(M254) It would be easy to extend the list of royal and priestly taboos,
but the instances collected in the preceding pages may suffice as
specimens. To conclude this part of our subject it only remains to state
summarily the general conclusions to which our enquiries have thus far
conducted us. We have seen that in savage or barbarous society there are
often found men to whom the superstition of their fellows ascribes a
controlling influence over the general course of nature. Such men are
accordingly adored and treated as gods. Whether these human divinities
also hold temporal sway over the lives and fortunes of their adorers, or
whether their functions are purely spiritual and supernatural, in other
words, whether they are kings as well as gods or only the latter, is a
distinction which hardly concerns us here. Their supposed divinity is the
essential fact with which we have to deal. In virtue of it they are a
pledge and guarantee to their worshippers of the continuance and orderly
succession of those physical phenomena upon which mankind depends for
subsistence. Naturally, therefore, the life and health of such a god-man
are matters of anxious concern to the people whose welfare and even
existence are bound up with his; naturally he is constrained by them to
conform to such rules as the wit of early man has devised for averting the
ills to which flesh is heir, including the last ill, death. These rules,
as an examination of them has shewn, are nothing but the maxims with
which, on the primitive view, every man of common prudence must comply if
he would live long in the land. But while in the case of ordinary men the
observance of the rules is left to the choice of the individual, in the
case of the god-man it is enforced under penalty of dismissal from his
high station, or even of death. For his worshippers have far too great a
stake in his life to allow him to play fast and loose with it. Therefore
all the quaint superstitions, the old-world maxims, the venerable saws
which the ingenuity of savage philosophers elaborated long ago, and which
old women at chimney corners still impart as treasures of great price to
their descendants gathered round the cottage fire on winter evenings—all
these antique fancies clustered, all these cobwebs of the brain were spun
about the path of the old king, the human god, who, immeshed in them like
a fly in the toils of a spider, could hardly stir a limb for the threads
of custom, “light as air but strong as links of iron,” that crossing and
recrossing each other in an endless maze bound him fast within a network
of observances from which death or deposition alone could release him.
(M255) Thus to students of the past the life of the old kings and priests
teems with instruction. In it was summed up all that passed for wisdom
when the world was young. It was the perfect pattern after which every man
strove to shape his life; a faultless model constructed with rigorous
accuracy upon the lines laid down by a barbarous philosophy. Crude and
false as that philosophy may seem to us, it would be unjust to deny it the
merit of logical consistency. Starting from a conception of the vital
principle as a tiny being or soul existing in, but distinct and separable
from, the living being, it deduces for the practical guidance of life a
system of rules which in general hangs well together and forms a fairly
complete and harmonious whole.(1551) The flaw—and it is a fatal one—of the
system lies not in its reasoning, but in its premises; in its conception
of the nature of life, not in any irrelevancy of the conclusions which it
draws from that conception. But to stigmatise these premises as ridiculous
because we can easily detect their falseness, would be ungrateful as well
as unphilosophical. We stand upon the foundation reared by the generations
that have gone before, and we can but dimly realise the painful and
prolonged efforts which it has cost humanity to struggle up to the point,
no very exalted one after all, which we have reached. Our gratitude is due
to the nameless and forgotten toilers, whose patient thought and active
exertions have largely made us what we are. The amount of new knowledge
which one age, certainly which one man, can add to the common store is
small, and it argues stupidity or dishonesty, besides ingratitude, to
ignore the heap while vaunting the few grains which it may have been our
privilege to add to it. There is indeed little danger at present of
undervaluing the contributions which modern times and even classical
antiquity have made to the general advancement of our race. But when we
pass these limits, the case is different. Contempt and ridicule or
abhorrence and denunciation are too often the only recognition vouchsafed
to the savage and his ways. Yet of the benefactors whom we are bound
thankfully to commemorate, many, perhaps most, were savages. For when all
is said and done our resemblances to the savage are still far more
numerous than our differences from him; and what we have in common with
him, and deliberately retain as true and useful, we owe to our savage
forefathers who slowly acquired by experience and transmitted to us by
inheritance those seemingly fundamental ideas which we are apt to regard
as original and intuitive. We are like heirs to a fortune which has been
handed down for so many ages that the memory of those who built it up is
lost, and its possessors for the time being regard it as having been an
original and unalterable possession of their race since the beginning of
the world. But reflection and enquiry should satisfy us that to our
predecessors we are indebted for much of what we thought most our own, and
that their errors were not wilful extravagances or the ravings of
insanity, but simply hypotheses, justifiable as such at the time when they
were propounded, but which a fuller experience has proved to be
inadequate. It is only by the successive testing of hypotheses and
rejection of the false that truth is at last elicited. After all, what we
call truth is only the hypothesis which is found to work best. Therefore
in reviewing the opinions and practices of ruder ages and races we shall
do well to look with leniency upon their errors as inevitable slips made
in the search for truth, and to give them the benefit of that indulgence
which we ourselves may one day stand in need of; _cum excusatione itaque
veteres audiendi sunt_.
Note. Not To Step Over Persons And Things.(1552)
The superstition that harm is done to a person or thing by stepping over
him or it is very widely spread. Thus the Galelareese think that if a man
steps over your fishing-rod or your arrow, the fish will not bite when you
fish with that rod, and the game will not be hit by that arrow when you
shoot it. They say it is as if the implements merely skimmed past the fish
or the game.(1553) Similarly, if a Highland sportsman saw a person
stepping over his gun or fishing-rod, he presumed but little on that day’s
diversion.(1554) When a Dacota had bad luck in hunting, he would say that
a woman had been stepping over some part of the animal which he
revered.(1555) Amongst many South African tribes it is considered highly
improper to step over a sleeper; if a wife steps over her husband he
cannot hit his enemy in war; if she steps over his assegais, they are from
that time useless, and are given to boys to play with.(1556) The Baganda
think that if a woman steps over a man’s weapons, they will not aim
straight and will not kill, unless they have been first purified.(1557)
The Nandi of British East Africa hold that to step over a snare or trap is
to court death and must be avoided at all risks; further, they are of
opinion that if a man were to step over a pot, he would fall to pieces
whenever the pot were broken.(1558) The people of the Lower Congo deem
that to step over a person’s body or legs will cause ill-luck to that
person and they are careful not to do so, especially in passing men who
are holding a palaver. At such times a passer-by will shuffle his feet
along the ground without lifting them in order that he may not be charged
with bringing bad luck on any one.(1559) On the other hand among the
Wajagga of East Africa grandchildren leap over the corpse of their
grandfather, when it is laid out, expressing a wish that they may live to
be as old as he.(1560) In Laos hunters are careful never to step over
their weapons.(1561) The Tepehuanes of Mexico believe that if anybody
steps over them, they will not be able to kill another deer in their
lives.(1562) Some of the Australian aborigines are seriously alarmed if a
woman steps over them as they lie asleep on the ground.(1563) In the
tribes about Maryborough in Queensland, if a woman steps over anything
that belongs to a man he will throw it away.(1564) In New Caledonia it is
thought to endanger a canoe if a woman steps over the cable.(1565)
Everything that a Samoyed woman steps over becomes unclean and must be
fumigated.(1566) Malagasy porters believe that if a woman strides over
their poles, the skin will certainly peel off the shoulders of the bearers
when next they take up the burden.(1567) The Cherokees fancy that to step
over a vine causes it to wither and bear no fruit.(1568) The Ba-Pendi and
Ba-thonga of South Africa think that if a woman steps over a man’s legs,
they will swell and he will not be able to run.(1569) According to the
South Slavonians, the most serious maladies may be communicated to a
person by stepping over him, but they can afterwards be cured by stepping
over him in the reverse direction.(1570) The belief that to step over a
child hinders it from growing is found in France, Belgium, Germany,
Austria, and Syria; in Syria, Germany, and Bohemia the mischief can be
remedied by stepping over the child in the opposite direction.(1571)
INDEX.
