Mabuiag, island of, 174
Macassars, burial custom of the, 461
Macluer Gulf in Dutch New Guinea, 317, 318
Mad, stones to drive people, 335
Madagascar, ideas as to natural death in, 48 sq.
Mafulu (Mambule), the, of British New Guinea, 198 sqq.
Maggots, appearance of, sign of departure of soul, 292
Magic as a cause of death, 34 sqq.;
Age of, 58;
attributed to aboriginal inhabitants of a country, 193;
homoeopathic or imitative, 288, 335, 336, 338, 376;
combined with religion, 111 sq., 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 376;
Melanesian conception of, 380 sq.;
working by means of personal refuse, 413 sq.
See also Sorcery and Witchcraft
—— and religion compared in reference to their destruction of human life, 56 sq.
Magical ceremonies for increasing the food supply, 102;
ceremonies for the multiplication of totems, 124 sq.;
intention of dramatic ceremonies in Central Australia, 122 sq., 126;
virtues attributed to sacred stones in New Caledonia, 334 sqq.
Magician or priest, 336, 338.
See also Sorcerer
Magicians, their importance in history, 16;
but no priests at Doreh, 306
Malagasy, their ideas as to natural death, 48 sq.
Malanta, one of the Solomon Islands, 350
Malayalis, the, of Malabar, 162
Malignity of ghosts, 212, 381
Malo, island of, 48
Man creates gods in his own likeness, 19 sq.
——, grandeur and dignity of, 469 sq.;
pettiness and insignificance of, 470 sq.
Mana, supernatural or spiritual power, 346 sq., 352, 371, 380
Manoam, evil spirits, 321
Manoga, a worshipful ghost, 368
Manslayers, precautions taken by, against the ghosts of their victims, 205 sq., 258, 279, 323;
secluded, 279 sq.,
consecration of, 448 sq.;
restrictions imposed on, 449.
See also Homicides
Mari or mar, ghost, 173
Mariget, "ghost-hand," 177
Mariner, William, 411
Mariners, stones to help, 337
Markets, native, 394
Marotse, burial custom of the, 454
Marquesas Islands, 417
Married and unmarried, different modes of disposing of their corpses, 162
Masai, their myth of the origin of death, 65 sq.
Masked men, dramatic representation of ghosts and spirits by, 176, 179 sq., 180 sqq., 185 sqq.
—— dances, 297;
of the Monumbo, 228
Masks worn by actors in sacred ceremonies, 179;
used in dances, 233, 297
Masquerades, 297
Massim, the, of British New Guinea, 206
Master of Life, 163
Matacos Indians, 165
Mate, a worshipful spirit, 239
Material culture of the natives of New Guinea, 191;
of the natives of Tumleo, 219 sq.;
of Papuans, 231;
of the Yabim, 242 sq.;
of the Noofoor, 304 sq.;
of the New Caledonians, 339;
of the North Melanesians, 393 sqq.
Mawatta or Mowat, 47
Mbete, priest, 443, 445
Mea, a spiritual medium, 196
Mecklenburg, burial custom in, 457
Medicine-men, their importance in history, 16;
inspired by spirits of the dead, 322
Medium inspired by soul of dead, 308 sq.
Mediums, spiritual, 196
Mediums who send their souls to deadland, 300
Megalithic monuments, 438
Melanesia, Central, belief in immortality among the natives of, 343 sqq.
——, Northern, belief in immortality among the natives of, 393 sqq.
——, Southern, belief in immortality among the natives of, 324 sqq.
Melanesian myths of the origin of death, 69, 71 sq., 83 sq.;
theory of the soul, 344 sq.
Melanesians, their ideas as to natural deaths, 48, 54 sq.;
Central, funeral customs of the, 347 sqq., 355 sqq.;
and Papuans in New Guinea, 190 sq.
Memorial trees, 225
Men sacrificed to support posts of new house, 446 sq.;
whipped by women in mourning, 452
Men's clubhouses, 221, 225, 226, 243, 256 sq., 355
Mentras or Mantras of the Malay Peninsula, 73
Merivale on Dartmoor, 438
Messengers, the Two, myth of origin of death, 60 sqq.
