AUSTRALIA.
THE NATIVE AUSTRALIANS -- THE GENERAL CONFORMATION OF THE HEAD AND
FEATURES -- THEIR AVERAGE STATURE AND FORM -- THE WOMEN AND THEIR
APPEARANCE -- CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES -- THEIR THIEVISH PROPENSITIES
-- THEIR CUNNING, AND POWER OF DISSIMULATION -- A PAIR OF CLEVER
THIEVES -- THE “GOOD NATIVE” -- A CLEVER OLD WOMAN -- INCENTIVES TO
ROBBERY -- HIDEOUS ASPECT OF THE OLD WOMEN -- A REPULSIVE SUBJECT
FOR AN ARTIST -- YOUNGER WOMEN OF SAME TRIBE -- THEIR STRANGE DRESS
-- THE CIRCULAR MAT CLOAK AND ITS USES -- THE NATIVE BASKET --
TREACHEROUS CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES -- MR. BAINES’S NARRATIVE -- THE
OUTRIGGER CANOE OF NORTH AUSTRALIA, AND ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN -- PIPE,
AND MODE OF SMOKING -- THE MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA, AND THEIR MARSUPIAL
CHARACTER -- CONFUSION OF NOMENCLATURE -- EFFECT OF THE ANIMALS ON
THE HUMAN INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTRY -- PRIMARY USE OF WEAPONS.
Following up the principle of taking the least civilized races in
succession, we naturally pass to the great continent of Australia and
its adjacent islands.
This wonderful country holds a sort of isolated position on the
earth, owing to the curious contrast which reigns between it and all
the lands with which we are familiar. It is situated, as my readers
will see by reference to a map, just below the equator, and extends
some forty degrees southward, thus having at its northern extremity a
heat which is tropical, and at its southern point a climate as cold
as our own. But there is perhaps no country where the temperature is
so variable as Australia, and there is one instance recorded where
the thermometer registered a change of fifty degrees in twenty-five
minutes. This sudden change is owing to the winds, which if they blow
from the sea are cool, but if they blow toward the coast, after passing
over the heated sand-wastes of the interior, raise the temperature in
the extraordinary manner which has been mentioned. Still, the climate,
changeable though it be, is a pleasant one; and the colonists who
visit England nearly always grumble at the damp climate of the mother
country, and long to be back again in Australia. Both the animal and
vegetable products of this country are strangely unlike those of other
lands, but, as we shall have occasion to describe them in the course of
the following pages, they will not be mentioned at present; and we will
proceed at once to the human inhabitants of Australia.
* * * * *
It is exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible, to treat of the
aborigines of Australia with much accuracy of system. Differing as do
the tribes with which we are acquainted in many minor particulars, they
all agree in general characteristics: and, whether a native be taken
from the north or south of the vast Australian continent, there is a
similitude of habits and a cast of features which point him out at once
as an Australian.
The plan that will be adopted will therefore be to give a general
sketch of the natives, together with an account of those habits in
which they agree, and then to glance over as much of Australia as
travellers have laid open to us, and to mention briefly the most
interesting of the manners and customs which exist in the several
tribes.
* * * * *
In color the Australians are quite black, as dark indeed as the negro,
but with nothing of the negro character in the face. The forehead
does not recede like that of the negro; and though the nose is wide,
the mouth large, and the lips thick, there is none of that projection
of jaw which renders the pure negro face so repulsive. The eye is
small, dark, and, being deeply sunken, it gives to the brows a heavy,
overhanging sort of look. The hair is by no means close and woolly,
like that of the negro, but is plentiful, rather long, and disposed
to curl, mostly undulating, and sometimes even taking the form of
ringlets. In texture it is very coarse and harsh, but cannot be
described as wool.
