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diff --git a/58098-0.txt b/58098-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a68a60e --- /dev/null +++ b/58098-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2170 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58098 *** + + + + + + + + + +CHILDREN OF WILD AUSTRALIA + +[Illustration: BOY SPEARING FISH] + + + + +CHILDREN OF WILD AUSTRALIA + +BY + +HERBERT PITTS + +AUTHOR OF +"THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH" + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +WITH EIGHT COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS + +EDINBURGH AND LONDON +OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER + + +PRINTED BY +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, +EDINBURGH + + + TO + DEAR LITTLE MARY + THIS LITTLE BOOK + ABOUT + THE LITTLE BLACK BOYS AND GIRLS + OF A FAR-OFF LAND + IS DEDICATED BY + HER FATHER + + + + +MY DEAR BOYS AND GIRLS, + +All the time I have been writing this little book I have been wishing I +could gather you all around me and take you with me to some of the +places in faraway Australia where I myself have seen the little black +children at their play. You would understand so much better all I have +tried to say. + +It is a bright sunny land where those children live, but in many ways a +far less pleasant land to live in than our own. The country often grows +very parched and bare, the grass dies, the rivers begin to dry up, and +the poor little children of the wilderness have great difficulty in +getting food. Then perhaps a great storm comes and a great quantity of +rain falls. The rivers fill up and the grass begins to grow again, but +myriads of flies follow and they get into the children's eyes and +perhaps blind some of them, and the mosquitoes come and bite them and +give them fevers sometimes. + +Yet though much of the land is wilderness--bare, sandy plains--beautiful +flowers bloom there after the rains. Lovely hibiscus, the giant scarlet +pea, and thousands of delicate white and yellow everlastings are there +for the eyes to feast upon, but the loveliest flowers of all are +frequently the love and tenderness and unselfishness which bloom in the +children's hearts. + +I have left Australia now and settled down again in the old homeland, +but the memories of the eight years I spent among the dear little +children out there are still very delightful ones, and they, more than +anything I have read, have helped me to write this little book for you. + +Your Sincere friend, + +HERBERT PITTS + +DOUGLAS, I.O.M., 1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. PAGE + INTRODUCTORY LETTER 7 + + I. INTRODUCTORY 11 + + II. PICCANINNIES 17 + + III. "GREAT-GREAT-GREATEST-GRANDFATHER" 23 + + IV. BLACKFELLOWS' "HOMES" 26 + + V. EDUCATION 31 + + VI. WEAPONS, ETC., WHICH CHILDREN LEARN TO + MAKE AND USE 35 + + VII. HOW FOOD IS CAUGHT AND COOKED 40 + +VIII. CORROBBOREES, OR NATIVE DANCES 44 + + IX. MAGIC AND SORCERY 47 + + X. SOME STRANGE WAYS OF DISPOSING OF THE DEAD 56 + + XI. SOME STORIES WHICH ARE TOLD TO CHILDREN 60 + + XII. MORE STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN 65 + +XIII. RELIGION 68 + + XIV. YARRABAH 72 + + XV. TRUBANAMAN CREEK 79 + + XVI. SOME ABORIGINAL SAINTS AND HEROES 85 + +XVII. THE CHOCOLATE BOX 89 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +BOY SPEARING FISH _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE +HUNTING PARROTS AND COCKATOOS 12 + +ABORIGINAL CHILDREN AND NATIVE HUT 28 + +LEARNING TO USE THE BOOMERANG 42 + +YOUTH IN WAR PAINT 52 + +GIRLS' CLASS AT YARRABAH SCHOOL 73 + +BATHING OFF JETTY AT YARRABAH 78 + +THE FIRST SCHOOL AT MITCHELL RIVER 84 + + + + +CHILDREN OF WILD AUSTRALIA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +This little book is all about the children of wild Australia--where they +came from, how they live, the weapons they fight with, their strange +ideas and peculiar customs. But first of all you ought to know something +of the country in which they live, whence and how they first came to it, +and what we mean by "wild Australia" to-day, for it is not all +"wild"--very, very far from that. + +Australia is a very big country, nearly as large again as India, and no +less than sixty times the size of England without Wales. Nearly half of +it lies within the tropics so that in summer it is extremely hot. There +are fewer white people than there are in London, in fact less than five +millions in all and more than a third of these live in the five big +cities which you will find around the coast, and about a third more in +smaller towns not so very far from the sea. The further you travel from +the coast the more scattered does the white population become, till some +hundred miles inland or more you reach the sheep and cattle country +where the homes of the white men are twenty or even more miles apart. +Further back still lies a vast, and, as far as whites are concerned, +almost unpeopled region into which, however, the squatter is constantly +pushing in search of new pastures for his flocks and herds, and into +which the prospector goes further and further on the look-out for gold. +This country we call in Australia "the Never-Never Land," and it is this +which is wild Australia to-day. It lies mostly in the North and runs +right up to the great central desert. It is there that the aboriginals, +or black people, are found. The actual number of these black people +cannot be exactly ascertained, but there are probably not more than +100,000 of them left to-day. + +Much of wild Australia is made up of vast treeless plains and huge +tracts of spinifex (a coarse native grass) and sand. Sometimes in the +North-west one travels miles and miles without seeing a tree except on +the river banks, but in Queensland there is sometimes dense and almost +impenetrable jungle, and mighty, towering trees, with many beautiful +flowering shrubs. All alike is called "bush," which is the general term +in Australia for all that is not town. + +The animals of wild Australia are most interesting and numerous. Several +kinds of kangaroo (from the giant "old man," five feet or more in +height, to the tiny little kangaroo mice no larger than our own mice at +home), make their home there, and emus may often be seen running across +the plains. Gorgeous parrots and many varieties of cockatoos are found +in great numbers, snakes are numerous, whilst the rivers and water-holes +teem with fish. Wild dogs, or dingos, too, are very numerous. + +[Illustration: HUNTING PARROTS AND COCKATOOS] + +For hundreds and hundreds of years the aborigines had this vast country +to themselves, for though Spaniards, like Torres and De Quiros, and +Dutchmen, like Tasman and Dirk Hartog, had visited their shores, and an +Englishman named William Dampier had even landed in the North West in +1688, it was not till exactly a hundred years afterwards that white men +first came to make their homes in their land. + +The aborigines are a Dravidian people, and, some think, of the same +parent stock as ourselves. Thousands of years ago, long, long before our +remote ancestors had learned how to build houses, make pottery, till the +soil, or domesticate any animal except the dog--long years, in fact, +before history began, the aboriginals left their primitive home on the +hills of the Deccan and drifting southward in their bark canoes landed +at last on the northern and western shores of the great island +continent. There they found an earlier people with darker skins than +their own and curly hair, very much like the Papuans and Melanesians of +to-day, and they drove them further and further southwards before them +just as our own English forefathers, coming to this land, drove an +earlier people before them into the mountain fastnesses of Wales and +Cumberland and into Cornwall. Some time afterwards came a series of +earthquakes and other disturbances which cut Tasmania away from the +mainland, and there till 1878 that early Papuan people survived. + +As the blacks grew more numerous they began to form tribes, and to +divide the country up among themselves. Thus each tribe had its own +hunting-ground to which it must keep and on which no other tribe must +come and settle. But at length the white men came and they recognized no +such law. They settled down and began to build their own homes upon the +black men's hunting-grounds and to bring in their sheep and cattle and +turn them loose on the plains. The blacks did not at all like the white +man's coming, and sometimes did all they could to prevent their settling +down. They speared their sheep and cattle for food, they burned down +their houses, they threw their spears at the men themselves, and did all +they could to drive them back to sea. Sometimes hundreds of them would +surround a new settler's home, and murder all the whites they could see. +We must not blame the blacks. They were only doing what we should do +ourselves if some invader came and settled in our country and tried to +drive us back. But the white men were not to be driven back. They armed +themselves and made open war upon the black people and I am afraid did +many things of which we are all now thoroughly ashamed. For a few years +the struggle between the two races went on and at length the blacks had +to own themselves beaten, and so Australia passed into the white man's +hands. + +The blacks to-day may be divided into three classes:-- + +1. The _Mialls_, or wild blacks, still living their own natural life in +their great hunting-grounds in the North, just as they lived before the +white men came. It is chiefly about these that this little book will +tell. + +2. The _station-blacks_, living on the sheep and cattle stations and +helping the squatters on their "runs." They are fed and clothed in +return for their work, and are given a new blanket every year. The men +and boys ride about the run looking after the sheep, bring them in at +shearing time and help with the shearing. The women and girls learn to +do housework and make themselves useful in many ways. They seem very +happy and comfortable and are usually well treated and well cared for by +their masters. Once or twice a year, perhaps, they are given a +"pink-eye," or holiday, and then away they go into the wild bush with +their boomerangs and their spears, or perhaps visit some neighbouring +camp further up or down the river's bank. Their houses are just +"humpies," made of a few boughs, plastered over with clay or mud, with +perhaps a piece or two of corrugated iron put up on the weather side. In +this class, too, we ought to include those blacks, some hundreds, alas! +in number, who spend their time "loafing about" the mining camps and +the coastal towns of the North, living as best they can, guilty often of +crime, learning to drink, and swear, and gamble, and often making +themselves a thorough nuisance to all around. More wretched, degraded +beings it would not be possible to see--such a contrast to the fine, +manly wild-blacks. The pity and the shame of it all is that it is the +white man who has made them what they are. + +3. The _mission-blacks_, that is the blacks on the mission stations such +as Yarrabah, Mitchell River, and Beagle Bay. These will have some +chapters to themselves later on and you will, I hope, be much interested +in them. There are not very many of them, perhaps not more than six or +seven hundred in all, but new mission stations are being started and so +we may well hope that their number will soon increase. There are some +splendid Christians among them, some of them quite an example to +ourselves. Of those you shall hear more fully by and by. + +As you read this little book your heart will be stirred sometimes with +strange feelings that you cannot quite understand. Those strange +feelings will be nothing less than the expression of your own +brotherhood with them. Their skins may be "black" (though they are not +really black at all), and their lives may be wild; but they have human +hearts beating within them just as we have, and immortal souls, like +ours, for which Christ died. Never forget this as you are reading. It is +so easy to forget--to claim brotherhood with those who are wiser and +greater than ourselves, and to forget that just that same brotherhood +unites us one by one with the countless thousands who make up what we +call the wild and primitive peoples of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +PICCANINNIES + + +People in wild Australia very seldom talk about babies. They call them +by a much longer name, and one not nearly so easy to spell, +piccaninnies. But whatever name we call them by--babies or +piccaninnies--the little black children are perfectly delightful, as all +children are. + +I shall never forget the first little Australian piccaninny I ever saw. +It was not more than a few hours old, and so fat and jolly, with a +little twinkle in its eye as much as to say, "I know all about you and +you needn't come and look at me." Of course I expected to see a dear +little shiny black baby as black as coal, but very much to my surprise +it wasn't black at all. It was a very beautiful golden-brown, but as the +mother said to me, "him soon come along black piccaninny all right." +Under his eyes and on his arms and on other parts of his body were +little jet black lines, and these gradually widened and spread till in a +few weeks time he was a very deep chocolate colour, for though we call +them "the blacks" the people of wild Australia are not really black but +deep chocolate. + +I am very sorry to tell you that many of the little piccaninnies who are +born in Australia, especially if they happen to be girls, are not +allowed to live at all. Perhaps the last little baby is still quite +young and unable to help itself at all and so still needs all it's +mother's care. Or perhaps there hasn't been any rain for many, many +months and the grass has all withered and the water-holes have very +nearly dried up, and there is very, very little food for anyone and the +natives are beginning to think that it is never going to rain any more. +In either of these cases the little baby is almost certain to be killed +almost as soon as it is born, and perhaps, so scarce has food become, it +may even be eaten by its parents and other members of the tribe. + +There is another reason why babies are sometimes killed and eaten, and +to us it seems a very horrible one indeed. Perhaps it is fat and healthy +and there is some other and older child in the tribe who is weakly and +thin. The natives will then sometimes kill the healthy baby and feed the +weakly child on tiny portions of its flesh. It seems, as I said just +now, very awful and very horrible, but the idea is this, that the +strength and vigour of the younger child will be imparted to the weaker +one. + +It is the father who always decides whether the baby shall live or die. +If it is allowed to live you must not