Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-05-21
But Ore Authentic Tasmanian Now in
Existenee-The NaOris
Also Going.
The Practice of Head Hunting is Still
Continued in the Pacific
Islands.

| mania, calling herself Fanny Cochrane
Smith, claims to be the last survivor Of
her unhappy race. Her pretensions. as
the only pure blood Tasmanian living,
have recently given rise to much conLro-
yersy in the little island, and Henry Ling
Roth, perhaps the best authority en- the
history and customs of the Inflated peo-
pie, has taken part in it.
Mr. Roth and some of the newspapers
assert that Mrs. Smith, who is now sixty
two years old, is only half breed She,
on the other hand, produces reputable
white witnesses who say they knew her
parents and that they, undoubtedly, were
of pure Tasmanian stock. She also is able
to cite extracts from official papers of the
colony, printed long after the total ex-
tinction Of the Tasmanians was announced
to the world, In which she is referred to
as pure blood aborigine; and parliament,
in 1882 and 1884, voted her grants on ac-
count of her unique position as the sole
survivor of her race.
Here is picture of Lalla Rookh, who,
until Mrs. Smiths claim Ito be the sonly
living Tasmanian attracted attention, was
| supposed to be the last of her race. Lalia
Rookh died in June, 1876, six years after
| William Lanney, the last male Iasmanian
had passed away.
A few men in tkis country and Canada
are now striving to prevent the American
bison from becoming extinct. The en-
deavor reminds us of the efforts of the
whites in Tasmania to save the remnants
OF the race they had anihilated. In 1903
between 5000 and 1000 natives dwet in
the valleys of Tasmania. All that were
left of them in 1847 were twelve men.
| kvyap syoroa, apI fa,, ob;Ilr,. L,
vain did the government build them com.
Portable houses, supply all their needs, and
give them teachers The Iace.was doomed
and one by one the few survivors preished.
Other peoples in the Pacific and else
where are approaching the fate of the Tas
manians. Here and there it is the liquor
and the diseases introduced by white men
that are decimdting them. In Tasmania
it was the shotgun, pure and simple. The
natives were not guiltless, though they
suffered many wrongs. Their implacabe
hostility stirred up against them a war of
determination. The number of "crows"
each had killed came to be the common
boast among the whites. The following
incident illustrates the utter heartless1ess
with which, as the long struggle went CT,
the overmastered natives were pursued:
One day a crowd Of idle white saw ma
tive boy watching them distance. Lets
have some fun, said one Of the men TAX
ing an empty revolver he pointed at his
own head and repeatedly pulled the trig-
ger. The men laughed, and the lad drew
nearer, much interested in the perform
ance. "Now you do It." they said to him,
as they handed him a loaded revolver
| The boy blew his brains out, and this
was what the white pioneers of Tasmania
called fun. -
The fate of the Tasmanians was a warn
ing to anthrorologists. The natives
dwindled and disappeared before they bad
been inteli gently studied; we have little
accurate information about them. Con.
| Trajectory statements are made even as to
! their religious notions. Some rooms at
| Hobart and other towns are filed with
! their handiwork. A writer has compiled
! in pamphlet of less than thirty pages the
! best information about them, work that
is curious for the many conflicting state
ments II contains. So these people
fourishing as they were when this CEN
! tury came IL, have vanished before its
close, leaving scarce a trace to show that
| they ever lived.
THE MAORIs FADING AWAY.
The Maoris are going the same way,
| though not by violence. When the whites
| first came among them their number was
estimated at 100 900. They have been
! dwinGling gradually, and figure in the
| New Zealand Census of 1886 as only Al, 1853
souls. 1t is noteworthy that children
| diseases, such as whn0plng cough, intro
duced among the M4oris by Europeans,
are fatal alike TO infants and adults. Pull.
monary complaints have made large rava-
| ges but their greatest enemy. unknown
before the coming of the whites is drink
| Women rival the men in their devotion to
the cup. Nerschuar, who studied he Ma
orls In 1889. says that their cniet felicity
Is in getting drunk Another traveller
says he saw a native on a MOTEL yer
snda one day loudly lamenting that he
was not beastIy drunk, though he had
| swallowed thirteen glasses of whisky.
Children of tender years follow the shin
ing example of their parents, and boys of
) and years are often seen with pipes in
their mouths. Nothing, apparently, can
tay the ravages, due to the blessings of
civilization which with each recurring
year, are making the Maoris less numer-
Gus than before. Our picture shows two
Maori women saluting one another in TIM
| street by rubbing noses, after the
! peculiar custom or their people. The
! picture Is from photograph, and the
camera caught them in the ct on a street
in Wellington.
Let us turn TO another phase Of depopu
lation in the Pacific. 1t is a welEknowu
/ fact that the practice of head hunting has
more than held It's own. Among some of |
/ the lesser known islands it has increased. |
| II amounts TO a sort OF craze in many an
island that is still given up 10 the most
| hearthenish practices. OF course canibal- !
Ism is associated with it, but many is
/ larders start on war expeditions for heads
alone, and natives Of the Solomon islands
have told travellers that there is no felicity
equal to that Of acquiring fresh heads |
with vhich to ado-a their tabu houses
! The British H. Norm Borneo are wagin0
war IN the practice and execute every
native they coayict Of the crime Here
are some of the results OF Wooiford's |
observations duriag his brief visit to tie
] l.I- ,-f- Ia -