er; but women and children fear these spirits and
never see them. But some spirits of the dead, when they have ceased to
haunt their places of burial, go away eastward and are reincarnated in
white people; hence these savages often look for a resemblance to some
deceased tribesman among Europeans, and frequently wonder why it is that
the white man, on whom their fancy has pitched, remembers nothing about
his former life as a black man among blacks.[165]

[Sidenote: Beliefs of the natives of the Tully River in Queensland.]

The natives of the Tully River in Queensland associate the principle of
life both with the breath and with the shadow. It departs from the body
temporarily in sleep and fainting-fits and permanently in death, after
which it may be heard at night tapping on the top of huts or creaking in
the branches of trees. It is everlasting, so far as these savages have
any idea of eternity, and further it is intangible; hence in its
disembodied state it needs no food, and none is set out for it. The
disposition of these disembodied spirits of the dead is good or bad,
according to their disposition in life. Yet when a man is alone by
himself, the spirit even of one of his own dead kinsfolk will sometimes
come and do him a mischief. On the other hand it can do nothing to
several people together; there is safety in numbers. They may all see
and hear the ghost, but he will not attack them. Hence these savages
have been taught from childhood to beware of going alone: solitary
people are liable at any moment to be assailed by the spirits of the
dead. The only means they know of warding off these ghostly assailants
is by lighting good fires.[166]

[Sidenote: Belief of the Australian aborigines that their dead are
reborn in white people.]

I have mentioned the belief of the Cape Bedford natives that the spirits
of their dead are sometimes reincarnated in white people. A similar
notion is reported from other and widely separated parts of Australia,
and wherever it exists may be taken as evidence of a general belief as
to the rebirth or reincarnation of the dead, even where such a belief is
not expressly recorded. This superstition has sometimes proved of
service to white people who have been cast among the blacks, for it has
ensured them a hospitable and even affectionate welcome, where otherwise
they might have encountered suspicion and hostility, if not open
violence. Thus, for example, the convict Buckley, who escape