text:
The Astral Plane/Chapter IV

PHENOMENA

FROM one point of view this should have been the first chapter of our book instead of the last, for it was from the consideration of its subject-matter that all the rest arose. I owe my introduction to Theosophy in this incarnation to our then Vice-President, Mr. A. P. Sinnett, who was always exceptionally kind to me, and while I was staying with him we used to meet every Sunday morning in his library to discuss Theosophical matters. On one such occasion he casually remarked that he did not think that the Theosophical teaching so far given to us adequately covered or accounted for many of the spiritualistic phenomena which both of us had repeatedly seen. Rather startled by this hypothesis I stoutly maintained the opinion that they were satisfactorily covered, and proceeded to give examples. Mr. Sinnett seemed favourably impressed, and asked me to give a lecture to the London Lodge expounding my views. I agreed to do this, but when I came to prepare that lecture I soon found that in order to make myself intelligible I must begin by a general description of the astral world as a whole, with its conditions and the powers and possibilities of its inhabitants. I realized that I had undertaken a larger contract than I intended; but clearly it was a piece of work that had to be done, so I might as well go ahead and do it to the best of my ability. The eventual result was a lecture to the Lodge which appeared as its Transaction No. 24.

Dr. Besant, who was then publishing a series of Theosophical Manuals, was kind enough to include this essay as one of them; hence its appearance in its present form. Though in the course of this manual various super-physical phenomena have been mentioned and to some extent explained, it will perhaps before concluding be desirable so far to recapitulate as to give a list of those with which the student of these subjects most frequently meets, and to show by which of the agencies we have attempted to describe they are usually caused. The resources of the astral world, however, are so varied that almost any phenomenon with which we are acquainted can be produced in several different ways, so that it is only possible to lay down general rules in the matter.

Apparitions or ghosts furnish a very good instance of the remark just made, for in the loose manner in which the words are ordinarily used they may stand for almost any inhabitant of the astral plane. Psychically developed people are constantly seeing such things, but for an ordinary person to "see a ghost", as the common expression runs, one of two things must happen: either that ghost must materialize, or that person must have a temporary flash of psychic perception. But for the fact that neither of these events is common, we should meet with ghosts in our streets as frequently as living people.

CHURCHYARD GHOSTS
If the ghost is seen hovering about a grave it is probably the etheric shell of a newly¬buried person, though it may be the astral body of a living man haunting in sleep the tomb of a friend; or again, it may be a materialized thought¬form — that is, an artificial elemental created by the energy with which a man thinks of himself as present at that particular spot. These varieties would be easily distinguishable one from the other by any one accustomed to use astral vision, but an unpractised person would be likely to call them all vaguely "ghosts".

APPARITIONS OF THE DYING
Apparitions at the time of death are by no means uncommon, and are often really visits paid by the astral form of the dying man just before what we elect to call the moment of dissolution; though here again they are just as likely to be thought-forms called into being by his earnest wish to see some friend once more before he passes into an unfamiliar condition. There are some instances in which the visit is paid just after the moment of death instead of just before; and in such a case the visitor is really a ghost; but for various causes this form of apparition is far less frequent than the other.

HAUNTED LOCALITIES
Apparitions at the spot where some crime was committed are usually thought-forms projected by the criminal; for the ordinary criminal, whether living or dead, but most especially when dead, is perpetually thinking over again and again the circumstances of his action. Since these thoughts are naturally specially vivid in his mind on the anniversary of the original crime, it is often only on that occasion that the thought-forms which he creates are strong enough to materialize themselves to ordinary sight — a fact which accounts for the periodicity of some manifestations of this class. Habitual criminals are frequently too callous to be especially moved by the recollection of one particular crime, but in that case other factors might come into play.

Another point in reference to such phenomena is that, wherever any tremendous mental disturbance has taken place, wherever overwhelming terror, pain, sorrow, hatred, or indeed any kind of intense passion has been felt, an impression of so marked a character has been made upon the astral matter that a person with even the faintest glimmer of psychic faculty cannot but be deeply impressed by it. It would need but a slight temporary increase of sensibility to enable him to visualize the entire scene — to see the event in all its detail apparently taking place before his eyes — and in such a case he would report that the place was haunted, and that he had seen a ghost.

People who are yet unable to see psychically under any circumstances are frequently unpleasantly impressed when visiting such places as we have mentioned. There are many, for example, who feel uncomfortable when passing the site of Tyburn Tree, or cannot stay in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's, though they may not be in the least aware that their discomfort is due to the dreadful impressions in the astral matter which surround places and objects redolent of horror and crime, and to the presence of the loathsome astral entities which always swarm about such centres.

FAMILY GHOSTS
The family ghost, whom we generally find in the stock stories of the supernatural as an appanage of the feudal castle, may be either a thought-form or an unusually vivid impression in astral matter, or again he may really be an earth-bound ancestor still haunting the scenes in which his thoughts and hopes centred during life.

BELL-RINGING, STONE-THROWING, ETC.
Another class of hauntings, which take the form of bell-ringing, stone¬throwing, or the breaking of crockery, has already been mentioned, and is almost invariably the work of elemental forces, either set blindly in motion by the clumsy efforts of an ignorant person trying to attract the attention of is surviving friends, or intentionally employed by some childishly mischievous nature-spirit. To such manifestations the name poltergeist is usually given.

FAIRIES
The nature-spirits are also responsible for whatever of truth may be in all the fairy stories which are so common in certain country places. Sometimes a temporary accession of clairvoyance, which is by no means uncommon among the inhabitants of lonely mountainous regions, enables some belated wayfarer to watch their joyous gambols; sometimes strange tricks are played upon some terrified victim, and a glamour is cast over him, making him, for example, see houses and people where he knows none really exist. And this is frequently no mere momentary delusion, for a man will sometimes go through quite a long series of imaginary but most striking adventures, and then suddenly find that all his brilliant surroundings have vanished in a moment, leaving him standing in some lonely valley or on some wind-swept plain. On the other hand, it is by no means safe to accept as founded on fact all the popular legends on the subject, for the grossest superstition is often mingled with the theories of the peasantry about these beings, as has been shown sometimes by terrible murder cases.

To the same entities must he attributed a large portion of what are called physical phenomena at spiritualistic séances — indeed, many a séance has been given entirely by these mischievous creatures. Such a performance might easily include many very striking items, such as the answering of questions and delivery of pretended messages by raps or tilts, the exhibition of "spirit lights," the apport of objects from a distance, the reading of thoughts which were in the mind of any person present, the precipitation of writings or drawings, and even materializations.

In fact, the nature-spirits alone, if any of them happened to he disposed to take the trouble, could give a séance equal to the most wonderful of which we read; for though there may be certain phenomena which they would not find it easy to reproduce, their marvellous power of glamour would enable them without difficulty to persuade the entire circle that these phenomena also had duly occurred — unless, indeed, there were present a trained observer who understood their arts and knew how to defeat them. As a general rule, whenever silly tricks or practical jokes are played at a séance, we may infer the presence either of low¬class nature-spirits, or of human beings who were of a sufficiently degraded type to find pleasure in such idiotic performances during life.

COMMUNICATING ENTITIES
As to the entities who may "communicate" at a séance or may obsess and speak through an entranced medium, their name is simply legion; there is hardly a single class among all the varied inhabitants of the astral plane from whose ranks they may not be drawn, though after the explanations given it will be readily understood that the chances are against their coming from an exalted level. A manifesting "spirit" is often exactly what it professes to be, especially at a private séance conducted by educated and serious people; but often also it is nothing of the kind; and for the ordinary sitter there is no means of distinguishing the true from the false, since the extent to which a being having all the resources of the astral plane at his command can delude a person on the physical plane is so great that no reliance can be placed even on what seems at first sight to be the most convincing proof.

If something manifests which announces itself as a man's long-lost brother, he can have no certainty that its claim is just. If it tells him of some fact known only to that brother and to himself, he remains unconvinced, for he knows that it might easily have read the information from his own mind, or from his surroundings in the astral world. Even if it goes still further and tells him something connected with his brother, of which he himself is unaware, but which he afterwards verifies, he still realizes that even this may have been read from the astral record, or that what he sees before him may be only the shade of his brother, and so possess his memory without in any way being himself. It is not for one moment denied that important communications have been made at séances by entities who in such cases have been precisely what they said they were; all that is claimed is that it is quite impossible for the ordinary person who visits a séance (especially a public séance) ever to be certain that he is not being cruelly deceived in one or other of half a dozen different ways. However, any one who wishes to study a case in which irrefutable evidence is laboriously given should read Life Beyond Death with Evidence by the Rev. C. D. Thomas. There have been a few cases in which members of the Lodge of occultists referred to above as originating the spiritualistic movement have themselves given, through a medium, a series of valuable teachings on deeply interesting subjects, but this has invariably been at strictly private family séances, not at public performances for which money has been paid.

ASTRAL RESOURCES
To understand the methods by which a large class of physical phenomena are produced, it is necessary to have some comprehension of the various resources mentioned above, which a person functioning on the astral plane finds at his command; and this is a branch of the subject which it is by no means easy to make clear, especially as it is hedged about with certain obviously necessary restrictions. It may perhaps help us if we remember that the astral world may be regarded as in many ways only an extension of the physical, and the idea that matter may assume the etheric state (in which, though intangible to us, it is yet purely physical) may serve to show us how the one melts into the other. In fact, in the Hindu conception of Jagrat, or "the waking state," the physical and astral planes are combined, its seven subdivisions corresponding to the four conditions of physical matter, and the three broad divisions of astral matter which have previously been explained.

