CHAPTER XIII
My usual introduction--A serious entertainment--The power of thebow--Repulsive blacks--Mysterious spears--Waterless wastes--A battle withsnakes--More prestige--Rubies thrown away--Quarrying extraordinary.
Occasionally one of the tribes would display hostility towards us atfirst sight, but I generally managed to ingratiate myself into their goodgraces by the exercise of a little diplomacy--and acrobatics. Curiouslyenough, many of these tribes did not display much surprise at seeing awhite man, apparently reserving all their amazement for Bruno's bark andthe white man's wonderful performances.
I may here remark that, in the event of our coming across a hostile tribewho fought shy of my friendly advances, I would, without ceremony,introduce myself by dashing into their midst and turning a fewsomersaults or Catherine-wheels such as the London _gamins_ display forthe benefit of easily-pleased excursionists. This queer entertainmentusually created roars of laughter, and set every one at his ease.
I remember once being surprised by the sudden appearance over the crestof a hillock of about twenty blacks, all well armed and presenting rathera formidable appearance. The moment they caught sight of Yamba andmyself they halted, whereupon I advanced and called out to them that Iwas a friend, at the same time holding out my passport stick. By theway, the efficacy of this talisman varied according to the tribes. Yambacould make neither head nor tail of these people; they jabbered in alanguage quite unintelligible to either of us. I then reverted to theinevitable sign language, giving them to understand that I wished tosleep with them a night or two; but they still continued to brandishtheir spears ominously. Yamba presently whispered in my ear that we hadbetter not trouble them any further, as they were evidently inclined tobe pugnacious. This was a very exceptional _rencontre_, because Iusually induced the natives to sit down and parley with me, and then Iwould produce my mysterious stick. In the event of this proving oflittle account, both I and Bruno would without a moment's hesitationplunge into our performance. It always began with a few somersaults.Bruno needed no looking after. He knew his business, and went throughhis own repertoire with great energy and excitement. The accompanyingbarks were probably involuntary, but they were a great help inastonishing and impressing the natives.
Even in this instance I was unwilling to retire defeated; so suddenlypulling out one of my little reed whistles capable of producing twonotes, I commenced a violent jig to my own "music." The effect on thescowling and ferocious-looking blacks was quite magical. Theyimmediately threw down their spears and laughed uproariously at myvigorous antics. I danced till I was quite tired, but managed to wind upthe entertainment with a few somersaults, which impressed them vastly.
I had conquered. When I had finished they advanced and greeted me mostheartily, and from that moment we were friends. I had completely doneaway with their enmity by my simple efforts to amuse them. For the mostpart, this was my invariable experience. The natives were the easiestpeople in the world to interest and amuse, and when once I had succeededin winning them in this way, they were our warmest friends. This band ofwarriors took us back to their camping-ground, some miles away, andactually gave a great feast in my honour that evening, chanting thewonderful things they had seen until far into the night. The place whereI met these blacks was a broken, stony, and hilly country, which,however, abounded in roots and snakes--especially snakes. My hosts hadevidently had a recent battue, or fire hunt, for they had a mostextraordinary stock of food. So completely had I won them over, that Iactually hung up my bow and arrows along with their spears beforeretiring to rest. The expression "hung up" may seem curious, so I hastento explain that the natives tied up their spears in bunches and placedthem on the scrub bushes.
Next morning I brought down a few hawks on the wing with my bow andarrows, and then the amazement of the natives was quite comical towitness. Shooting arrows in a straight line astonished them somewhat,but the more bombastic among them would say, "Why I can do that," andtaking his woomerah he would hurl a spear a long distance. Not one ofthem, however, was able _to throw a spear upwards_, so I scored over eventhe most redoubtable chiefs. It may be well to explain, that birds arealways to be found hovering about a native camp; they act as scavengers,and their presence in the sky is always an indication that an encampmentis somewhere in the vicinity. These birds are especially on the spotwhen the blacks set fire to the bush and organise a big battue. At suchtimes the rats and lizards rush out into the open, and the hawks reap afine harvest.
