Most of the illustrations are by Norwegian and French artists from original photographs, sketches, and specimens brought back by me from Australia.
It should be observed that the area marked red on the map as indicating the district explored by me should be extended so as to include Cashmere, Glendhu, the Valley of Lagoons, and all the intervening country.
As a foreigner, I would ask for the kind indulgence of my readers and critics towards any literary shortcomings in this English edition of my work.
CARL LUMHOLTZ.
London, August 1889.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
| Introductory—Voyage to Australia—Arrival at Adelaide—Description of the city—Melbourne, the Queen of the South—Working men—The highest trees in the world—Two of the most common mammals in Australia | Pages [1]–12 |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Sydney harbour—Jealousy between Sydney and Melbourne—The Blue Mountains—Brisbane and Rockhampton—First evening in tropical Australia—Gracemere station—Animal and plant life—Vine-scrubs—Excursion into the neighbouring districts—A Norseman who feels cold in Australia | [13]–30 |
| CHAPTER III | |
| Journey to Western Queensland—Camping out—Damper (Australian bread)—The song of the magpie—Australian scrubs—Hunting the kangaroo—Devotion of parrots—Station life—Lonely shepherds—Migration of rats—Native justice—Australian fleas—Native mounted police—A remarkable flint instrument—The boomerang | [31]–52 |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Struggle between blacks and whites—116° Fahrenheit—Cool nights—Troubles—Bush-life—How the bushman spends his money—Inundations—Back again to Gracemere—A greedy snake—Courtship in the bush | [53]–62 |
| CHAPTER V | |
| Journey to Northern Queensland—Mackay-sugar—Employment of South Sea Islanders—Townsville—A rough northern man—Sugar district on Lower Herbert—Visit to a successful Scandinavian—Blacks near Gardiner’s farm—Nolla-nolla—Spring—Arrival at Herbert Vale | [63]–75 |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| Headquarters at Herbert Vale—Civilised blacks—Domestic life—Nelly the cook—Cats—Swimming in fat—My bill of fare—Killing the bullock—Strong stomachs and bad fare | [76]–88 |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| Kāmin (implement for climbing)—On the top of the gum-trees—Hunting the wallaby—The spear of the natives—Bird life in the open country—Jungle-hens—Cassowary | [89]–99 |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| Pleasant companions—Two new mammals—Large scrubs in the Coast Mountains—The lawyer-palm—“Never have a black-fellow behind you”—I decide to live with the blacks—Great expectations—My outfit—Tobacco is money—The baby of the gun | [100]–111 |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| My first expedition with the blacks—A night in the forest—Fear of evil spirits—Morning toilet—Maja yarri—Borboby—The “lists” of blacks—Warriors in full dress—Swords and shields—Fights—The rights of black women—Abduction of women | [112]–127 |
| CHAPTER X | |
| The appearance of the aborigines in the different parts of the continent—My pack-horse in danger—Tracks of the boongary (tree-kangaroo)—Bower-birds—The blacks in rainy weather—Making fire in the scrubs—A messenger from the civilised world—The relations of the various tribes—Tattooing | [128]–146 |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| Respect for right of property—New country—My camp—Mountain ascent—Tree-ferns—A dangerous nettle—A night in a cavern—Art among the blacks—Edible larvæ—Omelette aux coléoptères—Music of the blacks—Impudent begging | [147]–159 |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| The position of women among the blacks—The husband the hunter, and the woman the provider of the family—Black female slaves—“Marking” the wives—A twelve-year-old wife—Considerate husbands—Wives an inheritance—Deserted by my followers—Reasoning power of the blacks—Darkness and rain | [160]–171 |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| Mongan, a new mammal—For my collection or to feed the blacks?