PHYSICAL CHARACTERS. 237 



tufts or pencils, separated one from the other, giving 

 a blotchy or woolly aspect to the skin. The hair of 

 the head doubtless grows in the same way, but here 

 the tufts are close together, and each forms a sepa- 

 rate small curl, very stiff, and when suffered to 

 grow long, hangs down in a narrow pipe-like ringlet. 

 These curls resemble those of a thrum mop. The 

 fashion of dressing the hair no doubt varies in dif- 

 ferent localities, as may be seen in the published 

 accounts and figures of these people. It is often 

 smeared also with red ochre and pinguents, whence 

 the accounts of a red-haired people among the 

 islands inhabited by this race. From these circum- 

 stances the short hair of the body ought to be ob- 

 served rather than that of the head, in making notes 

 on the physical structure of savage races. 



Australian race. — Of these people we saw some 

 of those inhabiting New South Wales, several tribes 

 on the north-east coast, those of Port Essington, 

 and those of Western Australia, South Australia, 

 and Port Phillip. They were in every case evidently 

 the same race of men. The physical characteristics 

 of the Australians are now well known from the 

 books and plates of recent travellers. Their figure 

 is remarkable for a spareness and lankiness about 

 the lower extremities, the hips and thighs, as well 

 as the calves of the legs ; this is observable in the 

 females as well as in the men. Their heads are in 

 general large, with very projecting eyebrows and 

 deep-set eyes, the nose broad, the mouth wide, and 



