734 ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



the parent tribe, and therefore descendants, direct or collateral, 

 of the worshipped god; and on one of these, in virtue of 

 greatest age or nearest relationship, the function is likely to 

 fall. And since the reasons which determine this choice tend 

 also to determine inheritance of the function, the genesis of 

 a priestly caste becomes intelligible. Light is thrown on the 

 matter by Hislop s statement that though the Gonds are 

 without priests, there are &quot; some men who, from supposed 

 superior powers, or in consequence of their hereditary con 

 nection with a sacred spot, are held to be entitled to take 

 the lead in worship.&quot; The course which change in some 

 cases takes is shown us by the Santals. Hunter says 



&quot; Two of the tribes have more especially devoted themselves to reli 

 gion, and furnish a large majority of the priests. One of these repre 

 sents the state religion, founded on the family basis, and administered 

 by the descendants of the fifth son, the original family priest. ... In 

 some places, particularly in the north, the descendants of the second 

 son . . . are held to make better priests than those of the fifth. . . . 

 They are for the most part prophets, diviners, and officiating Levites 

 of forest or other shrines, representing demon-worship ; and in only a 

 few places do they take the place of the fifth tribe.&quot; 



Not only by the spread of a growing tribe into new 

 habitats, are there thus produced conditions which further 

 the growth of a priesthood ; but kindred conditions are pro 

 duced by the spread of a conquering tribe, and the establish 

 ment of its members as rulers over subordinate tribes. 

 While it has to establish local governments, it has also to 

 establish local ministrations of the cult it brings with it. The 

 case of the Peruvians may be taken as typical. The Ynca- 

 race, over-running indigenous races and leaving their religions 

 intact, simply superposed their own religion. Hence the 

 need for dispersed representatives of it. &quot; The principal priest 

 t or bishop) in each province was an Ynca, who took care that 

 the sacrifices and ceremonies should be in conformity with 

 those of the metropolitan.&quot; Now since the Ynca-religion was 

 a worship of the Sun, regarded as ancestor; and since his 

 supposed most direct descendant, the king himself, was high- 

 priest on important occasions, while the other chief priests 



