Mourning and Burial Ceremonies
Among the duties and obligations which determine the relationship of husband and wife, there are some which may be mentioned in this place. I mean the customs and rites connected with mourning. Mourning expresses a whole complex of feelings and ideas, of which two sets are important here, inasmuch as they throw light upon the relationship of the mourner and the mourned. Firstly, mourning always expresses sorrow and grief (real or feigned) for the deceased; secondly, the various mourning ceremonies imply the idea that there was a strong tie between the two persons involved, a tie which persists after death and which must be broken by the magical virtue of rites.[214] Both these interpretations of mourning (sorrow for the deceased and the necessity of breaking the bond) involve the idea that the relationship between husband and wife was acknowledged by society as an individual and strong personal tie. As the modes of obtaining wives have shown us that to bring about a marriage it was necessary to get the sanction of society; so the long mourning of the widow and the different formalities she has to perform, before she becomes the property of the dead man's heir or is allowed to remarry, show that marriage was not dissolved at once, even by the death of the man. It shows, therefore, that the tie between husband and wife was not a loose one, and not merely established by the fact of possession or cohabitation; and that the appropriation was based not only on legal ideas, but deeply rooted in magico-religious feelings and representations.
The idea that mourning is performed in order to express sorrow, apart from its being obvious in the ceremonies themselves, is realized and formulated by the natives. When a very old and decrepit woman dies, or an old man who has lost his memory and is useless in tribal matters, the natives do not perform any elaborate ceremonies. They allege as a reason that they "do not feel enough sorrow for them."[215]
Ceremonies involving the motive of sorrow are mentioned in several places by Spencer and Gillen. Among the Arunta, "when a man dies his special Unawa or Unawas smear their hair, faces and breasts with white pipeclay and remain silent for a certain time until a ceremony called Aralkililima has been performed."[216] The widow has a special name. In some of the northern tribes she has to keep silence. E. g. "Among the Warramunga ... the widows are not allowed to speak for sometimes as long a period as twelve months, during the whole of which time they communicate only by means of gesture language."[217] Among the Arunta the widow has to live in the woman's camp and suspend, to a large extent, her usual occupations.[218] When she wishes the ban of silence to be removed, she has to perform a ceremony in public, which consists in the main in an offering of vegetable food to the younger brother and sons of the deceased. "The meaning of this ceremony, as symbolized by the gathering of the tubers or grass seed, is that the widow is about to resume the ordinary occupations of a woman's life, which have been to a large extent suspended, while she remained in camp in what we may call deep mourning."[219] Analogous ceremonies of nearly the same duration and involving similar ordeals and privations, are in use in some other tribes: among the Kaitish and Unmatjera the widow has her hair cut off, she has to smear her body over with ashes, during the whole time that mourning lasts, i. e. several months, she has also to keep silence.[220] Amongst all these tribes the women inflict upon themselves the most cruel wounds. "The women seem to work themselves up into a perfect frenzy, and to become quite careless as to the way in which they cut and hack themselves about, with, however, this restriction notable on all such occasions, that however frenzied they apparently become, no vital part is injured, the cutting being confined to such parts as the shoulders, scalp, and legs."[221] The authors give a detailed description of such ordeals undergone by two widows of deceased men in the Warramunga tribe. "The actual widow scores her scalp with a red-hot firestick."[222]
Taking mourning customs as a measure of the intensity of sorrow and grief, it may be seen that here these feelings are supposed to be very strong, as the hardship and ordeals are very great. Of course, there is no question of individual feelings. The widow may be in some cases really glad that her husband has died, as well in Australia as in any of our modern societies. What is shown at any rate is, that society supposes and requires such feelings, and that they are duties according to the social moral code; in fact, that sorrow and grief for the deceased are required by the collective ideas and feelings. Whether these feelings are displayed in order to appease the spirit of the deceased, whether there is real sorrow as a basis for these customs, these are questions irrelevant in this place.
Probably many different motives contributed to form the mourning rites and duties, as they are now in existence. These duties have in Australia apparently not merely a customary, but also a legal character. For we read in Spencer and Gillen: "a younger brother meeting the wife of a dead elder brother out in the bush, performing the ordinary duties of a woman, such as hunting for 'yams,' within a short time of her husband's death, would be quite justified in spearing her."[223] And, again, it is said in another place, that if a woman would not comply with the severe ordeal which is her duty, "she is liable to be severely chastised or even killed by her brother."[224]
Whatever more special explanation might be attempted of all these laws and customs it is certain that they express the fact that the marital bonds are very lasting. The obligations last after the death of the husband, and expiation must be made for the eventual new union. For Spencer and Gillen give a detailed account of all the complex formalities and duties to be performed before the widow can remarry, or rather is given up to the younger brother of the deceased, to whom she belongs by law.[225] After the performance of several ceremonies and a long lapse of time, she may still, if she likes, paint a narrow white band on her forehead, which is regarded as an intimation that she is not anxious to marry at present, as she still mourns, though to a less degree than before, for the dead man.[226] "The spirit of the dead man was supposed to have been watching all these proceedings as he lay at the bottom of the grave."[227]
Unfortunately the other authors do not give anything approaching Spencer and Gillen's full account of burial and mourning. In particular, if there is any description, the actual and tribal relatives are not differentiated. All that I have adduced here from Spencer and Gillen refers to the actual widow. A short remark of Roth may be quoted: "In the Boulia district when a man dies, his nearer relatives have special mourning performances. These nearer relatives, in the case of an adult male, are considered to be the wife and his brother and sisters by the same mother, not his father or mother; with an adult woman, only the brothers and sisters by the same mother."[228] Amongst the Dieri, "a widow is not permitted to speak until the whole of the white clay which forms her 'mourning' has come off without assistance" (perhaps some months).[229] There is also a statement about the husband's mourning. Amongst the Victorian tribes, "when a married woman dies and her body is burned, the husband puts her pounded calcined bones into a little opossum skin bag, which he carries in front of his chest until he marries again, or until the bag is worn out."
To sum up, it may be said, that as far as Spencer and Gillen's evidence may be taken as typical of what burial and mourning is in Australia, the legal and customary aspects of the marriage bonds is not less strongly expressed in the way in which they are dissolved, than it is in the way in which they are brought about.
CHAPTER IV
SEXUAL ASPECT OF MARRIAGE
The next point in our investigation is the sexual aspect of the Australian marriage. Unfortunately it will not be much easier to draw a decisive inference from the evidence in this case than it was in the foregoing one. There is perhaps less patent contradiction between the statements; and we are able here to reduce many of the incongruities to geographical differences. But the whole question is very complicated by the fact that the sexual features of marital life in Australia have caused much discussion in connection with the hypothesis of primitive promiscuity and group marriage. They have been very often interpreted according to this hypothesis. Different customs have been pointed out as unmistakable survivals of previous states of marital communism or group marriage. Group marriage has even been said to be in actual existence amongst some tribes.
In accordance with our opening statement, polemics will be strictly avoided here, particularly in reference to questions of prehistory; and, therefore, we need not concern ourselves with the problem whether certain facts point to the previous existence of group marriage or promiscuity; nor with the problem whether certain features are survivals of a similar state of things.[230] Highly objectionable from our point of view, however, is the fact that our best informants (especially Howitt and Spencer and Gillen) describe the facts of sexual life of to-day in terms of their hypothetical assumptions. To gain, therefore, a clear picture of the actual state of things we shall have to disintegrate all that is hypothetic in the statements from the actual facts.
That is the first reason why it will be necessary to submit here and there the statements to some discussion. But there is another reason. Being concerned with the problem of the individual family and individual relationship, we must keep in mind that although the sexual aspect of family life is very important, nevertheless, it is only one side of the picture, and that to outline this picture correctly, we may not exaggerate one side of it. Now, by a quite illegitimate silent assumption, the sexual features are often treated as the most important—in some cases as the exclusive factors of marriage. But marriage, as we saw and shall have the opportunity to see still more clearly, is rooted in all the manifold facts that constitute the family life: mode of living, economics of the household, and above all the relation of the parents to their children. Unless it is proved, therefore, that the unity of family life and the individuality of the family break down on all these points, no general inference as to group marriage can be drawn from the mere facts of sexual communism. In other words, sexual licence is nothing like group marriage. How far we have the right to infer the actual existence of group marriage (ergo group family) from sexual facts in Australia, must therefore be discussed now, while we are concerned with the sexual aspect of the Australian family.
