Blood and Shade Divisions of Australian Tribes. 5 



' Tery slightly, lighter than that of the men, but this had no 

 reference whatever to the moieties, and in all other tribes there 

 was no difference. One has to be very careful in regard to ques- 

 tions, of colour because, for example, women in mourning plaster 

 themselves all over with pipe clay, whilst men are continually 

 decorating themselves with charcoal, pipe clay or red and yellow 

 ochre. So far as children are concerned I could find no differ- 

 -ence whatever. Every child at birth is copper-coloured, but in 

 the course of a few days the skin darkens and assumes the 

 chocolate brown of the adult. 



The only way in which to judge accurately of the true colour 

 of the skin is to cut a small square in a piece of white paper 

 and then compare this . isolated patch with a series of standard 

 tints, such as are given in Broca's " Instructions Anthropolo- 

 giques Generates. " Casual observations of writers who say that 

 they have noticed variations in the colour of various aboriginals 

 .are absolutely of no value and moreover are very misleading. 

 Bunce's statement, quoted above, that " there exists a vast dif- 

 ference of complexion in the different individuals comprising 

 the various tribes " is a typical example, and also a most extra- 

 ordinary one. It is a very careless, rash conclusion, formed by 

 a man with no idea of the need of scientific precision, but one 

 who would usually be described as a '' highly intelligent ob- 

 server " — a most' dangerous individual, at least so far as anthro- 

 pology is concerned. 



The ^' Blood and Shade " theory assumes that one moiety is, 

 or was, originally dark, the other lighter, and that, w^hatever 

 these physical differences may be between the two moieties, they 

 are restricted, respectively, to the members of each of the latter. 

 This raises an insuperable difficulty from a biological point of 

 view, when it is remembered that in some tribes' descent is 

 counted in the female, and in others in the male line. In a 

 female descent tribe the children of a *' dark-blooded " father, 

 according to this theory, will all be '' light-blooded " ; in a male 

 descent tribe they will all be " dark-blooded." That is, the father 

 or mother, as the case may be, hands on, without exception, and 

 exclusively, his or her dark or light blood, curly or straight hair, 

 or, in the Melanesian peoples, as described by Dr. Rivers, his or 

 her mental characters to all of his or her children. To put it 

 ■otherwise, in the case of a dark-blooded brother and sister: in 

 a male descent tribe all the children of the former will be " dark- 

 b)looded," and all those of the latter will be "light-blooded"; 



