ANIMALS, 397 



and persons may be easily distinguished from those of the Tartar 

 races. The nations that inhabit the peninsula of India, seem to 

 be the principal stock from whence the inhabitants of the islands 

 that lie scattered in the Indian ocean have been peopled. They 



mense country, we know not to wliat extent these varieties run, more 

 especially in the interior. The natives with whom we are best acquainted, 

 inliabitinf; the vicinity of Botany Bay, Pdrt Jackson, and Broken Bay, are in 

 general ot raodemte stature, and ill made. Their limbs, almost universally, 

 are very small and thin. The dwellers near the coast subsist almost exclu. 

 sively on fish ; those, on the other hand, who live in the woods are almost as 

 exclusively carnivorous, but depend entirely for a supply to the uncertain 

 produce of the chase, or rather to the casual surprise of opossums and small 

 animals in the trees. The latter. Colonel Collins informs us, are observed to 

 have longer arms than their compatriots of the coast The features of these 

 people are generally pleasing^, especially of the women, who are less deformed 

 by the foreign ornament of a bone or reed thrust throui;h the cartilage of the 

 nose or ears Like the south Africans, and other savages, these people of 

 both sexes annint their bodies all over with oil or grease ; a practice which 

 probably originated as a protection against t'le attacks of stinging flies, raus- 

 quitoes, and even the arid air. They also draw lines all over the face and 

 body, on particular occasions of combat or ceremony, with coloured clay, in 

 addition to the more permanent ornaments of scars or seams, the result of 

 self-inflicted wounds. The males, on attaining the ago of mauhoiid, have one 

 of the upper incisor teeth punched out, an operation performed on large 

 numbers at a time and with the most ridiculous ceremonies. The women 

 have the little finger of the right hand also mutilated by amputation of the 

 two first phalanges. Their senses, in general, in common with all savages, 

 are very acute ; that of sight in particular has been observed with admira- 

 tion by all Europeans who visit them. Parturition is also comparatively easy 

 among their women, who are generally enabled in a few hours after to pur- 

 sue their ordinary occupations. The colour of the natives in question is ob- 

 served to vary, though the more than ordinary filth of some individuals 

 among them may impart an unnatural blackness of the skin ; generally the 

 tint of the skin is that of copper when sufliciently cleansed to sl-.ow it. Their 

 hair is either curling or straight, not woolly like that of the negro. In a few 

 it has been observed to have a reddish c;ist. In disposition, these savages 

 evince the quality of general good nature, but occasionally deadly revenge, 

 inflexible courage in bodily sullering, jealousy, idleness, independence, and 

 cunning : to their previous had qualities must also unhappily be added some 

 that seem to result from their intercourse with the outcasts of European 

 society, especially drunkenness, one of the greatest banes of civilized life. 

 Their sorrow is evinced in the most poignant manner by tears and piercing 

 cries ; but the storm soon blows over, and their ordinary tone of miud is re- 

 itored. 



The inhabitants of New Zealand, (says Captain Cruise,) are in general tall, 

 active, and well made ; their colour is brown, with black hair, sometimes 

 straiiiht, and sometimes curling ; and they have very fine teeth. There is a 

 hti iking difference between the Kungateedit*, that is, the chiefj and better 

 class (if people, in stature and cast, and those who ari' by birth cookies, or 



2 L 



