JOHN Fh'ASEK, B.A., LL.D. 



numbers in his daily speech. Nevertheless, when it is necessary, 

 he counts 10, 20, 30, 40 by closing and opening his hands, and 

 then for higher numbers he contents himself with saying "Many, 

 many."" 



For these and other reasons it is desirable that men of science in 

 Britain should be careful in building theories upon what is said 

 about our Australian aborigines ; much of the information they 

 have about them is unreliable, for it has not been gathered by 

 competent observers or tested on scientific principles. 



NOTE. 



Professor Max-Muller, in his " Selected Essays " (volume ii., p. 27), 

 makes the following interesting remarks : 



"Looking at a report sent home lately by the indefatigable 

 Governor of New South Wales, Sir Hercules Robinson, I find the 

 following description of the religious ideas of the Kamilarois, one 

 of the most degraded tribes in the North- Western district of the 

 colony : 



" 'Bhaiami is regarded by them as the maker of all things. The 

 name signifies ' maker,' or ' cutter-out,' from the verb bhai, baialli, 

 baia. He is regarded as the rewarder and punisher of men accord- 

 ing to their conduct. He sees all, and knows all, if not directly, 

 through the subordinate deity Turramulan, who presides at the 

 Bora. Bhaiami is said to have been once on the earth. Turramulan 

 is mediator in all operations of Bhaiami upon man, and in all man's 

 transactions with Bhaiami. Turramulan means ' leg on one side 

 only,' ' one-legged.' 



" This description is given by the Rev. C. Grreenway, and if there 

 is any theological bias in it, let us make allowance for it. But there 

 remains the fact that Bhaiami, their name for deity, comes from a 

 root ' bhai,' to ' make,' to 'cut out,' and if we remember that hardly 

 any of the names for deity, either among the Aryan or Semitic 

 nations, comes from a root with so abstract a meaning, we shall 

 admit, I think, that such reports as these should not be allowed to 

 lie forgotten in the pigeon-holes of the Colonial Office or in the 

 pages of a monthly journal." ED. 



