Savages fail to recognise the limits of their power over nature. Things
which the experience of the race shows us to be obviously impossible
are not only attempted but believed to be performed by persons in a low
stage of culture. Miracles always accompany ignorance. No better proof
of the barbarous and unintelligent state whence we have emerged could be
given than the stories of the supernatural which are found embodied in
all religions, and also in the customs of savages and the folk-lore of
peasantry.
Primitive man thinks of all phenomena as caused by spirits. Hence to
control the spirits is to control the phenomena. Herodotus (iv., 173)
tells a curious tale how once in the land of Psylii, the modern Tripoli,
the wind blowing from the Sahara dried up all the water-tanks. So the
people took counsel and marched in a body to make war on the south wind.
But when they entered the desert, the simoon swept down on them and
buried them. It is still said of the Bedouins of Eastern Africa that "no
whirlwind ever sweeps across the path without being pursued by a dozen
savages with drawn creeses, who stab into the centre of the dusty
column, in order to drive away the evil spirit that is believed to be
riding on the blast." The Chinese beat gongs and make other noises at an
eclipse, to drive away the dragon of darkness. At an eclipse, too, the
Ojibbeways used to think the sun was being extinguished, so they shot
fire-tipped arrows in the air, hoping thus to re-kindle his expiring
light. At the present day Theosophists seek to compass magical powers
which in early times were supposed to be generally possessed by
sorcerers.
Rain-making was one of the most common of these supposed powers.
Instances are found in the Bible. Samuel says: "I will call unto the
Lord and he shall send thunder and rain," and he does so (1 Sam. xii.
17, 18). So Elijah, by prayer (which in early times meant a magical
spell), obtained rain. Jesus controls the winds and the waves, walks on
the water, and levitates through the air.
Mr. J. G. Frazer, in his splendid work _The Golden Bough_ gives many
instances of savages making sunshine and staying the sun. Thus "the
Melanesians make sunshine by means of a mock sun. A round stone is wound
about with red braid and stuck with owl's feathers to represent rays; it
is then hung on a high tree." "In a pass of the Peruvian Andes stand two
ruined towers on opposite hills. Iron hooks are clamped into their walls
for the purpose of stretching a net from one tower to another. The net
is intended to catch the sun." Numerous other methods are resorted to by
different tribes. Jerome, of Prague, travelling among the Lithuanians,
who early in the fifteenth century were still Pagans, found a tribe who
worshipped the sun and venerated a large iron hammer. "The priests told
him at once the sun had been invisible for several months because a
powerful king had shut it up in a strong tower; but the signs of the
zodiac had broken open the tower with this very hammer and released the
sun. Therefore they adored the hammer."* Mr. Frazer gives reasons for
thinking that the fire festivals solemnised at Midsummer in ancient
times were really sun-charms.
The phenomena of nature were supposed to be at the service of the pious.
The thunderbolts of Zeus fell upon the heads of perjurers. Some people
still wonder the earth does not open when a man announces himself an
Atheist. Jahveh just before stopping the sun, pelted the enemies of
Israel with hailstones (Joshua x. 11). So Diodorus Siculus (xi. 1)
relates how the Persians when on their way to spoil the temple at
Delphi, were deterred by "a sudden and incredible tempest of wind and
hail, with dreadful thunder and lightning, by which great rocks were
rent to pieces and cast upon the heads of the Persians, destroying them
in heaps." Herodotus too (ii. 142) tells how "The Egyptians asserted
that the sun had four times deviated from his ordinary course."
Clergymen cite this as a corroboration of the fact that all ancient
peoples have similar absurd legends displaying their ignorance of nature
and consequent superstition. The power of arresting the stars in their
courses, and lengthening the days and nights was imputed to witches.
Thus Tibullus says of a sorceress (i. eleg. 2)--
I've seen her tear the planets from the sky,
Seen lightning backward at her bidding fly.