PREDATORY AND INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES. 721 



of rank in the community, and complete submission of each rank to 

 the ranks above it. We see this in the society already instanced, as 

 showing, among advanced savages, the development of the militant 

 type. In Feejee six classes are enumerated, from king down to slaves, 

 as sharply marked off. Similarly in Madagascar, where despotism has 

 been in late times established by war, there are several grades and 

 castes. Among the Dahomans, given in so great a degree to blood- 

 shed of all kinds, "the army, or, what is nearly synonymous, the 

 nation," says Burton, "is divided, both male and female, into two 

 wings ; " and then, of the various ranks enumerated, all are charac- 

 terized as legally slaves of the king. In Ashantee, too, where his 

 officers are required to die when the king dies, we have a kindred con- 

 dition. Of old, among the aggressive Persians, grades were strongly 

 marked. So was it in warlike ancient Mexico. Besides three classes of 

 nobility, and besides the mercantile classes, there were three agricultu- 

 ral classes down to the serfs all in precise subordination. In Peru, also, 

 below the Inca there were grades of nobility lords over lords. More- 

 over, according to Garcilasso, in each town the inhabitants were regis- 

 tered in decades under a decurion, five of these under a superior, two 

 such under a higher one, five of these centurions under a head, two 

 of these under one who thus ruled a thousand men, and for every ten 

 thousand there was a governor of Inca race ; the political rule being 

 thus completely regimental. Till lately, another illustration was fur- 

 nished by Japan. That there were kindred, if less elaborate, struct- 

 ures in ancient militant states of the Old World, scarcely needs 

 saying ; and that like structures were repeated in mediaeval times, 

 when a large nation, like France, had under the monarch several 

 grades of feudal lords, vassals to those above, and suzerains to those 

 below, with serfs under the lowest, again shows us that everywhere 

 the militant type has sharply-marked social gradations, as it has 

 sharply-marked military gradations. 



Corresjjonding to this natural government, there is a like form of 

 supernatural government. I do not mean merely that, in the ideal 

 other-w r orlds of militant societies, the ranks and powers are conceived 

 as like those of the real world around, though this also is to be noted ; 

 but I refer to the militant character of the religion. Ever in antag- 

 onism with other societies, the life is a life of enmity, and the reli- 

 gion a religon of enmity. The duty of blood-revenge, most sacred 

 of all with the savage, continues to be the dominant duty as the mili- 

 tant type of society evolves. The chief, balked of his vengeance, 

 dies enjoining his successors to avenge him ; his ghost is propitiated 

 by fulfillment of his commands; the slaying of his enemies becomes 

 the highest action ; trophies are brought to his gi - ave in token of ful- 

 fillment ; and, as tradition grows, he becomes the god worshiped with 

 bloody sacrifices. Everywhere we firid evidence. The Feejeeans offer 

 the bodies of their victims killed in war to the gods before cooking 

 vol. ix. 46 



