YOUNG BARBARIANS AT PLAY
"Behold the child by Nature's kindly law,
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw."
POPE.
Not all the energies of the blacks of North Queensland in their natural
state are absorbed in the search for and pursuit and capture of food; nor
are all their toys imitative of weapons of offence or the chase. They
have their idle and softer hours when the instincts of the young men
and maidens turn towards recreations and pastimes, in some of which
considerable ingenuity and skill are exhibited, whilst their elders amuse
themselves by the practise of more or less useful domestic arts. Children
in their play are just as enthusiastic, preoccupied, and noisy as white
children, and the popularity of a game is subject, likewise, to spasmodic
exclusiveness. While the particular inclination lasts no other game is
held to be worth a rap for rational black boys to play, but the relish
the more speedily degenerates. In the ordinary concerns of life a black
boy is incapable of self-denial. His intensity for the time is almost
pathetic; his revulsion comic. Hence the cycle of the games is brief.
There are wide and dreary intervals.
Dr. Walter E. Roth, ex-Chief Protector of Aboriginals, and now Government
Resident at Pomeroon River, British Guiana, devotes a pamphlet to
descriptions of the "Games, Sports, and Pastimes" of Queensland
blacks, but since the work has not yet been published unofficially, and
since my own limited observations are confirmed generally by him, there
seems justification for offering references to a few of the means by
which the primitive people wile away time in good-humoured, gleeful
pastime. One feature of the sports of the blacks is that they play their
game for the sake of the game, not to gain the plaudits of an idle crowd
or in expectation of reward. Rivalry there undoubtedly is among them, but
the rivalry is disinterested. No chaplet of olive-leaves or parsley
decorates the brow of him who so throws the boomerang that it
accomplishes the farthest and most complicated flight. As the archers of
old England practised their sport, so do the blacks exhibit their
strength and skill, not as the modern lover of football, who pays others
to play for his amusement, and who, possibly, knows not the game save as
a spectator.
Some of the pastimes of the blacks are, of course, derivative from the
most engrossing passion of the race, the pursuit of game--animals, birds,
and fish--for food. Dr. Roth describes a pantomime in which three young
girls take part, and which is imitative of the felling of a tree for the
purpose of securing honey stored by bees in a hollow limb. Every detail
of the process is illustrated by expressive gestures, even to the
indication of the respective locations in the limb of the good comb
(which is tabu to women), and the inferior stuff (old brood and
drippings) to which the inferior sex is welcome. The whole episode is
graphically mimicked, down to the mixing of the honey with water as a
beverage.
But such games have not come under my personal knowledge, and as I wish
to confine myself to those which I have witnessed, my catalogue must
needs be trivial, and far from exhaustive even in respect of the district
in which they are, alas! becoming obsolete. In these days of opium and
rum, leisure moments are not generally devoted to "becoming mirth."
The very first toy of the blacks in this neighbourhood is the most
cosmopolitan of all. No race of infant exercises over it a monopoly. It
belongs as well to the palace as the hovel, for it is none other than the
rattle. If proof were wanting that infants the world over have perceptive
qualities in common, and that the universal mother employs like means for
the development of them, the rattle would supply it. Here the toy which
each of us has gripped with gladness and slobbered over is found not
altogether in its most primitive form. It might, indeed, be classed as an
emblem of arrested development in art, for better things might reasonably
be expected of grown-up folks who in their infancy were wont to use such
a neat means of charming away fretfulness. The toy is a tiny spherical
basket of neatly interwoven thin strips of cane from one of the creeping
palms, in which is enclosed one of the smooth, hard, lead-coloured seeds
of the CAESALPINIA BONDUCELLA. The rattle, which is known by the name of
"Djawn," seems to be quite as effective as the more elaborate but less
neat varieties employed to amaze and pacify the infants of civilisation.
Similar seeds are used by Arabian children for necklaces, hence the
specific botanical name of the plant.
