aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

78 AKOUND THE WORLD.
Sanscrit ; others choose to connect it with the nomadic Tartars.
In physical type they resemble the Malay's, and yet
there is not a Malay word in their language. They have
religious mysteries, and a fearful method of initiation. Some
of the tribes practice, like Jews and Mohammedans, the
rite of circumcision. They.wear charms upon their persons
and certain of the old chiefs, looking into rock-crystals, profess
to see the future. They find the bodies of murdered
men by watching the trail of beetles. Mourning paint to be
used for the face is invariably white. Young mothers used
to very frequently name their children after flowers.
A surname
was sometimes added, descriptive of personal peculiarities.
When a child is named after another' person, and
this person dies, the name dies also. The dead are never
spoken of by name, nor referred to only by implication.
They refrain from touching a dead body, as did the Jews and
ancient Phoenicians. That a bond of brotherhood exists
among the dark races of Austraha and the Indian seas, is
indisputable ; but whence they originally sprang, and by
what circumstances they became scattered over thousands of
miles, throi^gh seventy degrees of latitude, remains a" problem
to be solved. Doubtless the Australian country was
peopled long before Abraham went down into Egypt, or
before the walls of ancient Nineveh and Thebes were raised
to their proud position.
THE native's belief IN SPIRITS.
Spirit is the underlying cause of all motion, energy, and
moral activity.
In the aboriginal " ceremonies, superstitions,
and beliefs, there may be traced," says Mr. Parker, " relics
of sun-worship, serpent-worship, and the worship of ancestral
spirits whom they profess to frequently see." They
believe that one class of spirits dwell in the air, another in
the mountain, and others still wander about among the
tall trees. These natives seldom quit a camp-fire at night,
for fear of encountering malignant spirits. Mr. Benwick,