Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 22

Meantime the native moves not until the kangaroo, having two or three times resumed the att.i.tude of listening, and having like a monkey scratched its side with its fore-paw, at length once more abandons itself in perfect security to its feed, and playfully smells and rubs its little one. Now the watchful savage, keeping his body unmoved, fixes the spear first in the throwing-stick, and then raises his arms in the att.i.tude of throwing, from which they are never again moved until the kangaroo dies or runs away; his spear being properly secured, he advances slowly and stealthily towards his prey, no part moving but his legs; whenever the kangaroo looks round he stands motionless in the position he is in when it first raises its head, until the animal, again a.s.sured of its safety, gives a skip or two and goes on feeding; again the native advances, and this scene is repeated many times until the whistling spear penetrates the devoted animal; then the wood rings with shouts; women and children all join pell-mell in the chase; the kangaroo, weak from the loss of blood, and embarra.s.sed by the long spear which catches in the brushwood as it flies, at length turns on its pursuers, and to secure its rear places its back against a tree, preparing at the same time to rend open the breast and entrails of its pursuer by seizing him in its fore-paws and kicking with its hind legs and claws; but the wily native keeps clear of so murderous an embrace, and from the distance of a few yards throws spears into its breast until the exhausted animal falls and is then soon despatched; when, with the a.s.sistance of his wives, he takes its forelegs over his left, and the hind legs over his right shoulder, and totters with his burden to some convenient resting place, where they can enjoy their meal.

HUNTING IN PARTIES IN THE BUSH.

The chase of the kangaroo conducted by a number of natives is a much more lively and noisy affair, but it is not to my taste nearly so interesting.

When a single native hunts you see the whole energy and perseverance of which a savage is capable called forth, and his graceful movements, cautious advance, the air of quietude and repose which pervade his frame when his prey is alarmed, all involuntarily call forth your admiration and compel you to murmur to yourself, "how beautiful, how very beautiful." But where a party hunt there is more bustle and animation in the scene; and this kind of hunting is called "Yowart-a-kaipoon," or kangaroo-surrounding. The animals which are to be killed by a party who proceed for this purpose are either surprised in a thick bushy place, where they have retired to lie down in the heat of the day, or else in an open plain; in the former case they are tracked to their retreat, and the party then encircling it first ascertain that they have not quitted it; as each native takes up his position he gives a low whistle, and when the blockade is completed they fire the bushes; the frighted animals now fly from the flames in the direction of the open plains, but no sooner do they reach the outskirts of the wood than the bushes are fired in the direction in which they are running, and they are driven back by loud calls and terrific cries, which augment their terror, and they run wildly about; until, becoming maddened by fear, they make a rush through the midst of their enemies, who allow but few of their victims to escape.

IN THE PLAINS.

When kangaroos are surrounded upon a plain the point generally chosen is an open bottom surrounded by wood; each native has his position a.s.signed him by some of the elder ones, and a great deal of art and caution are sometimes required to gain it; for this end they avail themselves of every inequality of the ground, of every bush, of every shrub, and as there are so many witnesses of their skill and cunning they put forth all their art to approach as near the kangaroos as possible without disturbing them, and thus the circle narrows in around the unconscious animals, till at last some one of them becomes alarmed and bounds away, but ere it has proceeded many yards its flight is arrested by a savage with fearful yells; terrified it sits down with its frightened comrades to look for a means of escape, but armed natives brandis.h.i.+ng their spears and raising loud cries come running in upon them from every side; and ere the animals have recovered the first moments of terror and surprise a slaughter has already commenced, which seldom terminates before the greater number of them have fallen.

These great public hunts or battues are conducted under certain rules.

