298 
PROPERTY IN LAND. 
“ Traditional Laws relative to Landed Property . — Landed 
property does not belong to a tribe, or to several families, but to 
a single male ; and the limits of his property are so accurately 
defined that every native knows those of his own land, and can 
point out the various objects which mark his boundary. I 
cannot establish the fact and the universality of this institution 
better than by the following letter addressed by Dr. Lang, the 
Principal of Sydney College, New South Wales, to Dr. Hodgkin, 
the zealous advocate of the Aboriginal Races : 
“ Liverpool, 15 th Nov. 1840. 
“My dear Friend, — In reply to the question which you 
proposed to me some time ago, in the course of conversation in 
London, and of which you have reminded me in the letter I had 
the pleasure of receiving from you yesterday, with the pamphlets 
and letters for America, viz.— ‘ Whether the Aborigines of the 
Australian continent have any idea of property in land/ I beg to 
answer most decidedly in the affirmative. It is well known that 
these Aborigines in no instance cultivate the soil, but subsist 
entirely by hunting and fishing, and on the wild roots they find 
in certain localities (especially the common fern), with occasion- 
ally a little wild honey; indigenous fruits being exceedingly rare. 
The whole race is divided into tribes, more or less numerous, 
according to circumstances, and designated from the localities 
they inhabit ; for although universally a wandering race with 
respect to places of habitation, their wanderings are circum- 
scribed by certain well-defined limits, beyond which they seldom 
pass, except for purposes of war or festivity. In short, every 
tribe has its own district, the boundaries of which are well 
known to the natives generally ; and within that district all the 
wild animals are considered as much the property of the tribe 
inhabiting, or rather ranging on, its whole extent, as the flocks 
of sheep and herds of cattle, that have been introduced into the 
country by adventurous Europeans, are held by European law 
and usage the property of their respective owners. In fact, as 
the country is occupied chiefly for pastoral purposes, the differ- 
ence between the Aboriginal and the European ideas of property 
