The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3)

S >> Sir James George Frazer >> The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3)

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[Sidenote: The New Caledonians.]

We shall begin our survey of these islands with New Caledonia in the
south, and from it shall pass northwards through the New Hebrides and
Solomon Islands to the Bismarck Archipelago, which consists chiefly of
the two great islands of New Britain and New Ireland with the group of
the Admiralty Islands terminating it to the westward. For our knowledge
of the customs and religion of the New Caledonians we depend chiefly on
the evidence of a Catholic missionary, Father Lambert, who has worked
among them since 1856 and has published a valuable book on the
subject.[519] To be exact, his information applies not to the natives of
New Caledonia itself, but to the inhabitants of a group of small
islands, which lie immediately off the northern extremity of the island
and are known as the Belep group. Father Lambert began to labour among
the Belep at a time when no white man had as yet resided among them. At
a later time circumstances led him to transfer his ministry to the Isle
of Pines, which lies off the opposite or southern end of New Caledonia.
A comparative study of the natives at the two extremities of New
Caledonia revealed to him an essential similarity in their beliefs and
customs; so that it is not perhaps very rash to assume that similar
customs prevail among the aborigines of New Caledonia itself, which lies
intermediate between the two points observed by Father Lambert.[520] The
assumption is confirmed by evidence which was collected by Dr. George
Turner from the mainland of New Caledonia so long ago as 1845.[521]
Accordingly in what follows I shall commonly speak of the New
Caledonians in general, though the statements for the most part apply in
particular to the Belep tribe.

[Sidenote: Beliefs of the New Calendonians as to the land of the dead.]

The souls of the New Caledonians, like those of most savages, are
supposed to be immortal, at least to survive death for an indefinite
period. They all go, good and bad alike, to dwell in a very rich and
beautiful country situated at the bottom of the sea, to the north-east
of the island of Pott. The name of the land of souls is Tsiabiloum. But
before they reach this happy land they must run the gauntlet of a grim
spirit called Kiemoua, who has his abode on a rock in the island of
Pott. He is a fisherman of souls; for he catches them as they pass in a
net and after venting his fury on them he releases them, and they pursue
their journey to Tsiabiloum, the land of the dead. It is a country more
fair and fertile than tongue can tell. Yams, taros, sugar-canes, bananas
all grow there in profusion and without cultivation. There are forests
of wild orange-trees, also, and the golden fruits serve the blessed
spirits as playthings. You can tell roughly how long it is since a
spirit quitted the upper world by the colour of the orange which he
plays with; for the oranges of those who have just arrived are green;
the oranges of those who have been longer dead are ripe; and the oranges
of those who died long ago are dry and wizened. There is no night in
that blessed land, and no sleep; for the eyes of the spirits are never
weighed down with slumber. Sorrow and sickness, decrepitude and death
never enter; even boredom is unknown. But it is only the nights, or
rather the hours corresponding to nights on earth, which the spirits
pass in these realms of bliss. At daybreak they revisit their old home
on earth and take up their posts in the cemeteries where they are
honoured; then at nightfall they flit away back to the spirit-land
beneath the sea, there to resume their sport with oranges, green,
golden, or withered, till dawn of day. On these repeated journeys to and
fro they have nothing to fear from the grim fisherman and his net; it is
only on their first passage to the nether world that he catches and
trounces them.[522]

[Sidenote: Burial customs of the New Calendonians.]

The bodies of the dead are buried in shallow graves, which are dug in a
sacred grove. The corpse is placed in a crouching attitude with the head
at or above the surface of the ground, in order to allow of the skull
being easily detached from the trunk, at a subsequent time. In token of
sorrow the nearest relations of the deceased tear the lobes of their
ears and inflict large burns on their arms and breasts. The houses,
nets, and other implements of the dead are burnt; his plantations are
ravaged, his coco-nut palms felled with the axe. The motive for this
destruction of the property of the deceased is not mentioned, but the
custom points to a fear of the ghost; the people probably make his old
home as unattractive as possible in order to offer him no temptation to
return and haunt them. The same fear of the ghost, or at all events of
the infection of death, is revealed by the stringent seclusion and
ceremonial pollution of the grave-diggers. They are two in number; no
other persons may handle the corpse. After they have discharged their
office they must remain near the corpse for four or five days, observing
a rigorous fast and keeping apart from their wives. They may not shave
or cut their hair, and they are obliged to wear a tall pyramidal and
very cumbersome head-dress. They may not touch food with their hands. If
they help themselves to it, they must pick it up with their mouths alone
or with a stick, not with their fingers. Oftener they are fed by an
attendant, who puts the victuals into their mouths as he might do if
they were palsied. On the other hand they are treated by the people with
great respect; common folk will not pass near them without
stooping.[523]

[Sidenote: Sham fight as a mourning ceremony.]

