[595] Nor. Tr., p. xi. Compare also pp. 145, 606. Spencer and Gillen's statement is corroborated by various other independent authors, some of them being even critically disposed. The reincarnation of ancestors is asserted by the missionaries Teichelmann and Schürmann, in reference to the Adelaide tribe (compare below, p. 217, [note 4]). Mr. Thomas has shown (Man, 1904, § 68, pp. 99, 100) that the belief in reincarnation is implied in the Rev. L. Schultze's statement. Mrs. Parker quotes also beliefs containing the idea of reincarnation (loc. cit., pp. 50, 56, 73, 89; quoted by Mr. E. S. Hartland, loc. cit., i. p. 243). Mr. R. H. Mathews also emphatically affirms the existence of a belief in reincarnation amongst the Central and even all the other Australian tribes (Trans. R.S.N.S.W., 1906, xi. pp. 110 sqq.). He says: "In all aboriginal tribes there is a deeply-seated belief in the reincarnation of their ancestors." And he gives illustrations of this belief among the Arunta. Mr. Mathews also draws attention to a series of analogous statements from older authors (Taplin, loc. cit., p. 88, Schürmann, loc. cit., p. 235). Prof. B. Spencer has ascertained the existence of ideas about reincarnation in his recent investigations among the natives of the extreme North Roper River to Port Darwin. Athenæum, Nov. 4, 1911, p. 562.
[596] Bn. Leonhardi in Strehlow, i. Introduction (third page; there is no pagination).
[597] Strehlow, ii. p. 57, end of the long footnote.
[599] Loc. cit., ii. p. 56.
[600] M. Lévy-Bruhl writes: "En appelant la mentalité primitive 'prélogique,' je veux seulement dire qu'elle ne s'astreint pas avant tout comme notre pensée, à s'abstenir de la contradiction. Elle obéit d'abord a la loi de participation."—Loc. cit., p. 79.
[601] In primitive thinking the identification is accomplished not according to logical categories, but according to the loi de participation introduced by M. Lévy-Bruhl. (Compare foregoing footnote.) To this work the reader must be referred for a deeper insight into the standpoint adopted in the present discussion.
[602] This assertion ought to be proved by a detailed analysis of the beliefs mentioned. As the problem is of no immediate importance, this discussion cannot be undertaken. The aboriginal ideas of reincarnation have been treated from the point of view of the loi de participation by M. Lévy-Bruhl.—Loc. cit., pp. 396 sqq.
[603] Spencer and Gillen themselves in many places make statements that stand in direct contradiction with a theory of reincarnation literally understood. Frhr. von Leonhardi takes the trouble to adduce several instances of these contradictions (ii. p. 56, footnote 1). They might easily be multiplied, but as argued in the text they do not affect in the least the value of the information. The description of these beliefs given by Strehlow (loc. cit., ii. pp. 51 sqq.), does not differ radically from what we know about them from Spencer and Gillen, although Strehlow's account is more detailed.
[604] Loc. cit., ii. p. 56.