CHAPTER XVIII
NAVIGATION
Floating log—Log rafts—Paddles—Outfit carried on board—Bark canoes of different patterns—Used in southern and northern Australia—“Housing” of canoes—“Dug-outs”—With or without outriggers—Sails.
We have on several occasions alluded to the fact that the natives make use of some kind of craft while hunting and fishing. A few remarks, therefore, upon aboriginal navigation in general may be appropriate at this juncture.
The simplest type of float is no doubt the log of light timber used along the north and north-east coast. The straight trunk of a mangrove is selected, and from it a log is cut, about five or six feet long, which is stripped of its branches. Where a river or an estuary has to be crossed, such a log is slipped into the water and the native lays his body over it, lengthwise, with his legs straddling it. With his head and shoulders well above the surface of the water, the swimmer propels himself along by means of his legs; occasionally he also uses his arms, but then primarily for steadying his body above the log. The natives maintain that this method gives them a certain amount of protection against the attacks of crocodiles, since, when viewed from below, the man and the log together resemble one of the reptiles in form. For the same reason the lower thin end is often left tapering to a point, to simulate the tail of a crocodile.
When two or three, or more, of these light logs of mangrove are lashed together, a simple raft results—a type in frequent use along the eastern shores and rivers of north Australia. The craft is propelled by either a pole or a paddle, the man standing in the former case and sitting in the latter.
The same contrivance is used when a man wishes to cross a river or a bay, and carry his children or belongings across, without swamping them. In this case, he usually swims alongside the raft and propels it by powerful leg-strokes.
In the north-western corner of the Australian continent (i.e. the King Sound—Glenelg River districts), navigation is undertaken in large rafts. These are constructed as follows: From six to ten poles are cut out of the trunks of a tall, straight-growing mangrove, resembling a pine in shape. The poles are cut into twelve-foot lengths, and are then trimmed longitudinally, so that they taper from about one-quarter their length downwards, like an elongated club; the two ends are pointed off. In their thickest part, the poles measure about six inches in diameter. Two of these pieces are now laid upon a level patch of ground, side by side, with the thick ends all pointing in the same direction, and “nailed” together with stakes of hard wood, at various distances along the entire length of the poles. The remaining poles are linked to the original two in a similar way; and so a strong platform results, in which the poles converge in the direction of the thin ends like the arms of a fan. Another platform is constructed exactly similar to the one just described. The only tools used in the making of these structures are tomahawks and large stone and shell scrapers.
All completed, one of the platforms is dragged down the beach and floated; then the second is taken to the water and lifted so that it rides upon the former with the converging ends reversed. The raft is now ready for use ([Plate XXII], 2).
Crudely fashioned paddles are used, about six feet long, and similar to those of the Melville and Bathurst Islanders. The local name for these is “kanbanna.”