The National tribune., 1891-01-08

/ life, but always as an accident brought about
by
SUPERNATURAL INTERFERENCE,
! 80 he regards disease as a manifestation of some
soroerer or demons malice, and all his remedies
are in the nature Of charms.
He commits every kind Of excess for which
an opportunity offers, is utterly ignorant Of all
the laws Of health, and never washes himself
! Intentionally and for the sake Of cleanliness.
OF course he ls occasionally III under these cir
cumstances, aud frequently afflicted with skin
I diseases engendered by 9th.
All these in his opinion are devils TO be
danced at, sacrificed 10, constrained 10 quit him
/ by incantatOus, drummings, and the hoWls,
caperlngs aud curses Of prOperly-Quali6ed prac-
/ titioners Of the healing arr so accoutred as TO
! appall the fends When a boy has his hair cut
| for the first time, when he is scarficd, tat
! t0Odcd or married when he commits, or is pre-
/ pairing 10 commit murder 10 20 on a voyage,
or TO make a new god Papuans first feast 10
replction, and then dance themselves into
state Of collapse.
Savage dancing which accompanies almost
all ceremonials, civil, military, or religious, is
combined with song and action and is essen
italy dramatic Men ia that state never
realize anything unless they act or see il
acted, and hence sacred dances aud songs at
some time or other form part of the ritual Of all
religions and their survival through religious
COnSbIAdLlhlu olbeu GAkcuas 10 PERIODS lar re-
moved from those ia which they originated
necessarily.
This Oceanic race is as unstable in temper as
the sea by which they live. To the swiftly
changing moods Of savagery they add VIOLA
tility Of their own. I'm them the mental and
emotional procliyitios which form the religious
temperament arc but slightly developed.
THEY FEAR THE UNSEEN,
and that is about as far as their piety carries
them
Appareled IN the manner previously de-
scribed they beat hand-drums, sound pipes and
bamboo harm0uiums, and make a din with
shell trumPcis for the glory Of their gods; they
dance and sing and get drunk and rave in their
more deYout intervals 10 do them honor. But
beside those male and female Korwars who are
The tutciars Of households and whom they treat
upon occasion with the gTossest disrespect,
ManOen alone who ID really a devil aud not a
god, seems capable Of inspiring this people
with any abiding feeling Of reverence and this
Is because he docs them SO much harm. He is
never represented IN any way, aud is the
1 nearest approach 10 the abstract conception Of
o personality endowed with an intensfcatiou
Of those powers observed in themselves aud in
nature which they capable OF making.
Before an All pCTpading aud directing spirit
can be conceived some conception Of the unity
and neutrality-suspicious. Of visible nature must be
framed To such minds as these this is impOs-
slDlc l'apuaus may repeat formulas after a mis-
siOuary, but their significance cannot be as
simulated.
IL is not the usual but the exceptional which
impresses them. Sunrise and the setting stars,
the flow and ebb Of tides growth, fertility, aud
th0ses constant winds which blow across the
sea-these are things Of course, IN which the
hand Of God does not appear. But when the
tempest comes ManOeu IL there. Vailed by
marsh masms he brings fever and death. He
is everywhere by turns whence sorrow aud
disaster proceed. still i'm that fragmcntaTy
and chaotic realm Of thought where the savage
pictures the world Of things there can no more
exist unity for evil than one for good.
MauOen operates the major catastrophies;
the minor are due 10 subordinate demOns-to
ghosts and TO witchcraft. The former are
EXoRCIsED BY soRcERERs,
shades Of the dead and especially the unburicd
are frightened away with war clubs aud shouts
or cOntenleG with offerings OF toy houses 10
live in; while the guilt Of the latter having
been established by such satisfactory tests as
that boiling water viii not scald them nor Gre
burn, are sacrificed 10 the safety Of the COM
muHi.y.
As Papuaus 90 not understand this life in
/ the way Of a consecutive and coherent state Of
existence still less DO they comprehend or re-
alize that other they vaguely believe In, but Of
4 which nothing D. known. IL must be like this
ono, because ltefe Do bGl ono conceivable world
I and ono couai tiun Of being; but il is not SO
good as that let, and whatever may be their
dispositions here, those who 60 there become
] mHlIgn.
A ghost 10 never friendly, a god rarely be-
nign, witches ana wizards are the enemies Of
mankind. Nature does not bless and preserve
but terrifos aud destroys II is easy 10 sec
that existence would be- int0lerable IT, with
views like these, the minds that entertained
I them were not a. IucOuttaUt as they are In
/ their perpetual childhood saYagcs soon forget.
The something IN everything which they d.
vine but cannJt Sec, takes shape in gTOtosqUe
and terrible forms; IL irightens them for a
space and then passes like the shadow which a
I cloud Las cast upOn its way