388 
NATIVE PUNISHMENTS. 
at the camp when the husband comes home hun- 
gry — the wife is punished for his indolence and in- 
activity.* 
The complete subserviency of the younger peo- 
ple of both sexes in the savage community, to the 
older or leading men, is another very serious evil 
they labour under. The force of habit and of tra- 
ditional custom has so completely clouded their 
otherwise quick perceptions, that they blindly yield 
to whatever the elders may require of them ; they 
dare not disobey, they dare not complain of any 
wrong or indignity they may be subjected to this 
has been and will be the greatest bar to their civi- 
lization or improvement until some means are taken 
to free them from so degrading a thraldom, and 
afford that protection from the oppression of the 
strong and the old which they so greatly require. 
On the Murray river, or amongst the Adelaide 
natives I am not aware that any stated punish- 
ments are affixed to specific crimes, except that of 
spearing in the arm to expiate deaths. Vengeance 
appears usually to be summarily executed and on 
the spot, according to the physical strength or num- 
* In February 1842, Mr. Gouger, then Colonial Secretary at 
Adelaide, caused a dog belonging to a native to be shot for some 
cause or other I am not acquainted with. The animal had been 
left by its master in the charge of his wife, and as soon as he 
learnt that it was dead, he speared her for not taking better 
care of it. 
