第65章

After this I never saw her but once,when I happened to be near the harbour's mouth in a boat,with captain Ball.We met her in a canoe with several more of her sex.She was painted for a ball,with broad stripes of white earth,from head to foot,so that she no longer looked like the same Gooreedeeana.We offered her several presents,all of which she readily accepted;but finding our eagerness and solicitude to inspect her,she managed her canoe with such address as to elude our too near approach,and acted the coquet to admiration.

To return from this digression to my subject,I have only farther to observe that the estimation of female beauty among the natives (the men at least)

is in this country the same as in most others.Were a New Hollander to portray his mistress,he would draw her the 'Venus aux belles fesses'.

Whenever Baneelon described to us his favourite fair,he always painted her in this,and another particular,as eminently luxuriant.

Unsatisfied,however,with natural beauty (like the people of all other countries)they strive by adscititious embellishments to heighten attraction,and often with as little success.Hence the naked savage of New South Wales pierces the septum of his nose,through which he runs a stick or a bone,and scarifies his body,the charms of which increase in proportion to the number and magnitude of seams by which it is distinguished.

The operation is performed by making two longitudinal incisions with a sharpened shell,and afterwards pinching up with the nails the intermediate space of skin and flesh,which thereby becomes considerably elevated and forms a prominence as thick as a man's finger.No doubt but pain must be severely felt until the wound be healed.But the love of ornament defies weaker considerations,and no English beau can bear more stoutly the extraction of his teeth to make room for a fresh set from a chimney sweeper,or a fair one suffer her tender ears to be perforated,with more heroism than the grisly nymphs on the banks of Port Jackson,submit their sable shoulders to the remorseless lancet.

That these scarifications are intended solely to increase personal allurement I will not,however,positively affirm.Similar,perhaps,to the cause of an excision of part of the little finger of the left hand in the women,and of a front tooth in the men;or probably after all our conjectures,superstitious ceremonies by which they hope either to avert evil or to propagate good,are intended.The colours with which they besmear the bodies of both sexes possibly date from the same common origin.

White paint is strictly appropriate to the dance.Red seems to be used on numberless occasions,and is considered as a colour of less consequence.

It may be remarked that they translate the epithet white when they speak of us,not by the name which they assign to this white earth,but by that with which they distinguish the palms of their hands.

[It is to be observed that neither of these ceremonies is universal,but nearly so.Why there should exist exemptions I cannot resolve.

The manner of executing them is as follows.The finger is taken off by means of a ligature (generally a sinew of a kangaroo)tied so tight as to stop the circulation of the blood,which induces mortification and the part drops off.I remember to have seen Colbee's child,when about a month old,on whom this operation had been just performed by her mother.

The little wretch seemed in pain,and her hand was greatly swelled.

But this was deemed too trifling a consideration to deserve regard in a case of so much importance.

The tooth intended to be taken out is loosened by the gum being scarified on both sides with a sharp shell.The end of a stick is then applied to the tooth,which is struck gently several times with a stone,until it becomes easily moveable,when the 'coup de grace'is given by a smart stroke.

Notwithstanding these precautions,I have seen a considerable degree of swelling and inflammation follow the extraction.Imeerawanyee,I remember,suffered severely.But he boasted the firmness and hardihood with which he had endured it.It is seldom performed on those who are under sixteen years old.]

As this leads to an important subject I shall at once discuss it.

"Have these people any religion:any knowledge of,or belief in a deity?--

any conception of the immortality of the soul?"are questions which have been often put to me since my arrival in England:I shall endeavour to answer them with candour and seriousness.

Until belief be enlightened by revelation and chastened by reason,religion and superstition,are terms of equal import.One of our earliest impressions is the consciousness of a superior power.The various forms under which this impression has manifested itself are objects of the most curious speculation.

The native of New South Wales believes that particular aspects and appearances of the heavenly bodies predict good or evil consequences to himself and his friends.He oftentimes calls the sun and moon 'weeree,'that is,malignant,pernicious.Should he see the leading fixed stars (many of which he can call by name)obscured by vapours,he sometimes disregards the omen,and sometimes draws from it the most dreary conclusions.

I remember Abaroo running into a room where a company was assembled,and uttering frightful exclamations of impending mischiefs about to light on her and her countrymen.When questioned on the cause of such agitation she went to the door and pointed to the skies,saying that whenever the stars wore that appearance,misfortunes to the natives always followed.

The night was cloudy and the air disturbed by meteors.I have heard many more of them testify similar apprehensions.

However involved in darkness and disfigured by error such a belief be,no one will,I presume,deny that it conveys a direct implication of superior agency;of a power independent of and uncontrolled by those who are the objects of its vengeance.But proof stops not here.