114 R. H. MATHEWS, 
‘“‘the reappearance of deceased persons. It is also applied 
to Huropeans, who are supposed to be aborigines, under 
another colour, restored to the land of their nativity.’” 
From Adelaide, where the same belief was recorded, to 
Perth, is about 1,300 miles in a direct line on a map of 
Australia. 
Mr. H.S. Parker, a protector of the aborigines of Victoria, 
wrote in 1854:—‘'The aborigines had a distinct belief of 
the existence of their souls after death. . . . There 
were also well defined traces of a belief in transmigration 
of souls. . . . It is well known that, on the Gece 
appearance of the colonists, the opinion was taken up, and 
long maintained among them, that they were their deceased 
progenitors returning to their former haunts.’” 
The few examples I have quoted, show that the aboriginal 
belief in the reincarnation of souls, has been known and 
reported upon by white men, from 1840 to the present time. 
The localities I have chosen for these examples are 
situated in the extreme north, the west, and the south of 
the Australian Continent. 
IV. LANGUAGES OF TRIBES ABOUT ALICE SPRINGS. 
During recent years, some friends of mine have had 
business at the mining fields, in the Alice Springs district, 
Northern Territory. The journey from Adelaide to Alice 
Springs, although a somewhat long one, is quite easily 
accomplished. <A train leaves Adelaide for Oodnadatta, 
737 miles distant, on every alternate Monday throughout 
the year, arriving at Oodnadatta on Wednesday at 7 p.m.3; 
fares, first class £5 10s. and second class £3 17s. 6d. On 
Thursday morning, at 8 a.m., a coach carrying mails and 
passengers, starts from Oodnadatta for Alice Springs, the 
1 Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines of 
Western Australia, (London, 1842), p. 28. 
* The Aborigines of Australia, (Melbourne, 1854), p. 25. 
