OUTBACK AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 124, 19 February 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

OUTBACK AUSTRALIA

Glimpses Of Aboriginal Life “Over the Range,” by lon Idriess (Sydney: Angus and Robertson). Mr. Idriess’s latest book tells of his experiences when, in 1933, be accompanied a Nor’ West Mounted Police patrol through the comparatively unknown district lying north of the King Leopold Range. One of the objects of the trip was to arrest several aboriginal murderers and tlie chase led to some exciting encounters and incidentally, gives the reader an interesting insight into some aspects of tlie native mentality on tlie question of murder. Another object was the investigation of reported cases of leprosy and unwilling segregation of the victims.

Mr. Idriess may always be relied on to tell a story vividly and “Over the Range” is of special interest to students of the fast dying-out “stone-age” men of Australia. In his foreword the author speaks of a letter received from a policeman who recently patrolled the country of which the book tells.

The letter staggered me. In that short time a surprising number of the aboriginals I met there four years ago have died. And this in an area of country where the white settlers can be counted on the fingers of both hands; while to the north of that area there are no whites at all. And despite the fact that those whites are doing all in their power to save the remnants.

Mr. Idriess does not mention the interesting theory held by some students that the coming of even a few white men breaks up the large areas over which tlie native tribes were accustomed to roam in search of food, and interferes with certain peculiar tribal habits regarding diet. Some see in this the inescapable doom of the aboriginal. despite all the “kindness” of the well-wishing white man. Several pages in this book are given up to photographs of native “messagesticks,” accompanied by interpretations which claim to be the first of their kind published in book form. Practically all the generous illustrations concern themselves with some aspect of aboriginal life, and many are portraits of sitters who are facing the camera for the first time. This narrative of a 1200-mile trek through the Kimberleys makes good reading for those interested in the land beyond the pavements where one is less likely to encounter the familiar than the unknown.

A REMARKABLE OLD WOMAN

“Tliy Rod and Thy Staff” by Hjalmar Bergman (London: Jonathan Cape). Translated from the Swedish by Claude Napier.

A quaint crudity and directness distinguish this book from contemporary English novels. Much of. the story is told in the form of the thoughts and memories of the old lady who is the heroine. And the vividness of the style is achieved by a certain lack of euphemism, in keeping with the character of old Grannie, which gives the book a picturesqueness all its own. It, is the story of Hie great Swedish family of Borck, telling how they all came to be dominated by Agnes, known as Grannie, who used once to be a servant girl. “That old dam of Satan,” the peasants called her, and perhaps she was a wicked old woman, as she sometimes thought herself, but she was a strong character compelling the admiration and respect of the reader. Her appearance was unprepossessing—witness the description of her as she apepared to herself in a mirror:

She got up to go and walked right into a mirror. It is not so easy to find your way out of a goldsmith's shop with all the glass doors and the glitter of gold and the mirrors. And just as she thought she was at the door she encountered a big broad eld lady with a nose as big as a ram’s horn and ears like flaps of leather and a lower lip like a shovel and an expression grim enough ; to frighten you. If it had not been for the stupid globular peasant’s eyes she would hardly have recognised herself, hut would have curtsied and stepped aside. Curtsy she did in any case and said:

“Why it's Mrs. Borek. God bless you, old girl.” And when in the mirror she saw Gawenstein's eyes rolling in sheer astonishment. she added:

“It's so seldom we meet, we may well be allowed to curtsy to each other."

It is a remarkable study of the domineering old peasant woman, wilful and stubborn, yet always shrewd and clear-headed. In her old age, for their own ends, her family wished to certify her insane, or perhaps just feeble-mind-ed, but Grannie startled them all by her astuteness. However, she had to admit that she was becoming forgetful, and finally on© wonders whether she really was a little' queer, or how much she was play-acting. In the end we see her living in the past, but the past is all jumbled up and sometimes obtrudes itself on the present. When that happens Grannie gets excited and Emma and Axelsson, her servants, have trying times. “It is good to have clear wits and a strong memory.” thinks Grannie. “Once one had to remember everything, the whole of life one had to see oneself and judge. But later on it is best to forget.”