Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men .. . most interesting and satisfactory fields in Which to Study Australians an the native aspects of hu- exafPleofde- r graded sav- man life. The barbarians this island-continent when itbecame known to the European nationswere as truly aboriginal in their charac-ter as any people with whom scientificobservation has had to deal. Nor can itbe said that the lapse of time since thecoast regions of Australi
Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men .. . most interesting and satisfactory fields in Which to Study Australians an the native aspects of hu- exafPleofde- r graded sav- man life. The barbarians this island-continent when itbecame known to the European nationswere as truly aboriginal in their charac-ter as any people with whom scientificobservation has had to deal. Nor can itbe said that the lapse of time since thecoast regions of Australia fell under thedominion of civilization has materiallychanged the native inhabitants. The)are to-day virtually as they were whenthey were first made known to the West-ern nations. And it is still possible tostudy their manners and customs with-out having to make allowance for theinfluence of other peoples upon them. The Australian houses are perhapsthe smallest and most insignificant whichhave ever been used as human are scarcely large enough to con-tain a single person. They are shapedmuch like an inverted oven. The frame-work consists of a series of reeds, not. PRIME VAL MAN.—BARB. IRISM ILL ITSTR. I TED. 389 more than an inch in diameter, bentover so as to bring the two ends to theearth, in which they are driven. Thecovering of the hut is of palm leaves orbark, and the protection afforded to theinhabitant is very small. One side ofthe hovel is open, and there is little pre-tense of shelter. When the inhabitantenters he must sit or lie down, as theconcavity overhead is not high enoughto permit him to stand. No evidencesof artistic taste or adornment have beendiscovered in connection with theseprimitive habitations. Nor could suchhouses avail anything in a country whoseclimate was less mild than that of Aus-tralia. Many inhabitants go withouthouses at all, sleeping on the groundand making no effort to secure a localhabitation of their own. In some placesthe effo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksub, booksubjectworldhistory
