Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
The chase of the kangaroo conducted by a number of natives is a much more
lively and noisy affair, but it is not to my taste nearly so interesting.
When a single native hunts you see the whole energy and perseverance of
which a savage is capable called forth, and his graceful movements,
cautious advance, the air of quietude and repose which pervade his frame
when his prey is alarmed, all involuntarily call forth your admiration
and compel you to murmur to yourself, "how beautiful, how very
beautiful." But where a party hunt there is more bustle and animation in
the scene; and this kind of hunting is called "Yowart-a-kaipoon," or
kangaroo-surrounding. The animals which are to be killed by a party who
proceed for this purpose are either surprised in a thick bushy place,
where they have retired to lie down in the heat of the day, or else in an
open plain; in the former case they are tracked to their retreat, and the
party then encircling it first ascertain that they have not quitted it;
as each native takes up his position he gives a low whistle, and when the
blockade is completed they fire the bushes; the frighted animals now fly
from the flames in the direction of the open plains, but no sooner do
they reach the outskirts of the wood than the bushes are fired in the
direction in which they are running, and they are driven back by loud
calls and terrific cries, which augment their terror, and they run wildly
about; until, becoming maddened by fear, they make a rush through the
midst of their enemies, who allow but few of their victims to escape.
IN THE PLAINS.
When kangaroos are surrounded upon a plain the point generally chosen is
an open bottom surrounded by wood; each native has his position assigned
him by some of the elder ones, and a great deal of art and caution are
sometimes required to gain it; for this end they avail themselves of
every inequality of the ground, of every bush, of every shrub, and as
there are so many witnesses of their skill and cunning they put forth all
their art to approach as near the kangaroos as possible without
disturbing them, and thus the circle narrows in around the unconscious
animals, till at last some one of them becomes alarmed and bounds away,
but ere it has proceeded many yards its flight is arrested by a savage
with fearful yells; terrified it sits down with its frightened comrades
to look for a means of escape, but armed natives brandishing their spears
and raising loud cries come running in upon them from every side; and ere
the animals have recovered the first moments of terror and surprise a
slaughter has already commenced, which seldom terminates before the
greater number of them have fallen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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