The beard and moustache are very thick and full, and the men take a
pride in these ornaments, sometimes twisting the beard into curious
shapes. Indeed, as a rule they are a hairy race. There is now before
me a large collection of photographs of native Australians, in many of
which the men are remarkable for the thickness of the beard, and some
of them have their faces so heavily bearded that scarcely the nose
is perceptible among the mass of hair that covers the cheeks nearly
up to the eyes. Several of the elder men are very remarkable for the
development of the hair, which covers the whole of the breast and arms
with a thick coating of pile, and looks as if they were clothed with
a tightly-fitting fur garment. The illustration No. 1, on the 698th
page, will give a good idea of the features of the Australian. It is
exactly copied from photographic portraits; and although the subjects
have disfigured themselves by putting on European dress, and the woman
has actually combed her hair, the general cast of the features is well
preserved.
In stature the Australian is about equal to that of the average
Englishman--say five feet eight inches, although individuals much below
and above this height may be seen. The bodily form of the Australian
savages is good, and their limbs well made. There are several
well-known drawings of Australians, which have been widely circulated
on account of their grotesqueness, and which have been accepted as the
ordinary form of this curious people, and they have given the idea that
the native Australian is distinguished by a very large head, a very
small body, and very long and attenuated limbs; in fact, that he is to
the European what the spider-monkey is to the baboon.
Such drawings are, however, only taken from exceptional cases, and
give no idea of the real contour of the native Australian. Indeed, Mr.
Pickering, who traversed the greater part of the world in search of
anthropological knowledge, writes in very strong terms of the beautiful
forms which can be seen among these natives. “The general form, though
sometimes defective, seemed on the average better than that of the
negro, and I did not find the undue slenderness of limb which has been
commonly attributed to the Australians. Strange as it may appear, I
would refer to an Australian as the finest model of human proportions I
have ever met with, in muscular development combining perfect symmetry,
activity, and strength; while his head might have compared with an
antique bust of a philosopher.”
Those of my readers who happened to see the native Australians that
came over to England as cricketers and athletes in general must have
noticed the graceful forms for which some of the men were remarkable,
while all were possessed of great elegance of limb.
The disadvantageous effect of European clothing on the dark races
was well shown in these men, who seemed to undergo a positive
transformation when they laid aside their ordinary clothes for a
costume which represented, as far as possible, the light and airy
apparel of the native Australian. Dressed in gray, or clad in the
cricketer’s costume, there was nothing remarkable about them, and in
fact they seemed to be very ordinary persons indeed. But with their
clothes they threw off their commonplace look, and, attired only in
tight “fleshings,” dyed as nearly as possible the color of their black
skins, with a piece of fur wrapped round their loins and a sort of
fur cap on their heads, they walked with a proud, elastic step that
contrasted strangely with their former gait.
It may perhaps be said that this change of demeanor was only the
natural result of removing the heavy clothing and giving freedom to
the limbs. This was not the case, for several professional English
athletes contended with the Australians, and, when they came to run or
leap, wore the usual light attire of the professional acrobat. In them,
however, no such improvement took place, and, if anything, they looked
better in their ordinary dress.
The women are, as a rule, much inferior to the men in appearance. Even
when young, although they possess symmetrical forms, their general
appearance is not nearly so pleasing as that of the young African girl,
and, when the woman becomes old, she is, if possible, even more hideous
and hag-like than the African. This deterioration may partly be due to
the exceedingly hard life led by the women, or “gins”--in which word,
by the way, the _g_ is pronounced hard as in “giddy.” That they have
to do all the hard work, and to carry all the heavy weights, including
the children, while their husbands sit or sleep, or, if on the march,
burden themselves with nothing more weighty than their weapons, is to
be expected, as it is the universal practice among natives. But it is
not so much the hard work as the privation which tells upon the woman,
who is treated with the same contemptuous neglect with which a savage
treats his dog, and, while her husband, father, or brother, is feasting
on the game which she has cooked, thinks herself fortunate if they now
and then toss a nearly cleaned bone or a piece of scorched meat to her.
