Dingo a member of the family—A black who does not smoke—Hunting the
flying-squirrel—Diseases among the natives—Their remedies—A
splendid offer—Unpleasant companions—Trouble in getting dogs.
It was a pleasure to return to Herbert Vale and meet once more Nelly’s
smiling face at the gate. She asked with deep interest what kind of
animals I had secured, and seemed delighted when I showed her the skins
I had brought. My first visit was to the kitchen cupboard, where I took
possession of a bowl of fresh milk. Into it I broke a piece of
fresh-made damper and sprinkled on it a lot of sugar, making a dish
which, under the circumstances, tasted better to me than a dinner at
Bignon’s.
In the middle of the night both the superintendent and myself were
roused by a terrible howl from Nelly, who was being flogged by her
husband, the Kanaka, up in the loft of the storehouse. Old Walters had
to go up there with his cane, which he always kept near the door, but he
did not succeed in getting the Kanaka to respect his authority.
The next morning I at once set out to find a dingo suitable for my next
expedition; this was a very difficult matter, for the dingoes are much
more rare here than farther south in Australia, where natives can be
seen followed by ten or twelve dogs, which are of different breeds, for
the dingoes of the natives quickly mix with the shepherd-dogs,
greyhounds, and terriers of the colonists. On Herbert river there are
rarely more than one or two dingoes in each tribe, and as a rule they
are of pure blood. The natives find them as puppies in the hollow trunks
of trees, and rear them with greater care than they bestow on their own
children. The dingo is an important member of the family; it sleeps in
the huts and gets plenty to eat, not only of meat, but also of fruit.
Its master never strikes, but merely threatens it. He caresses it like a
child, eats the fleas off it, and then kisses it on the snout.
[Illustration:
DINGO.
]
Though the dingo is treated so well it often runs away, especially in
the pairing season, and at such times it never returns. Thus it never
becomes perfectly domesticated, still is very useful to the natives, for
it has a keen scent and traces every kind of game; it never barks, and
hunts less wildly than our dogs, but very rapidly, frequently capturing
the game on the run. Sometimes it refuses to go any farther, and its
owner has then to carry it on his shoulders, a luxury of which it is
very fond. The dingo will follow nobody else but its owner; this
materially increased my difficulties in finding a dog, for it was
useless unless the owner could be persuaded to go with me; besides, but
few of the dingoes understand hunting the boongary, for which they have
to be specially trained from the beginning.
In company with four men I rode across Sea-View Range. On its summit a
tribe was said to be encamped owning a very good dog, which I had heard
much talked of. I sent two of my men to the camp with a supply of
tobacco, in order to borrow the dog, but they returned in the evening
minus both dog and tobacco, for the dog had followed its owner to
another camp, and still they had, with their usual liberality,
distributed the tobacco right and left.
On the way I shot a kangaroo, which I wanted to use as a lure. Kangaroos
are very hard to kill, and once one of these animals hopped ninety paces
after it had been shot by an express rifle, the exploding ball of which
had torn its heart into pieces. According to my experience they die most
speedily when they are hit in the breast with a charge of large shot,
which, if the distance is not too great, generally makes them fall on
the spot. In such a case the quick death of the kangaroo made so deep an
impression upon my natives that the event was the topic of their
conversation for several days, accustomed, as they are, to see kangaroos
run away pierced with several spears.
In the evening, as we approached the tribe said to have the dog, I sent
two of my men in advance to inform the natives of my coming, otherwise
they would be afraid of the white man and take to their heels. We
encamped close by on a plat of grass extending into the scrubs. Gongola,
the owner of the dog, and two other men came to me when they had learned
the object of our visit. Gongola was a large stout fellow, and very
friendly. In order to get on the right side of him I at once gave him a
piece of tobacco, which he appropriated and then went away.
