ii. 92 _sq._, 240 _sqq._ The author of this valuable work lived as a
Catholic missionary in the tribe for eighteen years.]
[Footnote 8: C. Gay, "Fragment d'un Voyage dans le Chili et au Cusco,"
_Bulletin de la Société de Géographie_ (Paris), Deuxième Série, xix.
(1843) p. 25; H. Delaporte, "Une visite chez les Araucaniens," _Bulletin
de la Société de Géographie_ (Paris), Quatrième Série, x. (1855) p. 30.]
[Footnote 9: K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturvölkern
Zentral-Brasiliens_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 344, 348.]
[Footnote 10: Rev. W. H. Brett, _The Indian Tribes of Guiana_ (London,
1868), p. 357.]
[Footnote 11: W. H. Brett, _op. cit._ pp. 361 _sq._]
[Footnote 12: Rev. W. H. Brett, _op. cit._ pp. 364 _sq._]
[Footnote 13: Rev. J. H. Bernau, _Missionary Labours in British Guiana_
(London, 1847), pp. 56 _sq._, 58.]
[Footnote 14: (Sir) E. F. im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_
(London, 1883), pp. 330 _sq._ For the case described see R. Schomburgk,
_Reisen in Britisch-Guiana_, i. (Leipsic, 1847) pp. 324 _sq._ The boy
died of dropsy. Perhaps the mode of divination adopted, by boiling some
portions of him in water, had special reference to the nature of the
disease.]
[Footnote 15: (Sir) E. F. im Thurn, _op. cit._ pp. 332 _sq._]
[Footnote 16: Father A. G. Morice, "The Canadian Dénés," _Annual
Archaeological Report, 1905_ (Toronto, 1906), p. 207.]
[Footnote 17: Albert A. C. Le Souëf, "Notes on the Natives of
Australia," in R. Brough Smyth's _Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and
London, 1878), ii. 289 _sq._]
[Footnote 18: (Sir) George Grey, _Journals of two Expeditions of
Discovery in Northwest and Western Australia_ (London, 1841), ii. 238.]
[Footnote 19: A. Oldfield, "The Aborigines of Australia," _Transactions
of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S. iii. (1865) p. 236.]
[Footnote 20: A. Oldfield, _op. cit._ p. 245.]
[Footnote 21: J. Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney and
Adelaide, 1881), p. 63.]
[Footnote 22: H. E. A. Meyer, "Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of
the Encounter Bay Tribe," _Native Tribes of South Australia_ (Adelaide,
1879), p. 195.]
[Footnote 23: C. W. Schürmann, "The Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln in
South Australia," _Native Tribes of South Australia_, pp. 237 _sq._]
[Footnote 24: Rev. G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," _Native Tribes of South
Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), p. 25.]
[Footnote 25: R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne
and London, 1878) i. 110.]
[Footnote 26: W. E. Stanbridge, "Some Particulars of the General
Characteristics, Astronomy, and Mythology of the Tribes in the Central
Part of Victoria, Southern Australia," _Transactions of the Ethnological
Society of London_, New Series, i. (1861) p. 299.]
[Footnote 27: Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_
(Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane, 1880), pp. 250 _sq._]
[Footnote 28: A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on some Tribes of New South
Wales," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_ xiv. (1885) pp. 361,
362 _sq._]
[Footnote 29: Rev. W. Ridley, _Kamilaroi_, Second Edition (Sydney,
1875), p. 159.]
[Footnote 30: Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of
Central Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 46-48.]
[Footnote 31: _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to
Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 248, 323.]
[Footnote 32: E. Beardmore, "The Natives of Mowat, British New Guinea,"
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix. (1890) p. 461.]
[Footnote 33: R. E. Guise, "On the Tribes inhabiting the Mouth of the
Wanigela River, New Guinea," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
xxviii. (1899) p. 216.]
[Footnote 34: C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_
(Cambridge, 1910), p. 279.]
[Footnote 35: K. Vetter, _Komm herüber und hilf uns! oder die Arbeit der
Neuen-Dettelsauer Mission_, iii. (Barmen, 1898) pp. 10 _sq._; _id._, in
_Nachrichten über Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-Archipel, 1897_,
pp. 94, 98. Compare B. Hagen, _Unter den Papuas_ (Wiesbaden, 1899), p.
256; _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie,
Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte, 1900_, p. (415).]
