The Fishing-Lines Are Made Of The Bark
Of A Shrub.
The women roll shreds of this on the inside of the thigh,
so as to twist it together, carefully inserting the ends of every fresh piece
into the last made.
They are not as strong as lines of equal size
formed of hemp. The fish-hooks are chopped with a stone out of a particular
shell, and afterwards rubbed until they become smooth. They are
very much curved, and not barbed. Considering the quickness with which
they are finished, the excellence of the work, if it be inspected,
is admirable. In all these manufactures the sole of the foot is used
both by men and women as a work-board. They chop a piece of wood,
or aught else upon it, even with an iron tool, without hurting themselves.
It is indeed nearly as hard as the hoof of an ox.
Their method of procuring fire is this. They take a reed and shave one side
of the surface flat. In this they make a small incision to reach the pith,
and introducing a stick, purposely blunted at the end, into it, turn it round
between the hands (as chocolate is milled) as swiftly as possible,
until flame be produced. As this operation is not only laborious,
but the effect tedious, they frequently relieve each other at the exercise.
And to avoid being often reduced to the necessity of putting it in practice,
they always, if possible, carry a lighted stick with them, whether
in their canoes or moving from place to place on land.
Their treatment of wounds must not be omitted. A doctor is, with them,
a person of importance and esteem, but his province seems rather to charm away
occult diseases than to act the surgeon's part, which, as a subordinate
science, is exercised indiscriminately. Their excellent habit of body*,
the effect of drinking water only, speedily heals wounds without an exterior
application which with us would take weeks or months to close.
They are, nevertheless, sadly tormented by a cutaneous eruption,
but we never found it contagious. After receiving a contusion,
if the part swell they fasten a ligature very tightly above it, so as to stop
all circulation. Whether to this application, or to their undebauched habit,
it be attributable, I know not, but it is certain that a disabled limb
among them is rarely seen, although violent inflammations from bruises,
which in us would bring on a gangrene, daily happen. If they get burned,
either from rolling into the fire when asleep, or from the flame catching
the grass on which they lie (both of which are common accidents)
they cover the part with a thin paste of kneaded clay, which excludes the air
and adheres to the wound until it be cured, and the eschar falls off.
[*Their native hardiness of constitution is great. I saw a woman on the day
she was brought to bed, carry her new-born infant from Botany Bay
to Port Jackson, a distance of six miles, and afterwards light a fire
and dress fish.]
Their form of government, and the detail of domestic life, yet remain untold.
The former cannot occupy much space. Without distinctions of rank,
except those which youth and vigour confer, theirs is strictly a system
of 'equality' attended with only one inconvenience - the strong triumph
over the weak. Whether any laws exist among them for the punishment
of offences committed against society; or whether the injured party
in all cases seeks for relief in private revenge, I will not positively affirm;
though I am strongly inclined to believe that only the latter method prevails.
I have already said that they are divided into tribes; but what constitutes
the right of being enrolled in a tribe, or where exclusion begins and ends,
I am ignorant. The tribe of Cameragal is of all the most numerous
and powerful. Their superiority probably arose from possessing
the best fishing ground, and perhaps from their having suffered less
from the ravages of the smallpox.
In the domestic detail there may be novelty, but variety is unattainable.
One day must be very like another in the life of a savage. Summoned by
the calls of hunger and the returning light, he starts from his beloved
indolence, and snatching up the remaining brand of his fire, hastens
with his wife to the strand to commence their daily task. In general
the canoe is assigned to her, into which she puts the fire and pushes off
into deep water, to fish with hook and line, this being the province
of the women. If she have a child at the breast, she takes it with her.
And thus in her skiff, a piece of bark tied at both ends with vines,
and the edge of it but just above the surface of the water, she pushes out
regardless of the elements, if they be but commonly agitated.
While she paddles to the fishing-bank, and while employed there, the child
is placed on her shoulders, entwining its little legs around her neck
and closely grasping her hair with its hands. To its first cries
she remains insensible, as she believes them to arise only from
the inconvenience of a situation, to which she knows it must be inured.
But if its plaints continue, and she supposes it to be in want of food,
she ceases her fishing and clasps it to her breast. An European spectator
is struck with horror and astonishment at their perilous situation,
but accidents seldom happen. The management of the canoe alone appears
a work of unsurmountable difficulty, its breadth is so inadequate
to its length. The Indians, aware of its ticklish formation, practise
from infancy to move in it without risk. Use only could reconcile them
to the painful position in which they sit in it. They drop in the middle
of the canoe upon their knees, and resting the buttocks on the heels,
extend the knees to the sides, against which they press strongly,
so as to form a poise sufficient to retain the body in its situation,
and relieve the weight which would otherwise fall wholly upon the toes.
Either in this position or cautiously moving in the centre of the vessel,
the mother tends her child, keeps up her fire (which is laid on a small patch
of earth), paddles her boat, broils fish and provides in part the subsistence
of the day.
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