With this thought in our minds it is easy to move a step further, and grasp the idea that astral vision, or rather astral perception, may from one point of view be defined as the capability of receiving an enormously increased number of different sets of vibrations. In our physical bodies one small set of vibrations is perceptible to us as sound; another small set of much more rapid vibrations affects us as light; and again another set as electric action; but there are immense numbers of intermediate vibrations which produce no result which our physical senses can cognize at all. It will readily be seen that if all, or even some only, of these intermediates, with all the complications producible by differences of wave-length, are perceptible on the astral plane, our comprehension of nature might be greatly increased on that level, and we might be able to acquire much information which is now hidden from us.

CLAIRVOYANCE
It is admitted that some of these vibrations pass through solid matter with perfect ease, so that this enables us to account scientifically for the peculiarities of etheric vision, though for astral sight the theory of the fourth dimension gives a neater and more complete explanation. It is clear that the mere possession of this astral vision by a being would at once account for his capability to produce many results that seem wonderful to us — such, for example, as the reading of a passage from a closed book. When we remember, furthermore, that this faculty includes the power of thought-reading (in so far as that thought affects emotions), and also, when combined with the knowledge of the projection of currents in the astral currents, that of observing a desired object in almost any part of the world, we see that many of the phenomena of clairvoyance are explicable even without rising above this level. I would refer any one who desires to study more closely this interesting subject to my little book, Clairvoyance, in which its varieties are tabulated and explained, and numerous examples given.

PREVISION AND SECOND-SIGHT
True, trained, and absolutely reliable clairvoyance calls into operation an entirely different set of faculties, but as these belong to a higher plane than the astral, they form no part of our present subject. The faculty of accurate prevision, again, appertains altogether to that higher plane, yet flashes or reflections of it frequently show themselves to purely astral sight, more especially among simple-minded people who live under suitable conditions – what is called "secondsight" among the Highlanders of Scotland being a well-known example.

Another fact which we must not forget is that any intelligent inhabitant of the astral plane is not only able to perceive these etheric vibrations, but can also — if he has learnt how it is done — adapt them to his own ends, or himself set them in motion.

ASTRAL FORCES
Super-physical forces and the methods of managing them are not subjects about which much can be written for publication at present, though there is reason to suppose that it may not be long before at any rate some application of one or two of them come to be known to the world at large; but it may perhaps be possible, without transgressing the limits of the permissible, to give so much of an idea of them as shall be sufficient to show in outline how certain phenomena are performed.

All who have much experience of spiritualistic séances at which physical results are produced must at one time or another have seen evidence of the employment of practically resistless force in, for example, the instantaneous movement of enormous weights, and so on; and if of a scientific turn of mind, they may perhaps have wondered whence this force was obtained, and what was the leverage employed. As usual in connection with astral phenomena, there are several ways in which such work may have been done, but it will be enough for the moment to hint at four.

ETHERIC CURRENTS
First, there are great etheric currents constantly sweeping over the surface of the earth from pole to pole in volume which makes their power as irresistible as that of the rising tide, and there are methods by which this stupendous force may be safely utilized, though unskillful attempts to control it would be fraught with frightful danger.

ETHERIC PRESSURE
Secondly, there is what can best be described as an etheric pressure, somewhat corresponding to, though immensely greater than, the atmospheric pressure. In ordinary life we are as little conscious of one of these pressures as we are of the other, but nevertheless they both exist, and if science were able to exhaust the ether from a given space, as it can exhaust the air, the one could be proved as readily as the other. The difficulty of doing that lies in the fact that matter in the etheric condition freely interpenetrates matter in all states below it, so that there is as yet no means within the knowledge of our physicists by which any given body of ether can be isolated from the rest. Practical Occultism, however, teaches how this can be done, and thus the tremendous force of etheric pressure can be brought into play.

LATENT ENERGY
Thirdly, there is a vast store of potential energy which has become dormant in matter during the involution of the subtle into the gross, and by changing the condition of the matter some of this may be liberated and utilized, somewhat as latent energy in the form of heat may be liberated by a change in the condition of visible matter.

SYMPATHETIC VIBRATION
Fourthly, many striking results, both great and small, may be produced by an extension of a principle which may be described as that of sympathetic vibration. Illustrations taken from the physical plane seem generally to misrepresent rather than elucidate astral phenomena, because they can never be more than partially applicable; but the recollection of two simple facts of ordinary life may help to make this important branch of our subject clearer, if we are careful not to push the analogy further than it will hold good.

It is well known that if one of the wires of a harp be made to vibrate vigorously, its movement will call forth sympathetic vibrations in the corresponding strings of any number of harps placed round it, if they are tuned to exactly the same pitch. It is also well known that when a large body of soldiers crosses a suspension bridge it is necessary for them to break step, since the perfect regularity of their ordinary march would set up a vibration in the bridge which would be intensified by every step they took until the point of resistance of the iron was passed, when the whole structure would fly to pieces.

With these two analogies in our minds (never forgetting that they are only partial) it may seem more comprehensible that one who knows exactly at what rate to start his vibrations — knows, so to speak, the keynote of the class of matter he wishes to affect — should be able by sounding that keynote to call forth an immense number of sympathetic vibrations. When this is done on the physical plane no additional energy is developed; but on the astral plane there is this difference, that the matter with which we are dealing is far less inert, and so when called into action by these sympathetic vibrations it adds its own living force to the original impulse, which may thus be multiplied manifold; and then by further rhythmic repetition of the original impulse, as in the case of the soldiers marching over the bridge, the vibrations may be so intensified that the result is out of all apparent proportion to the cause. Indeed, it may be said that there is scarcely any limit to the conceivable achievements of this force in the hands of a great Adept who fully comprehends its possibilities; for the very building of the Universe itself was but the result of the vibrations set up by the Spoken Word.

MANTRAS
The class of mantras or spells which produce their result not by controlling some elemental, but merely by the repetition of certain sounds, also depend for their efficacy upon this action of sympathetic vibration.

DISINTEGRATION
The phenomenon of disintegration also may be brought about by the action of extremely rapid vibrations, which overcome the cohesion of the molecules of the object upon which we operate. A still higher rate of vibration of a somewhat different type will separate these molecules into their constituent atoms. A body reduced by these means to the etheric condition can be moved by an astral current from one place to another with great rapidity; and the moment that the force which has been exerted to put it into that condition is withdrawn it will be forced by the etheric pressure to resume its original condition.

Students often at first find it difficult to understand how in such an experiment the shape of the article dealt with can be preserved. It has been remarked that if any metallic object — say, for example, a key — be melted and raised to a vaporous state by heat, when the heat is withdrawn it will return to the solid state, but it will no longer be a key, but merely a lump of metal. The point is well taken, though as a matter of fact the apparent analogy does not hold good. The elemental essence which informs the key would be dissipated by the alteration in its condition — not that the essence itself can be affected by the action of heat, but that when its temporary body is destroyed (as a solid) it pours back into the great reservoir of such essence, much as the higher principles of a man, though entirely unaffected by heat or cold, are yet forced out of a physical body when it is destroyed by fire.

Consequently, when what had been the key cooled down into the solid condition again, the elemental essence (of the "earth" or solid class) which poured back into it would not be the same as that which it contained before, and there would be no reason why the same shape should be retained. But a man who disintegrated a key for the purpose of removing it by astral currents from one place to another would be careful to hold the same elemental essence in exactly the same shape until the transfer was completed, and then when his will-force was removed it would act as a mould into which the solidifying particles would flow, or rather round which they would be re-aggregated. Thus, unless the operator's power of concentration failed, the shape would be accurately preserved.

It is in this way that objects are sometimes brought almost instantaneously from great distances at spiritualistic séances, and it is obvious that when disintegrated they could be passed with perfect ease through any solid substance, such, for example, as the wall of a house or the side of a locked box, so that what is commonly called "the passage of matter through matter" is seen, when properly understood, to be as simple as the passage of water through a sieve, or of a gas through a liquid in some chemical experiment.

MATERIALIZATION
Since it is possible by an alteration of vibration to change matter from the solid to the etheric condition, it will be comprehended that it is also possible to reverse the process and to bring etheric matter into the solid state. As the one process explains the phenomenon of disintegration, so does the other that of materialization; and just as in the former case a continued effort of will is necessary to prevent the object from resuming its original state, so in exactly the same way in the latter phenomenon, a continued effort is necessary to prevent the materialized matter from relapsing into the etheric condition.

In the materializations seen at an ordinary séance, such matter as may be required is borrowed as far as possible from the medium's etheric double — an operation which is prejudicial to his health, and also undesirable in various other ways. Thus is explained the fact that the materialized form is usually strictly confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the medium, and is subject to an attraction which is constantly drawing it back to the body from which it came, so that if kept away from the medium too long the figure collapses, and the matter which composed it, returning to the etheric condition, rushes back instantly to its source.

