III
The relation of children to their parents undergoes an essential change at the time when the former arrive at puberty. At this time they are removed from their parents' immediate presence and control. The girls marry very early, that is they are very early removed from their parents' camp to that of their husband. Boys have to undergo the initiation ceremonies at about the age when the girls marry, and according to all we know never return any more to their parents' camp. The fact of the early marriage of Australian aboriginal females is well known. The age at which it takes place is stated to be from eight to fourteen years of age; but generally the age of about ten to twelve is alleged.[752]
Very important is also the point which Curr emphasizes, viz. that no girl above about sixteen or widow under about forty-five is left unmarried.[753] So that, according to this statement, practically all women who are marriageable would be married. But this is perhaps in contradiction to a couple of statements we shall meet below, which affirm the existence of a camp of unmarried females. So that this point seems to present some ambiguity. At any rate it seems quite certain that unmarried females are not left long in this state.
We know very little as to how far the relations between a girl and her parents cease when she leaves them. Marriage seems to be as a general rule patrilocal; the wife leaves her parents' camp and removes to her husband's. The only exception to this rule will be quoted below (see [p. 266]). With that, a great part of the parents' influence and contact seem to be necessarily interrupted; for we saw in the discussion on the mode of living that the families camp either separately or in very small groups. And therefore a wife living in her husband's camp would probably not live in the same local group with her parents. And in some cases, where as in the Bangerang the local divisions seem to have been more numerous, or as in the Kurnai the population seems to have been more dense (the local groups living nearer each other), local exogamy prevailed and the girl naturally went away.[754]
Moreover, the mother-in-law taboo obtained well-nigh in all tribes, so that the husband was cut off from contact with his parents-in-law; therefore his wife was to some extent also handicapped in her relations with them. That when the married couple were in the same local group with the wife's parents there were some binding elements and forms of close intercourse between both parties appears in the description given below of the economics of the household. But in all probability the authority of the parents over the girl and the real intimacy of their relations ceased at the moment she was given over to her husband.[755]
There is another point connected with marriage and age. We saw that girls marry very early, at the age of about twelve years. The men on the other side do not marry so early. We do not possess very copious information on this point. It is certain that boys were not allowed to marry before they passed the initiation ceremonies. Now these began at puberty, and were extended probably over several years. So it appears, at least, from all the more exact and detailed descriptions we possess of these ceremonies.[756] And it seems that the males had to pass through a whole series of ceremonies before they were allowed to marry. We read in Salvado (p. 277) that it was a crime, severely punished, often by death, for a man to marry below the age of thirty. And he adds that they had a marvellous skill in ascertaining age by means of a series of ceremonies through which every male had to pass. The same is stated by Curr (A.R., i. p. 107), viz. that the men seldom marry under thirty. According to some statements from the South-Eastern area boys appear to be allowed to marry younger.
From these few data it appears that males married much later and that consequently there must have been some disparity of age. But this disparity was much greater, owing to the circumstance that the young girls were as a rule allotted to old men, and the boys whenever they were allowed to marry got old lubras as wives. We have a whole series of statements affirming this and reporting the difference of age to be usually about thirty years, if the female was younger; and at any rate stating that there was seldom a couple in which both partners were young. These statements refer to tribes scattered all over the continent, so that disparity of age in marriage seems to be quite a universal feature in Australia.
We may point to the circumstance that this disparity of age stands in connection with the very prevalent form of betrothal, viz. the promising of a girl in infancy usually to a mature man. Other modes of obtaining wives, as exchange of a daughter for a wife, and levirate, stand also in connection with the disparity of age.