Abdication of kings in favour of their infant children, 19, 20
Abduction of souls by demons, 58 _sqq._
Abipones, the, 328, 350;
changes in their language, 360
Abnormal mental states accounted inspiration, 248
Abortion, superstition as to woman who has procured, 153
Absence and recall of the soul, 30 _sqq._
Achilles, 261
Acts, tabooed, 101 _sqq._
Adivi or forest Gollas, the, 149
Aetolians, the, 311
Africa, fetish kings in West, 22 _sqq._;
names of animals and things tabooed in, 400 _sq._
Agutainos, the, 144
Air, prohibition to be uncovered in the open, 3, 14
Akamba, the, 204
Akikuyu, the, 175, 204, 286;
auricular confession among the, 214
Albanians of the Caucasus, 349
Alberti, L., 220
Alcmena and Hercules, 298 _sq._
Alfoors of Celebes, 33;
of Minahassa, 63 _sq._
Amboyna, 87, 105
Amenophis III., his birth represented on the monuments, 28
American Indians, their fear of naming the dead, 351 _sqq._
Ammon, Hanun, King of, 273
Amoy, 59
Amulets, knots used as, 306 _sqq._;
rings as, 314 _sqq._
Ancestors, names of, bestowed on their reincarnations, 368 _sq._;
reborn in their descendants, 368 _sq._
Ancestral spirits, cause sickness, 53;
sacrifices to, 104
Andaman Islanders, 183 _n._
Andania, mysteries of, 227 _n._
_Angakok_, Esquimaux wizard or sorcerer, 211, 212
Angoni, the, 174
Animals injured through their shadows, 81 _sq._;
propitiation of spirits of slain, 190, 204 _sq._;
atonement for slain, 207;
dangerous, not called by their proper names, 396 _sqq._;
thought to understand human speech, 398 _sq._, 400
Animism passing into religion, 213
Anklets as amulets, 315
Annamites, the, 235
Anointment of priests at installation, 14
Antambahoaka, the, 216
Ants, bites of, used in purificatory ceremony, 105
Apaches, the, 182, 184, 325, 328
Apollo, purification of, 223 _n._1
Apuleius, 270
Arab mode of cursing an enemy, 312
Arabs of Moab, 273, 280
Araucanians, the, 97, 324
Ares, men sacred to, 111
Arikaras, the, 161
Aristeas of Proconnesus, 34
Army under arms, prohibition to see, 13
Arrows to keep off death, 31
Aru Islands, 37, 276
Arunta, their belief as to the ghosts of the slain, 177 _sq._;
ceremonies at the end of mourning among the, 373 _sq._
Arval Brothers, 226
Aryans, the primitive, their theory of personal names, 319
Ashes strewn on the head, 112
Ash-tree, parings of nails buried under an, 276
Assam, taboos observed by headmen in, 11;
hill tribes of, 323
Astarte at Hierapolis, 286
Aston, W. G., 2 _n._2
Astrolabe Bay, 289
Athens, kings at, 21 _sq._;
ritual of cursing at, 75
Atonement for slain animals, 207
Attiuoindarons, the, 366
_Atua_, ancestral spirit, 134, 265
Augur’s staff at Rome, 313
Auricular confession, 214
Aurohuaca Indians, 215
Australian aborigines;
their conception of the soul, 27;
personal names kept secret among the, 320 _sqq._;
their fear of naming the dead, 349 _sqq._
Aversion of spirits and fairies to iron, 229, 232 _sq._
Avoidance of common words to deceive spirits or other beings, 416 _sqq._
Aymara Indians, the, 97
Aztecs, the, 249;
their priests, 259
Babylonian witches and wizards, 302
Bad Country, the, 109
Badham, Dr., 156 _n._
Baduwis, the, of Java, 115 _sq._, 232
Bag, souls collected in a, 63 _sq._
Baganda, the, 78, 87
—— fishermen, taboos observed by, 194 _sq._ _See also_ Uganda
Bagba, a fetish, 5
Bageshu, the, 174
Bagobos, the, 31, 315, 323
Bahima, the, 183 _n._;
names of their dead kings not mentioned, 375
Bahnars of Cochin-China, 52, 58
Baking, continence observed at, 201
Balder, Norse god, 305 _n._1
Ba-Lua, the, 330
Banana-trees, fruit-bearing, hair deposited under, 286
Bandages to prevent the escape of the soul, 32, 71
Bangala, the, 195 _sq._, 330
Bangkok, 90
Baoules, the, 70
Ba-Pedi, the, 141, 153, 163, 202
Baron, R., 380
Baronga, the, 272
Basagala, the, 361
Basket, souls gathered into a, 72
Bastian, A., 252, 253
Basutos, burial custom of the, 107;
purification of warriors among the, 172
Bathing (washing) as a ceremonial purification, 141, 142, 150, 153, 168,
169, 172, 173, 175, 179, 183, 192, 198, 219, 220, 222, 285,
286
Ba-Thonga, the, 141, 154, 163, 202
Battas or Bataks of Sumatra, 34, 45, 46, 65, 116, 296
Bavili, the, 78
Bawenda, the, 243
Bayazid, the Sultan, and his soul, 50
Beans, prohibition to touch or name, 13 _sq._
Bear, the polar, taboos concerning, 209;
customs observed by Lapps after killing a, 221
Bears not to be called by their proper names, 397 _sq._, 399, 402
Bechuanas, purification of manslayers among the, 172 _sq._, 174
Bed, feet of, smeared with mud, 14;
prohibition to sleep in a, 194
Beef and milk not to be eaten at the same meal, 292
Beer, continence observed at brewing, 200
Bells as talismans, 235
Benin, kings of, 123, 243
Bentley, R., 33 _n._3
Besisis, the, 87
Beveridge, P., 363 _sq._
Bird, soul conceived as a, 33 _sqq._
Birds, ghosts of slain as, 177 _sq._;
cause headache through clipped hair, 270 _sq._, 282
Birth from a golden image, pretence of, 113;
premature, 213. _See_ Miscarriage
Bismarck Archipelago, 128
Bites of ants used as purificatory ceremony, 105
Blackening faces of warriors, 163;
of manslayers, 169, 178, 181
Blackfoot Indians, 159 _n._
Black Mountain of southern France, 42
—— ox or black ram in magic, 154
Bladders, annual festival of, among the Esquimaux, 206 _sq._, 228
“Blessers” or sacred kings, 125 _n._
Blood put on doorposts, 15;
of slain, supposed effect of it on the slayer, 169;
smeared on person as a purification, 104, 115, 219;
drawn from bodies of manslayers, 176, 180;
tabooed, 239 _sqq._;
not eaten, 240 _sq._;
soul in the, 240, 241, 247, 250;
of game poured out, 241;
royal, not to be shed on the ground, 241 _sqq._;
unwillingness to shed, 243, 246 _sq._;
received on bodies of kinsfolk, 244 _sq._;
drops of, effaced, 245 _sq._;
horror of, 245;
of chief sacred, 248;
of women, dread of, 250 _sq._
—— of childbirth, supposed dangerous infection of, 152 _sqq._;
received on heads of friends or slaves, 245
—— -lickers, 246
Blowing upon knots, as a charm, 302, 304
Boa-constrictor, purification of man who has killed a, 221 _sq._
Boars, wild, not to be called by their proper names, 411, 415
Boas, Dr. Franz, 210 _sqq._, 214
Bodia or Bodio, a West African pontiff or fetish king, 14 _sq._, 23
Bodies, souls transferred to other, 49
Bodos, the, of Assam, 285
Boiled flesh tabooed, 185
Bolang Mongondo, a district in Celebes, 53, 279, 341
Bonds, no man in bonds allowed in priest’s house, 14
Bones of human bodies which have been eaten, special treatment of, 189
_sq._;
of the dead, their treatment after the decay of the flesh, 372 _n._5;
of dead disinterred and scraped, 373 _n._
Boobies, the, 8 _sq._
Born again, pretence of being, 113
Bornu, Sultan of, 120
Bororos, the, 34, 36
Bourke, Captain J. G., 184
Box, strayed soul caught in, 45, 70, 76
Bracelets as amulets, 315
Brahman student, his cut hair and nails, 277
Brahmans, their common and secret names, 322
Branches used in exorcism, 109
Breath of chief sacred, 136, 256
Breathing on a person as a mode of purification, 149
Brewing, continence observed at, 200, 201 _sq._
Bribri Indians, their ideas as to the uncleanness of women, 147, 149
Bride and bridegrooms, all knots on their garments unloosed, 299 _sq._
Bronze employed in expiatory rites, 226 _n._6;
priests to be shaved with, 226
—— knife to cut priest’s hair, 14
Brother and sister not allowed to mention each other’s names, 344
Brothers-in-law, their names not to be pronounced, 338, 342, 343, 344, 345
Buddha, Footprint of, 275
Building shadows into foundations, 89 _sq._
_Bukuru_, unclean, 147
Bulgarian building custom, 89
Burghead, 230
Burial under a running stream, 15
—— customs to prevent the escape of the soul, 51, 52
Burials, customs as to shadows at, 80 _sq._
Burma, kings of, 375
Burmese conception of the soul as a butterfly, 51 _sq._
Burning cut hair and nails to prevent them being used in sorcery, 281
_sqq._
Buryat shaman, his mode of recovering lost souls, 56 _sq._
Butterfly, the soul as a, 29 _n._1, 51 _sq._
Cacongo, King of, 115, 118
Caffre customs at circumcision, 156 _sq._