In some cases there is no doubt that dense and visible physical matter also is temporarily removed from the body of the medium, however difficult it may be for us to realize the possibility of such a transfer. I have myself seen instances in which this phenomenon undoubtedly took place, and was evidenced by a considerable loss of weight in the medium's physical body. Similar cases are described in Colonel Olcott's People from the Other World, and in Un Cas de Dematerialisation, by M. A. Aksakow. A still more remarkable example is given in Madame d’Esperance’s Shadowland.

WHY DARKNESS IS REQUIRED
The reason why the beings directing a séance find it easier to operate in darkness or in subdued light will now be manifest, since their power would usually be insufficient to hold together a materialized form or even a "spirit hand" for more than a few seconds amidst the intense vibrations set up by brilliant light.

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS
The habituès of séances will no doubt have noticed that materializations are of three kinds: First, those which are tangible but not visible; second, those which are visible but not tangible; and third, those which are both visible and tangible. To the first kind, which is much the most common, belong the invisible spirit hands which so frequently stroke the faces of the sitters or carry small objects about the room, and the vocal organs from which the "direct voice" proceeds. In this case, an order of matter is being used which can neither reflect nor obstruct light, but is capable under certain conditions of setting up vibrations in the atmosphere which affect us as sound. A variation of this class is that kind of partial materialization which, though incapable of reflecting any light that we can see, is yet able to affect some of the ultraviolet rays, and can therefore make a more or less definite impression upon the camera, and so provide us with what are known as "spirit photographs".

When there is not sufficient power available to produce a perfect materialization we sometimes see the vaporous-looking form which constitutes our second class, and in such a case the "spirits" usually warn their sitters that the forms which appear must not be touched. In the rarer case of a full materialization there is sufficient power to hold together, at least for a few moments, a form which can be both seen and touched.

When an Adept or pupil finds it necessary for any purpose to materialize his mental or astral vehicle, he does not draw upon either his own etheric double or that of anyone else, since he has been taught how to extract the matter which he requires directly from the surrounding ether.

REDUPLICATION
Another phenomenon closely connected with this part of the subject is that of reduplication, which is produced by forming a perfect mental image of the object to be copied, and then gathering about that mould the necessary astral and physical matter. For this purpose it is necessary that every particle, interior as well as exterior, of the object to be duplicated should be held accurately in view simultaneously, and consequently the phenomenon is one which requires considerable power of concentration to perform. Persons unable to extract the matter required directly from the surrounding ether have sometimes borrowed it from the material of the original article, which in this case would be correspondingly reduced in weight.

PRECIPITATION
We read a good deal in Theosophical literature of the precipitation of letters or pictures. This result, like everything else, may be obtained in several ways. An Adept wishing to communicate with some one might place a sheet of paper before him, form a mental image of the writing which he wished to appear upon it, and draw from the ether the matter wherewith to objectify that image; or if he preferred to do so it would be equally easy for him to produce the same result upon a sheet of paper lying before his correspondent, whatever might be the distance between them.

A third method which, since it saves time, is much more frequently adopted, is to impress the whole substance of the letter on the mind of some pupil, and leave him to do the mechanical work of precipitation. That pupil would then take his sheet of paper, and, imagining he saw the letter written thereon in his Master's hand, would proceed to objectify the writing as before described. If he found it difficult to perform simultaneously the two operations of drawing his material from the surrounding ether and precipitating the writing on the paper, he might have either ordinary ink or a small quantity of coloured powder on the table beside him, which, being already dense matter, could be drawn upon more readily.

It is obvious that the possession of this power would be a dangerous weapon in the hands of an unscrupulous person, since it is as easy to imitate one man's handwriting as another's, and it would be impossible to detect by any ordinary means a forgery committed in this manner. A pupil definitely connected with any Master has always an infallible test by which he knows whether any message really emanates from that Master or not, but for others the proof of its origin must always lie solely in the contents of the letter and the spirit breathing through it, as the handwriting, however cleverly imitated, is of absolutely no value as evidence.

As to speed, a pupil new to the work of precipitation would probably be able to image only a few words at a time, and would, therefore, progress hardly more rapidly than if he wrote his letter in the ordinary way, but a more experienced individual who could visualize a whole page or perhaps the entire letter at once would do his work with greater facility. It is in this manner that quite long letters are produced in a few seconds at a séance.

When a picture has to be precipitated the method is precisely the same, except that here it is absolutely necessary that the entire scene should be visualized at once, and if many colours are required there is the additional complication of manufacturing them, keeping them separate, and reproducing accurately the exact tints of the scene to be represented. Evidently there is scope here for the exercise of the artistic faculty, and it must not be supposed that every inhabitant of the astral plane could by this method produce an equally good picture; a man who had been a great artist in life, and had therefore learnt how to see and for what to look, would certainly be very much more successful than the ordinary person if he attempted precipitation when on the astral plane after death.

SLATE-WRITING
The slate-writing, for the production of which under test conditions some of the greatest mediums have been so famous, is sometimes produced by precipitation, though more frequently the fragment of pencil enclosed between the slates is guided by a spirit hand, of which only just the tiny points sufficient to grasp it are materialized.

LEVITATION
An occurrence which occasionally happens at séances, and more frequently among Eastern Yogis, is what is called levitation — that is, the floating of a human body in the air. No doubt when this takes place in the case of a medium, he is often merely upborne by "spirit hands", but there is another and more scientific method of accomplishing this feat which is always used in the East, and occasionally here also. Occult science is acquainted with a means of neutralizing or even entirely reversing the attraction of gravity, and it is obvious that by the judicious use of this power all the phenomena of levitation may be easily produced. It was no doubt by a knowledge of this secret that some of the airships of ancient India and Atlantis were raised from the earth and made light enough to be readily moved and directed; and not improbably the same acquaintance with Nature's finer forces greatly facilitated the labours of those who raised the enormous blocks of stone sometimes used in cyclopean architecture, or in the building of the Pyramids and Stonehenge.

SPIRIT LIGHTS
With the knowledge of the forces of Nature which the resources of the astral plane place at the command of its inhabitants, the production of what are called "spirit lights" is an easy matter, whether they be of the mildly phosphorescent or the dazzling electrical variety, or those curious dancing globules of light into which a certain class of fire elementals so readily transform themselves. Since all light consists of vibrations of the ether, it is obvious that any one who knows how to set up these vibrations can readily produce any kind of light that he wishes.

HANDLING FIRE
It is by the aid of the etheric elemental essence also that the remarkable feat of handling fire unharmed is generally performed, though there are as usual other ways in which it can be done. The thinnest layer of etheric substance can be so manipulated as to be absolutely impervious to heat, and when the hand of a medium or sitter is covered with this he may pick up burning coal or red-hot iron with perfect safety.

In addition to the special forces above-mentioned the principle of the ordinary lever is often used to produce minor phenomena, such as the tilting of tables or rapping upon them, the fulcrum being in this case the body of the medium, and the lever a bar of ectoplasm projected from it. (See Psychic Structures, by Dr. W. J. Crawford.)

TRANSMUTATION
We have now referred to most of the occurrences of the séance-room, but there are one or two of the rarer phenomena of the outer world which must not he left quite without mention in our list. The transmutation of metals was once supposed to be a mere dream of the mediæval alchemists, and no doubt in many cases the description of the phenomenon was merely a symbol of the purification of the soul; yet there seems to be some evidence that it was really accomplished by them on several occasions, and there are petty magicians in the East who profess to do it under test conditions even now. Modern science is now experimenting along these lines, and will probably succeed in course of time. It is evident that since the ultimate atom is one and the same in all substances, and it is only the methods of its combination that differ, any one who possessed the power of reducing a piece of metal to the atomic condition and of re-arranging its atoms in some other form would have no difficulty in effecting transmutation to any extent that he wished.

REPERCUSSION
The principle of sympathetic vibration mentioned above also provides the explanation of the strange and little-known phenomenon called repercussion, by means of which any injury done to, or any mark made upon, the materialized body in the course of its wanderings will be reproduced in the physical body. We find traces of this in some of the evidence given at trials for witchcraft in the Middle Ages, in which it is not infrequently stated that some wound given to the witch when in the form of a dog or a wolf was found to have appeared in the corresponding part of her human body. The same strange law has sometimes led to an entirely unjust accusation of fraud against a medium, because, for example, some colouring matter rubbed upon the hand of a materialized "spirit" was afterwards found upon his hand — the explanation being that in that case, as so often happens, the "spirit" was simply the medium's etheric double, forced by the guiding influences to take some form other than his own. In fact these two parts of the physical body are so intimately connected that it is impossible to touch the keynote of one without immediately setting up exactly corresponding vibrations in the other.

title: The Astral Plane/Chapter IV


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/189

Rh replies. The sorcerer would have told the people that as their deceased brother had killed many wild blackfellows, so, in justice, should many die for him, and that the dead man had promised that if his murder should be sufficiently avenged his spirit would not haunt the tribe, nor cause them fear, nor mislead them into wrong tracks, nor bring sickness amongst them, nor make loud noises in the night. Such a speech would have nerved the arms of the young men, and the strongest exertions would have been used to kill many wild blackfellows. The women would have urged speed, and the young children would have given the men strength by their tears and their alarm; because all believe that if a dead man's wrongs be not avenged, his spirit will return and cause calamity to the whole tribe of which he was a member.

If the death of a black occur after sunset, when there is not time to use all the proper ceremonials in the light of day, the body is left in the place where the spirit fled; and the nearest of kin—male and female—sit by the side of it during the long hours of night. Two fires are made, one at the east side of the corpse, and one at the west; and the male watches the east fire, and the female the west. Not until the glare of the morning light has turned the green tree-tops to gold does the camp move or the ceremonials begin.

