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if ir« <_3 //5a3MNn-3V^ ^HlBRARYQr <: ^OJIIVDJO^ ^H..OFCAIIFO% >'<?AHV«fln-^'^ ^•lOSANCHfx> C_3 ^/^a^AINrt'JWV 4' .,( W i I m il III 3s> ' :UINI11UV^ 1^ Ag V-i, #"^ ^<i/0^ ujp rl J^Ail. ^.v '<r;i30NV-SOV^^ r\F /*AiiCnh . * ' /A U » U U I I a c^^' •? :j V iv 1 *- ^ H^. THE TRIBE, AND INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA \X THE TRIBE, AND INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA BY GERALD C. WHEELER, B.A. LATE MARTIN WHITE STUDENT IN SOCIOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY EDWARD A. WESTERMARCK, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1910 Q^'O' / PREFATORY NOTE The subject of the present essay indicates the kind of research which is encouraged at the Uni- versity of London so far as the lower stages of civiUzation are concerned. Next to sociological field-work—to which Mr. Wheeler also has recently devoted himself during a year's stay among the natives of the Solomon Islands—there are, within this branch of study, no other investigations so urgently needed as monographs on some definite class of social phenomena or institutions among a certain group of related tribes. A comparative treatment of some social institution as it exists throughout the uncivilized races of the world undoubtedly has its value. It bears out general resemblances as well as local or racial differences. It also, in many cases, enables the specialist to explain facts which he could hardly understand in full if his knowledge were restricted to a limited area. But at the same time the comparative study suffers from certain defects which seem to be wellnigh inseparable from the prosecution of so great a task. A social institution is not an isolated phenomenon, but is closely connected V vi PREFATORY NOTE with a variety of facts. It is largely influenced by local conditions, by, the physical environment, by the circumstances in which the people in ques- tion lives, by its habits and mental characteristics. All these factors can be properly taken into account when the investigation is confined to a single people or one ethnic unity. Hence, the student of social institutions in general must be grateful to the specialist who provides him with the results of his detailed research. Mr. Wheeler's book is of particular interest as being, I believe, the first monograph on intertribal relationships among uncivilized peoples. It shows that, contrary to generally held ideas on the sub- ject, war is not the normal condition even among so low a race as the Australian aborigines ; that there are among them germs of what is styled " international law "; nay, that there has been something like an anticipation of the Geneva Con- vention even in the Australian Bush. It is hoped that the present volume will be the first in a series of sociological works published in connection with the Martin White benefaction at the University of London. EDWARD WESTERMARCK. London, May, 1910. PREFACE In publishing this small contribution to Sociology, I must first of all express my thanks to Mr. J. Martin White, whose liberality has made the time I take publication possible ; and at the same this opportunity gratefully to acknowledge the active support I have had from him for my sociological studies. To Dr. Edward Westermarck my deep grati- tude is due for the inspiration and help I have had from him in my researches ; my debt is not easily measured. I have to give my very hearty thanks to Miss Helen Hadley for all the care and time she has given to proof-reading and checking references.^ G. C. WHEELER. vu . TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGES Introduction ----- 1-9 I. General Environment and the Community of Australian Tribes - - - - 10-14 Environment — Population — Language and general culture. II. Organization of the Australian Tribe : Intra- tribal Groups ----- 15-56 § I. General: the Tribal Group as Differ- entiated BY Name, Speech, Customs, AND Territory — Difficulties in De- termining A " Tribe " - - - IS^^S - § 2. The Local Organization of the Tribe 23-35 (a) South-Eastern Australia, p. 24. (6) Central Australia (Lake Eyre, Northwards), p. 31. (c) North-East Queensland, p. 33. {d) West Australia, p. 34. (e) Tasmania, p. 35. Subdivision § 3. The Extent of Territorial —Property - - - - 35-46 Private or family property in chattels and land—Conclusion . - - 46-52 § 4. Government area, ; South-east area, p. 47 ; Central p. 49 North Queensland, p. 50 ; South-West area, p. 51. Tracing of Descent 52-55 § 5 . Organization for the area, South-cast area, p. 53 ; Central p. 54 ; North-West Queensland, p. 55. - - - § 6. General Conclusion 55-56 ix X TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGES III. Confederations of Tribes — Groups of Tribes—Formation and Destruction of Tribes - - . _ 57-61 § I. Confederations and Other Groups of Tribes - - - _ 57-60 §2. Formation AND Destruction of Tribes 60-61 IV. Territorial Sovereignty - - _ 62-69 Territorial Comity . _ _ 