Statements.—We read in Curr: "The Australian male almost invariably obtains his wife or wives either as a survivor of a married brother, or in exchange for his sisters, or later on in life for his daughters." An old widow often falls to the lot of some young bachelor.[757] On the other hand young girls are allotted to old men. "One often sees a child of eight the wife of a man of fifty." And we read further: "The marriage rules of the blacks result in very ill-assorted unions as regards age; for it is usual to see old men with mere girls as wives and men in the prime of life married to old widows. As a rule women are not obtained by the men unless they are at least thirty years of age. Women have very frequently two husbands during their lifetime, the first older and the second younger than themselves."[758] "I never heard of a female over sixteen years of age, who, prior to the breakdown of aboriginal customs after the coming of the Whites, had not a husband."[759]
Speaking again on marriage among the Bangerang, Curr says: "As a rule, girls would be about twelve or fourteen years of age, and their husbands-elect some five-and-thirty years older, and already the lords of one or two spouses." "In this way it happened that one seldom saw a couple in which both the parties were young."[760] And further on we read, "Few men under thirty have lubras." But in the age between fifty and sixty men usually possess two or three wives. The difference between the spouses is usually twenty years; sometimes much more.[761]
We find the disparity of age in marriage mentioned by Howitt in several places. So we learn that old men were often betrothed to young girls among the Wolgal.[762] We read that in Australia old men secure the young females for themselves.[763] And that young men obtain for wives some old repudiated wife of one of the old men.[764] Among the Geawe Gal "girls were affianced to men much older than themselves."[765] Speaking of the Dieri and other South Central tribes he says that old wives of old men are handed over to young boys.[766]
Howitt informs us also that no man might marry before duly initiated; and then the old men of the tribe had to give their consent.[767] Obviously, therefore, the age at which men could get married was much later than that in which females were given away.
Eyre found in the tribes with which he was in contact that women of between thirty and forty years of age were often cast off and given to young boys.[768] Young girls were often allotted to old men.[769]
Disparity of age is stated also by Angas. Old men get often the youngest and comeliest women; whilst the old and haggard females were left for the young men.[770]
Among the Encounter Bay tribes the girls "are given in marriage at a very early age (ten or twelve years)." And as it is very often the father who exchanges his daughter for a wife, it is evident that a great disparity of age must prevail.[771]
Mrs. Parker says that among the Euahlayi baby girls were often betrothed to "some old chap" who might have even already as many as two or three wives.[772] Whereas quite a young man was often allotted to an old woman. Age is not a disqualification for a woman to marry.[773]
In the Central tribes, owing to the Tualcha Mura institution,[774] "men very frequently have wives much younger than themselves, as the husband and the mother of a wife obtained in this way are usually of approximately the same age."[775] And it may be remembered that this is the "most usual method of obtaining a wife."[776]
We are informed that among the tribes near Victoria River Downs[777] a man may marry at about thirty years of age, and the older he grows the younger girls he gets. Girls are married on reaching puberty; and usually to old men; whereas young men often receive old women.
In the Kabi and Wakka tribes "the elder men had sometimes a plurality of wives, while the young men had for a long time after reaching manhood to remain, perforce, single. I never knew a man to have more than two wives at the one time, and generally one sufficed. There was no minimum of age for the marriage of girls, and so it occasionally happened that a child of twelve became the wife of a man of sixty. I knew a case in point."[778]
"Il est défendu a un Australien ... de se marier avant au moins vingt-huit à trente ans, et la mort est le châtiment de tout infracteur de la loi."[779]
In the tribes of King George Sound the old men seem partly to monopolize the young females.[780]
As we have mentioned above, boys leave their parents' camp to undergo the initiation ceremonies. These latter seem to obtain in all tribes, with a few insignificant exceptions such as the Bidwelli mentioned by Howitt. This is a quite well-known fact. But what is their mode of living during this, in some tribes, rather prolonged period and afterwards, before they marry? They do not live in their parents' camp; and they have not yet their individual settlement. They appear in the great majority of cases to club together, have their own encampment, roam and hunt on their own account, and in general to live a life apart.
