Our acquaintances on shore spoke in sanguine terms of the prospects of the settlement, and the future greatness which is in store for the northern territory; but to us strangers the appearance of Port Darwin and the surrounding country was by no means indicative of progress, or suggestive of a superabundance of the elements of greatness. Indeed, although the settlement has been in existence since 1872, yet the white population of the whole northern territory does not exceed two hundred; and if it were not for the Chinamen, who have been attracted thither by the "gold-rush," and whose numbers—including those at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields—amount to 6,000, there would be almost no manual labour available for the white colonists.
The auriferous quartz reefs, which here constitute what are called the "gold-fields," are situated on the side of a range of hills beginning at a distance of about one hundred miles from Port Darwin, in a southerly direction. The usual route thither is by steamboat for twenty-five miles to Southport, a small settlement at the southern extremity of one of the arms of the inlet, and thence by cart track for eighty miles. Unfortunately, during the wet season this track is almost impassable. The gold is obtained from the ore by crushing and amalgamating with mercury in the usual way. In this country the crushing or stamping machines are known as "batteries," and I believe in the northern territory they are worked entirely by steam power. The average yield of gold from the reefs ranges from one and a quarter to one and a half ounces per ton of crushed material, although rock has been met with containing no less than twenty ounces per ton. The latter, however, is altogether exceptional. There are in the same localities alluvial diggings worked in a small way by Chinamen, but the yield of gold is insignificant compared with that from the reefs. I find it stated in the returns furnished by the customs officer at Port Darwin that during the year ending 31st of March, 1881, the northern territory exported 10,1071⁄2 ounces, valued at £36,227.
I was told that at the time of our visit there were only two genuine squatters in the whole northern territory. From their stations is drawn the beef supply for the people living at Port Darwin, Southport, and the gold-fields, and it would seem that the supply was quite equal to the demand. Most of the land in the territory is now held on lease by speculators, who pay to the South Australian Government an annual rental of sixpence per square mile, which gives them, under certain conditions, a right of pre-emption, and these speculators now hold on to the land with a view to ultimately disposing of their interest to bonâ fide settlers at a large profit to themselves. But until the Colonial Government takes the initiative in affording facilities for the conveyance of produce from the interior to Port Darwin, there seems little likelihood of the land being taken up for either agricultural or pastoral purposes.
The aboriginal inhabitants are numerous in this part of Australia. Those in the vicinity of Port Darwin are of the tribe of "Larikias." In company with Dr. Morice, the government medical officer, I visited two native encampments, which were situated a few hundred yards apart, and at a distance of about half-a-mile from the settlement. One of the camps was on an elevated plateau, covered with thin grass and a sprinkling of scraggy bushes, while the other was at the foot of a high cliff, and immediately adjoining the beach. We found in camp a large number of men, women, and children, most of whom were lolling about on the ground, smoking short wooden pipes, polishing their skins with red ochre, and producing a rude burlesque of music out of pieces of hollow reed about four feet long, which they blew like cow-horns. The stature of the men was much superior to that of the natives we had seen previously on the east coast; but although strong and active, they presented a slim lanky appearance, especially as regards their lower extremities. Their features were regular, and for the most part pleasing; the hair was long, black, and wavy, sometimes hanging in ringlets; the nose was aquiline, with broad alæ nasi, and having the septum perforated for the reception of a white stick like a pipe-stem; the upper lip, cheek, and chin were furnished with a moderate growth of hair; the teeth were regular—no incisors removed; trunk and extremities almost devoid of hair; the skin of the arms, chest, and abdomen was decorated with cicatrices which stood out from the skin in bold relief, having the form and consistency of cords. On the arms these scars were disposed in parallel vertical lines, while on the chest and abdomen they were in horizontal curves. Dr. Morice informed me that these ghastly decorations were produced in some way unknown by means of a sharp cutting instrument, and that no foreign substance is introduced into the wound. He had been unsuccessful in all his efforts to ascertain how the peculiar raised and indurated character of the sore is produced. The women had fewer scar decorations than the men, but had the same nasal perforation, in which they also wore sticks. All seemed cheerful, happy, and contented with their lot. Their huts were of the usual unsubstantial character, but were, however, an improvement on the "shelter-screens" of the eastern aborigines. They were constructed of boughs of trees supplemented with stray bits of iron sheeting, and other scraps of wood and iron gleaned from the settlement, and they were provided with an arched roof, so that the whole structure was of the shape of a half cylinder lying on its side. Many, however, were little more than "shelter screens," to protect them from the prevailing winds.
ABORIGINES OF NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA.
Their weapons consisted of spears and clubs. The spears were of different shapes and sizes, some being provided with two or three long slender tapering points of hard wood, deeply serrated along one side, while others were tipped with rudely chipped pieces of sandstone. The former is used for spearing fish, the latter for fighting purposes. The "woomerahs," or throwing sticks, which they always use in propelling their spears, are of two kinds. The most common is about four feet in length, flat and lathlike, and is peculiar in having the angular hook, which engages the butt of the spear, projecting in a plane at right angles to the flat surface of the stick. The other is a light cylindrical stick tapering from the handle end, and its hook consists of a conical-shaped piece of wood, which is secured at an oblique angle to the distal end by means of gum and fibre lashings. The clubs are about four feet long, are made of a hard heavy wood of a red colour, and are fashioned with double trenchant edges towards the striking end, so that a moderate blow from one of these formidable weapons would effectually cleave open any ordinary skull. The boomerang is not used in this part of Australia.
Small-pox has made sad ravages among this tribe of natives, and accounts for the large proportion whom we found to be wholly or partially blind.
The season of the north-east monsoon had just come to a close, and with it the drought and intermittent fever which render Port Darwin an undesirable residence for six months of the year. Calms usually prevail during the month of November, and in December the N.W. monsoon is ushered in by copious showers of rain, an event looked forward to with much satisfaction by the inhabitants of Port Darwin. The annual rainfall during the last half-a-dozen years has ranged from fifty-six to seventy-seven inches, nearly all of which is precipitated during the months of December, January, February, March, and April. Strange to say, during the rainy season the settlement is healthy and entirely free from malarial fever. But shortly before our arrival there had been an epidemic of beriberi—a disease not indigenous to Australia—which had probably been introduced by the Chinese immigrants.
I devoted one forenoon during low-water springtides to an inspection of the beach between tide marks, but excepting a few sponges obtained nothing of particular interest. The beaches in the immediate vicinity of our anchorage were smothered with a thick coating of slimy mud, and were consequently not favourable to marine life. With the dredge I was more successful. About the centre of the harbour, in eleven fathoms, the bottom is of sand, and here the fauna is abundant. Of Polyzoa I obtained representatives of several genera, including Retepora, Eschara, Crisia, Idmonea, Cellepora, and Lepralia; among Crustaceans the genera Myra, Phlyxia, Hiastemis, and Lambrus afforded many specimens. Many silicious Sponges were also found; among Shells, Murex and Ranella were the principal genera observed; and in hauling the dredge over some muddy ground I got a Virgularia about eight inches long.