THE ANIMALS, WILD BEASTS, AND BIRDS OF THE COUNTRY.

There are in this country cattle, horses and sheep of the best sort, which were originally brought from Britain, since at the time of the discovery of this part of the world, it contained only the black natives and the wild beasts—few of these were harmful to man—only the black snake is greatly feared, which is a creature so venomous that, if it strikes a man, he will die within twenty minutes of this at the most; these snakes are of diverse sizes, from four to seven feet long. They are as thick as a man’s arm. There has not yet been found, despite every effort, any remedy for its poisonous bite. They will not attack a man unless he be between them and their abode, or their holes. These dangerous creatures inhabit the most waste and dry places, in the great Plains, which the prophet called a habitation of dragons and their resting-place.³² A company of us travelled 30 miles across a stretch of land of this kind, where not a drop of water was to be found; and the serpents we saw were most numerous.

There is in Australia a kind of grey bear. They will not harm man if they are left alone. The writer had experience of their harmlessness while travelling by himself through the Plenty Ranges, alone amid the woods; while singing to himself absently, he saw to his amazement a grey, remarkably fat bear, rather small in size, which had climbed, and stood now with its claws around a fairly young tree; it did not stir—but looked at me with great interest and surprise—I got past her without harm, nor much fear, as I remembered hearing that they were harmless if untroubled. In this country there are also very many kinds of wild dog and cat, which are known there as the ‘native dog’ and the ‘native cat’.

The kangaroo and the opossum are harmless kinds of creature and are the chief sustenance of the natives. The kangaroos are generally in pairs. They graze grass like sheep, and their meat is very tasty and nutritious; and it is called the black natives’ beef, because of its value to their sustenance. It is very difficult to come close enough to shoot them, for they are remarkably alert, so much so that when one is grazing, the other will be on watch; but for all their watchfulness, they cannot escape the reach of the native’s boomerang. One can sometimes see great hosts of them—some grazing and others on watch—in the midst of the secluded districts of the country. They carry their young in the natural pouch they have under their bellies, or more properly their breasts.

The opossum is a creature similar in size to a hare, and grey in colour. They live entirely in the tops of the trees, and they sleep in rotten holes inside the tree. There is a great abundance of these creatures in Australia; and they form a goodly part of the wretched natives’ sustenance, who are remarkably skilful in catching them. After making steps for their hands and their feet with the tommyhawk, they climb the highest trees to hunt them, and reach in to the holes in the tree and pull the opossum out. Sometimes they get half a dozen in the same place. They throw them down from the tree-top, while a number of the black natives wait for them on the ground, together with their dogs, and O! there is such merriment and feasting when they get a successful haul.

The birds are varied and quite pretty; there are flocks of parrots in the forests, clad in the most beautiful feathers. In the whole country there is not to be seen any bird known in Britain apart from the swallow; there is a kind of cuckoo, but it sings in the middle of the night. There is also a kind of small lark, but it never rises to sing; and I have never heard any bird singing as in Britain; though they all call in the fashion proper to their kind, but they are never heard singing; but just as all the works of the great Creator are wise and good, the colours of their plumage and their incomparable splendour are exceedingly beautiful.

Almost all of the animals in this country carry their young in their breasts in a pouch which is part of their bodies. There are a great many eagles, swans, wild geese and turkeys, as well as domestic geese, ducks, and fowl in this country. The goat is a breed from Africa, and a remarkably good milker.

Every kind of parrot abounds, some of them as small as the British sparrow, while the great white crested parrot is as big as a raven. The eagle, prince of the feathered kingdom, lives there in great numbers and can be seen hovering high above the vast forests, and this country suits the eagle well, because of the frequency of carcasses. All kinds of predatory bird are numerous.

Another kind of bird, called the ‘Emu’, is a very powerful bird, and reaches six feet in height, with neither feathers nor wings, but a sort of skin flap in place of wings. It can run, with the aid of its wings, very swiftly, and in this can challenge the horse and rider. It is dark and dusty in colour, and its skin looks like an elephant’s. It eats voraciously; I saw a tame one belonging to a gentleman, to which the servants would throw rusty old nails, bits of lead, and metal buttons, and it would very quickly swallow such things. Once this greedy creature ate two pounds of white lead, but the meal was almost too much, and it nearly died, and cast off parts of its skin.

THE ABORIGINES OF THE COUNTRY.

The aborigines, male and female, are physically rather tall and of a black colour, with long hair down to their shoulders. Their brows almost hide their eyes, which are deep and dull. Naturally, they live in the bush quite naked, but those who skulk near the white people have a few animal skins to cover them.

One can judge from the way they look that they are of the lowest grade in intelligence of the whole human family; and those who know most about them state that they have no inclination to worship any object; despite all this, they are very skilled in hunting and building their ‘mei meis’, that is their little houses, which they make from the branches and bark of the trees. They live almost entirely by hunting the opossum in the winter, and fishing in the summer.

At times they hold a kind of feast together with dancing, which they call a ‘corobry’. They kindle a great fire, over which they roast their game; they paint parts of their bodies red, and the whole tribe dances, keeping time by striking pieces of hard wood together, which they put between their fingers. There is an instinctive enmity between them and the white people; and they kill many people when they have the opportunity. They have no inclination to work; and it is almost too difficult to get them into a civilized and industrious state, for there have been several instances of those who had received a little education and been given clothing divesting themselves of it when they had a chance, and fleeing to their tribe in the wilderness, to live in an uncivilized state once more. It is said that their sense of smell is remarkable; as they can smell a white man before they lay eyes on him. They make camp according to their tribes, and one tribe will not mix with another. They fight with each other at times, and they are most cruel and very accurate in throwing their spears. They keep many dogs, and show more respect and affection toward them than toward their own children. The family sleeps with the dogs in the same dwelling, which is similar in form to a beehive, and about four feet high, with a low entrance, through which they crawl in. They are not man-eaters (cannibals) like the natives of New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands; but their chief purpose in killing a white man is to get his knives and buttons, as well as his silver and coppers, not so much for their value, but rather as children’s toys.

For several years their numbers have been diminishing through death, and as other races fill the country, they are retreating further into the wilderness.

The writer once witnessed one of the natives’ dancing feasts in the company of a friend. After getting a good catch of feasting provisions, they had a great fire lit in a pleasant glade. While one part of the tribe displayed its skill in dancing, another demonstrated its prowess in throwing spears at a target on a tree. A number of the women with all their children were watching the game roasting, and many a piece of meat was taken before it had felt the effect of the fire; at a special sign, everyone rushed on the feast just like dogs, and then rejoined the common dancing. I could tell from watching them at the time that they were enjoying as much happiness and pleasure as I judge it to be possible for human nature in its barbarous state to have. It would be appropriate to ask, as in Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” It would be necessary to confess, “O Lord God thou knowest.”³³