128 EEV. D. GATE WHITLEY, ON 



and of the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands.* The case of 

 the Bushmen in South Africa is still more striking.! These 

 diminutive savages were formerly thought to have no religion 

 whatever, because no traces of temples, sanctuaries, or of 

 organised priesthood could be discovered among them. It is 

 now known that these ideas were utterly incorrect. The Bush- 

 men believed in supernatural deities, they prayed to these 

 deities who were often symbolised by various animals, and they 

 believed in a future life. They therefore possessed a religion, 

 although it was an individual matter, and an elaborate hierarchy 

 with temple worship did not exist among them. Natural 

 objects, such as strikingly-formed rocks and trees are often 

 objects of worship, because they are considered to be the abode 

 of the deity. A great sandstone rock, standing alone on the 

 prairies of Manitoba and called the Roches Perches, is, by the 

 Indians considered the home of the gods, and offerings are 

 made to it, and prayers said before it.J Thus Primitive Man 

 might have worshipped rocks, trees, and animals, and might 

 even have sacrificed to them, and to the lakes and rivers, 

 without leaving a trace of this worship behind him.§ It shows 

 an utter ignorance of the facts of modern anthropology to 

 say that Primitive Man had no religion, merely because we do 

 not find material evidence of it in the Pleistocene caves and 

 gravels. 



But the progress of discovery is rapid, and evidence can be 

 now produced from the cavern deposits of the Palaeolithic 

 Period, to show that Palaeolithic Man not only possessed a 

 religion, but had probably a recognised priesthood. Let me 

 give one striking instance before I pass on : — 



The cavern of Brassempouy in the Landes in Southern 

 France,| j has lately been explored by MM. Piette and Laporterie, 

 assisted by members of the Association Franqaise. A Palaeolithic 

 deposit was discovered in the cavern, and in this deposit were 



* See the accounts of Messrs. Man, Temple and Lane Fox, and in 

 particular De Quatrefages in his work Les Pygmies, pp. 133-210. 



t For accounts of the Bushmen I refer the reader to The Native Races 

 of South Africa, by G. W. Stow, pp. 1-232. There is also an excellent 

 account of the Bushmen given by Professor Sollas in his Ancient Hunters 

 and their Modern J!r^rcsent"f/res, pp. 271-306. 



I See Fossil Man, by Sir J. W. Dawson, p. 270, who also gives in the 

 frontispiece of the book a drawing of the rock. 



§ In his Dolmens of Ireland Mr. W. C. Borlase also gives many 

 instances of rocks being w orshipped by the ancient Irish heathens. 



|| This cave is in the neighbourhood of Pan. 



