may lawfully partake. Howitt says of these food rules and other similar customs that they give us an entirely different impression of the aboriginal character from that usually held. Adherence to the rules of custom was a matter on which they were most conscientious. If forbidden food were eaten, even by chance, the offender has been known to pine away and shortly die. Contact with the whites has broken down much of this primitive tribal morality.
The oft-repeated description of the black fellow eating the white man's beef or mutton and throwing a bone to his wife who sits behind him, in fear of a blow from his club, is partly the new order of things resulting from our civilization breaking down old rules (Howitt, p. 684).
Under the influence of the food rules, a certain generosity of character was fostered and unquestionably it was present in the blacks to a marked degree. He was accustomed to share his food and possessions, as far as he had any, with his fellows.
It may, of course, be objected to this that in so doing he is only following an old-established custom, the breaking of which would expose him to harsh treatment and to being looked upon as a churlish fellow. It will, however, hardly be denied that, as this custom expresses the idea that in this particular matter every one is supposed to act in a kindly way towards certain individuals, the very existence of such a custom. . . shows that the native is alive to the fact that an action which benefits some one else is worthy of being performed. [1]
The apparent absence of any excessive manifestations of appreciation or gratitude in the blackfellow has been interpreted by some adversely. But giving, as far as the natives were concerned, was such a fixed habit that gratitude did not seem to be expected. It does not necessarily follow that they could not feel gratitude because they did not show any sign of it to the white man when he bestowed upon them some paltry presents, for, as Spencer and Gillen point out, they might not feel that they had reason to be grateful to him who had encroached upon their water and game and yet did not permit of them a like hunting of his own cattle.
Although as a rule perfectly nude, they are said to have been modest before contact with the whites (Lumholtz, p. 345). Of the north Australians, we are told that the women were never indecent in gesture, their attitude being rather one of unconsciousness (Creed, p. 94f). The low regard for chastity, reported by some observers (e: g., Mackenzie, p. 131), may, in part, be explained by the failure of the outsider to understand their peculiar marriage customs, on account of which the relation of the sexes is to be judged by different criteria than with ourselves. Spencer and Gillen, the most recent and the most scientific of all who have studied this race, say of the central tribes that chastity is a term to be applied to the relation of one group to another
- ↑ Spencer and Gillen, "The Native Tribes of Central Australia," p. 48.
