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these seeming miracles, either by influencing the gods or through their own powers. In the case of many peoples we thus learn that the priests are necessary in order to procure rain or fine weather, to cause good growth or ensure success in hunting and fishing. It is stated that the people of Loango ask rain and fair weather of the priests as they do of the king. Among the natives of the Upper Congo, the fetish-men are believed to control rain and drought, to confer success in hunting and to give good growth. 2 Several writers inform us that the Eskimo think their Angakoks able to produce favourable weather and success in hunting. 3 Among the Thlinkets the shaman makes good weather and abundant fishing. The Cherokee believe that their priests can bring rain, fine weather, heat, cooling breezes, thunder and lightning, and the sorcerers of the Southern Californians are likewise supposed to control the elements. According to the Indians of the Upper Amazon, their medicine-men have power to bring or send away rain, to destroy dogs or game, and to make the fish leave a river. The New Zealand priests could rule the winds and render them favourable for fishing. 8 In Melanesia the priests are believed to be able to move the spirits >>to interfere for wind or calm, sunshine or rain, as may

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4

Proyart, 'History of Loango,' in Pinkerton, A General Collection of Voyages and Travels, xvi. 595.

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2 Möller, Pagels and Gleerup, Tre år i Kongo, ii. 85.

Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 62.

Hall, Arctic

Researches, p. 572. Astrup, Blandt Nordpolens Naboer, p. 283.

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Krause, Die Tlinkit-Indianer, p. 284.

Bartram, 'The Creek and Cherokee Indians,' in Transactions of

the American Ethnological Society, iii. Part i. p. 21.

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7 Wallace, Travels on the Amazon, p. 499.

8 Taylor, The Ika a Maui, p. 103. Tregear, The Maoris of New Zealand, p. 117.

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be desired. Different classes of magicians among the Jervis Islanders lure dugong, turtle and fish by certain charms, or make wind and rain. 2 In the New Hebrides: >> Ce sont les sorciers qui font la pluie, le soleil, etc.» 3 The Australian wizards are credited with the power of commanding the rain. Among the Malays of Malacca the assistance of the Pawang, or village sorcerer, is invoked in all agricultural operations, in fishing at sea, and in prospecting for minerals. 5 Certain of the Kirghiz wizards not only foretell, but also govern the weather and make the herds increase. The sorcerers of the Lapps are believed able to procure or avert rain as well as to conjure up or drive away insects."

The need of priests and sorcerers appears very clearly when considering the assistance universally required from them in cases of illness. The art of healing disorders through invocation of the gods, or by magical manipulations, is naturally connected with the notions of the savage regarding illness, as laid down above. From these ideas, priesthood, so far as it is connected with the medical art, derives its origin. There is a universal belief among uncivilized peoples that the sole help for illness consists in conciliation of the spirits or in the black art, and consequently the only helpers are those who understand how to perform the proper ceremonies.

1 Codrington, Melanesians, p. 200.

2 Haddon, 'Ethnography of the Western Tribe of Torres Straits,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xix. 398, 401.

3 Hagen and Pineau, 'Les Nouvelles Hébrides,' in Revue d'Ethnographie, vii. 336.

4 Curr, The Australian Race, i. 48.

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Blagden, 'Notes on the Folk-lore and Popular Religion of the Malays,' in Jour. of the Straits Branch of the Roy. As. Soc., 1896, p. 6. 6 Georgi, Russland, i. 223.

7 Ib., i. 15.

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Among many peoples in different parts of the world priests and sorcerers are considered to be the most important personages in cases of illness, and sometimes they are said to be alone capable of giving assistance to their suffering fellow-tribesmen. Thus, the peoples of Equatorial Africa believed that the evil genius which causes diseases of an epileptic character can only be driven out by the assistance of the fetish or medicineman. Among the Kimbunda in South-West Africa the priests declare that they only are able to cure the sick owing to their power over the spirits. It is reported with reference to the Kafir tribe of Koossas that the task of driving away the evil spirits which cause their diseases must be performed by a magician.3 Concerning the Biyârs or Biârs in the North-Western Provinces of India, Crooke writes that when anybody falls ill, it is only Ojhas, or the priest-doctor, who can recognize the particular Bhut which is at the root of the mischief. 4 Of the Khonds it is said that in cases of sickness, as of every other species of misfortune, it is the duty of the priest to discover the real or supposed causes,>> 5 and exactly the same report we receive from certain Siberian peoples. Mr. Bourkie says that when among the Apache »a man is taken ill the medicine-men are in the the zenith of their glory.»7 Among the Ojebways the benevolent priest is alone supposed to have the

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Lichtenstein, Travels in Southern Africa, i. 253.

