The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Volume I Part 30

[Footnote 494: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ p. 78.]

[Footnote 495: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]

[Footnote 496: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]

[Footnote 497: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 632.]

[Footnote 498: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp.

70-73; O. Finsch, _Neu-Guinea und seine Bewohner_ pp. 104 _sq._; M.

Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, p. 398.]

[Footnote 499: J. L. van Ha.s.selt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) pp. 118 _sq._ As to the spirit or spirits who dwell in tree tops and draw away the souls of the living to themselves, see further "Eenige bijzonderheden betreffende de Papoeas van de Geelvinksbaai van Nieuw-Guinea," _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Landen Volkenkunde van Neerlandsch-Indie_, ii. (1854) pp. 375 _sq._]

[Footnote 500: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, p.

73; J. L. van Ha.s.selt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) p. 118; M. Krieger, _Neu-Guinea_, pp. 398. _sq._]

[Footnote 501: A. Goudswaard, _De Papoewa's van de Geelvinksbaai_, pp.

75 _sq._]

[Footnote 502: J. L. van Ha.s.selt, in _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, iv. (1886) 117 _sq._; M. Krieger, _op. cit._ pp.

397 _sq._]

[Footnote 503: A. Goudswaard, _op. cit._ pp. 74 _sq._]

[Footnote 504: _Nieuw Guinea ethnographisch en natuurkundig onderzocht en beschreven_ (Amsterdam, 1862), p. 162.]

[Footnote 505: F. S. A. de Clercq, "De West- en Noordkust van Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea," _Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, x. (1893) pp. 198 _sq._]

[Footnote 506: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 201.]

[Footnote 507: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 202, 205.]

[Footnote 508: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ p. 211.]

[Footnote 509: J. W. van Hille, "Reizen in West-Nieuw-Guinea,"

_Tijdschrift van het Kon. Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, Tweede Serie, xxiii. (1906) p. 463.]

[Footnote 510: F. S. A. de Clercq, _op. cit._ pp. 459 _sq._, 461 _sq._ A German traveller, Mr. H. Kuhn, spent some time at Sekar and purchased a couple of what he calls "old heathen idols," which are now in the ethnological Museum at Leipsic. One of them, about a foot high, represents a human head and bust; the other, about two feet high, represents a squat sitting figure. They are probably ancestral images (_korwar_ or _karwar_). The natives are said to have such confidence in the protection of these "idols" that they leave their jewellery and other possessions unguarded beside them, in the full belief that n.o.body would dare to steal anything from spots protected by such mighty beings.

See H. Kuhn, "Mein Aufenthalt in Neu-Guinea," _Festschrift des 25jahrigen Bestehens des Vereins fur Erdkunde zu Dresden_ (Dresden, 1888), pp. 143 _sq._]

[Footnote 511: A. F. R. Wollaston, _Pygmies and Papuans_ (London, 1912), pp. 132 _sq._, 136-140.]

[Footnote 512: J. L. D. van der Roest, "Uit the leven der bevolking van Windessi," _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Landen Volkenkunde_, xl.

(1898) pp. 159 _sq._]

[Footnote 513: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 161 _sq._]

[Footnote 514: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ p. 162.]

[Footnote 515: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 164-166.]

[Footnote 516: J. L. D. van der Roest, _op. cit._ pp. 157 _sq._]

LECTURE XV

THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF SOUTHERN MELANESIA (NEW CALEDONIA)

[Sidenote: Melanesia and the Melanesians.]

In the last lecture I concluded our survey of the beliefs and practices concerning death and the dead which are reported to prevail among the natives of New Guinea. We now pa.s.s to the natives of Melanesia, the great archipelago or rather chain of archipelagoes, which stretches round the north-eastern and eastern ends of New Guinea and southward, parallel to the coast of Queensland, till it almost touches the tropic of Capricorn. Thus the islands lie wholly within the tropics and are for the most part characterised by tropical heat and tropical luxuriance of vegetation. Only New Caledonia, the most southerly of the larger islands, differs somewhat from the rest in its comparatively cool climate and scanty flora.[517] The natives of the islands belong to the Melanesian race. They are dark-skinned and woolly-haired and speak a language which is akin to the Polynesian language. In material culture they stand roughly on the same level as the natives of New Guinea, a considerable part of whom in the south-eastern part of the island, as I pointed out before, are either pure Melanesians or at all events exhibit a strong infusion of Melanesian blood. They cultivate the ground, live in settled villages, build substantial houses, construct outrigger-canoes, display some apt.i.tude for art, possess strong commercial instincts, and even employ various mediums of exchange, of which sh.e.l.l-money is the most notable.[518]

[Sidenote: The New Caledonians.]

