CAMP LIFE
Preparation of camping ground—The bed and its
coverings—Sleeping order—Brushwood shelters—Various
habitations—Vermin-proof platforms—Common position
during sleep—Friendly meetings and salutations—Sitting
postures—Sense of Modesty—Bird-like attitude—Gins
procure firewood—The campfire—Methods of
cooking—Fire-shovels—Fire-stick—Fire-whisk—Fire-saw—Women
the recognized transport agents—Care of weapons—Sundry
occupations while in camp—Absence of wearing apparel—Pubic
coverings—Cosmetics—Hair-belts—Pristine philosophy—Removing
thorns—The aboriginal loves his dog—The dingo.
Having arrived at the chosen camp-site, each family group at once busies
itself clearing a patch of ground of any obstacles, like stones and
lumps of earth, the biggest of which are picked up by hand or crushed by
foot, the smaller brushed aside with the sides of the feet. In addition,
the women may be told to sweep the ground with branches to clear it of
grass-seeds and burrs. Should it be that the spot is only reached after
dusk, the natives set fire to one or two dry bushes, the glare of which
supplies them with the necessary light.
Each adult scoops a “bed” for himself on the sand, and lights a small
fire on one or both sides of it.
The northern coastal tribes very often spread sheets of paper-bark over
the sand, and they might also cover their bodies with similar material.
Should the mosquitoes become a great nuisance, one often sees them
completely covered with sand.
The south-eastern tribes of Australia, including those of the River
Murray and Adelaide Plains, used skins and rugs made of kangaroo and
opossum skins, neatly sewn together, to lie upon and under.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIII_
1. The game of “_gorri_,” Humbert River, Northern Territory.
2. A “_Kutturu_” duel, Aluridja tribe.]
The children sleep with or close to their parents. When an aboriginal has
more wives than one, his camp is subdivided according to their number,
and he sleeps with his favourite.
The strangest conditions reign on Groote Island in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, where the women practically live apart from the men during
the whole of the day, and only come into camp after sundown to deliver
the food supplies they have collected over day. When on the march,
every adult female carries two big sheets of paper-bark with her, which
she holds with her hands, one in front and another behind her person.
Whenever a stranger approaches, they duck behind these sheets of bark, as
into a box, for cover.
No matter when or where an aboriginal camps, he constructs a brushwood
shelter or windbreak at the head-end of his resting place. This consists
of a few branches or tussocks stuck in the ground or piled against any
bush, which might be growing upon the patch of ground selected. Under
ordinary circumstances, this is the only shelter erected.
Even under the best of conditions, the night’s rest of an aboriginal is
hard, and at times very cold and wet. It is not an uncommon experience
for a person to sit up part of the night, hugging a fire, and when the
sun is up to lie in its warmth to make good the sleep lost.
During a run of wet weather or when the camp is to be of a more permanent
nature, different kinds of structures are erected, or already existing
habitations selected, which will afford a better shelter than the crude
structures referred to.
Natural caves or shelters beneath a sloping wall of rock, although
frequently chosen as a mid-day camp, are not favoured on account of the
superstitious dread of the evil spirit, whose haunts are supposed to
be in the rocks. Caves are in any case only occupied during the heat
of summer, the rocks being considered too cold to sit and lie upon in
winter. If possible, a tribe will always make for the sandhill country
in the winter, the sand making a very much softer and warmer bed. Such
caves as are regularly occupied almost invariably have the walls and
ceiling decorated with ochre drawings.
The opportunity of camping under large hollow tree-trunks, when
available, is never neglected in wet weather. In the southern districts,
as for instance the Adelaide Plains and along the River Murray, the large
red-gums, especially such as have been partly destroyed by a passing
bush-fire, supply the best covers of this description, whilst on the
north coast of Australia the boabab occasionally becomes hollow in a like
way, and makes a very snug and roomy camp.
