cocoa-nuts and other fruits to these men, who by their constant intercourse with the sacred animals are believed to have been endowed with the power of producing lightning and earthquake as well as rain and drought. 1 As a kind of forerunners to a regular priesthood, we have further to notice the »Holy men» who, without being real priests, exercise a certain religious authority among some peoples. This class of men consists of those who make themselves renowned by occasional miracles, or acquire the religious veneration of the people by their eccentric habits. In an instructive essay on the adoration of saints in Islam, Goldziher gives an account of the Wali who are distinguished by the attributes of wonder-working and officiate as mediators between God and man. These saints originate in pious and Goddevoted men with whom the faculty of involuntary ecstasy constitutes the beginning as well as the visible indication of their sacred character. 2 Munzinger mentions holy persons among the Muhammedan peoples of North Eastern Africa. Wherever Muhammedans live, he says, there are among them saints who are thought by the people to be the favourites of the god and to possess the faculty of wonder-working. Whether they lead a pious life, or whether occasionally a prophecy of theirs has proved correct, or a curse has injured somebody, every tribe is happy to have such a man among their number, as he is thought to bring luck. He becomes the priest of the people and is consulted on all matters.* General Daumas, speaking of the Arabs of Algeria, says: »Les premiers marabouts étaient en général des hommes rigoreux observateurs du Koran, qui passaient pour avoir donné des preuves de leur nature supérieure

1

Hernsheim, Südsee-Erinnerungen, pp. 22 sq.

2 Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, ii. 287.

3 Munzinger, Ostafrikanische Studien, pp. 315 sq.

en produisant des miracles.» 1 Among the Gonds, as has already been mentioned, there is scarcely any proper priesthood, but besides men who are hereditarily connected with a sacred place, those distinguished by supposed superior powers are held to be entitled to take the lead in worship. Some of these men profess to prevent wild beasts from devouring men and cattle, and they are supposed to have the power of detecting sorcery, etc.

2

In early stages of cult the rites are naturally very simple, and in consequence almost anybody is thought able to undertake the performance of the priestly functions. In general a simple cult and a superficially instructed, mutable priesthood seem to go together. And evidently, where everybody is qualified to assume the priestly office, priesthood is not likely to be held in particularly great veneration. Of many peoples we are told that the priests do not form any distinct class and that almost any man may become a priest. The New Zealanders are alleged not to have any »regular priesthood, though there are many who assume the title of Priest; and almost any person may perform their various superstitious ceremonies, or repeat their prayers, or consult their oracles, or charm the sick.» Among the Golapûrabs, in the Agra district of India, the office of Syâna or »cunning man» is not confined to any special caste: any one may undertake the duty if he learns the appropriate spell. In Tanala, a province of Madagascar, any one

6

1

3

5

Daumas, Moeurs et Coutumes de l'Algérie, p. 19.

2 Hislop, Tribes of the Central Provinces, pp. 19 sq.

Cf. Hodgson on the Bodo and Dhimál people, in Jour. of the As. Soc. of Bengal, xviii. 727.

p. 277.

+ Cf. Steller on the Kamchadales, in Beschreibung von Kamtschatka,

5 Yate, An Account of the New Zealanders, p. 146.

6 Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, ii. 423.

may exercise the craft of a doctor or diviner if he can show himself acquainted with their customs. The Galla think that any one can become a priest who learns the manipulation of the religious observances. 2 Among the Eastern Tinneh, »there does not appear to be any regular order of priesthood. Any one who feels inclined to do so turns medicine-man.» The Tehuelches in Patagonia have no hereditary priesthood, and their religious ceremonies are sometimes administered by ordinary members of their tribe.

3

Through the growth of the ritual observances and magical practices, too complicated for the average man to master, a professional priesthood gradually became necessary. When the people were uncertain about the proper ceremonies, they applied to the more experienced. practitioners, asking them to perform the ceremonies on their behalf. Such a case is instanced by the Cheremisses, who believe that the gods are very particular about the correct form of worship and among whom the solemn offering, even in family circles, is not made by the sacrificer himself, but by some aged mediator who knows exactly how to recite the prayers.

