CHAPTER VI
A weird duel--The tragedy of the baby whale--My boat is destroyed--A tenmiles' swim--Gigantic prizes--Swimming in the whale's head--I make use ofthe visitors--A fight with an alligator--The old craving--Bitterdisappointment--My mysterious "flying spears"--Dog-like fidelity--Ipresent my "card"--The desert of red sand.
The women of the tribe lived amicably enough together as a rule, but ofcourse they had their differences. They would quarrel about the meritsand demerits of their own families and countries; but the greatest sourceof heartburning and trouble was the importation of a new wife--especiallyif she chanced to be better looking than the others. In such cases, woeto the comparatively pretty wife. The women certainly had a novel way ofsettling their differences. The two combatants would retire to somelittle distance, armed with _one stick between them_. They would thenstand face to face, and one would bend forward meekly, whilst the otherdealt her a truly terrific blow between the shoulders or on the head--notwith a cane or a light stick, be it remembered, but a really formidableclub. The blow (which would be enough to kill an ordinary white woman)would be borne with wonderful fortitude, and then the aggressor wouldhand the club to the woman she had just struck.
The latter would then take a turn; and so it would go on, turn and turnabout, until one of the unfortunate, stoical creatures fell bleeding andhalf-senseless to the earth. The thing was magnificently simple. Thewoman who kept her senses longest, and remained on her legs to the end,was the victor. There was no kind of ill-feeling after theseextraordinary combats, and the women would even dress one another'swounds.
I now come to an event of very great importance in my life. Elsewhere Ihave spoken of my _penchant_ for dugong hunting. Well, one day thissport effectually put an end to all my prospects of reaching civilisationacross the sea. I went forth one morning, accompanied by myever-faithful Yamba and the usual admiring crowd of blacks. In a fewminutes we two were speeding over the sunlit waters, my only weapon beingthe steel harpoon I had brought with me from the island, and about fortyor fifty feet of manilla rope. When we were some miles from land Inoticed a dark-looking object on the surface of the water a little wayahead. Feeling certain it was a dugong feeding on the well-known"grass," I rose and hurled my harpoon at it with all the force I couldmuster. Next moment, to my amazement, the head of a calf whale wasthrust agonisingly into the air, and not until then did I realise whatmanner of creature it was I had struck. This baby whale was aboutfifteen feet long, and it "sounded" immediately on receiving my harpoon.As I had enough rope, or what I considered enough, I did not cut himadrift. He came up again presently, lashing the water with his tail, andcreating a tremendous uproar, considering his size. He then darted offmadly, dashing through the water like an arrow, and dragging our boat atsuch a tremendous pace as almost to swamp us in the foaming wash, the bowwave forming a kind of wall on each side.
Up to this time I had no thought of danger, but just as the baby whalehalted I looked round, and saw to my horror that its colossal mother hadjoined her offspring, and was swimming round and round it like lightning,apparently greatly disturbed by its sufferings. Before I could even cutthe line or attempt to get out of the way, the enormous creature caughtsight of our little craft, and bore down upon us like a fair-sized islandrushing through the sea with the speed of an express train. I shouted toYamba, and we both threw ourselves over the side into the now ragingwaters, and commenced to swim away with long strokes, in order to get asfar as possible from the boat before the catastrophe came which we knewwas at hand. We had not got many yards before I heard a terrific crash,and, looking back, I saw the enormous tail of the great whale toweringhigh out of the water, and my precious boat descending in fragments uponit from a height of from fifteen feet to twenty feet above the agitatedwaters. Oddly enough, the fore-part of the boat remained fixed to therope of the harpoon in the calf. My first thought, even at so terrible amoment, and in so serious a situation, was one of bitter regret for theloss of what I considered the only means of reaching civilisation. Likea flash it came back to me how many weary months of toil and hope andexpectancy I had spent over that darling craft; and I remembered, too,the delirious joy of launching it, and the appalling dismay that struckme when I realised that it was worse than useless to me in the inclosedlagoon. These thoughts passed through my mind in a few seconds.
