I could not allow this opportunity to pass without making brief reference to the causes of the early extinction which is threatening these inoffensive, useful, and scientifically important people. We have only to cast our eyes in the direction of any wave of settlement to behold the disastrous effects our occupation of the land has had on the natives. Take, for instance, the Lake Eyre region, which embraces the Dieri, Yantowannta, Ngameni, and Yauroworka tribes. Official reports show that only forty years ago the population was so dense that the white settlers asked for greater police protection; the four tribes mentioned numbered many thousands. During a recent survey on behalf of the Government, I could barely muster three hundred wretched and decrepit souls in this region, who, literally speaking, were waiting for a lingering death to relieve them of their misery. We content ourselves by saying that civilization is the cause of the increased mortality, no doubt a plausible but very vague explanation. As a result of my investigations, I venture the opinion that the factor which has wrought the greatest havoc among the tribes is disease. The principal scourges are syphilis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and trachoma. Unless we realize the obligations which rest on our shoulders and give our natives a medical protection similar to the successful measures adopted by the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, they will continue to vanish and soon be classed as an extinct race.

H. BASEDOW.

Kent Town, South Australia, 2nd November, 1924.

CONTENTS

ChapterPage
IIntroduction to an Australian Tribe[1]
IIRacial Characteristics[5]
IIIThe Breast and Abdomen[18]
IVThe Face and its Skeleton[22]
VThe Mouth[31]
VIThe Skull and Brain[34]
VIIColour of Aboriginal’s Skin[40]
VIIIThe Hair[46]
IXLikely Origin of the Australian Aboriginal[52]
XAn Aboriginal’s Birth[61]
XIChildhood[69]
XIIThe Day’s March[91]
XIIICamp Life[100]
XIVHunting[120]
XVVegetable Diet[148]
XVIBeverages[153]
XVIIPitjuri[155]
XVIIINavigation[158]
XIXDuels[165]
XXWarfare[183]
XXISpears[190]
XXIISpear-throwers[199]
XXIIIBurial and Mourning Customs[203]
XXIVTribal Organizations[216]
XXVTribal Administration[225]
XXVIInitiation[230]
XXVIIReligious Ideas[257]
XXVIIIAboriginal Art[297]
XXIXStone Implements[359]
XXXMusic and Dance[371]
XXXILanguage[386]