On the occurrence of the death of a Goulburn black, on the south bank of the River Yarra, a circumstance attending the last rites baffled the ingenuity of the sorcerers not a little. After digging the small trench around the body, no aperture was found, neither in the trench nor in the space between that and the corpse, and the sorcerers and the mourners were perplexed and uneasy. But the wise men were troubled but for a short time. If there was not the ordinary manifestation, it was a sign that they were to look for another; and one sorcerer lying on his stomach spoke to the deceased, and the other sitting by his side received the precious messages which the dead man told. The sorcerer, thus informed, rose after the lapse of a quarter of an hour, and delivered his speech. He told the credulous mourners that the dead man had given instructions as to the way which they should go to find the wild black who had taken his kidney-fat; and the people were satisfied.

Sometimes a black, when he knows that he is dying, will save trouble by naming the tribe to whose wicked arts he has become a victim. Gen-nin—well known in Melbourne many years ago, and called by the whites "Jack Weatherly"—was bitten by a snake, and all the usual remedies failing, and Gen-nin knowing that his end had come, told his friends that a man of a tribe living in the north, whose country he described minutely, had entered the snake and taken his kidney-fat; and he gave sufficient information to lead to warfare, if not to the avenging, by the murder of the right man, of his blood.

In some cases a strong and often successful effort is made to screen the real offender where injury is inflicted on a black. At the gathering of three tribes on the banks of the River King, and during a fight which occurred as the result of the meeting, one black belonging to the Ovens River tribe was pierced through the lungs by a spear. Before he died he screened the tribe he had been fighting with by declaring that a wild Murray black had directed the spear, and that the black who hurled it had nothing to do with the result.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/189


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/188

106 carry off the rain-water. The grass and weeds for a small space around the grave are cut with a tomahawk and removed, the roots burnt off, and the place is made smooth, and swept. Boughs of trees are placed around it as a fence, a fire is made at the eastern end of the grave, and the tribe then desert the spot.

They desert the spot because they say they believe that the wild black who has taken the kidney-fat of the deceased, or the spirit which has destroyed him, will wander about the site of the old encampment. This is the reason they give for keeping away from the grave; but it is probable that the strong human instinct which leads men to refrain from amusements, cheerful talk, and the common acts of life in the vicinity of tombs and burial places, and the superstitions which are interwoven with all our thoughts of death, rather than any dread of wicked spirits, are the causes which lead them to abandon the sepulchre. No thought of danger nor dread of ghosts deters the widow from performing her duties if the performance of them be practicable. If the new encampment is within any reasonable distance of the grave, she visits it every night before sunset and every morning before sunrise, and remakes the fire, and sweeps the ground, and sits by the lonely bed of her deceased husband, sometimes in silent sorrow, sometimes wailing or singing a dirge as she wanders slowly through the forest. Watching her figure, white with the ashes which cover her wounds, and feeble from torture, we see a picture of real distress which is far more affecting in its simplicity than the more elaborate mourning which civilization requires of one bereaved. The fire at the grave is usually kept burning for about ten days.

If the deceased had in his life performed any remarkable feats, or rendered himself notorious as a great hunter, or as a wise counsellor, the sorcerer would have made a great speech on the occasion of the burial. Sitting cross-legged at the side of the grave, and sometimes lying on his stomach with his head a little raised, and sometimes with ear bent down, as if listening to the words of the deceased, he would have alternately praised him as a valiant man, or a good hunter, or as wise and skilful in deliberation or debate, and then listened for his

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/188


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/190

108 When a woman or a child dies, none but the bereaved exhibit sorrow. Ceremonies there are none. A grave is dug, and the body is buried, and one might suppose that the deceased was uncared for but for the fire which is lit near the tomb. In burying a young girl, they raise a tumulus, and make a fire on the top of it.

Some tribes inhabiting the country to the north and north-east are said to be more than ordinarily scrupulous in interring the dead. If practicable, they will bury the corpse near the spot where, as a child, it first drew breath. A mother will carry a dead infant for weeks, in the hope of being able to bury it near the place where it was born; and a dead man will be conveyed a long distance, in order that the last rites may be performed in a manner satisfactory to the tribe. The people of the Wimmera follow some remarkable customs:—"In August 1849 a small tribe of blacks was encamped on Pettit's Creek, a branch of the Wimmera, near its sources in the Pyrenees, where one of their number, named 'Georgey,' a remarkably fine young man, and a great favorite with them, was carried off by consumption. Having first asked permission, his people chose an elevated spot within my paddock, and dug a grave, in which, after the bottom had been covered with dry grass, 'Georgey's' remains were placed compactly 'folded' within a good blanket, tied round and across with a woollen comforter, and his pannikin and sundry small articles besides. The grave was closed with a sheet of bark, and the vault so formed covered with the heaped-up soil, and further, a fence was put up to keep the horses off it. In the month of November following a great storm of wind and rain swept through the country, and almost as soon as it had cleared off 'Georgey's' friends again presented themselves and begged for the loan of spade and shovel. In reply to my enquiry why they wanted these, I was told that 'poor fellow "Georgey" was too much cold and wet and miserable where he was buried,' and they wished to remove him. Having exhumed the body, they wrapped an additional blanket and comforter round it, placed it on a bier made of saplings, and carried it across the creek to another spot in the paddock, and placed it in a hollow tree, all the openings in which they carefully stopped with dead sticks, so that no animals could get in. The tree was frequently visited, and swept round about; and the wails of the women used to be heard on these occasions. The remains of the poor fellow remained here until a bush-fire consumed the tree some years afterwards, a heap of ashes and a few calcined bones marking the spot when I revisited it."—W. E. Wright, MS., 30th October 1876.

When a man is killed in a fight, the tribes enquire whether or not the slain was N'uther jum-buk—sulky or sullen. If violent or mad, N'ya-arunning, or vicious, Karndooith—that is to say, if he pursued his enemy with malignity, and not in the calm manner of a man seeking merely for victory, but rather with savage bloodthirstiness—he would be held to be unworthy of decent burial. He would be left to chance mutilation and decay in the place where he fell. If he were the aggressor, and suffered death, the rites would not be performed. But if the victim acted merely in self-defence, his body would be burned, and his bones gathered together, and placed with decent care in the hollow branch of a tree.

The tribes holding country on the Delatite River, Ovens River, Broken River, and King River, appear to have burned the bodies of those who had been married; and a man killed accidentally was thought to deserve more than common care in regard to the disposal of his body. His bones were collected and placed in a hollow tree. The bodies of dead children were, in most cases, also placed in the hollow branches of trees. In thus disposing of the body of a child, there was neither negligence nor indecent haste. The hollow branch

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/190


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/191

Rh was cleared of rotten wood, and well swept. The bottom was lined with leaves and small twigs, well beaten down with a stiff piece of bark. Over those was placed a piece of bark, cut neatly, so as to fit the aperture. The body was placed in a rude bark coffin. This was made by peeling the bark off a sapling, which formed a sort of tube, in which the deceased child could be securely encased.

The coffin was placed in the hollow, twigs and leaves thrust in between the coffin and the sides of the hollow branch, more leaves and twigs over the top, and, finally, a lid of bark so adjusted as to make a very close covering, almost impervious to rain.

The manner of burning the dead is simple enough. The men gather dry branches, dry logs, and dry brushwood, and raise a pile about three feet in height, three feet in width, and six or seven feet in length. The woods are selected of those kinds which not only ignite easily, but which will continue to burn without attention until quite consumed. When the pile is ready—when it is of the proper height, and every cranny has been stuffed with dry leaves and brushwood—two blacks place the dead body on a rude hurdle made of branches, and carry it to the pile. Without touching any part of it, they gently and carefully slide it on to the heap, where it is laid in a becoming attitude. Preceding the carriers are three or four aged blacks, who, with their spears raised, walk solemnly and silently. Throughout the proceedings no word is spoken. Green boughs and bark are laid over the body, and the pile is built to a height of five feet or more. While the men are busy building the pile, there may be seen, about thirty yards off, a black woman sitting by a very small fire. The smoke is barely perceptible. She is silent and mournful, and gazes now and again at the pile. At the right time, an older woman goes to the fire, and takes a lighted stick. Thereupon the younger female weeps passionately, but never speaks. The old woman says nothing, but slowly takes her way to the heap of brushwood, and lights it. In a moment the whole is in a blaze; and all the men at once return to the encampment. Thus silently do they complete their part of the duty. After lighting the pile, the old woman returns to the younger, who sits by the fire. The elder is really, or affects to be, in great grief, and the two mourn together and weep, and wait until the body is entirely consumed.

The Goulburn blacks made graves altogether different from those of the Yarra or Western Port tribes. For the burial of the body of a deceased warrior they dug a grave about five feet in depth, and from the bottom of it they made an excavation in a horizontal direction, about three feet in length and two feet six inches in height. A bed composed of leaves and small twigs was made in the cave thus formed, and the body was placed on it, and the spaces between it and the sides packed with leaves and twigs. The mouth of the cave was closed with a door, formed of a thick piece of bark, and was fastened securely by stakes driven into the ground. The grave was then filled in with earth. At the end of the grave most remote from the body, and at right-angles to it, was raised a low tumulus in the shape of a shield (Gee-am).

