ETERNAL SUNSHINE 41 



autochones, but are in many cases absolutely better 

 adapted, and so overrun and extirpate the aborigines. 

 Clearly, therefore, the species which naturally inhabits 

 a country is not necessarily the best adapted to its 

 climate and other conditions." Australian aboriginals 

 having given way before a race better fitted to flourish, 

 what will the future of the new race be ? What ideal 

 is at present pursued ? 



To one who firmly upholds the theory of the evolution 

 of Australian types, and who thinks he perceives con- 

 vincing evidence in support of his belief, it seems likely 

 that on the tropical coast, where the influence of the 

 sun is all-powerful, rainfall abundant, and vegetation 

 prolific, the type will not only be more rapidly developed, 

 but that it will be pronounced in bodily form, in tongue, 

 and in temperament. One of the reasons compelling 

 towards such conclusion is the decided desire nay, the 

 ambition on the part of native-born Australians to do 

 glad and seemly homage to the sun. 



If a traveller from distant and friendly lands were 

 to accept as germs of a type those who sport in the surf 

 at fashionable watering-places, he might infer from the 

 display of brown backs and shoulders that Australia 

 had not escaped a smudge of aboriginal blood. But this 

 ardently cultivated tint is notoriously impermanent. 

 Contradictory as it may be, the most earnest advocates 

 of the "White Australia" principle use more than the 

 average quantity of oil, which makes the skin to shine 

 and embrown under the influence of the much-loved 

 sun. Do not their shoulders bear testimony to the 

 sun's wholesome salutations, and does not the too fair 

 and thin-skinned individual smart under his peeling 

 and display envy against the favoured ones who burn 

 to the tint of old copper ? Naturally, those who have 

 the most intense longing for a coloured skin, who per- 



