THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1879

THE AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN RACES The Aborigines of Victoria, with Notes relating to the Habits of the Natives of other Parts of Australia and Tasmania. Compiled from various sources for the Government of Victoria by R. Brough Smyth, F.L.S., F. G.S., &c. 2 vols. (London: Trübner and Co., 1878.)

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N these two bulky volumes we are for the first time presented with a really comprehensive account of the natives of Australia; and by their timely publication under the auspices of the Victorian Government an emphatic reply is given to the charge often brought against the colonists of indifference to the past history, present condition, and ultimate fate of those races. The work, whose title gives a very imperfect idea of its varied contents, may be best described as a complete encyclopædia of Australian folk-lore, as complete, at least, as a judicious utilisation of all available materials could render it. As such, its appearance may fairly be regarded as "epoch-making" event in the progress of ethnological studies, performing much the same office for the Australian that the writings of Castren, Uslar, and Bleek, and the Schoolcraft series have done for the Finno-Tartar, Caucasian, South-African, and North-American races. In the character and selection of the subject-matter it bears most resemblance to this last-named compilation, while differing widely from it in the method of its treatment, the confusion and discordant elements inseparable from Schoolcraft's erratic plan being here avoided by a clear arrangement of the materials and a uniform system consistently adhered to throughout.

to black, sometimes of a lighter hue, and it may be remarked that this is supported by the independent testimony of Richard Oberländer, a most accurate observer, who expressly states that "die Haut ist nicht schwarz, sondern von dunkler Kupferfarbe ' ("Der Mensch vormals und heute," Leipzig, 1878, p. 41). The hair also, though in some cases jet black, would appear to be more frequently of a "deep brown," and with boys and girls, "in colour brown, not very dark" (i. p. 5). This, combined with its wavy character ("crisp," ". waved," passim, but never "woolly" or even "frizzly," like the Papuan), will be regarded by many anthropologists as conclusive of the mixed origin of the aborigines. On this interesting point the compiler unfortunately throws very little light, though he adopts the view held by many, that "there are in Australia two distinct races of men, one of which is clearly of the white variety" (i. 328). By "the white variety" he obviously means what is commonly understood by the "Caucasian" type, and the countenance here and elsewhere given to the belief in the presence of a Caucasian element in Australia is one of the weak points of the work. The curious lists of words adduced, though with some reserve and hesitation, in support of a community of speech carries us back to the days when etymology did duty for science. Thus the native terms kurrin, trippin, throkkun, are compared with the English inquiring, dripping, throwing, leaving the impression that there might possibly be some sort of connection between a native verbal ending in, un, and the quite recent English verbal ending ing-recent, at least, in its modern participial and gerundial senses. Of course, those who bring together such fanciful comparisons have no sense at all of the growth of language, but they might have common sense enough to reflect that in growth, and consequently that in the case diomg assumed have been originally one, the comparisons must be made not between subsequent histo cal developments, but between primitive organic elemes, if any puppesist in common. Then when they have exhausted Eggs Anglo-Saxón, Greek, Moso-Gothic Sanskrit, they rush o to Hebrew, Phoenician, and especially Tamulic and Telugu, without reflecting that, how Australian tongues can hardly be made up on discordant elements as Aryan, Semitic, Dravidian, or that if they are Aryan, they cannot be Dravidian, and so on; hence that their etymological method, proving too much, proves nothing, or, in other words, is unscientific. It is much to be regretted that these simple principles are not more generally understood, and that too many otherwise valuable ethnological works should still continue to be disfigured by linguistic discussions which, a generation or so hence, will be looked upon as amusing anachronisms.

A large portion of the work, it should be mentioned, has been composed by the distinguished geologist, Mr. R. Brough Smyth, at intervals during the sixteen years he has acted as secretary to the Board for the Protection of the Victorian Aborigines. In this capacity he has had exceptional opportunities of obtaining the most reliable information regarding the natives of that colony, who naturally occupy the largest share of attention. But the others are by no means neglected, and the subject is rendered sufficiently complete by several valuable papers on the tribes of New South Wales, Queensland, South and West Australia, supplied by the Rev. W. Ridley, Philip Channey, J. Moore Davis, and other contributors, all speaking from personal knowledge of the facts.

Besides an able introduction of some fifty pages, surveying the whole field and imparting a certain unity to the work, the first volume is devoted to strictly ethnological subjects. Under twenty separate headings the physical and mental qualities of the aborigines, their social habits, daily life, food, diseases, dress, weapons, implements, manufactures, and myths, are treated in detail. The general impression produced by a careful perusal of the vast array of facts here brought together is, that the "black-fellow" is not nearly so black as he has been painted, a statement which is quite as true in the material as it is in the moral sense of the word. Thus the prevailing colour is represented as not black at all, but rather a chocolate brown," sometimes inclining VOL. XIX.-No. 494

