GOOD AND BAD SPIRITS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 42, 14 October 1867, Page 257

GOOD AND BAD SPIRITS.

CsVom the Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 10.) ** Good and Bad Spirits ” was the title of a very •entertaining leeture read last night by Mr J. H. •Palmer, ■in connection with the. Bathurst-streefc Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society. The lecture was delivered in the Baptist Church, and the . cnair was occupied by the president of the society, the Bev. James Yoller. 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 them by legends' and tales •collected from various sonrces. It #as common 'to speak of death as a sleep, and of the spirit world as dreamy, dim, shadowy, unsubstantial. We should, perhaps, express ourselves more corwere we to say that this life was of “ such dream ? made of,” and that hence the future and the surrounding spirit world, > altoough the only “ real reality ” in the universe, seemed to our benumbed faculties strange, weird, fantastic.and intangible. Just as in our slumbers . ® familiar objects of our waking senses assumed incongruous and monstrous forms, so in the sleep ollr 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 the first tendencies to the deification and worship of 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 ire gods mid demons, was largely infinenced •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 -vilympus! How dissimilar the Gotho-Germauic •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 ms hearers to some of the mythological beings of Indian su P ers tition, and these were followed by but comprehensive and grapliic descriptions .of a few of the principal gods, &c., of the Persians and Egyptians, and the corresponding deities known amongst the Greeks and Homans. Some .of the absurdities of Jewish Babbins recorded in the Talmudic writings were next referred to; and •the Mahommedan doctrines concerning angels Also came in for passing notice. The lecturer then spoke of Icelandic and Scandinavian traditions! iv subsequently enlarged upon the popular .belief of the English about witches, and the laws wfoch were enacted against “ those secret, black, And midnight hags,” in the time of James the hirst. 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 pourtrayed, with gloomy grandeur, the popular notions of his •countrymen, were quoted with respect to the latter. _ Having entertained his andience for a few minutes with the society of the fairies of •England, Ireland, and Scotland, the lecturer inthem to turn to the land we live in. “ Generally, ’ he said, “ the Australian aborigines have ao idea of a Great Creator at all. The blacks of Wellington, according to the missionaries who Were stationed there some years ago, nsed to speak * k. e .' n “ w honi they called Bai-a-nai, and whom, wh. ins son, Burrambin. they deemed the Creator xif all things. To this Bai-a-dai they paid a kind .-orworship annually by dancing and singing in his honor,. This song, they said, was 'brought from a distant country by strangers who went flbont teaching it. This annual worship took place in the month of February, and all who did not join in it- were supposed to incur the displeasure flf the gods. Bai-a-nai was supposed to live in an island beyond the great sea, and to eat fish which, whenever he required food, came up at his call fto|jji the water. Dararwirgai is a brother of -Bai-a-nai, and lives in the far west. To him they ascribe the ortgin 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, but they suppose •that, he has now obtained one and that the disease will come no more. Wandong is the Evil One of these aborigines, and is described as a gigantic black man always prowling about at night, ready to seize and destroy any uufortuuate wanderer, lliere is also an imaginary aquatic monster called by them Wongull, who, according to their account, is as large as a horse, has a long head with large eyes which emit fire, and whose neck is -covered with a feathery mane. The idea of this monster has probably been developed from a distorted conception of the crocodile. Among the blacks of Port Stephens there is a belief that each individual has his kimbi, or attendant spirit, m 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 kobong, between whom and themselves there.exists some mysterious sympathy. This kobong (which we believe to be identical with the kimbi of Port Stephens blacks) is, regarded as sacred, and no member of the family can, under any circumstances,- be induced to harm it. One family will hold the platypus sacred, another, the sugar squirrel (or pitaurus), a third the wonga wouga, and even though starving the members of that family, they would not eat their respective kobong. Dr. Young describes “ Silence ” and “ Darkness ” as

Solemn sisters—twins of Ancient Night, 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 pliautoins of superstitious dread. If perchance the solemn silence be disturbed by the note of the night cuckoo, lie hears in fancy the voice of a departed one, the “ kooii” 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. His 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; all beyond is involved in the blackness of darkness.” Mr. Palmer concluded with some appropriate reflections suggested by his consideration of the subject. The lecture was one which, while communicating much information, valuable well as . curious, was enriched by gems from Milton, Sir Walter Scott,-Moore, Hood, and other poets, and enlivened by the narration of quaint hhd- 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 clop* A vote of thanks was awarded to him, i,.