My usual introduction--A serious entertainment--The power of the
bow--Repulsive blacks--Mysterious spears--Waterless wastes--A battle with
snakes--More prestige--Rubies thrown away--Quarrying extraordinary.
Occasionally one of the tribes would display hostility towards us at
first sight, but I generally managed to ingratiate myself into their good
graces by the exercise of a little diplomacy--and acrobatics. Curiously
enough, many of these tribes did not display much surprise at seeing a
white man, apparently reserving all their amazement for Bruno's bark and
the white man's wonderful performances.
I may here remark that, in the event of our coming across a hostile tribe
who fought shy of my friendly advances, I would, without ceremony,
introduce myself by dashing into their midst and turning a few
somersaults or Catherine-wheels such as the London _gamins_ display for
the benefit of easily-pleased excursionists. This queer entertainment
usually created roars of laughter, and set every one at his ease.
I remember once being surprised by the sudden appearance over the crest
of a hillock of about twenty blacks, all well armed and presenting rather
a formidable appearance. The moment they caught sight of Yamba and
myself they halted, whereupon I advanced and called out to them that I
was a friend, at the same time holding out my passport stick. By the
way, the efficacy of this talisman varied according to the tribes. Yamba
could make neither head nor tail of these people; they jabbered in a
language quite unintelligible to either of us. I then reverted to the
inevitable sign language, giving them to understand that I wished to
sleep with them a night or two; but they still continued to brandish
their spears ominously. Yamba presently whispered in my ear that we had
better not trouble them any further, as they were evidently inclined to
be pugnacious. This was a very exceptional _rencontre_, because I
usually induced the natives to sit down and parley with me, and then I
would produce my mysterious stick. In the event of this proving of
little account, both I and Bruno would without a moment's hesitation
plunge into our performance. It always began with a few somersaults.
Bruno needed no looking after. He knew his business, and went through
his own repertoire with great energy and excitement. The accompanying
barks were probably involuntary, but they were a great help in
astonishing and impressing the natives.
Even in this instance I was unwilling to retire defeated; so suddenly
pulling out one of my little reed whistles capable of producing two
notes, I commenced a violent jig to my own "music." The effect on the
scowling and ferocious-looking blacks was quite magical. They
immediately threw down their spears and laughed uproariously at my
vigorous antics. I danced till I was quite tired, but managed to wind up
the entertainment with a few somersaults, which impressed them vastly.
I had conquered. When I had finished they advanced and greeted me most
heartily, and from that moment we were friends. I had completely done
away with their enmity by my simple efforts to amuse them. For the most
part, this was my invariable experience. The natives were the easiest
people in the world to interest and amuse, and when once I had succeeded
in winning them in this way, they were our warmest friends. This band of
warriors took us back to their camping-ground, some miles away, and
actually gave a great feast in my honour that evening, chanting the
wonderful things they had seen until far into the night. The place where
I met these blacks was a broken, stony, and hilly country, which,
however, abounded in roots and snakes--especially snakes. My hosts had
evidently had a recent battue, or fire hunt, for they had a most
extraordinary stock of food. So completely had I won them over, that I
actually hung up my bow and arrows along with their spears before
retiring to rest. The expression "hung up" may seem curious, so I hasten
to explain that the natives tied up their spears in bunches and placed
them on the scrub bushes.
Next morning I brought down a few hawks on the wing with my bow and
arrows, and then the amazement of the natives was quite comical to
witness. Shooting arrows in a straight line astonished them somewhat,
but the more bombastic among them would say, "Why I can do that," and
taking his woomerah he would hurl a spear a long distance. Not one of
them, however, was able _to throw a spear upwards_, so I scored over even
the most redoubtable chiefs. It may be well to explain, that birds are
always to be found hovering about a native camp; they act as scavengers,
and their presence in the sky is always an indication that an encampment
is somewhere in the vicinity. These birds are especially on the spot
when the blacks set fire to the bush and organise a big battue. At such
times the rats and lizards rush out into the open, and the hawks reap a
fine harvest.
