256 



said the other ; and held out his head. He was beaten, but his 

 head proved harder than the wommera, or th rowing-stick, used to 

 chastise his youthful folly. 



Polygamy is practised, but not very commonly, and the men 

 most respected in the tribe have only one wife. They are also 

 as a rule very kind to their women, and receive in turn very 

 great deference and obedience. It would be quite against the 

 dignity of a Daly River man to carry on an angry dispute with a 

 woman. Of course nature will out at times, and it is amusing 

 then to watch the stoical black man. He will listen in silence to 

 his Xantippe, at most yielding her a contemptuous shrug of the 

 shoulder. Of course the woman grows bolder. After a while 

 the man stands carelessly up, and with a well-directed blow on 

 the head from a club, he fells his better half to earth. When 

 she comes to she is again his loving and obedient wife. I re- 

 member a case, however, where a woman, one of two, happening 

 to be of stronger build than her lord, took a cudgel herself, and 

 gave at least as much as she received. 



In these tribes a man is the natural protector of the wife of his 

 dead brother. She does not necessarily become his wife, and 

 may, if she will, return to her father. 



A father's brothers are all called fathers by his children, and a 

 mother's sisters are mothers. How far the Tamilian system 

 obtains I have not yet discovered. The fact just mentioned may 

 prove a starting point only. Certainly their system of relationship 

 is intricate, and widely different from ours. 



I might mention here that the Dian who gives a wife to 

 another becomes related to that other. They are friends for life, 

 and any injury done to the giver by the receiver would be a great 

 offence against tribual law. I myself, the way things are going, 

 will soon have no end of such relations. The blacks call me 

 ngan-larama, or master of marriage. It came about in this way. 

 As I mentioned already, children are often disposed of when very 

 young. You will easily understand how injurious to our work 

 this custom might prove. A girl, for instance, for years on the 

 station, might in the end have to go off w^ith some old rascal 30 

 miles away as his third or fourth wife. When they bring their 

 children to ns, the blacks surrender this tribual right of the head 

 of the family in favor of the superior of the mission. Of course 

 we never use this right, except with the full approval of the 

 parties most concerned. They are human, and have their likes 

 and dislikes. They know too — for we teach them so — that in 

 this matter, they are free to choose within the limits allowed by 

 our Church. To free them gradually from the tyranny of the 

 old men we have to interfere for a time. But the young people 

 are glad that Ave do this, and so far all has gone well. 