Messou, Indian magician, 78
Metals unknown in Northern Melanesia, 395
Metempsychosis, widespread belief in, 29
Methods of treating natural theology, 1 sqq.
—— of natural knowledge, 11
Mexicans, the ancient, 163
Meyer, H. E. A., 42
Migration of villages, 339
Migratory cultivation, 243
Miklucho-Maclay, Baron N., 235
Milky Way, Central Australian belief as to the, 140;
souls of dead go to, 153
Milne Bay, 207
Mimika district in Dutch New Guinea, 318
Minnetaree Indians, 163
Misfortunes of all kinds caused by ghosts, 306 sq.
Moanus, the, of the Admiralty Islands, 400
Monarchical government, rise of, 141 sq.
Monsoon, south-east, festival at, 255
Monsoons, seasons determined by, 216
Monster supposed to swallow lads at initiation, 251 sq., 255, 260, 261, 290 sq., 301 sq.
Monumbo, the, of German New Guinea, 227 sq.
Monuments of the dead, 225
Moon, the waxing and waning, in myths of the origin of death, 60, 65 sqq.
—— in relation to doctrine of resurrection, 67 sq.;
worship of the, 68
Moral restraint afforded by a fear of ghosts, 175
—— depravity of the Fijians, 409
Morality, superstition a crutch to, 175
Mortuary dramas, 189
Mos, a disembodied soul, 224
Mota, island of, 387
Motlav, in the Banks' Islands, 357
Motu, the, of British New Guinea, 192
Mound erected in a totemic ceremony, 110 sq.
Mounds on graves, 150, 164
Mourners, professional, 136
—— smeared with white clay, 158, 177;
painted black, 178, 293, 403;
garb of, 184, 198;
cut their hair, 183, 204, 320, 451;
abstain from certain foods, 198, 208, 209, 230, 314, 360, 452;
restrictions observed by, 313 sq.;
tattooed, 314;
purified by bathing, 314, 319;
plastered with mud, 318;
cut or tear their ears, 183, 272, 327;
secluded, 360;
smeared with ashes, 361;
anoint themselves with juices of putrefying corpse, 403;
amputate their fingers, 199, 451;
burn their skin, 154, 155, 157, 327, 451.
See also Cuttings and Seclusion
Mourning, hair cut in, 135;
extravagant demonstrations of grief in, 135 sq.;
for a father-in-law, 155;
amputation of fingers in, 199;
varying period of, 274, 293;
for a king, 451 sq.
—— costume, 249, 274, 320;
a protection against ghosts, 241 sq.;
of widower and widow, 259 sq.
Mowat or Mawatta, 47
Mud, mourners plastered with, 318
Mukden, burial custom in, 460
Mukjarawaint tribe, 155
Mummies of dead preserved in houses, 188
Mummification of the dead, 184, 185, 313
Mungai, places associated with totems, 117, 124
Murder, leaves thrown on scene of, 415
—— highly esteemed in Fiji, 447 sq.
Murdered man, ghost of, haunts murderer, 248
Murimuria, a second-rate heaven, 466
Murray Island, 174
Mutilations, bodily, at puberty, 303
Myth of the prelogical savage, 266
—— of the continuance of death, 472
Myths of the origin of death, 59 sqq.
Nai, souls of the dead, 240
Nai Thombothombo, in Fiji, 463
Nails of dead detached, 145;
preserved, 339
Naindelinde in Fiji, 465
Naiteru-kop, a Masai god, 65
Namaquas, their myth of the origin of death, 65
Nambanaggatai, in Fiji, 465
Nambi and the origin of death, 78 sqq.
Name of mythical water-snake not uttered, 105
Names of the dead not mentioned, 135, 210, 246
Nandi, their myth of the origin of death, 66
Nanga, sacred stone enclosure, 428 sqq.;
description of, 437 sq.
Nangganangga, the foe of unmarried ghosts, 464
Nanja tree or stone, 98
—— spot, 164, 165
Narrinyeri tribe of South Australia, 43;
their beliefs as to the dead, 134 sqq.
Nassau, Rev. R. H., 51
Native beliefs influenced by European teaching, 142 sq.
