Abstract
CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER, the first Englishman known to have made the acquaintance of the Australian natives, referred to them as “The poor winking people of New Holland … the miserablest people in the world.” Mr. Calvert, who has had a little experience with the natives, looks upon their imperfections with a more lenient eye than the plain-spoken buccaneer, who visited Western Australia in 168S. He gives descriptions of a few of their habits and rites, the information being drawn in some cases from journals in the British Museum, while in others it is based upon his own recollections. Their marriage laws are curious. Children of either sex always take their mother's family name, but a man may not marry a woman of his own family name. Interesting descriptions are given of aboriginal funeral ceremonies, and these, with one or two other matters of interest to anthropologists, render the book worth reading, if a little discretion is used.
The Aborigines of Western Australia.
By Albert F. Calvert. Pp. 55. (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, and Co., 1894.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 50, 474 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050474c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050474c0