4 
two or more wives already, and on the girl 
arriving at womanhood, she is sometimes given 
to some young man, who may have found favor 
in the eyes of her anticipated lord and master. 
An impetuous lover will at times pounce on 
an unfortunate female of some other tribe, and 
carry her off against her will, and much cruelty 
is often the consequence (but .this is not the 
ordinary mode of courtship, as has been stated 
by some writers.) Raids are also occasionally 
made for this purpose, on neigboring tribes, and 
may be considered as a minor imitation of some 
episodes in the peopling of the Roman republic. 
But the consequence in such love episodes, be- 
comes serious, when the ravisher is called on, 
as is the usual custom by the brother or friend 
of the lady — either to give up his forced bride, 
or maintain with boomerang or spear, his con- 
quest against such comers as may be decided 
on by the elders of the tribe interested. These 
abduotions and raids not unfrequently lead to 
a system of retaliation, which ends in a general 
melee , when old scores are wiped off. In time, 
similar outrages occur, which are in 
like manner again disposed, of. I 
once had an opportunity of witnessing the 
tenacity with which the chiefs of a tribe exer- 
cise their right in maintaining their laws and 
customs. A young man who had absconded 
from his relations, and contrary to their wishes 
associated himself with some neighboring tribe, 
wishing to be re-admitted to his friends, had 
to present himself before his natural chief -for 
trial. After his examination, he was sentenced 
to have a certain number of war boomerangs 
thrown at him by certain men, there and then 
appointed for that purpose ; the distance was 
some 80 or 100 yards — a small heliman (a 
shield) only being allowed him as the means of 
warding off the missiles. The lad was evidently 
frightened, but took his position manfully, and 
much excitement was felt by those present who 
were not in the secret — myself among the 
number; After some two or three boomerangs 
were thrown, considerable surprise was evinced 
on seeing them fly wide of the object, although 
thrown with an apparent earnestness.. On 
after inquiry we found that the sentence was 
carried out merely for form sake, so that no pre- 
cedent injurious to the maintenance of their 
law should arise to be used on future occa- 
sions. 
Much has been said of the imprudence of 
these poor creatures, and I do not intend to 
deny the general truth of such statements, but 
I believe that, had we been better acquainted 
with their habits before the colonists came among 
them, we should give them credit for more 
thoughtfulness than we now do. In corrobora- 
tion of this opinion I may inform you that, 
during an exploration trip into the interior, 
made by me in 1836, I found a considerable 
store of grass seed, gum from the Mimosa, and 
other stores, carefully packed up . in large 
bags made from the skin of the kangaroo, 
and covered over with pieces of bark, so as to 
keep them properly dry. The weight of the bags, 
containing the grass seed and gum> was about 
100 lbs. the seeds had been carefully dried 
after being collected from the small grasses of 
the plains. It is used as food after being 
ground into a kind of paste. The gum is, also, 
one of the favorite articles of consumption, and 
when made into a thick mucilage and mixed with 
honey, or sugar, is really very nice. Such in- 
stances of ‘forethought are doubtless rare, and, I 
believe, are only to be found beyond the influ- 
ence of civilisation. 
Having seen the great change that has taken 
place in the Kommilaroy tribes during the last 
thirty yeais, in which hundreds have dwindled 
in many sections to units, I can come to no 
other conclusion but that the advent of the 
white man has been most disadvantageous to 
them, for as nothing has been done that has 
improved their condition, the natural conse- 
quence from the contact of the colonising race 
has been that their customs and superstitions 
have been thrust aside, the chiefs and head- 
men of the tribes have become powerless, and 
the influence they once possessed has been 
destroyed ; mother words, the contemplation of 
our civilisation has left them more helpless and 
degraded than when they first beheld us, and 
in a few years more nothing will be left but a 
few border tales to remind posterity of their tra- 
ditions or existence. 
Since writing the paper I have read to you 
this evening, my attention has been called to a 
little work on the “ Language of the Aborigines 
of Western Australia,” published by George 
Fletcher Moore, Advocate-general of that 
colony, andl there find that the most remarkable 
customs described by me are recognised and in 
use among the aborigines of the Western coast. 
This, to me, is very gratifying, as it may, I 
think, fully be taken as corroborative of my 
past experience on this subject. 
Printed by G-, Wight, “ Guardian Office,” Brisbane. 
