Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume I Part 33

The tall man again.

Approach of the Fishing tribe.

Covetous old man.

Conduct on witnessing the effect of a shot.

The party obliged to halt from the weak state of the cattle.

The natives very troublesome.

Singular ceremonies.

Ichthyophagi.

Their manner of fishing.

The burning brand.

A tribe from the south-east.

The old man appears again with a tribe from the south-west.

Small streams from the west.

The Darling turns southward.

Resolve to return.

Description of the country on the banks of the river.

The men at the river obliged to fire upon the natives.

Steady conduct of the party.

Origin of the dispute.

Narrow escape of Muirhead.

Treacherous conduct of the aborigines.

Melancholy reflections.

NATIVES OF THE SPITTING TRIBE.

June 27.

About nine o'clock this morning Joseph Jones came in to report that a native had pointed a spear at him when he was on the riverbank with the sheep; and that this native, accompanied by a boy, kept his ground in a position which placed the sheep entirely in his power, and prevented Jones from driving them back. He added that on his holding out a green bough the man had also taken a bough, spit upon it, and then thrust it into the fire. On hastening to the spot with three men I found the native still there, no way daunted, and on my advancing towards him with a twig he shook another twig at me, quite in a new style, waving it over his head, and at the same time intimating with it that we must go back. He and the boy then threw up dust at us in a clever way with their toes.*

These various expressions of hostility and defiance were too intelligible to be mistaken. The expressive pantomime of the man plainly showed the ident.i.ty of the human mind, however distinct the races or different the language--but his loud words were, of course, lost upon us. Overseer Burnett very incautiously stole up and sat unarmed and defenceless within five yards of him. All Burnett's endeavours to conciliate and inspire confidence had but little effect upon the savage, who merely lowered his tone a little, and then advancing a few steps, addressed himself no longer to me, but to him. I felt some apprehension for the safety of Burnett but it was too late to call him back. We were seated in the usual form at a distance of at least one hundred yards from him, and the savage held a spear, raised in his hand. At length however he retired slowly along the riverbank, making it evident by his gestures that he was going for his tribe; and singing a war-song as he went. The boy in particular seemed to glory in throwing up the dust at us, and I had not the least doubt, but certainly not the slightest wish, that we should see this man again.

(*Footnote. Strange as this custom appears to us it is quite consistent with some pa.s.sages in the early history of mankind. King David and his host met with a similar reception at Bahurim: "And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust." 2 Samuel 16:13. So also we read in Acts 22:23: "They cried out and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air." Frequent mention is made of this as the practice of the Arabians, in Ockley's History of the Saracens, when they would express their contempt of a person speaking, and their abhorrence of what he publicly p.r.o.nounces. We find also this directly stated in Light's Travels in Egypt page 64: "One more violent than the rest, threw dust into the air, the signal both of rage and defiance, ran for his shield, and came towards me dancing, howling, and striking the shield with the head of his javelin, to intimidate me.")

About half-past four in the afternoon a party of the tribe made their appearance in the same quarter; holding out boughs, but according to a very different ceremonial from any hitherto observed towards us by the aborigines. They used the most violent and expressive gestures, apparently to induce us to go back whence we had come; and as I felt that we were rather unceremonious invaders of their country it was certainly my duty to conciliate them by every possible means. Accordingly I again advanced, bearing a green branch on high, but the repulsive gestures then becoming much more violent than before I stopped at some distance from the party. Honest Vulcan, our blacksmith (two or three men being near him) was at work with his bellows and anvil near the riverbank. This man's labour seemed to excite very much their curiosity; and again the overseer and Bulger advanced quietly towards those natives who had approached nearest to the blacksmith. Hearing at length much laughter, I concluded that a truce had been effected as usual, and I too walked forward with my branch. But on going to the spot I found that all the laughter came from our party, the natives having refused to sit down and continuing to wave the branches in our people's faces, having also repeatedly spit at them; the whole of which conduct was good-naturedly borne in hopes of establishing a more amicable intercourse. As a peace-offering I then presented the man who appeared to be the leader with a tomahawk, the use of which he immediately guessed by turning round to a log and chopping at it. Two other stout fellows (our morning visitor being one of them) then rudely demanded my pistols from my belt; whereupon I drew one and, curious to see the effect, I fired it at a tree.

