Wars, accidents, and disease—in the natural condition of this people as children of the forest—make gaps in the domestic circles. Old men die of old age, young men are killed in encounters with men of hostile tribes, and women and children fall victims to neglect or cruelty or disease, or are purposely murdered; but when it happens that the head of a family dies, it becomes necessary to dispose of the widows. We know what would happen to a widow in poor circumstances in civilized communities; and some will say that they know what the widows ought to do in a savage state; but Nature is stronger than man's precepts, and it ordains that amongst savages the bereaved females shall not be allowed to die of starvation. A widow with her children is taken to the miam of the father or brother, and is supported until she can be exchanged for a young woman of another tribe. No sentiment is allowed to interfere with arrangements designed for her material comfort. She is obliged to mate with the man chosen for her by her protector; and though this mode of disposing of her may appear cruel and harsh, it is surely more humane than that neglect which a poor widow in a civilized country is sure to suffer. In a civilized country, a poor widow and her children it is true do not always die of starvation; but if our rules were imposed on the Aborigines, the widows and children would certainly die. Let us then judge this people with knowledge, and not condemn them and their customs in ignorance.[1]
It is rare that European women intermarry with Aboriginals. One case is known in Victoria. The daughter of a squatter or farmer, whose principal occupation—riding through the forest after cattle—brought her into daily intercourse with a black man—formed an affection for him, and finally abandoned her home and lived with him in a miam in the bush. Subsequently, they were married—with what results, as regards their domestic happiness, I know not.
Mr. Geo. E. Boxall, who appears to be well acquainted with the habits of the Aborigines in New South Wales, says that the daughter of a farmer at Burrowa became enceinte by a young blackfellow who had been brought up by the girl's family. The child born was a girl, who, if alive, will be now (1876) twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. She was named Mary, and resided with her mother in 1864 on Pudman's Creek, about fourteen miles from the township of Burrowa.
It is probable that many such unions are known to the settlers in New South Wales and Queensland. The younger members of a family living in the bush—far away from towns—if their parents are unable to afford the expense of educating them, soon acquire habits which bring them on a level with the Aborigines; and it should excite no surprise that the sisters should emulate the brothers.
- ↑ "After a man dies, if his widows have no children, when the days of mourning are over, the custom appears to be to offer them as wives, first to his brothers, and then to his first cousins; but if they have children, it is optional on their part whether they marry again."—W. E. Stanbridge.
Amongst the Bakalai, a tribe in Africa inhabiting a tract of country between the Equator and 2° S. and longitude 10° to 13° E., a man will not marry a woman of his own tribe or clan; but widows are permitted to marry the son of their deceased husband; and if there be no son, they are allowed to live with the deceased husband's brother.
