka is an all-bestowing ma- hap-pa {ammat) , or father above, in the Philippines anito is probably an a-ma, father, though with less security. In Borneo it is quite certain that aba-lingo-ama-ka lies at the root of such forms as amei, balingo, etc., the Malakkan peng reappearing in penya, penya-long, father, master, while amei-tingei is the formula of invocation, — our-high-father. In Celebes pa- lingo is father-in-heaven while in Amboina a-ma-ka appears pure, as great-father. The same of abu-da, ancient father, in the Aru islands, and perhaps for awona-kawa in New Guinea. In Australia baiame is certainly a father, whatever be his etymology, and the high gods are commonly called papang, with the same sense. Crossing over to Africa, we have abe- yehu as our-father, and in Brazil aba-angui as father-above. Derivations or combinations with mu appear very early. Thus we have mu-untu, or muntu-untu in Celebes for highest-one, mungan-ngaua in Australia for our-father, mungu and abe-yehu-mulungu in Africa for our-father-in- heaven, while aba-angui-papa-kamushini represents a Brazilian combi- nation for which there is good evidence, — father-in-heaven-father-of- shining-light. But quite apart from the linguistic data, in which the root ab or am is so conspicuous, the most cursory perusal of our earliest legends will show how prominently the "Our Father" figures in the mind of the natives; This is most strong in the East-Indies and Australia, precisely the regions of greatest antiquity, and this suggests that it is a primary concept. And One Founded on Love Rather Than Fear For just as the notion of earthly father conjures up to the mind the vision of tender affection, so the transfer of the attribute of paternity from man to super-inan brings out the feeling of love as a primary element. Moreover the father-god is universal, while the thunder-god is only local and this and the above data seem to me very difficult to explain, unless we suppose that the father-notion is the first one. (See the analysis on pp. 30 122, 5Uff.) Apart from the influx of the supernatural, for which we must always be prepared, this is obviously the easiest method for ascend- ing from nature to the Supreme Cause of the world. SUMMARY 539 COUNTER-CRITICISM And Reflected in the Morality op the Natives This is brought into further prominence by the attested morality of those who ostensibly profess the belief, even if in shattered and occasion- ally corrupted form. "They are most peaceful, affectionate, and faithful, both to their family and friends, and never make war on each other or go in for any sort of inter-tribal fighting. Murder is exceedingly rare, theft equally so, divorce is extremely rare, the punishment for adultery is death. None of these races are cannibals, and there is no proof at all of past cannibalism". (General statement for the Malay Peninsula and very generally applicable). "The sick and the afflicted invariably fair better than their more for- tunate brethren. Cannibalism and infanticide are alike unknown" (Anda- man Islands). "The Vedda's constancy to their wives is a very remarkable trait in their character. The Hennebeddas have retained their old virtues of truthful- ness, chastity, and courtesy. They are affectionate parents" (Ceylon). "Murder is so rare as to be almost unknown, the negrito is peaceable" (Philippines). "The Land-Dayaks are amiable, honest, grateful, moral, and hospitable. The Bakatans are very mild savages, they are not head-hunters, do not keep slaves, are generous to one another, and probably never do any injury by making a false statement. They are very fond of their children and kind to the women. The Bakatans are not cannibals" (Borneo). "The Kurnai men carry their wives about the country when too old or too sick to walk. There was no cannibalism Tasmania" (Australian region) . "Among the Negrillos, a man's wife is his and his only. The sentiment of shame is universal. Theft, slander, and calumny are alike reproved" (Africa) . "The Botocudos have a high regard for their women and infidelity is punished with blows. In their natural state they are harmless and peace- able" (Brazil).* An "Ascending" Syllogism The earliest logic of the human race is therefore a simple one. Man looks up into the heavens and says, — "I see power, beauty, law, order, symmetry, bountiful provision, everywhere I gaze". Atqui, — "That which causes all this power, beauty, symmetry, and provision, must be at least as perfect as I am; nay, he must be a iar more wonderful being than I, whose highest title is father, and who certainly never made these things ; he must be an immense, an infinite father, an All-Father". Therefore — "I see the All-Father in the heavens". The problem of evil finds an equally simple solution, "There would be no death if all men were good", — it is sin that has upset the universe. Thus with all our modern philosophising, we have not advanced in any essential upon the early theology of man. * See the moral statistics on p. XXXVff. and under each section, beginning with p. 4. 540 PREHISTORIC RELIGION GOUNTER-GRITIGISM The position taken up by Westermarck is difficult to estimate. He ■says : — "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 an- cestor or headman, or a deification of the sky or some large or remote object of nature, like the sun, or a personification or personified cause of the mysteries or forces of nature. The argument that a belief in such a being is irreducible because it prevails among savages w^ho worship neither ancestors nor nature, can carry no weight in consideration of the fact that he himself, as a general rule, is no object of worship".^ Does is not seem as if the writer was here, unconsciously perhaps, evading the main question. He is a loan-god and yet the ancestor, a sky- god, and yet the headman, a personality, and yet unworshipped, and this not always, but only "as a general rule"(!). It is to be feared that the author is endeavoring to catch the unwary by a disjunctive argument, an apparent dilemma, a favorite device. If A is not B, then it may be 0, or it may be D, or it may be E, F, and so on, — but never A is equal to B. G. or D, definitely. But what if these qualities, — divine, personal, worship-pro- ducing — , be all united in the same being to the exclusion of the opposite series? Can the same conclusions be drawn in that case? Now this is precisely the condition of affairs with the great majority of the All-Fathers. They can be proved to be original, (admitted by W. "in various instances") , personal (also admitted, they are "personifications", "sky- fathers"), and worshipful in the best sense, (admitted "in some cases", even if exceptions to the "general rule"), — from which in their united force it is possible to draw conclusions of solid scientific value. As to the opposite qualities, — cosmic, astral, impersonal — , they are either not found at all, {Kari- Amaka-Mungan-ngaua-Waka) , or they can easily be separated as a later accretion, due to the totem-culture, as explained above. This is a good illustration of the way this subject is handled by some modern writers, who, however proficient in other respects, show a gross want of schooling in the scientific ethnology of particular districts. Recently the tone has become more serious, and shows promise of better results.* For those, in fact, who wish to pursue this subject to its last issues a good deal of modern technical reading is essential. The above is merely the skeleton of the argument for an original one-God belief, not its com- plete or absolutely exhaustive form. 6 Westermarck, The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, (1908), II. p. 685. » Compare the Transactions of the third International Congress of Religions, at Oxford, (1908) : E. S. Hartland, on the "Relatively Supreme Being", p. 21-32. Clodd, on Pre- animistic Religion, p. 33f. Marett, on "Mana", Jevons, on "Magic" etc. Also IV. Intern. Congr. at Louvain, (1912) : Articles by Schmidt, Pinard, Bros, Hestermann, Bouvier, LeRoy, Lemonnier, etc.— all excellent. But only Schmidt and Hestermann handle the subject cul- turally and sociologically. Quite recently W. Sollas, in Ancient Hunters, (1915), has come out boldly for a primitive monotheistic belief, (p. 261). See p. 533 above. SUMMARY 541 CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PRIMITIVE AGE What then are the conclusions to which an impartial examination of the earliest beliefs of mankind would seem to lead us? Quite apart from the dogma of a monotheistic revelation, it should be borne in mind that this matter is one of illustration rather than of dogmatic definition. It is not a question of the creation, elevation, and supernatural equipment of man, for of these truths we are certain on entirely inde- pendent grounds, they are part of the deposit of faith. It is rather an. attempt to shed some light on the modus opperandi by which the Heavenly Father has revealed Himself to His creatures in the arliest ages of man as yet known to us. It is not for us to decide, how the Creator is to train the human race, — ^whether by creative miracle, or by slow process of develop- ment, — both are equally supernatural — , but that He has done so in the past, is only too evident, and the question of the how admits of valuable illustration from the preceding material. A Final Survey From the beginning we find an intimate relation between man and his Maker. He is no far-off mystery. He is a living reality. Though He "cannot be seen with the eyes but only with the heart of man", though He is "of supernatural size and invisible". He is nevertheless pictured under human forms. He is a Father, who lives in the skies', whose voice is heard in the thunder, whose shafts are seen in the lightning, but of whose inner nature there is as yet no consciousness, — He is simply a supernatural Person. This being is believed to have made all things "by his breath", either directly, or by means of a creating demiurge, his "sons" and "daughters" being the winds of heaven, the first intimation of an angelic hierarchy. In no case is He a married divinity in the earliest stream of tradition; He is sexless and wifeless, — a superhuman being. Opposed to Him are a legion of rebellious ones, whose origin is not quite clear, but whose dependent position is in most cases well established. Heaven and earth, light and darkness, sun, moon, and stars, and finally man, — all issue at His command, they are His "servants". In the formation of the first human couple, it is He alone that "inspires the soul" of man, whatever be his bodily origin. He places them in the paradise of fruits or the "rising land", where there is no death or sickness, and where there is "such an abundance of well-water that it brings forth seven lakes." Here He teaches them the first arts and industries, and institutes the first sacrifice of abstention, — the command to abstain from certain fruits during certain seasons and this under penalty of death, a tradition that comes to us from the far-eastern archipelago. This throws a valuable sidelight on the bib- lical narrative, — it is the mystery of the first prohibition. Whence came it? 542 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PRIMITIVE AGE In nearly every case in which a fall of man is mentioned, it is con- nected, directly or indirectly, with the breach of a divine command, and quite commonly with the violation of a taboo, with a contravention against the laws of fasting, with the eating of a forbidden fruit, Man has lost immortality through a moral rebellion, he is now the enemy of heaven ; but he can still be reconciled by penitential actions, by keeping the laws and sacred customs, by offering to his Father that which he prizes most dearly, — the first-fruits of the field, and the firstling of the flock — , the vegetable and the animal creation. In the second great catastrophe to man, — the deluge — , it is again the sins of humanity, the violation of the food-precept, the neglect of the couvade, the growing adultery, blasphemy, sacrilege, that rouses the anger of heaven and destroys the whole of humanity with the exception of the righteous few, who repeople the earth and inaugurate a new posterity. It will be noted that throughout his dealings with man, the divinity acts as a person, and moreover in the singular number, — there is only one Father in heaven, though his messengers are innumerable. There is thus a vivid consciousness that mankind has been created, elevated, proved, punished, destroyed, and re-instated, in very remote times by a personal Creator and Judge, and it seems difficult to account for this persuasion, for a "talking", "commanding", and "instituting" God, unless we suppose that He has revealed his will in a special, and probably supernatural manner. This institutional aspect of religion is generally known as the divine positive law. It embraces a series of precepts, which, unlike those of the natural law, are not in themselves, mediately or immediately, evident, but require a definite external proclamation in order to make . themselves known. We have no means of ascertaining what the first laws and divine institutions of humanity really were; but it seems quite certain that they included certain ceremonial and sacrificial observances, which, though not prescribed in detail by the Almighty, were the means of salvation for that age, the external signs through which faith in a future Redeemer was visibly, though confusedly expressed. (S. Thom. III. qu. 61, art. 3. ad sec. Gomp. III. qu. 70, art. 2. ad prim.) Among these the custom of consecrating a child from its infancy by bringing it under the "paradise-tree" and naming it in honor of one of the trees that grew in the garden of pleasure is suggestive enough of "chris- tening", and even the water may have some symbolic meaning, if we re- gard the numerous lustrations as indicative of religious rather than utilitarian notions, for which, as we have seen, there is considerable evidence. It is a solemn moment,— it means dedication. SUMMARY 543 CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PRIMITIVE AGE Still more distinctive is the antediluvian custom by which the father retires from the world for at least a week, abstains from all foods and drinks which he thinks will endanger the life of his child, so intense is his consciousness that father and son are in some sense a vital unit, that the virtues of the father will pass on to the son, that the child is his and his only, in a special sense his own creation. It is the neglect of the couvade which is a frequent cause of divine visitations. The initiation-ceremony tells a similar story. The youth is put through a fasting-test, during which he is instructed in all the essentials of a religion, in the divine commandments, in the tribal customs, in the sacred mysteries. These consist of the first-fruit sacrifice, followed by their festive consumption, — the first adumbration of a communion-rite. Has he strayed from the path of virtue, he can still procure pardon by acts of penance, by an open proclamation of guilt, by fasting and sacrifice. Does he wish to invoke the blessing of heaven upon his married-life, he will present his partner with a "birth-bamboo", a token that the union will be both fruitful, and pleasing to the Almighty. Is he finally summoned to appear before His throne, he will be signed with red ochre and laid to rest with the firm confidence, that if he has lived a good life, he will enter the heavenly fruit-palace, if a bad one, he will go to the land of darkness there to be punished or purged in proportion to the gravity of his crimes. From beginning to end we have a continuous drama of divine inter- ventions, a complete theological system. It is not a dry, theoretical, but a living, practical religion, — a sacramental religion, which culminates in the unbloody sacrifice of the first-fruits of the earth, accompanied by fast- ing and abstinence. This in its more vivid form passes over into the mys- tical sacrifice of human blood, — "Blood! I throw you up to heaven!", — the first intimation that the fruit-sacrifice is not sufficiently powerful, it must supplemented by something more precious. It is only through the shed- ing of human blood that the holy of holies can ever be re-entered. The question arises whether this vivid consciousness of a divine law- giver can be accounted for on purely naturalistic and psychological lines or whether it demands a more realistic and external method of communi- cation, a direct manifestation of the divine will by supernatural agencies. We have seen that although the idea of God might well have arisen spon- taneously, by a simple reflexion on the facts of consciousness, an inter- vening and commanding God is something that cannot be evolved out of a mere "speculation", it is something in which the recipient is largely passive, — it demands some kind of "illumination." 544 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PRIMITIVE AGE How then did the All-Father reveal himself to his creatures? If these ideas were confined to the broad dictates of natural theology, to a vague belief in a "supreme being", w^ith or without an external cult, there would be no difficulty in deriving them from the essential constitution of human nature, from the natural desire of union with the divine. But when we come to a divine legislator, — prescribing definite rites and customs to be carried out under penalty of the fire and brimstone of heaven, — we are standing upon a different footing. These things cannot be surmised, nor can they be allowed to bind under such terrific sanctions without some clearly-revealed decree. On the other hand anything like a decree, divine rule, or "theocracy", presupposes the divine positive law, and this is hardly conceivable without a direct, personal, supernatural revelation. But how are we to picture such a revelation to have been effected? "And the Lord God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day". An anthropomorphic role is here suggested. He who cannot be seen with mortal eyes shows Himself in the form of a man, — He discourses with them. He tries' them, He punishes them. We are here in presence of something out of the ordinary, something beyond the normal, something of the nature of a divine vision, — a theophany. It is not my purpose from the existing evidence to assert that such is the only method, that the AU- Father-Law-giver necessitates ipso facto a miraculous vision. Neverthe- less a re-examination of the earlier traditions will bring the conviction more and more to the front, that some such divine action, — personal, direct, sense-affecting — , is the only form of communication that will satisfy the existing data with anything like completeness. The creation-legends alone show a marvellous uniformity and are realistic in the extreme. The same is true, to a greater degree, of the paradise and the flood-legends. But whatever be the form of communication, it is enough for the present to have established the fact that some such communication has been made, that God has "spoken" to man in the very earliest epoch of his earthly existence. The main results of this investigation are therefore as follows : — There is in the earliest ages of man a distinct consciousness of a supreme, per- sonal, and supernatural Being,— u comparatively high theology, with a correspondingly pure morality, — and although this thesis is undoubtedly capable of further elucidation, the onus probandi will rest upon those who deny it. SUMMARY 545 TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION A COMPARISON OF THE PRIMITIVE WITH THE LATER PHASES OF BELIEF If then we find a comparatively lofty notion of divinity in the earliest times, the question that will arise and suggest itself as a possible difficulty is this : — Given a high grade of belief in the most primitive period of the race, how was the belief corrupted? how was the idea lost?, — or was it ever entirely lost? To answer this question with anything like satisfac- tion, a few statistics from the later pages of religious history are essential. The following points will therefore be of assistance in estimating the char- acter of these beliefs, the nature of their partial deterioration, and the probable causes of this deterioration. A REVIEW OF THE TOTEMIG PERIOD The Concept of Deity The four typical divinities for this age have already been sufficiently analysed. They are, — Sin-Bonga for Central India, Mulunga for East Africa, Altjira-Tukura for Central Australia, and Wakanda for North- America. Now in re-examining the data that have so far been accumulated, we shall find that the ancient concept of a personal Creator, though in most cases faded, may be generally recognised in the background, — He is there in vague outline. On the other hand. He has been so mixed up, if not identified, with His own creation, that His personal features are often diffi- cult to trace. Thus Sin-Bonga (61) is described as the ever-benevolent god of gods, the author of the world, the maker of all the bongas, apparently the judge of man, and the object of prayer and rice-sacrifice. At the same time, he is sun-spirit, or light-month (?), he "hatches" the world by solar power, he is Marang-Buru, or Great Mystery, and the idea of metempsychosis is well developed, showing a possible transmigration of souls into at least 339 clan-totems. Again Mulungu (67) is also a sky-lord, who is believed to be the author of the' world and of all that is therein. But although his name is invoked in parts, it is more often and very generally forgotten, and mulungu is simply the generic designation for a buru or nature-power, whose essence is incomprehensible, but not necessarily personal. He is simply taboo, totem, mystery, and the reincarnation of the dead in the form of serpents and hyaenas shows that the idea of a direct personal judge has largely been lost. Here also long-distance magic takes precedence of direct sup- plication, — it is the sun — and thunder-men that are in supreme control of the cult. 546 PREHISTORIC RELIGION TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION Again, Altjira-Tukura (71) is an "eternal" being, who lives in the heavens, and is apparently "good" or benevolent. But though he is pic- tured as a man, he and his family have emu- or dog's feet, he is not the creator of the world, which is eternal, and he is neither feared nor loved. He is but one of the innumerable inkara or inter-intera, out of which, as out of shapeless masses, the whole universe was evolved. All things were fashioned by lizard-gods from the bosom of nature, there is strong sun-, rain-, or fertilisation-magic, and each soul is the reincarnation of some totemic ancestor, to which he may return at the hour of death. Again, Wakanda (75) is reported to be the "best of beings, the creator and preserver of all things, and the fountain of mystic medicine". Omnis- cience, omnipresence and vast powers are attributed to him, and he is sup- posed to afflict mankind with sickness and other calamities for their evil deeds. But he is also the sun, — the Wakanda, the Great Mystery, — he can be controlled by rain-magic, — in the sun-dance — , he appears under animal forms, — as totemic medicine — , and the dead return into these forms, or are absorbed in the Great Wakanda. If to this be added the mysterious figure of the California divinity, who is supposed to be good, supreme, and benevolent, but whose worshippers believe that "they came from cer- tain trees, rocks, or animals", it may be regarded as fairly certain that all these waicans, mulungus, buru-bongas, and altjira-inkaras, are connected together, that they are but different expressions for the same underlying concept, for a single, though vague, and multiform divinity. Now it is evident that we are here in presence of a more complex line of thought than in the preceding period. Had the All-Father-God been all too simple a concept to withstand the encroachments of a growing knowledge of nature and man. He was at least in his own sphere a unique personality, He had no relation to the lower creation other than that of its lord and master, He was in every sense a transcendent being. Here, however, we seem to trace the beginnings of a cosmic theology, which in its first attempt to pierce into the mystery of things, to gain a wider knowl- edge of the whence and how of creation, was of necessity forced to expose the ancient concept to the risk of a confusion with nature, to a more or less one-sided naturalistic development. At the very outset there is a growing estrangement between the transcendent and the immanent God, till finally the doctrine of immanence becomes all-important, it is nature herself, and only nature, that merits the attention and the worship of man. While the common sense of the race never carries an erroneous notion to its logical issue, the confusion of God and nature is here so marked as to suggest that we are living in a double-sided theological atmosphere. SUMMARY S47 TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION What is the Nature op the Totem-God? From what has been so far accessible in the line of evidence, it would seem that this divinity has been clearly evolved out of the ancient Heaven- God, whose All-Father character may still be traced in remote outline. He is "good", "wise", "beneficent", "omniscient", "omnipresent", in some cases he is still the "maker of all", and even the "judge of all". The sur- prising thing is that the All-Father has been fused with an entirely different notion, — the idea, namely, that all things are of one substance, that God, man, universe and devil are but so many parts of one universal and im- personal essence, that the highest is the lowest, the beginning is the end, the top is the bottom ; there is no law and order in this "dream-time" ; every grain of sand is a mulungu, a wakan, every blade of grass an inkara, an immortal one. The different medicines or totems are no mere channels or mediators between God and man, they are themselves the divinity; they contain within themselves the power to effect all cures, to operate all wonders. Hence the magical rain-making and fructification-rites, which take the place of the simple invocations to the Father of all. It is hopeless to expect consistency in this system; it is a pantheistic monism, in which time and eternity, the material and the spiritual, the finite and the infinite, have been jumbled together in one huge mass of orenda, wakan, kaluk, manitoo, — leaving a Great Mystery, if you will, but casting Him down from his throne in heaven, making him cosmic, commonplace, impersonal. Has the Idea of Transcendence Been Lost? Yet with all the strong evidence we possess for a gradually intruding nature-worship, we must beware of one-sided interpretations. I believe that sufficient material has been given in the preceding pages to show that in nearly every case a supreme personality may be vaguely discerned in the offing, and that much of the "nature-worship" is of a mystical or symbolic character, which does not exclude but rather expands the notion of deity by making the Creator more all-pervading in His activity than was possibly ever recognised in the consciousness of early man. This represents in part an upward development, for by keeping the divinity free from the nature-entanglement, and at the same time recognising his universal presence and power in every plant or pebble in creation, a distinctly deeper notion is gained of the divine operations than is possible with a more simple theology. To what extent this has been the case in the present instance, I will endeavor to illustrate. 