The proprietor of the land must have invited the other natives, and must be present himself, for should these regulations be violated a very b.l.o.o.d.y fight is certain to take place. The first spear which strikes a kangaroo determines whose property the dead animal is to be; it being no matter how slight the wound may have been; even if a boy threw the spear the rule holds good, and if the animal killed is one which by their laws a boy is not allowed to eat, then his right pa.s.ses on to his father or eldest male relation. The cries of the hunters, as they ring through the ancient woods, are very expressive and beautiful, each different intonation belonging to a particular period of the hunt. And what renders them peculiarly effective is that, instead of beginning as we always do with a soft aspiration, as in Hollo, Ho, etc., their cries always commence with a harsh sound, as kau; and this circ.u.mstance enables them to talk at a great distance so as to be perfectly intelligible to one another. Sometimes in deep wooded valleys I have heard gentle fairy-like sounds coming down from the heights, and rendered so soft and sweet by distance that one might readily have fancied them to be supernatural, yet the natives with me readily understood them, and shouted back their reply: this harsh commencement of their shout gives one also a terrible start when surprised in a murderous attack.

HUNTING KANGAROO BY THE TRACKS.

Four other modes of taking kangaroos are practised by the natives: these are, catching them in nets, in pitfalls, lying in wait near their watering places until they come to drink, and constantly following their tracks until the animals are so wearied out that they will allow the huntsman to approach near enough to spear them. Of these four modes the last two are the most interesting, and the former is thus practised: in a dry district, where numerous animals congregate from a great distance to drink at a solitary water, the huntsman constructs a rude shelter in which for hours he remains concealed and motionless until the thirsty animals approach; kangaroos, c.o.c.katoos, pigeons, and all other beings that run and fly are in this case indiscriminately sacrificed, and the patient endurance of the hunter is generally richly rewarded by the booty he obtains.

But the mode of tracking a kangaroo until it is wearied out is the one which beyond all others excites the admiration of the natives; this calls out every qualification prized by savages: skill in tracking, endurance of hunger and thirst, unwearied bodily exertion, and lasting perseverance. To perform this feat a native starts upon the tracks of a kangaroo, which he follows until he sights it, when it flies timidly before him; again he pursues the track, and again the animal bounds from him; and this is repeated until nightfall, when the native lights his fire and sleeps upon the track; with the first light of day the hunt is resumed, and towards the close of the second day, or in the course of the third, the kangaroo falls a victim to its pursuer. None but a skilful huntsman in the pride of youth and strength can perform this feat, and one who has frequently practised it always enjoys great renown amongst his fellows.

COOKING A KANGAROO.

Before they commence cooking the kangaroo an incision is made round the base of the tail to the bone, and another incision skin deep round the tip. The skin is then pulled away from the other part with all the sinews of the tail attached to it, and these are drawn carefully out and at once rolled round the dowuk, so as to keep them stretched: their future use is either to sew cloaks and bags, or to make spears.

Two modes of cooking the kangaroo are common; the first is to make an oven by digging a hole in the sand, in which a fire is lighted; when the sand is well heated and a large heap of ashes is collected the hole is sc.r.a.ped out and the kangaroo is placed in it, skin and all; it is then covered over with ashes, and a slow fire is kept up above it; when sufficiently baked it is taken out and laid upon its back; the first incision is made directly down from between the forearms to the bottom of the abdomen, the intestines are then removed, and the whole of the juice or gravy is left in the body of the animal. This is carefully taken out and the body is then cut up and eaten.

The other mode is simply to kill the kangaroo and then to broil the different portions of it on the fire: certain parts are considered great delicacies, and these the young men are forbidden to eat; such are the blood, the entrails, and the marrow. The blood is always carefully collected in one of the intestines so as to form a long sausage and is afterwards eaten by the most influential man present.

METHODS OF TAKING AND COOKING FISH.

It will be seen from the foregoing list that the smaller sorts of fish eaten by the natives are very numerous: there are however several kinds which from superst.i.tious prejudices they will not touch; amongst these are the Bamba, or stingray. I should here observe that these prejudices are local, and I have seen them reject at one portion of the continent articles of food which at a distant part they will eat readily.

