148 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



In the first place, then, the unfavorable light in which the Aus- 

 tralian first appeared is to be explained partly by the treatment he 

 received from the whites and partly from the inability of the whites 

 to understand him. Thus, the laziness of the native may be attributed 

 merely to his inability to fall in with the enterprises of the settlers, or 

 to appreciate the objects of their endeavor or their interests. In activi- 

 ties of their own the natives show the most surprising industry, for 

 example, in the collection of food (Henderson, p. 125), the preparation 

 for and performance of their elaborate ceremonials. The observations 

 which follow should not, however, be taken as applying to the Aus- 

 tralian race as a whole, but only to the section directly observed, for 

 there is no question but that there is much diversity in the customs 

 and characteristics of different tribes and groups. 



As to personal virtues, the natives of Queensland were said to be 

 generally honest in their dealings with one another. Aside from 

 murder of a member of the same tribe, they knew only one crime, that 

 of theft. If a native made a " find " of any kind, as a honey tree, 

 and marked it, it was thereafter safe for him, as far as his own tribes- 

 men were concerned, no matter for how long he left it. 



The Australian native in general was and is possessed of fortitude 

 in the endurance of suffering in a marked degree. There is abundant 

 opportunity for the development of this quality of mind in the painful 

 ordeals of initiation, which ceremony is always accompanied by fasting 

 and the infliction of bodily mutilations of various kinds, differing with 

 the tribe and the locality. These mutilations include the knocking 

 out of teeth, circumcision, subincision and various scoriations of the 

 trunk, face and limbs. Among some of the tribes there are permanent 

 food restrictions imposed by custom upon different classes. There are 

 also food restrictions imposed upon the youth and younger men, and 

 all of these are faithfully complied with, although at considerable per- 

 sonal hardship. 1 



The food restrictions form such an important phase of aboriginal 

 morality that they warrant further discussion. The following regula- 

 tions of the Kurnai tribe are typical: A man of this tribe must give 

 a certain part of his " catch " of game, and that the best part, to his 

 wife's father. Each able-bodied man is under definite obligation to 

 supply certain others with food. There are also rules according to 

 which game is divided among those hunting together. In the Mining 

 tribe all those in a hunt share equally, both men and women. In all 

 tribes certain varieties of food are forbidden to women, children and 

 uninitiated youths; there are also restrictions based upon the totem to 

 which one belongs. The rules regarding the cutting up and cooking 

 of food are as rigid as those regulating that of which the individual 



1 Vide Howitt, p. 561; Fraser, p. 90. 



