NA TURE 



203 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 191 1. 



GOTTERDAMMER UNG. 

 The Golden Bough : a Study in Magic and Religion. 

 By Prof. J. G. Frazer. Third edition. Part iii., 

 "The Dying God." Pp. xii + 305. (London: Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd., 191 1.) Price los. net. 



THE third part of "The Golden Bough" is an ex- 

 pansion of a portion of the third chapter of the 

 second edition. Its title, "The Dying God," indicates 

 the chief concern of the whole work, for it might well 

 apply to four of the six parts. To the other three, 

 "Adonis, Attis, Osiris," "The Man of Sorrows," and 

 " Balder the Beautiful," it is related as genus to 

 species. 



Prof. Frazer is to be congratulated on having dis- 

 covered the missing link, which he has long desi- 

 derated, in the chain of evidence required for his 

 explanation of the fantastic rule of the priesthood 

 of Nemi, which forms the text of his encyclopaedic 

 work. This discovery is one of the two chief portions 

 of new matter introduced. Dr. C. G. Seligmann has 

 discovered among the Shilluk of the White Nile a 

 "coronation ceremony" which, in Prof. Frazer's 

 cautious phrase, 



"appears to be intended to convey to the new monarch 

 the divine spirit of Nyakang, which has been trans- 

 mitted from the founder of the dynasty to all his 

 successors on the throne." 



The practice of killing divine kings had been pre- 

 viously made out by the author, but the fact of suc- 

 cession to the soul of the slain monarch, though 

 strongly suggested by many analogies, was still lack- 

 ing. The Shilluk apparently supplied the omission. 



The point calls for something more than mere 

 mention, since it is of vital importance not only for 

 the explanation of the Nemi priesthood, but for the 

 general principles of the whole practice of super- 

 stitious regicide. A few extracts from Prof. Frazer's 

 account will serve to make the point clear. 



"The reverence which the Shilluk pay to their king 

 appears to arise chiefly from the conviction that he is 

 a reincarnation of the spirit of Nyakang, the semi- 

 divine hero who founded the dynasty and settled the 

 tribe in their present territory." 



The religion of the Shilluk consists mainly of the 

 worship paid to Nyakang. One of his most famous 

 shrines is at Fashoda. Every shrine is called a grave 

 of Nyakang, " though it is well known that nobody 

 is buried there." Nyakang is the rain-giver of the 

 country. Being incarnate in the reigning king, it is 

 believed with "conviction" that the l.-ittcr 



"must not be allowed to become ill or senile, lest with 

 his diminishing vigour the cattle should sicken and 

 fail to bear their increase, the crops should rot in the 

 fields, and man, stricken with disease, should die in 

 ever-increasing numbers." 



To prevent all this " it used to be the regular custom 

 with the Shilluk to put the king to death whenever 

 he showed signs of ill-health or failing strength." 

 The old custom is said to have been the walling-up 

 of the king in a specially built hut, where he died 

 NO. 2198, VOL. 88] 



of hunger and suffocation. This custom "was 

 abolished some five generations ago," and the Shilluk 

 have adopted 



" a quicker and more merciful mode. . . . What the 

 exact form of execution has been in later times Dr. 

 Seligmann found it very difficult to ascertain, thoi gh 

 with regard to the fact of the execution he tells us 

 that there is not the least doubt. It is said that 

 the chiefs announce his fate to the king, and that 

 afterwards he is strangled in a hut which has been 

 specially built for the occasion." 



Moreover, even while enjoying health and strength, 

 the king might be attacked at any time by a rival. 



" According to the common Shilluk tradition any son 

 of a king had the right thus to fight the king in 

 possession, and, if he succeeded in killing him, to 

 reign in his stead." 



In a note Dr. Seligmann is quoted as saying : — 



"The assumption of the throne as the result of vic- 

 tory in single combat doubtless occurred once ; at the 

 present day and perhaps for the whole of the historic 

 period it has been superseded by the ceremonial kill- 

 ing of the king, but I regard these stories as folk- 

 lore indicating what once really happened." 



At the investiture of the new king, a mysterious 

 object called Nyakang is used. It 



"is said to be of cylindrical shape. . . . The chief of 

 Akurwa informed Dr. Seligmann that the object in 

 question is a rude wooden figure of a man. . . . We 

 may suppose that it represents the divine king himself,' 

 and that it is, or was formerly, supposed to house his 

 spirit, though the chief of Akurwa denied to Dr. 

 Seligmann that it does so now." 



The object is placed on the royal stool, a leg of 

 which is held by the king. 



There is a lack of absolute certainty about the whole 

 account. Dr. Seligmann has not seen the " Nyakang " 

 nor a coronation. As for the residence of "the holy 

 spirit of Nyakang" in the object bearing his name, 

 all we have is the remark, "as Dr. Seligmann with 

 great probability conjectures." 



This method of crystallising dogmas out of the 

 fluid ideas of barbarous thought is very characteristic 

 of the inductive processes of the author. It may be 

 said to constitute both his weakness and his strength. 

 The rationalist may observe that the actuality of the 

 Shilluk customs is mechanical common sense guided 

 by the principle that might is right. The king must 

 be a strong man both for his own and his people's 

 sake. When a stronger man comes, he is liable to 

 the incidence of this principle. When he him.self 

 decays, he is "relieved" of his duties, in the most 

 effective way. Everything else is superstitious accre- 

 tion, ex post facto, and of no practical importance. 

 But when, as may happen in organised religions, such 

 accretions crystallise into form, and are used as social 

 or political levers upon the popular will, their import- 

 ance may be far-reaching. Probably no one is better 

 aware of this distinction than the author, but he has 

 his own characteristic method of painting the social 

 dangers of unscientific beliefs. 



The other new subject in the volunn h.i-^ ,1 similar 

 aspect. This, put baldly, is the suggesliuii iliat the 

 victors in the great Greek games were originally 



H 



