Note 63 — Front matter

As an example of the motive of vengeance, or pure brutality, we cite from Andree, p. 69:—People in the interior of Africa who understand magic, transform themselves into lions and go about killing people. See also below, note 65, where the wolf-man of Abyssinia kills his enemy and sucks his blood, and also kills other wolf-men it meets, the question being one of the survival of the fittest, that is the strongest. All this takes place at night, which reminds us of our Pawnee Indian starting out at night in his wolf’s robe, and trotting up to the hostile village to ascertain where his enemies’ horses are tied, so as to steal them when all are asleep (Grinnell’s Pawnee hero stories and folk-tales, p. 246, and pp. 70-73). Ethn. Rep. 1887-88, p. 461:—“To recover stolen or lost property, especially ponies, is one of the principal tasks imposed upon the so-called medicine-men” (shamans).