They do not appear to eat any animal food raw; but having no vessel in which water can be boiled, they either broil it upon the coals, or bake it in a hole by the help of hot stones, in the same manner as is practised by the inhabitants of the islands in the South Seas.
Whether they are acquainted with any plant that has an intoxicating quality, we do not know; but we observed that several of them held leaves of some sort constantly in their mouths, as an European does tobacco, and an East-Indian betele; we never saw the plant, but when they took it from their mouths at our request; possibly it might be a species of the betele, but whatever it was, it had no effect upon the teeth or lips.
As they have no nets, they catch fish only by striking, or with a hook and line, except such as they find in the hollows of the rocks, and shoals, which are dry at half-ebb.
Their manner of hunting we had no opportunity to see; but we conjectured, by the notches which they had every where cut in large trees in order to climb them, that they took their station near the tops of them, and there watched for such animals as might happen to pass near enough to be reached by their lances: It is possible also, that in this situation they might take birds when they came to roost.
I have observed that when they went from our tents upon the banks of Endeavour River, we could trace them by the fires which they kindled in their way; and we imagined that these fires were intended some way for the taking the kangaroo, which we observed to be so much afraid of fire, that our dogs could scarcely force it over places which had been newly burnt, though the fire was extinguished.
They produce fire with great facility, and spread it in a wonderful manner. To produce it they take two pieces of dry soft wood, one is a stick about eight or nine inches long, the other piece is flat: The stick they shape into an obtuse point at one end, and pressing it upon the other, turn it nimbly by holding it between both their hands as we do a chocolate mill, often shifting their hands up, and then moving them down upon it, to increase the pressure as much as possible. By this method they get fire in less than two minutes, and from the smallest spark they increase it with great speed and dexterity. We have often seen one of them run along the shore, to all appearance with nothing in his hand, who stooping down for a moment, at the distance of every fifty or a hundred yards, left fire behind him, as we could see first by the smoke and then by the flame among the drift-wood, and other litter which was scattered along the place. We had the curiosity to examine one of these planters of fire, when he set off, and we saw him wrap up a small spark in dry grass, which, when he had run a little way, having been fanned by the air that his motion produced, began to blaze; he then laid it down in a place convenient for, his purpose, inclosing a spark of it in another quantity of grass, and so continued his course.
There are perhaps few things in the history of mankind more extraordinary than the discovery and application of fire: It will scarcely be disputed that the manner of producing it, whether by collision or attrition, was discovered by chance: But its first effects would naturally strike those to whom it was a new object, with consternation and terror: It would appear to be an enemy to life and nature, and to torment and destroy whatever was capable of being destroyed or tormented; and therefore it seems not easy to conceive what should incline those who first saw it receive a transient existence from chance, to reproduce it by design. It is by no means probable that those who first saw fire, approached it with the same caution, as those who are familiar with its effects, so as to be warmed only and not burnt; and it is reasonable to think that the intolerable pain which, at its first appearance, it must produce upon ignorant curiosity, would sow perpetual enmity between this element and mankind; and that the same principle which incites them to crush a serpent, would incite them to destroy fire, and avoid all means by which it would be produced, as soon as they were known. These circumstances considered, how men became sufficiently familiar with it to render it useful, seems to be a problem very difficult to solve: Nor is it easy to account for the first application of it to culinary purposes, as the eating both animal and vegetable food raw, must have become a habit, before there was fire to dress it, and those who have considered the force of habit will readily believe, that to men who had always eaten the flesh of animals raw, it would be as disagreeable dressed, as to those who have always eaten it dressed, it would be raw. It is remarkable that the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego produce fire from a spark by collision, and that the happier natives of this country, New Zealand and Otaheite, produce it by the attrition of one combustible substance against another: Is there not then some reason to suppose that these different operations correspond with the manner in which chance produced fire in the neighbourhood of the torrid and frigid zones? Among the rude inhabitants of a cold country, neither any operation of art, or occurrence of accident, could be supposed so easily to produce fire by attrition, as in a climate where every thing is hot, dry, and adust, teeming with a latent fire which a slight degree of motion was sufficient to call forth; in a cold country therefore, it is natural to suppose that fire was produced by the accidental collision of two metallic substances, and in a cold country, for that reason, the same expedient was used to produce it by design: But in hot countries, where two combustible substances easily kindle by attrition, it is probable that the attrition of such substances first produced fire, and here it was therefore natural for art to adopt the same operation, with a view to produce the same effect. It may indeed be true that fire is now produced in many cold countries by attrition, and in many hot by a stroke; but perhaps upon enquiry there may appear reason to conclude that this has arisen from the communication of one country with another, and that with respect to the original production of fire in hot and cold countries, the distinction is well founded.