Caffres, “women’s speech” among the, 335 _sq._
Calabar, fetish king at, 22 _sq._
Calabashes, souls shut up in, 72
Calchaquis Indians, 31
Californian Indians, 352
Cambodia, kings of, 376
Camden, W., 68
Campbell, J., 384
Camphor, special language employed by searchers for, 405 _sqq._
Canelos Indians, 97
Cannibalism at hair-cutting, 264
Cannibals, taboos imposed on, among the Kwakiutl, 188 _sqq._
Canoe, fish offered to, 195
Canoes, continence observed at building, 202
Captives killed and eaten, 179 _sq._
Carayahis, the, 348
Caribou, taboos concerning, 208
Caribs, difference of language between men and women among the, 348
Caroline Islands, 25, 193, 290, 293
Caron’s _Account of Japan_, 4 _n._2
Carrier Indians, 215, 367
Catat, Dr., 98
Catlin, G., 182
Cats with stumpy tails, reason of, 128 _sq._
Cattle, continence observed for sake of, 204;
protected against wolves by charms, 307
Caul-fat extracted by Australian enemies, 303
“Cauld airn,” 233
Cazembes, the, 132
Celebes, 32, 33, 35;
hooking souls in, 30
Celibacy of holy milkmen, 15, 16
Ceremonial purity observed in war, 157
Ceremonies at the reception of strangers, 102 _sqq._;
at entering a strange land, 109 _sqq._;
purificatory, on return from a journey, 111 _sqq._;
observed after slaughter of panthers, lions, bears, serpents, etc., 219
_sqq._;
at hair-cutting, 264 _sqq._
Cetchwayo, King, 377
Chams, the, 202, 297
Change of language caused by taboo on the names of the dead, 358 _sqq._,
375;
caused by taboo on names of chiefs and kings, 375, 376 _sqq._
—— of names to deceive ghosts, 354 _sqq._
Charms to facilitate childbirth, 295 _sq._
Chastity. _See_ Continence
_Chegilla_, taboo, 137
Cheremiss, the, 391
Cherokee sorcery with spittle, 287 _sq._
Chiefs, foods tabooed to, 291, 292;
names of, tabooed, 376 _sq._, 378 _sq._, 381, 382
—— and kings tabooed, 131 _sqq._
—— sacred, not allowed to leave their enclosures, 124;
regarded as dangerous, 138
Child and father, supposed danger of resemblance between, 88 _sq._
Child’s nails bitten off, 262
Childbed, taboos imposed on women in, 147 _sqq._
Childbirth, precautions taken with mother at, 32, 33;
women tabooed at, 147 _sqq._;
confession of sins as a means of expediting, 216 _sq._;
women after, their hair shaved and burnt, 284;
homoeopathic magic to facilitate, 295 _sqq._;
knots untied at, 294, 296 _sq._, 297 _sq._
Children, young, tabooed, 262, 283;
parents named after their, 331 _sqq._
Chiloe, Indians of, 287, 324
China, custom at funerals in, 80;
Emperor of, 125, 375 _sq._
Chitomé or Chitombé, a pontiff of Congo, 5 _sq._, 7
Chittagong, 297
Choctaws, the, 181
Chuckchees, the, 358
Circumcision customs among the Caffres, 156 _sq._;
performed with flints, not iron, 227;
in Australia, 244
Circumlocutions adopted to avoid naming the dead, 350, 351, 354, 355;
employed by reapers, 412
Cities, guardian deities of, evoked by enemies, 391
Clasping of hands forbidden, 298
_Clavie_, the, at Burghead, 229 _sq._
Cleanliness fostered by superstition, 130;
personal, observed in war, 157, 158 _n._1
Clippings of hair, magic wrought through, 268 _sqq._, 275, 277, 278 _sq._
Clotaire, 259
Clothes of sacred persons tabooed, 131
Cloths used to catch souls, 46, 47, 48, 52, 53, 64, 67, 75 _sq._
Clotilde, Queen, 259
Cobra, ceremonies after killing a, 222 _sq._
Coco-nut oil made by chaste women, 201
_Codjour_, a priestly king, 132 _n._1
Coins, portraits of kings not stamped on, 98 _sq._
Comanches, the, 360
Combing the hair forbidden, 187, 203, 208, 264;
thought to cause storms, 271
Combs of sacred persons, 256
Common objects, names of, changed when they are the names of the dead, 358
_sqq._, 375, or the names of chiefs and kings, 375, 376 _sqq._
—— words tabooed, 392 _sqq._
Concealment of miscarriage in childbed, supposed effects of, 152 _sqq._
Concealment of personal names from fear of magic, 320 _sqq._
Conciliating the spirits of the land, 110 _sq._
Conduct, standard of, shifted from natural to supernatural basis, 213
_sq._
Confession of sins, 114, 191, 195, 211 _sq._, 214 _sqq._;
originally a magical ceremony, 217
Connaught, kings of, 11 _sq._
Consummation of marriage prevented by knots and locks, 299 _sqq._
Contagious magic, 246, 268, 272
Continence enjoined on people during the rounds of sacred pontiff, 5;
of Zapotec priests, 6;
of priests, 159 _n._
—— observed on eve of period of taboo, 11;
by those who have handled the dead, 142;
during war, 157, 158 _n._1, 161, 163, 164, 165;
after victory, 166 _sqq._, 175, 178, 179, 181;
by cannibals, 188;
by fishers and hunters, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 207;
by workers in salt-pans, 200;
at brewing beer, wine, and poison, 200 _sq._, 201 _sq._;
at baking, 201;
at making coco-nut oil, 201;
at building canoes, 202;
at house-building, 202;
at making or repairing dams, 202;
on trading voyages, 203;
after festivals, 204;
on journeys, 204;
while cattle are at pasture, 204;
by lion-killers and bear-killers, 220, 221;
before handling holy relics, 272;
by tabooed men, 293
Cooking, taboos as to, 147 _sq._, 156, 165, 169, 178, 185, 193, 194, 198,
209, 221, 256
Coptic church, 235, 310 _n._5
Cords, knotted, in magic, 302, 303 _sq._
Corea, clipped hair burned in, 283
—— kings of, 125;
not to be touched with iron, 226
Corpses, knots not allowed about, 310
Cousins, male and female, not allowed to mention each other’s names, 344
Covenant, spittle used in making a, 290
Covering up mirrors at a death, 94 _sq._
Cow bewitched, 93
Cowboy of the king of Unyoro, 159 _n._
Creek Indians, the, 156;
their war customs, 161
Crevaux, J., 105
Criminals shaved as a mode of purification, 287
Crocodiles not called by their proper names, 403, 410, 411, 415 _sq._
Crossing of legs forbidden, 295, 298 _sq._
Crown, imperial, as palladium, 4
Crystals used in divination, 56
Curr, E. M., 320 _sq._
Cursing at Athens, ritual of, 75
—— an enemy, Arab mode of, 312
Curtains to conceal kings, 120 _sq._
Cut hair and nails, disposal of, 267 _sqq._
Cuts made in the body as a mode of expelling demons or ghosts, 106 _sq._;
in bodies of manslayers, 174, 176, 180;
in bodies of slain, 176. _See also_ Incisions
Cutting the hair a purificatory ceremony, 283 _sqq._
Cynaetha, people of, 188
Cyzicus, council chamber at, 230
Dacotas, the, 181
Dahomey, the King of, 9;
royal family of, 243;
kings of, their “strong names,” 374
Dairi, the, or Mikado of Japan, 2, 4
Dairies, sacred, of the Todas, 15 _sqq._
Dairymen, sacred, of the Todas, 15 _sqq._
Damaras, the, 247
Dams, continence at making or repairing, 202
Dance of king, 123;
of successful head-hunters, 166
Dances of victory, 169, 170, 178, 182
Danger of being overshadowed by certain birds or people, 82 _sq._;
supposed, of portraits and photographs, 96 _sqq._;
supposed to attend contact with divine or sacred persons, such as chiefs
and kings, 132, 138
Darfur, 81;
Sultan of, 120
Dassera, festival of the, 316
Daughter-in-law, her name not to be pronounced, 338
David and the King of Moab, 273
Dawson, J., 347 _sq._
Dead, sacrifices to the, 15, 88;
taboos on persons who have handled the, 138 _sqq._;
souls of the dead all malignant, 145;
names of the dead tabooed, 349 _sqq._;
to name the dead a serious crime, 352;
names of the dead not borne by the living, 354;
reincarnation or resurrection of the dead in their namesakes, 365
_sqq._;
festivals of the, 367, 371
—— body, prohibition to touch, 14
Death, natural, of sacred king or priest, supposed fatal consequences of,
6, 7;
kept off by arrows, 31;
mourners forbidden to sleep in house after a death, 37;
custom of covering up mirrors at a, 94 _sq._;
from imagination, 135 _sqq._
Debt of civilisation to savagery, 421 _sq._
Defiled hands, 174. _See_ Hands
De Groot, J. J. M., 390
Demons, abduction of souls by, 58 _sqq._;
of disease expelled by pungent spices, pricks, and cuts, 105 _sq._;
and ghosts averse to iron, 232 _sqq._
Devils, abduction of souls by, 58 _sqq._
Dido, her magical rites, 312
Diet of kings and priests regulated, 291 _sqq._
Dieterich, A., 369 _n._3
