gical power is called
into play.

+125+. Desire to propitiate the hunted animal, in order not only to
avert the anger of its kin but also to obtain its aid, appears in the
numerous cases in which excuses are made for the killing, and the animal
is implored to make a friendly report of the man to its friends and to
return in order that it may be killed.[251] Formal prayer is sometimes
made to the animal in important tribal ceremonies, as in British
Columbia a boy is ordered by the chief to pray to the first salmon
sighted for a good catch;[252] here the good will of the salmon tribe
and the quasi-human intelligence of the fish are assumed.

+126+. Precautions are taken to guard against antagonistic extrahuman
influences; there are taboos and rules of purification in preparation
for hunting. In New Guinea hunters are required to abstain from certain
sorts of food and to perform purificatory ceremonies.[253] Among the
Nandi some men are forbidden to hunt, make traps, or dig pits for
game;[254] these men, it would seem, are supposed to be, for ceremonial
reasons, antipathetic to the animals to be hunted, as, on the other
hand, there are men who attract game.[255] The taboos of food and other
things imposed are doubtless intended to guard against malefic spirits
or mana. The particular rules are determined by local conditions.

+127+. Certain rules about eating the food secured by hunting appear to
have come from the desire to act in an orderly manner and with due
respect to the animal. When it is prescribed that a bone shall not be
broken this may be for fear of giving offense to the animal kin and thus
insuring failure in further hunting.[256] The provision that each man
shall gather of a fruit or vegetable only so much as will suffice for a
single day may have had an economic ground, the desire to avoid waste;
or it may have been made also partly in the interest of orderliness, and
so have had originally no reference to any superhuman being.[257]
Naturally it was taken up into religion and given a religious sanction.

+128+. In Central Australia, where every clan is charged with the duty
of procuring a particular food (its totem) for the tribe, the custom is
that when the product of hunting or gathering is brought in to be thrown
into the tribal store, the principal men of the hunting group begin by
eating a little of the food, after which the food is licit for the rest
of the tribe but illicit for the hunters.[258] Th