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)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49

[Sidenote: The conclusion left open.]

Such are the two opposite views which I conceive may be taken of the
savage testimony to the survival of our conscious personality after
death. I do not presume to adopt the one or the other. It is enough for
me to have laid a few of the facts before you. I leave you to draw your
own conclusion.

[Footnote 701: Berthold Seeman, _Viti, an Account of a Government
Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands_ (Cambridge, 1862), pp. 391
_sq._]

[Footnote 702: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 216.]

[Footnote 703: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 216, 218 _sq._; Basil
Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. 112.]

[Footnote 704: Hazlewood, quoted by Capt. J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a
Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), pp. 246
_sq._]

[Footnote 705: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 83 _sq._; Th. Williams,
_Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 217 _sqq._]

[Footnote 706: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 49, 86, 351, 352; Th.
Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 221-223; B. Seeman, _Viti_, pp.
392-394.]

[Footnote 707: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 191 _sq._]

[Footnote 708: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 223, 231.]

[Footnote 709: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 87; Th. Williams, _op. cit._
i. 226, 227; Basil Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 157 _sqq._]

[Footnote 710: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 87 _sq._; Th. Williams, _op.
cit._ i. 224 _sq._; Capt. J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 250; Lorimer
Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), pp. 166 _sq._ As for the
treatment of castaways, see J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ p. 249; Th.
Williams, _op. cit._ i. 210. The latter writer mentions a recent case in
which fourteen or sixteen shipwrecked persons were cooked and eaten.]

[Footnote 711: The Rev. Lorimer Fison, in a letter to me dated August
26th, 1898. I have already quoted the passage in _The Magic Art and the
Evolution of Kings_, i. 378.]

[Footnote 712: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 225 _sq._]

[Footnote 713: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 231.]

[Footnote 714: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 97; Th. Williams, _op. cit._
i. 53.]

[Footnote 715: John Jackson's Narrative, in Capt. J. E. Erskine's
_Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London,
1853), pp. 464 _sq._, 472 _sq._ The genital members of the men over whom
the canoe was dragged were cut off and hung on a sacred tree
(_akau-tambu_), "which was already artificially prolific in fruit, both
of the masculine and feminine gender." The tree which bore such
remarkable fruit was commonly an ironweed tree standing in a conspicuous
situation. As to these sacrifices compare Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii.
97; Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, pp. xvi. _sq._]

[Footnote 716: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i, 112.]

[Footnote 717: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55.]

[Footnote 718: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, pp. xx., xxi.
_sq._; Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 247; B. Seeman, _Viti_ (Cambridge,
1862), p. 401.]

[Footnote 719: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55 _sq._ The writer witnessed
what he calls the ceremony of consecration in the case of a young man of
the highest rank in Somosomo and he has described what he saw. In this
case a special hut was not built for the manslayer, and he was allowed
to pass the nights in the temple of the war god.]

[Footnote 720: See above, pp. 205 _sq._, 229 _sq._, 258, 279 _sq._, 323,
396, 415.]

[Footnote 721: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 55.]

[Footnote 722: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 98, 99 _sq._ Compare Lorimer
Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163: "A person who has defiled himself
by touching a corpse is called _yambo_, and is not allowed to touch food
with his hands for several days." The custom as to a surviving widow is
mentioned by Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 198.]

[Footnote 723: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 167.]

[Footnote 724: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 101; Th. Williams, _op. cit._
i. 197 _sq._; Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 168; Basil
Thomson, _The Fijian_, p. 375.]

[Footnote 725: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 197, 198.]

[Footnote 726: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 99.]

[Footnote 727: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 198 _sq._]

[Footnote 728: Ch. Wilkes, _l.c._]

[Footnote 729: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 197.]

[Footnote 730: K. Weinhold, _Altnordisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1856), p.
476.]

[Footnote 731: _The Zend-Avesta_, Part i. _The Vendidad,_ translated by
James Darmesteter (Oxford, 1880), p. 95 (Fargard, viii. 2. 10) (_Sacred
Books of the East_, vol. iv.).]

[Footnote 732: W. R. S. Ralston, _The Songs of the Russian People_,
Second Edition (London, 1872), p. 318.]

[Footnote 733: Sonnerat, _Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine_
(Paris, 1782), i. 86.]

