If
we do so, we shall probably discover that, however absurd his
conduct may appear to us, the savage nevertheless generally acts on
a train of reasoning which seems to him in harmony with the facts of
his limited experience. This I propose to illustrate in the
following chapter, where I shall attempt to show that the solemn
ceremonial of the bear-festival among the Ainos and other tribes of
North-eastern Asia is only a particularly striking example of the
respect which on the principles of his rude philosophy the savage
habitually pays to the animals which he kills and eats.
LIII. The Propitiation of Wild Animals By Hunters
THE EXPLANATION of life by the theory of an indwelling and
practically immortal soul is one which the savage does not confine
to human beings but extends to the animate creation in general. In
so doing he is more liberal and perhaps more logical than the
civilised man, who commonly denies to animals that privilege of
immortality which he claims for himself. The savage is not so proud;
he commonly believes that animals are endowed with feelings and
intelligence like those of men, and that, like men, they possess
souls which survive the death of their bodies either to wander about
as disembodied spirits or to be born again in animal form.
Pages:
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451