348 CLOTHING. ORNAMENTS. 



gourds, and some quadrupeds which were probably in- 

 tended to represent kangaroos and dogs/'* It is, however, 

 doubtful whether these are the work of the present natives. 

 The Alfouras do not claim them, but on the contrary ascribe 

 them to diabolical agency. Moreover, they are, according to 

 Mr. Oldfield, " quite unable to realise the most vivid artistic 

 representations. On being shown a large colored engraving 

 of an aboriginal New Hollander, one declared it to be a ship, 

 another a kangaroo, and so on ; not one of a dozen identify- 

 ing the portrait as having any connection with himself." f 



The Australians observed by Cook and Dampier were en- 

 tirely destitute of clothing, and their principal ornament 

 consisted of a bone, five or six inches long, and half an inch 

 thick, thrust through the cartilage of the nose. They did 

 not tattoo. On the north-west coast, King observed some 

 of the natives with a very peculiar decoration. At every 

 three inches between the upper part of the chest and the 

 navel, the body was scarified in horizontal bands, the cica- 

 trices of which were at least an inch in diameter and raised 

 half an inch from the body .J Some of them fastened to 

 their hair, by means of gum, teeth of kangaroos or of men, 

 dogs' tails, fish bones, bits of wood, and other objects which 

 they regarded as ornamental. Frequently they wore pieces 

 of opossum, or kangaroo- skin not for decency, however, 

 but for warmth, and while hunting as a protection from 

 thorns. According to D'TJrville, however, the natives of 

 New South Wales did not think it decent that young 

 children should go quite naked. 



On the north-eastern coasts they use canoes made from 

 the trunks of trees, each canoe being formed from a single 



* King, vol. ii., p. 26 ; Grey, vol. i., p. 259. 



f Oldfield on the Aborigines of Australia. Transactions of the Ethnological 

 Society. New Ser. Vol. iii. 

 { I.e. p. 42. Voyage de 1' Astrolabe, vol. i., p. 471. 



