The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-22

phonograph, and already several inter- esting photographs of the country traversed and it's inhabitants have been received in Adelaide.
 Several native dances and ceremo- nies have been taken by means of the camera and cinematograph, and anum- Der of chants and songs recorded by the phonograph copies of which will be forwarded in due course to London after the return of the explorers. But all this would have been impossible had not Mr. Gillen obtained the confidence of the natives during his twenty years residence in their vicinity. The older men are described as exhibiting a re- markedly courteous demeanor. So long as they are not clothed in white mems garments" says Prof Spencer, they are quiet and dignified but once clothe them and encourage them to im- itate the white man, and they lose their natural dignity and assume a slovenly and degraded appearance.' There is nothing new in this 1t is character istic of most aboriginal peoples. But clothing of some kind is necessary in the vicinity of stations, of which there are several in the neighborhood of Alice Springs, and along the telegraph line, from which the unexplored coun- try reaches toward Western Australia, on the west, and Queensland on the east The natives in this part of the northern territory, the occupation of which by South Australia, is merely tentative, belong to the Arunta tribe, the members of which occupy an in- lnense area, nearly five hundred miles from north to south, and are divided into numerous groups, each having 2 distinctive name, generally that Of some animal or plant Thus, according to Professor Spencer, "one given area will belong to Kangaroo men, another to emu men, and another to Hakea flower men, the district around Alice Springs being inhabited by 'witchety grub men"
 Neither men, women nor children Tn their natural state" we are told, are at all encountered with clothing. The wo- men have headbands worn round the forehead and behind the ears, and the men wear a waistband made of human har-most commonly that of their mother in w's-which can be tighten ed if food be scarce" The principal weapon is, as in other parts of Austra- lia. the boomerang, of which each man carries couple. He is also provided with a shield, long barbed spear, and a spear thrower. The latter, says Pro- lessor Spencer Ifs shaped like an elon- gated ovate leaf, the sides of which are more or less turned up. At one end a little pointed bit of wood Is fixed on by means of kangaroo sinew, and at the other clipped piece of quartzite Is fastened into q lum of porcupine grass resin. The spear end is placed on to the point of the thrower which Is used as lever and by means of It skllful native will throw one as far as a nun dred yards, though he will not be able to aim accurately enough to Kill an emu or kangaroo at greater distance than. at most, twenty yards" The men are wonderfully expert in the use oi their shields in warding off any boom- erangs aimed at them, no matter in what number or how rapidly they arc thrown.
 The members of the tribe possess most of the characteristics of the Aus tralian aboriginal in his primitive con diton Men of tall stature are compaF- atively few, the average height being about five and half feet, the women being a few inches shorter. "The skin is by no means black, but dark choco- late In color; the nose very broad, Wlth it's root deep set the ridges above the eyes are strongly developed, and above them the head slopes backward, with the lower hairs artificially removed, So as apparently to increase it's size" The hair, unlike that of some other aborigl- nals, when allowed to grow falls m ringlets on the shoulders. giving the younger men, with their jet black boards, whiskers and mustaches, a somewhat peculiar appearance Ihe girls and young women are well formed, and carry themselves grace fully, but the drudgery of food col lecting and child carrying soon makes