Like most savages, the Australian natives are adroit and daring
thieves, displaying an amount of acuteness in carrying out their
designs which would do honor to the most expert professional thief of
London or Paris. In his interesting work entitled “Savage Life and
Scenes,” Mr. G. F. Angas has related several anecdotes respecting this
propensity.
“Leaving Rivoli Bay, we fell in with two very droll natives, the only
ones who had made bold to approach our camp; both were in a state of
nudity. One of these fellows was a perfect supplejack; he danced and
capered about as though he were filled with quicksilver. We mounted
them on horses, from which they were continually tumbling off, and they
travelled with us all day.
“When we encamped at an old resting-place, near Lake Howden, they, by
signs, requested permission to remain by our fires, which we allowed
them to do, and gave them for supper the head and refuse of a sheep
that was just killed and hung up to a tree near the tents. They showed
great surprise on seeing our various utensils and articles of cookery.
So modest and well-behaved did these artful gentlemen appear, that they
would not touch the slightest article of food without first asking
permission by signs; and they so far gained our confidence that one
of them was adorned with a tin plate, suspended round his neck by a
string, on which was inscribed ‘Good Native.’
“In the dead of the night we were all aroused by the unusual barking of
the dogs. At first it was supposed that the wild dogs were ‘rushing’
the sheep; but as the tumult increased, the Sergeant-Major unwrapped
his opossum rug, and looked around for his hat, to go and ascertain the
cause of the disturbance. To his surprise, he found that his hat had
vanished. The hat of his companion, who lay next him near the fire,
was also nowhere to be found; and, casting his eyes to the spot where
the sheep hung suspended from the tree, he saw in a moment that our
fond hopes for to-morrow’s repast were blighted, for the sheep too had
disappeared. The whole camp was roused, when it was ascertained that
forks, spoons, and the contents of the Governor’s canteen, pannikins
and other articles, were likewise missing, and that our two remarkably
docile natives had left us under cover of the night.
“A council of war was held. Black Jimmy protested that it was useless
to follow their tracks until the morning, and that from the nature of
the country they had doubtless taken to the swamps, walking in the
water, so that pursuit was in vain. We had been completely duped by
these artful and clever fellows, who probably had a large party of
their colleagues lying in ambush amid the surrounding swamps, ready to
assist in carrying away the stolen property. Retaliation was useless;
and we contented ourselves by giving utterance to our imprecations and
commenting on the audacity and cunning of the rogues until daybreak.”
Another instance of theft--in this case single-handed--occurred not
long before the robbery which has just been recorded. While the
exploring party was on the march, they fell in with a number of
natives who were cooking their food.
“At our approach, they flew down the descent, and hid among the
bulrushes; but one old woman, unable to escape as speedily as the rest,
finding flight useless, began to chatter very loud and fast, pointing
to her blind eye, and her lean and withered arms, as objects of
commiseration. Damper was given to her and she continued in terror to
chew it very fast without swallowing any, until she was almost choked;
when suddenly she got hold of Gisborne’s handkerchief and made off with
it. With a vigorous leap she plunged into the mud and reeds beneath,
effecting her escape by crawling into the swamp and joining her wild
companions, to whom she doubtless recounted her adventures that night
over a dish of fried tadpoles.”
The dish of fried tadpoles, to which allusion has been made, is quite a
luxury among this wretched tribe, and, when the exploring party pushed
on to the spot where the people had been cooking, it was found that
they had been engaged in roasting a dish of water-beetles over a fire.
It is impossible to withhold admiration for the skill displayed by
these sable thieves in stealing the property which they coveted, and,
in excuse for them, it must be remembered that the articles which were
stolen were to the blacks of inestimable value. Food and ornaments are
coveted by the black man as much as wealth and titles by the white man,
and both these articles were ready to hand. The temptation to which
these poor people was exposed seems very trifling to us, but we must
measure it, not from our own point of view, but from theirs.
