THE
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL

THE BUFFALO HUNTERS’ TRIUMPH

H. BASEDOW, pinx.

THE
AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINAL

BY
HERBERT BASEDOW
M.A., M.D., Ph.D., B.Sc., F.G.S., etc.
SOMETIME CHIEF MEDICAL INSPECTOR AND CHIEF PROTECTOR OF ABORIGINES
IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY; SPECIAL ABORIGINES’ COMMISSIONER
FOR THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS; LOCAL CORRESPONDENT
ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT
BRITAIN AND IRELAND; HONORARY FELLOW ANTHROPOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF GÖTTINGEN, ETC.

With 146 Illustrations

Adelaide:
F. W. PREECE AND SONS
1925

Registered by the Postmaster-General for
transmission through the post as a book.

Wholly set up and printed in Australia
at The Hassell Press, Adelaide.

TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
ANNA CLARA HELENE BASEDOW

PREFACE

For some years past it had been my intention to write a progressive series of treatises on the Australian aboriginal, embodying observations as they were being made. As time wore on, however, my procrastination amassed so great a fund and so great a variety of notes that my original plan became impossible. The delay was not altogether through any fault of mine, but through a run of fortunate happenings which allowed me to spend the better part of every year in the great unbounded spaces of central and northern Australia, to live among the uncontaminated tribes, and to study Australian anthropology at the fountain head. It was through my repeated and prolonged absences from the city (and civilization in general) that I could not attend to the publication of any lengthy scientific papers.

Apart from my private and professional journeys, the following are some of the better known expeditions I have accompanied or led:

The Government North-West Expedition,

Government Expedition of Geological Exploration in the Northern Territory,

Cruise of the s.s. “White Star” under His Excellency Sir George Le Hunte, Governor of South Australia,

Mineralogical Survey of the Flinders Ranges,

Sir Joseph Verco’s Deep Sea Dredging Expeditions,

Exploration of Melville and Bathurst Islands,

Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, officially subsidized by the Premier (Hon. John Scaddan, M.P.),

Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in Central Australia,

Three South Australian Medical Relief Expeditions among the Aborigines,

Expedition in Search of Reported Remains of Leichhardt, under auspices of S.A. Geographical Society,

Commonwealth Medical Survey of Aborigines in the Northern Territory,

Mararoa Geological Expedition from Darwin to Northern Kimberleys,

Viceregal Expedition to Central Australia, under His Excellency, Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia,

Commonwealth Railways Commissioner’s Journey from Mildura to Port Augusta, under Hon. P. G. Stewart and N. G. Bell, Esq.,

Expedition through the Interior of Australia, under His Excellency, the Earl of Stradbroke, Governor of Victoria.

During the terms that I held official positions, firstly as a State Geologist, and secondly as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Protector of Aborigines for the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory, opportunities were afforded me of continuing my investigations among the indigenous population of Australia; especially fruitful were my researches when, as a Special Aborigines’ Commissioner, I medically overhauled the tribes of South Australia and of the southern region of the Northern Territory.

In a more private capacity the southern districts and goldfields of Western Australia, the coastal and south-western districts of Queensland, and the north-western areas of New South Wales were traversed. Quite recently, too, a professional excursion to Java considerably enriched my knowledge of Melanesian ethnography and helped to explain the existence of several cults in the northern districts of Australia which border on the Indian Ocean.

On the other hand, not long before the war I continued study abroad and was privileged to be associated with the late Professor Hermann Klaatsch, under whose admirable guidance my researches were conducted in the Anatomical School of the University of Breslau. It will be apparent, therefore, why many of the results enumerated in the chapters dealing with the racial characteristics of the Australian aboriginal are based upon the doctrines of this eminent authority. In London Sir Arthur Keith courteously placed the whole of the valuable collections of Australian skulls and skeletons in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons at my disposal; while Captain T. A. Joyce, in an equally generous way, facilitated my investigations in the anthropological galleries of the British Museum; I am taking advantage of this opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude to these two gentlemen. I also desire to thank the Directors of the National and University Museums which I visited in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, who so willingly responded to my enquiries and brought me into personal contact with any matters I was especially interested in.

While engaged upon one of my later commissions in central Australia, my duties took me to the Hermannsburg Mission Station on the Finke River, where for a fortnight I enjoyed the companionship of the Rev. Carl Strehlow and received every assistance in my researches among the western groups of the Arunndta tribe. Through the recent pathetic and heroic death of Strehlow, Science has lost an indefatigable and conscientious worker, and the aborigines a staunch and faithful friend.

In the present volume I have endeavoured to sift my subject matter in such a way as to keep the text in a suitable sequence and to make it of general interest. The principal difficulty has been to delete matter in order to keep down the bulk of the book. The latter remark applies equally well to the selection of illustrations; it was with a heavy heart that I found myself obliged to reduce the number of plates, all of which illustrated interesting points referred to in the text. Nevertheless, I feel that I am greatly indebted to the publisher, Mr. F. W. Preece, for allowing me to include so many more illustrations than he had originally counted upon.

Now that the manuscript is in the hands of the printer, I feel that there are several chapters I should like to have done more justice to; those, for instance, dealing with tribal organizations, initiation ceremonies, religious ideas, and art might have been considerably expanded if it had not been for the want of space. In those on religious ideas and art, I realize that I am launching in new directions so far as Australian anthropology is concerned, but I trust that the evidence which I have produced will be sufficient to prove that I did not arrive at the results too hastily, or, indeed, without deliberation and substantiation. Phallic worship had long been suspected in Australia, and some of our foremost authorities, such as the late R. Etheridge, Jun., were inclined to explain the occurrence of certain stones and other objects in the tribal areas of Australia (present or past) on that hypothesis. I came upon the evidence accidentally in 1916 in the form of a stone phallus erected in the ground at Success Strait in the far north-western corner of Australia. The stone was surrounded by a cleared cirque where much blood had been spilt at a recent ceremony. A few weeks later I for the first time witnessed an actual performance on the shores of Cambridge Gulf at which wooden phallus were produced. Since then I have been able to trace the existence of phallic worship of some form or other in several districts of central and northern Australia, an outline of which appears in a subsequent chapter. I trust that the facts I have been able to collect may help to illumine the somewhat doubtful question of how an aboriginal looks upon the process of procreation. Phallicism is closely related to such forms of Nature worship as are practised in order to make any species of animal or plant proliferate, or, for that matter, to bring down a shower of rain in times of drought. The phallus might gradually merge into a tjuringa. The painted “Ngadanji” and “Ilbarinam” tjuringas of the Arunndta tribe are regarded as images of the reproductive organ of a spirit which can generate life; in that sense they might be classed as phallus. I find that ancestor worship is generally indulged in; it is difficult at times to distinguish between an original spirit ancestor and a deity, but a Supreme Spirit or Deity is believed to exist and to rule over all creation.

With regard to totemism, I have shown the beliefs in a manner slightly different from those hitherto recorded. The mystical relationship between individual and object is traced to a mythical semi-human forerunner which was common to both and is now a spirit. The Arunndta call the spirit “Knaninja.” The animal or plant relative of an individual is what has been commonly called the “totem” in Australian ethnology, while the symbolic representation of this object, which becomes the crest of the individual, corresponds to the “kobong” first described by Sir George Grey. Emblematic representations of both the “totemic” object and of the Knaninja are embodied in the tjuringa of the individual.

The essay on art, it will be observed, has been written on evolutional lines with respect to both technique and design. It will be understood that the material upon which the conclusions are based was collected in many parts of Australia and during many years of travel. The cults in question are in many cases distributed all over the continent, but occasionally are quite local. As an instance of the latter kind, I mention the famous drawings recorded by Sir George Grey, some of which I was fortunate in being able to locate and study on the Glenelg River in the far north-west. I might mention that, with very few exceptions, the designs appearing in the book as text figures are actual tracings reduced by photography to a size in keeping with the dimensions of the page. There is no doubt that primitive art in Australia is a fascinating study which has not received the attention it merits; and unfortunately it is rather late in the day to think of making a start. The system of conventionalism derived from the numerous pictographs and carvings is the basis of all characters and messages one finds on sticks, stones, and persons; it is the only key to an understanding of sacred tjuringa symbols. We have for too long looked upon aboriginal designs as meaningless, and upon aboriginal art production as being idle concoctions out of nothing which were invented just to make a thing “look pretty.” This is anything but the true position. An aboriginal artist knows no such thing as a design without motive or origin; to him the shortest line or the smallest circle conveys a thought. In the chapter dealing with stone implements, I have, among other things, described a new type of scraper which was used by the now extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming skins of animals.

The article on language is not intended to be at all comprehensive; my main object was to give a general idea of the construction, together with a few examples of the idiomatic uses, of the aboriginal tongue. I hope at a later date to be able to present a complete account of the Arunndta and Aluridja dialects, including the syntactical rules and grammatical forms.

I have to offer an apology to any authors who may claim priority to some of the facts which I mention in this book. I have written this account of the Australian aboriginal without attempting to consult previous literature, for the simple reason that, had I started looking up all necessary references, the volume might never have been completed. My time at headquarters has been so limited during the last fifteen years that, in the absence of a library near at hand, it was impossible for me to adopt any other method than to write up my observations at first-hand and run the risk of a certain amount of trespass. Nevertheless, I trust that the authors so affected will realize that there was no slight intended and will treat my transgression in the spirit of independent corroboration.

Our knowledge of Australian ethnology is so meagre that every man who has had first-hand experience among the tribes should consider it his bounden duty to place on record any facts he possesses, however trivial they may be. Every year the number of people who have seen the unsophisticated savage is dwindling. When I look back to the time of my first meeting with the tribes of central Australia, just twenty years ago, and compare the conditions of then and now, I shudder to think how quickly the romance of aboriginal affairs, together with all the scientific treasures it encompassed, has vanished, and is now irretrievably lost to the world. The rising generation will not have the advantage of men of even our time. Bones, stone artefacts, and wooden implements will remain in our museums for ever, but the habits, laws, beliefs, and legends are doomed to rapid extinction.

I do not claim to be an initiated member of any tribe. To be candid, I several times tried to qualify by impressive exhibitions of surgical skill and exaggerated munificence, but, although I gained the confidence and goodwill of the old men, I was informed that I could only be accepted provided I passed through the different grades of initiation and submitted to the attendant mutilations in the orthodox way. The medicine men, however, usually claimed me as a “Kata” or colleague, and allowed me to witness most of their rituals and sacred ceremonies, which they carefully explained to me. In this way I was able, also, to secure a very great series of photographs depicting intimate scenes from aboriginal life, many of which are unique. The only photographs illustrating this book which were not taken by me are those reproduced in Plates [XLVIII] and [XLIX]; for these I am indebted to the late Mr. Nicholas Holtze.

