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children, I drew up another list of 222 births, and out of these there were 93 females and 129 males, or about 1 female to every 1.3 males.

I have known four instances of native women having twins, but I have never heard of a greater number of children at one birth. Should a child be born with any natural deformity, it is frequently killed by its parents, soon afterwards. In the only instances of this kind which have come within my own knowledge, the child has been drowned.

Idiots are rarely found amongst the natives; in two cases I, however, observed persons of very deficient intellect. Mad people are unknown, and this very naturally, for very few freaks of madness could be committed by a lunatic ere he would fall a sacrifice to the violence and indignation of his fellows. Persons of very delicate and feeble constitutions are also rare, as those who survive the hardships to which they are exposed in their childhood, must possess an iron frame. The deaths amongst the children, particularly during early infancy, are, as far as I can judge, much more numerous in proportion to the number of births than they are in civilized nations.

The social habits of the natives of Australia are necessarily modified by the extent to which polygamy is permitted and practised amongst them. The very unequal distribution of the female sex, which arises from this cause, has rendered prevalent the custom of stealing wives; and as women are of great value, not only on account of the personal attachment

which they might be supposed to excite, but from the fact of all laborious tasks being performed, and a great portion of the food of the family being also collected by them, every precaution is taken to prevent them from forming any acquaintances which would be likely to terminate in their abduction.

A stern and vigilant jealousy is commonly felt by every married man; he cannot, from the roving nature of their mode of life, surround his wives with the walls of a seraglio, but custom and etiquette have drawn about them barriers nearly as impassable. When a certain number of families are collected together, they encamp at a common spot; and each family has a separate hut, or perhaps two. At these huts sleep the father of the family, his wives, the female children who have not yet joined their husbands, and very young boys; occasionally female relatives, who, from some temporary cause, have no male protector with them, also sleep at this fire; but the young men and boys of ten years old and upwards are obliged to sleep in their own portion of the encampment, where they themselves, or more generally, some of their mothers, build for them two or three huts, in which those related within certain degrees of consanguinity sleep together.

When strangers are with a party upon a visit, if attended by their wives, they sleep in their own huts, which are placed among those of the married people; but if their wives are not with them, or if they are unmarried, they sleep at the fire of the young men.

Under no circumstances is a strange native

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allowed to approach the fire of a married man; in the day time they hunt or occupy themselves with the men, and at night they either sit at their own fire, or that of the young men. Their huts being placed

at a little distance from one another, such an arrangement would appear to put an end to any thing like social intercourse or conversation; but they have invented a means of overcoming this difficulty, by making a species of chant, or recitative, their customary mode of address to each other. In an encampment at night, the young men recount to one another their love adventures, and stories; and the old men quarrel with their wives, or play with their children; suddenly a deep wild chant rises on the ear, in which some newly-arrived native relates the incidents of his journey, or an old man calls to their remembrance scenes of other days, or reminds them that some death remains unavenged: this is done in a loud recitative, and the instant it is commenced every other sound is hushed. A native, while thus chanting, is rarely or never interrupted, and when he has concluded, another replies in the same tone, until the conversation, still conducted in this manner, becomes general.

In the meantime, individuals, both male and female, move about from fire to fire, paying visits, and whispering scandal to one another; but these visits are so arranged, that none can approach a fire to which, by the established usages of society, they have not a right to go; the younger females, however, who are much addicted to intrigue, find, at

times, opportunity to exchange a word or a glance with some favoured lover, but woe to her, if her watchful husband should detect her in the act. A spear through the calf of the leg is the least punishment that awaits her; and if her husband feels himself strong enough, either from personal skill, or from the number of friends he has present, to inflict punishment upon her paramour, he does it in the most summary manner, throwing as many spears at his legs as he has an opportunity of doing, before others catch hold of him and prevent his committing farther acts of violence. A good deal of tact is required under these circumstances to ascertain whether a spear can safely be thrown at a man or not; but I have remarked as a general rule, that a native, if irritated by another, invariably throws a spear at him, if he has a friend or brother near the offender at the time; the chances then being that this friend or brother will catch hold of the man attacked before he can throw a spear in return. As for the poor female, no one takes her part, whether she is innocent or guilty; the established and very equitable law with regard to women being, "If I beat your mother, then you beat mine: if I beat your wife, then you beat mine," &c. &c. So that by judiciously conducting arrangements, a native can spear one aggressor himself, and get the other speared for him, without undergoing any personal trouble or inconvenience, or without in the least suffering in her good graces.

Should it be the intention of the natives to have

a dance, the arrangements are somewhat different. In this case, the young men retire early in the afternoon to some spot suited to their purpose, where they paint and deck themselves out in the most grotesque manner. After dark, they return to the encampment, near which the dance takes place. At these entertainments, the same rules of etiquette are strictly observed: the females sit in a group apart, generally behind the old men ; the performers are on the side of the fire opposite to them; in one or two dances, the women take a part in the song, but they never dance themselves, nor are the young men allowed to approach them. It is all fair for the dancers to do their utmost, by the arrangement of paint and ornaments, to shew off their personal attractions, and they sometimes avail themselves of this privilege in the most ludicrous manner; but they are permitted to hold no converse whatever with any but their mothers and sisters.

The ceremonies they observe at first meeting one another after absence are remarkable. When a native and his wives enter an encampment of friends whom they have not for some time seen, they proceed straight to the hut of some relative or intimate friend, without bestowing even a glance upon any others whom they may pass having reached the hut, the man at once seats himself at the fire, without taking the least notice of any one in it, whilst his wives crouch upon the earth at a respectful distance behind him, keeping their eyes fixed upon the ground; a solemn silence now ensues, all countenances wear