# The Aborigines of Victoria/Volume 1/Chapter 4

Birth and Education of Children.
It may be imagined that the exigencies of savage life require that all the members of a tribe shall at all times be ready to move from one place to another—now for food, now for shelter, now to make war, now to avoid it. The sick man must rouse himself in times of trouble, even if his sickness be mortal; and as regards the females, they must obediently serve their masters in every season and under all circumstances. Certain events in their lives, however, claim the kindness even of their savage husbands, and the sympathy of their mothers and sisters. An Aboriginal woman, when she is about to give birth to a babe, if not treated in the same manner and with as much care as a civilized woman, is not neglected. The little attention she needs is given; the few comforts demanded are ordinarily provided; the help of some aged woman is not withheld.
When the time of her trouble draws nigh, some one of the old women is selected to attend her, and the two withdraw from the main camp and shelter ​themselves in a little rudely-constructed miam. The old woman takes the child as soon as it is born, and puts it into a net or rug lined with dry grass, and rubs it with the dry grass, and makes it presentable as far as possible with that simple treatment. The father, on a given signal, approaches, and provides his wife with firewood, water, and sufficient food. The new-born babe has some sort of care bestowed on it. The umbilical cord is cut; it is powdered with a dried fungus; and after a time it is laid on its back and a dry stick is placed over its chest to prevent any misbehaviour. There it lies for two or three days, with what nourishment is not known; but generally it is not suffered to draw the natural sustenance from its mother until this weary time has passed.
As soon as the infant is given to the mother there is general hilarity in the camp. The father occasionally nurses the babe, and shows a proper amount of pride as he exhibits it now to one and now to another. The young girls eagerly contend for the honor of holding the charge; and for a short time the mother is a happy woman, and has a sort of pre-eminence which is gratifying to her; but the necessity for a sudden movement; the whisper of a war; the birth of one or more children—making other mothers happy—is enough to put an end to her brief period of enjoyment. All the cares of maternity fall heavily and suddenly upon her; and if she is a young mother and this her first-born, and the necessity arises for the tribe to travel, she contemplates with horror the pains and anxieties of a prolonged journey, during which she will have to carry and nourish her babe, as well as bear the burdens and perform the duties which her husband may impose on her.
Mr. John Green says that the new-born babe was put into an opossum rug, and it would appear that it thereafter became the charge of the mother, who, ​without assistance, tended it, and likewise gave attention to her ordinary duties. The mother would not he absent from the tribe usually more than a day or two. After that lapse of time she would return with her babe and follow her ordinary occupations.
In some parts, when a birth happened near the sea-shore, it was the custom to warm the sand on the sheltered side of a sandhill by making a small fire on it; and when the babe was born a hole was scraped, and it was placed in it and covered up to the neck with the warm sand. After the lapse of a few hours it was given to the mother, and her attention to it alone was deemed sufficient.
Until the child is able to walk pretty well it is carried in the opossum rug which is worn by the mother. The rug is so folded as to make a sort of bag at the back, in which the infant sits or lies contentedly. Whenever it needs refreshment, it extends its arms over the shoulder of the mother, seizes the teat, and without difficulty obtains what it needs.
The infants are suckled for long periods; indeed a child will not relinquish this easy mode of procuring a repast until the mother forcibly compels it to get a living for itself. And while very small—but yet able to move about only on hands and knees—it has a little stick put into its hands, and, following the example of elder children, it digs for roots, for the larvæ of ants, for such living things as it can find in decayed wood, and sometimes for the native bread (Mylitta Australis) where it is plentiful, and when the elder children are willing to help the little one. The infant soon learns to kill small lizards, and these, and the more easily procured kinds of food that the bush affords, serve to strengthen and fatten it.
​Mirr-n'yong, a kind of white radish bearing a yellow flower, is dug up and eaten by the children and adults in all places where it grows.
The children are made to swim in the waters of the rivers and creeks at a very early age. Both girls and boys of tender years are thrown into the water in sport, and they so soon acquire the art of swimming rapidly and well that it is only when the first experiments are made that the parents trouble themselves with them. A young girl will spring from the bank into a deep water-hole, and dive and rise again to get breath in such a way, sometimes, when she is pursued either earnestly or in sport, as to baffle even young active men. The natives swim differently from Europeans, back foremost and nearly upright, as if treading the water.
The toy weapons which are made for the use and amusement of the children, the care that is taken in teaching the boys to throw the spear, to use the stone tomahawk, the shield, and the club; the instruction that is given them in climbing trees, using the net, and in digging for the wombat—make them even when young quite accomplished bushmen. They are obliged to be observant of small things, which in their mode of life have a significance and a value unknown to civilized men. They are trained to follow the tracks of animals, and to recognise by the faintest indications the near presence of birds and reptiles. Botany, zoology, and topography are taught in the open air, and the
​pupils are apt. How few amongst educated Europeans could compete with these children of Nature in the arts which they have cultivated!
A correspondent, who some twenty years ago had a station near Yering, on the River Yarra, and who subsequently had much experience of the native character in the southern and western parts of Victoria, had once, he informs me, in the early days of the settlement of the colony, some opportunities of observing the methods of tuition pursued by the natives. On one occasion he saw an old woman attended by a great number of girls, who appeared to be under her care, and engaged in useful employments. The old woman gathered materials with her own hands and built for herself a miam, and then with great care, and with many words of instruction, caused each girl to build a small miam after the pattern of the large one. She showed the girls where and how to collect gum, and where to put it; she caused them to gather rushes, and, with the proper form of rounded stone in their hands, instructed them in the art of weaving the rushes into baskets; she made them pull the right kind of grasses for making other kinds of baskets and rough nets, and she showed them how the fibres were prepared, and how nets and twine were made; she took from her bag the woolly hair of an opossum, and taught them how, by twisting it under the hand over the inner smooth part of the thigh, it could be made into a kind of yarn or thread; and in many ways and on many subjects she imparted instruction. She was undoubtedly a schoolmistress—a governess; but how long she kept her pupils at work, or under what conditions they were entrusted to her care, were subjects on which my correspondent could obtain no information.
On another occasion the same gentleman saw an old man accompanied by a number of boys—some of tender years and others nearly full grown—who appeared to be receiving instruction in the several arts by which a savage gains a living in the forest. The old man, whether merely to afford the boys amusement or to teach them the proper method of throwing the spear, engaged in the following pastime. A piece of bark was cut from a tree and formed into a disc somewhat larger than a dinner-plate, and this was put into the hands of one of the elder boys. Having selected an open space of tolerably smooth sward, the game commenced. The boys were placed in a row, and each was provided with a light spear; the elder boy, who held the disc, stood at some distance in front of the row, and at a given signal he hurled the bark disc—not as a cricketer usually throws a ball, but downwards from the shoulder, and with a peculiar jerk—so as to give the disc a ricochet-like movement as it bounded rather than rolled along the grass. Each little boy in turn threw his spear. Few hit the disc, but those that struck it or came very near it were complimented by the old man and by their fellows. The attitude of the boys, their eagerness, the attention of the old man, the triumph exhibited in his countenance when better play than usual was made, and the modest demeanour of the most successful spearman, formed a picture which was very pleasing. Other exercises followed this performance, and their aged instructor seemed to delight in the work which he had taken in hand. Obedience, steadiness, fair-play, and self-command were inculcated by the practices which were witnessed.
​All those who have had opportunities of observing the habits of the Aborigines in their natural state bear witness to the fact that parents are kind and indulgent to their children; and the men and women of a tribe who are not related to the infants are always forbearing and gentle in their treatment of them. They neglect them very often, however, and accidents happen to them in consequence of such neglect. The infants crawl near the camp-fires, and get burnt; they fall asleep under a tree, and get stung by insects; they labor amongst the branches of a fallen tree, and injure themselves; and they are sometimes bitten by the dogs when they endeavour to take away food from them; but deliberate cruelty is very different from neglect, which may arise, and most often does arise, from the indolence of the parents. That there are instances, occasionally, of culpable negligence should not warrant us in stating that the affection of the Australian parents for their children is less than that of the best educated amongst Europeans.
The Australians do not as a rule attempt to alter or improve the appearance of the children by compressing the head or flattening the nose. Such practices may be followed in some parts, but in Victoria nothing is known of them. The infants are allowed to grow up as Nature intended that they should grow.
The flattening of the head and the squeezing of the nose as practised amongst the Tahitans, the distortions brought about by the cradle used by the tribes inhabiting the Columbia River, the Chinese mode of shortening and thickening the foot, and the European custom of compressing the ribs of females by a cruel framework of whalebone, are all unknown to the Australians.
In the treatment of their children generally they are undoubtedly superior in some respects to the more civilized races.
The concurrent testimony of many writers who have had abundant opportunities of observing the habits of the Aborigines leaves no room for doubt that the practice of infanticide is almost universal amongst the tribes in the savage and half-civilized state.
Mr. Charles Wilhelmi says that "if, as it but seldom occurs, children are born in a family quick, one after another, the youngest is generally destroyed in some out-of-the-way place, by some woman, accompanied, for this purpose, by the mother herself. From the excess of male adults alive, it may fairly be presumed that a by far greater number of girls than of boys are done away with in this manner. As an apology for this barbarous custom, the women plead that they cannot suckle and carry two children together. The men clear themselves of all guilt, saying that they are never present when these deeds are committed, and that, therefore, all blame rests with the women."
​Mr. Peter Beveridge, writing of the habits of the Lower Murray Aborigines, confirms this statement. "Infanticide," he writes, "is often practised, and meals are too often made by mothers of their own offspring. This practice is attributable to laziness principally; for if a mother has two children, one two years old, and the other just born, she is sure to destroy the youngest."
Mr. W. E. Stanbridge, already well known as an accurate observer of the customs of the natives, is also compelled to speak of this unnatural practice. He describes them as cannibals of the lowest description. "New-born babes are killed by their parents, and eaten by them and their children. When such revolting occurrences take place, the previously-born child is unable to walk, and the opinion is that, by its eating as much as possible of the roasted infant, it will possess the strength of both."
The Rev. F. A. Hagenauer knows of only one case of an attempt to kill a new-born babe. It was buried alive in the sand, but was rescued by a relative. This child, now sixteen years of age, is living at Lake Wellington. Mr. Hagenauer says that it was a common practice of the Gippsland Aborigines in former days to bury new-born babes alive in the sand.