Difference of language between husbands and wives, 347 _sq._;
between men and women, 348 _sq._
Diminution of shadow regarded with apprehension, 86 _sq._
Dio Chrysostom, on fame as a shadow, 86 _sq._
Diodorus Siculus, 12 _sq._
Dionysus in the city, festival of, 316
Disease, demons of, expelled by pungent spices, pricks, and cuts, 105
_sq._
Disenchanting strangers, various modes of, 102 _sqq._
Dishes, effect of eating out of sacred, 4;
of sacred persons tabooed, 131. _See_ Vessels
Disposal of cut hair and nails, 267 _sqq._
Divination by shoulder-blades of sheep, 229
Divinities, human, bound by many rules, 419 _sq._
Divorce of spiritual from temporal power, 17 _sqq._
Dobrizhoffer, Father M., 328, 360
Dog, prohibition to touch or name, 13
Dogs, bones of game kept from, 206;
unclean, 206;
tigers called, 402
Dolls or puppets employed for the restoration of souls to their bodies, 53
_sqq._, 62 _sq._
Doorposts, blood put on, 15
Doors opened to facilitate childbirth, 296, 297;
to facilitate death, 309
Doubles, spiritual, of men and animals, 28 _sq._
Doutté, E., 390
Dreams, absence of soul in, 36 _sqq._;
belief of savages in the reality of, 36 _sq._;
omens drawn from, 161
Drinking and eating, taboos on, 116 _sqq._;
modes of drinking for tabooed persons, 117 _sqq._, 120, 143, 146, 147,
148, 160, 182, 183, 185, 189, 197, 198, 256
Drought supposed to be caused by a concealed miscarriage, 153 _sq._
Dugong fishing, taboos in connexion with, 192
Dyaks, the Sea, 30;
their modes of recalling the soul, 47 _sq._, 52 _sq._, 55 _sq._, 60, 67;
taboos observed by head-hunters among the, 166 _sq._
Eagle, soul in form of, 34
—— -hunters, taboos observed by, 198 _sq._
Eagle-wood, special language employed by searchers for, 404
Eating out of sacred vessels, supposed effect of, 4
—— and drinking, taboos on, 116 _sqq._;
fear of being seen in the act of, 117 _sqq._
Eggs offered to demons, 110;
reason for breaking shells of, 129 _sq._
Egypt, rules of life observed by ancient kings of, 12 _sq._
Egyptian magicians, their power of compelling the deities, 389 _sq._
Egyptians, the ancient, their conception of the soul, 28;
their practice as to souls of the dead, 68 _sq._;
personal names among, 322
Elder brother, his name not to be pronounced, 341
Elder-tree, cut hair and nails inserted in an, 275 _sq._
Elephant-hunters, special language employed by, 404
Eleusinian priests, their names sacred, 382 _sq._
Elfin race averse to iron, 232 _sq._
Emetic as mode of purification, 175, 245;
pretended, in auricular confession, 214
Emin Pasha, 108
Epidemics attributed to evil spirits, 30
Epimenides, the Cretan seer, 50 _n._2
Esquimaux, their conception of the soul, 27;
their dread of being photographed, 96;
or Inuit, taboos observed by hunters among the, 205 _sq._;
namesakes of the dead among the, 371
Esthonians, the, 41 _sq._, 240
Ethical evolution, 218 _sq._
—— precepts developed out of savage taboos, 214
Ethiopia, kings of, 124
Euphemisms employed for certain animals, 397 _sqq._;
for smallpox, 400, 410, 411, 416
Europe, south-eastern, superstitions as to shadows in, 89 _sq._
Evil eye, the, 116 _sq._
Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast, 9;
rebirth of ancestors among the, 369
Execution, peculiar modes of, for members of royal families, 241 _sqq._
Executioners, customs observed by, 171 _sq._, 180 _sq._
Exorcising harmful influence of strangers, 102 _sqq._
Eye, the evil, 116 _sq._
Eyeos, the, 9
Faces veiled to avert evil influences, 120 _sqq._;
of warriors blackened, 163;
of manslayers blackened, 169
_Fàdy_, taboo, 327
Fafnir and Sigurd, 324
Fairies averse to iron, 229, 232 _sq._
Fasting, custom of, 157 _n._2, 159 _n._, 161, 162, 163, 182, 183, 189,
198, 199
Father and child, supposed danger of resemblance between, 88 _sq._
—— and mother, their names not to be mentioned, 337, 341
—— in-law, his name not to be pronounced by his daughter-in-law, 335
_sqq._, 343, 345, 346;
by his son-in-law, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344
Fathers named after their children, 331 _sqq._
Faunus, consultation of, 314
Feast of Yams, 123
Feathers worn by manslayers, 180, 186 _n._1
Feet, not to wet the, 159. _See also_ Foot
Fernando Po, taboos observed by the kings of, 8 _sq._, 115, 123, 291
Festival of the Dead among the Hurons, 367
Fetish or taboo rajah, 24
—— kings in West Africa, 22 _sqq._
Fever, euphemism for, 400
“Field speech,” a special jargon employed by reapers, 410 _sq._, 411 _sq._
Fiji, catching away souls in, 69;
War King and Sacred King in, 21;
custom as to remains of food in, 117
Fijian chief, supposed effect of using his dishes or clothes, 131
—— conception of the soul, 29 _sq._, 92
—— custom of frightening away ghosts, 170
—— notion of absence of the soul in dreams, 39 _sq._
Fingers cut off as a sacrifice, 161
Finnish hunters, 398
Fire, rule as to removing fire from priest’s house, 13;
prohibition to blow the fire with the breath, 136, 256;
in purificatory rites, 108, 109, 111, 114, 197;
tabooed, 178, 182, 256 _sq._;
new, made by friction, 286
—— and Water, kingships of, 17
Firefly, soul in form of, 67
First-fruits, offering of, 5
Fish-traps, continence observed at making, 202
Fishermen, words tabooed by, 394 _sq._, 396, 408 _sq._, 415
Fishers and hunters tabooed, 190 _sqq._
Fison, Rev. Lorimer, 30 _n._1, 40 _n._1, 92 _n._3, 131 _n._2
Fits and convulsions set down to demons, 59
Flamen Dialis, taboos observed by the, 13 _sq._, 239, 248, 257, 275, 291,
293, 315 _sq._
Flaminica, rules observed by the, 14
Flannan Islands, 392
Flesh, boiled, not to be eaten by tabooed persons, 185;
diet restricted or forbidden, 291 _sqq._
Flints, not iron, cuts to be made with, 176;
use of, prescribed in ritual, 176;
sharp, circumcision performed with, 227
Fly, soul in form of, 39
Food, remnants of, buried as a precaution against sorcery, 118, 119, 127
_sq._, 129;
magic wrought by means of refuse of, 126 _sqq._;
taboos on leaving food over, 127 _sqq._;
not to be touched with hands, 138 _sqq._, 146 _sqq._, 166, 167, 168,
169, 174, 203, 265;
objection to have food over head, 256, 257
Foods tabooed, 291 _sqq._
Foot, custom of going with only one foot shod, 311 _sqq._ _See also_ Feet
Footprint in magic, 74;
of Buddha, 275
Forgetfulness, pretence of, 189
Forks used in eating by tabooed persons, 148, 168, 169, 203
Fors, the, of Central Africa, 281
Foundation sacrifices, 89 _sqq._
Fowl used in exorcism, 106
Fowlers, words tabooed by, 393, 407 _sq._
Foxes not to be mentioned by their proper names, 396, 397
Frankish kings, their unshorn hair, 258 _sq._
Fresh meat tabooed, 143
Fumigation as a mode of ceremonial purification, 155, 177
Funerals in China, custom as to shadows at, 80. _See also_ Burial, Burials
Furfo, 230
Gabriel, the archangel, 302, 303
_Gangas_, fetish priests, 291
Garments, effect of wearing sacred, 4
Gates, sacrifice of human beings at foundations of, 90 _sq._
Gatschet, A. S., 363
Gauntlet, running the, 222
Genitals of murdered people eaten, 190 _n._2
Getae, priestly kings of the, 21
Ghost of husband kept from his widow, 143;
fear of evoking the ghost by mentioning his name, 349 _sqq._;
chased into the grave at the end of mourning, 373 _sq._
Ghosts, sacrifices to, 56, 247;
draw away the souls of their kinsfolk, 51 _sqq._;
draw out men’s shadows, 80;
as guardians of gates, 90 _sq._;
kept off by thorns, 142;
and demons averse to iron, 232 _sqq._;
fear of wounding, 237 _sq._;
swept out of house, 238;
names changed in order to deceive ghosts or to avoid attracting their
attention, 354 _sqq._
Ghosts of animals, dread of, 223
—— of the slain haunt their slayers, 165 _sqq._;
fear of the, 165 _sqq._;
sacrifices to, 166;
scaring away the, 168, 170, 171, 172, 174 _sq._;
as birds, 177 _sq._
Gilyaks, the, 370
Ginger in purificatory rites, 105, 151
Gingiro, kingdom of, 18
Girls at puberty obliged to touch everything in house, 225 _n._;
their hair torn out, 284
Goajiro Indians, 30, 350
Goat, prohibition to touch or name, 13;
transference of guilt to, 214 _sq._
—— -sucker, shadow of the, 82
