March 4, 1909] 



NA TURE 



THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE MURRAY 

 ISLANDERS."^ 



NllXllR., perhaps, has the anthropolop;y of any 

 ])cople been studied so carefully and exhaus- 

 tively as that of the islanders of the Torres Straits by 

 the Cambridge Anthrof>ological Expedition. Volumes 

 have already been published on their physiology and 

 psycholog'y, on their linguistics, and on the sociology, 

 magic, and religion of the western islanders. The 

 present volume deals with the sociology, magic, and 

 religion of the eastern islanders. 



Under the somewhat vague term sociology are 

 included chapters on folk-tales, birth and childhood 

 customs, courtship and marriage, funeral ceremonies, 

 trade, quarrels, and warfare, by Dr. Haddon ; on 

 genealogies, kinship, personal names, and social 

 organisation, by Dr. Rivers; 

 and on property and inherit- 

 ance by Mr. Wilkin. The 

 magic and religion are dealt 

 with by Drs. Haddon and 

 C. .S. Myers. 



The volume is full of the 

 raw material from which a 

 science of the psychological 

 evolution of primitive societies 

 may be built up, and is a 

 model of careful and accurate 

 methods of observation. In 

 reading through the volume, 

 however, one is impressed very 

 much by the fact that the 

 science of social psychology is 

 still very much in its infancy. 

 Is there anything, for example, 

 in the race or in the environ- 

 ment which determines the 

 peculiar character of these 

 iolk-tales? Dr. Haddon classi- 

 fies them as nature myths, 

 ,c u 1 t u r e myths, religious 

 myths, and tales about people. 

 .The difference in character 

 between tales in different 

 categories is not always 

 obvious. 



The studies in genealogies 

 and kinship by Dr. Rivers 

 appro.ximate a little more 

 closely to exact science. V>\ 

 painstaking inquiry the kin- 

 ship of each individual in a 

 fraternity is ascertained, and 

 this forms the basis of valu- 

 able discoveries on regulation 

 of marriage, taboo, &c. 

 The Murray Islanders are 



cxogamous, no marriages being permitted between 

 contiguous villages. There appear to be certain 

 definite functions attaching to kin ; brothers or cousins 

 preside at funerals, certain relatives can stop a fight, 

 or take property without compensation. 



The courtship and marriage customs are of con- 

 siderable interest. The bride is stolen by the bride- 

 groom from the house of the parents at night. " In 

 the morning the parents would miss the girl and go 

 in search of her. The map le then calmly informed 

 them of what had happened, and the parents; calling 

 on their friends to help, would rush off to the village 

 of the abductor of their daughter brandishing their 



I Reports of the Cambridge Anthropologic.il Expedition to Torres Straits. 

 Vol. vi., Sociology, Magic and Religion of the Eastern Islanders. Pp. xx + 

 316— 30 plates. (Cambridge : University Press, 1908.) Price2if.net. 



clubs and spears, and a fight would ensue, but very 

 rarely was anyone injured. The lovers meantime 

 remained in hiding pending the result of the fight." 

 The parents are finally appeased by a payment made 

 by the bridegroom and his friends. Polygamvis rare 

 among the iSlurray Islanders, and polyandry is un- 

 known. 



The elaborate funeral ceremonies of the islanders 

 are minutely described, and the authors remark that 

 these ceremonies would occupy almost the whole time 

 of the natives, if they were not dispensed with in 

 the case of the very old and the young. 



Law and government was formerly in the hands 

 of the heads of a religious body known as the Malu 

 fraternity, but has now been taken over by the 

 Government of Queensland. The chief crime is wife 

 beating. There appears to be a high standard of 



-A phase of the C 



ial Dance of the Bomai-Malu 

 Cambridge Expedition to '1 



. of the Reports of the 



honesty in trade, as .shown by the manner of pur- 

 chasing a canoe, which is brought from a great 

 distance and passes through the hands of a large 

 number of intermediaries without any attempt to 

 appropriate it or its price. A great deal of informa- 

 tion is given about the native customs in trading 

 which ought to be of considerable value to our 

 traders. 



The chapters on magic and religion will be of 

 great interest to the students of these subjects. The 

 authors endeavour to distinguish between magic and 

 religion by the criterion that magical objects produce 

 the required result automatically, while religious 

 actions depend for their efficacy upon an appeal to 

 some extra human influence of a more or less personal 

 nature. They have to confess, however, that in some 



NO. 2053, VOL. 80] 



