Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 21

In these casual meetings of natives it occasionally happens that several women kneel together, crying and embracing the knees of some old savage, who stands erect in the midst of the group, with a proud and lordly air, whilst they cower to the earth around him; sometimes they have children slung at their backs, and these little things may be seen unconsciously playing with their mothers' hair whilst this mournful scene is enacting.

PUNCTILIOS OF FORM.

Some old women are scrupulously punctilious about the performance of all these matters of etiquette, attaching a degree of importance to them which, in the eyes of civilized man, approaches the ludicrous; but they look upon them in a very different light. I have seen a number of these sticklers for form kneeling round a little boy not more than six or seven years old, lamenting most bitterly, the little fellow meanwhile preserving in his countenance and bearing all the gravity and dignity which a man could have exhibited.

CHAPTER 14. FOOD AND HUNTING.

ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF FOOD OF NATIVES.

The mistake very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia is to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many almost humorous instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this point. They lament in their journals that the unfortunate Aborigines should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on certain sorts of food which they have found near their huts; whereas in many instances the articles thus quoted by them are those which the natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor nutritious qualities. I will give one remarkable example of an error of this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those who frequent European towns and the outskirts of population are soon compelled by the force of circ.u.mstances to depart, in a great measure, from their original habits.

Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (volume 1 page 118):

Among other things we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum of the mimosa, and vast quant.i.ties of gum made into cakes upon the ground. From this it would appear that these unfortunate creatures were reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food.

The gum of the mimosa, thus referred to, is a favourite article of food amongst the natives, and when it is in season they a.s.semble in large numbers upon plains of the character previously described by Captain Sturt in order to enjoy this luxury. The profusion in which this gum is found enables large bodies to meet together, which, from their subsistence being derived from wild animals and vegetables of spontaneous growth, they can only do when some particular article is in full season, or when a whale is thrown ash.o.r.e. In order more fully to show how little the habits of this people have been understood I may state with regard to this very gum, called by the natives kwon-nat, that about the time the above account was published by Captain Sturt an expedition was sent out from King George's Sound in Western Australia in order to discover what was the nature of the article of food so loudly praised by them, and which they stated was to be found in certain districts in great profusion; the belief at that time being, from the accounts given of it, that it could be only a new and valuable species of grain. The exploring party did not attain their object, and to this day many of the settlers believe the kwon-nat to be a kind of corn.

FOOD PLENTIFUL. VARIETIES OF IT IN DIFFERENT LAt.i.tUDES.

Generally speaking the natives live well; in some districts there may at particular seasons of the year be a deficiency of food, but if such is the case these tracts are at those times deserted. It is however utterly impossible for a traveller or even for a strange native to judge whether a district affords an abundance of food or the contrary; for in traversing extensive parts of Australia I have found the sorts of food vary from lat.i.tude to lat.i.tude, so that the vegetable productions used by the Aborigines in one are totally different to those in another; if therefore a stranger has no one to point out to him the vegetable productions, the soil beneath his feet may teem with food whilst he starves. The same rule holds good with regard to animal productions; for example in the southern parts of the continent the Xanthorrhoea affords an inexhaustible supply of fragrant grubs, which an epicure would delight in when once he has so far conquered his prejudices as to taste them; whilst in proceeding to the northward these trees decline in health and growth, until about the parallel of Gantheaume Bay they totally disappear, and even a native finds himself cut off from his ordinary supplies of insects; the same circ.u.mstances taking place with regard to the roots and other kinds of food at the same time, the traveller necessarily finds himself reduced to cruel extremities. A native from the plains, taken into an elevated mountainous district near his own country for the first time, is equally at fault.

VARIED WITH THE SEASONS.

But in his own district a native is very differently situated; he knows exactly what it produces, the proper time at which the several articles are in season, and the readiest means of procuring them. According to these circ.u.mstances he regulates his visits to the different portions of his hunting ground; and I can only state that I have always found the greatest abundance in their huts.

