*

mians, the bereaved family, returning from the grave, pelted the ghost of their deceased relative with sticks, stones, and hot coals. The Tschuwasche, a tribe in Finnland, had not even the decency to wait till he was fairly in the grave, but opened fire on him as soon as the coffin was outside the house.†

Again, heavy stones were piled on his grave to keep him down, on the principle of "sit tibi terra gravis." This is the origin of funeral cairns and tombstones. As the ghosts of murderers and their victims are especially restless, every one who passes their graves in Arabia, in Germany, and in Spain is bound to add a stone to the pile. In Oldenburg (and no doubt elsewhere) if the grave is shallow the ghost will certainly walk.

One of the most striking ways of keeping down the dead man is to divert the course of a river, bury him in its bed, and then allow the river to resume its course. It was thus that Alaric was buried, and Commander Cameron found the same mode of burial still in vogue for chieftains amongst a tribe in Central Africa. §

The expedient of enclosing the grave with a fence too high for the ghost to "take" it, especially without a run, is common to Finnland and the South Seas.

Another simple but effectual plan was to nail the dead man to the coffin (the Tschuwasche again), or to tie his feet together (among the Arabs), or his neck to his legs (among the Troglodytes, Damaras, and New Zealanders).** The Wallachians drive a long nail through the skull and lay the thorny stem of a wild rosebush on the corpse. The

*

Californians clinched matters by breaking his spine. The corpses of suicides and vampires had stakes run through them.†

Other mutilations of the dead were intended not so much to keep the dead man in his grave as to render his ghost harmless. Thus the Australians cut off the right thumb of a slain enemy, that his ghost might not be able to draw the bow, and Greek murderers used to hack off the extremities of their victims with a similar object.§

Again, various steps were taken to chase away the lingering ghost from the home he loved too well. Thus the New Zealanders thrash the corpse in order to hasten the departure of the soul; the Algonkins beat the walls of the death chamber with sticks to drive out the ghost; the Chinese knock on the floor with a hammer ;** and the Germans wave towels about, or sweep the ghost out with a besom, ft just as in old Rome the heir solemnly swept out the ghost of his predecessor with a broom made specially for the purpose. ‡‡ In ancient Mexico professional "chuckers-out" were employed, who searched the house diligently till they found the lurking ghost of the late proprietor, whom they there and then summarily ejected.§§

The favorite "beat" of the ghost is usually the spot where he died. Hence, in order to keep him at least from the house, the Kaffirs carry a sick man out into the open air to die, and the Maoris used to remove the sick into sheds. If a Kaffir or Maori died before he could be carried out, the house was tabooed

Tylor, "Primitive Culture," i. p. 451. § Suidas s. μασχαλισθῆναι, μασχαλίσματα. Klemm, iv. p. 325; Yates, "New Zealand," p. 136.

Brinton, "Myths of the New World," P. 255.

**Gray, "China," i. p. 280.

++ Wuttke, $$ 725. 737; F. Schmidt, "Sitten u. Gebrauche in Thüringen," p. 85; Köhler, "Volksbrauch," p. 254.

Festus, s. v. everriator; cf. Gray, "China," i. p. 287. SS Bancroft, "Native Races of the Pacific States," i. p. 641.

and deserted.* There are traces in Greece, Rome, and China of this custom of carrying dying persons into the open air.t

But in case the ghost should, despite of all precautions, make his way back from the grave, steps were taken to barricade the house against him. Thus, in some parts of Russia and East Prussia an axe or a lock is laid on the threshold, or a knife is hung over the door, and in Germany as soon as the coffin is carried out of the house all the doors and windows are shut, whereas, so long as the body is still in the house, the windows (and sometimes the doors) are left constantly open to allow the soul to escape. In some parts of England every bolt and lock in the house is unfastened, that the ghost of the dying man may fly freely away.

