TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 613 



forethought, and in certain cases it has a definite practical object. Taking all 

 these characteristics as a whole, these ceremonies reveal a more distinctly economic- 

 form of labour than any other which is found among these tribes, especially if 

 compared with their methods of collecting food, hunting, and other practical 

 occupations. 



It is a remarkable fact that the most highly developed form of labour in 

 these tribes is found in connection with totem ic ceremonies. According to the 

 general remarks made at the cutset, it is necessary to show that in these 

 ceremonies there are some mental factors acting as substitutes for the free 

 volitional effort which is required by real economic activity. As a matter of 

 fact, the totemic ideas which organise and regulate the labour in question possess, 

 as a signal characteristic, an irresistible ascendency over the primitive mind, and 

 that accounts for man being compelled under their influence to work in a manner 

 for which he has a natural reluctance. It is this specific character of necessity, 

 constraint, and compulsion that Professor Durckheim regards as a distinctive 

 feature of religious phenomena. This binding power of religious ideas is put in 

 bold relief in the ceremonies under consideration, and it is evident that the 

 connection between economic and magical or religious ideas, such as is found 

 in the Intichiuma ceremonies, is not superficial and accidental, but deeply 

 rooted in the essential qualities of these two classes of fact. We thus see how 

 the totemic ideas, without leading to real economic enterprise, educate society 

 to a kind of labour capable of economic utilisation. It is a question whether 

 this educational influence may not be of wide application ; in other words, whether 

 magical and religious ideas have not played an important part in the evolution of 

 economic labour. The comparison of the Intichiuma ceremonies in the different 

 tribes described by Spencer and Gillen to a certain extent seems to confirm this 

 view, if it be assumed that there is a progressive development from north to 

 south. In the northern tribes (e.g., Warramunga) they are purely traditional 

 and representative ceremonies, and possess almost no influence upon the multi- 

 plication of the totemic animals or plants ; in the more southern tribes this 

 latter aim becomes more prominent, and in the Arunta they are applied to direct 

 practical ends. Moreover, the work done in the Warramunga falls almost 

 exclusively upon the headman, whereas it is more collective in the Arunta and 

 other kindred tribes. Thus the economic aspect becomes more and more pro- 

 nounced as we advance southwards. 



3, The Divine Kings of the Shilluk. By C. G. Seligmann, M.D. 



The Shilluk kings trace their origin to Nyakang, the semi-divine hero who, 

 with a comparatively small band of followers, took possession of the present 

 Shilluk territory and founded the Shilluk nation. The genealogy of the royal 

 family shows that twenty kings belonging to twelve generations intervene 

 between Nyakang and Kwadke, the first king to be killed by the Turks. 



The majority of Shilluk think of Nyakang as having been human in form 

 and in physical qualities (though, unlike his more recent successors, he did not 

 die but disappeared), but there are also legends of his descent from a crocodile 

 maiden. The holiness of Nyakang is especially shown in his relation to Juok, 

 the formless and invisible high-god of the Shilluk, who made men and is re- 

 sponsible for the order of things; for it is only through Nyakang that men can 

 approach Juok, performing the sacrifices to Nyakang that cause him to move 

 Juok to send rain. 



Nyakang manifests himself in certain animals, as do the spirits of the dead 

 Shilluk lungs, who from one point of view are considered identical with Nyakang, 

 for they incarnate his divine spirit. This belief appears to have led to the 

 ceremonial slaying of the king when he becomes ill or senile, lest with his 

 diminishing vigour the cattle should sicken and f;iil to bear their increase, the 

 crops should rot in the fields, and man, stricken with disease, should die in ever- 

 increasing numbers. 



1911. L L 