imagine that it will be in any way +neglected or ill-treated. Quite the opposite is true. There is no +country in the world where babies and older children are spoiled quite +so much as they are in wild Australia. They are never corrected or +chastised by either father or mother, and they do just exactly as they +like. Sometimes, perhaps, when father and mother are both away their +maternal grandmother may happen to give them a good smack in the same +way and on the same part as is usual in civilized countries, but this is +certainly the only form of punishment they ever receive. They are +everyone's idol and everyone's playthings, and yet they are never +kissed, because no Australian aboriginal knows how to kiss. If a mother +wants to show her love for her little one she will place her lips to his +and then blow through them, and this is the nearest to kissing she ever +gets. But baby crows with delight whenever mother does this. + +Australian mothers never carry their piccaninnies in their arms as +British mothers do, neither of course do they have any fine +perambulators or mail-carts to push them out in. The most usual way of +carrying them when they are quite tiny is in a bag of opossum skin or +plant fibre slung on the mother's back. At night baby will very likely +be put to sleep in a cradle made of a piece of bent bark perhaps sown up +at the ends and covered with an opossum skin or a few green leaves. This +is generally called a pitchi. As soon, however, as baby is able to hold +on it seems to prefer to sit astride its mother's shoulder or hip and +hang on by her hair. + +Names are usually given according to the order of birth, but on the +sheep stations the babies usually receive a white child's name. +"Tommies" and "Maries" are of course almost as frequent as they are here +at home, but some babies get very fine names indeed, and some three or +four. In the wild parts, however, it would be considered unlucky to name +a child before it could walk. It is often called simply "child" or +"girl" until then. The name, when it is given, often depends on +something that happened at the time of its birth. A baby was once named +"kangaroo rat" because one of these little animals ran through the +_mia-mia_ (house or home) a few minutes after it was born. Another was +called "fire and water" because at the time of his birth the _mia_ had +caught fire and the fire had been put out with water. There is a similar +custom among the Bedouins to-day, which has been in existence ever since +the days of Jacob. You can see an instance of it in Genesis XXX. 10, 11. +"Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a son. And Leah said, A troop cometh: +and she called his name Gad (_i.e._ a troop or company.)" Is it not +strange that we should find this old Hebrew custom still in use in wild +Australia? + +But the name which is first given is frequently changed. Most boys and +girls are given a new name altogether as soon as they are regarded as +grown-up, _i.e._ about the age of fourteen. Again, should someone die +who happens to have the same name, the child's will at once be changed, +for the aboriginals, for reasons which will be explained in a later +chapter, never mention the names of their dead. Sometimes, again, as a +sign of very special friendship two black people will exchange names. + +There is one very curious custom among the blacks the "why" and +"wherefore" no one has ever been quite able to explain. One of the +things that would strike you most if you could look into the face of an +aboriginal would be the great width of the nose. It sometimes extends +almost across the face. It looks, if I may put it that way, almost as +though it had been put on hot and before it had properly cooled had been +accidentally sat upon. The reason is that when babies are quite tiny +their mothers flatten their noses, but why they do this I cannot say. +Probably a very broad nose is part of their idea of beauty. + +It is always pretty to watch children at their play. You will remember +how our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, like all child lovers, would often +stand in the market place and watch the children playing. Sometimes they +played weddings, sometimes funerals, and He once drew a lesson for the +Jews from the conduct of those disagreeable and sulky children who would +not join in. So it is a very pretty sight to see the little children of +wild Australia playing. Like all other children they are very fond of +games and grow very excited over them. Little girls may sometimes be +seen sitting down and playing with little wooden dolls which a kind +uncle or grandfather has made for them, whilst boys and girls alike will +often play "Cat's Cradle" for quite a long time, and very wonderful and +elaborate are the figures some of them contrive. Yet, like most other +children, they like noisier games best. A kind of football is very +popular, and they will often play it for hours at a time. Some one +chosen to begin the game will take a ball of fibre or opossum or +kangaroo skin and kick it into the air. The others all rush to get it +and the one who secures it kicks it again with his instep. They get very +excited over it and their fathers and big brothers sometimes get very +excited too and come and join in, and the shouts and laughter grow until +the very rocks begin to echo back their merriment. + +At another time they will play "hide and seek" just as white children +do, or a sort of "I spy." Another time perhaps a mock kangaroo hunt will +engage them. One of them will be kangaroo and the others will hunt him. +For a long time he will elude them, but at last he has to own himself +captured and allow the hunters to dispatch him with their tiny spears. +So, in one way or another, the merry days roll on until childhood's days +are done and the education of the young savage, of which you will learn +in a later chapter, begins to be taken in hand. + +Often when the writer has watched the little black children at their +play that beautiful promise in the prophets has come into his mind, "the +streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the +streets thereof." The prophet was thinking of the New Jerusalem and its +happiness, and a great longing has come into the writer's mind for more +men and women and children, too, to realize their duty to these +forgotten children of the wild, and to take their part in bringing them +into that heavenly city. Perhaps all those who read this little book +will try what they can do. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"GREAT-GREAT-GREATEST-GRANDFATHER!"[1] + + +Every little black piccaninny as soon as it is old enough to understand +is told by its mother what sort of a spirit it has inside it, for the +blackfellows all believe that their spirits have lived before and came +in the very beginning out of some animal or plant. So some children have +"kangaroo spirits," some "eagle spirits," some "emu spirits," and some, +perhaps, the "spirit of the rain." + +The mothers know exactly what kind of spirit each baby has. If it came +to her in the kangaroo country then it has a kangaroo spirit and so on. +In some parts it doesn't matter a bit what kind of a spirit father or +mother may have. Father may have an emu spirit, mother an eagle hawk's, +but if the baby came in the snakes' country it will have a snake's +spirit. + +Sometimes on the rocks in wild Australia you may see a rough picture of +a kangaroo drawn by some native artist in coloured clays. It is a +picture of the great-great-greatest-grandfather of the kangaroo men and +so also, of course, of any little child who has a kangaroo spirit, +because when he grows up he will belong to the kangaroo men. The story +which he will be told about his great-great-greatest-grandfather will be +something like this:-- + +"Ever so many moons ago" (for the blackfellows count all time by moons), +"a great big kangaroo came up out of the earth at such and such a place +and wandered about for a long time. After this he changed himself into a +man and then he amused himself making spirits. Of course as he was a +kangaroo man he could only make kangaroo spirits. These kangaroo spirits +did not at all like having no bodies, so as they had none of their own +they began to look about for other bodies to go into. (You will remember +how in the Gospel story the spirits who were cast out of the poor +demoniacs of Gadara were unhappy at the prospect of having no bodies, +and so asked to go into the swine.) So some went into kangaroos and some +into little black children who happened to come in their country. Then +one day great-great-greatest-grandfather called them all together--all +the kangaroos and all the little children with kangaroo spirits--and +told them that they all alike had kangaroo spirits and so were really +brothers and must never eat or harm one another. And so to-day all the +children with kangaroo spirits are taught to call the kangaroo their +brother, and they will never eat or harm a kangaroo, and as you all know +a kangaroo will never eat them." + +If they have emu spirits they will never eat emu and so on. + +The children are not told these stories by word of mouth as I have told +you, but they are taught chiefly by means of corrobborees, or native +dances, which you will read about later on. + +The proper name of the animal or plant whose spirit they are said to +have is their _Totem_, and every man, woman, and child in wild Australia +belongs to some totem group and calls its totem its brother. You will +hear more about these totems later on. + +When I saw a black man, as I did sometimes, who wouldn't eat iguana I +knew at once that he belonged to the iguana totem group and had an +iguana spirit; and, of course, his great-great-greatest-grandfather was +not a kangaroo but an iguana. + +Now that you have learnt in this chapter something of what the little +black children of wild Australia are taught about where they came from +and the sort of spirits which they have you will, I hope, want to do +something to help to teach them the truth--that God made them all and +that not the spirit of an animal or plant but a beautiful bright spirit +fresh from God's own hand has been given them all, and that all have the +same kind of spirit and those spirits when they leave the body will not +wander about the earth again looking for some other body, but will +"return to God Who gave them." They, just as much as we, are meant to +live and enjoy God now and be happy with Him for ever hereafter. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] I owe this title and something of the contents of the chapter to Mrs +Aeneas Gunn's very interesting book for children, "Little Black +Princess." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BLACKFELLOWS' "HOMES" + + +One of the first things of which a little child takes notice is its +home. The pictures on the wall, the pretty things all around, the +flowers in the garden are a source of ever-increasing delight to its +growing consciousness. The older it grows the more it comes to know and +love its home. Some of those who read this book will, perhaps, have very +beautiful homes richly decked with all that art and money can supply, +others will have smaller and plainer ones, but the children of wild +Australia have scarcely anything that can be called a home at all. + +A blackfellows' camp will consist of a number of the plainest and rudest +huts that one can either imagine or describe. Sometimes there is not +even a hut, but they live entirely in the open air on the bank of some +creek or stream with merely a breakwind of boughs to keep off the wind +and rain. During bad weather they will all huddle together as close to +the breakwind as they can, whilst their limbs shake and their teeth +chatter with cold. + +More often, however, something in the way of a hut is made. A few +pieces of stick, which will easily bend, will be driven into the ground, +covered with sheets of bark and a few boughs and perhaps plastered over +with mud. Sometimes, where kangaroos are plentiful, some dried skins +will be used instead of bark and boughs. There will, of course, be +nothing in the way of chairs or tables, a few skins and a pitchi or two +will probably be the only furniture, but a miscellaneous assortment of +odds and ends will lie around. Some eight or nine souls may claim the +hut as home. + +These huts are arranged according to a fixed plan. Some will face in one +direction, some in another. Thus a man's hut must never face in the same +direction as that of his mother-in-law and certain other of his +relatives. + +A native camp always has a most untidy appearance. All kinds of things +are left lying about, but as the black people are very honest nothing is +ever stolen. They will give their things away freely but they will never +think of taking what is not their own. Most of their time is spent out +of doors. They only use their huts in wet and windy weather or when the +nights are cold. Their food is always cooked and eaten outside, and +bones and all kinds of remnants are littered about everywhere, but as +they usually have several dogs these things do not remain for long. How +thankful you and I ought to be for our homes and our home comforts, +however plain and humble those homes may be! + +If food is becoming scarce the people will often leave their camp +altogether and migrate further up the river where it is more plentiful, +for their camps, you must remember, are nearly always built upon a +river's bank. Sometimes there may have been heavy rain in one part of +their country and very little in another. Then they will move to where +grass and game are more plentiful. We expect our food to be brought to +our home, but the blacks take their homes to their food. Sometimes after +a death, too, they will desert their settlement and encamp elsewhere. +The dead man may have been a very troublesome person to get on with when +alive, and they think if they bury him near his old camp and then move +away themselves his ghost will not know where to find them and they will +be rid of him altogether. This frequent moving of their homes is in many +ways a very good thing. If they stayed too long in one place their huts +would soon become very insanitary and diseases would begin to work havoc +among them. + +In the camp the old man's word is law. They even decide what food may be +eaten and what must be left alone. They manage to forbid all the more +delicate morsels to all the younger members of the tribe and so secure +the best of everything for themselves. Women and girls are of little +account among them. They are in fact but the "hewers of wood and drawers +of water" for the men, and their life is one of terrible and +never-ending drudgery. The little girls, of course, do not have to work, +but they are seldom made such pets of as are the little boys. At +fourteen they are girls no longer and their