Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer

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[137] A. Thouar, _op. cit._ p. 63.

[138] Francis de Castelnau, _Expedition dans les parties centrales de
l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 25.

[139] D. Luis de la Cruz, "Descripcion de la Naturaleza de los Terrenos
que se comprenden en los Andes, poseidos por los Peguenches y los demas
espacios hasta el rio de Chadileuba," p. 62, in Pedro de Angelis,
_Coleccion de Obras y Documentos relativos a la Historia antigua y
moderna de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, vol. i. (Buenos-Ayres,
1836). Apparently the Peguenches are an Indian tribe of Chili.

[140] J.B. von Spix und C.F. Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_
(Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1186, 1187, 1318.

[141] Andre Thevet, _Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1575), ii. 946 B
[980] _sq._; _id., Les Singularites de la France Antarctique, autrement
nommee Amerique_ (Antwerp, 1558), p. 76; J.F. Lafitau, _Moeurs des
Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 290 _sqq_.

[142] R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_ (Leipsic, 1847-1848),
ii. 315 _sq._; C.F.Ph. von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika's, zumal
Brasiliens_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 644.

[143] Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinee, Isles
voisines, et a Cayenne_, iv. 365 _sq._ (Paris, 1730), pp. 17 _sq._
(Amsterdam, 1731).

[144] A. Caulin, _Historia Coro-graphica natural y evangelica dela Nueva
Andalucia_ (1779), p. 93. A similar custom, with the omission of the
stinging, is reported of the Tamanaks in the region of the Orinoco. See
F.S. Gilij, _Saggio di Storia Americana_, ii. (Rome, 1781), p. 133.

[145] A.R. Wallace, _Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro_,
p. 496 (p. 345 of the Minerva Library edition, London, 1889).

[146] _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 105 _sqq._; _The
Scapegoat_> pp. 259 _sqq._

[147] J.B. von Spix and C.F.Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_
(Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1320.

[148] W. Lewis Herndon, _Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon_
(Washington, 1854), pp. 319 _sq._ The scene was described to Mr. Herndon
by a French engineer and architect, M. de Lincourt, who witnessed it at
Manduassu, a village on the Tapajos river. Mr. Herndon adds: "The
_Tocandeira_ ants not only bite, but are also armed with a sting like
the wasp; but the pain felt from it is more violent. I think it equal to
that occasioned by the sting of the black scorpion." He gives the name
of the Indians as Mahues, but I assume that they are the same as the
Mauhes described by Spix and Martius.

[149] Francis de Castelnau, _Expedition dans les parties centrals de
l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 46.

[150] L'Abbe Durand, "Le Rio Negro du Nord et son bassin," _Bulletin de
la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), vi. Serie, iii. (1872) pp. 21 _sq._
The writer says that the candidate has to keep his arms plunged up to
the shoulders in vessels full of ants, "as in a bath of vitriol," for
hours. He gives the native name of the ant as _issauba_.

[151] J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1883), pp.
245-250.

[152] H. Coudreau, _Chez nos Indiens: quatre annees dans la Guyane
Francaise_ (Paris, 1895), p. 228. For details as to the different modes
of administering the _marake_ see _ibid._ pp. 228-235.

[153] Father Geronimo Boscana, "Chinigchinich," in _Life in California
by an American_ [A. Robinson] (New York, 1846), pp. 273 _sq._

[154] F. Stuhlmann, _Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika_ (Berlin,
1894), p. 506.

