Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/261

Rh Kargarinjerar, the pelican, a kind of snake, &c., &c., of other tribes, the father often confers the name of this protector (as the pouch of the pelican), or a part of it, upon the child. Grown-up persons frequently exchange names, probably as a mark of friendship.

Children are suckled by their mothers for a considerable time, sometimes to the age of five or six years; and it is no uncommon thing to see a boy playing with his companions, suddenly leave off and run to his mother to refresh himself with a draught of milk. When weaned, he accompanies his father upon short excursions, unless he should be delicate and unable to bear the fatigue, upon which occasion the father takes every opportunity to instruct his son. For instance, if they arrive at a place concerning which they have any tradition, it is told to the child if old enough to understand it. Or he shows him how to procure this or that animal, or other article of food, in the easiest way. Until his fourteenth or fifteenth year he is mostly engaged in catching fish and birds, because already, for some years, he has been obliged to seek for food on his own account. Thus he early becomes, in a great measure, independent; and there is nobody who can control him, the authority of his parents depending only upon the superstitions which they have instilled into him from infancy; and the prohibitions respecting certain kinds of food—for different kinds of food are allotted to persons of different ages—are enforced by their superstitions. The roes of fishes are appropriated to the old men, and it is believed that if women or young men or children eat of them they will become prematurely old. Other kind of meat they consider diminishes the strength of the muscles, &c., &c. At certain seasons of the year, when a particular kind of fish is abundant, the men frequently declare it to be rambe (holy); after which, all that are caught must be brought to the men, by whom they are cooked, and the women and children are not allowed even to approach the fires until the cooking is over and the fish are cold, when they may approach and eat of what the men choose to give them, after having previously regaled themselves.