"For they have their own tambus and they reck not the tambus of the civilized races nor care they..."
-The Cat and the Skull
reck.
[rek]
VERB
recks (third person present) · recked (past tense) · recked (past participle) · recking (present participle)
pay heed to something:
•
(it recks)
it is of importance:
ORIGIN
Old English, of Germanic origin; compare with reckless. The word became common in rhetorical and poetic language in the 19th cent.
"The tiger is my totem and is tambu to me save in self defense..."
-The Cat and the Skull
Tambu, in this instance, is used as a form of the word Taboo, but contextually seems to also reference a sense of racial power. So, the following is pure conjecture, that perhaps Howard infused this commonly understood concept of a cultural taboo with a metaphysic sense of race, perhaps influenced by the numerological term below.
The numerical value of tambo in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
The numerical value of tambo in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
A Well of Heroes: Two:
Literary Impressions of the Prose and Verse of Robert E. Howard
I recall the use of "tambo" in some of Jack London's work also. Will see if I can find it.