I could not allow this opportunity to pass without making brief reference to the causes of the early extinction which is threatening these inoffensive, useful, and scientifically important people. We have only to cast our eyes in the direction of any wave of settlement to behold the disastrous effects our occupation of the land has had on the natives. Take, for instance, the Lake Eyre region, which embraces the Dieri, Yantowannta, Ngameni, and Yauroworka tribes. Official reports show that only forty years ago the population was so dense that the white settlers asked for greater police protection; the four tribes mentioned numbered many thousands. During a recent survey on behalf of the Government, I could barely muster three hundred wretched and decrepit souls in this region, who, literally speaking, were waiting for a lingering death to relieve them of their misery. We content ourselves by saying that civilization is the cause of the increased mortality, no doubt a plausible but very vague explanation. As a result of my investigations, I venture the opinion that the factor which has wrought the greatest havoc among the tribes is disease. The principal scourges are syphilis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and trachoma. Unless we realize the obligations which rest on our shoulders and give our natives a medical protection similar to the successful measures adopted by the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, they will continue to vanish and soon be classed as an extinct race.

H. BASEDOW.

Kent Town, South Australia, 2nd November, 1924.

CONTENTS

LIST OF PLATES

LIST OF FIGURES IN THE TEXT

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO AN AUSTRALIAN TRIBE

The lonely bush of Australia—The silence is broken—A mysterious call-note—A human figure in the distance—Coo-ee!—A voluntary but cautious escort—The official approach and salutation—Friendship established—Tribal introductions.

Let us imagine that we are travelling with a caravan over a lonely tract of ground, in a remote district of the Australian bush, which has not been contaminated by any disturbing influence of our civilization. In consequence of the serenity and the deserted aspect of the scene around us, we would be wondering whether the place holds any mortal creatures but our party. We might even have resigned ourselves to the inevitable desolation.

Suddenly the spell is broken by a faint sound falling upon our ears—a long-drawn, shrill, yet melodious note—then all is silent again.

What could it have been? We are in doubt as to whether this was the call of a bird or animal, or a phenomenon unknown to us; being so far away from any centre of industry, a locomotive or factory whistle is quite out of the question. Eagerly we wait for a possible repetition of the singular sound.

Soon, indeed, it comes again; and, with the attentiveness our expectation has solicited, we now recognize the human character of the note. Presently it is repeated, then again, and yet again. But where does it come from? So far we know not.

In the meantime we continue forging through the sand, and, being now on the alert, we in due course espy, in the direction whence the sound is coming, but a considerable distance off, a slim, dark figure gliding from the cover of a rock to that of a bush. Presently it again shows itself a short distance on; and our attention is further attracted by the appearance of one or two other dark bodies running from cover to cover in a line parallel to our course.

The calling is continued at frequent intervals; and, as near as we can represent it by our alphabet, it sounds like the word “Coy!” with the “y” specially emphasized and spun out. One has no difficulty in recognizing in this call-note, which is met with all over Australia, the derivation of the familiar “Coo-ee!”

It is, of course, assumed that we in no way betray a feeling of uneasiness or give these dusky fellows the impression that we are preparing for hostilities. Having satisfied themselves in respect of this, and after manoeuvring for a considerable time in the manner described, our uninvited escort become more trusting, even daring. They run or walk for longer distances away from cover and gradually bring their line of travelling closer in to ours. When eventually they realize that we seem more like friend than foe, they drop behind our caravan, and, at a measured distance, in our trail. Whenever we move, they move, and when we stop, they stop. If any of our party go towards them, they turn to the side and cleverly disappear into the bush ([Plate I]).

When we have arrived at the end of our day’s journey and camp, they pull up short and squat for a while; although it may not appear so to the inexperienced traveller, they are taking stock of all our doings.

Before very long, two men stand up and beckon to a small boy among their party, who immediately jumps to his feet and walks to a place in front of his elders. Each of the men now holds one of his hands upon the lad’s shoulder, and, in that position, the little group moves towards our camp.

In the hands not so used, both men are now seen to be carrying small branches of Cassia bush, which they occasionally lift towards us. Thus they walk to within fifty or sixty paces of our encampment and again squat on the ground, arranging themselves in the same order as they walked in. It is apparent they want us to approach them; and we do so.

Statuary could not be more rigid than the persons we behold, upon arriving at the little group. They sit silently, with downcast eyes, and it is not until we address them that they rise to their feet. The old men, for such we now recognize them to be, start a meek conversation, nervously pushing the boy towards us. We are informed that this is an uninitiated boy, a child in fact, a piccaninny in the tribal relationship of son to the speakers. We are implored not to hurt this innocent being, and to extend that friendship to themselves and to all the members of the tribe. It is pointed out that they are unarmed and that this is the guarantee of their goodly intentions towards us, the unknown wanderers.

The men now advance and pat us on the chest, and instinctively we return the compliment—for such it is intended to be—which is akin to any ordinary European method of salutation. The bonds of friendship have thus been sealed, and the men continue to jabber profusely on the more intricate tribal relationships existing between themselves and the rest of their party.

When the genealogical explanations have been concluded, the men turn towards their company, who are still squatting in the distance, and call aloud to them to come along: “Pitchai, ngalla pitchai, waipella tami pu!” which in the Wongapitcha dialect stands for “Come along, the white fellow is good.” The invitation is quickly responded to, and ere many minutes have passed the whole group has arrived, which includes other men as well as women and children. The new arrivals, without hesitation, and with seeming confidence, join in the conversation.

So this is our introduction to the aboriginal, the primitive hunting man of Australia, and his family!

Fig. 1. Map of Australia showing geographical distribution of tribes.

PLATE I

Wordaman natives on the march.

“... they drop behind our caravan, and, at a measured distance, in our trail.”

CHAPTER II
RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS

Straightness of figure—Angular contours—Absence of fatty tissue—Nature’s economy—Abnormal obesity—Straight spinal column—Flat and long dorsal curve—Ensellure—Strong cervical curve—Uniformity of sacro-lumbar curve—Flexibility of spine due to thick cartilaginous discs—Racial comparisons between length of vertebræ and that of intervertebral discs—Influence of upright attitude—Smallness of bones composing the spinal column and the explanation—Exceptions to rule—Narrow sacral bone—Peculiarities of fifth lumbar vertebra—Long extremities of equal length—Foot suggests tree-climbing—Evolution of foot—So-called “hand-footed” men—Feet used for lifting and carrying purposes—Function of peroneus muscle—Flatfoot rare—Correct placement of foot when walking—Tree-climbing and its effects—Peculiarity of Tasmanian’s foot—The shape and skeleton of lower limbs—“Boomerang” legs—Shoulder and arm bones—Bodily height of male and female.

Let us study these interesting-looking people more closely and endeavour to find out their characteristic features, and in what respects they differ from ourselves. At the same time, let us in passing ascertain to what degree they resemble us and other peoples, past or present, and what peculiarities they might share with the man-apes or lower forms of the animal kingdom.

What immediately appeals to our critical eye is the strong contrast in the general outline of the figure when we compare it with our own. The round, full contours and shapely exterior of the European are replaced by an angularity and straightness in the aboriginal. The surface-padding or, more correctly, the subcutaneous deposition of fatty tissue, which makes the lines and curves of our bodies so uniform—and the female figure so beautiful—is, to a large extent, the result of long selective culture and of the comforts which civilized life has brought with it. In the case of the aboriginal, however, the forethought of Nature has not allowed the development of such paddings of fat to any considerable amount; they would only tend to impede the agility of the hardy desert roamer. He does not need a thick layer of fat beneath his skin. From an artistic point of view, the leanness of his body is quite becoming to himself. He lives in a country whose climate is hot, and his healthy hunting-life makes him immune from many of the ills to which the city dweller is heir. As a reserve storage of heat and nourishment, therefore, which might be called upon to aid his physiological constitution in times of need, the quantity of superfluous fat can safely be reduced to a minimum. Nature has given enough, but not a measure in excess. Thus, without any indication of unhealthy emaciation, the integumentary accumulation of fat is so scant that parts of the internal anatomy of an aboriginal can readily be deciphered topographically. We can follow the shape of the superficial muscles and of the skeleton, and can palpate the outline of the abdominal organs with comparative ease. Although the muscles are small, they are, nevertheless, strong, firm, and wiry; this is particularly noticeable in the extremities.

It is a curious fact, however, that there is a natural predisposition in the aboriginal to produce fatty tissue once he gives up his active hunting career, like a sportsman out of training, and to develop a perceptible obesity when he lives under conditions which supply him daily with an abundance of nourishment. Under such circumstances, which are of course abnormal and only brought about by European influence, his skin is very apt to accumulate locally masses of fat known medically as lipomas. The Arunndta natives call these tumours “lurra,” and connect their appearance upon their bodies with heavy weight-carrying. It is, indeed, a noteworthy fact that these fatty tumours frequently occur upon the shoulders of aboriginal wood-carriers, who are in the habit of collecting logs of timber for camp or station purposes.

Associated with the angularity and flatness of the bodily form, we notice, when looking upon the figure of an aboriginal in profile, and comparing it with that of an European in a similar position, a straightness of the spine. If, for instance, we were to make an accurate drawing of the spinal curvatures of the two subjects shown in [Plate II], we would find that the line representing the spinal column of the aboriginal gin would be very straight in the centre of the back, that is, in the dorsal segment; in fact it would be found that the dorsal curve is very slight. Careful comparisons have been made with frozen corpses of different races and the man-apes, bisected in the mesial plane, and it has been determined that this portion of the spine is flatter in the Australian aboriginal than in any other race of man; and indeed it is flatter than in the chimpanzee. Moreover, a larger number of vertebræ are involved in the dorsal curve of the Australian than there are in the other cases.

In the European subject of our illustration—a young Australian lady—the lumbo-sacral curve, known usually as the ensellure, is unusually prominent.

If now we examine the curvature of that portion of the backbone which constitutes the neck, we shall find it less pronounced in the European but strongly developed in the Australian aboriginal.

But perhaps the greatest difference between the two types is the manner in which the curvature breaks from the lumbar to the sacral portions of the spine. In the European this break is sharp and angular; in the Australian it is very gradual on account of a peculiar oblique position of the last lumbar vertebra. Should we, again, extend our observation to the chimpanzee, we would find that a number of the sacral vertebræ are included in the lumbar curve. Consequently the aboriginal’s spine seems to occupy an interesting position in which the last lumbar vertebra stands almost as a connecting link between the lumbar curve above and the sacral curve immediately below it.

