Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1889-08-19
NATIVE AUSTRALIANS.

In the magnificent city OF Mel
bourne. Australia. there lives a
prince" named Beral, who is the
last surviving son of the Australian
chieftain Yarra-Yarra, who once
possessed the land upon which Mel
bourne and its environs stand.
Berak does not now live in prlncely
style. His badly-worn clothes Q the
gifts Of benevolent pei sons, and he
lodges and subsists upon charity. He
can hardly be called a beggar, for he
never asks for any thing; but if q
bit OF silver is slipped into his hand
to buy tobacco with, he accepts it
with thanks.
For all his poverty, Berak is said
to be q fine-looking man. He is
about sixty-ive years old, quite black,
a little under medium height white
bearded and straight-haired. He has
a fine forehead, a Grecian nose; large,
mid and expressive eyes, and thin
lips. When he smiles, as he often
does, he shows all his th1rty-two
teeth, still perfectly whole, white and
shapely.
Berak, who takes his own reduced
circumstances and the decline of his
race quite philosophically, is fond OF
telling the story of his people, the
Australian natives
Before the arrival of the English,
these people had neither CATTLE horses.
sheep nor hens. They did not Guilt
vate the ground and lived wholly by
hunting and fishing. Their chief
game was the kangaroo, the small
Australian bear, paroquets of various
kinds, sort Of wild duck or widgeon
and the black swan-for in Australia
the blackLi"ds are white and the swans
black. The natives fished neither
with the hook nor with the net, but
lanced both fish and eels.
Berak acknowledges freely that his
ancestors were cannibals; he even re-
members taking part in a cannibal
feast in his own childhood. But his
people, he says, never ate any of the
Engl:shmen. ut is tho Englishmen
who have eaten the Berak!'
The native Australians were cruel
in their punishmentS. Great GRIM
mails were boaten to death with clubs
in the presence of the tribes. At
the same time, they were not without
kind feelings. When, upon the march,
an old and feeble man had fallen out
of Tie line, it was their custom to send
back two or three stalwart warriors
to guard and assist him.
Snnh IF No.
still survive in a savage state possess
many peculiar customs. Strangers
meeting must remain some time silent,
and if they become good friends, they
signify it by exchanging names. The
name, they think, is part of tho man
himself, and to possess it gives u
power for evil, SO that it should be
known only to friends.
Although the Australians are not, as
a rule, po!ygamists, they hold their
women should be kept in subsection,
and cut Off the last joint of the little
finger Of females as sign of their
subordination. The mon undergo still
more r"markable mutilation as O. sign
OF suG1 action to their chiefs; they have
their teeth knocked out by their
"koradger men," Or priests. Berak,
being a chief by birth, escaped this
ceremony.
Hagarth, q traveller who has de-
scribod the ways Of the Australians.
writes of u semi-domesticated native
that said to him one day, with u look
Of Importance, that he must go away
for u few days, us he had grown up to
mans estate, and it was high time
shat he should have his teeth knocked
out ......
Tho Australians have long been re-
gardcd as ono of tho most degraded of
races, but they possessed, at least
whom first visited by tho Europeans,
many excellent ana friendly qualities.
They have diminished until they now
number only GOout eeventy-fve thou
sond, and no doubt will, before many
generations, completely disappear, as
tho natives OF Tasmania have already