A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xiii Part 19

Their manner of hunting we had no opportunity to see; but we conjectured, by the notches which they had every where cut in large trees in order to climb them, that they took their station near the tops of them, and there watched for such animals as might happen to pa.s.s near enough to be reached by their lances: It is possible also, that in this situation they might take birds when they came to roost.

I have observed that when they went from our tents upon the banks of Endeavour River, we could trace them by the fires which they kindled in their way; and we imagined that these fires were intended some way for the taking the kangaroo, which we observed to be so much afraid of fire, that our dogs could scarcely force it over places which had been newly burnt, though the fire was extinguished.

They produce fire with great facility, and spread it in a wonderful manner. To produce it they take two pieces of dry soft wood, one is a stick about eight or nine inches long, the other piece is flat: The stick they shape into an obtuse point at one end, and pressing it upon the other, turn it nimbly by holding it between both their hands as we do a chocolate mill, often shifting their hands up, and then moving them down upon it, to increase the pressure as much as possible. By this method they get fire in less than two minutes, and from the smallest spark they increase it with great speed and dexterity. We have often seen one of them run along the sh.o.r.e, to all appearance with nothing in his hand, who stooping down for a moment, at the distance of every fifty or a hundred yards, left fire behind him, as we could see first by the smoke and then by the flame among the drift-wood, and other litter which was scattered along the place. We had the curiosity to examine one of these planters of fire, when he set off, and we saw him wrap up a small spark in dry gra.s.s, which, when he had run a little way, having been fanned by the air that his motion produced, began to blaze; he then laid it down in a place convenient for, his purpose, inclosing a spark of it in another quant.i.ty of gra.s.s, and so continued his course.

There are perhaps few things in the history of mankind more extraordinary than the discovery and application of fire: It will scarcely be disputed that the manner of producing it, whether by collision or attrition, was discovered by chance: But its first effects would naturally strike those to whom it was a new object, with consternation and terror: It would appear to be an enemy to life and nature, and to torment and destroy whatever was capable of being destroyed or tormented; and therefore it seems not easy to conceive what should incline those who first saw it receive a transient existence from chance, to reproduce it by design. It is by no means probable that those who first saw fire, approached it with the same caution, as those who are familiar with its effects, so as to be warmed only and not burnt; and it is reasonable to think that the intolerable pain which, at its first appearance, it must produce upon ignorant curiosity, would sow perpetual enmity between this element and mankind; and that the same principle which incites them to crush a serpent, would incite them to destroy fire, and avoid all means by which it would be produced, as soon as they were known. These circ.u.mstances considered, how men became sufficiently familiar with it to render it useful, seems to be a problem very difficult to solve: Nor is it easy to account for the first application of it to culinary purposes, as the eating both animal and vegetable food raw, must have become a habit, before there was fire to dress it, and those who have considered the force of habit will readily believe, that to men who had always eaten the flesh of animals raw, it would be as disagreeable dressed, as to those who have always eaten it dressed, it would be raw. It is remarkable that the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego produce fire from a spark by collision, and that the happier natives of this country, New Zealand and Otaheite, produce it by the attrition of one combustible substance against another: Is there not then some reason to suppose that these different operations correspond with the manner in which chance produced fire in the neighbourhood of the torrid and frigid zones? Among the rude inhabitants of a cold country, neither any operation of art, or occurrence of accident, could be supposed so easily to produce fire by attrition, as in a climate where every thing is hot, dry, and adust, teeming with a latent fire which a slight degree of motion was sufficient to call forth; in a cold country therefore, it is natural to suppose that fire was produced by the accidental collision of two metallic substances, and in a cold country, for that reason, the same expedient was used to produce it by design: But in hot countries, where two combustible substances easily kindle by attrition, it is probable that the attrition of such substances first produced fire, and here it was therefore natural for art to adopt the same operation, with a view to produce the same effect.

It may indeed be true that fire is now produced in many cold countries by attrition, and in many hot by a stroke; but perhaps upon enquiry there may appear reason to conclude that this has arisen from the communication of one country with another, and that with respect to the original production of fire in hot and cold countries, the distinction is well founded.