[Footnote 734: J. A. Dubois, _Moeurs, Institutions et Ceremonies des
Peuples de l'Inde_ (Paris, 1825), ii. 225; E. Thurston, _Ethnographic
Notes in Southern India_ (Madras, 1906), pp. 226 _sq._]

[Footnote 735: J. Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterthuemer_ 3rd ed.
(Goettingen, 1881), pp. 726 _sqq._]

[Footnote 736: Rev. J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), p. 242.]

[Footnote 737: _The Sacred Books of China_, translated by James Legge,
Part iii. _The Li-Ki_, i.-x. (Oxford, 1885) pp. 144 _sq._ (Bk. ii. Sect.
i. Pt. II. 33) (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxvii.); J. F. Lafitau,
_Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), ii. 401 _sq._, citing
Le Comte, _Nouv. Memoires de la Chine_, vol. ii. p. 187.]

[Footnote 738: _Relations des Jesuites_, 1633, p. 11; _id._, 1634, p. 23
(Canadian reprint, Quebec, 1858); J. G. Kohl, _Kitschi-Gami_ (Bremen,
1859), p. 149 note.]

[Footnote 739: E. W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait,"
_Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i.
(Washington, 1899), p. 311.]

[Footnote 740: David Crantz, _History of Greenland_ (London, 1767), i.
237. Compare Hans Egede, _Description of Greenland_, Second Edition
(London, 1818), pp. 152 _sq._; Captain G. F. Lyon, _Private Journal_
(London, 1824), p. 370; C. F. Hall, _Narrative of the Second Arctic
Expedition_ (Washington, 1879), p. 265 (Esquimaux).]

[Footnote 741: P. Kolben, _The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_
(London, 1731-1738), i. 316; C. P. Thunberg, "An Account of the Cape of
Good Hope," in Pinkerton's _Voyages and Travels_, xvi. (London, 1814) p.
142; _Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), ii, Serie, ii.
(1834) p. 196 (Bechuanas); _id._, vii. Serie, vii. (1886) p. 587
(Fernando Po); T. Arbousset et F. Daumas, _Relation d'un Voyage
d'Exploration au Nord-est de la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Esperance_
(Paris, 1842), pp. 502 _sq._; C. J. Andersson, _Lake Ngami_, Second
Edition (London, 1856), p. 466; G. Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen
Sued-Afrika's_ (Breslau, 1872), pp. 210, 335; R. Moffat, _Missionary
Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa_ (London, 1842), p. 307; E.
Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 202; Ladislaus Magyar, _Reisen
in Sued-Afrika_ (Buda-Pesth and Leipsic, 1859), p. 350; Rev. J.
Macdonald, _Light in Africa_, Second Edition (London, 1890), p. 166; E.
Beguin, _Les Ma-Rotse_ (Lausanne and Fontaines, 1903), p. 115; Henri A.
Junod, _Les Ba-Ronga_ (Neuchatel, 1898), p. 48; _id._, _The Life of a
South African Tribe_, i. (Neuchatel, 1912) p. 138; Dudley Kidd, _The
Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), p. 247; A. F. Mockler-Ferryman,
_British Nigeria_ (London, 1902), p. 234; Ramseyer and Kuehne, _Four
Years in Ashantee_ (London, 1875), p. 50; A. B. Ellis, _The Land of
Fetish_ (London, 1883), p. 13; _id._, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the
Gold Coast_ (London, 1887), p. 239; E. Perregaud, _Chez les Achanti_
(Neuchatel, 1906), p. 127; J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906),
p. 756; H. R. Palmer, "Notes on the Kororofawa and Jukon," _Journal of
the African Society_, No. 44 (July, 1912), p. 414. The custom is also
observed by some tribes of Central Africa. See Miss A. Werner, _The
Natives of British Central Africa_ (London, 1906), p. 161; B. Gutmann,
"Trauer und Begraebnisssitten der Wadschagga," _Globus_, lxxxix. (1906)
p. 200; Rev. N. Stam, "Religious Conceptions of the Kavirondo,"
_Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 361.]

[Footnote 742: C. Snouck Hurgronje, _Het Gajoland en zijne Bewoners_
(Batavia, 1903), p. 313.]

[Footnote 743: Aurel Krause, _Die Tlinkit-Indianer_ (Jena, 1885), p.
225; Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the North-western
Tribes of Canada_, p. 23 (separate reprint from the _Report of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science_, Leeds Meeting,
1890); J. R. Swanton, _Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida_
(Leyden and New York, 1905), pp. 52, 54 (_The Jesup North Pacific
Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_).]

