meant." "I proceeded, through Sacheuse, to inquire if he believed in an evil spirit; but he could not he made to understand what it meant. He could not be made to understand what a good or evil spirit meant." The probable fact of the matter was that Sacheuse could not speak the Eskimo dialect of those he was catechising. If he did not speak to them in "an unknown tongue," he certainly did in an unfamiliar tongue, the result being a general misunderstanding all round. If Sacheuse had been able to ask his listeners, "Do you believe in a benevolent Creator called 'Torngarsuk' or 'Anguta'?" it is most likely he would have received his answer in the shape of a definite affirmative.
"On Damood Island, between Australia and New Guinea," writes Sir John Lubbock, "Jukes could find no traces of any religious belief or observance."[1] This certainly is not to be wondered at, as he only spent part of a day there (March 21, 1845), and the effort at interchange of views was singularly weak, as the natives knew only a few words of English, and the English visitors knew nothing of the native language. The portion of the day spent on the island was taken up with bartering with the natives on the seashore, and during part of this time Captain Blackwood and Mr. Juices struck "off for a walk across the island," ill company with one of the natives. During this walk Jukes noticed a superior kind of house which he thought might have been a temple or a place for depositing the dead, or a chief's house, but "they could not make out which," for the simple reason that they could not communicate with their guide.
The case of the Aru Islanders is a striking instance of Sir John's method of quotation. Here are his words: "Mr. Wallace, who had excellent opportunities for judging, and whose merits as an observer no one can question, tells us that in the Aru Islands he could find no trace of a religion; adding, however, that he was but a short time among them."[2] Mr. Wallace, however, does not agree with Sir John Lubbock as to his "excellent opportunities for judging," for he says, "I could not get much real knowledge of the customs of the Aru people during the short time I was among them." The natives, he tells us, when in contact with foreign races were reserved and taciturn; and that as he could not speak the Aru language, and the natives had "an imperfect knowledge of Malay," he could not "make out very clearly" what at times they said. "I saw no signs of any religion" may mean that, in his rambles as a naturalist through the country about Wanumbai, he never came across anything like a temple or altar. Indeed, no one can read Mr. Wallace's singularly interesting book without noticing that he