My natives are referred to as "blacks," or "black-fellows," but they arenot really _black_, their hue being rather a brown, ranging from a verydark brown, indeed, to almost the lightness of a Malay. I found thecoast tribes lightest in hue, while the inland natives were very muchdarker. Here I may mention that after having been on my way south forsome months, I began to notice a total difference between the natives Imet and my own people in the Cambridge Gulf district. The tribes I wasnow encountering daily were inferior in physique, and had inferior warimplements; I do not remember that they had any shields.
The blacks I had whistled and jigged before were, perhaps, the ugliest ofall the aborigines I had met, which was saying a very great deal. Themen were very short, averaging little more than five feet, with lowforeheads and hideously repulsive features. I noticed, however, that theanimals they had for food seemed very much fatter than similar creaturesfarther north. One thing I was grateful to these people for was honey,which I urgently required for medicinal purposes. They were very sorrywhen we left them, and a small band of warriors accompanied us on ourfirst day's march. We were then handed on from tribe to tribe, smokesignals being sent up to inform the next "nation" that friendly strangerswere coming.
Nevertheless, I gradually became uneasy. We were evidently getting intoa country where the greatest of our wonders could not save us from thehostility of the natives. We presently encountered another tribe, whonot only at first refused to accept our friendly overtures, but eventhreatened to attack us before I had time to consider another plan. Itried the effect of my whistle, but even this failed in its effect; andto my alarm, before I could give them an exhibition of my acrobaticpowers they had hurled one or two war spears, which whizzed byunpleasantly close to my head. Without further ado, well knowing thatvacillation meant death, I sent half-a-dozen arrows in succession amongstthem, taking care, however, to aim very low, so as not unduly to injuremy opponents.
The hostile blacks came to a sudden halt, as they found the mysteriousspears flying round them, and then watching my opportunity, I dashedforward right among them, and turned over and over in a series of rapidand breathless somersaults.
I had conquered again. Do not blame the natives, for with them everystranger is an enemy until he has proved himself a friend. Hence it isthat when white men suddenly appear among these natives they run imminentrisk of being promptly speared, unless they can make it quite clear thatno harm is intended.
Bruno ran the same risk. Incident after incident of this kind happenedalmost daily, and although they involved some peril, yet they came as awelcome break when life on the march grew too monotonous. Deliberatetreachery was very rare among the natives I came across, but it was by nomeans altogether absent; and, notwithstanding all my knowledge, my wifeand I were sometimes in serious danger of our lives.
One day we came upon a tribe as usual, and after the customarypreliminaries were gone through they became apparently quite friendly. Iwas careful never unduly to exhibit my steel tomahawk, which I alwayskept in a kind of sheath or covering of opossum-skin, so that it mightnot arouse envy; a second motive for this was to prevent its chafing mybody. I never used either stiletto or tomahawk unless absolutelynecessary, reserving both for great emergencies. I knew they could neverbe replaced, so it behoved me jealously to guard such preciouspossessions. I never even used my stiletto at meal-times, nor even incutting up animals for food, lest the blood should rust the blade and eatit away. Many times already had it come
in useful at closequarters--notably in the case of the fight with the alligator and thekilling of the cannibal chief who owned the white girls.
The chief of the tribe I am discussing saw me using my tomahawk one day,and eagerly asked me to make over the implement to him as a gift. Icourteously told him that I could not do so. He seemed somewhatdisappointed at my refusal, but did not appear to bear me any ill-feelingin consequence. The blacks, by the way, seldom cut down trees except forspears, and the reason for this is very curious. They imagine the treeto be a thing of life, and when they are forced to cut one down, quite areligious ceremony is held, and profuse apologies made to the tree fortaking its life.
They never even take a strip of bark right round, knowing that this willkill the tree; they always leave a little bit of connecting bark.
