The animal which is most characteristic of Australia is the kangaroo. Of this singular type some forty species are known, varying in size from that of a tall man to that of a mouse. Some of them are known as kangaroos, and others as kangaroo-rats, but the type is the same in all. As their form implies, they are made for leaping over the ground, their enormously long legs and massive development of the hind quarters giving them the requisite power, while their long tails serve to balance them as they pass through the air.
Nearly all the so-called “rats” of Australia belong to the kangaroo tribe, though some are members of other marsupial families. Here I may mention that the nomenclature of the colonists has caused great perplexity and labor to incipient zoölogists. They are told in some books that the dingo is the only Australian animal that is not a marsupial or an edentate, and yet they read in books of travel of the bear, the monkey, the badger, the wolf, the cat, the squirrel, the mole, and so forth. The fact is, that, with the natural looseness of diction common to colonists all over the world, the immigrants have transferred to their new country the nomenclature of the old. To the great trouble of index-searchers, there is scarcely a part of the world inhabited by our colonists where London, Oxford, Boston, and fifty other places are not multiplied. The first large river they meet they are sure to call the Thames, and it is therefore to be expected that natural history should suffer in the same way as geography.
Thus, should, in the course of this account of Australia, the reader come across a passage quoted from some traveller in which the monkey or bear is mentioned, he must remember that the so-called “monkey” and “bear” are identical, and that the animal in question is neither the one nor the other, but a marsupial, known to the natives by the name of koala, and, as if to add to the confusion of names, some travellers call it the sloth.
The so-called “badger” is the wombat, probably called a badger because it lives in holes which it burrows in the ground. The Australian “wolf” is another marsupial, belonging to the Dasyures and the “cat” belongs to the same group. The “squirrels” are all marsupials, and by rights are called phalangists, and it is to this group that the koala really belongs. As to the “hedgehog,” it is the spiny ant-eater or echidna, and the “mole” is the celebrated duck-bill or ornithorhynchus.
With few exceptions these animals are not easily captured, many of them being nocturnal, and hiding in burrows or hollow trees until the shades of night conceal their movements; while others are so shy, active, and watchful, that all the craft of the hunter must be tried before they can be captured. Much the same may be said of the birds, the chief of which, the emu, is nearly as large as an ostrich, and is much valued by the natives as food. It is evident, therefore, that the existence of these peculiar animals must exercise a strong influence on the character of the natives, and must make them more active, wary, and quicksighted than the creatures on which they live.
Possessing, as he does, the most minute acquaintance with every vegetable which can afford him food, and even knowing where to obtain a plentiful supply of food and water in a land where an European could not find a particle of anything eatable, nor discover a drop of moisture in the dry and parched expanse, the Australian native places his chief reliance on animal food, and supports himself almost entirely on the creatures which he kills. His appetite is very indiscriminate; and although he prefers the flesh of the kangaroo and the pigeon, he will devour any beast, bird, reptile, or fish, and will also eat a considerable number of insects. Consequently the life of the Australian savage is essentially one of warfare, not against his fellow-man, but against the lower animals, and, as the reader will see in the course of the following pages, the primary object of his weapons is the hunt, and war only a secondary use to which they are directed.
CHAPTER LXX.
AUSTRALIA—Continued.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES — DRESS AND ORNAMENTS OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA — MODE OF DRESSING THE HAIR — THE “DIBBI-DIBBI” — TATTOOING AND CICATRIZING — PATTERN OF THE SCARS — SIGNIFICATION OF THE VARIOUS PATTERNS — POMP AND VANITY — THE NOSE-BONE — NECKLACES — THE GIRDLE AND TASSEL — TATTOOS AND SCARS AMONG THE WOMEN — THE TURTLE SCAR — HIGH SHOULDERS OF THE AUSTRALIANS — INDIFFERENCE TO DRESS — THEIR FUR MANTLES, AND THEIR USES — THE SEA-GRASS MANTLE — FOOD OF THE AUSTRALIANS — VEGETABLE FOOD — MODE OF PROCURING ROOTS — THE BIYU — THE NARDOO PLANT AND ITS USES — THE “BURKE AND WILLS” EXPEDITION — THE BULRUSH ROOT, ITS USE FOR FOOD AND ROPE MAKING — SUBTERRANEAN WATER STORES — MOLLUSCS, AND MODE OF COLLECTING THEM — HARD WORK FOR THE WOMEN — DIVING FROM THE RAFT — RELAXATION WHEN THEY RETURN HOME — COOKING THE MOLLUSCS AND CRUSTACEA — FISH CATCHING WITH LINE, NET, AND SPEAR — INSECT FOOD — THE BEE CATCHERS — TREE AND EARTH GRUBS, AND MODE OF CATCHING THEM — THE PILEYAH — THE DUGONG — ITS LOCALITIES, AND MODES OF TAKING AND COOKING IT — CAPTURING AND COOKING THE GREEN TURTLE — CURIOUS USE OF THE SUCKING FISH — TAMING THE TURTLE — THE HAWKSBILL TURTLE, AND MODE OF CATCHING IT — TURTLE OIL AND DRIED FLESH — SALE OF TORTOISE-SHELL — TWO FORMS OF AUSTRALIAN OVENS — COOKING AND EATING SNAKES — CATCHING THE SNAKE ALIVE — THE CLOAK AND THE SHIELD — THE DUGONG, AND ITS CAPTURE — SMALL TENACITY OF LIFE — A SAVORY FEAST.
We will now proceed to the various manners and customs of the Australians, not separating them into the arbitrary and fluctuating distinctions of tribes, but describing as briefly as is consistent with justice, the most interesting of their habits, and mentioning those cases where any particular custom seems to be confined to any one tribe or district.
We have in the [illustration No. 1], on page 707, a good example of a native of North Western Australia. The sketch was kindly made by Mr. T. Baines. A profile of the man is given, in order to show the peculiar contour of the face, which, as the reader may see, has nothing of the negro character about it; the boldly prominent nose, the full beard, and the long hair fastened up in a top-knot being the distinguishing features. The man carries in his belt his provisions for the day, namely, a snake and one of the little kangaroo-rats, and having these he knows no care, though of course he would prefer larger game.