1900.] MATHEWS—THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. are 
because analogous customs have been reported among Negroid 
people elsewhere. 
As the Tasmanians have been assumed to be the remnant of the 
autochthonous race, some items of their initiatory customs may be 
mentioned. J. Bonwick, in referring to this subject, says: 
‘‘From all that I have been able to gather in my inqui- 
ries among very old residents of Van Diemen’s Land it is my 
opinion that the custom in connexion with young-men-making 
[initiation] in New Holland, existed more or less with the different 
tribes of the Tasmanians.”’ ? 
J. J. de la Billardiére, speaking of his visits to the Tasmanians 
between the years 1791-1793, Says: 
‘¢ We observed some in whom one of the middle teeth of the 
upper jaw was wanting, and others in whom both were gone.’”* 
The same author says in another place : 
“¢We were much surprised to see most of them holding the ex- 
tremity of the prepuce with the left hand.”’ 
In a vocabulary appended to his work he gives the native word 
Joira for powdered charcoal, with which they covered their bodies. 
Among many Australian tribes one or more front teeth are punched 
out ; in others the men take hold of their genitals and exhibit them 
to the youths; and the smearing of their bodies with powdered 
charcoal and grease is widely practiced in connection with initia- 
tion ceremonies. 
Speaking of the corrobories or dances of the Tasmanians, J. 
Backhouse? reports : : 
‘‘Tn these dances the aborigines represented certain events or 
the manners of different animals; they had the emu dance, the 
thunder and lightning dance, and many others.”’ 
R. H. Davies,‘ in referring to the same subject, says : 
‘¢One is called the kangaroo dance, and is, along with some 
others, most violent. . . . . Some of these dances are evidently 
lascivious.’’ 
1 Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians (London, 1870), p. 202, 
2 Account of a Voyage in Search of La Pérouse (London, 1800), Vol. ii, pp. 
72 and 76, 
3 Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies (London, 1843), p. 82. 
4 On the Aborigines of Van Diemen’s Land (Launceston and London, 1846), 
Vol. ii, p. 416, 
