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Essendon Nov 8
My dear Spencer,
It was like your fiendish malice to tell that woman, Georgina King, that I would communicate with her. But happily you did not send me her address, so I am absolved. Is she Mrs of Miss?
I am sure that your proposal about Gillen's address is a good one, only it will be necessary for you to do the composing of it.
The only papers that have come in hitherto are Field's (Rev. J.T.) Exogamy at Tubetube [insert] happily discovered by you [end insert], another of his on Burial customs there, & one on the Annual Harvest
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Festival in Kiriwina, Brit. N.G. by Rev. S.B. Fellows - (very good) - Mr F. left two with George Brown in Sydney, who has only sent on one of them. I have written to him for the other.
The only other papers I know of up to date are one from Dr Brown, another from Howitt & perhaps one from Siebert. These have not come to hand yet. Of course there is also Georgina's valuable contribution.
J.B. Walker of Hobart was to have furnished a short paper on a point connected with the Tasmanian blacks, but I grieve to say that he has gone over to the majority.
No replies have come from Roth, or the W.A. man you or Howitt told me of, or Dr McKinley of Bogong. Mr
Crump of N. Britain will probably furnish a paper on the trephining practised there, perhaps accompanied by a skull or two. If I get the skulls, it would be well to hand them over to you for the Museum. Thus I propose to return good for evil.
Are my dear friends, your little ones, gone home with their mother? We are all wishing "bon voyage".
I have not heard from Frazer (the great F., of course, I mean)
Accept my benediction,
Yours sincerely,
L. Fison.
I will see that a précis of each paper that comes in is prepared.