548 PREHISTORIC RELIGION TOTEMIC INTERPRETATION Principles op the Totemic Theology At the beginning a mysterious figure is recognised as the cause of existence. This being retains the outlines of a great personality, whether as the Father of Heaven in India, the Ancient of Days in Africa, the Aboriginal One in Australia, or the Man Above in North America. In each case there is sufficient evidence to prove that in some instances at least He is recognised as above and distinct from the creation, a unique being. Compare the above data, and this will be sufficiently evident. Though he is occasionally disfigured by sexual and unworthy notions, his human can be separated froih his cosmic and animal traits, and in this sense his nature is identical with that of the old Heaven-God, he is an eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent Father. The Notion op Creation Has Been Largely Modified But it is in the act of creation that we begin to note the first striking difference. While the old deity produces the world "by his breath" and without the marriage relation, the newer deity has wife and family, he pro-creates his sons and daughters, and he hatches the world by means of his solar power quite after the manner of the brooding process in nature. Thus the bongas of India, the mulungus of Africa, the altjiras of Australia, and the wakans of North America, in so far as they are still recognised as personal, are genealogically connected with the supreme totem ; they can- not be called his children except in a lower anthropomorphic sense, they are hardly "angels". While this is not always directly provable, it may be inferred from the fact that in nearly every instance in which a "sonship" is mentioned, it is taken in a procreative sense, and if the immediate entourage of the deity is of this nature, it is to be presumed that the minor spirits are of such a nature also. Then again, in the production of things there is no clear evidence of anteriority on the part of the divine being, the expressions "eternal" and "self-existing" are applied with equal force to sun, moon, and other celestial phenomena, and we have already seen that even in India, which possesses the most well-rounded creation-legend, there is no clear proof that the world is not co-eternal with its supposed maker, though glimpses of such a notion are occasionally revealed. To put the matter briefly, it is important to distinguish between the human and the cosmic picture of divinity. In so far as he is a "super'^ man" he is a personal Creator, with a legion of dependent children; in so far as he is sun, plant, or animal, he partakes of the nature of an indefin- able essence, which is simply the moving or genetic power of the universe. SUMMARY 549 TOTEMIC INTERPRETATION The cosmic aspect of this subject is well illustrated by the current notions of creation as we actually find them. The world is made up of primaeval potencies or monads,— buru, mulungu, inkara, inter-intera — , which cannot be further defined than as "mysteries", but which are recog- nised as the concrete source of all life, of all existence. These entities are neither material nor spiritual, personal or impersonal, formed or unformed, they are simply the common basis of all being, the sun being the nearest approach to the original ancestor. But though they defy all further anal- ysis, they have marvellous power, they can develop into anything, they are high potentials. Among these are certain objects, animals, or plants, that have this power in a special degree, the greatest bum being generally the sun, followed by the corn, the grass-seed, or the bhelva-tree, these again by the snake, the serpent, and the lizard, and these by the bear, the buffalo, the emu, and the hyaena, — all of which are peculiarly sacred, they are taboo. Thus all things are derived out of the material sun by spontaneous generation, and even man himself is no exception to this rule. In India he slips out of the swan's egg, in Africa he is the offspring of snakes, in America he claims special kinship with the bear and the buffalo, in Aus- tralia he is directly descended from the inter-intera, the shapeless mon- sters that lived in "dream-time", the alcheringa or paradise of the ances- tors. Of creation in the proper sense there is here not a vestige. It is an enormous system of immanent evolutionism, in which the lower gives birth to the higher without any influx of the higher, or any intimation that a higher power existed from the beginning, — thus anticipating many of the monistic systems of modern times. Now it is important to take note that these ideas exist side by side with the more ancient notion of a personal Creator. In many cases he is called the "father of all the totems" and as such his alliance with the new wave of immanentism is susceptible of a possible though cautious interpreta- tion. Even if evolution were an established fact, which it is far from be- ing, no consequence against the doctrine of creation would arise, because evolution would then be the mode of creating, and not a substitute-idea at all. The rationes seminales of St. Thomas have nothing in common with the above notions ; they admit of germinal units only in a strictly limited sense, that is, when informed or inspired by the direct action of the Creator. But while some of these ideas may illustrate the modus operandi of crea- tion when coupled with a transcendent Being, they are the source of equally baneful aberrations wherever such a belief is wanting. That this was destined to be the case in many instances, has been sufficiently illustrated above. (See under Creation, pp. 151-160, 189 ff, 190 ff.) 550 PREHISTORIC RELIGION TOTEMIC INTERPRETATION The Historical Aspect is More Vague Coming to the personal relations between the totem-god and his creatures, only in India have we anything like a homogeneous account of his dealings with man. The old paradise-legend survives, though in faded form. Immortality and innocence have been lost through eating the ili, or rice-fruit, though this is not distinctly stated, the ili being a stimulant rather than a forbidden food. (Paradise, 209). In later ages, humanity was destroyed by a rain of fire owing to their rebellion against the laws of the sun-god. In all other regions these legends have simmered down to vague recollections of a state of deathlessness, brought to an end by the moral depravity of man, and the subsequent punishment of the race by some sort of catastrophe, diluvial or otherwise (210-212, 227. Retribu- tion, 431ff.) ToTEMic Beliefs and Practices (1) Birth Ceremonies As all these peoples believe themselves to be descended from their totems, birth-ceremonies are naturally of some importance. Among tribes where patrilinear descent is in vogue, which is the prevailing form as against the class-culture, the child inherits the totem of the father and is named after it. He is marked with the totem-sign (in oil), and dedicated. Bear, Wolf, Buffalo, Hyaena, — may Sun-god protect you! (349, 391). Charm-bamboos and birth-sticks are here once more in evidence, but as they are habitually connected with the lower creation and not with the Sky-father, they have lost much of their religious value, they are mere good-luck amulets. The Couvade survives in parts, as well as the soul- bird, but they are more rarely connected with a personal deity. (2) initiation Maturity-customs show a more complex as well as a more sanguinary character. In place of the simple abstention-rite, prolonged and some- times terrible fasts are sustained in order to procure the "guardian" or special totem that watches over the individual's welfare. In most of the Old- World regions circumcision is the passport to manhood, with the formula — Sun-boy, I circumcise you! Snake-girl, I cut you with this flint! (392). This in Australia is supplemented by subincision, a ghastly practice, whose moral import is not quite clear. In all these functions, however, strong moral lessons are sought to be inculcated, courage, bravery, loyalty to the tribal customs, observance of the laws of marriage, the latter being regarded as specially binding. "Wherever the initiation is still practiced, it has a semi-religious significance, it prepares the youth for the duties of life. SUMMARY 551 TOTEMIC INTERPRETATION (3) THE MYSTERIES The sacrifice of the first-fruits of the earth may still be traced in the numerous taboos on food, which are even more pronounced in this age than in any previous one. Among these the corn and rice-oblations of India are perhaps the most distinctive and the least tarnished v<^ith mag- ical elements. Before every meal a small quantity of rice is set aside and offered to the deity as an act of thanksgiving, and this directly to Him, not to the buru-bongas or nature-spirits, unless we call the sun-god himself a bum, which in a certain sense he is. But as to these buru-mysteries themselves, I have not been able to find any proof that they are more than wonder rituals, whose object is to increase the fertility of nature by more or less occult agencies. Such are among others the Soso-Bonga ceremonies of India, and the Intichiuma ceremonies of Australia, paralleled by the North-American and African corn and rain-making rites, and culminating in the famous Sun-dance. Invocations are here and there to be found — Sin-Bonga, save us! Mulungu, mercy! Altjira, help! Wakanda, pity! (349-357.) I have already considered the case of the totemic "sacrament", in which the taboo is suddenly taken off, and the worshipper consumes that which is most sacred, that which he may not touch, in order to share the wonder- working power of the totem, to become one with his ancestor. Such a "communion-rite" proves at the most that the communicant becomes one with the totem, not one with the deity, unless we suppose that the deity- is concealed in the totem, of which there is some evidence, but no certain proof. Thus, when the medicine-man sings the praises of Sin Bonga, consecrates the Bhelva-tree with rice, and then consumes the egg, which is typical of the world-egg, out of which Sin-Bonga made mankind to issue, the entire action suggests that the God of heaven is believed to operate through some suggestive medium, that in some mysterious manner He im- parts his strength in the sacred herb or egg, which contains the elixir of life (65,349). We have evidence of similar banquetting rites in Africa (351), America (356), and Australia (353), but no certain evidence that they are connected with a supreme Personality. When the Omaha sings, — "Hail, mysterious power, thou who art the sun!" — , if he is addressing the "power that moves" as the "Man £ibove", it is not impossible that the Creator of all may pity His poor client, who thus worships Him under the mistaken form of the sacred corn, the bear, or the buffalo, and which action is in a special sense, "the Great Mystery", the culminating act of religion. But these cases are few and far between. The wakan or the mulungu is primarily a mystery-force, a magical multiplication-formula (Sacrifice, 394). 552 PREHISTORIC RELIGION TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION (4) EXPIATION Personal expiations for sin as a condition of moral and physical healing have become more prolonged as well as more terrifying. It is no longer the gentle taps with the palm-branch and a few abstentions that are able to reconcile the sinner, he must be rubbed with oil, have his veins opened, run in the boiling sun, or even allow his skull to be trepanned, in order to rid himself of the evil magic of the bone-wizard. Concomitantly a declaration of innocence on the part of the patient is often demanded, and is forced out of the penitent by what may be called a third-degree rite, by occasional physical torture. It remains to be seen how far the words — / absolve you — I take away your sins! (352) can be proved to be a really genuine formula; it is so far reported, by our own Catholic missionaries, only for Central Africa. But the continuity of some form of manifestation of guilt, accompanied by an assurance of pardon, is on the face of it very probable, and is certainly the practice in North America, (358,401). (5) PRIESTHOOD In the mean time the family "father" of the old days has become the professional "medicine-man", whose office is independent and requires considerable compensation. The patti is thus distinguished from the matt or "ghost-finder" (India), from the "healer" (Africa), from the "bone- wizard" (Australia), and from the "mystery-doctor" (North- America), although the genuine patH or father-priest quite frequently rises to the highest position, (350, 406) . He is appointed by the reigning headman, and may be his son. The Pat-Munda gives you the pagri as the emblem of your office! (350). In these words is described the snake-shaped head-dress, which in India is given to the village pahans when they succeed to the supreme authority. (Roy, 401, 402). In other cases the feather-crown, the prayer- stick, the nose-quill, or the magic crystal, represent the chief priestly insignia (406). (6) MATRIMONY Whatever be the nature of the Marang Buru, or Great Deity, it is quite certain that he has an intimate relation to matrimony, to that union by which physical life is handed down from generation to generation. The doctrine of a personal descent from lower and even lifeless forms of existence, has produced such a strong feeling of consanguinity between a man and his "guardian" that he is not allowed to marry a woman of his own totem under penalty of death. In India again we find an apparently edifying form — May our hands remain clasped for ever! (350) , the parties being sprinkled with rice, and even anointed with oil. SUMMARY 553 TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION However extreme such a doctrine may appear to us, it had the advan- tage of checking or preventing too close a union of blood-allies for vv^hich we cannot be sufficiently grateful. The institution of monogamy sur- vives, but polygamy is also sanctioned, it is a recognised matrimonial state. And this, vs^ith the grovs^ing practice of divorce and of marrige by purchase and capture, must be pronounced to be the most striking feature of the age. It is precisely on the sex-question that the totem-culture reveals its greatest w^eakness (409). (7) DEATH AND THE FUTURE LIFE In the matter of eschatology, again, we find the most glaring differ- ences from the earlier beliefs. Not only is the simple earth-grave supple- mented by platform and tree-burial, with occasional mummification and even cremation of the corpse, but there is no immediate trial at the court of divine justice, at most an indirect reward or punishment by its reap- pearance under higher of lower forms of life respectively. You are going back to the buffalos, you are going back to your ancestors! While this is a typical formula for most of these regions (350, 404fT.) there are occasional glimpses of a better fate. Some reappear as perfect men, others return to the Ancient of Days, while still others are absorbed in the Great Wakanda. Yet even with these more hopeful promises, it cannot be questioned that the doctrine of retribution is by comparison vague. Now it is precisely this vagueness, this want of a strong moral sanction for human conduct, that makes the totem-god a comparatively weak figure. The so-called "beatific vision" obtained by superhuman fasts is certainly an inspiring title ; but it is altogether exceptional, its nature is very mysterious, and only the few are ever believed to attain it. Reincar- nation is the only outlook for the great majority of the human race (471- 478). Practical Aspect op Totemig Religion To appreciate the nature of these beliefs with greater force, the social and moral side of the question is one which we cannot ignore. While the essential moral constitution of man remains practically the same in all ages, while nobility and even sanctity are no doubt always to be found wherever we look for them, there are certain broad tendencies which when found in sufficient abundance must perforce color our verdict on the general morality of the times. Though nothing is more deceptive than "moral statistics", the growing corruption of this age is hardly deniable, and the following data will illustrate some of its less pleasing aspects taken as they are from standard and recognised authorities on the social condition of four continents : — 554 PREHISTORIC RELIGION TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION A Pew Illustrations (a) Among the Mundas of India the sakam, or divorce, is openly rec- ognised, and the most prominent vices are a love of drink and the sexual liberty of the unmarried. The ondoka, or human sacrifice is still practiced in secret.* (b) At the time of circumcision the Wa-gogo of East-Africa indulge in much abusive language, the women especially lose all sense of modesty, and the country becomes a mighty bedlam.' (c) Among the Aruntas of Central Australia monogamy is the rule, but polygamy is equally sanctioned, and there is a very wide license at the corroborees, or sacred dances, when wife-loaning is commonly practiced.' (d) Among the North-American Indians monogamy is found to be the prevalent form of marriage throughout the continent. The economic factor is everywhere potent, but an actual purchase is not uncommon. The marriage-bond is loose, and may with few exceptions be dissolved by the wife as well as the husband.* This, of course, is only one side of the picture, but it shows that where- ever we find a strong totem-cult there are considerable moral irregularities. Even allowing that cannibalism, head-hunting, and human sacrifice, have no direct connection with the cult, they are here beginning to assert them- selves, and the laxity of marriage-tie is notorious. Again we find the growing practice of tribal warfare and individual blood-revenge, and the decidedly cruel and unnatural initiations, such as the mica-operation, or "subincision", of Australia, and the prolonged starvation, sweating, bleed- ing, boiling, and shivering-ceremonies of Australia, Africa, and North- America, — all of which possess no doubt a deep religious significance, but reveal the inroads of a more cruel, more barbarous, more blood-thirgty civilisation. Two Sides to the Question At the same time it would be short-sighted as well as unfair not to' recognise the important services that the institution of totemism has ren- dered to the human race in more than one aspect. It has preserved the race from the dangers of close breeding, it has raised the animal world to its true dignity, and it has painted the face of nature in magic colors, — it has become the nursing-mother of fine art and of natural subjects, — as witness the Magdalenian and Bushman paintings. Indeed, if the apoth- eosis of nature be looked upon as a by-product, it is in many respects an advance upon the simple and crude beginnings of early man. Unfor- tunately it has cultivated the notion of guardian to such an extreme as to lose sight of the Creator, iRoy op. cit. 4SS, 542, 488. 'H. Cole, Notes on the Wa-gogo of German East-Africa, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. XXXII (1912), p. 307. 'Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, p. 1333. * Hod^ Hwdbook of American Indians, Vol. I. p. 809. SUMMARY SS5 TOTEMIG INTERPRETATION An Estimate op Dr. Eraser's Theory op Primitive Totbmism AS A Pre-Religious State op Mankind "The theory that in the history of mankind religion has been preceded by magic is confirmed inductively by the observation that among the aborigines of Australia, the rudest savages of whom vi^e possess accurate information, magic is universally practiced, vj^hereas religion in the sense of a propitiation or conciliation of the higher povs^ers seems to be nearly unknovs^n"." In these words of Prof. Frazer he clearly insinuates that there was a pre-religious age of humanity in which magic and impersonal forces alone were recognised. After the exhaustive studies of all the more recent anthropologists, who have discovered a decaying religion in Australia, and a living personal religion among far "ruder" savages, it is needless to say that the above theory falls to the ground. The Aruntas are not primitive savages, and moreover they have some form of theistic belief." But as to the author's additional surmise that the beginnings and there- fore the essence of totemism are to be found in the savage ignorance of the power of procreation, all we can say is that this may have been a path- ological feature accompanying the cult, but that it is certainly not a uni- versally safe criterion upon which a broad definition of totemism can be founded.'' Whatever be the proximate cause of this decadent philosophy, it seems far better to define it in terms that are more easily and universally verified, as follows: — Totemism is that form of religious belief, in which certain natural objects, animals, or plants, are recognised as genetically related to man, in such sense that he comes out of his "totem" and returns to it at death, with a consequent prohibition of marriage to those of the same totem. This definition is not only supported by Prof. Wilken » and Dr. Theal." two eminent specialists, but it seems that the doctrine of metempsychosis is the only direct criterion by which the identity of a man and his totem can be infallibly recognised. In any case, it is the invariable concomitant of the totemic matrimonial taboo, wherever we have been able to trace it, and this points to a close, an essential alliance between totemism and transmigration. If the latter is occasionally found without the former, as in modern Brahminism, we must remember that Brahminism represents a fusion with the old Indian totemism, and a survival of the doctrine is only to be expected. Metempsychosis and matrimonial interdict seem alike essential to the concept." •Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, (1910), Vol. I. p. 141. 'See p. 493, 546 above. 'Frazer, IV. 61. sQ. A. Wilken, Het Animisme, in De Indische Gids (1884), p. 997. »G. McCall Theal, Records of South-Eastern Africa, Vol. VII. p. 404fr. " Re-exarame the pure totem-areas, and the conclusion seems irresistible. 556 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSIONS FOR THE TOTEMIC AGE But whatever be the final solutioA of this difficult question, the follow- ing general conclusions will, I think, appear to be justified: — There is throughout this period a more vivid consciousness of the gen- etic relation of things on the material side than we find in the earlier days of humanity. While a supreme Personality still directs the destines of man in the abstract, in practice his worship is less direct, more mysterious, more occult, more magical, more mixed up with lifeless and impersonal agencies. In this we discern a mental tendency which is never without danger, the desire to know too much of the origins of things, to trace the divine operations in every shining crystal, in every living cell. It was im- possible to make this experiment without the risk of a one-sided develop- ment, of degenerating into a vague mystery-cult, which is frankly nature- worship. Yet side by side we find the definition of deity as "The Great Mystery", and the occasional glimpses of a "Man beyond", of a "Father" of all the totems, suggest at least that some of these practices may be in- terpreted in a higher and better sense. Thus : — CONTaAST IS THE KEYNOTE OP THE PERIOD, there is a wider view of the divine activity; but like all tentative move- ments it was destined to bring forth many unfortunate secondary symp- toms, — a confusion of the world with its Maker, and a more dim realisa- tion of the direct moral responsibility of man. The "Middle Ages" op Humanity The combined evidence inclines me more and more to the opinion, that in this "mediaeval" period of the race there is evidence of a mental and moral dualism, of a splitting of belief and practice into two opposite chan- nels, the one conservative, monotheistic, and monogamous, the other asso- ciated more or less with a vague, pantheistic nature-cult, in which the primitive ideas of matrimonial chastity have been in great part lost. Father Schmidt's assertion that totemism has no relation to theology, is one which I have not been able to verify. It is true that in India, the pos- sible cradle of the movement, we have a well-closed theological system, but in the more advanced regions of Australia, Africa, and North-America, there is an endless confusion of ideas, — theistic, pantheistic, palingenetic or "theosophic", — ^which in practice amounts to a new religion, though a Father of all is still visible in the rift. In fact it may yet be wi!thin th'e power of proof to affirm that at no period of humanity has the cult of the All-Father been entirely lost, though its greater or less corruptions are only too evident. SUMMARY SS7 REGENT INTERPRETATION OR NEOLITHIC DEVELOPMENT With the dawn of the second stone age we enter into an entirely differ- ent era of thought. The bearers of this culture are for the most part the Caucasian or white races, though its influences can be felt in every quarter, it embraces the globe. It has been seen that the most striking character- istic of this age is the development of the idea of "spirit-power" as distinct from that of "genetic relation", — the notion, namely, that each unit of being is strong enough to be self-subsistent, an independent center of spiritistic activity which has no immediate connection with higher or lower forms of existence. This idea, collectively known as mana, but individually as the manes, or disembodied spirit, has converted the old totems into personal, independent divinities, it has peopled the earth with a multitude of "gods". What is the nature of these gods, and to what ex- tent are they subject to a supreme God? This is the object of the following survey, together with a few items of a social or ethical interest. Analysis op Deity For the early neolithic and lacustrian period we have amongst others the proto-Caucasians, Sumerian, Egyptian, Semitic, or Aryan, whose fundamental ideas have already been analysed in the preceding chapters. By combining this material with the Polynesian and Cordilleran data, we obtain the following picture for the entire area : — (1) THE NOTION OF SUPREMACY (N, 1) Anu, the "Heavenly One", is apparently supreme, singular, anc^ unique. Existing evidence and the antiquity of the symbol point to a divine unity, though En-lil and En-ki seem to contest it from the earliest times (83). (N, 2) Osiris, "AU-seeing-One", is indefinitely ancient as a hieroglyph, but is preceded by Tum-Ra-Nun, analogous to the Babyl. mummu (91). (N, 3) Ashur, "Heavenly King", is decidedly prominent but late (97). The same of ilu as an appellative, or of el or Hut as proper names. Jahwe is unique (101). (N, 5) Ahura, "Life-Spirit", is practically supreme, as the evil spirit, though eternal, is destined to be vanquished. But what is his age? (105). (N, 6) Batara is "Lord" of all, but opposed by a Batara of the shades (111). (N, 6) Rangi is the Polynesian "Sun", but husband of Papa, Earth (114). (N, 7) Awona-Tirawa is evidently transcendent, though all the powers of nature are also invoked. (Typical for North-American Neolithic 115). (N, 7) Pachacamac is the Peruvian "World-Soul", but the evidence seems to show that he was formerly an elemental deity. (South- American Bronze 119) . 558 PREHISTORIC RELIGION (2) THE IDEA OP CREATOR (N, 1) Anu creates in the person of Bel-Marduk, demiurge. The crea- tion-epic however insinuates a (former) evolution of gods out of natural forces, mummu. The seven tablets reveal progressive periods of creative activity (161). (N, 2) Osiris inherits the attributes of Atum-Ra, the creator of the heavens, the maker of all existences. But the earliest triad, Atum-Shu- Tafnut, {Father-Air-Dew) suggest a parallelism vs'ith nature, a concatena- tion (167). (N, 3) Ashur in his present form is a strong creator, the self-begotten, the fashioner of the heavens, — pictured as the vi'inged orb of heaven (169). (N, 4) Jahwe-Elohim creates by His Word. He is the Lord-God, the Great I AM (172). (N, 5) Ahura creates by his seven spirits, but Angra-Mainyu does like- vi^ise (176). (N, 6) Batara is maker of all, but Pulang-Gana perhaps his equal (178). (N, 7) Awona has evolved things by "thinking himself outward in space" (180). (N, 7) Tirawa is the power above that moves the world (181). (N, 7) Pachacamac is the World-Soul, who advances the sun far above all the stars of heaven, implying a pre-mundane being (181). (3) THE IDEA OP LAWGIVER AND THE QUESTION OP PERSONALITY (N, 1) Anu is invoked as the god of heaven as early 3100 B. C. He is "king of the lands", and prayer, sacrifice, and temple-worship are here implied (83). (N, 2) Osiris, like all the Egyptian gods, is strongly human, if clothed in animal symbols. He is the father of Egypt, the ideal Pharaoh (91). (N, 3) Ashur is a very similar deity of military character, a "war- lord" (97). (N, 4) Jahwe-Elohim is the ideal Lawgiver, the Author of the Torah, the supreme Person par excellence (101). (N, 5) Ahura-Mazda is Creator-Lord, the author of Kshathra, law, dominion (105). (N, 6) BaiajNi is the lord and master of mankind, with a devieloped ritual (HI). (N, 6) Rangi is the Father of the human race, the teacher of his peo- ple (114). (N, 7) Awona is the All-Father with an elaborate worship (115). (N, 7) Tirawa is Spirit-Father, and Our-Father-in-all-places (116). (N, 7) Pachacamac, though a world-soul, is moved by prayers and petitions, — "they worshipped Him in their hearts" — , implying a filial rela- tion (119). An inspection of this table will show that the idea of unity and trans- cendence is fairly conspicuous. Only under N, 5, 6, is a possible dualism implied. But as to personality, the test of worship requires it. AH these beings are invoked or petitioned as fathers, pharaohs, kings, lords, or mas- ters, they are super-Ziwrnan beings. SUMMARY 559 RECENT INTERPRETATION Nature op the Neolithic Divinity From a re-examination of this material a tolerably safe conclusion may be arrived at on the subject of the nature of this newer divinity. (1) continuity with the past There is no necessity for postulating a break in the continuous tradi- tion of the All-Father cult. The above data show that this notion has been preserved in its essentials from the earliest times. {"Anu, my beloved father"). Moreover it can be traced right through the totem-belt down to the primitive zone, (East Indies). The neotithic "god" is still the one true God of primitive tradition, he has the attributes of transcendence and per- sonality that distinguish him from all totems or taboos, however sacred. Nevertheless he has undoubtedly been tainted by the naturalistic under- growth, the conception of his operations shows signs of a (2) DISENTANGLEMENT PROM THE NATURE-CONNEXION This reveals itself in the fact that in nearly every case the ancient hiero- glyph has a cosmic, astral, or animal motif, that astrology and divination are strongly developed, that the existing cosmogonies of Egypt and Baby- lonia are suspiciously suggestive of a generation of gods, of a theogony, that half-animal ideas have lingered on far into historic times. The Sphinx of Giza and the Assyrian Cherubim will tell their own stories in the matter. Again the existing Polynesian mythology shows a vivid per- sonification of sun, moon, and stars, which notions can be traced far into the Cordilleran region, where they obtain a more perfect astronomical setting, but are still of the essence of theological thinking, — Pueblo, Aztec, or Inca. All this shows that the "High God" has not completely severed his connexion with nature, that he is to some extent a deus ex machina, a machine-made divinity, a half-naturalised god. (3) CONTACT with THE ANIMISTIC PLANE On the other hand there are signs of a new power which is destined to modify not inconsiderably the notion of God. It is the power of mana, that spiritual and imponderable essence, which acts in and through all being, and manifests itself in a thousand different centers, making them sacred and inviolable, taboo. It is more than magic; it is an advanced system of spiritism, in which the whole world is peopled with ghosts and fairies, with psychic centers, with "bruwas". The whole of creation is alive, everything is spirit. The chief divinity is now defined as the "Great Spirit", but he is surrounded by a host of minor antus, who are quite often malignant. They are hungry ghosts, crying for food, thirsty for human blood. 560 PREHISTORIC RELIGION REGENT INTERPRETATION (4) ELUCIDATION OP "MANA" The following definitions may help to illustrate these tendencies: — "That invisible power", writes Dr. Godrington, "which is believed to cause all such effects as transcend their conception of the regular course of nature, and to reside in spiritual beings, whether in the spiritual part of living men, or in the ghosts of the dead, is that generally known as mxina". "This power, though in itself impersonal, is always connected with some person, who directs it. All spirits have it, ghosts generally, and some men". "No man however has this power of his own. All that he does is done by the aid of personal beings, ghosts, or spirits, and it essentially belongs to personal beings to originate if"." It is therefore important to realise that this power differs from magic in that it proceeds or originates from persons, it differs from primitive' theism in that the persons operating it are possessed of a secret power by which they control the patient by more or less occult agencies, — the essence of telepathy. There is now an opinion among experts, that a distinction must be made between manistic animism and impersonal magic. While the latter appears very early, animistic or spirit-magic is comparatively late, and both are preceded by the simple concept of personality, one which holds its own throughout the history of man, and is here once more brought into bold relief by the doctrine of a personal spiritual power which is more than an mystery-force on the one hand, or a simple com- manding divinity on the other. "What we have in the beginning", says Father Schmidt, "is personality, not animism. Animism begins when souls are attributed to lifeless objects"." But what is a person without a soul? Precisely the "I blow", "I shine", "I give", of the earliest theology, regardless of what the "I" consists of, it is simply a moral self-conscious- ness, and nothing more. Here however the idea of soul as a telepathic substance is elaborately worked out. It is not simply the case of "I shine", but "I shine with Universal Life"}^ Now although mana as a technical term is confined to the Oceanic portion of the neolithic belt, we have seen that the same idea can be traced to the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, and it is here quite probably that we have its originating source. "As in Egypt, so in Babylonia, anim- ism was the earliest shape assumed by religion, and it was through anim- ism that the Sumerian formed his conception of the divine"." 