The authority of the first semi-priests and semisorcerers evidently varied to a great extent. While some only exercised a local influence, the more fortunate and cunning among them gradually extended their fame over wide districts. In this way a class of priests and sorcerers common to whole tribes originated. This development is illustrated by facts referring to numerous savage tribes. Concerning the rain-makers of the Kafirs, Wood writes: >A prophet who has distinguished himself as a rain-maker is soon known far and wide, and does not restrict his practice to his own district. Potentates from all parts of the country send for him when the drought continues and their own prophets fail procure rain.» 1 In the district of Chicova on the Zambesi, the headman was supposed to possess the charm for rain, and other tribes sent to him to beg for it. 2 According to Dr. Radloff, only a few of the Siberian shamans are thought able to free the tents from the spirits which haunt them after death, and therefore celebrated shamans are often summoned from afar by rich people to perform the exorcism. 3 Of the Thinkets Veniaminof states that shamans who have power over numerous guardian spirits generally become very rich, while bad shamans are poor. * Some among the shamans of the Hudson Bay Eskimo »have not only a local reputation, but are known as far as the people have any means of communication.» 5 With regard to the Indians on the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, Mr. Hind asserts that »a conjurer celebrated for the potency 5 Turner, 'Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Territory,' in Smithsonian Reports, xi. 196. 1 of his charms will often exercise a very injurious influence over an entire band, consisting of ten or twelve families. 1 Among the Karok »a shaman who becomes famous is often summoned to go twenty miles, and receives a proportionately large reward.» 2 We are assured that, among the Indians of British Guiana, the Piai, or medicine-man, often effects successful cures, on account of which his fame spreads far and wide, people send for him from great distances, and his authority, which often exceeds that of the king, extends over the whole tribe. 3 Respecting the Northern Central Australian medicinemen, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen write that »there are certain eminent members of the profession who are supposed to be much more able than the rank and file, and whose services are much sought after.» It is a remarkable fact that among many peoples the sorcerers of neighbouring races are held in greater awe than those of their own tribe. Similarly, whole tribes are in certain regions known as powerful wizards, whose services are frequently sought after by their neighbours. When rain is wanted at Boulia, in Queensland, »word is sent down to the Miorli men at Springvale or the Diamantina Gates to come up and make some.» In New Guinea, the Motu hold the Koitapu, a neighbouring tribe, to possess power over the spirits of disease: >>The first thing a Motu man does when anyone belonging to him is dangerously ill is to go to a man, or oftener a woman, of Koitapu, with large presents, that they may loose the power of the evil spirit over the sick 1 2 Hind, Red River Exploring Expedition, ii. 132. 5 Powers, 'Tribes of California,' in Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, iii. 27. 3 4 5 Appun, 'Die Indianer in British Guayana,' in Ausland, 1871, p. 159. Roth, Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines, p. 167. 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. + 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.» 6 themselves.» 6 This 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. 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. 8 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 more expert in the few arts practised by these savages, than the Yaberov, or Northmen.1 In Urewera, a district of the northern island of New Zealand, the scattered inhabitants are avoided by the coast-tribes, but they areat 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.» 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, » >> the Waraus, 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». 6 The inhabitants of the southern provinces of Sweden believed their country-men in the north to have great experience in magic, and similarly 1 7 Oldfield, 'Aborigines of Australia,' in Trans. Ethn. Soc. N. S. Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand, ii. 59. iii. 235. 2 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. 6 Högström, Beskrifning öfver de till Sveriges Krona lydande Lapmarker, p. 198. Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, ii. 43. Hertz berg, Vidskepelsen i Finland på 1600 talet, p. 111. buch der Religionsgeschichte und Mythologie, iv. 142. Eckermann, Lehr- 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. 3 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 1 Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, ii. 42 sq. Allardt, 'Nyländ ska 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. * Möller, Pagels and Gleerup, Tre år i Kongo, i. 282. 5 Ehrenreich, Beiträge zur Völkerkunde Brasiliens, p. 68. Rühs, op. cit. ii. 43. geschichte und Mythologie, iv. 142. Eckermann, Lehrbuch der Religions |