A curious ceremony which the New Caledonians observe at a certain period
of mourning for the dead is a sham fight. Father Lambert describes one
such combat which he witnessed. A number of men were divided into two
parties; one party was posted on the beach, the other and much larger
party was stationed in the adjoining cemetery, where food and property
had been collected. From time to time a long piercing yell would be
heard; then a number of men would break from the crowd in the cemetery
and rush furiously down to the beach with their slings and stones ready
to assail their adversaries. These, answering yell with yell, would then
plunge into the sea, armed with battle-axes and clubs, while they made a
feint of parrying the stones hurled at them by the other side. But
neither the shots nor the parries appeared to be very seriously meant.
Then when the assailants retired, the fugitives pretended to pursue
them, till both parties had regained their original position. The same
scene of alternate attack and retreat was repeated hour after hour, till
at last, the pretence of enmity being laid aside, the two parties joined
in a dance, their heads crowned with leafy garlands. Father Lambert, who
describes this ceremony as an eye-witness, offers no explanation of it.
But as he tells us that all deaths are believed by these savages to be
an effect of sorcery, we may conjecture that the sham fight is intended
to delude the ghost into thinking that his death is being avenged on the
sorcerer who killed him.[524] In former lectures I shewed that similar
pretences are made, apparently for a similar purpose, by some of the
natives of Australia and New Guinea.[525] If the explanation is correct,
we can hardly help applauding the ingenuity which among these savages
has discovered a bloodless mode of satisfying the ghost's craving for
blood.

[Sidenote: Preservation of the skulls of the dead.]

About a year after the death, when the flesh of the corpse is entirely
decayed, the skull is removed and placed solemnly in another
burying-ground, or rather charnel-house, where all the skulls of the
family are deposited. Every family has such a charnel-house, which is
commonly situated near the dwelling. It appears to be simply an open
space in the forest, where the skulls are set in a row on the
ground.[526] Yet in a sense it may be called a temple for the worship of
ancestors; for recourse is had to the skulls on various occasions in
order to obtain the help of the spirits of the dead. "The true worship
of the New Caledonians," says Father Lambert, "is the worship of
ancestors. Each family has its own; it religiously preserves their name;
it is proud of them and has confidence in them. Hence it has its
burial-place and its pious hearth for the sacrifices to be offered to
their ghosts. It is the most inviolable piece of property; an
encroachment on such a spot by a neighbour is a thing unheard of."[527]

[Sidenote: Examples of ancestor-worship among the New Caledonians.]

A few examples may serve to illustrate the ancestor-worship of the New
Caledonians. When a person is sick, a member of the family, never a
stranger, is appointed to heal him by means of certain magical
insufflations. To enable him to do so with effect the healer first
repairs to the family charnel-house and lays some sugar-cane leaves
beside the skulls, saying, "I lay these leaves on you that I may go and
breathe upon our sick relative, to the end that he may live." Then he
goes to a tree belonging to the family and lays other sugar-cane leaves
at its foot, saying, "I lay these leaves beside the tree of my father
and of my grandfather, in order that my breath may have healing virtue."
Next he takes some leaves of the tree or a piece of its bark, chews it
into a mash, and then goes and breathes on the patient, his breath being
moistened with spittle which is charged with particles of the leaves or
the bark.[528] Thus the healing virtue of his breath would seem to be
drawn from the spirits of the dead as represented partly by their skulls
and partly by the leaves and bark of the tree which belonged to them in
life, and to which their souls appear in some manner to be attached in
death.

[Sidenote: Prayers for fish.]