11 H. Codrington, The Melanesians, (Oxford, 1891), pp. 119, 191. «W. Schmidt, Myth- ologie der Austronesischen Volker, (Vienna, 1910), p. 139. i» Compare Prof. W. Wilken, Het Animisme, Indische Gids (1884), p. 136. "The whole of nature is animated, even life- less stones are the object of this anthropopathic concept". i*A. H. Sayce, The Religious of ancient Egypt and Babylonia (1903), p. 276. SUMMARY 561 REGENT INTERPRETATION Principles op the Animistic Theology It is the flowering reed, — symbolic of the tree of life — , which is here for the first time applied in a more generic sense to the concept of life as such, and above all things to self-conscious existence as acting through a subtle and rare medium, a refined or ethereal substance, — the fundamental notion of spiritism. From the beginning there are gradations in this concept. There is the material or ghastly self, known as the ka in Egypt and the lilu in Babylonia, — frankly an apparition — , and there is the invisible khu, the Mesopotamian zi, which expresses the interior consciousness of man, the imperishable, the unchangeable ego. (89, 95) . These notions are paralleled in part by the Assyrian kabittu, {lebit), which as heart or liver expresses the "soul" or interior of being (100), by the Iranian manah (mainyu)', (108), and above all things by the Hebrew-Palestinian roach, which as the "breath" of existence has no definite philosophical value, but is vaguely indicative of subtlety, of spirituality (102). If to these be added the mana of the far East (113) , and the manitoo of the far West, — the latter of uncer- tain etymology, but attested in the sense of "spirit-person" at least in one instance (116) — , it is difficult to resist the conclusion that, with so many similarities in mythology and general culture, there is not some distant equation of values between zi, khu, kabittu, ruach, bruwa, rawa, manah, mana, mnnitoo, which is more than of a descriptive nature, and which stands for- a somewhat different line of thought than that of the preced- ing series, — bum, mulungu, altjira, inkara, kaluk, wakan, ivakanda, orenda, etc. While the latter are taken vaguely for mysteries, personal and impersonal forces alike, the former are initiated only by personal and self-conscious beings, living or dead spirits ; they are personal agencies. EXPANDING POWER OP THE ANIMISTIC CONCEPT Now in applying this new system to the old totem-god, it was destined to broaden and deepen the concept of divinity by no inconsiderable degrees. Anu (Bel-Enlil-Ea) is the god of heaven, the king of the lands, the lord of the deep, and the lord of life (en-ti), and it is "by the life of the gods", "by the life of heaven and earth" {zi-an-ki), that the conjuration- formulas reach their climax (359). Similarly Atum-Ra and Osiris are symbolised by the eye, they are "all-seeing ones", ka-ho-tep, "shining spirit" (95), Ashur is king of heaven, "lord of our fate" (99), Jahwe- Elohim is "life" itself (I AM), and ruach or "pure spirit" (102), Ahura- Mazda is vohu-manah, "holy spirit", Batara is lord of the antu, Quat- Marawa lord of the vui, Rangi supreme mana, Awona-Tirawa, father of spirits {rawa), Kitchi Manitoo the "Great Spirit" etc.,— throughout there is a decided tendency to read more into the term than we find in the primi- tive folklore of humanity. 562 PREHISTORIC RELIGION RECENT INTERPRETATION An Explicit Development op a Formerly Implicit Idea I do not pretend that this notion of "spirit-power" is an entirely novel one. The definition of God as the "breath" or "vs^ind" of existence goes back to the earliest Oceanic belt, as we have seen. But while the nature of deity other than that of "father" is left unconsciously vague, being simply "invisible"; He is here explicitly identified with a definite philosophical concept, He is a spiritual or ethereal essence, having analogies with the soul of man, and indeed with all living things, but clearly marked off from the "ghost" by His attributes of transcendence and ubiquity, however much He may have been confused with the family ancestor in individual in- stances. The extent of this spiritistic movement has been fully discussed in the preceding pages. It is not sufficiently all-absorbing to compromise the statement that none of the fairies, vampires, or hobgobblins have ever taken the place of the King of Heaven, the Lord of the Lands, the All-seeing One, who, however corrupted in parts, shows his benignity, power, wis- dom, and goodness in the records that have been preserved of his action in the realm of nature and man. This is a renaissance rather than a new, invention. The Idea op Creation, Though Tainted, is More Fully Developed But the god of animism has had to shake off the fetters that bound him too closely to the world of nature, to the lifeless universe. In nearly every case the act of creation shows the marks of a preceding nature-worship which is too strong to be entirely effaced, it colors the whole of the cos!- mogony. Anu is derived from mummu, as Osiris is derived from nunu, two suspicious parallels, if both are authentic and stand for "water- chaos" the "mother of them all" (Creation, 161, 167). To what extent these are personalities or personifications, it is impossible to say, but they seem to be the survivals of an age of cosmic evolutionism and are yet traceable in many of Brahministic, Polynesian, and Pan-American world- systems. Apart from this the supreme divinity is a creator, he is "father of all the gods", as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and under the form of Bel- Marduk in Babylon he slays the~world-typhon, from which he makes heaven and earth, sea and land, sun, moon and stars, plants and animals, and finally man, the latter by the cutting off of his head and mixing the blood with the slime of the earth. This may serve as a type for many of the cosmogonies of this period; but there are two that tower head and shoulders above the others, the Hebrew and the Iranian. Both are free from the weeds of naturalism, and in the former Elohim creates "by His Word", while in the latter Ahura-Mazda creates by his "seven spirits", a beautiful, though probably late form of theological speculation. SUMMARY 563 REGENT INTERPRETATION The Historical Aspect is Once More Recognised Thus the idea of creation is more vivid and clear-cut than in the pre- ceding period, where it is far more vague, in some cases absent. This is further illustrated by the paradise-legends, in w^hich the leading actors stand out in historical prspective, there is a definite drama of the fall (Paradise, 228). Outlines of the ancient tradition are preserved in many of the Western-Asiatic versions, there is a garden vs'ith a tree of life, in some cases a serpent, with hints of a temptation and fall, — but in none have the ancient ideas been handed with anything like moral complete- ness save only in the Jewish-Palestinian version, in which creation, para- dise, deluge and dispersion of humanity are singularly free from mytho- logical accretions, and in which a Redeemer is clearly promised, an idea which finds its deficient counterpart in the savior-gods of Babylonia (Re- demption, 271) . "Sacrifice is the navel of the world", it is only through the shedding of blood that the divinity can now be appeased, he requires a steadily increasing toll of life. Reconciliation can only be effected by san- guinary means, but once obtained, it is a passport to life eternal, it admits the bearer to a peaceful though unpromising land of shades. Practical Application Such are the main features of the newer belief in the Great Spirit in so far as it represents an advance upon the previous notions. It will be interesting to see how these principles are applied in practice. (1) BIRTH CUSTOMS Purification with water and oil is a conspicuous feature in the earliest Sumerian-Babylonian practice, as may be inferred from the numerous traditions which associate these elements with a preternatural healing- power. It is Gilgamesh who is cleansed of his leprosy in the "waters of life", and in the Adapa-legend it is the Ocean-god who prompts the hero to ask of Anu "clothing and oil", a more utilitarian and moreover a fatal' request, but showing the importance of oil in the religious conscience of the nation. But simple water seems to have been in use on all the greatest occasions : — "With pure sparkling water, with bright shimmering water, seven times, and again seven times, besprinkle, cleanse, purify!" (359). This Babylonian formula may be paralleled to some extent in Egypt (365), in Persia (373), and in fact throughout the more recent Orient, though not of course with verbal identity (377ff.) We cannot say how far this "sprinkling" was also an infancy-rite, though all the evidence points in this direction. The Jewish "circumcision", on the other hand, is clearly the seal of a special divine pact, a unique Govenant (369) . 564 PREHISTORIC RELIGION RECENT INTERPRETATION (2) MATURITY RITES On the other hand the old tribal initiation has apparently disappeared except in the wilder regions of this cultural zone. The MaA;Z«-ritual of Babylonia represents, however., a very similar idea. It is a kind of second- ary exorcism, an advanced initiation-rite. But instead of burning the can- didate, it is the demons that are burned in effigy with the words : — / will raise the torch, I will consume your efflgies. May the strangulating Fire-god strengthen my hands! (359). On other occasions the sangu heals or "confirms" the patient by invok- ing the Chaldean triad, by pouring on water and oil, and above all by applying the tigillu, or sacred herb, distantly connected with the gesh-tin or tree of life, which shows the essentially symbolic nature of the cere- mony. If the magical thunder-shaman and the spirit-hunter are also well- represented in this region, it may be put down as the result of a spiritistic interpretation of the zi, which as the manistic worship of the lilu or departed ancestor substituted the ghost for the invisible Spirit, and was distinctly baneful in its mental and moral results. This growing degenera- tion with its tendency to phallic fertilisation-magic has already been made due allowance for. It characterises the whole of the more advanced agrarian belt of the later neolithic age, and is accompanied by a more bloodthirsty ritual, — firewalking, skull-cult, and human sacrifice. This conflict between the spiritual and the spiritistic has left its footprints as far as Oceania and South America, where we have a dignified dedication- rite side by side with the "ghost-society", with its firebrands, its hypnotic swoons, and its phallic secrets. (3) THE MYSTERIES It is in the matter of sacrifice that we meet with the greatest extremes of practice,— a surprisingly lofty "feast of the gods" on the one hand, and the wholesale offering up of women on the funeral pyres of their husbands, the mowing down of countless thousands by the irresistible Juggernaut car, on the other. This reveals what is only to be expected from the gen- eral dualistic movement of the period, the survival of many primitive notions of innocence and unbloody propitiation of the divine, together with the growing consciousness that the sins of man are sufficiently ter- rible to merit an equally terrible satisfaction. As it is inconceivable that a good God can habitually desire the destruction of man, it seems impos- sible to trace this custom except to the growing influence of demonism, to a perverted aspect of the divine nature. No person on earth would offer up his daughter to be consumed in the flames unless he felt that he was too sinful to live, that either he or his ofTspring would have to make a su- preme atonement. SUMMARY 565 REGENT INTERPRETATION Among the unbloody alimentary rites those of Babylonia take the pre- cedence. As early as the fourth millennium before Christ we find the patesis pouring out libations to their patrons, generally Anu and Ishtar, the oldest male and female members of the pantheon. Lugal-Tarsi builds the great temple of Kish in their honor, Ur-Nina owes his name to the god- dess, Lugal-Zaggizi is the high-priest of Anu, and offers to En-lil, the god of Nippur an "oblation of bread" and "pure water", while Gudea attests that In this food is contained the abundance of the gods (360) They are generally of the number of twelve, they are unleavened or fre- quently sweetened, they are placed on the "table" of the gods, and to the accompaniment of instrumental music and the burning of aromatic sub- stances they are solmenly offered to the divinity with the following words : — Receive the banquet of all the great gods! (361) This is the heavenly banquet as such, the supposed "impanation" of the divine. The existence of similar offerings in Egypt and ancient Persia, the feeding of Osiris with the corn-fruit of the lower Nile (366), the pro- pitiation of Ahura-Mazda by the oblation of the sacred soma (374), not to speak of the contemporary Hindoo, Polynesian and North-American "corn- mysteries", — all are so many manifestations that the first-fruit sacrifice has not been forgotten, it exists in a more developed, more complicated, more ritualistic form (377-386). As illustrations take the following bene- dictory invocations: — Praise unto thee Osiris, thou son of heaven! (Egyptian Corn-god) / am Haoma the Holy, the driving death afar! (Persian Soma). / am the fourfold-containing womb of life! (American Mother-Corn). Even the manna of the Jews is linguistically a mincha, a divine gift : — This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat! (370) , though here the monotheistic setting of the Jahwe-worship is the distinc- tive feature. The fact that some of the breads are invariably eaten shows that the sacrifice is also a sacrament, a communion-rite. The sacrificial nature of the banquet in the sense of a destruction of the victim is more forcibly brought out in the niku or bloody sacrifice. Here it is not only the gift {kiStu), the ox, the hog, or the lamb—, but the pouring out of the blood {niku), that alone can appease the ofTended divinity. This, with the partial consumption of the shew-bread would seem to indicate that external destruction was regarded as necessary to all sacrifice in the propitiatory as distinct from the latreutic sense. But the whole subject of "immolation" has been amply discussed above, (see under Sacrifice, p. 398-400). 566 PREHISTORIC RELIGION REGENT INTERPRETATION (4) EXPIATION OR RECONCILIATION The subjective acts on the part of tlie worshipper include a very moderate fast, an abstinence from certain taboos, a public and sometimes a priestly accusation of faults, and above all the practice of vocal prayer, the recitation of "litanies" w^hich are here more prominent and prolonged than perhaps in any preceding age. Sufficient examples have been given to show that these are genuine exhibitions of sorrow, and in the Baby- lonian shiptu-rites three or four distinct acts seem to be traceable:— Has he blasphemed his God? dishonored his father? spoken a lie? — Lord, my transgressions are many, great are my sins? (Accusation). Come to deliver us, thou son of justice, release the ban! (Absolution). Lord of the land, return, look down upon thy city! (Satisfaction). It is impossible to say how far these different actions can be said to constitute a strictly continuous moral function analogous to the sacra- ment of penance. But we have seen that all these ceremonies are grossly polytheistic and thaumaturgic, — the Sangu delivers his patient from charms of sorcery, not from a personal rebellion against the God of Heaven, — it is merely an absolution from witchcraft (363, 406) . In Palestine the whole confession is summary, but is made directly to the great Jehovah : — Pardon, Lord, pardon thy people, and be not angry with us for ever! (372), but the nature of the kappora on the Day of Atonement is very mysterious. We have noted, however, that the examination of conscience was no trivial ordeal, whether in Palestine, Egypt, or Babylonia, and the early Vedic and Avestic lawbooks show that the custom of self-accusation of sin may well have been at one time universal in Western Asia (376ff.), as it was certainly a recognised institution among the Aztecs of North America (386). (5) PRIESTHOOD One of the most distinctive marks of the recent period is the separation of the offices of physical and moral healer, of the spiritual sangu from the old medicine-man. The title of "father", once universal, is now confined to the ruling priest-king, the head of the hierarchy. We have traced its evolution, from the root ab as follows : — pa, papa, peng, penglima, pahan, pat, patesi, the latter being the title of the Sumerian rulers (363) . EVen Ab-ram is the "father of light" and Ab-raham the "father of power", the rabbi being at least a "great-one", a father-master. The Egyptian pha- raohs, the Persian paitish, and the Polynesian and Peruvian "popes" cor- respond to some extent to the Babylonian patesi, who as the sanga-mahu or High-Priest is the equivalent of the Jewish rabbi-kohen, vdth solemn mitre and mace. Thou art the living form on earth of thy father Atum! (368). These words express the cult of the age to the anointed son-of-heaven, (406). SUMMARY 567 RECENT INTERPRETATION (6) MATRIMONY The union of the sexes is now no longer determined by a mythical descent from certain animals or objects. The totemic crests, wherever preserved, have become the family emblems, the royal coat-of-arms, the symbols of leadership. The rule of exogamy is still applied, but it has lost much of its old severity. In its place there is a growing practice of endog- amy, a tendency to place the ruling power in the hands of a few families, an hereditary aristocracy, sometimes with maternal, but more often with paternal descent. Monogamy prevails, but polygamy and even polyandry are quite frequently sanctioned, there is no uniformity in the relations of sex. "We have noted, however, that in most cases a primitive monogamy precedes the degenerate practices of later times, and that a clasping of hands in presence of the priest is regarded in some instances as essential to its validity. In the Aryan countries especially the sacerdotal union sur- vives. By this faith which I utter, receive ye the life of the Good Mind! (376). This and the Roman confwrreatio points to a high regard for the bond, in which a complete divorce does not seem to have been originally recognised. The legal and religious equality of men and women is no less striking, though it took some centuries to mature, and in the Vestal Virgins of Rome we have the first premonition of better things to come, a prophetic light amid the surrounding darkness (380). Taking it as a whole, the position of women, though surrounded by terrible pitfalls, is decidedly better than in the days of the buffalo-hunt. She is reasserting her primitive rights to equality, to a mutually constant affection in the tie (409). (7) DEATH AND THE FUTURE LIFE The doctrine of universal metempsychosis can no longer be found except in certain isolated areas, where a contact with the totem-peoples was a strong factor for its survival, as in parts of India, Egypt, and North America. The conversion into wild beasts is more of the nature of a pun- ishment than of a normal destiny for the soul, it is a prehistoric "hell"'. But the distinctive note of the more recent eschatology is its greater hope- fulness and more direct judgment. Even the body seems to count for something, there is a careful tomb-burial, more rarely exposition or cre- mation of the corpse. The soul descends to the land of shades, but there is often a brighter vision : Be clean as heaven, be clean as earth, shine like the innermost heaven! (482) . / come unto thee, my God! I draw near to see thine excellences! I am pure, I am pure! (483). Pity me. Sun! You have seen my life, you know that I am pure! (490) . We see ourselves living with Tirawa! (490) . We have noted, however, how far all this is removed from a Beatific Vision in the full supernatural sense in which we understand it (500) . 568 PREHISTORIC RELIGION RECENT INTERPRETATION The Social and Ethical Data in Their Relation to the Religious Belief If the social and moral element be taken once more as a test, we shall find that a twofold current of thought is, paralleled by a twofold system of morals revealing enormous extremes, the one surprisingly edifying, the other showing a depth and degredation almost indescribable. Once More a Dualism (1) As against the matriarchal systems of the late-glacial and transi- tional period, the patriarchate is once more re-established, there is sta- bility in the family, law and order with an historic succession in the state. Kingship, aristocracy, and priesthoods take the place of the tribal chief, the council of elders, the medicine-man. They become a definite class, fixed more or less by the laws of heredity, by primogeniture. (Com- pare the Sumerian patesis with the Polynesian and Aztec priest-kings). Then again, we have noted the comparatively high regard for women, and the gradual evolution of higher female rights, culminating in the idea of virginity as an ideal state of womanhood, however defectively realised. Tacitus says, "they would rather fall on the sword of the enemy than lose their chastity". (2) On the other hand, the brutality and corruption of this age are no less conspicuous. We have only to recall the steadily increasing custom of rape and infanticide, of child or wife-purchase, of the practice of slavery, of the lex talionis, of the wager of battle, — we have only to picture the corrupted temple "devotee", and above all the more and more sanguin- ary character of religious worship, which reaches its climax in the human sacrifice, in the offering up of innocent maidenhood to some terrible Moloch, — a practice which seems to have been particularly strong in South America, — and the combined impression that presents itself is far from ideal, it reveals an intense consciousness of sin, of growing social and moral degeneration. Such an antithesis of right and wrong, of god and demon, is only to be expected. It is completely in harmony with the men- tal development, which is also difficult to analyse, but which shows symp- toms of a deep internal struggle, the desire to preserve intact the ancient tradition, to keep the God of Heaven untarnished, and at the same time to satisfy the demand for a more popular theology, for a multitude of guardian-spirits, which shall be the immediate helpers of man, — in itself a legitimate concept, but liable to abuse by "divinisation". To what extent such a divinisation has been carried by substituting the ghost and the phallic demon for the living God of Heaven, has been abundantly illus^ trated in the preceding chapters. Though never entirely obscured, it may be said with some confidence, that the pure image of the Creator has been largely blurred, if not directly soiled, by these deplorable practices. SUMMARY 569 RECENT INTERPRETATION Unity versus Plurality "With this epoch begins the great battle between the divine Unity on the one hand, and manistic pluralism on the other. Had the old totem,- vs'orship tended to split the divinity into many forms, the nevt-er faith in universal spiritism has driven the vv^edge still further, it has produced a deep cleavage betvv'een the transcendent and the immanent God, two ideas that should never be separated, if by immanence be understood the ubiqui- tous, the all-penetrating activity of the Creator. Thus it has come to pass that while the great God of Heaven still holds his own. He is in each case threatened with a formidable rival, with a multitude of lesser gods. (Com- pare the mythologies passim) . I do not assert that these deities are the nec- essary result of the animistic movement. In so far as they are mere teraphim or house-hold-gods, they are harmless enough, — have we not our own patron-saints? Nor is a pronounced ancestor-worship with spirit-feeding inconsistent with loyalty to a supreme taboo, a world-soul, an anima mundi. It may even help to expand an all too narrow concept of the divine action, of the divine nature. But it can hardly be doubted that with this universal life-philosophy there has come a strong pluralistic tendency. The totems have become personal "gods" and if not held together by a World-Soul as identified .with a good Creator, they have sunk to the level of cruel, blood- thirsty, and exacting divinities, they are mere demons. (Compare Bel of Nippur with Baal of Canaan). The Triumph op Unity If, then, the totemic age was tinctured with pantheism, the neolithic age has been productive of polytheism, the doctrine namely, that the differ- ence between the Creator and his creatures is one of degree rather than kind, that all are equally divine, even though one be the greatest, the "father" of the pantheon. Thus there are gods innumerable and lords innumerable. Yet in spite of this there is a distinct undercurrent of mon- otheisic thought, the All-Father is still to be recognised. He is still invoked, He is still implored, even if by a narrower circle, the priesthood, — the first theologians of the race. In their battle for ihe divine Unity, they have raised the figures of Ami, Ashur, Ahura, Batara, Awona, Pachacamac, to their true dignity, they have preserved the ancient cult of the Father of Heaven from extinction, at the same time bringing it up to a higher stand- ard, a broader mentality, a more complex civilisation. Their theology is best described as a Reconstructed Monotheism This is sometimes called "Henotheism", as insinuating that one divinity has been singled out and made to be the controlling power of all the others, at the same time recognising the others as separate divine hypostases. 570 PREHISTORIC RELIGION REGENT INTERPRETATION Animism Not Necessarily Anti-Theistic If, then, the point be urged with renewed emphasis that animism is the key that will unlock all mysteries, that the "spiritualisation" of nature will account for the Great Spirit, such an assertion can only be justified in the sense that a definite mental attitude will naturally color our views of the divine Being as a philosophical "essence", not that it will account for the origin of the idea or for any of its deeper theological ramifications. As well might it be said that totemism will account for the Great Mystery in the sense of an incomprehensible Power, a unique personal Guardian. We have seen that the idea of a ubiquitous Person antedates the above notions, that before man began to speculate on the nature of the divine Being, he had the consciousness of a supreme Personality, the Author of all exist- ence, the Father of the human race. Upon the truth of this statement must of course depend the entire weight of the argument, but a re-examination of the evidence on this head will, I think, convince any fair-minded per- son that the All-Father notion is prior to the animistic, and a fortiori to the spiritualistic tendencies of human thought. Long before the sun- ancestor and the ghost-god has assumed a position of supreme import- ance, the Father in Heaven was invoked, or at least recognised, by a simple though suggestive ritual. The continuity of this idea is perhaps equally striking, and in its animistic phase it has simply defined the Creator in terms of the current philosophy, He is the "Immanence of Life". The "Modern" Period op Humanity This being the last of the great prehistoric cycles of humanity, it may be conveniently called the modern age of the race, the period in which the broad foundations of the higher historic civilisations were definitely laid. What has been its influence on the religious history of man? It must be admitted that the evidence on this subject is not as univer- sally clear as might have been desired. Palaeontology is practically dumb, archaeology speaks with a hesitating voice, hieratic literature throws some light on the subject, but modern ethnology seems to confirm what the former are distinctly hinting at. If, therefore, the living survivals be com- pared with the buried civilisations as far as known to us, their combined testimony is surely of some value. They have revealed the fact that the worship of the supreme Being has never been entirely lost, the Father- above is still with his children. The nature of this influence is best appre- ciated by taking a brief birds-eye view of the preceding developments and noting their manifest tendencies. SUMMARY 571 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PREHISTORIC AGE In the earliest epoch of humanity we find an extremely simple culture associated with an equally simple religious belief. The exaggerated notions of a material paradise, of a state of extraordinary ma|terial and cultural refinement, from which mankind has fallen as the result of original sin, belong to those later speculations on a purely material millennium, to the perversion known as "chiliasm". It is hardly neces- sary at this hour to repeat that the elevation and fall of man is a super- natural, not a natural process, that the infusion of grace is primarily a moral act, it is physical only in the sense that the intellectual and appeti- tive faculties of man are given that degree of supernatural stimulus which is necessary for the attainment of their supernatural end,— the direct vision of the All-Father face to face. All other effects are secondary and proble- matical, even if they can be called "congruous". The all-knowledge of Adam is a sublime theological truth, but it gains nothing by being applied to the purely secular interests of life. "And they were both naked, the man and the woman, and were not ashamed". This high state of perfec- tion is too all-absorbing to be coupled with the trivial and the merely superfluous, and this makes the supernatural order stand out in all the bolder perspective. The knowledge of God has nothing to do with the art of building, even if the first man possessed all the arts and sciences in a single vision. And so, in the primitive picture of man as presented to us after the fall, we find a material blank side by side with the re- mains of a supernatural fulness. Nature is his only clothing, the palm leaf his only protection, the wild fruits of the earth his only nourishment. Yet he sees the All-Father in the lightning, he hears His voice in the thunder, he accepts His peace-message in the rainbow. For him the cathedral of God is the tropical forest, the aisles are the lofty cedars, the! organ is the great Monsoon, that tunes the forest to a deep monotone, the lights are the fire-flies, the incense the delicious perfumes of the ginger- worts and the magnolias. This is the aftermath of a once gigantic fact, — that God, man, and nature were at one time the all-suflicient reality. With the gradual adolescence of man he becomes more curious of the whence and how of existence. It is not enough to invoke the heavenly Father ; there must be a more proximate, more visible source of human life, and nature was ready at hand to suggest such a source. The origin of fer- tility now becomes the absorbing subject, it commands the chief attention of man, with the consequence that he is gradually weaned away from the Creator and seeks in creation itself the solution of his own existence. 