In the Kabi and Wakka tribes, "the wife was the regular nurse of the infants, but the husband occasionally took a turn."[714] "Children were over-indulged."[715] [714] Mathew, _loc. cit._, p. 153. [715] _Ibid._, p. 153. "The mother is always fond of her child, and I have often admired her patience with it. She constantly carries it with her, at first in a basket, but later on ... on her shoulder. Thus she carries it with her till it is several years old. If the child cries she may perhaps get angry, but she will never allow herself to strike it. The children are never chastised either by the father or the mother." But they are nevertheless as a rule "obliging and kind." "The black children are not ... as bad as one might suppose, considering their education, in which their wills are never resisted."[716] "The woman is often obliged to carry her little child on her shoulders during the whole day, only setting it down when she has to dig in the ground or climb trees."[717] The mother, in one instance, was much excited when a white man struck her naughty child. The same author says that the tie between mother and child is closer than that between father and child. The children "are fonder of their mother than of their father." (This seems quite "natural" to us as we observe it as a rule in our society.) Sometimes the father cares much for his child too; "he frequently carries it, takes it in his lap, searches ... its hair, plays with it, and makes little boomerangs, which he teaches it to throw. He ... prefers boys to girls." "Boys are not permitted to go hunting with their fathers before they are nine years old."[718] [716] Lumholtz, on the Herbert River Natives, _loc. cit._, pp. 192, 193. [717] _Ibid._, p. 160. [718] _Ibid._, p. 193. Amongst the Georgina blacks the child's education is carried on chiefly by the mother. She teaches the boys respect for the tribal elders.[719] [719] Purcell in _R.G.S._, Victorian Branch, xi. pp. 19, 20. The way of carrying a child among the Queensland blacks is described by E. Palmer.[720] [720] _Loc. cit._, p. 280. Among the North Central Queensland aborigines the mother carries her child in a koolamon or on a sheet of bark, slung to her side; later on her shoulders.[721] She is accustomed to lullaby it to sleep by a sort of droning humming sound.[722] She suckles it until it reaches the age of three to five years.[723] "A father could do what he pleased with his children, but neither parent would ever strike a boy; if beaten the latter was supposed to lose courage." The mother taught the girls, and could beat them if necessary.[724] The father taught the boys climbing trees and making arms and implements.[725] [721] Roth, _Eth. Stud._, p. 183, § 330. See also figs. 436-438. [722] _Ibid._ [723] _Ibid._ [724] Roth, _Proc. R.S.Q._, p. 51.