Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 02Eyre, Edward John
History
Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 02
Eyre, Edward John
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Ethnology -- Australia
Kangaroos are speared, netted, or caught in pit falls. Four methods of
spearing them are practised. 1st. A native travelling with his family
through the woods, when he sees a kangaroo feeding or sleeping, will
steal silently and cautiously upon it, keeping, as he advances, a tree or
shrub between himself and the animal, or holding up before him, if he be
in an open place, a large branch of a tree, until sufficiently near to
throw the fatal weapon. 2ndly. Two natives get upon the track of a
kangaroo, which they follow up perseveringly even for two or three days,
sleeping upon it at night, and renewing their pursuit in the morning,
until, at last, the wearied animal, fairly tired out by its relentless
pursuers, is no longer able to fly before them, and at last becomes a
prize to the perseverance of the hunters. 3rdly. A small hut of reeds is
made near the springs, or water holes, in those districts, where water is
scarce; and in this, or in the top of a tree, if there be one near, the
native carefully conceals himself, and patiently waits until his game
comes to drink, when he is almost sure to strike it with his spear,
seldom quitting his lurking place without an ample remuneration for his
confinement. 4thly. A large party of men go out early in the morning,
generally armed with barbed spears, and take their stations upon ground
that has been previously fixed upon in a large semicircle. The women and
children, with a few men, then beat up, and fire the country for a
considerable extent, driving the game before them in the direction of the
persons who are lying in wait, and who gradually contract the space they
had been spread over, until they meet the other party, and then closing
their ranks in a ring upon the devoted animals, with wild cries and
shouts they drive them back to the centre as they attempt to escape,
until, at last, in the conflict, many of them are slaughtered. At other
times, the ground is so selected as to enable them to drive the game over
a precipice, or into a river, where it is easily taken. Netting the
kangaroo does not require so large a party; it is done by simply setting
a strong net (mugn-ko) across the path, which the animal is
accustomed to frequent, and keeping it in its place by long sticks, with
a fork upon the top. A few natives then shew themselves in a direction
opposite to that of the net, and the kangaroo being alarmed, takes to his
usual path, gets entangled in the meshes, and is soon despatched by
persons who have been lying in wait to pounce upon him.
Pitfalls are also dug to catch the kangaroo around the springs, or pools
of water they are accustomed to frequent. These are covered lightly over
with small sticks, boughs, etc. and the animal going to drink, hops upon
them, and falls into the pit without being able to get out again. I have
only known this method of taking the kangaroo practised in Western
Australia, between Swan River and King George's Sound,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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