PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION P. 621 



7. Witchcraft, as practised b}"- the people of the western Pacific, is 

 identical with that of the ancient Babylonians. 



In my belief in the Indian origin of the Polynesian and Papuan 

 races, I am incidentally suppoited by Mr, F. J. Gillen, F.A.S., of Moonta. 

 Listening to his lecture on the Customs and Beliefs of the Aborigines 

 of Central Australia, with phonographic reproductions of songs and 

 corroborees, I could imagine myself back among the islanders of the 

 western Pacific. Mentioning this to Mr. Gillen next day, he said, " Oh, 

 we trace these Australian aborigines to India." '• That accounts for it," 

 I replied, "• as we can trace the islanders of the Pacific to the same 

 source." Now, these people are separated by thousands of miles of land 

 and water. They have been separated for thousands of years. The fact 

 that they have the same beliefs, the same manners and customs, the 

 same corroborees, can be accounted for only on the ground of a common 

 origin. If the aborigines of Australia have come from India, we have 

 much stronger proof that the peoples of the Pacific have come from the 

 same mother-land. 



Another proof of the common origin of these races is found in the 

 mode of cooking. A paper recently read by John Philip Gell, Esq., on 

 the South Australian Aborigines, quoting from a work published in Ade- 

 laide, in 1840, by two Lutheran missionaries, gives a description of a 

 native oven: — "The larger game and vegetables are cooked in the 

 following manner : A hole is dug in the ground and a fire kindled in it, 

 upon which stones are laid to be heated. During the time these are 

 being heated they prepare the game or vegetable, and then remove the 

 stones and larger remains of wood ; and if they stew a kangaroo, they 

 first fill the inside with part of the hot stones and leaves of the gum 

 tree. The kangaroo is then put into the hole and covered with leaves, 

 the remaining hot stones, bark, and earth. It remains there for an hour 

 or more, until steam escapes from the different parts. When this takes 

 place, the meat, or whatever is cooking, is sufficiently done." That 

 description of a native oven in Adelaide, 67 years ago, will stand as a 

 description of the native mode of cooking throughout the Pacific. 



An objection to the Aryan origin of these people might be founded 

 on differences in color, features, and hair. Such ditterences can be 

 traced to environment. Climate, temperature, food, habits, occupation, 

 and similar causes, working through successive generations, will account 

 for all known variations. 



Medical men who have had large experience in tropical countries, tell 

 us that a hot dry climate will in the course of ages, turn the skin brown ; 

 a hot humid climate will turn it black. Examples : White and black 

 Brahmins ; white, brown, and black Jews ; the Portugese in south India 

 (three centuries), now as black as negroes. 



Other variations produced by the intermarriage of diff'erent races. 



BIBLIOGEAPHY. 

 "The Polynesian Race." 3 vols. Judge Fornander. 

 Dr. Wyatt Gill, of Rarotonga. 

 " The Aryan Maori." Edward Tregear. 