At this time we had a swim of some _ten miles_ before us, but fortunatelyour predicament was observed from the land, and a crowd of blacks put outin their catamarans to help us. Some of the blacks, as I hinted before,always accompanied me down to the shore on these trips. They nevertired, I think, of seeing me handle my giant "catamaran" and the (tothem) mysterious harpoon.
After the mother whale had wreaked its vengeance upon my unfortunate boatit rejoined its little one, and still continued to swim round and roundit at prodigious speed, evidently in a perfect agony of concern.Fortunately the tide was in our favour, and we were rapidly sweptinshore, even when we floated listlessly on the surface of the water. Thesea was quite calm, and we had no fear of sharks, being well aware thatwe would keep them away by splashing in the water.
Before long, the catamarans came up with us, but although deeply gratefulfor Yamba's and my own safety, I was still greatly distressed at the lossof my boat. Never once did this thought leave my mind. I remembered,too, with a pang, that I had now no tools with which to build another;and to venture out into the open sea on a catamaran, probably for weeks,simply meant courting certain destruction. I was a greater prisoner thanever.
My harpoon had evidently inflicted a mortal wound on the calf whale,because as we looked we saw it lying exhausted on the surface of thewater, and being gradually swept nearer and nearer the shore by the swift-flowing tide. The mother refused to leave her little one however, andstill continued to wheel round it continuously, even when it had reacheddangerously shallow water.
The result was that when the tide turned, both the mother and her calfwere left stranded high and dry on the beach, to the unbounded delightand amazement of the natives, who swarmed round the leviathans, and setup such a terrific uproar, that I verily believe they frightened themother to death. In her dying struggle she lashed the water into aperfect fury with her tail, and even made attempts to lift herself bodilyup. Furious smoke-signals were at once sent up to summon all the tribesin the surrounding country--enemies as well as friends. Next day thecarcasses were washed farther still inshore--a thing for which the blacksgave me additional credit.
I ought to mention here that the loss of my boat was in some measurecompensated for by the enormous amount of prestige which accrued to methrough this whale episode. To cut a long story short, the natives fullybelieved that _I had killed single-handed and brought ashore bothwhales_! And in the _corroborees_ that ensued, the poets almost wentdelirious in trying to find suitable eulogiums to bestow upon the mightywhite hunter. The mother whale surpassed in size any I had ever seen orread about. I measured her length by pacing, and I judged it to benearly 150 feet. My measurements may not have been absolutely accurate,but still the whale was, I imagine, of record size. As she lay there onthe beach her head towered above me to a height of nearly fifteen feet.Never can I forget the scene that followed, when the blacks from thesurrounding country responded to the smoke-signals announcing the captureof the "great fish." From hundreds of miles south came the natives,literally in their thousands--every man provided with his stone tomahawkand a whole armoury of shell knives. They simply swarmed over thecarcasses like vermin, and I saw many of them staggering away under solidlumps of flesh weighing between thirty and forty pounds. The childrenalso took part in the general feasting, and they too swarmed about thewhales like a plague of ants.
A particularly enterprising party of blacks cut an enormous hole in thehead of the big whale, and in the bath of oil that was inside they simplywallowed for hours at a time, only to emerge in a condition that filledme with disgust. There was no question of priority or disputin
g as towhom the tit-bits of the whale should go. Even the visitors were quiteat liberty to take whatever portion they could secure. For about afortnight this cutting-up and gorging went on, but long before this thestench from the decomposing carcasses was so horrible as to be painfullynoticeable at my camp, over a mile away. Some of the flesh was cooked,but most of it was eaten absolutely raw. The spectacle witnessed on thebeach would have been intensely comical were it not so revolting. Manyof the savages, both men and women, had gorged themselves to such anextent as to be absolutely unable to walk; and they rolled about on thesand, tearing at the ground in agony, their stomachs distended in themost extraordinary and disgusting manner. It may amuse you to know thatsmoke-signals were at once sent up for all the "doctors" in the country,and these ministering angels could presently be seen with their massageshells, rubbing the distended stomachs of the sufferers as they lay onthe beach. I saw some men fairly howling with agony, but yet stilldevouring enormous quantities of oil and blubber! Besides the massagetreatment (with the thumbs as well as shells), the "doctors" administereda kind of pill, or pellet, of some green leaf, which they first chewed intheir own mouth and then placed in that of the patient. So magical wasthis potent herb in its action, that I feel sure it would make thefortune of an enterprising syndicate. Other patients, who had obtainedtemporary relief through the kind offices of the medicine-men, returnedto the whales again, and had another enormous gorge. In fact, the blacksbehaved more like wild beasts of the lowest order than men, and in a veryshort time--considering the enormous bulk of the whales--nothing remainedexcept the immense bones.
