B 505: Lecture on the Aborigines of Australia and papers on Wirradhurrei dialect, 1837-1840

attacked them. This of course [word crossed out implies the belief in [wods crossed out] witchcraft. But then they have their doctors (as they usually call them in English) a sort of sorcerer or conjurer - Nguagin in their language - who is in communication with some of their demons as I would call them [words crossed out] who may have conciliated at least one [word crossed out] more of them [word crossed out] so as to have him [word crossed out] [words crosssed out] at his bidding & command; it may be to do evil or good, to retaliate by inflicting an evil or to relieve by counteracting the evil done by another demon. By what means they accomplish this by what charm or conjuration or conciliation is a deep mystery which they are never disposed to reveal, either to the uninitiated among themselves or to Europeans. As these sorcerers, which in [indecipherable] ever be their art or power sometimes employ natural means to relieve sick persons we will adopt the usual term doctor for them. The office or power, as far as I could discover does not seem to be hereditary, but the shrewdest amongst them are initiated, who if such may be the offspring of a doctor. They among other things pretend to the power of causing rain to come when

so asked. They seem to know of a few herbs which they medically employ, in certain cases, they also apply warm water; they breath at times in the sick persons nostrils or mouth or hands the hands they often manipulate upon by rubbing them for a time. F. But I will give you some instanes of their [word crossed out] of their mysterious performances. [IN RIGHT SIDE MARGIN:] some of their performances would remind one of mesmerism I remember one evening, a Black Man was said to be in great pain - a griping pain in his stomach on whom they manipulated. At last they came running to me and exclaimed that the Backfellow was cured showing me a stone - it was a white quarz - which they allege one of the doctors had by some mysterious process extracted from his body. Having examined the stone, I said Why this stone is so dirty and greezy just as if it had long been handled about & had been kept in one of those dirty bags they carry about & I see Blackfellows finger marks and it would not look so if it had just come out of a man's body. This caused a hearty laugh among my young men and they seemed to comprehend the delusion. On another occasion something more plausible was practised. I heard that something very extraordinary was going on at the Camp

not far off. It was towards dark, I went to see and noticed a young man lying on the ground as if lifeless, when I enquired, whether he was dead they told me to stand quietly not to talk and just to watch, then I would soon see something wonderful. Whether the young man was in a fit, or merely a willing instrument of delusion I could not make out; but men and women were standing in rows on one side, and in solemn silence and as if in anxious expectation of some important scene. I soon heard about a hundred yards off a deep hollow sounding groan and observed a Black, one of the doctors, creeping flat on the ground like a snake Slowly a leap from amongst the bushes towards the body, uttering repeatedly this mysterious groan, until he reached th young man when he stretched himself for a few minutes upon him breathed into his nostrils and rubbed his hands. He was followed by another doctor who crept along in the same way and went through the same ceremony, then came the first again as before & so the third time the same ceremony was gone through. And at the

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 exclusively to evil spirits, for supernatureal beings more or less disposed to do good & not merely evil

20 as a sort of deities or [words crossed out] beings of a superior order He and I would agree that if [words crossed out] [words crossed out] the Aborigines, [words crossed out] had no other belief than that [words crossed out] in some superior power or spirit, it may be since the idea of a superior bring exists among them and thus the proof [word crossed out] in natural theology for the existence of a deity holds true even with these ignorant and degraded people. In other words I [word crossed out] maintain that [words crossed out] there is no native [indecipherable] quite so low as not to have some little notion, however perverted & corrupt, of a a deity or deities. We may rest assured there is an innate idea [word crossed out] of the existence & need of a deity [indecipherable] among all human races, nor are they entirely devoid of an expectation of [word crossed out] future existence. In some this idea is more deeply rooted, whilst others are more inclined to atheistic notions. Some of these Aborigines would at times when I spoke to them of a future state of existence exclaim, though usually with a blush and doubt Dugguainbul ballungirri, We shall die altogether, whilst others would more firmly maintain the probability that they would live hereafter. The idea of the migration of the soul has sometimes been attributed to these Aborigines, but I believe this is without foundation & is rather an idea which some Europeans seem to have imparted to them. But let me now tell you that I have fully