Huts are constructed after different patterns according to the materials
available. In the Musgrave Ranges, as in most parts of central Australia,
the usual plan is to ram an uprooted dry trunk of mulga into the sand in
an inverted position, so that the horizontal root system rests at the
top, generally about five feet from the ground. Making this the central
supporting column, branches of mulga and other bushes are placed in a
slanting position against it, so that they rest between the roots at
the top and form a more or less complete circle at the base, measuring
some eight or nine feet in diameter. An opening is left, away from the
weather-side, large enough to permit of free access. The spaces and gaps
between the branches are filled with small bushes, tussocks, and grass,
and on top of it all sand is thrown.
Very often the branches are placed around a standing tree for a central
support, and now and again they are simply made to rest against one
another in the required conical fashion.
Roof-like shelters are made by piling branches and brushwood either upon
the overhanging branches of a tree or across two bushes which happen to
be standing close together.
On Cooper’s Creek, in the extreme south-western districts of Queensland,
these huts are more carefully constructed. A solid, almost hemispherical
framework is erected consisting of stout curved posts, with a prong at
one end, so placed that the prongs interlock on top and the opposite ends
stand embedded in the sand in a circle. Vide Plate XV, 1. The structure
is covered with the long reeds that abound along the banks of the large
waterholes of the Cooper. Some of the huts are indeed so neatly thatched
that they have quite a presentable appearance.
The eastern Arunndta groups, in the Arltunga district, cover a light
framework of mulga stakes, erected after the general central Australian
pattern, entirely with porcupine grass (Plate XV, 2).
At Crown Point, on the Finke River, other groups of the same tribe cover
their huts with branches and leaves of the Red Gum.
When camped on the great stony plains or “gibbers” of central Australia,
it is often very difficult to find a suitable covering for the huts,
the vegetation being either unsuitable or too scanty. On that account
the Yauroworka in the extreme north-east of South Australia utilize the
flat slabs and stones which abound in that locality to deck their more
permanent domiciles with. The supporting structure must, of course, be
made particularly strong to carry the weight of the stones. The crevices
between the stones are filled with clay to render them water-tight, and
earth is banked up against the base of the walls both inside and outside.
Along the north coast of Australia, from the Victoria River to Cape York,
the prevalent type of hut is a half-dome structure, whose frame consists
of a series of parallel hoops, stuck into the ground and held in position
by a number of flexible sticks tied at right angles to the former with
shreds of Hybiscus bark. The ends of the cross-pieces are poked into the
ground on that side of the framework which will be opposite the entrance
of the hut when completed. The hoops are made of slightly decreasing size
from the entrance towards the back, and so correspond in height with the
upward curve of the cross-pieces. This skeleton-frame is covered with
sheets of “paper-bark” (_Melaleuca_) and grass; and the floor of the
interior is carpeted with similar material; a small space is however left
uncovered to hold the fire. Such a hut measures about five feet by five
feet at the base, and is four feet high. In Queensland palm leaves may
take the place of the paper-bark sheets.
In districts where the mosquitoes are very troublesome, the dome is
completed by erecting hoops on the open side as well, and making the
cross-switches long enough to be lashed to them all and to be stuck into
the sand at both ends. The whole structure is covered with bark, but
three or four small holes are left along the base for the people to slip
in by; and a ventilation-hole is left at the top of the dome to allow the
smoke to escape from the fire, which is burned inside to keep out the
insects.
Provisional rain-shelters are made by cutting a big sheet of bark from
one of the eucalypts, usually the “stringy bark.” To do this the bark
is chopped through circumferentially on the butt in two places, about
seven or eight feet apart, slit vertically between the two incisions, and
removed by levering it off with two chisel-pointed rods. The sheet is
folded transversely at its centre and stood upon the sand like a tent.
At times the sheet of bark is simply laid length-wise against two or
three sticks previously stuck into the ground. In the more durable
structures of this type, two forked poles are rammed into the ground so
that they can carry a horizontal piece after the fashion of a ridge-pole
of a tent. Against the latter then are stood several sheets of bark at an
angle of about forty-five degrees.
Occasionally a scaffold is erected with four poles and cross-pieces at
the corners of an oblong space, and sheets of bark are then laid across
the top. The sheets are of sufficient length to hang over the sides of
the frame so that their weight bends them into an arch along the centre.
