A WHITE TRIBESWOMAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10440, 20 April 1912, Page 4

A WHITE TRIBESWOMAN.

(By GWEN SERGEANT WHITE in "Everylady's Journal.") In the civilised, cultured ivorld Mrs Bates is Daisy M. Bates, F.R.A.S., M.R.G.S., honorary correspondent of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Groat Britain and Ireland, and was, at cne timo, on tho fitaff of Stead's "Review of Reviews." In aboriginal life she is, to quote one of her many names, Wanjallin of the Boorong tribe; honourable member of the Ashburton District Rain Totem Clan; and authorised carrier of the native message sticks from Bernier and Dorre Islands to Peak Hill, Esperanee and York. A respectable record of attainments which possibly no other woman in the world can claim.

Mrs Bates, although Irish-born, has lived amongst and studied the Australian aboriginals until she has been accepted hy them as the link which connects their raco to the white. They have received her as one of themselves; she is a recognised member of a triba. She is entitled to many privileges. She has written an extonsivo work on the aboriginal social system; compiled fiftythree dialects, and an outline of grammar. She has recently returned from a scientific expedition to Central and the Nor'-West of Australia, sent out by the Cambridge University. As Mrs Bates led me along to her tent, I noticed the workman-like cut of her tailored blue suit, bound with leather. The whole effect was delightfully softened, however, by an embroidered white blouse and mignonettegreen tie. I realised I was in tho presence of a woman who, wherever she was, would be smartly and suitably dressed.

It was a*fairly warm day which I chose to visit "the camp." I use the inverted commas advisedly, for Mrs Bates has pitched her moving tent in a veritable oasis. A green buffalo lawn refreshes the eye; there is a blaze of flowers; bowers of passion - fruit vines; barrels of ripening strawberries; grateful shade of fruit trees of all varieties. And this contrast to the surrounding desert of sand is due solely to the energy of one enthusiastic woman gardener, with whom, at the time of my visit, Mrs Bates was sojourning.

"Wo sat comfortably in the little tent with our feet propped against the traveller's trestle bed. Everything in that tent was as trig as the owner thereof —and very typical—nothing superfluous, yet nothing lacking. Even a switch to keep the impertinently curious" magpie off, when he strove to sample human flesh, lay alongside a vase of rich carnations.

As Mrs Bates spoke I noticed the slight brogue which is ever so fascinating. Also a little trick of speech which invariably terminated her sentences with a short "y know I"

" I have always been interested in the blacks, especially tbo Westralian," said Mrs Bates. " Now I am not only interested; I love them, and would do anything I could for them. Yon would like to hear something of my work amongst them, wouldn't you?" "That's what I cam© for," I answered, taking tho edge off my bluntness with a smile.

"Well, let me go gradually," she answered, laughing. " I began my work among the Australian blacks," said Mrs Bates, "nearly twelve years ago. The first real journev I made in the Nor'-West was from Port Headland to Carnarvon. We drove—yes, rather a long drive—over seven hundred miles I From that time I commenced to study the blacks; and I became more and more interested in them as I began to understand the well-ordered system which completely controls the life which to us seems so absolutelv chaotic.

"The social laws nearly all relate to marriage. And these are so strict that the aborigine has the most profound disgust for tho whito man who marries his cousin. In aboriginal life, such a mesalliance would be» impossible without swift and bitter retribution! In the Nor'-West the tribes are divided into four, and each division in named. There aro the Boorong—l belong to the Boorong," sho interjected, proudly—- " Banaka', Kaimera and Paljari tribes. The men are only allowed to marry into one-fourth of tho community. For instance, a Boorong man is allowed to marry a Banaka woman. If they have children, they belong to neither the father nor the mother's tribe, but to the Kaimera. But if a Boorong woman marries a Banaka man, their children are Paljari. Every third generation reverts to the original tribe or division. "On the Murchison, a Puljari woman's child is always Kaimera. A division is like one largo family. A man, under this classification, calls, and owes duty to many men besides his natural father. Ho has many motheis other than his own. In fact, the whole tribe is comprised of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins! Each member can trace direct relationship one to the other. In all cases children belong to the mother, not to tho father.

