THE PRE-DRAVIDIANS: JUNGLE TRIBES OF THE DECCAN, VEDDA, SAKAI,
AUSTRALIANS
The Pre-Dravidians--The _Kadir_--The _Paniyan_--The _Irula_--The
_Kurumba_--The _Vedda_--The _Sakai_--The _Toala_--Australia:
Physical Conditions--Physical Type--Australian Origins--Evidence
from Language and Culture--Four Successive Immigrations--Earlier
Views--Material Culture--Sociology--Initiation Ceremonies--
Totemism--The Family--Kinship--Property and Trade--Magic and
Religion.
CONSPECTUS.
#Present Range.# _Jungle Tribes, Deccan; Vedda, Ceylon; Sakai, Malay
Peninsula and East Sumatra; Australians, unsettled parts of Australia
and reservations._
#Hair#, _wavy to curly, long, usually black_.
#Colour#, _dark brown_. #Skull#, _typically dolichocephalic_. _Vedda
skull dolichocephalic (70.5) and very small, Sakai mesaticephalic (78),
Toala (mixed) low brachycephalic (82)._ #Jaws#, _orthognathous_.
_Australians, generally prognathous._ #Nose#, _usually platyrrhine_.
#Stature#, _low_. _Vedda 1.53 m. (5 ft. 0-1/2 in.) to Australian 1.575
m. (5 ft. 2 in.)_
#Speech#, _Jungle tribes, usually borrowed from neighbours_. _Australian
languages agglutinative, not uniform throughout the continent and
unconnected with any other group._
#Culture#, _lowest hunting stage, simple agriculture has been adopted by
a few tribes from their neighbours_.
* * * * *
The term Pre-Dravidian, the first use of which seems to be due to
Lapicque, is now employed to include certain jungle tribes of South
India, the Vedda of Ceylon, the Sakai of the southern Malay Peninsula,
the basal element in certain tribes in the East India Archipelago and
the main element in the Australians. Pre-Dravidian characters are
coarse hair, more or less wavy or curly, a narrow head, a very broad
nose, dark brown skin and short stature.
The following may be taken as examples of the Pre-Dravidian jungle
tribes of Southern India[961]. The _Kadir_ of the Anaimalai Hills and
the mountain ranges south into Travancore, are of short stature (1.577
m. 5 ft. 2 in.), with a dark skin, dolichocephalic and platyrrhine. They
chip their incisor teeth, as do the _Mala-Vadan_, and dilate the lobes
of their ears, but do not tattoo. They wear bamboo combs similar to
those of the Sakai. They speak a Tamil patois. "The Kadirs," according
to Thurston, "afford a typical example of happiness without culture";
they are nomad hunters and collectors of jungle products, with scarcely
any tillage; they do not possess land but have the right to collect all
minor forest produce and sell it to the Government. They deal most
extensively in wax and honey. They are polygynous. Their dead are buried
in the jungle, the head is entirely covered with leaves and placed
towards the east; there are no monuments. Their religion is a crude
polytheism with a vague worship of stone images or invisible gods; it is
"an ejaculatory religion."
The _Paniyan_, who live in Malabar, the Wynad and the Nilgiris, have
thick and sometimes everted lips and the hair is in some a mass of short
curls, in others long wavy curls. They are dark skinned, dolichocephalic
(index 74), platyrrhine and of short stature (1.574 m. 5 ft. 2 in.).
They sometimes tattoo, and the lobes of the ears are dilated. Fire is
made by the sawing method. They are agriculturalists and were
practically serfs; they are bold and reckless and were formerly often
employed as thieves. They speak a debased Malayalam patois. Their dead
are buried; they practise monogamy and have beliefs in various spirits.
The _Irula_ are the darkest of the Nilgiri tribes. They are
dolichocephalic (index 75.8), platyrrhine and of low stature (1.598 m.
nearly 5 ft. 3 in.). No tattooing is recorded, but they dilate the lobes
of their ears. Their language is a corrupt form of Tamil. They are
agriculturalists and eat all kinds of meat except that of buffaloes and
cattle. They are as a rule monogamous. Their dead are buried in a
sitting posture and the grave is marked by a stone. Professedly they are
worshippers of Vishnu.
