Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/97

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
PHYSICAL CHARACTER.
15

Cocos Islands, is mata; that for nose in the Marquesas and in the Kanaka dialect of the Sandwich Islands is ihu; and at Satawal it is poiti. Mouth in the Marquesas is fa fa, and tooth is niho; and in the Kanaka of the Sandwich Island the tongue is lelo, and the foot is vae.

In the dialects of Polynesia and Micronesia there are some words that have the same sound as words in the language of the Australians; but the meanings attached to them are not always the same. Such coincidences would point to conclusions of great importance if supported by other circumstances.

Fig.13 illustration of File:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu
FIG. 13.

Rather a favorable specimen of the Chinese, who are numerous in Victoria, is represented in Fig. 13. His head greatly contrasts that of the Australian. The smooth rounded contours and the arched brow are characteristic of the race. Many of them have well-developed foreheads, but the oblique eyes, the laterally projecting cheek-bones, and the form and small size of the nose, make no very pleasing picture in the sight of a European. Very few have beards, and some show only a few scattered hairs on the upper lip and chin.

The Chinese in Melbourne—I speak only of the laboring classes—are fond of gambling and indulge in opium smoking; but they are otherwise sober in their habits and very industrious. They will carry very heavy burdens all through the hottest day of summer without appearing to be fatigued. They are good traders and most excellent gardeners. Many are married to European women, and their children exhibit, I think, invariably a stronger likeness to the father than to the mother.

It is not known from what part of China this person whose portrait is given here came.

The descriptions of the natives of Australia, as given by various observers, are instructive.

Mr. Stanbridge thus describes them:—"Unlike the Aborigines of Tasmania, whose color is black, with black woolly hair, those of Victoria have complexions of various shades of dark olive-brown, and in some instances so light that a tinge of red is perceptible in the cheeks of the young, with slightly curly black hair; but there are isolated cases of woolly hair amongst the men and dark-brown hair amongst the women. This difference in the color of the skin appears distinctly marked in the half-breeds, the Australian being invariably of a brown or gipsy tinge, while the only Tasmanian known to the writer was of a black or negro hue. They are straight-limbed, square-shouldered, slightly but compactly made; occasionally an individual of herculean proportions is met with. There are none amongst them who are deformed, except those who have become so by accident. The men vary in stature from five to, in a few cases, upwards of six feet. They have thick beards, high cheek-bones, rather large black eyes, protruding eyebrows, which make the forehead appear to recede more than it really does, as high foreheads are not uncommon amongst them; thickish noses, which are sometimes straight and sometimes curved upwards;