18 



documents, addressed to Cromwell, recommending that 

 the Commonwealth should take into its own hands all 

 insurances, and giving tables of rates, &c. 



Mr. Archer exhibited several stones found in a stratum 

 of clay, below a bog, twenty feet from the surface, in the 

 county of Wexford. The stones were hollow, and filled 

 with a brown dust. Mr. Cunningham thought that the 

 crust of the stones was composed of iron and clay, and 

 probably formed round a ball of clay, which would account 

 for the dust. 



Mr. Archer also exhibited a specimen of a mineral 

 rich in silver, from Barry stown lead mine, in the County 

 Wexford. Ic was said by his correspondent to contain 70 

 ounces of silver to the ton of lead. • 



PAPER FOR THE EVEXWGi 



"ON THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA."— By Dr. Isman. 



Dr. Inman read a paper upon the Aboriginal Inhabitants 

 of Australia. 



After a few general remarks upon the difficulties invari- 

 ably attending our study of a barbarous people, and the 

 misconceptions which arise from our placing too implicit 

 confidence in a favourite writer, the author proceeded to 

 describe the general appearance of the Australian race, and 

 their resemblance to the Negro in some points, and to the 

 Malay in others. In the northern parts of the island 

 there were some natives of a far lighter shade than the 

 rest, which were always regarded as chiefs and seemed to 

 be of different origin to their subjects. These men, and 

 the tribes met with in the central parts of the island, were 

 finely, and even classically, formed, and similar to the 

 Caucasian race in everything but colour. 



The natives possessed considerable intellectual powers, 

 and had always been considered a mild and generous race 

 by travellers who had met with them in the interior of the 

 country, and those parts of the coast where they had not 

 been subject to the cruelties and devastations of more 

 civilized men. Their powers of tracking an enemy, or of 

 finding their way through wild and pathless forests, was 

 equal to, if it did not surpass, that of the Eedskins ; and 

 they were, therefore, on all occasions eagerly sought as 

 guides by those who had to traverse the bush. Their 

 power of scent was described by some as being most mar- 

 vellous, and had been used on some occasions for finding 

 out a runaway convict. 



