The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2: Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristicsWood, J. G. (John George)
History
The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2: Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Anthropology; Ethnology; Manners and customs
In the appendix to his work, Mr. Angas gives reduced copies of
these figures, some of which are executed with wonderful spirit and
fidelity. Even the human figures, which are shown with extended arms
and spread legs, as in the dance, are far better than those usually
drawn by savages, infinitely superior to those produced by the
artists of Western Africa, while some of the animals are marvellously
accurate, reminding the observer of the outline drawings upon Egyptian
monuments. The best are, perhaps, a shark and a kangaroo. The latter is
represented in the attitude of feeding.
In some parts of Australia, the carvings and paintings are usually in
caves by the water’s edge, and of such a character is the cave which is
shown in the illustration No. 2, on the following page. These caves are
in sandstone rock, and the figures upon them are mostly those of men
and kangaroos, and it is a remarkable fact that in the human figures,
although their eyes, noses, and even the joints of the knees, are
boldly marked, the mouth is invariably absent.
Human hands and arms are often carved on rocks. One very remarkable
example was discovered by Captain Grey in North-West Australia. When
penetrating into a large cave, out of which ran a number of smaller
caves, the explorers were struck by a really astonishing trick of
native art. The sculptor had selected a rock at the side of the cavity,
and had drawn upon it the figure of a hand and arm. This had then been
painted black, and the rock around it colored white with pipe-clay, so
that on entering the cave it appeared exactly as if the hand and arm of
a black man were projecting through some crevice which admitted light.
Their belief in ghosts implies a knowledge that the spirit of man is
immortal. Yet their ideas on this subject are singularly misty, not to
say inconsistent, one part of their belief entirely contradicting the
other. They believe, for example, that when the spirit leaves the body,
it wanders about for some time in darkness, until at last it finds a
cord, by means of which a “big black-fella spirit” named Oomudoo pulls
it up from the earth. Yet they appropriate certain parts of the earth
as the future residence of the different tribes, the spirits of the
departed Nauos being thought to dwell in the islands of Spencer’s Gulf,
while those of the Parnkallas go to other islands toward the west. As
if to contradict both ideas, we have already seen that throughout the
whole of Australia the spirits of the dead are supposed to haunt the
spots where their bodies lie buried.
And, to make confusion worse confounded, the aborigines believe very
firmly in transmigration, some fancying that the spirits of the
departed take up their abode in animals, but by far the greater number
believing that they are transformed into white men. This latter belief
was put very succinctly by a native, who stated in the odd jargon
employed by them, that “when black-fella tumble down, he jump up all
same white-fella.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account