Chapter 139

30Wilken,Het Animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel, p. 207sq.Perham, ‘Sea Dyak Religion,’ inJour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc.no. 10, p. 220; St. John,Life in the Forests of the Far East, i. 69sq.(Sea Dyaks). Blumentritt, ‘Der Ahnencultus und die religiösen Anschauungen der Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,’ inMittheil. d. kais. u. kön. Geograph. Gesellsch. in Wien, xxv. 166sqq.Prain, ‘Angami Nagas,’ inRevue coloniale internationale, v. 489. Forsyth,op. cit.pp. 141, 143 (Gonds). Hooker,Himalayan Journals, i. 126 (Lepchas). Robertson,History of America, i. 383; Müller,Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen, pp. 150, 151, 232, 260; Dorman,Origin of Primitive Superstition, p. 30 (American Indians). Sproat,Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, p. 212 (Ahts). Falkner,Description of Patagonia, p. 116; Prichard,Through the Heart of Patagonia, p. 97.

31Seesupra,ii. 615sq.

32von Düben,Lappland, pp. 227, 285. Friis,Lappisk Mythologi, p. 106. Jessen,Norske Finners og Lappers Hedenske Religion, p. 33.

33Matthews,Navaho Legends, p. 40. See alsoibid.p. 33.

34Ellis,Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, pp. 17, 18, 77, 92.Idem,Ew̔e-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, p. 75. Wilson,Western Africa, p. 387 (Mpongwe). Tuckey,River Zaire, p. 375. Ellis,History of Madagascar, i. 395sq.Ratzel,History of Mankind, i. 321 (various South Sea Islanders). Turner,Samoa, p. 17sq.Williams and Calvert,Fiji, p. 185sq.Inglis,op. cit.p. 30 (people of Aneiteum). Christian,Caroline Islands, p. 75. Wilken,Het Animisme, pp. 231sqq.(Minahassers, Macassars, and Bugis of Celebes), 243 (Javanese). Selenka,Sonnige Welten, p. 103sq.(Dyaks). Forbes,Insulinde, p. 203 (natives of Tenimber). von Brenner,Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras, p. 221 (Bataks). Mason, ‘Religion, &c. among the Karens,’ inJour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xxxiv. 196. Hunter,Annals of Rural Bengal, i. 182, 186sq.(Santals). Hodgson,Miscellaneous Essays, i. 128 (Bódo and Dhimáls). Bailey, ‘Veddahs of Ceylon,’ inTrans. Ethn. Soc.N.S. ii. 301; Nevill, ‘Vaeddas of Ceylon,’ inTaprobanian, i. 194. Schmidt,Ceylon, p. 291sq.(Tamils). Bergmann,Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmüken, iii. 182sq.Abercromby,Pre- and Proto-historic Finns, i. 160 (Ostiaks). Buch, ‘Die Wotjaken,’ inActa Soc. Scient. Fennicæ, xii. 595sq.Castrén,Nordiska resor och forskningar, iii. 106, 107, 174sq.(Finnish tribes). Boas, ‘Central Eskimo,’ inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.vi. 591. Turner,ibid.xi. 193sq.(Hudson Bay Eskimo), 272 (Hudson Bay Indians). Hoffman, ‘Menomini Indians,’ibid.xiv. 65. McGee, ‘Siouan Indians,’ibid.xv. 179; Parkman,op. cit.p. lxx; Dorman,op. cit.p. 227 (North American Indians). Müller,Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen, pp. 72 (North American Indians), 171 (Indians of the Great Antilles). Couto de Magalhães,Trabalho preparatorio para aproveitamento do selvagem no Brazil—O selvagem, p. 128sqq.Tylor,op. cit.ii. 199sqq.

35Schmidt,Ceylon, p. 291sq.(Tamils). Turner, inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.xi. 193sq.(Hudson Bay Eskimo), 272 (Hudson Bay Indians). McGee,ibid.xv. 179; Müller,op. cit.p. 72 (North American Indians).

36For a singular exception to this rule seesupra,ii. 67sq.