LIST OF PLATES

[Frontispiece] (in colour)—The Buffalo Hunters’ Triumph
Plate Opposite
Page
I Wordaman natives on the march [4]
II Comparison of European with Aboriginal figure [12]
III 1. Colossal brow-ridge, Arunndta man. 2. Supra-orbital prominence, deep notch at root of nose, prognathism, and female beard [16]
IV 1. Aluridja woman. 2. Wongapitcha warrior, so-called Semitic type [32]
V Wordaman man, profile and full-face [36]
VI 1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “ungwaina” (nose-stick) and fur-string bandeau. 2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing bloodwood seed pendants called “dindula” [44]
VII 1. Old Yantowannta man, showing a strong growth of hair covering the body. 2. Old Yantowannta man, showing peculiar method of wearing the beard [48]
VIII Old Kai-Kai, the leading medicine man of the western Arunndta [64]
IX 1. Men of Kolaia tribe, Cambridge Gulf, wearing the hair tied at the back around a pad of emu feathers. 2. Wongapitcha men wearing ornamental wooden hair-pins [68]
X 1. A juvenile “blonde,” Aluridja tribe. 2. Ponga-Ponga gin carrying pet opossum on her head while on the march [76]
XI Rocking a child to sleep, Sunday Island [80]
XII Juvenile Types. 1. Full-face, female, Wongkanguru tribe. 2. Profile, female, Aluridja tribe [96]
XIII 1. The game of “gorri,” Humbert River, Northern Territory. 2. A “Kutturu” duel, Aluridja tribe [100]
XIV 1. Arunndta boy practising with toy shield and boomerang. 2. Wordaman warrior, holding prevalent north-western type of spear-thrower and wearing pubic fur tassel [108]
XV 1. Framework of hut in course of construction, Cooper’s Creek, S.W. Queensland. 2. Hut decked with porcupine grass, Arltunga district [112]
XVI 1. Wongapitcha women carrying dogs across their backs. 2. Kolaia man standing in the characteristic bird-like attitude, Cambridge Gulf [128]
XVII Female wood-carriers, Aluridja tribe [132]
XVIII Two handfuls of witchedy grubs [140]
XIX 1. Aluridja tree-climber. 2. Wordaman tree-climber [144]
XX Kangaroo hunters, Aluridja tribe [160]
XXI 1. Arunndta girl digging “Yelka.” 2. Arunndta gin cleaning “Yelka” in bark pitchi [164]
XXII 1. Sunday Islander making fire by the twirling process during a ceremonial. 2. “Kaloa” or mangrove raft, Worora tribe, Glenelg River district [172]
XXIII Aluridja men “pointing” the bone [176]
XXIV A “boned” man, Minning tribe [192]
XXV 1. Dieri grave, Lake Eyre district. 2. Yantowannta grave, Innamincka district [196]
XXVI 1. Aluridja widow. 2. Yantowannta widow [204]
XXVII Tooth-rapping ceremony, Wongapitcha tribe [208]
XXVIII 1. Tooth-rapping ceremony. 2. Sunday Islander, who has had the two upper medium incisors removed during his initiation [224]
XXIX 1. Old men introducing a dance during an initiation ceremony, Kukata tribe. 2. Circumcision ceremony, Kukata tribe [228]
XXX Circumcision of a Wogait boy [236]
XXXI Melville Islander, full-face and profile [240]
XXXII An episode of the great fire ceremony, Kolaia tribe [256]
XXXIII Ceremonial venesection, Arunndta tribe. 1. The median basilic vein is being slit. 2. The blood which is spurting from the incision is being collected on a shield [260]
XXXIV The “Tjilbakuta” of the great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe [268]
XXXV Flashlight photograph of “Illiya Tjuringa” or great emu ceremony, Arunndta tribe [272]
XXXVI 1. An ordinary performer in the Ladjia or yam ceremony, wearing the “tdela” head-gear. 2. The impersonator of the “Kuta Knaninja” in the Ladjia or yam ceremony [288]
XXXVII The sacred “Etominja,” Arunndta tribe [292]
XXXVIII 1. Singing to the presiding spirit or Knaninja of the old women or “Arrekutja Tjuringa.” 2. Ceremonial head-gear (“Tjilba Purra”) of phallic significance [300]
XXXIX A disenchanted area, Victoria River district [304]
XL 1. Rock-carving of human form, Port Hedland. 2. Rock-carvings of lizard, pubic tassel, and owl, Flinders Ranges [320]
XLI 1. Rock-carvings (including platypus design), Flinders Ranges. 2. Rock-carvings, Flinders Ranges [324]
XLII 1. Rock-carvings, Flinders Ranges. 2. Emu design carved into the butt of a boabab tree, King Sound [332]
XLIII 1. Carved boabab nut, King Sound. 2. “Wanningi” from north-western Australia. 3. Slate scrapers used by the extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming skins [336]
XLIV 1. Hand marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe. 2. Foot marks in cave, Port George IV, Worora tribe [344]
XLV 1. Cave drawings, Forrest River, north-western Australia. 2. Decorating the body with pipe-clay, Humbert River, Northern Territory [352]
XLVI Wordaman native with his body and head decorated in imitation of skeleton and skull, Victoria River, Northern Territory [356]
XLVII 1. Cave drawings (kangaroo, etc.), Forrest River, north-western Australia. 2. Cave drawing of kangaroo, Forrest River, north-western Australia [360]
XLVIII Rock-drawings of archer fish (Toxotes), Katherine River, Northern Territory [364]
XLIX Ochre-drawings, Katherine River [368]
L 1. Cave drawing of camel, north of Musgrave Ranges, central Australia. 2. Cave drawing of human figure, Glenelg River, north-western Australia [376]
LI 1. Ochre-drawings of mythic semi-human creatures, Forrest River, north-western Australia. 2. Sacred “Utnguringita” or witchedy grub drawings, Emily Gap, MacDonnell Ranges [384]
LII Aluridja man rendering a musical accompaniment with boomerangs [388]
LIII Wordaman youth playing on the “drone pipe” or “bamboo trumpet” [392]
LIV 1. Making “vegetable down” by pounding grass between two stones, Humbert River, Northern Territory. 2. Worora native making a stone spear-head, Northern Kimberleys, Western Australia [396]
LV 1. Wongapitcha man shaping a spear-thrower with an adze. 2. Aluridja man scraping a boomerang with a sharp stone flake [400]