On the other hand, the orgie had its uses from my point of view, becauseI took advantage of the arrival of so many strange tribes to make myselfacquainted with their chiefs, their languages, and their manners andcustoms, in the hope that these people might be useful to me some daywhen I commenced my journey overland to civilisation. For, of course,all hope of escape by sea had now to be abandoned, since my boat wasdestroyed. Several days elapsed, however, before I was able to remain intheir presence without a feeling of utter disgust. To be precise, Icould not talk to them before they ate, because they were so anxious toget at the food; and after the feast they were too gorged with fat to beable to talk rationally. In all my wanderings amongst the blacks I nevercame across anything that interested them so much as a whale.
Soon after the loss of the boat, Yamba made me a small bark canoe aboutfifteen feet long, but not more than fourteen inches wide, and in this weundertook various little excursions together to the various islands thatstudded the bay. The construction of this little canoe was veryinteresting. Yamba, first of all, heated the bark, and then turned therough part underneath in order that the interior might be perfectlysmooth. She then _sewed_ up the ends, finally giving the little craft acoat of resin, obtained by making incisions in the gum-trees. Of course,I missed my own substantial boat, and it was some little time before Igrew accustomed to the frail canoe, which necessitated the greatestpossible care in handling, and also on the part of the passengersgenerally.
One day I decided to go and explore one of the islands that studdedCambridge Gulf, in search of a kind of shell mud-fish which I was verypartial to. I also wanted to make the acquaintance of the bats or flyingfoxes I had seen rising in clouds every evening at sunset. I requiredthe skins of these curious creatures for sandals. This would perhaps bea year after my advent amongst the blacks. As usual, Yamba was my onlycompanion, and we soon reached a likely island. As I could find nosuitable place for landing, I turned the canoe up a small creek. Fromthis course, however, my companion strongly dissuaded me. Into thecreek, nevertheless, we went, and when I saw it was a hopeless _impasse_,I scrambled ashore and waded through five inches or six inches of mud.The little island was densely covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation,the mangroves coming right down to the water's edge; so that I hadactually to force my way through them to gain the top of the bank. Ithen entered a very narrow track through the forest, the bush on bothsides being so dense as to resemble an impenetrable wall or dense hedge.It is necessary to bear this in mind to realise what followed. I had notgone many yards along this track, when I was horrified to see, right infront of me, an enormous alligator! This great reptile was shufflingalong down the path towards me, evidently making for the water, and itnot only blocked my advance, but also necessitated my immediate retreat.The moment the brute caught sight of me he stopped, and began snappinghis jaws viciously. I confess I was quite nonplussed for the moment asto how best to commence the attack upon this unexpected visitor. It wasimpossible for me to get round him in any way, on account of the densebush on either side of the narrow forest track. I decided, however, tomake a bold dash for victory, having always in mind the prestige that wasso necessary to my existence among the blacks. I therefore walkedstraight up to the evil-looking monster; then, taking a short run, Ileaped high into the air, shot over his head, and landed on his scalyback, at the same time giving a tremendous yell in order to attractYamba, whom I had left in charge of the boat.