Statements.—Howitt, speaking of the camping rules among the Kurnai, says that a "'brogan' (a man initiated at the same time, a comrade, or tribal brother, see Nat. Tr., p. 737), although calling the man's wife 'wife' and she calling him 'husband,' would have to camp with the young men, if any were there, or else by himself."[781] And again: "The young men (brewit) and the married men who have not their wives with them, always encamp together at some distance from the camps of the married men."[782] "The young man, or brewit, after his initiation, may be said to have commenced a life independent, to some extent, of his parents."[783] "He lived with the other young men, and with those who were initiated with him, and accordingly his brothers."[784]
We read of the Wolgal tribe: "A married man would never stay in the young men's camp when travelling, unless he were without his wife, when he would be considered as being single. The married people and the single young men camp entirely apart."[785] Howitt mentions further the young men's camp in connection with animal food division amongst the Ngarigo (Maneroo blacks).[786] That the bachelors' camp was a rule is confirmed by Howitt's statement that amongst the Mukjarawaint there was no young men's camp.[787] The unmarried men seem to have lived with their grandparents.[788]
Curr, speaking of the laying out of a native camp in the Bangerang tribe, says: "the fire of the bachelors ..." is "rather further off and somewhat isolated from the rest."[789] The same author says: "Over the girls his (the father's) authority ceased when they became wives, and after his twelfth year or so the boy was very little subject to the father."[790] "When eight or ten years of age he was sent to sleep in the bachelors' camp, when there was one at hand, with the young men and boys of various ages, his parents still supplying him with food. In his new home, though no violence was used, its inmates being all his relatives, the child gradually became to some extent the fag" of all older and stronger. In short this was the real school he had to pass through, the most important moment of which formed the initiation, when he became kogomoolga.[791] "The bachelors, in their camp, cooked each for himself"[792] (at least the older ones; as for the quite young, the family provided, according to what we were told above). "The bachelors had one (hut) in common."[793] Curr also emphasizes the importance of the training enjoyed by the youths in the bachelors' camp for the general tribal order.[794]
J. Dawson says that one partition of a big wuurn "is appropriated to the parents and children, one to the young unmarried women and widows, and one to the bachelors and widowers. While travelling or occupying temporary habitations, each of these parties must erect separate wuurns."[795] Here the young boys and young unmarried girls lived with their family, but in separate compartments of the hut. We are not informed if, when travelling, they formed a separate group in the encampment.
"Young, unmarried men frequently muster in parties of six or eight, and make a hut for themselves."[796] In cases when a larger number of natives are assembled it is required by custom that "all boys and uninitiated young men sleep at some distance from the huts of adults."[797]
"Until his fourteenth or fifteenth year he (the boy) is mostly engaged in catching fish and birds, because already, for some years, he has been obliged to seek for food on his own account. Thus he early becomes, in a great measure, independent; and there is nobody who can control him, the authority of his parents depending only upon the superstitions which they have instilled into him from infancy."[798]
A vague but suggestive piece of information as regards our point is given on the Turra tribe, by the Rev. J. Kühn: Two or three months after initiation the lad is allowed to marry. But some of the married men undergo a further operation and become "Willeru"; "after this they are not permitted to go to their wives for two years."[799] Do they live in a separate camp during these two years? It is probable, but the statement is not clear enough to be useful for us.
We read about the Port Lincoln tribes: "If there be any young unmarried men, they sleep apart in a hut of their own."[800] This statement throws some light on the preceding one: there we had no mention of any separate camp. But as both these tribes lived quite close and must have had similar institutions, we may safely assume that the seclusion from wives which is reported in the foregoing passage was combined with an independent mode of living, i. e. with a bachelors' camp.
Teichelmann and Schürmann report that there was a separate hut in which women dwelt during their period.[801]
We read in the description of the United States expedition to New South Wales that the youths have to avoid women from initiation till marriage and that they have their separate encampment.[802]
In the Euahlayi tribe boys go after their seventh year to the Weedeghal, bachelors' camp.[803]
Among the Central tribes (Krichauff Ranges) there is a separate men's camp and a camp for women, where these latter are confined during certain periods of their life.[804]
We read that among the natives of Finke River (Central Australia) "separate places are assigned for the unmarried men and for the single females respectively."[805] The same author reports that the natives are fond of visits. "The meeting-place is usually the Tmara-nkanja for the men, i. e. the bachelors' camp."[806]
In the Arunta tribe the boys "go out with the women as they searched for vegetable food and the smaller animals," up to the first initiation ceremony. Afterwards "they begin to accompany the men in their search for larger" game. At this first initiation they change also their mode of living; "in the future they must not play with the women and girls, nor must they camp with them as they have hitherto done, but henceforth they must go to the camp of the men, which is known as the Ungunja."[807] Among the Arunta there is a "special part of the main camp where the men assemble and near to which the women may not go."[808] It must exist only when a greater number of natives are assembled,[809] for normally the people roam scattered over the country. But during these latter periods the unmarried men lead probably an existence of their own, as they cannot live with families (compare above [mode of living]). This information about the bachelors' camp in the Arunta is not quite clear, as we see. But all we read points to its existence.
