262 A NATURALIST OX THE " CHALLENGER." 



were about 120 Blacks there. They live in a small village of 

 rouo-h wooden or bark houses, in the midst of which is the house 

 of Mr. Green, the superintendent. 



The Blacks have lately been employed in cultivating hops, 

 and with tolerably good success, but they are incorrigibly lazy. 

 They are delighted when the plough breaks down, and im- 

 mediately take a holiday with glee. They had just finished 

 picking the crop, so were playing cricket at about half a-mile 

 from the village, and whilst they were amusing themselves, three 

 Whites employed about the place were hard at work. In fact, 

 the Whites do most of the work. The Black women might make 

 much money by plaiting baskets for sale, and the men by catching 

 fish and hunting, but they never will work till hard pressed. 



We found the cricket party in high spirits, shouting with 

 laughter, rows of spectators being seated on logs and chaffing 

 the players with all the old English sallies ; " Well hit ; " " Bun 

 it out ; " " Butter fingers," &c. I was astonished at the extreme 

 prominence of the supraciliary ridges of the men's foreheads. It 

 was much greater in some of the Blacks than I had expected to 

 see it, and looks far more marked in the recent state than in the 

 skull. It is the striking feature of the face. 



The men were all dressed as Europeans ; they knew all about 

 Mr. W. G. Grace and the All-England Eleven. One of them 

 tried to impress on me the heaviness of the work they had just 

 gone through in hop-picking, and that now it was a holiday, and 

 he wished to know how much a bushel was paid in England 

 for such work, evidently wanting to be able to be even with 

 Mr. Green in the matter. The great difficulty at these reserves 

 is to manage the distribution of payment for labour. At present, 

 or until lately, all the proceeds went to a common stock. Of 

 course, this makes all lazy. 



Close by the reserve flowed the Eiver Yarra, in which the 

 Platypus abounds, the " Water mole," as it is called here, or the 

 " Duck-bill ' : (Omitliorynclius paradoxus). I offered the men 

 three half-crowns for one recently shot. Some of the Blacks 

 thought they might try and get one ; but although one half- 

 crown is the usual price, no one thought of leaving cricket or 

 his looking on at the game : nor, though I offered a good price 