The lumbar curve is greater in the European than in the Australian, but it is decidedly greater in the chimpanzee. The difference in curvature is brought about mainly by the discs of cartilage which exist between the vertebræ, and that is why there is a considerable movement possible in the lumbar portion of the spine of the lower races of man; and it is quite possible that the lumbar curvature alters according to the position adopted by the individual, that is, according to whether he be in a standing or in his favourite squatting posture. In the European the corresponding portion of the spine is much more rigid.

The proportional lengths of cervical, dorsal, and lumbar spinal sections are much the same in both European and Australian, but there are considerable differences in the two spines so far as the proportions of the bony vertebræ and the intervertebral discs of cartilage are concerned, especially in the lumbar region. The lumbar vertebræ of the European are shorter than are those of the Australian, and the latter again are shorter than those of the man-apes. In other words, the lengths of the bones, which build up the lumbar portion of the spinal column, increase (i.e. in proportion to the size of the column as a whole) as one passes from the most highly cultured European through the primitive human stages, like the aboriginal of Australia, to the anthropoid apes, and finally to the lower types of monkeys. At the same time, as the length of the vertebræ increases, a reduction in the thickness of the cartilaginous discs takes place.

There is no doubt this phenomenon depends to some extent upon the acquisition of the upright attitude by man, since the cartilage between the bone acts as an effective shock-absorber—the percussion produced by the impact of the heel against the ground when walking being reduced before it reaches the brain. When the brain-box does not rest immediately above the point of percussion, as for instance in the semi-erect posture of the apes, the dangers of concussion are not so great.

While we are discussing the vertebral column of the Australian aboriginal, we might draw attention to the comparative smallness of the bones composing it. If we were, for instance, to compare the column of an Australian with that of a European of similar height, we would find that the vertebræ of the former are appreciably the smaller—their volumes being almost in the ratio of one to one-and-a-half. This is the more striking since we shall learn later that the Australian aboriginal often is quite as tall in stature as the European. The skeleton of the African negro, on the other hand, is decidedly more massive than that of the European.

The smallness of the bones composing the vertebral column undoubtedly favours the flexibility and agility which characterize the Australians as a hunting people. There are, it is true, certain variations in the structure of the spinal column of the Australian, which seem to contradict this general rule, as, for instance, a slightly stronger development of the vertebræ of the neck and a greater volume of the lumbar vertebral bones in the female. The former of these features is no doubt a primitive characteristic throwing back to the quadrupedal ancestry of the human species, the latter having to do with the processes of birth.

The sacral bone at the lower end of the vertebral column varies slightly in size, but is, generally speaking, much narrower than that of the European or of any other living race. It is principally on this account that the hip-bones of the Australians seem remarkably close together in both sexes.

The fifth lumbar vertebra of the Australian often exhibits certain sacral characters, which remind one of the orang outang; in that anthropoid the fifth lumbar bone is often fused to the os sacrum and in reality becomes the first sacral body. Occasionally this vertebra is asymmetrical, being normal, i.e. lumbar, on the one side and sacral on the other. Its posterior arch is at times wanting, the spines having failed to join, as ordinarily they do, in a median line behind the main body of the bone. The last named feature is, however, not infrequently observed in the skeletons of other races as well.

Another very striking feature, connected with the anatomy of the Australian, is the great length of his arms and legs. This length of extremities is taken in a conjoint sense, and with regard to the height of the individual. The aboriginal is often said to have very much longer arms than legs. This is incorrect. In point of fact, no human type is known, living or fossil, with such a disproportion in the limbs. All types of mankind, individually considered, have arms and legs more or less equal in length; from this original condition the elongated arms, so typical of apes, have evolved, by secondary processes, in all probability through the acquisition of arboreal habits. There is, of course, no doubt that the length of the extremities, both upper and lower, so characteristic of the Australian, together with the relative slenderness of the vertebræ, points to an early evolutional stage, which was common to the ancestral forms of both man and ape. The monkey has brought tree-climbing to such a degree of perfection that it practically lives in the branches. Primitive man, too, has not neglected the art, and, although the normal proportions of his extremities do not directly suggest tree-climbing, there is another development which does, especially in the Australian; and that is his foot.

When we consider the likely transformations which the human foot has undergone from an original hand-like form, resembling that of certain monkeys and lower primates, to its present condition, we shall find that two processes have been at work in the modelling of this important part of man’s anatomy. Firstly, the big toe (originally a thumb) has taken up a position adjacent to that of the next digit (originally an index finger), and, by lying in the same plane with it, has forfeited its power of opposition. Secondly, the big toe has grown appreciably stronger, while the other digits have become smaller and weaker. That the big toe, in its ancient evolution, once stood in the same relation to the other toes as the thumb does to the fingers of the hand, is evident from the arrangement of the blood-vessels and nerves in this part of the foot, corresponding exactly to that of the hand, even though the gap originally existing between the first and second digits has been filled by fleshy tissue.

It is of considerable scientific interest to note that cases are occasionally observed among the Australian tribes in which indications of this ancestral condition are retained. In the [Fig. 2] we see the feet of an aboriginal of the Berringin tribe in the north of Australia, whose big toes are remarkable for their shortness when compared with the second.

Fig. 2. Peculiar “hand-like” feet of the Berringin tribesmen. Tracing from a photograph.

It is, of course, a well-known fact that the newly-born European baby possesses a wonderful mobility in its feet; and such might also be acquired by people who have lost their arms; but the wearing of boots usually deprives modern nations of this freedom of movement. The aborigines of Australia make frequent use of their toes. A considerable lateral flexibility of the end phalanges enables them to lift small objects off the ground between the big and second toes. Spears are carried by warriors, between the toes of either foot, to conceal the weapons in the grass; and so the enemy is led to believe that the men are unarmed.

When collecting firewood, the gins never stoop to pick up the pieces, but lift them with their toes to the level of their hands. The hands then pile the fuel upon the head and hold it there until sufficient has been collected to carry back to camp.

The power of being able to use the toes in the manner described depends upon the development of a muscle, which arising from the outer side of the fibula and terminating in a long tendon, passes obliquely across the sole of the foot, to insert itself into the metatarsal bone of the great toe. This is the long peroneus muscle, the function of which, in the monkeys at any rate, is to keep the big toe in opposition. In man, moreover, this muscle helps considerably to maintain the arch of the foot. Flatfoot is eminently rare among the aborigines; only one or two cases have come under observation.

When walking, the aboriginal carries his foot so that it points directly ahead of him, and not, as has been written, “with his toes well turned out.” If anything, the sole of the foot is slightly tilted so that the outer border touches the ground a little in advance of the ball.

There is no doubt the outer surface and the ball of the foot play an important role in the art of tree-climbing, as it is practised by the Australians and other primitive peoples. Several methods are in vogue; they will be described later. Suffice it, for the time being, to refer to one: In pursuit of small marsupials, young birds, honey, nuts, fruits, or any other things good to eat, the aboriginal often has occasion to ascend the tall smooth trunks of trees, which harbour such articles in abundance. This is done, often without the aid of any implement, in the following way: The hunter faces the tree and applies the palms of his hands to the opposite side of the butt. As he tightens his hold with his fingers, he springs from the ground and clutches the butt between the soles of his feet. The arches adjust themselves to the convexity of the trunk, whilst the pressure of the outer edges and balls of the feet prevent the limbs from slipping. In this posture, the hunter is virtually hanging by his arms, which are hooked by the hands, and is sitting upon his heels, which are fixed firmly against the tree, as described. Holding his head well back between the shoulder-blades, he suddenly lifts his body upwards with his thighs, while his hands, momentarily relaxing their hold, are pushed upwards also. Now the fingers again tightly clasp the trunk, and the feet are quickly lifted and tucked under the buttocks, to again support the weight of the body as before. The same actions are repeated, time after time, and it is not long before the climber reaches the nearest branches, when progress is simplified. Vide [Plate XIX], 2.

PLATE II

Comparison of European with Aboriginal figure.

“We notice, when looking upon the figure of an aboriginal in profile, and comparing it with that of an European in a similar position, a straightness of the spine.”

This ancient custom of tree-climbing is not peculiar to the Australians, but is adopted by most primitive races. It is very probable, too, that the prehistoric races were to a large extent arboreal, and made use of similar methods of tree-climbing. When considering the evolution of the human foot, therefore, we will have to remember that it has been to some extent influenced by the tree-climbing factor, which, indeed, must be considered in the light of a forerunning stage in the acquisition of the upright attitude by man.

In this primitive method of ascending trees, by which the head is thrown so far behind, we see also a likely explanation of the greater cervical curvature we have noticed in the aboriginal’s spine, when one compares it with the European’s. We might even venture to say that these processes originally brought about the lumbar curvature, and thereby laid the foundation to the acquisition of the erect posture, by means of which man learned to balance his head upon the vertical spinal column. Then the foot, which had been to a great extent modelled through his arboreal activities, stood man in good stead, and he began to walk erect between the trees.

The foot skeleton of the Tasmanian shows a peculiarity, in which it differs from that of the Australian on the mainland. Under normal conditions, the heel-bone of the Australian, and of the European as well, has a small elongation or process on the anterior side which separates the two adjoining small bones, the cuboid and the talus, from each other. But in the case of the Tasmanian the two small bones named lie in juxtaposition. This phenomenon is only occasionally noticed in Australian skeletons, and is quite exceptional in European; it is abnormal even in the anthropoids.

The Australian’s legs are often the subject of comment, if not ridicule; they are so thin and lanky. Even when the proportions of the chest and trunk as a whole are good, the legs usually remain unshapely. Even under the best of conditions, there is a paucity of flesh both in thigh and calf; the lower portions of the limbs are in the true sense of the word spindle-shanks.

Even the gluteal musculature is only moderately developed. Sedentary life and cosmetic culture seem to have been the principal factors at work in shaping this region in the modern European. Monkeys, on the other hand, show no considerable gluteal development at all. It would appear, therefore, that tree-climbing has not played a great role in developing these muscles, but seems rather to have influenced the growth of the deltoid muscle, which extends from the upper arm to the shoulder-blade and collar-bone, and of the big pectoral muscle.

