-conditioned race,
generally speaking. They seemingly occupy permanent huts, but their
tribe did not bear any proportion to the size or number of their
habitations. It was evident their population had been thinned. The
customs of these distant tribes, as far as we could judge, were similar
to those of the mountain blacks, and they are essentially the same
people, although their language differs. They lacerate their bodies,
but do not extract the front teeth. We saw but few cloaks among them,
since the opossum does not inhabit the interior. Those that were
noticed, were made of the red kangaroo skin. In appearance, these men
are stouter in the bust than at the lower extremities; they have broad
noses, sunken eyes, overhanging eyebrows, and thick lips. The men are
much better looking than the women. Both go perfectly naked, if I
except the former, who wear nets over the loins and across the
forehead, and bones through the cartilages of the nose. Their chief
food is fish, of which they have great supplies in the river; still
they have their seasons for hunting their emus and kangaroos. The nets
they use for this purpose, as well as for fishing, are of great length,
and are made upon large frames. These people do not appear to have
warlike habits nor do they take any pride in their arms, which differ
little from those used by the inland tribes, and are assimilated to
them as far as the materials will allow. One powerful man, however, had
a regular trident, for which Mr. Hume offered many things without
success. He plainly intimated to us that he had a use for it, but
whether against an enemy or to secure prey, we could not understand. I
was most anxious to have ascertained if any religious ceremonies
obtained among them, but the difficulty of making them comprehend our
meaning was insurmountable; and to the same cause may be attributed the
circumstance of my being unable to collect any satisfactory vocabulary
of their language. They evinced a strange perversity, or obstinacy
rather, in repeating words, although it was evident that they knew they
were meant as questions. The pole we observed in the creek, on the
evening previously to our making the Darling, was not the only one that
fell under our notice; our impression therefore, that they were fixed
by the natives to propitiate some deity, was confirmed. It would appear
that the white pigment was an indication of mourning. Whether these
people have an idea of a superintendi