Part 5 (1/2)

CHAPTER VI

A weird duel--The tragedy of the baby whale--My boat is destroyed--A tenin the whale's head--I ator--The old craving--Bitter disappoint-like fidelity--I present my ”card”--The desert of red sand

The woether as a rule, but of course they had their differences They would quarrel about the merits and dereatest source of heartburning and trouble was the importation of a neife--especially if she chanced to be better looking than the others In such cases, woe to the comparatively pretty wife The wo their differences The two combatants would retire to some little distance, armed with _one stick between them_ They would then stand face to face, and one would bend forward meekly, whilst the other dealt her a truly terrific bloeen the shoulders or on the head--not with a cane or a light stick, be it remembered, but a really forh to kill an ordinary white woman) would be borne onderful fortitude, and then the aggressor would hand the club to the woman she had just struck

The latter would then take a turn; and so it would go on, turn and turn about, until one of the unfortunate, stoical creatures fell bleeding and half-senseless to the earth The thing was est, and res to the end, was the victor There was no kind of ill-feeling after these extraordinary combats, and the women would even dress one another's wounds

I now coreat importance inhunting Well, one day this sport effectually put an end to allcivilisation across the sea I went forth one , acco crowd of blacks In a fewover the sunlit waters, ht with me from the island, and about forty or fifty feet of manilla rope When ere so object on the surface of the water a little way ahead Feeling certain it was a dugong feeding on the well-known ”grass,” I rose and hurled my harpoon at it with all the force I could muster Next moonisingly into the air, and not until then did I realise what manner of creature it was I had struck This baby whale was about fifteen feet long, and it ”sounded” ih rope, or what I considered enough, I did not cut hi the water with his tail, and creating a tre his size He then darted off ing our boat at such a tre wash, the boave for a kind of wall on each side

Up to this tier, but just as the baby whale halted I looked round, and saw to , and ireatly disturbed by its sufferings Before I could even cut the line or atteht of our little craft, and bore down upon us like a fair-sized island rushi+ng through the sea with the speed of an express train I shouted to Yamba, and we both threw ourselves over the side into the now raging waters, and coet as far as possible from the boat before the catastrophe caotback, I saw the enorh out of the water, and ht of froitated waters Oddly enough, the fore-part of the boat remained fixed to the rope of the harpoon in the calf My first thought, even at so terrible a ret for the loss of what I considered the onlycivilisation Like a flash it came back to me how many weary months of toil and hope and expectancy I had spent over that darling craft; and I re it, and the appalling dismay that struck me when I realised that it orse than useless to h my mind in a few seconds

At this time we had a swim of some _ten miles_ before us, but fortunately our predicament was observed from the land, and a crowd of blacks put out in their catamarans to help us Some of the blacks, as I hinted before, always accompanied me down to the shore on these trips They never tired, I think, of seeing iant ”catamaran” and the (to them) mysterious harpoon

After the eance upon my unfortunate boat it rejoined its little one, and still continued to swiious speed, evidently in a perfect agony of concern

Fortunately the tide was in our favour, and ere rapidly swept inshore, even e floated listlessly on the surface of the water The sea was quite cal well aware that ould keep the, the catarateful for Yareatly distressed at the loss of ht leave , that I had now no tools hich to build another; and to venture out into the open sea on a cata certain destruction I was a greater prisoner than ever

My harpoon had evidently inflicted a mortal wound on the calf whale, because as we lookedit lying exhausted on the surface of the water, and being gradually swept nearer and nearer the shore by the swift- flowing tide The mother refused to leave her little one however, and still continued to wheel round it continuously, even when it had reached dangerously shalloater

The result was that when the tide turned, both the h and dry on the beach, to the unbounded delight and amazement of the natives, armed round the leviathans, and set up such a terrific uproar, that I verily believe they frightened the le she lashed the water into a perfect fury with her tail, and even nals were at once sent up to su country--enemies as well as friends Next day the carcasses ashed farther still inshore--a thing for which the blacks gave ht to mention here that the loss of my boat was in soe which accrued tostory short, the natives fully believed that _I had killed single-handed and brought ashore both whales_! And in the _corroborees_ that ensued, the poets aliuhty white hunter The mother whale surpassed in size any I had ever seen or read about I ed it to be nearly 150 feet My measurements may not have been absolutely accurate, but still the whale was, I iine, of record size As she lay there on the beach her head towered above et the scene that follohen the blacks fronals announcing the capture of the ”great fish” From hundreds of miles south came the natives, literally in their thousands--every man provided with his stone tomahawk and a whole armoury of shell knives They simply swarmed over the carcasses like ver away under solid lu between thirty and forty pounds The children also took part in the general feasting, and they too swarue of ants

