AUSTRALIA 



53 





Pkolo 



.]//. /.'. I'liUliiu] 

 NATIVES OF RIVER ENDEAVOUR, NORTH QUEENSLAND. 



[Itriftol. 



is, before she can be con- 

 sidered a woman and 

 marriageable she must go 

 through a very painful opera- 

 tion. Great gashes are cut 

 across her back in horizontal 

 lines with a sharp-edged flint 

 or a shell. The blood that 

 flows out freely is wiped off 

 with bunches of grass, or with 

 green boughs warmed near 

 the fire. After some weeks 

 the wounds have healed up, 

 and the cicatrices are con- 

 sidered to enhance her 

 natural charms, if she has 

 any. Sometimes the belly 

 and the arms are similarly 

 adorned. During the opera- 

 tion of making these scars 

 the girl's nearest relations 

 express their sympathy by shedding tears and uttering loud lamentations. 



Marriage is a very simple affair, and a wife is either obtained by purchase from her 

 father or brother, or else carried off by main force. In the latter case the usual practice is 

 to lie in wait for the girl at night, stun her by a heavy blow on the head with a club, and 

 drag her off to a place of retrofit. In accordance with customs not yet fully understood, girls 

 are betrothed to certain men as soon as they are born. This "engagement" is considered 

 so binding that a woman breaking it is killed and often eaten; while the offending man 

 is punished with a severe wound from a spear. The wives have a hard time of it, and are 

 cruelly treated, being often beaten or speared. To kill a gin (wife) is thought no offence, 

 and few women are free from frightful scars. The men are not insensible to female charms. 

 A young woman at all 

 celebrated for her beauty 

 usually undergoes a series 

 of captivities to different 

 masters. She never stays 

 long with one man, be- 

 cause another steals her 

 away. It is her sad fate 

 to be a wanderer among 

 strange families, and to be 

 the cause, like Helen of 

 Troy, of many a fight. 

 When women are scarce, 

 the men make raids on 

 other tribes. Widows be- 

 come the property of the 

 tribe. Wives are some- 

 times lent to friends or 

 strangers. 



In the dry season 

 many parts of Australia 







I'hoto !>y Mr. It. Phillips] [Briftol. 



NATIVE GIRLS OF RIVER ENDEAVOUR, NORTH QUEENSLAND. 