There may perhaps be some reason to suppose that men became gradually acquainted with the nature and effects of fire, by its permanent existence in a volcano, there being remains of volcanoes, or vestiges of their effects, in almost every part of the world: By a volcano, however, no method of producing fire, otherwise than by contact, could be learnt; the production and application of fire therefore, still seem to afford abundant subject of speculation to the curious.[93]
[Footnote 93: Mr Jones, who writes on this subject in one of his Physiological Disquisitions, is not a little displeased with some of the observations made here, which seem to imply that mankind were left destitute of the knowledge of fire, and had to acquire it by mere accidental notice.--Mr Jones's zeal, however, appears more conspicuous in this matter than either his judgment or his acquaintance with the remarks of various authors. President Goguet has shewn his usual industry in this matter. He refers to a considerable number of authors for proof that the knowledge of fire was by no means very extensive among the early nations, and that even where it existed, it had been often discovered by accident. A summary of what this excellent writer has said on the subject, with a quotation or two, cannot fail to be interesting to the reader, and will scarcely run any risk of being judged either ill-timed or tedious. The Chinese, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and several other nations, admit that their ancestors were once without the use of fire. This is said on the authority of Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Sanchoniathon, authors mentioned by Bannier, as Hesiod, Lucretius, Virgil, &c. &c. And we learn from Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Plutarch, and others, that in their times there were nations who were either quite ignorant of fire, or had but just learned its nature and effects. These authorities are strengthened by what has been related of people discovered in modern times. Thus the inhabitants of the Marian or Ladrone Islands, and also of the Philippine and Canaries, are said to have been without this knowledge, at the time of their discovery. We are told besides of several nations in America and Africa being in the same state of ignorance. As to these, however, it is but fair to apprize the reader, that the authorities adduced by the President are not such as can be implicitly relied on--a remark, perhaps, which some readers will not fail to apply to certain of the writers formerly mentioned. The Egyptians owed their knowledge of fire to thunder and lightning; the Phoenicians to the effect of the wind on woods and forests; volcanos, burning earth, (as in a province of Persia) and boiling wells (frequent in several countries), gave rise to this knowledge amongst other people. "We may form very probable conjectures about the methods which men at first used to procure fire, when they had occasion for it, from ancient traditions, and from the present practices of the savages. They could not be long in discovering, that by striking two flints each against other, there went sparks from them:" "They remarked, that by rubbing two pieces of hard wood very strongly against each other, they raised sparks; nay, that by rubbing for some time two pieces of wood, they raised flame." "The Chinese say that one of their first kings taught them this latter method; and the Greeks had nearly the same tradition." This method, we learn from Lawson, was in use amongst the natives of Carolina, before they became acquainted, with the use of steel and flints. "They got their fire," says he, "with sticks, which by vehement collision, or rubbing together, take fire." "You are to understand," he adds, "that the two sticks they use to strike fire withal, are never of one sort of wood, but always differ from each other." Indeed it is probable that this method has been very generally practised. Seneca makes mention of it in the 2d book, chap. 22. of his Nat. Quæst., and he specifies some of the kinds of wood known by the shepherds to be fit for the purpose, "sicut lauris, hederæ, et alia in hunc usum nota pastoribus." This is noticed by Mr Jones, who gives it as his opinion that the lauris, here spoken of, is the bay-tree, which, according to the poet Lucretius, is remarkable for its inflammability. The reader may desire to see the opinion of Mr Jones as to the origin of man's acquaintance with fire.--It is certainly worthy of consideration, and supposing it restricted to the parent of our race, and his immediate offspring, may be held with no small confidence. It embraces indeed a wider field than can possibly be investigated in this place. "The first family," says he, "placed by the Creator upon this earth, offered sacrifices; which being an article of religious duty, they were certainly possessed of the means of performing it, and consequently of the knowledge and use of fire, without which it could not be practised. The next generation presents us with artificers in brass and iron, which could not possibly be wrought without the complete knowledge of fire; neither indeed could any works of art be well carried on. The account of this affair in the Bible is much more natural, because it is much more agreeable to the goodness of God, and the dignity