Mr. Gason, writing of the Dieyerie tribe (Cooper's Creek), says:—"The children are never beaten, and should any woman violate this law, she is in turn beaten by her husband. Notwithstanding this tenderness for their remaining offspring, about thirty per cent. are murdered by their mothers at their birth, simply for the reasons—firstly, that many of them marrying very young, their first-born is considered immature, and not worth preserving; and, secondly, because they do not wish to be at the trouble of rearing them, especially if weakly. Indeed, all sickly or deformed children are made away with, in fear of their becoming a burden to the tribe. The children so destroyed are generally smothered in sand, or have their brains dashed out by some weapon: the men never interfering, or any of either sex regarding infanticide as a crime. Hardly an old woman, if questioned, but will admit of having disposed in this manner of from two to four of her offspring."
The Rev. Geo. Taplin says that "infanticide is not prevalent amongst the Narrinyeri (Lower Murray and Lakes) at the present time. Thirteen years ago one-third of the infants which were born were put to death. Every child which was born before the one which preceded it could walk was destroyed, because the mother was regarded as incapable of carrying two. All deformed children were killed as soon as born. Of twins, one, and often both, were put to death. About one-half of the half-caste infants fell victims to the jealousy of the husbands of the mothers. Many illegitimate children—that is, children born before their mothers were given in marriage—were murdered."
​"Should a child be born," says Grey, "with any natural deformity, it is frequently killed by its parents soon afterwards. In the only instances of this kind which have come within my own knowledge, the child has been drowned."
On the evidence of Protectors and others, collected by a Colonial Magistrate, it is stated that children are often held over a fire by the mother, and stifled; that children dying a natural death are immediately eaten; and that in one case a mother and her children were discovered enjoying, as a sweet repast, one of the same family.
Mr. Westgarth considers that the practice of infanticide is well authenticated.
It is not necessary to inform the reader that infanticide is a crime which is not restricted to the Aborigines of Australia. In other countries where there are savage peoples the infants are killed and eaten. Whether this revolting practice has its origin in the superstitious belief that the elder child will be stronger and braver if fed upon the roasted flesh of the infant, or whether it is in some cases forced upon the parents by the want of animal food, or is simply a means of getting rid of an encumbrance, which to retain would embarrass the tribe and retard its movements, cannot be ascertained. On such subjects the Aborigines are usually reticent, or, if obliged to speak, do not always tell the truth. All the motives may, in some cases, operate in deciding the fate of a new-born child.
Is it possible that this custom is only common where the tribes have been brought into contact with the whites? Is it the half-castes only that are destroyed? One would willingly believe that it was only when demoralized by intercourse with the lower classes of whites that this crime was committed; but the facts I have cited, and the proportions of the sexes amongst the tribes in the interior, would seem to show that it is not due to intermixture with the Europeans, but is and has always been a recognised and approved custom. Though no less revolting because a custom, it ceases to be a crime if we make the members of the tribes themselves the judges.
It is not a rite—it is not a sacrifice. It is most probably a means of limiting the population: and, if this be the explanation, who can say that the murder of infants under peculiar conditions may not result in averting great calamities, and indeed be the prevention of other even more horrible offences? Australia, as will be clearly shown in this work, is divided into districts beyond which members of tribes may not, except under certain circumstances, travel; a tribe ​cannot demand nor purchase food from a neighbouring tribe; the men cannot cultivate the soil; and the soil of their territory can maintain but a certain number of human beings; and if a rule has been established in consonance with a law of Nature, are we right in rashly and rudely condemning as criminals those who practise obedience to the obligations which the rule enforces? Surely enough is known of the many crimes which our own social laws render inevitable to cause us to regard even infanticide amongst this people rather in the light of a custom which they are compelled to observe than as a crime—a crime which amongst civilized nations is justly considered heinous. No one would attempt to extenuate the practice—the Aborigines themselves are ashamed of it—but it is surely right to tell the truth about it.
It is only after they have been taught the truths of religion, and made acquainted with the solemn obligations which rest on the parents, and when they are provided with necessary food, that we can visit on them punishments for such offences.
Ignorant persons might regard what has been stated by authors respecting the customs of the natives of Australia as an apology for infanticide. They have, however, but made known the facts, and their statements are in themselves only a defence of the Aborigines against the injustice of imputing to them as a crime a practice perhaps necessary to their existence. Infanticide—the whites affect to believe—is a monstrous thing amongst savage and barbarous nations; but every newspaper one reads gives accounts of cases of infanticide, as practised by our own people, far more horrible than any known to the Australians or
​Polynesians. Baby farming, the strangling of infants, the cruel destruction by mothers of their progeny by hiding them under fences, by laying them on cold door-steps, or throwing them into pits, are practices employed by those who enjoy the results of many centuries of civilization. At the moment I write the daily press is teeming with accounts of awful crimes of this description; and it is painful to read the leading articles in which the crime of infanticide is discussed. The white mother kills her infant in the vain hope of preserving her social position—high or low—of concealing the error or crime which preceded the birth; the black woman simply, I believe, because she is not capable of supporting her offspring, or in order to render impossible an increase of population which the food-resources of the tribe would be unable to meet. Amongst the whites this awful crime is often committed in obedience to laws made by man—amongst the natives of Australia the practice is followed in obedience to laws which necessity compels them to keep.
Naming Children.
The first name given to a child is dependent on some accident at its birth—on the sudden appearance of a kangaroo or other animal, on the birth taking place at a well-marked locality, or under a tree of a particular species. And it is named also from any peculiarities that it may present.
The late Mr. Thomas says that one man in the Melbourne district was named Ber-uke (kangaroo-rat), in consequence of a kangaroo-rat running through the miam at his birth. Poleeorong (cherry-tree) was so called because he was born under the shelter of a native cherry-tree. Weing-parn (fire and water) was so denominated in consequence of the miam catching fire and the fire being put out by water at the time of his birth. Wonga, the head-man of the Yarra tribe, was born at Wonga (Arthur's Seat), and thus has the name.
​In the Western district natives get their names in the same way. One, Tahchet Mahrung, from the pine-tree (Mahrung); another Yarette or Jurh (the Mallee-tree); and a third Wungawette, like the name of a place on Pine Plains. A boy was named Brairnunnin (to cut or pierce as with a spear), and a girl Nepurnin (to bury or hide).
Mr. Stanbridge says it was the custom to give names of natural objects to both males and females.
Elsewhere such a name as Colabatyin (turkey), or Bulltkinna (sheep), or Bonyea (a part of the body) was given to a male.
Sometimes they have nick-names, as Yanguia (left-handed), Murra Muthi (bad-handed), or Kato wirto (little man).
The Rev. Mr. Taplin, writing of the Narrinyeri, says that it is unlucky to name a child until it can walk, and that the name is generally significant of the place of birth. One born at a place called Rilge was called Rilgewal. But the name thus given is not permanent. Other names are taken subsequently—as, for instance, on arriving at manhood; and if the name chosen happen to be one similar to that of a member of the tribe who dies, it is again changed. And he says, "It is also very common for a mother or father to bear the name of a child. This is effected by adding the termination arni for father, or annike for mother, to the name of the child. For instance, Koolmatinye arni is the father of Koolmatinyeri, and Koolmatinye annike is the mother of Koolmatinyeri."
Mr. Howitt gives an account, as related by Toolabar, a well-known native, of the manner of naming children in Gippsland:—
"A child is not named until it is about three years old. Till then it is called 'Leet' or 'Tally Leet' or Quenjung—child or girl (or sister). Billy says he should say—(pointing to my little girl, aged three)—'Come here' 'Leet bittel,' i.e., 'my child.' When a child is about three or upwards the friends may think it well to name it, or the father may think so. Some name is given it which has belonged to a deceased relative. The father, for instance, asks his murninung or 'Barbuck'—or 'Waintwin' or 'Waintjin,' 'Cookum' or 'Nallung'—for a name. Toolabar says that in a year or two he will give the name of his brother Barney to Kangaroo Jack. Barney died about ten years ago. Kangaroo Jack's father was the brother of Billy Toolabar's present wife Mary—therefore he is considered 'Billy's wife's brother.' Toolabar was named in the way I have stated by his mother after his 'Brebba Mungan,' who was killed by the Brar-jer-ack blacks (Maneroo) many years before. This relationship stands thus:—
| Grandfather, Bnngil Tay-a-bung | Grandfather, Bnngil Tay-a-bung | Grand Uncle, Bunga Wuntwun | Grand Uncle, Bunga Wuntwun | Grand Aunt, A Sister | Grand Aunt, A Sister |
| Bembinkel | Bembinkel | | | A blackfellow (name forgotten), the Brebba Mungan who named Toolabar. | A blackfellow (name forgotten), the Brebba Mungan who named Toolabar. |
| A blackfellow (name forgotten), the Brebba Mungan who named Toolabar. ||
In this case it will be seen that Bembinkel and the sponsor for Toolabar are considered 'brothers,' therefore he is Toolabar's 'Mungan,' or father. Billy ​then tells me that he was called 'Burrumbulk' (the teal), who he says was a 'Barbuck' (mother's brother), also killed long ago by Brar-jer-acks. (This looks like a confusion of the same persons. He is not very clear about it.) When he was made a 'young man,' he was called Toolabar by his 'Barbuck,' Bungil Laen-buke. The former Toolabar was also a 'Barbuck' of Billy Toolabar, or, rather, a 'Brebba Barbuck,' i.e., probably his mother's cousin, or the wife of his father's sister's husband. It was this wise. Billy had been out from the camp for some time, and the elders had said among themselves, 'It is time that Burrumbulk' (his then name) 'had a name.' Bungil Laen-buke called him 'Toolabar.' When he returned some one called out (I think Bungil Laen-buke), 'Here, Toolabar!' Burrumbulk took no notice of it. He was called again. At last he said, 'What are you calling Toolabar?' 'Oh, that is your name.' 'My name! All right.' Thus he was named. He was caught, as a young lad (I don't know if before or after the naming 'Toolabar'), by the Macleods of Buchan, and thus got his name 'Billy Macleod.' He has been also nick-named 'Tarn-jill,' the Jabberer—incessant talker. He may, as he gets older, be called some other name. I told him to-day he should be called 'Bungil Eune,' or 'Bungil Yangoura,' i.e., Mr. Stringybark, as his occupation each winter is stripping bark. He said, 'By-and-by might get name.' The prefix to the names of 'Bungil,' Billy says, may be translated 'Mr.'; at any rate he can give no other meaning. It is only borne by the old men. There are no ceremonies about giving names. At present the customs are much relaxed. This autumn, at hop-picking, a number of blacks were here, and one gin had a baby. All hands had a word in the name which was given it when a week old. But it was to be a whitefellow name, Edward. The following are some of the names:—
| Bungil Bár-le-járu | Platypus. |
| Bungil Támboon | Gippsland perch. |
| Bungil Láen-büke | Lake Bunga, near entrance to Lakes. |
| Bungil Woor-een | The sun. |
| Bungil Bal-look | Blue-gum. |
| Bungil Tay-a-bun | A sooty water-hen on the Lakes; a coot. |
| Bungil Wréggal-luck | From wreggil, long, thin, straggling, and gallagh, a tree. |
| Bungil Brám-ar-rung | Newland's Backwater, on the Lakes. |
| Bungil Dów-ung-un | The crooked elbow of a big tree, from which bark for a canoe can be stripped. |
| Bungil Baru | The wild dog. |
| Bungil Neer-wun | A mosquito. |
| Bungil Gnar-rung | A maggot. |
| Bungil Bottle | A name given lately to a drunken blackfellow. |
Among the above the names will mostly explain themselves. The first one, Bungil Bar-le-jaru, 'Mr. Platypus,' used to spear many of those creatures. Bungil Laen-buke frequented Lake Bunga. Bungil Dow-ung-un, because he made his canoes from the elbows of trees; and Bungil Bottle, 'Mr. Bottle,' in derision of the bearer's drunken habits. Old Mr. Burgess, who looked after the ​hop grounds at Coranderrk, is known to the blacks as 'Bungil Hop.' Toolabar named him, and he has no other name with the Aborigines. Other names are:—
| Windi-gaerwut | A creek. |
| Wórk-wúckanby | Wonga pigeon. |
| Woorail by | Lyrebird | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ Borne by one person. |
| Broo-urn by | Pelican | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ Borne by one person. |
| Torngatty (a woman) | Heavy body. (I have softened the translation of this name.) |
Many of the names have now no meaning, having been handed down perhaps for centuries; though I have little doubt they all originally referred to some person's peculiarities, or some circumstance attending the birth of the child or its after-life. Of women's names I may add—Bé-al-mar-ung, Ból-gan, of which I do not know the meaning. Toolabar would not tell me his first wife's name, he said 'Annie' (his daughter) 'would not like it;' nor would he tell me his present wife's name. They seem to have no scruple about their European names; and I now notice that I only know the above native female names. The male names I have given, and others I cannot at the moment recall."
