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Title: The Australian aboriginal
Author: Herbert Basedow
Release date: October 23, 2023 [eBook #71940]
Language: English
Original publication: Adelaide: F. W. Freece & Sons, 1925
Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ***
THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL
[Illustration: THE BUFFALO HUNTERS’ TRIUMPH
H. BASEDOW, _pinx._]
THE
AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINAL
BY
HERBERT BASEDOW
M.A., M.D., PH.D., B.SC., F.G.S., ETC.
SOMETIME CHIEF MEDICAL INSPECTOR AND CHIEF PROTECTOR OF ABORIGINES
IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY; SPECIAL ABORIGINES’ COMMISSIONER
FOR THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS; LOCAL CORRESPONDENT
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT
BRITAIN AND IRELAND; HONORARY FELLOW ANTHROPOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF GÖTTINGEN, ETC.
_With 146 Illustrations_
ADELAIDE:
F. W. PREECE AND SONS
1925
Registered by the Postmaster-General for
transmission through the post as a book.
Wholly set up and printed in Australia
at THE HASSELL PRESS, Adelaide.
TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
ANNA CLARA HELENE BASEDOW
PREFACE
For some years past it had been my intention to write a progressive
series of treatises on the Australian aboriginal, embodying observations
as they were being made. As time wore on, however, my procrastination
amassed so great a fund and so great a variety of notes that my original
plan became impossible. The delay was not altogether through any fault
of mine, but through a run of fortunate happenings which allowed me to
spend the better part of every year in the great unbounded spaces of
central and northern Australia, to live among the uncontaminated tribes,
and to study Australian anthropology at the fountain head. It was through
my repeated and prolonged absences from the city (and civilization in
general) that I could not attend to the publication of any lengthy
scientific papers.
Apart from my private and professional journeys, the following are some
of the better known expeditions I have accompanied or led:
The Government North-West Expedition,
Government Expedition of Geological Exploration in the Northern
Territory,
Cruise of the s.s. “White Star” under His Excellency Sir George
Le Hunte, Governor of South Australia,
Mineralogical Survey of the Flinders Ranges,
Sir Joseph Verco’s Deep Sea Dredging Expeditions,
Exploration of Melville and Bathurst Islands,
Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in the Northern
Kimberleys of Western Australia, officially subsidized by the
Premier (Hon. John Scaddan, M.P.),
Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in Central Australia,
Three South Australian Medical Relief Expeditions among the
Aborigines,
Expedition in Search of Reported Remains of Leichhardt, under
auspices of S.A. Geographical Society,
Commonwealth Medical Survey of Aborigines in the Northern
Territory,
Mararoa Geological Expedition from Darwin to Northern
Kimberleys,
Viceregal Expedition to Central Australia, under His
Excellency, Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia,
Commonwealth Railways Commissioner’s Journey from Mildura to
Port Augusta, under Hon. P. G. Stewart and N. G. Bell, Esq.,
Expedition through the Interior of Australia, under His
Excellency, the Earl of Stradbroke, Governor of Victoria.
During the terms that I held official positions, firstly as a State
Geologist, and secondly as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Protector of
Aborigines for the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory,
opportunities were afforded me of continuing my investigations among
the indigenous population of Australia; especially fruitful were my
researches when, as a Special Aborigines’ Commissioner, I medically
overhauled the tribes of South Australia and of the southern region of
the Northern Territory.
In a more private capacity the southern districts and goldfields of
Western Australia, the coastal and south-western districts of Queensland,
and the north-western areas of New South Wales were traversed. Quite
recently, too, a professional excursion to Java considerably enriched my
knowledge of Melanesian ethnography and helped to explain the existence
of several cults in the northern districts of Australia which border on
the Indian Ocean.
On the other hand, not long before the war I continued study abroad
and was privileged to be associated with the late Professor Hermann
Klaatsch, under whose admirable guidance my researches were conducted in
the Anatomical School of the University of Breslau. It will be apparent,
therefore, why many of the results enumerated in the chapters dealing
with the racial characteristics of the Australian aboriginal are based
upon the doctrines of this eminent authority. In London Sir Arthur Keith
courteously placed the whole of the valuable collections of Australian
skulls and skeletons in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons at my disposal; while Captain T. A. Joyce, in an equally
generous way, facilitated my investigations in the anthropological
galleries of the British Museum; I am taking advantage of this
opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude to these two gentlemen. I
also desire to thank the Directors of the National and University Museums
which I visited in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, who so
willingly responded to my enquiries and brought me into personal contact
with any matters I was especially interested in.
While engaged upon one of my later commissions in central Australia, my
duties took me to the Hermannsburg Mission Station on the Finke River,
where for a fortnight I enjoyed the companionship of the Rev. Carl
Strehlow and received every assistance in my researches among the western
groups of the Arunndta tribe. Through the recent pathetic and heroic
death of Strehlow, Science has lost an indefatigable and conscientious
worker, and the aborigines a staunch and faithful friend.
In the present volume I have endeavoured to sift my subject matter in
such a way as to keep the text in a suitable sequence and to make it of
general interest. The principal difficulty has been to delete matter
in order to keep down the bulk of the book. The latter remark applies
equally well to the selection of illustrations; it was with a heavy heart
that I found myself obliged to reduce the number of plates, all of which
illustrated interesting points referred to in the text. Nevertheless, I
feel that I am greatly indebted to the publisher, Mr. F. W. Preece, for
allowing me to include so many more illustrations than he had originally
counted upon.
Now that the manuscript is in the hands of the printer, I feel that there
are several chapters I should like to have done more justice to; those,
for instance, dealing with tribal organizations, initiation ceremonies,
religious ideas, and art might have been considerably expanded if it had
not been for the want of space. In those on religious ideas and art,
I realize that I am launching in new directions so far as Australian
anthropology is concerned, but I trust that the evidence which I have
produced will be sufficient to prove that I did not arrive at the results
too hastily, or, indeed, without deliberation and substantiation.
Phallic worship had long been suspected in Australia, and some of our
foremost authorities, such as the late R. Etheridge, Jun., were inclined
to explain the occurrence of certain stones and other objects in the
tribal areas of Australia (present or past) on that hypothesis. I came
upon the evidence accidentally in 1916 in the form of a stone phallus
erected in the ground at Success Strait in the far north-western corner
of Australia. The stone was surrounded by a cleared cirque where much
blood had been spilt at a recent ceremony. A few weeks later I for the
first time witnessed an actual performance on the shores of Cambridge
Gulf at which wooden phallus were produced. Since then I have been
able to trace the existence of phallic worship of some form or other
in several districts of central and northern Australia, an outline of
which appears in a subsequent chapter. I trust that the facts I have
been able to collect may help to illumine the somewhat doubtful question
of how an aboriginal looks upon the process of procreation. Phallicism
is closely related to such forms of Nature worship as are practised in
order to make any species of animal or plant proliferate, or, for that
matter, to bring down a shower of rain in times of drought. The phallus
might gradually merge into a tjuringa. The painted “_Ngadanji_” and
“_Ilbarinam_” tjuringas of the Arunndta tribe are regarded as images
of the reproductive organ of a spirit which can generate life; in that
sense they might be classed as phallus. I find that ancestor worship is
generally indulged in; it is difficult at times to distinguish between an
original spirit ancestor and a deity, but a Supreme Spirit or Deity is
believed to exist and to rule over all creation.
With regard to totemism, I have shown the beliefs in a manner slightly
different from those hitherto recorded. The mystical relationship between
individual and object is traced to a mythical semi-human forerunner which
was common to both and is now a spirit. The Arunndta call the spirit
“_Knaninja_.” The animal or plant relative of an individual is what has
been commonly called the “totem” in Australian ethnology, while the
symbolic representation of this object, which becomes the crest of the
individual, corresponds to the “_kobong_” first described by Sir George
Grey. Emblematic representations of both the “totemic” object and of the
Knaninja are embodied in the tjuringa of the individual.
The essay on art, it will be observed, has been written on evolutional
lines with respect to both technique and design. It will be understood
that the material upon which the conclusions are based was collected
in many parts of Australia and during many years of travel. The cults
in question are in many cases distributed all over the continent, but
occasionally are quite local. As an instance of the latter kind, I
mention the famous drawings recorded by Sir George Grey, some of which
I was fortunate in being able to locate and study on the Glenelg River
in the far north-west. I might mention that, with very few exceptions,
the designs appearing in the book as text figures are actual tracings
reduced by photography to a size in keeping with the dimensions of the
page. There is no doubt that primitive art in Australia is a fascinating
study which has not received the attention it merits; and unfortunately
it is rather late in the day to think of making a start. The system of
conventionalism derived from the numerous pictographs and carvings is
the basis of all characters and messages one finds on sticks, stones,
and persons; it is the only key to an understanding of sacred tjuringa
symbols. We have for too long looked upon aboriginal designs as
meaningless, and upon aboriginal art production as being idle concoctions
out of nothing which were invented just to make a thing “look pretty.”
This is anything but the true position. An aboriginal artist knows no
such thing as a design without motive or origin; to him the shortest
line or the smallest circle conveys a thought. In the chapter dealing
with stone implements, I have, among other things, described a new type
of scraper which was used by the now extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming
skins of animals.
The article on language is not intended to be at all comprehensive; my
main object was to give a general idea of the construction, together with
a few examples of the idiomatic uses, of the aboriginal tongue. I hope at
a later date to be able to present a complete account of the Arunndta and
Aluridja dialects, including the syntactical rules and grammatical forms.
I have to offer an apology to any authors who may claim priority to some
of the facts which I mention in this book. I have written this account
of the Australian aboriginal without attempting to consult previous
literature, for the simple reason that, had I started looking up all
necessary references, the volume might never have been completed. My time
at headquarters has been so limited during the last fifteen years that,
in the absence of a library near at hand, it was impossible for me to
adopt any other method than to write up my observations at first-hand
and run the risk of a certain amount of trespass. Nevertheless, I trust
that the authors so affected will realize that there was no slight
intended and will treat my transgression in the spirit of independent
corroboration.
Our knowledge of Australian ethnology is so meagre that every man who has
had first-hand experience among the tribes should consider it his bounden
duty to place on record any facts he possesses, however trivial they may
be. Every year the number of people who have seen the unsophisticated
savage is dwindling. When I look back to the time of my first meeting
with the tribes of central Australia, just twenty years ago, and compare
the conditions of then and now, I shudder to think how quickly the
romance of aboriginal affairs, together with all the scientific treasures
it encompassed, has vanished, and is now irretrievably lost to the world.
The rising generation will not have the advantage of men of even our
time. Bones, stone artefacts, and wooden implements will remain in our
museums for ever, but the habits, laws, beliefs, and legends are doomed
to rapid extinction.
I do not claim to be an initiated member of any tribe. To be candid, I
several times tried to qualify by impressive exhibitions of surgical
skill and exaggerated munificence, but, although I gained the confidence
and goodwill of the old men, I was informed that I could only be accepted
provided I passed through the different grades of initiation and
submitted to the attendant mutilations in the orthodox way. The medicine
men, however, usually claimed me as a “_Kata_” or colleague, and allowed
me to witness most of their rituals and sacred ceremonies, which they
carefully explained to me. In this way I was able, also, to secure a very
great series of photographs depicting intimate scenes from aboriginal
life, many of which are unique. The only photographs illustrating this
book which were not taken by me are those reproduced in Plates XLVIII and
XLIX; for these I am indebted to the late Mr. Nicholas Holtze.
I could not allow this opportunity to pass without making brief reference
to the causes of the early extinction which is threatening these
inoffensive, useful, and scientifically important people. We have only to
cast our eyes in the direction of any wave of settlement to behold the
disastrous effects our occupation of the land has had on the natives.
Take, for instance, the Lake Eyre region, which embraces the Dieri,
Yantowannta, Ngameni, and Yauroworka tribes. Official reports show that
only forty years ago the population was so dense that the white settlers
asked for greater police protection; the four tribes mentioned numbered
many thousands. During a recent survey on behalf of the Government,
I could barely muster three hundred wretched and decrepit souls in
this region, who, literally speaking, were waiting for a lingering
death to relieve them of their misery. We content ourselves by saying
that civilization is the cause of the increased mortality, no doubt a
plausible but very vague explanation. As a result of my investigations,
I venture the opinion that the factor which has wrought the greatest
havoc among the tribes is disease. The principal scourges are syphilis,
pulmonary tuberculosis, and trachoma. Unless we realize the obligations
which rest on our shoulders and give our natives a medical protection
similar to the successful measures adopted by the United States, Canada,
and New Zealand, they will continue to vanish and soon be classed as an
extinct race.
H. BASEDOW.
Kent Town, South Australia, 2nd November, 1924.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I INTRODUCTION TO AN AUSTRALIAN TRIBE 1
II RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS 5
III THE BREAST AND ABDOMEN 18
IV THE FACE AND ITS SKELETON 22
V THE MOUTH 31
VI THE SKULL AND BRAIN 34
VII COLOUR OF ABORIGINAL’S SKIN 40
VIII THE HAIR 46
IX LIKELY ORIGIN OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL 52
X AN ABORIGINAL’S BIRTH 61
XI CHILDHOOD 69
XII THE DAY’S MARCH 91
XIII CAMP LIFE 100
XIV HUNTING 120
XV VEGETABLE DIET 148
XVI BEVERAGES 153
XVII PITJURI 155
XVIII NAVIGATION 158
XIX DUELS 165
XX WARFARE 183
XXI SPEARS 190
XXII SPEAR-THROWERS 199
XXIII BURIAL AND MOURNING CUSTOMS 203
XXIV TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS 216
XXV TRIBAL ADMINISTRATION 225
XXVI INITIATION 230
XXVII RELIGIOUS IDEAS 257
XXVIII ABORIGINAL ART 297
XXIX STONE IMPLEMENTS 359
XXX MUSIC AND DANCE 371
XXXI LANGUAGE 386
LIST OF PLATES
FRONTISPIECE (IN COLOUR)—THE BUFFALO HUNTERS’ TRIUMPH
PLATE OPPOSITE PAGE
I Wordaman natives on the march 4
II Comparison of European with Aboriginal figure 12
III 1. Colossal brow-ridge, Arunndta man. 2. Supra-orbital
prominence, deep notch at root of nose, prognathism,
and female beard 16
IV 1. Aluridja woman. 2. Wongapitcha warrior, so-called
Semitic type 32
V Wordaman man, profile and full-face 36
VI 1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “_ungwaina_” (nose-stick)
and fur-string bandeau. 2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing
bloodwood seed pendants called “_dindula_” 44
VII 1. Old Yantowannta man, showing a strong growth of hair
covering the body. 2. Old Yantowannta man, showing
peculiar method of wearing the beard 48
VIII Old Kai-Kai, the leading medicine man of the western
Arunndta 64
IX 1. Men of Kolaia tribe, Cambridge Gulf, wearing the hair
tied at the back around a pad of emu feathers. 2.
Wongapitcha men wearing ornamental wooden hair-pins 68
X 1. A juvenile “blonde,” Aluridja tribe. 2. Ponga-Ponga
gin carrying pet opossum on her head while on the march 76
XI Rocking a child to sleep, Sunday Island 80
XII Juvenile Types. 1. Full-face, female, Wongkanguru
tribe. 2. Profile, female, Aluridja tribe 96
XIII 1. The game of “_gorri_,” Humbert River, Northern
Territory. 2. A “_Kutturu_” duel, Aluridja tribe 100
XIV 1. Arunndta boy practising with toy shield and
boomerang. 2. Wordaman warrior, holding prevalent
north-western type of spear-thrower and wearing
pubic fur tassel 108
XV 1. Framework of hut in course of construction, Cooper’s
Creek, S.W. Queensland. 2. Hut decked with porcupine
grass, Arltunga district 112
XVI 1. Wongapitcha women carrying dogs across their backs.
2. Kolaia man standing in the characteristic
bird-like attitude, Cambridge Gulf 128
XVII Female wood-carriers, Aluridja tribe 132
XVIII Two handfuls of witchedy grubs 140
XIX 1. Aluridja tree-climber. 2. Wordaman tree-climber 144
XX Kangaroo hunters, Aluridja tribe 160
XXI 1. Arunndta girl digging “_Yelka_.” 2. Arunndta gin
cleaning “_Yelka_” in bark pitchi 164
XXII 1. Sunday Islander making fire by the twirling process
during a ceremonial. 2. “_Kaloa_” or mangrove raft,
Worora tribe, Glenelg River district 172
XXIII Aluridja men “pointing” the bone 176
XXIV A “boned” man, Minning tribe 192
XXV 1. Dieri grave, Lake Eyre district. 2. Yantowannta grave,
Innamincka district 196
XXVI 1. Aluridja widow. 2. Yantowannta widow 204
XXVII Tooth-rapping ceremony, Wongapitcha tribe 208
XXVIII 1. Tooth-rapping ceremony. 2. Sunday Islander, who has
had the two upper medium incisors removed during
his initiation 224
XXIX 1. Old men introducing a dance during an initiation
ceremony, Kukata tribe. 2. Circumcision ceremony,
Kukata tribe 228
XXX Circumcision of a Wogait boy 236
XXXI Melville Islander, full-face and profile 240
XXXII An episode of the great fire ceremony, Kolaia tribe 256
XXXIII Ceremonial venesection, Arunndta tribe. 1. The median
basilic vein is being slit. 2. The blood which is
spurting from the incision is being collected on
a shield 260
XXXIV The “_Tjilbakuta_” of the great emu ceremony, Arunndta
tribe 268
XXXV Flashlight photograph of “_Illiya Tjuringa_” or great
emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe 272
XXXVI 1. An ordinary performer in the Ladjia or yam ceremony,
wearing the “_tdela_” head-gear. 2. The impersonator
of the “_Kuta Knaninja_” in the Ladjia or yam ceremony 288
XXXVII The sacred “_Etominja_,” Arunndta tribe 292
XXXVIII 1. Singing to the presiding spirit or Knaninja of the
old women or “_Arrekutja Tjuringa_.” 2. Ceremonial
head-gear (“_Tjilba Purra_”) of phallic significance 300
XXXIX A disenchanted area, Victoria River district 304
XL 1. Rock-carving of human form, Port Hedland. 2.
Rock-carvings of lizard, pubic tassel, and owl,
Flinders Ranges 320
XLI 1. Rock-carvings (including platypus design), Flinders
Ranges. 2. Rock-carvings, Flinders Ranges 324
XLII 1. Rock-carvings, Flinders Ranges. 2. Emu design carved
into the butt of a boabab tree, King Sound 332
XLIII 1. Carved boabab nut, King Sound. 2. “_Wanningi_” from
north-western Australia. 3. Slate scrapers used by
the extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming skins 336
XLIV 1. Hand marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe.
2. Foot marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe 344
XLV 1. Cave drawings, Forrest River, north-western Australia.
2. Decorating the body with pipe-clay, Humbert River,
Northern Territory 352
XLVI Wordaman native with his body and head decorated in
imitation of skeleton and skull, Victoria River,
Northern Territory 356
XLVII 1. Cave drawings (kangaroo, etc.), Forrest River,
north-western Australia. 2. Cave drawing of
kangaroo, Forrest River, north-western Australia 360
XLVIII Rock-drawings of archer fish (_Toxotes_), Katherine
River, Northern Territory 364
XLIX Ochre-drawings, Katherine River 368
L 1. Cave drawing of camel, north of Musgrave Ranges,
central Australia. 2. Cave drawing of human figure,
Glenelg River, north-western Australia 376
LI 1. Ochre-drawings of mythic semi-human creatures,
Forrest River, north-western Australia. 2. Sacred
“_Utnguringita_” or witchedy grub drawings, Emily
Gap, MacDonnell Ranges 384
LII Aluridja man rendering a musical accompaniment with
boomerangs 388
LIII Wordaman youth playing on the “drone pipe” or “bamboo
trumpet” 392
LIV 1. Making “vegetable down” by pounding grass between
two stones, Humbert River, Northern Territory.
2. Worora native making a stone spear-head, Northern
Kimberleys, Western Australia 396
LV 1. Wongapitcha man shaping a spear-thrower with an adze.
2. Aluridja man scraping a boomerang with a sharp
stone flake 400
LIST OF FIGURES IN THE TEXT
No. PAGE
1. Map of Australia showing geographical distribution of tribes 4
2. Peculiar “hand-like” feet of Berringin tribesman 11
3. Berringin women netting fish 130
4. Two Arunndta carvings of scenes in a dagger-duel 172
5. Types of spears 191
6. Sacred sun-design of the “_Ilpalinja_” ceremony 266
7. Stone phallus, Northern Kimberleys, Western Australia 284
8. Ochre drawing of “_Kukadja_” men, north of Wickham River,
Northern Territory 286
9. Charcoal drawing of a Kukadja man named “_Mongarrapungja_”
dancing at a sacred fire with an ancestral female, Pigeon
Hole, Victoria River 293
10. Rock carvings at Port Hedland 300
11. Rock carvings at Port Hedland 301
12. Rock carvings at Port Hedland 301
13. Sketch of reconstructed manus of _Diprotodon_ compared with
tracing of carving of supposed _Diprotodon_ track at Yunta 307
14. Carved grave posts of Melville and Bathurst Islanders 310
15. Ochre drawing, Glenelg River, Western Australia 312
16. Carved crocodile design on boabab nut, Derby district,
Western Australia 313
17. “_Dangorra_,” the great emu in the southern sky 315
18. Boomerang with a number of emu designs carved upon it,
Pidunga tribe, Broome 317
19. Charcoal sketch of crows, Pigeon Hole, Victoria River 319
20. Pipe-clay cave-drawings of dancing figures, Humbert River,
Northern Territory 320
21. Charcoal drawing of hopping kangaroos, Pigeon Hole, Victoria
River 321
22. Bark-drawing depicting an eagle-hawk clawing and tearing the
carcass of a wallaby, Port Darwin 323
23. Pipe-clay drawing of man and dogs, Humbert River 324
24. Charcoal sketch of native hunting buffalo, Pigeon Hole,
Victoria River 325
25. Charcoal sketch of native spearing kangaroo, Pigeon Hole,
Victoria River 326
26. Carving depicting a quarrel between a man and his gin,
Arunndta tribe 328
27. Ochre-drawing of spear-boomerang duel, Arunndta tribe 330
28. Charcoal sketch of ceremonial dance, Pigeon Hole, Victoria
River 332
29. Remarkable cave drawing, Glenelg River, N.W. Australia 333
30. Pictograph of lizard, natural and conventional form 334
31. Normal, conventional, and emblematic representations of turtle 335
32. Normal, conventional, and emblematic representations of frog 335
33. Normal, conventional, and emblematic representations of echidna 336
34. Conventionalized “_Ladjia_” or yam tjuringa pattern 337
35. A dog track 338
36. A kangaroo track 338
37. A rabbit track 339
38. Emu tracks 339
39. Pictographic representation of nesting emu 340
40. A lizard track 340
41. A snake or snake track 341
42. Human foot-prints and trail 342
43. “A man is tracking a rabbit.” Simple example of pictography 344
44. Pictographic representation of emu hunt 344
45. Flying fox pattern 345
46. Conventional representation of hopping kangaroo 346
47. Crossed boomerangs, the symbolic representation of a fight 347
48. Witchedy grub tjuringa, Arunndta tribe 348
49. Symbolic pictograph of kangaroo tjuringa, Arunndta tribe 349
50. Symbolic pictograph of caterpillar tjuringa, Arunndta tribe 350
51. Symbolic drawing of “native-pear totem,” Arunndta tribe 351
52. Ochre drawing and tree-carving of man with shield, Humbert
River 352
53. Human chain-pattern 353
54. Camps consisting of a man and his wife, and of eight men 353
55. Anthropomorphous designs, carved on spear-throwers 354
56. Anthropomorphous design, carved on pearl-shell, Sunday Island 355
57. Sign language of Arunndta tribe 391
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO AN AUSTRALIAN TRIBE
The lonely bush of Australia—The silence is broken—A
mysterious call-note—A human figure in the distance—Coo-ee!—A
voluntary but cautious escort—The official approach and
salutation—Friendship established—Tribal introductions.
Let us imagine that we are travelling with a caravan over a lonely tract
of ground, in a remote district of the Australian bush, which has not
been contaminated by any disturbing influence of our civilization. In
consequence of the serenity and the deserted aspect of the scene around
us, we would be wondering whether the place holds any mortal creatures
but our party. We might even have resigned ourselves to the inevitable
desolation.
Suddenly the spell is broken by a faint sound falling upon our ears—a
long-drawn, shrill, yet melodious note—then all is silent again.
What could it have been? We are in doubt as to whether this was the call
of a bird or animal, or a phenomenon unknown to us; being so far away
from any centre of industry, a locomotive or factory whistle is quite
out of the question. Eagerly we wait for a possible repetition of the
singular sound.
Soon, indeed, it comes again; and, with the attentiveness our expectation
has solicited, we now recognize the human character of the note.
Presently it is repeated, then again, and yet again. But where does it
come from? So far we know not.
In the meantime we continue forging through the sand, and, being now on
the alert, we in due course espy, in the direction whence the sound is
coming, but a considerable distance off, a slim, dark figure gliding
from the cover of a rock to that of a bush. Presently it again shows
itself a short distance on; and our attention is further attracted by the
appearance of one or two other dark bodies running from cover to cover in
a line parallel to our course.
The calling is continued at frequent intervals; and, as near as we can
represent it by our alphabet, it sounds like the word “Coy!” with the “y”
specially emphasized and spun out. One has no difficulty in recognizing
in this call-note, which is met with all over Australia, the derivation
of the familiar “Coo-ee!”
It is, of course, assumed that we in no way betray a feeling of
uneasiness or give these dusky fellows the impression that we are
preparing for hostilities. Having satisfied themselves in respect of
this, and after manoeuvring for a considerable time in the manner
described, our uninvited escort become more trusting, even daring. They
run or walk for longer distances away from cover and gradually bring
their line of travelling closer in to ours. When eventually they realize
that we seem more like friend than foe, they drop behind our caravan,
and, at a measured distance, in our trail. Whenever we move, they move,
and when we stop, they stop. If any of our party go towards them, they
turn to the side and cleverly disappear into the bush (Plate I).
When we have arrived at the end of our day’s journey and camp, they pull
up short and squat for a while; although it may not appear so to the
inexperienced traveller, they are taking stock of all our doings.
Before very long, two men stand up and beckon to a small boy among their
party, who immediately jumps to his feet and walks to a place in front
of his elders. Each of the men now holds one of his hands upon the lad’s
shoulder, and, in that position, the little group moves towards our camp.
In the hands not so used, both men are now seen to be carrying small
branches of _Cassia_ bush, which they occasionally lift towards us. Thus
they walk to within fifty or sixty paces of our encampment and again
squat on the ground, arranging themselves in the same order as they
walked in. It is apparent they want us to approach them; and we do so.
Statuary could not be more rigid than the persons we behold, upon
arriving at the little group. They sit silently, with downcast eyes, and
it is not until we address them that they rise to their feet. The old
men, for such we now recognize them to be, start a meek conversation,
nervously pushing the boy towards us. We are informed that this is an
uninitiated boy, a child in fact, a piccaninny in the tribal relationship
of son to the speakers. We are implored not to hurt this innocent being,
and to extend that friendship to themselves and to all the members of
the tribe. It is pointed out that they are unarmed and that this is the
guarantee of their goodly intentions towards us, the unknown wanderers.
The men now advance and pat us on the chest, and instinctively we return
the compliment—for such it is intended to be—which is akin to any
ordinary European method of salutation. The bonds of friendship have
thus been sealed, and the men continue to jabber profusely on the more
intricate tribal relationships existing between themselves and the rest
of their party.
When the genealogical explanations have been concluded, the men turn
towards their company, who are still squatting in the distance, and call
aloud to them to come along: “_Pitchai, ngalla pitchai, waipella tami
pu!_” which in the Wongapitcha dialect stands for “Come along, the white
fellow is good.” The invitation is quickly responded to, and ere many
minutes have passed the whole group has arrived, which includes other men
as well as women and children. The new arrivals, without hesitation, and
with seeming confidence, join in the conversation.
So this is our introduction to the aboriginal, the primitive hunting man
of Australia, and his family!
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Map of Australia showing geographical distribution
of tribes.]
[Illustration: _PLATE I_
Wordaman natives on the march.
“... they drop behind our caravan, and, at a measured distance, in our
trail.”]
CHAPTER II
RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Straightness of figure—Angular contours—Absence of fatty
tissue—Nature’s economy—Abnormal obesity—Straight spinal
column—Flat and long dorsal curve—_Ensellure_—Strong cervical
curve—Uniformity of sacro-lumbar curve—Flexibility of spine
due to thick cartilaginous discs—Racial comparisons between
length of vertebræ and that of intervertebral discs—Influence
of upright attitude—Smallness of bones composing the spinal
column and the explanation—Exceptions to rule—Narrow sacral
bone—Peculiarities of fifth lumbar vertebra—Long extremities
of equal length—Foot suggests tree-climbing—Evolution of
foot—So-called “hand-footed” men—Feet used for lifting and
carrying purposes—Function of peroneus muscle—Flatfoot
rare—Correct placement of foot when walking—Tree-climbing and
its effects—Peculiarity of Tasmanian’s foot—The shape and
skeleton of lower limbs—“Boomerang” legs—Shoulder and arm
bones—Bodily height of male and female.
Let us study these interesting-looking people more closely and endeavour
to find out their characteristic features, and in what respects they
differ from ourselves. At the same time, let us in passing ascertain to
what degree they resemble us and other peoples, past or present, and what
peculiarities they might share with the man-apes or lower forms of the
animal kingdom.
What immediately appeals to our critical eye is the strong contrast in
the general outline of the figure when we compare it with our own. The
round, full contours and shapely exterior of the European are replaced
by an angularity and straightness in the aboriginal. The surface-padding
or, more correctly, the subcutaneous deposition of fatty tissue, which
makes the lines and curves of our bodies so uniform—and the female figure
so beautiful—is, to a large extent, the result of long selective culture
and of the comforts which civilized life has brought with it. In the case
of the aboriginal, however, the forethought of Nature has not allowed
the development of such paddings of fat to any considerable amount; they
would only tend to impede the agility of the hardy desert roamer. He does
not need a thick layer of fat beneath his skin. From an artistic point
of view, the leanness of his body is quite becoming to himself. He lives
in a country whose climate is hot, and his healthy hunting-life makes
him immune from many of the ills to which the city dweller is heir. As a
reserve storage of heat and nourishment, therefore, which might be called
upon to aid his physiological constitution in times of need, the quantity
of superfluous fat can safely be reduced to a minimum. Nature has given
enough, but not a measure in excess. Thus, without any indication of
unhealthy emaciation, the integumentary accumulation of fat is so scant
that parts of the internal anatomy of an aboriginal can readily be
deciphered topographically. We can follow the shape of the superficial
muscles and of the skeleton, and can palpate the outline of the abdominal
organs with comparative ease. Although the muscles are small, they are,
nevertheless, strong, firm, and wiry; this is particularly noticeable in
the extremities.
It is a curious fact, however, that there is a natural predisposition
in the aboriginal to produce fatty tissue once he gives up his active
hunting career, like a sportsman out of training, and to develop a
perceptible obesity when he lives under conditions which supply him daily
with an abundance of nourishment. Under such circumstances, which are
of course abnormal and only brought about by European influence, his
skin is very apt to accumulate locally masses of fat known medically
as _lipomas_. The Arunndta natives call these tumours “_lurra_,” and
connect their appearance upon their bodies with heavy weight-carrying. It
is, indeed, a noteworthy fact that these fatty tumours frequently occur
upon the shoulders of aboriginal wood-carriers, who are in the habit of
collecting logs of timber for camp or station purposes.
Associated with the angularity and flatness of the bodily form, we
notice, when looking upon the figure of an aboriginal in profile,
and comparing it with that of an European in a similar position, a
straightness of the spine. If, for instance, we were to make an accurate
drawing of the spinal curvatures of the two subjects shown in Plate
II, we would find that the line representing the spinal column of the
aboriginal gin would be very straight in the centre of the back, that is,
in the dorsal segment; in fact it would be found that the dorsal curve
is very slight. Careful comparisons have been made with frozen corpses
of different races and the man-apes, bisected in the mesial plane, and
it has been determined that this portion of the spine is flatter in the
Australian aboriginal than in any other race of man; and indeed it is
flatter than in the chimpanzee. Moreover, a larger number of vertebræ
are involved in the dorsal curve of the Australian than there are in the
other cases.
In the European subject of our illustration—a young Australian lady—the
lumbo-sacral curve, known usually as the _ensellure_, is unusually
prominent.
If now we examine the curvature of that portion of the backbone which
constitutes the neck, we shall find it less pronounced in the European
but strongly developed in the Australian aboriginal.
But perhaps the greatest difference between the two types is the manner
in which the curvature breaks from the lumbar to the sacral portions
of the spine. In the European this break is sharp and angular; in the
Australian it is very gradual on account of a peculiar oblique position
of the last lumbar vertebra. Should we, again, extend our observation
to the chimpanzee, we would find that a number of the sacral vertebræ
are included in the lumbar curve. Consequently the aboriginal’s spine
seems to occupy an interesting position in which the last lumbar vertebra
stands almost as a connecting link between the lumbar curve above and the
sacral curve immediately below it.
The lumbar curve is greater in the European than in the Australian, but
it is decidedly greater in the chimpanzee. The difference in curvature
is brought about mainly by the discs of cartilage which exist between
the vertebræ, and that is why there is a considerable movement possible
in the lumbar portion of the spine of the lower races of man; and it
is quite possible that the lumbar curvature alters according to the
position adopted by the individual, that is, according to whether he be
in a standing or in his favourite squatting posture. In the European the
corresponding portion of the spine is much more rigid.
The proportional lengths of cervical, dorsal, and lumbar spinal sections
are much the same in both European and Australian, but there are
considerable differences in the two spines so far as the proportions
of the bony vertebræ and the intervertebral discs of cartilage are
concerned, especially in the lumbar region. The lumbar vertebræ of the
European are shorter than are those of the Australian, and the latter
again are shorter than those of the man-apes. In other words, the lengths
of the bones, which build up the lumbar portion of the spinal column,
increase (_i.e._ in proportion to the size of the column as a whole) as
one passes from the most highly cultured European through the primitive
human stages, like the aboriginal of Australia, to the anthropoid apes,
and finally to the lower types of monkeys. At the same time, as the
length of the vertebræ increases, a reduction in the thickness of the
cartilaginous discs takes place.
There is no doubt this phenomenon depends to some extent upon the
acquisition of the upright attitude by man, since the cartilage between
the bone acts as an effective shock-absorber—the percussion produced by
the impact of the heel against the ground when walking being reduced
before it reaches the brain. When the brain-box does not rest immediately
above the point of percussion, as for instance in the semi-erect posture
of the apes, the dangers of concussion are not so great.
While we are discussing the vertebral column of the Australian
aboriginal, we might draw attention to the comparative smallness of the
bones composing it. If we were, for instance, to compare the column of
an Australian with that of a European of similar height, we would find
that the vertebræ of the former are appreciably the smaller—their volumes
being almost in the ratio of one to one-and-a-half. This is the more
striking since we shall learn later that the Australian aboriginal often
is quite as tall in stature as the European. The skeleton of the African
negro, on the other hand, is decidedly more massive than that of the
European.
The smallness of the bones composing the vertebral column undoubtedly
favours the flexibility and agility which characterize the Australians
as a hunting people. There are, it is true, certain variations in
the structure of the spinal column of the Australian, which seem to
contradict this general rule, as, for instance, a slightly stronger
development of the vertebræ of the neck and a greater volume of the
lumbar vertebral bones in the female. The former of these features is
no doubt a primitive characteristic throwing back to the quadrupedal
ancestry of the human species, the latter having to do with the processes
of birth.
The sacral bone at the lower end of the vertebral column varies slightly
in size, but is, generally speaking, much narrower than that of the
European or of any other living race. It is principally on this account
that the hip-bones of the Australians seem remarkably close together in
both sexes.
The fifth lumbar vertebra of the Australian often exhibits certain
sacral characters, which remind one of the orang outang; in that
anthropoid the fifth lumbar bone is often fused to the _os sacrum_ and
in reality becomes the first sacral body. Occasionally this vertebra is
asymmetrical, being normal, _i.e._ lumbar, on the one side and sacral
on the other. Its posterior arch is at times wanting, the spines having
failed to join, as ordinarily they do, in a median line behind the main
body of the bone. The last named feature is, however, not infrequently
observed in the skeletons of other races as well.
Another very striking feature, connected with the anatomy of the
Australian, is the great length of his arms and legs. This length of
extremities is taken in a conjoint sense, and with regard to the height
of the individual. The aboriginal is often said to have very much longer
arms than legs. This is incorrect. In point of fact, no human type is
known, living or fossil, with such a disproportion in the limbs. All
types of mankind, individually considered, have arms and legs more
or less equal in length; from this original condition the elongated
arms, so typical of apes, have evolved, by secondary processes, in all
probability through the acquisition of arboreal habits. There is, of
course, no doubt that the length of the extremities, both upper and
lower, so characteristic of the Australian, together with the relative
slenderness of the vertebræ, points to an early evolutional stage, which
was common to the ancestral forms of both man and ape. The monkey has
brought tree-climbing to such a degree of perfection that it practically
lives in the branches. Primitive man, too, has not neglected the
art, and, although the normal proportions of his extremities do not
directly suggest tree-climbing, there is another development which does,
especially in the Australian; and that is his foot.
When we consider the likely transformations which the human foot has
undergone from an original hand-like form, resembling that of certain
monkeys and lower primates, to its present condition, we shall find
that two processes have been at work in the modelling of this important
part of man’s anatomy. Firstly, the big toe (originally a thumb) has
taken up a position adjacent to that of the next digit (originally an
index finger), and, by lying in the same plane with it, has forfeited
its power of opposition. Secondly, the big toe has grown appreciably
stronger, while the other digits have become smaller and weaker. That the
big toe, in its ancient evolution, once stood in the same relation to the
other toes as the thumb does to the fingers of the hand, is evident from
the arrangement of the blood-vessels and nerves in this part of the foot,
corresponding exactly to that of the hand, even though the gap originally
existing between the first and second digits has been filled by fleshy
tissue.
It is of considerable scientific interest to note that cases are
occasionally observed among the Australian tribes in which indications of
this ancestral condition are retained. In the Fig. 2 we see the feet of
an aboriginal of the Berringin tribe in the north of Australia, whose big
toes are remarkable for their shortness when compared with the second.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Peculiar “hand-like” feet of the Berringin
tribesmen. Tracing from a photograph.]
It is, of course, a well-known fact that the newly-born European baby
possesses a wonderful mobility in its feet; and such might also be
acquired by people who have lost their arms; but the wearing of boots
usually deprives modern nations of this freedom of movement. The
aborigines of Australia make frequent use of their toes. A considerable
lateral flexibility of the end phalanges enables them to lift small
objects off the ground between the big and second toes. Spears are
carried by warriors, between the toes of either foot, to conceal the
weapons in the grass; and so the enemy is led to believe that the men are
unarmed.
When collecting firewood, the gins never stoop to pick up the pieces, but
lift them with their toes to the level of their hands. The hands then
pile the fuel upon the head and hold it there until sufficient has been
collected to carry back to camp.
The power of being able to use the toes in the manner described depends
upon the development of a muscle, which arising from the outer side of
the fibula and terminating in a long tendon, passes obliquely across
the sole of the foot, to insert itself into the metatarsal bone of the
great toe. This is the long _peroneus_ muscle, the function of which, in
the monkeys at any rate, is to keep the big toe in opposition. In man,
moreover, this muscle helps considerably to maintain the arch of the
foot. Flatfoot is eminently rare among the aborigines; only one or two
cases have come under observation.
When walking, the aboriginal carries his foot so that it points directly
ahead of him, and not, as has been written, “with his toes well turned
out.” If anything, the sole of the foot is slightly tilted so that the
outer border touches the ground a little in advance of the ball.
There is no doubt the outer surface and the ball of the foot play an
important role in the art of tree-climbing, as it is practised by the
Australians and other primitive peoples. Several methods are in vogue;
they will be described later. Suffice it, for the time being, to refer to
one: In pursuit of small marsupials, young birds, honey, nuts, fruits,
or any other things good to eat, the aboriginal often has occasion to
ascend the tall smooth trunks of trees, which harbour such articles in
abundance. This is done, often without the aid of any implement, in the
following way: The hunter faces the tree and applies the palms of his
hands to the opposite side of the butt. As he tightens his hold with
his fingers, he springs from the ground and clutches the butt between
the soles of his feet. The arches adjust themselves to the convexity of
the trunk, whilst the pressure of the outer edges and balls of the feet
prevent the limbs from slipping. In this posture, the hunter is virtually
hanging by his arms, which are hooked by the hands, and is sitting upon
his heels, which are fixed firmly against the tree, as described. Holding
his head well back between the shoulder-blades, he suddenly lifts his
body upwards with his thighs, while his hands, momentarily relaxing their
hold, are pushed upwards also. Now the fingers again tightly clasp the
trunk, and the feet are quickly lifted and tucked under the buttocks,
to again support the weight of the body as before. The same actions are
repeated, time after time, and it is not long before the climber reaches
the nearest branches, when progress is simplified. Vide Plate XIX, 2.
[Illustration: _PLATE II_
Comparison of European with Aboriginal figure.
“We notice, when looking upon the figure of an aboriginal in profile,
and comparing it with that of an European in a similar position, a
straightness of the spine.”]
This ancient custom of tree-climbing is not peculiar to the Australians,
but is adopted by most primitive races. It is very probable, too, that
the prehistoric races were to a large extent arboreal, and made use of
similar methods of tree-climbing. When considering the evolution of the
human foot, therefore, we will have to remember that it has been to some
extent influenced by the tree-climbing factor, which, indeed, must be
considered in the light of a forerunning stage in the acquisition of the
upright attitude by man.
In this primitive method of ascending trees, by which the head is thrown
so far behind, we see also a likely explanation of the greater cervical
curvature we have noticed in the aboriginal’s spine, when one compares it
with the European’s. We might even venture to say that these processes
originally brought about the lumbar curvature, and thereby laid the
foundation to the acquisition of the erect posture, by means of which
man learned to balance his head upon the vertical spinal column. Then
the foot, which had been to a great extent modelled through his arboreal
activities, stood man in good stead, and he began to walk erect between
the trees.
The foot skeleton of the Tasmanian shows a peculiarity, in which it
differs from that of the Australian on the mainland. Under normal
conditions, the heel-bone of the Australian, and of the European as well,
has a small elongation or process on the anterior side which separates
the two adjoining small bones, the _cuboid_ and the _talus_, from each
other. But in the case of the Tasmanian the two small bones named lie in
juxtaposition. This phenomenon is only occasionally noticed in Australian
skeletons, and is quite exceptional in European; it is abnormal even in
the anthropoids.
The Australian’s legs are often the subject of comment, if not ridicule;
they are so thin and lanky. Even when the proportions of the chest and
trunk as a whole are good, the legs usually remain unshapely. Even under
the best of conditions, there is a paucity of flesh both in thigh and
calf; the lower portions of the limbs are in the true sense of the word
spindle-shanks.
Even the gluteal musculature is only moderately developed. Sedentary life
and cosmetic culture seem to have been the principal factors at work
in shaping this region in the modern European. Monkeys, on the other
hand, show no considerable gluteal development at all. It would appear,
therefore, that tree-climbing has not played a great role in developing
these muscles, but seems rather to have influenced the growth of the
deltoid muscle, which extends from the upper arm to the shoulder-blade
and collar-bone, and of the big pectoral muscle.
The thigh-bone, although it is slender, like the rest of the long bones
of the Australian, is abruptly dilated at its epiphyses, and, in that
respect, differs considerably from the European femur, which widens
gradually towards the extremities, in trumpet fashion. The Australian’s
thigh-bone is more like the Neanderthal type, but the smallness of its
head at once distinguishes it from the fossil. The slenderness of the
shaft, together with the relative smallness of the condyles, brings the
Australian femur nearer to the _Pithecanthropus_. Generally speaking,
this bone is stronger in the Tasmanian than in the Australian.
One occasionally finds a strongly developed ridge or process in the
upper portion of the Australian femur, which has been styled the third
trochanter. At the lower extremity, the smooth depression on the anterior
surface of the bone, between its condyles, is deep in the Australian
and Tasmanian, and in that respect resembles the Neanderthal femur. The
superior margin of the hyaline cartilage covering this depression is
variable, and occasionally far exceeds the average European limit.
Among certain tribes of central and southern Australia, the tibia is
often peculiarly flattened laterally, like a sword, whilst the anterior
edge of the bone is remarkably prominent. This condition is known as
_platycnemia_ and has also been observed, quite frequently, in the
skeletons of the extinct men of Europe and Egypt, and in the Negroid and
Polynesian races.
Occasionally this platycnemic condition is associated with an exaggerated
curvature of the anterior edge of the bone, a phenomenon which Dr. E. C.
Stirling has described as _camptocnemia_. The popular name for it among
bushmen is “Boomerang-Leg”; in some cases the tibia certainly has quite
as large a curvature as some of the least bent of the familiar throwing
sticks have.
In attempting to offer an explanation for this remarkable phenomenon,
it is at the outset difficult to say to what extent it might be
pathological, that is, the direct result of some constitutional disorder,
like rickets, from which the individual, in whose shin-bone the curvature
appears, might be suffering.
A theory has, however, been advanced to the effect that, since the
anterior ridge of the bone represents part of the surface from which the
_tibialis posticus_ muscle arises, and since this muscle effects the
adduction of the foot, when a person is walking, it is feasible that the
altered shape and the increased bulk of the tibia may be due to that
factor. The Australians, like other primitive hunters, are possessed of
an astounding endurance when running down wounded game.
Dr. Ramsay Smith points out that there may be a connection between a
platycnemic condition and the peculiar method the Australians have of
lifting things from the ground with their toes, by which the tibialis
posticus muscle is specially involved.
The fibula of the Australian is straight, and, especially in the case of
the female Tasmanian, often has the end adjacent to the knee, which is
known as its head or capitulum, prolongated in an extraordinary manner.
This feature is of morphological interest because it harks back to a
primitive condition in the evolution of the knee, in which the long bone
of the lower extremity played a more important part in the action of the
joint than it nowadays does in the human species.
In male Tasmanians the shoulder-blade is of considerable length, and
its apparent narrowness is primarily due to the elongation of the
infra-spinous fossa.
The humerus of the Australian shows a very small torsion, the angle being
less than in any other human type. A foramen is not infrequently observed
between the condyles of this bone. The Tasmanian humerus possesses a
peculiar, laterally convex curve; and its internal condyle is often much
enlarged.
[Illustration: _PLATE III_
1. Colossal brow-ridge, Arunndta man.
2. Supra-orbital prominence, deep notch at root of nose, prognathism
(Tasmanoid features), and female beard, Denial Bay tribeswoman.]
As with ourselves, the bodily height of the Australian varies
considerably, even within one and the same tribe. No great racial
importance can on that account be placed upon statistical data in respect
of height. The tallest individual I know of was a man of Yarrabah, near
Cairns, in Queensland, who stood seven feet four inches high.[1] Some
of the smallest men I have ever seen lived in the Tomkinson Ranges
in Central Australia, who barely measured four feet six inches in
height; yet among the same tribe were many men who stood over six feet.
The smallest gin, the mother of two children, who has come under my
observation, measured four feet five-and-a-half inches. She lived in the
Katherine River district. We might claim from five feet four-and-a-half
inches to five feet six inches as a reasonable average height for the
male, and about five feet for the female.
[1] Measured by the Rev. E. R. Gribble.
CHAPTER III
THE BREAST AND ABDOMEN
The female breast—Aboriginal ideas of shapeliness—Traditional
cultivation by ceremonial—Prevalent shapes—Artificially
induced lactation—The abdominal region—“Pot-belly”—The
sign of surfeiting as well as of malnutrition—Living
skeletons—Starvation a justifiable cause of cannibalism.
The female breast varies much in size and consistency, according to the
age and physical (and physiological) condition of the individual. As in
most matters that concern the aboriginal, his utilitarian inclination
outweighs his æsthetic instincts, even to the extent that he regards
the breast of his gin simply as that part of her “flesh,” which at the
required period contains or produces the nutrient “water,” necessary
for the rearing of his progeny. No breast, no matter how firm and
classically hemispherical it might be in our estimation, would appeal
to the aboriginal on account of its shapeliness. To him the voluminous,
pendant, udder-like form, which can comfortably be handed over the gin’s
shoulder, or under her arm, to the babe riding upon her back, would seem
the orthodox and perfect creation. Indeed, among most of the tribes the
husbands endeavour to attain that type both by magical incantation and by
actual manipulation.
When the hour arrives that signs of adolescence first manifest themselves
in a girl, her future husband, to whom she has long been assigned
(perhaps even entirely speculatively, on the chance of the sex, before
ever she was born), sets about to conjure up her feminine qualities. He
may be, and usually is, joined by other men, to whom tribal law has by
descent given claim to periodic domestic privileges approaching those
of the marital relationships which are to exist between the individual
husband and his gin.
Without advertisement, the tender novice is quietly coaxed away from
camp by the men, who, by talking kindly to her, have no need to apply
coercion. At no great distance they halt, and the future husband anoints
the areas surrounding both nipples, which are likely to bulge forth as
the future breasts, with grease; the anointed areas are then covered with
a layer of red ochre. Whilst this is taking place, all present sing to
the budding milk-gland, first softly, then vehemently, and with ceremony.
During the performance on the North Coast, the female dugong, whose
motherly devotion to her young is a recognised virtue, is frequently
alluded to.
The painted areolas are frequently charmed by touching them with a magic
stone, and at intervals the enchanters bring an anointed circle into
contact with their lips, as if endeavouring to draw the nipple forwards,
that it might grow.
Ultimately the girl is told to return to the women, who take her on a
food-collecting expedition; during her absence from camp, it is quite
possible that the signs of approaching maturity may become more definite.
The aboriginal breast begins to grow at an earlier age than the European,
on an average at about the tenth year. Neglecting for the present the
different phases in its development, from the puerile papilla through
various shapes, depending upon the growth of the milk-gland and the
deposition of fat about it, one type of breast is typical of early
adult life, that is the pear-shaped form. In this type, especially
in its earliest stages, the secondary bulge beneath the nipple often
fuses imperceptibly with the basal hemisphere, so that a conoid shape
results. In older women, the breasts at times assume extraordinarily
large dimensions, especially when the individual is inclined to be on
the well-nourished side. In very old gins, who have born and reared a
number of children, the shape disappears entirely, the breasts becoming
mere flaps of skin. A full dry breast is the exception rather than the
rule; only in youthful cases, who have not become mothers, do we meet
with firm and standing breasts. In later life, the inevitable sagging and
attenuation are materially increased by a child in arms which, as the
mother plies and looks for food, secures itself by firmly clasping one or
both of its parent’s breasts.
The breast is situated a little more laterally in the aboriginal than in
the European; and in the former case it is also lower and more nearly
mid-way between shoulder level and umbilicus. One often finds the breasts
of one and the same individual unsymmetrically developed (Plate IV, 1).
In connection with the female breast, I have a somewhat remarkable case
of artificially induced lactation to record from the Alligator Rivers
district. The mother of an infant of tender years having died, a younger
sister of the deceased, who had no children, volunteered to adopt the
helpless mite. The foster-mother diligently treated her breasts with
a pulp she made by mashing _Eugenia_ leaves with ashes and sufficient
water to make a paste; and heated stones were placed over the breasts at
frequent intervals. The mammary glands and their surrounding tissues were
at every opportunity plied with the fingers, and the babe’s lips were
as often put to the nipples. Within a short time, fluid formed in the
breasts; and the child was suckled. The fluid was said to have been more
watery than milk, but, nevertheless, made good nourishment for the child.
This case is by no means unique. A number of records are available from
different parts of the world, the most classical among which is perhaps
that mentioned by Alexander von Humboldt of a South American man who
sustained a child on his breast for five months during the illness of his
wife.
In the Australian, the belly is flatter, the pudendum if anything,
slightly more anterior, and the inguinal folds decidedly steeper than in
the European.
One frequently has an opportunity, however, of observing a youngster with
a remarkably big abdomen, a condition known in the bush by the name of
“pot-belly.” Such a picture might point to either plenty or to want. In
good seasons, when animal and vegetable diet is to be had in abundance,
the younger children soon acquire a “pot-belly” in consequence of ample
feeding and gorging. But, on the other hand, a distended abdomen is more
often found in consequence of malnutrition and starvation, which the
children have to suffer during bad seasons of drought. The distention in
this case is due to the swelling of some of the large abdominal glands.
The same sufferings manifest themselves similarly in the adults, and
particularly in the aged. Among the latter one only too often finds
hungering creatures whose flesh has wasted away to a mere parchment
wrapped around the bones, living skeletons in fact. In these cases, too,
enlarged glands give rise to an unhealthy nodular protuberance in the
epigastric region.
Can one wonder if, under such conditions, a kindly club, wielded by a
more robust relative, puts the sufferer out of his misery? It is during
these trying times, too, that parents are obliged to resort to extreme
measures, so that they might sustain the lives of their children. Driven
to the verge of despair, and visibly moved at the thought of it, a father
must occasionally make the pathetic and gruesome decision to slay one
child in order that another may be saved.
On account of his acting thus, when dire need compels him, people, who
should know better, often call the Australian aboriginal a cannibal! Is
this cannibalism? Have not shipwrecked people of our own colour, when
in a similar plight, often been compelled to kill and eat one of their
friends to save themselves from starvation?
CHAPTER IV
THE FACE AND ITS SKELETON
Fierceness of expression—European-like features—The
eyes—Colossal brow-ridges—The iris—An unusual colour—The
eye-sockets—The nose and its aperture—Natural and artificial
flatness—“Primitive snout”—Prognathism—“Negative chins”—The ear.
When we look an aboriginal in the face, the first impression it gives
us is that of wildness and fierceness amounting often to repulsiveness.
There are, of course, appreciable differences between different
individuals, and often during a day’s journey one encounters features
which might be classed as decidedly pleasing and almost European. We
might even go so far as to say that in some faces, especially those
of the old women, we might feel inclined to establish an analogy with
classical or historical types of our own colour. Such descriptions,
however, convey no more to the person who has never seen an aboriginal
than a statement like one, often heard, to the effect that the features
are of the “usual Australian type.”
In order to arrive at a little more exact description of the facial
appearance, let us assume that the individual we are considering
possesses all of the “Australian” features, and let us analyze each of
them separately. At the same time, we must remember that probably no
single individual exists in whom all of these characteristics are present.
To help us better understand the various points we are about to
introduce, it will be advisable, whenever possible, to draw into the
discussion the morphological peculiarities of the bony skeleton and
skull, which immediately underlie the fleshy parts of the face and head.
There is no doubt the eyes of an aboriginal largely account for the
wild appearance of his countenance, already alluded to. These organs
are deeply sunken in their sockets, which lie beneath a projecting bony
roof and bushy eyebrows. Nature in this way protects the eyes against
the scorching rays of the southern sun by an effective screen, which
lies above and before them like the peak of a cap. For that matter, we
ourselves often instinctively endeavour to obtain a similar protection,
when we stare into a glaring light, by holding a hand against the brows.
Within the scope of this protection comes also, so far as the aboriginal
is concerned, prevention, to a certain degree, of such accidental harm as
might be caused by stakes or brushwood, during an exciting hunt through
bush or forest land. The strong colour-contrast of the sclera against
the swarthy skin, and the active, searching movements of the eyes,
considerably help to intensify the sullen look.
In the fossil men of Gibraltar and Neanderthal, too, the eyes were
overlain by very massive, bony ridges, but in those people the eyes stood
further forward.
The supraorbital region is unquestionably one of the most prominent, and
at the same time most striking, features of the Australian aboriginal’s
face. The high degree of development of the bony prominence, combined
with a sloping forehead, are primitive characteristics which he shares
with no other living race. Yet it is possible for a cultured people,
like for instance the Europeans, with high forehead, at times to show a
strong superciliary development. As opposed to this, one not infrequently
discovers an Australian with strong brow-ridges combined with a
comparatively full and steep forehead. But usually the area occupied by
these bony prominences can be differentiated, from the forehead above
it, by a dividing line or zone of crowded foramina—the outlets of small
blood-vessels. In the aboriginal, the effect is intensified, not alone on
account of the usually receding forehead, but also because the root of
his nose is appreciably depressed between the eyes; and consequently the
glabella appears to project extraordinarily far outwards (Plate III).
It was Thomas Huxley who first drew attention to the analogy existing
between the skull of the fossil Neanderthal man and that of the
Australian aboriginal. To quote the words of that famous anthropologist,
“a small additional amount of flattening and lengthening, with a
corresponding increase in the superciliary ridge, would convert the
Australian brain case into a form identical with that of the aberrant
fossil.” Since those words were written, a number of other fossil
skeletons of men have been found, the examination of which has confirmed
Huxley’s observation upon the first Neanderthal skull.
The substance of the supraorbital prominence consists of massive bone. As
in the fossil skulls, the sinuses lie behind this mass, not far from the
inner surface. It appears that this colossal growth of bone takes place
in early adult life; so far, no superciliary ridges have been observed in
children’s skulls.
Originally this great thickness of bone in the supraorbital region of the
Neanderthal calotte was regarded as a proliferation of bony tissue caused
by disease. Then it was proclaimed to be a characteristic by which one
might distinguish the skulls of fossil from those of all living races.
The subsequent recognition of true supraorbital ridges or _tori_ in the
Australian completely disproved both these hypotheses.
The feature is, so far as our present knowledge goes, essentially
masculine, and, as such, suggests a secondary origin comparable to
the tremendous supraorbital developments of bone in the skull of
the male gorilla. Professor D. J. Cunningham, who investigated this
subject thoroughly from a comparative anatomical point of view, found
“superciliary and supraorbital elements” even more or less developed in
the lower types of apes. A supraorbital prominence is rarely observed in
the female (Plate III, 2).
To return to the eye: the colour of the iris, in its normal condition,
is practically without exception dark brown. The only exception to
this rule, that has come under my personal observation, was a young,
full-blooded gin of the Mulluk Mulluk tribe in the Daly River district,
north Australia, whose iris was a deep bluish grey.
There is great variety in the shape of the cavities which hold the
eye-balls of the Australian. The orbits are large, and their outer
margins, as in the Neanderthal type, very nearly form a circle. According
to Professor Klaatsch’s measurements, the ratio of the maximum vertical
to the maximum horizontal diameter in the male Australian skull is as
39 millimeters is to 40. As a rule, the eye-cavities in children are
slightly depressed horizontally, and occasionally this is also the case
in the skulls of females.
The orbit’s upper edge is very strong; and what is known as the _internal
angular process_ of the frontal bone, in the inner wall of the cavity,
is very prominent in the Australian. The last named characteristic is,
however, also observed in the skulls of Veddahs and other primitive
people, as well as in those of the anthropoids. But we must not forget,
when dealing critically with a skull, that an internal angular process
may not be so typical in the male as it is in the skulls of women and
children.
The _external angular processes_ are often well developed, the malar
boundary being strong and broad, without the sharp edge usually noticed
in European skulls.
The _ethmoid_ bone in the inner wall of the orbit is, as in most of the
primitive skulls, noticeably small.
The groove of the _lachrymal_ bone, which _intra vitam_ carries the
tear duct connecting eye with nose, is usually very pronounced in the
Australian.
In children’s skulls a supraorbital notch divides the upper margin of
the orbital cavity into two almost equal parts, the outer of which has a
well-defined edge.
In the nose and its aperture, we again recognize primitive
characteristics of considerable importance in the Australian. We have
already had occasion to notice how deeply the root of the external
organ seems to be retracted under the great glabellar prominence of
the forehead. A bridge in the true sense of the word seems wanting,
the nose consisting of a flabby body at its point, above which lies a
saddle-shaped depression sloping imperceptibly into the retracted root
beneath the forehead. Not uncommonly one finds a number among the males
of all tribes whose noses are curved and give one the impression of
Jewish features; the type is rare among women (Plate VI, 2).
The breadth of the nose is very great, and consequently the nasal
aperture in Australian skulls is of corresponding dimensions. The width
of the aperture often actually exceeds thirty millimeters.
It must not be supposed that these features are quite peculiar to the
Australian; they are also present in the fossil skulls of Europe. If then
we regard the latter as the ancestral stock, from whom modern peoples
have sprung, and, at the same time, recollect that diverse admixtures
of strain might have taken place periodically, it would not be amiss to
expect indications of such primitive nose developments in the higher
types of man. That such do occur, we can every day verify for ourselves.
Apart from being a racial characteristic, the flat broad nose is
cultivated by many of the tribes. Mothers artificially flatten the
noses of their children when quite young by pressing upon them with
their fingers, and often repeating the process. It is, therefore, often
difficult to say whether a specially flat nose is natural or is the
result of cosmetic culture. The wearing of a bone or stick through the
septum would also tend to flatten and widen the organ to an abnormal
extent (Plate VI).
The nasal aperture of a modern European skull almost invariably has sharp
lateral margins, which unite at the base behind a prominent bony spine;
for reasons which will become apparent below, we shall call this the
inner boundary. In an anthropoid, like the gorilla, however, the cavity
is bounded on its lower side by two ridges, which enclose a groove in
front of the large aperture. Converging upwards, these ridges, on either
side, unite to form the lateral margins below the nasal bones. In the
monkeys there is no indication of a well-defined boundary at all, the
lower surface of the cavity appearing more or less smooth, whilst the
spine, so prominent in man, is barely recognizable.
In the Australian skull we often find an interesting transition stage
connecting these extremes, the inner margin being present but associated
with a pre-nasal groove at the base of the aperture. Indeed, the sharp
lateral margin is often found to pass into a pre-nasal ridge which forms
the anterior margin of the groove. Such a condition is of considerable
interest, since it recalls a stage in our evolution, when the nose was
closely connected with the mouth part; that is to say, that a portion now
absorbed into the modern skull was originally the floor of the nose, and
helped to build up the alveolar process of the upper jaw.
In fact, we are reminded of this condition when we look upon the living
aboriginal; for his nose seems to ride upon the upper portion of his
mouth, to which it seems rigidly attached, after the pattern of an
animal’s snout. We see the same sort of thing in the European embryo
during the first few months of gestation.
This “primitive snout” is made the more conspicuous in the Australian on
account of the strong _naso-labial folds_ in the skin, one of which, on
either side, encloses the angle of the mouth in a semi-circular fashion.
With us Europeans, the elevating processes which our nose has undergone
have tended to reduce the depth of these folds, in the upper portions
at any rate. This elevating process, by the way, has largely been in
consequence of the recession our mandibular skeleton has suffered (Plate
V).
The jaws of the Australian are, like those of most of the fossil skulls
and of the Negroids, protubefent—a condition known as _prognathism_.
In the Tasmanians, too, the strong development of the jaws, and of the
teeth, has resulted in a general fullness of the same region (Plate III,
2).
In aboriginal infants, one often finds the bony process, upon which the
teeth subsequently grow, to be directed forwards, almost in a straight
line with the floor of the nose. This hereditary predisposition towards
a horizontal development of the alveolar region reminds one forcibly of
features belonging to the anthropoid apes.
Yet, generally speaking, it must be admitted, there is a great variation
in prognathism among the Australians.
In order to compare the degree of facial prognathism of the skulls
of different men, a method was devised by Fraipont: The glabella is
connected with the lambda by an imaginary plane, and another plane
erected at right angles to this at the glabella. The latter plane
usually cuts the alveolar plane at about the first or second premolar,
occasionally at the first molar. Still another plane is imagined,
extending vertically from the most anterior point of the alveolar to the
glabella-lambda plane. Then the rectangular distance between the two
upright planes represents, after Fraipont’s method, the prognathism. The
maximum prognathism of the Australian, determined by this means, is,
according to Professor Klaatsch, twenty-five millimeters, and the minimum
eight.
Let us now enquire into the possible origin of prognathism among the
primitive races of mankind. We shall have to take note, in the first
place, of the large occipital development of both the brain and the
brain-box in the lower types of the human species. In order to antagonize
the downward pull of this weight, the mandibular region has expanded and
provides the balancing moment about a fulcrum on the spine. With this
explanation fresh in our minds, we understand how the development of the
frontal region of modern peoples would tend to modify the lower region of
the face and establish the condition known as _orthognathism_.
Prognathism is usually associated with a receding chin. By elaborating
the Fraipont method, Professor Klaatsch has added another vertical
plane at the most anterior point of the cutting surface of the teeth.
In primitive folks, like the Australians and the fossil Neanderthals,
the chin lies behind this plane and is called a “negative chin”; in the
Mongoloids (Malays, etc.) the chin practically lies against the plane and
is called a “neutral chin”; and lastly, in the modern Europeans, the chin
lies before the plane and is known as a “positive chin.”
In the Tasmanians, the chin was bluntly rounded, without much of the
prominence so highly perfected in the modern peoples.
The mental foramen is usually situated at a point below and between the
second bicuspid and first molar.
The Australian’s ear is large and longish, much the same in general
appearance as the European’s; the Negroid’s ear is decidedly rounder.
There is, however, no great racial variety in the human ear; man has,
like the rodents, retained the primitive shape, whilst the monkeys have
acquired more specialized forms.
The small process, known as the tragus, which partially covers the
ear-hole, is mostly covered with bristly hairs in adult men.
The dependent portion, or lobulus, which carries the earrings of our
European ladies and is often mutilated by the lower races, is not as
a rule interfered with by the Australians. The custom of piercing the
lobulus appears to be confined to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland.
The hole is pierced with a small pointed bone, after which a short
cylindrical wooden rod or bone is inserted, frequently removed and
replaced again, until the edge of the hole has healed. In the course of
time, a series of rods, of gradually increasing diameter, are forced
into the perforation, until a large pendant loop is formed. Upon special
occasions, short painted rods of wood, two inches or more in diameter,
are inserted into the loop.
The cheek bone, or zygomatic arch, is usually horizontal; but it may
curve upwards from the squamous bone, thence downwards anteriorly. The
_mastoid_ process is comparatively small, but it is often associated with
an unusual thickness of the wall of the ear-passage.
CHAPTER V
THE MOUTH
The lips—The vault and hard palate—The teeth—Excessive
wear of grinding surfaces—Tooth-picks—Fourth molars—Dental
rudiments—The canines.
The Australian’s mouth is decidedly large, and his lips full. The latter,
especially of the children, are as often as not becomingly arched and
furnished with a shapely philtrum.
If we were to look into the mouths of a number of aboriginals we would
find considerable individual differences in the configuration of the
vault. In some instances the roof would appear high and arched, in
others low and flat. If, further, we extended our observations in the
direction of any differences which might exist in the individual faculty
of articulated speech, relative to the variations in height already
noted, our efforts would be fruitless. It is very doubtful whether any
such connection between the height of the mouth and freedom of tongue
or speech does exist in the aboriginal’s case. But it has been rightly
pointed out that the hard palates of fossil skulls are flatter than they
are in those of modern races.
Perhaps the finest natural gift of the Australian (and the same was
true of the Tasmanian) is his strong set of ivory white teeth. In the
primitive tribes, living apart from civilization, dental disease or
caries is practically unknown. A common feature, however, is that the
teeth are ground down on a level, to varying extents, depending upon the
age of the individual examined. In many cases, the biting and grinding
surfaces of the teeth have been worn to almost the alveolar or gum-level
of the jaws, leaving only the roots with short truncated stumps to do the
mastication.
This excessive wear of healthy teeth is mainly attributable to the large
quantities of sand contained in the everyday diet. The aboriginal cooks
nearly all his meals in hot ashes and sand; it is unavoidable, therefore,
to include an appreciable quantity of gritty material in the articles
which are consumed. The aboriginal, furthermore, during the course of a
meal, might repeatedly call upon the strength of his teeth, as an easy
way of crunching bones of animals, and shell of molluscs and crabs, and
many other things. Casually one might take notice of the fact that the
teeth of the fossil of Gibraltar are worn in the same remarkable way.
An aboriginal does not take any particular care of his teeth, with the
exception that after every meal, some considerable time is devoted to
the removal of any remnants of meat which may have been retained. For
this purpose, the dry seed-stalks of grass and small twigs are generally
used. The old Kukata men were observed to possess permanent tooth-picks,
consisting of short pieces of wood sharpened at one end. For convenience
sake, they carried these, planted in their shaggy beards.
Should there be an aching tooth to cure, the native does it by heating
the point of a small stick in a fire and inserting it into the cavity
which is causing the trouble.
A most interesting circumstance in connection with the dentition of the
Australian is the comparatively frequent occurrence of a fourth molar in
the jaws. We know that in European subjects the third molar or wisdom
tooth is smaller, and takes longer in coming to the surface than the
other molars; its development is certainly on the down-grade with our
kind; but the third molar of the aboriginal is strong and lasting.
[Illustration: _PLATE IV_
1. Aluridja woman. Note matted locks and asymmetry of breasts.
2. Wongapitcha warrior, so-called Semitic type.]
Even when a fourth molar cannot be found in toto, there is often
present, behind the third molar, a peculiar prolongation of the alveolar
groove, which seems to be indicative of a former existence, in the
earlier evolutional history of the Australian, of such a tooth. Indeed,
the occurrence of a fourth molar in the human species, which in the
aboriginal is certainly not sporadic, must be looked upon as a character
originally common to the ancestral forms of both man and anthropoid. For
this reason, we must not be surprised to hear that a fourth molar might
occasionally be found in any race of man.
Professor W. L. H. Duckworth has described some small dental rudiments on
the alveolar surface of the upper jaw, which might even suggest remnants
of third premolars. Such rudiments usually occur between the second
bicuspid and the first molar, and consist of dentine. If it can be proved
that we have before us true evidence of immature tooth-development, the
phenomenon suggests a dental formula similar to that of some of the
simians possessing three premolars. On the contrary, the formations may
be the remnant masses of temporary milk teeth.
Supernumerary bicuspids are, it appears, not very often observed in the
Australian.
It is still questionable whether, as Charles Darwin suggested, the
ancestor of the human species has ever possessed extra large eye-teeth
or canines in any way resembling those of an anthropoid. In the Talgai
skull, referred to later, the canines certainly seem abnormally large,
but one could not be expected to draw definite conclusions from a single
specimen, especially when it is known that, even among ourselves, we here
and there see persons whose canines are quite the same size as those of
the Talgai fossil.
CHAPTER VI
THE SKULL AND BRAIN
Scaphocephaly popularly misinterpreted—Sutures and
_wormian bones_ Dolichocephaly—Tasmanian skulls more
globose—Forehead occasionally well developed—Absence of
_tubera frontalia_—Fronto-squamous articulation—Occipital
peculiarities—Massive skull-walls—Cranial capacity—The
brain—Generally well developed—Important primitive
characteristics—Rhinal fissure—Insertions of neck-muscles in
occiput—Atlanto-occipital articulation.
Opinion is often expressed that the Australian has not sufficient brains
to completely fill his brain-box! Such a statement is, of course, not in
accordance with fact. A condition known as _scaphocephaly_ is, however,
not infrequently observed in the Australian skull, which gives one the
impression of insufficient inflation of the cranial vault as a whole.
A sagittal ridge is present which, with a little exaggeration, might
be likened to an inverted boat (Plate V). A similar frontal ridge is
also occasionally observed in the Negroid skull and some of the fossil
calvaria, but rarely in the modern European and Asiatic races.
This median frontal ridge is not the result of any abnormal thickening
of bone locally, but anthropologists believe it may be connected with
the early fusion of the frontal suture. As a matter of fact, the frontal
suture is extremely rare in adult primitive peoples’ skulls, and so far
only three have been recorded in the Australian by Dr. Ramsay Smith in
specimens from the Northern Territory; one case has been found in the
Tasmanian; and one or two in the Torres Strait Islanders. All the other
sutures in the calvarium seem to be less complicated in the Australian
than in the European and other more highly developed types of man; the
most complex is the lambdoid suture; and it often has one or more
small _Wormian_ bones interposed within its course, which are, in all
probability, connected with the growth of the brain, and with the
consequent enlarging processes, which the enclosing bones have suffered.
An _os inca_ is occasionally seen.
Although scaphocephalic skulls are not rare among the Australians, we
must not overlook the fact that occasionally we find specimens, dead
or alive, exhibiting sagittal curves in no wise behind those of modern
peoples. And this seems to have been even more conspicuous in the case of
the lost Tasmanians.
The Australian skull is remarkably narrow and long, in most instances
_dolichocephalic_. In the Tasmanians, the parietal portion is
considerably wider in proportion; the whole of that region seems to
be inflated, when compared with the frontal portion. Whereas in the
Australian we noticed a sagittal ridge, a peculiar median sulcus is
usually present in male skulls, running along the line of the sagittal
suture.
There is a remarkable uniformity in the contours of the male Tasmanian
skulls. They resemble the female Australian much more than they do the
male Australian, principally because the adult male Australian skulls
vary so.
We have already referred to the sloping forehead and frontal region of
the Australian skull; such is observed also in the Tasmanian and, for
that matter, in all primitive men whether they be recent or fossil. But
at the same time, one frequently observes crania of these primitive
people in which the contours of the frontals are as steep as in any
average European. The last remark applies especially to the female skull,
which even might occasionally show a combination of a prominent forehead
with a primitive superciliary ridge. The two conspicuous eminences of
the forehead of the European skull, known as the _tubera frontalia_, one
of which is situated over either eye-socket, are not developed in the
Australian or Tasmanian.
The frontal bone of the Australian skull often lies in direct contact
with the _squamous_ portion; this is, however, the case in other
primitive races also. The articulation between the bones mentioned is
effected by means of a process which the squamous bone sends towards the
frontal; the actual line of contact measuring several millimetres. In
other instances the connecting process is replaced by a small epipteric
bone. The articulation may occur on one or both sides of the skull.
The bony tuberosity of the occipital bone, being part of a
muscle-attachment, varies appreciably in its position; its central point
is anthropologically styled the _external inion_. A similar protuberance
on the inner surface of the bone is the divisional line between the great
and small hemispheres of the brain; it is called the _internal inion_.
The internal inion is, as a rule, situated lower than the external in the
adult Australian; but in female and immature skulls the two points are at
about the same level.
The angle which is contained by the occipital bone at the inion, in a
sagittal plane, is less in the Australian than in the modern European
skull. Many of the Australian skulls one examines, therefore, seem to be
unusually flattened at the base, below the inion.
The cranial walls of no other race are so massive as those of the
Australian. It is particularly in the supraorbital and the occipital
regions that the bone is so thick; the thinnest portions lie in the
temporal and lower parietals; these remarks apply principally to the
adult male skulls. The consequent strength of the aboriginal’s skull
has almost become proverbial. Many are the club-duels which tribal law
and honour demand to be fought. Upon these occasions the head is the
mark. But also in the settlement of his domestic affairs, when a serious
offence calls for punishment, the husband selects the head of his gin
for beating with the weighty nulla-nulla. Is it a wonder, then, that
one often finds the skulls of aborigines covered with dents, which have
resulted from such a battering? Occasionally death might follow such
treatment; and a few cases stand on record of blindness following the
destruction of the centre of vision by a blow from the club. So severe
is the impact that often, in the stillness of night, I have heard the
falling of the blows upon a disobedient gin’s head, although our camp
might have been some considerable distance off.
[Illustration: _PLATE V_
Wordaman man, profile and full-face.
Note _scaphocephaly_, great width of nose, and strong naso-labial fold.]
This wonderful strength is largely due to the better development of
the compact tissue of the skull-bone, when compared with that of the
European. The external, as well as the internal, laminae of the cranial
wall are thicker than ours, while, on the other hand, the intermediate
layer, known as the _diploë_, is thinner in the aboriginal’s skull. This
condition serves the double purpose of protecting the brain against the
mechanical injury referred to, as well as against the powerful rays of a
fierce southern sun.
In regard to the cubic capacity of the Tasmanian and Australian skulls,
we might accept as averages for the adult male and female Australian
skulls 1,290 and 1,845 cubic centimeters respectively, and as similar
averages for the Tasmanian, 1,315 and 1,155 respectively. The individual
variations in the adult male Australian skulls range from 1,630 to 1,040,
and in those of the opposite sex from 1,280 to 1,010 cubic centimeters.
The corresponding variations in male and female Tasmanian skulls are from
1,465 to 1,140, and from 1,225 to 1,060 respectively.
There are, however, considerable variations in the capacity of Australian
skulls; many instances may be selected in which the capacity is quite as
good as that of an ordinary European brain-box. On the other hand, cases
have been recorded of capacities not greater than 940 cubic centimeters
in adult female Australian skulls.
The brain of the Australian has not been studied to any considerable
extent. The first impression a layman receives, upon beholding the
brain of an aboriginal, is, perhaps, a little disappointing. Assuming
him to be a man of low intellect, he expects to find a brain of
inferior development. But such is not the case. In fact, to any but
the specialist, there seems nothing to indicate a lowly intellectual
capacity. The number of convolutions is about the same as one finds
in Europeans of average intelligence; but the structure, as a whole,
is, perhaps, a little less complicated and less tortuous than we are
accustomed to see in our own sort. The large cerebral hemispheres
completely cover the cerebellum. Certain features, like the operculum,
are more strongly developed on the left side than the right.
In some respects the Australian brain preserves important
characteristics, which indicate the genesis of the more modified or more
specialized conditions seen in the brain of modern man. The length of
the hemispheres and the small occipital development are unquestionably
extremely primitive characters, which, among others, remind us of the
common ancestry of man and ape. In the brains of the more cultured
peoples, processes are at work, which are completely remodelling portions
of the important organ, and thereby making it more and more unlike the
anthropoid or simian brain. By such modifications in the occipital
region, the human brain is gradually ridding itself of a feature strongly
developed in the monkey’s brain, which has been named the _sulcus
lunatus_. German anthropologists call this sulcus “_Affenspalte_,” which
means “_Monkey-Cleft_,” i.e., a cleft or sulcus in the posterior portion
of the brain of primates, which is strongly developed in the monkeys,
but disappearing in the brain of man. In the Australian’s brain, the
_sulcus lunatus_ can often be more or less distinctly discerned, and its
presence there affords us valuable evidence when tracing the remnants of
the sulcus in the brains of other races, including those of the modern
Europeans.
The posterior lip of the _sulcus lunatus_ is occasionally operculated
in the Australian’s brain. In the parieto-occipital region, the outer
convolutions are depressed and covered by an operculum-like flap; but
this condition is also occasionally observed in European examples.
Another simian feature, rarely seen in European brains, is rather
frequently found in Australian, in the shape of a _rhinal fissure_. It
should be observed, however, that the European embryo clearly shows this
fissure in the brain as it is developing.
The occipital bone varies in its appearance. The impressions made upon
the surface, where, during the life-time of an individual, the strong
muscles of the neck were attached, are, as a rule, well developed. The
minor _posterior-rectus_ and _complexus_ muscles of the neck often leave
deep hollows in the occipital bone at the points of their insertions.
A bony process is often noticed in front of the big foramen, which joins
the occipital condyles; this is an atavistic condition, by means of which
an extra articulation is occasionally effected between the occiput and
vertebral column. The condyles vary considerably in their elevation above
the occipital bone. The large foramen is mostly oval in shape, but often
has a little median notch in its posterior margin.
CHAPTER VII
COLOUR OF ABORIGINAL’S SKIN
Unsuitable nomenclature—Aboriginal of Australia not
a “Nigger”—Colour normally chocolate-brown—Lighter
in infancy—Variations of shade due to several
causes—Colour-classification schemes obsolete—Pigmentation very
superficial in aboriginal’s skin—“White blackfellows”—Pigment
destroyed by disease and lesion—Actual colour—Its intensity
and distribution—Effect of environment on aboriginal’s skin
colour—Climatic influence.
The Australian aboriginal is popularly spoken of as a blackfellow; at
times one even hears him referred to as a nigger! Strictly speaking, the
former appellation is not in accordance with obvious fact, and the latter
in addition is scientifically grossly incorrect. The aboriginal is no
more black than the average modern European is white, and, apart from
his darker colour, he certainly has not many negroid features which we
do not also possess, at any rate more or less sporadically. Under normal
conditions, the colour of the Australian is a velvety chocolate-brown,
somewhat lighter or more coppery in the female than in the male. The skin
of a newly-born piccaninny is very much paler, with a distinct tint of
fleshy red about it, which many people maintain reminds one of the skin
of young murines, as it appears before it developes fur. For this reason,
too, the inexperienced observer often accuses an aboriginal mother of
infidelity; the colour of the infant’s skin, when compared with that of
its parent, indeed suggests a mixing of her blood with that of another
lighter coloured race. The child’s skin, however, soon darkens in colour;
and, within a few weeks, attains a shade not appreciably different from
that of the adults of its tribe.
Apparent gradations in colour are occasionally observed among different
members of one and the same tribe. As with ourselves, circulatory
disorders are not absent among the aborigines, and such materially affect
the quality of colour in the aboriginal’s skin. Simple anaemia, or even a
temporary blanching of the tissues, through nervousness or fright during
the time of an examination, will affect the appearance of the skin. In
the same way, full-bloodedness, or a passing flush, will deepen the
shade, the injection of blood into the underlying tissues being clearly
noticeable through the epidermis. Pathological conditions like jaundice
are also frequently developed in the aborigines, and impart to their skin
a sickly ashen hue; in this case the yellow colour of the conjunctiva
usually indicates the disorder. The likelihood of any such conditions
being present should be carefully investigated before applying the
standard colour tables of modern anthropologists.
The oldest systems of colour-classification divided the races of man into
five groups—the white, the yellow, the red, the brown, and the black.
But nowadays, even the layman knows that such hard and fast divisions
are impossible. We find that among individuals of one particular race,
whatever its so-called, and somewhat arbitrary, colour might be, there
exist noticeable variations in shade. Red Indians have yellow or brown
skins almost as frequently as a genuine red; the “white” races of Europe
often have so dark a “complexion” that they are in reality brown; and the
skin of a negro at times has a distinctly reddish or brownish hue.
Early anthropologists thought that the “dust or tawny” colour was due to
the accumulation of carbon in the external layers of the integument. But
since the introduction of the microscope, which made the study of thin
sections of human skin under great magnification possible, it was found
that the colour is due to living cells, which carry pigment in their
protoplasm, and are more or less migratory.
In the Australian aboriginal, these pigment-cells lie quite superficially
in the skin. Some years ago Professor Klaatsch, of Heidelberg University,
when in Australia, managed to obtain the corpse of an aboriginal, which
he consigned to a large tank holding an ordinary preserving fluid.
Hermetically sealing the lid of the tank, the Professor shipped the
specimen to Europe, where it was to be dissected. Some months later,
I joined him at Breslau University, and together we opened the tank.
Imagine our surprise when we beheld what one might describe as an
anthropological contradiction—a “white blackfellow!” It took us some
time to recognize in the form in front of us that of the aboriginal we
had seen in Australia. What had happened was that, during the continued
movement of the preserving solution during the transport, the superficial
layers of the skin had been removed, and, with them, the colour too. In
other parts, the skin had blistered and become detached, leaving more or
less adherent strips of epidermis in which the colouring matter could be
recognized.
