VV(7) - Note
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Mon Jan 8 00:01:04 CST 2001
A Note on Alligators
>From The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, Chapter 53
The Propitiation of Animals by Huntsmen
THE EXPLANATION of life by the theory of an indwelling and practically
immortal soul is one 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.
Thus to the savage, who regards all living creatures as practically on a
footing of equality with man, the act of killing and eating an animal must
wear a very different aspect from that which the same act presents to us, who
regard the intelligence of animals as far inferior to our own and deny them
the possession of immortal souls. Hence on the principles of his rude
philosophy the primitive hunter who slays an animal believes himself exposed
to the vengeance either of its disembodied spirit or of all the other animals
of the same species, whom he considers as knit together, like men, by the
ties of kin and the obligations of the blood feud, and therefore as bound to
resent the injury done to one of their number. Accordingly the savage makes
it a rule to spare the life of those animals which he has no pressing motive
for killing, at least such fierce and dangerous animals as are likely to
exact a bloody vengeance for the slaughter of one of their kind. Crocodiles
are animals of this sort. They are only found in hot countries, where, as a
rule, food is abundant and primitive man has therefore little reason to kill
them for the sake of their tough and unpalatable flesh. Hence it is a custom
with some savages to spare crocodiles, or rather only to kill them in
obedience to the law of blood feud, that is, as a retaliation for the
slaughter of men by crocodiles. For example, the Dyaks of Borneo will not
kill a crocodile unless a crocodile has first killed a man. "For why, say
they, should they commit an act of aggression, when he and his kindred can so
easily repay them? But should the alligator take a human life, revenge
becomes a sacred duty of the living relatives, who will trap the man-eater in
the spirit of an officer of justice pursuing a criminal. Others, even then,
hang back, reluctant to embroil themselves in a quarrel that does not concern
them. The man-eating alligator is supposed to be pursued by a righteous
Nemesis; and whenever one is caught they have a profound conviction that it
must be the guilty one, or his accomplice."
Like the Dyaks, the natives of Madagascar never kill a crocodile "except in
retaliation for one of their friends who has been destroyed by a crocodile.
They believe that the wanton destruction of one of these reptiles will be
followed by the loss of human life, in accordance with the principle of lex
talionis." The people who live near the lake Itasy in Madagascar make a
yearly proclamation to the crocodiles, announcing that they will revenge the
death of some of their friends by killing as many crocodiles in return, and
warning all well-disposed crocodiles to keep out of the way, as they have no
quarrel with them, but only with their evil-minded relations who have taken
human life. Various tribes of Madagascar believe themselves to be descended
from crocodiles, and accordingly they view the scaly reptile as, to all
intents and purposes, a man and a brother. If one of the animals should so
far forget himself as to devour one of his human kinsfolk, the chief of the
tribe, or in his absence an old man familiar with the tribal customs, repairs
at the head of the people to the edge of the water, and summons the family of
the culprit to deliver him up to the arm of justice. A hook is then baited
and cast into the river or lake. Next day the guilty brother, or one of his
family, is dragged ashore, and after his crime has been clearly brought home
to him by a strict interrogation, he is sentenced to death and executed. The
claims of justice being thus satisfied and the majesty of the law fully
vindicated, the deceased crocodile is lamented and buried like a kinsman; a
mound is raised over his relics and a stone marks the place of his head.
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