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The sections devoted to the native weapons, stone implements, canoes, &c., are of great interest to the anthropologist, who will here find more than one long-cherished doctrine rudely shaken. Thus the argument for a common Australoid race, embracing the Australians, natives of the Deccan, and others, based on the supposed identity of the boomerang with the Indian throwing-stick is shown to be utterly worthless. The question of the resemblance between the wonguim or true returning boomerang and other similar weapons met with amongst

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other ancient and modern peoples is discussed at considerable length, and the result thus briefly summed up in the introduction :- "Those who have seen such a wonguim thrown by a native accustomed to its use, need not be told that the statements published from time to time in the scientific journals in Europe are founded on imperfect information, or dictated in an unphilosophical spirit by a too great desire to prove that the Dravidian races of the Indian Peninsula and the ancient Egyptians belong to the Australoid stock, and that the boomerang was known to the Egyptians. . . . There is nothing to show that anything like the wonguim was known to any other people anywhere at any time, and it is at least doubtful whether any weapon resembling the barngeet [i.e., the war boomerang that does not return] was known to the Egyptians. The wonguim and barngeet are altogether different from the saparu, or sickle-shaped sword, which is represented on Babylonian and Assyrian cylinders as the weapon of Merodach or Bel." Thus the boomerang goes the way of the etymologies, though it is but fair to add that the famous passage quoted at p. 327 of vol. i. from St. Isidore of Seville, descriptive of the Gaulish or Teutonic cateia, "Genus Gallici teli ex materia❘ quam maxime lenta; quæ, jactu quidem, non longe, propter gravitatem, evolat, sed ubi pervenit vi nimiâ perfringit. Quod si ab artifice mittatur rursum reddit ad eum qui misit. Hujus meminit Vergilius dicens. tonico ritu soliti torquêre cateias. Unde et eas Hispani Teutones vocant" ("Origin.” xviii. c. vii.), has not been satisfactorily got over. At the same time it may not be superfluous to remember that Gauls and Teutons were not Dravidians, and that, notwithstanding its return motion, the cateia was not necessarily a wonguim, for other weapons also can be made to behave in the same way. The author regards the boomerang as of native invention, and adds that it is not known in all parts of the Continent, and has not been found in New Guinea or Tasmania.

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In the section devoted to the subject of canoes, another popular error is exploded, for it is here abundantly shown that seaworthy boats made of the bark of the gum-tree, and evidently of native invention, were common in the south and east, and not merely on the north coast, where they might have been introduced by the Papûans from New Guinea, or the Malays from the Eastern Archipelago. On the other hand, the practice of cannibalism, about which doubts have always been entertained, is fully confirmed. "It cannot be denied that cannibalism prevailed at one time throughout the whole of Australia. natives killed and ate little children, and the bodies of warriors slain in battle were eaten. It is sad to relate that there are only too many well-authenticated instances of cannibalism," &c. (Introd. xxxvii.). It may be added that some years ago the writer received direct evidence of an undoubted case from a lad named Benedict brought to Europe by Dr. Brady, formerly Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth (West Australia), and who assured him that his own little sister had been "speared, roasted, and eaten by a hostile tribe near New Norcia. The current views regarding the extremely low mental capacity of the natives, and even regarding their moral qualities, are in other respects shown to be entirely at variance with the truth. In such a wide area there are,

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of course, great mental as there are great physical differences. But the author's assertion that the estimate commonly entertained of their intellect is, on the whole far too low, seems to be fully borne out by the evidence here accumulated. Though without permanent dwellings, they make provision for the future, construct permanent works of art, have a common property in some things, respect each other's rights, are skilful hunters, have five different ways of catching fish, and are far less cruel and ferocious than many savage races usually regarded as their superiors. They have a keen sense of justice, though their standard of right and wrong, and their notions of political economy may be different from ours, as is evident from the language addressed to Mr. G. F. Moore, Advocate-General of West Australia, by Yagan, Chief of the Upper Swan tribe, in the year 1843: "Why do you white people come in ships to our country and shoot down poor black fellows who do not understand you? You listen to me! The wild black fellows do not understand your laws; every living animal that roams the country, and every edible root that grows in the ground, are common property! A black man claims nothing as his own but his cloak, his weapons, and his name ! Children are under no restraint from infancy upwards; a little baby boy, as soon as he is old enough, beats his mother, and she always lets him! When he can carry a spear he throws it at any living thing that crosses his path, and when he becomes a man his chief employment is hunting. He does not understand that animals or plants can belong to one person more than to another. Sometimes a party of natives come down from the hills, tired and hungry, and fall in with strange animals you call sheep; of course, away flies the spear, and presently they have a feast! Then you white men come and shoot the poor black fellows! But for every black man you white fellows shoot I will kill a white man! And the poor hungry women have always been accustomed to dig every edible root, and when they come across a potato garden, of course down goes the wanná (yamstick), and up comes the potato, which is at once put into the bag. Then you white men shoot at poor black fellows. I will take life for life" (ii. p. 228). And so the comedy is played out, until there are no more "black fellows " left on the scene, and when they are gone the white man does them, perhaps, the tardy justice to admit that he never understood them, and that they were not, after all, quite so bad as he had supposed.

