348 



NATURE 



(August i i, 1904 



THE ESSENTIAL AUSTRALIAN.' 

 TT is not too much to say that the publication in 1899 

 ■•■ of " The Native Tribes of Central Australia " 

 marked an epoch in anthropological research. A 

 lengthy residence amongst savages, who still lived in 

 their original isolation, uncontaminated by European 

 influences, resulted in a remarkable study of a scientific 

 accuracy and completeness hitherto unknown. The 

 authors, both competent ethnologists, the one a dis- 

 tinguished biologist, the other a protector of aborigines, 

 were fortunate in their subject, which proved to be the 

 most interesting section of that most interesting of 

 all primitive peoples, the Australian race. Peculiarities 

 of organisation and belief were revealed which threw 

 new light on many old questions, and reversed many 

 an old theory. In the present work Messrs. Spencer 

 andGillen supply a sequel to the earlier volume, com- 

 pleting their study of the tribes of the centre by an 

 account of those occupying the country between the 

 Macdonnell Ranges and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The 

 main result is to show a fundamental agreement in 

 important characters between all the 

 central tribes, and the authors repeat 

 their previous conclusion that " the 

 central tribes which for long ages have 

 been shielded by their geographical 

 isolation from external influences, have 

 retained the most primitive form of 

 customs and beliefs." The main 

 features of the Arunta and Urabunna 

 tribes are recapitulated, and we arc thus 

 enabled to study comparativeh" the 

 whole series. Several points in the 

 earlier work are cleared up, and somr 

 answer to objections is given bv thi- 

 way. As before, the photographs an- 

 excellent and numerous. "The iirv\- 

 volume possesses the same uniqm- 

 character and value which were con- 

 spicuous in "The Native Tribes." 



The new types of aborigines presciil 

 a high average of physical development. 

 but strike one as being less prepossess- 

 ing in aspect than the Arunta. There 

 are none of the faces which in the other 

 book reminded one of English bishops 

 and fellows of the Royal Society. We 

 are struck by the great number of 

 dialects, each of which has varieties, a 

 fact which must have rendered the task 

 of the investigators very difificult, were ''""■■ ■■-'-eren 



it not the case that every blackfellow 

 is, like Ennius, the master of two languages besides 

 his own. .\s before, the authors point out many 

 fallacies in popular works. For instance, " nothing 

 could be further from the truth " than the notion that 

 " the various tribes were in a state of constant 

 hostility." Again, "there is no such thing as the 

 acquisition of fresh territory"; the blackfellow holds 

 " not only that his country is his by inheritance, but 

 that it would be of no use to anyone else, nor would 

 any other people's country be any'use to him." There 

 are no chiefs or head-men ; the old men constitute an 

 informal council, which punishes crime, chiefly " bone- 

 giving " and the breaking of marriage-laws, organises 

 the ceremonies, and from time to time inaugurates 

 sound reforms. There is no haranguing of the meet- 

 ing, which in its etiquette and procedure is the replica 



1 "The Northern Tribes of Central Australia." By Baldwin .Spencer 

 M.A., F.R.S., sometime Fellow of Lincoln College. Oxford, Professor of 

 Biology in the University of Melbourne, and F. J. Gillfn. Special 

 Magisiratc and Sub-Protector of Aborigines, South Ausirali.-i Hp 

 xxv-i-784; 2 plates, map, 31, figures. (London: Macmillan and Co' 

 Ltd., i9o.( ) Pr1ce2ii.net. 



NO. 181 5, VOL. 70] 



of an English committee. " As to the capture of 

 women," the authors state, "we have never in any 

 of these central tribes met with any such thing. . . . 

 What looks like a capture to the casual observer is in 

 reality an elopement, in which the woman is an aiding 

 and abetting party." A good instance this of the 

 necessity of trained and sympathetic inquiry, going far 

 to indicate that many of the old and still accepted 

 theories of primitive culture may be founded on the 

 sands of ignorant and prejudiced mal-observation. 



A valuable feature of this, as of the previous work, 

 is the way in which the daily life of the native is 

 visualised for the reader, and in this connection there 

 are two facts which receive especial emphasis. Before 

 initiation, which takes place about the age of fourteen, 

 the boy is free; after this ceremony his life is regulated 

 for him, and is sharply divided into two spheres, the 

 ordinary daily round of food-getting and corroborees, 

 and " what gradually becomes of greater and greater 

 importance to him, the portion of his life devoted to 

 matters of a sacred or secret nature. .As he grows 

 older he takes aii increasing share in those, until finally 



ny of Alkifa-Kluina Aruii 



Throwing the novice up itlto the air 



thir, side of his life occupies by lar the gn-att-r part of 

 his thoughts. The sacred ceremonies which appear 

 very trivial matters to the white mam, are most serious 

 matters to him." They arc connected with the Great 

 .-Vncestors of the .\lcheringa, " the dream-time," and 

 he believes that his spirit will after death be in com- 

 munion with thein. " It is astonishing how large a 

 part of a native's life is occupied with the performance 

 of these ceremonies, the enacting of which extends 

 sometimes over the whole of two or three months, 

 during which time one or more will be performed 

 daily." In one tribe there is the unique case of a 

 ceremony performed to pronmte the physical and 

 mental development of the boys and girls. .Sometimes 

 a man will, in a similar fashion, induce his bride-elect 

 to grow, or a father will assist the development of 

 his unborn child. In the second place, the food- 

 supply is organised on ,-i most effective system 

 by the cooperation of the totemic groups. " If 

 I .'im a kangaroo man. then I provide kangaroo 

 flesh for emu men, and in return I expect them to 