The jungle _Kurumba_ of the Nilgiris appear to be remnants of a great
and widely spread people who erected dolmens. They have slightly broader
heads (index 77) than allied tribes, but resemble them in their broad
nose, dark skin and low stature (1.575 m. 5 ft. 2 in.). They cultivate
the ground a little, but are essentially woodcutters, hunters, and
collectors of jungle produce. There is said to be no marriage rite, and
several brothers share a wife. Some bury their dead. After a death a
long waterworn stone is usually placed in one of the old dolmens which
are scattered over the Nilgiri plateau, but occasionally a small dolmen
is raised to mark the burial. They have a great reputation for magical
powers. Some worship Siva, others worship Kuribattraya (Lord of many
sheep), and the wife of Siva. They also worship a rough stone, setting
it up in a cave or in a circle of stones to which they make _puja_ and
offer cooked rice at the sowing time. The Kadu Kurumba of Mysore bury
children but cremate adults; there is a separate house in each village
for unmarried girls and another at the end of the village for unmarried
males.
The _Vedda_ of Ceylon have long black coarse wavy or slightly curly
hair. The cephalic index is 70.5, the nose is depressed at the root,
almost platyrrhine; the broad face is remarkably orthognathous and the
forehead is slightly retreating with prominent brow arches; the lips are
thin, and the skin is dark brown. The stature is extremely low, only
1.533 m. (5 ft. 0-1/2 in.). The Coast and less pure Vedda average 43 mm.
(1-3/4 in.) taller and have broader heads. The true Vedda are a grave
but happy people, quiet, upright, hospitable with a strong love of
liberty. Lying and theft are unknown. They are timid and have a great
fear of strangers. The bow and arrow are their only weapons and the
arrow tipped with iron obtained from the Sinhalese forms a universal
tool. They speak a modified Sinhali, but employ only one numeral and
count with sticks. They live under rock shelters or in simple huts made
of boughs. They are strictly monogamous and live in isolated families
with no chiefs and have no regular clan meetings. Each section of the
Vedda had in earlier days its own hunting grounds where fish, game,
honey, and yams constituted their sole food. The wild Vedda simply leave
their dead in a cave, which is then deserted. The three things that loom
largest in the native mind are hunting, honey, and the cult of the
dead. The last constitutes almost the whole of the religious life and
magical practices of the people; it is the _motif_ of almost every dance
and may have been the source of all. After a death they perform certain
dances and rites through a _shaman_ in connection with the recently
departed ghost, _yaka_. They also propitiate powerful _yaku_, male and
female, by sacrifices and ceremonial dances[962].
The _Sakai_ or _Senoi_ are jungle folk, some of whom have mixed with
Semang and other peoples. Their skin is of a medium brown colour. Their
hair is long, mainly wavy or loosely curly, and black with a reddish
tinge. The average stature may be taken to be from 1.5 m. to 1.55 m. (59
to 61 inches), the head index varies from about 77 to 81. The face is
fairly broad, with prominent cheek-bones and brow ridges; the low broad
nose has spreading alae and short concave ridge; the lips are thick but
not everted. They are largely nomadic, and their agriculture is of the
most primitive description, their usual implement being the digging
stick. Their houses are built on the ground and as a rule are
rectangular in plan though occasionally conical, and huts are sometimes
built in trees as refuges from wild beasts. A scanty garment of bark
cloth was formerly worn, and, like the Semang, they make fringed girdles
from a black thread-like fungus. Their distinctive weapon is the
blow-pipe which they have brought to great perfection, and their food
consists in jungle produce, including many poisonous roots and tubers
which they have learnt how to treat, so as to render them innocuous.
They do not make canoes and rarely use rafts. In the marriage ceremony
the man has to chase the girl round a mound of earth and catch her
before she has encircled it a third time. The marriage tie is strictly
observed. Each village has a petty chief, whose influence is purely
personal. Individual property does not exist, only family property.
Cultivation is also communal. The inhabitants of the upper heaven
consist of Tuhan or Peng, the "god" of the Sakai and a giantess named
"Granny Long-breasts" who washes sin-blackened human souls in hot water;
the good souls ultimately go to a cloud-land. There are numerous demons
and whenever the Sakai have done wrong Tuhan gives the demons leave to
attack them, and there is no contending against his decree. He is not
prayed to, as his will is unalterable[963].