I have seen a similar condition of things in corpses of aborigines, in
the remoter districts of the Australian bush, where the dead are placed
to rest on artificial platforms in the branches of trees. When, during
the processes of decomposition, the skin peels off, and is washed away by
the rain, the corpse assumes a pinkish white colour, resembling the body
of a white man, some time dead. No doubt it was on this account that,
in the early days of European settlement, it was a general belief among
the aborigines that the white man was one of their own dead warriors
returned to life in a different colour. We have a classical example in
the experience of the escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived for
thirty-two years among the natives of Victoria, the latter regarding him
as their dead chief returned to life transformed. It is quite possible
that this belief, which is so common among the tribes, originated from
the fact that the natives themselves had observed, as Professor Klaatsch
and I did, that the decomposing bodies of their dead might, under certain
conditions, become very much lighter in colour.
Throughout the Northern Kimberley district the natives maintain that a
dead tribesman will “jump up all-the-same whitefellow” in colour.
A singular case, illustrative of the shallowness of pigmentation in
the epithelium of an aboriginal’s skin, was reported from Canowie
Sheep Station by the late Rev. Tenison Woods. A native, suffering from
an obstinate skin disease, was “dipped,” like a sheep, in a solution
containing soft soap, tobacco, and arsenic, the last-named in the
proportion of one ounce to the gallon of water. The native became very
ill, lost his hair, and his finger and toe-nails. Eventually he became
better, but his skin peeled off. He was then described as “presenting the
appearance of a magpie during the time the process of decortication was
going on.” Finally his skin became “smooth and as glossy as marble.”
In pemphigoid skin-eruptions, when blister-like bullae develop over
different parts of the body, the lesions left in the skin for a while are
pinkish and unpigmented. Scars resulting from a cut or burn remain red
for a considerable time, but eventually turn the same uniform colour as
the rest of the skin.
Under normal conditions, one may often find patches of pigment on mucous
surfaces of the inner lips and mouth. The pathological condition known as
leucoderma is, on the other hand, rather frequently observed among the
different tribes of Australia. I have seen natives, both in the north
and south of this continent, whose skin over certain areas was devoid of
pigment; the hands and feet seem particularly prone to be thus affected.
So much for the seat of the pigmentation. If we now enquire into the
actual complexion, or colour-tint, of the aboriginal’s skin, the question
is not so easily satisfied as one might have thought. The colour is, of
course, brown—a soft, velvety brown, like chocolate. Scientists tell
us it is about the same as tint No. 3 of the colour scheme on Plate
III, Notes and Queries on Anthropology, London. But the matter is not
so simple as one might be led to believe. To begin with, we have not a
homogeneous colouration before us. If, for instance, we wanted to paint
a picture of an aboriginal, we would mix a fundamental chocolate-brown
to deck the surface with; to obtain the shade of the back we should
have to mix a blue or green with the brown; whereas the cheeks and chin
would require a yellow or red. The intensity of pigmentation varies to
a noticeable degree; it is deepest on the back and neck, and along the
folds of the skin. The soles and palms are always very much lighter in
colour than the rest of the body.
Environment plays an important role, because a native’s skin has the
remarkable power of what might be termed complimentary colour-adaptation,
as a result of which a hard and fast definition, or fixing, of the shade
is practically impossible. For this same reason it is conceivable why the
sombre hue of the hunter’s skin becomes neutralized by the sallowness
of the arid Central Australian scrub, as well as by the deeply-shaded
verdure of the tropical jungle. Upon a clear day, with an open, blue sky,
an aboriginal always appears dark or dingy, while on a dull and cloudy
day, his skin is more of a chocolate-brown; when he is swimming in the
open sea, his colour may even become coppery and seem not much darker
than that of a Javanese.
The adaptable tone-characteristics of their skin are well-known to the
natives themselves, not only while in the hunting field and on the
warpath, but also on the playground. At Opparinna, in the Musgrave
Ranges, children were seen indulging in a game resembling “hide and
seek,” and often, in an endeavour to avoid the keen eye of the “seeker,”
one would duck in amongst the boulders of granite and imitate the
rust-coloured contours of a boulder to perfection.
[Illustration: _PLATE VI_
1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “_ungwaina_” (nose-stick), and fur-string
bandeau.
2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing bloodwood seed pendants called “_dindula_.”
Note “Semitic” nose.]
We know that the climate has an important bearing upon the subject of
pigmentation in all races. Most of us have had our faces, hands, and
other exposed parts of our body bronzed when holiday-making at the
seaside. If we come straight from indoor life in the city, we might,
in addition, find our skin develop a badly blistered condition known
as sunburn. Yet the bushman, the coach-driver, or the sailor, who, by
long exposure, has acquired a more or less permanent tan, can bask with
impunity in the severest rays of the sun.
Exactly the same processes take place in the coloured man’s skin. When
cruising about the north coast, I frequently had occasion to observe
that my Malay crew were more bronzed above than below the belt. This was
obviously caused through continued exposure to the tropical sun, since
during the heat of day they would work, or lie about on deck, wearing
nothing else than a serong hanging from their waist.
When aborigines are taken from their wild outdoor life, and kept
under European conditions, more or less confined, their skin becomes
unquestionably lighter; this is particularly noticed in their faces.
These phenomena indicate to us the method Nature adopts in protecting our
skin, and with it our system, against scorching rays of the sun; and we
also realize why it is that the coloured man can endure the disadvantages
of a tropical climate so much better than we.
The same phenomena might also be made responsible for the wonderful
absence of pigment in the skin of modern white peoples of European
origin. There is no doubt, the great Ice Age and the living in caves
and shelters (and huts) were the essential factors which ultimately
established the “white” skin in man. In this hypothesis, we naturally
assume that our Diluvial or earlier Tertiary ancestor had a moderately
dark-coloured skin, which protected him against the tropical sun, which
Geology has taught us, shone over Europe at the beginning or middle of
that great period.
CHAPTER VIII
THE HAIR
The lanugo—Hairiness of body—Female beards—The hair
of the scalp and how it is worn—Its colour—Aboriginal
blondes—Albinism—Erythrism—Fair hair a likely “throw-back” to
prototype—Influences of climate and geological antiquity—Other
instances of fair-haired aborigines—Grey hair—Baldness—The
beard and methods of dressing it.
Let us proceed with a discussion of the aboriginal’s hair. As in the
youthful individuals of most races of man, including the European, the
Australian is born with a rudimentary, short body-hair, known as the
_lanugo_. This growth covers practically all surfaces of the child’s
figure, but is thickest on the back.
The colour of this infantile coating of hair is not, as one might have
expected, black, but fair, and casts a pretty golden sheen over the
sombre skin. In later adult life this growth of hair becomes stronger,
and darkens to complete blackness. In ripe old age, the hairs turn grey.
Many of the old men have a remarkable hairiness of the body, amounting
almost to a _hypertrichosis_. In these cases the hairs are up to an inch
long, and cover especially thickly the back, the chest, the thighs, and
buttocks (Plate VII, 1). Amongst the women quite pretentious beards are
of rather frequent occurrence (Plate III, 2).
With regard to the hair which covers the scalp, we find that, in the
majority of cases, it is wavy. It is by no means uncommon, however, to
find the Australian’s hair distinctly frizzy; straight hair is least
frequently observed. The male aboriginal generally wears his hair in long
loose curls; often these are matted together artificially with grease and
red ochre into long, pendant, sausage-like masses. In the central region
of Australia, the men pull out the hair growing on the upper portion
of the forehead, each hair being removed separately. A hair-string band
is worn over the cleared portion of the forehead, and this, at the same
time, keeps back the locks of hair. Very often, in the central as well
as in the northern districts, the hair thus tied back is worked up with
a pad of emu feathers into a chignon, which is tied round and round with
human hair-string (Plate IX). The women are frequently asked to cut their
hair short, and to deliver the clippings to their husbands, who work them
up into coils of string, out of which they subsequently fashion hair
belts and a variety of other articles in daily use. Occasionally one
sees an aboriginal whose hair stands about his head after the type of a
Struwwelpeter, or it may hang from the scalp like a mop. The last-named
types were more plentiful on the north coast than in central Australia,
but a number of cases were recorded among the Aluridja and Wongapitcha.
The men of the same west-central tribes decorate their hair with wooden
pins whose surfaces they cut longitudinally over certain sections, so
that the shavings, which form, curl outwards but still remain attached to
the rod. The ornaments which go by the name of “_elenba_” remind one of
trimmed skewers occasionally seen in butcher-shops. One or two of them
are worn long at the back of the head (Plate IX, 2), or a number of them
short, as a fringe above the forehead. The women of the same districts
try to make their hair look attractive by attaching to the tips of the
matted locks numerous seed-capsules of the Bloodwood eucalyptus. The
hairs are rammed into the open ends of the seeds and kept there by small
plugs of wood or blebs of resin. The little ornaments dangle about the
forehead and shoulders and are known as “_dindula_” The seeds of the
Currajong are similarly used. Vide Plate VI, 2.
The colour of the adult Australian’s hair is almost invariably black, but
often of different intensities over different parts of the scalp. When a
hair is pulled and examined under magnification, the part which had been
embedded in the follicle is not infrequently discovered to be colourless
or brownish.
By far the most remarkable, and genetically perhaps the most important,
subject in connection with the colour of the Australian aboriginal’s
hair is the juvenile _blonde_. In 1903, I first came across a number of
children of the Ulparidja group of the Wongapitcha, in the Tomkinson
Ranges, who had heads of hair of a flaxen colour. Since then, I have
seen many similar cases among the Aluridja, in the Lilla Creek district,
several Wongapitcha from south of the Musgrave Ranges, at Ooldea, and a
limited number among the western Arunndta, on the Finke River, south of
the MacDonnell Ranges. The colour of these children’s hair varied from a
straw-yellow, through light brown, to dark brown (Plate X, 1).
It appeared that, towards the age of puberty, the shade became visibly
deeper; after which it gradually changed to dark brown or black. This
change of colour I have recently been able to watch very closely in the
hair of two young gins who have been under daily observation for over
four years.
Among the adults, such blondes are unknown; two or three cases of brown
hair in grown-up persons, however, came under our observation among the
Aluridja, west of the Finke River.
True albinism has not been authoritatively established, as existing among
the Australian aboriginals. The case of a young woman was reported from
the Depôt on the Victoria River, who is said to have been quite “white,”
and to have had “red” eyes. This albino, I was informed, was photographed
by the local constable shortly before she died in 1921.
Erythrism, too, is practically unknown; the only cases of the latter on
record are four from the Tully and Bloomfield Rivers, discovered by Dr.
Walter Roth. Red hair is, however, not appreciated by the aborigines, who
incline to hold it to ridicule.
[Illustration: _PLATE VII_
1. Old Yantowannta man, showing a strong growth of hair covering the body.
2. Old Yantowannta man, showing peculiar method of wearing the beard.]
When, therefore, we consider the likely significance of fair-haired
aborigines, from an anthropological standpoint, we cannot ignore the
claims of atavism. Noticing the phenomenon so abundantly developed, as it
has been our good fortune recently to record, one is inclined to behold
in it a primitive feature, which was originally typical of the ancestral
hordes from whom the aboriginal Australian has sprung. This assumption is
strengthened by the light colour of the lanugo regularly observed in the
children.
The question arises whether the dark colour of the Australian’s skin (and
hair) is entirely a secondary development due to climatic influences.
The superficial nature of the pigmentation in the aboriginal’s skin is
in support of such reasoning. It is known that the hair of some Arctic
explorers, after a protracted sojourn in the frigid zones, has turned
from dark to fair; and the same has been reported of alpine guides. We
shall see presently that there is evidence of great antiquity of man in
Australia; his occupation of the land dating back in all probability
to the early Tertiary period. Geology teaches us that the climate has
fluctuated considerably since and before that time. Consequently, it is
quite within reason to assume that, in the earlier days of his racial
existence, there may have been no need for any considerable accumulation
of pigment cells within his skin, as a means of safeguarding his system
against a sun, anything like so severe as is nowadays reigning over
Australia. From later Tertiary times onwards, however, the climate of
central and northern Australia has been continuously hot or tropical.
We are further strengthened in our theory by the fact that the hair of
the Tasmanians is known to have been generally lighter in colour than
that of the Australians. Sydney Hickson even described the Tasmanian hair
as light golden brown in colour. Tasmania has, we know, since the later
Tertiary at all events, enjoyed a decidedly colder climate than Australia
proper.
One point remains unexplained; namely, why the occurrence of
light-coloured hair among Australian children should be geographically
restricted. Apart from the tribal groups in central Australia, which
I have mentioned, I know of no other record except one by Professor
Klaatsch from a coastal district in Queensland.
The hair of an aboriginal turns grey at a riper old age than is the case
of the European’s. It seems, moreover, that the hair of the women retains
its colour longer than that of the men.
Baldness is comparatively rare among the aborigines; only a limited
number of cases have come before the writer’s personal notice.
The old Arunndta men are very particular about their appearance. When
one is stricken with baldness, he constructs a pad, resembling a skull
cap, out of emu feathers, which he ties on top of his head with human
hair-string and wears regularly to hide the bareness of his scalp. He
refers to this feather-wig as “_memba_.” Aluridja men adopt a similar
fashion, but call the article “_lorngai_” (Plate VIII).
The men all over Australia, as a rule, can produce quite comely beards,
but the methods they adopt of dressing them vary according to locality.
In the River Murray and other southern districts, long square full-beards
were the vogue. The Yantowannta and other tribesmen of the Cooper’s
Creek and Lake Eyre region turn the point of the beard back upon itself
into a loop, and, by winding fur-string around it, keep it fixed in that
fashion (Plate VII, 2). North of the MacDonnell Ranges, and on some of
the islands off Arnhem Land, the older men keep the upper lip clean by
pulling out the hairs one by one. Along the north coast, from the Gulf of
Carpentaria to the Buccaneer Archipelago, the men over a certain age are
allowed to singe off, or shave with a sharp chip of stone or shell, the
entire beard including the upper lip. The women of the King Sound tribes
are required to help the men remove the hairs; a man will lie for hours,
with his head upon his lubra’s lap, whilst she busies herself pulling the
hairs from her husband’s chin. The old men of the Cambridge Gulf tribe
twist each end of the moustache and surround it with a cylindrical layer
of beeswax, from which the tips project on either side like the hairs of
a paint brush. The beard is divided into two equal bundles of hairs, the
ends of both of which are treated in the same way as the moustache. On
some of the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago, the men shave the upper
portion of the moustache below the nose, leaving only a narrow fringe of
hairs, immediately above the margin of the upper lip.
CHAPTER IX
LIKELY ORIGIN OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL
Deductions theoretical—Pre-historic men of Australia—Tennant’s
Creek calvarium—Talgai skull—Other finds—Alterations in world’s
ancient geography—Former land-bridges—Probable home of man in
region now occupied by Indian Ocean—Early migrations—Three
principal strains—Negroid—Mongoloid—Australoid—Tremendous
upheavals at close of Triassic Period—Australia isolated—Early
inhabitants unmolested—Primitive Australian anthropologically
related to cultured Caucasian—Survival of the Stone Age in
Australia—Living fossils—Short resumé—The mixing of European
with aboriginal blood—What is a half-caste?
Having satisfied ourselves in regard to some of the principal somatic
characteristics of the Australian aboriginal, we shall proceed to discuss
briefly his likely origin. In the present absence of more material facts
relating to his ancestry, and of a more thorough comparative knowledge of
races in general, we are lamentably handicapped in this direction, and
many of our conclusions are necessarily theoretical.
So far as possible, we shall take into consideration his present
relationships to other living races and peoples, as well as his
affinities with the ancient hunting peoples, who inhabited various parts
of the world in bygone eras, and are now only known in a fossilized
condition.
This introduces the geological element of time—hundreds of thousands,
yea, millions perhaps, of years have passed since man left records of his
being; definite traces have been found, embedded in the same deposits as
contain the mammoth, on the one hand, and the Diprotodon, on the other.
The evidences of pre-historic and fossil men in the Old World are too
numerous and well-known to need elucidation here; we shall confine our
attention to Australian records.
Some years ago a specimen was submitted to me for identification which
had been found in Pleistocene (or Pliocene?) gravels S.S.E. of the
Tennant’s Creek district. It was so completely petrified and “stony”
looking that the organic origin was doubted, but a thin section viewed
under the microscope revealed the true structure of bone. After cleaning
the fragment thoroughly, I recognized it as portion of a human skull,
viz. the posterior half of the left parietal. The anterior fracture is
vertical and at about the centre of the parietal eminence; the thin
squamous edge is also broken away. The lambdoidal border is still quite
characteristic and shows the complex nature of the parieto-occipital
suture. Both the external and internal surfaces are rough and pitted
through exposure, age, and mineral precipitations, but the temporal
ridge is still discernible and can be traced posteriorly right up to the
parieto-occipital suture. There is no indication of a parietal foramen.
The bone is thick about the posterior inferior angle, but the groove of
the lateral sinus has broken away. The specimen, when struck, has a clear
metallic ring, like that of earthenware or porcelain. When treated with
acid, the surfaces as well as the “bone-substance” effervesced briskly,
proving that a thorough intermolecular substitution of organic matter by
mineral was in progress. This calvarium, fragmentary though it is, is of
considerable importance from a prehistory point of view, since it gives
us another definite link in the somewhat meagre chain of evidence which
has been established in connection with the geological antiquity of man
in Australia.
The most important find of an extinct Australian type was made at Talgai,
in south-eastern Queensland, as far back as 1884, in the shape of a
fairly well preserved skull; but it was not until a few years ago that
a description of it was published by Dr. S. A. Smith. Although no other
bones were discovered in association with the skull, numerous remains
of extinct creatures like the Diprotodon, the Nototherium, and horny
reptiles have been unearthed not many miles remote from the site of the
interesting discovery. Dr. Smith sums up his observations as follows:
“This fossil human skull of a not yet adult Proto-Australian presents the
general picture of a cranium similar in all respects to the cranium of
the Australian of to-day, combined with a facial skeleton of undoubtedly
Australian type, in the palate and teeth of which there are to be found,
in conjunction with the most primitive characters found in modern skulls,
certain characters more ape-like than have been observed in any living or
extinct race, except that of Eoanthropus.”
Other less convincing discoveries have been recorded in the shape of
human and dingo bones from the Wellington Caves, human remains and
artefacts from beneath the basalts of Victoria, and the fossil footprints
of an aboriginal in the upper Tertiary beds of Warrnambool.
It would seem, therefore, that sufficient facts have been forthcoming to
prove that man was in existence at any rate in late Tertiary times; and
since he was then perfectly developed, it would not seem unreasonable to
assign to him a very much greater antiquity.
During these long ages, tectonic forces, and the ever active denuding
agents of the atmosphere, in all their phases, have wrought considerable
transfigurations in the surface of the globe. Some portions of the
earth’s crust have been swallowed by the ocean, whilst others have been
wrenched from the depths by upheaving processes. Thus the geography
of our present world would be a _terra incognita_ to the earliest
progenitors of the human kind, who lived in the dim dawn of man’s
ascending tendencies, while, on the other hand, we would require a new
army of intrepid explorers to pave the way for civilization if we were
suddenly placed back into the world as it stood in the beginning of
primeval days.
Old land connections then existed between entities which now are parted
by abysmal depths. Such evidence of once-existing continental links is
afforded by what has been termed a “biological consanguinity” between
organic creations on both sides of gaps now occupied by ocean water.
There is no novelty about all this. Our best scientists have long
recognized that such connections have existed beyond all doubt.
They become evident when one enquires into the present geographical
distribution of botanical and zoological species, and when one correlates
geological strata in different parts of the world, on the basis of
palæontological evidence contained in them.
The same principles apply when we consider the probable original home of
man, and the subsequent migrations and racial evolutions of the pristine
hordes, which followed.
That once a chain of land linked together the shores of Australia,
South Africa, and India seems certain. The continental masses, which
in past eras supplied this link, zoologists have christened _Lemuria_,
while geologists refer to the lost land as _Gondwana_. It is somewhere
within the area once occupied by this submerged continent, perhaps not
far remote from Australia, that we must look for the cradle of the
species _Homo_. Although most of the evidence has been irretrievably
lost to scientific investigation, much might yet be expected from any of
the contiguous continents or islands in this region, upon which occur
Tertiary or later sedimentary formations. The discovery of the oldest
fossil, which appears to be human—the _Pithecanthropus erectus_—in Java,
was by no means accidental. Professor Dubois, before leaving for that
island to undertake a fossil-hunting expedition there, declared that in
all probability he would discover the remains of a primitive creature
related to man.
From some point, then, upon this ancient, vanished continent, perhaps
no great distance north of our present Australia, we believe migrations
of the earliest representatives of the human species took place. The
directions in which these migrations took place would be governed
according to the lie of the land as it was then determined by the
impassable waters of the ocean. In all probability, the families
or groups wandered in various directions, at first keeping more or
less in contact and on friendly terms with each other, but as time,
and eventually ages, wore on, these migratory groups, by selective
culture, environment, climate, and, maybe, sundry other causes, became
differentiated into peculiarly distinct strains, all of which we are
nowadays able to reduce to three fundamental races.
One of these migrations was along a western course, which led the
wandering groups into the region now represented by the continent of
Africa. This established the Negroid element.
Another strain moved northwards and spread itself, like the rays of a
rocket, across the land now known as Asia. Some of these “rays” reached
what is now Lapland, while others found their way, via the region of
modern Esquimaux Land, across to what we now call North America. This
march evolved the Mongoloids.
Yet another body of primitive hunters, who interest us most, worked
their way north-westwards, on a course between the former two, and took
possession of any portions of the dry land of the globe, the present
relics of which are India, south-western Asia, and Europe.
Then came the catastrophe! The exact period is not determined. It must
have happened since the advent of the “human” type, but there the
evidence fails. Upheavals or subsidences of land usually take an age
to make themselves noticeable. It is scientifically established that
the close of the Triassic period was characterized throughout the world
by great tectonic changes. Beds of rock were faulted to lofty heights
on one side, and to dizzy depths on the other. The height of the Blue
Mountains plateau of New South Wales is evidence of such upheaval, whilst
the broken coastline, with its “drowned” rivers and myriads of islands
along the north-west of Australia, together with the coastal fringe of
coral reefs along the north, are all evidences of comparatively recent
subsidence _en bloc_.
By these processes Australia was gradually isolated from its former
land-connections, but, being near to the original home of man, it is only
natural to suppose that the land was peopled.
From that time on Australia remained, whether as an island continent or
a group of associated islands does not concern us here, isolated from
the rest of the world. The original inhabitants whiled away their time
in comparative ease. They had nothing to fear. Their former companions
who had, through their nomadic migrations, been so far removed from
them, would, no doubt, have now posed as formidable rivals, if the
barriers had not come between. Until the recent arrival of the European
explorers and settlers, and the periodic visitations to the north coast
by Malay bêche-de-mer fishers, this great Southern Land had remained the
undisputed property of the comparatively sparse progeny of the first
primitive possessors.
There were no ferocious animals to molest these early prehistoric
Australians. Apart from a few dangerous, but usually non-aggressive,
reptiles, the large animals were almost without exception of the ancient
marsupial order, and, although perfectly harmless, offered excellent
opportunity for the chase.
Thus it happened that the primitive hordes could roam at large in a
congenial climate, and under peculiar conditions, which were everywhere
much the same; and, in their subsequent wanderings, they met only with
people of their own descent and inclinations. In consequence, they were
spared many of the bloody brawls and conflicts, which the competitive
waves of culture continually showered upon the other hordes that were
struggling northwards under decidedly more adverse conditions of climate.
The great struggle for existence did not make itself felt so keenly to
the ancient Australians because they were strictly insulated, and thus
kept outside the sphere of exotic influence and interference; their
only troubles amounted to an individual club-duel, or occasionally an
inter-tribal warfare, which evoked more irate words than actual blood
drawn by their sharply-pointed spears.
So the Australian has remained just what he was ages ago. And on that
account the evolution of his pristine contemporaries, who were seized
by the flood wave of culture, becomes the more comprehensible, when we
measure the differences, but recognize the affinities, existing between
the extremes. A line drawn across the map of the world indicating, so
far as it is at this stage possible, the areas whose populations show,
or before their extinction showed, the strongest affinities with him
will represent roughly the direction of migration and incidentally of
evolution of the Australoid strain.
This line of anthropological relationship connects the Australian
(including the Proto-Australian) with the Veddahs and Dravidians of
India, and with the fossil men of Europe, from whom the Caucasian element
has sprung. In other words, the Australian aboriginal stands somewhere
near the bottom rung of the great evolutional ladder we have ascended—he
the bud, we the glorified flower of human culture.
In the living Australian then, we see the prototype of man as he appeared
in Europe in the Stone Age. Australia has upon other occasions proved
to be extraordinary in a scientific sense. The kangaroo is known only
in the petrified condition in the Tertiary deposits in other parts of
the world. The _Zamia_, which is still found living in Australia, is
a conspicuous plant of the coal-measures in every other country. The
ornamental mollusc, known as _Trigonia_, had been regarded as extinct
until it was re-discovered in Australia. Most of the great river systems
of central Australia have had their day; they have flourished in the
past; yet, occasionally, after a prolific downpour, their dry courses
swell temporarily to majestic streams. And, lastly, we see in the
aboriginal yet another palæontological overlap—a living fossil man—the
image of ourselves, as we appeared many ages before we learned to record
the history of our progress, and of the world in general.
When one wades more deeply into the subject, only skimmed above,
the following points suggest themselves to one: Our line of racial
development was very early dissociated from the Mongoloid and Negroid
lines; and geographically it ran between the latter two. There are
considerable racial differences between the other races and the
Australoids, the most highly specialized and cultured division of which
is now represented by the modern Caucasian. The last-named deductions
are entirely supported by the shallowness of the pigmentation in the
aboriginal’s skin, and by the fair hair of children found among certain
tribes of central Australia. In fact, the colour question, so far as
the Australian aboriginal is concerned, is a relative conception, the
difference in the amounts of pigment in his skin and in the “white” man’s
being in all probability due to climatic influences extending over long
periods of time. It is doubtful whether the primitive Australoid or the
Proto-Australian possessed a skin so dark as that of the present-day
Australian. We may now understand why it is that the quarter-blooded
progeny derived from the union of a half-blooded aboriginal woman with
a European father is always lighter in colour than its mother, and the
octoroon lighter still. Unions further on the European side produce
children practically white; and no case is on record where the colour in
a later generation reverted to the darker again. The latter, we know,
happens only too often when there is a taint of Negroid blood running in
a family, even though the mixing of race took place generations back.
Apart from its great scientific significance, this matter is of
considerable social and national interest to citizens of Australia,
and we might well ask ourselves: “Are we justified in referring to the
half-blooded aboriginal, with European parentage on one side, as a
half-caste, or in even stigmatizing him as a bastard?”
CHAPTER X
AN ABORIGINAL’S BIRTH
Recognition of pending maternity—Peculiar beliefs in
connection with the cause of pregnancy—Larrekiya legend
and maternal dietary—Maiyarra’s accouchement—Birth—Twin
births—After-treatment—Artificial termination of
pregnancy—Preparing the new-born—Children’s lot decided by
peculiar group-relationships—Parents’ affection—Children
unclothed—How they are kept warm and reared—Different methods
of carrying and nursing children.
It had been talked among the old men for some time past that the lubra
Maiyarra was giving cause for suspicion. Her husband Pitjala agreed; to
his knowledge there had been no occasion for her to leave his camp for
some moons past. His mother, old Indarrakutta, had told him that when
she and Maiyarra were gathering roots down by the Womma waterhole, many
of the gum trees were covered with manna and they partook freely of the
sweet meal, which, as he knew, does not often come to their district.
The old woman had cautioned the girl and growled at her when she did not
obey, because she knew Maiyarra was of the Yalliadni clan and should not
be allowed to eat the manna. This disobedient gin had, however, not eaten
much before she became sick and was obliged to lie in the hot sand of the
creek where the bullrushes stand. Indarrakutta had stood aghast, Pitjala
explained to the old men, when unexpectedly disturbing a snake from the
bullrushes, she observed that the creature, in gliding over the ground,
touched the body of Maiyarra with its tail and, in its great haste to
disappear, had left portion of its glossy slough beside her. “_Yakai_,”
gasped the men, as if from a single mouth, “then it is clear the ever
wakeful spirit of Womma has caught the neglectful Maiyarra sleeping and
it is certain she is with child.”
Such was the history of the case as narrated to us. It corroborated
previous observations from central and northern tribes. The recognition
of maternity is not connected primarily with any conjugal liberties a
husband or number of tribal husbands may be privileged to enjoy, but
more with the recollection of any accidental contact with an object by
which it is supposed a spirit child can enter the body of a woman. The
spiritual ingress may take place in a variety of ways, but as often as
not it is believed to be by means of a hollow object of some description.
In the present instance it was a snakeskin. On the Victoria River the
gins have a dread of the whirlwind, thinking that if such should pass
over one of them, a spirit child would immediately enter the woman. In
the Cambridge Gulf country, young women very reluctantly go into a water
hole in which lilies are growing, fearing that as they step over the
leaves, which are hollow, a similar fate may overtake them.
In the ancestral days of the Larrekiya in the Port Darwin district, for
instance, it is believed that a baby boy was once seen to spring from
the burrow of a rabbit bandicoot; whence he had come no one knew. He was
invited to come to the Larrekiya camp and live with them, but he refused.
Some time after, when the boy had become a man, he was again met by
the tribe, who once more invited him to their camp; but he declined as
before. Thereupon the men became angry and dragged him to a waterhole,
and threw him in. The stranger immediately sank, and five bubbles of air
rose to the surface as he disappeared. The men sat down and watched the
water, when suddenly the man’s face reappeared. The Larrekiya hurled a
spear at him, and he was killed because they knew he had no father and no
mother and was the accomplice of the evil spirit, who, it is asserted by
the Wogait, makes a big fire, from the smoke of which he takes an infant
and places it, at night, into the womb of a lubra; and she must then give
birth to the child.
In the same district, when it becomes known that a happy event is
pending, the husband goes out with his lubra and kills a certain animal
or collects certain vegetable products, which he hands to the woman
to eat, believing that these articles when swallowed will ensure a
successful birth.
To return to our story: Maiyarra was groaning with pains in the abdomen.
She was alone with the old woman Indarrakutta, who was her mother-in-law,
well beyond hearing distance from the main camp. A small fire was burning
sluggishly by their side and throwing a thin column of bluish white smoke
into the air. Maiyarra was sitting upon a small patch of ground cleared
of the burrs, with her legs stretched before her. She was propping
her writhing body, sloping slightly backwards, with her arms against
the ground. The old woman sat closely behind, with her arms thrown
around Maiyarra’s waist, and with her lower limbs, bent in the knee,
enclosing and pressing against the younger woman’s buttocks on either
side. Occasionally the old woman would relinquish her hold and make for
the fire, over which she warmed her hands to subsequently massage the
patient’s abdomen. Now and then she might even rub warm ashes over it.
Then the two sat in patient expectation, and, whenever there came a pain,
the old woman would tighten her grip, while she spoke encouragingly
to the parturient Maiyarra. This method is very generally employed,
except that when the final stage has arrived, the Arunndta and other
neighbouring tribes in central Australia request the gin to squat on her
toes, with her buttocks resting over her heels.
The event is almost invariably spontaneous. In my experience I have very
rarely seen complications, and then usually when the lubra has been
living under civilized conditions.
Twins are very exceptionally seen; we do not mean to imply, however, that
multiple births do not occur more often than one sees or hears of. No
authentic observations are available to satisfy our curiosity in regard
to this point. We have been repeatedly assured that when twins are born,
one has arrived as the result of the evil spirit’s witchcraft. The child,
one is informed, will do no good for itself, and, on account of the evil
within it, it will contaminate others with whom it comes into contact,
and, if it were allowed to grow up, it would be in league with the evil
spirit, whom it would look upon as a brother, and to whom it would betray
all the tribal secrets. The evil spirit would carry this information
to the enemy and their tribe would surely be wiped out of existence.
In consequence of all this, the suspected one of the two infants is
destroyed, usually by one of the old women in attendance, who places a
red-hot coal in its mouth or smothers it with sand.
The placenta is waited for, and then the umbilical cord is severed two
or three inches from the child’s abdomen in one of the following ways:
It may be twisted off, cut with a sharp fragment of shell or splinter of
rock, or pinched off with the finger-nails, or even bitten off with the
teeth. Another method is to batter it through with a stone, after which
the small remaining portion is packed with warm ashes. When it falls off,
it is tied around the child’s neck with a piece of fur-string, where it
is worn for a while as an amulet. The placenta is either burned or buried.
Intentional interferences with pregnancy are rare among the
unsophisticated tribes, but rather frequent when the natives are living
under more civilized conditions. At Fowler’s Bay a gin, who wishes to rid
herself of prospective motherhood, collects a number of black beetles,
known as “_yarralyi_,” which she roasts and reduces to powder. Of the
powder she rubs some into her armpits, and some over her breasts and
pubes.
[Illustration: _PLATE VIII_
Old Kai-Kai, the leading medicine man of the western Arunndta.
“The medicine man is not so much an individual who has the knowledge
of medicinal values of herbs and surgical practices as one who is the
recognized sorcerer....”
(Note also the emu-feather skull cap, light-wood shield, and
“_Kutturu_.”)]
The newly-born infant, as it lies upon the sand, is rubbed all over and
dried with ashes; then it is usually transferred to a sheet of bark or
a trough-shaped bark food-carrier, in which it is carried about during
the first few months of its existence, the mother, at feeding time and
other odd moments, taking it up into her arms. On Sunday Island the bark
food-carrier, there known as “_oladda_,” is used as a cradle; one often
might see a busy mother, attending to duties which occupy her hands,
putting her child to sleep by simultaneously rocking the receptacle
containing it with her foot (Plate XI).
The Aluridja smear ochre, ashes, and fat over the body to protect it
against the hot wind and the flies. Some of the south-eastern tribes, now
practically extinct, did likewise.
Among the Kolaias near Cambridge Gulf the common practice is to apply
mother’s milk to the infant’s body and sprinkle it with charcoal.
In their endeavour to make a young mother’s breast as productive as
possible, the Aluridja and Arunndta burn sticks of the mulga and stroke
the breast with the charred ends.
The Arunndta singe the infant’s hair with a fire-stick and rub the skin
over with charcoal to bring about a darkening of the colour as speedily
as possible.
In the same way as girl-piccaninnies are assigned to their
tribal husbands before even they are born, according to certain
group-relationships, so are the boys of the Port George IV district
apportioned by the same law to the old men, whom they must obey, when
called upon, throughout the term of the elders’ lives.
An aboriginal gin is often charged with callousness towards her
offspring. Such an accusation, apart from proving the informant’s
ignorance, amounts to a slanderous injustice. The aboriginal mother is as
fondly attached to her babe as most white women are to theirs, and the
way she can endear herself to it is pathetic. The men, too, exercise a
chivalrous and honourable guardianship over the innocents of their tribe
as well as over the children of any white settlers, who happen to reside
in their district. Those who have lived among the Australian natives,
like the northern squatters, know only too well that under ordinary
circumstances their children could not be in safer custody than when
entrusted to the care of the aborigines.
An infant is never clothed. On Sunday Island a single strand of human
hair-string is tied around its hips and pubes. Such is, of course, in
the first place to decorate the body, and secondly to charm away the
evil-bringing spirits which may surround it.
To bring warmth to an infant during the night, it is cuddled by its
mother or other near relative; during the day, when the mother’s
hands are otherwise occupied, a piccaninny is often kept snug in its
bark-cradle by bedding it upon, and sprinkling it with, warm ashes.
A child is not weaned until it is at least three or four years old;
at times it is kept at the breast for even a year or more longer.
Nevertheless, a mixed diet is offered the suckling very early in life;
one often sees a baby, but a month or two old, vigorously sucking the
smooth head-end of a big bone and apparently thoroughly enjoying the
treat.
Different methods have been devised to assist the gins in carrying their
infants with as little inconvenience as possible when on the march.
When the babe is very young, the bark-carrier is indispensable; it is
either carried under the arm or cleverly balanced upon the head. In the
latter case a circular cushion or ring-pad is first placed on the head to
steady the weight.
One precaution is constantly preached to young mothers, namely, not to
allow the child’s legs to hang over the edge of the wooden carrier lest
they grow crooked.
The tribes north of the Great Australian Bight swing the infants in skins
or plaited vegetable fibre mats over their backs, the corners of the
receptacles being tied in front of the mother’s neck. The nearly extinct
tribes of the lower River Murray and surrounding districts, as far as
western Victoria, used to adopt the same method.
When the child attains a riper age it sits in the bag-shaped receptacle,
its head being the only exposed part of its body which is visible.
The natives maintain that they originally learned this dodge from the
kangaroo, which carries its young in a pouch.
When the child is a little older and has arrived at the toddling stage,
it is allowed to ride pick-a-back style upon its mother’s back, where it
secures its position by catching hold of the gin’s shoulders, neck, or
breasts. Another favourite method is for the gin to straddle the child
upon one of her hips and hold it there with her arm.
Occasionally the child sits upon either parent’s shoulders and hangs on
to the elder’s head or hair. More for the excitement created than as a
recognized way of transport, the parent, usually the father, may seat the
child upon his head and hold both his arms up for the rider to clasp.
After a short run with its father in this position, the child usually
asks to be let down again.
The most peculiar custom is that in vogue among the Wongapitcha of the
Tomkinson and other associated ranges in central Australia. The child is
laid across the small of the mother’s back, face forwards, and is kept
in a horizontal position by partly lying upon the gin’s buttocks; it is
supported by the mother’s arms, one of which is held beneath its neck,
the other beneath its knees. By adopting this method of carrying, the gin
has both her hands free. The same method is adopted during the transport
of a favourite dog, the women maintaining that it is a very comfortable
occupation in the cold weather because the animals help to keep them warm
(Plate XVI, 1).
When off duty, that is when not on the tramp, hunting, or
wood-collecting, a gin will carry, rock, and caress her offspring much
like a European mother does, by tenderly clutching it in both her arms.
If work permits, the mother often sits on the ground and lays her
offspring across her lap; by lifting her thighs towards her body, she
forms a trough, in which the babe lies most comfortably.
On the north coast one might occasionally see a gin swinging her babe
upon an aerial root or branch of a tree, or upon the flexible stalk of a
tropical climbing plant.
[Illustration: _PLATE IX_
1. Men of Kolaia tribe, Cambridge Gulf, wearing the hair tied at the back
around a pad of emu feathers.
2. Wongapitcha men wearing ornamental wooden hair-pins known as
“_elenba_.” Note charcoal rubbed over the foreheads.]
CHAPTER XI
CHILDHOOD
Much freedom given to children—Entertained and amused by
parents—Taught songs and dances—Drawing tracks in the
sand—Importance of learning to track—Playing with sand, mud,
and water—Sliding and mud-balling—Tobogganing—Tree-climbing
practice—Chasing wind-driven objects—Spearing moving
targets—“Hand-ball”—“Catch-ball”—“Tip-cat”—Throwing
contests—“Hide and Seek”—Toys—Playing at “Father
and Mother”—“Dolls”—Fireless cooking—Toy
throwing-sticks—Sham-fights and hunts—Emu game—Toy
boomerang—Toy raft—The “_Kukerra_”—Spinning
tops—“Cratch-cradle”—Children rarely attend
ceremonies—Discipline and obedience—Girls trained by
mothers—Boys taught how to make and use weapons—Girls’ stick
practices—Spartan principles—Animal and bird pets.
So soon as the child is able to walk and run, independently of its
mother, it is allowed every freedom, but never far away from the watchful
eye of its parent; quite occasionally, however, one might meet with a
toddler roaming about the bush all alone, and miles away from the main
camp. Recently we saw a little chap near Running Waters on the Finke
River, who would wander away from camp and spend days alone in the
sandhills. The only nourishment he could find during his absence was a
handful of small bulbs, which grew along the sandy banks of the Finke.
It must be mentioned that this little fellow was an orphan, and nobody
seemed to take much notice of his absence for the first day or so, after
which a near relative would set out, pick up the wanderer’s track, and
bring him back to camp.
Parents devote much of their time to the entertainment and amusement
of their children; but the economical side of play is never forgotten.
If during a game, a practical wrinkle can be taught, which will prove
useful when the playful moments are left behind and the more serious
stage of life is entered, the opportunity is never missed.
Much time is spent in the evenings teaching the younger generation songs
and dances, which allude to ancestral traits, to the tricks of the chase,
and to the damage the evil spirits can do. The notes and calls of the
different wild animals and birds, with which the tribe has daily to
do, are cleverly imitated and explained, disregardless of the numerous
repetitions, which are begged, to satisfy the childish curiosity. For
instance, the plover is by the Western Arunndta called “_kurreke tata_,”
which is softly and musically rendered in imitation of the bird’s
familiar cry. The plover is described as a rain-maker, which is able
to bring the water from a cloud whenever it desires. Even the European
settler often refers to this bird as a “rainpiper”; the connection
between the species and rain no doubt having arisen from the fact that
plover usually follow up showers and remain in the vicinity of any pools
which collect upon the ground. During any rain-making ceremonies the
plover is frequently mimicked. Another of their favourite items is the
imitation of a whining and howling dingo, which they accomplish with
wonderful accuracy.
The dances, too, are largely imitative. One of the most popular of
the Arunndta repertoire is the frog-dance. The child adopts a sitting
attitude and passes its arms from the outside, behind the knees, and
forwards to the ground. In this position, it moves about on “all fours,”
with a peculiar hopping motion, adding greatly to the hilarity of the
meeting.
Great pleasure is evinced by the beaming young faces when an adult
prepares to draw pictures in the sand. A small circular patch of ground
is cleared by the entertainer, and the children seat themselves around
it. Having smoothed the surface with the palm of his hand, he proceeds to
“draw” by scratching the design into the sand with a small pointed stick.
Although the pictures are crude, and often nothing short of puzzles to
the European, the artist talks all the while to the children in such a
convincing way that, even assuming their eye incapable of comprehension,
their interest is excited or persuaded to such an extent as to almost
render the few lines in the sand a living reality. “Here is the man,”
explains the artist, as he draws a vertical line, “walking about” (a
number of small holes are tapped into the sand), “he sees a lizard” (a
longer line on a slope crossed by two shorter bars at right angles),
“away it runs” (pairs of taps slantingly opposite to each other), “the
man after it” (single taps between the former pairs), “he throws a
boomerang” (the familiar shape of the weapon is outlined), “the lizard
goes down a hole” (a hole is scratched into the ground), “the Kurdaitcha
take it, it is gone!” (he slaps the spot with the flat of his hand).
“_Yerrai!_ What is that? A snake!” (emerging from the hole he draws a
curved line), “the man has lost his boomerang but he hits the snake with
his waddy” (the curved line is smacked several times with the small
drawing stick the artist holds in his hand). “_I, i, i!_ he has finished
(_i.e._ killed) it.” And so the narration might go on for a considerable
time.
Commendable pains are taken by the adults in imitating the tracks of
all the animals of chase, and the children are invited to compete in
reproducing them. For instance, an “emu track” is obtained by pressing
the inner surfaces of the index finger and thumb, held at an angle of
about forty-five degrees, into a smooth patch of sand; then, without
lifting the index finger, the thumb is moved to the opposite side and
there pressed into the sand, at about the same angle as before. Often
the impression of the “pad” of the bird’s foot is indicated by dabbing
the round point of the thumb into the sand immediately behind the
intersection of the three “toes.”
A kangaroo track is simple, and is made by imprinting a finger or big toe
twice in the sand, an inch or two apart, so that the resulting marks are
two parallel grooves supposed to represent the impressions of the long
central toes of the marsupial. A shorter mark is made at the centre of
either of these, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, to indicate the
lateral toes, when the track is complete. At times a small scratch or
hole is made at the end of each of the “toes,” to suggest the claw-marks.
A dog track is made with the fingers alone. The tip of the thumb makes
an imprint, which is to represent the pad, whilst the finger-tips supply
those of the four toes, ranged in a semi-circle about the former. The
claw-marks are added in the same way as described of the kangaroo track.
A human track is imitated by imprinting the outer edge of a half-closed
hand, the left hand being used for the left foot and the right for
the right. This impression will give the ball, the outer surface, and
the heel of the required track; the toe-marks are dabbed in with the
finger-tips.
Where the camel is known, its track is reproduced. A piccaninny is
momentarily sat upon a smooth patch of sand and lifted away again; the
imprint of its stern supplies the outline for the required track. The
lower half of ridge left in the sand by the cleft between the child’s
buttocks is obliterated, when the “track” is ready for the never-failing
applause. Occasionally the upper angles, representing the camel’s toes,
are improved by making them more acute and deepening them to show where
the claws are supposed to have cut into the ground.
The study of animal-spoors in all their specific and various intricacies,
and especially the art of individualizing the human foot-print, rank
among the most important and earliest occupations of the aboriginal
child’s mind. Parents are required by law to see that the children
receive constant instruction and exercise in this department. It is a
common thing for a mother to purposely slip away from her child and not
to respond to the imploring wail, which follows when her absence is
discovered. The only sympathy some relatives or friends might proffer is
to direct the child’s notice to its mother’s tracks and at the same time
urging it to follow them up.
Whereas the average European can distinguish between the tracks of
a dog and a cat, it is a decidedly more difficult matter for him to
discriminate between those of a mastiff and a wolf on the one hand
and, say, those of a sheep-dog and a fox or jackal on the other. The
aboriginal, however, learns to recognize not only the class, or species,
or variety, as they are known to us, by the spoors, but can particularize
each single individual. By looking at a track, for instance, which we
can only describe as a “dog track,” an aboriginal can immediately tell
us whether it is that of a “wild-dog” or of a “whitefellow-dog,” whether
the animal is young or old, male or female, and whether it passed over
the ground sometime to-day, yesterday, the day before, or a week ago;
finally, he will tell us whether he has ever seen the dog, and, if so, he
will probably know who the owner is. And all this information comes at a
glance!
The children love basking in the sand; and spend hours playing with the
glistening white and red drifts so plentiful in central and northern
Australia. Little mounds are built, upon which they sit to defy the
others to topple them; and oblong holes are scratched, into which some
of the younger are laid and almost completely covered with sand. When
the buried ones presently throw the sand from their bodies, the rest
of the players scamper off with a hullabaloo and tell their elders the
Kurdaitcha (devil-devil) is coming.
Along the north coast of Australia, the mud-banks of the tidal rivers are
a great source of amusement. When the water recedes during the heat of
day, the young folk make for the blue mud-banks to indulge in sport and
play. Mud-sliding is usually the first item of the programme. Taking a
long run over the firmer ground, the performers reach the mud-bank with
considerable velocity, and in consequence of this, they slide over the
slimy surface in much the same style as our children in the Old Country
do over the ice. They maintain their balance with their arms. The sliding
is effected either singly or in long chains they form by joining hands.
They endeavour to make their slide reach the water, which, if they are
successful, they enter with no end of splashing and shrieking “_Ai! Ai!
Ai!_”
Another method often tried is to run and then take the “slide” lying upon
chest and belly. As one is sliding this way, he turns his body round its
long axis and eventually disappears into the water. To the observer a
child sliding in this way looks deceptively like a stranded dugong or
other big fish endeavouring to make back to water. Occasionally one of
the sporters breaks the monotony of the game by negotiating the “slide”
with his stern. Or he may bring along a small oblong sheet of bark, upon
which he sits or kneels and propels himself along with his foot. In
modern language this toy might be called a “mud-scooter.”
On Cambridge Gulf the girls have evolved yet another variety of this
sport. One lies flat on the mud, face downward, whilst another stands
behind her. The one lying now places her arms forwards and holds the
palms of her hands together; at the same time she bends her legs to a
rectangle in the knees, and keeping them together she holds them rigid
in that position. Now the girl standing behind seizes the legs of the
one on the mud at about the ankles and pushes the human sleigh along the
“slide.” As a special favour a piccaninny might be allowed to take a seat
upon the sliding girl’s back.
In the same district the boys delight in carrying each other pick-a-back
to the brink of the softest mud, to precipitate the rider backwards into
the slush or into the water.
To break the monotony, the children place themselves in a row, each with
a number of flattish pebbles previously collected on the dry land, and
take it turn about to pelt the surface of the water at a very sharp
angle in order to make the stone ricochet as many times as possible.
A new game is begun by the girls stamping the water with their feet, as
at a corroboree; the boys are preparing for a sham-fight. They cover
the whole of their body, including the hair, with thick mud, which they
maintain is the same as the ochre the warriors apply to their bodies
when on the war-path. They pick sides and stand face to face on a bank,
about half a chain apart. Upon a given signal they commence bombarding
each other with mud-balls! One is reminded of the snowballing feats of
European school children. The lads endeavour to dodge the mud-balls
thrown by their adversaries with as little movement as possible, by
just contorting the figure or lifting a limb to allow a missile to fly
harmlessly by. Much gesticulation takes place during the friendly combat,
and often does one hear an excited “_Ai! Ai!_” announcing the fact that a
player has effected a narrow escape. The climax, however, is not reached
until a hit is recorded, and a ball, too carefully aimed, spatters the
body of a neglectful opponent. When the game is over, all participants
rest for a while upon the surface of the muddy bank, then dive into the
water and wash the slush from their heated bodies.
At Kurrekapinnya Soakage in the Ayers Ranges the bare, inclined surface
of a granitic outcrop is utilized by the children for tobogganing. The
same track has been in use for so long that the “slide” has become
remarkably smooth from the constant wear. The tobogganer gathers a bundle
of rushes at the soakage and makes for the top of the outcrop. There he
places the bundle upon the polished “slide,” sits upon it, and starts
himself moving down the slope. Considerable speed is attained by the
time he reaches the bottom of the rock, whence he shoots into the sand
adjacent to it. The performance is repeated over and over again.
The Victoria River tribes arrange competitions among the boys in
tree-climbing, the lads being required to clamber up a number of selected
trees, and down again, in the quickest time possible.
On Bathurst Island a favourite amusement of the younger folk on a breezy
day is to collect the light globular seed-heads of the “spring rolling
grass” (_Spinifex hirsutis_), that grow on every sandhill near the
coast, and take them to the beach to release them on the hardened sand.
Driven along by the wind, these seeds travel over the surface at no mean
pace. Allowing them to gain a fair start, the children bolt after them,
endeavouring to overtake them and pick them up from the ground while
dashing past at full speed in “cow-boy” fashion.
In the same locality the children assemble on the beach and compete in
running and long jumping.
The Arunndta and Dieri children collect the dry tussocks of the “roly
poly” (_Salsola kali_) upon a windy day and take them to a big clay pan.
There they liberate them, and, as the wind whips them over the level
ground, the youthful gang makes after them with toy spear or boomerang,
each endeavouring to either stake a tussock with the first-named weapon
or shatter it with the latter.
In the Fowler’s Bay district the tussock is replaced by an artificial
target, such as a ball of fur-string, which is rolled over the surface by
an elder.
The Arunndta boys on the Finke River cut discs out of the bark of
eucalyptus trees, which they roll over the hard ground and chase with toy
spears. In the same district I have seen the bark disc replaced by an
iron ring the boys had been given by a teamster; this was carefully kept
in one of the huts and only produced when the lads were at liberty and
felt inclined “to tilt at the ring.”
[Illustration: _PLATE X_
1. A juvenile “blonde,” Aluridja tribe.
2. Ponga-Ponga gin carrying pet opossum on her head while on the march.]
A modification of the game was observed in the Humbert River district,
Northern Territory. Two parties, of about half-a-dozen each in number,
take up positions opposite each other and about a chain or chain and
a half apart. A circular piece of thick green bark is thrown overarm
by a member of one party swiftly towards the other, so that it strikes
the ground a little distance in front of the latter and rolls along the
ground past them. The waiting party stand in a row, with their spears
poised, and each in succession rushes forward to pierce the rolling
disc by hurling his missile at it. If one is successful the fact is
immediately announced by loud cheering. Then one of the party, who have
thrown, returns the disc in a similar way to the opposite side whilst
several of his fellows collect the spears for the next turn. Thus the
players are alternately “active” and “passive.” Special short wooden
spears are used, about five feet long, pointed at one end. The disc is
shaped out of an irregular piece of bark by biting off the angular points
until a more or less circular piece is obtained. Men and youths play
for hours at a time at this game, which they call “_gorri_”; and even
children are tolerated by them, although the last-named are often growled
at and told to keep out of the way (Plate XIII, 1).
A kind of hand-ball is practised on Bathurst Island. The seeds of the
Zamia (_Cycas media_) take the place of a small ball. Two lads stand
facing each other and hit the seed to and fro with the palms of their
hands, after the style of a modern game of tennis. On the Victoria
River, the children made similar use of the green seed capsules of the
cotton-tree.
In the Meda district of north-western Australia, players at the same game
employed flat pieces of wood resembling cricket bats, the balls being
fashioned out of the woody fruits of the Pandanus.
Catch-ball is played by the children of all Australian tribes. The
“balls” might consist of anything; the Arunndta of the Finke River
country use the seeds of the _Macrozamia Macdonnelli_, the natives of
Melville and Bathurst Island Zamia and Pandanus seeds, the Larrekiya of
Port Darwin small bags stuffed with fur, the scrotum of a kangaroo being
often used for the purpose. It is surprising, however, that despite the
quickness of their eyes and the keenness of their sight, the natives, as
a rule, are very backward at catching with their hands any object which
is thrown at them.
The boys of the Arunndta and Aluridja tribes construct a small
cylindrical stick sharpened at both ends, which they lay on the ground;
then, with a longer stick held in the right hand, they strike one end
of it, to make it bounce into the air, and, as it rises, hit it with
considerable force. Competitions are held to see who can, by this method,
drive the small object farthest. The game is much the same as our
familiar “tip-cat.”
From Sunday Island I have already recorded a peculiar type of throwing
contest, which the girls were indulging in at the time of our visit.
Two rows of seven or eight each were standing a couple of chains
apart, and, whilst facing one another, were bombarding their opponents
with consolidated cakes of cow-dung. The missiles were thrown with
considerable skill, even by the smallest girls, due allowance being made
for the curvature in flight. It was part of the game to dodge the flying
bodies, and, whenever a hit was recorded, a triumphant cheer would ring
from the opposite side. In rushing wildly about the space, the light
calico skirts of the playing damsels would fly high in the air, exposing
their slender limbs beneath. In their eagerness to hit, and avoid being
hit, they repeatedly exclaimed: “_Arre minya, arre minya_.” Some of the
more experienced throwers showed their proficiency by using flat slabs of
stone in lieu of the cakes of dung.
The games we generally refer to as “hide-and-seek” are known to the
tribes of Australia. In one game a number of persons hide behind bushes
and boulders and are sought by one or more children; in another an
article is hidden by one and looked for by the rest of the party. The
players endeavour to mislead the “seeker” by obliterating their tracks
and substituting them by all sorts of “back-to-front,” “devil-devil,”
and other deceptive tracks. When a “find” is made there is a loud,
jubilant cry; and the “hider,” unless he can escape in time, is pommelled
by the “seeker”; the players do not, however, run back to a crease or
“home,” as we do in the European game.
Once one considers toys supplied by adults for the special benefit of
children, the question resolves itself into an analysis of endless
possibilities of creation achieved by the happy combination of inventive
mimicry and lucid interpretation. It would be as futile to attempt an
exhaustive discussion upon so big a subject as it would be to even try to
describe all the artificial objects one classes as toys, however crude
they might appear, which are manufactured for the purpose of entertaining
and instructing the child. And, indeed, the young folks themselves are
neither idle nor behindhand in augmenting the collection of playthings
supplied by others.
Most of these articles are, however, made on the spur of an impulse and
serve their purpose just for the time being.
One of the favourite occupations of the children of all Australian tribes
is to build small brushwood shelters and wurlies for themselves to sit
and talk in like grown-ups. Occasionally they occupy these miniature
domiciles as “father and mother,” but more often as “father” or “mother,”
with a number of “children” to “look after.”
When the “children” are not available as living playmates, inanimate
objects, such as stone, bits of wood, leaves and flowers, are selected
to take the “children’s” place. These receive names and are placed in a
row before the “foster parent,” who talks to them and frequently changes
them about. But the best part of the game is when one of the “children”
is supposed to misbehave itself, and in consequence must receive a good
flogging with a stick, kept handy for that purpose. At other times one of
the objects is taken up, nursed, and spoken to most affectionately.
Here then we have the idea of the doll, simple though it be. But after
all, simplicity in method, so far as the training of children is
concerned, is perhaps the readiest means of stimulating the imitative,
and with it the creative, force which Nature has endowed them with.
The doll is usually just a plain stick or stone, with perhaps some
distinguishing feature upon it, like a knob at one end which represents
the head. Occasionally it is painted with red ochre. Dr. W. E. Roth found
that on the Tully River in Queensland a forked stick is chosen so as to
permit the child fixing it on its neck like a mother carrying her baby,
with its lower limbs dangling over the shoulders.
Imaginary fireless cooking is also a pastime the little girls never
tire of. A shallow hole is scooped, into which a few handfuls of cold
ashes are thrown; this represents the fireplace. Upon the ashes is laid
a pebble, a leaf, or any other article which they make up their minds
to “cook.” Having covered it with sand in the orthodox way, the girls
sit and talk, whilst they make themselves believe the dish is in course
of preparation. They invite each other to the prospective feast, each
explaining what she is cooking; one might have a wallaby, another a
lizard, and still another a yam.
Quite apart from accompanying their mothers on the regular hunting
expeditions, the little boys often go out alone. They carry toy weapons,
with which they say they are going to slay a kangaroo or anything else
happening to come their way. In the Fitzroy River district the young
hunters collect, or cut out of a gum-tree butt, several pieces of bark,
dry or fresh, and shy these into the crown of a boabab (_Brachychiton
Gregorii_), hoping to fell a nut or two. If they are successful, they
proudly return to camp with their spoil and obtain permission to roast
it at the fireside. The small bark missiles are looked upon by the boys
as quite equivalent to the “_kaili_” (boomerangs) of their fathers; and
there is no doubt they can throw them with greater skill. I have seen
the little fellows stalk a flock of foraging cockatoo and, when within
range, fling several of the toy weapons into the birds as they are
rising; invariably one or two birds are brought to fall.
[Illustration: _PLATE XI_
Rocking a child to sleep.
“On Sunday Island the bark food-carrier, there known as “oladda,” is used
as a cradle; one might often see a busy mother, attending to duties which
occupy her hands, putting her child to sleep by simultaneously rocking
the receptacle containing it with her foot.”]
The trimmed stalks of bullrushes and reeds make excellent toy spears,
which are thrown with the heavier end pointing forwards and the thinner
end poised against the index finger of the right hand. With these
“weapons” the lads have both mock fights and mock hunts. In the latter
case, one or two of their number act the part of either a hopping
kangaroo or a strutting emu and, by clever movements of the body,
endeavour to evade the weapons of the hunting gang.
One of the favourite pastimes of young and old among the Kukata is to
play at “emu.” The players take a stick, about three feet long, and tie
a bundle of grass, brushwood, or feathers to one end of it, to represent
the neck and the head. The performer clasps this stick with both hands
and holds it erect in front of him; then he bends his body forwards from
the hips, whilst other persons cover him with skins, and tie a tussock
of grass over his stern to indicate the tail. The actor next begins to
walk around, as truly as possible imitating the actions of the bird he is
representing. As he walks, he nods his “head,” while some of the children
scamper round him in great excitement, others flee from him shrieking
with terror. After a while he stops short, turns his head and shakes his
body, finally running away in a zig-zag course. As he runs, he frequently
imitates the peculiar deep note of the old emu and occasionally the
shrill whistling cry of the young. A most amusing little incident, which
I saw in connection with this game, happened near Mount Eba. A man,
fully rigged as an emu, was entertaining the camp with some very clever,
bird-like antics, when suddenly a vicious mongrel darted at the performer
from a wurlie he was passing. The “emu,” without any deliberation at all,
dropped its head, scampered across the ground, hotly pursued by the dog,
and, in its terror, climbed the nearest tree.
The King Sound men construct miniature “_kaili_,” barely an inch in
length, and practically straight, which they project, before the admiring
eyes of their juvenile audience, by using their fingers only. The little
toy is held between the second and third phalanges of the left index
finger, so that a good half of its length projects above the hand. The
inner tip of the right index finger is pressed strongly against the outer
surface of the left thumb and suddenly allowed to slip over the top edge
and strike the projecting part of the toy. The little slab of wood is
jerked into the air, whirls through space in a parabolic curve, and, when
well managed, returns to the hand of the projector. The children often
try this feat, but, with the exception of a rare fluke, never succeed; in
fact, it is not every adult man who can do it.
On Sunday Island, small models of the raft (“_kaloa_”), locally used, are
made for the children to play with. These toys are exact replicas of the
craft described in a subsequent chapter and are neatly constructed in
every detail.
A kind of dart is made by the children in the Northern Kimberleys of
Western Australia out of the root ends of grass seed-stalks, six to eight
inches long. These are held, one at a time, between the palms of the
hands parallel to, and between, the middle fingers, beyond which they
project but a fraction of an inch. In this position the hands are turned
so that the fingers point towards the body. Then taking careful aim at
an object, the child throws its hands vigorously forwards, at the same
instant opening them and shooting the dart in the desired direction.
Among the Dieri, Yantowannta, and Ngameni, principally, and to a less
extent among the Arunndta, Aluridja, and Kukata, a playing stick is found
which is commonly known by the name of “_kukerra_.” Although a toy, the
men only were observed to use it, not only to amuse the children, but
for the benefit of the whole camp. The kukerra is a slender, club-shaped
stick made out of the Mulga. Its length is about three feet six inches,
of which the thickened end occupies something like nine inches; the
head, _i.e._ the swollen portion, is up to an inch or slightly more in
diameter, whilst the “stick” is not thicker than an ordinary lead pencil;
each end terminates in a blunt point. The Dieri kukerras are lighter
and more slender than the Arunndta or Aluridja. The playing stick is
seized at its thin end and, swinging it with a straight arm, it is made
to strike a bush or tussock in front of the thrower; whence it bounds
through the air in an inclined position, and, after striking the ground,
glides along the surface in a snake-like manner.
Natives are fond of spinning any suitable objects which fall into their
hands; small pebbles, gall-nuts, and the larger varieties of conical and
bell-shaped eucalyptus fruits are all made to spin upon a level surface
just to amuse the children. The Yantowannta, Wongkanguru, and other
tribes of the Cooper Creek region are very clever at moulding tops out
of clay, with real pegs, upon which the toys revolve. These tops are
undoubtedly an indigenous invention. The spinning is usually accomplished
by rubbing the toy between the palms of both hands.
Skipping is indulged in by little boys and girls alike. A long vine is
used by the Wogaits on the Daly River, which is swung to and fro like a
pendulum by two of the players, whilst others jump over the line as it
passes beneath them. The “rope” is not swung overhead.
At Engoordina, Arunndta children and women were noticed to entertain the
tribe by artful tricks with an endless piece of string. By an intricate
method of inter-looping and threading, a long cord, tied together at
its ends, so as to form a complete ring, is transformed into different
patterns of squares, triangles, and circles, the composite groups of
which are intended to represent different natural objects. The string is
held at different points, according to the complexity of the design, by
the fingers, toes, and mouth of the performer; occasionally, indeed, the
services of an assistant are required to support the pattern whilst it is
being constructed. The more elaborate articles when completed resemble a
loosely netted or knitted fabric, the plainer are more after the style
of a few loops or meshes lightly held together. Some of the designs bear
a recognizable resemblance to the objects they are intended to represent
(_e.g._ birds, animals, men, etc.), others appear to be (to the European
at any rate) rather far-fetched. Very often a complicated-looking design
can be instantly reduced to the original piece of string by simply
pulling one of its component loops or ends.
Dr. W. E. Roth has very ably described a series of such figures,
made with one or two endless strings, which he found to be commonly
constructed throughout north Queensland, where the tribes play a game
resembling the European “cratch-cradle.”
Children are not allowed to attend many tribal ceremonies; consequently
one does not often see them with their bodies decorated or ornamented.
There are occasions, however, when their presence is tolerated, such
as, for instance, at receptions to relatives who are returning from a
fight or long hunting expedition. White earth or kaolin is invariably
used for beautifying the appearance, it being maintained that it is
unwise to apply much red, the token of blood, to the body of one who has
not sacrificed some of his blood during the course of such ceremonies
as will elevate him to the status of the tribe’s manhood. The kaolin
is applied in the form of a thick paste in a series of thin lines. On
Sunday Island these lines pass from the centre of the shoulder, on either
side, diagonally to and along the breast-bone; and horizontally across
the thighs and forearms. The face has a smear of white straight down the
nose, and two semi-circular lines, which enclose the mouth and converge
to a point opposite the ear on either side. The child in addition wears
a belt of twisted human hair-string, from which pends a pearl shell
ornament; it might also carry a plume of white cockatoo feathers in its
hair. There are slight variations in the patterns and designs chosen
for child-decoration both in the same tribal group and among different
tribes, but no matter what part of Australia is considered, the effect
completed is decidedly less elaborate than the complex and ornate colour
schemes seen in the ceremonial displays of performing men. The children
take no active part in such proceedings, but usually walk or stand about
at points where they do not interfere with the proceedings in general.
There is no objection to the child carrying one of the boomerangs of its
father, but under no conditions is it permitted to handle a spear-thrower.
Children are early accustomed to discipline and obedience. They are
not required to obey any but their individual fathers, tribal fathers,
and tribal uncles. They need not pay heed to the orders of their
contemporaries, but only to the word of such as they consider “grew
them,” that is, men of a previous generation to themselves. Women need
not be obeyed by law, but, with the knowledge and sanction of a father, a
mother can chastise and punish a child as much as she pleases. The father
reserves the right to interfere at any moment.
The little girls accompany their mothers whenever collecting rambles are
undertaken. They receive instructions in the methods of locating and
gathering grubs, lizards, seeds, and roots; and during this time they are
required to daily handle the yam-stick in the correct manner as shown
them by their seniors. Subsequently they are taught how to clean, cook,
and prepare the meals to be placed before the men.
The boys are early in life schooled in the practices of carpentry, so far
as they are applied to the making and shaping of domestic utensils and
weapons with the few crude implements at their disposal.
Further, they are instructed in the knacks and arts of handling and
throwing weapons of chase, attack, and defence. The lads take to this
instruction enthusiastically. For instance, whilst being taught the
art of boomerang-throwing, one might daily see a youngster, even in
the absence of his master, posing in the attitude demonstrated to him,
without actually letting the piece of wood, which answers the purpose of
a weapon, go out of his hand (Plate XIV, 1).
Boys are not allowed to handle real boomerangs, spears, or shields before
they have undergone the first initiation ceremony. If they did so, the
offence would be looked upon as an insult to the dignity of the men who
have qualified and are thus entitled to the privilege of carrying such
weapons on parade. The offence is in fact, on a point of decorum, similar
to the case of a fellow in the “rank and file” wearing the sword or
insignia of his superior officer.
When, at a later stage, the elder boys of the Northern Kimberleys of
Western Australia become well-skilled in throwing, sham-fights are
arranged. Pieces of bark are broken from the mangroves, out of which the
combatants make missiles resembling straight boomerangs. Sides are picked
under the supervision of the men and the signal given to start. In a
moment the air becomes alive with the whirr and buzz of the flying pieces
of wood, which the youths throw straight at one another. Often severe
gashes and wounds are inflicted upon the bodies of the “fighters,” but
such are taken in good faith and looked upon as being part of the game.
As a means of self-defence and protection against such throwing-sticks
and the small toy-spears previously mentioned, the Arunndta construct for
their boys light bark shields. A piece of green bark is cut out of the
butt of a eucalyptus, oblong-oval in shape and about two feet long and
six inches wide. Two holes are cut in the central line of this piece,
about six inches from either end, and through them two or three fairly
stout, green twigs are stuck, from the under, concave surface, to form
a handle. The points of these twigs stick out from the top surface, some
two inches, but they are left to prevent the ends of the handle from
slipping out. The bark is then bent in the required shield-shape and
dried over a slow fire or in hot ashes (Plate XIV, 1).
The girls, too, are encouraged to indulge in stick-practice to prepare
them for the “_kutturu_” duels they will have to take part in, in later
years. The principal mark is the foot, which each alternately tries to
strike, while the other is “on guard” with her stick. At other times
they stand face to face, with the palms of their hands pressed tightly
together. Presently one voluntarily bows her head, when the other
immediately gives her a severe crack over the scalp with the small finger
side of her hands. Then the other has a turn; and the process may be
repeated. The object of this strange procedure is to “harden” the head in
anticipation of the real blows it will receive in time to come. To make
the performance appear genuine, the girl, whose turn it is to strike, may
be heard to feign a curse: “_Atutnia, arrelinjerrai!_”
The child’s mind is early imbued with the importance of hardening
the body and nerve against pain, and thereby making the system less
susceptible to the hardships of life, which they know to be inevitable.
The system of personal mutilation, described in a subsequent chapter, has
to a certain extent been evolved for a similar reason.
Camp life brings many little accidents with it, but the Spartan
principles which are cultivated lead to an almost complete ignorance of
the existence of pain as might be brought about by small cuts or burns.
Just for the sake of competitive amusement, the boys of the Kukata tribe
take a live coal from the fire and lay it upon the naked skin of their
forearm. A red-hot coal, about the size of a pea, is usually selected
for the purpose and momentarily “cooled” or “blackened” by covering it
with a handful of sand. The black coal is then placed upon the forearm
at any suitable spot and touched with the red-hot point of a firestick.
The coal on the arm immediately turns red again and in that condition is
allowed to remain there until it falls to white ash. The first effect is
naturally to raise a blister, but this is soon burnt through and the raw
skin is exposed, upon which the coal gently fizzles. Whilst this is going
on, the boy is seen to bite his lips together and to clinch the fist
of the suffering arm, as if to suppress the pain. The lesion will, of
course, leave a permanent scar. Some of the lads have many of such marks
upon both arms, and they seem quite proud of them.
In the camps of any of the tribal groups throughout Australia, who are
still enjoying an uncontaminated life, one might see captive birds and
animals temporarily tethered or kept for the amusement of children.
Such are usually brought home by the men returning from their hunting
expeditions. A young wallaby, for instance, is let go on an open flat
and all the children set after it. They are not allowed to hurl stones
or sticks after the fleeing game, but must retake it alive by the use of
their hands only. Although it is against the rules to harm a captured
animal, it is a curious circumstance that a native, even if grown up,
invariably forgets to feed it, although entertaining the idea of keeping
it alive. Occasionally, however, it happens that a creature survives and
looks after its own needs; in this case the animal or bird becomes a real
pet and is not made the object of children’s coursing matches any more.
The King Sound natives catch the small ring-tailed opossums, which live
in the mangroves, and hand them to their children. The Ponga-Ponga gins
become very attached to these marsupial pets, which they carry about
with them on their days’ outings planted in the locks of their hair. The
opossums seem quite contented to abide there whilst their mistresses are
on the march and hang on by means of their claws and tail (Plate X, 2).
Occasionally one might even see an affectionate gin suckling her pet at
her breast.
On Sunday Island several cockatoos were kept by a fishing party in their
camp not far from shore. The birds had their flight feathers pulled and
were allowed to roam about the country in search of food. The cockatoos
seemed to regard the huts as their home, to which they invariably
returned; they had, moreover, picked up many phrases of the aboriginal
tongue.
Although the native animals and birds of Australia have always been,
and still are, the daily object of aboriginal chase, it is a remarkable
fact that great friendships are made between the hunter and his would-be
prey when the latter is in captivity. Indeed, the instinctive fear of
an animal or bird is ever so much greater when a white man approaches
than when a native does. I have seen cases where semi-wild cockatoos,
magpies, and other birds have allowed themselves to be handled by
natives without much concern, but the moment a European attempted to do
likewise, the bird would become unmanageable, terrified, and vicious.
Partly domesticated birds seem to have a predilection for perching
themselves upon the legs of their native masters when the latter are
sitting or lying on the ground. Talking of instinct reminds me of
the occasions I took aborigines to the Zoological Gardens to see the
favourite attraction, viz. the “monkey-wurlie.” Whilst European visitors
were coming and going, the apes would appear unconcerned, phlegmatic,
and blasé; but the moment the dark-skinned people arrived, the animals
would instantly become electrified and bounce towards the iron bars,
which they seized and shook frantically. The natives, on the other hand,
would evince no fear, but endeavoured to edge as close as possible to
the monkeys, although they had never seen one before. The monkeys, in
appreciation of the coloured visitors’ benignity, would grin, wink their
eyes, and make guttural noises.
At the time of my visit to the Forrest River Mission Station, a
tethered monkey was kept on the premises. The natives regarded it as a
real “little man,” and many of them, especially the children, were on
excellent terms with it, but this could not be said of some of the old
men. The monkey and the children were inseparable, and usually at play;
but occasionally disputes arose which always ended in an open tussle,
during which hands, teeth, and finger-nails were used. Although young
humanity did not always fare best, the monkey would never take a mean
advantage nor resort to extreme tactics. When it found itself victorious,
it would jump triumphantly on to its perch and cry “_Arre Arre_.”
CHAPTER XII
THE DAY’S MARCH
Orders of the day—Selection of camp site—Feminine water
carriers—Great variety of bark vessels—Skin water-bag—Bailers
and drinking cups—Natural water supplies—Water-bearing
trees—Modes of drinking.
“When another sun will come, and when he is still a piccaninny, Punya
umberri (everybody) will walk to the big stone (hill), lying in the
gum-trees, where Kuddoguddogu (a landmark) holds up the clouds of the
Pindanol’s country. Narrawiddi and Wetninnya will carry my angamma
(bark-wrap with small personal belongings), and all other women will take
many naramarragam (bark food-carriers) and fill them with yams on the
way. Plenty water sits upon the ground. The men will run the kangaroo’s
track with me.”
Upon an order like this from one of the old men, the following day’s
itinerary is cast. Brief though it seems, it is sufficient because,
although the chances of the coming expedition might widely separate the
members of the group, they keep in constant touch with each other by
signs and signals best known to themselves.
The site for a camping ground is thus always selected by one of the old
men in authority. Preference is given, other things being equal, to a
spot near to a natural water supply. There are, of course, numerous
occasions when there is no water available. When, for instance, the
natives are hunting in the sandhills during a good season, they either
carry water with them for miles, or rely on the succulent parakylia and
other water-holding plants.
It falls to the lot of the women to carry water upon such occasions.
The fluid is contained in bark carriers of different designs, which they
either skilfully balance upon their heads or carry under their arms.
The water is kept from splashing over the sides, in the first place by
the naturally graceful gait of the women; but, at the same time, an
intentional addition of twigs and branchlets further checks any undue
movement of the fluid which might be produced in the vessel during the
march.
The Dieri, Yantowannta, Ngameni, Arunndta, Aluridja, Wongapitcha, and
other central Australian tribes use shield or trough-shaped carriers cut
out of the bark of the eucalyptus, shaped and hardened over the fire.
The shield type is flat, with more or less open ends; the trough type
has higher sides and ends, and is therefore more capacious. There is,
however, no hard and fast division between the two. The surfaces of these
are either smooth or longitudinally grooved with a stone scraper. The
largest were observed on Cooper’s Creek, measuring three feet in length,
one foot in width, and five inches in depth, while those of the Arunndta
and Aluridja are not quite so long and wide, but they may be deeper. The
utensils go by different names, according to tribe and locality; three
of the most commonly heard are “_mika_,” “_pitchi_,” and “_cooleman_.”
In addition to taking the place of water-holders, they are also used as
food-carriers.
North of the MacDonnell Ranges, similar articles are cut out of solid
wood, usually the Northern Territory Beantree (_Erythrina vespertilio_).
The Warramunga and Kaitish (or Kaitidji) tribes in addition make large
canoe-shaped carriers out of similar material. Two varieties are met
with. The first is more or less flat-bottomed with steeply inclined sides
coming to a sharp edge at each end; the second is uniformly curved,
shield-like, with all its sides standing at about the same level at the
open end. The former is grooved longitudinally on the outside surface
only, the inside being left in the rough; the latter is finely grooved
on the inner, as well as the outer surfaces. Both types are generally
painted over with red ochre. It is a decidedly laborious job to remove
the wood, which originally fills the inside of this carrier, a fact which
will be realized when one considers that it has all to be done by burning
with live coals, and gouging and scraping with stone implements.
The Sunday Islanders take a rectangular sheet of bark of the woolly-butt
eucalyptus, fold both ends for a distance of three or four inches, into
pleats (like a concertina), and stitch them together with split cane. The
utensil is used throughout the north-west coast as far as Cambridge Gulf.
On Bathurst and Melville Islands similar structures are made out of the
bark of the paper-bark tree (_Melaleuca_). An oblong piece is bent upon
itself lengthwise, both its ends folded, as in the previous case, and
kept together by binding with cane or by spiking with short wooden pegs.
The same pattern, slightly modified here and there, is found along
the shores and islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Cape York
Peninsula. We might say, therefore, that it occurs throughout the entire
length of the north coast of Australia.
Another type, perhaps more food than water-carrier, is common on
Melville and Bathurst Islands; it is made of a single piece of the
“stringy-bark” eucalypt. An oblong sheet, say a good yard long and nearly
half as wide, is freshly cut and folded transversely at its centre.
The edges of both sides are pared down, laid flat, one over the other,
and sewn or laced together with plain or “run-on” stitches. A row of
slanting and overlapping stitches is often inserted along the open
edge a short distance down; and occasionally part of the same edge may
be cross-hemstitched and plastered with beeswax; the object of these
stitches is to prevent the bark tearing along the fibres. The mouth of
the carrier is nearly circular, or at any rate oval. Ordinarily the
bark is left in its raw condition, but upon special occasions elaborate
designs, consisting of circles, and other figures, with cross-hatched
line-patterns, are drawn on the outer surfaces in red, yellow, white, and
black.
An article is in use locally among the Worora at Port George IV, which
perhaps interests us most on account of its similarity to the orthodox
water-carrier employed by ourselves, viz. the bucket. What makes the
fact more interesting still is that this unique type of water-vessel is
found in a locality, than which even at the present time none other is
further remote from civilization. The bark-bucket of the Worora, known
vernacularly as “_wirrauwa_,” is beyond doubt an indigenous evolution. It
is much like a bushman’s billycan in shape—a cylindrical vessel closed
at one end and with a handle at the other, measuring from four to twelve
inches in height, and from six to nine inches in width. A circular
piece of woolly-butt bark is cut for the base, and this is surrounded
by another sheet which forms the cylinder. The joints are carefully
stitched together with threads of split cane, using a bone-awl to prick
the holes; then melted resin from the eucalyptus tree is applied over
the seam to render it water-tight. The edge of the open mouth may be
strengthened by cross-stitching and applying resin. The handle is made
of human hair-string, several pieces of which are threaded diametrically
across the open end of the bucket, through holes previously made with a
bone-awl, and tied. The outer surfaces of the vessel are often painted.
The usual device consists of alternate bars of red and white or red
and black, joined at the top and bottom by horizontal lines of red;
occasionally the whole surface may be splashed or daubed with white, or
the above designs may be embellished with regularly spaced dots and “emu
tracks.”
Lastly we shall briefly refer to the skin water-bag which is used (or
has been used) by the desert tribes of central Australia, from central
Western Australia to Western Queensland. A kangaroo, wallaby, euro, or
dingo is killed and the animal’s skin removed almost in toto by making a
circular cut around its neck, and, whilst one or two men hold on to the
head, others detach the skin from the carcase and pull it off inside-out.
The neck-hole forms the mouth of the bag, but all the other openings
are tied, stitched, or pinned together. The limbs are cut off near the
paws, the tail near its root, and the resulting holes securely tied with
string. The limb-pieces are tied together and act as straps to assist the
native carrying the bag when filled with water.
To fill these vessels with water, bailers are available either in the
form of specially constructed or of naturally occurring objects; no
matter which they are, they usually also answer the purpose of drinking
cups. Along the north coast of Australia the large melon shell is perhaps
the handiest; it is either used as it is found or its inner whorls and
columella are broken away, leaving just the spacious outer shell to
hold the water like a bowl. The same remarks apply to the large _Fusus
pricei_, and other molluscs.
The Narrinyerri and other tribes south of Adelaide used human calvaria as
drinking vessels. The facial skeleton of a complete skull was broken away
so as only to leave the brain-box; and this held the water.
The broken shells of the large boabab nuts are similarly used in the
Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, and now and then the broken
shell of the emu egg also makes a very serviceable cup.
A miniature bark-cooleman is constructed by the Wongapitcha, Aluridja,
and Arunndta tribes, like that described on page 92, about eight
inches long and half as wide, which serves the purpose of a bailer,
drinking-vessel, fire-shovel, and special food-carrier. It is strongly
convex lengthwise, and therefore comparatively deep.
The Bathurst Islanders tear or cut a piece of bark from a tree, usually
the ti-tree or “paper-bark,” out of which they fashion a cup. The piece
of bark measures about twelve inches in length, and eight in width. It
is first folded longitudinally at about its middle, and then both ends of
the doubled piece are folded transversely at about one-quarter the whole
length. The overturned parts of the inner sheet of the first fold are
clasped between the fingers on the inside and the thumb on the outside,
when the cup is ready for use.
The natural water supplies available over so vast an expanse of territory
as is embraced by the continent of Australia and its subjacent islands,
occur, as one might have expected, in great variety. There is no need
for us to consider such familiar supplies as rivers, creeks, lakes,
billabongs, waterholes, and springs; we shall just briefly consider a few
of the more uncommon cases, which are of special interest. The native has
a wonderful instinct for locating hidden supplies of water; and many a
European wanderer has perished in the Australian bush, within a stone’s
throw of the life-saving fluid, all for the want of that gift, which to
the primitive inhabitant of the desert central regions means his very
existence.
Along the superficially dry, sandy beds of “rivers” in arid Australia,
he is able to pick sites, at which, by shallow digging with his hands
and yam-stick, he can in quick time produce a “native well,” sufficient
to supply the needs of all the camp. The water is often exposed within
a foot or two of the surface, but at times he has to dig to a depth of
from five to six feet, which so far as my experience goes seems to be the
limit. When not in use, or when the camp moves on, the natives always
take care to cover the mouth of the well in order that wild animals
cannot reach the water and pollute it. When the well is deep, its sides
are made secure with pieces of timber and brushwood, and cross-pieces
are left to serve as a ladder whereby the native can attain the water.
Similar wells are constructed in the catchment basins adjacent to the
hills.
[Illustration: _PLATE XII_
Juvenile Types.
1. Full-face, female, Wongkanguru tribe.
2. Profile, female, Aluridja tribe.]
Rock-holes in granite (Musgrave Ranges), quartzite (Krichauff Ranges), or
limestone (Nullarbor Plains) are favoured on account of the cool, clear
water which they generally contain. Where such are of a cavernous nature,
and opening from a bare inclined surface, the natives often build a small
bank of clay across the slope to direct the flow of water, resulting
from a downpour, towards the hole. A unique variety of this type was
discovered by us at Ullbönnalenna, east of the Musgrave Ranges. Through a
hole in the barren slope of gneiss, a communication has been established
by atmospheric denudation with a small reservoir below. To obtain the
water contained in it, the natives keep a broom-shaped piston handy, with
which they pump the fluid to the surface, as required. The piston is
merely a rod, about five feet long, round one end of which a bundle of
brushwood is securely tied with string. The size of the brushwood bundle
is such that it exactly fits the hole in the rock (about six inches).
The implement is inserted, brushwood foremost, and slowly pushed down
into the water, and, after a short interval, quickly withdrawn again. The
water, which had collected behind this “piston-head,” is thereby forcibly
ejected, and is collected inside a small enclosure of clay built around
the hole.
