[1] Measured by the Rev. E. R. Gribble.
CHAPTER III
THE BREAST AND ABDOMEN
The female breast—Aboriginal ideas of shapeliness—Traditional cultivation by ceremonial—Prevalent shapes—Artificially induced lactation—The abdominal region—“Pot-belly”—The sign of surfeiting as well as of malnutrition—Living skeletons—Starvation a justifiable cause of cannibalism.
The female breast varies much in size and consistency, according to the age and physical (and physiological) condition of the individual. As in most matters that concern the aboriginal, his utilitarian inclination outweighs his æsthetic instincts, even to the extent that he regards the breast of his gin simply as that part of her “flesh,” which at the required period contains or produces the nutrient “water,” necessary for the rearing of his progeny. No breast, no matter how firm and classically hemispherical it might be in our estimation, would appeal to the aboriginal on account of its shapeliness. To him the voluminous, pendant, udder-like form, which can comfortably be handed over the gin’s shoulder, or under her arm, to the babe riding upon her back, would seem the orthodox and perfect creation. Indeed, among most of the tribes the husbands endeavour to attain that type both by magical incantation and by actual manipulation.
When the hour arrives that signs of adolescence first manifest themselves in a girl, her future husband, to whom she has long been assigned (perhaps even entirely speculatively, on the chance of the sex, before ever she was born), sets about to conjure up her feminine qualities. He may be, and usually is, joined by other men, to whom tribal law has by descent given claim to periodic domestic privileges approaching those of the marital relationships which are to exist between the individual husband and his gin.
Without advertisement, the tender novice is quietly coaxed away from camp by the men, who, by talking kindly to her, have no need to apply coercion. At no great distance they halt, and the future husband anoints the areas surrounding both nipples, which are likely to bulge forth as the future breasts, with grease; the anointed areas are then covered with a layer of red ochre. Whilst this is taking place, all present sing to the budding milk-gland, first softly, then vehemently, and with ceremony. During the performance on the North Coast, the female dugong, whose motherly devotion to her young is a recognised virtue, is frequently alluded to.
The painted areolas are frequently charmed by touching them with a magic stone, and at intervals the enchanters bring an anointed circle into contact with their lips, as if endeavouring to draw the nipple forwards, that it might grow.
Ultimately the girl is told to return to the women, who take her on a food-collecting expedition; during her absence from camp, it is quite possible that the signs of approaching maturity may become more definite.
The aboriginal breast begins to grow at an earlier age than the European, on an average at about the tenth year. Neglecting for the present the different phases in its development, from the puerile papilla through various shapes, depending upon the growth of the milk-gland and the deposition of fat about it, one type of breast is typical of early adult life, that is the pear-shaped form. In this type, especially in its earliest stages, the secondary bulge beneath the nipple often fuses imperceptibly with the basal hemisphere, so that a conoid shape results. In older women, the breasts at times assume extraordinarily large dimensions, especially when the individual is inclined to be on the well-nourished side. In very old gins, who have born and reared a number of children, the shape disappears entirely, the breasts becoming mere flaps of skin. A full dry breast is the exception rather than the rule; only in youthful cases, who have not become mothers, do we meet with firm and standing breasts. In later life, the inevitable sagging and attenuation are materially increased by a child in arms which, as the mother plies and looks for food, secures itself by firmly clasping one or both of its parent’s breasts.