CHARACTER. 
211 
and the skins of animals cannot readily be procured, 
sea- weed or rushes are manufactured into garments, 
with considerable ingenuity. In all cases the gar- 
ments worn by day constitute the only covering at 
night, as the luxury of variety in dress is not known 
to, or appreciated by, the Aborigines. 
No covering is worn upon the head, although they 
are continually exposed to the rays of an almost 
tropical sun. In extreme seasons of heat, and- when 
they are travelling, they sometimes gather a few 
green bunches or wet weeds and place upon their 
heads ; but this does not frequently occur. 
The character of the Australian natives is frank, 
open, and confiding. In a short intercourse they 
’ are easily made friends, and when such terms are 
once established, they associate with strangers with 
a freedom and fearlessness, that would give little 
countenance to the impression so generally enter- 
tained of their treachery. On many occasions 
where I have met these wanderers in the wild, far 
removed from the abodes of civilization, and when I 
have been accompanied only by a single native boy, 
I have been received by them in the kindest and 
most friendly manner, had presents made to me of 
fish, kangaroo, or fruit, had them accompany me for 
miles to point out where water was to be procured, 
and been assisted by them in getting at it, if from 
the nature of the soil and my own inexperience, I 
had any difficulty in doing so myself. 
I have ever found them of a lively, cheerful dis- 
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