The aborigines are most particular about preserving their water supplies
against pollution, especially where such is brought about by excremental
and decaying animal matter. In the Musgrave Ranges, the natives did not
in the slightest object to our camels being watered at the supplies they
were dependent upon, but when the animals dirtied the rocks above the
hole and there was a chance of the discharge running into the water, they
immediately set to and built a barrier of earth to intercept the flow
before it reached the hole.
In the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia valuable pools of water
collect upon the boabab trees. The branches of this species surround the
“gouty” stem in a circle at the top, like the heads of a hydra, and by
this means form a concavity between them, which is capable of storing a
considerable volume of cool, clear rain-water. To reach this water, the
natives construct ladders by simply driving a series of pointed pegs into
the soft bark of the tree one above the other.
Certain desert trees like the Currajong have the property of retaining
considerable quantities of water in their tissues, even under the worst
conditions of drought, for periods of many weeks or months. This water
the native obtains by felling the tree and setting fire to the crown; the
water oozes out from the cut trunk and is collected in bark carriers. The
“Bloodwood” (_Eucalyptus corymbosa_) has similar properties.
In the Denial Bay district a remarkable mallee (_Eucalyptus dumosa_)
grows, whose roots supply the natives with water. This mallee is a rather
big tree, which lives in association with other smaller species of the
same genus. It appears, also, that not every specimen of the particular
species referred to contains water; it requires the experience of an
aboriginal to predict which of the trees is likely to carry such. Having
selected his tree, the native proceeds to expose one of the lateral
roots, which grow in the sand at no great depth from the surface. The
root is then cut in two places, three or four feet apart, and lifted
from the ground in a horizontal position; finally it is turned on end
over a bark cooleman, when water, clear as crystal, begins to drip from
the lower end into the vessel. Sufficient water can thus be collected to
sustain the camp, if need be, for even a longish period.
Other trees in central Australia are known to possess similar properties
though to a lesser extent, as for instance the Needle-Bush (_Hakea
lorea_, _var._ _suberea_).
When, after a good day’s march, the natives have the luck to strike a big
waterhole, each of the party immediately quenches his thirst by literally
“filling up” on the spot. Different methods are adopted to accomplish
this. Some prefer to remain prone at the water’s edge, whilst others wade
into the deeper parts of the hole, and, placing their hands upon their
knees, stoop and drink off the surface.
The Cambridge Gulf tribes pull a long-stalked leaf of the water-lily,
which, after they have cut it at top and bottom, acts like a tube and
permits them to suck the cooler fluid from a depth.
After quenching his thirst, a native will on a hot day often cool his
system by pouring water on to his head. The women-folk and children are
very fond of splashing the head with cold water, which they might do
repeatedly during the day, provided the opportunity is afforded. Bathing
during the heat of the day is also commonly enjoyed by all the northern
tribes, especially those resident in the tropics where water is abundant.
CHAPTER XIII
CAMP LIFE
Preparation of camping ground—The bed and its
coverings—Sleeping order—Brushwood shelters—Various
habitations—Vermin-proof platforms—Common position
during sleep—Friendly meetings and salutations—Sitting
postures—Sense of Modesty—Bird-like attitude—Gins
procure firewood—The campfire—Methods of
cooking—Fire-shovels—Fire-stick—Fire-whisk—Fire-saw—Women
the recognized transport agents—Care of weapons—Sundry
occupations while in camp—Absence of wearing apparel—Pubic
coverings—Cosmetics—Hair-belts—Pristine philosophy—Removing
thorns—The aboriginal loves his dog—The dingo.
Having arrived at the chosen camp-site, each family group at once busies
itself clearing a patch of ground of any obstacles, like stones and
lumps of earth, the biggest of which are picked up by hand or crushed by
foot, the smaller brushed aside with the sides of the feet. In addition,
the women may be told to sweep the ground with branches to clear it of
grass-seeds and burrs. Should it be that the spot is only reached after
dusk, the natives set fire to one or two dry bushes, the glare of which
supplies them with the necessary light.
Each adult scoops a “bed” for himself on the sand, and lights a small
fire on one or both sides of it.
The northern coastal tribes very often spread sheets of paper-bark over
the sand, and they might also cover their bodies with similar material.
Should the mosquitoes become a great nuisance, one often sees them
completely covered with sand.
The south-eastern tribes of Australia, including those of the River
Murray and Adelaide Plains, used skins and rugs made of kangaroo and
opossum skins, neatly sewn together, to lie upon and under.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIII_
1. The game of “_gorri_,” Humbert River, Northern Territory.
2. A “_Kutturu_” duel, Aluridja tribe.]
The children sleep with or close to their parents. When an aboriginal has
more wives than one, his camp is subdivided according to their number,
and he sleeps with his favourite.
The strangest conditions reign on Groote Island in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, where the women practically live apart from the men during
the whole of the day, and only come into camp after sundown to deliver
the food supplies they have collected over day. When on the march,
every adult female carries two big sheets of paper-bark with her, which
she holds with her hands, one in front and another behind her person.
Whenever a stranger approaches, they duck behind these sheets of bark, as
into a box, for cover.
No matter when or where an aboriginal camps, he constructs a brushwood
shelter or windbreak at the head-end of his resting place. This consists
of a few branches or tussocks stuck in the ground or piled against any
bush, which might be growing upon the patch of ground selected. Under
ordinary circumstances, this is the only shelter erected.
Even under the best of conditions, the night’s rest of an aboriginal is
hard, and at times very cold and wet. It is not an uncommon experience
for a person to sit up part of the night, hugging a fire, and when the
sun is up to lie in its warmth to make good the sleep lost.
During a run of wet weather or when the camp is to be of a more permanent
nature, different kinds of structures are erected, or already existing
habitations selected, which will afford a better shelter than the crude
structures referred to.
Natural caves or shelters beneath a sloping wall of rock, although
frequently chosen as a mid-day camp, are not favoured on account of the
superstitious dread of the evil spirit, whose haunts are supposed to
be in the rocks. Caves are in any case only occupied during the heat
of summer, the rocks being considered too cold to sit and lie upon in
winter. If possible, a tribe will always make for the sandhill country
in the winter, the sand making a very much softer and warmer bed. Such
caves as are regularly occupied almost invariably have the walls and
ceiling decorated with ochre drawings.
The opportunity of camping under large hollow tree-trunks, when
available, is never neglected in wet weather. In the southern districts,
as for instance the Adelaide Plains and along the River Murray, the large
red-gums, especially such as have been partly destroyed by a passing
bush-fire, supply the best covers of this description, whilst on the
north coast of Australia the boabab occasionally becomes hollow in a like
way, and makes a very snug and roomy camp.
Huts are constructed after different patterns according to the materials
available. In the Musgrave Ranges, as in most parts of central Australia,
the usual plan is to ram an uprooted dry trunk of mulga into the sand in
an inverted position, so that the horizontal root system rests at the
top, generally about five feet from the ground. Making this the central
supporting column, branches of mulga and other bushes are placed in a
slanting position against it, so that they rest between the roots at
the top and form a more or less complete circle at the base, measuring
some eight or nine feet in diameter. An opening is left, away from the
weather-side, large enough to permit of free access. The spaces and gaps
between the branches are filled with small bushes, tussocks, and grass,
and on top of it all sand is thrown.
Very often the branches are placed around a standing tree for a central
support, and now and again they are simply made to rest against one
another in the required conical fashion.
Roof-like shelters are made by piling branches and brushwood either upon
the overhanging branches of a tree or across two bushes which happen to
be standing close together.
On Cooper’s Creek, in the extreme south-western districts of Queensland,
these huts are more carefully constructed. A solid, almost hemispherical
framework is erected consisting of stout curved posts, with a prong at
one end, so placed that the prongs interlock on top and the opposite ends
stand embedded in the sand in a circle. Vide Plate XV, 1. The structure
is covered with the long reeds that abound along the banks of the large
waterholes of the Cooper. Some of the huts are indeed so neatly thatched
that they have quite a presentable appearance.
The eastern Arunndta groups, in the Arltunga district, cover a light
framework of mulga stakes, erected after the general central Australian
pattern, entirely with porcupine grass (Plate XV, 2).
At Crown Point, on the Finke River, other groups of the same tribe cover
their huts with branches and leaves of the Red Gum.
When camped on the great stony plains or “gibbers” of central Australia,
it is often very difficult to find a suitable covering for the huts,
the vegetation being either unsuitable or too scanty. On that account
the Yauroworka in the extreme north-east of South Australia utilize the
flat slabs and stones which abound in that locality to deck their more
permanent domiciles with. The supporting structure must, of course, be
made particularly strong to carry the weight of the stones. The crevices
between the stones are filled with clay to render them water-tight, and
earth is banked up against the base of the walls both inside and outside.
Along the north coast of Australia, from the Victoria River to Cape York,
the prevalent type of hut is a half-dome structure, whose frame consists
of a series of parallel hoops, stuck into the ground and held in position
by a number of flexible sticks tied at right angles to the former with
shreds of Hybiscus bark. The ends of the cross-pieces are poked into the
ground on that side of the framework which will be opposite the entrance
of the hut when completed. The hoops are made of slightly decreasing size
from the entrance towards the back, and so correspond in height with the
upward curve of the cross-pieces. This skeleton-frame is covered with
sheets of “paper-bark” (_Melaleuca_) and grass; and the floor of the
interior is carpeted with similar material; a small space is however left
uncovered to hold the fire. Such a hut measures about five feet by five
feet at the base, and is four feet high. In Queensland palm leaves may
take the place of the paper-bark sheets.
In districts where the mosquitoes are very troublesome, the dome is
completed by erecting hoops on the open side as well, and making the
cross-switches long enough to be lashed to them all and to be stuck into
the sand at both ends. The whole structure is covered with bark, but
three or four small holes are left along the base for the people to slip
in by; and a ventilation-hole is left at the top of the dome to allow the
smoke to escape from the fire, which is burned inside to keep out the
insects.
Provisional rain-shelters are made by cutting a big sheet of bark from
one of the eucalypts, usually the “stringy bark.” To do this the bark
is chopped through circumferentially on the butt in two places, about
seven or eight feet apart, slit vertically between the two incisions, and
removed by levering it off with two chisel-pointed rods. The sheet is
folded transversely at its centre and stood upon the sand like a tent.
At times the sheet of bark is simply laid length-wise against two or
three sticks previously stuck into the ground. In the more durable
structures of this type, two forked poles are rammed into the ground so
that they can carry a horizontal piece after the fashion of a ridge-pole
of a tent. Against the latter then are stood several sheets of bark at an
angle of about forty-five degrees.
Occasionally a scaffold is erected with four poles and cross-pieces at
the corners of an oblong space, and sheets of bark are then laid across
the top. The sheets are of sufficient length to hang over the sides of
the frame so that their weight bends them into an arch along the centre.
Commander Lort Stokes found similar structures near Roebuck Bay in the
north of Western Australia, but in place of the bark they there had a
slight, rudely-thatched covering.
In districts where thieving dogs, ants, or other vermin become
troublesome, the men construct platform-larders, upon which any reserve
supplies of meat are laid. Hawks are the greatest nuisance in camp. It
is astonishing with what fearlessness such birds fly right into camp and
swoop the meat from the natives. As a protection against theft of this
description, the campers cover their stores with branches.
The position favoured during sleep is to lie upon one side, with the legs
drawn up towards the stomach and bent in the knees. The head rests upon
one or both hands; should one hand not be so occupied, it is usually
placed between the closed thighs. At Delamere in the Victoria River
country, the natives were observed to have convex pieces of bark in their
possession which were used as head-rests during the night.
It goes without saying, of course, that the aboriginal might at any time
change his position during sleep to one of the many commonly adopted by
European or other people.
During the warm summer months, the campers are up with the first glimpse
of dawn, but when the nights become cold, they often remain huddled by
the fires until the sun is high up in the sky.
When a messenger or visitor approaches a camp at night, he will not do so
without announcing his arrival in advance by loudly calling from afar to
the groups at the fireside. Should a person be discovered prowling the
surroundings of a camp, without having heralded his coming, he runs grave
risk of being speared, on the chance that he be on no good business.
In the way of salutations, hand-shaking and kissing are unknown, but when
two friends meet it is quite the usual thing for them to walk together
for a while, hand-in-hand. When a person, who has been long absent,
returns to camp, everybody is so overcome with joy that he starts crying
aloud as if his joy were grief.
On the occasion of friendly Arunndta groups visiting, all members of
both parties, male and female, approach each other with their spears,
boomerangs, shields, and fighting sticks. The visitors first sit down
in a body while the others walk around them, in a widening course,
flourishing their weapons high in the air and shrieking with joy; later
they return the civilities by acting similarly.
When seating himself, an aboriginal always prefers the natural surface
of the ground to any artificial or natural object, which might serve him
in a manner suggestive of a chair. Rocks and fallen tree-trunks might
occasionally be used, and children are sometimes seen sitting upon the
lowest big branches of trees, especially if they slope downwards to the
ground. But even in these cases they rarely allow the legs to dangle,
preferring to draw them, bent in the knee, close against the body, and
usually with the arms thrown around the legs or resting upon the knees.
The men use the same method, when squatting at ease upon the ground,
keeping their thighs apart, heels touching and close against the
buttocks, with their elbows resting upon their knees and their hands
usually joined in front. When the hands are to be used, the sitter
acquires greater stability by placing the feet further apart and swinging
the arms over the knees.
Another common posture is to double the shins under the thighs and rest
them half-laterally upon the ground. This method is frequently combined
with the previously mentioned by holding one leg one way and the other
the other.
From either of these positions, the sitter may change by tucking the
shins well under the thighs and rolling on to the side of one of his
thighs.
Again, he may change by simply stretching his legs forward full length.
These methods are made use of by men, women, and children alike. Unless
it be that the person prefers his legs to remain in close apposition,
whilst squatting in any of the positions indicated, he will endeavour
to hide his shame behind one of his feet. This is particularly
characteristic of the women, and their natural sense of decency is
prettily described in the narration of the voyage in search of La Perouse
as follows: “Though for the most part they are entirely naked, it appears
to be a point of decorum with these ladies, as they sit with their knees
asunder, to cover with one foot what modesty bids them conceal in that
situation.”
By their method of standing at ease on one leg, the natives of Australia
have evolved a remarkable posture which reminds one of birds. In this
position, a man rests the sole of his unoccupied foot against the knee of
the standing leg, and usually props his body with a spear-thrower (Plate
XVI, 2).
Strictly speaking, it is the duty of the women to gather firewood,
although very often, when there is a supply close at hand, the men will
also drag a few logs to the family camp. The women, on the other hand,
are required to collect sufficient to keep the fire going, during the
day for cooking purposes and during the night for warming and lighting
purposes. At times this entails weary searching and long-distance
marching. We have already referred to the way they lift the pieces of
wood from the ground, between the toes of one foot, to the hand on the
opposite side, by passing the piece behind the body; the same hand next
stacks the wood upon the head, where the other holds and steadies it. By
this method, the gin has no need to stoop, and can in consequence build
up astonishingly high piles of wood upon her head (Plate XVII). A small
pad is usually first laid upon the head to prevent the scalp from chafing
and the wood from slipping. Arrived at the camp, a gin throws her load to
the ground and breaks the longer pieces across her head with her hands.
A native’s idea of a good fire is to keep it as small as possible, but,
at the same time, to derive a cheerful glow from it. His opinion of the
European traveller’s camp-fire is that it is so ridiculously big that
one cannot lie near to it, without being scorched. In the winter the
native often selects a large dry log if available and keeps this aglow
at one end throughout the night; in the absence of such a log, he will
at frequent intervals find it necessary to attend to his fire during
the cold hours of the night. So diligently, indeed, does he nurse his
fire that his eyes often become inflamed in consequence of the continued
irritation by smoke when he fans a smouldering flame with his breath.
A small fire like this, especially when it has burned for some time, is
quite sufficient to cook all the smaller articles, which constitute the
daily bill of fare, as for instance roots, tree-grubs, and lizards.
When, however, big game like a kangaroo is to be prepared, larger fires
are essential and special culinary rules observed. A method, which has
been in use practically everywhere in Australia, and is still found in
use among the uncontaminated tribes, is to burn a big fire for a while
upon a sandy patch, and then to lay a number of flat stones upon the
red-hot coals and cover everything with sand. After a while the sand is
scraped aside and the oven is ready for use. In the Northern Territory
the stones are substituted by brick-like lumps broken off one of the tall
termite-hills, which abound in that country.
In south-eastern Australia and along the River Murray the stones selected
are usually composed of travertine or limestone.
In the Musgrave Ranges oven-stones are not in use, the game being simply
laid upon, and covered with, hot ashes and sand.
“Big” cooking is done by the men, whilst the women are required to attend
to the preparation of all smaller articles like yams, grubs, and seeds.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIV_
1. Arunndta boy practising with toy shield and boomerang.
2. Wordaman warrior, holding prevalent north-western type of
spear-thrower and wearing pubic fur tassel.]
Slight variations are noticed in the method of cooking a kangaroo
according to the locality. In the Musgrave Ranges, the animal is prepared
whole. The skin is not detached, whilst the bony paws may, or may not,
be removed beforehand in order to secure the sinews, which are used all
over Australia for tying purposes in the manufacture of their implements
and weapons. The carcase is laid upon its back and completely covered
with hot ashes and sand, and thus permitted to cook. When sufficiently,
and that according to our ideas often means only partly, cooked, the
skin can easily be removed. The belly of the baked carcase is cut open
and the gut laid aside. What remains is then pulled to pieces by hand
and the portions distributed among all members having a right to such.
The meat is tender and juicy when cooked this way. Even the intestines,
after their contents have been squeezed out by the aid of two fingers,
are eaten by the less privileged members of the tribe. The Arunndta call
the last-named dish “_uttna kalkal_.” Most of the bones, if not crushed
between the jaws, are shattered between two stones and the marrow eaten.
The Wogait and other tribes on the north coast break the legs of the
animal and tie them together in pairs with shreds of Hybiscus bark. The
carcase is opened at one side to remove the entrails, and an incision is
also made into the anus to clear it. In the case of a kangaroo, the tail
is cut off and cooked separately in ashes. The skin is not removed. When
thus prepared, the animal is transferred to an oven as described above
and first covered with a piece or two of “paper-bark,” then with hot sand
and ashes.
In order that they may readily scoop out a fireplace, scrape the sand
to and from the roast, and handle the meat, vegetable, seed-cake, or
whatever the article in the oven might happen to be, the Northern
Kimberley tribes have invented a long wooden shovel. This is a slightly
hollowed blade, about three feet in length, four inches wide at the lower
end, and decreasing in width at the hand end. The implement is mostly
cut out of a sheet of eucalyptus bark.
The central tribes generally make use of a discarded or defective
boomerang, which seems to answer the purpose very well.
Perhaps the most important article a native possesses is the fire-stick.
No matter where he might be, on the march or in camp, it is his constant
companion. Important as it is, the fire-stick is only a short length of
dry branch or bark, smouldering at one end. It is carried in the hand
with a waving motion, from one side to another. When walking in the
dark, this motion is brisker in order to keep alive sufficient flame for
lighting the way. A body of natives walking in this way at night, in the
customary Indian file, is indeed an imposing sight. Directly a halt is
made, a fire is lit, to cook the meals at day and to supply warmth during
sleep at night. When camp is left, a fresh stick is taken from the fire
and carried on to the next stopping place.
In consequence of carrying the fire-stick too close to the body during
cold weather, most of the natives have peculiar, irregular scars upon
abdomen and chest which have been caused by burns. The Wongapitcha call
these marks “_pika wairu_.”
If by accident the fire should become extinguished, a fresh flame is
kindled by one of the methods depending upon the friction and heat which
are produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together. Two methods are in
use, all over Australia and the associated islands to the north; the one
is by means of the “fire-whisk,” the other by the “fire-saw.”
In the first-mentioned case, two pieces of wood are used, usually a flat
basal piece, with a small circular hollow in its centre, and a long
cylindrical stick, rounded at one end. The native assumes a sitting
position with his legs slightly bent in the knees. He places the flat
piece of wood upon the ground and holds it securely beneath his heels.
The rounded point is now inserted into the small hollow, and, holding
the stick vertically between the flat palms of his hands, the native
briskly twirls it like a whisk (Plate XXII). The twirling action is,
however, not backwards and forwards, but in one direction only. After a
while, the wood dust that accumulates by the abrasion begins to smoke,
then smoulder. Suddenly the native throws his stick aside, and quickly
stooping over the smoking powder, gently blows upon it whilst he adds
a few blades of dry straw or other easily inflammable material. When
the smouldering dust has been coaxed into flame, more straw and twigs
are added, then larger pieces of wood, until eventually a blazing fire
results.
Often a small notch is cut at the side of the central hollow in order
that the smouldering powder might find its way down to a piece of bark
placed beneath the basal stick, and there, by the aid of gentle blowing,
ignite the dry grass, which was previously laid upon the bark for that
purpose.
Usually, during the process of twirling, a little fine sand is placed
upon the hollow to increase the friction. A curious practice was observed
among the Larrekiya at Port Darwin, which seems to be opposed to the
friction principle. When the fire-maker has, by careful twirling,
adjusted the point of the upright stick, so that it fits nicely into
the hole in the basal piece, he squeezes a quantity of grease from
the sebaceous glands of his nose, which he scrapes together with his
finger-nails and transfers in a lump to the ankle of his left foot. Then
he resumes the twirling, and, so soon as the stick begins to smoke, he
applies its hot end to the grease, which spreads itself over the point.
The stick having been thus lubricated, the process is continued as before.
The central tribes, like the Dieri, Wongapitcha, and Aluridja, usually
make the basal piece short and flat, and wider than the twirling stick.
The Dieri select needlebush for the twirling stick, and Hack’s Pea
(_Crotalaria_) for the basal piece. The other tribes mentioned combine
the needlebush wood with that of a mulga root.
The northern tribes almost invariably employ two long sticks, one of
which has a rounded point at one end, the other a series of shallow
circular pits, into which the point of the twirling piece just described
fits when the implement is in use.
The Mulluk-Mulluk, Ponga-Ponga, and other tribes of the Daly River
district carry a number of these sticks about with them, especially
in the rainy season, when there is always a chance of the fire-stick
being extinguished by an unexpected tropical deluge. The fire-making
apparatus is carried in a receptacle, which consists of a single segment
of a bamboo, with a septum at the bottom. The sticks are stuck into
this cylindrical holder, which keeps them perfectly dry even during a
prolonged season of rain, after the fashion of arrows in a quiver.
Fire-making implements are carried by the men, whilst the fire-stick is,
as often as not, carried by the women also. As we have already seen in
connection with the carriage of water, it is the concern of the women
to undertake the transport of the camp-belongings from one site to
another. When moving they pack themselves with the domestic implements,
collecting-vessels, personal paraphernalia, and their infants, whilst
their husbands burden themselves only to the extent of a few spears, a
spear-thrower, and the fire-producing sticks just mentioned. The men
declare that it would be most unwise to be burdened with any impediment
themselves, while on the march, because at any moment, and when least
expected, they might be pounced upon by an enemy, who would make good use
of their unpreparedness. So also, should game of any kind suddenly come
into view, the men, who are the recognized hunters, must always be ready
for quick action, or in a position to take up the chase immediately.
Hence it comes about that in the best interests of the tribe the women
are required to undertake the transport.
[Illustration: _PLATE XV_
1. Framework of hut in course of construction, Cooper’s Creek, S.W.
Queensland.
2. Hut decked with porcupine grass, Arltunga district.]
The men spend hours at a time in camp making or sharpening spears. When,
moreover, the weapons are not in use, the hunters are most punctilious
in preserving them from harm. The rule of the camp is never to lay a
spear upon the ground for any length of time for two reasons; firstly, to
prevent it from warping, and secondly, to eliminate the risk of breakage
by somebody carelessly walking on to it. For these reasons the men, when
camped, always take the precaution to stand their spears in a more or
less upright position against the entrance of their huts, or against any
bush or tree which happens to be growing close at hand.
Whenever possible, the opportunity of a sojourn in camp is seized for
conducting a festive dance and song. For this purpose head-gears and
other decorations have to be manufactured, plumes and permanent ornaments
renovated, and pigments prepared to adorn the persons taking part in the
performance. Upon such occasions a native is never seen idle.
Quite apart from preparing himself in anticipation of an extraordinary
event, however, a native might take advantage of a delay in camp to
manufacture an article with which he can barter with an adjoining tribe.
The most common article thus prepared is ochre. Many tribes do not
possess a deposit of this natural pigment and they are most anxious to
do business with their neighbours. In exchange for the ochre, they offer
such things as weapons, pitjuri-leaf, fish, or yams. The ochre is carried
to its destination either in lumps or prepared as a fine powder. In the
former case it is packed in small fibre or fur-string bags; in the latter
the powder is wrapped in thin sheets of bark and tied together with
string into neat parcels. The preparation of the ochre-powder entails
much grinding between the stone surfaces of a hand-mill. The ochre is
used for decorating the body, as well as implements and weapons.
If now we enquire into the method of dress adopted by the aborigines of
Australia, we find that most of the tribes originally walked about in the
nude, and, apart from a few small personal decorations, possessed nothing
in the shape of a covering which might be described as a dress. The
advent of civilization has largely interfered with this ancient practice.
The now practically extinct south-eastern tribes, including those along
the River Murray, used more of a body-covering than any others. Opossum,
wallaby, and any suitable marsupial skins were collected and carefully
sewn together, and with these rugs the natives could, if need be, cover
the greater part of their bodies.
By far the most common mode is to tie a string around the waist, from
which is suspended a tassel to cover the pubes. These tassels vary
considerably in size according to the tribe which wears them. The
smallest are found among the Wongapitcha in the Mann and Tomkinson
Ranges; the appendage is there only worn by the men and is barely large
enough to cover the part. It is made of human hair strands fastened at
the knot of the tassel directly to the pubes; the covering is known as
the “_moiranje_.” As a general rule, it might be said that the northern
tribes have larger coverings than the central, although the Yantowannta
and other Barcoo River tribes wear them as large as any. Even the
Arunndta and Aluridja at special functions suspend large pubic tassels of
fur-string from the waist-band.
The northern type of tassel consists of a great number of strings,
usually of opossum fur, bound to a central piece, which is attached to
the waist-band, either by two separate terminal strings, or by means of
one single tie from the top of the tassel. The completed covering hangs
from the waist like an apron. This type of pubic tassel is known to all
north-central and northern tribes, and might be worn by either adult male
or married female.
In place of the tassel a small sheet of the paper-bark is popular amongst
the north coastal tribes. A narrow strip, from eight to twelve inches
long, is folded transversely at its middle and hung over the waist-band,
from which it pends like an apron as described of the tassel. Captain
Matthew Flinders is perhaps the first European to have observed this
custom, as far back as 1803, at Caledon Bay, where he observed a girl
wearing “a small piece of bark, in guise of a fig leaf, which was the
sole approximation to clothing seen.”
The women of Bathurst Island carry folded sheets of the paper-bark
or large food-carriers about with them, which, upon the approach of
strangers, they hold in front of their person.
Along the whole length of coast line of north Australia, the large shell
of the pearl-oyster is made use of as a pubic covering. Even among such
tribes as live remote from the sea, one may occasionally find the shell
so used, in which case, of course, it has been acquired from a coastal
tribe by barter. In order to hang the shell, two holes are drilled
through it near the hinge line, at the top, and a string passed through
them, with which it is tied to a belt. The rough exterior surface of the
shell is ground smooth; and it is this side which lies against the body.
The nacreous inner surface is frequently decorated with either painted
designs or carvings subsequently tinted with ochre. The Sunday Island
natives are especially adept at this type of decorative art, which will
be referred to later.
Although the aboriginal does not wear much clothing, he is very
particular about regularly anointing his supple skin. This precaution no
doubt gives him greater protection against the changes of weather than
all the modern ideas of clothing could do. What he principally applies is
fat of emu and goanna, and on the north coast that of some of the larger
fish as well. The emu in particular, and especially during a good season,
accumulates masses of fat under its skin, which are readily removed, when
slain by the hunter. This grease the native rubs over the whole surface
of his body to shield the skin from the painful sting of the broiling sun
and of the arid wind. In addition he covers certain parts of his body
and face with red ochre and charcoal, both for cosmetic and protective
purposes. The application of coloured pigments for purely decorative and
ceremonial purposes will be discussed later.
Hair-belts are worn by young and old, male and female. Children have only
one or two twisted fur-strings tied around the waist. Among the coastal
tribes of the Northern Territory, men wear belts made of twisted human
hair. A skein of about thirty strings is tied at two points diametrically
opposite, and, making these the ends, the sixty strings are loosely
twisted into a hank about two feet in length. The belt thus completed
is tied around the waist with a piece of human hair-string. The article
is of practical use since it permits of carrying various implements and
weapons, which a man sticks between the belt and his body. A Wogait
warrior was seen with a tomahawk thus placed at the back of his body; to
stay the swinging of the handle he held it securely in the cleft between
his buttocks. The same type of belt is used by the tribes of the Northern
Kimberleys, and there they are always chosen when a man is wearing the
pearl-shell appendage.
The Worora construct more elaborate articles by winding much human
hair-string circumferentially (i.e. spirally) round a thick inner skein
like the one described above. The finished belt looks like a cylindrical
ring about an inch in thickness.
Other kinds of belts are made, but they are more for gala occasions, as
when ceremonies are performed and tribal dances arranged.
When his affairs are working harmoniously, game secured, and water
available, the aboriginal makes his life as easy as possible; and he
might to the outsider even appear lazy. Blessed with a fair share of
pristine philosophy by heredity, his motto might be interpreted in words
to the effect that while there is plenty for to-day never care about
to-morrow. On this account an aboriginal is inclined to make one feast
of his supplies, in preference to a modest meal now and another by and
by. The result is that, when a beast has been roasted, the whole of
it is eaten, even though the participant family or group be small in
comparison with the bulk of the spread. In consequence of this custom,
the surfeiters find it necessary in times of plenty to frequently lie in
camp, in undisguised idleness, until such time has lapsed as Nature must
demand of their systems to overcome the discomforts which the reckless
gorging had brought about. During this period of digestive recovery,
an aboriginal endeavours to spend most of his time in sleeping off
the objectionable after-effects of his temporary indiscretion. As an
apology, however, one must admit that only too often the same individual
is compelled to go for many days without even a mouthful to eat, and
possibly, at the same time existing on a minimum of water, under the most
trying conditions imaginable—conditions whose origin must be traced to
the cycles of drought the great southern continent is heir to, and which
have become more drastic in their effects, since the coming of the white
man, through the extermination of many indigenous animals and plants the
original owners of the land used to depend upon for their existence.
It is during the leisure hours of any stay in camp that attention is
paid to such operations as hair-cutting and beard-removing previously
referred to. When the natives have been on the march for a time, and
especially after they have been out hunting or collecting, numbers of
thorns, prickles, and splinters are picked up by the soles of their feet,
in spite of the thick horny nature of the skin. Many of these break off
short and in due course set up irritation, necessitating their removal.
Firstly the sufferer tries to remove the foreign body from the skin with
his finger-nails; failing to succeed by this method, he cuts a small
piece of wood the shape of an awl, and with its sharp point removes the
obstacle. The prickle is often completely buried and quite invisible to
the eye, yet it has to be removed. In order to locate it under those
conditions, the aboriginal resorts to the method, not infrequently
applied by the modern surgeon, of gently pressing the skin at different
places with the tip of the instrument until the seat of pain has been
located. At that spot he cuts away the skin to a depth sufficient to
expose the hidden body, which he can then in most cases express with his
fingers. During these operations the natives repeatedly give vent to a
sharp, yet subdued “_irr_,” combining the expression of pain with that of
disgust or temper.
The method adopted by the natives of walking one behind the other, where
possible, is partly to minimize the risk of picking up prickles with
their feet, and partly to obliterate the individual tracks of the party.
The dog is the aboriginal’s constant companion. In the original tribal
areas the dingo, Australia’s wild dog, is captured and tamed young; in
the more civilized districts the European dog has been acquired and bred
by the natives in alarmingly large numbers. The animals are kept by both
man and woman—in a single wurley one might count as many as fifteen dogs
living with the human occupants. The yelping hordes are useless, except
perhaps that they raise the alarm when strangers approach the camp. Some
of them are indeed dangerously vicious. The natives have the dogs about
them merely for the love they bear towards them; it is on account of the
unreasonable amount of petting and pampering, received at the hands of
their masters, that the dogs become so thoroughly useless. A native just
holds the unruly mob about him for company sake; he prefers to rely upon
his own skill and instinct when hunting, and rarely allows his dogs to go
with him; in fact, there seems little inclination on the part of the dogs
to accompany the chase with their master. They are so well looked after,
and regularly steal so much from the general supplies of the camp, that
they grow fat and lazy. When a dog seems to be off colour, or has been
accidentally hurt, it is nursed like a sick child; it is placed by the
fireside, upon the best rug available, and covered with other rags, the
natives themselves going without any covering. One might occasionally
find a gin going so far as to even suckle a pup at her breast.
Interesting discussions have taken place as to whether the dingo
is indigenous to Australia or whether it has come hither from some
other land, possibly with man. The wild dog found in the mountains of
Java certainly resembles the dingo very closely. Whether or no, the
dingo has existed in Australia quite as long as the primitive tribes.
Osseous remains of the wild dog have been found contemporaneous with
the extinct Diprotodon and other pre-historic monsters. Indeed in the
“mammalian drifts” filling the ancient valleys of the ranges in the
Noarlunga district, south of Adelaide, bones of such animals have been
found showing distinctly the teeth-marks of the dingo upon them. In
Victoria, and New South Wales also, dog remains have been found in old
cave deposits in company with fossil-mammals and struthious birds,
often buried beneath the basaltic flows and ashes of Mount Gambier
and other volcanoes, which have long since become dormant. It seems
most probable, therefore, that the dingo existed in Australia in the
Pliocene period, or at any rate in that immediately following it. It is
a strange circumstance that the dingo has never been traced to Tasmania,
although, immediately opposite that island on the mainland, the dog was
most plentiful in by-gone times. The surmise is that the animal had in
its migration not reached so far south before Tasmania was severed from
the Australian continent by the breaking through of Bass Strait. It is
reasonable to assume then that the dingo came to the south of Australia
subsequent to the aboriginals who inhabited Tasmania.
CHAPTER XIV
HUNTING
True sportsman’s instinct—Comprehensive list
of game—Land-snails—Fresh-water mussels—Marine
molluscs—Caterpillars—Grubs—Tree-climbing—Trees felled by
burning—Witchedy hook—Eggs of birds and reptiles—Snakes
and lizards—Fishing methods described—A turtle
hunt—Crocodile—Dugong—Hawk traps—Wild geese and other
birds—The emu—Big game hunted by men—Opossums—Burrowing
marsupials—Wallaby—Kangarooing expeditions—The buffalo—Wild bee
honey—The honey ant.
Nothing surpasses the pleasure of real pristine chase. The aboriginal’s
ideal of life is attained when he finds himself in hot pursuit of the
game, which shares with him the wilds of his ancient haunts. He lives
at an accelerated pace; his pulse quickens, and in his excitement he
completely dissociates his mind from everything but the spoor of his
prospective prey. His vision is focussed rigidly upon the fleeing
animal—he is blind so far as any other objects are concerned—and, behind
it, he beholds just the one picture of his ambition realized, _viz._ the
“kill.”
The love of the sport, the keenness of the senses, and the astounding
powers of endurance are natural attributes, which the aboriginal alone
knows how to use to their fullest. These are the hereditary gifts of man
which characterize the primitive hunter; and these are the instincts
which modern representatives of the human species have deplorably
neglected.
The object of the chase is, of course, in its original phase, to find
the means wherewith to sustain the hunter’s existence. Although he loves
the sport so well, a native will never kill wantonly; whatever is slain
is eaten; to kill just for the pleasure of the thing is beyond his
comprehension and clashes seriously with his profound notions of justice
and fair-play being meted out to all his fellow-creatures.
Apart from some of the flabby marine creations, there are few things in
the animal world which the aboriginal does not eat, either raw or cooked
in ashes. Generally speaking, the male only hunts the larger mammals and
such things as require expert knowledge to locate, or the taking of which
is associated with adventure and skill. We shall consider a few items
separately.
The larger land-snails are collected by the women in their food-carriers.
After a good downpour of rain such come out from their hiding places
in great numbers and can be collected in large numbers, but even in
midsummer, in the ranges of central Australia, a meal of snails can at
any time be secured by searching under tussocks and beneath stones. The
principal species eaten by the Aluridja, Wongapitcha, and to a less
extent by the Arunndta tribes, is the _Helix perinflata_. When sufficient
have been collected, they are merely thrown upon hot ashes to roast and
then picked out of the shell with a small pointed stick.
Fresh water mussels are gathered from the mud, roasted and consumed.
These molluscs, known as the _Unio_, are very plentiful in some of the
permanent water-holes, such as exist along the Cooper and Strzelecki
Creeks in the Yantowannta, Wongkanguru, and Dieri country. Along the
banks of the River Murray great heaps of the shells of such mussels are
encountered by travellers even nowadays, indicating to what an enormous
extent the molluscs were eaten by the extinct river tribes.
Countless marine species, both heliform gastropods like the periwinkle
and cockle-like bivalves, contribute towards the daily meals of the
coastal tribes. All along the south-eastern shores of South Australia,
that is, upon the cliffs occurring between Kingston and the Glenelg River
and in Victoria, many kitchen middens are still to be found containing
heaps upon heaps of the large _Turbo undulata_—the remains of what the
local tribes have feasted upon. Associated with these heaps are the
stones of their ovens and other camp refuse.
The cliffs and reefs, which fringe the north coast of Australia, are
profitable hunting grounds where all kinds of shell-fish, especially
oysters, abound. The last-named are gathered and thrown upon hot ashes;
when the valves open, the “fish” are detached without any difficulty and
swallowed.
The Wongapitcha and other desert tribes do not hesitate to consume
quantities of green caterpillars, but such usually only at the beginning
of a good season, when fresh herbs are available, and the morsel is
in consequence claimed to have acquired a sweetish flavour. The only
treatment the caterpillars receive is to be thrown upon hot ashes until
they expand and straighten with the heat. The small hairs covering them
are thus singed off, but the caterpillars are far from being cooked when
eaten.
The most popular and at the same time most widely distributed article of
diet in the insect line is the larva of the big _Cossus_ moth, commonly
known as the witchedy grub (Plate XVIII). The two varieties which make
themselves most conspicuous are, firstly, one living in the roots of such
shrubs as the Cassia and certain species of Acacia, and, secondly, one
which bores into the butt of the eucalyptus. The first cannot usually
be located by the eye, but its presence is determined by ramming the
yam-stick into the ground under the root of the shrub and testing its
resistance to leverage—if the grub is present, the root will readily
snap, whereupon the native soon unearths it by digging with the stick and
his hands. This variety is smaller than the tree-grub and is mostly of a
yellow colour.
The abode of the tree-grub is detected by the native’s keen eye in the
small holes the young larva bores into the bark and lives in until it
attains the mature moth stage. The larva lives in the butt or in any of
the larger limbs of the tree; consequently it may at times be concealed
in the bark high above the ground. In the latter case the native will
have to climb the butt and effect an ascent, no matter what the shape of
the tree happens to be. Various methods are made use of, one of which we
have already considered on page 13.
One of the commonest methods is to cut shallow notches in the bark of
the butt, one above the other, and so placed that the toes of either
foot of the climber can be placed into them, alternately right and left.
The climber, as he ascends, cuts fresh notches into the bark with his
tomahawk; and if the butt is so big that he cannot hold on to it, he is
obliged to cling to a notch with the fingers of one hand whilst the other
hand is used to cut the new notch above it. In this manner he works his
way upwards to the nearest lateral branch, whence the ascent is in most
cases easier. It is wonderful with what assurance and ease the native
accomplishes this dangerous task; and one marvels how it is possible for
him to retain his balance against the vertical trunk of the tree. The
notches, too, which he cuts into the bark, are so shallow that only the
very toe-tips can be inserted. One uncertain movement, or one slip of
either toe or finger, and he would fall to the ground; and considering
the height to which he occasionally climbs, this might mean certain
death. All grub-holes are examined on the way up and the occupants
extracted. Vide Plate XIX, 1.
When the diameter of the butt is not too large to prevent the native from
holding his hands around the distant side, the notches are dispensed
with, and the climber simply “walks” up the tree, keeping his arms
extended and allowing his hands to slide along the surface as he ascends.
The method is in vogue principally in the tropical portions of Australia,
where small-trunked trees and palms are plentiful in the jungles
surrounding permanent water-holes and rivers.
In the same region, strong vines and creepers, which are interlaced with
the branches of a tree to be explored, are climbed, hand over hand, by
the hunter, who gets his hold by gripping the stem between the big and
second toes.
In north-eastern Queensland, tree-climbing is accomplished by the aid
of a long and strong piece of the lawyer-cane, which is passed around
that side of the tree-trunk lying away from the climber. The native
seizes both ends of this loop, one in either hand, and keeping it taut
by throwing his body backwards into a sloping position, he places his
feet against the tree. Momentarily relaxing the strain upon the cane, by
a jerk from his arms, he thrusts the loop a short distance up the trunk,
at the same time lifting one foot above the other as though he were
walking up a ladder. The same operation is repeated, when the other foot
is lifted; and thus he makes quick progress towards the first lateral
branches of the tree. Should at any time the climber want to use one of
his hands, he passes one end of the cane under the knee of the same side
as the hand to be liberated and holds the end between the big toe and
that next to it.
Often the natives do not climb the tree, but prefer to light a fire
at the base of it and wait until the flame has eaten its way through
sufficiently far to fell it. After a giant of the woods has crashed to
the ground, it is comparatively easy for the hunters to obtain any spoil
concealed in its bark, hollows, or branches.
Although we have considered the methods of tree-climbing in connection
with the witchedy grub, it must be understood that the same methods are
employed in hunting small animals, in bird-nesting, in honey-collecting,
and so forth.
The witchedy grub is extracted from its hiding place by means of a
light hooked stick. This implement is from four to six inches long and
is usually cut from a small pronged twig, one arm of which is left the
required length, the other cut short and sharpened to form the hook.
The stick is inserted into the hole occupied by the witchedy grub,
hook foremost, and pushed in until the grub is penetrated; then it is
withdrawn, the hook bringing the grub with it. As the hole is usually
small at its entrance, the bark is first cut away to a small depth with
a tomahawk in order to avoid the constriction when the grub is being
withdrawn. The witchedy-hook is known throughout central and southern
Australia; the Arunndta word for it is “_ullyinga_.”
The witchedy grub is prepared like most things already described, namely,
by throwing it upon hot ashes for a few moments until it straightens and
expands, but does not burst. Although we Europeans have become adverse
to eating anything in the grub line, there are many bush people who
regularly partake of the witchedy; indeed, by many the grub is regarded
as a very tasty dish. The flavour of the cooked witchedy is like that of
scrambled egg, slightly sweetened.
The eggs and fledglings of all birds yield abundant food supplies during
favourable seasons. In central Australia such seasons are dependent
entirely upon the rains. Birds breed usually after the setting in of
rain, which might be once or twice a year, but in the driest regions,
like the Victoria Desert, perhaps only once every few years. There is
no doubt that emu, black swan, and native goose are amongst the biggest
suppliers of eggs. Of the two last-named birds, in particular, enormous
harvests of eggs are occasionally wrested during exceptional seasons. At
these times the tribes who have been so bounteously favoured carry on a
regular trade with neighbouring tribes, who have perhaps not had the same
opportunity or good fortune.
The eggs of the larger birds mentioned are laid upon, or into, hot sand
and frequently turned to ensure them cooking on all sides. The desert
tribes of the Kimberley district have a knack of snatching the egg, as it
lies upon the hot ashes, spinning it in the air, catching it again, and
replacing it on to the ashes. The process might be repeated two or three
times. The idea is to stir up the contents of the egg, in order that
they may cook uniformly, much after the style of an omelette or scrambled
egg.
The eggs of lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and other reptiles are also
feasted upon. Of turtles in particular great numbers of eggs are
collected along the north coast of Australia. The female turtle comes
out of the ocean and lays many eggs in the sand, a short distance
above high water mark; between fifty and sixty eggs are commonly found
in a single nest. The turtle lays the eggs into a hole it previously
scoops out, and covers them with sand it piles up with its paddles. The
aboriginal locates the nest by tracking the characteristic spoor across
the sand. When the nest has been discovered, the hunter probes the pile
with a pointed stick or spear to ascertain whether the eggs are still
available. This he can presage by looking at the point of the stick when
he withdraws it: if the eggs are freshly laid, the point will be covered
with yellow yolk, if partly hatched blood will show itself. The eggs are
eaten in either condition. The lucky hunter, immediately he finds a nest,
digs out the eggs with his hands and yam stick, and carries them in a
food-vessel back to camp. Their preparation is much the same as that of
birds’ eggs, but, in the case of the turtle’s, the white of the egg does
not coagulate.
Snakes and lizards, especially the larger species, contribute towards the
daily meals. They are tracked to their holes and hiding places and dug
out. Great catches are made in the northern coastal districts by setting
fire to areas covered with long, dry grass. The hunting party surrounds
the burning patch and kills the reptiles, as they are driven out of their
hiding places by the heat. Many creatures are overtaken by the flames and
partially roasted before they can escape. These are collected as soon as
the ground permits of walking over it, but very often such morsels fall
into the claws of the birds of prey, which hover over the place directly
the fires are started. In order to ensure a rapid spread of the flames,
the natives make use of a stick, about a yard long, with a hook at one
end. With this stick in their hand, they pick up some of the blazing
grass at the hook-end, and run with it along and through the grass,
setting fire to as much as they can, and in as short a time as possible.
Of the lizards, the most favoured are the species of _Varanus_, popularly
known as the printhy and the goanna. These species live in central
and northern Australia and attain a considerable size, the printhy in
particular, living in the MacDonnell and Musgrave Ranges, attain a
size of over six feet. These lizards in a good season are considered a
delicacy, and the fat is prized as nutriment, as medicine, or as cosmetic
ointment alike. The lizards are slain either in the caves they inhabit
or as they are running from the hunter. In sandy stretches of country,
the smaller goannas are often dug out of the holes they dwell in, and are
killed on the spot.
Fishing is indulged in wherever the conditions permit of it.
Opportunities are naturally rare in central Australia, and are restricted
to only a few permanent water-holes along the courses of river systems
like the Cooper, Diamentina, and Finke. In the northern rivers, which
are nearly all permanently flowing, as for example the Fitzroy, Prince
Regent, Victoria, Daly, Alligators, Roper, and Leichhardt, there is
always an abundant supply of fish available. A common method practised
both in central and northern Australia is to form a fishing party of men
and boys, who enter a water-hole at one end and drive the fish before
them, by making as much noise and splash as possible, at the same time
gradually working their way towards the shallow water. Great care is
taken not to allow any of the prey to make its escape by darting back
through the line of the party into deep water again. Suddenly a final,
united drive is made, through which most of the terrified fish find
themselves in disastrously shallow water. In their frantic endeavour to
escape, they entangle themselves in the mud, and can easily be grabbed
by the members of the party. As fast as the fish are taken by the men,
they are thrown on to the dry bank, where some gins are in readiness to
seize them and dispatch them by crushing their heads between their teeth.
Many of the larger fish living in the water-holes have the habit of
throwing themselves out of the water when the mud is stirred up in it;
lying high and dry upon the muddy banks of the hole, they are easily
seized by the natives and killed.
In the western rivers district of the Northern Territory, after the
water has dried up in the creeks, leaving only shallow pools behind,
the imprisoned fish are driven towards small inlets by means of long
bundles of grass and twigs held horizontally in the water. In this way
they are pushed forward on to the bank, and the water filters back to the
hole. The fish are retained by the brushwood, from which they are easily
extricated by the hunters.
The Carpentaria tribes build ingenious races at suitable sites, as
for instance at a point where a river drains a billabong. By means
of a series of embankments, the water is conducted along a number of
constricted channels to long hollow logs, through which it flows, and,
subsequently, empties itself over stacks of brushwood. The fish are
entangled in the brushwood, whence they are removed by the hunters to a
place of safety.
Crawfish are traced in shallow pools by keeping a constant look-out
for the ends of their antennæ, which stick out above the surface of
the turbid water; the native seizes these, and, with a jerk, hurls the
crustaceans on to the bank.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVI_
1. Wongapitcha women carrying dogs which they hold across their backs to
enjoy the warmth of the animals’ bodies.
2. Kolaia man standing in the characteristic bird-like attitude,
Cambridge Gulf.]
In the Victoria River district of the Northern Territory, where there are
suitable constrictions in shallow tidal-inlets and creeks, the natives
sit in a line across the opening at ebb-tide after the following fashion:
Each person squats with his legs doubled in the knees, the thighs
resting well apart and in contact, one on either side, with those of his
neighbours, who are seated just as he. When the last of the water ebbs
out, the fish endeavour to make through the line of the fishers, but the
moment one invades the angle contained by an aboriginal’s thighs, it is
immediately pounced upon, caught, and thrown across to the women waiting
on the shore.
In place of the human line, very often a net is spanned across an ebbing
inlet, being kept in a more or less vertical position by a number of
stakes, which are driven into the sand. These nets are made of vegetable
fibre twine, strung or knitted together, after a loop-within-loop
pattern, into pieces many yards in length.
Barriers are also built across shallow inlets, which upon the recession
of the tide may occasionally retain large numbers of fish. Such
structures are plentiful in the Berringin territory along the north
coast, and in the Carpentaria Gulf country.
More temporary structures are made of branches and strips of paper-bark,
stayed by vertical piles, driven into the sand at short distances apart.
This type of barrier was seen mostly across the beds of creeks such as
the McKinlay, Cullen, and Lennard.
A kind of noose is made by the Daly River tribes consisting of a long
piece of big meshwork, which is loosely suspended across a narrow arm of
water, or a creek, known to be frequented by larger varieties of fish.
Whilst endeavouring to swim through the meshes of this contrivance,
which at first offers no material resistance to the attempt, the fish,
in carrying the noose onwards, forces its body partly through one of the
meshes. Some of the prey might succeed in slipping through, others will
pull the noose over their heads and fix the mesh in such a position that
it will move neither forwards nor backwards. In this case, the fish will
be obliged to linger until the natives come along to ascertain what luck
they have had, when it is removed, together with any others which have
met with a similar fate.
Practically all coastal tribes of Australia have made use of fishing nets
at some time or other. Nowadays only the far northern coastal tribes
still practise netting. The Daly River tribes, the Wogait, Sherait,
Larrekiya, Berringin, and others construct nets after one and the same
principle. Two hoops are made of the long shoots of _Spinifex_, growing
upon the sandhills on the shore, usually by twisting two pairs of such
pieces together, respectively, and tying their ends so as to form a
complete ring, measuring about five feet in diameter. Round the inside
of this ring is tied a circular net made out of fibre twine or of
Hybiscus bark. The net is made by hand, after the loop-within-loop method
previously referred to. To use the net, two natives, usually females,
seize it with one hand placed at either side of the rim. As they wade out
to a suitable depth, they hold the net between them, partly submerged and
slightly inclined, so that the lower edge is in advance of the upper. In
their free hands the gins carry branches, with which they frequently beat
the water on either side, so as to drive any fish, within the beating
radius, towards the centre of the net. So soon as a fish is noticed to go
inside, the net is quickly turned up into a horizontal position and the
captive bagged (Fig. 3).
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Berringin women netting fish.]
A constant watch is kept for large fish, which may be swimming close in
to shore, in order that they might be dispatched with a stone or throwing
stick. Feeding stingrays are often captured this way. When saw-fish come
into shallow water, the natives wade in, seize the fish by their tails,
and throw them up on to dry land before the dangerous “saws” can do any
harm.
The spear is a favourite weapon with which to obtain a fish. A special
type is used by the Larrekiya, Wogait, the Alligator River, and other
coastal tribes in the north. The spear is about eleven feet long, has a
shaft of reed or bamboo, and three barbed prongs of ironwood grouped in a
circle around the head of the shaft. These spikes, measuring from twelve
to fifteen inches, are attached with resin and string or paperbark. The
barbs are short and directed backwards, each prong containing from eight
to eleven, gradually increasing in size from the point towards the shaft.
This trident-spear is used mostly for salt-water fish, and is thrown
with or without a spear-thrower. The idea of the three spikes is to jam
the fish so that it is held by the retrorse barbs. The spearing is done
either off reefs and rocks, or simply by wading out into shallow water
and securing the prey as it emerges from sea-weed or swims near the sandy
bottom; many of the coastal and river tribes do much of their spearing
from the bow of a canoe. Some tribes make similar fish-spears, but with
two prongs only.
The Kimberley tribes of Western Australia, the island tribes off the
north coast and the north Queensland coastal tribes use straight, pointed
spears of mangrove wood, those of the Crocker Island being exceptionally
well finished and of harder wood.
The tribes living more inland in the river districts of the north also
use a singly pointed, straight fish-spear. A native does most of his
fishing by perching himself upon a high bank, rock, or fallen log, at
a place where he knows fish are being attracted to the surface of the
water by flies or other causes. He stands rigidly for hours, with his
spear poised, patiently waiting for the opportunity, which will allow him
to thrust the sharp point into the body of the unsuspecting prey. The
spear is thrown with such force that it either sticks in the mud below
or disappears under water for a while. In either case, the native has to
wade or swim out to the missile, and when he retakes it, the fish, if he
has been successful, is found sticking to the end of the spear.
The hook and line are used by the Daly and Alligator River tribes of the
Northern Territory. Two types of hook are employed. One is cut out of a
pelvic bone or shoulder blade of the kangaroo, or out of the pearl shell.
It is of a strongly bent sickle-shape, pointed at one end and containing
a notch at the other, to which a line can be securely tied.
The other hook consists of two pieces of bone of unequal length. The
shorter and thinner piece, about two inches in length, is pointed at one
end and tied at an angle to the bigger piece, which is about four inches
long. The joint at the angle is strengthened with wild bees’ wax.
A fishing line, made of vegetable fibre twine, is looped once around
the hook, and made secure by tying with another piece of string, the
union being covered with bees’ wax. The line is held either in the hand
or is attached to a long rod. The hook is baited with grubs. It is by
this means that the Barramundi is caught in large numbers in most of the
northern rivers.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVII_
Female wood-carriers, Aluridja tribe.
“The women ... are required to collect sufficient to keep the fire going,
during the day for cooking purposes and during the night for warming and
lighting purposes.”]
A turtle hunt is conducted in King Sound after the following style: The
game is sighted, floating upon the surface of the sea, either from the
mainland or from a craft. Instantly a gesticulative appeal is made to all
to keep quiet. “_Hai! Kurdemilla!_” (Look out, a turtle!) “_Sh! Sh! Sh!_”
comes the voice of the person who has made the discovery, and others
repeat it in an undertone. Everybody who has noticed the turtle bends his
body to escape detection, and beckons to all others to do likewise. A
number of the men then creep to the water’s edge and cautiously board a
craft (i.e. if the observation was not made from a craft), in which they
carefully paddle towards the prey. As the boat draws near, the keen eyes
of the hunters endeavour to satisfy their curiosity upon the point as
to whether the object ahead is just one turtle resting upon the surface
in the warmth of a tropical sun, or whether, indeed, there might be a
pair, coupled in the water. The female turtle is much preferred by the
natives on account of the possible nutritious contents of the ovaries,
whose appearance is much like that of a cluster of yellowish dates. When
within reasonable distance of the prey, two men glide inaudibly over the
side of the craft and disappear from view. Upon a signal, two or three
others jump into the water, apparently disregardless of splash and noise,
and swim towards the now startled game, which lifts its long neck and
looks in the direction of the disturbance. Having perceived the imminent
danger, the turtle at once endeavours to escape from the peril by ducking
under water. But, at the same moment, it finds its head clasped by one of
the men below to be thrust back above the surface of the water. One of
the swimmers has now reached the turtle, whose shell he promptly seizes
by the collar-like rim at the back of the neck, and pulls it backwards at
the same time as the head is being thrust upwards from beneath the water.
The turtle works its paddles in a frantic endeavour to escape, but, being
held in the sloping position mentioned, the more its exerts itself, the
more persistently it remains upon the surface, because its paddles are
driving it there. If it be a large turtle, the man who is pulling from
behind lifts his body on to the shell, upon which he sits astride. His
weight tends to further ensure the inclined position of the turtle, which
involuntarily acts as his carrier. The prey is then speedily dispatched
by a blow over the head with a tomahawk or waddy. There is no doubt the
much-criticized De Rougemont must have witnessed such a scene as here
described, and embodied the inspiration in his narration.
During the season that turtles come ashore, moonlight parties are
arranged which overtake the amphibians as they are clumsily working their
way over the sandy beach. The creatures are overturned and either slain
immediately or are left in their helpless position over night to be
killed in the morning.
Crocodiles (_C. porosus et Johnstoni_) and dugongs (_Halicore Australis_)
are located below the surface of water by watching for bubbles of air,
which might rise, or for any little swirls and disturbances in the
water due to the movements of the creatures below. In the case of the
dugong, also known as the sea-cow, its presence might be betrayed by
small nibbled pieces of sea-weed, which come to the surface when it is
feeding. Both crocodile and dugong are speared or harpooned from the bow
of a raft or canoe. A native often ventures into a water-lily pool or
billabong, known to contain crocodile, prodding the mud with his spear,
as he advances, to feel for the horny skin of the hidden prey. When
one has been located, a large hunting party wade in a line through the
water splashing it vigorously and shouting loudly to drive the terrified
crocodile from the pool. Once it appears on dry ground, it is chased and
pelted with heavy spears. Natives do not appear to be the least concerned
about their safety when they wade into water containing crocodiles;
in fact, there are few cases known of natives having been attacked by
the reptiles, although occasionally one finds an individual partially
incapacitated or scarred in consequence of an encounter with a crocodile.
The scaly monsters seem loth to attack a coloured man, but for a white
man to take the risk a native does would mean courting certain death.
Young crocodiles are caught by hand from the bow of a canoe whilst
cautiously drifting upon them as they are floating upon or near the
surface of the water. The natives explain that the teeth of the young
reptiles have not hardened sufficiently to do any harm.
Along the north coast, and on the adjacent islands, a regular watch
is kept for the dugong. This peculiar marine mammal lives in the deep
sea, but comes near to the shore to feed. It might often be observed,
especially at high tide, in small, calm bays and inlets, frolicking at
the surface. Full-grown animals attain a length of twelve feet or more,
and weigh up to 1,500 pounds; they are entirely vegetarian, browsing for
the most part on salt-water algae. At intervals it is necessary for the
animal to rise to the surface to breathe. The drawing in of the air can
be heard a great distance off, and is generally, though erroneously,
referred to as the “blowing.” The man on the look-out watches for the
dugong to show itself upon the surface, and his keen eye can usually
detect it, even upon a slightly rippled water, at some considerable
distance out. The most favourable times are at dusk and on moonlight
nights.
When the signal has been given that a dugong is in sight, the hunters
set out in a canoe and cautiously paddle towards the place at which it
was last seen. It may be that long before the crew reach the particular
spot indicated the animal has moved away, but the trained eye of the
observer, who now stands at the bow of the canoe, is able to follow the
movements of the dugong, even though it be some depth below the surface.
At night the prey is observed on the reflected beam of the moon. When the
game comes up again to take breath, it may be the canoe is still too far
off for action, but the strictest caution is observed not in any way to
cause a disturbance. All men in the boat remain rigid, and the paddles
are held stationary; the man at the bow, holding his harpoon, poised in
readiness above his head, stands like a statue. The moment the dugong
goes below again, he indicates to the oarsmen with his hand how to steer.
Thus the unsuspecting game is followed around from station to station
until it comes to the surface within throwing distance. When this occurs,
and it may be before the animal actually reaches the surface, the man in
front sends the harpoon forward like lightning, with almost infallible
precision, to penetrate the body of the rising dugong and firmly embed
itself in it. The terrified animal plunges forward with a tremendous
splash, tearing the line attached to the harpoon along with it to its
full length. The canoe is pulled along with some velocity through the
water, but the wounded animal soon weakens through loss of blood and the
want of air. It is compelled to rise to the surface to fill its lungs,
but no sooner does it come near than another missile flies from the hand
of the hunter to also stick in the back of the exasperated animal. Again
it shoots away, with a renewed effort to escape from the cruel harpoon,
but in vain. Before long the want of air again necessitates a return to
the surface, only to be met with a similar treatment as before. By this
time the unfortunate dugong is so much weakened that it cannot travel far
without coming to the surface frequently; and every time it does another
spear is planted into its body. Before long it caves in; a final swish
with its powerful tail, a quiver throughout the body, and its helpless
carcase is in the hands of the elated hunters. The victorious shouting or
singing of the men in the canoe is echoed by those watching the hunt on
shore, the latter, moreover, in their excitement usually starting a wild
sort of dance on the sand. A noose is placed round the dugong’s tail,
by which it is towed towards the land. If any resistance is proffered,
the rope is gathered in, and the creature drowned by keeping its head
under water, or one of the hunters suffocates it by thrusting two of his
fingers into its nostrils. This accomplished, the jaws are tied together
to prevent the carcase from water-logging and sinking.
Often the hunters submerge their canoe, and, by swimming alongside, pull
it under the floating carcase. The water is then bailed out of the craft
and in this way the dugong is lifted. The hunters then row their prize
ashore and drag it on to the beach, where it is quartered and cooked.
Practically the whole of it is eaten.
The rich flesh of the dugong is relished by all northern coastal tribes
from the east of Queensland to the west of Western Australia as far south
as the 24th degree of latitude.
The hunters recognize an “old man” dugong by its tusks; and they assert
that often a female is seen carrying its young upon a fin, suckling
it. According to aboriginal information, a young dugong might also
be observed riding on the back of its mother. A pregnant dugong is
considered to make the richest dish of all.
Occasionally a dugong or a big fish, like a whale, is stranded during a
gale, and this is indeed a red-letter day for the fortunate tribe upon
whose territory the find was made.
Birds of every description are hunted with stone, stick, or spear. It is
astounding how adroitly an aboriginal can project the light reed spears;
to fell a dove at a distance of from forty to fifty paces is child’s play
for an experienced thrower.
There are, however, a number of species which are hunted in a peculiar
way; and these will now be described.
In the northern coastal districts, where hawks are very plentiful, the
natives build small stone covers resembling a surveyor’s cairn. A hunter
conceals himself in one of these and holds a dove or other small bird,
which he has speared or captured, in his hand above a small loop-hole
left at the top of the structure. He moves it about to attract the
attention of the birds of prey soaring on high. Presently one of the
hawks swoops down upon the dove and grabs it with its claws. But at the
same moment, the hunter drops the dove and with lightning quickness
seizes the legs of the hawk and pulls the bird under, to quickly kill
it. This method is largely practised in the Victoria River district,
there being an abundance of stones available for the construction of the
covers. The occurrence of many cairns of the type here described has
hitherto puzzled travellers who observed them.
The northern desert tribes of Western Australia adopt a similar
principle, but in place of the stones they use the tussocks of porcupine
grass to cover themselves. In order to attract the hawks they are
hunting, they set fire to one or two plants of porcupine grass growing
close by.
In the same district, and more especially on the Daly and other rivers
in the Northern Territory, wild geese are captured much after the
same principle. Large flocks of these semi-palmated geese (_Anseranus
melanoleuca_) are in the habit of visiting one and the same place year
after year. The natives know these places well, and during the absence
of the geese make an excavation in the ground, which they cover with
twigs, pieces of paper-bark, grass, and soil, leaving only one or two
look-out holes. When the birds have returned, a couple of natives sit in
the excavation and watch for the geese to draw near. As soon as a head or
a leg of a goose comes near to an observation hole, one of the natives
seizes the bird, draws it below, and wrings its neck. In this way many
birds may be bagged without disturbing the flock.
On other occasions the natives climb trees, in which they build platforms
to seat themselves upon and await the arrival of geese at dusk. The birds
come in such large numbers that dozens are caught at a time; they are
simply seized by hand and killed on the spot. By cleverly imitating the
call of the birds: “_nga ngang, ngang-ngang-ngang_,” the hunters entice
as many birds as they like to the platform. But even at daytime, a native
often hides in a tussock of grass and imitates the cry of the bird,
which, when it unsuspectingly draws near, is either grasped with the hand
or hit on the head with a stick.
At times the hunter plucks a large water-lily leaf, into which he cuts
two holes for his eyes to look through. Holding this leaf over his face,
he swims out to some geese he has observed on a lagoon, and, when within
grasping length of the prey, he simply pulls a bird under by its legs and
strangles it.
The note of the whistling duck (_Dendrocygna eytoni_) is also accurately
reproduced, by which flocks of them are attracted and killed with a
throwing stick while hovering around the spot which conceals the native.
Cockatoos, plovers, and many other birds are secured in a similar manner.
The flesh of an emu is valued, if for no other reason than for the size
of the carcase and the large amount of grease which lies beneath the
skin. The northern tribes of Western Australia have discovered a simple
means of capturing the big struthious bird in that they poison a water
known to be frequented by the game. When the bird has quenched its
thirst, it is stupefied to such a degree that it is an easy matter for
the natives, lying in ambush, to overtake it and crack it on the head.
The poison used is supplied by the leaf of _Tephrosia purpurea_, which
the natives call “_moru_”; the active principle is a saponine. In central
Australia the pitjuri leaf is largely used for the same purpose.
The natives also take advantage of the inquisitive nature of the bird
by enticing it into a cul-de-sac or other trap by waving a conspicuous
object, as for instance a corrobboree plume, from behind a boulder or
bush. When the bird is near enough, it is either rushed with waddies or
speared by a number of chosen, astute men.
The Larrekiya and Wogait tribes conceal themselves in the branches of a
tree, the seeds of which are known to attract the emu. The hunters ascend
the tree in the early hours of the morning and remain there perfectly
quiet until the prey arrives. At an opportune moment, the bird is speared
with a specially heavy spear known as “_nimmerima_.”
The south-eastern tribes used to select one or more men, who would
be “dressed up” as emu after the style of the Kukata men playing emu
described on page 81. In the case of the hunters, however, a real emu
skin is usually employed, with the head attached and held erect by means
of a stick, which passes through the neck. Very cleverly imitating the
strut of the emu, the men carefully approach their prey, drawing their
spears, which they firmly hold between two toes, along with them through
the grass. Carefully and very slowly encircling the birds, the hunters
gradually work towards the birds, when presently one or two of them
are espied. The moment this happens, the curious emu rush towards the
strangers ruffling their feathers and emitting peculiar guttural sounds.
Now the critical moment has arrived because the hunters know that, when
their faked plumage is recognized, the birds will decamp. They stand and
lift their spears with their feet. The birds are now in all probability
within throwing distance and very likely on the point of turning.
That is the time selected for throwing the missile. Having previously
selected their mark, the hunters, with a mighty flourish, let the weapons
fly through the air with almost infallible accuracy. Then sounds the
triumphant whoop; the men, discarding their disguise, rush towards the
wounded victim and promptly put an end to it. In place of assuming
the guise of an emu, the south-eastern tribes, when in grass-tree
(_Xanthorrhœa_) country, cut the crown from a spreading tree and carry
this as a cover.
The real chase, that is the hunting of larger animals, reptiles, and
birds, is strictly the business of the men, although the children and
women often employ themselves at digging out lizards, snakes, and the
smaller marsupials.
Opossums are driven from their hiding places in the hollows of trees by
smoking them out. A fire is lit at the bottom of a tree which is known
to be hollow, to burn through the enclosing wall at one side. Then green
twigs are thrown upon the flame to make as much smoke as possible, which
works its way upwards through all the hollows and emerges wherever there
is an opening. The half-stifled animals make for the openings and
usually drop to the ground; if not they are brought to fall by spear or
throwing stick. Often the greater half of the butt is thus burned through
and the tree crashes to earth. In this case a diligent search of all the
hollows and nooks is made in order that all things to eat, quite apart
from the opossums, may be bagged.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVIII_
Two handfuls of witchedy grubs.
“The most popular and at the same time most widely distributed article
of diet in the insect line is the larva of the big Cossus moth, commonly
known as the witchedy grub.”]
Often, too, notches are cut into the butt of the tree in step-like manner
to allow the hunters to ascend for the purpose of chopping out their prey
from the hollows. Whilst some are thus busying themselves aloft, others
are waiting below in readiness to secure any which might attempt to
escape.
Most of the burrowing marsupials, as well as the dingo and the imported
rabbit, are dug out of the ground. The largest among these is the wombat,
which is nocturnal in habit. The native knows, moreover, that when
the weather is excessively hot, the animal often comes to the surface
and sleeps in front of its burrow. He therefore stealthily surveys
the recognized haunts of the wombat at such times, and, should he be
successful in locating one, he spears it on the spot.
North of the Great Australian Bight the small wallaby is captured as
follows: The hunter ties a bundle of feathers to the top of a long pole,
up to twenty feet in length, and this he whirls around his head, high
in the air, as he walks across the tussocky plains known to harbour the
game they call “_wilpa_.” The wallabies, apparently taking the whizzing
feathers to be an eagle hawk, squat in fear, and, for the moment, do
not attempt to escape from the native. Before the animal recognizes the
fraud, the treacherous spear of the hunter has pinned it to earth.
The larger species of these marsupials are hunted differently; they are
mostly stalked and killed with the spear. It seems almost incredible that
a native can approach a grazing kangaroo on a more or less open plain
to within spear-throwing distance without being detected; but such is
actually the case. He has so perfected his stealthiness that he utilizes
every momentary opportunity, at which the animal’s attention is directed
away from him; and slowly he approaches step by step. His swarthy colour
in itself gives him a natural protection; but more, he has learned the
value of artificially colouring himself with the earth or mud of the
terrain he is about to scout. Thus upon a “blue mud flat” his body is
painted a slaty blue, whilst on a lateritic soil he applies red ochre or
clay. His work is considerably simplified when the ground contains such
features as ant-hills or dark-coloured boulders, which he can simulate. A
native, when stalking a kangaroo in this way, will always have his spear
poised in readiness to be thrown instantaneously if need be. Vide Plate
XX.
In central as well as northern Australia, hunting parties are arranged as
follows: Several men hide themselves at different points of a known pad,
along which kangaroo are in the habit of travelling to water or cover.
A large party of “beaters,” consisting of men, women, and children,
disperse in the direction of where kangaroos have been reported to be
feeding. On drawing near to the animals, all members of the beating party
begin to sing and shout. In the Larrekiya tongue this sounds like “_Ye-we
o-ho, ye-we o-ho_”; in the Arunndta more like “_Yerrewai, yerrewai_.”
They scamper through the bush until a kangaroo is actually sighted, when
it is pursued amidst the cries of “_Yackäu, yackäu_” in the former, and
“_Yackai_” in the latter tongue. The frightened animal usually makes
straight for the beaten pad, along which it tears at a terrific rate.
Upon hearing the cry of the battue, the men in hiding along the pad place
themselves in readiness; and when the animal leaps by, the nearest hunter
quickly rises and discharges his spear. If he is successful in felling
the animal, he raises a loud, triumphant shout of “_Käu_,” as a signal
to the driving party, who as quickly as possible assemble at the spot.
Should the spear of the first thrower miss the kangaroo, the chances are
that the next man, further along the pad, will have a chance of trying
his skill.
A native considers one of the big hind legs to be the most effective
part to wound a kangaroo in, especially if the leg can be broken. If the
animal is hit in any other part of its body, it will in all probability
make off and that will necessitate perhaps a whole day’s tracking, before
it can be overtaken and killed. If only lightly wounded, the hunters will
experience considerable difficulty in bringing the game to bay; and the
shrewdest strategy might be needed to outwit the watchful animal. In the
latter case the pursuers often split their company, and, whilst some are
attracting the kangaroo’s attention in the distance, the others endeavour
to crawl towards it under cover, until they are near enough to impart the
death blow.
Whilst pursuing a wounded animal, a native simply flies over the ground.
He cares for no obstacles and seems instinctively to presage the
stability of doubtfully inclined and pivotted rocks, lying upon hilly
slopes or partially concealed among tall grass. Thus he, with great
confidence, jumps from point to point, with the agility of an antelope,
and makes rapid headway, whereas a white man would hesitate and come to
grief.
In the Musgrave, Mann, and Tomkinson Ranges in central Australia, long
brushwood fences are constructed of a more or less zig-zag shape, the
angles of which lie upon beaten pads, which are known to be used by
kangaroos and wallabies living in the particular area. At each “angle,”
the natives dig a large, deep hole, the mouth of which they cover with
thin sticks, pieces of bark, and subsequently the whole with sand and
grass to give the trap as natural an appearance as possible. So much
completed, a log of timber is placed across the pad, at that side of the
hole, from which the fleeing game is expected to come. The idea of the
log is to make the animal jump over it and land upon the flimsy cover
of the hole on the other side. Quite frequently an aboriginal places
himself in hiding behind the fence at one of the “angles” and spears the
game as it emerges; in this case the hole is dispensed with.
A kangaroo-hunting expedition often takes a tribe far away from a main
camp, and the party may be absent for two or three weeks at a time. A
native knows that kangaroo follow the new grass, which appears upon
patches recently visited by a thunder-cloud or, as is the case upon the
north coast, by a bush fire. When either of such phenomena has been
chronicled, and after a short time has lapsed, a party of experienced
men leave the main camp and prospect the ground for game. When they
return, they report the results of their mission to the old men, and, if
favourable, arrangements are immediately made for the expedition. The
best time for the hunt is considered to be the later afternoon; in the
morning and during the heat of the day, the animals are resting, and the
hunter knows that under those conditions his chances are not nearly so
good as towards evening, when they leave their haunts to feed.
When in 1828 the military settlement at Fort Dundas disbanded, Sir
Gordon Bremer let a number of Timor buffaloes, which had been used by
the residents, roam at large. Since that time, the animals multiplied
to such an extent that large herds were found by later settlers both on
Melville Island and the mainland opposite. Thousands have been shot by
European hunters, principally for their hides. The natives, too, have
learned to recognize these beasts as an important asset to the objects
of their chase, although, it must be admitted, the flesh is not relished
to anything like the extent of that of the indigenous game; often, in
fact, a buffalo is slain merely for a slice or two of the flesh, usually
the tongue. The cattle of the European, on the other hand, is eaten
with distinct pleasure. Buffalo are hunted by stalking with the spear.
This is not a task which demands much skill or laborious strategy. The
buffalo spends most of its time out on the plains, more or less under
cover of the tall, rank grass, which grows up after the “wet season.”
In consequence of this, it is a simple matter for the native to avail
himself of the same cover when approaching his prey. In nearly every
case, the wounded animal makes off, and the excited hunting gang follow
it until it collapses through loss of blood. It might even be necessary
to throw another spear or two during the chase to finally bring the beast
to fall. The jubilation which takes place during the final stage of a
buffalo-hunt is depicted in the _Frontispiece_ of this book, an actual
scene from life witnessed on Melville Island.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIX_
1. Aluridja tree-climber.
“The climber, as he ascends, cuts fresh notches into the bark with his
tomahawk....”
2. Wordaman tree-climber.
“... the hunter is virtually hanging by his arms, which are hooked by the
hands, and is sitting upon his heels.”]
All along the north coast, a welcome addition to the daily fare is wild
bees’ honey, or as it is now generally called by the semi-civilized
tribes “sugar-bag.” The wild bee establishes its hive either in a hollow
tree or in a crevice in the ground, and the hunting native—man, woman, or
child—is ever on the look-out for it. When the exit of a hive has been
discovered in the ground, from which numerous bees are flying, the lucky
finder immediately begins to carefully dig down along the narrow channel
until he reaches the honeycomb. If the supply is limited, it is usually
removed in toto by hand and lifted to his mouth without further ado. If,
on the other hand, there is a goodly amount available, the whole of the
comb is collected and placed in a cooleman or other food-carrier and
taken to camp.
When a hive is located in a hollow tree, the native places his ear
against the butt and listens; by frequently altering the position of his
ear like one undertaking a medical auscultation, he can gauge the exact
position of the hive by the murmur and buzz beneath the bark. It is then
a simple matter for him to cut into the cover and collect the honeycomb.
Some of the experienced hunters can “smell” their way for a considerable
distance to a wild-bee hive.
The Victoria River tribes have invented an ingenious device, by means of
which they can secure honey from otherwise inaccessible fissures in rocks
or hollows in stout-butted trees. A long stick is selected, to one end
of which is tied a bundle of vegetable fibre or pounded bark. With the
bundle forward, the stick is poked into the cleft leading to the hive,
and, when the honey-comb is reached, it is turned around and allowed
to absorb some of the honey. Then the stick is quickly removed and the
absorbed honey squeezed from the fibres into a receptacle. The process is
repeated, time after time, until the greater part of the honey has been
obtained.
Wild bee honey is very liquid, but, nevertheless, quite as sweet and
tasty as that of the Ligurian bee. The wild bee, moreover, possesses
no sting, and so offers no serious resistance to the enthusiasm of the
collector. The bee itself is comparatively small, about the size of an
ordinary house fly.
There are no wild bees in central Australia, but in their stead appears
the honey ant (_Melophorus inflatus_). These remarkable insects live
underground, usually in the red sandy loams carrying forests of mulga.
Throughout the MacDonnell Ranges, and the country north and south-west of
them, and in the Musgrave Ranges district, they are eagerly looked for
by the local tribes. When the entrance to a nest has been discovered,
a gin at once sets to by inserting a thin stick as a guide and digging
down the course of the hole. This is a somewhat tedious undertaking, and
not infrequently she has to dig to so great a depth as to completely
bury herself. On several occasions I have unexpectedly come across a
woman thus engaged, and neither was she aware of my coming, nor I of her
presence, until right opposite her. The “honey-ant” itself is a modified
worker of the colony, which is so overfed by the ordinary workers that
its abdomen swells to the size of a marble, about three-eighths of an
inch in diameter, in consequence of the liquid honey stored within.
With the exception of the few transverse plates, the abdominal walls
are reduced to an extremely fine membrane, through which the honey can
be clearly seen from outside. The insect’s viscera are compressed into
a small space near the vent. The ant, in this condition, is naturally
unable to move from the spot. It appears that the inflated ants in this
phenomenal way provide for the needs of the colony during the barren
season of the year, acting in the capacity of living tanks or barrels,
which can be tapped as required.
The gin collects numbers of these ants, as she burrows her way downwards,
and lays them in her cooleman; when the nest has been ransacked she
returns with her prize to camp.
When a native wishes to partake of the honey, he grips one of the ants by
the head, and, placing the swollen abdomen between his lips, he squeezes
the contents into his mouth and swallows them.
In regard to the taste, the first sensation the palate receives is a
distinct prick of formic acid, which is no doubt due to a secretion
produced by the ant in self-defence. But this is both slight and
momentary; and the instant the membrane bursts, it is followed by a
delicious and rich flavour of pure honey.
The Aluridja and Wongapitcha call this wonderful ant “_winudtharra_,”
whilst to the Arunndta it is known as “_yerumba_.”
In many parts of central Australia the leaves of the red gums
(_Eucalyptus rostrata_), growing along the river-beds, are covered
with _lerp manna_—white, conical structures, about the size of a small
lentil, which are secreted by the larvæ of an insect known as _Psylla_.
On account of their sweetish taste, large quantities of the cones are
collected and eaten. The Arunndta refer to manna as “_prelja_.”
CHAPTER XV
VEGETABLE DIET
Women collect vegetable
products—“_Yelka_”—“_Munyeroo_”—“_Nardoo_”—Water lily
tubers—Native truffle—The “_Kaula_” or Native Pear—Gall-nuts of
the mulga and bloodwood.
Whatever contributes towards the vegetable diet of a tribe is procured
essentially by the women. Daily excursions are made by the women,
young and old, collectively or in small groups, to lay in a stock for
the family meal, which is prepared when the sire returns to camp. The
articles which are collected are almost unlimited in variety, the time of
the year usually determining which kind in particular is made the object
of the day’s outing.
The children accompany their mother, and although they help in the
general collecting, as decided by the mother, they find many little
“luxuries,” like the seeds of the mistletoe and the nectar contained in
the calyx of a flower, which they partake of as opportunity affords.
Throughout the central and west-central regions, one of the commonest
vegetables, which is eaten in very large quantities, both raw and
roasted, is the tunicated corm of the _Cyperus rotundus_, which grows
in the sandy banks of practically all the river-courses in the area
mentioned. These little bulbs grow not very deep below the surface, and,
being covered by a comparatively loose sand or sandy loam, are easily
obtained. The gins use “_wanna_” or yam-sticks which they mostly hold
in the fist of one hand and apply the chisel-point to the ground like a
pick, whilst the other hand scoops or scratches the sand out of the hole.
As the bulbs come up, they are placed into the bark carrier (Plate XXI).
The best time to dig for the bulbs is when the grass-like blades of the
plant have dried off. When a tribe has been camped for a while near a
favourable collecting ground, many acres of soil are turned over, giving
one quite the impression of a cultivated field. The Arunndta call this
bulb “_yelka_” or “_irriakutta_,” the Aluridja “_dunnmördta_.” The bulb
is about the size of a field-pea. To eat it, all that is required to be
done is to rub it between the palms of the two hands and then blow away
the light shell, which peels off during the process. The natives usually
take up five or six at a time and treat them thus, when they are to be
eaten raw; children are especially fond of them raw. The bulbs have a
sweetish, nutty flavour.
When “_yelka_” is to be roasted, the bulbs are laid for a short time on
hot ashes, then taken up, rubbed between the hands, as described above,
and eaten.
Of equal importance in this region is a little, fleshy-leaved plant,
resembling a portulaca, which is known generally as “_munyeroo_,” and
bears the botanic name of _Claytonia_. It springs up all over the
sandhills of central Australia after a good rainfall. When on the march,
the natives eat the leaves of this plant raw, both as nourishment and as
a thirst-quencher; at times they are thrown on to hot ashes, and, after
baking for a short time only, eaten hot. But by far the most important
product of the munyeroo is its seed, which occurs as tiny jet-black
grains enclosed within a capsule. Though to us it would seem most tedious
work, it does not take the gins so very long to collect large quantities
of the seed in their bark carriers or coolemans. Seen in bulk like this,
the seed reminds one forcibly of gunpowder. With sufficient collected for
a meal, they return to camp and clean the seed by “pouring” it from one
carrier to another in the wind, when the dry shells will be blown away.
If there is no wind available, the gin takes up a handful of the seed,
and holding it over a cooleman, blows the husks away with her mouth.
When tolerably clean, the seed is placed, little by little, upon a flat
grinding stone and reduced to a mealy consistency with a pebble, which
is worked by hand. Every now and again, a little water may be added to
the mass, which, after a while, is scraped into a cooleman with the side
of the hand. The paste may be eaten raw, but more frequently it is mixed
with more meal to make a dough, and then baked in hot ashes. The Arunndta
call this seed “_ingwitega_,” the Aluridja “_waketo_.”
