VII
MEDICINE-MEN AND MAGIC
425
status. The songs also in some cases throw light on their beliefs and their customs. No doubt there are, amongst their songs, some which are coarse and indecent, as among those of more civilised peoples. But they can be disregarded, unless they have some bearing on beliefs or customs. As it is, white men know little of the blackfellow's songs, which to most people are unmeaning barbarous chants, and to the missionaries who have some knowledge of them they savour of heathendom, and must therefore be altogether pushed into oblivion and be forgotten. Thus before long all these songs, old and new, will be lost.