We find the bachelors' camp (Lagerplatz der jungen Männer; tmarankintja) mentioned by the Rev. E. Strehlow, in connection with the totemic ceremonies amongst the Arunta.[810]
We read about the tribes near Port Darwin: "Children live with their parents until puberty, when girls become members of their husband's households, residing sometimes with him, and at other times at the parental camp."[811] I may add here, that this is the only example where matrilocal marriage is mentioned in Australia. Everywhere else we find it stated that the girl removes to her husband's camp.[812] We read farther that the boys are taken, after their initiation, "in charge by those whose duty it is to train" them. "They lived in a large wurley, which would accommodate all the boys. As a fact ... no boys between seventeen and nineteen are seen at Port Darwin."[813] Here we are told that there was one big hut in which all the boys lived; but this seems rather to be an exception.
Roth says that children of about seven years of age leave their parents' camp and go to stay with their grandparents.[814] We are not informed whether there exists a bachelors' camp in the North-West Central Queensland tribes; but this statement does not deny it, for boys are apparently not at once initiated after leaving their parental camp. Another statement of the same author about the natives of Koombana Bay (Queensland), affirms it explicitly: "The younger single males at a certain stage (puberty and onwards) always had a fire to themselves."[815] And again: "The grown-up lads sleep together, apart from the others."[816]
Grey says that strangers visiting a tribe, if unmarried or without their wives, "sleep at the fire of the young men."[817]
Bishop Salvado, according to whose information the South-West Australian natives live in small tribes of six to nine persons, says that when a family disposes itself to sleep "les garçons qui out passé l'âge de sept ans dorment seuls autour du feu commun."[818]
It is stated in two statements above (Dawson and Schultze), that there were camps of unmarried females as well as of single men. We may add here two other statements about such camps.[819] In the Maryborough tribes there were camps of unmarried girls, in connection with which there was some sexual licence. Similarly in the North-West Central Queensland tribes,[820] studied by Roth, single girls lived in groups, under the control of an old man. Such phenomena would account for the licence of unmarried females, which we find sometimes reported. But they do not seem to have a very large extension in the Australian aboriginal society.
We see in the first place from this evidence[821] that boys were actually removed from their parents' care and that they acquired a complete independence of their parents on reaching puberty. This is especially mentioned in several of our statements (Kurnai, Bangerang, Lower Murray River tribes, Encounter Bay tribes, Port Darwin tribes). It appears also to result ipso facto from the circumstance that the boys lived in quite a different part of the encampment, and so could not be under the control of their parents. It appears from Curr's and Parkhouse's statements that they even lived in a separate locality. And confronting our evidence concerning the bachelors' camp with what we know about the aboriginal mode of living, it appears also highly probable that if the boys' camp numbered from six to eight inmates (compare Eyre's statement) they must have roamed about in a separate group. We read that in two cases the boys joined their grandparents (Howitt about the Mukjarawaint tribe and Roth). Only the statement of Dawson suggests that boys remained with their parents, and even that, as we saw, does not follow very clearly from this statement.
We are informed in several places about the mode of living of the lads in their separate camp. They seem to have partly provided their own food and cooked it (Curr). They slept in one big hut (Parkhouse) or round a common fire (Salvado and others). In general they seem to have formed a distinct, separate social unit. This time, spent in the bachelors' camp, was the real time of training (see Curr's statement. Compare Hutton Webster, loc. cit., chap. iv. pp. 49-51). They came under the influence of a new authority—the authority of the tribal elders. And, especially during the actual time of initiation, all the wisdom and morality they had to learn was imparted to the young people by the old men of the tribe. Probably there also they formed new acquaintances and relationships besides the family ones in which they were brought up. The institution of bachelors' camp is general among all the Australian tribes. Our evidence is not detailed enough to allow us to trace geographical differences in any particular feature. We may mention here, by the way, that the bachelors' camp of Australia was a form of the widespread institution of the men's-house.[822]
In sum, all these factors give great weight to the facts here discussed; viz. to those of the early marriage of girls and the initiation of boys. We see that these facts take away from the Australian family its patriarchal character. The father's authority is exercised over his children merely during their early childhood, i. e. during a period when there is in a general way very little room for the display of any serious authority. Still more, as there was no serious and real training during this time, all education, as far as it was given at all by the father, assumed more the form of play, as we saw above ([p. 256]); and, as we saw, during that period great leniency towards the offspring was the chief feature of the father's behaviour.[823] When a serious and often harsh training took place, it was not the father's individual authority that enforced it, but the tribal elders'. So we see that our former result is hereby confirmed, viz. that there is no foundation for designing the father's relation to his child as based upon authority or any idea of proprietorship. That applies to a girl as well as to a boy. But in the case of the former we might attribute some meaning to the word property, although it would be rather straining the sense of the word.