The moment I landed on his back I struck the alligator with all my forcewith my tomahawk, on what I considered the most vulnerable part of hishead. So powerful was my stroke, that I found to my dismay that I couldnot get the weapon out of his head again. While I was in thisextraordinary situation--standing on the back of an enormous alligator,and tugging at my tomahawk, embedded in its head--Yamba came rushing upthe path, carrying one of the paddles, which, without a moment'shesitation, she thrust down the alligator's throat as he turned to snapat her. She immediately let go her hold and retreated. The alligatortried to follow her, but the shaft of the paddle caught among some treetrunks and stuck. In this way the monster was prevented from moving hishead, either backwards or forwards, and then, drawing my stiletto, Iblinded him in both eyes, afterwards finishing him leisurely with mytomahawk, when at length I managed to release it. Yamba was immenselyproud of me after this achievement, and when we returned to the mainlandshe gave her tribesmen a graphic account of my gallantry and bravery. Butshe always did this. She was my advance agent and bill-poster, so tosay. I found in going into a new country that my fame had preceded me;and I must say this was most convenient and useful in obtaininghospitality, concessions, and assistance generally. The part I hadplayed in connection with the death of the two whales had already earnedfor me the admiration of the blacks--not only in my own tribe, but allover the adjacent country. And after this encounter with the alligatorthey looked upon me as a very great and powerful personage indeed. Wedid not bring the dead monster back with us, but next day a number of theblacks went over with their catamarans, and towed the reptile back to themainland, where it was viewed with open-mouthed amazement by crowds ofadmiring natives. So great was the estimation in which my prowess washeld, that little scraps of the dead alligator were distributed (asrelics, presumably) among the tribes throughout the whole of thesurrounding country. Singularly enough this last achievement of mine wasconsidered much more commendable than the killing of the whale, for thesimple reason that it sometimes happened they caught a whale themselvesstranded on the beach; whereas the killing of an alligator with theirprimitive weapons was a feat never attempted. They chanted praises in myhonour at night, and wherever I moved, my performances with the whalesand alligator were always the first things to be sung. Nor did I attemptto depreciate my achievements; on the contrary, I exaggerated the factsas much as I possibly could. I described to them how I had fought andkilled the whale with my stiletto in spite of the fact that the monsterhad smashed my boat. I told them that I was not afraid of facinganything single-handed, and I even went so far as to allege that I wasgood enough to go out against a nation! My whole object was to impressthese people with my imaginary greatness, and I constantly made themmarvel at my prowess with the bow and arrow. The fact of my being ableto bring down a bird on the wing was nothing more nor less than a miracleto them. I was given the name of "Winnimah" by these people, because mya
rrows sped like lightning. Six of the alligator's teeth I took formyself, and made them into a circlet which I wore round my head.
Some little time after this incident I decided to remove mydwelling-place to the top of a headland on the other side of the bay,some twenty miles away, where I thought I could more readily discern anysail passing by out at sea. The blacks themselves, who were well awareof my hopes of getting back to my own people, had themselves suggestedthat I might find this a more likely place for the purpose than the low-lying coast on which their tribe was then encamped. They also pointedout to me, however, that I should find it cold living in so exposed aposition. But the hope of seeing passing sails decided me, and onemorning I took my departure, the whole nation of blacks coming out infull force to bid us adieu. I think the last thing they impressed uponme, in their peculiar native way, was that they would always be delightedand honoured to welcome me back among them. Yamba, of course,accompanied me, as also did my dog, and we were escorted across the bayby a host of my native friends in their catamarans. I pitched upon afine bold spot for our dwelling-place, but the blacks assured me that wewould find it uncomfortably cold and windy, to say nothing about theloneliness, which I could not but feel after so much intercourse with thefriendly natives. I persisted, however, and we at length pitched ourencampment, on the bleak headland, which I now know to be CapeLondonderry, the highest northern point of Western Australia.Occasionally some of our black friends would pay us a visit, but we couldnever induce them to locate their village near us.
