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leotual culture- -of which I shall make mention further on — it 

 comes almost naturally to one's mind that they must be either the 

 remnants of a highly advanced culture once possessed by this 

 people, or that a race preceded them in this land, who, being 

 highly cultured, were gradually suppressed, but not before im- 

 planting some important characteristic practices upon them ; or, 

 thirdly, that a shipwrecked crew of an advanced nation spread 

 these customs amongst them. 



The last supposition might have been possible, because traces 

 of the occurrences of wrecks during remote historic times exist ; 

 but it is scarcely very probable, because in such a case these 

 customs would have spread from a common centre, and in this 

 case would most likely be found somewhere near the coast. How- 

 ever, nearly all around the coast of Australia this most important 

 and interesting rite is not pi'actised now, but almost universally 

 throughout the interior. 



For the second suggestion, that a cultured race preceded the 

 present inhabitants, no traces of any kind exist. Although it is 

 not impossible that men were contemporaneous with the now 

 extinct gigantic marsupials that inhabited this continent, it is 

 almost too venturesome to state such a supposition. At the same 

 time, it is quite imaginable that immigrants settled in Australia 

 long before the remotest time of known historic events. These 

 early dwellers, however, belonged, probably, to a rather lower 

 type than the present natives, and may have been identical witli 

 the now extinct race of Tasmania. 



The first conjecture, tlierefore, seems to me the most feasible ; 

 that it may fairly be concluded that the aborigines of Australia 

 have become a retrogressive race. 



Besides the rite dilated upon above, it is strange to tind the 

 intricate marriage laws amongst them, that forbid 7iear blood- 

 relations from cohabiting, which shows a deep grasp of the 

 detrimental consequences of such marriages, and involves besides 

 a moral standard far beyond their present general conception of 

 the ethics of life. There are, moreover, several other indications 

 that favor the idea that the race has become retrogressive. How, 

 for instance, can it be conceived that the present race invented 

 the boomerang ? It has been asserted that a falling gum-leaf 

 gave the intimation for the first production of this implement. 

 Tf tliis were true, one must attribute to the native a higher de- 

 ductive talent than is at present perceptible. And, further, how 

 can it be imagined that a black in the present state of develop- 

 ment could have invented the wommera, this marvellous and 

 unique lever. Admitting that the application of a simple lever 

 comes almost naturally to anyone who has but the least experi- 

 ence in the practice of hand-work, the application of the prin- 



