Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 20

They profess to consider it highly criminal for a man to marry a woman whose totem (family name) is the same as his own, and they relate instances when young men, for a violation of this rule, have been put to death by their own nearest relatives.*

(*Footnote. Volume 2 page 110 quoting from Tanner's Narrative page 313.)

And again: According to their own account, the Indian nations were divided into tribes for no other purpose than that no one might ever, either through temptation or mistake, marry a near relation, which at present is scarcely possible, for whoever intends to marry must take a person of a different tribe.*

(*Footnote. Ibid.)

The same feeling was remarked by Dobrizhoffer in South America; for, speaking of an interview with a native tribe to whom he was preaching, he says:

The old man, when he heard from me that marriage with relations was forbidden, exclaimed, "Thou sayest well, father, such marriages are abominable; but that we know already." From which I discovered that incestuous connexions are more execrable to these savages than murder or robbery.*

(*Footnote. Account of the Abipones Volume 1 page 69.)

PUNISHMENT OF SECONDARY OFFENCES. ORDEAL AND PUNISHMENT FOR OTHER TRANSGRESSIONS.

Any other crime may be compounded for by the criminal appearing and submitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him by all such persons as conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or by permitting spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body; such as through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The part which is to be pierced by a spear is fixed for all common crimes, and a native who has incurred this penalty sometimes quietly holds out his leg for the injured party to thrust his spear through.

When a native, after having absconded for fear of the consequences of some crime which he has committed, comes in to undergo the ordeal of having spears thrown at him, a large a.s.semblage of his fellows takes place; their bodies are daubed with paint which is put on in the most fantastic forms, their weapons are polished, sharpened, and rendered thoroughly efficient; at the appointed time young and old repair to the place of ordeal, and the wild beauty of the scenery, the painted forms of the natives, the savage cries and shouts of exultation which are raised as the culprit dexterously parries, or by rapid leaps and contortions of his body avoids the clouds of spears which are hurled at him, all combine to form a singular scene to which there is no parallel in civilized life.

If the criminal is wounded in a degree judged sufficient for the crime he has committed his guilt is wiped away; or if none of the spears thrown at him (for there is a regulated number which each may throw) take effect he is equally pardoned.

But no sooner is this main part of the ceremony over than two or three duels take place between some individuals who have quarrels of their own to settle; after these combatants have thrown a few spears some of their friends rush in and hold them in their arms, when the etiquette on such occasions is to struggle violently for a few minutes, as if anxious to renew the contest, and then to submit quietly to superior force and cease the combat.

NATIVE APATHY UNDER COMMON WOUNDS. ANECDOTE.

The natives pay but little regard to the wounds they receive in duels or which are inflicted on them as punishments; their sufferings from all injuries are much less than those which Europeans would undergo in similar circ.u.mstances; this may probably arise from their abstemious mode of life, and from their never using any other beverage than water. A striking instance of their apathy with regard to wounds was shown on one occasion in a fight which took place in the village of Perth in Western Australia. A native man received a wound in that portion of his frame which is only presented to enemies when in the act of flight, and the spear which was barbed remained sticking in the wound; a gentleman who was standing by watching the fray regarded the man with looks of pity and commiseration, which the native perceiving, came up to him, holding the spear (still in the wound) in one hand, and turning round so as to expose the injury he had received, said, in the most moving terms, "Poor fellow, sixpence give it 'um."

CHAPTER 13. SOCIAL CONDITION AND DOMESTIC HABITS.

POPULATION.

Several writers have given calculations as to the number of native inhabitants to each square mile in Australia. Now, although I have done my utmost to draw up tables which might even convey an approximate result, I have found the number of inhabitants to a square mile to vary so much from district to district, from season to season, and to depend upon so great a variety of local circ.u.mstances, that I am unable to give any computation which I believe would even nearly approach the truth; and as I feel no confidence in the results which I have obtained, after a great deal of labour, I cannot be expected to attach much importance to those which, to my own knowledge, have in several instances been arrived at by others from mere guesswork.

NATURAL PERIOD OF LIFE.

