VTTT THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 317 



parallel in the known theologies of other races of 

 mankind, even of those who inhabit parts of the 

 world most remote from Palestine. And the 

 foundation of the whole, the ghost theory, is 

 exactly that theological speculation which is the 

 most widely spread of all, and the most deeply 

 rooted among uncivilised men. I am able to base 

 this statement, to some extent, on facts within my 

 own knowledge. In December 1848, H.M.S. 

 Rattlesnake, the ship to which I then belonged, 

 was anchored off Mount Ernest, an island in 

 Torres Straits. The people were few and well 

 disposed ; and, when a friend of mine (whom I 

 will call B.) and I went ashore, we made ac- 

 quaintance with an old native, Paouda by name. 

 In course of time we became quite intimate with 

 the old gentleman, partly by the rendering of 

 mutual good offices, but chiefly because Paouda 

 believed he had discovered that B. was his father- 

 in-law. And his grounds for this singular convic- 

 tion were very remarkable. We had made a long 

 stay at Cape York hard by; and, in accordance 

 with a theory which is widely spread among the 

 Australians, that white men are the reincarnated 

 spirits of black men, B. was held to be the ghost, 

 or narki, of a certain Mount Ernest native, one 

 Antarki, who had lately died, on the ground of 

 some real or fancied resemblance to the latter. 

 Now Paouda had taken to wife a daughter of 

 Antarki 's, named Domani, and as soon as B. 