[155] As a confirmation of this view it may be pointed out that beating
or scourging is inflicted on inanimate objects expressly for the purpose
indicated in the text. Thus the Indians of Costa Rica hold that there
are two kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, _nya_ and _bu-ku-ru_. Anything
that has been connected with a death is _nya_. But _bu-ku-ru_ is much
more virulent. It can not only make one sick but kill. "_Bu-ku-ru_
emanates in a variety of ways; arms, utensils, even houses become
affected by it after long disuse, and before they can be used again must
be purified. In the case of portable objects left undisturbed for a long
time, the custom is to beat them with a stick before touching them. I
have seen a woman take a long walking-stick and beat a basket hanging
from the roof of a house by a cord. On asking what that was for, I was
told that the basket contained her treasures, that she would probably
want to take something out the next day, and that she was driving off
the _bu-ku-ru_. A house long unused must be swept, and then the person
who is purifying it must take a stick and beat not only the movable
objects, but the beds, posts, and in short every accessible part of the
interior. The next day it is fit for occupation. A place not visited for
a long time or reached for the first time is _bu-ku-ru_. On our return
from the ascent of Pico Blanco, nearly all the party suffered from
little calenturas, the result of extraordinary exposure to wet and cold
and of want of food. The Indians said that the peak was especially
_bu-ku-ru_ since nobody had ever been on it before." One day Mr. Gabb
took down some dusty blow-guns amid cries of _bu-ku-ru_ from the
Indians. Some weeks afterwards a boy died, and the Indians firmly
believed that the _bu-ku-ru_ of the blow-guns had killed him. "From all
the foregoing, it would seem that _bu-ku-ru_ is a sort of evil spirit
that takes possession of the object, and resents being disturbed; but I
have never been able to learn from the Indians that they consider it so.
They seem to think of it as a property the object acquires. But the
worst _bu-ku-ru_ of all, is that of a young woman in her first
pregnancy. She infects the whole neighbourhood. Persons going from the
house where she lives, carry the infection with them to a distance, and
all the deaths or other serious misfortunes in the vicinity are laid to
her charge. In the old times, when the savage laws and customs were in
full force, it was not an uncommon thing for the husband of such a woman
to pay damages for casualties thus caused by his unfortunate wife." See
Wm. M. Gabb, "On the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica,"
_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at
Philadelphia_, xiv. (Philadelphia, 1876) pp. 504 _sq._

[156] J. Chaffanjon, _L'Orenoque et le Caura_ (Paris, 1889), pp.
213-215.

[157] Shib Chunder Bose, _The Hindoos as they are_ (London and Calcutta,
1881), p. 86. Similarly, after a Brahman boy has been invested with the
sacred thread, he is for three days strictly forbidden to see the sun.
He may not eat salt, and he is enjoined to sleep either on a carpet or a
deer's skin, without a mattress or mosquito curtain (_ibid._ p. 186). In
Bali, boys who have had their teeth filed, as a preliminary to marriage,
are kept shut up in a dark room for three days (R. Van Eck, "Schetsen
van het eiland Bali," _Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie_, N.S., ix.
(1880) pp. 428 _sq._).

[158] (Sir) H.H. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Ethnographic
Glossary_ (Calcutta, 1891-1892), i. 152.

[159] Edgar Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_ (Madras,
1909), vii. 63 _sq._

[160] Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ iii. 218.

[161] Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ vi. 157.

[162] S. Mateer, _Native Life in Travancore_ (London, 1883), p. 45.

[163] Arthur A. Perera, "Glimpses of Singhalese Social Life," _Indian
Antiquary_ xxxi, (1902) p. 380.

[164] J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_ (Paris, 1883), i. 377.

[165] Etienne Aymonier, "Notes sur les coutumes et croyances
superstitieuses des Cambodgiens," _Cochinchine Francaise: Excursions et
Reconnaissances_, No. 16 (Saigon, 1883), pp. 193 _sq._ Compare _id.,
Notice sur le Cambodge_ (Paris, 1875), p. 50 _id., Notes sur le Laos_
(Saigon, 1885), p. 177.

[166] Svend Grundtvig, _Daenische Volks-maerchen_, uebersetzt von A.
Strodtmann, Zweite Sammlung (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 199 _sqq._

[167] Christian Schneller, _Maerchen und Sagen aus Waelschtirol_
(Innsbruck, 1867), No. 22, pp. 51 _sqq._

[168] Bernbard Schmidt, _Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_
(Leipsic, 1877), p. 98.

