ude.(38)




§ 2. Kings killed when their Strength fails.


(M7) But it is with the death of the god-man--the divine king or
priest--that we are here especially concerned. The mystic kings of Fire and
Water in Cambodia are not allowed to die a natural death. Hence when one
of them is seriously ill and the elders think that he cannot recover, they
stab him to death.(39) The people of Congo believed, as we have seen,(40)
that if their pontiff the Chitome were to die a natural death, the world
would perish, and the earth, which he alone sustained by his power and
merit, would immediately be annihilated. Accordingly when he fell ill and
seemed likely to die, the man who was destined to be his successor entered
the pontiff's house with a rope or a club and strangled or clubbed him to
death.(41) A fuller account of this custom is given by an old Italian
writer as follows: "Let us pass to the death of the magicians, who often
die a violent death, and that for the most part voluntarily. I shall speak
only of the head of this crew, from whom his followers take example. He is
called Ganga Chitome, being reputed god of the earth. The first-fruits of
all the crops are offered to him as his due, because they are thought to
be produced by his power, and not by nature at the bidding of the Most
High God. This power he boasts he can impart to others, when and to whom
he pleases. He asserts that his body cannot die a natural death, and
therefore when he knows he is near the end of his days, whether it is
brought about by sickness or age, or whether he is deluded by the demon,
he calls one of his disciples to whom he wishes to communicate his power,
in order that he may succeed him. And having made him tie a noose to his
neck he commands him to strangle him, or to knock him on the head with a
great cudgel and kill him. His disciple obeys and sends him a martyr to
the devil, to suffer torments with Lucifer in the flames for ever. This
tragedy is enacted in public, in order that his successor may be
manifested, who hath the power o