BY K. HAMLYN-HARRIS. 29 



'Civilization ha« lost his keen powers of observation, his 

 normal characters, so that he is unable to institute laws 

 and customs as was done by his predecessors of a higher 

 intelligence. 



I think it is necessary at this stage to make some 

 reference to the fact that we find comparatively Uttle 

 evidence of foreign influence in Queensland. As has already 

 been pointed out the " clannishness " which has contrived 

 to isolate the native in his own territory had also been 

 instrumental in keeping out foreign intruders. The old men 

 in the north-west corner bordering on and including the 

 Northern Territory all speak of very early invasions from 

 Malaysia, records handed down from father to son, so that 

 the adventures of the Malays who used to come over with 

 the trade and go back by fair winds have become legends 

 apaongst them These exploits invariably ended with 

 slaughter, and the flight of the remnant in their proas 

 removed effectively from their midst all trace of Malay 

 influence for the time being. The influx of certain import- 

 apt customs, such as circumcision, sub-incision, etc., must 

 be regarded, not, I think, as a single culture acquired 

 independently, but flowing in from the Sumatran side of 

 Australia, rather than the Papuan, wandering over at he 

 same time as the coming of the present race. We see that 

 the influence, wherever it came from, has not spread over 

 the whole of Queensland uniformly. It is significant 

 that these customs are found only in restricted areas of 

 Queensland. The cult which came from the Papuan 

 mainland is marked by elaborate dances in which masked 

 performers took a prominent part, but only in the very 

 far North were such to be observed. On the other hand 

 -elsewhere, there is distinctive evidence of an influx of 

 certain ritual appertaining to ' heholithic culture " of 

 Egypt.* 



In addition to the practice of mummification we find 

 evidence of what might I think be regarded as a manifest- 

 ation of the same cult, man sleeping with his face towards 



♦Consult G. Elliot Smith. On the Significance of the Geographical 

 IHstribution of the Practice of Mummification A study of the Migrations 

 'of Peoples and the spread of certain Customs and Beliefs. Mem. & Proc. 

 Manchester Lit. & Philos. Socy. Vol. 59, Pt. 2, 191.5. 



