to several of them. A few details will suffice to give an idea of the extent and variety of this series of superstitions.
The intense aversion which savages have from uttering their own names, has often been noticed by travellers. Thus Captain Mayne says of the Indians of British Columbia, that "one of their strangest prejudices, which appears to pervade all tribes alike, is a dislike to telling their names—thus you never get a man's right name from himself; but they will tell each other's names without hesitation."[1] So Dobrizhoffer says that the Abipones of South America think it a sin to utter their own names, and when a man was asked his name, he would nudge his neighbour to answer for him,[2] and in like manner, the Fijians and the Sumatrans are described as looking to a friend to help them out of the difficulty, when this indiscreet question is put to them.[3]
Nor does the dislike to mentioning ordinary personal names always stop at this limit. Among the Algonquin tribes, children are generally named by the old woman of the family, usually with reference to some dream, but this real name is kept mysteriously secret, and what usually passes for the name is a mere nickname, such as "Little Fox," or "Red-Head." The real name is hardly ever revealed even by the grave-post, but the totem or symbol of the clan is held sufficient. The true name of La Belle Sauvage was not Pocahontas, "her true name was Matokes, which they concealed from the English, in a superstitious fear of hurt by the English, if her name was known."[4] "It is next to impossible to induce an Indian to utter personal names; the utmost he will do, if a person implicated is present, is to move his lips, without speaking, in the direction of the person." Schoolcraft saw an Indian in a court of justice pressed to identify a man who was there, but all they could get him to do was to push his lips towards him.[5] So
- ↑ Mayne, 'British Columbia,' etc.; London, 1862, p. 278.
- ↑ Dobrizhoffer, vol. ii. p. 444. See also Cullen, 'Darien Indians,' in Tr. Eth. Soc. vol. iv. p. 265.
- ↑ Seemann, 'Viti;' London, 1862, p. 190. Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra; London, 1811, p. 286.
- ↑ Schoolcraft, part ii. p 65.
- ↑ Id. p. 433. Sec also Burton, 'City of the Saints,' p. 141.
