310 Life and Immortahty. 
that simple, elementary sphere he displays no little nimble- 
ness and dexterity. In tracking and running down his prey 
he is unsurpassed. His weapons, though of the most primi- 
tive forms, are well adapted for the purposes of the chase. 
Rude and uncouth as his culinary and domestic apparatus 
appear, yet they serve equally well the objects for which 
they were designed. Some imitative facility, or rude sense 
of elementary art, is possessed by him, as is evidenced by 
the crude figures of sharks, lizards and other animals that 
may be seen carved in caves in the north-east of Australia, 
and on the rocks of New South Wales. That he has some 
exuberance of rude sense is still further shown in his lan- 
guage, which, within its very circumscribed sensuous sphere, 
is fairly expressive and complete, and likewise in the ease 
with which he learns to chatter the languages of peoples 
with whom he has been thrown into contact. 
Outside the circle described, all is blank to the Australian. 
He has no architecture, no pottery and almost no weaving, 
and may be said to have no religion. His sensations may 
scarccly, if at all, be said to have attained the dignity of 
sentiments, much less that of sentimentalities. The man 
domineers over the woman, who is as much his property as 
his boomerang or dingo. Male offspring are held in consid- 
erable estimation, and a father will bewail the death of a son 
for months, and even for years. Old men and old, infirm 
women, on the other hand, are cruelly abandoned, and left 
to starve to death, for they are considered worthless and a 
burden, and consumers of the food that should go to the 
support of the young and physically strong. During the 
summer they roam about naked, utterly strangers to shame, 
which seems not to be innate to their natures. Wives are 
accounted an item in a man’s chattels, the stealing of which 
being met with some definite punishment. Caves, where 
they abound, afford shelter and security for some of the 
tribes, but where these are not found, screens of twigs and 
bushes covered with leaves or turf, or logs of wood and 
