34 
HORN EXPEDITION-ANTHROPOLOGY. 
comparatively favoured region.? of tlie McDonnell Ranges, no le.ss than in the 
more arid areas surrounding them. 
The explanation that the practice has been deliberately adopted for 
Malthusian purposes is again one which implies a knowledge of physiological 
processes, which, it appears to me, we are not justified in attributing to people of 
the mental status of A.ustralians any more than we should attribute circumcision 
to a knowledge of the hygienic or pathological disadvantages of a long prepuce. 
Besides, I am satisfied that though subincision may be reasonably supposed to 
operate in the direction required by the Malthusian view it is by no means an 
effectual hindrance to procreation. Though, no doubt, relatively few children are 
to be observed amongst the natives, I know of several cases of three, four or 
even five children in a family who were undoubtedly the offspring of subincised 
males, and if a limitation of population be the motive, is not infanticide, which is, 
or was, much in vogue a simpler, readier and far more certain means of attainment 
of the object in view ? Further, though this is not the place for a discussion of the 
anatomical and physiological bearing of the subject, it may be remarked that an 
intromittent oi’gan which is grooved instead of tubular is found amongst birds and 
reptiles, and even if this condition does not, in these animals, exactly correspond 
to that artificially produced in man by subincision, I cannot see that, on anatomical 
grounds, procreative efficiency need be, in him, greatly impaired by the operation. 
No explanation hitherto offered of this extraordinary practice can be considered 
satisfactory, and it is scarcely likely that any additional information on the 
subject will be forthcoming to aid in a solution of the problem. A preliminary 
to a .satisfactory review of the subject should, however, be the completion of the 
map of Australia, showing the entire distribution of the two rites of circumcision 
and subincision. 
Character and Disposition. 
I am fully conscious that a brief sojourn amongst a race with di.spositions, 
beliefs and mental characters so different from our own does not justify a compre¬ 
hensive treatment of such difficult and obscure subjects, and I make no pretence 
of dealing with them in that way. Nevertheless there are certain traits which 
cannot fail to manifest themselves to the tr.aveller who is amongst them, even for 
a short time, and of these he may at least speak to the extent of his observations. 
With regard to their disposition it was impossible to be long in the company 
of the blacks without being struck liy their cheerful or even merry demeanour as 
revealed by the constant childdike laughter, very often, I suspect, .at our own 
