PRIESTLY DUTIES OF DESCENDANTS. 713 



be expected, that the smallest amount of enmity and the 

 greatest amount of amity are supposed to be felt by the 

 ghosts of relatives. Indeed by some races such ghosts are 

 considered purely beneficent ; as by the Karens, who think 

 their meritorious ancestors &quot; exercise a general watch care 

 over their children on earth.&quot; 



Though among various peoples there is propitiation chiefly 

 of bad spirits, while good spirits are ignored as not likely to 

 do mischief; yet wherever ancestor- worship preserves its 

 original lineaments, we find the chief attention paid to the 

 spirits of kindred. Prompted as offerings on graves originally 

 are by affection for the deceased, and called forth as praises 

 are by actual regrets for his or her departure, it naturally 

 happens that these propitiations are made more by relatives 

 than by others. 



595. Hence then the truth, everywhere illustrated, that 

 those who perform the offices of the primitive cult are, at the 

 outset, children or other members of the family. Hence 

 then the fact that in Samoa 



&quot; Prayers at the grave of a parent or brother or chief were common. 

 Some, for example, would pray for health in sickness and might or 

 might not recover.&quot; 



Hence the fact that the people of Banks Island, setting out 

 on a voyage, would say 



&quot; Uncle ! Father ! plenty of pigs for you, plenty of money, kava 

 for your drinking, twenty bags of food for your eating in the canoe. 

 I pray you look upon me ; let me go safe on the sea. J &quot; 



And hence once more the fact that among the Blantyre 



negroes 



44 If they pray for a successful hunting expedition and return laden 

 with venison or ivory, they know that it is their old relative that has 

 done it, and they give him a thank offering. If the hunting party get 

 nothing, they may say the spirit has been sulky with us, . . . and 

 refuse the thank-offering.&quot; 



Unquestionably these cases, re-inforcing many before given, 

 show us the beginnings of a family-religion. Along with 

 that fear of a supernatural being which forms the central 



