204 
CBUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGED . 
red clay and sand scattered profusely about on each 
grassy slope. These singular structures, some of 
which were 10 or 12 feet in height, seemed of great 
strength and toughness : on breaking off a piece, 
they appeared to be honeycombed inside, the nu- 
merous galleries being then displayed. The ants 
themselves are of a pale brown colour, and about a 
quarter of an inch in length. 
In my wanderings I came across some of the 
aborigines, houseless and homeless. They are poor 
wretched specimens, the lowest in the scale of 
humanity : their dwellings, if such they can be called, 
being formed by a few bushes, behind which they 
creep for shelter ; dependent from day to day on what 
they can pick up for food, not even having arrived 
at the first and simplest form of civilisation; and, 
in like manner, destitute of all traces of religion, 
except, perhaps, a faint symptom of belief in a good 
and an evil spirit. 
These people differ but very little from those of 
other parts of Australia. The septum of the nose is 
invariably perforated, and one of the front teeth 
usually knocked out. No clothing is at any time 
worn, and their ornaments are scanty. Their utensils 
are few in number, consisting merely of a few 
baskets made from the stems of a rush-like plant ; 
while for drinking and cooking a large shell is 
used. Their weapons are clubs and spears, and 
throwing-sticks, with which they propel small spear- 
