but believe that the soul of the father at death returns to the son, and that of the mother to the daughter. The Papuans of Humboldt Bay are farther advanced than those of any other part of the island, carve wood, make fishing-nets, build good houses above the water of the bay, and connect them with the mainland by bridges; eacli village has also an octagonal temple, ornamented within and without with figures of animals and ol)Scene representations, though nothing is known of their re- ligion. The largest temple, that of Tobaldi, received in 1858 the present of a Netherlands flag, which is fly- ing from its spires, the natives little suspecting tliat it is a sign of asserted foreign supremacy. The religion of these Papuans seems to consist mainly in the ado- ration of Karowaro, wooden idols, of which one is sol- emnly consecrated whenever a member of the house- hold dies. Their temples are full of images, apparent- ly symbolical of rude nature worship. They have charmed talismans which derive their eflicacy from being talked to.
All attempts of the sultans of Tidore to introduce the Mohammedan religion into Papua have failed. Christianity was first introduced in the northern por- tion in 1855, on the island of Massanama, to the east of Doreh harbor, by the German missionaries Ottow and Gieszler. They did not, however, remain long, and New Guinea may be said to be dependent for Christian teaching on the missionaries sent tliither by the London Church Missionary Society since 1871. The founder of this mission is the Rev. A. W. Murray, for many years a laborer in the Polynesian country. He began the work at Darnley Island July .3, 1871, and the mission there has prospered beyond the most sanguine expectations. The people now generally observe the Sabbath and attend service, and the gross and superstitious practices of heathendom have disap- peared from among the inhabitants of that island. On Aug. 24, 1873, a school was opened. Many of the na- tives, however, still continue the peculiar disposition of their departed — customs which seem to link them to countries far remote and ages long gone by. In- stead of burying their dead out of their sight, they are accustomed to preserve them. The more corrup- tible parts are removed, and the body is stretched upon a wooden frame, to which it is fastened, and this is placed in an erect position and smoked till all the juices of the body are dried up ; and when this is ef-
Village in liuuibokU Bny, New Guinea.
PAPYRUS
643
PARABLE
fected it keeps for generations. Missions are no-w es- tablislied also at the adjoining islands Stephen and Murray, Bampton and Tanau. At Murray Island the first Christian church in Tapua was erected in 1874. The headquarters of this mission is at Port Moresby, and there the work has prospered gloriously. Anoth- er important place on the mainland is Manuinanu, but the work has had to be temporarily abandoned there on account of the unwholesome climate. At Katau, where a mission was begun in 1871, the laborers were murdered, and there has not j'ct been any attempt made to renew the work. The Revs. S. INIacfarlane and W. G. Lewes are now the principal missionaries in New Guinea, and they are active in explorations as Avell as in Christian labors. Very interesting reports from these men may be read in the London Academy, Dec. 18, 1875; April 15, 187G. See Moresby, New Guinea and Polynesia (Lond. 1876) ; Murray, Polynesia and New Guinea (New York, 187G, 12mo) ; The Leisure Hour for August, etc., 1875. These descriptions su- persede all former writings on Papua, and we there- fore do not refer to older publications. Lawson's Wanderings in the Lnterior of New Guinea (Lond. 1875) is regarded as a fraud. The author probably never saw Papua or its inhabitants (see Edinh. Rev. Oct. 1875, art. vii ; 3\\\j, 1876, art. ix).
Papyrus. See Paper-reed.
Parabaptism (Trapaf3uTrT(ffi.ia), baptism in pri- vate houses or conventicles, which is frequently con- demned in the canons of ancient councils under this name.
Parable, a word derived from tlie Greek verb TrapajidWio, which signifies to set side by side, and thus comes easily to have attached to it the idea of doing so for the purpose of comparison. A parable therefore is literally a placing beside, a comparison, a similitude, an illustration of one subject by another. Parables or fiibles are found in the literature of most nations. They were called by the Greeks olvot, and by the Romans fabulce. In the following discussion we avail ourselves to a considerable extent of the ar- ticles on the subject in Smith's and Fairbairn's Bible Dictionaries. See Figure.
I. Signification of the Terms in the Original. — " Par- able" is the rendering in the A. V. of the following Hebrew and Greek words.
1. In the Old Testament it answers to h'^'Ci, mashal, usually rendered " proverb," which denotes (n) an ob- scure or enigmatical saying, e. g. Psa. xlix, 4 :
"I will incline mine ear to aparable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp ;"
Psa. Ixxviii, 2 :
"I will open my month in mmrahle; I will utter dark sayings of old."
(&) It signifies a fictitious narrative, invented for the purpose of convej'ing truth in a less offensive or more engaging form than that of direct assertion. Of this sort is the parable by which Nathan reproved David (2 Sam. xii, 2, 3) ; that in which Jotham exposed the folly of the Shechemites (Judg. ix, 7-15); and that addressed hy Jehoash to Amaziah (2 Kings xiv, 9, 10). To this class also belong the parables of Christ, (c) A discourse expressed in figurative, poetical, or high- ly ornamented diction is called a parable. Thus it is said, "Balaam took up h\s jmrable" (Numb, xxiii, 7) ; and, "Job continued his parable" (Job xxvii, 1). Under this general and wider signification the two former classes may not improperly be included. See Proverb.