Page:Australian race - vol 1.djvu/67

38 either. This is particularly noticeable in respect to the extremities, from the elbows and knees downwards. His limbs are also somewhat longer in proportion to the trunk than in the European. His wrists, hands, ankles, and feet are small, and the knee-joint rather large; his leg is deficient in calf, and, when walking, the toes are turned a little inwards, more especially in the female. The feet are inclined to be flat, and the heel to protrude slightly. By a little pressure, such things as a spear, tomahawk, pipe, string of a bag, and so on, can, when lying on the ground, be forced between the great and the fourth toe, and so lifted. The same is also done by pressing the toes at a right angle on any small object lying on the ground, and so grasping it — a fact which has led some theorists to make the absurd statement that the great toe of the Australian savage is, in fact, a thumb. Besides that the toes of the Blacks are just like our own, actual trial when a young man showed me that what they do in this way any White man with a little practice can accomplish.

The head of the Australian is perhaps smaller than the Englishman's; the forehead is low, and the brows largely overshadow the eyes, which are of medium size and far apart. The iris is dark-brown, the pupil large and black, and the conjunctiva inclined to a yellow tinge. The eyelashes are often long, and the eyes soft, lustrous, quick, and intelligent. The Blacks have invariably better sight, can see further, and are more quick to see, than Europeans.

The nose is occasionally aquiline, but usually short, thick, depressed in the centre, flabby, the alee nascB being considerably expanded laterally.

The mouth is always wide, and the lips thicker than those of Europeans, but less thick than the African's. The teeth are large, white, and strong. In old age they are much ground down by the hard nature of the food used, and consequently look thicker than ours. This is particularly the case with the females, who chew the various sorts of fibre of which they make their nets and bags. The