There may perhaps be some reason to suppose that men became gradually acquainted with the nature and effects of fire, by its permanent existence in a volcano, there being remains of volcanoes, or vestiges of their effects, in almost every part of the world: By a volcano, however, no method of producing fire, otherwise than by contact, could be learnt; the production and application of fire therefore, still seem to afford abundant subject of speculation to the curious.[93]

[Footnote 93: Mr Jones, who writes on this subject in one of his Physiological Disquisitions, is not a little displeased with some of the observations made here, which seem to imply that mankind were left dest.i.tute of the knowledge of fire, and had to acquire it by mere accidental notice.--Mr Jones's zeal, however, appears more conspicuous in this matter than either his judgment or his acquaintance with the remarks of various authors. President Goguet has shewn his usual industry in this matter. He refers to a considerable number of authors for proof that the knowledge of fire was by no means very extensive among the early nations, and that even where it existed, it had been often discovered by accident. A summary of what this excellent writer has said on the subject, with a quotation or two, cannot fail to be interesting to the reader, and will scarcely run any risk of being judged either ill-timed or tedious. The Chinese, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and several other nations, admit that their ancestors were once without the use of fire. This is said on the authority of Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Sanchoniathon, authors mentioned by Bannier, as Hesiod, Lucretius, Virgil, &c. &c. And we learn from Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Plutarch, and others, that in their times there were nations who were either quite ignorant of fire, or had but just learned its nature and effects. These authorities are strengthened by what has been related of people discovered in modern times. Thus the inhabitants of the Marian or Ladrone Islands, and also of the Philippine and Canaries, are said to have been without this knowledge, at the time of their discovery. We are told besides of several nations in America and Africa being in the same state of ignorance. As to these, however, it is but fair to apprize the reader, that the authorities adduced by the President are not such as can be implicitly relied on--a remark, perhaps, which some readers will not fail to apply to certain of the writers formerly mentioned. The Egyptians owed their knowledge of fire to thunder and lightning; the Phoenicians to the effect of the wind on woods and forests; volcanos, burning earth, (as in a province of Persia) and boiling wells (frequent in several countries), gave rise to this knowledge amongst other people. "We may form very probable conjectures about the methods which men at first used to procure fire, when they had occasion for it, from ancient traditions, and from the present practices of the savages. They could not be long in discovering, that by striking two flints each against other, there went sparks from them:" "They remarked, that by rubbing two pieces of hard wood very strongly against each other, they raised sparks; nay, that by rubbing for some time two pieces of wood, they raised flame." "The Chinese say that one of their first kings taught them this latter method; and the Greeks had nearly the same tradition." This method, we learn from Lawson, was in use amongst the natives of Carolina, before they became acquainted, with the use of steel and flints. "They got their fire," says he, "with sticks, which by vehement collision, or rubbing together, take fire." "You are to understand," he adds, "that the two sticks they use to strike fire withal, are never of one sort of wood, but always differ from each other." Indeed it is probable that this method has been very generally practised. Seneca makes mention of it in the 2d book, chap. 22. of his Nat. Quaest., and he specifies some of the kinds of wood known by the shepherds to be fit for the purpose, "_sicut lauris, hederae, et alia in hunc usum nota pastoribus_." This is noticed by Mr Jones, who gives it as his opinion that the _lauris_, here spoken of, is the bay-tree, which, according to the poet Lucretius, is remarkable for its inflammability. The reader may desire to see the opinion of Mr Jones as to the origin of man's acquaintance with fire.--It is certainly worthy of consideration, and supposing it restricted to the parent of our race, and his immediate offspring, may be held with no small confidence. It embraces indeed a wider field than can possibly be investigated in this place. "The first family," says he, "placed by the Creator upon this earth, offered sacrifices; which being an article of religious duty, they were certainly possessed of the means of performing it, and consequently of the knowledge and use of fire, without which it could not be practised. The next generation presents us with artificers in bra.s.s and iron, which could not possibly be wrought without the complete knowledge of fire; neither indeed could any works of art be well carried on. The account of this affair in the Bible is much more natural, because it is much more agreeable to the goodness of G.o.d, and the dignity of the human species, than to suppose, on the principles of a wild and savage philosophy (alluding to Dr Hawkesworth's poor conjectures, as Mr Jones styles them), that men were left ignorant of the use of an element intended for their accommodation and support. To interdict a man from the use of fire and water, was accounted the same in effect as to send him out of life; so that if men, upon the original terms of their creation, were thus interdicted by the Creator himself, as the Heathen mythologists supposed them to be, they were sent into life upon such terms as others were sent out of it. If we admit any such gloomy suppositions, where shall we stop? If mankind were left dest.i.tute in respect to the knowledge of fire, perhaps they were left without language, without food, without clothing, without reason, and in a worse condition than the beasts, who are born with the proper knowledge of life, but man receives it by education; therefore he who taught the beasts by instinct, taught man by information." Much might be said for and against this mode of reasoning, which this place, already so fully occupied, will not admit. The history of fire is involved in difficulties, and has really obtained less attention from men of learning than it deserves. Probably, on appointing the rites of sacrifice, which there is reason to believe was immediately after the first gracious promise to Adam, G.o.d testified his acceptance of the offering by fire from heaven, which was the beginning of man's acquaintance with it, and in this manner it is certain G.o.d afterwards shewed his approbation.--E.]