Three modes of taking fish are commonly practised: spearing them; catching them by means of a weir; and taking them in a net. A party of natives spearing fish in one of their large shallow estuaries is an extremely picturesque sight; they follow all the tortuous windings of the fish they are pursuing, as it darts about in the water, with great rapidity; and, the object of their pursuit being concealed from a distant spectator, they appear to be running about in the sea and das.h.i.+ng up the foam for no conceivable cause or reason. Notwithstanding the speed they are running with and the smallness of the object, in striking they rarely miss their aim. In deep rivers or in the sea the mode of spearing fish varies according to the circ.u.mstances of the case; sometimes it is done by diving, sometimes by sitting on a rock or tree and watching them as they pa.s.s underneath; but in all cases astonishment is excited to see the celerity and accuracy with which the eye and hand act in the nicest unison.

Weirs are only constructed across places which are left nearly dry at low-water, or when the floods subside; and the way in which fish are taken in the net offers nothing remarkable.

METHODS OF COOKING FISH.

If the fish are not cooked by being merely thrown on the fire and broiled they dress them in a manner worthy of being adopted by the most civilized nations; this is called "Yudarn dookoon," or "tying-up cooking." A piece of thick and tender paperbark is selected and torn into an oblong form; the fish is laid in this, and the bark wrapped round it as paper is folded round a cutlet; strings formed of gra.s.s are then wound tightly about the bark and fish, which is then slowly baked in heated sand covered with hot ashes; when it is completed the bark is opened and serves as a dish: it is of course full of juice and gravy, not a drop of which has escaped. Several of the smaller sorts of freshwater fish, in size and taste resembling white-bait, are really delicious when cooked in this manner; they occasionally also dress pieces of kangaroo and other meats in the same way.

FEASTING ON A STRANDED WHALE.

A whale is the greatest delicacy that a native can partake of, and, whilst standing beside the giant frame of one of these monsters of the deep, he can only be compared to a mouse standing before a huge plum-cake; in either case the ma.s.s of the food compared to that of the consumer is enormous. It is impossible for civilized man to enter into the feelings of the savage under these circ.u.mstances, for he has never been similarly situated. He never has had such a quant.i.ty of food that he doats on placed at once before him; hence when a native proprietor of an estate in Australia finds a whale thrown ash.o.r.e upon his property his whole feelings undergo a sudden revulsion. Instead of being churlishly afraid of the slightest aggression on his property his heart expands with benevolence, and he longs to see his friends about him; so he falls to work with his wives and kindles large fires to give notice of the joyful event.

This duty being performed, he rubs himself all over with the blubber, then anoints his favourite wives, and thus prepared cuts his way through the blubber into the flesh or beef, the grain of which is about as firm as a goose-quill, of this he selects the nicest morsels, and either broils them on the fire or cooks them as kabobs by cutting them into small pieces and spitting them on a pointed stick.

By and bye other natives come gaily trooping in from all quarters: by night they dance and sing, and by day they eat and sleep, and for days this revelry continues unchecked, until they at last fairly eat their way into the whale, and you see them climbing in and about the stinking carcase, choosing t.i.t-bits. In general the natives are very particular about not eating meat that is fly-blown or tainted, but when a whale is in question this nicety of appet.i.te vanishes. I attribute this to their disliking in the first instance to leave the carcase, and then gradually getting accustomed to its smell; but whatever may be the reason they remain by the carcase for many days, rubbed from head to foot with stinking blubber, gorged to repletion with putrid meat, out of temper from indigestion, and therefore engaged in constant frays, suffering from a cutaneous disorder by high feeding, and altogether a disgusting spectacle. There is no sight in the world more revolting than to see a young and gracefully formed native girl stepping out of the carcase of a putrid whale. When they at last quit their feast they carry off as much as they can stagger under, to eat upon the way, and to take as a rarity to their distant friends.

MODE OF KILLING SEALS AND WILD DOGS.

