Pleasant companions—Two new mammals—Large scrubs in the Coast
Mountains—The lawyer-palm—“Never have a black-fellow behind you”—I
decide to live with the blacks—Great expectations—My
outfit—Tobacco is money—The baby of the gun.
No person can spend many days with the Australian natives before finding
out that one of their chief traits is their never-ceasing begging. If
you give one thing to a black man, he finds ten other things to ask for,
and he is not ashamed to ask for all that you have, and more too. He is
never satisfied. Gratitude does not exist in his breast, and friendship
he is unable to appreciate. An Australian native can betray anybody, and
confidence can rarely be placed in him. You should never let him walk
behind you, but always in front. There is not one among them who will
not lie if it is to his advantage. Though it is their nature to be lazy,
and though they have no inclination whatever for work, yet they can on a
hunt develop remarkable energy and endurance.
The women are the humble servants or rather slaves of the native. He
does only what pleases himself, and leaves all work to his wives;
therefore the more wives he has the richer he is.
The Australian aborigines do not cultivate the soil, and their only
domestic animal is the dingo (dog). Living from hand to mouth on
vegetables or animal flesh, they are constantly flitting from place to
place to find their subsistence, and have no permanent abodes. Their
character is like their mode of life; they are the children of the
moment—capricious; a resolution is quickly formed and as quickly
abandoned. They are humorous by nature, have a keen sense of what is
comical, and a cheerful disposition; though free from care, they are
never without a secret fear of being attacked by other tribes, for the
tribes are each other’s mortal foes.
What they lack in personal courage they make up by craft and cunning. If
they can kill their enemies by a treacherous attack, they do so without
hesitation. The attacked party takes to flight, each one thinking of his
own safety alone, for self-preservation is their only law.
The Australians are cannibals. A fallen foe, be it man, woman, or child,
is eaten as the choicest delicacy; they know no greater luxury than the
flesh of a black man. There are superstitious notions connected with
cannibalism, and though they have no idols and no form of divine
worship, they seem to fear an evil being who seeks to haunt them, but of
whom their notions are very vague. Of a supreme good being they have no
conception whatever, nor do they believe in any existence after death.
Such are in brief the main characteristics of the Australian native as I
came to know him on the Herbert river.
During my association with these savages I learned that on the summit of
the Coast Mountains, before mentioned, there lived two varieties of
mammals which seemed to me to be unknown to science; but I had much
difficulty in acquiring this knowledge. One of the animals they called
_yarri_. From their description I conceived it to be a marsupial tiger.
It was said to be about the size of a dingo, though its legs were
shorter and its tail long, and it was described by the blacks as being
very savage. If pursued it climbed up the trees, where the natives did
not dare follow it, and by gestures they explained to me how at such
times it would growl and bite their hands. Rocky retreats were its most
favourite habitat, and its principal food was said to be a little brown
variety of wallaby common in Northern Queensland scrubs. Its flesh was
not particularly appreciated by the blacks, and if they accidentally
killed a yarri they gave it to their old women. In Western Queensland I
heard much about an animal which seemed to me to be identical with the
yarri here described, and a specimen was once nearly shot by an officer
of the black police in the regions I was now visiting.
The other animal also lived in the trees, but fed exclusively on leaves.
According to the statement of the blacks, it was a kangaroo which lived
in the highest trees on the summit of the Coast Mountains. It had a very
long tail, and was as large as a medium-sized dog, climbed the trees in
the same manner as the natives themselves, and was called _boongăry_. I
was sure that it could be none other than a tree-kangaroo
(_Dendrolagus_). Tree-kangaroos were known to exist in New Guinea, but
none had yet been found on the Australian continent.
As is well known, the Great Dividing Range stretches along the coast of
Australia at a distance of from fifty to some three hundred miles
inland. This range forms in general the watershed between the eastern
and western waters, but there are chains of mountains visible from the
coast that are often of greater elevation than this range, such as the
Blue Mountains, where the streams break through the mountain masses in
picturesque chasms on their way to the Pacific. The Dividing Range is
sometimes not easily traced, and the spurs coming from it, as well as
detached mountains near the coast, are often much higher and are
frequently taken for the main range. The whole body of mountains from
south to north is spoken of as the Great Dividing Range, and forms, as
it were, the Australian Cordilleras. On the extreme south-east the
mountains attain an elevation of 5000 to 6000 feet; going north, they
diminish rapidly and considerably. In the south part of Queensland they
are low, but in Northern Queensland they again rise to a height of 2000
to 4000 feet (the Bellenden Kerr Hills are even 5400 feet high), then
they once more diminish, and gradually disappear into the low-lying
country of Cape York. The moist monsoons blow over these mountains and
are converted into rain, which, together with the warm climate, produces
a luxuriant tropical vegetation. Hence these mountains from base to top
are extensively covered with scrubs.
