So much for the seat of the pigmentation. If we now enquire into the actual complexion, or colour-tint, of the aboriginal’s skin, the question is not so easily satisfied as one might have thought. The colour is, of course, brown—a soft, velvety brown, like chocolate. Scientists tell us it is about the same as tint No. 3 of the colour scheme on Plate III, Notes and Queries on Anthropology, London. But the matter is not so simple as one might be led to believe. To begin with, we have not a homogeneous colouration before us. If, for instance, we wanted to paint a picture of an aboriginal, we would mix a fundamental chocolate-brown to deck the surface with; to obtain the shade of the back we should have to mix a blue or green with the brown; whereas the cheeks and chin would require a yellow or red. The intensity of pigmentation varies to a noticeable degree; it is deepest on the back and neck, and along the folds of the skin. The soles and palms are always very much lighter in colour than the rest of the body.
Environment plays an important role, because a native’s skin has the remarkable power of what might be termed complimentary colour-adaptation, as a result of which a hard and fast definition, or fixing, of the shade is practically impossible. For this same reason it is conceivable why the sombre hue of the hunter’s skin becomes neutralized by the sallowness of the arid Central Australian scrub, as well as by the deeply-shaded verdure of the tropical jungle. Upon a clear day, with an open, blue sky, an aboriginal always appears dark or dingy, while on a dull and cloudy day, his skin is more of a chocolate-brown; when he is swimming in the open sea, his colour may even become coppery and seem not much darker than that of a Javanese.
The adaptable tone-characteristics of their skin are well-known to the natives themselves, not only while in the hunting field and on the warpath, but also on the playground. At Opparinna, in the Musgrave Ranges, children were seen indulging in a game resembling “hide and seek,” and often, in an endeavour to avoid the keen eye of the “seeker,” one would duck in amongst the boulders of granite and imitate the rust-coloured contours of a boulder to perfection.
PLATE VI
1. Wongapitcha woman, wearing “ungwaina” (nose-stick), and fur-string bandeau.
2. Wongapitcha woman, wearing bloodwood seed pendants called “dindula.” Note “Semitic” nose.
We know that the climate has an important bearing upon the subject of pigmentation in all races. Most of us have had our faces, hands, and other exposed parts of our body bronzed when holiday-making at the seaside. If we come straight from indoor life in the city, we might, in addition, find our skin develop a badly blistered condition known as sunburn. Yet the bushman, the coach-driver, or the sailor, who, by long exposure, has acquired a more or less permanent tan, can bask with impunity in the severest rays of the sun.
Exactly the same processes take place in the coloured man’s skin. When cruising about the north coast, I frequently had occasion to observe that my Malay crew were more bronzed above than below the belt. This was obviously caused through continued exposure to the tropical sun, since during the heat of day they would work, or lie about on deck, wearing nothing else than a serong hanging from their waist.