4 
JIOKN EXPEDITION—ANTIIKOPOLOOY. 
Tlie vices and diseases of Europeans liave already borne their evil fruit, and 
the native population, never a large one, has diminished with painful rapidity ; 
whole tribes even have vanished from the scene. The very kindliness of the 
whites which prompts the.m to supply clothing and habitation is disastrous to the 
constitutions of those whose restless and wandering habits lead them to alternate; 
conditions of nakedness, exposure and semi-starvation with those of warmth, 
shelter and good food. Through the heart of the continent from Adelaide to Port 
Darwin the telegraph line, in its construction and maintenance, has made the 
presence of the white man a familiar feature over a large area. East and west of 
it, for a considerable distance and for some years, the country has been occupied 
for pastoral pursuits, while exploring parties have intersected much of the 
remainder in various directions. Con.spicuous blanks upon the map, it is true, show 
that large ti’acts of unexplored territory still exist to the west of the telegraph 
line, but, whatever the meridian traversed in that direction, explorers have told us 
the same tale of an almost waterless region sparsely inhabited by nomad groups of 
aboriginals of the same general type as those of other parts of Central Australia. 
So that, judging from the actual facts in our possession as well as from what might 
be expected from the uniformity of the physical features of the country, so far as 
it is known, it is not to be expected that any startling ethnological novelties remain 
to be revealed by further knowledge of the tracts which still remain unex])lored. 
Indeed the homogeneity of type which is characteristic of the whole Australian 
race is nowhere more conspicuous than in the immense central regions of the 
Continent. But, although a good deal of information has been collected concerning 
the tribes nearer to the seaboard, very little has been written of the natives of this 
central region. 
Though the present paper is chiefly based upon the experience derived from 
the work of the Horn Expedition, I have been able to utilise a certain .amount of 
information gained during a previous journey from Port Darwin to Adelaide in 
1891, in company with the Earl of Kintore, then Governor of South Australia, 
our route on that occasion traversing a part of the same regions as were visited by 
the later expedition. I have also derived much assistance from my association, as 
Director, with the South Australian Museum, which institution possesses a very 
fine ethnological collection from Central Australia, many of its specimens, indeed, 
having been gathered in the regions visited by the Horn Expedition and in those 
adjacent. 
It will be recognised that, under circumstances of travel where, in addition to 
other difhculties, limitations of time impose restrictions on the scope of inquiries. 