life of drudgery begins. + +[Illustration: ABORIGINAL CHILDREN AND NATIVE HUT] + +Where, as on the mission stations, the Gospel is preached to this poor +people it brings new joy and hope to the women. There is no other hope +for them, nothing else that saves them from the slavery in which they +are compelled to live. On the mission stations are real homes, houses +like our own, into which love has entered and where woman is no longer +slave or chattel, but a queen. Each family on these settlements has its +own little holding fenced and cleared in which fruit, flowers, and +vegetables and, perhaps, rice and maize are grown. The cottages are +patterns of neatness both without and within, so tremendous is the +difference the religion of Jesus Christ makes to this poor degraded +people. If we had more missionaries we should have many more such homes +and many more of the black women would enter into the meaning of those +words in the twentieth chapter of St John--"The disciples went away +again _to their own home_" and found the Resurrection light shining +there in all its beauty. + +Perhaps nothing would give us so good an idea of the position of women +and girls among this people as to take our place in a native camp on the +morning of some aboriginal girl's wedding day. The poor little bride, +she will probably not be more than about fourteen, will have been told +that her husband has come to fetch her. She has very likely never seen +him before, although she was engaged to him as soon as she was born, and +he will probably be much older than she. She will cry a good deal and +say she does not want to go, but she knows very well that by the laws of +her tribe she must do so. Her father, expecting rebellion, will be +standing by her side with a spear and a heavy club in his hand. The +moment she attempts to resist her capture (for it is really nothing +less) a blow from the spear will remind her she must go. If she tries, +as she probably will, to run away the heavy club will fell her to the +ground. Her husband may then begin to show his authority. He will seize +her by her hair and drag her off in the the direction of his _mia_. She +will very likely make her teeth meet in the calf of his leg, but it will +be no good. She will only receive a kick from his bare foot in return. +Arrived at her new home she has to cook her husband a dinner and then +sit quietly by his side while he eats it. When he has finished she may +have what is left, although he, not improbably, has been throwing pieces +to the dogs all the time. + +Such are the marriage ceremonies in wild Australia. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +EDUCATION + + +There are no schools in wild Australia, yet it must not be thought that +the children receive no education. On the contrary their education +begins at a very early age and is continued well into manhood and +womanhood. Up to the age of seven or eight boys and girls play together +and remain under their mother's care, but a separation then takes place +and schooldays, if we may call them by that name, begin. The boys leave +the society of the girls and sleep in the bachelor's camp. They begin to +accompany their fathers on long tramps abroad. They are taught the names +and qualities of the different plants and animals which they see, and +the laws and legends of their tribe. Lessons of reverence and obedience +to their elders are instilled into their young minds, and they have +impressed upon them that they must never attempt to set up their own +will against the superior will of the tribe. They are taught to use +their eyes, and to take note of the footprints of the different animals +and birds, and eventually to track them to their haunts. In this art of +tracking many of them become wonderfully skilled. They will often say +how long it is since a certain track was made, and in the case of a +human foot-mark will often tell whose it is. They will say whether the +traveller was a man or a woman, and in some cases have been known to +say, quite correctly, that the man was knock-kneed or slightly lame. +Trackers employed by the police have often traced a man's footsteps over +stony and rocky ground, being able to tell, from the displacing of a +stone here and there, that the man whom they were seeking had passed +that way. On one occasion a clergyman was travelling in the bush when he +was met by an aboriginal boy who told him that a man had gone along that +way earlier in the day, had been thrown from his horse about five miles +further on but had not been hurt very much because he had got up after a +few minutes and had gone after his horse; the man, however, was slightly +lame, and the horse had cast a shoe. The same evening the clergyman met +the man in question and found that the native's account of what happened +was correct in every detail. He had gained his information entirely from +careful observation of the tracks. + +So wonderfully is this power of seeing trained that every object is most +carefully noted as it is passed. The foot-marks of an emu or kangaroo on +their way to water, the head of a wild turkey standing above the grass +some two hundreds yards away, will be pointed out to the purblind white +man who has never learned to see. If one of the lessons of life is to +use the eyes the aboriginal teacher teaches his lessons well. + +The children of wild Australia are taught to use their ears. They will +start up at the first faint stirring of the leaves which tells that a +storm of wind will soon be down upon them or that an opossum or parrot +is awakening in the tree. Their ears, too, will notice the slight +rustling of the grass and the stealthy footsteps on the ground which +tell that some enemy is near. It takes long and careful training to +bring the power of hearing to such perfection as this. + +They are taught to use their hands and to make and use the weapons, +etc., of which you will read in the next chapter. What wonderful natural +history lessons, too, theirs must be. The habits of all the various +animals are learned out in the wild, and numerous stories about them are +told. The traditions of all the places they come to are carefully +narrated by the older men, and in this way a faithful adherence to the +rules and customs of the tribe is ensured. Wonderful are the tales of +their old ancestors which will be narrated around the camp fires at +night, whilst in the day time excursions to some of the sacred spots, +whose legends were told over night, may be made. So in one way or +another a remarkable reverence for antiquity--for the dim and shadowy +(though, to the aboriginal, very real) heroes of the "alcheringa," or +distant dream age in which these old heroes lived, and for the aged will +be instilled and the children grow up in ways of reverence and obedience +which are often sadly lacking in more favoured lands. + +Sometimes the growing lad at about the age of twelve or thirteen will be +sent away to school, that is he will go to stay with some neighbouring +friendly tribe whose old men will carefully complete the education +which his father and the men of his own tribe began. + +But lessons are taught not only by word of mouth but by means of sacred +rites which the young lad at about the age of fourteen is allowed to +witness for the first time. In these sacred performances the deeds of +some doughty ancestor are portrayed, and the boy as he gazes upon them, +and listens to the answers given to the questions he is allowed to ask, +learns more and more of the rules and traditions of his tribe. No women +and children are ever allowed to be present at these solemnities. The +tribal secrets which they depict may be known only to the men. A woman +or girl who dared to venture near or pry into them would have her eyes +put out or be killed at once by the men. + +Before the young lad can be allowed to attend he needs to be solemnly +initiated into his tribe. He is taken away into the bush and there +undergoes a kind of savage Confirmation. A front tooth is knocked out, +and the body is gashed with sharp stones. In some tribes a new gash is +given as each new secret is imparted. Into the wounds thus made ashes or +the down of the eagle hawk are rubbed to make the wound heal. The actual +result is a raised scar which lasts on through life. + +Sometimes what is called a Fire Ceremony is also performed to test the +power of endurance of those who are henceforth to be regarded as men. A +large fire is lighted and then the hot embers are strewn on the ground. +Over these a few green boughs are placed and the boys are made to lie +down upon them until permission is given them by their elders to rise. +The boughs, of course, keep them from being actually burned, but the +heat of the fire is very great and they are often nearly suffocated with +the smoke. Should the faintest cry escape one of them or should they +fail to lie perfectly still they would be regarded as weak and +effeminate and unworthy to be "made men," and their admission into the +full privileges of the tribe would be delayed. These fire ceremonies are +a very severe test of their power of endurance. The native lad will +suffer a great deal rather than be thought soft and womanish, and there +are few who fail to stand the severe test which is here demanded of +them. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WEAPONS, ETC., WHICH CHILDREN LEARN TO MAKE AND USE + + +The people of wild Australia are still in what is called "the stone +age," which means that all their tools and weapons are made of wood or +stone. Those on the sheep stations and near the towns are, however, +learning to use tin and iron, but it is not natural for them to do so. + +The first tool they learn to use is a little digging stick. Almost as +soon as they are able to run alone one of these little instruments will +be put into their hands and they will be shown how to use it. With these +they learn very quickly how to dig for grubs and edible roots, and as +they get a little older they may be seen making little "humpies" of +sand. But the most wonderful of all their weapons is the boomerang. No +other people in the world is known to use it though some have thought +that it was once in use among the very ancient Egyptians. There is a +very interesting theory as to the origin of the boomerang. Some +children, it is said, were playing one day with the leaf of a white gum +tree. As the leaves of this tree fall to the ground they go round and +round, and if thrown forward with a quick jerk they make a curve and +come back. An old man was watching them playing, and to please them he +made a model of the leaf in wood. This was improved upon from time to +time until it developed into the boomerang. + +Boomerangs are of two kinds--_war-boomerangs_ and _toy-boomerangs_ or +_boomerangs proper_. The first kind are rather larger and usually less +curved than the others, but do not return when thrown. They are often +about thirty inches long and have a sharp cutting edge. They are made +entirely of wood, the branches of the iron-bark or she-oak tree being +preferred. The necessary cutting and shaping has to be done entirely +with sharp flints or diorite, the only tools except stone axes, which +the natives in their wild state employ. They naturally take a very long +time to make, but, when made, are very deadly weapons. They can be +thrown as far as a hundred and fifty yards, and even at that distance +will inflict a very severe wound. When thrown from a distance of sixty +yards they have been known to pass almost through a man's body. + +Boomerangs proper are usually about twenty-four inches long, but there +are seldom two of exactly the same size and pattern. They are rather +more curved on the under than on the upper side. A man or boy who wants +to throw one of them first examines it very carefully and then takes +equally careful notice of the direction of the wind. He then throws it +straight forward giving it a very sharp twist as he throws. At first it +will keep fairly close to the ground, then after it has gone a certain +distance it will turn over and at the same time rise in the air. +Completing its outward flight, and perhaps hitting the object at which +it was aimed, it turns over again and comes back to within a few feet of +the man who threw it. Boys may often be seen practising for hours at a +time with their little toy boomerangs, and by the time they are men many +of them have become very proficient in throwing them. + +A skilful thrower can do almost anything he likes with his boomerang. A +native has been seen to knock a stone off the top of a post fifty yards +away, but very few of them are quite as clever as this. None the less it +would be rather dangerous for an unwary spectator to watch a party of +native men and boys throwing their boomerangs. An enemy or a hunted +animal hiding behind a tree would be quite safe from a spear or bullet +but could easily be taken in the rear and seriously injured by one of +these extraordinary weapons when thrown by a skilful thrower. Kangaroos +and emus find it almost impossible to avoid them whilst they work the +most amazing havoc among a number of ducks or cockatoos just rising from +water, or even among a flock of parrots on the wing. Many a supper has +an aboriginal boy brought home with the aid of his trusty boomerang. + +In Western Australia most of the aboriginals use a smaller and lighter +boomerang than those in use in the other parts of the continent. This is +called a _kylie_ or _kaila_, and is very leaf-like. It will also fly +further than the heavier weapon. + +Next to the boomerang or kylie the weapons in most frequent use are +_spears_. These, too, are very remarkable and vary much in length and +character. Some are quite small and can be used without difficulty by a +child. Some are as much as fifteen feet long. The simplest form of spear +is no more than a pointed stick, but the wild blacks seldom content +themselves with these. Often a groove is cut in one or both sides of the +spear, and pieces of flint are inserted in the groove and fastened with +native gum. More frequently deep barbs are cut at the sides and these +will inflict a very ugly and painful wound, especially when, as is often +the case, they have been previously dipped in the juice of some poison +plant. The most elaborate spears are those with stone heads. These +heads are often beautifully made and are securely fastened to the spear +with twine or gum. Where there are white men glass is often used +instead, the glass being chipped into shape in a perfectly wonderful way +with tools of flint. The patience displayed in their manufacture is +admirable indeed. When the telegraph line was first erected in wild +Australia the natives caused endless trouble to the Government by +knocking off the glass or porcelain insulators and using them for spear +heads. + +Spears are sometimes thrown with the hand, but perhaps more frequently +by means of a special instrument called a _meero_ or _wommera_. This is +a flat piece of wood about twenty-four inches long, with a tooth made of +very hard white wood fastened to its head in such a way that when the +wommerah is handled the tooth is towards the man who is holding it. This +tooth fits into a hole at the end of the spear. Spears thrown with the +wommerah will travel further and with much greater force than those +thrown with the hand. + +As a protection against an enemy's spear the aborigines usually provide +themselves with a wooden shield or _woonda_. These are usually about +thirty-three inches long and six inches wide and have a handle cut in +the back. They are cut out of one solid block; and have grooved ridges +on the front. The hollow parts between the ridges are frequently painted +white with a kind of pipe-clay and the ridges are stained red. Why they +are marked in this way and why the grooves are cut at all no one seems +to know. The native men are extraordinarily quick in the use of these +shields, and will sometimes ward off with their aid a very large number +of spears thrown at them in rapid succession. It is very important that +boys should become proficient in making and using all these things as in +after days their food-supply and even their lives may depend upon their +proficiency. + +While the men and boys are hard at work making these different +implements the women and girls very likely busy themselves manufacturing +bags and baskets. The baskets are made of thin twigs and the bags with +string spun from the fibre of a coarse grass called spinifex, or perhaps +from animal fur. In them they contrive to carry all their worldly goods +as they travel from camp to camp, and occasionally baby also is safely +stowed away in the same receptacle. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOW FOOD IS CAUGHT AND COOKED + + +In very few parts of wild Australia can the black people count on a +regular supply of food. Sometimes there is no rain for months, and +consequently the grass disappears, water dries up, and many of the +animals die. In these times of drought the conditions of the people are +pitiable indeed. + +The chief articles of diet besides seeds and roots are fish of various +kinds--kangaroo, emu, lizards, snake, wild turkey or bustard, parrots +and cockatoos, insects and grubs. Vermin, too, are sometimes eaten, and +clay is occasionally indulged in as dessert. + +There are many ways of catching fish. The commonest method is by means +of a spear. A native boy may often be seen standing on a rock in the +middle of a pool, or by the water's edge, with a spear in his hand, his +eyes intently fixed upon the water. As soon as a fish comes near down +goes the spear and it is seldom that he fails to land his prey. In some +parts rough canoes of bark are made and the fishing will be done from +these. Sometimes the fish are poisoned by pouring the juices from some +poison plant into the water but this method is not very often employed. + +Their method of catching crayfish is not one that you and I would care +to employ. They will walk about in the water and allow the fish to +fasten on their toes, but so extraordinarily quick are they that they +will stoop down and crush the creature's claws with their own fingers +before it has had time to nip. + +Even more varied than their ways of fishing are their methods of +catching birds. A black boy may sometimes be seen stretched naked and +motionless on a bare rock with a piece of fish in his fingers. When a +bird comes to sample the fish he will with his disengaged hand, catch it +by the leg. Parrots and cockatoos are often caught by means of the +boomerang, but the native will sometimes employ quite another method. He +will get into a tree at night, tie himself to a branch, and take with +him a big stick. As the birds fly past him he will lash out with his +stick and bring large numbers of them to the ground. Emus are far too +powerful to be caught in any of these ways. They are usually taken in +nets as they come in the early morning to water. A number of natives +will hide themselves in bushes or behind rocks and when the emus have +gathered at the water-hole will steal out almost noiselessly (for emus +are very timid birds and easily startled) and stretch large nets on +three sides of a square behind them. The birds on returning from the +pool walk straight into the nets and are easily speared. + +Kangaroos are sometimes captured in the same way, but more frequently +they are killed with spears. A native has been known to walk very many +miles stalking a kangaroo. A case is even on record where a man spent +three days in capturing one. When the kangaroo ran he ran, when it stood +he stood, when it slept he slept, and so on till at last he was enabled +to creep up sufficiently closely to dispatch it with his spear. + +The way in which his food is cooked when he has caught it depends upon +how hungry the aboriginal is. If he is very hungry indeed he may pull it +to pieces with his teeth and his fingers there and then and eat it raw. +If not quite so hungry but still impatient for his meal, the fish, or +whatever it is, will be thrown upon the fire and eaten as soon as it is +warmed through. The most elaborate way of all is to wrap the fish in a +piece of paper bark with a few aromatic leaves, tie the ends carefully +with native twine, and allow it to cook slowly underneath the camp +fire. A fish cooked in this way is most delicate and tasty, and would +probably tempt the palate of a white man as much as it does the blacks. + +[Illustration: LEARNING TO USE THE BOOMERANG] + +The natives always roast their food. They never touch anything boiled. +But not even an aboriginal can cook his dinner unless he has first made +a fire. There is nothing of the nature of matches among this people. +When they want to make a fire they will take a piece of soft wood, place +it on the ground and hold it in position with their feet. Another stick +is then taken, pressed down upon the first piece, and made to rotate +quickly upon it. Perhaps a few very dry leaves are placed near the place +where one stick touches the other and as soon as the friction has caused +the light dust to smoulder a gentle blow with the breath will cause the +leaves to burst into flame. At other times two shields or kylies will be +rubbed together until the dust catches fire. As these are rather +wearisome methods of kindling flame, a fire once lighted is seldom +allowed to go out. When camp is moved the women may be seen carrying +pieces of smouldering charcoal in their hands. The movement through the +air causes these to keep alight, and as soon as the new camping ground +is reached all that needs to be done is to place them on the ground, +pile a few dry leaves and sticks over them, and in a very few seconds a +cheerful fire is blazing merrily. So expert are the women in keeping +these fire-sticks alight that a party of them will travel all day +without allowing a single one to go out. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CORROBBOREES, OR NATIVE DANCES + + +Among the special delights of an aboriginal boy or girl is the memory of +the first corrobboree he was ever allowed to see. These corrobborees are +very elaborate and curious native dances nearly always performed at +night. The women and children are allowed to witness them but only the +men actually take part. The black men who live on or near the stations +often speak of these as "Debbil-debbil dances," as they are supposed to +have some relation to the evil spirits, or "debbil-debbils," of whom the +blacks are so terribly afraid. + +It takes a long while to dress the men up for these dances. Often they +are first pricked all over with sharp stones to make the blood flow, and +this blood is then smeared all over their faces and bodies. Little tufts +of white cockatoo or eagle hawk down are then stuck all over them, the +blood being used as gum. If the doings of some mythical emu ancestor are +to be celebrated in the dance only men belonging to the emu totem group +will be allowed to perform. An enormous head-dress of down and feathers +will next be made and put on, and large anklets of fresh green leaves +will complete the array. + +A large space will be specially prepared as the ceremonial ground. In +front of this huge fires will usually be lighted, and either in front of +these, or at the sides, a number of women and older girls will be seated +with kangaroo skins drawn tightly across their knees. On these skins +they beat with sticks or with their hands, making a noise similar to +that which would be made by a number of kettle-drums. All the time the +dancing is going on the women keep up a weird, monotonous chant, often +beginning on a high key and dying down almost to a whisper. It is not +very musical to our ears but the effect is often very strange and +wonderful. It sometimes sounds as though a number of singers were +gradually coming towards one from afar, then standing still awhile, then +turning round and going back again. + +One of the performers will come out upon the stage, go through a few +curious antics which he calls a dance, then retire whilst another takes +his place. After a while, perhaps, all will come on together and the fun +for a time will be very fast and furious. The blacks are all so very +serious about it, but any white people who happened to be looking on +would find it very difficult to restrain their laughter. It would not do +to laugh though, as the "debbil-debbils" would be very angry and might +revenge themselves upon the blacks before long. After they have been +dancing for some time the men present a very curious sight. The +perspiration which has been pouring down their faces and bodies has +disarranged their paint and feathers and their head-dresses have got +very much awry. Perhaps, too, they have grown almost dizzy with +excitement, so that they certainly look more ludicrous than impressive. + +They greatly enjoy these corrobborees and get wildly excited about them, +but to us they would appear very monotonous and wearisome. To them, too, +they are very full of meaning and they are one of the chief ways in +which the young people are taught the legends of their tribes. Sometimes +very useful moral lessons are taught by their means. An old man will +very likely sit in the centre of a group of boys and carefully explain +to them the meaning of all they see. They frequently last for hours, and +some of them even require three or four nights if they are to be +properly performed, so that the blackfellows spend a very great deal of +time in preparing for and performing them. + +Some of these corrobborees no women and young children are allowed to +see. When this is the case a peculiar piece of sacred stone with a hole +in the end, through which a string is fastened, is swung round and round +by one of the men. As it is swung it makes a loud booming sound. This +instrument is called a Bullroarer, and is looked upon as a very sacred +thing. The women and girls are taught that the noise it makes is the +voice of the evil spirit to whom it is sacred, warning them to hurry +away and not dare to look at the sacred ceremonies which are about to be +performed. If any of them disregarded the warning their eyes would +certainly be put out, and they might even be put to death. + +When a friendly tribe, or group of natives, is visiting another tribe +they will often be entertained by a corrobboree. On such an occasion the +most difficult and elaborate of all their dances will most probably be +performed. The next night the visitors will provide the entertainment. + +Though there is very little idea of religion among the people, as you +will see in later chapters, yet these dances have something of a +religious character about them. They keep alive the old tribal legends, +and the blacks most firmly believe that the spirits of their old +ancestors are pleased when corrobborees are properly performed. On the +other hand they are grievously offended if anything is done carelessly +and without proper thought. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MAGIC AND SORCERY + + +The blacks are great believers in magic and sorcery. Some of these +beliefs are quite harmless and merely help to keep them amused, but +others prove a terrible curse to them, as they can seldom rid themselves +of the idea that another blackfellow somewhere is working them harm by +means of sorcery, and they often die from fear. + +The magical ceremonies of the aboriginals are of three kinds:-- + +1. Those by which they think they can control the weather. + +2. Those by which they endeavour to secure an abundant supply of food. + +3. Those by which they cause sickness and death--the use of "pointing +sticks" and bones. + +We will speak of each of these in order. + +The commonest and most universal of all their magical ceremonies by +which they hope to control the weather is that of making rain. Every +group of natives has its "rain-makers," but the methods they employ are +not everywhere the same. In North-western Australia the rain-maker +usually goes away by himself to the top of some hill. He wears a very +elaborate and wonderful head-dress of white down with a tuft of cockatoo +feathers, and holds a wommera, or spear-thrower, in his hand. He squats +for some time on the ground, singing aloud a very monotonous chant or +incantation. Then, after a time, he rises to a stooping position, goes +on singing, and as he does so moves his wommera backwards and forwards +very rapidly, makes his whole body quiver and sway, and turns his head +violently from side to side. Gradually his movements become more and +more rapid, and by the time he has finished he is probably too dizzy to +stand. If he were asked what the ceremonies meant he would most likely +be unable to say more than that he was doing just what his great-great +greatest-grandfather did when he first made rain. Only men belonging to +the "rain totem" are supposed to possess this power of making rain. +Should rain fall after he has finished he, of course, takes all the +credit for it and is a very important personage for a time. If it should +fail to rain, as not infrequently happens, he will put it down to the +fact that some other blackfellow, probably in some other tribe, has been +using some powerful hostile magic to prevent his from taking effect. If +he should happen to meet that other blackfellow there would probably be +a very bad quarter of an hour for somebody! + +Sometimes the rain-maker contents himself with a very much simpler +ceremony. He goes to some sacred pool, sings a charm over it, then takes +some of the water into his mouth and spits it out in all directions. + +In the New Norcia district when the rain-makers wanted rain they used to +pluck hair from their thighs and armpits and after singing a charm over +it blow it in the direction from which they wanted