COAST TRIBES- 
for having, during the previous year, treacherously mur- 
dered one of their number^ by throwing a spear at him 
when his back was tui'ned. As far as we ourselves were 
concerned, this tribe proved to he harmless ; but this was 
evidently the result of fear rather than of affection. I 
here allude more particularly to the chiefs; for the people, 
when left to themselves, conducted themselves well, and 
treated the parties from the settlement that occasionally 
\Tsited Croker Island with a considemble degree of hos- 
pitality. The Yarlo and lyi tribes, our more immediate 
neighbours, resemble each other very closely in general 
characteristics, although their dialects are totally dissi- 
milar. They are a taller and better formed people than 
the Croker Island natives, and from the very commence- 
ment of our residence among them they evinced great 
partiahty towards 'us^ which ripened into what I believe 
to be a firm attachment. Beftig broken tribes^ without 
chiefs, hut divided into a numl>er of families, they pro- 
bably looked upon us as being likely to afford them some 
protection from their more formidable neighbours, vpho 
had shown a great inclination to encroach upon their 
little territory. 
" The Oithi, or, as it was more generally termed by us, 
the Bijnalumbo tribe, which occupies the southern part of 
the peninsula, becomes of interest, from the circumstance 
of many individuals belonging to it possessing a superior 
physical organisation to the people already mentioned. 
Arched eyebrows, straight silky hair, and complexion 
fairer than that of the Australian aborigines genei*ally, 
were by no means uncommon, and many individuals 
