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Chapter 17. The Burden of Royalty.
1. Royal and Priestly Taboos
At a certain stage of early society the king or priest is often thought to
be endowed with supernatural powers or to be an incarnation of a deity, and
consistently with this belief the course of nature is supposed to be more or
less under his control, and he is held responsible for bad weather, failure of
the crops, and similar calamities. To some extent it appears to be assumed
that the king's power over nature, like that over his subjects and slaves, is
exerted through definite acts of will; and therefore if drought, famine,
pestilence, or storms arise, the people attribute the misfortune to the
negligence or guilt of their king, and punish him accordingly with stripes and
bonds, or, if he remains obdurate, with deposition and death. Sometimes,
however, the course of nature, while regarded as dependent on the king, is
supposed to be partly independent of his will. His person is considered, if we
may express it so, as the dynamical centre of the universe, from which lines
of force radiate to all quarters of the heaven; so that any motion of histhe
turning of his head, the lifting of his handinstantaneously affects and may
seriously disturb some part of nature. He is the point of support on which
hangs the balance of the world, and the slightest irregularity on his part may
overthrow the delicate equipoise. The greatest care must, therefore, be taken
both by and of him; and his whole life, down to its minutest details, must be
so regulated that no act of his, voluntary or involuntary, may disarrange or
upset the established order of nature. Of this class of monarchs the Mikado or
Dairi, the spiritual emperor of Japan, is or rather used to be a typical
example. He is an incarnation of the sun goddess, the deity who rules the
universe, gods and men included; once a year all the gods wait upon him and
spend a month at his court. During that month, the name of which means
without gods, no one frequents the temples, for they are believed to be
deserted. The Mikado receives from his people and assumes in his official
proclamations and decrees the title of manifest or incarnate deity, and he
claims a general authority over the gods of Japan. For example, in an official
decree of the year 646 the emperor is described as the incarnate god who
governs the universe.
The following description of the Mikado's mode of life was written about
two hundred years ago:
Even to this day the princes descended of this family, more particularly
those who sit on the throne, are looked upon as persons most holy in
themselves, and as Popes by birth. And, in order to preserve these
advantageous notions in the minds of their subjects, they are obliged to take
an uncommon care of their sacred persons, and to do such things, which,
examined according to the customs of other nations, would be thought
ridiculous and impertinent. It will not be improper to give a few instances of
it. He thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his dignity and holiness to
touch the ground with his feet; for this reason, when he intends to go
anywhere, he must be carried thither on men's shoulders. Much less will they
suffer that he should expose his sacred person to the open air, and the sun is
not thought worthy to shine on his head. There is such a holiness ascribed to
all the parts of his body that he dares to cut off neither his hair, nor his
beard, nor his nails. However, lest he should grow too dirty, they may clean
him in the night when he is asleep; because, they say, that which is taken
from his body at that time, hath been stolen from him, and that such a theft
doth not prejudice his holiness or dignity. In ancient times, he was obliged
to sit on the throne for some hours every morning, with the imperial crown on
his head, but to sit altogether like a statue, without stirring either hands
or feet, head or eyes, nor indeed any part of his body, because, by this
means, it was thought that he could preserve peace and tranquillity in his
empire; for if, unfortunately, he turned himself on one side or the other, or
if he looked a good while towards any part of his dominions, it was
apprehended that war, famine, fire, or some other great misfortune was near at
hand to desolate the country. But it having been afterwards discovered, that
the imperial crown was the palladium, which by its immobility could preserve
peace in the empire, it was thought expedient to deliver his imperial person,
consecrated only to idleness and pleasures, from this burthensome duty, and
therefore the crown is at present placed on the throne for some hours every
morning. His victuals must be dressed every time in new pots, and served at
table in new dishes: both are very clean and neat, but made only of common
clay; that without any considerable expense they may be laid aside, or broke,
after they have served once. They are generally broke, for fear they should
come into the hands of laymen, for they believe religiously, that if any
layman should presume to eat his food out of these sacred dishes, it would
swell and inflame his mouth and throat. The like ill effect is dreaded from
the Dairi's sacred habits; for they believe that if a layman should wear them,
without the Emperor's express leave or command, they would occasion swellings
and pains in all parts of his body. To the same effect an earlier account of
the Mikado says: It was considered as a shameful degradation for him even to
touch the ground with his foot. The sun and moon were not even permitted to
shine upon his head. None of the superfluities of the body were ever taken
from him, neither his hair, his beard, nor his nails were cut. Whatever he eat
was dressed in new vessels.
