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[Page 169]
INSTITUTIONS AND LAWS.
157
II. – MARRIAGE.
The law of selection in marriage is set forth in a subsequent chapter; but here, as a sequel to the Bora, it seems proper to mention the manner in which the privilege of taking a wife, conferred at that ceremony, is exercised. In some parts of Queensland an old man takes charge of the damsels in a tree, and as the candidates for matrimony come up he presents each of them with a bride. On the Hunter, when a man seeks a wife he goes to a camp where men and women are sitting together round a fire, and throws in a boomerang. If one of the men throws back a boomerang at him he has to fight for the privilege sought; but if no one challenges him, he quietly steps in and takes one of the young women for his wife.
In some tribes it is a custom, as soon as a girl is born, for her father or mother to betroth her to some man. Among the Wailwun it is common for old men to get young girls for wives, and for old women to become the wives of young men. There is no law restricting a man to one wife. It oftens happens that those who are strong enough to insist on having their own way have three and sometimes four wives – some have none at all. But in whatever manner a man becomes possessed of a wife, or whatever the number he can secure, he must take only those who, according to the laws of genealogy and marriage, are eligible for him.
III. – SECLUSION OF WOMEN
It might be supposed that a people who do not wear any clothes must be utterly devoid of modesty; but in their own way, within the limits of traditional rule, the Aborigines are very strict in the observance of the dictates of natural modesty. Their rules as to the seclusion of women correspond remarkably with the law of Moses in Leviticus (12th and 15th chapters); but the seclusion observed by the Australian women is even more strict and prolonged than that which is commanded in Leviticus. On the approach of childbirth the expectant mother is given into the charge of two elderly women, who take her to a sheltered spot, attend to her wants, and watch over her for many days, until she returns with her child to the camp. During the other period, referred to in Leviticus 15th, a woman must not be seen by a man – must not touch any thing whatever that is used by the other natives, nor even walk upon a path frequented by them.
A more singular rule in force among them is this – that a woman must not speak with or look upon the husband of her daughter. This rule is rigidly observed. If a man meets his mother-in-law by any chance, they instantly turn round, back to back, and remain at a distance. If one of them has a desire to communicate any message to the other it is done through a third party. They appear to think it would be indelicate in