The thigh-bone, although it is slender, like the rest of the long bones of the Australian, is abruptly dilated at its epiphyses, and, in that respect, differs considerably from the European femur, which widens gradually towards the extremities, in trumpet fashion. The Australian’s thigh-bone is more like the Neanderthal type, but the smallness of its head at once distinguishes it from the fossil. The slenderness of the shaft, together with the relative smallness of the condyles, brings the Australian femur nearer to the Pithecanthropus. Generally speaking, this bone is stronger in the Tasmanian than in the Australian.

One occasionally finds a strongly developed ridge or process in the upper portion of the Australian femur, which has been styled the third trochanter. At the lower extremity, the smooth depression on the anterior surface of the bone, between its condyles, is deep in the Australian and Tasmanian, and in that respect resembles the Neanderthal femur. The superior margin of the hyaline cartilage covering this depression is variable, and occasionally far exceeds the average European limit.

Among certain tribes of central and southern Australia, the tibia is often peculiarly flattened laterally, like a sword, whilst the anterior edge of the bone is remarkably prominent. This condition is known as platycnemia and has also been observed, quite frequently, in the skeletons of the extinct men of Europe and Egypt, and in the Negroid and Polynesian races.

Occasionally this platycnemic condition is associated with an exaggerated curvature of the anterior edge of the bone, a phenomenon which Dr. E. C. Stirling has described as camptocnemia. The popular name for it among bushmen is “Boomerang-Leg”; in some cases the tibia certainly has quite as large a curvature as some of the least bent of the familiar throwing sticks have.

In attempting to offer an explanation for this remarkable phenomenon, it is at the outset difficult to say to what extent it might be pathological, that is, the direct result of some constitutional disorder, like rickets, from which the individual, in whose shin-bone the curvature appears, might be suffering.

A theory has, however, been advanced to the effect that, since the anterior ridge of the bone represents part of the surface from which the tibialis posticus muscle arises, and since this muscle effects the adduction of the foot, when a person is walking, it is feasible that the altered shape and the increased bulk of the tibia may be due to that factor. The Australians, like other primitive hunters, are possessed of an astounding endurance when running down wounded game.

Dr. Ramsay Smith points out that there may be a connection between a platycnemic condition and the peculiar method the Australians have of lifting things from the ground with their toes, by which the tibialis posticus muscle is specially involved.

The fibula of the Australian is straight, and, especially in the case of the female Tasmanian, often has the end adjacent to the knee, which is known as its head or capitulum, prolongated in an extraordinary manner. This feature is of morphological interest because it harks back to a primitive condition in the evolution of the knee, in which the long bone of the lower extremity played a more important part in the action of the joint than it nowadays does in the human species.

In male Tasmanians the shoulder-blade is of considerable length, and its apparent narrowness is primarily due to the elongation of the infra-spinous fossa.

The humerus of the Australian shows a very small torsion, the angle being less than in any other human type. A foramen is not infrequently observed between the condyles of this bone. The Tasmanian humerus possesses a peculiar, laterally convex curve; and its internal condyle is often much enlarged.

PLATE III

1. Colossal brow-ridge, Arunndta man.

2. Supra-orbital prominence, deep notch at root of nose, prognathism (Tasmanoid features), and female beard, Denial Bay tribeswoman.

As with ourselves, the bodily height of the Australian varies considerably, even within one and the same tribe. No great racial importance can on that account be placed upon statistical data in respect of height. The tallest individual I know of was a man of Yarrabah, near Cairns, in Queensland, who stood seven feet four inches high.[1] Some of the smallest men I have ever seen lived in the Tomkinson Ranges in Central Australia, who barely measured four feet six inches in height; yet among the same tribe were many men who stood over six feet. The smallest gin, the mother of two children, who has come under my observation, measured four feet five-and-a-half inches. She lived in the Katherine River district. We might claim from five feet four-and-a-half inches to five feet six inches as a reasonable average height for the male, and about five feet for the female.

[1] Measured by the Rev. E. R. Gribble.

CHAPTER III
THE BREAST AND ABDOMEN

The female breast—Aboriginal ideas of shapeliness—Traditional cultivation by ceremonial—Prevalent shapes—Artificially induced lactation—The abdominal region—“Pot-belly”—The sign of surfeiting as well as of malnutrition—Living skeletons—Starvation a justifiable cause of cannibalism.

The female breast varies much in size and consistency, according to the age and physical (and physiological) condition of the individual. As in most matters that concern the aboriginal, his utilitarian inclination outweighs his æsthetic instincts, even to the extent that he regards the breast of his gin simply as that part of her “flesh,” which at the required period contains or produces the nutrient “water,” necessary for the rearing of his progeny. No breast, no matter how firm and classically hemispherical it might be in our estimation, would appeal to the aboriginal on account of its shapeliness. To him the voluminous, pendant, udder-like form, which can comfortably be handed over the gin’s shoulder, or under her arm, to the babe riding upon her back, would seem the orthodox and perfect creation. Indeed, among most of the tribes the husbands endeavour to attain that type both by magical incantation and by actual manipulation.

When the hour arrives that signs of adolescence first manifest themselves in a girl, her future husband, to whom she has long been assigned (perhaps even entirely speculatively, on the chance of the sex, before ever she was born), sets about to conjure up her feminine qualities. He may be, and usually is, joined by other men, to whom tribal law has by descent given claim to periodic domestic privileges approaching those of the marital relationships which are to exist between the individual husband and his gin.

Without advertisement, the tender novice is quietly coaxed away from camp by the men, who, by talking kindly to her, have no need to apply coercion. At no great distance they halt, and the future husband anoints the areas surrounding both nipples, which are likely to bulge forth as the future breasts, with grease; the anointed areas are then covered with a layer of red ochre. Whilst this is taking place, all present sing to the budding milk-gland, first softly, then vehemently, and with ceremony. During the performance on the North Coast, the female dugong, whose motherly devotion to her young is a recognised virtue, is frequently alluded to.

The painted areolas are frequently charmed by touching them with a magic stone, and at intervals the enchanters bring an anointed circle into contact with their lips, as if endeavouring to draw the nipple forwards, that it might grow.

Ultimately the girl is told to return to the women, who take her on a food-collecting expedition; during her absence from camp, it is quite possible that the signs of approaching maturity may become more definite.

The aboriginal breast begins to grow at an earlier age than the European, on an average at about the tenth year. Neglecting for the present the different phases in its development, from the puerile papilla through various shapes, depending upon the growth of the milk-gland and the deposition of fat about it, one type of breast is typical of early adult life, that is the pear-shaped form. In this type, especially in its earliest stages, the secondary bulge beneath the nipple often fuses imperceptibly with the basal hemisphere, so that a conoid shape results. In older women, the breasts at times assume extraordinarily large dimensions, especially when the individual is inclined to be on the well-nourished side. In very old gins, who have born and reared a number of children, the shape disappears entirely, the breasts becoming mere flaps of skin. A full dry breast is the exception rather than the rule; only in youthful cases, who have not become mothers, do we meet with firm and standing breasts. In later life, the inevitable sagging and attenuation are materially increased by a child in arms which, as the mother plies and looks for food, secures itself by firmly clasping one or both of its parent’s breasts.

The breast is situated a little more laterally in the aboriginal than in the European; and in the former case it is also lower and more nearly mid-way between shoulder level and umbilicus. One often finds the breasts of one and the same individual unsymmetrically developed ([Plate IV], 1).

In connection with the female breast, I have a somewhat remarkable case of artificially induced lactation to record from the Alligator Rivers district. The mother of an infant of tender years having died, a younger sister of the deceased, who had no children, volunteered to adopt the helpless mite. The foster-mother diligently treated her breasts with a pulp she made by mashing Eugenia leaves with ashes and sufficient water to make a paste; and heated stones were placed over the breasts at frequent intervals. The mammary glands and their surrounding tissues were at every opportunity plied with the fingers, and the babe’s lips were as often put to the nipples. Within a short time, fluid formed in the breasts; and the child was suckled. The fluid was said to have been more watery than milk, but, nevertheless, made good nourishment for the child. This case is by no means unique. A number of records are available from different parts of the world, the most classical among which is perhaps that mentioned by Alexander von Humboldt of a South American man who sustained a child on his breast for five months during the illness of his wife.

In the Australian, the belly is flatter, the pudendum if anything, slightly more anterior, and the inguinal folds decidedly steeper than in the European.

One frequently has an opportunity, however, of observing a youngster with a remarkably big abdomen, a condition known in the bush by the name of “pot-belly.” Such a picture might point to either plenty or to want. In good seasons, when animal and vegetable diet is to be had in abundance, the younger children soon acquire a “pot-belly” in consequence of ample feeding and gorging. But, on the other hand, a distended abdomen is more often found in consequence of malnutrition and starvation, which the children have to suffer during bad seasons of drought. The distention in this case is due to the swelling of some of the large abdominal glands.

The same sufferings manifest themselves similarly in the adults, and particularly in the aged. Among the latter one only too often finds hungering creatures whose flesh has wasted away to a mere parchment wrapped around the bones, living skeletons in fact. In these cases, too, enlarged glands give rise to an unhealthy nodular protuberance in the epigastric region.

Can one wonder if, under such conditions, a kindly club, wielded by a more robust relative, puts the sufferer out of his misery? It is during these trying times, too, that parents are obliged to resort to extreme measures, so that they might sustain the lives of their children. Driven to the verge of despair, and visibly moved at the thought of it, a father must occasionally make the pathetic and gruesome decision to slay one child in order that another may be saved.

On account of his acting thus, when dire need compels him, people, who should know better, often call the Australian aboriginal a cannibal! Is this cannibalism? Have not shipwrecked people of our own colour, when in a similar plight, often been compelled to kill and eat one of their friends to save themselves from starvation?

CHAPTER IV
THE FACE AND ITS SKELETON

Fierceness of expression—European-like features—The eyes—Colossal brow-ridges—The iris—An unusual colour—The eye-sockets—The nose and its aperture—Natural and artificial flatness—“Primitive snout”—Prognathism—“Negative chins”—The ear.

When we look an aboriginal in the face, the first impression it gives us is that of wildness and fierceness amounting often to repulsiveness. There are, of course, appreciable differences between different individuals, and often during a day’s journey one encounters features which might be classed as decidedly pleasing and almost European. We might even go so far as to say that in some faces, especially those of the old women, we might feel inclined to establish an analogy with classical or historical types of our own colour. Such descriptions, however, convey no more to the person who has never seen an aboriginal than a statement like one, often heard, to the effect that the features are of the “usual Australian type.”

