ecret, it
becomes mysterious to boys, is looked forward to by them with
apprehension, and appeals to their imagination. Supernatural terrors are
provided by the leaders--noises are heard (made by the bull-roarer or
some similar device), and the report is circulated that the initiate is
in danger of death at the hands of a supernatural being. These methods
testify to the importance attached by early societies to the
introduction of the young into social and political life, and they
furnish an early example of the employment of the supernatural for the
government of the masses. The old men do not believe in their
supernatural machinery, and the boys, after initiation, are let into the
secret.

+151+. _Mutilation_ of the body is a widespread custom in connection
with initiation and arrival at the age of puberty.[299] In most cases
the origin of mutilating customs is obscure. Imitation of the form or
appearance of a sacred animal, embellishment of the initiate, or
consecration of a part of the body to a deity have been suggested as
motives; but there is no clear evidence of such designs. The knocking
out of a tooth may be for convenience in taking food; it seems not to
have religious significance except in so far as all tribal marks become
religiously important.[300] Boring through the septum of the nose is
perhaps for decorative purposes. The cutting of the hair is possibly for
convenience, possibly for dedication to a deity.[301]

+152+. Among the most important of the customs of initiation are those
connected with the organs of generation, excluding, as is remarked
above, complete excision, which belongs to conceptions of religious
asceticism (consecration to a deity, preservation against temptation) in
the higher cults, and is not found among savages.[302] Partial excision
occurs in circumcision, for males, and in similar operations for
females.

+153+. _Circumcision of males._[303] The most widely diffused of such
customs of initiation is the gashing or the complete removal of the
prepuce. It existed in ancient times among the Egyptians, the
Canaanites, and the Hebrews (for the Arabs, the Syrians, and the
Babylonians and Assyrians we have no information), not, so far as the
records go, among the Greeks, Romans, and Hindus. At the present time it
is found among all Moslems and most Jewish communities, throughout
Africa, Australia, Polynesia and Melanesia, and, it is said, in Eastern
Mexico. It is hardly possible to