in das Innere
Nord-America_ (Coblenz, 1839-1841), ii. 235.]

[Footnote 264: T. de Pauly, _Description Ethnographique des Peuples de
la Russie, Peuples de l'Amerique Russe_ (St. Petersburg, 1862), p. 13.]

[Footnote 265: E. Seler, _Altmexikanische Studien_, ii. (Berlin, 1899)
p. 42 (_Veroeffentlichungen aus dem Koeniglichen Museum fuer Voelkerkunde_,
vi. 2/4).]

[Footnote 266: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_,
p. 497; _id._, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 506.]

[Footnote 267: Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_,
pp. 503-508. The name of the final mourning ceremony among the Arunta is
_urpmilchima_.]

[Footnote 268: _The Golden Bough_, Second Edition (London, 1900), i. 434
_sq._]

[Footnote 269: A. Biet, _Voyage de la France Equinoxiale en l'Isle de
Cayenne_ (Paris, 1664), p. 392.]

[Footnote 270: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_, pp. 505 _sqq._]

[Footnote 271: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_, pp. 506-508.]

[Footnote 272: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_, p. 530.]

[Footnote 273: Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_, pp. 530-543.]

LECTURE VIII

THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AMONG THE NATIVES OF THE TORRES STRAITS
ISLANDS

[Sidenote: The Islanders of Torres Straits. The Cambridge
Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits.]

In the last lecture I concluded my account of the belief in immortality
and worship of the dead, or rather of the elements out of which such a
worship might have grown, among the aborigines of Australia. To-day we
pass to the consideration of a different people, the islanders of Torres
Straits. As you may know, Torres Straits are the broad channel which
divides Australia on the south from the great island of New Guinea on
the north. The small islands which are scattered over the strait fall
roughly into two groups, a Western and an Eastern, of which the eastern
is at once the more isolated and the more fertile. In appearance,
character, and customs the inhabitants of all these islands belong to
the Papuan family, which inhabits the western half of New Guinea, but in
respect of language there is a marked difference between the natives of
the two groups; for while the speech of the Western Islanders is akin to
that of the Australians, the speech of the Eastern Islanders is akin to
that of the Papuans of New Guinea. The