The _Toala_ of the south-west peninsula of the Celebes are at base,
according to the Sarasins[964], a Pre-Dravidian people, though some
mixture with other races has taken place. The hair is very wavy and even
curly, the skin darkish brown, the head low brachycephalic (index 82)
and the stature 1.575 m. (5 ft. 2 in.). The face is somewhat short with
very broad nose and thick lips. Possibly the _Ulu Ayar_ of west Borneo
who are related to the Land Dayaks may be partly of Pre-Dravidian origin
and other traces of this race will probably be found in the East India
Archipelago[965].
Australia resembles South Africa in the arid conditions characterising
the interior, the eastern range of mountains precipitating the warm
moisture-laden winds from the Pacific. As a result of the restricted
rainfall there is no river system of importance except that of the
Murray and its tributary the Darling. In the north and north-east, owing
to heavier rainfall, there are numerous water-courses, but they do not
open up the interior of the country. The lack of uniformity in the water
supply has a far-reaching effect on all living beings. The arid
conditions, the irregularity and short duration of the rainfall oblige
the natives to be continually migrating, and prevent these unsettled
bands from ever attaining any size, indeed they are sometimes hard
pressed to obtain enough food to keep alive.
It may be assumed that the backwardness of the culture of the
Australians is due partly to the low state of culture of their ancestors
when they arrived in the country, and partly to the peculiar character
of the country as well as of its flora and fauna, since Australia has
never been stocked with wild animals dangerous to human life, or with
any suitable for domestication. The relative isolation from other
peoples has had a retarding effect and the Australian has developed
largely along his own lines without the impetus given by competition
with other peoples. Records of simple migration are rare. There have
been no waves of aggression, and intertribal feuds are not very serious
affairs. The Australians have never influenced any other peoples and
they are doomed gradually to disappear.
Baldwin Spencer says "In the matter of personal appearance while
conforming generally to what is known as the Australian type, there is
considerable variation. The man varies from, approximately, a maximum of
6 ft. 3 in. to a minimum of 5 ft. 2 in.... As a general rule, few of
them are taller than 5 ft. 8 in. The women vary between 5 ft. 9 in. and
4 ft. 9 in. Their average height is not more than 5 ft. 2 in. The brow
ridges are strongly marked, especially in the man, and the forehead
slopes back. The nose is broad with the root deep set. In colour the
native is dark chocolate brown, not black. The hair ... may be almost
straight, decidedly wavy--its usual feature--or almost, but never
really, frizzly.... The beard also may be well developed or almost
absent[966]." The skull is dolichocephalic with an average cranial index
of 72, prognathous and platyrrhine.
There has been much speculation with regard to the origin of the present
Australian race. According to Baldwin Spencer "There can be no doubt but
that in past times the whole of the continent, including Tasmania, was
occupied by one race. This original, and probably Negritto[967]
population, at an early period; was widely spread over Malayasia and
Australia including Tasmania, which at that time was not shut off by
Bass Strait. The Tasmanians had no boats capable of crossing the latter
and [it is assumed that their ancestors] must have gone over on
land[968]."
Subsequently when the land sank a remnant of the old ulotrichous
population "was thus left stranded in Tasmania, where _Homo tasmanianus_
survived until he came in contact with Europeans and was exterminated."
He had frizzly hair. "His weapons and implements were of the most
primitive kind; long pointed unbarbed spears, no spear thrower, no
boomerang, simple throwing stick and only the crudest form of chipped
stone axes, knives and scrapers that were never hafted. Unfortunately
of his organisation, customs, and beliefs we know but little in
detail[969]."
It is now generally held that at a later date an immigration of a people
in a somewhat higher stage of culture took place; these are regarded by
some as belonging to the Dravidian, and by others, and with more
probability, to the Pre-Dravidian race. J. Mathew[970] suggests that
"the two races are represented by the two primary classes, or phratries,
of Australian society, which were generally designated by names
indicating a contrast of colour, such as eaglehawk and crow. The crow,
black cockatoo, etc., would represent the Tasmanian element; the
eaglehawk, white cockatoo, etc., the so-called Dravidian." Baldwin
Spencer does not think that the moiety names lend any serious support to
the theory of the mixture of two races differing in colour. He goes on
to say "Mr Mathew also postulates a comparatively recent slight infusion
of Malay blood in the northern half of Australia. There is, however,
practically no evidence of Malay infusion. One of the most striking
features of the Malay is his long, lank hair, and yet it is just in
these north parts that the most frizzly hair is met with[971]."
