Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/818

798 satisfactorily for such accidents—for to man in a low state of culture nothing happens by chance—that the negro extended to natural objects and features the theory of a third element which he had hitherto restricted to himself; or whether he had already formed the belief that such objects and features possessed spiritual individualities, and such accidents only proved to him the malignity and power for evil of those beings, the result would be the same. In either case he would seek to propitiate these powerful beings, and that class of worship which we term Nature-worship would originate.

The theory of animism is divided into two parts, namely: that which treats of the souls or ghosts of individual creatures or objects, capable of continued existence after the death or destruction of the material part; and that which treats of spiritual beings, or gods, who are held to affect and control man's life and the events of the material world. In explanation of the first belief we have the well-known theory advanced by Mr. Herbert Spencer, Dr. Tylor, and others, and which is now very generally accepted; but for the origin of the second belief we have no such satisfactory explanation, and have to fall back upon the theory that the dei loci—the gods of mountains, rivers, lakes, rocks, and trees—are deified dead men, an explanation that will only apply in a few isolated cases. Here, however, on the Gold and Slave Coasts of West Africa, we find ready to hand a belief which explains the origin of such beings. If a tree should fall in the forest and crush a man, those who witness the accident, or find the body crushed under the fallen tree, have no hesitation in immediately attributing the disaster to the indwelling spirit, or third element, of the tree. This is the belief held, and the explanation invariably given. Naturally, those indwelling spirits which time and experience show to be harmless, are not much regarded; the indwelling spirits of stones, bushes, etc., are considered of but little importance, and, though the belief in their existence remains, they are disregarded, and the worship and offerings are applied to propitiate those which are believed to possess both the power and the desire to injure. Hence we find, generally speaking, that the features worshiped are such as rivers, lakes, the sea, cliffs, mountains, etc.—that is, localities in which accidents are more liable to occur. The indwelling spirits or third elements of such features are not regarded as being inseparably bound up with them. Like the kra of the man, each ordinarily resides in its own feature or object, but can and does leave it temporarily. At a later stage, when priestcraft has intervened, the indwelling spirit is held to enter the image, made by the priests to represent it, while sacrifice is being offered, and also the priest himself, who then becomes inspired.

It is clear, from their construction, that the Tshi, Ga, and Ewi