something
about the natives of this part of Australia. These aborigines do not
form distinct tribes, but are dispersed in families scattered over the
face of the land, and they gain a precarious living by hunting. When,
however, a white man takes up his hunting grounds, erects a house, digs
wells and introduces stock, these people come in, and in return for a
regular supply of flour and tobacco they undertake shepherding, and
other light work, looking at the new arrival as their natural superior.
The old men however are equally jealous of the exclusive possession of
the women as of the flour, and they are only too glad to see the lads
and young men go to dive for the white man ; the junior members of the
community invariably obey the wishes of their seniors. Thus for six
months the young men work as divers, and during the remainder of the
year, they are taken care of on their stations, and become useful as
shearers, etc., returning to diving at each successive season.
Although
many of these aborigines, when first set to work, can neither swim nor
dive, they soon become adepts in these arts, and after two seasons an
Australian becomes a first-class diver. They enter the water feet
first, turning so as to swim downwards ; they do not attain such
excessive depths as some other races, owing to the nature