I wish to make it quite clear that any discussion upon our evidence will be carried out merely with the aim of getting a clear picture of the actual state of things. It is not our task to polemize with the general theories as to the previous state of things, origin of family, etc., set forth by our authors. For a criticism of Howitt's, and Spencer and Gillen's speculations on the origin of marriage, the reader may be referred to the excellent chapter in Mr. Thomas's work. This criticism seems to me to leave no doubts that the general views expounded by the ethnographers mentioned above are hardly founded on any of the Australian facts. These views are mere hypotheses, drawn theoretically from facts. Personal knowledge of these latter could hardly have enabled the ethnologists to theorize more correctly on them. From Mr. Thomas's criticism it results also, that it is no exaggeration to say that the continual application of these hypotheses to the actual state of things considerably obscures the clearness and value of their evidence. It is necessary to add, nevertheless, that Howitt especially always gives very first-rate information concerning family life, the institution of marriage, etc.; and, according to my view, his theories are contradicted by the excellent and admirably rich information he himself gives on social matters. If we can seldom agree with him as speculative sociologist, we always admire him in his ethnographic research.
The following statements are intended to give an account of all the features of sexual life in Australia, especially as far as they bear upon family life. We shall, therefore, in the first place pay attention to the way in which sexual intercourse is limited and determined by marriage. Are the marital relations the exclusive right and privilege of the husband? Or has he only a certain over-right, modified by some other factors (which we must endeavour to determine). Or is there (at least in some tribes) really a sort of group marriage (using the word "marriage" to designate mainly the sexual side of it)? In the second place we must also pay some attention to the more general questions of chastity, licence before marriage, and so on. And finally, the features of the interesting and important forms of ceremonial and regulated licence must be traced more in detail.
Statements.—Amongst the Kurnai "the husband expected strict fidelity from his wife, but he did not admit any reciprocal obligation on his part towards her."[231] ... "The expected fidelity towards the husband was enforced by severe penalties. In cases of elopement her life was in his hands.... Each man not only expected his wife to be faithful to himself, but he, on his part, never lent her to a friend or to a guest."[232] In another place,[233] Howitt says, about the same tribe, that sometimes wives were exchanged "by order of the old men" to avert some impending danger to the tribe. We see that with these rare exceptions, the husband had quite exclusive sexual rights over a woman. Even the general practice of wife-lending seems to have been entirely absent. Now, as Howitt is a strong adherent of the theory of group marriage, we may accept his statements asserting individuality of "marriage" as especially trustworthy.
Amongst the Murring[234] "the only occurrence of licence is when a visitor from a distance is provided with a temporary wife by the hosts.... In cases of elopement, when the woman is captured, she becomes for a time the common property of the pursuers. With these exceptions, marriage seems to me strictly individual."[235] (We see that here again Howitt speaks of individual marriage where there are only, in fact, individual sexual rights.) The only exceptions were here, wife-lending to visitors and the characteristic form of punishment.
Curr says:[236] "Amongst Australians there is no community of women. The husband is the absolute owner of his wife (or wives)." He is very jealous and "usually assumes that his wife has been unfaithful to him, whenever there has been an opportunity for criminality; hence the laws with respect to women are very stringent." A woman is completely isolated.[237] The husband will, nevertheless, often "prostitute his wife to his brothers" or visitors.[238] Here we see the same: the man can dispose of his wife (the term prostitute is here probably used rather in rhetoric sense, for it does not seem that the man would receive any direct contribution for wife-lending); but he is very jealous in all cases where anything might happen behind his back.
On the West Victorian aborigines Dawson writes[239] that illegitimate children were rare, and the mother was severely beaten, sometimes even put to death, by the relatives. "The father of the child is also punished with the greatest severity and occasionally killed." The woman's relatives do not even accept his presents as expiation. "Exchange[240] of wives is permitted only after the death of their parents and, of course, with the consent of the chiefs, but is not allowed if either of the women has children." What is said about illegitimate children, would point to sexual morality before marriage. But we can hardly conceive how in a society, where females are handed over to their husbands, often before, and at the latest at reaching puberty, there could be illegitimate children at all. The whole statement is not clear.
Beveridge[241] says of the aborigines of Victoria and Riverina: "Chastity is quite unknown amongst them." "In their sexual intercourse ... they are not in the least bit particular, consequently incest of every grade is continually being perpetrated."[242]
"Among the Wotjobaluk it was not usual for men to have more than one wife, and they were very strict in requiring fidelity from her, and did not lend a wife to a friend or to a visitor from a distance." Death was the punishment for both the wife and her accomplice in case of adultery.[243] According to this statement not only fidelity is required in this tribe, but even chastity is known as a virtue. This seems rather exaggerated, and as it is given only by a correspondent of Howitt, we shall not attach to it too much weight. Nevertheless, this, in agreement with all our other statements on Victoria, shows that the standard of sexual morality could not be very low there, as we might infer from the foregoing statement.
"Marriage is not looked upon as any pledge of chastity, indeed, no such virtue is recognized." And in a Latin footnote the author enumerates the proofs: promiscuity of unmarried people; wife-lending and exchange; general ceremonial licence.[244] But the Adelaide tribes were much degenerated, and possibly some customs relate to the Lake Eyre tribes, with whom the author was also acquainted.
J. Moore Davis[245] speaks in a Latin passage of the licence at corroborees and of the rights of access enjoyed by old men at the initiation of the girls. The statement is not localized.
Among the Narrinyeri, youths during initiation are allowed unrestricted sexual licence.[246]
In the Turra tribe: "Women were bound to be faithful to their husbands, also the husbands to their wives. Whoever was guilty of unfaithfulness was liable to be punished by death at the hands of the class of the offender."[247] This statement is very clear; but if it is equally correct it reports quite an exceptional state of things.
Schürmann writes about the Port Lincoln tribes: "Although the men are capable of fierce jealousy, if their wives transgress unknown to them, yet they frequently send them out to other parties, or exchange with a friend for a night; and as for near relatives, such as brothers, it may almost be said that they have their wives in common."[248] But does this community of wives refer merely to sexual matters? It is probably so, as the author mentions it in connection with the general description of this side of aboriginal life.
C. Wilhelmi writes about the same tribes: "Although the men are apt to become passionately jealous if they detect their wives transgressing without their consent, yet of their own accord they offer them and send them to other men, or make an exchange for a night with some one of their friends. Of relatives, brothers in particular, it may be said that they possess their wives jointly."[249] This statement and the foregoing can hardly be looked upon as independent; for Wilhelmi knew the missionary Schürmann personally, and had from him a good deal of his information; the two statements are almost literally identical.
Amongst the Yerkla Mining tribes: "A wife is bound to be faithful to her husband." She is severely punished; if successively guilty, killed.[250] Women are lent, but very seldom.[251]
A. L. P. Cameron reports some cases of sexual licence among the Darling River tribes. They used to exchange wives "either at some grand assembly of the tribe, or in order to avert some threatened calamity." But the author adds, "This custom is, I think, rare at present."[252] At any rate, we may bracket this statement with that of Howitt, who also speaks of wife exchange, in order to avert impending calamity.
Charles Wilkes writes, that jealousy is very strongly developed among the New South Wales blacks. From it originate occasional quarrels, and the women suffer especially from jealousy and suspicions. There are also regulated fights and ordeals in order to settle quarrels and enmities ensuing from sexual matters.[253]
Tench mentions the sexual licence of unmarried girls among the Port Jackson tribes.[254]
We read about the natives of Botany Bay, that the men were very jealous.[255]
Turnbull says, that quarrels arise usually from jealousy in sexual matters. The affair usually becomes more general and involves the whole tribe.[256]
Amongst the Geawe Gal there were probably occasions on which "promiscuous intercourse (subject to the class rules) took place."[257]
Amongst the Kamilaroi "the punishment for adultery was, that when a woman was taramu, that is, shifty, wanton, adulterous, the husband complained to his kindred, who carried the matter before the headman, and if the charge was found to be true, her punishment was to be taken without the camp and to be handed over to all comers for that night, and her cries were not heeded."[258] Women were lent to friends, visitors, but with their own consent.[259] This statement confirms again the majority of those relating to the South-east tribes. The husband did not tolerate any trespass in these matters; and the community intervened. On the other hand, he had (with her consent) the right to dispose of her.
