IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 100, 21 January 1908, Page 10

IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.

9 MR. SEARCY'S STIRRING EXPERIENCES. .' Sharks and crocodiles, savage blacks, cattle-stealers, smugglers, and sly grogsellers made tilings lively - in the Northern Territory during- tho fourteen years that Mr. Alfred Searcy lived there as sub-collector of Customs at Port Darwin. , Ho now, holds the very different position of clerk assistant of the House of Assembly, Adelaide. Tho account of his experiences "In- Australian Tropics" (Kegan, Paul, and Co. Ltd.), is full of stirring incidents, and graphic descriptions of strange places and people.: Sir. Searcy's duties took him along tho coast of, the Territory • from Port M'Arthur, .at tho mouth of: tho river of that name on the east, to; the Victoria River on tho west, and Port Keats, the sceno of tho brutal murder, by natives last year of • Mr. F. Bradshaw, (a squatter 011 the Victoria ■ River) and two friends and an engineer, who were goiftg with him to Port Darwin in his oil-launch." Mr; Bradahaw had always treated tho blacks on his station with great kindness, and it had been predicted that they would somo.day repay him with treachery.As Mr., Searcy says, "the nigger, even tho halfcivilised one, is an uncertain animal, and always possesses the brute desire to kill." Mr. Searcy arrived at Port Darwin 1' in ISB2, and so. commenced a residence of fourteen years in the tropics. Ever since, lie says, ho has "'eard the East a callin'." For generations, probably centurics, tho Malays had visited the northern coast of Australia, and carried off tho spoil of its beaches and shallow waters—trepang, pearls, pearl-shell, tortoise-shell, and timber—to Macassar. It was now decided ,that the Malays should, bo placed 011 tho same footing as the local residents, and contribute a share to tho revenue of the country.

PROTECTING THE REVENUE. Mr. Searcy's first important duty was to make a journey along the coast, and warn the masters of tho Malay proas that in future they would have to pay a license feo and duty on stores used on the coast. Theso stores consisted of rice, arrack, and tobacco, largo quantities of which wore bartered with tho natives, and paid to them 1 for help in tho trepnng operations. The first voyage, in tho cutter Flying Cloud, 23 tons, started in March, 1883, to meet the proas at i'ort Essington, which was a military settlement from 1838 to 1849. ■ It took five days to accomplish ihe distance, nearly 150 miles. A proa was sighted and stoppod, and tho master and other Malay navigators wno were afterwards met, were told that .they must bring money with them tho next' linnthey came to pay up what was required by tho Customs. In liowen Straits, Mr. Searcy came upon twelve large dredging canoes, hanliiig the great trepang dredgers. There wero also four proas at anchor closo to the beach, on which was a Malay camp. On board the pfrlas were many ancient cannor; much prized by tho Malays, and apparently regarded as'-heirlooms. These vessels had among them 130 men and 19 largo; canoes for'.tvepang-dredgiiig; . They also engaged ft great number of natives. All. the papers of'.the .proas were made out as having cleared from Macassar for Marigi, which • means "blackfellows 1 . country,"■ 'or "unknown.hind," Tho Malays had some splendid tortoise-shell, which they obtained, from the natives-ch'ange.-for', spirits.l At the tropang-curing camp 100''Mai ays we'reiit'-vi-ork, as well as'ii large 'hu'niMr 'of aboriginals; men, women, and children, who Were assisting, or looking on. It was a Most afiinmted scene; but. unluckily the Customs had no !>.itne?a with them. Tho aboriginals colleotod the pearls, as Well as the tortoise-shell, Kit.l saved them for tho Malays. Hawk-bill turtles, from which tortoise-shell is laken, abounded on the coast, and there was a plentiful supply of green-back turtle, from which the famous soup is made. Air. SeaTcy's chief work Ivik3 voyaging along the coast to levy Customs dues oil the .NHl.iy proas. But ho had also to look after white smugglers, and other defrauders of the revenue.

