154 HUNTING AND FISHING RACES 



not a rare occurrence that a man who is offended by another man 

 takes revenge by killing the offender,' and a feud then follows 

 which may last for generations. 1 Blood feuds originating in 

 actual murder are also recorded of various Indian tribes ; 2 but it 

 does not appear that bloodshed, owing to belief in witchcraft, 

 occurs on any significant scale either in North or South America. 

 Of the Haidahs we are told that ' death is ascribed to the ill-will 

 and malign influence of an enemy and one suspected of causing the 

 death of a prominent individual must be ready to die '. 3 Niblack, 

 speaking of the Coast tribes from Southern Alaska to British 

 Columbia and thus including the Haidahs, says : * all severe 

 diseases or illnesses are ascribed to the evil influence of enemies, 

 and in the case of the death of an important personage, a victim 

 is usually found who has presumably charmed away the life of the 

 deceased.' 4 The implication is, of course, that a victim is only 

 sought on rare occasions, as on the death of a prominent man. 



12. The custom of killing the old and the sick is of sufficient 

 importance to deserve mention. Among these races it is not 

 uncommon and is connected with the nomadic nature of their 

 existence. 5 The Tasmanians would seem to have been in the 

 habit of abandoning the sick and infirm. 6 There is some evidence 

 of this habit in Australia, 7 but on the whole sick and aged are well 

 looked after in that country. 8 ' The Bushmen frequently forsake 

 their aged relations when removing from place to place for the 

 sake of Imnting. In this case they leave the old person with 

 a piece of meat and an ostrich egg-shell full of water ; as soon as 

 this little stock is exhausted, the poor deserted creature must 

 perish by hunger or become the prey of wild beasts.' 9 The aged 

 are not treated well by the Eskimos. In the Ungava district they 

 are put to death, 10 and among the Central Eskimos a man may kill 



1 Boas, 6th A. R. B. E., p. 582. Similar accounts are given by other authors : 

 see Nelson, loc. cit., p. 293 ; Rink, loc. cit., p. 35 ; Klutschak, Ala Eskimo unter 

 den Eskimos, p. 228. 2 For instance, the Lillooet (Teit, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 236) 



and the Shastika (Powers, loc. cit., p. 29). 3 Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 348. 



Niblack, Joe. cit., p. 348. A somewhat similar account is given of the Zaporos 



ol. vii, p. 

 6 It is not only among these races that the aged are thought to be in the way. 



(Simson, J. A. /., vol. vii, p. 506). 



Bonnard, in an article in the Figaro on the Prince de Beauvais' travels in Canada, 

 mentions that the latter saw an enterprising Canadian township recommended 

 by the announcement that there were ' no old inhabitants to hinder progress ' 

 (Figaro, March 28, 1914). The evidence for the existence of this custom has been 

 reviewed by Westermarck, Moral Ideas, vol. ii, pp. 386 ff. 



6 Ling Roth, loc. cit., p. 73. 7 Sartori, Globus, vol. Ixvii, p. 108. 8 See, 



for instance, Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes, p. 32, and Natives Tribes, p. 51. 

 9 Theal, loc. cit., p. 19. 10 Turner, loc. cit., p. 186. 



