________________
MAY, 1025)
REMARKS ON THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS AND THEIR COUNTRY
93
Mr. Brown's Conclusion. At this point Mr. Brown concludes his survey of the beliefs and customs of the Andamanese in words which justify this lengthy analysis of his book. Taking his enquiry to be one "not into isolated facts but into a culture," he writes (p. 400):
"Here I must conclude my attempt to interpret the customs and beliefs of the Andaman Islanders, but in doing so I wish to point out, though indeed it must be fairly obvious, that if my interpretation be correct, then the meaning of the customs of other primi tive peoples is to be discovered by similar methods and in accordance with the same psychological principles. It is because I have satisfied myself of the soundness of these methods and principles, by applying them to the interpretation of other cultures, that I put forward the hypotheses in these two chapters with an assurance that would not perhaps be justified if I relied solely on a study of the Andamanese."
The importance of such a statement, if Mr. Brown's principles are to be followed generally, will be at once apparent to the reader of these pages.
The Moral Force of Society. But Mr. Brown goes further. On p. 402 he writes : “Leaving aside altogether the question of how sentiments of these kinds come into existence, we may note that they involve the existence of experience of a particular type. The individual experiences the action upon himself of a power or force-constraining him to act in certain ways not always pleasant, supporting him in his weakness, binding him to his fellows, to his group. The force is clearly something not himself-something ontside of him therefore, and yet equally clearly it makes itself felt not as merely external compulsion or support, but as something within his own consciousness-within himself therefore. If we would give a name to this force we can only call it the moral force of society."
And then he adds (p. 404):"the Andamancse have not reached the point of recognising by a spocial name this power of which they are thus aware." That is to say, if I read Mr. Brown aright, the Andamanese have no actual terın for God '-- not even Biliku (Puluga).
The Andamanese Religion. He seems, however, l'ather to hesitate here. He writes on p. 405 : "throughout these two chapters I have a voided the use of the term 'religion.' My reason for this is that I have not been able to find a definition of this term, which would render it suitable for use in a scientific discussion of the beliefs of such primitive people as the Andamanese." But should he not call his discussion philosophic rather than scientific ? However, leaving this point aside, he adds (p. 405):
"The definition of religion that seems to me on the whole most satisfactory is that it consists of (1) A belief in a great inoral force or power (whether personal or not) existing in nature; (2) an organised relation between man and this Higher Power. If this definition be accepted, it is clear that the Andamanese bave religious beliefs and oustoms. They do believe in a moral power regulating the universe, and they have organised their relations to that power by means of some of their simple ceremonies.
... The purpose of these two chapters has been to explain the nature and function of the Andamanese religion."
The Conclusion. I have now taken Mr. Brown through his whole argument, using his own language as far as possible. Those who desire to know him further can study his remarkable book for themselves. It is worth the while of a student of cultural anthropology thus to ge into it, because we have had the arguments of Max Müller and his School of Mythology-the Sun Myth and the rest of it-supplanted by Frazer and the School of Comparative Anthropology, and how we shall have, if Mr. Brown has his way, a School of Philosophic Anthropology. If his ideas 'catch on 'I foreseo an endless number of volumes of a philosophic nature, all equally satisfactory to the writers and their schools, and more or less flatly contradicting