The strange visitors who so suddenly appeared among them possessed
abundance of the very things which were dearest to them. There was a
whole sheep, which would enable them to enjoy the greatest luxury of
which they could form any notion, _i. e._ eating meat to repletion; and
there was store of glittering objects which could be worn as ornaments,
and would dignify them forever in the eyes of their fellows. The happy
possessor of a spoon, a fork, or a tin plate, which would be hung
round the neck and kept highly polished, would be exalted above his
companions like a newly ennobled man among ourselves, and it should not
be expected that such an opportunity, which could never again be looked
for, would be allowed to pass. The temptation to them was much as would
be a title and a fortune among ourselves, and there are many civilized
men who have done worse than the savage Australian when tempted by such
a bait.
Reference has been made to the haggard appearance of the old woman who
so ingeniously stole the handkerchief, the love of finery overcoming
the dread of the white man in spite of her age and hideous aspect,
which would only be made more repulsive by any attempt at ornament. It
is scarcely possible to imagine the depths of ugliness into which an
Australian woman descends after she has passed the prime of her life.
As we have seen, the old woman of Africa is singularly hideous, but she
is quite passable when compared with her aged sister of Australia.
[Illustration: (1.) AUSTRALIAN MAN AND WOMAN. (See page 695.)]
[Illustration: (2.) WOMEN AND OLD MAN OF THE LOWER MURRAY AND THE LAKES.
(See page 699.)]
The old Australian woman certainly does not possess the projecting
jaws, the enormous mouth, and the sausage-like lips of the African, but
she exhibits a type of hideousness peculiarly her own. Her face looks
like a piece of black parchment strained tightly over a skull, and the
mop-like, unkempt hair adds a grotesque element to the features which
only makes them still more repulsive. The breasts reach to the waist,
flat, pendent, and swinging about at every movement; her body is so
shrunken that each rib stands out boldly, the skin being drawn deeply
in between them, and the limbs shrivel up until they look like sticks,
the elbows and knees projecting like knots in a gnarled branch.
Each succeeding year adds to the hideous look of these poor creatures,
because the feebleness of increasing years renders them less and
less useful; and accordingly they are neglected, ill-treated, and
contemptuously pushed aside by those who are younger and stronger than
themselves, suffering in their turn the evils which in their youth they
carelessly inflicted on those who were older and feebler.
Mr. Angas has among his sketches one which represents a very old woman
of the Port Fairy tribe. They had built their rude huts or miam-miams
under some gum-trees, and very much disgusted the exploring party by
their hideous appearance and neglected state. There was one old woman
in particular, who exemplified strongly all the characteristics which
have just been described; and so surpassingly hideous, filthy, and
repulsive was she, that she looked more like one of the demoniacal
forms that Callot was so fond of painting than a veritable human
creature. Indeed, so very disgusting was her appearance, that one of
the party was made as ill as if he had taken an emetic.
Not wishing to shock my readers by the portrait of this wretched
creature, I have introduced on page preceding, two younger females of
the same tribe.
The remarkable point about this and one or two other tribes of the
same locality and the neighborhood, is the circular mat which is tied
on their backs, and which is worn by both sexes. The mat is made of
reeds twisted into ropes, coiled round, and fastened together very much
as the archer’s targets of the present day are made. The fibres by
which the reed ropes are bound together are obtained from the chewed
roots of the bulrush. The native name for this mat is _paingkoont_.
One of the women appears in her ordinary home dress, _i. e._ wearing
the paingkoont and her baby, over whose little body she has thrown a
piece of kangaroo skin. The mat makes a very good cradle for the child,
which, when awake and disposed to be lively, puts its head over the
mat and surveys the prospect, but when alarmed pops down and hides
itself like a rabbit disappearing into its burrow. The old woman, whose
portrait is withheld, was clothed in the paingkoont, and wore no other
raiment, so that the full hideousness of her form was exposed to view.