[Footnote 36: Father A. Deniau, "Croyances religieuses et moeurs des
indigènes de l'Ile Malo," _Missions Catholiques_, xxxiii. (1901) pp. 315
_sq._]
[Footnote 37: C. Ribbe, _Zwei Jahre unter den Kannibalen der
Salomo-Inseln_ (Dresden-Blasewitz, 1903), p. 268.]
[Footnote 38: P. A. Kleintitschen, _Die Küstenbewohner der
Gazellehalbinsel_ (Hiltrup bei Münster, N.D.), p. 344. As to beliefs of
this sort among the Sulka of New Britain, see _P._ Rascher, "Die Sulka,"
_Archiv für Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) pp. 221 _sq._; R. Parkinson,
_Dreissig Jahre in der Südsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 199-201.]
[Footnote 39: G. Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London,
1910), p. 176. Dr. Brown's account, of the Melanesians applies to the
natives of New Britain and more particularly of the neighbouring Duke of
York islands.]
[Footnote 40: Father Abinal, "Astrologie Malgache," _Missions
Catholiques_, xi. (1879) p. 506.]
[Footnote 41: A. Grandidier, "Madagascar," _Bulletin de la Société de
Géographie_ (Paris), Sixième Série, iii. (1872) pp. 399 _sq._ The
talismans (_ahouli_) in question consist of the horns of oxen stuffed
with a variety of odds and ends, such as sand, sticks, nails, and so
forth.]
[Footnote 42: Major A. J. N. Tremearne, _The Tailed Head-hunters of
Nigeria_ (London, 1912), pp. 171 _sq._; _id._, "Notes on the Kagoro and
other Headhunters," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,
xlii. (1912) pp. 160, 161.]
[Footnote 43: E. Hurel, "Religion et vie domestique des Bakerewe,"
_Anthropos_, vi. (1912) pp. 85-87.]
[Footnote 44: Father Campana, "Congo Mission Catholique de Landana,"
_Missions Catholiques_, xxvii. (1895) pp. 102 _sq_.]
[Footnote 45: Th. Masui, _Guide de la Section de l'État Indépendant du
Congo à l'Exposition de Bruxelles--Tervueren en 1874_ (Brussels, 1897),
p. 82.]
[Footnote 46: See for example O. Lenz, _Skizzen aus Westafrika_ (Berlin,
1878), pp. 184 _sq._; C. Cuny, "De Libreville au Cameroun," _Bulletin de
la Société de Géographie_ (Paris), Septième Série, xvii. (1896) p. 341;
Ch. Wunenberger, "La mission et le royaume de Humbé, sur les bords du
Cunène," _Missions Catholiques_, xx. (1888) p. 262; Lieut. Herold,
"Bericht betreffend religiöse Anschauungen und Gebräuche der deutschen
Ewe-Neger," _Mittheilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten_, v. (1892)
p. 153; Dr. R. Plehn, "Beiträge zur Völkerkunde des Togo-Gebietes,"
_Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin_, ii.
Dritte Abtheilung (1899), p. 97; R. Fisch, "Die Dagbamba,"
_Baessler-Archiv_, iii. (1912) p. 148. For evidence of similar beliefs
and practices in other parts of Africa, see Brard, "Der
Victoria-Nyanza," _Petermann's Mittheilungen_, xliii. (1897) pp. 79
_sq._; Father Picarda, "Autour du Mandéra," _Missions Catholiques_,
xviii. (1886) p. 342.]
[Footnote 47: Rev. R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_ (London,
1904), pp. 241 _sq._]
[Footnote 48: "Strange Adventures of Andrew Battel," in John Pinkerton's
_Voyages and Travels_, xvi. (London, 1814) p. 334.]
[Footnote 49: _Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Occidentale Française,
Notices publiées par le Gouvernement Central à l'occasion de
l'Exposition Coloniale de Marseille, La Côte d'Ivoire_ (Corbeil, 1906),
pp. 570-572.]
[Footnote 50: Hugh Goldie, _Calabar and its Mission_, New Edition
(Edinburgh and London, 1901), pp. 34 _sq._, 37 _sq._]
[Footnote 51: Above, p. 35.]
[Footnote 52: E. R. Smith, _The Araucanians_ (London, 1855), pp. 236
_sq._]
[Footnote 53: Father Trilles, "Milles lieues dans l'inconnu; à travers
le pays Fang, de la côte aux rives du Djah," _Missions Catholiques_,
xxxv. (1903) pp. 466 _sq._, and as to the poison ordeal, _ib._ pp. 472
_sq._]
[Footnote 54: R. H. Codrington, _The Melanesians_ (Oxford, 1891), p.
