[451] Compare Wheeler, loc. cit., where this question is thoroughly discussed, and also Curr, pp. 244 sqq., Roth, Bull. 8, p. 9; Salvado, p. 265; Grey, ii. p. 272; Browne, loc. cit., p. 445; G. S. Lang, p. 5.
[452] This mystic character of some individual claims to a particular tract of country appears also from Roth's statement, and from a passage of Oldfield (loc. cit., p. 252). "Every male is bound to visit the place of his nativity three times a year." But this writer could not ascertain the purpose of it.
[453] Compare Grey, ii. p. 233, and the letter of G. S. Lang quoted by him therein. It appears that both these writers were to a certain extent inspired by a humanitarian tendency, namely to show that the Australian aborigines were not quite without ideas of property in land, and that they were wronged by the white settlers, and thus deserved compensation for the loss of their hunting-grounds. The letter mentioned was written to some humanitarian society. We may, therefore, still more distrust these statements. We have seen that the idea of possession of land, of an exclusive right to use a certain tract of country, was well known to our aborigines, but that they conceived of it as vested in a group, not in individuals.
[454] It is well to remember that there cannot be drawn a sharp line of distinction between a "family" and a "local group"; moreover, in the use of these terms our authorities are mostly careless and indiscriminate. As to the individual possession of land, it has been pointed out in connection with Howitt's statement on the Wurunjerri, that the individual rights of some influential man (headman) might be the expression of the rights of his local group.
[455] In agreement with Mr. Wheeler.
[456] Compare nearly all of our statements, especially those of Spencer and Gillen, Howitt, Curr. Mr. Wheeler writes in his conclusions (loc. cit., p. 161). "Territorial conquest is never sought, for the absolute right of the local group to its district is fully recognized." The respect for boundaries is also stated: in Science of Man, xi. (1910), p. 197 ("tribal" area sharply marked; death is the punishment for trespass). Ibid. (1900), p. 85. Ibid. (1901), p. 9.
[457] It is impossible to enlarge here upon this interesting subject, which would require a separate study to itself. The two volumes of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen especially are full of facts, showing that the tribal traditions, the totemic cult, the initiation ceremonies, and all other magical (or religious) functions were intimately bound up with the locality in which a local group lived. The local group itself was, so to say, an offshoot of the local totem centre, the Oknanikilla; the "spiritual parts" of its member, closely associated each with its Churinga, are enshrined in the Ertnatulunga. That the local group is intimately connected with its territory is no wonder. Such a form of possession, although it involves an extremely strong bond of union between man and land, is evidently something quite different from more developed forms of proprietorship.
[458] The difference in physical geography between the coastal regions and the Central parts, the greater variety in the South-East region in general, and the relations of these physiographical features to the social features of the Australian aboriginal society, are well brought out by Prof. Frazer in his beautifully written chapter on Physical Geography (Tot. and Exog., chap. v. § 1, pp. 314-339). Prof. Frazer's conclusion that the coastal and South-Eastern tribes are more advanced involves the assertion set forth here that coastal tribes, and in general tribes living in more fertile regions, live in more numerous, stable and permanent aggregations. Many of the instances and quotations of Prof. Frazer's chapter directly confirm our results, and the reader is referred to this chapter, which reviews nearly all the geographical differences that can be traced in Australia. That I do not agree with Prof. Frazer's views as to group marriage, etc., and with all his conclusions referring to prehistoric times, hardly needs to be pointed out, and does not affect the importance for my argument of his splendid collection and exposition of facts. Especially the two passages from Grey, quoted by Prof. Frazer in extenso, which had escaped my attention, are very valuable. They show that on the coast, where the soil is more fertile, the natives lived in larger bodies.
[459] Tom Petrie, Reminiscences, chap. i. Besides, compare gatherings at initiation. R. H. Mathews, Proc. R.S.N.S.W., 1904, pp. 114-123. Science of Man, xi., 1910, p. 192. Bunya-Bunya gatherings.
[460] Compare G. C. Wheeler, loc. cit., p. 161, and chap. ix. on War, pp. 148 sqq.