Similar priestly or rather divine kings are found, at a lower level of
barbarism, on the west coast of Africa. At Shark Point near Cape Padron, in
Lower Guinea, lives the priestly king Kukulu, alone in a wood. He may not
touch a woman nor leave his house; indeed he may not even quit his chair, in
which he is obliged to sleep sitting, for if he lay down no wind would arise
and navigation would be stopped. He regulates storms, and in general maintains
a wholesome and equable state of the atmosphere. On Mount Agu in Togo there
lives a fetish or spirit called Bagba, who is of great importance for the
whole of the surrounding country. The power of giving or withholding rain is
ascribed to him, and he is lord of the winds, including the Harmattan, the
dry, hot wind which blows from the interior. His priest dwells in a house on
the highest peak of the mountain, where he keeps the winds bottled up in huge
jars. Applications for rain, too, are made to him, and he does a good business
in amulets, which consist of the teeth and claws of leopards. Yet though his
power is great and he is indeed the real chief of the land, the rule of the
fetish forbids him ever to leave the mountain, and he must spend the whole of
his life on its summit. Only once a year may he come down to make purchases in
the market; but even then he may not set foot in the hut of any mortal man,
and must return to his place of exile the same day. The business of government
in the villages is conducted by subordinate chiefs, who are appointed by him.
In the West African kingdom of Congo there was a supreme pontiff called
Chitomé or Chitombé, whom the negroes regarded as a god on earth and
all-powerful in heaven. Hence before they would taste the new crops they
offered him the first-fruits, fearing that manifold misfortunes would befall
them if they broke this rule. When he left his residence to visit other places
within his jurisdiction, all married people had to observe strict continence
the whole time he was out; for it was supposed that any act of incontinence
would prove fatal to him. And if he were to die a natural death, they thought
that the world would perish, and the earth, which he alone sustained by his
power and merit, would immediately be annihilated. Amongst the semi-barbarous
nations of the New World, at the date of the Spanish conquest, there were
found hierarchies or theocracies like those of Japan; in particular, the high
pontiff of the Zapotecs appears to have presented a close parallel to the
Mikado. A powerful rival to the king himself, this spiritual lord governed
Yopaa, one of the chief cities of the kingdom, with absolute dominion. It is
impossible, we are told, to overrate the reverence in which he was held. He
was looked on as a god whom the earth was not worthy to hold nor the sun to
shine upon. He profaned his sanctity if he even touched the ground with his
foot. The officers who bore his palanquin on their shoulders were members of
the highest families: he hardly deigned to look on anything around him; and
all who met him fell with their faces to the earth, fearing that death would
overtake them if they saw even his shadow. A rule of continence was regularly
imposed on the Zapotec priests, especially upon the high pontiff; but on
certain days in each year, which were generally celebrated with feasts and
dances, it was customary for the high priest to become drunk. While in this
state, seeming to belong neither to heaven nor to earth, one of the most
beautiful of the virgins consecrated to the service of the gods was brought to
him. If the child she bore him was a son, he was brought up as a prince of
the blood, and the eldest son succeeded his father on the pontifical throne.
The supernatural powers attributed to this pontiff are not specified, but
probably they resembled those of the Mikado and Chitomé.
