18 REASON FOR LA COUVADE. 'food and from smoking.' Similar notions occur among the Chinese of West Yunnan, among the Dyaks of Borneo, among the Kaffirs, in the north of Spain, in Corsica, and in the south of France, where it is called 'faire la couvade.' While, however, I regard this curious custom as of much ethnological interest, I cannot agree with Mr. Tylor in regarding it as evidence that the races by whom it is practised belong to one variety of the human species.1 On the contrary, I believe that it originated independently, in several distinct parts of the world. It is of course evident that a custom so ancient, and so widely spread, must have its origin in some idea which satisfies the savage mind. Several explanations have been suggested. Professor Max Müller," in his Chips from 'a German Workshop,' says :-'It is clear that the 'poor husband was at first tyrannised over by his female 'relations, and afterwards frightened into superstition. 'He then began to make a martyr of himself till he made 'himself really ill, or took to his bed in self-defence. Strange and absurd as the couvade appears at first sight, there is something in it with which, we believe, 'most mothers-in-law can sympathise.' Lafitau3 regards it as arising from a dim recollection of original sin; rejecting the Carib and Abipon explanation, which I have little doubt is the correct one, that they do it because they believe that if the father engaged in any rough work, or was careless in his diet, 'cela feroit 'mal à l'enfant, et que cet enfant participeroit à tous 1 Loc. cit. p. 296. 2 Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. p. 281. 3 Moeurs des Sauvages Américains, vol. i. p. 259. SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD. 19 'les défauts naturels des animaux dont le père auroit 'mangé.' 1 This idea—namely, that a person imbibes the characteristics of an animal which he eats-is very widely distributed. In India, Forsyth mentions that Mahouts often give their elephant 'a piece of a tiger's liver to make 'him courageous, and the eyes of the brown horned 'owl to make him see well at night.' The Malays at Singapore also give a large price for the flesh of the tiger, not because they like it, but because they believe that the man who eats tiger' acquires the sagacity as well as 'the courage of that animal,' an idea which occurs. among several of the Indian hill tribes." 'The Dyaks of Borneo have a prejudice against the 'flesh of deer, which the men may not eat, but which 'is allowed to women and children. The reason given 'for this is, that if the warriors eat the flesh of deer 'they become as faint-hearted as that animal.' 4 'In ancient times those who wished for children used 'to eat frogs, because that animal lays so many eggs.' 5 The Caribs will not eat the flesh of pigs or of tortoises, lest their eyes should become as small as those of these animals. The Dacotahs eat the liver of the dog, in order to possess the sagacity and courage of that animal. The Arabs also impute the passionate and revengeful character of their countrymen to the 20 SAVAGE IDEAS ON THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD. use of camel's flesh.1 In Siberia the bear is eaten under the idea that its flesh 'gives a zest for the chase, and renders them proof against fear.' 2 The Kaffirs also prepare a powder made of the dried flesh of various 'wild beasts-leopard, lion, elephant, snakes, &c.—the 'natives intending by the administering of this compound to impart to the men the qualities of the several 'animals.' 3 เ Tylor 4 mentions that 'an English merchant in Shang'hai, at the time of the Taeping attack, met his Chinese servant carrying home a heart, and asked him what he 'had got there. He said it was the heart of a rebel, ' and that he was going to take it home and eat it to 'make him brave.' The New Zealanders, after baptising an infant, used to make it swallow pebbles, so that its heart might be hard and incapable of pity.5 Even cannibalism is sometimes due to this idea, and the New Zealanders eat their most formidable enemies partly for this reason. It is from the same kind of idea that 'eyebright,' because the flower somewhat resembles an eye, was supposed to be good for ocular complaints. To us the idea seems absurd. Not so to children. I have myself heard a little girl say to her brother, 'If 'you eat so much goose you will be quite silly;' and there are perhaps few children to whom the induction would not seem perfectly legitimate. From the same notion, the Esquimaux,' to render 1 Astley's Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 143. 2 Atkinson's Upper and Lower Amoor, p. 462. 3 Callaway's Religious System of the Amazulu, pt. iv. p. 438. Early History of Man, p. 131. เ SAVAGE IDEAS WITH REFERENCE TO PORTRAITS. 21 'barren women fertile or teeming, take old pieces of the 'soles of our shoes to hang about them; for, as they 'take our nation to be more fertile, and of a stronger disposition of body than theirs, they fancy the virtue ' of our body communicates itself to our clothing.'1 In fact, savages do not act without reason, any more than we do, though their reasons may often be bad ones. and seem to us singularly absurd. Thus they have a great dread of having their portraits taken. The better the likeness, the worse they think for the sitter; so much life could not be put into the copy, except at the expense of the original. Once, when a good deal annoyed by some Indians, Kane got rid of them instantly by threatening to draw them if they remained. Catlin tells an amusing, but melancholy, anecdote in reference to this feeling. On one occasion he was drawing a chief named Mahtocheega, in profile. This, when observed, excited much commotion among the Indians : Why was half his face left out?' they asked; 'Mah'tocheega was never ashamed to look a white in the 'face.' Mahtocheega himself does not seem to have taken any offence, but Shonka, the Dog,' took advantage of the idea to taunt him. The Englishman knows,' he said, 'that you are but half a man; he has painted 'but one-half of your face, and knows that the rest is good for nothing.' This view of the case led to a fight, in which poor Mahtocheega was shot; and as ill luck would have it, the bullet by which he was killed tore away just that part of the face which had been omitted in the drawing. 1 Egede's Greenland, p. 198, 22 CURIOUS IDEAS WITH REFERENCE TO PORTRAITS. This was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin, who had great difficulty in making his escape, and lived some months after in fear for his life; nor was the matter settled until both Shonka and his brother had been killed in revenge for the death of Mahtocheega. Franklin also mentions that the North American Indians prize pictures very highly, and esteem any 'they can get, however badly executed, as efficient 'charms.'1 เ The natives of Bornou had a similar horror of being 'written; they said that they did not like it; that 'the Sheik did not like it; that it was a sin; and I am quite sure, from the impression, that we had much 'better never have produced the book at all.' 2 The Fetich women in Dahome, says Burton, 'were easily 'dispersed by their likenesses being sketched.' In his Travels in Lapland, Sir A. de C. Brooke says:-'I 'could clearly perceive that many of them imagined 'the magical art to be connected with what I was doing, and on this account showed signs of uneasiness, till 'reassured by some of the merchants. An instance of 'this happened one morning, when a Laplander knocked 'at the door of my chamber, and entered it, as they usually did, without further ceremony. Having come 'from Alten to Hammerfest on some business, curiosity ' had induced him, previously to his return, to pay the 6 Englishman a visit. After a dram he seemed quite at his ease; and, producing my pencil, I proceeded, as he 'stood, to sketch his portrait. 1 Voyage to the Polar Seas, ii. 6. 2 Denham's Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 275. His countenance now 3 Mission to the King of Dahome, i, 278. 4 Brooke's Lapland, p. 354. |