HUNTING AND FISHING EACES 139 



tions may have an injurious effect ; ^ others, such as Eoth ^ and 

 Mathews,^ hold the contrary view. Upon the whole, opinion 

 inchnes to the latter side. 



Less doubt exists with regard to the assertion sometimes made 

 that these ceremonies are practised with the intention of producing 

 sterihtv, or in anv case relative sterihtv.^ For this there is no 

 good evidence and the best authorities definitel}'" assert that it is 

 not so.^ Another assertion has been made for which there is even 

 less foundation ; it is said, for instance, that ' in some tribes we 

 find it a custom that every man submits to this operation after 

 the birth of his second or third child '.^ It would appear that as 

 a matter of fact the operation is performed at puberty and at no 

 other time. 



5. The three further factors to be considered which may have 

 a bearing upon fecundity are all connected with marriage. It has 

 been shown by Westermarck that marriage exists as an institution 

 among all races, however primitive.' What we have to ask is 

 whether there is any postponement of marriage, whether, that is 

 to say, there is any temporary or permanent celibacy and, so far 

 as fecundity is concerned, the age of women at marriage alone is 

 relevant. The evidence points to the fact that marriage of women 

 takes place almost universally among these races if not before, 

 then at or very soon after, puberty. This is Westermarck's 

 conclusion, after a wide survey of the races belonging both to this 

 and the next group. It will be sufficient to give some examples 

 of the evidence and then to note a few cases in which some post- 

 ponement is reported. 



Summing up the evidence with regard to the Australians, 

 Malinowski says that in general it is true that there are no un- 

 married girls under sixteen and no widows under forty-five, though 

 there is some evidence with regard to the existence of unmarried 

 females ; ^ thus Smyth, speaking of the inhabitants of Victoria, 

 records that girls were married between the ages of ten and twelve,® 

 and similar evidence is given by Taplin of the inhabitants of South 

 Australia.^" In Australia there is no evidence worth mentioning 



1 S^^ncev&ndGiWen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, ip. 52. ^ W. E. Roth, 



Ethnological Studies, p. 179. ^ R. H. Mathews, Ethnological Notes, p. 177. 



* Curr, Australia7i Race, vol. ii, p. 19. ^ W. E. Roth, loc. cit., p. 179 ; 



Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 264. " Semon, 



Australian Bush, p. 234. ' Westermarck, Human Marriage, p. 134. 



8 Malinowski, Futthily among Australian Aborigines, p. 134. " Smyth, loc. 



cit., vol. ii, p. 77. »" Taplin, loc. cit., p. 10, 