With regard to the age occasionally attained by the natives I believe very erroneous ideas have been prevalent, for so far am I from considering them to be short-lived that I am certain they frequently attain the age of seventy years and upwards. As they themselves have no knowledge whatever of their age it is manifest that merely speculative ideas upon this point must be useless; the means therefore that I adopted to arrive at a probable conclusion may be ill.u.s.trated by an example: In the table I have given of a family descending from two natives, Nardooitch, and Kimbeyenung (Appendix A) the name of Yenna will be found as one of Wundall's children; now (1840) Yenna is a young man of about twenty years of age, and from the usual habits of the natives we must allow that his father, Beewullo, was at least twenty-three years old by the time he had married and had a child; such being the case, Beewullo must now be about forty-three, and Jeebar his father must by the same reasoning be about sixty-six, yet he is alive and in perfect health, and his elder brother Nogongo is likewise alive, and as upright as possible, although the infirmities of old age are creeping on him. Nogongo must be now at least sixty-eight years old, yet I have seen two other natives who, by his and their own account, are older than he is; and on making a calculation, in the way I have just done, to ascertain their age, it appeared that one of them was sixty-nine and the other seventy-one; so that, although probably none of these estimates are quite correct, I still think that we are at liberty to infer, from various instances of this kind, that the natives sometimes attain a very advanced age; yet were these instances of longevity contrasted with the great number of deaths which take place during the period of infancy, there can be no doubt whatever that the average duration of life amongst these savage tribes falls far short of that enjoyed by civilized races. There is however one species of death unknown to these barbarians and that is suicide. I believe they have no idea that such a thing as a person's putting an end to his own life could ever occur: whenever I have interrogated them on this point they have invariably laughed at me and treated my question as a joke.

CONDITION OF OLD AGE.

The period of old age must be as happy as any other time in the life of a savage, if not more so. Aged men are always treated with great respect; they rarely take a part in any fray; they are privileged to eat certain kinds of food which the young men may not touch; and they seldom appear to suffer much from the infirmities and diseases to which the aged are generally subject amongst us.

CONDITION OF YOUNG WOMEN.

Should a female be possessed of considerable personal attractions the first years of her life must necessarily be very unhappy. In her early infancy she is betrothed to some man, even at this period advanced in years, and by whom, as she approaches the age of p.u.b.erty, she is watched with a degree of vigilance and care which increases in proportion to the disparity of years between them; it is probably from this circ.u.mstance that so many of them are addicted to intrigues, in which, if they are detected by their husbands, death, or a spear through some portion of the body is their certain fate; indeed the bare suspicion of infidelity upon their part is enough to ensure to them the most cruel and brutal treatment. For these causes during youth they are compelled, whether pregnant or not, to accompany their husbands in all their excursions, and are thus subject to violent and continued exercise and fatigue at periods when repose is indispensable.

But even supposing a woman to give no encouragement to her admirers, many plots are always laid to carry her off, and in the encounters which result from these she is almost certain to receive some violent injury, for each of the combatants orders her to follow him, and in the event of her refusing throws a spear at her. The early life of a young woman at all celebrated for beauty is generally one continued series of captivity to different masters, of ghastly wounds, of wanderings in strange families, of rapid flights, of bad treatment from other females amongst whom she is brought a stranger by her captor; and rarely do you see a form of unusual grace and elegance but it is marked and scarred by the furrows of old wounds; and many a female thus wanders several hundred miles from the home of her infancy, being carried off successively to distant and more distant points.

These various circ.u.mstances render miscarriages more frequent amongst these uncivilized tribes than amongst European nations, and the first years and bloom of a female generally elapse before she has any children; but then a fresh cause exists to prevent their having very large families, which is that, from the nature of the food used by the natives, it is necessary that a child should have good strong teeth before it can be even partially weaned. The native women therefore suckle their children until they are past the age of two or three years, and it is by no means uncommon to see a fine healthy child leave off playing and run up to its mother to take the breast.

The native women suffer much less pain during the period of labour than Europeans; directly the child is born, it is wrapped in opossum skins, and strings made of the fur of this animal are tied like bracelets round the infant's wrists and ankles, with the intention of rendering it, by some supernatural means, a stronger and a finer child. They are always much prouder of a male than of a female child.

AVERAGE NUMBERS AND PROPORTION OF BIRTHS.

Forty-one females, of whose families I have obtained (from themselves and others) lists upon the accuracy of which I can rely, had 188 children, or about 4.6 children each. The greatest number born by any one female was 7, and only three had had so large a family as this; but with the exception of one woman they had all born more than one child. All those who were included in this list were past the age of child-bearing at the time it was drawn up.

