Such was a slaughter day at Herbert Vale. Now and then a sick animal was shot and given to the blacks. I remember that an old cow which was so lean and miserable from pleuro-pneumonia that it could scarcely walk, was driven into the yard to be killed for the natives. Pleuro-pneumonia causes great destruction of cattle in some parts of Australia. Many cattle are saved by inoculating the virus near the upper end of the tail, but the disease is contagious, and when an animal cannot be cured it is best to kill it. The old cow fell at the first shot, and the natives were permitted to do as they pleased with it. They borrowed an axe with which they chopped it in two along the back to get at the kidneys and the fat around them, for these parts they like best. There was a little fat about the kidneys, but none elsewhere; scarcely any meat could be found on the bones, and the lungs were consumed and had a horrible smell. The natives do not like anything which smells bad, but to reject other than the damaged parts was out of the question. The rest was eaten, and no one was taken ill after this disgusting meal.
It must be admitted that my headquarters could hardly be called comfortable; but if we understand the art of adapting ourselves to circumstances, we may at all times make things more bearable than they seem to be. In a new country like Northern Queensland, where people live so far apart, and where each one thinks only of himself, it is easy to see what a great advantage it must be to have a place where one can find shelter. Besides, it was a real comfort to know that I was not likely to die of starvation, thanks to Nelly’s damper and salt beef. During a short period there was also fruit in the garden, but, after all, my greatest treat when I came down from the mountains was milk. Every one who has travelled in the tropics knows what a luxury this is.
CLIMBING WITH THE AID OF KĀMIN.
CHAPTER VII
Kāmin (implement for climbing)—On top of the gum-trees—Hunting the wallaby—The spear of the natives—Bird life in the open country—Jungle-hens—Cassowary.
A few days after my arrival at Herbert Vale, the natives were to undertake a hunt of the wallaby, and with two black companions I presented myself at the place where the hunt was to begin. We left home in the morning. The forenoon was devoted to hunting for small mammals, which during the daytime keep themselves concealed in the high trees. With kind words and tobacco I induced my blacks to climb up one immense gum-tree after the other.
The Australian black on the Herbert river was more skilful in climbing than any of the other natives I had seen up to this time. If he has to climb a high tree, he first goes into the scrub to fetch a piece of the Australian calamus (Calamus australis), which he partly bites, partly breaks off; he first bites on one side and breaks it down, then on the other side and breaks it upwards—one, two, three, and this tough whip is severed. At one end of it he makes a knot, the other he leaves as it is. This implement, which is usually sixteen to eighteen feet long, is called a kāmin.
After wiping his hands in the grass so as to remove all moisture from perspiration, he takes the knot in his left hand, throws the kāmin around the big tree-trunk, and tries to catch the other end with his right hand. When, after a couple of abortive efforts, he has succeeded in this, he winds this end a few times around the right arm and thus gets a secure hold. The right foot is planted against the tree, the arms are extended directly in front of him, the body is bent back, so that it is kept as far as possible away from the tree, and then the ascent begins. He keeps throwing the kāmin up the tree, and at the same time he himself ascends about as easily as a sailor uses an accommodation ladder, but as climbing by means of the kāmin is of course much harder work, he is compelled to stop every few moments to take breath. When he has reached the branches of the tree he hangs the kāmin on one of them, while he examines the holes in the trunk.
It seemed to me that he placed his kāmin so carelessly that it might easily fall down while he was engaged in the hunt for animals in the tree. If this should happen, I hardly know how he could get down those high and smooth trees. But with the aid of the kāmin it is easy enough. He walks down backwards very rapidly. If it is a very large tree, and the bark very smooth, he chops niches in it for his big toe. He takes his tomahawk in his mouth, and when he wants to use it removes the kāmin from his right arm and winds it around his right thigh, whereupon with his free hand he cuts the next niche or two in the bark of the tree.