194.]
[Footnote 55: Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), pp. 133
_sq._]
[Footnote 56: In like manner the Baganda generally ascribed natural
deaths either to sorcery or to the action of a ghost; but when they
could not account for a person's death in either of these ways they said
that Walumbe, the God of Death, had taken him. This last explanation
approaches to an admission of natural death, though it is still mythical
in form. The Baganda usually attributed any illness of the king to
ghosts, because no man would dare to practise magic on him. A
much-dreaded ghost was that of a man's sister; she was thought to vent
her spite on his sons and daughters by visiting them with sickness. When
she proved implacable, a medicine-man was employed to catch her ghost in
a gourd or a pot and throw it away on waste land or drown it in a river.
See Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 98, 100, 101
_sq._, 286 _sq._, 315 _sq._]
LECTURE III
MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH
[Sidenote: Belief of savages in man's natural immortality.]
In my last lecture I shewed that many savages do not believe in what we
call a natural death; they imagine that all men are naturally immortal
and would never die, if their lives were not cut prematurely short by
sorcery. Further, I pointed out that this mistaken view of the nature of
death has exercised a disastrous influence on the tribes who entertain
it, since, attributing all natural deaths to sorcery, they consider
themselves bound to discover and kill the wicked sorcerers whom they
regard as responsible for the death of their friends. Thus in primitive
society as a rule every natural death entails at least one and often
several deaths by violence; since the supposed culprit being unknown
suspicion may fall upon many persons, all of whom may be killed either
out of hand or as a consequence of failing to demonstrate their
innocence by means of an ordeal.
[Sidenote: Savage stories of the origin of death.]
Yet even the savages who firmly believe in man's natural immortality are
obliged sorrowfully to admit that, as things are at the present day, men
do frequently die, whatever explanation we may give of so unexpected and
unnatural an occurrence. Accordingly they are hard put to it to
reconcile their theory of immortality with the practice of mortality.
They have meditated on the subject and have given us the fruit of their
meditation in a series of myths which profess to explain the origin of
death. For the most part these myths are very crude and childish; yet
they have a value of their own as examples of man's early attempts to
fathom one of the great mysteries which encompass his frail and
transient existence on earth; and accordingly I have here collected, in
all their naked simplicity, a few of these savage guesses at truth.
[Sidenote: Four types of such stories.]
Myths of the origin of death conform to several types, among which we
may distinguish, first, what I will call the type of the Two Messengers;
second, the type of the Waxing and Waning Moon; third, the type of the
Serpent and his Cast Skin; and fourth, the type of the Banana-tree. I
will illustrate each type by examples, and will afterwards cite some
miscellaneous instances which do not fall under any of these heads.
[Sidenote: I. The tale of the Two Messengers. Zulu story of the
chameleon and the lizard. The same story among other Bantu tribes.]
First, then, we begin with the type of the Two Messengers. Stories of
this pattern are widespread in Africa, especially among tribes belonging
to the great Bantu family, which occupies roughly the southern half of
the continent. The best-known example of the tale is the one told by the
Zulus. They say that in the beginning Unkulunkulu, that is, the Old Old
One, sent the chameleon to men with a message saying, "Go, chameleon, go
and say, Let not men die." The chameleon set out, but it crawled very
slowly, and it loitered by the way to eat the purple berries of the
_ubukwebezane_ tree, or according to others it climbed up a tree to bask
in the sun, filled its belly with flies, and fell fast asleep. Meantime
the Old Old One had thought better of it and sent a lizard posting after
the chameleon with a very different message to men, for he said to the
animal, "Lizard, when you have arrived, say, Let men die." So the lizard
went on his way, passed the dawdling chameleon, and arriving first among
men delivered his message of death, saying, "Let men die." Then he
turned on his heel and went back to the Old Old One who had sent him.