SINGULAR BEHAVIOUR ON THE DISCHARGE OF A PISTOL.

The scene which followed I cannot satisfactorily describe or represent, although I shall never forget it. As if they had previously suspected we were evil demons, and had at length a clear proof of it, they repeated their gesticulations of defiance with tenfold fury, and accompanied the action with demoniac looks, hideous shouts and a war-song, crouching, jumping, spitting, springing with the spear, and throwing dust at us, as they slowly retired. In short, their hideous crouching postures, measured gestures, and low jumps, all to the tune of a wild song, with the fiendish glare of their countenances, at times all black, but now all eyes and teeth, seemed a fitter spectacle for Pandemonium than the light of the bounteous sun. Thus these savages slowly retired along the riverbank, all the while dancing in a circle like the witches in Macbeth, and leaving us in expectation of their return and perhaps an attack in the morning. Any further attempt to appease them was out of the question.

CONJECTURES.

Whether they were by nature implacable or whether their inveterate hostility proceeded from some cause of disquiet or apprehension unimaginable by us it was too probable they might ere long force upon us the painful necessity of making them acquainted with the superiority of our arms.

CHARACTER OF DIFFERENT TRIBES.

The manner and disposition of these people were so unlike those of the aborigines in general that I hoped they might be an exception to the general character of the natives we were to meet with: an evil disposed tribe perhaps, at war with all around them. The difference in disposition between tribes not very remote from each other was often striking. We had left at only three days' journey behind us natives as kind and civil as any I had met with; and I was rather at a loss now to understand how they could exist so near fiends like these. I believe the peculiar character of different tribes is not to be easily changed by circ.u.mstances. I could certainly mention more instances of well than evil disposed natives on the Darling; where indeed until now all had met us with the branch of peace. We had not yet accomplished one half of our journey to the Murray from the junction of the Bogan and Darling; and it was no very pleasing prospect to have to travel such a distance through a country which might be occupied by inhabitants like these. In the present case I hoped that our patient forbearance and the gift of the tomahawk would deter our late visitors, if anything human were in their feelings, from annoying us more: and if not that their great dread of the pistol would at least keep them at a distance.

SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THE SPITTING TRIBE.

June 28.

The natives did not appear in the morning as we had expected, but at three in the afternoon their voices were again heard in the woods. I ordered all the men to be on the lookout, and when the natives came near I sent Burnett towards them, once more with a branch, but with orders to retire upon any indication of defiance. It turned out, as I had supposed, that their curiosity and desire to get something more had brought them forward again.

STRANGE CEREMONIAL.

An old man was at length prevailed on to join Burnett and to sit down by him. This was effected however but very slowly, the others standing at a great distance, and some who remained in the rear still making signs of defiance. Others of the tribe at length joined the old man, but they prepared to return on my approach, recognising me perhaps as the owner of the pistol. On seeing this I directed Burnett to give a clasp-knife to the old man who seemed much pleased with the present. They next made a move towards the spot where the blacksmith was at work, commencing at the same time a kind of professional chant, and slowly waving their green boughs. The appearance of one of these men in particular was very odd.

There was evidently some superst.i.tion in the ceremony, this personage being probably a coradje or priest. He was an old man with a large beard and bushy hair, and the lower part of his nose was wanting, so that the apex of that feature formed more than a rightangle, giving him an extraordinary appearance. None except himself and other ancients wore any kind of dress; and this consisted of a small cloak of skins fastened over the left shoulder. While the man from the woods waved his bough aloft and chanted that monotonous hymn, an idea of the ancient druids arose in my mind. It was obvious the ceremony belonged to some strange superst.i.tion.

