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their ideas. And so, in regard to their belief in a future state, and in th 
necessity for sacrifice—although the idea of sacrifice which they entertain 
is that they have to propitiate a bloodthirsty being ; still, the notion is one 
that tends to the confirmation of the great leading truth, set forth in the one 
great sacrifice of the Cross. We find, therefore, in these aboriginal tribes a 
larger degree of preparation for the truths of Christianity than among the 
Hindoos. In putting Christianity before the Hindoos you have to encounter 
and to overthrow their whole system of religious belief, which is utterly, 
hopelessly, and fundamentally wrong. Therefore, without going further than 
the limits over which my own experience has extended, so far from thinking 
that the more elaborate religions to which reference has been made have 
educated the people up to the “ understanding of a purer revelation,” I hold 
that precisely the contrary is the fact. There are one or two other points I 
may be allowed to mention. I think this paper is the best I have ever read or 
heard on this subject. I am especially struck with the discrimination 
exercised by the writer—a discrimination which shows itself in the selection 
of the facts which are laid before us, and especially in the rejection of so very 
much that we often find in papers and utterances on this subject. I may 
say, in regard to the general question of the aborigines of India, that in my 
opinion much of what is in this paper, and which has been very care- 
fully sifted from a larger amount of information, must be received with a 
good deal of caution; because we are apt to forget to what extent Hindoo 
ideas, and even those of the Mohammedans, have, in the course of centuries, 
filtered through the whole of Indian society. The aboriginal tribes have 
been secluded, owing to their inhabiting great forest tracts which have been 
like islands in the midst of the great sea of Hindooism for centuries, but 
not so completely so as to be absolutely beyond the reach of other religious 
influences. Traders have been in the habit of penetrating the wild tracts 
to which those tribes have been confined, for the purpose of selling cloths 
and carrying things for barter; and the people themselves come down to the 
more settled districts for salt, which they greatly covet, and for which they 
have to pay a high price. It is consequently very hard to distinguish how 
much the religious beliefs of these people are to be regarded as original, or 
to what extent they may have been modified by Hindooism or Moham- 
medanism. When I speak of Mohammedanism, I speak of a religion which 
holds the unity of God, and which has been in India for centuries. Then, 
there is another point with regard to the information furnished to us with 
reference to the aboriginal tribes, and that is that we ought to bear in mind 
the extreme timidity of the people, who are exceedingly superstitious, and 
whose lives are spent in a constant state of fear. Such information as we 
have had placed before us this evening is mostly gathered by officials—that 
is to say, a man like Col. Dalton, wishing for information in regard to 
the religions of the people under his government, sends a circular to his 
subordinates, requesting them to supply him with the requisite data. Upon 
this, questions have to be put to some of the native tribes, and these 
must naturally be leading questions. The result is that these poor 
