Abstract
THE DALLEBUBBA TBIBE, NORTH QUEENSLAND.—Mr. M. Bennett has published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 57, pt. 2, an account of the Dalleburra, a tribe virtually extinct, from notes made by Robert Christison, who settled among them in 1863, and whoso collection of Dalleburra weapons, with a series of fine photographs of members of the tribe, is now in the British Museum. It is probable that the Dalleburra had never seen a white man before. Christison got into touch with them only with extreme difficulty, but secured great influence through healing the broken leg of a small boy whom the tribe expected to die. The incident revealed the existence of a custom by which on occasions of both extreme sorrow and great joy the women gashed themselves with stone knives. He could not discover that they believed in one supreme being, though they did believe in supernatural beings. Tribal government was in the hands of headmen, and the chief offences were marrying within the prohibited degrees, abduction, and encroaching on others' hunting grounds. Message-sticks and smoke signals were the chief means of communication. The headmen pretended to be able to call down rain and to cure disease. They determined the distribution of food, getting the best for themselves, and indeed some of the tribe had never tasted emu. There was a regular marriage system, for which purpose the tribe was divided into four divisions, classified in pairs. The children belonged to different sections from their parents. Members of the same section of the same generation were brothers and sisters. All members of the Ko-bro section had the first joint of one forefinger cut off. Incest was punished by the death of the guilty parties, but the child was abandoned. Indicative of their intense feeling on the point is the fact that one case was still regarded with the greatest shame by a member of the tribe thirty years after the event. The youths of the tribe had to go through various trials and courses of instruction before they were regarded as grown-up men and qualified to marry; but no account of the initiation ceremony could be obtained.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Research Items. Nature 121, 686–688 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/121686a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/121686a0