PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 
Marcli 23, 1846.—Mr. G. W. Earl’s memoir, ‘ On the Tribes of 
the North Coast of Australia,’ was continued. —The natives of tl le 
North coast are not only less known to us than those of the other 
coasts of the island, but possess a peculiar interest, from their 
proximity to the Indian Archipelago. A circle, says Mr. Earl 
drawn round Port Essington, at a distance of 500 miles, would 
inclose almost an equal number of distinct tribes. The good 
understanding which existed between the colony and the natives 
in its vicinity, induced parties of warriors and their chiefs to 
come from the remote interior to visit the whites; and in the 
month of April, when the Macassar prahus congregate at P or t 
Essington, there may be seen, besides the tribes of Australia 
people from many of the islands of the archipelago. Mr. Earl 
however, in the present memoir, confines his observations to the 
natives of Australia who inhabit the coast from the Cobourg 
Peninsula towards the east. Certain general characteristics are 
observable among all the tribes of this part of Australia. Thus 
their skin is invariably embossed with raised cicatrices. The 
septum of the nose is generally pierced among the men, and 
clothing is disregarded, except by way of ornament: they paint 
their bodies. Their mode of treating the dead differs, however, 
from that in use among the tribes of other parts of the 
country. They leave the bodies wrapped in the bark of the 
tea tree till nothing remains but the skeleton, which is then 
removed to the general cemetery, or placed in the hollow trunk 
of a decayed tree. They are divided into three castes. They 
have some superstitions similar to those of the Indian Islanders, 
while others are like those which pervade Australia. I n the 
Cobourg Peninsula there are four distinct communities, of which 
the most powerful occupies the southern coast and the islands of 
Van Diemen’s Gulf, the upper part of the harbour of Port 
Essington being also in their possession. In the mountain range 
there is a very numerous tribe called “ Marigianbirikbeyond 
them we know nothing, nor have we much accurate knowledge 
