Volume I Part 30 (1/2)

As soon as supper was finished they became very talkative, and, in a sort of recitative, recounted various adventures; and, when they conceived that they had sufficiently entertained me, they requested me to give them an account of my adventures in the northern part of the country, where they had heard from other natives that I had been for some time.

Having now acquired some knowledge of their language, I was able to make myself tolerably intelligible to them, and they listened with the greatest anxiety and interest to the various misfortunes that befel me.

When they heard that I had been wounded by the natives to the north no persuasions or protestations upon my part could convince them that my object in now proceeding in that direction again was merely to gratify curiosity, and not from motives of revenge; but they kept continually requesting me not to attempt to kill anybody until I had pa.s.sed a spot named Yalgarrin, about ten days journey to the north, and they then advised me indiscriminately to shoot everybody I saw; and were the more urgent in pressing the adoption of this course upon me from the fact of a quarrel existing between some of their relatives and the tribe dwelling there.

After I had exhausted the theme of my northern journey they desired me to give them some information with regard to England; I therefore related various circ.u.mstances which I thought would amuse them. Amongst other things I described the track of the sun in the heavens in those northern lat.i.tudes; this they fully understood, and it excited their most unqualified admiration. I now spoke to them of still more northern lat.i.tudes; and went so far as to describe those countries in which the sun never sets at a certain period of the year.

ITS IMPRESSION ON THE NATIVES.

Their astonishment now knew no bounds: ”Ah I that must be another sun; not the same as the one we see here,” said an old man; and in spite of all my arguments to the contrary, the others adopted this opinion. I wound up the night's conversation by an account of the diminutive Laplanders, clothed in skins of the seal instead of kangaroo; and amidst the shouts of applause that this account excited I laid down to rest. I this night observed a circ.u.mstance which had often before struck me, namely, that savages care but little for narratives concerning civilized man, but that anything connected with other races in the same state is most greedily received by them.

December 1.

Before sunrise this morning the two natives Yenmar and Nganmar, who had accompanied us from Perth, came to me and said that, from what I had told them last night, it appeared that some cause of quarrel existed between myself and the natives to the north; and that, however pacifically I might now express myself, they felt convinced that, if a fair opportunity offered, I should revenge myself upon some northern native. Now they, being southern men, had nothing whatever to do with these quarrels and disputes, and therefore they should at once return to Perth.

I did my utmost by means of protestations and promises to induce them to forego this resolution, but in vain; and the only boon I could gain from them was that they would accompany me to another tribe, distant about five miles, some of whom would probably go on with me; they, at the same time, a.s.sured me that they would preserve the most profound secrecy as to the fact of my having any cause of quarrel to the northward; and advised me to hold my tongue upon this point and quietly shoot the first man I saw there.

MEETING WITH OTHER NATIVES.

Finding that the arrangement pointed out by these natives was the only one I could adopt I was obliged to follow their advice, and we accordingly moved off in a north-east, and then north-east by east direction. After travelling over about four miles of country we heard the distant cries of natives, and soon after came up with and found them engaged in the pleasant occupation of carrying two wounded men on their shoulders into Perth. These men had quarrelled and had settled the dispute to their mutual satisfaction, as well as to that of their friends, by spearing each other through their respective thighs. One of the poor fellows was very ill and told me that his intention was to sit down at my house in Perth until he was well--and he kept his promise.

I had many friends amongst these natives and soon selected four to accompany me, their names were Warrup, Jenna, Dwer, and Ugat. There were five northern natives with the tribe who had never seen white men; they seemed to view us with great suspicion at first, but the present of a little bread soon placed us on the most friendly terms; and, after about half an hour's halt, we separated, they proceeding to Perth whilst we pursued a northerly course. After having made about four miles in this direction we halted for the day at the head of the Lake Moolore.

LAKE COUNTRY.

December 2.

We started before dawn, travelling in nearly a straight line across the country, our compa.s.s course being 329 degrees from the north. After we had made about three miles we reached a swampy lake, called Nirrooba, covered with wild-fowl. We here halted and prepared our breakfast whilst the natives went out to hunt. I soon shot a brace of wild ducks, and they speared nine; I now gave little Ugat my gun, and he brought in four more ducks, making a total of fifteen. Part of these we cooked, and kept the remainder for our dinner. I forgot to mention that we yesterday shot twelve parakeets.

I wandered for some distance about the eastern side of this lake and saw some very good land, I should say at least fifty acres; and, in addition to this land of the best quality, there was plenty of good feed for cattle all round the lake.

DELAY, AND BIVOUACK.

At 2 P.M. we started again in a due north direction and, having proceeded about four miles, reached a lake called Nowoorgoop. We now changed our course to north and by west, and, after travelling six miles more, came to a lake called, by the natives, Beeulengurrinyup; the water was however so thick and muddy that I determined, although it was getting late, to proceed further; we therefore changed our course to north and by east, and after travelling for about four miles more reached another lake, called Maubeebee. This lake was about three-quarters of a mile long. Mr.

Smith's feet had latterly become so sore that he had been compelled to tie pieces of kangaroo skin over them, and thus equipped to walk without his half-boots; and, on coming in to our bivouac, I had the mortification to hear that, having been put carelessly on the horses, one of these boots had fallen down; I saw therefore that it would be necessary to let him and a native go back the next day upon the two horses we had with us for the purpose of finding it. To Europeans it would seem rather a visionary task to travel twelve or fourteen miles in a trackless forest in the hope of recovering a boot, but the natives' eyes are so keen that their finding it amounted to a matter of certainty.

LOVELY BIVOUACK.

Our bivouac this night had a beauty about it which would have made anyone possessed with the least enthusiasm fall in love with a bush life. We were sitting on a gently-rising ground which sloped away gradually to a picturesque lake surrounded by wooded hills, whilst the moon shone so brightly on the lake that the distance was perfectly clear, and we could distinctly see the large flocks of wildfowl as they pa.s.sed over our heads and then splashed into the water, darkening and agitating its silvery surface; in front of us blazed a cheerful fire, round which were the dark forms of the natives, busily engaged in roasting ducks for us; the foreground was covered with graceful gra.s.s trees and, at the moment we commenced supper, I made the natives set fire to the dried tops of two of these, and by the light of these splendid chandeliers, which threw a red glare over the whole forest in our vicinity, we ate our evening meal; then, closing round the fire, rolled ourselves up in our blankets and laid down to sleep.

December 3.

At dawn this morning Mr. Smith and Warrup started on the horses in search of his boot; and I spent the day in shooting wildfowl and various kind of game, as well as in collecting words from the natives for my vocabulary.

About 4 P.M. Mr. Smith returned with his boot and we all retired early to rest.

December 4.

We started at sunrise and travelled about six miles in the direction of 17 degrees, and then halted for breakfast at a lake called Boongarrup.

The whole of the country we pa.s.sed over this morning was sandy and bad, being thinly clothed with Banksia trees; but immediately about the lake there was, as usual, good land. We started immediately after breakfast as the natives told us we had a long journey to make. Our course now lay in the direction of 13 degrees. The country we pa.s.sed over was still of the same sandy nature; and after travelling about ten miles we made another lake.