TASMANIANS. 355 



on mussels, cockles, and periwinkles, and their only weapon 

 was a straight pole, sharpened at one end.* Mr. Dove in- 

 forms us that they are entirely without any "moral views 

 and impressions." Indeed, he scarcely appears to regard 

 them as rational beings. f They have no means of expressing 

 abstract ideas ; they have not even a word for a " tree." 

 Although fire was well known to them, some tribes, at least, 

 appear to have been ignorant whence it was originally ob- 

 tained, or how, if extinguished, it could be re-lighted. "In 

 all their wanderings," says Mr. Dove, " they were particularly 

 careful to bear in their hands the materials for kindling a fire. 

 Their memory supplies them with no instances of a period in 

 which they were obliged to draw on their inventive powers 

 for the means of resuscitating an element so essential to their 

 health and comfort as flame. How it came originally into 

 their possession is unknown. Whether it may be viewed as 

 the gift of nature, or the product of art and sagacity, they 



cannot recollect a period when it was a desideratum 



It was the part of the females especially to carry a firebrand 

 in their hands, which was studiously refreshed from time to 

 time as it became dull and evanescent." J 



Feegee Islanders. 



The islands of the Pacific contain two very distinct races 

 of men the Negrito and the Polynesian. My space does 

 not permit me to enter into the interesting questions of their 

 relationships and affinities. 



The inhabitants of the Feegee Islands have been described 



by many writers as negroes. They are darker than the 



Polynesians. The jaws are larger, and the hair, though not 



exactly woolly, is frizzled. They are a powerful race, but not 



so graceful as the Polynesians. Their language is, however, 



* Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 100. f Tasmanian Jour, of Nat. Sci., vol. i,, p. 249. 

 J Tasmanian Jour, of Nat: Sci. vol. i., p. 250. 



