The Winslow mail., 1898-01-08
AN UNTAMABLE SAVAGE,
The Australian Aborigine Is the
Strangest of Human Creatures.

j he Australian AbOrigiue 8 the
Strangest of Human Creatures.
The Central Australian aborigin is
the living representative of a stone
age, who still fashions his spear heads
and knives from flint or sandstone, and
performs the most daring surgical op-
erations with them. His origin and
his history are lost in the gloomy miss
of the past. He has no written rec
ords and few oral traditions. In ap-
pearance he is naked hirsute savage,
with a type of features occasionally
pronouncedly Jewish. He is by nature
Hght-hearted, merry and prone to
laughter; a splendid mimic, supple
Jointed, with an unerrng hand that
works in perfect unison with his eye.
winch is as keen as that of an eagle
He has never been known to wash. He
mas no private ownership of land, eX-
cept as regards that which is not over,
carefully concealed about his own per.
son. He cultivates nothing, but lives
entirely on the spoils of the chase, and
although the thermometer frequently
ranges from 10 degrees to over 80 de-
grees Fahrenheit in "a hours, and his
country is teeming with furred game,
he makes no use of the skins for cloth
ing, but goes about during tie day and
sleeps in the open at night perfectly
nude.
He builds no permanent habitation,
and usually camps where night or ia
tigCe Overtakes him. He can travel
from point to point for hundreds of
miles through the painless bush with
unerring precision, and can track an
animal over rocks and stones, where a
European eye would be unable to dis
tlnguish mark. He is a keen observ-
er, and knows the habits and changes
of form of every variety of animal or
vegetable life in his country. Relig-
lOus belief he has none, but is exces-
slVeIy superstitious, living in constant
dread of an evil spirit, which is sup
posed TO lurk around his camp at night
lie mas no gratitude except that of the
antlclpatory order, and is as treacher-
Gus as Judas. He has no traditions
ana yet continues to practice with
scrupulous eXactnesS number of
hideous customs and ceremonies which
nave been handed down from his faith
ers, and of the origin or reason Of
winch he knows nothing. Outlines
KIND and even affectionate to those of
MS children who have been permitted
TO live, he still practices, without any
reason except that his father did so be-
fore him, the most cruel and revolving
mutations upon the young men and
maidens of his tribe.
lie is not cannibal No cold Joint
OF missionary graces his sideboam, and
should hunger, as penalty for his i'm
provident gluttony. overtake him, he
simply ties thin hair girdle tightly
round his stomach, and almost per-
suadeS himself that he is still suffering
from repetition. He is absolutely un-
tamable. You may clothe and care for
him for years. When suddenly the de-
mon 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
hldeous customs, and when sated. after
months of privation, he 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.