Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/864

MAN. 770 MAN. birds, scales of fishes and reptiles, etc.) are pri- iiiarilv protective and only incidcntiilly a-sthctic or decorative, but that the human hair is pri- jiiarilv aesthetic and only incidentally protective. j )onV the 8eri both women an<l men glory in their liair, which is luxuriant and worn long and loose; it is scrupulously tended and the combings and stray hairs are i)reserved and •worked into necklaces and belts, or interwoven with feather robes or with native cotton or ani- mal skins with the hair on to form simple gar- ments. .- iong the Brazilians mantles associated ■with hair in tribal thought are worn on occa- sion, and also a germ of permanent garmenturc (the iiluri. or primal brcech-eloth) worn partl.M for protection, but for display rather than con- cealment of the person. Scores of tribes inhab- iting various ])arts of the world exemplify a slightly advanced stage in the development of clothing; the scalps or pelts of animals, often with horns or other organs attached, are worn in ceremonies or on the chase or war-path ; these are believed to invest the wearers with the quali- ties of the animals and serve as permanent in- vocations to the zoic powers, yet after the initial consecration the insignia may be worn for com- fort merely; and since this hal)it is fostered by both personal feeling and mimetic instinct, it matures in the habitual wearing of skins and furs characteristic of hunting tribes. The inten- sity of the initial motive is attested by the bodily mutilations made to facilitate the wear- ing of the symbols ; Seri warriors puncture the nasal septum to introduce symbolic sea-lion teeth and Cocojja warriors to suspend a stout sea-shell as a symbolic shield for the life-breath; the Western Eskimo perforate the lower lip on both sides and insert labrels symbolizing walrus tusks to invoke courage and fortitude; various tribes tile the teeth in imitation of those of tutclaries, and some bore them to insert 'eyes' of nacre or gems; while the perforation of ear- lobes to insert invocative and emblematic ob- jects is widespread. In the absence or rarity of large animals or where agriculture is arising, plant motives are substituted : in Hawaii Howers and in Samoa palm products are worn cere- monially in such profusion as to form partial dress, and the habit extends to gala occasions and even to every-<lay life; among the more sedentary .merind tribes symbols of corn and native cotton are similarly worn in dances, and cotton fibre and corn silks were wrought into fabrics of increasing utility; while emblematic wreaths and chaplets of leaves or tlowcrs were widely used in Eurasia in early his- torical times and exerted a permanent inilu- cnce on headgear, which long remained emble- matic in the Mediterranean region. The details of early habilimentntion are far too many for recounting; yet any survey of the customs serves to indicate that primal clothing was largely de- votional, and that the initial motives were of such intensity as to produce systematic bodily mutilation if not to guide physical development, and also that the advanced ideas of ])ersonal com- fort and decency in dress evolved from habit long after clothing began. CooKDiXATiox. Purposive human coiirdination arises slowly in lower savagery; its simplest mani- festation being that pan-zoism in which the low- est known peoples coilrdinate themselves and the animals (and perhaps other objects) of their range in a series usually led by a tutelary. In many tribes the sun symbolizes the dominant deity, and in some fire plays a related rOlc. The process becomes practical when a particular tutelary actually coiiperatcs with the human kind, as the dog in both hemispheres. Among Amerind tribes the smaller wolf or coyote is venerated for alertness, cunning, and a harmlcss- ness interpreted as friendliness to men ; accord- ingly his presence about camp or pueblo is toler- ated and even encouraged, especially if there are animal or tribal enemies of whose approacli he is supposed to give warning, and his voice and habits are studied in order that the warning may be understood; while he accustoms himself to the human habits and utilizes his immunity by becoming a camp scavenger. In prehistoric times the wolflings attached themselves to the human groups, and the semi-domesticated ani- mals were not only employed as sentinels, but broken to burden and drauglit and used for food in emergencies, while yet remaining tutelaries worshiped in periodic ceremonies. Coincident stages in the toleration and domestication of the reindeer are revealed among Siberian tribes, where the half-wild animals are tutelaries. yet are collectively claimed and covertlv lierded liy human groups, this condition passing into in- dividual ownership like that of the Laplanders. The contemporary instances throw light on the domestication of kine. swine, sheep, goats, camels. and fowls in prehistoric times, as well as on that of the horse, in whose case the analo- gies have recently been verified bv Curtin in the region south of Lake Baikal, where the animal is still a tutelarv and roams in herds over which particular clans claim custody. The customs of many Amerind tribes extend to plants, notably corn, which is deemed zoic if not anthropic, and is primarily an object of veneration and ceremonial worship and only sec- ondarily a source of sustenance — the intensity of the motive being attested by the cultivation to color standards already noted; while the com- plete coordination of plants and animals and men in systems in which the mutuall.v lieneficent are preserved and the malcvidcnt eliminated con- stitutes agriculture as pursued in diUercnt coun- tries. Certain of the primitive customs tlirow light on the most important step in human prog- ress, viz. the conquest of fire. JIany tribes con- sider fire an animate tutelary; some, like the Seri, class it as of their own kind and look on its production as a vital process connoted with hmnan reproduction; other tribes all.v it more closely with ])lants (also deemed animate). as suggested by the 'red llower' of East Indian lore. The crude analogies of its consumption of woody tissue, its breath, its reproduction, its dread of water, its incense-making, its fierce out- bi"eaks as if taking the warpath, and its fre- quent death — all weighty in primitive thought — need not be followed; hut it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the taining of fire, like that of the animal tutelaries. invidved acquaint- ance and association of such duration as to per- mit the growth of philosophies in sluggish minds. There are strong indications that the primal sources must have been feeble volcanic fires or steady-flowing lavas; for to primitive folk ol- canoes, like plants and streams and other ob- jects, are animate and enter into daily thought as agencies to be tolerated and utilized by care-