I rode over to Yas Plains, to the farm of Mr. Manton, (a son of the celebrated gunsmith,) about four miles distant on the banks of the Yas river, the house being constructed on an elevated site, commands a fine picturesque view of the extensive plains or downs of Yas, the distant wooded hills, forest scenery, with the Yas river slowly winding its course beneath. This part of the colony appears valuable; the country is for the most part open forest, with luxuriant pasturage, and well watered, (an object of much importance in this arid country,) combining capabilities of cultivation and grazing land with picturesque beauty. The “Plains,” or more properly speaking, extensive downs, are destitute of trees, affording abundance of pasturage for sheep, &c., and the distance is terminated by open forest country, most part of which has already been granted or sold by government to settlers.
Mr. Manton’s farm is delightfully situated, having a fine stream of water running through it, every facility for sheep-washing is afforded him—a desideratum of the first importance in this colony, where wool forms the staple article, the settler’s main prop, and the cleaner it is brought to market, of course a better price can be obtained. The land about the farm, (as must be expected from all large grants,) is composed of good and bad portions, but the former, I believe, preponderates.
The natives had just arrived in the paddock, and established their temporary village or encampment; their habitations were merely sheets of bark, stripped from the trees in the vicinity, and supported by props, the sheet of bark being placed to windward, and shifted as might be required, the fire for cooking purposes, &c., being made in front. The aborigines are very expert in stripping large and perfect sheets of bark from the trees, and as this material is used by the colonists for the covering of huts and other purposes, the natives are often employed by them to procure it. The bark of two species of the Eucalyptus called “stringy bark” and “box-tree” by the colonists, (more particularly the former,) is preferred, as from them it is more readily stripped in pieces of the large size usually required. If the aborigines wanted to pass a river, I observed them strip off sheets of bark with great expedition, upon which they crossed, paddling themselves with a piece of wood, sometimes placing piles of mud at each end of the rude bark to prevent the ingress of the water, if there was any thing in it they wished to keep dry: having all the services they require out of the rudely constructed vessels, they desert and leave them either to be carried down the stream or rot on the banks, being aware that another canoe of the same rude construction is always ready when it may be required.
When the bark of the “stringy bark” (or, according to its native name in this part of the colony, Dether) is waved, it is rejected by the stock-keepers, fencers, &c., as unserviceable, the timber being then found twisted, and not capable of being split into straight pieces for paling, &c.; but when the fibres of the bark run in a parallel direction, the wood of the tree is also found to correspond, and the grain being straight is readily split into rails, posts, or applied to any other purpose that may be required by the settler. The wood of the “box-tree” (Eucalyptus marginata?) is considered very durable for flooring boards, shingles, &c., and the young trees for shafts of gigs; for the latter purpose it is considered by many persons not to be surpassed by any other kind of wood in the colony.
The usual mode of cooking among the native tribes, is by throwing the food upon the fire to broil, or rather to get half-roasted, in which state it is eaten; or a native oven is made in the ground, similar to those in use among the New Zealanders, and throughout the Polynesian Archipelago.[63] The remarks made on the characteristic features and intellectual capacities of the aborigines, previously seen in the Bathurst district, equally apply to those now seen in this portion of the colony. I cannot consider them so degraded a race as they have been represented. Lesson, alluding to the Australian negro, says, “To judge by his external appearance and intellect, the native of New South Wales would seem to have been degraded from the true rank of man, and to approach the nature of the brute.
“This race does not appear to differ in any thing essential from the Oceanic race, of which the Papuas alone form another somewhat distinct branch; they have a similarity of form and external character to the inhabitants of New Britain, New Ireland, and very probably those of New Caledonia. Poverty of soil and rigour of climate must have exerted an influence upon the race, and deteriorated it, and it is from this source that the slight differences arise, which seem to separate it from the African negro race, with which, however, an attentive examination shows it to be identical.” And he further observes, “it is probable that the negroes of New Holland have extended into the Australian continent, by New Guinea and the eastern islands, and that the migration has been made from the coast of Africa by the great island of Madagascar, which had itself, at a later period, received men of other races.”
The races inhabiting, however, the land of New South Wales and Van Dieman’s Land or Tasmania, differ; the former, although possessing the African features, have straight hair, whilst those of the latter country are more closely allied to the Papuans. As far as regards their occasionally miserable appearance, (for many are the reverse in the interior,) it may be counted for by a dependence upon a precarious supply of food. Having no natural fruits, they subsist principally upon the produce of the chase, having nothing to induce them to cultivate the soil; they have no fixed habitations, and consequently no villages; the different tribes or families remove to those localities where game may abound, and as too long a stay in any situation would cause a scarcity of game, they seldom remain in one spot longer than three or four days. How different then they are, in respect to country and climate, from those races inhabiting the Polynesian Archipelago, who live in a luxuriant and fertile country, abounding in all the vegetables and fruits of tropical countries, as well as having hogs, fowls, &c.[64]
Polygamy is permitted among the Australian aborigines: each takes as many wives as he pleases, or can maintain, and can dismiss or assign them over at pleasure; but many have only one wife, not taking another until she is dismissed. Some of the women of the interior tribes have fine forms, tolerably handsome features, and fine curled hair; the generality, however, of both males and females, are not conspicuous for personal beauty.
After wet weather they track game with much facility, and from the late rains the hunting expeditions had been very successful; game was therefore abundant at the camp, which consisted of opossums, flying squirrels, bandicoots, snakes, &c. I purchased, for a small piece of tobacco, the skin (the fur of which is remarkably fine) of a very handsome light grey flying squirrel, called by the natives Min, ugo, (and also Bango and Berat.) It is surprising the distance these animals “fly,” or spring, aided by the membrane extending from the sides between the fore and hind legs. The little sugar squirrel has been known to leap a distance of forty yards, from an elevation of thirty feet to the butt of a tree, across a river. One of the opossums among the game was a female which had two large-sized young ones in her pouch; the delicate morsels were at this time broiling, unskinned, and undrawn, upon the fire, whilst the “old mother” was lying yet unflayed in the basket.