[Footnote 744: J. A. H. Louis, _The Gates of Thibet_ (Calcutta, 1894),
p. 114.]

[Footnote 745: H. von Wlislocki, _Volksglaube und religioeser Brauch der
Zigeuner_ (Muenster i. W., 1891), p. 99.]

[Footnote 746: W. Jochelson, _The Koryak_ (New York and Leyden, 1908),
pp. 110 _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the
American Museum of Natural History_).]

[Footnote 747: W. H. Dall, _Alaska and its Resources_ (London, 1870), p.
382.]

[Footnote 748: Lucien M. Turner, "Ethnology of the Ungava District,
Hudson Bay Territory," _Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology_ (Washington, 1894), p. 191.]

[Footnote 749: Mgr. Bruguiere, in _Annales de l'Association de la
Propagation de la Foi_, v. (Lyons and Paris, 1831) p. 180. Compare Mgr.
Pallegoix, _Description du royaume Thai ou Siam_ (Paris, 1854), i. 245;
Adolf Bastian, _Die Volker des oestlichen Asien_, iii. (Jena, 1867) p.
258; E. Young, _The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe_ (Westminster, 1898), p.
246.]

[Footnote 750: S. Mateer, _Native Life in Travancore_ (London, 1883), p.
137. Compare A. Butterworth, "Royal Funerals in Travancore," _Indian
Antiquary_, xxxi. (1902) p. 251.]

[Footnote 751: Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_
(London, 1912), ii. 35.]

[Footnote 752: S. K. Kusnezow, "Ueber den Glauben vom Jenseits und den
Todtencultus der Tscheremissen," _Internationales Archiv fuer
Ethnographie_, ix. (1896) p. 157.]

[Footnote 753: P. S. Pallas, _Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des
Russischen Reichs_ (St. Petersburg, 1771-1776), iii. 75; Middendorff,
_Reise in den aeussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens_, iv. 1464.]

[Footnote 754: _Exploraciones y Noticias hidrograficas de los Rios del
Norte de Bolivia_, publicados por Manuel V. Ballivian, Segunda Parte,
_Diario del Viage al Madre de Dios hecho por el P. Fr. Nicolas Armentia,
en los anos de 1884 y 1885_ (La Paz, 1890), p. 20: _"Cuando muere
alguno, apenas sacan el cadaver de la casa, cambian la puerta al lado
opuesto, para que no de con ella el difunto."_]

[Footnote 755: Karl Bartsch, _Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche aus
Meklenburg_ (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 100, Sec. 358.]

[Footnote 756: For some evidence on this subject, see R. Lasch, "Die
Behandlung der Leiche des Selbstmoerders," _Globus_, lxxxvi. (1899) pp.
63-66; Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 20 _sq._; A.
Karasek, "Beitraege zur Kenntnis der Waschamba," _Baessler-Archiv_, i.
(1911) pp. 190 _sq._]

[Footnote 757: Rev. N. Stam, "The Religious Conceptions of the
Kavirondo," _Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 361.]

[Footnote 758: Alfred de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des
Provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 198.]

[Footnote 759: Felix Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_
(Paris, 1902), ii. 164.]

[Footnote 760: For some evidence on this subject see _Psyche's Task_,
pp. 64 _sq._]

[Footnote 761: Carl Bock, _Temples and Elephants_ (London, 1884), p.
262.]

[Footnote 762: Ch. Gilhodes, "Naissance et Enfance chez les Katchins
(Birmanie)," _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 872 _sq._]

[Footnote 763: A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden,
1901-1907), i. 91.]

[Footnote 764: Ch. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_
(London, 1912), ii. 155.]

[Footnote 765: Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the
North-western Tribes of Canada_, p. 23 (separate reprint from the
_Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science_,
Leeds Meeting, 1890).]

[Footnote 766: Prevost, quoted by John Crawford, _History of the Indian
Archipelago_ (Edinburgh, 1820), ii. 245. Compare Adolf Bastian, _Die
Voelker des oestlichen Asien_, v. (Jena, 1869) p. 83.]

[Footnote 767: Mrs. Bishop (Isabella L. Bird), _Korea and her
Neighbours_ (London, 1898), i. 239 _sq._]

[Footnote 768: Arnold van Gennep, _Tabou et Totemisme a Madagascar_
(Paris, 1904), p. 65, quoting Dr. Catat.]