As concerns linguistics S. H. Ray says "There is no evidence of an
African, Andaman, Papuan, or Malay connection with the Australian
languages. There are reasons for regarding the Australian as in a
similar morphological stage to the Dravidian, but there is no
genealogical relationship proved[972]." No connection has yet been
proved between the Australian languages and the Austronesian or Oceanic
branch of the Austric family of languages, first systematically
described by W. Schmidt[973]. The study of Australian languages is
particularly difficult owing to the very few serviceable grammars and
dictionaries, and the large number of very incomplete vocabularies
scattered about in inaccessible works and journals. The main conclusion
to which Schmidt has arrived[974] is that the Australian languages are
not, as had been supposed, a mainly uniform group. Though over the
greater part of Australia languages possess strong common elements,
North Australia has languages showing no similarities in vocabulary and
very few in grammar with that larger group or with each other. The area
of the North Australian languages is included in a line from south of
Roebuck Bay in the west to Cape Flattery in the east, with a southward
bend to include Arunta (Aranda), interrupted by a branch of southern
languages running up north down Flinders and Leichhardt rivers[975]. The
area contains two or three linguistic groups, best distinguished by
their terminations which consist respectively of vowels and consonants,
the oldest group; vowels alone, the latest group; and vowels and
liquids, probably representing a transition between the two.
In South Australia, though differences occur, the languages possess
common features both in grammar and vocabulary, having similar personal
pronouns, and certain words for parts of the body in common. Linguistic
differences are associated with differences in social grouping, the area
of purely vowel endings coinciding with the area of the 2-class system
and matrilinear descent, while the area of liquid endings is partly
coterminous with the 4-class system and (often) patrilinear succession.
Schmidt endeavours to trace the connection between the distribution of
languages with that of types of social groupings, more particularly in
connection with the culture zones which Graebner[976] has traced
throughout the Pacific area, representing successive waves of migration.
The first immigration, corresponding with Graebner's _Ur-period_, is
represented by languages with postposed genitive, the earliest stratum
being pure only in Tasmania; remnants of the first stratum and a second
stratum occur in Victoria, and remnants of the second stratum to the
north and north-east. According to Schmidt this cultural stratum is
characterised by absence of group or marriage totemism, and presence of
sex patrons ("sex-totemism"). The second immigration is represented by
languages with preposition of the genitive, initial _r_ and _l_, vowel
and explosive endings, and is found fairly pure only in the extreme
north-west and north, and in places in the north-east. The great
multiplicity of languages belonging to this stratum may be attributed to
the predominance of the strictly local type of totem-groups. These are
the languages of Graebner's "totem-culture." The third immigration is
represented by languages with preposition of the genitive, no initial
_r_ and _l_, and purely vowel terminations. These are the languages of
the south central group of tribes with a 2-class system and matrilinear
descent. This uniform group has the largest area and has influenced the
whole mass of Australian languages, only North Australia and Tasmania
remaining immune. Their sociological structure with no localisation of
totems and classes contributed to their power of expansion. The fourth
immigration is represented by languages of an intermediate type, with
vowel and liquid endings but no initial _r_ and _l_. These are the
tribes with 4-class and 8-class systems, universal father-right (proving
the strong influence of older totemic ideas), curious fertility rites,
conception ideas and migration myths.