As some reason for the refusal of my tomahawk was expected, I told thechief that it was part of my life--indeed, part of my very being, whichwas perfectly true. I also worked on the chief's superstitions, assuringhim earnestly that if I parted with the weapon it would so anger thespirits as to bring about a terrible curse in the country. The tomahawkI declared was a direct gift to me from the Sun itself, so how could Ipart with it? I had thought of offering it, curses and all, but the riskof prompt acceptance was too great.
That night Yamba warned me that trouble was impending. For myself Inever knew, and I suppose she read the signs among the men and gotcertain definite information from the women. We therefore slept somemiles away from the encampment in a makeshift gunyah built of boughs, infront of which the usual fire was made. After we had retired to rest,Yamba woke me and said that she detected strange noises. I immediatelysprang to my feet and looked all round our little shelter. It was muchtoo dark for me to see anything distinctly, but I fancied I heardretreating footsteps. Utterly at a loss to account for this strangeoccurrence, and fearing that some danger threatened us, Yamba and Icovered in the front of the shelter, and then quietly retired into thebush, where we lay hidden without a fire until morning. When we returnedto our shelter it was broad daylight, and, as we half expected, we foundthree formidable spears buried in the sides of our little hut. Threeothers were stuck in the ground near the fire, clearly proving that anattempt had been made upon our lives during the night. On examining thespears we found they most certainly belonged to the tribe we had left theprevious day. The spear-heads were of a different kind of flint fromanything I had previously seen, being dark green in colour; and they wereextremely sharp. The individuality of the different tribes is stronglyand decidedly marked in the make of their spears. Our treacherous hostshad evidently determined to obtain the coveted tomahawk by force, andwhen they reached the spot where they supposed we lay (they could not seeinto the interior from the front), they hurled their spears in the hopeof killing us, but did not investigate the result, they being such arrantcowards at night. Remember, they had actually ventured at night into thebush in spite of their inveterate fear of "the spirits."
The precaution adopted on this occasion was always followed by us when wehad any real doubt about the natives; that is to say, we built a "dummy"gunyah of boughs, which we were supposed to sleep in; and we covered inthe front so as our possible assailants could not easily detect ourabsence. We would then creep away into the bush or hide behind a tree,and, of course, would light no fire.
Many times was that same tomahawk coveted. You see, the natives wouldwatch me cutting boughs with it, or procuring honey by cutting downbranches with an ease that caused them to despise their own rude stoneaxes.
The case of treachery I have just described was not an isolated one, butI am bound to say such occurrences were rare in the interior--althoughmore or less frequent about the western shores of the Gulf ofCarpentaria. At any rate, this was my experience.
During our journey from my home to the shores of the Gulf, I remembercoming across a flat country from which the natives had apparentlydisappeared altogether. When we did come upon them, however, in the highground I was probably guilty of some little breach of etiquette, such as_looking_ at the women--(for many reasons I always studied the varioustypes in a tribe)--and Yamba and I were often in peril of our lives onthis account. As a rule, however, safety lay in the fact that thenatives are terribly afraid of darkness, and they believe the spirits ofthe dead roam abroad in the midnight hours.
Month after month we continued our progress in a southerly direction,although, as I have said before, we often turned north-east and even duewest, following the valleys when stopped by the ranges--where, by theway, we usually found turkeys in great numbers. We had water-bags madeout of the skins of kangaroos and wallabies, and would camp whereverpossible close to a native well, where we knew food was to be found inplenty.
At this period I noticed that the more easterly I went, the more ranges Iencountered; whilst the somewhat dreary and mostly waterless lowland layto the west. We would sometimes fail to obtain water for a couple ofdays; but this remark does not apply to the mountainous regions. Oftenthe wells were quite dry and food painfully scarce; this would be in aregion of sand and spinifex.
