ts that the dead do not
return to life, and that their disembodied spirits do not haunt
perpetually a multitude of spiritual parks or reservations dotted over
the face of the country.

[Sidenote: The creed seems to form part of a general advance of culture
in this part of the continent.]

But how are we to account for this marked difference of belief between
the natives of the Centre and the natives of the South-east? Perhaps the
most probable explanation is that the creed of the south-eastern tribes
in this respect is part of a general advance of culture brought about by
the more favourable natural conditions under which they live as compared
with the forlorn state of the rude inhabitants of the Central deserts.
That advance of culture manifests itself in a variety of ways. On the
material side it is seen in more substantial and permanent dwellings and
in warmer and better clothing. On the social side it is seen in an
incipient tendency to the rise of a regular chieftainship, a thing which
is quite unknown among the democratic or rather oligarchic savages of
the Centre, who are mainly governed by the old men in council.[190] But
the rise of chieftainship is a great step in political progress; since a
monarchical government of some sort appears to be essential to the
emergence of mankind from savagery. On the whole, then, the beliefs of
the South-eastern Australian aborigines seem to mark a step on the
upward road towards civilisation.

[Sidenote: Possible influence of European teaching on native beliefs.]

At the same time we must not forget that these beliefs may have been
influenced by the lessons which they have learned from white settlers
with whom in this part of Australia they have been so long in contact.
The possibility of such a transfusion of the new wine of Europe into the
old bottles of Australia did not escape the experienced Mr. James
Dawson, an early settler in Victoria, who has given us a valuable
account of the natives of that region in the old days when they were
still comparatively little contaminated by intercourse with the whites.
He describes as follows the views which prevailed as to the dead among
the tribes of Western Victoria:--"After the disposal of the body of a
good person, its shade walks about for three days; and although it
appears to people, it holds no communication with them. Should it be
seen and named by anyone during these three days, it instantly
disappears. At the expiry of t