On the other hand, instances are not wanting in which savage gods are supposed to punish the transgression of rules relating to worldly morality. Occasionally, as we have noticed above, such gods are represented as avengers of some special kind of wrong-doing—murder,37theft,38niggardliness,39want of hospitality,40or lying.41Of certain Negro tribes we are told that, “when a man is about to commit a crime, or do that which his conscience tells him he ought not to do, he lays aside his fetiche, and covers up his deity, that he may not be privy to the deed.”42The Tonga Islanders “firmly believe that the gods approve of virtue, and are displeased with vice; that every man has his tutelar deity, who will protect him as long as he conducts himself as he ought to do; but, if he does not, will leave him to the approaches of misfortune, disease, and death…. All rewards for virtue or punishments for vice happen to men in this world only,and come immediately from the gods.”43The Ainu of Japan are heard to say, “We could not go contrary to the customs of our ancestors without bringing down upon us the wrath of the gods.”44And of various savages we are told that they believe in the existence of a supreme being who is a moral lawgiver or judge.

37Supra,i. 378sq.

38Supra,ii. 59sq.

39Supra,i. 561sq.

40Supra,i. 578.

41Supra,ii. 114sq.

42Tuckey,op. cit.p. 377.Cf.Monrad,Skildring af Guinea-Kysten, p. 27, n. *

43Mariner,Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 149, 107.

44Batchelor,Ainu of Japan, p. 243sq.

In Australia, especially in New South Wales and Victoria but also in other parts of the continent, many of the native tribes have the notion of an “All-father,” called Baiame, Daramulun, Mungan-ngalla, Bunjil, Nurelli, Nurundere, or by some other name.45He is represented as an anthropomorphic, supernatural being and as the father of the race or the maker of everything, who at one time dwelt on the earth but afterwards ascended to a land beyond the sky, where he still remains. He is of a kindly disposition, and requires no worship; in a very few cases only we meet with some faint traces of a cult offered him.46He is frequently believed to have instituted the initiation ceremonies,47and to have given the people their laws.48Thus Nurundere is said to have taught the Narrinyeri all the rites and ceremonies whether connected with life or death; on inquiry why they adhere to any custom, the reply is that Nurundere commanded it.49At theboorah, or initiation, of the Euahlayi tribe, Byamee is proclaimed as “Father of All, whose laws the tribes are now obeying”; and in one of their myths he is described as the original source of all the totems and of the law that persons of the same totem may not intermarry.50Bunjil taught the Kulin the arts of life, and told them to divide themselves into two intermarrying classes so as to prevent marriages between kindred.51Daramulun instructed the Yuin what to do and gave them laws which the old people have handed down from father to son to the present time.52And in several instances the Australian “All-father” is represented as a guardian of morality who punishes the wicked and rewards the good. Bunjil “very frequently sent his sons to destroy bad men and bad women … who had killed and eaten blacks.”53Daramulun, or Tharamulun, who from his residence in the sky watches the actions of men, “is very angry when they do things that they ought not to do, as when they eat forbidden food.”54The natives of the Herbert River, in Queensland, believe that anybody who takes a wife from the prohibited sub-class, or who does not wear the morning necklace for the prescribed period, or who eats forbidden food, will sooner or later die in consequence, since his behaviour is offensive to Kohin, a supernatural being who is supposed to have his dwelling in the Milky Way but to roam about at night on earth as a gigantic warrior killing those whom he meets.55Most commonly, however, the retribution is said to come after death.The tribes about Maryborough, in Queensland, maintain that the ghosts of those who are good or those who have a high degree of excellence in any particular line—fishing, hunting, fighting, dancing, and so forth—are directed by Birral to an island in the Far North, where he resides.56Among the Cape River tribes, “when a Blackfellow dies whose actions during life have been what they hold to be good, he is said to ascend to Boorala (i.e., to the Creator, literally ‘good’), where he lives much as he did on earth, less the usual terrestrial discomforts”; whereas to the man who has led a bad life death is thought to be simple annihilation.57The Kulin said that when they die they will be subjected to a sort of trial by Binbeal, “the good being rewarded in a better land, the bad driven away, but where they seemed to have no idea.”58According to another account, again, Binbeal, after he has subjected the spirits of the deceased to an ordeal of fire to try whether they are good or bad, liberates the good at once, whereas the bad are confined and punished.59The Illawarra, who lived from thirty to a hundred miles south of Sidney, believed that when people die they are brought up to a large tree where Mirirul, the supreme ruler, examines and judges them. The good he takes up to the sky, the bad he sends to another place to be punished. The women said to their children when they were naughty, “Mirirul will not allow it.”60Among the Wathiwathi, in New South Wales, the belief prevails that if the spirit of a bad man escapes the traps which are set for it on its course in the sky, it is sure to fall into the hell of fire. The good spirit, on the other hand, is received by two old women who take care of it till it becomes accustomed to its new abode; and after a time the great God, Tha-tha-puli, comes with a host of spirits to see the newcomer and try his strength.61According to a report written by Archdeacon Günther in 1839, Baiame is supposed to like the blacks who are good; and “there is also an idea entertained by the more thoughtful that good natives will go to Baiame when they die.”62Later authorities state that Baiame is believed not only to reward the good after death, but also to punish the wicked—that is, persons who tell lies or kill men by striking them secretly or who are unkind towards the old and sick or, generally, who break his laws.63A very elaboratetheory of retribution is communicated by Mr. Manning, whose notes date from 1844 or 1845. Boyma (Baiame) is said to be seated far away in the north-east on an immense throne made of transparent crystal and standing in a great lake. He has a son, Grogoragally, equal with him in omniscience, who acts as mediator for the souls to the Great God. His office is to watch over the actions of mankind and to bring to life the dead to appear before the judgment-seat of his Father, who alone pronounces the judgment of eternal happiness in heaven or eternal misery in a hell of everlasting fire. Women and boys dying before the initiation, however, do not go to heaven; the men have a vague idea that another world is reserved for them. There is also a third person, half human, half divine, called Moodgeegally, who makes Boyma’s will known to mankind and is the avowed enemy of all wicked people, transmitting their misdeeds to Grogoragally.64

