44 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



more rapidly these ribbons decay and perish, the 

 greater the luck of the marriage. A story is now told 

 to explain the name of the tree from a child who was 

 said to have been forgotten there and torn to pieces 

 by a wild boar ; but it is more probable, as Dr. Andree 

 remarks, that the tree was an old and sacred tree 

 whence children were believed to come. The ob- 

 servances just mentioned point at least in that direc- 

 tion, and seem to show that it was regarded as in 

 some way a fecundating power. 1 This, in fact, is the 

 light in which the Bahoni, a Bantu people on one of 

 the tributaries of the Upper Congo, regard the kola- 

 tree which occupies the centre of each of their villages. 

 Under it assemblies are held; it ''belongs to the 

 chief, and is supposed to exercise an influence upon 

 the fertility of his wives. When one of the latter 

 menstruates the chief gives it a cut to remind it of its 

 duty." Its fruit is considered an aphrodisiac, and is 

 reserved to the chief and privileged guests. 2 



Before passing from the eating of fruit and vege- 

 tables, let me point out that the duddim, for which 

 Rachel bargained with Leah, seem to have been 

 possessed of power to put an end to barrenness ; and 

 this, as we gather from the record in Genesis, quite 

 independently of sexual intercourse, for Rachel, who 

 was bitterly envious of Leah's fertility, gave up her 

 husband to her sister in exchange for them. From 

 the Septuagint and Josephus downwards the duddim 

 have been identified with the mandrake, a plant which 

 has been during all history credited with supernatural 



1 Zeits. des Vereins^ vi. 366. Other examples are cited by 

 Dieterich, Mutter Erde> 19 sqq. 



2 Torday and Joyce,/. A. I. xxxvi. 291. 