Coming of Age of Young Men and Young Women.
Special enquiries have been made with much care respecting the ceremonies practised by the natives of Victoria when a young man or a young woman, having arrived at maturity, is admitted to the privileges enjoyed by those of mature age. The subject is beset with difficulties. The rites are always performed in secret; and in their savage state any native who would venture to relate the occurrences attendant on the initiation of a young man to these solemn mysteries would probably forfeit his life. Some amongst the Aborigines, however, well acquainted with all such practices, have separated from their tribes and are living with the whites; and some tribes that have not yet relinquished any of their customs are so far tamed as to admit a white friend occasionally to the secret meetings at which their more awful ceremonies are performed; and therefore, as will be seen from the statements here given, much has been gathered relative to these strange practices.
From my correspondents a great deal of valuable information has been received.
Mr. Thomas has described the rites known as Tib-but and Mur-rum Tur-uk-ur-uk. From Mr. Howitt I have received an account of the ceremony known as Jerryale, "the making of young men;" the Rev. George Taplin and Mr. Wilhelmi relate, in their published papers, what has been ascertained respecting similar ceremonies in South Australia; and I have also gathered from several works what I could in reference to initiation.
​Nothing, I believe, is known of the origin of the rites here described; they have been practised, undoubtedly, during a period incalculable; but, it may be conjectured, they were made a part of the laws of this people, for the purpose of separating clearly those classes, inferior because of their youth and status, from those to whom belonged the right to take part in battles, to choose wives, to indulge in certain luxuries, and to exercise, with restrictions prescribed by the form of tribal government, power and authority. Without some such mode of denoting the classes to which privileges belonged, there would have been confusion and constant quarrels.
It is not certain that the rites known as Mur-rum Tur-uk-ur-uk, or any rites on a girl attaining maturity, were generally observed throughout Australia; but it is at least probable that in all parts some sign was given when a female arrived at a marriageable age; otherwise there would have been amongst all the tribes a possibility of the frequent occurrence of crimes similar to those which disgrace the whites; and in the absence of any means of denoting those who had arrived at maturity, there would have been a difficulty in bringing an offender to punishment. No account of any crime of this class has come to my knowledge as having occurred amongst natives living in their natural wild ​state; and in view of the severe punishments inflicted when a girl of marriageable age was abducted, we may conclude that any attempt to violate a child would have been regarded as a crime worthy of death.
The rite of circumcision is practised only by a part of the inhabitants of Australia, probably only in the central, western, and northern areas; but that the custom may have been known and observed even as far south as the River Murray, where it forms the boundary of Victoria, is possible. This custom and others of a like character are common amongst the tribes living within the drainage area of the great river whose sources are as far north as 24° S. latitude.
Tib-but.
When a boy in Victoria attained the age of fourteen or fifteen years he had to submit himself to his elders, and to take part in a ceremony preparatory to his being admitted to the privileges of manhood. His coming of age was not a pleasant event in his life. During the celebration of the rites the youth suffered severely, and he had sympathy from none. Tib-but is the name applied in Victoria to the extraordinary practices of the natives when a youth was to be made a man.
A married man of influence and power in the tribe performs the rites. When the youth has been led to a suitable place, safe from intrusion, his hair—all but a narrow strip about a quarter of an inch in breadth, extending from the nape of the neck to the forehead—is cut off with sharp chips of quartzite, and the head made quite smooth by such kind of shaving as can be done by sharp chips. The head is then daubed with clay, and the narrow ridge of hair rising rebelliously in the middle gives the novice an appearance that is far from pleasing. Indeed, when this part of the ceremony is finished, his aspect is hideous. To complete the picture, he is immediately invested with a garment formed of strips of opossum skins, strings of opossum fur, and the like, which serves to cover his middle only, and his body is daubed with clay, mud, charcoal-powder, and filth of every kind. Though this ceremony is generally performed in the winter season, when the weather is very cold, the youth is not permitted to cover himself with a rug. He carries a basket under his arm, containing moist clay, charcoal-powder, and filth. In this state he wanders through the encampment day and night, calling out in a loud voice, "Tib-bo-bo-bo-but!" He gathers filth as he goes, and places it in the basket. No one speaks to him—no one molests him; all seem to fear him. When he sees any one come out of a miam he casts filth at him; but he may not intrude himself into any miam, nor dare he cast filth at a woman who goes to fetch water. He, however, gives annoyance, and throws filth when he can, and all the women and children—and even the men—are afraid of him when he crosses their path. The women and children scream when they see him, and rush to their miams for shelter. The warning voice must, however, be constantly heard, or the rite would be incomplete and the proprieties would be violated.
After the lapse of some days—the length of the period of probation depending on circumstances understood only by the elders—and when his hair has begun to show through the covering of clay, or at least to have grown a little, ​he is given over to the women, who wash him, paint his face with black lines (the pigment being powdered charcoal mingled with wee-rup), and dance before him. He is now a man, and can go to any neighbouring tribe and steal a young girl, and make her his wife.
The rites above described were witnessed by the late Mr. Thomas, and were practised, I believe, only by the Coast tribes. In other parts of the colony the ceremony on initiation was different.
A youth on arriving at manhood was conducted by three of the leaders of the tribe into the recesses of the woods, where he remained two days and one night. Being furnished with a suitable piece of wood, he knocked out two of the teeth of his upper front jaw, and on returning to the camp he gave the teeth to his mother. The youth again retired to the forest, and remained absent two nights and one day; and his mother during his absence selected a young gum-tree, and inserted in the bark of it in the fork of two of the topmost branches the teeth which had been knocked out. This tree ever afterwards was in some sense held sacred. It was made known only to certain persons of the tribe, and the youth himself was never permitted to learn where his teeth had been placed. If the youth died, the foot of the tree was stripped of its bark, and it was killed by making a fire about it, so that it might remain stricken and sere, as a monument of the deceased.
Mur-rum Tur-uk-ur-uk.
The ceremonies called Mur-rum Tur-uk-ur-uk are performed when a girl attains the age of twelve or thirteen years. At a distance of one hundred yards from the main encampment two large fires are made of bark only, not a piece of stick nor a twig being used for the purpose of even kindling them. Each fire is made and maintained by an old woman, who sits by it in silence. The girl is brought out of the miam by her female friends, and is rubbed all over with charcoal-powder (kun-nun-der), and spotted also with white clay; the effect of which is neither ludicrous nor solemn, but rather calculated to excite surprise, even amongst those who are accustomed to see the Aborigines in their several disguises. As soon as the painting is finished, she is made to stand on a log, and a small branch, stripped of every leaf and bud, is placed in her right hand, having on the tip of each bare twig a very small piece of some farinaceous food. Young men, perhaps to the number of twenty, slowly approach her one by one; each throws a small bare stick at her, and bites off the food from the tip of one of the twigs, and spits it into the fire, and, returning from the fire, stamps, leaps, and raves, as in a corrobboree. As soon as each of the young men has performed this ceremony, the old women who have been attending to the fires approach the girl, and gather carefully every twig and stick that has been thrown at her, and, making a hole, bury them deeply in the ground. They are careful not to leave a single stick: each must be gathered and buried. This is done to prevent the sorcerers from taking away the girl's kidney-fat (marm-bu-la). When the twigs and sticks have become rotten, the girl is safe from the attacks of sorcerers and evil spirits. When the twigs are buried, and the ​hole filled, the bough held by the girl is solemnly demanded of her by the two old women, who burn it in the fires, which are then raked together and made one. The mother, or nearest female relative, at this stage removes the girl from her position on the log, and leads her to her father's miam. At night a corrobboree is held; the father of the girl leads the dance, and the young men who took part in the day's ceremony form the first corrobboree. In the second all the young men join. At intervals a young woman, having on the emu apron (tilburnin), dances alone. The young men who threw the twigs and bit off the food are understood to have covenanted with her not to assault her, and, further, to protect her until she shall be given away lawfully to her betrothed: but the agreement extends no further; she may entertain any of them of her own free will as a lover.
Narra-mang.
One of my correspondents gives this account of the ceremonies practised on the "making of young men":—Narra-mang—the name given to a custom of the blacks of the Murrumbidgee, Murray, Ovens, and Goulburn tribes—consists essentially in the knocking out of two of the incisor teeth of the upper-jaw. It may perhaps be regarded as a religious ceremony, in the performance of which many mystic rites are observed—rites that no white man is permitted to witness unless he be one who has the confidence and regard of the old men. The operation is performed at the age of puberty, and the teeth of the males only are knocked out. When a lad has to be initiated, he is removed to some remote and secluded spot, and when it is night, the coradjes (priests and doctors), painted and decorated with feathers, &c., begin their operations. A ring is marked out, and in this the youths are placed, one at a time; incantations are uttered by the priests; and, finally, one of them, holding in one hand a piece of wood shaped like a punch, and in the other a tomahawk, approaches the youth and knocks out two teeth. When this has been done, the young man is placed in a gunyah, formed of boughs, so closely interwoven as to be nearly impervious to light, and then the wild songs of the women are heard, who approach and walk round the gunyah, each holding in her hand a lighted brand.