Before long he returned with two mound-builder’s eggs, which he
presented to me. This liberality surprised me, for it is rare among the
blacks, except among themselves. I suppose he wanted to show me that I
was welcome. My experience is, on the whole, that uncivilised blacks are
much more friendly and unpretentious than those who have been in contact
with the white men. Gongola’s friendliness was all the more
praiseworthy, since my gift was of no value to him; for he did not like
tobacco. It is rare to meet natives who are not fond of tobacco; I only
saw one other besides Gongola. I invited him to have supper with us, and
he took his meals with us as long as we remained here.
Late in the evening my men heard the flying-squirrel (_Petauroides_)
climbing the tall gum-trees above our heads, and the next day the blacks
hunted these animals. Some of the men climbed the trees with the aid of
their kāmins, in order to frighten them out from their abodes. Like
chimney-sweeps they pulled the kāmins up and down in the hollow
tree-trunks, at the same time shouting _Po-pò! po-pò!_ in imitation of a
night bird, and this _po-pò_ was repeated by all those who stood below.
The natives think that in this manner they can give the flying-squirrels
the impression that it is night, and thus more easily coax them out. As
a rule, they come forth quite suddenly, stretch their fliers, and fly
slowly and elegantly into another tree, and while climbing the stem of
this tree they are killed with sticks thrown at them.
They soon succeeded in frightening one of these animals out of a tree,
and although the sun was shining in all its splendour, the squirrel
landed with remarkable accuracy at the foot of a gum-tree eighty paces
distant. While ascending the trunk I shot it.
The natives here, particularly the women, looked wretched, being both
poor and filthy. Some of them had a sickly, pale complexion and dry
skin, and many of the children were covered with eruptions. My
impression is that there was too little variety in their food, as they
lived chiefly on vegetables. The Australian is usually sound and
healthy, and not much troubled with illness. But for the skin diseases,
which he gets from the white men, he is usually a healthy individual. It
is very rare to see any one with a bodily defect, though an old warrior
with one hand was well known near Rockhampton.
In Central Queensland, about 300 miles west of Rockhampton, an epidemic
of erysipelas is said to have raged about fifty years ago. The manager
of a station in that district told me that there were caves on the
property in which there were hundreds of skeletons, indicating that
there must have been an epidemic among the natives. The blacks had
informed him that a great many had died at the same time, being “sick in
their mouths and noses.” Smallpox has also been known among the
Australian natives, for example, near Murrumbidgee in New South Wales,
as reported by Beveridge.
I did not think lung diseases possible among the savages of Australia
before I saw these pale faces on Sea-View Range. They certainly looked
as if they had consumption. But as I had no other symptoms to go by than
their exterior, my assumption is not of course of much value.
Strange to say, the natives on Herbert river never complained of
rheumatism. They were to some extent troubled with venereal diseases,
against which they know no remedy; but these diseases do not appear in
their most violent forms in Australia. The blacks who came in to Herbert
Vale used to rub their wounds with tar, which they procured at the
station. Apart from this, they let the disease run its course.
When the Australian becomes “civilised” and begins to wear clothes he
becomes more subject to disease. He regards clothes simply as ornaments
that he may wear or not as he pleases. He will perspire during the whole
day in a woollen jacket, but in the evening, when he really might need
it on account of the cool temperature, he is sure to take it off and
sleep in his old-fashioned way. On a hunt he lays aside all clothes for
the sake of convenience, no matter how “civilised” he may be, for he
wants to be naked when he climbs trees and pursues animals. But this
thoughtless way of wearing clothes brings on colds, and as a result
rheumatic fevers and lung diseases. I never found fever and ague among
the Australian savages, except in the solitary case of a well-dressed
civilised black on Herbert river.
As the hard and tough vegetables eaten by the blacks are a severe tax on
their teeth, which they also constantly use for making their implements,
the older members of the tribe have their fore-teeth worn down to the
gums, which therefore become very tender. I have also seen blacks
troubled with toothache. In such cases they make one of their comrades
suck the cheek until the blood flows, very much as we use leeches.
Toothache in one of the front teeth is sometimes radically cured by
placing a stick against the tooth, whereupon the “dentist” with a
violent blow knocks the tooth into the mouth.