To ascertain the proportion of male to female children I drew up another list of 222 births, and out of these there were 93 females and 129 males, or about 1 female to every 1.3 males.

I have known four instances of native women having twins, but I have never heard of a greater number of children at one birth. Should a child be born with any natural deformity it is frequently killed by its parents soon afterwards. In the only instances of this kind which have come within my own knowledge the child has been drowned.

LUNATICS AND IDIOTS.

Idiots are rarely found amongst the natives; in two cases I however observed persons of very deficient intellect. Mad people are unknown, and this very naturally, for very few freaks of madness could be committed by a lunatic ere he would fall a sacrifice to the violence and indignation of his fellows. Persons of very delicate and feeble const.i.tutions are also rare, as those who survive the hards.h.i.+ps to which they are exposed in their childhood must possess an iron frame. The deaths amongst the children, particularly during early infancy, are as far as I can judge much more numerous in proportion to the number of births than they are in civilized nations.

INFLUENCE OF POLYGAMY ON SOCIAL HABITS.

The social habits of the natives of Australia are necessarily modified by the extent to which polygamy is permitted and practised amongst them. The very unequal distribution of the female s.e.x, which arises from this cause, has rendered prevalent the custom of stealing wives; and as women are of great value, not only on account of the personal attachment which they might be supposed to excite, but from the fact of all laborious tasks being performed, and a great portion of the food of the family being also collected by them, every precaution is taken to prevent them from forming any acquaintances which would be likely to terminate in their abduction.

A stern and vigilant jealousy is commonly felt by every married man; he cannot, from the roving nature of their mode of life, surround his wives with the walls of a seraglio, but custom and etiquette have drawn about them barriers nearly as impa.s.sable. When a certain number of families are collected together they encamp at a common spot; and each family has a separate hut, or perhaps two. At these huts sleep the father of the family, his wives, the female children who have not yet joined their husbands, and very young boys; occasionally female relatives, who from some temporary cause have no male protector with them, also sleep at this fire; but the young men and boys of ten years old and upwards are obliged to sleep in their own portion of the encampment, where they themselves, or more generally, some of their mothers, build for them two or three huts, in which those related within certain degrees of consanguinity sleep together.

SOCIAL CUSTOMS.

When strangers are with a party upon a visit, if attended by their wives, they sleep in their own huts, which are placed among those of the married people; but if their wives are not with them, or if they are unmarried, they sleep at the fire of the young men.

MODE OF CONVERSATIONAL INTERCOURSE. MODE OF RECITING EVENTS.

Under no circ.u.mstances is a strange native allowed to approach the fire of a married man; in the daytime they hunt or occupy themselves with the men, and at night they either sit at their own fire, or that of the young men. Their huts being placed at a little distance from one another, such an arrangement would appear to put an end to anything like social intercourse or conversation; but they have invented a means of overcoming this difficulty by making a species of chant, or recitative, their customary mode of address to each other. In an encampment at night the young men recount to one another their love adventures and stories; and the old men quarrel with their wives or play with their children; suddenly a deep wild chant rises on the ear, in which some newly-arrived native relates the incidents of his journey, or an old man calls to their remembrance scenes of other days, or reminds them that some death remains unavenged: this is done in a loud recitative, and the instant it is commenced every other sound is hushed. A native, while thus chanting, is rarely or never interrupted, and when he has concluded another replies in the same tone until the conversation, still conducted in this manner, becomes general.

CONSEQUENCES OF JEALOUSY.

In the meantime individuals both male and female move about from fire to fire, paying visits, and whispering scandal to one another; but these visits are so arranged that none can approach a fire to which, by the established usages of society, they have not a right to go; the younger females however, who are much addicted to intrigue, find at times opportunity to exchange a word or a glance with some favoured lover, but woe to her if her watchful husband should detect her in the act. A spear through the calf of the leg is the least punishment that awaits her; and if her husband feels himself strong enough, either from personal skill or from the number of friends he has present, to inflict punishment upon her paramour, he does it in the most summary manner, throwing as many spears at his legs as he has an opportunity of doing before others catch hold of him and prevent his committing farther acts of violence. A good deal of tact is required under these circ.u.mstances to ascertain whether a spear can safely be thrown at a man or not; but I have remarked as a general rule that a native, if irritated by another, invariably throws a spear at him if he has a friend or brother near the offender at the time; the chances then being that this friend or brother will catch hold of the man attacked before he can throw a spear in return. As for the poor female no one takes her part whether she is innocent or guilty; the established and very equitable law with regard to women being, "If I beat your mother, then you beat mine: if I beat your wife, then you beat mine," etc. etc.