The woman standing opposite is just starting upon a journey. She is
better clad than her companion, having beside the paingkoont a rude
sort of petticoat. On her back she has slung the net in which she
places the roots which she is supposed to dig out of the ground, and,
thrust through the end which ties it, she carries the digging-stick, or
katta, which serves her for a spade. She has in her hand the invariable
accompaniment of a journey,--namely, the fire-stick, smouldering amid
dry grass between two pieces of bark, and always ready to be forced
into a flame by whirling it round her head.
Behind them is seated an old man, also wearing the mat-cloak, and
having by his side one of the beautifully constructed native baskets.
These baskets are made, like the mat, of green rushes or reeds, and
are plaited by the women. One of these baskets is illustrated in an
engraving on the 722d page. The reader will doubtless observe that the
mode of plaiting it is almost identical with that which is employed by
the natives of Southern Africa, the rushes being twisted and coiled
upon each other and bound firmly together at short intervals by strong
fibrous threads. They are rather variable in shape; some, which are
intended to stand alone, being flat-bottomed, and others, which are
always suspended by a string, ending in a point.
In common with other savage races, the Australians are apt to behave
treacherously to the white man when they find themselves able to do
so with impunity. This behavior is not always the result of ferocity
or cruelty, though an Australian can on occasion be as fierce and
cruel as any savage. Oftentimes it is the result of fear, the black
people standing in awe of the white stranger and his deadly weapons,
and availing themselves of their native cunning to deprive him of his
unfair advantages as soon as possible.
Ignorant of the object of travel, and having from infancy been
accustomed to consider certain districts as the property of certain
tribes, and any man who intruded into the district of another as an
enemy, it is but natural that when they see, especially for the first
time, a man of different color from themselves travelling through
the country, such strangers must necessarily be enemies, come for the
purpose of using against the aborigines the weapons which they possess.
Again, a feeling of acquisitiveness has much to do with the treachery.
Add to their ideas of the inimical character of the strangers the
cupidity that must be excited by the sight of the valuable property
brought into their country by those whom they consider as enemies
delivered into their hand, and there is no reason for wonder that they
should take both the lives and the property of the strangers, and thus
secure the valued trophies of war at the same time that they rid their
country of strange and powerful enemies, and attain at one stroke an
amount of wealth which they could not hope to gain through the labors
of a life.
This phase of their character is well shown by Mr. T. Baines, in a
letter which he has kindly allowed me to transfer to these pages. He
was one of an exploring expedition, which had also undertaken to convey
a number of sheep and horses. “While making the inner passage along the
coast, we fell in with several canoes, some of very rude construction,
being in fact mere logs capable of carrying a couple of men, who,
perhaps in terror of the telescopes pointed at them, did not approach
us.
“Others were of greater size and power, being large hollowed logs,
very straight and narrow, and steadied on either side by other logs,
pointed at the ends, and acting as outriggers, neatly enough attached
by pegs driven into them through a framing of bamboo. Others again were
strictly double canoes, two of the narrow vessels being connected by
a bamboo platform so as to lie parallel to each other at some little
distance apart.
“They were manned by crews of from six to twelve, or even more in
number, all tolerably fine fellows, perfectly naked, with shock heads
of woolly hair and scanty beards. They were ornamented with scars and
raised cicatrices tastefully cut on their shoulder and elsewhere. They
were armed with long spears, some of them tipped with wood, others
with bone, and having from one to four points. They also had bows and
arrows, as well as their curious paddles, the looms of which were
barbed and pointed, so as to be useful as spears. When these weapons
were thrown at a fish, the owner always plunged into the water after
his weapon, so as to secure the fish the moment that it was struck.
“Their arrival caused various emotions among our party. One gentleman
ruined his revolver by hurriedly trying to load it, while a little
girl, so far from being afraid of them, traded with them for almost
everything they had in their canoes. Just as they dropped astern after
reaching us, the captain’s little daughters were being bathed in a tub
on the main-hatch, and, naturally enough, jumped out of their bath, and
ran aft wet and glistening in the sunlight, to hide themselves from the
strange black fellows who were stretching themselves to look over our
low bulwarks at the little naked white girls.