Killing seals is, from the habits of these animals, necessarily an exciting species of hunting in the southern and western portions of the continent. It is only enjoyed by the natives when they can surprise a seal upon the beach or in the surf, or when they swim off to some of the small rocky islands which are connected with the main by reefs, and are at no great distance from it; they are themselves fond of this sport, and the clambering about the wild rocks of their native sh.o.r.e, at one time leaping from rock to rock, spearing fish that lie in the quiet pools, in the next moment das.h.i.+ng into the boisterous surf to spear a large fish, to battle with a seal, or to turn a turtle, cannot but be an exhilarating occupation; and when to this we add that their steps are followed by a wife and children, as dear to them as ours are to us, who are witnesses of their agility and prowess, and who, when the game is killed, will help to light the fire in which it is to be cooked, and drag it to the resting-place, where the father romps with the little ones until the meal is prepared, and that all this takes place in a climate so mild and genial that a house is not necessary, we shall perhaps the less wonder that it should be so difficult to induce a savage to embrace the customs of civilized life.

There is nothing peculiar in their mode of killing wild dogs; puppies are of course the greatest delicacy, and are often feasted on; they sometimes however save these in order to keep them in a domesticated state, and in this case one of the elder females of the family suckles them at her own breast and soon grows almost as fond of them as of children. A dog is baked whole in the same manner as a kangaroo; it is laid on its back in the hole in the heated sand, and its nose, fore-paws and hind-paws are left sticking out of the ashes which are sc.r.a.ped over it, so that it bears rather a ludicrous appearance.

MODE OF KILLING TURTLE AND c.o.c.kATOOS.

The green turtle are surprised by the natives on the beach when they come to lay their eggs, and are very rarely taken much to the south of Shark Bay, but freshwater turtle are extremely abundant, and are in high season about December and January. At this time the natives a.s.semble near the freshwater lakes and lagoons in large numbers; these natural reservoirs are then shrunk to their lowest limits from evaporation and other causes, and are thickly overgrown with reeds and rushes. Among these the natives wade with stealthy pace, so stealthy that they even creep upon wild-fowl and spear them. The habits of the turtle are to swim lazily along near the surface of the water, about half immersed, biting and smelling at the various aquatic plants which they pa.s.s, and turning their long ungainly necks in all directions. When alarmed by the approach of a native the turtle instantly sinks to the bottom like a stone, and its pursuer, putting out his foot, the toes of which he uses to seize anything, just as we do our fingers, gropes about with it in the weeds, until he feels the turtle, and then, holding it to the ground, plunges his hands and arms in and seizes his prey. I have known two or three of them to catch fourteen turtle, none of which weighed less than one, and many of them as much as two or three pounds, in the course of a very short time.

These freshwater turtle are cooked by being baked, sh.e.l.l and all, in the hot ashes; when they are done a single pull removes the bottom sh.e.l.l, and the whole animal remains in the upper one, which serves as a dish. They are generally very fat, and are really delicate and delicious eating; the natives are extremely fond of them, and the turtle season is looked forward to by them as a very important period of the year.

BIRDS.

Birds form a very considerable article of food for the natives, and their modes of killing them are so various that it would be impossible to enumerate them all. Emus are killed in precisely the same manner as kangaroos, but as they are more prized by the natives a greater degree of excitement prevails when an emu is slain; shout succeeds shout, and the distant natives take up the cry until it is sometimes re-echoed for miles: yet the feast which follows the death is a very exclusive one; the flesh is by far too delicious to be made a common article of food, hence heavy penalties are p.r.o.nounced against young men and unauthorized persons who venture to touch it, and these are invariably rigidly enforced.

KILLING c.o.c.kATOOS.