572 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PREHISTORIC AGE His genealogy is traced to the sacred baboon, then to the tiger, the bear and the buffalo, then to the emu, the carpet-snake, the lizard, the grass- seed and the red earth, — and finally to the sun, the "original source of all totems", the first attempt at a system of evolution. In this movement the Creator is defined as the "Great Mystery", present in the sacramental totem, or perhaps He is simply the Great Unknown, the indefinable basis of all existence. In so far as He is still personal, this represents an advance, in so far as He is impersonal, an equally pronounced degeneration. Man is now capable of multiplying entities by sun-magic, which in connection with a personal God becomes the great Sun-Mystery, the source of all life, but which without this connection dwindles down to a mere nature-wor- ship, it is a vague occultism in which sympathetic forces alone are recog- nised. Man has advanced, mentally and materially, but it has been at the expense of a double morality, inclining in a higher or a lower direction, according the prevalent philosophy of the times. This upward and downward tendency becomes more and more accen- tuated with the growing age of the race. In the recent or riper period of humanity, there has been a social and religious development which is out of all proportion to its comparative brevity. It is almost like an upheval. In place of the old mystery-cult, we have the definition of diviniy as Life, Spirit, Goodness, Love, which, though implicitly recognised from the earliest times, is now brought out in all its philosophical fulness, it is pre- eminently the "essence" of God. The manistic or animistic power vested in the personal medium, living or dead, and terminating in the entire creation, is now transferred to the Father in Heaven, He is the "Great Spirit", the septessence of all the minor spirits, — mana raised to the infinite power. Side by side we have the ghost-god, the discarnate double, the spirit of the woods, a necessary by-product of the animistic movement. To these two notions corresponds a twofold tendency in the social sphere, one towards a centralised theocracy with a priest-kingship, the patesi being the "vicar" of God; the other towards a more or less independent shaman- ism, in which the thaumaturge and the spirit-hunter play the leading role. Man is now in possession of more perfect tools. He rears huge temples to the "Lord of the Lands", he offers the unbloody sacrifice with the sculp- tured pomp and vested ritual of which he is capable. At the same time astrology and divination have become a fine art, the deity requires more and more hecatombs, until finally human life is offered up as the only reparation for the shameful prostitution-rites with which that same temple has been desecrated. It is truly an age of mental and moral contrasts, — an age of paradox. SUMMARY 573 CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PREHISTOHIG AGE To sum up then, the combined religious picture for the prehistoric era may be said to reveal a development which seems to be traceable in at least three broad stages of mental and social evolution. These stages may be described as follows : — I. FOR THE PRIMITIVE PERIOD Here the divinity is supreme, personal, and worshipful in the best sense by prayer and mild sacrifice,— without cruel rites. He is strictly super-natuval, not involved or confused with nature, but rather a super- human being, a super-man, — infinitely big, and so on. He creates directly, or by means of a demiurge, the whole universe and man, his sons being in each case dependent, in no case the result of sex-union, with lower creatures, the few exceptions being later intrusions, fully discussed above. He is supreme Lawgiver of the race, and His character reveals itself in a relatively clean morality, a comparatively innocent manner of life. This is the Monotheistic Age op Humanity, in which the idea of transcendence is apparently uppermost. He is the only One, but He is all in all, — Amaka — , the universal Father. As yet there is no consciousness of the nature or essence of things. He is simply the All-Father, revealing Himself to his children in childlike form. II. FOR THE TOTEMIG OR GLACIAL PERIOD This ancient divinity can still be traced in his main features. All the above qualities apply here with equal force, they can be sifted out. Never- theless the idea of genesis beginnings to attract the attention of man. Where did he c6me from? Is he not intimately related to nature? Is he not her direct offspring? By degrees the notion is formed that nature is' nearer to man than the Heavenly Father, later that she herself is divine, nay the only divinity, and finally that all thinkable beings are of one sub- stance, that the All-Father is but the last link in an endless chain of devel- opment, that He and all things are contained in the lowest forms of lifeless matter, in the inkaras, or world-units of dream- time. While Altjira still sits on his throne, he is forgotten, his universe is self-developing. This is the Age op Pantheistic Monism, in which the notion of immanence becomes all-important, it is nature her- self which is the All. And yet the idea of a unique being has not been entirely lost, the Wakanda is still "The Great Mystery", "the Creator of heaven and earth, the Fountain of Mystic Medicine". Among the righteous the totem is a blessing, the growing knowledge of nature has but deepened their love for the Creator. 574 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSIONS FOR THE PREHISTORIC AGE III. FOR THE NEOLITHIC AND REGENT PERIOD The second stone age marks in many respects a reform, a revival of the primitive notions. The Walcanda has been disentangled from nature, he is no longer connected with the lower creation, he has become an Awona- wilona, a "Father of All", once more emphatically a supreme Person. What then has become of the totems? Have they disappeared? By nd means. They have ceased to be mere connecting-links with the red earth, it is true; but they are more than mere mysteries in germ, mere "medi- cines". They are no longer guardian-things, or guardian-animals; they have become guardian-spin^*, endowed with mana, great personalities, who act on the lower creation by their secret power, focussing their influence on certain objects, making them inviolable or sacrosanct, — taboo. A neolithic tabu is therefore more than a totem. It is the abode of a per- son, and as there are many tabus, so there are many persons operating the tabu, not excluding a supreme Tabu, who thus becomes the head of the* pantheon. This is the Age of Polytheistic Syncretism, in which the "Great Spirit" is surrounded by a host of minor spirits of the same nature, who are frequently co-eternal and who contest his author- ity. But this is not the invariable rule. The great Awona is still behind, the tabu, willing to make it the instrument of his power, his own exclusive possession. In this case his alliance with the new wave of animism has served to deepen the concept of his activity, it has filled the world with his "spirit", it has broadened the idea of his nature, it has defined his essence. An Expanded Monotheism Has Been the Result, a system which is larger, broader, and deeper, in every way more whole- souled, than any of its predecessors. It is not simply a case of Amaka- langi, "Our Father in Heaven", but of A-ti-us-ta-ka-VM, "Our Father in all places". What then are the conclusions to which the combined weight of the evidence would seem to incline us? It must be admitted that this evidence cannot in the nature of the case be exhaustive. A heavy pall of obscurity must for ever hang upon many pages of the prehistoric past. Nevertheless the existing material has been sifted with sufficient care and completeness to justify the assertion that, allowing for many contrary and degenerate tendencies, there has been on the whole a gradual and progressive revela- tion of the divine nature from the dawn of humamity, — first as "Paternity", second as "Fecundity," and finally as "Spirituality" — , these three notions corresponding in their main developments to three great epochs in the evolution of the race. EPILOG 575 THE DIVINE TRADITION A FEW CONSIDERATIONS ON THE "FaITH ONCE DELIVERED" It is impossible to close this chapter without calling attention to the* unique significance of the divine names in the Old and New Testaments as expressive of the earliest and purest tradition of the All-Father cult. If the contemporary divinities of the Amarna age were one and all clothed with the nature-symbolism of the day, if they were connected, however remotely, with star, ram, fish, or ocean, with solar orb, or with lunar sickle, it is all the more surprising to find in the revealed God of Judaism a concept of the divine, which is as far in advance of the times as it is closely modelled on the simple theology of early man. If the Ruach Elohim, the "Spirit of God" is a relatively advanced notion, it reminds us in many respects the earliest tradition of the All-Father as the "Breath" of existence, as in some respects unpicturable, indefinable, inexpressible. Coupled with Jahwe-Adonod, the revealing "Lord", the great "I AM", it recalls no less forcibly the primitive picture of the "Great Master", the "Only One", whose voice is the thunder and whose shafts the lightning, who issues His decrees to the accompaniment of burning bush or smoking volcano, who destroys the wicked and saves the just in the great deluge of his wrath, who sets His rainbow in the clouds "as the sign of a Covenant" between Himself and and the earth. He is in every sense El Shaddai, the Almighty, El Elyon, the Most High, and, in a more particular sense. El Sabbaotfi, the Lord of Hosts, but this only in a later age, as the national God of the Jewish armies. All this shows that the divine tradition is firmly anchored in the prehistoric past, that it descends to the earliest ages of man, before the stars and emus had attracted his attention, before he had begun to philosophise, for the expressions "power" and "subsistence" in the latter sense can hardly be applied in their full force to the simple and untutored consciousness of early man. But even this was not to be the climax of God's dealings with man. It was reserved for the Messiah, the root of Jesse, the "bright, the morning star", to revive the All-Father worship in all its splendor, to proclaim a unique, divine Sonship, to reveal for the first time the inner fecundity of God as the Father, the -Son, and the Holy Ghost, — a profound but a beauti- ful mystery. In this Sonship, physical for the Redeemer, but moral for all His creatures, the whole of humanity has a share. "For you have not received the spirit of bondage unto fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. For the Spirit itself beareth testimony to our spirit, that we are the children of God". (Rom. 8, 15). Let us develop this subject with a few final reflections. 576 PREHISTORIC RELIGION UNICITY OF DIVINE FAITH If faith is an "assent to revealed truth on the authority of God the Revealer", it will stand to reason that one of its first notes must be that of separation from all contrary forms of assent by the attribute of unicity or logical exclusiveness, — it must of its very nature be opposed to all that is false, fragmentary, naturalistic, or problematical. For as in the human sciences it is necessary to distinguish the facts from the fancies, that vs'hich is demonstrated from that vs^hich is clearly "exploded", so in matters of religious faith it cannot be a matter of indifference to know, whether God is one or many, personal or impersonal, spiritual or material, moral or mechanical. Any person that would now presume to doubt the existence of the solar system or the rotundity of the earth's surface would be putting himself outside the pale of normal humanity. He is no longer free to believe that the earth is flat, that the sky is solid, that the stars are punc- tures in the vault of heaven. The fact is that every fresh discovery in the realm of science diminishes his liberty of thinking the opposite, for it has become a scientific dogmM, and as such is no longer open to question. In like manner it is essential to separate the purity of the AU-Fathet cult from the corruptions and excrescences that have ever grown around it. It is marked off from fetchism, because the All-Father is invisible, from magic, because He is personal, from totemism because He is transcendent. It is clearly distinguished from spiritism, because He is the Lord of spirits, from animism, because He is the Lord of life, from polytheism, because He is the Lord of gods. In each case the primitive theology has been forced to battle with new aspects of the divine nature which she has either assim- ilated, when useful, or rejected, when baneful, the new aspects very often springing out of her own inner consciousness, not forced upon her from the outside. She has recognised mystery long before magic, guardians long before totemism, angels long before animism. In so far as the latter have drifted away from her controlling hand, they are heretical move- ments, but in so far they are auxiliary philosophies, they have their value. Thus unicity, or exclusiveness, is an essential mark of all truth, and the man who sees no difference between bel and baal is on a level with the man who cannot distinguish whales from fishes, or paste from diamonds. To throw over a divine dogma is to disregard the laws of gravity, and in affirming the truth of one proposition, I am ipso facto condemning its opposite, I am fighting for its defeat, I have become an inquisitor. The bigotry of "Romanism" is but another name for intellectual subtlety. If God is Father, He cannot at the same time be non-Father, though He may be infinitely more. EPILOG 577 SIMPLICITY OF DIVINE FAITH And this leads us to an aspect of religious faith which is not often realised, — its simplicity or perspicuity. "If God had given a revelation to man, He vi'ould have written the message in the skies". This shallow demand of the rationalist conscience, though meant with sinister purpose, contains an important element of truth, if applied to the external criteria by which a true religion may be recognised, and not to its inner mys- teries. For if a definite system of belief, like a definite medicine, is essen- tial to the salvation of man, such a system must not be so abstruse or diffi- cult of perception that it can only be discerned by the learned few, the special favorites of heaven. It must be simple and clear enough to appeal to the savage no less than the sage, to the child no less than the philosopher, in default of which it becomes a private opinion, it ceases to be a Catholic truth. Tn other words, the messagr. WMst. he clear enough to appeal, to humanity at large, though the inner content of the message, as conversant with mysteries, may, and indeed must be, the subject of learned and labor- ious investigation. Now this is precisely that quality of belief which seems so character- istic of the unsophisticated child of nature. For him, as for the simple- hearted of all ages, "the message of God is written in the skies", he does not have to be a mathematician to discover law, a biologist to discover life, an anatomist to discover wisdom. All these things are mirrored in nature and the conclusion is easily read, — "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth" — , for him as clear as the daylight. From this proposition as from a major premise the whole of his theology is derived, and if the same subjects are also mysteries, we must remember that he is looking for mystery and would be gravely disappointed if he did not find it. There is no God vnthout mystery, as there is no science without marvels. Creation, fall, redemption, sacrifice, retribution in the world to come, — all are accepted as facts, though he cannot fully explain them. Can the optician fully explain the rainbow? Hence there is no contradiction in saying that faith is simple and certain, and at the same time dark and obscure, for the light shines nowhere so brilliantly as it does in the darkness, and it is through the darkness that the supernatural light is revealed. By this light it has been possible for the mystics of all ages to work out the higher problems of faith, to attempt a philosophy of religion, to show the rationality of that which has been delivered. But in regard to the formal object of faith, divine authority, saint and savage are on the same level, for — "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein". (Lk. 18, 17). Thus simplicity is at the bottom of every religious assent. 578 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CERTAINTY OF DIVINE FAITH Needless to say, such an assent must also be certain, it must exclude all vacillation of the intellect; for without firmness of mind there is no firm- ness of morals, there is no transcendent motive for conduct. This cer- tainty may be natural or supernatural, metaphysical, physical, or moral. As to the natural certainty of a religious conviction, it is not com- monly understood that it precedes the act of faith and is independent of it. I must first knovs^ that God has spoken before I can obey his message, otherwise my faith is "blind," I become a traditionalist, I sink into "fideism". It is, therefore, essential to realise that quite apart from a super- natural illumination the savage is capable of arriving at a knowledge of God with a certainty which is "reductively metaphysical", equivalent to the truth that two and two makes four. The main steps in this simple logic have already been described (125, 538). It is based on what we now call the principle of sufficient reason, and though it has been dubbed as "horse-sense", it is an equestrian philosophy which cannot be superseded. Here in brief is its scientific form : — "A maximum potential requires a m/iximum actual for its realisation". Atqui, "the universe is replete vnth potential perfection". Therefore it requires a maximum, perfect for its realisation. In this syllogism is implicitly contained the argument from motion, — for we are speaking of potencies — , the argument from contingency, — for no potency exists by necessity — , the argument from design, — for the maximum perfect is seen to act with orderly purpose — , and the argument from morality, — because it takes an infinite Person to keep the conscience, an 4Zi-Father. In like manner the immortality of the soul as a simple substance, and its reward or punishment in the life to come (491), all is part of a "natural theology", which elicits various degrees of mental assent among all primitive peoples. But as to a supernatural certainty, it has always been felt that any- thing like a revelation of the divine will above and beyond that of the natural law requires its manifestation by means of supernatural agencies, — commonly known as miracles and prophecies. It is by his "visions" that the inspired prophet of old sees his God as it were "in a cloud" and accepts His message with a certainty which far surpasses that of discursive rea- soning. It is of course a question how far such visions were granted to other mortals; but if accompanied by the usual criteria of mental and moral illumination, they may be authentic, the subject may be in posses- sion of a higher supernatural light. This is indeed far removed from those attested supernatural wonders which accompanied the historic revelation of God in the fulness of time, but it seems sufficient to account for the facts of prehistoric "illumination" as we may possibly find them. EPILOG 579 OBSCURITY OF DIVINE FAITH And with these words we have indicated the essential obscurity of the act of faith viewed as the instrument for assimilating the supernatural. This would seem to be in opposition to its simplicity, to its intellectual facility, — but only apparently so. For although the message itself is clear and simple, as indeed it must be, the full import of the message, dealing as it does with the infinite, must of its nature be dark and obscure, — though its apprehension is easy, its comprehension is difficult, though initiated in mind, it terminates in mystery, though the telegram can be read by all, the full interpretation of its secrets baffles even the operator. All science terminates in obscurity, — but why balk at obscurity? I may say without the fear of any contradiction that obscurity is the accompani- ment of m/iny a great truth, that a thing is grand, noble, efficient, awe- inspiring, epoch-making, and truly marvelous, precisely in that propor- tion in which it is mysterious, in which it dazzles our finite powers of comprehension. Are the wonderful properties of radium easy to under- stand? Is the speed of the electric spark imaginable, the "infinite" ether comprehensible? Can the differential equations of Laplace, with their posi- tive and negative infinities, and their "vanishing quantities", be said to be easily thinkable, let alone picturable? And yet they have given us the solar system and the electric light, the two greatest discoveries of man. If now we go one step farther, and say that God is mysterious, though He is the Light of the world, we are simply uttering a truism long since known to the savage. It is precisely this ultra-mysteriousness of divine truth which makes my assent to it a free and meritorious act, for I can quarrel with mystery, though I cannot quarrel with equations. And this brings us to the subject of external authority as the normal vehicle of supernatural truth. For if its scientific basis is so abstruse that it can only be assimilated by the few, it will follow that only the few are capable of guarding it, and in this sense religion is Eiristocratic and monarchical, it requires a priesthood and a professional papacy, well developed from the earliest times. Let no one call this a despotism ; it is a blessing to mankind. It is only an Enoch and Elias that ascends to the skies, only a Peter that keeps the keys, only Paul that is caught up to the heavens, only a John that sees in a vision "the mystery the seven stars". These men have pierced the veil of obscurity, they have worked out the higher mathematics of faith, and as such they are as far above the average of humanity as a Newton is above a first-grade school-boy; they have dispelled the darkness, — "/ will utter things concealed from the founda- tion of the world". The Master implies that there is a hidden wisdom in all revealed truth, that it is essentially an "apocalypse" of things obsciire. 580 PREHISTORIC RELIGION SANCTITY OF DIVINE FAITH From the simple unique character of the divine message there follows its separation from all that is profane and commonplace, — its sanctity. To guard the message from corruption is to guard the magnetic needle from corrosion, it must be preserved in a glass case and cannot be touched, — it is taboo. Hence the penalties that follow the sin of sacrilege are thunder and lightning, fire and water-flood, the earliest reminders that His name is holy, that His commands cannot be trifled with. Hence also the pro- hibition of even pronouncing His name, whether as the "Our Father" of the jungle-folk, or as the great "I AM" of Israel. In each case the divine name is too sacred to utter, it is a mortal sin to pronounce it, it must be transcribed for common use; He must be known as "Thunder-Power" to the world without, — Kari-Balingo-Elohim — , as "Lord and Master" to the inner circle, — I'engulu-Adonai — , but as "AU-Father-I-AM" only at solemn initiations or in the sacred mysteries, — Aba-langi-Amaka-Ya-langi-Ye-ho- wah. In this way the Jewish tetragram is seen to have many analogies in the prehistoric past, though the idea of fatherhood is more pronounced than that of personal subsistence. But the most persuasive note of every true philosophy must ever remain its immediate effect in the moral order, its power to regulate human life by standards and practices that instinctively elicit the universal approval of mankind. For any faith ttiat can make me truthful rather than tricky, generous rather than mean, chaste rather than dissolute, merciful rather than cruel, charitable rather than extortionate, all-loving rather than self- seeking, — such a faith carries persuasion in its very act, it must be true in a natural though not in a supernatural sense, — for we require miracles as well. Now although all forms of faith reflect these virtues to a certain degree, it is only where the All-Father-cult exists in its greatest purity that we find a correspondingly flawless moral development. Contrast the sim- plicity, and comparative innocence of the early ages of man with the in- numerable corruptions of those that followed them, and the thesis is suffi- ciently proved ; nature-worship cannot long coexist with moral innocence, with ethical integrity. In other words, All-Father-I-AM is the direct source of purity in the moral no less than the mental sphere, and wherever He is lost or obscured we find a corresponding weakening of the moral stand- ard, a growing invasion of rape, infanticide, theft, murder, adultery, pro- miscuity, and general animalism. This is a strong statement to make, but it is absolutely provable, though of course with different degrees. No nation has ever entirely rejected the cult, but whenever the certainty of this faith collapses, the ideals are invariably lowered (Compare the later Roman empire). "Men do not gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them". EPILOG 581 CATHOLICITY OF DIVINE FAITH From the moral necessity of faith there follows again its catholicity or universality. For if God "sincerely desires the salvation of all men, even the most obdurate", it is clear that He must give all men the means for attaining it, there must be no monopoly in a matter which is so essential to his welfare. Perhaps there are more popular misconceptions on this head than on any other. People will seriously ask you how a religion can be universal and yet exclusive, catholic and yet wanting in universal territorial acknowledgement. Moreover, is it fair, they say, for the Creator to single out certain individuals, nay, even entire nations, and make them His special favorites, the special recipients of his supernatural graces? Now these conclusions overlap their premises. For in the first place there is the Catholic doctrine of the universality of grace. This means that every human being, in every age and under any clime, is given sufficient supernatural power to prepare his soul for the influx of a higher light, for embracing the Faith. What truths man must know as a preliminary step, we have already discussed, and shall revert to presently. But can it be said that such a possibility resides in the East-Indian savage, in the Hindoo sage, in the Mohammedan dervish, in the Chinese bonze, in the Egyptian fellah, in the North-American bison-hunter, not to speak of the modern Jew, Turk, infidel, heretic, apostate, rationist, or agnostic? Undoubtedly it can. It was Alexander VIII. who condemned the proposi- tion that "Pagans, Jeius, heretics, and the like receive no influx at all from Jesus Christ" (Decr.S.Off.Dec.l690). The fact is that every created soul is a Catholic in so far as he inherits the common prehistoric deposit of faith, in so far as he thinks or wills with the "soul" of the Church; he is a heretic only in so far as he rejects the deposit, or wilfully rejects the full supernatural deposit when sufficiently evidenced. In the second place, the existing divisions and separations of faiths in so far as they are contradictory or mutually exclusive, are without a ques- tion the result of a gigantic apostacy. If the One True Faith is not ter- ritorially universal, though it ever tends to be such, it is because from the dawn of humanity even unto the present day, there have been a series of moral landslides, which have split humanity into opposing camps. It is man that has broken the unity of faith, and not the Creator. Yet even in our present sad plight, is not the universality of Rome a living miracle? Can anybody measure her boundless dominion? And how comes it that her soothing rites find such a quick response in the heart of the primitive child of nature, precisely those nearest to the days of original innocence, of primitive integrity? 582 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONTINUITY OP DIVINE FAITH And this brings us to the allied subject of continuity or unbroken tradition of the true faith. For if salvific grace is as boundless as the air we breathe, it does not follow that a correspondence to grace is equally universal ; the air may be infected with germs which afflict the patient with a mortal disease, germs caused by his own disregard for the laws of sani- tation. Nevertheless the air remains, it can be purified or disinfected, you cannot abolish the essential requisite of life, it must be continuous. How far can such a continuity be shown to exist? We have seen that the combined traditions of the human race point with a daily increasing certainty to some past or primitive revelation, by the help of which man attained to truths not only of a natural but, as we also discovered, of a supernatural order. Nay more, we have found that certain central dogmas hold their own throughout the history of man, they seem to be traceable in nearly every form of religious belief. Such among others are the broad doctrines of a supreme personal Power as the cause of creation, His moral relation to man as the beginning and end of his destiny, and what is still more important. His legal relation to man as the institutor of certain definite rites and ceremonies, which culminate in the idea and the practice of sacrifice. However much beclouded, stifled, obscured, or even perverted, we have shown that even in the darkest periods of the race, this old theology has never, been entirely lost, and to this extent we can speak of a continuous transmission of the divine deposit of faith. On the other hand, those who see in the pagan and savage beliefs an unadulterated chain of religious dogmas are going too far, they are again wanting in the power of discrimination. For while we have the doctrine of original innocence, we have also the doctrine of original sin, and original sin has contaminated the whole of mankind, there is no such thing as an unadulterated original. We have done our best to show that while certain very early peoples have preserved the tradition with comparative purity, none can be called "absolute" primitives, and none are without some flaws at least, whether in faith or practice. This becomes far more pronounced in the later ages of man, where we find the Persian soma-cult side by side with the Hindoo juggernaut-car, and never a faith without serious blemishes. In other words, there is but one Tree of Truth, with one and the same sap; but in sprouting into maturity many of the branches have not been treated with care, they have not been pruned, they have fallen into decay. It took the Messiah to "cure" the tree from the ravages of the white ant, and now we see its fruits and blossoms in all their majestic glory. The air is indeed continuous, though a large part of mankind has been afflicted with "consumption." EPILOG 583 AUTHORITY OF DIVINE FAITH But what is truth without the following of truth, of what use the grandest philosophy, if it does not stir, nay, if it does not command me to live up to its exalted precepts? It is but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, it is a hollow platitude. And so, as a final aspect of this subject, the authority or the coercive power of faith should claim our attention. "If a supreme Person has spoken, he must be obeyed." This short statement focusses the moral side of the Lawgiver in the briefest terms. It is the "categorical imperative", which even Kant found to be a necessity of practical reason. Applying it to our prehistoric data, we have furnished sufficient evidence to show that the major truths of religious faith cannot be ignored without grave culpability, that the laivs of the Heaven-God bind under severe penalties. This is revealed in part by the universal theism underlying all corrupt phases of belief, with its correspondingly strong sanctions and safeguards for moral conduct, in part by the fact that a fall in religious faith is invariably accompanied by a fall in morals, — showing the essential connexion between faith and conduct. We have given abundant examples of this in our preceding pages. This proves that there is a consciousness of guilt in ignoring the Creator, in rebelling against the laws of Heaven. Hence there is no excuse for the normally developed man to say that he "does not know", that "he cannot see". He does know and he can see, and if he refuses to follow the light, he is condemned as much by the voice of humanity as he is by the supreme Person whom he has insulted. So much for internal authority. As to external authority, we have already intimated that, although the message is clear, its full interpretation is so difficult, dealing as it does with the supernatural and the mysterious, that a professional priesthood and a hierarchy are absolutely essential for its guardianship and its perpetual transmission. They are the custodians of truth. When a man is battling with a serious disease, he does not attempt to cure himself, he sends for a professional doctor, and follows the latter's prescription, in neglect of which he cannot recuperate. This is what we find in all the ages of man. It is only the few that grasp the deeper meanings of things, it is only the "father" or "medicine-man" that heals, only the "mystery-doctor" that understands, and from this point of view religion is an absolute monarchy, it can brook no interference from the voice of the mob. Thus it is the Institutional Church of all ages, whether as patriarchate, primacy, or historic papacy, which alone pos- sesses the keys, which reflects the Papacy of the Father Above. "Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. He that hearth you, heareth me". 