45Henderson,Colonies of New South Wales, p. 147. de Strzelecki,New South Wales, p. 339. Manning, ‘Aborigines of New Holland,’ inJour. and Proceed. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales, xvi. 157sqq.Ridley,Kámilarói, p. 135sqq.Cameron, ‘Some Tribes of New South Wales,’ inJour. Anthr. Inst.xiv. 364sq.Langloh Parker,Euahlayi Tribe, p. 4sqq.Threlkeld,An Australian Language as spoken by the Awabakal, p. 47. Mathews,Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales and Victoria, p. 138sqq.Mathew,Eagle-hawk and Crow, p. 146sqq.Fountain and Ward,Rambles of an Australian Naturalist, p. 296.Missions-Blatt aus der Brüdergemeine, xvi. 101, 143; Parker,Aborigines of Australia, p. 24; Dawson,Australian Aborigines, p. 49 (tribes in Victoria). Brough Smyth,Aborigines of Victoria, i. 423sqq.Taplin, ‘Narrinyeri,’ in Woods,Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 55sqq.Howitt,Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 489sqq.Spencer and Gillen,Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 498sq.(Kaitish). Strehlow, quoted by Thomas, ‘Religious Ideas of the Arunta,’ inFolk-Lore, xvi. 429sq.Idem, quoted by von Leonhardi, ‘Religiöse und totemistische Vorstellungen der Aranda und Loritja in Zentralaustralien,’ inGlobus, xci. 286sq.Curr,The Australian Race, i. 253 (Larrakīa); ii. 465, 475 (some Cape River natives). Lang,Cooksland, p. 459sq.;Idem,Queensland, p. 379sq.Roth,Ethnol. Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines, pp. 16, 153. 158. Salvado,Mémoires historiques sur l’Australie, p. 258 (natives of West Australia).

