The Australian Aboriginal

Abstract

DR. H. BASEDOW has had exceptional oppor tunities for studying the mode of life and the customs of the aborigines of Australia, since in the exercise of his duties as State Geologist, and later as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Protector of the Aborigines for the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory, he has travelled widely and come into intimate contact with the natives. He has pub lished a few papers on the anthropology of the Aus tralians, and now presents us with a more comprehensive account of his observations on the natives, mainly of those of the Northern Territory. For reasons which he states in the preface, he has not consulted the previous literature, and thus he goes over ground which has been well covered by Spencer and Gillen in “Native Tribes of Central Australia” and “Across Australia,” and by Spencer in “Native Tribes of Northern Territory.” The reader therefore has to compare these four volumes in order to see where they agree and where differences occur, and in the latter case he will have to make up his own mind which is the better version.

The Australian Aboriginal.

By Dr. Herbert Basedow. Pp. xx + 422 + 56 plates. (Adelaide: F. W. Preece and Sons, 1925.) 30s.