We shall begin our survey of these islands with New Caledonia in the south, and from it shall pa.s.s northwards through the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands to the Bismarck Archipelago, which consists chiefly of the two great islands of New Britain and New Ireland with the group of the Admiralty Islands terminating it to the westward. For our knowledge of the customs and religion of the New Caledonians we depend chiefly on the evidence of a Catholic missionary, Father Lambert, who has worked among them since 1856 and has published a valuable book on the subject.[519] To be exact, his information applies not to the natives of New Caledonia itself, but to the inhabitants of a group of small islands, which lie immediately off the northern extremity of the island and are known as the Belep group. Father Lambert began to labour among the Belep at a time when no white man had as yet resided among them. At a later time circ.u.mstances led him to transfer his ministry to the Isle of Pines, which lies off the opposite or southern end of New Caledonia.

A comparative study of the natives at the two extremities of New Caledonia revealed to him an essential similarity in their beliefs and customs; so that it is not perhaps very rash to a.s.sume that similar customs prevail among the aborigines of New Caledonia itself, which lies intermediate between the two points observed by Father Lambert.[520] The a.s.sumption is confirmed by evidence which was collected by Dr. George Turner from the mainland of New Caledonia so long ago as 1845.[521]

Accordingly in what follows I shall commonly speak of the New Caledonians in general, though the statements for the most part apply in particular to the Belep tribe.

[Sidenote: Beliefs of the New Calendonians as to the land of the dead.]

The souls of the New Caledonians, like those of most savages, are supposed to be immortal, at least to survive death for an indefinite period. They all go, good and bad alike, to dwell in a very rich and beautiful country situated at the bottom of the sea, to the north-east of the island of Pott. The name of the land of souls is Tsiabiloum. But before they reach this happy land they must run the gauntlet of a grim spirit called Kiemoua, who has his abode on a rock in the island of Pott. He is a fisherman of souls; for he catches them as they pa.s.s in a net and after venting his fury on them he releases them, and they pursue their journey to Tsiabiloum, the land of the dead. It is a country more fair and fertile than tongue can tell. Yams, taros, sugar-canes, bananas all grow there in profusion and without cultivation. There are forests of wild orange-trees, also, and the golden fruits serve the blessed spirits as playthings. You can tell roughly how long it is since a spirit quitted the upper world by the colour of the orange which he plays with; for the oranges of those who have just arrived are green; the oranges of those who have been longer dead are ripe; and the oranges of those who died long ago are dry and wizened. There is no night in that blessed land, and no sleep; for the eyes of the spirits are never weighed down with slumber. Sorrow and sickness, decrepitude and death never enter; even boredom is unknown. But it is only the nights, or rather the hours corresponding to nights on earth, which the spirits pa.s.s in these realms of bliss. At daybreak they revisit their old home on earth and take up their posts in the cemeteries where they are honoured; then at nightfall they flit away back to the spirit-land beneath the sea, there to resume their sport with oranges, green, golden, or withered, till dawn of day. On these repeated journeys to and fro they have nothing to fear from the grim fisherman and his net; it is only on their first pa.s.sage to the nether world that he catches and trounces them.[522]

[Sidenote: Burial customs of the New Calendonians.]

The bodies of the dead are buried in shallow graves, which are dug in a sacred grove. The corpse is placed in a crouching att.i.tude with the head at or above the surface of the ground, in order to allow of the skull being easily detached from the trunk, at a subsequent time. In token of sorrow the nearest relations of the deceased tear the lobes of their ears and inflict large burns on their arms and b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The houses, nets, and other implements of the dead are burnt; his plantations are ravaged, his coco-nut palms felled with the axe. The motive for this destruction of the property of the deceased is not mentioned, but the custom points to a fear of the ghost; the people probably make his old home as unattractive as possible in order to offer him no temptation to return and haunt them. The same fear of the ghost, or at all events of the infection of death, is revealed by the stringent seclusion and ceremonial pollution of the grave-diggers. They are two in number; no other persons may handle the corpse. After they have discharged their office they must remain near the corpse for four or five days, observing a rigorous fast and keeping apart from their wives. They may not shave or cut their hair, and they are obliged to wear a tall pyramidal and very c.u.mbersome head-dress. They may not touch food with their hands. If they help themselves to it, they must pick it up with their mouths alone or with a stick, not with their fingers. Oftener they are fed by an attendant, who puts the victuals into their mouths as he might do if they were palsied. On the other hand they are treated by the people with great respect; common folk will not pa.s.s near them without stooping.[523]

[Sidenote: Sham fight as a mourning ceremony.]

