He must
either eat some of them or starve, and when the question thus comes
to be whether he or the animal must perish, he is forced to overcome
his superstitious scruples and take the life of the beast. At the
same time he does all he can to appease his victims and their
kinsfolk. Even in the act of killing them he testifies his respect
for them, endeavours to excuse or even conceal his share in
procuring their death, and promises that their remains will be
honourably treated. By thus robbing death of its terrors, he hopes
to reconcile his victims to their fate and to induce their fellows
to come and be killed also. For example, it was a principle with the
Kamtchatkans never to kill a land or sea animal without first making
excuses to it and begging that the animal would not take it ill.
Also they offered it cedarnuts and so forth, to make it think that
it was not a victim but a guest at a feast. They believed that this
hindered other animals of the same species from growing shy. For
instance, after they had killed a bear and feasted on its flesh, the
host would bring the bear's head before the company, wrap it in
grass, and present it with a variety of trifles.
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