Book Description

Excerpt from The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines: Gathered From Inquiries Made by Authority of South Australian Government The following pages are only a contribution towards the subject to which they relate. No doubt a vast deal more may be gathered concerning the folklore and customs of those tribes who inhabit the country from Lake Eyre northwards to Port Darwin. It is intended that further efforts shall be made to obtain the large amount of curious and instructive information which awaits inquiry. It is of great importance that we should gain a knowledge of the customs and folklore of the aborigines. Not only is it useful as the subject of scientific inquiry, but as a means of benefiting the natives themselves. We shall deal with them much more easily if we know their ideas and superstitions and customs. No doubt people have often given them serious offence by unwittingly offending their prejudices. It is necessary, also, that the missionary should be well acquainted with this subject. If he does not know the religion of the people to whom he goes - and the superstitions of the aborigines are their religion - he will never successfully grapple with the difficulties which lie in his way. Or if he despises these matters as mere heathen nonsense, and holds them in too much contempt to inform himself of them, he will never get the attention of the natives. And he will not find that aboriginal customs are always to be cast away: some may be usefully retained, even after they become educated and christianised. In the following pages there will be seen to exist a deficiency of information concerning the Adelaide tribe. Every effort was made to obtain a knowledge of the manners and customs of this people, but without success. Almost nothing is left in the records of the Aborigines' Department about their folklore, superstitions, or language. Probably papers have unwittingly been destroyed which contained such information. Our inquiries respecting the folklore of the aborigines have, in some cases, met with disappointment: some persons whom we thought might have assisted us failed to do so. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.