Magic and Religion. Lang Andrew

72

J. A. I. xv. 4.

73

To be true to my own principles, I note a few points in Mr. Frazer's Australian evidence, published by him in J. A. I., November 1894.

Mr. Gason, an excellent witness, says that the Dieri think some souls turn into old trees or rocks, or 'as breath ascend to the heavens,' to 'Purriewillpanina.' The Dieri believe the Mooramoora created them and will look after their spirits (op. cit. p. 175). Mr. Frazer, however, calls the Mura Mura 'remote ancestral spirits,' who would have a difficulty, one thinks, in creating the Dieri. The names of the dead may not be mentioned (p. 176).

The station master at Powell's Creek denies that magic 'exists in any shape or form.' There are no religious dances, no belief in a future life (p. 180). Mr. Lindsay Crawford says 'nothing is known of the nature of souls.' For the last ten years this gentleman 'had held no communication with the natives at all, except with the rifle.' Perhaps his negative evidence is not very valuable, as he does not appear to have won the friendly confidence of the blacks. Mr. Matthews says: 'Many tribes believe future existence is regulated by due observances at burial according to the rites of the tribe' (p. 190). Mr. Foelsche, described by Dr. Stirling as 'a most intelligent and accurate observer, who knows the natives well,' contributes a belief in a benevolent creator, with a demiurge who made the blacks. He inhabits Teelahdlah, among the stars. 'He never dies.' He is 'a very good man,' not a 'spirit.' A subterranean being 'can read and write, and keeps a book' of men's actions. This is so manifestly due to European influence that I have not cited Mr. Foelsche's evidence. Mr. Foelsche 'knows of no magic or witchcraft being practised' (p. 197). The blacks believe that after death their souls 'go up'; they then point skywards (p. 198).

74

G.B. i. 72 note i. 77.

75

See 'The Theory of Loan Gods.'

76

J. A. I. January to June, 1900, No. 31, p. 27.

77

Asiatic Studies, ii. 172.

78

G. B. i. 77.

79

G. B. ii. 1.

80

G. B. ii. 1-59, and passim, almost.

81

G. B. i. 78, 79.

82

G. B. i. 81.

83

G. B. ii. 8; i. 232, 233.

84

G. B. i. 81-114.

85

G. B. i. 88, 89.

86

G. B. i. 86.

87

G. B. i. 72, note 1.

88

G. B. i. 86, 87.

89

G. B. i. 72.

90

G. B. i. 87.

91

G. B. i. 72, note.

92

G. B. ii. 75-80. The hypothesis is offered with all due diffidence.

93

G. B. iii. 424.

94

Natives of Central Australia, p. 246, note 1.

95

J. A. I., 1872, pp. 268, 269. Lang's Queensland, pp. 444, 445. Winslow, in Arber's Captain Smith, p. 768.

96

See 'The Theory of Loan-Gods,' supra.

97

G. B. i. xvii.

98

J. A. I., 1885, pp. 344-370.

99

Parenthetically, I may remark that many beliefs as to the future state originate in, or are confirmed by, visions of 'doctors' who visit the Hades or Paradise of a tribe, and by reports of men given up for dead, who recover and narrate their experiences. The case of Montezuma's aunt is familiar to readers of Mr. Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. The new religion of the Sioux is based on a similar vision. Anthropologists have given slight attention to these circumstances.

100

See my Modern Mythology, and introduction to my Homeric Hymns.

101

Roth, North-West Queensland Central Aborigines, p. 132. Spencer and Gillen, 575.

102

G. B. ii. 21. E. Palmer, J. A. I. xiii. p. 292.

103

Asiatic Studies, i. ix.

104

Primitive Culture, i. 379, 1871.