It will be seen that Schmidt's conclusions confute the evolutionary
theory developed by Frazer, Hartland, Howitt, Spencer and Gillen,
Durkheim and (in part) Andrew Lang, that Australia was essentially
homogeneous in fundamental ideas which have developed differently on
account of geographic and climatic variation. Schmidt's view is that
Australia was entered successively by a number of entirely different
tribes, so that the variation now met with is due to radical diversities
and to the numerous intermixtures arising from migrations and
stratifications of peoples. The linguistic data dispose of the idea that
the oldest tribes with mother-right, 2-class system, traces of
group-marriage, and lack of moral and religious ideas live in the
centre, and that from thence advancement radiated towards the coast
bringing about father-right, abandonment of class system and totemism,
individual marriage, and higher ethical and religious ideas. On the
contrary it would appear that the centre of the continent is the great
channel in which movements are still taking place; the older peoples are
driven out towards the margin and there preserve the old sociological,
ethical and religious conditions. In fact, the older the people, judging
from their linguistic stratum, the less one finds among them what has
been assumed to be the initial stage for Central Australia[977]. These
are Schmidt's views and they confirm the cultural results established by
Graebner. But as the whole question of the culture layers in the Pacific
is still under discussion it is inadvisable at this stage of our
knowledge to make any definite statements. It is worth noting, however,
that[978] the distribution of simple burial of the dead coincides in the
main with Schmidt's South Australian language area, and the area roughly
enclosed on the east by long. 140 deg. E. and the north by lat. 20 deg. S.
appears to form a technological province distinct from the rest of
Australia[979].
Rarely can the Australian depend on regular supplies of food. He feeds
on flesh, fish, grubs and insects, and wild vegetable food; probably
everything that is edible is eaten. Cannibalism is widely spread, but
human flesh is nowhere a regular article of food. Clothing, apart from
ornament, is rarely worn, but in the south, skin cloaks and fur aprons
are fairly common. Scarification of the body is frequent and
conspicuous. The men usually let their hair grow long, and the women
keep theirs short. Dwellings are of the simplest character, usually
merely breakwinds or slight huts, but where there is a large supply of
vegetable food, huts are made of boughs covered with bark or grass and
are sometimes coated with clay. Implements are made of shell, bone, wood
and stone. Baldwin Spencer remarks "It is not too much to say that at
the present time we can parallel amongst Australian stone weapons all
the types known in Europe under the names Chellean, Mousterian,
Aurignacian etc.... The terms Eolithic, Palaeolithic, and Neolithic do
not apply in Australia as indicating either time periods or levels of
culture[980]." Spears and wooden clubs are universal, and the use of the
spear-thrower is generally distributed. The boomerang is found almost
throughout Australia; the variety that returns when it is thrown is as a
rule only a plaything or for throwing at birds. The forms of the various
implements vary in different parts of the country and in some districts
certain implements may be entirely absent. For example the boomerang is
not found in the northern parts of Cape York peninsula or of the
Northern Territory, and the spear-thrower is absent from south-east
Queensland. Bows and arrows are unknown and pottery making does not
occur. Rafts are made of one or more logs, and the commonest form of
canoe is that made of a single sheet of bark. Dug-outs occur in a few
places, and both single and double outriggers are found only on the
Queensland coast. These sporadic occurrences give additional support to
the modern view that the racial and cultural history of Australia is by
no means so simple as has till lately been assumed[981].
Students of Australian sociology have been so much impressed with
certain prominent features of social organisation that they have paid
insufficient attention to kinship and the family; the former has however
recently been investigated by A. R. Brown[982], while information
concerning the latter has been carefully sifted by B. Malinowski[983].
The main features of social groupings are the tribe, the local groups,
the classes, the totemic clans and the families. A tribe is composed of
a number of local groups and these are perpetuated in the same tracts by
the sons, who hunt over the grounds of their fathers; this is the "local
organisation." The local group is the only political unit, and
_intra_-group justice has been extended to _inter_-group justice, where
the units of reference are not based on kinship; this may be regarded as
the earliest stage of what is known as International Law[984]. In the
so-called "social organisation," the tribe as a community is divided
into two parts (moieties or phratries), which are quite distinct from
the local groups, though rarely they may be coincident. Each moiety may
be subdivided into two or four exogamous sections which are generally
called "classes" and are peculiar to Australia. Descent in the classes
is as a rule indirect matrilineal or indirect patrilineal, that is to
say, while the child still belongs to its mother's or father's moiety
(as the case may be) it is assigned to the class to which the mother or
the father does not belong; but the grandchildren belong to the class of
a grandmother or grandfather. In diagram I (below) _A_ and _C_ are
classes of one moiety, #B# and _D_ those of the other. Thus when _A_ man
marries _B_ woman the children are _D_. _B_ man marries _A_ woman and
the children are _C_ and so on. When there are four classes in each
moiety the diagram works out as follows (II)[985]:
[Illustration]
Very important in social life are the initiation ceremonies by means of
which a youth is admitted to the status of tribal manhood. These
ceremonies vary greatly from tribe to tribe but they agree in certain
fundamental points. "(1) They begin at the age of puberty. (2) During
the initiation ceremonies the women play an important part. (3) At the
close of the first part of the ceremonies, such as that of tooth
knocking out or circumcision, a definite performance is enacted
emblematic of the fact that the youths have passed out of the control of
the women. (4) During the essential parts the women are typically absent
and the youths are shown the bull-roarer, have the secret beliefs
explained to them and are instructed in the moral precepts and customs,
including food restrictions, that they must henceforth observe under
severe penalties. (5) The last grade is not passed through until a man
is quite mature[986]."
