The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I | Page 3

sq.;
Baganda story how death originated through the imprudence of a
woman, 78-81; West African story of Death and the spider, 81-83;
Melanesian story of Death and the Fool, 83 sq.
Thus according to savages death is not a natural necessity, 84; similar
view held by some modern biologists, as A. Weismann and A. R.
Wallace, 84-86.
Lecture IV.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of
Central Australia
In tracing the evolution of religious beliefs we must begin with those of
the lowest savages, p. 87; the aborigines of Australia the lowest
savages about whom we possess accurate information, 88; savagery a
case of retarded development, 88 sq.; causes which have retarded
progress in Australia, 89 sq.; the natives of Central Australia on the
whole more primitive than those of the coasts, 90 sq.; little that can be
called religion among them, 91 sq.; their theory that the souls of the
dead survive and are reborn in their descendants, 92 sq.; places where
the souls of the dead await rebirth, and the mode in which they enter
into women, 93 sq.; local totem centres, 94 sq.; totemism defined, 95;
traditionary origin of the local totem centres (oknanikilla) where the
souls of the dead assemble, 96; sacred birth-stones or birth-sticks
(churinga) which the souls of ancestors are thought to have dropped at
these places, 96-102; elements of a worship of the dead, 102 sq.;
marvellous powers attributed to the remote ancestors of the alcheringa
or dream times, 103 sq.; the Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake,
ancestor of a totemic clan of the Warramunga tribe, 104-106; religious
character of the belief in the Wollunqua, 106.
Lecture V.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central
Australia (continued)

Beliefs of the Central Australian aborigines concerning the
reincarnation of the dead, p. 107; possibility of the development of
ancestor worship, 107 sq.; ceremonies performed by the Warramunga
in honour of the Wollunqua, the mythical ancestor of one of their totem
clans, 108 sqq.; union of magic and religion in these ceremonies, 111
sq.; ground drawings of the Wollunqua, 112 sq.; importance of the
Wollunqua in the evolution of religion and art, 113 sq.; how totemism
might develop into polytheism through an intermediate stage of
ancestor worship, 114 sq.; all the conspicuous features of the country
associated by the Central Australians with the spirits of their ancestors,
115-118; dramatic ceremonies performed by them to commemorate the
deeds of their ancestors, 118 sq.; examples of these ceremonies,
119-122; these ceremonies were probably in origin not merely
commemorative or historical but magical, being intended to procure a
supply of food and other necessaries, 122 sq.; magical virtue actually
attributed to these dramatic ceremonies by the Warramunga, who think
that by performing them they increase the food supply of the tribe, 123
sq.; hence the great importance ascribed by these savages to the due
performance of the ancestral dramas, 124; general attitude of the
Central Australian aborigines to their dead, and the lines on which, if
left to themselves, they might have developed a regular worship of the
dead, 124-126.
Lecture VI.--The Belief in Immortality among the other Aborigines of
Australia
Evidence for the belief in reincarnation among the natives of other parts
of Australia than the centre, p. 127; beliefs of the Queensland
aborigines concerning the nature of the soul and the state of the dead,
127-131; belief of the Australian aborigines that their dead are
sometimes reborn in white people, 131-133; belief of the natives of
South-Eastern Australia that their dead are not born again but go away
to the sky or some distant country, 133 sq.; beliefs and customs of the
Narrinyeri concerning the dead, 134 sqq.; motives for the excessive
grief which they display at the death of their relatives, 135 sq.; their
pretence of avenging the death of their friends on the guilty sorcerer,
136 sq.; magical virtue ascribed to the hair of the dead, 137 sq.; belief

that the dead go to the sky, 138 sq.; appearance of the dead to the living
in dreams, 139; savage faith in dreams, 139 sq.; association of the stars
with the souls of the dead, 140; creed of the South-Eastern Australians
touching the dead, 141; difference of this creed from that of the Central
Australians, 141; this difference probably due in the main to a general
advance of culture brought about by more favourable natural conditions
in South-Eastern Australia, 141 sq.; possible influence of European
teaching on native beliefs, 142 sq.; vagueness and inconsistency of
native beliefs as to the state of the dead, 143; custom a good test of
belief, 143 sq.; burial customs of the Australian aborigines as evidence
of their beliefs concerning the state of the dead, 144; their practice of
supplying the dead with food, water, fire, weapons, and implements,
144-147; motives for the