God, “the most great name” of, 390
—— -man a source of danger, 132;
bound by many rules, 419 _sq._
Gods, their names tabooed, 387 _sqq._;
Xenophanes on the, 387;
human, bound by many rules, 419 _sq._ _See also_ Myths
Gold excluded from some temples, 226 _n._8
—— and silver as totems, 227 _n._
—— mines, spirits of the, treated with deference, 409 _sq._
Goldie, H., 22
Gollas, the, 149
Good Friday, 229
Goorkhas, the, 316
Gordian knot, 316 _sq._
Gran Chaco, Indians of the, 37, 38, 357
Grandfathers, grandsons named after their deceased, 370
Grandidier, A., 380 _sq._
Grandmothers, granddaughters named after their deceased, 370
Grass knotted as a charm, 305, 310
Grave, soul fetched from, 54
—— -clothes, no knots in, 310
—— -diggers, taboos observed by, 141, 142
Graves, food offered on, 53;
water poured on, as a rain-charm, 154 _sq._
Great Spirit, sacrifice of fingers to the, 161
Grebo people of Sierra Leone, 14
Greek conception of the soul, 29 _n._1
—— customs as to manslayers, 188
Grey, Sir George, 364 _sq._
_Grihya-Sûtras_, 277
Grimm, J., 305 _n._1
Ground, prohibition to touch the, 3, 4, 6;
not to sit on the, 159, 162, 163;
not to set foot on, 180;
royal blood not to be shed on the, 241 _sqq._
Guardian deities of cities, 391
Guaycurus, the, 357
Guiana, Indians of, 324
Gypsy superstition about portraits, 100
Haida medicine-men, 31
Hair, mode of cutting the Mikado’s, 3;
cut with bronze knife, 14;
of manslayers shaved, 175, 176;
of slain enemy, fetish made from, 183;
not to be combed, 187, 203, 208, 264;
tabooed, 258 _sqq._;
of kings, priests, and wizards unshorn, 258 _sqq._;
regarded as the seat of a god or spirit, 258, 259, 263;
kept unshorn at certain times, 260 _sqq._;
offered to rivers, 261;
of children unshorn, 263;
magic wrought through clippings of, 268 _sqq._, 275, 277, 278 _sq._;
cut or combed out may cause rain and thunderstorms, 271, 272, 282;
clippings of, used as hostages, 272 _sq._;
infected by virus of taboo, 283 _sq._;
cut as a purificatory ceremony, 283 _sqq._;
of women after childbirth shaved and burnt, 284;
loosened at childbirth, 297 _sq._;
loosened in magical and religious ceremonies, 310 _sq._
—— and nails of sacred persons not cut, 3, 4, 16
—— and nails, cut, disposal of, 267 _sqq._;
deposited on or under trees, 14, 275 _sq._, 286;
deposited in sacred places, 274 _sqq._;
stowed away in any secret place, 276 _sqq._;
kept for use at the resurrection, 279 _sqq._;
burnt to prevent them from falling into the hands of sorcerers, 281
_sqq._
—— -cutting, ceremonies at, 264 _sqq._
Hands tabooed, 138, 140 _sqq._, 146 _sqq._, 158, 159 _n._, 265;
food not to be touched with, 138 _sqq._, 146 _sqq._, 166, 167, 168, 169,
174, 265;
defiled, 174;
not to be clasped, 298
Hanun, King of Moab, 273
Hawaii, 72, 106;
customs as to chiefs and shadows in, 255
Head, stray souls restored to, 47, 48, 52, 53 _sq._, 64, 67;
prohibition to touch the, 142, 183, 189, 252 _sq._, 254, 255 _sq._;
plastered with mud, 182;
the human, regarded as sacred, 252 _sqq._;
tabooed, 252 _sqq._;
supposed to be the residence of spirits, 252;
objection to have any one overhead, 253 _sqq._;
washing the, 253
—— -hunters, customs of, 30, 36, 71 _sq._, 111, 166 _sq._, 169 _sq._
Headache caused by clipped hair, 270 _sq._, 282
Heads of manslayers shaved, 177
Hearne, S., quoted, 184 _sqq._
Hebesio, god of thunder, 257
Hercules and Alcmena, 298 _sq._
Herero, the, 151, 177, 225 _n._
Hermotimus of Clazomenae, 50
Hidatsa Indians, taboos observed by eagle-hunters among the, 198 _sq._
Hierapolis, temple of Astarte at, 286
Hiro, thief-god, 69
Historical tradition hampered by the taboo on the names of the dead, 363
_sqq._
Holiness and pollution not differentiated by savages, 224
Hollis, A. C., 200 _n._3
Holy water, sprinkling with, 285 _sq._
Homicides. See Manslayers
Homoeopathic magic, 151, 152, 207, 295, 298
Honey-wine, continence observed at brewing, 200
Hooks to catch souls, 30 _sq._, 51
Horse, prohibition to see a, 9;
prohibition to ride, 13
Hos of Togoland, the, 295, 301
Hostages, clipped hair used as, 272 _sq._
Hottentots, the, 220
House, ceremony at entering a new, 63 _sq._;
taboos on quitting the, 122 _sqq._
—— building, custom as to shadows at, 81, 89 _sq._;
continence observed at, 202
Howitt, A. W., 269
Huichol Indians, 197
Human gods bound by many rules, 419 _sq._
—— sacrifices at foundation of buildings, 90 _sq._
Humbe, a kingdom of Angola, 6
Hunters use knots as charms, 306;
words tabooed by, 396, 398, 399, 400, 402, 404, 410
—— and fishers tabooed, 190 _sqq._
Hurons, the, 366;
their conception of the soul, 27;
their Festival of the Dead, 367
Husband’s ghost kept from his widow, 143
—— name not to be pronounced by his wife, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339
Husbands and wives, difference of language between, 347 _sq._
Huzuls, the, 270, 314
Ilocanes of Luzon, 44
Imagination, death from, 135 _sqq._
Imitative or homoeopathic magic, 295
Impurity of manslayers, 167
Incas of Peru, 279
Incisions made in bodies of warriors as a preparation for war, 161;
in bodies of slain, 176;
in bodies of manslayers, 174, 176, 180.
_See also_ Cuts
Incontinence of young people supposed to be fatal to the king, 6
India, names of animals tabooed in, 401 _sqq._
Indians of North America, their customs on the war-path, 158 _sqq._;
their fear of naming the dead, 351 _sqq._
Infants tabooed, 255
Infection, supposed, of lying-in women, 150 _sqq._
Infidelity of wife supposed to be fatal to hunter, 197
Initiation, custom of covering the mouth after, 122;
taboos observed by novices at, 141 _sq._, 156 _sq._;
new names given at, 320
Injury to a man’s shadow conceived as an injury to the man, 78 _sqq._
Inspiration, primitive theory of, 248
Intercourse with wives enjoined before war, 164 _n._1;
enjoined on manslayers, 176. _See also_ Continence
Intoxication accounted inspiration, 248, 249, 250
Inuit. _See_ Esquimaux
Ireland, taboos observed by the ancient kings of, 11 _sq._
Irish custom as to a fall, 68;
as to friends’ blood, 244 _sq._
Iron not to be touched, 167;
tabooed, 176, 225 _sqq._;
used as a charm against spirits, 232 _sqq._
—— instruments, use of, tabooed, 205, 206
—— rings as talismans, 235
Iroquois, the, 352, 385
Isis and Ra, 387 _sqq._
Israelites, rules of ceremonial purity observed by the Israelites in war,
157 _sq._, 177
Issini, the, 171
Itonamas, the, 31
Ivy, prohibition to touch or name, 13 _sq._
Ja-Luo, the, 79
Jackals, tigers called, 402, 403
Jackson, Professor Henry, 21 _n._3
Japan, the Mikado of, 2 _sqq._;
Kaempfer’s history of, 3 _n._2;
Caron’s account of, 4 _n._2
Jars, souls conjured into, 70
Jason and Pelias, 311 _sq._
Java, 34, 35
Jebu, the king of, 121
Jewish hunters, their customs as to blood of game, 241
Jinn, the servants of their magical names, 390
Journey, purificatory ceremonies on return from a, 111 _sqq._;
continence observed on a, 204;
hair kept unshorn on a, 261
Jumping over wife or children as a ceremony, 112, 164 _n._1
Juno Lucina, 294
Junod, H. A., 152 _sqq._, 420 _n._1
Jupiter Liber, temple of, at Furfo, 230
_Ka_, the ancient Egyptian, 28
Kachins of Burma, 200
Kaempfer’s _History of Japan_, 3 _sq._
Kafirs of the Hindoo Koosh, 13 _n._6, 14 _n._2
Kaitish, the, 82, 295
Kalamba, the, a chief in the Congo region, 114
_Kami_, the Japanese word for god, 2 _n._2
Kamtchatkans, their attempts to deceive mice, 399
Karaits, the, 95
Karen-nis of Burma, the, 13
Karens, the Red, of Burma, 292;
their recall of the soul, 43;
their customs at funerals, 51
Karo-Bataks, 52. _See also_ Battas
_Katikiro_, the, of Uganda, 145 _n._4
Kavirondo, 176
Kayans of Borneo, 32, 47, 110, 164, 239
Kei Islanders, 53
Kenyahs of Borneo, 43, 415
Key as symbol of delivery in childbed, 296
Keys as charms against devils and ghosts, 234, 235, 236;
as amulets, 308. _See also_ Locks
Khonds, rebirth of ancestors among the, 368 _sq._
Kickapoos, the, 171
Kidd, Dudley, 88 _n._
King not to be overshadowed, 83
—— of the Night, 23
King’s Evil, the, 134
Kings, supernatural powers attributed to, 1;
