The Australian aboriginal

by Herbert Basedow

Let us study these interesting-looking people more closely and endeavour to find out their characteristic features, and in what respects they differ from ourselves. At the same time, let us in passing ascertain to what degree they resemble us and other peoples, past or present, and what peculiarities they might share with the man-apes or lower forms of the animal kingdom.

What immediately appeals to our critical eye is the strong contrast in the general outline of the figure when we compare it with our own. The round, full contours and shapely exterior of the European are replaced by an angularity and straightness in the aboriginal. The surface-padding or, more correctly, the subcutaneous deposition of fatty tissue, which makes the lines and curves of our bodies so uniform—and the female figure so beautiful—is, to a large extent, the result of long selective culture and of the comforts which civilized life has brought with it. In the case of the aboriginal, however, the forethought of Nature has not allowed the development of such paddings of fat to any considerable amount; they would only tend to impede the agility of the hardy desert roamer. He does not need a thick layer of fat beneath his skin. From an artistic point of view, the leanness of his body is quite becoming to himself. He lives in a country whose climate is hot, and his healthy hunting-life makes him immune from many of the ills to which the city dweller is heir. As a reserve storage of heat and nourishment, therefore, which might be called upon to aid his physiological constitution in times of need, the quantity of superfluous fat can safely be reduced to a minimum. Nature has given enough, but not a measure in excess. Thus, without any indication of unhealthy emaciation, the integumentary accumulation of fat is so scant that parts of the internal anatomy of an aboriginal can readily be deciphered topographically. We can follow the shape of the superficial muscles and of the skeleton, and can palpate the outline of the abdominal organs with comparative ease. Although the muscles are small, they are, nevertheless, strong, firm, and wiry; this is particularly noticeable in the extremities.

It is a curious fact, however, that there is a natural predisposition in the aboriginal to produce fatty tissue once he gives up his active hunting career, like a sportsman out of training, and to develop a perceptible obesity when he lives under conditions which supply him daily with an abundance of nourishment. Under such circumstances, which are of course abnormal and only brought about by European influence, his skin is very apt to accumulate locally masses of fat known medically as lipomas. The Arunndta natives call these tumours “lurra,” and connect their appearance upon their bodies with heavy weight-carrying. It is, indeed, a noteworthy fact that these fatty tumours frequently occur upon the shoulders of aboriginal wood-carriers, who are in the habit of collecting logs of timber for camp or station purposes.

Associated with the angularity and flatness of the bodily form, we notice, when looking upon the figure of an aboriginal in profile, and comparing it with that of an European in a similar position, a straightness of the spine. If, for instance, we were to make an accurate drawing of the spinal curvatures of the two subjects shown in [Plate II], we would find that the line representing the spinal column of the aboriginal gin would be very straight in the centre of the back, that is, in the dorsal segment; in fact it would be found that the dorsal curve is very slight. Careful comparisons have been made with frozen corpses of different races and the man-apes, bisected in the mesial plane, and it has been determined that this portion of the spine is flatter in the Australian aboriginal than in any other race of man; and indeed it is flatter than in the chimpanzee. Moreover, a larger number of vertebræ are involved in the dorsal curve of the Australian than there are in the other cases.

In the European subject of our illustration—a young Australian lady—the lumbo-sacral curve, known usually as the ensellure, is unusually prominent.

If now we examine the curvature of that portion of the backbone which constitutes the neck, we shall find it less pronounced in the European but strongly developed in the Australian aboriginal.

But perhaps the greatest difference between the two types is the manner in which the curvature breaks from the lumbar to the sacral portions of the spine. In the European this break is sharp and angular; in the Australian it is very gradual on account of a peculiar oblique position of the last lumbar vertebra. Should we, again, extend our observation to the chimpanzee, we would find that a number of the sacral vertebræ are included in the lumbar curve. Consequently the aboriginal’s spine seems to occupy an interesting position in which the last lumbar vertebra stands almost as a connecting link between the lumbar curve above and the sacral curve immediately below it.

The lumbar curve is greater in the European than in the Australian, but it is decidedly greater in the chimpanzee. The difference in curvature is brought about mainly by the discs of cartilage which exist between the vertebræ, and that is why there is a considerable movement possible in the lumbar portion of the spine of the lower races of man; and it is quite possible that the lumbar curvature alters according to the position adopted by the individual, that is, according to whether he be in a standing or in his favourite squatting posture. In the European the corresponding portion of the spine is much more rigid.

The proportional lengths of cervical, dorsal, and lumbar spinal sections are much the same in both European and Australian, but there are considerable differences in the two spines so far as the proportions of the bony vertebræ and the intervertebral discs of cartilage are concerned, especially in the lumbar region. The lumbar vertebræ of the European are shorter than are those of the Australian, and the latter again are shorter than those of the man-apes. In other words, the lengths of the bones, which build up the lumbar portion of the spinal column, increase (i.e. in proportion to the size of the column as a whole) as one passes from the most highly cultured European through the primitive human stages, like the aboriginal of Australia, to the anthropoid apes, and finally to the lower types of monkeys. At the same time, as the length of the vertebræ increases, a reduction in the thickness of the cartilaginous discs takes place.