the
Greeks. But, among the Yao of Central Africa, the initiator, observes
Mr. Macdonald, "is said to give much good advice. His lectures condemn
selfishness, and a selfish person is called _mwisichana_, that is,
'uninitiated.'" {74a}

Among the Australians, Dampier, in 1688, observed the singular unselfish
generosity of distribution of food to the old, the weak, and the sick.
According to Mr. Howitt, the boys of the Coast Murring tribe are taught
in the Mysteries "to speak the straightforward truth while being
initiated, and are warned to avoid various offences against propriety and
morality." The method of instruction is bad, a pantomimic representation
of the sin to be avoided, but the intention is excellent. {74b} Among
the Kurnai respect for the old, for unprotected women, the duty of
unselfishness, and other ethical ideas are inculcated, {74c} while
certain food taboos prevail during the rite, as was also the case in the
Eleusinia. That this moral idea of "sharing what they have with their
friends" is not confined merely to the tribe, is proved by the experience
of John Finnegan, a white man lost near Moreton Bay early in this
century. "At all times, whether they had much or little, fish or
kangaroo, they always gave me as much as I could eat." Even when the
whites stole the fish of the natives, and were detected, "instead of
attempting to repossess themselves of the fish, they instantly set at
work to procure more for us, and one or two fetched us as much _dingowa_
as they could carry." {75} The first English settlers in Virginia, on
the other hand, when some native stole a cup, burned down the whole town.

Thus the morality of the savage is not merely tribal (as is often
alleged), and is carried into practice, as well as inculcated, in some
regions, not in all, during the Mysteries.

For these reasons, if the Greek Mysteries be survivals of savage
ceremonies (as there is no reason to doubt that they are), the savage
association of moral instruction with mummeries might survive as easily
as anything else. That it did survive is plain from numerous passages in
classical authors. {76a} The initiate "live a pious life in regard to
strangers and citizens." They are to be "conscious of no evil": they are
to "protect such as have wrought no unrighteousness." Such precepts
"have their root in the ethico-religious consciousness." {76b} It is not
mere ritual purity that the Mysteries demand, either among nak