[49] At New Zealand the women are attended, during labour, by their husbands; but, if it is a difficult labour, they suppose the spirits to be angry, and therefore send for the Tohunga, or priest. On the arrival of the Tohunga, he strides over and breathes on the woman, and then, retiring to a short distance, sits down and prays to the spirits; if the labour terminates favourably, it is looked upon as resulting from the influence of the Tohunga in averting the anger of the spirits; but should the termination be fatal, the priest is considered to have incurred the displeasure of the spirits, and lost his influence.
[50] This animal is called “Goribun” by the Yas natives.
[51] Distance of miles in travelling in the interior of the colony is nominal, and the time occupied in riding the distance is usually taken into consideration; some stages seem often to be over and others under-calculated. “Shepherd’s miles,” it is a saying in the colony, “are short, those of stockmen long.”
[52] The different trees of the Eucalyptus genus are confused, and require botanical arrangement: many, termed species, are merely varieties; and the botanical characters of but few species are accurately known.
[53] The “wire-grass” is said to indicate good soil, being found growing in alluvial soil, in clumps, upon flats, swamps, &c.
[54] Sedge-grass is used for thatching, as well as beds for the sheep during shearing time, after they have been washed.
[55] The “swamp oak” bears much resemblance to the larch. I know not why this and other species of the casuarina trees have received the colonial appellation of “oaks,” as forest-oak, swamp-oak, she oak, &c., as they have not the slightest resemblance to that tree in external character, unless the name may have been given from some similarity in the wood.
[56] The granite soil at Bolam is said to injure the teeth of the sheep, the teeth of young sheep being as much worn down by it as in other soils is often seen in the old sheep.
[57] In February, 1833, the ship “Prince Regent” arrived at Port Jackson, from England, with emigrants and a general cargo; she was immediately placed under quarantine, on account of the small-pox having occurred at two distinct periods on board the vessel during the passage. The vessel was not released from her unpleasant situation until the commencement of March, having been, previous to her release, thoroughly fumigated, and the clothes of all the infected persons burnt and washed at the quarantine station, before being admitted into the cove of Sydney.
[58] This is not uncommon among savage nations; the introduction of dysentery at Otaheite, or Tahiti, was attributed to Vancouver; and in Beechey’s interesting narrative we are told that the Pitcairn islanders had imbibed similar notions with regard to shipping calling at their island, of leaving them a legacy of some disease. Mr. Hamilton Hume, (the well-known Australian traveller,) who accompanied Captain Sturt in his expedition to the northward, says the natives were suffering severely from this eruptive malady, when they arrived among them, and numbers had died, and many more were still dying, from its virulence. The description of the disease he gave me accords in most points with that given by Dr. Mair.