Amongst the Euahlayi: "There are two codes of morals, one for men and one for women. Old Testament morality for men, New Testament for women."[260] This applies, probably, chiefly to sexual matters, for we read in another place,[261] "Unchaste men were punished terribly.... The death penalty for wantonness was enforced." Also a girl "found guilty of frailty" is severely punished by her relatives.[262] An "absolute wanton" is ignominiously treated, the result being almost inevitably death.[263] This statement is incomplete, as we are not told if adultery and wantonness are punished only when they are perpetrated without knowledge of the husband; in other words, we are not informed if the widespread custom of wife-lending was absent or not among the Euahlayi.
Amongst the Dieri there was besides the regular Tippa Malku marriage, the occasional Pirrauru relation. The sexual intercourse of the latter was confined to some festival or to the case when the Tippa Malku husband was absent. The number of Pirraurus of each man was limited, and they were strictly assigned to each other. There was sexual jealousy amongst the Pirraurus. The husband had, apparently, the right to decline the use of his wife to any Pirrauru. The Pirrauru relation will be discussed more in detail below. The custom of wife-lending is prevalent: "continually their wives are lent for prostitution, the husband receiving presents."[264] It may be noted, that this is the only place where wife-lending is stated to take this form. Besides, we are informed by Howitt that the unmarried girls and widows were allowed a considerable amount of sexual freedom, this custom being called Ngura-mundu.[265]
The Urabunna, living in the neighbourhood of the Dieri, had an institution analogous to the Pirrauru custom. Besides his Nupa or individual wives, of whom he might possess one or two, who were "specially attached to him and lived with him in his own camp," he could have several Piraungarus to whom he had "access under certain conditions."[266] (But we are not informed what these conditions are; we may infer, however, that they are analogous to those existing among the Dieri, which we know in detail: see below.) Our authors inform us further that the Piraungarus "are to be found living grouped together."[267] We shall discuss below this Piraungaru relation more in detail.
Amongst the Arunta nation, there are different occasions on which men besides the husband have sexual access to the woman. There are the customs at the "initiation" of the girls.[268] And there are many cases in which the husband is compelled by custom to waive his rights on behalf of some one else; such instances generally happen in connection with ceremonial gatherings.[269] It is important to note that on these occasions men have access to women with whom it would be most criminal for them to have intercourse under normal conditions; and a man may cohabit even with his mother-in-law, from whom he is under normal conditions absolutely isolated.[270]
The ceremonies of initiation of girls in Central Australia, and sexual promiscuity connected with them, are also mentioned by W. H. Willshire. Women after initiation are sexually "at the mercy of all who may get hold of them."[271] The same author mentions also the sexual "immorality" of the natives in question.[272] This raw statement, although inadequately formulated, corroborates Spencer and Gillen's exact data.
Analogously in the Northern tribes there are several exceptions from the individuality of sexual relations. The man may lend his wife to his friends or to people whose favour he wishes to gain. There are customs at the initiation of girls, when several men, standing to the girl in a certain group (tribal) relationship, have access to her. In the third place there is the sexual licence connected with certain ceremonies, when men are obliged to cede their wives to some of their tribesmen.[273] And we read the description of the most horrid atrocities which men inflict as punishments upon their unfaithful wives.[274] We read in the same place that the charming away of women by magic was one of the chief sources of fights and quarrels. About sexual jealousy in the Central and Northern tribes, we read: "Now and again if a husband thinks that his wife has been unfaithful to him, she will certainly meet with exceedingly cruel treatment."[275]
We are informed about the existence of the practice of exchange of wives among the Northern tribes (Port Darwin, Powell's Creek) in the answers to Prof. Frazer's "Questions."[276]
J. D. Lang says about the aborigines of Queensland, that the "conjugal relations are maintained with great decency." But he mentions the custom of wife-lending.[277]
Amongst the Maryborough tribes, sexual licence is allowed before marriage and there is a camp of unmarried girls.[278] Many, however, "remain perfectly virtuous until their promised husband fetches them."[279] Women who were wanton after their marriage "are looked down upon as the prostitutes of the tribe, and are lent to visitors as temporary wives."[280] Here chastity seems to be not so strongly required. But the statement is somewhat odd as regards the camp of unmarried girls.
Amongst the Kabi and Wakka tribes (Queensland, near Maryborough), there are cases where the "seniors of the camp" have some rights over a woman. In general none but the husband had any matrimonial "rights over the wife, and the jealousy made him take good care she was not interfered with, unless he was a consenting party."[281] Here we have again the characteristic feature: the husband had exclusive sexual rights over his wife; but he might dispose of her, and used to do so.
Amongst the North-west Central Queensland aborigines[282] there is a certain licence before marriage "unless they should happen to be betrothed"; in that case the husband does not like it. "Morality in its broadest sense is recognized a virtue." And in another place we are informed that "if an aboriginal requires a woman temporarily, he either borrows a wife from her husband for a night or two in exchange for boomerangs, a shield, food, etc., or else violates the female when unprotected, when away from the camp, out in the bush." In the latter case, if the woman is unmarried "no one troubles himself about the matter." If married, a quarrel would ensue if the husband came to know anything.[283] Roth gives also an account of the initiation ceremonies, in which females, arrived at puberty, are ceremonially deflorated by old men. It is important to note that the exogamous class rule is disregarded on such occasions, when several men of forbidden degrees have access to the woman, but blood relations are strictly excluded. A girl acquires a new designation, corresponding to the new age grade; she becomes marriageable and enters altogether into a new status.[284]
Among the natives of Cape York the unmarried girls are allowed to have free intercourse, but a female once married is required to be absolutely faithful to her husband, and this requirement is enforced by severe punishments.[285]
Amongst the tribes of West Australia: "The crime of adultery is punished severely—often by death."[286] Grey speaks also of the "stern and vigilant jealousy."[287] "... the bare suspicion of infidelity upon their part is enough to ensure to them the most cruel and brutal treatment."[288] But he mentions also the continuous rows and plots that issue round a beautiful woman,[289] who knows sometimes how to evade the precautions of her husband. Grey speaks emphatically of the "horror of incest."[290] Fidelity seems, therefore, to be severely enforced in these tribes. Grey says nothing about wife-lending. Chastity does not seem to have obtained there, nevertheless.
We read in Oldfield, about the West Australian tribes, that there was an "initiation" ceremony before a female was considered fit for marriage; in it "all the males of the tribe" partook. Women sometimes betray their husbands.[291]
Mrs. D. M. Bates reports, that among the tribes of West Australia she had under observation, there exists a "certain tribal morality" and "bad or loose living women (according to their ideas) occupied much the same status in a certain degree as our unfortunate sisters do amongst us." There were even contemptuous names for women of bad conduct.[292] Unfortunately, this statement says absolutely nothing of what would be the most interesting thing to know, viz. the ideas of the natives about sexual matters, in other words, the code of the "tribal morality." Here, besides the fidelity which was strictly required, a complete chastity is affirmed. On the whole it seems to agree roughly with Grey's and Salvado's statements; he also does not mention any regulated licence. As our information on West Australia is so scanty, we can hardly decide whether sex morality stands there much higher than in the Central and North-eastern peoples; but as we have reason to regard both the information of Grey and of Salvado as trustworthy and accurate, we may assume that this difference actually existed.
Similarly Bishop Salvado speaks of the great jealousy of the natives of South-west Australia and of their morality. "Le sauvage ne pardonne jamais l'insulte faite à la pudeur des femmes qui lui appartiennent; c'est un outrage qui se paye cher et le plus souvent par la mort."[293] "... je n'ai jamais observé autour de nous un seul acte tant que ce soit peu indécent ou déshonnête parmi eux ... au contraire j'ai trouvé les mœurs louable au plus haut point."[294]
Scott Nind informs us about the natives of King George's Sound, that "infidelity is by no means uncommon. The husband keeps a jealous eye on his wife, and on the least excuse for suspicion she is severely punished."[295]
In reviewing this material, the first thing to be noted is a considerable geographical variety of custom and law in sexual matters. There are clear and radical differences between the South-eastern tribes, the South Central, North Central, and Northern Queensland tribes. The views on sexual morality apparently differ as much as the actual practices. Whereas in Victoria, South-eastern New South Wales, and the Southern territory of South Australia there are no traces of regulated licence, or at least not in a very conspicuous form—in the South Central tribes the features of Pirrauru relations; in the Central and North Central different forms of ceremonial licence are highly developed, and play an important part in tribal life. In Queensland there does not seem to exist such a very strict sexual morality, as far as we can gather from our statements. Our five statements from West Australia do not give a very clear picture. Undoubtedly these geographical differences, as here indicated, must be conceived as merely rough approximations. There are too many contradictions between the statements concerning the South-eastern area; the data as to Queensland and West Australia are too few and vague to allow anything beyond mere generalities. But broadly, as is indicated above, these local differences undoubtedly exist.