Natural theology defined, 1, 8
—— death, disbelief of savages in, 33 sqq.
—— causes of death recognised by some savages, 55 sq.
—— features of landscape associated with traditions about the dead, 115 sqq.
Nature, gods of, 20;
souls of the dead identified with spirits of, 130;
two different views of human, 469 sqq.
Nayars, the, of Cochin, 162 sq.
Ndengei, Fijian god in form of serpent, 445, 462, 464, 465, 466
Necklaces worn in mourning, 198
Negen Negorijen in Dutch New Guinea, 316, 317
Negrito admixture in New Guinea, 198
Nemunemu, a creator, 240
Nether world, the lord of the, 286;
abode of the dead in the, 292, 299, 322, 326, 353 sq.;
descent of the living into the, 300;
See also Land of the Dead
Nets worn by widows in mourning, 249, 260, 274, 293;
worn by women in mourning, 241
New birth at initiation, pretence of, 254
New Britain (New Pomerania), 48, 69, 393, 394, 402, 404
—— Caledonia, natives of, 324;
their beliefs and customs concerning the dead, 325 sqq.;
their system of family prayers, 332 sq., 340;
material culture of the, 339
—— Georgia, 48
—— Guinea, aborigines of, their ideas as to natural death, 47;
the races of, 190 sq.;
belief in immortality among the natives of British, 190 sqq.;
belief in immortality among the natives of Dutch, 303 sqq.;
belief in immortality among the natives of German, 216 sqq.
New Hebrides, myth of the origin of death in, 71, 343, 353
—— Ireland (New Mecklenburg), 393, 397
—— South Wales, aborigines of, their ideas as to the causes of death, 45 sq.;
as to the home of the dead, 133 sq.
Newton, Alfred, 90 n. 1
Neyaux, the, of the Ivory Coast, 52
Ngai, human spirit, 129
Ngoc, the, of Annam, 69
Ngoni, the, 61
Nias, island of, 70
Nigeria, Northern, 28 n. 1, 49
Niggardly people punished in the other world, 405
Noblemen alone immortal, 33
Noofoor, the, of Dutch New Guinea, 303
Noomfor, island, 303
Norse burial custom, 453
Noses bored, ghosts should have their, 192, 194 sq.
Novices presented to ancestral spirits at initiation, 432 sq., 434
Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands, 417
Objects offered to the dead broken, 276
Offering, soul of, consumed by deity or spirit, 297, 298
Offerings of food and water to the dead, 174;
of food to the dead, 183, 201, 208, 211, 214, 232, 241, 332, 338, 364 sq., 367 sq., 372 sq., 396 sq., 429, 442, 467;
of blood and hair to the dead, 183;
of game and fish to the dead, 226;
to the dead, 239, 276, 292;
of first-fruits to the dead, 259;
to ancestors, 298;
of food to ghosts, 348 sq.;
to ghosts, 364 sq.;
of first-fruits to ancestral spirits, 429;
of cloth and weapons to ancestral spirits, 430 sq.
See also Sacrifices
——, burnt, to the dead, 294
Oknanikilla, local totem centre, 97, 99, 124
Old and young, difference between the modes of burying, 161, 162 sq.
Old people buried alive, 359
Olympia, Pelops at, 159
Omens after a death, 319
Opening, special, for carrying dead out of house, 452 sqq.
Oracles of dead kings, 151
—— of the dead, 151, 176, 179, 235
Oracular responses of Fijian priests, 443 sqq.
Oranges, spirits of the dead play with, 326
Ordeal to detect sorcerer, 50 sqq.
Orgy, licentious, following circumcision, 427 sq.
Origin of belief in immortality, 26 sqq.
—— of death, myths of the, 59 sqq.
Orion's belt, 368
Ornaments of corpse removed before burial, 223, 234, 241
Pahouins, the, 54
Palsy, a Samoan god, 72
Pandanus, reason for planting, 362
—— and ghosts, 463
Panoi, Melanesian land of the dead, 83, 345, 353 sq., 355, 356
Papuan art, 220
Papuans, animistic views of the, 264
—— and Melanesians in New Guinea, 190 sq.
