Page:New history of Botanybay (sic) and Port Jackson.pdf/4

 such as white paper, when they handled it.-Their hair is perfectly wooly; and it is clotted or divided into small parcels, like that of the Hottentots, with the use of some sort of grease, mixed with a red paint or ochre, which they smear in great abundance over their heads.—Their noses, though not flat, are broad and full. The lower part of the face projects considerably. Their eyes are of a middling size, with the whites less clear than in us; and tho' not remarkably quick or piercing, they are such as give a frank and chearful cast to the whole countenance. Their teeth are broad, but not equal, nor well ; and either from nature, or from dirt, not so white as is usual among people of a black colour. Their mouths are rather wide and this appearance seems heightened, by wearing their beards long and clotted with paint, in the same manner as the hair on their heads. Their bellies project considerably, which may be owing to the want of compression, which most nations use more or less.

The females wear a Kanguroo skin, in the same shape as it comes from the animal, tied over the shoulders, and round the waist. But its only use seemed to be to support their children, when carried on their backs; for it did not cover those parts which most nations conceal, they being, in all other respects, as naked as the men, and their bodies marked with scars in the same manner. But in this they differ from the men, that though their hair is of the same texture and colour, some of them have their heads completely shorn or shaved. In others this operation is performed