When I beheld an oasis of palms and ti-trees I would make for it, knowingthat if no water existed there, it could easily be got by digging. Thephysical conditions of the country would change suddenly, and myindefatigable wife was frequently at fault in her root-huntingexpeditions. Fortunately, animal life was very seldom scarce. On thewhole, we were extremely fortunate in the matter of water,--although thenatives often told me that the low wastes of sand and spinifex werefrequently so dry, that it was impossible even for them to cross. Whatastonished me greatly was that the line of demarcation between an utterdesert and, say, a fine forest was almost as sharply marked as if it hadbeen drawn with a rule. A stretch of delightfully wooded country wouldfollow the dreary wastes, and this in turn would give place to fairlyhigh mountain ranges.
Once, during a temporary stay among one of the tribes, the chief showedme some very interesting caves among the low limestone ranges that wereclose by. It was altogether a very rugged country. Always on the look-out for something to interest and amuse me, and always filled with astrange, vague feeling that something _might_ turn up unexpectedly whichwould enable me to return to civilisation, I at once determined toexplore these caves; and here I had a very strange and thrillingadventure.
Whilst roaming among the caves I came across a pit measuring perhapstwenty feet in diameter and eight feet or nine feet in depth. It had asandy bottom; and as I saw a curious-looking depression in one corner, Ijumped down to investigate it, leaving Bruno barking at the edge of thepit, because I knew I should have some trouble in hoisting him up againif I allowed him to accompany me. I carried a long stick, much longerthan a waddy; perhaps it was a yam-stick--I cannot remember. At anyrate, just as I was about to probe a mysterious-looking hole, I beheldwith alarm and amazement the ugly head of a large black snake suddenlythrust out at me from a dark mass, which I presently found was thedecayed stump of a tree. I fell back as far as possible, and then sawthat the reptile had quite uncoiled itself from the stem, and was comingstraight at me. I promptly dealt it a violent blow on the body, justbelow that point where it raised its head from the ground. No sooner hadI done this than another dark and hissing head came charging in mydirection. Again I struck at the reptile's body and overpowered it. Nextcame a third, and a fourth, and fifth, and then I realised that the wholeof the dead stump was simply one living mass of coiled snakes, which wereprobably hibernating. One after another they came at me; of course, hadthey all come at once, no power on earth could have saved me. I wonderedhow long this weird contest would be kept up; and again and again betweenthe attacks I tried to escape, but had scarcely taken an upward step whenanother huge reptile was upon me.
I was aware that Bruno was running backwards and forwards at the edge ofthe pit all this time, barking frantically in a most excited state. Heknew perfectly well what snakes were, having frequently been bitten. Iowe my life on this occa
sion solely to the fact that the snakes were in atorpid state, and came at me one at a time instead of altogether. It wasthe cold season, about the month of June or July. It is impossible atsuch moments to take any account of time, so I cannot say how long thebattle lasted. At length, however, I was able to count the slain. I didthis partly out of curiosity and partly because I wanted to impress thenatives--to boast, if you prefer that phrase. Modesty, where modesty isunknown, would have been absurd, if not fatal to my prestige. Well, inall there were _sixty-eight black snakes_, _averaging about four feet sixinches in length_.
I do not remember that I was fatigued; I think my excitement was toogreat for any such feeling to have made itself felt. When at length Iwas able to get away, I and Bruno rushed off to the native camp a fewmiles away, and brought back the blacks to see what I had done. Thespectacle threw them into a state of great amazement, and from that timeon I was looked upon with the greatest admiration. The story of how Ihad killed the snakes soon spread abroad among the various tribes formiles round, and was chanted by many tribes, the means ofinter-communication being the universal smoke-signals. One importantconsequence of this adventure was that I was everywhere received with thevery greatest respect.
