Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/136

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condition. 01" prayer no relic remained. Yet tbere was left a consciousness of a Great Creaior, nndefined, un- approaclied by niaii. The astronomer does not bring dowu the spheres, but attunes bis niind to their harmonies ; and the ^oklen Imk of prayer binds man to the ineffalde power which created him. Without it he becomes rodder] ess on the ocean. When wholesome hnmiHty dies out in the mind, unclean spirits fill the void. And so, with the Aus- trahan, the rehcs of worship, retamed in his solemn cere- monies, did not bar the way to base superstitions and dread. The darkness of night, the deep recesses of un- fathouied ih)o1s» the neighbourhood of dense woods which defied the beams of the sun, were all believed to be under the power of some evil one. Yet was the belief vague. No native would voluntarily go alone at night to a haunted region. But when the tribe thought fit to move at night, it did so ; and if pressing danger urged him, even a smgle man would thread his unerring way in the inurkieet recesses from which otherwise he would have sbruidc. For years the colonists strove to gain sight of a water- monster described to them by the natives. It dwelt in deep river or mountain pools. Doubtless traditions of dangers from the crocodile, or shark, spread among tribes which knew^ not the northern rivers, or the sea, invested any dee}) water with a reputation for containing its monster ; and t]ie distorted fancy was thus founded on reality. One great difliculty in weighing the peeiiharities of the Australian race was the diversity of customs in different tribes. The lialuts of one tribe have often ]>een accepted as the nite of all, and a local observer has built a general theory upon an exception. Thus in some tribes in South Australia cannibalism was a rite. Mr, Gason reported that the Dieyerie'^'^ tribe (near Lake Hope) were hound to eat a portion of their relations in obedience to a code under w'hich the mother ate her children, or the children the mother, but the father and bis children were forbidden to partake of a similar horrible rt'iiast, while ** uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, grandfathers, and 4 4 4 ^ QiiiAed ill ** South Australian Aboriginal Folk-Lore,^ Taplin. ^1