For the space of one moon the youths are prohibited from seeing any one except the coradjes. If they are seen by a female, they will surely die. When this ordeal is passed, and not before, they are permitted to eat of the flesh of the My-ioa (black swan), and that of the Joh-gah (musk-duck), and they may then also eat of the emu.
Some of the chants are of this kind:—
| | 'Tis now that you are sick, |
| Therr-an-jee-gar jabery-mah Johans Joh-gah—&c. | But soon will grow your beard, |
| Therr-an-jee-gar jabery-mah Johans Joh-gah—&c. | And on the magic musk-duck |
| | With the men you shall feed. |
Jerryale, etc.
Mr. A. W. Howitt, of Bairnsdale, in Gippsland, has sent me the following account of the ceremony known as Jerryale:—
"A youth of twelve or fifteen, or a man of any age, may be made 'Jerryale,' that is, as expressed by the blacks themselves in their broken English, 'made a ​young man.' The whole ceremony appears to be typical of the severance of the boy from his mother's influence and control, and also possibly of his future married state. There seems to be no fixed time upon which the ceremony of Jerryale takes place, but it is fixed upon by the elders of the tribe or of several tribes in concert; for instance, the Jerryale at which my informant was made 'young man' was attended by the blacks from Lake Tyers to the Tarra in South Gippsland. The proceedings, as told me, are as follows:—All the youths, candidates for Jerryale, sit down on the ground at a distance of thirty to forty yards from the camp. The women, that is the married women, sit down at the camp and beat rugs folded up. The youths are called Jerryale, and I shall speak of them by that term. The Jerryale sit down in a row, and immediately behind each Jerryale sits a young girl called Growun. The Growuns are appointed by the elders, and, I am informed, are only 'mate-partner to help the Jerryale,' and not in any way as a wife—as it is also expressed, 'something like it sister or cousin;' the Jerryale sits cross-legged with his arms folded on his breast, and the Growun sits behind him, close to him, in a like attitude. When there are more Jerryale than Growun, one of the latter sits half-way between two of the former. Thus—J for Jerryale, G for Growun:—
| (G) | (G) | (G) | | (G) | |
| (J) | (J) | (J) | (J) | | (J) |
At this time the men are arranged at a little distance in a row fronting the Jerryale. At a signal, they run forward and halt just in front of them. They beat up the soil or sand in front of the Jerryale with sticks, shouting 'Ai-ee-ee-ee-ei;' at each cry they strike the ground so as to make soil fly up towards the Jerryale. These say nothing, but slowly incline the head—the arms being folded first on the left breast, then on the right. The Growun exactly imitate the gestures of the Jerryale. The men have a stalk of grass thrust through the perforation in the cartilage of the nose instead of the bone goombert. They are also rubbed round the eyes with charcoal-dust. This ceremony is performed every evening, from about four o'clock to ten o'clock, for two weeks; and it is moreover done at different places, thus progressing through the tribes from one limit of the district to the other. In addition to the cry of 'Ai-ee-ee,' the words 'Bu-ee-bu-ee-bu-ee' are also used, but no explanation can be given of these terms. During the fortnight that this ceremony continues, the mothers of the youths go down to the young men's camps (called Brew-it), which are apart from the main camp, and beat upon folded 'possum rugs there—their sons the meanwhile sitting silent in front of them in the manner above described. The mothers go from camp to camp in this way. The ceremonies now change; the Jerryale stand in a row at the camp, naked; behind them all the gins stand naked, except an apron of emu feathers round their waists, and cords made of stringybark round their heads; they hold upright in front of them their yam-sticks with boughs tied on the end. The men come up with bundles of wood-splinters a foot long in each hand, singing 'oo-oo-oo-oo-yay-yay-yay-yay,' &c., &c. When they come near, they, while chanting 'oo-yay,' throw the splinters one by one to the gins, who gather them up, and beat the bundles on ​each other in time, singing also 'oo-oo-oo-yay-yay-yay.' Then the men come forward. Each Jerryale has a blackfellow to take charge of him, a kind of sponsor, called Bullera-wreng. Two of the Bullera-wreng take hold of the Jerryale, one by one, by the ankles, and launch him up in the air as high as they can, calling out at the same time "nurt." The Jerryale holds his arms, palms forward, straight up above his head. They then lie down upon a couch of green boughs, side by side, each one attended by his sponsor. These Bullera-wreng watch them, and if they are compelled from any cause to leave the place, attend them, covering the heads of the Jerryale with a rug, and surrounding him so that his mother may not catch a glimpse of him. The Bullera-wreng watch all night by the Jerryale, who has to lie extended on these boughs for two, three, or four days. All this time the Bullera-wreng and the mothers are chanting yay-yay-yay-oo-oo-oo, &c., &c. On concluding this, the old gins sing djeet-gun-djeet-gun-djeet-gun-eering-eering-eering, beating the ground with bundles of small saplings. Djeet-gun is the superb warbler; the eering the emu wren; the former is called the 'gins' sister,' the latter the 'blackfellows' brother.' The Bullera-wreng paint the faces of the Jerryale with pipeclay or murloo, so as to resemble the duck nurt, i.e., with a white circle round each eye, and a white band across the cheek-bones or eyebrows. The Jerryale stand together; the Bullera-wreng a little way in front of them. Then the latter cry out nurra, or ready, shaking boughs and vibrating their legs. The Jerryale run off to them, who catch them by the arms, then let them pass, and they run off into the bush; as my informant said, 'my mother see me no more.' After a month spent in the forest, the Jerryale one day kill two kangaroos and leave some of the meat on the top of a log. They then go down to the camp of the tribe a little before noon. The Growun is on the look-out for her Jerryale, and holds out to him a fish, too-rook, which he takes in his hand, throws down, and runs off about a hundred yards. His mother is standing near. The Bullera-wreng picks up the fish and follows the Jerryale, who eats it. In the afternoon, all the Jerryale go to where the kangaroo meat was left, the men of the tribe forming a circle round. These, when they see the kangaroo meat on the log, cry out Wa-a-a-ow, this being the cry with which they drive that game in hunting. The Jerryale go up with their 'possum cloaks over their heads, and eat the kangaroo flesh; all the men look on, and, after a little, join in the feast. This is about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, and ends the ceremony of Jerryale."
Mr. John Green, of Coranderrk, Upper Yarra, says respecting the initiation of boys and girls:—
"1st. When a boy was about thirteen years old, he was taken away by the old men of the tribe a considerable distance from the camp, where they made a mi-mi, and remained for about one month, during which time the boy was instructed in all the legends of the tribe. At the end of that time several of the men took hold of the boy, and held him until two others knocked out one of his front teeth; this was done by first loosing the flesh from round the tooth ​with a piece of sharp bone, then one knocked it out with a piece of wood, used as a punch. He had now to cover his nakedness with pieces of opossum skins; he then returned to the general camp, and was known as a Wang-goom. 2nd. When about eighteen, he was again taken to some distance from the camp by the old men; this time he was painted as a warrior; about sunrise one of the old men struck him, and told him to take off the covering of skin, that he was now a Geebowak. He had now no longer to hide his nakedness, and might take a wife at any time. He had now to go and find something to take to the general camp for them to eat, and on his approach to the camp all who were there ran and hid themselves, because they were ashamed to look upon him naked; he then found them all, and gave them something to eat, and then they were no more ashamed."
The initiation of girls into womanhood was as follows:—"When a girl came to puberty, she was taken away some distance from the general mi-mi by some of the old women. They then tied cords round several parts of her body, very tight. These cords were left there for several days, which made the whole of the body to swell very much, and caused great pain. She was not to remove them until she was clean. When clean, she got the cords off, and got a covering to her nakedness of emu feathers, and then returned to the general mi-mi, and was now a Ngarrindarakook—that is, marriageable, and might be married at any time when her friends thought fit."
Mr. Green mentions also that at certain periods a woman has to leave the general camp, and must not walk anywhere that a man walks, nor cross any water, nor touch any timber, or anything that a man has to touch, and before returning to the camp must wash her whole body in water.
The Rev. Mr. Bulmer, of Lake Tyers, in Gippsland, says that a young man is not received amongst the men of the tribe or admitted to the privileges of manhood until certain forms are observed. The forms are different in different tribes. Some of the Murray tribes have a custom of knocking out the front tooth—others again pluck the hair or down from the young man's chin. Pain is inflicted in order that the valour and constancy of the youth may be manifested. Other things are done which cannot be written down. The Gippsland blacks usually preserve silence on this subject, evidently thinking that the less said to a white man as regards this custom the better.
Amongst the Narrinyeri, the ceremonies, according to the observations of the Rev. Mr. Taplin, are as follows:—
"When the beard of a youth has grown a sufficient length, he is made Narumbe, Kaingani, or young man. In order that this ceremony may be properly performed, and the youth admitted as an equal among the men of the Narrinyeri, it is necessary that members of several different tribes should be present on the occasion. A single tribe cannot make its own youths Narumbe without the assistance of other tribes. This prevents any tribe from increasing its number of men by admitting those who have not yet arrived at the proper age, and thus prevents them from making a claim for a greater number of women than their proper share—an important consideration where every tribe has to obtain wives from those which are adjacent—as they never intermarry in ​their own tribe, all the members of which are regarded as of the same family. Generally, two youths are made Kainganis at the same time, so that they may afterwards, during the time that they are Narumbe, assist each other. They are seized at night suddenly by the men, and carried off by force to a spot at some little distance from the wurley, the women all the time resisting or pretending to resist the seizure by pulling at the captives, and throwing fire-brands at their captors. But they are soon driven off to their wurley, and compelled to stop there, while the men proceed to strip the two youths. Their matted hair is combed or rather torn out with the point of a spear, and their moustaches and a great part of their beards plucked up by the roots. They are then besmeared from the crown of their heads to their feet with a mixture of oil and red-ochre. For three days and three nights the newly-made Kainganis must neither eat nor sleep, a strict watch being kept over them to prevent either. They are allowed to drink water, but only by sucking it up through a reed; the luxury of a drinking vessel is denied to them for several months. And when, after the three days, the refreshment of sleep is permitted, they are not allowed a pillow—a couple of sticks stuck in the ground cross-wise are all that they must rest their heads on. For six months they are obliged to walk naked, or with merely the slightest covering round their loins. The condition of Narumbe lasts until their beards have been pulled out three times, and each time have grown again to about the length of two inches, and during all that period they are forbidden to eat any food which belongs to women, and also from partaking of twenty different kinds of game. If they eat any of these forbidden things, it is thought they will grow ugly. … Everything which they possess or obtain becomes Narumbe, or sacred from the touch of women. … They are not allowed to take a wife until the time during which they are Narumbe has expired; but they are allowed the abominable privilege of promiscuous intercourse with the younger portion of the other sex. Any violation of these customs is punished by the old men with death."