A curious ceremony which the New Caledonians observe at a certain period of mourning for the dead is a sham fight. Father Lambert describes one such combat which he witnessed. A number of men were divided into two parties; one party was posted on the beach, the other and much larger party was stationed in the adjoining cemetery, where food and property had been collected. From time to time a long piercing yell would be heard; then a number of men would break from the crowd in the cemetery and rush furiously down to the beach with their slings and stones ready to a.s.sail their adversaries. These, answering yell with yell, would then plunge into the sea, armed with battle-axes and clubs, while they made a feint of parrying the stones hurled at them by the other side. But neither the shots nor the parries appeared to be very seriously meant.

Then when the a.s.sailants retired, the fugitives pretended to pursue them, till both parties had regained their original position. The same scene of alternate attack and retreat was repeated hour after hour, till at last, the pretence of enmity being laid aside, the two parties joined in a dance, their heads crowned with leafy garlands. Father Lambert, who describes this ceremony as an eye-witness, offers no explanation of it.

But as he tells us that all deaths are believed by these savages to be an effect of sorcery, we may conjecture that the sham fight is intended to delude the ghost into thinking that his death is being avenged on the sorcerer who killed him.[524] In former lectures I shewed that similar pretences are made, apparently for a similar purpose, by some of the natives of Australia and New Guinea.[525] If the explanation is correct, we can hardly help applauding the ingenuity which among these savages has discovered a bloodless mode of satisfying the ghost's craving for blood.

[Sidenote: Preservation of the skulls of the dead.]

About a year after the death, when the flesh of the corpse is entirely decayed, the skull is removed and placed solemnly in another burying-ground, or rather charnel-house, where all the skulls of the family are deposited. Every family has such a charnel-house, which is commonly situated near the dwelling. It appears to be simply an open s.p.a.ce in the forest, where the skulls are set in a row on the ground.[526] Yet in a sense it may be called a temple for the wors.h.i.+p of ancestors; for recourse is had to the skulls on various occasions in order to obtain the help of the spirits of the dead. "The true wors.h.i.+p of the New Caledonians," says Father Lambert, "is the wors.h.i.+p of ancestors. Each family has its own; it religiously preserves their name; it is proud of them and has confidence in them. Hence it has its burial-place and its pious hearth for the sacrifices to be offered to their ghosts. It is the most inviolable piece of property; an encroachment on such a spot by a neighbour is a thing unheard of."[527]

[Sidenote: Examples of ancestor-wors.h.i.+p among the New Caledonians.]

A few examples may serve to ill.u.s.trate the ancestor-wors.h.i.+p of the New Caledonians. When a person is sick, a member of the family, never a stranger, is appointed to heal him by means of certain magical insufflations. To enable him to do so with effect the healer first repairs to the family charnel-house and lays some sugar-cane leaves beside the skulls, saying, "I lay these leaves on you that I may go and breathe upon our sick relative, to the end that he may live." Then he goes to a tree belonging to the family and lays other sugar-cane leaves at its foot, saying, "I lay these leaves beside the tree of my father and of my grandfather, in order that my breath may have healing virtue."

Next he takes some leaves of the tree or a piece of its bark, chews it into a mash, and then goes and breathes on the patient, his breath being moistened with spittle which is charged with particles of the leaves or the bark.[528] Thus the healing virtue of his breath would seem to be drawn from the spirits of the dead as represented partly by their skulls and partly by the leaves and bark of the tree which belonged to them in life, and to which their souls appear in some manner to be attached in death.

[Sidenote: Prayers for fish.]

Again, when a shoal of fish has made its appearance on the reef, a number of superst.i.tious ceremonies have to be performed before the people may go and spear them in the water. On the eve of the fis.h.i.+ng-day the medicine-man of the tribe causes a quant.i.ty of leaves of certain specified plants to be collected and roasted in the native ovens. Next day the leaves are taken from the ovens and deposited beside the ancestral skulls, which have been arranged and decorated for the ceremony. All the fishermen, armed with their fis.h.i.+ng-spears, repair to the holy ground or sacred grove where the skulls are kept, and there they draw themselves up in two rows, while the medicine-man chants an invocation or prayer for a good catch. At every verse the crowd raises a cry of approval and a.s.sent. At its conclusion the medicine-man sets an example by thrusting with his spear at a fish, and all the men immediately plunge into the water and engage in fis.h.i.+ng.[529]