Clement Hodgkinson

“ A well trained dog, in coming along-side of a kangaroo, springs on that animal whilst in the air, seizing it near the root of the tail; the weight of the dog, brings him to the ground, when the former instantly lets go the tail and festens on the throat. In effecting this manoeuvre, an awkward dog is frequently torn, or ripped open, by the kangaroo's hind legs, which are armed with hooked claws of great size. It is no uncommon occurrence for him to stop and stand at bay against a tree; when a dog ventures to attack the kangaroo whilst in this position, he generally suffers for his temerity ”

“ There are no birds in Australia to be shot with dogs, with the exception of quails, and some of the aquatic birds in the reedy swamps and lagoons, such as ducks, moor-fowl, and snipes. The varieties of quail in New South Wales, are, the 'Coturnix Australis,' which is rather larger than the English quail, and more resembles the partridge in the colour of its plumage; the 'Coturnix pectoralis,' which is almost identically the same as the English species; and the 'Turnix velox' which is rather smaller. In the district of Port Macquarie, and at the MacLeay river, quails were particularly abundant. ”

“ I have observed that the blacks on the banks of the numerous coast-rivers, beyond Port Macquarie, are able to procure an abundance of food with little trouble. I have already described the manner in which the Nambucca river natives procure, with great ease, the Pademellas, or brush kangaroos, which are so abundant in the entangled jungles. In addition to these, flying squirrels and opossums, with flying foxes, swarm in the brushes, also a large kind of bat, of which the blacks are fonder than any other animal food ”

“ I have remarked that the blacks between Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay, are much more circumscribed in the extent of country roamed over by each tribe, than those in the thinly wooded tracts in the western and southern parts of the colony. Thus, whereas, in the interior, Sir Thomas Mitchell found on the Murray, the identical natives that had attacked his party on the Darling, 400 miles distant, and who again displayed the peculiar ferocity for which they had been before distinguished; the tribes in the north-eastern coast districts, invariably keep within very narrow limits ”

“ The small brush kangaroo, or Pademella, is easily killed by the blacks who hunt them in the brushes, in the way I have before described; the whites, however, find it rather difficult to shoot them, on account of their being so much concealed by the fern, matted creepers, and briars. On starting one in the brush, it generally rushes into the thickest part of it, and again halts at a short distance, if not pursued. If the sportsman does not get a shot on starting it, he should wait until the cessation of the sound of the jumps of the retreating animal indicates that it has again stopped. ”

“ On traversing the dense brushes of New South Wales, the sportsman, as he climbs over the prostrate timber, and crawls under the entangled creepers and briars, must take care that he does not put his hand on some venomous snake. These disagreeable reptiles are particularly abundant in the north-eastern part of the territory of the colony, where the country is so brushy and swampy. Nearly all the snakes of New South Wales are poisonous, for of ten species that have been examined by naturalists, seven were ascertained to be highly venomous. ”

“ A very old woman, whom the Tryal bay blacks had brought up with them, seemed to be particularly active in abusing and insulting the Yarra-Bandini natives, whom she railed at unceasingly in a loud screaming voice. As the Australian aborigines look upon their women as very inferior animals to themselves, I suppose the Tryal bay tribe had brought up this scolding old lady, in order to evince the greater contempt for the other tribe ”

“ Although the Aborigines are in general so honourable and open in their warfare with one another, their behaviour towards the whites is very different, being often treacherous in the extreme. It frequently happens that those persons who have been most liberal and kind to the natives, are chosen as their first victims; for if a white man gives a present to a native, without stipulating for some service in return, the latter imputes the generosity of the white man to fear. Thus, the sawyers at the Nambucca, who gave the blacks a large quantity of flour, tobacco, sugar, &c. ”

“ The bronze-winged pigeon, lives in the open forest country, and in the barren sandy scrubs roun4 Sydney; it is smaller than the other kinds of pigeon, and derives its name from the metallic lustre of its wings; it is easily shot. The black pigeon, and nearly all the other varieties, have the same habits as the Wonga-wonga, living in the brushes and feeding on the berries of the myrtle tree. The fruit-pigeon is the most remarkable, as its plumage is perhaps the most beautiful of all the pigeon tribe. ”

“ One of the best birds for the table is the brush-turkey; it lives solely in dense brushes, and is about equal in size to a guinea fowl. Its plumage is dark-coloured, and it has a naked head and neck resembling that of a turkey. The manner in which the eggs of this bird are hatched is very singular. It collects an immense quantity of leaves and rotten sticks, and forms with them an enormous nest of several feet in diameter and of a conical shape. ”

“ The tribes of natives near Sydney, where the boys are always deprived of their front teeth, do not seem to be so averse to the whites witnessing their ceremonies, which differ considerably from what I have just described. In their mode of going through the ceremony, the boys being assembled together, and the whole tribe mustered for the occasion, a party of men armed and painted, advanced into the Cawarra ground, with loud shouts and clattering of their arms, and seized, one by one, the boys who were to undergo the operation. ”

“ For instead of being a weak, helpless animal, like the hare, the kangaroo, although quite as timid and inoffensive, is capable of contending vigorously with his pursuers, when driven to desperation, and from the tremendous bounds he makes over all obstacles in his way, he gives, if hunted in a thickly wooded mountainous country, plenty of work both to horses and dogs. ”