Commander Lort Stokes found similar structures near Roebuck Bay in the
north of Western Australia, but in place of the bark they there had a
slight, rudely-thatched covering.
In districts where thieving dogs, ants, or other vermin become
troublesome, the men construct platform-larders, upon which any reserve
supplies of meat are laid. Hawks are the greatest nuisance in camp. It
is astonishing with what fearlessness such birds fly right into camp and
swoop the meat from the natives. As a protection against theft of this
description, the campers cover their stores with branches.
The position favoured during sleep is to lie upon one side, with the legs
drawn up towards the stomach and bent in the knees. The head rests upon
one or both hands; should one hand not be so occupied, it is usually
placed between the closed thighs. At Delamere in the Victoria River
country, the natives were observed to have convex pieces of bark in their
possession which were used as head-rests during the night.
It goes without saying, of course, that the aboriginal might at any time
change his position during sleep to one of the many commonly adopted by
European or other people.
During the warm summer months, the campers are up with the first glimpse
of dawn, but when the nights become cold, they often remain huddled by
the fires until the sun is high up in the sky.
When a messenger or visitor approaches a camp at night, he will not do so
without announcing his arrival in advance by loudly calling from afar to
the groups at the fireside. Should a person be discovered prowling the
surroundings of a camp, without having heralded his coming, he runs grave
risk of being speared, on the chance that he be on no good business.
In the way of salutations, hand-shaking and kissing are unknown, but when
two friends meet it is quite the usual thing for them to walk together
for a while, hand-in-hand. When a person, who has been long absent,
returns to camp, everybody is so overcome with joy that he starts crying
aloud as if his joy were grief.
On the occasion of friendly Arunndta groups visiting, all members of
both parties, male and female, approach each other with their spears,
boomerangs, shields, and fighting sticks. The visitors first sit down
in a body while the others walk around them, in a widening course,
flourishing their weapons high in the air and shrieking with joy; later
they return the civilities by acting similarly.
When seating himself, an aboriginal always prefers the natural surface
of the ground to any artificial or natural object, which might serve him
in a manner suggestive of a chair. Rocks and fallen tree-trunks might
occasionally be used, and children are sometimes seen sitting upon the
lowest big branches of trees, especially if they slope downwards to the
ground. But even in these cases they rarely allow the legs to dangle,
preferring to draw them, bent in the knee, close against the body, and
usually with the arms thrown around the legs or resting upon the knees.
The men use the same method, when squatting at ease upon the ground,
keeping their thighs apart, heels touching and close against the
buttocks, with their elbows resting upon their knees and their hands
usually joined in front. When the hands are to be used, the sitter
acquires greater stability by placing the feet further apart and swinging
the arms over the knees.
Another common posture is to double the shins under the thighs and rest
them half-laterally upon the ground. This method is frequently combined
with the previously mentioned by holding one leg one way and the other
the other.
From either of these positions, the sitter may change by tucking the
shins well under the thighs and rolling on to the side of one of his
thighs.
Again, he may change by simply stretching his legs forward full length.
These methods are made use of by men, women, and children alike. Unless
it be that the person prefers his legs to remain in close apposition,
whilst squatting in any of the positions indicated, he will endeavour
to hide his shame behind one of his feet. This is particularly
characteristic of the women, and their natural sense of decency is
prettily described in the narration of the voyage in search of La Perouse
as follows: “Though for the most part they are entirely naked, it appears
to be a point of decorum with these ladies, as they sit with their knees
asunder, to cover with one foot what modesty bids them conceal in that
situation.”
By their method of standing at ease on one leg, the natives of Australia
have evolved a remarkable posture which reminds one of birds. In this
position, a man rests the sole of his unoccupied foot against the knee of
the standing leg, and usually props his body with a spear-thrower (Plate
XVI, 2).
