[61] Schadenberg, in Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. xii. 135. Earl, Papuans, p. 133. Foreman, Philippine Islands, p. 209.
[62] Earl, op. cit. p. 81.
[63] Atkinson, in Folk-Lore, xiv. 248.
[64] Christian, Caroline Islands, p. 72. Angas, Polynesia, p. 382.
[65] Mariner, op. cit. ii. 155.
[66] Roth, North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines, p. 141. Fraser, Aborigines of New South Wales, p. 5. Schuermann, ‘Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln,’ in Woods, Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 226. Hale U.S. Exploring Expedition. Vol. VI. Ethnography and Philology, p. 113. Mitchell, Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, ii. 346. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 137 sq. See also Steinmetz, Ethnol. Studien zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Strafe, ii. 26 sqq.
[67] Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 211 sq.
Turning to African peoples: among the Danakil the aged of both sexes, but especially the males, are held in great veneration, and the old men are consulted on every occasion of any importance.[68] “The real religion of the Barea and Kunáma,” says Munzinger, “consists in an extraordinary reverence for old age. Among these peoples only the old, the weak, or the blind command respect.”[69] The Ew̔e-speaking peoples on the Slave Coast have a proverb, “Respect the elders, they are our fathers.”[70] Winterbottom doubts whether the ancient Lacedæmonians paid greater regard to old age than do the natives of Sierra Leone.[71] Mr. Leighton Wilson says of the Mpongwe:—“There is no part of the world where respect and veneration for age is carried to a greater length than among this people…. All the younger members of society are early trained to show the utmost deference to age. They must never come into the presence of aged persons or pass by their dwellings without taking off their hats and assuming a crouching gait. When seated in their presence it must always be at a ‘respectful distance’—a distance proportioned to the difference in their ages and position in society. If they come near enough to hand an aged man a lighted pipe or a glass of water, the bearer must always fall upon one knee. Aged persons must always be addressed as ‘father’ (rera) or ‘mother’ (ngwe). Any disrespectful deportment or reproachful language toward such persons is regarded as a misdemeanour of no ordinary aggravation. A youthful person carefully avoids communicating any disagreeable intelligence to such persons, and almost always addresses them in terms of flattery and adulation.”[72] Among the For tribe of Central Africa “great consideration is shown towards women when they are old, as well as towards aged men.”[73] Regard for old age is, in fact, a very general trait of the African character.[74]
[68] Scaramucci and Giglioli, ‘Notizie sui Danakil,’ in Archivio per l’antropologia e la etnologia, xiv. 36.
[69] Munzinger, Ostafrikanische Studien, p. 474.