[169] J.G. von Hahn, _Griechische und albanesische Maerchen_ (Leipsic,
1864), No. 41, vol. i. pp. 245 _sqq._

[170] Laura Gonzenbach, _Sicilianische Maerchen_ (Leipsic, 1870), No. 28,
vol. i. pp. 177 _sqq._ The incident of the bone occurs in other
folk-tales. A prince or princess is shut up for safety in a tower and
makes his or her escape by scraping a hole in the wall with a bone which
has been accidentally conveyed into the tower; sometimes it is expressly
said that care was taken to let the princess have no bones with her meat
(J.G. von Hahn, _op. cit._ No. 15; L. Gonzenbach, _op. cit._ Nos. 26,
27; _Der Pentamerone, aus dem Neapolitanischen uebertragen_ von Felix
Liebrecht (Breslau, 1846), No. 23, vol. i. pp. 294 _sqq._). From this we
should infer that it is a rule with savages not to let women handle the
bones of animals during their monthly seclusions. We have already seen
the great respect with which the savage treats the bones of game
(_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_ ii. 238 _sqq._, 256 _sqq._); and
women in their courses are specially forbidden to meddle with the hunter
or fisher, as their contact or neighbourhood would spoil his sport (see
below, pp. 77, 78 _sq._, 87, 89 _sqq._). In folk-tales the hero who uses
the bone is sometimes a boy; but the incident might easily be
transferred from a girl to a boy after its real meaning had been
forgotten. Amongst the Tinneh Indians a girl at puberty is forbidden to
break the bones of hares (above, p. 48). On the other hand, she drinks
out of a tube made of a swan's bone (above, pp. 48, 49), and the same
instrument is used for the same purpose by girls of the Carrier tribe of
Indians (see below, p. 92). We have seen that a Tlingit (Thlinkeet) girl
in the same circumstances used to drink out of the wing-bone of a
white-headed eagle (above, p. 45), and that among the Nootka and Shuswap
tribes girls at puberty are provided with bones or combs with which to
scratch themselves, because they may not use their fingers for this
purpose (above, pp. 44, 53).

[171] Sophocles, _Antigone_, 944 _sqq._; Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, ii.
4. I; Horace, _Odes_, iii. 16. I _sqq._; Pausanias, ii. 23. 7.

[172] W. Radloff, _Proben der Volks-litteratur der tuerkischen Staemme
Sued-Siberiens,_ iii. (St. Petersburg, 1870) pp. 82 _sq._

[173] H. Ternaux-Compans, _Essai sur l'ancien Cundinamarca_ (Paris,
N.D.), p. 18.

[174] George Turner, LL.D., _Samoa, a Hundred Years ago and long before_
(London, 1884), p. 200. For other examples of such tales, see Adolph
Bastian, _Die Voelker des Oestlichen Asien_, i. 416, vi. 25; _Panjab
Notes and Queries_, ii. p. 148, Sec. 797 (June, 1885); A. Pfizmaier,
"Nachrichten von den alten Bewohnern des heutigen Corea,"
_Sitzungsberichte der philosoph. histor. Classe der kaiser. Akademie der
Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), lvii. (1868) pp. 495 _sq._

[175] Thomas J. Hutchinson, "On the Chaco and other Indians of South
America," _Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S.
iii. (1865) p. 327. Amongst the Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco
the marriage feast is now apparently extinct. See W. Barbrooke Grubb,
_An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London, 1911), p. 179.

[176] Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_ (London,
1883), p. 354.

[177] H. Vambery, _Das Tuerkenvolk_ (Leipsic, 1885), p. 112.

[178] Hans Egede, _A Description of Greenland_ (London, 1818), p. 209.

[179] _Revue des Traditions Populaires_, xv. (1900) p. 471.

[180] _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 145 _sqq._

[181] H.E.A. Meyer, "Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of the
Encounter Bay Tribe, South Australia," _The Native Tribes of South
Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), p. 186.

[182] E.J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central
Australia_ (London, 1845), ii. 304.

[183] E.J. Eyre, _op. cit._ ii. 295.

[184] R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and
London, 1878), i. 236.

[185] Samuel Gason, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxiv.
(1895) p. 171.

[186] Baldwin Spencer and F.J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central
Australia_ (London, 1899), p. 473; _idem, Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_ (London, 1904), p. 615.

[187] James Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney, and
Adelaide, 1881), pp. ci. _sq._

[188] Rev. William Ridley, "Report on Australian Languages and
Traditions," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, ii. (1873) p.
268. Compare _id., Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages_ (Sydney,
1875), p. 157.

