The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-03
NEW FOUND MEN.

1 u
have never heard Of the world outside Of
the few square miles they occupy We
thought the last of them had been brought
to light when few years ago, 500 Eskimos
were found on the east coast OF Greenland,
with the inland ice cap behind and the sea
in front Of them, and glaciers hemming them
in on the north and south. Another band
of these real castaways. numbering some
hundreds of persons, has just been dis
covered near the northeast coast of Aus
tralia. We might think 1t strange that
tribe of aboiigines in the torrid zone,
living on an island within forty miles OF one
OF the continents, should remain unknown
to this late day; but there is nothing re-
/ markable about it when we know their en-
vironment.
Capt. Flinders discovered Mornington
Island 1903 years ago. 1t lies of the south
shore OF the great shallow Gulf of Carpen-
taria, in about 10 degrees south latitude
Some thirty-fve miles long and from ten
to twenty miles wide, it is among the larger
islands Of Australia. Around it are num-
Der OF small islands and years ago the
British gave the name of Wellesley Islands
to the whole group, and called the largest
of them Morninston Island after the second
title OF the Marc, is of Wellesley.
No white man ever landed on any Of the
islands until the recent visit of Walter F.
Roth, the ethnologist, of Brisbane, Queens
land. As far as is known, no member OF
the present tribes of North Australia had
ever visited the island. 1t had been seen
only few times from vessels miles away
from it. The maps show nothing of its
| outline. 1t has many bays and capes. but
none of them has been named excepting
the largest promontory, which Flinders
called Cape Van Diemen. The best maps
give no indication of the islands tOpog-
! raphy except to print through the middle OF
the island the words: About 300 feet high.
Why has this island one of the five or six
largest Of the myriad islands of Australia,
remained completely cut of from the worlds
interests? The reason is that it stands at
the bottom of a great gulf hundreds OF
miles from the shipping that passes through
Torres Strait and equally distant from the
nearest centers of white enterprise in
Australia. The neighboring coasts are
very swampy. Leichhardt is the only
| Australian explorer who ever came within
sixty miles OF the island. The gulf is so
shallow that large vessels cannot navigate
in view the island was left in its isolation,
entirely outside the current of the worlds
| affairs.
A while ago, however, the natives of
North Australia reported that a stranger
| bad visited them from the big island in the
gulf. He had come alone on a rough raft
made by lashing small timbers together.
He spoke a dialect some words of which
A. La, thox- hn
that there we're many people on the island.
This Columbus of his tribe was on the main
! land only few hours, but his journey of
exploration had its sequel.
When { - story reached civilization Mr..
Roth decided to visit the island. He has
now returned to Queensland, and his re-
port reveals people who, except on the
occasion above referred to, have had alb
solutely no intercourse with the outside
world for so many generations that they
have no tradition relating to 1t; people
who have forgotten most of the rude arts
and customs they may have brought from
the Australian mainland two or three GEN.
turtles ago, and are inferior in a IL their con-
ditions of life to the continental aborigines,
who were supposed to be the least advanced
of human beings.
DR.. Roth went to Mornington in an official
as we'll as a scientific capacity. The duties
of his Government Office require him to
look after the welfare of the natives of
Queensland. to which the island is tached-
1t remains to be seen what will be done to
improve the condition of these islanders.
They are supposed to number at least 500
souls; at any rate, over 200 gathered around
the wonderful white man, whom they first
feared and then venerated. They fed into
the bush when they saw him. and only the
most patient diplomacy prevailed upon
two of them to approach his camp. Others
came in by twos and threes. and at length
a crowd were squatting around the white
man, his constant attendants during his
short visit.
Their way of life is primitive even when
compared with that of the least civilized
Australasian natives. They wear no cloth
ing of any sort whatsoever. They do not
build even the most rudimentary shelters,
but live out in the open like wild animals.
If the weather is too cool for comfort they
content themselves with making heaps of
more or less dry vegetation, into which
they crawl Nearly all savage folk can
plat baskets in which they carry food and
other articles, but these people have no
idea of such an art. They tie up their be-
longings in pieces of bark and thus trans
port them.
They have not the slightest idea Of agri-
culture. They live entirely on Wild fruits,
fish and game. They are undoubtedly
good hunters and fishermen, and know the
use of fire in cookery, producing blaze
when required by the friction of two pieces
of wood. They are sklful in the use of
their boomerangs and wooden javelins
but are far behind all other natives of
Ooeanica in the art of navigation. Their
boats are nothing but the rudest RATS,
made by flashing small logs together and
propelled by poles or paddles.
DR.. Roth found the men Of Mornington
very simple and childlike, easily pleased
| or frightened but showing no evidences of
treachery or malice. The poor women
we're much disturbed when the white man
lit his pipe; they asked his men why he
had set his mouth ON fire. But the tin
whistles from Sydney that were distributed
by scores were an enormous success, and
when the supply gave out few parents
offered their children in exchange for these
musical Instruments.