“We bought spears, bows, arrows, tortoise-shell, &c., for hats,
handkerchiefs, and other things; and they were greatly interested in
the white baby, which, at their express request, was held up for them
to look at.”
Up to this point we find the natives mild and conciliatory, but we
proceed with the letter, and find an unexpected change in their
demeanor.
“We had here an instance of the capriciousness of the natives. We met
about a dozen on shore, and endeavored by all friendly signs to induce
them to come to terms with us. We showed them that we had no guns, but
our attempts were useless. They fell into regular battle array, with
their long spears ready shipped on the throwing sticks, six standing
in front, and the rest acting as supports behind. As it was unsafe to
parley longer, we mounted our horses, and again tried to make them
understand that we wished to be on friendly terms. It was all useless,
and the only thing that we could do was to ride straight at them. They
ran like antelopes, and gained the thick bush where we could not follow
them. B---- wanted to shoot one of them, but I would not allow it.
“The prospect of killing and eating our horses seemed to be their great
temptation. They made constant war upon our stud for a fortnight or
three weeks, in my camp at Depôt Creek, and I had to patrol the country
with B---- daily, to keep them from ringing the horses round with fire.
“The character of the Australian canoe-men is variously spoken of, some
reporting them as good-natured and peaceable, while others say that
they are treacherous and savage. Both speak the truth from their own
experience. A fellow artist, who generally landed from a man-of-war’s
boat, with the ship in the offing, found them peaceable enough, but
poor Mr. Strange, the naturalist, was murdered on one of the islands.
“While we were on board our vessels, they were quite friendly; and
even during my boat’s voyage of 750 miles, while we had a dashing
breeze and the boat well under command, we found the groups we met with
civil enough. But when we were helplessly becalmed at the entrance
of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and supposed by the natives to be the
unarmed survivors of some vessel wrecked in Torres Straits, we were
deliberately and treacherously attacked.
“We watched the preparations for nearly an hour through the telescope,
and refrained from giving them the slightest ground even to suspect
that we looked on them otherwise than as friends. As soon as they
thought they had us in their power, they began to throw spears at us,
so I put a rifle-bullet through the shoulder of the man who threw at
us, to teach him the danger of interfering with supposed helpless
boats, but did not fire again. The wounded man was led on shore by one
of his mates, and we were not molested again.
“These people are very capricious. They have the cunning and the strong
passions of men, but in reason they are only children. Life is not held
sacred by them, and, when their thirst for blood is raised, they revel
in cruelty.”
These Australian canoes, with outriggers attached, indicate a
Polynesian origin, as indeed do the bows and arrows, which will be
fully described on a future page. The tobacco pipes in use in that
part of Australia are curious. One form consists of a hollow tube as
thick as a man’s arm, stopped at the ends and having one hole near the
bottom into which is introduced the stem of a pipe, and another hole
near the top through which the smoke is imbibed. Their use of the pipe
is rather singular. When a party desires to smoke, the chief man lights
the pipe, places his mouth to the orifice, and continually inhales
until the interior of the hollow stem is filled with smoke. The bowl
is then removed, and the aperture stopped with a plug which is kept
in readiness. The first smoker closes with his thumb the hole through
which he has been imbibing the smoke, and passes the pipe to his
neighbor, who applies his lips to the hole, fills his lungs with smoke,
and then passes the pipe to the next man. In this way, the tobacco is
made to last as long as possible, and the greatest possible amount of
enjoyment is got out of the least possible amount of material. The
exterior of the stem is generally carved into the simple patterns which
are found on nearly all Australian weapons and implements.
* * * * *
Before proceeding further with the character and habits of the natives,
we will cast a glance at the country which they inhabit, and the
peculiarities which have contributed toward forming that character.
It is a very strange country, as strange to us as England would be to
a savage Australian. Its vegetable and animal productions are most
remarkable, and are so strange that when the earlier voyagers brought
back accounts of their travels they were not believed; and when they
exhibited specimens of the flora and fauna, they were accused of
manufacturing them for the purpose of deception.
