The herald., 1896-04-23
Peculiar Sex Laws of the Ma
tive Australians
COMPLICATED AND CURIOUS
Astonishing Things ia Their Life and
Usages
They Are Divided Into -Four Castles, and Ap.
proach WedIock Through ncst
Exacting Formula
VII.


The lowest races Of barbarians make
the greatest ado over the laws Of mar
riage. In primeval eavagery we do not
doubt that miscellany was the rule of
the sexual union, but as soon as saw
age race emerges into the conscious state
and begins to organize, the most elabo-
rate antecedent conditions of marriage
are prepared. The mere ceremony Of
taking wife continues as simple and
as brutal as before. but vast prelimi-
nary social formality is produced, which
possesses for thoughtful persons pro-
found interest.
The strange thing is that from the
lowest form Of life among barbarians,
through all the ascending grades Of So
cial development to the highest stages
Of enlightenment, the antecedent regu-
lations with respect to marriage become
more and more simple as society pro-
crosses, until in the very highest forms
of life marriage becomes civil con-
tract between the parties. All the way
mp from the bushmen to the Parisians
the law holds good. The lower the race,
the more elaborate are the preliminary
conditions Of the sexual union; the
higher the social evolution, the simpler
and easier is the law Of marriage.
On the other hand, the ceremony of
taking the wife becomes ever more form
al aud spectacular. The ceremony be-
gins among the lowest savages with the
simple act Of carrying off the bride by
force. To this is added in many cases
the brutality Of striking her unco:' soious
before she is borne away on the shoul-
ders of the husband to his own cave or
tent From this the ceremony rises to
purchase; from purchase, to the agree
nent Of the parents from this, by COM
plicated stages. to the joint agreement
of the parents and the parties, and from
this finally to the agreement Of the par
ties only. In the highest stages Of So
cioty the principle Of purchase seems to
reappear. Thus, while the ceremony Of
marriage becomes more and more form
al and ornate, tine antecedent social law
of the marriage becomes less and less
severe, until the man and the woman,
in the very highest estate. virtually
make tho law for themselves by reducing
marriage to civil contract Of the par
ties.
Tho native Australians furnish the
best example Of the extremely complex
laws of barbarian marriage. The Aus
tralian may be regarded as the lowest
form Of existing man life on the earth.
In few particulars he is superior to
the bushman. In all particulars he is
i,,fa t, tl,a latf tnf tn hro
pacity he is absolutely at the bottom Of
the scale. Winchell has shown by
careful examination that the oranial
mass of the Australians is much below
that of any Of the savages of South At
RIGA. The brain Of the negroes exceeds
that Of the Australians by an average Of
about "a cubic centimeters, or 6.6 per
cent of the whole We should hardly
expect a race having only an average Of
1875 cubic centimeters Of brain to pro-
duce the most elaborate marriage law
in tho world, but such is the fact. The
antecedent conditions under which ma
tive Australian may become married
man are SO complicated and curious
that they might we'll be made the foun-
dation of treatise in social science.
The natives Of Australia are now on
ly handful They cover away on tho
horizon and refuse to be known by
their destroyers, but their characteris-
tics have been investigated sufficiently
to show us number Of astonishing
things in their life and usages The ma
tives are polygamists, to begin with,
fact that seems to contradict the theory
that polyandry is the original marriage
law Of barbarians.
The Australian may take as many
wives as he can, but he has to approach
marriage through social formula most
exacting. The savages are divided into
four castles or orders, and these are OBJ
served with as much strictness as are
those of India, but not in the same
manner. The castles are not to be re-
garded as grades the one aboUe the 9TH
er. but rather as social cycle having
its foundation in sex. There are really
eight divisions, four male and four fe-
male. The four male and the four fe-
male groups are set over against each
other in a manner most peculiar and
complicated. Every child, whether a
boy or a. girl, is born into one of the
caste divisions, and takes tho name of
that division and carries it through life.
If we begin on the male side, the up
per caste is called Ippai. The second di-
vision is named Murri, the third Kubbi
aud the fourth Kumbo On the female
side the highest caste is called Ippata,
the second Mata, the third Kapota and
che fourth Buta. Under special circum.
stances some of the castles are designated
by other Manassas, for instance, the
caste Murri may be called Baia, for the
reason that the word murri differently
accented is the general term for black
man or Australian.
Consider then these low savages ar
ranged in the two columns, male and
female. Each column is divided into
four groups, as just described. The
male Ippai caste stands over against the
female group called Ippata. The Murri
caste is opposite the female Mata rank.
The kubbi males stand facing, as it
were, the Kapota women, and the Kum-
ibo men are opposite to the Buta women.
When marriage is to be undertaken, the
code comes i'll with great exactness to