Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-05
AMONG THE SLAVES.
Carl LumhOltZ Tells About the Can.
nibal AbOrigines of Australia
Whom He Visited.
They Are Black and Are Fond of
Snakes. Lizards, and Insects
as Diet.

1
| Boston Herald, Carl Lumholtz of the Royal
Academy Of Sciences of Chrlstiana gave a
HIGHLY interesting account of his long resi-
de1ce among the cannibal aborigines of
Australia. He began his narrative with a
description of the chief physical and natural
characteristics of the ''land of the dawn
ing and went on to state how it fell to
| his lot to visit Australia as naturalist and
| investigator. ''To reach the part of north
! ern Queensland that | visited, he went on
to say. ''you should take coasting vessel
| and travel up the eastern coast as far as
| HI bert river. Then take horse and
carry your supplies of dried beef, Hour,
! tobacco, and, if you are naturalist, nipple
ments of taxidermy, Photographic camera,
and such other apparatus. as experience sug-
! gests you will need, and strike into the IN
i terror. did so and after few miles, or
j what would seemE to an American a few
miles, say fifty, found myself In the heart
! of country where few white men had
ever trod pitched my camp In a de-
] serted cattle station, where buildings were
/ in the charge of one old man. Though we
were the only two Europeans in all that
part of Queensland he was one of the most
! disagreeable white man | ever met. The
/ white settlers remain in the lowlands and
| never come into the thickets of the noun
! tain districts Here, in natural conditions
: as yet unchanged, dwell the black aborig-
! ines. whom no white man cares to dis
| turb. For he can find there neither gold
nor diamonds nor anything else that would
tempt him to encounter the difficulties of
! a journey to their haunts
Il had, however, longed to study these
savages, the Australian aborigines, the
! lowest of the human race, in their actual
conditions of life. For the chronological
student no phase of its human life is so in
| teresting as the most primitive one. And
as you can get no reliable knowledge of a
people except by living among them made
up my mind to live with the savages in
! their huts. 4 further inducement to risk
the dangers connected with such stay was
my belief that by their help / could get
many specimens of Australian fauna which
could In no other way be procured. Of
course, | could not at once go to live with
them, but had to work my way gradually
Having seen then in Australia more than
a year | had acquired some experience as
to how to proceed with them. | now first
began to associate with the so-called civil
lied blacks, and through them | by degrees
became acquainted with other tribes until
! | lived with natives who were in the most
primitive state of life and had never come
into contact with a white man. By civil
lied blacks we generally understand such
of the natives as have to some degree been
affected by European culture. but the ex-
tent of their civilization may be briefly
summed up thus: That civilized black
knows that he will be shot dead if he kills
European; is greatly addicted to tobacco,
and fond of wearing clothes which he con-
siders more as an ornament than as use
full article
1.-The natives living around my head
quarters at Herbert Vale had during the
last couple of years commenced to visit the
station every now and then and thus they
richly deserved the name of civilized,
though scarcely any of them possessed a
single article of dress. Especially would
they crowd into the station when old Wal
tiers, the keeper of the station house, and
Nelly, an aboriginal girl who served us as a
cook, had killed bullock The bones and
the intestimes used to be their share and
this offal of civilization was considered
such delicacy that they caught it eagerly
with teeth and hands, and the possession
of these valuable leavings was not decided
without general fight.
Il followed these so-called civilized ma
tives on their hunting expeditions. wit
messed their fights and their dances, and
grew familiar with their language and
their customs, until found that | could
venture further into the country and meet
the more savage tribes. [ therefore under
took several expeditions from my head
quarters. The greatest trouble was to get
the blacks to take part In my excursions,
for they are born idlers and have a fund
amental objection to any kind of work.
Luckily, in the last six or seven months of
my stay In that region happened to find
really good servant. He stuck to me
wherever | went, so that my position from
the time of his advent grew much more
favorable. He was by no means an ordi-
nary black, but was possessed of a peculiar
vein of naivette. and so he often blurted
out ideas and information of the greatest
value. In spite of this he was not at all free
from the treachery characteristic of all the
blacks. Nevertheless he was better than
the others and saved my life many a time
Of course | dare not trust my life to:him
unreservedly, for all the blacks are like
children, the sport of caprice and the In
spiration of the moment, and are especial
~ prone to deceit. The part of US fortunate
enough to find, as a rule, four or FIVE of the
blacks willing to go with us, sometimes d
whole tribe with its women and children
As far as this method was possible | rode
alone while my blacks went on in front
one of them leading my back-horse. Al
the foot of the mountains camp was
pitched and here the horses were left be-
hind, while the saddles and brides were
placed in a tree, so that the wild dogs
should not get at them. Then we went
up the mountain on foot, the dense under
wood there, of course, being impossible
for horses. My provisions consisted of four
teen to fifteen pices of oxhesh, picked anC
dried, with a small quantity of wheat
-four to be baked into bread in the no
ashes, and some sugar. When these pro
visions were exhausted, which was pretty
quickly, lived like the abcrigines, OF
young snakes, lizards, larvae, eggs and tht
like My outfit included large, white
) wooden blanket that was a standing won
der and constant envy of the blacks. A:
soon as | unpacked it they made chuck
: ing noise, expressive of delight, Will
their tongues, and roared out: ''Tamin
: tamin!' (fat, fat Any thing that is yer.
{ good they call fat.
. lone of the most imortant things
brought with me was tobacco, a create
Joy to the aborigins than the very best food
At Herbert river the blacks did not know
{ before the arrival of the whites, of an,
Stimulant at ALL The tobacco served M
instead of money and for it they will d
{ any thing, even to selling their wives
2 Among those people tobacco is Away
/ smoked, never chewed, and | have oftel
seen mother carryinga child on her back
hand it a pipe, at which the child woul,
\