Kill Is TAINI liNGS UK lllE TKANSVA AJ-. 571 



((/) 'Vo ensure the fertilitx ot cr()])s, herds or tainihes. 

 ( /' ) To secure the preservation or increase ol' tlie food 



supply. 

 ((■) To ensure i)ro>|)rrit\ in warfare. tlie i hase, or any 



other undertakiuj". 

 ((/) To hrin^ misfortune, (hsease or death upon an eiirnu. 



etc. 



2. The methods usually on ployed t<> l)rin<j^ ahout these re- 

 suhs. 



The followintj^ examples in which savas^es have been known 

 to make use of rcprcsetiiations of animals and other o])jects as 

 instruments (.f mag'ic in (i) securinjj^ tlie foiul su])]jlv. or lii) 

 bewitching an enemy, taken from the enormous quantitv ui 

 material collated by Professor Frazer in "The (iolden Boug^h," 

 will be enough for (Uir pur])ose, and helj) us to understand the 

 motive lying- behind many of the cave drawing^, not onK of 

 the Bushmen, but also of the early Cave Men of Rnro])e and 

 other parts of the world 



Homoeopathic, and in general sympathetic magic i)lays a large part 

 in the measures of the rude hunter or fisherman to secure an abundant 

 supply of food. On the principle that like produces like, many things 

 are done by him and his friends in deliberate imitation of the result 

 which lie seeks to attain; and on the other hand, many things are 

 scrupulously avoided because the\ bear a more or less fanciful resem- 

 blance to others which would really be disastrous.* 



When he (the Cora Indian) wishes to multiply his tiocks or herds, 

 he models a tigure of the animal he wants in wax or clay, or carves it 

 from turf, and deposits it in a cave of the mountains. t 



Perhaps the most familiar application of the principle that like pro- 

 duces like is the attempt tliat has been made by many people in many 

 ages to injure or destroy an enemy by injuring or destroying an image 

 of him, in the belief that just as the image suffers, so does the man, and 

 that when it perishes, it must die. . . . For thousands of years it 

 was known to the sorcerers of ancient India. Uabylon, and Egypt, as 

 well as of Greece and Rome, and at this day it is still resorted to by 

 cunning and malignant savages in Australia, Africa, and Scotland. Thus 

 the North American Indians, we are told, believe that by drawing the 

 figure of a person in sand, ashes or clay, or l)y considering any object 

 as his body, and then pricking it with a sharp stick, or doing- it any cither 

 injury, they inflict a corresponding injury on the person represented. $ 



In a similar fashion a photographer will often experience 

 great diflficulty in persuading natives in this country to allow 

 themselves to be photographed, for fear lest the ]jhotograph 

 might be used for malign purposes. 



In the state of our present knowledge, therefore, it is rea- 

 sonable to assume that the Bushmen paintings were magical in- 

 struments created for the jntrpose of augmenting or preserving 

 the food supplies or other objects, and this view is greatly 

 strengthened by a consideration of the folhnving points: — 



I. It explains the origin of the art. for faith in the efficacy 

 of this method \vould provide a strono" incentive to a study of 



* Frazer, "The Magic Art," 1. 85. 



■\ Ibid., p. 87. note T. 

 %Ihid.. p. 55. 



