Book Description

"In breezy, colloquial language Mrs. Langloh Parker has set down a considerable amount of accurate information concerning the Euahlayi tribe of the Narran river in the north of New South Wales. She makes no pretensions to be a scientific student, but for twenty years she has lived in contact with the Euahlayi, and being of an inquiring disposition and having the grace of sympathy she has acquired a very considerable store of first-hand knowledge about a tribe of whom scarcely anything was known previously, and thus her observations help to fill one of the numerous blank spaces which remain as a reproach to us in the ethnic map of Australia....This charming book appeals alike to the student and the general reader, and the missionary will also find food for reflection, especially I the closing remarks. Mr. Lang's Introduction points out the scientific importance of some of Mrs. Parker's investigations and explains the share he has had in the production of this book." -The Saturday Review From medicine men to witches to trapping of game and averting demons, The Euahlayi Tribe is the esteemed work by K. Langloh Parker that brings to light in formal terms her firsthand understanding of Euahlayi society. The resulting ethnography is factual and well written. Parker was obviously also familiar with the anthropological literature. She was hardly the detached observer that modern ethnography demands, however, at that time this methodology had not been invented yet. This is not necessarily a bad thing. As Andrew Lang points out in the introduction, Parker lived in close contact with aborigines for many years, and as a female she had access to the women of the tribe, a viewpoint for which we have no other source from that time period. An eminent name in the field of literature, Parker is famed for her unsurpassed contribution to Aborigine culture. She is the earliest author who brought the miseries and sufferings of Aborigines to the notice of Australians in a focused and meaningful manner. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. INTRODUCTORY II. THE ALL FATHER, BYAMEE III. RELATIONSHIPS AND TOTEMS IV. THE MEDICINE MEN V. MORE ABOUT THE MEDICINE MEN AND LEECHCRAFT VI. OUR WITCH WOMAN VII. BIRTH--BETROTHAL--AN ABORIGINAL GIRL FROM INFANCY TO WOMANHOOD VIII. THE TRAINING OF A BOY UP TO BOORAH PRELIMINARIES IX. THE BOORAH AND OTHER MEETINGS X. CHIEFLY AS TO FUNERALS AND MOURNING XI. SOMETHING ABOUT STARS AND LEGENDS XII. THE TRAPPING OF GAME XIII. FORAGING AND COOKING XIV. COSTUMES AND WEAPONS XV. THE AMUSEMENTS OF BLACKS XVI. BUSH BOGIES AND FINIS GLOSSARY