Strictly speaking, it is the duty of the women to gather firewood,
although very often, when there is a supply close at hand, the men will
also drag a few logs to the family camp. The women, on the other hand,
are required to collect sufficient to keep the fire going, during the
day for cooking purposes and during the night for warming and lighting
purposes. At times this entails weary searching and long-distance
marching. We have already referred to the way they lift the pieces of
wood from the ground, between the toes of one foot, to the hand on the
opposite side, by passing the piece behind the body; the same hand next
stacks the wood upon the head, where the other holds and steadies it. By
this method, the gin has no need to stoop, and can in consequence build
up astonishingly high piles of wood upon her head (Plate XVII). A small
pad is usually first laid upon the head to prevent the scalp from chafing
and the wood from slipping. Arrived at the camp, a gin throws her load to
the ground and breaks the longer pieces across her head with her hands.
A native’s idea of a good fire is to keep it as small as possible, but,
at the same time, to derive a cheerful glow from it. His opinion of the
European traveller’s camp-fire is that it is so ridiculously big that
one cannot lie near to it, without being scorched. In the winter the
native often selects a large dry log if available and keeps this aglow
at one end throughout the night; in the absence of such a log, he will
at frequent intervals find it necessary to attend to his fire during
the cold hours of the night. So diligently, indeed, does he nurse his
fire that his eyes often become inflamed in consequence of the continued
irritation by smoke when he fans a smouldering flame with his breath.
A small fire like this, especially when it has burned for some time, is
quite sufficient to cook all the smaller articles, which constitute the
daily bill of fare, as for instance roots, tree-grubs, and lizards.
When, however, big game like a kangaroo is to be prepared, larger fires
are essential and special culinary rules observed. A method, which has
been in use practically everywhere in Australia, and is still found in
use among the uncontaminated tribes, is to burn a big fire for a while
upon a sandy patch, and then to lay a number of flat stones upon the
red-hot coals and cover everything with sand. After a while the sand is
scraped aside and the oven is ready for use. In the Northern Territory
the stones are substituted by brick-like lumps broken off one of the tall
termite-hills, which abound in that country.
In south-eastern Australia and along the River Murray the stones selected
are usually composed of travertine or limestone.
In the Musgrave Ranges oven-stones are not in use, the game being simply
laid upon, and covered with, hot ashes and sand.
“Big” cooking is done by the men, whilst the women are required to attend
to the preparation of all smaller articles like yams, grubs, and seeds.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIV_
1. Arunndta boy practising with toy shield and boomerang.
2. Wordaman warrior, holding prevalent north-western type of
spear-thrower and wearing pubic fur tassel.]
Slight variations are noticed in the method of cooking a kangaroo
according to the locality. In the Musgrave Ranges, the animal is prepared
whole. The skin is not detached, whilst the bony paws may, or may not,
be removed beforehand in order to secure the sinews, which are used all
over Australia for tying purposes in the manufacture of their implements
and weapons. The carcase is laid upon its back and completely covered
with hot ashes and sand, and thus permitted to cook. When sufficiently,
and that according to our ideas often means only partly, cooked, the
skin can easily be removed. The belly of the baked carcase is cut open
and the gut laid aside. What remains is then pulled to pieces by hand
and the portions distributed among all members having a right to such.
The meat is tender and juicy when cooked this way. Even the intestines,
after their contents have been squeezed out by the aid of two fingers,
are eaten by the less privileged members of the tribe. The Arunndta call
the last-named dish “_uttna kalkal_.” Most of the bones, if not crushed
between the jaws, are shattered between two stones and the marrow eaten.
The Wogait and other tribes on the north coast break the legs of the
animal and tie them together in pairs with shreds of Hybiscus bark. The
carcase is opened at one side to remove the entrails, and an incision is
also made into the anus to clear it. In the case of a kangaroo, the tail
is cut off and cooked separately in ashes. The skin is not removed. When
thus prepared, the animal is transferred to an oven as described above
and first covered with a piece or two of “paper-bark,” then with hot sand
and ashes.
In order that they may readily scoop out a fireplace, scrape the sand
to and from the roast, and handle the meat, vegetable, seed-cake, or
whatever the article in the oven might happen to be, the Northern
Kimberley tribes have invented a long wooden shovel. This is a slightly
hollowed blade, about three feet in length, four inches wide at the lower
end, and decreasing in width at the hand end. The implement is mostly
cut out of a sheet of eucalyptus bark.
