We had not finished our breakfast when we saw their heads peeping through the gate;—all were men armed with spears, as they were just going out to hunt the wallaby. Most of them were slender and tolerably well built, though on the average small. Their height varied greatly. One of them, a lean and slender fellow, called by the old man Tommy, who I afterwards learned had five wives, was distinguished for his stature; but he was scarcely over 5 feet 8 inches in height. Their faces varied conspicuously, some having longer noses than I had observed before among the Australian natives, but very flat; all were entirely naked. Some of them wore about their necks a sort of yellow band made of hollow straws cut into small pieces. This band was wound several times round the neck.
The old superintendent pointed out one of these blacks, called Jacky, who knew a few English words. He was a square-built, well-proportioned man, in good physical condition, with a cunning but good-natured face. As he was considered the most civilised person of the lot, I tried to make him explain to the others that I desired to obtain all things creeping on the ground or flying in the air, and that I would give them tobacco for what they brought me. I also wanted one of them to go with me and find tshukki-tshukki. This word is used to the civilised blacks to indicate birds. Jacky said he would “belong to me” to-morrow, but now they were all going out hunting; he added that they would bring me something when they returned in the evening. Jacky was the only one with whom I could talk; the others were silent.
I observed that some rested in a most peculiar position, a habit which I have often noticed since then. They stood on one foot, and placed the sole of the other on the inside of the thigh a little above the knee. The whole person was easily supported by a spear (p. [77]).[[5]]
[5]. This custom also prevails among the inhabitants of the Soudan and the White Nile district. See James’s Soudan.
The blacks left us, and I took this opportunity of studying my surroundings. Herbert Vale, which belongs to the Scott Brothers, had been abandoned as a cattle station, because the soil along the lower part of the river proved to be so excellent for sugar-growing that it rose in value and became too expensive for cattle-raising. The Englishman always knows how to make himself comfortable, so the station had comparatively good houses, and for this reason the owners had left an old white man in charge of the property. His chief duty was to keep the blacks from setting fire to the houses when they burned the grass while hunting.
Around the whole property there was a natural hedge of sharp thorns. Passing through a little gate we came to a two-storied wooden house painted red, the first floor of which was used for kitchen and dining-room. The kitchen was quite primitive, having neither floor nor door. The main building, a low one-storied house, stood a few steps farther to the west nearer the river.
On the side facing Herbert river I had access from my room to a spacious verandah, from which there was a fine view far up the river. Besides these two buildings, a large storehouse, in which the superintendent kept a supply of flour, sugar, tea, and tobacco, gave the impression of wealth.
Mr. Scott had made a large garden, which now unfortunately was in an entirely dilapidated condition, as the old superintendent made no use of it; the only thing he cultivated being some sweet-potatoes (Batatas edulis). The only care which the garden received was that the grass was mown now and then when it became too high, in order to keep it from smothering the trees. In spite of the miserable condition of the garden it was a pleasure to see that even in these uncivilised regions there existed a taste for the beauties and comforts of life, and not simply a love of money. The cheerful houses among the thriving trees could not fail to gladden the traveller, whose eyes in this part of the country rarely witness other than primitive cabins of bark. In Northern Queensland it is even more rare to find things done simply for comfort than it is farther south; farther west and north the country becomes still more wild and uncivilised. The desire to earn money seems to monopolise everything, and there is no time to think of such a luxury as a garden. Of course occasionally a bed of cabbage, carrots, sweet-potatoes, and the like, might be found, but fruit or shady trees are looked for in vain.
In the middle of the garden stood a bread-tree, but it did not thrive; this was also the case with a few cocoanut-palms. Conquat, loquat, and guava-trees, on the other hand, bear excellent fruit. A granadilla, which twined itself gracefully round an old fig-tree, furnished us for Christmas with a small amount of palatable fruit. A part of the garden might be called an orange-orchard, which bore oranges in abundance, but, alas, they were, chiefly from want of care, too sour to be eaten. The mango-tree yielded the best fruit to be found in the whole garden.
Herbert Vale lies about forty miles above the mouth of Herbert river, 18° S. lat.; its rainfall is about ninety inches annually. The locality is exceedingly beautiful, occupying a high plain on the eastern bank of the river where the latter makes a bend. The bottom of the river valley is very flat, and dotted with grass and brushwood. In the distance in almost every direction appear mountainous uplands covered to the very horizon with dense scrubs, now and then broken by an opening, through which picturesque waterfalls may be seen dashing down the hillside, greatly enlivening the sombre groves. The streams which form these waterfalls often unite and empty into Herbert river, and along their whole course they are bordered with scrub on both sides. The mountains are the same as those extending hundreds of miles northward to Cape York.