66-69 V. Intercourse in General between Local Groups, and Certain Special Forms of Intercourse ----- 70-97 § I. Intercourse in General; Corobori 70-81 Differing relations between tribes—No isolation — Forms for intercourse — General tribal meetings—Corobori. § 2. Intermarriage : Initiation Gather- ings - - . _ 81-93 (a) Initiation Gatherings - 81-83 {b) Intermarriage - - - 83-93 - - - . § 3. Barter 93.97 VI. The Local Group and the Non-Member (excluding Intergroup Justice) - - 98-108 § I. General . _ 98-99 § 2. Visitors, and Forms of Reception - 99-106 § 3. Asylum and Domicilement in Alien Tribes . _ _ 106-108 VII. Messengers—Heralds—Negotiations - 109-115 Women as envoys, p. no. VIII. The Regulated Settlement of Differ- ences, OR Justice - - - - 116-147 § I. Introductory - - - -11 6- 120 Distinction between intragroup and intergroup justice — Membership in the local group and in the totem group. TABLE OF CONTENTS xi CHAPTER PAGES - § 2. Justice within the Local Group 120-128 Individual and tribal offences distin- guished, p. 122. § 3. The Regulated Settlement of Differ- ences BETWEEN Local Groups (in- cluding Juridical Fights) - - 128-147 Either (i.) justice is inflicted on the indi- vidual offender (or a kinsman) by the offended group: four forms, pp. 130-139; or (ii.) the differences are settled between local groups as wholes : the regulated or juridical fight, pp. 139-147. IX. War ------ 148-159 § I. General ----- 148-154 Distinction between regulated fights and true warfare—General use of regulated procedure—Transitional forms—The par- ties between whom war is waged. §2. Quarter — Treatment of Women and Children . - - - 154-155 §3. Treatment of Wounded and Dead — Cannibalism - - - - 155-159 Mutilation—Endo- and exo-cannibalism. X. General Conclusions - - - - 160-163 XI. List of Sources and Note . - - 164-167 Addenda ------ 168 — — " Now, just as in each State the laws have for their end the good of that State, even so among all, or nearly all. States laws could have arisen by common consent, and are seen to have arisen, which have for their end the good not of separate communities, but " of this great assemblage." Grotius : De Jure Belli ac Pacis," Prolegomena, 17. " Nor are opinions to be held of no account, par- ticularly when they agree with one another ; for the Law of Nature, as we have said, is in a measure established by them ; while there is no way otherwise of establishing the Law of Nations." Grotius : " De Jure Belli ac Pacis," Prolegomena, 46. " If therefore ... we were to discourse of the com- munity as it comes into being, should we not likewise ?" behold its justice and injustice at the birth —Plato : " Republic," Bk. ii. Xll THE TRIBE AND INTERTRIBAL RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA INTRODUCTION The following study aims primaril}^ at investi- gating the customs which regulate the relations between certain local groups among the Australian natives/ in which customs there may be seen the early forms of many of the concepts and principles which make up what is known as International Law. Up till now there has been no attempt made to investigate into the primitive aspect of this division itself the of Law ; and it cannot but suggest that application in this direction of those methods which are being used for the investigation of National Law may yield results not wholly without value. A comparison of International Law with National or Municipal Law tends, at any rate at first, to give a certain air of arbitrariness, and even pre- cariousness, to what are called principles, laid down in the formal treatises on International Law ; the " student receives an impression of " judge-made law where there is, moreover, a want of agreement 1 The investigations may be extended afterwards to other primitive peoples. I — 2 INTRODUCTION amongst the judges and those theorists who guide them. Maine has observed^ that " in modern days the name of International Law has been very much confined to rules laid down by one particular class of writers. They may be roughly said to begin in the first half of the seventeenth century, and to run three parts through the eighteenth century " that is, beginning with Grotius and continuing through Puffendorf, Leibnitz, and others, down to Vattel, a period of less than one hundred and fifty years. From such a point of view International Law appears not so much a gradual growth as rather the studied product of a class of law-creating jurists.^ Yet, whatever view we take of the relation of International Law to jurisprudence, it is not open to doubt that, like all law and morality, it is the product of a gradual growth, and is an organic whole. If this be so, an investigation into its origins and early forms, so far as they are open to observation, may bring as a result a measure of clearness and precision into its principles, and help to a clearer insight into its ends ; both of which aims have a value to which few jurists will be bhnd.

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