46 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



354. Associated with the direct motive for taking 

 trophies there is an indirect motive, which probably aids 

 considerably in developing the custom. AVheii treating of 

 primitive ideas, we saw that the imanalytical mind of the 

 savage thinks the qualities of any object beside in all its 

 parts; and that, among others, the qualities of human be 

 ings are thus conceived by him. From this we found 

 there arise such customs as swallowing parts of the bodies 

 of dead relatives, or their ground bones in water, with the 

 view of inheriting their virtues; devouring the heart of a 

 slain brave to gain his courage, or his eyes in the expectation 

 of seeing further; avoiding the flesh of certain timid ani 

 mals, lest their timidity should be acquired. A 

 further implication of this belief that the spirit of each per 

 son is diffused throughout him, is, that possession of a part 

 of his body gives possession of a part of his spirit, and, 

 consequently, a power over his spirit: one corollary being 

 that anything done to a preserved part of a corpse is done to 

 the corresponding part of the ghost; and that thus a ghost 

 may be coerced by maltreating a relic. Hence, as before 

 pointed out ( 133), the origin of sorcery; hence the rat 

 tle of dead men s bones so prevalent with primitive medi 

 cine-men; hence &quot; the powder ground from the bones of the 

 dead &quot; used by the Peruvian necromancers; hence the por 

 tions of corpses which our own traditions of witchcraft name 

 as used in composing charms. 



Besides proving victory over an enemy, the trophy there 

 fore serves for the subjugation of his ghost; and that pos 

 session of it is, at any rate in some cases, supposed to make 

 his ghost a slave, we have good evidence. The primitive 

 belief everywhere found, that the doubles of men and 

 animals slain at the grave, accompany the double of the 

 deceased, to serve him in the other world the belief which 

 leads here to the immolation of wives, wdio are to manage 

 the future household of the departed, there to the sacrifice 

 of horses needed to carry him on his journey after death, 