On Herbert river and northward the Coast Mountains are difficult of
access. Perpendicular chasms and tracts covered with loose stone abound;
but wherever a root could take hold large trees and bushes have grown,
while creeping and twining plants form a carpet on the ground. There are
hilly but less stony parts, where the vegetation is so dense that a
person can hardly penetrate it without being so torn and pricked that
blood flows from the wounds.
[Illustration:
PALM FOREST IN NORTHERN QUEENSLAND.
]
In the mountain scrubs there grows a very luxuriant kind of palm
(_Calamus australis_), whose stem, of a finger’s thickness, like the
East Indian Rotang-palm, creeps through the woods for hundreds of feet,
twining round trees in its path, and at times forming so dense a wattle
that it is impossible to get through it. The stem and leaves are studded
with the sharpest thorns, which continually cling to you and draw blood,
hence its not very polite name of _lawyer-palm_.
In the lower regions the common Australian palm and the fan-palm
(_Livistonia_) are found. There is also the beautiful banana-palm, with
its bright green, and towards the summit magnificent tree-ferns spread
their splendid leaves over the rivers in the humid vales, blending with
the endless mass of other trees and bushes. Rivers and streams
everywhere tumble down the mountain sides, and frequently form beautiful
waterfalls surrounded by luxuriant scrubs. Here, in the shadow of dense
trees hiding the sun from sight, the water is cool and clear as crystal.
The real scrubs once left behind, and the summit reached, you come to a
more open country, Leichhardt’s basaltic table-land. At first there are
hills and dales with the same kind of scrubs as below, but not so dense,
for the lawyer-palm is here more rare.
In these picturesque but very inaccessible scrubs the natives live in
large numbers undisturbed by the white man, for there is no gold or
other treasure to tempt him to subject himself to all the inconveniences
connected with the effort to penetrate into these regions.
After having studied the neighbourhood of the station for some time, I
soon discovered that I must abandon Herbert Vale as my night quarters
and go farther up into the wild woods of the Coast Mountains, where
there was much to entice me. Here I was to find the natives in their
original condition, uninfluenced by intercourse with the white man. I
had long desired to study these savages—the Australian aborigines, the
lowest of the human race—in their actual conditions of existence; for
the ethnological student no phase of human life is so interesting as the
most primitive one. It also seemed clear at the outset that new species
of animal life must be found there, and that I might secure them with
the aid of the blacks. Having heard them speak of the two remarkable
mammals, I resolved to do all in my power to get into these regions. But
I could not think of going by myself; I needed help to carry my baggage,
and not having any white servant, I was obliged to select black
attendants, the only ones of course who could be of any real service to
me in the scrubs. It would, moreover, be very difficult to find a
capable white man willing to accompany me. In all probability he would
not understand how to treat the savages, and this might soon result in
death for both of us. It is difficult for a white man to find his way in
these pathless regions; besides, it is not likely he would be able to
trace the wild animals without the aid of the natives who have their
hunting-grounds here. My only choice was to secure natives, and make
them my friends and comrades, if I wished to attain my purpose; and so I
resolved to live surrounded by them alone.
My first object was to find persons willing to go with me; no easy task,
for the “civilised” natives on Herbert river were very lazy, and did not
care to go up into these mountain regions; besides, they were but poorly
acquainted with them. I therefore had to address myself to more remote
tribes living nearer the regions which were my goal. From the civilised
blacks I had become tolerably well acquainted with the natives. I knew a
little of their language, and having had some experience of the manner
in which to treat them in order to make them useful to me, I felt
comparatively safe; but I must confess to considerable curiosity as to
what the result would be.
It was a new experience to a white man this camping with Australian
natives, who dwell in miserable huts made of leaves, who have no
domestic animals, and are ignorant of agriculture, as well as savage and
treacherous. A human life has so little value for them that they think
no more of killing a man than we of breaking a glass; provided they feel
sufficiently safe, they will kill a white man for a piece of tobacco or
a shirt. But on picturing to myself the very interesting life in store
for me, my doubts and hesitations were overcome. I was now to have a
splendid opportunity of studying these natives. I was to be with them in
sunshine and in rain in their own forests; to see them uninfluenced by
any form of civilisation, and in their company to make many interesting
discoveries and observations.
* * * * *
In the course of this and the following year I made many expeditions in
company with the blacks. I began with the nearest tribes and worked my
way up through these to the more remote ones, until at last I lived in
huts with natives of Australia who never come into contact with the
white man.
