MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, QUEBEC, CANADA EAST, APRIL, 1856. BY MR. WM. DARLING CAMPBELL. Latitude, 46 deg. 49.2 min. North; Longitude, 71 deg. 16 min. West. Elevation above the level of the Sea, 200 feet. 28/29.903 .722 .648 .758 29 .557 .617 .748 .641 80 .877 30.062 30.061 30.000 40.4 55.3 42.9 46.2 259 243 210 237 162 119 160 147 120 130 139 130 245 344 3:8 302 168 192 201 187 72 M 29.7076 29.6594 29.6640 29,673 241 257 215 238 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 .51 48 WNW W Calm. 4.4 W Calm. Calm. 76 Calm. ESE ESE 88 Calm. ENEE by 99 1.00 97 E by NE by N Calm. 87 ENE E E 43 WNW WNW WNW 19 654 53 w by s W Calm. 6 27 64 W 69 W SW ENENN W W Calm. 7668 10 3.1 THE CANADIAN JOURNAL. NEW SERIES. No. VI. NOVEMBER, 1856. SUPERSTITIONS AND TRADITIONS OF THE BY JAMES BROWNE, TORONTO. In a former paper communicated to the Canadian Institute, the manners and customs of the Aborigines of the western coast of Australia have been sketched from personal observation.* I shall now endeavor to complete the picture of that singular phase of savage life which came under my own notice, while resident on the Australian continent, by depicting the psychological characteristics of the same degraded race, and narrating some of the most remarkable superstitions and traditional ideas, which a long residence among them brought to my knowledge. It has been often affirmed that there is no people so savage and ignorant as not to have some idea of a Supreme Being, or belief in a superior power, whom they worship in some form or character, and of whom they live in awe and dread. But if such is not the case with the natives of the western coast of Australia, and indeed of Australia generally, they so nearly approximate to it, that I believe it can be asserted without a doubt, that so far as religion, or any rudiment of divine worship is concerned, these savages are as ignorant as the beasts of the forest. From them no prayers ascend to propitiate good spirit or evil. They have neither temple nor idol,-neither object of worship, nor any semblance of religious rites. Vide: "The Aborigines of Australia," ante, p. 251. M* Nevertheless, even the Australian savage manifests such vague traces of the rudiments of religious belief as are implied by a faith in some supernatural power. The aborigines occasionally refer to an imaginary evil-being, whom those I am describing call Jahnac, to whom they give credit for all sickness and misfortunes that may befal them, and whose principal occupation, they say, is to roam about the earth at night, watching to harm such stragglers as may unfortunately happen to fall in his way. Some of the valiant ones, indeed, will even boast of personal encounters and interviews with him; but what Jahnac is like, or what his powers are, none can distinctly tell. Even to those who boast of having encountered him Jahnac remains a mystery. Still they appear to have an indistinct idea of something that has the power of injuring them. Anything and everything accordingly, which frightens them, is Jahnac; but, however much they may dislike leaving their fires at night for fear of coming in contact with him, Jahnac is not worshipped by them, nor do they seek in any way to propitiate him, or manifest respect for him otherwise than what is implied by abject fear. But although entertaining such vague and grovelling ideas of any spiritual power, and, properly speaking, destitute of all conception of a Supreme Being-these savages, nevertheless, labor under many strange delusions, tantamount, in some cases, to what might be called a religious belief. It generally follows that where the mind is not pre-occupied by any higher form of religious belief, it becomes the dupe of designing cunning and craftiness. This is strikingly exemplified in the Australian savage. In the description of the different Tribes given in a former paper, it was mentioned that the Cockatoo-men, or a portion of that tribe, had acquired a strange and mysterious influence over their neighbors. I shall now endeavor to relate in what manner this influence is exercised, and the light in which its possessors are regarded, by those who do not belong to the exclusive circle. The Cockatoo-men are believed to control the elements, and to direct the heavenly bodies; through Jahnac, their ally, they are supposed to have the power of inflicting disease and death upon whomsoever they will. The voice of the Cockatoo-man is heard in the thunder, and lightning is the bursting forth of his wrath, or the manifestation of his displeasure and approaching vengeance. No sooner does the vivid flash dart along the horizon, and the distant murmur of thunder fall upon the ear, than the native crouches within his wigwam, and cries:-"The Cockatoo-man speaks-he is sulky!" Should the husband, the wife, or the child, feel the pains of sickness, again is the cry raised :-" The Cockatoo-man is sulky !"