On the eastern side of the great central region, especially along
the Cooper Creek, the small plant commonly known as “_nardoo_” is
economically the most important to the local tribes. Nardoo grows only
on clayey flats, on which water has been stagnant for a while. It is not
altogether unlike a small-leaved shamrock; and its scientific name is
_Marsilea quadrifolia_. Forming a ring around the stem, just above the
surface of the ground, each plant develops a bunch of spore cases, which,
when matured, are gathered in great numbers by the tribes. Those of the
readers who are familiar with the history of Australian exploration will
recollect that the members of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition
were for an appreciable time sustained by nardoo cakes, which were given
them by the Yantowannta tribe on the Cooper Creek. The spore cases are
flattish-oblong in shape, about the size of a small lentil, and extremely
hard. The natives collect, grind, and prepare nardoo in precisely the
same way as the other tribes mentioned treat the munyeroo. On account of
the extensive use which is made of the stone hand-mill, in the Cooper
Creek district, consisting of a large flat slab of stone, upon which a
pebble is worked to and fro, the implement has earned for itself the name
of nardoo-stone. The Arunndta refer to nardoo as “_parapara_,” the Dieri
as “_kalumba_.”
By the same process the seed of many acacias, which is collected in
considerable quantities, is made into cakes. A peculiar ingredient is
added to the flour by the Victoria Desert tribes in the form of white
ants, which they knead into the dough and bake with it.
On the north coast, from King Sound east to the Gulf of Carpentaria,
quite a variety of grass seeds, also those of the lotus lily, are ground
and baked.
One of the regular articles of vegetable diet in the tropics is the
tuber of the water-lily, which is gathered by the score and roasted
in ashes; it tastes almost like a potato, with perhaps a distinctive
flavour about it resembling that of the Jerusalem artichoke. In the
Northern Kimberleys, the species most frequently eaten is the beautiful
_Nymphaea stellata_, which is variously known as “_kapa_,” “_kadje_,”
or “_toki_.” But perhaps the most popular dish in the tuber line in the
Northern Territories is the yam. A great variety of these is available,
but it often requires the genius of an aboriginal to locate them,
especially when there are no leaves showing on the surface. It is not
every yam, however, which is esculent; and some are so “hot” that even
the smallest portion of one applied to the mouth will severely blister
the mucous membranes. Here again the expert knowledge of the native is
of inestimable service to the inexperienced, for it is he who can at a
glance tell which is fit for consumption and which is not; and it is he
who can treat some of the peppery varieties in such a way as to eliminate
the objectionable taste. Some kinds he discards entirely because he knows
that, if he ate them, they would cause a painful “fire in the anus.”
Within a somewhat restricted area, extending from north of the Musgrave
Ranges eastwards to the Depôt Sandhills, a fungus exists, which is known
to the Aluridja and Wongapitcha as “_widida_,” and to the Arunndta as
“_oridja_.” In general appearance it is much like the European truffle,
and, like it, grows mostly below the surface of the ground; indeed it
is difficult for the untrained eye to detect a widida, except under the
direction of an aboriginal. At times one finds old sweetish juice. The
inner layer of the shell is white, soft, and specimens showing above
the ground, which have been exposed by wind or rain, but when this is
the case, the fungus is not really fit for consumption, because its
richness will have attracted many blowflies, and it will, in consequence,
be teeming with maggots. A few specimens of this interesting fungus were
collected by me and submitted to Mr. A. Grant, of Sydney, who determined
it to be a species of _Scleroderma_. The widida may be eaten raw, but
more commonly they are cooked in hot ashes.
In the mulga country of the Flinders Ranges, and all over central
Australia, a species known as _Marsdenia Leichhardti_ is rather common.
It is a creeper with slender stalk and smallish, elongate leaves, and
bears a pear-shaped fruit, consisting of a thin green skin, which
encloses a mass of silky seeds. When broken the plant exudes a thick
milky sap. The fruit, stalks, and leaves of the plant are eaten; they
have quite an agreeable, sweetish taste. The Wongapitcha call the plant
“_päuya_,” the Arunndta “_langu_,” whilst in the Flinders Ranges the
recognized name for it is “_kaula_.” On account of the shape of its
fruit, this plant is referred to by the settlers as “native pear.”
Gall nuts and excrescences, when obtainable, are also on the daily menu.
The most popular is one which is found on the twigs of the mulga. It is
usually referred to by the settlers as “mulga apple,” and grows up to
the size of a walnut. The whole of the growth, with the exception of a
small kernel-like structure, containing the insect, is edible. The taste,
though slightly eucalyptine, might be compared with that of a “tasteless
apple.” The Wongapitcha call the mulga apple “_jarrulge_,” and the
Arunndta “_takul_.”
Another variety of gall nut is found on the smaller branches of the
Bloodwood (_Eucalyptus corymbosa_), and is, in consequence, spoken of as
the “bloodwood apple.” It is a nodular, warty, and woody growth, about
the size of a billiard ball, the inside of which is hollow and contains,
besides the parasite, a sweetish juice. The inner layer of the shell is
white, soft, and edible; the whole reminding one of a miniature cocoanut.
CHAPTER XVI
BEVERAGES
Honey solution—Pandanus cider—Human blood.
Although, naturally, the principal and practically only drink of
the various tribes is water, there are one or two special beverages
deserving of notice. In central Australia, the Aluridja, Arunndta, and
Wongapitcha collect many handfuls of Eremophila flowers, commonly called
honeysuckle by the local white settlers, in their bark food-carriers, on
to which they pour a quantity of water. The flowers are stirred around
for a while with a stick and then skimmed off with a piece of bark or
by hand. The drink is ready for consumption immediately after; it has
a slightly sweetish taste, and is relished by young and old. Another
source of nectar is the beautiful red flower of _Brachysema Chambersii_,
which grows in abundance in the sandhills both north and south of the
MacDonnell Ranges and is known by the Arunndta as “_aumba_.”
On the north coast of Australia, the wild-bee honey is upon occasions
dissolved in water and drunk. This is nearly always done when the comb,
obtained in the first place, is mixed with sand and grit, or when the
honey is absorbed in the fibres of the collecting implement described
above (page 146).
The Roper River tribes pick the large fruits of the corkscrew palm or
pandanus, which are not unlike pineapples in appearance, but very hard
and stringy, and, after bashing them between heavy stones, they keep
them immersed in water for some time before they drink the solution.
The water absorbs the sweetly stringent juice and produces a refreshing
toddy. It being necessary to keep the fruit in water for some time to
extract as much of the palatable ingredient as possible (it may be, for
that matter, that the natives leave the solution behind in a cooleman,
while they go on a hunting tour, returning for it in the course of some
days’ time), opportunity is given for the solution to start fermenting;
a mild pandanus-cider is the result. It actually happens that upon great
festive occasions, when large quantities of this beverage have been
made some time beforehand, the natives imbibe more than ordinarily, and
thereby bring themselves into a condition of indubitable merriment. The
Katherine and Victoria River tribes make a similar beverage, but do not
store it for any length of time. This is the only instance I am aware
of where Australian natives, intentionally or unintentionally, make an
intoxicating drink.
When men are on a long-distance stage, as, for instance, during a
drought, when water is scarce and the sun is relentlessly fierce, they
are occasionally obliged to resort to the old tribal custom of drinking
each other’s blood to escape perishing of thirst. They open a vein in the
arm and collect the blood in a cooleman, or they allow one or more of
their companions to drink straight from the wound. In certain cases of
sickness blood is also given to the patient to drink.
CHAPTER XVII
PITJURI
Distribution of native tobacco—Collecting grounds—Native
names—Pitjuri habit—Preparation of leaves—Stimulating
and comforting properties—Ash added to liberate the
alkaloid—Properties of piturine.
Most of the central Australian tribes have learned to recognize the
narcotic properties of the tobacco-like plant commonly called pitjuri.
All tribes, from the Wongapitcha eastwards to beyond the borders of
Queensland and New South Wales, know the value of the plant, and even
if it does not actually grow in the particular tribal area, its leaves
are obtained from adjoining tribes by barter. The Dieri, Yantowannta,
Wongkanguru, and Ngameni are all required to procure their supplies
from further north, because the plant does not grow in the Cooper Creek
district. The Arunndta, and latterly the Aluridja as well, regularly
collect as much pitjuri as they want in the valley of the Finke and
other gorges of the MacDonnell Ranges, whilst the Wongapitcha have their
resources in the Musgrave and Everard Ranges.
The collecting grounds are as a rule owned by a circle of old men, each
of whom clearly defines his boundaries by placing a number of stones upon
the ground. A proprietor may give another person the necessary permission
to gather leaves on his plot according to certain terms agreed upon. The
owner usually takes a share of the leaves, and, in addition, levies other
articles in exchange for what the collector has removed.
The plant is known by different names among different tribes; the
Arunndta call it “_engulba_,” the Wongapitcha “_peturr_,” and the
Aluridja either “_mingul_” or “_warrakinna_.” Scientifically it goes by
the name of _Duboisia Hopwoodi_.
The leaves and stalks of pitjuri are chewed by both men and women, and in
many cases by children also. It cannot be denied, once a person starts
chewing pitjuri, he soon develops a craving for it, like a habitual
smoker does for tobacco. The usual plan is to partially dry the leaves
in the sun, or over warm ashes, on the spot, and subsequently pack
them into bundles to take home, with the intention of storing them for
future use. But once camp is reached, the future aspect becomes entirely
inconsequential, because so long as pitjuri is known to be available,
the supplies are drawn upon; the result is that the larder soon becomes
depleted.
The men have a way of their own when preparing the pitjuri. Some of the
dried leaves are ground between two stones and the powder brushed on to
a small piece of bark. Then a few twigs of acacia or eucalypt bark are
burned to white ash, which is mixed with the powder, the whole being
subsequently worked into a softish mass with saliva. Of the final mixture
a quantity is taken and rolled between another dry leaf of the pitjuri,
cigar-fashion; and it is ready for mastication. A plug of pitjuri does
not always remain the property of one individual, especially when the
supplies are running short, but often passes from one mouth to another,
until it has done the necessary round. When not in use, the plug is
secured behind the owner’s ear, after the style an office clerk carries a
pencil.
The natives admit the stimulating benefits they derive from chewing,
or, as they say, “eating,” of pitjuri, both when they feel off colour
or fagged after a strenuous day’s outing. On the other hand, they look
upon pitjuri-chewing in company as a social comforter, which fosters
mirthfulness and friendly fellow-feeling. When natives meet, even though
they be comparative strangers, an exchange, loan, or presentation of
pitjuri takes place, as a token of friendship. In the same spirit, a
native considers the gift of a stick of tobacco from a European stranger,
who, according to tribal ideas, unlawfully passes over the hereditary
boundary, as a mere formal obligation, which expresses the intruder’s
peaceable intentions.
The burnt acacia ash, which is added to the powdered leaf of the pitjuri
plant, has a somewhat important function to perform; and one marvels at
Nature having given the unsophisticated aboriginal the hint to add it.
One of the favourite species, which is burnt for the purpose, is _Acacia
salicina_. A. J. Higgin has determined by analysis that the ash of this
plant contains the astounding amount of 51.15 per cent. of calcium
sulphate, mixed with a little carbonate of lime. It is the alkali in this
ash which liberates an alkaloid, known as piturine, from the crushed
pitjuri leaves when the two substances meet in the presence of moisture
supplied by the spittle; and this piturine is much the same in its action
as nicotine. An alkaloid is nowadays manufactured from the leaves of
the Australian plant which is used in medicine as a powerful sedative
and hypnotic. It is not difficult, therefore, to understand why an emu,
drinking from a water poisoned with the leaf of pitjuri, should become
stupefied. Vide page 139.
CHAPTER XVIII
NAVIGATION
Floating log—Log rafts—Paddles—Outfit carried on board—Bark
canoes of different patterns—Used in southern and northern
Australia—“Housing” of canoes—“Dug-outs”—With or without
outriggers—Sails.
We have on several occasions alluded to the fact that the natives make
use of some kind of craft while hunting and fishing. A few remarks,
therefore, upon aboriginal navigation in general may be appropriate at
this juncture.
The simplest type of float is no doubt the log of light timber used along
the north and north-east coast. The straight trunk of a mangrove is
selected, and from it a log is cut, about five or six feet long, which is
stripped of its branches. Where a river or an estuary has to be crossed,
such a log is slipped into the water and the native lays his body over
it, lengthwise, with his legs straddling it. With his head and shoulders
well above the surface of the water, the swimmer propels himself along by
means of his legs; occasionally he also uses his arms, but then primarily
for steadying his body above the log. The natives maintain that this
method gives them a certain amount of protection against the attacks of
crocodiles, since, when viewed from below, the man and the log together
resemble one of the reptiles in form. For the same reason the lower
thin end is often left tapering to a point, to simulate the tail of a
crocodile.
When two or three, or more, of these light logs of mangrove are lashed
together, a simple raft results—a type in frequent use along the eastern
shores and rivers of north Australia. The craft is propelled by either a
pole or a paddle, the man standing in the former case and sitting in the
latter.
The same contrivance is used when a man wishes to cross a river or a bay,
and carry his children or belongings across, without swamping them. In
this case, he usually swims alongside the raft and propels it by powerful
leg-strokes.
In the north-western corner of the Australian continent (i.e. the King
Sound—Glenelg River districts), navigation is undertaken in large rafts.
These are constructed as follows: From six to ten poles are cut out of
the trunks of a tall, straight-growing mangrove, resembling a pine in
shape. The poles are cut into twelve-foot lengths, and are then trimmed
longitudinally, so that they taper from about one-quarter their length
downwards, like an elongated club; the two ends are pointed off. In
their thickest part, the poles measure about six inches in diameter.
Two of these pieces are now laid upon a level patch of ground, side
by side, with the thick ends all pointing in the same direction, and
“nailed” together with stakes of hard wood, at various distances along
the entire length of the poles. The remaining poles are linked to the
original two in a similar way; and so a strong platform results, in which
the poles converge in the direction of the thin ends like the arms of
a fan. Another platform is constructed exactly similar to the one just
described. The only tools used in the making of these structures are
tomahawks and large stone and shell scrapers.
All completed, one of the platforms is dragged down the beach and
floated; then the second is taken to the water and lifted so that it
rides upon the former with the converging ends reversed. The raft is now
ready for use (Plate XXII, 2).
Crudely fashioned paddles are used, about six feet long, and similar to
those of the Melville and Bathurst Islanders. The local name for these is
“_kanbanna_.”
One or two natives usually go out with a raft like this, and it is
astounding with what skill and celerity the clumsy-looking structure can
be handled and paddled along.
The local name for the raft is “_kaloa_.” The principal use to which it
is put is fishing and turtle-hunting; the mainland tribes moreover use
such rafts for general ferrying, when they make their periodic visits to
the islands included within their tribal possessions.
One or two cushions of grass or reeds are laid upon the platform before
leaving, to afford dry seating accommodation; and the hunters never go
without taking a fairly solid fire-stick, which is stuck in an upright
position between two poles of the raft. A few spears and a long harpoon
(about ten feet long), with a barb at the pointed end, are carried, the
latter being secured to the raft by means of a good length of rope. A
heavy boomerang is also added to the outfit, with which the hunters might
kill the spoil when they haul it on deck.
Similar log-rafts are in use on some of the islands in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, but one platform only is constructed, and the logs are
simply lashed together with vines.
Any observant visitor to the River Murray will not fail even nowadays,
when much of the original timber has disappeared, to observe the numerous
trees, growing at or near the banks, from which large sheets of bark have
been removed years ago by the local natives. The bark was used for making
canoes. Sheets were cut from the eucalyptus trees, measuring from twelve
to twenty feet in length by from three to four feet in width. These were
laid horizontally upon the ground and moulded into shape while hot ashes
were applied to them, the edges being propped up all round while the
bottom was kept more or less flat. Several stakes were placed crosswise
to keep the sides in position, both at the ends and at the centre. One
end was usually more pointed than the other and slightly more elevated;
this acted as the bow of the canoe. When thoroughly dry, the craft was
launched and carried up to six or seven passengers. In addition, a small
bed of clay was built upon the bottom, which carried a fire. The canoe
was propelled by a man, who stood near the stern and either poled or
paddled it along with a long oar.
[Illustration: _PLATE XX_
Kangaroo hunters, Aluridja tribe.
“It seems almost incredible that a native can approach a grazing kangaroo
on a more or less open plain to within spear-throwing distance....”]
A number of different types of canoes are in use on the north coast,
constructed out of one or more pieces of bark. In the Gulf country, a
piece of bark is freshly detached from a tree, folded along its length,
and laid upon the ground in a horizontal position. The ends are then
heated, to render them pliable, and securely clamped between two upright
stakes, and tied closely together above and below the folded sheet.
Stakes of a length equal to that of the required width of the craft are
next propped from side to side, to give the canoe its shape, and the ends
trimmed on either side with a sharp stone-knife or fragment of shell. The
bottom corners are usually bevelled or rounded off. The edges are finally
held together by sewing them with strips of cane. Long, thin saplings,
stitched along the inner top edges of both sides, act as gunwales and
considerably strengthen the structure. One or two ties of lawyer cane
are stretched from side to side to prevent the bark from bulging in the
centre. When afloat, a native squats low in the canoe near the stern and
makes good headway by paddling with a small, oblong piece of bark, first
on one side and then on the other.
In some cases, the bark sides are stiffened by poking flexible U-shaped
hoops under the saplings which form the gunwales; and in others the sides
are kept in position by a number of such hoops, together with stretchers
and ties, without any special gunwale at all.
The Melville and Bathurst Islanders use large bark canoes up to nearly
twenty feet long, which they construct after the following principle:
A single sheet of bark is cut from either the woollybutt (_Eucalyptus
miniata_) or the stringybark (_E. tetradonta_) by chopping through it
circumferentially at two heights from the ground, the distance between
which represents the required length of the canoe that is to be. Slitting
this piece once vertically for the whole length, it is removed by
forcing the edge of a chisel-pointed stake under the bark and levering
it off. The outer surface of this piece of bark is rough and becomes the
inside of the canoe. Transverse cuts are made about two feet from each
end, and half the thickness of the bark removed with a sharp bivalve
shell (_Cyrena_). The ends, which have by this treatment become pliable,
are further softened by holding them over a fire. The sheet is folded
lengthwise along its middle and clamped at its ends with stakes rammed
vertically into the ground. The bottom corner of the fold is bevelled off
by one or two sloping cuts, along which the two pieces are sewn together
with close, overcast stitches; then the pieces are stitched together
horizontally at the top corner, for a distance of three or four inches.
Thus secured, an angular or curved piece is cut away from the bark, lying
between the two sewn corners, in imitation of a fish-tail, and neatly
laced together with strips of the lawyer vine. Holes are previously
drilled through the bark with an awl made out of the leg-bone of a
wallaby. The joints are made secure by plastering them with wild bees’
wax, and the corners are caulked with plastic clay and fibre or resin.
Along the top, inner edges of the canoe, on both sides, thin, straight
poles are lashed with “run on” stitches. These, however, do not extend
the whole length of the canoe, and, being straight, do not enclose the
stern and bow of the craft. In other respects the structure is much the
same as that in vogue in the Gulf of Carpentaria country.
When not in use, the canoes are “housed” on a level piece of ground under
the overhanging branches of a banyan or other shady tree. They are laid
in a normal, upright position (not inverted), and are kept so by short
pieces of timber, which are propped against the sides. The bark thus
dries in the required shape and does not become lopsided. Each canoe
has its recognized place. When a dense growth of mangroves skirts the
foreshore, a regular approach to the water is kept clear by cutting away
the trees as they grow up. The paddles are laid within the canoes.
When the occasion demands it, quite a large number of natives may be
carried in a canoe, but usually, when on a simple turtle or dugong
hunting expedition, two persons only man the craft. The boatmen, while
propelling the canoe, squat with their buttocks resting upon the heels,
and with their knees pressed against the vessel’s sides. The weight
of the bodies being thus well within, the stability of the canoe is
considerably increased.
Although these canoes are mostly used for navigating the various rivers
and estuaries of Melville and Bathurst Islands, and especially Apsley
Straits, occasionally, when wind and weather are favourable, the natives
venture far out to sea, and not infrequently do they make the journey
across to the mainland, some forty or fifty miles away, where in former
days they carried on a bitter warfare with the Larrekiya and other tribes.
It is at times imperative that a canoe be attached to a hunting or
warring party, which is travelling overland and later might want to drift
down, or paddle up, a river or inlet to reach its destination. Under such
circumstances, six or eight men carry the craft upon their shoulders as
they walk alternately left and right of it.
Paddles are made of hard wood, having a single, well-shaped blade and a
rounded handle. The edges of the blade are parallel, or taper slightly
towards the end, which is either square or rounded. They are from three
to five feet in length. When rowing, the natives clasp the handle with
both hands and dip the blade on one side or the other, just as the
steering requires it.
Certain north-eastern tribes of Queensland used to make their canoes of
two or three sheets of bark. In the first instance the sheets would be
stitched along the keel, and in the second a lenticular or oval piece was
inserted, which acted as a flat bottom.
Dug-outs are found all along the north coast, but it is very probable
that they are of foreign origin, presumably Melanesian or Polynesian.
A suitable tree having been felled, its ends are shaped and the inside
chopped, gouged, and burned out, so that only the outer walls remain.
Some very big boats of this description were seen in use among the
Larrekiya, and their seaworthiness was proved time after time.
Some of the Queensland tribes attach one or two outriggers to their
canoes, which, of course, give them additional safety when by chance they
might be overtaken by a rough or choppy sea.
The Groote Islanders in the Gulf of Carpentaria carry a mast in the
centre of their dug-outs, to which they lash two long horizontal
bamboo-booms and spread a sail between them. This circumstance is
remarkable, since the Groote Islanders are among the least known of the
Australian tribes and have come less into contact with Europeans than
other tribes who might have learned the use of sails.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXI_
1. Arunndta girl digging “_Yelka_.”
“The gins use “wanna” or yam-sticks, which they mostly hold in the fist
of one hand....”
2. Arunndta gin cleaning “_Yelka_” in bark pitchi.
“... all that is required to be done is to rub it between the palms of
the two hands....”]
CHAPTER XIX
DUELS
Bragging preferred to fighting—Duels frequent among the
women—Petty provocations—The “_Kutturu_”—Men use similar
sticks and boomerangs for striking purposes—Waddies and
clubs described—The “_Damatba_”—Wooden swords—Duels with
reed spears—Stone dagger duels—Heavy spear duels—Chivalrous
methods—“Bone-pointing” and other methods of suggesting
death to an enemy—“Pointing” sticks—How the “boned” person
is affected—Counter-charm the only cure—The medicine man or
“_Nangarri_”—His witchcraft—The recovery.
Although under ordinary circumstances the aboriginal of Australia is a
peaceable, placid individual, who prefers to talk of what he could do
to his enemy rather than look for trouble in a hostile camp, yet, being
human, there are naturally extenuating circumstances, which might thrust
the obligation upon his shoulders to pick up arms and fight for the sake
of his individual honour or of his tribe’s safety. In the former case a
duel is arranged, in the latter a regular warfare is waged, which might
last a day or continue, off and on, for years at a time.
Duels are perhaps more frequently fought among the women than the men,
the cause in most cases being trivial. A common disturbance of the
peace is brought on by petty theft. One woman might, intentionally or
otherwise, appropriate a small article belonging to another. When the
article is missed by the owner, an argument ensues, which soon warms up
to a strained pitch of excitement. Abusive epitaphs become prolific,
which repeatedly embody references to excrement and other filth.
Eventually the irate hags can constrain themselves no longer and each
produces her fighting stick, known throughout central and northern
Australia as “_kutturu_.” Walking towards each other, and all the time
striking the ground in front of them, from left to right, and from
right to left, the women continue their vilification. In the Arunndta
tongue this is something after the following style: “_Uttnarranduddi,
uttnatikkia, atutnia, arrelinjerrai!_”
The ground is struck with the heavy sticks immediately in front of the
opponent’s feet, so vigorously that dust and dirt fly into the air. It is
not long before the foot of one of the gins is struck; and then the fight
begins. The gin that was hit immediately lifts her kutturu and aims a
blow at the head of the offender. But the latter in all probability will
have been prepared to ward off the blow.
The kutturu consists of a heavy “ironwood” stick, on an average about
three feet long and of circular section; it is bluntly pointed at each
end and usually has a carved decoration upon its surface. The parrying
party holds the stick with its pointed ends between her palms, and, by
moving or swaying it from side to side in an inclined position, diverts
the force of the impact from her head. The duellists take it turn about
to strike and parry. The head is the principal mark, but it is not
against the rules to aim at the fingers. When the latter are struck, it
not infrequently happens that one or two of them are broken.
If the antagonist is too clever at warding off a blow, a gin might
occasionally alter her tactics and try to stab the head opposite her with
the point of the kutturu. If the attempt proves successful, a very deep
gash often results, followed by a prolific flow of blood. The damaged gin
wails aloud and drops her kutturu whilst she catches the blood, which is
pouring from her wound, in the hollow of her hand and throws it in the
other’s face.
The triumphant assailant does not take a mean advantage of her “score,”
but replies to the blood-slinging by rushing to the nearest fire, from
which she scoops a double handful of hot ashes to throw at the lamenting
one. This is by no means the end of the trouble, but really incenses the
combatants to more desperate action.
So soon as the wounded gin has overcome the shock, she plucks fresh
courage and again takes up the argument with her kutturu. The fight
continues until one of the gins receives a blow on the head severe enough
to disable her, or until both have kept the strife going to a stage of
complete exhaustion.
When a gin has been disabled, and lies more or less in an unconscious
condition upon the ground, the victor stands over her, triumphantly
swinging her kutturu, whilst her tongue dispels the hatred by talking
incessantly without opposition.
During the whole time of this heated altercation, the camp has been
generally disorganized. Other women are vociferating wildly, children
are screaming, a few score dogs yelping, and the men are sitting around
quietly and gloomily, with their eyes turned from the scene of the duel,
and only occasionally exchanging a few words in a subdued whisper.
The method the men adopt for settling their disputes among themselves is
not unlike that of the women, but more systematic. They place themselves
face to face upon a clear piece of ground, with their kutturus in
their hands, and about half a chain apart. After the customary abusive
preliminaries, the psychological moment arrives, when one man rushes at
the other carrying his weapon in both hands behind his back, and, as he
runs, preparing for a monstrous blow. When he reaches to within striking
distance of his opponent, he pulls up short, and, with the momentum
created by his run behind him, deals an awful whack. But the other man
has placed himself in the defensive attitude, and, as the weapon falls,
he springs forwards and upwards to parry the blow destined to crash upon
his skull. The striker now retraces his steps and prepares to receive the
onslaught from the opposite side. This procedure of alternate attack
and defence continues until one of the men falls or both combatants
are thoroughly exhausted. All through the fight, however, there is a
wonderful display of power, agility, and chivalry, the figures of both
the striker and receiver being conspicuously graceful in their movements
(Plate XIII, 2).
Where the boomerang is known it, too, is extensively used, in conjunction
with the shield, by duellists to settle minor altercations. The offended
party throws one of his missiles into the camp of his rival as a summons
to the fight, whereupon the latter immediately responds by throwing
another back, and walks out into the open, carrying with him a single
boomerang and a shield. Both men now start a war-dance, during which they
gradually approach each other, lifting their legs high in the knees,
brandishing their boomerangs in the air, and holding their shields in
front of their bodies. After a while, they close in; and the real fight
begins. Whenever an uncovered spot presents itself on either man, the
opponent, with the quickness of lightning, attempts to strike it with his
weapon. The hands in particular are selected as the best marks to quickly
put the rival out of action; and this opportunity is never missed when it
presents itself to the quick eye of the native.
Waddies and clubs of various forms are used all over Australia, both
with and without shields, to decide the rights or wrongs of individual
grievances.
There is no hard and fast line of demarcation between a waddy or
fighting-stick and a club. The original conception of either is a short
stick or truncheon, which is used both for beating and throwing.
The commonest form is a cylindrical rod of hard wood with a smooth or
vertically grooved exterior and rounded ends. It is either straight or
curved.
The Bathurst Islanders have a type similar to the above, but with a
slightly swollen distal end. The stick often carries a sharp spike, which
projects from the same end.
The largest fighting-sticks are to be seen in the Forrest River district
in the far north-western district of Western Australia, measuring up to
four and a half feet in length. The stick tapers from the top towards the
handle end, and has a flat face at either extremity. A gripping surface
is made by roughly incising the thinner end all round for a distance of
four or five inches.
A peculiar combination of implement with weapon was used by the women
of the lower River Murray tribes. It consisted of a stick with a blade
at one end and a knob at the other, the one moiety serving as a digging
stick, the other as a club.
Along the Cooper Creek, a large, stout baton of mulga, with a globate
knob at the handle end, was used by the Wongkanguru, Yantowannta, and
other tribes.
Some very shapely clubs belonged to the Narrinyerri. They were made of
casuarina wood, and had a heavy, inflated head, which was usually pointed
off at the top. The handle was moderately thin and had a number of
circular grooves cut near its end to prevent the hand from slipping when
the wood was wielded. Further west, on the Nullarbor Plains, the thick
end was not pointed off, but, on the contrary, was perceptibly flattened.
In both types mentioned, the surface was well smoothed and polished,
although the clubs of the coastal tribes along the Great Australian Bight
were generally longitudinally grooved.
A rather fanciful form of club, reminding one of the medieval spiked
clubs, was found in the possession of the fast disappearing Yantowannta
tribe at Innamincka. A stick, nearly two feet six inches long, and
circular in section, had an enlargement near the head-end, which was
deeply grooved vertically and, in the upper portion, circumferentially
also, the intersection of the grooves producing a number of pointed
prominences.
Used in conjunction with a heavy three-sided shield, the south-eastern
tribes of South Australia fought most of their duels with a dangerous
type of waddy, some two feet or more long, which had an attenuated knob
at the handle end and a flat, angular projection at the opposite end; the
latter was sharp and pointed. The weapon was known as “_lionila_,” and,
from our point of view, might be classed as a battle axe.
In the Roebuck Bay district, a flat, hard-wood club is found, the sides
of which are straight and slightly tapering towards the handle end; the
edges being rounded off. One of the flat sides is usually ornamented with
an engraved geometrical pattern.
The Larrekiya and Wogait construct a flat throwing weapon, not unlike a
small cricket bat in shape, from six to twelve inches long, which they
call “_damatba_.” It has a short handle and very sharp edges, and, being
hurled at an enemy edgewise, it flies through the air with a revolving
motion. If any part of the native’s naked body is struck with this
weapon, a very deep wound is always inflicted, from the effects of which
the unfortunate victim might easily bleed to death.
Under the category of fighting-sticks we might also mention the wooden
swords, of which some form or other is known all over the continent.
In its normal form, the sword is a long and narrow, lanceolate blade of
hard and heavy wood, up to five feet in length. The sides are convex, and
the edges fairly sharp. The surfaces are either smooth or longitudinally
grooved, and in addition decorated with finely incised patterns of
different descriptions. These swords are much used by the Minning tribe
of the Eucla district.
The Cooper Creek tribes make the weapon with a slight curve in it, like
a boomerang, the length being about the same as in the previous type.
Among the Dieri it goes by the name of “_marriwirri_.” The Arunndta and
Aluridja forms are not made so long, but slightly wider, and of very
heavy mulga wood.
In the northern coastal districts, the type is different in so far as it
tapers towards that end, which is to serve as the handle, and terminates
there in a flat or slightly concave base. The haft is not infrequently
bound round with vegetable fibre, and subsequently covered with beeswax,
to prevent the hands from slipping.
These weapons are all used with two hands for striking and parrying blows
during a duel. When about to “receive” a blow, the native takes the
precaution to keep his elbows close against his body to avoid the risk of
having his arm broken by the ricochet of the heavy weapon. A favourite
mark is the opponent’s hands; and the fighter has to carefully guard
them by adroitly and instantly shifting the sword sideways the moment he
perceives that the blow has been aimed at them.
The northern and north-western tribes use light reed spears when settling
quarrels between two individuals. The spear is about five feet long
and has a tapering head of mangrove wood, which is inserted into the
top end of the reed shaft. All coastal tribes, from the Adelaide River
westwards to the Ord River, use this spear, but it is not known in
central Australia. The opponents, standing about forty or fifty feet
apart, throw the weapons at each other with wonderful precision, but
before the dangerous little missile can reach its mark, the would-be
recipient dodges it with equal skill. A number of such spears is carried
by each combatant. Whilst the duel is proceeding, the two natives dance
in defiance to taunt the rival, grotesquely jumping from one foot to the
other, holding the arms semi-erect and bent at the elbows and wrists,
whilst the body is thrown forward and the head kept back. When a spear
passes very near to or grazes its mark, the native greets his escape with
a short but strangely articulated exclamation sounding like “_irr_.” The
throwers are constantly on the move, and, whenever possible, one stoops
to pick up a new spear from a bundle of them lying at his side. The
little missiles are so light that, when they hit the ground, they skip
along the surface and can be recovered uninjured. Although these spears
seem more like toys than weapons, they are nevertheless most formidable
on account of their sharp point and the velocity with which they travel.
A method which is in vogue among the central Australian tribes, like the
Arunndta and Dieri, is the dagger duel. The dagger employed is a long
stone-knife with a grip or haft of porcupine resin; the Arunndta name
for it is “_putta ildurra_.” The combatants hold one of such daggers in
one hand and a light shield of kurrajong wood in the other, and thus
equipped they approach each other. After some preliminaries in the way of
dancing and an accompaniment of excited shrieking, the men close in upon
one another. With the shield they not only catch the well-directed stabs
before any bodily injury is done, but they also thrust the opponent back
to keep him at arm’s length. It is not an uncommon event for such a duel
to be fought for a considerable time without any bloodshed, the skilful
parrying checking many a fatal blow until eventually utter exhaustion
appeases the thirst for revenge and soothes the hatred, which was only
too evident at the beginning of the duel. At other times severe gashes
are inflicted, which occasionally terminate fatally. Vide Fig. 4.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Two Arunndta carvings of scenes in a dagger-duel
(× 1/3). Tracing.]
The most serious of all duels is undoubtedly that in which the heavy
spear is used. The method is similar to that of the light spear fights,
with the distinction that those engaged in the strife stand further
apart, and do not run the same amount of risk by exposing themselves to
the same extent as in the former case. It is recognized that a “hit” by
one of the large heavy-bladed spears will result in a dangerous wound,
and, therefore, the men face the ordeal in all conscientiousness, knowing
that if they can prove themselves equal to their opponent’s dexterity for
a reasonable length of time, the moment will arrive when the strife might
be terminated by arbitration. One occasionally meets with a person who
has a broken portion of a spear-head deeply embedded in the musculature
of his thigh or other region of his body, where a violent inflammation
around the lesion has caused the sufferer much pain because he has not
been able to extract the offending piece of wood or stone from the
tissue.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXII_
1. Sunday Islander making fire by the twirling process during a
ceremonial.
2. “_Kaloa_” or mangrove raft, Worora tribe, Glenelg River district.]
In the Balmaningarra district of the northern Kimberleys of Western
Australia, the warriors hold the shield (which they call “_karwinnunga_”)
in their left hand, but, if necessity arises, they quickly change it to
the right. As a spear whizzes by harmlessly, or is skilfully warded off,
the defendant sounds a short triumphant “_p-r-r-r_” with protruding and
vibrating lips. When about to “receive” a missile, the native stands
in much the same attitude as that adopted by a modern rapier-duellist.
The moment, however, he realizes that his antagonist’s aim has been
inaccurate, or he has been successful in dodging or warding off the
death-bringing stick, he balances himself on one leg, cocks the other
under his buttocks, and defiantly throws his arms above his head, jeering
at his enemy and inviting him to throw once more, crying: “Look! I am
defenceless, and I am exposing my body to you! I have no fear of you;
your spears can only scratch the ground as the yam-stick of a woman
digging for grubs!”
Barely has he finished his taunting sentence, and before the other man
has had time to prepare for another throw, he bounds forward and projects
his weapon. During the fight, the antics of the men, especially of the
one on the defensive, are remarkable, jumping from leg to leg, at one
time holding the shield straight in front of the body whilst covering the
head, at another, standing erect with the shield at about the level of
his chest.
During their duels, an admirable spirit of chivalry is displayed by
the combatants. If, for instance, a shield breaks, the man who has the
advantage refuses to fight until the broken weapon has been replaced.
The same regulation applies to a broken spear, but not to a broken
spear-head; if the latter breaks, the circumstance is looked upon as
the result of bad workmanship, and the fight continues. Only a certain
number of spears is carried by the parties; and any damaged weapon might
be replaced from a bundle held in reserve by the gins, who stand in
readiness. When the missiles have been spent on both sides, the parties
change ends to collect their spears, after which the hostilities are
resumed.
Irrespective of any of the methods here described, whereby the natives
actually fight with weapons for the sake of honour or revenge, it is
quite as customary among all Australian tribes to bring about the
downfall of a rival or enemy by the magic influence of suggestion. This
is the wonderfully potent method of “pointing” death at a man, who may
or may not be present or visible. The process is usually referred to as
“pointing the bone,” or simply “boning.”
In the Alligator district of the Northern Territory, the excrement of
a man, who is to be sent to his death, is collected and roasted over
a fire; after which a little of it is taken and mixed with the resin
of porcupine grass. A ceremonial dance follows during the night, which
is of a very secret character, men as well as women participating. The
chants which are sung implore the birds of night—the owl, the plover,
and the curlew—not to betray the men who are seeking revenge. At the far
end of the ground, cleared for the occasion, a hole is dug, in which a
fire is burned while the ceremony is in progress. Enchanting songs are
now rendered, which are to entice the spirit-father of the doomed man to
attend. A little later one of the principal performers marches forwards,
carrying a small ball of resin mixed with the burned excrement, together
with a short stick representing the spirit-father. At a given moment, he
begins to dance and, with his free hand, catches hold of his scrotum.
When he arrives at the hole, in which the fire is burning, other men
snatch the glowing embers and clear the ashes out of the way. The dancer
throws the resin-ball containing the excrement into the hole and covers
it with hot sand. The moment it strikes the hot ground, the resin fizzles
and crackles; and those sounds are taken to be the voice of the spirit
calling the victim from the earth.
Shortly after the ceremony these facts are made known to the unfortunate
who has been selected to die; they are usually conveyed to him by one
or two eye-witnesses of the ceremony. Overcome with consternation and
terror, the fellow immediately begins to fret; and death will inevitably
be the outcome, unless the counter-influence of a medicine man or other
tribal power can make itself felt beforehand.
Upon other occasions in the same district, the footprint of a man, who
has been decreed to die, might be found upon a clay-flat or a river bank.
The track must be intact; if it be in the least degree imperfect, it is
considered useless for the purpose. Taking for granted, then, that it
is clear and well-defined, the mould is cut out of the clay in toto and
buried in an anthill. There it is secreted until such time as the spirit
of the doomed man’s father is supposed to be in attendance at a tribal
ceremonial, when it is fetched and broken over a blazing fire. This act
answers the same purpose as the burning of the resin and excrement in the
previous case.
An old Arunndta custom was to “cut the shadow” of a man, who was to die,
with a sharpened mussel-shell knife called “_langa langa_.”
When a man of the Worora tribe dies, his relatives resolve to avenge
his death, which they suppose was the work of an enemy, whom they name.
During the obsequies, a bone is taken from the arm of the deceased,
usually the humerus, but occasionally the radius, and small portions cut
or scraped off it, to be handed to the nearest of kin, who officiate as
the avenging party. The little group sit facing the direction in which
the supposed murderer is seen, or at any rate is known to be residing.
Together they place some of the pieces of their relative’s bone, which
they call “_gibba_,” into their mouths, and, after chewing them for
a while, they spit the pulp towards their victim, at the same moment
naming him as the perpetrator of the deed—the cause of their bereavement.
The Sunday Islanders adopt a similar method, but refer to the bone as
“_käu-käu_”.
Most of the tribes are in possession of differently shaped sticks and
bones, with which the death-pointing is done. These are usually about
three or four inches long, pointed at one or both ends, and containing a
small bleb of resin at one end, to which a piece of human hair-string is
attached. When the instrument is of bone, it is usually a piece of the
dead man’s skeleton. The Aluridja take the fibula of the man whose death
is to be avenged, and construct a flattish “bone,” pointed off at both
ends. The Arunndta select the same bone, or the ulna, which they scrape
down to a long tapering point at one end; to the opposite extremity they
attach a little porcupine resin. Occasionally one finds these objects
carried in hollow bone or bark-receptacles. Another common form of the
Arunndta is a short stick, at either end of which a blunt arrow head knob
is carved, round one of which a long piece of human hair-string is tied.
A simple punctate design is at times burned into the stick. Some of the
southern tribes of the Northern Territory have pointing stones, which
are shaped much like a stone-knife, hafted with porcupine resin and
suspended by a long piece of human hair-string.
A number of such pointing instruments are constantly carried about by
certain men of the tribe, whilst others are kept buried in places only
known to a few. Often a stick is constructed just when the occasion
requires one, and when there happens to be none available.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIII_
Aluridja men “pointing” the bone.
“One man cowers upon the ground ... whilst the second, kneeling at the
side of him, holds his pointing stick at arm’s length....”]
Any fully initiated men may make use of a pointing-bone or stick,
but when the grievance concerns the tribe in general, the operation
is performed by the magician or medicine man. Women do not generally
carry these sticks, but the Aluridja, and no doubt others also, allow
their gins to charm their yam-sticks, with which they then “kill” their
antagonists. A charmed yam-stick is believed to paralyse the arms of any
person, whom it touches, when appealed to by the owner; consequently one
of this kind is chosen for duelling whenever possible.
When a man has been condemned to death, the person or persons, who are
to administer the fatal charm, are nominated. The “pointing” apparatus
are produced, and with them the men take up a kneeling position a little
distance away from the camp. Facing the doomed man’s habitation, they
lift the bone, or stick, to shoulder height and point it at the victim.
The long piece of hair-string, which is attached to the instrument, is
tightly tied around the charmer’s arm, above the elbow. This is done
to endow his system with the magic influence of the pointing-stick he
is holding; and that magic, he believes, passes into the destructive
words, which he is uttering: “May your skeleton become saturated with the
foulness of my stick, so that your flesh will rot and its stench attract
the grubs, which live in the ground, to come and devour it. May your
bones turn to water and soak into the sand, so that your spirit may never
know your whereabouts. May the wind shrivel your skin like a leaf before
a fire, and your blood dry up like the mud in a clay-pan.”
There is a great number of different methods employed in administering
the fatal charm of the pointing-stick, all of which, however, are after
much the same principle. A common practice amongst the Aluridja is for
the man, about to use the stick, to leave the camp and seclude himself
behind a tree or other obstacle. He squats upon the heel of one foot
which he has tucked under his body. He points the bone or stick straight
at the man who is to die, or, it may be, merely in the direction he
imagines he would strike him. Whilst administering the curse, he holds
the object in the hand of his outstretched right arm.
Both the Arunndta and Aluridja often work in pairs after the following
style: One man cowers upon the ground, with or without his pointing-stick
in his hand, whilst the second, kneeling at the side of him, holds his
pointing-stick at arm’s length over the former man’s back, and directs
it towards the person who is about to receive the evil charm. Vide Plate
XXIII.
To make their charm more effective, and the death-penalty more certain,
central Australian tribes not uncommonly tie the claws of a bird of
prey, the eagle-hawk by preference, to the pointing instrument. It is
believed that by this trick the evil magic works like the grip of a bird,
by clutching the doomed one’s chest and crushing it. If by accident
the unfortunate fellow becomes cognizant of this, and it happens that,
as actually is frequently the case after a big feast, he suffers from
indigestion, he naturally interprets the symptoms of his indisposition
as being due to the invisible, tightening girth, which the charm has
laid about him. The fatal termination arrives at a much earlier date in
consequence.
A man who discovers that he is being boned by an enemy is, indeed,
a pitiable sight. He stands aghast, with his eyes staring at the
treacherous pointer, and with his hands lifted as though to ward off the
lethal medium, which he imagines is pouring into his body (Plate XXIV).
His cheeks blanch and his eyes become glassy, and the expression of his
face becomes horribly distorted, like that of one stricken with palsy.
He attempts to shriek, but usually the sound chokes in his throat, and
all one might see is froth at his mouth. His body begins to tremble and
the muscles twitch involuntarily. He sways backwards and falls to the
ground, and for a short time appears to be in a swoon; but soon after he
begins to writhe as if in mortal agony, and, covering his face with his
hands, begin to moan. After a while he becomes more composed and crawls
to his wurley. From this time onwards he sickens and frets, refusing to
eat, and keeping aloof from the daily affairs of the tribe. Unless help
is forthcoming in the shape of a counter-charm, administered by the hands
of the “_Nangarri_” or medicine-man, his death is only a matter of a
comparatively short time. If the coming of the medicine-man is opportune,
he might be saved.
The medicine-man of Australian tribes is not so much an individual
who has the knowledge of medicinal values of herbs and of surgical
practices as one who is the recognized sorcerer, capable of rebuking the
ills wrought by an enemy or evil spirit (Plate VIII). He attains his
distinction either by heredity or by accidental, but maybe exemplary,
craftiness. In the former case, he is looked upon as a favoured son,
who has inherited from his tribal and ancestral fathers the magic art
of neutralizing the evil charm of a spirit or enemy, which manifests
itself in prostration or disease; at the same time he is the official
power of the community, who alone can outwit the evil spirit, control the
elements, and keep pestilence away from the camp. This hereditary art is
recognized as a concrete matter, which is believed to have been deposited
within the body of the particular individual by spirit-ancestors or
nearer spirit-relations; this matter might have taken the form of a
special variety of wood, small bones of animal or man, and a number of
sacred stones, all of which the made medicine-man carries about with him
in his abdomen, more or less replacing the ordinary entrails originally
occupying the cavity. Each tribe has a number of these medicine-men,
whose rank is gauged according to age and the principle they have lived
up to. For instance, in the qualification of the early medicine-men of
the Adelaide tribe, it was deemed necessary that the candidate should
taste human flesh at least once is his life. In the central Australian
tribes a medicine-man should not eat of kangaroo which has been feeding
upon new green grass; if he does, some of his mystic powers will leak
out of his body, and he will immediately drop in the estimation of his
tribal admirers. If the offence is repeated a number of times, he is
disrespected entirely as a professional sorcerer. There are, of course,
a great number of restrictions, which the conscientious practitioner
observes most punctiliously.
Every medicine-man of any standing at all has his own history of
qualification, which he does not hesitate to make known to the public
at opportune moments. Old Kai Kai, the leading Nangarri of the western
Arunndta on the Finke River, relates how he, as a young hunter, became
detached from the rest of the party, and, after tracking a wounded
kangaroo for a whole day, he eventually abandoned the pursuit to make
for a rock-hole in the stony James Ranges. It was nigh on sunset when
he arrived at the hole, tired and thirsty. He threw his wommera and
spears upon the ground, and eagerly lay over the cool fluid to still
his parching thirst. But when he sipped the water a tadpole entered his
mouth, and, before he could spit it out, it slipped down his gullet and
dropped into his abdominal cavity with a bump that caused him much pain.
When he recovered, he again tried to soothe his burning lips, but met
with a similar fate. Several times more he tried, but in vain; as soon
as his burning lips touched the surface of the water, a slimy tadpole
slipped into his mouth and fell into his stomach with a painful thud. In
desperation he made a final attempt to carefully approach the water’s
level, when he beheld what he took to be the image of his face and body
reflected from below. Horror overcame him, however, for the image was
that of another man! And, as he looked again, he noticed that the body
of the image was transparent, and inside of it there were just as many
rounded pebbles as he had swallowed tadpoles! He collapsed at the side
of the waterhole and slept like a dead man, for how long he could not
say. When at length he woke up, he found himself among the reeds of the
flowing sheet of water on the Finke River, which the white people call
Running Waters. He now quenched his thirst. And when the recollections
of his experience at the rock-hole came back to him, he realized that
the man who had looked at him through the water had been a spirit, and
he could still feel the pebbles he had placed inside of him. Now it was
obvious to him that he had been ordained a Nangarri, and he returned to
his camp, where his relatives were anxiously awaiting him.
Having been called to the side of a “boned” patient, the Nangarri allows
a number of the relatives to be present when he applies his weird method
of treatment. At first he cuts some ridiculous antics, during which he
mumbles or chants some almost inaudible verses. The patient is, in the
meantime, laid flat on the ground. The Nangarri approaches the sufferer
from the foot end and, throwing himself upon the ground, crawls right on
to the chest of the former, biting the skin of his patient at several
places as he crawls on to the body. Having “located” the seat of the
trouble, the “doctor” slips on to the ground, and, picking up a fold
of the skin with the underlying fatty tissue between his fingers over
the vital spot, applies his lips, and, perhaps, his teeth, too, to it.
He sucks, bites, and kneads the skin, frequently lifting his head and
spitting blood on to the ground. The patient is all the while groaning
with pain; if he becomes unmanageable, he is called to order by the
Nangarri. At length the climax arrives. The Nangarri withdraws from the
patient, his cheeks visibly inflated, and, conscious of the expectant
eyes of all present, he empties the contents of his mouth into his hands,
which he holds like a receptacle in front of him. The fluid, consisting
of saliva and blood, is allowed to trickle to the ground or into the
fire. Then a triumphant chuckle announces that the malignant element
has been discovered! With feigned exaltation, the great healer steps
towards the awe-stricken relatives, holding between the index-finger and
thumb of his right hand an article, such as a small stick, a bone, a
pebble, a meteoric bomb, or a talon, which he avows is the cause of the
“boned” man’s affliction, and, having now been skillfully and permanently
removed, the unhappy fellow has nothing more to tear.
The good news is immediately conveyed to the prostrate form on the
ground. The effect is astounding. The miserable fellow, until that moment
well on the road to death, raises his head to gaze in wonderment upon the
object held by the Nangarri, which, in all seriousness, he imagines has
been extracted from the inside of his body. Satisfied with its reality,
he even lifts himself into a sitting position and calls for some water
to drink. The crisis has now been passed, and the patient’s recovery is
speedy and complete. Without the Nangarri’s interception, the “boned”
fellow would have fretted himself to death for a certainty, but the sight
of a concrete object, claimed by the recognized authority of the tribe to
be the cause of the complaint, signifies recovery to him, and with its
removal comes a new lease of life. The implicit faith a native cherishes
in the magic powers of his tribal medicine-man results in cures, which
exceed anything recorded by the faith-healing disciples of more cultured
communities.
CHAPTER XX
WARFARE
Inter-tribal fights and hereditary feuds—Massacres—Preparations
for the fray—On the warpath—Teasing the enemy—Hostilities
begun—Treatment of wounded and disabled warriors—Hatred soon
forgotten—Blood revenge—Boomerang displays—“_Kurdaitja_”
shoes—Recovering the bodies of fallen warriors—Portions of
victims bodies eaten.
Aboriginal warfare might be divided into two classes, according to
whether it is of the nature of a true and bloody inter-tribal fight, or
of a feud arising between two tribal groups or parties. In any case, the
hostilities might be of long standing and the enmity might have existed
for generations past. The _casus belli_ is as multifarious as are those
of modern peoples. It might be on account of a natural treasure held by
one tribe, such as a valuable ochre-deposit, which is coveted by another.
Or it might be simply the result of an elopement or an abduction as
between two groups or families belonging to different tribes. The cause
frequently determines the method to be adopted during the fight.
When the arch-foe is to be faced, nothing is out of order in strategy,
provided the plan is effective, and, above all things, as gruesome
as possible. The main objective to be achieved is to make an assault
as murderous as circumstances will permit, and to establish a record
massacre, in order that the enemy might be thoroughly cowed and taught to
long remember the affair.
In former days such battles were, according to all accounts, of
fairly frequent occurrence, but nowadays, no doubt largely due to the
interference by European settlers, and the smaller numbers of natives,
one very rarely hears that any warfare is conducted on a large scale.
Indeed, many of the one-time bitterest enemies, such as the Larrekiya and
Ponga Ponga, Arunndta and Aluridja, Kukata and Wongapitcha, can now be
seen living in close proximity to each other, and apparently on the best
of terms.
Where inherited hatred sways, treachery brews. The aggressors know that
the most radical method to extinguish the enemy is to take them unawares,
and to slaughter them before they can retaliate. For this purpose it is
best to either steal on them in the earliest hours of morning whilst
they are sleeping unsuspectingly, or to lie in ambush at a place, like a
waterhole, where the enemy is sure to call.
A council of war, consisting of the oldest and most experienced men,
is held to discuss the _modus operandi_ at length. Thereupon all
eligible men are apprised of the decisions arrived at. Considerable
time is devoted to the preparation of spears, sharpening of blades, and
straightening of shafts over a fire. Any weak spots, where the spears are
likely to break when put to the test in battle, are carefully bound with
kangaroo sinew, and the blades or stone-heads re-embedded in porcupine
grass resin. Quantities of red ochre are ground and mixed with emu fat,
with which the bodies of all warriors are covered. Each man looks to
his own spear-thrower, and makes sure that it has not warped or split,
and that the handle and hook are secure; a warrior with a defective
spear-thrower would be next to useless on the battlefield. The men tie
their hair back tightly with human hair-string, and go absolutely nude.
The work is all done in a thorough and conscientious way, yet there is
every indication of humour about the camp, and nowhere does one see any
sign of fear or nervousness on part of either the men who are going
to fight, or of their near relatives. There is even an indication of
frivolity, with much jabbering and laughter. The women assist assiduously
while the preparations are in progress, and add considerably to the
entertainment of their heroes, who are about to depart. Even when at
length the expedition makes a start, some of the old gins run at the
side of the men and keep on joking with the men at the expense of the
opponents, roars of laughter every now and then announcing a particularly
clever sally from the lips of an old hag barely able to control herself
with excitement in her endeavour to incite the men.
Before leaving their camp in a body, all warriors congregate in a circle
on parade, holding their weapons balanced in the spear-thrower. Two or
three of the old men make a careful scrutiny of the group and their
outfit and give final instructions as to how the campaign is to be
conducted. Quite occasionally, indeed, a general discussion might take
place, at which any suggestions of younger warriors are received and
weighed by the seniors, prior to departure. Then the official start is
made.
As the little troop advances, the men begin to gesticulate and brandish
their weapons, whilst they dance, with their beards poked between their
lips and teeth. Occasionally they send forth a loud, piercing yell
resembling a war-whoop; then they poise their weapons, at the same
time stamping and vibrating their legs, and deriding the enemy with a
scurrilous tongue.
If the enemy is to be met in open battle, the place and time of the
proposed encounter are arranged beforehand by means of carved wooden
missives and special carriers.
Having arrived at the place, and _vis-à-vis_ to the foe, vociferation and
antics continue to the verge of hysterical jactitation. One or two of the
most daring warriors, before hostilities have actually begun in earnest,
rush to the fore, and, placing themselves in front of what might appear
the strongest of the opposite party, continue their antics in contempt of
them. Thus the patience of the enemy is harassed time after time; and in
a similar way the enemy reciprocates.
The moment will, however, arrive when one becomes a little too daring or
forward, and, with intention or otherwise, touches the person opposed
to himself. The insulted warrior, who has thus been called out, responds
with a tremendous roar, and drives straight at his opponent with his
spear, using it as a lance.
In an instant the scene is changed. All participants retreat to a
respectable distance, about fifty feet or more, towards their respective
sides, amidst fearful yelling. The moment they reach the new positions,
the air becomes alive with spears, and the fight has commenced in reality.
The throwing and aiming of the projectiles are good, but the ducking
and dodging of the selected victims are equally so. During the whole
term of the encounter, terrifying bawls are heard, which are emitted
by the enraged fighters, and responded to by the excited women in the
background. Thus the conflict may last for an hour or two, without a
casualty being recorded. When a man is hit, the hideous yelling reaches
its climax. The wounded fellow, unless he be mortally hit or falls to
the ground unconscious, immediately backs out of the “firing line” under
cover of his shield, and seeks shelter behind the warriors, where he
is attended by the women, who still the flow of blood with a packing
of clay, gum leaves, powdered bird excrement, and grease. Should a
spear, or portion of such, still be lodged in the wound, the assistance
of an old man will in all probability be called upon to extricate the
piece. If, however, the spear-head breaks in the attempted removal, no
further operation is undertaken then, and perhaps not until the natural
suppurative processes force the fragment near to the surface of the body.
The aborigines, although they use a knife freely in the mutilation of
their bodies, are not sufficiently skilful as surgeons that they can make
an incision into muscle or other tissue to extricate a foreign body, such
as a broken spear-head, even if the point is pressing the skin outwards
on the side opposite the laceration, and the barbs prevent it being
pulled back.
When a man collapses on the spot, as from a mortal wound, a regular
tussle ensues, in an endeavour to secure the body, between his friends
and foes. The former run considerable risk while they expose their
figures to the bombardment of spears; they are, however, covered by
others, who come forth to specially shepherd them; often, too, a
confused hand-to-hand skirmish follows, during which one or two more are
wounded. Should it so happen that a man now falls on the opposite side,
a compromise is effected, which permits either side to carry off their
wounded in peace. In fact, if the disabled men happen to be of important
position or particular valour, the casualty may lead to a permanent
armistice.
The aboriginal of Australia does not bear chronic malice towards
an ordinary or casual enemy, but soon finds a plausible excuse to
throw a damper on his fighting ardour; very frequently, indeed, a
bloodthirsty-looking crowd drown their enmity in a combined and convivial
festivity, during which the late enemies jest, dance, and sing together.
The past is soon forgotten; his revenge appeased, a native immediately
reverts to his daily routine and peaceful life. With him revenge is not
necessarily individual; the wrong-doing of one tribesman might have to
be suffered for by another, maybe innocent, man of the same blood. This
blood-revenge, which of course is practised by even the most civilized
nations, is often the cause of the death of an innocent white man, who
happens to be travelling through the tribal ground, where recently
another white man has maltreated or assaulted the natives.
In districts where the boomerang is used, a number of these weapons is
carried in the belts of the belligerents. When the parties are within
seeing distance of each other, each side begins to throw its boomerangs,
making them fly high in the air towards the enemy and return to their
respective owner. The demonstration is repeated time after time, as
the contending parties draw near to each other, until at length the
boomerangs fly well over the opponents’ heads on either side. This is
forsooth an awe-inspiring spectacle and has the desired effect of
arousing the fighters’ ire to a very high pitch. At a later stage,
boomerangs are employed in actual battle.
In place of the boomerang, the club or the waddy is not infrequently
carried as an auxiliary weapon, but its use is restricted to fighting at
close quarters.
During the various encounters, as here briefly described, shields are
generally carried to parry the missiles directed against the bodies
of the combatants. In the case of the light reed-spears, however, the
wommera alone is used for such purpose. The fighters’ greatest safety is
nevertheless in their wonderful skill at dodging the projectiles. In hand
to hand fighting, with club or boomerang, the shield is invariably used
to considerable advantage.
Whilst undertaking their reconnoitres, the scouts carry slippers,
which they wear when it is necessary to hide the individual tracks of
their party. These slippers are generally known as “kurdaitja-shoes”;
they consist of a thick pad or sole of emu feathers, knitted together
with string and clotted blood, and an “upper” of neatly plaited human
hair-string. The wearer of such “kurdaitja-shoes” leaves shallow, oval
tracks in the sand, which, if seen by any other natives, occasion much
alarm, being immediately recognized as those of an enemy on a treacherous
mission; if the enemy is not discovered, the tracks are regarded as those
of the “_Kurdaitja_,” an evil spirit about to molest the tribe.
At the conclusion of a battle, it depends entirely upon the terms,
under which arms were laid down, as to who appropriates the bodies of
any fallen warriors. If friendly relations are established immediately
after cessation of hostilities, a mutual exchange is effected, by means
of which the relatives might come in possession of the bodies of any
warriors who fell. If, on the other hand, the hatred has not abated after
the battle, whatever bodies were captured during the affray belong to
that party who were fortunate enough to secure them.
The natives, who have been in the meantime joined by the women, retreat
towards their main camp, and carry the corpse or corpses of their fallen
upon their shoulders to a place decided upon. There elaborate obsequies
are instituted. It is, moreover, the custom to cut portions of the soft
parts from a dead warrior’s body, whether he be friend or foe, and to eat
them. The belief is that by so doing the brave qualities of the departed
soldier will be kept among the tribe and will not all be taken away by
the spirit when it migrates to the ancestral hunting grounds. The pieces
which are most commonly consumed by the mourners (or victors) are the
kidney fat and the marrow of the long bones; the Gulf of Carpentaria
tribes eat pieces of the muscle and occasionally of the liver. This is
another reason why the Australian aborigines are often referred to as
cannibals; but the title is unmerited. The native of Australia does not
go head-hunting and does not organize expeditions, whose object is to
slay people upon whom they can feast. We are not justified in calling him
a cannibal; the most we can say of him is that opportunity might make him
an occasional man-eater.
CHAPTER XXI
SPEARS
Spears used for four different purposes—Technically two
divisions recognized—Descriptions of types.
Spears made by aboriginal Australians serve for four distinct
purposes—for fighting, for hunting, for ceremonial, and for recreation,
but it would never do to make these the basis of classification.
Technically, however, we recognize two main divisions, into which
Australian spears can be made to fall, the one including all spears made
out of a single piece of hard wood, the other those constructed of two or
more pieces. With very few exceptions, the former are projected by the
hand alone, the latter by means of a specially designed spear-thrower.
The simplest type of spear, found everywhere in Australia, consists
merely of a long stick, more or less straightened artificially, and
roughly pointed at one or both ends. Along the north coast of Western
Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland alike, the spear is
made of light mangrove wood; in central Australia it is of acacia; and in
the south it is, or was, of mallee. Vide Fig. 5, _a_.
Some of the tribes spend considerable time at straightening these spears.
The method in vogue is to place the stick with its curved portion in hot
ashes, and, after a while, to bend it over a stone until the right shape
is obtained; a little emu fat is often applied to the spot before it is
heated.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Types of spears.]
Others devote much attention to the shaping of the spear by scraping
and rasping its surface. Exceptionally straight and smoothed mulga
spears were made by the Barcoo natives of the Durham Downs district and
by the Dieri (_b_), whilst on the north coast, the Crocker Islanders’
spears are deserving of the same comments; the latter, in addition, are
decorated by a few delicate engravings in the form of circumferential
rings and wavy longitudinal bands composed of short parallel transverse
lines. The Arunndta groove the spears lengthwise with a stone adze.
An improvement on this type is rendered by the cutting of a pointed blade
at one end of the spear (_c_). Some of the best specimens come from the
eastern Arunndta in the Arltunga district. The blade is symmetrically
cut, sharply edged, and smooth; the remaining portion of the spear is
grooved longitudinally throughout its length.
All the above-mentioned types of spear are thrown by hand.
A straight, single-piece, hard-wood spear is made more effective by
splicing a barb on to the point with kangaroo or emu sinew (_d_). The
barb being directed away from the point, the spear cannot be withdrawn
without forcibly tearing it through the flesh of the animal or man it has
entered. The natives living along the Great Australian Bight, from Port
Lincoln to King George Sound in Western Australia, used to make this the
principal weapon; the spear was up to twelve feet in length, perfectly
straight and smooth, and was thrown with a spear-thrower.
A rare and perhaps unique variety was found at Todmorden on the Alberga
River in the possession of an Aluridja. It was a simple, one-piece,
bladed spear, like that described of the Arltunga natives, but it had
two wooden barbs tied against one and the same side of the blade with
kangaroo sinew, one above the other, at distances of three and six
inches, respectively, from the point.
The hard-wood spears may have the anterior end carved, on one or two
sides, into a number of barbs of different shape and size. The simplest
and most rudimentary forms were to be met with among the weapons of the
practically extinct tribes of the lower reaches of the River Murray,
including Lake Alexandria. The shaft was of mallee and by no means always
straight and smooth; its anterior end, for a distance of from twelve to
eighteen inches, had from five to six medium-sized, thorn-like barbs
or spikes, which were directed backwards and cut out of the wood, on
one or two sides. More rarely one would find spears with a three-sided
serrature, consisting of something like two dozen small barbs, directed
backwards, extending in three longitudinal lines over a distance of about
fifteen inches; at the top the serrated lines merged into a single strong
point. Vide Fig. 5, _e_, _f_, and _g_.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV_
A “boned” Man, Minning tribe.
“He stands aghast, with his eyes staring at the treacherous pointer, and
with his hands lifted as though to ward off the lethal medium....”]
The most formidable weapons of this kind are those still in daily use as
hunting and fighting spears on Melville and Bathurst Islands (_h_). The
head of this type has many barbs carved on one side, and occasionally
on two diametrically opposite sides. There are from ten to thirty barbs
pointing backwards, behind which from four to eight short serrations
project straight outwards, whilst beyond them again occasionally some six
or more small barbs point forwards. The spears have a long, sharp, bladed
point. The barbs are symmetrically carved, and each has sharp lateral
edges which end in a point. The size of the barbs varies in different
specimens. Many of the spears are longitudinally grooved or fluted,
either for the whole length or at the head end only. Usually these
weapons are becomingly decorated with ochre, and may have a collar of
human hair-string wound tightly round the shaft at the base of the head.
Some of the heaviest of these spears are up to sixteen feet long, and
would be more fitly described as lances.
The most elaborate, and at the same time most perfect, specimens of the
single-piece wooden spears of aboriginal manufacture are the ceremonial
pieces of the Melville Islanders. These have a carved head measuring
occasionally over four feet in length and four inches in width,
consisting of from twelve to twenty-five paired, symmetrical, leaf-shaped
or quadrilateral barbs, whose sides display a remarkable parallelism. The
barbs are surmounted by a long tapering point emanating from the topmost
pair; and very frequently one finds an inverted pair of similar barbs
beneath the series just mentioned. Occasionally, too, the two pairs
opposed to each other at the bottom are fused into one, and a square hole
is cut into the bigger area of wood thus gained on either side of the
shaft (_i_).
The structure may be further complicated by cutting away the point at the
top, and separating the paired series of barbs by a narrow vertical cleft
down the middle (_j_).
We shall now turn our attention to spears whose head and shaft are
composed of separate parts. In the construction of these, two principal
objects are aimed at by the aboriginal, the first being to make the
missile travel more accurately through space, and in accordance with
the aim, the second to make the point more cruel and deadly. Whereas,
with one exception, all the single-piece spears, so far discussed,
are projected or wielded with the hand only, in every instance of the
multi-pieced spears, a specially designed spear-thrower is used for that
purpose.
The native has learned by experience that weight in the forepart of the
spear will enable him to throw and aim with greater precision. One has
only to watch the children and youths during a sham-fight to realize how
well it is known that the heavier end of a toy spear must be directed
towards the target whilst the lighter end is held in the hand. Green
shoots of many tussocks, or their seed-stalks, and the straight stems of
reeds or bullrushes, are mostly used. They are cut or pulled at the root
in order that a good butt-end may be obtained, and carefully stripped
of leaves; the toy weapons are then ready for throwing. One is taken at
a time and its thin end held against the inner side of the point of the
right index finger; it is kept in that position with the middle finger
and thumb. Raising the spear in a horizontal position, the native extends
his arm backwards, and, carefully selecting his mark, shies his weapon
with full force at it.
The simplest type of a combination made to satisfy the conditions of an
artificially weighted spear is one in which the shaft consists of light
wood and the head of heavier wood (_k_). Roughly speaking, the proportion
of light to heavy wood is about half of one to half of the other. The
old Adelaide tribe used to select the combination of the light pithy
flower-stalk of the grass-tree with a straight pointed stick of mallee.
The western coastal tribes of the Northern Territory construct small,
and those of the Northern Kimberleys large spears composed of a shaft of
reed and a head of mangrove; the former being four or at most five feet
long, the latter from ten to twelve. The joint between the two pieces is
effected by inserting the heavier wood into the lighter and sealing the
union with triodia-grass resin or beeswax. The Adelaide tribe used the
gum of the grass-tree.
The River Murray tribes used to make the point of the mallee more
effective by attaching to it a blade-like mass of resin, into both edges
of which they stuck a longitudinal row of quartz flakes.
The Northern Kimberleys natives accomplish the same object by fixing on
to the top end of the mangrove stick a globular mass of warm, soft resin,
in which they embed a stone spear-head (_l_). In certain parts of the
Northern Territory one occasionally meets with a similar type of spear,
but such in all probability is imported from the west.
The popular spear of central Australian tribes consists of a light shaft
fashioned out of a shoot of the wild tecoma bush (_T. Australis_), which
carries a long-bladed head of hard mulga wood. The junction is made
between the two pieces by cutting them both on a slope, sticking these
surfaces together with hot resin, and securely binding them with kangaroo
tendon. The bottom end is similarly bound and a small hole made in its
base to receive the point of the spear-thrower (_m_).
As often as not the blade has a single barb of wood bound tightly against
it with tendon.
It is often difficult to find a single piece of tecoma long enough to
make a suitable shaft, in which case two pieces are taken and neatly
joined somewhere within the lower, and thinner, half with tendon. The
shoots, when cut, are always stripped of their bark and straightened in
the fire, the surfaces being subsequently trimmed by scraping.
A very common type of spear, especially on the Daly River, and
practically all along the coast of the Northern Territory, is one with a
long reed-shaft, to which is attached, by means of a mass of wax or gum,
a stone-head, consisting of either quartzite or slate, or latterly also
of glass. The bottom end is strengthened, to receive the point of the
thrower, by winding around it some vegetable fibre (_n_).
The natives of Arnhem Land now and then replace the stone by a short
piece of hard wood of lanceolate shape.
If now we consider the only remaining type—a light reed-shaft, to which
is affixed a long head of hard wood, with a number of barbs cut on one
or more edges—we find a great variety of designs. The difference lies
principally in the number and size of the barbs; in most cases they point
backwards, but it is by no means rare to find a certain number of them
pointing the opposite way or standing out at right angles to the length
of the head. These spears belong principally to the northern tribes of
the Northern Territory.
The commonest form is a spear having its head carved into a number of
barbs along one side only, and all pointing backwards (_o_). The number
ranges from three to over two dozen, the individual barbs being either
short and straight or long and curved, with the exception of the lowest,
which in many examples sticks out at right angles just above the point of
insertion. The point is always long and tapering. These spears are common
to the Larrekiya, Wogait, Wulna, and all Daly River tribes.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXV_
1. Dieri grave, Lake Eyre district.
2. Yantowannta grave, Innamincka district.]
The same pattern of barbs may be found carved symmetrically on the side
diametrically opposite, or, indeed, it may be cut in three planes.
An elegant, but rare, type is found among the weapons of the Ponga Ponga,
Mulluk Mulluk, and Wogait tribes on the Daly River. Its hard-wood head is
long and uniformly tapering from its point of insertion to its sharp tip.
On one side there are very many small barbs, diminishing in size from the
shaft upwards; as many as one hundred barbs have been counted; they point
either slightly backwards or at right angles to the length (_p_).
A spear in use on the Alligator River, and in the districts south and
west therefrom, has the barbs along the edge of the anterior moiety
directed backwards, whereas those of the posterior portion point
forwards. And occasionally one finds the barbs arranged asymmetrically on
two sides of the spear-head.
Finally, a rather remarkable type will be referred to, which belongs to
the Arnhem Land tribes, or rather to the country extending from Port
Essington to the Roper River, including Groote Island and smaller groups
lying off the coast. It is a neat and comparatively small spear, about
eight feet long on an average. The head, instead of possessing a number
of barbs, has a series of eye-shaped holes cut along one of its sides,
which give the impression of being so many unfinished barbs, or so many
barbs with their points joined together (_q_). The major axes of the
holes are parallel and directed backwards; there may be up to thirty
holes present. Occasionally there are a few real barbs cut near the shaft
end of the head; or a number of incomplete barbs may there be cut with
their axes turned towards the front of the spear. The point is always
sharp and stands back somewhat from the level of the uncut barbs.
For special purposes, like fishing, two or three of the simple-barbed
prongs are frequently affixed to a reed shaft with beeswax or resin,
and vegetable fibre. This combination is met with all along the coast
of the Northern Territory. The natives know very well that the chances
of stabbing a fish with a trident of this description are much greater
than with a single prong. As a matter of fact, a barbed spear with less
than two prongs is not normally used for fishing purposes, yet a plain,
single-pronged spear is often utilized when there is none of the other
kind available.
The Australian aboriginals do not poison their spears in the ordinary
sense of the word, but the Ponga Ponga and Wogait tribes residing on the
Daly River employ the vertebræ of large fish, like the barramundi, which
have previously been inserted into decaying flesh, usually the putrid
carcase of a kangaroo, with the object of making the weapon more deadly.
The bones are tied to the head of a fighting spear. This is not a general
practice, however, and the spear never leaves the hands of the owner.
The natives maintain that by so doing they can kill their enemy “quick
fella.”
CHAPTER XXII
SPEAR-THROWERS
Principle of construction—How held—Some of the common types
described—Other uses.
To assist in the projection of a spear, the aboriginal has invented a
simple apparatus, which is commonly referred to as a spear-thrower or
wommera. In principle it is just a straight piece of wood with a haft
at one end and a small hook at the other. In practice the hand seizes
the haft, the hook is inserted into the small pit at the bottom of the
spear, and the shaft is laid along the thrower and held there with two of
the fingers of the hand, which is clasping the haft. In this position,
the arm is placed well back, the point of the spear steadied or made to
vibrate, and, when the native has taken careful aim, the arm is forcibly
shot forwards. The missile flies through space, towards its target, but
the thrower is retained by the hand.
One of the simplest types was made by the tribes living along the shores
of the Great Australian Bight. It consists of a flat piece of wood,
about three feet long, roughly fluted lengthwise and slightly sloped
off at either extremity. At one end a mass of resin forms a handle, in
which, moreover, a quartzite or flint scraper is embedded. At the other
end a wooden peg is affixed with resin against the flat surface of the
stick. Both surfaces of the implement are flat or slightly convex; at
Esperance Bay they are rather nicely polished, the wood selected being
a dark-coloured acacia. Towards the east, however, as for instance at
Streaky Bay, the inner side, i.e. the one bearing the hook or peg,
becomes concave and the outer side convex. On Eyre Peninsula, the old
Parnkalla tribe made the spear-thrower shorter but wider, and its
section was distinctly concave.
Northwards, through the territories of the Kukata, Arrabonna,
Wongapitcha, Aluridja, Arunndta, and Cooper Creek tribes, the shape
becomes leaf-shaped and generally of concave section, with a well-shaped
haft and broad flint scraper; the peg is attached with resin and sinew.
Within this same area, another type is less frequently met with, which
is of similar shape, but flat; it is really used more for show purposes,
and for that reason is usually decorated with engraved circles and lines,
which during some of the ceremonies are further embellished with ochre
and coloured down.
The last-named is the prevalent type, which extends westwards as an
elongate form through the Murchison district right through to the
Warburton River, where it is again broader. In both the areas mentioned,
the inner surface of the spear-thrower is deeply incised with series
of parallel, angular bands made up of transverse notches. In the south
of Western Australia, the shape remains the same, but the incised
ornamentation disappears.
Yet another variety comes from the old Narrinyerri tribe and from the
lower reaches of the River Murray, where it was known as “_taralje_.”
It is a small, flat, spatulate form, elongated at both ends, the lower
(and longer) prolongation making the handle, the upper carrying a point
of bone or tooth deeply embedded in resin. The inner side, against which
the spear is laid, is flat, the outer surface being convex. The handle is
circular in section and is rounded off at the bottom to a blunt point.
The convex side is occasionally decorated with a number of pinholes,
arranged in a rudely symmetrical pattern.
All through the northern districts of the Northern Territory and
the Northern Kimberleys, the principal type is a long light-wood
blade, tapering slightly from the handle end to the point and having
comparatively flat or slightly convex sides. A handle is shaped by
rounding off the ends and cutting away some of the wood symmetrically on
each side, a few inches down. A clumsy-looking peg is attached to one of
the flat surfaces at the opposite, narrower end with beeswax. The peg is
made big on account of the instrument being exclusively used to propel
the reed-spears, which are naturally hollow, and consequently have a
large opening or pit at the bottom end. This type of thrower is nearly
always decorated in an elaborate way with ochre. When used, the thrower
and spear are held by the right hand in such a way that the shaft of
the latter passes, and is held, between the thumb and index finger, the
remaining fingers holding the handle of the thrower. Vide Plate XIV, 2.
A spear-thrower used exclusively for projecting the small variety of
reed-spear is known to the Larrekiya, Wogait, Wordaman, Berringin, and
a few other coastal tribes of the Northern Territory. It consists of a
rod of hard wood, four feet or so in length, tapering a little towards
either end. A lump of resin is attached to one end, and, whilst warm
and plastic, is moulded into a blunt point, which fits into the hole at
the bottom of the spear. At about five inches from the opposite end, a
rim of resin is fixed, and from it a layer, decreasing in thickness,
is plastered around the stick to near the extremity. When using this
thrower, the hand is placed above the resin-rim, and the shaft of the
spear is held by the thumb against the top of the middle finger, without
the aid of the index finger. In addition to this, its principal function,
the thrower is often used for making fire, the native twirling its lower
point against another piece of wood.
A variety of the above type is found in the Gulf of Carpentaria country,
on the MacArthur River, which has a tassel of human hair-string tied with
vegetable fibre immediately below the rim of resin around the handle.
One of the most remarkable of all spear-throwers is made by the
Larrekiya, and other Northern Territory tribes, consisting of a long,
leaf-shaped, and very thin, flexible blade, flat on one side and slightly
convex on the other. The peg is pear-shaped, and is fixed with vegetable
string and beeswax. The handle is thick and cone-shaped, and covered
with a thin layer of resin or wax. It is ornamented with rows of small
pits, which are pricked into the mass while warm with the point of a fish
bone or sharpened stick. The instrument is so thin and fragile that only
experienced men dare handle it. At times the blade is curved like a sabre.
In addition to serving as a projecting apparatus, most of the hard-wood
spear-throwers with sharp edges are used for producing fire by the
rubbing or sawing process; those of concave section also take the place
of a small cooleman, in which ochre, down, blood, and other materials are
stored during the “making up” period of a ceremony.
Any of the flat types of spear-thrower may be used for making fire by
the “sawing process.” The edge of the implement is rubbed briskly across
a split piece of soft wood until the red-hot powder produced by the
friction kindles some dry grass which was previously packed into the
cleft. The spark is then fanned into a flame, as previously referred to
(page 111).
CHAPTER XXIII
BURIAL AND MOURNING CUSTOMS
Customs depend upon a variety of circumstances—Child
burial—Cremation disavowed—Interment—Graves differently
marked—Carved tomb-posts of Melville Islanders—Sepulchral
sign-posts of Larrekiya—Platform burial—Mummification
of corpse—Skeleton eventually buried—Identification of
supposed murderer—Pathetic scenes in camp—Self-inflicted
mutilations—Weird elegies—Name of deceased never mentioned—Hut
of deceased destroyed—Widowhood’s tribulation—Pipe-clay masks
and skull-caps—Mutilations—Second Husbands—Collecting and
concealing the dead man’s bones—Treatment of skull—Final
mourning ceremony.
The burial and mourning ceremonies, if any, attendant upon the death of a
person, depend largely upon the tribe, the age, and the social standing
or status of the individual concerned. Old people who have become “silly”
(i.e. childish), and who in consequence do not take an active part in
any of the tribal functions or ceremonies, are never honoured with a big
funeral, but are quietly buried in the ground. The reason for this is
that the natives believe that the greater share of any personal charms
and talents possessed by the senile frame have already migrated to the
eternal home of the spirit. As a matter of fact, the old person’s spirit
has itself partly quitted the body and whiles for the most time in the
great beyond. For precisely the same reason, it often happens that a
tribe, when undergoing hardship and privation brought about by drought,
necessitating perhaps long marches under the most trying conditions,
knocks an old and decrepit person on the head, just as an act of
charity in order to spare the lingering soul the tortures, which can be
more readily borne by the younger members. These ideas exist all over
Australia.
When infants die, they are kept or carried around by the mothers,
individual or tribal, for a while in a food-carrier, and then buried
without any demonstration. The extinct Adelaide tribes required of the
women to carry their dead children about with them on their backs until
the bodies were shrivelled up and mummified. The women alone attended to
the burial of the child when eventually it was assigned to a tree or the
ground.
But at the demise of a person in the prime of his or her life, and of one
who has been a recognized power in life, the case is vastly different.
Both before and after the “burial” of the corpus, a lengthy ceremony is
performed, during which all sorts of painful mutilations are inflicted
amongst the bereaved relatives, amidst the accompaniment of weird chants
and horribly uncanny wails. Before proceeding with the discussion of the
attendant ceremonies, however, we shall give an outline of the different
methods adopted in Australia for the disposal of the dead.
Cremation is nowhere practised for the simple reason that the destruction
of the bony skeleton would debar the spirit from re-entering a
terrestrial existence.
The spirit is regarded as the indestructible, or really immortal,
quantity of a man’s existence; and it is intimately associated with the
skeleton. The natives tender, as an analogy, the big larva of the Cossus
or “witchedy,” which lies buried in the bark of a gum tree. As a result
of its ordinary metamorphosis, the moth appears and flies away, leaving
the empty shell or, as the natives call it, the “skeleton” of the “dead”
grub behind. It is a common belief on the north coast that the spirit of
a dead person returns from the sky by means of a shooting star, and when
it reaches the earth, it immediately looks around for its old skeleton.
For this reason the relatives of a dead man carefully preserve the
skeletal remains, carry them around for a while, and finally store them
in a cave.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVI_
1. Aluridja widow.
2. Yantowannta widow.]
Stillborn children are usually burnt in a blazing fire since they are
regarded as being possessed of the evil spirit, which was the cause of
the death.
The simplest method universally adopted, either alone or in conjunction
with other procedures, is interment.
Most of the central tribes, like the Dieri, Aluridja, Yantowannta,
Ngameni, Wongapitcha, Kukata, and others, bury their dead, whilst the
northern and southern tribes place the corpse upon a platform, which they
construct upon the boughs of a tree or upon a special set of upright
poles. The Ilyauarra formerly used to practise tree-burial, but nowadays
interment is generally in vogue.
A large, oblong hole, from two to five feet deep, is dug in the ground to
receive the body, which has previously been wrapped in sheets of bark,
skins, or nowadays blankets. Two or three men jump into the hole and take
the corpse out of the hands of other men, who are kneeling at the edge
of the grave, and carefully lower it in a horizontal position to the
bottom of the excavation. The body is made to lie upon the back, and the
head is turned to face the camp last occupied by the deceased, or in the
direction of the supposed invisible abode of the spirit, which occupied
the mortal frame about to be consigned to the earth. The Arunndta quite
occasionally place the body in a natural sitting position. The Larrekiya,
when burying an aged person, place the body in a recumbent position,
usually lying on its right side, with the legs tucked up against the
trunk and the head reposing upon the hands, the position reminding one of
that of a _fœtus in utero_.
The body is covered with layers of grass, small sticks, and sheets of
bark, when the earth is scraped back into the hole. But very often a
small passage is left open at the side of the grave, by means of which
the spirit may leave or return to the human shell (i.e. the skeleton)
whenever it wishes.
The place of sepulture is marked in a variety of ways. In many cases
only a low mound is erected over the spot, which in course of time is
washed away and finally leaves a shallow depression.
The early south-eastern (Victorian) and certain central tribes place the
personal belongings, such as spear and spear-thrower in the case of a
man, and yam-stick and cooleman in the case of a woman, upon the mound,
much after the fashion of a modern tombstone. The now fast-vanishing
people of the Flinders Ranges clear a space around the mound, and
construct a shelter of stones and brushwood at the head end. They cover
the corpse with a layer of foliage and branches, over which they place a
number of slabs of slate. Finally a mound is erected over the site.
The Adelaide and Encounter Bay tribes built wurleys or brushwood shelters
over the mound to serve the spirit of the dead native as a resting place.
