Chap, xi.] ABORIGINES AT CRICKET. 227 



the tangled, almost impcnetraljlc, vegetation in the hopes of 

 getting a shot at the Lyre-birds, which were to be heard calling 

 in all directions. The animal gave a tremendous bound and 

 seemed more to fly than leap. 



Not far from Healesville is a Government reserve, where a 

 number of Aborigines are maintained at Government expense 

 under a missionary. The reserve is called Coranderrk. There 

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

 rough 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 ! " 

 "Run it out ! " " Butter fingers ! " etc. 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 P^leven. 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 River Yarra, in which the 

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

 the "Duck-bill" {Ornithorhynchus 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 



