985+. In the systems of many other low tribes there are quasi-divine
beings who are credited with great power and are revered without being
thought of as eternal or as standing alone in the government of the
world. A specially interesting example is the Andaman Puluga, a sort of
creator who receives no worship; his abode is a mountain or the sky, and
he seems to have been originally a local supernatural figure who is
traditionally respected but is no longer thought of as an efficient
patron.[1806] The mysterious Ndengei of Fiji is judge of the dead, but
one of many gods and not all-powerful.[1807] In many tribes there is no
one great divine figure; the control of things is divided among hosts of
spirits and gods. This is the case with the Ainu, the Maoris, the
Greenlanders, the Kwakiutl of Northwest America,[1808] and is probably
the rule in most of the lower communities.

The terms 'self-existent' and 'eternal' are not found in savage
vocabularies and seem to have no representatives in savage thought.
Savage cosmology carries the history of the world back to a certain
point and stops when there is no familiar hypothesis of genesis.[1809]
As a rule spirits (as distinguished from ghosts) are not thought of as
having a creator; they are a part of the system of things and are not
supposed to need explanation, and so it seems to be with simple clan
gods. Nor is there any reason, in savage theory, why gods or spirits
should die; death is an accident for human beings, not an essential
feature of their constitution; but such an accident is not usually
supposed to occur in the case of gods. What takes the place of the
conception of 'eternal' in savage thought is an existence that is
supposed to continue for the reason that its cessation does not come
into consideration. As to creation, there is no need, in a low
community, to suppose more than one originator of the world, and
cosmogonic theory may stop at that point, though this is not an
invariable rule. The title "father" for persons of distinction, human or
divine, is found among many undeveloped peoples, and a headman or patron
may be called, by a natural extension of thought, "all-father," a title
that is not essentially different in signification from the simple
"father," and does not carry with it the refined sense of later times.
The question of savage monotheism need present no difficulty if the
conditions are clearly defined.[1810] It is true that there is in some
cas