46When the natives of Cooksland, in North-Eastern Australia, rob a wild bees’ hive they generally leave a little of the honey for Buddai, the supernatural ancestor of their race (Lang,Cooksland, p. 460;Idem,Queensland, p. 380). Mrs. Langloh Parker (op. cit.pp. 8, 9, 79, 89) was told that in the Euahlayi tribe prayers are addressed to Byamee at funerals for the souls of the dead, and that at some initiatory rites the oldest medicine-man present addresses a prayer to him asking him to give the people long life as they have kept his law; but they do not profess to pray or to have prayed to Byamee on any other occasions (cf.Manning,loc. cit.p. 164). The natives inhabiting the neighbourhood of Lake Boga in Victoria have to placate Pei-a-mei by dances (Missions-Blatt aus der Brüdergemeine, xvi. 143). Of the South-Eastern Australian Daramulun Mr. Howitt says (op. cit.p. 507sq.) that, although there is no worship of him, “the dances round the figure of clay and the invocating of his name by the medicine-men certainly might have led up to it.”

47Manning,loc. cit.p. 165; Ridley,op. cit.pp. 141, 155; Langloh Parker,op. cit.p. 7 (Boyma, Baiame, Byamee). Howitt,op. cit.p. 495 (Daramulun). M’Kinlay, quotedibid.p. 496. Mr. Threlkeld says (op. cit.p. 47) that Koin, an imaginary male being who has the appearance of a black, is supposed to precede the coming of the natives from distant parts when they assemble to celebrate certain of their ceremonies.

48Howitt,op. cit.p. 489 (Nurelli of the Wiimbaio). M’Kinlay, quotedibid.p. 496.

49Taplin, in Woods,op. cit.p. 55.

50Langloh Parker,op. cit.p. 7sq.

51Howitt,op. cit.p. 491.

52Ibid.p. 495.

53Brough Smyth,op. cit.i. 423.

54Howitt,op. cit.p. 495.

55Ibid.p. 499.

56Howitt,op. cit.p. 498.

57Curr,op. cit.ii. 475.

58Parker,Aborigines of Australia, p. 24.

59Ridley,op. cit.p. 137.

60Ibid.p. 137.

61Cameron, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xiv. 364sq.

62Günther, quoted by Thomas, inMan, 1905, p. 51.

63Ridley,op. cit.pp. 135, 136, 140. Langloh Parker,op. cit.p. 70.

64Manning,loc. cit.p. 159sqq.

It seems probable that these statements represent a mixture of Christian ideas and genuine aboriginal beliefs. There is reason to believe that the Australian notion of an “All-father” is not in the first instance due to missionary influence;65we have records of it from a comparatively early date, it is spread over a wide area, it has been found among natives who live in a state of great isolation, and the multitude of different names by which the “All-father” is called in different tribes does not suggest a recent origin from a common source. He may very well be a mythical ancestor. Mr. Howitt observes that the master in the sky-country represents the Australian idea of a headman—“a man who is skilful in the use of weapons of offence and defence, all-powerful in magic, but generous and liberal to his people, who does no injury or violence to any one, yet treats with severity any breaches of custom or morality.”66But he may also be a personification of supernatural force in general, or a being who has been invented to account for all kinds of marvellous phenomena. The wordaltjira, by which the Arunta call their great god, is apparently not a proper name; according to Kempe, it is applied to five gods, whose names he gives, as also to the sun, moon, and remarkable things generally.67And Mulkari, who figures in the beliefs of some Queensland tribes, is described not only as “a benevolent, omnipresent, supernatural being,” but as “anything incomprehensible,” asthe supernatural power who makes everything which the blacks cannot otherwise account for.68On the other hand, it is hardly possible to doubt that in various instances Christian conceptions have been infused into the aboriginal belief either by the natives themselves or by our informants.69Biblical traits are conspicuous in some of the legends. Bishop Salvado tells us that, according to West Australian beliefs, the Creator, Motogon, “employa ces paroles: ‘Terre, parais dehors’: et il souffla, et la terre fut créée. ‘Eau, parais dehors’; et il souffla, et l’eau fut créée.”70The believers in Nourelle give the following account of the origin of death:—The first created man and woman were told not to go near a certain tree in which a bat was living, as the bat was not to be disturbed. But one day the woman, while gathering firewood, went near the forbidden tree; the bat flew away and after that came death.71And the same natives also believe that Nourelle created a great serpent, to which he gave power over all created things.72So also the doctrine of a hell with everlasting fire has almost certainly a foreign origin; and in some other points the genuineness of the Australian theories of retribution is at least open to doubt, even though the function of a judge cannot be regarded as incompatible with the notion of a mythical headman in the sky. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe that it would be a very easy matter indeed to form, as the result of a general statement such as might be made by any individual native in reply to a question, a perfectly wrong impression with regard to the native’s idea as to the existence of anything like a supreme being inculcating moral rules.73Of the Central Australian aborigines they say:—“Any such idea as that of a future life of happiness or the reverse, as a reward for meritorious or as a punishment for blameworthy conduct, is quite foreign to them…. We know of no tribe in which there is a belief of any kind in a supreme being who rewards or punishes the individual according to his moral behaviour, using the word moral in the native sense.”74So far as the Arunta are concerned, this statement is confirmed by Mr. Strehlow. He writes that their god Altjira, who lives in the sky and shows himself to man in the lightning, is agood god who never inflicts any punishments on human beings.75

