Part 19 (1/2)
MESSAGE-STICKS
There came to our beach one afternoon some poor exiles from Princess Charlotte Bay--300 miles to the north Exiled they felt the to return to their own country although their engagement for a six months' cruise in quest of the passive beche-de- with an air of pride and importance His companions were deferential to a certain extent, but they, too, exhibited an unusual delory and honour that shone in Mattie's face was reflected in theirs With the assurance of an ah credentials he saluted me--
”hello, Mister! Good day”
”Good day,” I responded ”You come from that cutter?”
Mattie--”Yes, ot 'eib it!”
”No; Mickie sit down alonga Palm Islands Come back, bi'mby”
Mattie (with a downcast air)--”My word! Bo'sun (the brother-in-law) gib it letter belonga Mickie”
”Where letter?” I asked
Mattie--”Me got 'e out a very soiled little parcel, he proudly exposed a piece of greyish wood, about the size and shape of a lead pencil, on which had been cut two continuous intersecting grooves
”Me giv' 'ea Cooktown He want to come up this way now”
The letter was a mere token of material expression of the fact that the sender was in the land of the living, and of his faith in the bearer, as charged with all the personal es and news It was a sad rebuff to Mattie, elated with responsibility and eager to unburden hience, to find that Mickie was not on the spot to receive it all And, after fondling the wooden document for a while, he wrapped it up and carefully bestowed it within the bosoleam faded from the faces of the boys For several days, first one and then another was entrusted with the honourable custody of thewas the most favoured individual His worthiness for the office he acknowledged with an a air of self-consciousness and pride The transh there is an entire absence of form and ceremony in its delivery, the rarity of the event lends to it novelty and ireat variety, and some there are who profess to interpret them The despatches are, however, invariably, in my experience, trans recapitulated at the same time It is not essential that the unstudied cuts and scratches on wood should have any significance or be capable of intelligible rendering Though blacks profess to be able to send nised by those who have crucially investigated it
On a certain station a youthful son of the proprietor was accidentally drowned in a creek not far frorief of the parents was participated in by all engaged on the station, for the boy, full of proeneral favourite None seeloohbourhood, and when the first shock of sorroas of the past, they were eager to send the news to distant friends A letter was laboriously composed It was a short piece of wood, narrow and flat; an undulating groove ran fro notch These were the principal characteristics, but there were other s this as his credentials, a er departed, and in a week or so members of camps hundreds of miles away had seen the letter and were in possession of all the details of the sad event, thereturned The letter was duly credited with having conveyed the particulars Is it not obvious, however, that the news had been transs on the stick ive verisi the creek, and the notch the fatal waterhole If not, then a black's e-stick is a model of literary condensation, their characters marvels of comprehensiveness and exactitude
Another letter is before ard to worke of a piece of broood 6 inches long, 1 inch broad, flat and rounded off at the edges and ends, there are five notches, and on the opposite edge a single notch Close to the end is a faint, crude representation of a broad arrow, belohich is a confusion of sles, none quite vertical, sole--almost perpendicular--cut, and a bold X, and near the point, two shallow, indistinct diverging cuts So far no one to whoiven a satisfactory reading Blacks frankly admit that they do not understand it They examine it curiously, and almost invariably remark--”Some fella mak' em” No attempt to decipher it is undertaken, because no doubt it was never intended to be read Yet a plausible elucidation is at hand The single notch, let it be said, represents a black ishes to let five white felloho have made inquiries in that direction) know that a corrobboree is to begin before sundown, the setting sun being represented by the broad arrohich seeuests are expected to bring ru, unsteady effect upon the whole caer about in all directions and finally lie down On the other hand the guests are not to bring ”one fella”
policeman with handcuffs (the cross), otherwise all will deca into space By a rare coincidence this very free interpretation could be made to apply to an actuality at the time the ”letter” was received, but as a matter of fact it came froed to let soinal character knohen the next corrobboree would take place It still reations do not support the theory that the blacks are capable of recording the si, but rather thatapart from verbal explanations Blacks profess to be able to send es which another may understand, but the tests applied locally invariably break down
Another e, but not to order A genuine, unprompted natural effort, it is , a quarter of an inch broad and flat, upon which are cut spiral intersecting grooves George's birthplace is Cooktown, and his ht by Mattie froe professes to be able to write English, but he is so shy and diffident over the accomplishment that neither persuasion nor offer of reward induces him to practise it When he produced the ”letter,” more than usual interest was taken in it, for it see the extent of his literary pretensions I asked hi and curiously with a puzzled, concentrated expression, as oneproble smile he in time replied--”This for Charlie”
”Charlie” is the name of a boy who recently visited the island, but who hitherto had not been known by George
”Well, what this letter talk about?” A very long pause ensued during which George appeared to be putting his ihtful over-exertion His forehead wrinkled, his lips twitched, his head leam of inspiration passed over his face, and then the expression of the deep and puzzled thinker caain Finally he said--”Y-e-e-s Me tell 'em, sometimes me see Toby”
Toby is the tallest of the survivors of Dunk Island, another acquaintance of George's, who refers to him as a hard case, for it is said Toby's affections are very fitful and uncertain
”Then that letter tell 'ee into thought again, and George continued--”This for Johnny Tritton, before alonga Cooktown; noalk about soa e-stick was freshly ht have been repeated pat But it was evident that the boy was putting a devastating strain upon an unexuberant and tardy hen he endeavoured to ascribe to it a literary rendering His hesitancy and contradictions were at least aenuous
Exceptional opportunities were available in this neighbourhood recently for the fore-sticks for the transence The bush the settlers and to distant stations, was frequently also entrusted with the delivery ofthe route Invariably the stick was accompanied by a verbal communication--a request for solass, handkerchief) or an inquiry as to the whereabouts or welfare of some relative or friend The raven stick was to no purpose whatever without the verbal e Frequently the sticks would become far more hopelesslyas he recollected the htest concern or dissatisfaction was hbourhood theof pearl-shell fishhooks is one of the lost arts The old men may tell how they used to be made, but are not able to afford any satisfactory practical demonstration Therefore, to obtain absolutely authentic exae in the unwonted pasti an unsyste of the shell heap of an extensive kitchendeserted caence and patience of the deceased occupants was obtained It was evident that the sea had been largely drawn upon for supplies, if only on account of the many abortive and abandoned attees of completion The brittleness of the fabric and the crudeness of the tools employed had evidently put the patience of the makers to severe task, who for one satisfactory hook must have conteed as critically by the exhibition of its failures as by its perfections, as Beau Nash did the tying of his cravats
”Those are our failures,” the spirits of the departed, brooding over the site of the cahed, as we sorted out crude and unfashi+oned fragments Presently the discovery of a small specimen established the standard of perfection--a crescent of pearl, which alone was ample recoe hook, it represented an excellent object-lesson in patience and skill Many other examples, soed for illustration to exhibit the process of construction in several stages Do they not confirm the opinion that the maker of shell fish-hooks suffered e in discarding any that evidenced a fault?
Thewith a sharp-edged piece of quartz a portion of a black-lip mother-of-pearl shell to a disc