Perhaps as fine a sight as can be seen in the whole circle of native sports is the killing c.o.c.katoos with the kiley, or boomerang. A native perceives a large flight of c.o.c.katoos in a forest which encircles a lagoon; the expanse of water affords an open clear s.p.a.ce above it, unenc.u.mbered with trees, but which raise their gigantic forms all around, more vigorous in their growth from the damp soil in which they flourish; and in their leafy summits sit a countless number of c.o.c.katoos, screaming and flying from tree to tree, as they make their arrangements for a night's sound sleep. The native throws aside his cloak so that he may not even have this slight covering to impede his motions, draws his kiley from his belt, and with a noiseless, elastic step approaches the lagoon, creeping from tree to tree, from bush to bush, and disturbing the birds as little as possible; their sentinels however take the alarm, the c.o.c.katoos farthest from the water fly to the trees near its edge, and thus they keep concentrating their forces as the native advances; they are aware that danger is at hand but are ignorant of its nature. At length the pursuer almost reaches the edge of the water, and the scared c.o.c.katoos, with wild cries, spring into the air; at the same instant the native raises his right hand high over his shoulder, and, bounding forward with his utmost speed for a few paces to give impetus to his blow, the kiley quits his hand as if it would strike the water, but when it has almost touched the unruffled surface of the lake it spins upwards with inconceivable velocity, and with the strangest contortions. In vain the terrified c.o.c.katoos strive to avoid it; it sweeps wildly and uncertainly through the air, and so eccentric are its motions that it requires but a slight stretch of the imagination to fancy it endowed with life, and with fell swoops is in rapid pursuit of the devoted birds, some of whom are almost certain to be brought screaming to the earth.

But the wily savage has not yet done with them. He avails himself of the extraordinary attachment which these birds have for one another, and, fastening a wounded one to a tree, so that its cries may induce its companions to return, he watches his opportunity by throwing his kiley or spear to add another bird or two to the booty he has already obtained.

MODE OF KILLING WILD-FOWL.

The various kinds of wild-fowl with which the rivers and lagoons of Australia abound afford a never-failing supply of food to the natives, and many are the arts to which they have recourse to entrap these wary birds. During the period of the moulting season they catch many black swans. Some of the young men lie for hours in ambush on the banks until the unconscious swans have ventured so far into shallow water that they can run round them and cut off their retreat. When this auspicious moment arrives, with loud shouts the men dash in, and whilst one party intercepts the birds, so that they cannot get into the deeps, a second soon runs them down. In the same manner they take the young cygnets; and these I believe to be as good eating and as delicate an article of food as any country can produce.

It is also an interesting sight to see the natives creep after wild-fowl, and under cover of the reeds and bushes get so near that they can either spear them or catch them with a noose. A reedy lagoon lies at your feet, almost surrounded by rocky cliffs and dusky woods; there are some small open s.p.a.ces of water, but generally it is so thickly overgrown with high reeds that it looks rather like a swampy wood than a lake; in the distance you see curling up a thin cloud of blue smoke, which indicates that a native encampment is at hand. The forms of many wild-fowl are seen swimming about among the reeds, for a moment caught sight of, and in the next lost in the dusky green of the vegetation. Every now and then a small party of them rise up, and after winging their way two or three times round the lagoon, at the same time giving a series of their quack, quack, which are loudly responded to from the recesses of the reeds, they again settle down in another part of it.

This circ.u.mstance and a few other signs induce a sportsman to suspect that there is some mischief afloat, and his doubts are soon set at rest: upon some bough of a tree, which stretches far out over the water and thus affords its occupant a view of all that is pa.s.sing in the lake below, he sees extended the form of an aged native, his white locks fluttering in the breeze; he is too old to take a part in the sport that is going on, but watches every movement with the most intense interest, and by well-known signs directs the movements of the hunters, who may now be seen creeping noiselessly through the water, and at times they appear so black and still that even a practised huntsman doubts for a moment whether it is a man or the stump of a tree which he looks on. The natives are sometimes very successful in this kind of hunting: I have known a single man spear or noose ten wild-fowl, of different sorts, in an hour and a half or two hours' time.

One very dexterous feat which the natives perform is to kill a bird as it flies from the nest. This is executed by two men, one of whom, placing himself under the nest, throws a spear through its centre, so as to hit the bird in the breast, which, frightened and slightly wounded, flies out, and is then struck to the ground by the dow-uk, which the other native hurls at it as it quits the tree. They are such good shots with these short, heavy sticks that pigeons, quails, and even the smallest birds, are usually knocked over with them; and I have often seen them kill a pigeon with a spear, at the distance of about thirty paces.

MODES OF COOKING BIRDS.