the rain to come. If +on the other hand they wished to prevent rain they would light pieces of +sandalwood and beat the ground hard and dry with the burning brands. The +idea was that this drying and burning of the soil would soon cause all +the land to become hardened and dried by the sun. In fact their entire +belief in this "sympathetic magic" as it is called is based upon the +notion, perfectly true in a way, that "like produces like," and that for +them to initiate either the actions of their ancestors who first +produced such and such a thing will have the same effect as then, or +that the doing of something (such as causing water to fall) in a small +way will cause the same result to happen on a very much larger scale. + +In some parts of Western Australia when cooler weather is desired a +magician will light huge fires and then sit beside them wrapped in a +number of skins and blankets pretending to be very cold. His teeth will +chatter and his whole body shake as though from severe cold, and he is +fully persuaded that colder weather will follow in a few days. + +In the second class of magical ceremonies are included all those which +have for their purpose the ensuring of a plentiful supply of food. The +people of wild Australia have no knowledge of those natural laws and +forces, much less of that over-ruling Hand controlling them, by which +their food supply is assured. They think that everything is due to +magic, and therefore the performance of these magical ceremonies +occupies a very large amount of their time. You have seen already that +every tribe consists of a number of "totem groups" as they are called, +and it is to these totem groups that the whole tribe looks to maintain +the supply of their particular animals or plant. If the kangaroo men do +their duty there will be plenty of kangaroos, but if they should become +careless and slothful and begin to think of their own ease and comfort +instead of the well-being of the tribe then the kangaroos will become +fewer and fewer and perhaps disappear. These kangaroo ceremonies, as we +may call them, are usually performed at some rock or stone specially +sacred to this particular animal and believed by the natives to have +imprisoned within it, or at any rate in its near neighbourhood, a number +of kangaroo spirits who are only awaiting the due performance of the +ancient ceremonies to set them free from their prison and again go forth +and become once more embodied. The men gather round the rock or stone, +freely bleed themselves, and then smear the rock or stone with their +blood. As they are "of one blood" with their totem it is, they think, +kangaroo blood which is being poured out, and as "the blood is the life" +they feel quite sure that it will enable the weak and feeble kangaroo +spirits to become quite strong again. Then they arrange themselves in a +kind of half-circle and "sing" their charm. No magical ceremonies are +ever performed without "singing." + +The "cockatoo" ceremonies, by which the natives hope to increase the +number of cockatoos are much simpler, but to a white man who might +happen to be in the near neighbourhood would prove a very thorough +nuisance. A rough image of a white cockatoo will be made, and the man +will imitate its harsh and piercing cry all night. When his voice fails, +as it does at last from sheer exhaustion, his son will take up the cry +till the father is able to begin again. + +But of all the forms of magic or sorcery the most terrible is that of +"bone-pointing" and "singing-dead." + +A man desirous of doing his neighbour some harm will provide himself +with one of these sticks or bones, go off by himself into some lonely +part of the bush, place the bone or stick in the ground, crouch over it +and then mutter or "sing" into it some horrible curse. Perhaps he will +sing some such awful curse as this over and over again:-- + + + Kill old Wallaby Jack, kill him dead-fellow; + If he eat fish poison him with it; + If he go near water drown him with it; + If he eat kangaroo choke him with it; + If he eat emu poison him with it; + If he go near fire burn him with it; + Kill old Wallaby Jack, kill him dead-fellow quick. + + +Then he will go back to the camp leaving the bone in the ground. Later +he will return and bring the bone nearer to the camp. Then some evening, +after it has grown dark, he will creep quietly up to the man whom he +wants to injure and secretly point the bone at him. The magic will, he +believes, pass at once from the bone to his victim, who soon afterwards +will without any apparent cause sicken and die unless some _bullya_, or +medicine man, can remove the curse. The bone is then taken away and +hidden, for should it be found out that he had "pointed" it he would be +killed at once. + +[Illustration: YOUTH IN WAR PAINT] + +All the blackfellows, men, women, and children alike are horribly afraid +of these pointing-bones, and believe fully in their awful power, and +anyone who believes that one of them has been pointed at him is almost +certain to die. Men in the full vigour of early manhood and middle life +have wasted away, just as though they had been stricken with +consumption, because they could not rid themselves of the belief that +this horrible magic had entered them. A man coming from the Alice +Springs to the Tennant Creek caught a slight cold, but the natives at +the latter place told him that some men belonging to a tribe about +twelve miles away had taken his heart out by means of one of these +pointing sticks. He believed their story, and though there was +absolutely nothing the matter with him but a cold, simply laid himself +down and wasted away. Probably several hundreds of men, women, and +children die in wild Australia every year from fear of these awful bones +and sticks alone. All sickness and death is ascribed to magic. + +The only person who is believed able to remove this evil magic is the +"_bullya_," or medicine man. These medicine men are believed to have had +mysterious stones placed in their bodies by certain spirits. It is the +possession of these stones that gives them their power to counteract +evil magic. Lest these stones should dissolve they have to be very +careful never to eat or drink anything hot. You could probably never +tempt one of them to take a cup of hot tea. Should he do so all his +powers as a doctor would be gone. Medicine men, however, are not called +in for simpler ailments, though these too are attributed to magic. A +common remedy for head-ache is to wear tightly round the forehead a belt +of woman's hair. This is believed to have the power of driving out the +magic. Another frequent but much nastier medicine is several blows on +the head with a heavy waddy. It is wonderful how few doses are required! +Should a man be suffering from back-ache, or stomach-ache, he will lie +down on the ground with the painful part of his body uppermost, and his +friends and relations will jump on him one at a time till the "magic" +goes. + +One day a man came home from a long journey through the bush. Soon +afterwards he was attacked by rheumatism and severe lameness. The +medicine men told him that one of his enemies had seen his tracks and +had put some sharp flints into his footmarks. His friends searched the +track, found the flints, and removed them. Almost immediately the +rheumatism and lameness left him and he was completely cured. + +On another occasion a medicine man was called in to see a blackfellow +who was lying very nearly at death's door. He said that some men in +another tribe had charmed away his spirit but it hadn't gone very far +and he could fetch it back. He at once ran after it and caught it just +in time, so he said, and brought it back in his rug. He then threw +himself across the sick man, pressed the rug over his stomach, made a +few "passes" somewhat after the manner of a conjurer and so restored the +spirit. The sick man speedily recovered. + +These medicine men are not guilty of any trickery. They believe in their +powers as thoroughly as the best European doctors believe in theirs. +They are never paid for their services, but, of course, they expect to +be looked up to by the other members of the tribe and to be spared all +labour and unpleasantness. They also expect the chief delicacies to be +reserved for them, and that others should, as far as possible, do their +bidding. No one would willingly offend a medicine man. His control of +magic is much too dangerous a weapon to be used against them, far more +deadly in its effects than spear or boomerang. He can put a curse in +even more easily than he can get it out, and if he puts it in who is +there to take it away? So you can see on the whole the medicine man has +rather an easy time of it, but as no one wills it otherwise all are +satisfied. + +What a boon a few medical missions would prove in wild Australia--a few +earnest Christian men and women who would go and heal the bodily +diseases of the black people, and by their faithful teaching destroy +this awful curse of belief in magic! How glad we all ought to be that +wherever missions have been started, a hospital has been one of the +first buildings to be erected. At Yarrabah, at Mitchell River and at the +Roper River, all of which you will learn more fully about later on, the +missionaries are devoting much time and thought to healing the sick, +just as our Blessed Lord did when He was here among men. Soon after the +missionaries have settled in a new home the sick from all around will +come flocking in to have their needs attended to, and often stay in the +settlement long after they are cured to learn the wonderful new message +those missionaries have brought about the Great Healer and all His +Power and Love. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SOME STRANGE WAYS OF DISPOSING OF THE DEAD + + +When a death has occurred in a blackfellow's camp, strange scenes are +often witnessed. Perhaps just before it took place the dying man or +woman would be brought out of the _mia_ where he or she was lying and +placed on a rug or blanket in the open air. The _mia_ would then be +pulled down to prevent the spirit remaining within it and thus becoming +an annoyance and perhaps a source of danger to the survivors. + +After death has actually occurred the mourners paint themselves all over +with pipe-clay, or _wilgi_, rub huge quantities of clay and mud into +their hair, and sit around the corpse making a most hideous wailing. +They rock themselves to and fro for hours, keeping up the mourning cry +all the time, but every now and again the women will relieve the +monotony by a series of loud piercing shrieks. + +The bodies of very young children sometimes remain unburied for some +considerable time. The mothers will carry them about with them wherever +they go in the hope that the spirit, seeing their grief and so young a +body, will be full of pity and return. + +With this exception dead bodies are usually disposed of within a few +hours of death. The commonest method is burial, but bodies are sometimes +burned, sometimes eaten, and not infrequently placed in trees, the bones +being afterwards raked down and buried. + +Graves are usually shallow, but the bodies are sometimes buried in a +sitting position, sometimes standing. In Western Australia the hands, +and at times the feet, are tied together in order to prevent the ghost +from moving about and doing mischief. Among some tribes the right thumb +is cut off before burial so that the dead man may be unable to use a +spear. In other tribes a spear and a boomerang will be placed in the +grave as the dead man may require them in the beautiful sky country to +which his spirit will go. On one of the North-West Australian sheep +stations a dead man who had been an inveterate smoker had his pipe and a +stick of tobacco placed by his side. Very often a hole is left in the +grave to enable the spirit if it wishes to do so to go in and out. In +some places the grave is covered with boughs. In other places a hut will +be built over it in the hope that the ghost will thus be kept within +bounds and will refrain from wandering about and annoying the living. +The ground around the grave will be swept clean with boughs and +occasionally watched for footmarks. After the burial the camp will as a +rule be moved. + +When bodies are cremated a huge pile of dry grass and boughs is first +prepared. Above this a platform, also of boughs, is built, and the body +placed upon it and covered with more boughs. A fire-stick is then +applied by one of the nearest female relatives. + +The most curious of all aboriginal methods of disposing of a dead body +is that which is usually called "tree-burial." This is probably done in +the hope of speedy re-incarnation, but when it becomes evident, say +after a year has passed, that the spirit does not intend to return the +bones are raked down with a piece of bark and placed in a cave and there +buried. In the Kimberley district of Western Australia there are numbers +of these burial caves. The arm-bone, however, is not buried with the +rest. It is solemnly laid aside, wrapped in paper bark, and often +elaborately decorated with feathers. When everything is in readiness +preparations are made for bringing it into the camp with great ceremony. +The bone is first placed in a hollow tree while some of the men go off +in search of game which they bring into the camp and solemnly offer to +the dead man's nearest male relatives. Next day the bone itself will be +brought in and placed on the ground. All at once bow reverently towards +it, the women meanwhile maintaining a loud wailing. It is then given to +one of the dead man's female relatives who places it in her hut until it +is required for the final ceremonies some days afterwards. These final +ceremonies begin with a corrobboree, and the bone is then snatched by +one of the men from the woman who has charge of it and taken to another +of the men who breaks it with an axe. As soon as the blow of the axe is +heard the women flee, shrieking, to their camp and re-commence their +wailing. The broken bone is then buried and the mourning ceremonies for +the dead man are at an end. + +The most revolting of all methods of disposing of dead bodies is that of +eating them. This, however, you will be glad to learn is not very often +employed. Sometimes it is pure cannibalism that makes them do so. +Mothers have been known to join in a meal upon the bodies of their own +children. Usually only the bodies of the famous dead, great warriors for +instance, or of enemies killed in battle are thus disposed of. In some +tribes it is looked upon as the most honourable form of burial. The +reasons for this custom you will understand better when you have read +carefully the chapter on Religion. + +There is one very curious custom connected with mourning which I am sure +you will be interested in hearing about, and the reason for which you +will also come to understand when you have read a few more chapters. So +far as I know it is not practised among any other people. Until the +period of mourning is at an end the nearest female relatives of the dead +man are placed under a rule of silence, and are not allowed to utter a +single word. Perhaps for as long a time as two years they are only +allowed to make use of "gesture language." Any attempt to speak on their +part would at once be visited with heavy punishment perhaps even with +death itself. It sometimes happens if there have been several deaths in +a tribe that all the women are under this ban, and it very seldom +occurs that all are allowed to speak. