Page 44. To the names of writers who support the idea of an Australian religion should be added that of Dr. John Mathew, in Eaglehawk and Crow, p. 147 (1899), 'I was once of opinion that notions about a divinity had been derived from the whites and transmitted among the blacks hither and thither, but I am now convinced that this idea was here before European occupation.' But (pp. 130, 131) Dr. Mathew gives his reasons for thinking importation from Indian mythology possible. But as they rest on his decipherment of certain marks, which may be meant for characters, in Sir George Grey's copy of an Australian wall-painting, the evidence is weak. (Grey, North-west and Western Australia, i. 201 et seq.). Supposing the characters to be Sumatran, it would be necessary to show that the people of Sumatra do represent their otiose deity as in the painting copied by Grey.
Page 58, line 6, for rights read rites.
Page 75, note 1, for Primitive Culture, i. 379, 1871, read Primitive Culture, i. 419, 1873.
Page 112, note 1. 'But so there were in 1000 A.D.' I have been informed that there was no special fear of the end of the world in 1000 A.D. M. Cumont gives good reasons for holding that the martyrdom of St. Dasius in 303 was on record between 362 and 411 (Man, May 1901, No. 53).
Page 120. 'Ctesias flourished rather earlier than Berosus, who is about 200 B.C.;' for 200 read 260. Ctesias was a contemporary of Herodotus.
[Necessary corrections have been applied—M. D.]
CONTENTS
[I. SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION]
[II. THE THEORY OF LOAN-GODS; OR BORROWED RELIGION]
[III. MAGIC AND RELIGION]
[IV. THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH]
[V. THE APPROACHES TO MR. FRAZER'S THEORY]
[I. THE EVOLUTION OF GODS]
[II. THE ALLEGED MORTALITY OF GODS]
[III. RELIGIOUS REGICIDE]
[IV. ANNUAL RELIGIOUS REGICIDE]
[V. THE SATURNALIA]
[VI. THE GREEK CRONIA]
[VII. THE SACÆA]
[VI. ATTEMPTS TO PROVE THE SACÆAN CRIMINAL DIVINE]
[I. SACRIFICE BY HANGING. DOES IT EXIST?]
[II. STAGES IN MR. FRAZER'S THEORY]
[III. A POSSIBLE RECONCILIATION]
[IV. THE SACÆA SUDDENLY CHANGES ITS DATE]
[V. VARIOUS THEORIES OF THE VICTIM]
[VII. ZAKMUK, SACÆA, AND PURIM]
[I. HISTORICAL DIFFICULTY]
[II. PERSIANS ARE NOT BABYLONIANS]
[III. ORIGIN OF PURIM]
[IV. IS PURIM PRE-EXILIAN OR POST-EXILIAN]
[V. THEORY OF A HUMAN VICTIM AT PURIM]
[VI. CONTRADICTORY CONJECTURE]
[VII. A NEW THEORY OF THE VICTIM]
[VIII. NEW GERMAN THEORY OF PURIM]
[IX. ANOTHER NEW THEORY. HUMAN AND THE VICTIM]
[VIII. MORDECAI, ESTHER, VASHTI, AND HAMAN]
[I. ESTHER LOVED BY MORDECAI]
[II. THE PERSIAN BUFFOON]
[III. A HELPFUL THEORY OF MY OWN]
[IX. WHY WAS THE MOCK-KING OF THE SACÆA WHIPPED AND HANGED?]
[I. PERIODS OF LICENCE]
[II. THE DIVINE SCAPEGOAT]
[III. MORE PERIODS OF LICENCE]
[IV. THE SACÆA AS A PERIOD OF LICENCE]
[X. CALVARY]
[XI. THE GHASTLY PRIEST]
[XII. SOUTH AFRICAN RELIGION]
[XIII. CUP AND RING: AN OLD PROBLEM SOLVED]
[XIV. FIRST-FRUITS AND TABOOS]
[XV. WALKING THROUGH FIRE]
APPENDICES
[A. MR. TYLOR'S THEORY OF BORROWING]
[B. THE MARTYRDOM OF DASIUS]
[C. THE RIDE OF THE BEARDLESS ONE]
INDEX