The stone implements used by uncivilized races are necessarily regarded by archæologists and geologists with great interest. In many parts of Europe there are no traces of the ancient race that once occupied soil now the sites of luxurious cities but such as can be gathered from the stone axes and flint flakes which explorations from time to time discover.

The archæologist, by comparing these implements with others found in neighbouring lands, where they are associated with remains more perishable, but which happily have not altogether gone to decay, gains hints for his guidance in the endeavour to discern something of the life and habits and character of the men who made and used them. And he gains help too by comparing the celts with the instruments now used by savages.

The geologist finds that he has not embraced all that comes within the scope of his labors if he omits to give a distinct place in his system to those drifts where occur chips and flakes of flint and stones bearing the marks of an art which civilized men cannot practise with success.

“Baiame” (pronounced like the three words “By-a-me,” and in the Wellington district south of the Namoi “By-a-my”) is the name by which tribes scattered over a great portion of the north-west and west of New South Wales designate the Supreme Being. The blacks there who are acquainted with English, if asked what “Baiame” is, reply, “Carbon-massa,” i.e., the Great Master; and to further enquiry as to what they and their fathers know of Baiame, they reply that He made earth, and water, and sky, animals and men; that He makes the rain come down, and the grass grow; that He has delivered their fathers from evil demons; that He welcomes good people to the great “Warrambool” (watercourse and grove) in the sky–the Milky Way–a paradise of peace and plenty; and that He destroys the bad.

The Rev. James Günther, of Mudgee, long a Missionary in the Wellington district, has recorded in his grammar of the “Wiradhurri” language that the thoughtful blackfellows ascribe to “Baiamai” these three attributes–immortality, power, and goodness. They say that Baiame is present at their Cora–the periodical assembly at which young men are initiated into the privileges of manhood. Among the ceremonies of the Cora is the exhibition of a sacred wand, which they say was given to their people by Baiame, the sight of which is essential to impart manhood.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

As the reader will naturally desire to know what my claims are as an authority on the subject of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, I may say that I arrived at Adelaide from England in 1839, and have resided in the Colonies of South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia, and Victoria ever since. I held the appointment under the Imperial Government of Assistant Surveyor in Western Australia for about twelve years–from 1841 to 1853.

My observations of the Aborigines were made chiefly in that colony, where they were, during the period mentioned, very numerous. In 1841 they numbered about three thousand in the located portions of the territory, according to the statistical returns, whereas the white population was much smaller, and, as a consequence, we had to learn to speak to the natives to a great extent in their own language, and thus had frequent opportunities for observing their social position and habits.

The following statements are written down partly from memory and partly from a miscellaneous collection of notes which I have from time to time made. I have also occasionally availed myself of such authorities as I have at hand, for the purpose of elucidating facts with which I was previously acquainted. These are principally the valuable little publications of the late Mr. G. F. Moore, Advocate-General of the Colony of Western Australia, and of the late Mr. E. S. Parker, formerly Assistant Protector of Aborigines in Victoria, with both of whom I was personally acquainted.

It is necessary for a tribe to move very frequently from place to place, always keeping within the boundaries of the country which it calls its own–now to the spot where eels can be taken in the creeks; often to the feeding grounds of the kangaroo; sometimes to the thicker forests to get wood suitable for making weapons; to the sea-coast continually for fish of various kinds; and, at the right season, to the lands where are found the native bread, the yam, and the acacia gum. Constantly under the pressure of want, and yet, by travelling, easily able to supply their wants, their lives lack neither excitement nor pleasure. When the head of a tribe, advised by the council of old men, has fixed upon a camping ground at some distance away, notice is given to all the families at early morning. Such things as they require on their journey they carry with them, but property of another kind is secreted in their miams or in the hollows of trees, or under stones, or in some thick patch of scrub. In leaving it they know well that they will find it when they return. Laden with their bags and rugs, and implements and weapons, they wend their way through the forest in small parties: the males generally with the males, the females with the females; and the constant chatter and noise, and sometimes the loud calls of the men, serve to amuse and cheer the tribe on its journey.

In undertaking to communicate a paper on the system of consanguinity and kinship of the Australian Aborigines, it had been hoped by the Rev. Mr. Fison and myself that we should be able to collect and discuss a large amount of systematized information from all parts of the Australian Continent. Experience has, however, proved to us that the time required to gather together such a mass of materials will be much longer than we had anticipated. We had hoped to have received aid from others in our enquiries; but the result has proved our expectation to be almost unfounded. In addition to these unforeseen difficulties, my valued colleague in the investigation has been compelled by ill-health to leave Victoria, at least for a time. Our work has, therefore, made but little progress, and the publication of our results must, of necessity, be postponed to some future undetermined time.

In order, however, that the promise made by us may not altogether fall to the ground, I have proposed to myself, as an example of the subject, to consider one system, namely, that of the Brabrolong tribe of North Gippsland. It has been carefully compiled, and thrown into shape in a series of diagrams, some of which will be embodied in these notes.

“It was when I was Chief Constable of the Port Macquarie district,” said Mr. D— “The blacks had been very troublesome; among other murders they had committed was one of Mr.—'s stockmen, whom they seized and sawed up into junks while he was alive. We found the cross-cut saw; but more of that by-and-by. I was only turned nineteen then, and was delighted to be appointed to head the party to track and punish the miscreants. The party consisted of two half-civilized blacks for guides–you know one tribe will always betray and attack another; one better sort of young fellow named Meade, a sort of second or lieutenant; and four Government men, with two soldiers. Well, we beat about a long time before we could get on their track.”

“And pray how did you find out their trail?”