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/191


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/192

110 The Barrabool blacks generally stuck a fighting-stick (Worra-worra) at the eastern end of the grave of a young man. Mr. Daniel Bunce, an intelligent observer, and a gentleman well acquainted with the habits of the blacks, says that no tribe that he has ever met with believe in the possibility of a man dying a natural death. If a man is taken ill, it is at once assumed that some member of a hostile tribe has stolen some of his hair. This is quite enough to cause serious illness. If the man continues sick and gets worse, it is assumed that the hair has been burnt by his enemy. Such an act, they say, is sufficient to imperil his life. If the man dies, it is assumed that the thief has choked his victim and taken away his kidney-fat. When the grave is being dug, one or more of the older men—generally doctors or conjurors (Buk-na-look)—stand by and attentively watch the laborers; and if an insect is thrown out of the ground, these old men observe the direction which it takes, and having determined the line, two of the young men, relations of the deceased, are despatched in the path indicated, with instructions to kill the first native they meet, who they are assured and believe is the person directly chargeable with the crime of causing the death of their relative.

Mr. John Green says that the men of the Yarra tribe firmly believe that no one ever dies a natural death. A man or a woman dies because of the wicked arts practised by some member of a hostile tribe; and they discover the direction in which to search for the slayer by the movements of a lizard which is seen immediately after the corpse is interred.

There are several methods of ascertaining the direction in which the avengers must go for the purpose of finding the wicked person who has compassed the death of an Aboriginal. Mr. F. M. Hughan, who is competent to speak of the habits of the Aborigines of the Lower Murray, thus describes one very curious ceremony which he himself observed in 1851. On the death of an aged headman of a tribe, there gathered together near the grave very many mourners. The women, as is customary, burnt themselves with fire-sticks, and howled dismally; and all the proper rites having been performed around the grave, which was dug in a sandhill having a gentle slope towards the bank of the Tarn Creek, a mound was finally raised and smoothly coated with wet clay. Around the mound a circle of spears was formed, and by each spear sat a warrior. Another set of less prominent men sat in a circle, each by his spear. Around these, and at a little distance, and sitting further apart, the women formed an outer circle. Not a sound was heard from the mourners. Sadly and patiently they awaited an event which was to be caused by the fierce sun overhead. The heat was oppressive, but no murmur arose in the circles. At length the clay which covered the grave cracked. The old men drew nigh, and having ascertained the direction of the first maiumain [sic] fissure in the drying clay, they indicated the path which the warriors were to take in order to find the person who had practised sorcery on their deceased relative. There, as elsewhere, it was the duty of the avengers to bring back the kidney-fat of the first man of another tribe whom they might meet.

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/192


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/194

112 bier, is placed over a slow fire for a day or longer, and when the skin blisters it is removed. All the apertures of the body are sewn up, and it is rubbed with grease and red-ochre. Finally, it is set up naked on a stage, formed of branches and boughs of trees, and protected by a covering of branches. A small fire is lighted under it, which is kept up by the attendants until it is dry; and finally it is wrapped up in mats and placed in a wurley. The friends of the deceased, both male and female, lament and wail during the performance of these rites. They cut off their hair; they smear their faces with fat and pounded charcoal; they beat and cut themselves; and in other ways give expression to their great grief. Not one is indifferent. Any want of proper feeling would expose a native to the suspicion of sorcery, and might cause his life to be forfeited. While the body is drying, the relatives live, eat, drink, and sleep under the putrefying mass, and the females weep continuously, and, if they can, copiously. One always stands weeping in front of the corpse during the process of drying.

The dead body, all anointed with red-ochre and raised in a sitting posture; the smoke now partially hiding it and now sweeping behind it and spreading in thin wreaths amongst the boughs; the old men moving their long wands, on which they have tied bunches of feathers, in order to paint the body with ochre; the patient grief-stricken groups standing by; the weeping and disordered females—together make up a picture which harmonises with the untilled branch-strewn ground, the gaunt grey limbs of the sparsely-foliaged trees, and the somewhat harsh lights and shadows of an Australian forest.

When any one leaves the wurley for a few days, he is expected, on his return, to place himself in front of the body and to weep and lament. Not until the sorcerer is destroyed, or other expiatory sacrifice made, is the spirit of the dead man appeased. If the person named by the dreamer belongs to some tribe of the Narrinyeri, a difficulty arises. They may not desire to kill the sorcerer. Under such circumstances, they despatch messengers, in order to ascertain the temper of the friends and relatives of the sorcerer. Probably the negotiations result in the injured tribe formally cursing the slayer of their friend, and all his people. If this is done, arrangements are made for a fight, and the hostile tribes meet without delay. The men of the tribe to which the dead man belonged commence to weep and lament as soon as they see their foes. Their opponents mock and deride them, and some of them dance wild dances, flourishing their spears the while. They shout, they laugh wildly, and take all means known to them to provoke a fight. If they have long unsettled disputes between them, in addition to the immediate quarrel, they fight somewhat savagely, and one or two may perchance be killed, and the like number severely wounded; but if they are met merely to "give satisfaction" for the injury done to the dead man, the fight is interrupted, after a few spears are thrown, by some old man, who declares that enough has been done. If the old men on both sides agree, the hostile tribes mingle on friendly terms, and there is an end of the business. The death is avenged.

It is usual to preserve the hair of a dead man. It is spun into a cord and fastened around the head of a warrior. Wearing it, he sees clearly, is more active, and can parry with his shield or avoid the spears of his foes in a fight.

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/194


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/196

114 of the corpse runs some risk if he does not provide himself with good string; as, if the string should break, it is attributed to the displeasure of the deceased, who is supposed to make known in this manner that he has been charmed by him: also if the small quill used as a needle should not be sufficiently sharp to penetrate the flesh easily, the slightest movement caused by pressing the blunt point into the flesh is supposed to be spontaneous motion of the corpse, and to indicate that the sewer is the guilty person. Rather aged persons are not treated with all the ceremonies above mentioned, but are merely wrapped up in mats and placed upon an elevated platform, formed of sticks and branches, supported by a tree and two posts, and, after the flesh has decayed, the bones are burned. The very old are buried immediately after death."

In these observances the Aborigines of the Encounter Bay tribe appear to transgress the rule which forbids the touching by the naked hands of a dead body. The above is given in Mr. Meyer's own language. It is undoubtedly an accurate statement, and serves to show that no particular description of burial ceremonies can be held applicable to all tribes, or even to any one tribe if the age, character, or position of the deceased was such as to procure for him more than ordinary respect. It is probable, however, that the customs of any one tribe were rarely departed from without some strong and sufficient reason, even when the most distinguished amongst them was consigned to his final resting-place.

Mr. Charles Wilhelmi gives the following account of the practices of the Aborigines of the Port Lincoln district, South Australia:—

"Although, on the one side, they possess a fierce and hostile spirit, still, on the other, it must be observed that they are capable of the more noble feelings of pity and compassion. This is called forth by a dangerous wound, as also by a severe sickness, but still clearer is it observed at and after the death of a friend. On such occasions they are accustomed, and particularly the female sex, to assemble and to weep bitterly. The loud lamentations to which they give vent upon the death of a relative or friend may perhaps be a custom inherited from their forefathers, for they always weep together and at the same time. They also employ foreign means to produce tears. They rub the eyes and scratch the nose, if their own frame of mind should not be sufficiently sorrowful, or if the example of others should fail to produce tears. Their weeping and groans at the commencement of a lamentation seem to be somewhat formal and forced, and thus the suspicion arises that they seem more sorrowful than is warranted by their true feelings. Nevertheless, the Rev. Mr. ShurmannSchürmann [sic] believes that the Aborigines feel deeply and mourn heartily the death of a friend. One of them is accustomed to break out suddenly into a long-protracted plaintive tone, and gradually his example is followed by the others. After this lamentation, a profound silence is observed, and in truth their behaviour is such as belongs to persons oppressed by great grief. For years after the death of a friend on no occasion whatever do they pronounce his name. This, as one might suppose, does not proceed from superstition, but from the simple reason that they do not wish again to awake their slumbering feelings, or, to use their own expression, that they do not wish to weep too much.

