But precisely at this point the anthropological treatment of religion is apt to prove unsatisfactory.
History can record that such and such is done with far more certainty than that such and such a state of mind accompanies and inspires the doing.

Besides, the savage is no authority on the why and wherefore of his customs.

"However else would a reasonable being think of acting ?" is his sufficient reason, as we have already seen.

Not but what the higher minds amongst savages reflect in their own way upon the meaning of their customs and rites.

But most of this reflection is no more than an elaborate "justification after the event." The mind invents what Mr.Kipling would call a "Just-so story" to account for something already there.