[69] Mr. J. D. Lang (Queensland, p. 379 sq.; Cooksland, p. 459 sq.) even suspects Asiatic influence in the case of Buddai, or Budjah, the mythical ancestor of certain Queensland aborigines. Not only does his name remind of Buddha, but a story told of him is remarkably similar to an Eastern legend.
[70] Salvado, op. cit. p. 258.
[71] Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. 428.
[72] Ibid. i. 423.
[73] Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 492 sqq.
[74] Ibid. p. 491.
[75] Strehlow, quoted by Thomas, in Folk-Lore, xvi. 429 sq. Idem, quoted by von Leonhardi, in Globus, xci. 287.
From various Polynesian and Melanesian islands we hear of a supreme being—called Io by the Maoris,[76] Tangaroa by the Samoans,[77] Taaroa by the Society Islanders,[78] and so forth[79]—who has made everything, but who is too remote and indistinct to be an object of worship and takes no interest in the morals of men. In some instances at least he seems to be a very shadowy deification of the forces of nature. Thus Io is described as “the great originator, the All-Father, who pervades space, has no residence, and cannot be localised”; and the conception of Tangaroa is equally abstract.[80] Mr. Guppy learned that the natives of Treasury Island and the Shortlands, in the Solomon Group, believe in a Good Spirit who lives in a pleasant land, whither all men who have led good lives go after death; whereas all bad people are transported to the crater of Bagana, the burning volcano of Bougainville, which is the home of the Evil Spirit and his companion spirits.[81] But this belief savours too much of a Christian hell to be accepted as genuine without further evidence.
[76] Gudgeon, ‘Maori Religion,’ in Jour. Polynesian Soc. xiv. 108 sq.
[77] Ibid. p. 108 sq.