The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
few yards, they commenced, amid horrid yells, their still more horrid
feast. The sight was too terrible to behold. I left the gallery with a
depressed heart. I may mention that the two bands of savages just alluded
to belong to that class which the whites term ‘medicine-men.’ ” The same
writer informs us that at the winter ceremonials of these Indians “the
cannibal, on such occasions, is generally supplied with two, three, or
four human bodies, which he tears to pieces before his audience. Several
persons, either from bravado or as a charm, present their arms for him to
bite. I have seen several whom he has bitten, and I hear two have died
from the effects.” And when corpses were not forthcoming, these cannibals
apparently seized and devoured living people. Mr. Duncan has seen hundreds
of the Tsimshian Indians sitting in their canoes which they had just
pushed off from the shore in order to escape being torn to pieces by a
party of prowling cannibals. Others of these Indians contented themselves
with tearing dogs to pieces, while their attendants kept up a growling
noise, or a whoop, “which was seconded by a screeching noise made from an
instrument which they believe to be the abode of a spirit.”(90)
(M13) Mr. Duncan’s account of these savage rites has been fully borne out
by later observation. Among the Kwakiutl Indians the Cannibals
(_Hamatsas_) are the highest in rank of the Secret Societies. They devour
corpses, bite pieces out of living people, and formerly ate slaves who had
been killed for the purpose. But when their fury has subsided, they are
obliged to pay compensation to the persons whom they have bitten and to
the owners of slaves whom they have killed. The indemnity consists
sometimes of blankets, sometimes of canoes. In the latter case the tariff
is fixed: one bite, one canoe. For some time after eating human flesh the
cannibal has to observe a great many rules, which regulate his eating and
drinking, his going out and his coming in, his clothing and his
intercourse with his wife.(91) Similar customs prevail among other tribes
of the same coast, such as the Bella Coola, the Tsimshian, the Niska, and
the Nootka. In the Nootka tribe members of the Panther Society tear dogs
to pieces and devour them. They wear masks armed with canine teeth.(92) So
among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands there is one
religion of cannibalism and another of dog-eating. The cannibals in a
state of frenzy, real or pretended, bite flesh out of the extended arms of
their fellow villagers. When they issue forth with cries of _Hop-pop_ to
observe this solemn rite, all who are of a different religious persuasion
make haste to get out of their way; but men of the cannibal creed and of
stout hearts will resolutely hold out their arms to be bitten. The sect of
dog-eaters cut or tear dogs to pieces and devour some of the flesh; but
they have to pay for the dogs which they consume in their religious
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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