“ The Death Adder is extremely sluggish in its habits, and rarely moves out of the way of persons approaching it; I am therefore inclined to think, that the original popular name assigned to this reptile, must have been Deaf Adder, instead of the Death Adder. [5]
The Black snake.—This species is of extremely active habits, bold, strong, and very vindictive if assailed. The general length of this snake near Sydney, is about four or five feet, but more to the northward it attains the length of eight feet. Its colour, as its name implies, is of a leaden black, with scarlet bands on its belly. ”

“ The fruit of the tree popularly called the Australian Indian-rubber tree, and a great variety of other fruits and berries are also occasionally eaten by the blacks whilst in season.
It will thus seem, that in this part of Australia the blacks can never suffer from extreme hunger, or ever die from starvation, which catastrophe often occurs in New Holland, according to some authors. Indeed, throughout all the country along the eastern coast, the blacks have never suffered so much from scarcity of food as many commiserating writers have supposed ”

“ However repugnant the idea of eating reptiles seems to us, it is from a real liking for their flesh that the Australian savages eat them, and not from the great scarcity of better food; for I have, on two or three occasions, known them when employed by me in assisting at the cattle musters, pulling maize, &c. and well fed on bread and beef, carefully preserve any snake they chanced to kill, and cook and eat it at the next fire. ”

“ Each man was also provided with a singular instrument, formed of a piece of hollowed wood fastened to a long piece of flax string; by whirling this rapidly round their heads, a loud shrill noise was produced, and the blacks seemed to attach a great degree of mystic importance to the sound of this instrument, for they told me, that if a woman heard it, she would die. ”

“ Although Australia is singularly deficient in large quadrupeds, and does not possess any of those animals which afford the exciting pleasure of the chase in other countries; yet I think the Australian sport of kangaroo-hunting possesses, at any rate, equal attraction to coursing the hare in England. ”

“ These birds are easily shot when they feed on the lower branches of the trees, but on the higher branches they are beyond the reach of ordinary guns. The flesh of these birds is dark-coloured, like that of the English wood-pigeon, which it somewhat resembles also in plumage, its eye is of a bright crimson, and its head is crowned by a tuft of reddish-brown feathers. ”

“ Induced by curiosity, I have on several occasions tasted the flesh of every one of the reptiles just mentioned, and although nothing but the most extreme hunger could make me conquer my aversion, so as to dine on them, I must nevertheless own, that not one of them possessed any disagreeable taste. ”

“ In this mass of decomposing vegetation, several of these birds lay their eggs, which are excessively large in proportion to the bird itself, as they are much superior in size to the eggs of the goose or common turkey. These eggs are carefully buried in the nest, and become hatched by the heat generated by the decomposition of the leaves, &c. of which the nest is composed. The brush- turkey is a foolish bird, very easily shot, and which consequently soon becomes scarce, as the banks of the rivers become occupied by settlers. ”

“ The large forest kangaroos are seldom hunted by the natives in this part of the colony, for during my residence there, I never remember more than two occasions on which I have seen the blacks feeding on kangaroo, which they had speared themselves; indeed, if the forest kangaroo should become entirely extinct in this part of the country, it would be quite immaterial to these natives. ”

“ The MacLeay river natives always clean and gut their fish, and cook them carefully on hot embers, and they eat nothing whatever in a raw state, except cobberra and grubs. The Australian Aborigines, therefore, though not remarkably scrupulous as to cleanliness, are, at least, equally so with the less uncivilized New Zealanders, and much more so than many of the African tribes ”

“ The largest kangaroo I ever saw was killed close to my tents at Munga creek at the MacLeay river, it weighed very nearly two hundred and fifty pounds, and disabled one of the dogs which had attacked him. It is scarcely necessary to mention that the kangaroo only uses his fore-feet for grazing or digging He advances by a succession of leaps, in making which, his tail, which he carries at right angles to his body, is of great service ”

“ It is not certainly from want of intelligence that the Australian Aborigines have hitherto proved so unreclaimable. The mental faculties of the Australian savage have been too much underrated, except by those authors who have had the best opportunity of witnessing their manners and customs in their purely wild state, such as Oxley, Sturt, and Mitchell, especially the latter, whose occasional remarks on the Aborigines, are full of graphic truth. ”

“ The dingo affords good sport if hunted like the fox. In the more prosperous times of the colony two or three well organized hunts existed in different parts of New South Wales, such as the Sydney hunt and the Bathurst hunt, where the riders appeared in regular costume. ”

“ The Ring snake.—A small species, marked by alternate black and white rings.
The Death Adder.—This hideous reptile is of a dusky hue, seldom more than two feet and a half long, but immensely thick in proportion to its length. At the extremity of its tail is a small pointed, hardened process, with which the sawyers and labourers fancy that it can inflict a sting like a scorpion. The Death Adder, perhaps, possesses the most intense venom of any Australian serpent, for many persons have, at various periods, died in consequence of its bite, which is most rapidly fatal. ”

“ Accordingly, under the pretence that an immense flock of ducks had settled on some lagoon down the river, the Kempsey natives, who are few in number, but more conversant with the customs of the whites than the others, succeeded in persuading some cedar dealers and sawyers at that place, to lend them some muskets, which they loaded with slugs, and they then proceeded down the river in a boat. The Tryal bay blacks, who were quite taken by surprise by this unusual manoeuvre, were soon worsted, and several of them were wounded by the shot, but none killed. ”

“ It is worthy of remark how wary the Australian ducks become after they have been shot at a few times, so much so that it is impossible to approach sufficiently near in a boat, to the large flocks of ducks which alight on the estuaries of the rivers, to reach them with a common gun. ”