5

Kindred customs seem to be one reason why, among several tribes, the old men officiate as priests and sorcerers. Among the Kiangans in Luzon old persons are highly esteemed, probably because they officiate as priests and possess particular knowledge of their religious usages and conceptions. Of the Bodo in India we find

6

1

Richardson, Tanala Customs, Superstitions and Beliefs,' in Antananarivo Annual, ii. 98.

2 Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, ii. 62.

3

Ross, The Eastern Tinneh,' in Annual Report of the Board of

Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1866, p. 307.

4

5

Musters, Unter den Patagoniern, p. 194.

• Смирновъ, Черемисы, р. 202.

Blumentritt, 'Die Kianganen,' in Ausland, 1891, p. 120.

that >>the elders of the people may perform all sacred offices without troubling the priests.» 1 And the Rev. S. Hislop writes: »There is scarcely an institution among the Gonds that may properly be called priesthood; marriage and such like ceremonies being for the most part performed by some aged relative.»> 2 The Washambala in East Africa have no special priestly class; the oldest people officiate at their feasts of sacrifice. 3 Of the Yahgans, a tribe of the Fuegians, almost every elderly man is said to be a wizard. In Central Australia the power of sorcery appears always to belong, in a degree, to the aged, although it is often also assumed by middle-aged men. 5

The more religious and magical ceremonies became regulated by minute prescriptions, the more a professional priesthood became indispensable. The people had to be careful to invoke the gods in the proper form and strictly to follow the rules which attended the various practices, and in these matters only initiated persons knew the proper measures to be taken. Regular studies were required of those dedicated to the sacred office, and thus a special officiating class was created. A number of writers connect, in a similar way, the origin of priesthood with the increase of the number of ceremonies and liturgies.

1

Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 85.

2

Hislop, Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 19.

3

p. 332.

5

6

Lang, in Steinmetz, Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 243.

Bridges, 'Das Feuerland und seine Bewohner,' in Globus, 1885,

Eyre, Journals of Expeditions into Central Australia, ii. 366.

Schultze, Der Fetischismus, p. 131. Robertson Smith and A. Bertholet, Art. 'Priests,' in Cheyne and Sutherland Black, Encyclopædia Biblica, iii. 3840. Maybaum, Entwickelung des altisraelitischen Priesterthums, pp. 10 sq. Crooke, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, ii. 143. Hickson, A Naturalist in North Celebes,

p. 254.

Certain facts show how, especially on important occasions, the task of performing religious or magical ceremonies seems to have been put into the hands of priests, or of those possessing most experience in the tribe, although, at the same time, everybody was supposed to know how to sacrifice for ordinary private purposes. The customs among certain peoples seem to confirm the idea that originally priests were, in the first place, employed to administer the cult in weighty matters and especially in those of public concern, at which every care had to be taken to accomplish the ceremonies in due conformity with rule. Georgi tells us of the heathen Ostyaks that in cases of domestic troubles everybody sacrifices to his household god, but when serious emergencies arise, the wizard-priest, by means of his magic drum, finds out the cause of the anger of the gods and by what sacrifices they desire to be appeased. So, too, among the Lapps on ordinary occasions, or for every-day use, the father of the family himself consulted the magic drum, but if the matter was of extraordinary importance, or concerned the public welfare, a shaman was summoned. 2 Among the ancient Finns each individual, or each head of a family, sacrificed to the gods, but on their great festivals the diviner performed the rites. With the Teutons the oracle was consulted by the priest of the canton (civitas), if the occasion were public; if private, by the master of the family. It is stated that among the Kafirs sacrifices »must be

3

1

offered by a priest, except in a few cases of ordinary domestic sacrifices, which may be performed by the head of the family.» 5

1 Georgi, Russland, i. 82.

2 Friis, Lappisk Mythologi, p. 24. Düben, Lappland och lapparne, p. 256.

3 Waronen, Vainajainpalvelus muinaisilla Suomalaisilla, p. 47. Aspelin, Suomen asukkaat pakanuuden aikana, pp. 91, 94.

Tacitus, Germania, cap. 10.

5 Maclean, Kafir Laws and Customs, p. 83.