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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 516, 10 October 1867, Page 3

Capt.vix Raphael Semmes, of Alabama ( notoriety, is advocating female suffrage. Neaiilt all the battle-fields around [ Richmond, in the United States, are now ; sown with grain. The Tichbobne Baeoxetcv. The < Hants Advertiser states that the Australian claimant to the Tichborne baronetcy was in Alresford, in Hants, near which the family seat is situated, last week, and was visited by the neighboring gentry and Tichborne tenantry. Major Hcywood recognised the claimant as his comrade in the oth Dragoon Guards. People ilocked in from the neighboring villages also to see him. Colonel Lu-diington, who is the tenant of the Tichborne family mansion, invited the claimeut to his residence. Mexico axd the Eueopeax Powees.— We (Owl) understand that it is now decided that no European intervention shall take place in consequence of the execution ot the Emperor Maximilian. In the firs! moment of horror and anger it was proposed, both at Paris and Vienna, to take some immediate step by way of reprisal; but reflection has shown that such a course would be politically as unadvigable as practically it would be 'useless. Sie Ge iege Gekt. —Under this beading the following letter appears in tin Times of July the I'Jth : —To the Editor of the Times. Sir, — Will you kindly permit me space to say that no one has the interest of Great Britain more at heart, or has worked harder for the furtherance of that interest uiiuei- trying circumstances. than Sir George Grey ; and that, when an explanation of his conduct is afforded him, you will find the article in The Times of of the 17th is undeserved? It is, I hope, conceded that a British Governor should be inspired by higher views of Imperial interests than merely mccenary and temporary ones, and that at such a distance a Governor should have a wide margin of discretion granted to him. Permit me also to raise a suggestion, whether the colonies might not be better understood, more serviceable for emigration, less costly, and a greater bond of unity and power to the Grown, if they were represented more fully and correctly in Parliament.— l bare &c, Bobert J. Creasy, I7th July,

GOOD AND BAD SPIRITS. (From the Sydney a orning Herald, Sept. 10.) tc Good and Bad Soirits ” was the title of a very entertaining lecture read last night by Mr J. 11. Palmer, in connection with the Batlmrst-street Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society. The lecture was delivered in the Baptist Church, and the chair was occupied by the president of the society, the Rev. James Voider.

The lecturer said that he purposed not so much to state the Christian views of good and evil spirits as to recount the popular opinions held at various periods and held in different parts of the world, and to 'lllustrate them by legends and tales collected from various sources, it was common to speak of death as a sleep, and of the spirit world as dreamy, dim, shadowy, unsubstantial. irceHy wore wc to «av that, this life was of “ snch i stuff as dreams are made of,” and that hence the future and the surrounding spirit world, although the only “real reality ” in the universe, seemed to our benumbed faculties strange, weird, fantastic, and intangible. Just as in our slumbers the familiar objects of our waking senses assumed incongruous and monstrous forms, so in the sleep of our spiritual perceptions we conjured up strange phantoms, and invested them with attributes at variance with all that came within the scope of our knowledge of the material world. After a brief psychological disquisition as to the origin of tjie first tendencies to the deification and worship «f the powers of nature, the lecturer went on to say that there could be no doubt that the character of the superstition of a people, of iis gods and demons, was largely influenced by the peculiar features of a country and the general disposition of its inhabitants. How widely different the blood-drinking gods of the Scandinavian Valhalla, and the classic deities of the Greek Olympus ! How dissimilar the Gotho-Genmmia duerga or dwarf from the lovely peri of Persian poetry! How unlike each other the gloomy banshee of Ireland and the graceful and joyous fairy of England ! The lecturer then introduced

