Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-23


III AZ any agricultural or
NHA ! IkF . mechanical imple-
dIsFls 5fraf ments except the Tud-
VA ~ est ones made OF
stone, wood and
bone, without any numerals above three
Cwhat Is over that is to the Australian
taggin-i. e., many, apparently with
out any higher ideas and religion, they
lead life of idleness, of robbery, fight
and cannibalism. The men in so far may
be said to certain extent to cultivate
their higher interests, as they during
their hours of leisure can have, as it
were, their club meetings, where they
may discuss the happenings of tie day or
the chances for to-morrow's hunt for
opossum or human flesh; besides, the
vicIssitudes OF hunt and f1ght-their lot
in life-are replete with excitement and
interest. The women, on the other hand,
who are compelled to do the mental work,
to procure and prepare the food, must
carry more than their share of the bur
dens of life, and therefore they are still
deeper immersed in this base and thought
less life than the men.
The women are really only the men s
property, but at the same time their
most valuable property, so the more
man possesses of these precious chattels
the richer he is considered. Some men
may even have five or SIX wives,
although two or three is the more COM
mon number. 1t is generally only the
old and leading citizens who have more
than two wives, and, in fact, 1t Is very
difficult for a young man below thirty
years of age even to get as much as one.
Women may be acquired in the following
ways: I. By Inheritance from some
near relative or an older member of the
tribe. 3. Sometimes the women already
from birth are destined for some man, to
whom they then are given at twelve or
thirteen years of age, but 90 the most
common way of obtaining wife among
the Australians is by robbing her. If
man thinks himself strong enough he will
rob or steal a woman from her father or
if she be married, from her present hus-
band. Even if she likes the man, it is
always good form that she offers resist
ance to her lover, and that in the most
violent form, kicking and screaming
The women are terribly abused and
cruelty treated, and therefore they often
are found again, they are usually
marked on the back with the tomahawk,
or even killed. The old men are sur
rounded by the youngest and prettiest
wives. while a young man may consider
himself happy if he obtains an old and
ugly cToue. He has, however, the con-
ISOLATION that the old women are the best
workers, cleverest in finding food, while
the young ones are, although more orna-
mental, less useful.
When we take into consideration how
highly the Australians value their wo-
men, because they actually feed the
men, il is easily understood that have
every reason TO feel f1attered at the incl
dent am now going to narrate, and
which brought me near marrying an Aus
tralian girl. There was not much court
ship incident to this proposed marriage,
however, nor did the passion run very
high between the parties in question. 1t
came about in this manner:
1t was q rather hot and sulkY midsum-
mer night. As the readers must not for
get, midsummer is in Australia about |
Christmas time-ln Australia, where the |
swans are black, where the birds don t
sing and the flowers don't smell-every- |
thing is the reverse of what we are ac- |
customed to in other countries. The |
camp-fires were lis, and the blacks, both |
my own followers and some other friendly |
tribe, had gathered to a big festive |
dance. nv men had the whole day been |
engaged in hunting boongary, the tree |
kangaroo (Dendrolsgus LumholtziD |
which is the handsomest mammal of |
Australia, and for the first time made |
known to science through my efforts. I /
had finished my task for the day in skin |
ming this valuable animal, and elsted /
over my success and wishing to enjoy |
myself l went down to the big camp of |
che natives, where they were sitting out |
side of their huts and around their small /
fires waiting for the moon TO rise and the /
-Rdce to begin, as soon as the moon rose, !
for they dance only by moonlight.
Some of my men suddenly came to me /
and asked me to fire my "baby gun, -
as they styled my revolver, becaus, they /
said, they were fearing that some
strange tribe would during the night at
tack our camp. 1 found their fears |
ridiculous, as there were 80 many of |
them together, but they asserted that |
their enemies, too, were numerous, and |
did not leave of importuning me till l |
had complied with their wish and dis
charged my revolver. The shot made a
great resonance in the narrow valley, |
and Immediately hubbub arose in the |
camp Of the dancers which was lying at
some distance. Some of them came
running at their utmost speed over to
the place where I was and, in a hur-
ried manner, asked the blacks there to
make me come over to them, /
at once yielded TO their wish
and followed them over to their
camp, where found grand and excited
pow-wow in progress. Unable to ac-
count for the shot In any other way than
that the white man was angry for some
reason or other, they had quickly made
up their minds TO appease my supposed |
wrath by presenting me with the finest
looking girl in their camp. All were |
talking simultaneously, and when
came near enough ] could catch q few
words, such as kola (hnger1 nili (voung
GRID KeIanmi MamiRo Il Kelannn |