The weapons of these people are spears or lances, and these are or different kinds: Some that we saw upon the southern part of the coast had four p.r.o.ngs, pointed with bone, and barbed; the points were also smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish, and made them enter deeper into what they struck. To the northward, the lance has but one point: The shaft is made of cane, or the stalk of a plant somewhat resembling a bulrush, very straight and light, and from eight to fourteen feet long, consisting of several joints, where the pieces are let into each other, and bound together; to this are fitted points of different kinds; some are of hard heavy wood, and some are the bones of fish: We saw several that were pointed with the stings of the sting-ray, the largest that they could procure, and barbed with several that were smaller, fastened on in a contrary direction; the points of wood were also sometimes armed with sharp pieces of broken sh.e.l.ls, which were stuck in, and at the junctures covered with resin: The lances that are thus barbed, are indeed dreadful weapons, for when once they have taken place, they can never be drawn back without tearing away the flesh, or leaving the sharp ragged splinters of the bone or sh.e.l.l which forms the beard, behind them in the wound. These weapons are thrown with great force and dexterity; if intended to wound at a short distance, between ten and twenty yards, simply with the hand, but if at the distance of forty or fifty, with an instrument which we called a throwing-stick.

This is a plain smooth piece of a hard reddish wood, very highly polished, about two inches broad, half an inch thick, and three feet long, with a small k.n.o.b, or hook at one end, and a cross piece about three or four inches long at the other: The k.n.o.b at one end is received in a small dent or hollow, which is made for that purpose in the shaft of the lance near the point, but from which it easily slips, upon being impelled forward: When the lance is laid along upon this machine, and secured in a proper position by the k.n.o.b, the person that is to throw it holds it over his shoulder, and after shaking it, delivers both the throwing-stick and lance with all his force; but the stick being stopped by the cross piece which comes against the shoulder, with a sudden jerk, the lance flies forward with incredible swiftness, and with so good an aim, that at the distance of fifty yards these Indians were more sure of their mark than we could be with a single bullet. Besides these lances, we saw no offensive weapon upon this coast, except when we took our last view of it with our gla.s.ses, and then we thought we saw a man with a bow and arrows, in which it is possible we might be mistaken. We saw, however, at Botany Bay, a shield or target of an oblong shape, about three feet long, and eighteen inches broad, which was made of the bark of a tree: This was fetched out of a hut by one of the men that opposed our landing, who, when he ran away, left it behind him, and upon taking it up, we found that it had been pierced through with a single pointed lance near the center. These shields are certainly in frequent use among the people here; for though this was the only one that we saw in their possession, we frequently found trees from which they appeared manifestly to have been cut, the marks being easily distinguished from those that were made by cutting buckets: Sometimes also we found the shields cut out, but not yet taken off from the tree, the edges of the bark only being a little raised by wedges, so that these people appear to have discovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and stronger by being suffered to remain upon the trunk after it has been cut round.

The canoes of New Holland are as mean and rude as the houses. Those on the southern part of the coast are nothing more than a piece of bark, about twelve feet long, tied together at the ends, and kept open in the middle by small bows of wood: Yet in a vessel of this construction we once saw three people. In shallow water they are set forward by a pole, and in deeper by paddles, about eighteen inches long, one of which the boatman holds in each hand; mean as they are, they have many conveniencies; they draw but little water, and they are very light, so that they go upon mud banks to pick up sh.e.l.l-fish, the most important use to which they can be applied, better perhaps than vessels of any other construction. We observed, that in the middle of these canoes there was a heap of sea-weed, and upon that a small fire; probably that the fish may be broiled and eaten the moment it is caught.

The canoes that we saw when we advanced farther to the northward, are not made of bark, but of the trunk of a tree hollowed, perhaps by fire.