Mr. Charles Wilhelmi, in his account of the manners and customs of the natives in the Port Lincoln district, refers at some length to the secret rites, known to the grown-up men only, into the knowledge of which the young lads are initiated by degrees. It appears that in that part of Australia the natives recognise three steps—each constituting an epoch in the life of a black. During the interval between one stage and another the youth is called by the name of the last step taken by him. At the age of fourteen or fifteen years the youths enter the first stage. Little is known of the ceremonies attendant on this. They are performed in private, and women and children are not allowed to witness them. The eyes of the lads are closed, certain strange words are pronounced, and some native music is heard, and for a time the youths are let go. Two or three months afterwards the novices are required to paint their faces black, and they are not allowed to speak but in whispers—and much whispering would bring on them the rebuke of their elders. The discipline appears to be sternly maintained. A few years afterwards the youths advance to the next degree—when they are called Pardnapas—and undergo the rite of circumcision.
​The last and most important ceremony takes place at the age of eighteen or twenty years, after which the young men are called Wilyalkinyes. For the proper performance of this, Indanyanas—sponsors—are appointed, whose duty it is to see that all the rites are observed. The youth is seized by some of the men and forcibly drawn to the sponsor selected for him, and he is made to sit on the lap of this person. The chosen sponsor objects and cries out loudly, and his words, being translated, are "nolo episcopari." The men, however, collect around him, and urge him to accept the office of Indanyana, an honor which he pretends is far too great for him. He accepts it with reluctance apparently, as is usual in all such cases. After the sponsors are selected, the eyes of the Wilyalkinyes are closed, and the women, with much trouble, are brought out of their miams. These raise shouts, and appear to lament, and to be in deep sorrow; but their tears are not genuine, and the sorrow is feigned. Meanwhile the lads have been taken by their sponsors to a spot at some little distance from the encampment. The sponsors range themselves in a circle, each having a novice in front of him, on whose eyes he has placed his hands, keeping the lad from seeing as well as he can. The eyes are kept closed in this manner for an hour or more, the sponsors uttering from time to time a long-protracted melancholy monotonous note, sounding somewhat like Je—e—ch. The lads are then taken to a place still farther from the encampment, where they are laid flat on the ground and covered with rugs. After the lapse of an hour, two men bring green boughs of trees; and the lads, having been raised up, are made to stand together; and the whole body of those present form themselves into a group, in a semicircular form, the lads being in the centre. The bearers of the green boughs now step forward, place themselves in front of the semicircle, vehemently stamp their right feet, and with various gestures indicating anger and wrath throw the boughs over the heads of the young men, while, at the same time, the company forming the semicircle make a clatter by striking their various war implements together, each uttering short strong loud sounds, the last of which is prolonged as each bough falls to the ground. The sound is like Je-je-je-jeh. The boughs are then carefully spread out, and the lads are made to lie on them, being again covered with rugs. Some of the men then prepare pieces of quartzite for scarring the bodies, and also occupy themselves in selecting names for the youths, which ever afterwards during life they will have to bear. Selecting the names is a difficult task, since, whilst they must correspond with their taste and notions of euphony, they must be quite new, and such as have never been borne by any other native—alive or dead. These names generally are derived from the roots of verbs, to which they attach as end-syllables—alta, ilti, or ulta—according to the last syllable of the word itself. Whether these changes affect the meaning of the word, Mr. Wilhelmi says he does not know, as they are made use of in connection with proper names only.
Everything being properly prepared, several of the men open a vein in the lower arm, and the lads, being lifted up, are made to swallow the first drops of the blood flowing therefrom. They are then made to kneel down, and to place their hands on the ground so as to bring the back into a horizontal position. ​The back of each is then covered with a thick coating of blood, which is allowed to congeal. One man then marks on the back with his thumb the spots where the incisions are to be made. One is made in the middle of the neck, and others—distant from one another about one-third of an inch—in rows running from each shoulder down to the hip. These incisions—about an inch in length, and in course of time forming a swelling—are called Manka, and are always considered with great respect, never being spoken of in the presence of women or children. The other incisions, which at an early age are made on the breast and the arms, are merely for ornament, and have no sacred meaning. The more or less decided character of these swellings affords a certain indication of the probable age of a native. During manhood they are strong and well defined, but with the advance of age they are less distinctly marked; and at a great age they appear as scars only.
Although each incision made with the chip of quartzite has to be repeated several times, in order that the cut may be deep enough, and the flesh drawn asunder, the novices, notwithstanding the great pain inflicted, do not utter a groan or move a muscle. Mr. Wilhelmi states, however, that Mr. Schürmann has seen some of their friends so moved by compassion for their sufferings as to shed tears, and to attempt—of course unsuccessfully—to put a stop to the process.
During the operation as many men as can approach press round the lads, and repeat rapidly in a subdued tone the following formula:—
Kannaka kanya, marra marra, Karndo kanya, marra marra, Pilberri kanya, marra marra.
They repeat these words—as far as known, void of sense or meaning of any kind, and supposed to have been uttered on like occasions by their forefathers—with the object of deadening the pain and preventing any dangerous effects of this dreadful laceration. When the operation is concluded, the young men are raised up, and they are allowed to open their eyes; and the first objects they perceive are two men, who, stamping their feet and biting their beards, run towards them, hurling the Witarna with great vehemence, with the intention apparently of throwing it at their heads; but finally, when sufficiently near, they cease to whirl it, and satisfy themselves with putting the cord of the instrument round the necks of the lads one after the other.
When the lads have gone through the several degrees described by Mr. Wilhelmi, they are permitted to wear the ornaments belonging to men. To each is presented a belt made of human hair; and a tight bandage round each of their upper arms, a cord of opossum hair around the neck, the ends dropping down on the back and fastened to the belt, and a bunch of green leaves above ​the part virilis complete the costume. For further adornment each blackens his face, arms, and breast. When the ceremonies are concluded, all the men press around the Wilyalkinyes and give them advice as to their future conduct, the drift of which, as far as Mr. Schürmann has been able to make out, is that they shall avoid quarrels, not indulge in loud talk, and keep away from the women. The two last of these injunctions are strictly observed; and to this end they separate themselves day and night from the other blacks, and speak in a subdued tone, until after the expiration of four or five months, when they are relieved from their obligation. The final acts which precede admission to the enjoyments and privileges of grown-up men are the tearing off from their necks of the opossum cord, and the sprinkling of their bodies with blood.
The above description—given nearly in Mr. Wilhelmi's own words—is interesting in a high degree; and no one can read it without being struck with the resemblance to certain observances amongst our own people and the people of the south of Europe. The covering up of the bodies of the novices with a rug is in itself a striking feature.
Collins states that between the ages of eight and sixteen the males and females had to undergo the operation which they term Gna-noong—namely, that of having the septum of the nose bored, to receive a bone or reed, which among them is deemed a very great ornament, though the articulation is frequently rendered very imperfect by it. Between the same years, also, the males received the qualifications which are given to them by losing one front tooth.
Collins had excellent opportunities of observing the ceremonies attendant on this operation, and an artist who accompanied him on one occasion made drawings illustrative of every particular circumstance that occurred. He gives a full description of the scenes, and they are highly interesting.
On the 25th January 1795, there were several youths, well known in the settlement, to be made men; and a crowd of natives assembled at the head of Farm Cove. The men from Cam-mer-ray, who were to perform the ceremony, were painted white in various patterns, and carried their weapons with them. After some nights passed in dancing, the real business of the meeting commenced. A space had been prepared by clearing it of grass, stumps, &c.; it was an oval figure; the dimensions of it twenty-seven feet by eighteen, and was named Yoo-lahng.
The ceremony began by the advance of the armed party from their end of the Yoo-lahng with a song, or rather a shout, peculiar to the occasion, clattering their spears and shields, and raising a dust with their feet that nearly obscured the objects around them.
On reaching the children, one of the party stepped from the crowd, and, seizing his victim, returned with him to his party, who received him with a shout louder than usual, placing him in the midst, where he seemed defended by a grove of spears from any attempts that his friends might make to rescue him. In this manner the whole were taken out to the number of fifteen; these were seated at the upper end of the Yoo-lahng, each holding down the head, his hands clasped and his legs crossed under him. In this position, awkward ​and painful as it must have been, it was said they were to remain all night; and until the ceremony was concluded they were neither to look up nor take any refreshment whatsoever.
The Carrahdis (Coradjes) now began some of their mystical rites. One of them suddenly fell upon the ground, and throwing himself into a variety of attitudes, accompanied with every gesticulation that could be extorted by pain, appeared to be at length delivered of a bone, which was to be used in the ensuing ceremony. He was during this apparently painful process encircled by a crowd of natives, who danced around him, singing vociferously, while one or more beat him on the back until the bone was produced. Another went through the same process. These mummeries were to show the boys that they would suffer little pain, as the more the Carrahdis endured the less would be felt by them. The ceremonies were resumed at daylight on the following morning.
The pictures in Collins's work represent—
1st. The young men, fifteen in number, seated at the head of the Yoo-lahng, with the operators running upon their hands and feet and imitating the dogs of the country. In this manner power over the dog was given to the youth.
2nd. The young men seated as before. A stout, robust native carries on his shoulders a pat-ta-go-rang, or kangaroo made of grass, and another bears a load of brushwood. The other figures seated about are singing, and beating time to the steps of the two loaded men, who appear scarcely able to move under the burdens they carry. Halting every now and then, and limping, the men finally deposit the loads at the feet of the young men, and the two retire from the Yoo-lahng. The man carrying the brushwood had thrust one or two flowering shrubs through the septum of the nose, and presented an extraordinary appearance. By this offering of the dead kangaroo was meant the power that was now given the youths of killing that animal; the brushwood perhaps represented its haunt.
3rd. The youths still sitting in the Yoo-lahng, the actors make for themselves tails of grass, and imitate the motions of a herd of kangaroos, one man beating time with a club on a shield. This was emblematical of one of their future exercises, the hunting of the kangaroo.
