BY E. PALMER, BSQ., M.L.A. is 
Whether the belief in spiritual beings, higher or lower, 
amounts to a religion or whether all forms of religion do not 
presuppose such a belief I am unprepared to discuss; but inter- 
course with the blacks for upwards of 25 years has led me to 
the conclusion that they are ever mindful of the moral obliga- 
tions which such beliefs as those to which I have alluded 
impose upon them, and which are in great measure the guiding 
principles in the conduct of their lives; and that, degraded as they 
are, in their hopes and fears they are like other people in the 
world, and, moreover, Lang may not have been greatly in error 
when he concluded that they once enjoyed a higher state o 
civilization than that which they now present.* 
His Excellency Sir Anthony Musgrave remarked at the 
conclusion of the paper that he was sure the members present 
felt much indebted.to Mr. Palmer for his interesting remarks, 
and that the author had in them touched on a point on which 
he himself had laid some stress on a previous occasion (at the 
inaugural meeting of the society )—namely,the very general belief 
entertained by those who were best able to form an opinion on 
been further systematised, with the introduction of many additional 
facts, by Rev. P. Macpherson (Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. W., July, 1881, 
Vol. XV., pp. 71-75). More recently still this subject has been again dealt 
with by Mr. Peter Beveridge, in a paper read on 6th June, 1883, at a 
meeting of the Royal Society of New South Wales (Op. Cit., Vol. XVIL., 
pp. 19-74) on the Aborigines inhabiting the Lower Murray and Lower 
Darling, in which special reference is made to this matter. These 
authorities have specially mentioned the ideas entertained by the 
blacks respecting the Pleiades, and have pointed out the coincidence 
which exists between their views respecting them and those of the 
ancient Greeks, as given by Smith (Dict. of Rom. and Gr. Biog. and 
Myth., Vol. III., pp. 411-12), and others. 
* Those who wish to pursue this subject further will find much valuable 
information throughout Mr. Brough Smith’s work, and especially in the 
chapter on Myths. (Op. cit. Vol. I., pp. 421-483.) Indeed I might have 
particularly referred to this authority in illustration of almost every fact 
which I have alleged. 