Day after day, day after day, I gazed wistfully over the sea for hours ata time, without ever seeing a sail, and at last I began to grow somewhatdespondent, and sighed for the companionship of my black friends oncemore. Yamba was unremitting in her endeavours to make life pleasant forme and keep me well supplied with the best of food; but I could see thatshe, too, did not like living on this exposed and desolate spot. So,after a few weeks' experience of life there, I decided to return to mybay home, and later on make preparations for a journey overland to apoint on the Australian coast, where I learned ships quite frequentlypassed. The point in question was Somerset Point, at the extreme northof the Cape York peninsula; and I had learnt of its existence from Jensenwhen we were pearl-fishing. The blacks were delighted to see me on myreturn, and I remained with them several months before attempting my nextjourney. They were keenly anxious that I should join them in theirfighting expeditions, but I always declined, on the ground that I was nota fighting man. The fact of the matter was, that I could never hope tothrow a spear with anything like the dexterity they themselves possessed;and as spears were the principal weapons used in warfare, I was afraid Iwould not show up well at a critical moment. Moreover, the warriorsdefended themselves so dexterously with shields as to be all butinvulnerable, whereas I had not the slightest idea of how to handle ashield. And for the sake of my ever-indispensable prestige, I could notafford to make myself ridiculous in their eyes. I always took good careto let the blacks see me performing only those feats which I felt morallycertain I could accomplish, and accomplish to their amazement.
So far I had won laurels enough with my mysterious arrows or "flyingspears," as the natives considered them, and my prowess with the harpoonand tomahawk was sung in many tribes. And not the least awkward thingabout my position was that I dared not even attempt a little quietpractice in spear-throwing, for fear the blacks should come upon mesuddenly, when I would most certainly lose caste. I had several narrowescapes from this serious calamity, but most of them cannot be publishedhere. I must tell you, though, that the blacks, when drinking at a riveror water-hole, invariably scoop up the water with their hands, and neverput their mouths right down close to the surface of the water. Well, oneday I was guilty of this solecism. I had been out on a huntingexpedition, and reached the water-hole with an intense burning thirst. Mymentor was not with me. I fell on my knees and fairly buried my face inthe life-giving fluid. Suddenly I heard murmurs behind me. I turnedpresently and saw a party of my blacks regarding me with horror. Theysaid I drank like a kangaroo. But Yamba soon came to the rescue, andexplained away the dreadful breach of etiquette, by telling them that Iwas not drinking, but simply cooling my face; when we were alone shesolemnly cautioned me never to do it again.
The months passed slowly away, and I was still living the same monotonouslife among my blacks--accompanying them upon their hunting expeditions,joining in their sports, and making periodical trips inland with Yamba,in preparation for the great journey I proposed to make overland to CapeYork. When I spoke to my devoted companion about my plans, she told meshe was ready to accompany me wherever I went--to leave her people and tobe for ever by my side. Right well I knew that she would unhesitatinglydo these things. Her dog-like fidelity to me never wavered, and I knowshe would have laid down her life for me at any time.
Often I told her of my own home beyond the seas, and when I asked herwhether she would come with me, she would reply, "Your people are mypeople, and your God (spirit) my God. I will go with you wherever youtake me."
At length everything was ready, and I paid a final farewell, as Ithought, to my black friends in Cambridge Gulf, after a little overeighteen months' residence among them. They knew I was venturing on along journey overland to another part of the country many moons distant,in the hope of being able to get into touch with my own people; andthough they realised they should never see me again, they thought mydeparture a very natural thing. The night before we left, a great_corroboree_ was held in my honour. We had a very affectionate leave-taking, and a body of the natives escorted us for the first 100 miles orso of our trip. At last, however, Yamba, myself, and the faithful dogwere left to continue our wanderings alone. The reliance I placed uponthis woman by the way was absolute and unquestioning. I knew that aloneI could not live a day in the awful wilderness through which we were topass; nor could any solitary white man. By this time, however, I had hadinnumerable demonstrations of Yamba's almost miraculous powers in the wayof providing food and water when, to the ordinary eye, neither wasforthcoming. I should have mentioned that before leaving my black peopleI had provided myself with what I may term a native passport--a kind ofMasonic mystic stick, inscribed with certain cabalistic characters. Everychief carried one of these sticks. I carried mine in my long, luxurianthair, which I wore "bun" fashion, held in a net of opossum hair. Thispassport stick proved invaluable as a means of putting us on good termswith the different tribes we encountered. The chiefs of the blacks neverventured out of their own country without one of these mysterious sticks,neither did the native message-bearers. I am sure I should not have beenable to travel far without mine.
