Note 21 — Chapter V · THE INTERPRETATION OF ANDAMANESE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS: CEREMONIAL (continued 3)

In a number of tribes of Western Australia I found an exactly similar custom. It was formerly the rule that after the death of a near relative the mourner must abstain from eating kangaroo, that being the largest game animal. Since the establishment of sheep stations in their country, with the consequent great decrease in numbers of the kangaroo, it has come about that the animal which now provides their most important supply of meat is the sheep, and the modern rule is that a mourner must not eat mutton. ↑