65See especially Howitt,op. cit.p. 504sqq.; Lang,Magic and Religion, p. 25sqq.; Thomas, inMan, p. 50sqq.; von Leonhardi, inGlobus, xci. 287.

66Howitt,op. cit.p. 507. See alsoibid.p. 501.

67Thomas, inFolk-Lore, xvi. 431.

68Roth,op. cit.pp. 36, 153.

69Mr. J. D. Lang (Queensland, p. 379sq.;Cooksland, p. 459sq.) even suspects Asiatic influence in the case of Buddai, or Budjah, the mythical ancestor of certain Queensland aborigines. Not only does his name remind of Buddha, but a story told of him is remarkably similar to an Eastern legend.

70Salvado,op. cit.p. 258.

71Brough Smyth,op. cit.i. 428.

72Ibid.i. 423.

73Spencer and Gillen,Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 492sqq.

74Ibid.p. 491.

75Strehlow, quoted by Thomas, inFolk-Lore, xvi. 429sq.Idem, quoted by von Leonhardi, inGlobus, xci. 287.

From various Polynesian and Melanesian islands we hear of a supreme being—called Io by the Maoris,76Tangaroa by the Samoans,77Taaroa by the Society Islanders,78and so forth79—who has made everything, but who is too remote and indistinct to be an object of worship and takes no interest in the morals of men. In some instances at least he seems to be a very shadowy deification of the forces of nature. Thus Io is described as “the great originator, the All-Father, who pervades space, has no residence, and cannot be localised”; and the conception of Tangaroa is equally abstract.80Mr. Guppy learned that the natives of Treasury Island and the Shortlands, in the Solomon Group, believe in a Good Spirit who lives in a pleasant land, whither all men who have led good lives go after death; whereas all bad people are transported to the crater of Bagana, the burning volcano of Bougainville, which is the home of the Evil Spirit and his companion spirits.81But this belief savours too much of a Christian hell to be accepted as genuine without further evidence.

76Gudgeon, ‘Maori Religion,’ inJour. Polynesian Soc.xiv. 108sq.

77Ibid.p. 108sq.

78Ellis,Polynesian Researches, i. 323sqq.

79Tylor,op. cit.ii. 344sqq.Hoffmann,La notion de l’Être suprême chez les peuples non civilisés, p. 70sqq.

80Gudgeon, inJour. Polynesian Soc.xiv. 108.

81Guppy,Solomon Islands, p. 53.

The Sea Dyaks of Borneo have a great good god called Batara, or Petara, who created the world and rules over it, and is the cause of every blessing. He is not susceptible to human influence, and therefore receives no worship. But he approves of industry, honesty, purity of speech, and skill in word and work. He punishes theft, injustice, disrespect for old persons, and adultery; and immorality among the unmarried is supposed to bring a plague of rain upon the earth as a punishment inflicted by Petara. In general, says Mr. Perham, he is against man’s sin; but over and above moral offences many sins have been invented which are simply the infringement ofpemate, ortabu.82Like many other great gods of savages, Petara is lacking in individuality. He is at all events not now supposed to be one supreme god, but the general belief is that there are many Petaras—in fact as many Petaras as men. Each man, the people say, has his own peculiar Petara, his own tutelary deity, and if aperson is miserable it is because his Petara is miserable.83This account, however, loses much of its interest when we find that the name Batara or Petara has obviously been borrowed from Sanscrit, where the wordbhaṭṭârameans “lord” or “master.”84The great gods of some other peoples in the Malay Archipelago, again, have names which are derived from Arabic—Lahatala, Latala, or Hatalla, fromAllah taʿâla. Hence when the Alfura of Bura are heard to say that their highest god, Opo-geba-snulat or Lahatala, writes down in a book the actions of men so as to be able to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked as they deserve, there is every reason to think of influence from Muhammedanism.85