beaten before their coronation, 18;
forbidden to see their mothers, 86;
portraits of, not stamped on coins, 98 _sq._;
guarded against the magic of strangers, 114 _sq._;
forbidden to use foreign goods, 115;
not to be seen eating and drinking, 117 _sqq._;
concealed by curtains, 120 _sq._;
forbidden to leave their palaces, 122 _sqq._;
compelled to dance, 123;
punished or put to death, 124;
not to be touched, 132, 225 _sq._;
their hair unshorn, 258 _sq._;
foods tabooed to, 291 _sq._;
names of, tabooed, 374 _sqq._;
taboos observed by, identical with those observed by commoners, 419
_sq._
Kings and chiefs tabooed, 131 _sqq._;
their spittle guarded against sorcerers, 289 _sq._
—— fetish or religious, in West Africa, 22 _sqq._
Kingsley, Miss Mary H., 22 _n._3, 71, 123 _n._2, 251
Kiowa Indians, 357, 360
Klallam Indians, the, 354
Knife as charm against spirits, 232, 233, 234, 235
Knives not to be left edge upwards, 238;
not used at funeral banquets, 238
Knot, the Gordian, 316 _sq._
Knots, prohibition to wear, 13;
untied at childbirth, 294, 296 _sq._, 297 _sq._;
thought to prevent the consummation of marriage, 299 _sqq._;
thought to cause sickness, disease, and all kinds of misfortune, 301
_sqq._;
used to cure disease, 303 _sqq._;
used to win a lover or capture a runaway slave, 305 _sq_.;
used as protective amulets, 306 _sqq._;
used as charms by hunters and travellers, 306;
as a charm to protect corn from devils, 308 _sq._;
on corpses untied, 310
—— and locks, magical virtue of, 310, 313
—— and rings tabooed, 293 _sqq._
Koita, the, 168
Koryak, the, 32
Kruijt, A. C., 319
Kublai Khan, 242
Kukulu, a priestly king, 5
Kwakiutl, the, 53;
customs observed by cannibals among the, 188 _sqq._;
change of names in summer and winter among the, 386
_Kwun_, the spirit of the head, 252;
supposed to reside in the hair, 266 _sq._
Lafitau, J. F., 365 _sq._
Lampong in Sumatra, 10
Lamps to light the ghosts to their old homes, 371
Language of husbands and wives, difference between, 347 sq.;
of men and women, difference between, 348 _sq._
—— change of, caused by taboo on the names of the dead, 358 _sqq._, 375;
caused by taboo on the names of chiefs and kings, 375, 376 _sqq._
—— special, employed by hunters, 396, 398, 399, 400, 402, 404, 410;
employed by searchers for eagle-wood and _lignum aloes_, 404;
employed by searchers for camphor, 405 _sqq._;
employed by miners, 407, 409;
employed by reapers at harvest, 410 _sq._, 411 _sq._;
employed by sailors at sea, 413 _sqq._
Laos, 306
Lapps, the, 294;
their customs after killing a bear, 221;
rebirth of ancestors among the, 368
Latuka, the, 245
Leaning against a tree prohibited to warriors, 162, 163
Leavened bread, prohibition to touch, 13
Leaving food over, taboos on, 126 _sqq._
Leavings of food, magic wrought by means of, 118, 119, 126 _sqq._
Legs not to be crossed, 295, 298 _sq._
Leinster, kings of, 11
_Leleen_, the, 129
Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco, 38, 357
Leonard, A. G., Major, 136 _sq._
Lesbos, building custom in, 89
Lewis, Rev. Thomas, 420 _n._1
Life in the blood, 241, 250
Limbs, amputated, kept by the owners against the resurrection, 281
Lion-killer, purification of, 176, 220
Lions not called by their proper names, 400
Lithuanians, the old, their funeral banquets, 238
Liver, induration of the, attributed to touching sacred chief, 133
Lizard, soul in form of, 38
Loango, taboos observed by kings of, 8, 9;
taboos observed by heir to throne of, 291
—— king of, forbidden to see a white man’s house, 115;
not to be seen eating or drinking, 117 _sq._;
confined to his palace, 123;
refuse of his food buried, 129
Locks unlocked at childbirth, 294, 296;
thought to prevent the consummation of marriage, 299;
as amulets, 308, 309;
unlocked to facilitate death, 309
—— and knots, magical virtue of, 309 _sq._ _See also_ Keys
Lolos, the, 43
Look back, not to, 157
Loom, men not allowed to touch a, 164
Loss of the shadow regarded as ominous, 88
Lovers won by knots, 305
Lucan, 390
Lucian, 270, 382
Lucina, 294, 398 _sq._
Lucky names, 391 _n._1
Lycaeus, sanctuary of Zeus on Mount, 88
Lycosura, sanctuary of the Mistress at, 227 _n._, 314
Lying-in women, dread of, 150 _sqq._;
sacred, 151
Mack, an adventurer, 19
Macusi Indians, 36, 159 _n._
Madagascar, names of chiefs and kings tabooed in, 378 _sqq._
Magic wrought by means of refuse of food, 126 _sqq._;
sympathetic, 126, 130, 164, 201, 204, 258, 268, 287;
homoeopathic, 151, 152, 207, 295, 298;
contagious, 246, 268, 272;
wrought through clippings of hair, 268 _sqq._, 275, 277, 278 _sq._;
wrought on a man through his name, 318, 320 _sqq._
Magicians, Egyptian, their power of compelling the deities, 389 _sq._
Mahafalys of Madagascar, the, 10
Makalaka, the, 369
Makololo, the, 281
Malagasy language, dialectical variations of, 378 _sq._, 380
Malanau tribes of Borneo, 406
Malay conception of the soul as a bird, 34 _sqq._
—— miners, fowlers, and fishermen, special forms of speech employed by,
407 _sqq._
—— Peninsula, art of abducting human souls in the, 73 _sqq._
Maldives, the, 274
Mandalay, 90, 125
Mandan Indians, 97
Mandelings of Sumatra, 296
Mangaia, separation of religious and civil authority in, 20
Mangaians, the, 87
Manipur, hill tribes of, 292
Mannikin, the soul conceived as a, 26 _sqq._
Manslayers, purification of, 165 _sqq._;
secluded, 165 _sqq._;
tabooed, 165 _sqq._;
haunted by ghosts of slain, 165 _sqq._;
their faces blackened, 169;
their bodies painted, 175, 178, 179, 180, 186 _n._1;
their hair shaved, 175, 177
Maori chiefs, their sanctity or taboo, 134 _sqq._;
their heads sacred, 256
—— language, synonyms in the, 381
Maoris, persons who have handled the dead tabooed among the, 138 _sq._;
tabooed on the war-path, 157
Marco Polo, 242, 243
Marianne Islands, 288
Mariner, W., quoted, 140
Mariners at sea, special language employed by, 413 _sqq._
Marquesans, the, 31;
their regard for the sanctity of the head, 254 _sq._;
their customs as to the hair, 261 _sq._;
their dread of sorcery, 268
Marquesas Islands, 178
Marriage, the consummation of, prevented by knots and locks, 299 _sqq._
Masai, the, 200, 309, 329, 354 _sq._, 356, 361
Matthews, Dr. Washington, 385
Meal sprinkled to keep off evil spirits, 112
Measuring shadows, 89 _sq._
—— -tape deified, 91 _sq._
Mecca, pilgrims to, not allowed to wear knots and rings, 293 _sq._
Medes, law of the, 121
Mekeo district of New Guinea, 24
Men injured through their shadows, 78 _sqq._
—— and women, difference of language between, 348 _sq._
Menedemus, 227
Menstruation, women tabooed at, 145 _sqq._
Menstruous women, dread of, 145 _sqq._, 206;
avoidance of, by hunters, 211
Mentras, the, 404
Merolla da Sorrento, 137
Mice thought to understand human speech, 399;
not to be called by their proper names, 399, 415
Midas and his ass’s ears, 258 _n._1;
king of Gordium, 316
Mikado, rules of life of the, 2 _sqq._;
supposed effect of using his dishes or clothes, 131;
the cutting of his hair and nails, 265
Mikados, their relations to the Tycoons, 19
Miklucho-Maclay, Baron N. von, 109
Milk, custom as to drinking, 119;
prohibition to drink, 141;
not to be drunk by wounded men, 174 _sq._;
wine called, 249 _n._2;
and beef not to be eaten at the same meal, 292
Milkmen of the Todas, taboos observed by the holy, 15 _sqq._
Miller, Hugh, 40
Minahassa, a district of Celebes, 99;
the Alfoors of, 63
Minangkabauers of Sumatra, 32, 36, 41
Miners, special language employed by, 407, 409
Mirrors, superstitions as to, 93;
covered after a death, 94 _sq._
Miscarriage in childbed, dread of, 149, 152 _sqq._;
supposed danger of concealing a, 211, 213
Moab, Arabs of, 280;
their custom of shaving prisoners, 273
Moabites, King David’s treatment of the, 273 _sq._
Mohammed bewitched by a Jew, 302 _sq._
Mongols, their recall of the soul, 44;
sacred books of the, 384
Montezuma, 121
Monumbos, the, 169, 238
Mooney, J., 318 _sqq._
Moquis, the, 228
Moral guilt regarded as a corporeal pollution, 217 _sq._
Morality developed out of taboo, 213 _sq._;
shifted from a natural to a supernatural basis, 213;