Besides the data contained in the statements there is, to confirm this view, the opinion of A. W. Howitt. In his article on the tribal and social organization in Australia, this writer directly points out the radical differences existing between the South Central and the South-eastern tribes in sexual matters; and as he knew from personal acquaintance or from reliable informants the whole area, we may consider this geographical difference as thoroughly established.[296]
Let us now draw some general conclusions from the evidence. The points selected at the outset for special attention were: first, the problem of the rights, privileges, and restrictions of the husband in sexual matters; second, the question how is chastity in general, considered and valued? third, a survey of the cases of ceremonial or regulated licence.
1. The first question may be broadly answered by saying that the husband had in general a definite sexual "over-right" over his wife, which secured to him the privilege of disposing of his wife, or at least of exercising a certain control over her conduct in sexual matters. In some cases this over-right amounted to quite an exclusive right, which even in some exceptional tribes was never waived. We read of cases where the husband was not only never compelled by custom, or any other social force, to dispose of his wife, but apparently never did it on his own impulse. In these cases we may say that the absolute faithfulness of a married woman was enforced, and that her chastity was recognized as a virtue. (Wotjobaluk, Turra, and the South-western tribes according to Salvado.) Besides there are several other statements, from which it appears that the sexual rights of the husband were nearly exclusive, and that he was not inclined to waive these rights in order to derive therefrom any personal profit. So among the Kurnai there was no wife-lending nor any other similar custom, and wives were exchanged only in quite exceptional cases in order to avert impending evil. The same is asserted in Cameron's statement. Among the Yerkla Mining women are but seldom lent. Mrs. Parker writes that wantonness was considered a crime among the Euahlayi, and nearly the same has been said by Mrs. Bates about the West Australians. Roth speaks of morality in a broad sense. Grey and Macgillivray write that women were expected to be strictly faithful to their husbands. But in these two last cases we do not know whether lending or exchange of wives was entirely absent, or is only not mentioned by the authors. All the statements which affirm strict and vigilant jealousy, without further analysis, leave the question open as to whether the husband ever allowed adultery to his wife, or whether he punished it only when perpetrated without his consent. But interpreting these statements according to the other more detailed ones, it may be said that in general, such exclusiveness of marital rights and appreciation of chastity seem rather to be an exception; and some caution must be used in accepting the above-mentioned cases of absolute faithfulness and chastity required from married women. As a rule, even where there is not regulated licence, wife lending and exchange, hospitality, etc., seem to be more or less practised.
In the majority of statements these customs are found in one form or the other; in these cases we cannot speak of an absolute fidelity or exclusive individual sexual right of the husband. We read in fifteen of our thirty-eight statements of the customs of wife-lending or exchange; and in twelve some form of sexual licence is mentioned. But in all these cases, where the woman is given away, this is done with the consent and generally on the initiative of her husband, who in the majority of cases derived some benefit from the transaction.[297] Exchange of wives obviously implies an advantage to the husbands. The same must be assumed in the case of hospitality and wife-lending when the courtesy of the husband presupposes a reward in one form or another. In the case of ceremonial licence as related by Spencer and Gillen, wife-lending is always a kind of retribution for religious services. Payment of this nature occurs also for other services, and may be used as bribery towards an avenging party.[298] The husband always disposes of his wife, who is never allowed to take the first step in this matter, and it is consequently he who benefits from her conduct. This conduct does not seem punishable or wrong in any sense to the native mind. Quite otherwise is it with the woman who trespasses without the sanction of custom or without her husband's approval. In all such cases she is considered culpable and more or less severely punished. This is directly stated by Shürmann and Wilhelmi, and appears in nearly all the other statements.
The punishment dealt out in cases of elopement was discussed above in connection with the mode of obtaining wives. We saw that as a rule the punishment is severe. Sometimes the kindred of the offended party (i. e. the husband) help him to punish the offender; sometimes the whole local group takes his side. Several of our statements assert that in cases of elopement, the woman when caught becomes the common property of all her pursuers, and that afterwards she has to undergo severe punishment (Kurnai, Murray tribes). In some statements we read that adultery is punished with death (Wotjobaluk, Turra, Kamilaroi, Euahlayi, South-western tribes); in others, that the punishment for adultery or even a suspicion of it is very cruel (Curr, Spencer and Gillen, J. Mathew, Grey). It appears, therefore, that the husband is very careful about maintaining his over-right over the sexual life of his spouse. He very often has to submit to some customary practices, and often subordinates his wife to some private aim; but he must always give the initiative, or at least have the sexual life of his wife under his control.
2. In the second place a word about the chastity of the unmarried women is necessary. Here we may remark at the outset that this question seems relatively unimportant, as we know that girls are handed over to their promised husbands on arriving at puberty, or even before.[299] On the other hand, it seems hardly probable that girls would have sexual intercourse in their extreme youth (that is, before being married); during this period, girls are continually under the control of both parents, and especially of the mother, and as it will appear from the statements referring to the "bachelors' camp," it is probable that males and females are kept apart from each other before reaching puberty.
That girls had no sexual intercourse before marriage is also suggested by the custom of "initiating" girls by the old men, which takes place immediately before they are handed over to their husbands. From the detailed descriptions of Spencer and Gillen and W. E. Roth it appears that at this initiation girls are deflowered (Central, North Central and Central Queensland tribes).[300] On the other hand, the custom of levirate—i. e. of handing over the widow to the deceased's brother or nearest relative—seems to be very widespread (compare above, [page 63]); so that there are hardly any marriageable and unmarried widows in the aboriginal society. Accordingly we find but little indication of any misconduct in the case of unmarried females, and the few instances we meet with are so little detailed that they do not throw much light upon this question; it is especially uncertain whether they are exceptional innovations, or whether they have any more serious social raison d'être. It is mentioned that there exists an unmarried girls' camp with sexual licence (Maryborough tribes, see below, [p. 266]). Roth mentions that unmarried girls are free in their conduct as long as they are not promised in marriage. We read of a similar freedom in the Dieri tribe, as also in the statements of Tench and Macgillivray. The most important form of licence before marriage seems to be, therefore, the practice of initiation just mentioned.
Speaking now of chastity in general, and summing up both what was said under the first and the second heading, it may be affirmed that it is not considered in the light of a necessary virtue. Before marriage the girl has to submit to a general sexual intercourse, and after it the woman becomes on many occasions the property of another man. This refers more especially to the tribes described by Spencer and Gillen and Roth. It was said at the outset that a much stricter morality seems to have prevailed in the South-eastern tribes, although there, too, we read of sexual licence (during initiation among the Narrinyeri, and in general, according to Beveridge and Moore Davis). But as it was there possibly much more rarely practised—we are informed by our very best source, Howitt, about several tribes, that they knew and practised chastity (Kurnai, Turra, Wotjobaluk, etc.)—we may keep to the geographical distinction.
3. Let us in the third place speak more in detail about customary and ceremonial licence, as it merits for many reasons our special attention. Here belong, besides the ceremonial defloration of girls by old men (just spoken of), the different forms of licence practised at large tribal gatherings, and especially the Pirrauru relationship, found in several of the South Central tribes.
