" This kind of sacrament is of the Aino or
expiatory type, since it is meant to atone to the species for the
possible ill-usage of individuals. An expiation, similar in
principle but different in details, is offered by the Kalmucks to
the sheep, whose flesh is one of their staple foods. Rich Kalmucks
are in the habit of consecrating a white ram under the title of "the
ram of heaven" or "the ram of the spirit." The animal is never shorn
and never sold; but when it grows old and its owner wishes to
consecrate a new one, the old ram must be killed and eaten at a
feast to which the neighbours are invited. On a lucky day, generally
in autumn when the sheep are fat, a sorcerer kills the old ram,
after sprinkling it with milk. Its flesh is eaten; the skeleton,
with a portion of the fat, is burned on a turf altar; and the skin,
with the head and feet, is hung up.
An example of a sacrament of the Egyptian type is furnished by the
Todas, a pastoral people of Southern India, who subsist largely upon
the milk of their buffaloes. Amongst them "the buffalo is to a
certain degree held sacred" and "is treated with great kindness,
even with a degree of adoration, by the people.
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