The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-16

| NuS tI-lu-laN vi
another occasion the two gentlemen were
set laughing by the hirtatious actions of an
island woman. This naked daughter OF
the isle was very tender and ardent in her
conduct toward young black in the cutters
party. and it developed ere long that she
had found out that he and she belonged
in the same class and therefore she could
marry him if he could be wooed and won
BY careful inquiry DR.. Roth learned that
the islanders, with but one exception, had
never seen or heard of white men. The
exception was an islander. who, when the
explorers approached, skipped behind a
bush and presently reappeared with some
grass and leaves tied around him apron
| fashion.
From this they surmised that this fellow
was once on the mainland or at least he had
seen white men enough to gain rudimen-
tary notion OF what clothes are, hence his
effort at "A breech- cloth in their presence.
As for the rest of the islanders they were
like Adam and Eve prior to the serpent
episode. And here let it be said that few
other savages on the earth are so destitute
OF sense Of modesty as this. Investigation
F., showed that the islanders have been sep
arated from the mainland aborigines for
many generations, and this conclusion
is strengt hened by observation Of their
modes.
They are far behind even the mainland
| blacks-which is saying much for their
! primitiveness. The mainland natives can
and do build rude buts. These Mornington
Island blacks do not know what a hut is,
but simply heap up handfuls of grass for
the night and then sleep to the leeward
| OF these heaps.
The natives on the mainland can weave
| quite pretty baskets in which to carry
about articles. The islanders cannot weave
but simply wrap such belongings az they
wish to bear away with them in the bark
OF trees. The mainland aborigines make
canoes The islanders do not know what
boat or canoe Is, but their craft are simply
rude RATS consisting of two parallel logs
with lighter wood set between them, one
end OF the raft being hacked rather sharper
| than the other end. These RATS they pad lie
along the shores of the island The isl
anders have no knowledge whatever Of
the wonderful gum cement the mainland
| natives know how to make and to use in
fastening together their shields.
The island is 40 by 10 miles in size, and
| upon it subsist numerous natives, for the
| explorers came once upon the emberS OF
! twenty-five fires in one place, at each Of
| which must have squatted at least two
savages. At another time they came
! upon quite fleet of the native RATS already
! described
! Though the explorers went armed, and
| acted with caution during the three days,
| they spent upon the island, particularly
at night, the islanders were far from being
| hostile. On the contrary, they almost in
! yariably ran away when the white men
hove in sight, which was another proof
that they are not like their mainland
brethren, who will kill white without COM
junction If they can get good opportunity,
| that is, of course, in the wild parts of Aus
tralia. like the Mitchell River region, on
! the western side of the York Peninsula
, Strange to say, these islanders were n
! very prosaic, stolid and matter-of-faCt
! lot, indeed. They took the two white men
! quite as in the natural course of events, and
| showed no curiosity whatever as to where
| they came from or why their color was
/ different from theirs.
! When one Of the explorers lit his pipe
! the islanders casually remarked one 10
another, why, he is burning himselfi"
| The lighting of fire with a match instead
Of by the Use of fire sticks excited only
| their passing interest, as did the boiling
Of water in billy or tin can.
They were armed with spears and some
Of them had boomerangs. but they made
no unfrendly demonst rations whatever
from first to last. A lot OF penny whistles
| from Sydney which Mr.. Hedley dealt out
among them as presents tickled their souls,
and presently the primeval forests OF
Mornington Island rang with much footing.
When Mr.. Hedley showed one savage
how to white with clasp knife the savage
insisted on scraping with the blade, just as
he would do with a shell or sharp stone,
arI httff Co. -, ,,t,
would have cut his finger badly for he
could not distinguish between the edge Of
the knife-blade and its back.
The island Is of not much Use CONNER
cially. Mango swamps, poor grass and
poor soil make it undesirable for white
men, Yet the savages, outstanding
these discouraging environments, are well
set up, strong and active. though some
what short of stature.
kangaroos and other wild animals
abounded and boun ded wherever the ex-
plorers went. There was plenty of timber
blood wood, oak, beef-wood and eucalypti,
but the trees were not very large. The island
was well watered.
The scouting and the sense Of direction dis
played by the tame blacks were marvellous
and fully up to all the traditions Of Aus
tralian aboriginal craftsmanship. Both Dr.
Roth and Mr.. He'd ley are good bLshmen
but they were simply beginners beside
their attendants.
These boys would hold up a hand from
time to time and ask their white bosses IL |
they did not hear savages talking in the !
distance. The bosses could not hear
a sound
Then again the guides would hear insects |
humming far up in tree top, which was |
far beyond the sense of hearing of the two |
whites. The party would come upon foot |
print or two in the dust and with but barely |
a look at them the dark guides would ex-
plain that man and a woman passed the |
place at O'Clock the night before, that the |
woman bore heavy load of something, and |
several more particulars a la Sherlock |
Holmes. |
But their most remarkable feat was |
their finding the party's boat, no matter !
how many zigZags the party had taken |
and no matter how deep they were in the |
Jungle. They would bring the whites out |
upon the beach, every time, within quarter |
OF a mile of the boat without any apparent |
effort at all. With absolutely no marks,
such as blazed trees or paths.or with the sun
to direct them, but by sheer savage instinct
of locality, they would accomplish this.
In 1902, Capt, Matthew Flinders of
the British Navy, one of the heroes
of Australian discovery. surveyed the
Gulf of Carpcntaria and found Morning.
ton Island. He did not land upon it, so
far as is known. so DIR. Roth and Mr..
Hedey were the first white men ever to set
foot upon it, Several times when on il they
saw clouds Of smoke rising from the bush
on the mainland in the far distance. They
knew from Flnders's record of his work