第29章
Poor creatures! they did all the hard work of the camp-building, food-hunting, waiting, and serving.Occasionally, however, the men did condescend to go out fishing, and they would also organise BATTUES when a big supply of food was wanted.These great hunting-parties, by the way, were arranged on an immense scale, and fire figured largely in them.The usual routine was to set fire to the bush, and then as the terrified animals and reptiles rushed out in thousands into the open, each party of blacks speared every living thing that came its way within a certain sphere.The roar of the fast-spreading fire, the thousands of kangaroos, opossums, rats, snakes, iguanas, and birds that dashed hither and thither, to the accompaniment of bewildering shouts from the men and shrill screeches from the women, who occasionally assisted, flitting hither and thither like eerie witches amidst the dense pall of black smoke--all these made up a picture which is indelibly imprinted on my mind.
As a rule, hosts of hawks and eagles are to be seen flying over the black man's camp, but on the occasion of a bush fire they follow its train, well knowing that they will obtain prey in abundance.
With regard to the fishing parties, these went out either early in the morning, soon after sunrise, or in the evening, when it was quite dark.On the latter occasions, the men carried big torches, which they held high in the air with one hand, while they waded out into the water with their spears poised, in readiness to impale the first big fish they came across.
When the spearmen DID strike, their aim was unerring, and the struggling fish would be hurled on to the beach to the patient women-folk, who were there waiting for them, with their big nets of grass slung over their backs.Sometimes a hundred men would be in the shallow water at once, all carrying blazing torches, and the effect as the fishermen plunged and splashed this way and that, with shouts of triumph or disappointment, may be better imagined than described.In the daytime a rather different method was adopted.Some acres of the shallow lagoon would be staked out at low water in the shape of an inverted V, an opening being left for the fish to pass through.
The high tide brought the fish in vast shoals, and then the opening would be closed.When the tide receded, the staked enclosure became, in effect, a gigantic net, filled with floundering fish, big and little.The natives then waded into the inclosure, and leisurely despatched the fish with their spears.
Nothing was more interesting than to watch one of these children of the bush stalking a kangaroo.The man made not the slightest noise in walking, and he would stealthily follow the kangaroo's track for miles (the tracks were absolutely invisible to the uninitiated).
Should at length the kangaroo sniff a tainted wind, or be startled by an incautious movement, his pursuer would suddenly become as rigid as a bronze figure, and he could remain in this position for hours.Finally, when within thirty or forty yards of the animal, he launched his spear, and in all the years I was among these people I never knew a man to miss his aim.Two distinct kinds of spears were used by the natives, one for hunting and the other for war purposes.The former averaged from eight to ten feet, whilst the latter varied from ten to fourteen feet in length; the blade in each case, however, consisting either of bone or stone, with a shaft of some light hard wood.Metals were, of course, perfectly unknown as workable materials.The war-spear was not hurled javelin-fashion like the hunting-spear, but propelled by means of a wommerah, which, in reality, was a kind of sling, perhaps twenty-four inches long, with a hook at one end to fix on the shaft of the spear.In camp the men mainly occupied their time in making spears and mending their weapons.They hacked a tree down and split it into long sections by means of wedges, in order to get suitable wood for their spear-shafts.
To catch emus the hunters would construct little shelters of grass at a spot overlooking the water-hole frequented by these birds, and they were then speared as they came down for water.The largest emu I ever saw, by the way, was more than six feet high, whilst the biggest kangaroo I came across was even taller than this.Snakes were always killed with sticks, whilst birds were brought down with the wonderful boomerang.
As a rule, only sufficient food was obtained to last from day to day; but on the occasion of one of the big battues I have described there would be food in abundance for a week or more, when there would be a horrid orgy of gorging and one long continuous corroboree, until supplies gave out.
The sport which I myself took up was dugong hunting; for I ought to have mentioned that I brought a harpoon with me in the boat, and this most useful article attracted as much attention as anything Ihad.The natives would occasionally put their hands on my tomahawk or harpoon, and never ceased to wonder why the metal was so cold.
Whenever I went out after dugong, accompanied by Yamba (she was ever with me), the blacks invariably came down in crowds to watch the operation from the beach.
But, you will ask, what did I want with dugong, when I had so much other food at hand? Well my idea was to lay in a great store of dried provisions against the time when I should be ready to start for civilisation in my boat.I built a special shed of boughs, in which I conducted my curing operations; my own living-place being only a few yards away.It was built quite in European fashion, with a sloping roof.The interior was perhaps twenty feet square and ten feet high, with a small porch in which my fire was kept constantly burning.When we had captured a dugong the blacks would come rushing into the sea to meet us and drag our craft ashore, delighted at the prospect of a great feast.The only part of the dugong I preserved was the belly, which I cut up into strips and dried.