y, emboldened by my
submission, deliberately kissed me on each cheek, just in the manner a
Frenchwoman would have done; she then cried a little more, and at length
relieving me, assured me that I was the ghost of her son, who had some
time before been killed by a spear-wound in his breast. The younger
female was my sister; but she, whether from motives of delicacy, or from
any imagined backwardness on my part, did not think proper to kiss me.
My new mother expressed almost as much delight at my return to my
family, as my real mother would have done, had I been unexpectedly
restored to her. As soon as she left me, my brothers, and father (the
old man who had previously been so frightened), came up and embraced me
after their manner,--that is, they threw their arms round my waist,
placed their right knee against my right knee, and their breast against
my breast, holding me in this way for several minutes. During the time
that the ceremony lasted, I, according to the native custom, preserved a
grave and mournful expression of countenance. This belief, that white
people are the souls of departed blacks, is by no means an uncommon
superstition amongst them; they themselves never having an idea of
quitting their own land, cannot imagine others doing it;--and thus, when
they see white people suddenly appear in their country, and settling
themselves down in particular spots, they imagine that they must have
formed an attachment for this land in some other state of existence; and
hence conclude the settlers were at one period black men and their own
relations. Likenesses, whether real or imagined, complete the delusion;
and from the manner of the old woman I have just alluded to, from her
many tears, and from her warm caresses, I feel firmly convinced that she
really believed I was her son, whose first thought, upon his return to
earth, had been to re-visit his old mother, and bring her a
present."[169]

[Sidenote: In South-eastern Australia the natives believed that the
souls of the dead were not reborn but went up to the sky.]

On the whole then we may conclude that a belief in the reincarnation of
the dead has not been confined to the tribes of Central Australia, but
has been held by the tribes in many, perhaps at one time in all, other
parts of the continent. Yet, if we may judge from the imperfect records
which we possess, this faith in the return of the dead to life in human
form would seem to have given way and been repl