The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-07-02
MISCELLANY.
Letter FROM ABROAD.

LETTER FROM ABROAD.
y, a <.
" Australia.
r.. HLlvERPoo1, MAY 10, 1875.
In my last letter on Australia said I
would reserve some Of my talk for an
othsr time, but the more write Of this
interesting country, after having visited
It and Travelled it over and over again, I
find one, or even two letters, too circum.
scribed to give even synoptical descrip.
ticn OF it. lift will not weary your pa
thence, will reserve something even yet
for another chapter.
The aboriginal inhabitants of this vast
island present such perceptible peculiari-
ties and such striking differences Of Or
ganization as to make it extremely diff.
cult correctly to define their origin, or to
assign to them any satisfactory place in
any one of the divisions into which phys.
biologists have partitioned the human
race.
If We regard thu word Aborigine in its
more correct sense, as expressing obscur.
ity Of origin. rather than denoting, as in
It's more popular belief, that they are the
primitive inhabitants Of the land, then
may tho nations Of Australia be truly
styled aborigines.
The common supposition ia, that these
people are Of Malay origin and they are
generally assigned place in the Malay
division, and this division includes very
many varieties, with almost every i'm
aginable grade of difference from light
brown to black, from handsome to hide.
Gus, from fierce to docile, and even from
conspicuous intelligence to almost brute
like idiocy.
The generality Of the Australian
Aboriginees inhabiting the best known
districts of the country are of 4 deep
olive black complexion, with abundant
and slightly curling hair, narrow and re-
ceding foreheads, large and prominent
bones, full fat noses, and with the large
mouths, thick lips, and heavy jaws, char
aeterissic Of the negro.
To suppose these Ieople to be of en-.
tirely Malay origin, must be founded On
the supposition that Australia has no in.
digenous inhabitants of its own, which
Lindhardt, aud other jealous searchers
after the truth, are very 10th
to grant. because Of the wide distinction
between the present natives and that Of
any other race hitherto seen-a distinc.
ton which the pecularities of climate
and local circumstances are altogether
insufficient to account for. His theory
land it seems very probable one) is,
that the original Malay tribes, when
driven from their land in the twelfth
century by the usurping Sumatrans,
sought shelter and refuge on these shores,
and in process Of time they mixed and
ultimately became blended with the
aborigines they here discovered.
The present Malays in the peninsula of
Malacca are very much superior race to
any in Australia; but, it is = we'll known
fact that the aboriginal inhabitants of
that island, prior to its population from
Sumatra, were = race Of men very similar
in their qualities and characteristics to
the negroes of Africa.
One important cause of the extreme
difficulty which attends all attempts to
decipher any Of the stages of their singu.
lar history is, that no actual sign
Of their former condition, no records of
tho past exists among these scattered
wanderers Of the wilderness. They seem
complicated enigma. to which Is yet
there is no given clue, were found in =
state Of barbarism which seems incapable
Of Improvements below which it appears
impossible to descend, and above which
there is no trace or visible sign Of their
ever having existed. They seem to stand
~ It were, stationary in their primitive
barbarism; to have experienced neither
Improvement nor degeneration, and it will
require long acquaintance with, aad .
careful consideration Of, their various Gus.
toms, habits and pursuits, before auv
clsaf insight into the history Of their past
can be obtained.
There are here none Of those indica.
tions which mark the growth Of almost
every community. The Australian Abo.
ringss are, and appear to have ever been,
utterly destitute Of even tho rudest It.
tempts to perpetuate any sign or trace Of
their career. No monument however rude,
no sculptured rock or stone, however I'M
couth, no hireoglyphics, painting nor
symbols Of any kind, not even those ira.
ditions and legendary lore, with which
oarbsrous nations usually TEEN, to help
the most imaginative Spectator towards
: probable conclusion, g 70 what their
past has bean. e., ..,zs IL i:
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