Practically universal is the existence of a grouping of individuals
under the names of plants, animals or various objects; these are termed
totems and the human groups are termed totem clans. The members of a
totem clan commonly believe themselves to be actually descended from or
related to their totem, and all members of a clan, whatever tribe they
may belong to, are regarded as brethren, who have mutual duties,
prohibitions and privileges. Thus a member of a totem clan must help and
never injure any fellow member. "Speaking generally it may be said that
every totemic group has certain ceremonies associated with it and that
these refer to old totemic ancestors. In all tribes they form part of a
secret ritual in which only the initiated may take part. In most tribes
a certain number are shown to the youths during the early stages of
initiation, but at a later period he sees many more[987]."
In several tribes, and probably it was very general, certain magical
ceremonies were performed to render the totem abundant or efficacious.
The sex patron ("sex totem"), when the women have one animal, such as
the owlet night-jar associated with them, and the men another, such as
the bat; and the guardian genius (mis-called "individual totem"),
acquired by dreaming of some animal, are of rare occurrence.
The individual family has been shown by Malinowski[988] to be "a unit
playing an important part in the social life of the natives and well
defined by a number of moral, customary and legal norms; it is further
determined by the sexual division of labour, the aboriginal mode of
living, and especially by the intimate relation between the parents and
children. The individual relation between husband and wife (marriage) is
rooted in the unity of the family ... and in the well-defined, though
not always exclusive, sexual right the husband acquires over his wife."
All sexual licence is regulated by and subject to strict rules. The
_Pirrauru_ custom, by which individuals are allocated accessory spouses,
"proves that the relationship involved does not possess the character of
marriage. For it completely differs from marriage in nearly all the
essential points by which marriage in Australia is defined. And above
all the Pirrauru relation does not seem to involve the facts of family
life in its true sense" (p. 298).
A. R. Brown[989] asserts that so far as our information goes, the only
method of regulating marriage is by means of the relationship system. In
every tribe there is a law to the effect that a man may only marry women
who stand to him in a certain relationship, and there is no evidence
that there is any other method of regulating marriage. The so-called
class rule by which a man of a special division or group is required to
marry a woman of another division is merely the law of relationship
stated in a less exact form. It is the fact that a man may only marry a
relative of a certain kind that necessitates the marrying into a
particular relationship division. The rule of totemic exogamy, according
to A. R. Brown, is equally seen to have no existence apart from the
relationship rule. Where a totemic group is a clan and consists of
relations all of one line of descent, a man is prohibited from marrying
a woman of his own group by the ordinary rule of relationship. On the
other hand, where the totemic group is not a clan, but is a local group
(as in the Burduna tribe) or a cult society (as in the Arunta tribe)
there is no rule prohibiting a man from marrying a woman of the same
totemic group as himself. The so-called rule of local exogamy in some
tribes (perhaps in all) is merely a result of the fact that the local
group is a clan, _i.e._ a group of persons related in one line of
descent only. Only two methods of regulating marriage are known to exist
in the greater part of Australia[990]: Type I. A man marries the
daughter of one of the men he denotes by the same term as his mother's
brother. Type II. A man marries a woman who is the daughter's daughter
of some man whom he denotes by the same term as his mother's mother's
brother. In either case he may not marry any other kind of relative. The
existence of two phratries or moieties or four named divisions
("classes") in a tribe conveys no information whatever as to the
marriage rule of the tribe. The term "class" and "sub-class," according
to A. R. Brown, had better be discarded as writers use them to denote
several totally distinct kinds of divisions.