The central tribes generally make use of a discarded or defective
boomerang, which seems to answer the purpose very well.
Perhaps the most important article a native possesses is the fire-stick.
No matter where he might be, on the march or in camp, it is his constant
companion. Important as it is, the fire-stick is only a short length of
dry branch or bark, smouldering at one end. It is carried in the hand
with a waving motion, from one side to another. When walking in the
dark, this motion is brisker in order to keep alive sufficient flame for
lighting the way. A body of natives walking in this way at night, in the
customary Indian file, is indeed an imposing sight. Directly a halt is
made, a fire is lit, to cook the meals at day and to supply warmth during
sleep at night. When camp is left, a fresh stick is taken from the fire
and carried on to the next stopping place.
In consequence of carrying the fire-stick too close to the body during
cold weather, most of the natives have peculiar, irregular scars upon
abdomen and chest which have been caused by burns. The Wongapitcha call
these marks “_pika wairu_.”
If by accident the fire should become extinguished, a fresh flame is
kindled by one of the methods depending upon the friction and heat which
are produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together. Two methods are in
use, all over Australia and the associated islands to the north; the one
is by means of the “fire-whisk,” the other by the “fire-saw.”
In the first-mentioned case, two pieces of wood are used, usually a flat
basal piece, with a small circular hollow in its centre, and a long
cylindrical stick, rounded at one end. The native assumes a sitting
position with his legs slightly bent in the knees. He places the flat
piece of wood upon the ground and holds it securely beneath his heels.
The rounded point is now inserted into the small hollow, and, holding
the stick vertically between the flat palms of his hands, the native
briskly twirls it like a whisk (Plate XXII). The twirling action is,
however, not backwards and forwards, but in one direction only. After a
while, the wood dust that accumulates by the abrasion begins to smoke,
then smoulder. Suddenly the native throws his stick aside, and quickly
stooping over the smoking powder, gently blows upon it whilst he adds
a few blades of dry straw or other easily inflammable material. When
the smouldering dust has been coaxed into flame, more straw and twigs
are added, then larger pieces of wood, until eventually a blazing fire
results.
Often a small notch is cut at the side of the central hollow in order
that the smouldering powder might find its way down to a piece of bark
placed beneath the basal stick, and there, by the aid of gentle blowing,
ignite the dry grass, which was previously laid upon the bark for that
purpose.
Usually, during the process of twirling, a little fine sand is placed
upon the hollow to increase the friction. A curious practice was observed
among the Larrekiya at Port Darwin, which seems to be opposed to the
friction principle. When the fire-maker has, by careful twirling,
adjusted the point of the upright stick, so that it fits nicely into
the hole in the basal piece, he squeezes a quantity of grease from
the sebaceous glands of his nose, which he scrapes together with his
finger-nails and transfers in a lump to the ankle of his left foot. Then
he resumes the twirling, and, so soon as the stick begins to smoke, he
applies its hot end to the grease, which spreads itself over the point.
The stick having been thus lubricated, the process is continued as before.
The central tribes, like the Dieri, Wongapitcha, and Aluridja, usually
make the basal piece short and flat, and wider than the twirling stick.
The Dieri select needlebush for the twirling stick, and Hack’s Pea
(_Crotalaria_) for the basal piece. The other tribes mentioned combine
the needlebush wood with that of a mulga root.
The northern tribes almost invariably employ two long sticks, one of
which has a rounded point at one end, the other a series of shallow
circular pits, into which the point of the twirling piece just described
fits when the implement is in use.
The Mulluk-Mulluk, Ponga-Ponga, and other tribes of the Daly River
district carry a number of these sticks about with them, especially
in the rainy season, when there is always a chance of the fire-stick
being extinguished by an unexpected tropical deluge. The fire-making
apparatus is carried in a receptacle, which consists of a single segment
of a bamboo, with a septum at the bottom. The sticks are stuck into
this cylindrical holder, which keeps them perfectly dry even during a
prolonged season of rain, after the fashion of arrows in a quiver.