The Herbert river blacks have no medicines. The only remedies used are
to suck out the blood over the spot where the pain is felt, or to rub
the sore place with saliva. The sick are treated by the “doctor,” who as
a rule is the most cunning man in the tribe and a great humbug. When he
has sucked blood from a spot where the patient feels pain, he usually
shows to the latter a piece of bone or a little stone, which he pretends
he has sucked out, and which he declares to be the cause of the illness.
In other parts of Australia, where diseases must be more common, the
blacks are said to know healing herbs, and in many places they have
peculiar ways of treating diseases.
On Herbert river no remedy is known against snake bites. The victim
simply lays himself down to die. In New South Wales, on the other hand,
snake bites are cured in a very interesting manner. The wound is
squeezed between the thumb nails until the blood flows; then a piece of
warm opossum skin is laid on the wound, which is sucked as soon as the
skin becomes cold. The opossum is warmed a second time, and the process
is repeated until the patient is out of danger. The operation usually
lasts about forty-five minutes. It is a remarkable fact that the Herbert
river natives attribute a healing virtue to the sweat of the armpits, to
which they attach supernatural qualities, putting it under the nose of
the patient to make him well.
Wounds and scratches on the blacks heal with remarkable rapidity. Two
natives near a station, having borrowed knives from white men, fought.
One cut numerous gashes in his opponent’s back, while the other
continually inflicted wounds right down to the hip-bone of the former.
The combatants were separated and brought into the camp in a miserable
condition. All their comrades did was to strew ashes in the wounds, and
after three weeks’ time the victims were perfectly restored.
The natives are very kind and sympathetic towards those who are ill, and
they carry them from camp to camp. This is the only noble trait that I
discovered in the Australian natives.
After having borrowed Gongola’s dog in return for a large piece of
damper, I rambled about for a few days before I returned to Herbert
Vale. The chief result of the hunt was a kind of bandicoot (_Perameles
nasuta_), which utters a peculiar sound which the natives imitate in
order to coax it out.
The next evening I was requested by the young men of the tribe to lead
an attack on a neighbouring tribe. The purpose was to steal women. They
represented to me what beautiful women there were in the other tribe,
and how easy it would be to make an assault with a gun. To tempt me
still further they held out a promise of the first choice in the
division of the spoils. They also called my attention to the fact that
we would find a number of yarri. I declined all their tempting offers,
but they continued to urge on me their plans for this “Rape of the
Sabines”; as they were unable to persuade me, and consequently failed to
get the valuable support of the gun, they finally desisted from their
purpose.
The majority of the young men wait a long time before they get wives,
partly for the reason that they have not the courage to fight the
requisite duel for one with an older man. They therefore prefer to wait
until they can get a wife in exchange or by inheritance. It is rare,
however, for a man to die unmarried, and as the majority of men have at
least two wives, the women are more numerous on Herbert river than the
men. The same observation is made by the excellent observer Mr. White of
Western Queensland, but so far as I know the opposite is true of a large
portion of Australia.
After spending the night at Herbert Vale, where I secured more men, I
started on a new expedition. I was supplied with provisions for a long
time, had an excellent dog and several capable hunters, one of whom was
well acquainted with the regions I intended to visit. I started early
the next morning in the finest of summer weather. A heavy dew had fallen
in the night, running like rain from the roofs of the station houses,
and the wet grass glistened in the bright sunshine. There was every
promise of a successful expedition. At noon the natives were determined
to turn northward, as they wanted to go to the “land” that I had visited
on my last expedition, urging that we would there find many boongary.
Their real reason was no doubt that, as they knew the country, they
would have an easy time of it consuming my provisions, and thus escape
the long difficult journey to the strange “land.” I became angry, and
called their attention to the fact that they had agreed to accompany me
to this more distant region, and I gave them distinct orders to proceed.
Slowly and lazily they started on the journey, and continually presented
new difficulties. They frequently stopped in order to prove to me that
it was impossible to progress. We came to a river with steep banks,
which it was necessary to cross, but I could not possibly get the blacks
to show me the fording-place, and so was obliged to search up and down
the river in order to find a place myself where it was possible to get
to the other side.