4th. The men, as a herd of kangaroos, pass by the boys, and each one as he passes divests himself of his long grass tail, catches up a boy, and carries him off on his shoulders.
5th. The boys are placed in a cluster, standing with their heads inclined on their breasts, and their hands clasped together, and after an interval passed in the performance of more than ordinarily mysterious rites, the boys stand in a group, and fronting them are two men, one seated on the stump of a tree bearing another man on his shoulders, both with their arms extended. Behind these are a number of bodies lying with their faces toward the ground, as close to each other as they can lie, and at the foot of another stump of a tree are two other figures in the same position as the two first described. The boys and their attendants approach the first of these figures, the latter moving from side to side, lolling out their tongues and staring widely and horribly with their eyes. The boys are now led over the bodies lying on the ground; these immediately begin to move, writhing as if in agony, and uttering a mournful, dismal sound, ​like very distant thunder. A particular name, Boo-roo-moo-roong, was given to this scene; but of its import very little could be learned. To the enquiries made respecting it no answer could be obtained but that it was very good—that the boys would now become brave men—that they would see well and fight well.
6th. The boys seated by each other, and opposite to them, drawn up in a half-circle, the other party, now armed with the spear and shield. In the centre is the principal performer, holding his shield in one hand and a club in the other, with which he gives them the time for their exercise. Striking the shield with the club, at every third stroke the whole party poise and present their spears at him, pointing them inwards and touching the centre of his shield.
7th. Striking out the tooth. The first subject was a boy about ten years of age. He was seated on the shoulders of another native who sat on the grass. The bone was now produced, which it was pretended had been taken from the stomach of the native the preceding evening. This, made very sharp and fine at one end, was used for lancing the gum. A throwing-stick was now to be cut eight or ten inches from the end, and to effect this much ceremony was used. The stick was laid upon a tree, and three attempts to hit it were made before it was struck; three feints were constantly made before each stroke. When the gum was properly prepared, the operation began: the smallest end of the stick was applied as high upon the tooth as the gum would admit of, while the operator stood ready with a large stone, apparently to drive the tooth down the throat of his patient. Here their attention to the number three was again manifest; no stroke was actually made until the operator had thrice attempted to hit the throwing-stick. They were full ten minutes about this first operation, the tooth being very firmly fixed. It was at last forced out, and the sufferer was taken to a little distance, where the gum was closed by his friends, who now equipped him in the style that he was to appear in for some days.
A girdle was tied round his waist, in which was stuck a wooden sword; a ligature was put round his head, in which were stuck slips of the grass-gum-tree, which, being white, had a curious and not unpleasing effect. The left hand was to be placed over the mouth, which was to be kept shut; he was on no account to speak, and for that day he was not to eat. The rest were treated in the same manner. During the whole of the operation the assistants made the most hideous noise in the ears of the patients, crying, "E-wah-e-wah! ga-ga-ga-ga!"
The blood that issued from the lacerated gum was not wiped away, but suffered to run down the breast and fall upon the head of the man on whose shoulders the patient sat, and whose name was added to his. This blood remained dried upon the heads of the men and breasts of the boys for days. The boys were also termed Ke-bar-ra, a name which has reference in its construction to the singular instrument used on the occasion; Ke-bah, in their language, signifying a rock or stone.
8th. The boys, in the dress described, seated on a log. On a signal being given, they all started up and rushed into the settlement, driving before them men, women, and children, who were glad to get out of their way. They were now received into the class of men.
​Mr. Hodgkinson, in his work on "Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay," relates how "young men" are made at the Macleay and Nambucca Rivers.
He says:—
"As the boys of a tribe approach the age of puberty, a grand ceremony, to inaugurate them into the privileges of manhood, takes place. This ceremony is entirely different at the Macleay and Nambucca Rivers to what it probably is in other parts of the colony, for the natives there do not strike out the front tooth, as elsewhere. When a tribe has determined on initiating their youths into these rites, they send messengers to the surrounding tribes of blacks, to invite them to be present on the occasion. These messengers, or ambassadors, appear to be distinguished by having their head-bands colored with very pale yellow-ochre, instead of the usual deep-red, whilst their hair is drawn up and crowned by the high top-knots of grass, resembling nodding plumes, which ornament is, I think, peculiar to the blacks north of the Hunter—at least I have never seen it farther south, where the hair is usually matted with gum, and decorated with dogs' tails and teeth. After all the preliminaries are settled, and the surrounding tribes arrived, the blacks repair to the Cawarra ground. This is a circular plot about thirty feet in diameter, carefully levelled, weeded, and smoothed down. It is, in general, situated on the summit of some round-topped hill, and the surrounding trees are minutely tattooed and carved to such a considerable altitude that one cannot help feeling astonished at the labor bestowed upon this work. The women are now dismissed to the distance of two miles from the Cawarra ground; for if one of them should happen to witness or hear any portion of the ceremony, she would be immediately put to death. The first evening is passed in dancing the ordinary corrobboree, during which the invited blacks sit round their respective fires as spectators, whilst the boys who are to undergo the ceremony squat down in a body by themselves, and keep up a bright fire for the dancers. From the repugnance which the blacks at the Macleay displayed on my looking at their performance, and their angry refusal to allow me to see the main part of the ceremony, I am unable to give a regular account of it, having only been able to obtain occasional glimpses. After many preliminary grotesque mummeries have been performed, the doctors, or priests of the tribe, take each a boy, and hold him for some time with his head downwards near the fire. Afterwards, with great solemnity, they are invested with the opossum belt; and, at considerable intervals between each presentation, they are given the nulla-nulla, the boomerang, the spear, &c. Whilst these arms are being conferred upon them, the other natives perform a sham fight, and pretend to hunt the pademella, spear fish, and imitate various other occupations, in which the weapons, now presented to the youth, will be of service. As these ceremonies occupied a fortnight or more before they were concluded, many other ridiculous scenes were undoubtedly enacted, and during all this time the women did not dare to approach the performers. Each man was also provided with a singular instrument, formed of a piece of hollowed wood, fastened to a long piece of flax string; by whirling this rapidly round their heads, a loud, shrill noise was produced, and the blacks seemed to attach a great degree of mystic importance to the sound of this instrument; for they told me that if a woman heard it she ​would die. The conclusion of this ceremony was a grand dance, of a peculiar character, in which the boys join, and which the women are allowed to see. This dance is performed with much more solemnity than the ordinary corrobborees. The Yarra-Hapinni tribe, which I saw execute this dance near the Clybucca Creek, were so elaborately painted with white for the occasion, that even their very toes and fingers were carefully and regularly colored with concentric rings, whilst their hair was drawn up in a close knot, and stuck all over with the snowy down of the white cockatoo, which gave them the appearance of being decorated with white wigs. In this dance the performers arranged themselves in the form of a semicircle, and grasping the ends of their boomerangs, which are also painted with great minuteness and regularity, they swayed their bodies rapidly from right to left, displaying a degree of flexibility in their limbs which might have created the envy of many a pantomimic artist. Every movement of their bodies to and fro was accompanied by a loud hiss; whilst a number of other natives, similarly painted, beat time with sticks, and kept up an incessant and obstreperous song. Every now and then the dancers would stop and rush, crowding together, into a circle, raising their weapons with outstretched arms, and joining with frantic energy in the song. They would then be more composed, and walk backwards and forwards in couples, holding each other by the hand, until agaiu roused by an elderly native to resume the dance. It was not until midnight that the noise ceased, which, every evening, whilst the ceremonies lasted, might be heard at a distance of two or three miles. The tribes of natives near Sydney, where the boys are always deprived of their front teeth, do not seem to be so averse to the whites witnessing their ceremonies, which differ considerably from what I have just described.
"In their mode of going through the ceremony, the boys being assembled together, and the whole tribe mustered for the occasion, a party of men, armed and painted, advanced into the Cawarra ground, with loud shouts and clattering of their arms, and seized, one by one, the boys who were to undergo the operation. The latter were then placed together on the Cawarra ground, where they were to pass the night in perfect silence. In the meantime the other natives danced and sang furiously, whilst the doctors, or 'coradjes,' went through a most ridiculous scene, groaning, and contorting themselves in every position, until they at length pretended to be delivered of some bones, which were subsequently used to cut open the gums of the boys before striking out their teeth. Next day the boys were brought into the centre of the Cawarra ground, whilst the other blacks performed various ridiculous antics around them, in imitation of various animals. Sticking their boomerangs vertically in their opossum-skin belts, so as to bear some resemblance to the tail of the native dog, they ran on all-fours past the boys, throwing up dust, whilst the latter remained motionless, with downcast eyes. They next fastened to their girdles long pieces of twisted grass, to resemble the tail of the kangaroo, and then bounded round the boys in imitation of the movement of that animal, whilst others pretended to spear them.
​"All this time an incessant shouting, singing, and dancing had been kept up. After this the boys were placed in a cluster together, with their heads lowered and their hands crossed over their breasts, whilst the most ridiculous antics were performed by the rest of the natives, who, mounted on each other's backs, threw themselves on the ground, whilst the boys were made to walk over their prostrate bodies, and executed a multitude of evolutions with their spears and shields. The final operation was then performed: the gums being lanced with the bones before mentioned, a stick was applied to the tooth, and a large stone employed to strike it out. As each boy lost his front tooth, the gum was closed up, but the blood was not allowed to be washed or wiped off. He was then furnished with the belt of manhood, boomerangs, &c., and joined in the corrobboree dances, which concluded the ceremony."
In the Rev. J. G. Wood's Natural History of Man (vol. II.), several accounts are given of the ceremonies attendant on becoming men. Mr. Wood describes the mode of extracting the front teeth; the practices of coradjes when they give power to the young men over the various beasts of chase; the marking of the body by gashes or scars; the secret of the magic crystal; the ceremony of depilation; and the rites as practised by the natives of the Port Lincoln district. It is an interesting chapter in his work, and it appears to have been written with care.
Circumcision.
When youths have advanced to the second degree, that is when they are sixteen or seventeen years of age, they have, Mr. Wilhelmi says, to undergo the operation of circumcision. Whether it is ever performed at an earlier age is not known, but in all parts where it has been witnessed the boys were nearly of the age mentioned. The custom, it is believed, was not followed in the most southern parts of Australia, but it is known on the western shores of Spencer's Gulf, on the north-west coast, at the Gulf of Carpentaria, at Cooper's Creek, and in Central Australia. It is by no means general, and probably originated, as suggested by Bennett, with those tribes of the north who have intercourse with the Malays.
