As my cook he was very useful, and saved me much trouble, but I always had to watch him. On one occasion, when he was to bake damper (he first had to wash his hands, a trouble he did not care to take), instead of going down to the brook he filled his mouth with water from the pail and squirted it upon his fingers, which, he thereupon dried on the grass. He showed his hands to me to convince me that he had washed them, but I insisted on his doing it once more and in the proper way.
Whatever fault might be found with Yokkai, he had become utterly indispensable to me, and besides I gained much pleasure and entertainment from his company.
I also made him laugh many a time, and after I had become a tolerable master of his language, and was able to tell him things for his amusement, he laughed so heartily that I have sometimes seen the tears stream down his cheeks. What is comic to the blacks strikes them at once, and makes them laugh immediately. They are very humorous, have a decided talent for drollery, and are skilful mimics. I once saw a young Australian receive an order from his master, whereupon he immediately went to his companions and imitated his master’s manner of speaking and acting, to the great amusement of the whole camp. In their dances they imitate in a striking manner the hopping of the kangaroo and the solemn movements of the emu, and never fail to make the spectators laugh.
The natives like to imitate the white man’s manners. My people had observed that I rinsed my mouth every evening; when they had observed this for some time I was surprised to find some of them doing the same thing. They were also very fond of soap, not for the purpose of washing themselves clean, but to wash some shirt or other article of clothing which I had given them. They had frequently seen me use soap in washing my clothes.
In spite of their respect for the gun, the clothes, and the many good things of the white man, they still look upon him as their inferior when they are on their own territory, and it must be admitted that there he actually is their inferior in many respects.
CHAPTER XXV
Winter in Northern Queensland—Snakes as food—Hunting snakes—An unexpected guest at night—Yokkai’s first dress—Norway’s “mountains of food”—Departure from Herbert Vale—Farewell to the world of the blacks.
HUNTING THE PYTHON.
Winter had now set in in earnest The fields were gray, and the sun had lost much of its power. During the daytime it was still quite warm, though the heat was not oppressive. A more agreeable temperature than Northern Queensland during this season of the year can scarcely be conceived, especially toward sunset. I felt perfectly comfortable in my shirt sleeves without any vest. During the night so much dew falls that the woollen blanket becomes saturated if one sleeps beneath the open sky. Walking in the grass in the morning is almost like wading in a river. One becomes drenched to the hips. But what glorious mornings! They stimulate a person to work, and their freshness awakens all the joys of life.