CHAPTER I. 



AND INTRODUCTORY. 



"BROOME 

 A 



W. Sarillt-A'eat, Photo. 

 BELLES," NATIVE WOMEN OF ROEBUCK KAY, WF.STKRN AUSTRALIA, p. 14. 



W. SanllfKent, Photo. 

 ABORIGINES OF KINO'S SOUND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, p. 9. 



HERE is probably no 

 geographical region of 

 the world that so justly 

 commands the attention of the 

 naturalist as Australasia. In 

 nearly every department of zoo- 

 logy and botany it yields forms 

 and features represented, if at 

 all, elsewhere on the surface of 

 the globe, only by long extinct 

 fossil types. 



From another standpoint, as 

 a territorial unit, Australia is of 

 surpassing interest, since, by the 

 light of the most recent biological 