He occasionally turned his back towards each of us like the grisly priest with murmuring prayer; he touched his eyebrows, nose, and breast as if crossing himself, then pointed his arm to the sky; afterwards laid his hand on his breast, chanting with an air of remarkable solemnity and abstracted looks, while at times his branch:

he held on high, With wasted hand and haggard eye, And strange and mingled feelings woke, While his anathema he spoke.* Scott.

(*Footnote. Burder in his Oriental Customs says (Number 187): "An opinion prevailed both in those days and after ages that some men had a power, by the help of their G.o.ds, to devote not only particular persons, but whole armies to destruction. This they are said to have done, sometimes by words of imprecation, of which there was a set form among some people, which Aeschines calls diorizomenen aran, the determinate curse. Sometimes they also offered sacrifices, and used certain rites and ceremonies with solemn charms.")

All this contrasted strangely with the useful occupation of honest Vulcan, whom I had positively enjoined not to laugh, or stop working.

AMUSING ATTEMPTS TO STEAL, OR DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

At length I prevailed on an old man to sit down by me and gave him a clasp-knife in order to check the search he was disposed to make through my pockets. Meanwhile the others came around the forge and immediately began to pilfer whatever they could lay either hand or foot upon. While one was detected making off with a file another seized something else, until the poor blacksmith could no longer proceed with his work. One set his foot on an axe and thus, all the while staring the overseer (who eyed him) in the face he quickly receded several yards, jumping backwards to another, who stood ready behind him to take the tool. Some jogged their neighbours at the moments most opportune for plundering; and an old man made amusing attempts to fish up a horse-shoe into the hollow of a tree.

The best of this part of the scene was that they did not mind being observed by anyone except the blacksmith, supposing that they were robbing him only. Vulcan was at last tempted to give one of them a push, when a scene of chanting, spitting,* and throwing dust commenced on the part of the thief, who was a stout fellow and carried a spear which he seemed inclined to use. Notwithstanding all the vigilance of several men appointed to watch the articles about the forge, an excellent rasp or file was carried off. The natives left our party however in a perfectly civil way, and we were right glad to feel at peace with them on any terms.

(*Footnote. "The malediction of the Turks, as of other oriental nations, is frequently expressed in no other way than by spitting on the ground."

Clarke's Travels volume 3 page 225. Mons. D'Arvieux tells us: "the Arabs are sometimes disposed to think that when a person spits it is done out of contempt; and that they never do it before their superiors. But Sir J.

Chardin's ma.n.u.script goes much further; he tells us in a note on Numbers 12:14 that spitting before anyone, or spitting upon the ground in speaking of anyone's actions, is throughout the East an expression of extreme detestation." Harmer volume 4 page 429.)

HOSTILE MOVEMENTS.

June 29.

At length we were ready to quit this spot and gladly continued our journey in hopes of leaving our troublesome neighbours also. After proceeding some way however Mr. Larmer's horse pitched him over its head and galloped back to the place which we had so willingly quitted. Just then the natives emerged from their woods in greater numbers than ever, being painted white, many carrying spears, and shouting. This startled the horse and made him again gallop away, and we halted on the edge of a plain until Mr. Larmer recovered the animal; which was the more easily accomplished as the attention of the natives was fortunately fixed chiefly on us. They repeated all their menaces and expressions of defiance, and as we again proceeded the whole of their woods appeared in flames. I never saw such unfavourable specimens of the aborigines as these children of the smoke, they were so barbarously and implacably hostile and shamelessly dishonest, and so little influenced by reason, that the more they saw of our superior weapons and means of defence the more they showed their hatred and tokens of defiance. The day's journey was over a firmer surface than usual, and we encamped on a bend of the river in lat.i.tude 31 degrees 36 minutes 48 seconds South.

DRY CHANNEL OF A STREAM.

June 30.