My natives are referred to as "blacks," or "black-fellows," but they are
not really _black_, their hue being rather a brown, ranging from a very
dark brown, indeed, to almost the lightness of a Malay. I found the
coast tribes lightest in hue, while the inland natives were very much
darker. Here I may mention that after having been on my way south for
some months, I began to notice a total difference between the natives I
met and my own people in the Cambridge Gulf district. The tribes I was
now encountering daily were inferior in physique, and had inferior war
implements; I do not remember that they had any shields.
The blacks I had whistled and jigged before were, perhaps, the ugliest of
all the aborigines I had met, which was saying a very great deal. The
men were very short, averaging little more than five feet, with low
foreheads and hideously repulsive features. I noticed, however, that the
animals they had for food seemed very much fatter than similar creatures
farther north. One thing I was grateful to these people for was honey,
which I urgently required for medicinal purposes. They were very sorry
when we left them, and a small band of warriors accompanied us on our
first day's march. We were then handed on from tribe to tribe, smoke
signals being sent up to inform the next "nation" that friendly strangers
were coming.
Nevertheless, I gradually became uneasy. We were evidently getting into
a country where the greatest of our wonders could not save us from the
hostility of the natives. We presently encountered another tribe, who
not only at first refused to accept our friendly overtures, but even
threatened to attack us before I had time to consider another plan. I
tried the effect of my whistle, but even this failed in its effect; and
to my alarm, before I could give them an exhibition of my acrobatic
powers they had hurled one or two war spears, which whizzed by
unpleasantly close to my head. Without further ado, well knowing that
vacillation meant death, I sent half-a-dozen arrows in succession amongst
them, taking care, however, to aim very low, so as not unduly to injure
my opponents.
The hostile blacks came to a sudden halt, as they found the mysterious
spears flying round them, and then watching my opportunity, I dashed
forward right among them, and turned over and over in a series of rapid
and breathless somersaults.
I had conquered again. Do not blame the natives, for with them every
stranger is an enemy until he has proved himself a friend. Hence it is
that when white men suddenly appear among these natives they run imminent
risk of being promptly speared, unless they can make it quite clear that
no harm is intended.
Bruno ran the same risk. Incident after incident of this kind happened
almost daily, and although they involved some peril, yet they came as a
welcome break when life on the march grew too monotonous. Deliberate
treachery was very rare among the natives I came across, but it was by no
means altogether absent; and, notwithstanding all my knowledge, my wife
and I were sometimes in serious danger of our lives.
One day we came upon a tribe as usual, and after the customary
preliminaries were gone through they became apparently quite friendly. I
was careful never unduly to exhibit my steel tomahawk, which I always
kept in a kind of sheath or covering of opossum-skin, so that it might
not arouse envy; a second motive for this was to prevent its chafing my
body. I never used either stiletto or tomahawk unless absolutely
necessary, reserving both for great emergencies. I knew they could never
be replaced, so it behoved me jealously to guard such precious
possessions. I never even used my stiletto at meal-times, nor even in
cutting up animals for food, lest the blood should rust the blade and eat
it away. Many times already had it come in useful at close
quarters--notably in the case of the fight with the alligator and the
killing of the cannibal chief who owned the white girls.
The chief of the tribe I am discussing saw me using my tomahawk one day,
and eagerly asked me to make over the implement to him as a gift. I
courteously told him that I could not do so. He seemed somewhat
disappointed at my refusal, but did not appear to bear me any ill-feeling
in consequence. The blacks, by the way, seldom cut down trees except for
spears, and the reason for this is very curious. They imagine the tree
to be a thing of life, and when they are forced to cut one down, quite a
religious ceremony is held, and profuse apologies made to the tree for
taking its life.