In order to arrive at a little more exact description of the facial appearance, let us assume that the individual we are considering possesses all of the “Australian” features, and let us analyze each of them separately. At the same time, we must remember that probably no single individual exists in whom all of these characteristics are present.

To help us better understand the various points we are about to introduce, it will be advisable, whenever possible, to draw into the discussion the morphological peculiarities of the bony skeleton and skull, which immediately underlie the fleshy parts of the face and head.

There is no doubt the eyes of an aboriginal largely account for the wild appearance of his countenance, already alluded to. These organs are deeply sunken in their sockets, which lie beneath a projecting bony roof and bushy eyebrows. Nature in this way protects the eyes against the scorching rays of the southern sun by an effective screen, which lies above and before them like the peak of a cap. For that matter, we ourselves often instinctively endeavour to obtain a similar protection, when we stare into a glaring light, by holding a hand against the brows. Within the scope of this protection comes also, so far as the aboriginal is concerned, prevention, to a certain degree, of such accidental harm as might be caused by stakes or brushwood, during an exciting hunt through bush or forest land. The strong colour-contrast of the sclera against the swarthy skin, and the active, searching movements of the eyes, considerably help to intensify the sullen look.

In the fossil men of Gibraltar and Neanderthal, too, the eyes were overlain by very massive, bony ridges, but in those people the eyes stood further forward.

The supraorbital region is unquestionably one of the most prominent, and at the same time most striking, features of the Australian aboriginal’s face. The high degree of development of the bony prominence, combined with a sloping forehead, are primitive characteristics which he shares with no other living race. Yet it is possible for a cultured people, like for instance the Europeans, with high forehead, at times to show a strong superciliary development. As opposed to this, one not infrequently discovers an Australian with strong brow-ridges combined with a comparatively full and steep forehead. But usually the area occupied by these bony prominences can be differentiated, from the forehead above it, by a dividing line or zone of crowded foramina—the outlets of small blood-vessels. In the aboriginal, the effect is intensified, not alone on account of the usually receding forehead, but also because the root of his nose is appreciably depressed between the eyes; and consequently the glabella appears to project extraordinarily far outwards ([Plate III]).

It was Thomas Huxley who first drew attention to the analogy existing between the skull of the fossil Neanderthal man and that of the Australian aboriginal. To quote the words of that famous anthropologist, “a small additional amount of flattening and lengthening, with a corresponding increase in the superciliary ridge, would convert the Australian brain case into a form identical with that of the aberrant fossil.” Since those words were written, a number of other fossil skeletons of men have been found, the examination of which has confirmed Huxley’s observation upon the first Neanderthal skull.

The substance of the supraorbital prominence consists of massive bone. As in the fossil skulls, the sinuses lie behind this mass, not far from the inner surface. It appears that this colossal growth of bone takes place in early adult life; so far, no superciliary ridges have been observed in children’s skulls.

Originally this great thickness of bone in the supraorbital region of the Neanderthal calotte was regarded as a proliferation of bony tissue caused by disease. Then it was proclaimed to be a characteristic by which one might distinguish the skulls of fossil from those of all living races. The subsequent recognition of true supraorbital ridges or tori in the Australian completely disproved both these hypotheses.

The feature is, so far as our present knowledge goes, essentially masculine, and, as such, suggests a secondary origin comparable to the tremendous supraorbital developments of bone in the skull of the male gorilla. Professor D. J. Cunningham, who investigated this subject thoroughly from a comparative anatomical point of view, found “superciliary and supraorbital elements” even more or less developed in the lower types of apes. A supraorbital prominence is rarely observed in the female ([Plate III], 2).

To return to the eye: the colour of the iris, in its normal condition, is practically without exception dark brown. The only exception to this rule, that has come under my personal observation, was a young, full-blooded gin of the Mulluk Mulluk tribe in the Daly River district, north Australia, whose iris was a deep bluish grey.

There is great variety in the shape of the cavities which hold the eye-balls of the Australian. The orbits are large, and their outer margins, as in the Neanderthal type, very nearly form a circle. According to Professor Klaatsch’s measurements, the ratio of the maximum vertical to the maximum horizontal diameter in the male Australian skull is as 39 millimeters is to 40. As a rule, the eye-cavities in children are slightly depressed horizontally, and occasionally this is also the case in the skulls of females.

The orbit’s upper edge is very strong; and what is known as the internal angular process of the frontal bone, in the inner wall of the cavity, is very prominent in the Australian. The last named characteristic is, however, also observed in the skulls of Veddahs and other primitive people, as well as in those of the anthropoids. But we must not forget, when dealing critically with a skull, that an internal angular process may not be so typical in the male as it is in the skulls of women and children.

The external angular processes are often well developed, the malar boundary being strong and broad, without the sharp edge usually noticed in European skulls.

The ethmoid bone in the inner wall of the orbit is, as in most of the primitive skulls, noticeably small.

The groove of the lachrymal bone, which intra vitam carries the tear duct connecting eye with nose, is usually very pronounced in the Australian.

In children’s skulls a supraorbital notch divides the upper margin of the orbital cavity into two almost equal parts, the outer of which has a well-defined edge.

In the nose and its aperture, we again recognize primitive characteristics of considerable importance in the Australian. We have already had occasion to notice how deeply the root of the external organ seems to be retracted under the great glabellar prominence of the forehead. A bridge in the true sense of the word seems wanting, the nose consisting of a flabby body at its point, above which lies a saddle-shaped depression sloping imperceptibly into the retracted root beneath the forehead. Not uncommonly one finds a number among the males of all tribes whose noses are curved and give one the impression of Jewish features; the type is rare among women ([Plate VI], 2).

The breadth of the nose is very great, and consequently the nasal aperture in Australian skulls is of corresponding dimensions. The width of the aperture often actually exceeds thirty millimeters.

It must not be supposed that these features are quite peculiar to the Australian; they are also present in the fossil skulls of Europe. If then we regard the latter as the ancestral stock, from whom modern peoples have sprung, and, at the same time, recollect that diverse admixtures of strain might have taken place periodically, it would not be amiss to expect indications of such primitive nose developments in the higher types of man. That such do occur, we can every day verify for ourselves.

Apart from being a racial characteristic, the flat broad nose is cultivated by many of the tribes. Mothers artificially flatten the noses of their children when quite young by pressing upon them with their fingers, and often repeating the process. It is, therefore, often difficult to say whether a specially flat nose is natural or is the result of cosmetic culture. The wearing of a bone or stick through the septum would also tend to flatten and widen the organ to an abnormal extent ([Plate VI]).

The nasal aperture of a modern European skull almost invariably has sharp lateral margins, which unite at the base behind a prominent bony spine; for reasons which will become apparent below, we shall call this the inner boundary. In an anthropoid, like the gorilla, however, the cavity is bounded on its lower side by two ridges, which enclose a groove in front of the large aperture. Converging upwards, these ridges, on either side, unite to form the lateral margins below the nasal bones. In the monkeys there is no indication of a well-defined boundary at all, the lower surface of the cavity appearing more or less smooth, whilst the spine, so prominent in man, is barely recognizable.

In the Australian skull we often find an interesting transition stage connecting these extremes, the inner margin being present but associated with a pre-nasal groove at the base of the aperture. Indeed, the sharp lateral margin is often found to pass into a pre-nasal ridge which forms the anterior margin of the groove. Such a condition is of considerable interest, since it recalls a stage in our evolution, when the nose was closely connected with the mouth part; that is to say, that a portion now absorbed into the modern skull was originally the floor of the nose, and helped to build up the alveolar process of the upper jaw.

In fact, we are reminded of this condition when we look upon the living aboriginal; for his nose seems to ride upon the upper portion of his mouth, to which it seems rigidly attached, after the pattern of an animal’s snout. We see the same sort of thing in the European embryo during the first few months of gestation.

This “primitive snout” is made the more conspicuous in the Australian on account of the strong naso-labial folds in the skin, one of which, on either side, encloses the angle of the mouth in a semi-circular fashion. With us Europeans, the elevating processes which our nose has undergone have tended to reduce the depth of these folds, in the upper portions at any rate. This elevating process, by the way, has largely been in consequence of the recession our mandibular skeleton has suffered ([Plate V]).

The jaws of the Australian are, like those of most of the fossil skulls and of the Negroids, protubefent—a condition known as prognathism. In the Tasmanians, too, the strong development of the jaws, and of the teeth, has resulted in a general fullness of the same region ([Plate III], 2).

In aboriginal infants, one often finds the bony process, upon which the teeth subsequently grow, to be directed forwards, almost in a straight line with the floor of the nose. This hereditary predisposition towards a horizontal development of the alveolar region reminds one forcibly of features belonging to the anthropoid apes.

Yet, generally speaking, it must be admitted, there is a great variation in prognathism among the Australians.

In order to compare the degree of facial prognathism of the skulls of different men, a method was devised by Fraipont: The glabella is connected with the lambda by an imaginary plane, and another plane erected at right angles to this at the glabella. The latter plane usually cuts the alveolar plane at about the first or second premolar, occasionally at the first molar. Still another plane is imagined, extending vertically from the most anterior point of the alveolar to the glabella-lambda plane. Then the rectangular distance between the two upright planes represents, after Fraipont’s method, the prognathism. The maximum prognathism of the Australian, determined by this means, is, according to Professor Klaatsch, twenty-five millimeters, and the minimum eight.

Let us now enquire into the possible origin of prognathism among the primitive races of mankind. We shall have to take note, in the first place, of the large occipital development of both the brain and the brain-box in the lower types of the human species. In order to antagonize the downward pull of this weight, the mandibular region has expanded and provides the balancing moment about a fulcrum on the spine. With this explanation fresh in our minds, we understand how the development of the frontal region of modern peoples would tend to modify the lower region of the face and establish the condition known as orthognathism.

Prognathism is usually associated with a receding chin. By elaborating the Fraipont method, Professor Klaatsch has added another vertical plane at the most anterior point of the cutting surface of the teeth. In primitive folks, like the Australians and the fossil Neanderthals, the chin lies behind this plane and is called a “negative chin”; in the Mongoloids (Malays, etc.) the chin practically lies against the plane and is called a “neutral chin”; and lastly, in the modern Europeans, the chin lies before the plane and is known as a “positive chin.”

In the Tasmanians, the chin was bluntly rounded, without much of the prominence so highly perfected in the modern peoples.

The mental foramen is usually situated at a point below and between the second bicuspid and first molar.

The Australian’s ear is large and longish, much the same in general appearance as the European’s; the Negroid’s ear is decidedly rounder. There is, however, no great racial variety in the human ear; man has, like the rodents, retained the primitive shape, whilst the monkeys have acquired more specialized forms.