A particularly enterprising party of blacks cut an enor whale, and in the bath of oil that was inside they sie in a condition that filled ust There was no question of priority or disputing as to whoo Even the visitors were quite at liberty to take whatever portion they could secure For about a fortnight this cutting-up and gorging went on, but long before this the stench fro carcasses was so horrible as to be painfully noticeable at my camp, over a mile away Some of the flesh was cooked, but most of it was eaten absolutely raw The spectacle witnessed on the beach would have been intensely coes, both ed themselves to such an extent as to be absolutely unable to walk; and they rolled about on the sand, tearing at the ground in agony, their sto nals were at once sent up for all the ”doctors” in the country, and these e shells, rubbing the distended stomachs of the sufferers as they lay on the beach I saw so enore treatment (with the thumbs as well as shells), the ”doctors” adreen leaf, which they first chewed in their own ical was this potent herb in its action, that I feel sure it wouldsyndicate Other patients, who had obtained teh the kind offices of the ain, and had another enore In fact, the blacks behaved more like wild beasts of the lowest order thanthe enor remained except the iie had its uses froe of the arrival of so e tribes to es, and their ht be useful to me some day when I commenced my journey overland to civilisation For, of course, all hope of escape by sea had now to be abandoned, since my boat was destroyed Several days elapsed, however, before I was able to reust To be precise, I could not talk to theet at the food; and after the feast they were too gorged with fat to be able to talk rationally In allthat interested them so much as a whale

Soon after the loss of the boat, Ya, but not more than fourteen inches wide, and in this we undertook various little excursions together to the various islands that studded the bay The construction of this little canoe was very interesting Yah part underneath in order that the interior ht be perfectly s the little craft a coat of resin, obtained by um-trees Of course, I missed my own substantial boat, and it was sorew accustoreatest possible care in handling, and also on the part of the passengers generally

One day I decided to go and explore one of the islands that studded Cae Gulf, in search of a kind of shell mud-fish which I was very partial to I also wanted tofoxes I had seen rising in clouds every evening at sunset I required the skins of these curious creatures for sandals This would perhaps be a year after st the blacks As usual, Yamba was my only companion, and we soon reached a likely island As I could find no suitable place for landing, I turned the canoe up a sly dissuaded me Into the creek, nevertheless, ent, and when I saas a hopeless _ih five inches or six inches of mud

The little island was densely covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation, the e; so that I had actually to force ain the top of the bank I then entered a very narrow track through the forest, the bush on both sides being so dense as to resee

It is necessary to bear this inthis track, when I was horrified to see, right in front ofalong down the path towardsfor the water, and it not only blocked my advance, but also necessitated ht ofhis jaws viciously I confess I was quite nonplussed for the moment as to how best to commence the attack upon this unexpected visitor It was iet round him in any way, on account of the dense bush on either side of the narrow forest track I decided, however, toalways inthe blacks I therefore walked straight up to the evil-looking h into the air, shot over his head, and landed on his scaly back, at the sa a tremendous yell in order to attract Yae of the boat

The ator with all my force with my tomahawk, on what I considered the most vulnerable part of his head So powerful was et the weapon out of his head again While I was in this extraordinary situation--standing on the back of an enor atup the path, carrying one of the paddles, which, without a ator's throat as he turned to snap at her She iator tried to follow her, but the shaft of the paddle caught a some tree trunks and stuck In this way thehis head, either backwards or forwards, and then, drawing my stiletto, I blinded hi hied to release it Yamba was immensely proud of me after this achieveave her tribesallantry and bravery But she always did this She wasinto a new country that my fame had preceded me; and Ihospitality, concessions, and assistance generally The part I had played in connection with the death of the thales had already earned for me the admiration of the blacks--not only in my own tribe, but all over the adjacent country And after this encounter with the alligator they looked upon e indeed We did not bring the dead monster back with us, but next day a number of the blacks went over with their catamarans, and towed the reptile back to the mainland, where it was vieith open-reat was the estimation in which ator were distributed (as relics, presuhout the whole of the surrounding country Singularly enough this last achievement ofof the whale, for the siht a whale theator with their primitive weapons was a feat never atteht, and wherever I ator were always the first things to be sung Nor did I atteerated the facts as ht and killed the whale with my stiletto in spite of the fact that the monster had s anything single-handed, and I even went so far as to allege that I was good enough to go out against a nation! My whole object was to ireatness, and I constantly made them marvel atable to bring down a bird on the as nothing iven the name of ”Winni Six of the alligator's teeth I took for myself, and made them into a circlet which I wore round my head

Some little ti-place to the top of a headland on the other side of the bay, soht I couldby out at sea The blacks the back to ht find this acoast on which their tribe was then encamped They also pointed out toin so exposed a position But the hope of seeing passing sails decidedI tookout in full force to bid us adieu I think the last thing they impressed upon me, in their peculiar native as that they would always be delighted and honoured to welco the, and ere escorted across the bay by a host of my native friends in their cata-place, but the blacks assured me that ould find it unco about the loneliness, which I could not but feel after so much intercourse with the friendly natives I persisted, however, and we at length pitched our encampment, on the bleak headland, which I no to be Cape Londonderry, the highest northern point of Western Australia

Occasionally some of our black friends would pay us a visit, but we could never induce thee near us