They never even take a strip of bark right round, knowing that this will
kill the tree; they always leave a little bit of connecting bark.
As some reason for the refusal of my tomahawk was expected, I told the
chief that it was part of my life--indeed, part of my very being, which
was perfectly true. I also worked on the chief's superstitions, assuring
him earnestly that if I parted with the weapon it would so anger the
spirits as to bring about a terrible curse in the country. The tomahawk
I declared was a direct gift to me from the Sun itself, so how could I
part with it? I had thought of offering it, curses and all, but the risk
of prompt acceptance was too great.
That night Yamba warned me that trouble was impending. For myself I
never knew, and I suppose she read the signs among the men and got
certain definite information from the women. We therefore slept some
miles away from the encampment in a makeshift gunyah built of boughs, in
front of which the usual fire was made. After we had retired to rest,
Yamba woke me and said that she detected strange noises. I immediately
sprang to my feet and looked all round our little shelter. It was much
too dark for me to see anything distinctly, but I fancied I heard
retreating footsteps. Utterly at a loss to account for this strange
occurrence, and fearing that some danger threatened us, Yamba and I
covered in the front of the shelter, and then quietly retired into the
bush, where we lay hidden without a fire until morning. When we returned
to our shelter it was broad daylight, and, as we half expected, we found
three formidable spears buried in the sides of our little hut. Three
others were stuck in the ground near the fire, clearly proving that an
attempt had been made upon our lives during the night. On examining the
spears we found they most certainly belonged to the tribe we had left the
previous day. The spear-heads were of a different kind of flint from
anything I had previously seen, being dark green in colour; and they were
extremely sharp. The individuality of the different tribes is strongly
and decidedly marked in the make of their spears. Our treacherous hosts
had evidently determined to obtain the coveted tomahawk by force, and
when they reached the spot where they supposed we lay (they could not see
into the interior from the front), they hurled their spears in the hope
of killing us, but did not investigate the result, they being such arrant
cowards at night. Remember, they had actually ventured at night into the
bush in spite of their inveterate fear of "the spirits."
The precaution adopted on this occasion was always followed by us when we
had any real doubt about the natives; that is to say, we built a "dummy"
gunyah of boughs, which we were supposed to sleep in; and we covered in
the front so as our possible assailants could not easily detect our
absence. We would then creep away into the bush or hide behind a tree,
and, of course, would light no fire.
Many times was that same tomahawk coveted. You see, the natives would
watch me cutting boughs with it, or procuring honey by cutting down
branches with an ease that caused them to despise their own rude stone
axes.
The case of treachery I have just described was not an isolated one, but
I am bound to say such occurrences were rare in the interior--although
more or less frequent about the western shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria. At any rate, this was my experience.
During our journey from my home to the shores of the Gulf, I remember
coming across a flat country from which the natives had apparently
disappeared altogether. When we did come upon them, however, in the high
ground I was probably guilty of some little breach of etiquette, such as
_looking_ at the women--(for many reasons I always studied the various
types in a tribe)--and Yamba and I were often in peril of our lives on
this account. As a rule, however, safety lay in the fact that the
natives are terribly afraid of darkness, and they believe the spirits of
the dead roam abroad in the midnight hours.
Month after month we continued our progress in a southerly direction,
although, as I have said before, we often turned north-east and even due
west, following the valleys when stopped by the ranges--where, by the
way, we usually found turkeys in great numbers. We had water-bags made
out of the skins of kangaroos and wallabies, and would camp wherever
possible close to a native well, where we knew food was to be found in
plenty.
At this period I noticed that the more easterly I went, the more ranges I
encountered; whilst the somewhat dreary and mostly waterless lowland lay
to the west. We would sometimes fail to obtain water for a couple of
days; but this remark does not apply to the mountainous regions. Often
the wells were quite dry and food painfully scarce; this would be in a
region of sand and spinifex.