But if primitive man knew how to bully, he also knew how to outwit the ghost. For example, a ghost can only find his way back to the house by the way by which he left it. This little weakness did not escape the vigilance of our ancestors, and they took their measures accordingly. The coffin was carried out of the house, not by the door, but by a hole made for the purpose in the wall, and this hole was carefully stopped up as soon as the body had been passed through it; so that when the ghost strolled quietly back from the grave, he found to his surprise that there was no thoroughfare. The credit of this ingenious device is shared equally by Greenlanders, Hottentots, Bechuanas, Samoieds, Ojibways, Algonkins, Laosians, Hindoos, Tibetans, Siamese, Chinese, and Fijians. These special openings, or "doors of the dead," are still

to be seen in a village near Amsterdam, and they were common in some towns of central Italy, as Perugia and Assisi.*

A trace of the same custom survives in Thüringen, where it is thought that the ghost of a man who has been hanged will return to the house if the body be not taken out by a window instead of the door.†

The Siamese, not content with carrying the dead man out by a special opening, endeavor to make assurance doubly sure by hurrying him three times round the house at full speed-a proceeding well calculated to bewilder the poor soul in the coffin.t

The Araucanians adopt the plan of strewing ashes behind the coffin as it is being borne to the grave, in order that the ghost may not be able to find his way back. §

The very general practice of closing the eyes of the dead appears to have originated with a similar object; it was a mode of blindfolding the dead, that he might not see the way by which he was carried to his last home. At the grave, where he was to rest forever, there was of course no motive for concealment ; hence the Romans, and apparently the Siamese, opened the eyes of the dead man at the funeral pyre, just as we should unbandage the eyes of an enemy after conducting him to his destination. The notion that, if the eyes of the dead

66

Yule on Marco Polo, i. p. 188; Crantz, "Greenland," i. p. 237; Tylor, "Prim. Cult.," ii. p. 26; Waitz, Anthropologie," iii. p. 199; Williams and Calvert, Fiji," p. 168; Sonntag, p. 51; Bastian, Mensch,' ii. P. 322: Klemm, ii. p. 221, 225; id., iii. p. 293; C. Bock, "Temples and Elephants, p. 262; Pallegoix, "Siam." i. p. 245; Bowring, "Siam," i. p. 222; Gubernatis, p. 52; C. J. Anderson, Lake Ngami,' P. 466. A dead Pope is carried out by a special door, which is then blocked up till the next Pope dies. Wuttke, $756.

Pallegoix, Siam," i. p. 245; Bowring, 'Siam," i. p. 222. In some parts of Scotland the body used to be carried three times round the church (C. Rogers, "Social Life in Scotland," i. p. 167).

Klemm, v. p. 51; Wood, "Natural History of Man," ii. p. 565.

Pliny, N. H., xi. 150.

TC. Bock saw that the eyes of a dead man at the pyre were open (in Siam), and he says that in Lao it was the custom to close the eyes of the dead ("Temples and Elephants," pp. 58, 261).

be not closed, his ghost will return to fetch away another of the household, still exists in Germany, Bohemia, and England.* In some parts of Russia they place a coin on each of the dead man's eyes.t

With a similar object the corpse is carried out of the house feet foremost, for if he were carried out head foremost his eyes would be turned towards the door, and he might therefore find his way back. This custom is observed, and this reason is assigned for it, in many parts of Germany and amongst the Indians of Chile. Conversely, in Persia, when a man is setting out on a journey, he steps out of the house with his face turned towards the door, hoping thereby to secure a safe return. § In Thüringen and some parts of the north of England it used to be the custom to carry the body to the grave by a roundabout way.

I venture to conjecture that the old Roman usage of burying by night¶ may have originally been intended, like the customs I have mentioned, to keep the way to the grave a secret from the dead, and it is possible that the same idea gave rise to the practice of masking the dead-a practice common to the prehistoric inhabitants of Greece and to the Aleutian islanders.**

To a desire to deceive the dead man I would also refer the curious custom amongst the Bohemians of putting on masks and behaving in a strange way as they return from a burial.ft They hoped, in fact, so to disguise themselves that the dead man might not know and therefore might not follow them. Whether the widespread mourning cus

* Wuttke, § 725; Dyer, "English Folklore," p. 230; Grohmann, "Aberglauben," p. 188. + Gubernatis, "Usi funebri," p. 50. Wuttke, 736; Klemm, ii. p. 101. "Hajji Baba," c. i. fin.