At one time the natives were thought to be so stupid that they could not recognise the pictures or other representations even of such familiar objects as kanBut so far from that being garoos, emus, or gum-trees. the case, they are here shown to be tolerably expert draughtsmen; and at p. 258, vol. ii. there is given a facsimile of a drawing of some squatters by a native lad, in which the attitudes and expressions are admirably delineated, "clearly indicating the humorous train of thought passing through the mind of the artist, who must have been a close observer and a good mimic."

From the facts adduced in the section devoted to the native myths it is evident that they have some notion of a future state, though their ideas of the deity are often somewhat crude, and their conception of the universe decidedly materialistic. Thus we are told that Bun-jil

created all things, but he made no women. Bun-jil has a wife named Boi-boi, a son named Bin-beal, and a brother named Pal-ly-yan, and though the creator of all things, yet he had help from his son and brother. He always goes about with a large knife, and after making the earth he went all over it, cutting and slashing it into creeks and rivers, mountains and valleys. Such, at least, is the belief of the Boonooreng tribe, Coast of Victoria. But, on the other hand, that of the Barwen tribe differs little from the Christian conception; for their account is that Baiame (lit., the builder, shaper, cf. Schöpfer) made earth and water and sky, animals and men. He makes the rain come down and the grass grow;" he has delivered their fathers from evil demons (cf. the medieval doctrine of demonology); he welcomes good people to the great warrambool, i.e., watercourse and grove, in the skythe Milky Way-a paradise of peace and plenty; and he destroys the bad" (cf. Revelations, passim). Indeed, the parallel is often so striking, that a suspicion sometimes arises whether these myths may not be spurious, mere travesties of the Christian doctrines disseminated by the missionaries amongst the natives, and improved upon by them for the benefit of over-zealous collectors of popular traditions. The doubt is raised in this work, but not always removed. Some, however, are undoubtedly genuine, as, for instance, the account of the River Murray, which was made by a snake. "He travelled from the head of the river to the mouth, and as he went along he formed the valley and the bed of the river." But in doing this he disturbed the crow, which was perched on a tree, be came angry, and cut him into small pieces. The pieces are left where the Hindu myth leaves the turtle that supports the elephant upholding the globe.

The second volume is mainly devoted to the native languages, but also contains a series of appendices consisting of a number of papers on incidental subjects supplied by the contributors already referred to. Of these the "Notes on the System of Consanguinity and Kinship of the Brabrolong Tribe," by A. W. Howitt, and the monograph on The Crania of the Natives," by Prof. Halford, of the Melbourne University, are specially interesting. The latter, which is a very valuable contribution to anthropological studies, is illustrated by a series of carefully made drawings of five skulls, by Major Shepherd, from four different points of view, and is accompanied by complete tables of measurements on the plan recommended by Prof. Cleland, and for the purpose of "obtaining national distinctions of a most exact description." Amongst these skulls is that of "King Jemmy," of the Mordialloc tribe, which presents some very remarkable peculiarities. It is of an extremely brutal type, in the front view showing a mid-rib running along the top, like the crest of a gorilla, and bounded on either side by a temporal ridge, which, with immense orbits, nasal fossæ, and prognathous upper-jaw, give it a most ape-like appearance. Jemmy, lately deceased, is not stated to have been of an abnormal type; and the side view, in which the brutal aspect disappears, conveys rather the impression of a skull of large capacity.

The philological section, occupying altogether 220 pages, does not consist of a systematic treatise on the native languages, but is made up of a number of papers by more or less competent hands, on a large number of

Here we see in the first column the full pronouns yuan yuar of the future reduced in the present to yan and yar, while in the second column they become in both cases fused with the root. It is easy to understand from this example how the fusion might, in course of time, become the universal law, and how the language might pass thence rapidly from the agglutinating to the purely inflecting state.

Amongst the arguments here advanced in support of the view that all the Australian languages flow from a common source is one based on their generally defective numeral system. The dialect spoken near Wickliffe, Western Victoria, has distinct words for 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6; but this seems to be almost a solitary case, and it seems safe to say that as a general rule the native arithmetic is limited to the first two numerals, beyond which reckoning becomes a series of sums in addition, which even then scarcely ever gets beyond 10. A typical instance is the Lake Hindmarsh system, which runs thus: (1) Ke-yap; (2) pullet; (3) pullet ke-yap i.e., 2 + 1); (4) pullet pullet (2 + 2); (5) pullet pullet ke-yap (2 + 2 + 1), &c. It is also interesting to note the very general prevalence of the word for 2-pullet, bullat, pulla, bulla, bolita, polaïl, &c., occurring in most of the dialects all round the south and east coasts, and reaching far inland, especially in Queensland and New South Wales. This may be accounted for either by supposing that some more advanced tribe at some remote period evolved the idea of two, and passed it on to its neighbours, or that it had been evolved before the dispersion. In the first case it would afford no argument for the original unity of the race; in the second we should have to believe that since the dispersion scarcely a single tribe ever got beyond that