BY R. H.4MLYN -HARRIS. t3 



as his father are his " aunts," whilst his " uncles; " are all 

 his " mother's " brothei-s, and what a motley crowd he must 

 have of them. 



[n the early days when true friends of the native, 

 among whom must rank Tom Petrie, Edward Palmer and 

 latterly W. E. Roth and others, fh-st probably out of 

 curiosity, then later on, from real genuine interest and care, 

 commenced investigation for some definite utilitarian 

 purpose, we find the aboriginal in his native state, indulging 

 in his own real customs untrammelled by civilization and 

 aU its evil effects — we find the men and women consistently 

 unclothed, but ornamenting themselves with such 

 decorative articles and deformation of l)ody as local 

 customs or the laws of initiation allowed or demanded. 



AU early writers, however, lose no time in emphasiz- 

 ing the fact — expressed or unexpressed — that as soon as 

 the Aboriginal became aware that his actions were under 

 surveillance, he no longer felt free to retain his freedom 

 of manners under curious and vulgar gaze. And this 

 attitude is not surprising, seeing how the average man 

 regards him and the danger the savage invariably runs of 

 being the victim of ridicule and worse, so long as the white 

 man sees no immediate possibility of retahation. This 

 same callousness shows itself in other ways ; in 1898 a 

 book appeared entitled "Queensland Past and Present" 

 (145) consisting of over 482 pages of which only a trifle 

 over one page was devoted to Queensland's native race. 



But even as we have to beware of indifference and 

 inaccuracy on the one hand, so we need to exercise greater 

 caution in dealing with the native on the other hand, 

 .since he is, as I have already endeavoured to point out, more 

 than easily influenced by his immediate environment. 

 One or two instances of this are necessary to emphasise 

 my point, and nowhere is it more noticeable than in the 

 relationship of the blackfellow with white men, hence the 

 following allusions. 



(a). A gentleman once rf)de up to an hotel in Queens- 

 land, and seeing an aboriginal standing at the post motioned 

 him to come and hold his horse. The aboriginal laughed. 

 ' Come, hold my horse," said the man. " Hold'em horse, 

 what you take'em for, think it blackfella, you been hold'em."' 