F. Schmidt, p. 94.

Servius on Virg. Æn., i. 186. Night burial was sometimes practised in Scotland (C. Rogers, "Social Life in Scotland," i. p. 161), and commonly in Thüringen (F. Schmidt, p. 96). Cf. Mungo Park, "Travels," P. 414.

**Schliemann, "Mycenæ," pp. 198, 219223. 311 sq.; Bancroft, "Native Races," i. p. 93. The Aztecs masked their dead kings (Bancroft, ii. 606), and the Siamese do so still (Pallegoix, "Royaume de Siam," i. p. 247). + Bastian, ii. p. 328.

toms of smearing the body with mud or paint, mutilating it by gashes, cutting off the hair or letting it grow, and putting on beggarly attire or clothes of an unusual color (black, white, or otherwise), may not have also originated in the desire to disguise and therefore to protect the living from the dead, I cannot here attempt to determine. This much is certain, that mourning customs are always as far as possible the reverse of those of ordinary life. Thus, at a Roman funeral, the sons of the deceased walked with their heads covered, the daughters with their heads uncovered, thus exactly reversing the ordinary usage, which was that women wore coverings on their heads, while men did not. Plutarch, who notes this, observes that in like manner in Greece men and women during a period of mourning exactly inverted their usual habits of wearing the hair-the ordinary practice of men being to cut it short, that of women to leave it long.*

The objection, deeply rooted in many races, to utter the names of deceased persons, sprang no doubt from a fear that the dead might hear and answer to his name. In East Prussia, if the deceased is called thrice by his name, he appears. This reluctance to mention the names of the dead has modified

whole languages. Thus among the Australians, Tasmanians, and Abipones, if the name of the deceased person happened to be a common namee.g., the name of an animal or plantthis name was abolished, and a new one substituted for it. § During the residence of the Jesuit missionary Dobritzhoffer amongst the Abipones, the name for tiger was thus changed three times. Amongst the Indians of Columbia near relatives of a deceased person often change their names, under the impression that the ghost will return if he hears the familiar

ghost in his long home. One instance, however, of the minute care with which the survivors will provide for the wants of the dead, in order that he may have no possible excuse for returning, I cannot refrain from mentioning. In the German district of Voigtland,* with its inclement sky, they never forget to place in the coffin an umbrella and a pair of goloshes. Whether these utensils are intended for use in heaven, or elsewhere, is a question which I must leave to theologians.

A pathetic example is afforded by some Indian tribes of New Mexico, who drop milk from the mother's breast on the lips of her dead babe.†

The nearly universal practice of leaving food on the tomb or of actually passing it into the grave by means of an aperture or tube, is too well known to need illustration. Like the habit of dressing the dead or dying in his best clothes, it probably originated in the selfish but not unkindly desire to induce the perturbed spirit to rest in the grave, and not come plaguing the survivors for food and raiment.

Merely mentioning the customs of building a little house for the accommodation of the soul either on the grave, or on the way to it, and of leaving straw on the road, in the hope that the weary ghost would sit down on it and never get as far as the house, || I now come to two modes of barring the ghost, which from their importance I have reserved to the last-I mean the methods of barring the ghost by fire and water.

First, by fire. After a funeral certain heathen Siberians, who greatly fear the dead, seek to get rid of the ghost of the departed by leaping over a fire. Similarly at Rome, mourners returning from a funeral stepped over fire, ** and in China they sometimes do so to this day.

*Wuttke, § 734.

Bancroft, i. p. 360.

Gray, "China," i. pp. 278-280; Klemm, ii. pp. 104, 221, 225; id. iv. p. 38; Marshall, "Travels amongst the Todas," p. 171.

§ Klemm, ii. p. 297; Bastian, ii. p. 328; Marco Polo, i. c. 40; Waitz, "Anthropologie," ii. p. 195; id., iii. p. 202; Chalmers and Gill, "New Guinea," p. 56.

Wuttke, § 739; Töppen, p. 109.
Geschichte der Religionen,'
Meiners,

ii. p. 393.

