Chapter XLII: Appendix: Ii-Stature and Appearance

We observed but few men or women among them who could be said to be tall, and still fewer who were well made. I once saw a dwarf, a female, who, when she stood upright, measured about four feet two inches. None of her limbs were disproportioned, nor were the features of her face unpleasant; she had a child at her back, and we were told came from the south shore of Botany Bay. I thought the other natives seemed to make her an object of their merriment. In general, indeed almost universally, the limbs of these people were small; of most of them the arms, legs, and thighs were thin. This, no doubt, is owing to the poorness of their living, which is chiefly on fish; otherwise the fineness of the climate, co-operating with the exercise which they take, might have rendered them more muscular. Those who live on the sea-coast depend entirely on fish for their sustenance; while the few who dwell in the woods subsist on such animals as they can catch. The very great labour necessary for taking these animals, and the scantiness of the supply, keep the wood natives in as poor a condition as their brethren on the coast. It has been remarked, that the natives who have been met with in the woods had longer arms and legs than those who lived about us. This might proceed from their being compelled to climb the trees after honey and the small animals which resort to them, such as the flying squirrel and opossum, which they effect by cutting with their stone hatchets notches in the bark of the tree of a sufficient depth and size to receive the ball of the great toe. The first notch being cut, the toe is placed in it; and while the left arm embraces the tree, a second is cut at a convenient distance to receive the other foot. By this method they ascend very quick, always cutting with the right hand and clinging with the left, resting the whole weight of the body on the ball of either foot.

In an excursion to the westward with a party, we passed a tree (of the kind named by us the white gum, the bark of which is soft) that we judged to be about one hundred and thirty feet in height, and which had been notched by the natives at least eighty feet, before they attained the first branch where it was likely they could meet with any reward for so much toil.

The features of many of these people were far from unpleasing, particularly of the women: in general, the black bushy beards of the men, and the bone or reed which they thrust through the cartilage of the nose, tended to give them a disgusting appearance; but in the women, that feminine delicacy which is to be found among white people was to be traced even upon their sable cheeks; and though entire strangers to the comforts and conveniencies of clothing, yet they sought with a native modesty to conceal by attitude what the want of covering would otherwise have revealed. They have often brought to my recollection, "The bending statue which enchants the world," though it must be owned that the resemblance consisted solely in the position.

Both women and men use the disgusting practice of rubbing fish-oil into their skins; but they are compelled to this as a guard against the effects of the air and of mosquitoes, and flies; some of which are large, and bite or sting with much severity. But the oil, together with the perspiration from their bodies, produces, in hot weather, a most horrible stench. I have seen some with the entrails of fish frying in the burning sun upon their heads, until the oil ran down over their foreheads. A remarkable instance once came under my observation of the early use which they make of this curious unguent. Happening to be at Camp Cove at a time when these people were much pressed with hunger, we found in a miserable hut a poor wretched half-starved native and two children. The man was nearly reduced to a skeleton, but the children were in better condition. We gave them some salted beef and pork, and some bread, but this they would not touch. The eldest of the children was a female; and a piece of fat meat being given to her, she, instead of eating it instantly as we expected, squeezed it between her fingers until she had nearly pressed all the fat to a liquid; with this she oiled over her face two or three times, and then gave it to the other, a boy about two years of age, to do the like. Our wonder was naturally excited at seeing such knowledge in children so young. To their hair, by means of the yellow gum, they fasten the front teeth of the kangaroo, and the jaw-bones of large fish, human teeth, pieces of wood, feathers of birds, the tail of the dog, and certain bones taken out of the head of a fish, not unlike human teeth. The natives who inhabit the south shore of Botany Bay divide the hair into small parcels, each of which they mat together with gum, and form them into lengths like the thrums of a mop. On particular occasions they ornament themselves with red and white clay, using the former when preparing to fight, the latter for the more peaceful amusement of dancing. The fashion of these ornaments was left to each person's taste; and some, when decorated in their best manner, looked perfectly horrible. Nothing could appear more terrible than a black and dismal face, with a large white circle drawn round each eye. In general waved lines were marked down each arm, thigh, and leg; and in some the cheeks were daubed; and lines drawn over each rib, presented to the beholder a truly spectre-like figure. Previous either to a dance or a combat, we always found them busily employed in this necessary preliminary; and it must be observed, that when other liquid could not be readily procured, they moistened the clay with their own saliva. Both sexes are ornamented with scars upon the breast, arms, and back, which are cut with broken pieces of the shell they use at the end of the throwing stick. By keeping open these incisions, the flesh grows up between the sides of the wound, and after a time, skinning over, forms a large wale or seam. I have seen instances where these scars have been cut to resemble the feet of animals; and such boys as underwent the operation while they lived with us, appeared to be proud of the ornament, and to despise the pain which they must have endured. The operation is performed when they are young, and until they advance in years the scars look large and full; but on some of their old men I have been scarcely able to discern them. As a principal ornament, the men, on particular occasions, thrust a bone or reed through the _septum nasi_, the hole through which is bored when they are young. Some boys who went away from us for a few days, returned dignified with this strange ornament, having, in the mean time, had the operation performed upon them; they appeared to be from twelve to fifteen years of age. The bone that they wear is the small bone in the leg of the kangaroo, one end of which is sharpened to a point. I have seen several women who had their noses perforated in this extraordinary manner.

