[121] Indian Sign Language, p. 309.
[122] Sir George Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 164.
[123] Hyades et Deniker, Mission Scientifique au Cap Horn, p. 376. Earlier voyagers write: “They certainly have ideas of a spiritual existence.”—Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. ii., p. 179.
[124] Ancient Nahuatl Poetry (Philadelphia, 1890); Rig Veda Americanus (Philadelphia, 1890).
[125] Dr. W. Matthews, The Mountain Chant of the Navahoes, p. 465.
[126] Clark, Indian Sign Language, p. 309.
[127] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. vi. Other examples are given by this writer.
[128] Encyclopédie des Sciences Religieuses, s. v. Prière.
[129] Other forms are tapui, to make sacred; tabui, to keep from; tabuaki, to bless. Here, as elsewhere, there is a synonomy between “sacred” or “holy” and “accursed,” because it is accursed to defile that which is holy. Another, and less probable, derivation is given by Frazer, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, s. v. “Taboo.” He is perfectly right, however, in saying that the original form of the tabu is due, not to its civil, but to its religious element.
[130] Klemm, Culturgeschichte, vol. ii., pp. 368, sq., after Steller, who visited Kamschatka about 1740.