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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of the bush. The term " mob," by which the tribe has learned to 

 designate itself, is etymologically quite appropriate, since it would 

 be difficult to find a race more mobile, unstable, and incapable of 

 persistent effort in one direction than the so-called Negritos. With 

 spears, clubs, and boomerangs they easily kill game enough for food ; 

 a few broad strips of bark set up in the form of a tent afford all the 

 shelter they desire, and unless they prefer to go naked, as their an- 



Men of Aroma. 



cestors were wont to do, the tattered remnants of the squatters' cast- 

 off clothes supply them with all the raiment they want. Semon 

 confesses a certain admiration for this inborn love of freedom and 

 strong sense of independence, which they prize more highly than 

 what we call the conveniences and comforts of life, although this 

 unthrifty spirit of primeval savagery often seriously interfered with 

 his plans, and in general presents an almost insuperable obstacle 