[189] A.W. Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-East Australia_ (London,
1904.), pp. 776 _sq._, on the authority of Mr. J.C. Muirhead. The
Wakelbura are in Central Queensland. Compare Captain W.E. Armit, quoted
in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, ix. (1880) pp. 459 _sq._

[190] _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres
Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 196, 207.

[191] Ch. Keysser, "Aus dem Leben der Kaileute," in R. Neuhauss's
_Deutsch Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 91.

[192] M.J. van Baarda, "Fabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der
Galelareezen," _Bijdragen tot de Taal-Landen Volkenkinde van
Nederlandsch-Indie_, xlv. (1895) p. 489.

[193] J.L. van der Toorn, "Het animisme bij den Minangkabauer der
Padangsche Bovenlanden," _Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land- en Volkenkunde van
Nederlandsch-Indie_, xxxix. (1890) p. 66.

[194] W.H.I. Bleek, _A Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore_ (London,
1875), p. 14; compare _ibid._, p. 10.

[195] Rev. James Macdonald, "Manners, Customs, Superstitions and
Religions of South African Tribes," _Journal of the Anthropological
Institute_, xx. (1891) p. 138; _id., Light in Africa_, Second Edition
(London, 1890), p. 221.

[196] Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), p. 238; Mr.
Warren's Notes, in Col. Maclean's _Compendium of Kafir Laws and Customs_
(Cape Town, 1866), p. 93; Rev. J. Macdonald, _Light in Africa_, p. 221;
_id., Religion and Myth_ (London, 1893), p. 198. Compare Henri A. Junod,
"Les conceptions physiologiques des Bantou Sud-Africains et leurs
tabous," _Revue d'Ethnographie et de Sociologie_, i. (1910) p. 139. The
danger of death to the cattle from the blood of women is mentioned only
by Mr. Kidd. The part of the village which is frequented by the cattle,
and which accordingly must be shunned by women, has a special name,
_inkundhla_ (Mr. Warner's Notes, _l.c._).

[197] Rev. J. Roscoe, "The Bahima, a Cow Tribe of Enkole," _Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xxxvii. (1907) p. 106.

[198] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 419.

[199] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 96.

[200] Rev. J. Roscoe, "Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,"
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1901) p. 121; _id._,
"Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda," _Journal of
the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 39; _id., The Baganda_,
p. 352.

[201] Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 459.

[202] C.W. Hobley, "Further Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Religious
Beliefs and Customs," _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,
xli. (1911) p. 409.

[203] Mervyn W.H. Beech, _The Suk, their Language and Folklore_ (Oxford,
1911), p. 11.

[204] H.S. Stannus, "Notes on some Tribes of British Central Africa,"
_Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 305; R.
Sutherland Rattray, _Some Folk-lore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja_
(London, 1907), p. 191. See above, p. 27.

[205] Jakob Spieth, _Die Ewe-Staemme_ (Berlin, 1906), p. 192.

[206] Anton Witte, "Menstruation und Pubertaetsfeier der Maedchen in
Kpandugebiet Togo," _Baessler-Archiv_, i. (1911) p. 279.

[207] Th. Noeldeke, _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der
Sassaniden, aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari uebersetzt_ (Leyden,
1879), pp. 33-38. I have to thank my friend Professor A.A. Bevan for
pointing out to me this passage. Many ancient cities had talismans on
the preservation of which their safety was believed to depend. The
Palladium of Troy is the most familiar instance. See Chr. A. Lobeck,
_Aglaophamus_ (Koenigsberg, 1829), pp. 278 _sqq._, and my note on
Pausanias, viii. 47. 5 (vol. iv. pp. 433 _sq._).

[208] J. Mergel, _Die Medezin der Talmudisten_ (Leipsic and Berlin,
1885), pp. 15 _sq._

[209] Maimonides, quoted by D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der
Ssabismus_ (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 483. According to the editor (p.
735) by the East Maimonides means India and eastern countries generally.

[210] L'abbe Bechara Chemali, "Naissance et premier age au Liban,"
_Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 735.

[211] Eijub Abela, "Beitraege zur Kenntniss aberglaeubischer Gebraeuche in
Syrien," _Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina-Vereins_, vii. (1884) p.
111.

[212] J. Chalmers, "Toaripi," _Journal of the Anthropological
Institute_, xxvii. (1898) p. 328.