Besides the exact and detailed data about ceremonial (or ritual) defloration that are given by Spencer and Gillen and Roth, these ceremonies are mentioned also by Willshire, Beveridge, Moore Davis, Mathew, and Oldfield. But the short notes of those latter authors are hardly sufficient to allow any further discussion; they may be considered as a confirmation of the more exact evidence, but the latter, and especially Spencer and Gillen's data, must serve as material for all analyses. These ceremonies, on the one hand, seem to correspond to the initiation ceremonies of the males. It is only in this light that they are represented by Roth, who does not mention any close connection between these ceremonies and marriage, but represents them as the condition of marriageability. The said ceremonies possess, as a matter of fact, many points of analogy with the male initiation ceremonies. They are performed on arrival at puberty; Roth states that the girl then acquires a new name and new status. The operation performed then upon the initiated is also to some extent analogous in both cases.[301] On the other hand Spencer and Gillen represent these ceremonies as directly connected with marriage. What the underlying ideas in this connection are, it is difficult to say. It has been suggested that such ceremonies express a kind of expiation for marriage.[302] But as this idea is not directly embodied in this institution, and as it is not necessarily a condition of its existence, and, moreover, as it has not been directly affirmed by the natives, it may be treated merely as an assumption.
A very important and striking feature of ceremonial licence in general, is that the sexual intercourse, which takes place on that occasion, is not subject to class rules. We are indebted to Messrs. Spencer and Gillen for a very minute account of customary licence, which takes place as a rule during corroborees and other ceremonies. "In the Eastern and North-eastern parts of the Arunta, and in the Kaitish, Iliaura and Warramunga tribes, considerable licence is allowed on certain occasions, when a large number of men and women are gathered together to perform certain corroborees. When an important one of these is held, it occupies perhaps ten days or a fortnight, and during that time the men, and especially the elder ones, but by no means exclusively these, spend the day in camp preparing decorations to be used during the evening. Every day two or three women are told off to attend at the corroboree ground, and with the exception of men who stand in the relation to them of actual father, brother, or sons, they are, for the time being, common property to all the men present on the corroboree ground."[303] On all such occasions the class rules are disregarded, they are even broken, so to say, in the most radical way: a man may have, in connection with certain performances, access to his mother-in-law, who under normal conditions is most strictly tabooed to him.[304] And again, in the Warramunga tribe an example is quoted when a tribal father has access to his tribal daughter on ceremonial occasions.[305] This example refers to a case where the woman was offered by her husband as a kind of retribution for some services rendered in performance of ceremonial functions. In the same tribe there are other occasions (in connection with burial) on which a man is bound by custom to offer his wife to a man who was useful to him.[306] The class rule is disregarded in such cases, too. This holds good also in the case when a man receives this form of reward for having been useful to the community as a messenger.[307] When an armed avenging party is sent to carry out a sentence on some other local group, the latter may attempt to bribe the members of the avenging party by offering them some women. If these are accepted, the sentence is not carried out, and the avenging party returns peacefully home. Sexual intercourse under this condition is also not subject to the class rule.[308] It may be said, therefore, that on all occasions[309] when ceremonial licence takes place, the strict class exogamy does not hold good; whereas incest, as regards blood relationship, is always strictly forbidden. This refers both to the initiation rites and to ceremonial licence in the tribes described by Roth and by Spencer and Gillen.
In this place a somewhat extensive digression concerning the Pirrauru custom must be made. This question plays such an important part in all speculations about a former state of group marriage, and it is undoubtedly such an interesting fact by itself, that it would be impossible not to give here an account at least of its most essential features. The custom in question consists in the fact, that in certain of the South-east Central tribes a man and a woman are put into a relationship which involves occasional sexual connection and some other mutual rights and obligations, to be discussed in detail below. This custom is found in the tribes living North, South and East of the Lake Eyre, the Urabunna, the Dieri, Yantruwunta,[310] and other kindred tribes. We know the most about the Dieri, whom Howitt chooses and represents as a typical example of all these tribes, and whose Pirrauru practices in his opinion differ only slightly from those of the neighbouring tribes. This is important, for our knowledge about the Dieri practices is much more ample than in the case of any other tribe; and it does not agree in all particulars with what we are told about the Urabunna by Spencer and Gillen.[311] We shall, therefore, rely in the first place upon the information given about the Dieri by Howitt, Gason, and Siebert, and in our general view of the Pirrauru we shall be guided by this information.
It is first to be noted that the custom in question exists side by side with individual marriage. We find this expressly stated in three places by Howitt.[312] But besides these merely verbal assertions of authorities, we have much better proofs of the assertion in the facts related by them concerning the Pirrauru customs. From these facts it clearly appears that individual marriage existed quite independently of the Pirrauru relation, and that it was even only slightly affected by this relation. We shall enumerate the most important features of the Pirrauru custom of which we are informed, occasionally remarking under each heading what is the difference between marriage and the Pirrauru relation. It will appear that many of the factors that constitute marriage are completely absent in that relation, and that others play in each quite a different rôle.
1. In the first place, let us ask how was the Pirrauru relation brought about. We are informed that on the occasion of large tribal gatherings such as corroborees, invitation gatherings, etc., when the whole tribe was present, the old men and the heads of the totems, assembled in camp council, decide which men and women should be allotted to each other. The result of this decision is then publicly announced.[313] Now we know[314] that the individual or Tippa Malku marriage is brought about in quite a different way: the girl is promised as an infant to her future husband. Such an infant betrothal is usually accompanied by exchange of females; and the decision lies in the hands of the girl's family (her mother's brother). We see that the mode of obtaining the individual Tippa Malku wife is quite different from the way in which the Pirrauru relationship is established; and we see also that the latter does not show any of the characteristics which enforce and express the individual character of marriage.
Undoubtedly it has its legal aspect, for it rests on the authority of the camp council of old men, which seems to be the only form of tribal authority known in these tribes. The old men seem also to keep an eye on the Pirrauru connections in their subsequent course (see below under [5]). These relations, therefore, bear, thanks to this sanction of the tribal elders, the character of validity and legality, and are to a certain degree compulsory. (How far they are compulsory in the case of the husband of the allotted woman, see below under [6]); but they involve neither the mutual obligation of two families, nor a period of long engagement, nor any factors expressing collective ideas of the individuality of mutual appropriation of a man and a woman.[315]
There are still two points connected with this heading which emphasize the difference between the individual marriage and the Pirrauru relation,[316] namely that individual marriage must precede Pirrauru relations; in other words, that only married women may be made Pirraurus. Secondly, that although any woman may have only one Tippa Malku husband (men may have several Tippa Malku wives), she may have several Pirraurus. This very point induced many writers to consider the Pirrauru as a form of group marriage.[317] That this relation bears a group-character is beyond doubt. That it must be clearly distinguished from marriage is just what we try to show here.[318]
2. Another interesting point about the Pirrauru, is that no consent of the parties is asked.[319] But this appears, according to other data, to hold strictly good only as far as the woman is concerned. For we are told[320] in another place that a woman's wishes are not taken into account unless through the mediation of her husband. Hence it seems that on one side a man's wishes may be taken into account, and on the other side a man may even dispose of his own wife. This points to the fact that a husband's consent or mediation when his wife is concerned may be of some weight. The same conclusion results from the fact (already noticed by Mr. Thomas in this connection) that two men may eventually exchange their wives in connection with the Pirrauru custom.[321] All this appears quite plausible if we bear in mind that[322] the old men keep the greatest number of females for themselves—at least all the most comely ones. And that these very men have afterwards the right of disposing of their wives. They will, on the one hand, exchange some of the females with each other; on the other hand, they will allot perhaps some of their wives to one or another of the young men living in celibacy. In fact, we read that very often old and renowned warriors give their wives to some youngster, who regards it as a great honour.[323] In conclusion it appears probable that the man had a voice in the choice of his Pirrauru or had not, according to his personal influence. As to the woman, it was her husband's part to decide, or at least to influence the opinion of the camp council. But statements are not clear on this point, and we are left here to a great extent to our own conjectures.
3. From the foregoing, it results that the husband still retains some over-right and control over his wife. And that is a very important point. For in the light of this fact, the waiving of sexual privileges connected with the Pirrauru custom does not appear to encroach any more on the husband's right to his wife than the custom of wife-exchange or wife-lending. This fact of the necessity of the husband's consent is confirmed by Howitt's explicit statement. We read[324] that a man has right of access to his Pirrauru only during the absence of her husband or, if the latter were present in camp, only with his consent. It is evident, therefore, that the husband's rights are by no means annihilated or superseded by the Pirrauru's rights. He waives his rights voluntarily, and his consent is essential.
