July 6, 191 1] 



NATURE 



25 



munificent gift is a notable example of public spirit, and 

 it proves that, despite the manifold claims of a very new 

 State on its citizens, there are individuals who have the 

 advancement of pure science at heart. The benefaction 

 was particularly acceptable, as Mr. Brown's modest re- 

 sources consisted only of the studentship, a gift of 200/. 

 from Sir John Murray, and a grant from the Royal Society 

 of iooi. Field investigation is very expensive in Australia, 

 partly owing to the great distances that have to be 

 traversed in order to come into contact with the natives, 

 who even then may be in very small bands. 



On his first excursion Mr. Brown was accompanied by 

 Mr. E. L. Grant Watson, of Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 who assisted in taking photographs and measurements of 

 natives, and by Mrs. Bates, who for some years has been 

 employed by the Government of Western Australia to 

 collect information concerning the aborigines of the State. 

 Mrs. Bates has a very considerable knowledge of the 

 natives, and her valuable MS. notes have been placed at 

 Mr. Brown's disposal. 



In the south-west corner of the State the natives are 

 extinct ; the greater portion of the western half of the 

 State is unopened, and mainly desert country ; the natives 

 are" quite wild, and it is at present almost impossible to 

 get into touch with them. There remains a broad band of 

 country to the east and the Kimberley gold-field district 

 which have been opened up for pastoral purposes or for 

 gold mining. The gold-field blacks are for the most part 

 beggars, and suspicious and treacherous ; they are 

 constantly moving from place to place. 



In the eastern part of the region, between the Fortescue 

 and Gascoyne Rivers, there are eleven tribes which belong 

 to one type of social organisation. They never practise 

 circumcision or subincision ; they have the usual four- 

 class system with the kinship system commonly associated 

 therewith, but cross-cousin marriage is prohibited, and 

 there are specific kinship terms to distinguish own mother's 

 brother's children from tribal mother's brother's children. 

 The members of a clan may eat their totem, which is 

 ed in the male line, and ceremonies of the 

 Intichiuma type are performed for the increase of the 

 totem. Each tribe is divided into definitely circumscribed 

 local groups, the descent of the local group being in the 

 male line. A local group consists mainly, and perhaps in 

 some cases entirely, of persons of the same totem. In 

 m "" cases the spot at which the ceremonies for the 

 increase of a totem are performed is within the territory 

 of the local group of the men of that totem, but in a few 

 1- - a local group contains no totem centre, and the men 

 of the group must journey to some neighbouring group to 

 perform these ceremonies. The totemic groups are united 

 into larger social divisions, for which Mr. Brown has 

 not yet found a suitable name. During the last two or 

 generations many irregular marriages have taken 

 plai , which have resulted in the distribution of totems 

 through the four classes. In such rases the children take 

 the totem of the father, but enter the class to which they 

 would have belonged if the mother had taken her proper 

 husband. To the south the tribes are, on the whole, very 

 similar to the above; to the east, north-east, and south- 

 east circumcision and subincision are not usually prac- 

 tised : they have the four-class system, and in some tribes 

 every person has several totems (as manv as twelve or 

 more), which are inherited in the male line; these may 

 be eaten, and Intichiuma ceremonies are performed. 

 Inland between Fortescue and De Gray Rivers, cross- 

 cousin marriage is not permitted, and no distinction is 

 made between own mother's brother's children (and own 

 father's sister's children) and tribal mother's brother's 

 children. 



Scattered sporadically all over the area investigated are 

 found the beliefs that children are the result of food 

 eaten, or that they may be projected bv magic into a 

 woman. In all cases these beliefs exist side by side with 

 ordinary totemism and entirely independent of it, and also 

 with a perfectly clear recognition of the normal method of 

 procreation. 



Mr. Brown is at present on a six months* visit to 

 uninvestigated tribes, mainlv in the north-east of the 

 State. 



A. C. Haduon. 



NO. 2175, VOL. 87] 



EXPLORATIONS IN DUTCH NEW GUINEA. 