Measured ethnologically, perhaps the most primitive pastime is also one
of the most interesting, for it seems to indicate the evolution of the
spear. It may readily be believed that a black boy playing with a grass
dart exhibits one of the early stages which the spear passed ere it
reached its present form in the hands of his father with a wommera. As
the boy grows up, so does his spear grow with his growth, and lengthen
with his length. The grass dart is merely a stem of blady grass (IMPERATA
ARUNDINACEA), which the blacks know as "Jin-dagi," shortened to about
fifteen inches by the severance of the leaves, which is usually
accomplished by a quick nip with the teeth. The dart is taken between the
thumb and the second finger, the truncated ends of the leaves being
pressed against the tip of the first finger, by which and the
simultaneous impulse of the arm the dart is propelled. Accurate shots may
be made with the missile, which has a range up to about thirty yards,
with a penetrative force sufficient to pierce the skin. Occasionally the
boys of the camp in opposing sides indulge in mimic fights, when the air
rustles with the darts, and the yelling combatants exhibit expertness as
marksmen as well as extraordinary shrewdness in the special protection of
the face and other exposed and tender spots, and skill in dodging and
parrying.
The "Wee-bah," another toy weapon (also obtained from blady grass),
might be designated an arrow, the flight, though not the impulse, being
similar. A single stem of grass is shortened to about fifteen inches. By
being drawn between the nails of the thumb and the first finger, the web
is separated from the midrib for about three inches. The sportsman
pinches the web end loosely between the lips. The split ends, held in the
left hand, are bent over a thin stick in the right hand. Upon the stick
being moved smartly forward, the web peels from each side to the midrib,
which shoots ahead with an arrow-like flight in the direction the
marksman designs.
Velocity, accuracy, and range are remarkable. The arrow will penetrate
the skin (the stem having an awl-like point) at a distance of ten or
fifteen yards, and twenty yards is not an uncommon limit to its range.
This is used for killing small birds, as well as in idle sport. A few
handfuls of blady grass supply a sheaf of missiles, and with such cheap
ammunition the sportsman is justified in providing himself profusely when
intent upon the destruction of shy birds. Noiseless and rapid, if the
shot misses there is no disturbing effect on the nerves of the bird. A
dry twig falling or a leaf rustling has no more elemental shock than the
flight of the dart. The unconscious bird hops about its business
unconcerned until a dart does its work. Birds which fall to this most
inartificial weapon are very small, but a black boy does not despise the
most minute morsels of food. He wastes nothing, and in such respects is
superior to many a white sportsman, who often shoots that for which he
has no appetite, and glories in a big bag irrespective of the capacity of
his stomach. No doubt the black boy, too, experiences the same exultant
passion when his grass dart impales a pert wren, as does his prototype
when the thud of a turkey on the plains is as an echo to the report of
his gun. The black boy singes off the feathers, slightly scorches the
flesh of his game and munches it whole, secures another sheaf of darts,
and goes a-shooting again.
Darts are also improvised from blady grass by two other methods, each a
prototype of the spear and wommera. The midrib is severed and the web
peeled therefrom for a few inches as in the "Weebah." The loose ends of
the web being retained between the thumb and the second finger, the
midrib peels off completely when the hand is propelled, the impulse being
transmitted to the dart. This, perhaps, is the earliest and most
primitive application of the principle embodied in the wommera. In the
third method the midrib is similarly severed and the web peeled for about
two inches; but the stalk is held in the hand, and, being jerked
forward, the midrib being torn from the web flies off, though not under
accurate control as to direction.
Quite as early a toy as the grass dart is the boomerang made by a boy's
father, or a companion older than himself, and which the youngest soon
learns to throw with skill. He graduates in the use of weapons nicely
graded to suit his growing strength, spending hours day after day in
earnest, honest exercise, until some other game happens to become
irresistibly fashionable.
A weapon intermediate between the "Jin-dagi" and the full-length spear
of manhood is the scape of the grass-tree (XANTHORRHEA ARBOREA), with
which youths fight furious battles, gradually perfecting themselves in
elusive tactics and in the training of hand and eye. A favourite set
target is the bulbous formicary of the white ant which disfigures so many
of the trees of the forest. Along tracks where the spears are readily
available there are few white-ant nests untormented by two or three. A
strong reed which flourishes on the margins of watercourses is played
with similarly, and by the time the youth has put aside youthful things
and has learnt to fashion a spear of tough wood he is an expert.
In order to acquire dexterity, the fish spear in the first instance is a
mere toy, and is used in play with as much vivacity and preoccupation as
marbles and tops and kites are by boys of Australian birth. A coloured
boy, in all the joyous abandon of the unclad, sports with a spear
suitable to his height and strength for a month together, floating chips
and scraps of bark in the water as targets, until hands and eyes are
brought into such subjection that the art is, as it were, burnt into his
blood, and a miss becomes rare. In the meantime he has also practised on
small fish, and soon he is a regular contributor to the larder.