Fire-making implements are carried by the men, whilst the fire-stick is,
as often as not, carried by the women also. As we have already seen in
connection with the carriage of water, it is the concern of the women
to undertake the transport of the camp-belongings from one site to
another. When moving they pack themselves with the domestic implements,
collecting-vessels, personal paraphernalia, and their infants, whilst
their husbands burden themselves only to the extent of a few spears, a
spear-thrower, and the fire-producing sticks just mentioned. The men
declare that it would be most unwise to be burdened with any impediment
themselves, while on the march, because at any moment, and when least
expected, they might be pounced upon by an enemy, who would make good use
of their unpreparedness. So also, should game of any kind suddenly come
into view, the men, who are the recognized hunters, must always be ready
for quick action, or in a position to take up the chase immediately.
Hence it comes about that in the best interests of the tribe the women
are required to undertake the transport.
[Illustration: _PLATE XV_
1. Framework of hut in course of construction, Cooper’s Creek, S.W.
Queensland.
2. Hut decked with porcupine grass, Arltunga district.]
The men spend hours at a time in camp making or sharpening spears. When,
moreover, the weapons are not in use, the hunters are most punctilious
in preserving them from harm. The rule of the camp is never to lay a
spear upon the ground for any length of time for two reasons; firstly, to
prevent it from warping, and secondly, to eliminate the risk of breakage
by somebody carelessly walking on to it. For these reasons the men, when
camped, always take the precaution to stand their spears in a more or
less upright position against the entrance of their huts, or against any
bush or tree which happens to be growing close at hand.
Whenever possible, the opportunity of a sojourn in camp is seized for
conducting a festive dance and song. For this purpose head-gears and
other decorations have to be manufactured, plumes and permanent ornaments
renovated, and pigments prepared to adorn the persons taking part in the
performance. Upon such occasions a native is never seen idle.
Quite apart from preparing himself in anticipation of an extraordinary
event, however, a native might take advantage of a delay in camp to
manufacture an article with which he can barter with an adjoining tribe.
The most common article thus prepared is ochre. Many tribes do not
possess a deposit of this natural pigment and they are most anxious to
do business with their neighbours. In exchange for the ochre, they offer
such things as weapons, pitjuri-leaf, fish, or yams. The ochre is carried
to its destination either in lumps or prepared as a fine powder. In the
former case it is packed in small fibre or fur-string bags; in the latter
the powder is wrapped in thin sheets of bark and tied together with
string into neat parcels. The preparation of the ochre-powder entails
much grinding between the stone surfaces of a hand-mill. The ochre is
used for decorating the body, as well as implements and weapons.
If now we enquire into the method of dress adopted by the aborigines of
Australia, we find that most of the tribes originally walked about in the
nude, and, apart from a few small personal decorations, possessed nothing
in the shape of a covering which might be described as a dress. The
advent of civilization has largely interfered with this ancient practice.
The now practically extinct south-eastern tribes, including those along
the River Murray, used more of a body-covering than any others. Opossum,
wallaby, and any suitable marsupial skins were collected and carefully
sewn together, and with these rugs the natives could, if need be, cover
the greater part of their bodies.
By far the most common mode is to tie a string around the waist, from
which is suspended a tassel to cover the pubes. These tassels vary
considerably in size according to the tribe which wears them. The
smallest are found among the Wongapitcha in the Mann and Tomkinson
Ranges; the appendage is there only worn by the men and is barely large
enough to cover the part. It is made of human hair strands fastened at
the knot of the tassel directly to the pubes; the covering is known as
the “_moiranje_.” As a general rule, it might be said that the northern
tribes have larger coverings than the central, although the Yantowannta
and other Barcoo River tribes wear them as large as any. Even the
Arunndta and Aluridja at special functions suspend large pubic tassels of
fur-string from the waist-band.
The northern type of tassel consists of a great number of strings,
usually of opossum fur, bound to a central piece, which is attached to
the waist-band, either by two separate terminal strings, or by means of
one single tie from the top of the tassel. The completed covering hangs
from the waist like an apron. This type of pubic tassel is known to all
north-central and northern tribes, and might be worn by either adult male
or married female.