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/196


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/198

116 Weeban paid the greatest possible attention to see that the east and west direction of the grave was preserved, and if the least deviation from this line occurred in the heaps of sand, either at the head or foot, he made some of the natives rectify it by sweeping the sand into its proper form with boughs of trees. . . . . . . . . . . . During the process of digging, an insect having been thrown up, its motions were watched with the most intense interest, and as this little insect thought proper to crawl off in the direction of Guildford, an additional proof was furnished to the natives of the guilt of the boyl-yas of that place. When the grave was completed, they set fire to some dried leaves and twigs, then, throwing them in, they soon had a large blaze in it; during this part of the ceremony, old Weeban knelt on the ground at the foot of the grave, with his back turned towards the east, and his head bowed to the earth, his whole attitude denoting the most profound attention; the duty he had now to perform was a most important one, being no less than to discover in which direction the boyl-yas, when drawn out of the earth by the fire, would take flight. Their departure was not audible to common ears, or visible to the eyes of ordinary mortals, but his power of boyl-yas gaduk enabled him to distinguish these sights and sounds which were invisible and inaudible to the bystanders. The fire roared for some time loudly in the grave, and every eye rested anxiously on old Weeban; the hollow, almost mysterious, sound of the flames as they rose from the narrow aperture evidently had a powerful effect upon the superstitious fears of the natives, and when he suddenly raised his meerro [nomerra— throwing-stick], and then let it fall over his shoulder in a due east direction (the direction of Guildford), a grim smile of satisfaction passed over the countenances of the young men, who now knew in what direction to avenge the foul witchcraft which they felt assured had brought about the death of their brother-in-law. The next part of their proceedings was to take the body of Mulligo from the females: they raised it in a cloak; his old mother made no effort to prevent its being removed, but passionately and fervently kissed the cold, rigid lips which she could never press to hers again. The body was then lowered into the grave, and seated upon a bed of leaves, which had been laid there directly the fire was extinguished, the face being, according to custom, turned towards the east. The women still remained grouped together, sobbing forth their mournful songs, whilst the men placed small green boughs upon the body, until they had more than half filled up the grave with them; cross pieces of wood, of considerable size, were then fixed in the opposite sides of the grave, green boughs placed on these, and the earth from the two side heaps thrown in until the grave was completed, which then, owing to the heaps at the head and foot, presented the appearance of three graves, nearly similar in size and form, lying in a due east and west direction. The men having now completed their task, the women came with bundles of black-boy tops which they had gathered, and laid these down on the central heap, so as to give it a green and pleasing appearance; they placed neither meerro nor spear on the grave, but whilst they were filling in the earth, old Weeban and another native sat on their hams at the head of it, facing the one to the north and the other to the south, their foreheads leaning on their clasped

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/198


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/200

118 ensued, and they lowered the body into the grave, resting on the back, with the soles of the feet on the ground and the knees bent; they filled the grave with soft brushwood, and piled logs on this to a considerable height, being very careful all the time to prevent any of the soil from falling into the apertures; they then constructed a hut over the wood-stack, and one of the male relations got into it and said, 'Mya balung einya ngin-na'—('I sit in his house'). One of the women then dropped a few live coals at his feet, and having stuck his dismantled meerro at the end of one of the mounds, they left the place, retiring in a contrary direction from that in which they came, chanting."

At King George's Sound the body is laid in a short, narrow, and rather shallow grave. It is covered with a cloak, and the knees are bent and the arms crossed. At the bottom of the grave is placed a sheet of bark, over which are strewn leaves and branches. Leaves and green twigs are heaped on the body also, and the hole is then filled with earth. Green boughs are placed over the grave, and the weapons of the deceased are laid likewise on it. The mourners carve circles on the trees that grow near, at a height of six or seven feet from the ground; and, lastly, make a small fire in front. Their mourning is black or white, laid on in blotches across the forehead, round the temples, and down the cheek-bones, and is worn for a considerable time. They scratch the cheeks to produce tears.—(Mr. Scott Nind.)

Capt. Grey observes that the natives of many parts of Australia, when at a funeral, cut off portions of their beards, and singeing these, throw them upon the dead body. In some instances they cut off the beard of the dead body, and, burning it, rub themselves and the body with the singed portions of it.

All that relates to the customs of the natives of Cooper's Creek is of more than common interest, because they appear to be in many respects inferior to those tribes living in parts where food is more abundant and of better quality than that obtainable in any part of the great depression towards which Cooper's Creek trends; and I was glad to receive through Mr. A. W. Howitt the following paper from Senior Constable James:—

"During a residence of about eight years in that portion of South Australia that is inhabited by the Dieyerie tribe of blacks (Cooper's Creek), I had only two opportunities of observing the full funeral rites performed by them. As both were precisely similar, I will only describe one. The deceased was an old man who had been sick for a long time, and there was a considerable number of the tribe assembled, having probably come to be present at the obsequies. As soon as the breath was out of the body, all the women and children left the wurleys, and, sitting down about fifty yards off, the women set up a great wailing, and covered their heads and smeared their bodies with pipeclay. Pipeclay on the head of a black of this tribe always denotes that the wearer is lamenting the death of one of their number. The wailing was kept up for hours; it was a kind of monotonous howl, in which a sort of time was kept, and which now and again would almost altogether subside; then suddenly break out afresh as loud and as vehement as ever. I may add that tears often course down the cheeks of the women when they are lamenting the dead thus, but there appears to be little grief in reality, for, if spoken to, they will at once stop lamenting, and answer

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/200


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/202

120 red-ochre till it rubs off. All who are aware of the death abstain from the mention of the dead man's name. They do not like the conversation to be about a dead man; but if it should take that direction, the dead are not mentioned directly by name. Should a white man offend by doing so, they always tell him 'That one tumble down, no you call im,' which is their method of saying in English 'That man is dead, don't mention his name.' When a death has occurred, messengers are despatched to the various camps of the whole tribe with the intelligence, and the pipeclay mourning is then put on the heads of all, young and old of both sexes, and the wailing is raised by the women just as at the place where the death has taken place; but the absent men do not spot their bodies with red and white; only those who assist personally at the funeral rites do that, asserting that by that means they run no risk of getting sick by contact with the corpse, or, as my informant expressed it, 'You see very good make-im like that; suppose me no make-im, me tumble down too: that one' (indicating the body) 'growl along-a-me.'"

Mr. Samuel Gason, the author of the little work on the manners of the Dieyerie people already referred to, gives the following description of the modes of disposing of the dead. It appears that the fat of the corpse is eaten:—

"When a man, woman, or child dies, no matter from what cause, the big toes of each foot are tied together, and the body enveloped in a net. The grave is dug to about three feet, and the body is carried thither on the heads of three or four men, and on arrival is placed on its back for a few minutes. Then three men kneel down near the grave, while some other natives place the body on the heads of the kneeling men. One of the old men (usually the nearest relative) now takes two light rods, each about three feet long (these are called coonya), and holds one in each hand, standing about two yards from the corpse; then, beating the coonya together, he questions the corpse, in the belief that it can understand him, enquiring how he died, who was the cause of his death, and the name of the man who killed him—as even decease from natural causes they attribute to a charm or spell exercised by some enemy. The men sitting round act as interpreters for the defunct, and, according as the general opinion obtains, give some fictitious name of a native of another tribe. When the old man stops beating the coonya, the men and women commence crying, and the body is removed from the heads of the bearers, and lowered into the grave, into which a native (not related to the deceased) steps, and proceeds to cut off all the fat adhering to the muscles of the face, thighs, arms, and stomach, and passes it round to be swallowed; the reason assigned for this horrible practice being that thus the nearest relatives may forget the departed and not be continually crying. The order in which they partake of their dead relatives is this:—The mother eats of her children; the children eat of their mother. Brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law eat of each other. Uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, grandfathers, and grandmothers eat of each other. But the father does not eat of his offspring, or the offspring of the sire. After eating of the dead, the men paint themselves with charcoal and fat, making a black ring round the mouth. This distinguishing mark is called Munamuroomuroo. The women do likewise, besides painting two white stripes on their arms, which marks distinguish those

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/202


text:
Page talk:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/321

"Although it sounds somewhat paradoxical to speak of the central nervous tissue as distributed ou the periphery of a circular animal, and of the peripheral nervous tissue as occupying all the more centrally situated parts, the paradox is unavoidable." Is that right? It reads like that in the book, but is it typo? Linnea (talk) 17:56, 9 May 2012 (UTC)


text:
The Astral Plane/Chapter V

CONCLUSION

IT is hoped that any reader who has been sufficiently interested to follow this treatise thus far, may by this time have a general idea of the astral plane and its possibilities, such as will enable him to understand and fit into their proper places in its scheme any facts in connection with it which he may pick up in his reading. Though only the roughest sketch has been given of a great subject, enough has perhaps been said to show the extreme importance of astral perception in the study of biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and history, and the great impulse which might be given to all these sciences by its development.

Yet its attainment should never be regarded as an end in itself, since any means adopted with that object in view would inevitably lead to what is called in the East the laukika method of development — a system by which certain psychic powers are indeed acquired, but only for the present personality; and since their acquisition is surrounded by no safeguards, the student is extremely likely to misuse them. To this class belong all systems which involve the use of drugs, invocation of elementals, or the practices of Hatha Yoga.

The other method, which is called the lokottara, consists of Raja Yoga or spiritual progress, and though it may be somewhat slower than the other, whatever is acquired along this line is gained for the permanent individuality, and never lost again, while the guiding care of a Master ensures perfect safety from misuse of power as long as His orders are scrupulously obeyed. The opening of astral vision must be regarded then only as a stage in the development of something infinitely nobler — merely as a step, a very small step, on that great Upward Path which leads men to the sublime heights of Adeptship, and beyond even that through glorious vistas of wisdom and power such as our finite minds cannot now conceive.