Wherever, as in Japan and West Africa, it is supposed that the order of
nature, and even the existence of the world, is bound up with the life of the
king or priest, it is clear that he must be regarded by his subjects as a
source both of infinite blessing and of infinite danger. On the one hand, the
people have to thank him for the rain and sunshine which foster the fruits of
the earth, for the wind which brings ships to their coasts, and even for the
solid ground beneath their feet. But what he gives he can refuse; and so close
is the dependence of nature on his person, so delicate the balance of the
system of forces whereof he is the centre, that the least irregularity on his
part may set up a tremor which shall shake the earth to its foundations. And
if nature may be disturbed by the slightest involuntary act of the king, it is
easy to conceive the convulsion which his death might provoke. The natural
death of the Chitomé, as we have seen, was thought to entail the destruction
of all things. Clearly, therefore, out of a regard for their own safety, which
might be imperilled by any rash act of the king, and still more by his death,
the people will exact of their king or priest a strict conformity to those
rules, the observance of which is deemed necessary for his own preservation,
and consequently for the preservation of his people and the world. The idea
that early kingdoms are despotisms in which the people exist only for the
sovereign, is wholly inapplicable to the monarchies we are considering. On the
contrary, the sovereign in them exists only for his subjects; his life is only
valuable so long as he discharges the duties of his position by ordering the
course of nature for his people's benefit. So soon as he fails to do so, the
care, the devotion, the religious homage which they had hitherto lavished on
him cease and are changed into hatred and contempt; he is dismissed
ignominiously, and may be thankful if he escapes with his life. Worshipped as
a god one day, he is killed as a criminal the next. But in this changed
behaviour of the people there is nothing capricious or inconsistent. On the
contrary, their conduct is entirely of a piece. If their king is their god, he
is or should be also their preserver; and if he will not preserve them, he
must make room for another who will. So long, however, as he answers their
expectations, there is no limit to the care which they take of him, and which
they compel him to take of himself. A king of this sort lives hedged in by a
ceremonious etiquette, a network of prohibitions and observances, of which the
intention is not to contribute to his dignity, much less to his comfort, but
to restrain him from conduct which, by disturbing the harmony of nature, might
involve himself, his people, and the universe in one common catastrophe. Far
from adding to his comfort, these observances, by trammelling his every act,
annihilate his freedom and often render the very life, which it is their
object to preserve, a burden and sorrow to him.
Of the supernaturally endowed kings of Loango it is said that the more
powerful a king is, the more taboos is he bound to observe; they regulate all
his actions, his walking and his standing, his eating and drinking, his
sleeping and waking. To these restraints the heir to the throne is subject
from infancy; but as he advances in life the number of abstinences and
ceremonies which he must observe increases, until at the moment that he
ascends the throne he is lost in the ocean of rites and taboos. In the crater
of an extinct volcano, enclosed on all sides by grassy slopes, lie the
scattered huts and yam-fields of Riabba, the capital of the native king of
Fernando Po. This mysterious being lives in the lowest depths of the crater,
surrounded by a harem of forty women, and covered, it is said, with old silver
coins. Naked savage as he is, he yet exercises far more influence in the
island than the Spanish governor at Santa Isabel. In him the conservative
spirit of the Boobies or aboriginal inhabitants of the island is, as it were,
incorporate. He has never seen a white man and, according to the firm
conviction of all the Boobies, the sight of a pale face would cause his
instant death. He cannot bear to look upon the sea; indeed it is said that he
may never see it even in the distance, and that therefore he wears away his
life with shackles on his legs in the dim twilight of his hut. Certain it is
that he has never set foot on the beach. With the exception of his musket and
knife, he uses nothing that comes from the whites; European cloth never
touches his person, and he scorns tobacco, rum, and even salt.