The women are, besides, early subjected to an uncommon mutilation of the two first joints of the little finger of the left hand. The operation is performed when they are very young, and is done with a hair, or some other slight ligature. This being tied round at the joint, the flesh soon swells, and in a few days, the circulation being destroyed, the finger mortifies and drops off. I never saw but one instance where the finger was taken off from the right hand, and that was occasioned by the mistake of the mother. Before we knew them, we took it to be their marriage ceremony; but on seeing their mutilated children we were convinced of our mistake; and at last learned, that these joints of the little finger were supposed to be in the way when they wound their fishing lines over the hand. On our expressing a disgust of the appearance, they always applauded it, and said it was very good. They name it Mal-gun; and among the many women whom I saw, but very few had this finger perfect. On my pointing these out to those who were so distinguished, they appeared to look at and speak of them with some degree of contempt.

The men too were not without their mutilation. Most of those who lived on the sea-coast we found to want the right front tooth; some, whom we met in the interior part of the country, had not been subjected to the authority of the tribe of Cam-mer-ray-gal; but a particular account of the ceremonies used on this occasion will be given under the article _Customs and Manners_.

I noticed but few deformities of person among them; once or twice I have seen on the sand the print of inverted feet. Round shoulders or humpbacked people I never saw. Some who were lame, and assisted themselves with sticks, have been met with; but their lameness might proceed from spear wounds, or by accident from fire; for never were women so inattentive to their young as these. We often heard of children being injured by fire, while the mother lay fast asleep beside them, these people being extremely difficult to awaken when once asleep. A very fine little girl, belonging to a man well known and much beloved among us, of the name of Cole-be, had two of its toes burnt Off, and the sinews of the leg contracted in one night, by rolling into a fire out of its mother's arms, while they both lay asleep.

Their sight is peculiarly fine, indeed their existence very often depends upon the accuracy of it; for a short-sighted man (a misfortune unknown to them, and not yet introduced by fashion, nor relieved by the use of a glass) would never be able to defend himself from their spears, which are thrown with amazing force and velocity. I have noticed two or three men with specks on one eye, and once at Broken Bay saw in a canoe an old man who was perfectly blind. He was accompanied by a youth who paddled his canoe, and who, to my great surprise, sat behind him in it. This may, however, be in conformity to the idea of respect which is always paid to old age.

The colour of these people is not uniform. We have seen some who, even when cleansed from the smoke and filth which were always to be found on their persons, were nearly as black as the African negro; while others have exhibited only a copper or Malay colour. The natural covering of their heads is not wool as in most other black people, but hair; this particular may be remembered in the two natives who were in this country, Bennillong and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie. The former, on his return, by having some attention paid to his dress while in London, was found to have very long black hair. Black indeed was the general colour of the hair, though I have seen some of a reddish cast; but being unaccompanied by any perceptible difference of complexion, it was perhaps more the effect of some outward cause than its natural appearance.

Their noses are flat, nostrils wide, eyes much sunk in the head, and covered with thick eyebrows; in addition to which, they wear tied round the head, a net the breadth of the forehead, made of the fur of the opussum, which, when wishing to see very clearly, I have observed them draw over the eyebrows, thereby contracting the light. Their lips are thick, and the mouth extravagantly wide; but when opened discovering two rows of white, even, and sound teeth. Many had very prominent jaws; and there was one man who, but for the gift of speech, might very well have passed for an orangoutang. He was remarkably hairy; his arms appeared of an uncommon length; in his gait he was not perfectly upright; and in his whole manner seemed to have more of the brute and less of the human species about him than any of his countrymen. Those who have been in that country will, from this outline of him, recollect old We-rahng.