INTELLCETUAL CHARACTERS. 243 



human beings, to that of even the most intelligent 

 of the brutes is absurd ; the difference is not one of 

 degree, it is one of kind, however striking may be 

 the occasional analogies between the two. Bearing 

 in mind, then, that it is of human intelligence we 

 are speaking, we are, I think, quite justified in say- 

 ing that the Australian intellect is of the lowest 

 order. They have nothing that can be called an 

 approach to political institutions, no distinctions of 

 rank, nor any chieftainship, beyond what authority 

 each man can acquire by his personal prowess, skill, 

 or cunning, above his fellows. They are utterly 

 destitute of agriculture and of all manufacture of 

 any kind of material, or tool, or implement, beyond 

 their few weapons, and a rude stone hammer, and 

 some simple nets and baskets. Over the largest part 

 of the coast they were utterly ignorant of any kind 

 of canoe, or any method of passing on the water, 

 until they were visited by Europeans. In those 

 parts where canoes were known, they seemed to have 

 acquired the idea from the islanders of Torres 

 Strait.* They have no huts worthy of the name, 



* On the north-east coast of Australia, which the islanders fre- 

 quently traverse for very considerable distances, and which I am 

 almost inclined to suspect they have in some places colonized, 

 canoes formed of hollow trees, with outriggers, were met with. 

 At Rockingham Bay, in lat. 18°, these were no longer to be seen, 

 but very fairly-formed bark canoes were found. To the south- 

 ward of that place bark canoes were rarely seen, and were of 

 much inferior construction. In the colony of New South Wales, 

 the only canoe known to the natives was formed of a sheet of 



R 2 