In the Mulluk Mulluk, when a man dies outside his own country, he is
buried immediately. A circular space of ground is cleared, in the centre
of which the grave is dug. After interment, the earth is thrown back into
the hole and a mound raised, which is covered with sheets of paper-bark.
The bark is kept in place by three or four flexible wands, stuck into the
ground at their ends, but closely against the mound, transversely to its
length. A number of flat stones are laid along the border of the grave
and one or two upon the mound.
In the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, when an unauthorized
trespasser is killed by the local tribes, the body is placed into a
cavity scooped out of an anthill, and covered up. In a few hours, the
termites rebuild the defective portion of the hill, and the presence of a
corpse is not suspected by an avenging party, even though it be close on
the heels of the murderers.
The Dieri, in the Lake Eyre district of central Australia, dispense
with the mound, but in its place they lay a number of heavy saplings
longitudinally across the grave. Their eastern neighbours, the
Yantowannta, expand this method by piling up an exceptionally large
mound, which they cover with a stout meshwork of stakes, branches, and
brushwood lying closely against the earth (Plate XXV, 1 and 2).
One of the most elaborate methods is that in vogue on Melville and
Bathurst Islands. The ground immediately encompassing the grave is
cleared, for a radius of half a chain or more, and quantities of clean
soil thrown upon it to elevate the space as a whole. The surface is then
sprinkled with ashes and shell debris. The mound stands in the centre of
this space, and is surrounded by a number of artistically decorated posts
of hard and heavy wood, or occasionally of a lighter fibrous variety
resembling that of a palm. Each of the posts bears a distinctive design
drawn in ochre upon it; several of the series in addition have the top
end carved into simple or complicated knobs; occasionally a square hole
is cut right through the post, about a foot from the top, leaving only a
small, vertical strip of wood at each side to support the knob (Fig. 14).
The designs are drawn in red, yellow, white, and black, and represent
human, animal, emblematical, and nondescript forms.
The Larrekiya erect a sort of sign-post, at some distance from the grave,
consisting of an upright pole, to the top of which a bundle of grass is
fixed. A cross-piece is tied beneath the grass, which projects unequally
at the sides and carries an additional bundle at each extremity. The
structure resembles a scarecrow with outstretched arms, the longer of
which has a small rod inserted into the bundle of grass to indicate the
direction of the grave. Suspended from the other arm, a few feathers or
light pieces of bark are allowed to sway in the wind and thus serve to
attract the attention of any passers-by.
When the body is to be placed upon a platform, it is carried, at the
conclusion of the preliminary mourning ceremonies, shoulder high by the
bereaved relatives to the place previously prepared for the reception
of the corpse. A couple of the men climb upon the platform and take
charge of the body, which is handed to them by those remaining below.
They carefully place it in position, and lay a few branches over it,
after which they again descend to join the mourners. The platform is
constructed of boughs and bark, which are spread between the forks of a
tree or upon specially erected pillars of wood.
The Adelaide tribe used to tie the bodies of the dead into a sitting
position, with the legs and arms drawn up closely against the chest, and
in that position kept them in the scorching sun until the tissues were
thoroughly dried around the skeleton; then the mummy was placed in the
branches of a tree, usually a casuarina or a ti-tree. Along the reaches
of the River Murray near its mouth, the mummification of the corpse was
accelerated by placing it upon a platform and smoking it from a big
fire, which was kept burning underneath; all orifices in the body were
previously closed up. When the epidermis peeled off, the whole surface
of the corpse was thickly bedaubed with a mixture of red ochre and
grease, which had the consistency of an ordinary oil-paint. A similar
mummification process is adopted by certain of the coastal tribes of
north-eastern Queensland.
The Larrekiya, Wogait, and other northern tribes smear red ochre all
over the surface of the corpse, prior to placing it aloft, in much the
same manner as they do when going to battle. The mourners, moreover, rub
some of the deceased’s fat over their bodies. When eventually all the
soft parts have been removed from the skeleton by birds of prey, and by
natural processes of decomposition, the relatives take the radius from
the left arm, which they carry away with them. The remaining bones are
collected and wrapped up in paperbark, and the parcel buried.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVII_
Tooth-rapping ceremony, Wongapitcha tribe.
“The novice lies on his back and rests his head against the operator’s
thighs, while a number of men sit around in a semi-circle.” The operator
is seen in the act of applying the rod with his right hand, while he is
striking it with a pebble held in the opposite hand.]
In the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, the relatives wait until
the body has so far decomposed that it begins to drip, at which stage
they place a number of pebbles or other articles either in a row or in a
circle underneath the platform. Each pebble represents a person who is
considered as a likely cause of the death they are bemoaning. Periodical
inspections are made of the place, and notice is taken of the drops which
have fallen from the corpse. Should it so happen that the wind has blown
them in the direction of any one particular stone, which has thereby
been moistened, the person represented by that pebble is looked upon as
the one responsible for the fellow’s death; a resolution is forthwith
carried to “bone” him to death. At the same time the visitors keep a
vigilant lookout for any tracks near the grave, which might inform them
of the presence of a spirit nearby. Like the Northern Territory tribes
they, too, later collect the bones of the deceased and wrap them up in
paperbark. These parcels, together with the skull, are deposited in the
crevices of rocks outcropping within their haunts, or they are stuck away
in a cave, if such be available.
Great is the hullabaloo in a camp when a person of importance breathes
his last. Moans and deep sobbing notes are followed by loud yells and
spasms of barbarous shrieks, which it is difficult to believe are human;
and the yelping hordes of dogs, which are found in every camp, in no
small way intensify the din. After a while the pandemonium settles down
to a more orderly wailing, although every now and then there might be
a spontaneous outburst of the heart-rending yelling again, which can
only be likened to a long-drawn canine or, more nearly, a dingo-like
howl. The note is taken up by all members of the little community; and
the moment the noise is heard by anybody strolling or hunting in the
environment he, without deliberation, hastens back to camp to join in
the wailing. The men sit with their knees drawn up and their arms thrown
around them, covering their faces whilst they are sobbing. The women
throw themselves upon the ground, or over the body of the departed, in
utter despair; they are later joined by the men. Every now and then the
lubras rise, and, seizing a sharp stick with both their hands, they cut
deep gashes into the crown of their heads. Then, as the blood pours down
over their faces and bodies, the wailing is accentuated with additional
vehemence. At times some terrible wounds are inflicted during this part
of the obsequies. The widow often cuts a long, median gash right along
the scalp. The men, on the other hand, flourish their big stone knives,
with which they hack their bodies in a revolting manner. In the Katherine
River district, the nearest relatives on the male side not infrequently
cut their thighs in such a way that almost the entire mass of muscles on
the extensor side is severed, and the man makes himself _hors de combat_.
A general mêlée now ensues, during which women deface themselves and
each other without restraint, the places of predilection being the head
and back. Each mourner submits to the mutilation voluntarily and without
flinching. The women, too, make free use of their nulla-nullas, with
which they crack each other over the head. But a short while after they
will seat themselves in groups about the body, with their arms tenderly
thrown around each other, crying bitterly.
Repeatedly I have been present when sad or distressing news has
unexpectedly come to hand, or when one of the tribe meets with a painful
accident which may be considered fatal, and have noticed with what amount
of undisguised sympathy such are received on the part of the women-folk.
On one occasion I remember a young gin falling from a high cliff on
the Finke River and sustaining a concussion of the brain. As she lay
unconscious on the ground, all other women present at the time tore out
great quantities of hair from their scalps, and then threw themselves
into some spiny tussocks of porcupine grass which grew close-by. The
poisonous sting of the porcupine grass is very painful, even when only
one enters the skin; but the agony produced by a large number piercing
the naked body must be excruciating.
The Larrekiya men lacerate their upper arms and thighs with stone
knives, and cut their foreheads with the embedded flints of any handy
implements. Both men and women cover their naked bodies with ashes and
pipeclay, and, after the preliminary uproar has calmed down somewhat, the
females start a doleful chant which sounds something like: “_Nge-e-u,
hö-hö-un-un_.” To this the men respond with long-drawn monotones
resembling: “_He-e-ö, he-e-ö, he-e-ö_,” the “_n_” and “_un_” above, and
the “_ö_” below, sounding like sobs.
The chanting is kept up all the time the corpse is “lying in state,”
if one be permitted to make use of this phrase in connection with a
primitive burial ceremony. Even whilst the body is being conveyed upon
the shoulders of the aboriginal pall-bearers, the wailing continues in a
systematic manner.
I remember once attending a native funeral at Brocks’ Creek in the
Northern Territory, when a gin had died who came from a far-distant
tribe beyond the Victoria River. Being a stranger, the local tribal
honours could not be bestowed upon her remains, but the local natives,
who volunteered to bury her, could not let the opportunity pass without
singing in a mournful strain as they carried her to rest. The gin’s
dialect was unknown, and the local tribe had been in the habit of
conversing with her in ordinary “pidgin English.” Consequently they
concocted a little refrain of their own to suit the occasion. It ran
“Poor beggar Jinny, him bin die,” and was rendered in a sing-song style,
like a decimal repeater, throughout the ceremony.
Everywhere in Australia it is the custom among the indigenous people
never to mention the name of the person whose death is being lamented.
This rule is so far-reaching that should there be more than one tribesman
holding the same name, the one surviving his namesake immediately changes
his appellation. If, too, the name of the dead one happened to be that
of an animal or place, a new word is immediately introduced in the
vocabulary of the tribe in place of the former. Thus allusion to the dead
man’s name is entirely avoided. The reason for this strange custom is
that the tribespeople want the spirit of the departed not to be molested;
by calling aloud the name of one who has gone beyond, the spirit might be
persuaded to come back and haunt the camp; the natives are in constant
dread of this. On the other hand, by not addressing the spirit, there is
no reason for it to leave the happy ancestral grounds, in which it can
consort with all its kin long-departed.
For much the same reason, the hut or wurley of the dead person is
immediately destroyed by the relatives of the dead man; if the habitation
is allowed to stand, the spirit of the dead will endeavour to come back
and occupy it. The natives would be continually encountering the ghost,
if not actually then certainly in their imagination, and the fear of such
a possibility would make their existence intolerable. Most of the tribes,
moreover, so soon as they have destroyed the dead man’s wurley, instantly
leave the district and select another camping site, well removed from the
latter. The only exception to this general rule is the Adelaide tribe
who, as previously mentioned, used to build a special bark hut over the
grave for the spirit to dwell in.
The person who fares worst is a widow. To begin with, she is required
to absent herself and live apart from the rest of the people in a small
humpy of her own; and she is not allowed to eat anything during the term
of the mourning ceremonies. Quite apart from the general avoidance of
mentioning the deceased’s name, a widow is positively forbidden to speak
to anyone for a term of from a week or two to several months. During all
that time, she must observe the strictest rules of tribal mourning; for,
if she does not, the spirit will see that her late husband’s memory is
not sufficiently revered, and it will starve the woman to death.
Directly after the death of her husband, a Yantowannta woman must cut off
her hair, short to the scalp, and burn it. In its place, she applies a
thick coating of pipeclay paste, which is periodically added to if there
be a tendency for it to crumble away. In addition, she covers most of her
face with a similar paste which adheres to the skin like a mask. Vide
Plate XXVI, 2.
The early Murray River tribes made a skull-cap of burned gypsum or lime,
about three inches thick, which the widows had to wear during the term of
mourning. These encumbrances weighed up to sixteen pounds. The hair was
generally removed previously by singeing it with hot ashes.
In addition the relict has to regularly cover her body and face with
white ashes. In the Daly Waters district, whenever she pays a visit to
her late husband’s burial place, she will submit herself to the agony of
re-opening the wound in her scalp, until it bleeds profusely, to prove
how deep her sorrow is.
The Aluridja widows do not cut their hair short, but smear pipe-clay
paste and ashes thickly over the scalp, intimately mixing it with the
woolly growth. Often the hair is worked up into a large number of locks
or strands, round which the white paste is moulded in such a way that the
head is surrounded by an array of pendant, cylindrical masses resembling
so many candles (Plate XXVI, 1).
A woman, upon the decease of her husband, becomes the property of her
late partner’s brother; if there are more than one brother surviving,
she falls to the senior among them. In the case of no brothers remaining
or existing, she is claimed by the dead husband’s nearest (male) tribal
relative. The law prevails practically all over the Southern Continent.
It is not until she is actually received by her new husband that the
woman is permitted to speak to anyone. This usually ends the first period
of mourning, so far as the gin is concerned, and she returns to live
with the others in the main camp; but in most cases she will continue to
smear pipe-clay over her scalp for some time longer.
An Arunndta woman who survives three tribal husbands is not required by
law to marry again, and she is, consequently, left unmolested.
The second period of public mourning is a comparatively short one; it is
begun by collecting the dead man’s bones from the tree or platform. In
nearly every case the bulk of the bones are packed in sheets of paperbark
and hidden or buried. In the north-central and north-western districts,
the parcels are either hidden in a cave, buried in an anthill, or stuck
into the fork of a dead tree. The cranium is often smashed to pieces
or the facial skeleton broken away from the skull-roof. In the old
Narrinyerri and certain tribes of the Adelaide plains the calvarium was
used as a drinking vessel; a handle was attached by fastening a piece of
strong fur-string to the _occiput_ through the _foramen magnum_, on the
one side, and to the frontal portion, after breaking a passage through
the orbital cavities, on the other. Many tribes besmear the skulls with
red ochre before assigning them to their last resting place. In the
Northern Kimberleys some of the sepulchral caves are so crowded with
skulls, arranged in perfect order, that one is reminded of the classical
catacombs.
The women are not present when the bones are collected, but, remaining in
camp, they start to wail afresh, and even resort to further mutilating
the body. When the men return, carrying with them the radius of the
dead man, a ceremony is conducted, in which both sexes participate. The
women, including the widow, now discard the white cover of pipe-clay
and ashes; and in its place they decorate their bodies with red and
yellow ochre, and occasionally with charcoal. These colours are applied
in vertical bands or lines over the chest and back; whilst across
the shoulders there are usually a few horizontal lines. The men have
more elaborate designs worked over their chests and backs with ochre
and kaolin. After the ceremony is over, the radius is either buried or
claimed by the deceased’s brother, who uses it as a pointing-bone, it
playing a particularly important role during any expedition, which may be
undertaken against the tribe suspected of foul play in connection with
his relative’s death.
CHAPTER XXIV
TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS
Psychological trend of thought—Primitive and modern systems
of nomenclature compared—Multiplicity of Names—Their
derivation—Connection with marriage systems—Family
crests—“Kobongism” and “Totemism”—Group relationships—Infant
betrothals—Business-like courtship—Position of
wife—Elopements—Tribal profligates—True wifehood—Hospitable
licentiousness—Mutual exchanges of wives.
It is difficult for an European living in the twentieth century to
train his mind into the way of thinking like an aboriginal. To require
of a person to do so would be like asking his reasoning to slip back
through the long ages of progress and mental development, which are
primarily responsible for his now being able to hold a foremost position
amongst his fellow creatures. The convenience of modern achievements so
transcends the awkwardness of primal ways that we might as well suggest
to him that the better way of meeting an absent friend would be to walk
to a spot he was last seen at, than to catch an electric train bound for
the city and despatch a message from the nearest telegraph office to
ensure the meeting. The first method would be the primitive, the second
the up-to-date. On the other hand, our present systems are satisfied to
ascertain a man’s individual identity—his Christian and surnames—but to
bother little about anything else. Some of our best families certainly
pride themselves upon their ancestral history, and honour the crest which
once ranked prominently in the social world, but the general tendency,
especially of a democratic world, is to meet this sentiment with a
satirical sneer. In consequence, our national history is sacrificing much
of its constituent, individual charm, and our nomenclature, so far as
any original class-systems are concerned, is daily becoming more meagre
and commonplace. Nowadays a Smith is simply a Smith, good or bad, with
or without genealogical traditions and records. And this is the point we
are leading up to, which is so very different with the aboriginal. His
vocabulary bristles with a nomenclature so full of ancestral derivations
and traditional origins that a single word combines at once identity
with genealogy; the English language does not contain a single word
which could convey the same amount of meaning; a number are required to
explain the sense. There is no such person as a simple Smith among the
aborigines; Smiths there might be, but each is separately described and
qualified by his appellation; each person carries his crest, if not his
pedigree, embodied in his name. Everybody can understand the significance
of the name the moment he hears it; and this understanding is very
far-reaching, and as potent as the bonds of freemasonry.
Every individual has a number of names, some of which are never publicly
used, but are only known to members of the tribe who stand in very close
relationship to him. The names are really more expressions of degree,
rank, maturity, and division, rather than personal appellations or
addresses. All elders who have officiated during the term of initiation
of a novice, or who have instructed or tended a child prior to its
attaining its independence, automatically assume a name or title,
which, within a restricted circle, explains the social standing of the
particular individual.
Then there are factious names, of a religious or sacred character, each
of which directly relates to the accepted affinity existing between a
living person and an ancestral spirit of semi-human origin. These names
are kept very secret, but are embodied in the carved “_tjuringas_,” which
are only exposed to a limited number of persons upon rare occasions, and
then very temporarily.
The names which are most commonly applied to individuals are, in
reality, pet or nicknames. A special characteristic, a likeness, a scar,
or an abnormity is immediately seized upon as a mark of distinction to
embody in the individual’s name. Countless examples could be mentioned to
illustrate this point. For instance, a man of the Minning tribe at Eucla
is called “_Jinnabukarre_” (Lumpy-foot), an old Arunndta man is known as
“_Ulgna-bong_” (Blind-eye), and a Wongapitcha man as “_Jinna-Kularrikna_”
(Stink-foot). The name I generally travel under amongst the Arunndta is
“_Atutannya_” (Big Man), having been thus christened by them on account
of my bodily height. Again, circumstances at birth or any presumed causes
of conception often determine the name of the offspring. “_Unndulia_,”
meaning a “shadow,” is both the name of a place with a legend, situated
in the MacDonnell Ranges, and of a girl, who is supposed to have
entered her mother’s womb there. Many people have names of animals
and birds, with which they have some sort of mystic relationship and
legendary connections; in the Arunndta such names as “_Illiya_” (Emu),
“_Utnguringita_” (Witchedy Grub), “_Irridja_” (Eaglehawk), “_Ladjia_”
(Yam), and the like are daily met with.
Names are frequently compounded, the resulting word embodying locality,
peculiarity, ancestry, animal-relationship, and division all in one.
As a person grows older his name usually becomes longer, and in a
limited sense recounts his biography. There is apparently no limitation
to the length of a name, but the whole word is rarely spoken; yet
each possessor of a long name commits it well to memory. The longest
personal appellation, which has come before our notice, is that of a
very aged woman of the Dieri tribe; expressed phonetically it ran:
“_Yangingurrekupulapaiawattimakantana_.”
The intricate and elaborate systems of nomenclature are closely connected
with their marriage laws and secret rites. With a few exceptions,
these are much the same all over Australia. So far as their marriage
systems are concerned, each tribe may be primarily split into two great
divisions, between which unions take place; but among members of one and
the same division such are forbidden under penalty of death.
Each moiety is further separated into sub-divisions or groups, which
are distinguished by a symbol related to a family-crest. The symbol is
representative of a natural object, such as animal, bird, or plant,
between which and the individual a mysterious relationship is believed
to endure. This peculiar belief was first reported to exist among the
Australian aborigines by Sir George Grey in 1841, who ascertained that
the general name of the mysterious symbol with which an individual
identifies himself, was “_kobong_.” Of later years the word has been
replaced in works on Australian anthropology by “totem.” No doubt
“_Kobongism_” and “Totemism” are closely allied conceptions of crude
religious significance; but at the same time the “totem” belongs
originally to the American Indian, and it is still an open question
whether the imported word completely and adequately embraces all
fundamental conceptions of the “_kobong_.”
Among the central tribes the mystical relationship between the present
individual and the object (animal or plant) is believed to come through
sacred semi-human ancestors which were common to both; the relationship
has been handed down from one generation to another. See further, Chapter
XXVII.
Each divisional group has a number of such “_kobongs_” or “totems,”
which practically control their marriage-systems. Descent in a family
is always reckoned from the mother’s side, at any rate so far as the
majority of tribes is concerned. To take a simple example: A tribe is
composed, say, entirely of families named Jones and Smith. A Smith is
only allowed to marry a Jones, and a Jones a Smith. But, in addition,
each individual member of the two groups of families named has a separate
crest or symbol, such as, for instance, the cat, the dog, the fowl, the
rose. A further restriction is that no two members of the same crest
are allowed to join in matrimony, so that no Cat-Jones can marry a
Cat-Smith, nor a Dog-Smith a Dog-Jones, because they are “related.” But a
Cat-Jones may marry a Dog-, a Fowl-, or a Rose-Smith, and _vice versa_,
without breaking the law. We will find that there are twelve different
combinations possible between the Jones and Smiths of the four crests
specified. If there be an issue of the marriage, we have heard that the
descent always follows the mother’s side, both as regards family and
crest. Consequently, if a Mr. Cat-Jones marries a Miss Dog-Smith, the
child will be a Dog-Smith; but should the Dog-Smith children again marry
into the Cat-Jones’ family-group, the offspring becomes a Cat-Jones if
the child be a boy, but remains a Dog-Smith if a girl.
The north-west central tribes split up each moiety into two
sub-divisions, between which marriages can take place, but the progeny
always goes to the division different from that of its parents. Let
us represent the two pairs of subdivision by A and B, and C and D
respectively. A man of the A group is only allowed to marry a woman of
the B group, and a B-man only an A-woman. The child resulting from the
former union becomes a member of neither of its parents’ groups, but
passes over to C, and when one from the latter, that is, when the father
is a B-man, becomes a D-member. On the other side, when a C-man marries
a D-woman, the issue returns to the A line, and when a D-man marries a
C-woman, it goes back to the B. If, for instance, we replace the letters
A, B, C, and D by the words “_Pultara_,” “_Kumara_,” “_Panunga_,” and
“_Purula_,” in the order specified, we have the general principle of the
Arunndta marriage system.
Among the Minning, the four subdivisions are called “_Tjurrega_,”
“_Menuaitja_,” “_Kakera_,” and “_Ngadeja_.” Let us take a simple
illustration. A Tjurrega man marries a Menuaitja woman. A male child is
born, which becomes a Kakera. When he grows up, this Kakera man must
marry a Ngadeja woman. The progeny of the last-named union goes back to
the Tjurrega, and, assuming it to be a female, she will have to marry a
Menuaitja, and her child becomes a Ngadeja.
A few tribes of central and north-eastern Australia further divide each
sub-class into two, making eight in all, but fundamentally the rules
governing inter-marriage are much the same as those just mentioned.
It must not be imagined for one moment that the above simple outline
represents the complete, and, in reality, very complicated, system upon
which the aborigines work. There are numerous others restrictions, which
are more or less variable according to the locality of any particular
tribe. In its broadest outline, the scheme is much the same all over
Australia, and it is possible therefore for tribes living on a friendly
footing with each other to inter-marry and yet to strictly adhere to the
fundamental principles controlling their respective laws. On the other
hand, it will be realized how easily any white man, who is in the habit
of having indiscriminate intercourse with native women, can make himself
guilty of a criminal offence, when he cohabits first with a woman of
one group and then with one of another. This applies, of course, only
to the uncorrupted tribes, who still adhere strictly to their ancestral
practices and beliefs.
Occasionally one finds a further splitting up of the intermarrying
divisions, whilst some of the south-eastern tribes appear to have been
without any hard and fast system at all. Here and there, too, the descent
runs in the male line.
A child is generally allotted to its husband early in infancy, but
actual possession is not taken until the girl is of a marriageable age,
that is, when she is about twelve years old. In the interim, however,
the future husband has certain claims on the child, and can supervise
her domestication and instruction. He, on the other hand, is required
to make presentations to the child’s father and other relatives on the
father’s side; at this stage, too, he may promise his sister (if she be
available) to his future wife’s brother.
The relationship between man and girl is not a love-affair, in the modern
sense of the word, but the whole transaction is regarded more like a pure
business-matter. The sexual element plays perhaps the least important
role, the man looking upon the budding woman as his future associate,
helpmate and servant, and also as a valuable asset to his existence
wherewith he might be able to barter. Most of his notions in connection
with barter are potential, and possibly will never be carried out; in
a sense a man’s wealth is gauged by the number of women he possesses,
the younger they are the more valuable. As a lord of the wilds, it is,
indeed, a fortunate position for any man to be in to own a number of
wives; having himself, as a hunter, to travel unaccoutred, the women
become the machinery of his transport. When in camp, they collect and
prepare food for him, while he is resting or roaming the woods after
game. Moreover, the women assist in the cosmetics of his person, and are
the means of the education of his children in all matters, except those
pertaining to the chase, warfare, and certain ceremonies taboo to women.
There are, of course, many cases where the habit of association grows
into mutual affection, but one rarely notices the sacrificing love
between man and woman such as is everywhere apparent between a parent
and a child. In the former case the intercourse is always touched with
a suspicion of subserviency on the part of the woman. Indeed, one
cannot fail to be led to the belief that in their conjugal relationship
club-rule is the dominant factor. One must not suppose that the weaker
sex always submits to this rule without demur or without any resistance
at all. On the contrary, she is usually not backward in making her voice
felt in indignation, even in defiance of the punishment, which must
inevitably, sooner or later, be meted out to her. Whilst the chastisement
is proceeding, the husband prefers to sit aside in dignified silence,
with his face turned away from the querulous gin, until the bombardment
of obscene epithets becomes so strong that he considers drastic
intervention necessary, if for no other reason than in the interests of
peace and the restitution of order in his camp.
In spite of the strict marriage laws, it occasionally happens that a man
elopes with a girl who is outside the permissible inter-marrying limits.
Such elopements are the nearest to a selective love-match that it is
possible to find among the aborigines. The couple are well aware of the
fact that they are committing a serious offence, and that every effort
will be made by the tribe to capture them so that they may be punished.
If they are caught, both man and girl will be severely battered about
with sticks and clubs, as a result of which either or both may die.
If the man survives, he will be called upon to make heavy payments of
foodstuffs, implements, weapons, ochre, and many other useful commodities
to both the girl’s father and the man to whom the girl would have passed
in the ordinary course of events. If such couples manage to avoid
detection, the fear of punishment, which awaits them, keeps them from
returning amongst their tribe, and so they might roam about alone or
befriend themselves with a strange tribe, and keep away from their own
people for years, or, perhaps, never return. If the absconding gin has
been married to another, the offence is not considered so serious. There
are, for that matter, usually one or more women in each tribe who are
habitually lax in morals. These women are scorned by the other members of
the tribe, and are publicly recognized as prostitutes. It goes without
saying that these women are the legal property of some of the tribesmen,
and for that reason any other men, who are not in the relationship of
tribal husbands to the women but cohabit with them, are more or less
ostracized, even to the extent of total exclusion from any consequential
council meetings of the men.
Apart from these public profligates, the aboriginal women are laudably
loyal to the moral principles which have been taught them. Ordinarily a
woman is true to her individual husband, but there are certain religious
ceremonies during which other men, who are of the same matrimonial
division, may have legal access to her; these are her tribal husbands.
It is an expression of goodwill and friendship towards a visitor to
offer him one or two of the young married women, who might live with
him during his stay in camp. If the visitor appreciates the hospitality
of the tribe, he receives the women and, in his turn, offers presents
to the old men and to the husbands of his temporary consorts. A similar
consideration is extended to men who, through a scarcity of the opposite
sex in their particular group, have remained single. Under extraordinary
circumstances, arrangements are very casually made for a man to associate
with a gin who is not of his recognized class; but in this case it
is compulsory to obtain the sanction of the medicine-man, who, after
administering some of his sorcery, generally consents to the union.
An exchange of wives is not an uncommon event among two tribesmen,
provided always that relationships on both sides are within the
subdivisions allowed to inter-marry by law. This interchange takes
place mostly between childless couples; when there is a family of young
children one generally finds that the parents remain together until, at
any rate, the children have grown up.
Those groups of a tribal class-organization, which are not permitted
to inter-marry, usually consider themselves in the position of
blood-relatives to each other, that is, as brothers and sisters, and
fathers and mothers; the forbidden groups of their fathers’ and mothers’
are, however, not necessarily excluded to the children who look upon the
members of those groups as the brothers and sisters, respectively, of
their parents.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVIII_
1. Tooth-rapping ceremony.
“The operator forces the gum away from the tooth with his finger-nails
and endeavours to loosen the root in its socket with a small, pointed
piece of wallaby bone he calls ‘marinba’.”
2. Sunday Islander, who has had the two upper medium incisors removed
during his initiation.]
CHAPTER XXV
TRIBAL ADMINISTRATION
Council of men—Consultations with magicians—Hereditary
status of certain men—Strict observance of laws—Dread of
supernatural punishment—Europeans apt to ignore primal
conventions—Aboriginal sense of justice and humour—Appeal
to sentiment—Judge of character—Possibility of erroneous
deductions in science and law—Philosophical instincts—Variety
of characters composing a tribe.
The affairs of a tribe come under the jurisdiction of a small council
of old men who have their discussions in secret conclave, away from the
main camp. Seniority and distinction qualify a man for admittance to
this council, which is controlled by the strongest personality, much as
a prime minister rules over his cabinet. Questions of importance and
concern to the community are freely debated at these meetings, and when
any decision is arrived at it is placed before a general assemblage of
all male members of the tribe who have attained the rank of full manhood.
At this meeting questions may be asked, but opposition is immediately
squelched and the dissentient ruled out of order. In any case, it is only
a senior man who is allowed to raise objection; the juniors are required
to maintain a respectful silence, and to listen without interjection.
On frequent occasions the medicine-men, though not necessarily members
of the supreme council, are invited to attend, especially at such times
when the cause of a death is being investigated, or the nature of adverse
climatic conditions such as a prolonged drought being probed. These are
opportunities at which the sorcerers excel themselves in their wisdom.
After an eloquent address they impress their listeners to such a degree
by the simplest conjuration that their advice is accepted unreservedly,
and is forthwith acted upon.
Such is the executive body of the Australian tribes, who can command,
exact punishment, or engage the tribe in warfare. There is no potentate
approaching a royal head who ascends by either heredity or self-imposed
magnificence, but each tribe has its recognized chief or leader whose
position is referred to as “_Ingada_” by the Arunndta, “_Jingardti_” by
the Aluridja, and “_Judja_” by the Cambridge Gulf natives. The kobong (or
totem) is certainly not without significance, so far as the personnel of
the executive is concerned; any heraldic senior, if one may so term the
position, has a right to represent his family upon the board of control,
and in that capacity his word is respected. But in addition to the orders
of these men, the natives obey the laws of the tribe, which have been
handed down to them from generation to generation, because they believe
in a supernatural power that will punish them for any disobedience. This
punishment they maintain would take the form of physical indisposition,
disease, or even death, according to the gravity of the breach. They
attribute many cases of accidental maiming, blindness, deafness, and
paralysis to this cause.
What, perhaps, occupies the attention of the council of old men most
frequently is the arranging of corrobborees, sacred performances, and
initiation ceremonies. Of these the dates have to be fixed and the
programmes discussed and outlined in detail, so that the men who are to
take part in the proceedings may be in a position to prepare themselves
in advance.
In their dealings with the aboriginals, Europeans are too apt to ignore
the authority of the old men, and frequently their defiance of primal
law has led to disastrous conflicts. When in the MacDonnell Ranges I was
desirous of taking two aboriginal children away with me. The circumstance
was mentioned to one of the influential old men, who thereupon called
together the elders of the tribe; and my request was considered in all
its aspects. After a lengthy meeting, during which it was apparent there
were two or three dissentient voices, I was finally informed that the
children could accompany me under certain conditions which I had to take
upon myself to guarantee. This agreement arrived at, the children were
given to understand that they were going by the direction of the old men,
and I officially received the spokesman’s word of honour that, firstly,
the children would never desert us _en route_, and, secondly, no attempt
would be made on the part of the tribe to interfere with us, or steal
the children from the camp at night. Had one attempted this under any
other conditions and against the will of the tribe, there would have been
serious trouble.
The natives of Australia have a very good idea of justice, which they
apply in all their transactions among themselves. If, however, at any
time, they find that they have been deceived or unfairly treated,
their sense of righteousness almost spontaneously turns to revengeful
treachery. They are not susceptible to flattery, and do not look for
praise or reward for any heroic deeds accomplished; to unnecessarily
applaud a man is looked upon as a sign of weakness. On the other hand,
when one has committed a wrong, he expects to be reprimanded, if not
punished, and is disappointed if he receives neither; in fact, he thinks
little of the man who neglects his duty by not making him suffer for his
offence or wrongdoing. A native has a remarkable memory; and, if once
he has escaped chastisement for taking a liberty with another, he will
not think twice of repeating the wrong, because he does not consider him
worthy of serious consideration. Even should there be resentment upon a
subsequent occasion, he thinks that it needs only a little cajolery, when
the fellow is easily won over on account of his proven weak character.
In this connection his good sense of humour serves him well; he has a
natural gift of being able to contort the serious in such a way as to
make it appear comic, and, when he wishes, he has a very persuasive
tongue.
Provocation, embarrassment, or terror instinctively and spontaneously
solicits an appeal to the obtruder’s sentiment. The best example I can
tender in this connection is an experience our party had in the Tomkinson
Ranges when it unexpectedly came upon three women who were cooking a
snake. On seeing the white men in close proximity, two of the gins
scampered off post haste, but the third was so terror-stricken that her
legs refused to move her from the spot. In her bewilderment, however, she
had sufficient presence of mind to think of seizing her breasts with her
hands and squirting fluid in the direction of the strangers to indicate
that she was a mother and on that account had a special claim to beg for
mercy.
There is no denying it, the swarthy inhabitants of Australia are
excellent judges of character, and they seem by instinct able to explore
the trend of thoughts running through each other’s brains before they
are spoken. This faculty is of fundamental importance to them whilst
watching ceremonial dances and other performances; by means of it they
are able to appreciate when the outsider fails to understand. Moreover
(and this is of considerable importance to the European anthropological
investigator), the moment a native under cross-examination grasps the
nature of questions which are put to him, he speedily discovers what
direction of answer, affirmative or negative, appears to suit the
interrogator best; and accordingly he will reply. It is, in consequence,
absolutely impossible to decide any matter of importance by soliciting
a simple “yes” or “no” in answer to a leading question. The enthusiasm
with which a biassed reply is tendered is, further, considerably enhanced
by a promised gift or bribe. The significance of these facts, and their
possible consequences, will be realized both in a scientific and in a
legal sense; erroneous impressions may, in the one case, be gleaned
with regard to Australian ethnology, and, in the other, a fellow may be
unconsciously incriminating himself in the eyes of our law.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIX_
1. Old men introducing a dance during an initiation ceremony, Kukata
tribe.
2. Circumcision ceremony, Kukata tribe.
“Beyond themselves with excitement, they lay hands upon the lad and
lift him upon the back of two or three of the men who are stooping in
readiness to receive him.”]
Primitive as the natives of Australia are in the scale of humanity,
so they appear to us, from a psychological point of view, as but mere
children. Being intensely emotional, they are easily moved by rage or
grief; they are of a quick temper and the best of friends fall out over
the most trivial matter; but in the majority of cases the storm lasts but
a very short time and then the friendship is as thick as ever. Happiness
seems the essence of their existence, and indeed none but an aboriginal
could, or would, keep on smiling under the terrible bondage which our
vaunted civilization has imposed upon him.
Among the members composing a tribe, one finds a diversification of
character and talent much the same as builds up a modern community—it
includes orators, warriors, artists, and clowns. Unauthorized though the
action might be, it is not an uncommon occurrence for a man to place
himself in a conspicuous position in camp and hold forth on matters of
current interest to an enthusiastic and, at times, spell-bound audience;
the man of skill and courage becomes the hero of the hour when the tribe
goes to war; whilst talents in tune or colour are called upon whenever
the occasion demands something out of the common. Some of the men have
the reputation of being the jesters; their antics and jokes keep the
camp in roars of laughter. Under the last-named category also come the
mentally defective and half-witted persons; they are generally followed
around by a band of mischievous children, who enjoy, with shameless glee,
all the absurd pranks of the imbecile.
CHAPTER XXVI
INITIATION
No person exempt from initiation rites—Piercing the
septum of nose—Tooth rapping—Children trained to become
hardy—Fire-walking—Body scars—Different patterns
described—Sky-shying—Circumcision—Convalescence and return
to camp—Deserters drastically dealt with—The sacred
“_Wanningi_”—Biting the initiate’s scalp—Subincision—Operation
simultaneously performed upon old men—Sacred pole
erected at ceremonial site—Initiation ceremonies
without mutilation—Mythical origin of mutilation—Female
initiation—Enchantment of breast—“Smoking” ceremony—Mutilation
of female.
Throughout Australia it is required of a person, before he reaches
adolescence, to pass through certain rites and ceremonies, without which
he would not be considered mature and would not be allowed the privileges
enjoyed by the rest of the adult community. This rule applies to both
sexes, and is particularly stringent in the case of the male; we refer
to a series of mutilations, which are committed by the elders upon the
persons of the rising generation at regular stages of their lives, and
always accompanied by pompous, secret, and demonstrative ceremonial.
These functions naturally vary in different parts of so large an area
as is included in the continent of Australia, but, nevertheless, the
differences are not so considerable that one could not consider the
transactions collectively under the heading of one and the same chapter.
Broadly speaking, the first, and at the same time the least important,
ceremony is the piercing of the lower fleshy portion of the septum of the
nose. This is performed at a rather early age in the north and south,
whilst in central Australia it does not take place until the child has
reached maturity. The Larrekiya pinch a hole through the flesh with
their finger-nails when the child is still in arms. Central tribes use
a sharply-pointed bone or the blade of a spear. The child is laid flat
upon its back and its head placed between the thighs of the operator,
who is kneeling on the ground. The child is assured that what is about
to be done to it will not hurt, and that, when it is over, its body
will develop quickly and become strong. Then the operator seizes the
_columna_ with the index finger and thumb of his left hand and pulls it
well below the nostrils. With the sharpened piece of bone or blade he
holds in his right hand, he perforates the tissue beneath the cartilage
with a decisive drive, then quickly withdraws the instrument again. The
father, or if the father be dead, the father’s brother, usually performs
the operation upon a boy, whilst the mother (or mother’s sister) attends
to a daughter. For some time after the operation, the perforation is kept
open by means of a short rod, which is frequently turned about. Among
some of the central Australian tribes, this rite is becoming obsolete;
the Aluridja and Arunndta, for instance, do not nowadays insist upon the
perforation being made at all, and, if it is, then only late in youth. It
is at the option of a man to perforate the septum of the gin he takes to
himself; if he does so, it is more for vanity sake, thinking that she is
better able to decorate herself for corroborees, than with the idea of
making her grow robust and womanly.
Next in the ritual sequence comes the tooth-rapping ceremony. This, too,
is or was practised practically over the whole of the continent, and
is in parts of great importance, ranking with certain tribes as one of
the initiation steps. The ceremony extends over weeks and ends with the
knocking out of one or two of the novice’s incisors. Generally a number
of lads or girls undergo the ordeal together; but in the case of the
girls no particularly great fuss is made. At times a number of adjoining
tribes agree among themselves to hold a monster ceremony conjointly, at
which all the youths of correct age are dealt with. Such is a really big
occasion in tribal affairs, and many weeks are spent in an endeavour to
make the event as successful and as impressive as possible. The decision
is made at one of the council meetings of the old men, who, having
announced the matter to a general assembly, make arrangements to send
invitations to any friendly tribes living around them. In the Northern
Kimberleys of Western Australia, a pair of men is selected for conveying
each invitation to its destination; they are elaborately painted up
and are allowed to wear only a forehead band and a pubic tassel; each
carries a message-stick and a bull-roarer of a design which is to figure
prominently during the ceremony. The stick and the bull-roarer are to be
given to one of the old men of the tribe they are going to. When these
messengers arrive at their destination, the nature of their visit is
immediately recognized. The old man receives the stick and bull-roarer
and hands them to one of his fellow-councillors whose crest or “_kobong_”
corresponds to that embodied in the carvings on the bull-roarer; and,
in return, the messengers are given similar pieces to take back to the
sender. The date for the commencement of the ceremony is fixed about
a month in advance, the half moon being favoured; the trysting place
is upon the originator’s ground at a place where water and food will
be sufficient to supply a great number in attendance throughout the
proceedings. In the meantime the ground is cleared and prepared; as in
most of their initiation ceremonies, this consists of two large, circular
spaces connected by a straight, wide pathway.
While this is being done, the boys are tended by some old men, who
keep them at a distance and daily talk to them on matters dealing with
manhood’s duties, chivalry, courage, and the social position of women. In
addition, they are taught some of the principal songs in which they will
be required to join during the subsequent ceremonies in order to please
the old men.
By this time it has become quite clear to the women that something
extraordinary is about to happen. Indirectly they are made aware of the
fact that a tooth-rapping ceremony stands near; and then for the first
time music is heard; the women commence chanting periodically to the
boys’ teeth, which they thereby hope to loosen in their sockets.
At this stage a bull-roarer is frequently sounded at night by one or more
old men, who walk quietly away from camp and conceal themselves in the
bush. At the sound of these, the women are overwhelmed with awe and cover
their faces with their hands and quiver hysterically. This is the dawn of
that period in a young man’s life at which his social status undergoes
a complete change; it is the introduction to the series of initiation
ceremonies which will ultimately qualify him for acceptance into the
inner circle of men who have a voice in the control of tribal affairs.
But more than this: it is also the beginning of that time in his life
when he must learn to sever himself from his associations with the women
and camp apart from his mother, sisters, and other near female relatives.
As a matter of fact, this event places him on the threshold of a new life
which unfolds to him the secret of the sexes. The sexual significance of
the ceremony is clearly indicated through the circumstance that both male
and female bull-roarers are sounded during the proceedings, a liberty
which is only permitted on rare occasions.
About two days before the expected arrival of the invited tribes,
rehearsals are held by the local men. A body of the performers suddenly
appears upon the scene, coming from the cover of the forest; they are all
richly decorated with red ochre and white pipe-clay, and run in a compact
line up to the cleared space. As they approach the spot, they stamp the
ground vigorously and hit their hands together. They halt at one of the
circular spaces, and, whilst they continue to stamp and beat time with
their hands, some of the oldest among them spring along the track to
the opposite space and go through all sorts of mysterious acting, which
include tricks of sorcery designed to exhort the men and expel any evil
spirits from the ground. The act is repeated every day until the guests
arrive, and then it is also produced at night. The actors, who have
profited by the rehearsals, are now seen at their best, and the visitors
first look on in appreciative bewilderment; at a later stage, they join
in and their own sorcerers display their tricks as well. This function
lasts long into the night, and, should more visitors arrive, it might
be repeated all over again for the late-comers’ special benefit. During
these demonstrations, the women sit some distance off with their backs
turned to the men and keep up their monotonous tune.
The next few days may be spent in convivial sing-songs and food-procuring
expeditions, whilst the principal performers busy themselves cutting
twigs and leaves from the surrounding trees, with which they completely
cover the cleared ground, so that not a track remains visible in the
sand. The object of this somewhat tedious process is precautionary,
namely, to deny any prowling spirit the opportunity of ascertaining the
identity of the persons who have taken part in the ceremony. They fear
that, if this information were obtained, the boys would be molested and
their teeth stuck tightly into bone of the gums.
When at last the eventful night arrives, a number of the older men
decorate their bodies profusely with vegetable down and ochre. The boys’
bodies are smeared with red ochre, over which certain designs are drawn
in symmetrical fashion, and embodying a number of circles and dashes.
The men endeavour to make themselves as awe-inspiring as possible by
concealing as much of their normal appearance as they can. They keep
aloof from the novices until immediately before the ceremony.
The fires glaring fiercely, the boys are led to the cleared space and
told to keep their eyes closed. Upon a given signal, several of the
decorated men rush from the darkness, pounce upon the novices, and throw
them to the ground. Each man seizes one of them and kneeling behind him
places the lad’s head upon his lap. The initiate offers no resistance
and allows his eyes to be covered by the old man’s hands. Whilst some
weird chants are being rendered, the operators appear upon the scene,
each carrying a short cylindrical stick and a stone in his hands. These
men are not decorated and are near relatives of the boys undergoing the
ritual. With much dancing and gesticulating, they draw near to the boys,
and, as each of the men kneeling behind raises the head of a candidate,
one of the operators steps forward and looks into the boy’s mouth as it
is being forced open by the assistant. Presently he selects his mark and
with his finger-nail presses back the gum from one of the youngster’s
incisors. Then he places the point of his stick against the tooth and
gives it a sharp blow with the stone he is carrying in his other hand.
As a rule the boy does not whimper, but occasionally one may give way and
cry with pain. This is immediately resented and forbidden by the old men,
who declare that he has been too much in the company of the women and
girls.
The stick is re-applied and another blow imparted to the tooth; and the
process is repeated until the tooth loosens and falls out. All novices
are treated similarly in rotation.
Whilst the elders are continuing their dancing, the boys are taken back
to camp by their initiated male relatives, where they are presented with
a pubic tassel, a dog-tail necklace, or other article which is strictly
peculiar to such as have undergone the ordeal at the correct time.
The boys are again given instructions in all sorts of matter becoming
of a man, among which discipline and loyalty towards their elders and
tribes-people in general are of first importance. The seriousness of
the ceremony then relaxes somewhat, and songs and dances are produced
to inspire and amuse the boys; the performance rarely concludes before
daylight.
In central Australia the operation is nowadays performed without much
ceremony and usually in daylight. Among the Wongapitcha it is known as
“_Antjuarra_.” The novice lies on his back and rests his head against
the operator’s thighs, while a number of men sit around in a semi-circle
(Plate XXVII). The operator forces the gum away from the tooth with his
finger nails and endeavours to loosen the root in its socket with a
small, pointed wallaby bone he calls “_marinba_.” Then he applies the
bevelled point of a short, stout rod (“_tjutanga_”) and strikes it with a
stone (“_puli_”). The percussion produces a loud resonant note, at which
all present cry “_Tirr!_” After four or five whacks with the stone, the
tooth falls from its socket. It is picked up by the operator and shown to
the audience, who respond by exclaiming “_Ah_” or “_Yau_.”
The Wongapitcha and western Aluridja remove the left central incisor;
only the eastern groups of the Arunndta still practise the rite.
One of the chief concerns of an aboriginal father is to make his son
fearless and capable of enduring hardship. In all his dealings with his
children, he endeavours to avoid favouring and pampering any of them
once they have passed out of infancy; but the boys in particular are
constantly urged to suppress pain and to make it their special task to
under-rate the deprivation of comfort no matter what circumstances might
arise. In the same way the boys are trained to be brave; they are told
not to be under any apprehension of danger except when it is known to
be prompted by the treachery of the evil spirit or by the wrath of the
spirit-ancestors of the tribe. With this principle ever before them, most
of the initiation ceremonies have been evolved on similar lines. The
Kukata even make it compulsory for the novices to walk through a blazing
fire, an act they refer to as “_merliadda_.” Other central tribes make
the young men lie temporarily upon branches they place over a smouldering
fire.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXX_
Circumcision of a Wogait boy.
“With his left hand the surgeon seizes the prepuse, whilst a veritable
reverberation of short-sounded ‘i, i’s’ meets him from the mouths of all
present, and as he draws it well forward a number of hacks severs it.”]
It is largely during the term of initiation, from early childhood to
adolescence, that every individual, boy or girl, receives a number of
cuts in different parts of the body, which, when they heal, leave
permanent and elevated scars. After the incision is made, ashes, ochre,
and grease are usually rubbed into the wound to make it granulate to
excess and so produce an artificial keloid. The reasons for making these
scars are threefold: spartan, cosmetic, and tribal. The operation is
performed with a stone-knife or flint-chip. In addition, a punctate scar
is produced by twirling a fire-making stick until it becomes nearly
red-hot, then quickly holding the point against the skin. The process is
repeated time after time, each time selecting a new point on the skin,
until a chain-pattern results. The latter type of scar is more commonly
found on women than on men, and is much adopted by the coastal tribes of
the Northern Territory.
It would be futile even to attempt a scheme of classification of the
different tribal markings. In some districts, only one or two are made;
in others, the better part of the body is covered. As a general rule, the
men display a greater number than the women; the latter often only have
one or two horizontal cuts across the chest or abdomen, at times, indeed,
only a single prominent scar connecting the breasts. Generally speaking,
the central Australian tribes do not cicatricize their bodies nearly as
much as the northern. The Yantowannta, Ngameni, and other Cooper Creek
natives leave the chest clean above the breasts, but cut a few horizontal
lines immediately below them on the abdomen; the Dieri add one or two
short irregular marks above; at Durham Downs the women have a number of
short horizontal lines on each breast. Among the Aluridja, Arunndta,
and Arrabonna, one notices principally short horizontal lines across
chest and abdomen, with, occasionally, a few vertical bars, less than
an inch in length, around the shoulders; a number of the small circular
fire-marks are also as a rule noticeable on the forearms of the Arunndta.
On the north coast a great variety of marks may be studied. The tribes
east and west of Port Darwin have very prominent scars horizontally
across chest and abdomen, short vertical bars around the shoulders,
sloping bands composed of either parallel vertical cuts or fire-whisk
scars, passing from the central point between the breasts upwards to
the shoulder on one or both sides, and occasionally a vertical band,
consisting of two parallel rows of fire-whisk scars, on one side of the
abdomen just beside the navel. An additional pattern is a sagging band
across the chest from shoulder to shoulder, consisting of about twenty
short vertical cuts.
It must not be supposed that these marks are all regularly observed upon
every individual one meets. On the contrary, it is very rare to see
a person with all the scars referred to, some having only one or two
horizontal lines across the chest or abdomen like the central tribes.
The Melville and Bathurst Islanders imitate the frond of the zamia palm
(_Cycas media_) by cutting a series of V-shaped figures, one within the
other, in a vertical row, upon one or both sides of the back, and on the
upper and outer surfaces of the arms and thighs. Horizontal lines are
cut across the chest, as above described, and here and there a person
also has a horizontal band on his forehead, immediately over the eyes,
consisting of from eight to twelve short vertical cuts.
The Cambridge Gulf natives, both male and female, cut numerous lines
(“_gummanda_”) horizontally across the chest, abdomen, buttocks, and
thighs, and long vertical lines down the upper arms, whilst on the back,
occasionally, a “waist-band” or “_naualla_,” consisting of numerous short
vertical nicks, is added, together with about ten vertical cuts on each
calf (Plate XVI, 2). The gins have one or two vertical bands of punctate
scars between the breasts.
The Worora at Port George IV further decorate the whole of the back
with alternating groups of horizontal and vertical lines, those on the
shoulder blade being particularly prominent.
The central tribes have embodied in the curriculum of initiation tests a
sky-shying act, called “_Algerrigiowumma_” by the Arunndta, during which
the novice is tossed high into the air by a number of older men. The
ceremony is somewhat as follows. By agreement, a crowd of men and women
assemble at night upon a cleared piece of ground near the camp-fires.
After a few songs and ordinary dances, whose object seems to be more to
create an atmosphere than that they have any definite significance from
an initiation point of view, the whole congregation draws up in one or
two lines and settles down to a peculiar dance, shuffling sideways from
one edge of the cleared space to the other and back again. As they move
they mumble a verse of coarse guttural words which ends in hissing notes
resembling the panting of a vicious animal. At this moment two or three
men spring from behind and seize the unsuspecting novice. Rushing towards
the expectant crowd, they swing him high above their shoulders and throw
him among the outstretched arms of the crowd. There he is seized by a
dozen or more of the most powerful men, who toss him high up towards the
sky. During his flight through the air the position of the boy is usually
horizontal. When he returns again by gravitation, he is caught and once
more projected skywards; and the same process is repeated time after
time. He may then be released, but if the crowd again begin to dance and
sing, he will in all probability have to submit to a repetition. The
ceremony amounts to a formal handing over of the boy by the women to the
care of the men.
Of momentous importance is the initiation ceremony which includes the
circumcision of the novice; it is the first occasion upon which the truth
of growing manhood is definitely made clear to the boy. The Aluridja
refer to the ceremony as “_Arrarra_”; it extends over a period of several
days, during which wild dances and songs are produced. For weeks before
the novices are zealously guarded by certain of the old men and kept
away from the mixed camp. No women are tolerated within a wide radius of
the spot at which the ritual event is to be celebrated; and throughout
the vigil the boys remain out of sight of their female relatives and
are allowed to converse with none but their guardians. The boys’ diet
is restricted to only a few very ordinary items, amounting to a mere
sustenance; anything they are able to obtain by assiduous hunting is
required to be handed to the men in charge. After having listened to the
songs of the men officiating in the ceremony, the boys are allowed on the
second or third night to attend in person. They are given to understand
that what they are about to see is never to be explained to any of the
women or juniors. The performance must be regarded as sacred and most
secret; and they must realize that, although invisible, there are many
ghost-ancestors present who are following every item of the ceremony with
proud appreciation. At such a stage the performers are awe-inspiring
spectacles, being richly decorated with white and red down and wearing
the cross-shaped “_Wanningi_” in their hair (Plate XLIII, 2).
A great fire is burning at the edge of a cleared space, around which a
number of men are sitting and singing and beating the ground with sticks.
To the listener the strains sound respectful, if not worshipful; in the
Aluridja they run somewhat like: “_Imbinana alla’m binana_,” repeated
almost indefinitely. In the glaring light it is noticed that the ground
is cleared of the original grass and growth, but is covered with a layer
of leaves of the red gum tree which abounds along the watercourses. Upon
this matting of leaves the dancers are moving to and fro, madly stamping
the ground. Then, as they quicken their pace, each places the point of
his beard into his mouth and tries to look as ferocious as possible. The
lead is taken by one who is carrying a short hooked stick in front of
him. In single file these men encircle the chorus, the leader touching
all present with his crook and shrieking “_Arr, arr, aah!_”
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXI_
Melville Islander.
Full-face and profile. Note prognathism combined with “negative” chin.]
The novice (or novices, as the case may be) is now taken away from the
wild scene and again given to understand that henceforth he is not to
leave the company of the men, and that he must do as those in authority
bid him. He is taken to another fire some distance off and covered
with red ochre from head to foot; his hair is tied back with human
hair-string; then he is led back to the principal group of performers.
When he re-appears, the dancers rush around in the manner described
above, crying “_Arr, arr, aah!_” with husky voices, first more or less
confusedly, but gradually in a more defined line which gradually closes
upon the youth. Beyond themselves with excitement, they lay hands upon
the lad and lift him upon the backs of two or three of the men who are
stooping in readiness to receive him. As he is carried onwards, the
other performers, and some of the chorus as well, cluster around the
panic-stricken boy, each of them taking hold of some part of his body and
helping to make the mass of humanity as confused as possible (Plate XXIX,
2). Thus they tour around the cirque and pull up near to the fire. Two or
three of the number now throw themselves beneath the carriers, who, in
their turn, immediately pile themselves upon them. The boy is pulled back
on to this human operating table full length, and another man immediately
jumps on to his chest; others hold him securely by his arms and legs.
All the time the men keep up their cries of “_Arr!_” and from different
places around the fire the booming, humming, and shrieking notes of
bull-roarers rise above the din.
The moment the latter unearthly sounds are heard at a Kukata ceremony,
the men respond with an uproarious slogan sounding like: “_Wubbi, wubbi,
wubbi, wau!_” This imitates the noise of the bull-roarer, which is
supposed to be the voice of the presiding spirit. A perceptible wave
of solemnity pervades the atmosphere at this moment, not only in the
immediate surroundings of the ceremonial fire, but wherever the piercing
chorus strikes the ears of camping groups, who may at the time be many
miles away. Women and children shudder with fright and bury their faces
in their hands. The initiated men, however, act differently. Where there
is only one in camp, he rushes to the fireside and snatches a burning
stick which he tosses high into the air. When there are several present,
they rush out together into the darkness and unitedly echo the “_Wubbi,
wubbi, wubbi, wau!_”
The boy’s mouth is gagged with a ball of hair-string, which serves the
double purpose of stifling his voice, should he attempt to cry, and of
giving him something to bite his teeth into when he is in pain.
The men at the lower end now force his legs asunder and press them
downwards over the side of the bodies below. As this is happening, the
operator walks into the space between the thighs, with his beard between
his lips and his eyes rolling in their sockets. He carries a knife in
his hand—usually a fair-sized freshly broken splinter of quartzite,
chalcedony, flint, or quartz, with or without a handpiece of resin—and
immediately proceeds to operate. The Wongapitcha at this stage stun the
boy by clubbing his head. With his left hand the surgeon seizes the
prepuse, whilst a veritable reverberation of short-sounded “_i, i’s_”
meets him from the mouths of all present, and as he draws it well forward
a number of hacks severs it (Plate XXX). The Dieri make use of a short,
smooth, cylindro-conical stone, over the rounded point of which the
operator stretches the skin, and so pushes back the glans before he cuts.
Among the Kukata the circumcision ceremonial is referred to as
“_Gibberi_.” During its period, cicatrices are made on the arms, but the
characteristic transverse cuts on the back are reserved for the following
rite, which goes by the name of “_Winyeru_.” The prepuse is resected with
a stone knife known as “_tjulu_,” and immediately destroyed by throwing
it into the fire.
As the surgeon’s hand leaves the boy’s body with the detached skin
clutched between two fingers, the act is greeted all round with an
appreciative exclamation sounding like “_A ha, a hm_.” The Aluridja
refer to the skin as “_banki_,” and bury it shortly after the operation.
The boy, who by this time is usually semi-comatous, is sat up, and
the blood which is streaming from him is collected in a piece of bark
previously laid beneath him. The Wogait and other northern tribes
subsequently dress the wound with paperbark, clay, emu fat, and hot
ashes, to stanch the bleeding. When the boy recovers from the shock, he
is presented with a spear and spear-thrower, and often a shield as well.
The patient is then taken into the bush to convalesce; and during this
period his diet is under strict observation. After about three weeks he
has more or less recovered and returns with the men to the main camp,
wearing a fur-tassel which covers his pubes. His mother and other near
female relatives on the mother’s side, when they behold him, walk towards
him sobbing, tearing hair from their scalps and otherwise hurting their
bodies as indication of their sympathy for the painful ordeal he has so
bravely undergone whilst aspiring towards the status of manhood.
Cases have repeatedly come under my notice in latter years where a
circumcision candidate has attempted to evade the operation by travelling
away from his tribe and residing indefinitely with some other party,
native or European, having no jurisdiction over him. It is usually only a
matter of time and he will be ambushed by men of his own tribe and taken
back to camp. The operation is then immediately performed, and is made
extraordinarily drastic as a punishment. The skin is stretched forward
under considerable tension and severed with a stone knife. In several
specimens which are in my possession, the external sheath was cut so high
up that a number of pubic hairs were removed with it.
This ceremony in its essential features is much the same among all tribes
which circumcise, although there are slight variations in the method
of building up the human operating table. In the Wogait tribe, for
instance, the boy is thrown on his back over the legs of four men who sit
in pairs, face to face, with their limbs alternately placed so that the
feet of one are against a thigh of another.
We have already referred to the ceremonial object known as the
“_wanningi_,” which is produced during this ceremony. This is always
constructed specially for the occasion and is destroyed again immediately
after; under no circumstances are the women and children allowed to see
it, for if they did blindness or some paralysing affliction would strike
them for their disobedience. In its simplest form, the “_wanningi_”
consists of a cross, from the centre of which a long twine of fur is
wound spirally outwards, from arm to arm, and fastened with a single turn
round each arm in succession. The object is either stuck into the hair as
referred to, or carried in the hand by the functionaries during the final
stage of the ceremony. In the northern Kimberleys a similar structure is
used which is carried at the end of a spear or long stick behind the back
of the performer. The “_wanningi_” is supposed to become inspired by a
spirit guardian the moment the object is completed and prevents the boy
from suffering too great a loss of blood. It is shown to the boy just
prior to the operation and its sacred nature is explained to him.
The partially matriculated man now remains in camp for a while, but is
kept under the strictest surveillance and aloof from the opposite sex.
He continues to go out on daily excursions with certain of the older men
and has to recompense those who took an active part in his initiation
with the lion-share of his hunting bag, many items of which he is himself
still forbidden to partake of.
Not many weeks pass by peacefully, however, before the excitement
starts afresh. An old man, usually the senior among the initiate’s
group-relatives, quite spontaneously lays hands on the unsuspecting
neophyte, by clutching him between his arms, and bites him on the head.
Then he releases him again and darts away like one possessed. Others take
the cue and act similarly. Several men participate in this painful but
well-intentioned ceremonial, and they may repeat the performance from
three to six times in succession. The youth tries to make light of the
injury done him but often cannot altogether suppress crying with agony.
The blood pours freely from the numerous wounds in his scalp. He will
in all probability have to undergo this painful ordeal on two or three
different occasions.
There is yet another big test to be passed by the man-in-the-making
before he is finally admitted by the controlling council to mature
membership. And this is again accompanied by an additional mutilation of
his person, which is commonly referred to as the “mika operation.” With
few exceptions it is performed by most of the central and north-western
tribes and in much the same manner.
The ceremony does not take place until some time after the young man
has thoroughly recovered from the effects of his previous sufferings.
It follows, in many instances, as the natural climax to a lengthy
religious demonstration during which a series of sacred songs and dances
has been produced. Needless to say the proceedings are inaugurated at
a spot remote from the general camping ground, and preference is given
to a moonlight night. No woman or child is tolerated near, and the
novice is told that he must regard his presence among the old men as
a decided favour. Ordinary songs are rendered for a while which are
designed to fecundate the mother-stocks of their game supplies; then
follow more dramatic incantations which are believed not only to attract
certain spirit-ancestors to the spot but also inspirit the sacred but
ordinarily inanimate tjuringas which are lying before the celebrants at
the fireside. The excitement grows and with it the men wax enthusiastic.
It is decided to operate upon one or more young men who happen to
be available; and now everybody seems beyond himself with frenetical
animation. The suggestion is received with applause. No secret is made
about the matter; and the nomination is made in public. The atmosphere
is so tense with hysterical veneration that the mere mention of a likely
function enjoining the spilling of blood is received with enthusiasm and
general appreciation. Arrangements are made forthwith.
Three or four men who are to be intimately concerned in the affair dodge
into the darkness of the bush and return a short time later besmeared
with ochre and pipeclay, and decorated with eagle-hawk’s down. As they
approach the fire, they stamp the ground with their feet and balance
their arms in a horizontal position. Thus they encircle the fire two or
three times and, in doing so, make a peculiar hissing noise like that
produced when wood is being cut. All the time the other men are beating
time to the movements of the performers by smacking their hands against
their buttocks.
Presently the dull, humming sound of a bullroarer breaks upon the
performers’ ears. At this, all men throw up their arms above their
heads and yell, while the notes of the bullroarer reach a higher pitch.
A jumble of wild, vociferating men ensues. The novice stands in their
midst. The bullroarer’s noise is stopped, and with it the voices of the
men die away. Only the painted performers continue to stamp and again
make the peculiar hissing noise as they move around the fire. By this
time a number of men have placed themselves behind the novice who is made
to stare into the brightest portion of the fire and told not to move his
eyes from the spot.
Upon a significant nod or other signal from the leading performer, some
of the men at the back of the youth lie upon the ground, while others
place themselves on top of them again. The moment this has happened, the
youth is tripped backwards over them by some who have been standing at
his side, and by them he is also held down and gagged.
The leading performer now moves straight towards the victim and in his
hand one notices he is carrying a stone cutting knife. His attendants
spring to each side of him and hold the young man’s legs apart. Now the
leading man, who has been ordained with the surgical duties, follows
the ancient practice of the “gruesome rite” by splitting the urethra
for a distance of about an inch down its length. The withdrawal of the
surgeon from the scene meets with the approval of all participants and
eye-witnesses; and this fact is made known by the combined exclamations
of “_A, A, Yah!_”
The young man is promptly pulled up from the improvised living table and
his gag removed. He is ordered to sit over a wooden receptacle, usually a
shield but occasionally a food-carrier, in which the blood pouring from
the wound is allowed to collect. In a crude but hearty manner, more by
action than by word, he is congratulated. Now he is a man, a real man,
and he is at liberty to join in the discussions of the rest of the men
and to ask any pertinent questions relating to the affairs of his tribe.
During this time the commotion around the camp-fire continues without
abatement. The excited throng, spurred on by what has preceded, seems to
have become intoxicated by the sight of blood. The men who lay beneath
the initiate during the operation figure prominently among them and
display the clots and congealed patches of blood which cover considerable
portions of their naked bodies. This provokes an appetite for seeing more
and ere long one of the senior men, who has been initiated some time ago,
volunteers to have the subincision of his urethra extended. He of his own
free will calls upon an old man to perform on him and, when the nominee
steps forward, he submits to the torture without flinching. Others follow
his example. There is no doubt that the brave demonstration of masculine
fearlessness stimulates the newly initiated member who is sitting aside
and recovering from the shock which the trying ordeal has given his
system.
The Kukata men at this stage, knowing that the candidate has now
successfully passed the second great initiation rite, known as
“_Winyeru_,” and is henceforth to be allowed to mix with the women,
betray extreme sensual excitement. And it is whilst they are in that
state that some of the oldest men approach them, carrying spears, with
the points of which they extend the previous slit in the urethra by a
further short distance. It is only natural that the blood which follows
the cut is squirted in considerable quantity. The custom is to allow it
to do so until the excitement abates, and then to stop the bleeding by
holding a fire-stick near the wound. After submitting themselves to such
treatment on numerous successive occasions, it could only be expected
that the whole external length of the urethra is eventually slit. The old
men maintain that thereby their carnal powers are increased, and for that
reason their forefathers introduced the corresponding female operation.
The after-treatment of the patient is much the same as described in
connection with the circumcision ceremony. When eventually the newly made
“man” returns to the main camp, a great sensation is caused among the
women who wail as if there had been a bereavement, and cut deep gashes
into different parts of their bodies.
Many of the northern coastal tribes, such as the Wordaman of the Wickham
and Victoria Rivers, erect a sacred pole at the site of the enactment
of some of their religious and initiation ceremonies. This pole is
called “_Djundagalla_” and stands six or seven feet high. It is painted
in alternate bands of black and white, occasionally red and white, and
resembles a barber’s pole more than anything. The “_Djundagalla_” stands
in the centre of the cleared space and the rites are performed around
it. In the northern Kimberleys, we find a stone phallus taking the place
of the pole.
It is not every tribe that submits its young men to these mutilations
at the initiation ceremonies. There are some which institute great
graduation-festivals without the infliction of bodily harm to the virile
aspirants. Notably among these are the Larrekiya, Melville Islanders, and
the tribes living along the coast from the King River to the heads of the
Roper and East Alligator Rivers.
As an illustration of a tribe which celebrates the coming of manhood
without resorting to operative measures, the Larrekiya perhaps serve
best. The boy, when definite signs of adolescence manifest themselves, is
decorated with the kapok of the silk cotton-tree (_Bombatt malabaricum_)
and birds’ down. A straight band passes below his eyes from ear, and
the ends thereof are connected by means of a horseshoe-shaped figure
traversing the cheeks and having its closed end at the chin. Another
horizontal band extends from shoulder to shoulder, above the nipples, and
from this two symmetrical lines are constructed down the abdomen and on
to the thighs, where each terminates in a circular band around the knee.
A white line is also drawn down the outer surface of each upper arm and
is made to end in the plaited armlets worn above the elbow. His forehead
is decorated with a broad band consisting of a number of parallel strands
of opossum fur thickly besmeared with white pipeclay; in the middle of
this is stuck a plume of emu or heron feathers, and fur-tassels pend from
either side of it. He also wears a coiled bark belt and, over it, a human
hair girdle supporting a large pubic tassel.
The initiates are made to sit in a row before the old men and are
instructed to keep their eyes closed with their hands. The old men stamp
the ground wildly and brandish their spears poised in the spear-throwers.
Every now and then they utter harsh cries of “_Arr-re! Arr-re!_” and
“_Gora!_” Whilst this pandemonium is in full swing, the boys are ordered
to open their eyes and behold their elders performing; then they are led
away into the bush and have to wait on the men, having especially to
collect for them many things that are good to eat. During this period
they are often cowed by being struck between the shoulder-blades, and
threatened with violence if at any time they talk publicly about anything
that has transpired or in any way betray the trust which the old men have
placed in them. Upon their return to camp, the young men have additional
scars cut into the skin of their chest and are then entitled “_Böllier_”
which signifies that the first stepping stone to maturity has been passed.
A second ceremony takes place some years later. Each youth is then under
the individual charge of an old man and is decorated much the same way as
the Böllier candidate described above, with the distinguishing features
of four red ochre stripes across the white forehead band and an extra
plume of white cockatoo feathers stuck into his hair. The proceedings
start soon after sundown and last till about midnight; they include
much gesticulation and vociferation. At the solemn moment when the
“conferring” of the maturity-degree takes place, the youth, still tended
by the old man, remains motionless, with downcast eyes, and listens to
the melancholy chant rendered by the old men in low lagging accents:
“_Makolär manga, malolär, ä, är, maklär, immanga._”
No beating of sticks or clapping of hands accompanies this tune, and no
further ceremonial dance follows.
The youth has now been elevated to the status of “_Mollinya_” which
qualifies him to the full rank and privileges of manhood. Further
cicatrices may now be added to either side of his abdomen. The cuts are
horizontal but do not extend right up to the median line.
During the period intervening between Böllier and Mollinya festivals,
bustard, flying-fox, and yam are forbidden articles of diet, but after
the latter event the fledgelings are invited to eat with the old men.
They honestly believe that if any of the young men, while undergoing
initiation, ate one of the forbidden articles secretly, the medicine
man would be able to detect the food in his stomach; and having thus
disobeyed, the medicine man would be justified in running a spear through
the offender, or at any rate compel him to swallow certain things which
would poison him. These rules are strictly observed, and, whenever some
of the privileged members have eaten flying-fox or bustard, they take the
precaution to collect the bones and burn them.
The tribes on Nullarbor Plains will tell you that the initiation
ceremonies originated in the following way. Many, many years ago, the
emu and the kangaroo were more or less human in appearance and possessed
of mighty powers. One day the emu caught the kangaroo with the object of
making a man of it. But the great struthious bird had no hands wherewith
it might have performed an operation; all it possessed was a “finger”
on each side of its body. It might be explained that the emu, because
it cannot fly, is not regarded as a “bird” in the generally recognized
sense, and consequently the wings are looked upon as “fingers.” In most
of the vocabularies, indeed, no distinction is made between “finger” and
“hand,” the south-western tribes of central Australia referring to one
or the other as “_marra_.” Nothing daunted, however, the emu removed
the _præputium_ from the kangaroo by clutching it between its wings and
pulling it off. Thereupon the emu said to the kangaroo: “Will you make me
a man?” And the kangaroo replied, “Yes.” The kangaroo had the advantage
over the emu because it possessed five “fingers,” with which it could
perform the operation the right way. The animal caught hold of the bird
and circumcised it with a sharp splinter of flint. But the emu requested
to be further operated upon and so it came about that the kangaroo
decided upon a subincision. To the present day the emu retains the marks
of this operation. Some while after these happenings, the tribal fathers
ran across the sacred emu and noted the change in its anatomy; they
forthwith mutilated each other in a similar way, and only then did they
realize that they were men.
Not boys alone are required to submit to the various initiation
ceremonies here mentioned, but in most tribes young women are “made”
marriageable by having to submit themselves to ordeals which are quite
similar to those of manhood’s approbation.
While discussing the female breast, we noted that when it begins to
develop a girl is taken away by the men and the breast anointed and
sung to, to stimulate its growth. This procedure is the forerunner of
initiation. The girl’s development is forthwith watched with care,
and when the unmistakable signs of ripening are detected the event is
celebrated with dance and song.
Men and women attend, and the items rendered are more or less of the
nature of an ordinary corrobboree, although occasionally some special
feature characterizes the performance. For instance the Larrekiya and
Wogait tribes pass the girl through a “smoking” ceremony after the
following fashion. An old gin places herself behind the girl and lays her
hands upon the latter’s shoulders. Then all the other women taking part
form a continuous chain by standing in a single row behind each other
and “linking up” in a similar way. They begin to sing “_Ya, Ya, Ya_,”
in a long-drawn melancholy note, and the old-gin immediately stamps her
feet, and, moving forwards, pushes the girl along in front of her. All
the other performers follow her, stamping in unison and holding on to the
shoulders of the person in front. Quite unexpectedly the monosyllabic
“_Ya_” is changed to “_Yen da min_,” and at this the old gin stops short
and strikes the girl’s back thrice with her hand. The same performance is
repeated time after time during the night. Early in the morning of the
next day, the girl is led to the sea, and the whole party wades out to
about hips’ depth. Here a grotesque dance is started during which they
strike their arms, bent in the elbows, against the sides of their bodies
under water, the splash producing a peculiar hollow-sounding note. The
process reminds one of a goose flapping its wings while enjoying a bath.
At this stage, the wording of the song sounds like “_A-lö-lö-lö_,” and
when its final syllable has resounded, all bathers duck under the surface
of the water.
Next a fire is kindled upon the shore, and, when a good blaze has been
obtained, a heap of grass and leaves previously steeped in water, is
piled upon it. Upon this the old gin seats herself and makes the girl
sit upon her lap facing her and with her legs astride. The volumes of
smoke which are generated completely hide the two from view. The idea is
to allow the smoke to thoroughly play upon the parts of the novice, the
process being facilitated by the manipulation of the old gin. When the
ceremony is concluded, the girl is led into the bush by the old women and
for some time to follow she is not allowed to partake of certain articles
of diet, such as for instance snake, dugong, and goanna.
Several of the northern and north-eastern coastal tribes mutilate the
hand of a young gin during the period of her initiation by removing two
joints from a finger. The forefinger of either hand is generally chosen
by the former tribes, the latter favouring the small finger. The Ginmu
at the mouth of the Victoria River make the amputation with a stone
knife. In this district a singular case came under my notice which is of
considerable interest from an evolutional point of view since it suggests
a phenomenon usually only met with in crustations, reptiles, and other
creatures whose position is very much lower in the animal kingdom. A
young girl had had two end phalanges of a finger imperfectly removed,
and yet upon the mutilated stump a horny growth resembling a diminutive
finger-nail had formed anew. The Daly River tribes remove the bones by
tying a ligature of cobweb which they find in the mangroves very tightly
around the joint. The end phalanges of the finger, thus deprived of the
circulation, gradually mortify and drop off. Occasionally the joints may
be bitten off by a parent of the child.
As a general rule, it may be said that wherever mutilations of the male
are undertaken during initiation ceremonies, a corresponding operation is
performed upon the female; and, _vice versa_, where the former practice
is not indulged in, the latter is also unknown. Generally speaking, too,
the female mutilation ceremonies are much the same wherever practised
in Australia, but the implements or devices employed for the actual
mutilation vary in different localities.
Invitations to the event are sent by special messengers to adjoining
groups and neighbouring friendly tribes. These messengers are of mixed
sexes and are decorated by having their bodies covered with ochre.
The common method is to make the ground colour of the body a rich
red and to draw upon it concentric circles of white and black. The
men carry a “female” tjuringa, whilst the women, apart from numerous
necklaces and armlets which they wear, are unaccoutred. The latter are
near group-relatives of the young woman concerned. Their mission is
readily understood by the people they look up during their walk-about,
and, without much interchange of words, acceptance is indicated by
the recipients of the message by resorting to an intimacy with the
feminine emissaries. Although considerable liberality is shown during
this indulgence, the privilege is by no means stretched to beyond the
bounds of a tolerable promiscuousness, even though the messengers may be
entertained at the distant camp for two or three days before they return
home.
The celebrating camp in the interim has been busily preparing for the
approaching event. Nightly corrobborees have been held at the chosen
spot by both the men and the women, and the novice has repeatedly
appeared before the performing crowd richly decorated and besmeared with
emu-fat and ochre. At no time, however, even after the invited guests
have arrived, does the excitement become anywhere near as great as during
the initiation ceremonies of the opposite sex; in fact, at its best, the
performance is extremely dull and monotonous.
When at length it becomes apparent that even the principal actors
themselves are tiring, it seems as though the moment had arrived when
only a desperate decision could revive the enthusiasm. A number of men,
who stand in the same group-relationship to the novice as her future
husband, lead the girl away without any ado, except perhaps that the
remaining members slightly spur their acting. This stage is mostly
reached at daylight, as often as not early in the morning, after the
whole night has been spent in dancing and singing.
Away from the din of her tribespeople’s celebration in honour of the
occasion of her stepping from girlhood to womanhood, the silent victim
is told to squat on the ground whilst the men surround her. Her oldest
“group-husband” produces a flat, wooden tjuringa, of the “male” type,
with which he several times touches her person, whilst he mutters
incoherent and garbled words. This is done to dispel from her all
possible pain and likely loss of blood during the operation she is about
to be submitted to.
Then she is requested to lie flat on her back, and her head is placed
upon the lap of one of the men who squats to keep it there. It follows
the act which is destined to make her marriageable; her virginity is
doomed to mechanical destruction.
The instruments, if any, which are used for the operation vary according
to locality. In the central areas (Aluridja, Wongapitcha, Kukata), an
ordinary stone-knife with resin haft is used. The Victoria desert tribes
employ cylindro-conical stones from six to eight inches long, and from
one and a half to two inches in diameter. Among the tribes of the
northern Kimberley districts of Western Australia no real instrument is
used at all, but the operator winds the index and middle fingers of his
right hand together with a long piece of fur-string; and this device
answers the same purpose as the above-named instruments.
The tribes indulging in this practice admit that their action is prompted
by a desire to offer the girl’s pudicity to one of her spirit-husbands.
We might indeed look upon this rite as the equivalent of sacrificing the
_jus primae noctis_ to a mythical or legendary tribal relative who is
supposed to be living in the astral form and who is likely to come back
to earth at any day.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXII_
An episode of the great fire ceremony, Kolaia tribe.
“Presently the music starts again, and the spirit known as ‘Ngardaddi’ is
seen to be stealthily creeping towards the fire, his body lying flat upon
the ground and his legs dragging behind.”]
CHAPTER XXVII
RELIGIOUS IDEAS
Religious instincts of aboriginal—Nature worship—Fire
ceremony—Fire legends—Mythical fire thief called
“_Ngardaddi_”—Water legends and ceremonial—Sun worship—Sun
myths—The moon man—The mythical serpent—The kobong and
totem—The tjuringa—Tjuringa legend—Ancestor worship—“Knaninja”
or “Totem” deities—The significance of the tjuringa—Sacred
tjuringa caves—“Totemic” diet restrictions—Gradation of
sacred ceremonial—Great emu ceremony—The “_Altjerringa_”—The
sacred yam or “_Ladjia_” ceremony—The “_Etominja_” design—Sex
worship—The phallus—Mythical origin of phallus—Ideas
concerning procreation—Grey hairs blackened artificially—A
phallic monolith known as “_Knurriga Tjilba Purra_”—Foetal
elements or “_Rattappa_”—The “_Tjilba Purra_” embodied
in the headgear—“_Waraka_,” a phallic stone on the
Roper River—Similar Kukata legend—Phallic ceremonial
on Cambridge Gulf—Cylindro-conical stones of phallic
significance—Matronal chasm of Killalpaninna—“_Arrolmolba_,”
a sacred stone possessing stimulating principles—Phallic
drawing of “_Mongarrapungja_”—Evil spirits—Disenchanted
enclosures—Aboriginal belief in Supreme Being—Etymology of His
name—The eternal home of all deities and spirit ancestors.
It has often been written that the Australian aboriginal is without
religious ideas and without religious ceremonies. Such assertions are
grossly incorrect and by no means portray the psychological side of the
primitive man in its true light. He has, on the contrary, religious
institutions and obligations which verge on the basis of all modern
conceptions and recognition of divine supremacy. If we can class
Nature-worship, Ancestor-worship, and Sex-worship as the beginnings of
all religious teachings, then the Australian aboriginal has certainly
inherited by instinct and tradition a very solid foundation from which we
might trace the origin of many, if not most, of our most sacred beliefs
in Christianity. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that it is
really a difficult matter to distinguish clearly between mythological
beliefs and what we class as religion. Religious thought has fluctuated
with the advance of civilization and science to such a degree that, even
within the short space of time covered by the more reliable records of
our history, several revolutionary modifications have come about. As time
advances, man becomes more sceptical and more exacting in his demand for
proofs, and in his despair over finding nothing tangible to worship, he
resorts to the recognition, by instinct or persuasion, of a God who is a
Spirit. But all the while, as this secular metamorphosis is proceeding,
he keeps his innermost feelings and faith alive by appealing to his
knowledge of the gospel or his belief in salvation, in the manner it was
presented to him by myth, by legend, or by the Scriptures. His principal
guide is his intellect; the less it is trained the stronger his inherited
conviction; the more scientific it becomes, the greater his desire to
probe the truth.
The modern man has so accustomed himself to an artificial environment
that he takes the so-called “elements” of Nature, especially water and
fire, in a strictly matter-of-fact sort of way. But the primitive man,
who realizes that his very existence is dependent upon these factors,
has learned to respect, preserve, and worship them as legacies he
imagines to have been left him by some of his illustrious forbears who,
he supposes, have gone to an unknown realm where they live in peace and
can only return temporarily to their former haunts in the invisible
form or through the medium of some other object which is related to the
individual in some mysterious way.
The aboriginal looks upon fire as one of the great indispensible
quantities of his social existence; it is the element which dispels
the evil spirits from his camp; it is the means by which comfort and
friendship are made accessible to him; it is his universal companion.
More than this, it is the fire, with its warmth and its light, which
draws individuals, families, groups, and tribes together and through its
agency and influence that social concourse is established which lies at
the bottom of all conviviality, oracular discussion, and ceremony. How
well this sentiment agrees with the knowledge we possess of the origin of
civilization! Indeed the appreciation of fire together with the knowledge
of its preservation is perhaps the mightiest factor responsible for
making our species human. Once man learned to nurse an original flame he
found through accidental cause and kept it constantly by his side, his
progress became an established fact. His crude camp-fire talks developed
into discussions which he further expanded by means of drawings on the
walls of caves he occupied. The free exchange of thought brought about
by congregation round the cheerful flame could not fail to incite the
intellect; and thus he ascended to the high road of civilization and
gathered the fruits of culture he now enjoys.
The Aluridja, Wongapitcha, and some of the north-western coastal tribes
believe that many years ago, a party of ancestral creatures, more
animal than human, came down from the sky through the branches of tall
gum-trees to confer with the spirits which roam about at night and
conceal themselves in inanimate objects during the day. These monsters
brought a fire-stick with them and when they reached the earth, they lit
a fire to cook some grubs which they had taken from the bark of the trees
during their descent. As they were feasting, the spirits called them and
they went with them to a cave where the bones of the persons rested,
originally occupied by the spirits themselves. Whilst they were away, the
fire which had been left unguarded, decided to run into the bush and,
being in a mischievous mood, started an enormous blaze which burned down
much of the forest and the tall gum-trees as well. The spirit-ancestors
and the heavenly monsters beheld the disaster with consternation and
called upon the fire to come back. This it did. But it so happened that
some of the tribes’ fathers were hunting in the area, and when they saw
the fire, which was strange to them, they snatched portion of it away and
ran with it to their camp, where they kept it and fed it with dry grass
and sticks. The spirits and their visitors were very angry and never
left the fire out of their sight, lest it might abscond again; they were
compelled to live on earth for a very long time until the trees grew up
again to their lofty domain. The hunters, on the other hand, zealously
guarded their prize fearing that it might run away from them. Even to the
present day, this belief exists among the older folks, and they always
take great care that the ground is cleared of inflammable matter to stop
the fire from bolting; to be on the safe side, they invariably carry or
keep near to them a fair-sized, glowing fire-stick.
