Rest Days; A Sociological Study 43 



tion of the diurnal duties, for every morning the cattle must be 

 driven abroad to pasture, they must be watched and watered, ana 

 at night they must be milked. Possibly, also, as von Ihering has 

 suggested, the shepherd, compared with the farmer, has scarcely 

 any need of a regular rest day ; his occupation causes him so 

 little continuous exertion that he can pursue it all the year round 

 without any injury to his health.-^ A farmer, however, is bene- 

 fited by a period of rest recurring more or less regularly, and 

 though agricultural pursuits are dependent on the seasons and 

 weather he is usually able to postpone his work for a brief period 

 without serious loss. It might, therefore, be argued that a 

 change from pastoral to agricultural life would itself be suffi- 

 cient to call into existence the institution of a periodically recur- 

 ring day of rest. 



But this purely theoretical reasoning ought to be confirmed by 

 numerous instances of sabbaths regularly observed by primitive 

 agricultural peoples. If such are not widely found it may then 

 be urged that the connection of the rest day with the farmer's 

 pursuits is in most cases secondary, due to the obvious facts that 

 the sabbath institution implies a settled life, a developed form of 

 social organization and government, and something approaching a 

 calendar system. In nearly every instance where an agricul- 

 tural people observes a periodic rest day this is also a " sacred " 

 day, dedicated to a divinity and hedged about with taboos. It 

 seems scarcely in accord with what we know of primitive culture 

 to assume that the sacred or qiiasi-s.a.cred rest day generally arose 

 from purely practical considerations, and afterwards, to preserve 

 its integrity, was safeguarded with prohibitions and consecrated 

 to a god. At the same time this explanation may hold good in 

 some of the instances to be cited. Utility, as well as super- 

 stitition, has played a part in the genesis of social institutions. 



The references to regular rest days among primitive peoples 

 are not numerous and often are most obscure. A missionary 

 who was well acquainted with the Melanesian peoples, refers to 

 an interesting custom observed by the inhabitants of Kerepunu, 



^Evolution of tlie Aryan, London. 1897, P- H/- 



43 



