The Origin of Man and of His SuperstitionsRead, Carveth
Philosophy
The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions
Read, Carveth
Animism; Human beings -- Origin; Magic; Superstition; Totemism
[421] J. Shakespeare, _The Lushai Kuki Clans_, p. 80.
[422] Hose and McDougall, _Pagan Tribes of Borneo_, p. 120, and _Am. B.
of Ethn._, XI. p. 417; XIV. pp. 97, 148.
[423] D. Comparetti, _The Traditional Poetry of the Finns_, pp. 27 and
25.
[424] Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, pp. 548-50.
[425] The crystals forced into a wizard’s body, whether by spirits or
by other wizards, are essential to his profession, and if they leave
him his power is lost. “It is the possession of these stones which
gives his virtue to the medicine-man” (Spencer and Gillen, _Northern
Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 480 note). John Mathew says that,
according to the belief of the Kabi (Queensland): “A man’s power in
the occult art would appear to be proportioned to his vitality, and
the degree of vitality which he possessed depended upon the number of
sacred pebbles and the quantity of _yurru_ (rope) which he carried
within him” (_Eagle-hawk and Crow_, p. 143). “Rope” was the property
of the higher grade of medicine-men (substitute for snakes?), who had
obtained it from the Rainbow in exchange for some of their pebbles.
Certain pebbles, especially crystals, are independent magic-powers
throughout Australasia and elsewhere, probably of much older repute
than the profession of wizardry; and the wizard gets his personal power
by having them inside him. Similarly, Jounod describes Bantu wizards
as “endowed with magical power, or rather possessing enchanted drugs”
(_Life of a South African Tribe_, p. 293): whereas we are often told
that the occult art begins with the extraordinary personality of the
wizard.
[426] _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 522-9.
[427] Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p.
485.
[428] Haddon, _Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits_,
V. p. 321.
[429] E. im Thurn, _The Indians of Guiana_, p. 334.
[430] Thomas Whiffen, _The North-West Amazons_, p. 181.
[431] Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_, p. 156.
[432] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, XXIV., “Shamanism,”
pp. 87-90.
[433] _Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits_, V. p.
322.
[434] J. G. Frazer, _Belief in Immortality_, p. 334.
[435] W. H. R. Rivers, _The Todas_, pp. 256-7.
[436] _Belief in Immortality_, pp. 249, 269.
[437] For examples see Weeks, _The Primitive Bakongo_, p. 204; Dudley
Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_, p. 149; Callaway, _Religion of the
Amazulu_, p. 391; Hose and McDougall, _The Pagan Tribes of Borneo_,
II. p. 115; Turner, _Samoa_, p. 342; _Shamanism_, p. 130; Carl
Lumholtz, _New Trails in Mexico_, p. 24; T. A. Joyce, _South American
Archæology_, p. 245; E. Westermarck, _Origin and Development of Moral
Ideas_, II. pp. 650-2.
[438] Callaway, _Religion of the Amazulu_, pp. 384-6 and 404.
[439] Franz Boas, “The Central Esquimo,” _Am. B. of Ethn._, VI.
(1884-5), p. 603.
[440] W. W. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 571.
[441] A. Wiedemann, _The Religion of the Egyptians_, pp. 273-4.
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