Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 8

December 29.

On the 29th we had completed our holds with wood and water and prepared to leave the harbour. In the morning there was thirteen feet water at the buoy which had been moored on the deepest part of the bar, the depth of which, during the two preceding days, had been frequently sounded.

In the evening we were visited by twenty-four natives among whom was our friend Jack. When they found us preparing to go away they expressed great sorrow at our departure, particularly Jack, who was more than usually entertaining but kept, as he always did, at a distance from his companions and treated them with the greatest disdain. When the time came to send them on sh.o.r.e he endeavoured to avoid accompanying them and as usual was the last to go into the boat; instead however of following them, he went into a boat on the opposite side of the brig that was preparing to go for a load of water, evidently expecting to be allowed to return in her.

This friendly Indian had become a great favourite with us all and was allowed to visit us whenever he chose and to do as he pleased; he always wore the shirt that had been given to him on the first day and endeavoured to imitate everything that our people were employed upon; particularly the carpenter and the sailmaker at their work: he was the only native who did not manufacture spears for barter, for he was evidently convinced of the superiority of our weapons and laughed heartily whenever a bad and carelessly-made spear was offered to us for sale: for the natives, finding we took everything, were not very particular in the form or manufacturer of the articles they brought to us. He was certainly the most intelligent native of the whole tribe and if we had remained longer would have afforded us much information of this part of the country; for we were becoming more and more intelligible to each other every day: he frequently accompanied Mr. Cunningham in his walks and not only a.s.sisted him in carrying his plants but occasionally added to the specimens he was collecting.

December 30.

The next morning (30th) the anchors were weighed and the warps laid out, but from various delays we did not reach a birth sufficiently near the bar to make sail from, until the water had fallen too much to allow our pa.s.sing it: the brig was therefore moored in the stream of the tide.

At eight o'clock the natives came down as usual and were much disappointed in finding the brig moved from her former place. After the vessel was secured the launch and jolly-boat were sent to the watering-place in the outer bay, where the eastern party were a.s.sembled with a bundle of spears, throwing-sticks, and knives, for barter. Upon the return of the boats our friend Jack came on board and appeared altogether so attached to us that some thoughts were entertained of taking him on our voyage up the west coast if he was inclined to go. As he did not want for intelligence there was not much difficulty in making him understand by signs that he might go with us, to which he appeared to a.s.sent without the least hesitation, but that it might be satisfactorily ascertained whether he really wished to go it was intimated to him that he should tell his companions of this new arrangement. Mr. Bedwell accordingly took him on sh.o.r.e, and purchased all the spears the natives had brought down, that, in case they should feel angry at his leaving them, they might have no weapons to do any mischief with.

When Jack landed he instantly informed his companions of his intended departure and pointed to the sea, to show whither he was going, but his friends received the intelligence with the most careless indifference, their attention being entirely engrossed with the barter that was going on. After the spears were purchased Mr. Bedwell got into the boat followed by Jack, who seated himself in his place with apparent satisfaction.

While Mr. Bedwell was purchasing the spears and other weapons Jack brought him a throwing-stick that he had previously concealed behind a bush and sold it to him for a biscuit; but after he had embarked and the boat was leaving the sh.o.r.e he threw it among his companions, thereby affording us a most satisfactory proof of the sincerity of his intentions.

About an hour after he had returned and I had determined upon taking him, the breeze freshened and raised a short swell which, causing a slight motion, affected our friend's head so much that he came to me and, touching his tongue and pointing to the sh.o.r.e, intimated his wish to speak to the natives. He was therefore immediately landed and Mr.

Baskerville, after purchasing some spears and waiting a few minutes, prepared to return on board: upon getting into the boat he looked at our volunteer but Jack, having had a taste of sea-sickness, shook his head and hung back; he was therefore left on sh.o.r.e. Upon the boat's leaving the beach the natives dispersed for the night but Jack, as usual, was perceived to separate himself from his companions and to walk away without exchanging a word with them.

December 31.

The weather at daylight the next morning (31st) was too unsettled and the breeze too strong from the westward to think of moving from the anchorage. Jack and another native were down on the rocks at an early hour, hallooing and waving to us, and at eight o'clock some natives appeared on the opposite sh.o.r.e with spears and knives to barter, but we had no communication with them.