-and should death not follow, to him alone is the recovery due, for his wrath has passed away. In like manner, the Sun, Moon, and Stars, are all the handiwork of the Cockatoo-man. Night by night does he ascend from this, his terrestrial dwelling place, to hold a glorious banquet on the moon, whose phases are accounted for by these nocturnal expeditions and feasts. They are continued, according to native belief, until the whole is demolished, but one small piece, which is allowed to remain and again expand to its original dimensions, when the feasting is once more resumed. All the individuals of this tribe are supposed to possess these attributes in a greater or less degree; but some few are endowed with powers of a still more extensive and controlling range than others, and they are therefore flattered and sought after by the surrounding tribes, upon all occasions of danger and great sickness. The gravity with which these medicine men go through their incantations, and the implicit faith in which those operated on appear to submit themselves to the tender mercies of the operator, is ludicrous in the extreme. The patient, in all probability, is suffering from internal pain, or is possibly in the last stage of exhaustion. Jahnac has been put into him by the Cockatoo-man-and the Cockatoo-man alone can get him out. He is therefore sought after, without reference to distance or trouble, and brought (sometimes many days journey) to administer relief to the afflicted. The Cockatoo-man approaches, and, gravely gazing on the sick man, begins to probe with his knuckles, to find the exact spot where lies the pain. Having determined this, he commences to rub down or shampoo the body, from the part affected, towards one of the extremities, either the feet, the hands, the head, or the ears-his object being to force Jahnac out at one of these points. During the operation, he frequently blows upon his fingers with great solemnity, as if to disperse the infection of the evil one. Suddenly ceasing his rubbing and seizing the patient by the hair of his head, or back of the neck, he treats him to a most energetic shaking; and thus he proceeds, with alternate rubbing, and blowing and shaking, until Jahnac is forced out of the afflicted one, and appears in the hand of the operator, in the shape of a small piece of wood or quartz. The cure being thus satisfactorily performed, this bit of wood or stone is handed over to the individual from whom it was extracted, and by whom it is cherished ever afterwards as an object of peculiar value. Such are the wonderful powers supposed to be possessed by these men, and, to those who believe all that they have credit for, innumer able are the miracles they perform. It is needless, however, to enlarge on the subject. I have related sufficient to prove the influence they have over the minds of the savages, their dupes. How they contrived to gain this influence appears extraordinary, as I am not aware that they possess one qualification superior to their neighbors;— but that they have gained it, and that they do their best to retain it, are equally true. This is the extent of the influence of superstition on this people, and there I think it ceases; but here, also, must be noted a vague and partial idea which they appear to entertain of a state of being hereafter. I say partial, in as much as it applies but to one portion of the community, and that is to the young men, who, they say, upon taking their departure from this world, go to the moon, or to a place beyond it, where they remain in the midst of abundance of Kangaroos, upon which they have unlimited feasting, an idea conveying to the mind of an Australian a picture of the very essence of true felicity. But those dying old and infirm enjoy no such happiness ;--on the earth, where they lived and died, there they remain, and conclude their career by furnishing a repast for the wild dog. The traditions current amongst these people, like those of most other barbarous tribes, usually relate to some familiar object or event. Nevertheless, they generally contrive to confer on them an originality and marvellousness, not only amusing, but tending also in a great measure to enlighten us relative to the ideas and modes of thought of those from whom they are obtained. As specimens, let me relate one or two narrated to me by a native youth, as we lay around our bush fire; and in doing so, I shall endeavour to follow, as much as possible, the peculiar and simple language of my swarthy companion. "The Kangaroo," said he "now jumps far--very far; he jumps too like the frog, but it was not always so. A very long time ago it was not all jump, jump, jump. No, he then walked all the day, and when the black man was hungry, he did not run after the Kangaroo, as he now does, for the whole day, but arose from his fire, and knocked him down with his Waddie, and so he ate plenty, aud without trouble. One day a Frog came up out of the River to take a walk and look at the country, and away he went, jump, jump, jump, and then sat down and looked about him, again he started, jump, jump, jump, and once more sat down in the glare of the Sun. And so he went on jumping and resting until he found himself in the midst of the Kangaroos, who were crawling about eating the grass with their fore paws to the ground, and noses very low, and backs very high. The Frog laughed when he saw the |