Volume II Part 21 (1/2)

In these casual meetings of natives it occasionally happens that several women kneel together, crying and embracing the knees of some old savage, who stands erect in the midst of the group, with a proud and lordly air, whilst they cower to the earth around him; sometimes they have children slung at their backs, and these little things may be seen unconsciously playing with their mothers' hair whilst this mournful scene is enacting.

PUNCTILIOS OF FORM.

Some old women are scrupulously punctilious about the performance of all these matters of etiquette, attaching a degree of importance to them which, in the eyes of civilized man, approaches the ludicrous; but they look upon them in a very different light. I have seen a number of these sticklers for form kneeling round a little boy not more than six or seven years old, lamenting most bitterly, the little fellow meanwhile preserving in his countenance and bearing all the gravity and dignity which a man could have exhibited.

CHAPTER 14. FOOD AND HUNTING.

ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF FOOD OF NATIVES.

The mistake very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia is to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many almost humorous instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this point. They lament in their journals that the unfortunate Aborigines should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on certain sorts of food which they have found near their huts; whereas in many instances the articles thus quoted by them are those which the natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor nutritious qualities. I will give one remarkable example of an error of this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those who frequent European towns and the outskirts of population are soon compelled by the force of circ.u.mstances to depart, in a great measure, from their original habits.

Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (volume 1 page 118):

Among other things we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum of the mimosa, and vast quant.i.ties of gum made into cakes upon the ground. From this it would appear that these unfortunate creatures were reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food.

The gum of the mimosa, thus referred to, is a favourite article of food amongst the natives, and when it is in season they a.s.semble in large numbers upon plains of the character previously described by Captain Sturt in order to enjoy this luxury. The profusion in which this gum is found enables large bodies to meet together, which, from their subsistence being derived from wild animals and vegetables of spontaneous growth, they can only do when some particular article is in full season, or when a whale is thrown ash.o.r.e. In order more fully to show how little the habits of this people have been understood I may state with regard to this very gum, called by the natives kwon-nat, that about the time the above account was published by Captain Sturt an expedition was sent out from King George's Sound in Western Australia in order to discover what was the nature of the article of food so loudly praised by them, and which they stated was to be found in certain districts in great profusion; the belief at that time being, from the accounts given of it, that it could be only a new and valuable species of grain. The exploring party did not attain their object, and to this day many of the settlers believe the kwon-nat to be a kind of corn.

FOOD PLENTIFUL. VARIETIES OF IT IN DIFFERENT LAt.i.tUDES.

Generally speaking the natives live well; in some districts there may at particular seasons of the year be a deficiency of food, but if such is the case these tracts are at those times deserted. It is however utterly impossible for a traveller or even for a strange native to judge whether a district affords an abundance of food or the contrary; for in traversing extensive parts of Australia I have found the sorts of food vary from lat.i.tude to lat.i.tude, so that the vegetable productions used by the Aborigines in one are totally different to those in another; if therefore a stranger has no one to point out to him the vegetable productions, the soil beneath his feet may teem with food whilst he starves. The same rule holds good with regard to animal productions; for example in the southern parts of the continent the Xanthorrhoea affords an inexhaustible supply of fragrant grubs, which an epicure would delight in when once he has so far conquered his prejudices as to taste them; whilst in proceeding to the northward these trees decline in health and growth, until about the parallel of Gantheaume Bay they totally disappear, and even a native finds himself cut off from his ordinary supplies of insects; the same circ.u.mstances taking place with regard to the roots and other kinds of food at the same time, the traveller necessarily finds himself reduced to cruel extremities. A native from the plains, taken into an elevated mountainous district near his own country for the first time, is equally at fault.

VARIED WITH THE SEASONS.

But in his own district a native is very differently situated; he knows exactly what it produces, the proper time at which the several articles are in season, and the readiest means of procuring them. According to these circ.u.mstances he regulates his visits to the different portions of his hunting ground; and I can only state that I have always found the greatest abundance in their huts.

CAUSES OF OCCASIONAL WANT.

There are however two periods of the year when they are at times subjected to the pangs of hunger: these are in the hottest time of summer and in the height of the rainy season. At the former period the heat renders them so excessively indolent that until forced by want they will not move, and at the latter they suffer so severely from the cold and rain that I have known them remain for two successive days at their huts without quitting the fire; and even when they do quit it they always carry a fire-stick with them, which greatly embarra.s.ses their movements.

In all ordinary seasons however they can obtain in two or three hours a sufficient supply of food for the day, but their usual custom is to roam indolently from spot to spot, lazily collecting it as they wander along.

LIST OF EDIBLE ARTICLES.

That an accurate idea may be formed of the quant.i.ty and kinds of food which they obtain, I have given below a list of those in use amongst the aborigines of South-western Australia which I have seen them collect and eat; and I will, in the order in which they stand on this list, show the mode of obtaining them, and the way in which they are cooked.

Different articles of food eaten by the natives of Western Australia:

Six sorts of kangaroo.

Twenty-nine sorts of fish.

One kind of whale.

Two species of seal.

Wild dogs.

Three kinds of turtle.

Emus, wild turkeys, and birds of every kind.

Two species of opossum.

Eleven kinds of frogs.

Four kinds of freshwater sh.e.l.lfish.

All salt.w.a.ter sh.e.l.lfish, except oysters.

Four kinds of grubs.

Eggs of every species of bird or lizard.