AS A TEST OF MENTAL CAPACITY. ÔÔ 



and have received instrui^tiou, have shown a readiness in acquiring know^ledge and a 

 quickness of apprehension ^''hich have surprised their teachers." In particuhir, their 

 aptitude fox learning languages and for music surpassed that of most vphite children. 

 Their moral qualities had many singularities, but few of a repulsive character. To the 

 whites, whom they regarded with a mixture of distrust and contempt, they seemed sul- 

 len, suspicious, and inordinately proud. Nothing w^ould induce them to acknowledge 

 any human being (of their own age) their superior, or show any mark of deference. 

 Among their own people they were trained to exhibit a profound respect for age ; and in 

 their warfare, or rather their tribal quarrels, they were never bloodthirsty or implacable. 

 Their contests were not conducted by treacherous surprises and massacres, but always 

 with fair warning. The death of a single combatant usually ended a battle ; after which 

 followed a scene of recrimination, abuse, and explanation. " All hostility was then at an 

 end, and the two parties mixed amicably together, buried the dead, and joined in a 

 general dance." 



Since this account was written many able investigators — missionaries and ethnol- 

 ogists — have made careful studies of this singular people, and the results have explained 

 much that then seemed difficult to understand. It has become clear that if they are low 

 in culture, they had yet in fact attained the utmost elevation which was possible in their 

 surroundings. The nature of their country, the scantiness of food, and the frequent 

 droughts, which compelled them to scatter over an immense surface and kept them con- 

 stantly on the move, made all settled habits, and consequently all progress, impossible. 

 The wisest of Aryan or Semitic communities, cast without resources into the interior of 

 an almost barren continent, and compelled to subsist on wandering game, on roots and 

 vermin, would speedily be pressed down by an iron necessity to the same level as that 

 of these Australians. It may be doubted whether there are many communities which 

 would have resorted to the same ingenious devices to mitigate the hardships of their lot, 

 and preserve the amenities and safeguards of social life. It has been ascertained that 

 nearly the whole of Australia, from shore to shore, was covered by a network of social 

 regulations most happily devised for maintaining order and promoting friendly inter- 

 course. Where all families were equally poor and equally independent, there could be 

 no distinction or control either from rank or from wealth. The framers of their polity, 

 therefore, fell back upon the natural and primal distinctions of age and sex. The elders 

 were in all cases to rule, and the younger implicitly to obey. The intercourse of men and 

 women was to be guarded by the most stringent rules, protecting woman from the vio- 

 lence of youthful passion or brutal strength, and placing her under the guardianship of 

 her whole people, and more especially of a certain class of the people who were bound 

 by ties of family or clanship to protect her. The common opinion that wives are captured 

 by violence among the Australians is an exploded error. On the contrary, there are few 

 races among whom the regulations respecting marriages are more strict or their violation 

 more rigorously punished. The system of " marriage-classes " and totemic clans, more- 

 over, extending throughout almost the entire island, is a sort of social freemasonry, or 

 artificial relationship, furnishing to every Australian of any tribe cousins or colleagues in 

 every other tribe, who are bound to receive and protect him. It is the opinion of Mr. A. 

 W. Howitt, who is the highest au.thority on this subject, that this ingenious and useful 



