THE RISE OF A PRIESTHOOD. 7o3 



boasts of miraculous powers, and who &quot; has erected a sacred 

 mound to the manes of his father, who was similarly gifted, 

 and he uses the awe which attaches to this spot as a means 

 of extorting money from the deluded Queen &quot; money partly 

 spent in offerings to &quot; his deified ancestor : &quot; the rest being 

 appropriated by himself. And Sir Alfred Lyall in his 

 Asiatic Studies, variously illustrates this sporadic origin of 

 new deities severally apt to originate priesthoods. 



Hence it seems inferable that in early stages there occa 

 sionally arise men not descended from the chiefs ancestor, 

 who acquire quasi-priestly characters, and may even succeed 

 in supplanting priests of normal origin. Especially is such 

 usurpation likely to happen where by migration or by war, 

 there have &quot;been produced fragments of the society which do 

 not contain within themselves descendants of the traditional 

 god. 



G08. So long as there continues undivided, a community 

 of which the deceased founder has become the village god, 

 propitiated on behalf of his descendants by the nearest 

 of kin among them, who also serves as intermediator for 

 other heads of families respectively worshipping their 

 ancestors, no advance in the development of a priesthood is 

 likely to take place. But when increase of numbers neces 

 sitates parting, there comes a further differentiation. How 

 this arises we are well shown by a statement of Andersson 

 concerning the Damaras : &quot; A portion of such fire [sacred 

 fire] is also given to the head man of a kraal, when about to 

 remove from that of the chief. The duties of a vestal then 

 devolve upon the daughter of the emigrant.&quot; Evidently 

 where a dead ruler, or other remarkable member of the tribe, 

 has become a traditional god, so well established that pro 

 pitiation of him has become imperative, migrating portions of 

 the tribe, carrying their cult with them, must have someone 

 to perform the rites on their behalf. Always the probability 

 is that the detached group contains men akin to the chief of 



