306 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



as a drug. Indirectly the blacks have been saved from de- 

 moralisation which threatened to become precipitate that 

 is to say, in those localities where the smuggling of opium 

 has been suppressed. 



The dwindling away of the race is, however, inevitable. 

 A few anecdotes may perhaps throw unaccustomed light 

 upon attributes not generally understood, and show that 

 the Australian aboriginal, uncouth savage as he is, is not 

 altogether devoid of smartness and good-humour. 



COMMON AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS 



Australian blacks have been referred to as socialists, 

 and even communists. Certainly they repudiate thrift, and 

 may therefore be said to side with some socialists, and 

 their camp customs embody communistic principles. The 

 cunningness and zeal with which they enforce individual 

 rights in property may be cited in connection with a food 

 tree. When a neighbouring estate was first settled, in 

 the jungle on the site selected for the house were several 

 magnificent bean-trees. One was about to be felled, when 

 an old man, chief of the camp close by, made it known 

 through an interpreter that food-bearing trees were not 

 to be cut down. Eventually a bargain was struck, the 

 whole of the trees on the spot being purchased from the 

 old man, the pioneers being glad of the opportunity of 

 establishing goodwill by a friendly understanding. The 

 day following, another patriarch of the camp ap- 

 peared and made it known that he, too, had property 

 rights in the trees, and demanded payment. Without 

 formally recognising his claim, but with the idea of 

 strengthening the bond of good-fellowship, his price was 

 also paid. Again a third old man made a similar 

 demand, explaining that neither of the others had the 

 right of disposing of his individual interests. He, too, was 

 sent away content. In the course of a day or two a young 

 man presented his claim, expounding the law of the 

 country and the camp, which was to the purpose that 



