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third performance the docter being again
stretched upon the supposed lifeless
body, the docter & the patient [words crossed out] reanimated after
a few seconds jumped up, and
all the spectators men & women clapped
their hands in admiration of the wonderful
cure with a few shouts of joy. When I tried
afterwards to convince some of our more civilized
young men that probably all was merely
a piece of [indecipherable] gammon - they
gravely replied: "Black fellows know a great
deal more than you think, but they can't
tell you & they dare not tell all to
other Blackfellows."
I have already intimated that the demons in
which they believe are in their opinion not altogether
evil spirits, but beings possessed of supernatural
powers both for good & evil, though chiefly objects of
dread. [word crossed out] Now in these notions the Aborigines
resemble other pagan natives such as the ancient
Greeks, [words crossed out] to whom
we are inclined to look up to as [word crossed out] civilized.
It is well known that the most ancient Greeks
used the term demons, afterwards applied ex-
clusively to evil spirits, for supernatureal beings
more or less disposed to do good & not merely evil