Yet let no one think it an unmixed blessing to have the wider sight of the astral plane, for upon one in whom that vision is opened, the sorrow and misery, the evil and the greed of the world press as an ever-present burden, until he often feels inclined to echo the passionate adjuration of Schiller: "Why hast thou cast me thus into the town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle with the opened sense? Take back this sad clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! Give me back my blindness — the happy darkness of my senses; take back thy dreadful gift!" This feeling is perhaps not unnatural in the earlier stages of the Path, yet higher sight and deeper knowledge soon bring to the student the perfect certainty that all things are working together for the eventual good of all — that Hour after hour, like an opening flower, Shall truth after truth expand; For the sun may pale, and the stars may fail, But the LAW of GOOD shall stand. Its splendour glows and its influence grows As Nature's slow work appears, Front the zoophyte small to the LORDS of all, Through kalpas and crores of years.

title: The Astral Plane/Chapter V


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/204

122 another tribe—is known amongst the Ajitas, natives of the Philippine Islands. A dead warrior amongst them cries from his grave for vengeance. His friends arm themselves and disperse through the forests, and kill something—man or beast—in order that the dead may rest in peace. They break little twigs as they pass along as a warning to friendly natives; but if accident brings them near even a friend, then he is regarded as the enemy of the deceased, and must die. The same idea moves the Wanyamuêzi and other African tribes to ascribe the sickness of a man to sorcery.

The placing of the dead body on a bier in the woods is a custom always observed by the natives of the Nine or Savage Islands; by the Tahitans; by the Dyaks of Borneo; by the Araucanians, by the Ahts, and by other tribes of American Indians.

The custom of neglecting the body of a man who has been killed in a quarrel brought on by his own misconduct is found, with some modifications, in many parts of the world. Amongst the Kaffirs, a man who has been killed by order of the king is left to become the prey of wild beasts. A man of the Latooka tribe killed in battle remains unburied on the field to be eaten by hyenas.

The curious method of interring the body in the bed of a running stream is practised by the Obongos of Africa; and the body is placed in the hollow branch of a tree in Central Africa, in New Zealand, and in Borneo. The Ashira tribe, and the Krumen in Africa, and the Kingsmill Islanders, keep a fire burning beside the corpse. The Australian places a bunch of acacia or a throwing-stick at the head of the grave of a warrior, and the Manganja tribe lay a weapon or an implement of some kind on the tomb.

The repugnance which some of the Australians have to touch a dead body is as strong in the Kaffir and the Bechuana.

The Latooka and Camma tribes in Africa, and the New Zealanders, smear their faces and other parts of their bodies with red-ochre and grease and throw wood ashes on their heads when they mourn.

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/204


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/193

Rh Mr. Stanbridge, writing of the natives of the central part of Victoria, says that "when a person dies of a loathsome disease, the body is burned; while that of a young person, whose death is attributable to a different cause, is put into a tree to decay. The bones are afterwards collected and buried, the mother sometimes securing the small bones of the legs, to wear round her neck as a memorial. Persons of matured life, especially old men and doctors, are buried with much ceremony. The grave is made in a picturesque spot, to which the body is borne by the relatives; and with it are interred the weapons and other articles belonging to the deceased. The grass is cleared away around the grave for about a yard at each side, and eight yards at each end, in the form of a canoe, and the ground carefully swept daily by the female relatives; and for a time a small fire is made every night at the foot of the grave. If the person were much respected, a little covering of boughs or bark upon four supports is placed over it, and the canoe-shaped space neatly fenced with stakes." Mr. Stanbridge adds that they have the same belief in sorcery as in other parts, and that they select men to avenge the death, who go forth and kill the first persons they meet, whether men, women, or children; and the more lives that are sacrificed, the greater is the honor to the dead. When a death occurs, the women weep and lament, and tear the skin of their temples with their nails. The parents of the deceased lacerate themselves fearfully, especially if he be an only son. The father beats and cuts his head with his tomahawk, and groans bitterly; and the mother sits by the fire and burns her breast and abdomen with a fire-stick until she wails with pain. This continues for hours daily, until the time of lamentation is completed. Sometimes the burns are so severe as to cause death. The relatives of the deceased cover their heads and the upper part of their faces with white clay, which is worn during the time of mourning, and widows in some cases have the hair first taken off with a little fire-stick, by the doctor or priest, before they assume this badge of woe. The dead are rarely spoken of, and never by name. To mention the name would excite the malignity of Couit-gil, the spirit of the departed, which hovers over the earth for a time, and finally goes towards the setting sun.

The following account of the burial ceremonies of the tribes living near the mouth of the River Murray is compiled from a report written by the Rev. Geo. Taplin. The report was published in the South Australian Register:—

The Narrinyeri, inhabiting the Lakes and the Lower Murray, believe, when a death occurs, that sorcery has caused it. When a man dies, his nearest relative sleeps with his head on the corpse, and dreams a dream and discovers the name of the sorcerer who has caused the death of his friend. When the body is being carried to the grave, the male members of the tribe gather around it, and they call out the names of those who they think may have practised sorcery, watching the dead body all the time. If it moves when a name is mentioned, then they know on whom to be avenged. As a rule, the body stirs not until the dreamer tells the name of the sorcerer of whom he has dreamt. At that sound the bearers bend forward towards the dreamer, believing, and making others believe, that the impulse is given by the corpse; and thereupon the tribe is satisfied that the murderer is discovered. The deceased, lying on a

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/193


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/195

Rh The funeral rites—as observed by the people of the Encounter Bay tribe, in South Australia—are thus described by Mr. H. E. Meyer:—

"Children still-born, or that have been put to death immediately after birth, are burned. If a child dies a natural death, it is carefully packed up, and the mother or grandmother carries it about with her for several months, or a year; after which it is exposed upon a tree until the bones are completely cleaned, after which they are buried. Young and middle-aged persons are buried in the following manner:—As soon as the person is dead, the knees are drawn up towards the head, and the hands placed between the thighs. Two fires are kindled, and the corpse placed between, so as to receive the heat of the fires and of the sun. After a few days the skin becomes loose, and is taken off. Such a corpse is then called Grinkari. This custom may explain why this name has been applied to Europeans, from the resemblance between their color and that of the native corpse after the skin has been removed. After this all the openings of the body are sewn up, and the whole surface rubbed with grease and red-ochre. Thus prepared, the corpse is placed upon a hut so arranged that the head and arms can be tied. It is then placed with the face to the east, and the arms extended, and a fire is kept constantly beneath. It remains thus until quite dry, when it is taken by the relations and packed up in mats, and then carried from one place to another—the scenes of his former life. After having been thus carried about for several months, it is placed upon a platform of sticks, and left until completely decayed. The head is then taken by the next of kin, and serves him for a drinking vessel; and now his name may be mentioned, which if done before would highly offend his relations, and is sometimes the cause of a war. This may be the reason of there being several names for the same thing. Thus, if a man has the name Ngnke, which signifies water, the whole tribe must use some other word to express water for a considerable time after his death. If a man is killed in battle, or dies in consequence of a wound, he is supposed to have been charmed with the plongge. And, in addition to the above-mentioned ceremonies, they hold a kind of inquest over the corpse, to ascertain to whom he owes his death. One of the nearest relations sleeps with his head resting upon the corpse until he dreams of the guilty person. As soon as this is ascertained, which is generally after the first or second night, he orders wood to be brought to make a kind of bier, upon which the corpse is placed. Several men then take the bier upon their shoulders, and the dreamer—striking upon the breast of the corpse—asks, 'Who charmed you?' He then mentions the name of some person. All remain quiet. After he has asked this question many times, and mentioned several names, he mentions the name of the person he saw in his dream. The bearers then immediately begin running, as if mad, pretending that the corpse has moved itself. The corpse is then erected as above described, and all the friendly tribes come to lament. The nearest relations cut off their hair and blacken their faces, and the old women put human excrement on their heads—the sign of the deepest mourning. If the supposed guilty one should come to the lamentation, the dreamer looks narrowly to his countenance, and if he does not shed tears, is the more convinced of his guilt, and considers it now his duty to avenge his relation's death. The person who sews up the apertures

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/195


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/197

Rh Should it be absolutely necessary to indicate a deceased person, it is done in the following manner:—I am a widow—I am fatherless, brotherless, or the like, as the case may be, instead of saying my husband, my father, or my brother is dead. The last ground on which Mr. ShurmannSchürmann [sic] bases the sincerity of their grief is that they risk their lives to revenge their deceased friend, if suspecting his death to have been caused by foul means.

"Although at the interment of the dead certain rites and customs are generally observed, these are at times dispensed with, as was instanced in the case of an old man. After having dug a hole five feet deep and four feet long, and spread some dry grass in the bottom, they lowered the corpse into it, with the legs bent upwards, as the hole was too short to receive it in its proper position. [This is surely a mistake. The dead bodies of the natives are not laid at full length.] The head, as is invariably done, was placed at the west end, from the notion that the departed souls all reside in an island situated eastward. The body was then covered with a kangaroo skin, and sticks having been driven immediately above it lengthwise into the sides of the grave, leaving a vacant space above it, the whole was then filled up with earth. As the last of this simple proceeding, some branches or bushes were collected around the grave, with the view, as I should think, of preventing stray cattle and horses from trampling upon it. In the immediate neighbourhood only of European settlements, where they can obtain the necessary tools, are they able to dig such deep graves. Further up in the interior, where they are confined to the yam-sticks for the operation of digging, the graves are made only sufficiently deep to admit the body, the sticks being driven in immediately above it. This custom is always observed, very probably in order to prevent the wild dogs from scraping up the body."

These observations appear to refer to the practices of blacks who have been contaminated by intercourse with the lower class of whites. They are in other respects not in accord with what is known of the wild Aborigines. A black-fellow with a yam-stick can dig out a wombat, and two or three or four would quickly dig a grave four or five feet in depth, if they considered it proper to make it of that depth. Mr. Wilhelmi's observations, however, are not without value.