Among the Minning this legend is circulated in a slightly modified form.
Two ancestral spirits had their fires burning in the sky at points
represented by the pointers of the Southern Cross constellation, when one
day they decided to come down to the earth to hunt opossum. They took
their fires with them, but while engaged in the chase they left them
at their camp. When they had obtained a sufficient number of opossums
to make a good meal, they returned to their camp, where they noticed
six young men sitting around the fires, who immediately made off, and,
in doing so, each took a fire-stick away with him. The spirits gave
chase and re-captured five of the thieves, but the sixth, who was named
“_Warrupu_,” reached the camp of his tribe and handed the fire-stick to
his mother, “_Wenoinn_.” The woman ran with it to the white sand hills
about Eucla in which she intended hiding it. But the spirits had noticed
her and came towards her from above with a spear. In her predicament, the
woman threw the fire-stick away, which immediately set the whole of the
country ablaze between Eucla and Israelite Bay. All the tribes were thus
enabled to seize some of the fire which they have carefully watched over
ever since.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIII_
Ceremonial venesection, Arunndta tribe.
1. The median basilic vein is being slit. Note ligature above the biceps.
2. The blood which is spurting from the incision is being collected on a
shield.]
A similar tradition is perpetuated by the north-western tribes referred
to and affords the motive of one of the most earnest and sacred
fire-ceremonies known in Australia. The performance takes place during
the night. It is introduced by two men; the one represents a mischievous
spirit trying to steal back the sacred fire which is being carefully
guarded by a number of men impersonating the ancestral tribesmen who
originally discovered it; the other is a warrior who has accidentally
come upon the would-be thief and overpowered him. The spirit crouches at
the feet of the warrior, sitting upon his heels, with his head drooping
upon his chest and his hands hanging loosely between his thighs. The
warrior stands erect behind his supposed captive, with his legs apart,
and continues striking the fellow with small bundles of brushwood, one
of which he holds in either hand. The beating is done regularly, both
hands rising simultaneously, high above the warrior’s head, and falling
together upon the spirit’s head.
Some two chains away, the tribal ancestors are grouped by the fire-side
and are chanting the following lines:
“_Wai dang bunnai,_
_Inna dinna dulla ngai._”
The men sit in a row at the back of the fire, with their thighs asunder
and their legs bent in the knees; their chins are resting upon their
chests whilst they beat the backs of their heads with small bundles of
brushwood, keeping time with their song and with the performance of the
warrior.
When, after a while, the music ceases, the warrior is seen to be lying
asleep beside his captive. The ancestors become restless and begin to
move sideways, first in a body to the left and then to the right; then
they move backwards and forwards. This movement is peculiarly weird since
the performers do it by shuffling over the ground in the sitting posture,
with their arms held erect, but bent in the elbow.
Presently the music starts again, and the spirit known as “_Ngardaddi_”
is seen to be stealthily creeping towards the fire, his body lying flat
upon the ground and his legs dragging behind. He advances very slowly,
turning his face towards the ground, in search of the fire which escaped
from heaven. He wears a tall head-dress quite thirty-two inches long,
which consists of a tightly fitting hemispherical cap carrying a column
in its centre, at the top of which a bundle of split black-cockatoo
feathers is attached. The feathers are from the male bird’s tail, and
the brilliant red patches in them are representative of fire. The whole
structure is made of paper-bark and human hair-string, the outer surface
being decorated with ochre, pipeclay, charcoal, and vegetable-down. Vide
Plate XXXII.
All the time the men at the fire-side are beating time with their hands
and simultaneously turn their heads from side to side, to all intents and
purposes quite unconcerned about the Ngardaddi who is gradually crawling
near to them. This is done to entice the thief nearer and lead him to
believe that he is unobserved. All of a sudden, however, when the spirit
is about to touch the fire and is in the act of snatching it from the
tribesmen, one of the group on either side of the fire throws a handful
of dry grass upon the smouldering heap. The flame responds immediately
and casts a bright light all around.
Alarm is raised by the tribesmen by clapping their hands together
violently. The spirit collapses and lies flat upon the ground at full
length. Two or three of the men nearest by seize some of the burning
grass and hit the prostrate figure over the head. The spirit jumps to
his feet and treads the ground as if endeavouring to make his escape.
Seeing this, the men at the fire rise quickly and treat their victim
most unmercifully with bundles of burning grass and twigs. Eventually
each of them seizes a fire-brand and digs the burning end deeply into
the spirit’s back and the unfortunate fellow eventually decamps into the
darkness amidst the bellowing whoops of his victors.
The air is fouled for some distance around by the smell of the burned
skin, reminding one of the stench in a smithy when horses are being shod.
The back of the spirit-impersonator is naturally severely scored by the
cruel treatment it is subjected to, but the fellow takes it all in good
faith and without flinching.
The object of the ceremony is twofold. Firstly all members of the
community who are present, men, women, and children, are taught to
appreciate the value of fire, and secondly it is believed that the
exemplification of so harsh and drastic a treatment for attempted theft
will tend to make abortive any schemes of the evil spirits.
The Arunndta are quite convinced in their own minds that in the days of
their tribal fathers there was no water on the surface of the ground
they occupied; their ancestors in those times were compelled to live
on grass and succulent plants, no consideration being given to the
fact, as we have learned, that the vegetation derives its moisture from
outside sources. But it happened one day, when their forefathers were
out hunting, that they met with a number of strange-looking men who were
sitting around a pool of pure water from which they were drinking. At
the sight of the men, the strangers fled, leaving the water behind. The
hunters gave chase but all except one disappeared and he made for a cave
in the hills. The hunters closed the mouth of the cave with a big stone
and went back to the pool of water to quench their thirst, but when they
reached the spot, the water had turned into a massive, round stone. The
men made back to the cave and removed the obstruction, but imagine their
surprise when they found the cave empty. Upon making a careful search,
however, they discovered a long cylindrical stick which had some peculiar
markings on it. They took the stick and walked once more towards the
petrified pool, and, lo, they beheld the stranger they were looking for
walking in the sky. When he saw the stick in the hands of the hunters, he
took the form of a cloud, and as he bent his body towards the stick, his
long matted hair fell forwards and from it water poured upon the earth
beneath. The hunters drank freely of the precious fluid and when they
looked skywards again the cloudman had vanished.
From that day onwards the Arunndta medicine men (“_Nangarri_”) have
kept that spot sacred and taboo to the women and children; they call
the big stone “_Imbodna_” which means “the hailstone.” The man who fled
to the cave and then escaped from the hunters as a vapour they call
“_Nangali_,” the name for a cloud. The tribe has never since been without
water because Nangali left his magic wand in the hands of their ancient
sorcerers and whenever the country was suffering from drought they could
call upon him to appear in the sky and bring forth rain.
Nangali is one of a group of celestial beings who have been termed
“_Atoakwatje_,” that is Water-Men; they are now looked upon as Demigods
who control all terrestrial supplies of water from their abode in
the clouds. The Atoakwatje are believed to have certain mysterious
connections with some of the tribal sorcerers who in a sense parade on
earth as their disciples and attend to the rain-making ceremonies through
which they are able to commune with each other.
When the people are in need of water, the rain-makers assemble around
the Imbodna and one or two of them produce the sacred stick, known to
the Arunndta as “_kwatje-purra_,” literally meaning “the reproductive
organ of water,” and to the Aluridja as “_kapi-wiyinna_.” Nowadays these
sticks, which strictly speaking are of phallic significance, are flat and
more like a tjuringa in shape, and have a number of peculiar markings
on them. For a time the stick is laid beside the great water-stone, and
the sorcerers kneel while they chant with a barely audible voice. They
rise to their feet and the most influential individual who is decorated
with stripes of yellow vegetable-down and wears a dog-tail tassel on
his belt, lifts the stick towards the sky and continues mumbling. The
other members kneel again and all present chat together. The man who is
standing poises the stick horizontally between his hands and rocks it one
way, then another; and this performance is frequently repeated.
When at length the principal performer sits down, the other men leave the
spot and run in a single file towards the camp, loudly crying “_kurreke
ta ta_” in imitation of the call of the spur-winged plover.
In the evening a general corroboree is indulged in; and all grown-up
persons, male and female, are allowed to join in. Several refrains are
forthcoming which are connected with ordinary rain or water festivals.
The principal rainmaker does not attend but joins the camp again during
the night. It appears that in the interim he has visited the sacred
cave, in company of one or two of his brother-sorcerers, to hide the
magic stick and preserve it for future use. Any representative of the
Atoakwatje group inherits the power to fashion and use the rain-stick,
but it is imperative that he learns the art under the direction of a
senior and duly qualified nangarri.
A ceremony directly connected with sun-worship belongs to the old
Arunndta people and is known as “_Ilpalinja_.” When the weather has been
and continues to be unpleasantly cold, and the mating season of birds
and animals has on that account been long delayed, the men construct
a large colored design upon the selected ceremonial ground. Radiating
from a point upon a cleared space, many lines are drawn with red and
white vegetable-down to represent the rays of the sun; and these are
intersected at different distances from the central point by a number of
concentric circles which represent the fathers of the tribe. The centre
of the design is occupied by a stick which is supposed to incorporate
some mystical and sacred sun-creature known as “_Knaninja Arrerreka_.”
The same Ilpalinja-design is occasionally carved as the crest of the
Knaninja upon a sun-tjuringa. Vide Fig. 6.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Sacred sun-design of the “_Ilpalinja_” ceremony (×
1/20).]
A most impressive function might occasionally be witnessed on the
north coast, which is associated with the setting sun; it is known
to at least two tribes, the one living on the upper reaches of the
Victoria River and the other on the western shores of Carpentaria Gulf,
including some of the islands. It is usually performed in conjunction
with demonstrations calling upon a fabulous being which lives in the
sky to fecundate certain species of plants and animals necessary for
their daily life. The Carpentaria tribes, moreover, keep their sacred
poles, akin to the tjuringas of central Australia, not in caves but in
special huts which they construct upon chosen spots absolutely taboo to
the general public. These slabs of wood are up to five feet long and are
covered with peculiar carvings and markings; they are of the two sexes.
Ordinarily they are kept “asleep” by laying them on the floor of the hut
side by side, and covering them with sand. When the hour of the ceremony
arrives, they are brought out by the “Sun-Men” and stuck in the ground
in the full light of the sinking sun. Just as the orb is about to touch
the horizon, the tenders of the sacred implements kneel, with their faces
turned towards the sun and, lifting their hands, bend their bodies to the
ground much after the fashion of an Eastern salaam. We have before us a
true form of worship recognizing the supreme powers of the sun, but aimed
primarily at calling upon a demigod or Deity in supplication for making a
needed article of diet, animal or vegetable, fruitful or prolific.
Mythologically the sun is regarded as a female having human form and a
fiery exterior, who walks daily across the firmament and returns at night
to rest at her sacred haunts on earth. Some of the central tribes, like
the Aluridja, split the sun’s identity into an indefinite number of such
women, a different one of which makes the journey every day.
The moon on the other hand is thought to be a man who originally
inhabited the earth but was one day chased off it by a gigantic dog the
Aluridja call “_Tutrarre_.” The man jumped into space and walked among
the clouds until he reached the earth again. His long walk had made him
so hungry and thin that he ravenously ate a great number of opossums
which he found in the trees at night. In consequence he swelled out, and
became fat and round. Then it was his bad fortune to fall in with the dog
again, and this time his obesity prevented his escape. The dog tore him
to pieces and swallowed him, bone and all. But it so happened that one
of his arm-bones flew from the dog’s jaws and found its way to the sky.
There it floated from east to west as a luminous sickle and gradually
swelled until it was perfectly round. The dog stood looking up at the
bone and howled in anger, but the moon-man reappeared in the sky and
converted the dog into stone.
The Kakatu natives believe in a moon-man who lives in the sky and
controls the clouds. On a certain day, very long ago, this man was seen
by the ancestors of the tribe. It happened thus: Just about dusk, a cloud
was observed descending from the sky which came to rest upon the summit
of a hill; it was glowing red. A big man, a woman, and two girls stepped
upon the earth, and the man took a fire-stick from the cloud which then
became black and ascended again. It was the moon-man and his family.
The party walked down on to the plain and camped, the old man making a
fire with his torch whereby his feminine escort could warm themselves.
The moon-man left, taking a new fire-stick with him. In a deep, green
water-hole lived a monstrous snake whose colour was much like that of
the slime which covered the surface of the water. A lengthy and secret
interview took place between the moon-man and the snake on the bank of
the lagoon, and the snake produced many tubers of water-lily, and mussels
also, for the moon-man to eat. Then the two heard a rustling noise. The
snake exclaimed: “What is that? Who dares approach our trysting place?”
The moon-man snatched a fire-brand and held it high in the air; this made
it light as day. The moon-man’s daughters could be seen creeping towards
the men to hear the secret discussion! With a curse upon his mouth, the
angry father hurled the fire-stick at his deceitful daughters. The stick
struck the ground and sent a shower of sparks over the girls. In an
instant everything became dark as night, but every now and again there
came from the spot the girls had last been seen at long-drawn growls;
from the same spot flashes of light shot forth and illumined the clouds.
The snake and the moon-man had disappeared, but the daughters remained
just where they had last been seen, for they had been turned to stone and
had assumed the rigid form of a dog whose head was directed skywards as
if to rebuke the moon-man for the curse he had brought upon them. For a
long time the clouds remained dark; then the moon-man re-appeared among
them and cast a mournful beam upon the canine image of his daughters.
From then till now he has continued to appear periodically in the sky,
and his repentant daughters gaze at him; but at times, when the sky is
covered with heavy black clouds, the daughters become angry and growl
aloud. At these times, too, bright flashes dart from their eyes across
the clouds like spears of fire threatening revenge. The stone has
remained to the present day, and is known by the name of “_Koreno kardjo_
(dog) _gambi_” (stone).
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIV_
The “_Tjilbakuta_” of the great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe.
“The moment the sacred object is completed, the Illiyakuta delegates one
of his group to act as its attendant or guardian.”]
The snake is an important character in the mythology of practically
every tribe of Australia; in fact most of the permanent water-holes are
supposed to be inhabited by great serpents which guard the supplies,
destroy unlawful consumers or polluters thereof, and frequently
communicate with those spirit ancestors of the tribes who are descended
from the original snake-man still living in the sky. In many cases
the mythic snakes can be recognized in some characteristic features
of the landscape. Take, for instance, the great artesian spring near
Coward Springs Station which is known as Blanche Cup. This is looked
upon as the mouth of a snake, while the hill immediately at the back of
it (Mt. Hamilton) is its head. In consequence the formation is called
“_Worma-Kadiabba_” (snake’s head) by the local Arrabonna tribe. The
natives have a dread of these imaginary snake-monsters and prefer not to
visit a water-hole at night; in fact, at any time, day or night, they
feel safer in the company of a man who is “related” to the snake, because
he can protect them and give them the right of approach. The snake is
possessed of evil and will molest any but its totemic “relatives.”
The fundamental conception of the kobong (or totem), so far as the
Australian aboriginal is concerned, is of a religious nature. In
the beginning of all things, the Aluridja say a number of exalted
creatures of human form came out of the earth and were gracious to
their tribes-people. Then appeared a menace in the shape of a gigantic
dog which chased the good people from one place to another, until they
decided to adopt the forms of various animals and plants, and thereby
became either too fleet for the dog or were not recognized by it. Other
good people now descended from the hills and drove the dog back to its
hiding place in a cave where the evil spirit dwells. The newcomers
kindled a fire at the mouth of the cave and kept the evil beings in
captivity whilst the original Deities re-assumed the human form. Ever
after, however, these good creatures were able to alter their appearance
from human to animal at will; but each individual in his choice adhered
to the particular animal or plant which had saved him from the ravages
of the great evil dog. Eventually they formed themselves into flat
slabs of stone or wood, upon the surfaces of which they scratched the
emblems of their animal representation and the traditions of their long
wanderings on earth. The spirits of these Deities now live in the sky
but can return at any time to re-enter the slab generally known as the
“tjuringa.” Among the Minning at Eucla the larger of these objects are
known as “_wagal-wagal_,” the smaller as “_bobi_,” whilst further west,
in the Laverton district, “_kaidi_” is the prevailing word. It is true,
the tjuringa is not known to all tribes; in which case the Deities are
supposed to have entered such natural objects as rocks, hills, and
conspicuous trees.
The Roper River natives believe that their deified forbears were molested
not by a dog, but by a hideous old woman or witch, who, by the influence
of evil, entrapped them and subsequently ate them. On one occasion,
however, a party of warriors were successful in decoying her away from
her haunts and slaying her. The jubilant victors decided to cut out the
old woman’s tongue as a trophy, but as they were thus engaged, the tongue
flew out of the mouth and spun round in the atmosphere above them, making
a terrible noise as it did so. The men chased the tongue, but it flew
towards a beefwood tree and embedded itself deeply in the butt; in vain
they looked for it and tried to cut it out; it had become part of the
tree. Before returning, however, the men took a piece of wood out of the
tree, shaped like the woman’s tongue, which they tied to a piece of human
hair-string and swung round their heads with joy. Behold their mixed
feelings of delight and fear when the piece of wood began to howl with
a voice like that of the slain witch! The tribe retained that piece of
wood as a sacred memento of their victory, and they gave to it the name
the witch was known by, namely “_Kunapippi_.” Nowadays this object is the
equivalent of the central Australian _tjuringa_.
All tribes recognize the existence of deified ancestors, now real or
spiritual, whom they regard as sacred and worship accordingly. All
ancestors stand in a definite, intricate, and intimate relationship
to some animal, plant, water-hole, or other natural object which they
have at some time or other represented; some indeed in the first place
appeared as animals and later took the human form. They are now looked
upon as being those powers who by virtue of sacred ceremonial can produce
the species they have at some time incarnated, in plenty or allow it to
proliferate. As a matter of fact, some of the sorcerers of the tribes
often declare that they can see the inside of a sacred rock or tjuringa
teeming with young, ready to be produced.
The Arunndta refer to their “_Knaninja_” (i.e. “totem” Deities)
as “_Altjerrajara_,” meaning the Supreme Number; the Aluridja as
“_Tukurata_” or “_Tukutita_”; and the Dieri as “_Muramura_.”
Just as the “totem” ancestor is connected with an animal, plant, or other
natural object, and is embodied in the sacred form of the tjuringa, so
the individual who traces his descent from such ancestor recognizes a
close and mysterious affinity between himself and the tjuringa which has
become his by heredity; henceforth it becomes his sacred talisman which
protects him from evil and procures for him the means of maintaining his
existence.
The emblematic representation of the deified ancestor, based upon the
form of an animal or plant living to-day and in some way “connected”
with the individual, is the “_kobong_” of the north-western tribes first
referred to by Sir George Grey.
The “totem” is very dear and sacred to the native, and is religiously
protected by him. I well remember on one occasion on the Alberga River
I discovered a small black and yellow banded snake which I killed. An
Aluridja man who was attached to the party at the time was greatly
shocked at this, and, with genuine sorrow, told me that I had killed his
“brother.” Turning to an Arunndta he lamented aloud: “_Kornye! Nanni
kallye nuka kalla illum_,” which literally translated means: “Oh dear!
This brother of mine is dead.”
One thing is always essential and that is that a native performs
frequent, prolonged, and reverential ceremonies, remote from the women
and children, and in the presence of his tjuringa. Under these conditions
the tjuringa is believed to have powers similar to those of the Deity it
embodies.
When not in use, the tjuringas are stored in caves, the entrances to
which are small and not easily discernible; the ground is proclaimed
taboo to any but initiated tjuringa holders and is strictly regarded as
a _sanctum sanctorum_. Although the sticks and stones are the individual
property of the tribesmen, the objects are generally kept together,
and only brought out during a religious ceremony. The old men are the
authorized custodians of the sacred collection. The female tjuringas are
included, because even though a woman may possess one, she must never see
it; if she does, accidentally or otherwise, she is in imminent danger of
being killed. No unauthorized hunter is allowed near the prohibited area
under any pretext at all; even if an animal he has wounded should by
accident make for the sacred ground to breathe its last, the hunter is
required by tribal law and usage to sacrifice it to the divine factors
incorporated in the tjuringa, by leaving it on the spot.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXV_
Flashlight photograph of “_Illiya Tjuringa_” or great emu ceremony,
Arunndta tribe.
“The chief emu man is distinguished by an extra large head-dress called
the ‘Illiya Altjerra Kuta.’...”]
When on the warpath, a warrior always craves to carry his tjuringa with
him, even though this is not always possible. He firmly believes that
with the talisman kept on his person, or at any rate knowing that it is
nearby, no deadly missile thrown by an enemy will penetrate his body. The
mere knowledge of the fact that his opponent has a tjuringa with him, and
he not, is sufficient to make a coward of the bravest fighter. Should he
be wounded or take ill, one of his “totem-brothers” endeavours to produce
a tjuringa, from which, if the medicine man considers it necessary, a
little powder is scraped and handed to the patient to swallow with water.
With regard to “totem” animals which form the objects of hunting
expeditions, a man is allowed to kill and eat thereof with some
restriction. He must kill only one animal at a time, and only in
accordance with the method prescribed by the tribal fathers and handed
down to them by tradition. This is usually a straightforward hunting
method, with as little loss of blood as possible. If much blood should
flow, the hunter is obliged to cover it without delay with sand. If
possible, other men should cut up the carcase, and only certain portions
be handed to the “brother” of the slain animal.
Each tribe has an endless variety of objects (animal, vegetable,
terrestrial, meteoric, mythic, and so forth), which may figure as a
“totem.” Any one of these may be the primary motive of a separate cult
or sacred ceremony, but here again the variety is usually reduced to the
number corresponding to the most sanctimonious and most useful creations
affecting the affairs of the particular tribe.
The ceremonies take the form of either a direct worship or a prayer
for increased productivity of a certain plant or animal, either being
offered to the Knaninja or “totem” ancestors living as spirits in the
sky. Usually the two ideas are embodied in one grand ceremony, and the
method of procedure is governed by tradition. Such ceremonies have been
particularly elaborated by the Arunndta tribe, who refer to them by
the same name as that of the sacred object, namely “_Tjuringa_”; less
frequently they call them “_Intitjuma_,” the latter name being applied
more to ceremonies without worship.
The Tjuringa ceremonies are divided into grades according to their
importance and sacredness. The water ceremony is ordinarily called
“_Kwatje Tjuringa_,” but if the “totem” spirit ancestor is invoked to
attend, it goes by the name of “_Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja_”; if the
principal spirit ancestor is assumed to be present, the title becomes
“_Kwatje Tjuringa Knaninja Knurrendora_”; and finally the most sacred
water ceremony of all is the “_Kwatje Tjuringa Altjerra Knaninja
Knurrendora_.”
As a typical illustration we shall discuss the “_Illiya Tjuringa_” or
Great Emu Ceremony of the eastern Arunndta groups. The date of the
performance is decided by the senior emu “brother” of the tribe, the
oldest member who claims to be related to the Illiya Knaninja. Somewhat
extensive preparations are made beginning a few days prior to the opening
event. Only fully initiated men take part, but the women are allowed to
witness certain of the most awe-inspiring stages from a distance. Whilst
the younger men are out collecting leaves, out of which they make the
down later to adorn the bodies of the performers, the older men prepare
the sacred ground. Others slay a number of brown hawks, off which they
pull the feathers and then pluck the down. A suitable site having been
selected, the old men clear it by removing all grass and bush from the
surface and smoothing the sand with their feet. The “brothers” who claim
relationship alike to the great Emu-Man, the Emu-Knaninja, and the emu
itself, thereupon proceed to anoint the sacred ground with their blood,
for which purpose they puncture the median basilic vein of the forearm
with a quartzite chip and allow the fluid of kinship to sprinkle upon
the sand. It is surprising to see the amount of blood sacrificed by the
men on occasions like this; and time after time, when such is required,
the process is repeated. By examining the forearms of an old stager, one
can usually count a number of small scars along the course of a vein
indicating places where a perforation has at different times been made. A
venesection is made after much the same manner among the various tribes.
The following Arunndta method will serve as an example. A ligature of
hair-string is in the first place tied tightly round the upper arm, a
little above the biceps muscle, after the style of a tourniquet to check
the flow of blood in the veins and thereby distend the vessels. The man
then makes a small longitudinal cut through the skin and punctures the
vein beneath it lengthwise; the blood spurts forth immediately and is
collected in the handle-pit of a shield. When the flow is to be stopped,
the native removes the ligature, and this in most cases is all that is
needed. Should, however, the blood continue to come, he places a small
amount of down over the incision and presses it against the vein, or
winds three or four strands of fur-string around it. The little pad
of down is usually left on the arm until it dries and falls off. None
of the women are allowed to witness this operation, which is called
“_Ilgarukna_.” The blood, when it is to be used as an adhesive for the
down-decoration, is applied with a small brush (“_ipinja_”) made of twigs
tied together with fur-string. Vide Plate XXXIII.
The principal among the emu group is called “_Illiyakuta_,” and it is he
who directs the performance. He takes his followers to a secluded place,
such as a clump of timber or down a creek-bed, and there the wooden
tjuringas belonging to the ceremony are produced and painted afresh with
red ochre and emu fat.
Down is made out of the white, felty leaves and twigs of _Kochia_ bush,
which the Arunndta call “_kemba_.” Small quantities of these are placed
upon a flat slab of stone and pounded with a pebble. The fluffy material
which results is next mixed and rubbed by hand with powdered kaolin
or ochre according to the colour required, the white being known as
“_wadua_,” the red as “_wanjerra_.”
A sacred object is now constructed which encloses the painted tjuringas
and is called the “_Tjilbakuta_.” It is about three feet high and is made
in the following way. The tjuringas are laid one on top of the other and
bound together with many lengths of human hair-string, which completely
obscure the shape of the separate pieces. A thick layer of the stalks of
the kangaroo grass (_Anthistiria_) is laid around the parcel and kept in
position with a few lengths of twine, and then the whole structure is
covered with great masses of human hair-string wound spirally from top
to bottom. A cylinder results which is decorated with alternate vertical
bands of red and white vegetable down. Into the top of this Tjilbakuta
one bundle of emu feathers and one of black cockatoo tail-feathers are
stuck; and often additional plumes are hung beneath them. The moment the
sacred object is completed, the Illiyakuta delegates one of his group
to act as its attendant or guardian. For the time being his body is
decorated with symmetrically placed, curved ochre bands upon the chest
and vertical bands down the arms; at a later stage he ornaments his body
more elaborately, prior to taking part in the principal performance; but
all the time he remains in his place of hiding beside the Tjilbakuta.
Vide Plate XXXIV.
At the sanctified place close by the other men have been stacking
firewood at different points to illuminate the proceedings during the
evening. Occasionally, too, the Illiyakuta group of men cover a portion
of the ground with a coloured emblem of the traditional emu.
Early in the afternoon of the festive day the men who will take part
in the ceremony at night begin to prepare themselves. Many of the
non-performers help them.
Large quantities of down, both vegetable and birds’, are used to decorate
the bodies. The design is shaped much like a cobbler’s apron, extending
from the neck down the front to the level of the knees. The greater part
of this surface is red, but it is lined with white and split along the
centre by two parallel lines of white. The back is not decorated at all.
The entire surface of the face, including the eye-lids and beard, is
thickly covered with down which is white, except for an oval red patch
around the mouth.
The principal attraction, however, of the sacred emu ceremony is the
head-dress, which is both elaborate and imposing. To prepare it, the
attendant combs back the actor’s hair with his fingers, and interlaces it
with stalks of grass and small twigs in such a way that a tall conical
structure results right on top of the head. This is made secure and of
a uniform exterior by winding much human hair-string around it, at the
same time taking in a plume of emu feathers at the apex of the cone.
The headgear is completely enveloped in red and white down, extending
upwards from the head as alternate vertical bands. The chief emu-man is
distinguished by an extra large headdress called the “_Illiya Altjerra
Kuta_”; this measures a good three feet in length, and it embodies,
between the apex and the emu plume, deeply enshrouded with hair-string
and down, the sacred “_Illiya Tjuringa_.” Other members who are of the
same rank as the “Tjilbakuta” guardian, wear their insignia beneath the
emu feathers in the form of a sickle-shaped rod, which carries at each
of its points a tuft of white cockatoo feathers. All performers cover
their person with a dog-tail appendage which hangs from a thin waistband
of human hair-string. And lastly, they all tie bundles of eucalyptus
twigs, with the leaves attached, to their legs just above the ankles.
If possible, old or half-dried leaves are selected in order that a more
pronounced rustling is produced when the men move about; the noise is
made to imitate the rustle of the wiry feathers of an emu. Vide Plate
XXXV.
At nightfall the Tjilbakuta is removed from the hiding place and planted
on the edge of the ensanguined patch. The guardian is thus given an
opportunity to slip away and to attend to his ceremonial toilet, which is
similar to that of the rest of the Tjilbakuta group. When he returns, the
performance is about to begin, and all except he leave the ground.
The stacks of wood are set fire to by invisible hands, and, so soon as
the flames flare upwards, the silence is broken by the booming note of a
bull-roarer, which is produced some distance off in the bush.
The Tjilbakuta guardian sits beside the object like a statue, with his
eyes rivetted to the ground immediately in front of him. From behind
him the thud of stamping feet and the rustle of dry leaves announce
the coming of the official performers, while from the other side the
non-performing members step from the darkness and take up their position
by squatting between two fires. When the decorated men come into view,
the latter start beating their boomerangs together in perfect time to
the stamping of the feet of the advancing actors. They come as a body
of five or six rows, one behind the other, each man holding his hands
locked behind his back and uttering a deep guttural note resembling a
pig’s grunt. The folded hands held over the stern represent the tail, the
guttural noise the call of the emu.
The Illiyakuta, wearing the tall Illiya Altjerra Kuta, is in the front
row, and he is attended on either side by a Tjilbakuta man. The chief now
starts a chant: “_Immara janki darrai_,” and all the others, including
the sitting men, join in; the same is repeated several times. When the
two parties are opposite each other, the performers quicken the pace of
their stamping and extend their arms sideways, thereby widening their
ranks. After this they retreat to behind the Tjilbakuta and one hears a
shrill chirping note resembling the cry of a young emu.
The interpretation of this act needs no special elucidation. The
decorated performers are those of the tribe’s manhood who, in all
matters pertaining to the emu, have a right to communicate, through the
Tjilbakuta, with the astral emu ancestor living in the great celestial
domain of the ancestral spirits, which is known as “_Altjerringa_.”
They are invoking the benign Knaninja or originator of their particular
“totem” species to increase the numbers of emu on earth for the exclusive
benefit of their tribe. It is the Illiyakuta who imagines that he
receives the favourable response from above, and, when it comes, it is he
who imitates the cry of a young emu. It often happens, however, that the
chief persuades himself to believe that the Great Spirit had not heeded
the appeal, in which case the last-mentioned cry is wanting. The ceremony
is repeated time after time.
Altjerringa, it will be observed, is a compound word consisting of
“_Altjerra_,” the Supreme Spirit, and “_inga_,” a foot or trail. The
implied idea is that Altjerringa is the “walk-about” of the spirit
ancestors, where they walk, and have always walked, and where the spirits
of all tribes-people eventually hope to find their way.
After this act, the performance becomes less restrained and takes more
the form of a corrobboree. Some of the men seize firebrands from the
burning stacks and hurl them in the direction of the women’s camp. From
the moment of the sounding of the bull-roarer at the beginning of the
ceremony until now the women sat huddled together, with their faces
buried in their hands, thoroughly cowed by the portentous happenings.
When the firebrands come whizzing through the air and crash into
the branches of the trees around them, sending sparks flying in all
directions, they are almost beyond themselves with fear. But just at
this juncture the men call upon them to look towards the festive ground
and behold them dancing. In obedience to the order, the women’s fears
are dispelled and soon superseded by a noticeable enravishment. They
feast their eyes upon the array of manhood in gala dress, and it is
not long ere they pick up the rhythm of a dance by beating time to the
step. Provided the Tjilbakuta has been removed to a place of secrecy,
well out of reach of accidental discovery, the men entreat the women to
come up and join in the song. Thus the sublime is eventually reduced to
commonplace, and the remainder of the night passes in joviality.
To refer briefly to a vegetable ceremony, we shall select the yam or
“_Ladjia Tjuringa Knaninja_.” The preparations are much the same as
those of the emu ceremony. An enclosure is first made in a secluded
spot with branches, in the centre of which the “totem” or Knaninja
“stick” is erected. Several men immediately set about to decorate it
with vegetable down as previously described. The design in this case
consists of vertical rows of red circles upon a yellow ochre background.
In addition, a large plume of split eagle-hawk feathers is stuck into
the top of the stick. All ordinary performers wear conical head-gears
or “_tdela_” made of _Cassia_ twigs, into the apices of which tightly
bound bundles of grass stalks (“_gortara_”) are fixed carrying plumes of
emu feathers (“_mangalingala_”) (Plate XXXVI, 1). Other men have squat,
cylindrical bark structures called “_elbola_” placed over their heads,
which are elaborately decorated with vertical coils of human hair-string
and coloured down.
One of the principal actors represents the “_Kuta Knaninja_.” His
head-gear consists of two long kutturu, tied together with hair-string
and completely covered with gum leaves, the whole being subsequently
besmeared with blood and decorated with coloured down. As the assistants
are dressing this character, they keep up a chant sounding like “_Winni
kutcherai_.” Vide Plate XXXVI, 2.
The leading figure is the “_Ingada Ladjia Knaninja_,” who wears a tall
vertical head-piece which contains the tjuringa of the Ladjia Knaninja.
The tjuringa is, however, not visible, but is covered with pieces of
bark, securely tied over it with hair-string, the whole being richly
decorated with vertical bands of red and white down.
The Great Spirit of the Yam, called “_Knaninja Tjilba Ladjia_,” when
he leaves Altjerringa, takes up his abode in a cave near Mount Conway,
where the tjuringas are kept, but at night, before the fires are lit, he
is supposed to come to the ceremonial ground and occupy the decorated
“totem” stick described above. During the performance he is surrounded by
all the ordinary performers, who are known as “_Tjilba Ingarrega_,” and
are directly under the guidance of the Ingada and Kuta Knaninja.
A group of men who are not decorated sit near one of the fires and sing
while the performers are thus encircling the Ladjia stick:
“_Imbanai yinga_
_Wi ma bana Ladji di bana_
_Yammana wi ma bana_
_Jai ra ja ja_
_Jai ja ja na_
_Wi ba na na_
_De a re a ja betja_,”
the voices finally fading away to an almost inaudible whisper.
If the Great Spirit, Ladjia Altjerra Knaninja, is gracious, the tap-root
of the yam will be sent deep down into the earth near the Jay River and
from there spread its laterals all over the country to supply the needs
of the tribe.
When some of the most sacred ceremonies are performed, the oldest
“relatives” of the presiding Knaninja often construct a coloured drawing
upon the consecrated ground, whose purpose is similar to that of the
“totem” stick above described. The drawing is executed in coloured down,
both vegetable and bird. A space of suitable size, often measuring many
feet in length, is cleared of grass and stones, and sprinkled with water,
when it is ready to receive the down. In the case of, say, the “_Ladjia
Tjuringa_,” the design takes the form of a number of concentric circles
alternately red and white, from the outermost of which six equally spaced
groups of red and white lines stand out radially. The enclosing border of
the design consists entirely of white down. Vide Plate XXXVII.
Once constructed, this drawing, which is known as “_Etominja_,”
is zealously guarded by one of the old men. If, peradventure, an
unauthorized person happens upon the sanctified place, he is killed and
buried immediately beneath the spot occupied by the design; thereupon the
ground is smoothed again and the Etominja re-constructed. Nobody in camp
ever hears what became of the person, and should any relative track him
in the direction of the area known to be tabooed, he is horror-stricken
and runs away.
While the old men are re-constructing the Etominja, they sing to the
Knaninja as follows:
“_Yedimidimi_
_Dakarai pa ma taka,_
_Pa mitu min jai, jin tarai,_
_Ja ra nai malgada, ja ranai._”
The next, and probably the most important, group of religious ceremonies
is that dealing with Sex-Worship. For years past peculiarly shaped stones
have been found in caves and among the possessions of the Australian
aborigines whose shape was strikingly suggestive of a phallus, but
hitherto no actual phallic ceremonies have been observed. It was my
good fortune to witness such among the Aluridja, Arunndta, Dieri, and
Cambridge Gulf tribes. From enquiries made of the old men, it appears
that in former days this form of worship was practised considerably more
than it is nowadays. New stone phallus are rarely made by the present
tribes; those in their possession have generally been inherited from
previous generations. The old men have the phallus in their keeping, and
they are very loth to either produce or part with them.
The natives of the King Sound district in the north-west believe the
origin of the phallus to be as follows: In the early times a scourge was
raging among their forefathers, from the effects of which many were daily
dying, when a hairy man and his mate, a woman of ordinary human form,
came to earth from above. The evil was due to the exhalation of poisonous
breath from the gaping jaws of a green monster resembling a crocodile.
The stranger relieved the sufferers from the awful curse by showing them
how to perform an operation upon their person which taught them to endure
pain and protected them against future ravages of the pestilence. This
great and benevolent stranger then took his departure, but left his name
to designate the surgical operation which to the present day is performed
upon the male members of the tribe; the name, strange though it may
seem, is “_Elaija_”; and it is known, at any rate, as far east as Port
George IV. But the tribe had become so weak through the terrible havoc
the disease had wrought that the old men called him back and entreated
him to stay. Elaija, however, took from a dillybag his female companion
was carrying, a stone carved after the shape of a mutilated member,
which he gave the name of “_Kadabba_.” When the old men gazed upon this
object, they took fright and appealed to Elaija, but the good fellow had
vanished. The stone has remained with the tribe ever since, and through
the divine property Elaija endowed it with, their threatened extinction
was eluded. Moreover, they continued to practise the operation on all
young men because it made their members like the Kadabba of Elaija, which
they knew had the power of multiplying their kind. And so the Kadabba
became a sacred object whose procreative power they have learned to
worship, thinking that by such observance they would augment their own
capacities of sex. Vide Fig. 7.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Stone phallus, Northern Kimberleys, Western
Australia (× 1/2).]
One often reads, and I was under the same impression myself until I
became better acquainted with the tribes, that the Australian natives
do not connect the knowledge of conception with any intercourse which
might have taken place between the sexes. This I find is not altogether
correct, although usually the younger people are kept in complete
ignorance on the subject. No doubt strangers are treated similarly when
they put any pertinent questions to the old men on matters of sex.
The old men believe in the duality of human creation, the spiritual
and the material; sexuality is regarded as the stimulus of corporeal
reproduction, but the spirit quantity is derived through mystic and
abstract influences controlled by a “totem”-spirit or Knaninja. Under
these circumstances, it is not surprising to note that the ceremonies of
the phallus are transacted principally by the old men of the tribe who
aim at the rejuvenation of their waning powers.
It is interesting to see the old men preparing for a ceremony which is to
be dedicated to a Knaninja or Spirit of Sex, because they all endeavour
to conceal the white hairs of their beards by rubbing powdered charcoal
into them. The bark of the cork tree (_Hakea_) is used for the purpose;
pieces of it are charred, crushed between the palms, and applied where
needed. It is astounding what a difference this process makes to the
appearance, and some of the old grey-beards really look as though they
had been made twenty years younger by magic.
In the eastern MacDonnell Ranges stands a cylindro-conical monolith whose
origin is believed to be as follows: Many generations ago, the paternal
ancestors of the Arunndta walked from a district situated, as near as one
can gather, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Ediowie; they were known
as the “_Kukadja_,” and were characterized by the enormous dimensions of
their organs. These old men or Tjilba of the tribe migrated northwards to
beyond Tennant’s Creek and settled in the productive “_Allaia_” country
which surrounds the Victoria River. In that same district one finds, even
at the present day, cave drawings of human beings with the anatomical
peculiarities referred to (Fig. 8). At a later time, the head-man of the
Kukadja, named “_Knurriga Tjilba_,” returned southwards to the Macdonnell
Ranges. While roaming the hills, he espied two young women sitting on the
side of a quartzite cliff, and without deliberation began to approach
them. He was in the act of making lewd overtures when the guardian of the
girls, a crow ancestor, caught sight of him and hurled a boomerang at
him. The missile struck the great man and cut off the prominent portion
of his body, which in falling stuck erect in the ground. The force of
the impact was so great that the man bounced off the earth and fell
somewhere near Barrow’s Creek. He bled so profusely that a clay-pan soon
filled with his blood. Thus his followers found him, and overcome with
sorrow they opened the veins of their arms to mix their blood with his.
Then all the members of the party jumped into the pool and disappeared
for ever.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Ochre drawing of “_Kukadja_” men, north of Wickham
River, Northern Territory (× 1/3).]
The severed portion of the old man’s body, however, remained just where
it fell and turned to stone. It has long been known as “_Knurriga Tjilba
Purra_.”
The two young women can also still be detected in the cliff as prominent
rock formations.
The stone has been protected by the tribe as long as the old men can
remember, because they realize that it contains an inexhaustible number
of unborn tribes-people. These mythic, foetal elements are generally
recognized to exist in certain objects of phallic significance, and are
called “_rattappa_.” The medicine men maintain that they can at times see
the dormant living matter in the stone. It is on that account that it is
regarded as sacred, and every now and then very secret and worshipful
ceremonies are transacted near its base, the main objects of which are to
multiply the future membership of the tribe and to preserve the sexual
powers of the old men.
The Tjilba Purra naturally figures prominently in some of their
ceremonies. In fact, it is reproduced and worn upon the head of the
leading man during the functions. The sacred effigy consists of an
upright column, about two feet high, composed of a stout bundle of grass
stalks, in the centre of which the tjuringa is contained. It is decorated
with alternating bands of red and white down throughout its length. This
upright column represents the “_Tjilba_” or revered ancestor whose spirit
is invoked to “sit” in the tjuringa; at the top of it a plume of wiry emu
feathers, well powdered with charcoal (“_unjia_”) to give it a youthful
appearance, takes the place of the forbear’s hair and beard. Standing
at an angle with the central column, a similar though slightly smaller
structure is intended for the “_Purra_” or phallus; it carries a plume
of white cockatoo feathers at its end to represent the glans. Vide Plate
XXXVIII, 2.
A landmark, of similar significance as the Tjilba Purra of the Arunndta,
exists on the Roper River in the Northern Territory; it is a pillar of
sandstone known as “_Waraka_.” Waraka is also the name of the great
Spirit Father of the tribe. In very early times this man came to earth
in a semi-human form, and made the country abound in game, animals,
birds, and fish. Then he found a woman on the shores of Carpentaria Gulf
who remained with him as his wife. Many children came of the union; and
Waraka’s mate has since been looked upon as the mother of the tribe.
The woman’s name was “_Imboromba_,” and to this day the tribe takes its
name after her. Warraka had an enormous sex characteristic which was
so ponderous that he was obliged to carry it over one of his shoulders.
Eventually the organ became so huge that Warraka collapsed and sank into
the earth. His burden remained, but turned to stone, and is now looked
upon by the local natives as the great symbol of Nature’s generative
power which first produced their game supplies and then the original
children of the tribe; it is revered accordingly.
The Kukata have a somewhat similar legend of the origin of a stone of
phallic significance, the name of the possessor of the large organ being
“_Kalunuinti_.”
In the extreme north-western corner of Australia, in the Glenelg River
district, the natural stone is replaced by an artificially constructed
one which possesses the true shape of a phallus. The stone is about three
feet long and stands in a vertical position in the ground commanding a
ceremonial cirque as if intended to watch over the proceedings which are
instituted there.
On the shores of Cambridge Gulf, a grotesque dance is performed by
the men, during which a flat, wooden phallus is used, shaped almost
like a tjuringa, about seventeen inches long and three inches wide
at the middle. It is painted in alternate bands of red and black,
running transversely across the two flat surfaces, which are, in
addition, decorated with the carved representations of the male organ
of generation. The dance takes place at night and is too intricate to
describe in detail. It is introduced by the following chant:
“_Wa, la, ja-la-la_
_Wa, la, ja-la-la_
_Wa la gori wau!_”
The verse is repeated three times, and then the performers stamp the
ground with their feet, about ten times in quick succession, the action
suggesting running without making headway. Presently, and with one
accord, the whole party falls upon the knees. The phallus is seized with
both hands and held against the pubes in an erect position, and so the
party slides over the ground from left to right, and again from right to
left. An unmistakably suggestive act follows, when the men jerk their
shoulders and lean forward to a semi-prone position, after the fashion
generally adopted by the aborigines. Still upon their knees, the men lay
the phallus upon the ground and shuffle sideways, hither and thither, but
always facing the object in front of them. After several repetitions of
this interact, the performers raise their hands, in which they are now
carrying small tufts of grass or twigs, and flourish them above their
heads, while their bodies remain prone. Then follow some very lithe,
but at the same time very significant, movements of the hips. When,
presently, they rise to their feet again, the phallus are once more
reclaimed and held with one of the pointed ends against the pubes in an
erect position. A wild dance concludes the ceremony, during which the
men become intensely agitated and emotional; very often, indeed, their
excitement, verging on hysterical sensibility, evokes an orgasm.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVI_
1. An ordinary performer in the Ladjia or yam ceremony, wearing the
“_tdela_” head-gear.
2. The impersonator of the “_Kuta Knaninja_” in the Ladjia or yam
ceremony.]
These occurrences must not be confused with the mixed intercourses
which occasionally take place at the climax of friendly corrobborees to
celebrate the meeting of neighbouring tribes. In this case we merely have
to do with an inter-sexual embrace following an animated orgy, in which
those members of both tribes standing in the general relationship of
husband to wife take part.
The Dieri have a number of long cylindro-conical stones in their
possession which are supposed to temporarily contain the male element of
certain ancestral spirits now residing in the sky as their recognized
deities. These are on an average about fifteen inches long and an inch
and a half in diameter, circular in transverse section and pointed at
one end. The old men have these phallus in their custody, and are very
unwilling to let them get out of their reach because they believe the
virility of the tribe is dependent upon the preservation of the stones.
Should one of them be accidentally lost, the mishap is calculated as
little short of disastrous; should a stranger find the object, the
old men maintain that evil will come to him, and if he keeps it he
will die. The stone is used principally during religious ceremonies
connected with sex-worship, but it is also produced during some of the
initiation practices. After he has submitted to the “gruesome rite” in
his initiation, a novice is required to carry the stone, firmly pressing
it against his body with his arm, until he is overcome by the exhaustion
occasioned by the painful ordeal. By so doing, the young fellow’s virile
powers are supposed to receive considerable stimulation through the
agency of the phallus he carries. The object drops into the sand beside
him; and, when he recovers, he returns to the men’s camp without it. Two
of the old men thereupon track the lad’s outward course and recover their
sacred stone to take it back to a place of safety.
The tribes inhabiting the great stony plains of central Australia
and those adjoining them, and also the Victoria Desert tribes, are
occasionally in possession of nodular ironstone and concretionary
sandstone formations, of the “natural freak” kind, which simulate
the _membrum virile_ to a marked degree. These are believed to have
been left them by a deified ancestor and are kept by the old men as a
sacred legacy; they answer in every way the purpose of an artificially
constructed phallus.
Closely allied to the phallic significance given to natural pillars of
rock and smaller imitative specimens, is the idea that natural clefts
in the earth represent a female character. Killalpaninna is the name
of a small lake lying about fifty miles east of Lake Eyre in central
Australia, it being the contracted form of the two words, “_killa_” and
“_wulpanna_,” which stand for that typical of woman. It is the conviction
of the Dieri tribe that when a person, especially one stricken with
senility or enfeebled by sickness, at a certain hour passes from the
water of the lake into the open, and is not seen doing so by the women,
he is re-born and rejuvenated, or at any rate cured of his decrepitness.
In this sense Killa-Wulpanna has from time immemorial been an aboriginal
Mecca, to which pilgrims have found their way from far and wide to seek
remedy and solace at the great matronal chasm which has such divine
powers to impart. This fact is of particular interest, since a native,
generally speaking, is superstitious about entering any strange water,
and does so very reluctantly, thinking that, by doing so, the evil spirit
will foist disease upon him through the medium of the water.
A singular stone exists in Ellery Creek, a short distance south of the
MacDonnell Ranges, which is called “_Arrolmolbma_.” It was at this place
that a tribal ancestor, named “_Rukkutta_,” a long time ago met a young
gin, “_Indorida_,” and captured her. The stone at the present time shows
a cleft and two depressions which are supposed to be the knee-marks
of Rukkutta. On account of the intimacy which took place, the stone
is believed to be teeming with rattappa, which entered by the cleft.
The ancient Arunndta men used to make this stone the object of special
veneration, and during the sacred ceremonies which took place at the
spot, they used to produce carved slabs of stone they called “_Altjerra
Kutta_” (i.e. the Supreme Spirit’s Stone or Tjuringa). These inspirited
slabs of stone, being of the two sexes, were allowed to repeat the
indulgent act of Rukkutta and Indorida, while the natives themselves
rubbed red ochre over the sacred stone of Arrolmolba, and engaged in
devotion. The act of rubbing red ochre over the surface of the stone
was supposed to incite the sexual instinct of the men and to vivify the
virile principle of the tribe. By this performance the men believed
they took from the pregnant rock the embryonic rattappa which in the
invisible form entered the wombs of the gins and subsequently came to
the world as the young representatives of the tribe they called “_kadji
kurreka_.”
Among the cave drawings of Australia, designs are here and there met with
depicting scenes from ceremonies having to do with phallicism and other
sex-worship. In the picture reproduced from the Pigeon Hole district on
the Victoria River (Fig. 9), one notices a man of the Kukadja type who
was named “_Mongarrapungja_” in the act of dancing around a sacred fire
with an ancestral female. The organ of the Kukadja, it will be observed,
passes into the flame, whence a column of smoke is rising to find its
way to the body of a gin which is drawn in outline above the dancers.
Here we have the representation of a traditional ceremony associating the
Kukadja’s phallus with the impregnating medium supplied by fire, which,
we have already learned, may be looked for in the column of smoke.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVII_
The sacred “_Etominja_,” Arunndta tribe.
“If, peradventure, an unauthorized person happens upon the sanctified
place, he is killed and buried immediately beneath the spot occupied by
the design; ...”]
The Australian tribes, without exception, believe in the existence of an
evil spirit, or Demogorgon, who prowls their camps at night. It is on
this account that natives are loth to leave the glare of the camp-fire,
fearing they might be caught and injured by the spirit. In reality, they
picture this fellow much as we do a ghost. Ordinarily he is invisible,
and during the day haunts the graves of the dead tribesmen. At nightfall
he opens the grave and walks about under cover of the dead man’s
skeleton; the natives often imagine they can hear the bones rattling as
he passes near them; and they shudder with fear. It is on this account
that they imagine the spirit to be not brown like themselves, but white,
the colour of bone. If he catches anybody roaming alone, he will bite his
victim in the abdomen and the latter perceives an unpleasant feeling or
pain in that region. So far as one can ascertain, the symptoms of this
damage are those of an acute attack of dyspepsia. The Arunndta call this
ghost “_Iltdana_.”
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Charcoal drawing of a Kukadja man named
“_Mongarrapungja_” dancing at a sacred fire with an ancestral female,
Pigeon Hole, Victoria River (× 1/3). Tracing.]
There is another evil creature which is at large after dark; it is known
by the Arunndta as “_Erinnja_.” It is supposed to have fleshy parts, a
tail, and large projecting teeth; it runs like a dog, and possesses only
one large toe on each foot. If it catches anybody unawares, it will turn
the captive’s head back to front. The natives claim that this monster has
a predilection for opening people’s navels with a bone nose-stick. It
takes children from their mothers and ties them to trees for the great
mythical dogs to feed upon; for this reason the terrified mothers often
place meat outside their huts to appease Erinnja’s hunger. The Nangarri
or medicine men imagine they can detect the presence of the brute when it
is about, and they immediately exhort the people by informing them of the
impending mischief.
At times it is necessary to protect a person or party from likely harm
or witchcraft emanating from the supposed presence of an evil spirit.
It may be that a warrior is indisposed and is anticipating molestation,
or a number of men may wish to perform a sacred ceremony during which
the evil spirit may be thought an undesirable listener. The Nangarri or
medicine man alone has it in his power to exorcise the demon. And after
the surroundings have been clarified of all deterrent contamination,
he proceeds to mark off an area around the man or party concerned with
selected stones which he consecrates. This area, mostly oval or circular
in shape, remains a strict taboo to all beyond its confines, and is
believed to disenchant any morbid influence the evil spirit may bring to
bear upon it. If, in the former case, he wishes to further protect his
patient, he places some green gum leaves over the sufferer’s body. Vide
Plate XXXIX.
Although a spiritual Evil Being is feared more than a Good is revered,
the existence of the latter is faithfully admitted, so far as our
personal experience goes, by both the central and northern Australian
tribes; and such a belief has, moreover, been found by reliable observers
among the now practically extinct tribes of southern Australia.
According to the late Dr. A. W. Howitt, the natives of Victoria and New
South Wales used to speak with bated breath of a great Supernatural Being
which once inhabited the earth and now lives in the sky. The belief is
original and not in any way due to missionary influence. The oldest
myths, such as only the untaught and unsophisticated grey-beards can
tell, contain references to the existence on earth in ancestral times
of convivial beings, kindly disposed towards the people, who eventually
found their way to the sky by way of towering trees, since destroyed
by fire. The Supreme Being is called by the Arunndta “_Altjerra_,” by
the Fowler’s Bay natives “_Nyege_,” and by the Aluridja “_Tukura_.” The
benign Altjerra roams about the sky (“_Alkurra_”) and keeps a watchful
eye upon the doings of the tribes beneath him. The natives are so
convinced of his ubiquitous presence that the Arunndta, for instance,
have a favourite exclamation when committing themselves on oath in the
form of “_Altjerr’m arrum_,” meaning something like “_Altjerra_ hear it”;
that is, an appeal is made to Altjerra as witness to what is said, much
after the way a school child endeavours to convince one of the truth of
an utterance by exclaiming: “God strike me dead if I tell a lie.”
The etymology of the Supreme Being’s name is often really poetical. The
Sunday Islanders, for instance, recognize such a Super-Being whom they
call “_Kaleya Ngungu_.” This name embodies in it the ideas of the past as
well as of the future. “_Kaleya_” in that locality means the “finish” of
anything, or even “Good-bye,” while “ngung” stands for that which is to
come or is to be. The implication is that this Great Being has emerged
from the obscurity of bygone days and continues to live into the still
greater uncertainty of times ahead. From a religious point of view,
then, we note here a recognition of a spiritual quantity whose influence
has been exercised uninterruptedly from the earliest past, and will be
continued again, and forever.
So, too, the name of the Aluridja God, “_Tukura_,” is composed of two
words expressing the ideas of genesis and eternity. In the same sense,
the Arunndta regard their demi-gods, or “_Altjerrajarra namitjimma_,” as
being the creators of life, although as such they themselves continue
to live uninterruptedly and _ad infinitum_. And we have already noted
that they roam for ever in the great celestial “walk-about,” which is
known as “_Altjerringa_” by the Arunndta, “_Talleri_” by the Kukata, and
“_Wirrewarra_” by the Narrinyerri.
To this consummate home all spirits of the dead find their way and
there join their spirit ancestors. In fact, so many have gone to the
happy ground that most tribes look upon the stars as the camp-fires
and fire-sticks of their departed relatives and friends. It is on
this account that many stars have been named after notable tribesmen,
the natives imagining that they can discover the new addition in the
firmament after the deceased has been interred. Whenever a shooting star
is observed travelling towards the earth, it is taken to be the spirit of
one returning temporarily to its terrestrial haunts.
CHAPTER XXVIII
ABORIGINAL ART
Psycho-analysis of the conception of art—Oldest records
appear as rock carvings—Descriptions from several
localities—Evidences of great antiquity—Tree carvings—Carved
grave-posts of Melville Islanders—Carvings on wooden
weapons—Engraved boabab nuts—Carved pearl-shell—Bone not
carved to any considerable extent—Charcoal, kaolin, and
ochre drawings—Cave drawings—Ochre mines and legends—Barter
with ochre—Preparation and application of pigment—Hand and
foot marks—General picture of cave drawings—Ochre drawings
on sheets of bark—Ochre body decorations—Coloured down and
ground designs—Study of designs in detail—Subsidiary sketches
of determinative character—All features of model shown on one
plane—Keen observers—Natural features of rock surface embodied
in design—Celestial phenomena artistically explained—The
emu—Perspective—Action—Animation—Composition—“Totem”
designs—Sacred designs—Remarkable drawings from the Glenelg
River—Conventional drawings and patterns—Tracks of man, animal,
and bird—Images in the sky—Fish—Flying fox—Fleeing kangaroo—A
fight—Time symbols—Circle-within-circle and U-within-U
designs—Kangaroo, caterpillar, and native pear-tjuringa
drawings—Anthropomorphous designs.
No truer insight could be obtained into the mind of a primitive man
than by means of a psycho-analysis of his artistic productions and
predilections. Like most other peoples, past or present, the Australian
aboriginal has developed his talents to an astonishing degree. Just as
is true of his dances and musical performances, the real value of a
production can only be appreciated by one who can throw himself, heart
and soul, into the responsive, reciprocative, and assimilative mood and
atmosphere the artist endeavours to create. The psychological factor
is the more important; an aboriginal’s design may be crude, but his
imagination is, nevertheless, wonderful; we see the line, but he sees
the life; we behold the image, he the form. In the absence of such a
psychological reciprocation, however, the effect and quality of any
artistic production may fall flat. Indeed, we ask, what is contained in a
mere line? With due deference to the Euclidian definition, a line, from
a primitive point of view, might represent almost anything, provided the
necessary imagination is there; and it is just this imagination which
is particularly cultivated by the primitive man. The question arises:
“Who is the better artist: the man who can satisfy himself or the man
who can satisfy others?” The former is unquestionably the more primitive
idea of satisfaction. Simplicity of design is by no means indicative of
a deficiency in talent, provided the inventor has evolved the necessary
imagination which permits him to behold in a design before him the
reality of the original. This instinct is common to all mankind; we have
only to observe our own children to appreciate the excellence of their
creative talent and imagination when they are at play among themselves.
Modern adult man is too realistic, perhaps too unnatural; he cries for
something tangible, something concrete to appease his tastes. Just as
one often sees youngsters, European as well as aboriginal, playing at
their favourite game of “father and mother,” assuming certain inanimate
objects, like sticks, to represent their children, so the aboriginal
artist’s imaginative mind can actually see the real living picture
contained in the crude diagram before him; he conveys his thoughts to
his fellows by means of a lengthy verbal explanation, and, when they
have caught the idea, they can wax as enthusiastic over the thing as the
artist himself. This sentiment we have sacrificed to a certain extent. It
is difficult to say exactly who is an artist and who is not. By nature
we are all artists, and most of us can satisfy our individual needs in
a more or less conventional way. But to pose as a modern artist, it
is required of us to be able to take the inspiration from Nature and
reproduce it in such a way that others are able to grasp the significance
or beauty of the design without more explanation than a mere title. Yet
the conception of “art” is a variable and relative measure, and we know
well there have been different tendencies and schools, some of which
are so highly specialized that the untrained mind cannot grasp, or even
admire, the quality of the reproduction, because it cannot see with the
same eye as the artist specialist. Here, then, we have a reversion to the
primitive instinct, combined with all the perfections and skill which
culture and training have evolved during the long space of time lying
between a primitive foundation and the high standard of modern excellence.
The oldest records of primitive art in Australia are preserved in the
form of carvings upon rock surfaces, akin to those found in parts of
Europe, South Africa, and Egypt. The technique of these carvings is
twofold. At Port Jackson, and elsewhere along the coast of New South
Wales, and to a small extent at Port Hedland in Western Australia, a
great variety of representations of fish, animals, and men have been cut
and scraped in outline into the surface of the rock; in the Mann Ranges
also, certain nondescript designs were found lightly scratched upon the
surface of some diorite outcrops with a fragment of rock. At different
points in the northern Flinders Ranges, at Yunta, at Eureowie in New
South Wales, on the Flinders and Burnett Rivers in Queensland, and also
at Port Hedland in Western Australia, an extensive series of designs
occurs which has been chipped into the rocks with the aid of pointed
stone chisels. The carvings at Port Hedland and those in the Flinders
Ranges are very old indeed. In fact, they are so old that none of the
tribes now living remember anything about them, and refer to them as
being the handicraft of the Evil Spirit.
The most striking feature about the Port Jackson carvings is the large
size of individual designs, some of the fish measuring nearly thirty feet
in length, and some of the kangaroo over ten feet in height. That the
carvings have been made for generations past is evident from the fact
that in places a practically obliterated design has been covered, and
re-covered, with new designs.
At Port Hedland there are many acres of a low limestone plateau literally
covered with carvings, many of which are badly weather-beaten; several
of the carvings are of the scraped type found at Port Jackson. The
accompanying illustrations depict a chosen number of the Port Hedland
designs drawn to scale.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Rock carvings at Port Hedland (× 1/20).]
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Rock Carvings at Port Hedland (× 1/20).]
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Rock carvings at Port Hedland (× 1/20).]
Among them we observe: Two turtles (_Figs._ 1 and 2), the one of
which (_Fig._ 1) being shown in a dorsal aspect, the other (_Fig._ 2)
apparently in a ventral; two large fish (_Figs._ 3 and 4) resembling the
Port Jackson type; a lizard track (_Fig._ 5), showing the trail of the
tail in the centre; a human foot-print (_Fig._ 7), with an emu track
above it; a large stingray (_Fig._ 8), with protruding eyes and long tail
standing erect; a shark’s liver (_Fig._ 9), at any rate, it was described
as such by a native; a stingray’s liver (_Fig._ 10); an emu track
(_Fig._ 11); a lizard (_Fig._ 12); shields (_Figs._ 16, 18, 19, 21,
30), variously decorated; boomerangs (_Figs._ 14, 15, 20, 27, 28, 32),
variously decorated; spear-throwers (_Figs._ 22 and 31); a corrobboree
plume (_Fig._ 33), such as is worn in the hair or stuck in the armlets
during many of the ceremonial dances; pubic tassels (_Figs._ 34, 35, 36),
used as a covering, suspended from a hair belt; a “circle-within-circle”
design (_Fig._ 39), often figuring conspicuously among emblematic and
ceremonial patterns; a human foot-print (_Fig._ 37); a dog track (_Fig._
38); a lizard (_Fig._ 41); a group of figures (_Fig._ 40), consisting of
a spiral, of similar significance as _Fig._ 39, a chain of turkey tracks
on the right, and three paired tracks of a bounding wallaby on the left.
One or two of the remaining smaller figures are of doubtful meaning, the
most remarkable being _Fig._ 25, which for an aboriginal ideograph is
extraordinarily complex and symmetrical.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVIII_
1. Singing to the presiding spirit or Knaninja of the old women or
“_Arrekutja Tjuringa_.”
2. Ceremonial head-gear (“_Tjilba Purra_”) of phallic significance.]
We shall next consider a number of figures in this series which have to
do with the human form. In some cases the attempts at representing the
human body have been very crude (_Figs._ 17, 45, 46), and it would be
difficult to recognize the results if it were not for the association
of these figures with others in which the human form is more evident.
In _Fig._ 13 we behold a man whose attitude suggests that he is either
walking or dancing; in all probability the former, because his body
is not in any way decorated to suggest a ceremony. But when we look
at _Fig._ 42, our attention is drawn to the fact that the man there
represented is wearing a pubic tassel hanging from his belt, carrying
a tall head-gear, and has tribal markings or scars upon his chest;
moreover, in this case the eyes and mouth are shown, but not the
nose. In _Figs._ 6, 43, and 44, pubic appendages are shown, which in
all probability are intended to represent a hair tassel in the first
instance, and pearl shell in the others; head-gears are also indicated.
All the figures have the arms extended as if a dancing attitude were
attempted by the artist. It is most unusual to find all the facial
features, including the chin, represented as in _Fig._ 44. There is no
neck shown in any of the last-mentioned figures, although in other cases
(_Fig._ 13) it is clearly indicated. It will be observed that in several
of the figures (_Figs._ 6, 42, 44), the feet are represented by their
tracks. The only remaining figure is that of a dancing gin (_Fig._ 29),
the characteristic position of whose arms suggests the dance during which
they hold a skein of hair or fibre-string between their hands to jerk it
to and fro.
A real illustration of the Port Hedland type of carving is presented in
Plate XL, 1, but owing to the carving occurring upon a horizontal plane,
the tilting of the camera, which was necessary, has rather seriously
distorted the design. A correct copy is, however, included among the
designs reproduced on page 300 (_Fig._ 10, 6).
Turning now to the pre-historic carvings of the Flinders Ranges and
other localities cited, it would be impossible to discuss the enormous
number of designs in anything like detail, without unduly burdening the
dimensions of this volume. At certain places, like Deception Creek and
Yunta, the carvings are so numerous that it is difficult to find a space
entirely devoid of any; the places are deserving of being ranked as
primitive art galleries, and every endeavour should be made to preserve
them as such. Considerable care must have been taken in the execution
of these carvings, since either the outline or the entire area of every
design has been diligently chipped away. And the work of hours must have
run into the labour of years, yea, of generations, because at one or two
spots like Yunta one design has been carved over the top of another,
time after time, until eventually the ground appeared as though it were
covered with an elaborate carpet. A few illustrations only will be
selected to serve as types of the handiwork to be found in such great
profusion.
In the first picture (Plate XL, 2), a design will be observed near
the centre consisting of seven parallel vertical lines lying beneath
a horizontal band. From what we have learned above, we shall have no
difficulty in recognizing the shape of a pubic tassel or apron, so
commonly used throughout Australia. Immediately to the left of this is
the image of a long lizard clearly and wholly intagliated into the rock;
whilst just above the tassel, and a little to the right of it, stands the
form of a creature with two legs, a plump body, two large eyes (appearing
like circles at the top), and an elevated beak between them—this is the
representation of an owl! About midway between owl and lizard is a small
mark resembling an inverted broad arrow which stands for the track of a
bustard, commonly called wild turkey.
The next illustration (Plate XLI, 1) may, for convenience of discussion,
be divided into two halves by the joint-fissure which is seen running
vertically down the middle of the picture. In the centre of the left-hand
half, the dark, and deeply pitted, shape of a human foot-print, with the
toes pointing upwards, will be apparent. Upon the brightly illuminated
surface above it, the vertical strands of a pubic tassel are indistinctly
visible; whilst on the left of the foot-print a small wallaby track has
been cut, in which the long median toes, as well as the lateral, have
been truly imitated. Beneath the latter, upon the elevated portion of
rock, is a single corrobboree circle. But the most interesting figure
is near the centre of the right-hand half of the picture; the creature
it most resembles is the duck-billed platypus. The “duck-bill” is very
conspicuous, whilst the head, the plump body, and the stumpy tail all
agree with the appearance of the platypus, even to the claws, which are
clearly seen on the right hind leg. It is, of course, possible that the
carving was intended to stand for a native “hedge-hog” or _Echidna_, but
the former explanation would seem more true to Nature. The remaining
carvings are principally representations of the paired spoors of wallaby
and kangaroo.
The following two photographs (Plate XLI, 2, and Plate XLII, 1) present
similar subjects, the carvings consisting of an array of corrobboree
circles, human foot-prints, and tracks of wallaby, kangaroo, and turkey.
A new feature is contained in the upper illustration in the shape of the
claws of kangaroo or possibly of the human hand; these are seen in the
top right-hand quarter.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIX_
A disenchanted area, Victoria River district.
“This area, mostly oval or circular in shape, remains a strict taboo
to all beyond its confines, and is believed to disenchant any morbid
influence the evil spirit may bring to bear upon it.”]
It will be admitted that these primitive carvings or petroglyphs of
the northern Flinders Ranges have more than a passing resemblance to
the ancient graffiti of Egypt. It will be noticed, too, that the last
illustration includes a slab of rock upon which some of the designs only
occur in part. This is because the slab has fallen from its original
position, since the carvings were made upon it; and so, at several
points, portion of a design can be seen upon a rock lying in the valley,
whilst the piece belonging to it might be detected, still _in situ_, up
in a cliff. This in itself seems to suggest that the work of ages has
been going on since the ancient artists put their talents to a test.
It is astounding to what height above the level of the ground the natives
must have climbed to decorate the rock faces with their carvings; in many
instances atmospheric denudation has so altered the shape of the cliffs
that it would be impossible at the present day to reach some of the
designs, to say nothing of finding a footing to undertake the carving.
But more, several cases were observed where a design was bisected by a
gaping fissure; all the evidence was in favour of the separated portions
of the design having originally been contiguous, but subsequent earth
movement had forced them asunder. In addition to the actual cleft
existing between the two portions of a design, cases were noted where a
slight faulting had occurred along the fissure, through which one side of
the disrupted design stood at a measurably higher level than the other.
The strongest geological evidence in support of the great antiquity of
these carvings, however, is in the presence of a dark rust-coloured
_patina_ or glossy surface film which everywhere covers the exposures of
the rock and carvings as well. These protective films are characteristic
of all desert and arid regions. In Egypt, it has been ascertained that
the presence of the patina is a ready means of distinguishing primitive
carvings from those made within historic reckoning. Professor G.
Schweinfurth, the famous Egyptologist, has pointed out that whereas the
prehistoric carvings are covered by the patina, the incised hieroglyphics
of even the fifth and sixth Dynasty at El Kab are as fresh-looking as
though they had been carved yesterday. In some of the Australian examples
there is no appreciable difference between the thickness of the film on
the rock and that covering the design; in others the designs look quite
fresh, or, if they show anything at all, it is but a rudimentary glaze.
The conclusion is that some of the Australian designs must, upon this
evidence alone, be regarded as extremely old.
But there is further evidence. If we could definitely claim the platypus
design as authentic, it would mean that the ancient artist was familiar
with the form of an animal which at the present time is quite unknown
in central Australia. But geology tells us that in times gone by, in
the Pliocene period, perhaps even later, all the great lake systems
of the Australian interior were not salt, as they are now, but fresh
water. Under those conditions, it is quite feasible that the duck-billed
monotreme might easily have lived in that region; if so, it might have
supplied prehistoric man in Australia with a model he perpetuated in the
rocks.
The platypus design is by no means unique. Among the carvings at Yunta
there are several depicting the spoor of a very large animal, which
are rounded at one end like a heel and have four or five serrations
resembling toe-marks at the other. The picture is not unlike that of a
wombat track, but the dimensions are far too great. The Yunta “tracks”
measure nearly ten inches in length and are practically the same in
width. There is no animal living in Australia at the present time
whose track would be anything like as large; the nearest known animal
which might answer the form of the carving would perhaps be that of a
hippopotamus. This animal is, of course, not indigenous to Australia,
but we know that an extinct animal, probably not unlike a hippopotamus,
used to roam the fertile plains of central Australia in Pliocene times;
that was the _Diprotodon_. In the accompanying sketch I have placed a
tracing of the Yunta carving beside one of the reconstructed _manus_ of
the Diprotodon, and one must admit that there is a plausible agreement
between the two. Vide Fig. 13.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Sketch of reconstructed manus of _Diprotodon_
compared with tracing of carving of supposed _Diprotodon_ track at Yunta
(× 1/8).]
An aboriginal never exaggerates the dimensions of a track when drawing
from Nature. Upon this point, indeed, he is most exacting, because upon
an accurate knowledge of and familiarity with such things his very
livelihood depends, and the acquisition of accuracy represents part of
the recognized standard of his educational system. He would never, for
instance, draw the track of a wallaby larger than it is in reality,
because confusion would immediately arise as to whether it might not be
that of a kangaroo or euro; and if he drew it smaller than it actually
is, doubt would be raised as to whether it might not represent the track
of a kangaroo-rat, or even of a marsupial mouse. So, too, when he wishes
to draw a turkey track, he has to be careful, because if he makes it
bigger than it should be, it might be mistaken for that of an emu; and if
he makes it smaller, people who see the track might take it to be that of
a curlew, or even of a plover.
For the above reason alone, a native would never draw the track of a
wombat on the elaborate scale of the Yunta carving. Furthermore, there
are some exceptionally large bird tracks carved into the rocks at
Balparana, in the Flinders Ranges, which seem too big to be intended for
those of an emu; the question might reasonably be asked whether they
could not have been made by a primitive hunter at a time when the now
extinct “moa” or _Genyornis_ still lived in Australia.
A type of decorative art quite similar to the ancient rock carvings,
though on a much smaller scale, is to be found on the stone-tjuringas of
the Arunndta, Tjingali, and other central Australian tribes. The designs,
like those on the wooden objects, consist largely of engraved circles,
straight and sinuous lines, and tracks of totemic significance. The
intaglios are usually tinted with red ochre.
Leaving the discussion of carved rocks and stones for the time being, and
directing our attention to the subject of carved trees, we find that this
interesting cult flourished principally in the tribal territories which
are now included in the State of New South Wales and the extreme southern
portion of Queensland, the haunts of tribes now practically extinct.
The design or decoration was either carved straight into the bark, or
the latter was previously removed and the cutting done in the sapwood or
heartwood. Great variety was displayed in the choice of designs. Some
were crude and unshapely, others neatly and cleanly cut and of intricate
pattern; among them were perfect geometrical designs, consisting of
groups of circles and quadrilateral figures, usually concentric and often
combined with parallel, wavy, zig-zag, or spiral lines; yet another
class of design would consist of some animal or human form, more or less
grotesquely modified.
The object of this elaborate tree-carving was of a twofold nature.
Firstly a certain number of trees would be so treated, within the
immediate surroundings of the grave of a notable tribesman, to
permanently mark the place of sepulchre; and, secondly, the butt of a
tree commanding the ground of an initiation ceremony might have been so
distinguished, if the importance of the occasion warranted it.
Along the north-west coast of Australia, where the boabab tree
flourishes, the tribes often carve animalistic and other designs into the
bark, which, on account of its softness, lends itself admirably for the
purpose. The carvings are usually to be found near a camp or at the site
of an ordinary corroboree ground. The designs, once they have been cut
into the bark, remain there during the life of the tree. The accompanying
illustration (Plate XLII, 2) depicts an emu, which stands three feet
high, carved into a boabab off King Sound, Western Australia. The whole
of the bark within the area occupied by the design has been removed. The
feet, it will be observed, are portrayed in a perfectly free way in order
to leave no doubt in the mind of an observer as to the track the bird
actually makes. Two other figures stood beside the emu, cut in a similar
way into the bark of the same tree; one was a snake, a shade over five
feet in length, the other an emu track.
In place of the carved trees, the Melville and Bathurst Islanders erect
carved and painted posts around the graves of their people—men, women,
and children alike. These pillars, which are of hard and heavy wood, are
from four to six feet high, circular in section, and have the top carved
into a “head” of one or other of the patterns drawn in the accompanying
figure. The top of the pillar is either flat, rounded, or pointed, the
“head” being formed by cutting one or more circumferential grooves of
chosen width, and at chosen distances, below the top. At times an oblong
hole is cut transversely through the post five or six inches from the
top, leaving only two narrow strips of timber, one on either side, to
support the “head” thus formed. Vide Fig. 14.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Carved grave posts of Melville and Bathurst
Islanders (× 1/40).]
Designs and patterns quite similar to, but on a smaller scale than those
cut on trees, are found carved upon weapons of some of the tribes.
Shields and spear-throwers are those most commonly found decorated with
incised patterns. Some of the hardwood shields of the River Murray tribes
are richly incised with parallel, zig-zag, and geniculate lines, and
with squares standing point to point in a longitudinal line, all the
spaces between the squares being filled in with parallel “elbows.” The
Worora tribe at Port George IV, on the other hand, decorate their shields
with fantastic representations of snakes, emus, and tracks of various
animals. The light-wood shields of central Australia are destitute of
any ornamentation except wide and shallow longitudinal grooves, which
are also characteristic of the bark food-carriers in use all over the
continent of Australia.
So far as spear-throwers are concerned, the handsomely carved specimens
produced by the natives of the Warburton and Gascoyne Rivers, and of the
King Leopold Ranges in Western Australia, deserve special mention. The
favourite pattern in that region appears to be longitudinal geniculate
bands, alternately incised lengthwise and crosswise, together giving
the effect of a false herring-bone motive. A new element is introduced
in wood-carving in the ceremonial spear-throwers of central Australian
tribes by the inclusion of the concentric circles pattern already
referred to; the Arunndta in particular produce some very showy specimens
on gala occasions. The decoration is very finely graved upon the inner
flat surface. The old Victorian types occasionally had pictures of
animals, birds, and men carved upon them.
Boomerangs are often decorated with incised patterns, but more frequently
the decoration is only lightly graved into the wood with the point of a
stone-knife or with the sharp cutting edge of a shell, tooth, or bone.
From an art point of view, the finest productions come from the north
of Western Australia. The King Leopold Ranges natives cover one whole
side of their boomerangs with an incised pattern, consisting usually of
parallel geniculate lines, false herring-bone, or concentric rhomboids
posed along a median line. Some of the most attractive specimens,
however, come from the Pidunga tribe at Broome. These natives covered
both surfaces of the missile with a wonderful variety of designs, which
included excellent representations of emu, kangaroo, snakes, crocodiles,
turtle, tracks of every description, dancing men, corrobboree circles,
and many decorative designs. Other articles, such as adze-handles,
tjuringas, and message sticks, are carved after much the same fashion.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Ochre drawing, Glenelg River, Western Australia
(× 1/8).]
There is yet another class of incised decorative art to record which is
found in the far north of Western Australia. The King Sound and other
natives of the northern Kimberley district have developed a cult quite
peculiar to themselves, in that they carve ornate designs upon the brown
surface of the large nuts of the boabab. The method they have adopted
is to hold the nut firmly in the left hand and work the designs into the
dark, outer layer of the shell with the sharp point of a bone, or, as is
the case nowadays, with the point of a piece of iron wire or of a pocket
knife. The instrument is held in the right hand, with the four fingers
against the palm, while the thumb is laid straight along it on top. The
nut is steadied against the body whilst the point of the instrument is
applied from the distant side. By applying semi-rotary movements with
the hand, the point is made to plough forwards, and by so doing the
thin, brown surface-skin is broken and falls away, leaving a white, and
slightly jagged, line upon a dark background. Many are the designs which
cover the surface of a boabab nut; and it must be admitted the artists
exercise considerable judgment in the grouping of the subjects displayed.
Among the more important figures are included animals, birds, reptiles,
fish, and human beings, besides many of a more complicated and less
apparent nature. Vide Plate XLIII, 1.
The north-western tribes, from Broome to Wyndham, and to a lesser extent
those of the Northern Territory, artistically decorate the pearl-shell
coverings they wear suspended from the belt by cutting designs into the
smooth surface of the inner shell of the oyster. By rubbing powdered
red ochre into the portions thus roughened, the carvings stand out in
bold contrast against the nacreous background. The designs are largely
conventional and often embody the human form; a few tracks of animals or
of birds are also occasionally added.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Carved crocodile design on boabab nut, Derby
district, Western Australia (× 3/5). Tracing.]
Unlike his racial relative, who used to live in Europe during the Stone
Age, the Australian aboriginal does not pay much attention to the carving
of bone. The little he does, in fact, is more utilitarian than artistic.
We have had occasion to note that the old Murray River tribes used to
make the points of their spear-throwers of bone. In central Australia a
wing bone of the pelican is cut at both ends and worn through the septum
of the nose; occasionally one end is plugged with triodia resin whilst
the hollow in the opposite end carries a plume. Not infrequently the
slender ulna of a kangaroo serves a similar purpose; the shaft is cut
about six inches from one end and sharpened by scraping it with a stone
fragment; the condyles are left intact to represent the head of the pin.
Two types of bone fish-hooks have already been referred to.
The central tribes make a useful gouge out of a strong hollow bone of the
kangaroo or dingo by splitting it longitudinally and grinding down its
ends on the slope. The implement thus fashioned has a sharp, bevelled,
semi-cylindrical cutting edge at either one or both ends.
We now come to the consideration of another big and important branch of
primitive art, which comprises the charcoal, kaolin, and ochre drawings
of the aboriginal of Australia. As did his palæolithic relative in the
Old World, the aboriginal during the rainy season spends much of his time
under the cover of overhanging rock shelters, well within the cheerful
influence of his never-failing fire. Moreover, in mid-summer months,
when the heat of the sun becomes intense, he often finds his way to
the same haunts to have the full benefit of the shade the solid walls
of rock produce. Congregated under these conditions, there are always
some who spend their time in decorating the surrounding walls of the
cave. This may be done for purely æsthetic reasons, or as the result
of a discussion, or, indeed, to sanctify the abode and so to make it
impregnable to the Evil Spirit. Whatever the reason may be, the mere act
of drawing a figure upon the wall by a recognized artist always solicits
the patronage of many, who will follow the different manipulations of
the entertainer with considerable interest. There are usually a few men
in every tribe who have established a reputation as artists; and their
work is prized by the heads and protected by tribal law from the hands of
vandals who would at a frivolous moment deface or disfigure a work of art
which the tribe is proud to look upon as their own. It is gratifying to
observe that there is very little tendency on the part of the aboriginal,
humble as he is, to destroy wantonly or deliberately a work designed to
create an environment for him during his leisure or to protect his body
and kin against aggression by evil during the darkness of night.
[Illustration: Fig. 17. “_Dangorra_,” the great emu in the southern sky.]
Usually the interior of rock shelters and caves has, in consequence of
long ages of weathering and mineral precipitation, become deeply stained
and dark in colour. In addition, the continued burning of fires within
has helped to smut the stony roof. This condition makes an admirable
background for the application of colour. Where the wall is black,
charcoal naturally finds no favour, and the pigments available are
reduced to white, yellow, and red.
Pipe-clay and ochres are always stocked in quantity; not a tribe in the
whole of Australia has ever been known to be without them. Where the
tribal ground is not in possession of natural deposits, supplies are
obtained from a neighbouring tribe, it may be from considerable distance,
by barter or by an actual expedition to the ochre mine.
In quite the same sense as modern peoples refer to red ochre as
blood-stone, the natives of Australia connect the formation of the
natural, red pigment with blood mythologically.
There is a fine deposit of red ochre in the Flinders Ranges, near
Parachilna, which for ages past has supplied more than one tribe with
pigment; the mine was known as Yarrakinna. The ochre was regarded as the
blood of a sacred emu which was there killed by a horde of wild dogs.
From time immemorial the “Salt-water Tribe” used to send a number of its
men across from Queensland to obtain a large supply of the precious stone
at the spot and return with it to their native ground.
The expedition would be under the leadership of an old man, and his party
would consist of young men who had recently been initiated. The journey
was a long and arduous undertaking, and young fellows were selected in
order that their strength and powers of endurance might be put to the
test. When they reached to within a certain stage of the mine, the old
man ordered everybody to discard any belongings he might be carrying,
and, upon a given signal, the party, led by the old man, began to run
towards a big hill which stood before them. Many a hurdle was in their
way, but it was imperative that they kept running. Then they took the
sloping ground, and presently a large boulder lay in front of them; this
the young men were informed was the petrified dog which had killed the
emu. Each in his turn was asked to throw a stone at it as he skipped by.