[213] W. Crooke, _Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and
Qudh_ (Calcutta, 1896), ii. 87.

[214] W. Crooke, in _North Indian Notes and Queries_, i. p. 67, Sec. 467
(July, 1891).

[215] L.K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, _The Cochin Tribes and Castes_, i.
(Madras, 1909) pp. 201-203. As to the seclusion of menstruous women
among the Hindoos, see also Sonnerat, _Voyage aux Indes Orientates et a
la Chine_ (Paris, 1782), i. 31; J.A. Dubois, _Moeurs, Institutions et
Ceremonies des Peuples de l'Inde_ (Paris, 1825), i. 245 _sq._ Nair women
in Malabar seclude themselves for three days at menstruation and prepare
their food in separate pots and pans. See Duarte Barbosa, _Description
of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the beginning of the
Sixteenth Century_ (Hakluyt Society, London, 1866), pp. 132 _sq._

[216] G. Hoffman, _Auszuege aus Syrischen Akten persisischer Martyrer
uebersetzt_ (Leipsic, 1880), p. 99. This passage was pointed out to me by
my friend Professor A.A. Bevan.

[217] J.B. Tavernier, _Voyages en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes_ (The
Hague, 1718), i. 488.

[218] Paul Giran, _Magie et Religion Annamites_ (Paris, 1912), pp. 107
_sq._, 112.

[219] Joseph Gumilla, _Histoire Naturelle, Civile, et Geographique de
l'Orenoque_ (Avignon, 1758), i. 249.

[220] Dr. Louis Plassard, "Les Guaraunos et le delta de l'Orenoque,"
_Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), v. Serie, xv. (1868) p.
584.

[221] J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1883), p.
526. As to the customs observed at menstruation by Indian women in South
America, see further A. d'Orbigny, _L'Homme Americain_ (Paris, 1839), i.
237.

[222] Chas. N. Bell, "The Mosquito Territory," _Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society_, xxxii. (1862) p. 254.

[223] H. Pittier de Fabrega, "Die Sprache der Bribri-Indianer in Costa
Rica," _Sitztungsberichte der philosophischen-historischen Classe der
Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), cxxxviii. (1898) pp.
19 _sq._

[224] Gabriel Sagard, _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons_, Nouvelle
Edition (Paris, 1865), p. 54 (original edition, Paris, 1632); J.F.
Lafitau, _Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 262;
Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1744), v. 423
_sq._; Captain Jonathan Carver, _Travels through the Interior Parts of
North America_, Third Edition (London, 1781), pp. 236 _sq._; Captains
Lewis and Clark, _Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri_, etc.
(London, 1905), iii. 90 (original edition, 1814); Rev. Jedidiah Morse,
_Report to the Secretary of War of the United States on Indian Affairs_
(New Haven, 1822), pp. 136 _sq._; _Annales de l'Association de la
Propagation de la Foi_, iv, (Paris and Lyons, 1830) pp. 483, 494 _sq._;
George Catlin, _Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition
of the North American Indians_, Fourth Edition (London, 1844), ii. 233;
H.R. Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia,
1853-1856), v. 70; A.L. Kroeber, "The Religion of the Indians of
California," _University of California Publication in American
Archaeology and Ethnology_, vol. iv. No. 6 (Berkeley, September, 1907),
pp. 323 _sq._; Frank G. Speck, _Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians_
(Philadelphia, 1909), p. 96. Among the Hurons of Canada women at their
periods did not retire from the house or village, but they ate from
small dishes apart from the rest of the family at these times (Gabriel
Sagard, _l.c._).

[225] James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), pp.
123 _sq._

[226] Bossu, _Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes occidentales_ (Paris, 1768),
ii. 105.

[227] Edwin James, _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the
Rocky Mountains_ (London, 1823), i. 214.

[228] William H. Keating, _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of
St. Peter's River_ (London, 1825), i. 132.

[229] G.B. Grinnell, "Cheyenne Woman Customs," _American
Anthropologist_, New Series, iv. (New York, 1902) p. 14.

[230] C. Hill Tout, "Ethnological Report on the Stseelis and Skaulits
Tribes of the Halokmelem Division of the Salish of British Columbia,"
_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxiv. (1904) p. 320.

[231] James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp. 326
_sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American
Museum of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900).