In place of the tassel a small sheet of the paper-bark is popular amongst
the north coastal tribes. A narrow strip, from eight to twelve inches
long, is folded transversely at its middle and hung over the waist-band,
from which it pends like an apron as described of the tassel. Captain
Matthew Flinders is perhaps the first European to have observed this
custom, as far back as 1803, at Caledon Bay, where he observed a girl
wearing “a small piece of bark, in guise of a fig leaf, which was the
sole approximation to clothing seen.”
The women of Bathurst Island carry folded sheets of the paper-bark
or large food-carriers about with them, which, upon the approach of
strangers, they hold in front of their person.
Along the whole length of coast line of north Australia, the large shell
of the pearl-oyster is made use of as a pubic covering. Even among such
tribes as live remote from the sea, one may occasionally find the shell
so used, in which case, of course, it has been acquired from a coastal
tribe by barter. In order to hang the shell, two holes are drilled
through it near the hinge line, at the top, and a string passed through
them, with which it is tied to a belt. The rough exterior surface of the
shell is ground smooth; and it is this side which lies against the body.
The nacreous inner surface is frequently decorated with either painted
designs or carvings subsequently tinted with ochre. The Sunday Island
natives are especially adept at this type of decorative art, which will
be referred to later.
Although the aboriginal does not wear much clothing, he is very
particular about regularly anointing his supple skin. This precaution no
doubt gives him greater protection against the changes of weather than
all the modern ideas of clothing could do. What he principally applies is
fat of emu and goanna, and on the north coast that of some of the larger
fish as well. The emu in particular, and especially during a good season,
accumulates masses of fat under its skin, which are readily removed, when
slain by the hunter. This grease the native rubs over the whole surface
of his body to shield the skin from the painful sting of the broiling sun
and of the arid wind. In addition he covers certain parts of his body
and face with red ochre and charcoal, both for cosmetic and protective
purposes. The application of coloured pigments for purely decorative and
ceremonial purposes will be discussed later.
Hair-belts are worn by young and old, male and female. Children have only
one or two twisted fur-strings tied around the waist. Among the coastal
tribes of the Northern Territory, men wear belts made of twisted human
hair. A skein of about thirty strings is tied at two points diametrically
opposite, and, making these the ends, the sixty strings are loosely
twisted into a hank about two feet in length. The belt thus completed
is tied around the waist with a piece of human hair-string. The article
is of practical use since it permits of carrying various implements and
weapons, which a man sticks between the belt and his body. A Wogait
warrior was seen with a tomahawk thus placed at the back of his body; to
stay the swinging of the handle he held it securely in the cleft between
his buttocks. The same type of belt is used by the tribes of the Northern
Kimberleys, and there they are always chosen when a man is wearing the
pearl-shell appendage.
The Worora construct more elaborate articles by winding much human
hair-string circumferentially (i.e. spirally) round a thick inner skein
like the one described above. The finished belt looks like a cylindrical
ring about an inch in thickness.
Other kinds of belts are made, but they are more for gala occasions, as
when ceremonies are performed and tribal dances arranged.
When his affairs are working harmoniously, game secured, and water
available, the aboriginal makes his life as easy as possible; and he
might to the outsider even appear lazy. Blessed with a fair share of
pristine philosophy by heredity, his motto might be interpreted in words
to the effect that while there is plenty for to-day never care about
to-morrow. On this account an aboriginal is inclined to make one feast
of his supplies, in preference to a modest meal now and another by and
by. The result is that, when a beast has been roasted, the whole of
it is eaten, even though the participant family or group be small in
comparison with the bulk of the spread. In consequence of this custom,
the surfeiters find it necessary in times of plenty to frequently lie in
camp, in undisguised idleness, until such time has lapsed as Nature must
demand of their systems to overcome the discomforts which the reckless
gorging had brought about. During this period of digestive recovery,
an aboriginal endeavours to spend most of his time in sleeping off
the objectionable after-effects of his temporary indiscretion. As an
apology, however, one must admit that only too often the same individual
is compelled to go for many days without even a mouthful to eat, and
possibly, at the same time existing on a minimum of water, under the most
trying conditions imaginable—conditions whose origin must be traced to
the cycles of drought the great southern continent is heir to, and which
have become more drastic in their effects, since the coming of the white
man, through the extermination of many indigenous animals and plants the
original owners of the land used to depend upon for their existence.
