The natives of Brisbane (Queensland) differ a good deal in appearance. The accompanying drawings (Figs. 5 and 6) represent the ordinary Australian type. That of the man was selected because of the extraordinary character of the scars on his back.
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| FIG. 5. | FIG. 6. |
I have seen some blacks from the north, and I never could detect any very striking difference in their aspect. Generally, they looked like Victorian blacks; but amongst the large number of photographs I have received of natives of the north-east coast, it is easy to put aside many that certainly bear no very close resemblance to the ordinary Australian native. The hair of some is frizzled, and the beard is scanty, appearing only as a small moustache, and a slight frizzled tuft on the chin. The eyebrows do not project very much, the nose is nearly straight, and not very broad at the base, and the brow is rounder and smoother than that commonly seen. The hair of some of the girls falls in long, very small ringlets; but the faces of nearly all the females are of the usual Australian type. The marked differences of feature appear only amongst the males.
It was intended that portraits showing the types of natives of all the islands adjacent to Australia, and those of the negro, and the natives of India, should have been given here, in order that the reader might have compared them with those of the Australians; but owing to the haste with which this volume has been completed, this part of my design is unfulfilled. A few portraits accompany those of the Australians; and as these, as well as the latter, have been carefully drawn from excellent photographs, it is hoped that these fresh materials for a proper study of the races they represent will be appreciated by ethnologists.
The Australian natives have been harshly dealt with in nearly all the works that treat of ethnology. In many their faces are made to appear as like those of baboons as possible; and though it must be confessed that, as a rule, neither the men nor the women have pleasing countenances, they are as thoroughly human in their features and expression as the natives of Great Britain.