of the human species, than to suppose, on the principles of a wild and savage philosophy (alluding to Dr Hawkesworth's poor conjectures, as Mr Jones styles them), that men were left ignorant of the use of an element intended for their accommodation and support. To interdict a man from the use of fire and water, was accounted the same in effect as to send him out of life; so that if men, upon the original terms of their creation, were thus interdicted by the Creator himself, as the Heathen mythologists supposed them to be, they were sent into life upon such terms as others were sent out of it. If we admit any such gloomy suppositions, where shall we stop? If mankind were left destitute in respect to the knowledge of fire, perhaps they were left without language, without food, without clothing, without reason, and in a worse condition than the beasts, who are born with the proper knowledge of life, but man receives it by education; therefore he who taught the beasts by instinct, taught man by information." Much might be said for and against this mode of reasoning, which this place, already so fully occupied, will not admit. The history of fire is involved in difficulties, and has really obtained less attention from men of learning than it deserves. Probably, on appointing the rites of sacrifice, which there is reason to believe was immediately after the first gracious promise to Adam, God testified his acceptance of the offering by fire from heaven, which was the beginning of man's acquaintance with it, and in this manner it is certain God afterwards shewed his approbation.--E.]
The weapons of these people are spears or lances, and these are or different kinds: Some that we saw upon the southern part of the coast had four prongs, pointed with bone, and barbed; the points were also smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish, and made them enter deeper into what they struck. To the northward, the lance has but one point: The shaft is made of cane, or the stalk of a plant somewhat resembling a bulrush, very straight and light, and from eight to fourteen feet long, consisting of several joints, where the pieces are let into each other, and bound together; to this are fitted points of different kinds; some are of hard heavy wood, and some are the bones of fish: We saw several that were pointed with the stings of the sting-ray, the largest that they could procure, and barbed with several that were smaller, fastened on in a contrary direction; the points of wood were also sometimes armed with sharp pieces of broken shells, which were stuck in, and at the junctures covered with resin: The lances that are thus barbed, are indeed dreadful weapons, for when once they have taken place, they can never be drawn back without tearing away the flesh, or leaving the sharp ragged splinters of the bone or shell which forms the beard, behind them in the wound. These weapons are thrown with great force and dexterity; if intended to wound at a short distance, between ten and twenty yards, simply with the hand, but if at the distance of forty or fifty, with an instrument which we called a throwing-stick. This is a plain smooth piece of a hard reddish wood, very highly polished, about two inches broad, half an inch thick, and three feet long, with a small knob, or hook at one end, and a cross piece about three or four inches long at the other: The knob at one end is received in a small dent or hollow, which is made for that purpose in the shaft of the lance near the point, but from which it easily slips, upon being impelled forward: When the lance is laid along upon this machine, and secured in a proper position by the knob, the person that is to throw it holds it over his shoulder, and after shaking it, delivers both the throwing-stick and lance with all his force; but the stick being stopped by the cross piece which comes against the shoulder, with a sudden jerk, the lance flies forward with incredible swiftness, and with so good an aim, that at the distance of fifty yards these Indians were more sure of their mark than we could be with a single bullet. Besides these lances, we saw no offensive weapon upon this coast, except when we took our last view of it with our glasses, and then we thought we saw a man with a bow and arrows, in which it is possible we might be mistaken. We saw, however, at Botany Bay, a shield or target of an oblong shape, about three feet long, and eighteen inches broad, which was made of the bark of a tree: This was fetched out of a hut by one of the men that opposed our landing, who, when he ran away, left it behind him, and upon taking it up, we found that it had been pierced through with a single pointed lance near the center. These shields are certainly in frequent use among the people here; for though this was the only one that we saw in their possession, we frequently found trees from which they appeared manifestly to have been cut, the marks being easily distinguished from those that were made by cutting buckets: Sometimes also we found the shields cut out, but not yet taken off from the tree, the edges of the bark only being a little raised by wedges, so that these people appear to have discovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and stronger by being suffered to remain upon the trunk after it has been cut round.