Again, when a shoal of fish has made its appearance on the reef, a
number of superstitious ceremonies have to be performed before the
people may go and spear them in the water. On the eve of the fishing-day
the medicine-man of the tribe causes a quantity of leaves of certain
specified plants to be collected and roasted in the native ovens. Next
day the leaves are taken from the ovens and deposited beside the
ancestral skulls, which have been arranged and decorated for the
ceremony. All the fishermen, armed with their fishing-spears, repair to
the holy ground or sacred grove where the skulls are kept, and there
they draw themselves up in two rows, while the medicine-man chants an
invocation or prayer for a good catch. At every verse the crowd raises a
cry of approval and assent. At its conclusion the medicine-man sets an
example by thrusting with his spear at a fish, and all the men
immediately plunge into the water and engage in fishing.[529]

[Sidenote: Prayers for sugar-cane.]

Again, in order that a sugar plantation may flourish, the medicine-man
will lay a sugar-cane beside the ancestral skulls, saying, "This is for
you. We beg of you to ward off all curses, all tricks of wicked people,
in order that our plantations may prosper."[530]

[Sidenote: Prayers for yams.]

Again, when the store of yams is running short and famine is beginning
to be felt, the New Caledonians celebrate a festival called _moulim_ in
which the worship of their ancestors is the principal feature. A staff
is wreathed with branches, apparently to represent a yam, and a hedge of
coco-nut leaves is made near the ancestral skulls. The decorated staff
is then set up there, and prayers for the prosperity of the crops are
offered over and over again. After that nobody may enter a yam-field or
a cemetery or touch sea-water for three days. On the third day a man
stationed on a mound chants an invocation or incantation in a loud
voice. Next all the men go down to the shore, each of them with a
firebrand in his hand, and separating into two parties engage in a sham
fight. Afterwards they bathe and repairing to the charnel-house deposit
coco-nut leaves beside the skulls of their ancestors. They are then free
to partake of the feast which has been prepared by the women.[531]

[Sidenote: Caverns used by the natives as charnel-houses in the Isle of
Pines.]

While the beliefs and customs of the New Caledonians in regard to the
dead bear a general resemblance to each other, whether they belong to
the north or to the south of the principal island, a special feature is
introduced into the mortuary customs of the natives of the Isle of Pines
by the natural caves and grottoes with which the outer rim of the
island, to the distance of several miles from the shore, is riddled; for
in these caverns the natives in the old heathen days were wont to
deposit the bones and skulls of their dead and to use the caves as
sanctuaries or chapels for the worship of the spirits of the departed.
Some of the caves are remarkable both in themselves and in their
situation. Most of those which the natives turned into charnel-houses
are hidden away, sometimes at great distances, in the rank luxuriance of
the tropical forests. Some of them open straight from the level of the
ground; to reach others you must clamber up the rocks; to explore others
you must descend into the bowels of the earth. A glimmering twilight
illumines some; thick darkness veils others, and it is only by
torchlight that you can explore their mysterious depths. Penetrating
into the interior by the flickering gleam of flambeaus held aloft by the
guides, and picking your steps among loose stones and pools of water,
you might fancy yourself now in the great hall of a ruined castle, now
in the vast nave of a gothic cathedral with its chapels opening off it
into the darkness on either hand. The illusion is strengthened by the
multitude of stalactites which hang from the roof of the cavern and,
glittering in the fitful glow of the torches, might be taken for burning
cressets kindled to light up the revels in a baronial hall, or for holy
lamps twinkling in the gloom of a dim cathedral aisle before holy
images, where solitary worshippers kneel in silent devotion. In the
shifting play of the light and shadow cast by the torches the fantastic
shapes of the incrustations which line the sides or rise from the floor
of the grotto appear to the imagination of the observer now as the
gnarled trunks of huge trees, now as statues or torsos of statues, now
as altars, on which perhaps a nearer approach reveals a row of blanched
and grinning skulls. No wonder if such places, chosen for the last
resting-places of the relics of mortality, have fed the imagination of
the natives with weird notions of a life after death, a life very
different from that which the living lead in the glowing sunshine and
amid the rich tropical verdure a few paces outside of these gloomy
caverns. It is with a shiver and a sense of relief that the visitor
escapes from them to the warm outer air and sees again the ferns and
creepers hanging over the mouth of the cave like a green fringe against
the intense blue of the sky.[532]

[Sidenote: Sea-caves.]

