NOTE
MYTH OF THE CONTINUANCE OF DEATH785
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 786: (return)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° 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
Asyrèn, 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
Bakaïri, 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.
Brett, Rev. W. H., 35 sqq.
Brewin, an evil spirit, 45
Brittany, burial custom in, 458
Brothers-in-law in funeral rites, 177
Brown, Rev. Dr. George, 48, 395
Buandik, the, 138
Buckley, the convict, 131
Buginese, burial custom of the, 461
Bugotu, 350, 352;
in Ysabel, 372, 379
Building king's house, men sacrificed at, 446
Bukaua, the, of German New Guinea, 242, 256 sqq.
Bull-roarers, 243;
used in divination, 249;
described, 250;
used at initiation of young men among the Yabim, 250 sqq.;
among the Kaya-Kaya, 255;
at initiation among the Bukaua, 260 sq.;
associated with the spirits of the dead, 261;
at initiation among the Kai, 263, 291;
at initiation of young men among the Tami, 301, 302
Bulotu or Bulu, the land of the dead, 462, 463
Bundle, the fatal, 472;
story of, 77 sq.
Bures, Fijian temples, 439
Burial different for old and young, married and unmarried, etc., 161 sqq.;
and burning of the dead, 162 sq.;
special modes of, intended to prevent or facilitate the return of the spirit, 163 sqq.;
second, custom of, 166 sq.;
in trees, 203;
in island, 319;
in the sea, 347 sq.
—— customs of the Australian aborigines, 144 sqq.;
in Tumleo, 223;
of the Kai, 274;
of the New Caledonians, 326 sq., 339 sq.;
in New Ireland, 397 sq.;
in the Duke of York Island, 403.
See also Corpse, Grave
—— -grounds, sacred, 378
Buried alive, old people, 359 sq.
Burma, 75
Burning and burial of the dead, 162 sq.
—— bodies of women who died in childbed, 459
Burns inflicted on themselves by mourners, 154, 155, 157, 327, 451
Burnt offerings to the dead, 294
—— sacrifices, reasons for, 348 sq.;
to ghosts, 366, 367 sq., 373
Burying alive the sick and old, Fijian custom of, 420 sqq.
—— people in their birthplaces, 160
Bushmen, 65
Buwun, deities, 296
Caffres of South Africa, their beliefs as to the causes of death, 55 sq.
Calabar, poison ordeal in, 52
California, Indians of, 68
Calling back a lost soul, 312
Calm and wind produced by weather-doctors, 385 sq.
Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 171, 191
Canaanites, the heathen, 154
Canadian Indians, burial custom of the, 454
Canarium nuts, first-fruits of, offered to ghosts, 368 sq.
Cannibal feasts in Fiji, 446
Cannibals fear the ghosts of their victims, 396
Canoe, men sacrificed at launching a new, 446 sq.
Canoes, Papuan, 220
Cape Bedford in Queensland, 129, 130, 131
—— King William in German New Guinea, 218, 238
Carnac in Brittany, 438
Catching soul in a scarf, 412 sq.
Cause, Hume's analysis of, 18 sq.
Causes, the propensity to search for, 17 sq.;
two classes of, 22
Caves used as burial-places or charnel-houses, 330 sqq.
Celebes, Central, 72
Central Australia, aborigines of, their ideas as to natural death, 46 sq.;
their ideas as to resurrection, 68;
their belief in immortality, 87 sqq.;
their belief in reincarnation of the dead, 92 sqq.;
their attitude towards the dead, 124 sqq.
Cereals unknown to Melanesians and Polynesians, 408
Ceremonial impurity of manslayer, 229 sq.
Ceremonies performed in honour of the Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake, 108 sqq.;
dramatic, to commemorate the doings of ancestors, 118 sqq.;
funeral, of the Torres Straits Islanders, 176 sqq.
See also Dramatic Ceremonies, Dramatic Representations, Funeral Ceremonies, Totems
Chameleon in myths of the origin of death, 60 sqq.
Chams of Annam, 67
Charms imparted by dead in dreams, 139
Charnel-houses, 221 sq., 225, 328
Cheating the devil, 460
Chepara, the, 139
Cheremiss of Russia, burial custom of the, 457
Cherokee Indians, 77
Chief, spirit of dead, a worshipful ghost, 352
Chief's power in Central Melanesia based on a fear of ghosts, 391
Chiefs deified after death, 369
Chiefs' authority based on their claim to magical powers, 395
Chieftainship, rise of, 141
Childbed, treatment of ghosts of women dying in, 358;
special fear of ghosts of women dying in, 458 sqq.