Chinaman, who was our guide and the only person acquainted with the
country, proved himself to be a perfect rascal, and was the leading
spirit in all these intrigues. He preferred my food and his own comfort
to the fatigues of the journey, but as I firmly opposed all his
pretexts, he finally declared that he was unwilling to toil any longer
among these rocks and scrubs! It was impossible to attempt to cross that
night, for the sun was already setting behind the mountains.
We experienced some difficulty in finding materials for our huts on this
grassy plain. A few trees were cut down and made into a shed, open on
one side. This was all the shelter we had, and I made a pillar of
brushwood, which at the same time formed a partition wall between me and
the blacks. Two of my companions, who had a fancy to imitate the white
man, laid claim to the opposite side of my pillow. Although I was not
particularly pleased at having them so close, I was too tired to make
any objections.
I felt Ganindali’s waxed hair against my head, and knew that it was
inhabited by those small black animals which give so much trouble to the
natives; but as they thrive only on the blacks, I felt no uneasiness
about going to sleep. Now and then my bedfellows roused me by scratching
their heads to get at the uninvited guests, of which process my head not
unfrequently had to pay the penalty. When, under these disagreeable
circumstances, I was aroused from my sleep, I noticed a horrible smell,
which I could not understand.
Finally the odour became so strong that I could not sleep, and not until
I had ordered the blacks away did I get peace for the rest of the night.
In the morning I discovered that the terrible smell came from a large
sore on Ganindali. His comrades told me that he had had it from
childhood, and that he had got it from the devil. It cannot be denied
that it was very disagreeable to have such a fellow in our company, but
the dog would follow no one else, and so he was indispensable.
To my great annoyance Chinaman had disappeared, having deserted during
the night; I hoped he would come back, and waited for him until noon,
but he did not put in an appearance. We then proceeded without him, and
succeeded in finding a good place to cross the river. In the evening we
encamped at the foot of the mountains. My people were very willing to do
all in their power, but it proved to be utterly impossible to accomplish
anything in this unknown country without a guide.
There was therefore nothing else to be done except to accommodate myself
to the circumstances and to return to Herbert Vale to make preparations
for an expedition in some other direction. I started on my way back in
low spirits, my thoughts dwelling on the folly of mankind. As a warning
to the others, I threatened to shoot Chinaman if he ever came near me.
The heat was intense; the ground was gray, the grass withered and
scorched by the sun; everything had a wintry look. The appearance of
Herbert Vale at this time therefore was not inviting. Large swarms of
grasshoppers filled the air, greedily attacking the few green shoots to
be found at the bottom of the dry grass. They produced a peculiar
buzzing sound when in dense swarms they flew up from the ground, and as
I stood among them I could not help thinking of a snowstorm. Black lads
amused themselves by running round and frightening the grasshoppers. The
women gathered large quantities of them in their baskets. In one place a
number of natives sat round a fire eating them. First, the contents of
the baskets are thrown into the fire in order to burn off the wings and
legs, whereupon each grasshopper is roasted separately; they taste like
nuts, but there is of course very little to eat on them.
I ordered my blacks to encamp near the station, and at once began to get
ready for a new expedition, but as it was difficult to secure more men
in a hurry, they became impatient and disappeared with the dog, and thus
all my plans were frustrated for the present.
Finally, having secured the aid of a few men, I rode off as soon as
possible to capture the fugitives, and after a couple of days succeeded
in finding Ganindali and some other blacks out hunting, but they had
already delivered the dog to its owner, Gongola. They came to me
rejoicing, and told me that it had recently captured a large yarri. It
had chased the animal up into a tree, and the natives had themselves
killed it with clubs. I asked very eagerly where the animal was, but
alas! the old women had already eaten it, they said. The poor comfort I
received was that next time they would give the yarri to me.
From Gongola’s tribe I had frequently heard that there were many
boongaries in a “land” very far away.
They pointed up Herbert river valley to some mountains in the far
distance, and thither I now resolved to make my next expedition.