In the first place, with a single exception, the mammalia are all
marsupials, or edentates. The solitary exception is the dingo, or
native dog, an animal which somewhat resembles the jackal, but is
altogether a handsomer animal. Whether it be indigenous, or a mere
variety of the dog modified by long residence in the country, is rather
doubtful, though the best zoölogists incline to the latter opinion,
and say that the marsupial type alone is indigenous to this strange
country. Of course the reader is supposed to know that the young of
a marsupial animal is born at a very early age, and attains its full
development in a supplementary pouch attached to the mother, into which
pouch the teats open.
The animal which is most characteristic of Australia is the kangaroo.
Of this singular type some forty species are known, varying in size
from that of a tall man to that of a mouse. Some of them are known as
kangaroos, and others as kangaroo-rats, but the type is the same in
all. As their form implies, they are made for leaping over the ground,
their enormously long legs and massive development of the hind quarters
giving them the requisite power, while their long tails serve to
balance them as they pass through the air.
Nearly all the so-called “rats” of Australia belong to the kangaroo
tribe, though some are members of other marsupial families. Here I
may mention that the nomenclature of the colonists has caused great
perplexity and labor to incipient zoölogists. They are told in some
books that the dingo is the only Australian animal that is not a
marsupial or an edentate, and yet they read in books of travel of the
bear, the monkey, the badger, the wolf, the cat, the squirrel, the
mole, and so forth. The fact is, that, with the natural looseness of
diction common to colonists all over the world, the immigrants have
transferred to their new country the nomenclature of the old. To the
great trouble of index-searchers, there is scarcely a part of the world
inhabited by our colonists where London, Oxford, Boston, and fifty
other places are not multiplied. The first large river they meet they
are sure to call the Thames, and it is therefore to be expected that
natural history should suffer in the same way as geography.
Thus, should, in the course of this account of Australia, the reader
come across a passage quoted from some traveller in which the monkey
or bear is mentioned, he must remember that the so-called “monkey” and
“bear” are identical, and that the animal in question is neither the
one nor the other, but a marsupial, known to the natives by the name
of koala, and, as if to add to the confusion of names, some travellers
call it the sloth.
The so-called “badger” is the wombat, probably called a badger because
it lives in holes which it burrows in the ground. The Australian “wolf”
is another marsupial, belonging to the Dasyures and the “cat” belongs
to the same group. The “squirrels” are all marsupials, and by rights
are called phalangists, and it is to this group that the koala really
belongs. As to the “hedgehog,” it is the spiny ant-eater or echidna,
and the “mole” is the celebrated duck-bill or ornithorhynchus.
With few exceptions these animals are not easily captured, many of them
being nocturnal, and hiding in burrows or hollow trees until the shades
of night conceal their movements; while others are so shy, active, and
watchful, that all the craft of the hunter must be tried before they
can be captured. Much the same may be said of the birds, the chief of
which, the emu, is nearly as large as an ostrich, and is much valued
by the natives as food. It is evident, therefore, that the existence
of these peculiar animals must exercise a strong influence on the
character of the natives, and must make them more active, wary, and
quicksighted than the creatures on which they live.
Possessing, as he does, the most minute acquaintance with every
vegetable which can afford him food, and even knowing where to obtain
a plentiful supply of food and water in a land where an European
could not find a particle of anything eatable, nor discover a drop of
moisture in the dry and parched expanse, the Australian native places
his chief reliance on animal food, and supports himself almost entirely
on the creatures which he kills. His appetite is very indiscriminate;
and although he prefers the flesh of the kangaroo and the pigeon, he
will devour any beast, bird, reptile, or fish, and will also eat a
considerable number of insects. Consequently the life of the Australian
savage is essentially one of warfare, not against his fellow-man, but
against the lower animals, and, as the reader will see in the course of
the following pages, the primary object of his weapons is the hunt, and
war only a secondary use to which they are directed.