Whenever I encountered a strange tribe I always asked to be taken beforethe chief, and when in his presence I presented my little stick, he wouldat once manifest the greatest friendliness, and offer us food and drink.Then, before I took my departure, he also would inscribe his sign uponthe message stick, handing it back to me and probably sending me on toanother tribe with an escort. It often happened, however, that I waspersonally introduced to another tribe whose "frontier" joined that of mylate hosts, and in such cases my passport was unnecessary.
At first the country through which our wanderings led us was hilly andwell wooded, the trees being particularly fine, many of them towering upto a height of 150 feet or 200 feet. Our principal food consisted ofroots, rats, snakes, opossum, and kangaroo. The physical conditions ofthe country were constantly changing as we moved farther eastward, andYamba's ingenuity was often sorely taxed to detect the whereabouts of thevarious roots necessary for food. It was obviously unfair to expect herto be familiar with the flora and fauna of every part of the greatAustralian Continent. Sometimes she was absolutely nonplused, and had tostay a few days with a tribe until the women initiated her into the bestmethods of cooking the roots of the country. And often we could notunderstand the language. In such cases, though, when spoken words wereunlike those uttered in Yamba's country, we r
esorted to a wonderful sign-language which appears to be general among the Australian blacks. Allthat Yamba carried was a basket made of bark, slung over her shoulder,and containing a variety of useful things, including some needles madeout of the bones of birds and fish; a couple of light grinding-stones forcrushing out of its shell a very sustaining kind of nut found on the palmtrees, &c. Day after day we walked steadily on in an easterly direction,guiding ourselves in the daytime by the sun, and in the evening byopossum scratches on trees and the positions of the ant-hills, which arealways built facing the east. We crossed many creeks and rivers,sometimes wading and at others time swimming.
Gradually we left the hilly country behind, and after about five or sixweeks' tramping got into an extraordinary desert of red sand, which gaveoff a dust from our very tracks that nearly suffocated us. Each water-hole we came across now began to contain less and less of the preciousliquid, and our daily _menu_ grew more and more scanty, until at lengthwe were compelled to live on practically nothing but a few roots andstray rats. Still we plodded on, finally striking a terrible spinifexcountry, which was inconceivably worse than anything we had hithertoencountered. In order to make our way through this spinifex (theterrible "porcupine grass" of the Australian interior), we were bound tofollow the tracks made by kangaroos or natives, otherwise we should havemade no progress whatever. These tracks at times wandered about zigzagfashion, and led us considerable distances out of our course, but, allthe same, we dare not leave them. Not only was water all butunobtainable here, but our skin was torn with thorns at almost everystep. Yamba was terribly troubled when she found she could no longerprovide for my wants. Fortunately the dew fell heavily at night, and asufficient quantity would collect on the foliage to refresh me somewhatin the morning. How eagerly would I lick the precious drops from theleaves! Curiously enough, Yamba herself up to this time did not seemdistressed from lack of water; but nothing about this marvellous womansurprised me. It took us about ten days to pass through the awfulspinifex desert, and for at least eight days of that period we werevirtually without water, tramping through never-ending tracts of scrub,prickly grass, and undulating sand-hills of a reddish colour. Often andoften I blamed myself bitterly for ever going into that frightful countryat all. Had I known beforehand that it was totally uninhabited Icertainly should not have ventured into it. We were still going dueeast, but in consequence of the lack of water-holes, my heroic guidethought it advisable to strike a little more north.