The female breast—Aboriginal ideas of shapeliness—Traditional cultivation by ceremonial—Prevalent shapes—Artificially induced lactation—The abdominal region—“Pot-belly”—The sign of surfeiting as well as of malnutrition—Living skeletons—Starvation a justifiable cause of cannibalism.
The female breast varies much in size and consistency, according to the age and physical (and physiological) condition of the individual. As in most matters that concern the aboriginal, his utilitarian inclination outweighs his æsthetic instincts, even to the extent that he regards the breast of his gin simply as that part of her “flesh,” which at the required period contains or produces the nutrient “water,” necessary for the rearing of his progeny. No breast, no matter how firm and classically hemispherical it might be in our estimation, would appeal to the aboriginal on account of its shapeliness. To him the voluminous, pendant, udder-like form, which can comfortably be handed over the gin’s shoulder, or under her arm, to the babe riding upon her back, would seem the orthodox and perfect creation. Indeed, among most of the tribes the husbands endeavour to attain that type both by magical incantation and by actual manipulation.
When the hour arrives that signs of adolescence first manifest themselves in a girl, her future husband, to whom she has long been assigned (perhaps even entirely speculatively, on the chance of the sex, before ever she was born), sets about to conjure up her feminine qualities. He may be, and usually is, joined by other men, to whom tribal law has by descent given claim to periodic domestic privileges approaching those of the marital relationships which are to exist between the individual husband and his gin.
Without advertisement, the tender novice is quietly coaxed away from camp by the men, who, by talking kindly to her, have no need to apply coercion. At no great distance they halt, and the future husband anoints the areas surrounding both nipples, which are likely to bulge forth as the future breasts, with grease; the anointed areas are then covered with a layer of red ochre. Whilst this is taking place, all present sing to the budding milk-gland, first softly, then vehemently, and with ceremony. During the performance on the North Coast, the female dugong, whose motherly devotion to her young is a recognised virtue, is frequently alluded to.
The painted areolas are frequently charmed by touching them with a magic stone, and at intervals the enchanters bring an anointed circle into contact with their lips, as if endeavouring to draw the nipple forwards, that it might grow.
Ultimately the girl is told to return to the women, who take her on a food-collecting expedition; during her absence from camp, it is quite possible that the signs of approaching maturity may become more definite.
The aboriginal breast begins to grow at an earlier age than the European, on an average at about the tenth year. Neglecting for the present the different phases in its development, from the puerile papilla through various shapes, depending upon the growth of the milk-gland and the deposition of fat about it, one type of breast is typical of early adult life, that is the pear-shaped form. In this type, especially in its earliest stages, the secondary bulge beneath the nipple often fuses imperceptibly with the basal hemisphere, so that a conoid shape results. In older women, the breasts at times assume extraordinarily large dimensions, especially when the individual is inclined to be on the well-nourished side. In very old gins, who have born and reared a number of children, the shape disappears entirely, the breasts becoming mere flaps of skin. A full dry breast is the exception rather than the rule; only in youthful cases, who have not become mothers, do we meet with firm and standing breasts. In later life, the inevitable sagging and attenuation are materially increased by a child in arms which, as the mother plies and looks for food, secures itself by firmly clasping one or both of its parent’s breasts.
The breast is situated a little more laterally in the aboriginal than in the European; and in the former case it is also lower and more nearly mid-way between shoulder level and umbilicus. One often finds the breasts of one and the same individual unsymmetrically developed (Plate IV, 1).
In connection with the female breast, I have a somewhat remarkable case of artificially induced lactation to record from the Alligator Rivers district. The mother of an infant of tender years having died, a younger sister of the deceased, who had no children, volunteered to adopt the helpless mite. The foster-mother diligently treated her breasts with a pulp she made by mashing Eugenia leaves with ashes and sufficient water to make a paste; and heated stones were placed over the breasts at frequent intervals. The mammary glands and their surrounding tissues were at every opportunity plied with the fingers, and the babe’s lips were as often put to the nipples. Within a short time, fluid formed in the breasts; and the child was suckled. The fluid was said to have been more watery than milk, but, nevertheless, made good nourishment for the child. This case is by no means unique. A number of records are available from different parts of the world, the most classical among which is perhaps that mentioned by Alexander von Humboldt of a South American man who sustained a child on his breast for five months during the illness of his wife.
In the Australian, the belly is flatter, the pudendum if anything, slightly more anterior, and the inguinal folds decidedly steeper than in the European.
One frequently has an opportunity, however, of observing a youngster with a remarkably big abdomen, a condition known in the bush by the name of “pot-belly.” Such a picture might point to either plenty or to want. In good seasons, when animal and vegetable diet is to be had in abundance, the younger children soon acquire a “pot-belly” in consequence of ample feeding and gorging. But, on the other hand, a distended abdomen is more often found in consequence of malnutrition and starvation, which the children have to suffer during bad seasons of drought. The distention in this case is due to the swelling of some of the large abdominal glands.
The same sufferings manifest themselves similarly in the adults, and particularly in the aged. Among the latter one only too often finds hungering creatures whose flesh has wasted away to a mere parchment wrapped around the bones, living skeletons in fact. In these cases, too, enlarged glands give rise to an unhealthy nodular protuberance in the epigastric region.
Can one wonder if, under such conditions, a kindly club, wielded by a more robust relative, puts the sufferer out of his misery? It is during these trying times, too, that parents are obliged to resort to extreme measures, so that they might sustain the lives of their children. Driven to the verge of despair, and visibly moved at the thought of it, a father must occasionally make the pathetic and gruesome decision to slay one child in order that another may be saved.
On account of his acting thus, when dire need compels him, people, who should know better, often call the Australian aboriginal a cannibal! Is this cannibalism? Have not shipwrecked people of our own colour, when in a similar plight, often been compelled to kill and eat one of their friends to save themselves from starvation?