When I beheld an oasis of palms and ti-trees I would make for it, knowing
that if no water existed there, it could easily be got by digging. The
physical conditions of the country would change suddenly, and my
indefatigable wife was frequently at fault in her root-hunting
expeditions. Fortunately, animal life was very seldom scarce. On the
whole, we were extremely fortunate in the matter of water,--although the
natives often told me that the low wastes of sand and spinifex were
frequently so dry, that it was impossible even for them to cross. What
astonished me greatly was that the line of demarcation between an utter
desert and, say, a fine forest was almost as sharply marked as if it had
been drawn with a rule. A stretch of delightfully wooded country would
follow the dreary wastes, and this in turn would give place to fairly
high mountain ranges.
Once, during a temporary stay among one of the tribes, the chief showed
me some very interesting caves among the low limestone ranges that were
close by. It was altogether a very rugged country. Always on the look-
out for something to interest and amuse me, and always filled with a
strange, vague feeling that something _might_ turn up unexpectedly which
would enable me to return to civilisation, I at once determined to
explore these caves; and here I had a very strange and thrilling
adventure.
Whilst roaming among the caves I came across a pit measuring perhaps
twenty feet in diameter and eight feet or nine feet in depth. It had a
sandy bottom; and as I saw a curious-looking depression in one corner, I
jumped down to investigate it, leaving Bruno barking at the edge of the
pit, because I knew I should have some trouble in hoisting him up again
if I allowed him to accompany me. I carried a long stick, much longer
than a waddy; perhaps it was a yam-stick--I cannot remember. At any
rate, just as I was about to probe a mysterious-looking hole, I beheld
with alarm and amazement the ugly head of a large black snake suddenly
thrust out at me from a dark mass, which I presently found was the
decayed stump of a tree. I fell back as far as possible, and then saw
that the reptile had quite uncoiled itself from the stem, and was coming
straight at me. I promptly dealt it a violent blow on the body, just
below that point where it raised its head from the ground. No sooner had
I done this than another dark and hissing head came charging in my
direction. Again I struck at the reptile's body and overpowered it. Next
came a third, and a fourth, and fifth, and then I realised that the whole
of the dead stump was simply one living mass of coiled snakes, which were
probably hibernating. One after another they came at me; of course, had
they all come at once, no power on earth could have saved me. I wondered
how long this weird contest would be kept up; and again and again between
the attacks I tried to escape, but had scarcely taken an upward step when
another huge reptile was upon me.
I was aware that Bruno was running backwards and forwards at the edge of
the pit all this time, barking frantically in a most excited state. He
knew perfectly well what snakes were, having frequently been bitten. I
owe my life on this occasion solely to the fact that the snakes were in a
torpid state, and came at me one at a time instead of altogether. It was
the cold season, about the month of June or July. It is impossible at
such moments to take any account of time, so I cannot say how long the
battle lasted. At length, however, I was able to count the slain. I did
this partly out of curiosity and partly because I wanted to impress the
natives--to boast, if you prefer that phrase. Modesty, where modesty is
unknown, would have been absurd, if not fatal to my prestige. Well, in
all there were _sixty-eight black snakes_, _averaging about four feet six
inches in length_.
I do not remember that I was fatigued; I think my excitement was too
great for any such feeling to have made itself felt. When at length I
was able to get away, I and Bruno rushed off to the native camp a few
miles away, and brought back the blacks to see what I had done. The
spectacle threw them into a state of great amazement, and from that time
on I was looked upon with the greatest admiration. The story of how I
had killed the snakes soon spread abroad among the various tribes for
miles round, and was chanted by many tribes, the means of
inter-communication being the universal smoke-signals. One important
consequence of this adventure was that I was everywhere received with the
very greatest respect.
