1796.] OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 359 



performed when they are very young, and is done under an idea that 

 thefe joints of the little finger are in the way when they wind their 

 fifhing-lines over the hand. Very few were to be met with who 

 had not undergone this ceremony, and thefe appeared to be held in 

 contempt. 



The men too were not without their mutilation, mo ft of thole who 

 lived on the fea-coaft having loft the right front tooth ; but a parti- 

 cular account of the ceremonies ufed on this occafion will be found 

 hereafter, under the article Customs and Manners. 



Few deformities of perfon were noticed among them ; once or twice 

 the print of inverted feet have been found on the fand. Round fhoul- 

 ders or hump-backs were never obferved in any one inftance, yet no 

 women could be more inattentive to their young than thefe favages ; 

 frequent inftances occurred of infants rolling into the fire, and being 

 dreadfully burnt, while their mother flept belide them ; indeed, thefe 

 people are extremely difficult to awaken when once afleep. 



Their fight is peculiarly fine •> indeed, their exiftence very often 

 depends upon the accuracy of it ; for a fhort-fighted man (a misfor- 

 tune unknown among them, and not yet introduced by fafhion, nor re- 

 lieved by the ufe of a glafs) would never be able to defend himfelf 

 from their fpears, which are thrown with amazing force and ve- 

 locity. 



The colour of thefe people is not in all cafes the fame : fome have 

 been feen who, even when cleanfed from the fmoke and filth which 

 were always to be found on their perfons, were nearly as black as the 

 African negro j while others have exhibited only a copper or Malay 

 colour. The natural covering of their heads is not wool, as in mod 

 other black people, but hair ; this was particularly remarked in Ben- 

 nil-long after his return from England, where fome attention to his 

 drefs had been paid ; he was found to have long black hair : black, 

 indeed, was the general colour, though fome few were feen to have it 

 of a reddifh caft. 



Their 