The small process, known as the tragus, which partially covers the ear-hole, is mostly covered with bristly hairs in adult men.

The dependent portion, or lobulus, which carries the earrings of our European ladies and is often mutilated by the lower races, is not as a rule interfered with by the Australians. The custom of piercing the lobulus appears to be confined to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. The hole is pierced with a small pointed bone, after which a short cylindrical wooden rod or bone is inserted, frequently removed and replaced again, until the edge of the hole has healed. In the course of time, a series of rods, of gradually increasing diameter, are forced into the perforation, until a large pendant loop is formed. Upon special occasions, short painted rods of wood, two inches or more in diameter, are inserted into the loop.

The cheek bone, or zygomatic arch, is usually horizontal; but it may curve upwards from the squamous bone, thence downwards anteriorly. The mastoid process is comparatively small, but it is often associated with an unusual thickness of the wall of the ear-passage.

CHAPTER V
THE MOUTH

The lips—The vault and hard palate—The teeth—Excessive wear of grinding surfaces—Tooth-picks—Fourth molars—Dental rudiments—The canines.

The Australian’s mouth is decidedly large, and his lips full. The latter, especially of the children, are as often as not becomingly arched and furnished with a shapely philtrum.

If we were to look into the mouths of a number of aboriginals we would find considerable individual differences in the configuration of the vault. In some instances the roof would appear high and arched, in others low and flat. If, further, we extended our observations in the direction of any differences which might exist in the individual faculty of articulated speech, relative to the variations in height already noted, our efforts would be fruitless. It is very doubtful whether any such connection between the height of the mouth and freedom of tongue or speech does exist in the aboriginal’s case. But it has been rightly pointed out that the hard palates of fossil skulls are flatter than they are in those of modern races.

Perhaps the finest natural gift of the Australian (and the same was true of the Tasmanian) is his strong set of ivory white teeth. In the primitive tribes, living apart from civilization, dental disease or caries is practically unknown. A common feature, however, is that the teeth are ground down on a level, to varying extents, depending upon the age of the individual examined. In many cases, the biting and grinding surfaces of the teeth have been worn to almost the alveolar or gum-level of the jaws, leaving only the roots with short truncated stumps to do the mastication.

This excessive wear of healthy teeth is mainly attributable to the large quantities of sand contained in the everyday diet. The aboriginal cooks nearly all his meals in hot ashes and sand; it is unavoidable, therefore, to include an appreciable quantity of gritty material in the articles which are consumed. The aboriginal, furthermore, during the course of a meal, might repeatedly call upon the strength of his teeth, as an easy way of crunching bones of animals, and shell of molluscs and crabs, and many other things. Casually one might take notice of the fact that the teeth of the fossil of Gibraltar are worn in the same remarkable way.

An aboriginal does not take any particular care of his teeth, with the exception that after every meal, some considerable time is devoted to the removal of any remnants of meat which may have been retained. For this purpose, the dry seed-stalks of grass and small twigs are generally used. The old Kukata men were observed to possess permanent tooth-picks, consisting of short pieces of wood sharpened at one end. For convenience sake, they carried these, planted in their shaggy beards.

Should there be an aching tooth to cure, the native does it by heating the point of a small stick in a fire and inserting it into the cavity which is causing the trouble.

A most interesting circumstance in connection with the dentition of the Australian is the comparatively frequent occurrence of a fourth molar in the jaws. We know that in European subjects the third molar or wisdom tooth is smaller, and takes longer in coming to the surface than the other molars; its development is certainly on the down-grade with our kind; but the third molar of the aboriginal is strong and lasting.

PLATE IV

1. Aluridja woman. Note matted locks and asymmetry of breasts.

2. Wongapitcha warrior, so-called Semitic type.

Even when a fourth molar cannot be found in toto, there is often present, behind the third molar, a peculiar prolongation of the alveolar groove, which seems to be indicative of a former existence, in the earlier evolutional history of the Australian, of such a tooth. Indeed, the occurrence of a fourth molar in the human species, which in the aboriginal is certainly not sporadic, must be looked upon as a character originally common to the ancestral forms of both man and anthropoid. For this reason, we must not be surprised to hear that a fourth molar might occasionally be found in any race of man.

Professor W. L. H. Duckworth has described some small dental rudiments on the alveolar surface of the upper jaw, which might even suggest remnants of third premolars. Such rudiments usually occur between the second bicuspid and the first molar, and consist of dentine. If it can be proved that we have before us true evidence of immature tooth-development, the phenomenon suggests a dental formula similar to that of some of the simians possessing three premolars. On the contrary, the formations may be the remnant masses of temporary milk teeth.

Supernumerary bicuspids are, it appears, not very often observed in the Australian.

It is still questionable whether, as Charles Darwin suggested, the ancestor of the human species has ever possessed extra large eye-teeth or canines in any way resembling those of an anthropoid. In the Talgai skull, referred to later, the canines certainly seem abnormally large, but one could not be expected to draw definite conclusions from a single specimen, especially when it is known that, even among ourselves, we here and there see persons whose canines are quite the same size as those of the Talgai fossil.

CHAPTER VI
THE SKULL AND BRAIN

Scaphocephaly popularly misinterpreted—Sutures and wormian bones Dolichocephaly—Tasmanian skulls more globose—Forehead occasionally well developed—Absence of tubera frontalia—Fronto-squamous articulation—Occipital peculiarities—Massive skull-walls—Cranial capacity—The brain—Generally well developed—Important primitive characteristics—Rhinal fissure—Insertions of neck-muscles in occiput—Atlanto-occipital articulation.

Opinion is often expressed that the Australian has not sufficient brains to completely fill his brain-box! Such a statement is, of course, not in accordance with fact. A condition known as scaphocephaly is, however, not infrequently observed in the Australian skull, which gives one the impression of insufficient inflation of the cranial vault as a whole. A sagittal ridge is present which, with a little exaggeration, might be likened to an inverted boat ([Plate V]). A similar frontal ridge is also occasionally observed in the Negroid skull and some of the fossil calvaria, but rarely in the modern European and Asiatic races.

This median frontal ridge is not the result of any abnormal thickening of bone locally, but anthropologists believe it may be connected with the early fusion of the frontal suture. As a matter of fact, the frontal suture is extremely rare in adult primitive peoples’ skulls, and so far only three have been recorded in the Australian by Dr. Ramsay Smith in specimens from the Northern Territory; one case has been found in the Tasmanian; and one or two in the Torres Strait Islanders. All the other sutures in the calvarium seem to be less complicated in the Australian than in the European and other more highly developed types of man; the most complex is the lambdoid suture; and it often has one or more small Wormian bones interposed within its course, which are, in all probability, connected with the growth of the brain, and with the consequent enlarging processes, which the enclosing bones have suffered. An os inca is occasionally seen.

Although scaphocephalic skulls are not rare among the Australians, we must not overlook the fact that occasionally we find specimens, dead or alive, exhibiting sagittal curves in no wise behind those of modern peoples. And this seems to have been even more conspicuous in the case of the lost Tasmanians.

The Australian skull is remarkably narrow and long, in most instances dolichocephalic. In the Tasmanians, the parietal portion is considerably wider in proportion; the whole of that region seems to be inflated, when compared with the frontal portion. Whereas in the Australian we noticed a sagittal ridge, a peculiar median sulcus is usually present in male skulls, running along the line of the sagittal suture.

There is a remarkable uniformity in the contours of the male Tasmanian skulls. They resemble the female Australian much more than they do the male Australian, principally because the adult male Australian skulls vary so.

We have already referred to the sloping forehead and frontal region of the Australian skull; such is observed also in the Tasmanian and, for that matter, in all primitive men whether they be recent or fossil. But at the same time, one frequently observes crania of these primitive people in which the contours of the frontals are as steep as in any average European. The last remark applies especially to the female skull, which even might occasionally show a combination of a prominent forehead with a primitive superciliary ridge. The two conspicuous eminences of the forehead of the European skull, known as the tubera frontalia, one of which is situated over either eye-socket, are not developed in the Australian or Tasmanian.

The frontal bone of the Australian skull often lies in direct contact with the squamous portion; this is, however, the case in other primitive races also. The articulation between the bones mentioned is effected by means of a process which the squamous bone sends towards the frontal; the actual line of contact measuring several millimetres. In other instances the connecting process is replaced by a small epipteric bone. The articulation may occur on one or both sides of the skull.

The bony tuberosity of the occipital bone, being part of a muscle-attachment, varies appreciably in its position; its central point is anthropologically styled the external inion. A similar protuberance on the inner surface of the bone is the divisional line between the great and small hemispheres of the brain; it is called the internal inion. The internal inion is, as a rule, situated lower than the external in the adult Australian; but in female and immature skulls the two points are at about the same level.

The angle which is contained by the occipital bone at the inion, in a sagittal plane, is less in the Australian than in the modern European skull. Many of the Australian skulls one examines, therefore, seem to be unusually flattened at the base, below the inion.

The cranial walls of no other race are so massive as those of the Australian. It is particularly in the supraorbital and the occipital regions that the bone is so thick; the thinnest portions lie in the temporal and lower parietals; these remarks apply principally to the adult male skulls. The consequent strength of the aboriginal’s skull has almost become proverbial. Many are the club-duels which tribal law and honour demand to be fought. Upon these occasions the head is the mark. But also in the settlement of his domestic affairs, when a serious offence calls for punishment, the husband selects the head of his gin for beating with the weighty nulla-nulla. Is it a wonder, then, that one often finds the skulls of aborigines covered with dents, which have resulted from such a battering? Occasionally death might follow such treatment; and a few cases stand on record of blindness following the destruction of the centre of vision by a blow from the club. So severe is the impact that often, in the stillness of night, I have heard the falling of the blows upon a disobedient gin’s head, although our camp might have been some considerable distance off.

PLATE V

Wordaman man, profile and full-face.

Note scaphocephaly, great width of nose, and strong naso-labial fold.

This wonderful strength is largely due to the better development of the compact tissue of the skull-bone, when compared with that of the European. The external, as well as the internal, laminae of the cranial wall are thicker than ours, while, on the other hand, the intermediate layer, known as the diploë, is thinner in the aboriginal’s skull. This condition serves the double purpose of protecting the brain against the mechanical injury referred to, as well as against the powerful rays of a fierce southern sun.

