Thjsiological Characteristics of the Australian Blades. 6 1 



themselves, so long as they can indulge their vagabondizing 

 propensities. Tliere is assuredly no nation on earth that so 

 aptly illustrates Goldsmith's words, 



" Man wants but little here below," 



as the black race of Australia. 



Those we were now visiting had come from the districts of 

 Shoal Haven, Port Stephens, and Illawara. There were three 

 men and as many women, one of whom, a Mestiza, named 

 Sarah, with two half-blood little children. One of tliese^ 

 which, although above two years of age, was still at the breast, 

 had a skin quite white, red cheeks, and light blue eyes, and 

 could scarcely be distinguished from the child of white 

 parents. These presented so characteristic a type of the race, 

 that we could not resist an attempt to make with them some 

 of those admeasurements of the body already alluded to, 

 while the artist attached to the Expedition delineated their 

 appearance. 



The skull of the Australian black is tolerably regular, the 

 forehead broad and high, the bridge of the nose pretty high, 

 the eyes dark, brilliant, and sunken ; the nose and cheek- 

 bones well marked. The mouth generally is broad, the 

 upper lij) overhanging the under, and the upper teeth also 

 project beyond the under. The face, like the entire body, is 

 hairy in an unusual degree ; the hair of the head is black, 

 thin, often very fine in texture, and slightly crisped without 

 bein'g woolly. The skin is usually dark or dirty brown, or 

 brownish black. The custom of marking the outer arm from 