("~")N Monday, July 3, Captain C. G. Rawling lectured 

 before the Royal Geographical Society on the 

 geographical results of the British expedition in Dutch 

 New Guinea, which was organised by the British Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, and was led by Mr. Goodfellow until illness 

 compelled his return. The dense tropical jungle of the low 

 plain between the mountains and the coast, the heavy 

 rainfall, and the sickness which incapacitated their carriers, 

 prevented the travellers from reaching the higher portions 

 of the range, but the scientific results, zoological, ethno- 

 graphical, and geographical, are most valuable. Captain 

 Rawling and Dr. Marshall stayed for some time with the 

 pygmy tribes of the lower hill ranges, and obtained much 

 information concerning their customs, habits, and general 

 character. Subjoined are some extracts from Captain 

 Rawling's paper. 



From inquiries made before leaving England, it was 

 decided that the Oetakwa, the mouth of which river was 

 known to lie due south of Carstenz peak, the greatest of 

 the snow-peaks, should be utilised as our line of communi- 

 cation. Prior to our advent but two rivers on the whole of 

 the south-eastern coast of New Guinea had been visited, the 

 Oetakwa and the Mimika, and these had only been explored 

 for a few miles from their mouth. Further inquiries made 

 in Batavia induced Mr. Goodfellow to change his objective 

 from the Oetakwa to Mimika, and this, little as we sus- 

 pected it at the time, sealed our fate as to all possibility of 

 ever reaching the Snows. 



Almost coal-black in colour, and rather exceeding the 

 average European in height, the Mimika coast native, with 

 his splendidly developed muscles, is physically an almost 

 perfect man. But the brutal features of his face, accen- 

 tuated by the closely cropped head, makes him anything 

 but an attractive creature. The mass of fuzzy curly hair, 

 in which the natives of other districts take so much pride, 

 is here cut off by means of sharpened shells, split bamboo, 

 or an old piece' of hoop iron. What remains is closely 

 plaited in ridges. With the loss of hair nearly all love of 

 decoration or ornament seems to have vanished, their dress 

 consisting of a large white shell worn on the stomach, a 

 hollow carved bamboo, or a narrow strip of tree bark 

 beaten soft and pliable. Round the neck a few beads may 

 be strung, while below the knees and around the biceps a 

 narrow band of plaited grass may often be seen. As a 

 further attempt at ornament, a few white feathers of the 

 hornbill may be stuck into the hair, or if a fierce expression 

 is desired, " the split beak of the same bird is pushed 

 through a hole in the septum nasi. The women are even 

 less given to trinkets, for, besides the narrow strip of bark 

 hanging down in front and behind, they are as bare_ as 

 nature made them; poor creatures, thev have little time 

 fn think of anything but work. Widows are rather 

 favoured in this respect, for their weeds consist of a great 

 poke bonnet, in addition to a bodice and skirt, all of grass. 

 The instinct of self-adornment is, however, very strong, 

 for trade articles, such as beads and cloth, were subse- 

 nuently not onlv eagerlv sought for but worn on all 

 important occasions. Absolute nakedness was rare amongst 

 the Wakatimi people, for girls wore some form of dress 

 from an early age, and boys took on the garb of manhood 

 at the age of fifteen or sixteen. 



The front teeth of the men, but not the women, are in 

 many instances sharpened to a point, a painful process, for 

 the operation is carried out, not by filing, but bv_ chipping 

 the sides awav with a piece of iron, or, if this is not 

 available, a hard shell used after the manner of a chisel. 

 The custom of sharpening the teeth is often put down as 

 a sign of cannibalistic practices, hut we have no reason to 

 believe that the habit of eating human flesh is ever here 

 put into practice. Certainly during our sojourn amongst 

 these tribes we saw no signs of cannibalism, nor when 

 examining the human bones preserved in every house, aid 

 we find any evidence pointing to such a custom. When 

 questioned on this subject, some natives showed abhorrence. 

 whilst others exhibited, at any rate, no great disgust at the 

 suggestion. 



Wakatimi, as we afterwards found, was but a sample o 

 other coast villages, consisting of a long row of huts 



