Note 94 — Chapter V · THE ENJOYMENT OF PAIN

It cannot be denied, however, that in many cases the self-wounding is executed as a traditional, superstitious, or sacrificial rite. The Maori funeral ceremonies, in which the apparently impulsive and exalted cutting is “done with considerable method and regularity, so as to make the scars ornamental rather than otherwise,” can thus scarcely be adduced as a genuine instance of emotional expression. Cf. Robley, Moko, p. 46. Still less are we entitled to speak in this connection of those Polynesian funeral ceremonies in which the survivors lacerate themselves and allow the blood to drop on the face of the corpse or under its bier. Cf. the instances of such superstitious self-woundings collected in Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, ii. pp. 241, 321-325.