4. Another point of importance is that this relationship does not constitute a permanent status, and that it may be actualized only at intervals. In the first place, the sexual licence involved in this custom is exercised during the tribal gathering, for the night in which the assignation of Pirraurus took place; the licence lasts for about four hours.[325] This relation is probably renewed during some of the next gatherings; during the husband's absence; when a man is sent on an embassy with his Pirraurus; in some cases where the husband gives his consent. But although none of our sources say so expressly, we may safely deny the assertion that the Pirrauru relation had a permanent status. For, if it were actually valid and exercised permanently, we would not be informed, as we are, as to the special occasions on which it takes place, and of the conditions under which it may be exercised. Again, if the Pirrauru involved a permanent status or, more explicitly, if groups of men and women who are Pirraurus to each other respectively, normally and permanently live in marital relations, no one of our authorities, who plead so strongly for the character of group marriage in the relation in question, would omit to emphasize such an important feature, which would support their views in the highest degree. For this is a crucial question indeed: if the Pirrauru right entitles, in the first place, only to a short licence and establishes permanently merely a facultative right, then, even in its sexual aspect, it does not approach the rights established by Tippa Malku marriage in these tribes. And, although the evidence on this point is not quite decisive, we are, as we saw, entitled to suppose that the sexual licence connected with the Pirrauru is only an occasional one.
Besides the facts and reasons enumerated above, I may adduce a very important passage from Howitt's last work, which may be considered the ultimate opinion of this eminent ethnographer concerning the problem of group marriage in Australia—a hypothesis of which he always has been a most ardent supporter. "A study of the evidence which has been detailed in the last chapter has led me to the conclusion that the state of society among the early Australians was that of an Undivided Commune. Taking this as a postulate, the influence on marriage and descent of the class division, the sub-classes and the totems may be considered on the assumption that there was once an Undivided Commune. It is, however, well to guard this expression. I do not desire to imply necessarily the existence of complete and continuous communism between the sexes. The character of the country, the necessity of moving from one spot to another in search of game and vegetable food, would cause any Undivided Commune, when it assumed dimensions greater than the immediate locality could provide with food, to break up into two or more communes of the same character. In addition to this it is clear, after a long acquaintance with the Australian savage, that in the past, as now, individual likes and dislikes must have existed; so that, admitting the existence of common rights between the members of the Commune, these rights would remain in abeyance, so far as the separated parts of the Commune were concerned. But at certain gatherings, such as Bunya-bunya harvest in Queensland, or on great ceremonial occasions, all the segments of the original community would reunite. In short, so far as the evidence goes at present, I think that the probable condition of the Undivided Commune may be considered to be represented by what occurs on certain occasions when the modified Communes of the Lake Eyre tribes reunite."[326]
This shows that after a long and mature consideration of the problems in question, Howitt came to the conclusion that "group marriage" never could have existed as a permanent status, and that it could have been established only in connection with large tribal gatherings. In such a light the hypothesis of former or even actual "group marriage" becomes very plausible, or rather it ceases to be a hypothesis and it becomes one of the best established facts of the Australian ethnology.
But at the same time, although we may accord the term "group marriage" (if any one wishes at any price to retain it), we must note that such a state of things is radically different from marriage in the usual sense of the word, and in particular from marriage as found in actual existence in the Australian aboriginal society, and described in this study. It will be sufficient to point out that such an occasional sexual licence lasting several hours during an initiation gathering could not create any bonds of family, such as may result from community of daily life and community of interests, common inhabiting of the same dwelling, common eating, especially common rearing of children—all factors which, as will be shown below, act only in the individual family and tend to make out of the individual family a well-established and well-defined unit.
We must adduce one fact which stands in opposition to what is just said. I mean the statement of Spencer and Gillen, that amongst the Urabunna the Piraungarus are "generally found living grouped together." This statement might possibly point first to a permanent state of marital relations, secondly to a common mode of living. Now it may be remarked that such an offhand statement on such a crucial point shows undoubtedly that the authors were insufficiently informed themselves on this point, and that, therefore, we must accept this statement with the utmost caution.[327]
The problem of the mode of living of the Pirrauru groups involves two questions—first, what persons constituted the local group (temporary or permanent); and second, how the members of a Pirrauru group lived within it. The statement of Spencer and Gillen may mean that a group of Pirraurus constituted a given temporary local group. But within this group husband and wife must have formed a distinct unit. Now as to the question of how far such a grouping of Pirraurus (if we accept the above statement as correct) would imply a permanent marital status between the Pirraurus, it is impossible to answer. On this point, too, the information about the Urabunna is vague and defective, and it is safer to base our conclusions on the more explicit and reliable material given by Howitt in the case of the Dieri.
[5.] Did the Pirrauru union last for the whole life, or could it be dissolved? In one place we read that the relation in question lasts for life; in another place we are told[328] that the old men watch over the Pirraurus in order that there may result no trouble from mutual jealousy; and if a man has too many Pirraurus they compel or advise him to limit himself to one or two. No answer can be given, therefore, to this question.
[6.] We mentioned above that if the Pirrauru relation, according to Howitt's supposition there quoted, only involved sexual licence during big tribal gatherings, this relation would be absolutely deprived of any of the characters that are the chief constituents of marriage and family. But here we must indicate that such an assumption is not quite justifiable. In fact, in some of the facts related about the Pirraurus, there are hints pointing to the existence of economic bonds and of community in daily life between Pirraurus. We read[329] that if in the absence of her husband a woman lives with one or two of her Pirraurus, she occupies with them one hut and shares with them the food. Therefore, in the absence of her husband, a Pirrauru actually took his place, and in this case the Pirrauru relationship is not merely a sexual connection, but it assumes the real form of marriage. In another place[330] we read that a man possessing several Pirraurus may lend one of them to some one who is deprived of this advantage. Thus it seems that the Pirraurus acquire a kind of real right over their Pirrauru wives; and that it goes as far as the faculty of disposing of them. And again we are informed that if a woman has a young man for a Pirrauru she is often jealous of him and looks strictly after him, and if he does not obey her readily enough, tries even to compel him by punishment.[331] All these instances, which could perhaps be further multiplied, show that under certain circumstances, which we unfortunately do not know with sufficient precision, the Pirrauru relationship assumes a much more serious character than a mere sexual licence exercised during a few hours.
[7]. There remains still to examine what form the relationship of children to parents assumes in the tribes where the Pirrauru relationship exists. Here we are quite well informed that the individual relation between the children of a woman and both their parents (their mother and her Tippa Malku husband) is fully recognized by the aborigines. It is true that Spencer and Gillen say that there is only a "closer tie" between the married couple and their children, and that the children acknowledge the Pirraurus of their parents as parents.[332] But this statement is very unsatisfactory; such a complicated question cannot be answered by a short phrase; for we are by no means aware what the words "closer tie" mean. As unsatisfactory is Howitt's remark, that owing to the promiscuous sexual intercourse, no woman can know if the children are the offspring of her husband or of the Pirraurus, and, therefore, the children must be considered as possessing group fathers and not individual fathers.[333] Apart from the objection that this applies merely to paternity and not to motherhood, which would remain at any rate individual, we must point to our subsequent investigations, which will show that the physiological question of actual procreation does not play a very important part in the determination of relationship. Probably it does not play in these tribes any part at all, as they (at least the Urabunna) seem not to have any knowledge of the actual physiological process of procreation. So we see that although both Howitt and Spencer and Gillen try to prove the existence of group relationship between the Pirraurus and their children, their conclusions appear to be ill founded in facts, and to be rather the fruits of speculation than of observation. Our suspicions are strengthened by the unsophisticated remark of Gason, to which we must ascribe much weight, as he knows the Dieri tribe better than any one else, and as he has no theory of his own to prove or to demolish. He says: "The offspring of the pirraoora are affectionately looked after and recognized as if they were the natural offspring of the real husband and wife." Although this phrase is not very happily formulated, its meaning appears to be that the married couple recognize all the children of the woman and treat them with kindness and affection, without making any distinction. If, according to the views just mentioned, the children were accepted by all the men cohabiting with a given woman, i. e. by her husband and all the Pirraurus, the phrase quoted above would be obviously quite meaningless; for why should the offspring be recognized as if they were the husband's own children in order to be treated well? It may also be pointed out that the Dieri father is very affectionate to his children.[334] And in all the statements referring to this subject we clearly see that it is a question merely of the individual father and by no means of a group of fathers.
