The food quickly disappeared into the greedy stomachs, and then they all called for tobacco (suttungo) and pipes (pipo). I gave them a piece each. They minced up the tobacco with their nails, rolled it between their hands, put it into their pipes, and gave themselves up to the highest enjoyment.
The night was dark, but radiant with stars. The blacks were lying on their backs round the fire smoking their pipes, which now and then went out, for the tobacco was fresh and damp. The smoker rises a little, supports himself on his elbow, and tries to suck fire into his pipe again; then he lays himself down once more and revels in existence. But tobacco makes a man thirsty, especially if he spits a great deal, and now they want water, and their gestures and a few words indicate to me that they want to borrow my tin pail. One gets up and takes the pail, another plucks a handful of grass and twists it around a piece of dry wood or bark. This torch is lit, and a similar one is taken to light the way back. This is done, not so much to find the way, as for the reason that they are afraid to leave the camp in the dark. They are partly afraid of their devil, who is supposed to be prowling about at night, and partly they fear attacks from other tribes. All day long the native is cheerful and happy, but when the sun begins to set he becomes restless from the thoughts of the evil spirits of the night, and especially from remembering his strange neighbours, who may kill and eat him.
The blacks now kept quiet round the fire. All was still; not a sound was heard except the solitary melancholy bell which indicated where the horses were grazing. The natives usually lie on their backs when they sleep, and sometimes on their sides, but they never have anything under their heads, nor do they use any covering in the night. They therefore frequently waken from the cold, and then turn the other side to the fire. As a rule, they lie two or three huddled together in order to keep each other warm.
Early the next morning Morbora and I went out into the scrubs which covered a rocky hill close by. He thoroughly examined the trees, and looked carefully among the orchids and ferns, which grew as parasites far up the tree-stems, for rats and pouched mice (Phascologale), and among the fallen leaves he searched for the rare yopolo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus). According to the uniform custom of the natives when they ramble through the woods, he frequently took a handful of dirt or rubbish out of a crevice in the rock, or from a cleft in a tree, and smelt it to see if any animal had passed over it. The Australian has, upon the whole, a highly developed sense of smell. Of him the Scandinavian phrase is literally true, that he “sticks his finger in the ground and smells what land he is in.” When he, for instance, digs a pouched mouse out of its hole, he now and then smells a handful of the earth to see whether the animal is at home or not. In this way he perceives whether he is approaching it. Although I know the smell peculiar to this animal, I was never able to discover it in the ground.
Morbora’s skill in climbing trees was truly wonderful. He ascended them with about the same ease as we climb a flight of stairs, and everywhere all his senses were on the alert.
As there was no lawyer-palm near from which he could get a kāmin to assist him in climbing, he had to manage in some other way. He broke a few branches from a little tree, made them all the same size, and laid them side by side, leaving the leaves on them. But as the branches were not so long as a kāmin, he could not climb in the same manner as with the latter. The leaves furnished a hold and prevented his hands from slipping, thus compensating for the knot and greater length of the kāmin; but in order to climb the tree he had to draw his heels right up to his body, which gave him a striking resemblance to a frog jumping up. If the tree was not too large in circumference, he simply embraced it with his arms without using the improvised kāmin; he folded his hands and leaped up in the same curious attitude. If the tree leaned, it never occurred to him to climb with his knees as a white man would do, but he crawled up in the same manner as an ape would, on all fours, perfectly secure and well balanced.
Although the Australian natives are exceptionally skilful in climbing, still it would be an exaggeration to compare them in this respect to the apes. I also know white people in Australia who from childhood have practised climbing trees, and who have attained the same skill as the blacks.
After a day’s march we came to a valley which extended to the summit of the Coast Mountains. We were to encamp near the foot of the mountain range, but the air in the bottom of the valley being surcharged with the fragrance of flowers, very hot, damp, and malarial, I determined to pitch our camp higher up, where the air was more pure, a thing utterly incomprehensible to the blacks. I followed my old rule and made my camp on high ground, to escape the miasma which produces fever and is found only in the bottoms. We had hard work to make our way up the slope in order to find a suitable place for encampment. It was dark before I released the horses, which disappeared in the tall grass.
As usual we awoke a little before sunrise; but it took the natives some time to rub the sleep out of their eyes. When a black is roused he does not at once recover his senses, and he needs more time than the uneducated whites to pull himself together. It was always difficult for my men to find their bearings in the morning, and they always had much to do before they were ready to begin the day. They lazily stretch and rub their limbs, and then sit down by the fire and light their pipes. When they at length are entirely awake they go to work and make a sort of toilet. They clean out their noses in a manner more peculiar than graceful. This morning I took particular notice of Morbora, who took a little round stick and put it up his nose horizontally, at the same time twirling it between his fingers, whereupon the contents disappeared in the same manner as among the apes in zoological gardens. The natives hardly ever wash themselves. In the heat of the summer, it is true, they throw themselves into every pool of water they come to, just like a dog; but this is done only in order to cool themselves, and not for the sake of cleanliness. In the winter, when it is cold, they never bathe. If they have soiled their hands with honey or blood they usually wipe them on the grass, or even sometimes wash them in their own water.
In the morning, or when they sit round the fire, they are usually occupied in pulling their beards and the hair from their bodies. It is also a common thing to see even the women take a fire-brand and scorch the hairs off. The hair on the head is never pulled out, but at rare intervals, when it grows too long, is burned off with a fire-brand or cut away with a sharp clam-shell or a stone. When they come in contact with civilisation they generally use pieces of glass for this purpose, and I have even seen a black cut his hair off with a blunt axe which he had borrowed from a white man. This is all the care which their hair and beard receive, except that it is now and then freed from vermin, a feature of the toilet which must be regarded as a gastronomic enjoyment. The blacks are not troubled with fleas, but they are full of lice, which are rather large, of a dark colour, and quite different from the common Pediculus capitis; they frequently went astray and came into my quarters, but fortunately they did not there find the necessaries of life. Some of the natives are free from them, but the majority constantly betray their disagreeable presence by scratching their heads with both hands. These animals are also found upon the body, and their possessor may be constantly seen hunting them, an occupation which is at the same time a veritable enjoyment to him, for to speak plainly—he eats them. The blacks also practise this sport on each other for mutual gratification, and the operation is evidence of friendship and politeness.