CHAPTER IV.

Eating broiled kangaroo meat.—­Australian spears and American rifles.

The natives of Australia are remarkable for the slight quantity of clothing which they wear, and the thinness of their limbs.  Their dress consists of a dirty piece of cloth, or skin of kangaroo, tied about their waists, leaving the upper and lower parts of their bodies naked.  Their color is a dingy black, although what exact shade they would represent were they washed quite clean is a matter of conjecture.  A more filthy race of beings I never saw; and if we adopt the hypothetical theory of eminent medical gentlemen, that when the pores of the skin are closed, and perspiration ceases to flow, the patient dies, then the natives in Australia should, according to that reasoning, have all been under ground years ago; for I am confident that during my residence on the island, I never saw one guilty of ablution, or manifest the slightest anxiety to mingle a little water with their dirt.

With grease upon their faces, filling their long black hair, shining upon their hands, and smeared upon their bodies, they are as disgusting a race as can be found upon the globe; and after a brief survey of their huts and habits, men of a cleanly nature never desire to see them more.  Their limbs bear about as great a proportion to their bodies as the stem of a pipe to the bowl; and to see them walking, is apt to suggest an idea that their legs were never intended to carry their frames.  The latter part of their bodies presents a protuberance, even in the youngsters, caused by their inordinate gluttonous nature, which prompts them, when fortunate enough to have killed game, to gorge themselves to repletion, as though they never expected to eat again, and were determined to fill their stomachs even if they burst.

We soon saw a party of natives of this description seated around a fire, black with dirt, and gorged with the flesh of a kangaroo.  The stockman, Smith, was busy with his team, and had declined our assistance, as he saw that we were tired and nearly exhausted with travel.  Telling us to go to the fire and see how we liked the looks of the natives, we followed his advice, and walked towards them.  There were ten or twelve of them huddled together in a circle, squatted upon their haunches, each with a piece of raw flesh lying upon the ground, while other junks were broiling on the coals, to be transferred from thence to the fingers of those claiming them.

They manifested no surprise or curiosity when Fred and myself halted within a few feet of them, and regarded their feeding operations with considerable disgust.  Their minds appeared to be too much occupied to pay the least attention to outward objects, and as they poked their burning food among the ashes, and licked their fingers, and grunted with satisfaction, they certainly did not seem better than so many swine.  At least they were not half so clean.