After this survey of what appear to me to be the most important points referring to the Pirrauru custom, we see that nearly each one of them is involved in contradictions and obscurities. To draw any general conclusion we must proceed with the utmost care and precaution. Our information about Piraungaru of the Urabunna is nearly worthless. And we may safely repeat with Mr. Thomas, that if the authors knew more facts and knew them better than we can do from their description, then perhaps their conclusions, drawn from these unknown facts, may be correct; but if they draw their general conclusions only from the facts they communicate to us, then we are justified in rejecting them.
Our chief aim in discussing the features of the Pirrauru relationship was to ascertain how far this relation possesses the character of marriage. That it is a "group relation" is beyond doubt.[335] That it is a form of marriage has been accepted by Howitt, Fison, and Spencer and Gillen without much discussion.[336] Mr. Thomas has shown already how unsatisfactory the reasons are, on the strength of which Pirrauru is considered to be a form of group marriage, or even a survival of the previous stage of group marriage. He has shown how insufficient, in the light of an exact definition, the information is, how many essential points we still want to know to be able to make any more conclusive assertion. Mr. Thomas' criticism bears especially on the lack of a strict use of the term "group marriage." He gives a correct definition (page 128 of the work quoted) of this term, and consistently puts to its test the views propounded by the previously mentioned writers. From this discussion he concludes that in the Pirrauru relationship we can find neither the features of an actual group marriage nor the traces of such a previous state of things.[337] This criticism and conclusion appear to me so convincing and final, that I would have simply referred to them without entering again upon this rather perplexing question, were it not a good opportunity for pointing out again by means of this example, that the sexual aspects of marriage and the family cannot be discussed separately, detached from each other; and for showing how incorrect it is to represent the sexual side of marital life as the complete and unique content of marriage. On the contrary, marriage may not be, as so often repeated here, detached from family life; it is defined in all its aspects by the problems of the economic unity of the family, of the bonds created by common life in one wurley, through the common rearing of, and affection towards, the offspring. In the above points I tried to show that in nearly all these respects the Pirrauru relationship essentially differs from marriage and cannot, therefore, seriously encroach upon the individual family. This will appear still more clearly when all these points are exhaustively discussed in their bearing upon the individual family.
Now I would like to show that Howitt, as well as Spencer and Gillen, based his assertions as to the group marriage character of the Pirrauru relation upon a misleading exaggeration of the importance of the sexual side of marriage. Spencer and Gillen say that every man has one or two individual wives or Nupa "allotted to him as wives, and to whom he has the first but not the exclusive right of access."[338] But besides these there is the Pirrauru institution in which "a group of women actually have marital relations with a group of men." And as a conclusion, it follows simply, that in Australia there exists a group marriage, and that not a "pretended" one (Spencer and Gillen criticize here Dr. Westermarck's expression), but a "real" one. This reasoning would inspire some mistrust by its summary and laconic character alone.[339] But it is also evident that in the passage quoted the authors speak exclusively of the sexual side of marriage, and that they actually mean to imply that this sexual side is everything which requires attention, if marriage in a given case should be described. And this is obviously false. The incorrect reasoning is repeated by the same authors in their later work.[340] From the fact that sexual access is open to the Pirraurus, and that there are no special names for the individual parents and children (which does not seem to hold good for the Dieri, however), the inference is drawn that group marriage exists instead of individual marriage. Not even the conditions under which a man has access to his Pirrauru are discussed! Our discussion (from Howitt's detailed data) has shown that even in sexual matters the Pirrauru are far behind the Tippa Malku; indeed, that there is no comparison between the sexual rights of an individual husband and of a Pirrauru.
The same insufficiency of reasoning is shown by Howitt. He says in one place[341] that there is individual as well as group marriage among the Australian aborigines. But under the word marriage he understands the right of sexual access. And on this ground he asserts that among the Kurnai there existed individual marriages exclusively; and among the Dieri there was also group marriage. It is characteristic that no one of these writers tried to give any explicit definition of marriage; but from what I have quoted it appears quite clearly how one-sidedly and narrowly they conceived marriage.[342] And this conception was not only fatal to the theories and views held by them on the question, but it vitiated to a certain extent also the information they gave us about these facts. For they did not try to ascertain and to inform us about the most important particulars, which were perhaps not quite out of the reach of their investigation.[343]
We have based our discussion of the Pirrauru relation on a broad conception of marriage, determined by factors of the daily life, the household, the relation to children, etc. In our systematic and objective description of facts relating to the Pirrauru relation we found in the first place that individual marriage exists besides the custom in question; that it has its radically distinctive features—a different form of betrothal or allotment of a wife to a man; an entirely different kind of sexual rights and privileges; and, what is perhaps the most important fact, an absolutely different aspect of the child question, connected with the fact that only a man and his wife form a real household, live in the same wurley, and share their food supply together and in common with their children. All these points constitute a real and radical difference between the individual marriage connected with the individual family, and the purely sexual connections involved in the Pirrauru relation in its usual form, i. e. when the husband is present in camp. It is only during the latter's absence or during diplomatic missions that the Pirrauru relation assumes at all the character of marriage: then both Pirraurus occupy the same camp, the woman provides food for her Pirrauru, etc. But these occasions are only temporary and exceptional ones, and we are, unfortunately, not informed, even with the smallest degree of approximation, how often they may on the average occur, whether they are very rarely realized exceptions, or whether they are facts that take place fairly often. At any rate, it is certain that these essential features of the Pirrauru relationship never take place simultaneously with the individual marriage. In other words, the individual marital relations are in force when the real husband is in camp and all rights (even the sexual ones) of the Pirraurus cease. So that although the Pirrauru relation, on exceptional and probably rarely recurring occasions, assumes a few more of the characteristics of marriage, it never becomes anything like actual marriage. And this is to be noted, too: the full actuality of Pirrauru relations may come into force only under the condition that the husband be absent. It is only by an incorrect and superficial exaggeration of the sexual side of marriage, that the custom in question has been baptized group marriage.[344] And still less acceptable is the assertion that this "group marriage" is "the only form of marriage in existence" among the South Central tribes.
We may remark about the sexual features of social life in Australia in general, that far from bearing any character of indiscriminate promiscuity on the whole, they are, on the contrary, subject to strict regulations, restrictions, and rules. Every form of licence must be subject to customary rules. The principle of class exogamy is maintained in the majority of cases: so the Pirrauru relation is subject to class rule, as is also wife-lending, wife-exchange, and the rare cases of licence among unmarried girls and widows. But the licence occurring during religious, totemic, and other ceremonies is, as we have seen above, not subject to the class rule. Even the most prohibited and tabooed degree—that between a man and his mother-in-law—is violated by custom.
This fact is also noteworthy for the criticism of theories which see both in class exogamy and in sexual licence survivals of former group marriage. At some ceremonies of a magical and religious character sexual licence occurs, in agreement with the principle that survivals are always connected with religious facts. But if class exogamy is also a survival of group marriage, why should this fall in abeyance on such occasions? For if these two principles were so deeply connected, why should one of them (class exogamy) be entirely neglected on the very occasion when the other (ceremonial licence) is most conspicuous? Is that not again one of the serious difficulties in the way of the hypothesis of a previous group marriage, a difficulty which at least must be accounted for, and which is always completely ignored by the authors concerned?
There is justification for saying that the notion of adultery and the reprobation thereof is well known to the aborigines, and that they punish and condemn unlawful unions of all kinds. As W. E. Roth says, "morality in a broad sense" is well known to the Australian aborigines. It could be even said that sexual morality does exist, only according to a special code, which is obviously different from ours, if we understand by "morality" the fact that there exists a series of determined norms and that these norms are followed.
Closely connected with this question is the more psychological problem of sexual jealousy. The existence of sexual jealousy, especially on the part of the males, has been often referred to by various authors in order to criticize the theories of primitive promiscuity and group marriage. On the other hand, it was pointed out that motives of jealousy are much less strong among some primitive peoples; and many instances have been adduced to prove this assumption. So e. g. about the Australians, Spencer and Gillen say: "Amongst the Australian natives with whom we have come in contact, the feeling of sexual jealousy is not developed to anything like the extent to which it would appear to be in many other savage tribes." ... "It is indeed a factor which need not be taken into serious account in regard to the question of sexual relations amongst the Central Australian tribes."[345]
It seems to be beyond any doubt that sexual jealousy, as we conceive it, is completely absent from the aboriginal mind. It has always been a serious defect in ethnological reasoning that such ideas and feelings as those connected with our meaning of "jealousy" have usually not been analyzed, nor the question asked whether they had any meaning and place in a given society, or whether we must assume other corresponding elements to give a new content to the word. Our sexual jealousy—the ideas as well as the feelings involved therein—is moulded by innumerable social factors; it is connected with the notion of honour; it is the result of ideals of pure love, individual sexual rights, sacredness of monogamy, etc. One of the strongest motives is the care for the certainty of physiological fatherhood: paternal affection is strongly enhanced by the idea of blood connection between a man and his offspring. All these factors are obviously either absent or deeply modified in the Australian aboriginal society. It is, therefore, quite wrong to use the word jealousy and ask if it is present among them, without trying to give to it its proper content.