They are about fourteen feet long, and, being very narrow, are fitted with an outrigger to prevent their oversetting. These are worked with paddles, that are so large as to require both hands to manage one of them: The outside is wholly unmarked by any tool, but at each end the wood is left longer at the top than at the bottom, so that there is a projection beyond the hollow part resembling the end of a plank; the sides are tolerably thin, but how the tree is felled and fashioned, we had no opportunity to learn. The only tools that we saw among them are an adze, wretchedly made of stone, some small pieces of the same substance in form of a wedge, a wooden mallet, and some sh.e.l.ls and fragments of coral. For polishing their throwing-sticks, and the points of their lances, they use the leaves of a kind of wild fig-tree, which bites upon wood almost as keenly as the shave-gra.s.s of Europe, which is used by our joiners: With such tools, the making even such a canoe as I have described, must be a most difficult and tedious labour: To those who have been accustomed to the use of metal, it appears altogether impracticable; but there are few difficulties that will not yield to patient perseverance, and he who does all he can, will certainly produce effects that greatly exceed his apparent power.[94]

[Footnote 94: This very just observation cannot be too forcibly urged, or too frequently recollected. The deficiency of which most men have reason to complain, is not that of ability, but of industry and application. Genius is pursued and coveted, because it is imagined to be a sort of creating energy which produces at will, and without labour.--It is therefore desirable to indolent minds. But this is a mistake of no small detriment, though of very common occurrence. Few people perhaps discover it to be so, till they have to condemn themselves for the loss of much of their best time, spent in idly wishing for the inspiration which is to do such wonders, for them without exertion on their part. Reader, in place of this, fix on some useful or laudable work, and set about _doing_ it.--E.]

The utmost freight of these canoes is four people, and if more at any time wanted to come over the river, one of those who came first was obliged to go back for the rest: From this circ.u.mstance we conjectured that the boat we saw, when we were lying in Endeavour River, was the only one in the neighbourhood: We have however some reason to believe that the bark canoes are also used where the wooden ones are constructed, for upon one of the small islands where the natives had been fishing for turtle, we found one of the little paddles which had belonged to such a boat, and would have been useless on board any other.

By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced to such a number as it can subsist, is not perhaps very easy to guess; whether, like the inhabitants of New Zealand, they are destroyed by the hands of each other in contests for food; whether they are swept off by accidental famine, or whether there is any cause which prevents the increase of the species, must be left for future adventurers to determine.[95] That they have wars, appears by their weapons; for supposing the lances to serve merely for the striking of fish, the shield could be intended for nothing but a defence against men; the only mark of hostility, however, which we saw among them, was the perforation of the shield by a spear, which has been just mentioned, for none of them appeared to have been wounded by an enemy. Neither can we determine whether they are pusillanimous or brave; the resolution with which two of them attempted to prevent our landing, when we had two boats full of men, in Botany Bay, even after one of them was wounded with small shot, gave us reason to conclude that they were not only naturally courageous, but that they had acquired a familiarity with the dangers of hostility, and were, by habit as well as nature, a daring and warlike people; but their precipitate flight from every other place that we approached, without even a menace, while they were out of our reach, was an indication of uncommon tameness and timidity, such as those who had only been occasionally warriors must be supposed to have shaken off, whatever might have been their natural disposition. I have faithfully related facts, the reader must judge of the people for himself.[96]

[Footnote 95: Some remarks on this very interesting subject will be given hereafter.--E.]

[Footnote 96: The reader may wait a little till he has received some information destined to his use. What has been now given is too scanty evidence to justify a final decision in the matter.--E.]

From the account that has been given of our commerce with them, it cannot be supposed that we should know much of their language; yet as this is an object of great curiosity, especially to the learned, and of great importance in their researches into the origin of the various nations that have been discovered, we took some pains to bring away such a specimen of it as might, in a certain degree, answer the purpose, and I shall now give an account how it was procured. If we wanted to know the name of a stone, we took a stone up into our hands, and, as well as we could, intimated by signs that we wished they should name it: The word that they p.r.o.nounced upon the occasion, we immediately wrote down.

This method, though it was the best we could contrive, might certainly lead us into many mistakes; for if an Indian was to take up a stone, and ask us the name of it, we might answer a pebble or a flint; so when we took up a stone and asked an Indian the name of it, he might p.r.o.nounce a word that distinguished the species, and not the genus, or that instead of signifying stone simply, might signify a rough stone, or a smooth stone: However, as much as possible to avoid mistakes of this kind, several of us contrived, at different times, to get from them as many words as we could, and having noted them down, compared our lists; those which were the same in all, and which, according to every one's account, signified the same thing, we ventured to record, with a very few others, which, from the simplicity of the subject, and the ease of expressing our question with plainness and precision by a sign, have acquired equal authority.

English. New Holland.

_The head_, Wageegee.

_Hair_, Morye.

_Eyes_, Meul.

_Ears_, Melea.

_Lips_, Yembe.