While this is the general character of the caves which are to be found
hidden away in the forests, many of those near the shore consist simply
of apertures hollowed out in the face of the cliffs by the slow but
continuous action of the waves in the course of ages. On the beach
itself sea-caves are found in which the rising tide precipitates itself
with a hollow roar as of subterranean thunder; and at a point, some way
back from the strand, where the roof of one of these caves has fallen
in, the salt water is projected into the air in the form of intermittent
jets of spray, which vary in height with the force of the wind and
tide.[533]

[Sidenote: Prayers and sacrifices offered to the dead by the New
Caledonians.]

With regard to the use which the natives make of these caves as
charnel-houses and mortuary chapels, Father Lambert tells us that any
one of them usually includes three compartments, a place of burial, a
place of skulls, and a place of sacrifice. But often the place of skulls
is also the place of sacrifice; and in no case is the one far from the
other. The family priest, who is commonly the senior member of the
family, may address his prayers to the ancestors in the depth of the
cavern, in the place of skulls, or in the place of sacrifice, whenever
circumstances call for a ritual of unusual solemnity. Otherwise with the
help of his amulets he may pray to the souls of the forefathers
anywhere; for these amulets consist of personal and portable relics of
the dead, such as locks of hair, teeth, and so forth; or again they may
be leaves or other parts of plants which are sacred to the family; so
that a wizard who is in possession of them can always and anywhere
communicate with the ancestral spirits. The place of sacrifice would
seem to be more often in the open air than in a cave, for Father Lambert
tells us that in the centre of it a shrub, always of the same species,
is planted and carefully cultivated. Beside it may be seen the pots and
stones which are used in cooking the food offered to the dead. In this
worship of the dead a certain differentiation of functions or division
of labour obtains between the various families. All have not the same
gifts and graces. The prayers of one family offered to their ancestral
ghosts are thought to be powerful in procuring rain in time of drought;
the prayers of another will cause the sun to break through the clouds
when the sky is overcast; the supplications of a third will produce a
fine crop of yams; the earnest entreaties of a fourth will ensure
victory in war; and the passionate pleadings of a fifth will guard
mariners against the perils and dangers of the deep. And so on through
the whole gamut of human needs, so far as these are felt by savages. If
only wrestling in prayer could satisfy the wants of man, few people
should be better provided with all the necessaries and comforts of life
than the New Caledonians. And according to the special purpose to which
a family devotes its spiritual energies, so will commonly be the
position of its oratory. For example, if rain-making is their strong
point, their house of prayer will be established near a cultivated
field, in order that the crops may immediately experience the benefit to
be derived from their orisons. Again, if they enjoy a high reputation
for procuring a good catch of fish, the family skulls will be placed in
the mouth of a cave looking out over the great ocean, or perhaps on a
bleak little wind-swept isle, where in the howl of the blast, the
thunder of the waves on the strand, and the clangour of the gulls
overhead, the fancy of the superstitious savage may hear the voices of
his dead forefathers keeping watch and ward over their children who are
tossed on the heaving billows.[534] Thus among these fortunate islanders
religion and industry go hand in hand; piety has been reduced to a
co-operative system which diffuses showers of blessings on the whole
community.

[Sidenote: Prayer-posts.]

As it is clearly impossible even for the most devout to pray day and
night without cessation, the weakness of the flesh requiring certain
intervals for refreshment and repose, the New Caledonians have devised
an ingenious method of continuing their orisons at the shrine in their
own absence. For this purpose they make rods or poles of various
lengths, carve and paint them rudely, wind bandages of native cloth
about them, and having fastened large shells to the top, set them up
either in the sepulchral caves or in the place of skulls. In setting up
one of these poles the native will pray for the particular favour which
he desires to obtain from the ancestors for himself or his family; and
he appears to think that in some way the pole will continue to recite
the prayer in the ears of the ghosts, when he himself has ceased to
speak and has returned to his customary avocations. And when members of
his family visit the shrine and see the pole, they will be reminded of
the particular benefit which they are entitled to expect from the souls
of the departed. A certain rude symbolism may be traced in the materials
and other particulars of these prayer-posts. A hard wood signifies
strength; a tall pole overtopping all the rest imports a wish that he
for whose sake it was erected may out-top all his rivals; and so
on.[535]

[Sidenote: Religion combined with magic in the ritual of the New
Caledonians. Sacred stones endowed with special magical virtues. The
"stone of famine."]