[232] Samuel Hearne, _Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's
Bay to the Northern Ocean_ (London, 1795), pp. 314 _sq._; Alex.
Mackenzie, _Voyages through the Continent of North America_ (London,
1801), p. cxxiii.; E. Petitot, _Monographic des Dene-Dindjie_ (Paris,
1876), pp. 75 _sq._

[233] C. Leemius, _De Lapponibus Finmarchiae eorumque lingua vita et
religione pristina_ (Copenhagen, 1767), p. 494.

[234] E.W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," _Eighteenth Annual
Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington, 1899)
p. 440.

[235] The Carriers are a tribe of Dene or Tinneh Indians who get their
name from a custom observed among them by widows, who carry, or rather
used to carry, the charred bones of their dead husbands about with them
in bundles.

[236] Hence we may conjecture that the similar ornaments worn by Mabuiag
girls in similar circumstances are also amulets. See above, p. 36. Among
the aborigines of the Upper Yarra river in Victoria, a girl at puberty
used to have cords tied very tightly round several parts of her body.
The cords were worn for several days, causing the whole body to swell
very much and inflicting great pain. The girl might not remove them till
she was clean. See R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne
and London, 1878), i. 65. Perhaps the cords were intended to arrest the
flow of blood.

[237] Rev. Father A.G. Morice, "The Western Denes, their Manners and
Customs," _Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Toronto_, Third
Series, vii. (1888-89) pp. 162-164. The writer has repeated the
substance of this account in a later work, _Au pays de l'Ours Noir: chez
les sauvages de la Colombia Britannique_ (Paris and Lyons, 1897), pp. 72
_sq._

[238] A.G. Morice, "Notes, Archaeological, Industrial, and Sociological,
on the Western Denes," _Transactions of the Canadian Institute_, iv.
(1892-93) pp. 106 _sq._ Compare Rev. Father Julius Jette, "On the
Superstitions of the Ten'a Indians," _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 703
_sq._, who tells us that Tinneh women at these times may not lift their
own nets, may not step over other people's nets, and may not pass in a
boat or canoe near a place where nets are being set.

[239] A.G. Morice, in _Transactions of the Canadian Institute_, iv.
(1892-93) pp. 107, 110.

[240] James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, p. 327
(_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of
Natural History_, New York, April 1900).

[241] See above, p. 53.

[242] _Laws of Manu_, translated by G. Buhler (Oxford, 1886), ch. iv. 41
_sq._, p. 135 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxv.).

[243] _The Zend-Avesta_, translated by J. Darmesteter, i. (Oxford, 1880)
p. xcii. (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. iv.). See _id._, pp. 9,
181-185, _Fargard_, i. 18 and 19, xvi. 1-18.

[244] Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vii. 64 _sq._, xxviii. 77 _sqq._ Compare
_Geoponica_, xii. 20. 5 and 25. 2; Columella, _De re rustica_, xi. 357
_sqq._

[245] August Schleicher, _Volkstuemliches aus Sonnenberg_ (Weimar, 1858),
p. 134; B. Souche, _Croyances, Presages et Traditions diverses_ (Niort,
1880), p. 11; A. Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes Legendes et Contes des
Ardennes_ (Charleville, 1890), p. 171; V. Fossel, _Volksmedicin und
medicinischer Aberglaube in Steiermark[2]_ (Graz, 1886), p. 124. A
correspondent, who withholds her name, writes to me that in a Suffolk
village, where she used to live some twenty or thirty years ago, "every
one pickled their own beef, and it was held that if the pickling were
performed by a woman during her menstrual period the meat would not
keep. If the cook were incapacitated at the time when the pickling was
due, another woman was sent for out of the village rather than risk what
was considered a certainty." Another correspondent informs me that in
some of the dales in the north of Yorkshire a similar belief prevailed
down to recent years with regard to the salting of pork. Another
correspondent writes to me: "The prohibition that a menstruating woman
must not touch meat that is intended for keeping appears to be common
all over the country; at least I have met with it as a confirmed and
active custom in widely separated parts of England.... It is in regard
to the salting of meat for bacon that the prohibition is most usual,
because that is the commonest process; but it exists in regard to any
meat food that is required to be kept."

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