174 G. r6hEIM
—to occupy elevated seats whilst the Patalima sit on the ground. ^ Seats are reserved for the chiefs amongst the Karaya, commoners are satisfied with mats.* In Uganda during Mutesa's reign women were not allowed to sit on any raised seat.s The Hungarians of the hinth century, Germanic tribes and Roman legions,* the Turks of the Altai,o the Mongols,* and the Kirgiz nomads ' lift their rulers upon their shields or on a white rug above their heads when these rulers come into their dignity. In Irish tradition we have the "Stone of Destiny" which cried out to show that it was the rightful monarch who had ascended the stone.s It is unne- cessary to quote further parallels; a king- must have his throne, and the nobleman occupies a "high" position in society. If we try to understand the origin of this universal attitude of mankind, which, as we shall see below, aifects his primitive cosmological ideas, we shall not have to go very far to find an explanation. In the monuments of ancient Egypt and Babylon we regularly find social rank expressed by stature: the king is a giant, his generals are somewhat smaller and the common fry are veritable dwarfs." We must go back one step further in the evolution of society and we notice that age determines social status. Age grades are the germs oj social classes;^^ the uninitiated, that is the children and the women, correspond to the people, the initiated men form the middle-class, and the old men are what we should call an
» W. J. Perry: The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia, 1918, p. 46.
• F. Krause: In den Wildnissen Brasiliens, 1911, S. 199.
» J. Roscoei The Baganda: 1911, p. 408.
« F. Matyas: T5rt6neti egyezesek ^s t^ved^sek (Historical parallels and mistakes) Akad^miai ^rtesito, 1896, p. 592.
» W. Radloff: Die AlttUrkischen Inschriften, 1898, S. 448.
« Hammer-Purgstall: Geschichte der Ilchane, I, 1842, S. 49; P. Bergeron: Voyages faits principalement en Asie dans le XII., XIII., XIV. et XV. Sifecles. 1735, Plan Carpin, Chap IX; D' Ohsson: Histoire des Mongols, 1834,11, p. 528.
' W. Radloff: Aus Sibirien, 1893, I, S. 516.
« Standish; H. O'Glady: Silva Gaedelica: A Collection of Tales in . Irish, 1891, II, p. 264; E. S. Hartland: Ritual and Belief, 1914, p. 292.
» C/. Ed. Hahn: "Thronende Herrscher und hockende VOlker", Zett' schrift fur Eihnolosie, 1918, S. 216.
" Cf. Delitzsth: Babel und Bibel; Mahler: 6kori Egyptom (Ancient Egypt), 1909, p. 339.
»» Cf. Schurtz: Altersklassen und Mannerbilnde, 1902; H. Cunow: Die Verwandtschaftsorganisationen der Australneger, 1894; Webster: Primitive Secret Societies, 1908.
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