During our visit we have obtained from these people about one hundred spears, thirty throwing-sticks, forty hammers, one hundred and fifty knives, and a few hand-clubs, the value of each being at from half to one-eighth of a biscuit. We saw no fizgig, shield, nor boomerang; it is probable that they may have such weapons but did not produce them from a dislike at parting with them; but the knives, spears, and hammers which did not require much labour to manufacture were always ready for barter, particularly the first, but the greater part were, like Peter Pindar's razors, only made for sale.

Altogether we saw about forty natives of whom ten were boys: they were in most respects similar to their neighbours, having the same long curly hair and slight figure; they did not appear to be a navigating tribe, for we saw no canoes, nor did we observe any trees in the woods with the bark stripped, of which material they are usually made; and, from the timid manner they approached the water, it is more than probable that they are not much accustomed even to swimming. Captain Flinders is mistaken in stating that the natives of this place do not use the throwing-stick; but it is probable they did not produce those instruments to him, for fear of being deprived of them, for it required much persuasion on our part to prevail upon them to let us have any; they were much more ingeniously formed than others that we had previously seen, and different also, in having a small sharp-edged sh.e.l.l, or piece of quartz, fixed in a gummy k.n.o.b at the handle, for the purpose of sc.r.a.ping the points of the spears: the shaft is broad, smooth and flat. Some of these throwing-sticks, or mearas, were three inches broad and two feet six inches long. See Woodcut 3.

The spears are very slender, and are made from a species of leptospermum that grows abundantly in swampy places; they are from nine to ten feet long and barbed with a piece of hard wood, fastened on by a ligature of bark gummed over; we saw none that were not barbed, or had not a hole at the end to receive the hooked point of the meara. Woodcut 4 shows the method by which this weapon is propelled.

The hammer, or kaoit, appears to be used only for the purpose of breaking open sh.e.l.lfish, and killing seals and other animals by striking them on the head; for it has no sharpened edge to be used as a chopping or cutting instrument; the handle is from twelve to fifteen inches long, having one end sc.r.a.ped to a sharp point, and on each side at the other end two pieces of hard stone fixed and cemented by a ma.s.s of gum, which, when dry, is almost as hard as the stone itself; the hammer is about one pound weight. See Woodcut 5.

The knife, or taap, is perhaps the rudest instrument of the sort that ever was made; the handle is about twelve inches long, sc.r.a.ped to a point like the hammer, and has, at the other end, three or four splinters of sharp-edged quartz stuck on in a row with gum, thus forming a sort of ragged instrument. See Woodcut 6. It is thus used: after they have put within their teeth a sufficient mouthful of seal's flesh, the remainder is held in their left hand, and, with the taap in the other, they saw through, and separate the flesh.* Every native carries one or more of these knives in his belt besides the hammer which is also an indispensable instrument with them.

(*Footnote. A very good idea may be obtained of the manner in which these taaps are used, by referring to Captain Lyon's drawing of the Esquimaux sledges at page 290 of Parry's Second Voyage: the natives of King George's Sound however hold the knife underhanded, and cut upwards.)

We did not perceive that these people acknowledged any chief or superior among them; the two parties that collected daily on the opposite sides of the harbour evidently belonged to the same tribe for they occasionally mixed with each other. Their habitations were probably scattered about in different parts for when the natives went away for the night they separated into several groups, not more than three or four going together, and these generally returned in company the next morning by the same path which they had taken when they left us: they also arrived at different times and some evidently came from a distance greater than others, for they were later in arriving and always took their leave at an earlier hour.

With the exception of one or two petty thefts besides the one above-mentioned of which serious notice was taken, and an attempt to steal a hat from one of the boys when he was by himself on the Oyster Bank, our communication with these people was carried on in the most friendly manner. Mr. Cunningham was, to their knowledge, on sh.o.r.e every day attended only by his servant, but none, excepting Jack, followed him after they had ascertained the intention of his walk, and observed the care that he took to avoid going near their habitations, for which they evinced a great dislike; one of their encampments was about a mile and a half off but, curious as we naturally were to witness their mode of living and to see the females and children of their tribe, we never succeeded in persuading them to allow us to gratify our curiosity. On one occasion it was necessary to lay a kedge anchor out in the direction of their dwelling-place, and upon the boat's crew landing and carrying it along the beach, the natives followed and intimated by signs that we should not go that way; as soon however as the anchor was fixed and they understood our intention, they a.s.sisted the people in carrying the hawser to make fast to it.

