AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 62

AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST NOTES

By R. Henry,

When the Polynesians were scattering over the Pacific and often blown away in canoes, why did they not get a footing in Australia, for it was so big they could hardly miss it? It may be said that it is to windward, but Madagascar is a long way farther to windward, and we find their traces there, but not a sign of them in Australia, though they must have often landed here. But probably there was not one of those noble savages that could have got a single meal in Australia if they landed on the open coast, unless they caught a daikie by stratagem and ate him ; and after tnat the next comers would have got a warm reception, ior a darkie with a bundle of spears could have disposed o'j. a whole canoe-load of Maoris almost without their even seeing him. If anyone doubts this he can icier to the trouble 16 Tasmanians gave the Government of that country, with all its firearms and organisation. That was befoie the natives were degraded.

Even if a strong party ol iriut-ealing islanders diet get a looting, there was no vegetable looa worth menuoning, and for hundreds ot miles they would not have been abie to even gel a cabbage tree to make a fishing line. Maoris would have been the moist likely to .survive on lish, but they would have JttAind them a pooi lot compared to tiicse ol their own country, for even the sharks were inferior and hard to catch, and I do not think that they could have caught a single bird or animal in that country. Indeed, 1 know ot no natives clever and resourceful enough to have got a living there except the Australians; and that is why they are so purely Ausoralian. in fact, I txiiiik that there was a sort of a famine there among the first- Englishmen, with all their arts and importations, until some ships arrived with iood from England. Ihus the task of getting a living in that country had to be relegated to people generally known as the lowest ot humanity. They certainly could not talk .Latin or German, but those accomplishments did not serve Leichlwdt when he tried to live away in their country. They would have been betfcei described as the most observant and accurate thinkers about their own affairs that were to be found on the face of the earth, and wholly without the superstitions and silly fables ol all the rest of the world, lor which they should have been given credit. They had a bunyip story ana one 01 two "devil-devil" atones, but I do not think these were Australian, for we had the bunyip up m Auckland, and plenty of the other ones, where there were no Austialians. Instead of thai sort of thing they gathered the simple facts about the realities around tnem, and no doubt some of them were highly leainec in their own way, foi I have seen old men referred to as authorities when I asked awkwaid questions ; and though their answers were sometimes surprising, I believe in them still, though continually contradicted by moie assertive and less accurate observers. It is probable that if someone had learned their language in the early days, and written dawn their fore, we. should have been saved our long lis*" of rrors ; and have learned more in a year about themselves, their country, and its animals than our historians have been able to gather in a century, aud some curious items that we will nevei learn at all.

When out shooting one clay among the lagoons on the Murray J met a parly jf blacks going to the river, and aslced them if I might accompany them to their camping place. They answered, "Oh, yes, come on. Plenty of room." Then they laughed and joked in their own language about the v -ite fellow turning black fellow this time, and going to have 'possum for $§&>. T^e women carried most of. the loads

■ — as ittsy usually do ; and this fact has been always cited as a token of then* degradatioa, is quite wrong, as usual.; The men cftSTy their spears and woomera,, tomahawk and bag, and keep % long way ahead to the right or left on the look-out for game, which they could not do if hampered with packs. So that -the custom was a necessity of circumstances, and not merely the laziness of the men.

