CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS.
The motorists who recently crossed. Australia from Adelaide to Port Darwin had eomo strange experiences with aboriginals. At Tennant'sS'Creek the motorists received a shock by finding all the aboriginals whitewashed, ifiey. were rubbed all over, from the youngest t» the oldest, with pipeclay. Strange to say, there was one man amongst the lot who knew a few words of English sufficient to explain that the whole tribe was in mourning for the loss of a chief. While they remain in mourning no one speaks. Everything is done by signs. It. was only out of courtesy to the new arrivals that the native who spoke English was allowed to make known the state of affairs. At Daly Waters the motorists encountered one of the laziest tribes met with on their journey. The men simply bask in the sun all day, send their wives out to gather food, which mostly consists! of berries, lizards, and "goannas."* From tho tails of the latter they make in clay pots a sort of soup, which id said to havo a semi-intoxicating effect.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13227, 22 September 1908, Page 7
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180CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS. Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13227, 22 September 1908, Page 7
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