It is during the leisure hours of any stay in camp that attention is
paid to such operations as hair-cutting and beard-removing previously
referred to. When the natives have been on the march for a time, and
especially after they have been out hunting or collecting, numbers of
thorns, prickles, and splinters are picked up by the soles of their feet,
in spite of the thick horny nature of the skin. Many of these break off
short and in due course set up irritation, necessitating their removal.
Firstly the sufferer tries to remove the foreign body from the skin with
his finger-nails; failing to succeed by this method, he cuts a small
piece of wood the shape of an awl, and with its sharp point removes the
obstacle. The prickle is often completely buried and quite invisible to
the eye, yet it has to be removed. In order to locate it under those
conditions, the aboriginal resorts to the method, not infrequently
applied by the modern surgeon, of gently pressing the skin at different
places with the tip of the instrument until the seat of pain has been
located. At that spot he cuts away the skin to a depth sufficient to
expose the hidden body, which he can then in most cases express with his
fingers. During these operations the natives repeatedly give vent to a
sharp, yet subdued “_irr_,” combining the expression of pain with that of
disgust or temper.
The method adopted by the natives of walking one behind the other, where
possible, is partly to minimize the risk of picking up prickles with
their feet, and partly to obliterate the individual tracks of the party.
The dog is the aboriginal’s constant companion. In the original tribal
areas the dingo, Australia’s wild dog, is captured and tamed young; in
the more civilized districts the European dog has been acquired and bred
by the natives in alarmingly large numbers. The animals are kept by both
man and woman—in a single wurley one might count as many as fifteen dogs
living with the human occupants. The yelping hordes are useless, except
perhaps that they raise the alarm when strangers approach the camp. Some
of them are indeed dangerously vicious. The natives have the dogs about
them merely for the love they bear towards them; it is on account of the
unreasonable amount of petting and pampering, received at the hands of
their masters, that the dogs become so thoroughly useless. A native just
holds the unruly mob about him for company sake; he prefers to rely upon
his own skill and instinct when hunting, and rarely allows his dogs to go
with him; in fact, there seems little inclination on the part of the dogs
to accompany the chase with their master. They are so well looked after,
and regularly steal so much from the general supplies of the camp, that
they grow fat and lazy. When a dog seems to be off colour, or has been
accidentally hurt, it is nursed like a sick child; it is placed by the
fireside, upon the best rug available, and covered with other rags, the
natives themselves going without any covering. One might occasionally
find a gin going so far as to even suckle a pup at her breast.
Interesting discussions have taken place as to whether the dingo
is indigenous to Australia or whether it has come hither from some
other land, possibly with man. The wild dog found in the mountains of
Java certainly resembles the dingo very closely. Whether or no, the
dingo has existed in Australia quite as long as the primitive tribes.
Osseous remains of the wild dog have been found contemporaneous with
the extinct Diprotodon and other pre-historic monsters. Indeed in the
“mammalian drifts” filling the ancient valleys of the ranges in the
Noarlunga district, south of Adelaide, bones of such animals have been
found showing distinctly the teeth-marks of the dingo upon them. In
Victoria, and New South Wales also, dog remains have been found in old
cave deposits in company with fossil-mammals and struthious birds,
often buried beneath the basaltic flows and ashes of Mount Gambier
and other volcanoes, which have long since become dormant. It seems
most probable, therefore, that the dingo existed in Australia in the
Pliocene period, or at any rate in that immediately following it. It is
a strange circumstance that the dingo has never been traced to Tasmania,
although, immediately opposite that island on the mainland, the dog was
most plentiful in by-gone times. The surmise is that the animal had in
its migration not reached so far south before Tasmania was severed from
the Australian continent by the breaking through of Bass Strait. It is
reasonable to assume then that the dingo came to the south of Australia
subsequent to the aboriginals who inhabited Tasmania.