We may assume with some probability that in the mind of the natives such
resemblances are not purely figurative or symbolic, but that they are
also magical in intention, being supposed not merely to represent the
object of the supplicant's prayer, but actually, on the principle of
homoeopathic or imitative magic, to contribute to its accomplishment. If
that is so, we must conclude that the religion of these savages, as
manifested in their prayers to the spirits of the dead, is tinctured
with an alloy of magic; they do not trust entirely to the compassion of
the spirits and their power to help them; they seek to reinforce their
prayers by a certain physical compulsion acting through the natural
properties of the prayer-posts. This interpretation is confirmed by a
parallel use which these people make of certain sacred stones, which
apart from their possible character as representatives of the ancestors,
seem to be credited with independent magical virtues by reason of their
various shapes and appearances. For example, there is a piece of
polished jade which is called "the stone of famine," because it is
supposed capable of causing either dearth or abundance, but is oftener
used by the sorcerer to create, or at least to threaten, dearth, in
order thereby to extort presents from his alarmed fellow tribesmen. This
stone is kept in a burial-ground and derives its potency from the dead.
The worshipper or the sorcerer (for he combines the two characters) who
desires to cause a famine repairs to the burial-ground, uncovers the
stone, rubs it with certain plants, and smears one half of it with black
pigment. Then he makes a small hole in the ground and inserts the
blackened end of the stone in the hole. Next he prays to the ancestors
that nothing may go well with the country. If this malevolent rite
should be followed by the desired effect, the sorcerer soon sees
messengers arriving laden with presents, who entreat him to stay the
famine. If his cupidity is satisfied, he rubs the stone again, inserts
it upside down in the ground, and prays to his ancestors to restore
plenty to the land.[536]

[Sidenote: Stones to drive people mad.]

Again, certain rough unhewn stones, which are kept in the sacred places,
are thought to possess the power of driving people mad. To effect this
purpose the sorcerer has only to strike one of them with the branches of
a certain tree and to pray to the ancestral spirits that they would
deprive so-and-so of his senses.[537]

[Sidenote: Stones to blight coco-nut palms. Stones to make bread-fruit
trees bear fruit.]

Again, there is a stone which they use in cursing a plantation of
coco-nut palms. The stone resembles a blighted coco-nut, and no doubt it
is this resemblance which is supposed to endow it with the magical power
to blight coco-nut trees. In order to effect his malicious purpose the
sorcerer rubs the stone in the cemetery with certain leaves and then
deposits it in a hole at the foot of a coco-nut tree, covers it up, and
prays that all the trees of the plantation may be barren. This ceremony
combines the elements of magic and religion. The prayer, which is no
doubt addressed to the spirits of the dead, though this is not expressly
affirmed, is purely religious; but the employment of a stone resembling
a blighted coco-nut for the purpose of blighting the coco-nut palms is a
simple piece of homoeopathic or imitative magic, in which, as usual, the
desired effect is supposed to be produced by an imitation of it.
Similarly, in order to make a bread-fruit tree bear fruit they employ
two stones, one of which resembles the unripe and the other the ripe
fruit. These are kept, as usual, in a cemetery; and when the trees begin
to put forth fruit, the small stone resembling the unripe fruit is
buried at the foot of one of the trees with the customary prayers and
ceremonies; and when the fruits are more mature the small stone is
replaced by the larger stone which resembles the ripe fruit. Then, when
the fruits on the tree are quite ripe, the two stones are removed and
deposited again in the cemetery: they have done their work by bringing
to maturity the fruits which they resemble. This again is a piece of
pure homoeopathic or imitative magic working by means of mimicry; but
the magical virtue of the stones is reinforced by the spiritual power of
the dead, for the stones have been kept in a cemetery and prayers have
been addressed to the souls of the departed.[538]