It may be mentioned here that no matter how unfriendly tribes may be,
they always exchange news by means of smoke-signals. I may also say that
at _corroborees_ and such-like festivities a vast amount of poetic
boasting and exaggeration is indulged in, each "hero" being required to
give practical demonstrations of the things he has seen, the doughty
deeds he has done, &c. He warms up as he goes along, and magnifies its
importance in a ridiculous way. It amuses me to this day to recall my
own preposterous songs about how I killed the two whales _with my
stiletto_, and other droll pretensions. But, ah! I was serious enough
then!
In the mountainous region where I encountered the snakes, I also met a
native who actually spoke English. He called himself either Peter or
Jacky Jacky--I cannot remember which; but in any case it was a name given
him by pearlers. He had once lived with some pearlers near the north-
west coast of Western Australia--probably on the De Grey River. His
story was quite unprecedented among the blacks, and he gave me many
terrible instances of the perfidy shown by white adventurers towards the
unfortunate natives. The precise locality where I met this man was
probably near Mount Farewell, close to the border-line of South Australia
and Western Australia. Well, then, Jacky Jacky--to give him the name
which lingers most tenaciously in my mind--was persuaded to join in a
pearling expedition, together with a number of his companions. They all
accepted engagements from the whites, on the distinct understanding that
they were to be away about three moons. Instead, they were practically
kidnapped by force, and treated--or rather ill-treated--as slaves for
several years.
First of all, the poor creatures were taken to an island in the vicinity
of North-West Cape, off which the pearling fleet lay. During the voyage
to the pearling grounds the water supply on board ran short, and so great
was the suffering among the blacks--they were kept on the shortest of
short commons, as you may suppose--that they plotted to steal a cask of
the precious fluid for their own use. The vessel was quite a small one,
and the water was kept in the hold. But the two or three whites who
formed the crew forcibly prevented the black-fellows from carrying out
their plan. This gave rise to much discontent, and eventually the
blacks, in desperation, openly rose and mutinied. Arming themselves with
heavy pieces of firewood they proceeded to attack their masters, and some
of them succeeded in getting at the water, in spite of the whites, by
simply knocking the bungs out of the casks. The captain thereupon went
down to parley with them, but was met by a shower of blows from the heavy
sticks I have just mentioned. Half-stunned, he dashed out of the hold,
got his musket, and fired down among the mutineers, hitting one black-
fellow in the throat, and killing him instantly. Far from infuriating
the rest, as would most certainly have been the case with any other race,
this course of action terrified the blacks, and they barricaded
themselves down below. Eventually the whites again sought them and made
peace, the blacks promising to conduct themselves more obediently in the
future. It may here be said that the ship had called specially at Jacky
Jacky's home on the coast to kidnap the natives.
On arriving at the pearling settlement, the blacks found themselves among
a number of other unfortunate creatures like themselves, and all were
compelled to go out in pearling vessels just as the exigencies of the
industry required. Jacky Jacky himself was kept at this work for upwards
of three years; and he told me many terrible stories of the white man's
indescribable cruelty and villainy. He and his companions were
invariably chained up during the night and driven about like cattle in
the daytime. Many of his mates at the pearling settlement had been
kidnapped from their homes in a cruel and contemptible manner, and herded
off like sheep by men on horseback armed with formidable weapons.
Their sufferings were very great because, of course, they were totally
unused to work of any kind. The enforced exile from home and the dreary
compulsory labour made the life far worse than death for these primitive
children of Nature. Then, again, they were exiled from their wives, who
would, of course, be appropriated in their absence--another tormenting
thought. They were frequently beaten with sticks, and when they
attempted to run away they were speared as enemies by other tribes;
whilst, in the event of their escaping altogether, they would not have
been recognised even when they returned to their own homes. One day
Jacky Jacky's ship came into a little bay on the mainland for water, and
then my enterprising friend, watching his opportunity, struck inland for
home and liberty, accompanied by several other companions in misery.
