Balder the Beautiful Part 10

[210] L'abbe Bechara Chemali, "Naissance et premier age au Liban,"

_Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 735.

[211] Eijub Abela, "Beitrage zur Kenntniss aberglaubischer Gebrauche in Syrien," _Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina-Vereins_, vii. (1884) p.

111.

[212] J. Chalmers, "Toaripi," _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, 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, -- 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, Inst.i.tutions 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, _Auszuge aus Syrischen Akten persisischer Martyrer ubersetzt_ (Leipsic, 1880), p. 99. This pa.s.sage 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 Pla.s.sard, "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_, x.x.xii. (1862) p. 254.

[223] H. Pittier de Fabrega, "Die Sprache der Bribri-Indianer in Costa Rica," _Sitztungsberichte der philosophischen-historischen Cla.s.se der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), cx.x.xviii. (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'a.s.sociation 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 Inst.i.tute_, x.x.xiv. (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. Pet.i.tot, _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. (Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 circ.u.mstances are also amulets. See above, p. 36. Among the aborigines of the Upper Yarra river in Victoria, a girl at p.u.b.erty 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 Inst.i.tute, 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 Inst.i.tute_, iv.

(1892-93) pp. 106 _sq._ Compare Rev. Father Julius Jette, "On the Superst.i.tions 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 pa.s.s in a boat or canoe near a place where nets are being set.

[239] A.G. Morice, in _Transactions of the Canadian Inst.i.tute_, 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, _Volkstumliches 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 Yorks.h.i.+re 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."

[246] R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), p. 291.

[247] W.R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, i. (1890) p. 524.

[248] The Greeks and Romans thought that a field was completely protected against insects if a menstruous woman walked round it with bare feet and streaming hair (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvii. 266, xxviii. 78; Columella, _De re rustica_, x. 358 _sq._, xi. 3. 64; Palladius, _De re rustica_, i. 35. 3; _Geoponica_, xii. 8. 5 _sq._; Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ vi. 36). A similar preventive is employed for the same purpose by North American Indians and European peasants. See H.R. Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia, 1853-1856), v. 70; F.J.

Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und aussern Leben der Ehsten_ (St.

Petersburg, 1876), p. 484. Compare J. Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der Siebenburger Sachsen_ (Vienna, 1885), p. 280; Adolph Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten und Gebrauche unter den Sachsen Siebenburgens_ (Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 14; J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] iii.

468; G. Lammert, _Volksmedizin und medizinischer Aberglaube aus Bayern_ (Wurzburg, 1869), p. 147. Among the Western Denes it is believed that one or two transverse lines tattooed on the arms or legs of a young man by a p.u.b.escent girl are a specific against premature weakness of these limbs. See A.G. Morice, "Notes, Archaeological, Industrial, and Sociological, on the Western Denes," _Transactions of the Canadian Inst.i.tute_, iv. (1892-93) p. 182. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia thought that the Dawn of Day could and would cure hernia if only an adolescent girl prayed to it to do so. Just before daybreak the girl would put some charcoal in her mouth, chew it fine, and spit it out four times on the diseased place. Then she prayed: "O Day-dawn! thy child relies on me to obtain healing from thee, who art mystery. Remove thou the swelling of thy child. Pity thou him, Day-Dawn!" See James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp. 345 _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900). To cure the painful and dangerous wound inflicted by a ray-fish, the Indians of the Gran Chaco smoke the wounded limb and then cause a woman in her courses to sit astride of it.

See G. Pelleschi, _Eight Months on the Gran Chaco of the Argentine Republic_ (London, 1886), p. 106. An ancient Hindoo method of securing prosperity was to swallow a portion of the menstruous fluid. See W.

Caland, _Altindisches Zauberritual_ (Amsterdam, 1900), pp. 57 _sq._ To preserve a new cow from the evil eye Scottish Highlanders used to sprinkle menstruous blood on the animal; and at certain seasons of the year, especially at Beltane (the first of May) and Lammas (the first of August) it was their custom to sprinkle the same potent liquid on the doorposts and houses all round to guard them from harm. The fluid was applied by means of a wisp of straw, and the person who discharged this salutary office went round the house in the direction of the sun. See J.G. Campbell, _Superst.i.tions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), p. 248. These are examples of the beneficent application of the menstruous energy.