Is there a scarcity of food
at the camp when the husband comes home hungry - the wife is punished for
his indolence and inactivity.
[Note 94: In February 1842, Mr. Gouger, then Colonial Secretary at
Adelaide, caused a dog belonging to a native to be shot for some cause or
other I am not acquainted with. The animal had been left by its master in
the charge of his wife, and as soon as he learnt that it was dead, he
speared her for not taking better care of it.]
The complete subserviency of the younger people of both sexes in the
savage community, to the older or leading men, is another very serious
evil they labour under. The force of habit and of traditional custom has
so completely clouded their otherwise quick perceptions, that they
blindly yield to whatever the elders may require of them; they dare not
disobey, they dare not complain of any wrong or indignity they may be
subjected to this has been and will be the greatest bar to their
civilization or improvement until some means are taken to free them from
so degrading a thraldom, and afford that protection from the oppression
of the strong and the old which they so greatly require.
On the Murray river, or amongst the Adelaide natives I am not aware that
any stated punishments are affixed to specific crimes, except that of
spearing in the arm to expiate deaths. Vengeance appears usually to be
summarily executed and on the spot, according to the physical strength or
number of friends of the individual injured; otherwise it is made a cause
of quarrel between tribes, and a battle or disturbance of some kind takes
place. This appears to be one great point of distinction between the
practice of some of the tribes in Southern and Western Australia. Captain
Grey says in reference to the latter place, (vol. ii. p. 243.)
"Any other crime may be compounded for, by the criminal appearing and
submitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him by all
such persons as conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or by
permitting spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body; such as
through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The part
which is to be pierced by a spear, is fixed for all common crimes, and a
native who has incurred this penalty, sometimes quietly holds out his leg
for the injured party to thrust his spear through."
This custom does not appear to hold among the tribes of South Australia,
with whom I have come in contact; but I have often been told by natives
of tribes in New South Wales, that they practised it, although an
instance of the infliction of the punishment never came under my own
observation.
