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Zulus— have a much better notion of religious belief than has been generally 
attributed to them. I have read something about the Dyaks, and they 
appear to have a very strong opinion upon the subject; for when ten 
missionaries went to Borneo to preach Christianity, a deputation of the 
natives waited upon them, and suggested that as the missionaries were o y 
ten in number, it would be better for them to cease creating a disturbance 
and commotion by preaching novel doctrines, and to at once adopt the 
religion of the Dyaks, when they would all be able to get along comfortably 
and peacefully together. (Laughter.) That looks as if the Dyaks, mstea . 
having no religious belief at all, had a very strong one. It will be found m 
the case of many savage tribes, that the notion of their having no know- 
ledge of the Deity arises from the want of proper information as to their 
customs, habits, and feelings. f , 
Mr I T Prtchard. — I would like to ask one question. I have not read 
Sir John Lubbock’s book, and wish to know whether he makes the assertion 
that anywhere, in any part of the world, so far as our researches hare 
gone, there has been found any race possessing no idea of a God ? 
Bey. J. H. Titcomb. — Oh yes. He makes that assertion most distinctly. 
Mr.'pRiOHARD.— Then I think it is a matter for extreme regret that he 
is not here to-night to support his views by argument ; because, so far as my 
researches, or reading go, I have never, that I can recollect, come across a sing e 
instance of the kind. Ido not know of a single tribe, in any part of the.world, 
that has been altogether without some knowledge of the Deity. The most bai - 
barous races that I ever heard of, and the most debased— those tribes, for in- 
stance, which are to be found in the northern part of Asia, in the wildest parts 
of Siberia— clearly have some notion of a Supreme Being. I remember reading 
the old travels of the Jesuits who passed through that country severa 
hundred years ago, and who described the condition of the people ; an. .here 
was clearly an idea of the Deity among the rudest of these people. Ceriainy 
the worship was very rude, but it was a worship of the Supreme i^eing. 
The only ceremony connected with it that they had any i ea o per g 
was the sacrifice of a horse or some other animal ; that creature they woul 
kill, and then they would suspend portions of the carcase upon the trees of 
the forest for a certain time, and pay them a certain amount of veneration 
after which they would devour them. That is an example of the greatest 
debasement I ever read of in any country in the world. Among books oi 
travel, I give the first place to the AbM Hue’s travels in China ; but vhe 
next place I give unquestionably to a hook by an Americangentleman 
connected with the electrio telegraph, called “Tent Life in Siben . _ 
left California, and travelled over part of Siberia, winch was a term me.g- 
nita where he fell in with many wandering Koraks, who are the nativ 
SftT regions ; and he says most clearly and. distinctly .that they have 
an idea of the Deity ; he mentions a display of the Aurora Borealis, and the 
feelings with which those people regarded the phenomenon, proving di. 
tinctly that they had a very strong feeling about the existence of G . 
