[57] Diodorus Siculus, xx. 14.
[58] Chevers, op. cit. p. 399.
[59] Campbell, Wild Tribes of Khondistan, p. 52.
[60] Ling Roth, Great Benin, p. 72.
[61] Ellis, Yoruba-speaking People of the Slave Coast, p. 296.
[62] Idem, Ew̔e-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, p. 117.
[63] Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 276 sqq., 346.
After a victory, captured enemies are sacrificed to the god to whose assistance the success is ascribed. This sacrifice has been represented as a thank-offering;[64] but, in many cases at least, it seems to be offered either to fulfil a vow previously made, or to induce the god to continue his favours for the future.[65] Among the Kayans of Borneo it is the custom that, when captives are brought to an enemy’s country, “one should suffer death, to bring prosperity and abolish the curse of the enemy in their lands.”[66]
[64] Diodorus Siculus, xx. 65 (Carthaginians). de Molina, loc. cit. p. 59 (Incas); &c.
[65] Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples, p. 170. Cruickshank, op. cit. ii. 173. Dubois, Character, Manners, and Customs of the People of India, p. 488. Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum, 5 (41). Cf. Jephthah’s vow (Judges, xi. 30 sqq.).