Among the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast the king is at the same
time high priest. In this quality he was, particularly in former times,
unapproachable by his subjects. Only by night was he allowed to quit his
dwelling in order to bathe and so forth. None but his representative, the
so-called 'visible king,' with three chosen elders might converse with him,
and even they had to sit on an ox-hide with their backs turned to him. He
might not see any European nor any horse, nor might he look upon the sea, for
which reason he was not allowed to quit his capital even for a few moments.
These rules have been disregarded in recent times. The king of Dahomey
himself is subject to the prohibition of beholding the sea, and so are the
kings of Loango and Great Ardra in Guinea. The sea is the fetish of the Eyeos,
to the north-west of Dahomey, and they and their king are threatened with
death by their priests if ever they dare to look on it. It is believed that
the king of Cayor in Senegal would infallibly die within the year if he were
to cross a river or an arm of the sea. In Mashonaland down to recent times the
chiefs would not cross certain rivers, particularly the Rurikwi and the
Nyadiri; and the custom was still strictly observed by at least one chief
within recent years. On no account will the chief cross the river. If it is
absolutely necessary for him to do so, he is blindfolded and carried across
with shouting and singing. Should he walk across, he will go blind or die and
certainly lose the chieftainship. So among the Mahafalys and Sakalavas in the
south of Madagascar some kings are forbidden to sail on the sea or to cross
certain rivers. Among the Sakalavas the chief is regarded as a sacred being,
but he is held in leash by a crowd of restrictions, which regulate his
behaviour like that of the emperor of China. He can undertake nothing whatever
unless the sorcerers have declared the omens favourable; he may not eat warm
food: on certain days he may not quit his hut; and so on. Among some of the
hill tribes of Assam both the headman and his wife have to observe many taboos
in respect of food; thus they may not eat buffalo, pork, dog, fowl, or
tomatoes. The headman must be chaste, the husband of one wife, and he must
separate himself from her on the eve of a general or public observance of
taboo. In one group of tribes the headman is forbidden to eat in a strange
village, and under no provocation whatever may he utter a word of abuse.
Apparently the people imagine that the violation of any of these taboos by a
headman would bring down misfortune on the whole village.
The ancient kings of Ireland, as well as the kings of the four provinces
of Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster, were subject to certain quaint
prohibitions or taboos, on the due observance of which the prosperity of the
people of the country, as well as their own, was supposed to depend. Thus, for
example, the sun might not rise on the king of Ireland in his bed at Tara, the
old capital of Erin; he was forbidden to alight on Wednesday at Magh Breagh,
to traverse Magh Cuillinn after sunset, to incite his horse at Fan-Chomair, to
go in a ship upon the water the Monday after Bealltaine (May day), and to
leave the track of his army upon Ath Maighne the Tuesday after All-Hallows.
The king of Leinster might not go round Tuath Laighean left-hand-wise on
Wednesday, nor sleep between the Dothair (Dodder) and the Duibhlinn with his
head inclining to one side, nor encamp for nine days on the plains of Cualann,
nor travel the road of Duibhlinn on Monday, nor ride a dirty black-heeled
horse across Magh Maistean. The king of Munster was prohibited from enjoying
the feast of Loch Lein from one Monday to another; from banqueting by night in
the beginning of harvest before Geim at Leitreacha; from encamping for nine
days upon the Siuir; and from holding a border meeting at Gabhran. The king of
Connaught might not conclude a treaty respecting his ancient palace of
Cruachan after making peace on All-Hallows Day, nor go in a speckled garment
on a grey speckled steed to the heath of Dal Chais, nor repair to an assembly
of women at Seaghais, nor sit in autumn on the sepulchral mounds of the wife
of Maine, nor contend in running with the rider of a grey one-eyed horse at
Ath Gallta between two posts. The king of Ulster was forbidden to attend the
horse fair at Rath Line among the youths of Dal Araidhe, to listen to the
fluttering of the flocks of birds of Linn Saileach after sunset, to celebrate
the feast of the bull of Daire-mic-Daire, to go into Magh Cobha in the month
of March, and to drink of the water of Bo Neimhidh between two darknesses. If
the kings of Ireland strictly observed these and many other customs, which
were enjoined by immemorial usage, it was believed that they would never meet
with mischance or misfortune, and would live for ninety years without
experiencing the decay of old age; that no epidemic or mortality would occur
during their reigns; and that the seasons would be favourable and the earth
yield its fruit in abundance; whereas, if they set the ancient usages at
naught, the country would be visited with plague, famine, and bad weather.
