Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/239

Rh the Utita of the Hottentots. The term, however, may mean a ghost, the firmament, or the sun."

Sir John's method of quotation sometimes implies total unbelief without asserting it, as in his quotation from Father Dobritzhoffer with regard to the Abipones. The words quoted are, "The whole language of these savages does not contain a single word which expresses God or a divinity." These words taken alone imply atheism, or something akin to it, bat in common fairness they should not be taken alone, for Dobritzhoffer tells us that the Abipones hold a somewhat defined faith. They believe in an evil spirit called Groaperikie—i. e. Grandfather—who is represented in the heavens by the Pleiades. In the month of May, on the reappearance of the constellation, they welcome their Grandfather back with joyful shouts, as if he had recovered from sickness, and with the hymn, "What thanks do we owe thee! And art thou returned at last? Ah! thou hast happily recovered." Next day they go out to seek honey to make mead, and as soon as that is prepared they assemble in one place at the setting of the sun to make public demonstration of gladness. Dobritzhoffer further tells us that the Abipones, and indeed all the nations in Paraguay, believe in a system of conjuring, the conjurers being invested with great powers by the evil spirit Grandfather. "From their custom of calling up the shades of the dead, we may deduce that they believe in the immortality of the soul, as may also be collected from their rites and conversation. The other people of Paraguay hold the same opinion as to the immortality of the soul. The jugglers perform the office of priests."

Colden's testimony as to the "Five Nation" Indians of Canada is presented by Sir John Lubbock in such a way as to imply far more than Golden intended. Sir John says, "Golden, who had ample means of judging, assures us that the celebrated 'Five Nations' of Canada had no public worship or any name for God." Golden certainly does tell us that "they have no kind of public worship," but he plainly never meant to imply that they had no idea of God because they could not express that idea in one word. What he says is this: "I am told they have no radical word to express God, but use a compound word, signifying the Preserver, Sustainer, or Master of the universe."

When one considers the influence that Sir John Lubbock's Prehistoric Times has had on the reading public, and the shock that his statements as to the utter irreligiousness of certain tribes gave many of his readers, one feels inclined to question his authority as a teacher, when his quotations are submitted to the simple test of verification. One wonders how such a man as Sir