Читать книгу The Story of the Blacks - Charles White - Страница 5

Table of Contents

The next account was that furnished by Captain Cook, whose favourable reports of the country around Botany Bay first induced the British Government to enter upon that work of colonisation in the Southern seas which has borne such marvellous fruit.

The first sign of the natives was observed by the famous circumnavigator when (in 1770) skirting the coast near Port Hacking, when several of them were seen walking briskly along the shore, four of them carrying a canoe across their shoulders. At first he thought they intended to launch the canoe and put off to the ship, but discovering his error he had a boat manned and pulled to the shore with the object of landing, upon seeing which the natives ran away. When subsequently approaching Botany Bay in the pinnace the explorers saw natives on the shore, but as they were armed with "long pikes and a wooden weapon shaped somewhat like a cimeter" (evidently spears and boomerangs) a landing was not attempted. The natives "used many threatening gestures and brandished their weapons; particularly two, who made a very singular appearance, for their faces seemed to have been dusted with a white powder, and their bodies painted with broad streaks of the same colour, which passing obliquely over their breasts and backs, looked not unlike the cross-belts worn by our soldiers; the same kind of streaks were also drawn around their legs and thighs like broad garters; each of these men held in his hand the weapon like a cimeter, which appeared to be about two feet and a half long, and they seemed to talk to each other with great earnestness."

"The place where the ship had anchored was abreast of a small village, consisting of about six or eight houses; and while we were preparing to hoist out the long boat, we saw an old woman, followed by three children, come out of the wood; she was loaded with firewood, and each of the children carried its little burden; when she came to the houses three more children, younger than the others, came out to meet her; she often looked at the ship, but expressed neither fear nor surprise; in a short time she kindled a fire and the four canoes came in from fishing. The men landed, and having hauled up their boats began to dress their dinner, and to all appearance wholly unconcerned about us, though we were within half a mile of them. We thought it remarkable that all of the people we had yet seen, not one had the least appearance of clothing, the old woman herself being destitute of even a fig-leaf.. . . We intended to land where we saw the people, and began to hope that as they had so little regarded the ship's coming into the bay, they would as little regard our coming on shore. In this, however, we were disappointed; for as soon as we approached the rocks two of the men came down upon them to dispute our landing, and the rest ran away. Each of the two champions was armed with a lance about 10 feet long (war spears called ghe-rubbine), and a short stick (womera) which he seemed to handle as if it was a machine to assist him in managing or throwing the lance. They called to us in a very loud tones and in a harsh dissonant language, of which neither we nor Tupia understood a single word; they brandished their weapons and seemed resolved to defend their coast to the uttermost, though they were but two, and we were forty. I could not but admire their courage, and being very unwilling that hostilities should commence I ordered the boat to lie upon her oars; we then parlied (parleyed) by signs for about a quarter of an hour, and to bespeak their good-will I threw them nails, beads and other trifles, which they took up, and seemed to be well pleased with. I then made signs that I wanted water, and, by all the means that I could devise, endeavoured to convince them that we would do them no harm. They now waved to us, and I was willing to interpret it as an invitation; but upon our putting the boat in, they came again to oppose us. One appeared to be a youth about nineteen or twenty, and the other a man of middle age; as I had now no other resource, I fired a musket between them. Upon the report, the youngest dropped a bundle of lances upon the rock, but recollecting himself in an instant, he snatched them up again with great haste. A stone was then thrown at us, upon which I ordered a musket to be fired with small shot, which struck the eldest upon the legs, and he immediately ran to one of the houses, which was distant about 100 yards. I now hoped that our contest was over, and we immediately landed; but we had scarcely left the boat when he returned, and we then perceived that he had left the rock only to fetch a shield or target for his defence. As soon as he came up, he threw a lance at us, and his comrade another; they fell where we stood thickest, but happily hurt nobody. A third musket with small shot was then fired at them, upon which one of them threw another lance, and both immediately ran away; if we had pursued we might probably have overtaken one of them; but Mr. Banks suggesting that the lances might be poisoned, I thought it not prudent to venture into the woods. We repaired immediately to the huts, in one of which we found the children, who had hidden themselves behind a shield and some bark; we peeped at them, but left them in their retreat, without their knowing that they had been discovered, and we threw into the house, when we went away, some beads, ribbons, pieces of cloth, and other presents, which we hoped would procure us the goodwill of the inhabitants when they should return, but the lances which we found lying about we took away with us, to the number of about 50; they were from six to fifteen feet long, and all of them had four prongs in the manner of a fish-gig, each of which was pointed with fish-bone, and very sharp; we observed that they were smeared with a viscous substance of a green colour, which favoured the opinion of their being poisoned, though we afterwards discovered that it was a mistake; they appeared, by the sea-weed that we found sticking to them, to have bean used in striking fish. Upon examining the canoes that lay upon the beach, we found them to be the worst we had ever seen; they were between 12 and 14 feet long, and made of the bark of a tree in one piece, which was drawn together and tied up at each end, the middle being kept open by sticks, which were placed across them from gunwale to gunwale as thwarts."