" The men of tho tribo find tho animal food, whikt it is tho women's task to gather the vegetablo food for tho men. "Warrain, which is a species of yam, is a very great delicacy, as is the fruit of the palm; but this must be buried for several days before, it is fit for consumption. ' Bardies,' tho white grub found in the gum trees, are a particular luxury. "When served a la Australienno they stretch out like a telescope—they are not bid, ■ very nutty," added Mrs Bates, rather rominiscently. " White ants," she continued, " are also enjoyed—but not for long. If the women place these before their lords too often they are punished—sometimes not changing tho .savage equivalent to our ' eternal leg of mutton!' Men arc very Tiiuch tho same tho world ovor, only they have different methods of demonstrating their displeasure. " I don't think any people could live communism more thoroughly than tho aborigines! When a man goes out hunting, and, say, spears a kangaroo, there are all his fathers, mothers and other relations, near and far, to whom he is bound to give a portion, r-o that frequently there is nothing over for himself, and it wouldn't bo ' manners ' to accept a part of anyone olse's—even ii it were offered, which is exceedingly doubtful. And if a woman happens to discover a good root supply and doesn't share tho spoil? with her sisters, she is most severely reprimanded-—to put it politely." " What made you wi c h to live right amongst tho blacks in the first place, Mrs Hates ?" 1 inquired curiously. " That goes back a long way," sho answered good-naturedly. "In 1904 I was asked by the West Australian Government to compile a book on the history of the State's native tribes. ] consented to do this. 1 had already gained a craa.t rUul of personal exoe-

rience amongst tho blacks. I bad stayed some months at Beagle Bay, whore Dr Gidnoy had established his mission station. Besides, I had studied them- intently in other parts of the State. I knew sufficient to find it impossible to reconcile the palpable discrepancies in the various statistics which I had necessarily to examine and sift. It was there that the longing came to mo to go and live amongst them myself and learn of their laws, customs and habits from practical observation and personal interrogation. "Then, with all that at my back, I felt I could write a book—and an original one. Tho more I thought it over the more my longing grew. Finally, I asked permission of the Government to carry out my plan. , I prevailed. So, one day, escorted by a policeman, I pitched my tent foot; of tho Darling Ranges. I dismissed my somowhat anxious escort, taking care to do so before the face of all tho camp. And the blacks immediately appreciated the authority which coiilcl so despatch what had hitherto been to them supreme Authority 1 It was thus I began my research, which has become more enthralling as the years have passed." Mrs Bates then told how she spent two years alone with the blacks: "Later, I made 'investigating' trips to Espernnce—hero, look over this map with me—Albany, the Eastern Goldfields, and the Murchison. All these trips were rich in material for my book. I spent seven years working at it and finished it last year. " During this period I worked with the Oxford and Cambridge expedition in the Sandstone and Gascoyne districts, and on Bernier and Dorre Islands for six months. When the work was finished there, Mr Brown, of Oxford, took the tribes north of latitude 26cleg., and I took the districts south of that line.

"The expenses of tho expedition wero borne by the Cambridge University, tho Royal Geographical Society, and private enterprise—Mr Sam P. M'Kay, of Berwick, Victoria, gave £1000." * " What is your present work, Miss Bates?"

"Still the book in its new phaso! I am trying to delineate tho exact boundaries of the ' local groups; the relationship these bear to each other; and to sketch the social system generally, y' know. My book really is," ehe said, slowly—t whipped out my pencil—"an elaboration of tho Totr-mic System. Totemism is the name applied to the religions beliefs and practices of a great many nations _of blacks. The word Totem was originally taken from the dialect of the North American Indian.

"Totemism is in existence in New Guinea. Melanesia, India, and Africa, as well as Australia. In Australia, tribes are divided into totem elans, and each tribe takes, as its own, the name of the totem adopted." "And may anything be adopted aa a totem?"

"Yes., But it is soma natural object, such as an animal, a bird, a creek, a fish, the wild cherry, a plant, a flower— even rain. I belong to the rain totem clan. The relation between tho totem and the individual is always a religious one as sccialogists define religion as ' consisting or beliefs and actions connected with anything sacrod.' As a rule the children of the tribe take the totem of their father, although in some districts the mother's is handed down." Yvostern Australia is one of the fow places where the blacks will eat their totems. If, however, a near relation of their totem clan should die, the whole tribe abstain from eating their totem, even if it is the principal, or only, food. This is one way in which they mourn. Another is to whiten tho face!

" At certain seasons religious ceremonies aro performed to save the totems from extinction. Without these ceremonies tho blacks think the totems would cease to increase, and therefore would soon become extinct. In the Ashburton district the rain totem is supremo. Rain is always looked for eagerly, to swell the roots and seeds. If rain is wanted a male member of the totem clan goes up a high hill, taking with him a little water in a Wooden bowl. When tho crown is reached, he stand,?, fills his mouth with water and solemnly squirts himself and everyone around him. All this'is done most devotionally. Tho rain songs are then sung, and if rain doesn't come very soon the clan becomes miserably certain that a great rainmaker has magically diverted the downpour to his own district.

"I have a reputation as,a rainmaker myself I" Raid Mrs Bates with a broad smilo. "I was once thoughtlessly singink one of the rajn songs which is both plaintivo and catchy. The same night a perfect torrent came down, and I was established forever."