“Oh why, after several days' reconnoitring, at last We found a little bit of bark on fire, and one fire smouldering away. It was cold weather, so that all were carrying bark torches to keep themselves warm; but they were cunning enough either not to light fires or to cover over the ashes with bark, so that we should not find them. However, in this way, we went on day after day until we came into the wildest country you can imagine. All rocks and stones; no horses could have gone there.”

The bags, the baskets, the wooden vessels for holding water, and the tools used by the natives, are few in number, but they are sufficient for their wants.

They have made good use of the raw materials within their reach; and, whether dealing with wood or bark, or with the bones, skins, or sinews of animals, they have exhibited ingenuity, and produced work as excellent as it possibly could be under the circumstances in which they labored.

In the descriptions which follow, the reader will discover much information quite new even to those who have lived amongst the Aborigines for many years, and who are well acquainted with their furniture and utensils. I have not relied on my own observations. I have sought to gain information from settlers in various parts of Australia; and though I have used all means available to me in collecting facts for this very interesting branch of my work, I cannot believe that I have secured everything that is known respecting the implements of the natives.

The tool with which weapons are carved–Leange-walert–was discovered by accident; and I know not how many other tools of the like kind, or dissimilar, may be in use amongst the tribes in the interior.

That the natives were ready at all times to devise sure means for the capture of animals, and for cooking them, and for entrapping their enemies or killing them, may be accepted as proofs that they are not deficient in invention or energy.

It is not easy to convey correct ideas regarding the mental capacity and faculties of the Aborigines by any general statements. They differ from one another almost as much as uneducated Europeans differ from one another; but while in the latter the capabilities of improvement are very great, in the Australian black they are limited. With keen senses, quick perceptions, and a precocity that is surprising, he stops short just at the point where an advance would lead to a complete change in the character of his mind.

The adult wild native when brought into contact with the whites learns the English language quickly and easily, and all the words that at all resemble those of his own tongue are pronounced distinctly. Those which are harsh, or in which sibilants occur, he softens, and he keeps closely to the grammar of his own language.

Black children brought up in the schools learn very quickly, and in perception, memory, and the power to discriminate they are, to say the least, equal to European children. A Missionary, the Rev. F. A. Hagenauer, a gentleman of great ability, who has the control of the Aboriginal Station at Lake Wellington, reports that the examinations made by the Government School Inspectors show that the Aboriginal pupils taught by him are quite equal to the whites. In his last report he states that the whole of the fifth class in his school had passed the standard examination (that appointed for pupils in State schools), and that they had received certificates.

The numbers that at the first coming of the white man occupied the area now known as Victoria cannot be ascertained nor even estimated with precision, but enough is known of Victoria and of other parts of Australia, some but lately explored, to admit of a rough estimate being made.

The late Sir Thomas Mitchell, whose accurate observations are justly valued by men of science, and whose works even now are the best to which reference can be made as regards Eastern Australia, formed a very low estimate of the numbers of the Aborigines:–“The native population is very thinly spread over the regions I have explored, amounting to nearly a seventh part of Australia. I cannot estimate the number at more than 6,000; but, on the contrary, I believe it to be considerably less. They may increase rapidly if wild cattle become numerous, and, as an instance, I may refer to the number and good appearance of the Cudjallagong tribe, near Macquarie Range, where they occasionally fell in with a herd of wild cattle.”

If the reader will cast his eye over the map of the vast extent of country explored by Sir Thomas Mitchell, this estimate will probably strike him with astonishment.

It may be imagined that the exigencies of savage life require that all the members of a tribe shall at all times be ready to move from one place to another–now for food, now for shelter, now to make war, now to avoid it. The sick man must rouse himself in times of trouble, even if his sickness be mortal; and as regards the females, they must obediently serve their masters in every season and under all circumstances. Certain events in their lives, however, claim the kindness even of their savage husbands, and the sympathy of their mothers and sisters. An Aboriginal woman, when she is about to give birth to a babe, if not treated in the same manner and with as much care as a civilized woman, is not neglected. The little attention she needs is given; the few comforts demanded are ordinarily provided; the help of some aged woman is not withheld.

When the time of her trouble draws nigh, some one of the old women is selected to attend her, and the two withdraw from the main camp and shelter themselves in a little rudely-constructed miam. The old woman takes the child as soon as it is born, and puts it into a net or rug lined with dry grass, and rubs it with the dry grass, and makes it presentable as far as possible with that simple treatment.

It is not possible for any one who has not lived for a long period with the natives to undertake any such task as that of writing a grammar of the native tongue. The number of dialects in Victoria alone would require careful investigation for many years before it would be practicable to give any trustworthy account of them; and it appeared to me that I would best serve the interests of philology by collecting information from gentlemen who have had the most favorable opportunities of making themselves acquainted with some of the dialects.

In addition to the native words and phrases which occur in other parts of this work, there are now given here the following papers, namely:–

1. Language of the natives, by the Rev. John Bulmer, of Lake Tyers, Gippsland.

2. Language of the natives, by the Rev. F. A. Hagenauer, of Lake Wellington, Gippsland.

3. The dialect of the Brabrolong and neighbouring tribes, by A. W. Howitt, F.G.S., &c., &c.

4. Language of the natives of Lake Hindmarsh, by the Rev. A. Hartmann.

5. Language of the natives of Lake Hindmarsh, by the Rev. F. W. Spieseke.

6. Words and sentences in the native language, by Charles Gray, Esq., Wickliffe.

7. Some words of the native language of the Western tribes of Victoria, by N. Thornly, Esq.

8. Sentences in the native language, written down by Mr. Joseph Shaw, Lake Condah.

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