survival of savage taboos in civilised, 218 _sq._
Morice, A. G., 146 _sq._
Mosyni or Mosynoeci, the, 124
Mother-in-law, the savage’s dread of his, 83 _sqq._;
her name not to be mentioned by her son-in-law, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342,
343, 344, 345, 346
Mothers, African kings forbidden to see their, 86;
named after their children, 332, 333
Mourners, customs observed by, 31 _sq._, 159 n.;
tabooed, 138 _sqq._;
bodies of, smeared with mud or clay, 182 _n._2;
hair and nails of, cut at end of mourning, 285 _sq._
Mourning of slayers for the slain, 181
Mouse, soul in form of, 37, 39 _n._2
Mouth closed to prevent escape of soul, 31, 33;
soul in the, 33;
covered to prevent entrance of demons, etc., 122
Muata Jamwo, the, 118, 290
Mud smeared on feet of bed, 14;
plastered on head, 182
Munster, kings of, 11
Murderers, taboos imposed on, 187 _sq._
Murrams, the, of Manipur, 292
Muysca Indians, 121
Myths of gods and spirits to be told only in spring and summer, 384;
to be told only in winter, 385 _sq._;
not to be told by day, 384 _sq._
Nails, prohibition to cut finger-nails, 194;
of children not pared, 262 _sq._
—— and hair, cut, disposal of, 267 _sqq._;
deposited in sacred places, 274 _sqq._;
stowed away in any secret place, 276 _sqq._;
kept for use at the resurrection, 279 _sqq._;
burnt to prevent them from falling into the hands of sorcerers, 281
_sqq._
Nails, iron, used as charms against fairies, demons, and ghosts, 233, 234,
236
—— parings of, used in rain-charms, 271, 272;
swallowed by treaty-makers, 246, 274
Name, the personal, regarded as a vital part of the man, 318 _sqq._;
identified with the soul, 319;
the same, not to be borne by two living persons, 370
Names of relations tabooed, 335 _sqq._;
changed to deceive ghosts, 354 _sqq._;
of common objects changed when they are the names of the dead, 358
_sqq._, 375, or the names of chiefs and kings, 375, 376
_sqq._;
of ancestors bestowed on their reincarnations, 368 _sq._;
of kings and chiefs tabooed, 374 _sqq._;
of supernatural beings tabooed, 384 _sqq._;
of gods tabooed, 387 _sqq._;
of spirits and gods, magical virtue of, 389 _sqq._;
of Roman gods not to be mentioned, 391 _n._1;
lucky, 391 _n._1;
of dangerous animals not to be mentioned, 396 _sqq._
Names, new, given to the sick and old, 319;
new, at initiation, 320
—— of the dead tabooed, 349 _sqq._;
not borne by the living, 354;
revived after a time, 365 _sqq._
—— personal, tabooed, 318 sqq.;
kept secret from fear of magic, 320 _sqq._;
different in summer and winter, 386
Namesakes of the dead change their names to avoid attracting the attention
of the ghost, 355 _sqq._;
of deceased persons regarded as their reincarnations, 365 _sqq._
Naming the dead a serious crime, 352, 354;
of children, solemnities at the, connected with belief in the
reincarnation of ancestors in their namesakes, 372
Namosi, in Fiji, 264
Nandi, the, 175, 273, 310, 330
Nanumea, island of, 102
Narbrooi, a spirit or god, 60
Narcissus and his reflection, 94
Narrinyeri, the, 126 _sq._
Natchez, customs of manslayers among the, 181
_Nats_, demons, 90
Natural death of sacred king or priest, supposed fatal consequences of, 6,
7
Navajo Indians, 112 _sq._, 325, 385
Navel-string used to recall the soul, 48
Nazarite, vow of the, 262
Nelson, E. W., 228, 237
Nets to catch souls, 69 _sq._;
as amulets, 300, 307
New Britain, 85
—— Caledonia, 92, 141
—— everything, excites awe of savages, 230 _sqq._
—— fire made by friction, 286
—— Hebrides, the, 56, 127
—— names given to the sick and old, 319;
at initiation, 320
—— Zealand, sanctity of chiefs in, 134 _sqq._
Nias, island of, conception of the soul in, 29;
custom of the people of, 107;
special language of hunters in, 410;
special language employed by reapers in, 410 _sq._
Nicknames used in order to avoid the use of the real names, 321, 331
Nicobar Islands, customs as to shadows at burials in the, 80 _sq._
Nicobarese, the, 357;
changes in their language, 362 _sq._
Nieuwenhuis, Dr. A. W., 99
Night, King of the, 23
Nine knots in magic, 302, 303, 304
Noon, sacrifices to the dead at, 88;
superstitious dread of, 88
Nootka Indians, their idea of the soul, 27;
customs of girls at puberty among the, 146 _n._1;
their preparation for war, 160 _sq._
North American Indians, their dread of menstruous women, 145;
their theory of names, 318 _sq._
Norway, superstition as to parings of nails in, 283
Nose stopped to prevent the escape of the soul, 31, 71
Nostrils, soul supposed to escape by the, 30, 32, 33, 122
Novelties excite the awe of savages, 230 _sqq._
Novices at initiation, taboos observed by, 141 _sq._, 156 _sq._
Nubas, the, 132
Nufoors of New Guinea, 332, 341, 415
Obscene language in ritual, 154, 155
O’Donovan, E., 304
Oesel, island of, 42
Ojebways, the, 160
Oldfield, A., 350
Omahas, customs as to murderers among the, 187
Omens, reliance on, 110
One shoe on and one shoe off, 311 _sqq._
Ongtong Java Islands, 107
Onitsha, the king of, 123
Opening everything in house to facilitate childbirth, 296 _sq._
Orestes, the matricide, 188, 287
Oro, war god, 69
Orotchis, the, 232
Ot Danoms, the, 103
Ottawa Indians, the, 78
Ovambo, the, 227
Overshadowed, danger of being, 82 _sq._
Ovid, on loosening the hair, 311
Ox, purification by passing through the body of an, 173
Padlocks as amulets, 307
Painting bodies of manslayers, 175, 178, 179, 180, 186 _n._1
Palaces, kings not allowed to leave their, 122 _sqq._
_Pantang_, taboo, 405
Panther, ceremonies at the slaughter of a, 219
Parents named after their children, 331 _sqq._
—— -in-law, their names not to be pronounced, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342
Partition of spiritual and temporal power between religious and civil
kings, 17 _sqq._
Patagonians, the, 281
Paton, W. R., 382 _n._4, 383 _n._1
Pawnees, the, 228
Peace, ceremony at making, 274
Pelias and Jason, 311
Pentateuch, the, 219
Pepper in purificatory rites, 106, 114
Perils of the soul, 26 _sqq._
Perseus and the Gorgon, 312
Persian kings, their custom at meals, 119
Persons, tabooed, 131 _sqq._
Philosophy, primitive, 420 _sq._
_Phong long_, ill luck caused by women in childbed, 155
Photographed or painted, supposed danger of being, 96 _sqq._
Pictures, supposed danger of, 96 _sq._
Pig, the word unlucky, 233
Pigeons, special language employed by Malays in snaring, 407 _sq._
Pilgrims to Mecca not allowed to wear knots and rings, 293 _sq._
Pimas, the purification of manslayers among the, 182 _sqq._
Plataea, Archon of, forbidden to touch iron, 227;
escape of besieged from, 311
Pliny on crossed legs and clasped hands, 298;
on knotted threads, 303
Plutarch, 249
Poison, continence observed at brewing, 200
—— ordeal, 15
Polar bear, taboos concerning the, 209
Polemarch, the, at Athens, 22
Pollution or sanctity, their equivalence in primitive religion, 145, 158,
224
—— and holiness not differentiated by savages, 224
Polynesia, names of chiefs tabooed in, 381
Polynesian chiefs sacred, 136
_Pons Sublicius_, 230
Port Moresby, 203
Porto Novo, 23
Portraits, souls in, 96 _sqq._;
supposed dangers of, 96 _sqq._
Powers, S., 326
Pregnancy, husband’s hair kept unshorn during wife’s, 261;
conduct of husband during wife’s, 294, 295;
superstitions as to knots during wife’s, 294 _sq._
Pregnant women, their superstitions about shadows, 82 _sq._
Premature birth, 213. _See_ Miscarriage
Pricking patient with needles to expel demons of disease, 106
Priests to be shaved with bronze, 226;
their hair unshorn, 259, 260;
foods tabooed to, 291
Prisoners shaved, 273;
released at festivals, 316
Propitiation of the souls of the slain, 166;
of spirits of slain animals, 190, 204 _sq._;
of ancestors, 197
Prussians, the old, their funeral feasts, 238
_Pulque_, 201, 249
Puppets or dolls employed for the restoration of souls to their bodies, 53
_sqq._
Purge as mode of ceremonial purification, 175
Purification of city, 188;
of Pimas after slaying Apaches, 182 _sqq._;
of hunters and fishers, 190 _sq._;
of moral guilt by physical agencies, 217 _sq._;
