Any
one who may accidentally touch the liver is strictly forbidden to
partake of it, which prohibition is regarded as a great misfortune
for him." Women are not allowed to eat liver, because they have no
soul.
Again, the flesh and blood of dead men are commonly eaten and drunk
to inspire bravery, wisdom, or other qualities for which the men
themselves were remarkable, or which are supposed to have their
special seat in the particular part eaten. Thus among the mountain
tribes of South-Eastern Africa there are ceremonies by which the
youths are formed into guilds or lodges, and among the rites of
initiation there is one which is intended to infuse courage,
intelligence, and other qualities into the novices. Whenever an
enemy who has behaved with conspicuous bravery is killed, his liver,
which is considered the seat of valour; his ears, which are supposed
to be the seat of intelligence; the skin of his forehead, which is
regarded as the seat of perseverance; his testicles, which are held
to be the seat of strength; and other members, which are viewed as
the seat of other virtues, are cut from his body and baked to
cinders.
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