Childless women, burial of, 458
Children, Central Australian theory of the birth of, 93 sq.;
belief of Queensland natives as to the birth of, 128
Children buried in trees, 161, 312 sq.;
stillborn, burial of, 458
Child-stones, 93 sq.
Chingpaws of Burma, 75
Choi, disembodied human spirits, 128
Chukchansi Indians, 163
Churinga, sacred sticks or stones, 96 sqq.
Circumcision as initiatory rite of young men, 233;
among the Yabim, 250 sqq.;
among the Akikuyu, 254;
among the Bukaua, 260 sq.;
among the Kai, 290 sq.;
among the Tami, 301 sq.;
as a propitiatory sacrifice, 426 sqq.
Clans, totemic, 104
Clay, widow's body smeared with, 223
Cleanliness due to fear of sorcery, 386 sq., 414
Cleft stick used in cure, 271
Clercq, F. S. A. de, 316
Cloth and weapons offered to ancestral spirits, 430 sq.
Clubhouses for men, 221, 225, 226, 243, 256 sq., 355
Cochinchina, 74
Coco-nut trees of dead cut down, 208, 209, 327;
stones to blight, 335
—— -nuts tabooed, 297
Codrington, Dr. R. H., 54 sq., 344, 345 sq., 353, 355, 359, 362 sq., 368, 380 sq.
Collins, David, 133
Commemorative and magical ceremonies combined, 122, 126
Commercial habits of the North Melanesians, 394
Communal houses, 304
Communism, temporary revival of primitive, 436 sq.
Comparative and descriptive anthropology, their relation, 230 sq.
Comparative method applied to the study of religion, 5 sq.;
in anthropology, 30
Compartments in land of the dead, 244, 354, 404
Competition as a cause of progress, 89 sq.
Conception in women, Central Australian theory of, 93 sq.;
belief of Queensland natives concerning, 128
Conception of death, the savage, 31 sqq.
Concert of spirits, 340 sq.
Confession of sins, 201
Congo, natives of the, their ideas as to natural death, 50;
worship of the moon on the, 68
Consecration of manslayers in Fiji, 448 sq.
Consultation of ancestral images, 308 sqq.
Continence, required in training yam vines, 371
Continuance of death, myth of the, 472
Contradictions and inconsistencies in reasoning not peculiar to savages, 111 sq.
Convulsions as evidence of inspiration, 443, 444
Co-operative system of piety, 333
Coorgs, the, 163
Cord worn round neck by mourners, 241, 242, 249, 259, 361
Corpse inspected to discover sorcerer, 37, 38, 53 sq.;
dried on fire, 135, 184, 249, 313, 355;
tied to prevent ghost from walking, 144;
mauled and mutilated in order to disable the ghost, 153;
putrefying juices of, received by mourners on their bodies, 167, 205;
carried out feet foremost, 174;
decked with ornaments and flowers, 232;
painted white and red, 233;
crowned with red roses, 233, 234;
stript of ornaments before burial, 234, 241;
kept in house, 355;
property displayed beside the, 397;
persons who have handled a corpse forbidden to touch food with their hands, 450 sq.;
carried out of house by special opening, 452 sqq.
Corpses mummified, 313;
of women dying in childbed burnt, 459
Costume of mourners, 184, 198, 241 sq.;
of widow and widower, 204
Costumes of actors in dramatic ceremonies concerned with totems, 119 sqq.
Crabs in myth of the origin of death, 70
Cracking joints of fingers at incantation, 223
Creator, the, and the origin of death, 73
Crocodiles, transmigration of dead into, 245
Cromlechs, 438
Crops, ghosts expected to make the crops thrive, 259, 284, 288 sq.
Cross-questioning a ghost by means of fire, 278
Cultivation of the ground, spirits of ancestors supposed to help in the, 259
Culture, advance of, among the aborigines of South-Eastern Australia, 141 sq., 148 sq.;
advanced, of the Fijians, 407
Cursing enemies, 370, 403, 404
Cutting down trees of the dead, 208, 209
Cuttings of the flesh in honour of the dead, 154 sqq., 183, 184 sq., 196, 272, 327, 359