PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 585 



Island, was not reached till Thursday, September 20th, owing to con- 

 trary winds and rough sea. Anchor was dropped off Cape Gambier, 

 and four of the natives in the boat were landed to make their way across 

 the island to Cooper Bros.' camp, and arrange that horses should be at 

 the landing-place to meet the party. Whilst the boat lay at anchor 

 17 full-grown native men and two boys came off. They proved to be 

 of the best type yet seen by me in Australia. The description given 

 by Captain Bremer in the year 1824 is correct even to-day : " These 

 natives were of about medium height and well formed, possessing 

 wonderful elasticity, and not stoutly built, the stoutest having but little 

 muscle. Their activity was astonishing, their color nearly black, 

 their hair coarse but not woolly, and tied occasionally in a knot behind, 

 while some had daubed their heads and bodies with red or yellow 

 pigment. They were almost all marked with a kind of tattoo, generally 

 in three lines, the centre one going directly down the body from the 

 neck to the navel, the others down from the outside of the breast 

 approaching the perpendicular Hue at the bottom." (17) The mannel: 

 in which they came to my boat reminded me absolutely of the picture 

 published by Captain King, vol. I., p. 112 : They " sprang into the 

 water and made towards the boat with surprising celerity, jumping at 

 each step entirely out of the sea, although it was so deep as to reach 

 their thighs " (p. 113). " The men were better formed than any we had 

 seen before ; they were daubed over with a yellow pigment . . . ." 

 (p. 114). Even the features of their face seem to have been well 

 preserved for three generations. Major Campbell noticed " the eyes 

 small, sunk, and very bright and keen." The supraciliary ridges are 

 well developed in many individuals. This character is also mentioned 

 by Campbell (" the eyebrows are extremely prominent "). 



The humorous propensities (18) of this happy black people have 

 not diminished during 80 years, and it was on account of this good 

 humor that I always had the best relations with the Melville Island 

 natives, who seem to be a well-disposed people if they are treated 

 kindly. 



Surrounding the boat the 17 male individuals examined everything 

 with the greatest curiosity. They were very pleased with the gifts 

 Ave presented to them, and I received some of the beautiful spears, 

 w^hich are almost the most artistically barbed specimen in the whole 

 of Australia. In spite of being very heavy, they are thrown without 

 the wommera (throwing stick), and are only used for fighting. The 

 only implements they use in making them are sharp pieces of shell, 

 because there is no material on the island for making stone implements, 

 which never have been introduced from the mainland. 



(17) Bremer's report on his expedition to Melville Island with H.M. ship Tamar 

 is reprinted in " The Genesis of Queensland," H. S. Russell, Sydney, 1888, p. 30 d 

 scq. Some particulars have been communicated to Capt. King by a letter from 

 Lieutenant T. S. Roe. "King's Narrative of Survey," etc., vol. n., London, 1827, p. 

 233 ff. 



(18) King. — Vol. I., p. 112 : " The whole tribe began to shout and laugh in 

 the most extravagant wav." 