584 PREHISTORIC RELIGION POSITIVE CONTENT OP DIVINE FAITH Coming more specially to the material object of faith, the actual content of the divine message as such, it is worth while to make a broad survey of the religious facts with a view of elucidating their inner meaning and tendency, to discover, if possible, a philosophy of faith. Needless to say, such a philosophy can only at present be tentative, it must be confined to the barest essentials of religious belief; it cannot pretend to discuss each article of faith in all its philosophical fulness, for this is the province of dogmatic theology, — again higher mathematics. The following summary is therefore merely a final attempt to group the religious phenomena in such a way that a definite system of belief may be revealed in their general spirit and meaning and as the result of a sufficiently complete analysis. (1) The Doctrine op Personal Transcendence The first truth to be mastered in this connection is that of the Unicity or transcendence of the divine being. Without this as our major premise, the most beautiful philosophy will collapse like a house of cards. It is the "maximum actual" which forms the starting-point of the wild man of the woods no less than of every sane metaphysician, that initial "warm" feeling which is in such violent contrast to the sordid vacuum of a mere potential. The separation of the All-Father from everything that is ordi- nary, finite, commonplace, or imperfect is one of the most distinctive fea- tures in the early consciousness of man, even if He is pictured, as at times He is, in crude and anthropomorhic form. This serves but to emphasize His personal character, the fact that He is father, not simply force. And what is this persuasion founded upon? Apart from our elaborate and learned dis- putations, which appeal primarily to the man of drilled intellect, the pro- fessional reasoner, its main premises are as unshakeable as the pyramids. You cannot get a maximum perfect out of a potency, an immovable out of a moved, an infinite out of a finite, a necessary out of a contingent, an in- finitely wise designer out of a demiurge, a supreme keeper of conscience out of a mere sky-prophet. In each case you are bound to transcend the series and land in the infinite, in default of which you get an infinite series of finite causes, an unthinkable contradiction. Regnon, in his "Meta- physique des Causes", has worked this out to a nicety, and it represents the last word on the subject from the modern standpoint. Those who cannot see the force of this argument are to be pitied rather than censured; they had better get at their books and review their logic. To the majority of primitive savages this truth is sufficiently clear. Even the growing child realises that nothing on earth can be exactly like the Father above, that He is too big to be put on canvas. EPILOG 585 POSITIVE CONTENT OF DIVINE FAITH But if God is so immeasurably beyond all that we can ever imagine or even comprehend, can He be said to be a desirable object of knowledge, let alone love? Persons who take this line of thought, if such it be called, are more conspicuous for their superficiality than for their mental earnestness. Is it necessary to comprehend the workings of a galvanic battery in order to appreciate the wonderful blessings that it has brought upon mankind? Do I have to understand a thing in order to know it, to fully comprehend a thing in order to love it? Is it not a fact, that my awe and admiration for a person is on the contrary in proportion to his immense superiority, to his elevation above everything that is trivial and commonplace? Of all the shallow objections to theism, this is one of the most unpardonable. Distance, majesty, mystery, unapproachableness, these are of the very essence of nobility and grandeur, the highest motive power of our moral life. Fortunately we have many analogies in nature to help us. There is the electric ether, infinitely dense, yet infinitely rare ; there is the flower- ing plant with its power of life, and its immanent action ; there is above all things the human soul, with its marvelous faculty of reflex thought of transcending the categories of space and time, of soaring out into the infinite. Can anybody say that these things are easily imagined? And yet they are facts, — it would be dangerous folly to deny them. Turning then to the mind of the primitive, we see that his first impres- sions of an infinite being seem to have been precisely of this nature. Though pictured as man. He is far removed from earthly necessities, from temporal or spatial limitations, He is All-Father-Light, — a "photosphere", diffusing His rays in the form of a cross, the nearest analogue to the human form. He is not the world, nor is He the sun, nor is He confused with any object. He simply shines through creation as an Infinite Person, and He shines in dark places, being thus distinguished from the orb of heaven. From this being all things derive their existence, and moreover as persons, — there is wind-and- water, tree-and-earth, sun-and-star-spirit, — all hypostatized and pictured as points of light, or as magic waves and crosses — , angelic, though hardly animistic beings. But He is a command- ing and instituting God. He has written His law in the heart of man, — nothing more nor less than the decalogue — , and he has raised him to a higher plane, which he has forfeited through a rebellion. He can now only be approached by prayer, penance, and sacrifice and to those who follow His light. He promises reward, and to those who refuse it, punish- ment. Such in the main is the primitive creed of mankind, the foundation upon which the higher faiths have been built, and which, as we have seen, is partly of natural, partly of supernatural origin. 586 PREHISTORIC RELIGION (2) The Doctrine of Physical Immanence But is this not a stagnant, an immovable, an unpicturable God? What about His relation to the physical universe? Man looks up into the heavens and says,— the heavens are God, this light which I see is the light of God, this air which I breathe is the breath of God—, perhaps the divinity is nearer than I had imagined, perhaps He is in these things in such a manner that they can be called His substance, part and parcel of His nature. This feeling of an intimate presence is the most natural of human experiences. Can anybody deny the beauty of motion, of the harmony of the heavens, of the "music of the spheres", of the change of seasons, of the daily succession of light and darkness, of dawn and sunset, of the rise and fall of the tides? Why look for a deity beyond His visible manifestation? Is not variety the spice of life? Perhaps God is motion, and I am begin- ning to feel that He is dynamic rather than static, better represented by the spiral whorl than by the peaceful and monotonous cross. I have dis- covered in fact a new philosophy, — God is tendency rather than terminus, His very essence is change, and without change there is no really ex- perienced life. Now in the development of every great and eternal truth, there is always the danger of mistaking expansion for falsehood, a more profound knowledge of the divine nature for an actual drifting away from our primitive moorings. For it is possible to emphasise the divine remoteness to such an extreme as to lose sight of His physical ubiquity, of the fact that He is "in all, and with all, and through all". Not that this notion cannot be ferreted out of transcendence. An infinite being must of his nature be all-pervading to satisfy his own definition as pure act. The fact is, God is physically immanent in all things, there is nothing I can see, hear or feel, which is not directly supported by Him, which is not an imitation of His own essence, — He is throbbing in every sight or sound. And so in the later developments of theology there has been a desire to make the totem-god a universal cosmic force symbolized by the spiral, to realise more fully that the absolute static is the dynamic, that He is the source of change no less than of rest. To see God in motion, that is the ideal, — and to this extent the totem-philosophy is something of a help. But the opposite danger of identifying the one Creator with His own creation is far more insidious. The doctrine of universal immanence, unless checked by the old theology, has given us all the shallow pantheism of our modern life. If God is nothing but change. He will give you the delirium tremens, if the rainbow is nothing but quivering molecules, it is no longer symbolical of a higher truth. EPILOG iSl POSITIVE CONTENT OF DIVINE FAITH (3) The Doctrine op Vital Immanence If then it is essential to realise the universal cosmic activity of the divine being, and at the same time keep Him clear from the nature- entanglement, it is still more important to recognise His universal vital activity. Life being defined as "immanent action", it is more than a transient push of one atom upon another, it is that mysterious kind of motion vi^hich begins and terminates in the same subject, vs^hich differ- entiates the plant from the crystal. Again it is asked, — is not this godlike povs^er sufficiently marvelous to be itself the divinity? Are not the functions of generation, growth, and decay sufficiently eloquent of mystery vv^ithout the help of a greater? Do I not see God in the protoplasm, in the living cell, in the budding flovs^er, and above all in that marvellous organism of the human body, of the human brain, which contains, as it were, the whole of the universe in a miniature? Surely I do not have to go out of creation to find the cause, it is here before my eyes, — God is life, when you are looking into the rose, you are looking into his essence. Here again we cannot proceed without great caution. It is of course eternally true, that the divinity is operating in every blade of grass, diffusing His odor of sweetness in every flower, pulsating in every throb of the heart of man. Who can look into that sun without saying, — thou art not only the light but the life of the world ; where thou shinest ; there is joy, beauty, splendor, happiness; where thou hidest thy face, there is death, darkness, misery, vacuum. But what about the scorching heat of the desert, the poisonous fumes of the jungle? Has not man developed at his highest in the bleaker and more temperate regions of the world, nay, in those very parts where physical life is at its lowest? This is a plain proof that God is more than physical life, He cannot be expressed in terms of a biological formula, — God is Life — , but a vitality of such a nature, that He transcends every conceivable form of life by infinitites. We have seen that this is the main thought of animism, which in picturing the divinity under the flaming sun or the flowering reed has given us a distinctly deeper view of the divine activity than we find in the earlier days of the world. He is not simply the Immanence of Light, and the Immanence of Nature, but, within His own Essence, the Immanence of Life, the Lord and Giver of Life, — the Divine Immanence par excellence. We are therefore in the same plight as before. Wherever the initial note of an all-transcending Power has been preserved, there we find the happiest application of the newer animistic cult; wherever it has been lost, there spiritism and mohatma-worship tell their own stories of mental degeneration. 588 PREHISTORIC RELIGION POSITIVE CONTENT OF DIVINE FAITH (4) The Doctrine of Symbolic Manifestation Thus we see that the human intellect is alternately wavering between God and nature, between All-Father-Life and the spectral double. The question arises whether any of these nature-philosophies are entirely satis- factory, whether the full concept of deity is not better defined in terms that are less liable to abuse, to a conscious or unconscious perversion. For this purpose we will make a final attempt to delineate the main points of a system which shall combine all that is true and good in the preceding, and at the same time safeguard the divine message from a possible misinter- pretation. We shall call it "the philosophy of symbolic manifestation", as conveying in the clearest possible language, that in every pure form of religion the supreme Deity is distinct from creation though He manifests His power by created or external symbols. (a) AS REVEALED IN NATURE A sacrament, in the broad sense, being defined as "an outward sign of something sacred", the sign is thereby clearly distinguished from the thing signified, and thus we are once for all delivered from the snares of panthe- ism. When I look into the heavens, I do not see God, but I see the symbolic face of God, the first mirror of the divine perfections, the first imitation of His essence. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork", — a feeling as old as the ocean. But it is only the first mirror ; I can tire of constellations, even the sublimest, though space and time give me the first revelation of His immensity, of His immeas- urable eternity. Individual objects give me a more vivid picture of the divine. The splendor of the midday sun, with his pure rays of benev- olence, — rays which no one may even look upon without the danger of being kinded, — this suggests at once the infinite majesty of God, the Light of the world, whom no one may approach without holy fear, without veil- ing his face. The stars have a similar message, they picture, the angelic hierarchy, they remind us of the abode of the blest, they are like so many scintillating gems adorning the throne of the Most High, while the pure light of the evening star speaks to us of the Heavenly Mother, — "sinless and beautiful, star of the sea." All these objects are doubtless eloquent of mystery, of divine truth, even if only in a poetical sense, and in the living rose I smell the first scent of the odor of sanctity, of heavenly purity. In this way the whole of nature is a gigantic sacrament, a visible manifesta- tion of the divine. EPILOG 589 POSITIVE CONTENT OF DIVINE FAITH (b) AS REVEALED IN RITUAL But the beauties of nature are not simply to look at, they are also to use. Man being endowed with a double nature, material and spiritual, he can- not soar into the heavens with the speed of an electric spark, he cannot rush in where angels fear to tread. He requires an external stimulus to bring before him the internal substance. No person can feel God inti- mately, and at the same time be joking and laughing; there is an incom- patibility of demeanor no less than of postures. In this respect even the natural law vvould seem to dictate the observance of holy customs, of put- ting ourselves in the presence of God, nay, of using certain objects as the natural expressions of His benign activity. Now if there is one thing that impresses us in the religion of man as such, savage or civilised, it is that his religion is essentially ritualistic. For him the deity is not so far off and inaccessible that he cannot convey his power through visible instruments. The distinction between the Crea- tor and the creation makes it possible for him to attach certain definite values to certain definite objects, and to no others; they are the channels of his power. Among these the element of water plays such a universal part in the purification-ritual of mankind that we cannot regard it as one of the major "specifics", as the most obvious and easily accessible purging-element in nature. In like manner the oil or the sacred herb, the palm-branch or the bamboo, the anointing, consuming, tapping, touching, breathing or blowing, — all these are not merely ceremonial but medicinal forms or actions ; they heal, they feed, or they fortify the patient in a vivid though inadequate manner; they are believed to work by their own physical power, by the very fact that they are externally administered. We cannot of course determine how far such rites can be regarded as prelimi- nary "purges", as tending to bring the subject into a dim realisation of his higher destiny. None of the prehistoric "medicines" can be regarded as efficacious in such sense as to "dispose" the savage for those higher chan- nels of grace that are known as the seven sacraments. He must be bap- tised with the Holy Ghost and with fire, the old medicine cannot even suggest it. But the principle underlying the rite remains essentially the same. It is the general consciousness that God acts through visible and material agencies, that He is sacramentally felt. And it is this which dis- tinguishes the universal religion of man from all forms of rationalistic deism. To be in harmony with the faith of humanity means, in the supernatural order, to be signed with the sign of the cross, to be anointed with the chrism of salvation. 590 PREHISTORIC RELIGION POSITIVE CONTENT OF DIVINE FAITH (C) AS REVEALED IN SACRIFICE Finally, we have the notion of oblation or immolation, the idea of sacrifice, — the supreme act of religion. The inherent nobility of self-sacri- fice vs'ill hardly be questioned, — it is the measure of love. But by some universal instinct of human nature it has always been felt that a supreme act of devotion requires some form of externalisation, some visible and tangible proof that the worshipper is ready to part with what he holds most precious. A man may sympathise with another in a thousand differ- ent ways, but if he is never known to off'er him a part of his substance, he is hardly a generous man, he is a half-hearted lover. Now it is this inerad- icable desire of making some kind of external dedication, of offering up some sense-perceptible object, that we find to be such a widespread phenomenon throughout the length and breadth of the religious history of man. From the very infancy of the race we find the nomad hunters offering up their choicest game and vintage to the deity, the first and best products of the animal and vegetable creation. Nay more, the offerings are very commonly consumed in the fire, showing the necessity of some form of destruction or immolation in order to make the sacrifice more vivid, more realistic, more complete. Can this universal consciousness be explained on any other principle but that of a profound conviction that the Creator requires these tokens of love from his creatures, that the prac- tice of external immolation is essential to all religion, engraven on the very tables of the natural law? How can we otherwise account for its marvel- ous uniformity, its continual reiteration in all the ages of man? But there is another secret lurking behind these rites, and one which, with the revealed Mosaic ritual, is portentous of far-reaching theological consequences. It is the growing consciousness that the accumulated crimes of mankind cannot be atoned for by any ordinary means, that the simple sadaka of old must be supplemented by the hecatomb, and finally by the human sacrifice. Now it is this utter despair of ever paying the complete price of sin which is relieved by only one ray of brightness, — the mystical slaughter of Jehovah on the altar of holocausts and His presence in the Holy of Holies. Here alone do we find a supernatural light amid the sur- rounding darkness, a clear intimation that the One God of Heaven will some day be slaughtered in the court of the gentiles, — this world — , He will lay the foundations of the sanctuary and the altar of perfumes, His Church — , and He will open the Holy of Holies to all mankind, — in Heaven. In other words, it is the hollowness of the pagan, and the prophetical char- acter of the Jewish rites, which points with unmistakable emphasis to the altar of Calvary and the "Table of the Lord" as the one all suflicient sac- rifice once offered. But with this we have entered the inner temple of faith, — ^we have opened the door of the tabernacle. EPILOG 591 CONCLUSION Such then is the united message that comes to us from the heart of humanity as far as we have been able to read it, — a message fragmentary at the best of times, but revealing the rich nugget of pure gold wrapped in the slimy ore of a corrupt tradition. The distinctive dogmas of the Christian religion are seen to have their deficient similars everywhere. their adequate source nowhere save only in Christ. These natural similars are seen to grow with the growing moral response that is made to them, they are stifled with the stifling of the moral conscience of those that reject their light, but they are raised to a strictly supernatural plane only in the historic incarnation of the Son of God and in the paradise of the living Church, founded upon the rock of ages. She only is the direct heir to the Kingdom, "a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world". Here we have an institution that can trace its anticipa- tive lineage to the gates of Eden, which, in so far as it has a natural counterpart, exists in the heart of the savage only as the shadow reflects the splendor of the substance, which exhibits a continuous though hidden life throughout the cycles of time, — "first the sheaf, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear". To the soul of this society every human being belongs, — you cannot get rid of the light of heaven, — but it is all the sadder to think that some are born blind, that they cannot enjoy the light of day, that they seem indeed to be helpless. This, however, is only apparently so, for there is no disease that the Great Physician of souls cannot heal, no fatal im- pediment which He cannot remove. "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" In these life-giving words is contained the everlasting answer to the ever- lasting complaint. In looking back then upon the entire panorama of prehistoric truth and its accompanying error, we cannot resist the feeling that the main traits of the picture are decidedly reassuring, not to say inspiring. The study of genealogies is always interesting, and the genealogy of Christ is none the less exalted because some of His ancestors were not of the pure dye. What does it matter? "Before Abraham was made, I AMI" The Messiah is continually pointing beyond the narrow circle of later Jewish custom, to the era before Moses, to the days before the flood, nay to the innocent age of paradise, — for to the common Mosaic permission of divorce He opposes a pre-Mosaic practice which we have now seen to be provable, — "From the beginning it was not so." Thus we have the best and most ap- proved reasons for seeking the confirmations of faith far beyond the usual limits of written history, to ascend with Christ to the days when man was still dressed in the clothing of nature, to find with Him the relics of a golden age preserved in the shattered fragments of a once glorious past which He came to renew. 592 PREHISTORIC RELIGION CONCLUSION The results of this study may appear surprising to those who have been accustomed to look upon the remote history of man as the blackest night. Such was not the standpoint of a Paul or an Augustine, though it may be that of a diseased pessimism. "Whom ye ignorantly worship. Him declare I unto you". There is no such thing as an absolute break; for the gentiles are "inexcusable", they must know something of God, who "has never left Himself without witness", but "in every nation he that feareth him as accepted of Him". The message is universal, though its historic corruptions are only too plain. It is only the institutional Church has kept the pure message. But from the standpoint of modern science, it has taken us some time and no inconsiderable labor to realise the full im- port of this truth, and only in recent years have religious data been brought to light that have caused us to moderate some of our former misgivings on this head, and which shows how cautious we should be in accepting as final that which is largely fallacious, if not entirely false. There is one thing, however, that recent ethnology has taught us to do. It has taught us to "think in cycles", to put law and order into religious phenomena, and until we can master the principle of stratification, at least in its broader outlines, we are as hopelessly at sea as the mariner without a compass, the geologist without his pickaxe. Only in this way can we assign an approximate date to a belief, and follow its gradual historical development. This I have attempted to do, with what success, remains to be seen. The "ring of asteroids" cannot in my mind be explained by chance-coincidences. To those, however, to whom the whole subject is too involved and obscure to be tangible or in any sense useful, we would say as a final word^ that they have not studied the parable of the talents. There is nothing in this world got without much labor, without much patient toil. You will say — I do not like controversy — , who does? Argumentation is tiresome, litigation is painful, it would be much pleasanter to leave things as they are, to drift with the tides. This has hardly the ring of gospel-heroism. Anything that will give me a deeper knowledge of God and of His divine mysteries cannot be scouted as useless. The Gospel of St. John is heavy reading, but look at the pearls which it conceals. The epistles of St. Paul are not exactly novels. During our treatment of this subject, we have done much heavy digging, we have burnt much midnight oil, but our labors have not, we hope, been entirely in vain. If our investigations have done nothing more than to shed some light on the past dealings of God with man, and to note their harmony with those higher sources of revelation which we have learnt from our mother's knees, they will be worth the arduous labor that has been expended upon them. EPILOG 593 THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY SOME CONCLUDING REFLEXIONS ON THE UNIQUENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN DEPOSIT OF FAITH AND PRACTICE We cannot allow this fascinating subject to disappear from our eyes without reverting once more to the opening lines of our Prolog with a view to appreciating in more complete and universal perspective how strongly corroborative of the Divinity of Christ has been the general trend of our collected material, how superlatively eloquent of the dignity and nobility of the human race. This may be considered, as we had then attempted to explain, from a twofold point of view, — natural and supernatural — , or from the standpoint of similarity and the standpoint of difTerence. In so far as the Christian religion has a naturalistic aspect, in so far as the instinctive yearnings of humanity and their higher supernatural satisfac- tion run to a certain extent on parallel lines, we can speak of our common religious inheritance as being immensely old, — nay as the primitive and undivided religion of mankind. But when we come to those higher illumi- nations that are beyond the circumference of reason as such, we have seen that by no possibility can they be derived out of a purely earthly logic, but that they are either the relics of a past revelation or they postulate the influx of the new, — there is no middle course. In this way we have come in contact with certain prehistoric "flashes" of heavenly light, which, in their intimate connection with the personality and the office of the Redeemer, are but so many glaring proofs of His super-human conscious- ness, of the fact that He regards Himself as existing timelessly throughout all the cycles of existence, not simply temporarily or in a transitory sense, as with some ordinary human prophet. It is therefore all-important to bring this majestic truth home to ourselves, and moreover to realise, that, however exalted these prophetic illuminations may have been in the past, however suggestive of a primitive and undiluted communication of God to man, they fall infinitely short of His historic revelation in the fulness of time, they are but miserable shadows that are preparing the way for the substance, — forerunners in a decidedly negative sense. I. THE COMMON ELEMENTS OF RESEMBLANCE In order to bring this more vividly before the mind, we cannot repeat too often that nothing is gained by throwing unnecessary mud on the pre- Christian conscience of mankind, but that on the contrary, the admission of occasionally grand and noble elements, even when partially corrupted, is an indirect proof of our thesis, — it shows the continuity of some form of moral, if not supernatural consciousness. 594 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY If then we make one more appeal to the past records of the race by way of showing how essentially similar is the manifestation of the relig- ious conscience in all the ages of man, it should -make us feel more secure in the foundations of our own faith, more especially, because, as I say, that consciousness cannot be entirely accounted for on purely naturalistic lines, but presupposes some form of divine illumination, and thus reflects on the office of the Messiah. While these points of resemblance can of course be overdrawn to the point of the phantastic, the following seems to us to rep- resent what we may call the "minimum", the broadest and most general basis of comparison. Parallelisms in Faith It should, for instance, be strongly conducive to a robust form of religious belief of any kind to know and to feel that the common pulse of humanity beats as a single stroke on the all-essential matter of a supreme, personal, invisible Cause of existence, however much that Cause may have been mixed up in certain cases with its effect, and thus partially fused with its own creation. The argument from the universal consent of humanity appeals strongly to certain minds, and the fact that some kind of supreme Power has always been recognised fills a void in the human heart which nothing else can replace, — it is the first and fundamental dogma of all religion. Furthermore, some would like to see in His triple manifestations some remote hint at a "trinity", some evidence that in the very dawn of creation, man was mysteriously conscious of a triune Per- sonality in the Creator, an idea which can still be theologically defended, though it is by no means binding on the common conscience of Christian- ity as such. The same of the "six days" of creation, of which the savage seems to have a vague recollection, and still more of the "paradise-fruit" of which he is vividly, however remotely, conscious. It can surely be no matter of secondary interest to discover that a large body of this tradition has been preserved either on the lips or in the books of humanity, and it calls for some serious religious reflexions. Still more ennobling are those undoubted vestiges of a paradisaic promise, in which a "mother" of man- kind is obscurely pictured as imploring a "father" in heaven to rescue his children from the sting of the serpent, and finally to bring forth the much- expected "son", one who shall crush the serpent's head. The same triumph of life over death is symbolised in the primitive sacrifice, where the para- dise-fruit is offered to the "father" above. Finally we have undeniable relics of a great flood, coupled with a firm persuasion that the good shall in some way be rewarded in another world, while the wicked shall be punished or in some way purged for their moral perversities. EPILOG 595 THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY Parallelisms in Practice But if all these beliefs and traditions cannot but lend support to the con- servative vievi^s of the better part of mankind on this subject, their exter- nal expression in ritual and in social and moral practice is perhaps still more portentous. So far from being surprised at the occasionally close resemblance between some of these practices and our own divine ceremon- ials, it would be difficult to see how they could be very different. There are only a certain number of ways in which water can be applied to the person, and that these dippings or sprinklings should be administered by the very obvious means of shells, bamboos, or even in complete "bap- tisteries", is indeed very natural. It is also in harmony with the universal instincts of human nature that in the offering up of gifts to the Creator some external posture of reverence should be assumed, — the fruits or the blossoms, the cakes or the vintage, are commonly "lifted up", and the use of music and incense, of prayers and of chants, of drums and of rattles, are dictated by the universal common sense humanity, — we would be sur- prised indeed if they were absent. This applies equally to those secondary objcts of piety or religious devotion, which, whether as salt, oil, prie- dieus or prayer-beads, are the natural accessories of any religion that shall be worthy of the name. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh", — it would be the sheerest miracle if these instruments of devo- tion were constantly and universally lacking. And when we come to the preternatural help that is supposed to be con- veyed in these rites, we have seen that an all-merciful and providential Power may be readily conceded as operating upon the soul of the benighted gentile. For it is indeed inconceivable that a benevolent Creator should have permitted such an enormous section of humanity to embrace them except for some moral and providential purpose; we would be setting rather artificial limits to the divine wisdom. This does not apply simply to the Jewish Passover, of positive and divine institution, but concerns such purely instinctive ceremonies as the Persian soma-sacrifice. We may then both candidly and joyfully admit that such actions may confer an initial impetus to a higher life which, already symbolised by the aspersion of water, joins the Creator and creature into a still closer bond of mystical union. On the other hand, we must beware of going to unwarranted ex- tremes in this matter, of seeing the higher sacraments of the New Law in any sense "foreshadowed" in any of these rites. The medicine-hut and the fire-house have absolutely nothing in common with the confessional, while the invocations to Mithras are about as far removed from a eucharistic cult as can well be conceived ; they have their natural uses and they stop there. None of these functions postutate, in fact, the remotest analogy with the Christian sacramental system of grace.* ♦Compare L. de Grandmaison, S. J. "The Study of Religions", being Vol. I. of the Lec- tures of the History of Religions, published by Herder, (St. Louis, 1910), p. 26ff. Also E. R. Hull, S. J. "Is Catholicism of Pagan Origin?" Catholic Mind, for Sept. 22, 1918, p. 449£F. 596 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY PARALLELISMS IN THE GENERAL TONE OP MORAL AND RELIGIOUS DECENCY Again, it is entirely unnecessary to the defence of the New Dispensa- tion to draw an exaggerated picture of abominable and universal corrup- tion in all the pre-Christian ages of man. While it is still a glaring and undeniable fact that the atmosphere of the Roman Caesars, and indeed of the later pagan world in general, was polluted from head to foot, we must always allow for many important and noble exceptions, and though these exceptions are seemingly rare during the age of the historic decadence, they become increasingly numerous when we ascend into the pre-classic, pre-dynastic era of these peoples. We have collected suflicient instances to show, that, however deplorable its later manifestations, the moral con- science of nearly all our modern civilised nations was originally high, that the position of women was respected, the marriage-tie regarded as sacred, and the general tone of private and public morality at least theoretically decent. And this also should occasion as little surprise as the compara- tively edifying aspect of the religious worship, when we consider that a purer theology is bound to draw a purer morality in its trail, and that an amelioration, not a degeneration, is to be expected as we mount up into the past, — a relic perhaps of a better and purer state of mankind. Be this as it may, a certain general regard for the sanctity of human life is a necessary accompaniment of any form of religious belief that has not been tainted at its very source, and inasmuch as there are many ves- tiges of a higher and more unadulterated cult of the divine, we may wel- come these manifestations as an additional proof that purity in belief begets purity in morals. In this way a certain external analogy may be traced between the "testimony of a good conscience" as we understand it and that instinctive feeling of moral approval which follows any naturally good action as such. But what is of particular interest to us in the present place is the additional discovery that these ethical feelings for the fitness of things seem to become more pronounced in the very earliest stratum of human development. Passing over the "dark ages" of humanity, — when, as we have had occasion to note, there was a very wide defection from the primitive ideal — , the united force of the moral data for the earliest period of man cannot but reverse the very common impressions on this head. The days of "traveler's reports" are fortunately over, and the united tes- timony of men of science, including that of bishops, missionaries, mon- signori, and others, have compelled us to recognise that the traditional doctrine of an age of comparative innocence has after all some foundation in fact. EPILOG 597 THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY II. THE ELEMENTS OF DISTINCTIVE DIFFERENCE So far, then, it would seem that a study of the combined folk-lore of the human race cannot but be strongly corroborative of the main doctrines of the Christian faith in so far as they stretch back into prehistoric times and presuppose some common and partly supernatural source as the origi- nal basis of the primitive religion of mankind. But as these "vestiges" are so commonly misinterpreted by many of our contemporary vs^riters, as there is frequently not the smallest attempt to distinguish betvi^een a natural yearning and a supernatural illumination, as it quite frequently happens that the entire scheme of human development is looked upon as a purely spontaneous evolution out of the religious consciousness of man with Christianity as its "apex", it is of supreme importance to obtain a clear and correct orientation in this matter, and to realise more forcibly per- haps than ever before, that by no earthly means can the revealed content of the Christian religion be derived from any of its predecessors. For this purpose I cannot do better than refer the reader to a series of articles from the pen of a leading Catholic divine, who, as he is profoundly read in these subjects, enjoys the additional distinction of being one of the greatest metaphysicians of the day.* The Doctrine of Pure Personality "An idea of exceptional character and consequence", writes this author, "marks off the Christian doctrine of life from all others before or since. It is the idea of personal union with God in the world to come. Note the words well. They express an historical fact, a transcendent conception, a sublime idea, in the presence of which the resemblances to Christianity found in other religions all pale into insignificance". Then he continues : "Primitive peoples conceived God very personally, so much so, in fact, that cultured races, remembering the malignant fling of Xenophanes, that lions had as much right to consider God a lion, as man to imagine Him a per- son, grew ashamed of the mannish notions of their ancestors and went to the opposite extreme of depersonalizing the Divine". Here at once we have one of the principle points for which we have been contending, the fact, namely that the idea of personality, however crude, precedes the later speculations on the interior essence of God by immeasurable intervals of time. Nay more, — "religious progress consists in the progressive purifi- cation of this idea in the human understanding, and of this progress Christianity is the living witness and example". ♦ Very Rev. Edmund T. Shanahan, S. T. D. "The originality of the Christian doctrine of Life" Catholic World for July, 1916, p. 464ff. See also the articles by the same writer, "What is Dogma?" (ibid. p. 300), "Cutting Truth in Two" (ibid. p. 775). Compare also P T Gannon, S. J. "Comparative Religion", Irish Theological Quarterly, (Oct 1916), p. 369. D A Lord, S. J. "Shaw's Apologetics", Catholic Mind, for Dec. 8, 1916. 598 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY The Doctrine op Super-Juridical Personality But such a progress should not be understood as implying a mere tran- sition from lower to higher forms in its realisation. "Yielding neither to primitive ignorance in conceiving God as mannish, nor to cultured pride in making the Divine impersonal, Christianty took a proportional view that avoided these extremes. God was not for the Christian the impersonal intelligent World-Soul imagined by the 4lite of Greece and Rome, but an independent Being subsisting in a rational nature as we subsist in ours without any of the deficiencies that cling to human selfhood and its powers of intelligence and will. The mannish notions of personality all fade away and cease to trouble, when the term is proportionally understood. The progress which the religion of Christ made in history over all the ancient religions resulted in no small measure from its purified reassertion of per- sonality, both human and Divine". (Mark the expression, "reassertion"), "What the affirmation of human personality meant to society at large may be readily conjectured from the fact that in the Roman Law, it was only by the sufference and condescenscion of the state, — by a /ictio juris, iii other words — , that an individual might be called a person. The idea that he is an independent subject of right did not exist until Christianity pro- claimed it". The Doctrine op Triple Personality, or the Divine Trinity If then the idea of absolute moral Subject, hazy at the best of times, was so phenomenally bedimmed during the time of the historic appear- ance of the Messiah, it is needless to remind ourselves how hopeless it is to search for any supposed "tri-unities" as even the most remote source for the greatest mystery in the Godhead. In the summaries of our first and fifth chapters, we had given the principal reasons why such a derivation must be for ever ruled out, however suggestive of a past revelation on this subject the so-called triads may be taken to be. Such a revelation, if in- deed it was ever made in full and explicit form, had for ages been for- gotten, and the Platonic "threes" of the philosophers have nothing in com- mon with the entirely new revelation of three consubstantial Persons. It is this sublime mystery which cuts the trinitarian invocations to God clear from all the preceding rites, and which gives the one transcending element to the whole of the Christian ritual. If the formula is new and supernatural, the rites must be so also, and thus the various prehistoric medicines do not give birth to the Seven Sacraments, but are rather superseded by them. The fact is, their entire content has changed, even if forms are externally similar. No washings in the Jordan could of their own accord give the penitent the faculty of seeing God face to face, much less of sharing the life of the Blessed Trinity, — ^we are moving in a super- natural plane. EPILOG 599 THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY The Doctrine op Personal Incarnation and Sacrifice And when we came to the great central fact of human history, it is surely high time to realise, that the much-talked-of "incarnations" of deity are but clumsy fabrications of an aberrant mind, even if we must look upon the idea itself as ultimately traceable to a superhuman source. In the words of our author, "The disdain felt for primitive religious notions by the cultured folk of Greece and Rome accounts for the odd fact that the best of their philosophers never probed the idea of personality, never undertook to clear it up. Even those who spoke of God as person had no definite notion of what personality is. The Supreme Self-Conscious Intel- ligence meant to them self-consciousness at most. The relation existing between intelligence or self-consciousness on the one hand and personality on the other was never explicitly worked out." "Then as now, the pride of men prevented them from seeing that a primitive religious idea might be right in principle, however much wrong and crude it may have been in the interpretations it received. So far was this disdain of the primitive carried, so repugnant had the idea of a personal First Cause be- come, that intermediaries of all sorts, — semi-divine beings or de- miurges — , were invented, to whom the unseemly work of creating and providing was entrusted, while the Supreme Intelligence monopolized its beatific life, without a thought of mortals". (The italics are ours.) It would be difficult to propound this subject in more clear or emphatic terms than are here expressed. And while this applies primarily to the days of the Graeco-Roman decadence, we have seen that even Mithras of old was at most an "angel of light", while the Memra as applied to the Messiah was hardly more than a figurative "word". The same of the logos of Alexandria and the asha of Indo-Persia. They are one and all steeped in the naturalism of timqs to which they belong, and though un- doubtedly illuminative and to some extent prophetic, there is an infinite gulf which separates these creatures of human fancy from the Savior of the world. For the first time in all history, the human is assumed by the Divine, it is not merged into it. The Doctrine of Personal Participation in the Divine Life And from this it will follow that the communication of the fruits of this sacrifice must by the same logic be consigned to a category far transcending that of any ordinary "giving" of the divine. The strange sensations acquired in the "love-feast", must be separated once and for all from that unique fruition of the Divine Presence which is in the exclusive gift of the Blessed Sacrament. While a mystical union with one or many divinities is for the most part provable, a direct personal union with the Author and Giver of Life, though ever desired, is ever mysteriously delayed,— the Soma is "Mazda-made", it is never Mazda Himself! 600 PREHISTORIC RELIGION THE TRANSCENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY The Analogies Disappear in the Overwhelming Differences And thus the natural similarities between all religions are drowned in the impassible ocean of the supernatural. "The transcendence of the Christian idea of union with God", continues our author, "is not sur- prising. We should be led to expect as much from the exceptional character of all the distinctively Christian ideas. No man can point out in the faith Christ taught a single religious conception that was not ele- vated and transformed by its contact with His person. Jewish Messian- ism, pagan ideas of union wih the Divine, baptism, rebirth, penance, or what not else, received from His lips a meaning they had never known before." Again, — "A new religion, basing itself on the distinct, special, and revealed relation of man's union with God on the mutual plane of per- sonality, raised to the dignity of friendship, would naturally repeat, in ex- pressing itself, many of the rites, devotions, and practices of religions based on the general relation of creature to Creator. The expression of supernatural religion would thus result in resemblances to the natural religions it had transcended, transformed and overcome." This is as plain a statement as can well be made of the ];nutual proportions of identity and difference to be expected in the two systems. The Apotheosis While it is evident that a complete treatment of this subject would ex- ceed the limits of the present volume, the revealed picture of the divine life that is promised, should be our final criterion in estimating the im- passable chasm that separates the Old from the New. To "be" or to "live" with the Father in heaven is indeed a very natural, however "mannish" desire among the most primitive peoples that we know of. It may even be traced in obscure outline in those later yearnings for the divine "friend- ship" which seem to be implied in some of the rituals. But it is a far cry from the hope to its realization. No pre-Christian cult, however ex- alted, ever possessed that supernatural impetus which of its own power could effect a direct vision of God face to face, the seeing of the Heavenly Father in His own incommunicable Glory. And it is this which is the final and transcending feature of the entire dispensation of grace. It is not simply to know and to love the Creator, but to be the personal sharers in His Divine Nature, to "see Him even as He is". In the words of the Apostle, — "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in His name". "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, even as the only- begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth". (John, 1, 10-14.) INDEX A, primitive allness, all-water, 84, 87. Ab-Toot, for father-notion, XII, 8, 19, 25. 30, 31, SO, S3, 87 (=/4-o, Sumerian AU- I-ather), 99 (,=A-bu, Semitic All-Father). Comp. 163 (Sum. ab-ba, father-ocean), 436 (Sum. abu, father of vegetation). Also 239, 360, S38ff. Aba-angui, Brazilian deity, S3, S7, 538. Aba-langi, Father-in-Heaven, 30. Aba-lingo (Balingo), Borneo, 25, 26. Aba-yaka-la-langit, East Indies, 240. Abba-Father, Hebrew Invocation, 575. Abe-yehu-mulungu, Central Africa, SO. Abel, as primitive "son," (ablu), 436, 441, 480; as Messianic hero, ibid, and 315. Abjuration of sin, 34, 39flf. 363-384ff. Ablutions, ceremonial, 319ff. 388flF. Abortion, rare among primitive peoples, XXXVIII-XL. Later common, 353, SS4ff. Abraham, as Hebrew-Babylonian, 101, 280, 369, 566, "father of light, power." Absolution, from witchcraft, 322, 329, 337, 342, 344, 346, 348, 350, 352, 354, 358, 359, 363, 376ff. Sacramental, 401-402. Absorption, personal, 350fSf. 471, 493fl. Abstention-idea, see under Taboo. Abstraction, power of, XXX-XXXIII. Abu, Semitic "father", see under Ab. Abuda, Ancient One, Aru Islands, 31. Accadian, primitive Semitic, 163, 3S9ff. Acclimatisation, VIII, XLII, 231ff. Ad-Toot, for father, man, master, XIII, 27, 30, 84, 91, 101, 139, 140, 164, 167, 172, 213, 214, 218; 241, 435flF. Adad, Assyrian god, 97-100, 361-362. Adam, Adamu, Adapa, (Sumerian), 164, 213, 435, 436, (Semitic), 103, 172, 218, 242, 441; reducible to "father," "genera- tor". Adat, moral law, 239, 259, 465. Adja, Adjam-Garh, India, see under Ad. Adja and Djaja, primitive pair, 139, 201, 241. Adonai, (Cryptogram), 101, 407. Adonis-cult, see under Tammus. Adultery, rare in early times, punishable with death, XXXV-XL, 4, 10, 18, 20, 28, 34, 39, 41, 44, 46, SO, 56, 60, 324flE. Adumbrations, 103-104, 132, 279, 313, 317, 370-371. 387fr. S93f!. Aer-Aether, Phoenician principle, 170. Aeshma, Persian "Death-Fury", 176. Aetas, of the Philippines, VI, XII, XIX, XXI, XXXV, XXXIX, 21, and see under Anito. Affection, parental and filial, XXXVIIff. Affinity, totemic, XLIV, 64, 152, 158, 350, 471. Africa, VII, XII, XIX, XXII, XXXVI, and see under Akkas, Bantus, Bushmen. African Rite, sacrificial, 343, 353. Ages of man, III-V, XLI-LXVIII. Agglutination, in language, XI-XII. Agnosticism, 65-77. Refutation of, 121-132, 583. Agrarian Rites, 349, 351, 353, 356, 361, 366flF. Agriculture,- foreshadowed in primitive times, 315, 345, 436, 441 (vocation ol Cain). Ahura-Masda. Persian "Life-Lord", 105, and see under Persia. Ainos, of Japan, an ethnic puzzle, XX. Air-Spirit, (Luftgeist), 30, 43, 84, 91, 144 336. Airyana-Vejah, Persian Paradise, 108, 219. Ak-voot, for power, XII, 27, 29, 30, SO, 54, 240. Aka-Buluh, Bow-Bamboo, Indonesia, XIV. Akem-Manah, Persian "Hate", 107, 176. Akkas. VII, XII, XIX, XXII, XXXII, XXXVI, 47, 145, 204, 263, 343, 468, SOdflf. Al-root, for light, heaven, clouds, XII, 27, 30, 71, 84, 97, 240. For power, destiny, lOlfl. Alacalufs, see under Fuegian primitives. Alcheringa, Australian "Dream-Time", 71, 155, 211. Allah, Islamic "God", 47, 101, 226. Comp. Al, Ilu, El. Allegorism, Prolog, 8. Text, 249. Alluvium, 82, 232ff. (interglacial). Alphabet, beginnings of phonetic, 83-91S. Altar, primitive, 245, 331, as "table of the gods", 360, as sacred stone, 370, as mercy- seat, 371. Altjira, Australian High-One, 71, 155, 2U, 268, 363. Am-root, for father-mother, XII, 19, 25, 27, 30. Sumerian A-ma, Semitic Am, Ummu, Mummu, 85 il. Hence for water, ocean, ibid. See also 239, 363, 538, and under Ma. Ama, Amei, simple forms, ibidem. Amaka, Great Father, Borneo, 25, 27, 30. Amazonian primitives, VIII, XIX, XXIII, XXXVI, XL, 53, 147, 206, 264, 428, 469. Amazonian Rite, sacrificial, 345. Amba, to make. Central Africa, SO. Ameretatat, Persian "Immortality", 107. America, as a separate province, IV, XLVI, as a dependency of Asia, XLIII-LV, LIX- LXVII, as anthropologically recent, XVI. See also under North America. American Aborigines, IV, VIII, XII, XIX, XX, XXII, XXVIfiE. XXXVI. XL, XLIII, LIXff. Amesha-spentas, Persian spirits, 107, 176. Ammon-Ra, Egyptian god, 91flF. 167. Amulets, 3, 9, IS, 24, 43, 44, 47, 49. 54. S7, 64, 66, 69, 72, 76, 88, 95, 100, 113, 122, 146, 204ff. 320, 326, 327, 332, 333ff. 412. Amurru, land of the West, 274. An-root, for wind, air, heaven. XII, 21, 30, 83, 85, 106, 112, 138, 149, 161, 182flE. Anaphora, in sacrifice, 414b. Anatomy, see under Anthropology. Ancestor-worship, not the origin of theism, XLIII, LXVII, 3, 4, 18, 20, 22, 28, 30, 32, 39, 42, 44, 46, SO, 57, 59, 90, 122, 525. Andaman Islands, VI. XII, XIX, XXVI, XXXII. XXXV, XXXVIII, 13, 137, 199, 257, 325, 423, 463, 504, 509, 512, 523, S31. Andqmanese Rite, sacrificial, 325. Angels, as wind-spirits, see under An. Compare also 3, 9, 17, 23, 27flf. (partly confused -with malignant agencies). Also 134fl. (in creation), 165 (Babylon- ian), 174 (Hebrew), 176 (Persian), 216 (Assyrian). Notion originally pure, 522, 541; later corrupted, 548. Fairly uni- versal, 585, i INDEX Angra-Mainyu, Persian Evil Spirit, 107, 176. inimism, not primitive, XLIIIff. LVII, LXIII, LXVIIIff. Also 4, 6, 16, 20, 22, 28, 32, 33, 39, 40-46, SO, S7ff. Strong in recent times, 88, 96ff. Not the origin of the idea of God, 127, 536. As a life- philosophy, SS9-S62. As "immanence of life", 587. Anito, Philippine deity, 21, 138, 200, 331, 446, 513, and see under Aetas. Ansar, Babylonian deity, 85, 161, 192, 435. Antarctic Races. VIII, XIX, XXVII. Antediluvian "kings" or patriarchs, 43Sff. Anthropology, physical, XV-XXIV. Anthropomorphism, primitive, LXVIII, 6, 12, IS, 19, 26, 29, 30, 36, 40, and- passim. Responsible for "suffering" and "dymg" gods, 317, 400, otherwise harmless, 541, 584. Antu, for wind-spirit, 7, 25, 112, 333, 537. Anu, Babylonian Heaven-God, 83-90 and passim under Babylonia. Anutu, for World-Soul, 182. Anyambie, African "Maker", 48, SO. Ap-Toot, for fatherhood, see under Ab. Apocalyptic Signs, 185-186, 223, 283-290. Their consummation in the future life, 486. Apophis, (Apap), Egyptian serpent, 215, 275, 440. Apotheosis, of chiefs, 3, 37, etc. Cannot account for the notion of God, 535£E. Supernatural Apotheosis, 500, 600. Apoyan-Tachu, Father-Slqr, N. America, 180. Appa-Amma, father-mother, Ceylon, 19. Apsu, Babylonian Father-Water, 85, 161, 435. Persian equivalent, Apsa, 106. Apu-Kayan, Paradise, Borneo, 139, 201, 239. Apu-Lagan, Cloudland, Borneo, 139, 201, 465. ^r-root, for earth, see under Aruru. Ara-Irik, bird-spirits, Borneo, HI, 178. Arabia, as Paradise-land, 232. Arallu, Babylonian Hades, 90, 104, 479. Aramaic, word-forms, (,el and Hut), 97. Aramaiti, Persian "Energy", 107, 176. Ararat, as "highland of Armenia", 435, 443. Archangels, see under Angels. Architecture, rise of, V-VIII, XLIII-LXI. Arctic Races, XVI, LV, LXII, LXVIII. Aristocracy, natural, IX, XLIII, 323, 329, 337, 342S. Artificial, XLVIII, 378, 382, (caste-system, Hindoo, Polynesian). Ark of the Covenant, 371. Ark of Noah. Prolog, 5, 8. Text, 435, 443ff. Arrow-dance, Ceylon, 328. Arrows, see under Bow and Arrow. Art. prehistoric, XXX, LVI, 119, 149-150, 159-160, 182-183, 216, 435, 442, and passim. Aru Islands, 31, 141, 202, 260, 466. Arunta-tribe, see under Australia. Aruru, as Mother-Earth, 85, 164, 214, 436. Aryan Race, Prolog, 10. Text, 105-106, 108-110, 175, 219-220, 291-298, 373-380, 445, 487. As-root, for fire, thunder-fruit, 7, 149, for life-mystery, 182, 336. Asgard, Germanic Olympus, 220. Asha, Persian "Truth", 107, 176. As the Mazdaean "logos", but not a unique "son", 291. Ashur. Assyr. "Lord", 97ff. and see under Assyria. Asia, as the cradle of mankind, XVI, XXIII, LIX-LXVII, 231-233, 457, S03fF. Ask and Embla, Old Norse Adam and Eve, 177. Assatu, for Life-mystery, 182. Assyria, 89, 97-100, 169, 216, 277-278, 359- 364, 435-440, 479-482, 557-570. Astrology, unknown in early times, XLIII, 6, 16, 20, 28, 31, 34, 40, 42, 46, 50, 57«f. Prominent in later ages, XLVIIIf!. 83, 183, 273-274 (Tables of Destiny), Jewish, 285-290, Persian, 294-295, Eschat- ological, 482. At-root, see under Ad. Atanua, Polynesian "Dawn", 178, 300. Atea-Tane. Polynesian "Light", ibidem. Atheism, practically unknown, 122ff. 594. Atiustakawa, "Our Father in all places", N. American Pawnee, 116, 574. Atlantis, lost continent, 233. Atonement, see under Sacrifice, Expiation. Atum-Ra, "Father-Sun", Egypt, 91, 167, 275, 366, 435, 440, SS7, 561 ff. Augury, see under Divination. Australia and Australian Aborigines, IV, VIII, Xllff. Physique, XVII, XXII, XXX. Morality, XXXVI, XL, 41. Culture, ibid, and XLVI, LI, LVI, LXIXflF. Australian Primitive Zone, 37- 46, 142-144, 203, 261-262, 341-342, 427, 467. Evidence of priority, S0S-S07. Totemic Zone, (Aruntas, etc.), 71-74, lSS-156, 211, 268, 353-3S4, 475, 545-556. Australian Rite, primitive, 342, later, 353. Austro-asiatic culture, LXVIII, language, 2, 62, and passim. Austronesian, identical with Oceanic, q. v. Authenticity, of reports, XXV, 509-510, of traditions, XXVIII, 511-514. Authority, paternal, see under Patriarchate, maternal, see under Matriarchate. Authority in divine faith, 582. Avaetat, Persian "Dejection", 107, 176. Awitelin-Tsitu, Pueblo "Mother-Earth", 180. Awiten-Tehulnakwi. "Womb of the World", ibid. Awona-kawa. see under Wonekau, New Guinea. Awonawilona. Pueblo "High-Father". IIS. ISOff. Axe. see under Implements. Ayer and Tanah. as "water" and "earth", 5, 136, 198. Bo-root, to make, cut, divide, XII, 8, 25- 30 (Ba-lingo. Pa-lingo), 37-41, 142, (Baiame). Sumerian bd. bad. bar. 83. l^^'A^^lJ^' ^^^' Assyrian banu. 85 99, 161-163. 169, 212-214, etc. Hebrew bara. 102, as chiseling(?) 172. Baal, of Canaan, see under Bel. Babbar, Sumerian Sun-god, 213 (^sbar- bar). Ba. Egyptian soul-double, 96, 483. Babbboh. sacred, 134r 146, 196, 205; 225. Babel. Tower of, 439-440, 444, 448. Babylonia. XLII, XLIX, LXVI, 81-90, 161-166, 213, 273, 359, 435, 479fr. INDEX Babylonian Rite, 359-364. Babylonian Zodiac, 183-184ff. Bacchic mysteries, 379, 395. Baiame, Australian "Creator", 37-41, 142, 203, 261, 341, 467flE. Bakairi, see under Amazonian Primitives. Bakatans, Orang Ukit, see under Borneo. Balance of Truth, Egyptian, 483. Bali, soul-mystery, Borneo, 26, 139, 334. Balingo, Thunder-god, Borneo, 25, 139. BoJjo-raft, XLIIl, LVI, 79. Balut-lValut, primitive pair, 9, 135, 197. Bamboo, Age of, V-VIII. Mystical, 3, 9ff. Ban, of witchcraft, see under Absolution. Banana, as tree of death, 5, 11, 196-198, 201, 224. Sacrificed, 23, 31ff. Banita-bongas, India, 152, 189. Bantus, 67, 153, 210, 267, 351, 473, and see under Africa. Baptism, Christian Sacrament of, com- pared with prehistoric ablutions, 388ff. Bark-canoe, IV, LXVIIff. Baru, divination, 88, priest, 273, 363. Bat-tree, Australian, 203, 225. Batara, Dayak "Lord", Borneo, 111, 178, 299. Batwas, see under Negrillos, Bushmen. Bau, Babylonian goddess, 83, 272. SayoA-ceremonies, Borneo, 334S. Beads, see under Rosary. Beatific Vision, beyond the natural powers of man to attain, 499-500. Beatitude, see under Life Eternal. Beauty, physical, of primitive man, XXIfl. Beehive-hut, LI, LXI. Beelzebub, Canaanitish god, 407. Behistun-mscTvgtion, trilingnial, 106. Bel, Babylonian "Lord", "Sumerian En-lU, 84-90, 162-166, 214, 271, 273, 360, 437ff. Benediction, triple Jewish, 104. Bethlehem, Star of, 251, 285-290. Bibliography, general, XXV-XXVII. Biology, I, XV-XXIV, LXXI, 231, 456, 503flf. Birth-ceremonies, 319, 325, et per cap. Blasphemy, as cause of the deluge, 518. Universally deprecated, 580. Blood-throwing, 3, 11, 27, 321, 335ff. Blood-brotherhood, Borneo, 27, 335. Blood-revenge, post-paradisaic, 441. Blowpipe. V-VIII, LVI, 11. Patterns, 25. Boat, evolution of the, LVIff. Bone-pointing, 320, 342, 354flF. Bonga, see under Sin-Bonga. Boomerang-culture, LI-LII, LVI, 53. Sofo-Initiation, Australia, 39, 341. Borneo, VII, XII-XIV, XIX, XXI, XXIII, XXVII, XXXV, XXXIX, 25, 139, 201. As a part of the lost continent, 233S. Also 259, 333, 425, 465. Bornean Rite, sacrificial, 334-336. Bororos, Botokudos, see under Amazons. Borsippa, tower-inscription, 439. Bow and Arrow, evolution of, LVIfif. Bow-culture, Melanesian, L, LVIIflf. Brahminism, an Aryan-Dravidian com- pound, 109, 177, 220, 297, 377-378, 445, 488. Brazil, see under Amazonian Primitives. Bruwa, as Indonesian "breath", spirit, 7, 27. Buddhism, see under Brahminism, also 413. Bull-boat, North-American craft, XLIV. Bull-roarer, as a religious instrument, LII, LVI, largely magical, LXVIII, 43, 54, 341, 427. Bullimah, Australian Paradise, 142, 467. Bundjil, Australian god, as star, 42, as creator, 143, associated with the Bat- tree, 203, father of Binbeal, 262. Bundle-canoe, LI, LVI, 79, and see Balsa. Burial Rites, XLIII, LVIflE. 324, 326, 330, 332, 338, 340, 342, 344, 346, 348, 350, 352, 354, 358, 364, 368, 372, 374, et per cap. Also 403, S29ff. Buru-Bonga, as an Indian germ-god, 61, 63, 152, 160, interpreted by Malabar rites, ibid. Buru-Mystery, specimens of a, 61ff, and 349, 351, 353fl. Bushmen, as South-African negrillos, VIII, XIX, XXVI, XXXVI, 51, 146, 205, 263, 344, 428, 468. Bushman Rite, sacrificial, 344. Cabala, Jewish mystical philosophy, 185, 223. See also under Astrology, and 285, 486£F. Cain, as "maker", Sumerian ka-du-:= Assyr. qana-ku, to "impress", Assyr. kanu, to make fast, Sumer. aka=iAssyr. banu, workman, Hebrew qayin, smith, 436, 441, 480, and see under /Co-root. As institutor of first-fruit sacrifice, 102, 315, 370. As outlaw (mark of Cain) 430, 457. California, 79, and see under North- America. Canaan, Canaanites, 359, 371. Curse of, 444. Cannibalism, not primitive, XXXVII-XL, and passim. Belongs to late-glacial times, LVII, 554. Canoes, see under Bark-canoe, Bull-boat, Bundle-canoe, Dug-out, Plank-boat. Carving, bone and wood — , XLIV, LI, LXVII. Caste-system, Hindoo, 109, 378. Poly- nesian, 382. Cataclysms, geological, 453-456. Catacombs, findings in the, 185, 295, 415. Catastrophe, diluvial, 453-456. Catholic Church, pioneer of archaeology, XXV. Catholic Revelation, how far supported by archaeology, Prolog, 4-14, Epilog, 575fl. and in dicursu. Catholicity, of divine faith, 581. Caucasian race, XVI, XX, LVII, 81, 444ff. Cause, idea of First, 127-131, 521, 538fr. Cave and windshelter, as earliest "home", V-VIII, LVI. Cave-ritual, 320ff. et per cap. Cave-fauna, 455. Caverns, palaeolithic, XLVII, 61, 160. Celebes, see under Toalas, Toradjas. Censer, as coconut-shell, 322-324. Ceramics, see under Pottery. Ceremonial, see under Sacrifice. Certainty, of divine faith, 127-132, 539, 578. Ceylon, see under Veddas, Sinhalese. Chains, Jewish sacred, 413ff. Chaldaea, see tmder Babylonia. Chalice, precursors to, 361ff. Christian, 414b. Change, as falsely applied to Divinity, 586. Chant, primitive five-tone, XIV, 242. Chaos, primitive, 161-164, 167-168, 171, 177fr. INDEX Charity, of primitives, see under Philan- thropy. Charms, see under Magic, Amulets. Chastity, high price placed upon, XXXV- JCL., 41. Chiefs, as natural "headmen", IX, as hereditary, XLIV, as priest-kings, XLVIIIff. Children, treatment of, XXXVII-XL, and see under Birth-ceremonies, Infanticide, Child-race's, of man, XXIII-XXIV. Chimpanzee, feared by the Akkas, SO. China. XXVIII, XLIX, LXVI, 109, 177, 220, 298, 377, 446, and see under Mon* golian races. Chinigchinich, Californian deity, 79-80. Christ, divinity of, how far supported by prehistoric data, Prolog, 1-14. As the fulfillment of prophecy, 185-186, 223, 279, 290. As the hope of the gentiles, 295, 296. As the One Light of the World, 313. As the One all-sufficient Sacrifice, 400, 414b. As opening the Holy of Holies to all mankind, 486. Also 593- 600, Epilog. Christian idea of beatitude, 499.500. Christian idea of sacrifice, 315-318, 394-400, 414b, 415-418. Christianity, transcendence of, 593-600. Christology, essential points, 283-284. Chronology, prehistoric, LVI, 435ff. Church, institutional, 581-583. Circumcision, XLV-XLIV, LVI, 68, 252, 349, 351, 353, 355, 365. As sacred seal, 369, 390. Clans, primitive, IX, LVI, 315, 457. C/ow-culture, IX, LIII, LVII, 74, 3S2ff. Developed from clan-groups, 458. Clay architecture, 82, 361. Clergy, see under Priesthood. Climate, VIII, XV-XVI, XLII, LVI, 232, 455. Clothing, V-VIII, XLIII, XLVIII, LV, LVI, LXII, and compare 242, 315fr. Clubs, LVI, LX. Stone, 341, 356. Coconut-palm, 10, 20. As "tree of life", 198, 200, 201, 210, 210-216 (?), 224, 235, 244. Coconut-sacrifice, Ceylon, 327-328. Coffins, see under Burial-rites. Collectivism, in culture, XLIff. 