82Perham, ‘Petara,’ inJour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc.no. 8, p. 149sq.St. John,Life in the Forests of the Far East, i. 69sq.Selenka,op. cit.p. 97sqq.

83Perham, inJour. Straits Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc.no. 8, p. 134sq.

84Ibid.p. 133. Wilken,Het Animisme, p. 162.

85Wilken,op. cit.pp. 162, 240sq.

The Andaman Islanders are reported to believe in a supreme being, Pūluga, who was never born and is immortal, who has created the world and all its objects, who is omniscient when it is day, knowing even the thoughts of their hearts. Whilst pitiful to those in distress, he is angered by the commission of certain sins—falsehood, theft, grave assault, murder, adultery, and burning wax. He is the judge from whom each soul receives its sentence after death. The “spirits” of the departed are sent by him to a place comprising the whole area under the earth, to await the resurrection. The “souls” of the departed, again, pass either into paradise or to another place which might be described as purgatory, a place of punishment for those who have been guilty of heinous sins, such as murder. At the resurrection the soul (from which evil emanates) and the spirit (from which all good emanates) will be reunited and will henceforth live permanently on the new earth, since the souls of the wicked will then have been reformed by the punishments inflicted on them during their residence in the “purgatory.”86Mr. Man, who has given us this account, thinks it is extremely improbable that the legends about Pūluga, about the powers of good and evil, and about a world beyond the grave, are the result of the teaching of missionaries or others.87But his assumption that they are indigenous seems hardly justified by the very scanty knowledge we possess of the past history of these islanders. Considering their low state of culture, the metaphysical subtlety in some of the notions recorded by Mr. Man would certainly be more astonishing if India were not so near.

86Man, ‘Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,’ inJour. Anthr. Inst.xii. 112, 157, 158, 161sq.

87Ibid.p. 156.

Among the Karens of Burma the belief is held that Hades has a king or judge who stands at the door to admit or reject those who apply for admission into his kingdom. He decides the future of each. Those who have performed meritorious works are sent to the regions of happiness above; those who have done wickedness, such as striking father or mother, are delivered over to the king of hell who is in waiting; whilst those who have neither performed deeds of merit nor are guilty of great crimes are allotted a place in Hades.88At the same time the Karens’ ideas of a future state are described as confused, indefinite, and contradictory. Mr. Mason writes:—“They seem to be a melee of different systems. That which appears to me indigenous Karen … represents the future world as a counterpart of this, located under the earth, where the inhabitants are employed precisely as they are here.”89The Pahárias of the Rájmahal Hills believe that the souls of those who have been disobedient to the commands of Bedo Gosain will be condemned either to inhabit some portion of the vegetable kingdom for a certain number of years, or to be cast into a pit of fire, where the offender will suffer eternal punishment or be regenerated in the shape of a dog or a cat. Those who have led a good life, on the other hand, will be rewarded, first by enjoying a short but happy residence with Bedo Gosain in heaven, and subsequently by being born a second time on earth of women and being exalted to posts of great honour, as also by possessing an abundance of worldly goods.90In these notions our chief informant, Lieutenant Shaw, sees traces of Hinduism.91Lack of detailed information makes it impossible to decide whether the belief in a creator and heavenly judge which has been found in some other uncivilised tribes in India might be traced to a similar influence. The Munda Kols in Central Bengal maintain that the good and almighty Singbonga, who lives in the sky and is connected with the sun, has made everything. Being so far away he occupies himself very little with earthly matters, and is only in exceptional cases an object of worship; but he sees everything which happens, and is said to punish theft and insincerity.92So also the Kukis recognise a benevolent and all-powerful godand creator, called Puthén, who is the judge of all mortals and awards punishments to the wicked both in this world and in the next.93

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