So that by judiciously conducting arrangements a native can spear one aggressor himself and get the other speared for him without undergoing any personal trouble or inconvenience, or without in the least suffering in her good graces.

DANCES.

Should it be the intention of the natives to have a dance the arrangements are somewhat different. In this case the young men retire early in the afternoon to some spot suited to their purpose, where they paint and deck themselves out in the most grotesque manner. After dark they return to the encampment near which the dance takes place. At these entertainments the same rules of etiquette are strictly observed: the females sit in a group apart, generally behind the old men; the performers are on the side of the fire opposite to them; in one or two dances the women take a part in the song, but they never dance themselves, nor are the young men allowed to approach them. It is all fair for the dancers to do their utmost, by the arrangement of paint and ornaments, to show off their personal attractions, and they sometimes avail themselves of this privilege in the most ludicrous manner; but they are permitted to hold no converse whatever with any but their mothers and sisters.

CEREMONIES ON MEETING. CUSTOMS IN MEETING AFTER ABSENCE.

The ceremonies they observe at first meeting one another after absence are remarkable. When a native and his wives enter an encampment of friends whom they have not for some time seen, they proceed straight to the hut of some relative or intimate friend without bestowing even a glance upon any others whom they may pa.s.s: having reached the hut the man at once seats himself at the fire without taking the least notice of anyone in it, whilst his wives crouch upon the earth at a respectful distance behind him, keeping their eyes fixed upon the ground; solemn silence now ensues, all countenances wear an unspeakable gloom and gravity and all eyes are directed to the earth; in about ten minutes the nearest blood relation of any individual who has died since the stranger has visited his friends advances to him with a measured pace, and without speaking seats himself cross-legged on his thighs, under which he places his hands, at the same time pressing his breast to the stranger's; thus seated they mournfully avert their faces from one another and preserve a perfect silence; no single word or sign of recognition pa.s.ses between them, and after they have remained thus seated for several minutes the native who had come to announce the death rises slowly and retires with the same gravity with which he had approached; other males of the family now successively approach the stranger, going through precisely the same ceremonies, none of them venturing to interchange a single word with him.

This part of the ceremony having been completed, the nearest female relative of the deceased approaches the stranger and, throwing herself upon her knees before him, she embraces his knees with her left arm whilst with the nails of her right hand she scratches her cheek and nose until the blood drops from them, at the same time raising the most piteous cries and lamentations. After a few minutes she rises and approaches his wife and seats herself on the ground in front of her; the two now encircle one another with their left arms, resting their heads on each other's shoulders, whilst they scratch their faces with their right hands and cry and wail in a tone which excites in the minds of all who hear them sensations of deep grief; indeed I know of no sound (not even excepting the Irish howl) which so fully expresses the pa.s.sion of deep sorrow as this lament of the native women. When their cry is completed the resident native woman rises from the ground and slowly walks from the wife of the one who has returned to the camp; the other female relatives of the deceased then advance in turn, and go through the same form.

The returned absentee is now at liberty to speak, and some of the party in recitative recount to him all the leading facts that have occurred since their last meeting; they are however very careful not to mention the name of the person who is dead, but describe him by his attributes and family in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the mind of the hearer; but to name aloud one who is departed would be a gross violation of their most sacred prejudices, and they carefully abstain from it.

CEREMONIES ON MEETING IN THE BUSH.

If natives meet in the bush the foregoing ceremonies are in part observed: both parties at their first meeting sit down at a distance from one another, preserving a profound silence and keeping their eyes fixed on the ground; after a time one of them commences a chant about himself and from what great family he has sprung; they then approach one another, and if there is a death to communicate the men press breast to breast, and knee to knee, remaining for some time with averted faces, lost in melancholy thoughts; when they separate the women approach and kneel, scratching their faces and crying in the way I have above described.

Should no relative have died upon either side the men, after rising up, approach one another and enter into conversation; whilst the elder married females, if they like a stranger, embrace him affectionately and give him a loud-sounding kiss upon each cheek; on several occasions I have had to submit myself, with as good a grace as I could, to this salutation.