In regard to the cubic capacity of the Tasmanian and Australian skulls, we might accept as averages for the adult male and female Australian skulls 1,290 and 1,845 cubic centimeters respectively, and as similar averages for the Tasmanian, 1,315 and 1,155 respectively. The individual variations in the adult male Australian skulls range from 1,630 to 1,040, and in those of the opposite sex from 1,280 to 1,010 cubic centimeters. The corresponding variations in male and female Tasmanian skulls are from 1,465 to 1,140, and from 1,225 to 1,060 respectively.

There are, however, considerable variations in the capacity of Australian skulls; many instances may be selected in which the capacity is quite as good as that of an ordinary European brain-box. On the other hand, cases have been recorded of capacities not greater than 940 cubic centimeters in adult female Australian skulls.

The brain of the Australian has not been studied to any considerable extent. The first impression a layman receives, upon beholding the brain of an aboriginal, is, perhaps, a little disappointing. Assuming him to be a man of low intellect, he expects to find a brain of inferior development. But such is not the case. In fact, to any but the specialist, there seems nothing to indicate a lowly intellectual capacity. The number of convolutions is about the same as one finds in Europeans of average intelligence; but the structure, as a whole, is, perhaps, a little less complicated and less tortuous than we are accustomed to see in our own sort. The large cerebral hemispheres completely cover the cerebellum. Certain features, like the operculum, are more strongly developed on the left side than the right.

In some respects the Australian brain preserves important characteristics, which indicate the genesis of the more modified or more specialized conditions seen in the brain of modern man. The length of the hemispheres and the small occipital development are unquestionably extremely primitive characters, which, among others, remind us of the common ancestry of man and ape. In the brains of the more cultured peoples, processes are at work, which are completely remodelling portions of the important organ, and thereby making it more and more unlike the anthropoid or simian brain. By such modifications in the occipital region, the human brain is gradually ridding itself of a feature strongly developed in the monkey’s brain, which has been named the sulcus lunatus. German anthropologists call this sulcus “Affenspalte,” which means “Monkey-Cleft,” i.e., a cleft or sulcus in the posterior portion of the brain of primates, which is strongly developed in the monkeys, but disappearing in the brain of man. In the Australian’s brain, the sulcus lunatus can often be more or less distinctly discerned, and its presence there affords us valuable evidence when tracing the remnants of the sulcus in the brains of other races, including those of the modern Europeans.

The posterior lip of the sulcus lunatus is occasionally operculated in the Australian’s brain. In the parieto-occipital region, the outer convolutions are depressed and covered by an operculum-like flap; but this condition is also occasionally observed in European examples.

Another simian feature, rarely seen in European brains, is rather frequently found in Australian, in the shape of a rhinal fissure. It should be observed, however, that the European embryo clearly shows this fissure in the brain as it is developing.

The occipital bone varies in its appearance. The impressions made upon the surface, where, during the life-time of an individual, the strong muscles of the neck were attached, are, as a rule, well developed. The minor posterior-rectus and complexus muscles of the neck often leave deep hollows in the occipital bone at the points of their insertions.

A bony process is often noticed in front of the big foramen, which joins the occipital condyles; this is an atavistic condition, by means of which an extra articulation is occasionally effected between the occiput and vertebral column. The condyles vary considerably in their elevation above the occipital bone. The large foramen is mostly oval in shape, but often has a little median notch in its posterior margin.

CHAPTER VII
COLOUR OF ABORIGINAL’S SKIN

Unsuitable nomenclature—Aboriginal of Australia not a “Nigger”—Colour normally chocolate-brown—Lighter in infancy—Variations of shade due to several causes—Colour-classification schemes obsolete—Pigmentation very superficial in aboriginal’s skin—“White blackfellows”—Pigment destroyed by disease and lesion—Actual colour—Its intensity and distribution—Effect of environment on aboriginal’s skin colour—Climatic influence.

The Australian aboriginal is popularly spoken of as a blackfellow; at times one even hears him referred to as a nigger! Strictly speaking, the former appellation is not in accordance with obvious fact, and the latter in addition is scientifically grossly incorrect. The aboriginal is no more black than the average modern European is white, and, apart from his darker colour, he certainly has not many negroid features which we do not also possess, at any rate more or less sporadically. Under normal conditions, the colour of the Australian is a velvety chocolate-brown, somewhat lighter or more coppery in the female than in the male. The skin of a newly-born piccaninny is very much paler, with a distinct tint of fleshy red about it, which many people maintain reminds one of the skin of young murines, as it appears before it developes fur. For this reason, too, the inexperienced observer often accuses an aboriginal mother of infidelity; the colour of the infant’s skin, when compared with that of its parent, indeed suggests a mixing of her blood with that of another lighter coloured race. The child’s skin, however, soon darkens in colour; and, within a few weeks, attains a shade not appreciably different from that of the adults of its tribe.

Apparent gradations in colour are occasionally observed among different members of one and the same tribe. As with ourselves, circulatory disorders are not absent among the aborigines, and such materially affect the quality of colour in the aboriginal’s skin. Simple anaemia, or even a temporary blanching of the tissues, through nervousness or fright during the time of an examination, will affect the appearance of the skin. In the same way, full-bloodedness, or a passing flush, will deepen the shade, the injection of blood into the underlying tissues being clearly noticeable through the epidermis. Pathological conditions like jaundice are also frequently developed in the aborigines, and impart to their skin a sickly ashen hue; in this case the yellow colour of the conjunctiva usually indicates the disorder. The likelihood of any such conditions being present should be carefully investigated before applying the standard colour tables of modern anthropologists.

The oldest systems of colour-classification divided the races of man into five groups—the white, the yellow, the red, the brown, and the black. But nowadays, even the layman knows that such hard and fast divisions are impossible. We find that among individuals of one particular race, whatever its so-called, and somewhat arbitrary, colour might be, there exist noticeable variations in shade. Red Indians have yellow or brown skins almost as frequently as a genuine red; the “white” races of Europe often have so dark a “complexion” that they are in reality brown; and the skin of a negro at times has a distinctly reddish or brownish hue.

Early anthropologists thought that the “dust or tawny” colour was due to the accumulation of carbon in the external layers of the integument. But since the introduction of the microscope, which made the study of thin sections of human skin under great magnification possible, it was found that the colour is due to living cells, which carry pigment in their protoplasm, and are more or less migratory.

In the Australian aboriginal, these pigment-cells lie quite superficially in the skin. Some years ago Professor Klaatsch, of Heidelberg University, when in Australia, managed to obtain the corpse of an aboriginal, which he consigned to a large tank holding an ordinary preserving fluid. Hermetically sealing the lid of the tank, the Professor shipped the specimen to Europe, where it was to be dissected. Some months later, I joined him at Breslau University, and together we opened the tank. Imagine our surprise when we beheld what one might describe as an anthropological contradiction—a “white blackfellow!” It took us some time to recognize in the form in front of us that of the aboriginal we had seen in Australia. What had happened was that, during the continued movement of the preserving solution during the transport, the superficial layers of the skin had been removed, and, with them, the colour too. In other parts, the skin had blistered and become detached, leaving more or less adherent strips of epidermis in which the colouring matter could be recognized.

I have seen a similar condition of things in corpses of aborigines, in the remoter districts of the Australian bush, where the dead are placed to rest on artificial platforms in the branches of trees. When, during the processes of decomposition, the skin peels off, and is washed away by the rain, the corpse assumes a pinkish white colour, resembling the body of a white man, some time dead. No doubt it was on this account that, in the early days of European settlement, it was a general belief among the aborigines that the white man was one of their own dead warriors returned to life in a different colour. We have a classical example in the experience of the escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived for thirty-two years among the natives of Victoria, the latter regarding him as their dead chief returned to life transformed. It is quite possible that this belief, which is so common among the tribes, originated from the fact that the natives themselves had observed, as Professor Klaatsch and I did, that the decomposing bodies of their dead might, under certain conditions, become very much lighter in colour.

Throughout the Northern Kimberley district the natives maintain that a dead tribesman will “jump up all-the-same whitefellow” in colour.

A singular case, illustrative of the shallowness of pigmentation in the epithelium of an aboriginal’s skin, was reported from Canowie Sheep Station by the late Rev. Tenison Woods. A native, suffering from an obstinate skin disease, was “dipped,” like a sheep, in a solution containing soft soap, tobacco, and arsenic, the last-named in the proportion of one ounce to the gallon of water. The native became very ill, lost his hair, and his finger and toe-nails. Eventually he became better, but his skin peeled off. He was then described as “presenting the appearance of a magpie during the time the process of decortication was going on.” Finally his skin became “smooth and as glossy as marble.”

In pemphigoid skin-eruptions, when blister-like bullae develop over different parts of the body, the lesions left in the skin for a while are pinkish and unpigmented. Scars resulting from a cut or burn remain red for a considerable time, but eventually turn the same uniform colour as the rest of the skin.

Under normal conditions, one may often find patches of pigment on mucous surfaces of the inner lips and mouth. The pathological condition known as leucoderma is, on the other hand, rather frequently observed among the different tribes of Australia. I have seen natives, both in the north and south of this continent, whose skin over certain areas was devoid of pigment; the hands and feet seem particularly prone to be thus affected.

So much for the seat of the pigmentation. If we now enquire into the actual complexion, or colour-tint, of the aboriginal’s skin, the question is not so easily satisfied as one might have thought. The colour is, of course, brown—a soft, velvety brown, like chocolate. Scientists tell us it is about the same as tint No. 3 of the colour scheme on Plate III, Notes and Queries on Anthropology, London. But the matter is not so simple as one might be led to believe. To begin with, we have not a homogeneous colouration before us. If, for instance, we wanted to paint a picture of an aboriginal, we would mix a fundamental chocolate-brown to deck the surface with; to obtain the shade of the back we should have to mix a blue or green with the brown; whereas the cheeks and chin would require a yellow or red. The intensity of pigmentation varies to a noticeable degree; it is deepest on the back and neck, and along the folds of the skin. The soles and palms are always very much lighter in colour than the rest of the body.

Environment plays an important role, because a native’s skin has the remarkable power of what might be termed complimentary colour-adaptation, as a result of which a hard and fast definition, or fixing, of the shade is practically impossible. For this same reason it is conceivable why the sombre hue of the hunter’s skin becomes neutralized by the sallowness of the arid Central Australian scrub, as well as by the deeply-shaded verdure of the tropical jungle. Upon a clear day, with an open, blue sky, an aboriginal always appears dark or dingy, while on a dull and cloudy day, his skin is more of a chocolate-brown; when he is swimming in the open sea, his colour may even become coppery and seem not much darker than that of a Javanese.