CAUSES OF OCCASIONAL WANT.

There are however two periods of the year when they are at times subjected to the pangs of hunger: these are in the hottest time of summer and in the height of the rainy season. At the former period the heat renders them so excessively indolent that until forced by want they will not move, and at the latter they suffer so severely from the cold and rain that I have known them remain for two successive days at their huts without quitting the fire; and even when they do quit it they always carry a fire-stick with them, which greatly embarra.s.ses their movements.

In all ordinary seasons however they can obtain in two or three hours a sufficient supply of food for the day, but their usual custom is to roam indolently from spot to spot, lazily collecting it as they wander along.

LIST OF EDIBLE ARTICLES.

That an accurate idea may be formed of the quant.i.ty and kinds of food which they obtain, I have given below a list of those in use amongst the aborigines of South-western Australia which I have seen them collect and eat; and I will, in the order in which they stand on this list, show the mode of obtaining them, and the way in which they are cooked.

Different articles of food eaten by the natives of Western Australia:

Six sorts of kangaroo.

Twenty-nine sorts of fish.

One kind of whale.

Two species of seal.

Wild dogs.

Three kinds of turtle.

Emus, wild turkeys, and birds of every kind.

Two species of opossum.

Eleven kinds of frogs.

Four kinds of freshwater sh.e.l.lfish.

All salt.w.a.ter sh.e.l.lfish, except oysters.

Four kinds of grubs.

Eggs of every species of bird or lizard.

Five animals, something smaller in size than rabbits.

Eight sorts of snakes.

Seven sorts of iguana.

Nine species of mice and small rats.

Twenty-nine sorts of roots.

Seven kinds of fungus.

Four sorts of gum.

Two sorts of manna.

Two species of by-yu, or the nut of the Zamia palm.

Two species of mesembryanthemum.

Two kinds of nut.

Four sorts of fruit.

The flower of several species of Banksia.

One kind of earth, which they pound and mix with the root of the mene.

The seeds of several species of leguminous plants.

It will be necessary however before commencing this sketch to give an outline of the weapons and implements with which the different animals are caught and killed, and the vegetable productions procured.

EQUIPMENT FOR A HUNT. IMPLEMENTS FOR DESTROYING ANIMALS.

The natives nearly always carry the whole of their worldly property about with them, and the Australian hunter is thus equipped: round his middle is wound, in many folds, a cord spun from the fur of the opossum, which forms a warm, soft and elastic belt of an inch in thickness, in which are stuck his hatchet, his kiley or boomerang, and a short heavy stick to throw at the smaller animals. His hatchet is so ingeniously placed that the head of it rests exactly on the centre of his back, whilst its thin short handle descends along the backbone. In his hand he carries his throwing-stick and several spears, headed in two or three different manners so that they are equally adapted to war or the chase. A warm kangaroo skin cloak completes his equipment in the southern portions of the continent; but I have never seen a native with a cloak anywhere to the north of 29 degrees south lat.i.tude.

DESCRIPTION AND USE OF THE WEAPONS.

These weapons, although apparently so simple, are admirably adapted for the purposes they are intended to serve. The spear when projected from the throwing-stick forms as effectual a weapon as the bow and arrow, whilst at the same time it is much less liable to be injured, and it possesses over the bow and arrow the advantage of being useful to poke out kangaroo-rats and opossums from hollow trees, to knock off gum from high branches, to pull down the cones from the Banksia trees, and for many other purposes.

The hatchet is used to cut up the larger kinds of game and to make holes in the trees the owner is about to climb. The kiley is thrown into flights of wild-fowl and c.o.c.katoos, and with the dow-uk, a short heavy stick, they knock over the smaller kinds of game much in the same manner that poachers do hares and rabbits in England.

CONTENTS OF THE WOMEN'S BAG OR WALLET.

