40 IIOUN EXPKDII'ION — NARUATIVK. 



eiiliaiuc'tl l)y tln'ir digiiified licaring, tlidugh at times the pix'st'iicc of a Ijoir" 

 ])(!ili;nts a toot ill length stuck thruugli a, liolc in the nasal fc|ituin and oinanicntccl 

 at vna eml with a Peragalc tail, detracted, to a, certain extent, tVonj the dignilied 

 appearance of the wearer. So long as food is })lentit'ul they are jiert'ectly happy 

 and contented, their disjiosition being just like that of lightdiearted children who 

 have no id(;a of anytlting l)eyond the enjoynu^nt of the pi'escnt moment. 



As usual, the harder work is done Ijy the women, who have, in addition to 

 l(H)kiiig after the children, to go out in search of animals such as lizards and of the 

 grass seeds and bulbs, whieh form staple articles of footi, the men pi'ocuring the 

 larger animals, such as wallaliies and occasionally kangai'oos and emus. To tiieir 

 children they ai-e very indulgi^nt, the yt>ung l)(»ys lieing especially well treated, 

 though in occasional lits of anger acts of cruelty ma,y be p(nforuuxl. Anything 

 given to them is at once shared with other members of tlu^ camji. If you give a 

 black, say, a woollen shirt you will find him wearing it one day, his wife will be 

 adorned with it the next time you meet her and perhaps some fiiend will be 

 wearing it the day after. At th(^ same time, they have a distinct idea of private 

 ])ropei'ty. In camp, for example, each man will have his own belongings and 

 such as he is not carrying a,bout with him will b(; left close to his fire (piite 

 unpixitected, in tin; certain knowledge that, so far as his fellow blacks are 

 concei-ned, they will not be interfered with. At the same time, it is quite 

 recognised that if you possess, say, a spear, and a friend asks you for the loan of 

 it, you are in duty bound to lend it. Everything has its special owner, though he 

 may l)e v(;ry many miles away. Whilst a man will j)ait with his own property 

 he will not do so with that of anyone else when this has been lent to him. I once 

 even had considerable difficulty in persuading a man to part with a tuft of 

 Peragale tail-tips whieh belonged to his wife and on mort; than one occasion I 

 could not secure things because they had Ijeen lent to the possessor. 



The question of the possession of land is a more dilHcult one. There is, of 

 course, no doubt that they ha\'e no idea, whatever of any ti'act of country as 

 belonging to any individual ; but, on the other hand, they have a very distinct 

 idea that certain tracts of land, and the right to inhaljit and hunt over them, 

 belong tt) particular groups. Within the limits of the Arunta trilje, for example, 

 there are suljdivisions occupying well-delined districts. A man belonging to the 

 Arunta at Alice Springs coming down south to Charlotte Waters, for example, is 

 regarded as a guest and as such is allowed certain pi'ivileges. Thus not only have 

 the tribes such as the Arunta, lands which are regarded as belonging to them, 

 but there are divisions of the tribes which in the same way are regarded definitely 

 as owning special tracts of counti-y, the boundaries of which are well defined. 



