728 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



originates with the ghost-theory, and the concomitant rise of a belief 

 that some men, having acquired power over ghosts, can obtain their 

 aid. Generally the chief and the medicine-man are separate persons ; 

 and thei-e then exists between them some conflict : they have compet- 

 ing authorities. But, where the ruler unites with his power, naturally 

 gained, this ascribed supernatural power, his authority is necessarily 

 much increased. Recalcitrant members of his tribe, who might dare 

 to resist him if bodily prowess alone could decide the struggle, do not 

 dare to do this if they believe he can send one of his j^osse comitatus 

 of ghosts to torment them. That rulers desire to unite the two char- 

 acters we have, in one case, distinct proof. Canon Callaway tells us 

 that, among the Amazulu, a chief will endeavor to discover a medicine- 

 man's secrets and afterward kill him. 



Still there recurs the question. How does permanent political head- 

 ship arise ? Such political headship as results from bodily power, or 

 courage, or sagacity, even when strengthened by supposed supernat- 

 ural aid, ends with the life of any savage who gains it. The principle 

 of efficiency, physical or mental, while it tends to produce a temporary 

 differentiation into ruler and ruled, does not suffice to produce a per- 

 manent differentiation. There has to cooperate another principle, to 

 which we now pass. 



Already we have seen that even in the rudest groups age gives 

 some predominance. Among both Fuegians and Australians, not only 

 old men, but old women, exercise authority. And that this respect 

 for age, apart from other distinction, is an important factor in estab- 

 lishing political subordination, is implied by the curious fact that, in 

 sundry advanced societies characterized by extreme governmental 

 coercion, the respect due to age takes precedence of all other re- 

 spect. Sharpe remarks of ancient Egypt that " here as in Persia and 

 Judea the king's mother often held rank above his wife." In China, 

 notwithstanding the inferior position of women socially and domes- 

 tically, there exists this supremacy of the female parent, second only 

 to that of the male parent ; and the same thing occurs in Japan. As 

 supporting the inference that subjection to parents prepares the way 

 for subjection to rulers, I may add a converse fact. Of the Coroa- 

 dos, whose groups are so incoherent, we read that " the ^:)r{/e, however, 

 has as little influence over the will of the multitude as any other, for 

 they live without any bond of social union, neither under a repub- 

 lican nor a patriarchal form of government. Even family ties are 

 very loose among them . . . there is no regular precedency between 

 the old and the young, for age appears to enjoy no respect among 

 them." And, as reenforcing this converse fact, I may add that, as 

 I have shown elsewhere, the Mantras, the Caribs, the Mapuches, the 

 Brazilian Indians, the Gallinomeros, the Shoshones, the Navajos, the 

 Californians, the Comanches, who submit very little or not at all to 



