man.» Of the New Zealanders it is recorded that >though the more sensible part of the community do not believe in the power of the priest to effect any thing beyond what could be effected by any other man, they send for these conjurers from other tribes.» 2 In times of enduring drought the Bechuanas send for doctors from rainy districts, especially from the tribe of the Malakwana, but in wet years they trust to their own rain-doctors. 3 In certain districts of Peru, mentioned by Father Acosta, the old women were particularly known for their witchcraft. 4 The Comanches are said to have held the Kitchies in peculiar detestation, on account of their supposed powers of sorcery.

5

In connection with the idea that magic »belongs in its main principle to the lowest known stages of civilization,» Dr. Tylor makes the observation that somewhat educated nations, who, however, believe in the reality of the magic art, »at the same time cannot shut their eyes to the fact that it more essentially belongs to, and is more thoroughly at home among, races less civilized than themselves.» This theory, that it is principally peoples in a lower stage of culture who are feared as wizards by their more advanced neighbours, is corroborated by many tribes, a number of which are mentioned by Dr. Tylor.

Oldfield states regarding the Australians that all tribes ascribe the greater amount of power over the

1

Lawes, 'Ethnological Notes on the Motu,' etc., in Jour. Anthr. Inst. viii. 374.

xxvi.

2 Yate, An Account of New Zealand, p. 147.

3

Schneider, Die Religion der Afrikanischen Naturvölker, p. 214.

4 Acosta, Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, lib. V. cap.

5 Burnet, 'Comanches and other Tribes of Texas,' in Schoolcraft, Historical and Statistical Information respecting the Indian Tribes of the United States, i. 237.

Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 112, 113.

»

spirits to those residing north of themselves, and hold them in great dread, although it is questionable whether the Menang, or Southmen, are not fiercer and expert in the few arts practised by these savages, than the Yaberov, or Northmen. In Urewera, a district of the northern island of New Zealand, the scattered inhabitants are avoided by the coast-tribes, but they are at the same time much feared, and have the renown of being the greatest wizards in the country. 2 >> In Singbhúm,» as Colonel Dalton says, »the wild Kharriás. are looked upon as the most expert sorcerers, and the people, though they not unfrequently seek their aid, hold them in great awe.» 3 Among the Somali, the Viber or Jibbir form a caste of itinerant and despised pariahs; nevertheless they are much feared as sorcerers and adherents of the evil spirits. Describing the Indians. of British Guiana the Rev. W. H. Brett says, »theWaraus, in many points the most degraded of the tribes, are the most renowned as sorcerers.»> »5 Formerly, in Sweden, the name of Lapp seems to have been almost. synonomous with that of sorcerer, and the same was the case with »Finn». The inhabitants of the southern provinces of Sweden believed their country-men in the north to have great experience in magic, and similarly

iii. 235.

1

6

7

Oldfield, 'Aborigines of Australia,' in Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S.

2 Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand, ii. 59.

4

3 Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 200.

Haggenmacher, 'Reise im Somali-Lande,' in Petermanns Mittheilungen, Ergänzungsband x. Hft. 47. p. 26. Hildebrand, 'Bemerkungen über die Somál,' in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, vii. 4.

5 Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 366.

6 Högström, Beskrifning öfver de till Sveriges Krona lydande Lapmarker, p. 198. Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, ii. 43. Hertzberg, Vidskepelsen i Finland på 1600 talet, p. 111. Eckermann, Lehr

buch der Religionsgeschichte und Mythologie, iv. 142.

in Finland the people in the southern and middle districts respectively ascribed the greatest skill in witchcraft to those living north of themselves. 1

Dr. Tylor's theory evidently implies an interesting observation applying to numerous instances of peoples who are thought by their neighbours to be particularly gifted with magical powers; it does not, however, explain every case of such beliefs. We learn for instance that certain tribes attribute to each other, reciprocally, a superior power of magic. Of the Kurumbas, a tribe inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, it is said that »while they keep all the other tribes on these hills in awe, they themselves fear the Todas, believing that they possess supernatural powers over them.» 2 On the other hand, it is stated that the Todas fear the power they suppose the Kurumbas to possess in the exercise of witchcraft. The people of the Lower Congo in times of continued drought generally accuse a whole village of »keeping off>> the rain. Thus for instance the inhabitants of Banga Manteka will declare that a village at Pallaballa nearer the coast prevents the rain from falling, whereas the people of Pallaballa will accuse some village in the interior. Respecting certain natives on the Upper Purus in Brazil, it is said that as a rule the Ipurina charge the sorcerers of the Yamamadi with practising witchcraft, and vice versa. 5 We read that all Finnish sorcerers believed that the Lapps far excelled them, but at the

4

6

3

1

Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, ii. 42 8q. Allardt, 'Nyländska folkseder och bruk, vidskepelse m. m.,' in Nyland, iv. 133.

2 Shortt, 'Hill Tribes of the Neilgherry,' in Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.

S. vii. 278.

3

The Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, p. 21.

4 Möller, Pagels and Gleerup, Tre år i Kongo, i. 282.

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

6

Rühs, op. cit. ii. 43.

geschichte und Mythologie, iv. 142.

Eckermann, Lehrbuch der Religions

same time it is stated that long ago, while in the Ume Lapp-district in Sweden they imputed magical practices to the inhabitants of the Lule Lapp-district farther north, these latter threw the accusation upon the Finns, etc.1 M. Bérenger-Féraud writes, »les premiers chrétiens furent considérés, on le sait, par les païens comme des fauteurs de la sorcellerie, tandis qu'ils rejetaient cette injure sur leurs accusateurs. » 2

It appears natural that peoples in a low stage of culture, who, as a rule, are given more than other races to the practice of witchcraft, should also be feared for their magical propensities by their more educated neighbours. But the fact that the population in many parts of the world hold other tribes to be more gifted magically than themselves, seems also to be connected with a universal rule, according to which the secret powers of strangers are more believed in than those of well known people. The mysterious awe which is a necessary element of magical practice naturally becomes more impressive when the performer is not too familiar to the bystanders, and similarly, also, strange people leave a freer play to the superstitious imagination. Ideas of this sort are observed among many peoples. With the South African natives, »rain-makers have always most honour among a strange people, and therefore they are generally foreigners.» And similarly, Wood states. that among the Kafirs, as elsewhere, the prophet is more honoured in another land than in his own. In Australia >>sorcerers, like prophets, had a reputation in proportion to their distance from home.» 5 Among the Kurnai

1

3

Högström, Beskrifning öfver de till Sveriges Krona lydande Lapmarker, pp. 198 sq.

2 Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions et Survivances, v. 83.

3 Moffat, Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa, p. 309.

* Wood, Natural History of Man, i. 209.

Bonwick, Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians, p. 177.

>every individual, although doubtful of his own magical powers, has no doubt about the possible powers of any other person.» 1 It was remarked in Scotland: There is one opinion which many of them entertain that a popish priest can cast out devils and cure madness, and that the Presbyterian clergy have no such power.» So Bourne says of the Church of England clergy, that the vulgar think them no conjurers, and say none can lay spirits but popish priests. In different parts of Protestant Germany supernatural power is still imputed to the Catholic priests; not only are witches and the devil impotent before them, but they are thought able in their own persons to use magic, lay spirits, and the like. 3

2

1

Fison and Howitt, Kamiraloi and Kurnai, p. 251.

2 Brand, quoted by Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 115.

3

Wuttke, Deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart, pp. 139 sq.