The adaptable tone-characteristics of their skin are well-known to the natives themselves, not only while in the hunting field and on the warpath, but also on the playground. At Opparinna, in the Musgrave Ranges, children were seen indulging in a game resembling “hide and seek,” and often, in an endeavour to avoid the keen eye of the “seeker,” one would duck in amongst the boulders of granite and imitate the rust-coloured contours of a boulder to perfection.

PLATE VI

1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “ungwaina” (nose-stick), and fur-string bandeau.

2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing bloodwood seed pendants called “dindula.” Note “Semitic” nose.

We know that the climate has an important bearing upon the subject of pigmentation in all races. Most of us have had our faces, hands, and other exposed parts of our body bronzed when holiday-making at the seaside. If we come straight from indoor life in the city, we might, in addition, find our skin develop a badly blistered condition known as sunburn. Yet the bushman, the coach-driver, or the sailor, who, by long exposure, has acquired a more or less permanent tan, can bask with impunity in the severest rays of the sun.

Exactly the same processes take place in the coloured man’s skin. When cruising about the north coast, I frequently had occasion to observe that my Malay crew were more bronzed above than below the belt. This was obviously caused through continued exposure to the tropical sun, since during the heat of day they would work, or lie about on deck, wearing nothing else than a serong hanging from their waist.

When aborigines are taken from their wild outdoor life, and kept under European conditions, more or less confined, their skin becomes unquestionably lighter; this is particularly noticed in their faces.

These phenomena indicate to us the method Nature adopts in protecting our skin, and with it our system, against scorching rays of the sun; and we also realize why it is that the coloured man can endure the disadvantages of a tropical climate so much better than we.

The same phenomena might also be made responsible for the wonderful absence of pigment in the skin of modern white peoples of European origin. There is no doubt, the great Ice Age and the living in caves and shelters (and huts) were the essential factors which ultimately established the “white” skin in man. In this hypothesis, we naturally assume that our Diluvial or earlier Tertiary ancestor had a moderately dark-coloured skin, which protected him against the tropical sun, which Geology has taught us, shone over Europe at the beginning or middle of that great period.

CHAPTER VIII
THE HAIR

The lanugo—Hairiness of body—Female beards—The hair of the scalp and how it is worn—Its colour—Aboriginal blondes—Albinism—Erythrism—Fair hair a likely “throw-back” to prototype—Influences of climate and geological antiquity—Other instances of fair-haired aborigines—Grey hair—Baldness—The beard and methods of dressing it.

Let us proceed with a discussion of the aboriginal’s hair. As in the youthful individuals of most races of man, including the European, the Australian is born with a rudimentary, short body-hair, known as the lanugo. This growth covers practically all surfaces of the child’s figure, but is thickest on the back.

The colour of this infantile coating of hair is not, as one might have expected, black, but fair, and casts a pretty golden sheen over the sombre skin. In later adult life this growth of hair becomes stronger, and darkens to complete blackness. In ripe old age, the hairs turn grey.

Many of the old men have a remarkable hairiness of the body, amounting almost to a hypertrichosis. In these cases the hairs are up to an inch long, and cover especially thickly the back, the chest, the thighs, and buttocks ([Plate VII], 1). Amongst the women quite pretentious beards are of rather frequent occurrence ([Plate III], 2).

With regard to the hair which covers the scalp, we find that, in the majority of cases, it is wavy. It is by no means uncommon, however, to find the Australian’s hair distinctly frizzy; straight hair is least frequently observed. The male aboriginal generally wears his hair in long loose curls; often these are matted together artificially with grease and red ochre into long, pendant, sausage-like masses. In the central region of Australia, the men pull out the hair growing on the upper portion of the forehead, each hair being removed separately. A hair-string band is worn over the cleared portion of the forehead, and this, at the same time, keeps back the locks of hair. Very often, in the central as well as in the northern districts, the hair thus tied back is worked up with a pad of emu feathers into a chignon, which is tied round and round with human hair-string ([Plate IX]). The women are frequently asked to cut their hair short, and to deliver the clippings to their husbands, who work them up into coils of string, out of which they subsequently fashion hair belts and a variety of other articles in daily use. Occasionally one sees an aboriginal whose hair stands about his head after the type of a Struwwelpeter, or it may hang from the scalp like a mop. The last-named types were more plentiful on the north coast than in central Australia, but a number of cases were recorded among the Aluridja and Wongapitcha.

The men of the same west-central tribes decorate their hair with wooden pins whose surfaces they cut longitudinally over certain sections, so that the shavings, which form, curl outwards but still remain attached to the rod. The ornaments which go by the name of “elenba” remind one of trimmed skewers occasionally seen in butcher-shops. One or two of them are worn long at the back of the head ([Plate IX], 2), or a number of them short, as a fringe above the forehead. The women of the same districts try to make their hair look attractive by attaching to the tips of the matted locks numerous seed-capsules of the Bloodwood eucalyptus. The hairs are rammed into the open ends of the seeds and kept there by small plugs of wood or blebs of resin. The little ornaments dangle about the forehead and shoulders and are known as “dindula” The seeds of the Currajong are similarly used. Vide [Plate VI], 2.

The colour of the adult Australian’s hair is almost invariably black, but often of different intensities over different parts of the scalp. When a hair is pulled and examined under magnification, the part which had been embedded in the follicle is not infrequently discovered to be colourless or brownish.

By far the most remarkable, and genetically perhaps the most important, subject in connection with the colour of the Australian aboriginal’s hair is the juvenile blonde. In 1903, I first came across a number of children of the Ulparidja group of the Wongapitcha, in the Tomkinson Ranges, who had heads of hair of a flaxen colour. Since then, I have seen many similar cases among the Aluridja, in the Lilla Creek district, several Wongapitcha from south of the Musgrave Ranges, at Ooldea, and a limited number among the western Arunndta, on the Finke River, south of the MacDonnell Ranges. The colour of these children’s hair varied from a straw-yellow, through light brown, to dark brown ([Plate X], 1).

It appeared that, towards the age of puberty, the shade became visibly deeper; after which it gradually changed to dark brown or black. This change of colour I have recently been able to watch very closely in the hair of two young gins who have been under daily observation for over four years.

Among the adults, such blondes are unknown; two or three cases of brown hair in grown-up persons, however, came under our observation among the Aluridja, west of the Finke River.

True albinism has not been authoritatively established, as existing among the Australian aboriginals. The case of a young woman was reported from the Depôt on the Victoria River, who is said to have been quite “white,” and to have had “red” eyes. This albino, I was informed, was photographed by the local constable shortly before she died in 1921.

Erythrism, too, is practically unknown; the only cases of the latter on record are four from the Tully and Bloomfield Rivers, discovered by Dr. Walter Roth. Red hair is, however, not appreciated by the aborigines, who incline to hold it to ridicule.

PLATE VII

1. Old Yantowannta man, showing a strong growth of hair covering the body.

2. Old Yantowannta man, showing peculiar method of wearing the beard.

When, therefore, we consider the likely significance of fair-haired aborigines, from an anthropological standpoint, we cannot ignore the claims of atavism. Noticing the phenomenon so abundantly developed, as it has been our good fortune recently to record, one is inclined to behold in it a primitive feature, which was originally typical of the ancestral hordes from whom the aboriginal Australian has sprung. This assumption is strengthened by the light colour of the lanugo regularly observed in the children.

The question arises whether the dark colour of the Australian’s skin (and hair) is entirely a secondary development due to climatic influences. The superficial nature of the pigmentation in the aboriginal’s skin is in support of such reasoning. It is known that the hair of some Arctic explorers, after a protracted sojourn in the frigid zones, has turned from dark to fair; and the same has been reported of alpine guides. We shall see presently that there is evidence of great antiquity of man in Australia; his occupation of the land dating back in all probability to the early Tertiary period. Geology teaches us that the climate has fluctuated considerably since and before that time. Consequently, it is quite within reason to assume that, in the earlier days of his racial existence, there may have been no need for any considerable accumulation of pigment cells within his skin, as a means of safeguarding his system against a sun, anything like so severe as is nowadays reigning over Australia. From later Tertiary times onwards, however, the climate of central and northern Australia has been continuously hot or tropical.

We are further strengthened in our theory by the fact that the hair of the Tasmanians is known to have been generally lighter in colour than that of the Australians. Sydney Hickson even described the Tasmanian hair as light golden brown in colour. Tasmania has, we know, since the later Tertiary at all events, enjoyed a decidedly colder climate than Australia proper.

One point remains unexplained; namely, why the occurrence of light-coloured hair among Australian children should be geographically restricted. Apart from the tribal groups in central Australia, which I have mentioned, I know of no other record except one by Professor Klaatsch from a coastal district in Queensland.

The hair of an aboriginal turns grey at a riper old age than is the case of the European’s. It seems, moreover, that the hair of the women retains its colour longer than that of the men.

Baldness is comparatively rare among the aborigines; only a limited number of cases have come before the writer’s personal notice.

The old Arunndta men are very particular about their appearance. When one is stricken with baldness, he constructs a pad, resembling a skull cap, out of emu feathers, which he ties on top of his head with human hair-string and wears regularly to hide the bareness of his scalp. He refers to this feather-wig as “memba.” Aluridja men adopt a similar fashion, but call the article “lorngai” ([Plate VIII]).

The men all over Australia, as a rule, can produce quite comely beards, but the methods they adopt of dressing them vary according to locality. In the River Murray and other southern districts, long square full-beards were the vogue. The Yantowannta and other tribesmen of the Cooper’s Creek and Lake Eyre region turn the point of the beard back upon itself into a loop, and, by winding fur-string around it, keep it fixed in that fashion ([Plate VII], 2). North of the MacDonnell Ranges, and on some of the islands off Arnhem Land, the older men keep the upper lip clean by pulling out the hairs one by one. Along the north coast, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Buccaneer Archipelago, the men over a certain age are allowed to singe off, or shave with a sharp chip of stone or shell, the entire beard including the upper lip. The women of the King Sound tribes are required to help the men remove the hairs; a man will lie for hours, with his head upon his lubra’s lap, whilst she busies herself pulling the hairs from her husband’s chin. The old men of the Cambridge Gulf tribe twist each end of the moustache and surround it with a cylindrical layer of beeswax, from which the tips project on either side like the hairs of a paint brush. The beard is divided into two equal bundles of hairs, the ends of both of which are treated in the same way as the moustache. On some of the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago, the men shave the upper portion of the moustache below the nose, leaving only a narrow fringe of hairs, immediately above the margin of the upper lip.