It is performed at that period of life when natives have to give proofs of courage and endurance before being admitted to a certain rank in the tribe, and it may safely be assumed, I think, that it is not connected in any way with even a trace of religion. It is most likely of modern introduction, and has been seized upon as a test to be applied to the neophyte, because of the pain and alarm it occasions. It has the effect, however—as other similar rites practised by them certainly have—of limiting the population; and may, as Eyre says, be a wise ordination for that purpose in a country that in many parts is of a desert and arid character.
One of my correspondents on the Paroo, who has witnessed the operation, states that he was called about an hour before daylight and invited to a camp where about twenty blacks were assembled, near a tree at some distance from the main camp. They were dressed in most gorgeous corrobboree array; they were continually singing, and when some were exhausted, others commenced. ​They had kept up the singing during the whole of the night, and all were quite hoarse and seemed worn out. At a fire about fifty yards distant were about half a dozen other blacks, and with them the subject to be operated on. He was held and kept in a standing position away from the fire by a blackfellow, and he was evidently tired and cold. He was not allowed to speak, and he had a most melancholy expression of countenance. My correspondent was informed that the operation had to be performed at the very moment the sun rises.
So soon as the sun appeared, the boy was seized and carried by two men to the fire, where the larger body of men were assembled. He was then blind-folded and laid on the grass. Two men held him. About twelve men took part in the operation, each being provided with a small piece of sharp-edged quartzite. It was soon over. The boy never murmured or even flinched. Proper attentions were shown to him. Immediately after the operation several of the blacks cried.
Mr. Gason mentions five stages of life at each of which the council of old men mutilate the youths. The first is Moodlawillpa—boring the septum of the nose—an operation which is performed when the boys and girls are from five to ten years of age; the second is Chirrinchirrie—the extraction of the teeth—which is done when the children are between the ages of eight and twelve years; the third is Kurrawellie Wonkanna (circumcision), which is performed when the hair makes its appearance on the face; the fourth is Willyaroo (to procure a good harvest, supply of snakes and other reptiles), when the young man is scarred. He is cut on the neck and shoulders with a sharp-edged stone, so that ridges may be formed. And finally, Koolpie. As soon as the hair on the face is sufficiently grown to admit of the ends of the beard being tied, the ceremony of the Koolpie is solemnized. This is a very dreadful operation, and it is not at all clear that the youths willingly submit to the torture. It is the punishment probably referred to by Mr. Jessop, "as the most heavy and effective within the province of their divorce courts." It is not reasonable to suppose that it is inflicted on all the youths. Probably some are chosen and some are left; or it may be that its effects are not so serious as Mr. Jessop supposes. There is another ceremony—Mindarie—when the hair of the young men's heads is dressed. It takes place after the ordeal of Willyaroo. All the tribes assemble; dances are held; disputes are settled; and there is general rejoicing.
* ↑ "When a woman is near her confinement, she removes from the encampment, with some of the women to assist her. As soon as the child is born, the information is conveyed to the father, who immediately goes to see the child and to attend upon the mother, by carrying firewood, water, &c. If there are unmarried men and boys in the camp, as there generally are, the woman and her friends are obliged to remain at a distance in their own encampment. This appears to be part of the same superstition which obliges a woman to separate herself from the camp at the time of her monthly illness, when, if a young man or a boy should approach, she calls out, and he immediately makes a circuit to avoid her. If she is neglectful upon this point, she exposes herself to scolding, and sometimes to severe beating by her husband or nearest relation, because the boys are told, from their infancy, that if they see the woman they will early become grey-headed, and their strength will fail prematurely. "If the child is permitted to live (I say permitted, because they are frequently put to death), it is brought up with great care, more than generally falls to the lot of children of the poorer class of Europeans. Should it cry, it is passed from one person to another, and caressed and soothed, and the father will frequently nurse it for several hours together. "Children that are weak, or deformed, or illegitimate, and the child of any woman who has already two children alive, are put to death. No mother will venture to bring up more than two children, because she considers that the attention which she would have to devote to them would interfere with what she regards as the duty to her husband, in searching for roots, &c. If the father dies before a child is born, the child is put to death by the mother, for the Father who provides for us all is unknown to them. This crime of infanticide is increased by the whites, for nearly all the children of European fathers used to be put to death. It is remarkable that when the children are first born they are nearly as white as Europeans, so that the natives sometimes find it difficult to say whether they are of pure blood or not. In such doubtful cases the form of the nose decides. "When the child commences to walk, the father gives it a name, which is frequently derived from some circumstance which occurred at the time of the child's birth; or, as each tribe has a kind of patron or protector in the objects of nature—as Thunder, the protector of the Kaminjerar; a kind of ant, the protector of the Kargarinjerar; the pelican, a kind of snake, &c., &c., of other tribes—the father often confers the name of this protector (as the pouch of the pelican), or a part of it, upon the child. Grown-up persons frequently exchange names, probably as a mark of friendship. "Children are suckled by their mothers for a considerable time; sometimes to the age of fire or six years; and it is no uncommon thing to see a boy, playing with his companions, suddenly leave off and run to his mother to refresh himself with a draught of milk. When weaned, he accompanies his father upon short excursions (unless he should be delicate and unable to bear the fatigue), upon which occasion the father takes every opportunity to instruct his son. For instance, if they arrive at a place concerning which they have any tradition, it is told to the child, if old enough to understand it. Or he shows him how to procure this or that animal, or other article of food, in the easiest way. Until his fourteenth or fifteenth year he is mostly engaged in catching fish and birds, because already, for some years, he has been obliged to seek for food on his own account. Thus he early becomes in a great measure independent, and there is nobody who can control him, the authority of his parents depending only upon the superstitions which they have instilled into him from infancy; and the prohibitions respecting certain kinds of food—for different kinds of food are allotted to persons of different ages—are enforced by their superstitions. The roes of fishes are appropriated to the old men, and it is believed that if women or young men or children eat of them they will become prematurely old. Other kind of meat they consider diminishes the strength of the muscles, &c., &c. At certain seasons of the year, when a particular kind of fish is abundant, the men frequently declare it to be rambe (holy); after which, all that are caught must be brought to the men, by whom they are cooked; and the women and children are not allowed even to approach the fires until the cooking is over and the fish are cold, when they may approach and eat of what the men choose to give them, after having previously regaled themselves."—H. E. A. Meyer. Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of the Encounter Bay Tribe, South Australia. 1846.
* ↑ "From the nature of the food used by the natives, it is necessary that a child should have good strong teeth before it can be even partially weaned. The native women, therefore, suckle their children until they are past the age of two or three years, and it is by no means uncommon to see a fine healthy child leave off playing and run up to its mother to take the breast. "The native women suffer much less pain during the period of labor than Europeans; directly the child is born it is wrapped in opossum skins, and strings made of the fur of this animal are tied like bracelets round the infant's wrists and ankles, with the intention of rendering it, by some supernatural means, a stronger and a finer child. They are always much prouder of a male than of a female child."—Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery. Grey, vol. II., p. 250.
* ↑ This custom prevails amongst the tribes of the west coast of New Guinea; and Capt. Cadell informs me that a black of Arnhem Land, when "on the track" by himself, and when it would be dangerous to light a fire, thus makes his bed at night. He scoops a hole in the sand, and buries himself all but his face, where he sleeps comfortably, free from mosquito bites.
* ↑ The women of the Moghrebin Arabs carried their children at their backs, suspended in a shawl so folded as to form a bag; and in Ethiopia they were carried in baskets, supported at the mother's back by a band passing over the forehead. A wood-cut in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians shows how mothers carried their children in Thebes.—See vol. II., p. 330.
* ↑ "There is a small cichoraceous plant named Täo by the natives, which grows with a yellow flower in the grassy places near the river [Darling], and on the root of this chiefly the children subsist. As soon almost as they can walk, a little wooden shovel is put into their hands, and they learn thus early to pick about the ground for these roots and a few others, or dig out the larvæ of ant-hills." . . . . . . . . . . "The gins never carry a child in arms as our females do, but always in a skin on the back. The infant is merely seized by an arm and thrown with little care over the shoulders, when it soon finds the way to its warm berth in the skin, holding by the back of the mother's head while it slides down into it. These women usually carry, besides their childreu thus mounted, bags containing all things that they and the men possess; the contents consisting of nets for the hair or for catching ducks; whet-stones; yellow, white, and red ochre; pins for dressing and drying opossum skins or for net-making; small boomerangs and shovels for the children's amusement; and often many other things apparently of little use to them."—T. L. Mitchell, vol. I., pp. 332-3. "The young natives of the interior usually carry a small wooden shovel, with one end of which they dig up different roots and with the other break into the large ant-hills for the larvæ, which they eat; the work necessary to obtain a mouthful even of such indifferent food being thus really more than would be sufficient for the cultivation of the earth according to the more provident arrangements of civilized men. Yet, in a land affording such meagre support, the Australian savage is not a cannibal, while the New Zealander, who inhabits a much more productive region, notoriously feasts on human flesh."—T. L. Mitchell, vol. II., p. 344.
* ↑ T. L. Mitchell, vol. I., p. 270.
* ↑ In Southern Africa, Mr. Baines found, amongst the Ovambos, a child's toy made of the fruit of the baobab; Dr. Livingstone says that amongst the Makololo there are games practised by the children which are mostly imitations of the serious work performed by their parents; the children of the Wanyamuezi tribe have mock hunts, and play with the bow and arrow; the children of the Shooas have skipping ropes; the New Zealand infants and youths spin tops, fly kites, throw small spears, and dive and swim; the Mincopies make small toy bows and arrows for their young, teach them to use them, and exercise them also in diving and swimming; and the Fijians have such children's games as are common in Europe, and another game very similar to one known to the Australians:—"The players have a reed about four feet in length, at one end of which is an oval piece of hard and heavy wood some six inches in length. This instrument is held between the thumb and middle finger, the end of the forefinger being applied to its extremity. With a peculiar underhand jerk the player drives it horizontally, so that it glides over the ground for a considerable distance, the player who sends the missile farthest being the winner. In order that this favorite game may be constantly played, each village has attached to it a long strip of smooth sward, which is kept sedulously trimmed, so that the missile may skim along with as little resistance as possible."—The Natural History of Man, by J. G. Wood, vol. II., p. 283. The Fijian children have many other games. In Borneo the youths are proficient in games known to European children, and amongst all the savage nations there are proofs that the education of the young—with a view to the proper performance of such exercises as they conceive most conducive to profit and happiness—is not neglected by the parents.
