Idaho semi-weekly world., 1893-05-09
WONDERFUL TaAckEas.

: Black Boys in Australia.
J The senses of hearing sight and
smell possessed by the black people o
Australia are very acute, and they art
excellent trackers, though in this ac
complishnent have known them ex
celled by white men. On one occasion
we were running the track of some
horses which had been stolen, and neai
sundown found ourselves ON large
plain about four miles from the Lach-
| Ian river, for which we started, intend
Ing to camp on it that night and fol-
low on the trail in the morning.
| As we rode on, one of our black boys
suddenly pulled up his horse and spoke
excitedly to his mates, then announced
that he "smelt smoke" and turning
at right angles TO our line of march
eantered off over the plain in the direc-
ton of a clunp of timber, nearly two
miles to windward of us. There, sure
enough, we found our horse stealers,
horses and all The thieves not ven
turing to camp on the river, had lit a
small fire in the clunp, the smoke
from which our sharp nosed boy had
melled
There are now but few wild blacks
left; the whole race IN rapidly disap-
pearing, as their Tasmanian brethren
have disappeared. OF these latter not
one full blooded representatives survives
The causes OF this rapid decline are
hardly generally understood. We hear
a great deal said about the vices of the
white man and disease introduced by
him. II by civilized vice is meant
drinking, do not think that any but
the very few blacks still surviving in
the neighborhood of large towns suffer
from this. In the far interior liquor is
n very scarce article, and there is a
stringent law against its sale to black
native. Nor have they been killed off
by such diseases as measles, which have
destroyed so many thousands of the
Kanakas of the South Sea Islands.
The young men die off Of pulmonary
complaints. They enter the service OF
some squatter as stock riders, live tile
life and wear the clothes, and avail
themselves Of the same kind OF shelter
as the white man with whom they as
sociate. Their suddenly they are sum
moned off by the elders of the tribe to
some assemblage, some corobori or
bora They take off and put away
their clothes and start away naked,
save rug, into the bush. When they
return--as they will do according to
an agreement on n date marked by the
moon, to resume their civilized habits
they look starved, many have hack
Ing coughs and the seeds of bronchitis
and pleurisy are sown, which carry
them of with great rapidity. Having
become used to clothing, they cannot
bear the shock of "a return to their old
naked, exposed camp life, yet, hardened
as they are by exercise and great meat
eaters, they have better constitutions
than the lazy vegetarian Kanaka, and
survive wounds and disease which
would certainly kill the South Sea man.
The contrast is remarkable,
The Australian RECEIVERS easily from
terrible flesh wounds, using his favorite
remedy, little dry dust, and seems
curiously insensible to pain. The arms
of the tribes vary somewhat, especially
in the shape and make OF the heeloman
or shield. have never seen bows and
arrows or slings among them. The
spear is the chief weapon of war, and
varies considerably in shape and form.
The jagged spear is about ten feet long,
made of hard, heavy wood with terri
Bile barbs, like tlshhooks, carved out
OF the solid or glued on with eucalyptus
gum. Once ia mans flesh nothing
can be done but to break of the Jagged
head and push it right through the
wound.
On the coast many of these ugly
weapons are harhed with the sting OF
the ray or with fish bones, They are
thrown without the womera, or throw
Ing stick, or used Mt close quarters.
The celebrated boomerang is certainly
one of the most extraordinary weapons
invented by man.--London Field