60 EKV. M. KKLI.Sj ON THE VVORSHIP AND 'J'lJADITIONS OF 



good Deity;* the Dyaks of Borneo generally seem ta 

 acknowledge tlie existence of a Supreme Being, f though 

 subordinate deities arc supposed to watch over special depart- 

 ments of this world) ; while theoriginalinhabitantsof Java seem 

 to be not much removed from those of Borneo in belief; and 

 the Macassars of Celebes worship a certain divinity called 

 Karaeng Lovi, who has power over their fortune and health. f 

 The Tenimber Islanders recognize some Supreme existence 

 Avhom they call Duadilah.+ 



Tlie wizards of Australia profess to be in communication 

 I)oth witli their ancestral spii'its and with the Great Supreme 

 Being, the founder of their race, whose sacred ceremonies of 

 initiation they conduct, and of whose laws they are the 

 depositaries. All the institutions of the tribe were in the 

 first instance established by him, whom they speak of, and 

 reverence as the All-Father of the tribe. This Being is 

 knoAvn under many different names in various tribes. These 

 names, being connected with the initiation ceremonies, are 

 often too sacred to be spoken by the people, except during 

 the celebration of the mysteries, from which the uninitiated 

 are excluded. Ti^e Woiworung tribe of the Yarra river 

 district called him Bunjil ; the Wiradjeri tribe of the Lower 

 Murrumbidgee call him Baiame; and the Murring of the 

 mountains and the coast call him Darramulun. But these 

 names are not for common use. Except during the secret 

 ceremonies of initiation, all these tribes usually speak of him 

 in words which mean in each language "Our Father;" and 

 the Kuruai of Gippsland, know him only by the name Mini- 

 gcuingaura and speak it, when necessary with reverential 

 awe. Even Australian blacks, when referring to the Supreme 

 Being sometimes do it by gesture, in order to avoid speaking 

 his name.§ 



True Sir John Lubbock has held that the Australians do 

 not believe in a Supreme Deity, or in the immortality of the 

 soul, that they have no idea of creation, nor use prayers, 

 or religious fcn-ms, ceremonies or worship,! but this cannot 

 noAv be accepted, for later discoveries by those who have- 

 lived long among them state the opposite. 



* Malte Brim's Ueor/., vol. ii, p. 213. 



t Encyclopa'dia Britt., articles on "Borneo," "Java," and "Celel)es." 



t Naturalist's Wanderings in Timor Lavt. 



§ A. F. Howitl, F.L.S., F.G.S., in Smithsonian Report, 1883, \\ 823. 



II SmithsoHian Report, 18G9, p. 35G. 