But after he was gone, the chameleon at last arrived among men with his
glad tidings of immortality, and he shouted, saying, "It is said, Let
not men die!" But men answered, "O! we have heard the word of the
lizard; it has told us the word, 'It is said, Let men die.' We cannot
hear your word. Through the word of the lizard, men will die." And died
they have ever since from that day to this. That is why some of the
Zulus hate the lizard, saying, "Why did he run first and say, 'Let
people die?'" So they beat and kill the lizard and say, "Why did it
speak?" But others hate the chameleon and hustle it, saying, "That is
the little thing which delayed to tell the people that they should not
die. If he had only brought his message in time we should not have died;
our ancestors also would have been still living; there would have been
no diseases here on the earth. It all comes from the delay of the
chameleon."[57] The same story is told in nearly the same form by other
Bantu tribes, such as the Bechuanas,[58] the Basutos,[59] the
Baronga,[60] and the Ngoni.[61] To this day the Baronga and the Ngoni
owe the chameleon a grudge for having brought death into the world, so
when children find a chameleon they will induce it to open its mouth,
then throw a pinch of tobacco on its tongue, and watch with delight the
creature writhing and changing colour from orange to green, from green
to black in the agony of death; for thus they avenge the wrong which the
chameleon has done to mankind.[62]
[Sidenote: Akamba story of the chameleon and the thrush.]
A story of the same type, but with some variations, is told by the
Akamba, a Bantu tribe of British East Africa; but in their version the
lizard has disappeared from the legend and has been replaced by the
_itoroko_, a small bird of the thrush tribe, with a black head, a
bluish-black back, and a buff-coloured breast. The tale runs thus:--Once
upon a time God sent out the chameleon, the frog, and the thrush to find
people who died one day and came to life again the next. So off they
set, the chameleon leading the way, for in those days he was a very
important personage. Presently they came to some people lying like dead,
so the chameleon went up to them and said, _Niwe, niwe, niwe_. The
thrush asked him testily what he was making that noise for, to which the
chameleon replied mildly, "I am only calling the people who go forward
and then came back again," and he explained that the dead people would
come to life again. But the thrush, who was of a sceptical turn of mind,
derided the idea. Nevertheless, the chameleon persisted in calling to
the dead people, and sure enough they opened their eyes and listened to
him. But here the thrush broke in and told them roughly that dead they
were and dead they must remain. With that away he flew, and though the
chameleon preached to the corpses, telling them that he had come from
God on purpose to bring them to life again, and that they were not to
believe the lies of that shallow sceptic the thrush, they obstinately
refused to pay any heed to him; not one of those dead corpses would
budge. So the chameleon returned crestfallen to God and reported to him
how, when he preached the gospel of resurrection to the corpses, the
thrush had roared him down, so that the corpses could not hear a word he
said. God thereupon cross-questioned the thrush, who stated that the
chameleon had so bungled his message that he, the thrush, felt it his
imperative duty to interrupt him. The simple deity believed the thrush,
and being very angry with the chameleon he degraded him from his high
position and made him walk very slow, lurching this way and that, as he
does down to this very day. But the thrush he promoted to the office of
wakening men from their slumber every morning, which he still does
punctually at 2 A.M. before the note of any other bird is heard in the
tropical forest.[63]
[Sidenote: Togo story of the dog and the frog.]
In this version, though the frog is sent out by God with the other two
messengers he plays no part in the story; he is a mere dummy. But in
another version of the story, which is told by the negroes of Togoland
in German West Africa, the frog takes the place of the lizard and the
thrush as the messenger of death. They say that once upon a time men
sent a dog to God to say that when they died they would like to come to
life again. So off the dog trotted to deliver the message. But on the
way he felt hungry and turned into a house, where a man was boiling
magic herbs. So the dog sat down and thought to himself, "He is cooking
food." Meantime the frog had set off to tell God that when men died they
would like not to come to life again. Nobody had asked him to give that
message; it was a piece of pure officiousness and impertinence on his
part. However, away he tore. The dog, who still sat watching the
hell-broth brewing, saw him hurrying past the door, but he thought to
himself, "When I have had something to eat, I will soon catch froggy
up." However, froggy came in first and said to the deity, "When men die,
they would like not to come to life again." After that, up comes the
dog, and says he, "When men die, they would like to come to life again."
God was naturally puzzled and said to the dog, "I really do not
understand these two messages. As I heard the frog's request first, I
will comply with it. I will not do what you said." That is the real
reason why men die and do not come to life again. If the frog had only
minded his own business instead of meddling with other people's, the
dead would all have come to life again to this day.[64] In this version
of the story not only are the persons of the two messengers different,
the dog and the frog having replaced the chameleon and the lizard of the
Bantu version, but the messengers are sent from men to God instead of
from God to men.
