Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1836. DOCTOR — DOG— APPEAKANCE. 627 kangaroos, in a kind of hunting dance, was exceedingly good and interesting. The whole exhibition lasted more than an hour, during most of which time upwards of a hundred savages were exerting themselves in jumping and stamping as if their lives depended on their energetic movements. There was a boy who appeared to be idiotic, or afflicted with a kind of fit ; but the man who was holding him seemed to be quite unconcerned about his convulsive eiForts, saying, " by and bye he would be a doctor" (as I was told by a resident who understood the lan- guage), which reminded me of what Falkner says of the Pata- gonians.* After the corobbery the natives collected round the house where the feast was preparing ; and it will not be easy to forget the screams of delight that burst from old and young as they looked in at the door and saw the tub in which their rice was smoking. Before the food was distributed they were told to sit down, which they immediately did, in a circle round the house. They separated, of their own accord, into families, each little party lighting a small fire before them. Their behaviour, and patience, were very remarkable and pleasing. One family had a native dog, which in size, colour, and shape, was like a fox, excepting that the nose was not quite so sharp, nor the tail so bushy. Most of the aborigines had rather good countenances, and well-formed heads, as compared with those about Sydney, or in Van Diemen's land. The lathy thinness of their persons, which seemed totally destitute of fat, and almost without flesh, is very remarkable. I have since seen some drawings of South African aborigines, executed under the critical eye of Doctor Andrew Smith, by the correct hand of Mr. Charles Bell, which are so like the natives who live near Kins George Sound in colour, as well as countenance, and extraordinaiy shape, that they might be taken for full-length portraits of the latter instead of Africans. Many of these natives have features smaller and less marked than are usual among savages ; but their foreheads are higher and more full : they are not tall, few exceeding five feet eight * Page 163. 2 s2