The kings of Egypt were worshipped as gods, and the routine of their daily
life was regulated in every detail by precise and unvarying rules. The life
of the kings of Egypt, says Diodorus, was not like that of other monarchs
who are irresponsible and may do just what they choose; on the contrary,
everything was fixed for them by law, not only their official duties, but even
the details of their daily life . The hours both of day and night were
arranged at which the king had to do, not what he pleased, but what was
prescribed for him . For not only were the times appointed at which he should
transact public business or sit in judgment; but the very hours for his
walking and bathing and sleeping with his wife, and, in short, performing
every act of life were all settled. Custom enjoined a simple diet; the only
flesh he might eat was veal and goose, and he might only drink a prescribed
quantity of wine. However, there is reason to think that these rules were
observed, not by the ancient Pharaohs, but by the priestly kings who reigned
at Thebes and Ethiopia at the close of the twentieth dynasty.
Of the taboos imposed on priests we may see a striking example in the
rules of life prescribed for the Flamen Dialis at Rome, who has been
interpreted as a living image of Jupiter, or a human embodiment of the
sky-spirit. They were such as the following: The Flamen Dialis might not ride
or even touch a horse, nor see an army under arms, nor wear a ring which was
not broken, nor have a knot on any part of his garments; no fire except a
sacred fire might be taken out of his house; he might not touch wheaten flour
or leavened bread; he might not touch or even name a goat, a dog, raw meat,
beans, and ivy; he might not walk under a vine; the feet of his bed had to be
daubed with mud; his hair could be cut only by a free man and with a bronze
knife and his hair and nails when cut had to be buried under a lucky tree; he
might not touch a dead body nor enter a place where one was burned; he might
not see work being done on holy days; he might not be uncovered in the open
air; if a man in bonds were taken into his house, the captive had to be
unbound and the cords had to be drawn up through a hole in the roof and so let
down into the street. His wife, the Flaminica, had to observe nearly the same
rules, and others of her own besides. She might not ascend more than three
steps of the kind of staircase called Greek; at a certain festival she might
not comb her hair; the leather of her shoes might not be made from a beast
that had died a natural death, but only from one that had been slain or
sacrificed; if she heard thunder she was tabooed till she had offered an
expiatory sacrifice.
Among the Grebo people of Sierra Leone there is a pontiff who bears the
title of Bodia and has been compared, on somewhat slender grounds, to the high
priest of the Jews. He is appointed in accordance with the behest of an
oracle. At an elaborate ceremony of installation he is anointed, a ring is put
on his ankle as a badge of office, and the door-posts of his house are
sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed goat. He has charge of the public
talismans and idols, which he feeds with rice and oil every new moon; and he
sacrifices on behalf of the town to the dead and to demons. Nominally his
power is very great, but in practice it is very limited; for he dare not defy
public opinion, and he is held responsible, even with his life, for any
adversity that befalls the country. It is expected of him that he should cause
the earth to bring forth abundantly, the people to be healthy, war to be
driven far away, and witchcraft to be kept in abeyance. His life is trammelled
by the observance of certain restrictions or taboos. Thus he may not sleep in
any house but his own official residence, which is called the anointed house
with reference to the ceremony of anointing him at inauguration. He may not
drink water on the highway. He may not eat while a corpse is in the town, and
he may not mourn for the dead. If he dies while in office, he must be buried
at dead of night; few may hear of his burial, and none may mourn for him when
his death is made public. Should he have fallen a victim to the poison ordeal
by drinking a decoction of sassywood, as it is called, he must be buried under
a running stream of water.