Repeated efforts were made by the landing party during successive days to get into close touch with the natives, but without success, although the latter repeatedly came within hailing distance of the place where the water casks were being filled. The toys placed in the gunyahs were left untouched, the natives evidently fearing to handle them. During his excursions into the bush ("up into the country" are the words used in his diary) Cook made close observation of everything calculated to throw light upon their habits and manner of life, thus recorded:—

"We saw many houses (gunyahs) and places where they had slept upon the grass, of which there is great abundance, without any shelter, but we saw only one of the people, who, the moment he saw us, ran away. At all these places we left presents hoping that at last they might procure confidence and goodwill.. . . We saw the dung of an animal which fed upon the grass, and which we judged could not be less than a deer; and the footsteps of another which was clawed like a dog, and seemed to be about as big as a wolf (evidently the animals were the kangaroo and the dingo or wild dog).. . We found some wood which had been felled by the natives with a blunt instrument, and some that had been barked, . . and in some of them (the trees) steps had been cut at about three feet distant from each other, for the convenience of climbing them. Fell in with a body of two and twenty natives, who followed us, and often not more than twenty yards distant. When Mr. Gore perceived them so near he stopped and faced about, upon which they stopped also, and when he went on again continued their pursuit. They did not, however, attack him, although they were all around with lances, and he and the midshipman got in safety to the watering-place. The Indians, who had slackened their pursuit when they came in sight of the main body of our people, halted at about the distance of a quarter of a mile, where they stood still. Mr. Monkhouse and two or three of the waterers took it into their heads to march up to them; but seeing the Indians keep their ground till they came pretty near them, they were seized with a sudden fear very common to the rash and foolhardy, and made a hasty retreat. This step, which insured the danger that it was intended to avoid, encouraged the Indians, and four of them running forward, discharged their lances at the fugitives with such force, that flying no less than forty yards, they went beyond them. As the Indians did not pursue, our people, recovering their spirits, stopped to collect their lances; upon which the Indians, in their turn, began to retire.

