CHAPTER III. 

 AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 



AUSTKALIA. 



JUST as the wild animals inhabiting Australia, such as kangaroos and wombats, are peculiar 

 and always of a low type, so are its dark-coloured natives. This the reader will readily 

 perceive for himself on glancing at the accompanying illustrations. Their features are coarse 

 and repulsive. We must look upon the Aborigines of this region as a people recalling the 

 earlier stages in the history of the human race a highly valuable and interesting suggestion 

 of primeval man. Here may we find, as it were, a series of " Prehistoric Peeps," reminding 

 us in passing of Mr. E. T. Heed's clever drawings in Punch a few years ago. These people 

 may be said to represent one of the bottom rungs of the ladder of human progress. They 

 are unlike the inhabitants of any surrounding islands or countries, and from their general 

 similarity in various parts of the Australian Continent have been regarded by some writers 

 as a single race, distinct from the Malay, the frizzly-haired Papuan of New Guinea, and 

 the Negro of Africa. Such is the view of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace. Both Keane and 

 Eatzel, however, consider them somewhat mixed. Their colour is not black, but a deep 

 copper or chocolate. As might be expected, they are a very hairy people. The hair is 

 plentiful, not only on the head, but on the whole body, especially on the chest and back. 

 The infants are of a much lighter colour, and covered on the neck and back with a slight 



Photo Irg Kerry it Co.] 



NATIVES MAKING A CANOE. 



49 



[Sydney. 



7 



