e., 'It is a thing to which we have an
antipathy;' or better, 'It is one of the things which our fathers
taught us not to eat.' So it seems the word 'Bashilang' means
'the people who have an antipathy to the leopard;' the
'Bashilamba,' 'those who have an antipathy to the dog,' and the
'Bashilanzefu,' 'those who have an antipathy to the elephant.' In
other words, the members of these stocks refuse to eat their
totems, the zebra, the leopard, or the elephant, from which they
take their names.
"The survival of antipathy to certain foods was found among
people as highly civilized as the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the
Romans. Quite a list of animals whose flesh was forbidden might
be drawn up. For example, in Old Egypt the sheep could not be
eaten in Thebes, nor the goat in Mendes, nor the cat in Bubastis,
nor the crocodile at Ombos, nor the rat, which was sacred to Ra,
the sun-god. However, the people of one place had no scruples
about eating the forbidden food of another place. And this often
led to religious disputes.
"Among the vegetables avoided as food by the Egyptians may be
mentioned the onion, the garlic, and the leek. Lucian says that
the inhabitants of Pelusium adored the onion.
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