172 ABORIGINES. 



Madagascar, which had itself, at a later period, 

 received men of other races." 



The races inhabiting, however, the land of 

 New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land or 

 Tasmania, differ ; the former, although possess- 

 ing the African features, have straight hair, 

 whilst those of the latter country are more 

 closely allied to the Papuans. As far as regards 

 their occasionally miserable appearance, (for 

 many are the reverse in the interior,) it may be 

 counted' for by a dependence upon a precarious 

 supply of food. Having no natural fruits, they 

 subsist principally upon the produce of the 

 chase, having nothing to induce them to culti- 

 vate the soil ; they have no fixed habitations, 

 and consequently no villages ; the different 

 tribes or families remove to those localities 

 where game may abound, and as too long a stay 

 in any situation would cause a scarcity of game, 

 tliey seldom remain in one spot longer than 

 three or four days. How different then they 

 are, in respect to country and climate, from those 

 races inhabiting the Polynesian Archipelago, 

 who live in a luxuriant and fertile country, 

 abounding in all the vegetables and fruits 

 of tropical countries, as well as having hogs, 

 fowls, &c.* 



'^ Among the Coroados Indians in the intei'ior of Brazil, 



