HUXTIXG DISTRICTS. 471 



very often all of different families, his children are all re- 

 peatedly divided among themselves, no common bond of union 

 exists between them, and this custom alone would suffice to 

 perpetuate their savage state. 



Though they in no instance cultivate the soil, but subsist 

 entirely by hunting and fishing, and on the wild roots they find 

 in certain localities, with occasionally a little wild honey, every 

 tribe has its own district, beyond whose well-defined limits it 

 seldom passes except for purposes of war or festivity; and 

 within that district all the wild animals are considered the 

 property of the tribe inhabiting or rather ranging on its whole 

 extent. Should any other tribe venture to intrude upon that 

 district this is at once resisted as a violation of the rights of 

 property, and is, indeed, a frequent cause of the wars which 

 decimate the population, for the Australian aboriginal is as 

 jealous of his rights and as pugnacious in their defence as any 

 European can be. 



But particular districts are not merely the property of par- 

 ticular tribes, particular sections or portions of these districts 

 are universally recognised by the natives as belonging to in- 

 dividual members of these tribes ; and "as in England a man 

 disposes of his property by will, thus among these savages a 

 ' lord of the manor ' divides his land during his lifetime, fairly 

 apportioning it among his several son&, and at as ejJiiy an age 

 as fourteen or fifteen they can point out the portion which they 

 are eventually to inherit. The punishment of ' trespass for the 

 purpose of hunting' is invariably death if taken in the fact, 

 and at the very least an obstinate contest ensues. If the 

 trespasser is not taken in the fact^ but is recognised from his 

 footmarks, or from any other circumstance, and is ever caught 

 in a defenceless state, he is probably killed ; but frequently he 

 appears, attended by his friends, and atones for his trespass by 

 quietly holding out his leg for the injured party to thrust his 

 spear through the thigh. Sometimes he undergoes the ordeal 

 of having spears thrown at him. 



At the appointed time, young and old repair to the place ap- 

 pointed for the trial, and the wild beauty of the scenery, the 

 fantastically-painted forms of the natives, the savage yells and 

 shouts of exultation which are raised as the culprit dexterously 

 parries or by rapid leaps and contortions of his body avoids the 



