They Thus some of the avenger, who fought daily the battle for his people." thus identified him with the ancestor of the tribe, but Tsuigoab was also the name by which they called the Infinite.1 Among the pagans of Africa there is, in fact, a very widespread belief in a benevolent supreme deity, a creator or maker of things, who lives in or above the sky, who generally takes no concern whatever in the affairs of mankind, who mostly receives no worship, and is, as a rule, totally indifferent to good or evil. In some rare instances only he is described as a judge of human conduct. Bechuanas believe that a being who is vaguely called by the name of Lord and Master of things, Mongalinto, punishes thieves by striking them with the lightning. According to an old writer, Father Santos, the natives of Sofala in South-Eastern Africa acknowledge a god, called Molungo, "who both in this and the world to come they fancy measures retribution for the good and evil done in this." They believe in the existence of twenty-seven paradises, where everyone enjoys a pleasure proportionate to the merits of his life; while those who have passed their lives in wickedness are supposed to be condemned to a privation from the sight of the holy presence of Molungo, and to suffer torments in one of the thirteen hells they assume to exist, each according to the evil he has done. The Baluba, a Bantu people of Equatorial Africa, have the notion of a creator, named Fidi-Mukullu, who punishes the souls of the wicked before they are reborn on earth, whereas the good return to life again, in the shape of chiefs or other important persons, immediately after they have died.5 The Awemba, Hahn, The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi, pp. I22, 126 sq. 2 Livingstone, Missionary Travels, p. 641 (tribes of the Zambesi). Rattray, Stories and Songs in Chinyanja, p. 198 (natives of Central Angoniland). Stigand, 'Natives of Nyassaland,' in Jour. Roy. Anthr. Inst. xxxvii. 130. Roscoe, Bahima,' ibid. xxxvii. 108 sq. Wilson and Felkin, Uganda, i. 206. Beltrame, If Fiume Bianco e i Dénka, pp. 191, 192, 276 sq. Kingsley, 'Fetish View of the Human Soul,' in FolkLore, viii. 142 sq.; Idem, Travels in West Africa, pp. 442, 508. Parkinson, 'Asaba People of the Niger,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxxvi. 312. Bosman, Description of the Coast of Guinea, pp. 121 sq. (Gold Coast natives), 348 (Slave Coast natives). Cruickshank, Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast, ii. 126 sq. Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, p. 26 sqq. Idem, Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, P.33 sq. Winterbottom, Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, i. 222. Wilson, Western Africa, p. 209 (natives of Northern Guinea). Rowley, Religion of the Africans, pp. 15, 16, 54. Tylor, op. cit. ii. 347 sqq. Lang, Making of Religion, p. 230 sqq. Hoffmann, op. cit. p. 45 sqq. 3 Arbousset and Daumas, Exploratory Tour to the North-East of the Colony of Good Hope, p. 322 sq. 4 Santos, 'History of Eastern Ethiopia,' in Pinkerton, Collection of Voyages and Travels, xvi. 687. Wissmann, Wolf, &c., Im Innern Afrikas, p. 158. Wissmann, Quer durch Afrika, p. 379. another Bantu people, who inhabit the stretch of country lying between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Bangweolo, acknowledge a supreme being, Leza, who "is the Judge of the dead, and condemns thieves, adulterers and murderers to the state of Vibanda, or Viwa (evil spirits), exalting the good to the rank of mipashi, or benevolent spirits." Other natives in the neighbourhood of Lake Tanganyika recognise a creator called Kabesa, who lives in the sky and admits to his abode the souls of good people after death, but turns away the souls of the wicked." The Akikuyu of British East Africa recognise three gods all of whom are called Ngai. One of them, however, is considered the supreme deity. "If a man is good this Ngai can give him much property. If he does wrong the same power can strike him down with disease and cause his livestock to dwindle away. . . . The sudden death of a man, for instance by lightning, is ascribed to some evil act of his life being punished by Ngai." s Proyart tells us that the Negroes of Loango believed in supreme being, Zambi, who had created all that is good in the world, who was himself good and loved justice in others, and who severely punished fraud and perjury. It is of course impossible to say exactly how far the statements referring to African supreme beings represent unadulterated native beliefs. In criticising Kolb's account of the supreme and perfect god of the Hottentots, Bishop Callaway observes, "Nothing is more easy than to enquire of heathen savages the character of their creed, and during the conversation to impart to them. . . ideas which they never heard before, and presently to have these come back again as articles of their own original faith, when in reality. they are but the echoes of one's own thoughts."5 With reference to the West African native Miss Kingsley likewise remarks that he has a wonderful power of assimilating foreign forms of belief, and that when he once has got hold of a new idea it remains in his mind long after the missionaries who put it there have passed away. And besides the teaching of missionaries there are in Africa several factors which for centuries have tended to introduce foreign conceptions, namely, intercourse with European settlers, the operations of the slave trade, and the influence of Muhammedanism. But at the same 1 Sheane, Awemba Religion,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxxvi. 150 sq. 2 Schneider, Die Religion der afri kanischen Naturvölker, p. 84. 3 Tate, Kikuyu Tribe,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxxiv. 263. Proyart, History of Loango,' in Pinkerton, Collection of Voyages and Callaway, Religious System of the Kingsley, in Folk-Lore, viii. 150. 