123ff. Colonial Age, 435, 458. Color, of primitives, see Anthropology. Comb, magic, 3, 6, 9, 24, 320. Communion, with supernatural beings, see under Sacrifice and Sacramentals, Com- munion "of the Body of Christ", 397, 407, 414b, 418, 590, 599. Communism, IX, 42. Not normal, 528. Community, primitive, IX-X, XXXIV-XI, 238, 319, 457, 525-529, S41-544flf. Comparative Criticism, 120-132, 187-194, 223-240, 303-314, 387-418. 449-458, 491- 500, and see Summary, passim. Comparative Religion,^ Prolog, 15. XXV. Confession, as nuinifestation of virtue, chiefly negative, 322, 363, 367, 372, 376, 401-402. Sacramental, 40^. of personal sin. Confirmatii)n, Sacrament of, 392-393. Conjugal .fidelity, see under Marriage. Conjuration, of spirits, 88, 165, 2Zl, 327. 330, 331, 333ff. 349, 359flF. Continuity, of culture. III, XLIff., of All- Father notion, 122ff. 559ff., of divine faith, Prolog, 12-13, Text, 582ff. Contrition, see under Sorrow. ^lTx?ril'l!?2f 5"ot5l^'. ^"^' '^^' ^"' Conversion, of savages, XXXII, 253, 577, Cooking, see under Food. Corn, Mother, 77, 93, 116, 212, 222, 228, as Osin^ sacrificed, 366, as "Mother" in Pueblo Corn-Dance, 383. Cosmogony, see under Creation. ^ Counting, primitive finger-, XIII. Courtship, see under Marriage ^T9r428,l25! W' ""'• '''• '"'• Craniotomy, XLIX, 124, 354, 552. Creation 133-194. As universal "making", 5^1. Requires infinite power, 522. Ex- pressed by Ba, Ka, Ak, q. v. Cremation, not primitive, LVI, 324, 338ff 403 404"°*^'^'^** ^'* metempsychosis. Crime, rare among primitives, XXXVIII- A.Lf, Cross, Latin, oldest sj-mbol of the human race, 1, 7, 19, 25, 37, 47, 53, 129, 149. Developed into the Swastika, 182ff. Bornean bamboo cross, 25, 335. Bush- man triple cross, 47, 244. Christian Sign ?Jc ,L9f,°,"' '*"■ Trinitarian symbol, loo, loo, 411. Crown, as bamboo diadem, 25, as Melan- ?5'r?"«,'^?r°,"' JJ' =^ totemic head-gear, 349, 351 353, 355. As Babylonian turban 361 as Egyptian diadem, 365, as Hebrew and Persian emblem, 370-371, 375, as Christian mitre, 380, as Messianic orna- ment, 486. Crucifixion, as a form of sacrifice, 298 399 as the punishment of malefactors 'ibid' 414b """^ in the Cross of Calvary) Crystals, magic, 377, 342, 354. Crystal- gazing, 412. Crystal-throwing, 354. Culture, as a criterion of age, I-VIII, ?,?^,V. XXVIII. As a scientific system (Kulturkreis), XLI-LXXII, 120-126, 592. and passim. ^%K'a «^''??; **T drinking-vessel, Vff. 320, 334-335, 343. Leaf-cup, ibid. 430. Coco- nut-cup, 328. Horn-cup, 349flF. Stone or clay-cup, 361 ff. Passover-cup, 370. 414b Christian Chalice, 414b. ' C«^-sacrifice, 381, 383. ^A;f^:;lh?°''y. see under Kulturkreis, XLI- Cyclograms, 6111. lS9ff. £>o-root, for blood, life, offspring, Mai. dara, XII, 30. Sumerian da, dam, dim, dumu. S7S. 163-164, 213. Assyr. damu 162, 173, Hebr. dam, 173. Compare' damkina, dingir, dumu, below. Dadi, Assyrian god,=/irforf, 97-100, 361. Damkina, Assyrian goddess,=7jA/ar. q. v. Damnation as eternal loss, 253, 312, 4SS, 4"o. Dance, arrow-, 328, blood-, 344, buffalo-. 357, 477, corn-, 383, sun-, 357. Dandanu, Assyrian "Ahnigh^', 99. INDEX Daramulun. Australian thunder-god, 43, 74, 144, 300, 341, SlSff. (etym. one-legged, 300). Darwinism, Prolog, 4. Text, XVI, 459. Date-palm, as tree of life, 228, 244. Day and Night-theme, in creation, 171fr. 192. Daya, Malayan "man", dayang, Mai. "woman", 241. Dayaks, see under Borneo. Dayong, Bali-, Heavenly Medicine-Man, Borneo, 334. Death, as natural, 32, as the result of witchcraft, 197, 205, 206, 213ff. as the result of sin, ibid, and 218, 249, 251, 523flE. Death-ceremonies, see under Burial-rites. Dedication, as "offering up", 315, as Baby- lonian kadistu, kadiltutu, 165ff. Deformation, of infants, etc., not primitive, 124. Degeneration, from primitive times, I- XXIV (physical), XXIX-XXXIII (men- tal), XXXIV-XL (moral). Compare 125, S4Sff. and passim. Deification, see under Apotheosis. Deism, not primitive, 122-124, 239ff. SlSff. Delegation, natural, 405, divine, 407. Delights, Palace of eternal, 27, 201, 465. Deluge, Babylonian, 435ff. Biblical, 443ff. Demiurge, in creation, 133ff. 187, 194, 521, 599; in the scheme of redemption, 254, 312ff. Distinct from Divine Messiah, ibidem, and 591. Democracy, as collateral form of primitive government, IX, XLIII, LVI. As weak form, 568. Demonism, accompanies every form of pre- Christian belief, 4, 10, 11, 21, 46, 87ff., but is more prominent later, ibid, and 23, 49, 329, 359. Destiny, Babylonian tables of, 273-274. Devil, as primitive serpent, see Serpent. Dignity, of man, Prolog, 1. Text, 593. Diluvium, diluvial man, XXIX-XXX, 232, 430, 435. Dingir, Sumerian "deity", perhaps "life- power", 83-84ff. As digiru, dimmeru, 101. See tin-gir. Div-root, Aryan, to shine, 105, 110. Hence: Divine, Divinity, see under God. Divination, from bird-flights, 28, 88, 335, from entrails, 88, 100, 362, from the evil eye, 88, from the magic crystal, 412, from the stars, 273-274 (Babylonian), 285-290 (Jewish), 294-295 (Persian). Belongs to animistic religion, XLVIII-XLIX, 561, 587. Condemned in the Torah, 102. Division, Age of, 435ff. Comp. 315. Divorce, rare in early times, XXXIV-VI, 124, 408, 528. Not so later, 409, 5S4ff. Djadja, for "woman", 27, 30, 139, 201, 239. Doctor, see under Medicine, Priesthood. Dogmatic propositions, on the knowledge God, natural and supernatural, Prolog, 1-2. Dogmatic theology, as the ultimate norm of supernatural truth, 576ff. Dominion, Babylonian palu, 165ff. Double, philosophy of the, Egyptian, 95-96. Dragon, as cosnlic power, Indian, 61, 161ff. African, 67, 153, Australian, 71, North- American, 75, in general, 159. Baby- lonian, 85, 161, 183, 271ff., Egyptian, 215, 275, Persian, 176, 219, Chinese, LXVI. As personal tempter, see under Serpent. Dreams, faith in, originally weak, 4, IS, 22ff. Later stronger, S3, 77, 80, 116. Not the source of theism, 127, 536. Con- demned in the Old Law, 102. Dress, evolution of, XLIII-LVIIff. Druj, Persian "Falsehood", 107, 176. Dualism, Andamanese, 13, Tasmanian, 45, Fuegian, 59, Persian, 107, 175. Phoenic- ian, 170. See also 517ff. 558ff. Dug-out, solid canoe, VI, XLIVff. LVII. Dumu-zi, Sumerian "Son of Life", 213, 278, 480, and see under Tammuz. Dush-Kshathra, Persian "Anarchy", 107, 176. Dwelling, evolution of the, XLIII-LVIff. E-A. Sum. "House of Water", Babyl. ocean-god, 84-88ff. and see under Baby- Ionia,=i;n-fci. E-kur, Sum. mountain-house, 86, 358, 360, 479. E-ur-imin-an-ki, house of seven founda- tions of heaven and earth, 439. Eabani, god-begotten, 85, 164, 214. Eagle, world-, 197, 250, war-, 356, -hawk, LIV. Ear-boring, 319, 334, 345, 349, 355. Earth-goddess, see under Aruru, Ishtar, Isis. East, aborigines of the far, V-XXIVff. East-Indian Primitives, ibid, and frontis- piece. Eclipse, as evil portent, 271. Edda, Scandinavian, 110, 177, 446. Eden, garden of, as "garden of pleasure", 217, as "garden in the east", ibid, and 23 Iff. as celestial paradise, 486. Egg, world-, 61, 65; 71, 92, 111, 119, 151, 159, 167, 170, 172, 177, 181. Consump- tion of, 349. Egypt, 91-96, 167-168, 215, 275, 276, 365- 368, 431, 435, 440, 456, 483-484, 5S7ff. Egyptian Rite, sacrificial, 365-368. El, Eloah, Elohim, divine names, 101-104, 575, and see under Hebrew-Palestinian. Elamitic, inscriptions, 106. Eleusis, Eleusinian Rites, 395, 488, 500. Elevation, of the sacred species, 414b. Emanation, see under Pantheism. Embalming, XLIVff. LVII, 358, 368, 372, 404. Embryo world-, see under Egg, world-, Embryological, traits, of primitives, XVIIff. Emu-totem, see under Australia. En-ki, Sum. "Lord of the Deep", 84ff.= E-a. En-lil, Sum. "Lord of the Air"=Sem. Bet, 84-90, 162-166, 214, 271, 273, 360, 437ff. En-martu, lord of the counsel, 165. En-me-dur-an-ki, antediluvian king, high- priest of heaven and earth, 435, 436. En-me-sar, lord of the decree, 165. En-pazag, lord of the sceptre, 165. En-ti, lord of life, 89. See under zi. En-zu, lord of wisdom, 84, 165, 213. Enchant^ forest, enchanted fruits, 201, 239. End of the world, see Life Eternal. Endogamy, primitive, 408, later, 409. Ennead, Egyptian, 91, 167, 275, 365, 435, 440. INDEX Enoch, biblical, translated patriarch, 104, paralleled by En-me-dur-an-ki, 435, 436, 441. Eoliths, the problem of, V-VIII, S07ff. Epicycle, as compound evolution-symbol, 158. Eridu, "city of happiness", Sum. nun-ki, Babylonian paradise, 86, 163-164, 212- 214, 436, 482. Ejfemo-culture, XXXI, LV, LXII. Esthetic culture, see under Art, Music, etc. Eternity, idea of, 516, see Life Eternal. Ethics, ideas of, see under Morality. Ethnology, of primitives, see Introduction. Eucharist, Holy, not derived from sadaka, 394, nor from totem-cult, 394, nor from Babylonian sukum, 395, nor from Egyp- tion, Eleusjmian, or Mithraic mysteries, 395-396, nor from Jewish funeral-feasts, 397, but directly from the Redeemer and proximately from the Passover-rite, 397. As sacrifice of the Mass, 414b. As "Breaking of Bread" in the Catacombs, 415. As participation in the Divine Life, 599-600. Euphrates, as paradise-river, 217, 231-232. Eurasia. LV, LVII, LXVIII, 81, 232, 456, 503. Europe, as a dependency of Asia, see Eurasia; as a dependency of Africa, III, XLVII, 231, 456, 503; not the original home of man, XV, 232, 503. Eve, "mother of life." Hebr. Chawah, 218, 241. Evolution, theory of, cannot account for primitive man, XV-XXIV, XXIX-XL, LIX, LXXI-II, 122flf. 237fr. 531-544. Must be taken in a very limited sense, see under Creation, 133fl. Exogamy, primitive, 408, later, 409. Exorcism, Expiation, see under Sacrifice and Sacramentals, 318, 322, 401flF. Extinction, of diluvial man, 449-456. Eye-symbol, LIV, 39, 159, 215, 275, 365, 483. Faith, divine, Prolog, 8-14, Epilog, 575-600. Falcon, as sacred bird, see under Hawk. Fall, of man, see under Paradise, 195flF. Family, primitive, IX-X, XXXIV-XL and passim. Fasting, LVI, 320, 325, 329, 333, 339, 341, 345flf, 370-372 (Jewish), in general, 525, 550, S66flF. Fatalism, see imder Divination. Father-mother-son, as primitive triad, XIII, 132, 304, 308, 309, 310, 313-314, 524. Father-Tio\ioTi, as basis of theistic idea, 122, 239, 313, 530, 538, 576fl. Father-right, see under Patriarchate. Fear, not the origin of the idea of God, 538 Feather-ornament, XLIII, LVI, 356, 382- 383ir. Fecundation, magic, 64ff. 114, 152ff. 178- 182, fecundation-ritual, 349, 351, 353, 356, 366, 383. Fecundity, Divine, 574, as inner mystery, 575. Females, see under Marriage, Womanhood. Fertilisation, see under Fecundation. Fetich, fetichism, see under Magic, Amulets. Fiddle, bamboo, VI, XIV, LIII, LXII. Figurine, carved, LVII, 25, 40, 82, 335, 382, SIS. Fiji-Islands, (Samoa), see under Poly- nesia. Filing, the teeth, 319, 331. Comp. Tooth- pulling. Finger-counting, XIII-XIV. Fire-making, V-VIII, XXIX, XLIIIfJ. LVI. Fire-worship, Babylonian, 359, Egyptian, 365, Persian, 373-374, North-American, 383-384. Fish, sjrmbolism of the, 184-186. Flood, traditions of the, 421-458. Flower-magic, 320, 334, 349, 351, 3S3, 383. Flute, bone or bamboo, LVI, 349, 353, 355. Foetus, foetal forms, XVII-XX, XXIII- XXIV. Font. 359, 369, 371, 377, 379, 385, 388fi. Food, V-VIII, XV, LVI, 123, 243. For- bidden, see under Paradise, Fasting, Taboo. Footwear, evolution of, LXII. Forgiveness, of sins, see Absolution. Form and Content, in religion, Prolog, 12- 13, Text, 387fiE. In language, XI-XII. Fossil, remains of man, II, XV, XVII-XIX. Fraternity, see under Philanthropy. Fruit, sacred, see under Paradise. Offer- ing of first-fruits, see Sacrifice, 320ff. Fuegian Primitives. VIII, XIX, XXVII, XXXVI, 58-59, 148, 208, 264, 347-348, 428, 470. Fusion, of cultures as fusion of ideas, XLI, LXIII-LXX, LXXII, 12, 16, 20, 22, 40, 43, 48, 51ff. 536, 540, and passim. Future life, see under Life Eeternal. Gabriel. "Strength of God", 166, 174. Gallu, as storm-demon, mighty one, 89. Garden of Eden, see under Eden. Geb, Egyptian "Earth", 91, 167. 275. Gehenna, Hebrew Hell, 485. Generation, in nature, demands efficient and final causes, 127-128. Genesis, of the world, etc., see Creation. Genetic power, identified with deity, XLIV-LVI, 61fr. 83ff. 125, 151, 161, 545ff. Genetic relation, of man to nature, ibid. and compare 471-478flE. Geography, prehistoric, 217, 232ff. Geology, XV, XIX, LVI, 173, 231-234, 453- 456. Germanic religion, 110, 177, 220, 446. Germ-god, notion of, 61ff. 125, ISlflf. Ghost-dance, XLIV, LIV, LVII, 76. Ghost-finder, India, 64, 350. Ghost-god, LIV, LVII, 90, 96, 110, 113, 120, 560. Not the origin of theism, 126-127, 536. Giants, prehistoric, as Nephilim. 443. Gilgamesh. post-diluvian Nimrod. 86, 164, 214, 435-439, 481-482. Gilgamesh-Epic ibid. Glacial-epoch, glacial man, II, XV, XVIII, XLIIIff. LVIff. 61-80, etc. 232, 453-456. Gnosticism, 291-294, 395, 445fif. God, known by natural reason, Prologr IS. Text, 127, 538, S76ff. Successive manifestations of the idea, 1-132. Not derived from animism, 536, nor from totemism, 537, nor from primitive magic. INDEX 537, but from father-notion as first cause, 538. As transcendence, S84, as imma- nence, 586-587, as symbolically manifested, S88ff. Gods, plurality of, see Polytheism. Goodness, of God, as transcendental at- tribute, 517-518, as intrinsic concept, 518, as reflected in nature, 129-130, in the morality of believers, 518, 580. Government, primitive, IX-X, 528, later, XLIVfl. LVIflf. 552, 556. Graduated scheme of development, LVI, 457-458. Graphic symbolism, 149-150, 159-160, 182- 186. See also 1-84, and passim. Grave, see under Burial-rites. Greeks, see under Aryan Race. Guarayo, Amazonian tribe, 57. Guardian, see under Angels, Totemism. Guayakuru, Amazonian tribe, 57. Gudea, patesi of Lagash, 83, 360-361, 364. Gun, air — , see under Blowpipe. Gymnastic Rites, 334, 339, 341, 343, 347, 349, 351, 353, 355, and see under Dance. Ha-Toot, for breath, life, existence, 240, 241. Sum. ha, (fish-symbol), he, hi, hegal, fertility, overflow, 213, 360, Assyr. ha-dad=za-dttd, storm-god, wind-spirit, 100, 362, Egyptian heper, 91, Persian ha- oma, 105, 219, Hebr. haiah, chaiah, hawah, chawah, 217-218, and see under Ka, Ta. Hades, underworld, 461-470, 479-490ff. Hall of truth, Egyptian, 483ff. Hammer, stone, VII, LVI, 506-507. Hammurabi, king of Babylon, 161, 183. Hand-silhouettes, XLVII (palaeolithic). Haoma, Persian life-plant, 105, 219, 374. Happiness, of primitive man, XXXVIII- XL, 237-245, 436, 441, 445, 457fr. Eternal, 459ff. Harp, primitive, 320flf; developed, 361 fl. Hasisatra, see under Utnapishtim, Ziud. Hatching-theme, see under World-Egg. Haurvatat, Persian "Health", 107, 176. Hawai, northern limit of ocean-tongue, XI. Hawk, Borneo, 27, 28, Australia, 43, Egypt, 94. Headgear, LVI-LVII, and see Crown. Health, XXI-XXII, 238, 271, 319, 337fif. Heart, Egyptian symbol, 91, 483. Heaven, see under Life Eternal. Hebrew-Palestinian, beliefs and practices, 101-104, 171-174, 217-218, 279-290, 296, 369-372, 387flf. 441-444, 485-486, 575ff. Hebrew-Palestinian Rite, sacrificial, 370. Hecatomb, Greek sacrifice, 110, 380. Helios, Greek sun-god, 375, 396. Hell, see under Life Eternal, passim. Hellenistic religions, 375, 379, 388fr. Heptagon, Sibittu-sign, Babylonia, 183. Hero-worship, see under Ancestor-worship. Hesperides, 220, 228, 232, Egyptian, 483. Hexahemeron, Hebrew, 171-173. Hierarchy) celestial, 85, 165-166, 174, 176, 183-186, sacerdotal, 363, 368, 372, 376flF. 583. Hieroglyphics, primitive, 149-150, totemic, 159-160, recent, 182-186, and see l-83ff. passim. Hindoo, Hindooism, see under Brahminism. Hindoo Rites, sacrificial, 377-378. History of man, see under Prehistory. Holiiuss, of God, see under Goodness. Holocaust, see under Sacrifice, 315ff. Homicide, XXXVIII-XL, 79, 324, 335, 349, 367, 377, 380, 382, 386. Also 441-442, 457, 539 Honesty, XXXVII-XL, 10, 26, 39ff. 539. Horn, buffalo-, 349, 351, 356-357. Horse, sacrifice of the, 380. Hospitality, XXXVIII-XL. Comp. 363, 378ff. Host, sacred, see under Eucharist. Hottentots, XXXVI, and compare 67S. House, evolution of the, V-VIII, XLI-LVIff. _ ,,, Human sacrifice. 349, 358, 367, 371, 377, 380-5. Humanity, practice of, XXXVIII-XL. Comp. 519. Huts, primitive, V-VIII, LVIflf. Hydrosphere, 173, 183, 222. Hyperboreans, see Arctic Races. Hypnotism, 245-248, 412. Not the medium of divine communications, ibid, and 536. /-root, for personally, Mai. i-ko, XII, Aus- trones. i-lai, i-laki, i-langi, (=zya-langi) , 29, Sum. i-a, (yo), to be, Assyr. i, i-a, pronominal suffix, 87, 99, 100. As Hebrew-Babylonian, I-a, {J a, Jau), see under Jahwe, Ilu; 101. Ice Age, II, IV, XV, XIX, XXIX-XXXI, XLVII, LVI-LVII, 61, 123, 232ff. 435- 436, 442, 450-456. Ideographs, see under Hierogljrphics. Idolatry, see under Nature-worship. Idu, Sum. see, know, 87, Ass. idu, 99, Heb. yadah, 217, (applied to the tree of knowledge). Igi, Sum. eye, see hence Anunaki and Igigi, Assyrian "heavenly spirits", 100. Iguanchi, Brazilian thunder-god, 53, 60. //, ila. Sum. high, see under .<4/-root, and compare En-lil (il-li-la?), high god, 83ff. Hi, Indian paradise-root, 151, 209. Ilu, Assyrian "Divinity", 97, 99-101, et per tot. opus. Not certainly identified with El, but collateral form, 101. Both go back to Al-Toot, q. v. Images, rarely used in primitive worship, 320-358, 515. Later common, 359-366ff. Immaculate Conception, to what extent foreshadowed in the past, 304-311, 314, to what extent revealed, 279-282, 309flF. See also 524, 594 (generaj statement). Immersion, see under Ablutions. Immolation, see under Sacrifice, — of God, confined to the One Redeemer, 317, 387fr. Immortality, see under Paradise, Life Eternal. Also 529, 553, 567. 594, 599-600. Implements, primitive, III-VIII, XLIII- LVIff. Also LIX-LXI, 123, 506-507. Incas, see under Pachacamac, Peru. Incantation, 349, 353, 359-363fI. 482flf. Incarnation, foreshadowed, 304-311, 313, prophesied, 279-290, 309fr. As all-trans- cending process, 314, 599-600. India, III-IV, VI, XII, XIV, XLV, LVI, LXVI, 61-66, 151-152, 209, as paradise- land, 232. Also 265, 349-350, 429-432, 471- 472. See under Persia, Brahminism, Hindoo-Rites. Indo-Germanic, see under Aryan Race. Indo-Kolarian, (Munda-Kol), see under India, 61-66, 151, 209, 265, 349-350. Indo-Kolarian Rite, 349-350. Indo-Oceanic, life-forms, XVI-XXIV. 231flF. Infanticide, etc., see Birth, Marriage. INDEX Infinite, idea of, not the first notion of God, 122, 516, S22, 538, S97ff. Initiation-rites, see under Sacrifice. Inspiration, of scripture, Prolog, 4-8, 14. Intelligence, see under Mentality. Invention, III-VIII, XIV. XXIX, XLIIIff. Iranian, see under Persia. Ishtar, Assyrian goddess, 97-100, 165, 183, 272, 277-278, 307, 310, 314, 363. Ishtar's descent into hell, 278, 479. Isis, Egyptian goddess, 91-94, 167, 275, 366, 440. Isles of the Blessed, 214, 231, 439, 482. la, (ya), for "one", personal "I", affirma- tive particle, XIII, 25, 29 (,ya-langi), Malakkan ya, (ye), 320, Sinhalese ya-ka, 327-329, Australian yatnbo, 536. Comp. I-a, Ja, Jau, alleged Babylonian god, 101. lakwe. Jehovah, Hebrew "I AM", 101-104, and see under /, la, Ja, Ya, existence- roots. Jakuns, Orang-Benua, see under Malakka. Java-ikMll, Pithecanthropus, XV, XVII, XIX. Jerusalem, destruction of, 282. Jewa-Jewa, mediator, Malakka, 12. Jewelry, as religious decoration, 363-364, 370-371, 412-414 (prayer-chains). Jews, see under Hebrew-Palestinian. Jhowen, Fuegian deity, 59. John, St., the hidden wisdom of, 185-186, 223, 284, 292, 486, 579, 600. Judaism, rejected by the Messiah, yields to pan-Aryan religion, 295-296. Judgment, see under Life Eternal. Juggernaut-Car, of Orissa, 564. Jungle-fruit, as taboo, 196-208, 209flF. Can- not be explained on natural lines, 244. Jupiter, planet of destiny (Shagmigar- Dumpauddu), 273-274. Conjoined with major planets, 289-290, also 251. As cosmic body, 162, 184, as week-day planet, 167, as connected with stage- tower, 439. Justice, see Government, Priesthood. Juvenile traits, in early man, XVII-XXIV. Ka-xooi, to make, cut, divide; hence for power, intensity, 30, 240, (inversion of Ak, q. v.). Sum. ka (ak), 163, 213, 360. Assyr. kfinu, fortify, 99, 274fl. Hebr. qin, forge, 436. Ka, Egyptian "double", 95-96, 215, 368, 483. Kaang, Bushman "Lord", 47, 51, 146, 205, 263, 344, 468, 534, {=ka-ang. master above.) Kadiltutu, Babylonian "Dedication", 165. Kamilaroi, see under Australia. Kamushini, Amazonian light-god (as heavenly spider), 54, 147, 206, 264, 345, 469, 534. Kande-Yaka, Great Spirit, Ceylon, 19, 138, 200, 257-258, 327-330, 464, 513fr. Kari, Malakkan thunder-god, 1-5, 134, 196, 255, 320, 421, 461, 512 (=*o., kail). 531 (supreme). Karu, Amazonian god, 57, (z=Karakara, ibid.) Karubu, Assyrian "cherubim", 166, 174, 216-217; in the Isles of the Blessed, 482. Kayans, see under Borneo, and compare: Kayu-hawah, tree of life, 240, 244, and Kayu-kubu, tree of death, ibidem, and see under Apu-kayan (fatherland of trees). Kayurukre, Amazonian god, 54, 57. Keri-Kamts, Amazonian twins, s«« Kamu- shini. Ki, Sum. land, underworld, 83-84. See £»- ki. King, see under Government, Priesthood. Kinship, see under Birth, Marriage. Kisar, Babylonian deity, 85, 161, 192, 435. Kish, early kings of, 83, 360. Kitchi-Manitoo, Chippewa Great Spirit, 116. Knife, bamboo-, shell-, flint-, V-VIII. Knowledge, of primitives, XXIX-XXXIII, 575ff, Kolarian aborigines, see under India. Kon, Peruvian deity, see under Pach- acamac. Kopishtaya, Pueblo Cloud-demiurge, 382. Kor-loi-melloi, see under Blood- thro wing. Ku, kubu, as death, 244, 246. Khu, Egyptian light-soul, 96, 484. Kudurti-stones, Babylonian, 183. Kulturkreis, XLI-LXXII, 121-126, 503, 591. Kurnai, Australia, XL, 45, 203, 262, 341, 427, 507fiF. La, lang, {ling, lung), for heaven, light, clouds, (inversion of o/), XII, 26, 29, 30, SO, 67, 240. Sum. lah, HI, 84; perhaps lah-mu, la-ha-mu, day, dawn, 85, 161, 163, 167, 435fr. Lama, Lamaism, 297, 413, 488, 497. Lamassu, Assyrian "guardians", 166, 174. Lamb, sacrifice of the, 362. Mystical, 370, 400, 414b, prefigures the Redeemer, ibidem. Lamp, sea-shell-, 361, day-, or pottery-, 36Sfr. Lance, bamboo, V-VIII, LVI, stone, XLIII, LVIff. Language, as an index of age, XI-XII. Naturally and spontaneously originated, 240. Lanugo, as foetal trait, XVIII, Lavacrum,_ laver, etc., see under Ablutions. Law, social and moral, of primitives, XXXIVff. Lemuria, lost continent of, XVI, 232-233, 457. Levites, see under Hebrew-Palestinian rite. Li, HI, lilu. Sum. air, 84, 87, 90, and passim. Liberty, of thought, in religion, 576. 583. Life, philosophy of, 126ff. 389, 418, 561, 587. Life Eternal, 459-500, 599-600. Light, symbols, 1, 7, 19ff. God as eternal "Light", 129-131, 585fr. Christ, the Light of the World, 295, 313, 600. Logos, Alexandrian, 291-292, Tohannine, 293, 600. Love, of God, see under Goodness. Lu-gal, great-man, Sum. king, 83-84, 360ff. Luxury, primitive, see under Paradise, 231fr. Lying, rare in early times, XXXVIIIff. 517. Ma, (inversion of Am), for motherhood, XII, 19, 25, 30, 240, 319. As particle of motion, XII, power, 19, 61, personality, 30, 67 (=imu), Sum. ma, me, mu, mummu, I, name, ship, mother-ocean, 85, 161, 435. Sem. mu, mamu, Hebr. mai, mayim, water, 161, 172, and see under Am, Mu, Mulungu. INDEX Macassars, of Celebes, 29, 140, 202. Mace, as royal ensign, 363if. Macrocosm and Microcosm, 182ff. 273S. Mafulus, of New Guinea, VII, 35, 142, 202, 260. Magi, 107-108, 29S-296, and see under Persia. Magic, LII, LVI, LXVIIIfF. Not the foundation of theism, LXXII, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 22, 28, 49, 88, 122, 531-540. Mahabarata, see under India. Maklu, burning of witches, 359. Malakka, aborigines of, V, XII, XIII, XIX, XXI, XXVI, XXXV, XXXVIII, 1-12, 134-136, 196-198, 255-256, 319-324, 421, 421, 461ff. 504, 509, 512ff. 531, 536. Malakkan Rite, sacrificial, 320-321. Mallas, of Southern India, LXV. 66. Man, primitive, Prolog, 4-5, Introduction, passim, and throughout the text: see under special headings and chapters. Dignity of man, Prolog, 1-14, Text, 593. Origin of man, ibid, and XV-XXIV, 193- 194, 231-243ff. 503, 522ff. Destiny of man, see under Redemption, Life Eternal. Mana, Melanesion psychic power, LVII, LXIII, 113-114, 560-561. Manah, Persian "spirit", 107, 176. Manes, Manism, Latin spiritism, 110. Manitoo, Chippewa Great Spirit, 116-118; manitoo, as totem, 117, 120. Manna, heavenly, 370-371. Manu, Babylonian "evil eye", 88, and for Manism in general, see under Animism. Mara, marang, good, great, 61, 66, 71. Marang Burn, Great Spirit, India, 61-66. Marduk, Bel; see under Babylonia. Marraboona, Tasmanian "High One", 45, 144, 262, S15ff, Marriage, primitive, XXXV-XL, 124, 241, 323-348, 408, 528, 591, totemic, XLIV- XLVI 125, 350-358, 409, 552-556, recent, XLVIII-XLIX, 126, 364-386, 409, 567, general scheme, LVI-LVII. Sacramental, 407-410. Mars, planet of war {Zalhat, Lubat), 274, star of Amurru, ibid; at the great con- junction, 251, 289-290, cosmic body, 184, . week-day planet, 165, 184, connected with stage-tower, 439. Mary, Mother of Christ, prophesied, 279- 282, adumbrated, 304, 309flF., 314, 594. Compare also 186. Mask, Mask-culture, LIII-LIV, LVIIflF. Mass, Holy, see under Eucharist. Mathematics, XIII, XLIV, XLVIII-XLIX. Matriarchate, IX-X, LIII, LVI-LVII, 409, 568. Maturity-rites, see under Sacrifice. Meander, as developed swastika, 182. Medicine, primitive, as magico-religious, XLIIIff. 401-407, 528, 552, 566, and see Birth-ceremonies, Expiation, Priesthood. Medicines, prehistoric, their supposed analo- ties with the Seven Sacraments, 318, 87-418. Mediator, see under Logos, Demiurge. Melanesia, VII, IX, XI-XIV, XXXIX, LII-LIV, LVIIflf. LXIII, 36, 113, 142, 202, 260, 300, 339-340, 426, 466, 489, 560. Melanesion Languages, XI-XII, 240fF. Melanesion Rite, ceremonial, 339-340. Melanic races, XV-XXIV, et per capito. Melchisedech a type of the Messiah, Prolog, 5. Text, 318, 370, 414b, (Eternal High- Priest). An historic, though mysterious personality, 370. Mentality, of primitives, XXIX-XXXIII. Mercury, as minor planet, {Guud), 273, as cosmic body, 184, as week-day planet, 165, 184, connected with stage-tower, 439. Mercy, of God, 304, 519. See Philanthropy. Merit, of faith, 579ff. Mesmerism, see under Hj^pnotism. Messiah, prophesied, 279-290, adumbrated, 304-314, symbolised, 185-186, 223, sacri- ficed, 317, 387, 400, 414b. glorified, 486. Metamorphism, see under Evolution. Metaphysics, borderland of science and, 130. Metempsychosis, 471-478, 488, 493, 496-498. Methuselah, antediluvian patriarch, 435, 437. Longevity-problem, 442, 451. Mexican-Aztec Rite, sacrificial, 385-386. Mexico, 119, 126, 181, 222, 301-302 (mys- tery of Quetzalcoatl), 385 (fire-temple), 448 (flood and tower-story). Michael, "Likeness of God," 174. Microcosm and Macrocosm, 183-186, 27311. Migrations, of man, 429-432, 457-458. Millennium, 486-487, 571ff. Minister, Ministry, see under Priesthood. Miracles, as distinct from marvels, 578. Missions, Christian, XXXII, 38, 56, 226, 253, 413, 512-514, 581-583. Mithras, Persian light-god, 105-108, 176, 220, 291, 293-294, 313, 375, 388, 393, 396, 418. Mysteries of Mithras, 375, 388, 393, 396. Mitre, Christian, 380, and see under Crown. Moccasins, origin of, LV, LXII. Moduma, Negrillo sacred tree, 50, 204, 343. Moloch, Phoenician sun-god, 371. Monads, Monism, 151-160, 177, 189-190, 471, 549. Monarchy, primitive, see under Patri- archate. Mongolian races, XXff. and see under China. Mongoloids, proto— , XVI-XVII, XX, 82. Monogamy, primitive, Prolog, 4. Introd. XXXV-XXXVI. Text, 124, 241, 408, 528, 539. Monotheism, primitive, Prol. 4. Introd. XLIII, LVI. Text, 121-124, 193, 239, 304, 394, 515-544. Moon-worship, LII (spider-moon), LIV (ghost-moon). Also 16, 27, 31, 36, 54, 114. Moon as celestial body, 162, 165, 173, 179, 184, 273, 300; as connected with stage-tower, 439. Moon as Babylonian divinity, {Sin, Nannar), 162ff., as week- day luminary, 165, 184. Comp. 478. Morality, of primitives, XXXIV-XL, 124, 237ff. Compare also Summary, 525-544, Epilog, 596. Morning Star, as sky-wakanda, 151, 157, 270; as symbol of Christ, 186, 270. Mortuary Customs, etc., see under Burial. Mosaic Law, see under Hebrew-Palestin- ian. Mother-right, see under Matriarchate. Mountain-motif, 231ff. 358, 360, 366, 482fr. Murder, see under Crime, Morality. Mu-lungu, Heavenly One, Africa, SO, 67-70, 153-154, 210, 267, 351, often confused with totem. 10 INDEX Mu-um-mu, Mummu, primitive chaos, 85, 92 (nunu), 161, 163, 167, 172, 184flf. See under Ma. Mu-untu, (Muntu'untu) , Highest One, Celebes, 29-30. Mu-ziru, African spirit, taboo, 47, 68 (muziro). Mummies, Mummification, XLIVff. LVI, 368. Mundari, Munda-Kol, see under India. Mungan-ngaua, Australian "Our Father", 44, 144, 203, 262, 427, S14, 526, 527, 533. Music and Musical Instruments, XIII- XIV, LVI. See also plates on sacrificial worship passim. Mutilation, LIV, 124fl. 550-554 (of Mysticism, Oriental, 182-184, 222, 273ff. 497flF. Christian, 185-186, 223, 279-296, 400, 414b, 486. See also under Divine Faith, 577, 579. Na, ni, nu, particle of negation, Mai. neng, XII, 240, Sum. na, nu, 163-164; of diminution, Mai. anak, child, XII; of femininity, Mai. nana, woman, XII, Sum. nana, ni-na, ni/n-ni, lady, 83; as na, high, inversion of An, q. v. Nam — , sign of abstraction, 163, 360. Names, Divine, 101-104, 575, 580. Nana, Assyrian goddess,=/j/itor, q. v. Nannar, Sum. moon-god, (=rS«n), 165, 479. Napi, Blackfoot "immortal one", 118. Narcotics, use of, LVI-LVII. Natos, Blackfoot "holy;*, 118. Naturalism, an insufficient norm of truth, Prolog, 1-14. Text, 132, 194, 244-250, 251-254, 309-314, 387-418, 499-500, 544, 575-592, 597-600. Nature worship, see under Pantheism, Totemism, Animism. Navigation, evolution of, V-VI, XLIII- LV, LVI-LVII (general scheme), 435flF. Neanderthal-man, XV-XIX, XXX-XXXI, 61 ff. Nebo, Bel — , Assyrian "Lord of the scep- tre". Sum. en-pasag, spirit of dominion, (^palu), 164-165, 184, 222, Temple, 439. Nebukadnesar II. tower-inscription, 439. Necklace, as religious emblem, largely magical in nature, 320flf. 412ff. Necromancy, see under Spiritism. Necropolis, 358fr. 479ff. Negritos, Negrillos, XVII-XXIV, XXXI- XLff. Negros, see under Bantu, Africa. Neolithic Age, IV, XLVIII, LVIM. Slff. inaugurated by Caucasian race, 456. Nephilim, prehistoric "giants", 443. Nephtys, Egyptian goddess, 91, 167, 276, 435. Nergal, Bel—, Assyrian "Lord of the uni- versal decree". Sum. en-me-sar, spirit of veneration, puluchtu, 165-166. Lord of the underworld, ibid, and 184, 222. Im- prisoner of the wicked, 479. Nestorian, missions in the East, 413. Neter, Egyptian "divinity", 91, 167, etc. New Guinea, VII, XIX, XXII, XXVII, XXXIX, 31-35, 141, 202, 260, 504, 510, S13fr. Nibiru, as north pole, 162. (^Jupiter). Nigeria, LII-LIII, 48, 232. Nihilism, in religion, Prolog, 6-7. ATifeM-series, Babylonian, 362. Nile, as paradise-river, 217, 231-232. Nimeku, Babylonian "Wisdom", 165-166. Nimrod, post-diluvian "hunter" (,=Gil- gamesh), 435, 437, 444, his journey to the Isles of the Blessed, 481-482. Nina, Ninni, =zlshtar. Sum. "ladjr", 83, 120. Nin-lil-anna, lady of heavenly light, 165. _^ Ninib, Assyrian "Lord of the Counsel", Sum. en-martu, spirit of counsel, milku, 165-166, 184, in stage-tower, 437, 439. Nine, Holy, see under Ennead. Nippur, "Rome" of Babylonia, 83, 87, 88, 163-164. Temple of Bel at, 358, 360, 361. Nirwana, Buddhist "sleep", 297, 377, 488. Nisu, Assyr. "life" {=zi, ti), 89. Noah, deluge-hero, Prolog, 5. Text, 435, 442 (Comp. Ziud, Utnapishtim, Hasis- atra). Nod, land of "wandering", 246. Nomadic life, IV-VIIIff. 