200 



NATURE 



\Jan. 2, 1890 



''AMONG cannibals:'^ 



IN the year 1880, Mr. Carl Lumholtz — as he explains in 

 the preface to the work the title of which is given 

 below — undertook an expedition to Australia, partly at the 

 expense of the University of Christiania, with the object 

 of making collections for the zoological and zootomical 

 museums of the University, and of instituting researches 

 into the customs and anthropology of the Australian 

 aborigines. His travels occupied four years, and the first 

 part of that time he spent in the south-eastern colonies, 

 South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales. From 

 November 1880 to August 1881 he was in Central Queens- 

 land, and at the latter date he began his first journey of 

 discovery, in the course of which he penetrated about 800 

 miles in Western Queensland — the results, he says, in no 

 wise corresponding to the hardships he had to endure. 

 He then went to Northern Queensland, where he spent 

 fourteen months in constant travel and study, his head- 

 quarters from August 1882 to July 1883 being in the valley 

 of what he describes as " the short but comparatively 

 broad and deep Herbert River," which flows into the 

 Pacific at about 18° S. lat. From his base on this river 

 he made expeditions in various directions, extending in 

 some instances to nearly 100 miles, and he repeatedly 

 came in contact with savages who had never before been 

 visited by a white man. 



It is to the period spent by him in the camps of the 

 northern aborigines that Mr. Lumholtz chiefly devotes 

 attention in the present volume, and it would hardly be 

 possible to praise too highly the manner in which he has 

 recorded his experiences. In every part of his narrative 

 he displays a remarkable power of keen and accurate 

 observation, and he presents his facts in a style at once 

 so fresh and so simple that from beginning to end the 

 reader's interest is maintained. Hitherto students of 

 anthropology in Australia have derived their materials 

 mainly from the southern part of the continent. Mr. 

 Lumholtz may almost be said, therefore, to have broken 

 new ground, and it is ground which it was well worth 

 while to break, for the northern aborigines — from an 

 anthropological point of view — are even more interesting 

 than the southern tribes. They are decidedly at an 

 earlier stage of development, and many of them have been 

 only slightly and indirectly influenced by the ideas of 

 European settlers. . 



If there are any survivors of the school of Rousseau, 

 who attributed so many fine qualities to " the noble 

 savage," it would be wholesome for them to study what 

 Mr. Lumholtz has to tell about the savages of Northern 

 Queensland. A more unlovely picture than his descrip- 

 tion of these poor people it would hardly be possible to 

 imagine. He went to Australia full of sympathy with the 

 natives ; when he left it, he found that his interest in 



Fig. I. — Brow-band from Central Queensland (\ size). 



them was as deep as ever, but that his sympathy had 

 nearly vanished. That they are cannibals is beyond 

 doubt. Luckily, they do not take to white flesh ; it has 

 too salt a flavour for their taste. But native flesh, when 

 they can get it, provides them with the meal they like 

 best, and they are quite willing to talk freely about the 

 parts which they consider the most delicious morsels. 

 They are not only treacherous, but seem to have not the 

 faintest idea that treachery is anything to be ashamed of. 

 If anyone is kind to them, they at once mistake his 

 motive : they fancy that his generosity springs from fear, 

 and if this notion gets into their minds, it is time for their 

 benefactor to look about him, for they will not scruple to 

 kill him in order to obtain possession of his goods. Mr. 

 Lumholtz found that, when accompanied by a party of 

 natives, it was unsafe for him to walk in front ; he had 

 always to bring up the rear, and to keep every one well 

 in view. At night, before going to sleep in his tent, he 

 had to fire his gun as a reminder that he had the means 

 of defending himself. For this weapon they had the 

 most profound respect ; also for his revolver, " the baby 

 of the gun." The supreme ambition of the native is to 

 have as many wives as possible, their number being re- 

 garded as a test of his wealth and importance. And he 



' "Among Cannibals: an Account of Four Years' Travel in Australia, 

 and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland." By Carl Lumholtz, 

 M.A. With Maps, Coloured Plates, and 122 Illustrations. (London : John 

 Murray, 1S89.) We are indebted to the kindness of the publisher for the use 

 of the cuts reproduced in this article. 



takes good care that they shall not earn his approval too 

 easily. All the hard, disagreeable work has to be done 

 by women, and when they excite the displeasure of their 

 lords they may think themselves well off if they are not 

 severely beaten. 



In every way these savages are creatures of impulse. It 

 is difficult for them to fix their attention on anything, and 

 they can look ahead only a very short way. Fortunately 

 for themselves, they have no intoxicating stimulants, but 

 tobacco gives them intense delight, and it was chiefly by 

 promising to reward them with small quantities of it that 

 Mr. Lumholtz was able to secure their services. When 

 they have a chance, they gorge themselves with food ; 

 and on a hot day they plunge like dogs into water they 

 may happen to pass. At the approach of night they be- 

 come timid, trembling at every sound they hear in the 

 bush ; but with sunrise all their fears are dispelled, and 

 after they have become thoroughly awake — a rather slow 

 process — they are ready for any pleasure that may come 

 in their way. It is a happy moment for them when they 

 discover a tree in which there is honey. This they eat 

 with rapture ; and Mr. Lumholtz says he has known cases 

 in which they have lived upon it for three days in succes- 

 sion. If a savage finds such a tree, and is not able at 

 once to take possession of its treasure, he marks the tree, 

 and the mark will be respected by members of his own 

 family or clan. There is, however, no conception cor- 

 responding to the idea of property, so far as anything 

 claimed by strangers is concerned. 