Next, they came upon a group of stones which they were told represented
the cursed remains of the female dog and pups. As the names of these were
mentioned, each of the men again threw stones.
[Illustration: Fig. 18. Boomerang with a number of emu designs carved
upon it, Pidunga tribe, Broome (× 1/7.) Tracing.]
Suddenly the party was ordered to halt. Just ahead of them was the
platform of rock upon which the sacred emu had expired. The men were
requested to remain where they stood and to keep silent whilst the old
fellow made for a chasm below the platform. He returned not long after,
with his hands full of rich red ochre, which he rubbed over the bodies of
his young attendants. Thereupon all present cut off their beards, which
they had been wearing long purposely for the occasion, and walked in a
body to the chasm. “The great Emu wants feathers,” they exclaimed, “we
offer her the token of our manhood”; and, as they spoke, they threw the
beards into the chasm below. Then each man was allowed to fill his bag
with red ochre, and, placing it upon his head, he ran down the hill to
the place at which he left his belongings. Nobody was allowed to look
back; and should, by accident, a bag of ochre be dropped on the way, it
had to be left just where it fell, and under no circumstances picked up
again.
According to the Kukata, there was once an old man who had several wild
dogs, which were ferocious in habit, generally, but obeyed their master.
One day, when he was out hunting, he saw the track of a kangaroo which
he made up his mind to follow. He had his little daughter with him, and,
not thinking it advisable to take her with him into the scrub, he decided
to leave her to play on a clay-pan while he followed his prey into the
hills. He captured the kangaroo and returned to the clay-pan, but imagine
his disgust when he found that his dogs had, during his absence, killed
his child and devoured her flesh.
In his wrath, the old man chased the dogs into the hills at the point
of his spears, until eventually he drove them into a cave, the entrance
of which he closed with a number of large stones. The wounded dogs in
their plight attacked one another and tore themselves to pieces. In
consequence, their blood poured freely into the cave and soaked deeply
into the rocks. Ever since, the tribe have gone to that cave to collect
supplies of the “blood-stained” rock—the red ochre—which they require for
their ceremonies and corrobborees.
Ochre and pipe-clay, which form an article for inter-tribal barter, are
carried from one tribe to another in oblong parcels contained in bark
wraps, which are folded at the ends and kept together with fibre-string.
Small quantities are always carried by the men in their chignons and
dilly bags, and, when larger supplies are required for special occasions,
they are consigned to the care of the women.
When ochre is required for decorative purposes, it is necessary to reduce
it to a fine powder. This is done by placing a measured amount upon a
level surface of rock and grinding it with the aid of a medium-sized
pebble. Hand-mills of this description are to be found at any sites which
natives have been in the habit of embellishing with their drawings; they
may be recognized as small, shallow depressions scooped into the surface
by the continued abrasion of the hand-piece. Where there is no flat,
natural surface available, the grinding is done upon portable slabs the
women carry around from one camp to another.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Charcoal sketch of crows, Pigeon Hole, Victoria
River (× 1/3). Tracing.]
The ochre (or pipe-clay), having been finely ground, it is collected upon
a piece of bark, or in a bark food-carrier, and mixed with sufficient
water to make a thick paste; and it is ready for application. The
Bathurst Islanders use the large, concave shells of _Cyrena_ in much the
same way as European artists formerly used the valves of fresh-water
mussels (_Unio pictorum_) for mixing their pigments in.
[Illustration: Fig. 20. Pipe-clay cave-drawings of dancing figures,
Humbert River, Northern Territory (× 1/12).]
The native spreads the paint with his fingers, where larger surfaces are
concerned, and with a short stick where finer lines or details are to be
added. The Bathurst Islanders cut short pieces off the green shoots of
the lawyer-cane (_Calamus_) and chew one or both ends of the sticks until
all the fibres have been separated; these then fulfil the same purpose as
the paint brushes of a modern artist.
[Illustration: _PLATE XL_
1. Rock-carving of human form, Port Hedland.
2. Rock-carvings of lizard, pubic-tassel, and owl, Flinders Ranges.]
A favourite practice, and one which is met with all over the continent,
is to obtain a “negative” shape of a person’s hand. This is done in the
following way: The person puts a small handful of ochre or pipe-clay
into his mouth and crunches it to a pulp; then he fills his mouth with
water and thoroughly mixes the contents. He holds the hand he wishes to
stencil against a flat surface, spacing the fingers at equal distances,
and spurts the contents of his mouth all about it. A short while after,
the hand is withdrawn. The area which it covered remains in its natural
condition, whilst the space surrounding it has adopted the colour of the
ochre or clay. Very often the “hand” is subsequently painted over with a
colour different from that of the surrounding area. The Arunndta refer to
the hand-marks as “_ilja imbadja_.” Vide Plate XLIV.
[Illustration: Fig. 21. Charcoal drawing of hopping kangaroos, Pigeon
Hole, Victoria River (× 1/6). Tracing.]
A native attaches considerable importance to his identity being thus
recorded and preserved in some of the caves, believing the brand to stand
for his individuality with as much certitude as, say, the European who
leaves his card or carves his name in stone or wood. It is compulsory
for members of a certain rank in the Worora tribe to have their
“hand-shadows” perpetuated upon the walls of caves in which the bones of
their ancestors are reposed, because the spirits of the dead are thus
supposed to be apprised of any visits which have been made to their last
earthly resting places.
It is beyond dispute that the natives possess the faculty of being able
to recognize the hand-marks of their relatives and tribesmen, even though
they may not have been present when they were made.
Less frequently, the negative imprint process is applied to a person’s
feet or any of his private belongings, such as stone tomahawks. At times,
too, the hand is smeared over with ochre and then smacked against a
surface to obtain a positive. Vide Plate XLIV, 2.
The number of ochre drawings one finds on rock surfaces is naturally
unlimited, especially when extending observations over the whole of
Australia; and the variety in regard to subject, colour, composition, and
execution is correspondingly large.
Without at this stage attempting to delve deeply into the consideration
of individual designs and their artistic merits, let us cast our eyes
for a moment upon an illustration, which might be considered typical,
to familiarize ourselves with the general appearance of Australian cave
drawings (Plate XLV, 1). We have before us a rock shelter or _abris_
on the Forrest River in the north of Western Australia, a more or
less vertical wall at the base, overhung at the top by a solid ledge
or “roof” of quartzite. For the better part of the day this spot is
protected from the intense heat of a tropical sun; and during the “wet
season,” also, it provides a shelter from the prolific rains. But a
casual glance at the picture suffices to convince one of the presence of
a number of conspicuous designs drawn in ochre upon the rock faces. One
in particular, that of a huge snake, immediately catches the eye, but if
a careful scrutiny of the lower portion of the escarpment is made, many
other smaller designs will be discovered.
When the rocky background is light-coloured, and not sooty, the artists
often include charcoal drawings among the coloured ochre designs. The
native applies the charcoal either in the form of a powder with the aid
of his fingers, or he selects a piece of charred wood, big enough to hold
between his fingers, and this he uses after the fashion a modern artist
does a crayon. According to the method employed, the result is either
a figure blackened all over, or a line drawing, shaded here and there.
Some particularly creditable charcoal drawings were obtained near Pigeon
Hole on the Victoria River in the Northern Territory; these are described
later.
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Bark-drawing depicting an eagle-hawk clawing and
tearing the carcass of a wallaby, Port Darwin.]
An aboriginal not only paints the sides of the caves he temporarily
occupies, but he also delights in decorating the sheets of bark which in
certain districts, such as the north coast of Australia and Melville and
Bathurst Islands, are used for making his huts waterproof. The method he
adopts in applying ochre to bark is precisely similar to that already
considered in connection with his cave drawings. And we might at the same
time extend these remarks to the decorative designs which appear in such
profusion upon his spears, shields, boomerangs, spear-throwers, waddies,
clubs, food and water carriers, dilly bags, ceremonial objects, personal
ornaments, and, in fact, anything he has occasion to manufacture and
handle.
A special variety of ochre drawing which may justify a few remarks is the
tribal body decoration. We know that as a simple, but effective, means
of protecting his skin against the weather, an aboriginal periodically
anoints his body with emu fat; moreover, to evade detection by the game
he is stalking, he often covers his body with ochre, earth, or clay to
simulate the colour of his surroundings as nearly as possible. But for
reasons, to him entirely cosmetic, he finds occasion to rub red ochre
powder (and charcoal also) over his face and body.
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Pipe-clay drawing of man and dogs, Humbert River
(× 1/12).]
He has a distinct liking for the beautiful and does not hesitate to avail
himself of anything which might tend to make his person more attractive
looking by the application of colour. Not only the sire, but the whole
family endeavour to improve their swarthy appearance by painting ornate
designs over different regions of their bodies. Longitudinal, parallel
bands of red, yellow, or black, extending up the legs, back, and abdomen,
together with transverse lines on the chest, shoulders, upper arms, and
outer surfaces of thighs, are symmetrically drawn, and connected here
and there (as, for instance, on the chest or back) by lattice patterns
and concentric circles. Parents are very proud of their children thus
decorated. On the Forrest River, a favourite mode is to draw a broad
step-ladder-like pattern from the ankles up the front surfaces of the
legs, continuing this up the trunk to about the level of the nipples, and
then circling outwards, down an arm on either side, to run out at the
elbow. This design is usually painted in yellow.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLI_
1. Rock carvings (including platypus design), Flinders Ranges.
2. Rock carvings, Flinders Ranges.]
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Charcoal sketch of native hunting buffalo, Pigeon
Hole, Victoria River (× 1/3). Tracing.]
We have frequently referred to the fact that during corrobborees and
ceremonial dances, the bodies of the performers are decorated. White
pipe-clay is one of the principal pigments used, although red ochre is
also much in evidence. In the performance of ceremonies, we learned that
a common motive embodied in the decorations was the human skeleton. The
quickest, and perhaps most effective, way of whitening the face in the
representation of the skull is for the performer to literally “wash” it
in finely crushed pipe-clay. To accomplish this, he scoops a quantity
of the material with his hands, and, closing his eyes, rubs the stuff
all over his face and possibly his head, too. By this process even
the eyelids are thoroughly whitened. The other lines, horizontal and
vertical, which are to represent the bones, he rubs on to the body with
his fingers (Plate XLVI).
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Charcoal sketch of native spearing kangaroo,
Pigeon Hole, Victoria River (× 2/5). Tracing.]
Another method is to apply the paint in the form of a water mixture,
similar to that described when discussing the ochre drawings. For this
purpose, especially when an important event is pending, a number of men
are chosen to attend to the “make up” of the performers. The assistants
kneel beside those who are to act, and apply the paste with their
fingers. The most delicate parts to handle are the eyelids. The actor is
required to close his eyes whilst the artist carefully applies the paste
to the lids; but it occasionally happens that some of the material slips
on to the eyeball and is rubbed against it before the sufferer can give
the alarm. Vide Plate XLV, 2.
We have already referred to the coloured down decorations which are
attached with human blood to the bodies of the performers taking part
in sacred and other ceremonies, and we have also mentioned a ground
drawing known as “_Etominja_” (Plate XXXVII), which is constructed in a
similar way. Some of the latter (e.g. the “walk-about” of the “_Tjilba
Purra Altjerra Knaninja_”) are very large; others, as for instance that
connected with the “_Erriakutta_” or yelka ceremony, are constructed over
the entire surface of mounds which cover many square feet of ground.
Having briefly reviewed the different methods of art production in vogue
in Australia, we shall proceed to consider a number of the designs
in greater detail, deduce their origin, trace their evolution, and,
where possible, give their interpretation. It will be realized at the
outset that some of the designs are crude in the extreme, whilst others
are undeniably shapely and quite up to the standard of an average
European’s artistic proficiency. The latter remarks apply best to
actual representations of natural forms. It must be remembered that the
artistic reproductions an aboriginal makes are invariably from memory;
the primitive artist never draws with a model in front of him. If we were
to ask a number of Europeans to draw, say a horse from memory, there is
no doubt we should receive a great variety of results in response to our
request. So, among the aboriginal artists, there is a great diversity of
talent which is more individual than tribal.
If, for instance, we study the different attempts at representing the
form of one of the most familiar subjects we could ask an aboriginal to
experiment upon—the ubiquitous kangaroo —we should find by comparison of
the productions placed before us, a very marked difference in quality.
Compare, for instance, the two pictures of kangaroo on Plate XLVII. They
are the works of men of the same tribe, are all similarly drawn, and
come from the same locality. Yet, in the upper picture, the outline and
proportions of the two animals are so incorrect that it is very doubtful
whether many people not acquainted with the locality would guess what
animal the pictures are intended to represent. In the lower picture,
however, anybody acquainted with the shape of a kangaroo would have no
hesitation in pronouncing his diagnosis. The characteristic attitude,
the large tail, the disproportion between the front and hind limbs,
and the shape of the head are quite true enough to nature to permit of
correct identification.
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Carving depicting a quarrel between a man and his
gin. Arunndta tribe (× 1/2). Tracing.]
The three designs are all drawn in charcoal, the figures in the first
two cases being outlined with a white pipe-clay line, and in the second
case with one of yellow ochre. If we wish to go one better still, we need
only study the pipe-clay drawing on bark by a native of the Katherine
River district shown on Plate XLIX, 1—a very creditable picture of a dead
kangaroo.
Some of the designs one meets with are so accurately drawn that a
scientific determination of the species becomes possible. Look for a
moment at the fish, portrayed in pipe-clay, shown in Plate XLVIII. The
piscine nature of the form, here depicted on rocks, is not only apparent,
but it is possible to say with some certainty that the two shown swimming
belong to the _Toxotes_, which are commonly called Archer Fish. The
form shown in Plate XLIX, 4, is unquestionably meant to be one of the
_Therapon_ species. Both kinds of fish are known to be living in the
Katherine River, not far from the site at which these pictures were drawn.
But if, on the other hand, some of the designs are so poor as to be
barely recognizable or even quite unrecognizable by us, how does the
aboriginal manage? When the artist is present, he can explain. But he is
not always available!
If, by way of illustration, we were asked to say definitely what the
meaning of the central figure on Plate L, 1, was we should in all
probability want to know more about it before committing ourselves. But
an aboriginal can give us a correct reply immediately. The locality at
which the photograph was obtained is north of the Musgrave Ranges in
central Australia. But that does not give us any clue. After studying
the picture more closely, we might be able to distinguish the outline of
a quadruped, the four legs being shown, one behind the other, in a row,
and a big head on the right-hand side, in a position suggesting that the
animal is feeding. But these are characteristics common to many animals!
So far, therefore, we have seen nothing to suggest the class of animal we
are dealing with. When we look again, we might note that there is a crude
image of a human being shown on the back of the animal; and behind this
is a structure which might stand for a saddle. We guess the answer and
claim that the group is a very poor drawing of a man on horseback.
But there are other animals a man could ride! And when we look again, we
observe that the second leg of the animal, counting from the right, has a
peculiar enlargement attached to its lower end. That structure is the key
to the riddle; it represents the track of the animal! Those familiar with
the great beast of burden, now used extensively in central Australia,
will recognize the two-toed spoor of a camel.
This method of pictorial elucidation is by no means exceptional. We
have already noticed something similar in the ancient carvings at Port
Hedland, where the human foot-print is added to disperse any doubt which
may be entertained in so far as the correct interpretation of the figure
is concerned. A similar device is well exemplified in the accompanying
sketch of an ochre drawing of a human form from the Glenelg River
district in the northern Kimberleys of Western Australia (Fig. 15). In
the carving of an emu from the King Sound district, which is reproduced
in Plate XLII, 2, we noticed the same sort of thing.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Ochre-drawing of spear-boomerang duel, Arunndta
tribe (× 1/2). Tracing.]
The cases before us are not accidental, but we have acquainted ourselves
with the recognized determinative system of Australian pictographs which
is quite analogous to that known to have been practised by the ancient
Egyptians. Consider, for instance, the character signifying “to love”—a
human figure in profile with one hand lifted to the level of the mouth.
The same figure, with a few parallel wavy lines, signifying water, drawn
against it, means no longer “to love,” but “to drink.” The wavy lines
in this instance are the determinative. In the Australian illustrations
given above, we have selected samples which are easily followed, but
there are many cases where the reading would be quite impossible if it
were not for the presence of the little, subsidiary, determinative sketch.
In his endeavour to make the meaning of some of his designs clear, a
native often embodies as many features as possible, quite regardless
as to whether in reality they would all be visible in the one plane he
is drawing. In the picture of a crocodile appearing on a boabab-nut
from the Derby district in Western Australia, shown in Fig. 16, it will
be observed that the reptile, in spite of having its dorsal surface
represented, has its vent indicated. The long, slender muzzle of this
figure, by the way, makes it clear that the smaller species of the two
northern Australian crocodiles (_C. Johnstoni_) is intended. The human
figure, too, very often appears half in full and half in profile.
The aboriginal is a keen observer, and takes careful note of many things
besides a kangaroo, a snake track, or other similar natural objects
which may lead him to his daily bread. When travelling in the Buccaneer
Archipelago in the far north-west I remember one of the natives drawing
my attention to a peculiar formation in the clouds, and saying, in the
Sunday Island dialect: “_Arrar ninmiddi_,” which means, literally:
“Cloud knee.” My instructor proceeded to draw the extraordinary shape
he could see with his finger upon the hatchway of the pearling lugger
we were sailing in, after which he completed the figure of a man. I
was struck with this man’s faculty of observation, because the cloud
effect he referred to was rather out of the common and projected from a
cirro-cumulus like the bent limb of a swastica.
It is in this way that many inspirations come to the cave artist.
Repeatedly one has occasion to notice how a pre-existing feature or
defect in the rock face—a crevice, a floor, a concretion—becomes the
centre piece of a design drawn to suit it. The feature one finds most
commonly embodied in a cave drawing is a small hole. This often figures
in the place of an animal’s eye, or a hole into which a snake is
disappearing. A local bulge in the rock may also be taken in as part of a
design and represent portion of a head or body.
Not only does the artist embody suitable natural features in his designs,
but, conversely, he also applies his knowledge of form to explain already
existing phenomena in the world about him. The embodiment of his artistic
ideas in his poetical explanations of Nature’s wonders plays, as might
be expected, an important role in his mythology. These remarks apply
especially to any striking characteristics in the sky. When among the
tribes of the Musgrave Ranges, I ascertained that the black-looking gap
in the Milky Way, close to the Southern Cross, which is commonly known
as the Coal Sack, was referred to as “_Kaleya Pubanye_,” that is, the
“Resting Emu.”
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Charcoal sketch of ceremonial dance, Pigeon Hole,
Victoria River (× 1/6). Tracing.]
In the north of Australia, the Larrekiya, Wogait, and other tribes have
adopted a similar designation for a series of dark spaces along the Milky
Way. But they have extended the idea considerably in that the Coal Sack
represents only the head of a gigantic emu, the beak of which is pointed
towards the _Musca_ constellation (_i.e._ towards the south). A small
star of the Southern Cross group very appropriately stands for the eye
of the bird; the nebulous effect usually surrounding this star gives it
an extra life-like appearance. The neck is but faintly discernible near
the head, but becomes clearly visible in the neighbourhood of the nearer
Pointer; it passes between the two Pointers and curves slightly towards
the constellation of _Lupus_. Within the constellation of _Norma_, the
dark space widens considerably and represents the body of the emu.
The blunt tail turns sharply towards, and into, the constellation of
_Scorpio_. A nebulous patch lying practically on the point of junction
between the imaginary areas of _Ara_, _Scorpio_, and _Norma_ affords a
good division between the legs of the bird, whilst another lying between
μ and ζ of the Scorpion group separates the tail. The lower portions of
the legs are not very clear, but some of the more imaginative natives
maintain that they can distinguish three toes on each extremity. There is
no doubt the primitive eye has herein discovered a striking similarity
between an optical phenomenon in the southern sky and a living creature,
which is of great importance in the hunting field, and at the same time
plays a prominent role in tribal folk-lore. They refer to this emu by the
name of “_Dangorra_.” Vide Fig. 17.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLII_
1. Rock carvings, Flinders Ranges.
2. Emu design carved into the butt of a boabab tree, King Sound.]
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Remarkable cave drawing, Glenelg River, N.W.
Australia]
As affording a means of comparison, a hunting scene is reproduced carved
upon the surface of a club by aborigines of Victoria. The little group is
composed of an aboriginal hunter who in one hand is poising a spear and
in the other is carrying a boomerang; behind him are two emus standing
in much the same position as that assumed to be the case in the heavenly
image just described.
The Minning at Eucla recognize only the long neck of the emu in the sky,
and refer to it as “_Yirrerri_”; on the Nullarbor Plains the same portion
is looked upon as the heavenly tjuringa of the emu.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Pictograph of lizard, natural and conventional
form.]
Speaking generally, there is perhaps no other creature living which
figures so frequently in aboriginal art, both on the cave wall and in
the dance, as the great struthious bird of Australia. This is no doubt
due in the first place to the admirable way in which it lends itself
for the purposes mentioned; its antics in the field suggest many tricks
for mimicry at a corrobboree, and its distinctive form supplies the
artist with a model which never fails to attract the attention of the
artistically inclined among his people. In Plate XLIX, 2, we have a
pipeclay drawing of an emu from the Katherine River which is rather
exceptional in that it shows the bird more _en face_ than is usual; the
proportions are, on the whole, good, except that the head is screwed
upwards in a rather strange way. On a boomerang from Broome (Fig. 18), we
have a series of engraved emu pictures, all in profile, and in different
attitudes.
On the whole, an aboriginal’s pictures are flat and without perspective.
He takes the inspiration direct from nature and reproduces the subject
singly, and as a separate entity; a number of such designs are drawn side
by side with or without pictographic sequence. But there are countless
occasions upon which artists, especially the more gifted, prefer to draw
a real scene from life, combining subject with action. Environment or
surroundings rarely, if ever, receive attention.
Take as a very simple illustration the lizard shown in the pipeclay rock
drawing from the Katherine River (Plate XLIX, 3). The general shape of
the body, together with the large and well-differentiated head, strongly
suggests a species of the large monitor which is common throughout the
district. The interesting feature about the picture is, however, the life
which is indicated by the fact that the reptile is drawn in the act of
shooting out a long, split tongue.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Normal, conventional, and emblematic
representations of turtle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Normal, conventional, and emblematic
representations of frog.]
Again, in the charcoal sketch of two crows from the Pigeon Hole district
(Fig. 19), one bird is represented in an attentive attitude, as though
on the point of flying away, while the other is very characteristically
shown in the act of cawing.
One could produce an almost endless variety of decorated figures,
representing men and women performing at ceremonial dances and
corrobborees to illustrate the life and action which is embodied in
aboriginal art. In Fig. 20 a selected number of pipe-clay drawings from
the Humbert River, Northern Territory, have been grouped together to
serve this purpose.
[Illustration: Fig. 33. Normal, conventional, and emblematic
representations of echidna.]
The most interesting effects, however, are those brought about by a
combination of two or more figures. How different, for instance, the two
kangaroo shown together in Fig. 21 seem to those previously discussed
(Plate XLVII). These are charcoal drawings from Pigeon Hole on the
Victoria River, and in them the hopping movement of the animals is
indicated very clearly. The animal in the rear is in full flight, as the
erect position of the tail and the general holding of the body betray;
but the one in the lead is on the point of drawing up and is turning its
head back towards its mate.
How realistic, too, the little bark drawing is from east of Port Darwin
(Fig. 22), in which a bird of prey is shown mounted upon a wallaby or
kangaroo, with its claws and beak embedded in the flesh of its victim.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLIII_
1. Carved boabab nut, King Sound.
2. “_Wanningi_” from north-western Australia.
3. Slate scrapers used by the extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming skins.]
A neat pipe-clay drawing from the remote Humbert River district is
presented in Fig. 23. The group, which is three feet in length, is
composed of a central figure of a man who is holding one arm on each side
towards a dog, as if offering them something to eat or for the purpose of
patting them. The dogs seem to be giving their attention to the man.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Conventionalized “_Ladjia_” or yam Tjuringa
pattern.]
Two more charcoal drawings from Pigeon Hole, though roughly sketched by
the artist, depict very graphically scenes from the hunt. In one (Fig.
24), the hunter is in the act of stalking a buffalo or bullock with his
spear held in readiness to throw, while in the other the attitude of the
hunter indicates that the spear has just been thrown and is entering the
body of the prey, a kangaroo (Fig. 25).
The carving of an Arunndta man, reproduced in Fig. 26, is most effective.
An angry husband has been caught by the artist in the act of punishing
his wife with a waddy. The placement of the legs of the two persons
indicates stability on the part of the man engaged in the flagellation,
and a swinging movement on the part of the woman who is being held back
by her hand.
[Illustration: Fig. 35. A dog-track.]
We have already seen the carved representations of two stages in a
stone-knife duel by an Arunndta tribesman (Fig. 4), and here, in Fig. 27,
an ochre drawing is reproduced which is, if anything, more animated than
any previously discussed. A spear-boomerang duel is being fought, during
which each of the combatants is protecting himself with a shield. The
artist has evinced considerable talent in portraying the men just at the
moment when both are bounding through the air towards each other, the one
on the left parrying his opponent’s spear, while the other, on the right,
is preparing to receive the blow from the boomerang.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. A kangaroo-track.]
One might now go a step further in analyzing aboriginal art. The
productions we have studied so far embody the ideas of form, life, and
action; and, it might be added, occasionally one finds a very fair sense
of composition as well. Such, indeed, might already be said to be true of
several of the pictures discussed above, but a finer specimen lies before
us in the charcoal drawing from Pigeon Hole (Fig. 28). This faithfully
portrays a scene from a gala ceremony, in which the body of performers,
fully “dressed” for the occasion, are acting before the leader, who, in
his turn, is being supported by two others in the foreground. It must
be admitted that the composition of this group of figures is remarkably
good, and, what is quite exceptional, a very successful attempt has been
made at perspective. All figures are shown in different attitudes of
dancing. The impression this charcoal drawing gives one, at first glance,
is that of a rough sketch in crayon resembling the outline a European
artist might make on his canvas prior to starting upon the actual
painting.
[Illustration: Fig. 37. A rabbit track.]
Leaving that section of aboriginal art which deals essentially with
designs copied directly from Nature in a sense more or less purely
artistic and æsthetic, we shall turn our attention to a few types which
are more specialized.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Emu tracks.]
From a study of his religious ideas, we have learned that the aboriginal
identifies himself with some mystic, natural creature or object, which
he adopts as his “totem.” It would only be reasonable to expect,
therefore, that some of the drawings represent these objects; and that
they are recognized by the natives as having particular personal or
family significance. Looked at from a modern standpoint, these designs
are really the equivalent of a family crest, and are claimed only by
those rightfully entitled to them. This explanation must be given
for many of the naturalistic designs appearing on rocks, trees, grave
posts, and personal belongings. These “totemic” crests or symbols being
hereditary, we have before us a primitive form of heraldry, a conception
we have already learned to be covered by the word “_Kobong_,” originally
introduced by Sir George Grey from the north-west of Australia.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Pictographic representation of nesting emu.]
[Illustration: Fig. 40. A lizard track.]
We have also ascertained that some of the central as well as
north-western tribes of Australia believe that the earliest tribal
ancestors originally were more animal than human in appearance, and
adopted the shape of a man only at a later period; that they can,
however, return to the animal form whenever they desire; and that others
remain semi-human. It is not surprising, therefore, to find amongst
their drawings and carvings representations which are partly human and
partly animal in outline; these are honest attempts at perpetuating the
traditional appearance of the ancestral beings of the tribe. In the
photograph attached hereto (Plate LI, 1), taken at Forrest River, two
pictures of such creatures are to be found which are drawn in ochre.
There were many others, from three to five feet in length, reptilian in
shape, some with human hands and feet, others with hair shown upon the
head, and in most of them the sex unduly prominent. These remarkable
designs are, therefore, not naturalistic, but have been evolved on purely
fictional or mythological lines, based upon the tradition of the tribe
and upon the imagination of the artist.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. A snake or snake-track.]
From the consideration of these artistic effigies of their Demigods, it
is not a big step forwards which brings us face to face with the sacred
tribal drawings. During initiation ceremonies, especially of the now
practically extinct south-eastern tribes of Australia, gigantic figures
resembling a human being were moulded into the surface of the ground
and subsequently tinted with ochre, which were supposed to conceal the
Great Spirit or Deity, which, like the “_Altjerra Knaninja_” of central
Australia, watched over the proceedings as the young men passed from a
condition of adolescence to that of permanent manhood; numerous carvings
and ochre drawings were also made upon the trunks of any trees nearby.
Not only during the initiation ceremonies are these practices resorted
to, but when a sacred observance is contemplated, especially those having
to do with the “totem,” elaborate designs are painted in ochre upon the
surrounding surfaces of rocks and trees which depict an act connected
with the traditional origin of the sacred object.
A classical illustration is to be found in the MacDonnell Ranges, at
Emily Gap. According to Arunndta belief, it was at this spot that the
early semi-human ancestors of the witchedy grub or “_Utnguringita_”
alighted from Altjerringa. They brought with them large numbers of
the grub, which they cooked and ate. The territory dominated by these
ancient beings extended from Heavitree Gap to Emily Gap, and across to
Jessie Gap. On the western wall of the first-named gap, known by the
natives as “_Ndariba_,” an inclined slab of rock, not high above the
level of the sandy bed of the Todd River, contains a series of peculiar
concentric iron stains which are regarded as the impressions of the stern
of an Utnguringita Altjerra who sat there, and, as he collected grubs,
moved forwards. The Utnguringita came into frequent conflict with the
Dingo or “Knullia” people whose country lay immediately west of Heavitree
Gap, but, nevertheless, they blessed the land with many eggs, which
developed into larvæ and supplied the tribe with food.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Human foot-prints and trail.]
Eventually the Utnguringita ancestors returned to Altjerringa, but they
left a number of stone tjuringas in Emily Gap, which are supposed to
be occupied by the spirits whenever a sacred ceremony is performed on
the spot. On the eastern stony wall of this gap some rather imposing
designs are to be seen, which originally must have occupied most of the
area available. The drawings are very old; their origin dating back long
before the recollections of the present generation. It is wonderful
how well the work has withstood the denuding action of the weather for
so long. The natives tell you that the old Altjerringa men applied the
pigment to the rock and that they mixed it with the “_knudda_” (fat) of
the grubs. It is more likely that the ochres were mixed with emu fat;
in places the pigment seems as though it were chemically combined with
the rock, and it could only be removed by chipping the surface. The
designs in their present condition (Plate LI, 2) consist of a series of
parallel, vertical lines, alternately coloured red and white, and capped
by horizontal bands of the same colours, the white of which containing
three or four red dots. What the original designs may have been like,
it is now difficult to say, but the natives maintain that they included
the images of some women they call “_Aluggurra_,” who were waiting at
the foot of the cliff while the men were concealing their tjuringas in
the rocks and nooks above. To the present day, the old men of the local
Arunndta group store their ceremonial objects in the same sanctuary,
thinking that the sacred figures on the wall will protect them from the
hands of inquisitive intruders.
There remains yet another class of ochre drawing which deserves mention.
I allude to the famous discovery of Sir George Grey in 1837. There is
perhaps no other Australian drawing, old or modern, which has been so
freely discussed and criticized. During an expedition in the northern
Kimberleys of Western Australia, it was my good fortune to re-discover
several drawings of this type in practically the same locality as that
recorded by Sir George Grey, near the Glenelg River. One figure was
perfect, others were partly obliterated or incomplete. The best design
was in a cave near the top of a prominent bluff the local Worora people
call Berrial; it was drawn in ochre upon a steep face of rock immediately
under an overhanging ledge of quartzite. The figure was unquestionably
that of a human being, although it measured fully nine feet in length.
It lay fully extended, upon its left side, with its arms placed straight
against its sides. It reminded one forcibly of a Buddha in a Ceylonese
temple. What made the figure seem un-Australian was that it was clothed
in a long, striped garment, resembling a priestly gown, from which only
the head, hands, and feet were excluded. A loosely-fitting belt is also
shown. As seems common to all these drawings, the facial features are
only indicated by the eyes and nose, the mouth being omitted. Another
characteristic, which is shared by all other drawings, is that the head
is surrounded by a number of peculiar, concentric bands, through which,
and from which, many lines radiate, giving the structure the effect of a
halo surrounding the head of a saint. The picture bore an unmistakable
likeness to the type illustrated by Sir George Grey, and was drawn in
red, brown, black, and white. Vide Fig. 29 and Plate L, 2.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. “A man is tracking a rabbit.” Simple example of
pictography.]
There is no doubt about these curious drawings, now more or less adopted
by the local tribe, having originated under some exotic influence. It
is historically known that for centuries past excursions have been
made to the north of Australia by Macassans and other eastern people,
who may have been responsible for the first drawing of a figure of so
sacerdotal an appearance, which the aborigines have since learned to
copy so perfectly. It has also been speculated that shipwrecked sailors
might be responsible for the representation of the clothed human form; in
fact, an American scientist, John Campbell, claims to have deciphered an
ancient Japanese inscription upon one of Grey’s figures referring to the
“hopeless number,” presumably of the castaways.
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Pictographic representation of emu-hunt.]
In regard to the quaint head-gear which distinguishes these designs,
one need not go far from Australia to find something quite analogous,
for the Papuans wear an article which is quite similar to what might be
suggested by the drawings.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Flying fox pattern.]
We now turn to a more psychological aspect of primitive Australian
art, which includes such factors as convention and imagination. These
processes lie behind the symbolization of thought which has evolved a
means of pictographically conveying messages from one individual to
another, or, collectively, from one tribe to another. Through long
usage, the artist has learned to reduce the complexity of a familiar,
naturalistic design in such a way that, while still retaining its
intrinsic interpretation, he is able to demonstrate by a few lines
what ordinarily would require an intricate drawing. The ultimate aim
of such a system is, of course, to reduce the execution of a design
to a minimum of energy and time, without imperilling the correctness
of its interpretation. But whilst the artist is designing to simplify
the complexity of his thought symbol, the reciprocative factor of
assimilation on the part of his fellows is being stimulated. And by
means of this joint education, a design, with a simple motive from
Nature behind it, might gradually become so conventionalized that the
uninitiated fails entirely to grasp its significance.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLIV_
1. Hand marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe.
2. Foot marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe.]
During this evolution, or, should one say, metamorphosis, in the
perception of art, the tendency must necessarily be to smooth out the
irregular and unsymmetrical contours of Nature and bring the design down
to as nearly geometrical as possible. For the same reason, a single
design is often repeated indefinitely, so that a single form derived
from a simple motive may expand into a continuous chain or ornate
pattern covering a considerable area. A large series of devices has been
established, the majority of which are known all over the Australian
continent; but, as the same time, there are many signs which are entirely
of a “totemic” nature and can only be understood by a person belonging to
that particular “totem.”
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Conventional representation of hopping kangaroo.]
Let us take a few simple cases illustrating the different points
enumerated above.
A simple drawing of a lizard would include a substantial body, with
rounded head and tapering tail; the legs are usually extended, and at
times have the claws marked. Vide Fig. 30.
The conventionalized form consists of a long straight line crossed
at right angles by two shorter bars, at points about one-quarter and
three-quarters distance respectively from one end.
A turtle design consists of an oval, representing the shield, from which
extend the head, tail, and paddles. In its modified form this becomes a
circle with six short lines radiating from the circumference at equal
distances apart (Fig. 31).
The picture of a frog in its simplified form becomes, like that of a
turtle, a circle, but has only four radiating lines (Fig. 32). When
designs like these are expanded symmetrically into patterns, the result
is after the style of that shown in the accompanying sketches. These
patterns are extensively used in totemic devices upon tjuringas and
implements.
The drawing of an echidna, or native hedgehog, ordinarily is like
the sketch shown above (Fig. 33), but as a result of its conventional
transformation it becomes a simple hexagon, from the corners of which the
limbs may or may not be shown as simply projecting lines. The pattern
obtained by linking up a number of hexagons is not uncommonly found
engraved upon weapons and implements.
[Illustration: Fig. 47. Crossed boomerangs, the symbolic representation
of a fight.]
Many of the conventional patterns are not so apparent as the few just
mentioned. Let us take, for instance, the “_Ladjia_” or Yam Tjuringa
pattern of the Arunndta. Only the initiated would be able to recognize
in a number of groups of small, concentric circles, regularly placed
at the corners of rectangular figures, as the stems of the yam plant,
and a system of parallel lines connecting the circles both straight and
diagonally as the roots. Vide Fig. 34.
Tracks of animal, bird, and man are conspicuous among the designs,
generally, whether they be true copies from Nature upon the walls of
a cave, more or less modified gravures upon weapons, or conventional
patterns incised upon a message stick. A dog track is represented by a
larger dot, suggesting the imprint of the ball of the paw, to which are
attached four smaller dots, which lie in a row in close proximity to the
former; the smaller dots stand for the impressions of the claws (Fig. 35).
A kangaroo track shows the two long parallel median impressions, with a
lateral at an acute angle to the former at either side. The same figure
is repeated a short distance away from the one described, and in a
straight line with it. The same design on a smaller scale denotes a
wallaby track. Occasionally the lateral lines are dispensed with (Fig.
36).
Small oblong dots drawn in pair at equal distances from each other
indicate the hopping of a rabbit (Fig. 37).
The characteristic broad arrow-like footprint of an emu has already
been referred to; the smaller variety of the same design implies that
a wild turkey is meant. When a number of birds are to be represented
collectively, the archetype is developed into a continuous pattern by
linking one track up with another into a chain (Fig. 38).
[Illustration: Fig. 48. Witchedy grub Tjuringa, Arunndta tribe (× 3/10).
Tracing.]
When attention is to be drawn to the fact that the birds are laying, or
sitting on eggs, a number of small circles are drawn about the track
(Fig. 39).
A lizard track is indicated by drawing a number of dots, equally spaced
along a straight line, and on alternate sides of it. The dots are the
claw impressions, the line the trail left by the tail (Fig. 40).
A single wavy line, or a number of parallel wavy lines, represents a
snake or a snake track (Fig. 41).
The human footprint is either correctly shown in detail, or is reduced to
a short, straight line at one end of which five (occasionally only three
or four) dots are drawn in a sloping line to indicate the toes. When
walking is to be implied, these footprints are either shown one behind
the other in a straight line, at equal distances apart, or they stand
alternately right and left by an imaginary central line. The common
way of showing the last-named system conventionally is to connect the
alternate footprints, whether they be actually shown or not, by a zig-zag
line (Fig. 42).
In all cases mentioned above, the track may stand equally well for the
object itself.
[Illustration: Fig. 49. Symbolic pictograph of kangaroo Tjuringa,
Arunndta tribe.]
It is a common thing to see two or more of the above systems combined,
after the style of the figures shown on page 344.
The interpretation of the first of these messages would be: “A man is
tracking a rabbit.”
The second (Fig. 44) would read: “A hunter is pursuing an emu and is
accompanied by his dog.”
In the same way as the natives of the Northern Territory have applied
their artistic talents to deciphering images of earthly objects
amongst the celestial bodies, and point with pride upon the great emu,
“_Dangorra_,” which nightly watches over them, so the Wongapitcha and
Aluridja of central Australia recognize in the constellation we know as
the Southern Cross the shape of an eagle-hawk’s claw, and call it in
consequence “_Warridajinna_”; the Milky Way they consider to be a creek
bed and assign to it the name “_Karru_”; the northern Kimberleys tribes
believe the Milky Way to be the track of a great carpet snake they refer
to as “_Womma_.”
In the representation of a fish, the scales often take the form of a
cross-hatched pattern; but there are many cases in which the form of the
fish is not shown at all, yet the cross-hatched pattern remains and is
nevertheless indicative of the fish.
[Illustration: Fig. 50. Symbolic pictograph of caterpillar, Tjuringa,
Arunndta tribe.]
A design, fairly common in the north of Western Australia, consists
of two wavy lines which are parallel, in the inverted or reflected
sense, and joined at one end. The true significance of this pattern
does not become evident until one hides from view all but three of the
“waves,” say that portion lying to the right of the dotted line in the
accompanying sketch. When this is done, the form of a “flying fox” is
immediately recognized (Fig. 45).
In central, northern, and eastern Australia, a pattern frequently met
with on boomerangs, fighting sticks, and message sticks, consists of
strings of lenticles longitudinally striped and generally associated
with kangaroo tracks. This device is analogous to the one standing for
the walking of a man, viz. the zig-zag, in so far as it stands for the
hopping of a kangaroo. Here and there one finds the pattern “finished
off” at one end with the head of a kangaroo (Fig. 46).
A duel or tribal fight of any description is graphically recorded by two
crossed boomerangs, but the conventional derivative of this design is
simply supplied by two crossed lines (Fig. 47).
Time is chronicled by two phases of the moon; a crescent standing for
new, and a circle for full moon.
[Illustration: Fig. 51. Symbolic drawing of “native-pear totem,” Arunndta
tribe.]
The substance, origin, home, or habitat of any creature figuring
in a drawing or gravure is particularized by the addition of a
circle-within-circle design. For instance, in the tjuringa of the
witchedy grub shown in Fig. 48, the parallel, straight lines, enclosed
within a “U,” at the left-hand side, represent the grub, the three
concentric circle groups in the centre are the gum trees in which it
lives, the “U within U” pattern at the right is an ancestor whose “totem”
was the witchedy grub, while the parallel lines at the extreme right of
the tjuringa are markings on the grub which have been adopted by the man
who owns the tjuringa, in the form of cicatrices, he cuts on his chest.
The “U within U” pattern is frequently met with engraved upon tjuringas,
and in most cases it conventionally conveys the idea of a “sitting”
person or animal. We have already noted something similar in the peculiar
concentric iron stains of Heavitree Gap (page 342), but in the following
three tjuringa drawings of the Arunndta additional illustrations are
given.
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Ochre drawing and tree-carving of man with
shield, Humbert River (× 1/10).]
In the first instance, an “_Arrera Knaninja_” or Kangaroo Tjuringa, the
meat and the fat of the animal are represented by the two series of
concentric circles in the centre, whereas its sinew is indicated by the
horizontal lines connecting the circles. The numerous U groups on both
sides of the central figures stand for a great number of kangaroo, each
of which is sitting or lying on the ground (Fig. 49).
[Illustration: _PLATE XLV_
1. Cave drawings, Forrest River, north-western Australia.
2. Decorating the body with pipe-clay, Humbert River, Northern
Territory.]
The second example is from the “_Yeapatja_” or Caterpillar Tjuringa.
The large “circle-within-circle” groups in the centre are generally
recognized to be the bushes upon which the caterpillars were born,
while the U groups with smaller concentric circles in their centres are
intended for caterpillars attached to smaller plants upon which they are
feeding (Fig. 50).
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Human chain-pattern.]
Lastly, a sacred drawing of the “_Alangua Knaninja_” or Native Pear
(_Marsdenia_) “totem,” which belongs to the Altjerringa women, is
composed of a central “circle-within-circle” group representing the
“totem,” whilst surrounding it a number of U groups are supposed to be
the mythic women seated on the ground (Fig. 51).
[Illustration: Fig. 54. Camps consisting of a man and his wife (left) and
of eight men.]
We shall now turn our attention to the consideration of the
representation of the human figure and its derivative forms. Several
more or less obvious designs have already been discussed. The first step
towards conventionalism is seen in the two figures from the Humbert
River district, the first an ochre cave drawing, the second a carving
on a boabab tree (Fig. 52). We notice in the ochre drawing, which was
one foot six inches high, a fairly shapely and solid figure of a man
holding a shield in his left hand; in the carving, which measured one
foot nine inches in height, the solid and shapely outline has been
reduced to a matter of just a few straight lines; that is, if we neglect
for the present the consideration of shield and boomerang which the
figure is holding. The result is, therefore, a design resembling a Latin
cross, at the lower end of which is attached an inverted V-shaped symbol
representing the legs; a small circle may or may not be added to the top
end to stand for the head.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Anthropomorphous designs, carved on
spear-throwers. Tracing.]
This design is often repeated indefinitely in a lateral sense, so that
a rather ornate pattern results in which the individual figures “join
hands” and their “toes touch” below. A chained pattern, such as is shown
in the accompanying sketch (Fig. 53), may be noticed in Plate XLV, 1,
near the centre of the picture, below the ledge on which the bold drawing
of a snake appears, and on the same level as the semi-human design on the
extreme left.
The ultimate stage of this conventionalism so far as the human figure is
concerned is a simple, straight line, the upright arm of the cross; this
is extensively employed in carved representations of people on message
sticks. We might now hark back to the question at the beginning of our
disquisition on aboriginal art “what lies in a mere line” and supply one
answer at any rate.
[Illustration: Fig. 56. Anthropomorphous design, carved on pearl-shell,
Sunday Island. Tracing (× 1/4).]
Any number of people might be represented by the same number of short,
straight, vertical lines. Followed by a zig-zag line, such people are
represented as being on the march. When a small dot stands on each
side of the straight line, or perhaps a number of dots in intermediate
positions between the lines, the design conveys the idea that the people
are camped, the dots standing for camp fires. Moreover, when a horizontal
line lies over the upright lines, the last-named indicates that a hut,
shelter, or breakwind was used during the encampment (Fig. 54).
When there is an obvious, and intended, difference in the lengths of the
upright lines, the longer represent men, the shorter women.
Reverting now to the cross, and looking more closely into its
development, expansion, and embodiment in anthropomorphous designs, we
meet with one or two points of considerable interest.
We have had occasion to note that throughout central and northern
Australia, the tribes during the final acts of initiation ceremonies
make use of a sacred cross, called “_Wanningi_” or “_Wanninga_” in the
former region and “_Parli_” in the western portions of the latter. These
wanningi are constructed only immediately before they are required and
are destroyed again the moment the ceremony is over. Women are not
allowed to see them under any consideration. A wanningi is made by fixing
two pieces of wood together in the shape of a cross, then, by starting
at the intersection of the arms, a long string, made of human hair, is
wound spirally round and round, from arm to arm, until the whole space
between the arms is filled in. The size of these crosses varies from
three or four inches up to two feet or more. This object is produced
by the Aluridja just before the mutilation of the neophyte is to take
place. At this critical moment of the youth’s life, when he is stepping
from adolescence across the great gap which will lead him to manhood,
the spirit of the Great Tukura presides invisibly concealed within the
wanningi, but returns to his high abode again when the function is over.
Vide Plate XLIII, 2.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLVI_
Wordaman native with his body and head decorated in imitation of skeleton
and skull, Victoria River, Northern Territory.]
The spiral winding of hair-string around the arms of the wanningi
associates the idea of the rhombic outline of the string with the arms
of the cross. In the representation of the human form, one often finds
the two patterns combined, or, it may be, the rhomb replaces the cross.
In the example before us (Fig. 55, a), we have an engraved pattern
appearing on a spear-thrower, the motive of which, were it not that the
artist had added a human face, would have been very difficult for the
untrained eye to recognize. As it is, we have the unmistakable evidence
of an anthropomorphous design. Not only does a modified rhomb represent
the body of a man, but the figure itself is flourishing the crossed arms
of a “_Wanningi_” in its right hand. The principal design thus identified
passes, at the bottom, into a pattern composed of several polygonal
figures which may, no doubt, be looked upon as derivatives of an original
rhomb.
In the other illustration (Fig. 55, b), which is also a carving upon a
spear-thrower, the intricate association of the rhomb with the human
form is again apparent. The figure of a man, with face in profile,
is represented in a plain and more or less conventional way; the
straight trunk with the two arms resting upon the hips, symmetrically
on each side, in itself suggests the rhomb, but, in addition, most of
the intervening spaces have been filled in with parallel lines and a
cross-hatching pattern which embodies the rhomb.
Conventionalism in the representation of the human figure has thus gone
further than the mere inclusion of the cross or the rhomb motive, by
working in with the original design a derivative or new pattern which
fills up all the surrounding spaces.
By means of this system, a new element is introduced in the shape of
symmetry. If a vertical line, drawn through the centre of the trunk,
be taken as a median line in a simple design of the human figure, all
subsequent patterns which are drawn will be grouped symmetrically about
it. The most popular pattern used to fill up the available spaces
with, is one of a “concentric” type. By this method a distinctive,
bi-laterally symmetrical pattern is evolved, which after prolonged
usage may actually take the place of the original, and have a true
anthropomorphous significance.
Take the illustration of conventionalism of this kind shown on the carved
pearl shell covering from King Sound reproduced in Fig. 56. The original
motive was a simple line drawing of a human being after the style of the
one on the left-hand side. The next stage in its evolution was brought
about by blocking the areas between the limbs, and between the head and
arm, on either side, respectively, in a manner which made the resulting
pattern appear equally balanced in respect of a median longitudinal line
running through the back and head of the original figure.
Very numerous designs of this nature are constantly met with in all
tribal areas of Australia, but in most cases the stranger who is not
aware of the intermediate or transitional stages may fail entirely to
grasp their meaning or origin.
CHAPTER XXIX
STONE IMPLEMENTS
Survival of Stone Age in Australia—Stones used in
their natural shape for throwing, pounding, cooking,
and grinding purposes—Hand-mills—Rasps—Stone
tomahawks—Scrapers—Operating knives—“Cores” or “nuclei”—Stone
knives—Spokeshaves—Awls—Concave scrapers—Slate scrapers of
Adelaide tribe—Scrapers embedded in resin—Adzes—Bladed spears
and knives—Stone spear-heads—Method of manufacture described.
There are not many places left in the world where the man of the Stone
Age can still be seen roaming the wilds of his inherited possessions.
Even in Australia, although there remain one or two areas where
comparatively little havoc has been wrought among the primitive
institutions of the indigenous man, yet the influence of civilization is
slowly, but very surely, encroaching indirectly upon his ancient cults
by such means as inter-tribal barter, if not actually by the hand of the
white intruder. Especially do these remarks apply to the manufacture and
utilization of stone implements; it is, of course, only to be expected
that the superiority of the metal blades of the white man’s implements
would appeal to the native who formerly had to spend hours making a
crude cutting edge which only too often broke when applied to the test
for the first time. We shall, however, treat the subject regardless of
the alterations which have been brought about by our appearance upon
the scene, and without attempting to draw up a hard and fast scheme of
classification.
At the present time, whilst there are not only some of the primitive
men alive still, but also a limited number of observers who have had
the good fortune of seeing them at work, it is of vastly greater
importance to record the living facts than to write exhaustively, nay,
even speculatively, upon the comparative shapes and embodied techniques
of artefacts whose stony composition will ensure their keeping, even
fossilized, long after the men who made them, and the scientists who
lived among them, have passed into oblivion.
The Australian aboriginal makes adequate use of any suitably shaped
pieces of stone he happens to find whilst in pursuit of game; both in
the Musgrave Ranges and the northern Kimberleys stones are used in their
natural shape for hurling into a flying flock of birds, for shying
at a bounding wallaby, for bringing down nuts of the boabab, and for
precipitating fledgelings out of a nest.
Other stones, usually oblong and rounded pebbles gathered in a river bed,
are used for pounding and cracking purposes. At any camping ground these
pebbles can be picked up in great numbers, showing one or two places,
usually the points, at which the percussions have worn the stone away;
pounding stones and hammers of this description are equally plentiful in
the sandhills on the plains of Adelaide, all over central Australia, and
along the north coast. They are used for pounding seeds and foliage (the
latter of which is to serve for corrobboree decorations), for pulverizing
ochre, for cracking nuts and hollow bones containing marrow. Vide Plate
LIV, 1.
The underlying surface consists either of a level portion of an outcrop
or another, but larger, stone, which takes the place of an anvil. Some
of the coastal tribes of eastern Australia used to shape their heavier
pounding stones by chipping away material at one side until a stout,
cylindrical handle was formed, the whole resembling a pestle; dumb-bell
shaped pounders were also made, but were rare.
We have already learnt that natural pebbles or rock fragments are
also used, together with a wooden rod, for knocking out teeth during
initiation ceremonies.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLVII_
1. Cave drawings (kangaroo, etc.), Forrest River, north-western Australia.
2. Cave-drawing of kangaroo, Forrest River, north-western Australia.]
When cooking game, many tribes, both in central and northern Australia,
select a number of large, irregular slabs, which they place into a
shallow hole they burn a fire in. After the oven stones have been
thoroughly heated, the fire is removed and the meat cooked on the hot
stones. The Worora at times cut the carcase open and place a number of
heated pebbles inside.
River-worn pebbles, measuring four or five inches in diameter, are also
extensively used by all central tribes, such as the Dieri, Aluridja,
Wongkanguru, Ngameni, Arunndta, Wongapitcha, and Kukata, in conjunction
with a large flat slab, as a hand-mill. The slabs or nether stones, which
are generally known as “nardoo stones,” are longish-oval in shape, and up
to two feet in length.
The Wongapitcha use slabs of no particular shape, which they call
“_tchewa_.” The upper surface is flat or concavely worn through constant
use. It is the gin’s lot to work the mill. She kneels in front of the
slab, with its longer axis pointing towards her, and places some of the
seed she wants to grind upon it; then she starts working the pebble
forwards and backwards with her hands, rocking it gently in the same
direction as she does so. When ground to a sufficient degree of fineness,
the flour is scraped by hand into a bark food-carrier, and more seed
placed upon the slab. On account of the rocking motion, the hand-piece,
which the Wongapitcha call “_miri_,” eventually acquires a bevelled or
convex grinding surface. Fine-grained sandstones or quartzites are most
commonly found in use, but occasionally diorites and other igneous rocks
might be favoured. The women usually carry the hand-stone around with
them when on the march, but the basal slabs are kept at the regular
camping places.
Along the Darling River, and in the west-central districts of New South
Wales, the nether stones consist of large sandstone pebbles, in the two
less convex surfaces of which perfectly circular and convex husking holes
have been made in consequence of the daily use they are put to.
Haphazard rock fragments, usually of sandstone, with at least one broken
surface, are extensively made use of for rasping and smoothing down the
sides and edges of boomerangs, and of other wooden articles during the
course of their construction.
Any suitable, flattish-oblong pebbles of hard quartzite, diorite,
dolerite, and other igneous rock of homogeneous and finely crystalline
texture, which have been symmetrically worn by the weather, are collected
by the natives during their excursions and subsequently worked up into
hatchet heads. This is done by obliquely chipping or grinding that of
the smaller sides which is considered the more suitable, on one or both
faces, until a straight or convex cutting edge results. The chipping is
done with another fragment of hard rock, the grinding against an outcrop
or slab of sufficiently hard stone which happens to be handy. The shape
of the pebble is in most cases improved by chipping it before the cutting
edge is ground, according to whether it is going to be ovate, triangular,
or elongate-oblong when completed. Some patterns, such as those of
Victoria, New South Wales, and the eastern-central region of South
Australia (Strzelecki Creek), have a transverse groove cut right around
the piece, at about two-thirds the whole length from the cutting edge,
which is designed to hold the wooden haft when the implement is in use.
In many of the tribal districts igneous rocks do not occur naturally, but
they are nevertheless obtained by barter from adjoining friendly tribes.
The Dieri, Wongkanguru, Ngameni, and other Cooper Creek tribes obtain all
their stone axe heads from New South Wales; the south-eastern tribes of
South Australia used to receive their supplies from the hills tribes of
what is now Victoria; and the Aluridja, Kuyanni, Arrabonna, and Kukata
were regularly supplied from the MacDonnell Ranges and from Queensland
through Arunndta agency. The fortunate tribes who owned outcrops of
suitable stone carried on a regular trade with the surrounding districts
and opened up quarries to meet the demand. The supplies were, however,
not tribe-owned, but usually the property of a limited number of men who
came to them by hereditary influence. Similar conditions are met with on
the north coast; Sunday Island, consisting essentially of coarse-grained
granitic rock, the natives have to import most of the material they
use for making their stone implements from the mainland opposite; in
consequence, they are loth to part with their weapons.
The stone axe head is fixed to a wooden handle after the following
fashion. A long, flat piece of split wood or wiry bark is bent upon
itself and tied together at its ends. The stone is thickly covered at its
blunt end with hot porcupine grass resin and inserted into the loop of
the haft, which is firmly pressed into the resin against the stone and
tied together with human hair-string as near to the stone as possible.
The free ends of the handle are then also tied together; after which the
resin is worked with the fingers to fill up any gaps which may remain
between the handle and the stone. The handle, and often the axe head as
well, is decorated with punctate and banded ochre designs.
The size of the stone axes varies considerably; as two extremes, a large
Arunndta specimen from the Finke River measures nearly eight and a half
inches in length, by three in breadth, and weighs three and three-quarter
pounds, whilst one from King Sound, in the north of Western Australia,
measures three and a half inches by two and a half, and weighs only six
ounces, the handle of the latter being only six and three-quarter inches
long.
The flakes and splinters which fly from the pebble during the making of
an axe head are not all discarded as useless by the native; among them
he often finds one or two pieces which have a strong sharp edge with a
butt opposite, suitable for holding between two or more fingers. Flakes
of this type make useful scrapers with which he can work the surfaces of
his wooden weapons and implements.
The same flaking and chipping process is purposely applied to rocks
of a particularly hard and brittle nature, such as a fine-grained,
porcelainized quartzite or chert, to obtain flakes for cutting, scraping,
and holing purposes. Many of the best operating “knives,” with which
initiation mutilations are performed, are derived in this simple way; as
might be imagined, some of these implements are as sharp as a razor.
One frequently finds a fair-sized block of suitable stone among the
paraphernalia of a native in camp, from which he chips pieces as he
requires them. These blocks have been termed “cores” or “nuclei”; they
are six inches or more cube in the beginning, but by the time a goodly
number of flakes have been removed, the parent piece becomes much smaller
and gradually assumes the shape of a truncated cone whose surface shows
many faces from which flakes have been knocked off.
When deciding upon a place for removing a flake, a native always selects
a corner, in order that the detached piece might be triangular in
transverse section, and, therefore, without exception, lanceolate in
shape. Thus the simple flakes are obtained which make stone knives and
spear heads. To serve as a knife, the flake is fitted with a handle
in one the following ways. It may be attached by means of porcupine
grass resin in the bend of a folded haft of wood, as described of the
axe above, or its thick end may be held in a cleft, made at the top of
a stick, and secured by a good quantity of resin. The simplest form,
however, is one common throughout the central and northern regions; it
consists of a blade of quartzite embedded at its blunt end in a round
mass of resin. The largest stone knives come from the tribes immediately
north of the MacDonnell Ranges. The Kaitidji make quartzite blades up to
seven inches long and two and a half inches wide, which they embed in a
ball of resin and attach to the top of a short, thin, and flat slab of
wood. The blades of these knives are protected by keeping them in sheaths
of bark when not in use.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLVIII_
Rock-drawings of archer fish (_Toxotes_), Katherine River, Northern
Territory.]
The coastal tribes of the Northern Territory, such as the Wogait,
Mulluk-Mulluk, Ponga-Ponga, and Sherait, break similar flakes of
quartzite from a core, which they insert into the split end of a reed
spear and make secure with a mass of resin or wild bees’ wax.
A narrow, oblong fragment, with the two long edges bevelled on the same
surface, such as would be obtained by removing two flakes from the same
spot, and keeping the lower, finds considerable application in the sense
of a spokeshave. The implement is specially prized when it is slightly
curved. Much of the trimming, smoothing, and rounding of wooden surfaces
is accomplished with this tool. The native sits with his legs straight
in front of him and holds the object he is shaping (like for instance
the boomerang shown in Plate LV, 2) tightly between his heels. He seizes
the stone flake with the fingers of both hands, leaving a clear space
of about an inch in the centre, and laying the cutting edge against
the wood, pushes it forwards at an angle. This process planes down the
surface very effectively, and the ground soon becomes covered with the
thin shavings produced.
In former days the River Murray and south-eastern tribes used pointed
splinters of stone for making holes through the skins of animals they
made up into rugs. Nowadays the northern tribes make awls out of bones
which they sharpen at one end; they are used principally for holing the
edges of their bark implements prior to stitching them together with
strips of cane.
By additional chipping, the main flake, whether obtained from a nucleus
or otherwise, is often altered considerably in appearance, without
necessarily improving its effectiveness as an implement or its deadliness
as a weapon.
The south-eastern natives, as, for instance, those of the Victorian
Lakes district, as well as those of central Australia, used to select a
flat fragment of hard rock, into one straight side of which they chipped
a shallow concavity; this instrument answered the purpose of a rasp when
finishing off such articles as spears, waddies, and clubs which had
cylindrical, convex, or curved contours to bring into shape.
The old Adelaide plains tribe were in possession of scrapers which they
constructed out of thin slabs of clay-slate. The implement was more
or less semi-circular, but had a concave surface on the inner side;
occasionally its corners were rounded off, producing a reniform shape.
On an average the diameter was something like four or five inches.
This implement was used exclusively to scrape skins of animals, after
the following fashion: The convex surface was pressed against the palm
of the right hand and securely held between the body of the thumb and
the four fingers. The skin was laid around a cylindrical rod and held
firmly against it with the opposite hand, while the implement was placed
over the skin with its concave surface so adjusted as to fit over the
convexity of the rod. In this position, the scraper was worked downwards,
or towards the native, with its concave surface running ahead of the hand
and shaving the skin. Thus the skins were thoroughly cleaned, and all
adherent pieces of fat and flesh removed. Slate scrapers of this type are
still to be found in large number in the drift sands along the shores of
St. Vincent’s Gulf, especially in the neighbourhood of Normanville. Vide
Plate XLIII, 3.
Most types of spear-thrower carry a scraper embedded in a mass of
resin or wax at the handle end. The scraper most favoured is either of
quartzite or of flint, about an inch or slightly more square, and chipped
on one or both sides of the cutting edge. It is almost wholly embedded,
with perhaps only the chipped portion showing below the binding mass
which helps to form the handle.
Similar stones are fixed at both ends of a curved or straight piece of
wood, of circular section, which is then used as a scraping or chopping
tool commonly referred to as an adze. Used as a scraper, the wooden
handle is gripped at about one-quarter its length from the bottom, both
hands being at the same level, with their fingers overlapping and the
thumbs lying against the wood on the opposite side; but when used as a
chopper the hands are held one over the other, each clenching the handle
separately. Occasionally one hand only is used to direct the tool, while
the other holds the object to be worked (Plate LV, 1).
The small, sharp flakes which are chipped from a bigger piece during the
construction of a scraper are carefully examined and the most shapely
of them are collected for the purpose of sticking them lengthwise, one
behind the other, to the two edges of a bladed, wooden spear head. This
type of spear was common along the lower reaches of the Murray River and
Lake Alexandrina.
In Western Australia a special type of knife called “_dabba_” is
constructed in a like way, but the flakes are larger, three-quarters of
an inch long, and embedded in resin along one side only of the stick. The
implement measures about two feet in length.
The long, single flakes, obtained from a quartzite core, may be further
chipped along the edges to sharpen them. This process is seen typically
along the coastal districts of the Northern Territory, the Daly and
Victoria River districts in particular.
But where the manufacture of stone spear heads is seen to perfection
is in the northern Kimberleys of Western Australia. The north-western
tribes are expert at making lanceolate spear heads with serrated edges
and beautifully facetted sides; some of the specimens are up to six
inches long and are delicately chipped all over. People who have not had
the opportunity of witnessing the method employed in making them are
perplexed to understand how it is possible to accomplish such delicate
work without breaking the object; the point in particular of these spear
heads is often nearly as fine as that of a needle.
The way it is done is briefly as follows. A rough flake or fragment is
broken from a core, or rock _in situ_, by holding a bone chisel or stone
adze in much the same way as one clasps a pen or pencil, and stabbing the
block near the sharp edge, or by striking it with another rock fragment.
The size of the flake thus detached will depend largely upon the purpose
to which it is to be put; the fractured surface is always plane. The
fragment is now taken in the left hand, its flat surfaces lying full
length between the thumb and fingers, and its edges chipped by striking
them from above with a sharp stone hammer held securely in the right
hand. The flake is frequently changed about, so that what is now the
bottom surface later becomes the top. The edge is always struck nearly
at right angles to the flat surface whilst the chips break away into the
hand underneath. The Yampi Sound natives call the rough primary flake
“_munna_,” and the small chips resulting from the trimming of its edge
“_aroap_.”
The original shaping aims at obtaining a roughly symmetrical leaf-form,
truncated at the base where it is subsequently to be embedded or held at
the end of a spear or haft. The flake is left thick at its base and made
to taper towards its point.
At first the chipping is done by fairly strong, but well-directed blows
from above; later by quicker and lighter taps. Occasionally the edges
are rasped with a flat slab of sandstone at right angles to the plane
of the flake—a process which breaks away small chips from either side
of the edge which is being rubbed. The flake at this stage is called
“_ardelgulla_” by the Yampi natives, and “_arolonnyenna_” by the Sunday
Islanders.
[Illustration: PLATE XLIX
Ochre-drawings, Katherine River.
1. Bark-drawing of dead kangaroo.
2. Bark-drawing of emu.
3. Rock-drawing of lizard.
4. Rock-drawing of fish.]
When the preliminary shaping has been completed in the way described,
the native first strives to obtain a perfect point, then to trim the
sides. The former item is a very delicate operation which requires much
patience and skill; the latter takes many hours to complete.
The method adopted for this finer secondary chipping process is after
the following principle. A block of stone, about a foot cube, is used
as a working table or anvil, which the Worora call “_muna_,” and upon
this they lay a cushion consisting of two or three layers of paper-bark,
called “_ngali_.” The native sits with the stone in front of him, and in
his left hand grips the unfinished spear head (“_ardegulla_”) with one of
its flat surfaces lying upon the cushion at the near, left-hand corner
of the anvil stone. His thumb, index, and middle fingers hold the flake,
the thumb being on top, the index finger against the edge, and the middle
finger beneath; the two remaining fingers press against the edge of the
block below to steady the flake upon the cushion. In his right hand he
seizes a short rod of bone, which is sharpened at one end, and is known
as “_onumongul_,” in such a way that the unsharpened end is securely
gripped between the thumb and index finger, whilst the principal portion
of the rod is pressed with the remaining fingers against the palm of the
hand immediately below the body of the thumb. The sharpened point of the
bone thus points towards the native’s body. Holding the implement in this
position, he rests the small-finger side of his hand near the further
right-hand corner of the basal block of stone, and, after carefully
adjusting the point of the bone against the edge of the flake, he presses
it down with the body of his thumb and skilfully snaps off a chip. The
process is repeated again, and time after time, the position of the bone
being constantly changed as he works along the edge towards the point.
Then the flake is turned on its other side and the same method applied.
As the native works, the whole of his attention is absorbed. He bites
his lips together, and, when he applies leverage with the bone against
the flake, he stiffens his body from the hips upwards, his eyes being
rivetted to the spot from which the chip is to be removed. He frequently
sharpens the point of his instrument upon the basal block of stone. Vide
Plate LIV, 2.
The most delicate final chipping of both the point and margins is
executed with a thinner and more finely pointed bone, which is usually
made out of the radius of a kangaroo. In districts coming under the
influence of European settlement, the bone is often substituted by a
piece of iron, and the stone by bottle glass or porcelain.
During the operation the native often cuts his fingers on the flake or
razor-sharp splinters; the blood which follows he removes by passing his
fingers through his hair. Even at this stage, when the flake is assuming
a symmetrical, lanceolate shape, and goes by the name of “_tanbellena_,”
its edge might occasionally be very carefully rubbed on the basal
stone; but the final _retouche_ is invariably given to it with the bone
implement.
At no time during the making of the spear head does the native use his
wrist, the whole of the pressure or movement coming from his elbow
or even from his waist, while his body is kept in the rigid position
referred to above. The finished spear head is called “_ngongu nerbai_” or
“_kolldürr_.”
The process described is of such a delicate kind that the point not
infrequently breaks just when the spear head is practically ready for
use; this necessitates not only the construction of a new point, but the
margins on both sides of it have to be chipped back in order that the
point may be a projecting one.
One has to admire the industry of these men, when it is realized that the
spear head in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred will be good for only
one throw, the brittle stone shattering immediately it comes into contact
with a solid body such as the bone of the prey or the ground.
CHAPTER XXX
MUSIC AND DANCE
Talented mimicry—Association of sound with music—Beating
time to dance and music—Musical instruments—Skin
drums—Rattles—Clanking boomerangs—Music sticks—Bamboo
trumpet—Artificial fireflies—Vocal productions—Inflection
of voice—Rhythm—Corrobborees and boras—Imitative
notes—Crocodile—Emu—Crow—Frog—Wailing women—Jungle fowl—Clever
acting—Kangaroo—Fight—Man-of-war—The hunting gin—Killing the
bandicoot—Slaying the enemy—Envious of chirping insects—The
effects of singing ensemble—Conversation by song.
An aboriginal is a born mimic. Nothing delights him more than to
reproduce from Nature incidences and scenes before an appreciative
and visionary audience. But in the same sense as detail of design in
his drawings or carvings is often deemed unnecessary by his vivid
imagination, so to the outsider his acting might seem tainted with
an air of becoming vagueness which makes it appear pantomimic. Yet,
as a conversationalist, an aboriginal is usually so animated by the
recollections of his experience that he unconsciously becomes a
dramatist, and his narration an epic. Granted the necessary perception,
however, the feelings and emotions which actuate the performer are
readily grasped by those observing his dances, and whose sympathy
he is courting. He lets himself go, without mock-modest constraint,
endeavouring by every action to interpret with his body the impulse he
has received. Lured by the glint of an inspiration, his nearer vision is
blinded, his musculature quivers involuntarily, and his only desire is to
catch, to imitate, and to give expression to his exalted feelings. Held
in a rapture, his feelings transcend anything he ordinarily perceives,
his staid personality has vanished, and all that the inner individual
attempts, or can attempt, is to externalize by his movements those
sensuous, but illusive, impressions his soul is imbibing.
To many the real interpretation of such movement would be impossible;
but the aboriginal lives for his dances, of which he possesses an almost
inexhaustible variety, the outcome of tradition and invention. He has
learned to make his dance a medium of sensual expression, and to combine
an instinctive impulse with movement. By his dancing he impersonates both
friend and enemy, he copies the hopping of a marsupial, or the wriggling
of a serpent, or the strutting of an emu, and he emulates the legendary
practices and sacred ceremonials of his forefathers. In his dances lives
the valour of his warriors, and dies the evil magic of his foes. Through
his dances he endeavours to commune with the spirits of his dead, he
hears the voices of his mythical demigods, and he beseeches his deities
to protect his person and to bless his haunts with an abundance of game.
The magnetical charm about a tribal dance lies in the rhythmic motion
of the performers, in the harmonious way their naked bodies sway to the
accompaniment of crude but effective music, and in the clever association
of sound with motion and silence with rest. The dancers are mute during
their performance, the music being supplied by a band or chorus of either
men or women, or both, who squat near by. A performance without musical
items is practically unknown. The dancers keep their movements and steps
in such remarkably true accord with the vocal and instrumental parts that
it is difficult to dissociate one from another; in addition, the rhythm
for each new dance is usually set by the audience and followed by the
dancers to the instant.
The beating of time is usually done by hand, especially if women are
attending the performance. In most tribes, the person squats on the
ground, holding the thighs together, and strikes the cleft thus produced
with the palm of a hand. More commonly both hands are used together,
with the inner side of one laid over the back of the other, and the
fingers of the lower one placed together in such a way as to form a
concave surface. By this means, loud, explosive sounds are produced.
On Melville and Bathurst Islands, and on the Victoria River, the palms
of both hands are struck against the buttocks, one on either side of
the body, while the person is standing. Along the coast of the Northern
Territory, the natives, as often as not, simply clap the hands in
rhythmic order, or they slap the palms of one or both upon the ground;
occasionally one even notices mothers gently slapping the buttocks of
their babies-in-arms, all under the impulse of a catchy air which is
striking their ears.
A peculiar sort of sound accompaniment is rendered by the women dancers
of the Katherine and Victoria River districts of the Northern Territory.
As each of the dancers hops forwards in a straight line, with her heels
together and her feet turned outwards, she jerks her body in mid-air and
whacks the muscles of her thighs together, an act which produces a loud,
sharp sound. In this way she moves both forwards and backwards, making a
similar noise with every hop, whilst her feet make a track in the sand
which is to represent the female turtle coming on shore to lay its eggs.
In the same districts, as well as on the Daly River, the dancing gins
use skeins of string stretched between the thumbs of their hands, which
they sway to and fro like the bow of a fiddle. Although this manoeuvre
does not produce a sound, it is here mentioned because the movement takes
place in perfect rhythm and in unison with the singing which is going on;
and one is reminded of a modern conductor using his stick.
If we now turn our attention to the consideration of the accompaniment
produced with musical instruments, there is a small choice at our
disposal. We find that certain of the southern tribes, along the River
Murray, made use of skins, which they stretched across their thighs, as
they sat upon the ground, and struck with their hands or a stick like
beating a drum.
In the Kimberley district of Western Australia, the large nuts of the
boabab, when dry, are used after the style of the European toy known
as a baby’s rattle by the children, but curiosity soon leads to the
destruction of the shell, when the pithy matrix and the seeds are eaten.
Occasionally these nuts are introduced into ceremonial dances by the men;
they are then elaborately and beautifully carved as previously referred
to.
In the same district, and in fact all along the north coast, large
convoluted sea-shells with a small pebble inside of them, or even a
number of smaller shells threaded upon a string, serve the same purpose
of noise-making.
Bundles of gum leaves, fresh or dry, tied round the ankles or arms of the
performers, produce a rustle which imitates the noise produced by the
wiry feathers of a romping emu. Most of the tribes adopt this scheme,
especially in connection with sacred festivals and ceremonies having to
do with the emu.
Among the central and northern central tribes, the boomerang is
extensively used as a musical instrument. The operator, taking up a
squatting position, holds a boomerang at half-arm’s length in each hand,
so that the concave edges are turned towards his body. Then by bringing
the instruments near each other, with their surfaces parallel, he claps
their ends together in quick succession, and by so doing produces
rhythmic clanks to suit the step of any dance or the time of any song
(Plate LII).
The Larrekiya, Wogait, Berringin, and other Northern Territory tribes
make use of “music sticks.” Two of such are required. One is of hard
“iron-wood,” about nine inches in length, flatly cylindrical, and bluntly
pointed at one end; the other, which is the beating stick, is simply
a smaller rod, of circular section, made of light mangrove wood. The
former stick is held firmly in the left hand, whilst it is struck by the
latter, not far from its end. The beating stick is held in the right hand
with one end of it pressing either against the third or fifth finger.
The sounds produced by the percussion are ringing, sub-metallic clanks;
and any alteration in the length of the free end of the beating stick
naturally tends to vary their pitch.
The instrument which is capable of producing the loudest, and, at
the same time, most weird sound, when correctly manipulated by an
aboriginal, is the bamboo trumpet, otherwise known as the drone-pipe
or “_didjeridoo_.” This consists of a piece of bamboo, of the stout,
tropical variety, from four to five feet long, the septa of which have
all been burnt out with a fire-stick. The outside surface is decorated
with engraved designs. Drone-pipes are used by all coastal tribes living
between the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cambridge Gulf, and as far inland
as Wave Hill on the Victoria River. Where the bamboo is not available,
the instrument is made out of a long hollow limb of the woolly-butt
eucalyptus; this is the prevailing type in the western portion of
the area mentioned. To serve the requirements of a single night’s
performance, a green stem of a native hybiscus bush might be cut off and
the thick bark removed _in toto_ in the form of a pipe.
When using the “trumpet,” the operator blows into the end having the
smaller diameter, with a vibratory motion of the lips, and at the same
time sputters into the tube indistinct words which frequently sound like
“_tidjarudu, tidjarudu, tidjaruda_” (Plate LIII). The effect, though
rhythmical, is a monotonous, plaintive, and humming sound which is
continued uninterruptedly throughout the proceedings. The native, while
he is blowing into the pipe, continues to breathe normally through his
nostrils, after the same style as one does when using a blow-pipe in the
laboratory. In the stillness of the tropical night the droning noise
can be heard for miles around. The wording of the accompaniment on
the bamboo trumpet during a Larrekiya performance sounds much like the
following refrain: “_Didnodiddo diduadu didnadiddo diduadu ... didnarib_.”
In addition to music and dance, a unique, and certainly most effective,
pyrotechnical embellishment of a nocturnal ceremony is supplied by
the Dieri. Along the Cooper Creek, travellers have occasion to notice
the great number of large beetles which fly towards the camp-fire at
night-time. When a dance is on, a collection of these beetles is made and
short glowing embers inserted into their anal apertures; whereupon they
are released again. As the naked figures of the men are moving to the
sway of song, these little fire-balls buzz and flit in among them, and,
cruel as the invention may seem, greatly add to the weirdness of the din.
The Dieri call these artificial fire-flies “_turapitti_.”
Vocal productions consist of recitals of notes which are frequently
encased in articulations without definite meaning or significance, the
notes alone expressing the sentiment which prompts the song. It is the
combination of these notes which gives rise to the simple melodies, and
the repetition of the melodies in regular sequence makes the song. In
his songs the aboriginal portrays the hate for his foe with vehemence,
the love for his child with affection, the spirit of the chase with
lustfulness, the cunning of his prey with counter-deception, and the
dignity of his forbears with veneration. As the pulsations of his
temperament and passion sway his mind, so his voice rises or falls in
harmony with the flush of joy or the gloom of sorrow.
When singing in chorus, the monotony of a melody is frequently
re-animated by one of the principal singers, who, with a stentorian
inflection of his voice, leads off anew. In this way, the pitch of a
melody is repeatedly altered by one or two of the recognized vocal
experts; but at all times the pitch relations remain in perfect concord
with each other.
[Illustration: _PLATE L_
1. Cave-drawing of camel, north of Musgrave Ranges, central Australia.
2. Cave-drawing of human figure, Glenelg River, north-western
Australia.]
It is considered distinctly artistic to be able to frequently change the
pitch of the voice from a deep bass to a shrill falsetto at will, and
only the most experienced singers attempt it. A new tune is introduced
by one of the older men, and the same person will later infuse new
vitality into it by picking up the strain at different stages by a clever
inflection of the voice, after the style of a rondo.
The rhythm throughout the proceedings remains excellent, but great
variations are met with during the rendering of different items; it is
always in keeping with the dance, if the latter is indulged in, even at
the risk of running away momentarily from the time of the music.
Performances which include dances as well as songs in the way of
entertainment are generally called corrobborees; events of a ceremonial,
ritual, or religious nature are termed “_boras_.”
The notes included in the songs of tribal performances are often
imitative of the voice of Nature, and among them we find allusions to
the calls and cries of birds, animals, reptiles, and mythical creatures.
At the same time, any characteristic actions or attitudes are faithfully
reproduced as special features of the dances.
In the crocodile ceremony of the Cambridge Gulf natives, a number of men
stand in a row, one behind the other, with their arms extended and their
legs asunder, whilst the individual impersonating the crocodile ancestor
wriggles along the ground between their legs. When he comes abreast of
the foremost man, he lies flat on the ground, with his legs and feet held
closely together to imitate the reptile’s tail. To further mimic the
crocodile, he extends his arms sideways, strongly bent at the elbows, and
with the hands flat upon the ground. Retaining this position, he next
elevates his body by straightening his arms, and, when fully erect, opens
his mouth and emits a harsh, booming note resembling that of a crocodile.
In the same district, the great emu man, during his ceremony, walks
within a human circle, his body prone from the hips, with one arm held
forwards to represent the emu’s neck and the hand of the other held over
his stern to indicate the tail. As he walks around bowing his body, after
the fashion of a strutting emu, he eructates deep, guttural noises,
resembling the grunting note of the bird.
How the caw of a crow is embodied in the musical programme of a ceremony
will be apparent from the following episode which was transacted at the
Forrest River. A number of men stood in a ring, and, at a given signal,
lowered their bodies between their knees. They let their heads fall
forwards, and at the same time lifted their arms, which they bent in the
elbow to resemble wings. The latter they moved lithely to and fro after
much the same way as a young bird does when it is being, or wants to
be, fed. At this moment a chant was started in imitation of the crow’s
call: “_A wa, a wa, a weh!_” and was ofttimes repeated. Then they all
hopped around like so many birds in search of food, and two men entered
the ring. Still in the same posture, these two hopped towards each other
and extended their arms until each pair crossed the opposite pair. In
that position they swung their bodies backwards and forwards, whilst
their arms sea-sawed in front of them. Then they re-joined the group, and
all continued the hopping. In the next act, an old man lay flat on his
back, in the centre of the ring, with his arms and legs stretched from
him. He represented a carcase. The “crows” hopped around him and cried:
“_A, a, a, la, la, la-la-la_,” and it sounded very much like the caw of
a crow. This item was repeated. One of the crow men then hopped to the
“dead” man. He lifted one of the arms from the ground, held it up, and
let it go. The limb fell “lifelessly” to the ground. Immediately this
had happened, all performers jumped into an upright position, rushed
towards the man feigning death, and carried him from view. Apart from the
imitation of the crow’s call, no regular song accompanied the act, but
all the onlookers were beating time, to correspond with the hopping, by
slapping their hands against their thighs.
The vocal accompaniment at a ceremony of welcome on Bathurst Island is in
the form of a trill, a rapidly repeated “_i, i, i, i, i ..._,” changing
occasionally to “_hi, hi, hi, hi ..._,” which is very cleverly reproduced
in imitation of the note of the great stone plover.
In the corrobboree of a frog, the Larrekiya sing the following refrain:
“_Iwoggiama wogien woggiamana wogien, immangana jellerrima wogien._
_Imbaka kwuerakwa wogien. Imbelluoluodö wogien._”
Then they pause for a moment, and, continuing immediately, mimic the
croaking by crying:
“_Yi kwa e kwa, yi kwa e kwa!_”
The singing is assisted by an accompaniment on the bamboo trumpet
which sounds like: “_Tip bu, tip bu, tip bu, tip pau-a, tip pau-a, tip
pau-a_.” Music sticks are used by all taking part in the corrobboree, the
percussions being equally timed and of uniform strength.
A little performance, melodramatic in a way, which is very popular with
the Larrekiya and Wogait in the Northern Territory, is designed to scoff
at the wailing of women. It is introduced by the following refrain:
“_Arada kadji mara uda kayan yan; arada kadji mara uda kayan mölle
ulpululu mölle, jangaji karra kanjin mada da nga la ulmin ja jandadbi
karra kun kun mukale la enbulukdi bana mölle mara kanjinmada da buluk di
bölle arada kadji balla._”
Then the wailing begins. With a pathos and sincerity so cleverly feigned
that one might easily be led to believe they are genuine, the men strike
up a lament which is thrilling. Monosyllabic sounds pierce the air,
which terminate with a sob:
“_Lö -e, lö, lö -e, lö -ö, lö -ö la_.”
Then a burst of laughter ends the solemnity; and the refrain is continued
amidst much hilarity:
“_Kanjin mada danö wüdningi juan madji karra kunkul mukana mölle enbuluk
di bana mälle kanjin mada_.”
At the conclusion, a general criticism takes place of the skill displayed
by the different performers in the reproduction of the effeminate sounds.
Throughout the proceedings an accompaniment is played on the bamboo
trumpet sounding like: “_Tib bu, tib bu, tib bu-a_”; whilst a number of
men beat their music sticks in a rhythm represented by one long and three
short taps.
