242 



man's thumb between their jtiws, a method that is preferred by 

 them to breaking it across the knee. Besides the use of their 

 jaws for the purpose of breaking sticks, and that of the teeth for 

 tearing the bark off, tlie habit of picking up things from tlie 

 ground with the toes struck me as one of their peculiarities. 

 Almost anything is grasped by them between the big and the 

 other toes, and by bending the leg up at the knee is brought to 

 the hand. Tiarely does a blackfellow stoop for anything if he 

 can help it. The hair is dark and somewhat wiry, but mostly 

 wavy, and sometimes curly. When it gets long it becomes 

 occasionally bleached, especially at the tips, and then looks 

 brownish, and often dingy. Its gi'owth is profuse with the males, 

 but less so with the women. The beard is seldom very strong, 

 and often almost absent ; and the hairiness of the body only in' 

 few indi^■iduals strongly developed. As a rule the chest is nearly 

 smootli, but on the arms and legs they are more hirsute. The 

 color of the skin is generally dark -brown, and often dull-looking, 

 but when they are well fed it becomes blacker and shiny. A 

 good deal of tlie natural color is influenced by tlie pigments they 

 rub themselves over with, and whicli to some extent becomes 

 ingrained into the skin. 



Prior to reaching the Praser llange only men and boys were 

 seen by us, with the exception of a small girl at Camp 40. At 

 the Fraser Range, however, there were a number of women. 

 (PI. 37.) These were nearly all very short, puny, and dread- 

 fully stavved-looking specimens, and appeared to be of consider- 

 ably inferior intellect to the men. Proportionally, their legs ai\d 

 calves are much thinner than those of tlie other sex, and their 

 walk is sliuffling, with tlie feet invariably turned inward. Al- 

 though both sexes walk a great deal, their feet are by no means 

 large — in fact, in some instances may be called small ; but they 

 are rather dilated across the toes. Their hands are rarely very 

 large ; with some of the women I found them really small and 

 well-shaped. The only tall woman seen was a native of Hampton 

 Plains. She was about five feet eight inches. (PI. 38.) The 

 skin of her abdomen was much crumpled, evidently in conse- 

 quence of child-bearing. This was the only case in which such 

 an effect was observed; the skin of other women who had borne 

 children was quite smooth. 



Amongst all the ti'ibes from the Blytli Range to the Praser 

 Range inclusive, individuals were met with having pink markings 

 on the abdomen and chest. This was probably owing to some 

 kind of skin disease, although I was told it was the result of 

 some burns received tlirough carrying the firestick too close to 

 the body during windy weather. This is the only indication of a 

 disease I have noticed among them ; but I was informed that in 