by cutting the hair, 283 _sqq._
—— of manslayers, 165 _sqq._;
intended to rid them of the ghosts of the slain, 186 _sq._
Purificatory ceremonies at reception of strangers, 102 _sqq._;
on return from a journey, 111 _sqq._
Purity, ceremonial, observed in war, 157
Pygmies, the African, 282
Pythagoras, maxims of, 314 _n._2
Python, punishment for killing a, 222
Quartz used at circumcision instead of iron, 227
Queensland, aborigines of, 159 _n._
Ra and Isis, 387 _sqq._
Rabbah, siege of, 273
Rain caused by cut or combed out hair, 271, 272;
word for, not to be mentioned, 413
—— -charm by pouring water, 154 _sq._
—— -makers, their hair unshorn, 259 _sq._
Rainbow, the, a net for souls, 79
_Ramanga_, 246
Raven, soul as a, 34
Raw flesh not to be looked on, 239
—— meat, prohibition to touch or name, 13
Reapers, special language employed by, 410 _sq._, 411 _sq._
Reasoning, definite, at the base of savage custom, 420 _n._1
Rebirth of ancestors in their descendants, 368 _sq._
Recall of the soul, 30 _sqq._
Red, bodies of manslayers painted, 175, 179;
faces of manslayers painted, 185, 186 _n._1
Reflection, the soul identified with the, 92 _sqq._
Reflections in water or mirrors, supposed dangers of, 93 _sq._
Refuse of food, magic wrought by means of, 126 _sqq._
Regeneration, pretence of, 113
Reincarnation of the dead in their namesakes, 365 _sqq._;
of ancestors in their descendants, 368 _sqq._
Reindeer, taboos concerning, 208
Relations, names of, tabooed, 335 _sqq._
Relationship, terms of, used as terms of address, 324 _sq._
Release of prisoners at festivals, 316
Religion, passage of animism into, 213
Reluctance to accept sovereignty on account of taboos attached to it, 17
_sqq._
Remnants of food buried as a precaution against sorcery, 118, 119, 127
_sq._, 129
Resemblance of child to father, supposed danger of, 88 _sq._
Resurrection, cut hair and nails kept for use at the, 279 _sq._
—— of the dead effected by giving their names to living persons, 365
_sqq._
Rhys, Professor Sir John, 12 _n._2;
on personal names, 319
Rice used to attract the soul conceived as a bird, 34 _sqq._, 45 _sqq._;
soul of, not to be frightened, 412
—— -harvest, special language employed by reapers at, 410 _sq._, 411 _sq._
Ring, broken, 13;
on ankle as badge of office, 15
Rings used to prevent the escape of the soul, 31;
as spiritual fetters, 313 _sqq._;
as amulets, 314 _sqq._;
not to be worn, 314
—— and knots tabooed, 293 _sqq._
Rivers, Dr. W. H. R., 17
Rivers, prohibition to cross, 9 _sq._
Robertson, Sir George Scott, 14 _notes_
Roepstorff, F. A. de, 362 _sq._
Roman gods, their names not to be mentioned, 391 _n._1
—— superstition about crossed legs, 298
Romans, their evocation of gods of besieged cities, 391
Rome, name of guardian deity of Rome kept secret, 391
Roscoe, Rev. J., 85 _n._1, 145 _n._4, 195 _n._1, 254 _n._5, 277 _n._10
Roth, W. E., 356
Rotti, custom as to cutting child’s hair in the island of, 276, 283;
custom as to knots at marriage in the island of, 301
Roumanian building superstition, 89
Royal blood not to be shed on the ground, 241 _sqq._
Royalty, the burden of, 1 _sqq._
Rules of life observed by sacred kings and priests, 1 _sqq._
Runaways, knots as charm to stop, 305 _sq._
Russell, F., 183 _sq._
Sabaea or Sheba, kings of, 124
Sacred chiefs and kings regarded as dangerous, 131 _sqq._, 138;
their analogy to mourners, homicides, and women at menstruation and
childbirth, 138
Sacred and unclean, correspondence of rules regarding the, 145
Sacrifices to ghosts, 56, 166;
to the dead, 88;
at foundation of buildings, 89 _sqq._;
to ancestral spirits, 104
Sagard, Gabriel, 366 _sq._
Sahagun, B. de, 249
Sailors at sea, special language employed by, 413 _sqq._
Sakais, the, 348
Sakalavas of Madagascar, the, 10, 327;
customs as to names of dead kings among the, 379 _sq._
Salish Indians, 66
Salmon, taboos concerning, 209
Salt not to be eaten, 167, 182, 184, 194, 195, 196;
name of, tabooed, 401
—— -pans, continence observed by workers in, 200
Samoyeds, 353
Sanctity of the head, 252 _sqq._
—— or pollution, their equivalence in primitive religion, 145, 158, 224
Sankara and the Grand Lama, 78
Saragacos Indians, 152
_Satapatha Brahmana_, 217
Saturday, persons born on a, 89
Saturn, the planet, 315
Savage, our debt to the, 419 _sqq._
—— custom the product of definite reasoning, 420 _n._1
—— philosophy, 420 _sq._
Saxons of Transylvania, 294
Scapegoat, 214 _sq._
Scarification of warriors, 160 _sq._;
of bodies of whalers, 191
Scaring away the ghosts of the slain, 168, 170, 171, 172, 174 _sq._
Schoolcraft, H. R., 325
Scotch fowlers and fishermen, words tabooed by, 393 _sqq._
Scotland, common words tabooed in, 392 _sqq._
Scratching the person or head, rules as to, 146, 156, 158, 159 _n._, 160,
181, 183, 189, 196
Scrofula thought to be caused and cured by touching a sacred chief or
king, 133 _sq._
Sea, horror of the, 10;
offerings made to the, 10;
prohibition to look on the, 10;
special language employed by sailors at, 413 _sqq._
—— -mammals, atonement for killing, 207;
myth of their origin, 207
Seals, supposed influence of lying-in women on, 152;
taboos observed after the killing of, 207 _sq._, 209, 213
Seclusion of those who have handled the dead, 138 _sqq._;
of women at menstruation and childbirth, 145 _sqq._, 147 _sqq._;
of tabooed persons, 165;
of manslayers, 166 _sqq._;
of cannibals, 188 _sqq._;
of men who have killed large game, 220 _sq._
Secret names among the Central Australian aborigines, 321 _sq._
Sedna, an Esquimau goddess, 152, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213
Semangat, Malay word for the soul, 28, 35
Semites, moral evolution of the, 219
Seoul, capital of Corea, 283
Serpents, purificatory ceremonies observed after killing, 221 _sqq._
Servius, on Dido’s costume, 313
Seven knots in magic, 303, 304, 308
Sewing as a charm, 307
Shades of dead animals, fear of offending, 205, 206, 207
Shadow, the soul identified with the, 77 _sqq._;
injury done to a man through his, 78 _sqq._;
diminution of shadow regarded with apprehension, 86 _sq._;
loss of the, regarded as ominous, 88;
not to fall on a chief, 255
Shadows drawn out by ghosts, 80;
animals injured through their, 81 _sq._;
of trees sensitive, 82;
of certain birds and people viewed as dangerous, 82 _sq._;
built into the foundations of edifices, 89 _sq._;
of mourners dangerous, 142;
of certain persons dangerous, 173
Shamans among the Thompson Indians, 57 _sq._
—— Buryat, their mode of recovering lost souls, 56 _sq._
—— Yakut, 63
Shark Point, priestly king at, 5
Sharp instruments, use of, tabooed, 205
—— weapons tabooed, 237 _sqq._
Shaving prisoners, reason of, 273
Sheep used in purificatory ceremony, 174, 175;
shoulder-blades of, used in divination, 229
Shetland fishermen, their tabooed words, 394
Shoe untied at marriage, 300;
custom of going with one shoe on and one shoe off, 311 _sqq._
Shoulder-blades, divination by, 229
Shuswap Indians, the, 83, 142
Siam, kings of, 226, 241;
names of kings of, concealed from fear of sorcery, 375
Siamese children, ceremony at cutting their hair, 265 _sqq._
—— view of the sanctity of the head, 252 _sq._
Sick man, attempts to prevent the escape of the soul of, 30 _sqq._
Sick people not allowed to sleep, 95;
sprinkled with pungent spices, 105 _sq._
—— -room, mirrors covered up in, 95
Sickness explained by the absence of the soul, 42 _sqq._;
caused by ancestral spirits, 53
Sierra Leone, priests and kings of, 14 _sq._, 18
—— Nevada of Colombia, 215, 216
Sigurd and Fafnir, 324
Sikhim, kings of, 20
Silkworms, taboos observed by breeders of, 194
Simpson, W., 125 _n._3
Sin regarded as something material, 214, 216, 217 _sq._
Singhalese, 297; their fear of demons, 233 _sq._
Sins, confession of, 114, 191, 195, 211 _sq._, 214 _sqq._;
originally a magical ceremony, 217
Sisters-in-law, their names not to be pronounced, 338, 342, 343
Sit, Egyptian god, 68
Sitting on the ground prohibited to warriors, 159, 162, 163
Skull-cap worn by girls at their first menstruation, 146;
worn by Australian widows, 182 _n._2