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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