What is known as the "Piar-piar" accomplishes the flight of the
boomerang, and is therefore termed familiarly the "little fella
boomerang." Before attempting to describe the toy, it is interesting to
note that the word "boomerang" is alien to these parts (Dunk Island),
though in almost universal use among the blacks. "Wungle" is the local
title. The "Piar-piar" is made from a strip from the side of the leaf of
one of the pandanus palms (PANDANUS PEDUNCULATUS). The prickles having
been sliced off with a knife or the finger nails, two distinct
half-hitches are made in reverse order. Each end is shortened and roughly
trimmed, the knots creased and squeezed to flatness between the teeth and
lips, and the toy is complete, the making having occupied less than a
minute. Before throwing the ends are slightly deflexed.
The toy is held in the right hand lightly between the thumb and the first
and second fingers, concave surface down, and is thrown to the left with
a quick upward turn of the wrist. After a short, rapid flight almost on
the plane of the hand of the thrower, the toy soars abruptly upwards,
and taking a sinistral course, returns, twirling rapidly, to the thrower,
occasionally making two complete revolutions. The ends are deflexed prior
to each throw. Boys and youths are fond of the "Piar-piar," and men of
sober year's do not disdain it, being frankly pleased when they succeed
in causing it to execute a more prolonged and graceful flight than
ordinary.
Another toy which has the soaring flight of the boomerang is made out of
two portions of the leaf of the pandanus palm stitched together in the
form of a St. Andrew's Cross. It is thrown like a boomerang, the flight
being circular, and when it is made to complete two revolutions round the
thrower that individual is manifestly pleased with himself. This is known
as "Birra-birra-goo."
Another form of aeroplane, "Par-gir-ah," comes from the pandanus
palm--its parts being plaited together. This is thrown high and descends
spirally, twisting so rapidly throughout its course that it appears to be
a solid disc. This is also used as a windmill, being affixed to a
spindle. Children run with the toy against the wind and find similar
ecstasy to those of whites of their age and kidney.
The sea-beach supplies in plenty a missile which, from the hands of a
black boy, has a fantastic flight. This is the bone of the cuttle-fish
("Krooghar"), which, when thrown concave surface down against the wind and
after the style of the boomerang, whirls rapidly and makes a decided
effort to return. It is also thrown along the surface of the sea as white
boys do "skipping stones," often reaching astonishing distances in a
wonderful series of skips.
"Cat's cradle" is popular in some camps, the ingenious and complicated
designs into which the string is woven far outstripping the art of the
white man, and leaving his wondering comprehension far behind. Toy boats
and canoes are favourite means of passing away time by those who live on
the beach; and while little girls dandle dolls of wood and bark, their
brothers and cousins laboriously chip stones in the shape of axes, and
used formerly to make fish-hooks of pearl shell, in imitation of the
handiwork of their elders. Boys are also given to trundling a disc of
bark, centrally perforated for a short cord, the art of the game being to
give the disc, while it revolves, an outward inclination. In these
degenerate days the top of a meat-tin is substituted for the decent bark
disc, in the making of which nice art was exhibited.
Several of the games of the youngsters are bad imitations of the sports
of the white. Just as their fathers find joy in a greasy, blackened,
imperfect pack of cards, throwing them down with significant gestures,
but in absolutely perfect ignorance of the rules of any game or capacity
to appreciate any number greater than three--so do the children make
believe to play cricket with a ball worlds away from a sphere (for it is
none other than a pandanus drupe), and a bat of any waddy.
But it is due to the crude folks who owned Australia not so very long
ago, to say that they had invented the top before the usurpers came
along. Tops are made from the fruit of one of the gourds which ripens
about the size of a small orange, the spindle being a smooth and slender
piece of wood secured with gum. The spinning is accomplished by revolving
the spindle between the palms of the hands, some being so expert in
administering momentum that the top "goes to sleep," before the eyes of
the smiling and exultant player. Dr. Roth chronicles the fact that the
piercing of the gourd to produce the hum has been introduced during
recent years. The blacks of the past certainly had no ear for music, but
now no top which cannot "cry" is worth spinning.
A more primitive top is the seed-vessel of the "Gulgong" (EUCALYPTUS
ROBUSTA), the pedicel of which is twirled between the thumb and second
finger. Such tops, of course, are the common property of bush boys, white
and black, but the latter seem to be more casual in the spinning, though
deriving quite as much glee therefrom.
A similar top but of larger size is the unripe fruit of the "Kirra-kul"
(EUPOMATIA LAURINA), which resembles an obtuse peg-top, and is spun from
the peg.
