New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-10-17
Natives of Australia.

( The natives of Australia present striking
resemblance to each other in physical appear
ance and structure, and general character,
habits and pursuits, The man is well built and
muscular, and from five to six feet high. His
skull is thick and fattcned his forehead bold !;
his eyes, which are large, black and expressive,
sunk; his nose aattened and his mouth wide !;
his lips rather thick his teeth perfect and
beautiful, though in the dental arrangement in
many, difference exists between the incsor and
canine teeth his chest is broad and deep; his
carriage erect, and there is considerable natu-
raj grace and dignity of demeanor. single
garment only is worn, made in the form OF an
oblong cloak or coverlet Of the skins Of the opos-
sum, the kangaroo, or the wallabie, and, where
animals are scarce, OF an ingeniously manufac-
tured article of seaweed or rushes, and is very
becoming It has the fur outward and is thrown
over the back and left shoulder, and pinned on
in front with o little wooden peg. The open
part is opposite the right side SO as to leave, in
tine man, the right arm and shoulder bare. The
character Of the Australian is frank, open and
confiding; and when once on terms of friendship
has freedom and fearlessness that would give
little countenance to the impression so generally
entertained of his treachery. Having no yes
sells capable Of resisting the action of fire, they
are unacquainted with the simple process of
boiling; their culinary operations are, there
fore, confined to broiling, baking and steaming.
Cannibalism does not appear to prevail extern
sively through the continent, though it exists in
few tribes.
The following account was given by the ma
tives of the Murrey of their idea of the crea-
ton That there are four individuals living up
among the clouds called Nooreele, consisting Of
father and his three children, but there is no
mother. The father is all-powerful and of a
benevolent character. He made the trees, seas,
waters, etc.; gave names to every thing and
place, and settled the natives in their different
districts, telling each tribe they were to inhabit
such and such localities, and were to speak such
and such languages. The Nooreele never die,
and the soule Qudko, literally shadow Of
dead natives will go up and join them in the
skies, and will never die again. Other tribes
give an account of serpent of immense size,
and inhabiting high rocky mountains, which,
they say, produced creation by blow of his
tail
The Australian believes in sorcery and witch
craft. The ceremonies and superstitions of the
natives are numerous, and involved in much
obscurity. The modes Of disposing of the dead
vary greatly, according to the usage of the dis
trct and the age of the deceased simple burial,
the burning of the body, the drying of the body
in the sun until it is mummied, are all had re-
course to. The lamentations for the dead do
| not terminate with the burial; frequently they
| are renewed at intervals by the women during
| late hours of the night. or some hours before
| daybreak and piereiugly as those cries strike
| upon the traveller in the lonely wood, if raised
suddenly very near him, yet, mellowed by dis
| lance, they are soothing and pleasing. a