155 
tive as throwing light on early and rude ideas. In taking 
down the details of these prohibitions, it is well to inquire 
their reason, as this may sometimes be the true one, or at 
least afford a clue to its discovery. 
i. Is any particular food, animal or vegetable, forbidden 
though obtainable and wholesome ? 2. Do the whole people 
abstain from it, or only certain families or individuals, or 
persons under some special circumstances ? 3. Is the pro¬ 
hibition religious, or referred to custom and propriety ? 
4. Is there a distinction between young and old, male and 
female, as to these prohibitions? 5. Is the animal or plant 
abstained from in any way regarded as divine, a tribe-fetish, 
the incarnation of a local deity or personal guardian-spirit, 
or the soul of some ancestor ? is it the animal after which the 
tribe or family has its name ? 6. If the food is abstained 
from at certain times only? 6 a. Are these occasions, 
puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, the period after child¬ 
birth, mourning after a death, time of purification after 
manslaughter, times connected with hunting and war, time 
of preparation for observance of religious rites, &c. ? 7. Does 
it seem that the abstention has to do with fasting, and that 
it prepares the abstainer for spiritual intercourse ? 8. Is the 
idea that the food contains a spirit or deity, or is holy, 
so that persons in a state of uncleanness must not defile 
it by eating it ? 9. Or, on the other hand, is the person 
in a state of sanctity, and would the food defile 
him ? 10. Is there any thing symbolical, as where the 
flesh of slow or cowardly animals is abstained from by 
warriors lest they should become slow or cowardly? 11. Is 
there any particular caste or tribe, or member of family, who 
may eat what others may not, or may not eat what others 
may ? and why ? 12. Are any persons under any circum¬ 
stances not allowed to eat with others? 13. Do men and 
women take their meals apart ? and is this a ceremonial 
usage, or a matter of inferiority ? 14. Are persons ever 
forbidden to feed themselves or touch their food with their 
hands ? (See also No. XL, Totemism.) 