My supplies on these expeditions usually consisted of from ten to twelve
pieces of salt beef in a bag, about thirty pounds of wheat flour for
baking damper, and a small sack of sugar. Instead of tea I drank simply
sugar-water. It is a cooling pleasant drink, especially when the water
is as clear and good as in Northern Queensland.
When my provisions were consumed—and they never lasted very long, for
the natives liked them too well—I lived on their fare, which was
anything but savoury. If I had been obliged to depend on their vegetable
food I should soon have starved to death, but fortunately the large
lizards, snakes, larvæ, eggs, etc., and what I shot for myself, to some
extent took the place of civilised food. The worst was when the sugar
gave out, for the plain dishes on which I had to depend went down much
more easily with sweet water. I had no canned food, and of stimulants,
which as a rule I consider superfluous in the tropics, I had only a
bottle of whisky. I never carried salt, and, like the natives, I
experienced no inconvenience from the want of it when eating eggs,
lizards, fish, game, etc.
As money I used tobacco; my provisions served the same purpose, and
these were swallowed by the natives, no matter how satiated they might
be with other food. When I ran short of tobacco I was always obliged to
go back to the station. Even such things as a shirt or a handkerchief so
fell in value when tobacco was wanting as to be almost worthless.
The natives along Herbert river, who do not come in contact with white
people, have but few wants. They never wear clothes either winter or
summer, and consequently money has no value. Their only drink is water
or water mixed with honey. The blacks of Herbert river have no
stimulants, and this is the secret of the influence of tobacco, which
they value so highly that they sometimes wrap a small piece of about
three to four inches long in grass, in order to enjoy it later with
allied tribes with whom they are on a friendly footing, or they may send
it in exchange for other advantages to another tribe. In this manner the
use of tobacco may be known among tribes who have never seen a white
man. The tobacco is not chewed, but only smoked, and they believe that
it is good for everybody; I have even seen a mother put a pipe into the
mouth of her babe, which was sitting on her shoulder, and the little one
apparently enjoyed a whiff.
Besides tobacco, which I continually dealt out in small quantities to
maintain its value, I had to take with me clay pipes, for the blacks
cannot even make such things as these. Still, it was more easy to
satisfy them with pipes, for the whole camp was usually content with one
or two, which were passed from mouth to mouth.
[Illustration:
A WOMAN FROM NORTHERN QUEENSLAND, NEAR TOWNSVILLE.
]
Of kitchen utensils I took with me only a tin pail to fetch and keep
water in, and a knife, for I soon learned from the natives how to
prepare my food in a less elaborate manner than that adopted in a
civilised kitchen, so that I easily got on without kettle or frying-pan,
hunger and fatigue making sauce and spices superfluous. In addition to
the necessary chemicals for preserving specimens, I carried with me a
small flask of quinine, two bottles containing medicine for the stomach,
and one containing ammonia as an antidote to serpent bites; this and a
small amount of lunar caustic constituted my whole drug store. A light
merino shirt, a coloured shirt, a pair of corduroy trousers, two pairs
of cotton socks, and a pair of shoes, constituted my whole wardrobe. For
the night I had a large, double, white woollen blanket in which to wrap
myself, and a piece of mackintosh about two yards square, which I spread
out on the ground to lie upon. I also always took with me an overcoat,
which I put on when it rained. For my toilet I had a tooth-brush, a
piece of soap, and a towel. I let my hair grow until I came to the
station, where the keeper, who had been a sheep-shearer, plied the
shears as a haircutter with all his accustomed skill.
My watch and compass were left at Herbert Vale, for it was important to
be as unencumbered as possible. With the natives I learned to determine
time by the sun, and what was lacking in my ability to find my bearings
was supplied by the remarkable instinct of the blacks for finding their
way everywhere. A double-barrelled gun and an excellent American
revolver were of course the most important parts of my whole equipment,
which, as has been shown, was plain, but I was obliged to limit my
necessities as much as possible. The natives, who dislike to carry
anything, looked upon everything save provisions and tobacco as
luxuries.
The gun and revolver had even more power over them than the tobacco. The
Australian aborigines are in great fear of firearms, for they themselves
do not even use bows and arrows, except in the outlying parts of Cape
York, where they have some clumsy weapons of this kind. But you must be
careful not to miss your mark in their presence. You must hit all you
aim at, or they will lose their respect for you. It makes no difference
whether the object you shoot at is in motion or not; they are as much
surprised when an opossum is brought down from his tree as when the
swiftest bird is shot on the wing. When I was not quite sure of my shot,
I took good care not to use the revolver, for it is difficult, as
everybody knows, to hit the mark with this weapon. They had great
respect for the baby of the gun, as they called the revolver, believing
that it never ceased shooting, and I need not add that I allowed them to
retain this belief. As a rule they were so afraid of the baby that they
did not care to touch it. It was in my belt day and night.
