The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I | Page 4

destruction of the property of the dead, 147
sq.; great economic loss entailed by developed systems of sacrificing to
the dead, 149.
Lecture VII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of
Australia (concluded)
Huts erected on graves for the use of the ghosts, pp. 150-152; the
attentions paid by the Australian aborigines to their dead probably
spring from fear rather than affection, 152; precautions taken by the
living against the dangerous ghosts of the dead, 152 sq.; cuttings and
brandings of the flesh of the living in honour of the dead, 154-158; the
custom of allowing the blood of mourners to drip on the corpse or into
the grave may be intended to strengthen the dead for a new birth,
158-162; different ways of disposing of the dead according to the age,
rank, manner of death, etc., of the deceased, 162 sq.; some modes of
burial are intended to prevent the return of the spirit, others are
designed to facilitate it, 163-165; final departure of the ghost supposed
to coincide with the disappearance of the flesh from his bones, 165 sq.;
hence a custom has arisen in many tribes of giving the bones a second
burial or otherwise disposing of them when the flesh is quite decayed,
166; tree-burial followed by earth-burial in some Australian tribes,
166-168; general conclusion as to the belief in immortality and the
worship of the dead among the Australian aborigines, 168 sq.

Lecture VIII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of the
Torres Straits Islands
Racial affinities of the Torres Straits Islanders, pp. 170 sq.; their
material and social culture, 171 sq.; no developed worship of the dead
among them, 172 sq.; their fear of ghosts, 173-175; home of the dead a
mythical island in the west, 175 sq.; elaborate funeral ceremonies of the
Torres Straits Islanders characterised by dramatic representations of the
dead and by the preservation of their skulls, which were consulted as
oracles, 176.
Funeral ceremonies of the Western Islanders, 177-180; part played by
the brothers-in-law of the deceased at these ceremonies, 177 sq.;
removal of the head and preparation of the skull for use in divination,
178 sq.; great death-dance performed by masked men who personated
the deceased, 179 sq.
Funeral ceremonies of the Eastern Islanders, 180-188; soul of the dead
carried away by a masked actor, 181 sq.; dramatic performance by
disguised men representing ghosts, 182 sq.; blood and hair of relatives
offered to the dead, 183 sq.; mummification of the corpse, 184;
costume of mourners, 184; cuttings for the dead, 184 sq.; death-dance
by men personating ghosts, 185-188; preservation of the mummy and
afterwards of the head or a wax model of it to be used in divination,
188.
Images of the gods perhaps developed out of mummies of the dead, and
a sacred or even secular drama developed out of funeral dances, 189.
Lecture IX.--The Belief in Immortality Among the Natives Of British
New Guinea
The two races of New Guinea, the Papuan and the Melanesian, pp. 190
sq.; beliefs and customs of the Motu concerning the dead, 192; the
Koita and their beliefs as to the human soul and the state of the dead,
193-195; alleged communications with the dead by means of mediums,
195 sq.; fear of the dead, especially of a dead wife, 196 sq.; beliefs of
the Mafulu concerning the dead, 198; their burial customs, 198 sq.;

their use of the skulls and bones of the dead at a great festival, 199-201;
worship of the dead among the natives of the Aroma district, 201 sq.;
the Hood Peninsula, 202 sq.; beliefs and customs concerning the dead
among the natives of the Hood Peninsula, 203-206; seclusion of
widows and widowers, 203 sq.; the ghost-seer, 204 sq.; application of
the juices of the dead to the persons of the living, 205; precautions
taken by manslayers against the ghosts of their victims, 205 sq.;
purification for homicide originally a mode of averting the angry ghost
of the slain, 206; beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the
Massim of south-eastern New Guinea, 206-210; Hiyoyoa, the land of
the dead, 207; purification of mourners by bathing and shaving, 207 sq.;
foods forbidden to mourners, 208 sq.; fires on the grave, 209; the land
of the dead, 209 sq.; names of the dead not mentioned, 210; beliefs and
customs concerning the dead among the Papuans of Kiwai, 211-214;
Adiri, the land of the dead, 211-213; appearance of the dead to the
living in dreams, 213 sq.; offerings to the dead, 214; dreams as a source
of the belief in immortality, 214.
Lecture X.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German
New Guinea
Andrew Lang, pp. 216 sq.; review of preceding lectures, 217 sq.
The Papuans of Tumleo, their material culture, 218-220; their temples,
220 sq.; their bachelors' houses containing the