ere 93 females and 129 males,
or about 1 female to every 1.3 males.

I have known four instances of native women having twins, but I have
never heard of a greater number of children at one birth. Should a child
be born with any natural deformity it is frequently killed by its parents
soon afterwards. In the only instances of this kind which have come
within my own knowledge the child has been drowned.

LUNATICS AND IDIOTS.

Idiots are rarely found amongst the natives; in two cases I however
observed persons of very deficient intellect. Mad people are unknown, and
this very naturally, for very few freaks of madness could be committed by
a lunatic ere he would fall a sacrifice to the violence and indignation
of his fellows. Persons of very delicate and feeble constitutions are
also rare, as those who survive the hardships to which they are exposed
in their childhood must possess an iron frame. The deaths amongst the
children, particularly during early infancy, are as far as I can judge
much more numerous in proportion to the number of births than they are in
civilized nations.

INFLUENCE OF POLYGAMY ON SOCIAL HABITS.

The social habits of the natives of Australia are necessarily modified by
the extent to which polygamy is permitted and practised amongst them. The
very unequal distribution of the female sex, which arises from this
cause, has rendered prevalent the custom of stealing wives; and as women
are of great value, not only on account of the personal attachment which
they might be supposed to excite, but from the fact of all laborious
tasks being performed, and a great portion of the food of the family
being also collected by them, every precaution is taken to prevent them
from forming any acquaintances which would be likely to terminate in
their abduction.

A stern and vigilant jealousy is commonly felt by every married man; he
cannot, from the roving nature of their mode of life, surround his wives
with the walls of a seraglio, but custom and etiquette have drawn about
them barriers nearly as impassable. When a certain number of families are
collected together they encamp at a common spot; and each family has a
separate hut, or perhaps two. At these huts sleep the father of the
family, his wives, the female children who have not yet joined their
husbands, and very young boys; occasionally female relatives, who from
some temporary cause have no male protector with them, also sleep at this
fire; but the young