142 IMAGES AND NAMES. 



It is especially in Eastern Asia and Polynesia, that we find 

 the names of kings and chiefs held as sacred, and not to be 

 lightly spoken. In Siam, the king must be spoken of by some 

 epithet ; ^ in India and Burmah, the royal name is avoided as 

 something sacred and mysterious ; and in Polynesia, the pro- 

 hibition to mention chiefs^ names has even impressed itself 

 deeply in the language of the islands where it prevails.® 



But it is among the most distant and various races that we 

 find one class of names avoided with mysterious horror, the 

 names of the dead. In North America, the dead are to be 

 alluded to, not mentioned by name, especially in the presence 

 of a relative.^ In South America, he must be mentioned among 

 the Abipones as " the man who does not now exist," or some 

 such periphrasis ; * and the Fuegians have a horror of any kind 

 of allusion to their dead friends, and when a child asks for its 

 dead father or mother, they will say, " Silence ! don't speak bad 

 words." ^ The Samoied only speaks of the dead by allusion, 

 for it would disquiet them to utter their names.^ The Austra- 

 lians, like the North Americans, will set up the pictured crest 

 or symbol of the dead man's clan, but his name is not to be 

 spoken. Dr. Lang tried to get from an Australian the name 

 of a native who had been killed. " He told me who the lad's 

 father was, who was his brother, what he was like, how he 

 walked when he was alive, how he held the tomahawk in his 

 left hand instead of his right (for he had been left-handed), 

 and with whom he usually associated ; but the dreaded name 

 never escaped his lips ; and I believe no promises or threats 

 could have induced him to utter it." ^ The Papuans of the 

 Eastern Archipelago avoid speaking the names of the dead, 

 and in Africa, a like prejudice is found among the Masai.^ In 

 the Old World, Pliny says of the Roman custom, " Why, when 

 we mention the dead, do we declare that we do not vex their 

 memory ? " ^ and indeed, the superstition is still to be found in 



1 Bovreing, p. 38. ^ Polack, vol. i. p. 38. 



^ Simpson, Journey, vol. i. p. 130. Schoolcraft, part iii. p. 234. 



* Dobrizboffer, vol. ii. p. 273. 



= Despard, ' Fireland,' ('Sunday at Home,' Oct. 31, 1863). 



^ Klemm, C. G., vol. ii. p. 226. 



7 Lang, ' Queensland,' pp. 367, 387. Eyre, 1. c. 



* Bastian, vol. ii. p. 276, etc. ' Plin., xxvili. 5. 