Capt. Grey very graphically describes the burial ceremonies of the natives of Perth, in Western Australia:—

"Yen-na and Warrup, the brothers-in-law of Mulligo, were digging his grave, which, as usual, extended due east and west; the Perth boyl-ya, Weeban by name, who, being a relation of the deceased, could of course have had no hand in occasioning his death, superintended the operations. They commenced by digging with their sticks and hands several holes in a straight line, and as deep as they could; they then united them and threw out the earth from the bottom of the pit thus made. All the white sand was thrown carefully into two heaps, nearly in the form of a European grave, and these heaps were situated one at the head and the other at the foot of the hole they, were digging, whilst the dirty colored sand was thrown into two other heaps, one on each side. The grave was very narrow, only just wide enough to admit the body of the deceased. Old

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/197


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/199

Rh hands, which rested on one end of a meerro, whilst the other was placed on the ground."

The following suggestive and highly interesting account of the ceremonies of the blacks of the Vasse River, in Western Australia, as described by Mr. Bussel in Capt. Grey's work, is valuable:—

"The funeral is a wild and fearful ceremony. Before I had finished in the stockyard, the dead man was already removed, and on its way to the place of interment, about a quarter of a mile from the place where the death took place, and I left our house, entirely guided by the shrill wailing of the female natives, as they followed, mourning, after the two men who bore the body in their arms. The dirge, as distance blended all the voices, was very plaintive—even musical; nor did the diminution of distance destroy the harmony entirely. Some of the chants were really beautiful, but rendered perhaps too harsh for our ears, in actual contact; for as I joined myself to the procession, and became susceptible of the trembling cadence of each separate performer—the human voice in every key which the extremes of youth and age might produce—there was a sensation effected which I cannot well describe—a terrible jarring of the brain. The fact that the involuntary tears rolled down the cheeks of those infants who sat passively on their mothers' shoulders, not appreciating the cause of lament, but merely as listeners, must prove that these sounds are calculated to affect the nervous system powerfully. The procession moved slowly on, and at length arrived at the place fixed upon for the burial. There had been a short silence previous to coming thus far, as if to give the voice a rest; for as the body touched the ground, and the bearers stood erect and silent, a piercing shriek was given, and as this died away into a chant, some of the elder women lacerated their scalps with sharp bones, until the blood ran down their furrowed faces in actual streams. The eldest of the bearers then stepped forward and proceeded to dig the grave. I offered to get a spade, but they would not have it; the digging-stick was the proper tool, which they used with greater despatch than from its imperfect nature could have been expected at first sight. The earth, being loosened with this implement, was then thrown out with the hands with great dexterity, in complete showers, so as to form, in the same line with the grave, at both ends, two elongated banks, the sand composing them so lightly hurled as to seem almost like drift sand on the sea-shore. In the throw, if perchance the right limit was out-stepped, the proper form was retained by sweeping. The digging, notwithstanding the art displayed, was very tedious; they all sat in silence, and there were no chants to understand, or to fancy one understood, or perhaps to make meanings to. But at length the grave was finished, and they then threw some dry leaves into it, and setting fire to them, while the blaze was rising up, every one present struck repeatedly a bundle of spears with the mearu, which they held with the butts downwards, making a rattling noise; then, when the fire had burnt out, they placed the corpse beside the grave, and gashed their thighs, and at the flowing of the blood they all said, 'I have brought blood,' and then stamped the foot forcibly on the ground, sprinkling the blood around them; then, wiping the wounds with a wisp of leaves, they threw it, bloody as it was, on the dead man; then a loud scream

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/199


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/201

Rh just as at any other time, the features and voice assuming the ordinary expression and tone. Directly the women left the camp, the men gathered round the dead man and pulled his wurley down, so that they could get close around the body. An old man then advanced, and, with a green bough of gum in each hand, stood astride over the body, facing the head, and, waving the boughs, began to utter a sort of chant (keeping time with the boughs) over the body; at times he would make a sudden pause, and then call the deceased sharply by name; again pausing, as if for a reply. The chant would then go on again in precisely the same manner as before, always ending with the abrupt pause and sharp call on the dead man by his name. His incantation, or whatever it was, was kept up for fully two hours, the rest of the men standing silent around the while; the old man at length appeared to have satisfied himself that he could not cause the dead man to answer, and so finished his conjuration; and saying something in his own language to the other men around, they all proceeded to put pipeclay on their heads and little spots of alternate red and white all over their bodies. This done, some of the younger men were sent off to dig a grave, and the elder ones proceeded to tie the great toes of the body together very securely, with strong, stout string, and then tied both the thumbs together behind the back, the body being turned face downwards whilst the latter operation was going on. From the manner in which the strings were tightened and the care taken over that part of the business, one would think that even a strong, healthy living man could not break or rise from such bonds. In reply to me, they said the tying was to prevent him from 'walking.' The tying of the body being completed, and the grave ready, eight men knelt down, four on each side of the body, and, taking it up, placed it on their heads, and thus carried it to the grave, followed by the rest of the men in a disorderly, straggling crowd. The grave was about a quarter of a mile from the camp. It was about four feet deep, and into this two men jumped and assisted the bearers to place the body; then, getting out of the grave, aided those present in bringing and laying lengthwise on the body a large quantity of dead wood, filling up the grave, and piling it above to the height of about four feet and around the ends and sides of the grave, forming thus a pile of about twelve feet in diameter, being round on the top. They said that wood was used instead of earth to prevent Kintala (native dog or dingo) from scratching into the grave and eating the body. The grave was then swept carefully all around so as to obliterate the traces of footsteps, and every one at once returned to the camp, and proceeded to re-erect the wurleys a short distance from the camp in which the death had taken place, as this tribe never again occupies a camp in which a death has occurred. Every night for one moon (four weeks) two old men went to the grave about dusk, and carefully swept all round it; each morning, for the same period, they visited it, to see if there were any tracks of the dead man on the swept space. They told me that if they were to find tracks they would have to remove the body and bury it elsewhere, as the foot-marks would denote that the dead man was 'walking' and discontented with his present grave. For some days after a death the women indulge in an occasional howl of lament. The men never howl or give utterance to grief; merely wearing the pipeclay and

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/201


text:
Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/203

Rh who have partaken of the late deceased; the other men smearing themselves all over with white clay, to testify their grief. The grave is covered in with earth, and a large stack of wood placed over it. The first night after the burial the women dance round the grave, crying and screaming incessantly till sunrise, and so continue for a week or more. Should the weather be cold when a native dies, fires are lighted near the grave, so that the deceased may warm himself, and often they place food for him to eat. Invariably, after a death, they shift their camp, and never speak of or refer to the defunct."

In Fraser Island (Great Sandy Island), Queensland, they have strange methods of disposing of the dead. Old men, old women, and young women that are not fat, are rolled in their blankets or rugs, and buried in a grave which is dug to a depth of about four feet. They place a sheet of bark over the corpse, near the surface, to leave room, as they say, for the spirit or ghost (Mothar-mothar) to move about and come up.

When a young man dies, they first skin him, then cut off his flesh, which is placed on their spears to dry; the bones are then taken to pieces, the large ones are cut asunder, and the marrow emptied out. The various parts—skin, flesh, bones, &c.—are finally distributed among the kinsfolks, and carried about by them in their bags and baskets, as charms to ward off evil. When old and stale, they are placed up in trees, on boughs laid across for this purpose. Sometimes they burn the bones of the dead and carry the ashes about with them. Sometimes the dead bodies are placed (whole) in trees. They do not like to speak about the dead; among themselves, it is generally done in a sort of a whisper; and they are firm believers in ghosts.

There is great mourning and crying when a young man dies, and the female relatives cut themselves about in a frightful manner with shells, &c. But there is very little weeping or wailing when a woman or an old man dies.

Capt. Grey, quoting Dr. Duncan, says that when a black of North Australia dies, or is killed, the body is buried in the earth, and at the end of five days it is dug up again, and the bones, &c., are wrapped up in the bark of trees, and these are carried about by the tribe.

At Cygnet Bay, an officer of the Beagle found a skeleton enveloped in three pieces of papyrus bark. All the bones were closely packed together, and the head surmounted the whole.

Comparing the modes of burial as practised by the Aborigines of Australia with those of other uncivilized races, there are so many customs and rites exactly the same, or similar, that we are not entitled to regard the Australian as peculiar in his habits. A stranger who sees a burial of an Australian black is apt to suppose that he has witnessed ceremonies unknown elsewhere. But, separated by wide seas and vast continents, there are other races who follow the like practices, and strangely even those of them which seem, before we reason as to the causes, absurd and inhuman. For instance, the avenging of the deceased man's blood—under the belief that sorcery has caused his death, and that stratagems and subtleties have been used by some enemy—a man of

title: Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/203


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Samuel (1619-1670)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Samuel (1617-1685)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Samuel (1618-1710)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Samuel (fl.1750-1780)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Samuel (1802-1878)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, William (1721-1759)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, William (d.1793)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collins, William Lucas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collinson, James


text: Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/38


text: Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 1.djvu/40


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collinson, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collinson, Peter


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collop, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collyer, Joseph (d.1776)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collyer, Joseph (1748-1827)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Collyer, Mary


text: User talk:108.177.190.155

title: User talk:108.177.190.155