123, 435, 457. Normal and subnormal forms, XVII- XXIV. North America. IV, XLIIIff. LVI-LVII, LIXflF. 75-80, 115-118, 157-158, 180-181, 212, 222, 269-270, 301-302, 355-358, 383- 386, 433-434, 447-448, 477-478, 490. Also 545fr. 557flf. North- American Rite, sacrificial, 355-358, 383-386. Nose-quill, LVI, 54, 319, 345, 354. Nu, negative particle, (Sum.), 163-164. Numeration, primitive, XIII-XIV. Nun, Nunu, Egyptian "Deep", 92, 167-168. Nunki, Sumerian paradise, see Eridu. Nurrundere, Australian god, 42, 143. Nusku, Babylonian fire-god, 359. Nut, Egyptian "Sky", 91, 167, 275, 435. Oannes, Greek transcription of E-A, A-E,z= Enki, Babylonian ocean-god, 436. Oath, religious, see under Conjuration. Oblation, see under Sacrifice. Obscurity, of divine faith, 577, 579. Occultism, see under Magic, Spiritism. Ocean, as primitive all, 161-164, 167-168, 171-173, 178, 180, 213ff. 231fF. 421, 449fl. Oceanic races and religions, see Introduc- tion, XVIff. and under each chapter. Odin, Germanic god, (IVotan), 177. Oil, Ointment, 393, 403fl. and see under Initiation, Priesthood, Burial-rites. Olympus, Greek mountain of the gods, 220. Omahas, North-American, 75-80, 157-158, 212, 269-270, 355-358, 433-434, 477-478, 545fl. Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipres- ence, of God, 516, 520, 522, 530, 584fr. On, equivalent of Heliopolis, Egypt, 91, 366. Onas, see under Fuegian Primitives. Onomatopaea, XII, 240 (in primitive lan- guage). Ophiolatry, 61-66, 67, 71, 75flf. 151-160, 227, 267-268, 305, 349flf. 384, 432fr. 472fr. 549flF. Ordeals, see under Initiation. Order, Holy, Sacrament of, 405-407. Orion, constellation of, 185. Ormasd, Ormusd, see under Ahura-Masda. Orphic mysteries, 395. Orthodoxy. Prolog, 4-14. Epilog, 575-600. Osiris, AU-seeing-One, Egsrptian Light-god, 91-96, 167, 215, Osiris-legend, 275-276, Osiris-Unnefer as Corn-god, 366-367, Osiris-Tammus-Chtst, 440, Osiris- INDEX 11 Balance, 483, Osiris-ka, 483, Osirus-khu, 484. Mysteries of Osiris, 365-367, 395, 398, 565. Po-root, for paternity, leadership, govern- ment, Austronesian-Amazonian pa, papa, papang, father, XII, 8, 29, 30, 43, 55; bum. pa, pa-zag, sceptre, 165, pap-luh- mah, messenger, 166. Assyr. palu, dommion, 165-166. See also 240, 319, 385- mversion of Ap, q. v. Pachacamac, Peruvian "World-Soul", 119, 181, 302, 558, (highest of pre-Columbian gods). Pagra, Syro-Palestinian for "body", 414b. Po/jon, Indo-Kolarian for priest, elder, 350. Pahlavi literature, see under Persia. Paint, as body-decoration, XLIIIff. LVI- LVII, 61ff. 319, 349, 351, 353, 355, 357, 550ff. Painting, prehistoric, XXX, XLIV, 61 ff. 160ff. Palace of Eternal Delights, Borneo, 465. Palaeolithic Man, see under Glacial Man. Palanka, magic, sacrificial tablet, 336. Palingenesis, see under Metempsychosis. Palm of the tropics as tree of life, 197, 198ff. 313, 216fr. 224, 228, 244. Sacrifice of the Betel-Palm, 334, of the Coco-Palm, 320, 325, 328, 351. As exorcising instrument, 322ff. Palu, Babylonian "Dominion", 165-166. Pantheism, XLIVff. 61, 85ff. 152-160, 172, 190, 193, 209ff. 349ff. 418, 471-478, 545- 556, 573ff. Opposed by all-transcendence, 584-600. Paradise, 195-250, 279, 461-500, 523, 563. Parsee, Parseeism, see under Persia. Pasch, paschal lamb, 370, 397, 400, 414b. Passion, of Christ, predicted, 297-282, adumbrated, 370, 400, 414b., fulfilled, 399, 414b. Passover, as model of Last Supper, 397, 414b. Pat-root, Aryan for father, Persian paitish, Sanscr. pitar, etc. 105-106. Comp. Indo- Kolarian pat, 349-350, Sumerian patesi, 84, 106ff. Paternoster, counted on beads, 414. Patriarchate, primitive, IX-X, XXXIV, LVI, 123, 323, 326, 329, 337, 342, 344ff. 405, 435, 457, 528. Patriarchs, antediluvian, 435-444, Jevv^ish, 280. Patronymics, used for biblical "nations", 420, 444. Penance, Sacrament of, distinguished from prehistoric expiations, 401-402. Peng- Pengulu, Penya, Mai. father, master, XII, 7-10, 135, 197, 256, 322-323, 531. Penglima, Mai. medicine-man, 323, 334, 337. Pen-ya-long, Bali, Spirit-Master-Above, Borneo, 25-28, 139, 2^9, 334-335, 532. Pepi, I. II.. Pyramid-Texts, Egypt, 91, 215. Persia, 105-108, 175-176, 219, 291-296, 373- 376, 418, 445, 487, 557ff. S99. Importance of the Persian question, 295-296. Persian Magi, 291-295. Persian Rite, sacrificial, 373-376. Personality, idea of, anterior to specula- tive notions, 523-530, 531-544, 570, 573, 575, S97ff. obscured in later times, 545- 556, then partially revived, 559-574, finally restored and purified, 597-600. Peru, 53, 81, 119, 181, 222, 302, 385, SS7ff. Pessimism, a late philosophy, 297, 377, 488. Phallism, Phallic Worship, 88, 96, 100, 114, 124, 179, 313, 418, 564. Pharaohs, of Egypt, 275-276, 365-368, 483. Phenix, Egyptian fire-bird, 96, 365. Philanthropy, primitive, XXXVII-XL, 526. Philippines, see under Aetas, Anito. Philo Judaeus, 185, 291-292, 399. Philosophy, of religion, Prolog, 1-14. Text, 121-132, 193-194, 249-250, 251-254, 309- 314, 315-318, 387-418, 419-420, 457-458, 459-460, 495-500, S15ff. Epilog, 575-600. Phonetics, XI-XII, 30, 240, 538. Photosphere, as symbol of divinity, 585. Physique, of primitives, XV-XXIV. Pile-dwellings, LVII, 81-82, 237, 435. Pillan, Amazonian thunder-god, 53, 60. Pimaukel, Fuegian first man, 148, 208. Pipe-dance, North-American, 356. Pitris, Hindoo spirits, 108. Planets, see under Astrology. Planisphere, 133, 151, 183ff. Also 195flf. Plank-boat XLIII, LIII, LVII, LIX, 126. Plant-taboo, see under Sacrifice, pass. Plantain, as paradise-fruit, LVI, 224ff. Pleiades, as seven stars, identified with seven virgins, 41 ; as created by the Almighty, 34, 141, 184-185; associated with redemption, 274; as the future abodes of man, 482, 486, 490. Pointing, magic, 320, 322, 328ff. 342fr. pun- ishable with death, 354, yet very com- monly practiced, ibid, and 552. Polarised light, 131. Polyandry, abnormal, 72, 74, 354, 409, 567. Polygamy, not the primitive state of man, Prolog, 4. Text, XXXV-XL, 124, 241, 408, 528, 591. Came in with totem-cult and polytheism, 64-79, 125, 409, 553, 567. Polynesia, XLIX, LV, LXI, 81, 114, 179, 221, 300, 381-382 (ritual), 489, 562, S66ff. Polytheism, as the outgrowth of animistic pluralism, XLVIII-L, 557-574. Pontifex Maximus, Roman, 380. Poshayankya, Pueblo "wisest man", 180, 222, as savior-god, 301, 447. Potency, Potentials, 125, 131, 152-160, 189- 194, 545-548, 573, 578, 584, 586. Pottery, primitive, VI, advanced, XLVIII. Prayer, see under God, Redemption, Sacri- fice and Summary, passim. Prayer-beads, pre-Christian, 412-414. Pre-existence, of the Messiah, 279-296, 313, 591-600; of human souls, based upon false philosophy, 64ff. 152fr. 471f!. Prehistory, of man, 419-460. Priesthood, primitive, 323, 326, 329, 332, 337, 340, 342ff; later, 350, 352flf; recent, 363, 368flf; in general, 405-407, 528, 552, 566; of Melchisedech, 370; of Christ, 414b; necessary to all religion, 583. Primitives, the question of, I-XXIVff. Convergence of evidence, 122-124, 237flF. Priority of individual areas, 503-508. Surprising uniformities, S09-530ff. Processions, religious, 320, 334, 343, 357, 383. Profanity, see under Blasphemy, and 580. Professions, primitive, based upon sex, but otherwise unified, XLIII, 239-240, 528. Origin of separate professions, 43Sff. 457fif. 12 INDEX Progress, law of, not uniform but spas- modic, 125-126; includes degeneration, 125, 419-421ff. 436-437ff. 443, 545-556, 574, but on the whole continuous, 457-458, 574, ana expressed by Kulturkreis, XLI- LXXII, 121-131. Prometheus, Greek fire-winner, 177, 220, 298. Property, law of, by right of nature, IX- X, XXXVII-XL, 10, 12, 13fr. 34, 39ff. 528, 539, 568, (based on the prohibition of theft). Prophecies, Messianic, 279-282; apocalyptic and apocryphal, 283-290. Comp. 186, 223, for Messianic signs, (Jewish-Christian). Providence, of God, 518-520, 530. Psalms, Suraerian, 87, Assyr.-Babylonian, 99-100, Hebrew-Palestinian, 101, Persian, 107, 291, 487, Messianic, 280-281. Psychology, of primitives, XXIX-XXXIV. Higher psychology, 130. Rational and experimental psychology, 460, 495-498. Puberty-rites, see under Initiation. Pueblos, XLVIII, 115, 180, 222, 301, 383- 384, (sacrifice and ritual), 447, 490, S57fr. Puluga, Andaraanese thunder-god, 13-18, 30, and see under Andaman Islands. Punans, (=:Bakatans), see under Borneo. Punishment, eternal, see under Life Eternal. Purity, of belief in relation to morals, 580. Pygmies, as primitives or degenerates? XVII-XX, as stunted or atrophied off- shoots of a primitive stock, ibid, and XXI-XXIV. Pyramids, Pyramid-Texts, see under Egypt. Pythagoras, and his theory of numbers, 185. Quat-Marawa, Melanesian demigod, 36, 113, 142, 202, 260, 300, 339-340, 426, 515fr. Queen-of-Heaven notion, 310-311, 314. Quetzalcoatl Mayan demiurge, 119, 181, as a possible historical personality, 301-302. Quiescence, Buddhist theory of, 488. Quiescent attributes, in God, 515-519. Quinary-system, or five-tone scale, XIII- XIV. Quiver-inscriptions, African, 47. Quixotic character, of traditional folk- lore, 36, 56-60, 113, 142, 202, 260ff. 491- 492, 524. Ra — , for kingship, dominion, Mai. ra, ra- wah, ra-ja, great, powerful, priest-king, 240, 323. Sum. ra, possession, 83, 87, 360. Egypt, ra, sun-god, 91-93. Assyr. rabu, great, 99-100; Polynes. ra, rangi, sun- spirit. Pawnee ra-wa, great spirit, 116- 118, and compare in greater detail. Ra. Atum-, Horus-, Ammon-, Egyptian "Father-Sun", 91-93, 167-168, 215, 275, 365-268, 440, 557ff. Ra-wa, Pawnee great one, spirit, ghost, Rab, Rabisu, Rabu, Assyr. great one, 99- 100, 166. Rab, Rabbi, Hebr. great, master, teacher, 566. Rabbinical literature, 185-186, 283-290. Races and Religions, how related, XLI- XLIIflf. Rain-making, rain-magic, 328, 349, 351, 353, 383. Rainbow, as religious symbol, 42, 140, 202, connected with the deluge, 444, with the Messiah, 486. Rangi, Polsmesian sun-god, 114, 179, 381, 557flf. Rape, punishable with death, XXXV-XL, 41, 44fr. Rationalism, Prolog, l-2flf. Epilog, 589fl. 116-117. Re, Egyptian "'sun," see under Ra. Realism, in theology, Prolog, 4-10. Text 230, 249-250, 451-458. Epilog, 575-600. Reason and Faith, their inter-relation, Prol. 1-14. Text, 127-132, 247-250, 313-314, 400, 414b, 415-418, 499-500. Epilog on Divine Faith, 575-600. Redeemer, double sacrifice of the, 414b; second advent of the, 486, and see under Christ, Messiah. Redemption, general scheme, 251-314. Reflexion, universal reflex, 495. Regeneration, by water, 388ff. supernatural, only in Baptism, 391, 417. Reincarnation, 471-478, 493, 496-498. Relics, relic-worship, common to humanity, 326ff. See under Burial-rites. Religion, natural and supernatural, Prolog, 1-14. Epilog, 575-600. Remission, of sins, see under Absolution. Reparation, see under Expiation. Resurrection, as a distant hope, 463, 480, 484, 486, 487, 492, 494; as a future cer- tainty, 486, 498. Retribution, temporal, 419-458; eternal, in the future life, 459-500. Revelation and Reason, Prolog, 1-14. Text, 132, 248, 309-314, 387-418, 449-458, 495- 500, 544. Epilog, 575-600. Rice, wild, as taboo. 27, 61, 201, 209, 349. Ritual, 315-418, 525-529, SS0-SS3, 563-567; necessary to all religion, 589, 595. Rivers, the four, of Paradise, 231-232. Roman, religion, 110, 117, 220, 298, 379-380, 446, 488, and see under Mithras. Rosary, Holy, not derived from pre- Christian beads or necklets, 412-414. Roundhouse, or wigwam, LVII, 357. Royalty, see under Kingship. Ruach, Hebrew breath, spirit, 102, 172, for subtlety, spirituality, 561. Sa, Sha, Shang, for heart, fire, passion, emotion, (nature-sound), 240ff. Sumer. sa, sag, heart, command, 87, 163, 213, 359, 360, sib-sag, shepherd, 87, 360, Assyr. sha, possessor, 99-100, perhaps sha-mu, sham-shi, for heaven, fire, sun-god, Heb. shamayim, 99-100, 161, 172. Comp. Indo- kolar. sin, sing, Assyr. sin, shamash, for sun, moon, Chinese shang, great, 109, and see under ash, ish, ush. Sabbath, as seventh day, 165, 186. Sacraments, as distinguished from medi- cines, confer supernatural power, 318, 387ff. 417-418; directly instituted by Christ, 388-418. Sacrifice, as oblation, 315, as immolation, 315-317, as exemplified in successive pe- riods of humanity, 319-386, as finding its all-sufficient consummation in the Sacri- fice of the Cross, 317, 400, 414b, 417, 599. The double Sacrifice of the Redeemer, 414b. INDEX 13 Sacrifice and SacramentaU, in general, 315- 418, S88-S90. Sacrilege, as cause of the deluge, 427, 428if. 438ff. 542, as universally deprecated, 580. Sadaka, as primitive Cain-Abel sacrifice, 315, 370; as practiced by primitive peo- ples, 320, 325, 328-329, 331, 334-335, 339, 343-344, 345, 347, 349ff, 361ff. Not the foundation of eucharistic cult, 394. Sag, Sumer. heart, word, command {=dug), 87, 163, 213, 359-360. Sail-boat, recent origin of, LV, LVII. Sakai, {=Senoi), see under Malakka. Salutation, Angelic, 314, 414. Salvation, conditions of, 251-254, 311-312; instruments of salvation, 315-418; attain- ment of salvation, 491-500, 575-600. Samtu-stones, as heavenly gems, 482. Sanctification, means of, 415-418. Sanctity, of Divine Faith, 580. Sandal-boots, origin of, LXII. Sanskrit, see under India, Persia, Indo- Aryan. Sargon the Great, King of Akkad, 185, 273. Satan, as evil principle, 134ff. as world- serpent, 162fl. as wicked spirit, 174, 176, as personal tempter, 213-221, 22Sff. 245, subdued by the demiurge, 271, 275, 291, vanquished by the Messiah, 279, 485-486. Saturn, planet of justice (Shamshi, Sha- gush), 273-274, as week-day god, Bel- Nergal, En-me-sar, spirit of veneration, puluchtu, 165, 184, at the great conjunc- tion, 251,, 289-290, at foundation of stage- tower, 439. Savior-god, see under Redemption. Savior of the World, ibid, and 414b, 486. Scale, five-tone-, in music, XIII-XIV. Scandinavian mythology, 110, 177, 220, 302, 446. Scapegoat, sacrificial, 371-372. Scarification, LVI-LVII; origin of, 349, 430, 457. Sceptre, 363, 368, 372, of Gilgamesh, 435. Scholastic sources, Prolog, 1-2 Text, 127, 242, 251-254, 311, 315-316, 388-410. Science and Metaphysics, meeting-point, 130, and compare, 495-498, 575-600. Scripture, inspiration of, Prolog, 1-18. Text, 101-104, 171-174, 194, 217-218, 230- 250, 279-282, 313-314, 370-371, 400, 414b, 441-444, 451-456, 485-486, 500, 575-600. Sculpture, primitive, V, XLIII, advanced, XLIV-XLVIff. LVI-LVII (general scheme). Sea, origin of the, 163-164, 213, 231ff, 422fr. Sea-Dayaks, Ibans, see under Borneo, and 233. Sea-Gypsies, Orang-Laut, XVII, and under Malakka. Seal, of Circumcision, 369, of Confirmation, 392. Semang, Orang-Utang, see under Malakka. Semitic, races, religions, and languages, see under Babylonia, Assyria, Palestine, Phoenicia. Semnopithecus, sacred ape, 134, 225. Septessence, of the divine, 85, 107, 165, 174, 176, in Cabalistic and Jewish-Christian lore, 185flf. Seraphim, of Isaiah, 104, 174, 371. Serpent, as personal tempter, see under Paradise, 195-250, conquered by the de- miurge, see under Redemption, 271, 275, 291, 309ff. vanquished by the Messiah, 186, 223, 279, 485-486. Set, Egyptian "Deep," 91, 93, 167, 275-276, 435, 440. Seth, antediluvian patriarch, 435, 441, 443. Seti I., tomb-inscription, Egypt, 275. Seven, as mystic number, 186. Seven Spirits of God, paralleled but not identified with pagan spirits, 165, 174, 176. Sex-worship, see under Phallism. Shalamu, shalmu shulmu, Sum. silim, peaceful, applied to divinity, 271, 273-274, comp. 280. Shamanism, 10, 12, 22, 62fr. 88, 108flE. 329, 350ff. Shamash, Assyrian god of divination, iden- tified with the sun, 88, 98, spirit of wisdom, nimeku, 165, (_en-zu), 184, 222, 273 {shamshi), as lord of the judgment, 360-361, 439, 481. Shamu, Shamayim, Sem. for heavens, 99- 100, 161. Shell-culture, V-VIII. Shell-necklace, 320ff. Sheol, Hebrew underworld, 485. Shepherd, The Good, 415 (early Christian art). Shield, development of the, LVI-LVII. Shintoism, Japanese "way of the gods," 110. Ship of the gods, Babylonian, 440. Shiptu, Babylonian "Conjuration," 165-166. Shu, Egyptian "Air," 91, 167, 275, 435, 436, 440. Sia, sacrifice to Kopishtaya, 382. Sibittu, Babylonian "Seven," 165-166. Sibylline oracles, 298. Sick, care of, see under Philanthropy. Silhouettes, as hand-prints, XLVII. Simplicity, of God, 515, of faith, 577. Sin, as moral rebellion against a personal deity, 196, 199, 201 fi. 218ff. 249; as rebel- lion against nature-powers, disg^iised as "gods," 209, 213flf; overcome by the demiurge, 255-271flf; destroyed by the Messiah, 279, 414b; as allied with sick- ness, 401 ; as absolved in Penance, 402 ; as cause of the deluge, 438; as punished in the future life, 459ff ; as a universal con- sciousness, 583. Sin, Assyr. moon-god, father of divination, En-Zu, Bel-Nannar, of astral wisdom, barutu, 165-166, week-day luminary, 165, 184, in stage-tower, 439. Comp. 479. Sin-Bonga, Indo-Kolarian light-god, Aus- trones. sina-bona, Mundari sun-god, 61- 66, 151-152, 209, 265-266, 349-350, 429-432, 471-472, S45ff. Singing, primitive five-tone, XIV. Sinhalese Rite, sacrificial, 327-329. Skeleton-, or Skull-cult, LIV, LVII, LIX. Skin-tent, skin-raiment, LXIII-LXIVff. Sky-father, Sky-being, 122-124, 538, 575ff . Sky-wakanda, 151, 157-160, 181. Slavery, unknown in early times, XXXVIIff. Smoke-offering, 320, 328, 335, 356ff. Snake-dance, snake charming, 349ff. 384. Snow-shoes, origin of, LV, LXII. Sociology, of primitives, IX-X, XXXIV- XL. Son of God, as unique title, 313-314, 398. Sorcery, see under Magic, Spiritism. Sorrow, for sin, mixed up with temporal interests, 401, supernatural only in Jew- ish-Christian dispensation or under ex- ceptional light, 401-402. Soteriology, see under Redemption. H INDEX Soul, as simple compenetrating substance, 49S-496, as naturally immortal, 223, 495- 498, as confused with "astral body," dis- carnate phantasm, 462ff. 492, 496. South-America, see under Amazonians. Spider-theme, see under Moon, spider-. Spiral symbols, 61-75, 159-160. Spirit, as breath, world-soul, psychic power, symbolised by cross, zigzag, magic, flower, etc., 1, 7, 19, 25fif. 149-150; by star and swastika, 83ff. 182-183. As psychic "ether" and as super-ethereal, 126, 131 ; idea explicitly developed in more recent times, ibid, and 557-562, 574, 587 Spiritism, XLVIII-LVIIff. LXXII, a late development, 88-90, 95-96, 108, 110, 113- 114 (mana), 116 (rawa), 120 (bruwa). Also 126, 131, 161, 359ff. 480ff. 496, S57ff. Condemned in the Torah, 102. Star of Bethlehem, 251, 285-290, 294-295, and see under Astrology. Siar-symhols, 1, 83, 126, 182, 585. Stones, magic, 337, 342, 354, 412ff. Sumerians, see under Babylonia. Sun-worship, XLIVflF. LVII, 61ff. 83ff. identified with cult of Shamash, q. v. Not primitive, 121ff. 541, except as light- symbol, 1, 129, 585, later depersonalised, 61ff. or corrupted, 88ff. Sun as symbol of God, 587, as crown of stage-tower, 439. Supernatural, the, as exceeding the limits of the natural powers of man, Prolog, passim. Text, 132, 244, 248, 251, 309-314, 387-418, 455, 500, 544; as the distinctive feature of the New Dispensation, Epilog, 575-600. Swastika, developed from simple cross, 1, 182. Ta, for height, power, immensity, Mai. ta, to, XII, 7, 11, 25, 27, 30, Sum. ta, source, 163, 213, and see under tab, tam, tan, tar. Tabernacle, Mosaic, 371, mystical, 590. Table, of the gods, 360, of the Lord, 371, 590. Tablets, Age of, 83-100, et per capita. Taboo, first-fruit-, as abstention, 196-230, as of supernatural origin, 244, 248, as a fast- ing-ordeal, LVI, 319, 325, 329, 333, 339, 341, 345, 347, 349, 353, 355, 392, 525-526, 550. Tabu, as Austrones, ta-buah, enchanted fruit, tree of life, 7, 25, 240, 336, Assyr. tabu, (Hebr. tob), good, sacred, 172, 482. Talmud, as supplementary source for Jew- ish-Christian traditions, 185, 223, 286, 397. Tama bulan, high priest, Borneo, 337. Tamaka, High Father, BoTneo,:=zAmaka, 25, 27, 30. Tammuz, Babylonian god of vegetation. Sum. dumu-zi, "son of life", 213, 277-278, 436, 479. Tamtu, Assyr. ocean, sea, 163, 278, 438. Tamu, Assyr. speech, word, language, 439. Tanah, Mai. earth, 5, 7, 11, 136, 198, 225, 241. Tanah bangun, Mai. "rising land", 7, 11, 198. Tangaroa, Polynesian "Moon", 114, 179, 300, 381. Tapiros, of New Guinea, VII, XXXIX, 32. Tapuyas, see under Amazonian Primitives. Taquatu, Fuegian deity, big giant, 59. Tar, Sumerian fate, divining-rod, 83, Assyr. tar-tsu, direction, meeting-point, 213. Tasmania, Vlllff. and see Australia. Tattoo, not primitive, XLIIIfi. LVI, 319, 327, 331, 334, 341flf. As initiation-sign, XLIII, LVII, 381, 383, 385, 392, 457. Tefnut, Egyptian "Dew", 91, 167, 275, 435- 436. Telepathy, mental, 131, 247-248, 412, S60ff. Tema, Assyr. mind, counsel, understanding, 439. Temple-worship, beginnings of, 3S8ff. Temple of Bel, 358, of Osiris, 365, of Jehovah, 371, Parsee Fire-temple, Bom- bay, India, 373. Pagodas and Cave- temples, 376ff. Aztec Fire-temple of Teotl, Mexico, 385. Teraphim, of Genesis, protecting spirits, 174. Tertiary Age, tertiary man, XV-XIX, 173, 232, 435, (an open question). Teti, king of Egypt, pyramid-text, 215. Teutonic, see under Germanic race and religion. Theft, rare among primitives, XXXVII- XL. Theism, as a natural philosophy, see under God. Theocracy, as direct rule of God, 241, 544. Theogony, or generation of gods, 85, 92, 161ff ; its outgrowth from totemism, 559flf. Theology, as the norm of supernatural truth, Prolog, passim. Epilog, S76fr. Theophany, as supernatural manifestation of God, 103, 132, 241-248, 486, 500, 544, 578, 600. Theosophy, as false mysticism, 185, 435, 458, 496-498, 556, 586-587. Therapeutics, see under Medicine, Exor- cism. Theurgic rites. North American, 382-383. Thunder-god, as expressive of power, 30, 538 Ti, til, tin, Sumerian "life", 84, 89, 213, 217, 273, 360; applied to divinity, 89, 561. Tiamat, Babylonian world-serpent, 85, pos- sibly Sum. ti-amat, life-mother, 161-163, 174, 183-184, 192, 222, 229, 271-273. Time-values, III-VIII, XXVIII, LVI- LVII, 435ff. Tin-tir, tintira, garden of life, 213. Tirawa, Pawnee "Spirit-Father", 116, 181, 447, 490; compared with other recent di- vinities, S57-558ff. Titans, in Greek mythology, 446, 448. To, Malayo-Polynesian for "Great Spirit". To-antu, 7, To-entah, 11, 136, 198. To- bruwa, or Great To, universal spirit, Borneo, 27, 515. Toalas and Toradjas, of Celebes, VII, XIX, XXII, XXIIIff. XXXVI, 29, 140, 201, 260, 504, 538. Todas, of Southern India, XLV, 62. Toltecs, see under Mexico, Aztecs. Tomb, see under Burial-rites. Tomo and Ghana, Andamanese pair, 17, 137, 199 225. Tooth-filing, tooth-pulling. 319, 331, 341, 347, 392, ( initiation-rites ) . Torches, prehistoric, 320, 328, 334ff. Totemism, IX, XLIV-XLVII, LVII.LXIII, INDEX IS LXIX, LXXII, and see totetnic sections under each chapter and S4S-5S6, 573, 586, for a comparatvie estimate. Toto-sacrifice, Melanesia, 339. Tower of Babel, 439-440, 444, 448, 458. Tradition, divine, Prolog, 1-14. Traditionalism, Prolog, 8. Epilog, 578. Transcendence, of Christianity, 593-600. Transmigration of souls, see Life Eternal, 459, 471-478, 493, 496-498. Transsuhstantiation, 397, 414b. Tree of Life, see under Paradise. Triads, as cosmic designations, 132, have no connection with Trinity, 132, 389, 417, 598. Triangle, sign of perfection, 182. Trinity, Holy, not derived from triads, 132, 389, 417, 598. As inner fecundity of God, 575. As adumbrated and primitively revealed, 103-104, 132. Trumpet, shell-, bamboo-, horn-, XLV- XLVI, XLVIII, LVI-LVII, 81, 349, 3S3flF. Tu-tu, Sumerian "divinity", 435, 437. Tnkura, Australian deity, 73. Twndun, Australian first man, 44, 144. Tunnel-house, LI, LVI. Types and Prophecies, 279-296, 313-314, 317-318, 400, 414b, 441-444, 486. Epilog, 593ff. U-root, for subsistence, origin, foundation, East-Indian u-bu, u-pu, u-mu, i^ap, am), 30, Sumer. u-mu-un, uru, &7, 163, 360, u-bar, 437, Assyr. um-mu, um-manu, mummu, 161, 274, 363, 438. Ubar-tutu, servant of God, 435, 437. Vbi-Ubi, Australian underworld, 467. Ud, Sum. time, see under ut. Ulu Ayer, river-men, Borneo, 336. Unas, pyramid-texts, Egypt, 215. Unction, prehistoric, 319, 324, 325, 326, 337, 341flf. 350ff. 359. 392, 403. Sacrament of Extreme Unction, 403ff. Underworld, see under Life Eternal. Unku-lunkulu, Zulu deity, 67. Upu-langi, Ceramese heaven-god, 30. Ur, uru, Sum. foot, foundation, city, 87, 163. Ur-Engur, 83, Ur-nina, 163, Uru- mush, 360. Urim and Thummim, 370-371, 407. Urn, funeral-, see under Burial-rites. Ut, Sum. sun, father-time, 99, =barbar, 213, =shamshi, 274, =ud, 360. Hence— Ut-napishtim, father-of-life, Babylonian deluge-hero (Sum. Zi-ud), 437. Utukku, Mesopotamian demons, 89, 166. Vaticination, see under Divination. Vault, Burial-, 388, 364, 368, 372, 376ff. Veda, Vedic Religion, see under Persia. Veddas. of Ceylon, Vlfl. Xllff. XIX- XXIVfl. XXXVIII, 19, 138, 200, 257-258, 327-330, 424, 464, 504, 513. Veil, sacrificial, 365, 370-371, 374. Veil of the temple, 371. Venus, star of motherhood, planet of love (Dilbat), 274. Conjoined with major planets, 289-290, 251. As week-day planet {Ishtar-Venus) "Dedication", 165, 184, connected with stage-tower, 439. Vestal Virgins. 380, 409, 567. Vestments, see under Clothing ; sacred vest- ments, see under Sacrifice, 380, 414b, also under Priesthood, passim. Viols, violins, violas, XIV, XLIII, LI, LIII, LVII, 320, 334, (rudimentary harps). Virgins, legend of the seven, 41. Vision, of God, realised only in the new dispensation, 500, 600. Virgin-Mother, see under Mary, Mother of Christ. Vohumanah, Persian "Holy Spirit", 107, 176, 291-292. Voice, human, as primitive tone-producer, XIV, illustrated in early chanting, 242. Volcano-gods, Amazonian, 53, {Iguanchi- Pillan). Votive tablets, 83, 91, 99ff. 360-361, 365flF. Wa, African sign of plurality, power, XII. Wah, Wah, Wah, Australian invocation, 72, 353. Wa-batwa, IVambutti, etc., ibid, and XIX, 48. Waka, African "Great Man", 47-50, 145, 263, 343, 468, 515, 517, 520, 522, S27ff. Wakan, Wakanda, North-American "mys- tery", 75-78, 157-158, 269-270, 356-358, 478, 546ff . 473. Wake, as funeral dirge, see under Burial- rites. Walichu, of the Onas, Fuegian deity, 59. Wallaby-offering, Australia, 42, 341. War, rare among primitive peoples, XXXVIII-XL, 10, 18, 20, 22, 26flf. 124, 539; grows with the age of the race, 79, 554, 568. Warramunga tribe, Australia, 71, 353. Weapons, primitive, V-VIII, advanced, XLIII-LVII (general scheme), LIX-LX, 320fi. Weaving, XLVIII, LVII, (main schedule). Wedding, see under Marriage-rites. Whistle, bone or bamboo, XLIV, LVII, 349ff. Wigwam, skin tent, XLIII, LVII, 357. Wind-spirits, see under Angels, Air-spirit. Wisdom, divine, how far recognised, 518- 520, 530ff. Witchcraft, see under Magic, Spiritism. Wotan, {Odin), Germanic god, 177. Wollunqua, Australian wonder-beast, (Wu- lunku), 61, 71, 159, 211, 268, 353, and see under Serpent. Women, in primitive society, XXXV-XL, 124, 239-242, 408-409, 528, in later ages, 64ff. 125ff. 409-410, 552-554, 567-568, and see under Marriage. Wonekau, heaven-god. New Guinea, 33-34, 141, 202, 260, S21ff ; probably composed of Awona-kawa, 34. World, origin of the, see under Creation, 133ff. Worship, primitive, 315-348, later, 349-358, recent, 359-418, requires external forms, 415, 589. Writing, beginnings of, 1, 7, 19, 25, 57, A7, 53il. syllabic and alphabetic, 83-91flF. Comp. 149, 159, 182-184, for systematic development of principal ideographs and selected phonograms. Xenophanes, on the "humanised" god, 597, Xisuthros, Greek deluge-h^ro, 435, 437, 16 INDEX Xylophone, prehistoric piano, 82, 126, as lyre struck with hammers, 361ff. Ya, number "'one", particle of affirmation, existence, XIII, 25, 29, 320, pronominal "I", ibid, and 580. Compare under /, (/-o), Ja, (Jau), above. Yaccy-ma, Fuegian evil spirit, big black man, 59. Yahgans, see under Fuegian primitives, and SBff. Yaka, spirit, Ceylon, see under Kande- Yaka. 19ff. Ya-langi, Toradja "I-am-in-Heaven", Cele- bes, 29. Yams, wild, as primitive offerings, 315, 457. Yambo, Australian soul, spirit, 536. Yasna, of the Avesta, see under Persia, 107ff. Yasad, as soul or interior essence, Persia, 176. Yehowah,z=Jahwe, Jehovah, Hebrew "I AM", 101-102, and see under Hebrew- Palestinian beliefs and practices. Also 575, 580, Epilog. Yerri-Yupon, Alacalufan "Good Spirit", Tierra del Fuego, 58-59. Relative esti- mate, 534. Yima (Yama), Persian "Adam", 108, 219- 220, 445. Youth, of mankind, in harmony with youth- ful types, but otherwise normal, XVII- XXIV. Education of youth, see under Initiation-rites. Zalbat, (Lubat, Apin), planet Mars, 273ff. Zend, Zend-Avesta, see under Persia. Zeus, Greek Sky-Father,=/M/itter, 105, 110, connected with the flood, 446. Zigzag patterns, LVI, l-7ff. 149-150. Zi, Mesopotamian "life", Sum. si, Assyr. nishu, 87-90, 120, 213, 278, 359, 561. Zikkurat, as mountain-house. Sum. e-kur, 86, as model of temple-tower, 358, 360, as traditional stage-tower, 439. Ziud, Sumerian "Noah", "father of life",= Ut-napishtim, 435, 437. Zodiac, Babylonian, 183-184, 222, Converted mystical zodiac, 185-186, 223. Zoolatry, see under Totemism, Animism, Metempsychosis, Life Eternal. Zoroaster, the prophet of Iran, see under Persia, 107, 175, 219, 291, 373-376, as re- storer, 445, as visionary, 219, 487. Zu, Mesopotamian "wisdom". Sum. zu, Assyr. nimeku, barutu, 84, 165-166. Zukat, Babylonian sceptre, 435. Zulus, of South Africa, 67, 153, 474. Zunis, of North America, see under Pueblos, 115, 180, 222, 301, 383-384, 447, 490. APPENDIX A PROVISIONAL HIEROGLYPHIC TABLE showing the origin of the primitive sign-language, its relation to the cursive and cyclographic patterns, and its phonetic transcriptions in the Neolithic dolmens and the Babylonian syllabaries. Main Sources: W. Hoffman, The Beginnings of Writing (New York, 1891). Th. Danzel, Die Anfange der Schrift (Leipzig, 1910). C. O. Blagden, A Comparative Vocabulary of Aboriginal Dialects, apud Skeat, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula (London, 1906), Vol. IL, pp. 379ff. S. C. Roy, The Mundas and Their Country (Calcutta, 1912), passim. Fr. Delitzsch, Die Entstehung des altesten Schriftsystems (Leipzig, 1904). S. Langdon, A Sumerian Grammar (Paris, 1911). G. A. Barton, The brigin and Development of Babylonian Writ- ing (Leipzig-Baltimore, 1913). 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WATER. t'fONE) FlNCER FIRE-'STICk mTERNrrv t AB FATHW SA MAKE PA RULE B gqa.sii.C47.5^fe.CW'^?) bloom BURU FATWERrSUN ABA EAJA BANlt BATXnG SU BUHU BONQa 714 h|h»^ FATHER-MAKF- KNI FE- gTAFF-FAT>/MANVa ;OU ^UrMJ J3Ur\V:i,«\ fe ^i t'" ©'^#"' (dONVEKTIBLC) [| POWER y^ AD CRpcr DA MAN TA BLOOD a5-^S,654,673,536,(RV0 yrRPNo TABU 532 i TE-R RUBLE ADJA-BJADJA DANO DJANq 3)0 DAPA TA TANAH d^«n"'ik' ih'.±? 741 MAN- WIFE .HAND FOOT BLOOD TREE-EAKTH VITALITY Ay UVE ^A BREAT4E HA BLOW S 546.gia.g''-^fere.CKVl'r BLESS -^ HALAG FL'l^lSQ LIZARD AHA HAWA HAO yANTa MURHEWNCJ B REATH -BLOW-Al R - Fl S H - Wl ND-ST>1R.IT- EAQLE G)(b'* \\"' c^ pnaoucnoN 1^ S 543,65r,5B<», AK MAKE^iS KA EAT Z CHA oPrAK O 720,(R3q7) CHEW, Kabu BUFFALO AKA .KATl KAPA KAVU KAl KA CHA CHIP CHAWWA yba<} 4.70+V'5"'J^6S3V>pX'i8 BOW KNIFE HEAD TRee: bolt fish bipj tiger (CONVEKTIBLE)!! ■ ^r^ qA GO B 5^43, 569,6ll,6l7,&gfl,0R 387) cjlVE AQAP 615, < OlRHIMOCEROS 9 QAP-aOR CfAJA BOW KNIFE POUCH FOOT FORPST SUWER ELEPHANT ILLUMINAnON, i-X- AU SHINE L.A LIGKT LA HiaH B107,g63,'448.TI3^44,O^X"0 MEAVEM ALABA 722 "\ SPIDBR-MOON AL'0-UL4N-ALANG-LAUT LALl LANQKAP LA-LANG IT SaN-MOOH- STAR- FLV LIGHTNING "PALM CLOUD HEAVEN CENBVCnON ^ AM MOVE MA BEM». tS/lA FLOW B S45.S65,663,593T(TS.XXVI,4T5) sErE ^ MURU SREAT WHORL AMA(K/C) MAMA MARA MAOA MU-MllSANG MA-CHAM FATHER-MOTHER, BIRDBIg eVE CAT SHAKE MOVE COME SUBUMTV * AN NA NA 3 •j(,o,t>\(s, ssy. »ts.(n 4€q) HEia^€N AIR WIND SOUL (M)AMGA 703.i SCORPION ANTU ASIU ANAK AN AS RRE .5 A FRUIT SA PIAME S 60g,7l7.84 BA PA 111: AD DA TA AyATU SS3 bA«f ZA 161 Ay UA 2^+ Jlf58 fin AKATU BAO) AGATU AK KA KA{U) n+Tll'O /C\lS »-X^S25 (it) ID Tl (a,r) 355 ELLUTU + U^ilAb AMATU AQ OA^n.r) aA(t) mm m^ ^ ^^ "^ AM rvlACME) MA(VO a__g_s. 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