354

WORSHIP OF THE SACRIFICE.

mony and every token of respect, he was eaten by the priests and chiefs.1

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Again, among the Khonds2 of Central India human sacrifices prevailed until quite lately. A stout stake is driven into the soil, and to it the victim is fastened, seated, and anointed with ghee, oil, and turmeric, 'decorated with flowers, and worshipped during the day 'by the assembly. At nightfall the licentious revelry 'is resumed, and on the third morning the victim gets some milk to drink, when the presiding priest implores 'the goddess to shower her blessings on the people, 'that they may increase and multiply, prosperity attend 'their cattle and poultry, fertility their fields, and happiness to the people generally. The priest recounts 'the origin and advantage of the rite, as previously 'detailed, and concludes by stating that the goddess 'has been obeyed and the people assembled.

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'Other softening expressions are recited to excite 'the compassion of the multitude. After the mock

ceremony, nevertheless, the victim is taken to the grove where the sacrifice is to be carried out; and, 'to prevent resistance, the bones of the arms and legs

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are broken, or the victim drugged with opium or datura, when the janni wounds his victim with his 6 axe. This act is followed up by the crowd; a number

'now press forward to obtain a piece of his flesh, and

' in a moment he is stripped to the bones.'

An almost identical custom prevails among the

1 Müller, loc. cit., p. 617. Prescott, loc. cit., vol. i. p. 5. Rites and Laws of the Incas, p. 28.

2 Dr. Shortt, Trans. Ethn. Soc., Campbell,

N.S., vol. vi. p. 273.

Wild Tribes of Khondistan, p. 112.

EATING THE SACRIFICE.

355

Marimos, a tribe of South Africa much resembling the Bechuanas. We find amongst them, says Arbousset, 'the practice of human sacrifices on the occasion of a ceremony which they call meseletso oa mabele, or the boiling of the corn. They generally select for this 'sacrifice a young man, stout, but of small stature. 'They secure him, it may be by violence, or it may be by intoxicating him with yoala. They then lead him into the fields, and sacrifice him in the midst of the 'fields, according to their own expression, for seed. His blood, after having been coagulated by the rays ' of the sun, is burned along with the frontal bone, the 'flesh attached to it, and the brain. The ashes are 'then scattered over the lands to fertilise them, and the ' remainder of the body is eaten.'1 ·

In some parts of Africa 'eating the fetish' is a solemn ceremony, by which women swear fidelity to their husbands, men to their friends. On a marriage in Issini, the parties 'eat the fetish together, in token of friendship, and as an assurance of the woman's fidelity 'to her husband.'2 In taking an oath also, the same ceremony is observed. To know, says Loyer, 'the 'truth from any negro, you need only mix something ' in a little water, and, steeping a bit of bread, bid him 'eat or drink that fetish as a sign of the truth. If the thing be So, he will do it freely; but if otherwise, he 'will not touch it, believing he should die on the spot if he swore falsely. Their way is to rasp or grate a 'little of their fetish in water, or on any edible, and so 'put it in their mouth without swallowing it.'

1 Tour to the N.E. of the Cape of Good Hope, p. 58.

2 Loyer, in Astley's Collection. of Voyages, vol. ii. pp. 436, 441.

356

EATING THE SACRIFICE.

The sacrifices were, as a general rule, not eaten by all indiscriminately. In Feejee they were confined to the old men and priests; women and young men being excluded from any share.

In many cases, the priests gradually established a claim to the whole; a result which could not fail to act as a considerable stimulus to the practice of sacrifice. It also affected the character of the worship. Thus, as Bosman tells us, the priests encouraged offerings to the Serpent rather than to the Sea, because, in the latter case, as he expresses it, 'there happens no remainder to 'be left for them.'

As already mentioned, the feeling which has led to the sacrifice of animals would naturally culminate in that of men. So natural, indeed, does the idea of human sacrifice appear to the human mind in this stage, that we meet with it in various nations all over the world; and it is unjust to regard it, with Prescott,' as evidence of fiendish passions: on the contrary, it indicates deep and earnest religious feeling, perverted by an erroneous conception of the Divine character.

Human sacrifices occurred in Guinea,2 and Burton3 saw 'at Benin city a young woman lashed to a scaffolding upon the summit of a tall blasted tree, and being 'devoured by the turkey-buzzards. The people de'clared it to be a "fetish" or charm for bringing rain.' I have already mentioned the existence of human sacrifice among the Marimos of South Africa.