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these things merely to-day, whether those beliefs and rites are in a state of 
“growth” to something higher in the future, or a state of decay from 
something higher in the past. The latter seems to me to be more likely 
to be the case, agreeing, as it does, with all we know of the propensities of 
human nature, and with the testimony of history up to the time not only of 
Noah, but of Adam himself. 
I am, therefore, thankful to Prof. Avery for the very interesting examples 
he has given us of the present state of religious observances among the 
aboriginal tribes of India, because the most characteristic of them seem to 
me to be independent vestiges, like the rites of the Hindoos and other nations, 
of a Divine revelation as to worship and belief, given in the far past by 
Jehovah Himself. The traditions, as amongst the Singphos, the Abors, Miris, 
Kukis, and others, as to a Supreme God and Father of men, as well as other 
parts of the beliefs of these (why should we prejudge their religious history 
by calling them “ primitive,’ when all we really know is that they are 
at present uncivilised?) tribes, would add to this conviction; but I have 
already written too much. 
REMARKS BY THE Rey. W. T. STORRS. 
I have read the paper through, but there seems little to excite discussion. 
As to the Santals, the Sun is their God, as far as they have any idea of 
God; Marang Buru (literally, the great mountain) is only the greatest 
among a large number of demons, ¢aijov1a whom one could scarcely call 
devils, being evidently in a great measure deified heroes, and the local 
spirits of groves, streams, &c. ; and this Marang Buru is a created being, and 
not the Creator, and is always, without any suggestion of ours, equivalent to 
the devil in the minds of those Santals who have accepted Christianity. 
They declare plainly that it was Marang Buru who tempted the first pair to 
sin by offering them intoxicating liquor. They have little huts in the 
street of each village, where are two small wooden doll-like images of 
Adam and Eve (as we should call them) stuck into the ground, and to 
which offerings are made. But the great place of worship is the sacred 
grove outside each village, where in the darkness their festivals are held 
with dancing, singing, &c. They have some very pretty festivals and 
customs, especially the spring festival with its emblematical water sprinklings 
and offerings of flowers, and the harvest festival with its degrading 
Saturnalia. 
LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR. 
In regard to the sentence in my paper which seems to have been received 
with some hesitation, I have to say by way of explanation, that it seems to 
me one may discern now and then in the religious systems of the heathen 
world a more or less clear apprehension of some of the truths of revealed 
religion,—such as the existence of a Supreme Deity, all-powerful and 
beneficent, the Creator of the universe; the idea of sin as a violation of 
Divine Jaw, and its corollary the need of Divine forgiveness ; the brotherhood 
of man, &e. ; 
