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Show SUPREME IN THEIR OWN ENVIRONMENT Australian Natives Masters of Woodcraft. Among the wonders of empire are living men of the Stone age whose forefathers saw the rise and decay of all bygone civilizations. Ignorant as they seem to us, the aborigines of Australia in their own environment are as much in advance of our most brilliant scientists as our scientists are in advance of the average man. Our cleverest men would starve to death if dropped down without food, clothing, or weapons in the heart of Australia, but the Stone age men thrive and flourish in such conditions. They live solely by hunting, their knowledge of the habits of wild things being uncanny. If they were not the world's most marvelous trackers they would have died out ages ago. They can read every scratch and mark on the ground as easily as you read this paper, and can tell whether the creature they are chasing is young or old, what It is doing, and where it is going. They eat anything, even snakes and lizards, and once they get on its track a creature is doomed, for they never give up until they get it. Nor do they make the mistake, common to the whites, of trying to dig out of its burrow an animal that is not at home. Their crude form of writing by burning or carving dots and lines on sticks stick messages enables them to send any information by runner to distant members of their tribes. But even more wonderful are their smoke messages. They seem to converse in smoke as easily as the airplane writes In smoke In our own skies. Starting the fire by rubbing one piece of wood against another, they select their materials in the most careful manner. Familiar with the type of smoke given off by different woods, they make smoke of various densities and colors, thick clouds, light spirals, or flurries In brown, yellow, black, blue, or pink ; and every ev-ery change of color and form has its meaning in their age-old code. cient Inhabitants were In the habit of digging two large pits, one of which was for washing, the other for cooking. Stones heated red-hot were thrown In, and upon these were laid the meat bound in green bulrushes; upon this again was placed another heap of hot stones, and so on, until the required quantity was disposed of. Montreal Family Herald. Perpetuating Language Languages, like our bodies, are in a perpetual flux, and stand in need of recruits to supply those words that are continually falling, through disuse. dis-use. Felton. |