Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/344

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. in. APRIL 29,

Kingdom, outside of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, is University College, Durham. Next to it comes Bishop Hatfjeld's Hall, also at Durham. Both of these institutions belong to Durham University. According to the latest 'Durham University Calendar,' Uni- versity College has one hundred and twelve and Hatfield Hall one hundred and one students in residence. I do not know what college should be placed next in order to Durham, but should guess one of the new halls or hostels which I understand are being created in connexion with certain of the Scottish universities. KIENZI.

JOHN WATKINS (9 th S. iii. 149). I am unable to give the date asked for. I went through the obituary notices of the Gent. Mag. from 1829 to 1868 (when it practically died' as the Gent. Mag.) and did not come across it, nor did Mr. F. Boase, who did the same from 1851 to 1868. Watkins probably died before 1851, as Mr. Boase tells me he has no note of the death for his ' Modern English Biography.' A John Watkins is mentioned in * N. & Q.,' 6 th S. i. 346, by W. C. B., as being author of * Scar- borough Tales,' 1830. Bolton Corney, in his pamphlet * On the New General Biographical Dictionary,' 1839, p. 5, says : " We miss that neatness of composition which is so conspicu- ous in the * Biographical Dictionary ' of Watkins." KALPH THOMAS.

RICHARD HEBER, THE BOOK COLLECTOR (9 th S. iii. 267). The same question was asked in ' N. & Q.' upwards of forty-two years ago (2 nd S. ii. 387), but no reply has appeared. There is a fine reference to Heber in the intro- duction to canto vi. of Sir Walter Scott's 'Marmion.' EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

71, Brecknock Road.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Native Tribes of Centred Australia. By Bald- win Spencer, M.A., and F. J. Gillen. (Macmillan &Co.)

To two settlers in Australia one a sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and now Professor oJ Biology in Melbourne University, and the second a special magistrate and Sub-Protector of the Abori- gines, Alice Springs, South Australia we owe one of the most important contributions to anthropo- logical knowledge we have received during recent days. Less than a score years have elapsed since the appearance in Melbourne of 'The Kamilaroi and Kurnai Group: Marriage and Relationship and Marriage by Elopement' of Messrs. Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt gave the first impetus to the study of Australian anthropology. During the perio that has subsequently elapsed Mr. Gillen, as sub- protector of the aborigines, has had unique op

portunities of gaining the confidence of the larg and important Arunta tribe, of which both ou authors are regarded as fully initiated members [t will not from this be supposed that either write ias gone through the initiatory rites imposed upoi We will, on the contrary, assume that the admis sion has been extended to the white men pro causi honoris, or in some fashion that exempts them fron experiences that men of European birth are a ittle able to endure as likely to desire or envy A portion of the notes they have taken was incor porated in the report of the anthropological sectioi of the scientific expedition organized in 1894 b- Mr. W. A. Horn, of Adelaide. For the first tiro bhe full result of the observations sees the light ii the shape of a work of highest research and im portance, the proofs of which have been revise* and commended by the author of 'The Golde Bough ' and by that of ' Primitive Culture.' T the printed comments of Mr. J. G. Frazer, ir deed, we owe our own introduction to the work Not at all the sort of book is this which can b described in a few glib sentences. Adequate! to master the tribal and social relations of th aborigines is a task of much labour, and a nier recapitulation of the points on which pur view concerning totemism have to be modified woul require a magazine article rather than a brie notice. In many respects the practices describe' correspond to those customary among the abori gines of New Zealand. Sufficiently divergent ar they, however, to merit close and independen study. To those purposing to turn the whole t profitable account may be commended a master of the glossary of native terms used, a sufficient!; arduous labour, closely approximating to the acqui sition of a new language.
 * he aborigine himself, which are simply appalling

The points of deepest interest are those exactl; with which in a periodical intended for genera perusal it is most difficult to deal, those, namely which attend the initiation of the adolescent int the mysteries of his tribe, and those connected wit! nuptial relations. Concerning the former, we cai only say that they are purposely neither sanguinar; nor obscene, reminding us neither of the worshij of "Moloch homicide" nor of that of Chenios Sufficiently terrible, however, are they, and in th< infliction of mutilation are not widely differen from those practised in modern days among Russiai sects. The rite described as " sub-incision," sai< to be characteristic of the great group of tribe occupying the interior parts of Queensland, Nev South Wales, and South Australia, and extemiin; over a large part of West Australia, has beei characterized as the "terrible rite." In conimoi with Dr. Stirling, the anthropologist to the Hon expedition, our authors suggest that the employ ment of this term may with advantage be aban doned. It seems, however, appropriate enough the practice being, as is said, " most extraordinary, and likely, it might be thought, to be attended witl serious results, though such rarely attend it. notion of its origin is preserved among the^ Arunt! natives, and speculation concerning it seems " almos useless." Some sort of excuse is advanced for th< very painful ceremony known as Kpperta kahuna in which five men are chosen to bite severely w scalp, or even the chin, of the neophyte if he maj be so called this being supposed to make the lu grow strongly. One more custom now happn} falling, like some others, into disuseis connect

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