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOME STORIES WHICH ARE TOLD TO CHILDREN + + +In this chapter and the next you shall hear some of the stories which +the little children of wild Australia are told about the earth, the +origin of man, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and about how sin and +death came into this world of men. These tales fall very far short of +those beautiful stories which have come down to us in the early chapters +of Genesis, but the blackfellows all believe them to be strictly true. +Often when they are seated around the camp fire on some bright star-lit +night when the light from the fire will be shining brightly on their +eager, dusky faces these old, old tales will be told again as only an +old black can tell them. + +They believe the earth to be flat and to stand out of the water on four +huge lofty pillars, like very big tree trunks, and some think that above +the sky, which they believe to be a solid dome arching over the earth, +is a beautiful sky country where Baiame lives and the spirits. This +Baiame is a god who is specially concerned in the ceremonies of making +men, and is pleased when those ceremonies are properly performed. This +sky country is much more beautiful and much better watered than their +own, and there are great numbers of kangaroo and game so that +blackfellows who go there are never hungry and always have plenty of +fun. + +The road to it is the milky way which is made up of the spirits of the +dead. + +In many tribes the sun is regarded as a woman because among the +blackfellows it is a woman's work to make fire. Here is one of the most +remarkable of all the "sun stories" which the old blackfellows tell the +children. + +In olden days before there was any sun the birds and beasts were always +quarrelling and playing tricks upon one another. A kind of crane called +the courtenie, or native companion, was at the bottom of nearly all the +mischief. In those days the emus lived in the clouds and had very long +wings. They often looked down upon the earth and were particularly +interested in the courtenies as they danced. One day an emu came down to +earth and told them how much she would like to dance too. But the +courtenies only laughed, and one of the oldest ones among them told the +emu she could never dance while she had such long wings. Then all folded +their wings and appeared to be wingless. The poor simple emu at once +allowed her wings to be cut quite short, but no sooner had she done so +than those wicked courtenies unfolded their beautiful wings and flew +away. Then the kookaburra--or laughing jackass--burst into a loud laugh +to think that the emu could be so silly. Later on the emu had a big +brood. A native companion saw her coming and at once hid all her chicks +except one. "You poor silly emu," she said, "why don't you kill all your +chicks except one? They'll wear you out with worry if you don't. Where +do you think I should be if I went about with a family like that? You'll +break down from over-work if you let them all live." So the silly emu +destroyed her brood. Then the native companion gave a peculiar cry and +out from their hiding-place came all her chicks one after the other. +When the emu saw them she flew into a great rage and attacked that +native companion and twisted her neck so badly that in future she was +only able to utter two harsh notes. + +Next season the emu was sitting on her eggs when the courtenie came +along and pretended to be very friendly. This was more than that poor +tormented emu could stand and she made a rush at the courtenie. But the +courtenie leaped over the emu's back and broke all her eggs except one. +Maddened with rage the emu made for her again, but she was not nearly +agile enough, and met with no better success than before. The courtenie +took the one remaining egg and sent it flying to the sky. At once a +wonderful thing happened. The whole earth was flooded with brilliant and +beautiful light. The egg had struck a huge pile of wood which a being +named Ngoudenout, who lived in the sky, had been collecting for a very +long time and set it on fire. The birds were so frightened by the +beautiful light that they made up their quarrel there and then and have +lived happily ever after, but ever since then the courtenies have had +twisted necks and only two harsh notes, and emus have had very short +wings and have never laid more than one egg. Ngoudenout saw what a good +thing it would be for the world to have the sun, and so ever since then +he has lit the fire again every day. Of course when it is first lighted +it doesn't give very much heat, and as it dies down towards night the +world begins to get cold again. Ngoudenout spends the night collecting +more wood for next day. + +There are numerous other stories about the sun, but this one is +sufficient to enable you to see the kind of beliefs the people of wild +Australia have on these matters. Now listen to one which will show you +how some of them account for the phases of the moon and for the stars. + +Far away in the East is a beautiful country where numbers of moons live, +a very big mob of moons, whole tribes in fact. These moons are very +silly fellows. They will wander about at night alone, although a great +big giant lives in the sky who as soon as he sees them cuts big pieces +off and makes stars of them. Some of the moons get away before he can +cut much off, but sometimes he cuts them nearly all up and hardly any +moon is left at all. + +"Why don't stars come out in the day-time?" a young child will ask and +will receive this answer:-- + +"The stars are all very afraid of the sun. If he finds them out in the +day-time he gets very angry and burns them all. So they never come out +till he has gone down under the earth. Sometimes, though, a little star +will come and see if he has gone, but most of them wait in their country +till he is really down." + +Some of the black children in some parts of the far North call +hailstones rainbow's eggs, and worms baby rainbows, because they have +noticed sometimes after a rainbow has been seen hailstones have fallen. +After these have melted, or, as they would probably say, burrowed into +the ground, numbers of worms have appeared. This is why they call worms +baby rainbows. + +The black people are nearly always very much frightened at eclipses +either of the sun or moon. They have two chief ways of accounting for +them. Some tribes will say that a hostile tribe has hidden in or near +the luminary and held bark in front of it, whilst others put the whole +trouble down to an evil spirit which has got in front. Whatever their +belief as to the cause of an eclipse may be, when one takes place they +will all throw spears at it in the hope that the hostile tribe or evil +spirit will find things too uncomfortable to remain. + +There are three ways of accounting for shooting stars. Some believe them +to be the spirits of the dead. Some think that they are firesticks +thrown down by some evil spirit who has his home in the sky, whilst +others would say that a medicine man flying through the air has let his +firestick fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MORE STORIES TOLD TO CHILDREN + + +Each part of Australia has its own stories as to the origin of the world +and man. It would be impossible to tell them all, especially when one +remembers that no two tribes believe exactly the same. There is a more +or less general belief in a Creator who made the sun, moon, and stars, +the earth, trees, rocks, birds, animals, and man, everything, in fact, +except women. Their origin is left more or less unaccounted for. No +Creator could have bothered himself to make such unimportant things as +women. Different tribes have different names for the Creator. In some +parts he is called Baiame or Byamee, in others Pundjel or Punjil, in +others Daramulun. Here is a story about Daramulun which the men of the +Yuin tribe tell. + +Ever so many moons ago Daramulun lived on the earth with his mother. The +earth in those days was hard and bare and there were no men and women +upon it, only reptiles, birds, and animals. So Daramulun made trees. +Soon afterwards men and women appeared, but whether Daramulun made them +or whether they just came up out of the earth we have not been told. One +day a thrush caused a great flood, and all the people were destroyed +except a few who managed to crawl out and take refuge on Mount +Dromedary. From these have come the Yuin tribe of to-day. Daramulun, +after the flood was over, called them all together, and told them how +they were to live and catch and cook their food, and gave them their +laws. At the same time he gave the medicine men power to use magic. Then +he went away to the sky country. When a man dies Daramulun meets his +spirit and takes care of it. + +Now listen to a story about Punjil which the old Victorian blacks have +frequently told:-- + +One day Punjil was walking about the earth with a big knife in his hand. +With this knife he cut two pieces of bark. Then he mixed some clay and +made two black men, one very much blacker than the other. He took all +day over them and when he had finished he found that one had curly hair +and the other smooth. The curly-haired one he named Kookinberrook, the +other Berrookboru. At first they were like dead fellows, but after he +had blown into their nostrils they began to move about. + +Now the very next day Punjil's brother Pallian was paddling about in a +creek in his canoe. Presently he saw two heads come up out of the water. +Then two breasts followed. Pallian paddled up to them and found that +they were two women. He took them to Punjil who was very pleased and +blew into their nostrils exactly as he had done in the case of the two +men he had made the day before. Then Punjil gave them names, one he +called Kunewarra, the other Kimrook. After this he put a spear in the +hand of each man and gave a digging stick to each of the women and +showed them how to use them. Then he gave the women to the men as their +wives. + +Here is a Flood story which you will like to compare with the beautiful +story in Genesis. You will notice these among other differences. Though +the people of wild Australia believe in a Flood they have no idea that +it was sent as a punishment from God. On the other hand it was purely an +accident. Again you must remember they have no belief in God like our +own. There are various vague, indefinite beliefs in one or more creators +and in a Supreme Being who is pleased when the different ceremonies are +properly performed. There is nothing more than this. There is, for +instance, no idea at all of sin as being against God. They only +understand offences against the tribe which the old men must punish, or +indignities against the spirits of the departed which those spirits +themselves will revenge. The Supreme Being never interferes in purely +human concerns. + +Once upon a time there was no water anywhere upon the earth. All the +animals, therefore, met in solemn council to find out the reason of this +remarkable drought. After a great deal of foolish talking they +discovered the secret. An enormous frog had swallowed all the water and +the only way he could be made to disgorge it was by being made to laugh. +So one after another they all tried to amuse him but none of them +succeeded in even making him smile. At last a big eel came and he began +to wriggle. This was more than the frog's gravity could stand. He +opened his mouth and laughed loudly. At once great streams of water +began to pour from his jaws, and in a short time so much water had come +from him that a great flood followed, and many of the animals and some +of the people perished in the waters. A large pelican then determined to +do his utmost to save the people. He made a canoe and paddled in it from +one island to another. Wherever he found any blacks he took them into +his canoe and so saved them. Before very long, however, the pelican had +a quarrel with the blacks about a woman, and as a punishment was turned +into stone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RELIGION + + +In the really strict sense of the word the people of wild Australia have +no religion. There is, as you have already seen, some faint belief in a +Supreme Being and Creator who is known by a different name in the +different tribes, but this belief in a Supreme Being makes no difference +to their lives and they do not recognize that they have any duties +towards him. He is pleased when certain ceremonies are performed +properly, and angry when they are performed carelessly or not at all, +but beyond that he takes no interest in them. They, for their part, do +not think it necessary to worry themselves about him. They never say +any prayers, they offer no sacrifices, they build no temples or altars, +and they make no idols. For these reasons we usually say they have no +religion. + +That which takes the place of religion among them is fear of evil +spirits, the ghosts of the dead. These ghosts are always looked upon as +hostile, and always ready to do them harm. This belief is commonly known +as Animism. It is a general belief among all very primitive peoples. +Among some races, like the Kols of India, to whom the natives of +Australia are believed by some people to be very closely akin, it takes +the form of devil worship, and constant offerings are made to turn away +the anger of the spirits, but there is no attempt at propitiation, as +this is called, among the people of Australia. They live in constant +fear of spirits it is true, but their efforts are all in the direction +of avoiding them, or keeping them at a distance. For this reason they +will seldom camp beneath trees for the ghosts of men and women whose +bodies have been placed in those trees to decay may still be hovering +about among them and would come down and harm them if they dared to +sleep under their shadow. For this same reason, too, they never mention, +as you have already been told, the names of their dead. If the ghost +heard them talking about him he would conclude they were not +sufficiently sorry and would be very angry and be sure to harm them. A +white man was once talking with an aboriginal boy, and in the course of +his talk he three times