It may be mentioned here that no matter how unfriendly tribes may be,they always exchange news by means of smoke-signals. I may also say thatat _corroborees_ and such-like festivities a vast amount of poeticboasting and exaggeration is indulged in, each "hero" being required togive practical demonstrations of the things he has seen, the doughtydeeds he has done, &c. He warms up as he goes along, and magnifies itsimportance in a ridiculous way. It amuses me to this day to recall myown preposterous songs about how I killed the two whales _with mystiletto_, and other droll pretensions. But, ah! I was serious enoughthen!
In the mountainous region where I encountered the snakes, I also met anative who actually spoke English. He called himself either Peter orJacky Jacky--I cannot remember which; but in any case it was a name givenhim by pearlers. He had once lived with some pearlers near the north-west coast of Western Australia--probably on the De Grey River. Hisstory was quite unprecedented among the blacks, and he gave me manyterrible instances of the perfidy shown by white adventurers towards theunfortunate natives. The precise locality where I met this man wasprobably near Mount Farewell, close to the border-line of South Australiaand Western Australia. Well, then, Jacky Jacky--to give him the namewhich lingers most tenaciously in my mind--was persuaded to join in apearling expedition, together with a number of his companions. They allaccepted engagements from the whites, on the distinct understanding thatthey were to be away about three moons. Instead, they were practicallykidnapped by force, and treated--or rather ill-treated--as slaves forseveral years.
First of all, the poor creatures were taken to an island in the vicinityof North-West Cape, off which the pearling fleet lay. During the voyageto the pearling grounds the water supply on board ran short, and so greatwas the suffering among the blacks--they were kept on the shortest ofshort commons, as you may suppose--that they plotted to steal a cask ofthe precious fluid for their own use. The vessel was quite a small one,and the water was kept in the hold. But the two or three whites whoformed the crew forcibly prevented the black-fellows from carrying outtheir plan. This gave rise to much discontent, and eventually theblacks, in desperation, openly rose and mutinied. Arming themselves withheavy pieces of firewood they proceeded to attack their masters, and someof them succeeded in getting at the water, in spite of the whites, bysimply knocking the bungs out of the casks. The captain thereupon wentdown to parley with them, but was met by a shower of blows from the heavysticks I have just mentioned. Half-stunned, he dashed out of the hold,got his musket, and fired down among the mutineers, hitting one black-fellow in the throat, and killing him instantly. Far from infuriatingthe rest, as would most certainly have been the case with any other race,this course of action terrified the blacks, and they barricadedthemselves down below. Eventually the whites again sought them and madepeace, the blacks promising to conduct themselves more obediently in thefuture. It may here be said that the ship had called specially at JackyJacky's home on the coast to kidnap the natives.
On arriving at the pearling settlement, the blacks found themselves amonga number of other unfortunate creatures like themselves, and all werecompelled to go out in pearling vessels just as the exigencies of theindustry required. Jacky Jacky himself was kept at this work for upwardsof three years; and he told me many terrible stories of the white man'sindescribable cruelty and villainy. He and his companions wereinvariably chained up during the night and driven about like cattle inthe daytime. Many of his mates at the pearling settlement had beenkidnapped from their homes in a cruel and contemptible manner, and herdedoff like sheep by men on horseback armed with formidable weapons.
Their sufferings were very great because, of course, they were totallyunused to work of any kind. The enforced exile from home and the drearycompulsory labour made the life far worse than death for these primitivechildren of Nature. Then, again, they were exiled from their wives, whowould, of course, be appropriated in their absence--another tormentingthought. They were frequently beaten with sticks, and when theyattempted to run away they were speared as enemies by other tribes;whilst, in the event of their escaping altogether, they would not havebeen recognised even when they returned to their own homes. One dayJacky Jacky's ship came into a little bay on the mainland for water, andthen my enterprising friend, watching his opportunity, struck inland forhome and liberty, accompanied by several other companions in misery.These latter the coast natives promptly speared, but Jacky Jacky escaped,thanks probably to his knowledge of the white man's wiles. He soonreached the more friendly mountain tribes in the interior, where he wasreceived as a man and a brother. You see, he had stolen a revolver fromhis late masters, and this mysterious weapon created great terror amonghis new friends. Altogether he posed as quite a great man, particularlywhen his story became known. He worked his way from tribe to tribe,until at length he got to the ranges where I met him--quite a vastdistance from the coast.
