HOLLAND. 



87 



sometimes resembling the feet of animals, 

 being made by the sharp edge of a shell, and kept 

 open, the skin forms a Urge seam in healing which 

 is very drM*t*g"' > " hl * in youth, but is almost totally 

 effaced by age. Men have the septum of the nose per- 

 forated to receive a bone, and are subjected to the ex- 

 traction of some of the front teeth when they attain the 

 age of puberty ; and the women are deprived of the 

 first two joints of the little finger of the left hand. 

 Their personal ornament* are not numerous, consisting 

 of the teeth of beasts or mankind glued to their hair, 

 feathers, and the tail of the dog : and certain tribe* di- 

 vide their hair into parcel*, matted together with gum 

 into portions tike the thrums of a mop. The men also 

 ornament thenuelve* previous to a dance or combat, 

 with broad stripe* of white paint, used entirely accord- 

 ing to taste, without any definite fashion. " Some," Mr 

 Collins observes, " when decorated in their beat man- 

 ner, looked perfectly horrible: nothing could appear 

 more terrible than black and dismal face, with a large 

 white circle drawn round each eye.** 



All are absolutely naked : Some of both sexes wear 

 the skin of the kangaroo around their shoulders as a 

 defence against the weather, but for no other purpose. 

 A few of the men also go with a girdle about the loins, 

 but the natural state of the whole is absolute nudity, 

 and along with it, neither male nor fssBali entertains 

 any sense of shame. Nevertheless, violation, of chas- 



proportion of clothing is used. Their habitations are 

 of the most miserable description, the best being 

 very long pieces of bark bent in such a m 

 the ends stock into the ground, as to re 



Holland, 

 Sew. 



is by this means that even their marriages are accom- 

 plished. Instead of the courtship, suit, and persuasion 

 employed in other countries, the object of desire, ge- 

 nerally of another tribe, is felled to the earth with a Manner* 

 club, "in some remote situation, and dragged in a state ""IcuMonu. 

 of insensibility to the dwelling, if such it ma}' be called, 

 of the htisliand. She becomes his wife, and frequently 

 remains attached to him ever after. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, a more favoured lover is found, for whom the 

 husband is deserted ; and many of the men do not con- 

 fine themselves to a single wife. Their offspring is 

 named after some visible object, a quadruped, a bird, 

 or a fish ; and females are in the earliest infancy sub- 

 jected to that mutilation of the little finger above re- 

 ferred to. Women are held in great subservience. 

 They are the victims of all the barbarity which the su- 

 perior power of savages can inflict, as is too ino 

 tibly proved by the innumerable scars by which their 

 bodies are covered. The New Hollanders either burn 

 or bun* their dead; and in general if a mother dies, 

 while suckling her infant, it is buried alive in the same 

 grave. They are utter stranger* to religion : they have 

 no images, nor can they be said to entertain apy idea 

 of a future state. 



These people, however, are acquainted with some 

 remarkable customs, of which tin- first and most con- 



fmm ** w 



its 



roof of a barn. 

 or trees, or even 

 of tho*e hitherto 



Man 



an v ar 

 host* in 



hare no other 

 the earth. 



The 



sen OB the ahorei, is chiefly fish: 

 they alao feed on kind of larva, or worm, lurking un- 



der the bark of trees, which is extremely disgusting to 

 the view, but reputed a (net delicacy ; and they en. 

 deavour to ensnare wild animals. Captain Flinden 



found a nee at King George's Sound, who miaiJ to 

 live more by hasting then fishing ; end there are in- 

 habitant* of the woods north-west of Botany Bay, who 

 make paste of the ten root and ants bruised to. 



u, depriving youths at the age of puberty of 

 an upper front tooth. Many ceremonies precede'fhe 

 operation, which are conceived to bestow the more va- 

 lueHs proprrt y of certain brutes upon them, and the 

 operation entitles them to the privileges of men, with 

 whom they are now enrolled. They equ p themselves 

 with long tail* hi imitation of kangaroos ; crawl on 

 their hands and feet, and scrape up the earth like dogs ; 

 and remain motionless the whole night before the opera- 

 tion. After some preparation by the i . the pirn, 



the tooth is struck out by main force, but with consider. 

 able dexterity. The object of this custom is altogether 

 uncertain ; it has been supposed a tribute which one 



tribe could exact of another ; 

 that 



widely, thoujrl 



but there is not sufficient 

 The custom is, however, 



rrsally, diffused. Dempier affirms 



The arts are here in the lowest stage: dothing and 

 -wn. all the ingenuity of these a 



I , ..y 

 K~d,or 



of the dull of Carpentaria, the largest of all, are i!.;r- 



teer. feet end a half long by two and a half broad. 



man* of the 



k. J . i 



forfishmg. one of the letter no 



three broad, consuting of larger n 

 twWth^s^EnsMtwi^ws, 

 IMUSC bay on the east coast. Then 

 wooden lances, weoden swords, and wooden shiekk 

 One of their fishing iia^liaemi i. . four-pointed 



t 



tC 



In rsganl to *ocisl order among these people, then 

 none: all we can asfrsa is, that they are divide. I 

 families, the oldest member of which claims supe- 

 riority over those iiesjisdiatsly dependent upon him. 

 There i* no .< knowledgment of chiefs; nor are any 

 l'v except tho^ of personal strena^h, recognised. It 



of those on the iu.rth-wet roast, that " the two fore teeth 

 of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men 

 and women, old and young." Captain Flinders saw 

 individual* at the south-west extremity who had pre- 

 served all their teeth. However, around the settle- 

 ments at Port Jackson, there are no exceptions. Here 

 k k the right front tooth which is extracted. On the 

 north coast, it is the left ; and in the Culf of Carpen- 

 taria the men seen by Captain Flinden had lost both. 

 We do not know whether the loa* of members be deem- 

 ed tributary among any nation where it is practised ; 

 I. -it it has been lately averted, that, on the death of 

 the chief of the island of Owhyhee, each of his people 

 must extract a tooth. The cause of m< . lit- 



tle finger of the women, accori! i* to 



avoid en embarrassment which would ensue to the fish* 

 ing line*. 



Another very extraordinary custom is the exact mra- 

 sure of retaliation observed for injuries. They have no 

 laws; lint blood must always be followed i>\ i 



I. torn when at play receive a push, they n-tnm 

 it by une of equal force ; if a man is woundxl. the 

 aggrewor is compelled to expose himself to the throwing 

 of the sufferer's pear, or that nf his frirnd , ainl if a 

 man of one tribe should IK- unmercifully beaten by 

 those of another, tome individual of the tetter must un- 