his hearers to some of the mythological beings of Indian superstition, and these were followed by short but comprehensive and graphic descriptions of a few of the principal gods, &e., of the Persians and Egyptians, and the corresponding deities| known amongst the Greeks and Homans. Some I of the absurdities of Jewish Rabbins recorded in ] the Talmudic writings were next referred to ; and I the MahommeJan doctrines concerning angels also came in for passing notice. The lecturer then . spoke of Icelandic and Scandinavian traditions ! • mid he subsequently enlarged upon the popular belief of the English about witches, and the laws which were enacted against “ those secret, t black, and midnight hags,” in the time of James the Eirst. Tennyson’s poems on the Merman and the Mermaid were read in illustration of the former ; and some lines from Macbeth, in which Shakespeare has embodied and ponrtrayed, with, gloomy grandeur, the popular notions of his countrymen, were quoted with respect to the latter. Having entertained his audience for a few minutes with the society of the fairies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, the lecturer invited them to turn to the land we live in. Generally,” he said, “the Australian aborigines have no idea ut a Great Creator at all. The blacks of Wellington, according to the missionaries who were stationed there some years ago, used to speak of a being whom they called 1 lui-a-nai, ami whom, w ith his sou, Bnrrambiu. they deemed the Creator of all things. To this Bai-a-dai they paid a kind of worship annually by dancing and singing in his honor, This song, they said, was brought from a distant country by strangers who went about teaching it. Tins annual worship took 'place in the mouth of February, ami all w ho J\l ■ not join in it were supposed to incur the displeasure [of the gods. Bai-a-nai was v.ippos-m to live in an |island beyond the, great sea, and to eat ti-'e. which, [whenever he required food, came up at his cal! [from the water. Dararw irgai is a brother of |Bai-u-aai, and lives in the far west. To him they [ascribe the origin of the small-pox, which has [made such ravages among them. They say he was vexed for want of a tomahawk, and therefore [sent that disease amongst them, hut they suppose that he has now obtained one and that the disrate I jwill come no more. Wandoug is the Ev : l One ofj these aborigines, and is described as a gigantic j black man always prowling about at night, ready! to seize and destroy any unfortunate wanderer, i There is also an imaginary aquatic monster ended| by them Wongull, who, according to their account, is as large ns a horse, has a long head with large eyes which emit lire, and whose neck is covered with a feathery mane. The idea of this monster has j rabably h ca de.veloped from n distorted conception of the crocodile. Among the] blacks of Port Stephens there is a belief that each individual has his kimbi, or attendant spirit, in the form of a bat, or a bird of the woodpecker species. The kimbi of the woman is the bird, while that of the man is the bat. It is stated by Captain Gray that each family in South Australia has what is termed by them a kohong, between ■ whom and themselves there exists some mysterious [ sympathy. This koboug (which we believe to be) identical with the kimbi of Tort Stephens blacks) j is regarded as sacred, and no member of the family can, under any circumstances, bo induced to harm it. One family will hold the platypus sacred, another the sugar squirrel (or pitaurus), a third the wonga wonga, and even though starving the members of that family, they would not eat their respective kohong. Dr. Young describes “ Silence ” and “ Darkness” as Solemn sisters—twins of Ancient Right, Who rear the tender thought To reason; but with the poor black fellow, the influence of

the hours of darkness is to call up the grizzly phantojns of superstitions dread. If perchance I the solemn silence be disturbed by the note of the | night cuckoo, ho hoars in fancy the voice of a departed one, the “koon” of some old companion, warning him of the approach of death ; or if some unaccustomed sound break on his ear, it is the footfall of a dreaded demon. I]is spirit world is full of horrors. With him there is no “ pleasing hope,'’ no “ fond desire,” no “ longing after immortality.” His visitants from the unseen world are gloomy, malevolent, vindictive; and all beyond is involved in the blackness of darkness.” Mr. Palmer concluded with some appropriate relied ions suggest eti by his consideration i of the subject. The lecture was one which,I while communicating much information, valuable! as well as curious, was enriched by gems from| Milton, Sir Walter Scott, Moore, Hood, and other ’ poets, and enlivened by the narration of quaint! and humorous legends. Considerable research was shown in the selection of the illustrations, and skill in their arrangement. The lecturer was listened to with sustained interest, and at the close ' a vote of thanks was awarded to him.