Birds are generally cooked by plucking them and throwing them on the fire, certain portions of the entrails being considered a great delicacy: but when they wish to dress a bird very nicely they first of all draw it and cook the entrails separately; a triangle is then formed round the bird by three red-hot pieces of stick, against which ashes are placed.

Hot coals are also stuffed into the inside of the bird, and it is thus rapidly cooked and left full of gravy. Wild-fowl dressed in this way on a clean piece of bark form as good a dish as I have ever eaten.

OPOSSUM HUNTING.

Opossum hunting is pursued either by day or during a moonlight night. A stranger cannot but be favourably impressed with regard to the quickness of a native in discovering whether or not an opossum has ascended a tree.

The savage carelessly walks up to some ma.s.sive trunk which he thinks bears a suspicious appearance, his hands are placed thoughtlessly behind his back, whilst his dark eye glances over the bark; suddenly it is for one moment stationary, and he looks eagerly at the tree, for he has detected the holes made by the nails of an opossum in its ascent; he now seeks for one of these foot-marks, which has a little sand attached to it, and gently blows the sand, but it sticks together, and does not easily move away, this is a proof that the animal has climbed the tree the same morning, for otherwise the sand would have been dried up by the heat of the sun, and, not being held together by dampness, would have been readily swept away before his breath. Having by this examination of signs, which an unskilled European in vain strains his eyes to detect, convinced himself that the opossum is in some hole of the tree, the native pulls his hatchet from his girdle and, cutting a small notch in the bark about four feet from the ground, he places the great toe of his right foot in it, throws his right arm round the tree, and with his left hand sticks the point handle of the hatchet into the bark as high up as he can reach, and thus forms a stay to drag himself up with; having made good this step he cuts another for his left foot, and thus proceeds until he has ascended to the hole where the opossum is hid, which is then compelled by smoke, or by being poked out, to quit its hiding-place, when, the native catching hold of its tail, dashes it down on the ground and quietly descends after it. As the opossum gives a very severe and painful bite the natives are careful to lay hold of it in such a manner as to run the least possible danger of being seized by its teeth.

Opossum hunting by moonlight, excepting in the beauty of the spectacle, offers no feature different from what I have above described; the dusky forms of the natives moving about in the gloomy woods and gazing up into the trees to detect an animal feeding, whilst in the distance natives with firesticks come creeping after them, is a picturesque sight, and it is also pretty to see the dark body of the native against the moonlight as he climbs the tree, forcing the poor opossum to retreat to the very end of some branch, whence he is shaken off or knocked down with a stick.

The natives themselves like these moonlight expeditions and speak with enthusiasm of them. They are particularly fond of spearing fish at certain seasons of the year, in which case they go along the shoal water with a light, and proceed exactly in the manner still practised in Scotland and Ireland.

CATCHING FROGS. METHOD OF TAKING Sh.e.l.lFISH.

The season of the year in which the natives catch the greatest quant.i.ty of frogs and freshwater sh.e.l.lfish is when the swamps are nearly dried up; these animals then bury themselves in holes in the mud, and the native women with their long sticks and long thin arms, which they plunge up to the shoulder in the slime, manage to drag them out; at all seasons however they catch some of these animals, but in summer a whole troop of native women may be seen paddling about in a swamp, slapping themselves to kill the mosquitoes and sandflies, and every now and then plunging their arms down into the mud, and dragging forth their prey. I have often seen them with ten or twelve pounds weight of frogs in their bag.

Frogs are cooked on a slow fire of wood ashes. They are then held in one hand by the hind legs, and a dexterous pinch with the finger and thumb of the other at once removes the lower portion of the intestines. The remainder of the animal is then taken at a mouthful and fairly eaten from the head to the toes.

The freshwater sh.e.l.lfish vary in size from that of a prawn to a large crayfish; the smallest are the best, and when nicely roasted there is no difference in taste between them and a shrimp. It is worthy of remark that the natives in the south-western part of Australia will not touch freshwater mussels, which are very abundant in the rivers, whilst in the north-western part of the continent they form a staple article of food.