The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-07-27
| NEW RACE DISCOVERED
Do not Sleep in Huts, But on
Straw; on Bare Ground.
STRINGENT TRIBAL LAWS
Tribe Hitherto Unknown on Austria.
lian Coast Who Were Astonished
at Appearance Of White Explor-
ers-Modes oe living-Lansuage
Of the People.


DR. Roth, the Queensland protector
Of sborigines, who is familiar with
aboriginal life and character, and
Charles Hedley, the conchologist OF
the Sydney Museum, have ascertained
the existence in the far north Of a
people who had never previously seen
. white man, a fact which shows that
the days Of Australian exploration
are not yet at an end.
They were making a scientific tour
q the Gulf Of Carpentaria and OF the
Wellesley archipelago at the southern
and of the gulf. Mornington Island,
which has an area Of ten by forty
niles, was discovered by Capt. Mat.
tAew Flinders in 1902 while survey.
ing and mapping out the gulf. but he
does not appear to have landed on II.
Since that time the island has been
nown only by name. 1t is not an in.
viting place for the settler, the soil
6eing poor, with extensive tracts Of
aarehy country. There is plenty of
hush and coarse forest. land this af-
lords shelter to large numbers Of
pngaroos and other animals, which
Sarnish a plentiful supply OF food for
he islanders.
Dr.. Roth and Mr.. Hedley expert
Heed no difnculty in effecting a land
~ and found the islanders, scientific
'tl1y speaking. an interesting people,
heir modes Of living and general
,haracteristics showing that they had
,sen separated from the mainland ma.
tivss for many generations. With one
Inception. an aboriginal who had Wis.
ted the shores Of the gulf, none of
he islanders had ever seen white
nan, and the use of clothing, how
ever scanty, was unknown to both
;s1es alike. The visitors. together
nth some tame" blacks--that is, ma
ives who have been educated at the
nfssion station in northern Queens
and and Observation-Disclosures on the
sland three days. employing the
tame" blacks as guides and scouts,
nd 1t was speedily discovered that
With the islanders, whose language
vas a dialectical version of that OF
he gulf natives. Great caution had
o be observed by the visitors, who
vere always armed, the islanders
iaving spears and few boomerangs,
,ut always running away as the white
nen advanced.
At last, however, a couple of the ISL
nders were induced to make friends
nth the two explorers, whom they re-
,arded with stolid gaze, as if their
;nexpected appearance was an every
,ay occurrence.
Their assumed apathy vanished the
,oment that DR.. Roth and Mr.. Hcd-
ey lighted their pipes. They stared
I bewilderment and, according to
ne tame" boys, declared that the
Jhite men were burning their mouths.
They were equally astonished when
match was used for lighting a fire
nd a billy" employed for boiling
ater. Mr.. Hedley distributed among
lem number of penny whistles
'hich he had brought from sydney
nd soon the bush began to be filed
nth sounds to which it had previous
& been a stranger.
The islanders, who form a race
ew to ethnologists, are supposed to
retrograde type or else more
rimitive type than the ordinary Aus
ralian aboriginal. They do not make
uts as do the natives on the main
md, but simply collect heaps of grass
nd sleep on the bare ground to the
,eward Of them. Articles which have
be carried from one place to an
her are wrapped in bark, the use
baskets being unknown, as is that
Z canoes, the water craft employed
aing rudely constructed RATS, con-
sting each of a couple Of logs with
,me light weed, propelled by branches
paddles. Compared with the ma
YES on the mainland, the islanders
,emed far behind in knowledge Of
ven the rudest aboriginal appliances.
hey have, however, a stringent sys-
m of tribal classification, intended
represent different degrees of rels.
onship and to assist in preventing
o close intermarriage. Chicago
Jhronicle.