[Footnote 769: B. F. Matthes, _Bijdragen tot de Ethnologie van
Zuid-Celebes_ (The Hague, 1875), p. 139; _id._, "Over de ada's of
gewoonten der Makassaren en Boegineezen," _Verslagen en Mededeelingen
der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen_, Afdeeling Letterkunde,
Derde Reeks, ii. (Amsterdam, 1885) p. 142.]

[Footnote 770: W. M. Donselaar "Aanteekeningen over het eiland
Saleijer," _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche
Zendelinggenootschap_, i. (1857) p. 291.]

[Footnote 771: See above, p. 426.]

[Footnote 772: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, Second Edition
(London, 1860), i. 167.]

[Footnote 773: Ch. Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 83; Basil Thomson, _The
Fijians_, p. 117.]

[Footnote 774: Basil Thomson, _op. cit._ p. 121.]

[Footnote 775: Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163.]

[Footnote 776: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 239.]

[Footnote 777: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 243 _sq._ Compare Berthold
Seeman, _Viti, an Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian of
Fijian Islands in the years 1860-1861_ (Cambridge, 1862), p. 399;
Lorimer Fison, _Tales from Old Fiji_, p. 163; Basil Thomson, _The
Fijians_, pp. 120 _sq._, 121 _sq._]

[Footnote 778: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i, 244 _sq._]

[Footnote 779: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 83.]

[Footnote 780: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 245 _sq._]

[Footnote 781: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 246 _sq._]

[Footnote 782: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 247.]

[Footnote 783: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 85 _sq._]

[Footnote 784: Th. Williams, _op. cit._ i. 248.]

NOTE

MYTH OF THE CONTINUANCE OF DEATH[785]

The following story is told by the Balolo of the Upper Congo to explain
the continuance, if not the origin, of death in the world. One day,
while a man was working in the forest, a little man with two bundles,
one large and one small, went up to him and said, "Which of these
bundles will you have? The large one contains knives, looking-glasses,
cloth and so forth; and the small one contains immortal life." "I cannot
choose by myself," answered the man; "I must go and ask the other people
in the town." While he was gone to ask the others, some women arrived
and the choice was left to them. They tried the edges of the knives,
decked themselves in the cloth, admired themselves in the
looking-glasses, and, without more ado, chose the big bundle. The little
man, picking up the small bundle, vanished. So when the man came back
from the town, the little man and his bundles were gone. The women
exhibited and shared the things, but death continued on the earth. Hence
the people often say, "Oh, if those women had only chosen the small
bundle, we should not be dying like this!"[786]

[Footnote 785: See above, p. 77.]

[Footnote 786: Rev. John H. Weeks, "Stories and other Notes from the
Upper Congo," _Folk-lore_, xii. (1901) p. 461; _id._, _Among Congo
Cannibals_ (London, 1913), p. 218. The country of the Balolo lies five
miles south of the Equator, on Longitude 18 deg. East.]

INDEX

Abinal, Father, 49

Abipones, their belief in sorcery as a cause of death, 35

Abnormal mental states explained by inspiration, 15

Aborigines, magical powers attributed by immigrants to, 193

Abstinence from certain food in mourning, 198, 208, 209, 230, 314, 360,
452

Abundance of food and water favourable to social progress, 90 _sq._

Action as a clue to belief, 143

Actors personating ghosts and spirits, 176, 179 _sq._, 180 _sqq._, 185
_sqq._

Adiri, the land of the dead, 211, 212, 213, 214

Admiralty Islands, 393, 400, 401

---- Islanders, their myths of the origin of death, 71, 76 _sq._

Advance of culture among the aborigines of South-Eastern Australia, 141
_sq._, 148 _sq._

Africa, aborigines of, their ideas as to the cause of death, 49 _sqq._;
use of poison ordeal in, 50 _sqq._

