'28 JOHN PHASER, B.A., LL.D. 



any visitation of Browl ; also that before retiring at night, they take 

 a light and hunt around, calling out " Browl ! Browl ! " as if to 

 bring him from his hiding-place. These are the Northern Austra- 

 lians, very low in the scale of civilisation, wearing almost no clothes, 

 eating roots, grubs, worms, the larvae of ants, lizards and snakes, and 

 practising cannibalism to some extent. Sir John Lubbock, in the 

 Smithsonian Report for 1869, in a paper on the social and religious 

 condition of the lower races of man, also speaks of the belief of the 

 inhabitants of Australia in spirits and a kind of devil, who is spiteful 

 and malevolent, but weak, and dangerous only in the dark. But the 

 paper just read is a most valuable one, and I hope the author will 

 follow up his studies on the subject much farther. There arc 

 some things spoken of in this paper which remind me 

 of practices among some of the natives of America. In 

 regard to the ideas of the natives of America about a mediator, 

 and dancing as a mode of worship, I would refer to my paper 

 (Transactions, vol. xix., pp. 313, 319). There are among tlio 

 Indians in Washington Territory, in the north-western part of the 

 United States, two sacred styles of worship practised, called respect- 

 ively the Red Ta-mah-no-us and Black Ta-mah-no-us, or religious 

 ceremonies. The former derives its name from the red paint Avith 

 which they paint themselves during its ceremonies. It is by far the 

 most common of the two kinds, is open to the public, and is the usual 

 way which many of them have of occupying the stormy winter days 

 and long evenings. It is often practised by a few persons, and at any 

 time and place, though sometimes considerable preparation is made 

 for it. Any person may engage in its ceremonies, who has obtained 

 his ta-mah-no-us, or guardian spirit. In order to get this, a young 

 man (or woman) goes into the woods alone, where he remains eight, ten, 

 or twelve days, with little or nothing to eat, but daring which time he- 

 washes himself constantly. While there his ta-mah-no-us is revealed 

 to him in the shape of some animal, which ever after is sacred to 

 him : that is, his guardian spirit dwells in this animal. The latter, 

 or black ta-mah-no-us, takes its name from the black paint which is 

 used, especially on the face, during its ceremonies. This is a secret 

 society, with certain ceremonies, which are public, but the meaning 

 of which they do not tell. The ceremonies of initiation and observ- 

 ance afterwards are only practised at some of the large gatherings. 

 I have seen them but once, w T hen they occupied six or eight days, but 

 I have heard of their lasting two months. Their faces were painted 

 l)l;ick iu various ways, in stripes or spots, or with a part or tin- whole 