"Twelve canoes, in each of which was a single Indian, came towards the watering place, and were within half a mile of it a considerable time; they were employed in striking fish, upon which, like others that we had seen before, they were so intent that they seemed to regard nothing else.. . When we returned to the boat, we saw some smoke upon another part of the coast (Tom Ugly's Point), and went thither in hopes of meeting with the people, but at our approach these also ran away. We found six small canoes, and six fires very near the beach, with muscles roasting upon them, and a few oysters lying near; by this we judged that there had been one man in each canoe, who, having picked up some shell fish, had come ashore to eat them, and made his separate fire for that purpose. We tasted of their cheer, and left them in return some strings of beads, and other things which we thought would please them.. . Mr. Monkhouse, the surgeon, and one of the men, who were with another party near the watering-place, also strayed from their companions, as they were coming out of a thicket, observed six Indians standing together, at the distance of about fifty yards. One of them pronounced a word very loud, which was supposed to be a signal, for a lance was immediately thrown at him out of the wood, which very narrowly missed him. When the Indians saw that the weapon had not taken effect, they ran away with the greatest precipitation; but on turning about the place whence the lance had been thrown, he saw a young Indian, whom he judged to be about nineteen or twenty years old, come down from a tree, and he also ran away with such speed as made it hopeless to follow him.. . On these banks of sand and mud there are great quantities of oysters, muscles, cockles, and other shell fish, which seem to be the principal subsistence of the inhabitants, who go into shoal water with their little canoes, and pick them out with their hands. We did not observe that they ate any of them raw, nor did they always go on shore to dress them, for they had frequently fires in their canoes for that purpose. They do not, however, subsist wholly upon this food, for they catch a variety of other fish, some of which they strike with gigs, and some they take with hook and line. All the inhabitants that we saw were stark naked; they did not appear to be numerous, or live in societies, but like other animals, were scattered along the coasts and in the woods. Of their manner of life, however, we could know but little, as we were never able to form the least connection with them; after the first contest at our landing, they would never come near enough to parley; nor did they touch a single article of all that we had left at their huts, and the places they frequented, on purpose for them to take away."

During the whole time of their stay at Botany Bay (nine days) the party could not obtain friendly intercourse with the natives, but upon landing at Broken Bay, they came into closer touch with them by supplying them with fish. When the novelty had worn off, however, and the natives had satisfied their curiosity concerning the men and things so strange to them, the familiarity became dangerous to the visitors and an open rupture occurred. A party of blacks, who had previously been presented with some fish (other food offered they would not touch) attempted to carry off some of the turtles that had been caught by the crew, and upon being forcibly prevented they became very angry, and one of them snatched a lighted brand from the fire at the European camp and set the long grass on fire in several places. The fire spread with great rapidity, and much difficulty was experienced in saving the tents and stores on shore. By way of reprisal a shot gun was discharged amongst them, and one black fell, while the visitors returned to the ship, from which they saw the flames spreading for miles along the coast. Writing of this experience Cook says:—

"If it had happened a very little while sooner, the consequence might have been dreadful; for our powder had been aboard for a few days, and the store tent, with many valuable things which it contained, had not been removed many hours. We had no idea of the fury with which grass would burn in this hot climate, nor consequently of the difficulty of extinguishing it; but we determined, that if it should ever again be necessary for us to pitch our tents in such a situation, our first measure should be to clear the ground around us."

At the close of his interesting narrative Cook makes the following general observations:—

