452 THE TASMANIANS. 



theoretical, and a man has also his own special wife or wives. 

 There are many other cases of prohibitions ; " indeed/' says 

 Mr. Lang,* " instead of enjoying perfect personal freedom, 

 as it would at first appear, they are governed by a code 

 of rules and a set of customs which form one of the most 

 cruel tyrannies that has ever, perhaps, existed on the face 

 of the earth, subjecting not only the will, but the property 

 and life of the weak to the dominion of the strong. The 

 whole tendency of the system is to give everything to the 

 strong and old, to the prejudice of the weak and young, and 

 more particularly to the detriment of the women. They have 

 rules by which the best food, the best pieces, the best animals, 

 etc., are prohibited to the women and young men, and reserved 

 for the old. The women are generally appropriated to the old 

 and powerful, some of whom possess from four to seven wives; 

 while wives are altogether denied to young men, unless they 

 have sisters to give in exchange, and are strong and courageous 

 enough to prevent their sisters from being taken without 



exchange." 



TJie Tasmanians. 



The inhabitants of Van Dieman's Land belonged to quite a 

 different race, but were just as wretched as those of Australia. 

 According to Captain Cook's account, they had no houses, no 

 clothes, no canoes, no instrument to catch large fish, no nets, 

 no hooks ; they lived on mussels, cockles, and periwinkles, and 

 their only weapon was a straight pole, sharpened at one end.-f- 

 Mr. Dove informs us that they are entirely without any 

 " moral views and impressions." Indeed, he scarcely appears 

 to regard them as rational beings. J Like the Australians, 

 they have no means of expressing abstract ideas ; they have 



* The Aborigines of Australia. J Tasmauian Jour, of Nat. Sci. 

 G. S. Lang, p. 7. vol. i. p. 249. 



t Third Voyage, vol. I p, 100. 



