THE ABOEIOINES OP AUSTEALIA. 255 



division, can Hardly be looked upon as one single tribe, but rather as a 

 combination of ruany small tribes, inhabiting a territory lying in a 

 certain position. 



Tbe Murray tribe, the most numerous of all, occupies a territory 

 exceeding in extent that of any of the rest ; that is, the whole of the 

 coast running some 300 miles from King George's Sound westward 

 to the Murray River in the Swan River Colony. 



The natives belonging to the Weal tribe wander over the coun- 

 try to the northward of Albany. They are, perhaps, not so numerous 

 as the Murray tribe, but they are, I think, physically stronger, and of 

 greater importance in the estimation of the aborigines generally. 



The district of the Cockatoo tribe extends a considerable distance 

 along the sea-coast to the eastward of Albany, and runs also from the 

 coast far back into the interior. 



The Kincannup tribe inhabits the country in the immediate vicini- 

 ty of Albany. It is a small and weak tribe, and in comparison with the 

 others, can hardly be looked upon as a distinct one. Kincannup is 

 the native name for that district upon which the town of Albany 

 stands. The natives who generally stayed in and about that settle- 

 ment, style themselves, therefore, Kincannup men ; but they may 

 be regarded, I think, as merely a branch or family of the Weal tribe, 

 those inhabiting the country to the northward of the Sound. Be this 

 as it may, many causes have combined to extirpate the Kincannup 

 people. The white man has driven the kangaroo from the native's 

 grounds ; he has therefore to depend principally upon the colonists 

 for a scanty means of existence. These and other causes, which I 

 shall notice hereafter, have rendered this tribe nearly extinct. When 

 we left the colony, they could not probably muster more than from 

 twenty to thirty souls. 



Although of the same stock and possessing the same characteristics 

 as a people, it is not difficult to distinguish the individuals of the dif- 

 ferent tribes by their general appearance, which corresponds in some 

 measure with the nature of the country they inhabit. The men of the 

 Murray tribe / for instance, are short, strong, and hardy looking fellows. 

 Their country, lying on the coast, is scarcely more than a barren waste, 

 with little shelter from the violent storms that sweep over the exposed 

 shores of this part of Australia. From this cause, the kangaroo, which 

 is almost the only animal food these people have, is not so plentiful in 

 the district as farther in the interior, and thus from the insufficient 

 supply of animal food, the people of this tribe do not present so ro- 

 bust an appearance as others more favourably located. This deficien- 

 cy of animal food, however, is made up in a great measure, by the im- 



