His teeth to make room for a fresh set from
a chimney sweeper, or a fair one suffer her tender ears to be perforated,
with more heroism than the grisly nymphs on the banks of Port Jackson,
submit their sable shoulders to the remorseless lancet.
That these scarifications are intended solely to increase personal allurement
I will not, however, positively affirm. Similar, perhaps, to the cause
of an excision of part of the little finger of the left hand in the women,
and of a front tooth in the men;* or probably after all our conjectures,
superstitious ceremonies by which they hope either to avert evil
or to propagate good, are intended. The colours with which they besmear
the bodies of both sexes possibly date from the same common origin.
White paint is strictly appropriate to the dance. Red seems to be used
on numberless occasions, and is considered as a colour of less consequence.
It may be remarked that they translate the epithet white when they speak
of us, not by the name which they assign to this white earth, but by that
with which they distinguish the palms of their hands.
[*It is to be observed that neither of these ceremonies is universal,
but nearly so. Why there should exist exemptions I cannot resolve.
The manner of executing them is as follows. The finger is taken off
by means of a ligature (generally a sinew of a kangaroo) tied so tight
as to stop the circulation of the blood, which induces mortification
and the part drops off. I remember to have seen Colbee's child, when about
a month old, on whom this operation had been just performed by her mother.
The little wretch seemed in pain, and her hand was greatly swelled.
But this was deemed too trifling a consideration to deserve regard
in a case of so much importance.
The tooth intended to be taken out is loosened by the gum being scarified
on both sides with a sharp shell. The end of a stick is then applied
to the tooth, which is struck gently several times with a stone, until it
becomes easily moveable, when the 'coup de grace' is given by a smart stroke.
Notwithstanding these precautions, I have seen a considerable degree
of swelling and inflammation follow the extraction. Imeerawanyee, I remember,
suffered severely. But he boasted the firmness and hardihood with which
he had endured it. It is seldom performed on those who are under sixteen
years old.]
As this leads to an important subject I shall at once discuss it.
"Have these people any religion: any knowledge of, or belief in a deity? -
any conception of the immortality of the soul?" are questions which have been
often put to me since my arrival in England: I shall endeavour to answer them
with candour and seriousness.
Until belief be enlightened by revelation and chastened by reason,
religion and superstition, are terms of equal import. One of our earliest
impressions is the consciousness of a superior power. The various forms
under which this impression has manifested itself are objects
of the most curious speculation.
The native of New South Wales believes that particular aspects and appearances
of the heavenly bodies predict good or evil consequences to himself
and his friends. He oftentimes calls the sun and moon 'weeree,' that is,
malignant, pernicious. Should he see the leading fixed stars
(many of which he can call by name) obscured by vapours, he sometimes
disregards the omen, and sometimes draws from it the most dreary conclusions.
I remember Abaroo running into a room where a company was assembled,
and uttering frightful exclamations of impending mischiefs about to light
on her and her countrymen. When questioned on the cause of such agitation
she went to the door and pointed to the skies, saying that whenever
the stars wore that appearance, misfortunes to the natives always followed.
The night was cloudy and the air disturbed by meteors. I have heard
many more of them testify similar apprehensions.
However involved in darkness and disfigured by error such a belief be,
no one will, I presume, deny that it conveys a direct implication
of superior agency; of a power independent of and uncontrolled by
those who are the objects of its vengeance. But proof stops not here.
When they hear the thunder roll and view the livid glare, they flee them not,
but rush out and deprecate destruction. They have a dance and a song
appropriated to this awful occasion, which consist of the wildest
and most uncouth noises and gestures. Would they act such a ceremony
did they not conceive that either the thunder itself, or he who directs
the thunder, might be propitiated by its performance? That a living
intellectual principle exists, capable of comprehending their petition
and of either granting or denying it? They never address prayers
to bodies which they know to be inanimate, either to implore their protection
or avert their wrath. When the gum-tree in a tempest nods over them;
or the rock overhanging the cavern in which they sleep threatens by its fall
to crush them, they calculate (as far as their knowledge extends)
on physical principles, like other men, the nearness and magnitude
of the danger, and flee it accordingly. And yet there is reason to believe
that from accidents of this nature they suffer more than from lightning.
Baneelon once showed us a cave, the top of which had fallen in and buried
under its ruins, seven people who were sleeping under it.
To descend; is not even the ridiculous superstition of Colbee related
in one of our journies to the Hawkesbury? And again the following instance.
Abaroo was sick. To cure her, one of her own sex slightly cut her
on the forehead, in a perpendicular direction with an oyster shell,
so as just to fetch blood.