These latter the coast natives promptly speared, but Jacky Jacky escaped,
thanks probably to his knowledge of the white man's wiles. He soon
reached the more friendly mountain tribes in the interior, where he was
received as a man and a brother. You see, he had stolen a revolver from
his late masters, and this mysterious weapon created great terror among
his new friends. Altogether he posed as quite a great man, particularly
when his story became known. He worked his way from tribe to tribe,
until at length he got to the ranges where I met him--quite a vast
distance from the coast.
Many parts of the extensive country I traversed on my southward journey,
after the death of the girls, were exceedingly rich in minerals, and
particularly in gold, both alluvial and in quartz. As I was making my
way one day through a granite country along the banks of a creek, I
beheld some reddish stones, which I at once pounced upon and found to be
beautiful rubies. Having no means of carrying them, however, and as they
were of no value whatever to me, I simply threw them away again, and now
merely record the fact. I also came across large quantities of alluvial
tin, but this, again, was not of the slightest use, any more than it had
been when I found it in very large quantities in the King Leopold Ranges.
The test I applied to see whether it really _was_ tin was to scratch it
with my knife. Even when large quantities of native gold lay at my feet,
I hardly stooped to pick it up, save as a matter of curiosity. Why
should I? What use was it to me? As I have stated over and over again
in public, I would have given all the gold for a few ounces of salt,
which I needed so sorely. Afterwards, however, I made use of the
precious metal in a very practical manner, but of this more hereafter. At
one place--probably near the Warburton Ranges in Western Australia--I
picked up an immense piece of quartz, which was so rich that it appeared
to be one mass of virgin gold; and when on showing it to Yamba I told her
that in my country men were prepared to go to any part of the world, and
undergo many terrible hardships to obtain it, she thought at first I was
joking. Indeed, the thing amused her ever after, as it did the rest of
my people. I might also mention that up in the then little-known
Kimberley district, many of the natives weighted their spears with pure
gold. I must not omit to mention that natives never poison their spear-
heads. I only found the nuggets, big and little, near the creeks during
and after heavy rains; and I might mention that having with some
difficulty interested Yamba in the subject, she was always on the look-
out for the tell-tale specks and gleams. In some of the ranges, too, I
found the opal in large and small quantities, but soon discovered that
the material was too light and brittle for spear-heads, to which curious
use I essayed to put this beautiful stone. Talking about spear-heads, in
the ranges where I met Jacky Jacky there was a quarry of that kind of
stone which was used for the making of war and other implements. It was
very much worked, and as you may suppose was a valuable possession to the
tribe in whose territory it was situated. The stone was a kind of flint,
extremely hard and capable of being made very sharp, and retaining its
edge. Natives from far and near came to barter for the stone with
shells, and ornaments which these inland tribes did not possess. The
method of getting out the stone was by building fires over it, and then
when it had become red-hot throwing large and small quantities of water
upon it in an amazingly dexterous way. The stone would immediately be
split and riven exactly in the manner required.
My very first discovery of gold was made in some crevices near a big
creek, which had cut its way through deep layers of conglomerate hundreds
of feet thick. This country was an elevated plateau, intersected by
deeply cut creeks, which had left the various strata quite bare, with
curious concave recesses in which the natives took shelter during the wet
season. One of the nuggets I picked up in the creek I have just
mentioned weighed several pounds, and was three or four inches long; it
was rather more than an inch in thickness. This nugget I placed on a
block of wood and beat out with a stone, until I could twist it easily
with my fingers, when I fashioned it into a fillet as an ornament for
Yamba's hair. This she continued to wear for many years afterwards, but
the rude golden bracelets and anklets I also made for her she gave away
to the first children we met.
In many of the rocky districts the reefs were evidently extremely rich;
but I must confess I rarely troubled to explore them. In other regions
the gold-bearing quartz was actually a curse, our path being covered with
sharp pebbles of quartz and slate, which made ever step forward a
positive agony. Wild ranges adjoined that conglomerate country, which,
as you have probably gathered, is extremely difficult to traverse.
Certainly it would be impossible for camels.