Many parts of the extensive country I traversed on my southward journey,after the death of the girls, were exceedingly rich in minerals, andparticularly in gold, both alluvial and in quartz. As I was making myway one day through a granite country along the banks of a creek, Ibeheld some reddish stones, which I at once pounced upon and found to bebeautiful rubies. Having no means of carrying them, however, and as theywere of no value whatever to me, I simply threw them away again, and nowmerely record the fact. I also came across large quantities of alluvialtin, but this, again, was not of the slightest use, any more than it hadbeen when I found it in very large quantities in the King Leopold Ranges.The test I applied to see whether it really _was_ tin was to scratch itwith my knife. Even when large quantities of native gold lay at my feet,I hardly stooped to pick it up, save as a matter of curiosity. Whyshould I? What use was it to me? As I have stated over and over againin public, I would have given all the gold for a few ounces of salt,which I needed so sorely. Afterwards, however, I made use of theprecious metal in a very practical manner, but of this more hereafter. Atone place--probably near the Warburton Ranges in Western Australia--Ipicked up an immense piece of quartz, which was so rich that it appearedto be one mass of virgin gold; and when on showing it to Yamba I told herthat in my country men were prepared to go to any part of the world, andundergo many terrible hardships to obtain it, she thought at first I wasjoking. Indeed, the thing amused her ever after, as it did the rest ofmy people. I might also mention that up in the then little-knownKimberley district, many of the natives weighted their spears with puregold. I must not omit to mention that natives never poison their spear-heads. I only found the nuggets, big and little, near the creeks duringand after heavy rains; and I might mention that having with somedifficulty interested Yamba in the subject, she was always on the look-out for the tell-tale specks and gleams. In some of the ra
nges, too, Ifound the opal in large and small quantities, but soon discovered thatthe material was too light and brittle for spear-heads, to which curioususe I essayed to put this beautiful stone. Talking about spear-heads, inthe ranges where I met Jacky Jacky there was a quarry of that kind ofstone which was used for the making of war and other implements. It wasvery much worked, and as you may suppose was a valuable possession to thetribe in whose territory it was situated. The stone was a kind of flint,extremely hard and capable of being made very sharp, and retaining itsedge. Natives from far and near came to barter for the stone withshells, and ornaments which these inland tribes did not possess. Themethod of getting out the stone was by building fires over it, and thenwhen it had become red-hot throwing large and small quantities of waterupon it in an amazingly dexterous way. The stone would immediately besplit and riven exactly in the manner required.
My very first discovery of gold was made in some crevices near a bigcreek, which had cut its way through deep layers of conglomerate hundredsof feet thick. This country was an elevated plateau, intersected bydeeply cut creeks, which had left the various strata quite bare, withcurious concave recesses in which the natives took shelter during the wetseason. One of the nuggets I picked up in the creek I have justmentioned weighed several pounds, and was three or four inches long; itwas rather more than an inch in thickness. This nugget I placed on ablock of wood and beat out with a stone, until I could twist it easilywith my fingers, when I fashioned it into a fillet as an ornament forYamba's hair. This she continued to wear for many years afterwards, butthe rude golden bracelets and anklets I also made for her she gave awayto the first children we met.
In many of the rocky districts the reefs were evidently extremely rich;but I must confess I rarely troubled to explore them. In other regionsthe gold-bearing quartz was actually a curse, our path being covered withsharp pebbles of quartz and slate, which made ever step forward apositive agony. Wild ranges adjoined that conglomerate country, which,as you have probably gathered, is extremely difficult to traverse.Certainly it would be impossible for camels.