7 Cf. Rowley, Religion of the Africans, pp. 28, 90; Wilson, Western 1 time it seems exceedingly probable that the African belief in a supreme being has a native substratum. In many cases he is apparently the heaven god; but he may also be a mythical ancestor, as the Hottentot god Tsui-goab and the Zulu god Unkulunkulu; or a personification of the supernatural, as is suggested by such names as the Masai Ngăi, the Monbuttu Kilima, and the Malagasy Andriamanitra; or the assumed cause of anything which particularly fills the savage mind with wonder or awe. Among the natives of Northern Guinea, according to Mr. Wilson, "every thing which transpires in the natural world beyond the power of man, or of spirits, who are supposed to occupy a place somewhat higher than man, is at once and spontaneously ascribed to the agency of God." Nay, for reasons which will be stated immediately, I am even of opinion that the function of a moral judge, occasionally attributed to the great god of African pagans, has in some instances an independent origin. Generally speaking, then, it seems that the All-father, supreme being, or high god of savage belief may be traced to several different sources. When not a "loan-god of foreign extraction, he may be a mythical ancestor or headman; or a deification of the sky or some large and remote object of nature, like the sun; or a personification or personified cause of the mysteries or forces of nature. The argument that the belief in such a being is "irreducible because it prevails among savages who worship neither ancestors nor nature, can carry no weight in consideration of the fact that he himself, as a general rule, is no object of worship. In various instances we have reason to suppose that even though the notion of a supreme being is fundamentally of native origin, foreign conceptions have been engrafted upon it; and to these belongs in particular the idea of a heavenly judge who in the after-life punishes the wicked and rewards the good. But we are not entitled to assume that the idea of moral retribution as a function of the great god has in every case been adopted from people of Africa, p. 229 sq.; Cruickshank, op. cit. ii. 126. 1 See Tylor, op. cit. ii. 347 sqq. 2 See supra, ii. 586 sq. 3 Wilson, op. cit. p. 209. See also Liv ingstone, Expedition to the Zambesi, p. 521 sq., quoted supra, ii. 594. Lang, Magic and Religion, p. 42. Hoffmann, op. cit. pp. 122, 126, 131. a higher culture. A mythical ancestor or headman may of his own accord approve of virtue and disapprove of vice; and, besides, justice readily becomes the attribute of a god who is habitually appealed to in curses or oaths. That the supreme being of savages is thus invoked, is in some cases directly stated by our authorities. In making solemn treatises, the Hurons called on Oki, the heaven god.1 The Negroes of Loango, who believed that Zambi, the supreme being, punished fraud and perjury, took his name in testimony of the truth. Among the Awemba the supreme god Leza, who is believed to reward the good and to punish thieves, adulterers, and murderers, is invoked both in blessings and curses, the injured man praying that Leza will send a lion to devour the evildoer.3 İn the Ewe-speaking Ho tribe on the Slave Coast the great god Mawu, who is said to inflict punishment on the wicked, is frequently appealed to in law-cases, by the judge as well as by the plaintiff and the accused. In Northern Guinea the name of the supreme being is solemnly called on three times at the ratification of an important treaty, or when a person is condemned to undergo the "red-water ordeal." 5 Of the Mpongwe we are told that "when a covenant is about to be formed among the different tribes, Mwetyi [the supreme being] is always invoked as a witness, and is commissioned with the duty of visiting vengeance upon the party who shall violate the engagement. Without this their national treaties would have little or no force. When a law is passed which the people wish to be especially binding, they invoke the vengeance of Mwetyi upon every transgressor, and this, as a general thing, is ample guarantee for its observance."6 Among the East African Wakamba, when the supposed criminal is to undergo the ordeal of the hatchet, a magician makes him repeat the following words :-"If I have stolen the property of so and so, or committed this crime, let 1 Tylor, op. cit. ii. 342. 2 Proyart, loc. cit. p. 594. 3 Sheane, in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxxvi. 151. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme, p. 415. 5 Wilson, Western Africa, p. 210. 6 Ibid. p. 392. Mulungu respond for me; but if I have not stolen, nor done this wickedness, may he save me." The magician then passes the red-hot iron four times over the flat hand of the accused; and the people believe that if he is guilty, his hand will be burned, but that, if innocent, he will suffer no injury.' Among the Masai a person who is accused of cattle-lifting and on that account subjected to the ordeal of drinking a mixture of blood and milk, has first to swear, "O God, I drink this blood, if I have stolen the cattle this blood will kill me." Should he not die within a fortnight he is considered innocent. The Madi of Central Africa have various means of trial by ordeal, through which it is believed that the guilt of a suspected individual can be detected; and "before any of these trials the men look up and solemnly invoke some invisible being to punish him if guilty, or help him if innocent.' Of the natives of the Zambesi, all of whom have an idea of a supreme being, Livingstone states that, when undergoing an ordeal," they hold up their hands to the Ruler of Heaven, as if appealing to him to assert their innocence.' 4 It has often been said that the oath and ordeal involve a belief in the gods as vindicators of truth and justice, that they are "appeals to the moral nature of the Divinity.' If this were true, moral retribution would certainly be an exceedingly common function of savage gods. But, as we have noticed before, the efficacy ascribed to an oath is originally of a magic character, and if it contains an appeal to a god he is, according to primitive notions, a mere tool in the hand of the person invoking him. So also the ordeal is essentially a magical ceremony. In many cases at least, it contains a curse or an oath which has reference to the guilt or innocence of a suspected person, and the 1 Krapf, Travels in Eastern Africa, P. 173. 2 Merker, Die Masai, p. 211. 3 Felkin, Notes on the Madi,' in Proceed. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, xii. 334 Livingstone, Missionary Travels, p. 641 sq. Tiele, Elements of the Science of Brin Religion, i. 86. Réville, Les religions |