**Festus s. v. aqua et igne.

+ Gray, "China," i. pp. 287, 305.

Taken in connection with the Siberian custom, the original intention of this ceremony of stepping over fire at Rome and in China can hardly have been other than that of placing a barrier of fire between the living and the dead. But, as has been the case with so many other ceremonies, this particular ceremony may well have been practised long after its original intention was forgotten. For customs often live on for ages after the circumstances and modes of thought which gave rise to them have disappeared, and in their new environment new motives are invented to explain

As might have been expected, the custom itself of stepping over fire often dwindled into a mere shadow of its former self. Thus the South Slavonians returning from a funeral are met by an old woman carrying a vessel of live coals. On these they pour water, or else they take a live coal from the hearth, and fling it over their heads.* The Brahmans contented themselves with simply touching fire, and in Ruthenia the mourners merely look steadfastly at the stove or place their hands on it.

So much for the barrier by fire. Next for the barrier by water. The Lusatian Wends," says Ralston, § "still make a point of placing water between themselves and the dead as they return from a burial, even breaking ice for the purpose if necessary." In many parts of Germany, in modern Greece, and in Cyprus, water is poured out behind the corpse when it is carried from the house, in the belief that if the ghost returns, he will not be able to cross it. Sometimes by night they pour holy water before the door; the ghost is then thought to stand and whimper on the further side. The inability of spirits to cross water might be further illus trated from the Bagman's ghastly story

66

in Apuleius,* from Paulus' History of the Lombards," from Giraldus Cam brensis' "Topography of Ireland," and from other sources. §

Another way of enforcing the water barrier was for the mourners to plunge into a stream in the hope of drowning, or at least shaking off, the ghost. Thus among the Matamba negroes, a widow is bound hand and foot by the priest, who flings her into the water several times over, with the intention of drowning 'her husband's ghost who may be supposed to be clinging to his unfeeling spouse. In Angola, for a similar purpose, widows adopt the less inconvenient practice of ducking their late husbands. In New Zealand all who have attended a funeral betake themselves to the nearest stream and plunge several times, head under, in the water. In Fiji the sextons always washed themselves after a burial.ft In Tahiti all who assisted at a burial fled precipitately and plunged into the sea, casting also into the sea the garments they had worn. In some parts of West Africa, after the corpse has been deposited in the grave, all the bearers rush to the water-side and undergo a thorough ablution before they are permitted to return to the town."§§

**

But the barrier by water, like the barrier by fire, often dwindled into a mere stunted survival. Thus after a Roman funeral it was enough to carry water three times round the persons who had been engaged in it and to sprinkle them with the water. In China, on the fifth day after a death, the mourners merely wash their eyes and sprinkle

Id. p. 115. **Yates," New Zealand,' p. 137; Klemm, iv. p. 305.

*

their faces three times with water. In Cappadocia and Crete persons returning from a funeral wash their hands. In Samoa they wash their faces and hands with hot water. In ancient India it was enough merely to touch water.§ In Greece, so long as a dead body was in the house, a vessel of water stood before the street door that all who left the house might sprinkle themselves with_it.|| Note that in this case the water had to be fetched from another house-water taken from the house in which the corpse lay would not do. The significance of this fact I shall have occasion to point out presently.

When considered along with the facts I have mentioned, it can hardly be doubted that the original intention of this sprinkling with water was to wash off the ghost who might be following from the house of death; and in general I think we may lay down the rule that wherever we find a so-called purification by fire or water from pollution contracted by contact with the dead, we may assume with much probability that the original intention was to place a physical barrier of fire or water between the living and the dead, and that the conceptions of pollution and purification are merely the fictions of a later age, invented to explain the purpose of a ceremony of which the original intention was forgotten. Time forbids me to enter into the wider question whether all forms of so-called ceremonial purification may not admit of a similar explanation. I may say, however, that there is evidence that some at least of these forms are best explained on this hypothesis. To one of the most important of these forms of purification-that of mothers after childbirth-reference will be made in the course of this paper.

Such, then, are some of the modes

adopted for the purpose of excluding or barring the ghost. Before quitting the subject, however, I wish to observe that as the essence of these proceedings was

1870.