s, would be objects of religious reverence to
undeveloped communities; men, it might seem, would be thought worthier
objects of worship than beasts, plants, and stones. In fact, the cult of
human beings has been and is widespread, but in this cult the savage
mind makes a sharp distinction between the living and the dead. Living
men are tangible and intelligible, affected with human frailties, and
therefore offer less food for the imagination than beasts; the souls of
dead men are remote, intangible, mysterious, and it is they that have
most inspired religious emotion. The history of these cults is in some
points obscure; though many facts have been collected, the data are not
full and exact enough to furnish a complete explanation of the details
of usage, diffusion, origin, and development.

THE CULT OF THE LIVING

+336+. Savages appear to put no limit to the possible powers of men. In
the absence of any exact knowledge of natural law there is no reason why
a man should not be thought capable of inflicting sickness and death,
bringing rain, securing food, and doing all that relates to human life.
Magicians, prophets, ascetics, and saints are credited with such powers
in early and later times. Polynesian chiefs are supposed to be imbued
with a sacredness that makes contact with them dangerous, and everything
that they touch becomes thereby taboo to the ordinary man; the same sort
of sacredness clung to the Roman flamen dialis, to the emperor of Japan,
and to many other high officials. This reverence, however, is simply
fear of the mysterious, and does not, in itself, reach the height of
worship, though it prepares the way for it and may sometimes be scarcely
distinguishable from worship proper. The magician is the mouthpiece of a
god, and in popular belief is often invested with power that is
practically divine.

+337+. Many cases, in fact, are reported in which living men are
worshiped as gods; but such reports are often open to doubt and need
confirmation. Travelers and other observers are not always in position
to state the facts precisely; particularly they do not always
distinguish between awe and religious worship, and the statements of
savages on this point are often vague. Frazer has collected a
considerable number of examples of alleged worship of living men.[623]
One of these, that of the dairyman (_palol_) of the Todas of Southern
India, is not supported by the latest observer, who says that the palol
is