In the first place, we may assume in this society, as in the whole of mankind and in the majority of higher animals, a physiological basis for jealousy in the form of an innate instinct;[346] a natural aversion of an individual towards an encroachment on his sexual rights and a natural tendency to expand these rights as far as possible—within certain variable limits. That among the Australian aborigines such instincts of jealousy are not absent, that they are, on the contrary, very strongly developed, is evident from nearly all the facts quoted and all general considerations. It is proved by the high esteem in which in some tribes chastity is held; by the fact that fidelity is required in all other tribes, and that it yields only to custom. The demand for fidelity in all tribes has been discussed above. There is a whole series of statements that emphatically affirm a very strong feeling of jealousy; and connected with it is the fact that the majority of fights and quarrels are about women (Curr, Dawson, Mrs. Parker, Schürmann, Wilhelmi, Wilkes, Turnbull, Phillipps, Tench, Spencer and Gillen). Now, that these instincts of jealousy do not assume the delicate and refined form they possess in our society, results merely from the difference in the corresponding collective ideas which influence and mould the elementary instinct.
With our few data available we can attempt only a sketch of the psychology of the feelings of jealousy among the aborigines. It may be observed that although the sentiment of sexual love might be postulated in all human hearts, it seems to be, to a certain extent, banished from the majority of the Australian matrimonial matches by the very way in which they were brought about.[347]
This must also to a great extent deprive jealousy of its violent character. On the other hand, social opinion, which in our society works through ideas of honour and ridicule, strengthening the feelings of jealousy and giving to them a certain outer prestige, even in cases when they may not be actually felt—in the Australian Aboriginal Society uses these factors with a directly contrary effect. As a matter of fact, in many cases, public opinion compels a man to give his wife away; it is considered an incident of hospitality, a virtue. In other cases it is an honourable duty, as e. g. in cases of wife offering during a ceremony in order to express gratitude. We read that in cases where a man begrudges his wife to a Pirrauru he is regarded as churlish. Obviously, these social factors act here to modify and moderate the feeling of sexual jealousy. We find no instance or statement which would point to a contrary influence of these factors in the Australian aboriginal society.[348] But, as pointed out above, the idea of individual sexual over-right and control over his wife is strongly present in the aboriginal mind. This right is undoubtedly realized as a privilege, and the natural tendency to keep his privileges for himself, or dispose of them according to his wish or interest, must create a strong opposition to any encroachment. In other words, the sexual act has its intrinsic value, and it is considered as an unquestionable advantage. And the right to this advantage constitutes a kind of private property. The feeling of jealousy exists here in its economic sense: the proprietor of a certain object begrudges the use of it to any one whom he does not invite to it, or who is not otherwise entitled to the privilege. And this seems to me one of the strongest probable sources of jealousy, besides the natural physiological impulse of aversion, mentioned above. I think it is corroborated by the facts enumerated, which show that the husband vigilantly watches over and keeps his over-right.
In regard to the motive of jealousy as connected with the question of progeny—the care to be sure of a man's own real paternity of his children, we may remark that this motive must be absent in many tribes, viz. in those tribes where the physiological rôle of the father in procreation is not known. We know with all certainty that this is the case in the Central and North Central tribes, as well as in the North-east part of the continent.[349] But it appears to be the case in the South Central tribes. It is stated that the Urabunna have quite analogous beliefs in reincarnation of ancestors, in their dwelling-places, and other totemic matters.[350] Spencer and Gillen do not say anything definite about the appreciation or want of knowledge of physiological paternity, but that is perhaps because they were less well acquainted with the Urabunna, who were also probably in a more advanced stage of decay. By analogy it may be inferred that the Urabunna, like all the other neighbouring tribes, had with the whole apparatus of analogous beliefs, also the lack of the knowledge in question. We might infer the same about the Dieri and kindred tribes, who seem to be almost identical in all respects with the Urabunna, but of whose religious and totemic ideas we are by no means so well informed as of their social organization; in fact, for these psychological data it is undoubtedly to Spencer and Gillen that we owe the major part of our knowledge about Australia.
Certainly the ignorance of physiological fatherhood in the South Central tribes is of a hypothetical character. But provided it is a fact, we see that the area occupied by tribes which believe in the supernatural begetting of children extends over the whole Central and North-east area. There is no evidence on this point in the case of the Western tribes. We find only in the South-eastern tribes a knowledge of the real process of procreation. It is interesting to note that thus the area of greater sexual promiscuity and less pronounced jealousy is conterminous with the area where natural paternity is unknown. Whether there be any real dependence between these two series of facts it is impossible to assert, as our knowledge of the natives' psychology is too scanty. But if our information on this point be reliable, and if these limits be correct, then the coincidence just noted is rather suggestive.
To return to the question of jealousy, we have, after having stated the general problems, discussed the influence exercised on it by social pressure or custom and other psychical factors. Finally we have shown that the sexual act is not in all tribes conceived as leading to childbirth, and that this bears upon the problem of jealousy. But it must be remembered that they have ideas of the sexual act which are entirely foreign to us, and which may account also for some differences in their views of, and feelings about, jealousy. Here come in ideas of the magic influences and virtues attributed to the sexual act. In Australia there are unmistakable signs of it.
The ceremonial act of defloration, in connection with the initiation of females, is undoubtedly connected with some mystic ideas of its magical character. This is shown especially clearly in the fact that this ceremonial act is employed for medicinal or hygienic purposes, as stated in Roth and in Beveridge.[351] We saw that the only instance of the exchange of wives in the Kurnai tribe was when it was ordered by the old men, to avert impending evil. The same is reported by Cameron of some of the Darling River tribes. This shows clearly how feelings of jealousy, which seem to have been fairly strong in this tribe, may be subservient to a belief in the magical, beneficial influence of sexual intercourse, performed in a certain prescribed way. The many instances in which sexual intercourse, usually not between husband and wife, takes place during certain religious ceremonies, as well as the fact of sexual abstinence, which is often to be observed on such occasions, shows that it has its magical side. From this conception of the sexual act as endowed with some magic properties, there would result differences in the ideas and feelings connected with jealousy. On the one hand, such magic properties would require in some cases the waiving of individual sexual rights, as we saw in some of the instances just mentioned. And in these cases the instincts of jealousy would be suppressed by the more powerful feelings inspired by supernatural apprehensions. On the other hand, it is possible—although there are no examples of it—that the very magical aspect of the sexual act would make it especially subject to jealous watchfulness and exclusiveness. Apart from any speculations, it appears certain that all these different ideas and conceptions are in intimate interdependence, and that we can only safely speak about jealousy (or any other such compounded psychical complex) in a given society, when we know all such connections.[352]
To sum up our results in this survey of jealousy in the Australian aboriginal society. Negatively: A priori it may be said that nothing like sexual jealousy in our sense of this word—save the broad and uncertain physiological instinct—can exist. As a matter of fact, a whole series of customs, duties, and tribal regulations absolutely contradict the existence of jealousy in our sense. Positively: The existence of strong instincts of jealousy in many cases must be acknowledged. To understand the more definite forms which these instincts assume, it is necessary to note the presence or absence of motives which would influence, check, or develop these instincts. The unquestionable physiological instinct of jealousy and the natural tendency to keep up one's private exclusive rights, are two sources from which jealousy seems to be derived. It is deeply influenced by the ideas on the magical character of the sexual act which the Australian aborigines undoubtedly possess; and in the majority of tribes by the absence of the knowledge of physical paternity. The tribal customs show that it does not amount to the idea of exclusive inviolable personal rights which essentially characterize our conception and feelings of jealousy. But within its narrower limits it seems to be very strong and important.