----, British Central, 162

----, British East, 61, 66, 254

Agriculture, rise of, favourable to astronomy, 140 _sq._;
Fijian, 408

Akamba, their story of the origin of death, 61 _sq._

Akikuyu, resurrection and circumcision among the, 254

_Alcheringa_ or dream times, 96, 103, 114

---- ancestors, their marvellous powers, 103

---- home of the dead, 167

Alfoors of Celebes, 166

Alligators, ghosts in, 380

_Alols_, bachelors' houses, 221, 222

Altars, stones used as, 379

Amputation of fingers in mourning, 199, 426 _sq._, 451

Amulets consisting of relics of the dead, 332, 370

Ancestor, totemic, developing into a god, 113

Ancestor-worship possibly evolved from totemism, 114 _sq._

Ancestors, reincarnation of, 92 _sqq._;
marvellous powers ascribed to remote, 103, 114 _sq._;
totemic, traditions concerning, 115 _sqq._;
dramatic ceremonies to commemorate the doings of, 118 _sqq._;
possible evolution of worship of, in Central Australia, 125 _sq._;
worshipped, 221, 297 _sq._, 328 _sqq._, 338, 340;
ghosts of, appealed to for help, 258 _sq._;
offerings to, 298;
prayers to, 329 _sq._, 332 _sqq._
_See also_ Dead

Ancestral gods, foreskins of circumcised lads offered to, 427;
libations to, 430, 438

---- images, 307 _sqq._, 315, 316 _sq._, 321, 322

---- spirits help hunters and fishers, 226;
shrines for, 316, 317;
worshipped as gods, 369;
worshipped in the _Nanga_, 428 _sq._;
first-fruits offered to, 429;
cloth and weapons offered to, 430 _sq._;
novices presented to, at initiation, 432 _sq._, 434.

Angola, the poison ordeal in, 51 _sq._

Angoni, their burial customs, 162

Animals, souls of sorcerers in, 39;
spirits of, go to the spirit land, 210;
sacrifices to the souls of, 239;
transmigration of dead into, 242, 245;
ghosts in the form of, 282;
ghosts turn into, 287;
ghosts incarnate in, 379 _sq._

Animistic views of the Papuans, 264

Anjea, a mythical being, 128

Annam, 67, 69

Anointing manslayers, 448

Ant-hills, ghosts turn into, 287

Ant totem, dramatic ceremony concerned with, 120 _sq._

Ants' nests, ghosts turn into, 351

Anthropology, comparative and descriptive, 230 _sq._

Antimerina of Madagascar, burial custom of the, 461

Anuto, a creator, 296

Apparitions, 396;
fear of, 414

Appearance of the dead in dreams, 229

Araucanians of Chili, their disbelief in natural death, 35, 53 _sq._

Arawaks of Guiana, 36;
their myth of the origin of death, 70

Arm-bone, final burial ceremony performed with the, 167 _sq._;
lower, of dead preserved, 274

---- -bones, special treatment of the, 199;
of dead preserved, 225, 249

Aroma district of British New Guinea, 201, 202

Arrow-heads made of bones of the dead, 352

Art, primitive religious, 114;
Papuan, 220

_Arugo_, soul of dead, 207

_Arumburinga_, spiritual double, 164

Arunta, the, of Central Australia, 94;
ceremonies connected with totems, 119 _sqq._;
their magical ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems, 122
_sq._;
their customs as to the hair of the dead, 138;
their cuttings for the dead, 155 _sq._, 159;
burial customs of the, 164 _sq._, 166

Aryan burial custom, 453

_Asa_, Secret Society, 233

Ashantee story of the origin of death, 63 _sq._

Ashes smeared on mourners, 184, 361

Astrolabe Bay in German New Guinea, 218, 230, 235, 237

Astronomy, rise of, favoured by agriculture, 140 _sq._

Asylums, 243

_Asyren_, dead man, 457

_Ataro_, a powerful ghost, 377

Atonement for sick chief, 427

Aukem, a mythical being, 181

Aurora, one of the New Hebrides, 360, 382

Australia, causes which retarded progress in, 89 _sq._;
germs of a worship of the dead in, 168 _sq._
_See also_ Central Australia, Western Australia

----, the aborigines of, their ideas as to death from natural causes,
40 _sqq._;
their primitive character, 88, 91;
the belief in immortality among, 127 _sqq._;
thought to be reborn in white people, 130, 131 _sqq._;
their burial customs, 144 _sqq._;
their primitive condition, 217

----, South, beliefs as to the dead in, 134 _sqq._

Australia, South-Eastern, beliefs as to the dead in, 133 _sq._, 139;
burial customs among the aborigines of, 145 _sqq._

----, Western, burial customs in, 147, 150, 151

Authority of chiefs based on their claim to magical powers, 395

Avenging a death, pretence of, 282, 328

Bachelor ghosts, hard fate of, 464

Bachelors' houses, 221

Bad and good, different fate of the, after death, 354

Baganda, the, their ideas as to the causes of death, 56 _n._ 2;
their myth of the origin of death, 78 _sqq._
_See also_ Uganda