The Bathurst and Melville Islanders are famous for their impressive
ceremonies. At most of them, a group of men stand in a semi-circle and
supply the accompaniment by clapping one or both hands against thigh or
buttock, producing dull, drum-like sounds by the impact; they further
supplement the rhythmic sounds by crying, “_brr, brr, brr_” in unison
with the beating. Any actors who enter the ring in front of these men
frequently ejaculate a sound like a short “_poop_,” and this immediately
solicits a concerted “_iah_” from all taking part.
In their corrobboree of the jungle fowl, an old man rushes into the ring,
bending his arms at the elbow and holding them close against his body,
while he rests his closed fists upon his chest. His attitude resembles
that of a professional runner, although in reality his arms are supposed
to represent the wings of the bird. The man looks about the ground, from
side to side, as though in search of something. Presently he imitates
the familiar call of the bird, with a shrill penetrating voice, which
sounds like “_he-r-r-r-l_.” In answer to this, the chorus surrounding him
spontaneously gives utterance to a number of short, non-articulate noises
which sound like “_brrl, brrl, brrl_,” and are claimed to be the call of
the bird’s mate. From now on the performer intermittently cries “_he_,”
and, every time he does so, the rest of the men respond with a loud
“_yeh_.” Then he throws sand and clouds of dust behind him with his feet,
with the object of imitating the way a jungle fowl throws up earth into
large mounds in which its eggs are deposited.
When the kangaroo ceremony is announced, one or two men jump into the
ring, with their legs slightly bent at the knees. Their arms are held
forward, bent vertically at the elbows, their hands being kept prone
and partly closed. The whole posture is to resemble that of the hopping
marsupial of Australia. In jumping round the space, the actor turns his
head from side to side, face downwards, as though in search of food. When
such is supposed to have been found, his hands may assist to support
his body and the hopping ceases. His legs are then bent strongly in the
knees, so that his body sinks and his buttocks come to rest immediately
above the heels, or, indeed, he may squat entirely upon the ground. He
now holds his hands together and passes them between his thighs to the
ground, from which he scoops a quantity of sand and lifts it to the level
of his mouth. Suddenly dropping the sand, the performer bounds to his
feet and runs round the ring, vigorously stamping his feet and making
a peculiar hissing sound. The act is frequently interrupted by cries
of “_poop_” from the mouths of the saltant men, which are immediately
responded to by the crowd with a boisterous “_iah_.” Then the hopping
re-commences, the actor frequently stopping to scratch his leg with one
of his hands held like a claw. Occasionally he lifts an arm to his mouth
to lick it just like the animal itself does. The pace of the time-beaters
at this stage quickens, and the actor begins to scratch all accessible
parts of his body as if possessed. An unexpected “_poop_,” followed by a
hearty “_iah_,” terminates this part of the performance amid loud shrieks
and applause.
It is not long before two performers again leap into the ring, each
armed with a light reed in his hand, resembling a spear. The above
demonstration is partly recapitulated, being, however, slightly modified
in that one man, at intervals, takes the part of a hunter endeavouring to
drive his spear into the enraged “kangaroo” on the opposite side of the
ring.
The corrobboree of a fight is presented by an imaginary spear duel
between two angry men. They are “armed” with a light reed each, and upon
entering the arena, composed of the time-beating chorus, place themselves
in defiance of each other and cut all sorts of antics. They brandish
their imaginary weapons, roll their eyes, and throw their bodies about
wildly. Then they start running around the ring, slapping their thighs
together, with their heads thrown back and their arms upwards.
As an instance of the clever way in which aborigines mimic special
happenings or striking episodes, and also hand on the records to
subsequent generations, the ship-of-war corrobboree is here briefly
outlined. This is a reproduction of events which happened at Fort Dundas
about a century ago, but the present day natives still enjoy looking
at it and include it among their favourite turns. After the usual
preliminaries, a performer rushes into the ring and stands with one leg
in front of the other and slightly flexed in the knee. Throwing his
head back and looking upwards, he starts a vigorous “hauling action” by
alternately throwing one arm out in the direction he is looking, closing
the fist and making an imaginary pull right down to his loins, while
at the same time the other arm is thrown out and returned in a similar
way. This act is in imitation of the hauling in of a sail on a European
man-of-war, and is rhythmically followed by the time-beaters. Running to
the opposite side of the ring, the same act is repeated. Then the same
hauling motion is continued, but this time pulling from below upwards
towards the body, in a manner suggesting the heaving of an anchor. During
this performance, several sharp and harsh interjections are heard, which
suggest a skit on the orders of the commanding officers; in fact, the
whole ceremony is to be looked upon as a travesty of naval discipline.
During several of the performances described above, the following chant
was heard, in perfect accord with the rhythmic smacks produced by the
hands of the chorus:
“_Tupera monan la jerra_
_Tupera monan la jerra_,”
and
“_Tupatunan tenakomejona_.”
At Fowler’s Bay, the men like no dance so much as one which caricatures
a woman on a collecting excursion. The performer walks from the darkness
of night into the bright glare produced by the camp-fire, with an
exaggerated bend of the knees and a loudly perceptible stamp of the feet.
Over one of his shoulders he carries a collecting bag, and as he moves
forwards and sideways, his eyes are rivetted to the ground in front of
him; he is supposed to be looking for food-stuffs. Suddenly he stops,
stoops, and feigns to be picking up something, which is assigned to the
bag. Then he hurries on and repeats the same performance. Whilst he is
acting thus, the audience, grouped at one side of the fire, is diligently
beating time to his steps by knocking two boomerangs (“_kaili_”) together.
In another act he walks quickly into the light, stops suddenly, and
looks hard at the ground in front of him. Presently he lifts his right
foot, only to immediately bring it back to the ground again with a thud.
Emitting a squeal like that of a dying or wounded bandicoot, he stoops
and makes out he is lifting his prey triumphantly into the air.
Yet another performance portrays the slaying of an enemy. A second actor,
who represents the vanquished foe, is requested to lie in the centre of
the arena, whilst the victor dances around him, wildly flourishing and
swinging his club. Every now and then the ground is bashed with the heavy
weapon as near to the prostrate figure as possible; and after every blow
the fallen warrior is seen to writhe his body between the legs of the
victor as if he were really suffering terrible agony.
An aboriginal often sings to himself for no other purpose than for
his own entertainment, in which occupation he manifests considerable
pleasure, and repeats the tune to his heart’s content, at times almost
to the verge of physical exhaustion. In his endeavour to become a noted
singer amongst his tribespeople, a man at every opportunity stimulates
his ambition. He listens with envy to the tireless chirping of a cricket
and suggests to himself the advantages of acquiring such powers of vocal
endurance (as he imagines them to be). The Larrekiya youths admire the
large _Cicadae_ for similar reasons; and they do not hesitate, upon
occasions, to catch one or two of the winged music-makers and suck their
viscera, hoping thereby to acquire increased musical talent.
When singing ensemble, the musical productions have widely varying
purposes and meanings. The performance might be purely convivial and
entertaining, when a number of refrains are hummed or sung, solo and
collectively, to the combined accompaniment which is rendered by most of
the others present. Any attempt at harmony is wanting. Boisterous music
can always be counted upon at tribal war-dances, when the excited and
infuriated mobs almost lose control of their reason, and by singing to
their ancestral fathers endeavour to bring destruction upon the enemy by
the wildest imprecatory acts.
At initiation ceremonies, the old men, at the time of spilling the
novice’s blood, are no less excited; and the musical items are reduced to
hoarse, rude utterances of a decidedly disquieting flavour. Under these
conditions the soul of a true savage unmasks itself. It speaks in coarse,
disconnected sounds which are hardly recognizable as human, but, at the
moment, none the less in sympathy with his inner feelings.
[Illustration: _PLATE LI_
1. Ochre-drawings of mythic semi-human creatures, Forrest River,
north-western Australia.
2. Sacred “_Utnguringita_” or witchedy grub drawings, Emily Gap,
MacDonnell Ranges.]
On the other hand, the music which is produced at religious ceremonies
is quieter and of a more ding-dong style. The natives present their
sacred chants, which they have inherited from their forefathers, for the
purpose of getting into communion with the spirits surrounding them;
and, although such proceedings may be extremely monotonous, the solemn
colloquy is nevertheless musical.
It is a common practice, for that matter, among the tribes of Australia,
for one individual to carry on conversation with another by singing the
words. When, for instance, it is the intention of the persons engaged
in conversation to make the matter as little noticeable as possible, or
when they want to impart information to each other without attracting the
attention of a third party, they clothe their words in song. And the same
is also done when a third party is to be criticized. Moreover, it is for
exactly similar reasons that all communications which are supposed to be
carried on with superhuman beings are chanted or crooned, in order that
the Evil Spirit’s attention may not be drawn to the fact.
CHAPTER XXXI
LANGUAGE
Aboriginal dialects euphonious and full—Words largely
imitative of natural call-notes—Derivations from
other characteristics—Linguistic generalizations
impossible—Vocabularies replete in certain directions—Gesture
and sign languages—Passionate conversationalist—Reckoning of
time—Computation of numbers—Word expressing action—Terminal
syllables—Affirmation and negation—Exclamations—Specific
suffixes—Diminutive expressions—Verb endings—Word
with a variety of meanings—Personal pronouns—Aspirate
sounds rare—Consonantal combination “_ng_” very
frequent—Greetings—Exclamation and Interrogative—Curious
Similarities.
As full as the aboriginal legends are of poetry, so their dialects are
full of music. For euphony, fullness, and vowel quality, few modern
languages equal the primitive tongue; and much of the charm is derived
from a natural source. Even in our own language, the vernacular name of
a bird or animal is often derived from the particular call made by the
creature. In Europe we have christened the cuckoo, the peewit, and the
boo-book owl because of their distinctive cries; in a like sense, the
central Australian natives call the bell-bird “_ban-ban-balele_,” the
mopoke “_kore-gore_,” and the spur-wing plover “_kurreke-tar-tar_,” all
three names being sounded like the natural cries of the birds themselves.
As further illustrations we might mention the Dieri and Arunndta word for
kangaroo, viz. “_arre_,” which, one is told, is what the animal “says”
when brought to bay, and the Sunday Islanders’ name for a grasshopper,
“_dingi-ding_,” which alludes to its chirrup.
In regard to the coining of words, quite apart from the sonorous
qualities the object named might possess, the aboriginal is no less
inventive. The Arunndta call thunder “_kwatche-ingoma_,” i.e. “roaring
water,” and a sharp shower of rain pattering on the ground “_kwatche
unndoma_,” i.e. “dancing water.” What is commonly known as the milk-bush
in Australia (_Sarcostemma_) is called “_epi-epi_” by the Aluridja
because it exudes a milk-like sap when broken and reminds them of the
female breast (“_epi_”). Kangaroo grass (_Anthistiria_) is referred to
by the Arunndta as “_arre-arre_” because, they maintain, the red colour
of its seed stalks resembles that of the marsupial. The Arunndta for the
familiar beef-wood tree of central Australia is “_iltjija_,” meaning long
fingers, the word drawing attention to the length of the leaves.
Whereas in our own language words like “choleric” have originated because
the bile in a human system was supposed to beget wrath, and whereas one
bushman might accuse another of being “livery” when he is ill-tempered,
the Arunndta have a verb, “_lunbatunbatterama_,” meaning to grumble or to
be sulky, in which “_unba_” stands for bile.
In view of the great number of Australian tribes and the multiplicity
of their dialects, any attempt at linguistic generalizations would seem
to be futile, when often even adjoining tribes have adopted totally
different vocabularies for the most common commodities of life. As a
matter of fact, the groups which build up one and the same big tribe
often have considerable differences in their vocabularies. For instance,
the eastern groups of the Arunndta make use of very many words and
expressions which are quite foreign to the western. Yet in respect
of certain words, it is known that with slight modifications their
significance has carried far beyond the borders of a single tribe and has
been accepted by a group of tribes living up to a few hundred miles apart.
Although the aboriginal tongue is crude in its construction, it is,
nevertheless, wonderfully rich and scientifically exact. Whereas a
modern language becomes very commonplace in the ordinary course
of conversation, and is inclined to handle subject matter somewhat
flippantly, the aboriginal system of nomenclature is both profuse and
incontrovertible. During his descriptive narrations from Nature, a
European rarely bothers about discriminating between objects composing
one big class. If he talks of a forest, he is usually satisfied to convey
the idea of a number of trees standing collectively at the site his story
is dealing with; if he wishes to be exact he might specially describe
the trees as pines or gums. But the aboriginal wants, and gives, more;
his vocabulary, in fact, rarely includes such words as “tree,” “animal,”
“meat,” or “seed”; he tells you immediately, without being specially
asked, that the “tree” is a gum, the “animal” a wallaby, the “meat” that
of kangaroo, and the “seed” that of the water-lily. Moreover, his verbal
supply is so copious that in a single word he can tell one the name, the
age, the habitat, and many characteristics.
A language without words is known to most Australian natives; thoughts
and messages are communicated by means of gestures from individual to
individual, and from tribe to tribe. This system is so perfect, and the
code so well understood by all, that important tidings are transmitted
from one centre to another in incredibly short time. The method might to
a certain extent be compared with the flag-signalling of a marine; it is
too complicated to be discussed in detail, but we shall select a few code
signals by way of illustration.
_Halloa!_ To attract the attention of a person whom conversation is to
be taken up with, the native, standing as erect as possible, and with
his legs astride, lifts his hands to his head and swings them outwards
(in opposite directions), downwards, and upwards again, time after time.
Whilst doing so, he calls aloud, with a shrill, piercing note, even
though the other fellow be well beyond hearing distance.
[Illustration: _PLATE LII_
Aluridja man rendering a musical accompaniment with boomerangs.
“... he claps their ends together in quick succession, and by so doing
produces rhythmic clanks to suit the style of any dance or the time of
any song.”]
_Come here!_ Maintaining the erect position, he throws both hands
upwards, to above a shoulder on one side, then sweeps them (extended)
in front of his body to well behind it on the opposite side, at the same
time bending his body forwards from the hips.
_I am coming to you._ The person places his hands upon his chest, and
throws them towards the stranger.
_Follow behind me._ He slaps his right hand against his buttock.
_Stop_ or _stay there_. The arms are held, bent at the elbows, at each
side of the body, with the open palms of the hands turned towards the
distant man, and vertical circles are described with them in that
position.
_Go that way._ He points the index finger in the required direction and
jerks the hand forwards several times.
_A woman._ He places his hands over his breasts.
_Kangaroo._ The hand is passed, with successive semi-circular movements,
indicating the hopping, from one side of the body to the other.
_A snake._ The hand is moved forwards in a wavy line.
_I can see._ He touches one or both eyes with his hand.
_Dead man._ Throws his head back and extends his arms laterally upwards.
_A man._ He strokes his chin.
_I can hear._ He points to his ear.
_To kill._ The palms of the hands are placed together and moved as if
striking an object.
_Emu._ Bends the fingers of one hand at right angles to palm and sways
the arm to and fro.
_Sleeping._ He lays his head upon the palm of a hand.
_Sitting._ He points to the ground.
_Running._ His legs are moved in a running fashion.
_Hungry._ He draws in his abdomen and shows his ribs.
An intricate system of sign language is carried on by movements of the
hands and fingers when the natives are at close enough range for the
signals to be visible. The following are a few of the more common signs
used every day by the Arunndta tribe:
To call the attention of a person, a man holds his open hand in front
of his face, with the palm towards him, and drops it again. The sign
having been acknowledged, a mutual exchange of gesture correspondence is
indulged in, by means of which an almost inexhaustible number of ideas
can be communicated in the form of coherent “speech.” The following few
signs (most of which are sketched on page 391, Fig. 57) may be taken
as typical of a vocabulary which in its entirety is both elaborate and
intricate:
[Illustration: Fig. 57. Sign-language of Arunndta tribe.]
_Which way?_ The forefinger is held erect (the other fingers
of the hand being closed) and several times
moved downwards or away from the face (No. 1).
_Big!_ The hand is held supine while the fingers are
first extended and then closed in again upon
the palm. The thumb is kept more or less erect
(No. 2).
_Little!_ The hand is held with its palm upwards, and the
fingers moved towards the thumb, the middle one
touching it (No. 3).
_To rest (“I am The hand is held semi-prone, with the fingers
going to sit extended and lying closely together, the thumb
down”)_ resting at the top. It is jerked downwards two
or three times (No. 4).
_To camp (“I am With the hand in the same position as in No. 4,
going to camp”)_ the middle, fourth, and fifth fingers are closed
in upon the palm, while the index is made to
touch the thumb (No. 5).
_To camp The hand remains in semi-prone position, but with
(collectively)_ the forefinger pointing towards the ground at
half a right angle, and the same three fingers
as mentioned in No. 5 remaining closed (No. 6).
_To walk_ The hand is held supine with only the forefinger
extended; it is moved from side to side (No. 8).
_Come this way Holding the hand nearly horizontal and semi-prone,
quickly!_ the fingers are closed in upon the palm and the
thumb placed over them; in that position the hand
is jerked sideways (No. 7).
_Listen!_ The hand, with fingers fully extended, is held with
its palm turned towards the face and moved to and
from the face a number of times (No. 9).
_Hear him!_ The hand is kept prone, with the middle and fourth
fingers closed and the remaining three digits
extended. Thus it is several times jerked towards
an ear of the man who is “speaking” (No. 10).
_What did you say?_ The hand is held erect, with the palm towards the
face; the thumb and forefinger are kept straight,
but the other fingers flexed; the forefinger is
jerked to and fro (No. 11).
_Fighting_ With the hand in an erect position, but the palm
turned away from the face, all digits except the
index are closed; the last-named, moreover, is
jerked with a circular motion (No. 12).
_On the summit The sign-maker extends his hand and with the small
of a Hill_ finger border of it taps the crest of his head
(No. 13).
_Running up the He extends the index and middle fingers upwards,
Hill_ while the hand is more or less prone, and jerks
them up and down (No. 14).
_It is no good!_ The hand in a prone position (with the index and
small fingers extended, the fourth finger closed
in, and the tips of the thumb and middle finger
touching) is moved in a circle from the wrist
(No. 15).
_He is dead_ Change the position of hand from that of No. 7 to
that of No. 16.
_Moving up the The hand is held partly extended in a prone position
Valley_ and moved horizontally, from side to side, at the
side of the man’s head (No. 17).
_Behold the ears He holds the hand in a vertical position with the
(of a Kangaroo)_ index and middle lingers extended, moving them
in imitation of an animal’s ears (No. 18).
_Steady!_ Hold the hand in position indicated in No. 7 and
move it vertically with a striking action.
_A Euro_ Much the same position as shown in No. 18, but the
index and middle fingers are only semi-extended;
the other fingers are made to touch the thumb
(No. 19).
_An Echidna or The hand is held prone and horizontally, with only
Native Porcupine_ the forefinger extended, which is moved regularly
from side to side (No. 20).
_An Opossum_ Hand semi-prone and horizontal; thumb extended and
forefinger bent in second joint from the tip; the
remaining fingers closed in upon palm. The hand
is moved downwards (No. 21).
_An Iguana_ Hand semi-prone and horizontal. The tip of
forefinger is brought nearly into contact with
that of thumb, the remaining fingers being fully
extended. The hand is moved vertically up and
down (No. 22).
_A Carpet Snake_ Hand semi-prone and horizontal. The points of the
fingers are bunched against the thumb, and
circular movements made with the hand (No. 23).
_A Tiger Snake_ Hand semi-prone. The forefinger extended and
directed downwards at about half a right angle;
thumb extended; the remaining three fingers are
moved alternately away from and towards the palm
of the hand (No. 24).
_A Black Snake_ Hand semi-prone and horizontal. All fingers closed
in upon palm, thumb extended upwards. Slight
downward movements (No. 25).
_The Evil Spirit_ Hand in prone position and directed downwards.
Thumb, index and small fingers extended, the
remaining fingers closed. Frequent down and
up movements (No. 26).
_Native Pear Hand held erect; forefinger flexed to touch the tip
(Marsdenia)_ of thumb; the remaining fingers closed (No. 27).
_Native Orange Hand prone; index and middle fingers flexed; thumb,
(Capparis fourth and fifth fingers extended. Forward and
Mitchelli)_ slightly upward jerks (No. 28).
_Marsupial Mice_ The hand is held in a supine position, while the
points of the fingers are grouped around the
thumb and jerked towards the sign-maker’s mouth
(No. 29).
_Native Plum With all fingers semi-extended, the hand is held
(Santalum)_ in a supine position and jerked towards the face
(No. 30).
_A Dingo or Wild The hand is held in a vertical position, with the
Dog_ forefinger extended; the other digits are flexed,
the tips of the middle finger and thumb touching.
Side movements are made with the forefinger (No.
31).
_A Bustard or Wild Hand prone; thumb, middle, fourth, and fifth fingers
Turkey_ bunched together, the forefinger bent downwards.
Vertical movements (No. 32).
_A Lizard_ Hand semi-prone; forefinger and thumb fully
extended, the remaining fingers flexed. Upward
and downward movements from the wrist (No. 33).
_A Crow_ The thumb, index and middle fingers extended, the
remaining fingers flexed. The two extended fingers
are moved against each other (No. 34).
_Wild Bee Honey_ The tip of the forefinger is repeatedly flicked
from the thumb, while the three remaining fingers
are kept in a flexed position (No. 35).
_A Wallaby_ Hand semi-prone; the forefinger and thumb are
extended while the remaining fingers lie against
the palm. Small, jerking, upward movements are
made with the forefinger, in which the hand also
takes part (No. 36).
_My Son_ The sign-maker taps his chin with the extended
forefinger of his hand.
_My Sister’s He holds his right nipple between the thumb and
Daughter_ forefinger of his right hand.
_My Sister’s He surrounds his right nipple with the tips of his
Daughter’s fingers and alternately opens and closes them
Daughter_ with a scratching action.
[Illustration: _PLATE LIII_
Wordaman youth playing on the “drone pipe” or “bamboo trumpet.”
“When using the ‘trumpet,’ the operator blows into the end having the
smaller diameter, with a vibratory motion of the lips....”]
In the course of conversation, an aboriginal aids his speech by
gesticulation. When inclined to be cheerful, he smiles and laughs in a
decidedly refreshing sort of way, and often smacks his lips out of sheer
pleasure, but when his feelings have been ruffled and he is angry, he
pouts out his lips and does not hesitate to let you know how he feels. He
betrays his feelings by most apparent tone inflections in his voice. He
frequently nods his head to indicate assent, but rarely shakes his head
to betoken dissent. When in doubt over any matter, especially in answer
to a question, he shrugs his shoulders. His hands are used a great deal
during conversation. If he wishes to give one an idea of nearness, the
finger is directed to the ground a short way off, and if distance is
implied the finger points to the horizon.
In reply to a question concerned with the location of a thing, he does
not point, as a European would, but turns his face in the direction he
wants to indicate and thrusts out his lips. When beckoning with his hand,
an aboriginal does not move his hand upwards towards his face as we do,
but passes it downwards with a scooping action. The course a traveller
has taken, or an animal decamped in, is indicated by extending an arm in
the direction and snapping the fingers.
A native has a very good idea of time. The hour at which a past event
has happened, or at which a coming event is to happen, is indicated by
pointing at the assumed altitude of the sun. To fix a time definitely for
a contemplated or proposed action, a stone is placed upon a cliff, or in
the fork of a tree, at the hour decided upon, a day or two in advance, in
such a position that a sunbeam just strikes it at the moment. When the
correct day arrives, the stone is watched until it is again illumined
in the same way; and the natives then know that it is time to act. This
method is employed when, say, the men have left camp early, and they
order the women to follow them at a later hour.
Days are reckoned by the number of sleeps they have had, and the biggest
measurement of time goes by so many moons.
When he comes to computing numbers, his fingers are of the greatest
service to him, and at times his toes as well. An aboriginal is not a
mathematician, and his vocabulary does not contain running series of
numerals. The usual method of counting low figures is after the following
pattern of the King Sound natives:
“_arra_” (one).
“_kwiarra_” (two).
“_kwiarra arra_” (three).
“_kwiarra kwiarra_” (four).
Beyond four, counting either goes by “hands” or “feet,” or for ordinary
purposes there are two comprehensive words in use which signify a
“small-large number” and a “large-small number.” In some cases, such as
the Aluridja, “one” (“_goitarada_”) appears as the diminutive form of
“two” (“_goitara_”). In the same sense, a shorter distance is expressed
by the Wongapitcha as the diminutive of a great distance by qualifying
the word “_wurnma_,” meaning “far,” by affixing “_wimuggitta_,” which
means “young.” Hence “_wimuggitta wurnma_” reads the “young (one) of
far,” i.e. “close up.” This is really the same way of expressing a
fraction of space as the same tribe has adopted for expressing minority
in age; a youth or young man is known as “_wimuggitta wardi_,” the second
word “_wardi_” standing for an adult man.
[Illustration: _PLATE LIV_
1. Making “vegetable down” by pounding grass between two stones. Humbert
River, Northern Territory.
2. Worora native making a stone spear-head, Northern Kimberleys, Western
Australia.]
The Dieri of the Lake Eyre region have one of the most elaborate systems
of numeration, which includes, at any rate, an expression for every
number up to eleven.
“_kulno_,” one.
“_mandru_,” two.
“_parkulu_” or “_parkulintja_,” three.
“_mandru mandru_,” four.
“_mandru ja parkulintja_,” five.
or “_marra warra kulno_,” five, i.e. hand part one (one hand).
“_marra pirri kulno_,” six.
“_marra pirri mandru_,” seven.
“_marra pirri parkulintja_,” eight.
“_marra pirri mandru mandru_,” nine.
“_marra warra mandru_” ten, i.e. hand parts two (two hands).
“_tjinna pirri kulno_,” eleven.
“_marrapu_,” many.
“_mörla marrapu_,” very many.
In the above table the following explanations will be found useful:
“_ja_” = and.
“_marra_” = hand.
“_tjinna_” = foot.
“_warra_” = part.
“_pirri_” = nail (toe or finger).
Thus the reading of the numerals runs: One, two, three, two-two (four),
two and three (five), or one hand part (five), hand finger-nails one
(six), hand finger-nails two (seven), hand finger-nails three (eight),
hand finger-nails four (nine), two hand parts (ten), foot toe-nails one
(eleven).
To imply a repetition or continuance of action, the frequent use of the
same verb is avoided by the Sunday Islanders, but the same effect is
achieved by reiterating the word “_garra_” indefinitely. The expression
of continued action is usually in the present tense and is mostly applied
to words like “running,” “walking,” “jumping,” “sleeping,” “raining,”
“blowing,” “bleeding,” etc., etc. For example, a man from a tree or other
look-out might be describing to his companions below, the doings of their
hunting party out on the plain; while the latter keep moving, he conveys
the fact to his hearers by ejaculating “_garra, garra, garra_, ...” The
direction of the hunters’ movements is indicated by the swing of his
hand. The moment the observer in the tree stops saying “_garra_,” the
people below know that the hunters have ducked or have temporarily ceased
the pursuit.
The terminal syllable of a word is never uttered very clearly by an
aboriginal; and it is consequently difficult to distinguish between a
short e, a, o, or u. This is particularly true of the language used by
the old men, the defectiveness being often increased by the gaps between
the incisors resulting from the initiation ceremonies.
There are occasions, however, when the last syllable receives especial
emphasis. The Wongapitcha word for plenty is “_ura_”; when the idea
of plenty is great the word becomes “_ura-ku_,” with an intentional
intonation upon the “_ku_”; and when the plenty is extraordinary,
the word receives yet another syllable and becomes the superlative
“_ura-ku-pu_.”
The simple affirmative of the Aluridja, which has also been adopted by
the Arunndta, is “_o_,” less commonly “_u_”; but when strong affirmation
is intended the word is changed to “_owa_,” or “_owau_.”
The ordinary negative of the Arunndta is “_itja_”; but forcibly expressed
this may become “_itjama_” or “_itjingalai_.”
Any sudden exclamation or accidental noise, like a cough or sneeze, might
be exaggerated by the addition of a syllable at the end. When a Sunday
Islander sneezes he makes a word out of the natural noise sounding like
“_Tish-e!_”
An exclamation which is common practically to all Australian tribes,
and may express surprise, fear, pain, or disgust, is a very liquid
“_irr_.” The Arunndta have strengthened this monosyllabic cry by giving
it the suffix “_ai_”; nowadays the word is, however, mostly pronounced
“_Yerrai!_” A variety of the last-named, but not quite so forceful, is
“_Yakai!_” A sudden fright or the anticipation of harm might produce a
very short “_i_,” without any indication of the presence of the liquid
consonant.
Appreciation is indicated by “_Aha!_” or “_Hm-hm!_” practically
throughout the central and northern districts of Australia; in both cases
special emphasis is applied to the second syllable.
A central Australian exclamation calling one to order or attention in
a somewhat harsh manner is “_Wai!_” When one person is being irritated
by another, such as a parent by a whining child, the offender is thus
rebuked. This word may also become a suffix; it may be combined, for
instance, with the radical “_irr_” and produce a word “_Yirrawai_,” which
is perhaps the strongest in a sense of disgust and reproach available in
the Arunndta tongue.
Standing at the end of an adjective, the expression “_’n-dora_” in the
same dialect signifies a great or superlative degree; e.g. “_marra_”
means “nice,” but “_marr’n-dora_” a conception more like “excellent.” In
the opposite sense, “_kurrina_” (bad) becomes “_kurrina’n-dora_” (worst).
The same suffix can be attached to an adverb. When, say, an emphatic
denial is needed, “_itja_” (no) takes the form of “_itja’n-dora_.”
There are numerous other syllables, which, when fixed to the end of a
word, convey a special significance. When, in the Arunndta, the syllable
“_tu_” is added to a person’s name in address, it really stands in place
of a sentence like “Is it not so?” For instance, “_Nani knulia atoa
utnuriraka, Endola-tu?_” when literally translated reads: “This dog man
bit Endola, is it not so?” Endola is the name of a woman who is being
addressed. In place of “_tu_,” the longer form of “_ditjekwi_” might be
used.
Again, the suffix “_lo_” is found in daily use in the same dialect;
it stands for the phrase: “Where is?” Hence the completed sentence,
“_Kwatche-lo?_” stands for “Where is the water?”
When one finds “_jara_” added to a word, plurality is indicated, the
sense conveyed being that many of the kind specified by the noun are
assumed. The word for girl in the Arunndta is “_kware_,” consequently
“_kwarenjara_” means that a number of girls are being considered, the
“_n_” being simply interposed for the sake of euphony.
Any proper noun, like the name of a person, may be modified by adding
“_ia_” to it, and, by so doing, one makes it a term of endearment in the
vocative case. “_Ware_” ordinarily means “boy,” but by altering it to
“_waria_” (i.e. “_ware-ia_”), the meaning becomes “dear boy” or “O boy.”
If the terminal “_a_” of a substantive is found to be changed to
“_inna_,” the diminutive of the original is implied. A somewhat common
name for a woman in the Arunndta is “_Unnruba_,” but during the years of
childhood of a bearer of this name, the appellation is always in the form
of “_Unnrubinna_”; in later years this changes to “_Unnruba_” more or
less automatically.
A diminutive sense is also conveyed by duplicating an original word.
In the eastern Aluridja dialect “_kaitji_” means an ordinary spear,
whereas “_kaitji-kaitji_” is an expression applied to a toy spear. The
Dieri recognize a Supreme Being whom they call “_Mura_”; any one of
their numerous demi-gods, however, from whom they trace their descent is
referred to as a “_Mura-Mura_.”
[Illustration: _PLATE LV_
1. Wongapitcha man shaping a spear-thrower with an adze.
2. Aluridja man scraping a boomerang with a sharp stone flake.]
Alterations in the ending of a verb indicate different moods and tenses.
The verb “to come” in the Arunndta is “_pitchima_”; its inflections and
their meanings will become apparent from the following short sentences:
“_Pitchai arrekutcha!_” Come here, old woman!
“_Pitchikarrerai arrekutch’njara!_” Come here, old women!
“_Arrekutcha pitchama._” The old woman is coming.
“_Arrekutcha pitchika._” The old woman came (or has come).
“_Arrekutcha pitchichinna._” The old woman will come.
If we replace the verb “_pitchima_” by “_lama_” (“to go”), the
inflections, taken in the same order as above, become: “_lai_,”
“_larrirai_,” “_lakama_,” “_laka_,” “_litchinna_.”
An adverb which finds considerable application in the Arunndta is
“_kalla_,” indicating the completion of any deed or action. Most
frequently the nearest translation would be supplied by the English
word, “already.” If, therefore, we again consider one of the above
sentences and interpose the word “_kalla_,” the meaning is strengthened
considerably: “_Arrekutcha kalla pitchama_” then means “The old woman
is already coming.” But “_kalla_” might further convey the sense of
repletion. “_Einga knullia kalla kwatche n’ dai_” would mean, literally
translated, “I dog enough water gave.” And finally “_kalla_” might
express the completion of an action. A native, after losing the track of
an animal, or having eaten as much as he wants, might be heard to say
“_kalla_,” meaning “finished.” Finally “_kalla_” might even stand for
“dead.” We have already noted a similar word in the vocabulary of the
Sunday Islanders, viz. “_Kaleya_,” meaning “finish” or “good-bye.”
The personal pronouns are either used as separate words in a sentence, or
they appear as prefixes to the principal verbs.
In the Arunndta, the following are used:
“_einga_,” I; “_nuka_,” mine; “_eingana_,” me.
“_unda_,” thou; “_unguranga_,” thine; “_ngana_,” thee.
“_era_,” he; “_ekurra_,” his; “_erinna_,” him.
“_nuna_,” we; “_nunaka_,” ours; “_nungana_,” us.
“_rankara_,” you; “_rakankara_,” yours; “_rankarana_,” you.
“_etna_,” they; “_etnaka_,” theirs; “_etnana_,” them.
As an illustration let us translate: “I like the boy”; we should have
to transpose the words into the following order, “I boy like,” and the
Arunndta would be: “_Einga ware unjinum_.” On the other hand, we might
select the Sunday Island dialect as an example in which prefixes are
used for representing the personal pronouns. The first personal prefix
is “_nun_,” the second “_min_,” and the third “_il_” or “_n’_.” If,
therefore, we take a simple verb like “_jakuli_” to “break,” we have:
“_nunjaluki_,” I break.
“_minjaluki_,” you break.
“_iljaluki_” or “_n’jaluki_,” he breaks.
The third person plural is represented by “_punjanga n’_”; hence
“_punjanga n’jaluki_” stands for “they (altogether) break.”
Whereas we have seen that an “_n_” might be interposed between two words
for the sake of euphony, it no less frequently happens that two or more
words are contracted into one for similar reasons. If, to quote a simple
case, we wish to translate into Arunndta “You give (it) me,” we have
three separate words, “_unda_” (you), “_nuka_” (me), and “_dai_” (give),
which in the above expression are fused into one word, “_nukundai_.”
Apart from the full and pure vowel sounds, the Australian aboriginal
dialects include the modified sounds expressed by the German diphthongs,
œ, äu, and ue (i.e. the French u). The pairs of consonants, p and b,
k and g, and t and d, are often interchanged during speech. Sibilant
sounds are extremely rare. My own name was very difficult, if not
impossible, for the Aluridja to pronounce; the best they could make of
it was “_Battedu_.” So, also, the imported pet name of the domestic cat,
“pussy-pussy,” as it is used by the settlers, cannot be managed. The
Aluridja call it “_putte-putte_,” and the Arunndta “_put-pudtha_.”
Let us look into the construction of the Aluridja personal pronouns
a little more carefully. Every pronoun consists of a stem, which is
different for every person, and an ending, which varies with the case.
The stems are:
First person, singular, “_naiu_”; plural, “_nganan_.”
Second person, singular, “_nuntu_”; plural, “_nurangari_.”
Third person, singular, “_balu_”; plural, “_tana_.”
And the endings are as follows:
Genitive, “-_ba_.”
Dative, “-_lukuru_.”
Accusative, “-_na_.”
Ablative, “-_languru_” (from), or “-_lawana_” (with).
A simple sentence embodying three pronouns would be: “_Naiulu tanalawana
nuntulukura ngalierra_,” which, literally translated, reads: “I with them
to you have come.”
A few of the Arunndta interrogatives are:
“_Ewunna?_” What? or What is it?
“_Unndana?_” Where?
“_Nguna?_” Which?
“_Ngula?_” Who?
“_Ntakinya?_” How many?
The aspirate is very occasionally met with. The local group of the
Arunndta, residing at Arltunga, which styles itself “_Herrinda_,” is one
of the few exceptions. Even in the settled districts, where the natives
have adopted European names, one christened “Harry” is usually spoken
of as “_Yarri_.” The sounds which are most commonly aspirated are the
exclamations, e.g. “_Hai!_” “_Aha_,” and “_Hm-hm!_”
Used in conjunction with a vowel, usually an “a,” the consonantal
combination “_ng_” is common to all Australian dialects. Although to
the modern tongue a little difficult to master, the sound is strikingly
fluent with the aboriginal; indeed, its frequent inclusion in words of
fundamentally simple origin suggests a primitive, natural derivation.
Along the north-western coast, the words for “water” are “_ngawa_” (Wave
Hill), “_ngauwa_” (Humbert River), “_kornga_” (Sunday Island).
In the Arunndta, “_nga_” stands for either “Here you are!” “There!” or
“Take it!” all phrases being used in the sense of offering something to
a person, such as mother to infant. “_Ngaboni_” is a modified form of
the last-named, having any of the following meanings: “Here!” “Look!”
or “Behold!” And “_ngarai_” is yet another modification of similar
significance, usually placed immediately behind the object it is desired
to draw attention to, e.g. “_Arre ngarai!_” (Look at the kangaroo).
Verbal greetings, akin to our “Good-day!” are rarely, if ever, made
use of by natives when they meet; but some of the tribes recognize
an orthodox term of salutation at partings, as indicating a friendly
feeling which the speaker bears towards the person he is on the point of
leaving. The Mulluk-Mulluk and some of their neighbours on the Daly River
have adopted the word “_mummuk_” to express their farewell, whilst the
Sunday Islanders’ vocabulary includes a similar expression in the word
“_tchorrogu_.”
An alarm, such as we would raise in the form of “Look out!” or “Get out
of the way!” is rendered by the Arunndta “_Par-le!_”
There are numerous examples which could be mentioned of words appearing
in an aboriginal dialect which have a striking resemblance to European
words of modern and ancient languages, which at this stage of our
knowledge of primitive tongues must be recorded as curiosities rather
than linguistic analogies. One of the most remarkable, perhaps, is the
Arunndta for head, viz. “_kaputa_”; but to connect this in any way with
the Latin word would be as unreasonable as calling the “patriarchal” type
of aboriginal a semite.
It is, therefore, not my intention to suggest anything beyond mere
coincidence, and it lies far from my mind to attempt theorizing upon
little evidence, yet it must be admitted that similarities in points of
evolution and culture, no matter how trivial and accidental they may be,
are not without interest. Viewed entirely in this light, there is no harm
in mentioning one or two similarities which exist between certain words
of the Australian dialects and those of other tongues, articulate or
otherwise.
Affirmation is expressed in the Cambridge Gulf district by “_yau_,”
“_yo-au_,” or “_yowai_.” During latter years, the same expression has
found its way south, even as far as the MacDonnell Ranges, where it has
largely replaced the original form of “_owa_.” In the adjoining coastal
districts of the Northern Territory, a similar word is in use as well as
one which sounds more like the German “_ja_.” It is of more than passing
interest to note that throughout the Malay Archipelago “_yo-au_” or
“_yowai_” is the principal form of affirmation in use among the local
primitive peoples. It is not unlikely, therefore, that the early Macassan
trepang fishers, who used to visit the north coast of Australia long
before the white man arrived, brought this word along with them.
We find, also, that the consonantal expression, “_ng_,” combined with
a vowel sound, is common among other primitive languages. Professor
Garner, too, has found it included in the inarticulate “speech” of apes
in the form of a note indicating satisfaction, which can be represented
by “_ngkw-a_.” The speculative mind naturally wonders whether this
simian cry of satisfaction is perhaps fundamentally of similar, though
independent, phonetic origin to the northern Australian word for water,
the essential of life, which we noted above is “_ngawa_.”
The di-syllabic muttering of a European child-in-arms, moreover, which
the happy parents flatter themselves sounds like “pa-pa” or “ma-ma,”
is equally characteristic of the aboriginal babe, but the parents in
the latter case interpret the note to be “_nga-nga_.” And, indeed, the
Arunndta mother responds by handing the infant the fluid it needs, while
she caressingly soothes it with the simple little word “_Nga_,” which in
our own language would be equivalent to the sentence, “Here you are!”
INDEX
Roman numerals refer to Preface.
A
_abris_, 322
_Acacia salicina_, 157
acacia seed, 150, 151
Adelaide tribes, xii, 100, 102, 180, 195, 204, 206, 208, 212, 214,
360, 366
administration, tribal, 225 _et seq._
adzes, 366, 367
_Affenspalte_, 38
“_alangua_” (native pear), Knaninja, 353
albinism, 48
“_Algerrigiowumma_,” sky-shying act, 238, 239
Alligator River, 197, 249
allotment of infants, 221, 222
“_Altjerra_,” 279, 295, 341, 342
“_Altjerrajara_,” Supreme Number, 271, 296
“_Altjerringa_,” 279, 296, 342
“_Aluggurra_” women, 343
Aluridja tribe, xii, 4, 47, 48, 50, 65, 78, 82, 83, 92, 95, 111, 114,
121, 147, 149, 150, 151, 153, 155, 170, 176, 178, 184, 192,
200, 205, 213, 226, 231, 236, 239, 240, 243, 255, 259, 264,
267, 269, 271, 272, 282, 295, 296, 349, 356, 361, 362, 387,
396, 398, 400, 402
amputation of finger joints, 253, 254
ancestor worship, 257
animation, in art, 320, 336, 337, 338
animal tracks, drawn in sand, 70-73
anthill burial, 206;
of bone, 214
_Anthistiria_ (kangaroo grass), 276, 387
anthropomorphous designs, 353-358
“_Antjuarra_,” tooth-rapping ceremony, 235
anvil-stone, 369
approaching a stranger, 2, 3;
a camp, 105
appreciation, expression of, 399
archer fish, ochre drawing of, 328
armistice, 188
Arnhem Land, 50, 196, 197
Arrabonna Tribe, 4, 200, 237, 269, 362
“_Arrarra_,” a circumcision ceremony, 239 _et seq._
“_arrera_,” kangaroo, Knaninja, 352
“_Arrolmolba_” (phallus), 291
art of the aboriginal, xi, xii, 297-358
artificial colouring of body, hunting, 142;
in warfare, 184;
of emissaries at initiation, 254;
for cosmetic and ceremonial purposes, 324-326
artificial warmth applied to infant, 66
Arunndta Tribe, xi, xii, 4, 6, 48, 50, 63, 65, 70, 76, 77, 78, 82,
83, 86, 92, 95, 103, 106, 114, 121, 125, 142, 147, 149, 150,
151, 152, 153, 155, 166, 170, 172, 175, 176, 178, 184, 192,
200, 205, 214, 218, 220, 226, 231, 237, 238, 263, 264, 271,
272, 274, 275, 282, 287, 291, 292, 295, 296, 308, 311, 321,
328, 330, 337, 338, 341, 343, 347, 349, 350, 352, 361, 362,
363, 386, 387, 390, 391, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405
“_Atoakwatje_,” water-men, 264, 265
aspirate sounds, 403
attachment of parents to children, 65, 66
“_aumba_” (_Brachysema_), 153
Australoid, 58, 59;
migrations, 56, 57, 58
awl, stone, 365
Ayers Ranges, 75
B
bailers, 95
baldness, 50
ball-games, 77, 78
bandicoot, corrobboree of, 383
“_banki_,” prepuse, 243
bark, canoes, 160-164;
drawings, 323;
shield, 86, 87;
water-carriers, 92, 93
barramundi vertebræ used as spear heads, 198
barter, with ochre, 113;
with women, 222
bathing, 99
Bathurst Islanders, 76, 77, 93, 95, 96, 115, 159, 161, 163, 168, 207,
238, 309, 310, 319, 323, 373, 379, 380
beard, 50, 51, 117;
of female, 46
bees’ honey, 145
bell-bird, 386
belly, 20, 21
Berringin Tribe, 4, 11, 129, 130, 201, 374
beverages, 153
biological consanguinity between Australia and other continents, 55
bird-like attitude, 107
birds’ eggs, 125, 126
birth of aboriginal, 61-68
biting the initiate’s head, 244, 245
bleeding, stanching of, after circumcision, 243
blindness, following club hit, 37
blonde, aboriginal, 48, 49, 50
blood, drinking of, 154;
stilling the flow of, 186;
thrown at opponent during a duel, 166;
revenge, 187
Bloodwood apple, 152
Bloomfield River, 48
blue eye in aboriginal, 25
Blue Mountains, 57
boabab, carved tree, 309;
carved nuts, 311, 312, 313, 331;
nuts used as rattles, 374;
trees serving as reservoirs, 97, 98
“_Bobi_,” tjuringa, 270
body decoration, at completion of mourning, 214, 215;
cosmetic, artistic and ceremonial, 324, 325, 326.
See also artificial colouring of body
“_Böllier_” ceremony, initiation, 250
bone, carving of, 313;
“pointing” the, 174-178, 209
bone-pointed spear-thrower, 201
bones of dead man collected, 214;
radius selected for “pointing bone,” 215
“boning” to death, 174-178, 209
boomerang, practice, 86;
used as a musical instrument, 374, 383;
used in duels, 168;
used in warfare, 187, 188
“boomerang-legs,” 15
boomerang-spear duel, drawing of, 330, 338
boras, 377
boys, apportioned to old men, 65, 66;
taught use of weapons, 85, 86
_Brachysema Chambersii_, 153
brain of aboriginal, 37, 38
breast, 18-20;
artificial lactation of, 20;
development of, 19;
enchantment of, 19;
touched with charred mulga, 65
Bremer, Sir Gordon, 144
Buccaneer Archipelago, 50, 51
buffalo, drawing of, 325, 337;
hunt, 144, 145, and _Frontispiece_
bull-roarer, used at circumcision, 241, 242;
at mika operation, 246;
at tooth-rapping ceremony, 232, 233
burial and mourning customs, 203-215
burial ground, signpost erected at, 207
burial in anthill, 208
C
_Calamus_ used as paint brush, 319, 320
Caledon Bay, 115
calvarium, Tennants Creek, 53;
used as a drinking vessel, 214
Cambridge Gulf Tribes, x, 51, 62, 65, 74, 93, 99, 101, 226, 238, 282,
288, 375, 377, 405
camel, ochre drawing of, 329
Campbell, John, 344
camp, clearing a site for, 100;
life, 100-119;
occupations while in, 112, 113;
selection of, 91
_camptocnemia_, 15
cannibalism, 21, 189
canoes, 160-164;
dug-outs, 164;
housing of, 162;
with outriggers, 164;
with sail, 164
capacity of skull, 37
Cape York, 93, 104
caravan travelling, 1
caries, 31
Carpentaria Gulf, 50, 93, 128, 129, 151, 160, 161, 162, 164, 189,
201, 266, 287, 375
carpentry taught boys, 85
carrying, dogs, 67;
infants, methods of, 66, 67
carved bone, 313;
grave posts, 207, 309-310;
pearl shell, 313;
trees, 308, 309;
weapons, 310
carvings in rock, 299-308
_Cassia_, branch used as an emblem of peace, 2;
used for headgear, 280
_casus belli_, 183
caterpillar, 122;
totemic designs of, 350, 352
Caucasian, 58, 59;
derived from Australoid, 59
cave drawings, 314, 315, 322 _et seq._;
of Glenelg River, 333, 343-345;
inspiration given by natural feature, 331, 332
celestial “walk-about,” 296
ceremonial dance, drawing of, 332, 338
ceremony of welcome, 379
character of aboriginal, 227
characteristics of race, 5-17
charcoal drawing, method of, 323;
of ceremonial dance, 338, 332;
of crows, 319, 335, 336;
of buffalo hunter, 325, 337;
of kangaroo hunter, 326, 337
cheek bone, 30
chief of tribe, 226
chignon, 47
child decorations, 84, 85
childhood, 69-90
children, entertainment of, 69, 70, 71;
position of at ceremonials, 84, 85;
playing with sand and mud, 73-75;
running after wind-driven seeds, 76;
taught to sing and dance, 70;
taught to draw and imitate tracks, 71, 72, 73;
tobogganing, 75
chin, 29
Christianity, 257
cicadae and crickets, musical powers envied, 384
cicatrices, 236-238, 250
circle-within-circle designs, 351, 353
circumcision, 239-244;
drastic treatment of shirkers, 243
clubbing the initiate, 242
clubs, 168, 169, 170;
in warfare, 188
club-rule, 222-223
“coal sack,” 332
cockatoo, kept as pet, 89
colour, artificially applied to body when hunting, 142;
of aboriginal’s skin, 40-45;
affected by climate, 45, 49, 59
composition, in aboriginal art, 338
conception, ideas about, 284, 285
conventional designs, 346 _et seq._
conventional representation of human figure, 353-358
conversation, actions aiding, 395;
by song, 385
conversationalist, the aboriginal as, 371, 395
Coo-ee, 2. See also “_käu_,” 142
cooking, methods of, 108
cooleman, 92
Coopers Creek, 50, 83, 92, 102, 114 (Barcoo), 121, 127, 150, 155,
169, 170, 190 (Barcoo), 200, 237, 362, 376
cores, stone, 364
corrobboree, 377
cosmetics, 115
_Cossus_ moth (witchedy), 122, 204
cotton tree (_Bombatt malabaricum_), 249
council of old men, 225, 226
Crocker Island, 131, 191
Crocodile, carvings of, 331;
ceremony of, 377;
eggs of, 126;
floating log to simulate, 159;
hunting the, 134
cradle, food-carrier taking the place of, 65
“cratch-cradle,” 84
crawfish, 128
cremation, not practised, 204
crossed boomerangs, the symbol of strife, 347, 351
crows, ceremony of, 378, 379;
drawing of, 319, 335, 336
“cutting” the shadow, 175
Cunningham, Professor D. J., 24
_Cyperus rotundus_ (“_yelka_”), 148
_Cyrena_, acting as a pigment dish, 319;
used as a scraper, 162
D
“_dabba_,” stone knife, 367
daggers, 172
Daly River spear types, 196, 197, 198
“_damatba_” throwing weapon, 170
“_dangorra_,” the great emu in the sky, 315, 333, 349
Darwin, Charles, 33
dead person’s name not mentioned, 211, 212
death, tracing the cause of a, 208, 209
dental rudiments, 33
de Rougemont, 133
desert surroundings, 1
dialects, variety of, 387, 388
“_didjeridoo_” drone pipe, 375, 376, 379, 380
Dieri Tribe, xiv, 4, 76, 82, 83, 92, 111, 121, 150, 155, 170, 172,
190, 205, 206, 218, 237, 242, 271, 282, 289, 290, 361, 362,
376, 386, 396, 400
diminutive expressions, 396, 400
“_dindula_,” hair ornament, 47
dingo, the wild dog of Australia, 119;
hunting the, 141;
mythical dingo or “_knullia_” people, 342
_Diprotodon_, 52, 54;
associated with other bones, 119;
carving of spoor, 307
disc throwing, 76
discipline, 85
diseases, the cause of rapid decline of aborigines, xiv
dog, the constant companion of aboriginal, 118, 119
_dolichocephaly_, 35
dolls, 79, 80
down-decoration of ground, 282, 326
Dravidians, 58
drawings, in sand, 70-73;
of “totem,” 339-343
dress, mode of, 113, 114, 115
drinking, methods of, 98, 99
drone pipe, 375, 376, 379, 380
drought, trying conditions of, 117
Dubois, Professor, 55
_Duboisia Hopwoodi_, 155
Duckworth, Professor, W. L. H., 33
duels, 165-174;
boomerang, 168;
chivalry displayed in, 174;
club, 168-170;
damatba, 170;
heavy spear, 172, 173;
kutturu, 165-168;
reed spears, 171;
stone dagger, 172;
shield used in, 173
dugong, hunting the, 134-137;
sung to during initiation, 19
dugout canoes, 164
Durham Downs, 237
E
ear, 29, 30
echidna designs, 336, 346, 347
eggs, of birds, 125, 126;
of reptiles, 126
“_Elaija_,” a sacred ancestor, 283
“_elbola_,” bark headgear, 280
“_elenba_,” wooden hair pins, 47
elopement, 223
emu, in the sky, 315, 332, 333, 334, 349;
carved in boabab, 309, 330;
carving on boomerang, 317;
ceremony, 274-280, 377, 378;
game, 81, 82;
gum leaves imitating the rustle of, 374;
hunting the, 129-140;
neck in the sky (“_Yirrerri_”), 334
enemy, corrobboree portraying the slaying of, 383, 384
“_engulba_,” pitjuri, 155
_ensellure_, 7
epipteric bone, 36
“_Erinnja_,” an evil spirit, 294
“_erriakutta_” (yelka) ceremonial drawing, 282, 327
erythrism, 48
escort of natives, 2
Etheridge, R., x
ethmoid, 25
“_Etominja_,” sacred ground design, 282, 326
_Eucalyptus corymbosa_ (Bloodwood), 98, 152;
_dumosa_ (water mallee), 98;
_miniata_ (woolly butt), 161;
_rostrata_ (red gum), 147;
_tetradonta_ (stringy bark), 161
_Eugenia_, leaf poultice applied to breast, 20
evil spirit, 291, 292, 294, 299, 314, 385
exchange of wives, 224
exclamations, 398, 399
_external angular process_, 25
extremities, length of, 10
eye, 23, 25
F
Face, 22-30
fat of emu and goanna, 115
fatty tissue scant in aboriginal, 5, 6
fatty tumours, 6
feather wig, 50
femur, 14, 15
feet, evolution and use of, 10 _et seq._;
“hand-like” form of Berringin tribesman, 11
fibula, 16
fight, corrobboree of, 382
figure contrast between aboriginal and European, 5 _et seq._
fire-fly, artificial, 376
fire ceremony (“_Ngardaddi_”), 261, 263
fire, 108;
shovels, 109, 110;
saw, 111, 202;
sores, 110;
stick, 110, 112;
whisk, 110, 111;
the precursor of civilization, 258, 260;
legend concerning origin on earth, 259, 260
fireless cooking, 80
fire walking, 236
firewood, gathered by women, 107
fish, barriers, 129;
designs, 350;
hooks, 132;
nets, 129, 130, 131;
nooses, 129;
ochre drawings of, 328;
spears, 131, 132
fishing, in parties, 127, 128, 129;
line, 132;
methods, 127, 128;
races, 128
flatfoot, 12
Flinders, Matthew, 117
Flinders Ranges, burial customs in the, 206;
ochre mine, 316;
rock carvings, 299, 303-308
flying fox design, 345, 350
foetal elements (“_rattappa_”), 287
food-carrier, used as cradle, 64, 65, 66
food restrictions, 250, 251
foot of Tasmanian, 14
footmarks in caves, 322
fourth molar, 32, 33
forehead, 23, 35
Fowler’s Bay, 64, 76, 295, 383
Fraipont’s method, 28, 29
frog, corrobboree of, 379
frog dance of children, 70
frog designs, 335, 346
frontal bone, 35, 36
frontal suture, 34
Frontispiece, 145
funeral chant, 211
G
gagging the initiate, 242, 246
Garner, Professor, 405
_Genyornis_, carving of track, 308
geological antiquity, 49, 52, 53, 54
gesture language, 388-394
“_gibba_,” chewed bone, 176
“_Gibberi_,” circumcision, 242
Gibraltar skull, 23, 32
Ginmu Tribe, 4, 253
girls accompany women instructors, 85
Glenelg River, xi, 159, 288, 312, 333, 344
goanna, 127
Gondwana, 55, 56
Good Spirit, 294, 295
goose hunting, 138, 139
“_gorri_,” a game played on the Humbert River, 76, 77
gouge, bone, 314
grasshopper, 387
grass tree, cover when emu hunting, 140;
flower stalks used for making spear shafts, 195
grave posts, 207
Great Australian Bight, 66, 141, 169, 192, 199
great emu ceremony, 274 _et seq._
Grey, Sir George, xi, 219, 272, 340, 343, 344
Gribble, E. R., 17
Groote Island, 101, 164, 197
ground drawings, 282, 326, 327
grubs, 122-125
gruesome rite, 247, 290
“_gummanda_,” cicatrices, 238
H
habitations, 101-105
half-castes, 59, 60
hailstone (“_Imbodna_”), mythical stone, 264
hair, 46, 47;
belts, 116;
cutting of, 117;
pins (wooden), 47
_Hakea_ bark, charcoal used for blackening hair, 285
hammers, stone, 360
hand-ball, 77
hand-like feet, 10-12
hand-prints in caves, 321, 322
hand-mills, 319, 361
hardening the child, 236
hatchets, stone, 362, 363
hawk traps, 137, 138
head-biting during initiation, 244, 245
head-dress, of emu ceremony, 277;
of “_tjilba purra_” (phallic) ceremony, 287
head-rests, 105
height of aboriginal, 16, 17
_Helix perinflata_, 121
Hickson, Sydney, 49
hide and seek, 78, 79
Higgin, A. J., 157
hollow trees used as shelters, 102
honey, wild bees’, 145;
drink, 153, 154
honey-ant, 146, 147
Howitt, Dr. A. W., 295
human chain-pattern, 353, 354, 355
human form, pictographic representation of, 353-358
Humbert River, 76, 320, 324, 336, 337, 352, 353, 403
Humboldt, Alexander von, 20
humerus, 16
hunt, objects of the, 121
hunting, 120-147;
buffalo, 144, 145;
crocodile, 134;
dingo, 141;
dugong, 134-137;
emu, 129-140;
geese, 138, 139;
hawks, 137, 138;
kangaroo, 141-144;
opossum, 140, 141;
turtle, 132, 133;
whistling duck, 139;
wallaby, 141;
wombat, 141
hunting instinct, 120, 121
hunting with fire, 126
huts, 102-105
Huxley, Thomas, 24
_hypertrichosis_, 46
I
“_ilbarinam_,” tjuringa, xi
“_ilja-imbadja_,” hand marks in caves, 321
“_ilgarukna_,” venesection, 275
“_illiya tjuringa_,” emu ceremony, 274 _et seq._
“_ilpalinja_,” sun worship, 265-267
“_Iltdana_,” evil spirit, 292
Ilyauarra Tribe, 4, 205
“_Imbodna_,” a mythical hailstone, 264
“_Imboromba_,” a spirit father’s mate, 287
imitation, of the plovers’ call, 70, 265, 379, 386;
of the dingo’s howl, 70;
of the jungle fowl’s call, 380;
of the crow’s call, 378;
of the crocodile, 377;
of the emu, 279, 378
“_Indorida_,” the mate of Rukkutta, 291
infant betrothal, 221
infant, treatment of, 64-68;
rubbing milk and charcoal over body of, 65;
singeing hair of, with fire stick, 65
“_ingada_,” a chief, 226
Ingada Ladjia Knaninja, leader of yam ceremony, 281
“_ingwitega_,” munyeroo, 150
_inion_, 36
initiation, 230-256;
amputation of finger-joints, 253, 254;
of the female, 252, 253;
origin of, 251, 252;
without mutilation, 249
instinct for locating water, 96
interment, 205-207
_internal angular process_, 25
interrogatives, 403
intitjuma, ceremonies, 274
intoxicating drink, 153, 154
introduction to a tribe, 1-3
iris, 25
“_irr_,” 171;
expression of disgust, 118
“_irriakutta_,” yelka, 149
J
“_jarrulge_,” mulga apple, 152
Jewish features, 26
“_jingardti_,” a chief, 226
Joyce, Capt. T. A., x
judge of character, 228
“_judja_,” a chief, 226
jungle fowl, corrobboree of, 380, 381
_jus primae noctis_, 256
justice, idea of, 227
K
“_kadabba_,” phallus, 283, 284
Kai Kai, an old medicine man, 180
“_kaidi_,” tjuringa, 270
kaili (boomerang), used as musical instrument, 383;
miniature, for practice, 82
Kaitidji (Kaitish) Tribe, 4, 92, 364
Kakera, marriage group, 220
Kakatu Tribe, 4, 267
“_kaleya pubanye_,” the sitting emu (coal sack), 332
“_kaloa_,” raft, 160;
toy models of, 82
“_kalumba_,” nardoo, 150
“_kalunuinti_,” phallus, 288
“_kanbanna_,” paddles, 159
kangaroo, charcoal drawings of, 321, 326, 336, 337;
conventional representation of, 350;
corrobboree of, 381;
hunt, 141-144;
ochre drawings of, 327, 328;
origin of “_arre_,” its name, 387;
tjuringa design of, 349, 352
“_kapa_” or “_kadje_,” water lily, 151
“_kapi wiyinna_,” magic water stick, 264
“_karru_,” milky way, 349
“_karwinnunga_,” shield, 173
“_käu_,” _vide_ Coo-ee, 142
“_käu-käu_,” chewed bone, 176
“_kaula_,” native pear, 152
Keith, Sir Arthur, x
kidney fat and marrow of dead warriors eaten, 189
Killalpaninna, 290;
“_killa wulpanna_,” 290, 291
King Sound natives, 50, 82, 88, 132, 151, 159, 283, 309, 311, 330,
358, 363, 396
kitchen-middens, 121, 122
Klaatsch, Professor Hermann, x, 25, 28, 29, 42, 50
“_Knaninja_,” xi, 265, 271, 274, 280, 281, 282, 285, 327, 341, 352,
353
“_Knaninja Arrerreka_,” mythical sun creature, 265;
ceremonies of, 274
knives, stone, 364
“_knudda_” (fat) of witchedy, 342
“_Knurriga Tjilba Purra_” (phallus), 286;
head of the Kukadja, 285
kobong, xi, 219, 226, 232, 269, 271, 272, 340
_Kochia_ bush, used for making vegetable-down, 276
Kolaia Tribe, 4, 65
“_kolldürr_,” stone spear-head, 370
Kukadja, 285, 286, 292, 293
Kukata Tribe, 4, 32, 81, 82, 87, 184, 200, 205, 236, 241, 242, 248,
255, 288, 296, 318, 361, 362
“_kukerra_,” playing stick, 82, 83
Kumara marriage group, 220
Kunapippi, a mythical witch, 271
Kurdaitja, an evil creature, 71, 72
“_kurreke tata_,” the plover, 70, 265, 386
“_kutturu_,” fighting stick, practice, 87;
duels, 165-168;
embodied in head-gear, 280
Kuyanni Tribe, 4, 362
“_Kwatje_,” water, ceremonies, 274
“_Kwatje purra_,” magic water stick, 264
L
lachrymal bone, 25
lactation, artificial, 20
“_ladjia_,” or yam tjuringa, 280 _et seq._, 337;
design of, 347
Lake Eyre, 50
lances, 193
“_langa langa_,” a shell knife used for “cutting the shadow,” 175
“_langu_,” native pear, 152
language, xii, 386-405
lanugo, 46, 49
La Perouse, 107
Larrekiya Tribe, 4, 62, 77, 111, 130, 131, 139, 142, 163, 164, 170,
196, 201, 202, 205, 207, 208, 210, 230, 249, 252, 332, 374,
379, 384
legs, 14
Lemuria, 55, 56
lerp manna, 147
leucoderma, 43
licentiousness, 224, 254
“_lionila_,” a club, 170
_lipomas_, 6
lips, 31
living skeletons, 21
lizards, 126;
designs of, 334, 335
_lobulus_, piercing of, 30
log rafts, 158-160
“_lorngai_,” feather wig, 50
lumbo-sacral curve, 9
“_lurra_,” a lipoma, 6
M
MacDonnell Ranges, 50, 92, 127, 146, 153, 155, 218, 226, 285, 291,
341, 362, 364, 405
Maiyarra’s conception, 61;
accouchement, 63
Malay bêche-de-mer fishers, 57
manna, 147
_mastoid process_, 30
“_marimba_,” wallaby bone used for loosening a tooth, 236
marine molluscs, 121, 122
marital relationships between man and woman, 222, 223
marriage systems, 218, 219, 220, 221;
allotment of infant, 221, 222
“_marriwirri_,” wooden sword, 170
_Marsdenia Leichhardti_, native pear, 152
_Marsilea quadrifolia_, nardoo, 150
_mastoid process_, 29
maternity, peculiar belief concerning, 62
medicine man, 179-182, 264, 265, 273, 294;
attends council meeting, 225, 226;
treating a patient, 181, 182
meeting an Australian tribe, 3
_Melophorus inflatus_, honey ant, 146
Melville Islanders, 77, 93, 144, 159, 161, 163, 192, 207, 238, 249,
309, 310, 323, 373, 380
“_memba_,” a feather wig, 50
_mental foramen_, 29
Menuaitja, marriage group, 220
“_merliadda_,” fire walking, 236
migrations of early man, 56
“_mika_,” a bark food carrier, 92
mika operation, 245-249
milk squirted at strangers, 228
milk and charcoal rubbed over newly-born child, 65
Milky Way, 332, 349, 350
Milk-bush, 387
mimicry, powers of, 371
“_mingul_,” pitjuri, 155
Minning Tribe, 4, 170, 218, 220, 260, 270, 334
“_miri_,” hand mill-stone, 361
modesty, sense of, 107
“_moiranje_,” a pubic tassel, 114
molars, 32
Mollinya ceremony, 250
Mongarrapungja, head of the Kukadja, 292, 293
Mongoloid migration, 56, 59
moon legends, 267-269
moon man, 267, 268
monkeys, appreciation of, by aborigines, 89, 90
mopoke, 386
“_moru_” (_Tephrosia_), a fish poison, 139
mothers charged with callousness, 65
mourning, customs of, 208-215;
second period of, 214
mourning ceremony, comic imitation of, 380
mouth, 31-33
mud-balling, 75
mud slides, 73, 74
mulga apple, 152
Mulluk Mulluk Tribe, 4, 25, 112, 197, 206, 365, 404
mummies, 208
munyeroo, 149, 150
Muramura, the Supreme Number, 271
Murchison district, type of spear-thrower of, 200
Musgrave Ranges, 48, 97, 102, 108, 109, 127, 143, 146, 151, 155, 329,
332, 360
music and dance, 371-385
music sticks, 374, 375, 379, 380
mussel (_Unio_), 121;
knife used for “cutting the shadow,” 175
mutilations, after return of circumcision candidate, 243;
after mika operation, 248;
amputation of finger joints, 253, 254;
at mourning ceremonies, 209, 210, 211, 213;
head biting, 245;
of female, 255, 256;
upon receipt of sad news, 210
N
Nangali, a mythical water-man, 264
“_nangarri_,” the medicine man, 179, 180, 181, 182, 264, 265, 273,
294;
treating a patient, 181, 182
nardoo, 150
Narrinyerri Tribe, 4, 95, 169, 200, 214, 296
naso-labial folds, 27
native pear (_Marsdenia_) design, 351, 353
native well, 96
Nature worship, 257
“_naualla_,” cicatrices, 238
navigation, 158-164
Neanderthal skeleton, 15, 23, 24, 25
Needlebush (_Hakea lorea_), 98, 111
negative chin, 29
negative words, 398
Negroid, 15, 28, 29, 34, 56, 59
newly-born infant, treatment of, 64, 65
“_ngadanji_,” tjuringa of phallic significance, xi
Ngadeja marriage group, 220
Ngameni Tribe, xiv, 4, 82, 155, 205, 237, 361, 362
Ngardaddi, a mythical fire thief, 261, 262
“_ngongu nerbai_,” a stone spear-head, 370
“_nimmerima_,” an emu-spear, 139
nomenclature, defining the individual, 216-218;
connected with marriage system, 218, 219
Northern Territory tribes, 76, 108, 112, 115, 116, 126, 128, 129,
130, 131, 132, 138, 142, 151, 174, 190, 195, 196, 197, 200,
201, 202, 208, 209, 211, 237, 253, 286, 313, 320, 323, 336,
349, 365, 367, 373, 374, 379, 405
Northern Kimberleys tribes, 77, 82, 86, 92, 95, 97, 109, 116, 125,
131, 139, 151, 173, 195, 200, 206, 208, 214, 232, 244, 249,
256, 284, 288, 311, 313, 330, 340, 343, 360, 367
nose, 26-28;
boring of septum, 230, 231
nuclei, stone, 364
Nullarbor Plains tribes, 169, 251
numerals, 396, 397
Nyege, Supreme Spirit, 295
_Nymphaea stellata_, blue water lily, 151
O
Obesity, 6
occipital bone, 39
ochre drawings, at ceremonials, 325, 326;
on bark, 323;
on the body, 324, 325, 326;
on weapons, 323, 324
ochre, smeared over corpse, 208;
over emissaries at initiation, 254;
over infant, 65;
over initiate in tooth-rapping ceremony, 234;
over initiate in circumcision ceremony, 241;
over sacred stone, 291;
preparation of for barter, 113, 318;
preparation as a pigment, 318, 319
ointments, 115
“_oladda_,” bark food-carrier, 65
“omelette” of emu egg, 125, 126
Ooldea, 48
operating knife, 242, 364, 365
opossums, carried on the head, 88;
hunting of, 140, 141;
suckled by gin, 91
_orbita_, 25, 26
orders of the day, 91
“_oridja_,” truffle, 151
origin of aboriginal, 52
orthognathism, 29
_os inca_, 35
outriggers, 164
oven-stones, 360, 361
P
paddles, 163
Pandanus cider, 153, 154
Panunga marriage group, 220
“_parapara_,” nardoo, 150
parietal bone, 35
“_parli_,” the north-western form of wanningi, 356
Parnkalla Tribe, 4, 199
patting the chest, a form of salutation, 3
“_päuya_,” native pear, 152
pearl shell coverings, 115, 313, 355
_peroneus_ muscle, 12
perspective, generally absent in drawings, 334, 338, 339
pets kept in camp, 88
“_peturr_,” pitjuri, 155
phallic worship, x, xi, 282-292
phallus, 249, 283-292;
water producing, 264
philosophical instincts, 116, 117
Pidunga Tribe, 4, 317
pigmentation of skin, 41-43, 59
pitch, changing of, while rendering a song, 376, 377
pitchi, bark food-carrier, 92
_Pithecanthropus_, 15, 55
pitjuri, 113, 139, 155, 156, 157
piturine, 157
placenta, 64
platform burial, 207, 208
_platycnemia_, 15
platypus design, 304, 306
playing “father and mother,” 79
playing stick, 82
Pleistocene gravels, 53
plover, the “rainmaker,” 70, 265;
imitating call of stone plover, 379;
origin of its name, 386
plurality, expression of, 400
“pointing” the bone, 174-178
Ponga Ponga Tribe, 4, 88, 112, 184, 197, 198, 365
Port George IV, 65, 94, 238, 283, 310
Port Hedland carvings, 299-303, 329
Port Jackson carvings, 299, 300
portulaca, 147
positive chin, 29
“pot-belly,” 21
pounders, stone, 360
pregnancy, artificial interference with, 64
“_prelja_,” manna, 147
premolars, 33
prepuse, resection of, 242
“primitive snout,” 27
_prognathism_, 28
pronouns, 401-403
prostitutes, 223
pubic coverings, 114, 115, 243, 249, 313
“_puli_,” stone used in tooth-rapping ceremony, 236
Pultara marriage group, 220
“_purra_,” phallus, 287
Purula marriage group, 220
“_putta ildurra_,” stone dagger, 172
_Psylla_, 147
Q
Queensland, 50, 53, 80, 84, 94, 102, 104, 124, 131, 137, 155, 163,
190, 208, 299, 308, 316, 362
R
_radius_ selected for “bone,” 215
rafts, 158-160
rainmakers, 264, 265
“rattappa,” foetal elements, 287, 291
rattles, boab nuts, sea shells, and gum leaves, 374
red-hot coal placed on forearm, 87, 88
reed spear, 171, 194
religious ideas, 257-296
repetition of action, verbally expressed, 397, 398
_retouche_, 370
_rhinal fissure_, 39
rhythm, 372, 377, 383
River Murray Tribes, 66, 100, 102, 108, 114, 121, 160, 169, 192, 195,
200, 208, 213, 310, 313, 365, 367, 373
rivers, extinct in Australia, 59
rock carvings, 299-308
rock shelter, 322
Roebuck Bay, 170
Roper River Tribe, 153, 197, 249, 270, 287
Roth, Dr. Walter, 48, 80, 84
_Rukkutta_, a tribal ancestor, 291
S
sacral bone, 9
sacred ceremonies, 273 _et seq._;
ceremonial object (“_tjilbakuta_”), 276, 278, 280;
emu tjuringa, 274 _et seq._;
“_kwatje_” tjuringa, 274
sacred ground of tjuringa, 272, 273
sacred ground drawing, “_Etominja_,” 282
sacred pole, “_Djundagalla_,” 248, 249;
stored in hut, 266
sagittal suture, 35
_Salsola kali_, 76
salutations, 105, 106, 404
_Sarcostemma_, 387
saw fish, 131
scars (tribal), 236-238
_scaphocephaly_, 34, 35
Schweinfurth, Prof. G., 306
_Scleroderma_, 152
scrapers, stone, 363-367;
slate, 366
sepulchral caves, 214
sex worship, 257, 282, 289-292
shell-fish, 122
shelters, 101-105
Sherait Tribe, 130, 365
shield, 173, 188
ship-of-war, corrobboree of, 382, 383
shoulder-blade, 16
sibilant sounds, 402
sign language, 388-394
singing, ensemble, 384;
the words of a conversation, 385
sitting, methods of, 106
skeins of fur-string used during dance, 373
skeleton of aboriginal, 5-16, 21-37
skeleton, imitation of, in body decoration, 325
skin, colour of, 40-45
skin drums, 373, 374
skin water bags, 94, 95
skins used by southern tribes, 100, 114
skipping, 83
skull, 34 _et seq._;
capacity of, 37
sky-shying act, 238, 239
sleep, order during, 101;
position during, 105
Smith, Dr. Ramsay, 15, 16, 34
Smith, Dr. S. A., 53, 54
smoking ceremony, 253
snails, 121
snakes, 126;
mythical, 269
songs, 377-385;
imitating natural call-notes, 377 _et seq._
Spartan principles, 87
spears, 190-198;
carefully stored, 112, 113;
heavy, 172, 173;
poisoned, 198;
reed, 171, 194, 195;
stone-bladed, 367;
stone-headed, 196;
types figured, 191;
uses of, 190
spear-head, stone, 367-370;
method of making, 368-370
spear-throwers, 199-202
spine, curvature of, 7;
effect of upright attitude upon, 8;
effect of tree-climbing upon, 13;
proportional lengths of vertebræ and cartilaginous discs, 8;
smallness of vertebræ, 9
_Spinifex_, 76
spokeshave, stone, 365
_squamous_ portion of temporal bone, 36
still-born children, 205
Stirling, Dr. E. C., 15
Stokes, Lort, 105
stone age in Australia, 58, 59, 359
stone-covered huts, 103
stone implements, 359-370
Strehlow, Rev. Carl, x
subincision, 245-249;
sensual excitement at, 248
_sulcus lunatus_, 38
Sunday Islanders, 65, 66, 78, 82, 84, 89, 93, 117, 176, 295, 331,
355, 368, 397, 398, 401, 403, 404
sun-men, 267
sun worship, 265-267
superlative expressions, 399
Supreme Spirit, xi, 400
T
“_takul_,” mulga apple, 152
Talgai skull, 33, 53
Talleri, the eternal home of all spirits, 296
“_taralje_,” a spear-thrower, 200
Tasmania, separated from the mainland, 119
Tasmanians, 14, 15, 16, 28, 31, 34, 35, 37, 49
“_tchewa_,” flat stone of hand-mill, 361
“_tdela_,” head-dress, 280
_Tecoma Australis_, 195, 196
teeth, 31
temperament, 229
Tennants Creek, calvarium, 53;
the home of Kukadja men, 285
_Tephrosia_, a poison plant, 139
terminal syllables, 398, 399
the day’s march, 91-99
_Therapon_, drawing of, 328
thigh bone, 14, 15
third trochanter, 15
thorns, removal of in camp, 117, 118
throwing competition, 78
thunder, 387
_tibialis posticus_ muscle, 16
time, beating of, 372, 373;
fixing of, 395;
representation of, 351
“tip-cat,” 78
“_tjilbakuta_,” a sacred ceremonial object, 276, 278, 280
“_tjilba-purra_,” a phallus, embodied in head-gear, 287;
Altjerra-Knaninja drawing, 327
Tjingali Tribe, 4, 308
“_tjulu_,” a stone operating knife, 242
tjuringa, 217, 311;
Altjerra-Kutta, 291;
acting as a talisman, 273;
carried by initiation emissaries, 242;
carved stone, 309;
caterpillar, 350, 352, 353;
ceremonies, 274 _et seq._;
in the sky, 334;
inspirited by a deity, 270;
kangaroo, 349, 352;
mythical origin of Kunapippi, 271;
native pear, 351, 353;
of sun ceremony, 265, 266;
produced at female initiation ceremony, 255;
stored in sacred caves, 272, 343;
witchedy grub, 348;
yam pattern, 337
Tjurrega marriage group, 220
“_tjutanga_,” tooth-rapping rod, 236
“_toki_,” a waterlily, 151
tomahawks, stone, 362, 363
Tomkinson Ranges, 48, 67, 114, 143, 227
tooth-ache, 32
tooth pick, 32
tooth-pointed spear-thrower, 201
tooth-rapping ceremonies, 231-236;
“_antjuarra_,” 235, 236;
gum forced back with finger nail, 235;
knocking the tooth out, 235
tops, 83
“totem,” xi, 219, 226, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 279, 280, 282, 285,
339, 340, 341, 351, 353
“totem,” ancestors, 274;
ceremonies, 274;
food and hunting restrictions, 273
“totemic” designs, 339-343, 346, 351, 352, 353
_Toxotes_, drawing of, 328
toys, 79 _et seq._
toy, boomerang, 82;
dart, 82;
raft, 82;
spears, 81, 194;
weapons, 80, 81
tracks, drawn in sand, 71-73;
representations of, 347-349
tree-climbing, 12-14, 123, 124;
competitions in, 75, 76
tree-felling by fire, 124, 141
Triassic period, 56
tribal organizations, 216-224
tribal husbands, 224
tribal law, 226
_Trigonia_ in Australia, 58, 59
truffle (_Scleroderma_), 151, 152
trumpets, bamboo, 375, 376, 379
_tubera frontalia_, 35
Tukura, a great Spirit, 295, 296, 356
Tukurata, the Supreme Number, 271
Tukutita, the Supreme Number, 271
“_turapitti_,” artificial fire-flies, 376
_Turbo undulata_, 122
turtle, eggs, 126;
hunting, 132, 133, 160
turtle designs, 335, 346
Tutrarre, a mythical dog, 267
twins, 63, 64
U
Ullbönnalenna water hole, 97
“_ullyinga_,” witchedy hook, 125
Ulparidja group, 48
umbilical cord, treatment of, 64
_Unio_, 121
_Unio pictorum_, 319
upright attitude, see spine, 7 _et seq._
_urethrotomia_, 245-249
“_utnguringita_” or witchedy grub drawings, 341-343
u-within-u designs, 351, 352, 353
V
Veddahs, 25, 58
vegetable diet, 148-152
vegetable down, 275, 276
venesection, 275
verbs, conjugations of, 400, 401
vermin-proof platform larders, 105
Victoria River tribes, 62, 75, 76, 77, 103, 105, 128, 146, 211, 243,
253, 266, 285, 292, 319, 321, 323, 325, 326, 332, 336, 367,
373, 375
Victorian basalts, human bones beneath, 54
vocal productions, 376 _et seq._
W
waddies, 168 _et seq._
“_wadua_,” white vegetable-down, 276
“_wagal-wagal_,” a tjuringa, 270
walking, 12;
in single file, 118
wallaby, hunting of, 141
“_waketo_,” munyeroo, 150
“_wanjerra_,” red vegetable down, 276
“_wanna_,” yam sticks, 148
wanningi, 240, 244, 356, 357
Waraka, a spirit father, 287
war council, 184
warfare, 183-189
“_warrakinna_,” pitjuri, 155
Warramunga Tribe, 4, 92
Warrupu, a Minning ancestor, 260
Warrida-jinna (eagle hawk’s claw), Southern Cross, 349
Warrnambool footprints, 54
water, in Currajong, Bloodwood and Needlebush, 98;
supplies guarded against pollution, 97;
transported by women, 91, 92
water carriers, 92-95
water ceremonies, 274
water legend, 263, 264
water mallee, _Eucalyptus dumosa_, 98
water men, “_atoa kwatje_,” 264, 265
water lily tubers, 151
water supplies, 96, 97
weaning of children, 66
Wellington caves, 54
Wenoinn, a Minning ancestor, 260
white ants added to acacia flour, 150, 151
“white blackfellow,” 42
Wickham River, 248
“_widida_,” native truffle, 151
widow, 212-214;
claimed by deceased husband’s brother, 213;
cutting off of hair, 213;
re-opening scalp wound, 213;
skull caps of gypsum, 213
“_wilpa_,” a wallaby, 141
“_winudtharra_,” honey ant, 147
Winyeru, initiation ceremony, 242, 248
“_wirrauwa_,” a bark bucket, 94
Wirrewarra, the eternal home of all Spirits, 296
witchedy grub, 122, 123, 124, 125;
sacred drawings of, 341-343;
“totemic” designs, 351-352
witchedy hook, 124, 125
Wogait Tribe, 4, 62, 83, 109, 116, 130, 131, 139, 170, 196, 197, 198,
201, 208, 243, 244, 332, 365, 374, 379
woman, corrobboree of, 383
wombat hunt, 141
women, the recognized carriers, 112
Womma, the Milky Way, 350
wommera, spear-thrower, 180, 199-202
Wongapitcha Tribe, 3, 4, 47, 48, 67, 92, 95, 111, 114, 121, 122, 147,
151, 152, 153, 155, 184, 200, 205, 218, 235, 236, 242, 255,
259, 349, 361, 396, 398
Wongkanguru Tribe, 4, 83, 121, 155, 361, 362
Woods, Rev. Tenison, 43
Wordaman Tribe, 4, 201, 248
words derived from natural phenomena, 386, 387;
imitating natural sounds, 386
Worma Kadiabba, a mythical snake’s head, 269
Wormian bones, 35
Worora Tribe, 4, 94, 116, 176, 238, 310, 321, 343, 361, 369
“_Wubbi, wubbi, wubbi, wau!_”, the voice of the bull-roarer, 241, 242
Wulna Tribe, 196
X
_Xanthorrhœa_, grass tree, used in emu hunting, 140;
flower stalk used for spear shaft, 195
Y
yam ceremony, 280
yams, 151
yam stick, 148
yam tjuringa, 280 _et seq._, 337, 347
Yantowannta Tribe, xiv, 4, 50, 82, 83, 92, 114, 121, 155, 169, 205,
207, 213, 237
Yarrakinna, ochre mine near Parachilna, 316
“_yarralyi_,” beetles supposed to possess ecbolic principles, 64
Yauroworka Tribe, xiv, 4, 103
“_yeapatja_,” or caterpillar tjuringa, 352, 353
yelka, 148, 149;
ceremonial drawing of, 327
“_yerumba_,” a honey ant, 147
_Yirrerri_, neck of emu in the sky, 334
Yunta rock carvings, 306-308
Z
_Zamia_, cicatrices in imitation of, 238;
in Australia, 58
_zygomatic_ arch, 30
The Hassell Press, 104 Currie Street, Adelaide
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