They were well-acquainted with the effects of a musket, although not the least alarmed at having one fired off near them. Everything they saw excited their admiration, particularly the carpenter's tools and our clothes; but what appeared to surprise them above all other things was the effect produced upon the flesh by a burning-gla.s.s, and of its causing the explosion of a train of gunpowder. They perfectly understood that it was from the sun that the fire was produced, for on one occasion when Jack requested me to show it to two or three strangers whom he had brought to visit us I explained to him that it could not be done while the sun was clouded; he then waited patiently for five minutes until the sunshine reappeared, when he instantly reminded me of the removal of the obstacle. He was a good deal surprised at my collecting the rays of the sun upon my own hand, supposing that I was callous to the pain, from which he had himself before shrunk; but as I held the gla.s.s within the focus distance, no painful sensation was produced; after which he presented me his own arm, and allowed me to burn it as long as I chose to hold the gla.s.s, without flinching in the least, which, with greater reason, equally astonished us in our turn.

They were all furnished, as has been before mentioned, with a cloak of kangaroo-skin, which is always taken off and spread under them when they lie down. Their hair was dressed in different ways; sometimes it was clotted with red pigment and seal oil, clubbed up behind, and bound round with a fillet of opossum-fur, spun into a long string, in which parrot-feathers, escalop sh.e.l.ls, and other ornaments being fixed in different fanciful ways, gave the wearer a warlike appearance.

Their faces and sometimes their whole bodies were daubed over with a mixture of seal oil and red pigment that caused a most disgusting effluvia; but the only colouring matter that our friend Jack used, after his acquaintance with us, was the carpenter's chalk, which he thought particularly ornamental.

Bracelets of dog-tails or kangaroo-skin were commonly worn and one had several escalop sh.e.l.ls hanging about him, the noise of which, as they jingled together, he probably thought musical.

The noodle-bul or belt in which they carry their hammer and knife is manufactured from the fur of the opossum spun into a small yarn like worsted; it is tightly bound at least three or four hundred times round the stomach; very few however possessed this ornament; and it is not improbable that the natives who had their hair clubbed, those that wore belts, and the one who was ornamented with sh.e.l.ls, held some particular offices in the tribe, which it would be difficult for strangers to discover.

During our communication with these people the following vocabulary of their language was obtained, of which some of the words are compared with those recorded by Captain Flinders: these last are inserted in the third column.

COLUMN 1: ENGLISH WORD.

COLUMN 2: NATIVE WORD.

COLUMN 3: NATIVE WORD RECORDED BY CAPTAIN FLINDERS.

A goose : Caangan.

A dog : Tiara.

To eat biscuit : Yamungamari (doubtful).

A seal : Baallot.

The sun : Djaat : Djaat.

Water : Badoo (this is a Port Jackson word, and has been probably obtained from other visitors).

Beard : Nyanuck.

Cheek : Nyaluck.

Mouth : Tatah.

Teeth : Orlock : Yeaal.

Tongue : Darlin, or Thalib.

Arm : Wormuck.

Nails : Pera (strong accent on the r.) Finger : Mai, plural Maih.

Toe : Kea, plural Kean.

Finger nails : Peramaih.

Toe nails : Perakean.

Nipple : Beep : Bpep.

Belly : Cobbull, or kopul : Kobul.

Posteriors : Wallakah : Wallakah.

Kangaroo : Beango.

A frog : Toke.

Spear-throwing-stick : Meara.

Hammer : Kaoit.

Eye : Meal.

Navel : Beil.

Shoulder : Kadyaran.

Shall I go on board? : Bokenyenna.

Elbow : Gnoyong.

Scars on the body : Naamburn.

Firewood : Gogorr.

A spear : Namberr, or pegero.

A knife : Taap.

Rope (on board) : Nearbango.

Wood (Plank) : Yandari.

Lips : Tar : Urluck.

Throat : Wurt.

Thighs : Dtoual : Dtoual.

Knee : Wonat : Wonat.

Leg : Maat : Maat.

Foot : Jaan, or bangul : Jaan.

Ear : Duong : Duong.

Nose : Tarmul : Moil.