perspiration from their bodies, produces, in hot weather, a most horrible
stench. I have seen some with the entrails of fish frying in the burning
sun upon their heads, until the oil ran down over their foreheads. A
remarkable instance once came under my observation of the early use which
they make of this curious unguent. Happening to be at Camp Cove at a
time when these people were much pressed with hunger, we found in a
miserable hut a poor wretched half-starved native and two children. The
man was nearly reduced to a skeleton, but the children were in better
condition. We gave them some salted beef and pork, and some bread, but
this they would not touch. The eldest of the children was a female; and a
piece of fat meat being given to her, she, instead of eating it instantly
as we expected, squeezed it between her fingers until she had nearly
pressed all the fat to a liquid; with this she oiled over her face two or
three times, and then gave it to the other, a boy about two years of age,
to do the like. Our wonder was naturally excited at seeing such knowledge
in children so young. To their hair, by means of the yellow gum, they
fasten the front teeth of the kangaroo, and the jaw-bones of large fish,
human teeth, pieces of wood, feathers of birds, the tail of the dog, and
certain bones taken out of the head of a fish, not unlike human teeth.
The natives who inhabit the south shore of Botany Bay divide the hair
into small parcels, each of which they mat together with gum, and form
them into lengths like the thrums of a mop. On particular occasions they
ornament themselves with red and white clay, using the former when
preparing to fight, the latter for the more peaceful amusement of
dancing. The fashion of these ornaments was left to each person's taste;
and some, when decorated in their best manner, looked perfectly horrible.
Nothing could appear more terrible than a black and dismal face, with a
large white circle drawn round each eye. In general waved lines were
marked down each arm, thigh, and leg; and in some the cheeks were daubed;
and lines drawn over each rib, presented to the beholder a truly
spectre-like figure. Previous either to a dance or a combat, we always
found them busily employed in this necessary preliminary; and it must be
observed, that when other liquid could not be readily procured, they
moistened the clay with their own saliva. Both sexes are ornamented with
scars upon the breast, arms, and back,