[81] Maurer, Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes, ii. 171.
Mingling of blood is sometimes supposed to be a direct cause of mutual sympathy and agreement, in accordance with the principle of transmission of properties by contact;[82] even in Europe there are traces of the belief that a few drops of blood transferred from one person to another inspire the recipient with friendly feelings towards him with whose blood he is inoculated.[83] But the genuine blood-covenant imposes duties on both parties, and also contains the potential punishment for their transgression. It involves a promise, and the transference of blood is vaguely or distinctly supposed to convey to the person who drinks it, or who is inoculated with it, a conditional curse which will injure or destroy him should he break his promise. That this is the main idea underlying the blood-covenant appears from the fact that it is regularly accompanied by curses or self-imprecations.[84] In Madagascar, for instance, when two or more persons have agreed on forming the bond of fraternity, a fowl is procured, its head is nearly cut off, and it is left in this state to continue bleeding during the ceremony. The parties then pronounce a long imprecation and mutual vow over the blood, saying, inter alia “O this miserable fowl weltering in its blood! thy liver do we eat, thy liver do we eat; and should either of us retract from the terms of this oath, let him instantly become a fool, let him instantly become blind, let this covenant prove a curse to him.” A small portion of blood is then drawn from each individual and drunk by the covenanting parties with execrations of vengeance on each other in case of either violating the sacred oath.[85] According to another description the parties, after they have drunk each other’s blood, drink a mixture from the same bowl, praying that it may turn into poison for him who fails to keep the oath.[86] As we have seen before, blood is commonly regarded as a particularly efficient conductor of curses, and what could in this respect be more excellent than the blood of the very person who utters the curse? But the blood of a victim sacrificed on the occasion may serve the same purpose, or some other suitable vehicle may be chosen to transfer the imprecation. The Masai in the old days “spat at a man with whom they swore eternal friendship”;[87] and the meaning of this seems clear when we hear that they spit copiously when cursing, and that “if a man while cursing spits in his enemy’s eyes, blindness is supposed to follow.”[88] The ancient Arabs, besides swearing alliance and protection by dipping their hands in a pan of blood and tasting the contents, had a covenant known as the ḥilf al-foḍûl, which was made by taking Zemzem water and washing the corners of the Kaʿba with it, whereafter it was drunk by the parties concerned.[89] The blood-covenant is essentially based on the same idea as underlies the Moorish custom of sealing a compact of friendship by a common meal at the tomb of some saint, the meaning of which is obvious from the phrase that “the food will repay” him who breaks the compact.[90]
[82] Cf. Crawley, Mystic Rose, p. 236 sq.
[83] von Wlislocki, ‘Menschenblut im Glauben der Zigeuner,’ in Am Ur-Quell, iii. 64. Dörfler, ‘Das Blut im magyarischen Volkglauben,’ ibid. iii. 269 sq.
[84] Forbes, A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 452 (natives of Timor). Burns, ‘Kayans of the North-West of Borneo,’ in Jour. of the Indian Archipelago, iii. 146 sq. New, Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa, p. 364 (Taveta). Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa, p. 494 (Wakamba). Trumbull, op. cit. pp. 9, 20, 31, 42, 45-47, 53, 61 sq. For the practice of sealing an agreement by transference of blood accompanied by an oath, see also Partridge, Cross River Natives, p. 191 (pagans of Obubura Hill district in Southern Nigeria).
[85] Ellis, History of Madagascar, 187 sqq.
[86] Dumont d’Urville, Voyage pittoresque autour du monde, i. 81.
[87] Hinde, Last of the Masai, p. 47. See also Johnston, Uganda, ii. 833.
[88] Hinde, op. cit. p. 48.
[89] Robertson Smith, Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia, p. 56 sqq. Cf. Herodotus, iii. 8.