It was exceedingly difficult to secure men among the lazy natives for
these expeditions; at first my friend Jacky assisted me. On account of
his strength and cunning he was highly respected, and looked upon as the
first man in his tribe, and he supported me with his influence. First,
it was necessary to get him to tell me who were the best hunters, and
then, by promising him tobacco, I either got him to go with me to the
tribe in question or to find another person willing to do so.
It sometimes took several days to find these people and treat with them.
Frequently they changed their minds, and as they were continually moving
from place to place I had to give Jacky more tobacco and take a fresh
start to find them. At last I would get my people together. As a rule I
was attended by five or six young men, sometimes by more, sometimes by
less; occasionally women and children, even the whole tribe, went with
me. The natives led the way, the one immediately before me leading the
pack-horse, while I followed on horseback.
On the first expeditions it only took us a day or two to get to the base
of the mountain range. Here we selected a convenient spot for a camp; a
place where there was plenty of grass and water for the two horses,
which could not go with us into the large dense scrubs. Their forefeet
were hobbled, and they were left to themselves during our absence.
The next morning we were ready to proceed on our journey, the saddles
and bridles were hung up in the trees in order that they might not be
consumed by wild dogs, my baggage was divided among the natives, and the
ascent of the scrub-clad mountain began.
As it is easier to get through the scrubs along a river-bed, over stones
and crevasses, than it is to crawl through the dense brushwood and be
pricked by thorns and sharp branches, we as a rule followed a mountain
stream to reach the summit, where were my real hunting-grounds. We
frequently made long journeys across the table-land, but every
expedition was of course not precisely like the one above described. As
a rule we went as far as possible on horseback, then we would penetrate
the scrubs and gain the table-lands, where the scrubs, as above
indicated, appear in patches of various sizes, partly as isolated groves
and partly as a continuation of the forests which cover the ridges next
to the ocean.
Every evening I pitched my camp and slept in a hut of leaves built
exactly like those of the natives, except that it was a little more
tightly put together, so that it usually afforded me protection from the
rain. It was put up very hastily just before sundown. A few branches
were stuck in the ground and their tops united, and this framework was
covered with large leaves of the banana or other palms, or with long
grass. A door was out of the question; there was simply an opening large
enough for me to crawl through, for the whole hut was not higher than my
shoulders.
Such is also the _mitta_, the abode of the natives, which is intended
only for a short stay, and adapted to the nomadic life of these people.
I took care to have my hut made long enough to enable me to lie
straight, and to see that my bed was perfectly horizontal, a matter of
no importance to the blacks. It makes no difference to them whether the
feet lie higher or lower than the head. My people were on either side of
the entrance to my hut, where they built flimsy roofs of trees and
grass; if there was promise of fine weather for the night, they simply
cut down a tree and laid themselves by the side of it. In the centre a
fire was kept burning.
[Illustration:
MY CAMP.
]
Every evening, before going to sleep, I went outside my hut and fired my
revolver to remind my companions of the existence of this terrible
weapon, and in case we were on the territory of strange tribes, to keep
them from attacking us. This precaution was my way of saying good-night
to my men. I may add that I never had exactly the same companions on
these various expeditions, because it is necessary that the blacks
should not become too well acquainted with you: as long as they respect
the white man it is less dangerous to camp with them; but as soon as
they become familiar with his customs and find out that there is no
danger in associating with him, he is liable at any moment to a
treacherous assault.
That I was not killed by my men (a circumstance which white people whom
I have met have wondered at), I owed to the fact that they never wholly
lost their respect for my firearms. At first, at least, I was regarded
by them as something inexplicable—as a sort of mysterious being who
could travel from land to land without being eaten, and whose chief
interest lay in things which, in their eyes, were utterly useless, such
as the skins and bones of slain animals.
There was a peculiar protection to me in the fortunate circumstance that
they imagined that I did not sleep, and I think this was the chief
reason why they did not attack me in the night. During the winter, when
there was a great difference between the temperature of the night and
that of the day, the cold was very trying to me, and I awoke regularly
once or twice in the night when our large camp fire had gone out. All my
men lay entirely naked around the extinguished fire; some sleeping,
others cold and half awake, who, however, thought it too much of an
effort to go after fuel. I then usually called one of them, and by
promising tobacco—and I had made them accustomed to have entire
confidence in my words—induced him to go out in the dark night and
procure more fuel.
By being thus perpetually disturbed they acquired the idea that the
“white man” was always on the alert and had the “baby of the gun” ready.