The herald., 1897-03-28
The Australian Aborigine

The Central Australian aborigine is
the living representative of stone age.
who still fashions his spear-heads and
knives from flint or sandstone and per-
forms the most daring surgical opera
tions with them. His origin and history
are lost in the gloomy mists of the past.
He has no written records and few oral
traditions. In appearance he is a naked,
hirsute savage, with type of features
occasionally pronouncedly Jewish. He is
by nature light merry and
prone to laughter; a splendid mimic,
supple jointed, with an unerring hand
that works in perfect unison with his
eye, which is keen as that of an eagle.
He has never been known to wash. He
Dis no private ownership of land, except
as regards that which is not over-care-
fully concealed about his own person.
(In this respect there are undoubtedly
some territorial magnates) He culti
Yates nothing, but lives entirely on the
spoils of the chase, and although the
thermometer frequently ranges from 10
degrees to over 80 degrees Fahrenheit in
twenty-four hours, and his country is
teeming with furred game, he makes no
use of the skins for clothing, but goes
about during the day and sleeps in the
open at night perfectly nude.
He builds no permanent habitation
and usually camps where night or ia
tigue overtakes him. He can travel
from point to point for hundreds Of
miles through the pathless bush with
unerring precision, and can track an ami
NAL over rocks and stones where u
European eye would be unable to dis
tinguish mark. He is a keen Observer
and knows the habits and changes of
form of every variety of animal or vege-
table life in his country. Religious be-
|. lief he has none, but is excessively su-
perstitious. living in constant dread Of
an evil spirit which is supposed to lurl5
around his camp at night. He has no
gratitude except that of the anticiea=
tory order and is as treacherous as
Judas. He has no traditions, and ye.
continues to practice with scrupulous
exactness a number of hideous customs
and ceremonies which have been hand
ed down from his fathers, and of the
origin or reason Of which he knows
nothing. Oftimes kind and even affec-
tionate to those of his children who have
been permitted to live, he still practices,
without any reason except that his
father did so before him, the most cruel
and revolving mutilations upon the
young men and maidens cf his tribe
Nevertheless he is a philosopher who
accepts feast or famine without a mur-
mur either at the pangs Of hunger or
the diseomforts of repleticn. His motto
is "Carpe Diem" and when fortune
sends him q supply of game he con-
sumes it all, regardless of tomorrow. He
is not a cannibal. No cold joint of mis-
sionary graces his sideboard and should
hunger as a penalty for his improvident
gluttony overtake him. he simply ties
a thin hair girdle tightly round his
stomach and almost persuades himself
that he is still suffering from repletion.
After an experience of many years. /
say without hesitation that he is abso-
lutely untamable. You may clothe an
care for him for years, when suddenly
the demon of unrest takes possession
he throws off his clothing and plunges
into the trackless depths of his native
bush, at once reverting TO his old and
hideous customs, and when stated, ar
ter months of privation. ne will return
again to clothing and civilization, only
to repeat the performance later on
Verify his moods are as eccentric as the
! flight of his own boomerang.-Fro w
! A. Horns Advance Australia.