_Nose_, Bonjoo.

_Tongue_, Unjar.

_Nails_, Kulke.

_Sun_, Gallan.

_Fire_, Meanang.

_A stone_, Walba.

_Sand_, Yowall.

_A rope_, Gurka.

_A man_, Bama.

_Beard_, Wallar.

_Neck_, Doomboo.

_Nipples_, Cayo.

_Hands_, Marigal.

_Thighs_, Coman.

_Navel_, Toolpoor.

_Knees_, Pongo.

_Feet_, Edamal.

_Heel_, Kniorror.

_c.o.c.katoo_, Wanda.

_The soal of the foot_ Chumal.

_Ankle_, Chongurn.

_Arms_, Aco, or Acol.

_Thumb_, Eboorbalga.

_The fore, middle, and ring fingers_, Egalbaiga.

_The little finger_, Nakil, or Ebornakil.

_The Sky_, Kere, or Kearre.

_A father_, Dunjo.

_A Son_, Jumurre.

_A male turtle_, Poinga.

_A female_, Mameingo.

_A canoe_, Marigan.

_To paddle_, Pelenyo.

_Sit down_, Takai.

_Smooth_, Mier Carrar.

_A dog_, Cotta, or Kota.

_A loriquet_. Perpere, or pier-pier.

_Blood_, Yarmbe.

_Wood_, Yocou.

_The bone in the nose_, Tapool.

_A bag_, Charngala.

_A great c.o.c.kle_, Moingo.

_Cocos, Yams_, Maracatou.

New Holland. English

Cherr, } _Expressions, as we supposed, of_ Cherco, } _admiration, which they continually_ Yarcaw, } _used when they were_ Tut, tut, tut, tut, } _in company with us_.[97]

[Footnote 97: This table is exceedingly scanty and imperfect, and would not have been given were it not thought proper, for a reason already a.s.signed, to preserve entire this early account of New Holland.--E.]

I shall now quit this country with a few observations relative to the currents and tides upon the coast. From lat.i.tude 32, and somewhat higher, down to Sandy Cape, in lat.i.tude 24 46', we constantly found a current setting to the southward, at the rate of about ten or fifteen miles a-day, being more or less, according to our distance from the land, for it always ran with more force in-sh.o.r.e than in the offing; but I could never satisfy myself whether the flood-tide came from the southward, the eastward, or the northward; I inclined to the opinion that it came from the southeast; but the first time we anch.o.r.ed off the coast, which was in lat.i.tude 24 30', about ten leagues to the south-east of Bustard Bay, I found it came from the north-west; on the contrary, thirty leagues farther to the north-west, on the south side of Keppel Bay, I found that it came from the east, and at the northern part of that bay it came from the northward, but with a much slower motion than it had come from the east: On the east side of the Bay of Inlets, it set strongly to the westward, as far as the opening of Broad Sound; but on the north side of that sound it came with a very slow motion from the north-west; and when we lay at anchor before Repulse Bay, it came from the northward: To account for its course in all this variety of directions, we need only admit that the flood-tide comes from the east or south-east. It is well known, that where there are deep inlets, and large creeks into low lands running up from the sea, and not occasioned by rivers of fresh water, there will always be a great indraught of the flood-tide, the direction of which will be determined by the position or direction of the coast which forms the entrance of such inlet, whatever be its course at sea; and where the tides are weak, which upon this coast is generally the case, a large inlet will, if I may be allowed the expression, attract the flood-tide for many leagues.

A view of the chart will at once ill.u.s.trate this position. To the northward of Whitsunday's Pa.s.sage there is no large inlet, consequently the flood sets to the northward, or northwestward, according to the direction of the coast, and the ebb to the south, or south-eastward, at least such is their course at a little distance from the land, for very near it they will be influenced by small inlets. I also observed that we had only one high tide in twenty-four hours, which happened in the night. The difference between the perpendicular rise of the water in the day and the night, when there is a spring-tide, is no less than three feet, which, where the tides are so inconsiderable as they are here, is a great proportion of the whole difference between high and low water.

This irregularity of the tides, which is worthy of notice, we did not discover till we were ran ash.o.r.e, and perhaps farther to the northward it is still greater. After we got within the reef the second time, we found the tides more considerable than we had ever done before, except in the Bay of Inlets, and possibly this may be owing to the water being more confined between the shoals; here also the flood sets to the north-west, and continues in the same direction to the extremity of New Wales, from whence its direction is west and south-west into the Indian sea.

SECTION x.x.xIV.

_The Pa.s.sage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an Account of what happened upon landing there_.