302 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



at the same time a malignant look. The complexion differs greatly in the 

 various tribes, being deep black, blackish-brown, or yellowish-brown, accord- 

 ing as they are more or less distant from the equator. Both sexes rub their 

 skin with fish oil, which gives it a bad smell, but protects them from the 

 bites of mosquitoes. They have the strangest taste with regard to orna- 

 ments. Some decorate the hair with fish and bird bones, kangaroos' and 

 sharks' teeth, feathers, small bits of wood, and dogs' tails, attaching these 

 odd trinkets with gum ; or cover their heads with moss. To the south of 

 Botany Bay, the hair is braided in the shape of small bits of rope. In fitting 

 out for war, they smear themselves with red resin ; when going to dance, 

 however, they bedaub their persons with shell-lime. Around their eyes they 

 paint a wide circle, and undulating lines around the arms, legs, and feet. 

 Amongst both sexes scars are esteemed the greatest ornaments ; and the 

 flesh of their wounds, therefore, is often torn open, and kept in this condi- 

 tion until it swells out, the sores not being allowed to close before then. 

 This singular embellishment is applied even to children. Among women, 

 two joints of the little finger of the left hand are wanting, the upper joint 

 of the little finger of small children of the female sex being bound under 

 with a strong hair, thus checking the circulation of the blood, and causing 

 the two front joints to rot off. It is generally believed that the New 

 Hollanders perform this operation because the joints just mentioned hinder 

 the women in holding the angling rod. The men, at least those dwelHng 

 in the vicinity of known coasts, have a front tooth knocked out, which is 

 delivered to the predominant tribe as a token of subjection (^pl. 39, Jig. 10). 

 This is called the ceremony of the gna-lung, by which the youth enters 

 upon the rights of manhood, and is henceforth bound to practise assiduously 

 the use of arms, and to harden himself in the endurance of pain. 



The weapons of the New Hollanders consist of lances, shields, battle- 

 axes, and clubs. The lances are hurled with great dexterity, by means of 

 a staff three feet long, the proper ofiice of which, no doubt, is to direct the 

 course of the lance. The shield is made of bark of trees, or solid wood 

 hardened over the fire. The stone battle-axe is their most destructive 

 weapon. The carved work on the weapons is not the same in all the 

 divisions of a tribe, and by it they are recognised. Angling-rods and nets, 

 and the dances, differ also in the several hordes. As it is a diflUcult matter 

 for these people to kindle a fire, it is almost always carried with them. In 

 case they have none, however, the process by which they obtain it is as 

 follows : they take a small board or flat piece of soft wood, in which they 

 make a groove ; in this they insert the point of a short stick of very hard 

 wood, and move it to and fro with great rapidity and pressing the point as 

 much as possible, until the continued friction ignites the softer wood. As 

 this is a very fatiguing operation, it is seldom accomplished by a single 

 man, but several draw near together, and as soon as one gets tired another 

 continues the task, until the object is attained. The dwellings are very 

 simple. The people living in the forests construct theirs simply by placing 

 pieces of bark together, and cover the ground with sea grass. The house- 

 hold utensils consist of a few baskets made of bark, or hollowed pieces 

 474 



