Several points omitted in the body of this book, as well as a few works and passages of special importance, which I noted whilst reading the proofs, may be mentioned shortly in this place. I read the book of Mr. Crawley (Mystic Rose) unfortunately after the foregoing pages were in type; my study would have been more complete had I known it before. Mr. Crawley analyzes the psychology underlying human relations (those of sex in particular) from their religious side. Primitive man is full of apprehension of the mutual danger inherent in social and especially in sexual contact. Hence the different systems of taboo; the sexual taboo being one of the most important. To establish harmless relations between people of different sexes requires a system of breaking the taboo.
The ceremonies and rites of marriage are treated in the Mystic Rose from this point of view (removal of taboo). In my opinion this book is of great sociological importance chiefly because it shows that the sexual act must be treated in its bearing upon social forms, not as a simple physiological fact, but as a phenomenon complex both in its sociological and psychological aspects. For "savages" in particular it is surrounded by a network of magico-religious ideas, apprehensions and emotions, resulting in a system of rites, customs and institutions, which never can be comprehended without reference to the underlying psychology. It follows as an important consequence that everything connected with matters of sex is an object of well-defined rules and laws (compare the passage above, p. 123, where the same has been pointed out with reference to the Australians).
Another important result of Mr. Crawley's work is the establishment of the principle that marriage rites, being the breaking of a dangerous taboo, are an essential part of marriage, and therefore their study is essential for the understanding of this institution. The rites, being exclusively intended to break the taboo between two individuals and not between two groups, lead to individual marriage and family, and not to "group marriage" and "group family."
Mr. Crawley's book is full of valuable remarks, some of which must be quoted in the following paragraphs. I complete also the information on several points by the addition of statements from Mr. Roth's North Queensland Ethnography (Bull. 9 sqq.), which I have only recently been able to peruse.
Pp. 27-29. Methodic presentation of evidence. As in summing up the evidence the number of statements supporting one view or another has been adduced sometimes by way of illustration, it is necessary to say explicitly what is considered to be a unit of information (or an individual statement). I consider as independent statements: (1) Observations of different ethnographers. (2) Observations of the same author made on different tribes, provided that the author has pointed out the differences and that they are substantial enough. It seems hardly necessary to emphasize that the numeric treatment of statements has no pretentions to be a "statistic method of presenting evidence." It is meant only as a convenient and clear way of summarizing evidence.
P. 35 and Chap. VII. passim. Mystic. By this word I understand belonging to the category of magico-religious ideas.
P. 42. The marriage ceremonies of the Central and Northern tribes, religious and magical. Compare Crawley (M.R., p. 347).
P. 48. Betrothal is prevalent all over the tribes of North Queensland (Roth, Bull. 10, pp. 3-7, §§ 6-14). Among the tribes of Pennefather River (§ 6) it is effected during the infancy of the female and it is invariably adhered to. In the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay the bridegroom has to visit his fiancÉe before marriage for several weeks (§ 7). Infant betrothal is rare among the natives of Cape Bedford (§ 8). On the Bloomfield River female children are betrothed at birth (§ 10). Infant betrothal obtains also among the Cape Grafton and Tully River natives (§§ 11, 12). A betrothal ceremony (recalling that of the Euahlayi tribe, see above, p. 40) held when a girl is about three years old is described with reference to the Torilla and Pine Mountain Blacks (§ 13). There are an elaborate ceremonial, taboos and duties connected with betrothal in all these tribes. In the North-West tribes betrothal is generally known (§ 14).
Pp. 50-52. Marriage gifts. In the Pennefather River tribes a man is bound to supply his fiancÉe's parents with gifts (food, arms, etc.) (Bull. 10, § 6). Presents form an important feature of the marriage contract among the natives of Princess Charlotte Bay (ibid., § 7). The same is reported about the tribes of Normanby River (§ 9), Bloomfield River (§ 10), Torilla and Pine Mountain (§ 12).
P. 52. Publicity of marriage and betrothal is mentioned by Roth among the natives of Pennefather River (Bull. 10, § 6) and Bloomfield River (§ 10). There is a public ceremonial sign for marriage ("building of a hut and lighting of a fire" by the girl) common to all tribes (§ 5).
