170 president's address — SECTION F. 



txadition that forbade him to do so. Eveutually, if I may para- 

 phrase a well-known passage of Gibbon, he sighed as a member of 

 the cockatoo totem, but obeyed as a policeman ; he shot the birds, 

 but I am told that h© spent the night weeping in an agony of fear 

 and remorse. We are inclined to laugh at him in our . superior 

 way, but his grief was quite sincere. 



Idol (iu<] JJnnii in I'lirari Dcltd. 



There must be innumerable ways in which even the most care- 

 ful man offends native feelings, and I am afraid that the ordinary 

 white man is not particularly careful in this regard. Perhaps 

 the British white man is no worse than the others, although those 

 who have seen British tourists on the Continent of Europe may be 

 inclined to be less hopeful. And there are really most unexpected 

 ]ntfalls, into^ some of which we all of us, I suppose, occasionally 

 fall. I remember once in the Purari Delta noticing a thiiig in the 

 men's house, or ravi, that looked like an idol; I offered to buy it, 

 and the chief (there are two for each ravi, one for either side) 

 said, courteously enough, " Of course, if you want it you can have 

 it; but if you take it away we shall all be very ill." I asked him 

 why, but he could not or would not tell. 



In the same ravi there were a number of drums, and some of 

 us were idly tapping them as we went along ; but when we came 

 to- one of them (it looked exactly like the others) we were politely 

 lequested not to touch it. " If you do," said the chief, " we shall 

 all die." 



Rni/uualc'r Ainonrj the Nuhas. 



A better instance than any of these is that given in a book • 

 called Science and the Nation, edited by the Master of Downing 

 College, Cambridge. The last chapter of this book is called " The 

 Government of Subject Peoples"; it is written by Dr. Rivers, 

 and the instance to which I have referred is given to illustrate 

 what the author calls " the religious or magical aspects of chief- 

 tainship." " Among the Nubas of Southern Kordofan," says Dr. 

 Rivers, " the chief is also the rainmaker, and it is believed that 

 his rain-making powers will come to an end if he leaves the hill 

 upon which he and his people dwell. Formerly, when an official 

 wished to deal with a community of the Nubas, he camped at the 

 foot of their hill, and sent for the chief, thus forcing the people 

 to choose between disobedience to their foreign rulers and the loss 

 of supernatural powers which they believe to be essential to their 

 welfare. Placed in such a dilemma, it is not surprising that they 

 have preferred to offend the temporal powers, thus bringing 

 immediate disaster on themselves and serious trouble and e'xpens© 

 to their rulers. With knowledge of the fact that the chief is a 

 rainmaker who must not leave his hill, it would have been easy 

 for the official eitlier to visit the hill himself or use- some other 

 intermediary." 