Among the Todas of Southern India the holy milkman, who acts as priest of
the sacred dairy, is subject to a variety of irksome and burdensome
restrictions during the whole time of his incumbency, which may last many
years. Thus he must live at the sacred dairy and may never visit his home or
any ordinary village. He must be celibate; if he is married he must leave his
wife. On no account may any ordinary person touch the holy milkman or the holy
dairy; such a touch would so defile his holiness that he would forfeit his
office. It is only on two days a week, namely Mondays and Thursdays, that a
mere layman may even approach the milkman; on other days if he has any
business with him, he must stand at a distance (some say a quarter of a mile)
and shout his message across the intervening space. Further, the holy milkman
never cuts his hair or pares his nails so long as he holds office; he never
crosses a river by a bridge, but wades through a ford and only certain fords;
if a death occurs in his clan, he may not attend any of the funeral
ceremonies, unless he first resigns his office and descends from the exalted
rank of milkman to that of a mere common mortal. Indeed it appears that in old
days he had to resign the seals, or rather the pails, of office whenever any
member of his clan departed this life. However, these heavy restraints are
laid in their entirety only on milkmen of the very highest class.
2. Divorce of the Spiritual from the Temporal Power
The burdensome observances attached to the royal or priestly
office produced their natural effect. Either men refused to accept
the office, which hence tended to fall into abeyance; or accepting
it, they sank under its weight into spiritless creatures, cloistered
recluses, from whose nerveless fingers the reins of government
slipped into the firmer grasp of men who were often content to
wield the reality of sovereignty without its name. In some
countries this rift in the supreme power deepened into a total and
permanent separation of the spiritual and temporal powers, the old
royal house retaining their purely religious functions, while the
civil government passed into the hands of a younger and more
vigorous race.
To take examples. In a previous part of this work we saw that in
Cambodia it is often necessary to force the kingships of Fire and
Water upon the reluctant successors, and that in Savage Island the
monarchy actually came to an end because at last no one could be
induced to accept the dangerous distinction. In some parts of West
Africa, when the king dies, a family council is secretly held to
determine his successor. He on whom the choice falls is suddenly
seized, bound, and thrown into the fetish-house, where he is kept
in durance till he consents to accept the crown. Sometimes the heir
finds means of evading the honour which it is sought to thrust
upon him; a ferocious chief has been known to go about constantly
armed, resolute to resist by force any attempt to set him on the
throne. The savage Timmes of Sierra Leone, who elect their king,
reserve to themselves the right of beating him on the eve of his
coronation; and they avail themselves of this constitutional
privilege with such hearty goodwill that sometimes the unhappy
monarch does not long survive his elevation to the throne. Hence
when the leading chiefs have a spite at a man and wish to rid
themselves of him, they elect him king. Formerly, before a man
was proclaimed king of Sierra Leone, it used to be the custom to
load him with chains and thrash him. Then the fetters were
knocked off, the kingly robe was placed on him, and he received in
his hands the symbol of royal dignity, which was nothing but the
axe of the executioner. It is not therefore surprising to read that in
Sierra Leone, where such customs have prevailed, "except among
the Mandingoes and Suzees, few kings are natives of the countries
they govern. So different are their ideas from ours, that very few
are solicitous of the honour, and competition is very seldom heard
of."
The Mikados of Japan seem early to have resorted to the expedient
of transferring the honours and burdens of supreme power to their
infant children; and the rise of the Tycoons, long the temporal
sovereigns of the country, is traced to the abdication of a certain
Mikado in favour of his three-year-old son. The sovereignty having
been wrested by a usurper from the infant prince, the cause of the
Mikado was championed by Yoritomo, a man of spirit and
conduct, who overthrew the usurper and restored to the Mikado
the shadow, while he retained for himself the substance, of power.