P. 52. Marriage ceremonies more prevalent than appears from evidence. To corroborate my supposition that marriage ceremonies are much more frequent in Australia than stated by the authorities I may quote Mr. Crawley's view. He says that "as to those (peoples) who are said to possess no marriage ceremony, it will generally be found that there is some act performed which is too slight or too practical to be marked by an observer as a 'ceremony,' but which when analyzed turns out to be a real marriage rite." And as an example the author quotes two forms of marriage ceremony among the tribes of Central Australia (Mystic Rose, p. 318).
Pp. 52, 53. Marriage ceremonies are reported by Roth with reference to all tribes of Northern Queensland (Bull. 10, "Marriage Ceremonies," etc., especially §§ 1-19). In § 5 a public ceremonial sign of marriage common to all these tribes is described; in §§ 9, 13 and 15, such ceremonies in different tribes are given with details. Ceremonial sexual intercourse with other men before marriage is mentioned in § 20.
Pp. 56-58. Legal aspect of marriage. The different social conditions enumerated by Roth (Bull. 10, §§ 1, 2 and 3) are a valuable addition to our knowledge of the legal aspect of marriage. "Essentials of marriage before it can be publicly recognized" are: membership in suitable exogamous groups, absence of intimate consanguinity and a suitable social status. If these conditions are not fulfilled the community either violently break the match, or by ridicule, plots, etc., will take an action "usually quite sufficient to cause a separation" (§1, p. 2).
P. 61. Ideas embodied in marriage ceremonies. In the survey of various marriage ceremonies Mr. Crawley first enumerates those in which the aspect of breaking the taboo, of securing immunity from danger, dominates (M.R., pp. 322-370); then come those in which the magical and religious elements "actually and materially uniting the man and woman" are prominent (loc. cit., pp. 370-390). This aspect corresponds to what I have expressed above emphasizing that marriage is a "sacrament" (p. 61). Very important is the analogy between marriage rites and love charms which Mr. Crawley points out; the same has been said above (p. 41), where it was pointed out that the Arunta love charm has its legal (=binding) aspect. Mr. Crawley lays emphasis on the fact that all marriage ceremonies and rites possess an individualistic character (loc. cit., pp. 320 sqq.). They refer always to individuals and not to groups, and all their magical, religious (I would add legal) consequences refer to the two individuals concerned and not to two groups.
P. 63. Polygyny. Although this fact had no special theoretical bearing in any of my arguments, still it seems advisable to state it here explicitly and with references for the sake of completeness. Polygyny seems to be restricted to the old and influential men, and to be rather an exception, although it seems to be found in all tribes. Cf. Curr, A.R., i. pp. 106, 107, 110 sqq.; Br. Smyth, ii. p. 291; Howitt, T.R.S.V., p. 115; Woods, p. 191 (Meyer), and p. 222 (SchÜrmann); Angas, ii. p. 222; Curr, Recollections, p. 129; Wilson, p. 143; Macgillivray, i. p. 151. Idem, ii. p. 8; Hodgkinson, p. 230; Bennett, p. 173; Henderson, p. 110; Roth, Bull. 10, p. 12; Tom Petrie, p. 61; Brown, p. 450; Salvado, p. 278. Compare besides Westermarck, H.H.M., p. 440, and the references given there.
Pp. 63, 64. Levirate. Cf. Westermarck, H.H.M., p. 510, for Australian references and for the exposition and criticism of different theories concerning this custom.
Pp. 64-66. Divorce is mentioned by Roth (Bull. 10, pp. 11, 12). Usually the man repudiates or gives away his wife.
Pp. 82-84. Marital affection. Mutual attachment and love between man and wife is stated explicitly by Roth (Bull. 10, § 17). It plays an important part in marriage arrangements (marriage by elopement). That love must be prevalent among the Australian savages is shown also by the different love charms they possess. (Compare, for instance, above, p. 41, footnote 9).—Compare Westermarck, H.H.M., p. 359, where Australian references are given, and Chap. XVI. pp. 356 sqq., where the problem in general is discussed.