The tribe has collecting and hunting rights over an area with recognised
limits, smaller communities down to the family unit having similar
rights within the tribal boundaries. In some cases a tribe which had no
stone suitable for making stone implements within its own boundaries was
allowed to send tribal messengers to a quarry to procure what was needed
without molestation, though Howitt speaks of family ownership of
quarries[991]. Implements are personal property. An extensive system of
intertribal communication and exchange is carried on, apparently by
recognised middlemen, and tribes meet on certain occasions at
established trade centres for a regulated barter.
Beneficent and malevolent magic are universally practised and totemism
possesses a religious besides a social aspect. An emotional relation
often exists between the members of a totem clan and their totem, and
the latter are believed at times to warn or protect their human
kinsmen. It may be noted that the widely spread and elaborate ceremonies
designed to render the totem prolific or to ensure its abundance, though
performed solely by members of the totem clan concerned, are less for
their own benefit than for that of the community[992]. Owing perhaps to
the difficulty of distinguishing between the purely social and the
religious institutions of primitive peoples great diversity of opinion
prevails even amongst the best observers regarding the religious views
of the Australian aborigines. The existence of a "tribal All-Father" is
perhaps most clearly emphasised by A. W. Howitt[993], who finds this
belief widespread in the whole of Victoria and New South Wales, up to
the eastern boundaries of the tribes of the Darling River. Amongst those
of New South Wales are the Euahlayi, whom K. Langloh Parker
describes[994] as having a more advanced theology and a more developed
worship (including prayers, pp. 79-80) than any other Australian tribe.
These now eat their hereditary totem without scruple--a sure sign that
the totemic system is dying out, although still outwardly in full force.
Amongst the Arunta, Kaitish, and the other Central and Northern tribes
studied by Spencer and Gillen, totemism still survives, and totems are
even assigned to the mysterious _Iruntarinia_ entities, vague and
invisible incarnations of the ghosts of ancestors who lived in the
_Alcheringa_ time, the dim remote past at the beginning of everything.
These are far more powerful than living men, because their spirit part
is associated with the so-called _churinga_, consisting of stones,
pieces of wood or any other objects which are deemed sacred as
possessing a kind of _mana_ which makes the yams and grass to grow,
enables a man to capture game, and so forth. "That the _churinga_ are
simply objects endowed with _mana_ is the happy suggestion of Sidney
Hartland[995] whose explanation has dispelled the dense fog of
mystification hitherto enveloping the strange beliefs and observances of
these Central and Northern tribes[996]." N. W. Thomas[997] reviews the
whole question of Australian religion, and after describing Twanjiraka,
Malbanga and Ulthaana, of the Arunta, Baiame or Byamee, famous in
anthropological controversy[998], Daramulun of the Yuin, Mungan-ngaua
(our father) of the Kurnai, Nurrundere of the Narrinyeri, Bunjil or
Pundjel, often called Mamingorak (our father) of Victoria, and others,
he concludes "These are by no means the only gods known to Australian
tribes; on the contrary it can hardly be definitely asserted that there
is or was any tribe which had not some such belief[999]."
FOOTNOTES:
[961] E. Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_, 1909.
[962] P. and F. Sarasin, _Ergebnisse Naturwissenschaftlicher Forschungen
auf Ceylon. Die Steinzeit auf Ceylon_, 1908; H. Parker, _Ancient
Ceylon_, 1909. The most complete account is given by C. G. and B. Z.
Seligman, _The Veddas_, 1911.
[963] W. W. Skeat and C. O. Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay
Peninsula_, 1906; R. Martin, _Die Inlandstaemme der Malayischen
Halbinseln_, 1905.
[964] Fritz Sarasin, _Versuch einer Anthropologie der Insel Celebes_.
_Zweiter Teil: Die Varietaeten des Menschen auf Celebes_, 1906.
[965] A. C. Haddon, Appendix to C. Hose and W. McDougall, _The Pagan
Tribes of Borneo_, II. 1912.
[966] _Federal Handbook, Brit. Ass. for Advancement of Science_, 1914,
p. 36.
