Primitive folk : studies in comparative ethnology / by Élie Reclus.

  • Élie Reclus
Date:
[1891?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primitive folk : studies in comparative ethnology / by Élie Reclus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    himself by terrible plagues. And there was a contingency no less dangerous; the demons and inferior deities might get a taste for this food, and no longer care for any other: At Cattingya we have a jungle well stocked with game, in consequence of the saline efflorescence there, of which all animals are fond. Lo and behold, a rival tribe, to play us a trick, bury some carrion there. . . . Ever since, there has been no venison except for the hunters of Gourdapour, whilst we from Cattingya always return empty-handed. Why ? Because the demons favour those who have given them a taste for human flesh ! Here, too, would it have been well to say, Let it alone, let it go? Would it have been well to wait until the waxing civilisation, which had already suppressed meriahs in the south, should also suppress them in the north ? That would have meant to wait patiently for centuries, or at least for two or three generations. The English Government, which directly intervened in so many less important matters, understood that they must here act a sovereign's part. Nothing could be easier in theory than to forbid human sacrifices, by a mandate for which good reasons were assigned. But it was very shortly recognised that before the Company could here have the last word, they would be obliged to break up the civil and political organisation, and possibly to destroy a portion of the people; in any case, to set out upon a succession of massacres and summary execu- tions, the end of which it was difficult to foresee. The cure would have been worse than the disease. For some time the East India Council cautiously felt their way. The first systematic act, inspired by Macpherson, was the official recognition of these scattered tribes. They were made to understand that the Calcutta Administration had constituted itself their centre, and federated them under its presidency, declaring that in future it would take cognisance of their principal aflairs, their quarrels and differences. For once, the central authority showed itself as benevolent as resolute \
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