Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-24

| Once l followed on the camel track of a
| white party with the tribe for the purpose
| of picking UP empty tins and for other
| things useful to us. and 1 came upon an
| Australian newspaper. remember it was
| the Sydney Town and Country Journal,
| bearing date somewhere between 1874 and
| 1876 1t was a surprise indeed. I read 1t
| over and over. until l had learnt it by
heart, and 1 preserved it in opossum
| skin cover until it was literally worn to
| pieces.
! Much of the information this newspaper
contained puzzled me greatly, and l nearly
! worried myself into insanity over state
ment that 1.-The deputies of Alsace and
| Lorraine had refused to vote in the Ger
| man parliament and had walked out
Turn it over how 1 might, could not I'M
| derstand how the representatives of two
| great departments in my own country
| could possibly be in the German parlia-
Mountaineering absolutely nothing, OF
| course, of the war of 1870.
The tribe over which reigned was COM
| posed of beings who were certainly low
! DOWN on the human scale, but at the same
| time they have elaborate laws, which gov
| ern their daily life precisely as in the case
| of civilized people. Briefly described, they
are savages, repuisive in appearance, who
| have not even risen to such point OF
civilization to have permanent houses
| addicted to cannibalism and altogether OF
| a very degraded type. But, nevertheless,
| I must say that they have many good
| qualities and that their code of honor would
bear comparison with that of any civilized
nation.
| Although no permanent houses were
erected, the natives with whom ! lived dld
build habitations, which they occupied dur
ing the two three months of cold
weather These were made of sticks driven
| into the ground, around which branches
were interviewer like basket. The spaces
in the walls were covered with mud or with
the material used in the construction OF the
white ants nest. In cold weather the huts
were lined with emu and kangaroo SKINS
and they much more comfortable than
can probably be imagined from my de-
ScriptiOn
Frequently the number of these huts
gathered together in one place forms a
large village, though at other times The
communities split up into tribes of twenty
or thirty families each. Each family, on
the average, consists of one man, three Wo-
men and five or six children. so that even
single tribe makes a very considerable
gathering.
Clothing and Decorations.
While my natives did not, a rule, paint
the body, on great occasions, such as cor
roborees, initiation ceremonies and other
festivities, they paint and decorate them
selves deliberately, each tribe having its
| own design of decoration, and even geo
| metriCal design for each ceremony. The
pigments used in decoration of many
Dut cnleHy yellOW, req, WHlle anu
black
Ordinarily the only clothing known con-
sists of a coating of greasy clay, mixed
with charcoal. This serves many purposes.
1t keeps off the cold during winter and is
also protection against the attacks Of in
SeCtS. In summer special kind of pig
ment is used to keep off insects and
this material is scented with a kind
Of penneroyaL They occasionally stick
on to this clay clothing the feather-down
from swineS, cockatoos, geese, ducks, tur
keys and other birds. This serves as a fur
Their protection, and when they want to i'm
prove upon the touches of red, they use
blood obtained from the arm of a man.
Other ornaments are the wing and tail
feathers from all the large birds, such as
the emu or native companion, these being
worn in the hair usually. They also make
use of feather tufts on the breast and
shoulders, while the bones and teeth of ami
mails are made into jingling necklaces.
From this brief description, 1t Will be evil
dent that my subjects presented a most
fantastic appearance on full-dress occa
SONS, and it must be added that they are
cannibals.
Etiquette of Cannibalism.
CannibaEsm prevails to very great ex-
tent, but is governed by many rules. Usual
~ ii is the slain victims in battle that are
eaten by the victorious side, and as the
object seems to be to acquire the valor and
virtues of the person eaten, l endeavored
to wean the tribes from cannibalsm by as
sUring them that if they made bracelets.
ankiets and necklaces out of the dead man $
hair they would achieve their end equally
well. When family grows too large, and
the mother-being the beast of burden--is
unable to carry one of the children the
father orders it to be dubbed and eaten.
This, however, is entirely actuatsd by love.
as the natives have a horror of natural de-
cay. Manned and defcrmed children are
also killed and eaten. Women and people
who die a natural death are never eaten.
When man has to be eaten there is al
ways a grand corrobOree. All parts are
consumed, the brain, heart and kidneys
being considered special delicacies. Some
of the bones, such as those from the an
kle, are used as ornaments. Often they are
strung together to form jingling necklaces,
but they are chiefly made up into war belts,
which rattle when the owner dances. Other
bones are used in connection with sorcery
to bring about the death of enemies, and
these are known as the death bones. The
skulls are kept and hung in trees to COM
memOrate the victory, but are never car
ried about. Any bones that are left are
burnt and are never given to the dogs.
Human flesh Is not prepared or cooked in
the usual cooking places, but special fire
is made for the purpose In an oven dug In
the sand. Thus it will be seen thai human
flesh does not form part of the regular
food of the people. The natives are not
ashamed to confess cannibalism, nor is an
individual considered unclean after joining
in feast. From this account it may APP
pear that my natives were not pleasant
PEOPLE to live among. But | found the re-
verse to be the case. They We're always
cheerful, obedient and deferential in their
manner, and many times did l owe my life
to the care exercised by my faithful native
wife 1t was possible to devise many occu-
pations, which We're at least sufficient to
pass the time. For amusement I used to
search the beds of the water courses for
curious stones In a great many of these
water courses | found both coarse and fine
gold and in some instances the creeks
wore extremely rich in alluvial gold. In
was found at the bottom of a creek, gold
was sticking out at the sides, which proved
that thc~e was a large proportion of that
precious metal in the concrete. | frequent
| " picked up large nuggets. but had no use
for the metal, save to make ornaments for
my wife, but these she did not appear to
value, and promptly gave them away to
some children wherewith to amuse them
AlluviaI gold was found to the north of
my mountain home, and reef gold to the
south. the richest deposits of all occurring
| in the southwest.
Gold and Precious Stones.
I found great quantities of gem stones of
every shape and color, which could be dis
| tinguished by looking through them when
wet In some cases the prevailing color of
| the stones would be various shades of red
4 ny1I