Thus equipped the father of the family stalks forth, and at a respectful distance behind him follow the women; a long thick stick, the point of which has been hardened in the fire, is in each of their hands, a child or two fixed in their bags or upon their shoulders, and in the deep recesses of these mysterious bags they carry moreover sundry articles which const.i.tute the wealth of the Australian savage. These are however worthy of a particular enumeration, as this will make plain the domestic economy of one of these barbarian housewives.

The contents of a native woman's bag are: A flat stone to pound roots with; earth to mix with the pounded roots; quartz, for the purpose of making spears and knives; stones for hatchets; prepared cakes of gum, to make and mend weapons and implements; kangaroo sinews to make spears and to sew with; needles made of the s.h.i.+n-bones of kangaroos, with which they sew their cloaks, bags, etc.; opossum hair to be spun into waist belts; shavings of kangaroo skins to polish spears, etc.; the sh.e.l.l of a species of mussel to cut hair, etc., with; native knives; a native hatchet; pipe-clay; red ochre, or burnt clay; yellow ochre, a piece of paperbark to carry water in; waistbands and spare ornaments; pieces of quartz which the native doctors have extracted from their patients, and thus cured them from diseases; these they preserve as carefully as Europeans do relics. Banksia cones (small ones) or pieces of a dry white species of fungus to kindle fire with rapidly and to convey it from place to place; grease, if they can procure it from a whale, or from any other source; the spare weapons of their husbands, or the pieces of wood from which these are to be manufactured; the roots, etc., which they have collected during the day. Skins not yet prepared for cloaks are generally carried between the bag and the back, so as to form a sort of cus.h.i.+on for the bag to rest on.

In general each woman carries a lighted fire-stick, or brand, under her cloak and in her hand.

DIFFERENT METHODS OF CATCHING KANGAROOS.

Imagining several parties of this kind, headed by one of the young men, to be moving through the woods, let us follow them and watch their mode of procuring and cooking their different varieties of food.

MANNER OF HUNTING A KANGAROO SINGLY.

The moment an Australian savage commences his day's hunting his whole manner and appearance undergo a wondrous change: his eyes, before heavy and listless, brighten up, and are never for a moment fixed on one object; his gait and movements, which were indolent and slow, become quick and restless yet noiseless; he moves along with a rapid stealthy pace, his glance roving from side to side in a vigilant uneasy manner, arising from his eagerness to detect signs of game and his fears of hidden foes. The earth, the water, the trees, the skies, each are in turn subjected to a rigid scrutiny, and from the most insignificant circ.u.mstances he deduces omens. His head is held erect and his progress is uncertain, in a moment his pace is checked, he stands in precisely the position of motion as if suddenly transfixed, nothing about him stirs but his eyes, they glance uneasily from side to side whilst the head and every muscle seem immoveable; but the white eyeb.a.l.l.s may be seen in rapid motion, whilst all his faculties are concentrated, and his whole soul is absorbed in the senses of sight and hearing. His wives, who are at some distance behind him, the moment they see him a.s.sume this att.i.tude fall to the ground as if they had been shot; their children cower by them, and their little faces express an earnestness and anxiousness which is far beyond their years; at length a suppressed whistle is given by one of the women, which denotes that she sees a kangaroo near her husband. All is again silence and quietude; and an unpractised European would ride within a few yards of the group and not perceive a living thing.

Looking about a hundred yards to the right of the native, you will see a kangaroo erect upon its hind legs and supported by its tail; it is reared to its utmost height, so that its head is between five and six feet above the ground--its short fore-paws hang by its side, its ears are pointed, it is listening as carefully as the native, and you see a little head peering out from its pouch to enquire what has alarmed its mother; but the native moves not, you cannot tell whether it is a human being or the charred trunk of a burnt tree which is before you, and for several minutes the whole group preserve their relative position; at length the kangaroo becomes rea.s.sured, drops upon its fore-paws, gives an awkward leap or two, and goes on feeding, the little inhabitant of its pouch stretching its head farther out, tasting the gra.s.s its mother is eating, and evidently debating whether or not it is safe to venture out of its resting place and gamble about amongst the green dewy herbage.