CEREMONY IN GENERAL. 21 



to be a symbolic observance. On studying early ideas, 

 however, and finding that the primitive man regards the 

 nature of anything as inhering in all its parts, and therefore 

 thinks he gets the courage of a brave enemy by eating his 

 heart, or is inspired with the virtues of a deceased relative 

 by grinding his bones and drinking them in water, we see 

 that by absorbing each other s blood, men are supposed to 

 establish actual community of nature. 



Similarly with the ceremony of exchanging names. 

 &quot;To bestow his name upon a friend is the highest compli 

 ment that one man can offer another,&quot; among the Sho- 

 shones. The Australians exchange names with Europeans, 

 in proof of brotherly feeling. This, which is a widely-dif 

 fused practice, arises from the belief that the name is vitally 

 connected with its owner. Possessing a man s name is 

 equivalent to possessing a portion of his being, and enables 

 the possessor to work mischief to him; and hence among 

 numerous peoples a reason for concealing names. To ex 

 change names, therefore, is to establish some participation 

 in one another s being; and at the same time to trust each 

 with power over the other: implying great mutual confi 

 dence. 



It is a usage among the people of ^ate, &quot; when they wish 

 to make peace, to kill one or more of their own people, and 

 send the body to those with whom they have been fighting 

 to eat; &quot; and in Samoa, &quot; it is the custom on the submission 

 of one party to another, to bow down before their conquerors 

 each with a piece of firewood and a bundle of leaves, such 

 as are used in dressing a pig for the oven [bamboo-knives 

 being sometimes added] ; as much as to say Kill us and 

 cook us, if you please. These facts I name because they 

 show a point of departure from which might arise an appar 

 ently-artificial ceremony. Let the traditions of cannibalism 

 among the Samoans disappear, and this surviving custom 

 of presenting firewood, leaves, and knives, as a sign of sub 

 mission, would, in pursuance of the ordinary method of in- 

 60 



