The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-07
ABORIGlNES0F AUSTRALIA
sUPERsTITIONs, SONGS, CUSTOMS AND
HABITS OF MAoRIS.
They Are Being Driven by CiviIiza-
ton Into the Burning Heart of
the Continent.
atter I'm T.ondon Standard

The Australian aboriginal will soon be
scientific curiosity. For some years he may
exc out a miserable existence in that mys-
ferrous far north country out of which
come thrilling stories of raiding and cattle
.spearing and attacks on solitary stations.
In Queensland. too. he may still be a men
ace to the mining prospector and stock
drover. But his doom is certain. Driven
deeper and deeper into the burning heart of
the continent, he must disappear The
BLACK fellows" we have seen in towns like
Albany, Brisbane and Sydney are not likely
TO awaken regrets. There is nothing of the
noble savage about them. The women
bundles of bones, held together with dirty
kangaroo skins and filthy blankets. beneath
which crawl legs no thicker than broom
sticks. The men are more human. Tall.
| deep-chested, with undeveloped calves and
thighs, broad massive heads covered with
wavy black hair. hat-nosed. thick-lipped.
dark and brilliant eye, they form distinct
ethnio group. race apart from the rest
| of mankind They were at their best in the
corrobborees at Brisbane and Sydney, to
which the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall
were invited. No one seems decided as TO
| the meaning of corrobboree. Some say ii
is dance-others a pagan rite. From
what l could learn in talk with the natives.
the corrobboree at Brisbane was a dance to
celebrate recovery from the eating of poi
sonous fish.
The women were squatted on the ground
in a row singing a plaintive chant, to the
cadence of which they beat time with their
| fists on opossum skins rolled tightly to-
gether and held like drum between the
knees The men lay on the ground as if
dead. About their loins were girdles of
skin, and their bodies were painted in fan
ciful designs. Two white lines stretched
| from shoulder to waist, two or three white
| stripes were drawn around the upper arm,
each eye was circled with white, broad
band of white along the side of the
nose; on forehead and cheeks were white
] dots. Some of the young men wore tufts
OF emu IeatheEs IN the,T halr, the glossy
! of red, and from their knees hung green
! boughs: As the women sang and beat
upon the ''planggi'' they rolled their eyes
and showed white cleaning teeth. Sud-
denly the men ,sprang to their feet and.
moving in rhythmic measure, swelled the
chorus. Each carried two waddies, or
! clubs, which he struck together At first
the music slow and grave. but the
! dance went on il grew wilder and wilder
! until measure and cadence were lost and
mob, brandishing weapons and shouting
| deep-toned ugh" that sounded like an
| echo of the Maori cry
DENSELY IGNORANT.
tried in vain to get copy or transla-
ton of the song. 1t would seem that the
natives themselves do not understand what
they sing. AT any rate, they find it diff
cult to explain the meaning. The Austria
liam aborigine has records, written or
pictorial, unless some significance can be
attached to the red hands" impressed on
the roofs of rock shelters, such as those
at Port Hacking, of which Mr.. Walter r.
| Harper has given interesting account
before the Linpean Society of New South
Wales. Apart from a few primitive weap
| ons and ornaments, which give no indica-
! ton of originality or Of progressive ingenu-
/ ity, the race have left nothing by which
! they can be remembered. The faculty of
/ invention appears to have been wanting,
/ and their physical habits and requirements
seem to have been little higher than those
! of the animals they hunted on the grassy
plains. Their dwellings never got beyond
few boughs rudely thrown together as a
| protection against wind and rain. They
never dOmestice ted any animal, unless the
/ dngo wild dog, may be included in that
! category. The soil they never cultivated,
! being content TO live on roots of fern and
the flesh OF wallaby and kangaroo, and on
shellfish, or, falling these, the flesh of
their fellows All attempts to bring them
within the pale of civilization have failed.
| Many thousands of pounds and the lives
and energies of many missionaries have
been spent in the effort, but no permanent
results have been attained.
AS race they have proved irreclaimable,
and IL they are less savage than their fore
fathers it is only because the presence OF
white people has set limits to the opportu-
mites of barbarism. The degraded and
primitive state in which the aborigines
have remained is the more remarkable be-
cause their language and tribal system
give evidence of growth and organization.
! Their language, Mr.. George Taplin has
shown, is singular for the complexity of
it's structure, for the number of its infiec-
lions and the precision with which it can
be used. I'VE find" says Mr.. Taplin 1.-The
dual number throughout. We also have six
cases in each declension of nouns and pro-
nouns, and q double set of personal pro-
nouns, for the sake of euphony and express
sion. Verbs are regularly formed from
roots consisting either Of one vowel and
| two consonants or of two vowels and three
| cOnsonantS. The names of human relation
ship far more copious than in English.
In many respects they have niceties of ex-
| preston that we do not find in our own
! language" The absence Of abstract and
generic phrases is marked. and there are
no traces Of figurative or poetic speech
common among the Maoris and other races
| who have just emerged out of barbarism.
! If the development of language and the
| complexities of grammar are a mark of
! civilization, it might be inferred that the
Australian BLACK fellow sprang orig
inally from a people who had made some
advance toward civilization. This reason
ing receives not a little support from many
! customs, the purpose and meaning Of which
have long been forgotten.
TRIBAL MANNERS
Before the arrival Of the white man.
| each tribe exercised territorial rights over
districts whose boundaries were known and
respected. At the head of every clan was
an elective chief, who led them in war and
administered Justice with the aid of a
council of elders. Degrees of kinship were
reckoned very much after the manner
among North American Indians and the
Tamails and Telugus of southern India
Relationship dependent on SEX and
rot consanguinity. Thus, uncles on the
fathers side are called father" while the
! sisters of the father are one degree removed
/ and are "aunts" or "barno" The mothers
/ sisters are ''nainkOwa'' or mothers and
the mothers brothers are "wanowe" or
| uncles. The children of the fathers
| brothers are called brothers and sis
tiers" while the children Of the mothers
sisters and of the fathers sisters are
| cousins The principle of guinity
/ is carried through all the degrees of af-
tinity Children are named after the place
in which they born, but names are
/ changed wills and without apparent rea-
son. The totem system is observed. and
/ none may marry his totem. the tribal
I symbal of which is bird. beast. rep
| tile, a fish or an insect, Marriage is made
/ by barter of females. the women having
| no choice. The wife is the slave. carrying
| all the burdens. collecting all food save
that which is hunted doing all the labor
| ious work. and being treated with the
fVaf1fe .1s II,