[967] The Tasmanians can scarcely be termed Negritoes. The important
point to be noted is that this early population was ulotrichous, cf. p.
159.
[968] _Loc. cit._ p. 34. Or the Strait may then have been very narrow.
[969] _Loc. cit._ p. 34.
[970] _Two Representative Tribes of Queensland_, 1910, p. 30.
[971] _Loc. cit._ p. 34.
[972] _Reports Camb. Exped. to Torres Straits_, III. 1907, p. 528.
[973] _Die Mon-Khmer Voelker_, 1906. Schmidt has for many years studied
the Australian languages and has published his results in _Anthropos_,
Vols, VII., VIII. 1912, 1913, from which, and also from _Man_, No. 8,
1908, the following summarised extracts are taken.
[974] See _Man_, No. 8, 1908, pp. 184-5.
[975] See the map constructed by P. W. Schmidt and P. K. Streit,
_Anthropos_, VII. 1912.
[976] See _Globus_, XC. 1906, and "Die sozialen Systeme d. Suedsee,"
_Ztschr. f. Sozialwissenschaft_, XI. 1908. Schmidt's divergence from
Graebner's views are dealt with in _Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie_, 1909, pp.
372-5, and _Anthropos_, VII. 1912, p. 246 ff.
[977] _Anthropos_, VII. 1912, pp. 247, 248.
[978] N. W. Thomas, "The Disposal of the Dead in Australia," _Folklore_,
XIX. 1908.
[979] A. R. Brown, MS.
[980] _Federal Handbook, British Association for the Advancement of
Science_, 1914, p. 76.
[981] A. C. Haddon, "The Outrigger Canoes of Torres Straits and North
Queensland," _Essays and Studies Presented to W. Ridgeway_, 1913, p.
621, and W. H. R. Rivers, "The Contact of Peoples," in the same volume,
p. 479.
[982] _Man_, No. 32, 1910.
[983] _The Family among the Australian Aborigines_, 1913.
[984] G. C. Wheeler, _The Tribe, and intertribal relations in
Australia_, 1910, p. 163.
[985] A. R. Brown, "Marriage and Descent in North Australia," _Man_, No.
32, 1910.
[986] W. Baldwin Spencer, _loc. cit._ p. 50.
[987] W. Baldwin Spencer, _loc. cit._ p. 44.
[988] _The Family among the Australian Aborigines_, 1913, p. 304.
[989] MS.
[990] A. R. Brown, "Three Tribes of Western Australia," _Journ. Roy.
Anthr. Inst._ XLIII. 1913.
[991] A. W. Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, 1904,
p. 311.
[992] W. Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central
Australia_, 1899, Chap. VI., and _The Northern Tribes of Central
Australia_, 1904, Chap. IX.
[993] _The Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, 1904, p. 500.
[994] _The Euahlayi Tribe_, 1905.
[995] Presidential Address (Section H) Brit. Ass. York, 1906.
[996] A. H. Keane, Art. "Australasia," in Hastings' _Encyclopaedia of
Religion and Ethics_, 1909, p. 244.
[997] _The Natives of Australia_, 1906, Chap. XIII. Religion.
[998] E. B. Tylor, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ XXI. p. 292; A. Lang, _Magic
and Religion_, p. 25; _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, Chap. XII.; K.
Langloh Parker, _The Euahlayi Tribe_, 1905, Chap. II.; M. F. v.
Leonhardi, _Anthropos_, IV. 1909, p. 1065, and many others.
[999] The following should be consulted:
Original memoirs: C. Strehlow, _Die Aranda- und Loritza-Staemme in
Zentral-Australien_, 1907; W. E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among
the north-west-central Queensland Aborigines_, 1897; _North
Queensland Ethnography, Bulletins_ 1-8, 1901-6, and _Bulletins_
9-18; _Records of the Australian Museum_, VI.-VIII. Sydney,
1890-1910.
Compilations and discussions: E. Durkheim, _The Elementary Forms
of the Religious Life: a Study in Religious Sociology_ (translated
by J. W. Swain), a very suggestive study based on Australian
custom and belief; J. G. Frazer, _Exogamy and Totemism_, I. 1910;
_The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead_, I. pp.
67-169, 1913.