Bahaus, the, of Borneo, 459

Bahnars of Cochinchina, 74

Bakairi, the, of Brazil, 35

Bakerewe, the, of the Victoria Nyanza, 50

Bali, burial custom in, 460

Balking ghosts, 455 _sqq._

Balolo, of the Upper Congo, their myth of the continuance of death, 472

_Balum_, ghost or spirit of dead, 244;
name for bull-roarer, 250;
name for a ghost or monster who swallows lads at initiation, 251, 255,
260, 261;
soul of a dead man, 257, 261

Bamler, G., 291, 297 _sq._

Bananas in myths of the origin of death, 60, 70, 72 _sq._

Bandages to prevent entrance of ghosts, 396

Bandaging eyes of corpse, 459

Banks' Islands, 343, 353, 386;
myths of the origin of death in, 71, 83 _sq._

---- Islanders, funeral customs of the, 355 _sqq._

Bantu family, 60

Baronga, the, 61;
burial custom of the, 454

Bartle Bay, 206, 208

Basutos, the, 61;
burial custom of the, 454

Bat in myth of origin of death, 75

Bathing in sea after funeral, 207 _sq._;
as purification after a death, 314, 319

Battel, Andrew, 51 _sq._

Bechuanas, the, 61;
burial custom of the, 454

Beetles in myth of the origin of death, 70

Belep tribe of New Caledonia, 325

Belief, acts as a clue to, 143

Belief in immortality, origin of belief in, 25 _sqq._;
almost universal among races of mankind, 33;
among the aborigines of Central Australia, 87 _sqq._;
among the islanders of Torres Straits, 170 _sqq._;
among the natives of British New Guinea, 190 _sqq._;
among the natives of German New Guinea, 216 _sqq._;
among the natives of Dutch New Guinea, 303 _sqq._;
among the natives of Southern Melanesia, 324 _sqq._;
among the natives of Central Melanesia, 343 _sqq._;
its practical effect on the life of the Central Melanesians, 391
_sq._;
among the natives of Northern Melanesia, 393 _sqq._;
among the Fijians, 406 _sqq._;
strongly held by savages, 468;
destruction of life and property entailed by the, 468 _sq._;
the question of its truth, 469 _sqq._

Belief in sorcery a cause of keeping down the population, 38, 40

Berkeley, his theory of knowledge, 11 _sq._

Berlin Harbour in German New Guinea, 218

Bernau, Rev. J. H., 38

Beryl-stone in _Rose Mary_, 130

Betindalo, the land of the dead, 350

Bhotias, the, of the Himalayas, 163

Biak or Wiak, island, 303

Bilking a ghost, 416

Bird in divination as to cause of death, 45

Birds, souls of sorcerers in, 39

Birth, new, at initiation, pretence of, 254

Birthplaces, the dead buried in their, 160

Birth-stones and birth-sticks (_churinga_) of the Central Australians,
96 _sqq._

Bismarck Archipelago, 70, 394, 402

Black, mourners painted, 178, 241, 293;
gravediggers painted, 451

---- -snake people, 94

Blackened, faces of mourners, 403

Blood of mourners dropped on corpse or into grave, 158 _sq._, 183, 185;
and hair of mourners offered to the dead, 183;
of pigs smeared on skulls and bones of the dead, 200;
soul thought to reside in the, 307;
of sacrificial victim not allowed to fall on the ground, 365

---- revenge, duty of, 274, 276 _sq._;
discharged by sham fight, 136 _sq._

Bogadyim, in German New Guinea, 230, 231

Boigu, the island of the dead, 175, 184, 213

Bolafagina, the lord of the dead, 350

Bolotoo, the land of souls, 411

Bones of the dead, second burial of the, 166 _sq._;
kept in house, 203;
worn by survivors, 225;
disinterred and kept in house, 225, 294;
making rain by means of the, 341

---- and skulls of dead smeared with
blood of pigs, 200

Bonitos, ghosts in, 380

_Boollia_, magic, 41 _sq._

"Born of an oak or a rock," 128

Bougainville, island of, 393

Boulia district of Queensland, 147, 155

Bow, divination by, 241

Bread-fruit trees, stones to make them bear fruit, 335 _sq._

Breaking things offered to the dead, 276

Breath, vital principle associated with the, 129 _sq._