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power to expel the demon possessing a patient,1 and almost the same is stated respecting the sorcerers of the Warraus in British Guiana 2 and the Ipurina in Brazil. 3 When a Chactas is taken ill, he gives all he has for being attended by the medicine-man. 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

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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. 6 Cf. Cameron, Quer durch Africa, i. 100 (people of Ugogo). Stuhlmann, Mit Emin Pascha, p. 181 (Waganda). Kolben, Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, i. 133 (Hottentots). Rowlatt, 'Expedition 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, ii. 158 (Koryaks of Kamchatka). Gray, China, p. 100. Tromp, 'De Rambai en Sebroeang Dajaks,' in Tijdschrift for Indische taal-, land- en rolkenkunde, 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

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dreams are

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the principal

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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2

Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. 121 sq.

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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future by an interpretation of their own dreams.1 Several other tribes in India attribute dreams to the displeasure of deceased relatives who appear to them and prescribe offerings if not propitiated. It frequently happens among the Amazulu, as the Rev. H. Callaway informs us, that the gods are thought to warn the people in dreams, and the author supplies several instances of such beliefs. By the Nootkas dreams are believed to be the visits of spirits or of the wandering souls of some living person. 4 The Selish Indians believe that a familiar spirit directs their actions by dreams or presentiments. 5 Among the Wotyaks sick persons are believed to be informed in a dream what sacrifice is necessary for their recovery, and generally, among the same and other Finns, various wishes and instructions were supposed to be communicated in dreams by the gods. "

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Besides giving warnings in dreams, the gods are believed to announce their wishes and guide mankind in other ways. It is well known that among several European peoples in former times, divine signs were looked for in the entrails of certain animals, in the flight and cry of birds, etc. Similar auguration is still practised among certain wild peoples, as for instance the Guaranies

1

Rowney, Wild Tribes of India, pp. 83 sq.

2 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, ii. 84, 138 sq., 221, 285. Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, ii. 208.

3 Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, pp. 228–231.

4 Bancroft, Works, i. 203.

5

Wilson, 'Indian Tribes in the Vicinity of the 49:th Parallel,' in Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. iv. 303.

6

Wichman, 'Tietoja Votjaakkien mytologiiasta,' in Suomi, Series iii. Pt. vi. p. 32. Buch, 'Die Wotjäken,' in Acta Soc. Scient. Fenn. xii. 608. Aminoff, 'Reseberättelse,' in Öfversigt af Finska Vetenskaps-Societetens förhandlingar, xxi. 230. Waronen, Suomen kansan muinaisia taikoja,

i. 1 (Ancient Finns).

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in Brazil, the Tahitians, 2 Hervey Islanders, 3 New Zealanders, certain inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago and many other peoples. 5 Among the tribes of the interior of Eastern Africa, according to Lieutenant Becker, >>les tremblements de terre passent pour être provoqués par les efforts d'une ombre royale cherchant à entr'ouvrir la croûte du sol, pour annoncer malheur à quelqu'un de ses descendants.» The Rev. J. Shooter reports concerning the Kafirs of Natal that if a wild animal enter a kraal, which it is supposed it would not do of its own accord, it would be regarded as a messenger from the spirits to remind the people that they had done something wrong.»

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Finally, diseases are often regarded as signs of the displeasure of the gods in the case of some neglect of religious duty. The gods, being sharp disciplinarians, are believed on such occasions to deal out all sorts of sufferings. Beliefs like this are reported of a great number of peoples. 8

1 Southey, History of Brazil, ii. 371.

2 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 373.

3 Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific, p. 35.

Taylor, The Ika a Maui, p. 104.

5 Riedel, De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, p. 413 (People of Kaisar or Mikasar). Hickson, 4 Naturalist in North Celebes, p. 255. Haddon, Head-Hunters, pp. 55 sq. (Murray Islanders). Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, i. 180. Приклонскій, "Три года въ Якутской Области, in Хивая Старина, і, 2. р. 31 (Yakuts). Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 25 (Abors), a. o.

Becker, La vie en Afrique, ii. 298.

7 Shooter, Kafirs of Natal, p. 162.

8 Cf. Mariner, Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 100. Meinicke, Inseln des Stillen Oceans, ii. 251 (Marquesans). Ellis, op. cit. i. 349 (Tahitians). Hunter, The Annals of Bural Bengal, i. 183 (Santals). Macpherson, 'Religious Opinions of the Khonds,' in Jour. Roy. As. Soc. vii. 194. Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, ii. 93, 220 (Dravida

The signs given by the gods to mankind are, however, as a rule, very difficult for ordinary people to understand. They have therefore to put the wisdom of their priests into requisition when desirous of interpreting the divine directions. Speaking of the Gallas, Professor Paulitschke expounds how to the savage mind the mysteries of animate and inanimate nature, of the sky and of human life require an interpreter who is able, through his wonderful power and genius, to pronounce the will and intentions of the supreme being. This interpreter, he says, is the sorcerer or magician. 1 According to Professor Robertson Smith and Professor A. Bertholet, the Arabs believed that the skilled could read the omens in which the voice of the god might be uttered, and they listened to that voice in the inspired rhymes of the soothsayers. 2 With reference to the belief of the Bafióte in Congo, Chavanne says that it is not everyone who is able to interpret the language and utterances of the fetish; this is the function of the priest. Among the Zulus, as shown by Kielland, the priests play a very important part as interpreters of communications from the spirits. The gods appear to men in the shape of a snake, and only the priests understand the tongue of that creature. 4 In accordance

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tribes in Mirzapur). Paasonen, 'Matkakertomus Mordvalaisten maalta,' in Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, viii. 141 and Waronen, Vainajainpalvelus muinaisilla Suomalaisilla, 16 sq. (Certain Finns). King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology, p. 201 sq.

1

Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, ii. 56 sq.

2

Robertson Smith and A. Bertholet, Art. 'Priests,' in Cheyne and

Sutherland Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica, iii. 3839 sq.

3 Chavanne, Reisen und Forschungen im alten und neuen Kongostaate, p. 409.

4 Kielland, Zululandet, pp. 53 sq.

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