The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-24


pair Of anthropulogists rrof. BALDWIN
SPENCER. in his Ndtirc TrtbcS Of the
Northern TERRITORY Of Australia tMac-
milan and Co. London).
Reserving for future assignment to
position IN the human scale the I'M
doubtedly very low yet not salts
ractorily studied pygmoid or nanoid
peoples of lndoncsia Of which
The Bontoc lgorot and Acta OF
The Philippines suggest themselves as
types slightly better examined than the
Nndaman folk and the Scmang ~ Ma
lu,ca. and the newly found pygmes OF
rDuntain New Guinea, we must rest
"Ii study of primitively low mankind
upon the Bosicsmau of South Africa
and the aboriginal Of the Australian
continent The records of the former
have been mutilated at their source ny
tho unthinking religious horror ot the
missionaries who were the first Of Euro
pcans to seek access to the soul OF tins
shy and outcast race. That the Aus
tralans have been better preserved for
careful study lies in the fact that they
are remote dwcllers Of continent
whose interior wide spaces are SO ARID
rs to form "A barrier To the advance OF
Europeans save under the stimulus Of
chance discovery Of the precious metals.
Thus II has been within the power of
Spencer and Gillen to prosecute re-
search upon unmodifed life on large
scale Of trying exploration; to students
who have enjoyed the opportunity OF
training in their methods II has been
given to conduct yet more intimate
examination q. smaller units % th"se
desert nOmads.
We are not prepared To assign the
Australian aboriginal among the rather
artihcially elaborated tables Of human
descent. There is reason To believe
that he is not an autoChthon, for me
recently extinct Tlsmanian seems IL
have been his predecessor on this Tel
tiary continent and to have retired Ia
the off shore island before the advance
IL race which, undeveloped as it seems
10 MS. must have been in advance Of the
earlier stock. In tho present inquiry
II suficcs To note that the Australian
~ at the bottom level Of human exist
ence, that there is reason to regard him
as degradation form ~ q type once
slightly higher. Such as he is, POSSIBLY
slip back from a step whose trcac
must have been minute at best ne /,
The only contemporary primitive o
humanity who has been studied 10y com
petent observers and unbiased re-
Corders.
II would require volumes to presen
the intimate details of the social state o
these savaGes. the literature nov
amounts to no nConsiderable library
In a single paragraph ii Is hopeless t
attempt to draw the picture of the lif'
~ these nomads of the salt bush AM
epinifex scrub yet a slight sketch i
needed to present them to our unac
Customed eyes. The Australians ar
poorly nourshed and present the stig
mata Of the half starved. They z
unclad from birth to death, The.
are nomadc within tribally re
str.Ctcd territory. They build n
houses save temporary windhreaks o
branches and bushes or huts of bari
as protection against ,he mos
QuitOes. They practise none Of tn
arts Of agriculture. their food is de rive
from the natural growth of roots an
seeds together with fish, snakes and tn
few mammals Indigenous to their lane
and they find the greatest smack q
appetite in grubs and worms. II
readily to be established that their vege
table foods are singuarly deficient /
the calOries Of food value and that the
must consume an mordinate weight an
bulk OF such material To secure th
proper nourlshmeEt, ii results from thi
that they are practically below the lin
of sufficient nourishmrnt AT all time!
In their family life they are polygamOu
in an extremely intricate and rigOrou
system of exogamy. Their speech
singularly ielune in vocabulary; theI
idea of number is satisfied with the con
Cept of unity and two units designate
by name, three and four obtanable b
cOmpaCtlun Of one aud two beyond tina
sense Of multitude which may be tiv
or may designate the uncOuntable hos
Of the stars in the heavens. Their 81
matte environment is dcterminar
condition nf their life Except for III
northern and tropical regions within III
sweep of the monsOons Australia
characterized by marked deficiency
tue aqueous constituent Of the atmp,
rh--=, raiu- are rare the perCentag
of humidity IS excessively low, surfaC
water 10 So dchCient that in Ion
stretches Of country the only potah
water Is that which may he obtained
knots Of the roots Of the various cue
lypts or in the skin cavities Of CertaI
of the frogs by day the insulation
~ maximum; the desiCcation is rcGi
tered 10y almost twenty feet of evapori
zion in the yFir at night the sensib
temperature wen in the summer, com,
close to the freezing point, a daily ten
peraturc range of 100 degrees is by
means uncommon and although il
tolorah,c, Is tolerated. These are a fc
ni tho more conspicuous items Of n
Australian environment, the condition
: