THEBELIEF IN IMMORTALITYAND THE WORSHIP OF THE DEAD

BY

J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL.

VOL. I

THE BELIEF AMONG THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA,THE TORRES STRAITS ISLANDS, NEW GUINEAAND MELANESIA

THE GIFFORD LECTURES, ST. ANDREWS1911-1912

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1913

Itaque unum illud erat insitum priscis illis, quos cascosappellat Ennius, esse in morte sensum neque excessu vitae sic delerihominem, ut funditus interiret; idque cum multis aliis rebus; tume pontificio jure et e caerimoniis sepulchrorum intellegi licet, quasmaxumis ingeniis praediti nec tanta cura coluissent nec violatastam inexpiabili religione sanxissent, nisi haereret in corum mentibusmortem non interitum esse omnia tollentem atque delentem,sed quandam quasi migrationem commutationemque vitae."
Cicero, Tuscul. Disput. i. 12.

TOMY OLD FRIEND

JOHN SUTHERLAND BLACK, LL.D.

I DEDICATE AFFECTIONATELY

A WORK

WHICH OWES MUCH TO HIS ENCOURAGEMENT

PREFACE

The following lectures were delivered on Lord Gifford'sFoundation before the University of St. Andrews in theearly winters of 1911 and 1912. They are printed nearlyas they were spoken, except that a few passages, omittedfor the sake of brevity in the oral delivery, have been hererestored and a few more added. Further, I have compressedthe two introductory lectures into one, striking out somepassages which on reflection I judged to be irrelevant orsuperfluous. The volume incorporates twelve lectures on"The Fear and Worship of the Dead" which I delivered inthe Lent and Easter terms of 1911 at Trinity College,Cambridge, and repeated, with large additions, in my courseat St. Andrews.

The theme here broached is a vast one, and I hope topursue it hereafter by describing the belief in immortalityand the worship of the dead, as these have been foundamong the other principal races of the world both inancient and modern times. Of all the many forms whichnatural religion has assumed none probably has exerted sodeep and far-reaching an influence on human life as thebelief in immortality and the worship of the dead; hence anhistorical survey of this most momentous creed and of thepractical consequences which have been deduced from itcan hardly fail to be at once instructive and impressive,whe

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