They also feed on birds, and especially on ducks, which they ensnare with nets, in the possession of every tribe. These nets are very well worked, much resembling our own in structure, and they are made of the wild flax which grows in tufts near the river. These are easily gathered by the gins, who manage the whole process of net-making. They give each tuft (soon after gathering it) a twist, also biting it a little, and in that state it is laid about on the roof of their huts until dry. Fishing nets are made of various similar materials, being often very large; and attached to some of them I have seen half-inch cordage which might have been mistaken for the production of a rope-walk. But the largest of their nets are those set across the Darling for the purpose of catching ducks which fly along the river in considerable flocks. These nets are strong, with wide meshes; and when occasion requires they are stretched across the river from a lofty pole erected for the purpose on one side to some large opposite tree on the other. Such poles are permanently fixed, supported by substantial props, and it was doubtless one of them that Captain Sturt supposed to have been erected to propitiate some deity.
The native knows well the alleys green through which at twilight the thirsty pigeons and parrots rush towards the water; and there, with a smaller net hung up, he sits down and makes a fire ready to roast the birds which may fall into his snare.
These savages have a power of manipulating with their toes so as to do many things surprising to men who wear shoes.* This power they acquire chiefly by ascending trees from infancy, their mode of climbing depending as much on the toes as the fingers. With the toes they gather freshwater mussels (unio) from the muddy bottom of the rivers or lagoons; and the heaps of these shells beside their old fireplaces, which are numerous along the banks, show that this shellfish is the daily food of at least the gins and children. In their attempts to steal from us their feet were much employed. They would tread softly on any article, seize it with the toes, pass it up the back, or between the arm and side, and so conceal it in the armpit, or between the beard and throat.
(*Footnote.
Morruda, yerraba, tundy kin arra,
Morruda, yerraba, min yin guiny wite ma la.
Song of Wollondilly natives; meaning:
On road the white man walks with creaking shoes;
He cannot walk up trees, nor his feet-fingers use.)
SUPERSTITIONS.
The hoary old priest of the Spitting-tribe was intense on tricks of this kind, assisted by his people, and while he was thus plotting or effecting mischief he chanted that extraordinary hymn to some deity, or devil. It was evident that these people were actuated by superstitious ideas of some kind; but which, judging by their acts, had no connection with any good principle. When the two old men paced thrice round our lowest position on the Darling, chanting their song, throwing their arms to the sky, and rubbing themselves with dust, arrangements were no doubt in progress for the destruction of strangers, of whose goodwill towards them they had seen abundant proofs, not only in our conduct, but in the useful presents we had made them. They had no grounds for any suspicion of danger from us; yet, that these ceremonies were observed the better to ensure success in the plans for our destruction admitted of little doubt, for they were connected with all their hostile movements. Yet even in defence of such an implacable disposition towards the civilised intruder, much may be urged. No reflecting man can witness the quickness and intelligence of the aborigines as displayed in their instant comprehension of our numerous appliances without feelings of sympathy. He must perceive that these people cannot be so obtuse as not to anticipate in the advance of such a powerful race the extirpation of their own, in a country which barely affords to them the means of existence. Such must be the conclusion in their minds, although it is to be hoped that the results of our invasion may be different; and that if these savage people do not learn habits of industry, a breed of wild cattle may at least compensate them for the loss of the kangaroo and opossum.
The population of the Darling seemed to have been much reduced by smallpox, or some cutaneous disease which must have been very virulent, considering their dirty mode of living; and its violence was indeed apparent in the marks on those who survived.
CONDITION OF THE FEMALES.
Considering the industry and skill of their gins or wives in making nets, sewing cloaks, mussel fishing, rooting, etc., and their patient submission to labour, always carrying the bags which contain the whole property of the family, the great value of a gin to one of these lazy fellows may be easily imagined. Accordingly the possession of them appears to be associated with all their ideas of fighting; while on the other hand the gins have it in their power on such occasions to evince that universal characteristic of the fair, a partiality for the brave. Thus it is that after a battle they do not always follow their fugitive husbands from the field, but frequently go over, as a matter of course, to the victors, even with young children on their backs; and thus it was, probably, after we had made the lower tribes sensible of our superiority, that the three gins followed our party, beseeching us to take them with us.
Depending chiefly on the river for subsistence, they do not wander so much as those who hunt the kangaroo and opossum in the higher country near our colony. Hence the more permanent nature of the huts on the Darling; and it would appear that different tribes occupy different portions of the river. The Spitting tribe desired our men to pour out the water from the buckets, as if it had belonged to them; digging at the same time a hole in the ground to receive it when poured out; and I have more than once seen a river chief, on receiving a tomahawk, point to the stream and signify that we were then at liberty to take water from it, so strongly were they possessed with the notion that the water was their own.