"The number of inhabitants in this country appears to be very small in proportion to its extent. We never saw so many as thirty of them together but once, and that was at Botany Bay, when men, women and children assembled upon a rock to see the ship pass by; when they manifestly formed a resolution to engage us, they never could muster above 14 or 15 fighting men, and we never saw a number of their sheds together that would accommodate a larger party. It is true, indeed, that we saw only the seacoast of the eastern side; and that, between this and the western shore there is an immense tract of country wholly unexplored; but there is great reason to believe that this immense tract is either wholly desolate, or at least still more thinly inhabited than the parts we visited. It is impossible that the inland country should subsist inhabitants at all seasons without cultivation; it is extremely improbable that the inhabitants of the coast should be totally ignorant of arts of cultivation, which were practised inland; and it is equally improbable that, if they knew such arts, there should be no traces of them among them. It is certain we did not see one foot of ground in a state of cultivation in the whole country, and therefore it may well be concluded, that where the sea does not contribute to feed the inhabitants, the country is not inhabited. The only tribe with which we had any intercourse we found where the ship was careened; it consisted of one-and-twenty persons, twelve men, seven women, one boy, and one girl; the women we never saw but at a distance, for when the men came over the river they were always left behind. The men, here and in other places, were of middle size, and in general, well made, clean limbed, and remarkably vigorous, active, and nimble; their countenances were not altogether without expression, and their voices were remarkably soft and effeminate. They appeared to have no fixed habitations, for we saw nothing like a town or village in the whole country. Their houses, if houses they may be called, seemed to be formed with less art and industry than any we had seen, except the wretched hovels at Tierra del Fuego, and in some respects they are inferior even to them. At Botany Bay, where they were best, they were just high enough for a man to sit upright in, but not large enough for him to extend himself in his whole length in any direction; they are built with pliable rods about as thick as a man's finger, in the form of an oven, by sticking the two ends in the ground, and then covering them with palm leaves and broad pieces of bark; the door is nothing but a large hole at one end opposite to which the fire is made, as we perceived by the ashes. Under these houses, or sheds, they sleep, coiled up with their heels to their heads, and in this position one of them will hold three or four persons. As we advanced northward and the climate became hotter, we found these sheds still more slight; they were built, like the others, of twigs, and covered with bark; but none of them were more than four feet deep, and one side was entirely open; the close side was always opposed to the course of the prevailing wind, and opposite to the open side was the fire, probably more as defence from the mosquitoes than the cold. They were set up occasionally by a wandering horde in any place that would furnish them for a time with subsistence, and left behind them when, after it was exhausted, they went away; but in places where they remained only for a night or two, they slept without shelter, except the bushes and grass, which is here near two feet high. The only furniture belonging to these houses that fell under our observation, is a kind of oblong vessel made of bark, by the simple contrivance of tying up the two ends with a withy, which not being cut off serves for a handle; these we imagine were used as buckets to fetch water from the spring, which may be supposed sometimes to be at a considerable distance. They have, however, a small bag, about the size of a moderate cabbage-net, which is made by laying thread loop within loop, somewhat in the manner of knitting used by our ladies to make purses. This bag the man carries loose upon his back by a small string which passes over his head. It generally contains a lump or two of paint or resin, some fish-hooks and lines, a shell or two, out of which their hooks are made, a few points of darts, and their usual ornaments, which includes the whole worldly treasure of the richest man among them. Their fish hooks are very neatly made, and some of them are exceedingly small. For striking turtle they have a peg of wood, which is about a foot long, and very well bearded; this fits into a socket at the end of a staff of light wood, about as thick as a man's wrist, and about seven or eight feet long; to the staff is tied one end of a loose line about three or four fathoms long, the other end of which is fastened to the peg. To strike the turtle, the peg is fixed into the socket, and when it has entered his body, and is retained there by the barb, the staff flies off and serves for a float to trace their victim in the water; it assists also to tire him, till they can overtake him with their canoes, and haul him ashore. One of these pegs, as I have already mentioned, we found buried in the body of a turtle, which had healed up over it. Their lines are from the thickness of a half-inch rope to the fineness of a hair, and are made of some vegetable substance, but what particular we had no opportunity to learn. Their food is chiefly fish, though they sometimes contrive to kill a kangaroo, and even birds of every kind notwithstanding they are so shy that we found it difficult to get within reach of them with a fowling piece. The only vegetable that can be considered as an article of food is the yam; yet doubtless they eat the several fruits that have been mentioned among other productions of the country; and indeed we saw the shells and hulls of several of them lying about the places where they had kindled their fires."

I have drawn somewhat extensively from the diary of this intrepid explorer (whose death at the hands of the Sandwich Islanders, in 1779, was a loss to the world) for the simple reason that the account given by him—at once graphic, accurate, and simple—is the first through which we obtain a clear insight into the character of the aborigines before the country was occupied by Europeans. Cook's writings prove that he considered ethnological description of the races inhabiting the country he visited to be quite as important as that of geological bearings and features; and it is very much to be regretted that those who subsequently came into closer contact with the aborigines did not make record as fully as he did of facts illustrating their habits and customs, while yet they were unlearned in the ways of the race that has supplanted them.