by the name of 'Cobbaun (big) Bellingen Jack.' I never saw a finer specimen of the Australian Aborigines than this fellow; the symmetry of his limbs was faultless, and he would have made a splendid living model for the students of the Royal Academy. The haughty and dignified air of his strongly-marked and not unhandsome countenance, the boldly-developed muscles, the broad shoulders, and especially the great depth of his chest, reminded me of some antique torso."[1]
Jardine gives no very flattering account of the natives of Cape York. "The only distinction," he says, "that I can perceive, is that they appear to be in a lower state of degradation, mentally and physically, than any of the Australian tribes which I have seen. Tall, well-made men are occasionally seen, but these almost invariably show decided traces of a Papuan or New Guinea origin, being easily distinguished by the 'thrum' like appearance of the hair, which is of a somewhat reddish tinge, occasioned, no doubt, by constant exposure to the sun and weather. The color of their skin is also much lighter, in some individuals approaching almost to a copper-color. The true Australian Aborigines are perfectly black, with, generally, woolly heads of hair; I have, however, observed some with straight hair and features prominent, and of a strong Jewish cast."[2]
Macgillivray says that the Australians of Cape York differ in no respect from those of other parts of the continent; but they do not, it appears, strike out the upper incisors, nor do they practise circumcision or any similar rite. Amongst the Aborigines of Port Essington he observed no striking peculiarity. The septum of the nose is invariably perforated, and the right central incisor—rarely the left—is knocked out during childhood. Both sexes are more or less ornamented with large raised cicatrices, on the shoulders and across the chest, on the abdomen and buttocks, and outside of the thighs. They wear no clothing; and their ornaments consist chiefly of wristlets, made of the fibres of a plant, and armlets of the same, wound round with cordage. They have necklaces formed of fragments of reed strung on a thread, or of cordage, passing under the arms and crossed over the back. Girdles of finely-twisted human hair are occasionally worn by both sexes. The men sometimes add a tassel of the hair of the opossum or flying squirrel suspended in front. A piece of stick or bone, thrust into the perforation in the nose, completes the costume. They paint themselves with red, yellow, white, and black, in different styles, appropriate to dancing, fighting, or mourning.
Speaking of the Papuans, which Macgillivray states includes, in his work, merely the woolly or frizzled haired inhabitants of the Louisiade, south-east coast of New Guinea, and the islands of Torres Strait, he says:—"They appear to me to be resolvable into several indistinct types, with intermediate gradations; thus occasionally we met with strongly-marked negro characteristics, but still more frequently with the Jewish cast of features, while every now and then a face presented itself which struck me as being perfectly Malayan. In general the head is narrow in front, and wide and very high behind, the face broad from