The "Kirra-kul" tree provides also the means of obtaining that joy in
loud explosions which is instinctive in the boy, whatsoever his race or
colour. Young, lusty shoots several feet long, and full of sap, are
placed in the fire for a few minutes, and upon being "bashed" on a log
or other hard substance the heated gas contained in the pithy core bursts
out with a pistol-like report.
"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods--
They kill us for their sport."
The cruelty of the average boy, his insensibility to, or carelessness of,
the pain of others and of inferior creatures is exemplified by the
treatment which the "Pun-nul" (March fly) receives. That an insect
which occasions so much exasperation and pain should receive small mercy
at the hands of a vexed and sportful boy is not extraordinary, and so he
provides himself with entertainment and takes vengeance simultaneously.
The hapless fly is impaled with an inch or two of the flowering spike of
blady grass to which a portion of the white inflorescence adheres, and is
released. Under such handicap flight is slow and eccentric, often,
indeed, concentric, and the boy watches with unfeigned delight while his
ears are soothed by the laboured hum.
"Blue-bottle" and "March" flies provide another sort of cheerful
sport in which no little malice is blended. Some boys make tiny spears
from the midrib of the frond of the creeping palm (CALAMUS OBSTRUENS),
which, balanced on the palm palm of the left hand, are flicked with
deadly effect, continual practice reducing misses to the minimum. Where
the grass-tree grows plentifully the long, slender leaves are snapped off
into about six-inch lengths and are used similarly to the creeping palm
darts and with like accuracy. Hours are spent killing the big, lumbering,
tormenting flies which infest the camp, and towards which no pity is
shown, for do they not bite and bloodsuck night and day?
These incomplete and casual references to a very interesting and
engrossing topic may be concluded by a reference to a particular spear.
Since it consoles and comforts the solitary walks of an aged man, steeped
to the lips in the superstitions of his race, and haply ignorant of, or
indifferent to, the polyglot pastimes of the younger generation soiled
by contact with the whites, the spear, though not a weapon of offence or
of sport, is serious and indeed vital to the peace of mind of its owner.
He is one of the few who were young men when the white folks intruded
upon the race, with their wretched practical ways and insolent disregard
of the powers of the unseen spirits, against whom "Old Billy," as his
ancestors were wont, still acts on the defensive. "Old Billy" never
ventures into the jungle without his spear, though throughout his long
and expectant life he has never had occasion to use it. He fears what he
knows as "Bidgero," a phantom not quite as truculent as the debil-debil,
but evil enough to strike terror into the soul of an unarmed black boy,
old or young.
The spear is slender and jointed, the grip being 4 feet 9 inches and the
shaft 8 feet. Its distinguishing merit consists of an array of barbs (the
serrated spurs of sting-rays) fifteen in number, and ranging in length
from 1½ inches to 4½ inches. In the first eight inches from the
point are five barbs, the second being double, and the rest are spaced
irregularly in accordance with the respective lengths of the barbs, which
are in line. "Old Billy" does not allow any one to handle the spear and
will not part with it, no matter how sumptuous the price, for would he
not, in default, be at the mercy of any prowling, "Bidgero?"
He describes its use with paucity of speech, effective passes, horrible
grimaces, and smiles of satisfaction and victory, which make mere words
tame. Suppose you ask, "When that fella Bidgero come up, you catch 'em?"
"Old Billy" throws himself into an hostile attitude, in which
alertness, determination, and fearsomeness are vividly displayed. "0-o-m!"
(The thrust of the spear.) "Ha-a-a-ha!" (The spear is given an
excruciating and entangling half-turn.) And "Old Billy" exclaims,
still holding the imaginary "Bidgero" at the spear's length: "That fella
Bidgero can clear out! Finish 'em!" The spear has penetrated the
unlucky and daring phantom, several of the barbs have become entangled in
its vitals, the enemy is at "Old Billy's" mercy, and since "Old
Billy" has no such element in his mental constitution, there would be
one "Bidgero" less in the land if there were any reality in the
business. "Old Billy's" manoeuvres and tactics are so grim, skilful,
and terrible that one may well hope that he may never be mistaken for a
ghost, while within thrusting distance of his twelve foot "Bidgero"
exterminator. Yet the young boys smile, when they do not openly scoff,
because of his faith in the existence of a personal "Bidgero," and in
the efficacy of his bristling spear, which many of them regard as an old
man's toy.