The party moved off early. The ground we travelled over, or rather through, was very soft and exceedingly heavy for the draught animals. At about five miles we approached a line of trees, extending from the hollow, which for some days past had appeared between us and the hills on our left. On examining it I found that it was the dry bed of what had been a considerable stream, preserving a uniform breadth of about 50 yards; and having lines of flood-marks upon the bank, similar to those of the Darling, and rising to the height of eight or nine feet. Trees such as characterised the banks of the Darling but of smaller size grew on its banks, which had also their flats of polygonum and small gullies similar to those on that river, but on a lesser scale. Upon the whole it was evident that this channel at some seasons was filled with a body of water, the sources of which were in the high ground between the Lachlan and the Bogan. We had observed so many paths of the natives leading from the Darling towards the country whence this riverbed ranged that for several days we were of opinion water was still to be found there. The utter dryness of the bed was not surprising at a season when large dead freshwater mussels, weighing 3 1/2 ounces, projected amid the roots of the gra.s.s of two summers, and from ground which was the firmest we could find for travelling upon with carts. Crossing to the left bank of this riverbed we continued our course towards an angle of the Darling until we came again on this tributary, as I supposed it to be. I therefore again continued along its left bank because it afforded firmer ground than the cracked plains, and in expectation that it would lead to some near turn of the main river. When we were rapidly approaching the larger trees by which the latter was known the dry channel of the minor stream suddenly turned to the southward, and we finally encamped two miles east of the nearest part of the Darling; in lat.i.tude 31 degrees 44 minutes 28 seconds. This newly discovered channel seemed to turn from that river so as to embrace the extremities of the low ranges coming from the east, and which successively terminate on the plains of the Darling. One of these was about a mile to the east of our camp and consisted of hardish sandstone, composed of grains of quartz, without any apparent cement, but containing a small quant.i.ty of decomposed felspar. At the base of those hills I found, as elsewhere, pebbles consisting chiefly of a splintery quartz rock, in which the grains of sand or quartz were firmly embedded in a siliceous cement. On the northern side of that ridge I observed at some distance an isolated clump of trees resembling pines or cypresses, growing very thick, and the foliage was of a brighter green than that of the callitris trees which they most resemble; unlike them however they had no dead lower branches but were thick and green to the ground. I regretted much that I had not an opportunity of examining them closely.

In the Darling, westward of this camp, was a bed of round concretions, all about an inch in diameter. They were dark-coloured and when first taken out had a foetid smell.

July 1.

Pursuing the left bank of the newly discovered channel we found that it embraced some low rising grounds which, ever since we had made Macculloch's range, had been the limits of the polygonum flats along the left bank also of the Darling.

TOMBS ON THE SANDHILLS.

On the tops of some of those hills I observed what appeared to be the tombs of the natives. They consisted of a circular trench of about 30 feet in diameter, the grave being covered by a low mound in the centre; and they were always dug in the highest parts of hills. On observing this preference of heights as burying places I remembered that it was on the summit of the hill where I fixed our depot on the Darling that we saw the numerous white b.a.l.l.s and so many graves.* The b.a.l.l.s were shaped as in the accompanying woodcut, and were made of lime.

(*Footnote. M. de la Roque says of the Bedouin Arabs of Mount Carmel: "that the frequent change of the place of their encampment, not admitting their having places set a part for burial, they always choose a place somewhat elevated for that purpose, and at some distance from the camp.

They make a grave there, into which they put the corpse, and cover it with earth, and a number of great stones, lest the wild beasts should get at the body." Voyage dans la Palestine chapter 23. See also 2 Kings 23:16, 1 Kings 13:2 and Isaiah 23:15-17.)

WHITE b.a.l.l.s ON TOMBS.

Beside them were, in some cases, casts also in lime or gypsum, which had evidently been taken from a head, the hair of which had been confined by a net, as the impression of it and some hairs remained inside. A native explained one day to Mr. Larmer, in a very simple manner, the meaning of the white b.a.l.l.s, by taking a small piece of wood, laying it in the ground, and covering it with earth; then, laying his head on one side and closing his eyes, he showed that a dead body was laid in that position in the earth where these b.a.l.l.s were placed above.*