In New Zealand the heads of families in both the male and female line are said to form, as it were, the links of connection between the living and the spirits of the dead, and in Samoa »the head of every family was, ex officio, a priest, besides those especially dedicated to the sacred office. »> 2 Parallel accounts are given of the priestly duties of the fathers of families in Tahati,3 in the Pelew Islands and among the Chuvashes in Eastern Central Russia. In ancient Rome each family was most completely independent as to the ritual for domestic religion; the father was the priest of the family. "

4

In a few cases we learn that not the head, but some other member of the family, officiated as the family priest. Crooke, in his description of tribes and castes in North-Western India, declares regarding the Barais that their »deities are worshipped only by that member of the family who is under the influence of the special divinity a fact shown by his getting into a state of ecstasy and uttering oracles.» 7 And referring to some lower Dravidian tribes, the same author says that the family worship is conducted either by the head of the household or by the son-in-law or brother-in-law. In the Tarawa and Apamama Islands, of the Kingsmill group, every family which has a tutelary divinity, has

1

8

Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders,

pp. 103 sq.

2

Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences, p. 106.

3 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 342.

+ Kubary, in Bastian, Allerlei, i. 11.

5 Pallas, Reise, i. 91.

6 Fustel de Coulanges, La Cité Antique, p. 36.

7

Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, i. 180.

8 Ib., ii. 143.

also a priest, whose office may be filled by any young man of free birth able to recite prayers. 1

1

There seems to be strong reason to associate the instances of fathers of families officiating as priests with those of rulers invested with similar duties. Mr. Herbert. Spencer, 2 Dr. Frazer and Dr. Jevons give, in their works, collections of data illustrating the combination of priestly and ruling powers. Instances of king-priests are in fact met with among a great many races. Throughout Polynesia and Melanesia the kings seem very generally to have been priests as well. Thus, in Tahiti, the king frequently »united in his person the highest civil and sacerdotal station in the land.» 5 In Samoa the office of village priests was held by the chief of the place, in Bowdich Island the king was also high priest, and in New Zealand, too, the offices of chief and priest were generally united and hereditary. 8 Among the Hawaiians >it sometimes happened that a chief took the sacred offices upon himself,» 9 and among the Kingsmill Islanders, »>some of the chiefs are believed to hold communication with spirits, and to be able at times to foretell future events.» 10 In Fiji the chieftaincy and priesthood sometimes meet in the same person, although,

7

6

1

Hale, 'Ethnography and Philology,' in Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, vi. 98.

2 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, iii. 55-57.

3 Frazer, The Golden Bough, i. 7 sq.

4

Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, pp. 290 sq.

5 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iii. 94.

6

Meinicke, Inseln des Stillen Oceans, ii. 117.

7 Turner, Samoa, p. 268.

8

Thomson, The Story of New Zealand, i. 114.

9

Jarves, History of the Hawaiian Islands, p. 26.

10 Wilkes, Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, v. 88..

in such cases, both are of a low order. In Aneityum, one of the New Hebrides, these offices were frequently combined in the same individual. 2 Melanesian chiefs are in certain cases stated to act also as priests.

6

3

4

Certain African races furnish kindred facts. Among the Damara »>the chiefs of tribes have some kind of sacerdotal authority more so than a military one.»> The chiefs of certain tribes on the Zambesi »take upon themselves an office somewhat like the priesthood, and the people imagine that they can propitiate the Deity through them.» 5 In Eastern Equatorial Africa the chiefs are the pontiffs of the sacerdotal order. The Fans, too, are said to have king-priests, and a similar combination is reported from Mosgu, Fouta-Dialon and Madagascar. 10 Of the Comanches it is stated that »if they recognise any ecclesiastical authority whatever, it resides in their chiefs. » 11 Among certain Indians of Guatemala, the highest priesthood was also the attribute of the principal chief. 12 In Hispaniola the caciques likewise performed

8

9

3

Meinicke, Inseln des Stillen Oceans, i. 66.

Galton, Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa, p. 115.

Livingstone, Missionary Travels, p. 581.

6 Casati, Dieci Anni in Equatoria, i. 117.

8

iii. 207.

9

Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa,

Hecquard, Voyage sur la Côle et dans l'Intérieur de l'Afrique Occidentale, p. 317.

10

11

Ellis, History of Madagascar, i. 359.

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

12 Stoll, 'Ethnologie der Indianenstämme von Guatemala,' in Internationales Archiv für Ethnologie, Suppl. zu Bd. i. 38.

certain religious ceremonies, 1 and in ancient Peru the Inca was the spiritual as well as the civil head of the realm. 2

4

In India the Cohotars yield us a similar illustration: the man who officiates at their general festival and takes charge of the temples is considered not only as their priest but as their chief or head." Also with regard to the Kookies in North Cashar, we learn that their headman »is much more of a priest than a potentate.» Among the Manobo, a Philippine tribe, the »Bagani» who leads. the people in war is at the same time the priest of the god. Finally, we are informed. that in Rome the king. >>held intercourse with the gods of the community, whom he consulted and appeased.» 6 M. Fustel de Coulanges offers several instances showing that ancient kings of Greece and Italy were also priests. 7

Dr. Frazer seems to associate the union of a royal title and priestly offices with instances of kings being worshipped as gods, which indicates the highest potentiality of the sacerdotal character of rulers. This illustrious savant, however, only makes passing mention of the origin of king-priests, in discussing the questions which the idea of a man-god gives him occasion to raise. »The same supernatural powers,» he says, »which tend to elevate a magician into a god, tend also to raise him to the rank of a chief or a king.»> 8

1

2

Herrera, Description de las Indias Ocidentales, dec. i. lib. iii. cap. 4. v. Martius, Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's, i. 459.

p. 79.

3

Harkness, A Singular Aboriginal Race of the Neilgherry Hills,

4 Stewart, 'Notes on Northern Cachar,' in Jour. of the As. Soc. of Bengal, xxiv. 620.

7

Fustel de Coulanges, La Cité Antique, pp. 203 sq.

The union of the highest sacerdotal and civil dignities is, as we think, in the first place to be regarded as a question of coincidence. In an early state of society there exists little or no contrariety between the spiritual and governmental powers; thus, as a rule, a certain civil authority is always attached to the priesthood. Above all, we have to consider the great resemblance between a ruler officiating as priest and the head of a family exercising the same function. Similarly, as patriarchs of families conduct the worship on behalf of the family, so patriarchs of villages, provinces and countries are the persons likely to perform the sacerdotal offices on behalf of their respective clans and tribes. And moreover, in the same manner as the heads of families, in their dignity of priests, are first of all concerned with the worship of the family ancestors, as we have before argued, there is reason to believe that originally the priestly office of rulers was also connected with the worship of tribal and national ancestors. In such cases the sacerdotal office. has naturally been assumed by the chief or king, he being, as a rule, the nearest living relation of the ancestral gods.

This assumption, which is also expressed by Grant Allen, seems to be corroborated by facts derived from certain peoples among which the religious and civil powers are united in the same persons. A clear case is. supplied by certain tribes in Eastern Central Africa, in which the chief of a village has a title to the priesthood because his relatives are the village gods. »One wishing to pray to the god (or gods) of any village,» Macdonald says, »naturally desires to have his prayers presented through the village chief, because the latter is nearly related to the village god, and may be expected to be

1

Grant Allen, Evolution of the Idea of God, p. 86 sq.