He bequeathed to his descendants the dignity he had won, and thus
became the founder of the line of Tycoons. Down to the latter half
of the sixteenth century the Tycoons were active and efficient
rulers; but the same fate overtook them which had befallen the
Mikados. Immeshed in the same inextricable web of custom and
law, they degenerated into mere puppets, hardly stirring from their
palaces and occupied in a perpetual round of empty ceremonies,
while the real business of government was managed by the council
of state. In Tonquin the monarchy ran a similar course. Living like
his predecessors in effeminacy and sloth, the king was driven from
the throne by an ambitious adventurer named Mack, who from a
fisherman had risen to be Grand Mandarin. But the king's brother
Tring put down the usurper and restored the king, retaining,
however, for himself and his descendants the dignity of general of
all the forces. Thenceforward the kings, though invested with the
title and pomp of sovereignty, ceased to govern. While they lived
secluded in their palaces, all real political power was wielded by
the hereditary generals.
In Mangaia, a Polynesian island, religious and civil authority were
lodged in separate hands, spiritual functions being discharged by a
line of hereditary kings, while the temporal government was
entrusted from time to time to a victorious war-chief, whose
investiture, however, had to be completed by the king. Similarly in
Tonga, besides the civil king whose right to the throne was partly
hereditary and partly derived from his warlike reputation and the
number of his fighting men, there was a great divine chief who
ranked above the king and the other chiefs in virtue of his
supposed descent from one of the chief gods. Once a year the
first-fruits of the ground were offered to him at a solemn
ceremony, and it was believed that if these offerings were not
made the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner on
the people. Peculiar forms of speech, such as were applied to no
one else, were used in speaking of him, and everything that he
chanced to touch became sacred or tabooed. When he and the king
met, the monarch had to sit down on the ground in token of respect
until his holiness had passed by. Yet though he enjoyed the highest
veneration by reason of his divine origin, this sacred personage
possessed no political authority, and if he ventured to meddle with
affairs of state it was at the risk of receiving a rebuff from the
king, to whom the real power belonged, and who finally succeeded
in ridding himself of his spiritual rival.
In some parts of Western Africa two kings reign side by side, a
fetish or religious king and a civil king, but the fetish king is really
supreme. He controls the weather and so forth, and can put a stop
to everything. When he lays his red staff on the ground, no one
may pass that way. This division of power between a sacred and a
secular ruler is to be met with wherever the true negro culture has
been left unmolested, but where the negro form of society has been
disturbed, as in Dahomey and Ashantee, there is a tendency to
consolidate the two powers in a single king.
In some parts of the East Indian island of Timor we meet with a
partition of power like that which is represented by the civil king
and the fetish king of Western Africa. Some of the Timorese tribes
recognise two rajahs, the ordinary or civil rajah, who governs the
people, and the fetish or taboo rajah, who is charged with the
control of everything that concerns the earth and its products. This
latter ruler has the right of declaring anything taboo; his
permission must be obtained before new land may be brought
under cultivation, and he must perform certain necessary
ceremonies when the work is being carried out. If drought or blight
threatens the crops, his help is invoked to save them. Though he
ranks below the civil rajah, he exercises a momentous influence on
the course of events, for his secular colleague is bound to consult
him in all important matters. In some of the neighbouring islands,
such as Rotti and eastern Flores, a spiritual ruler of the same sort is
recognised under various native names, which all mean "lord of
the ground." Similarly in the Mekeo district of British New Guinea
there is a double chieftainship. The people are divided into two
groups according to families, and each of the groups has its chief.
One of the two is the war chief, the other is the taboo chief. The
office of the latter is hereditary; his duty is to impose a taboo on
any of the crops, such as the coco-nuts and areca nuts, whenever
he thinks it desirable to prohibit their use. In his office we may
perhaps detect the beginning of a priestly dynasty, but as yet his
functions appear to be more magical than religious, being
concerned with the control of the harvests rather than with the
propitiation of higher powers.
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