asts also testify respect:[672] they appear to be
extensions of the practice of providing food for the dead, feasts in
which the mourners, from motives of thriftiness, take part; the ghost
consumes only the invisible soul of the food, and it is proper that what
is left should furnish refreshment for the living.[673] The funeral
festivities are sometimes protracted, and become occasions of enjoyment
to the circle of kinsfolk, in some cases at a ruinous expense to the
family of the deceased, as is true now sometimes of Irish and other
wakes. The honor of the family is involved, and this fact, together with
the natural desire for pleasure, has contributed to the development of
the custom in savage as well as in civilized life. In general the
solemnity of the various ceremonies and other usages testifies to a
profound conviction of the necessity of keeping on good terms with the
dead.[674]

+365+. The reports of savage customs show a certain number of cases in
which the benevolent and the malevolent activities of the dead are
equally prominent: so, for example, among the Australian Kurnai,[675]
the New Zealanders,[676] the Melanesian peoples,[677] the Vezimbas of
Madagascar,[678] the Zulus,[679] the E['w]e-speaking tribes on the west
coast of Africa.[680] It is probable that the list might be greatly
extended by exact observation. When we find two peoples, dwelling near
together and of the same grade of general culture, credited the one with
fear, the other with friendly feeling toward the dead, it seems likely
that different sets of usages have met the eyes of the observers; a
certain amount of accident must color such reports.

+366+. It is natural to suppose that fear of ghosts is commoner among
less-developed peoples, kindly feeling more usual in higher communities;
and when civilized peoples are taken into account this sort of
progression is obvious. But the reports of savages show such a mixture
of customs that it is difficult to see any line of progress. Dread of
ghosts is certified in Central Australia and North Queensland, in Tonga
(Polynesia), Central Africa, Central Asia, among the North American
Chippewas, Navahos, and Southwest Oregon Indians, and the South American
Araucanians; friendly feeling is found in Tasmania, Western Africa,
South Africa, California, and among the Iroquois and the Zuni
Indians.[681] In such lists there is no clear sign of a division
according to general culture.

+367+. Friendly rela