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then a reptile of the crocodile type, afterwards grasses and 
reeds, an elk, fishes, trees, buffaloes, a priest, and last of all 
a woman. 
The Hos relate that their god Sing Bonga, who was self- 
created, made the earth and furnished it with vegetation and 
animals,—first the domestic and then the wild ones. He then 
created a boy and a girl, and taught them how to make rice- 
beer. This produced amatory desires, and they became the 
parents of twelve boys and twelve girls. For these children 
Sing Bonga made a feast, providing all manner of food. The 
guests were told to pair off, and taking the kind of food they 
preferred, to go away and shift for themselves. ‘They did so, 
and their choices can still be discerned in the various modes 
of lifeamong mankind. The Santals say that a wild goose 
came over the great ocean, and laid two eggs, from which the 
first parents of their tribe were hatched. 
We have more than once intimated that it is impossible in 
all cases to draw the line sharply between what is primitive 
in the religious beliefs and usages of these tribes and what 
has been borrowed in whole or in part from Brahmanic or 
Buddhist sources,—chiefly the former. It is not uncommon 
to observe Hinduism and Paganism struggling for supremacy 
in the same tribe and the same village, now the one and now 
the other claiming the larger share of interest. Hinduism, 
with its extraordinary power of assimilatmg alien systems, 
has usually been content to insist upon some general and 
public observance of caste rules, while not interfering with 
the private observance of the old religion ; or it has given to 
the ancient superstitions some new explanation or purpose, 
and fitted them into its own system. So it would be hard to 
find an aboriginal tribe so completely transformed into Hindus 
in language, dress, and manner of life, that its non-Aryan 
origin may not be detected by its private religious usages, as 
well as by its physical traits. Facts illustrative of this have 
already been cited. We have spoken chiefly of the influence 
of Hinduism upon the pagan religion, and it cannot be doubted 
that this will ultimately result in the effacement of the latter, 
unless, as is to be devoutly hoped, this work shall be done by 
Christianity ; but the counter-influence of the older faith upon 
Hinduism is not less certain, if less easily traced, and would 
form a most interesting theme for inquiry; but we cannot 
enter upon it here. 
In conclusion, we trust that this necessarily imperfect 
sketch of the religion of the aboriginal tribes of India may at 
least serve to attract those who are interested in the history 
of the religious development of the race to an important 
