Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/41

 INTRODUCTION. xxxi when all the men in the world were dead, their souls would return to the scenes of their former lives, visit the graves of their forsaken bodies, and ask whether those were the bodies they had formerly inhabited. The bodies would reply, "We are not dead, but still living." They considered that souls and bodies would not be re-united, but the former would live in trees during the day, and at night alight on the ground and feed on grubs, lizards, frogs, and kangaroo-rats, but on no vegetable matter whatever. The souls, it was believed, would not die again, but would remain on earth, about the size of a boy eight years old.* All the natives entertain great dread of evil spirits, and those who lived in the neighbourhood of Adelaide never moved about at night. In other parts of the colony they would not do so without carrying firesticks with them, except on moonlight nights. With regard to marriage, the practices of the natives have already been alluded to. Amongst the Adelaide tribes polygamy existed universally, the old men possessing from one to four wives, or as many as they could obtain. The young females were bartered away by the old men for wives for themselves or their sons. The wives were the absolute property of their husbands, and were given away, exchanged, or lent, as their owners thought fit. The female children were generally betrothed at about twelve years of age, or even younger. Relatives nearer than cousins did not intermarry, and even these very rarely. Female orphans belonged to the nearest male relative, as did also widows. No ceremony attended marriages; the woman was simply ordered to take her bag and join the camp of the man on whom she was bestowed. No age was fixed for the marriage of the males, but under twentyfive they seldom obtained wives, although occasionally youths of seventeen or eighteen possessed them, As wives got old, they were often cast off by their husbands, or given to young men in exchange for their sisters or other relations at their disposal. Marriage was not looked upon as any pledge of chastity, and no such virtue was recognised; but little real affection consequently existed between husbands and wives,
 * Eyre.