4 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, ii. 139.

v. 51.

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6

Macpherson, 'Report upon the Khonds,' in The Calcutta Review

Krohn, Suomen suvun pakanallinen jumalanpalvelus, p. 90.

7 Bourkie, 'The Medicine-Men of the Apache,' in Smithsonian Reports, ix. 462.

power to expel the demon possessing a patient,1 and almost the same is stated respecting the sorcerers of the Warraus in British Guiana2 and the Ipurina in Brazil. 3 When a Chactas is taken ill, he gives all he has for being attended by the medicine-man. 4 The New Zealanders are told by their priests that the spirit is sure to remain in the body of a sick person, until the priests exorcise him. 5

In addition to the facts above quoted, we are told in regard to a great many peoples that the priesthood includes the medical art. By virtue of their extraordinary powers the priests are considered to be masters of the spiritual and magical causes of illness. This is the reason

1

Hoffman, The Menomini Indians,' in Smithsonian Reports, vii. 157.

2 Schomburgk, Reisen in Britisch Guiana, i. 170.

3 Ehrenreich, Beiträge zur Völkerkunde Brasiliens, p. 68.

Bossu, Nouvelles Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, ii. 97.

5 Polack, Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders, i. 263.

• Cf. Cameron, Quer durch Africa, i. 100 (people of Ugogo).

Kolben, Present
Rowlatt, 'Expe-

Stuhlmann, Mit Emin Pascha, p. 181 (Waganda). State of the Cape of Good Hope, i. 133 (Hottentots). dition into the Mishmee Hills,' in Jour. of the As. Soc. of Bengal, xiv. 487 (Mishmees). Robinson, 'Notes on the Doplás,' ih., xx. 128 sq. Каратановъ, Поповъ and Потанинъ, 'Качинскіе Татары, in Извѣстія Геогр. Общ. хх, 6. р. 628 (Tartars). Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, ii. 45 (Ancient Finns). Wichman, Tietoja Votjaakkien mytologiiasta,' in Suomi, Series iii. Pt. vi. p. 32 (Wotyaks). Крашенниковъ, Описаніе земли Камчатки, іі. 158 (Коryaks of Kamchatka). Gray, China, p. 100. Tromp, 'De Rambai en Sebroeang Dajaks,' in Tijdschrift for Indische taal-, land- en volkenkunde, xxv. 113. Nelson, The Eskimo about Bering Straits,' in Smithsonian Reports, xviii, 1. p. 309. Bancroft, Works, i. 85 (Koniagas). Ehrenreich, op. cit. p. 32 (Karaya Indians). Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences, p. 146(Samoans). Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iii. 36 (Tahitians). Haddon, 'Ethnography of the Western Tribe of Torres Straits,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xix. 306. Bonwick, 'The Australian Natives,' ib., xvi. 208. Eyre, Journals of Expeditions into Central Australia, ii. 360. Brough Smyth,

The Aborigines of Victoria, ii. 271.

why their services are always required in times of bodily distress.

Very generally the wisdom of the priests is required for explaining the directions of the supernatural powers as denoted by certain signs. It is a wide-spread belief among many peoples that the gods sometimes communicate to the living information and advice respecting various events. Such divine suggestions may of course be extremely useful to men if properly interpreted; they are generally transmitted by deceased ancestors and other guardian spirits.

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The counsels of the gods are frequently conveyed in dreams. Dr. Tylor, in Primitive Culture, quotes a number of facts regarding the art of taking omens from dreams. Of the New Zealanders, Taylor writes that they are great observers of dreams, which were formerly thought to be sent by their gods to advertize them of coming events,» 2 and Dieffenbach remarks that the >> commands given in that way are implicitly obeyed, and often influence their most important actions.» 3 Mariner mentions the Tonga belief that the souls of Egies, or nobles, appear in dreams and visions to their relatives and others. To the mind of the Barito River natives of Borneo »the dreams are the principal

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means of communication between the dead and their friends and relations, by which the former may make known their wishes and give them good advice.» 5 The priests of the Páháriás, who inhabit the summit of the Rajmahal Hills in India, declare truths respecting the

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Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 121 sq.

2 Taylor, The Ika a Maui, p. 333.

3 Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand, ii. 67.

Mariner, Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 108.

5 Schwaner, Borneo, ii. 181.

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