[Sidenote: Ashantee story of the goat and the sheep.]
In another version told by the Ashantees of West Africa the persons of
the messengers are again different, but as in the Bantu version they are
sent from God to men. The Ashantees say that long ago men were happy,
for God dwelt among them and talked with them face to face. For example,
if a child was roasting yams at the fire and wanted a relish to eat with
the yams, he had nothing to do but to throw a stick in the air and say,
"God give me fish," and God gave him fish at once. However, these happy
days did not last for ever. One unlucky day it happened that some women
were pounding a mash with pestles in a mortar, while God stood by
looking on. For some reason they were annoyed by the presence of the
deity and told him to be off; and as he did not take himself off fast
enough to please them, they beat him with their pestles. In a great huff
God retired altogether from the world and left it to the direction of
the fetishes; and still to this day people say, "Ah, if it had not been
for that old woman, how happy we should be!" However, after he had
withdrawn to heaven, the long-suffering deity sent a kind message by a
goat to men upon earth to say, "There is something which they call
Death. He will kill some of you. But even if you die, you will not
perish completely. You will come to me in heaven." So off the goat set
with this cheering intelligence. But before he came to the town he saw a
tempting bush by the wayside and stopped to browse on it. When God in
heaven saw the goat thus loitering by the way, he sent off a sheep with
the same message to carry the glad tidings to men without delay. But the
sheep did not give the message aright. Far from it: he said, "God sends
you word that you will die and that will be an end of you." Afterwards
the goat arrived on the scene and said, "God sends you word that you
will die, certainly, but that will not be the end of you, for you will
go to him." But men said to the goat, "No, goat, that is not what God
said. We believe that the message which the sheep brought us is the one
which God sent to us." That was the beginning of death among men.[65]
However, in another Ashantee version of the tale the parts played by the
sheep and the goat are reversed. It is the sheep who brings the tidings
of immortality from God to men, but the goat overruns him and offers
them death instead. Not knowing what death was, men accepted the seeming
boon with enthusiasm and have died ever since.[66]
[Sidenote: II. The story of the Waxing and Waning Moon. Hottentot story
of the Moon, the hare, and death.]
So much for the tale of the Two Messengers. In the last versions of it
which I have quoted, a feature to be noticed is the perversion of the
message by one of the messengers, who brings tidings of death instead of
life eternal to men. The same perversion of the message reappears in
some examples of the next type of story which I shall illustrate, namely
the type of the Waxing and Waning Moon. Thus the Namaquas or Hottentots
say that once the Moon charged the hare to go to men and say, "As I die
and rise to life again, so shall you die and rise to life again." So the
hare went to men, but either out of forgetfulness or malice he reversed
the message and said, "As I die and do not rise to life again, so you
shall also die and not rise to life again." Then he went back to the
Moon, and she asked him what he had said. He told her, and when she
heard how he had given the wrong message, she was so angry that she
threw a stick at him and split his lip, which is the reason why the
hare's lip is still split. So the hare ran away and is still running to
this day. Some people, however, say that before he fled he clawed the
Moon's face, which still bears the marks of the scratching, as anybody
may see for himself on a clear moonlight night. So the Hottentots are
still angry with the hare for bringing death into the world, and they
will not let initiated men partake of its flesh.[67] There are traces of
a similar story among the Bushmen.[68] In another Hottentot version two
messengers appear, an insect and a hare; the insect is charged by the
Moon with a message of immortality or rather of resurrection to men, but
the hare persuades the insect to let him bear the tidings, which he
perverts into a message of annihilation.[69] Thus in this particular
version the type of the Two Messengers coincides with the Moon type.
[Sidenote: Masai story of the moon and death.]
A story of the same type, though different in details, is told by the
Masai of East Africa. They say that in the early days a certain god
named Naiteru-kop told a man named Le-eyo that if a child were to die he
was to throw away the body and say, "Man, die, and come back again;
moon, die, and remain away." Well, soon afterwards a child died, but it
was not one of the man's own children, so when he threw the body away he
said, "Man, die, and remain away; moon, die, and return." Next one of
his own children died, and when he threw away the body he said, "Man,
die, and return; moon, die, and remain away." But the god said to him,
"It is of no use now, for you spoilt matters with the other child." That
is why down to this day when a man dies he returns no more, but when the
moon dies she always comes to life again.[70]
[Sidenote: Nandi story of the moon, the dog, and death.]