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invented and substituted for it. This custom really originates from 
the rigid observance of a rule of never mentioning the names of the 
dead, and itis closely connected with the worship of ancestors and 
the idea that the spirits of the dead can work both good and evil 
to the survivors, and must not be called back, but be propitiated 
alike by offerings and sacrifices. This idea causes the use of much 
periphrase among the Australian tribes. In Siam the King must 
never be directly named, but alluded to in a very roundabout manner. 
The name of a chief is always tabooed in the South Seas. One New 
Zealand chief was called Wai or water, and a new name pope had to 
be invented for water, another, evidently a sharp fellow, was named 
Maripi, or knife ; henceforth knives were xekra. Among African tribes 
the Kaffirs drop from their language words resembling the names of a 
former chief. Hence the Zulu word for sun, zlanga became zsota, 
because of their ruler Uhlanga. In these stages of culture, marriage 
customs affect the language. The Antillian Caribs generally steal 
their wives from alien tribes, so the language of the men differs from 
that of the women. Elsewhere a man may not pronounce the name of 
his mother-in-law or sister-in-law, and a woman mus? likewise omit all 
reference to her father-in-law or brothers-in-law. The Kaffir women 
have, therefore, developed a language of their own. If any of their 
husband’s male relatives is called, say, Uhmelo-amehlo, eyes, the usifazi 
or women no longer use the word amehlo for eyes, but substiiute for it 
amakangelo, or lookings. If one were called Wkombo, she would not 
use znkombo for cow, but would invent another name for the domestic 
anima]. Moreover, it is not etiquette in savage society to name things 
or potentialities which are supposed to be hurtful. Hence the Dyaks 
never refer by name to the small-pox when that pestilence prevails, 
but anxiously inquire, “ Has he left you?” The’ Yesidis worship an 
individual who is usually nameless in polite society even unto this day, 
but refuse to mention his name Sheitan, and gave up using that for 
river, ‘ shat,” as being likely to be mistaken for it. Among African 
tribes, the proverb about the devil being “not so black as he is painted” 
would be reversed, because they always paint him white, out of com- 
pliment to the superior powers, ability, and knowledge of the white 
man. It is possible that a similar idea suggested to the Chinese the 
uncomplimentary designation of “foreign devils” indiscriminately 
applied to all aliens in that empire. 
After this fashion custom has caused frequent changes in the 
vocabularies of savage tribes. But it is also to custom, ard one mainly 
dictated by human vanity, that we owe the formal preservation of 
extinct languages and the records of bygone civilisations and empires 
in both worlds. The most pronounced Democrat, were he also a 
philologist or a philosopher, would readily admit the use of kings and 
queens and autocratic rulers of Empires. Had they not been respec- 
tively impelled by a desire to record their names, acts, decrees, and 
ordinances on rocks, temples, monoliths, and palaces, on clay brick,. 
cylinder, silver tablet, or papyrus we should have known absolutely 
nothing of the ancient language and history of Egypt. We should 
have been ignorant also of the old Accadian tongue and the culture of 
the kingdoms of North and South Babylonia, of the empire and 
