NEW SOUTH WALES. 195 



other end rests -upon the ground. A fire is built on the open side, 

 which not only warms them, but keeps off the myriads of musquitoes 

 and other insects. As many as can enter such a hut, take shelter in 

 it, lying upon the soft bark of the ti tree. 



n 



NATIVE HUT, NEW SOUTH WALES. 



The natives of Australia differ from any other race of men, in 

 features, complexion, habits, and language. Their colour and fea- 

 tures assimilate them to the African type; their long, black, silky 

 hair has a resemblance to the Malays; in their language they 

 approximate more nearly to our American Indians; while there is 

 much in their physical traits, manners, and customs, to which no 

 analogy can be traced in any other people. 



The natives are of middle height, perhaps a little above it ; they are 

 slender in make, with long arms and legs. From their wandering life, 

 irregular habits, and bad food, they are extremely meagre; and as 

 their thinness is accompanied by a considerable protuberance of the 

 abdomen, it gives to their figure a distorted and singular appearance. 

 The cast of the face is between the African and Malay ; the forehead 

 usually narrow and high; the eyes small, black, and deep-set; the 

 nose much depressed at the upper part between the eyes, and 

 widened at the base, which is done in infancy by the mother, the 

 natural shape being of an aquiline form ; the cheek-bones are high, 

 the mouth large, and furnished with strong, well-set teeth ; the chin 

 frequently retreats; the neck is thin and short. Their colour usually 

 approaches chocolate, a deep umber, or reddish black, varying much 

 in shade; and individuals of pure blood are sometimes as light- 

 coloured as mulattoes. Their most striking distinction is their hair, 

 which is like that of dark-haired Europeans, although more silky. 

 It is fine, disposed to curl, and gives them a totally different appear- 

 ance from the African, and also from the Malay, and American 

 Indian. Most of them have thick beards and whiskers, and they are 

 more hairy than the whites. The proportions of two of them will 



