316 Account of the Neio Colony of Western Australia* [Oct. 



dividuals, has had a most salutary effect ; the tribes have ever since 

 conducted themselves peaceably, and are now on friendly terms with 

 the inhabitants. It would seem to have been necessary to read them 

 a severe lesson to teach them our superiority, and this could only be 

 done by some summary punishment. The result proves that severity 

 in the beginning is, in such cases, humanity in the end. It is to be 

 hoped that these examples will be the means of preventing any fur- 

 ther effusion of blood. The tribes are now under the care of superin- 

 tendents, and daily receive rations from government. This arrange- 

 ment, with moderate forbearance on the part of the settlers, will no 

 doubt be the means of saving much property and preventing the 

 waste of many useful lives. 



The natives of western Australia are of middle stature, slender in 

 limb, and many of them with a protuberant abdomen. The only article 

 of dress is the waistband, or noodlebul, which is a long yarn of worst- 

 ed, spun from the fur of the opossum, wound round the waist several 

 hundred times ; the cloak (booka), of kangaroo's skin, is worn chiefly 

 by the women and old men, and occasionally, in the winter time, by the 

 young men ; they wear it as a mantle over the shoulders, fastened 

 at the right shoulder with a rush (boerno). The large skins of the 

 male kangaroo are appropriated to the women ; the single men orna- 

 ment their head with feathers, dogs' tails and other matters, and some- 

 times have the hair long and bound round the head, the women, who 

 are mostly plainer than the men, use no ornaments and wear their hair 

 quite short. Both sexes smear their faces and the upper part of the 

 body with red pigment (wilgu), mixed with grease, which gives them 

 a disagreeable odour. Their hair is frequently matted with the same 

 pigment. When fresh painted all over, they are a brick dust colour, 

 which gives them a most singular appearance. They have the same 

 practice amongst them as at Sydney and King George's Sound, of cut- 

 ting gashes on their body, and raising an elevated cicatrix : it is done 

 chiefly on the shoulders and chest, and is both a distinguishing mark 

 for different tribes, and an honorary distinction. The septum of the nose 

 is also perforated, in which a feather or small bone is worn. Orna- 

 ments, however, are not considered as marking the man of authority, 

 for they are worn by the young single men. Every individual of the 

 tribe, when travelling or going to a distance from their encampment, 

 carries a fire stick for the purpose of kindling light ; and in winter they 

 are scarcely ever without one under their cloaks for the sake of heat. 

 It is generally a cane of Banksia grandis, which has the property of 

 keeping ignited for a considerable time. Rotten bark or touchwood is 



