第63章

Some of the smaller birds are very beautiful,but they are not remarkable for either sweetness,or variety of notes.To one of them,not bigger than a tomtit,we have given the name of coach-whip,from its note exactly resembling the smack of a whip.The country,I am of opinion,would abound with birds did not the natives,by perpetually setting fire to the grass and bushes,destroy the greater part of the nests;a cause which also contributes to render small quadrupeds scarce.They are besides ravenously fond of eggs and eat them wherever they find them.They call the roe of a fish and a bird's egg by one name.

So much has been said of the abundance in which fish are found in the harbours of New South Wales that it looks like detraction to oppose a contradiction.

Some share of knowledge may,however,be supposed to belong to experience.

Many a night have I toiled (in the times of distress)on the public service,from four o'clock in the afternoon until eight o'clock next morning,hauling the seine in every part of the harbour of Port Jackson:and after a circuit of many miles and between twenty and thirty hauls,seldom more than a hundred pounds of fish were taken.However,it sometimes happens that a glut enters the harbour,and for a few days they sufficiently abound.

But the universal voice of all professed fishermen is that they never fished in a country where success was so precarious and uncertain.

I shall not pretend to enumerate the variety of fish which are found.

They are seen from a whale to a gudgeon.In the intermediate classes may be reckoned sharks of a monstrous size,skait,rock-cod,grey-mullet,bream,horse-mackarel,now and then a sole and john dory,and innumerable others unknown in Europe,many of which are extremely delicious,and many highly beautiful.At the top of the list,as an article of food,stands a fish,which we named light-horseman.The relish of this excellent fish was increased by our natives,who pointed out to us its delicacies.No epicure in England could pick a head with more glee and dexterity than they do that of a light-horseman.

Reptiles in the swamps and covers are numerous.Of snakes there are two or three sorts:but whether the bite of any of them be mortal,or even venomous,is somewhat doubtful.I know but of one well attested instance of a bite being received from a snake.A soldier was bitten so as to draw blood,and the wound healed as a simple incision usually does without shewing any symptom of malignity.A dog was reported to be bitten by a snake,and the animal swelled and died in great agony.But I will by no means affirm that the cause of his death was fairly ascertained.

It is,however,certain that the natives show,on all occasions,the utmost horror of the snake,and will not eat it,although they esteem lizards,goannas,and many other reptiles delicious fare.On this occasion they always observe that if the snake bites them,they become lame,but whether by this they mean temporary or lasting lameness I do not pretend to determine.I have often eaten snakes and always found them palatable and nutritive,though it was difficult to stew them to a tender state.

Summer here,as in all other countries,brings with it a long list of insects.

In the neighborhood of rivers and morasses,mosquitoes and sandflies are never wanting at any season,but at Sydney they are seldom numerous or troublesome.The most nauseous and destructive of all the insects is a fly which blows not eggs but large living maggots,and if the body of the fly be opened it is found full of them.Of ants there are several sorts,one of which bites very severely.The white ant is sometimes seen.Spiders are large and numerous.Their webs are not only the strongest,but the finest,and most silky I ever felt.

I have often thought their labour might be turned to advantage.It has,I believe,been proved that spiders,were it not for their quarrelsome disposition which irritates them to attack and destroy each other,might be employed more profitably than silk-worms.

The hardiness of some of the insects deserves to be mentioned.A beetle was immersed in proof spirits for four hours,and when taken out crawled away almost immediately.It was a second time immersed,and continued in a glass of rum for a day and a night,at the expiration of which period it still showed symptoms of life.Perhaps,however,what I from ignorance deem wonderful is common.

The last but the most important production yet remains to be considered.

Whether plodding in London,reeking with human blood in Paris or wandering amidst the solitary wilds of New South Wales--Man is ever an object of interest,curiosity and reflection.

The natives around Port Jackson are in person rather more diminutive and slighter made,especially about the thighs and legs,than the Europeans.

It is doubtful whether their society contained a person of six feet high.

The tallest I ever measured,reached five feet eleven inches,and men of his height were rarely seen.Baneelon,who towered above the majority of his countrymen,stood barely five feet eight inches high.His other principal dimensions were as follows:

Girth of the Chest.2feet 10inches Girth of the Belly.2feet 61/2inches Girth of the Thigh.181/8inches Girth of the Leg at the Calf.121/8inches Girth of the Leg at the Small.10inches Girth of arm half way between the shoulder and elbow.9inches Instances of natural deformity are scarce,nor did we ever see one of them left-handed.They are,indeed,nearly ambidexter;but the sword,the spear and the fish-gig are always used with the right hand.

Their muscular force is not great;but the pliancy of their limbs renders them very active."Give to civilized man all his machines,and he is superior to the savage;but without these,how inferior is he found on opposition,even more so than the savage in the first instance."