The women and children came along in/ a string through the long grass, on the occasion of which I ,am writing, steering a straight line for their destination. One of the oldest was last, for they were walking quickly, and when/ some one anead called her to come on, she quietly dropped the load off her back and came on withoufe U. She would not allow me to tout* it, but said; "Plenty time. Mick get it." I was curious to see if Mick woujd scold! when a&ked to go for the pack", but they seemed to forget it till he wanted a big knife, and when he found it was half a mil© back m the gra,«s he jumped up cheerfully;, and went for it. He did not even appear to ask wheie it was, so that this was a matter of course and a common occurrence. When they came to the camping place, two of the wenien staretd to fix up the old' mia-mias, while the other two with some youngsters wpnt to another little lagoon and got ?v bag of mussels-, with which they ground-baited the end of the one at their door. Two of the men had stripped a baxk canoe, and called for assistance to carry it in, for the, red-gum berk is very thick and heavy, and not hard to break when fresh. Then they -set their little net— did not drag it, but every time they saw it shaking Avenfc out and took a &sh out of it. Golden perch they were, 31b and 41b weight, and each one was knocked on the head and skilfully roasted in its jacket, one at a time as they came out of the net, so that there was fishii^, cooking, and eating going on all at once, for they all had a zest for the meal delayed. "*

They were ti good-humoured, jolly company,' full oi fun and activity and kindliness towards each other, though they could all talk English well But then 1 saw them at their best, for they were 50 miles from o "shav-ty" and too busy to jput on airs and graces for my entertainment, so that when I went home to the men's ln.it at the sa-nmill and into the surly, overworked, blasphemous company, it contrasted unfavourably with that of the happy darkies.

I remember trying to find out what their swear words were, but they could only give me the English, as if they knew] nothing of bad language in their own yab,ber; yet they were such good mimics, they had all ours, but instead of it being intended ,to offend those it was fired at, they enjoyed it as a waggish joke on the white fellows.

I never knew one of them that was not "civilised" to steal anything, and I heard my father remark the same thing, though they Tvere very often blamed for it, and in that way they came in very handy for the real thieves.' Of course, they knew nothing of drinking, and just as i little of the othar cultivated frauds and infamies, so that they were as pure-minded as the kangaroos, compared with the convicts that: were let loose amongst them as their first teachers. Our guns and boats and tools excited their wonder and admiration, so that it was natural for them to consider our morals and manners equally good, and especially so our grog. "As none of them, had ever heaid a temperance lecture in their lives, it was no wonder they went dowr before an enemy in the disguise of a joyous friend that stole away their senses and then laid them out as sickly fools. The poor darkie knew nothing of defending ■himself against that sort of thing. Toprotect ourselves from cultivated infamy Aye have whole codes of ethics, of laws, and of social distinctions, with powerful organisations for their enforcement, all of winch the darkies were without, for probably a missionary never spent a day in learning their language or teaching them, anything until they were beyond redemption, though Australia was a very important place, and its people the most> 'curious and singular. But they had no> ca&h or property to sell.

In view of all this some of the historians should have been above politics, and should have taken the darkies' disadvantages into consideration before writing them down to the lowest, which is one of the scientific errors in connection with Australia. For instance, the men who could distinguish one footprint from all others at a giance are credited with being only able to count as many as their fingers and toes. If such acumen had been bi ought to bear on tlia Dreyfus forgeries in the first instance it would have saved the disgrace of France. And this item is not exceptional, but a fair specimen of the scientific estimate of their abilities.

It was difficult to teach them anythingfron" our point of view, not from their want of brains, but because it was opposed to their inborn habits of thousands of- years. We might as well have tried to teach tflie cuckoos that they should rear their own young ones from a moral point of view. •But each colony might have given them a corner or an island to live in, at liberty, without the overseers, with their rules and legulations; and time might brin^ its reward in the economic value of tlfeir keen eyesight or other acute faculties. I remember seeing fine healthy children, and I think that- whole families of them might; have been easily saved but for their recently acquired domestic dogs. When travelling! about (.hose dogs would be always ahead in the dry weather, and would 'bathe in every waterhole, so that tinder such conditions hydatids would be nearly as bad as the plague. I saw .several bathers with cysts on them, but did not know what they, were at the time, and perhaps that disease has killed as many as all the grog and the civilisation put together.

TUSSICURA (wild cherry pectoral balm),, a reliable remedy for Bronchitis, Influenza, stubborn winto - Coughs. A powerful stomachtonic and stimulant.