. . .

One of the latest and most venturesome explorers of North Borneo was the gallant and lamented Frank Hatton, a son of the widely known international journalist, Joseph Hatton. In a sketch of his son's lifework, the father says1: "His was the first white foot in many of the hitherto unknown villages of Borneo; in him many of the wild tribes saw the first white man. Speaking the language of the natives, and possessing that special faculty of kindly firmness so necessary to the efficient control of uncivilized peoples, he journeyed through the strange land not only unmolested, but frequently carrying away tokens of native affection. Several powerful chiefs made him their 'bloodbrother'; and here and there the tribes prayed to him as if he were a god." It would seem from the description of Mr. Hatton, that, in some instances, in Borneo, the blood-covenanting is by the substitute blood of a fowl held by the two parties to the covenant, while its head is cut off by a third person-without any drinking of each other's blood by those who enter into the covenant. Yet, however this may be, the other method still prevails there.

Another recent traveler in the Malay Archipelago, who, also, is a trained and careful observer, tells of this rite, as he found it in Timor, and other islands of that region, among a people who represent the Malays, 1 In "The Century Magazine" for July, 1885, p. 437.

THE TREE OF THE COVENANT.

53

His descrip

the Papuan, and the Polynesian races. tion is: "The ceremony of blood-brotherhood, . . . or the swearing of eternal friendship, is of an interesting nature, and is celebrated often by fearful orgies [excesses of the communion idea], especially when friendship is being made between families, or tribes, or kingdoms. The ceremony is the same in substance whether between two individuals, or [between] large companies. The contracting parties slash their arms, and collect the blood into a bamboo, into which kanipa (coarse gin) or laru (palm wine) is poured. Having provided themselves with a small fig-tree (halik) they adjourn to some retired spot, taking with them the sword and spear from the Luli chamber [the sacred room] of their own houses if between private individuals, or from the Uma-Luli of their suku [the sacred building of their village] if between large companies. Planting there the fig-tree, flanked by the sacred sword and spear, they hang on it a bamboo-receptacle, into which—after pledging each other in a portion of the mixed blood and gin—the remainder [of that mixture] is poured. Then each swears, ‘If I be false, and be not a true friend, may my blood issue from my mouth, ears, nose, as it does from this bamboo!'-the bottom of the receptacle being pricked at the same moment, to allow the blood and gin to escape. The [blood-stained] tree remains and grows as a witness of their contract."

Of the close and binding nature of this blood-compact, among the Timorese, the observer goes on to say: "It is one of their most sacred oaths, and [is] almost never, I am told, violated; at least between individuals." As to its limitless force and scope, he adds: “One brother [one of these brother-friends in the covenant of blood] coming to another brother's house, is in every respect regarded as free [to do as he pleases], and [is] as much at home as its owner. Nothing is withheld from him; even his friend's wife is not denied him, and a child born of such a union would be recognized by the husband as his; [for are not-as they reason these brother-friends of one blood-of one and the same life?]"1

The covenant of blood-friendship has been noted also among the native races of both North and South America. A writer of three centuries ago, told of it as among the aborigines of Yucatan. "When the Indians of Pontonchan," he said, "receive new friends [covenant in a new friendship]. as a proof of [their] friendship, they [mutually, each], in the sight of the friend, draw some blood . . . from the tongue, hand, or arm, or from some other part [of the body].""

1 Forbes's A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, P. 452.

2 Peter Martyr's De Rebus Oceanicis et Novo Orbe, p. 338; cited in Spencer's Des. Soc. II., 34.

AMERICAN BROTHERHOOD.

55

And this ceremony is said to have formed "a compact for life." 1

In Brazil, the Indians were said to have a rite of brotherhood so close and sacred that, as in the case of the Bed'ween beyond the Jordan,2 its covenanting parties were counted as of one blood; so that marriage between those thus linked would be deemed incestuous. "There was a word in their language to express a friend who was loved like a brother; it is written Atourrassap [erroneously, beyond a doubt,' adds Southey, 'because their speech is without the r']. They who called each other by this name, had all things in common; the tie was held to be as sacred as that of consanguinity, and one could not marry the daughter or sister of the other."

3

A similar tie of adopted brotherhood, or of close and sacred friendship, is recognized among the North American Indians. Writing of the Dakotas, or the Sioux, Dr. Riggs, the veteran missionary and scholar, says: Where one Dakota takes another as his koda, i. e., god, or friend, [Think of that, for sacredness of union— god, or friend'!] they become brothers in each other's families, and are, as such, of course unable to intermarry." And Burton, the famous traveler, who

1 See Bancroft's Native Races of the Pacific Coast, I., 741.

2 See page 10, supra.

3 Southey's Brazil, I., 240.

Lynd's History of the Dakotas, p. 73, note.

made this same tribe a study, says of the Dakotas: "They are fond of adoption, and of making brotherhoods like the Africans [Burton is familiar with the customs of African tribes]; and so strong is the tie that marriage with the sister of an adopted brother is within the prohibited degree."1

Among the people of the Society Islands, and perhaps also among those of other South Sea Islands, the term tayo is applied to an attached personal friend, in a peculiar relation of intimacy. The formal ceremony of brotherhood, whereby one becomes the tayo of another, in these islands, I have not found. described; but the closeness and sacredness of the relation, as it is held by many of the natives, would seem to indicate the inter-mingling of blood in the covenanting, now or in former times. The early missionaries to those islands, speaking of the prevalent unchastity there, make this exception: "If a person is a tayo of the husband, he must indulge in no liberties with the sisters or the daughters, because they are considered as his own sisters or daughters; and incest is held in abhorrence by them; nor will any temptations engage them to violate this bond of purity. The wife, however, is excepted, and considered as common property for the tayo.2 Lieutenant Corner [a still earlier voyager] also added, that a tayoship formed 2 See page 54, supra.

1 Burton's City of the Saints, p. 117.