Paraks, temples, 220
Parents deified, 439
Parkinson, R., 219, 221
Pelops, human blood offered on grave of, 159
Penates in New Guinea, 308, 317
Pennefather River, natives of the, their belief in reincarnation of the dead, 128
Perche, burial custom in, 458
Personal refuse, magic working through, 386, 413 sq.
Personification of natural phenomena, 20;
of death, 81
Phosphorescent lights supposed to be ghosts, 198, 258
Physostigma venenosum in poison ordeal, 52
Piety, two types of, 23;
co-operative system of, 333
Pigs, blood of, smeared on skulls and bones of the dead, 200;
sacrificed to the dead, 201;
sacrificed to monster who swallows lads at initiation, 251, 253, 260, 290, 301;
sacrificed at grave, 356;
sacrificed at burial, 359;
sacrificed to ghosts, 365 sq.;
sacrificed vicariously for the sick, 373, 374, 375;
sacred, 433
——, livers of, offered to the dead, 360 sq.
Pines, Isle of, 325, 330, 337
Pirnmeheel, good spirit, 143
Place of sacrifice to ghosts, 370
Planting, sacrifices to ghosts at, 375
Platforms, dead laid on, 199, 203, 205
Plato, on death, 33
Pleiades, the, 368
Plum-tree people, 94
—— totem, dramatic ceremony connected with, 120, 121
Poison ordeal to detect sorcerers, 50 sqq.
Political constitution of the Fijians, 407
Pollution, ceremonial, of gravediggers, 327
Polynesian blood, infusion of, in New Guinea, 291
—— race, 406
Polytheism and monotheism, 11
Polytheism discarded, 20 sq.
Population, belief in sorcery a cause of keeping down the, 38, 40, 46 sq., 51 sqq.
Port Lincoln tribe of S. Australia, 42
—— Moresby, 193, 195
Poso in Celebes, 72
Posts of new house, men sacrificed to support, 446 sq.
Potsdam Harbour, in German New Guinea, 218, 227
Pottery, native, 220;
in New Guinea, 305
——, Fijian, 407
—— unknown in Northern Melanesia, 395
Practical character of the savage, 274
Prayer-posts, 333 sq.
Prayers to the dead, 201 sq., 214, 222 sq., 259, 288, 307, 329 sq., 332 sqq., 340, 376 sq., 401, 403 sq., 427, 441;
to ghosts, 348
Precautions taken against ghosts, 152 sq., 258;
against a wife's ghost, 197;
against ghosts of the slain, 205 sq.
Predominance of the worship of the dead, 297 sq.
Prelogical savage, myth of the, 266
Pretence of attacking persons engaged in attending to a corpse, 177, 178
—— of avenging the dead, 136 sq., 282, 328
See also Sham fight
Priest, family, 332, 340
——, chief or high, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434
—— or magician, 336, 338
Priests, Fijian, 433 sqq.
Private or tame ghosts, 369 sq., 381, 382, 386
—— property, rights of, consolidated by taboo, 390
Problem of death, 31 sqq.
Progress partly determined by competition, 89 sq.
——, social, stimulated by favourable natural conditions, 148 sq.
Promiscuity, temporary, 427 sq., 433, 434 n. 1, 436 sq.
Property displayed beside the corpse, 397
——, rights of private, consolidated by taboo, 390;
temporarily suspended, 427 sq.
Property of dead deposited in grave, 145 sqq., 359, 397;
motive for destroying, 147 sq.;
hung up on trees, 148;
destroyed, 327, 459;
burnt, 401 sq.
Prophecy inspired by ghosts, 388
Prophets inspired by ghosts, 388 sq.
——, Hebrew, 14
Propitiation of the dead, 201, 307, 338;
of ghosts and spirits, 226, 239, 348
Puberty, initiation at, 254 sq.;
bodily mutilations at, 303
Public ghosts, 367, 369
Purification of homicides, 206, 229
—— by bathing and shaving, 208
—— of mourners by bathing, 314, 319
Queensland, belief in reincarnation of the dead among the aborigines of, 127 sqq.;
burial customs in, 147