Pp. 84-88. Mourning and burial. In Roth, Bull. 9, pp. 366, 367, we read that only after the elaborate mourning and burial ceremonies have been finished and the dead man's spirit appeased and got rid of, is the widow allowed to remarry. On pp. 394, 396 and 402, we read that the widow and widower have the greatest share in these ceremonies. P. 381 recounts the severe ordeals that a widow and widower have to undergo. Unfortunately it it impossible to enter here into the many details given by Roth which strongly confirm the views expressed above, in Chap. III. From the description of mourning and burial customs among some tribes of New South Wales, given by Mr. R. H. Mathews, it appears that the widow has long and toilsome mourning duties; she is specially adorned, she may not go out hunting, and has to chant customary lamentation for several months (Eth. Notes, pp. 71, 72).
P. 93, footnote 4 and p. 107. Incest. Roth affirms that incest is absolutely never perpetrated in the North Queensland tribes (Bull. 10, pp. 2, 3).
Pp. 108-123. Pirrauru not a group marriage. Mr. A. Lang gives an excellent criticism of the view that Pirrauru is a survival of ancient promiscuity. Still less tenable, of course, is the view that it is actual group marriage. Lang, The Secret of the Totem, Chap. III.—A similar view has been expounded by Mr. Crawley, loc. cit., pp. 475-483.
Pp. 168 sqq. Necessity of adapting sociological concepts to the social and psychological conditions of the given society. "It is only in early modes of thought that we can find the explanation of ceremonies and systems which originated in primitive society; and, if ceremony and system are the concrete forms in which human relations are expressed, an examination, ethnological and psychological, of human relations is indispensable for inquiry into human institutions." And, speaking of some previous inquiries into human kinship, the same author adds: "They have interpreted primitive custom by ideas which are far from primitive, which, in fact, are relatively late and belong to the legal stage of human culture. The attribution of legal conceptions to primitive thought has had the usual effect of a priori theory, and has checked inquiry" (Crawley, loc. cit., p. 1). The second phrase covers in particular the views expounded above, pp. 185 sqq.
P. 170. Social factors of kinship. "Habitual proximity and contact is the strongest and most ordinary tie, and is earlier in thought than the tie of blood" (Crawley, loc. cit., p. 452).
P. 175. Collective mind. This expression does not postulate the existence of any metaphysical entity—any mysterious spiritual medium, independent of any human brains. Of course every psychological process takes place in an individual mind. This term is an abbreviation for denoting the ensemble of "collective ideas" and "collective feelings." And by these are expressed such mental facts as are peculiar to a certain society, and at the same time embodied in and expressed by its institutions. For sociological purposes psychological facts must be treated from a special point of view, and, to emphasize that, the adjective "collective" seems appropriate. Compare p. 192, footnote 1.
Pp. 179-182. Absence of social consanguinity in primitive societies. "The strong conception of the tie of blood, best seen in feudal and semi-civilized societies, is by no means so strong in primitive culture" (Crawley, loc. cit., p. 451).
P. 183. The meaning of "kinship" ought not to be restricted to any special set of ideas. "'Kinship' in primitive thought is a vaguer term than in later culture ... because the tie of blood had not attained prominence over looser ties of contact" (Crawley, loc. cit., p. 451).
Pp. 183, 184. Couvade. An extensive bibliography on this subject is forthcoming in Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. Band 43. Heft iii. and iv., pp. 560-63. Berlin, 1911.
Pp. 260-262. Young females monopolized by old men. Besides the statements set forth in the text, I find three more collected by Prof. Webster referring to the Queenslanders (Lumholtz), to the West Australians (Frogatt), and to the Australians in general (J. Matthew) (loc. cit., pp. 70, 71). Among the tribes of Northern Queensland infant betrothal widely prevails; "the old men usually getting the pick" (Roth, Bull. 10, pp. 3-7).
Pp. 262 sqq. The bachelors' camp is mentioned by Roth (Bull. 10, p. 4).
Pp. 272, 273. Relations between brothers and sisters. Mr. Crawley has shown that avoidance between brother and sister, rooted in apprehensions of mutual danger is the rule among savages. This is corroborated by the scanty Australian evidence we possess. (See M.R., passim; for references see Index under "Brother and Sister").
Pp. 283-286. Communism in food. An interesting statement of an old explorer concerning the aboriginal communism in food may be adduced here. It refers to the North-Western blacks. "Be it little or much that they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender as the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, as the strong and lusty" (Dampier, loc. cit., p. 103).
