The Kirghiz woman does not look upon the face of her husband's father or elder kinsman and must never utter their names, even if they contain names of common objects but must use paraphrases, and, in describing a wolf carrying off a lamb through the rushes, would say "Look yonder, the howling one is carrying off the bleating one's young through the rustling ones of k the other side of the glistening one." There is no suggestion of hostility between the tabued relatives, the stress being entirely upon the mutual respect shown.
This avoidance between relatives of opposite sexes has been closely associated with the general tabu on women. No doubt a mutual shyness between the sexes underlies these avoidances which are strongly reinforced by an admixture of the fears involved in the woman-tabu. But the tabu applies to both sexes. Woman is not avoided as woman. Other sentiments, especially the horror of incest, are involved.
The almost universal tabu on strangers is evidence of the fear of the unknown. "To guard against the baneful influence exerted voluntarily or involuntarily by strangers," says Frazer, "is an elementary dictate of savage prudence," but they may be admitted after a purificatory cere mony, for nearly all tabus may be neutralized by some ceremonial device. Westermarck has shown how both the tabu on strangers and the widely-spread practice of hospitality can ultimately be traced to the same root. The stranger is dangerous; it is therefore necessary to secure his good will at once. For the blessing of the
stranger within the gates has exceptional power ; his blessing is sought as urgently as his curse is feared.
of the attention of the savage is directed to the food he eats. The belief that the quali ties of the eaten pass into the eater, is an explanation of the food tabus and prejudices of savage peoples. Thus the hunter will not eat the heart of the deer he has killed lest he become timid like that animal, while to eat the heart of a lion would be to gain all the fierce courage of that beast. Such examples, however, do not warrant the definition of tabu as "negative magic," failing to cover the characteristics of many well-known tabus. "Sympa thetic tabus" many of them certainly are up to a point, as are also the tabus on knots at childbirth, which must be observed lest delivery be impeded. But if tabu were a form of magic, the penalty for its infraction would be definite and measurable; whereas the distinguishing characteristic of tabu everywhere is the "infinite plus of awfulness" always accompanying its viola tion. There may be certain definite results, such as prescribed punishment for violations or social "growlings" showing the opposition of public opinion, to which the savage is at least as keenly sensitive as civilized man. But the "infinite plus," always attached to the violation of tabu puts it into the realm of mystical, immeasurable dread. The threat is the more dire, because left to the imagination. "Do not meddle, or, if you do . . . !"