804 REPOET— 1891. 



tained. Their primitive savagery is proved by the destruction of the aged and 

 infanticide. 



(II.) The crudest form of their religion is 



A. Animism, really a primitive philosophy. It may be divided into (a) 

 spiritism, {b) fetishism. In both the spirit is cajoled or overcome by magic. No- 

 vyhere is the power of abstraction stronger than in Italy, to some extent owino: to 

 the influence of Etruria ; the fear of these nebulous impersonal spirits and ill-omened 

 plants was common ; the fetish was widely distributed, e.g. the oracle of Pelasgian 

 Dodona, a kind of instinctive meteorology. Further, animism was (a) vague, and 

 (b) hypocritical. 



B. Naturalism characterises Greek mythology especially. At this stage those 

 objects were chosen which bore some resemblance to man and promoted his welfare. 

 Magic gradually disappears, but the spirit is not omnipotent — he even betrays weak- 

 ness. Environment exerts an important influence here, e.g. in Etruria and Greece. 

 A kind of totemism frequently occurs, e.g. the Hera-idols of the megalithic tombs of 

 Mycense. Ovid's ' Metamorphoses ' was an attempt to account for the impersona- 

 tion. 



C. Anthropomorphism is a nobler and more intellectual form of worship, 

 with which idolatry is closely connected : in Greece, which was influenced by 

 Phoenician art, it reached its perfection ; in Italy it remained an exotic in spite of 

 Etruscan artists. 



Thus their religion was (a) developmental, {b) acquisitive. 

 It would be seen upon examination that 



(1) Their primitive culture was on the level of that of many savage races of the 

 present time. 



(2) The civilisation of Aryan Europe, as a whole, begins with contact with 

 the East. 



(3) The criteria must be sought in other prehistoric sciences, not philology 

 alone. 



(4) Their civilisation is of paramount interest to anthropologists. 



2. The Morocco Berhers. Btj J. B. Budgett Meakin.' 



The people from whom Barbary takes its name occupy the mountain fastnesses 

 of the whole of the northern coast of Africa. Notwithstanding the numerous 

 invaders who have from time to time swept through the land, these hardy people 

 still retain their racial characteristics, language, and customs in a comparative state 

 of purity. They have, however, embraced Mohammedanism, in consequence of which 

 their language has become largely adulterated with Arabic, and many new cus- 

 toms have been introduced. In Morocco the Berbers have to a great extent main- 

 tained their independence, and military expeditions are undertaken annually to 

 control one section or another. Their weakness is their inter-tribal rivalry. The 

 methods of self-rule employed in the independent districts vary considerably, in- 

 cluding representative assemblies, hereditary autocrats, and a species of combina- 

 tion of these two. Among themselves there is always warfare, and every traveller 

 must be protected by some member of the tribe he is visiting. 



It is still a moot point whether the Berber language should be classed as 

 Hamitic or Semitic. Though the construction, both of words and sentences, 

 resembles the Semitic, its vocabulary is entirely distinct from that group. In most 

 parts Arabic words have been introduced in great numbers. It has, however, no 

 literature. Only one or two works are known to have been written in it, and 

 those in Arabic characters. Its own characters are only to be found in inscrip- 

 tions, which are very scarce, and hardly known in Morocco. The word Berber 

 itself is of disputed origin, and, though used by some sections of the people, does 

 not to them represent the whole. 



The Berbers are essentially warlike, and are proud of their bravery and independ- 

 ence. Cowardice is to them a heinous crime. In most other points each tribe 



' For some years acting editor of The Times of 3forocco. 