* ↑ That the Aborigines are affectionate is well known; but it is not well known that they are generally very judicious in the treatment of infants and young children. If clothing is necessary, the children are properly clothed; if any sort of covering is unnecessary, there is none given to them. European mothers in this colony very frequently put extraordinary garments on their children of a showy but unsubstantial sort. The legs, thighs, and neck, and often part of the chest, are left bare; the poor infants are taken in this wretched condition from a warm nursery, and made to wander at a slow pace in the depth of winter through what are called "gardens." The nurse-girls sit with them for hours in such places on the damp grass; and is it strange that we have, therefore, as common diseases, catarrh, diphtheria, &c.?
* ↑ Mr. Taplin adds to this statement the following:—"This terrible crime of infanticide is covered up and concealed from the observation of the whites with extreme care. The bush life which they lead affords every facility for so doing. I was myself for some time in ignorance that it existed to such an extent as it does. Only very intimate acquaintance with the natives led me to discover its prevalence. I remember two instances of it. In one, the mother hated the child, because she had been given in marriage to its father against her will; therefore, with the assistance of another female, she murdered it in the most brutal manner. The other was an illegitimate child of a girl called Pompanyeripooritye. I was informed of the birth, and got the nearest relatives to promise that the child's life should be spared. But an old savage named Katyirene, a relative of the reputed father, was offended at this forbearance; so he set the wurley on fire in which the mother and infant were lying, and very nearly accomplished the destruction of both. I soon after found that the child was suffering and pining from some internal injury, and in about forty-eight hours it died. I have no doubt that foul play was the cause of its death, for it was a fine healthy child when it was newly-born."—The Narrinyeri, by the Rev. Geo. Taplin, 1874.
* ↑ Remarks on the probable Origin and Antiquity of the Natives of New South Wales, by a Colonial Magistrate, 1846, p. 19.
* ↑ A Report on the Condition, Capabilities, and Prospects of the Australian Aborigines, by W. Westgarth, 1846.
* ↑ "Then, again, their customs with respect to marriage probably originated in a strong necessity for repressing the numbers of the population. History teaches that in countries where polygamy is encouraged population seldom increases. The Australian Aborigines not only practised polygamy, and surrounded marriage with all possible difficulties, but their customs were such as were calculated to render the offspring of those who were married as few as possible. When a female infant was born, if her life was preserved (which was very frequently not the case, for infanticide was general), she was promised as a wife to one of the men of the tribe—very often to an old man who was already the possessor of two or three gins. Most of the young and many of the middle-aged men were consequently doomed to remain bachelors, unless they could steal or otherwise procure a wife from another tribe, a thing which was generally an exceedingly difficult matter to accomplish, seeing that unmarried females were almost equally scarce in all the tribes. Either a desire to avoid the charge of too numerous a progeny, or the impossibility of procuring a supply of food suitable for very young children, or perhaps both these causes combined, prolonged the time during which Aboriginal mothers suckled their children to the unusual period of three, four, and sometimes even five years. Other children were often born during this period—for gestation did not in their case interfere with lactation—but these were almost invariably sacrificed. Custom in this case appears to have sanctioned what necessity demanded. The natural food which the mother could provide was barely enough for the unweaned child already dependent upon it, and there was no artificial means of supplementing it so as to render it sufficient for two."—The History of Australian Discovery and Colonization, by Samuel Bennett, pp. 253-4.
* ↑ When twins are born, the Kaffirs destroy one of the children, because they believe the parents would not be prosperous if the two were allowed to live; the Apingi believe that the mother would die if one of the twins was not murdered; in New Zealand, sickly and deformed children are killed; the natives of Savage Island formerly destroyed all illegitimate children; and the Khonds of India, under the guidance of their priests, mercilessly slay children—male and female—if the omens be unpropitious. The cruel practices of many tribes in Africa, the atrocities perpetrated by the inhabitants of Polynesia, and the still more dreadful human sacrifices of the priest-ridden peoples of India, have no parallels in Australia. Parenticide, the wholesale murder of wives or young girls when a head-man or chief dies, the offering of innocent children to heathen gods, or neglect of the aged, cannot be imputed to the Australian savage. The Australians are children—erring children—but they err because of ignorance or from necessity. They are not naturally cruel to their offspring.
* ↑ A thousand cases of infanticide, recorded in the newspapers here and in European countries, far more disgusting in the details than any known to have disgraced the Aborigines of Australia, could be cited. The author of Sybil tells us that "Infanticide is practised as extensively and as legally in England as it is on the banks of the Ganges."
* ↑ "One remarkable custom prevalent equally amongst the most ancient nations of whom any records are preserved, and the modern Australians, is that of naming children from some circumstance connected with their birth or early infancy. Thus in Genesis, ch. XXX., ver. 11.—'And Leah said, A troop cometh, and she called his name Gad;' &c., &c., &c. "Burckhardt observed the same custom among the Bedouins, and says, 'A name is given to the infant immediately on his birth; the name is derived from some trifling accident, or from some object which had struck the fancy of the mother or any of the women present at the child's birth.'"—North-West and Western Australia, by George Grey, vol. II., p. 343. The child of a Kaffir is sometimes called by the name of the day on which it is born. If a wild beast, such as a lion or a jackal, were heard to roar at the time the child was born, the circumstance would be accepted as an omen, and the child called by the name of the beast or by a word which represents its cry. "Mr. Shooter mentions some rather curious examples of these names. If the animal which was heard at the time of the child's birth were the hyena, which is called impisi by the natives, the name of the child might be either U'mpisi or U-hu-hu, the second being an imitative sound representing the laugh-like cry of the hyena. … The name of Panda, the king of the Zulu tribes, is in reality U-mpande, a name derived from impande, a kind of root."—The Natural History of Man, by J. G. Wood, vol. I., p. 88. The Kaffir, like the Australian, has a strong objection to tell his real name to strangers.
* ↑ Some of the tribes in Africa practise customs, on the coming of age of young persons, which very much resemble those observed in various parts of Australia. Mr. W. Winwood Reade says:—"Before they are permitted to wear clothes, marry, and rank in society as men and women, the young have to be initiated into certain mysteries. I received some information upon this head from Mongilomba, after he had made me promise that I would not put it into my book: a promise which I am compelled to break by the stern duties of my vocation. He told me that he was taken into a fetich-house, stripped, severely flogged, and plastered with goat dung; this ceremony, like those of masonry, being conducted to the sound of music. Afterwards there came from behind a kind of screen or shrine, uncouth and terrible sounds, such as he had never heard before. These, he was told, emanated from a spirit called Ukuk. He afterwards brought to me the instruments with which the fetich-man makes this noise. It is a kind of whistle made of hollowed mangrove wood, about two inches in length, and covered at one end with a scrap of bat's wing. For a period of five days after initiation the novice wears an apron of dry palm-leaves, which I have frequently seen. "The initiation of the girls is performed by elderly females, who call themselves Ngembi. They go into the forest, clear a space, sweep the ground carefully, come back to the town and build a sacred hut, which no male may enter. They return to the clearing in the forest, taking with them the Igonji, or novice. It is necessary that she should have never been to that place before, and that she fast during the whole of the ceremony, which lasts three days. All this time a fire is kept burning in the wood. From morning to night, and from night to morning, a Ngembi sits beside it and feeds it, singing with a cracked voice, 'The fire will never die out!' The third night is passed in the sacred hut; the Igonji is rubbed with black, red, and white paints, and as the men beat drums outside, she cries 'Okanda, yo! yo! yo!' which reminds one of the Evohe! of the ancient Bacchantes. The ceremonies which are performed in the hut and in the wood are kept secret from the men, and I can say but little of them. Mongilomba had evidently been playing the spy, but was very reserved on the subject. Should it be known, he said, that he had told me what he had, the women would drag him into a fetich-house and would flog him perhaps till he was dead. It is pretty certain, however, that these rites, like those of the Bona Dea, are essentially of a Phallic nature; for Mongilomba once confessed that, having peeped through the chinks of the hut, he saw a ceremony like that which is described in Petronius Arbiter. … "During the novitiate which precedes initiation, the girls are taught religious dances; the men are instructed in the science of fetich. It is then that they are told that there are certain kinds of food which are forbidden to their clan. One clan may not eat crocodile, nor another hippopotamus, nor a third buffalo. These are relics of the old animal worship. The spirit Ukuk (or Mwetyi, as he is called in the Skekani country) is supposed to live in the bowels of the earth, and to come to the upper world when there is any business to perform."—Savage Africa, pp. 245-8. "On reaching puberty, young women, on a given occasion, are placed in the sort of gallery already described as in every house, and are there surrounded completely with mats, so that neither the sun nor any fire can be seen. In this cage they remain for several days. Water is given to them, but no food. … A girl is disgraced for life if it is known that she has seen fire or the sun during this initiatory ordeal."—Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, p. 94, by Gilbert Malcolm Sproat.
* ↑ Wm. Blandowski, Esq. Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Victoria, vol. I., p. 72.
* ↑ Nurt is the name of a kind of duck.
* ↑ This resembles the chant for the dead.
* ↑ The Witarna is a piece of wood eighteen inches in length, four inches in breadth, and a quarter of an inch in thickness. It is tied to a long string, and the native swings it about his head in such a manner as to produce a low rumbling sound at intervals—ceasing and returning with each effort of the performer. The Witarna is carefully hidden from the women and children, and when they hear the sound of it they know that the men are engaged in some secret ceremonies, and that they are to keep away from them.—C. Wilhelmi.
* ↑ An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, by Lieut.-Col. Collins, 1804, pp. 365-374.
* ↑ The natives of the Port Lincoln district, when about to engage in the corrobboree, sometimes decorate their heads with wreaths made of white birds' down.
* ↑ "The rite in South Australia (according to Mr. Teichelmann) is thus performed:—At the age of puberty the boys selected are beaten with green boughs, sprinkled with blood drawn from the arm of a warrior, aud are then taken to a place specially appointed. The lad is laid upon the ground by the doctor, and entirely covered with dust; after a few minutes (when almost stifled) he is raised up by the ears—with loud shouts, which are made to restore him from his supposed state of enchantment. A liue is then drawn upon the earth; ou one side of which stands au old man who represents the Star of Autumn, aud on the other side one who is said to represent a fly. The Katta, a woman's stick, is then borne round and thrust into the grouud by the bearer, who lies dowu himself and all the meu fall upon him—thus forming a rude altar. Upon this living altar the initiated is laid and the rite performed. He then receives the name which he inherits from his father and mother, and has also a secret name giveu him, and is introduced to the rude mysteries, which are carefully hidden from the womeu aud children—none of whom are suffered to be present at the ceremony."—Remarks on the probable Origin and Antiquity of the Aboriginal Natives of New South Wales, by a Colonial Magistrate, p. 16.
* ↑ Flinders Land and Sturt Land, by W. R. H. Jessop, M.A., vol. II., p. 206.