TROUBLE WITH THE BLACKS. . The collector of Customs pronounces the aborigines of tbo north coiist t6 bo far superior in both physique- intelligence 10 those in the south. This is to be expected, as they liavo an. unlimited supply of food. The rivers and swamps teem with gajue and lish, as well as crocodiles, of which -the blacks are vory fond.' , Ediblo roots can "always bp 6btained ' in -the ' swamps and jungles, and 011 tbo coast shellfish, turtlo, and dugong abound. Another reason far their superiority is their long association with the Malay's. Many crimes and outrages by natives took place in Mr. Searcy's timo. Tbo inspector ot police, Mr. Foelsche. was a power among • tbo blacks. Ho . had studied them, and had an intimate knowledge of their ways. In 1892 a terriblo tragedy took place near Capo Brogden, about 40 miles east of Uowen Straits, on the north coast, a Malay proa being wrecked and the unsuspecting crew of half a dozen men massacred by blacks. The police captured the murderers, and 0110 of the blacks.told the jstorv of tho . crime.. YTandy . Wandy, the ringleader, a notorious criminal was executed in the presenco of as many blacks as could bo rounded .up, and tho others wero sentenced to imprisonment. Somo _of the blacks on .the Fitzmaurice, near the Victoria River, are, Mr. Searcy believes, Cannibals. They make very dangerous spear heads out of tho glass of lemonade bottles. On tho Daly River/ not long : beforo Mr. Searcy's visit, a party of white miners at a copper iiliiie were suddenly attacked by natives, who killed three outright and loft four for dead. Another of tho party who was 011 his way to the telegraph line was killed by his black boy at tltio samo time. This was an atrocious and unprovoked crime. Terrible reprisals took place, and four or fivo of the ringleaders were tried and condemned to death. Unfortunately, a Haw was discovered in tho Act under which they were tried, and they were eventually set free. A Chinese murderer, caught red-handed, was liberated at tbo same tune. This was 0110 of thoso blunders which are a reproach to our legislation. and an encouragement to crime. A tom&rkable Custom among tho tribes inhabiting tho Gulf country, between the Roper River and Norniant-on, in Queensland, is to exchange children,' so that they.can learn each other's . language and customs. A suggestion has recently been made in Kuglaml to exchange school children with foreign schools. WHITE RUFFIANISM. Crime and lawlessness wero rampart in tho out-back parts of tho Territory, where there was a floating population. For want of police, tho district for hundreds of miles round tbo M'Arthur River was in a state of terror. All the outlaws of Queensland mado for tho Territory, which was a sanctuary for tho ruffianism of Australia. Borroloola, a township 40 miles inland from Port M 1 Arthur, had been surveyed and pegged out recently. Shanty keepers were tho curso of tho place, not only to the poor biishman by their vilo liquor, but also to tho squatters, to whose stations they attracted numbers of cattle and horse thieves. To bo successful in this business, a -man must bo ablo to shoot, fight, and ride well, and must bo a good bushman and gambler. He should also know tho handwriting of the district station owner's and managers. Trooper Donegan was the first lwliceman stationed at Borroloola. Ho and a mate, Curtis, who afterwards joined him, had somo lively experiences,' but they proved too niatiy' for tho' roughs. At tho M'Arthur tho owner of a smuggling ketch named tho. "Good Intent'' had built a store 011 the hank of the river. Mr. Searcy and some Customs men. visited it and arrested tho' owner and his wife, lie had been warned that his life would be in danger, ami early in tho morning the mail, thinking him asleep, crept up to him with a lantern. "If evor hell wero depicted 011 a mail's face," says Searcy, "it was 011; his." Ho started up suddenly and asked the man what lie- wanted, and tho storekeeper gave 1111 oxcuse. Tho noxt day a number of men with a largo mob of cattle arrived, expecting to havo a good time at tho M'Arthur. Their disgust at finding a Customs officer in-possession may bo. imagined. Somo time afterwards Donegan wroto- to : Mr. Searcy sariiiit.;—"(tNAjvw.Jcivuw!, <v;

than I do the risk you and your men - railwhen' you ventured : up the - river > after the owner of the 'Good - Intent.' Had the overlandors arrived at the shanty,-and your presence and intentions boon known _ v'hbn you entered' the river,'it is doubtful. if you would hiivo lived to tell tho tale. v. other place, however, Mr. 'Searcy*states that;!, as soon as a magistrate- arid" a 'policeman; aro stationed on a lawless place'j. the disappear, anil orderliness prevails'. , s-r BUFFALOES AND CROCODILES. ■ Few people have'any idea of £110 of buffaloes on tho north coast of "Australia.They aro the offspring of those left by-the soldiers when • tho old settlements wordabandoned. Only a few animals were-left? but thoy increased to a marvellous cxtchtV During tho first few years that Mr. Seardy was at Port Darwin', shooting bulfalocsvfor: their, hides was carried 011 in only a sinSll way, : but suddenly'it grew to ail'important industry. In a little over ten years 50,000 hides were exported. Buffaloes aro spreading all over the Northern Territory, arid have boon seen- in Queensland. They'iWv'S! enormous horns, six: and ' oven nine'feet across, 'and hunting them is rather a' dangerous sport. Flying " foxos, a ' widolyr ditfuscd ; species of' fruit-eating bats, ore very. numerous in some places. At Elclio Island, what looked like clouds of smoko were seen ascending. ~ They turned out to no myriads,of Hying foxes—evidently, suggests Mr. Searcy, tho flying wombats of .de Uougemont. ■ They liro considered a gr'dat delicacy by tho natives, and only old moli aro alloweij' to eat them. Tho dugong (riot a fish, as Mr. Searcy says, but a herbivdroiis sea mammal) is when fried or roasted excellent eating, being in tasto and appearance exactly liko pork. Many stories are told by the writer -.about crocodilos, or, as the author, who is uqt a naturalist,' perfers to call them, alligators,. He, found those hideous reptiles plentiful at Port Essington, and very dangerous. Jubt'. before his visit a buffalo that was drinkine close to tho camp was seized by the head ariadrowned. Shortly afterwards a horso was caught by the shoulders at the same spDty and dragged forty yards before the brute let go. The horso was killed. 'Wh6ri floating down a river these reptiles 'ard oftan taken for logs. A police trbopej; at Port Darwin once fell a victim to one. He was swimming towards, what he thought was a log, and discovered his mistake too late; Tho alligator seized llim hy tho head, find disappeared with him ill tho .dark water's. Tho blacks seem to have 110 fear of the brutes on land. iSwy always carry stout sticks) which they thrust down tho creature's throat. They also sometimes escape after, boing seized by, ,poking "their fingers into the' monster's eyes. A remarkable instance; or this is given by Mr. Searcy, tho alligator having seized tho native by the shoulder and back. . But how many have the presence of mind to do such a thing? The natives are very clever in catching an alligator by means; of a pole .and '» noose. These reptiles have greatly increased, of. Into years at PortDar-' win, and in the'adjacent rivers and creeks to a largo ftxterit, because their eggs are not eaten as much as formerly hy tho blacks. Mr. Searcy's interesting book is illustrated. •by a number of excellent photographs.