366 
POWER OF SORCERY. 
“I this day again remarked a circumstance, which had before 
this period elicited my attention, which was, that we occasionally 
found fixed on the boughs of trees, at a considerable height from 
the ground, pieces of sandstone, nearly circular in form, about 
an inch and a half in thickness, and from four to five in diame- 
ter, so that they resembled small mill-stones. What was the 
object of thus fashioning, and placing these stones, I never 
could conceive, for they are generally in the least remarkable 
spots. They cannot point out burial places, for I have made 
such minute searches, that in such case I must have found some 
of the bones ; neither can they indicate any peculiar route 
through the country, for two never occur near one another.” 
The power of sorcery appears always to belong, 
in a degree, to the aged, but it is assumed often 
by the middle aged men. It is no protection to 
the possessor, from attack, or injury, on the part of 
other natives. On the contrary, the greater the 
skill of the sorcerer, and the more extensive his 
reputation, the more likely is he to be charged with 
offences he is unconscious of, and made to pay their 
penalty. Sorcerers are not ubiquitous, but have the 
power of becoming invisible, and can transport 
themselves instantaneously to any place they please. 
Women are never sorcerers. It is a general belief 
among almost all the Aborigines, that Europeans, 
or white people, are resuscitated natives, who have 
changed their colour, and who are supposed to re- 
turn to the same localities they had inhabited as 
black people. The most puzzling point, however, 
with this theory, appears to be that they cannot 
make out how it is that the returned natives do not 
