Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/133

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generally eiiiertuiiied of their treachery. On rnuiiy occ^isiona wbertj 1 Eftve met these wanderers in the wilds far rL'iiuivcil from the aliodes of civilLaatioii, Mid when I have been aceoiniJiinied by a single native boy, ] have been received by them in the kindest and n>u»t friendly manner, ♦ » » I have ever found them of a lively, cheerful disposition, patiently pidtiii|^ tip with inconveniences and privtttions» and never losing that natural good temper which so strongly cliaracterizes them . , . It is aTTiistaken idea, as well as an unjust one,, that supposes the native* to be withonl sensibility of feeling. A fine intelligent young boy was by ixia father's consent living with me at the Murray for many weeks." The old raan took the son to Adelaide, where the lad died, "For nearly a year I never saw anytlunK more of the fatberj although he occasionally had Iseen within a few miles of n»y neighbourhood. One day I accidentally fell in with him. Upon seeing me he immediately bni-^t into tear.s» and was wnable to speak. It wiia the first time he had met nw since his son*s deaili, and my piesenee forcibly remindefl him of hia loss.** The same grief mastered htm when he went to Eyre'n house. The name of a lost friend is never mentioned by the natives, and when they have heard it from unthinkinfj; or rude lips they have been known to <j;o away silently in tears. It is jtist to add that Eyi'e depicts, like other writers, the brntai treatment of women, the occasionitl licentiousness in manners, and the absence of respect fur chastity which prevailed. Count Strzelecki, who had wandered in nuiny lands, travelled and observed much in Australia* He found analogies between the sktiUs of Euro[teans and natives. ^*Iii many instancea it was even remarked that the facial aniile of thi? white was more acute, the sxiperciliary ridge, the centres of ossification i»f the frontal bone, and the ridge of the oecipital one more developed, and the inferior niftxilkry niore widely eximnded, than in the skuUs of the alwrigiues. Yet, notwithstanding a partial inferiority in shape in some of the details, the native nf New South Wale.^ and Van Die men's Ltind possesses on tl^e wliole a well-proportioned frame. His bndjs, less tieishy and massive than those of ii well-formed African, exhibit all the symmetry and peculiarly well-defined muscular development and well-knit articuhv tions and lOHmlness which characterize the negro- hence, compared witii the latter, he is swifter in hia movements and more gracefuK . . When beheld in the posture of striking, or throwing his spear, his attitude leaves nothing to be desired in point of manly grace. '* One obstacle to obtaining information as to Australian ideas of the supernatural was the fact that they were closely bound up with the tribal ceremonies, of which women and children were allowed to know nothing, 'iiA ot nnu.^ u^w'e,