shadow, so other (or the same) peoples believe it to be in his reflection in water or a mirror. Thus “the Andamanese do not regard their shadows but their reflections (in any mirror) as their souls.”[1] Some of the Fijians thought that man has two souls, a light one and a dark one; the dark one goes to Hades, the light one is his reflection in water or a mirror.[2] When the Motumotu of New Guinea first saw their likenesses in a looking-glass they thought that their reflections were their souls.[3] The reflection-soul, being external to the man, is exposed to much the same dangers as the shadow-soul. As the shadow may be stabbed, so may the reflection. Hence an Aztec mode of keeping sorcerers from the house was to leave a vessel of water with a knife in it behind the door. When a sorcerer entered he was so much alarmed at seeing his reflection in the water transfixed by a knife that he turned and fled.[4] The Zulus will not look into a dark pool because they think there is a beast in it which will take away their reflections, so that they die.[5] The Basutos say that crocodiles have the power of thus killing a man by dragging his reflection under water.[6] In Saddle Island (Melanesia) there is a pool “into which if any one looks he dies; the malignant spirit takes hold upon his life by means of his reflection on the water.”[7]
- ↑ E. H. Mann, Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, p. 94.
- ↑ Williams, Fiji, i. 241.
- ↑ James Chalmers, Pioneering in New Guinea (London, 1887), p. 170.
- ↑ Sahagun, Histoire générale des choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne (Paris, 1880), p. 314. The Chinese hang brass mirrors over the idols in their houses, because it is thought that evil spirits entering the house and seeing themselves in the mirrors will be scared away (China Review, ii. 164).
- ↑ Callaway, Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus, p. 342.
- ↑ Arbousset et Daumas, Voyage d’exploration an Nord-est de la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Espérance, p. 12.
- ↑ Codrington, “Religious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia,” in Journ. Anthrop. Instit. x. 313.
