THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



nearly 300; and fine-looking fellows they were. When he went away in 1853, there were 

 not many left. Seeing so few natives about, he began to make inquiries about some of his 

 dark friends of early days. The reply he received is so pathetic that we give as far as 

 possible the very words: "Aha, Mitter Looyed! Ballyyang dead, Jaga-jaga dead, Panigerong 

 dead [and many others they named]. The stranger white man came in his great swimming 

 vessel, and landed with his large animals and his little animals. He came with his ' boom- 

 booms ' [double-barrelled guns] and his tents, and the great white stranger took away the 

 long-inherited hunting-grounds of the poor Barrabool coolies and their children." Then, 

 weeping, shaking their heads, and holding up their hands in the bitterness of their sorrow, 

 they exclaimed: "Coolie, coolie, coolie! Where are our coolies now? Where are our fathers, 

 mothers, brothers, sisters? Dead! all gone! dead!" 



In most places the blacks go about almost naked in the summer season, even in Central 

 and Southern Australia, where the climate is changeable. What little they wear partakes 

 more of the nature of ornament than clothing. But during the cold season garments are 

 necessary. The chief article of a man's wardrobe is a girdle of plaited grass or bast; 

 sometimes the hair of an animal may be used for this purpose, or even the hair of another man, 

 in which case it is generally considered a charm. Women at times wear an apron of emus' 

 feathers. A man's girdle serves to carry his digging-stick, his axe, or his boomerang. Hats 

 are altogether dispensed with, but the head may be decorated with teeth, fish-bones, feathers, 

 or the bushy tail of an animal. Some twist the hair with string painted red, and 

 decorated with the feathers of an emu, a cockatoo, or the tail of a dog. The younger men 

 are particularly fond of ornaments for the neck, made of mother-of-pearl, teeth of various 

 kinds, crabs' claws, bits of reed or straw, but the old men despise such things. In the south 

 during the cold season men and women cover themselves with the skins of kangaroos, wearing 

 them like sacks. They have no sense of shame; clothing and modesty, in their eyes, are not 

 connected. There is a story of a girl who was presented by a lady with a white petticoat. 

 This she wore and displayed with some pride to her own people; they, however, only jeered 

 at her for wearing clothes like the white strangers, and the consequence was that in a few 

 days the petticoat was laid aside and the girl went about naked as before. 



The people are very fond of painting their bodies. Red, white, and black are their favourite 

 colours. They paint their small wooden shields with the same colours. Some of our illustra- 

 tions show the stripes or 

 bauds of colour on the body. 

 Red ochre is much used. The 

 people of the south-east used 

 to paint their bodies with 

 circles, squares, and crosses. 

 Corpses are painted red. In 

 some tribes only the elder 

 men are allowed to use the 

 red ochre, the youths powder- 

 ing their hair with red earth. 

 Instead of the tattooing so 

 largely practised by Malays 

 and many other people, we 

 find long oblique scars in the 

 region of the breast, the back, 

 and the shoulders, but seldom 

 below the waist. (See illus- 

 trations.) 

 Photo by M,: ii. p/iiinj>*.] "^ : : ~ '{.Bristol'."' Before a girl can come 



NATIVES OF RIVER ENDEAVOUR, NORTH QUEENSLAND. OUt," aS W6 should Say that 