mentioned rather loudly the name of a dead +black man. The boy was so frightened that he ran away as fast as he +could into the bush and did not appear again for several days. When a +death occurs any other members of the tribe will, as you have already +been told, at once change their names, and should the dead man or woman +have borne the name of some plant or animal a new name will at once be +given to it. + +The aboriginals probably came to believe in spirits through their +dreams. In those dreams they have visited friends in some far-off tribe, +fought some battle, or engaged in a hunt, yet their bodies, they know, +have not moved from their resting-place. How could they have done this +unless they had a spirit which was able to pass out of their body during +sleep and go away on a journey. Some tribes give the name of _murup_ to +this spirit. At death the _murup_ leaves the body and either goes across +the sea, or along the milky way into the beautiful sky country, or +continues to haunt the scenes of its earthly life and especially the +place where the body is buried, so becoming a source of danger and +annoyance to those who remain alive. This is why most tribes move their +camp after a death has taken place and why the tribes in the Kimberley +District of Western Australia nearly always cross the river. The ghost +will have great difficulty in finding them and in any case he could not +cross water. + +Some tribes believe that as soon as the dead body has completely turned +to dust the soul goes back to the rock or water-hole whence the totemic +ancestor, or great-great-greatest-grandfather of the dead man, +originally came. There it quietly waits until some little baby is born +in the immediate neighbourhood, when it passes into his body and so +again becomes incarnate. + +You will have noticed from all this how the religion of the aborigines, +like all heathen religions, is based, wholly on fear. There is only one +religion, the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is based on Love. +This is the religion we want to teach them. It alone, we know, can +change their lives and drive out that awful fear. How it is changing +them you will learn in the next few chapters. "The Christians," said a +traveller in North Australia one day, "always look so happy. The +frightened look is altogether gone. You can always tell them." The man +who said this was, I am sorry to say, a Christian only in name, and had +long been known as a strong opponent of all missionary work among this +poor unhappy people, but this makes his words all the more remarkable. +They should help to stir us up to do much more in the future than we +have done in the past, and make us keener than ever to put forth all our +efforts to spread the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ among them that +His beautiful light may shine more and more in them and that men may +take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +YARRABAH + + +There is an old Persian story, which some of you may know, of a +wonderful magic carpet on which one only needed to stand in order to be +spirited away to some other land to which one wanted to go and see +strange scenes and unwonted sights. + +Let us take our place on this magic carpet and utter the correct +formulæ, and in a few moments we shall be far away in distant and +beautiful Yarrabah on the North-eastern shores of Queensland. The name +means "beautiful spot," and it is, indeed, a lovely part of wild +Australia where the tropic sun looks down upon beautiful palm-trees and +where birds of the gayest plumage make their home, and where the coasts +are washed with coral seas. + +[Illustration: GIRLS' CLASS AT YARRABAH SCHOOL] + +Yarrabah is a mission reserve which the Queensland Government gave to +the Australian Church about twenty-five years ago. It covers about sixty +thousand acres and no white man except the missionaries is allowed to +make a home upon it. Its beginnings were most discouraging, and nothing +but the indomitable faith of the first missionaries could have kept them +to their work. The tribes settled on the "reserve" were extremely +fierce, and within a week or two of the actual founding of the mission +three men of the tribe were killed and eaten. The native who was more +responsible than any others for these acts of murder and cannibalism was +some years afterwards converted to Christ, baptized and confirmed, and +has for years been a respected and trusted Christian. It was among such +tribes that the missionaries went and made their home. Thousands of +people would have been afraid to have ventured amongst them, but the +missionaries (and there was a lady in their number) were so full of the +love of Jesus and so earnest in their desires to win these poor degraded +tribes for Him, that they never stopped to think about being afraid. It +was very different to going and settling down in some town or village in +China or India where there were other white people near and the dangers +were not so great. There were very few white people, and probably no +white women at all, nearer than Cairns, thirty miles away to the North. +Only the wild monotonous bush was around them and fierce cannibals from +whom at any moment a poisoned spear might come. At first all the +missionaries could do was wait. A rough little house was put up close to +the sea where they lived, said their prayers, and waited. After a while +a few natives came and built their _mias_ near the missionaries' home. +They soon came to see that these were kind, good people who only wanted +to be friendly, and little by little they began to give their +confidence. Soon a little hospital was erected where sick aboriginals +were attended to and healed, and a little school where the children whom +their parents allowed to come and live with the missionaries were +taught. To-day, about twenty-two years after its first founding, +Yarrabah is one of the most wonderful industrial missions in the whole +Island Continent. Please take note of those words "Industrial missions," +for I want you to remember that it has been found that it is very little +good indeed teaching the children or the men and women of wild Australia +about the redeeming love of our Lord Jesus Christ unless they are at the +same time taught the duty of honest and useful work. The mere preaching +of the Gospel and the provision of a place of worship which would be +enough among a more civilized people is very far from enough in wild +Australia. So all missions in that land are what we call industrial. + +If we visited Yarrabah to-day, by means of our magic carpet, what should +we see? + +First we should see the head station, and we should be told that there +were five other settlements, little Christian villages in charge of an +aboriginal catechist, within a few miles of the head station, and that +altogether no less than 350 natives and half-castes were living happy, +contented, well-conducted lives. + +The first visit some of us would be inclined to pay would be to the +school where we should see quite a number of dusky little scholars. The +head teacher is a white--one of the missionaries--but most of the +teaching is done by several excellent and fully-qualified aboriginals +who themselves learned their very first lessons in that same school and +were once wild blacks. Some might like to hear the children read and +would probably be quite surprised to find that they were able to acquit +themselves quite as well as British children of the same age. This would +be true, too, of their writing. Some of the older children would be able +to bring out some really beautiful specimens of penmanship for our +admiration. They also do sums, but these, perhaps, they do not take to +quite so kindly as some of the other subjects. Still, we should probably +find that they do almost as well as children of other lands of the same +age. But the subject which is regarded as of supreme importance at +Yarrabah school is the religious teaching. If the teachers were asked to +quote some text which might be taken as the motto of their school I +think they would choose those words from the last verse of the +twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job, "The fear of the Lord that is +wisdom," and they would tell us that the most important of all knowledge +is the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the Christians at +Yarrabah have not only attained considerable intellectual development +but have also, in many cases, become true saints. A few years ago at an +examination in religious subjects, open to all the children in +Queensland, white and coloured alike, the whole of the twenty-three +first-class certificates which were awarded, were won by children of +Yarrabah. + +Perhaps as we came out of the schools we should like to pass into the +homes where the children live. Many of them, however, remain at school +as boarders, their parents living in one or other of the little +villages on the reserve. How different these homes are to the rough, +uncomfortable humpies described in Chapter IV which form the homes of +the poor children of the wilderness. Each home at Yarrabah is a little +cottage of wood and iron with two or more rooms which has been built by +the people themselves. It stands in an enclosed garden in which mangoes, +sweet potatoes and other vegetables are growing and for part of the year +beautiful flowers bloom brightly. In some of the cottages the little +flower patch is the children's especial care. Everything within the +house is beautifully neat and clean. The older girls help their mothers +to keep it so. They wash and make and mend, and as many of them dress +entirely in white there is plenty of work to do. + +After our visit to some of the homes we pass into the little Church +dedicated in the name of the first British martyr, St. Alban. The very +name reminds us of that for which the church stands. It stands there to +turn the heathens into good soldiers of Jesus Christ like St. Alban. It +is far too small for the needs of the little community which lives in +its neighbourhood, and we hope before very long to be able to build a +much larger and better one. It is of white wood and across the chancel +is carried a scroll with these words upon it, "Lift up thy prayer for +the remnant that is left." + +Services are held in it every day at 7 A.M. and 7 P.M., and nearly every +one comes. On one side are seated the boys and young men, on the other +the girls and unmarried women. The missionaries and the married couples +take their places at the western end, while the babies and infants squat +and occasionally crawl about on the floor. Most of them sit or stand +very reverently with folded arms. A little black curly-headed boy plays +the harmonium, and the choir enters noiselessly. Their feet are bare, +their long surplices reach nearly to the ground, their scarlet loin +cloths sometimes showing through them. An aboriginal catechist in all +probability leads the service, also wearing a surplice. Everything is +done exactly as it would be in an English village church. On Sundays the +psalms as well as the canticles are sung. On other days they are +sometimes read but very, very slowly, for it must be remembered that +only the younger members of the congregation, those brought up on the +mission, are able to read. The lessons from Holy Scripture, too, are +read very slowly. The reverence and devotion of all alike, the hearty +singing not only with the lips but with the heart, are a wonderful +illustration of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for these dusky +children of a savage and primitive people. + +After church each morning there is an interval for breakfast and then a +parade for work. The children pass into the school, the men and boys to +their allotted tasks on the farm or in the different workshops, the +women and unmarried girls to their various domestic duties. All are +given something to do and all are required to perform their tasks to +the satisfaction of those set over them. Yet I do not think anyone would +talk about "tasks" at Yarrabah. There is a suggestion of unpleasantness, +of an imposition about the word, but no one looks at work in that light +at Yarrabah. It has become almost second nature and a delight to them +here. Sometimes, of course, when the weather is very hot and close and +sultry they do not work as well as at other times, but what white man or +child would not prefer to rest under such circumstances? Even the +tiniest children like to feel they are doing something and very soon +learn to run about and pick up rubbish and fallen leaves and so help to +keep the settlement clean and tidy. + +Up on the hillside is the hospital where the sick children, as well as +the men and women are carefully nursed and cared for by a kind black +matron and nurses. + +There is a branch of the Church Lad's Brigade, and a most efficient +brass band. + +[Illustration: BATHING OFF JETTY AT YARRABAH] + +After dinner comes play-time for a while in which all are free to amuse +themselves in any way they like. Then work again till service time at 7. +Then follows supper, then night prayers in their homes, then bed. The +life at Yarrabah might well be described as a life of honourable work, +and innocent recreation hallowed by Christian worship. What a wonderful +contrast it all is to the wild undisciplined life of the aboriginals in +the bush. The contrast almost reminds us of that wonderful story in the +Gospels which tells of the poor wild maniac of Gergesa whose savage +yells were the terror of the whole surrounding neighbourhood. People +were afraid to go near him, and "no man could tame him." He wore no +clothes, he had no fixed dwelling-place, and often cut himself with +stones. But One came where He was and had compassion on him and +commanded the evil spirits to leave him. The Voice was a Voice of Power, +and when next we see him he is "sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and +in his right mind." Is not this just exactly what has happened at +Yarrabah where the Lord Jesus has indeed worked a wonderful miracle, +delivering those poor wild aborigines from the bondage of evil spirits +and causing them to sit in love and wonder as changed men "at His feet"? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TRUBANAMAN CREEK + + +We step on to our magic carpet once again and after bidding an +affectionate farewell to Yarrabah are soon flying through the air across +some beautiful tropical forests till we come to land almost on the +eastern shores of the great gulf of Carpentaria, eleven miles south of +the Mitchell River, at a spot called Trubanaman Creek, where another +mission was established just eight years ago. It is four hundred miles +from Yarrabah, and there is no mission in between. + +There are six tribes of fierce natives within reach of the mission. The +men are strong stalwart fellows who have come very little into contact +with white men. Some of them carry knives of sharks' teeth which they +use chiefly for the purpose of making the women do their will. There are +numbers of children, and it is these children whom the missionaries are +specially trying to induce to come and live with them to be taught. + +When the missionaries went to live there nothing but the wild bush was +around them. As Mr Matthews, the Head of the Mission has said, "the hoot +of the kookaburra (laughing-jackass), the howl of the dingo (wild dog), +or the shout of the wild man were the only early morning noises." A few +buildings were put up and after a time a few men and boys came in. Some +of these were sick or suffering from wounds, and their wounds were +carefully attended to and dressed. They went back to their tribe and +told what had been done for them and of the good and regular food they +had received from the white men down at the creek. The news spread, +others came in, the sick for treatment, the whole for food. Many ran +away again unable to endure the monotony of a settled and ordered life, +but some remained. To-day there are about a hundred residents. + +The most conspicuous and the central building on the settlement is the +church, which like that at Yarrabah is of wood and has been built by the +people themselves. Some trees were cut down, sawn into planks at the +mission's own steam saw-mill, which the men work themselves, and so the +material was prepared. The furniture and fittings, too, are all of +aboriginal workmanship. The services are very similar to those at +Yarrabah and every day begins and ends with public worship. + +The school is under the care of Mrs Matthews, wife of the Superintendent +of the mission, who has the help of another lady. Two and a half years +ago the Bishop of Carpentaria, in whose diocese the mission is, paid a +surprise visit to the school and examined the children in their work. He +expressed himself as surprised and delighted with all he heard and saw. +From the school he passed to the Catechism class where he found twenty +boys ranging in age from ten to eighteen years. Much to his surprise +these boys could say together the English Church Catechism to the end of +the "Duty towards our neighbour" without any hesitation or a single +mistake. Most of them could also answer correctly any questions put to +them separately, and could explain the meaning of the more difficult +words and phrases. What, however, pleased the Bishop even more was to +find that they were all alike making a very real and persevering effort +to carry this teaching out in their own daily lives. Mere ability to +recite the words of a Catechism or Creed is nothing, it is the living it +out that matters, and this the boys of Mitchell River (as we call them) +are honestly trying to do. Of course like other boys they are often +naughty and sometimes do very wicked things but they have learned +enough of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to know that if they are +really sorry for their sins and express that sorrow both with their lips +and by altered lives He will forgive their sins and receive them back +into His favour and His care. + +Fifteen married couples at the Mitchell River are living in little +houses of their own. Seven of these couples were married by the Bishop +on one day. They have built their houses themselves, fenced and cleared +the little holdings 240 feet by 120 in which the house stands and +cultivate these holdings entirely without supervision. + +The residents, as far as possible, are allowed to live a perfectly +natural life. The men and boys are, of course, required to wear loin +cloths, the women and girls short skirts, but they need wear nothing +more. They still enjoy hunting and fishing exactly as in the old days, +and corrobborees still afford them never-ending delight. Only those +things in the old life which are contrary to the Gospel of our Lord +Jesus Christ are forbidden them. + +The first baptisms took place on Sunday, August 13th, 1911, a day of +great joy and gladness when eight males and four females made their +solemn confession of repentance and faith and were received into the +warmth and shelter of God's Holy Church. + +There are several other missions, but we have no time in which to visit +them. We can only point out where they are and perhaps some of us +afterwards will mark them on our maps. + +On the opposite side of the Gulf of Carpentaria is another Church of +England mission--that at the Roper River. It was founded only a few +years ago, but deserves special mention because it is the first +Australian mission which has ever employed full-blooded natives on its +staff. On their way North to found it the missionaries halted a few days +at Yarrabah. The Christians gathered together to meet them and to wish +them God speed. All that the missionaries were going to do was explained +to them, the hardships and dangers of their life among the fierce +cannibal tribes of the far North were dwelt upon. Would any of them +volunteer to go? It would mean turning their backs upon their beautiful +happy home, laying aside many of the blessings and privileges which were +so dear to them, but it would bring great joy to the heart of the Lord +Jesus if someone would go. There was no immediate answer, but some few +days afterwards two men and one woman came to the superintendent and +said they would go. + +In the Northern Territory there is also to be found the very successful +mission at Mapoon where also a very wonderful work has been done. It is +one of the oldest missions in the North. It is conducted by missionaries +of the Moravian Church, and its work among the children is done in the +same way as in those other missions of which you have been told more +fully. + +In Western Australia the Roman Catholic Church has three missions. The +oldest of these was founded nearly sixty years ago. It is situated at +New Morcia on the Victoria Plains ninety miles North of Perth. The +third generation of Christians is now growing up under the kindly care +of the good Fathers and nuns who control the mission. All are living +earnest Christian lives. There are now no heathen left in the +neighbourhood. Another Roman Catholic Mission is that at Beagle Bay, +seventy miles North of Broome. There are twenty-two resident +missionaries of whom nine are ladies, and forty boys, and fifty-four +girls in the schools. The children rise with the sun, say their prayers, +attend service in the Church, and then have breakfast. After a short +time for play they pass at once to the schools where they do lessons for +three hours. After dinner all rest during the great heat of the day. +Then work and lessons again till service-time and supper. Soon after +sundown all go to bed. Among other things the children are being taught +the very useful art of hat-making, the hats being afterwards sold in aid +of the mission funds. + +[Illustration: THE FIRST SCHOOL AT MITCHELL RIVER] + +In the extreme North-west--near the little town of Wyndham--the three +remaining missions are found. The one on the Drysdale River is under the +care of the Roman Catholic Church. A few miles away is another +controlled by the Presbyterians, while thirty miles South of Wyndham on +the Forrest River lies the newest of all. It is impossible to give an +account of these. None of them have done much more than begin. The most +recent, that at the Forrest River, was only founded last year. We can +all pray that God will bless the good missionaries working upon them +that under His Guiding Hand many more children of the wilderness may lay +aside their fear of evil spirits and come to love and worship our dear +Lord Jesus Christ. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SOME ABORIGINAL SAINTS AND HEROES + + +There are some names so famous in wild Australia, and especially on the +mission stations, that they deserve and must have a chapter to +themselves. + +The first of these is Tom Moreton who soon after he became a Christian +also became a leper. His earliest teachings were, I believe, received at +Yarrabah, and there he was baptized, confirmed, and made his first +communion. When he was found to be suffering from his terrible disease, +which is somewhat common in those parts, he was removed by the +Government to Friday Island, the leper settlement in the far north. +Nearly all the other lepers there were South Sea Islanders, and most of +them had been baptized, having become Christians during their time of +service as labourers in the sugar-plantations. One of them had been a +teacher of the London Missionary Society. Tom evidently regarded his +exile to Friday Island as an opportunity of earnest work for his +Saviour. He set himself to teach his poor fellow-lepers all he knew of +the love and gentleness of our Lord. They readily listened to his words +as he taught the way of God more perfectly. Their leprosy had attacked +them before they had come to know all His Love. He was no official +missionary, there had been no formal sending, but he told them +everything the Lord Jesus had done for him and how He had dealt with his +soul. He awakened in them a keen desire to be partakers in the great +Memorial Feast which the Saviour had ordained, and then he began one by +one to prepare them for it. When some time afterwards the Bishop of +Carpentaria visited the island Tom told him what he had done. The Bishop +spoke to them one by one, and finding them really in earnest +administered to them the laying-on-of-hands. He then placed them in +Tom's care again. When he next came he administered to all the Holy +Communion. The last scene of all is very solemn. The Government decided +to close Friday Island and remove the lepers to Brisbane. So the Bishop +came once more steering his vessel with his own hands into the little +bay. An ordinary washing table was brought out and placed beneath the +trees. A white cloth covered it and upon it the Sacred Feast was spread. +The sixteen poor leprous men "drew near," and there were tears in the +Bishop's eyes as he placed in those poor maimed hands the Heavenly Food. +It was a pathetic farewell to Friday Island, but how those hearts must +have blessed the faithful ministry of the aboriginal saint, Tom Moreton! + +The next name on our roll of honour is James Noble. He was one of those +who volunteered to go with the first missionaries to the Roper River. +For about three years he remained there and was a great help and +encouragement to the founders of that mission, as he is a great help and +strength to-day to the work at Yarrabah. Once a savage he has sat more +than once as one of the representatives of Yarrabah in the Synod, or +Church Parliament, of his diocese, and is always listened to with +something more than respect as he pleads at different meetings the cause +of his neglected people. He is now a Catechist, and is trusted and much +loved by all. + +Sam Smith's right to a place on our roll of honour no one who knows his +story could deny. He is a native of New South Wales, his home being near +Dubbo. He works on one of the sheep stations and is an earnest and +devout Christian. But there are no idle Christians among the blacks. All +are taught that they must undertake some definite work for our Lord. Sam +has chosen as his work Sunday-school teaching. Every Saturday afternoon +when his week's work is done he starts off through the bush for his +distant Sunday-school twenty-eight miles away, takes his class on the +Sunday and then in the evening walks twenty-eight miles back again so as +to be on the spot for his work again on Monday morning. It is a long +journey, but Sam never fails. + +The last on our little list of saints and heroes is not a Christian at +all, but none the less we cannot refuse him a place among those who +deserve to be remembered. Neighbour, a native of the Roper River +country, had been arrested on a charge of cattle stealing. Probably his +poor savage heart saw nothing wrong in the deed. He was being led off in +custody by police constable Johns. When crossing a flooded stream the +constable's horse turned over and kicked him badly on the head. He was +in grave danger of drowning. Neighbour was burdened with heavy chains, +but he at once jumped into the river at the risk of his life and brought +the constable to land. Mounting the horse he then rode off for help. The +chance was given him of freeing himself from his chains and making good +his escape. His brave act was at once reported to the authorities, who +brought it to the knowledge of King George. He was only sixteen and a +savage. The King decided to confer the Albert Medal upon him. It was +presented to him at a great public gathering at Government House, Port +Darwin, some months afterwards in the presence of many of the leading +residents. It is the first time such an honour has ever been paid to an +Australian native, and Neighbour's bosom swells with lawful pride as he +points to the medal upon his breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CHOCOLATE BOX + + +In a Sunday-school in New South Wales the children were very keen about +their missionary duty. They were specially interested in the +chocolate-coloured people of New Guinea, a very large island to the +North of Australia, and determined to do all they could to help them. +Among other things they had a chocolate-coloured box made and they put +in it all they could. During the season of Lent they all gave up +chocolates and other sweets and gave the pennies thus saved to what had +come to be known as "The Chocolate Box." + +You have been reading in this little book about another people with +chocolate skins, and one result of your reading ought to be a strong +desire to make better known among them the redeeming love of our Lord +Jesus Christ. For some of them "He has done great things already whereof +we rejoice," but if He had only more money He could do much more. We can +all help Him by means of a chocolate box. + +We can help Him, too, by our prayers. This little book, if you have read +it carefully, will have suggested much to you to pray about. Just to +tell the Lord Jesus about the poor little children of wild Australia and +their needs is to do much to help those needs to be supplied. Call up in +your mind what happened at Cana of Galilee where Jesus made the water +wine. His mother came to Him and laid before Him the need, and He in His +own good time supplied it. So we can all lay before Him the needs of +these dear little children and we can trust Him at His own time to do +what is best. Perhaps some day some may hear the call to personal +service, to go out and make their homes among the children there and +teach them, as others have been taught, to know and love the Children's +King. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Children of Wild Australia, by Herbert Pitts + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58098 *** |