—Natives do not eat raw meat—A young yarri—A meteorite—Fear of attacks—Cannibals on the war-path—The relations between the tribes | [172]–177 |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| Dingo a member of the family—A black who does not smoke—Hunting the flying-squirrel—Diseases among the natives—Their remedies—A splendid offer—Unpleasant companions—Trouble in getting dogs | [178]–187 |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| Blacks on the track—A foreign tribe—Native baskets—Two black boys—Bringing up of the children—Pseudochirus lemuroides with its young—The effect of a shot—A native swell—Relationship among the blacks—Their old women | [188]–200 |
| CHAPTER XVI | |
| Wild landscape on the Upper Herbert—Kvingan, the devil of the blacks—A fatal eel—Mourning dress—Flight of the blacks—A compromise—Christmas Eve—Lonely—Christmas fare—A “faithful” relative—A welcome wallaby | [201]–211 |
| CHAPTER XVII | |
| A wedding—Love among the Australian natives—My first meeting with Yokkai—Big eaters—An accident—Left alone with Yokkai—A difficult descent—Return to Herbert Vale—A new beetle—Friends of the animals | [212]–222 |
| CHAPTER XVIII | |
| Native politeness—How a native uses a newspaper—“Fat” living—Painful joy—Boongary, boongary—Veracity of the natives—A short joy—A perfect cure—An offer of marriage—Refusal | [223]–235 |
| CHAPTER XIX | |
| A festival dance of the blacks—Their orchestra—A plain table—Yokkai wants to become “a white man”—Yokkai’s confession—A dangerous situation—A family drama | [236]–246 |
| CHAPTER XX | |
| Arrival of the native police—The murderer caught—Examination—Jimmy is taken to Cardwell—Flight of the prisoner—The officer of the law—Expedition to the Valley of Lagoons—A mother eats her own child—My authority receives a shock | [247]–255 |
| CHAPTER XXI | |
| The rainy season—How the evenings are spent—Hardy children—Mangola-Maggi’s revenge—The crania of the Australians—The expedition to Cardwell—Dalrymple Gap—A scandalous murder—Entry into Cardwell—Yokkai as cook—“Balnglan’s” death—Tobacco cures sorrow | [256]–268 |
| CHAPTER XXII | |
| Unpleasantnesses at Herbert Vale—New expeditions—Hunting human flesh—Cannibalism—Human flesh is the greatest delicacy of the Australian blacks—Superstitions in connection with the eating of human flesh—The taste of the cannibals—Cannibalism in Burma | [269]–274 |
| CHAPTER XXIII | |
| The burial of the blacks—Black mummies—Sorcerers or wizards—Myths and legends—The doctrine of the Trinity in New South Wales—The belief in a future life among the blacks | [275]–285 |
| CHAPTER XXIV | |
| My life in danger—Morbora’s ingratitude—Another danger—My position grows more precarious—The black man’s fondness for imitating | [286]–292 |
| 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 | [293]–302 |
| CHAPTER XXVI | |
| Message sticks—The common origin of the dialects—Remarkably complicated grammar—The language on Herbert river—Comparison of a few dialects | [303]–313 |
| CHAPTER XXVII | |
| Frozen meat—Again in Gracemere—Australian scenery—In a carriole—Hunting the dugong—Cosmopolitan quarters for the night—Cure for nervous diseases—Poisonous rabbits—Marry only a person with good teeth—Bush girls—Mount Morgan | [314]–324 |
| CHAPTER XXVIII | |
| A family of zoologists—Flesh-eating kangaroos—How the ant-eater propagates—Civilised natives—Weapons and implements—Civilisation and demoralisation | [325]–338 |
| CHAPTER XXIX | |
| Religion—Blacks in the service of the white men—Fickle minds—Settlers and natives on the borders of civilisation—Morality—A life and death struggle—The cruelty of the whites—Future prospects of the Australian natives | [339]–349 |
APPENDIX
| I. | An Outline of Australian History— | |
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Condition before the European Discovery | [353] | |
| History of the Discovery | [355] | |
| History of the Colonies | [359] | |
| II. | Geology | [366] |
| III. | Flora | [369] |
| IV. | Fauna | [376] |
| INDEX | [389] | |
Ἀνδροφάγοι δὲ ἀγριώτατα πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἔχουσιν ἤθεα οὔτε