378 . AUSTRALASIA. 



Australian languages on the ground of a few common points of resemblance, but 

 these attempts have not proved very successful, often yielding the most contradic- 

 tory results. In any case the Tasmanian idioms, of Avhich a few vocabularies are 

 extant, are regarded as forming an independent group. The islanders themselves 

 were evidently of a different stock, and much more closely allied to the Melanesians 

 than to their Australian neighbours. 



To the great physical differences of the aborigines correspond moral traits of 

 a no less divergent order. Hence the varying and even contradictory reports of 

 observers, some of whom vaunt their native pride, courage, and respect for their 

 pledged word, while others describe them as cowards, liars, and traitors. One of 

 the most common charges urged against them is their cruel and oppressive treat- 

 ment of the women, and in most communities this accusation is only too well 

 founded. 



Instances are not lacking of women who have acquired a certain moral ascen- 

 dancy in the tribe, but as a rule the}' fare little better than slaves. Not only are 

 they forbidden to eat in the presence of men, but many kinds of food are denied 

 them, while they are required to show in speech and attitude a sort of adoration 

 towards their masters, the least inattention being visited with the severest castiga- 

 tion. The husband may kill and even burn his wife, her friends and relations 

 being powerless to interfere on her behalf. He may throw her body to his dogs, 

 because the wife is his property, which he has the right to use or abuse at his 

 pleasure. Nevertheless, traces still survive in Australia of a primitive matriarchal 

 system, and even now name, kinship, rank, and fortune are for the most part 

 transmitted through the female line. 



Polygamy prevails amongst the native populations, and in the north-western 

 districts cases occur of powerful tribesmen acquiring as many as ten wives. In 

 some communities exogamy is strictly observed, all marriages contracted with 

 women of the same class being regarded as incestuous, yet amongst others unions 

 between near relatives are held in honour. In one place marriages are effected by 

 a real or simulated abduction, in another the only formality is the payment of the 

 contract price. 



This purchase of the women by the strong and wealthy members of the com- 

 munity has the effect of condemning the poor and the young men to a state of 

 celibacy, or obliging them to put up with the divorced wives of their elders. The 

 dearth of wives amongst most Australian populations is all the greater that the 

 •women are far less numerous than the men ; not, however, because female births 

 are rarer, as has been asserted, but because during their short existence the 

 women are exposed to many more dangers, such as premature confinement, exces- 

 sive hardships, bad treatment, night attacks, and the like. Amongst many tribes 

 infanticide is common, and as a rule it is the girls who are removed either by being 

 buried alive or knocked on the head immediately after birth. 



Children who survive the perils of infancy are treated with much kindness ; 

 they are never beaten and grow up freely to man's estate, following their elders to 

 the chase and war. Nevertheless they have to undergo the severe trials of the 



